I don't look anything like the guy in the photo above, but if his musical accompaniment is inspired by the gorgeous Ava Gardner, then let this image represent the blogger and his muse! I've been taking a break from this place lately, but am finally working up a head of steam again. I haven't even touched a Golden Age movie DVD or flipped on Turner Classic Movies except once (to watch The Parallax View), and I have been pursuing other interests. But I've started work on that Thin Man overview I mentioned before as well as some Katharine Hepburn ideas. Thanks for sticking around and not getting disgusted with my lack of postings here lately.
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As I continue to age and become increasingly feeble, forgetful, and just plain dopey, I nevertheless come up with theories that appear to be accurate. Case in point: Rita Hayworth. The movie goddess and dreams of millions of men the world over was best known for being a red-headed pinup during World War II. However, in the 1948 film noir The Lady From Shanghai, hubby Orson Welles had Rita dye her hair for her role ass a sick and twisted femme fatale. But you knew all that. Now before I go forth with my crackpot belief, I'll have you know that what I don't know about style could be stuffed into the Grand Canyon. But what I've always found interesting about Rita-as-blonde is how well she makes that look work for her. Rita was of latin extraction, so her looks were such that her dark complexion wouldn't really work all that well with blonde hair. In fact, I see zillions of bleach blondes of all ages out there in the real world and I can tell from their olive or yellowish complexion--or black eyebrows--that they're not real blondes. How did Rita Hayworth pull this look off? Perhaps the fact that Shanghai was filmed in black and white helped. But the color still pictured above shows Hayworth aquitting herself quite well with this look, latina extraction and all. I guess some women are just plain beautiful no matter how they're made up.
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The results are in! The winner(s)of the poll question, "Which is your favorite Astaire/Rogers musical?" is Top Hat (1935) AND Swing Time (1936)! Here's how the carnage looked:
Top Hat (1935) 22 (31%)
Swing Time (1936) 22 (31%)
Shall We Dance (1937) 7 (10%)
The Gay Divorcee (1934) 4 (5%)
Follow the Fleet (1936) 4 (5%)
Flying Down to Rio (1933) 3 (4%)
Carefree (1938) 3 (4%)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) 3 (4%)
The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939) 2 (2%)
Roberta (1935) 0 (0%)
I have no problem with this poll ending in a two-way tie because one could make a persuasive argument for either Top Hat or Swing Time being Fred and Ginger's most beloved film! Swing Time usually wins this contest handily, but this time Top Hat gave the former quite a bit of trouble, as Top Hat led the voting by as many as seven votes early on.
Each film has its own virtues. Top Hat has the better supporting cast, comedic dialogue, and songs. Swing Time has Ginger looking her very best, with all that rehearsal time sculpting her magnificent form to perfection; plus, there's THE dress, which surpasses any and all dresses ever crafted for any film EVER. You can quote me on that. Swing Time also has Fred owning "The Way You Look Tonight", singing it better than anyone ever did or well (sorry, Sinatra). Top Hat has the better pacing, as Swing Time has to burn thirty minutes before getting to a Fred and Ginger song and dance number. This is typical George Stevens bloat, though in a Fred and Ginger film, it thankfully doesn't come close to the director's 1950s indulgences (Giant, anyone?). Swing Time does have the best dance number in "Never Gonna Dance" and that positively tear-jerking finale with fred and Ginger simultaneously singing each other's songs from earlier in the movie, with Ginger taking "The Way You Look Tonight" and Fred handling "A Fine Romance" and it ending triumphantly with their embrace. LOVE that!
As for the other films, I'm rather surprised that Roberta didn't garner a single vote! Not one! Irene Dunne singing like an angel wasn't enough, I guess. Maybe it was that frog-throated dope in the beginning, or Ginger's annoying Russian princess accent that was present even when she sang. Or perhaps it was the unloved studliness of Randolph Scott, whose appearance in Follow the Fleet didn't seem to affect that movie's four votes. I also have to applaud those gutsy individualists who cast their vote for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and Carefree. I'd be interested in learning the whys of your selections, other than "it's my favorite"!
Regardless of which films won or didn't, I always find something to enjoy in even the least of Fred and Ginger's movies, and their worst is 100 times better than a lot of people's "best." I'd rather watch Fred and Ginger "do the Yam" than a lot of other acts doing their best-known numbers! I love these movies that much.
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This month is Hollywood Dreamland's first anniversary. I was Lazy Bones Jones last month, but have renewed purpose for October. I'll be focusing on Nick Charles with a typically offbeat rundown of The Thin Man series, my favorite films of all time,
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Ever see The Awful Truth (1937)? Remember Aunt Patsy (Ms. Cecil Cunningham) who played the sassy, undersexed confidant of Lucy (Irenne Dunne)? The same character who hands Ralph Bellamy's mama's boy his "diploma"? The same woman who steals virtually every scene she's in?
That's the kind of woman I refer to as a Grand Old Dame.
Several women with that same sort of pluck populated Hollywood during the Golden Age, and the persona they crafted existed in real life, too. In fact, the women who played tough old gals who were quick with a quip, bawdy in demeanor and behavior, and who could outdrink the men without a thought.
Some names that come to mind: Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bea Arthur. These are women who battled their men on screen and off. Whose marriages toughened them and their dealings with studio bosses and sexist directors toughened their attitudes towards men and life. These "broads"--and I use that name in the very best sense of that usually derogatory term--were great raconteurs, who knew where all the bodies were buried and laughed about it. Ever see Bette Davis on The Dick Cavett Show from the early 1970s? Here was perhaps the greatest Grand Old Dame of them all, smoking, drinking, and swearing with aplomb. But also absolutely charming.
As a kid, I knew there was something special about these women who emerged from the studio system run by tightfisted tyrants like Jack Warner, Hal Wallis, and Daryl F. Zanuck, Gals like Davis, Garland, and Taylor had to be tough, or die meekly. Garland coped with booze and drugs and died young, but not before becoming a wonderful storyteller with a great laugh. She could hold a room spellbound with her dramatic and comedic flair. Women like Davis were so much more interesting than their shrinking violet successors of the 1950s and 1960s, where women seemed to take a step back after progressing during the 30s and World War II. They became institutions unto themselves.
Do we have anyone like that today? I don't think so. Liz Taylor is scarce in public these days, and no one who's a star today has that kind of charisma or presence to tell great tales. We communicate more and say less these days, which would no doubt disappoint Dames like Davis.
I recommend the Dick Cavett DVD set Hollywood Greats, to see Bette in action. Judy Garland did an interview on either The Jack Paar Show or The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Go scour youtube for those.
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I'm overdue in posting this past month's poll results...So here they are- The winner of the poll question, “Which of these actors had the best on-screen chemistry with Audrey Hepburn is Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953). Of the 79 votes cast, the results are as follows:
Gregory Peck- Roman Holiday 34 (43%)
Cary Grant- Charade 25 (31%)
George Peppard- Breakfast at Tiffany's 10 (12%)
Humphrey Bogart- Sabrina 4 (5%)
Rex Harrison- My Fair Lady 3 (3%)
Gary Cooper- Love in the Afternoon 2 (2%)
Fred Astaire- Funny Face 1 (1%)
I’ve gone on about Audrey Hepburn’s career-defining role in Roman Holiday before, so for this I’d like to recognize Gregory Peck’s 1950s film roles. The Fifties was a decade in which he received no Oscar nominations, but that time period finds the handsome—my wife thinks he’s dreamy-- and popular actor in many disparate and challenging roles. Peck had gotten a few Academy Award nominations in the late-1940s, but became a full-fledged star in the 1950s.
The Gunfighter (1950) has Peck in a fondly-remembered role as the best gunslinger in the west that is doomed by his very profession’s credo that there’s always someone trying to prove themselves against you, and that there’s always someone faster and more accurate on the draw.
David and Bathsheba (1951) If it was the 1950s, you did a Biblical Epic, or at least you wore a toga. Interesting? No. Varied? Absolutely!
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) Peck as the dying Hemingwayesque writer with a bitchy wife is dying and reflects on better times. Why didn’t they ever do Papa right in those 1950s film adaptations of his work? Only Bernard Herrmann’s score truly soars.
The Man In the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) “That sounds hot”, said the girl at Blockbuster Video back in 1997 when I asked if they had this film for rent. Jennifer Jones was no great actress, but she showed up with her weird ways and indefinite personality to play Peck’s wife, who had already sired a kid during his harrowing WWII experiences. More interesting was that Peck had become the prototypical man of his generation. If men wanted to be Burt Lancaster as he was in From Here to Eternity (1953), then most Joes actually found themselves in Peck’s predicament in this turgid effort. Another fine Bernard Herrmann score, though.
Moby Dick (1956) This is one of Peck’s great roles. He eschews the controlled and lets loose with a buoyant, dark, and obsessive character in Ahab. Plus, Peck himself almost got killed by that rubber whale. Greg wouldn’t explore this megalomaniac until his portrayal of General Douglas MacArthur in the 1970s.
Designing Woman (1957) Greg is a bachelor sportswriter in this splashy and colorful romantic comedy co-starring Lauren Bacall, who was a lot less interesting without Bogart and seemed adrift in her post-Bogart career. To be fair, Bogart had just died when she made this film, and Peck commended her professionalism. This movie could’ve been wonderful, but Peck just isn’t “bachelor” enough. He should’ve thrown in some Ahab wildness here.
The Bravados (1958) Rancher Peck kills off the gang of outlaws whom he believes murdered his wife. A dark, relentless film only brightened by a very young—and not as hot as she would be in middle age—Joan Collins. Peck is one-note here, but acquits himself well in his final scene. Nice cast of character actors in this one.
The Big Country (1958) Peck’s best movie and role of the 1950s. It’s a HUGE, sprawling, epic Western that has William Wyler/1950s written all over it. The Big Country also has one of the great Western music scores of all time in Jerome Moross' effort. Peck is gaining steam again; A good performance from him, and everyone else, too.
On the Beach (1959) Post-nuclear war film set in Australia. Another interesting choice for Peck, who could do anything by this point. Boy, those days were so bad when everybody worried about the Cold War and the USSR. Things are so much safer now!
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The results are in! The winner(s)of the poll question, "Which is your favorite Astaire/Rogers musical?" is Top Hat (1935) AND Swing Time (1936)! Here's how the carnage looked:
Top Hat (1935) 22 (31%)
Swing Time (1936) 22 (31%)
Shall We Dance (1937) 7 (10%)
The Gay Divorcee (1934) 4 (5%)
Follow the Fleet (1936) 4 (5%)
Flying Down to Rio (1933) 3 (4%)
Carefree (1938) 3 (4%)
The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) 3 (4%)
The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939) 2 (2%)
Roberta (1935) 0 (0%)
I have no problem with this poll ending in a two-way tie because one could make a persuasive argument for either Top Hat or Swing Time being Fred and Ginger's most beloved film! Swing Time usually wins this contest handily, but this time Top Hat gave the former quite a bit of trouble, as Top Hat led the voting by as many as seven votes early on.
Each film has its own virtues. Top Hat has the better supporting cast, comedic dialogue, and songs. Swing Time has Ginger looking her very best, with all that rehearsal time sculpting her magnificent form to perfection; plus, there's THE dress, which surpasses any and all dresses ever crafted for any film EVER. You can quote me on that. Swing Time also has Fred owning "The Way You Look Tonight", singing it better than anyone ever did or well (sorry, Sinatra). Top Hat has the better pacing, as Swing Time has to burn thirty minutes before getting to a Fred and Ginger song and dance number. This is typical George Stevens bloat, though in a Fred and Ginger film, it thankfully doesn't come close to the director's 1950s indulgences (Giant, anyone?). Swing Time does have the best dance number in "Never Gonna Dance" and that positively tear-jerking finale with fred and Ginger simultaneously singing each other's songs from earlier in the movie, with Ginger taking "The Way You Look Tonight" and Fred handling "A Fine Romance" and it ending triumphantly with their embrace. LOVE that!
As for the other films, I'm rather surprised that Roberta didn't garner a single vote! Not one! Irene Dunne singing like an angel wasn't enough, I guess. Maybe it was that frog-throated dope in the beginning, or Ginger's annoying Russian princess accent that was present even when she sang. Or perhaps it was the unloved studliness of Randolph Scott, whose appearance in Follow the Fleet didn't seem to affect that movie's four votes. I also have to applaud those gutsy individualists who cast their vote for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and Carefree. I'd be interested in learning the whys of your selections, other than "it's my favorite"!
Regardless of which films won or didn't, I always find something to enjoy in even the least of Fred and Ginger's movies, and their worst is 100 times better than a lot of people's "best." I'd rather watch Fred and Ginger "do the Yam" than a lot of other acts doing their best-known numbers! I love these movies that much.
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Here he is, Nick Charles himself, playing out the string of a long, productive life. William Powell, the debonair one, the thinking man's Cary Grant. Relaxing poolside with that ever-present cocktail. If one of Hollywood's greatest stars ever had a happy ending, then it was William Powell. Happily married to his (younger) wife of thirty years, Powell retreated into a private, simple life. Apparently he became lovably grouchy owing to his increasing deafness. Any man who endures the death of his fiancee, cancer at the peak of his career, and the suicide of his son has got to emerge a winner. The interview is from Hollywood Studio magazine. Feel that California heat...
This month is Hollywood Dreamland's first anniversary. I was Lazy Bones Jones last month, but have renewed purpose for October. I'll be focusing on Nick Charles with a typically offbeat rundown of The Thin Man series, my favorite films of all time,
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Ever see The Awful Truth (1937)? Remember Aunt Patsy (Ms. Cecil Cunningham) who played the sassy, undersexed confidant of Lucy (Irenne Dunne)? The same character who hands Ralph Bellamy's mama's boy his "diploma"? The same woman who steals virtually every scene she's in?
That's the kind of woman I refer to as a Grand Old Dame.
Several women with that same sort of pluck populated Hollywood during the Golden Age, and the persona they crafted existed in real life, too. In fact, the women who played tough old gals who were quick with a quip, bawdy in demeanor and behavior, and who could outdrink the men without a thought.
Some names that come to mind: Bette Davis, Lucille Ball, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Taylor, and Bea Arthur. These are women who battled their men on screen and off. Whose marriages toughened them and their dealings with studio bosses and sexist directors toughened their attitudes towards men and life. These "broads"--and I use that name in the very best sense of that usually derogatory term--were great raconteurs, who knew where all the bodies were buried and laughed about it. Ever see Bette Davis on The Dick Cavett Show from the early 1970s? Here was perhaps the greatest Grand Old Dame of them all, smoking, drinking, and swearing with aplomb. But also absolutely charming.
As a kid, I knew there was something special about these women who emerged from the studio system run by tightfisted tyrants like Jack Warner, Hal Wallis, and Daryl F. Zanuck, Gals like Davis, Garland, and Taylor had to be tough, or die meekly. Garland coped with booze and drugs and died young, but not before becoming a wonderful storyteller with a great laugh. She could hold a room spellbound with her dramatic and comedic flair. Women like Davis were so much more interesting than their shrinking violet successors of the 1950s and 1960s, where women seemed to take a step back after progressing during the 30s and World War II. They became institutions unto themselves.
Do we have anyone like that today? I don't think so. Liz Taylor is scarce in public these days, and no one who's a star today has that kind of charisma or presence to tell great tales. We communicate more and say less these days, which would no doubt disappoint Dames like Davis.
I recommend the Dick Cavett DVD set Hollywood Greats, to see Bette in action. Judy Garland did an interview on either The Jack Paar Show or The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Go scour youtube for those.
------------------------------------------------
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I'm overdue in posting this past month's poll results...So here they are- The winner of the poll question, “Which of these actors had the best on-screen chemistry with Audrey Hepburn is Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953). Of the 79 votes cast, the results are as follows:
Gregory Peck- Roman Holiday 34 (43%)
Cary Grant- Charade 25 (31%)
George Peppard- Breakfast at Tiffany's 10 (12%)
Humphrey Bogart- Sabrina 4 (5%)
Rex Harrison- My Fair Lady 3 (3%)
Gary Cooper- Love in the Afternoon 2 (2%)
Fred Astaire- Funny Face 1 (1%)
I’ve gone on about Audrey Hepburn’s career-defining role in Roman Holiday before, so for this I’d like to recognize Gregory Peck’s 1950s film roles. The Fifties was a decade in which he received no Oscar nominations, but that time period finds the handsome—my wife thinks he’s dreamy-- and popular actor in many disparate and challenging roles. Peck had gotten a few Academy Award nominations in the late-1940s, but became a full-fledged star in the 1950s.
The Gunfighter (1950) has Peck in a fondly-remembered role as the best gunslinger in the west that is doomed by his very profession’s credo that there’s always someone trying to prove themselves against you, and that there’s always someone faster and more accurate on the draw.
David and Bathsheba (1951) If it was the 1950s, you did a Biblical Epic, or at least you wore a toga. Interesting? No. Varied? Absolutely!
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) Peck as the dying Hemingwayesque writer with a bitchy wife is dying and reflects on better times. Why didn’t they ever do Papa right in those 1950s film adaptations of his work? Only Bernard Herrmann’s score truly soars.
The Man In the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) “That sounds hot”, said the girl at Blockbuster Video back in 1997 when I asked if they had this film for rent. Jennifer Jones was no great actress, but she showed up with her weird ways and indefinite personality to play Peck’s wife, who had already sired a kid during his harrowing WWII experiences. More interesting was that Peck had become the prototypical man of his generation. If men wanted to be Burt Lancaster as he was in From Here to Eternity (1953), then most Joes actually found themselves in Peck’s predicament in this turgid effort. Another fine Bernard Herrmann score, though.
Moby Dick (1956) This is one of Peck’s great roles. He eschews the controlled and lets loose with a buoyant, dark, and obsessive character in Ahab. Plus, Peck himself almost got killed by that rubber whale. Greg wouldn’t explore this megalomaniac until his portrayal of General Douglas MacArthur in the 1970s.
Designing Woman (1957) Greg is a bachelor sportswriter in this splashy and colorful romantic comedy co-starring Lauren Bacall, who was a lot less interesting without Bogart and seemed adrift in her post-Bogart career. To be fair, Bogart had just died when she made this film, and Peck commended her professionalism. This movie could’ve been wonderful, but Peck just isn’t “bachelor” enough. He should’ve thrown in some Ahab wildness here.
The Bravados (1958) Rancher Peck kills off the gang of outlaws whom he believes murdered his wife. A dark, relentless film only brightened by a very young—and not as hot as she would be in middle age—Joan Collins. Peck is one-note here, but acquits himself well in his final scene. Nice cast of character actors in this one.
The Big Country (1958) Peck’s best movie and role of the 1950s. It’s a HUGE, sprawling, epic Western that has William Wyler/1950s written all over it. The Big Country also has one of the great Western music scores of all time in Jerome Moross' effort. Peck is gaining steam again; A good performance from him, and everyone else, too.
On the Beach (1959) Post-nuclear war film set in Australia. Another interesting choice for Peck, who could do anything by this point. Boy, those days were so bad when everybody worried about the Cold War and the USSR. Things are so much safer now!
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