Movie stars play records too!

Sophia. Rock. Alain & Romy. Dusty ... I had a Dansette record player just like Dusty's.

Bright Lights: Debbie and Carrie

BRIGHT LIGHTS, 2016. Funny, witty, charming, sad, tragic - now even more sad and tragic after the deaths of Carrie Fisher and then her mother Debbie Reynolds a day later, it was the main news here in the lull days after Christmas – that and George Michael’s passing …

Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds star in a tender portrait of Hollywood royalty in all its eccentricity. From the red carpet to the back alleys behind it, the documentary is about the bonds of family love, which are beautifully bitter-sweet.

It is a fascinating view now, as we watch an increasingly frail Debbie (and frail Carrie too, endlessly drinking cola and smoking) at their compound with their dogs and friends, as they prepare for a show and Debbie’s Life Achievement Award.  There is also footage of a dying Eddie Fisher – which feels intrusive.  We also see Carrie at one of those movie conventions selling autographs, and Debbie’s memorabilia auctions, which at least raised millions for the family. The bond between mother and daughter and son Todd is touching to see too.

The clips are a joy – people my age grew up with Debbie in the movies and on all those magazine covers. She was one amazing trouper for whom the show always had to go on. It makes me want to go back to THE TENDER TRAP, POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, SHAMPOO and THESE OLD BROADS. A HBO production directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens. 

More Debbie at label.

A Star Is Born premiere, 1954 + East Of Eden

That fascinating premiere footage of A STAR IS BORN in Hollywood in 1954, a dvd extra on the restored film, is also on YouTube. Its a time capsule now, as Hollywood - old and new - turned out for one of the biggest premieres of the era. It seems they all wanted Judy (rather overweight here) to do well in her comeback film ..... there's Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Debbie and Eddie, Liz and Michael Wilding, Tony and Janet, Jack Carson is the MC and Joan Crawford has fun joshing with her MILDRED PIERCE co-star. There's Liberace and his mother; Raymond Burr "back from Korea" turns up with a cute marine (a Mr Frank Vitti, who it seems spent several years with Burr) - and plenty more: Mitzi, Bacall, Shelley Winters - the furs, the costumes! 

We love A STAR IS BORN here, one of the first movies I saw as a kid, its still marvellous now. What did they think they were doing by cutting it drastically? It made no sense for Norman Maine to say to a nervous Esther Blodgett before her screen test "to think of a man eating a nutburger", as the scene of her working in the burger bar had been cut!

EAST OF EDEN in 1955 was the business too, another big Warner Bros spectacular event. Marilyn and Brando were ushers at this one, handing out the programmes. Somehow, today's premieres are not quite the same ....

Two favourites: Lee & Kate

Two of our favourite ladies here are Katharine Hepburn and Lee Remick, and thanks to Daryl for sending me these two stills from their 1973 film A DELICATE BALANCE. I have used them before (see sidebar for that cover of "Films In Review" magazine), but lovely to see them again. 

I never saw Hepburn in person but got to meet Remick in 1970, as detailed before at her label, and also saw her on stage in London in BUS STOP in 1975. 

The story I have told before is that in 1957 when Lee was starting out she was up for the negligible role of one of the office girls in Hepburn's DESK SET with Tracy (the role played by Dina Merrill in the film). Kate advised her to take small parts to get noticed, but Spencer told her to hold out for a better role, which she certainly got in Kazan's A FACE IN THE CROWD that year - what a debut. Five years later of course they are both up for Best Actress in 1962, and a decade later played mother and daughter in the film of Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE, rather ignored at the time, but a real acting treat now.  Paul Scofield is marvellous here too as is Kate Reid, and they do Albee's play justice. Its one of Tony Richardson's better later efforts. (He also directed Lee in the 1961 SANCTUARY, a rare one we tracked down some years ago, as per review).  

Strictly, mid-season report ...

We are now halfway through our annual dance fest STRICTLY COME DANCING, and the weaker contestants have been weeded out, so its hotting up as the best couples battle it out. My money from the word go has been on sensational Ore Oduba, whom I barely noticed as a BBC sports reporter, but the guy owns the floor and dances up a storm each week and is compulsively watchable, as is his dance partner Joanne Clifton. She and her brother Kevin (who dances with Louise Redknapp - their Argentine Tango was sensational too last week) will be very competitive to win. so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Judge Rinder and new girl Oksana are super too, but seem lost in the middle. The other great is Danny Mac - I expect him and Ore to battle it out in the final. 
Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford with the divine Natalie 'Legs' Lowe are also making up that top foursome, while the young couple Claudia and AJ are also compulsive. Its all to play for ..... and brightens up our winter weekends, while Claudia, Tess and judge Darcey (the most stylish women on British TV) ramp up the glam stakes. Each week we wonder "what will they be wearing?" ..... 
Ore and Joanne do a divine tribute to SINGIN' IN THE RAIN ...

Girls night out again + their GBF.

I am indebted to that wonderful site http://doloresdelargotowers.blogspot.co.uk/, for this different shot of one of our favourite photographs here (see sidebar, right).

Thats Vivien Leigh, Kay Kendall, and their gay best friend Noel Coward welcoming Lauren Bacall to London, in January 1959. (As mentioned here before, Kay was gone by September that year, but Bacall soldiered on for 50+ years, until 2014. A night out drinking cocktails could hardly get more glamorous. 

Hunk de jour: Guy

Another person we like: Guy Madison - quite a lot about him on various sites. Here is his first role of a few minutes in the 1944 wartime drama SINCE YOU WENT AWAY. He was a real marine then, and had a career once he returned to Hollywood after the war.

I don't know SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, John Cromwell's film seems essentially of that era now, like CASABLANCA or MEET ME IN ST LOUIS. I have had to order it, for that great cast: Colbert, Cotten, Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker, Hattie McDaniel, Agnes Moorehead, Nazimova, and er, Shirley Temple. Guy made quite an impression here as the young marine. 

Below: with Judy Garland, at a premiere, and with Judy again a decade or so later.

Guy (1922-1996) had a respectable career, gravitating towards westerns - one of the first films I saw, when aged 8, was his 1954's THE COMMAND - like Dale Robertson, also big in westerns then, Guy was ideal out west or in cavalry uniform. as in THE LAST FRONTIER.
He also had a long-runnng western series THE ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOK. He is also good with Jean Simmons in the 1956 drama HILDA CRANE (review at Simmons label) and I like FIVE AGAINST THE HOUSE (also with gay Kerwin Matthews), and like Jeffrey Hunter, Tab Hunter, Robert Wagner, Tony Perkins etc he was a leading man of the 1950s, before the new crop arrived: Troy Donahue, Fabian, young Warren Beatty, Redford, etc. 
Like a lot of others he then did several costumers in Europe, as did his pal Rory Calhoun (who did a good one: Leone's THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES in 1961).  One of Guy's SLAVE OF ROME in 1961, is on YouTube, where he co-stars with Rosanna (HELEN OF TROY) Podesta:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiPJoCrbtQA

There are lots of pictures actually of Guy and Rory (1922-1999; mainly a B-movie actor (left), best known now for those two Monroe films at Fox: RIVER OF NO RETURN where Mitchum is the lead, and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE where he is teamed with Betty Grable), and with Susan Hayward in the musical sudser WITH  SONG IN MY HEART, 1952, which we like a lot. 

The boys went fishing a lot (and really caught fish, unlike BBM), both were clients of the notorious agent Henry Willson (Below with the boys). Guy was married for some years to the fragile actress Gail Russell, whom we like a lot, and he had 4 children by his second marriage. Rory was married to actress Lita Baron (usually a tough cookie in westerns), but like Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, and Tab and Tony Perkins, their friendship endured during their marriages.

Guy and Rory both did an intriguing-sounding 1949 western: MASSACRE RIVER. One to check out?  He seems a bit clunky jitterbugging though ... More Guy at label. 

Looking at MASSACRE RIVER now the chemistry between the boys is startling, with all that horseplay and fooling around, as Rory's trousers fall down and they grapple in the hot tub. The rest of it is standard 1940s horse opera. Guy had a good run in cavalry uniform, as here and THE COMMAND in 1954 (which I saw when I was 8, one of the first films I saw), THE LAST FRONTIER in '56, and others. 

Summer re-views: beach boys

A wet Saturday as summer slips away from us - here in the UK at any rate. How about some beach boy pix to refresh our memories ..... bring on Tom, Tab, Guy, Alain, Rory, Jeff, Fabian and all the rest ....
Alain in PLEIN SOLEIL, and that 1930s nifty swimsuit for THE YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE. 

Thats Guy Madison on the beach, then Rory Calhoun and Jeff Hunter, Tyrone Power with Cesar Romero, Farley Granger, Tab, Fabian, Troy and Sandra go off to A SUMMER PLACE, and lets end with Tom Daley on the beach at Rio before the Games.... go Tom. 
Well, Tom didn't qualify for the final 12 - these things happen on the day - but hopefully the poster boy and media star will return again for Tokyo in 4 years time .... 

Summer re-views: favourite Sabrina moments

We can always sit down and look at SABRINA one more time - its a perennial Billy Wilder favourite, so 1954 and with that perfect black and white Paramount look. Audrey looks entrancing here, after her ROMAN HOLIDAY. Bogie is fine, maybe a bit too old, while breezy Holden (romancing Audrey at the time, before she chose Mel Ferrer) is just right too. Here are a few favourite moments: 

Audrey up in that tree at the start as the wealthy Larrabees party; her return from Paris all tres-Givenchy; that delicious moment at the party when worried Mrs Larrabee tries to put the family chauffeur's daughter in her place by asking her to come up to the house sometime to cook something delicious for them to show what she has learned in Paris - I love the way Audrey/Sabrina says "Oh, I've learned a lot" ... as she dances off in that dress with Holden, who is engaged to country club girl Martha Hyer who "does not want to spend the first twelve hours of her marriage on a plane, sitting up" - maybe a bit risque for 1954, but another example of the Wilder wit. Then there is Audrey is that little black dress posed against that New York skyline .... as older brother Linus woos Sabrina to ensure the merger with Holden and Hyer goes through. John Williams, Nancy Culp etc are sterling support and it all looks a treat. We love Sabrina's Paris apartment window looking out at Sacre Coeur, as "La Vie En Rose" plays in the background ....

Summer re-views: Lee and pals at Roddy's in 1965 ....

We have not done a Lee Remick post for a while either. Let's return to Roddy McDowell's home movies, now available to all on YouTube. I like this particular one where Lee looks marvellous in several closeups. Also enjoying the lazy Sunday at Malibu are Hayley Mills, Tuesday Weld, Suzanne Pleshette, Ricardo Montalban and more. 

Lee is in some of the other home movies as well, along with Lauren Bacall, Paul Newman, Julie Andrews (with naked toddler), Simone Signoret, James Fox (both filming in Hollywood then) and others. Can you imagine a group of actors in a situation like this today - they would all be tweeting and posting pictures of themselves with their celebrity friends - but back then it was a group of friends and co-workers enjoying a quiet sunday afternoon away from the studios, at Roddy's Malibu beach house. . See Remick label for more on these. 

Sadly, most of these are long departed now .....   Remick is with her then husband Bill Colleran who seems to be pestering her and being a nuisance, they later divorced before her re-marriage and move to London, and yes Martin, I will repeat that I had a nice meeting with her in 1970, as detailed at labels, and I also saw her on stage in London in BUS STOP in 1976.

We might now have to re-watch ANATOMY OF A MURDER, WILD RIVER, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES or NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY ...

Olivia hits 100

Happy 100th birthday to Olivia De Havilland, and not only that great age but she seems well and enjoying life living in Paris, as per that fascinating recent "Vanity Fair" interview with her. Whether as Maid Marian to Erroll's ROBIN HOOD (and of course also CAPTAIN BLOOD) or Melanie in GWTW or her great Catherine Sloper in THE HEIRESS Olivia has a great legacy of film roles and of course she also broke Hollywood's slave contracts winning her court case to be able to choose her roles.
As the BFI sais about her in its current retrosective on her career:

De Havilland brought all kinds of women to life on screen: fiery independent dames, gutsy fairy-tale beauties, love-starved daughters, single mothers, genteel small-towners and conniving psychopaths. But she had to fight for these diverse roles. Her employer Warner Brothers saw her as just a pretty face. Like many Hollywood actresses today, she was frustrated with the narrow range of parts she was offered; ‘I had quite different ideas about my career’ she told audiences at the BFI in 1972. ‘I wanted to play a real human being instead of a delightful romantic heroine.’ When in 1943 Warners refused to acknowledge that her seven-year contract had expired, she took them to court and won, forever changing the studio system by weakening its control over actors. She went on to pick roles in some of the most acclaimed films in Hollywood’s history. 
It was great, as I have mentioned here before, seeing her on stage discussing her career all of 44 years ago in 1972 (above, when I was a mere child, ok: 26) at London's BFI, which was such a success that her pal Bette Davis did the same two weeks later .... As per label we also like Olivia in HOLD BACK THE DAWN, HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, THE STRAWBERRY BLONDE, LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and more (and of course we like her sister Joan too...). 

Vivien

The first paragraph of Alexander Walker’s 1987 biography of Vivien Leigh captures the gilded high-life of the then theatre’s golden couple The Oliviers perfectly:

The Caprice had sent the usual tray over to Vivien’s dressing room at the St James’s Theatre. There were little triangular-shaped sandwiches, enough for the dozen or so people who usually came round after the curtain: smoked salmon, prosciutto and, her own favourites, brown bread filled with thick honeycomb (“Not runny honey” she’d remind Mario, the Caprice’s maitre d’hotel). There were also four bottle of good Chablis  - not for Vivien though. She served her guests wine but preferred a large gin and tonic to be waiting for her when she came off the stage at the end of the play.

That Saturday night at the end of August 1951 the play was CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA …. The Oliviers had been married for eleven years. They would celebrate their anniversary at the end of the month at Notley Abbey, the country house in Buckinghamshire which Vivien and Olivier had created out of the stoney bones of the thirteenth century Augustinian monestary and hospice founded by Henry II. It wad for Notley they were bound tonight, with weekend guests whom Vivien was expecting any minute in her dressing-room as the crowd of backstage visitors dwindled. There would be Orson Welles, the writer and journalist Godfrey Winn, plus Rex Harrison and his wife Lilli Palmer. In addition a number of other people from the world of theatre and films would be coming over for Sunday lunch and staying on to play tennis or croquet. After dinner there would be charades or other party games. Perhaps they would roll back the carpet and have a dance …

The Oliviers were at the height of their power and celebrity in the early 1950s. He was the greatest actor of his generation. They were the most popular couple on the English-speaking stage. He had been knighted in 1947. They had been treated like surrogate royalty when they led the Old Vic on an Australian tour the following year. They were screen stars too. Even in the few places where Vivien’s name may not be known the name and image of Scarlett O’Hara was part of cinema mythology. Olivier’s HENRY V had been a wartime battle-cry and the most successful Shakespeare film ever - and then of course his acclaimed Oscar-winning HAMLET. Only the year before in 1950 she had filmed A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE with Marlon Brando in Hollywood – another iconic role for her. At 37 and 44 respectively, Vivien’s clear-cut, delicate Dresden shepherdress beauty and Olivier’s strong, dark good looks – she vivid and outgoing, he more withdrawn and self-absorbed - were hardly beginning to show any signs of the passing years.

Alexander Walker ( 1930-2003), the well-known influential film critic of London’s “Evening Standard” (we read his reviews eagerly each week) and an acclaimed biographer (of, among others, Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, Dietrich, Crawford, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and tomes on the British Cinema in the 1960s); he knew Leigh and Olivier and their milieu and captures it perfectly here. I used to see him around town quite a bit, no doubt on is way to or from press shows. In the Leigh biography he dissects the Oliviers’ union (from 1940 to 1960 when they divorced and he set on that new marriage to Joan Plowright and that new career after THE ENTERTAINER and launching the new National Theatre).

But back in 1951: “The name ‘The Oliviers’ meant something more than the mere aura of showbiz fame of a couple uniquely favoured in love, talent and fame. It signified, style, commitment, audacity and a sense of showmanship that was wonderfully refreshing to experience in the England of those post-war years when the memory of grim austerity had not yet faded. In the public’s perception of them the Oliviers were a couple who were still deeply in love with each other, fused together in their lives and careers, by the irresistible attraction which had compelled them both to break up their marriages to others in the 1930s and recklessly join their fortunes ….

The throng of friends and hangers-on in Vivien’s dressing room began to leave or pass next door to Olivier’s. Godfrey Winn arrived and Vivien kissed him and waved him towards the remnants o the sandwich tray, Rex and Lilli were next door with Larry and they were waiting for Orson to arrive before setting off through the autograph hunters waiting outside, for the hour or so drive to Notley … the weekend was beginning.

It is a fascinating read, capturing it all perfectly, including the fascinating story of Vivien’s rise to fame, her determination to play Scarlett O’Hara, and her subsequent breakdowns and manic depression. I like her also in THE ROMAN SRING OF MRS STONE (see review at Leigh label) from 1960, covered in fascinating detail here, as is her life after Olivier, until her death in 1967. “A lass unparalled’d” indeed …

Characters we like ...

10 character actors? OK - but I am not including the well-known ones (stars in their own right) like Claude Rains, Thelma Ritter, Agnes Moorehead, George Sanders, Eve Arden, Judith Anderson, Jim Backus, Ward Bond, Walter Slezak, Hermoine Gingold, Elsa Lanchester, Mildreds Dunnock or Natwick, Beulah Bondi, Betty Field, Fred Clark, John McGiver, Lee J Cobb, or Hitch favourites Leo G. Carroll or John Williams. Then there's also types like Arthur O’Connell, Howard St John, or Dean Jagger and the very individual Maria Ouspenskaya, Florence Bates, Marjorie Main, Margaret Hamiulton and Mercedes McCambridge. We have already done Alice Pearce – see label. These 10 are always a pleasure to see and have enlivened many a movie ...

Jessie Royce Landis (1896-1972). Jessie always amuses and had a great way of delivering throwaway lines, as Grace Kelly's mother in TO CATCH A THIEF, or in a perfect Hitchcock joke, Cary Grant's mother in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (she was only 7 years older than him); she was also mother to Tab Hunter in THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND, and Tony Perkin's doting mum in GOODBYE AGAIN. She mothered Grace again too in THE SWAN (a character-filled delight with Agnes Moorehead and Estelle Winwood); other roles included AIRPORT in 1970 and as a ritzy contessa in BON VOYAGE in 1962. 

Norma Varden (1898-1989), with her comic face and manner Norma was always a treat. She is Lady Beekman with that tiara in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, gets almost strangled by Bruno in Hitch's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, and bumped off by Ty Power in WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, also in many films (159 credits on film and tv), like JUPITER'S DARLING, YOUNG BESS, NATIONAL VELVET. 

Mary Wickes (1910-1995). "Dora, I suspect you are a treasure" Bette says to nurse Mary in NOW VOYAGER. Indeed, she was - from THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER to SISTER ACT via WHITE CHRISTMAS, and THE MUSIC MAN among her 140+ credits including lots of television. Mary wisecracked through them all and had few peers as a scene-stealer as she told it like it was. 

Martita Hunt (1899-1969). Imperious dowager Martita was born in Argentina but enlivened many a British movie, particularly GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and BECKET, SONG WITHOUT END, DANGEROUS EXILE, ANASTASIA, BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING and was young Dracula's mother in BRIDES OF DRACULA in 1960. She remains the definitive Miss Havisham. It was fun too seeing her joining the dancing in THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN in 1964! Alec Guinness who knew her well has a nice chapter on her in his memoir "Count Your Blessings"

Margalo Gillmore (1897-1986). Margalo was a nice middle-aged middle-class lady. She also did duty as another mother to Grace Kelly, in HIGH SOCIETY, and was Clifton Webb's nice sister in WOMAN'S WORLD in 1954, other credits include the British comedy UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS in 1959, and THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS in 1966 

Charles Bickford (1891-1967). We like Charles a lot, he anchors the 1954 A STAR IS BORN as the studio head Oliver Niles, a standout in his 140+ credits, as is his Major Terrill in THE BIG COUNTRY in '58. Also dependable as Lee Remick's stern father in DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, young Tony Curtis's protector in MISTER CORY in 1957, and in Huston's THE UNFORGIVEN in 1960. His career goes back to starring with Garbo in ANNA CHRISTIE in 1930, in movies then since the early talkies, and in hits like SONG OF BERNADETTE, DUEL IN THE SUN, and THE VIRGINIAN on tv from 1962-68.

Jack Carson (1910-1963). Jack was deliciously nasty as Libby the vicious press agent in A STAR IS BORN, one of his many facets as a popular character actor. He was also ideal as Gooper, the other son in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, and with Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth in MILDRED PIERCE in 1945. He had a long relationship with Doris Day too. Jack was a popular guy and clocked up over 130 credits. The extras on the STAR IS BORN dvd show him as the compere of the Hollywood premiere welcoming all the stars of the day, including Doris, Joan Crawford and most of Hollywood.  (Above: Bickford and Carson with Garland and Mason).

Henry Daniell (1894-1963). Supercilious Henry is probably best known for his Baron de Varville in Garbo's CAMILLE, or the nasty Mr Brocklehurst in JANE EYRE in '44. As IMDB puts it "a suave, well-bred villain who could kill an enemy or start a war with a certain air of upper-class disdain, as if all of this effort was beneath him". His many other credits include THE PRODIGAL, THE SUN ALSO RISES, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, THE SEA HAWK, HOLIDAY, SIREN OF ATLANTIS and the Judge in LES GIRLS. He often featured in Cukor films (even a moment in THE CHAPMAN REPORT) and died on the set of MY FAIR LADY.

Thomas Gomez (1905-1971). Heavyset Gomez was another busy character actor, who died following a car accident. I watched him the other day in THE GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ and he amused too in THE CONQUEROR. Other roles included KEY LARGO, THE FURIES, MACAO, TRAPEZE, SUMMER AND SMOKE, and lots of television and starring on Broadway.

Jay C. Flippen (1899-1971). Jay C. was instantly recognisable and always pleased, like his gangster caught on television in ITS ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER in 1955, often out west as in WINCHESTER 73, IMDB again says: "one of those distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing old 50s and 60s movies and TV. His distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for roles as criminals and rugged adventurers". Other roles included THE KILLING, THE WILD ONE, OKLAHOMA!, THE FAR COUNTRY, WILD RIVER, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, CAT BALLOU. 

There;'s also those comedy supporting types like Tony Randall, Elliott Reid, Tommy Noonan, Gig Young, and David Wayne (who co-starred with Monroe twice and is in 2 other early MM's at Fox). 
'Heavies' are a separate category, usually supporting in westerns - we like those nasty turns by Lyle Bettger, Jack Elam, Royal Dano, Claude Akins, Neville Brand and sometimes Rory Calhoun. Sometimes heavies crossed over to become stars: Lee Marvin, Bronson, Borgnine ….