One of the most exciting events at the Turner Classic Movie Festival 2012 opened the doors to the Cinerama Dome on Sunday, April 15, and included an introduction by Robert Osborne and the animated Debbie Reynolds to How The West Was Won. A film suggested by the Life magazine series, "How The West Was Won," the enormous script, ultimately credited to James R. Webb, with uncredited supplemental material by John Gay, had four major directors, Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall, and Richard Thorpe. Six second unit directors were also employed for the many location shoots, and narration by Spencer Tracy added to its credibility.

As always the dapper and personable TCM host, Osborne's tentative restlessness during his introduction with Reynolds belies the fact that he knew Debbie Reynolds just might say and do anything, and audience members could tell he was stepping into uncharted "Debbie" territory. Recalling her exciting experiences and revelling in the unusual circumstances of filming such an enormous project, she laughed and remembered Peck with a smile and a wink, and seemed to relish working with legendary queen of the quips, Thelma Ritter.

I traveled to the event with a dear friend, David from Seattle. Luckily, he understood my enthusiasm and excitement for the screening of How The West Was Won , as I hummed the theme song on and off for an hour before the film started. I originally saw the film during it's re-release in Houston, Texas, and the event meant a return to seeing the colorful, energetic story. The directorial duties were immense, and the vast physical expanse mingled with uncertain elements like herds of buffalo, trains wrecks, and desert climes only added to the accomplishments of location shooting by several directors, both first and second units. The original score by Alfred Newman accentuated the broad strokes of the film canvas and added to the thunderous feel of the buffalo stampedes and runaway trains.

Thelma Ritter's salty language, repeated by Debbie Reynolds, is certainly understandable considering the treacherous, harrowing circumstances of the shoot-- a runaway wagon, bulky costumes, and attention to the emoting of a climactic action scene filmed with horses, wagons, guns, and arrows. The initial portion of the film dedicated itself to the love stories of the two Prescott sisters, Debbie Reynolds and Carroll Baker.

Reynolds character, Lillith , falls in love with a gambler with the Celtic gift of gab, Cleave Van Valen, portrayed by Gregory Peck, on the long wagon trail to an exhausted gold mine, and impresses Aggie, Lillith's traveling companion (Thelma Ritter), by telling her what beautiful hair she has, and how he would hate to see it hanging on a lodgepole. Baker's character, Eve, falls in love with a wandering mountain man, Linus Rawlings , acted by Jimmy Stewart, who always feels he will be "going to see the varmint," but because he loves Eve so much, decides to settle on a farm by a river in Ohio.

With literally a cast of thousands that also included John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, George Peppard, Agnes Morehead, Eli Wallach, Carolyn Jones, Harry Morgan, Andy Devine,Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, and Richard Widmark, the film encompasses a time of frontier struggle with awe-inspiring vistas.

Fred MacMurray, Stanley Livingston, Don Grady, Barry Livingston, and William Demarest

Stanley Livingston, who portrays Zeb Rawlings' (George Peppard's) son, Prescott Rawlings, and is also remembered as adorable Chip Douglas on My Three Sons, was a member of the audience and was introduced by Robert Osborne to the TCMFF fans attending the How The West Was Won Cinerama extravaganza, and received a big round of applause. Currently he is involved in the current Cinerama project, In The Picture.

And more breaking news from Stanley Livingston:

RE: CINERAMA FILM - "IN THE PICTURE"

My latest project... "IN THE PICTURE" - is a CINERAMA Film that is scheduled to premier at and open THE 2012 CINERAMA FILM FESTIVAL in HOLLYWOOD (Los Angeles, CA) September 28, 2012 at 10:00 am. The 2012 Cinerama Film Festival runs from September 28th thru October 4th, 2012 at THE ARCLIGHT CINEMAS & HISTORIC CINERAMA DOME theater complex in Hollywood. "In The Picture" will be screened a second time on SEPTEMBER 30th at 8:15 pm along with the first Cinerama film, "THIS IS CINERAMA".

"IN THE PICTURE" is the first film to be shot in the original "3-Strip 35mm widescreen process" in over 50 years. The last film to shot and released in CINERAMA was "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" (which I also appeared in back in 1962).

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT "IN THE PICTURE" & THE CINERAMA FILM FESTIVAL at the ARCLIGHT CINEMAS & HISTORIC CINERAMA DOME:
https://www.arclightcinemas.com/news/promotion-cinerama?promo=spotlightM2

TO SEE A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE MAKING OF "IN THE PICTURE" THAT
WAS SHOT DURING THE PRODUCTION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udtQB_i-JyE

TO SEE THE FINAL SCENE IN "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" (with yours truly,
George Peppard, Carolyn Jones and Debbie Reynolds):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t_qToyqiOU&feature=fvwrel

And, BTW...

IF YOU WANT TO SEE HOW ADORABLE STANLEY LIVINGSTON IS NOW THAT HE'S ALL GROWN UP OR JUST WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HIS INVOLVEMENT IN "IN THE PICTURE," FOLLOW THIS LINK:

http://www.StanleyLivingston.com/

Festival Passholders, some of whom are members of the TCM Message Boards, are also featured in In The Picture.

And don't forget to go to the Kennedy Center Facebook page and let them know that you think Debbie Reynolds is a "National Treasure," and should be included in this year's honors!
https://www.facebook.com/KennedyCenter

I can remember watching Tarzan and the Amazons with great anticipation. Maybe it was that I was only 11 and kept hearing the word Amazon crop up in conversations having to do with my height. Maybe it was that I so enjoyed all the Tarzan movies, and Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories and novels.

But I do remember being spellbound by Maria Ouspenskaya and waiting for her to pronounce that all would be spared. (I am watching her right now.) She looked so Egyptian in her frock and headdress, but ultimately superior to all she surveyed. I can remember sitting in front of the massive television set, wanted to wear leopard skins, carry a spear, and organize all those gold bracelets on my arms for dramatic effect.

And everytime Johnny Sheffield would be in trouble, it would make me tear up. He was so cute and adorable. How could anything evil befall such an unpretentious lad?

But the highlight of all this Saturday devotion occurred in 1962 when I met Johnny Weissmuller in New Orleans. He was elegantly decked out in his Jungle Jim attire, a leopard-skin accent on his wide-brimmed hat, and was shaking hands, visiting with children, and signing autographs. I remember him taking out the huge, shiny knife and telling us that even thought it was pretty and shiny, that we should never use a knife like this unless our parents were with us because it was so dangerous. He was kind to the children and adults who had come to pay homage to one of our favorite screen heroes, and he was smiling and laughing. That's how I will always remember him!

I am thoroughly enjoying this Saturday's TCM lineup. Maybe a classic Tarzan film will be on the schedule at the next TCM Film Festival!

For more information, follow the link:
http://www.stefaniepowersonline.com/news.htm

For an informative interview about her UK appearance in Plymouth in April, follow this link:
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Humour-fore-Golden-Pond-play/story-15863296-detail/story.html

Any chance Stephanie Powers might visit the next TCMFF in 2013 to introduce McClintock with John Wayne or Die, Die, My Darling with Tallulah Bankhead?

And if you live in the L.A. area, don't forget about Salome Jens' performance in On Golden Pond in Glendale in July and August!

Richard Anderson's introduction to Seconds also revealed that he felt Salome Jens was a wonderful actress. And viewing that film at the Turner Classic Film Festival 2012 peaked my interested in a woman whose career encompassed many film, television, and stage successes. Her face is familiar to many because of her myriad of guest starring roles in series like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, appearing as the Female Shapeshifter, or Melrose Place as Joan Campbell.

She also appeared in Tales From the Crypt, Falcon Crest, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Medical Center, Stoney Burke, The Outer Limits, The Untouchables, and one of the more unusual episodes of Gunsmoke, entitled "Captain Sligo," with Richard Baseheart in the title role, staple character player Royal Dano, and director William Conrad, who was the original Matt Dillon on the CBS radio show. McMillan and Wife, Seconds ' costar Rock Hudson's popular detective series, also afforded Jens the opportunity to work with Hudson again in the episode entitled " Reunion in Terror," as a character named "Boom Boom" Parkins in the 70s.

Jens' quirky, often off-beat characters did much to advance her in certain non-traditional roles, but her portrayal of Nora Marcus as the free-wheeling, grape-stomping paramour of Rock Hudson's reformed Arthur Hamilton enjoying his new found "freedom" in the up-and-coming Malibu counterculture, is one of her signature roles. As Nora Marcus, she is mysterious, passionate, and willing to lead Arthur Hamilton into all kinds of adventures, some of which occur on screen in the actual Malibu home of Seconds director John Frankenheimer.

Her 1961 starring role in Paul Wendkos's Angel Baby is considered Wendkos' best directorial effort, and a cult favorite with fans of Salome Jens. Wendkos, famous for the Gidget franchise, The Legend of Lizzie Borden, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, and A Woman Called Moses, starring Cicely Tyson, was hard-pressed not to release Angel Baby, and it was "shelved" for a year to help ensure the success of a similarly plotted Columbia effort entitled Elmer Gantry, which propelled Shirley Jones to her Oscar win as Lulu Bains.

Angel Baby not only marked the debut of Ms. Jens as a woman who believes she has been selected by God to alleviate the suffering of others with her healing skills, but it also allowed a young Burt Reynolds his first film credit before his stint as "Quint" on Gunsmoke a year or
so later. George Hamilton, as Paul Strand, is a greedy promoter who supposedly cures Jens of her affliction, and Mercedes McCambridge is his wife who also exploits the innocent.

Salome Jens will star with Andrew Prine ( Bandolero , The Miracle Worker, Chisum ) in Glendale Centre Theatre's On Golden Pond, July 12-August 11. Jens has previously appeared in many productions, and the New York Times called her one-woman show About Anne, incorporating the poems and words of Anne Sexton, " a magnificent moment of theater" and states that her "rich and brilliant performance gleams in the memory." (Anyone living near Glendale, California, might want to order tickets to see Jens and Prine emote in On Golden Pond at 818-244-8481.)

Watching Seconds made me so curious about Salome Jens because I had seen her in so many movies and television classics, and I had to find out a little more about this fascinating feature player. Discussing her performance with Geraldine Page in Barefoot in Athens, a play about the death of Socrates, which first appeared on Broadway, and aired in 1966 on NBC, Jens claimed Page was "fierce" and always worked "on the edges." She also reveals she was "moved, moved humanly" by Page's performance. Barefoot in Athens also starred Peter Ustinov as Socrates. After watching the print of Seconds at the Turner Classic Film Festival in April, I feel that Jen's performances move viewers humanly and motivated me to find out a little more about her and her performance in Seconds, which helped make it a classic, cult or otherwise.

Maybe Salome Jens will be asked to appear at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival 2013 to introduce another screening of Seconds, or even Angel Baby.

The low-key, but informative introduction allowed Anderson to reveal some of his Hollywood rise to prominence as one of the most visible supporting cast players from the decline of the studio system to his berth as solid Oscar Goldman in The Six Million Dollar Man, and its feminist spawn, The Bionic Woman. The first actor to play concurrent roles in two different series on two different networks, Anderson was recommended for the role of Henry Malvine in Dream Wife by none other than Cary Grant as Grant's wife at the time, Betsy Drake had noticed Anderson in one of his theatrical appearances in the 1950s when Anderson was a contract player at MGM.

Anderson once claimed that "when people ask me where I received my education, I tell them it was at MGM-U. The biggest lessons I learned is that acting is a talent. You can't teach it. And even if you have the talent, you have to get a part." So when the call came from Cary Grant, he was a little startled, but eventually secured one of his breakthrough roles in Dream Wife after appearing in scores of MGM films in the early 1950s, thanks to the intervention of the Grants, and Anderson even entertained passholders with an imitation of Grant during the explanation of his acquisition of the Henry Malvine role.

Anderson's role as Dr. Innes in Seconds came after his appearances in the final season of Perry Mason and before his guest-starring stints in such favorites as The Man From Uncle, Twelve O'Clock High, The Big Valley, and Dan August, continuing his popularity as the king of supporting roles in major film and television series. With Seconds, both he and Cari Beauchamp acknowledged that Rock Hudson's portrayal of Tony Wilson was one of his best moments on film.

Before the cameras rolled, Hudson spent time with John Randolph learning his mannerisms and preparing to imitate the man who would embody the character of Arthur Hamilton who chooses to relinquish his former life dedicated to what he believed was a hollow dream of unfulfilled hopes. By accepting the Faustian offer of old friend Charlie Evans, played by a post Anatomy of a Murder, pre- Jaws Murray Hamilton, Randolph's character agrees to visit the firm that promises to orchestrate his death, and resurrect him with a new face and a new identity.

Actors John Randolph, Will Geer, Nedrick Young, and Jeff Corey had all been on the Blacklist, and Seconds became the first film Randolph had completed in fifteen years. John Frankenheimer's direction of Seconds, part of what is considered his 'Trilogy of Paranoia' along with The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May, was also an overt political statement as well as a psychological tale that so affected the likes of Beach Boys' Brian Wilson under the influence of psychedelic drugs that he didn't see another movie until E.T., the Extraterrestial premiered in 1982. Audience members seemed much more emotionally stable and appreciative of the collaborative screen efforts, and were visibly moved by scenes depicting the emotional depths of self-delusion and self-destruction.

The passholders attending Saturday's screening all seemed to enjoy Anderson's discussion, and gave him, and Cari Beauchamp, a big round of applause before he exited the stage.

Personally, Anderson's second marriage to Katharine Thalberg, daughter of Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg, produced three daughters, and according to his website biography, he is "a sports buff, a car enthusiast," and an " insatiable traveler." He certainly looks like he has been taking very good care of himself.

For more about the career and accomplishments of Cari Beauchamp, follow this link:
http://www.caribeauchamp.com/index.html

For more about Richard Anderson, visit his website:
http://www.bionik.com/biography.html

Anderson's career also paralleled that of Seconds costar Salome Jens. More about her busy professional life in the next installment.

Don't forget to have fun!