VP19

I can't imagine someone like William Powell being a star today. His urbane, dapper style wouldn't cut it with today's audience -- and studios aren't making the type of movies he excelled in.

> {quote:title=myidolspencer wrote:}{quote} > C. Bennett-(not her sis Joan) was said to be among the biggest sob's in the industry! While I think Connie was one of the screen's great beauties and a reasonably good actress, you're probably right. She'd file a lawsuit at the drop of a hat over all sorts of things, reportedly took money from her young son's trust fund (they were consequently estranged for years); and, it was said, stole her final husband (an Air Force officer) from his ailing wife (shades of John McCain). People often said she resembled Carole Lombard (or vice versa), but the resemblance was purely physical; Carole was beloved in the industry (during her lifetime -- it wasn't merely posthumous), while Connie was, at best, respected.

Saw "A Lady Of Chance" this morning and liked it a great deal; Shearer was as effective in silents as she was in talkies, with an underrated feel for comedy. Johnny Mack Brown is a handsome, if somewhat bland, leading man, and I particularly enjoyed Gwen Lee, who was both attractive and funny. Not sure why Gwen didn't continue her success into the 1930s -- given that she was from Nebraska, I doubt an accent had anything to do with it. Perhaps styles simply changed, and she was perceived as yesterday's news.

"Birth Of A Nation" is being shown as an important cinematic historical document (while there had been feature-length movies before and filmmakers, including Griffith himself, had used filming techniques to tell a story, "BOAN" was the first American film to put this into an epic scope). TCM certainly isn't using it as a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool. TCM would be foolish not to include it to accompany this series. Sure, some people might be upset it's being shown at all, but in its proper context, I have no complaints.

Just cranked out an entry on "Moguls And Movie Stars" at my blog (never too early to get people excited about this): http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/328080.html

> {quote:title=misswonderly wrote:}{quote} > VP19, you gave us a clip of The Kinks, absolutely one of my favourite groups. Not only that, you posted "Waterloo Sunset", a very beautiful song. Thank you. > > "Terry meets Julie, at Waterloo Station, every Friday night.... > ...Millions of people, swarming like flies at Waterloo underground > but Terry and Julie, cross over the river, where they feel safe and sound." > > Off topic as it may be, I cannot resist posting the original version here. I hope people listen to it, it's a heartbreakingly beautiful song about loneliness with a lovely melody and sweet harmonies. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J3gX47rHGg > Delighted you liked it, misswonderly. When the record came out in the spring of 1967, it scarcely got airplay here in the States, despite the Kinks' previous chart success ("All Day And All Of The Night," "A Well-Respected Man," etc.). On the other side of the pond, it was a different story -- it reached #2 there, and remains one of the Kinks' most-beloved records in the UK. I suppose that song is to Ray Davies what "Mull Of Kintyre" is to Paul McCartney...simply too British for most Americans to understand.

I'm not the world's most avid Julie Christie fan, but she was a major star during the 1960s and made some wonderful films. One of them, "Far From The Madding Crowd" with Terence Stamp, inspired this classic from the Kinks, "Waterloo Sunset" (there's a reference to "Terry and Julie" in the lyrics) here performed by Ray Davies at the Glastonbury music festival in the UK (and dedicated to Pete Quaife, the Kinks' original bassist, who passed away earlier this year):

What I said about Lombard also applies to Harlow. Excellent job! (Now if we could only find a photo of them together, a holy grail for fans of both stars. It's odd one hasn't surfaced because they were good friends and socialized on occasion.)

A nice Lombard photo display, including several images I've never seen before (and since I've been a CL fan for several decades, that's saying something!). Thanks.

I thought it would be interesting to see what stars have been on Summer Under The Stars since TCM began the concept in 2003. Here's how the American Film Institute's top 25 legends, both male and female, have ranked in appearances: *Actors* 1. Humphrey Bogart, 3 (03, 04, 05) 2. Cary Grant, 5 (03, 04, 05, 06, 09) 3. James Stewart, 5 (03, 04, 05, 06, 07) 4. Marlon Brando, 2 (05, 08) 5. Fred Astaire, 3 (03, 05, 08) 6. Henry Fonda, 4 (04, 08, 09, 10) 7. Clark Gable, 2 (03, 09) 8. James Cagney, 2 (03, 05) 9. Spencer Tracy, 4 (03, 05, 07, 08) 10. Charlie Chaplin, 2 (04, 08) 11. Gary Cooper, 3 (03, 04, 07) 12. Gregory Peck, 3 (03, 06, 08) 13. John Wayne, 5 (03, 04, 05, 06, 09) 14. Laurence Olivier, 1 (04) 15. Gene Kelly, 2 (03, 08) 16. Orson Welles, 0 17. Kirk Douglas, 4 (03, 04, 05, 07) 18. James Dean, 0 19. Burt Lancaster, 2 (04, 06) 20. The Marx Brothers, 1 (04 for Groucho) 21. Buster Keaton, 1 (07) 22. Sidney Poitier, 3 (04, 06, 09) 23. Robert Mitchum, 2 (03, 07) 24. Edward G. Robinson, 2 (04, 08) 25. William Holden, 2 (03, 07) *Actresses* 1. Katharine Hepburn, 6 (03, 04, 05, 06, 08, 10) 2. Bette Davis, 3 (03, 04, 09) 3. Audrey Hepburn, 2 (06, 09) 4. Ingrid Bergman, 3 (06, 08, 10) 5. Greta Garbo, 2 (03, 08) 6. Marilyn Monroe, 0 7. Elizabeth Taylor, 4 (03, 04, 07, 10) 8. Judy Garland, 3 (03, 05, 09) 9. Marlene Dietrich, 1 (03) 10. Joan Crawford, 3 (03, 05, 07) 11. Barbara Stanwyck, 3 (04, 06, 08) 12. Claudette Colbert, 1 (04) 13. Grace Kelly, 0 14. Ginger Rogers, 1 (04) 15. Mae West, 0 16. Vivien Leigh, 0 17. Lillian Gish, 0 18. Shirley Temple, 0 19. Rita Hayworth, 2 (06, 08) 20. Lauren Bacall, 2 (05, 10) 21. Sophia Loren, 1 (05) 22. Jean Harlow, 1 (04) 23. Carole Lombard, 1 (06) 24. Mary Pickford, 0 25. Ava Gardner, 2 (04, 08) Stars not on the AFI list who have appeared more than twice include Doris Day (five times) and Elvis Presley (three times). For more thoughts on this, go to http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/325906.html

> It's been announced that there will be a forthcoming release either at the end of this year or early next of the restored print (of "Nothing Sacred"). Most likely TCM will be behind this release. Wonderful news!

I'm certain that if one looked over the film listings over the years for stars selected more than once, TCM has tried to approach them from different perspectives. For example, one year a William Powell SUTS might emphasize his films with Myrna Loy; another time, the Powell SUTS would largely examine his work at studios other than MGM (e.g., his early thirties work at Paramount and Warners). I doubt TCM programmers repeat material all that much for those stars featured multiple times.

I indeed am excited, particularly for John Gilbert (Aug. 24) and especially Thelma Todd (Aug. 30). All in all, a nice blend of stars, and even some of the more "obvious" ones have a few films that rarely get into the mix. You can learn more -- including a list of past SUTS subjects dating back to the beginning of the promotion in 2003 -- at http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/325428.html.

I believe the UCLA film archive restored "Nothing Sacred" several years ago, though I nave no idea whether that version has ever been issued on DVD. Since it was Carole Lombard's only film in three-strip Technicolor, one would hope so. (Several of Lombard's Mack Sennett shorts in the late 1920s had two-strip Technicolor sequences, although none were entirely filmed in that process.)

> {quote:title=Arturo wrote:} > I don't know why that would disqualify them, since the studios liked to exploit real-life couples by starring them together. Clark's wife had just granted him a divorce, in 1936 he and Lombard were just starting their relationship but wouldn't marry for 3 more years. Ria Gable didn't grant Clark the divorce until early 1939 (she made him pay a pretty penny for the divorce, and Carole paid most of those pennies). Gable and Lombard married in March of '39.

> {quote:title=cujas wrote:}{quote} > Arturo--I was always amazed at how Powell and Lombard could do such fine, professional work together, considering they were a divorced couple. Real pros! Not that much of a surprise when you know the backstory. They divorced amicably, dated occasionally not long afterward (leading some to incorrectly assume they would remarry), but both had the maturity to realize they made better friends than lovers. Lombard even aided Powell during his recovery from illness in the late 1930s. Powell suggested to Universal that Lombard be his leading lady; the studio originally wanted Constance Bennett, whom Powell rejected as too flighty and difficult to work with.

This could be sort of a distaff version of "Tom, Dick and Harry." Trying to imagine this film; we'll set it in 1936, while Harlow was still with us (although Ball hadn't really made her mark yet), but who ends up getting Cary" (Since Carole was already involved with Clark in real life, he'd be disqualified from the male lead.) * They agree to face each other in tennis, which means Lombard easily wins (unless Harlow gets Ginger Rogers to fill in for her; Ginger was nearly as good at tennis as Carole) * They agree to a round of golf (edge to Harlow -- that was her game). * They agree to a sport that Ball was good at (and I have no idea what that would have been, although I'm sure Lucy was quite athletic). * Cary gives them a test, which he grades (and Lombard had better hope he doesn't grade on spelling -- while Carole was a bright lady, spelling was her weak link). * Cary pulls a twist at the end, ditching them all for...Myrna Loy. (Hey, she is the "perfect wife," right?) Boy, that movie would have been fun...

William Powell's life would be intriguing, particularly if you focused on his period from 1929 to 1940, when he made the transition from silent-screen villain/character actor to sound-film leading man. His rise, then fall (including a severe illness and the tragic death of someone he loved) and career rebirth would make a fine story -- and when you consider the legends whose lives intersected with his, either professionally and/or romantically (Lombard, Harlow, Loy), it would have much appeal. Of course, what actor today would have the suavity to portray Powell?

Speaking of vintage film star cards, perhaps the most beautiful were the Garbaty series issued in Germany in the 1930s. You can learn more about them at http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/205341.html.

"Cherokee Strip" opened in October 1940.

As a Carole Lombard fan, I can think of several stars she should have been teamed with, and indeed might have had she not left us at a relatively young age. For male co-stars: James Cagney Humphrey Bogart Edward G. Robinson Errol Flynn Henry Fonda Tyrone Power Paul Muni Cary Grant* *Grant and Lombard appeared in several films, and even co-starred in "In Name Only," but the acknowledged top stars of the screwball genre never made a comedy together. There weren't many co-star pairings of actresses n those days, but it would've been fun to see Lombard work with Myrna Loy (their comedic approaches were quite different, but they might have complemented each other) or her good friend Jean Harlow (imagine them cast as sisters).

TCM will show nine Constance Bennett films on Oct. 22 (the 106th anniversary of her birth). She was a pretty capable actress in her day, especially the pre-Code era; not the easiest personality to get along with, to be sure, but definitely one of the screen's great beauties.

Carole Lombard apparently performed four times on "Silver Theater," but only one is known to currently exist -- a March 9, 1941 thriller-comedy called "Murder Unlimited," where Carole portrays a newspaper reporter who uncovers a murder ring, then has to escape their clutches. It took Lombard some time to become comfortable with radio, but by the end of the 1930s she was a skilled broadcast performer -- and had she lived longer, she might have done a lot more in radio, similar to contemporaries such as Alice Faye or Lucille Ball.

I like to think they planned the Myrna-thon just for you.

Hope you're enjoying the Myrna-thon, featuring multiple appearances by Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell.