coopsgirl

Frank, you crack me up!!! Not sure if you know or not but Gary was 'shacked up' with Lupe for quite a while which was considered somewhat scandalous. He moved from his parents house to live with her but then near the end of their relationship he finally struck out on his own. No, I haven't not worn that blouse again and thankfully that creepy guy at works seems to have latched onto the new girl and for some strange reason I think she likes him! Joel or Mike; good question. I first started watching MST3K when Joel was still on so I have a special attachment to him but I think Mike was a little funnier. But I loved that show the whole way through and really don't have a preference (CC or Sci-fi era).

'Green Valley' doesn't sound like a movie I'd like anyway and you made a lot good points about the flaws in the film. It's funny that it took them only 2 months to film it and they spent the good part of a whole day just filming one scene of Sgt. York when he and his mother study the bottomland on the plate.

I haven't seen 'Green Valley' but it doesn't sound like something I would like. It's funny that they filmed the whole movie in 2 months and they spent several hours (if not a whole day) just filming one scene for Sgt. York where he and his mother are looking the bottom land on the plate.

I finally found a copy of the Photoplay magazine from April 1929 with Clara Bow on the cover and it's got a long article too about Gary but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Here's a little snippet about him though I found that I thought was funny. "Thirteen hundred Montana citizens visited Los Angeles in a body not long ago, and the crowd was immediately searched for more Gary Coopers." Here's another thing about him and Lupe Velez from an article titled "Gossip of the Studios". Believe it or not, Lupe always gives us the exciting moment of the month. She was being interviewed by a conservative, Boston newspaper woman. The setting was Lupe's boudoir. The night was warm, so her attire was scanty...to be exact, only two pieces, both of soft satin. Presently, Gary Cooper appeared on the scene. This was too much for the newspaper woman, who excitedly remarked: "Before the interview can proceed, I will have to ask you to put on a dressing gown, Lupe." Speaking of Lupe, it is the consensus of opinion that she and Gary Cooper will be married at an early date. The impression is that the parental anxiety on the part of the elder Coopers had no retarding influence on the love affair between Lupe and Gary. It has all the ear-marks of the genuine article.

dupe post deleted Message was edited by: coopsgirl

I like Fay Wray too and she most definitely had the best scream. It just makes you stop in your tracks. I love *Doctor X* and *Wax Museum* and like another poster said, I'm also a sucker for the old two-strip Technicolor. I recorded *Most Dangerous Game* and am excited to go back and watch that and *Dirigble*, mainly since that's an early Capra film and I love him too. Also as an interesting bit of trivia, Fay was Gary Cooper's leading lady more often than any other actress, appearing in 4 films with him. They were first paired up in the late 20's and billed as Paramount's great young lovers. For whatever reason though audiences really didn't take to the pairing even though they worked well together. Here are some pics from each movie. *Legion of the Condemned (1928) Silent* *The First Kiss (1928) Silent* *The Texan (1930)* *One Sunday Afternoon (1933)*

I'm shocked that *Sgt. York* was Hawks only nomination for best director. I haven't seen *Citizen Kane* (and never will b/c it looks boring as all get out) or *How Green was my Valley*, but it's hard to imagine them being that much better than *Sgt. York*. It would have been awesome if *Meet John Doe* had also been in the best pic category as it's my fave Gary movie. I wish *MJD* and *Sgt. York* had come out in different years so Gary could have gotten nominations for both. *MJD* was released first and I can't remember where I heard this (I think it was in the little bio of his on the *MJD* dvd) but they were reading a review of Gary's performance from a critic back then and they were giving him high praise for that one and saying that it would take a phenomenal performance by someone else to keep him from winning the Oscar for that one. Then the narrator joked that it was another great performance that one the Oscar - but it was still Gary for *Sgt. York*. It may be silly but it bothers me some that none of his movies ever won best picture. Oh well, I guess I should just let it go .

I love that pic of Gary and Rocky, it's so cute and sweet!!

That's funny that other people are comparing the new version of *Yuma* to *High Noon* too. I think I'll just watch *High Noon* again instead of the other one . Also just as an FYI I might have an idea why they don't make as many westerns any more. My stepdad works security at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin and he meets people in the movie business all the time as more and more movies are being filmed around the central Texas area. One producer told him they were very expensive to make so that may explain the drop off. I guess I can see that b/c typically you might have a lot of horses which means trainers and stunt riders too which is just adding more to the budget. Who knows though as the general cost of movie making seems to always be on the rise which I would think would affect multiple genres.

*Sorry ladies -Paulette Goddard is the main attraction in " The Unconquered ",* Paulette Goddard was in that movie? Just kidding Ken! I love the scene with her and Gary when he's explaining why his fiance married someone else and he says she found someone she liked better. Paulette says very surprised 'better than you!'. Then she looks straight in the camera and says 'she must be crazy!'. I get cracked up at that every time!!

Here's a pic I found of Gary, Madeliene Carroll, and Peter Lorre on the set of the *General Died at Dawn*. It said Lorre was visiting the set b/c he was good friends with the director. Here's one from *The Hanging Tree*. Here's one from *Operator 13*.

I'm with you two in that I can't stand to see blood and gore either. It may not have been realistic but I miss the old movies when you didn't really see all that. You got the general idea and that was enough. There's one scene in *Now and Forever* where Gary gets shot and I didn't realize the guy hit him until the next scene when he's with Carole and Shirley and he passes out. There was no blood and that's fine with me

Excellent comparison between *Yuma* and *High Noon*. I always get mad at the people in *High Noon* for not helping Gary but their reasoning does make sense. One man who was Gary's friend gives probably the most well thought out reason for not helping him when he explains that businesses back in the east want to set up shop in their town and if they hear about shoot outs in the street they may not want to come which would hurt the town economically. Also like you said they have gotten complacent b/c it has been a peaceful town for a long time. This doesn't make them bad people however. I very much dislike revisionist history as well and it's a shame when people twist history b/c it's either politically incorrect and they're afraid to show how things really were or they just twist it around to be what they think will be more entertaining.

*you know you're a hard case when you get excited about seeing a guy's wife in a 10 second bit part! Hee!* You're cracking me up!!! I really like Christian Bale (my fave modern actor and usually he's very good) but I don't really like non-Gary westerns so I won't be seeing *3:10 to Yuma* and from what you said it doesn't sound like I'm missing anything. It sounds too like they are taking modern characteristics (like the young son cussing in front of his mother) and putting them into a period movie. I guess maybe that always happens to a certain extent but I don't like it.

Gary was 6'3" with dark hair and blue eyes and Gehrig was 6' with dark hair and blue eyes and they have a similar smile so I can see why physically Gary was cast as Lou. Also Gary perfectly captured the wonderful, sweet man Lou Gehrig was. I've got lots of pic of Lou and no joke, he's smiling in nearly every single one of them. It seems like he was a very happy person who basically had no vices. One of the guys he played with (can't remember his name) told a funny story about Lou. He said one time after a game Lou asked him if he wanted to go raise some hell. Of course Lou's idea of 'raising hell' was to go to the bar down the street and have one beer and then go home - ha!. Here's my fave pic of Lou.

I love the song 'On a Slow Boat to China' and when I was listening to it the other day it hit me that I had a lot of pics of Gary on boats and he did some movies on boats too so I had to use it to make another slideshow.

Great article!! I was looking at their website yesterday and I didn't see the article but I saw all the movies they were showing. I love screwball comedies and they are showing some of my faves. They're also showing *Bluebeards's Eighth Wife*. I swear if I had money to burn I would just fly around watching Gary's movies where ever they're shown Robert Riskin is one of my favorite screenwriters and I think his collaborations with Capra brought out the best in each other. That's a wonderful story from Riskin's daughter about how all he had was a nickel to his name and then all of the sudden he's got $10,000!!! That's really something and it's so nice when good things happen to good people. It's seems so strange to think now that a comedy could win so many Oscars like *It Happened One Night*, which is one of my very favorite (non-Gary) films. I think that of all the movie genres, comedies have gotten the worst in recent years. I mean can you imagine a movie like *Balls of Fury* that's out now and is about ping-pong or something sweeping the Oscars next year?! I don't mind silly movies (like *Deuce Bigalow* which is one of my guilty pleasures) but you certainly don't look at them like real pieces of quality cinematic work. It doesn't matter how many times I watch *It Happened One Night* there are certain scenes that just crack me up every time. My very favorite is when Clark and Claudette are trying to hitch-hike and he's explaining to her all the different ways you can use your thumb. Of course when he goes to try it, none of his techniques work and they only get a car to stop when she flashes some leg. I just get absolutely tickled as he just wildly flails his arms trying to get cars to stop and Claudette is just trying not to laugh at him.

Yeah it's definitely neat to sit in those same red velvet seats in that gorgeous theater and see the same movies that showed there when they were new. I get tickled sometimes though thinking how different we look as an audience today than way back then. Nobody wears hats any more and we just wear shorts and t-shirts mostly.

I'd have to say *It Happened One Night*. One of my fave MST3K episodes is *It Lives by Night*. It's a super cheesy movie about a guy who gets bitten by a bat and then turns into one. Except really he looks more like a monkey than a bat - ha!

I'm really surprised that in a city like New York they don't have some nice, old movie houses still operating. There are actually three in Austin. There's the Paramount (1915) and The State (mid-'30s) and The Ritz (20's). Unfortunately the State theater is kinda stuck in the middle of a clean-up project. It's right next door to the Paramount and then right next to the State some people built some condos but they didn't seal part of their work properly and the State now has a serious mold problem. They've run out of money and are suing the condo people but that's stuck in legal limbo which is really a shame. The Ritz however is getting a complete makeover and will soon be a working theater again. There's a group of movie theaters in Austin and couple in Houston called the Alamo Drafthouse and they bought the Ritz. It's a really neat place b/c they have a restaurant inside each theater and you can eat while you watch the movies. In front of each row of seats is a long thing kinda like a bar where you can put your food and it gives you lots of leg room too. Three of their Austin locations show first run films but the one downtown (this one is relocating into the Ritz which is also downtown) shows all sorts of different stuff. They have theme nights too like Weird Wednesday and Terror Thursday. They mostly show older movies but they rarely go back past the 50's. The Ritz will have two screens and I think one will be for first run films and the other for their regular, older stuff.

*By the way, who the heck is with her in the one photo? He looks a little familiar.* I don't know who that guy could be but he sure is a looker Cyd Charisse definitely had some great gams and she's also from Texas!!!

I knew you'd like the *GWTW* stuff and I wish you could have been there too. I was totally surprised that they had the costumes there and was not expecting that. Watching it on my tv (even though it's big) just won't be the same now. It was so cool too b/c I'm sure it played at the Paramount originally and it's just such a neat feeling to know that somebody sat in the same seat as me and saw all those old movies when they were new.

My parents saw the new one yesterday and when I asked them how it was all they said was 'good' and didn't really go into any detail. Doesn't exactly sound like a rave review, but at least they didn't say it was bad. I'm not a fan of remakes and I haven't seen the original but I love *The Hanging Tree* which was also directed by Delmer Daves who did 'Yuma' originally. I can imagine that while the remake may be good, it's probably not on the same level as the original. If anyone's interested on Sept. 16 there will be a discussion about the remake and original with film historian and playwright Meir Ribalow at the Icons radio show website. http://www.modaentertainment.com/ICONS-Radio-30/ICONS-Radio-30.html

I don't really have any Thanksgiving movies although you could always watch some MST3K since it premiered on Thanksgiving many years ago. It is a holiday tradition in my family though to watch *National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation* every year. Sure, it's not as classy as say *White Christmas* or *Miracle on 34th Street*, but it's our fave none the less. P.S. Cousin Eddie says 'Merry Christmas, sh*tter was full!'

This is a little off topic but I'm posting it anyway . Saturday evening my mom and I went to see *Gone With the Wind* at the Paramount theater in Austin. I've talked about it before but for anyone who doesn't know, it's the oldest theater in Austin and was built in 1915. It was used for vaudeville acts and as a movie theater. It was fully restored in the 70s and is absolutely gorgeous. Today they host local and national theater troops and during the summer they show old movies and *GWTW* is the finale every year to their classic summer film series. Theresa and I have been to a bunch of movies this summer and *GWTW* had the biggest audience so far. As soon as the beautiful red curtain parted and the movie began everyone cheered. It was the first time I had seen it on the big screen and it just took my breath away. It's definitely a film that has to be seen on the big silver screen to be fully appreciated. I can't remember the guy's name but there is a man who has a massive collection of movie memorabilia who lives in Hawaii and he flew in especially for this screening and brought some of the original costumes with him. They were displayed upstairs and it was so cool to get to see the actual clothes the actors wore. My mom always carries around her little digital camera and she got some great pics of them. In order they are Vivien Leigh's 'shanty town dress', which was originally purchased for $20 by the collector and is now valued at $250,000. Next is Vivien's purple bodice she wears over a good portion of the film when the yankee army is preparing to invade Atlanta and when Melanie (Olivia DeHaviland) has her baby. This is the first of 12 that were made. Each one was distressed a little more and more to look worn out over the course of the scenes where she wears it. Next is Leslie Howard's (Ashley Wilkes) tunic that Melanie made him. Then one of Clark Gable's suits. He's wearing this one in the scene where Scarlett tells him she doesn't want anymore children and he says a locked door won't keep him out and he kicks open her bedroom door and storms out. The last one is a tunic from a soldier (not a main character) and you can also see Vivien's purple bodice again. I was just amazed at what great condition these pieces are still in and also how tiny Vivien Leigh was. It may not come out in the pics but seeing her costumes in person they are teeny-tiny.