coopsgirl

I hope everybody caught the Story of Dr. Wassell last night if you hadn't already seen it. It was great!!! I've got a soft spot for the Navy already b/c both my grandfathers were sailors. My dad wanted to be in it but he couldn't pass the physical b/c of an inner ear disorder. None the less I've never known anybody who knew more about the Navy than he does so it's almost like I grew up a Navy brat but without all the traveling. I haven't seen too many of De Mille's pics but I know he can be a little over the top sometimes but I thought this one was just right. Every time Coop said 'good gravy' it just cracked me up. I love these old movies b/c I grew up with a lot of the slang they used and me and my family still talk that way today. My mom has called me tootsie bell as long as I can remember and it absolutely cracked my up when Barbara Stanwyck says that in Ball of Fire I like black and white movies but I sure wish they had done more of his earlier films in color. Also if there's going to be a scene with a very tan and beautiful half-naked Coop in a bubble bath, I wish they would warn us ahead of time

That would be great! It doesn't look like your PM has come through though.

Well this is easy. There are lots of classic actors that have already been mentioned that are very handsome. But there's only one that just makes me go weak in the knees and that's Gary Cooper!!!! From his silent movie days when he was just unbelievably gorgeous to his last few years when he still had it going on (check out the shirtless wood chopping scene in Friendly Persuasion at age 55!) He was not only very attractive but there's just seems to be something magnetic about him and he's just the kind of guy that you just want to be around. As much as that comes through on the screen I can't imagine what he was like in person

Thanks for the articles Dan, they were great! Don't forget everybody that the Story of Dr. Wassell comes on TCM tonight at 9pm central.

Thanks for all the info Dan! I still need Cassanova Brown and Unconquered (I just preordered this one from amazon.com) so that's great!! I think Christmas is coming early this year, in May to be exact

During my lunch break today I found a great website that has really high quality pics and lots of film clips of movies from the silent era through the 40's. Here's the link. http://www.doctormacro.com/Film%20Clips.htm If you search through you can find some of Coop's movies and it's also just a good way to kill some time. I have a lot of down time where I work some days so this will be great. I'm still having problems getting the Morocco pic to load so I'm trying again. In case it doesn't work here's the website where I found it. Just scroll down to the pic with the tall, good looking shirtless man http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDMorocco.htm

Okay that was my first try and posting a pic and obviously it didn't work so I'm gonna try again.

Here's a pic I found from the movie Morocco. I haven't seen this one yet but judging by this pic it just moved up on my list of his movies I still need to buy http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/MDimages/Copy_of_morocco2.jpg[/b]

http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/webpages/MDIndex.htm If you go to the above link y'all can see the list of all the movies they have articles about. They have a few of Gary's as well as lots of others and it's pretty interesting. I watched Doomsday yesterday which is one of his silent movies from 1928 and it was great!! The basic plot for those who don't haven't seen it Mary Viner (Florence Vidor) lives in a little English village with her sick father. She takes care of him and all their household chores. One of her neighbors is the wealthy Percival Fream, a man 30 years her senior who lives in an elegant mansion and watches her through his binoculars. Another neighbor Arnold Furze (Coop) runs Doomsday Farm which is old and run down but he's trying to make it a successful working farm. He delivers food from his farm to Mary occassionally and it's clear they both like each other. One day Mary is walking past Arnold's farm and her hat blows into his pasture where he's working. After fetching the hat they sit down near a bunch of hay and what follows is a very sweet and surprisingly sensual kissing scene for such an old movie. What surprised me about this is that instead of just smushing their faces together (which is not how people kiss) they look more like they're really kissing. After their interlude in the hay (Watch out for ants, I speak from personal experience here. Unfortunately mine was not so romantic. I was just a kid playing on a hay bail) they go back to his house and he shows her around and explains how great their life together will be. Of course this will entail her working to fix up the home by cleaning the walls and windows and spending a lot of time in a very pitiful looking kitchen while he works outside on the farm. While Mary loves him she is not excited about the possibility of leaving one drudgerous (this word is used a lot in the film) life for another. Once she returns home Percival is waiting for her with a marriage proposal. Which one will she choose? I was very impressed with this film. I've only seen a little over a handful of silient films but this one is by far my fave. The actors are not heavily made up which makes them look much more natural (especially the men b/c it's just weird to see them wearing eye shadow and lipstick). The principal actors all did great jobs too especially Florence Vidor as Mary. She was married to the famous director King Vidor and her career ended when talkies came about. They all seemed very natural and the story line was also very good. Okay now for the superficial stuff. Gary was 27 in this movie and I don't think I've ever seen him looking better. There are lots of close ups too which are great. His eyes are so light blue and beautiful that it gives him a very ethereal look. He and Florence had great screen chemistry and just about every time she looks at him it seems like she really is caught up in his spell which just adds to the depth of the story since they are supposed to be in love. I would definitely recommend this one. I got it at forgottenfilms.biz for $13 and it's very good quality.

These are fun and I'll try to be creative and not pick Gary Cooper for all my answers Which classic actor would you like to bring home to meet your parents? Jimmy Stewart Which classic actor would you like to dance with? Gene Kelly Which classic actor would you like to see as a Playgirl centerfold? Coop Which classic actor would you like to wake up in bed with? Coop Which classic actor would you like to yell and scream at on a bad day? don't know Which classic actor would you tell your innermost thoughts to? Couldn't be Coop b/c I'd look into those baby blues and lose all train of thought so I'll go with Jimmy Stewart on this one too Which classic actor wouldn't you mind having a one-night stand with and never seeing again? Gregory Peck (it would probably be hard to let him go though) Which classic actor would you like a long-term relationship with? Gary Cooper Which classic actor would you like to have as a brother? Jimmy Stewart Which classic actor would you like to have a photo of above your bed? too many to name Which classic actor would you run the other way from? Lon Chaney (he could be very creepy looking) Which classic actor would you replace your boyfriend/husband with? Gary Cooper

I just got Wings on dvd yesterday and I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet but I did watch Gary's scene and it was really good. I found a website with a lot of good info about the making of this movie which was very involved for 1927 at http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDWings.htm. I'm proud to say that most of it was shot in my home state of TX It's pretty long so I'll just hit some of the high spots here if anyone is interested. Wings is a rip-snorting adventure movie, the best ever made about aerial combat in The Great War. John Monk Saunders, who wrote the story, and William Wellman, the director, were both air war veterans, and were chosen for their ability to convey their war experiences to the audience. Saunders convinced the US War Department to cooperate, lending men and materiel, as long as the government had approval of the final product. The military donated $16 million in supplies, a good investment since a succesful film would be the best recruitment tool their money could buy. Usually, when there are airplane scenes in a movie, there is a long shot of flying planes, and then close-ups shot on the ground against the sky (or later, using a projected background). There would be no faking in Wings. If you saw somebody flying a plane, they would be in the air. Cameras were bolted to a mount shaped like a saddle, which then was strapped to the body of the plane. The planes were extremely light, and the added weight of the camera created an additional danger of a crash. The actors had to emote, without a windshield, at heights up to 11,000 ft. Kevin Brownlow recounted in The War, the West and the Wilderness, "One trick aroused widespread comment, and for a while Paramount refused to admit how it was done (the front office probably didn't know). Frank Clarke, playing a German, was instructed to go up to 6000 feet, then come swirling down, his plane on fire and out of control. This was not so hard to do in a long shot. What astounded audiences--and technicians--was the fact that the camera stayed on him in close-up, the clouds wheeling behind him?He reached the required height, switched on the camera, jerked as though hit by a bullet, opened his mouth to release a gush of theatrical blood, released a gate in a box containing lampblack (for smoke), let go of the stick, and kicked the plane into a tailspin with his foot. Aviators acknowledged this to be one of the toughest stunts on record--to sit limp and useless while your plane does the one thing you have been trained to avoid." Wings had a $2 million budget in excess of the military investment and used thousands of soldiers. Several of the pilots in Wings became generals in World War II. The war scenes were filmed outside of San Antonio, Texas, near Army bases and airfields. The recreation of the battle of St. Mihiel was done by the 2nd Division, which had actually fought the battle in the war. One of the director's close friends had been killed in the battle, and it was recreated so faithfully that Wellman, flying over it in his own plane, felt ill and said, "God--I'm back in France." There was nine months of location shooting in Texas, and more back at the Paramount studios, this in a day when most pictures were shot in one month. Frisky Clara Bow lights up the screen whenever she appears. Saunders and Wellman were willing to have their story rewritten to accommodate her, since she would insure their box office success. Bow chafed against her wholesome "girl next door" part and her on-screen romance with na?ve Buddy Rogers, "I hate them love scenes," she said, "It's like kissin' ya brother." She knew she was in a man's picture and she spends most of her on-screen time dressed in a military uniform, which she kept trying to doll up. There's a small part in this film played by the son of a Montana State Supreme Court Justice, lately arrived to Hollywood. You won't have any trouble recognizing Gary Cooper, or wonder why after Wings he became a star. In the big cities, there were drummers behind the screen creating the rolling sound of the airplane motors. At one point in the orchestral score, there was a cue that signaled a stage hand to open the curtains wider, and a special lens was put on the projector to make the image larger. Wings was a smashing success and the very first Academy Award winner for Best Picture. But, there was trouble on the horizon. In a theater down the street, recently converted to sound, Al Jolson was crooning, "Mammy."

I don't have in ipod (I'm not quite that high tech yet) so I just burn cd's from Rhapsody. It's just a program I have on my computer and you can listen to whole songs instead of just samples so it really helps the work day go by faster. I did watch The Westerner and it was great. I've liked all of Coop and Brennan's movies together and this was another good one. You know Brennan won a best supporting actor oscar for this one and he's also the first and only actor to win three best supporting actor oscars. Pretty cool! I love the part at the beginning where they're bringing Coop into town and he's on the horse with his hands tied behind his back and he gets off that horse just as smooth as silk. I love watching him ride b/c it just seemed like second nature to him. I grew up in the country in Southeast Texas around people who had horses and I would ride sometimes and I wanted to be good at it but I just wasn't The horse pretty much went where ever it wanted too and I always seemed to get stuck with the biggest one so at 5'4" I always needed help getting on and off.

I have a habit of putting together cd's based on stuff I like (make the daily commute go by faster). For example I love baseball so I have lots of cd's with songs about baseball. I also put together a cd of songs that remind me of Coop. I have Rhapsody on my computer and that's where I found these. Anyway here's my list. Feel free to add if there are other songs from his movies that I may have missed or songs that just make you think of everybody's favorite man from Montana Puttin? on the Ritz ? Fred Astaire (I hate the Taco version) Candyman ? Christina Aguilera Ain?t No Other Man ? Christina Aguilera (I think these two from her were written with Coop in mind) The More I See You ? Michael Buble You Do Something To Me ? Dinah Washington Along Came Jones ? The Coasters Dream Train (1928) ? Ian Whitcomb (Makes me think of Peter Ibbetson) They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me ? Ian Whitcomb (this one is really funny) Swanee River ? Kenny Ball (from Mr. Deeds) High Noon ? Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin? ? City of Prague Philharmonic The Virginian ? City of Prague Philharmonic (I think this may actually be the TV theme version but close enough) Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time ? Eva Taylor (Louis Armstrong also has a version) Mohair Sam ? Slim Harpo (Derailers also have a version) Wings ? Regimental Band of the Coldstream Guards (Not sure if it was used in the movie but it?s a march and sounds like it would fit) Friendly Persuasion ? Dinah Washington The Hanging Tree ? Marty Robbins Clara Bow ? Cleaners From Venus (this song is real cute)

1. What classic actor/actress would you like to skinny dip with? Gary Cooper - I've heard there's a skinny dip scene in Wolf Song (silent film) but I can't find a copy of it anywhere 2. What classic actor/actress would you like to push off a diving board? Paul Newman - just b/c good looking men look even better soaking wet 3. What classic actor/actress would you like to go to a drive-in with? I'll have to say Coop again - but we won't be watching the movie 4. What classic actor/actress would be afraid to approach for an autograph? Clark Gable/Joan Crawford (she is scary) 5. What classic actor/actress had the most interesting biography or autobiography? Don't have a specific book but Coop's story is very interesting. He actually intended on being a political cartoonist but couldn't get a job doing that so he started doing stunt riding instead for the movies and the rest is history. 6. What classic actor/actress would have made a great talk show host? I'll go with Jimmy Stewart too. He just had such a cool voice he could just talk to himself and that would be entertaining. 7. What classic actor/actress aged horribly? Jerry Lewis 8. What classic actor would make a great Chippendale dancer? Gene Kelly (although I can't really picture that and he's too good a dance to waste his talents like that) 9. What classic actress would make a lousy Playboy Centerfold? Jean Arthur (she was pretty enough but never would have stooped that low) 10. What classic actor/actress made the most obvious mistake in a movie and please name the film. I can't think of a movie but on an episode of I Love Lucy with John Wayne 'Ricky' misses his mark and Lucy has to push him out of the way to get to the Duke. It's funny though b/c it just looks like she's excited to see him and not so much that Desi messed up. 11. What classic actor/actress was the most bizarre/eccentric? Jean Arthur - she wasn't so much bizarre I guess but it's just interesting that she had such stage fright she would often be sick in between takes and refused to do interviews most of the time. 12. What classic actor/actress do you the most DVD's of? Coop 13. What classic actor/actress had your birthday? don't know 14. What classic actor/actress looks most like you? Grace Kelly - well we're both blondes and that's about as far as it goes

1. Which classic movie did you fall asleep on even though it was said to be a timeless classic? Casablanca. I've tried to watch this one many times but just can't get through it. 2. Which classic movie would you like to co-star in? Singin' in the Rain. I took tap dance lessons for 12 years as a kid and it would have been awesome to dance with Gene Kelly. 3. If your house was on fire and you could only save 1 DVD, which movie would you save? MST3K: The Movie. Not a classic (yet) but it's out of print and I had to buy it for $50 off ebay. 4. Which classic film really grew on you after initially disliking the film? Can't think of any. 5. Which classic film line is your favorite? If I was the cream in that woman's coffee I'd curdle! Mrs. Bragg says this about Barbara Stanwyck's character in Ball of Fire. 6. Which classic film had the most ridiculous title? The Incredibly Strange Creatures who Stopped Living and Became Mixed up Zombies (Mystery Science Theater fans will know this one) 7. Which classic film had the best cast with lots of well-known stars? 8. Which classic film is most underated? Meet John Doe. This movie is great and brings me to tears every time I watch it. 9. Which classic film is way too long and should be shortened? I love Oklahoma but I always space out some during Laurie's dream sequence. 10. Which classic film is too overated? Probably Casablanca. I just don't see it. 11. If you could produce a classic film, what actors/actresses would you cast and what would the film be about? I would cast Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur together in a romantic comedy. They only did two movies together but they were really great together and both very funny. 12. If you had to do a love scene with a classic actor/actress, who would it be? Gary Cooper!!!! I'd also mess up a lot so we'd have to keep shooting over and over!!

Gary Cooper would be my favorite actor. He's the only actor whose whole body of work I want to have. I've got about 40 of his films so far. Some are better than others but there's at least something good about every one of them that makes them fun to watch. He just seems so warm, likeable, and believeable. From his silent films to his last movie he just has me mesmerized These two couldn't be more different but I also love Boris Karloff. He was just great! Even when he was playing a creepy bad guy he's just still cool. He and Coop did do a movie together (Unconquered) so I guess they do have something in common after all. Jean Arthur would probably be my favorite actress. She just seemed very natural and with the stage fright that she had I amazed she was as good as she was. I also think it's cool that she shunned the Hollywood lifestyle but still had a successful career.

Just wanted to let everybody know that tomorrow (2/6) on TCM they are showing The Westerner at 5:15 pm central time and on 2/11 they are showing The Story of Dr. Wassell at 9pm central time so get those recorders ready If you go to the schedule page you can watch a trailer for both of these. I haven't seen either one of these so I'm really excited. I especially can't wait for Dr. Wassell b/c it's in beautiful Technicolor and from the trailer it looks like a really good print. I also watched Lilac Time and The Virginian for the first time this weekend and they were both great. Lilac Time was the first silent film I've seen of his and I can see how he easily made the transition to talkies. He doesn't ham it up which was more the style for some actors in silents. He just seems like the same old Gary and it was a really good story too. I also watched The Plainsman and Now and Forever and they were good too but Now and Forever just seemed to dark especially for a Shirley Temple movie. I just want all his movies to have a happy ending but I guess that would get boring I've several more coming in the mail too and by the end of the week I should have about 40 of his movies. AWESOME!!!!!!

I just joined this board a few days ago but this is one of the best ones I have been on (I'm usually on baseball boards). I hope you stay too Pktrekgirl. I have some links to share too but am not selling anything myself. Last night I found a few websites that have more movies I haven't seen other places or they have them at better prices. I'm trying to earn a PhD in Social Research but here lately I've been spending a lot of time watching Coop and searching for more dvd's. That's way more fun though I've got to focus! Anyway here are the links. www.freemoviesondvd.com Obviously they aren't free but they just say they're charging $8.95 for the dvd, case, and shipping. They only have Marco Polo, Real Glory, and The Wedding Night if you need those. I ordered the Wedding Night and I haven't seen that one available anywhere else so far. www.1stvideo.com They have a lot of the same ones available at regular commercial sites but they're prices are usually cheaper. Haven't ordered anything from them though. Be careful if you see Morocco there b/c it's actually Region 2. www.forgottenfilms.biz This one is the best of the three b/c they have Alice in Wonderland, City Streets, Desire, Doomsday, Lilac Time, Nevada, and The Story of Dr. Wassell (this one however will be on TCM in the next month or two so I would just record it). They also have these cheaper than anywhere else I've seen (in the $10 to $13 range). I found those by typing in 'Gary Cooper' but they also have Wings which he's in briefly. It's not stated on the website so I emailed them and they told me they are all in dvd format and that I can ask about other movies they may not have listed. I'm going to order Wings first b/c it just sounds like an awesome movie.

I know, it's really sad. I looked at the website that came from and there was also a story about Frances Farmer and it is incredibly depressing. Her parents had her put in a mental hospital for several years where she was abused in a variety of ways and basically treated like an animal and eventually lobotomized. Obviously she was never the same after that.

My mom likes stories about haunted places and she just sent me a thing about the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood with a Coop connection. Here it is. Perhaps the strangest tragedy took place in November 1962 with the suicide of Irene Gibbons, a costume designer at MGM. She designed costumes for a number of famous actresses like Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Claudette Colbert, Hedy LaMarr, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and many others. Later in her career, she worked on several Doris Day films and became close friends with the actress. In 1962, after Day noticed that Irene seemed upset and nervous, the costume designer confided in her that she was in love with actor Gary Cooper and that he was the only man that she had ever loved. Sadly, Cooper had died in 1961. On November 15, Irene took a room at the Knickerbocker, checking in under an assumed name. She cut her wrists but when this did not prove to be immediately fatal, she jumped to her death from her window on the fourteenth floor. Her body reportedly ended up on top of the hotel awning, where it was discovered later that same night. I'm telling you he had some kind of power over the ladies.

Since as far back as I can remember I have always had really strange, vivid dreams and I usually dream about something or somebody I saw during the day. During baseball season I have tons of crazy baseball dreams where I'm actually playing (it's crazy b/c I stink at b-ball). My work is kind of slow so I was surfing the net and I found some great pics of Coop in The First Kiss (1928). I don't know how to post pics so I'll post the link instead. It's http://www.talb.lib.md.us/mdroom/ephemera/themovies.html Just scroll down a little and there are four pics that have a link. The first two are really good and the second is my fave, it made me gasp a little. He's so gorgeous!!!!

I hope you got a good recording of You're in the Navy Now too. My dad was recording it for me and he lives in California (San Diego) so I'll have to wait for him to ship it and patience is not one of my virtues I've got 7 of his movies en route right now and I can't wait. I got one yesterday and that left 6 but then I ordered another one last night (found the Wedding Night for $9, can't remember where but I'll post the link later) so that brought me back up to 7. My parents and I are big Astros fans and we go to their spring training camp in Florida every year so I'm saving money for that but at the rate I'm going buying movies there won't be much left (ha!) Also I had a hilarious dream last night about Coop. I was in Hobby Lobby (one of my fave stores) and I turned down an aisle and there he was. He looked like he did in Cowboy and the Lady with the hat and chaps and everything. I just walked up to him and say Hey Gary! And then we hung out at a coffee shop they had in the store. That one wasn't as good though as one I had a couple of weeks ago that we were together on vacation in Paris, but I won't go into details with that one

He sure was, on both counts! I got Along Came Jones today and I just got through watching it and it was great!! If you haven't seen this one you should get it. I love him when he's being funny and he's just too cute in this one. I have The Virginian, Lilac Time, Now and Forever, Vera Cruz, The Plainsman, Friendly Persuasion, and You're in the Navy Now all coming in the mail and I can't wait to see those.

I forgot to put in my last post that 'You're in the Navy Now' is coming on tomorrow Jan 30 on Fox Movie Channel from 8am - 10am eastern. My dad gets that channel but we don't and he has a dvd recorder to he's gonna record it for me. SWEET!! He's seen it and he said it's a good one and I like his comedies so I'm excited to see it.

He does look good in For Whom the Bell Tolls. His eyes are so beautiful!!! My Mom who likes him now too (she's not quite as bad as me though) said as soon as he went to Hollywood and people saw those eyes, they should have invented Technicolor right then and there