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*Margaret Hamilton* To Wallace Beery in STABLEMATES: I look the same, wet or dry.

*DAVID NELSON* HERE COME THE NELSONS (1952) with his family & Rock Hudson PEYTON PLACE (1957) with Lana Turner THE REMARKABLE MR. PENNYPACKER (1959) with Clifton Webb & Dorothy McGuire -30- (1959) with Jack Webb DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959) with Robert Ryan, Tina Louise & Burl Ives THE BIG CIRCUS (1959) with Victor Mature & Red Buttons THE BIG SHOW (1961) with Esther Williams & Cliff Robertson

*THE HITLER GANG (1944)* From Agee on May 13, 1944: THE HITLER GANG fascinates me as all waxworks do. Otherwise it worries me because of its solemn effort to stick to the 'facts' before an audience which is liable to swallow it whole. Hitler strikes me as something other than a pitiful, vicious psychotic incapable of an idea, and I don't enjoy the picture's apparent suggestions that there would be nothing wrong with National Socialism if only the vicious ringleaders were eliminated.

*Ginger Rogers in 'Manhattan'* First, Ginger has a ROMANCE IN MANHATTAN with Francis Lederer; then, she finds romance with Henry Fonda in TALES OF MANHATTAN.

Smart casting. SMART MONEY. Hard to believe that *Edward G. Robinson* & *James Cagney* only worked together once on film, isn't it?

Glad to see you have forged ahead with this idea. Good! She was a special talent and deserves more continued recognition.

Continued proof that Hollywood is going through a creative dry spell.

Of the selections mentioned, the only one of Flynn's performances that may be deemed remotely Oscar worthy would be THE SUN ALSO RISES. And that would be for best supporting actor. Quite likely Davis' instincts were right about Olivier, and he would've been put to most effective use in ELIZABETH AND ESSEX. But even then, there would still be the issue of a virile leading actor lusting after Bette on screen. It's a considerable stretch for the audience to accept this in ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, as much as it was in THE SISTERS, to see Flynn simulate attraction for Davis. If Davis was not so good at historical roles, she would be as miscast in ELIZABETH AND ESSEX as she is in THE SISTERS as Flynn's leading lady. Every time one watches ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, one can't help but think he should be pining after pretty Olivia de Havilland the way he does in his more successful Warners pictures of the period.

I watched TALES OF MANHATTAN today. What an excellent film from Fox and director Julien Duvivier. It is an anthology of sorts and most stories last from ten to twenty minutes. In the second story, *Ginger Rogers* plays a gal who is engaged to Cesar Romero but actually falls in love with *Henry Fonda.* They are just so magnetic together that it made me ask why these two did not work together more on film. Maybe they did some stage or radio or television appearances together, but this was their only film and their screen time is limited due to the constraints of a portmanteau. So why didn't anyone put them together more often on screen? They both worked at RKO in the late 1930s and both had deals at Fox in the early 1940s. It is not like they were at rival studios where loan-outs were not possible. They could very easily have been thrown into a screwball comedy at one studio or another. And even in the 1950s when both were freelancing, surely some arrangement could've been made to star them together. Oh well, I guess it is our loss. And it makes watching TALES OF MANHATTAN all that more imperative.

*THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943)* From Agee on July 3, 1943: OX-BOW is one of the best and most interesting pictures I have seen for a long time, and it disappointed me. It seems to me that in OX-BOW artifice and nature got jammed in such a way as to give a sort of double focus, like off-printing in a comic strip. The whole thing seems a mosaic of over-appreciated effects which continually rob nature of its own warmth and energy. This accounts for the occasional flagrant mistakes, like the phonily gnarled lynching tree or the angelic soprano which is used as a motif for the Negro preacher. It also accounts for the literariness and theatricality, the essential patronage and indirect self-pity, which braid and infuse the best of the show. Then there's Henry Fonda. His performance is the most sympathetic of his career. And yet beneath it is his personal fondness for 'the part' and his awareness how to temper his mannerisms.

*Kaye Ballard* THE GIRL MOST LIKELY (1958) with Jane Powell & Cliff Robertson A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME (1964) with Shelley Winters & Robert Taylor WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT? (1970) with Jerry Lewis THE RITZ (1976) with Jack Warden & Rita Moreno FREAKY FRIDAY (1976) with Barbara Harris & Jodie Foster

*Arthur Treacher* To John Harrington in STEP LIVELY JEEVES: One's tie is to one's suit what one's wine is to one's dinner.

>Underrated as an actor to be sure. Disagree. I think the reference to his cocaine use is unnecessary to a discussion of this type. We are looking at his screen performances.

Hardly underrated (ask his vast legion of fans). And certainly not unknown. He's one of the most recognized movie stars from the classic studio era. Now to suggest that he was in the same league, acting-wise, as Spencer Tracy is a bit much. I don't think he ever gave an Oscar-worthy performance. But, had he lived long enough, I am sure the Academy would've given him an Honorary Oscar of some sort for his overall contributions.

The real question becomes which re-release? Did the producers re-release it in theatres with a title change, or did they rename it when it was shown on television in the 1950s or 1960s? I think I remember reading that it did not perform as well initially at the box office as they had hoped. The TCM database says there were retakes done in January 1947, which means they had run into some sort of trouble during the making of the film. Perhaps the retakes had to do with reshooting things that had been disrupted during Ball's temporary absence. Or maybe it did not preview well with test audiences. If so, then that explains why they kept tinkering with it and switched titles. Personally, I do not see this film as a comedy. Sure, it has light moments in it, but it is very atmospheric and Sirk lets the audience know that this is a mystery right from the start (look at the way the opening credits are done, to great shadowy effect). If it was even supposed to be construed as the subtlest form of comedy, which Agee tends to believe it is, then I would think that Sirk would have had Charles Coburn, a well-known comic actor, play the role of the inspector much more broadly. Coburn does not do that and gives a straight reading of the part.

*Gene Tierney & Dana Andrews* From TOBACCO ROAD, which premiered in March 1941, to WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, which hit screens on July 7, 1950 this duo starred in five motion pictures together at 20th Century Fox.

Yes, I understood what you meant. I just wanted to let you know it was not easy to find a respectable photo of Jayne Mansfield. LOL

>So did Agee review this before the studio changed the name for the U.S. to PERSONAL COLUMN? According to the TCM database, the film opened on August 28, 1947 in New York (where Agee likely would have seen it). His review appeared in print in mid-September. It did not get released on the west coast till October of that year, and then probably had wide release after that. The database says that 'Personal Column' was the picture's working title. It may have been a case where the producers kept switching the title, but it is known today as LURED. Some interesting trivia about the film and its production: the TCM database says that filming was shut down for three days when Lucille Ball collapsed on the set. In her autobiography Love, Lucy she describes having a nervous breakdown around this time, though I think she says it began when Desi was on the road touring and she was making DARK CORNER. Also, LURED is one of three projects that George Sanders made with director Douglas Sirk. The other two films were SUMMER STORM, which came in '44, and SHOCKPROOF in '49.

>I'm glad TCM ran the Dick Foran birthday tribute. It showed many rarely seen films Completely agree. Looking at his filmography, there are many other B-pictures he made at Warners during the 30s and 40s that haven't been aired recently. While he would never earn a SOTM spotlight, I would like to think that maybe next year he could be featured during the annual SUTS (there's certainly plenty of product to stretch out for 24 hours).

I tried to find the most respectable photo of Miss Mansfield that I could possibly post.

*LURED (1947)* From Agee on September 15, 1947: This is an agreeable, tongue-in-cheek murder mystery, enlisting an American taxi-dancer (Lucille Ball) in the service of Scotland Yard (Charles Coburn). A maniacal killer of women, at large in London, lures his victims through want ads. It is Miss Ball's precarious business to follow up all ads that seem to promise danger. One of her narrow squeaks is Boris Karloff, a decaying impresario who turns out to be mad as a hatter. In the course of her researches she also tangles with some shady characters who ship girls to South America, with a highly suspect wolf (George Sanders) and with his mousy associate (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). The picture is too busy with laughs to worry about chills, but no one ought to complain about that.

*Bad Boy Martin Sheen* An INCIDENT leads to life on the lam across THE BADLANDS.

I think HEARTS OF THE NORTH goes a bit beyond the typical B-picture. Undoubtedly, it was an experiment to see if he (Foran) could be groomed for leads in A-pictures. They were probably looking at him as a Nelson Eddy-type at this point. Also, they have cast Janet Chapman as the little girl, and she is reminiscent of Shirley Temple. In many ways, HEARTS OF THE NORTH seems like Warners' answer to both ROSE-MARIE and SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES.

*Esther Dale* To Claudette Colbert in PRIVATE WORLDS: In the old days we fed our patients well and dosed them on castor oil.

Kate Hepburn was married for several years when she was younger, to Ludlow Smith from 1928 to 1934. She remained on good terms with her ex-husband for the rest of her life and mentions him in Me: Stories of My Life. She said she toyed with the idea of going by Kate Smith but thought it too plain and not actressy enough. The actresses I think of who really fit the theme of this thread are: Mrs. Patrick Campbell & Mrs. Wallace Reid, two women who were so identified with their husbands professionally that they were never billed by their first names.