TopBilled
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Posts posted by TopBilled
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It was taken from the quotes/trivia section on his page at the internet movie database. Sometimes these notes are posted by fan club presidents or relatives who know quite a bit about the performer.
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*KENNY BAKER*
MR. DODD TAKES THE AIR (1937) with Frank McHugh & Alice Brady
RADIO CITY REVELS (1938) with Bob Burns, Jack Oakie & Ann Miller
AT THE CIRCUS (1939) with the Marx Bros.
HIT PARADE OF 1941 (1940) with Frances Langford
SILVER SKATES (1943) with Patricia Morison & Belita
DOUGHBOYS IN IRELAND (1943) with Jeff Donnell & Lynn Merrick
CALENDAR GIRL (1947) with Jane Frazee
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*IT'S IN THE BAG (1945)*
From Agee on April 21, 1945:
Fred Allen's picture is the story of a flea impresario named Floogle who inherits a fortune and in the process of getting hold of it runs into Jack Benny. It is often very amusing, sometimes not, knocking off enough sparks of satire in the process to destroy and fulfill a much worse civilization than this one if the molecular energy was organized into its ultimate bomblike meaning.
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Interesting post. This reminds me of the time I first saw the movie GHOST, when it first was in theatres back in 1990. I was living in Chicago at the time and spent an afternoon at a movie theatre downtown in the financial district where there were many upscale stores and wealthy movie-goers.
There is a scene, after Patrick Swayze's character has been killed and Whoopi Goldberg goes to visit Demi Moore, who plays the grieving lover. Supposedly, Swayze is talking through Goldberg in a pivotal scene, and he wants to kiss Demi once more using Goldberg's body.
I remember the build-up in that scene, and there comes a point where Goldberg leans in as if she's going to kiss Demi Moore. Of course, the filmmakers cheated and just as the lips are about to lock, it cuts from Goldberg to Swayze who has completely possessed her body, and we see him kiss Demi.
There was a woman in one of the seats behind me. And when, for a split second it looks like Goldberg and Demi Moore are going to smooch, this lady shouts out, for everyone in the theatre to hear, 'Oh God, they're not really going to kiss, are they?!' You could've cut the tension with a knife. We were all on the edge of our seats waiting to see how the scene was going to play out.
It was obvious that movie watchers back then were not comfortable with a love story that had any hint of lesbianism in it.
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Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I read somewhere that Alice Faye attended Betty Grable's funeral. At first, I thought they would've been rivals but it seems they were very good friends.
Also, I was reading about Robert Fuller who appeared in several hit television series at Universal. He said that in the late 50s and early 60s there was a group of male actors (himself included) who met up at the end of each shooting day to drink themselves silly. Their dressing rooms were in close proximity and that hallway was called 'Whiskey Row.'
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STORM WARNING is scheduled for April 4th.
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I was watching a Kay Francis film this morning, and it started me to thinking. I wonder what her relationship at the studio was like with Bette Davis...? We never hear about any of this. They were the two top female stars on the Warners lot, with very different styles I might add, and they never appeared on film together (to my knowledge). I am sure they had dressing rooms near each other and studio gossip and rumors kept them both very much aware of each other's careers and lives.
Over at Universal, I wonder what Rock Hudson thought about Audie Murphy and vice-versa. They were both the top male stars at the studio for twenty years. Another top male star at Universal for many of those years, Tony Curtis, writes some interesting anecdotes about Audie in his autobiography. While the rest of the contractees had dressing rooms, these three had lavish bungalows right next to each other.
At Fox, I wonder what Marilyn Monroe though about Joan Collins. And what Tyrone Power and Gregory Peck thought about each other.
Maybe we'll never know the answers to these questions, but it's fun to think about it.
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*VENETIA STEVENSON*
ISLAND OF LOST WOMEN (1959) with Jeff Richards & John Smith
DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959) with Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise & Alan Marshal
STUDS LONIGAN (1960) with Frank Gorshin
SEVEN WAYS FROM SUNDOWN (1960) with Audie Murphy, Barry Sullivan & John McIntire
THE BIG NIGHT (1960) with Randy Sparks & Dick Foran
THE SERGEANT WAS A LADY (1961) with Martin West, Bill Williams & Catherine McLeod
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*I WALK ALONE (1948)*
From Agee on February 14, 1948:
Good performances by Wendell Corey and Kirk Douglas. There is a sharp scene about an old-fashioned gangster's helplessness against modern business methods. Some better than ordinary nightclub atmosphere. Otherwise the picture deserves, like four out of five other movies, to walk alone, tinkle a little bell, and cry "Unclean, unclean."
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Yes, clore is correct. The Fay Wray episode was aired as a stand-alone one evening in primetime, before KING KONG.
The Lansbury episode, Claire, will have aired twice. Also, Markheim starring Ray Milland was repeated when he was SOTM. And there was one with Buster Keaton and ZaSu Pitts that re-aired when he was SOTM. So maybe the Fay Wray selection will turn up again, too.
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CHARLEY'S AUNT starring Jack Benney and Kay Francis will air on April 9th. Glad to see it. It's a fun flick!
Also, Chester Morris continues as Boston **** with: BOSTON **** GOES HOLLYWOOD; THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME; AFTER MIDNIGHT WITH BOSTON ****; and ONE MYSTERIOUS NIGHT.
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From what I read, Hearst was unhappy with the results that the original director was getting with the battlefield sequences so he decided to take over and do them the way he felt they should be done. I suppose with all that money and Davies' reputation on the line, he felt it necessary.
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Yes, I appreciate the huge amount of airplay she has had in the past few months. It's been fun (re)discovering these films and the performances she turned in at the height of her popularity.
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I don't think I buy that entirely. If so, then it could easily state: "Be sure to watch the Oscars live on February 26th. Check your local listings."
I believe this is an ad paid for by ABC.
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*CITY LIGHTS (1931)*
The finest pantomime, the deepest emotion, the richest and most poignant poetry were in Chaplin's work.
At the end of CITY LIGHTS the blind girl who has regained her sight, thanks to the Tramp, sees him for the first time. She has imagined and anticipated him as princely, to say the least. It has never seriously occurred to him that he is inadequate.
She recognizes who he must be by his shy, confident, shining joy as he comes silently toward her. And he recognizes himself, for the first time, through the terrible changes in her face.
The camera just exchanges a few quiet close-ups of the emotions which shift and intensify in each face. It is enough to shrivel the heart to see, and it is the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment in movies.
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*GEORGE RAFT*
DANCERS IN THE DARK (1932) with Miriam Hopkins & Jack Oakie
UNDERCOVER MAN (1932) with Nancy Carroll
THE MIDNIGHT CLUB (1933) with Clive Brook, Helen Vinson & Alison Skipworth
BOLERO (1934) with Carole Lombard & Sally Rand
THE TRUMPET BLOWS (1934) with Adolphe Menjou & Frances Drake
LIMEHOUSE BLUES (1934) with Jean Parker & Anna May Wong
THE GLASS KEY (1935) with Edward Arnold & Claire Dodd
EVERY NIGHT AT EIGHT (1935) with Alice Faye, Frances Langford & Patsy Kelly
SHE COULDN'T TAKE IT (1935) with Joan Bennett
RUMBA (1935) with Carole Lombard
YOURS FOR THE ASKING (1936) with Dolores Costello & Ida Lupino
IT HAD TO HAPPEN (1936) with Rosalind Russell & Leo Carrillo
BROADWAY (1942) with Pat O'Brien, Janet Blair & Broderick Crawford
CHRISTMAS EVE (1947) with George Brent, Randolph Scott, Joan Blondell & Ann Harding
LUCKY NICK CAIN (1951) with Coleen Gray
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Ruth Roman was back on TCM today in a film she made with Steve Cochran at Warner Brothers called TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY. She once again does a great job. However, her part should not be confused with anything Vivien Leigh ever played.
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JANICE MEREDITH is the one I have most wanted to see. W.C. Fields has a role in it. And the battle scenes were supposedly directed by Hearst himself.
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Now that's a commercial.
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So it seems that Mayer held up the release of the picture for nothing. I really don't think he knew what he was doing with this entire project. This should've been made at Fox or else independently through United Artists.
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Great informative post. I found it interesting how much GOING HOLLYWOOD cost. That seems to have been her most expensive picture at MGM. It turned out very well, combining her talents with Bing Crosby's.
Do we have the figures for her final four films which were made at Warner Brothers?
These include PAGE MISS GLORY, HEARTS DIVIDED, CAIN AND MABEL and EVER SINCE EVE. I have a feeling those were not cheap to make.
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Yes...while I am not pleased with the selection of Angela Lansbury as SOTM, the Cardiff tribute more than makes up for it. This is what I come to TCM for...
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*FRANCES SAGE*
WITHOUT ORDERS (1936) with Sally Eilers & Robert Armstrong
THE WITNESS CHAIR (1936) with Ann Harding, Walter Abel & Douglass Dumbrille
MR. SKEFFINGTON (1944) with Bette Davis & Claude Rains
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*THE STRANGER (1946)*
From Agee on June 22, 1946:
Although Orson Welles takes a reasonable amount of care not to insist on it, THE STRANGER is an art movie. It is a tidy engaging thriller about a Nazi arch-criminal (Mr. Welles) who hides out as a teacher in a New England boy's prep school.
So far as I can make out, Welles never was and never will be a genius, but he is just as gifted as he ever was. In this film he is not using the most adventurous of his gifts, but neither is he indulging any of his weaknesses.
There is nothing about the picture that even appears to be important or new, but there is nothing pretentious or arty either. In a quite modest way the picture is merely more graceful, intelligent and enjoyable than most other movies.
Ruth Roman
in General Discussions
Posted
Great idea! I looked and she's not featured much in the months ahead (probably because she was not in many Oscar-nominated films).
I watched TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY last night. Her blonde hair and icy demeanor in that role was very reminiscent of Babs in DOUBLE INDEMNITY.