ValeskaSuratt

No snit intended or implied. You're a mensch, Count Rmeingast.

> {quote:title=RMeingast wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}Your post could very easily have been inserted into Addison's already established thread about Ingrid on TCM today. Keeping your intentions in mind, it would have counterbalanced any negativity you felt existed in that thread about TCM. > I know, and I did post some comments there... But I found the thread subject heading very negative and wanted to start a more positive thread. And I didn't really want to post any more comments in that thread that would continue to showcase the negativity about Bergman's films today. > I'm a fan of Bergman and like her in good and bad films... Just wanted to be more positive, that's all... > Nothing to do with TCM... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks TB.... *THANK YOU*, RMeingast, both for this thread and for consistently looking on the positive side. I do NOT mean it as a dig to anyone posting here, but I much prefer the kind of information and trivia you post to a lot of negative personal opinions and/or criticism of TCM's programming choices. It seems to me as if attempting to contribute to threads like the other Ingrid discussion is most likely to result in either conflict or being ignored entirely. Maybe it's too "lemonade-out-of-lemons" of me, but I think there's much to be learned from even an artist's "worst" films (though I find even Bergman's "worst" to be better than most of today's "best"). For example ... sitting here watching Stromboli for what must be the fifth or sixth time, I'm just now struck by how analagous it is to what Bergman and Rossellini had to go through when their affair became known. The small-minded island villagers ostracize Bergman's character because she is not "modest." In real life, the out-of-wedlock birth of Bergman and Rossellini's first child in 1950 was so "immodest" that it ignited a firestorm of scandal and turned her into such a pariah that United States Senator Edwin C. Johnson of Colorado would ultimately condemn Ingrid as "a powerful influence for evil" ! Even the reported discomfort she felt -- having spent her career working in the most "professional" of environments only to find herself surrounded with villagers who'd never acted before -- works to her advantage, increasing the sense of her isolation and "fish-out-of-water" status. I'm looking forward to Europa '51 later today, as well as the other Bergman films I've never seen and I'm extremely grateful to TCM for showing them.

> {quote:title=Swithin wrote: }{quote}Check out Macready's walking stick! Glenn couldn't wait to get his hands on it.

This is one of my FAVORITE threads here !! I so appreciate people taking the time to post all these fascinating pictures ... I just stumbled onto this one and thought it fit the bill ...

Yeah, okay, so ... Liberace and Rock in their "beard" movies ... and Greta was a butch Queen Christina and Dietrich kissed a woman in Morocco ... I think it's more interesting to examine "sexual identity" in film and how it's changed attitudes toward sex -- like the above-delineated genre of "de-virginizing" movies of the early 60s (which actually started with Preminger's The Moon Is Blue in 1953) ... An example: the "zen-zay-tional" Sally Bowles who innocently offered herself to whoever caught her fancy -- but especially if it might further her "career." *"You're about as 'femme fatale' as an ahfter* *dinner mint !" -- Michael York in Cabaret* Another example: Garbo in Anna Christie -- a former prostitute declaring her sexual freedom to both her father and her fiancee. Or Cary Grant in Only Angels Have Wings, who tells Jean Arthur in no uncertain terms that he'll never be faithful to her -- and she sticks around anyway.

I never knew that Jeanette MacDonald's older sister, Blossom (seen here with Jeanette and their mother) ... ... was ALSO an actress. Known as Blossom Rock, among her many character roles was GrandMama on The Addams Family.

ericsvdwsi8, Thank you for setting the record straight. The idea of Swanson starring in a musical version of Sunset Blvd. always struck me as far better suited to historical footnote than actual, Broadway-bound reality ... what with songs like "Take a Crack At the Zodiac." Excerpts from that ill-fated project can be heard here : http://www.stagedoorrecords.com/stage9005.html *"YESSSSS ... I'M READY FOR MY B-FLAT, MR. DEMILLE .... "*

*Wanda Mae Silverback* Born to Spanish parents at the Bronx Zoo, Wanda Mae Gorilla (pronouned go – REE –ya) changed her name to the more patrician-sounding Silverback before becoming a fixture in 1940s MGM comedies. Usually cast as the heroine’s quick-tempered, dangerously-violent and easily spooked best friend, second cousin or laundress, Wanda Mae’s “trademark” became site gags involving her great strength – tearing doors off their hinges, tipping over automobiles and, on one memorable occasion, throwing George Sanders off the top of his ego. While some of her co-stars found Wanda Mae’s displays of temperment endearing (cast and crew reportedly applauded when she tore veteran comedy director Del Roy Dooth in half) others found her intimidating to work with and a few complained about the smell. Her 4-year marriage to Cheeta, co-star of the Tarzan movies, ended in a scandalous divorce when Wanda Mae insisted on naming Maureen O’Sullivan as co-respondent. Her career was eventually sidetracked by a weight problem and the scandal of her near-fatal assault of famed costume designer Gilbert Adrian who was attempting to fit her for a fur coat when he slipped with a pin. By the 1960s Wanda Mae was reduced to working as an unbilled extra in films like Tarzan Conquers Gaul. Wanda Mae Silverback ... What a character !

A whole other Jeanette ? Per Wikipedia: In the 1960s, MacDonald was approached about starring on Broadway in a musical version of Sunset Blvd. Harold Prince recounts in his autobiography, visiting MacDonald at her home in Bel Air to discuss the proposed project. Composer Hugh Martin also wrote a song for the musical entitled, "Wasn't It Romantic?" (I doubt her health would have allowed it, but it's interesting to consider.)

> {quote:title=MovieProfessor ...}{quote} You made a decrepit diva's day.

MovieProfessor, Here's the photo along with three others of Dandridge for comparison: Here's what's confusing: Marilyn is obviously in her River of No Return hairdo. According to Wikipedia, River of No Return was shot between June and September of 1953 ... But Preminger didn't meet and then cast Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones until April - May of 1954. As Yul Brynner said ... "Izz a puzzlement !" And, finally, here's a shot of Dandridge and Preminger which probably wasn't published in the deep South.

> {quote:title=UniversalHorror wrote:}{quote} > > {quote:title=ValeskaSuratt wrote:}{quote} > > > Good god, people....what do you call this? > > Sheesh ... somebody pat UniversalHorror on the head before he wets the carpet ... > There's no reason you had to be smarmy with your reply...I had every reason for my reaction, since people were saying there was NO picture of the two women around, and I immediately found one. Actually, there was a reason: I enjoy sharing movie trivia here for any who choose to enjoy it but am, admittedly, somewhat sensitive to people posting their knowledge in a way that belittes the efforts of others. That's intended merely as explanation -- not justiffication -- for my comment which was rude, and for which I apologize. Thank you for posting the photo. Where did you find it ?

> {quote:title=RMeingast wrote:}{quote} > Thanks, Countess Valeska... (Valeska reminds me of Walewska from "Conquest" - the Polish countess played by Garbo) How kind (and deserved) of you to think of me in such exalted terms. Sadly, while I was (and, in my own mind, still AM) a legend of both stage and screen ... and while I often behave(d) like The Queen Of The World ... I am, truth be told, not affiliated with royalty other than those times I'm a royal pain in the a**. Love ya, mean it, bye ... Valeska (but you may call me Miss Suratt) P.S. Just one of my many stage triumphs -- the Times said I was "a contagion of coquettry" !

> Good god, people....what do you call this? Sheesh ... somebody pat UniversalHorror on the head before he wets the carpet ... I know Dandridge had an affair with Preminger ... I wonder if Marilyn did ... ?

> {quote:title=TomJH wrote:}{quote} > Who knows what happens on the set of these films ... IMHO, the 1929 test footage of Anny Ondra with Hitch provides a rare but vivid glimpse of his on-set misogyny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6SMOSXa7A It was pretty insulting back then to tell a woman "you've slept with men," and Ondra seems genuinely embarrassed by it.

> {quote:title=MovieProfessor wrote:}{quote}The problem was that the politics of those times, didn’t permit a woman of color, even if she be famous to have a photo taken at a public place or gathering with a Caucasian movie star! I'll bet the papparazzi of the 50s probably assumed they were actually doing Marilyn a FAVOR i.e. "protecting her image" by "killing" any photos of her with Dandridge. As much as I've dreamt of being able to magically turn back the clock and live during Hollywood's "Golden Age," there were some aspects of life back then that are disgustingly unacceptable.

Thanks for the fascinating details, MovieProfessor ! A Google search turned up NO pictures of Marilyn and Dorothy ... but it did reveal this: “I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt. It was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo [who'd refused to book Fitzgerald because she was black] and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard… After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman – a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.” - Ella Fitzgerald

RMeingast, I wasn't being mean, just realistic. The problem with Ethel Merman on film is that she was so *B I G* ! Irving Berlin said, "You'd better not write a bad lyric for Merman because people will hear it in the second balcony." Cole Porter called her "La Merman" and said she sounded "like a band going by." Like many of the stage stars who tried their hand in films, Ethel found it difficult to tone it down. She could get away with being "larger than life" in a musical comedy like Call Me Madam but Gypsy ... ? As Bosley Crowther described it in his review of There's No Business Like Show Business (1954): "Here at last it is demonstrated, in the full bloom of color and CinemaScope—and with the help, it must quickly be acknowledged, of some of Mr. Berlin's better songs—that *the people who work in show business are a brash and irrepressible breed, from whom sentiment flows like maple syrup and to whom restraint is as foreign as a gnu.*" Even in his laudatory review of Fox's Call Me Madam (1953), Crowther touched on her drawbacks: "When the music is there, she sings it with a voice that is rhythmic beyond words and robust enough to jangle the disks in the microphones ... There should really be no need for 3-D pictures when there are people like Miss Merman still around." As for her losing out on Gypsy ... stories about her performance vary. Many recall it with awe as one of the great events in musical stage history. Others complained that her dialogue sometimes took on a mechanical quality -- only her singing was uniformly socko. While it probably didn't help that Merman lost the Tony to Mary Martin for Sound of Music, the real reason she didn't get to play Mama Rose in the movie of Gypsy was, as you say, "politics" ... Roz Russell had just starred in the film version of Leonard Spigelglass' play, A Majority of One at Warner Bros. directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Russell's husband, Frederick Brisson (whom Merman called "the lizard of Roz"). Originally, this same team wanted to make a non-musical film based on Gypsy Rose Lee's memoirs but the material was inextricably linked with the musical, so it was "So long, Merm" and "Hello, Roz." And while there has been a tidal wave of criticism over the years about Roz's singing having to be looped, it is somewhat difficult to imagine Merman doing as well with the film's dramatic scenes. Some more Merman trivia from Musicals101: Merman's backstage behavior during Gypsy has also inspired contrasted tales. Co-star Jack Klugman praised Merman for her kindness and professional support. Others claim that young actress Sandra Church (the original Louise) somehow got on Merman's bad side during the run. When producer David Merrick asked Merman if she was still speaking to Church, Merman reputedly said, "Of course I speak to her! Every night when the curtain goes down, I say 'Go #!&! yourself !'" No matter who Ethel was with, her earthy, street smart approach was the same. When the Duchess danced the night away with an admirer, Merman tapped the former King of England on the shoulder and said, "Hey Duke, get off your royal a** and dance with your wife!" Instead of being offended by such coarse language, the Duke complied. Although a loving mother, Merman had her limits. When her daughter paged through a comic book during a rehearsal of Annie Get Your Gun, Merman snatched the magazine away, saying, "When I'm on stage, nobody reads." h/t to http://www.musicals101.com/mermbio2.htm And, for anyone who's managed to read this far, here's a major treat -- an excerpt from Gypsy Rose Lee's mid-60s talk show in which she chats with Ethel Merman including footage shot during the rehearsals of the Broadway Gypsy (sorry it's such lousy quality) : http://www.bluegobo.com/production/2880630/video/10426

> {quote:title=willbefree25 wrote:}{quote} > Were there any studio heads who weren't the old slang word for children of unwed mothers? Nope. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. F'rinstance ... the entire 20th Century Fox lot use to come to a standstill at 4:00 pm every day while the little twerp "availed himself" of a female starlet in the private bedroom behind his office. Over time, other long-term Fox writers and producers started doing the same. Alice Faye avoided his clutches by claiming it was her time of the month every time he approached her -- she became known around the lot as "Alice-Faye-Who-Has-Her-Period-31-Days-a-Month." Unfortunately, about the only revenge anybody ever got was when somebody taught Shirley Temple to address Zanuck as "Uncle Pipsqueak" . . .

*How To Bury a Millionaire* Try as they might, neither Marilyn Monroe nor co-stars Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall managed to breathe life into their roles as grave- robbing gold-diggers who roam Manhattan by midnight in search of well-preserved sugar-daddies. As a result, Marilyn’s lone foray into low-budget horror died a natural death at the box office despite such “to-die-for” musical numbers as We’re Just Two Little Ghouls (From Little Rock), Every Baby Needs a Dead Dead Daddy and After You Get What You Want You Stop Breathing.

> {quote:title=Im4movies2 wrote: }{quote}Kudos to Merman who should have done Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy! Anybody who's seen Call Me Madam can tell you why she DIDN'T ... A hint:

I never knew that just like Clark Gable, Tyrone Power also had a son he did not live to see ... Tyrone Power IV was born to Power's third wife, Deborah on January 22, 1959 -- about 9 weeks after his father died of a heart attack while filming Solomon and Sheba. Under the name of Tyrone Power, Jr. he made about a dozen films between 1985 and 2005. Of the father he never met, Ty #4 once commented: "It was really weird for me as a kid, watching his movies and trying to figure out who he was. Here I had this father I never knew. One day he's a pilot, one day he's a cowboy, next day he's romancing yet another gorgeous girl. I'd look at him on screen and ask myself, 'Now how would he have been in the Dad role?'" h/t - http://www.tyrone-power.com/biography_children.html

*Edna Purviance* From Wikipedia: In 1915 Edna Purviance was working as a secretary in San Francisco, when Chaplin was working on his second film with Essanay Studios, working out of Niles, California, one hour southeast of San Francisco. He was looking for a leading lady for A Night Out, and one of his associates noticed Purviance at a Tate's Café in San Francisco and thought she should be cast in the role. Chaplin arranged a meeting with her, and although he was concerned that she might be too serious for comedic roles, she won the job. Chaplin and Purviance were romantically involved during the making of his Essanay, Mutual, and First National films of 1915–1917. Purviance appeared in 33 of Chaplin's productions, including the 1921 classic The Kid. Her last film with him, A Woman of Paris, was also her first lead role. She went on to appear in two more films: The Sea Gull, also known as A Woman of the Sea—which Chaplin never released—and Education de Prince, a French film released in 1927, just before she retired as an actress. She has been credited as an extra in Chaplin's final two American movies, Monsieur Verdoux and Limelight; Chaplin kept her on his payroll until her death in 1958.

> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Sort of like Baba Wawa? (Barbara Walters apparently had trouble with her "rs".) Exactly like Barbara Walters. It's called a "lateral lisp" though in Francis' case, it's less obvious than in Walters'.

If not THE first model-turned-movie actress, Mabel Normand was certainly among them “I didn’t have one bit of stage experience before I went into pictures”…”I used to pose for illustrators in New York, principally James Montgomery Flagg and Charles Dana Gibson. You’d get $1.50 for the morning and $1.50 for the afternoon. *I LOVE this one:* h/t to http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/gibson.htm