johnnyweekes70

I didn't want to answer two questions in a row but since no one else seems to have answered, I'll say Robert Montgomery in the charming film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan. I can't remember if the exact quote in repeated in Beatty's film; I just saw again a few ago but my short-term is not-so-great these days.

Daniel, it was probably Pay Day (1922). There's a hilarious sequence near the beginning of the short with Chaplin trying to catch several streetcars at night which, of course, he never does since he's shoved, pushed and thrown off all the them. Does that sound like what you saw?

Ex-Mr. President Reagan in Vincent Sherman's fine film, The Hasty Heart.

Just found out Robert Osborne wrote the forward to the new O'Brien book. Should be a good read. Hopefully it's not going to cost me $45. I'll wait until the other book hits the discount bins.

Just out of curiosity, I did a search for an answer to your question, because I didn't know, and I found a lot of information but the following seems to be the most detailed. It comes from http://condor.depaul.edu/~mwilson/multicult/whois.html and cites Richard Schickel's work with Lena. "Lena Horne's parents were both very light in color and came from black upper-middle-class families in Brooklyn (Horne and Schickel, 1965; Buckley, 1986). Lena lived with her father's parents until she was about seven years old. Her grandfather was very light and blue-eyed. Her fair-skinned grandmother was the daughter of a slave woman and her white owner, from the family of John C. Calhoun, well-known defender of slavery. One of her father's great-grandmothers was a Blackfoot Indian, to whom Lena Horne has attributed her somewhat coppery skin color. One of her mother's grandmothers was a French-speaking black woman from Senegal and never a slave. Her mother's father was a "Portuguese Negro," and two women in his family had passed as white and become entertainers. "Lena Horne's parents had separated, and when she was seven her entertainer mother began placing her in a succession of homes in different states. Her favorite place was in the home of her Uncle Frank, her father's brother, a red-haired, blue-eyed teacher in a black. school in Georgia. The black children in that community asked her why she was so light and called her a "yellow bastard." She learned that when satisfactory evidence of respectable black parents is lacking, being light-skinned implies illegitimacy and having an underclass white parent and is thus a disgrace in the black community. When her mother married a white Cuban, Lena also learned that blacks can be very hostile to the white spouse, especially when the "black" mate is very light. At this time she began to blame the confused color line for her childhood troubles. She later endured much hostility from blacks and whites alike when her own second marriage, to white composer-arranger Lennie Hayton, was finally made public in 1950 after three years of keeping it secret. "Early in Lena Horne's career there were complaints that she did not fit the desired image of a black entertainer for white audiences, either physically or in her style. She sang white love songs, not the blues. Noting her brunette-white beauty, one white agent tried to get her to take a Spanish name, learn some Spanish songs, and pass as a Latin white, but she had learned to have a horror of passing and never considered it, although Hollywood blacks accused her of trying to pass after she played her first bit part in a film. After she failed her first screen test because she looked like a white girl trying to play blackface, the directors tried making her up with a shade called "Light Egyptian" to make her look darker. The whole procedure embarrassed and hurt her deeply. Her long struggle to develop a clear sense of self, including a definite racial identity, is explored further in Chapter 7." Hope that helps answer your question. Johnny

For those who care, like me, The Harold Lloyd Collection titles have been announced. Volume One, Disc One has Girl Shy, Safety Last!, An Eastern Westerner, Ask Father, and From Hand to Mouth, with commentary by Leonard Maltin director and Rich Correll on Safety Last. Volume One, Disc Two has The Milky Way, The Cat's Paw and Why Worry? plus a featurette called Harold's Hollywood: Then and Now. Volume Two, Disc One has The Kid Brother, The Freshman, Bumping into Broadway and Billy Blazes, Esq, with commentary by Leonard Maltin, Rich Correll and film historian Richard Bann on The Freshman. There also a commentary by Suzanne Lloyd, author Annette Lloyd, and Rich Correll on The Kid Brother. Volume Two, Disc Two has Feet First, Grandma?s Boy, Now or Never, and High and Dizzy plus a Scoring for Comedy featurette. Volume Three, Disc One has Speedy, Hot Water, Never Weaken and Haunted Spooks, with commentary by Suzanne Lloyd, Annette Lloyd and Rich Correll on Speedy and Haunted Spooks. Volume Three, Disc Two has Movie Crazy, For Heaven?s Sake, I Do, Among Those Present, A Sailor-Made Man, Get Out and Get Under, and Number Please? plus a featurette on Greenacres. A collector's set only bonus disc features tons of other nice featurettes, commentaries and photos. My only beef is where Welcome Danger? But who's complaining...

Has anyone read Scott O'Brien's new book, Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten? I haven't read anything else by O'Brien, nor have I seen it around, I just saw the cover on the web, but I think Francis' story is a sad one and long overdue for biographical treatment.

There are some answers to your question in the General Discussion forum. All I can add is that Myrna Loy played the mother of the Gilbreth family and Jeanne Crain played the eldest daughter who narrated the picture. I'm not sure who you're thinking of.

You're very welcome.

I didn't read through this whole thread but I was just out for a walk and something made me think about Rowland Brown's Blood Money with George Bancroft and Dee? I've heard so much about this film. Has anyone seen it or know if there's a specific reason for its unavailability? Is it just a case of being constantly overlooked or is there a legal reason? I very much liked Brown's Hell's Highway, with Richard Dix, and I think the man should have made more films but, from what I know, I believe his mouth got him into trouble.

You're certainly right about Crain's image problems, edge, but I think it was just a case of falling for a pretty face in one of the finest Technicolor films I've seen. I didn't quite approve of the gardening sequences but I still found Crain very beautiful in the film and nowhere near as pastel and made-up as Tierney was.

Mongo, I found this thread that you posted, is this what you were going to dig up for tracey? Either way, it's got a lot of interesting opinions. I love Marlene Dietrich, and I don't feel it's a guilty pleasure to watch her films. I used to feel guilty watching Roman Polanski movies but I never quite knew why. And I've always felt guilty watching movies about Canada, like Northern Pursuit with Errol Flynn, where Canada is so badly misrepresented it's hilarious. Other dumb movies about Canada call it "God's Country" wherein the villains are always French-Canadians named Raoul or Pierre who sport touques, loud pants and obnoxious moustaches and there's always a Mountie nearby and I should be offended but I never am---they're hilarious, particularly Captains of the Clouds, really, really bad from a Canadian perspective (like George Tobias' character) but very enjoyable from a movie-lovers perspective. Another is The Scarlet Claw where everyone in Montreal speaks with every kind of accent but French.

Wow, cowbtony, how many other books of mine have you got? I thoroughly approved of that book and thought about mentioning it in another thread but had second-thoughts on adding fuel to a fire.

I so rarely get the chance to write about Jeanne Crain I completely forgot to state how utterly gorgeous I think that woman was! My friend had to peel me off the ceiling the first time I saw Leave Her to Heaven.

Yes, tracey, I think who we watch and who we respect are definitely distinct. For instance, I love Errol Flynn and vastly prefer him to Laurence Olivier (who I actually don't hold in high regard, but I know others do) but I don't think he's ever been given his due as an actor. These days, I'm always impressed with David Thewlis (whose work I don't see enough of) but my tastes change from day-to-day so if I let this one fester I'll probably never come up with a single name, or names, for Best Acting Ability.

That's great you bought the book, tracey, and thanks for commenting on my in-joke!

How did I miss all this? I know this has all been resolved but, Katy, I'm wondering what part of Canada you live in, if that's not an inappropriate question. I'm from Southern Ontario and we have a huge Japanese-Canadian population here and I doubt any would appreciate being referred to as a "****". My 12-year-old stepson watched Destination Tokyo with me and he thought it gave him a licence to walk around and say '****' and think he was as cool as John Garfield. I had to educate him differently. It is a good thing, if one can call it that, that this issue came up because, as ever, these threads are as much about education as they are classic films.

Jeanne Crain.

Modern Times.

Modern Times.

I've got Charlotte Chandler's book but I think cowbtony, correct me if I'm wrong, was referring to Ed Sikov's On Sunset Boulevard. On p. 288, Sikov states Clift pulled out because after The Heiress, he didn't want to play anymore love scenes with an older woman and he didn't think he'd be convincing. Wilder responded with, "Bulls**t! If he's any kind of an actor, he could be convincing making love to any woman." Hilarious, and a poor excuse for pulling out of a decent picture. A great read for Wilder fans and much more in depth than Chandler's and, for accuracy's sake, an extensive notes section for the reader to check up on.

I have that book about Wilder and I, too, was surprised to learn that Clift was initially slated to appear in the film. It's hard to say what if instead of what is because Holden was so good in the part. I really don't think Clift would have been as good as Holden, though maybe that's just because I like Holden more than Clift. Holden and Swanson had such a unique chemistry on-screen, as Holden also had in his scenes with von Stroheim, one wonders if the film would have played the same with Clift. Who knows? I suppose it's irrelevant now.

As keithfromkc put it, "As long as they are interesting to watch onscreen, that's enough for me." Some people do care though, as evidenced in the 1940s Biographies thread and countless arguments whether Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were or were not lovers when they lived together. Who really cares? I like both men and their work and their sexuality doesn't impinge on my appreciation of their talents. As you know, from reading Mann's book, that gays in Hollywood had a tough time and some films are quite interesting because of the gay element behind the scenes---something like Mitchell Leisen's No Time for Love with Fred MacMurray, one of my favourite romantic comedies. It's a shame that gays still have a tough time when some people put up a stink over the truth and make a big deal about it.

tracey65k, you're right and if you think you go on, did you read what I wrote in this thread? I went on, to no avail and my point was, as you suggest, to read these kinds of books and form your own opinion about the past because who really knows and who's to say one is more accurate than another, and gays can write well-researched biographies just as well as straight biographers. I stated I didn't care much for Maria Riva's book and I did for Ean Wood's. That's because I found more 'facts' in Wood's book than Riva's. Incidental anecdotes aside, it's a slimmer, better read, regardless of his sexuality. Behind the Screen is, as you suggest and as I stated somewhere in this outrageously long thread, a very entertaining read and is not a 'guess who's gay' book as was suggested by someone who didn't read it. You're right again with your assessment of biographies written by someone close to a star---look at Gene Fowler's Good Night, Sweet Prince for a really white-washed picture of John Barrymore. Thanks for the comments. You should've been on-board a month-or-so-ago.

I just learned that Warners is also going to issue Schoedsack's The Last Days of Pompeiisimultaneously with the multi-disc Kong set. They will all fit nicely on my shelves...