Any Gary Cooper Fans?

[JackFavell]

So true, so true.

[coopsgirl]

*Legion of the Condemned*

 

 

*Friendly Persuasion*

 

[MissGoddess]

I love the one from Friendly Persuasion"! That's the funniest scene.

[CoopfanDan]

Some sad news to report today as I just read that some 40,000 films were lost today in a huge Universial vault fire.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24916515/

 

As many Gary Cooper fans know the majority of Gary's unreleased movies were paramount and owned by Universial. I do think the Washington archives has some of his unreleased 30's titles though.

[MissGoddess]

Fortunately the article said there are duplicates of what was in the vault in another location.

[CoopfanDan]

Over at HTF, they they are reporting that thousands of music masters were lost with no original backup. Although I'm sure that most of this music is on cd's all over the world by now, but the original master tapes are gone forever. I'm not even sure if Universial even knows for sure what they have in their vaults from way back then. Studios are nortorious for not having a clue or an accurate record of everything contained in their film vaults:

 

"It looks like more was damaged or destroyed in today?s Universal Studios fire than anyone previously thought. I've learned that Universal Music, which is a completely separate company and owned by Vivendi (which owns 20% of NBC Universal), rents space in the huge video vault housed on the studio lot. But one source tells me that, as a consequence, inside the video vault that was billowing thick black smoke were 1000's of original Decca, MCA, ABC recording masters from the last century including a wide range of music from Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters to Judy Garland and The Carpenters. "This is a tremendous loss in music history. A very sad day indeed. It's too bad they saved the videos that they have backups on instead of the master recordings in which they do not, although they may not have had a choice since the fire had already engulfed much of the music side of the vault," a source just told me. Universal Studios can't confirm what has been damaged or destroyed music-wise at this point because it doesn't yet know what exactly was housed in the storage rented to Universal Music."

 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/sd-dvd-film-documentary/272919-universal-fire.html

[MissGoddess]

Wow, that is very sad about those music masters!!! How terrible!

[coopsgirl]

I haven?t been able to find anything about any music masters being lost in any of the official news stories so I don?t know where that person got their info. Hopefully they were misinformed. I?m glad no films seemed to have been lost and no one was seriously injured either. I remember back in the 90s seeing both the King Kong exhibit (this is much better at the one in Florida as are the rest of the rides) and the Back to the Future sets and the BttF stuff was really cool.

[CoopfanDan]

Lion's Gate woudn't allow all the footage from the new High Noon documentary to go through. It looks like all references to John Wayne and Howard Hawks involvement were hacked off about 4 and half minutes.

 

"Four-and-half minutes were eliminated from the release cut of Inside High Noon. These sequences dealt with John Wayne's role as the leading spokesman for the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, In the behind the scenes blacklisting controversy during the filming of High Noon. Another sequence explored how Wayne ended up accepting Cooper's Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards. The following are brief excerpts from the deleted material."

 

http://insidehighnoon.com/video.html

 

This has turned into a no sale for me as I just cancelled my order for this until I see from any reviews on any improvement has been made to the film transfer.

[coopsgirl]

That is absolutely ridiculous. I can see something being cut if it's slander/libel but all the issues with Wayne and Hawks surrounding the movie are well documented. Doesn't LionsGate distribute a lot of Wayne's films? I thought I had read that somewhere recently, maybe at the HTF website. Even so, people who are John Wayne fans are probably not gonna stop being fans if they see that part of the doc so this really seems childish.

[CoopsGal]

Wow, that Legion of the Condemned image is amazing. I cannot get over how insanely handsome he is in a uniform.

[coopsgirl]

I know!! I couldn't stop staring at his hands in that pic, just beautiful!!

[CoopfanDan]

DVD Beaver has the screen comparisons now up for High Noon. The new version does look considerably better without all the contrast boosting in the first two dvd releases. I would say that brightness and contrast is just about perfect on this one and the movie will probably look very good upscaled on a HD widescreen TV.

 

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/highnoon.htm

 

This should be definitive set to own despite the "They Came to Cordura" like butchering of the new documentary

[coopsgirl]

I thought the version I had (the third one pictured in the screencaps) looked pretty good but I can see now that it is too bright and not as sharp as the new release. I have preordered it (from Amazon this time not deep discount) and I can?t wait to watch it on my blu-ray player.

 

Well, this time tomorrow we?ll be about half an hour from New York. I?m so excited!! We can?t check into our hotel until 3 so we?re just gonna drop our bags off there and then head to the Empire State building where I will of course have to do my King Kong impression . I talked to Meir who?s moderating the lecture yesterday and he was so nice. John had told him about the videos I?ve made and Meir watched some of them and he really liked them. It just floors me that these people who teach and make films themselves like my little videos. This whole experience just seems so surreal. He told me he especially liked the one to the song ?Holding Out For a Hero? and that he has been friends with the guy who wrote that song for decades. That is too freaky!!! I?m just a hick from the sticks, what am I doing hob-nobbing with these people?!

 

He told me to come up right after it?s over and he?ll introduce me to Maria. I asked him if it would be okay to bring her book and get her to autograph it and he kinda laughed and said sure and that she would be happy to see I bought it. I also asked him if he thought she might like a dvd copy of the videos I?ve made of Gary and he said she would love it so I?ve got a copy all ready for her. He?s been friends with her and her husband for about 15 years he said so that made me feel better since he should know her pretty well. I would think it would be awkward if her didn?t really know her and then here he is shoving a total stranger at her ? ha! He asked me if we were coming there just for this stuff and when I told him yes he got a kick out of it. I told him about our group here and he thought it was cool and he said when he introduces me to her he?ll tell her about our group and my videos and also that we?ve come all the way from Texas just for this event. It was really sweet too b/c he said she just lights up when she talks about her dad or hears someone else talk about him who is a big fan b/c she just adored him so much.

 

He?s also a big Clara Bow fan and said he?s writing a play and she?s one of the main characters. Too cool!!! I wish y?all could all come but I?ll do my best to represent us well .

[CoopfanDan]

Yes I've pre-ordered it again. I own the first two versions. In fact the one from 1998 was the first Gary Cooper movie I ever got on dvd. You might notice that the second release of High Noon on dvd actually was a step down for picture quality from the first but thankfully this last one is far better than them both.

 

I was seriously considering buying a playstation 3 and starting to get blu-ray movies but I finally decided that I will hold off on it until I see if any Gary Cooper movies come up in that format since I'm not really all that interested in re-buying movies in blu-ray for other actors and actresses.

 

All the best on your big adventure in NYC and I will pray for safe travels for you and your family.

[CoopfanDan]

Back to that Universial fire. I've been reading some disturbing reports about older movies at HTF. It appears that a great many of the restored prints for movies were stored in that vault. There are reports that many theater houses have cancelled shows because of movies now being up in smoke. I think it could be more serious than what was originally indicated. Some are saying that Universial will never bother spending the money to restore a print again for many of the classic titles. It would be good if you could find out if any of Gary's Paramount titles now owned by universial went up in smoke in restored condition but not yet out on dvd.

 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/sd-dvd-film-documentary/272919-universal-fire-2.html

 

Here's an LAtimes article on the situation:

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-universal4-2008jun04,0,5996006.story

 

Message was edited by: CoopfanDan

 

Update: It seems that there is some confusion over at HTF as to if acutal restored prints were lost. I'm sure now after I think about it that any movies restored would have had copies made in the digital format and stored in a bunch of locations. No studio restores a movie and stores the only print of that restoration in one vault location. I think the only thing that will come of this fire is that movie theaters will not be able to show many older Paramount titles for some time.

[CoopfanDan]

Here's an interesting article from 1993 titled "Preservation without access is Pointless". It looks like some of this has changed since this article was written as Farewell to Arms was released in its uncut state by image and shown on tcm and The Spoilers has been shown to the public in recent years. Also, Saratoga Trunk and Once Sunday Afternoon are shown from time to time on TCM now. It is interesting to know that a prestine print of Meet John Doe is in the vault but never released and that there is a longer version of For Whom the Bell Tolls in existance. Although I can't imagine the movie being any longer than it already is.

 

http://www.cinemaweb.com/access/pre_stmt.htm

 

I haven't read it all but did read the Gary Cooper part which I will include below:

 

Films That Might as Well Be Lost

 

A review of the films of Gary Cooper will spotlight many of the effects of the current situation. Featuring one of Hollywood's greatest stars, a number of Gary Cooper films are in a legal limbo, being preserved by American archives at public expense, but unavailable to the public.

 

Gary Cooper started his career in silent films. CHILDREN OF DIVORCE (1927), with Clara Bow, is one of hundreds of silent films preserved, yet never to be seen. One of Cooper's first sound films, THE SPOILERS (1930), was never on television due to a rights problem with the story by Rex Beach. Although the story has been in the public domain for over 10 years, Paramount has not distributed the film, nor can anyone else when Paramount's motion picture copyright expires.20

 

A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932) is a public domain staple and widely available. Based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway, it stars Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, yet the copies in distribution are of the edited 1938 and 1949 reissue prints. The 35mm print donated by Paramount is the original release version; preserved at public expense, but rarely, if ever, shown to the public.

 

Based on a Broadway play, 1933's ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON is carefully evocative of small town life of 1910, recreating that period only 25 years later. This low-key comedy represented a career shift for Cooper in a role played far differently by James Cagney in the 1941 remake. Preserved with public funds, ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON is in the public domain, yet it is virtually never shown.

 

Paramount Pictures donated beautiful prints of these four films to the Library of Congress in 1971.21 Although Paramount sold its rights to A FAREWELL TO ARMS and ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON over 45 years ago, the archive is required by written agreement to get Paramount's approval for access. The studio refuses to allow access to films like these by specialized distributors, nor will Paramount distribute these titles.

 

The Library of Congress has devoted substantial Federal resources preserving Frank Capra's MEET JOHN DOE (1941), starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. This public domain title is widely available in poor-quality, usually incomplete copies. However, restored to full length, the best quality edition stays in the vault, while the truly inferior material is widely available.

 

The most successful film of 1943 was Cooper's second Hemingway adaptation, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, co-starring Ingrid Bergman. Released at 170 minutes, but long available only in a version 40 minutes shorter, the UCLA Film and Television Archive restored the film to 157 minutes using funding from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.22 Despite this effort, the owner has not released the restored version on home video.

 

One of the biggest hits of 1946 was SARATOGA TRUNK. Again casting Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, this film has been unseen since the 1950s, due a limited license to the story by Edna Ferber. This is a prime example of the type of film that archives should preserve, since there is no economic incentive for the copyright holder to do so. However the public will receive no benefit for warehousing the film until the story rights fall into the public domain, and the owner of the film can again distribute this long missing classic.

 

Gary Cooper is one of the great film stars in the history of American cinema, yet seven of his major films are currently unavailable to the public in their original or restored form. At the same time, all are being preserved by archives that receive Federal funds.

[Senta]

It is really very interesting information. Thanks. At least we know that some films are available and may be we will live long enough to see them released.

[Senta]

Hi Angie, you are having great time, I loved just read about it.

I've send you photos.

Regards,

Vera

[coopsgirl]

Well, we made it back and we had the best time in New York!! It was just wonderful. I'm way too tired now to tell y'all about it now but I did want to post a pic of what Maria wrote in my book. She was great and I'll tell y'all more about it tomorrow (I hope, if I've recovered). Why is it that after a vacation you feel like you need another one to recover from the first one ?

 

 

"To Angie, I hope you enjoy more special memories. Best Wishes - Maria Cooper Janis"

[CoopsGal]

...

 

**Dies from jealousy**

[FrankGrimes]

Hiya, Coopsy's Clarita! -- I'm very happy to hear you had a wonderful time in NYC and got to meet Maria. What she wrote is quite lovely. I'm still in awe of John's gracious gesture towards you and your family.

 

I look forward to reading about your trip.

 

Howdy, Minnesotan Stranger -- For a girl who likes to clean, you sure do have a messy box.

[coopsgirl]

Don't die Kim, I'd miss ya .

 

I wish I could have gotten autographs for everybody . I'm still trying to get my notes typed up about the trip. It's been a busier day at work than I was expecting and I'm so tired I'll probably take a nap when I get home. Hopefully I can put them up tomorrow or later tonight.

[CoopsGal]

Awww, that's all right, Angie! It's so neat that one of us at least got to see Maria; that in itself is amazing.

 

Box is cleaned, Frank.

[coopsgirl]

I finally got my notes typed up and all my pics developed.

 

There was a good turnout for the lecture and I was glad to see that. I got tickled though b/c I was the only one there under 40. Most of the people looked more in the 50-80 range. There were a lot of younger people though that turned out the next day for the movies. They had a couple pics of him up on the screen and one was a pic from the early 30s of him wearing a suit and the other was one from The Westerner. Then during the lecture Maria showed lots of pics (mostly from her book and some studio portraits). During one part they had a pic up again from The Westerner and then she clicked to one from the early 30s of him with a top hat and white tie and everybody went ?wow!? b/c of the startling contrast. Maria kind of giggled at that and then she and Meir talked about how comfortable he was in anything b/c he was just confident and comfortable in his own skin and how that always showed. Then they showed the pic of him from the late 20s in his Duesenberg. Meir said ?you can?t tell from this black and white pic but that car was chartreuse with yellow leather seats?. Then he said ?you?ve got to be awfully secure in your own manhood to drive a car that color? and everybody laughed.

 

She showed one pic that I?d never seen and I wish so much I could find a copy of it. It looked like it was from the early-mid 40s and it was in color. Gary was sitting on the branch of a tree with one leg up on the branch and the other hanging off to the side. He had on arm on his hip and the other resting on his leg. He was wearing jeans and black boots with a shirt and jean jacket and a cowboy hat. He had a little smile and it was just so cute. The way it was shot you couldn?t see any of the ground, just the tree and sky. The leaves were all red and the sky was blue with no clouds, it was really pretty wherever it was. Maria really liked that one and she said ?this picture just shows you who Gary Cooper was? and she talked about how much he loved nature and stuff like that. You could tell everybody liked that one.

 

They also talked about during the filming of High Noon, Gary threw his back out just a couple days before they shot the scene where he has to pick Grace Kelly up right after they get married. Maria said Grace was very athletic and strong and wasn?t easy to pick up. She also had no dance training and didn?t know how to lift herself so Gary just had to heft her up there and they had to do it several times but she said you couldn?t tell at all how much pain he was in. Yet another reason not to like her (ha!). She also talked about how many real life heroic characters he played and that one was Marco Polo but that he didn?t really like that one. Then she joked that if we didn?t have it, we didn?t need to rush out and buy that one. She also said Pride of the Yankees was one of his favorites.

 

After the lecture I went up to the stage and let Meir know it was me and he waited until the crowd thinned out some before he introduced me. While I was waiting I talked to some of the other women that were there also getting autographs. One said that Gary was the first dead actor she fell in love with when she was 14. One of Meir?s friends was there and we talked for a while and she was very nice and we talked about the city and what all there was to see. I also got to talk with her and Meir a little later and we talked about Clara Bow b/c all three of us love her and it was really neat.

 

After most of the people had left Meir brought Maria over to me and told her that we had come all the way from Austin just for this and was surprised and thought that was cool. I told her Gary was my fave actor and how great he was and how the good guy that he was always came across and made him more likeable than anyone else. Then Meir said something like ?she makes the videos of Gary that I sent you? and she said that she liked them and then I gave her the dvd copy of them and she seemed genuinely happy to get it. I was nervous to give it to her even though Meir said it would be okay but since she was happy about it I felt better. Then she saw that I had her book and it was cute b/c she seemed really surprised that so many people had it and she signed it for me. I told her too that I liked the movie Marco Polo and didn?t know that it didn?t do well when I first saw it and I thought it was a fun adventure movie. She joked and said she might have to watch it again. Then she asked if I'd seen the Naked Edge and we talked about that one and how it didn't do well b/c no one could see Gary Cooper as a killer. I told her that I felt bad b/c I thought he might actually be the bad guy b/c he did such a good job of seeming so suspicious. She got a kick out of that and patted my shoulder and said ?that?s great!?. Then I got my pic taken with her and thanked her again for the pic and autograph. She was so nice and gracious to everyone who talked with her after the lecture. She also looked great and there is no way you would guess she?s nearly 71. At first I was nervous but after just a couple of minutes I felt at ease with her and I think that?s b/c she?s just a nice, down to earth person. I can imagine that?s what it would be like to meet Gary too since he didn?t have an ego or act like a big time movie star.

 

The guy who was working security was talking to her too and he told her that his grandmother who was 97 was a huge Gary fan and that he liked him too and requested to work that night so he could be there. She thought that was great and told him she would send him a copy of her book to give to his grandmother and he was happy about that.

 

 

 

 

*Me in front of auditorium*

 

 

*Maria talking to fans*

 

 

*Giving Maria dvd with my Gary videos and Meir Ribalow in the middle*

 

 

*Maria signing my book*

 

 

*Me an Maria - she definitely got some of her dad's height*