Any Gary Cooper Fans?

[Jennythenipper]

It's a BBC production. Toby Stephens plays Rochester. He is awesome. Too handsome, of course, but I never hold that against an actor if I can help it.

 

Yes, Orson was tha bomb in that role. And LOL about Johnny Weissmuller. Have you seen the Tarzan pics in the pre-code gallery? I highly recommend a stroll through there. There are some awesome Cooper photos in there too.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Jenny---yes I did see those Tarzan pix, they were very, um, primitive. What's that song Ann Miller sings in On the Town, "I Want a Primitive Man"? I know just how she feels!

[Jennythenipper]

Yeah, and he had a huge...swimming pool. It went all the way around his house.

[coopsgirl]

Feel free to use the Wolf Song pic. I don?t remember where or who found that one so I don?t care who you give credit too .

 

Someone on youtube who knows I love Gary (I have no idea how they ever guessed that ) sent me the link to the Wolf Song clip otherwise I probably wouldn?t have found it either.

 

I love that pic from *The Fountainhead*. We are having our kitchen remodeled and we?re getting tile put down. If the guy who installs it looks anything like that, I?m not letting him leave the house!!

[Jennythenipper]

Thanks Coopsgirl. I credited you for the pic, anyway.

 

http://cinemaocd.blogspot.com/2008/07/eye-candy-of-day-wolf-song.html

 

LOL about the tile guy. Or you could just smashup the tile like patricia Neal and then call him back.

 

I am still on a quest to find a still of the jackhammer scene.

[Senta]

Hi April, I more then can imagine High Noon in color - I saw it first in color at our TV and thought that it was originally in color. And how I was surprised then my brother brought me Collector edition from Finland and it was black and white.

I agree that black and white are great but I always feel something nostalgic about that color version and looking for a copy. And when I read in some comments concerning new edition that instead of repepating materials from previos one they shoud include color version - I totally agree with that.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Vera! I can understand that, it's the first way you saw it. I've never seen

any color version.

[Senta]

Speaking of color - received today nice postcard (handcolured photo from Cowboy and the Lady) it's looks artifichial but in that some kind of beauty and fun. I shal scan and post it tomorrow - too tired today - spent an evening at opera - Magic Flute Mozart.

And also will scan the rest of my photos.

[Jennythenipper]

Can't wait, Senta, CATL is one of my faves.

[Senta]

Ok, you win.

Here it is. I was captured by it, even if postcards is not my cup of tea, but it can be taken with me anywhere when I'm travelling.

[JackFavell]

Oh, I love that postcard!

[Jennythenipper]

Gorgeous!

 

Thanks. Now, go rest from your efforts.

 

Here's something new from Ebay:

 

[debro52]

jennythe... great pic. I love Gary too. I read that when he first came to Hollywood that he was so squeeky clean and nice that the studio made up some sexy gossip about him and I think Clara Bow, just to get his name in the public eye. He was a nice man and they didn't think that would go over so well. He was great then, and he is still great now. I think High Noon was my favorite. I guess because it was the first of his movies I saw. I can barely remember my mom and dad taking me and my sister to the drive in to see it.

[Senta]

I tired not from my efforts to put one single card here, but because it was middle of the night and I just returned from the evening at opera. It is opposite time here remember. But it is all right.

Yesterday and today I'm very glad because I received this nice postcard and the book Lives of Bengal Lancer with jacket from the movie and this great photo from Virginian with which I really fell in love.

I posted it before from e-bay but with watermarks, I think you like it this way much better. And I'm waiting for another one from this serie of Richee photos. Seller said that they came from Mary Brian estate, that's pleases me even more, because it came from the place of a person originally connected with Gary. And now - wow - the home of this image will be in Russia.

The image originally is in light sepia tone, but I lost it when I was editing it at Photoshop unfortunatly.

[coopsgirl]

According to different stories I have read (including in Clara Bow?s biography ?Running Wild? which is probably the best book written about her) it was her idea for she and Gary to date b/c she thought he had talent and by being seen around with her, it would get him a lot of publicity. She was always willing to help people out if she thought they had a chance to make it and they actually did end up falling for each other. They dated for several months but Clara was also still seeing director Victor Fleming and that made Gary jealous. She wasn?t ready to settle down yet (she was just 22) and they broke up. But, they were still seen out together at the occasional movie premiere (or his car would be spotted at her house) from ?27 through ?29.

 

Clara is my fave actress and I think it?s great that she was so willing to share the spotlight and try to help out others. She had some promo pics taken with Jean Harlow in ?29 for the *Saturday Night Kid* even though Harlow was unknown at the time and only had a bit part in the film. Clara thought she had something special though and wanted to help her. She also helped Jack Oakie to get his start.

 

*High Noon* is also one of my faves (it?s pretty much tied with *Meet John Doe* and *Pride of the Yankees* for my top fave).

[Senta]

I've heard the same thing - that it was Clara's idea on the first place, but it was because she fell for him at the first place not merely want to help to estblish his career. And she spoke widely about their relations and Gary's sexual talents even his intentions towards her was more serios. And he indeed was mad abuot relations with Fleming and others at the same time with relations with him (I also can't understand that).

[Senta]

Some more on that matter.

[Jennythenipper]

Wow Senta, that Virginian photo is a beauty. If you lost the the sepia tone in Photoshop (did you do an auto correct, perhaps?) You can get it back by going to Image-adjustments-variations and choosing one that is more yellow and closer to the original. Or you can go back to the original scan and do contrast and brightness correction without touching the color.

 

I never really know what to believe about Clara Bow. I've heard so many wild tales. And yes, I'd heard that she kept him around for his um talents. However, he had to realize that being seen with the "It" girl made him somewhat the "It" boy.

 

Had he not had buckets of talent as an actor and an amazing unique presence on screen he would have faded into oblivion and never been a big star. It's interesting that Clara saw that in him, when many would have missed it.

 

I was re-reading "Complicated Women" last night about Pre-code Hollywood and that was one point made in that book, that Hollywood in that era was controlled by the Producers and the actors. It sounds like Clara used her power to give others a break which is nice to hear. Makes a change from some of the not so nice things you hear about her.

[Jennythenipper]

A couple more things:

 

 

My favorite image from [Along Came Jones.|http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/viewimage.x/00000000/gmoran2316/BG845.jpg?vvid=21149976&allow_track_link=1&track=023b1084c2-47755&sp=1&vsid=1&vgp=0]

came up for sale on Ebay. I have it already but in a much smaller version as part of an advertisement. This seller has a few other goodies like a pic from the Cowboy and the Lady I'm interested in.

 

Also, I was trying to remember if there is a bathtub scene in Task Force. (Or is that some other movie I'm thinking of). Anyone have an image of it? Otherwise I will dig it out and cap it.

 

Finally, I'm useless at posting photos. Everytime I try it comes out as a link. In the help guide it says to put an exclamation point before the address, but I've done that and it doesn't work. Am I missing something?

[coopsgirl]

The David Stenn book *Running Wild* is very good. It?s not overly salacious but doesn?t try to make her look like a saint either. He put a lot of work into it and the section in the back where he goes into detail about all his references (including working with her sons) is nearly as long as the book itself ? ha! It seems like he truly wanted to write the most accurate account of her life and career as possible and the care and love he put into it really shows. She had such a hard life and there were several times when I was reading it that I just burst into tears and had to put it down for a while. I?m amazed that she turned out as nice a person as she did. She had a terrible upbringing yet she never let it turn her bitter or cold. She seemed like the kind of person who would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.

 

One of my favorite stories was about a boy who worked with his parents at a beach in Southern California selling popcorn from a stand. Both his parents got sick and couldn?t work and they couldn?t afford the hospital bills so the little boy wrote Clara a letter asking if she would come down and help him sell popcorn b/c he knew it would draw a big crowd (this was around the height of her popularity). She didn?t even hesitate and took off to help him. The people at the studio had to stop her and wrangle up some security people to go with her so it wouldn?t turn into a riot. She had a real soft spot for kids, especially little boys b/c she was a tomboy growing up and had very few (if any) friends who were girls. Her best friend when she was young was a boy who was like a little brother to her and he lived in the same tenement building as her. One day he got too close to the furnace and caught fire. He yelled for Clara and ended up dying in her arms. I think she was around 8 or 9 when that happened. Anytime she needed to cry in a movie she would think about that and all the other hard times she had gone through. Her tears were always real and b/c of that I don?t like the scenes where she cries; it?s just too sad.

 

It is funny like you said that Clara had an eye for talent in others. I bet she would have a made a good talent scout.

 

Gary was known as Clara?s ?It boy? and while I?m sure at first he was happy for the publicity, after a while he became embarrassed to be called that. Clara was definitely not shy either about telling anybody who listen how ?talented? and well endowed he was (in words it wouldn?t be fit to print here ). While on the surface, it may seem a little trashy, I don?t think she fully understood that maybe you should keep some things to yourself. She had schizophrenia and while the symptoms of it got much worse after she retired from acting, it can reduce your inhibitions and she also wasn?t raised very well and I think that explains a lot of her somewhat strange behavior. One time she went to have dinner in a local hotel that also had a pool she liked to swim in. Well it seemed perfectly normal to her to go there wearing just her bathing suit and a coat. Of course, the management didn?t exactly see it that way ? ha!

 

*Here?s one of my fave pics of her. It was taken in ?36, three years after she retired. This would have been during a pretty happy stage in her life, and there weren?t too many of those.*

 

 

*Here?s one of Clara, Gary and Esther Ralston in Children of Divorce*

 

 

*I think this one is just adorable and I used some of the software I have to give it a kind of dreamy look*

 

 

I?ll get off my soapbox now. I can talk about Clara about as much as I can about Gary (and believe me, that?s a lot!).

[MissGoddess]

Excellent work on the "dreamy" photo of Clara, Angie!

[coopsgirl]

Posting pics is easy once you know how but it can be tricky to learn. There is a formula you need to use but if I try to type it out to show you, it will only show up as a blank box. So, I?ll try to spell it out and hopefully it will make sense. First type in the less than sign. Do not put a space then type in IMG. Now space over one and type src. Again, don?t put a space then type the equal sign and right after that with no space type in double quotes. After the quotes with no space type the greater than sign. So the only space in the formula is between the IMG and src. Then copy and paste the URL address inbetween the quotes. If you are using a photobucket account, copy the link in the ?direct link? box.

 

The famous bathtub scene is in *The Story of Dr. Wassell*. Here are some screencaps I got from it. Get your drool rag ready .

 

 

 

 

 

 

*This is my fave pic from Along Came Jones*

 

[Jennythenipper]

Thanks Coopsgirl for your little soapbox speech about Clara. It's really hard to find good biographies of classic film stars. Most of the time, they look like they've done their research but then when you look carefully at their sources, you find that they are either quoting other biographers, relying on second or third hand accounts that amount to gossip or both. The worst is when a bad biography gets printed and then used as a source for more bad biographies. Then the garbage never really goes away it just gets recycled. A classic example is the Hollywood Babylon books, printing the urban legend about Lupe Valez drowning in the toilet. In fact it was Anger author of Hollywood Babylon that first hung the tag "nymphomaniac" on Clara Bow.

 

What bio do you recommend on Coop?

 

Thanks for the Dr. Wassell pics. I just couldn't remember what movie it was. I knew it was toward the end of a film, I hadn't been liking all that much as I watching it. I remember thinking, "well this saves it!"

 

I love that Along Came Jones pic. You could caption it something like, "I'm gonna shoot you cause you look better with your shirt off."

 

Thanks a million for the tutorial on posting pics. Why is it that every web forum has a different markup? This one is close to html, but not quite. Sigh.

 

[Senta]

I like these bathtubs scenes from Dr.Wassel, but I like the movie too (even it is always underrated) with a lot of close-ups and many fine episodes. As for Jones picture I like it to - so you can imagine the result of it, so you can add it to your list.

Thanks for the fine piece on Clara Bow. I saw her only in Gary's movies and in your clips and enjoyed her performance a lot.

[Senta]

It is funny but I love this imaje too. And too have a copy of it. This dealer who listed it now always put on e-bay good stuff. I already won now and before some photos from him.

Here is my copy (not original) it came from France, where Gary is highly regarded.