May 29, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 28 — JACK WARNER has had his checkbook out all the time he’s been in New York, buying plays like mad. He paid a quarter of a million dollars for “Chicken Every Sunday,” the Phil and Julius Epstein play. He saw it and decided it would be a good vehicle for Jack Benny. With “Junior Miss” at $425,000, “The Wallflower” at $200,000 and “Chicken Every Sunday” all in one week, that isn’t bad!
May 29, 1944
Life’s cover story features Lt. Gen Carl “Tooey” Spaatz, commander of the American air forces preparing for the invasion of Europe.
Gjon Mili photographs Gene Kelly dancing.
The movie of the week is “Once Upon a Time,” starring Cary Grant.
In case you just tuned in, prompted by Louella Parsons’ May 15 post that Rouben Mamoulian had asked to be released as director of “Laura” (later accounts will say that he was fired), I’m looking at the making of the movie, one of the classics of film noir, no matter how you define this nebulous but popular genre.
The behind-the-scenes intrigue at 20th Century-Fox involving in “Laura” is familiar to anyone who has read much about the film. The books about studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck, producer/director Otto Preminger and ousted director Rouben Mamoulian tend to repeat the same stories. I think it’s more valuable to begin by examining the creative process behind “Laura,” starting with what occurred before the camera rolled or the scripts were written.
And for that, we must turn to the novel’s author, Vera Caspary.
May 28, 1944
Gypsy Rose Lee says: “There are three types of strip teasers. The loud and brazen girl, who comes out on the stage and shrieks; then there is the demure kind, who acts scared to death, and finally the voluptuous gal, who acts that way to cover her embarrassment. I satirized all three and never expected to make my reputation in that way. Few of these girls have any real talent, and it’s surprising how much money they make without knowing anything about acting.”
Craby Joe’s may be gone, but it lives on in what rock video? (And no, this isn’t “Barfly.”)
Answer: The video is … “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top (1983). Craby Joe’s appears at about the 2:15 mark.
This is “Holy Matrimony,” a rather silly movie with one of those preposterous plots in which logic is thrown out the window, but watchable because of the performances, especially if you only know Monty Woolley from “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” Eric Blore is wonderful as always, although he gets killed off early in the film. I was surprised that nobody pegged Gracie Fields. And look how young Whit Bissell was. This is his second film.
The May 15, 1944, post by Louella Parsons about Rouben Mamoulian asking to be released as the director of “Laura” made me think that it would be worth taking a closer look at the production of the 20th Century-Fox film, based on the 1943 novel by Vera Caspary. What is now considered a classic film noir had a difficult birth. There were a number of cast changes and script revisions, and Mamoulian was replaced by Otto Preminger over what was described at the time as a difference of artistic vision. According to the DVD commentary by Rudy Behlmer, Mamoulian refused to even discuss the movie with him.
In her autobiography, “Secrets of Grown-Ups,” Caspary tells of her disinterest in writing a detective story.
“Mysteries had never been my favorite reading,” she says. The murderer, the most interesting character, has always to be on the periphery of action lest he give away the secret that can be revealed only in the final pages. If mystery writers were to expose character in all of its complexity, they could never produce the solution in which the killer turns out to be the butler, the sweet old aunt or a birdwatcher who ruthlessly kills half a dozen people in order to get hold of the cigarette case with a false bottom that conceals a hundred-thousand-dollar postage stamp.”
Carole Landis and William Eythe play cards.
May 27, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 26 — Ingrid Bergman is one of the few actresses who has all hits, all runs and no errors to her credit, so I am not surprised that Alfred Hitchcock has arranged with David Selznick to star her in “The House of Edwardes,” which I am told has turned out to be a great script. Well, Hitchy hasn’t done so bad on the matter of successful pictures and since I have seen “Gaslight” I shouldn’t think Ingrid would hesitate a moment to do another one of those shockers.
Speaking of Ingrid, I received a letter from Pvt. John Miller, who writes at length. He says of her: “Sometime when you have space in your column I wish you would give Ingrid Bergman a plug for the boys in Alaska. She could be the most aloof and important actress in Hollywood. Instead she came to us as one of the gang — dancing with all of us. She was like someone out of this world and most of us came nearer to peace and heaven when we were with her than we ever will until we leave Army life.”
Credit to Mike Hawks. This is Joe Morrison in “La Fiesta de Santa Barbara.”
I know everybody who reads the Daily Mirror has seen our friend the TCM Singing Cowboy. Whoever does the introductions for “TCM Extras” loves the singing cowboy and always sneaks him in. Here he is in the current introduction. He’s also in the previous version, and I’ll root around in the archives to see if I can find it.
He even appeared in the special “TCM Extras” introduction for the 31 Days of Oscar, 2012.
As everyone knows, I’m not a huge enthusiast of Westerns. How about a little help? Who is this guy?
Note: Because I don’t know who this is, I’m going to post answers as they come in rather than waiting until later.
I found the previous version of the “TCM Extras” introduction (from 2011) and our singing cowboy isn’t there. I’m sure I’ve seen him pop up somewhere else, though…. Hm.
Sidney Bracy in an undated photo. Courtesy of Mary Mallory.
What makes one person a star, why another languishes in tiny parts or obscurity? Is it charisma, sex appeal, luck, opportunity, that pushes them over? And what about someone who was a star, and slips into small roles? Do tastes change, the industry changes, and this person is no longer the flavor of the month?
Such is the story of Australian Sidney Bracy, once a theatrical star and major player in film before falling into playing mostly small parts like butlers, valets,and the like. While his acting career lasted most of his life, he only saw recognizable success for about 15 years. His life revolved around acting and he continued to make a living at it during a time when there was no Social Security, no benefits and no residuals. Life for him was performing, no matter how large the stage.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
May 24, 1944: “The First Nighter” in a show titled “Speak Ever So Gently.” Courtesy of otronmp3.com.
May 23, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 22 — Fr. Flanagan’s “Boys Town” was a big money maker. So it is no surprise to hear that MGM has bought the rights to film a movie around the idea of “Boys Ranch,” the farm near Amarillo where delinquent boys are trained and rehabilitated.
The idea is similar to Fr. Flanagan’s wonderful institution that has done so much to put youngsters on the right road in life. “Boys Ranch,” however, is operated by a group of Texas businessmen who believe the great outdoors is the best and happiest place for boys who need spiritual as well as physical care.
The “ranch” has been described in national magazines, thereby giving Metro a running jump in popular interest. Jackie Jenkins, who looks like an angel (and ain’t) gets a top role.
Jan. 23, 1974
In case you just tuned in, I was given a box of material that was cleaned out of the old Cop Shop at the LAPD’s Parker Center and I’m slowly going through the files.
Our subject is Celina Renee Manning, who sometimes used the name Celina Renee Garcia, who was reported missing Jan. 15, 1974.
May 22, 1944
America is waiting breathlessly for the impending invasion of Europe. In Dallas, churches promised to ring their bells and open their sanctuaries for prayer as soon as the invasion was announced.
With the South hit by flooding and late rains, many fields were filled with water. In Georgia, a correspondent writes: “White women for the first time in my memory are working in the fields in large numbers.”
The movie of the week is “Gaslight,” which stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. At right, the Broadway cast of “Angel Street” with Vincent Price and Judith Evelyn.
May 22, 1944
HOLLYWOOD, May 21 — Joan Bennett laughed when I mentioned that I had heard on the Twentieth lot that she was to co-star with Fred MacMurray in “Nob Hill.” “It looks,” said Joan, “as if I am inheriting all Merle Oberon’s castoffs. First, ‘The Woman in the Window,’ and now ‘Nob Hill.’ ” Only a gal with Joanie’s grand sense of humor would have kidded herself, because most actresses hit the ceiling at any suggestion that they are second choice.
When the Daily Mirror was at latimes.com, I did some digging into the many adventures of “Phlange Welder,” a fictitious name that was slipped into The Times beginning in 1961. The Los Angeles Examiner had its own fictitious person, Victor Frisbie, who rather miraculously appeared in The Times occasionally after the demise of the Examiner in 1962.
In 1994, Evelyn “Evie” De Wolfe compiled Phlange’s many exploits into a book, long out of print, which has been reissued with new material. She is having a book signing on Saturday, May 24, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Chevalier’s Books, 126 N. Larchmont Blvd.
I should emphasize that such antics aren’t tolerated today and even at the time, according to newspaper veterans, Otis Chandler threatened to fire anyone caught slipping Phlange’s name into the paper. Of course, in those days it wasn’t possible to go through ProQuest and hunt them out, as it is now, and research shows that the Phlange pranksters were a busy bunch.
May 21, 1944
Louella Parsons asks Olivia De Havilland: “Do you feel your court battle with Warners will affect your chances of getting back to the screen and good pictures?”
“Certainly not,” she said. “I won and am now reading scripts, but I am not eager to start work until John leaves. You see, he’ll only be here eight weeks.”
Olivia meant Capt. John Huston, Walter’s soldier son, and she makes no secret of the fact she loves him and that they’ll marry whenever he is free to do so. We talked of how it affected our lives to have the man of our hearts overseas and not know where he is stationed.
Rejected review copies molder in bins. Avert thine eyes, aspiring authors!
I have a millennial friend who thinks hitchhiking is a fine idea. Having lived through the 1970s, when thumbing a ride was considered cool, I told her about my experiences of getting picked up by drivers who were high, etc. etc., which finally forced me to quit hitching. She was unimpressed.
Which raises the question of whether you would give a lift to John Waters, who embarked on a hitchhiking odyssey from Baltimore to San Francisco and writes about it in the forthcoming book “Carsick” published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Mary went on a field trip to visit the Toluca Plaza building (formerly the Medical Arts Building) for her latest post, but some of her photos got caught in my spam filter. Here they are.
This is “Aunt Nell” “trying to hustle out of the picture.”
The northwest corner of Central and Manchester avenues, as shown on Google Earth. Notice the alley behind the stores.
In nine years of blogging about Los Angeles, I have learned that families often launder the past and, understandably, murder is rarely mentioned to the younger generations.
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