Break Time

I have taken a break from politics as it has become too virulent for me. Discourse has turned into name-calling and profanity. Its not spirited debate anymore it’s an attack on me personally which fortunately for me I don’t take personally because the attackers don’t know anything about me except their perceived notion of the politics I represent. Too bad too because I am a reasonable man and when confronted in a reasonable way with a cogent argument I will think about it and if there is merit to it either respond with my view or even change or modify my own. Isn’t that what debate is all about? No it seems my antagonists and I have to frame them with that word because they have determined in advance that they think they know who I am. It’s sad because they don’t. One thing I think I have determined though is that some of the friends that have departed my company have decided that any view that doesn’t coincide with theirs is a personal attack on them. This epiphany has made it all the more clear why some have reacted the way they have. Everyone isn’t a racist, a misogynist, a fascist, a white supremacist simply because you say so. Yes a break I need until the Country if ever let’s go of the diatribe they seem hell bent on.  I am just too old for this crap.  

Robert Osborne

I am taking a departure this month and instead of honoring a Hollywood Golden Legend I’m choosing instead to pay homage to a man that introduced so many of them for over 22 years as host of TCM or for the uninitiated Turner Classic Movies, Robert Osborne. 

Robert Osborne passed away last month on March 6th and I admit unabashedly that it was an emotional day for me. He became part of my life in such a visceral fashion because he made the movies I love so much come alive in a way not many could ever do. He did it in the vernacular no hip speak without the dreaded metaphors even his successor has deemed necessary. Robert spoke of people in loving tones without being insipid and if he didn’t have something positive to say he said nothing at all. He never engaged in gossip and when his guest hosts veered away from the topic of movies he gently steered the conversation back to the narrative of what the viewer had tuned in for in the first place the back story of how the movie was made and what made the story stand out in that particular moment in time. There was never revisionist history, as so many actors love to engage in. You know what I mean taking the mindset of today and trying to make it apart of what was. I see that often in movies today. 

For many years on Saturday night at 8 pm Robert along with a season long guest co-host featured a show called The Essentials. A Hollywood star would kibbutz with Robert before and after each movie that they both (most of the time) agreed was an “Essential” movie in Hollywood History. Alec Baldwin and Drew Barrymore grand offspring of the Barrymore legends each stayed several seasons and had particular great chemistry with Robert. Baldwin loved and respected Robert and he was more than happy to spend 3 seasons introducing with Robert these classic films often trying to keep up with Robert’s insane movie historical film knowledge. Although as I alluded Osborne was never arrogant about the depth of his screen acumen and he deeply impressed the young Drew Barrymore especially when the two would introduce films featuring her Grandfather John and Grand Uncle Lionel and Grand Aunt Ethel Barrymore. Although she knew and had seen those films her relatives have starred in she wasn’t up to speed on the history Robert brought to her in the seasons she spent with him.  

Another trait that I loved about Robert was that he never brought his personal life into his work. We never knew if he was a Conservative, Liberal, Republican or Democrat and when his co-hosts questioned him on who his favorite stars were he would let you know but it never clouded his judgment on their individual performances. He just had a gentle way about him and when Golden Age stars would talk about him they swooned but it was never syrupy sweet it was genuine love. 

Robert actually started in movies but it was another legend Lucille Ball that convinced him he should write about Hollywood instead and his book 85 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards is the exclamation point about the Annual Awards Show. His DVD featuring 30 conversations with Hollywood legends some who has already passed away is a treasure trove of information about stars and their lives.  These past luminaries are so forthcoming about their lives as Robert gets them to reveal secrets as easily as taking candy from a baby. 

Robert Osborne was one of a kind he will never be repeated and although I will continue to watch TCM it will never be the same. 

The Unlived Life

Have you ever thought what if I had never married her? I never went out with him? I never took that job or went to a different school or joined the Navy? Well I have and it’s quite a ride in the land of permutations and incantations. To start with if you’re happy right now but still have some regrets in your life I’m here to say lose them because without those “mistakes” or “errors in judgment” you might be somewhere else and not living in the house of sublime you’re in right now.  

I often look at some of my friends that have wildly successful marriages people like Andy and Liz Lison or a gay couple I know who’ve been together in excess of 50 years. It is a true marvel in the 21st Century when it’s so easy to say I quit this doesn’t work for me I’m out of here. Some people are born to be together they’re like ducks mated for life. Unfortunately for me I was probably never cut out for marriage but I don’t envy their success only congratulate them because they figured out how to solve the rubix cube and at age 66 there’s another factor that I’m faced with. You can’t go back. Next life I tell myself but I can do some things in the present and not fall into the trap my father did like letting his body and mind atrophy with the passing of his wife my mother back in 2000. He finally succumbed in 2014 but that’s not the point instead of stagnation which he fell into I can be part of generativity. Bring light and guidance to the next generation. And hopefully I do that each day. And when God calls me home I’ll get to look at my unlived life in that movie in a seat in Heaven alongside some of the loved ones that have preceded me. If I’ve been good enough that is. 

Paulette Goddard

Born Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Queens on June 3, 1910 she became a child model at the tender age of 13. Her initial claim to fame came from The Ziegfeld Follies as the girl on the crescent moon she married quite young to wealthy man Edgar James at 16 they separated after just 2 years and they divorced in 1932. It was here she changed to her stage name Paulette Goddard. Paulette would marry 4 times next to Charlie Chaplin in 1936, which may have cost her the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (more on that later) and later still to Burgess Meredith and finally to and most satisfyingly to Erich Remarque in 1958 for 12 years until his death in 1970. Paulette had no children although miscarried a child with Burgess Meredith. 

Paulette secured a small role in 1932 in an Eddie Cantor film as a blond Goldwyn girl in The Kid From Spain but Paulette and Goldwyn didn’t get along and so she drifted making a series of uncredited Hal Roach films until 1936. It was in this year she met Charlie Chaplin. They soon became an item in Tinsel Town and married in 1936 and that very same year he cast her opposite him in Modern Times a huge hit and later in The Great Dictator a controversial film parodying Adolph Hitler but her career stalled most likely because of her relationship with Chaplin as exemplified when she lost her role in Gone With the Wind as Scarlett O’Hara. The imperious producer David O.  Selznick felt there was a conflict with Chaplin’s studio and therefore declined Paulette the role.  The reasoning was never quite clear but that’s the official excuse Selznick used after he decided on Vivien Leigh. However it was her role in the distaffed mega hit The Women the following year that secured her a contract with Paramount. The movie was all about men but had none of them in a starring role but directed by one who seemed to know women  the legendary George Cukor. Later that year she twice starred with Bob Hope first in The Cat and the Canary and then one of my personal favorites that influenced some of the phantasmal movies of today The Ghost Breakers. In 1943 her proudest moment came as she was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar in So Proudly We Hail opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake and Television’s first Superman George Reeves. 

Cecille B. DeMille cast her in several blockbusters Northwest Mounted Police in 1940, Reap the Wild Wind, 1942 and The Unconquered in 1947.  Previously she headlined Kitty, 1945 probably her most successful film and then Diary of a Chambermaid in 1946 wherein she starred opposite her then 3rd husband Burgess Meredith. She and Burgess were victims of the Hollywood blacklist and once were mobbed by a crowd screaming “Communists!” on their way to a premiere.  

In 1947 she made An Ideal Husband for Alexander Korda and in 1949 formed a production company with John Steinbeck called Monterey Pictures. Her last starring roles came in A Stranger Came Home retitled in the States as The Unholy Four and The Charge of the Lancers in 1954. She did some summer stock on television and reprised The Women albeit in a different role. When she retired from acting Paulette moved to Switzerland with her 4th husband in 1964. One comeback film came in an Italian effort that year, Time of Indifference with Claudia Cardinale and finally on television in 1972 The Snoop Sisters about mystery sleuths opposite Mildred Natwick and Helen Hayes. Paulette’s education never went beyond High School but she bequeathed a sizable donation of 20 million to New York University and a freshman residence is named Goddard Hall in her honor.  Paulette went through massive treatment for breast cancer in 1975 which was seemingly successful and it wasn’t until 1990 at age 79 that she succumbed to heart failure and was buried alongside her mother and 4th husband Remarque in Ronco cemetery in Switzerland.  

James Cagney

Let’s start this story with a little known fact courtesy of my favorite movie historian Robert Osborne. Jimmy Cagney started his show business career as a female impersonator on stage playing a chorus girl.  I bet you didn’t know that and neither did I.  Now other than that little factoid I don’t have much detail but most likely his vivid red hair may have assisted him in that short-lived endeavor. Adding to that carrot-top characteristic you’d think it would lend itself to color films but that didn’t take place until 1942’s Captain of the Clouds and he would not make another 3 strip Technicolor foray until ten years later. Interesting side note it was Jimmy who was slated to star in 1938’s big budget Technicolor epic Robin Hood but that of course went to Errol Flynn. Staying on this topic before the meat of this story James nixed Paramount’s Going My Way where Bing Crosby stole Best Actor and he also turned down the role of Vito Corelone in The Godfather. Back in his contract days with Warner Brothers 1932-42 he and Bette Davis were known as the “King and Queen of Suspensions” because they turned down so many roles and were suspended without pay every time they turned down a part.  

Born on the Lower East Side in Manhattan in July of 1899 some described him rather deftly as an actor that had a spontaneous humor, innate intensity, curling lips, and a breathless slang. Jimmy just 5-foot 8 ½ inches had a one of a kind jaunt to his step and a choreographed motion to his body that lent to his Academy Award win in Yankee Doodle Dandy in which he danced his way into America’s hearts and that very same fancy footwork as a “hoofer” lent gloriously to his amazing fight scenes in and out of the ring in so many of his roles. Cagney could fake a punch better than anyone in Hollywood.  

In 1931 he became the screen’s top mobster in Public Enemy and the scene that has been shown as part of movie lore has him stand up from the table with that patented contorted look as he responds to his girlfriends want of “respectability” and he ceremoniously squashes a half grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face. Audiences were at first shocked but then enthralled by his bold act and after this movie his stardom was assured. Years later Mae would often credit Cagney and thanked him on numerous occasions for making her so famous for just that scene alone. Whether he played gangster, song and dance man or Military hero Cagney was a bankable star. Not all of his films were notable however but every one was, as critics would agree “Essentially Cagney”.  

Jimmy looked with disdain on “method acting” he felt you act for the audience not for yourself. It was as if to say acting was a performance not something you psyched yourself up for. And who could argue with him. Cagney’s roles were so varied and intricate he didn’t need an acting coach he performed from within and didn’t engineer his performance as so many of the actors did beginning in the late 40’s and early 50’s. There’s no doubt new pioneers like Lee Strasberg who taught stars like Brando and Dean brought to the screen a new age of performance artists Cagney’s brand never went out of style.  

Cagney off-screen was amiable, self-effacing didn’t smoke and rarely drank liquor. His colleagues, directors and stagehands admired him. The latter being a true measure of a person as Cagney never let his stardom precede him. He had a close circle of friends and avoided Hollywood parties and Night Life and was married to Frances Willard “Billie” Vernon from 1922 until his death in 1986.  In 1974 he won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Film Institute and the Medal of Freedom in 1984.

Cagney loved country living and retired with “Billie” to their farm in Duchess County New York where he raised horses. He also owned a spread in Martha’s Vineyard where he would find retreat between films. Jimmy received many offers to return to films but steadfastly refused but did return for one cameo in 1981 when Milos Foreman convinced him to perform in Ragtime. 

James Cagney a true American icon and his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame makes him a true legend in The Golden Age of Hollywood.  

Footnote from last month in case you may have noticed. In my tribute to Ida Lupino the intended description was “herstory” not her story a play on history.   

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Ida Lupino

I chose this star because amidst all the fanfare that women have advanced the narrative to in so many endeavors once held as a man’s domain because  this woman did it without so much as a tweet, a news story on 6o minutes, a sound byte on social media or even a long winded pundit waxing on like some sycophants often do.  Ida Lupino was a woman decades ahead of her time and she did it in a man’s world and moved about in it with a deftness simply because she was just flat out great as an actress, producer and maybe most importantly as a director. Yes a director. I’ll get to that later. 

Ida Lupino was born in London on February 4, 1918 during of all things a German zeppelin bombing, to a traveling player family that had migrated from Italy back in the 17th Century. Acting with her sister by age 15 in a theater built by her father she eventually made 5 films in England and then signed with Paramount in 1933 where she took on over a dozen or more ingénue roles over the next 5 years. Her breakout films however came next in “The Light that Failed” in 1939 opposite Ronald Colman playing a vengeful prostitute and then “They Drive by Night” in 1940 costarring George Raft and the up and coming Humphrey Bogart as a demented murderer. These two roles cemented her a long-term commitment with Warner Brothers. A personal note here from me, watching her in these two movies astride the 1939 “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” with Basil Rathbone as a demure debutante displayed Ida’s great range in acting ability. Many actors even to this day are always themselves but Ida took on the character akin to a Meryl Streep of the present day.  Peter Flint wrote in 1995 that Ida Lupino was an earthy intelligent movie actress that created a luminous gallery of worldly-wise villainesses, gangster molls and hand wringing neurotics.  

Ida continued with Humphrey Bogart in 1941’s High Sierra and won the New York Film Critic’s award for best actress playing an embittered woman and stage mother to her musically talented daughter in “The Hard Way” two years later.  Ida formed her own production company and started to take on controversial social themes and in 1949 wrote and directed “Not Wanted” about the travails of an unwed mother. She also addressed rape and bigamy topics that were largely disregarded at the time but in retrospect make Ida Lupino a true pioneer not only as a woman but as a filmmaker as well.  

In the 1950’s her film career started to wane but television came calling and Ida began to direct shows like “Have Gun Will Travel”, “The Untouchables”, “Daniel Boone”, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “Bonanza”, “The Virginian”, and in the 60’s and 70’s “Batman”, “Bewitched”, “Police Woman”, “Mod Squad” and “Charlie’s Angels”  

Personally Ida was married 3 times first to actor and part time swashbuckler and full time suave leading man Louis Hayward and also to Howard Duff with more longevity, which yielded a daughter Bridget Duff. Ms. Lupino small in stature at 5’ 2” and lithe in figure at 112 pounds pursued skin diving, wrote short stories, composed music and one of her works “Aladdin Suite” was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.  Ida Lupino died in August of 1995 of a stroke following a battle with cancer at age 77. Ida Lupino a woman who made herstory without bragging about it.  

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Cary Grant

I often turn to my favorite Movie Historian Robert Osborne for factual and personal references when I write each month about the Golden Age of Hollywood and with this star I took a particular interest in what Robert had to say. His adjectives or should I say superlatives included: looks, versatility, charm, talent and that va-voom factor. Robert said he was like a “beacon” compared to other actors and Cary’s friend David Niven said that other actors owed him a debt of gratitude because Grant turned down so many roles offered to him which enabled other actors the ability to play some really good roles. Just think about this list of movies that were offered to Cary first and you’ll recognize most if not all of them. Ninotchka, The Lost Weekend, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, Around the World in 80 Days, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Music Man and My Fair Lady.  

Let’s march back a bit. Born Archie Leach on January 18, 1904 to a lower middle class family in Bristol England. He would later recall that he was always cold and when he landed in Hollywood   the warmth of the California sun relieved him of those frigid feelings from the days of his youth. His first role came in 1932 This Is the Night but he played third billing to Roland Young and Thelma Todd but that wouldn’t last long.  The famed director 6 time Oscar Winner Billy Wilder would lament that he would never get to work with Cary and although he would screen test for roles that would tap into his deep reservoir of talent he would continue to opt for roles that were lighter weight in nature he would excel in virtually all of them. No matter the script if it was a Cary Grant movie people came to see him. Remembering one of the first madcap movies I first watched was Hal Roach’s Topper in 1937 wherein he and Constance Bennett played ghosts wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting banker friend Cosmo Topper played by Roland Young. Five years earlier is was Roland Young that had top billing now it was Cary. When the studio asked for him to reprise the role a year later Grant’s star had already taken off into the stratosphere and Roach was relegated to splicing scenes from the year before. Although he played opposite Marlene Dietrich in Blonde Venus in 1932 and Mae West in She Done Him Wrong in 1933 it was not until The Awful Truth in 1937 with Irene Dunne and Bringing Up Baby with Katherine Hepburn and later in 1940 The Philadelphia Story did Cary become a true Super Star. In both roles he displayed his comic genius and only hinted at the real depth of his untapped serious side that some of the aforementioned roles he turned down would have showcased. 

This column doesn’t provide enough space to do justice to this man because so many movies need a close inspection for sheer genius. Films like 1946’s Arsenic and Old Lace that had to sit in the can for two years because the Broadway play was still running. This movie can be watched over and over as there are so many comic gems shot rapid fire at us the viewer. And talk about rapid dialogue how about His Girl Friday with Rosalind Russell it was amazing script writer could fit so many words in a 92 minute movie. But probably Grant’s biggest commercial success came in 1959 when he starred opposite the luminescent Eva Marie Saint in North By Northwest, which continues to top the charts in the greatest movies list of all time. Hitchcock found perhaps his best leading man in Cary for his I think his greatest picture.  

By the time Grant hit his 60’s Cary’s romantic lead window began to close and with Audrey Hepburn in the Hitchcock like thriller Charade in 1963 and Leslie Caron a year later in Father Goose Grant no longer felt comfortable playing opposite younger starlets anymore. His final role in 1966 Walk Don’t Run Grant opted for an avuncular part instead. Cary had several wives and his personal life didn’t mirror his onscreen success with women as he often felt Cary Grant was a mythical figure that lived outside the Hollywood movie star. Nonetheless everyone wanted to be Cary Grant and he exclaimed that he did too.  

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