tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65795094625659042312024-03-13T23:18:53.473-07:00L.A. La Land: Fame, Fortune, and ForensicsWeekly bio postings of different Actors, Actresses, Filmmakers, etc. who influenced the way we look at celebrity, cinema, and civilization. This blog will delve into the good, the bad, and the ugly, in attempts to honor the people who made Hollywood the place (and the symbol) it is today.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.comBlogger304125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-44825006274762167712015-02-04T17:04:00.000-08:002015-02-13T10:36:09.625-08:00YOU SHOULD SEE: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e69138;">The gang gets spooky. Sort of...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Granted, <i>Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein</i> (1948) is not categorically a horror film. However, it is a comic horror spoof of fantastically entertaining proportions. The A&C style of WWII spawned humor is the same as in all of their other films (<i>Hold That Ghost, Buck Privates</i>), with </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bud Abbott</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> playing the irritable straight man who is somehow always duped by the adorably idiotic </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lou Costello</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. This time, the wrench in their plans for holiday romance-- with two beautiful women who are, of course, both in love with Lou's character-- is perfectly monstrous. Banking on the continuing success of <i>Universal's</i> monster pictures, the boys find themselves stuck in a diabolical plot involving The Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, and Dracula. This, my friends, is the good stuff.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The cast is what makes the film so exquisite-- a truly iconic moment in history. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bela Lugosi</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> gamely put on his Dracula cape for the fist time since his appearance the groundbreaking 1931 classic to play this caper's mastermind, and he performed with the same sinister charm this time while cleverly adding a humorous wink. </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lon Chaney, Jr.</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> is back as the Wolf Man, who with his usual overwhelming depression tries to help the good guys out, but is reluctantly mutated every full moon into one of their worst enemies. Sadly, </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Boris Karloff</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> didn't sign on to play the Monster, whose overly large shoes were instead filled by </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Glenn Strange</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. (Boris would regret his not so tactical business decision when it didn't pay off and would go on to join Bud and Lou in both <i>The Killer</i> and <i>Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</i>). Even </span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vincent Price</span><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> made a cameo of sorts, tough purely vocal, as the Invisible Man. Of course, holding it all together is the ridiculous chemistry of the two leads, whose series of bumbling mistakes somehow foil a plot contrived by the greatest villains in the history of the world. I Heart This.<!--3--></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-37524268092171235992015-02-04T16:57:00.003-08:002015-02-04T16:57:54.506-08:00THE REEL REALS: Gail Patrick<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gail Patrick</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gail Patrick</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> is known for her performances as the snide, straight gal in classic films like My Favorite Wife. As a result, her roles throughout the Golden Studio Era pretty much label her as 'My Favorite Bitch.' Gail was kind of fantastic. She was the catty female on the outside that all girl secretly were on the inside-- the villainous Yang to the Yin of the more sterling leading ladies of the time, like </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Carole Lombard</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ginger Rogers</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Irene Dunne</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. While Gail did play the good girl sometimes, in films like the cult classic <i>Murders at the Zoo</i> for example, she hit her stride by playing the dame who's trying to elbow her way to the prize-- generally the man. Gail was an atypical star. Not just because her height, intelligence, and countenance communicated an intimidating inner strength, but because she, as a general rule, wasn't an overly emotive actress. Much more cerebral and business savvy than many of her contemporaries, acting for Gail seemed more like a calculated investment that paid off. She was serious about it, but didn't take it seriously. The glamour was nothing, the fame was nothing, and her integrity and character reacted to these things irreverently. She considered them mere tools of the business and not the self-obsessive realities that too many celebrities get caught up in.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gail lived a fascinating and multi-faceted life, one in which she attacked her many ambitions-- studying law, starting a children's clothing line, becoming an executive producer for "Perry Mason," (WHAT?!)-- and refused to settle for anything less than everything of which she was capable. Ambitious, beautiful, and well-educated, Gail was a force to be reckoned with, a feminist before her time, and her independent nature is probably partially responsible for her multiple marriages and divorces. I mean, who was really man enough to go toe-to-toe with this diva? While in cinema she remains the girl you hate, in reality she is the girl you love to hate. In the end, at least her characters were honest. They weren't sugar-coated goody-two-shoes with saccharine personalities and fairy tale endings. Gail was the real thing-- a tough broad holding it together and determined to survive this maelstrom of life no matter what it took. What would <i>My Man Godfrey</i> or <i>Stage Door</i> have been without her? Every good story needs a good, bad girl.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-74339528828297339862015-02-04T16:53:00.000-08:002017-05-15T09:21:03.296-07:00THE REEL REALS: Fay Wray<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Faye Wray</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #990000;">Fay Wray</span><span style="color: #c27ba0;"> will forever be known as "The Queen of Screams." Before </span><span style="color: #990000;">Jamie Lee Curtis</span><span style="color: #c27ba0;"> became "the Scream Queen" of slasher movies, Fay was wailing hysterically against the most grandiose of monsters-- though Kong was really just an oversized ape. Some classify <i>King Kong</i> as a horror film; others place it in the action/adventure category. In truth it is a blending of both. It is<i> One Million B.C.</i> m</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #c27ba0; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">eets <i>The Creature from the Black Lagoon</i>. Fay, in her role as the down on her luck beauty whose sacred femininity is stalked by the dark, beastly harbinger of man's lust, gave the most important performance in the classic film. This is not just because her main co-star was actually an innovative creation of puppetry, but because the audience's response to the anti-hero depended solely upon her own reaction. When you break it all down, Kong wasn't really that scary, was he? He was just a lonely, juiced up primate with primal needs. Fay was quite safe, from bestial penetration at least (which appeared to be physically impossible), yet the sexual tension was still there. Kong wanted a girlfriend, and with Fay's scant clothing a gorgeous physique, I mean... Well, at the end of the day, we're all part of the same family, aren't we? In any case, were it not for the sheer panic in her eyes, the audience may not have had any aversion to Kong at all. The guy was adorable. Under Fay's gaze, however, he was the unholiest and most fearful creature in Jesus's jungle.<br /><br />While Fay in irrevocably and eternally tied to Kong, she performed in over a hundred projects over her career, a great many of which were B-pictures with a suspenseful edge. While she got her start in Westerns and performed in her share of dramas, it was films like <i>Doctor X</i>, <i>The Most Dangerous Game</i>, <i>The Vampire Bat</i>, and <i>Mystery of the Wax Museum</i> that were to be her most memorable. With a name like 'Fay Wray,' which was NOT an invented stage moniker, this chronic damsel in distress seemed destined for exactly the life she fell into. With a name that sounded like the hot howl of a hell bent banshee, Ms. Wray obtained glory simply by giving herself a sore throat. Yet, because of the vulnerability, emotional abandon, and maturity with which she approached her very unusual roles, she too has been able to maintain her very unusual and notorious place in the Hollywood lexicon of stars. Her performance as Ann Darrow- the Helen in the contemporary, Sci-fi Troy story- continues to reiterate the ever relatable saga of mankind's perpetual defeat by the most dangerous monster of all-- his heart. Whether fighting with guns, swords, wooden horses, or giant Gorillas, in this particular story-- and in most others--</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> "It </span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">was beauty killed the beast."</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-90501149390755558342015-01-07T21:52:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:52:33.110-08:00YOU SHOULD SEE: A Raisin in the Sun<i><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">L to R: Ruby Dee, Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>A Raisin in the Sun</i> (1961) will kick you in the guts and leave you weeping. Every time. Not only is it one of the first truly intelligent portrayals of the economic, excruciating, emotional, and psychological effects of racism on the target of such prejudice, but it also explores the cataclysm of generational shifts-- past, present, and future represented by a mother, her son, and her daughter. As each character searches for identity while battling their own versions of pride and hope, all start to succumb to the disease that praises a world of "takers" as well as their own prejudices, born of bitterness. The only solidarity found between them, for all their distinctive differences and independent ways, are the familial roots that bind them together and are strong enough to circumvent their loss of self and self-respect. A simple plot revolving around a check for $10,000 managed to cement this film as a priceless addition to the list of truly great movies. A sublime cast, a story with conscience, and a memory that will stay with you forever. Look for a young </span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Louis Gossett, Jr.</span><span style="color: #e69138; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> as well.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-32781734996864494322015-01-07T21:43:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:43:22.970-08:00YOU SHOULD SEE: A Letter to Three Wives<i><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ann Sothern</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linda Darnell </span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jeanne Crain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>A Letter to Three Wives</i> is yet another triumph on director </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Joseph L. Mankiewicz's</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> resume. With his unparalleled gift at both literal and visual storytelling, "Mank" presents a snappy, intelligent, well-polished script with his uncanny brand of woman's intuition. (It's no secret that women loved working with him, and this film is a prime example of why). In three stellar performances, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ann Sothern</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jeanne Crain</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Linda</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> "What I got don't need bells" </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Darnell</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, this film tells the story of a trio of pals and their worst frenemy: Addie Ross. Addie is the cat's meow... And she has fangs. Simply for the sport of it, she has cast a shadow over the unions of all three women, and when she sends a letter announcing that she will soon be running away with one of their husbands, the ladies' true natures erupt and the strengths of their marriages are tested. With </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kirk Douglas</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul Douglas</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> turning out equally compelling and surprisingly humorous portrayals as two of the husbands, the story is dynamite, and little Miss Addie echoes the power of </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Orson Welles's</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Harry Lime in <i>The Third Man</i>, as she is one of the most impactful yet faceless villains of film. Will love triumph over lust?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-38730446805195604762015-01-07T21:37:00.002-08:002015-01-07T21:38:27.075-08:00YOU SHOULD SEE: 8 1/2<span style="color: #bf9000;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmPfYzIquwo/VK4WyR-vIRI/AAAAAAAAflQ/3U7MQCNtAmE/s1600/10308186_737664586253643_3789915829224387842_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CmPfYzIquwo/VK4WyR-vIRI/AAAAAAAAflQ/3U7MQCNtAmE/s1600/10308186_737664586253643_3789915829224387842_n.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000;"><i>8 1/2 </i>(1963) was my first </span><span style="color: #ea9999;">Fellini</span><span style="color: #e06666;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">film. (Well... second, but <i>Toby Dammit</i> is more like a short, so I don't count it). As I consider, "What the Hell is going on?" to be the most refreshing of sensations, I find all of Fellini's work (at least all that I have witnessed thus far) highly enjoyable. It's not pure entertainment, however. There is a gravity to the often raucous absurdity, as evidenced in this piece. His work is heady. It demands participation. His camera work is assertive to the point where the audience can often feel like the characters/actors are invading their personal space. The effect is absorption to the point of losing oneself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">But then, this is just the point, isn't it? Fellini breaks the fourth wall and makes the screen not just a projection but a reflection of the interior world. The heightened and exaggerated attitudes and manners of his actors/storylines (<i>Juliet of the Spirits</i>, <i>La Dolce Vita</i>) are unreal in their physicality but authentic in their representation. His is not a camera turned around on the world but one that instead turns the world inside out, letting all the mania, sadism, fear, and loneliness drip out-- sometimes from a fountain. In this case, it is a depiction of himself-- a director in search of a film-- that sets the stage for one of his most iconic works. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">Guido Anselmi (</span><span style="color: #ea9999;">Marcello Mastroianni</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">) is a filmmaker at the top of his game who feels the ground caving under him. The pressure to come up with another feat of cinematic genius haunts him like the artistic plague, and to avoid confrontation with possible failure, he becomes a victim of his own fantasies. His interactions with the ghosts of his past-- memories of encounters from his childhood that effected his perceptions of men, women, sex, religion, power, etc-- sometimes assault him as a cavalcade of alarming indiscretions and other times comfort him with innocent indulgence and escapism. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">In the end, the film isn't Portrait of the Artist as a Madman but as a man period-- an average man, cloaked with decades of life and personal experiences that are carried inside him, affecting his work, his sanity, his marriage, and his confidence. We are all gratuitous mirages of ourselves who seek to camouflage the meek child within, hounded by the knowledge of what we have seen and done and forever trying to either compensate or outrun these alleged sins in order to accomplish... something we can't even define. Heaven? Happiness? Reprieve? Liberty? Death?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">The question for Guido is: will his next work be able to purge his soul for a few brief moments before the next harassment begins? Can we ever be free of ourselves or are we condemned to suffer, suffocate, and finally submit to our burdens? As a director and perpetual storyteller, Guido's curse is his pleasure is his curse. Or Fellini's curse:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;">"I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I'm the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same."</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-38045637087320155592015-01-07T21:31:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:31:13.861-08:00THE REEL REALS: Evelyn Ankers<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evelyn Ankers</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Evelyn Ankers</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> was not blessed with superstardom, but she did all right for herself. In a career that spanned less than 25 years, she was still able to rack up over 60 film and television appearances, her most notorious being-- of course-- in the realm of horror. A fish out of water by nature, Evelyn was born to English parents in Chile. After returning to England, she developed an incurable affliction for theatrics and pursued a career as an actress. While still a teenager, she was performing opposite </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Laurence Olivier</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> and </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vivien Leigh</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in <i>Fire Over England</i>, though her part was a mere featured role. However, her strange allure as a beautiful woman with intelligence (and tinge of cynicism) made her a natural for movies with a mysterious bent-- dark pictures for thinking viewers. When partnered opposite </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lon Chaney, Jr.</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The Wolf Man</i></span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, her career in America would begin in earnest, though she'd managed a role in the </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Abbott and Costello</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> haunted house spoof <i>Hold That Ghost</i>. After the furry monster cub of the monster club became her onscreen boyfriend, she suddenly became one of the <i>Universal</i> lot's "scream queens," her touching portrayal of the woman falling in love with the man falling under a curse earning her a permanent place in the scary movie rotation. In fact, she would partner with Lon Jr. in several more films, two of which were <i>Ghost of Frankenstein</i> and <i>Son of Dracula</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While these roles may have been limiting talent wise, they provided steady work for Evelyn. Few women have such interesting titles on their resumes: <i>The Mad Ghoul, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, The Pearl of Death, The Frozen Ghost, Captive Wild Woman, Weird Woman, Jungle Woman...</i> (Perhaps that Whitney Houston song was written for her)??? Apparently, a schlocky horror film didn't seem legit during the hey day of the genre unless this heady damsel in distress was involved. That was part of Evelyn's charm, however. She was smart. She may have had some fainting spells, bit her fist, and screamed bloody murder, but when these token mannerisms were partnered with her direct acting style and genuinely down to earth persona, it made her fear seem more genuine. When the weak little girls in tight sweaters screamed, they evoked eye roles. When Evelyn screamed, it was like, "Oh sh*t... This is serious..." Sadly, her career lost momentum when horror temporarily lost its luster, and the thanklessness of the industry soon sent her into early retirement. After a small slew of pictures, Evelyn spent the majority of her remaining days with her soul mate, husband </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Richard Denning</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, before succumbing to ovarian cancer at the age of 67. Today's horror films miss strong, competent women like herself. Evelyn didn't need to run topless through the smog to keep an audience fixated on her. All she needed was her throat.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-27696577507784875482015-01-07T21:23:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:23:08.445-08:00THE REEL REALS: Erich von Stroheim<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Erich von Stroheim</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lord knows I love a good Austrian, and it could be said that </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">Erich von Stroheim</span></span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is the best of the worst. He cut his teeth in Hollywood by banking on his Germanic heritage by playing sadistic foreigners in the push for propaganda films during the Great War. In a way, he maintained his "soldier's position when he turned to directing, strutting around like some combination of a General and a Monarch in his boots, riding crop, and monocle. All this, while absurd from the outside, was but a calculated way for him to differentiate himself from the rest of the pack. No one remembers "normal" or "average," after all. (Think of him as the Marilyn Manson or Lady Gaga of his day). Of course, Erich's penchants for grandiosity and making a bold statement also interfered with his creative process. He never quite learned how to edit himself-- either in behavior or in artistry-- which brings us to the best and the worst of him.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Erich's unique talent as a filmmaker was his eye for detail. (See, the monocle helped)! His films are by nature all epics. The lush compositions of his sets, mise en scenes, the wardrobe, etc, make his jaw-dropping even today: the screen still seems to drip with his startling authenticity. In terms of story, Erich pulled no punches, standing in as the precursor to </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Orson Welles</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, directing movies that turned a pointed finger at the audience. Unfortunately, his aesthetic sensibilities, while savory to the eye and intellect, were uncomfortable for tooshies and equally drove <i>MGM</i> crazy as he bled them dry reshooting and perfecting every project, making them bigger and bigger, longer and longer. </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Irving Thalberg</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> had to fire him from <i>Merry Go Round</i>, </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gloria Swanson</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> did the same when <i>Queen Kelly</i> started spiraling out of control, and his ultimate success, <i>Greed</i>, which clocked in at somewhere between 7-10 hours had to be cut to shreds in order to be both bearable to audiences and releasable-- some theaters weren't even open that many hours! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, his overzealous penchants put an end to his directorial efforts, but Erich was able to continue his acting career, as his notoriety had guaranteed him an eternal place in the spotlight. He churned out impressive and iconic performances in <i>Le Grande Illusion</i>, <i>Portrait d'un Assassin</i>, and of course, <i>Sunset Boulevard</i>. While Hollywood may have shunned his filmmaking, film lovers sure haven't, and we continue to be enchanted, bewitched, and transfixed by his efforts-- still remarkable and some of the best examples of cinematic genius from the silent era.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-67853737104278768342015-01-07T21:17:00.004-08:002015-01-07T21:17:58.701-08:00THE REEL REALS: Elsa Lanchester<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Elsa Lancester </span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Shelley)?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Elsa Lanchester</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> would forever be overshadowed by two things: her most famous characterization "The Bride" and perhaps the even more ominous presence: her husband, </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Charles Laughton</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. On the one hand, she had the role that would make her famous but that would equally eclipse any other work she later did that had, in her estimation, more merit. On the other, she was never held is as high esteem as her husband, considered one of the greatest actors of all time. (She was "shocked" to learn that her hubby was actually a closeted homosexual, but their union lasted a lifetime as they enjoyed an open and unabashed relationship). Fortunately for Elsa, she was imbued with a sharp sense of humor, keen intellect, and personal ambition and lust for life that made such irksome facts trivial. A native of London, she was raised with the compulsion for utter independence by her forward thinking parents. Her early study of dance educated her well on the movements that would later help her cultivate more physically articulate and alive characters, and her experiences dancing in and even running her own Club gave her ample opportunity to practice playing for and to an audience. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Elsa was always in it for the sensation. She took her craft seriously but never herself, and her intellectual appetite kept her in good company with many of the greatest artists of her day. Her open and liberal-minded ways allowed her to transform from one character to another with seeming ease, and though an attractive woman, she would find her niche as a character actress of great verve, spirit, and often humorous abandon in films like <i>Witness for the Prosecution</i>, <i>Mary Poppins</i>, and <i>Bell, Book and Candle</i>. Her great talent allowed her career to continue with minimal interruption over the course of over 30 years, though she always admitted that she was more in love with the stage. An unabashed ham, it was the live performance and the interaction with an audience that truly inspired her, but her work in film and television is nothing to sneer at-- or should I saw shriek?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Elsa's Bride in <i>The Bride of Frankenstein</i> had no dialogue, but she was able to communicate everything within her patched up heroine's borrowed mind with her quick, birdlike movements and iconic hiss-- both literally borrowed from her studied observations of swans. The not too thinly veiled subtext in James Whale's masterpiece of horror painted a portrait of the absurd, macabre, and even hilarious roles of both the male and female in the ever popular mating ritual of life. Though Elsa's time on the screen in the picture was very brief, she still stole the show, and with the incomparable </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Boris Karloff</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, she enhanced the film that has come to be known as perhaps the greatest offering of the <i>Universal</i> Monster era. She considered this piece of her career a bit of a lark and but one chapter in a long narrative of experiences and performances, but to us it is one of the most intriguing, sexually potent, disturbing, and glorious moments in the realm of horror.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-80370281402922154022015-01-07T21:10:00.000-08:002015-01-07T21:10:24.275-08:00THE REEL REALS: Edmund Gwenn<span style="color: #93c47d;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H3R1CzQAKBE/VK4Pw2dKZMI/AAAAAAAAfkk/2PQaZRfwVcU/s1600/34-by-djabonillojr-2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H3R1CzQAKBE/VK4Pw2dKZMI/AAAAAAAAfkk/2PQaZRfwVcU/s1600/34-by-djabonillojr-2008.jpg" height="400" width="315" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Edmund Gwenn</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> aka Kris Kringle</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Edmund Gwenn</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> performed a miracle, not just on 34th Street, but in Hollywood: he won an Oscar for playing Santa Claus. How is that even possible? He is now so deeply ingrained in the public consciousness-- as familiar as </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Dr. Suess</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> or the Statue of Liberty-- that few take stock of the great artistic feat fleshing out such a fantastical, fictitious character was. He took one of the most beloved mythological personalities of all time-- a cartoon of our hopeful delusions-- and made him real. He gave Kris Kringle a personality and a warmth that was genuine and full of heart when a lesser performance would have registered as cheesy, or worse, creepy. Today, we make holiday spirit spoof films like "Bad Santa" or "Elf." This isn't because we have necessarily lost our sentiment-- mankind has always been cynical. This transition is simply due to the fact that we need no more translations of Father Christmas and all that such a nostalgic spirit represents to our deeply hidden, childlike hearts in overgrown bodies. Ed marked that territory already. Game over. In one film, Ed saved Christmas for all time. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d;">Of course, while he is forever attached to this one characterization, Ed has many more accomplishments on his performance platter. He portrayed the similarly light-hearted and amiable priest who tries to convince </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">William Powell's</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> hilariously resistant, atheistic patriarch to be baptized in <i>Life with Father</i>. He was a </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Hitchcockian</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> linchpin in both the macabre comedy <i>The Trouble with Harry</i> and the political thriller <i>Foreign Correspondent</i>, the latter of which makes you stop and go, 'Hey, wait... Santa? Wh-what are you doing, Santa?!?!" He contributed to <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> with </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Larry Olivier</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> and </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Greer Garson</span><span style="color: #93c47d;">, <i>A Yank at Oxford</i> with </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Robert Taylor</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> and </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Vivien Leigh</span><span style="color: #93c47d;">, and <i>Of Human Bondage</i> opposite </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Eleanor Parker </span><span style="color: #93c47d;">(RIP) and </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Paul Henreid</span><span style="color: #93c47d;">. And yes, he appeared in the iconic "Them!" In general, Ed took on the role of the moral father figure: the sturdy, aged man with the wisdom of life experience and a trustworthy face. His touches of comedy, grounded realism, and surprising character choices made him an eternal audience favorite. He would not be the star but once (when he went to the North Pole), but this was mostly due to the fact that he was in his fifties when he really started to make his mark in Hollywood. His fortune was better, in the end, for he was even more beloved than the model-T(insel town) stars of the era.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d;">Ed was born with an adventurers spirit that he was finally able to hurl into his creative penchants, as well as athletic. Frustrated at his landlocked life (he had wanted to enlist in the Navy), the eternal, cuddly grandpa was quite the rebel in his younger days. His father opposed his career choice and predicted failure, but Edmund, his determination, and his talent, would prove his pappy wrong. It was a fortunate partnership with </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">George Bernard Shaw</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> that really opened doors for him as an actor, and after becoming a war hero, despite his poor eyesight, Captain Gwenn returned to the theater with full force, later doing some sparse silent pictures that eventually earned him a permanent place in Hollywood. Hitting his stride by the '30s, he enjoyed nearly thirty uninterrupted years on the silver screen before passing away at the age of 81. Had he not been struck down by a stroke and a following bout of pneumonia, he most certainly would have kept cracking the whip of creativity. Naturally, he will live forever as one of the most famous people in the history of cinema. More people know him than </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Gable</span><span style="color: #93c47d;">. He's Santa Claus! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d;">God rest ye', merry gentleman. Thanks for the cinematic presents!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-27032228730589836432015-01-07T21:00:00.004-08:002015-01-07T21:00:43.734-08:00THE REEL REALS: Dwight Frye<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Dwight Frye</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dwight Frye </span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">may have given the most horrifying performance in the <i>Universal</i> monster era. "Renfield" of <i>Dracula</i>-- the real estate agent turned vampire groupie and madman-- was absolutely bone-chilling. Even beside </span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bela Lugosi's</span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> iconic ghoul, the lingering presence of his abysmal son, trapped in limbo between insanity and death, demands attention, and in many ways improves the power of Count Dracula's evil menace. Renfield's creepy, drawn out laugh (how did he come up with that?!), his wide, vacant, yet penetrating eyes, and that look he gives staring up the ladder from the boat's gallows, were all dynamic choices that left an unshakable impression on the viewer and contributed to the film's classic status.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dwight is known for his versatile abilities of metamorphosis in the horror genre. A truly gifted actor who left Kansas to hone his skills on the Broadway stage, he was respected by critics, audiences, and the directors he worked with for his commitment and creativity as well as his utter shamelessness in throwing himself into a role. Capable of performing both drama and comedy, he would sadly find less of an outlet for his many gifts when he made the move to Hollywood, where his amazing performance in <i>Dracula</i> soon kept him type-cast as the creeper or maniac in the films that followed. His role as "Fritz" the hunchback in <i>Frankenstein</i> is equally memorable for his taunting and monstrous behavior toward the Monster. <i>Bride of Frankenstein</i> followed, as did <i>The Shadow</i>, <i>Invisible Enemy</i>, <i>Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man</i>, and <i>Son of Frankenstein</i>, the latter film from which his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To vent his frustrations, Dwight often returned to the stage where he could find more diversity in roles. He landed a game changing gig in "Wilson," but unfortunately he passed away before shooting began. His secret heart condition would claim his life at the age of 44. As one of Hollywood's unsung heroes and yet most influential character actors, his short career in cinema remains a bittersweet gift to the legions of horror fans who come to know and love him through his macabre translations of psychological disfigurement and outright hysteria.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-21825257783399379592015-01-07T20:52:00.000-08:002015-01-07T20:53:29.005-08:00THE REEL REALS: Dorothy Arzner<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Dorothy Arzner</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: black; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Dorothy Arzner</span><span style="color: #e69138;"> holds the prestigious position of being not only the first but the only female director during the early sound era. While there were several ladies that got the ball (or camera) rolling for women by making silent features during the initial appearance of cinema as it began to take shape as a narrative artistic movement, </span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #e69138; line-height: 18px;">once filmmaking became a legitimate "business," the ladies foun</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #e69138; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;">d themselves almost </span>completely ostracized from the creative process-- aside from acting of course. As such, Dorothy's rise from the bottom to the top of the profession incredibly impressive, though her name is less celebrated than the typical director giants of the era. Ironically, it was the brother of one of these giants, </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">William DeMille</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #e69138; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">, who gave her her first gig... as a stenographer. She worked her way up to scenario writer, to editor, to finally director.<br /><br />Working for <i>Paramount</i>, Dorothy became the first filmmaker at the studio to direct a sound picture, <i>Manhattan Cocktail </i>and incidentally the first woman period to direct a sound picture. Her career gained increasing recognition as she worked with </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Clara Bow</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #e69138; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> on her first talklie <i>The Wild Party</i>, </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Katharine Hepburn</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #e69138; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> in <i>Christopher Strong</i>, and </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Joan Crawford</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #e69138; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> in <i>The Bride Wore Red</i>. A strong force for women and homosexuals (she was a lesbian), Dorothy presented interesting, female driven stories with style (<i>Craig's Wife</i>) and substance (<i>Sarah and Son</i>). After her efforts during WWII, Dorothy retired from film, particularly due to health reasons. Gone, but not forgotten.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-45795071699859703712015-01-05T20:28:00.002-08:002015-01-05T20:28:47.114-08:00THE REEL REALS: Donna Reed<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Donna Reed</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">The ultimate cinematic, Christmastime heroine remains a dead heat competition between </span><span style="color: magenta;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Maureen O'Hara</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: magenta;">Donna Reed</span></span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">. One's choice of femme phenom depends on taste: do you prefer the hard nosed, no-nonsense career woman of A MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET whose heart is eventually melted or do you go for the intelligent and passionate girl-next-door of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE who is the source of such heart m</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #bf9000; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">elting prowess??? In all honesty, I'm an O'Hara girl, but today I pay tribute to Ms. Reed who is just as deserving of admiration and annual yuletide respect.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;">Donna was a wo-man. (Yeah, I said it). Though beautifully blessed when it came to her looks, she was far from a pin-up, glamour girl. What she offered was an astute candor and an awareness of herself that created in her characters a solid, feminine force. She relayed deep emotion, and she subtly insinuated her vulnerabilities, but she was too shrewd and self-assured to portray herself with anything less than 100% command. More earthy than </span><span style="color: magenta;">Bergman</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> and less savage than </span><span style="color: magenta;">Gardner</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">, she came off like a regular, every day human who just happened to land in a Hollywood film and accidentally inject it with a little authenticity. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;">Her rationality, romantic cunning, and depth of feeling opposite </span><span style="color: magenta;">James Stewart's</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> volcanic rebuffs and ultimate disintegration in Wonderful Life leveled the playing field between them and rendered what was essentially a contemporary but still very fantastical Christmas Carol concept into a raw and sympathetic opus to family and love. She gave the film the sturdy roots from which could grow the honesty of devastating personal saga while epitomizing the beauty that still somehow thrives through human rubbish and heartbreak. Any other actress would have been too saccharine, too soft, or too immature to balance George Bailey's often raving lunacy and selfishness and call him back home to herself. Donna was home. She was the 'wonderful' of Bailey's life story that made the statement IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE true.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;">Of course, though IAWL remains her most lasting film, Donna's career was much more than 1 drop in the Holiday Bucket-- though this single offering continues to resonate. An Academy Award winner for her portrayal of the cynical and sapient prostitute in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and a Golden Globe winner for her work on THE DONNA REED SHOW, she consistently utilized and reinvented her strongest qualities in each project to convey the varying shades of nuance of each performance. While the nuclear family role model, she was actually a political activist and anti-nuclear, anti-war protester. However, instead of ruffling feathers, the Iowan farm girl's intuition and openhearted generosity made her a comfort and an inspiration to women across the country-- and even the world. It was her strength that was appealing, but it was her indication of submerged frailty that earned loyalty. She was a powerful example of what one could independently have, do and be as she progressed through both her life and career with savvy, elegance, and absolute self-respect. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #bf9000;">Starting her career with the wholesome, bright, girl-next-door badge emblazoned across her breast, she was able to transcend stereotype and bring more intrigue to the table, which is why her work in the Dr. Gillespie films or THE COURTSHIP OF ANDY HARDY were easily left behind for more head-turning, mature roles in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE. Holding her own against the most intimidating and larger than life actors of her day-- </span><span style="color: magenta;">John Wayne</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">, </span><span style="color: magenta;">George Sanders</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">-- she struck gold when cast in the aforementioned iconic Xmas classic, though it took her years to realize it-- it was a flop at the time. She continued working consistently in television and film for the remainder of her life until succumbing to pancreatic cancer at the age of 64, but she left behind a remarkable legacy of class and distinction but, most importantly, heart, which is why we continue to love her and be 'melted' by her every holiday season.</span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-42861780479931815222015-01-05T20:23:00.004-08:002015-01-05T20:24:23.453-08:00THE REEL REALS: Donald O'Connor<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="background-color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #76a5af;">Donald O'Connor</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;"> was a wiry, rubber-faced, exuberant motherfu... Fudge. Fudger... Motherfudger. You know what I mean. This guy wasn't human. He was like a super-jolt of positivity personified, a wholesome humdinger, a jitterbuggin' razzmatazz madman! Like his fellow cinematic, dancing legends-- </span><span style="color: #76a5af;">Astaire</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;">, </span><span style="color: #76a5af;">Kelly,</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;"> </span><span style="color: #76a5af;">Charisse</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;">, </span><span style="color: #76a5af;">Rogers</span><span style="color: #f6b26b;">-- he had a talent that was hypnotic in its effect. However, while Astair</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #f6b26b; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;">e & Rogers led with romance and Kelly & Charisse led with sex, O'Connor led with humor. He did the most heavenly and obscene things with his body, stretching and projecting himself like both a slingshot and its missile across the screen-- a trick he'd learned on the vaudeville stage, where he'd gotten his start. What he created looked natural, and even painful, but it was always flawlessly executed. His work and craftsmansh</span>ip, the dedication to his artistry as the physical buffoon, are often still underappreciated. No Gods are born; they are made. Respect.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Descended from a family of circus performers-- acrobats and bareback riders-- Donald grew up with the same daredevil masochism that made fellow clowns like </span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Chaplin</span><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> and </span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Keaton</span><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> greats. The game from day one was "entertainment." He'd go as far as you can to "Make 'Em Laugh," even if he needed several days of recuperation afterward-- which was indeed the case in the infamous <i>Singin' in the Rain</i> sequence. Equal to these comics, his hilarity was born of his tragedy. He survived the car crash that claimed his sister and also witnessed his father die from a heart attack while the elder man was dancing on stage. The ceaseless inner motor that churned was one of escapism, pushing the pain of circumstance outward to overcome it. However, the result of such constant, vigorous exorcism certainly took its toll, especially after <i>Paramount</i> and later <i>Universal</i>-- his main home-- began using him as one of its most trusted workhorses. Starting his career at the age of 12, he barely stopped to breathe for the next 40 years of his career. The constant stress led to alcoholism-- another trend among his peers, including good friend </span><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Judy Garland</span><span style="color: #f6b26b; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> who shared a similar energizer-actor frustration. Eventually, Donald was fortunately able to overcome this disease and come out swinging, as he always did.<br /><br />Needless to say, audiences never saw these demons on the screen, though they were witnessing their energy-- the buoyancy with which Donald tried to out-act, out-dance, out-sing, and out-maneuver them. His filmography is nothing to sniff at: <i>Beau Geste</i>, <i>Mister Big</i>, <i>Francis</i> (and its sequels), <i>Anything Goes</i>, <i>There's No Business Like Show Business</i>, and, of course, <i>Singin' in the Rain</i>. In addition, he performed on his own briefly lived television series, made quest appearances on everything from "The Love Boat" to "Tales from the Crypt," and had a brief cinematic re-emergence in the '90s in <i>Toys</i> among other films. He would pass away at the age of 78 in 2003 leaving those that loved him with a song in their hearts and an indescribable fondness for a one of a kind character. A fascinating figure with his own particular and admirable touch, he kept things interesting on the screen and took audiences to places they had never been before. But hey, ya' know... Anything for a laugh.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-69981045884847988662015-01-05T20:16:00.004-08:002015-01-05T20:17:24.043-08:00THE REEL REALS: Clark Gable<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Clark Gable</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #93c47d; line-height: 18px;">The continuing fan worship of</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #93c47d;"> </span><span style="color: #e06666;">Clark Gable</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> is so obvious that it seems a boring choice to even investigate the actor. He's not one of the forgotten ones, those whose work has been swept under the rug of time. He remains very much alive. He's one of the big ones. Perhaps the biggest. While </span><span style="color: #e06666;">Bogie</span><span style="color: #93c47d;"> is often hailed by general consensus as the most popular film actor of all time, it is Gable that was and</span></span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;"> is King. Perhaps this is because, despite the occasional ne'er do wells and scalawags that he would play, there was always an underlying elegance, intelligence, class, and a level of sophistication that enhanced and somehow did not contradict his down and dirty personifications. In conjunction, his regular guy transformation into a cinematic God made him mythic-- desirable yet relatable; down to earth yet elite. He placed on a pedestal, but he looked down on no one.</span><br /><br />Clark Gable was indeed born Clark Gable of Cadiz, OH, but it would take time for him to make this name synonymous with silver screen royalty. Losing his mother in his youth and having little in common with his father, his life would be marked by both a perpetual quest for maternal comfort-- which initially drew him to older women-- and a determination to recreate himself as a masculine force of whom his father could be proud. Clark, you see, had a poet's sentiment. He possessed an immediate adoration of literature, but his brewing internalism of unanswered questions and a restless need for discovery would in time be calculatingly hidden by the He-man persona he borrowed from Hollywood father figure </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Victor Fleming</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">. Again, the duality, the idea that he was hiding secrets, gave him a seductive power on the screen.<br /><br />For women, he was the perfect challenge. He was the guy who didn't need anyone and wasn't going to fall for any "dame" nor be owned by one. At least, until his heart fell prey to </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Jean Harlow</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Vivien Leigh</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> or </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Joan Crawford</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">. Viewers fantasized about being the woman chosen to unlock his secret depths and know the vulnerable child he hid so well. Men appreciated his cocky attitude, envied his access to beautiful women, and appreciated the sensitivity that he would casually and almost accidentally reveal. It gave them permission to house the same emotions that they too caged for appearance's sake. Gable, all around, made it all right to be a man and everything that meant.<br /><br />Of course, he had a little help from <i>MGM </i>when it came to filing down his rough edges. With gold-capped teeth that he would have to paint white, thick eyebrows, and prominent ears, the studio at first wanted nothing to do with him. Gable's passion for an almost spiritual adventure in the world of art compelled him to accept a free makeover-- new teeth and all-- and the gamble paid off. He never forgot the clown beneath the paint, however, and it is the concerted construction of the new and improved "King Clark Gable" that led him to doubt his talent and distrust his success. It wasn't until he wed Carole Lombard, another self-acknowledged clown, that he allowed himself to have a little more fun. Sadly, the loss of her in her ill-fated plane crash during WWII pushed him deeper than ever into his mistrustful, self-imposed isolation.<br /><br />Hardened by the tragedy, Gable would never be the same. His acting matured with his life experience, and when one compares the the swindling "Ace Wilfong" from <i>A Free Soul</i> with the mammoth embodiment of "Rhett Butler" in <i>Gone with the Wind</i> with his nakedly raw performance in the </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Huston</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">/</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Miller</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #93c47d; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"> late bloomer <i>The Misfits</i>, his intricacy as a man can be seen to grow, change, and intensify with each film. Cockiness turns to confidence turns to humility. Gable grew up on celluloid, as many actors and actresses of his time did. His life, therefore, is the story of Hollywood itself.<br /><br />There is much to admire in his film work from his brutal and painful confessions in GWTW, to his conflicted egoism and desire in <i>Red Dust</i> & <i>Mogambo</i>, to his gravitational pull as a smooth, accidental comedian in It Happened One Night. He never thought much of himself, no; but he was something spectacular. His work, his personality, his desire to give of himself and seek truth, freedom, and sanctuary-- though he would never admit it-- has afforded us a rich kingdom of cinematic adventure. Easily embarrassed in reality, on the screen he always owned it-- the frame, the film, the fans. Indeed, the King ruled. Sorry, "rules." Now and forever.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-11071065927833306742015-01-05T20:11:00.001-08:002015-01-05T20:11:50.056-08:00THE REEL REALS: Claudette Colbert<div>
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<span style="color: #c27ba0;">Claudette Colbert</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> was a woman of supreme control. Petite in size, with large eyes and soft features, her air of authority overshadowed her beauty without camouflaging her humanity and vulnerability. What would be considered a "modern woman" even by today's standards, she was ambitious, talented, and liberated, and the strength and unapologetic passion with which she approached life made equally ap</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">pealing as an actress. Perhaps for this reason alone, her work continues to inspire and attract men and women alike. She was there, front and center: no excuses. Like it or lump it. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">This did not detract from her seriousness as an actress. All that she did, she did with absolute concentration. She knew her stuff, so much so that she didn't shy away from throwing her weight around with </span><span style="color: #c27ba0;">Cecil B. DeMille</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> or re-positioning a young </span><span style="color: #c27ba0;">Shirley Temple</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> so that her own "good side" would face the camera. She understood the game of Hollywood, and always played the ace. This was as much to maintain her own career as confirm the best possible characterization in any given role. Sensitive to the responsibility of acting for millions, she was eager to cooperate with directors and fellow actors in order to form and inform her work with the utmost integrity and authenticity. She was, as is the popular contemporary phrase, "in it to win it."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">The French-born Emilie Claudette Chauchoin moved to America at the age of three, bringing with her the strong work ethic of her baker father. Drawn to drama with a marked intensity from her youth, and put herself through acting school by working at a dress shop. By the age of 20, she was Claudette Colbert and appearing on Broadway. She transferred to film for more lucrative opportunities and built up a fairly respectable reputation for herself, her onscreen charm and natural aura earning fans quickly. However, her partnership with DeMille in <i>The Sign of the Cross</i> (remember the nude milk bath scene?), <i>Four Frightened People</i>, and <i>Cleopatra</i> really amped up her career. Of course, it was after her partnership with that Mr. </span><span style="color: #c27ba0;">Gable</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"> fellow in <i>It Happened One Night</i> that the "Walls of Jericho" came down, and the love affair with Claudette and the world began. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">Claudette engaged in a varied and intriguing career that spanned 60 years, doing everything from melodrama to screwball comedy-- <i>The Smiling Lieutenant</i>, <i>Imitation of Life</i>, <i>Midnight</i>, <i>Boom Town</i>, <i>The Palm Beach Story</i>, <i>So Proudly We Hail</i>, <i>Thunder on the Hill</i>, television appearances, and continued work in live theater. With her always was her intelligence and intuition-- and a touch of controversy for good measure. Rumors abound of her sexual liaisons with some of the most popular leading men and women of the day, but all even murmered scandals could do nothing to disturb her position as one of the most hailed screen stars of all time. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #6fa8dc;">After her onscreen career faded out with the fifties, she lived peacefully in Barbados with her husband Dr. Joel Pressman until passing away at the age of 92 after suffering a series of strokes. A fighter until the end, she came, she saw, she conquered, and she made her glorious exit. She was an emotional, uncontrollable universe that was somehow always in control, leaving no stone un-turned and not a dry seat in the house. Hard like a rock and soft as a Lily, the sense of her envelops the idealism of Hollywood past like a comforting friend you can always turn to. She's got your back.</span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-89495625276163889052015-01-05T20:06:00.001-08:002015-01-05T20:07:01.608-08:00THE REEL REALS: Brigitte Bardot<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eVAklc25Q6g/VKte400qe4I/AAAAAAAAfhk/fXA0m13mRZg/s1600/1610790_798818286804939_60475056424561713_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eVAklc25Q6g/VKte400qe4I/AAAAAAAAfhk/fXA0m13mRZg/s1600/1610790_798818286804939_60475056424561713_n.jpg" height="400" width="231" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Brigette Bardot</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: magenta;">Brigette Bardot</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"> was beautiful. This is what we know. We also 'know' that 'was' is the key word in that statement, because now she is has, in the true fashion of tragic Hollywood, become "old and fat." How dare. Fortunately, I think it is safe to say that Brigette doesn't give a sh*t.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><span style="background-color: black;"><br style="line-height: 18px;" /></span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #8e7cc3; line-height: 18px;">It's fascinating the way beauty is perceived, received and reacted to, which is generally with some measure of vio</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #8e7cc3; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: black;">lence. A beautiful woman is at once some 'thing' immediately admired and equally the focal point for a mysterious hatred that generally manifests itself in varying forms of revenge. Catty women are jealous, and lesser men are angry. The fact that such a creature exists and, for the male part, is not possessed </span>incited the need to debase the woman through masturbatory fantasy, the robbery of her identity through invented condescension or, most vindictive, the mockery made of her when her youth fades. She is punished at her zenith; she is punished after. As such, the continued celebration of Bardot-- much like </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: magenta;">Monroe</span></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="color: #8e7cc3; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">-- has little to do with the woman and much to do with the imagery of physical perfection and the love/hate relationship America has with the sexual object. Brigette's beauty had one Hell of a commanding power, and our defense, as with most, is to label her as nothing more than a pretty face.<br /><br />A native Parisian, Brigette worked fairly consistently for 2 decades, stretching from the early '50s to the early '70s. She was a ballerina, turned model, turned actress, which was an understandable transformation, considering her beauty and heavenly body-- including her iconic waistline. In her early career, she was essentially used as a pretty prop in a slew of romantic comedies in France, which capitalized on her gorgeous presence, even if she were only onscreen for mere seconds. She was definitely on the public radar, but it was <i>And God Created Woman</i> (1956) that made her an international sensation.<br /><br />Idolized as a modern, sexual woman, she was labeled a "sex-kitten"-- the pouty "I want it but I don't want it" enticement-- and her fashion, hair and manner was copied ad nauseum by a society undergoing yet another identity quest and cultural shift. As the nuclear family made way for the free love sixties, Brigette's barely clad and occasionally totally nude appearances in films was but more kindling in the fire of America's already brewing need for extroverted sexual discovery. She had the pout of a little girl, which satisfied the "Lolita" fetish, but she also had the un-apologetically carnal passion of a flesh and blood woman. While few of her films would be described as works of art, they drew good box-office in their day, solely because of the star's naturally scintillating appearance.<br /><br />Obviously, there was more to the woman than her appealing curvatures, and perhaps because of her need to distinguish herself from the goddess template she'd accidentally created, she endured excruciating personal setbacks and obstacles. The typical existential confusion of the dual identity star-human eventually led to her retirement by the age of 40. Four marriages, one estranged son, multiple affairs, and her supposed generous spirit, (which was allegedly beaten to a pulp), influenced Bardot's need for escapism to a space that she could call her own-- un-infiltrated by the damaging impact of public life.<br /><br />She has dedicated the majority of the last 40 years (she is now nearly 80) to animal rights, a fact that continues to draw attention and keep her in the headlines. She has often lashed out at both the Jewish and Muslim community for "ritually slaughtering sheep," which is done as a part of their traditional religious practices. Often caught with her foot in her mouth, the quiet and silent beauty has become quite the opposite in her old age, and she ruffles as many feathers as she once raise temperatures. Of course, her antics and her identification with animals over human beings perhaps says it all concerning the crippling experiences she must have had in show-business. People aren't to be trusted. Today, the love demon protects the innocent of the four-legged variety.<br /><br />With these clashing and contrasting images, Brigette Bardot remains unknown, though this is a personal choice on her behalf. Just as her cinematic persona, she is divided and indecipherable-- an angel and devil in one; a temptation that leads to both reward and punishment. She is a beautiful yet fierce creature, using her looks as distraction while she fuels the fires of her secret self and carries out personal agendas. She is more than what she reveals-- an imperfect yet physically perfect specimen/vixen to whom virtue is honesty-- the embrace of immorality and decadence in the face of all evils. Through Brigette, sex wasn't sin; it was freedom. The only danger, it seems, was in having too much.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-52800154324375777852014-07-10T13:33:00.002-07:002014-07-10T13:33:32.985-07:00THE REEL REALS: Ava Gardner<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ava Gardner</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ava Gardner's</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> beauty was insane. INSANE. Labeled "the Love Goddess" by the Hollywood publicity machine, the title was both an accurate description of the sensual feelings she inspired (merely by purring) and an equal misnomer, considering the reality of her romantic life. Ava was far from the dynamic seductress she would become as a Hollywood star. Growing up an impoverished tomboy in North Carolina, she became a surprise beauty queen when a talent scout spotted her picture in her brother-in-law's shop window. What followed was an uncomfortable for her, yet extraordinary for us, ascent as one of the most beautiful women in cinematic history.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, Ava was far more than her luscious extremities. A down-to-earth, unpretentious, accidental femme fatale, her persona would be turned upside down through her progression in Hollywood from a shy kid from the sticks to the ultimate tiger woman. Unschooled in acting, she would have preferred to be a singer, which explained her brief love affair and infatuation with </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Artie Shaw</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">. However, her abilities on the screen were more than enough to garner public affection. To say she was charismatic is the understatement of the millennium. Ava was fierce. In contrast to </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marilyn Monroe</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, for example, she was not as openly vulnerable. The sharp features of her face as accompanied by her full mouth were intense, alluring, and unforgiving in a predatory sense. When paired with her sultry voice, the effect was devastating. She wasn't a sex-object so much as a a dominatrix. Women admired her intensity and related to the broken woman hiding underneath her veneer. Men... they just wanted to be destroyed by her. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As many of the scout-found talents of her era, one can literally watch Ava's abilities grow on film. The awkward and uncertain girl (who married </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mickey Rooney</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">) artfully evolved into a courageous and dangerous actress. To see her blink-and-you'll-miss-it-featured roll in <i>Calling Dr. Gillespie</i>, to her poetically aggressive presentation in <i>One Touch of Venus</i>, and her comfortable, sexual masterdom in <i>Mogambo</i> is a fascinating experience in itself. By the time she appeared in </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Stanley Kramer's</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>On the Beach</i>, she was a seasoned veteran, through with pretense and totally embracing the raw, rough and tumble aspects of her true nature. Ava had little use for BS. The older she got, the more she was able to shirk the accepted affectations and just be the edgy, emotionally abandoned, and even frightened woman she was underneath. Few actresses had such courage.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her personal life was less savory. She suffered a slew of broken hearts, most notoriously from her intense marriage to </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Frank Sinatra</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, a soul mate that would never fully recover from her nor she from him. Unrepentant for the woman whom she developed into, Ava left the world of Hollywood behind for the most part in her later years, moving to her beloved Spain and dancing "barefoot," as was her way. As she aged, her iconic beauty remained but was faded by harsh years, hard knocks, and alcoholism. The real Ava, who was built into a star, got lost somewhere in the Hollywood machinery and spent the majority of her life trying to find herself again.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Still, the love Goddess remains, and on this day, the day of Lovers, it seems appropriate to honor her and the impassioned, unarguable, unbreakable imprint she left behind. An accidental pioneer in the world of feminism, her example of confidence, a healthy sexuality, and chronic defiance still coaches the women of the world on their own quest for pride in identity. And the dudes still dig her too.</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-44238802620603450882014-07-10T13:24:00.001-07:002014-07-10T13:26:44.686-07:00THE REEL REALS: Ann Dvorak<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ann Dvorak</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ann Dvorak</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> didn't have time for bull sh*t. A gifted and daring actress who graced the screen-- large and small-- from the late 'teens to the early fifties, she was too much of a free agent to be reined in by studio stipulation, general opinion, or flat out nonsense. A child of divorce, she learned self-resilience early, and her exploratory heart and avaricious curiosity compelled her to thrust the tough but elegant woman she was into the artistic realm where her passion could rule. She luckily brought along her common sense.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She had an early start, growing up on film sets, but it would be in the thirties that she had her big break. After serving as a dance instructor, her gal pal </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Joan Crawford</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> introduced her to </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Howard Hughes</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> who soon cast her in <i>Scarface</i> as Cesca-- the sister whom </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul Muni's</span><span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> gangster has quite obvious, incestuous feeling for. Unabashed at such controversial subject matter, she became one of the go-to girls during the sultry pre-code days, her other most popular piece being <i>Three on a Match</i> in which she portrayed a fallen woman, drug addicted mother, and eventual suicide victim. Pretty heavy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, almost as soon as her career started taking off, she ran into trouble with studios, mostly because she had a habit for ignoring contracts or all out defying them. Her life belonged to herself and no one else, which was an outlook the grinding Hollywood machine did not take to kindly. She ran off to get married, was suspended, then brazenly combated her low salary rate as well as the poor quality of her films and roles. The result was an eventual and tedious escape from her contract to freelance. She would never become as big a star as some of her contemporaries because of this. She quite simply didn't like to play games. She preferred to increase the lexicon of her ever-growing library and expand her mind and horizons instead of her celebrity.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #c27ba0; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She spent the last nearly thirty years of her life off screen and away from the public eye, most probably enjoying the fact that she was actually living life instead of merely pretending to live someone else's. Unlike many others, she merely hovered around Hollywood instead of allowing her soul to be immersed in it and therefore stolen. She had her own plans and left us with exactly what she was willing to give and nothing more. This isn't the best news for us, because her remaining work makes one want to see more, but you have to respect a woman with boundaries.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-33982200579219668142014-07-10T13:14:00.003-07:002014-07-10T13:14:59.969-07:00THE REEL REALS: Alan Hale<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan Hale</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan Hale, Sr.</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> (not to be confused with his son, the Skipper of "Gilligan's Island") was a very unique personality in both silent and studio era cinema. A big lug, generally mustached, he would become familiar with audiences by portraying the befuddled man's man with a loud, raucous laugh, clumsy yet aggressive physicality, and his very expressive eyes-- usually twinkling. Appearing in nearly 250 films (that we know of) in a less the 40-year career, his energy, comic skill, and integral depth allowed him to easily traverse multiple genres and play the bad guy, the good guy, the drunk guy, the oaf, the clown, the tough, and most often, the best friend.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan's big voice encouraged him to pursue a career in the opera, which makes it interesting that he found a home for himself in silent cinema. However, the creativity and curiosity of his ever-spinning mind-- which led him to an initial career as an inventor (of foldable theater seats among others)-- also instilled within him a natural penchant for unique characterizations. For a man constantly tinkering with objects to see how they worked, cracking a fictional character open and making it tick was an easily adapted talent. His hammy, fun-loving personality only bolstered his appeal, giving him an unlikely charisma onscreen, which made him one of the most popular and beloved character actors of his generation.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> While as a fresh-faced 20-year-old he was able to land the lead in several pictures, it was his uncanny knack at supporting parts, those that added flavor and drove the plot of the story, which would provide for him a comfy position on the Warner Brothers roster. As such, he moved from a series of short film appearances to playing opposite </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Rudolph Valentino</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in The <i>Four Horseman of the Apocalypse</i>, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lon Chaney</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in <i>The Trap</i>, and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Douglas Fairbanks</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in the epic <i>Robin Hood</i>. His role in the latter was that of Little John, one that he would repeat sixteen years later opposite his good friend </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Errol Flynn</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in the 1938 version, <i>The Adventures of Robin Hood</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In fact, it is with Errol that Alan is most associated, as these hard-living, boisterous boys in cahoots got along swimmingly both on and off screen. They appeared in several features together, including <i>The Prince and the Pauper</i>, <i>Dodge City</i>, and <i>The Sea Hawk</i>. Alan's success at WB after the talkie revolution is beyond impressive. He was an uncouth buffoon in <i>Stella Dallas</i>, the notoriously flagged down driver (or should I say "legged") in <i>It Happened One Night</i>, and the ne'er-do-well married lover of </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bette Davis</span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> in <i>Of Human Bondage</i>. He appeared in <i>Great Expectations</i>, <i>Imitation of Life</i>, <i>They Drive By Night</i>, <i>Algiers</i>, <i>The Man in the Iron Mask</i>, <i>The Strawberry Blonde</i>, etc, etc, etc, always lending the lead players his support and improving their performances with his own reliable and inspirational characterizations. One might even say that he was a bit of a scene stealer. He created a natural effect in his scenes, locking them in reality and adding nuance and complication to even the most saccharine or melodramatic plots. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan passed away at the age of 57 far too soon. His talents could have easily translated to television had he more time to continue his thespian explorations. However, problems with his liver and a viral infection led to his untimely, premature passing, leaving behind his wife of 35 years and 3 children-- including his equally famous, doppleganger son </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan Hale, Jr. </span><span style="color: #93c47d; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Less recognized than his contemporaries for his contribution to the cinematic arts, his presence in retrospect seems so fundamental to the success of so many classic films that is hard to imagine Hollywood history without him. When he appeared on screen, audiences knew a little something extra was coming their way. That 'something' was usually just having a more thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable night at the movies. At the very least, it meant life was about to get interesting.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-11385504662805439072014-07-10T13:10:00.001-07:002014-07-10T13:10:28.327-07:00THE REEL REALS: Alan Arkin<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;">Alan Arkin</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan Arkin</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> is a weirdo. This is precisely why he is awesome. Falling into the same category as our other beloved eccentrics-- </span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Walken</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, </span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hopper</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, </span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lynch</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-- Alan can sell a line, a scene, or a story simply because he is interesting to watch. What he does is consistently, disturbingly familiar and yet wholly unexpected. He's the oddball next door; the dirty uncle you invite to reunions, specifically because you want to see what he'll say next. Yet, underneath it all, is the obscene bravery that comes with such reckless abandon. It's not every performer who can so unashamedly manifest in every role, giving the impression that he or she doesn't give a rat's ass. It's almost inhuman. This aspect of his character, the notion that he is from another planet, or at the very least operating on a whole other level, is what makes every nuance of his work so goddamned fascinating.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Alan has been working in film and television for nearly 60 years, and the older he gets, the more frequent his appearances have become. As an unlikely hero, he found his happy home in supporting or character roles, which have become more plentiful with age. Hardly the Hollywood heartthrob, Arkin's early appearances and work were much more striking and even uncomfortable than that of the average leading man. Intermingled with his wonderfully bizarre yet dangerous articulation, there was always humor. He still carries the same aura, one akin to someone like </span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bill Murray</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, where the underlying message seems to be: this is some effed up, cockamamie bull sh*t, eh?. The world is hilarious, a horror worth laughing at, because in the end, it's all a ruse anyway. People take it-- life, celebrity, performance-- too seriously. In summation, Alan takes the high, low road: "Argo f*ck yourself."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arkin's first break was in the fitting, darkly comic wartime satire <i>The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming</i> (1966), but it was <i>Wait Until Dark </i>(1967) that really earned him notice. A surprise hit, the unlikely pairing of the most elegant of actresses (</span><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Audrey Hepburn</span><span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">) with the new, maniacal maestro on the block created a psychologically tormenting and tension-fueled film as creepy as it was flawless. Naturally, much of this had to do with Alan's performance as the soulless aforementioned 'creep' whose eyes were eerily camouflaged by dark glasses-- almost like a premonition of a Satantic Morpheus. However, he was not always so diabolical. His unexpected and tender work in <i>The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter </i>(1968) and his unhinged, broken rebel in <i>Catch-22</i> (1970) further proved his versatility and kept him working steadily over the next 4 decades, (including a run on "Sesame Street").</span><br />
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<span style="color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today, he is still making an impact on a new generation of movie goers who recognize him as the aging salesman in <i>Glengarry Glen Ross</i> (1992), the inappropriate grandpa in <i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> (2006), and the entertainingly cantankerous producer in <i>Argo</i> (2012). Peppering his resume with cameos (<i>So I Married an Axe Murderer</i>), hits (<i>Gattaca</i>), and misses (<i>The Santa Clause 3</i>?), he keeps doing as he does the way only he can do it. Strangely. Very strangely. Hey, the world needs it.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-11129046483586753262014-07-10T13:06:00.002-07:002014-07-10T13:06:19.402-07:00THE REEL REALS: Joan Blondell<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Joan Blondell</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Joan Blondell </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">wasn't your average movie starlet, for the plain and simple reason that she always presented herself as totally average woman-- albeit with a slightly above-average figure. Joan didn't exude pretension nor indulge in any self-important celebrity posturing, yet she gelled with Hollywood like a breath of fresh air. Her natural attitude easily fit any character or story she was given, because she was "easy"-- easy to get along with, easy to love, no muss, no fuss, and most importantly, easy to trust, even if her character was flirting with you purely so she could steal your wallet.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">She wasn't glamorous nor hoity-toity. She was an earthy straight-shooter. She was "all woman," and she didn't apologize for it, yet she held her own against the cast of men-- on the screen and off-- who crossed her path, pounding her chest. It turned her on but not on her ear. Her onscreen characterizations showcased a woman with incredible street savvy and sharp common sense. She may not have thought much of herself or the world in general-- her girls were always cynical-- but she seemed to accept the flaws in life, take its lumps, and even have some fun. She was a realist who didn't fear reality but instead rolled her eyes at it and, in doing so, ably played the role of the sarcastic best friend to a world of very grateful, often jaded moviegoers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As is generally the case, this defiant, outward zest did not totally mirror the inner woman. She housed many private pains and heartbreaks along the road of life. Joan grew up quickly, getting an early start in vaudeville by the age of three and working steadily thereafter. As such, her performances, while not overly hammy, belonged to the school of stage craft and not screen etiquette, which perhaps held her back from being a bona fide movie star. Relegated to supporting, wisecracking, and working girl roles, she was the gal who gave a story a little edge, a little humor, and generally kept things grounded when they started drifting into melodrama. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta;">Joan with</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"> Barbara Stanwyck</span><span style="color: magenta;"> and an unnamed skeleton in <i>Night Nurse</i>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This aura is projected is partly the result of her early introduction into the world of work and also tragedy. She was raped by a police officer in her late teens, which infused if not wholly tarnished her impression of men and the dangers of the world. There was no fooling her after that. Starry eyed, she was not. However, while she was tough, she was not cruel. She was fun-loving, but not gullible; shrewd but warm. Her smart-mouthed movie dames learned from and triumphed over her private lessons, and while they didn't win out in the lottery of life, they generally enjoyed it more.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not as popular as many of her contemporaries, Joan's career remains impressive. From her early stage work opposite </span><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">James Cagney</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">, which brought her to Hollywood, to her cameo in Grease as one of the waitresses at the popular diner the T-Birds and Pink Ladies' patronized-- remember the beauty school drop out number?-- she has appeared in over 150 films and television shows/specials, earning a little more credit in her later years due to impressive performances in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and an Academy Award nomination for The Blue Veil. Some of her best contributions remain: The Public Enemy, Night Nurse, Blonde Crazy, Three on a Match, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Topper Returns, Cry 'Havoc' and Desk Set. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Always entertaining and sturdy in a world that is full of chaos, she made life easier on her fans simply by brushing off the absurdity and sauntering off to the beat of her own drummer. She made survival look easy, which is probably why so many of the films she participated in have indeed survived the passage of time. It's refreshing, every once and awhile, to encounter someone who gives it to you straight.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-62690391846460283662014-05-09T15:20:00.000-07:002014-05-09T15:43:51.012-07:00A DELICATE BALANCE: The Enigmatic, Androgynous Power of Katharine Hepburn<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Kate the Great as photographed by Ernest Bachrach.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-size: x-small;">*In conjunction with The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon of May 10-May 12 2014 as hosted by <a href="http://margaretperry.org/">Margaret Perry</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, that </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Katharine Hepburn</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> was an extraordinary human being. There are many ways in which one could analyze this “extraordinariness”-- her talent, her humanitarianism, her courage-- but at the end of the day, the commonality exposed in all areas of her life and livelihood was that she was, unarguably, a woman without compromise. Indeed, she was a woman who refused to play 'woman' or be labeled, constrained, or predetermined by any outstanding social statutes regarding “expected feminine behavior” or such attempted assignations upon her person of the female gender role. It wasn't that "Kate" colored outside the lines; </span></span><span style="color: #bf9000;">it's that she</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> flat out ignored them. They didn’t exist, whatever these line separated </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">between</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> rich and poor, government and people, and most intriguingly, </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">men and women</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">. As for the latter, her unapologetic trespass over gender lines illuminated her as an unexpected force of nature on the screen and an accidental-on-purpose groundbreaker.</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Taking to the Skies like the guys in </span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><i>Christopher Strong.</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With Kate, the sky was the limit in terms of just what she was capable, (as was expressed in one of her most androgynous roles in <i>Christopher Strong</i>). The way she played this game of mixed sexual power, her duality of the masculine and feminine (here discussed in the most conventional terms), evidenced itself in her decisions as an actress, and in a strange fashion, allowed her to indulge in an almost asexual fortitude that was absolutely atypical compared to the majority female performers of her day. She produced through </span>her<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> natural efforts an elevated, intellectual, and still romantic cinematic hero. Notice I didn’t say “heroine.” In her fashion/presentation, her acting style, and her explorations of love on the screen, she was one of a kind by being two of a kind: embracing both the male and the female stereotypes and melding them into one. She fused them so perfectly that the audience wasn’t even aware that she was leading them by the nose right into the future. She was </span>herself a living testament to <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">sexual equality.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The effect of her unspecified gender and for lack of a better word "sexlessness," (not sexiness-less) was most effective on film, of course, where her persona was indulged through the eager mass consumption of her work. Our conceptualization of sexual identity in any regard is forever in flux, which is to say that one’s sex does not necessarily define his or her gender and never has. However, we do try, as is our nature, to establish certain modes and codes of conduct in our daily interactions to diffuse the tension such unlabeled sexual confusion can cause. Ergo, the “effeminate” male and the “masculine” female are generally viewed as contradictions in terms, as their behaviors, and not necessarily sexual preferences, work in opposition to certain societal dictates and preconceived notions of “male” and “female. The meaning and power behind various cultural and sociological symbols, and the subliminal or even overt stories they implant in our subconscious, the ways in which they have and will continue to manifest within each era, are never totally synchronized, though the typical assignation of the female into the subordinate and domestic role seems to have maintained the most lasting and perpetual of impressions-- with few exceptions.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Kate in the stage production of "The Warrior's<br />Husband," which exemplifies not only her<br />rebellion against submission but an example<br />of her early twisting of gender roles.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">From the genesis of "Genesis," the overwhelming consensus that women are the “weaker” sex-- in physical, mental, and emotional terms-- but also the most sexually dangerous-- temptresses bearing the fruit of life and turning all (heterosexual) men into legions of Tantaluses --- has throughout history, literature, art, and film, made "Her" a thing honored, adored, feared, and most desperately contained, if only to protect her from becoming a danger to herself. She is objectified, she is conditioned, and she is given very little freedom of movement on her journey of self discovery. Her “self” has already been structured into an easily duplicable system to which she is expected to abide. Though, it must be said, men suffer the same limitations and pressures in terms of proving their masculinity and worthiness both to their brethren and the women to whom they are expected to dominate with great "authority" and "confidence." It is a </span>never-ending<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> balancing act between desires, lust vs. loins, with little space for expansion. Even the sacred structure of the nuclear family couldn’t prevent its eventual implosion.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With this background, returning to the ‘feminine’ label, does it not make sense, after being subjected to such deliberate and unconscious sexual programming that one of the most liberating things a woman can experience is the rejection of her designated femininity through her indulgence in typically masculine behaviors? To do so is immediately empowering. It is to overcome preconceived limitations and walk comfortably in trousers (literally and figuratively) after being tightly bound and handicapped by bodices and petticoats. Conversely, while the male emotional state must remain in conflict due to his inability to express himself through anything other than aggression, he can still not stoop to the level of feminine behavior, whose demure presentation would be viewed as debasing. The crassest example of this is the allocation of, pardon me, “pussy"-- the flowery term describing the female genitals-- as the lowest of lows when it comes to insults.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UOR8dK3w3JA/U2x0KVgEq6I/AAAAAAAATpw/olQZ916ajnE/s1600/Marlene-Dietrich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UOR8dK3w3JA/U2x0KVgEq6I/AAAAAAAATpw/olQZ916ajnE/s1600/Marlene-Dietrich.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Dietrich being devious... with a wink.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">But I digress. Coming to the point, in terms of cinematic presentation, the alternating and contrasting depictions of the masculine-feminine or the feminine-masculine in film leave quite an impression on the viewer and are generally displayed as tongue and cheek comic relief, indicating that in reality such sexual tradeoffs are incorrect. Still, like a pink elephant in the room, t</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">he manifestation is unexpected, exciting, and at times quite divine. For example, the dominating eroticism of a cross-dressing </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Marlene Dietrich</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> vs. the immediately homophobic presentation of the femme man as comic relief (</span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Gary Cooper’s</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> butler in </span></span><i style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">Mr. Deeds Goes to Town </i><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">or</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">James Cagney’s</span></span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> tailor in </span><i style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">The Public Enemy</i><span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">), both toy with yet maintain the assertion that the exhibition of female qualities in a man is debasing, as women by nurture are the </span>denigrated<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> sex, but the exploration of the masculine is the highest of compliments.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In keeping, at the end of <i>Morocco</i>, Marlene still has to don a skirt and traipse after her man (again Cooper) to prove her worthiness of womanhood, and the more macho Cagney and Cooper, in their respective films, have to in various ways exude more male confidence to negate and thereby make fun of the homosexual, “girly-men” in their films. The </span>message left behind is that<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> such sexually incoherent gender trespassers are inadmissible in reality. Play with these delineations as one may, as far as symbolism is concerned, a man must still “be a man” and a woman a woman in order for the world to turn.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Perfect fusion of Kate's both masculine and<br />feminine beauty.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">But Kate? Kate's 'musts' were of her own making. She went right </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">ahead</span><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> with her perplexing manifestations of both "womanliness" and “manliness.” However, whereas Dietrich donned a top hat in self-indulgent and comic provocation or </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; letter-spacing: 0px;">Louise Brooks</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> cross dressed in happenstance to only further </span>elaborate<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> upon her potently sexual girlishness, Kate wore pants because she literally “wore the pants,” which is to say that she was ultimately the lord and master of her own life. Her attitudes were not those of a woman out to prove a point. There was no agenda behind her choice of trousers over skirts, and she vacillated between both options on the screen with total ease. She looked eqally at home in any wardrobe, and not just because of her </span>complimentary,<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> trim physique, but because her posture was that of a confident being and not a costumed creature in dress-up. The only role she ever played was herself.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She wore makeup, certainly, but this only enhanced her natural beauty. It never exaggerated her features to transform her into a living doll. Imagine the clownish mouths of </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Bette Davis</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> or </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Joan Crawford</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> or the exploitation of such ultimate cosmeticized sex icons like </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jean Harlow</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> and </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Marilyn Monroe</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">. Their faces were elaborate fictions, labeling them as creatures of lust while simultaneously hiding the soft, fragile human being beneath. In effect, it was dehumanizing. As such, Monroe as a pop-icon has legions of fans who have never seen her films and don't know or respect her work. In contrast, Kate’s face was never fraud, and more particularly as she aged, she embraced her flaws, warts, wrinkles, and all and wore them nakedly, which is why she continued working with regularity while other actresses of her time did not. She was able to go from the ingenue of <i>Morning Glory</i> to the aged, defeated Queen Hecuba in <i>Trojan Women</i>, because she had never painted herself in broad strokes (pun intended). She exhibited no physical vanity, unless this was specific to the character. Her identity as a woman was not plastered on her face and there upon advertised like a billboard for her purchasable sexuality. Again, few recognize the continuing crucifixion of Monroe as a product, which forces her to interminably, while Kate remains unmarketable.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The same is true of her more casual presentation. Kate was able to more directly inhabit the threads of the typically masculine gender, because on her they too were clothes without labels. They said nothing about her identity and were not a calculated social movement bourn upon her breast like a badge of political anarchy. So, in <i>Pat and Mike</i> she jaunts about in athletic wear while jogging and playing tennis (again, more male associated actions) and in <i>Sylvia Scarlett </i>she goes full drag to “disguise” herself, but in so doing never seems to be in disguise nor incongruent, because she never defined herself by typically feminine nor typically masculine gestures. She remains the perfect hermaphrodite, attractive and intrinsically interesting in her bare faced, ornament-free, “Plain [John]” suit of clothes. One could just as easily imagine her punching her timecard at the mill as pressing trousers at home. (Hers, not her husbands).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In fact, much fun has been had utilizing Kate’s seeming ignorance of certain female sexual queues. The idea of her performing token </span>domestic roles like<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> folding laundry, vacuuming, or cooking seem immediately comic-- </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">especially </i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">when it comes to </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">cooking</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. These tasks may be "woman’s work," but they are not something a "working woman" has time to do. Kate absolutely fell into the latter category. She didn’t cook. She didn’t clean. Even when she is folding laundry and unpacking in <i>Stage Door</i>, she seems confused by the motion and making a trivial joke of it-- <i>What a silly function it is, performing these ‘chores,’ she seems to say. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Kate was equally indefinable as an actress, being neither the Gal Friday nor the femme fatale, and she rarely, </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">rarely</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> played mothers. The maternal instinct was totally lost on her. It wasn’t in accordance with who she was, and her portrayals of a mother on the screen could definitely feel unnatural (</span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">State of the Union</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">), if only because such a display was irrefutable proof that she was absolutely a female who had at least once been penetrated/dominated (figuratively and literally) by a male force. (Though my guess is that she was on top). In any case, "Mom"</span></span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> was far too distinctive a title to be placed upon her.</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">To be a mother would immediately erase her </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">chameleon-like</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> abilities as a gender blender and sell her incredibly malleable abilities short. Mostly, it would remove her androgynous Sainthood. Audiences </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">didnt like Kate in a form fitting box. They wanted to see her ram her head against the wall 'til it gave. In truth, her</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"> audiences would be less surprised to discover that she had actually knocked up say </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Colin Clive</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> or </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Fred MacMurray</span><span style="color: #bf9000;"> than they would to find her sitting in a rocking chair with a fat belly, knitting booties for "Junior." </span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><i>Alice Adams</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Even in perhaps the “girliest” of her roles, that of </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Alice Adams</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, Kate may have presented a woman of grace and possessing other erstwhile symbolic examples of her femininity-- an interest in fashion and flowers, the intent of landing a husband-- but she also undoes any possible feminist insults such token symbols could inflict upon her person by choosing </span>to<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> make Alice's determination and drive the fundamental issue of her story. She never comes off as hopeless, delicate, or helpless. She isn’t a girl sitting by the side of the road, showing a little leg, in the hope that her hero on a white horse will trot up and whisk her away. Most importantly, she’s not a “dizzy dame” searching for social validation through marriage. Instead, she’s a warrior, albeit in taffeta, with a concrete goal-- to establish for herself a life of romance and beauty, one which society tries to deny her due to her low social status, poverty, and family. Therefore, her romantic sensibility is more rebellion than romance. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Love was a basic human right to Kate’s heroines, but not one she necessarily was compelled to indulge in-- unless the fruits offered were substantially appetizing. As such, men were easily determined by her as useful or expendable. She seemed to just as easily love ‘em as leave ‘em. The primary issue was that one didn’t waste one’s time. She would get around to it, "love," when she got around to it, which separated her further from some of the more obsessive women of the era who used to devote their time to either landing the </span>love pup,<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> getting over the guy that got away, or getting revenge on the skunk. The depictions of this woman were best showcased by "dames" like Joan Blondell or the </span>perpetual<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">ly lovesick and ever man-centric Joan Crawford.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Holding her own with or without Bogie in <i>The African<br />Queen</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Conversely, in most cases regarding her interaction with the opposite sex, Kate consistently presented herself with a bewildering but befitting androgyny, at least until she found the proper partner. In any case, she checked her typically "feminine charms," (cleavage, eye-batting), at the door without eliminating her sex drive. This wasn’t an effort consciously done, at least not in the way Kate presented it. As opposed to tough broads like Stanwyck, whose characterizations were often those of a jaded woman who had taken herself off the market in an “I’ll be damned if another man gets the best of me,” kind of way, Kate didn’t withhold her sensuality purposefully. She was merely too preoccupied with other, more interesting things to operate under such a mentality, which rendered her at the point of her own asexual oblivion. Anyway, men weren’t a threat to her or her happiness, as she never made a social distinction between herself, as a woman, and men in general in the first place. As such, she never gave a man, nor anyone else, power over herself. In <i>Stage Door</i>, while most of the other actresses are focused on “date night” and catching a beau, Kate is more intent on building her career. In <i>The African Queen</i>, she is a spinster unashamed of her spinsterhood, and only through the presence of Bogart considers that, having already devoted her life to selfless missionary work, she may be ready to indulge herself a little as a personal reward, since the situation has thrown a man in her lap anyway. Previously, any man would have been a mere distraction from her "calling." The ingredient of danger, the real attraction for her, makes him more interesting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sex, therefor was a maybe and not a necessity in her decision making. She had bigger fish to fry. When her curiosity was peaked, and she did indeed find the great, white whale worthy of her attentions, she would use whatever means she had to possess him-- her ‘means’ being honesty, loyalty, and the innocence of her affections. She did not “seduce” in the typical sense by using her physical presence to lure a partner. She offered. She let ‘it,’ her attraction, be known. <i>This is me, fella. Grab it if you want it</i>. We see this in the way she clings to </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jimmy Stewart</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> after their late night swim in <i>A Philadelphia Story</i>, “Hello, Mike,” rolling into his neck or the way her eyes are naked and open, staring at </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Rossano Brazzi</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> in <i>Summertime</i>, telling him everything and leaving nothing unturned. In these moments, she is a child-- a changeling. She is a sexless spirit and a reflective soul asking recognition from another. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Herein is the vast distinction between her approach to “wooing” and that of the typical female screen personality, the clearest evidence of which can be observed in the fact that that it was she who typically played the wooer-- not the guy. While studios liked to promote submissive good girls and "tits-first, ask questions never" sex goddesses, Kate was a slip of a woman that, had she been allowed to wear her standard choice of khakis and an old shirt, would have completely faded into the background amongst Tinsel Town’s more voluptuous treasures. As such, in her characterizations, her lack of these typically obvious female signifiers-- large chest, wet mouth, wide hips-- forced her to transcend her gender again to become the amorous instigator. This, in a way, was an apology for her her unapologetic indulgence in her own androgyny.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;"><i>Sylvia Scarlett</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The most obvious example of this is <i>Sylvia Scarlett, </i>the film in which Kate falls in love with and is tested with earning </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Cary Grant’s</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;"> love in return, while in crossdress. Without the distraction of cosmetics and veneer, she is left with nothing but the revelation of the depths of her love and genuine respect to earn his. In </span><i style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">Little Women</i><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">, she is the headstrong Jo March, who eschews the standard role for women by refusing to marry Laurie, the boy who would have made her an eternal girl, and instead endears herself to the older, more educated Prof. Bhaer who challenges her mind and fosters her growth as a genderless human being. So too is her fate in </span><i style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">Mary of Scotland</i><span style="color: #bf9000; letter-spacing: 0px;">, wherein she suffers the sexless life of a Queen-- thus making her the sole ruling King-- to whom marriage is politics, </span><span style="color: #bf9000;">leaving</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"> no room for the usual female flirtations of youth. The man she truly desires, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Fredric March</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">, she must bind to her through reason, understanding, and true compassion, because she has a job to do and cannot exhibit her affections in the conventional sense. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps the simplest way to say this is that Kate did not submit herself at any point to objectification, especially in terms of obtaining a man’s love or, at the very least, his attention. More bluntly, she led with the thing between her head, not her thighs. She did not "tease" in the physical sense. If she, with her strange duality, was going to win a partner, she had to come at him from an unexpected place. She worked from the inside out, pulling them apart and rearranging them like a puzzle, and in doing so opening their minds to the revelation of herself-- a different product of “woman” than they had ever seen before, as she was ultimately half man. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">With Fredric March in <i>Mary of Scots</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The effect was perhaps even more compelling than the standard experience of a male character falling in love. With Kate, he didn’t know he was falling until he had landed, face to face, with her. The ride was over just as the new one beginning, and his heart was already a lost cause, for where again would March, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Franchot Tone</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, Bogart, or Grant find so fascinating and brave a sphinx to contend with again? Who could offer any of them so perfect a relationship? After all, what is a “couple,” whether heterosexual or homosexual, but a perfect blending of the genders and a sharing of each other-- becoming one another? Kate left immediate room for her mate’s further expansion and growth with her, because she had already arrived at the place of gender equality on her own and </span>offered<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> him the space to share it. Love with Kate, therefore, was on another level. It wasn’t “I am woman; you are man.” It was, “Here we are, two human beings. Now what?” The possibilities were endless.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite this description of Kate’s asexual presentation, one could hardly say that she wasn’t sex<i>ual</i>. One of the most fascinating aspects of Kate’s screen presence was indeed her sexuality, her marked sensuality, and her enthusiastic desire, the evidence of which only works to further exaggerate her male-female conundrum. For the masculine, she is consistently the predator and a potently sexual one at that. She is always direct in what she wants, whether she has selected Grant’s lovable, overgrown boy buffoon as her next meal or the equally direct but close-to-the-vest </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Spencer Tracy</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">, with whom oceans of philosophical dialogue passed in mutually appreciative stares, which indicated all the ravenous lovemaking that the camera, due to censorship, could not.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What differentiaties Kate from her contemporaries is actually her unemotive approach to the mating ritual. She is cut and dry and unencumbered by analytics. Her head was never spinning with wonderment about what lied within a man’s mind or his heart. She thought like a man herself. She had the ability to separate sex and love, and as such, in the realm of romance, led with an intellectual foot. This, a typically masculine demonstration of the head and groin approach (vs. the heart and gut of the female) is best exemplified in her partnerships with Grant, with whom she made four films-- <i>Holiday</i>, <i>Bringing Up Baby</i>, <i>Sylvia Scarlett</i>, and <i>A Philadelphia Story</i>. In all of these films, whether he knew it or not, Cary was her sexual toy-- whether we were witnessing the effect pre- or post-consummation. The latter film would eventually exhibit the toppling of Kate’s sexual methodology when her Tracy Lord has to surrender her macho behaviors to wind up with Grant's C.K. Dexter Haven.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5-IELgQz8P0/U2x4BJcTf_I/AAAAAAAATqo/uALov3UKamg/s1600/bringing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5-IELgQz8P0/U2x4BJcTf_I/AAAAAAAATqo/uALov3UKamg/s1600/bringing.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">With Cary in her net in <i>Bringing Up Baby</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Bringing Up Baby</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, a screwball comedy about a wild feline-- the leopard “Baby”-- could be interpreted as a parallel between Grant’s learned Dr. David and Kate’s </span>blasé<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> Susan, in that she is the real wild thing that has come into his life and is, as a result, spinning it into complete disarray. However, the ‘bringing up’ can refer only to David, who is little more than a baby-fied nerd whom the feral and comically unpredictable Susan must bring up to her level. While the more educated of the two characters, David is clueless, helpless, and even infantile in operation. He is equally sexually immature. Yet, at no time does the audience experience any confusion regarding the fact that the more poignantly carnal Susan wants to rip his clothes from his body and take him to task, no matter how daffy the presentation of her erotically charged affections. She leads David by the nose, being perpetually one step ahead, walking backward, ultimately waiting for him to catch up, reclaim the caveman instincts he left behind for the starched life of an intellectual, and shag her brains out properly. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R51qtCo6H28/U2x4Wx1vqhI/AAAAAAAATqw/zurZWtPsxzw/s1600/cary-grant-bringing-up-baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R51qtCo6H28/U2x4Wx1vqhI/AAAAAAAATqw/zurZWtPsxzw/s1600/cary-grant-bringing-up-baby.jpg" height="320" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">The bride wore shame.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Susan as the sexual aggressor, which was typically the male role during this cinematic time period, keeps David utterly befuddled and trapped in her manipulative game-- her creative sport of foreplay-- during which she preys upon and uses his sense of decency and responsibility the same way that male figures are typically portrayed as preying on the female sex’s maternal instincts and romantic eagerness. The result is David’s utter shaming and emasculation. While Susan cleverly creates a maze that will ultimately coax David into the marital bed with her whether he likes it or not-- “here, kitty, kitty, kitty"-- he is left to wander aimlessly in a frilly, white robe akin to a woman's wedding night negligee. It is Susan's purposeful costuming of him. She dresses him for the part and challenges him to change genders. When he leaps up and shouts the immortal retort to </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">May Robson</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">, “Because, I just went GAY all of a sudden,” it is a loaded statement. Due to the confused gender roles of the film, David is, in effect, a quasi-homosexual: he is a male attracted to a female who is in turn wearing the masculine gender. It’s not a sexual awakening; it’s a nightmare! And, ultimately, a turn on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Naturally, as Kate represented herself in all her roles, she was consistently looking for an equal, or at least her perfect opposite, </span>which<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> was difficult considering her duality. Lovers, husbands, and boyfriends were faceless and interchangeable. A true sparring partner, now </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">that </i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">was the real goal, and when she found a worthy opponent, she dug her claws in-- even if he needed a little coaching along the way. In </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Baby</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, in order to amp up David’s maturation process, we see Susan's comic shenanigans in the jail scenes. She and David have been locked up as local loons in the town jail, and it is Susan, not David, who uses her wiles and physical prowess to save the day. This she does by posing as an imaginary gangster’s moll, which causes a </span>destruction<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> so she can make her exit.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7VNcf-cTiE/U2x4p3_dO9I/AAAAAAAATq4/58xyz8hZS5U/s1600/Annex+-+Hepburn,+Katharine+(Bringing+Up+Baby)_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7VNcf-cTiE/U2x4p3_dO9I/AAAAAAAATq4/58xyz8hZS5U/s1600/Annex+-+Hepburn,+Katharine+(Bringing+Up+Baby)_02.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">"Swingin' Door Sue makes her play in the pen'.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It must be noted that during this process, Susan inhabits the mannerisms and vocal intonations of a man-- a gangster, not his mill. She slouches, makes the choice to sit about-face on a chair, and leads with the shoulders-- not the hips. She’s a lampoon of </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Al Capone</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> not his mistress. Cracking jokes with the big boys, she makes her getaway, finds a faux Baby, and returns to the jail, proving that she and David are <i>not</i> insane but genuinely were scouring the town for a lost leopard. Unfortunately, fake Baby is a mean Bitch, and in effect a sacrificial offering to David. When the cat goes wild and poses a real danger to Susan's life, he must finally step up and play the hero, protect his woman, and save her-- though it is clear that she never really needed his help. It is almost as if the effort is done simply to boost David’s confidence and temper Susan's own intimidating effect on him. This one act of heroics makes it safe for David to be with her, because he has already proved that he is a Man, even if not as big a man as she.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The combination of these two talents is beyond pleasurable, however one notices that their medley of sexualities only works in comedy. In reality, their chemistry doesn’t make sense romantically. They are more like a brother and sister at play. Who can recall them even kissing? If they did, it didn’t leave much of an impression. Kate’s masculinity was really too much of an accidental threat to Grant’s own, as he increasingly throughout his career devoted himself to the image of his sharp-dressed man seductiveness. He was Bond before Bond. (And nearly <i>was</i> James Bond, but that’s another story). This prototype that would be solidified in his Hitchcockian performances would and could not be dominated by any woman. As his career progressed and he distanced himself from the handsome clown of his youth, his performances took on a bit more of a sinister air (<i>Notorious</i>, <i>North By Northwest</i>) as his emotional detachment, the same seen in Kate's romanticism or anti-romanticism, began to invade his demeanor. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwJl6xk26bY/U2x5Go44mNI/AAAAAAAATrA/pfHyk_xhNFY/s1600/PS-radio-clowning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MwJl6xk26bY/U2x5Go44mNI/AAAAAAAATrA/pfHyk_xhNFY/s1600/PS-radio-clowning.jpg" height="320" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Dressed down and chumming between takes.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As such, they were really mirror images of each other, not fuseable counterpoints. The result of this-- Grant having transformed totally into this put-together, macho person-- was their last collaboration, <i>A Philadelphia Story, </i>a film that works perfectly but somehow feels wrong. While the couple of Tracy and Dexter duel for domination in their failed relationship and eventually reunite, the hoped for Hollywood ending, the resolution rings false. Neither one is ever really going to submit to the other. They are too in sync to be compatible. The greatest chemistry produced in this film was actually that between Kate and Stewart, whose is sycophantic passion is illuminated by Kate’s luminosity. He comes to adore her, but he knows his place-- beneath her, beside her, basking in her light. Unfortunately, her Tracy “doesn’t want to be worshipped; [she] want(s) to be loved.” She sought a partner in toto, one who would not idolize her more than she idolized him back. Interestingly, she would find him in the man she had originally hoped to cast in <i>A Philadelphia Story...</i></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Tracy and Hepburn</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Nowhere better was the perfect exchange of Kate’s other gender and elevated romantic expectation met and fulfilled than with Spencer Tracy. Their first coming together (pun may or may not be intended) was beyond perfection. The story behind their offscreen romance has become mythical of course. It was a legendary companionship and extra-marital affair that lasted from their teaming on <i>Woman of the Year</i> until their respective deaths. (Kate naturally outlived Spence, as was her way). Their rapport onscreen is beyond skepticism or gossip. We have the evidence of this consensual beauty. Perfect opposites who complimented and exaggerated the better, worse, and lesser indulged qualities of each other, their onscreen companionship-- at its best-- was poetry.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Examining the films of <i>Woman of the Year,</i> <i>Adam’s Rib</i>, and <i>Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner</i> as a trilogy of their best works-- the young couple, the married couple, the aged couple-- you witness the endurance of their chemistry: the way they move around and adapt to each other, compliment each other, battle each other, and mostly just love each other. In their pairing on the screen, there is never any question of that love, and there is neither any question that in her roles Kate was never more sincerely romantic as an actress than in her films with Spence. It is the only time you truly see her vulnerable.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">A date so good, they didn't want to let go...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is interesting, because in a way, Tracy and his intense, every man masculinity,was perhaps the first beast that Kate’s film females were truly impressed by or in awe of. In their films, she moves away from her feigned girlishness and coquettishness and spars with her partner in a continuing trade of domination/submission. Their early scenes in <i>Woman of the Year</i>-- their first real date at the bar when they get drunk together, that first cab ride home-- feels like an intrusion into very private and honest moments. With her eyes and manner, Kate’s entire being seems to curl up like a cat in Spence’s lap, where he lovingly and tenderly offers safety for the expression of her total inamoration of him. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Most importantly, it is a fair trade. Tracy is just as enticed by Kate’s strong-headedness and ambition as a worldly working woman, someone form whom he can learn something and experience more of life, as he is thrilled at seeing the revelation of her secret charms and hidden sincerities. His duality as Kate’s fellow asexual counterpart is his ability to take on, in the film, equally more feminine manifestations. While her gaze is fixed, he often casts his own downward, bashfully-- searching clumsily for words on the table, for example. When he first asks her out, she challengingly meets him head on, forcing him to walk backward at her show of intimidation (and up the stairs at that. Oh, </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">George Stevens</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">... I heart you). It’s a cat and mouse game with her showing precisely what she’s made of to ascertain if Tracy is willing to put on his gloves and face her, again, like a man. She is also ultimately more successful than he in the film-- she has a higher education, higher breeding, she comes from money and makes plenty of her own, speaks several languages, etc. He, comically, goes to <i>her </i>business gatherings and stands aside like her socially incompatible wife and arm trophy. When she adopts a son, it is he who takes care of him. It is also he who has the heart in the relationship. He’s the woman trying to break through to the unattainable fortress of emotion in Kate’s masculine facade. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cFv60R_c3o/U2x6Sx39kmI/AAAAAAAATrU/fdxDEWduOdI/s1600/Woman+of+The+Year+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cFv60R_c3o/U2x6Sx39kmI/AAAAAAAATrU/fdxDEWduOdI/s1600/Woman+of+The+Year+9.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Rebuffed.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps even more telling is the fact that Kate is ready to pounce on her prey, as ever, on the first date, but it is Tracy who makes his innocent exit. He doesn’t want to lose a future with this woman by indulging in the heated superficialities of immediate sex. Kate wants his “cookie;” he won’t give it to her. He plays his cards in order to win a wife and not a temporary lover, just as women are perpetually coached to guard their carnal treasures: “Men of the world only want one thing,” “When they get what they want, they never want it again,” etc. Spence's card up his sleeve is-- to borrow the philosophy of modern comedian </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Steve Harvey</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">-- that he already “thinks like a man,” because he is one. So, he doesn’t fall into Kate’s more typically male sexual traps.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the end, Kate has to surrender her position as the sole pillar of strength and her independent, career-focused lifestyle to accomodate her role shared position in their marriage. She is, by title, his wife. She must, therefore, embrace her femininity. Naturally, this makes the modern feminist cringe a bit-- a woman’s salvation was always in an apron in the studio era. The ending would be more insulting, however, were it not for the equal balance of Kate and Spence's sexual-chameleon qualities. In the beginning, Tracy was willing to play the wife as much as the husband; Kate was never willing to do the same. It is therefore only fair that she must surrender some of her authority to embrace and offer </span>him<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> equal tenderness. She must give as well as get. While one can’t help but feel that she will never, ever be comfortable in the kitchen-- not after the breakfast scene that destroys any illusion of her culinary abilities-- one feels that she will at least be consistently willing to bend a little, and in turn, to compromise and fuse her androgyny with Tracy’s own.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LR2L-kvf1Wg/U2x6s5h1onI/AAAAAAAATrk/ZO-6xTvNASw/s1600/zzadam9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LR2L-kvf1Wg/U2x6s5h1onI/AAAAAAAATrk/ZO-6xTvNASw/s1600/zzadam9.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Spence and Kate, post-slap.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In fact, Kate seems happy to do it. While she certainly has the carriage of a woman who bows to no man, you also get a sense from this pair’s playfulness and flirting that she wouldn’t mind letting her guard down and getting a spanking or two from the only man in history who could knock her off her guard. Fittingly, Tracy does slap her right on the tush in </span><i style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Adam’s Rib</i><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">, which instigates a brilliant quarrel on the rules of consensual S&M, gender roles, etc, etc, etc. Had the slap been a sexual slap, it would have been one thing. However, in this scene, the two dueling lawyers are genuinely debating each other, and the resentment and use of masculine power attached to Tracy’s slap goes from being an </span>acceptable<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> form of foreplay to an assertive sublimation of Kate into the role of the weaker sex. She rebels against it. Thus, the matter of contention in the whole film: the compromise between the sexes and the establishment of peace in between.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sCTO7ZA9U_g/U2x7OhM2LHI/AAAAAAAATrw/at9y10tUzC0/s1600/hepburn+tracy+prive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sCTO7ZA9U_g/U2x7OhM2LHI/AAAAAAAATrw/at9y10tUzC0/s1600/hepburn+tracy+prive.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">At ease.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is an extension of <i>Woman of the Year</i>. The married couple battles in the bedroom and the courtroom for the determination of just exactly who the "man of the house" is. The end is a justified compromise: Kate wears the pants in court; Tracy at home. Their roles become switched a bit in <i>Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner</i>, with Spence playing the fixed stick in the mud, and Kate the more emotional and amenable matriarch-- the curmudgeon vs. mother earth. Their mental ping-ponging remains in tact. Of course, this exchange exists in all of their films, perhaps best witnessed in <i>Pat and Mike</i>, wherein Kate is the athlete who is accepted for the collision of her masculine-feminine nature by Tracy, who specifically fosters her androgyny as her trainer. As ever, he wants the best of both worlds in one woman. In <i>Desk Set, </i>they are again competing professionals-- Kate leading with her limitless intelligence and encyclopediac mind and Tracy with his technical expertise, neither being able to outdo the other. The formula works less when their delicate balance-- a wider establishment of Kate's own-- is found not in the middle but on opposite ends, with Kate taking on the token suffering wife roles in <i>Sea of Grass</i> or <i>Keeper of the Flame</i>. These example, as it turns out, were playing totally against type for <i>her</i> if not totally for <i>him</i>. When their playfullness is lost and thus their almost psychic understanding, so too goes the emotional connection the audience has with them, but mostly with Kate. We want to see her wearing both the pants and the skirt in her usual 50/50 ratio. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What we can gather from this (very longwinded) description of Kate’s fluid indulgence in her own identity and her total lack of allegiance to stereotype is that this was in large part the quality that made her work so resonant. One never witnessed Kate as a cliche. She eschewed the word. When one can be impersonated, one has reached true distinction. When someone puts on a Katharine of Arrogance accent, everyone (with some level of film knowledge) knows who is being lampooned. This is both the reason for her success and the reason why it is so impressive. The fact that she wasn’t a “type” should have made her un-castable. Hollywood doesn’t like to think or create. It likes Model-T stars and stories. Yet, Kate’s desexualized personage and un-homogenized acting style,made her range run the gamut from A to Z to the far stretches of the universe. (Yup, you were wrong about that one </span><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Dorothy Parker</span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">).</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Kate transcended material, general audience expectation, and direction, meaning that she spread herself in every possible way across the mortal landscape when it came to her interpretations regarding the human heart, human ugliness, and humanity period. She was both old and young, comedic and tragic, flawed yet beautiful, and-- yes-- man and woman. She was, in her art, the upright and the upside down triangle, the token symbols of the masculine and feminine, creating an interesting specimen of the eternal figure eight-- infinite possibilities. No beginning, no end, just an experience.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n-BCRyixbek/U2x7rfKssdI/AAAAAAAATr4/cA8d0hmWvDY/s1600/kat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-n-BCRyixbek/U2x7rfKssdI/AAAAAAAATr4/cA8d0hmWvDY/s1600/kat.jpg" height="400" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">The epitome of the androgynous allure. She is<br />indefinable and everything.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Katharine Hepburn's films last because she made them real by offering all facets of herself without shame. She was whatever she wanted to be, and all of that offered with the one-hundred percent generosity of her spirit. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">She was a great guy. And one Hell of a lady.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-68195393147372727632014-04-24T16:55:00.000-07:002014-04-24T16:55:04.191-07:00THE REEL REALS: Shirley MacLaine<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PeeRdkhP9fg/U1mjC7muOkI/AAAAAAAATDk/7ilCF_C76c8/s1600/shirley-maclaine_opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PeeRdkhP9fg/U1mjC7muOkI/AAAAAAAATDk/7ilCF_C76c8/s1600/shirley-maclaine_opt.jpg" height="400" width="321" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: magenta; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Shirley MacLaine</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On this, <span style="color: magenta;">Shirley MacLaine's</span> Birthday, it only seems appropriate to celebrate the great lady. And she is great. She's fab'. She's talented. Mostly, she's fun. Shirley's great allure as an actress is her immediate accessibility. She is a down to earth and open woman whose sincere presence and authentic approachability makes her more of a chum than a movie star. In truth, one doesn't really equate her with the grand glamour of the typical Hollywood goddess, and this certainly isn't because her effect is any less profound. It's because she wouldn't want it that way. Even in her characterizations, she cuts through all the BS and the posturing and gets to the meat of the matter, whether to do so she has to paint herself as a clown, a crab apple, a vulnerable child-woman, or simply a breath of fresh air. You can't help but fall in love with her. A member of the original Rat Pack, and a woman who was able to get <span style="color: magenta;">Robert Mitchum</span> to fall head over heels for her, she must have been doing something right. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I've always found Shirley's work much more fascinating than her actor/filmmaker brother's. What <span style="color: magenta;">Warren Beatty</span> was unable to totally strip off in terms of emotional exposure, Shirley did without effort. An intelligent and insightful actress, her smarts do not reveal themselves in pompous intellectualization but are rather insinuated through her actions and receptivity. Shirley openly indulges in her personal life in expeditions into a "higher plane" of consciousness and general existence, and this is evident in her work. Her accuracy in interpreting the world she sees around her is razor sharp, and indeed it hits you right in the heart when her gritty, earthy honesty is truly unleashed (<em>Terms of Endearment</em>, <em>The Apartment</em>). Like all the best actors and actresses, her craft is seamless. It effects you without showing its hand. Mostly, she is just enjoyable to watch, even in her dramas. There is a lightness to her spirit that elevates the viewer and provides a safe place in the theater, the living room, etc. When she's on screen, one can relax, sit back, and just let whatever brazenness or intensity is about to occur unfold, because what she gives occurs on the screen is delivered and shared through one of the most genuine of performers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Shirley was (and is) a hard worker who earned her stripes on the stage, where she got her start as a dancer. When she filled in as an understudy for an indisposed <span style="color: magenta;">Carol Haney</span> in a production of "The Pajama Game," she was recruited by <span style="color: magenta;">Hal B. Wallis</span> and signed at Paramount, a little twist of fate that would change her life and reward her fierce persistence and devotion to her art. Her first picture was, in fact, with the notorious <span style="color: magenta;">Alfred Hitchcock</span> in the dark comedy <em>The Trouble with Harry</em>. Hitch was pleased to be working with a film acting novice, as Shirley's adaptability to his very specific directorial touches were unencumbered by the typically jaded experience of most stars. Her charisma was instant, as was her strange blend of innocence and ripe but natural sex appeal. Her reputation only grew as she showed that she was more than a pretty face, adding gravitas to her performances in <em>The Apartment</em> (as the jilted and suicidal lover), <em>Some Came Running</em> (as the "low-class" but adorable martyr), and <em>The Children's Hour</em> (as the deeply conflicted and unaware homosexual whose life is torn asunder by rumor). </span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Shirley had a gift for tragedy, which she often revealed through her comedy. Her heroines were never simple, one-level ladies. Even her big musical triumph <em>Sweet Charity</em> revealed this as she created a woman from the wrong side of the tracks with a heart of gold. She exposed a deep hurt that was combatted by courage, in this and all of her films. As she matured, so too did her work, and her abilities as a character actress were more fully realized as she entered the 1970s-- <em>Two Mules for Sister Sarah</em>, <em>The Turning Point</em>, <em>Being There</em>, <em>Steel Magnolias</em>, <em>Postcards from the Edge</em>, etc, etc, etc. The result of her compelling work has been a legacy of artistic integrity and resounding industry (and public) respect. The woman is still going strong, committed to telling stories, embracing life, and sharing the beauty of it through her performances.</span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #8e7cc3; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yes, I'm a fan. She's the bees knees. (Also has an awesome birthday. Just sayin').</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6579509462565904231.post-29744170819095748942014-04-01T16:52:00.003-07:002014-04-01T16:53:52.918-07:00THE REEL REALS: Lon Chaney<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vbdnohx5OSY/UztO38fr7YI/AAAAAAAASeI/zmomHE9nguI/s1600/8841_Lon_Chaney__American_Actor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vbdnohx5OSY/UztO38fr7YI/AAAAAAAASeI/zmomHE9nguI/s1600/8841_Lon_Chaney__American_Actor.jpg" height="400" width="325" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Leonidas Frank Chaney with his mini-makeup case</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Born April 1, 1883</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It probably comes as no surprise to anyone who has known me for four seconds (exactly four), that <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Lon Chaney</span>-- in my humblest of humble opinions-- is the greatest person who has ever inhabited the planet earth. (That includes you, Jesus. Pft. Showoff). Lon was a cinematic warrior. His incredible talent and his many, many faces (allegedly 1000), were as diverse as his audience appeal. What bridged his heroes, anti-heroes, cripples, ghouls, fiends, and heart-broken torch bearers together was the uncanny skill, integrity, and honesty with which he made them materialize. His characters were, more often than not, tragic martyrs, burning on a pyre of destroyed illusions, unrequited loves, and irreparable scars with which the brutal knocks of life had informed them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This was his art. Formulation. Even when he played the hardest of hard-bitten criminals, he never left their humanity absent from their motivations. Rome wasn't built in a day; no man became a liar or a thief by happenstance. In the same way that Lon would only answer the fan mail of the outcast and underdog prison inmates, he saw the poetry and the devastation of Mankind's heart. So, in his mutilated Quasimodo or Erik the Phantom, their is a profound depth of feeling and vulnerability that a lifetime of emotional depravity had built within them. In his conniving crook of <em>The Shock</em>, <em>The Penalty</em>, and <em>Victory</em>, there is a hardened core surrounding an insecure and self-protective victim-- in various stages of disarray-- actually quite desperate to be loved. In <em>The Black Bird</em> or <em>Outside the Law</em>, there is a bitter chip of sexual resentment and thirsty revenge present in his demeanor that is only worn by those to whom life has been most cruel. In <em>Shadows</em> and <em>Mockery</em> there is a childlike innocence exposed, that which is housed in all men but is often too deeply entrenched to be uprooted and freely offered to his fellow man.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lon as Quasimodo in <em>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</em></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lon is a continuing force of nature. His allure and his inspiration-- to actors, makeup and special effects artists, artists, and fans-- continues due to his intense and unrepentant, even self-flagellating indulgence in his performances. Viewers peer into the worlds he created-- and he THRIVED on each challenge-- and they see only the man, no matter what shape, size, or moral or immoral intent he possesses. The basis of this naked and gutsy transcendence was humility. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lon's education in preparation for both acting and becoming a man came from his parents-- both of whom were deaf and, therefore, taught their son and his three siblings to communicate solely through physical expression, be it a slight shift of the eyes or facial contortion or through the digital specifics of sign language. He also grew up with the fiercely protective nature demanded of one growing up with "abnormal" parents. A sensitive but intensely proud and defiant child, he deflected ignorant prejudice and would continue to do so his whole life. In his eyes, all men (and women) were created equal and, as such, his entire theatrical and cinematic career was devoted to translating the many facets and nuances of each individual's beauty, flaw, and humanity. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B5b44DGTuIM/UztQqlW9UTI/AAAAAAAASeY/vDH711An30M/s1600/lonch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B5b44DGTuIM/UztQqlW9UTI/AAAAAAAASeY/vDH711An30M/s1600/lonch.jpg" height="400" width="280" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lon in the lost film <em>A Blind Bargain</em>,</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> in one of his two roles in the film.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It took one viewing of the play "Richard III" in his hometown of Colorado Springs for him to choose his occupation. As soon as he was old enough, he and his elder brother <span style="color: #6aa84f;">John</span> set out traveling on the theatrical circuit, with Lon's immovable determination maintaining his staying power through thick and thin long after John and many other gave up. He also found love and the worst kind of heartbreak. His first marriage to <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Frances "Cleva" Creighton</span>, a singer whom he met and wed on the road, ended in notorious tragedy. Struggling with marital quarrels, the pressures of life in the entertainment business, rumors of Cleva's extramarital dalliances, her increased addiction to alcohol, and both of their stubborn natures, led to their divorce... But not before Cleva dramatically drank a bottle of mercury bi-chloride backstage at one of Lon's performances in an overly dramatic suicide attempt. Once Lon learned that she would survive, he took their son Creighton (<span style="color: #6aa84f;">Lon, Jr</span>) and with his stage reputation ruined, set his sights on the possibilities opening up in Hollywood. (He would later find happiness with wife <span style="color: #93c47d;">Hazel Hastings</span>. Poor Cleva was never able to sing another note, a fact Lon never knew).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Starting out as an extra, Lon used his well-honed makeup skills to draw various filmmakers' attention and <em>sllllooowwwly</em> but surely established himself as one of the most popular and most beloved stars of the day. Few in the industry could ever understand his box-office appeal. He was attractive but not typically handsome. His characters were abstract and often crude. He did not promote happy endings. His biggest fan, perhaps, was constant collaborator and director <span style="color: #6aa84f;">Tod Browning</span>. What. A. Team. What Lon offered was truth. He was a pre-pre-method actor. His crawl to fame in <em>The Miracle Man</em> as the con-artist posing as a "saved" cripple shocked and impressed audiences, and they would continue to be amazed by his craft until his premature death at the age of 47. The chain-smoking chameleon would pass away from throat cancer in 1930, right after he made the seamless transition to the talkies with the remake of his earlier film <em>The Unholy Three</em>.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Why so glum, chum?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">New generations continue to be enthralled with this instinctual genius. What we continue to find in Chaney that we adore is Trust. You can sense the care he gave every performance, you admire the imagination he used to give it life, and you see reflections of yourself exorcised and set free by him that you may not have even wanted to admit were there. Chaney was a simple man with an extraordinary talent performing the most outlandish of jobs. But he never saw it that way. He just saw the first part. Just a man. Just some guy, who seemed to care a Hell of a lot more than everybody else. I mean... Damn...</span><br />
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Happy Birthday, ChameLeonidas. Your mama didn't raise no Fool.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16950207764204473859noreply@blogger.com0