Lauren Bacall, Evergreen Hollywood

Lauren Bacall was one of the top movie actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. She is perhaps best remembered for her partnership with Humphrey Bogart but her stardom did not end when Bogart died. In her own right she was one of the most important players in post war Hollywood particularly in the film noir genre, and she is ranked by the American Film Institute at number 20 in their listings of Hollywood actress legends. As late as 1996 she received an Academy nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her wonderful performance in 'The Mirror Has Two Faces' and in 2009 she received an Honorary Academy Award at the inaugural Governors Awards.

She first came to the fore as a young beauty on the cover of 'Harper's Bazaar' magazine and she was given a screen test by film director Howard Hawks which resulted in a seven-year contract with Warners Bros. At only 19 years old she starred opposite established superstar Humphrey Bogart in the thriller 'To Have and Have Not' in 1944. She became an instant heroine to many with her sexy banter with Bogart: "You do know how to whistle."

She became even more famous when she and Bogart began an affair and eventually married in 1945. He was 45 years old and Bacall 25 years his junior. She and Bogart made a series of highly successful films together: 'The Big Sleep' in 1946, 'The Dark Passage' in 1947 and 'Key Largo' in 1948. When Bogart died from cancer in 1957, Bacall continued her acting career, becoming as well known for her stage roles as for her screen performances.

She won a Tony Award for her performance in 'Applause' (1970-1972),and again for 'Woman of the Year' (1981-1983). Lauren has never stopped working and is still a force to be reckoned with. She appeared in 'The Limit' in 2004, 'These Foolish Things' in 2006 and 'Wide Blue Yonder' in 2010. She is still very much in demand. Long may it remain so.

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Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Director of Brilliance

Joe Mankiewicz

There are few Hollywood directors with a better artistic reputation than Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He was a brilliant scriptwriter and producer before becoming one of the most skilful and successful directors in movie history. After learning his trade in the 1930’s and 1940’s, working with some of the most influential directors of the time, such as George Cukor, Fritz Lang and Frank Borsage.

When Mankewiecz began directing movies himself, all his latent potential rose to the surface and he showed himself to be a movie genius. He began quietly enough in 1944 when he co-wrote and produced ‘The Keys of the Kingdom’ which included a supporting role by his wife, Rose Stradler, and 2 years later he directed, on his own, ‘Dragonwyck’, which was not a success, but which taught him many lessons about handling actors.

For the next few years Mankiewicz’s genius flowered as he reached a peak of artistic maturity in 1950 and 1951, when he achieved the considerable feat of winning in consecutive years the Oscar for Best Screenplay and Best Director for ‘A Letter to Three Wives’ and ‘All About Eve’. ‘A Letter to Three Wives’ concerns a single letter sent to three different women informing them that a woman has run off with one of their husbands. The plot is detailed and intricate and Mankiewicz shows great skill in his handling of the actors and actresses. 'All About Eve’ won the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay and was a massive triumph for Mankiewicz. It has been described as the finest movie ever made which is quite an accolade, and it certainly fizzes with sparkling wit, brilliant characterisation and wonderful acting from the fine cast, including Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and a young Marilyn Monroe.

This was the high point of his career and it is difficult to see how he could have improved on his work. He continued to make wonderful, high quality movies including a smash hit adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' in 1953 with Marlon Brando as Marc Antony and 'The Barefoot Contessa' in 1954. To show his versatility he directed a ground-breaking musical in 1955, 'Guys and Dolls' with Brando again and Frank Sinatra. Mankiewicz continued working until 1972 when he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director for his final film 'Sleuth'.

After this Mankiewicz retired and lived quietly with his second wife in New York, refusing all attempts to coax him back to work. He died in 1993, age 82, in Bedford, New York.
Read more about Joe Mankiewicz at Hollywood's Golden Age.com

Mankiewicz and first wife, Rose Stradler accept the Screenplay Oscar for 'A Letter to Three Wives'

Mankiewicz and Bette Davis accept their Oscars for 'All About Eve'

More about the masterpiece 'All About Eve'.

Judy Holliday, brilliant actress who died too young

Judy Holliday had a genius IQ of 172 but, ironically, made her name playing dumb blondes, and doing it very well. She made her name in 1949 in the role of Doris Attinger in the highly successful George Cukor movie 'Adam's Rib', starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. She then won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1951 for her performance as  'Billie' Dawn in 'Born Yesterday'. She also won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for the same performance. At the very peak of her career, Judy developed breast cancer and died in 1965 aged just 43.

Check out Hollywood's Golden Age for more on Judy Holliday.

The King and I, Whistle a Happy Tune

'The King and I' is pure entertainment, a musical film full of wonderful songs and memorable dancing. It was made in 1956 and stars Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr and Rita Moreno. It is based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 smash Broadway musical hit of the same name, which, in turn, is based on Margaret Landon's book "Anna and the King of Siam".

Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The movie won five Oscars out of  nine nominations and is still regarded as the best of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals - quite an accolade.

Four songs fronm the movie stand on their own  out as standards: "Getting to Know You", "Whistle a Happy Tune", "Hello, Young Lovers" and "Shall We Dance".

The film was the making of Yul Brynner, who had previously been a relatively unknown actor. He took the unusual career step of shaving his head and he gave a magnificent performance in a difficult role. He then gave the impression of basking in the glory of that one role for the rest of his career! Deborah Kerr was already a well known and very accomplished actress who had given many superb performances in  films such as 'From Here to Eternity', also rose to the occasion again in this one. Rita Moreno is exceptionally beautiful as well as a superb actress, and gave a remarkable performance as the runaway slave.

Its a lovely movie. It'll make you feel good. Don't miss it!

Read more about 'The King and I' at Hollywood's Golden Age.com

Eleanor Powell, The World's Greatest Tap Dancer

Eleanor Powell was an American film actress and a graceful and nimble-footed dancer who became famous during the 1930's and 1940's,for her creative, quick-fire, solo tap dancing routines and became known as the ”Queen of Tap Dancing”.

She  featured in several Broadway revues, and her first movie appearance was in George White's 'Scandals of 1935'.  When she appeared in 'Broadway Melody of 1936', Eleanor began her long association with MGM musicals, where her co-stars ranged from Nelson Eddy to Fred Astaire to Jimmy Stewart to Burns and Allen.  In 'Lady Be Good' in 1941, she wore top hat and short tails to dance "Fascinating Rhythm” for director Busby Berkeley. The number opened on a close up of her tapping feet and ended spectacularly with her being thrown head over heels time and again down a corridor of male dancers.


 In 1943 she married actor Glen Ford and retired from acting. On her divorce from Ford in 1959 she began a new, and successful nightclub career.  Her career continued into the early 1960's when she made several guest appearances on television, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace.


Eleanor Powell died of cancer at the age of 69 in February, 1982, and she was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.


Click for full biography and filmography

Yankee Doodle Dandy - A Cagney Masterclass

For anyone who wonders why James Cagney stands in the very top echelon of Hollywood movie stars, take a look at 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', made in 1942.

It would be terribly easy from a postmodern, politically correct, and sophisticatead perspective to regard the movie as jingoistic wartime propaganda. Indeed, this flag-waving musical extravaganza biopic, detailing the life of patriotic |Irish American song-and-dance man George M. Cohan (the first performer to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor), gushes with sentimental, simplistic musical numbers invariably characterized by Cohan's trademark stiff-kneed, effervescent, brash dancing style and championing through their lyrics the most stolid American institutions: "Grand Old Flag,", "Give My Regards to Broadway", "Over There," and the title song, to name a few. The film is a flashback - told by a modest Cohan to FDR - that ends with a self-conscious advertisement for intervention - "I wouldn't worry about this country if I were you. We've got this thing licked. Where else in the world could a plain guy like me come in and talk things over with the head man?"

But such a cynical reading would fail grossly to miss something surprising and touching and grand that runs through 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' like a clear river, and that is James Cagney's magnificent sincerity in the title role. This is evident in his way of embarrassedly smiling to punctuate his thoughts, in his soft and civilised speaking voice, in the astonishing virtuosity of his dancing which is persuasive and original in style, unrelentingly athletic while also being childish, playful, and beautifully meaningless: and in something we rarely see onscreen anymore since alienated distance has overtaken Hollywood performance, and that is Cagney's complete and loving belief in everything he does. Michael Curtiz's direction never overplays him, James Wong Howe's lush black-and-white cinematography never fails to show every nuance of his posture and expression in articulate light. And when his hoofer father (Walter Huston) is falling away into death, with Georgie at his bedside, Cagney gives in to a rush of honest feeling that carries him into tears. So mucn, in fact, do we care for this man we forget we are watching a performance. Cagney has become Cohan. Even more, he has become the optimistic spirit of the screen. A beautiful masterpiece of James Cagney's acting brilliance.

Click here for more on 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'.

The Man From Laramie

'The Man from Laramie' was the last of a run of outstanding Westerns made by Anthony Mann, shortly to graduate to bigger (perhaps less interesting) projects like 'El Cid' in 1961, and James Stewart, whose angst-driven cowboys of the 1950's run parallel with his self-doubting Hitchcock heroes. The plot hook is almost noirish, prefiguring 1971's 'Get Carter', as Will Lockhart (Stewart) investigates his brother's death and gets embroiled in the Lear-like family struggle of a blind cattle baron (Donald Crisp) whose beloved son (Alex Nicol) is a sadistic weakling. Audiences in 1955 were shocked by the scene in which Nicol has his minions hold down Stewart and repays him for a wound by shooting the hero's hand at point-blank range.

Trail-boss Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy) is - as in Mann's earlier Western 'Bend of the River' in 1952 - the hero's near-equal in manliness, but turns out to be his demonic counterpart, driven by resentment of the family whose ranch he runs but will never inherit to a dirty deal involving selling guns to renegade Apaches. 'The Man from Laramie' is a taut, tragic tale with a memorable hit theme song ("The West will never see a man with so many notches on his gun") and Mann's trademarked sense of the way desperate and obsessed men relate to each other and the dangerous landscape that emphasizes their extreme psychological states.

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Mr Smith Goes To Washington

Jimmy Stewart is perfect as Jefferson Smith, whose chief qualification is that he is hopelessly unsophisticated, a man who spends all his time mentoring a troop of young 'rangers.' But this rube is neither stupid nor lacking in courage.

Smith first convinces the cynical woman (Jean Arthur) charged with looking after him of his virtue and his keen sense. And then, after unintentionally creating trouble by proposing a national boys' camp on the precise site that the 'machine' hopes to use for its pork barrel project, he defends himself against false charges in a filibuster that goes on for many hours and leaves him barely able to speak or stand. Crucial in Smith's p assage from irrelavance through disgrace to vindication is the part played by Senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains). As opposed to the crudely venal political boss Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), Paine is a man who believes in the American system but who has been seduced by a politics of compromise and deal making. Smith can only be rescued by Paine's conversion.

Smith's deliverance is also made possible by the peculiarly American institution of tthe filibustter, which permits the individual-symbolically enough, not the group-unlimited free speech according to established rules. Smith can thereby exert a power against the group that would condemn him insuring his vindication.


An imprressive bit of Americana, Capra's film is ful of memorable moments, the most moving of which is the montage sequence tracing the newly arrived senator's tour of Washington monuments, including the Lincoln memorial.

Early Louis B Mayer

Louis B Mayer was a self-made man who rose from an apprenticeship at his father's scrap metal business in Canada to become the highest paid corporate executive in the U.S.

He was born Lazar Mayer in the Minsk district of Russia sometime between 1880-1885. The exact date is not certain. He grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada after his parents fled Russian oppression in 1886. His father was a peddler and a scrap metal dealer and after a poverty-stricken childhood Mayer left the family home and moved to Boston in 1904. He became enthralled with the theatrical business; he diligently saved enough money for a theater, a burlesque house and soon afterward was alternating live shows with the latest rage, motion pictures. The theatre became a success and Mayer expanded into film distribution by opening the Louis B. Mayer Film Company. In 1915, with several partners he formed the Metro Pictures Corporation, and one of the first films they acquired for distribution was D.W. Griffith's classic "Birth of a Nation" (1915).

Check out all the stars at Hollywoods Golden Age

The Philadelphia Story

The Philadelphia Story is a masterpiece of witty one-liners, three great stars performing at their peak and with a great supporting cast.

Divorced socialite Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) is preparing for her second marriage but her first husband, Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) and Macaulay Connor (James Stewart), a cynical tabloid reporter both turn up to make things interesting.

The film earned six Oscar nominations and two wins -- for James Stewart and screenwriter Donald Ogden Stewart.

Howard Hughes, Extraordinary Hollywood

Howard Hughes, one of the world's richest men, died from dehydration, malnutrition and neglect. Even now, a generation after his death, he remains one of Hollywood's most intriguing and perplexing figures.

Hughes lived a quite extraordinary life and died an extraordinary death. X-rays taken at autopsy revealed broken hypodermic needles lodged in his arms, and his six-foot-four frame weighed less than 90lb (41kg). He had been seen by so few people for so long that the Treasury Department had to use fingerprints to identify his body.

Hughes had been a womaniser, a record-breaking aviator, a Hollywood film director, and he was one of the richest men in the world yet he lived the last years of his life in squalor, terrified of germs and of physical contact with other people.

The Life of Howard Hughes

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy was made in 1942, a great year for films, and still won 3 Oscars. In 1993, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and in 2006 it was ranked #18 on AFI's 100 Years of Musicals. It is a 'feel good' film, both nostalgic and unashamedly patriotic, released as it was just after the Pearl Harbour attack on the US Fleet.
The film tells the musical rags-to-riches life story and times of early 20th century entertainment legend George M. Cohan, following several generations of his family and showcases several exciting song and dance numbers. It contains a tour de force performance by an high energy James Cagney who shows beyond any doubt that he was not just a gangster-portrayer but also a very fine song and dance man.
As well as being critically well-received, the film was also a major box-office success for Warner Bros. It became the top box-office hit of the year, and Warners' most successful film up to that time.
Biography of James Cagney
Yankee Doodle Dandy

Rita Hayworth, Hollywood Love Goddess

Rita Hayworth was one of the most glamorous actresses in cinema history, but as well as having a beautiful face and body she was extremely talented. She was an exceptional dancer, and her film performances showed an artistic sensitivity and strength of character that set her apart from other actresses, and made her just as popular with female audiences as with male.

She was a major movie star for nearly four decades and is one of the unforgettable Hollywood legends. She is Actress #19 on the American Film Institute's Greatest Screen Legends List. Her career brought her fame and wealth but little personal happiness and beneath the showbusiness veneer she was emotionally very insecure. She said of herself, "Every man I have ever known has fallen in love with Gilda and awakened with me."

The unfortunate truth was that the Hollywood Love Goddess searched all her life for love, but never truly found it.
Rita Hayworth Biography
Love Goddess

City Lights, Chaplin's Sublime Creative Peak

City Lights is generally regarded as Charlie Chaplin's greatest film and represents the peak of his achievement and reputation. It tells the deceptively simple story of Chaplin's famous little tramp character who befriends a lovely flower girl and earns money to help her afford surgery to restore her sight. The movie offers a combination of pathos, slapstick and comedy and shows Chaplin's comic, acting and artistic genius at its finest.

Although it was released three years after the start of the Talkies era Chaplin decided to make the film a 'Silent'. It includes a complete musical soundtrack and various sound effects - but no speech or dialogue. Incredibly, Chaplin's film was not nominated for a single Academy Award - to the pro-talking film Academy members, it must have appeared to be reversing the trend toward talkies and advanced sound films.

Chaplin was responsible for the film's production, direction, editing, music, and screenplay.

The AFI recently ranked this #76 on their list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. Orson Welles had called it his favorite film of all time, while in the mid-‘60s, Stanley Kubrick placed it at #5 on his list of favorites. It's viewed by many others as the quintessential Chaplin film, a masterpiece in slapstick comedy, romance and pantomime. An absolute gem.

James Stewart

Over the course of his career, James Stewart starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Oscars, winning one in competition and one life achievement. He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute and became, in the words of Andrew Sarris, "the most complete actor-personality in the American cinema". He also distinguished himself during the Second World War, rising to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force.


This clip is from the moving and uplifting 'Its A Wonderful Life', which Stewart himself regarded as his best film.

King Kong - better in 1933

The 1933 King Kong is still the mother of all big Hollywood monster movies. If you've not seen it yet tie a knot in your handkerchief to remind yourself. Its a great film. Its better than the modern one. The special effects are fantastic, even by today's standards, and the heartbroken, heartbreaking look in Kong's eyes as the planes shoot him off the Empire State building remains the greatest single special effects shot ever made.

Katharine Hepburn. The best of all time?

Katharine Hepburn is number one on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Actresses. And with good reason.

She holds the record for most number of Oscars won. Her career as a leading lady spanned seven decades, over fifty quality films (running the gamut from screwball comedies and romances to high drama), and twelve Oscar nominations (another record) and four Oscars, three of them after the age of sixty. She formed memorable screen partnerships with the likes of Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart and director George Cukor but outlasted all of them and excelled just as easily on her own. A great star.