John Gilbert, The Big Burnout

John Gilbert was one of the very early Hollywood meteors. His rise was sudden and his decline even more dramatic. His talent was evident but it did not save him from the vicious politics of Hollywood. Louis B Mayer made him and it was Mayer who destroyed him.

John appeared in films with the top leading ladies of the silent screen era, including Renee Adoree, Billie Dove, Barbara La Marr and Mae Murray. Lillian Gish, who had a new contract with MGM, picked Gilbert to co-star with her in La Boheme, (1926). With the death in 1926, of Rudolph Valentino, his only competition, John was on top of the world and by 1928 he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood.

His reputation as a ladies' man was further confirmed by the series of romantic films he made with Greta Garbo who starred with him in Love (1927), Flesh and the Devil (1926) and A Woman of Affairs (1928). The on-screen chemistry between these two was incredible reflected a torrid off-screen affair which the studio publicity department publicised diligently. Audience figures, profits and the stars' fame skyrocketed. During this period of unparallelled success Gilbert proposed to Garbo three times but was rebuffed each time.

He did in fact marry four times (three times to actresses Leatrice Joy, Ina Claire and Virginia Bruce.) He had one daughter with Leatrice Joy, a girl, also named Leatrice Joy Gilbert.

The decline of Gilbert's career began at the end of the 1920's and coincided with the advent of talkies. This has led to the persistent rumour that his voice was too high pitched and that audiences laughed when he spoke on screen. This was not true because Gilbert had a distinctive and pleasant voice and made several sound films, including Queen Christina, in which his voice was fine. The truth was that after 1929 when sound came in, John was placed in films such as Redemption (1930) and Way for a Sailor (1930) that were poorly scripted for sound cinema, and just not up to his talents.

In 1932 MGM made the film Downstairs from Gilbert's original story, in which Gilbert played against type as a scheming, blackmailing chauffeur. The film was well received by critics, but did nothing to restore Gilbert's popularity. Soon after making the film he married co-star Virginia Bruce but the couple divorced in 1934.

Gilbert also made the big mistake of incurring the enmity of Louis B Mayer, the head of MGM, and one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. Mayer disliked Gilbert intensely and after one heated argument (about his relationship with Garbo), Mayer vowed to destroy Gilbert's career and when his contract ran out in 1933 it was not renewed. Gilbert had begun drinking heavily and died suddenly of a heart attack in 1936 at the age of 40.

The meteor had been powerful but it had run its course.

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.

Tony Curtis- The Value of Perseverance

Originally dismissed as little more than a pretty boy, Tony Curtis overcame a series of bad reviews and undistinguished pictures to emerge as one of the most successful actors of his era, appearing in a number of the most popular and acclaimed films of the late '50s and early '60s. Born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, in New York City, he was the son of an impoverished Hungarian-born tailor, and was a member of an infamous area street gang by the age of 11. During World War II, Curtis served in the navy, and was injured while battling in Guam. After the war, he returned to New York to pursue a career in acting, touring the Borscht circuit before starring in a Greenwich Village revival of +Golden Boy. There Curtis came to the attention of Universal, who signed him to a seven-year contract. In 1948, he made his film debut, unbilled, in the classic Robert Siodmak noir Criss Cross. A series of bit roles followed, and he slowly made his way up through the studio's ranks.


In 1958, Curtis and Sidney Poitier starred in Stanley Kramer's social drama The Defiant Ones as a pair of escaped convicts and their performances earned both men Academy Award nominations (the only one of Curtis' career), and was among the most acclaimed and profitable films of the year. He returned to Universal a major star and a much better actor; upon coming back, he first starred in a Blake Edwards comedy, The Perfect Furlough, then made the best film of his career -- 1959's Some Like It Hot, a masterful Billy Wilder comedy which cast him and Jack Lemmon as struggling musicians forced to dress in drag to flee the mob. Curtis next starred with his avowed idol, Cary Grant, in Edwards' comedy Operation Petticoat, another massive hit followed in 1960 by Who Was That Lady? with Leigh and Dean Martin.

For director Stanley Kubrick, Curtis co-starred in the 1960 epic Spartacus, followed a year later by The Great Impostor. With second wife Christine Kauffman, he starred in 1964's Wild and Wonderful, which was reported to be his last film for Universal. Curtis then focused almost solely on comedy, including Goodbye Charlie, the big-budget The Great Race, and, with Jerry Lewis, Boeing Boeing. None were successful, and he found his career in dire straits; as a result, he battled long and hard to win the against-type title role in 1968's The Boston Strangler, earning good critical notices.

Curtis published a novel, "Kid Andrew Cody and Julie Sparrow", in 1977, followed by "Tony Curtis: The Autobiography" written with Barry Paris in 1993. He has also found time to develop his skills as an artist, and his paintings, especially the Marilyn Monroe portraits, have fetched considerable sums. Married four times, Curtis lost his oldest son Nicholas (whose mother was Curtis' third wife Lisa Allen) tragically to a heroin overdose at the age of 23. One of his two daughters from his first marriage to Janet Leigh is the successful actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx was the front man and best known of the Marx Brothers. He was born in 1890 in New York and was the first of 5 surviving sons to go on the stage professionally which he did aged 15 in an act, now long forgotten, called The Leroy Trio. He is best known for playing sharp, wisecracking characters. He always sported a cigar, a moustache made of dark greasepaint and walked with a half crouch.

When his brothers eventually joined him they had a stage success with the musical comedy called I'll Say She Is. It was before one of the performances of this show that Groucho got his painted moustache. Originally he found that it was so much quicker and easier to use greasepaint than a glued-on moustache that he used it from then on and it became one of his trademarks.

Groucho's real name was Julius, and his brothers were Leonard 'Chico', Adolph 'Harpo', Milton 'Gummo' and Herbert 'Zeppo'.

Groucho Marx did 26 movies total, of which 15 were with his brothers Chico and Harpo. The Marx Brothers made some of the wildest and offbeat movies in film history. They were extraordinary anarchists attacking everything from authority figures, the system and education, to politics, sex, war and the police, to the upper classes and culture in general. They combined their own brand of slapstick physical comedy with quick witted one-liners and puns, normally delivered by Groucho. Typical examples:
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

Marriage is a wonderful institution. But who wants to live in an institution?

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.

As well as movie success, Groucho was, in the 1940's and 50's, the highly successful host of "You Bet Your Life" a quiz show on radio and television.

Groucho died on August 19th 1977 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. His ashes are at Eden Memorial Park, San Fernando, California.

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).

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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.

Marlene Dietrich, Multi Talented Entertainer

A number of stars become known by their Surname or Chrisian name alone. Marlene Dietrich is unique in being universally recognised by the use of either of her names.

She was the first German actress to become a major Hollywood star. After a successful career as a cabaret singer, chorus girl and film actress in 1920s Berlin, she became a World War II frontline entertainer during the 1940s, and finally a topline international stage show performer from the 1950s to the 1970s. In the process she became one of the entertainment icons of the 20th century. The American Film Institute ranked Dietrich No. 9 amongst the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.

Marlene became one of the major female stars of the 1930s, in such films as Song of Songs, The Scarlet Empress, Knight Without Armour and the 1939 Western satire, Destry Rides Again, with James Stewart. A series of disappointments -- The Lady Is Willing, The Spoilers, and Pittsburgh -- followed in the early 1940's, with Dietrich reportedly so disheartened with her work that she considered retirement.

During the early Nazi years, Joseph Goebbels offered to make her "The Queen" of German films if she made movies promoting Hitler, but she consistently refused. Instead, she mounted a series of lengthy tours entertaining wartime troops before returning to films in 1944's Follow the Boys, followed by Kismet.

Her show business career largely ended on September 29, 1975, when, apparently under the influence of drink, she fell and broke her leg during a stage performance in Australia.

She appeared briefly in the film, Just a Gigolo, in 1979, and wrote and contributed to several books during the 1980s.

Dietrich died peacefully of renal failure on May 6, 1992, at the age of 90 in Paris. A service was conducted at La Madeleine in Paris before 3,500 mourners and a crowd of well-wishers outside.

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