Ordinarily, Mr. Waters is not everyone's cup of tea - but Polyester, which opens today at the National and other theaters, is not Mr.Waters' ordinary movie. It's a very funny one, with a hip, stylized humor that extends beyond the usual limitations of his outlook. This time, the comic vision is so controlled and steady that Mr. Waters need not rely so heavily on the grotesque touches that make his other films such perennial favorites on the weekend Midnight Movie circuit. Here's one that can just as well be shown in the daytime. John Waters' POLYESTER
The first Charles
Theatre screening of Polyester in more than 20 years! John Waters’
larger-budget “women’s picture” satire stars Divine as tormented housewife
Francine Fishpaw. Featuring Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, Mink Stole and many of
your friends and neighbors.
Saturday, January 19 11:30 AM; Monday, January 21 7 PM; Thursday, January 24 9 PM.
1981 Dir. John Waters
1.85. 86 Min. Color. TRAILER
The Players:
Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mink Stole, Joni Ruth White, Hans Kramm
and a credited cast of dozens
Stiv Bators, Cookie Mueller, Mary Vivian Pearce, Jean Hill, George Udell,Joan Erbe, Steve Yeager, George Figgs, Garey Lambert, Tom Diventi, Susan Lowe, Chuck Yeaton, Brook Yeaton, Stuart Rome, Paula Rome, Jay Leno, Rick Breitenfeld, Jim Hill, John Brothers, Derek Neal, Michael Watson, Sharon Niesp, Marina Melin, George Hulse, Tony Parkham, Paul Holland, Alberto Panella, Frank Tamburo, Nancy Morgan, Keats Smith, Gordon Kamka, David Klein, George Stover, Marv Egoff, John De La Vega, Mrs. Horner, Katie Casey, Gail Kondylas, Judith Klein, Alan Hauser, Lynda Lambert, Dorothy Braudy, Leo Braudy, Pat Figgs, Joan Insley, Sam Insley, Kitty Samson, Steve Waters, Treva Barnes, Sharon Waters, Anne Mallory, John Allen, Jay Allen, Tommy Allen, Hilary Aidus, Jay Bennett, Rocky Collins, Denny Dormody, Bernard Jay, Karl Otter, Charles Roggero.
The Charles Theatre 1711 N Charles Steet Baltimore (of course) 21201
Every year Jacob and I plan far ahead to keep January weekends free to screen award-nominated movies. We look forward to the envelopes and packages stamped with the iconic message: For Your Consideration. As an active and voting member of Screen Actors Guild—celebrating 40 years—and a retired member of Directors Guild of America, the DVDs and screening invitations begin arriving each year just after the New Year.
My 'Les Miserables' package from Universal Pictures
Some studios send a DVD, some studios send top-shelf print material as a teaser and then the DVD, some studios provide eMoviePasses so you can screen their nominated movies with a typical audience, and others offer intimate screenings with industry peers.
This year Disney and DreamWorks Pictures sent me a handsome invitation to screen Lincoln at the Directors Guild Theatre in New York. (One of the great benefits of living in Baltimore is proximity.)
'Lincoln' - final shooting script
And, in their package, they included, at 127 pages, the final shooting script and additional digital teasers. I returned my eRSVP this afternoon.
DGA RSVP
The DGA Theatre is a small, jewel-box of a place on West 57th Street, a few steps from the Russian Tea Room and Carnegie Hall. As screening theatres go, it's intimate, yet outfitted with envy-inducing, state-of-the-art audio and projection equipment:
DGA Theatre, 110 W 57th Street, NYC
Specifications from Directors Guild:
Digital Projection
Barco DP-3000 D-Cinema DLP "2K" Projector
Dolby DSS-200 D-Cinema screen server
Dolby 3D and Real D 3D capabilities
Multi-standard video decks (Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, Blu-Ray and DVD)
DVI-D and SVGA Computer Graphics Capabilities (Powerpoint) from stage position
Sound
JBL three-way speaker system
Dolby CP-650 Digital Cinema Sound Processors
Dolby DMA8 Plus Digital Media Adaptor
Dolby Digital 7.1 discreet audio
Dolby SR-D, Dolby SR, Dolby E audio formats
QSC Basis Network Audio System, QSC Digital Power Amplifier System
Film
Dual Simplex XL 35mm Reel to Reel Capabilities
Control
Theatrical Stage Lighting
Mackie 16 Channel Audio Mixing Console
Shure Microphones
This private screening facility is designed to provide the ideal environment for industry professionals to screen their films, hold their special events, or their film premieres.
It is ideal for conferences, lectures and corporate presentations. The upper and lower lobby areas are ideal for pre and post-event receptions.
The DGA New York Theater Complex is recognized throughout the entertainment industry as one of the preeminent screening, private reception, and film premiere facilities in the city.
Simplicity in a print invitation: 'Lincoln'
You'll find Jacob and me at the Park Central Hotel, January 24 - 26. And, there's a pretty good chance that you'll find us at the Russian Tea Room, also.
After all of the travel arraingments to NYC to screen LINCOLN were made i looked out the window—we are living in an unusual, for winter, Baltimore cloud of fog today—and I saw this on top of the BGE building on Fayette and Liberity Streets. It seems appropriate.
Photo from the homestead, 218 N Charles Street, Baltimore
Now then. I'm off to bed. On Friday, at work, I was foolishly chatting everyone up about my having had a flu shot early and not having anything other that a mild cold this winter...
Flu 2013 - I have a head-splitting headache, every fiber of my body hurts, food is out of the question.
Savvy marketing is like Kryptonite for a submission-filled inbox
that's bursting at the seams. Marketing informs others how to think about you,
and thinking like a marketer significantly ups the chances of you get noticed.
Effective marketing is so much more than mass mailings; it is an
ongoing, ever-evolving, multi-layered effort. This panel of seasoned industry
experts will share how actors can conceive, implement, and assess their
marketing strategy.
Topics to be explored are:
-How to create marketing materials that reflect your unique brand -How to target casting directors who are searching for your brand -Best practices for creating and distributing promotional Items -The importance of identifying, building, and sustaining relationships -How to measure the efficacy of your marketing strategy
Panelists: Anne Globe - Chief Marketing Officer, DreamWorks Animation Blair Hickey - Actor; Co-Founder, CastingAbout Brian Wold - Internet/Marketing Specialist; Co-Founder,
Casting-About Paul Weber - Casting Director Moderator – Jeff B. Cohen, Esq, Actor (Goonies); Cohen Gardner LLP
And, another thing.
SAG-AFTRA members —
Join Us for Our
First SAG-AFTRA Membership Meeting When: 7-9 p.m., Monday,
Nov. 5, 2012 Where: The Hilton Hotel
in Rockville 1750
Rockville Pike Rockville,
Maryland 20852 (Adjacent
to the Twin Brook Metro Station on the Red Line.)
Come
to our very first membership meeting as a merged union! There will be a
possible vote on amendments to the Local Constitution as well as on the Local
name change.
This
meeting is only open to paid-up SAG-AFTRA members in good standing.
Unfortunately, no guests allowed. Parents/guardians of younger performers under
18 years old are welcome. No RSVP necessary. SAG-AFTRA MEMBERS, PLEASE BRING
YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD FOR ADMITTANCE.
That's it for this round of event information. Stay tuned, there's more to come. And to my fellow union members: Remeber Rule One.
Here's the press release from Screen Actors Guild Awards:
Dick Van Dyke Honored With 2012 SAG Life Achievement Award
LOS ANGELES (August 21, 2012) –Dick Van Dyke, beloved actor, singer, dancer, writer and comedian, will receive SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor – the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Van Dyke will be presented the performers union’s most prestigious accolade, given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” at the 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, which premieres live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT, 6 p.m. MT and 5 p.m. PT.
Dick Van Dyke, Publicity Still
In making today’s announcement, SAG-AFTRA Co-President Ken Howard said, “Dick is the consummate entertainer -- an enormously talented performer whose work has crossed nearly every major category of entertainment. From his career-changing Broadway turn in 'Bye Bye Birdie' and his deadpan humor in the Emmy® winning 'Dick Van Dyke Show,' to his unforgettable performance as Bert in 'Mary Poppins,” he sets a high bar for actors. Stage, big screen, small screen, literally everywhere he has worked he has inspired millions of fans and has had a tremendously positive impact on the industry and the world. He is so deserving of this honor and I congratulate him."
SAG-AFTRA Co-President Roberta Reardon said: "With Dick, it's so much more than the proverbial 'triple threat.' He started his career as a radio announcer, game show host and comedian and was a spokesman for Kodak, among numerous other roles over his nearly 60-year career. His contributions to the success of the business and to his fellow performers is legendary as is his work with a number of the leading ladies of our times, including Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore — both previous Life Achievement Award recipients. His infectious laugh has warmed audiences for decades and is an unforgettable facet of his fabulous personality."
Holder of five Emmys®, a Tony® Award and a Grammy®, Van Dyke at 86 still possesses the zest for life that first propelled him into the limelight more than a half-century ago with the Broadway and film versions of “Bye Bye Birdie,” the seminal ‘60s situation comedy “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and the film classic “Mary Poppins."
Bye Bye Birdie Playbill
He was born Richard Wayne Van Dyke in West Plains, Missouri, on December 13, 1925, and raised in Danville, Illinois, hometown as well to Donald O’Connor, Gene Hackman and Bobby Short. As a youngster he taught himself music, magic and pantomime. By 16, he was appearing in school plays, running track, serving as junior class president and working part time as an announcer on a local radio station. Enlisting in the Air Force at 18, he soon was performing for the troops and hosting a radio show called “Flight Time.” After one year of duty he was back in Danville, giving advertising a try, but it was not a fit. With another Danville local, Phil Erickson, he hit the road in a record-pantomime act called “The Merry Mutes,” a perfect showcase for his physical comedy gifts. While appearing in Los Angeles, he sent for his high school sweetheart, Marjorie Willet. The two were married on “Bride and Groom,” a network radio program offering gifts and a honeymoon to newlyweds.
After a run hosting a daytime talk show in Atlanta and a morning show in New Orleans, CBS put him under contract. Van Dyke moved to New York where in 1954 he began hosting “The Morning Show” (which featured up and coming newscaster Walter Cronkite). Other hosting jobs preceded his 1957 television-acting debut on an episode of “The Phil Silvers Show.” and his Broadway debut in 1959 with Bert Lahr in the comedy revue “The Boys Against the Girls.” The following year his career soared when he was cast by director/choreographer Gower Champion opposite Chita Rivera in “Bye Bye Birdie.” His performance as rock star Conrad Birdie’s songwriter/manager Albert Peterson earned Van Dyke a Tony® Award and brought him to the attention of Sheldon Leonard and Carl Reiner, who signed him for a pilot opposite newcomer Mary Tyler Moore. The now eponymous “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” starring Van Dyke and Moore as Rob and Laura Petrie, premiered in 1961 and ran for five seasons. With a perfect ensemble cast including Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam, the wittily written series was a showcase for Van Dyke’s genius for physical comedy, earning him three lead actor Emmy® Awards.
Dick Van Dyke Album with Ray Charles Singers and Enoch Light
The tireless Van Dyke spent his series’ hiatus shooting the film version of “Bye Bye Birdie” in 1963 followed by “What a Way to Go” and Disney’s 1964 musical classic “Mary Poppins,” It won five Academy Awards® including one for star Julie Andrews (SAG’s 2006 Life Achievement Award recipient) and earned Van Dyke a Golden Globe® nomination and, with Andrews, a Grammy®. A run of films followed including “Lt. Robin Crusoe, USN,” (1966), “Divorce American Style” (1967), “Fitzwilly” (1967), the musical “Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang” (1968), Garson Kanin’s satire on conformity “Some Kind of a Nut” (1969) and Norman Lear’s anti-smoking “Cold Turkey” (1970). Van Dyke, who had delivered the eulogies for his comedy idols Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton, explored the role of a fictional silent movie star in 1969’s “The Comic,” He would return to the big screen again in Stanley Kramer’s “The Runner Stumbles” (1978), Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy” (1990) and more recently the Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Museum” (2006).
After a year of filming “Chitty Chitty Bang-Bang” in England, Van Dyke moved with his family to their ranch in Carefree, Arizona where “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” was produced for CBS for three seasons. In 1974, his stunning portrayal of an alcoholic family man in David Wolper’s groundbreaking ABC Television movie “The Morning After” earned Van Dyke an Emmy nomination. A guest-star turn as a homicidal photographer opposite Peter Falk’s “Columbo” followed.
It was back to song, dance and comedy in NBC’s variety series “Van Dyke and Company,” earning him a fourth Emmy® (this time shared with his fellow producers,) followed by a national tour in “The Music Man,” which brought Van Dyke back to Broadway and a national tour in “Damn Yankees.” The 1980s brought a run of television movies including the Showtime production of “The Country Girl” opposite Faye Dunaway, ”Drop-Out Father," opposite Mariette Hartley, “Found Money” opposite Sid Caesar, “Breakfast with Les and Bess” opposite Cloris Leachman for PBS’s “American Playhouse” and the miniseries “Strong Medicine.”
In 1982, Van Dyke earned his fifth Emmy for his vocal performance as the Father in the CBS Library special “Wrong Way Kid.” His voice over talents were employed most recently in the 2006 animated feature “Curious George” and the 2010 short “The Caretaker 3D,” a tribute to the Hollywood Sign.
Van Dyke’s crime solving physician, Dr. Mark Sloan, was introduced in a 1991 episode of “Jake and the Fat Man” and became the central character in three TV movies before evolving into the CBS series “Diagnosis: Murder.” It ran from 1993 to 2001, followed by two Dr. Sloan television movies in 2002. “Diagnosis: Murder” co-starred Van Dyke’s son Barry as a police detective and during its run provided guest-star opportunities for Van Dyke’s daughter Stacy, grandchildren Carey, Shane, Wes and Taryn and brother Jerry Van Dyke. From 2006 to 2008, the father-son team reunited for a series of four Hallmark Channel “Murder 101” movies, casting Barry as a private investigator opposite Dick’s absent-minded but brilliant criminology professor, Dr. Jonathan Maxwell.
In 2003, Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore re-teamed to portray lonely seniors in D.L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “The Gin Game” on “PBS Hollywood Presents” and the following year recreated husband and wife Rob and Laura Petrie for Carl Reiner’s CBS telefilm “The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited.” They were notably reunited this past January when Van Dyke presented Moore with SAG’s 48th Life Achievement Award on the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Dick Van Dyke's Memoir, My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business
Van Dyke, whose 2011 memoir “My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business” made the New York Times Best Sellers list, admits that his retirement plans have yet to work out. In 2006 he returned to Broadway receiving standing ovations in his “Bye Bye Birdie” leading lady’s “Chita Rivera: The Dancers Life.” In addition to his memoir, Van Dyke is the author of “Faith, Hope and Hilarity: The Child’s Eye View of Religion” (1970) and “Those Funny Kids” (1975), a collection of classroom humor.
Music, Van Dyke’s spiritual nourishment, became richer when he teamed twelve years ago with Eric Bradley, Bryan Chadima and Mike Mendyke to form The Vantastix. Their first major public appearance was at the Society of Singers Ella Awards honoring his “Mary Poppins” leading lady Julie Andrews. They’ve since performed the National Anthem at L.A. Lakers playoffs, mounted a musical memoir at L.A.’s Geffen Theatre, appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, Disney Hall and at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. with the President and First Lady in the front row and released an album of children’s song: “Put on A Happy Face.”
For nearly twenty years Van Dyke has been tirelessly committed to his volunteer work at The Midnight Mission, Los Angeles’ century-old downtown shelter for the troubled and homeless.
Midnight Mission, Los Angeles
He helped raise millions for their new building program and is there without fail every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and times in between offering comfort and cheer, often with the Vantastix and members of his own family. He is passionate about raising funds for music and art programs for public schools and has performed at countless fundraisers. He became a spokesperson for the National Reye’s Syndrome Foundation in 1967 after losing a granddaughter to that disease and in 2010 was named the first spokesperson for the Cell Therapy Foundation.
Van Dyke has four children from his marriage to the late Marjorie Willet Van Dyke -- sons Christian and Barry, and daughters Stacey and Carrie Beth -- and seven grandchildren.
On February 29, 2012, he married make-up artist Arlene Silver (whom he met at the 2007 SAG Awards) and whose vocal talents now occasionally blend with those of Dick and The Vantastix. They live in Malibu, California.
'Aside from it sounding like a fun time, I think it's a great opportunity to interact with the theatre community in a unique and fascinating way.' —Rober Attenweiler, playwright
The Drama Book Shop logo, New York City
Write Out Front: A Playwright Happening!
(August 13th - September 1st, 2012) NYC
Watch award-winning and emerging playwrights, book writers and lyricists create new work right in front of your eyes.
During two hour time slots, a writer or writer's team will write a new play in the storefront window of the Drama Book Shop, founded in 1917, with a screen shot of their computer visible to the street.
See writers create new worlds, find inspiration and try to avoid Facebook (or not). Come see playwrights from shows coming up or currently playing at venues around town including the NY International Fringe Festival.
Support and engage the writers via Twitter and FB , follow their careers, see the play and someday, when you're watching the Tonys, Lilys or Academy Awards, you can say you were there.
The award-winning and emerging playwrights are:
Rob Askins, Robert Attenweiler, Ian August, Micheline Auger, Hilary Bettis, J.Stephen Brantley, Chloe Brown Carter, Rubem Carbajal, Jon Caren, David Caudle, Cecilia Copeland, Carl Cota-Robles, Jamie Cowperthwait, Cusi Cram, Stacy Davidowitz, Lawrence Dial, Nathan Dame, David Davila, Haydn Diaz, Bixby Elliot, Lynne Elson, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Diane Exavier, Gina Femia, Darcy Fowler, Nick Gandiello, Charles Gershman, Sheri Graubert, Stephen Adley Guirgis, Paul Hagen, Laurel Haines, Chris Harcum, Jerron Hermon, Timothy Huang, Dean Imperial, Kait Kerrigan, Jeffrey James Keyes, Alessandro King, Krista Knight, Felice Kuan, Larry Kunofsky, Judith Leora, Lisa Lewis, Jerry Lieblich, Danielle Eliska Lyle, Dan McCabe, Erin Moughan, Kate Mulley, Lindsay Joy Murphy, Mel Nieves, Dan O’Neil, Dael Orlandersmith, Nicole Pandolfo, Kristina Poe, Chana Porter, Tyler Rivenbark, Rob Rosiello, Alex Rubin, Sarah Shaefer, Erika Sheffer, Crystal Skillman, Tommy Smith, Diana Stahl, Roland Tec, Michael Gabriel Torres, Chris Van Strander, Richard Vetere, Josh Wilder, Natalie Wilson, Joseph Samuel Wright, Nathan Yungerberg.
WRITE OUT FRONT was created to bring awareness to the time, space, resources and support that playwrights need to work and grow. It celebrates the tenacity that playwrights possess in the face of challenging economic times which has accompanied the closing of many off-off Broadway theaters and performance spaces, traditionally the fertile ground where theater artists developed their craft.
The installation runs three weeks, Monday through Saturday, 11am – 7pm (8pm Thursdays) The Drama Book Shop is located at 250 W. 40th Street, across the street from the NYTimes Building August 13th - September 1st, 2012.
A BrockelNote: Granted, this is not going to be like peeking through a window and seeing Ernest Hemingway writing in Ketchum, Idaho. And, I'm guessing, it will be much more fun, also.
SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract Webinar Meeting to be Held in Advance of the Start of Commercials Negotiations Preparation, September 5
This meeting will provide the members the opportunity to hear a report titled Commercial Trends Every Performer Needs to Know About, and you will also receive an update on the Gross Ratings Points (GRP) Study and other important topics related to the Commercials Contract. A group discussion will follow the presentation, affording staff the opportunity to hear membership’s response to these findings. We look forward to your participation as your input is vital to our negotiation preparation.
Please note that this webinar meeting is being held in preparation and advance of our Wages & Working Conditions process and will in no way replace the process by which we develop proposals. The W&W meetings will occur in September/October after members have had a chance to learn about these important topics.
"Little Mikey" - Life Cereal Commercial 1972 When: Wednesday, September 5 4-6 p.m. ET or 7-9 p.m. ET
RSVP: Anne Rosenblatt at anne.rosenblatt@sagaftra.org. Please specify which time you will be attending. Space is very limited.
Parking: Onsite parking is available Monday-Friday in the parking garage beside the building. We do not validate parking. Metered parking is also available on Fairmont Avenue and surrounding streets. There are also municipal metered garages located on Cordell Avenue, Old Georgetown Road, Woodmont Avenue, and Del Ray Avenue, which are all within walking distance of our building.
If you need ADA accommodations, please let us know by contacting us at diversity@sagaftra.org or (323) 549-6644.
All paid-up SAG-AFTRA members in good standing are urged to attend this important membership webinar meeting. This meeting is only open to paid-up SAG-AFTRA members in good standing, no guests are allowed. Parents/guardians of performers under 18 years old are welcome. SAG-AFTRA members please bring your membership card for admittance.
Clark Gable and the Duesenberg he shared with Carole Lombard
Clark Gable owned this rare Duesenberg Model JN convertible coupe until his wife, Carole Lombard, died in 1942. According to The Duesenberg Registry, he left the vehicle in Canada when his wife died. Gable instructed that the car never be seen in California while he was still alive.
Highlights:
420 CID DOHC Inline 8-Cylinder Engine
Single Downdraft Carburetor
265 HP at 4,200 RPM
3-Speed Manual Gearbox
4-Wheel Hydraulic Drum Brakes
Live-Axle Suspension with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Springs and Double-Acting Hydraulic-Lever Shock Absorbers
Clark Gable's Duesenberg photo courtesy Gooding & Co.
For all its visual splendor and technological excellence, the Model J could not have been introduced in more difficult times. While Duesenberg intended an initial run of 500 chassis for 1929, the Great Depression changed the face of the luxury car market overnight. The few individuals who possessed the means and confidence to purchase the phenomenally expensive Model J were of a rarified breed.
Just three years after the Model J was unveiled, Duesenberg began offering variants of the standard chassis with the hope of buoying sales. The supercharged SJ appeared in 1932 and proved popular with 36 examples built. Yet not all buyers were interested strictly in performance. By the mid-1930s, Duesenberg was offering a pricey car that didn’t even look particularly up-to-date. Other high-end manufacturers such as Cadillac, Packard and even Pierce-Arrow were adopting the latest streamlined styling, and the Model J was beginning to look obsolete.
In 1935, Duesenberg came up with the JN. In an attempt to imbue the new JN series with a clean, modern image and restore integrity to the marque’s refined aesthetic sensibilities, Duesenberg commissioned Rollston of New York City to fashion a line of tasteful body styles.
As one of Duesenberg’s longest-standing and most trusted collaborators, Rollston succeeded in combining streamlined contours with the elegant, classical restraint of the original Model J. In total, just three body styles were offered: convertible coupes and convertible sedans were available on the standard-length chassis, while sport sedans were produced strictly for the long-wheelbase chassis.
Signature styling cues included soft, sweeping curves, smaller 17" disc wheels, skirted front fenders, small dual taillights in place of the classic Duesenberg “stop” light and elegant carriage-body sills that brought the bottom of the doors very close to the running boards. On all JN body styles, the roofline, beltline and side molding were carefully arranged and integrated to introduce a long, sloping rear deck and thus, a graceful profile.
It is believed that only 10 JNs were built, of which four examples were bodied as convertible coupes, style number 434. All of Rollston’s JN body styles were delivered to Duesenberg “in the white,” ready for paint and trim to customer preference.
Today, these extremely rare Model JNs are fixtures in the finest classic car collections and are considered among the most attractive of the late-production Duesenbergs.
CLARK GABLE AND HIS MOTORCARS
Clark Gable, known during his heyday as “The King of Hollywood,” gained extraordinary fame for his legendary silver screen roles and projected the very essence of masculinity. In an industry characterized by its capriciousness, Gable maintained the affection of moviegoers longer than most stars of the era. As one of the top-ten box office attractions for two decades, marquees throughout the country would simply announce, “This week: Clark Gable.”
Offscreen, Gable was an avid sportsman who enjoyed duck shooting, fishing and the finest automobiles. Not only did Gable’s wealth and celebrity status grant him access to the most glamorous motorcars, he also had a genuine hands-on passion and appreciation for them.
In Long Live the King: A Biography of Clark Gable, Lyn Tornabene writes: “Whenever he’s needed on the set, and not in sight, somebody is sent for him under all the parked cars, and usually he’s under one...tinkering. His former secretary, Jean Garceau...says that whenever she needs him she calls all the service stations on Ventura Boulevard until she finds him. He would have made a first-class mechanic or chauffeur. He’s got so much axle grease in the pores of his hands, no amount of scrubbing will remove it.”
Over the years, Gable developed into one of Hollywood’s first great car enthusiasts and owned an impressive array of automobiles, including top-of- the-line Packard Roadsters, Model J Duesenbergs and the rarest and most exclusive one-off Fords. Even after WWII, he continued to indulge in his passion and acquired the latest European sports cars, from a Jaguar XK120 to a Mercedes-Benz 300 Sc Cabriolet and 300 SL Gullwing.
Of all the cars Clark Gable owned, none possesses the remarkable history and romance of the sensational automobile presented here.
A HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE
The last of four JN Convertible Coupes built, this striking open Duesenberg was originally delivered to the factory’s Los Angeles, California, branch in December 1935. Following the New Year, the handsome Rollston-bodied Duesenberg, chassis 2585, engine J-560, was sold to its first owner, Clark Gable.
On January 25th, Gable drove his brand-new Duesenberg Model JN to the White Mayfair Ball in Beverly Hills. It was on this fateful night that a casual friendship between Clark Gable and Carole Lombard began to blossom into Hollywood’s most poignant romance.
Four years earlier, they had co-starred in No Man of Her Own, a comedy about a card shark who weds a small-town beauty on a bet. At that time, Gable had yet to achieve great recognition and Lombard was happily married to debonair actor William Powell.
By January 1936, both Gable and Lombard were household names and the circumstances of their personal lives had each taken a dramatic turn.
Lombard divorced Powell in 1934 and became one of the highest-paid actresses in America, earning over $450,000 in one year for three movies and a series of popular radio shows. Gable – the 35-year-old heartthrob and star of It Happened One Night and San Francisco – had established himself as a successful leading man but felt trapped in a doomed marriage with Ria Langham, an oil heiress seven years his senior.
At the Mayfair Ball, Gable and Lombard spent a great deal of time together, shared dances and eventually slipped away to take a spin in the new Duesenberg. When Gable stopped in front of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where he was then living, he asked Lombard if she wanted to come up to his suite.
“Who do you think you are?” Lombard exclaimed, “Clark Gable?”
Undeterred, Gable returned with Lombard to the party and asked her out on a proper date. A few days later, Lombard acquiesced.
Less than a week after the chance meeting in Beverly Hills, Gable arrived at Lombard’s house in the middle of a Winter downpour. According to Lombard, the splashy Duesenberg Convertible was “leaking like toilet paper,” a situation that she found quite amusing and he found deeply embarrassing.
In no time at all, Gable approached his preferred coachbuilder, Bohman & Schwartz of Pasadena, to have his Duesenberg dramatically updated. Not only was the Convertible Coupe in need of weatherproofing, Gable felt that the subtle Rollston design was far too conventional for his needs. After all, a Hollywood leading man needed to stand out in a crowd.
To realize his automotive fantasies, Gable worked in cooperation with legendary designer Wellington Everett Miller. Widely regarded as one of the most talented and influential automotive stylists of the 1930s, Miller worked as the head designer for two of the most respected American coachbuilding firms, Locke and Murphy, and helped Packard create a series of elegant production bodies. An early adopter of Art Deco-inspired streamlined features, Miller successfully updated many Duesenbergs and his designs for Bohman & Schwartz represent the very best of mid-1930s automobile styling.
As this car was to be for his personal use, Gable envisioned the JN Convertible Coupe as a sporting two-seat roadster that was as theatrical as its owner. Throughout the design process, Gable was intimately involved and worked in tandem with Miller to create the highly individualized coachwork. The result is one of the most successful collaborations between an owner and a coachbuilder. Gable had a preternatural instinct for automobiles and his wonderfully stylized Duesenberg JN Convertible Coupe is a splendid exaggeration of the classic American roadster – sporting, sassy and absolutely grand in every sense.
Contributing to the overall impression of length is a dramatically raked windscreen, rear-fender spats and a full-length hood that stretches past the firewall, terminating at the trailing edge of the cowl. This marvelous lengthening effect is further accentuated by the use of “continental-style” dual rear spares, each enclosed in a metal cover, the effect of which is dramatic and unique to this car.
Gable also requested rectangular mesh hood sides, scooped and V’d hood ventilators, elegant single-bar bumpers and distinctive sun visors with a unique articulating hinge that allows for clean, uninterrupted storage. Other noteworthy additions include external exhaust pipes, painted radiator shell and headlights and a reworked convertible mechanism that gives the car a sleek, integrated look even when the top is raised.
Finished in a light, monochromatic color scheme and equipped with whitewall tires, Gable’s Convertible Coupe has a clean, modern appearance that is entirely unique.
As his Duesenberg was nearing completion, Gable was told to arrive at the Bohman & Schwartz workshop on a Friday to collect his freshly styled car. When he and Lombard arrived in the morning, they were informed that the car was not quite ready and that they could pick it up after lunch. Rather than dine on their own, the couple felt the circumstance warranted a celebration and returned to the coachbuilder with sandwiches and champagne for everyone. As the atmosphere became increasingly jovial and champagne was consumed steadily, it was soon clear that the car was not going to be completed by the end of the working day.
Gable assured them that this was not a problem and asked that the car be delivered to him at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. At this point Chris Bohman, then a student in college, volunteered to deliver the car to Gable, as his formal dance was being held at the hotel’s ballroom the following evening. On his way to Beverly Hills, Bohman collected his date in the one-off Duesenberg and upon his arrival at the Beverly Wilshire, Gable and Lombard came down to see the finished creation.
A few hours later, while Chris Bohman and his date were seated in the ballroom, the door opened and the whole room fell silent. Gable walked up to the young Bohman, thanked him for delivering the car and asked if he could join their table for dessert. Gable was particularly pleased, as Lombard had enjoyed the restyled Duesenberg as much as he did. After dessert had been served, the band started up and everyone returned to the dance floor. In classic style, Gable asked Bohman if he could have the first dance with his date and then proceeded to dance with every girl in the room.
Throughout the following year, Gable and Lombard enjoyed a romantic courtship and by 1937, the duo was so inseparable that they were cited in a Photoplay article as one of “Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands and Wives.” The situation was increasingly problematic for Gable, who was then competing for the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind and did not need the additional notoriety. With the encouragement of MGM head Louis B. Mayer, Gable filed for divorce from Ria Langham.
Around this time, Gable’s Duesenberg was becoming a star in its own right. Featured in the Hal Roach comedy Merrily We Live, starring Brian Aherne and Constance Bennett, the striking JN Convertible Coupe was refinished in a darker color and further updated with bullet headlights for its big screen debut.
On March 29, 1939, as soon as he had a break from the production of Gone with the Wind, Gable and Lombard drove to Kingman, Arizona, and were married. The only other person in attendance was Otto Winkler, Gable’s press agent. Considered one of the happiest couples in movie land, they settled in an elaborately restored farmhouse in then-rural Encino, California, where they led a quiet, idyllic life.
Photo courtesy Selznick International Publicity
In 1941, Gable and Lombard drove the Duesenberg up the West Coast to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they vacationed in the unspoiled scenery and watched the thoroughbreds run at Lansdowne racetrack. When their stay was finished, Gable left the Duesenberg in a garage at the track and he and Lombard returned to Los Angeles by train. Their plan was to return the following year, take the train up the coast, collect the car and return home. Sadly, this was not to be.
On January 16, 1942, Carole Lombard, along with her mother and Otto Winkler, boarded a TWA DC-3 to return to California following a successful war bond rally; 23 minutes after taking off from Las Vegas, Nevada, their plane crashed into Potosi Mountain, killing all 22 passengers aboard.
Gable and Lombard’s six-year romance – perhaps the greatest Tinseltown love story – ended in misery. No Hollywood writer would ever imagine such a tragic ending.
SUBSEQUENT HISTORY
Following Lombard’s death, Gable was inconsolable and fell into a deep depression. On August 12, 1942, he joined the US Army Air Corps and trained to serve in aerial gunnery. During the war, he flew five combat missions, including one over Germany as an observer gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress. According to legend, Gable was Hitler’s favorite actor; the leader of Germany offered a substantial reward to any person who could bring the star to him unscathed.
Even after his return to American soil, Gable remained deeply saddened by the loss of his wife. According to his friend David E. Jordan, Gable said that he could never bring himself to ride in the Duesenberg again without Lombard. It was the car that they had their first date in and it held too many painful memories for him to own it any longer.
Instructed by Gable to sell the car, Mr. Jordan travelled to Vancouver and had the track manager get the Duesenberg out of the garage. Freed after years of static storage, the car was tuned by a local mechanic and driven south to Los Angeles, where it was consigned to a local dealer – either Bob Roberts or Peter Satori – with orders to sell the car to someone outside California.
By the late 1940s, Gable’s Duesenberg ended up in the hands of Donald Ballard, a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose parents led the popular “I AM” religious movement in Los Angeles. During this period, Mr. Ballard owned another open Duesenberg – a Murphy Roadster equipped with a similarly raked windscreen. After some time, Mr. Ballard sold both Duesenbergs to S.P. Motors of Albuquerque, New Mexico, operated by Alta and Earl Sanders and James Palmer.
S.P. Motors specialized in Duesenberg motorcars and acquired at least seven Model Js throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. During this period, Sanders installed engine J-521 in the Gable Duesenberg, although the original, highly visible bell-housing number, J-560, has always remained intact.
In August 1951, G.W. Cleven of Albuquerque offered the Duesenberg for sale, asking $3,750. The car was eventually sold to professional wrestler Robert “Hans” Hermann, who paid $2,500 for the aging classic. Hermann, who was half of the successful and essentially unbeatable tag team with “Killer Kowalski,” won the NWA Pacific Coast Tag title in 1951.
From there, the Duesenberg was sold to Richard S. Luntz of Indianapolis, Indiana, who consigned it with Chicago, Illinois, Rolls-Royce and Duesenberg dealer “Honest John” Troka. In October 1953, Troka sold the Gable Duesenberg to Paul V. Colianni of Arlington, Illinois, who paid a record price of $4,500. By this time, the Duesenberg had been refinished in maroon and equipped with a single rear spare.
Although Mr. Colianni owned a lovely home, his single-car garage could not accommodate the imposing Duesenberg and it was instead displayed at Troka’s showroom before relocating to Joseph Kaufmann’s shop in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
In late 1973, Charles H. Johnson, Jr., a Ford dealer and Duesenberg collector, acquired the Gable Duesenberg after chasing it for many years. “It was a dirty old rusty brown,” Johnson recalled, “The front was off, the hood was off. But I want to tell you she was still gorgeous! I paid $75,000 for the car. It was a very fair price.”
Mr. Johnson treated the Duesenberg to its first comprehensive restoration and displayed it with great success, earning a string of ACD, AACA and CCCA awards throughout the late 1970s. For three months in 1979, the famed Duesenberg JN was exhibited at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg (ACD) Museum in Auburn, Indiana.
In May 1980, Jerome Sauls of Pennsylvania acquired the Duesenberg, only to sell it to P.A. Parviz of London, England, two years later. In January 1983, Tom W. Barrett, III discovered the Duesenberg in a Beverly Hills garage and bought the car from Mr. Parviz. From there, the Model JN joined the famed Behring Collection and was displayed as part of the Blackhawk Collection in Danville, California. In 1995, Chairman Lee purchased the Duesenberg and it continued to remain a fixture at Blackhawk for the next decade.
In 2006, the current caretaker acquired the Gable Duesenberg and immediately set about returning the car to its original splendor. To conduct the restoration of this important automobile, the owner enlisted the services of Stone Barn Automobile Restorations in Vienna, New Jersey, a leading restorer specializing in the great coachbuilt American classics.
When it was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2007, the magnificently restored JN Convertible Coupe justifiably earned a prestigious special award: the Gwenn Graham Most Elegant Convertible Trophy. A remarkable testament to the quality and accuracy of the restoration work, as well as the inherent significance of this car, the Gable Duesenberg has since taken Best of Show honors at two of the most prestigious concours venues – Amelia Island and Meadowbrook. Having been treated to attentive care in one of the world’s great classic car collections, the Duesenberg remains in show-quality condition inside and out.
Commissioned by the most recognizable actor of the 1930s, this one-of-a-kind JN Convertible Coupe possesses the unmistakable imprimatur of its original owner. Not only is the photo of Clark Gable posing with his stylish custom-built JN Convertible Coupe one of the most iconic images of a classic automobile, it is also integral to the fabric of popular culture.
The legacy of this car has powerful, lasting connections to the Golden Age of the American film industry, the art of custom coachbuilding and the pioneering years of car collecting. In its inspired origins and glamorous early history, it scales the heights of automotive folklore. Unique, dramatic and instantly recognizable, this legendary Duesenberg is arguably the most iconic example of all.
An exceptionally beautiful and important automobile, Clark Gable’s Duesenberg is to many the holy grail of American classics and possesses each and every quality that connoisseurs demand of a collectible object: impeccable presentation, extraordinary pedigree and the magnetic, show-stopping personality that defines a true Hollywood star.
The Movie Home of Baby Jane and Blanche Hudson, 1962
The 4346 square foot single family home used for exteriors in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, has 5 bedrooms and 4.0 bathrooms. The house is located at 172 S McCadden Place, Los Angeles, California.
172 S McCadden Place is in the Hancock Park neighborhood of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the nearest schools are Third Street Elementary School, John Burroughs Middle and Los Angeles Senior High School (Magnet YR).
From the movie —
Blanche: Did you have a nice drive?
Jane: What are you talking about?
Blanche: Nothing dear, I... it's been so long since you were out of the house I thought perhaps you had gone for a drive or something. You know I was thinking, it's ever so long since we had a talk, you know, a real talk about the future and everything. Jane, I didn't want you to be worried about the house, even if I do have to sell it, we'll still be together.
Jane: Blanche you're not gonna sell this house. Daddy bought this house, and he bought it for me! You don't think I remember that, do you?
Blanche: You're wrong, Jane. You've just forgotten. I bought this house for the two of us, when I signed my first contract.
Jane: You don't think I remember anything, do you? There are a whole lot of things I remember. And you never paid for this house. Baby Jane Hudson made the money that paid for this house, that's who!
Blanche: You don't know what you're saying.
Jane: Blanche, you aren't ever gonna sell this house... and you aren't ever gonna leave it... either.
The Movie Home of Baby Jane and Blanche Hudson, 2012
Here's a little tidbit from an interview with Crawford, speaking about the movie, some years later.
That's my Bette Davis and Joan Crawford fix for this evening.
Is it what casting directors and agents are looking for?
What should be on your reel and what is better left off? How long should your reel be? Will your reel help you get work? Should you have separate short demos for specific types of jobs you're right for? Just a comedy and a drama reel?
This panel will explore industry protocol for choosing your best material, highlighting your work and uploading online. Panelists include Andy Henry (Casting Director), Bob Telford (Reel Editor), Joe Gressis (Reel Editor), Bruno Oliver, (VP Now Casting Inc), Alycia Stark (Commercial Agent, Stark Talent), Todd M. Eskin (Theatrical Agent, Across The Board agency). Moderated by Caroline Liem (Casting Director).
Miss Holm said three things that I will always remember:
I believe that if a man does a job as well as a woman, he should be paid as much.
and
We live by encouragement and die without it - slowly, sadly, angrily.
and [on Bette Davis]
I walked onto the set ["All About Eve"] and there's Bette and I say 'Good Morning,' and she said, 'Oh, shit, good manners,' and I felt as if I'd been hit in the face with a wet flounder and I never spoke to her again. She called me a 'Bitch,' okay.
Auditions to Offer and Beyond... A live-stream event on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
An evening with the SAG Foundation
Learn:
Why upping your number of auditions doesn't matter
How to stop wasting time on actions that don't get results
How to shift your focus to think like an Successful Actor
The number one way to go from auditions to offers
This evening is full of practical advice and strategies on the importance of building long term relationships with people who can hire you - not just chasing after the next random audition. Building on the fact that the audition is actually the beginning, not the end of the road.
The People:
JAMES JONES James Jones has a unique background for a talent agent. His formative career was in national and regional politics. Here Mr. Jones worked for 11 years as a political and legislative strategist and tactician in both Washington State and Washington D.C. In addition to working on Senatorial, Congressional and Gubernatorial campaigns, Mr. Jones used his strategic and tactical abilities for three years as a senior staff member of a former Presidential campaign.
SAG franchised agent, James J Jones
After his stint in politics, he went to graduate school receiving an MA in Philosophical Theology and Narrative Criticism. Through his years in the political world and as an executive in NPO development, he was connected to professional athletes and celebrities. This led him in 2001, to form Premier Talent NW (Seattle) to guide those careers. Shortly, thereafter, in 2002, PTNW became a SAG/AFTRA franchised agency. In 2006, James decided to expand his operations and moved full-time to California where he opened and now operates a successful SAG Franchised Talent Agency – The Premier Talent Group.
MONIKA MIKKELSON A California native, Monika graduated from UCLA and has been involved in casting ever since. Her list of credits includes high profile features such as SERVING SARA, the CLEANER, Rob Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS and his HALLOWEEN franchise films. But it is the independent film that has her heart, starting with THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL for director Wim Wenders, NURSE BETTY for Neil Labute, and the precious treasures that live long and prosper in the festival world, like ALL GOD'S CHILDREN CAN DANCE, LOVE LIZA, and MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU.
NICHOLAS TABARROK Nicholas Tabarrok is a prolific film and television producer whose company, Darius Films, has offices in Los Angeles and Toronto.
Since 1998, he has produced over a dozen features that have received both commercial and critical success. Many of them have premiered at the world's top film festivals: The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico (Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW 2005), Hank and Mike (Karlovy Vary 2007), Surviving Crooked Lake (Slamdance 2008), Weirdsville (Toronto International Film Festival and opening night gala of the 2007 Slamdance and Raindance Film Festivals), Coopers' Christmas (Toronto International Film Festival 2008), and Defendor (Toronto International Film Festival 2009).
Producer, Nicholas Tabarrok
Nicholas' most recent completed film, A Beginner's Guide to Endings starring Harvey Keitel, Scott Caan and JK Simmons, was released in summer 2012. The Black Marks, starring Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon, Jay Baruchel and Terence Stamp is currently in post-production and will be distributed by Dimension Films. Nicholas' first television series, Fugget About It, will be airing in September 2012.
He is a proud member of the Producer's Guild of America, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
Nicholas was honored by Variety Magazine as one the "Top Ten Producers to Watch" in 2008.
CARLEASE BURKE Carlease is an actress who is adept at creating her own work. She has performed in over 26 features and 75 TV shows, virtually an episode of every network TV show airing incl. Shameless, Hot in Cleveland and Raising Hope.
EMILY GRACE Emily Grace helps actors think like a producer so they can act for a living. Through her company, Emily Grace Productions, she has helped countless actors land representation, big auditions, land more bookings and get in the driver's seat of their career with marketing plans that actually work. Emily is a Sundance and Deauville award-winning actress, as well as a writer and producer.
The Event:
Hear different perspectives from an agent, casting director, producer, actress, and a career coach about how to increase your offers.
The evening will be full of practical advice and strategies on the importance of building long-term relationships with the people who can hire you—not simply chasing after the next random audition. Building on the thact that the audition is actually the beginning, not the end of the road.
To watch the Q&A you do not have to log into the SAG Foundation website. Just go to
Here's the 2012 line-up directly from The Charles:
JUNE 30; JULY 2 AND 5.
COME BACK, AFRICA (1959 Lionel Rogosin)
“Rogosin filmed this damning glimpse at apartheid under the false pretense that he was making an apolitical portrait of Johannesburg's music scene. The resulting doc-narrative hybrid is today regarded as a milestone of cinematic investigative journalism.” (Time Out Chicago) “A work of amazing grace and a forgotten treasure.” (Time Out New York). Restored by the Cineteca di Bologna and the Rogosin Heritage Foundation In English, subtitled Afrikaans and Zulu. 1.33:1 B&W 86 min.
JULY 7, 9 AND 12.
THE LONG DAY CLOSES (1992 Terence Davies)
A few months in the life of a 12-year-old Liverpudlian."Indeed, it's primarily about the small, innocent but very real joys of being alive, recreated with great skill and never smothered by sentimentality. The stately camera movements; the tableaux-like compositions; the evocative use of music and movie dialogue; the dreamy dissolves and lighting - all make this a movie which takes place in its young protagonist's mind. Beautifully poetic, never contrived or precious, the film dazzles with its stylistic confidence, emotional honesty, terrific wit and all-round audacity." – Geoff Andrews, Time Out London "Entrancing! A glorious new 35mm print!” (Time Out NY) 1.85:1 85 min.
JULY 14, 16, 19.
CITY LIGHTS (1931 Charlie Chaplin)
“City Lights, which wanders between episodes involving Charlie's love for a blind flower girl and his friendship with a drunken millionaire who doesn't know him when he's sober, is a beautiful example of Chaplin's ability to turn narrative fragments into emotional wholes. The two halves of the film are sentiment and slapstick. They are not blended but woven into a pattern as eccentric as it is sublime.” (Dave Kehr) 1.33:1 B&W 87 min.
JULY 21, 23, 26.
THE COLOR WHEEL (2011 Alex Ross Perry) “In this new comedy, the director Alex
Ross Perry gives a harsh, sarcastic twist to the intimate rivalry of siblings. He costars as Colin, a diffident aspiring writer whose older sister, J.R., a proud and caustic aspiring actress...recruits him to join her on a road trip to her ex’s house to get her belongings... Along the way, they pummel each other verbally with their constant squabbling and dredge up several decades of pent-up grudges. Perry directs these uproarious rapid-fire flareups with exquisite comic timing and incisive comic framing.” (Richard Brody) 1.85:1 B&W 83 min.
JULY 28, 30; AUGUST 2.
REAR WINDOW (1954 Alfred Hitchcock)
“James Stewart plays a temporarily wheelchair-bound photojournalist who uses his camera as a telescope to spy on his neighbors, including a travelling salesman (Raymond Burr) who may have killed his invalid wife.. Stewart displays a formidable capacity for prurient interest and self-loathing, and everything Kelly does is ‘proper’ yet enchantingly sexual; it’s her most charged and charming performance ever.” (Michael Sragow) RIP Frank Cady 1.66:1 Technicolor. 112 min.
AUGUST 4, 6, 9.
THE EXORCIST (1973 William Friedkin)
“To me, The Exorcist was a story about the mystery of faith, and I tried to depict that as realistically as possible. I had read the files... of the 1949 exorcism case that prompted Bill to write his novel.... This was not simply a scary story, this was something of the supernatural in the natural world. And that’s how I approached the film.” (William Friedkin) 1.85:1 132 min. Color.
AUGUST 11, 13, 16.
MODERN TIMES (1936 Charlie Chaplin)
“Chaplin was in the midst of his anti-sound protest when he made Modern Times - his most explicit statement against technological advancement and capitalism. It is, in fact, a quasi-sound film, but with all voices emanating from various machines instead of the actors, except for one moment when the Tramp sings a gibberish song. That the machines can talk, yet the people don't, is all part of their dehumanising effect.... Sometimes sentimental yet highly comical...Regarded as one of Chaplin's finest films.” (Film 4) 87 min. B&W.
AUGUST 18, 20, 23.
KURONEKO (1968 Kaneto Shindô)
“In war-torn medieval Japan, a demon haunts the Rajomon Gate, ripping out the throats of samurai in the grove beyond. The governor sends a war hero to confront the spirit, but what the man finds are two beautiful women who look just like his lost mother and wife. Both a chilling ghost story and a meditation on the nature of war and social hypocrisy, Kuroneko is the second horror triumph from director Kaneto Shindô (Naked Island, Onibaba), who mixes stunning visuals, an evocative score, and influences from traditional Japanese theater to create an atmospheric, haunting, and emotionally devastating masterpiece.” (Janus) 99 min. B&W ‘Scope. New 35mm Print!
AUGUST 25, 27, 30.
GRAND ILLUSION (1937 Jean Renoir)
“On the occasion of its seventy-fifth anniversary, there’s no need to argue for Grand Illusion’s greatness as a movie. This tale of Frenchmen from all walks of life banding together to escape from German P.O.W. camps in the First World War hasn’t lost its prestige as the supreme antiwar film. But audiences wary of official masterpieces should know that it’s an overwhelming experience, with a robust humor and poignancy that tingle afresh in this prematurely grizzled new millennium. Rialto Pictures’s release of a new restored print is perfectly timed, and not just for the film’s anniversary. When European unity has again shown how fragile it can be, and polarizing ideologies have fractured democracies everywhere, Grand Illusion offers an unsentimental vision of common humanity.” (Michael Sragow The New Yorker) 75th Anniversary Restoration. 1.33:1. B&W
SEPTEMBER 1, 3, 6.
SANJURO (1962 Akira Kurosawa)
“Akira Kurosawa's 1962 spin-off of his 1961 action comedy hit Yojimbo stars Toshiro Mifune as a disreputable samurai who helps nine young samurai wannabes expose a corrupt official. Many of the best laughs here concern a couple of very proper female characters who object to Sanjuro's violence (“Killing people is a bad habit,” notes one of them); otherwise Sanjuro's status as a renegade superhero who's nearly always right goes unchallenged.” (Dave Kehr) 96 min. B&W ‘Scope.
SEPTEMBER 8, 10, 13.
THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940 Charlie Chaplin)
“Made in 1940, when a sense of humor about the Nazis was still possible. Charles Chaplin plays two roles, Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania, and a poor Jewish barber who's mistaken for Hynkel and sent to deliver a speech in his place... Chaplin is at his most profound in suggesting that there is much of the Tramp in the Dictator, and much of the Dictator in the Tramp.“ (Dave Kehr) 125 min. B&W 1.33:1.
SEPTEMBER 15, 17, 20.
I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING (1945 Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger)
“A sublime and utterly distinctive romantic comedy, set towards the end of the second world war. It stars Wendy Hiller as the headstrong, self-possessed and rather conceited young Englishwoman, Joan Webster, who travels to the Hebrides to marry a wealthy industrialist on the remote island of Kiloran. Foul weather strands her on the neighboring island of Mull the night before their wedding...little by little, she finds herself beguiled by the island and the islanders – in particular Torquil MacNeil...played with delicacy and forthright charm by Roger Livesey.” (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian) 91 min. B&W 1.33:1.
The folks at the Paley Center for Media in New York City have put together some of the best theme-program schedules that I've ever seen. This series ups their already impressive ante.
TV MixTapes
The Paley Center recalls the days when, if you liked someone, you made them a tape. We like you, so we're making mixtapes for you—compilation screenings of amazing things in our collection, curated to provide a unique viewing experience each month with a different theme. Plus it's all on a movie-size screen with great sound.
Every month the Paley Center will present special screenings culled from their massive collection, curated to provide a unique viewing experience … audiences can expect classic episodes from favorite series enhanced by exclusive Paley Center content, original compilations of the weird and wonderful created for this series, and selections from rare programs unavailable anywhere else. Plus there is the thrill of seeing it all on the big screen, with great sound.
Here's the package, the line-up:
Summer "Camp" - starts July 5th 2012 Welcome to a compilation of television’s most outrageous, campy, and head-scratching moments—a celebration of the weird, wild, and wacky side of the small screen, culling only the best moments in discrete chunks for the YouTube generation.
We excerpt the craziest scenes from afterschool specials, old network celebrity spectaculars, outdated training and educational films, camp classic television movies, bizarre music videos, and other outré ephemera. A surefire hit for the Gen-X audience and available exclusively at the Paley Center.
Hotter than Hellmouth - August Hell hath no fury like a demon scorned … or something like that. Join us as we celebrate the dog days of August in air-conditioned bliss with this really creepy compilation of television programming spotlighting emissaries from hell (both fictional and not), anchored by “Once More With Feeling,” the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which will be screened in its entirety. We don’t want to give too much away, but also look for clips from The Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, South Park,Thriller, plus a few gems from our collection of programs, commercials, and Paley Center panel discussions. To conclude the package, we’ll screen excerpts from Tom Snyder’s legendary 1981 interview with Charles Manson.
Dueling Star Treks - September Star Trek: The Next Generation celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in September, and with this specially produced compilation the Paley Center boldly goes where thousands and thousands have gone before, tackling the red-hot-button question of whether The Next Generation was also the greatest generation, or whether that honor belongs instead to the original series. Was the first Star Trek too campy? Next Generation too earnest? Beverly Crusher or Bones McCoy? Spock or Data? Kirk’s bare chest or Picard’s bare head? We will shy away from no issue, illustrating our points through a deft selection of clips featuring moments from both shows and a few surprises as well, including excerpts from Paley Center events with the cast and the creative team of TNG and with Captain James T. Kirk himself, the great William Shatner.
Sweet TV Dreams (are made of these?) - October For the month of chills and thrills, the Paley Center brings you a sixty-minute mixtape that shows the truly frightful—as well as the lighthearted—dreamscapes that have seeped out of our collective unconscious and into our daily TV viewing over the years.
The creepy/scary stuff will come from the usual suspects—Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, The Outer Limits, Buffy the Vampire Slayer—joined with the more psychological hauntings of Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and M*A*S*H. Then we'll look to Bewitched, My So Called Life, The Practice, and Absolutely Fabulous for the lighter side of our neuroses.
James Bond: 50 Years on Film - November This mixtape will screen in November, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first Bond film (Dr. No) and also the release of the new Bond film (Skyfall). Included are clips from the 1954 television version of Casino Royale (Bond’s screen debut); two Bond-themed TV specials in our collection; The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which Ian Fleming helped develop (plus a Paley Center panel with star Robert Vaughn); Get Smart (including clips from PaleyFest); Archer (including our David Cross–moderated seminar); The Avengers (starring Bond girl Diana Rigg); and appearances by Bond stars Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore in television programs and ads.
Christmas Carols: A Scrooge Mash-up - December Arguably the most famous and familiar holiday story ever written, Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol continues to enchant generation after generation and inspire countless adaptations, with more, no doubt, yet to come. Since everyone has their particular favorite dramatization, the Paley Center presents its own “Scrooge mash-up,” so to speak.
The entire story will be told using clips from versions starring Mr. Magoo, Patrick Stewart, and Basil Rathbone among others, as well as the tale as interpreted by the casts of such shows as WKRP in Cincinnati, Northern Exposure, and The Honeymooners.
Ok now Baltimore, if you love classic film and television as much as I do, let's book some Bolt Buses and head to The Big Apple for a what will certainly be a monthly fun-fest. And bring your friends. There are new finds and real surprises in this collection of shows. I'm sure that you haven't seen some of these moments before. That's all I'm going to say.
At work, some months ago, I was in a meeting with Craig (Mr. Super Creative and Designer of all things Interactive) and a batch of account people. The group was discussing a business website hosted on the Jive platform. An account manager looked my way and said, "You're fairly new here do you know Jive?"
My instant response, perhaps a little too instant and glib, "Know Jive? I speak Jive."
Craig and I connected over the memory of a great old movie and a great old gal, the late Barbara Billingsley. It was one of those wink-wink moments that are so much fun when everyone else in the room is working just a tad bit too hard.
A few days later I cut some audio and made a swell ringtone to commemorate the moment. It's here, and it's yours for the taking.
'I Speak Jive' - the ringtone
Last week I was at Lexington Market and my phone ringer was set at its highest level. It rang. It rang with the 'I Speak Jive' ringtone.
For a few seconds I panicked. My 'jive' moment seemed like the perfect wrong-place-wrong-time event. I was certain that I wouldn't make it to the safety of Faidley's and my favorite oyster shucker's protective knife.
However, I needn't have worried about the social correctness of my sound bite. Only one Lexington Market shopper even acknowledged that he heard it. He tipped his head toward me and muttered, "Uh huh, that's right."
And, just so you know, Miss Billingsley. I think you were quite a babe.
And, what does a Jessica Tandy movie fest require? That's right, these little puppies to elevate the fest to a feast.
Soon-to-be-fried green tomatoes from Charles Street's Fresh and Green
To get our effort started Jacob headed down to Fresh and Green Market and to our favorite produce lady, Heather Hudgins, for plump green tomatoes—to be fried. Heather is a grocery store gem. She can find the freshest watercress on a moments notice and if the mint (at Mint Julep time) looks a little tired and worn, Heather will go backstage and return with a bundle that looks dewy and smells freshly picked.
Miss Tandy finally wins an Oscar
With green tomatoes in hand, it's time to cut down our film list. Where to start? Think:
The Story Lady (1994)
Nobody s Fool (1994)
Camilla (1994)
To Dance With the White Dog (1993)
Used People (1992)
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Cocoon: the Return (1988)
The House on Carroll Street (1988)
Batteries Not Included (1987)
The Thrill of Genius (1985)
Cocoon (1985)
The Gin Game (1984)
The Bostonians (1984)
The World According to Garp (1982)
Best Friends (1982)
Still of the Night (1982)
Honky Tonk Freeway (1981)
Butley (1974)
The Birds (1963)
Adventures of a Young Man (1962)
The Light in the Forest (1958)
The Desert Fox (1951)
September Affair (1950)
Forever Amber (1947)
The Birds, Fried Green Tomatoes, Driving Miss Daisy, and Batteries Not Included are on our list. While Jacob and I debate the fifth film or television episode to add to the list, I'll take a moment to share this:
Fried Green Tomatoes, the way we make them:
Ingredients • 1 large egg, lightly beaten • 1/2 cup buttermilk • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided • 1/2 cup cornmeal • 1 teaspoon salt • 1/2 teaspoon pepper • 3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices • Vegetable oil • Salt and Old Bay to taste
Preparation Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside. Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan. Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture. Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt and additional Old Bay.
Optional Top with Crab Imperial or a simple poached egg.
Not optional Have a great Memorial Day weekend. Remember those who fight for our freedom and remember those brave men and women that we have lost.
You see a lot of wonderful things on Charles Street. But, this is going to be really special. (Read on, you'll thank me, later.)
The Gang's All Here, 1943
This 20th Century-Fox, Technicolor extravaganza features Carmen Miranda, Alice Faye, and James Ellison in a story about a singer and a soldier. The Gang's All Here is a film that one reviewer noted was, "like a male hairdresser's acid trip."
I've seen this Busby Berkeley choreographed movie twice and it's actually a fun, tuneful, and totally garish trip. You'll enjoy it—if not love it—and, you'll never forget it. Did I mention that Benny Goodman and his Orchestra are on stage to provide some extraordinary big band scenes and serious music?
The Gang's All Here, 1943
Details? I know you want details. Here you go:
BUSBY BERKELEY’S
THE GANG’S ALL HERE
FEATURING CARMEN MIRANDA in a RESTORED 35MM PRINT
Berkeley’s own special brand of kaleidoscopic fantasy, turned into psychedelic surrealism by the electric red and greens of 20th Century-Fox’s color processing. Those who consider Berkeley a master consider this his masterpiece. It is his maddest film: chorus girls dissolve into artichokes; there’s a banana xylophone; and Carmen Miranda appears in platform wedgies on an avenue of giant strawberries. -Pauline Kael
SHOW TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 26 11:30 AM MONDAY, MAY 28 7 PM THURSDAY, MAY 31 9 PM.
1943 Dir. Busby Berkeley. Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda, Edward Everett Horton, Phil Baker, Benny Goodman. Technicolor. Newly restored print! 103 min.
INFINITELY DELIGHTFUL, EFFORTLESSLY INVENTIVE! IT IS SOMETHING TO BEHOLD! – Dave Kehr, The New York Times
UTTERLY DERANGED! A kaleidoscope of garish costumes, eye-popping color, psychedelic musical numbers, and some I-can't-believe-the-censors-let-them-get-away-with-that choreography. – New York magazine
Time and again, you can’t believe what you’re witnessing: Berkeley’s camera swoops and soars at seemingly impossible trajectories through crowds of extras; Miranda models an expansive fruit headdress... But nothing can prepare you for the literally kaleidoscopic finale, which includes a gaggle of synchronized showgirls and contains eye-searing imagery that anticipates everything from The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T to Tron. – Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Here's my personal suggestion: Before you see this brilliant piece of joyous cinematography, have a cocktail or two. Leave all of your preconceived notions of major studio motion pictures at home and have a great time. Revel in the color, the movement, the music, the rhythm, and a little love story. Enjoy.
[A final piece of film trivia. This movie could not be shown in Carmen Miranda's home country of Portugal because of the suggestive nature of the banana dance, Alice Faye was pregnant during much of the filming and the U.S. censors mandated that the dancers must hold the end of the bananas at waist-level, not hip level.]
Directed by Charlie Chaplin, A Woman of Paris contains no slapstick comedy and Chaplin appears only briefly in a cameo. Noteworthy for the sophistication of its narrative, it was enthusiastically received by critics upon its release. Edna Purviance stars as a village girl who becomes the mistress of a rich and philandering Adolphe Menjou in a provocative precursor to Lubitsch.
SHOW TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 12 11:30 AM; MONDAY, MAY 14 7 PM; THURSDAY, MAY 17 9 PM.
(1923 Charlie Chaplin) 35mm. 82 min. bw.
“The first elegantly stylish comedy of manners in the American cinema, reflecting Jazz Age interest in the rich and decadent...became a powerful influence on Ernst Lubitsch.” —John Wakeman
”I was absolutely knocked by it....Suddenly, here was a grown-up film, with people behaving as they do in life, and scenes treated with an enormous sophistication.” —Michael Powell
“A landmark in sophisticated sexual screen drama.” —Elliot Stein
CHARLES THEATRE 1711 N. CHARLES STREET BALTIMORE 20101
On many fronts, 1937 wasn't altogether a great year. The United States was still attempting to recover from the Great Depression, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared after taking off from New Guinea, Japan occupied Beijing, the Great Hong Kong Typhoon killed 11,000 people, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations. John D Rockefeller, George Gershwin, and Jean Harlow died. In April of 1937 German warplanes from the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion destroyed the Basque town of Guernica during what was reported as the first air bombardment of an undefended town in history; more than 1,600 civilians were killed.
And, the Baltimore News-Post ran this this headline in May:
Earlier that year WLS, Chicago's powerhouse of a radio station, dispatched announcer Herb Morrison and his engineer, Charlie Nelhsen, to cover the Hindenburg landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Morrison's report was to be recorded on a large acetate disk for later broadcast. Recording news and actualities was, in 1937, against all the rules of network radio broadcasting. Morrison's recorded report lead to a change of those rules, which at the time only allowed recordings to be used for sound effects in radio dramas. Morrison's report was so human and so compelling that NBC played the recording on it's network and it became the prototype for news actualities in the post war years.
Morrison was a slender, diminutive man with dark hair, dimples, and a strong chin. On the air, he sounded older than his years. He was dapper, and by all accounts he was exceedingly handsome. Prior to his dispatch to Lakehurst, the majority of his radio work had been as an announcer for live musical programming. For the Hindenburg report from Lakehurst he wore a blue serge suit and a tailored top coat.
Announcer, Herb Morrison
Today most people see, or remember, a newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster with Morrison's account as the voice-over. However, that's a later construction of how the actual reports were filed, seen, and heard.
Even in 1937 newsreels were a low-budget affair. Black and white cameras with no ability to record sound were used. And Morrison and his one-man crew were recording a transcription to a disk with no ability to add visuals. Think of what you remember seeing as one of the earliest audio-visual mashups.
Here is an actual (and yes, silent) newsreel from the time with post production, editing, and a certain amount of 'film touch-up' as performed by the releasing studio.
And this, from the Smithsonian, is Herb Morrison's radio report added to actual newsreel film, without any film reconstruction. The difference in film quality is all-telling.
According to WLS radio: Listeners in Chicago and across the country didn't hear Morrison's coverage of the disaster until the next day because his report wasn't broadcast live from Lakehurst. He and engineer Charley Nehlsen had been experimenting with field recordings on huge acetate discs. They realized the gravity of their recordings as they found themselves being followed by German SS Officers! After hiding out for a few hours, the two managed to make a clean getaway and get back across the country to WLS. The chilling account aired the next day on the station and was the first recorded radio news report to be broadcast nationally by NBC.
I've been fascinated by lighter-than-air craft, zeppelins, and blimps for as long as I can remember. In Baltimore we all see quite a few small blimps soaring over the city—Dish Network, MetLife, and yes, the Conan craft. I wondered what a zeppelin the size of the Hindenburg would have looked like flying over Baltimore. I wondered if it might have looked this:
Hindenburg Over Baltimore, MD
The Hindenburg explosion killed 35 of the 97 people on board and one person on the ground. A cause of the disaster has been widely speculated about and has created more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assination, yet the true cause of the Hindenburg's demise has never been discovered.
I was looking around at the Comcast cable line-up this afternoon — I'm in a moody kind of mood and looking for something film noir-ish to watch — and I found the most perfectly mismatched graphic and description I've ever seen.
You will have to click the image below to see it and read it, but you should check it out!
Comcast Cable Line-up, April 29th 2012
The Night of the Hunter is, as Comcast says, "A terrifying tale of a psychotic preacher (Robert Mitchum) plotting to kill a widow and her children (Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce) for money. Lillian Gish, James Gleason, Peter Graves. Davis Grubb's novel, superbly adapted by James Agee. Charles Laughton directed."
Billy Chapin in Night of the Hunter
Oddly the graphic, the avatar, for the movie is from the Food Network. And, it works — in a strange, cannibalistic sort of way.
How to Boil Water is the avatar title. The subtitle is Life Beyond Takeout.
I'm watching the movie right now and if see Billy Chapin in a really, really hot bathtub I'll let you know.
