BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #6

EVELYN KEYES ON DETAILS IN GONE WITH THE WIND

" It was certainly a super-production. But
I wasn't impressed by Selznick's attention
to each stitch, design, color, shoe buckle,
down to using thorns for fastening clothing
during the Civil War period (when buttons
would have disappeared) and importing Georgia
red dust to stain our shoes and skirts. "

Evelyn Keyes. Scarlet O'Hara's Younger Sister
(Secaucus, N.J Lyle Stuart, 1977)
**
GONE WITH THE WIND BANNED IN IRELAND

...Gone With the Wind, which, you remember
was banned in Ireland because, it is said,
Rhett Butler carried his own wife, Scarlett,
up the stairs and into bed, which upset the
film censors in Dublin and caused them to ban
the film entirely."

Frank McCourt. Teacher Man (New York:
Scribner, 2005)
**

DENMARK'S ANSWER TO LAUREL & HARDY
FROM AL JAFFE

"To this day, my favorite comedians are one of 
the world's first film comedy duos, the tall 
and short slapstick Danish team of Pat and
Patachon, the models for Laurel and Hardy, and
Abbott and Costello."

Mary-Lou Weisman. Al Jaffe's Mad Life (New
York: HarperCollins, 2010)

Pat & Patachon
 
The comedian duo "Pat & Patachon" was the most famous 
couple in the silent movie era and created a kind of 
couple like Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello in 
later years. In contrast to Laurel & Hardy, who 
appeared in suits and bowlers, the outfit of Pat 
& Patachon reminded to vagabonds, who run around 
in torn clothes or used an old rope as a belt.
Pat was the tall guy, Patachon the small one. Together 
they presented the Danish stronghold of the international 
movie in those days (together with the legendary Asta 
Nielsen, who established the movie as art). The two 
celebrated huge successes in whole Europe and became 
famous in countless countries - in Germany and Austria 
as "Pat & Patachon", in Scandinavia as "Fy og Bi", 
in the Netherlands as "Watt en 1/2 Watt", in France as "Doublepatte et Patachon", in Great Britain as 
"Long & Short", in Hungary as "Zoro & Huru", in the USA 
as "Ole & Axel", in Italy as "X & Y" or "Pan & Patan", 
in Finland as "Majakka & Perävauna and in Sweden as "Telegrafstopen och Tilhengern." The film history doesn't pay enough attention to this duo..."
by Thomas Stadeli (see his site, Pat & Patachon) 
 
Carl Schenstrom (1881 - 1942) PAT
Harald Madsen (1890 - 1949) PATACHON



**

MUSSOLINI & SHIRLEY TEMPLE
"When Benito Mussolini watched the first 
screening of Little Miss Marker in all of
Europe, the first thing he noticed was
Shirley Temple's legs. "She has legs like
one of the lions," he said. Four lion cubs
slept outside on his terrace. Mussolini
watched a movie every night and had become'
fanatical over Greta Garbo. Upon learning
that Shirley Temple had replaced Garbo as
America's top box office draw, he told his
cultural minister that he absolutely had to
see this new little girl star."

Jimmy Breslin. Damon Runyon (New York:
Ticknor & Fields. 1991)
**

PLAYING THE MUG'S GAME

"Choosing the greatest movie ever made is a
mug's game, but still the choice reveals a
critic's tastes. For me two films are tied
for first place, and they couldn't be more
different: 200l: A Space Odyssey and The Rules
of the Game. Renoir's film is humane, funny,
and grandly touching, reassuring in its dignity
and ease. Kubrick's 2001, static and sublime,
is none of these things: it goes beyond the '
human and courts uncharted spaces."

David Mikics. Stanley Kubrick: American 
Filmmaker. (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2020)
**

MY! HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED

"Fellini was no stranger to controversy. 
When 'La Dolce Vita' hit the screens in
1960, it caused a national scandal,including
a parliamentary debate and the scathing
reaction of the Vatican's official newspaper,
The Osservatore Romano,which called that film
'disgusting.'(Times have changed. In August
The Osservatore Romano published a glowing
review of the (FELLINI) Museum.

Elizabeth Povoledo. "A Fellini Museum as Lavish
as His Films" in The New York Times (Sept.1, 2021)

THE FIRST MAJOR AMERICAN COMPOSER TO WRITE
PRIMARILY FOR FILM

Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna, 
December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an 
American composer and lyricist. Warren was the 
first major American songwriter to write primarily 
for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award 
for Best Original Song eleven times and won three 
Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll 
Never Know" and "On the Atchison, Topeka and the 
Santa Fe". He wrote the music for the first 
blockbuster film musical, 42nd Street, choreographed 
by Busby  Berkeley, with whom he would collaborate 
on many musical films.

Over a career spanning four decades, Warren wrote 
more than 800 songs. Other well known Warren hits 
included "I Only Have Eyes for You", "You Must Have 
Been a Beautiful Baby", "Jeepers Creepers", "The 
Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)", "That's 
Amore", "There Will Never Be Another You", "The 
More I See You", "At Last" and "Chattanooga Choo 
Choo" (the last of which was the first gold record 
in history). Warren was one of America's most 
prolific film composers, and his songs have been 
featured in over 300 films.

from WIKIPEDIA
**
TWO CLERIHEWS

  IRENE DUNNE

  Irene Dunne,
  Reading the film script of Dune,
  Sd: “I’d much rather
  Star in Life With Father.”
**

     MICHAEL RENNIE

   Michael Rennie –
   I wonder if there are any
   Other poems about him. If not.
   Then this is the only one he’s got.

Louis Phillips