BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: MOVIES #8

PHOTO by Igor Sunara

KING KONG AND GUSTAVE DORE


“…there were some beautiful moments in King 
Kong; that we both appreciated the location given
us for the scene when you held me in your left hand
and pulled at my skirt with your right hand, as though
 taking petals from a flower. That’s the way I think of
it because that’s my disposition to make a poetic 
metaphor. The background was inspired by the paintings of Gustave Dore, a wondrously quiet, mystical mountain right 
on the edge of outer space. You brought a petal of my 
skirt to your nose and snuffed it.

from an open letter to King Kong in FAY WRAY. 
On The Other Hand: A Life Story (New York: 
St. Martin’s Press, 1989)

     

Fay Wray’s autobiography is dedicated to:

       
           For Susan, Robert, Victoria,
              
               Nora, & Jacob
       

             And for all the young-in-heart 
              
                Who have loved 
                
                  King Kong.


*


BEWARE!CAUSTIC REVIEWER AT WORK



"When the film Smash-Up, starring Susan Hayward and
Lee Bowman, was released in 1947, Life magazine  
said he played his part with all the enthusiasm 
of a stuffed moose.”

Beverly Linet. Susan Hayward: Portrait of a 
Survivor (New York: Atheneum, 1980)


**
THE POPULAR POET EDGAR GUEST & ALAN LADD
 

At Alan Ladd’s crypt in the Sanctuary of Heritage in
Forest Lawn, there us Bronze bust of the movie star.
  “On a plaque beneath the bust a poem –‘Success’ –
had been inscribed, its irony only for those who knew:

       
  ALAN LADD
  SEPTEMBER 3, 1913 –JANUARY 29,1964
  I HOLD NO DREAM OF FORTUNE VAST,
  NOR SEEK UNDYING FAME,
  I DO NOT ASK WHEN LIFE IS PAST
  THAT MANY KNOW MY NAME.
  AND I CAN LIVE MY LIFE ON EARTH
  CONTENTED TO THE END
  IF BUT A FEW SHALL KNOW MY NAME
   BUT PROUDLY CALL ME FRIEND.
                                                                                                      
                       --Edgar A. Guest


Beverly Linet; Ladd: The Life, The Legend, 
the Legacy
 of Alan Ladd (New York: Arbor House, 1979)
**

TRIVIA ABOUT THE FILM TAKING PLACE IN THE OLD WEST
OF THE 19th CENTURY -- “THE BOY FROM OKLAHOMA” 
STARRING WILL ROGERS, JR.

“The sheriff tries to arrest Turlock for allowing 
underage drinking, but 21 wasn't established as 
the minimum until 1933.”

 --IdmB Trivia
**

UNA MERKEL SAVES THE LIFE OF A CREW MEMBER 

During the filming of True Confession (1937) 
she rescued  a movie property man Arthur Camp 
from drowning at Lake Arrowhead, California, 
when the backwash from her motorboat upset his 
skiff. She caught his suspenders with a boat hook 
and held him until help arrived from the shore. 
Camp was unable to swim.

ImbD Trivia "Una Merkel:"

**
ESSENTIAL FILM VOCABULARY

“Just as Eskimos have twenty words for different
Kinds of snow (denoting how important snow is in their world) filmmakers have almost as many words for different kinds of money.”

Michael Goodwin and Naomi Wise. On the Edge: The 
Life & Times of Francis Coppola (New York: 
William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1989).

ON TELEPHONE SCENES & FILM ACTING

“The test of any screen actor worth his salt is the
way he handles a telephone scene. Adolph Menjou’s
scene  in The Front Page was an example of this,
and of course, Luise Rainer’s in The Great Ziegfeld
won her an Oscar.”

                           Frank Tuttle

Quoted in Ladd: The Life, the Legend , the Legacy 
of Alan Ladd by Beverly Linet  (New York: Arbor House, 1979)

**

A RUSSIAN TAKE ON ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S FILM NOTORIOUS

“ One of the many pictures dealing with the secret 
of the atom, with the intention of turning away 
the attention of the public from the real problems 
connected  therewith.”

 Soviet Art (1947)

**



ON THE MOVIES & THE BIBLE

 Stanley Donen,
 Reading in the Bible about Onan,
 Thought: “Thanks to Joseph Breen,*
 I cannot bring that story to the screen.

**
*Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and 
the Production Code Administration Hardcover – 
November 2, 2007
by Thomas Doherty (Author)


ON TELEVISION & MOVIE WESTERNS

Wagon Train—
It does not take Einstein’s brain
To describe the plot:
Settlers are attacked; Indians shot.

**

ON ADAPTING BOOKS FOR THE MOVIES

Lewis, Jerry—
Acquiring film rights to I, The Jury,
Announced: “I shall play Mike Hammer.
Of course, I shall add  physical humor!”


3 Clerihews by Louis Phillips




**