BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #18

CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND GROUCHO MARX HAVE DINNER AT DAVE CHASEN'S


“Last night I had dinner with Chaplin at Dave Chasen’s and he was in high humor – unusual for him. He told me, among other things, that he’s not Jewish but wishes he were. He said he was part Scotch, English, and Gypsy, but I think that he isn’t quite sure what he is. He’s very happy about his movie { The Great Dictator} . He ran it yesterday for the Breen office – it runs over 13,000 feet and there wasn’t a foot cut out of it. He things it will be a big hit. He’s very odd. In some ways he has no sense of humor at all and then again it’s wonderful….”

Groucho Marx in a letter to Arthur Sheekman (September 5, 1940). The Groucho Letters (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967)

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HOW THE CRITIC  CLIVE JAMES LEARNED ABOUT
MARTIAL ARTS (SORT OF)

“My martial arts skills were learned from martial arts 
movies. Nowadays , having attained the status of black 
belt with good tassels and diamond clasp, I no longer 
need to watch these movies, but they’re everywhere and 
some of them are disguised as art, so they can sneak up
 on you. An art martial arts movies, or martial arts 
art movie, makes meaningless violence meaningful, or
 so we’re told.”

Clive James. “Flying People, Flagrant Piffle” in A Point
Of View (London: Picador, 2011)
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ALBERTO ZAMPERLA’S PUNCHBALL 

“He developed  the Zamperla Bull, an arcade machine to test a player’s strength as he tries to press the animal’s horns together, and Punchball, another carnival game, modeled on a punching bag, which was featured  in the film “Urban Cowboy” (1980), starring John Travolta and Debra Winger.”

“Alberto Zamperla, 71, an Amusement Park Impresario”
By San Roberts (The New York Times, December 29,2022)

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FILM NOTE #8652

Brahe, Tycho
Did not live long enough to see Psycho.
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ON ALFRED HITCHCOCK

I've heard people who've worked with Alfred Hitchcock 
say that it was not the most exhilarating experience, 
and, though I was only about fifteen, I felt something 
of that. Hitch had everything in his head before he 
went near the set: therefore one was rather moved around
 and manipulated, but, having said that, I liked him 
very much.

Nova Pilbeam
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Who is the youngest person to win Best Supporting Actress Oscar?

Tatum O'Neal She won Best Supporting Actress at the 1974 Oscars at the age of 10 for her role in Paper Moon.
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HOW HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA GOT ITS NAME

In 1886, Harvey Henderson Wilcox, a rich prohibitionist 
from Kansas, and his wife, Daeida, purchased 120 acres 
of apricot and fig groves near the Cahuenga Pass at $150
 an acre. Harvey, an inveterate businessman, realized he
 could make a lot of money by subdividing the land and 
selling the lots for $1,000 a pop. And so the Wilcox subdivision, as Hollywood was then known, was born.
A year later, on a train journey back to Ohio, Daeida 
Wilcox befriended a fellow wealthy traveler who just 
happened to own a fine estate in Illinois. Its name was Hollywood. The story goes that Daeida was so taken with 
the name that upon her return to California she encouraged Harvey to apply the name to their property. On February 1, 
1887, the name was immortalized when Harvey filed a 
subdivision map to the Los Angeles County recorder's 
office, with the name “Hollywood.”


California Holly: How Hollywood Didn't Get its Name | Natural History Museum (nhm.org)

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Preview YouTube video Albert Einstein Driving a Flying Car 1931


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AVA GARDNER & M-G-M’S MORAL CLAUSE

On signing a contract with M-G-M: “I solemnly agreed to conduct myself  ‘with due regard to public conventions &]
morals’ and not ‘do or commit any act or thing that will
degrade her in society, or bring her into public hatred, contempt, scorn, or ridicule, that will tend to shock, insult, or offend the community or ridicule public morals or decency, or prejudice the producer or the motion picture industry in general.’ My God, if we so much as were photographed in a nightclub with a cigarette, the studio would insist that it be airbrushed out.”

Ava Gardner. Ava: My Story (New York: Bantam Books, 1990)

WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER HAS APPEARED IN MORE FILMS THAN ANY OTHER?

T.Campbell, editor of Wordplay, has done cosiderable 
research to answer the above question. He concludes:

"Looking at this more closely, I see that Sherlock Holmes' record is for film and TV combined. The true record-holder for films only, according to that piece, is Dracula!

Someone really should update these, anyway. I've seen lots of both characters in the years since then, but it's always possible those numbers have changed since 2012. I may have to look into this further.
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FORREST TUCKER
Forrest Tucker
Sd to this movie star, "Pucker
Up, Babe, I'm going to give you a kiss you'll
Never forget. " The movie star? Francis, the Talking Mule
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LJP