BITS & PLACES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:FILM #19

"I wonder what you'd look like dressed."
           Jane to Tarzan in Tarzan the Ape Man
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HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE SUITED FOR SHOW BUSINESS

Warner Baxter claimed to have an early pre-disposition toward show business: "I discovered a boy a block away who would eat worms and swallow flies for a penny. For one-third of the profits, I exhibited him in a tent." 
iDMb 
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A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MAE WEST

"A plumber's idea of Cleopatra" 
                        -- W.C. Fields
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THE FIRST TELEVISION GAG ON FILM-- in INTERNATIONAL HOUSE

"So, granted a free hand, Fields walked into a room where a television set was turned on, and saw  (RUDY) Vallee on the screen, and without hesitation pulled out a revolver and shot him, the crooner falling dead instantly. It was the first television joke of a kind that is still growing strong."


Robert Lewis Taylor. W.C. Fields: His Follies & Fortunes 
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1949)

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 LEAVE 'EM HANGING

"Hang" ‘Em High, starring Clint Eastwood, is loosely based on Homer Croy’s book, He Hanged Them High. While the film’s connection to Homer Croy’s book is uncredited, there are numerous similarities between the film and the story by Croy; including the title of the two works, certain reoccurring terminology (the phrase ‘Tumbleweed wagon”), and the characterization of the judge. Significant for its violent and stylized view of the executions, Hang ‘Em High is notable in its visual presentation and mixed message regarding frontier justice.
    As in Croy’s book, the Judge character is in control of the executions, nodding at the hangman to begin the execution. While Judge Parker never attended any of the executions that occurred during his tenure, Hang ‘Em High not only places him at the scene, but also actively involves him, setting up the mythology of the Judge standing at the window, watching the executions out of a sense of duty.
Further reinforcing the mythology established in the narrative of He Hanged Them High, a condensed version of the novel appeared in True magazine in April of 1952. Accompanying the article was an illustration depicting an angry, absorbed judge, looking out his window to the gallows featuring six hanging nooses and a large crowd. It is significant to note that scenes almost identical to this illustration are used in the film, demonstrating the power of the imagery contained in Croy’s book.
In the film, the hangings are all depicted as public, with children sitting on a fence watching and a massive crowd in attendance. The federal court’s role is played down, accentuating the Judge’s obsession with ridding the land 
of bad men.

https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/photosmultimedia/hang_em_high.htm#:~:text=Hang%20'Em%20High%20is%20typical,on%20the%20Fort%20Smith%20story.
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HOW RAY MILLAND LEARNED TO ACT

"The star says he learned to act by going to the movies 
to watch Frederic March on the screen. 'I admired the frank theatricalism of March and still do. His overacting is admirable,' Milland says. From Walter Huston and Edward G. Robinson he learned economy of expression. 'Learning to act is hard. In one picture I spent two full days trying to walk naturally through a door." Milland likes to go to movies, 
but he still 'shudders' to see himself on the screen..."
 
CURRENT BIOGRAPHY , 1946
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ASIAN ACTORS IN HOLLYWOOD 1920's to late in the 20th Century

"Miscegenation was illegal on the screen and off. A Chinese person or any peerson of color could not
be shown kissing someone white. Hollywood turned instead to actors of European descent in yellowface
to play Asian roles.

Casey Schwartz. "Reviled, Revered and Now Researched," about Anna Mae Wong in The New York Times
(August 22, 2023).

l. See Mickey Rooney's embarassing imitation of an Asian in Breakjfast at Tiffanys (1961).Beyond
cringeworthy.

2. " ... the Honolulu-based (CHARLIE)  Chan was played by (in order of appearance) George Kuwa (1885-1931), Sojin Kamiyama (1884-1954), E. L. Park (1876-1948), Warner Oland (1879-1938), Manuel Arbo (1898-1973), Sidney Toler (1874-1947), Roland Winters (1904-1989), Ross Martin (1920-1981), and Peter Ustinov (1921-2004).""
3. The main players in the 1937 film of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, Paul Muni, Luise Rainer,Walter 
Connolly et.al. played Chinese characters.
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ON SHOOTING THE GRAVEYARD SCENE IN SHANE

"In the funeral scene, the dog consistently refused to 
look into the grave. Finally, director George Stevens 
had the dog's trainer lie down in the bottom of the grave,
 and the dog played his part ably. The coffin (loaded 
with rocks for appropriate effect) was then lowered 
into the grave, but when the harmonica player began to 
play "Dixie" spontaneously, the crew was so moved by 
the scene that they began shoveling dirt into the grave
 before remembering the dog's trainer was still there."

iDMb Trivia -"Shane"

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A COARSE  COMMON POEM

In the film version of Great Expectations
When the  coarse common boy
Cared for by his sister
& a coarse common blacksmith
Blows his nose into a handkerchief,
I reach for my handkerchief
& blow my nose.
Such is the power of art.


Louis Phillips