BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #19

LUPE VELEZ & HER MARRIAGE TO JOHNNY WEISMULLER

"According to biographer Michelle Vogel, Vélez’s English was often fouled up in the interviews to fit a Mexican stereotype. Her scripts were often written in broken English as well, prompting her to once demand: “Who is this so- and- so who writes this stuff? What do you think I am? You write this in English!” But despite her personal embarrassment, in interviews she often made a joke out of her allegedly poor language skills. “Everybody says, ‘Why don’t you learn better English, Lupe deeah?’ So I answer, ‘I was married to a guy who can only say, ‘Me Tarzan, you Jane. How can I learn English from heem?’”


The Turbulent Life and Tragic Death of “Mexican Spitfire” Lupe Velez.
 She shot at Gary Cooper. She threatened to slit Norma Shearer’s throat. 
Meet Lupe Velez by Hadley Meares in Los Angeles Magazine ( February 8, 2018)
**

1939 -- THE HIGHEST PAID PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES

"In 1939, when two-thirds of all American families made 
between  $1,000 and  $2,000 a year, Cooper surpassed 
the heads of IBM, Lever Brothers and General Motors, 
and earned $482,826, the highest salary in the United 
States."

 Jeffrey Meyers. Gary Cooper: American Hero. New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1998.
**
 
W.C. FIELDS COULD NOT BEAR TO WATCH CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S FILMS

"...Fields was incapable of watching him (CHAPLIN) perform 
for more than a few minutes. The virtuosity
 of the little fellow's pantomime caused Field's to suffer  horribly."
...

"...asked what he thought of Chaplin's work, he said, "The son of a bitch is a ballet dancer."
 "He's pretty funny, don't you think?"  his companion went on doggedly.
 "He's the best ballet dancer that ever lived," said Fields, 'and if I get a good chance I'll kill him with my bare hands."

Robert Lewis Taylor. W.C. Fields: His Follies and Fortunes
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1949)

**
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.
**

THE FIRST PUBLIC FILM SCREENING

" The first official theater showing silent films opened in 1905 in Pittsburgh, called the Nickelodeon after the 5-cent price of admission. Before the theatre, motion pictures were more of a traveling exhibit. They were shown in between acts at vaudeville shows, or as quick shorts before other performances. Within months after the first theater opened, more than a dozen more nickelodeons opened throughout Pittsburgh; within two years, 8,000 theaters dotted the country."

History Quiz Website --June 13, 2023

**

 THE INFLUENCE OF COWBOY STAR KEN MAYNARD
WHO WROTE A HORSE NAMED TARZAN

"Prince Norodom Sihanouk, former ruler of Cambodia, idolized Maynard. He said, "He was my idol as a cowboy 'dispenser of justice.' He had an incomparably beautiful white horse who was as intelligent as a man and behaved like an angel." Sihanouk never missed a Maynard movie in Phnom Penh, and when his father bought him two horses, "I could practice horse riding 'a la cowboy.'"
•	
•	iMBd Trivia -- Ken Maynard
	
**
WHY COMING ATTRACTIONS ARE CALLED TRAILERS

Movie previews are called “trailers” because they were originally shown after the movie. In the early days of moviegoing, you didn’t just buy a ticket for one feature-length film and leave once the credits started rolling. You were instead treated to a mix of shorts, newsreels, cartoons, and, eventually, trailers — which, per their name, played after the movie rather than before — with people coming and going throughout the day. The idea for trailers came from Nils Granlund, who in addition to being a business manager for 
movie theaters worked as a producer on Broadway, which 
explains why the first trailer was actually for a play: 
1913’s The Pleasure Seekers. Today there are production 
houses that exclusively make trailers and are handsomely rewarded for their efforts, sometimes to the tune of 
millions of dollars.

https://www.interestingfacts.com/everyday-mysteries/ZJ9FVSc2ZwAH8m5U
**
WALTER MATTHAU

Walter Matthau
Did not star in Brother, Where Art Thou,
But he had many other things to thankful for.
(I have decided not to write a line four.)

PIPER LAURIE

Laurie, Piper--
I see in the newspaper
That she appeared in the film Carrie.
Or am I confusing her Madam Curie?

HUMPHREY BOGART

Humphrey Bogart (or Bogie),
When Lauren Bacall asked him to buy an antique bougie,
Did not buy it because
He did not know what a bougie was.

LJP