BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: FILM #22

THE POWER OF MOVIES TO CHANGE LIVES

"In the middle of a school day in 1943, 
Harry Belafonte walked into a Harlem movie
theater and sat for a showing of the Humphrey
Bogart World War II film 'Sahara.' He struggled
with undiagnosed dyslexia and was blind in one 
eye, difficulties that contributed to him skipping
lessons and, eventually dropping out of high school.
The 16-year-old Belafonte was transfixed by Rex
Ingram, a black actor who played a Sudanese soldier.
One scene -- the camera zoomed in on Ingram's face
as he suffocated a Nazi soldier -- led the boy to
enlist in the United States Navy."

Reginald Dwayne Betts. "Harry Belafonte" in The New
York Times Magazine (December 31, 2023)
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BANNING POPCORN IN  MOVIE THEATERS

"The movie theater’s most popular concession wasn’t always associated with the movies—in fact, it used to be explicitly banned. Movie theaters were trying to appeal to a highbrow clientele, and didn't want to deal with the distracting trash of concessions—- or the distracting noise that snacking during a film would create. If those inside the theaters couldn't see the financial lure of popcorn, enterprising street vendors didn't miss a beat: they bought their own popping machines and sold popcorn outside the theaters to moviegoers before they entered the theater. As Smith explains, early movie theaters literally had signs hung outside their coatrooms, requesting that patrons check their popcorn with their coats. Popcorn, it seems, was the original clandestine movie snack."

Source: Smithsonian Magazine

WISETRIVIA (January 7, 2024)

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ON BEING A MOVIE STAR

Gary Cooper
Was not super
Pleased, & he was not forgiving
When I asked what he did for a living.

LJP
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VERONICA LAKE WAS WRONG IN HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY WHEN 
SHE DESCRIBED THE FINAL MOMENTS OF THIS GUN FOR HIRE

“…poster art and publicity shots, combined with
a thirty-year lapse, tend to play deceptive tricks 
on the memory. Veronica Lake writes, “Alan Ladd died 
in This Gun for Hire with his head resting in my lap,
and Variety would comment, “Better men have died with 
their heads in less pleasant places.”

Beverly Linet in her biography of Alan Ladd points
put that This Gun For Hire ends much differently
from the way Ms. Lake remembered it: Alan Ladd’s
character Raven “lies full of bullets in solitary 
splendor on an office couch as Lake stands clutching 
(ROBERT) Preston with romantic fervor.  With his last
breath, Raven asks for reassurance that she didn’t 
turn him in to the cops.”

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

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HOW SMART ARE THE STUDIO BOSSES IN HOLLYWOOD?

“Studio executives loved it (FINIAN’S RAINBOW),
and they decided to send it up against road-show blockbusters like Funny Girl and Camelot. To do this, they blew the 35mm original up to 70mm, going from a normal-screen ratio to a wide-screen ratio, and that meant  hey had to crop the top and bottom of the screen – and that meant you couldn’t see  Fred Astaire’s feet when he danced.”

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

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ON THE HURRICANE IN KEY LARGO (1941)

In the film, James Temple describes the 1935 hurricane that devastated Matacumbe Key--one of the worst hurricanes in U.S. history. Many of the victims of the storm were World War I veterans who were building the Florida Keys portion of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway. A portion of this highway is seen in the film's opening shots. The storm also produced the lowest-ever recorded barometric pressure over land in the North American continent.

 IdbM Trivia
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DECISION BEFORE DAWN (1951)

Based on a true story. Towards the end of the war, 
Allied military intelligence services did recruit, 
train and utilize German POWs to return to Germany 
and spy for them.

iDBm Trivia

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HOW WILLIAM FRIEDKIN DECIDED TO BECOME A FILM MAKER

" Friedkin decided he wanted to make movies after watching
 five consecutive showings of 'Citizen Kane' on a Saturday
 in a revival theater on the North Side of Chicago. He was
 in his mid-20s then and was working a director at a local
 TV station."

    Jonathan Mahler. "William Friedkin, 1935-2023 in The New
York Times Magazine (December 31, 2023)
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CHRISTOPHER TUCKER DESIGNS THE PROSTHETICS FOR THE ELEPHANT
MAN, STARRING JOHN HURT

'The film had already begun shooting by the time Tucker
started work, and very few people on the set had any
inkling of what to expect. 'My recollections of the day
when the makeup was first applied has got to be one of 
the most frightening days of my life,' Hurt later recounted.
The makeover took twelve hours. 'I was brought onto the set
to a stunned silence. If anybody had broken that silence
with the slightest giggle the film would be finished. John
Merrick as vulnerable as you could be.'"

Hua Hsu. "The Man Behind the Nose" in THE NEW YORKER
(December 4, 2023)
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RICHARD BURTON WORRIES ABOUT MONEY

"I worry enormously about the fact that we have no money."
 Richard Burton in his journals

My God! If Richard Burton worries about money,
What about poor no-account me? Burton, at least,
Had millions to toss around: diamonds for Liz,
Private jets, a chalet in Switzerland, & last,
But not least, job offers to see him thru any
Thin spots that might lay ahead. Show-biz
With all her charms lay down cunningly for him.
He was, to say the least, multi-blessed.
Wd money pack her bags & move out? Impossible. 
A million here, two million there, I guess
It all adds up. But suppose your life is
Nickels & dimes, free literary mags, phoney baloney
Checks that wouldn't cover the Welshman's bar bill?
I can teach him a thing or two: No money in the till.

Louis Phillips

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