Addle an Addict and Baffle a Buff
HOLLYWOOD BABBLE ON
( stars gossip about other *S*T*A*R*S* )The Deborah Kerr Fellowship League - a Foundation for the Performing Arts
( Those Neon Lights and Film Journals ) DOWN - FROM - THE - ATTIC
Post Office Box 10242
Albany, New York
12201 Est., Brooklyn, N.Y. 1956 Having a pet in your life is a complete LifeTime commitment
from birth and adoption, through sickness and health . . .
and so on - and so on - etc., etc., etc! ZeeNA
2000 - born in Rensselaer County, one of several loved pets of Barbara Jean
M O L L E E -
born in Albany, N.Y. on July 1st, 1996 - another loved pet of Barbara Jean
( I'm told she's her favourite - I've had the pleasure to romp with this
magnificent animal in the meadows, and I can, certainly, see why she's so loved ).
" This cousin, a truck driver, had decided to get a dog for protection.
As she inspected a likely candidate, the trainer told her, ' She doesn't like
men.' P e r f e c t, the cousin thought, and took the dog. Then one day she was approached by two
men in a parking lot, and she watched to see how her canine bodyguard
would react. Soon it became clear that the trainer wasn't kidding.
As the men got closer, the dog ran under the nearest car."
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TM Photo from the Hugh Miles-Hutchinsen/Hiller Collection c2003 All Rights Retained Hereto These JOURNALS - (binders) - are a telling journey into the frozen moments from the film career of Deborah Kerr and her wonderful movies and its stars. Bright images, humorous, striking poses for any fan and a nostolgia buff. Many of these poses have not been seen since the $ .15 cent subway fare - re-live these moments and MILDSTONES of all those memorable yesterdays ! - Film Portrayals To Stir the Soul - RED RIVER - August 16th, 1948 Life Magazine
p. 73 - 76 Montgomery Clift
Eastern broker's son makes fine cowhand in a new superwestern The amiable young man is licking a hand-rolled cigaret while posing in cowboy costume during filming of "Red River." Montgomery Clift was born in Omaha, but he is an easterner, the son of a New York stockbroker, and when his first Hollywood vehicle made him a cowboy, he had to take intensive lessons in horsemanship, whipping out six-shooters and the brutal infighting favored in westerns. He brought to this stereotyped role the same youthful, good-humored intelligence that audiences already have seen in his second picture (but first to be released), The Search (Life, April 5th). Montgomery went on the stage 14 years ago when he was 14 years old. He was on Broadway more or less steadily from then on until in 1945 Producer-Director Howard Hawks saw him in Tennessee Williams' play You Touched Me! Within a few months he was in blue jeans and yahooing at Hollywood's rented steers. Montgomery Clift's unusual performance in Red River is one of several features which makes the movie an outstanding western. A vehicle that gives its heroes a hard, fast ride in the mid-19th Century' s first cattle drive up the Chisholm Trail, it jolts them rapidly through Indiana battles, cattle stampedes and deadly gun duels before it reaches its climax in an unusually ferocious fight between Clift and John Wayne, who plays his tyrannical foster father. Red River's plot has the merit of utter simplicity, its events seem genuine, its cowhands real - they spend their time in the saddle, away from the customary bars. Only near the end does its heroine appear. She is Joanne Dru, like Clift (and, for that matter, Lauren Bacall, Ella Raines and Jane Russell) a discovery of Director Howard Hawks. Hawks was more fortunate with his cast than with his costs. Red River was originally budgeted at 1,750,000, a high figure even for a high-class "oater." Then, with 6,000 cattle rented at a cost of 10 dollars a head a day, busy or idle. Hawks sat through weeks of rain on location in Arizona. Final cost: 3,200,000. MAJOR BARBARA - 1941 . . . This movie is so rich; the mood is so infectious. There is something about a black and white motion picture that makes for better film noir - this is that kind of film which makes it so rewarding from begining to end - one can get busy mentally that you never miss the colour. A lot of talent has gone into this film about a Salvation Army Major, from a play by George Bernard Shaw, who is disillusioned when her Mission accepts a fat check from her father, a wealthy munutions manufacturer of wartime supplies. The acting by all, including a handsom Rex Harrison, is STUPENDOUS ! I'm told just one of the reasons to see this GBS film again is to see Deborah Kerr - in her first appearance playing a Salvation Army lass - get clipped in the jaw and hair janked by the powerful actor, Robert Newton (he is so perfect with everything he has been given to work with in his film career). Robert Morley delivers his lines with just the proper balance of cynicism and charm . . . As for Wendy Hiller, her portrayal of Major Barbara is the tops - I believe even better than her Academy Award-winning performance in the later, 1958s, SEPARATE TABLES. "Hatter's CASTLE" - 1941 . . . November 10th, 1998 - Gareth Hughes from London, England, writes:
This has all the trappings of a classic melodrama - family disputes, unwanted pregnancy, banishment, financial ruin, adultery, rape and suicide. Yet the film also has overtones of tragedy as the hatter's tragic flaws lead him to lose his family, his castle and ultimately his life.
The film uses techniques of German expressionist cinema: light and shadows, obtuse camera angles etc, and the hatter is clearly identified as a despotic tyrant. If we accept this parallel, his ultimate downfall is a matter for rejoicing and indeed the film ends on a high note as his daughter and the Doctor leave the dark church and enter into the light. "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" - 1943 . . . The "COLONEL BLIMP" of the title is Brigadier-General Sir Clive Wynne-Candy, portrayed by Roger Livesey in probably his best ever role. The film is almost entirely in flashback, starting with the end of his military career when he, still believing that gentlemanly conduct is a requirement for an officer, is beaten in an exercise by the underhand tactics of a much younger man. He is seeing the light much later than his German friend (and former duelling opponent) Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff, played to perfection by Anton Walbrook, who has escaped from Nazi Germany. Apart from Walbrook and Livesey, Deborah Kerr is the other link throughout the story, playing three very different young women, one of whom becomes Theo's wife, one Clive's wife and one the older Clive's driver.
Add to that a cast which includes as bit-parts such greats as Valentine Dyall, A.E.Matthews, John Laurie and Felix Aylmer and this cinema is one of the great films of all time. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The film is structured in three acts set in the aftermath of the Boer War, the first world was and the present (at the time of making the film) the height of the 2nd World War. But it is not just an examination of these conflicts. Its real power lies in Candy's pursuit of his ideal woman throughout each of these stages. All three woman are played beautifully by Deborah Kerr who never surpasses the power of her performance in this film.
The other constant in the film is Anton Walbrooks character of the sympathetic German with whom Candy builds a lifelong friendship and ultimately is probably Candy's only ever really satisfying relationship throughout his life.
It deals with the moral complexities of war in a way that will have you debating the issues in your mind long after you have seen the film. This particular theme reaches its climax towards the end of the film when Candy is "retired" by the war ministry probably as a result of his outdated approach to strategy for the 2nd World war. Anton Walbrook then delivers a setpiece speech which starkly outlines the evils of Nazism and the necessity to use any means to defeat it for the sake of freedom and humanity for coming generations.
Colonel Blimp with its pristine performances, absorbing plot, dazzling colour photography and economic flawless script easily gives Citizen Kane a good run for its money as the best film of all time. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* This film was, supposedly, produced in 1943 as British propaganda. It is noteworthy that even Churchill could not suppress exhibition of this film when he was concerned at its message. That message embraced loyalty and steadfastness, honesty, democracy, realism and fairness. It is about the importance of relationships that transcend nationality. It is about love, between woman and man, and as a general concept. It is about being resolute and pregmatic in conflict and generous in victory. It recognizes the value of individuals beyond the categories in which they find themselves. If this film can be represented as British propaganda, then no one need be ashamed to be British.
This film transcends its format and, perhaps, the intentions with which it was produced. It is another wonderful surprise from the Archers which everyone should see.
I love this film because it asks more questions than it answers. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Almost successfully banned by Sir Winston Churchill for its nostalgic background glance at old England, Colonel Blimp is possibly the most graceful, humorous and moving tribute to the former British way. If only Clive Candy "me old steeplechaser" and his kind survived still. An early British venture into the new Technicolor process, "Blimp" is an unmitigated triumph. The pastel blue of the Turkish baths and the pinks and reds of the British Embassy are a feast for the eye. And it is hard to think of many finer cinematic moments than Edith's appearance at the hospital window, her face dappled by leaf shadows and her vivid scarlet belt radiant with colour.
A surprisingly relevant and modern film, even more than 50+ years after its release. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* See the wartime film that Churchill banned. The extraordinary partnership of Powell and Pressburger brought this affectionate look at the British Military at the height of WWII. Telling the tale of an old warrior who had fought with vigour and honour all his life but must now face the evils of Nazism. Roger Livesey ably portrays the gradual transformation from 1890s firebrand to 1940s general. Deborah Kerr is a joy as she plays the three women he is fascinated by. Anton Walbrook splendidly remains the constant friend and voice of common sense in a changing world.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* In 1943 Gary Cooper went on a five-week tour of American bases in New Guinea. The movie actor had little he could perform on a stage beyond striking an unaffected pose and reciting Lou Gehrig's farewell speech. That invaliably brought the men to tears, then to their feet in inspired applause. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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Deborah Kerr is perhaps the most beloved and charming screen actress to come to Hollywood from the United Kingdom during the golden age of cinema. By the 1940s, Ms. Kerr's stature as an actress grew quickly and she soon became a top-billed leading lady in motion pictures made in England. By the 1950s, she was one of Hollywood's elite A-list stars. Ms. Kerr's natural grace and articulate voice made her peerless in portraying demure, refined, upper-class characters in dramatic roles. She also turned in memorable performances in comedic roles . . . THE GRASS IS GREENER
PERFECT STRANGERS
PLEASE BELIEVE ME
DREAM WIFE
PRUDENCE AND THE PILL
and in several films involving complex sexual scenarios with the male leads . . .
KING SOLOMON'S MINES
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
TEA AND SYMPATHY
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON
SEPARATE TABLES
She was awarded a Golden Globe for THE KING AND I in 1957 and in 1959 for the World Film Favorite Female. In 1994 she received an Academy Award for LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT.
I dated Warren Beatty. It was more publicity than I bargained for. But not so fulfilling. He is like a masculine dumb blonde
---- Anouk Aimee Cary Grant had charm, and that was about all. He was cold, paranoid, and cheap. You know who else was very cheap? Gable. They must have had wretchedly poor childhoods. Now, these two were not by any means close friends, but every December twenty-sixth, they called each other on the telephone and arranged to meet that same week so they could exchange any monogrammed gifts they had received which they didn't want, because they shared the same initials! ---- Capucine John Gielgud is the biggest gossip I know, and I know several. He's a fabulous talent, has a magnificent voice, and he's the first to admit that he is selfish and egocentric. How refreshing! ---- Sir Ralph Richardson Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow. ---- Noal Coward Natalie Wood will be sensational in Gypsy. She plays a stripper. ---- Rosalind Russell I've never known anyone in Hollywood as talkative as Geraldine Page. I suppose that is why she lives in New York. With theatre, you get to repeat yourself every night.
---- Laurence Harvey
The way I heard it, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Joan Crawford was on the set, in her chair, knitting. Someone rushed over to the set and yelled, "The Japanese have destroyed Pearl Harbor!" Joan looked up and said, "Oh, dear. Who was she?"
---- Mary Astor
John Gielgud is so camp! When he took home his Oscar for Arthur, he said, "Just what I've always wanted - a naked man in my rumpus room."
---- Liberace
Jeremy Irons has no sex appeal. And not much sex, either. He's perfect for horror movies. Or science-fiction. He's an iceberg with an accent.
---- Andy Warhol
When I was new in Hollywood, good manners were stressed. We were expected to be polite in public. That's all gone. Now, someone like Alec Baldwin behaves like a spoiled brat whenever he feels like it. Like, what's he so angry about? He's young, handsom, rich, famous. Isn't that enough?
---- Anthony Perkins
Mae West - she's a legend in her own mind.
---- Jayne Mansfield
I've always thought this description suited us best: Louella Parsons is a reporter trying to be a ham; Hedda Hopper is a ham trying to be a reporter.
---- Hedda Hopper
We don't see each other anymore. Lana's become a recluse. No one sees her. She thinks absence will make the public's heart grow fonder. All absence does is make people think you're dead.
---- Ava Gardner
I asked Bette Davis if she'd ever wanted to meet the queen (of England). She snaped at me. "What for? I am a queen." I wasn't going to argue with her!
----Natalie Wood
I couldn't believe it when I heard Susan Hayward tried to take her own life. That is one impulse I have never understood. To want to kill someone, for a second, yes. To kill oneself, never!
---- Agnes Moorehead
Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. They were bitches!
---- Elizabeth Taylor
The most talented actress? Well, don't go for the obvious. Katharine Hepburn may have four Oscars, but Walter Brennan had three [supporting]. the woman's a purseful of mannerisms and gaudy affectations. Have you caught her trying to act all frilly-feminine? it's piteous. I think she's won awards for being such an independent role model, not for her acting prowess. When did she last play a vllain? Or a tipical female? She doesn't act, she emotes.
---- Estelle Winwood
The most beautiful woman stars are Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Dolores Del Rio, and Hedy Lamarr. Not in any special order.
---- Dame Flora Robson
Deborah Kerr is nice . . . . Greer Garson is nice, and Julie Andrews and . . . . All the English actresses are so damned nice! Except Hayley Mills. Thank God.
John Huston
I believe it's Louis B. Mayer or Samuel Goldwyn who described Greer Garson as a perfect lady. Or was that Deborah Kerr? But a perfect lady is hardly an exciting star, or an enduring one. It is the bitches who last the longest, because they are the most intriguing!
---- Fernando Lamas
Beats me why Eleanor Parker was through by the time she was forty. She had everything - looks, talent, character, Oscar nominations. It's one of those situations where the only logical answer to the question W H Y didn't she become a bigger star? Must be that she refused to sleep with some mogul or top producer. Nothing else would make sense.
---- Stephen Boyd
We had personalities then . . . . Carmen Miranda was colorful in black-and-white!
---- Betty Grable
Charles Laughton was not handsome. But I resented it when people called me "the bride of Frankenstein" behind my back. For Charles did not appear in my most famous film, The Bride of Frankenstein.
---- Elsa Lanchester
Janet Leigh was years ago! Nowadays I wouldn't be caught dead married to a woman old enough to be my wife!
---- Tony Curtis
I did have one homosexual husband. At least. Guthrie McClintic. He was an extremely famous Broadway producer who loved his fellow man - often. I wasn't the only actress he married. He married Katharine Cornell. But it was differnt for her than me - like her husband, she was attracted to her own kind. You know: Birds of a feather fornicate together.
---- Estelle Winwood
If Clark had one inch less, he'd be the "queen of Hollywood" instead of "the king."
---- Carole Lombard, Gable's third wife
Some famous wit said that my wife, Esther Williams, is a star only when she is wet, He is all wet! Another rumor is that I made Esther give up her career when we got married. That is a lie! She was already washed up when we got married.
---- Fernando Lamas
I fell in love with Cary Grant . . . . He did not reciprocate the emotion, and that disappointed me. Then I spoke with one of his ex-wives, whom I prefer not to name, and she revealed that he is not prone to falling in love with, let us say, actresses . . . . Cary and I becme good friends. Not close friends, because he doesn't let you come too close. If we had gotten married, I doubt he would have let me get too close . . . . It is better to have a crush on Cary Grant than to have him for a husband. A crush allows you to keep our fantasies . . . .
---- Ingrid Bergman
Michael Wilding and I started as husband and wife, but it ended like brother and sister.
---- Elizabeth Taylor
George C. Scott. Fine actor. Big drinker. Wife beater. What else do you want to know?
---- Colleen Dewhurst
The unfortunate truth is, in this town men and women do compete . . . . The happiest marriage I've seen in Hollywood is Billy Haines and Jimmy Shields.
---- Joan Crawford
Rex [Harrison] is a very attentive husband. He's inclined to be somewhat too protective, but it's terribly flattering.
---- Kay Kendall
Janet Gaynor and I were always receiving wedding-anniversary presents in the mail, care of the studio. The fans didn't even know what date our anniversary fell on, which is logical, since we were never married!
---- Charles Farrell, Gaynor's frequent costar
You cannot believe how many letters the studio received over the years, uging that it pressure Greer Garson and myself into marriage! Some even urged that we divorce our respective spouses in order to be free to marry each other . . . . That's when I learned that "fan" is short for fanatic."
---- Walter Pidgeon, Garson's frequent costar
Why don't you put that in the headline: "He Only Did Three [movies] With Doris [Day]!" Set a lot of weople straight.
---- Rock Hudson
Bea's passion [in Hollywood] was directed at Greta Garbo, the first woman she'd ever seen who wore slacks in public.
---- Sheilah Graham
Garbo and I starred in Grand Hotel, but we had no scenes together. Alas. For her, and her alone, I could have been a lesbian.
---- Joan Crawford
Everyone in New York City knows that Tony Perkins's marriage is just a front. He still has male lovers . . . . Tony couldn't settle down with another guy because he's insecure and craves kinky affairs, not a genuine or lasting relationship. Tony isn't exactly Norman Bates [of Psycho], but he's awfully kinky . . . .
---- Halston
I'd always heard around town that Robert Taylor was bisexual, that his marriage to Barbara Stanwyck was arranged, and that she was also gay. So when I met Taylor, I figured we'd have something in common, right? Wrong! I was open, he was not only closeted, he was right wing and a witch-hunter, not at all friendly or honest or even smiling.
---- Sal Mineo
[Filming The Man Who Would Be King]: We were in this little town on the edge of the Sahara, and there was nothing to do at night except go to this disco. But it was all men dancing with men because women weren't allowed out at night. So we're standing at the bar, watching all these guys dancing, when Sean [Connery] leans over and says to me, "Do you mind if I dance with your driver? Mine's too ugly."
---- Michael Caine
Noel[Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, "Who is it?" I lowered my voice and said, "Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?" He answered, "Just a minute, I'll ask him."
---- Beatrice Lillie
We lived in fear of an expose, or even one small remark, a veiled suggestion that someone was homosexual. Such a remark would have caused an earthquake at the studio . . . . The amazing thing is that Rock [Hudson], as big as he became, was never nailed. It made one speculate that Rock had an angel on his shoulder . . . . He seemed under supernatural protection.
---- George Nader
Of course I knew Laurence Olivier and Danny Kaye were having a long-term affair. So did all of London. So did their wives. Why is America always the last to know?
---- Peggy Ashcroft
Listen, the love between two men is beautiful. I'd love to be between, say, Tyrone Power and Montgomery Clift . . . . Hell, I was born the wrong gender!
---- Nancy Walker
I knew right away that Rock Hudson was gay when he did not fall in love with me.
---- Gina Lollobrigida
http://www.catsinternational.org
http://www.21cats.org
http://www.hep.umn.edu/~jenny/potshots.html
http://www.mygaydar.com
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Here's an October, 1952 scoop from Hedda Hopper . . .
Had quite a good time at the Press preview of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA. The audience loved Stewart Granger who has become our number one swashbuckler these days. James Mason got lots of praise, too, for being such an engaging villain - "so ruthless, but so charming," daid a woman sitting next to me. I thought I caught a glimps of Pamela in the lobby but did not see James around.
Chatted with Walter Plunkett who designed the lovely costumes. Speaking of Deborah Kerr, who co-stars, Plunkett said, "It's always an inspiration to design gowns for Deborah - she's such a beauty." Dashed over to Romanoff's where everyone discussed the picture between dances.
" QUOTABLE " QUOTES
"A new Scittish import, Deborah Kerr, she seems so at home when we visited recently - she has a green thumb - gardening is her pet hobby; she has a lovely place up high overlooking the Pacific ocean and so many old trees and wonderful flowers and shrubs - and everything blooms for her . . . "
------- Hedda Hopper
"I WASN'T ever nervous about being a good actress. I was challenged by it . . . I was in therapy for nine years, and to me that was the greatest acting class I could ever get, because it got me down to the barest essentials, to the point of being fearless. I mean, therapy is sort of the basis for understanding your ego. And then trying to get around it somehow. I've had an amazing career. I'm not looking to knock anybody's socks off. And guess what you get when you do a little less? You get to have a real life. That's a reward, right there."
------ Goldie Hawn
in the December, 2003 issue of Good Housekeeping
JOHN HUSTON - King Rebel
By William F. Nolan
Chapter 17
MISERY AND MIRTH IN MISMALOYA
In assembling the outrageously variegated cast and crew for The Night of the Iguana, John Huston surpassed himself. The tangled webwork of marital inter-relationships which Huston fostered with Iguana was unique in cinema history, and will doubtless never quite be matched in the future.
There was Richard Burton, fresh from "Cleopatra" via Wales and Shakespeare, who was accompanied by Cleo herself, Liz Taylor, who was still wed to her late husband's pal, Eddie Fisher. (Eddie didn't show up in Mexico, nor did Mrs. Sybil Burton, which was one of many blessings). Burton was the star of Iguana; Liz was there to make sure he didn't involve himself with his three female co-stars: Ava Gardner, Sue Lyon and Deborah Kerr. Ava fresh from Madrid and bullfighters, along with her brother-in-law, her two maids, a secretary-accountant, and her Hollywood hair stylist, romped about with Tony, a local beach boy, in her 15,000 Ferrari. Now single, she had once been married to Artie Shaw, whose current bride was John Huston's last ex-wife, Evelyn Keyes. Miss Kerr's second husband, Peter Viertel, was not only Huston's out-of-favor ex-scripter, but had once been "very taken" with Miss Gardner in Europe. Sue Lyon, cinema's celebrated Lolita, entertained her boy friend (and fiance) Hampton Fancher III, whose current wife was sharing location quarters with Sue's mother. Then there was Skip Ward - playing Sue's love interest in Iguana - whose wife was miffed at him because his girl friend, Julie Payne, had come down to Mexico to say hello. Author Budd Schulberg was very much onscene, having once been the husband of Virginia Ray, who had married and divorced Viertel before he linked up with Deborah Kerr, after she left her first husband. Herb Caen was there with his wife - and Burton's agent, Hugh French, was accompanied by his assistant, Michael Wilding, who was one of Liz Taylor's numerous legal mates. Mike was there to publicize Burton who was thinking about marrying his (Wilding's) ex-wife. Then there was the play's author, Tennessee Williams, with Freddy, his quiet friend, and GiGi, a tiny dog prone to Mexican sunstroke. Tennessee had never married anybody.
Huston's chief photographer, Gabriel Figueroa, was normally a quiet, sensitive man - but when he drank (and in Mexico everyone drinks) he turned into an opera singer of considerable lung power; shutting him up, once he began singing, was an all but impossible task.
In all, 130 members of the Iguana troupe would have to adjust to one another - not including the horde of reporters and photographers due to decend on the location site during the months of filming in Mexico.
Huston duly presented six gold-plated derringers to Stark, Burton, Sue, Liz, Ava and Deborah Kerr. Each gun came in a velvet-lined box, containing five golden bullets - which were engraved with the names of the other five recipients. Wisely, Huston had seen to it that none of the bullets carried h i s name.
The salary of each Iguana star reflected his or her box-office worth. Burton was getting 500,000; Gardner, 400,000; Kerr, 250,000; Sue Lyon, 75,000. When a reporter asked Miss Lyon why she didn't demand more, based on her success as Lolita, she grumpily replied: "Remember, I'm only 17! The rest of these people are ancient! I'm not going to let Hollywood ruin me the way it's ruined Liz Taylor, Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner!" Sue's mother proudly told a reporter: "Sue's so intellectual! I don't know how she got so intellectual. None of my other children are that way."
The original locale of The Night of the Iguana, as written by Tennessee Williams, was Acapulco - but when someone suggested to John that he should film the story there he snorted in disgust. Huston wanted a location which would reflect the torment of his characters - and he chose Puerto Vallarta and Mismaloya, on the rocky, heat-plagued west coast of Mexico. Puerto Vallarta was a small village in which electricity was a new-found luxury, while Mismaloya - recalled from a long-ago Huston vacation - provided the ultimate in primative living; surrounded by a thick rain-forest, unmarked on maps of Mexico, it could only be reached via dugout canoe, and was a hotbed of insects and lizards. Prior to the arrival of Huston's Circus, its only inhabitants were 100 Tarascan Indians.
The busy director had to use his charms on Deborah Kerr, whose usual good nature was finally ruffled during a sequence in which the set directions kept changing. "As I walk off, would you like me to balance a glass of water on my nose?" she flared. Huston smiled gently. "By all means, Deborah - if you feel it will help the scene."
this broke the tension, and they laughed together. Miss Kerr, once again her tranqquil self, was jotting down all that happened in a diary. In the midst of an entry one evening, she turned to Huston (who was absorbed in his gin hand) and said: "I can't help wondering what would happen if the rest of the world got wiped out by an atomic war - with us Iguana people as the only survivors. I suppose we'd have to re-populate the globe. The result would be interesting, wouldn't it?"
Huston murmured a slow yes-dear-it-would reply, intent on his cards. Sue Lyon yawned. "I get so tired of being a glamorous star," she sniffed. "Don't give us any of that crap, sweetie," put in Ava. "Not after the way you were hogging the camera in my scenes today."
"Now, now, dears . . . " murmured Huston.
Deborah sighed deeply and continued her diary.
JOHN HUSTON: A Pictorial Treasury of his Films by Romano Tozzi p. 130-134
John Huston became involved in making CASINO ROYALE - 1967, that big, overblown extravaganza that was intended to be the ultimate in wack spy spoofs. But then Casino Royale can't really be called a Huston picture since he was merely one of five directors who worked on various segments of it. Huston also did a little uncredited writing on the film.
The novel Casino Royale was one of a series of extraordinarily popular James Bond spy thrillers written by Sir Ian Fleming. Several of them had already been turned into fabulously successful movies starring Sir Sean connery as Secret Agent 007. When producer Charles K. Feldman bought the rights to Casino Royale, he planned to make a reasonably faithful version of it with connery in his usual leading role. But the rights to the other Fleming stories were owned by rival producers who also had Connery under contract. Feldman was unable to negotiate a co-production deal. When he couldn't get Connery, Feldman decided to try something new. He would retain only one or two sequences from the novel and incorporate six different James Bonds into his screenplay. A glittering array of stars and featured players (some playing only brief bits) were involved in it, as well as five different directors (Huston, Ken Hughes, Val Guest, Robert Parrish, Joe McGrath) and three writers.
All this talent went to waste. The result was senseless parody - a disconnected hodgepodge of all the gimmicks and sex-ridden cliches imaginable. It was certainly a lavish, handsomely mounted film, with beautiful sets and fine special effects. The photography of England, ireland and France was breathtaking. The entertainment value, however, was negligible considering the reputed 12,000,000 of Columbia Pictures' money that went into its making. There were moments of good fun, but they were few and far between.
Actually, thanks to Huston, the picture got off to a bright and promising start. John directed the initial scenes and they were the best in the film. He also played a top British Intelligence officer who is killed off early in the proceedings. David Niven was seen as the original James Bond, long in retirement. Bond is persuaded to return to active duty to smash a new international crime organization. Niven's Huston-directed encounters with a beautiful enemy agent - Deborah Kerr - are genuinely amusing. But when Bond decides there should be more than one Secret Agent 007 to confuse the criminals, the picture goes steadily downhill.
Huston and producer Ray Stark were reunited in 1967 for REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, an adaptation of Carson McCullers' 1941 novel, which was released by Warner Brothers. The story, updated to 1948, took place on an Army post in Georgia. But the picture was filmed in rome because the star, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, was living in europe at the time and didn't wish to return to the United States. Miss Taylor portrayed the amoral wife of an Army major who is a latent homosexual. She accepted the role because she wanted to do another film with Montgomery Clift, originally slated to play her husband. When Clift died, Taylor approved Marlon Brando as a replacement.
LifeStories:
in part . . . from the book by Darryl Lyman, copyright 1987
" GREAT JEWS on STAGE and SCREEN "
Beatrice Arthur: b. Bernice Frankel in New York City on May 13th, 1926.
Lauren Bacall: b. Betty Perske in New York City on September 16th, 1924
Bacall made a tremendous impact in her early movies, usually cast as a tough, sultry woman of the world. Later her roles widened, as in How to Marry a Millionaire ( 1953 ), in which she played one of three models ( with Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe ) in search of rich husbands. The part allowed her to show her great talent as a comedienne. In 1957 Bogart died. Bacall, devastated, had difficulty redefining herself. In 1961 she married the actor Jason Robards, Jr. They had a son ( Sam ) before divorcing in 1969.
Jeff Chandler: b. December 15th, 1918 - d. June 17th, 1961. Blood poisoning, following spinal surgery. He was only forty-two. Chandler married the former actress Marjorie hoshelle in 1946. They separated in 1954, later reunited, separated again in 1957, and finally divorced in 1960. They had two daughters: Jamie and Dana.
Laurence Harvey: b October 1st, 1928 - d. November 25th, 1973. He played scoundrels, a type by which he came to be most closely identified. In " BUTTERFIELD 8 " (1960) he portrayed a philandering husband whose behavior toward his mistress drives her to suicide. He played a dissolute young doctor in " SUMMER AND SMOKE " (1961) and a brainwashed assassin in " THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE " (1962). He could speak Dutch, English, French, German, and Italian, Harvey was able to give his villains depth and roundness. He was one of the screen's perfect scoundrels. In real life Harvey's arrogant manner made him unpopular among many in his profession. He was also noted for his strange antics.
Claire Bloom: Born in North Finchley, a suburb of London, England, on February 15th, 1931. Her original name was Patricia Claire Blume. In 1941 Clair, her brother, and her mother moved to the United States to get away from World War II. While in America, Clair Took dancing lessons and began to sing and act on both stageand radio. In 1946 she began her professional career by performing in plays with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio repertory. Charles Chaplin hired her to costar with him in his last great Film: LIMELIGHT (1952). As the struggling, wistful young ballet dancer in the movie, Bloom made a tremendous impression. Overnight she became an international film star. Her stage appearances included many of Shakespeare's plays, as well as a New york City production of Rashomon in 1959. Her costar in
The Deborah Kerr Curtain Call
Playhouse for the Performing Arts
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