Camera Shot!

John Cromwell and Claudett Colbert on the Set of Since You Went Away.

Claudette Colbert remains the only actress in the history of cinema to star in three films in the same year to be nominated for Best Picture Academy Award, those films being Cleopatra, Imitation of Life, and It Happened One Night which were all made in 1934. She won for her role in It Happened One Night.

Rita Hayworth on set of Affair in Trinidad.

Despite appearing in 61 films over 37 years, including leading roles in successful, classic films like Gilda, she never received an Academy Award nomination.

Edward G. Robinson and Marian Marsh on the set of Five Star Final.

Robinson was never nominated for an Academy Award, but in 1973 he was awarded an honorary Oscar in recognition that he had "achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts, and a dedicated citizen ... in sum, a Renaissance man". He died two months before the award ceremony.

Joan Crawford was nominated for Best Actress three times in her career for her roles in Mildred Pierce, which she won, Possessed and Sudden Fear.

Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan in Tarzan and his Mate. Neither O'Sullivan or Weissmuller were ever nominated for the Academy Award.

Norma Shearer and Sam Wood on set of The Latest from Paris.

Norma Shearer was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress on six occasions, winning once for her role in The Divorcee. She was nominated for her roles in Their Own Desire, A Free Soul, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Romeo and Juliet, and Marie Antoinette.

Sam Wood was nominated for Best Director three times in his career for Goodbye Mr. Chips, Kitty Foyle and Kings Row.

 James Wong Howe and  Betty Bronson on set of Peter Pan. 

James Wong Howe was nominated for ten Academy Awards for cinematography for Algiers, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Kings Row, Air Force, The North Star, The Rose Tattoo, The Old Man and the Sea, Hud, Seconds, and Funny Lady. He won the award twice for Hud and The Rose Tattoo.

Stars! They're just like us!

They lose their dime!

They watch lobsters break dance!

They paint!

They motor bike!

They tumble!

They play solitaire!

They fight for their right...

Stars and Cars

Tallulah Bankhead

Fredric March and Florence Eldridge

Alison Skipworth

Clark Gable

Ida Lupino

Rita Hayworth

Susan and God (1940)

Susan Trexel (Joan Crawford), a flighty socialite, undergoes a religious transformation at the hands of Lady Wigstaff (Constance Collier) while staying abroad in Europe. When she returns to America, she takes on the dubious task of spreading her newfound religious experience with her closest friends with one exception; she doesn’t take her own advice. In short order she breaks up her sister’s liaison with a womanizer and the marriage between her older friend, Hutchie (Nigel Bruce) and his young wife Leonara (Rita Hayworth) who gave up her career as an actress. Despite her own marriage being a flop. However, her husband Barrie (Fredric March) and daughter Blossom (Rita Quigley) yearn for a stable family life. Barrie, who still loves his wife, is willing to become sober in the hopes that Susan will heed her own advice, and save their marriage.




The problem is that Susan sucks as a human being. Barrie learns this as soon as he gets her back to their summer home on the bet that if he stays sober she will spend the summer with him and their daughter. When Susan firsts sees Blossom after months of her being tucked away at boarding school she tells Blossom, "If you're not going to be pretty, the least we can do is make you interesting." Blossom takes it in stride but Barrie soon heads out of the house in search of a drink much to Blossom’s disappointment. He doesn’t drink though. Instead he takes a long walk and thinks and when he finally does return home he gives Susan a piece of his mind…finally.
At this point you think that Susan, having gotten the scolding she so deserved would start falling for Barrie and his dominance. Certainly in the close up after he leaves the room, you see Susan faintly smile like she’s got a schoolgirl crush. However, it will take some pretty hammy moments, some more speeches, and the threat that Barrie will leave her for another woman for Susan to finally come around. The effect is slightly tedious and exhausting- especially since there are moments when March is the hammiest I have ever seen him. Plus there are a few confusing moments in the film where you question if it’s a real scene or a dream sequence from a young teenager’s mind (I refer to the taffy scene for those of you that have seen the movie). Overall, Susan and God is a lot of fluff and bull on the surface, a lot like the character of Susan, until the real heart of the film is exposed, as is Susan who will eventually confess her faults and her fear of losing Barrie.


Sidenote:
It was intended as a vehicle for Norma Shearer, but the star refused to play the role of a mother with a teenage daughter. Greer Garson was also considered for the role before it went to Joan Crawford.

Tonight on TCM!
So Dark the Night (1946) A French police detective investigates his fiancée's murder.
Cast: Steven Geray, Micheline Cheirel, Eugene Borden, Ann Codee Dir: Joseph H. Lewis

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A psychiatrist tries to help the man she loves solve a murder buried in his subconscious.

Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

Stars! They're just like us!

They enjoy water sports!

They keep their eye on Russia when in Alaska!

They're new to tennis!

They compete in tricycle triathlons!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

They look down on themselves at times!

Tonight on TCM!

Five Graves to Cairo (1943) A British corporal goes undercover to infiltrate Field Marshall Rommel's command. Cast: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Fortunio Bonanova Dir: Billy Wilder

The Fighting Sullivans (1944) During WWII, five brothers enlist in the Navy and are assigned to serve on the same ship. Cast: Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond. Dir: Lloyd Bacon.

It Happened One Night (1934) A newspaperman tracks a runaway heiress on a madcap cross-country tour. Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns Dir: Frank Capra

The Egg And I (1947) Newlywed city slickers decide to give country life a try as chicken farmers. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Louise Albritton Dir: Chester Erskine

Cover Girl Rita Hayworth...

Photos courtesy of Dr. Macro

Cover Girl (1944)

Rusty Parker (Rita Hayworth) is looking for an opportunity to make it big. When it comes in the form of being a “cover girl” for Vanity Fair due to the discovery and assistance of magazine publisher and possible grandfather John Coudair (Otto Kruger), Rusty finds herself an overnight sensation. With opportunities to leave Danny Maguire's Brooklyn nightclub and strike it big on Broadway, Rusty hesitates. She loves Danny (Gene Kelly), his club, and their Friday night ritual of searching for a pearl at Joe's oyster bar with their good friend “Genius” (Phil Silvers) and isn’t sure if she really does want to leave it all behind. With pressure from Coudair who wants to give Rusty everything he couldn’t give her grandmother, and Broadway theater owner Noel Wheaton (Lee Bowman) who wants to marry her and make her a star, Rusty and Danny are torn apart. Can they get back together before there are more mistakes and heartbreak? Perhaps their friend “Genius” is as dumb as he acts and perhaps Danny will find that pearl in just the nick of time.

Cover Girl is a nice light-hearted musical that displays humorous songs (I thought "Who's Complaining?" and "Poor John" were the best) and playful dances- one in which Kelly dances with an image of himself. Hayworth executed lip-syncing well, I was surprised to find her voice had been dubbed and it was nice to finally see her dance. The film also starred Eve Arden whose sardonic humor and facial expressions always add a wonderful element to a film.

Side note:
The score for Cover Girl created by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, which featured the Oscar nominated "Long Ago and Far Away", was a major factor in the film's success.

Tonight on TCM!
Some Like It Hot (1959) Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band. Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft Dir: Billy Wilder

The Odd Couple (1968)
A divorced neat freak moves in with his sloppy best friend. Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler, Herbert Edelman Dir: Gene Saks