Them Ornery Mitchum Boys by John Mitchum

John Mitchum. Them Ornery Mitchum Boys: The Adventures of Robert & John Mitchum Pacific, CA.: Creatures at Large Press, 1989.

A large amount of brawling occurred amongst the Mitchum brothers throughout life. Many of these fights are detailed and we see the Mitchums up for themselves and are tough and usually victorious. It was not wise to challenge a Mitchum, as most of the fights were brought on by others.

It was often supporting character actors who had the lines the public remembered from films during Hollywood’s Golden Age. As skilled actors, the Mitchum brothers delivered many of the memorable lines in their films.

The Mitchum brothers were nicknamed “them ornery Mitchum boys” from childhood. Bullies attacked them. John bit back and Bob fought them so hard both bullies were hospitalized.

Their sister Annette became a dancer on Broadway shows. She moved to California and changed her name to Julie.  Bob spent time as a young hobo and took a train to visit his sister. She took Bob along on auditions. Bob to some theater work beginning in 1937, Bob realized he could reach inward and find characters using his adventurous youth as a brawler and hobo. He had even briefly been in a chain gang while being a hobo.

Bob appeared in his first movie, “Border Patrol”, filmed in 1942 and released in 1943, This led to more move roles in 1943, Bob appeared in five movies in 1944 including “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo”. His role in “Nevada” gained notice leading to more work He was in “The Story of G.I. Joe” in 1945 that brought him even more attention.

Robert Mitchum was in the movie “Cossfire”. He established himself as one who underplayed his characters. Director Eddie Dwytryk coached “I know what you’re doing, but it you keep it up, even the sound man won’t hear ya.”

In 1947, John MItchum was approached in the streets by an agent who asked if John waa an actor. John stated he was not. The agent asked if he wanted to be an actor. John replied “Why not? Where do I go?” John was signed to be in the movie “The Private.”

Robert was arrested for having marijuana in 1948. John writes it was entrapment. The press was alerted before the police entered a party and arrested him. John believes the police and move studio wanted to show they were doing something about the marijuana problem. Yet they did not want one of their big stars arrested. So Robert was set up Robert was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years probation.

The event helped publicize Robert Mitchum’s name. He received larger roles.

John was in the movie “Flying Leathernecks”. A replica of Henderson Field, where Marine Corps planes flew, was built. It was so realistic it startled pilots who were familiar with Henderson Field.

John was on the 1951 TV series “Adams Spare Rib” which ran for 13 episodes, The sponsor, Easy Air Mattress, on live TV attempting to show how strong their mattress was that it could even hold an elephant, brought in an elephant, The elephant’s toot went through the mattress.

John was in the movie “One Minute to Zero”. In the move, he played an artillery officer ordered to fire on refugees being used as shields by North Korean troops. This was a controversial scene as this did happen in the Korean War.

Nicholas Ray was a director who would sit in deep concentration and then jump up with every detail having been determined. Ray directed both brothers in “The Lusty Men”. Both brothers agree it was one of their best films.

Henry Hathaway as a director was known for screaming directions. The author believed Hathaway would yell at weak links in cast and crew as a form of therapy.

Simone Silva, an actress who Robert had never met, ran up naked from the waist up to Robert, in front of press photographers. Silva did this to publicize her career.

If an extra had to say a line, the extra was paid more money, perhaps $40 in the early 1950w. Some movies saved paying an extra by having them respond nonverbally, such as being asked how many rode into town, and the extra would raise a number of fingers.

Bob once crawled in a scene bare chested for four takes for director John Huston. When Huston say how Bob was bloody from nettled, Huston asked when Bob didn’t say anything. Bob replied “That’s the shot you wanted, wasn’t it?”

Carey Lofton was a noted stunt driver. He once dug a trench so he could perfectly hit it while driving at a high speed in order for the care to roll over three times and land exactly were requested.

Actor Charles McGraw once complained that his Mexican hotel toiler did not flush. McGraw did not realize the handle was on the left side. McGraw died in 1980, probably while drunk, when he fell through the glass in shower which cut an artery.

Bob Mitchum was in 19 movies during the 1960s.

When John was filmed “El Doredo”, the director Howard Hawks told John a squid would go off on his hard at the count of three. This would simulate a bullet hitting his hand. Hawks had the squid go off on the count of one to film John’s actual surprise reaction.

Bob stated of actor Bruce Dern in 1982 “he hasn’t yet learned that acting is not a competitive business”

On actor Forrest Tucker, John writes I an happier to write that the tales of his sexual prowess, so legendary as to sound apocryphal, are true.” Tucker once his his penis to sink a two foot gold shot.

Clint Eastwood stated his directing style consisted of “1.) there are no rules of filmmaking---only sins---and the cardinal sin is dullness, and 2.) never underestimate the intelligence of the audience. Doing os stimulates restlessness and boredom and taxes the audience’s patience.”

Clint Eastwood demanded and received half interest in his movies. As director Ted Post stated, “This approach took its tool of meaningful scenes that were ruthlessly shortchanged and even excised. Clint’s gread and ego began to affect his sensibility and judgment. It was painful to watch.” Eastwood once allowed Post to direct a scene Post argued was important. Eastwood had instructed the cameramen not to even load the cameras and then claim the film was ruined in the laboratory,

An inmate at San Quentin Prison once told John Mitchum the mistake in films when someone is shot and they fall backwards several feet. The inmate explained he has shot and killed three people and each kept moving forward towards him.

John had a role in the CBS daytime TV drama “Clear Horizons.”

By Some Miracle I Made It Out of There by Tom Sizemore

Tom Siexmore with Anna David. By Some Miracle I Made it Out of There: A Memoir. New York: Atria Books, 2013.]

Sizemore writes how he overcame drug abuse and restored a career that had been harmed by his imprisonment.

Sizemore was addicted to heroin as well as crystal meth. He admits back then he was not seeking sobriety.

Sizemore grew up admiring his two uncles who were drug dealers, even though his father did not use any drugs.

Sizemore, as a child, read books about James Dean and Montgomery Clift. He decided he wanted to be an actor. At age 20, Sizemore tried out for the League of Professional Theater Training Programs. He was accepted into Temple University’s program. He immersed himself in studying acting. He played on the college’s main stage as a first year student. He continued with graduate school and received an MFA. He worked performing in theatre in New York City. He attended the Ensemble master acting class.

A casting director, Risa Braman, helped bring New York City actors such as Alex Baldwin, John Torturro, Ethan Hawke, and Anthony LaPaglia to Hollywood films. She cast Sizemore in “Blue Steel”. That led to a role in “Point Break”, “Strange Days”, and “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Sizemore filmed with director Oliver Stone Stone thought Sizemore acted well. Yet Sizemore was very self-critical. Stone added Sizemore to additional scenes,

Sizemore was cast in the movie “Lock It Up”. Sizemore was amazed by Mickey Rourke’s talents.

Sizemore believes if you can imagine yourself being anything else but an actor, then you should be doing something else” He notes that an actor is selling, not a product, but the actor. Being rejected for a role is “the most personal kind of rejection.” He decided when he was rejected for a rle he would grieve for a day and then move on.

Sizemore had a recurring role on the TV series “China Beach”. Several more movie roles followed. He received a leading role in the movie “Passenger 57”.

When Sizemore was cast in “Natural Born Killers”, he realized he needed to become sober. He went to AA and achieve brief sobriety before filming.

Sizemore completed a 30 day rehab program. He returned to drugs without four hours after getting out of rehab. He still wanted to get high. He notes that “it sounds insane, I realize, but if you even heard that a guy OD’d fro a certain batch of drugs, you’d find out who his dealeer had been because you know that heroin was good.”

Sizemore was cast in “Saving Private Ryan”. He had to promise producer Steven Speilberg he could remain sober during the filming.

Sizemore next portrayed John Gotti in an NBC-TV mini-series “Witness to the Mob” He gained 40 pounds to play the role. Hw loat the weight under doctor[s supervision. He then was in the movie “Florentine”.

Sizemore went into methadone maintenance. He started at 200 mg, the largest amount allowed. He became addicted to methadone. He was on methadone for two years. He returned to using heroin. His wife called an ambulance when he didn’t respond and was told the ambulance got to him before he suffered brain damage.

Sizemore appeared in “Red Planet” with Val Kilmer. Kilmer kept production waiting 3 to 4 hours daily while arguing with director Antony Hoffman for script changes. Val Kilmer and Sizemore got into an argument and Kilmer responded by throwing a lighter at Sizemore. Kilmer later kept everyone waiting for nine hours. Kilmer got angry at a 18 year old prop gifl, called her a “dumb bitch”, and threw a lit cigarette at her which burned her chest. Things were so tense a producer asked Sizemore, if he came to blows with Kilmer, not to hit Kilmer in the face as it might be hard to cover that up with make-up. Sizemore did hit Kilmer in the chest, stomach, and arms. Both Kilmer and Sizemore were going through divorces. They later spoke to each other about their personal troubles and became friends.

Sieemore dated convicted prostitution madam Heidi Fleiss. They consumed meth together. Sizenore noted “when you’re letting yourself fall deep into a hole with drugs, whatever reins you have on other aspects of your ife can easily disintegrate.” Heidi Fleiss told interviewer Howard Stern has hard Sizemore’s movie “Black Hawk Down”. The film producer canceled a planned Academy Award campaign for Sizemore.

Siemore stopped using meth while filming a TV movie Sons of the Father” because he was afraid of carrying meth on a flight to Canada. When Sizemore filmed the movie “Swindle”, Heidi Fleiss sent women to Canada to deliver meth to Sizemore. Fleiss also put speed in his Visine bottle.

Sizemore was cast in the CBS TV series “Robbery Homicide Division”. Critics liked the show yet it had poor ratings. It was canceled after a few months.

Heidi Fleiss believed Sizemore stole her list of prostitutes. Sizemore states he believes Fleiss had a friend falsely claim Sizemore abused her and then drop the charges. Sizemore’s arrest made news but not that the charges were dropped.

Fleiss later had Sizemore arrested, claiming he hit her. He denies this. He was convicted on some counts.

Before sentencing, Sizemoe filmed his role in the movie :”Hustle”. Director Peter Bogdanovich stated people are mistaken in telling actors to become rheir roles, and an actor should strive to b the best “look for the character” inside the actor.

Before Sizemore was to be sentenced, he tried to kill himself by taking 100 antidepressants A friend something was wrong and found him, his face already blue He was told in the hospital he was near death.

Charlie Sheen was among friends who supported Sizemore at sentencing. Sizemore was sentenced to six months imprisonment reduced to three months if he completed drug rehabilitation. He left reb twice and got high He was given one last change and did not leave again. He stayed 57 days, which was longer then the 45 days we was sentenced He got high after release. He learned how to bend drug rules, including using a take penis with clean urie, He ried being in a steam room drinking water and not eating anything for four days followed by taking vinegar to become nauseous, drinking cranberry juice and taking many aspirin, only to still test positive He was found with meth and given 36 months probation. Sizemore spent $10 million in legal fees. He became broke and filed for bankruptcy.

The TV network VH1 had a reality show “Shooting Sizemore” that Sizemore calls “a piece of shit”. It showed Sizemore smoking speed and having a fake gun that he writes its use was taken out of context.

Sizemore overdosed a lot. His friends would take him to the hospital and shove him out the care to avoid arrest.

Sizemore remained “hopeless addicted” to meth. Sizemore filed a porn movie with six women. He was later arreste with meth and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment for violating parole, later cut in half for previous time spent imprisoned and in rehab. He learned he had to pick a gang to survive in prison. He found the guards were worse than inmates as they would have inmates fight to the death and take bets.

Sizemore appeared on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”. Sizemore failed to appear until day nine, He the escaped to get high. He was lured to return to treatment when he ran out of food and he was lured with pizza. He had to be sedatd with Seroquel to stop leaving.

Sizemore admits he filmed “Celebrity Rehab with Dr.Drew”” and then “Sober House” for the money. He lost $200,000 of the $250,000 he received for the shows. He believes some trusted firends took the money. He credits the shows for saving his life. He went to AA meetings, something he had declined to do before.

Sizemore appeared in the movie “White Knight”. He then received a recurring role in the CBS TV series “Hawaii Five O”.

Sizemore notes “the hardest part about acting, for me, is that you’re sitting there on a set for 14 hours only to act for maybe 28 minutes.”

Danger Rhythms by Richard Barrios

Richard Barrios. Dangerous Rhythms: Why Movie Musicals Matter. New York, N.Y. Oxford University Press, 2014.

The author observes movie musicals are “intended to seem effortless and diverting they are, beneath their gleaming surfaces complicated and contradictory.” Some are “so riddled with paradox that it becomes difficult to comprehend hem.” Still, the offer “a spectrum of fantasies” that are “balanced understanding between the sublime and the inane.”

Musicals allow an uplifting of spirit. “Chicago” won a Best Picture Oscar during the Iraq War. “Oliver!” won a Best Picture Oscar during the Vietnam War. “Oliver!” in 1969was the fourth musical in a seven year period to win as Best Picture along wtih “West Side Story”, “ My Fair Lady”, and “The Sound of Music”. After “Oliver!”, there were a few musicals such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Cabaret” that was successful yet musicals were mostly missing among movie offerings unitl “Grease” in 1979.

Musicals began with auteur directors which increased scrutiny of them. They held important roles in American society. “42nd Street” in 1933 increased the spirit of the New Deal. “Star Spangled Banner” rallied audiences during Wold War II.

The author observed each musical builds upon previous musicals Any part of a muscial had exise before. Audiences appreciate this “kinship” with the past.

“Don Juan” in 1926 excited audiences with its phonograph sound played over loud speakers. Al Jolson captivated audiences in “The Jazz Singer” in 1926 with sound portions combined with silent portions. Warner Brothers was unprepared for the success of “The Jazz Singer” as it had no further plans for musicals. MGM filled he void as its “The Broadway Melody” won the Oscar for Best Picture .

Ernest Lubissh ad King Vidor directed some musicals. Many were “trial and error” MGM tried shooting a night and in Technicolor.

In 1933, musicals delved into social issues, morale building, escapism, and propaganda.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” began a long line of musical cartoon movies.

Arthur Freed, a producer “perhaps unwittingly” changed movie musicals from “formulatic schlock” to stories with music.

The author explains “A good musical must forge an emphatic bond with its public: a poor or ignorant one is merely show and tell.”

A “disconnect” with musicals began by the late 1960s.

The first Broadway musical made into a movie with songs was “The Desert Sons” in 1929. It was made simplistically.

The moral Code required of movies removed musicals about divorce, sex, and drugs.

Musicals were profitable during World War II. The late 1940s saw an increase in original musicals made as movies.

The 1950s saw the return of many Broadway musicals adapted into movies. The 1960s found great successes with “My Fair Lady” and “The Sound of Music” as well as Elvis Presley movies.

“Sweet Charity”, which the author describes as “so hyperkinetic, with so many zoom lenses, tht many were annoyed” did poorly. Musicals typically did not fare well for several years afterwards.

A number of great performers were impressive in musicals. These include Janet Gaynor, Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and Julie Andrews. Al Jolson presented confidence on the screen. Mickey Rooney had comedic versatility.

Cecil B. DeMille produced one musical, “Madam Satan” It did not do well with audiences..

“Tthe Wizard Of Oz” lost money and would take about 20 years before it made money MGM was less willing to invest in expensive musicals.

“The Singing Fool” cost MGM $388,000 to make and it earned $3.8 million domestic and $2.1 million foreign.

MGM made more costly musicals in 1944 and several years afterwards.

The author argues an excellent musical is “Singin’ in the Rain” because it “understands its roots, respects its ancestors, and by embracing its own history is enabled to soar.”

The author argues “Musicals don’t die, not even when neglected...their absence is always temporary, their heritage is everlasting.”

If You Build It…by Dwier Brown

Dwieer Brown. If You Build It…Ojai, Ca.: Elsie Jean Books, 2014.

The author, an actor, at one point in his career felt typecast as over 12 of his characters died over a five year period. This made him feel as if a part of him was dying. He asked God for one "meaningful" role, after which he would devote himself to helping others. He received his iconic role in the movie "Field of Dreams". He played Joe Kinsella, the deceased father who emerges in the field to play catch with his adult son.

The author recalls advice form his father His father taught him that working at something made one better. He realized he had never considered acting as something one worked on. He began working at his craft.

The "Field of Dreams" Executive Producer insured the corn filed as it was that important to the script. When drought hit, the insurance company paid for damming a creek for irrigating the corn field rather than their paying the $3 million insurance policy benefit. As a backup, 60,000 actual size silk corn stalks were offered. The irrigation project worked.

When Brown auditioned for the role, he read the script and realized his character wanted to find peace with his son and let his son know he loves him. He entered the audition telling himself "I am John Kinsella."

He learned in acting class that one has to become the character. He was taught "acting isn't lying; acting is telling the truth."

Brown's scene was filmed three times. There were 3,000 extras. Flashing high beams were used in the third take as there were fears the previous two takes were not working with background cars. The third take worked, which was good as the first two takes found the film was all blank.

William Gillette by Henry Zecher

Henry Zecher. William Gillette, American’s Sherlock Holmes. xlibris Corporation, 2011.

William Gillette was a famous stage actor in his day,who, according to the author, was the third best known celebrity behind Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Gillette was best known for his stage portrayals of Sherlock Holmes.

Gillette, as were Samuel Clemens and Theodore Dresser, were part of the movement for artistic realism over melodrama. In acting, melodrama, which was a leading characteristic of 19th and early 20th century actors, displayed unrealistic  behavior. Melodramatic acting would over-emphasize movements and speech that actors believed would make certain the audience recognized and heard what the actor was conveying. Instead, the realistic actor behaved on stage as a person would appear in real life.

Gillette was a strong leading actor, This led to more plays and movies focusing on a strong leading, realistic hero, The set the stage for actors such as John Wayne.

Gillette introduced “Psychological acting”. This emphasized realism in the emotions and reactions in a performance, The New York Times considered Gillette’s Psychological acting as “the first modern acting technique.”

Gillette’s life was free of scandal. He married once and never remarried after his wife’s death. He was seldom involved in politics except in 1912 when he spoke in favor of Theodore Roosevelt. He drank moderately and seldom smoked. He did enjoy cigars and incorporates cigars or pipe smoking into most of his characters,

Gillette first portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 1899 at age 46 and last portrayed Holmes in 1932 at age 78. He presented Holmes with a “quiet, confident voice” with “suave but nervous movements.” He was known for his “riveting scenes” while performing.

Gillette performed with Edwin Booth, one of the most famous 19th century actors. On stage, he helped boost the careers of Charlie Chaplin, Helen Hayes, Ethel Barrymore, and Maude Adams.

Gillette was also a playwright. In the 1880s, he, Bronson Howard, and Steve MacKaye were among the better known playwrights who wrote in the realism style. Gillette noted “realism should be inferred not actual-sm, but the artistic presentation of reality...Art must have recourse to the principal of suggestiveness.”

Realism became a major part of 1890s American theater. A number of playwrights arose who had acting and / or business experience in theater. Prior, most playwrights had academic backgrounds in writing. These new playwrights knew the theater and the degree of realism and of literature that audiences liked. These playwrights, including Gillette, were consider “theatre craftsmen.”

Gillette’s father was a U.S. Senator. His brother was a member of Congress. Thomas Kuhn labeled it a “paradigm shift” that a member of the governing class would go into theater. As the New York Herald Tribune noted, “Nobody has conceived what is a commonplace today: that a person of gentle culture could make a successful trooper and retain his integrity.”

Gillette was among the leading practitioners of natural, reserved, understated acting, speech, and movements as people actually do. On the contrary, many actors spoke their lines as if they had been spoken many times before, When realism actors such as Gillette spoke, it was as if the lines had been spoken for the first time. Realistic actors moved on stage as people do and did so as if this was the first time they had done their roles.

Gillette wrote about his acting technique in his 1915 monograph “The Illusion of the First Time Acting.”

Gillette declined interviews in a deliberate attempt to create an “air of mystery” about himself Friends found him modest so he did not appear to like to boast about himself. He gave only a few in his lifetime.

Gillette believed actors should be mysterious and rarely seen by the public. He also did not believe in promoting himself, which was against the New England aristocratic ideals. He commented in1896 about his work that “the public has ample opportunity to see it...it will speak for itself.” he gave out preprinted cards explaning he “does not feel his views can be of any value to the public at large.” When asked questions, Gillette often responded with a line in his plays, simply “Quite so!”

Gillette was not known as a “party animal”. His wife’s death was a severe emotional setback.

Gillette’s father Francis served in the U.S. Senate when Sen. Daniel Webster gave his famous speech on slavery. William Gillette, as a school boy, presented his father with a sample of his elocution. His father wanted him to change his presentation. William responded that his presentation was “right.” His father replied “Right! Of course you did it right! Do you suppose if Webster had doe it “right” anyone in the Senate would have listened to his for two minutes?” Francis explained that Webster was summoned to speak with no preparation and that his great speech was spontaneous and real. William learned that “I never forgot that a word was a fine thing that must be search for, and that the way to make a speech was no in the way that was “correct” as elocution, but the way that the man actually made it in the first place.”

Gillette was a honor roll student who participated in theater and in elocution. He knew then he wanted to be an actor.

The movement toward realism in theater resulted in fewer plays regarding “lofty patriotism and idealism” and more plays on “basic pragmatism and a desire to simply survive.” As he overdramatic style of melodrama gave way to more subtle styles of realistic theater with more subtle reactions, theaters became smaller so audience could better see the actors. This, in turn, called for new lighting techniques and more detailed scenery and props.

Gillette observed that “the purpose of the theater is to afford relief from stress and strain in actual life. And the play people love best ,because it does most for them, is the play that gives them a new angle on life, a practical presentation for happy living.”

Gillette wrote the play “Esmeralda”. It had 350 performances in New York. It was made into a movie in 1915 starring Mary Pickford and was directed by James Kirkwood..

Gillette risked opening social wounds when he wrote the play “Belle Lamar.” It was the second stage presentation of the Civil War, a subject experienced by many in the audience. His play was the first which was not a historical presentation of the war. His play showed the interactions of people during the war. It is a story of three suitors for a woman. One is a Union officer, one is a captured Confederate officer accused of being a spy, and the third a Union soldier who tries to help the Confederate escape.

Gillette was among the playwrights known for the emerging style of “more unified and tightly constructed drama.” Melodramatic plays had a hero and a villain. In the realism of Gillette’s plays and others like him, characters had both heroic and villainous characteristics.

Gillette was among those who writings presumed there is a “fourth wall”. This was a concept first noted in 1758 by Denis Diderst that the play with a fourth wall is performed as if there is no audience.

Gillette was among those who had female characters that were “independent, selfless heroines.” Numerous plays had strong, independent female characters in the 1920s yet such characteristics declined in afterwards. Female characters generally were presented according to the life events of male characters.

Gillette improved some theater sound effects. Instead of the then traditional method of replicating horses moving by slapping half coconut shells on top of marble, Gillette used clappers on different materials to simulate different types of roads and paths. Gillette unsuccessfully tried to patent his techniques.

Charles Frohman and his Frohmannational Theatricallities consisted of over 200 theaters in the U.S. and London (including six in New York City) where 700 plays were produced, managing 28 star actors, and employing around 10,000 people with an annual payroll of $35 million (or an equivalent circa 2010 of $700 million). He had no written contracts with his star actors, His word was considered valid. Gillette often worked in theaters owned by Charles Frohman.

David Belasco was among the leading theater producers. He wore black with clerical collars He would eventually be called “the Bishop of Broadway.” He was known for popularizing the concept of the  “casting couch” where actresses were hired in return for sexual favors. Belasco produced, directed, or wrote over 100 plays. Over 40 of these plays were made into movies.. Belasco helped developed an actress Gladys Louise Smith who he had her change her name to Mary Pickford. Gillette worked with Belasco on some plays.

Gillete wrote a play that had a character with one arm. Stanley McKenna sued, stating he had a play eight years earlier with a one armed character. Gillette argued that one armed characters were not legally protected “novelties” over which one could hold a “monopoly”.” Further, there had been a one armed character in a David Belasco produced play prior to McKenna’s play. The court sided with Gillette.

Gillette observed there are two kinds of director, One kind allows actors great leeway in presenting their characters The other kind dictates the details of how roles should be portrayed. Gillette believed the true system lies between the two.”

The Copyright Act became law in 1891. It required producers to pay royalties to authors and playwrights including paying for foreign works. Thus foreign authors received payments and their works could not be used  as lesser expensive alternatives to domestic writings.

Sherlock Holmes is the more prolific movie character, appearing in 211 movies, according to the Guiness World Records. The Sherlock Holmes Society of London lists 260 films with Sherlock Holmes as a character.

Gillete wrote a play regarding Sherlock Holmes based upon originating author Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings of Holmes. It took about a month to write the first script. It was destroyed in a hotel fire. Gillette wrote another script in a week. Doyle and Gillette worked on the script. Gillette’s final script differs greatly from Doyle’s original contributions. Both as listed as the script’s authors.

Doyle wrote another Holmes play. Harry Arthur Saintsbury portrayed Holmes i “The Soeckled Band” for 168 performances. Saintsbury was the “only one who rivaled Gillete” at that time in appearing as Holmes. Saintsbury was cast in a play with 14 year old Charlie Chaplin. Saintsbury coached Chaplin on performing and on comedic timing and touches.

Gillette first appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the play “Sherlock Holmes” in 1899. Max Goldberg appeared in another play about Holmes entitled “The Bank of England, An Adventure in the Life of Sherlock Holmes.” The Max Goldberg play existed because there is no copyright on titles.

Gillette’s “Sherlock Holmes” play was successful. It became well known and was parodied in music halls. One parody play was “Sheerluck Jones, or Why D’Gillete Him Off?” which played in London. Other Holmes presentations appeared in burlesque presentations.

Frederick Dorr Steele illustrated Holmes. A fellow illustrator’s brother Walter Paget was the initial model used for the illustration. Yet Gillette’s “expression and posture” were integrated into the drawings. In 1929, Gillette would be the model for Steele’s illustration. There drawings would help convince actor Basil Rathbone in 1939 to appear in movies playing the role of Holmes as Rathbone believed he looked similar to the Holmes in Steele’s illustrations.

John Barrymore was Holmes in a 1922 move “Sherlock Holmes”. Barrymore stated they used Steele’s illustrations in creating the Holmes character for the movie.

Gillette, when appearing as Holmes, introduced the deer-started cap, rococo gown, and a smoking pipe.

Gillette, in believing actors should be mysterious to the public, also believed they should not state their views publicly. He also believe political candidates should not campaign publicly. He contributed money to anti-Tammany Hall advocates in 1903. Gillette spoke publicly about politics only during the 1912 Presidential campaign which was a race which many thought might change the nation’s course. Gillette spoke in favor of the losing Progressive Party candidate, former President Theodore Roosevelt. A number of other actors also made statements on this race, something the Washington Post noted as a “surprising” development.

Gillette began construction on his Hadlyme home in 1914. He picked a site he saw from his year a year prior. Gillette designed the house. Construction was mostly finished in 1919. Gillette never called it a castle although it would come to be called Gillette’s Castle. It is now a state owned park open to the public. It cost $1,100,000 to build (or about $14 million in circa 2010 costs). Gillette named his home the Seventh Sister as it was on the end of seven hills.

Gillette was signed to film movies for the Essanay Film Manufacturing company. He appeared in “Sherlock Holmes”. His image was used in much Essanay advertising. Gillette told Lowell Thomas “there is too much mosaic in the cinema industry to suit me.” Gillette did not want to appear in another movie. Gillette, though, became one of the “actors of the transition” of theater stars who appeared in movies. Some actors found the art of pantomiming in silent films required a different skills set from their skills for stage performing.

Some claim Gillette belonged to the “impersonator” acting style where actors take on the characteristics of the role. This was different from the “interpreters” style where an actor’s own personality is brought into the role. Gillette objected to being labeled as an “impersonator” insisting his personality strongly influences the roles he played.

Gillette belonged to the “heroic school”. This was a style of a “quiet he-men” type that would later be portrayed by John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Gary Coopeer. They were heroes who stayed calm in crises.

Gillette refused to permit babies in the audience as they could become distractions If there was too much audience noise, he would have long pauses of instrumental music playing to drown out the noise,

Gillette failed to show strong emotions during love scenes. This have been resulted from his proper New England upbringing. This became part of his characters’ natures.

The first Sherlock Holmes movie was “Holmes Baffled”, filmed by Thomas Edison in 1900. The actor , which was a common trait then, is not identified and remains unknown. Many believe Gillette inspired the Holmes look in the movie. More Holmes movies appeared starring Viggis Larson in Denmark, Alvin Neus in Germany, and G.B. Samuelson in Englad, as well as England’s H.A. Saintsbury filming one Holmes movie.

Gillette’s Holmes movie was co-directed by Gillette and Arthur Brethelet. W.G. Postarie assisted directed. H.S. Stevens was the screenwriter. The movie ran for two hours. It was produced by the V-L-S-E Film Company. The movie followed the stage play yet focused more on romantic scenes than had the play. it was a “major hit.”

The film showed more details in the office than did the stage production. Kitty Kelly’s review in the Chicago Daily Tribune declared “Gillette completed dominated the visualization of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and his wonderful facial expression and pantomime acting rang true to the camera.”

Gillette believed there were no rules or regulations for playwriting. He recommended finding an interesting theme, create a series of “ingenious traps” that carry from the play or theme, have the traps spring at right manners and moments, and then create a way out from the troubles.

Gillette rode a motorcycle. Its’ brakes once gave out and he plunged off the ferry entrance into the river. Guy Hedlund, a movie producer, quipped “There goes Mr. Gillette, wastes $10,000 of movie thrills on an audience of five people.”

Gillette advised Helen Hayes to “never read your reviews. If they praise your work, they will serve to make you self-conscious. If they criticize you, which most of them usually do, they can cause you great harm. Let your director read reviews. If he thinks something should be changed, he will tell you.” Helen Hayes followed this until she did films, at which point reviews could not affect her performance.

Films were made of stories Gillee wrote, he were “The Border Wireless” released in 1918 which starred William B. Hart and “Coincidence “ released in 1921 which starred  Bradley Parker.

After spending over $1 million building his home, the Lyme Board of Relief listed it as having a taxable figure of $58.300. Gillette claimed the figure should be $22,380. An Assessor valued it at $71,000. Gillette told the Superior Court the taxable value was $21,040. The Board of Relief reduced ths to $69,999. (Editor’s Note: The property is in Lyme and East Haddam with the house in East Haddam.)

Gillette and Charles Frohman held the dramatic license for the play “Sherlock Holmes” in 1898. These rights were transferred to Essanay whe they filmed the movie version. When Essanay folded in 1921, these rights were transferred to the Goldwyn Company for $18m0000 with payments of $6,000 each going to Gillette, the Frohman Company, and Arthus Conan Doyle. In 1920, the Educational Film Exchanges Incorporated announced play to make movies of 12 short features of Doyle’s about Holmes that woudl star Eille Norwood. Gillette, Frohman, and Frank Godsol, Presiden of Goldwyn, sued. The court distinguished between Gillette’s play and the different original stories. Norwood would go on to be in the most Holmes films at 49 silent films.

Gillette portrayed Holmes in the 35 program series on NBC’s Red Network station WEAF in 1930. Others had performed Holmes on the radio before Gillette. The first Holmes on radio was Edward H. Smith in 1922 over WGT in Schnectady, N.Y.

Clive Bark appeared as Holmes in the first talking Holmes movie “The Return of Sherlock Holmes.”

Watch Me by Angelica Huston

Angelica Huston. Watch Me: A Memoir. New York: Schrber, 2014.

Huston was a noted “high fashion” “exotic” model in New York. She did not find as much success in southern California as she was not the “tanned blonde” that seemed more desirable there. Her father, director John Huston, gave her a role in his movie “A Walk with Love and Death”. Critics were not kind to her.

Huston dated actor Jack Nicholson. She would later marry Robert Graha. She told Nicholson she liked acting. Nicholson stated he “hated actresses” yet thought they could work together in their next movie “The Fortune”. Nicholson asked director Mike Nichols to consider Huston for the female lead. Huston, fearful for her past bad reviews, did not want to risk it.

Sam Spiegel, MGM’s Chief, and director Elia Kazan wanted Jack Nicholson for their movie “The Last Tycoon”. They gave Huston an audition, perhaps in hopes of luring Nicholson. Nicholson agreed to a lessor supporting role. She was cast. While filming, she learned to consider “the other character’s state of mind.”

Huston writes that director Roman Polanski was “restless, opinionated, urban, brilliant, impatient, and mercurial....You had to work to keep up with him. He was staying at Jack Nicholson’s residence while Nicholson was away. The police raided the house and arrested Polanski and Huston for drug possession. Polanski was also arrested for sexually assaulting a 13 year old. Huston writes she did not witness that.

Huston’s father had emphysema. Due to that, his least films he directed were low budget films.

Nicholson found director Stanley Kubrick a “taskmaster” and “all genius.”

Lee Grant asked Huston to be in the movie “Playing With Fire” which Grant director. Grant could not get the project fuded

Sue Menger, a noted agent, turned down Huston’s father’s request that Menger represent her. Menger stated she represented Ali McGraw who Menger thought look similar to Huston. Menger and Huston, though, became “good friends.”

Huston auditioned for a role in the movie “This Is Spinal Tap”. She received a smaller role than for what she auditioned.

John Foreman asked Huston to be in the movie “Prizzi’s Honor.” Foreman then asked if her father would direct it and if Jack Nicholson would act in it.

Huston won an Academy Award for her role in “Prizzi’s Honor”. She was the only person from the film to win an Academy Award for that film.

The Huston family challenged Ted Turner from colorizing movies filmed in black and white. French law prohibited doing this if the original creator objects. In the U.S., the National Film Preservation Act prohibited substantially altering, including colorizing, a film it had labeled without the creators participating int the altering.

Huston played the Supreme Leader in the Disneyland 3D short “Captain EO.”

Huston agreed to be in a Woody Allen movie knowing only about the character she would play. She had never met Woody Allen and offered to meet him for a drink. Allen said he was sick. She suggested another day. Allen asked what if he would be sick then, too. The drink meet never occurred. Yet she did appear in his movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

Huston researches her character before filming. She wants to know her character
s health, choices, hopes, dreams, disappointments, and secrets.

Huson most enjoyed her acting in the movie “The Grifters”. She was nominated for Best Actress.

Huston played Mortica in the film “The Addams Family”. Her corset made her look well yet it was painful to wear. She had troubled turning her head, it gave her big headaches, her neck blistered, and she could not sit.

Woody Allen asked Huston back to appear in his movie “Manhattan Murder Mystery”. She agreed. She found the dialogue required a lot of fast talking. She worried about missing cues.

Huston filmed an Addams Family sequel “Addams Family Values”.

Huston filmed the movie “The Perez Family”. She found she and Mina Nair had conflicting styles. Huston “was sensing her impatient and feeling a certain discomfort in performing actions without having found my original impulse.”

While filming “Buffalo Girls”, Huston was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma which was on her nose. It had to be removed surgically after radiation did not work. Two years later, her nose was reconstructed using cartilage from her ear.

Huston agreed to direct the film “Bastard OUt of Carolina” for the Turner Network Television. SHe was upset she did not know as much about the technicalities of filmmaking yet she “survived on instinct and by surrounding myself with great people from whom I could learn.” The film took 28 days to film. Ted Turner and Jane Fonda screened the film and were upset over the rape and masturbation scenes. Turner declined to air it. It was shown at the Canes Festival. Showtime aired it. Huston was nominated for an Emmy and  Directors Guild awards.

Huston filmed “Ever After”. She first found costar Drew Barrymore giggling during the filming which upset Huston. Huston yelled at Barrymore “All right, missy, I’ve had it.” Barrymore, the next day, sent Huston a card reading “Thank you for making me a better actor.”

Huston filmed “The Golden Bowl”. She found Jim Ivory was “calm” while Ismail Merchant was “loquacious and outgoing”.

Huston filmed “The LIfe Aquatic”. he stated it “was deceptive in that it looked simple, but a great deal of effort went into the set, the costumes, the location.”

Huston filmed “The Darjeeling Limited” in India.. There were no wardrobe or make up artists. Each actor created his or her own look.

Michael Mayer asked Huston to be in the NBC TV series “Smash”. She agreed. The pilot took three weeks to shoot.

So, Anyway…by John Cleese

John Cleese. So, Anyway....New York:Crown, 2014.

Cleese learned when young that humor was a useful tactic in dealing with bullies.

Cleese was involved in theater in Clifton College. In his first straight acting performance, the sight f him in tights as the supposedly fearsome Satan drew audience laughter instead of the intended fear. Cleese never worked in straight acting again for 37 years.

Cleese met Graham Chapman at Cambridge. They performed in theater together. He learned his strength was comedic timing. He notes comedic timing “depends on confidence; you cannot o great comedy if you are not relaxed...any anxiety, any tension. and the flow goes wrong, you snatch at the joke, you force too hard, you lose the rhythm.” He notes “the greatest cure for anxiety is familiarity. The better you know the sketch...the more effortly it starts to flow.”

Cleese worked at BBC Radio. He wrote for an early evening magazine show. He then wrote comedy sketches.

He then toured New Zealand for six weeks with “Cambridge Circus”. During one performance, a bell tester did his job testing the bell. “Cambridge Circus” played on Broadway. He later appeared on Broadway in “Half a Sixpence”.

David Frost asked Cleese to work on his sketch show “The Frost Report”. Cleese also helped work and perform on a David Frst comedy series “Frost Over Britain”.

David Frost was listed as the lead writer of his shows although some wondered if he wrote any of his shows. It was noted by another writer “how greatly David has always improve our punctuation.”

Cleese worked on “The Frost Programme” that aired three times a week. Terry Gilliam was hired to sketch guest Shirley Bassey. From that show, Cleese learned “ that when you stop concentrating on avoiding mistakes, you relax a bit, and consequently...you actually make fewer” mistakes.

Frost offered Cleese his own show. He did 13 episodes of “At Last the 1948 Dhow”. He included fellow writer Marty Feldman, who had not acted in awhile, and Graham Chapman.

Cleese notes wen Graham Chapman told Cleese that Chapman was homosexual, Cleese was surprised but it did not affect their writing relationship in any way. hey wrote several movie and numerous TV scripts together.

Cleese appeared in the move “The Magic Christian” with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. Cleese states Sellers and director Jimmy Burrows were two geniuses that he worked with.

Chapman liked the TV show “Do Not Adjust Your Set” which starred Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam animation. Chapman ased the, if they wanted to work with him and Chapman. The idea of all these people working together was approved without a pilot.

Graham Chapman died of cancer in 1989 at age 48. Cleese noted Chapman “had a priceless, quite uncanny knack of knowing what the audience was going to laugh at.”

Clleese notes most of Monty Python were primarily writers rather than performers. They never fought over casting seeking instead to put the wrong person with the right role.

Dear Cary by Dyan Cannon

Dyan Cannon. Dear Cary: My Life With Cary Grant. New York, N.Y.: It Books, HarperCollins Publishers, 2012.

Dyan Cannon was born Diane Friesea. Jerry Wald of 20th Century stated he wanted to change her name to something that evoked “Explosions! Guns! Cannons! Excitement!” He declared her new name was Diane Cannon, later changed again to Dyan Cannnon.

Cannon tested for a movie role. One of the studio executives declared her nose was oo flat. She went to get a nose job. The doctor refused to perform the surgery, stating she already had kind of nose that people were paying to have.

Cannon did not get the movie role for which she tested. She get a job working on publicity for the movie “Les Girls” for $200 a week.

Cannon dated Cary Grant. Grant believed his mother had died when he was 10 years old. He learned 20 years later from his father that she was still alive yet in a mental institution His father declared he did it for Cary and he could not support both of them. His mother had not had a breakdown. Cary walked out on his father. He father died a year later.

Cary Grant alway wrote Dyan as “Diane” as if not accepting her stage name. Yet Cannon always referred to Grant as “Cary Grant” and not by his real name Archie Leach.

Cannon agreed to take LSK with Grant. Grant called LSK as “the key to ultimate peace of mind” that makes the user “closer to God.” She agreed. After taking it, Grant told her “this is your opportunity to ask the universe anything you want”. She responded with “okay, universe, I want to ask you, what is God?” Cannon then saw giant dancing bears singing nursery songs in German. Cannon reacted badly and a doctor present gave her Seconol which made her sleep for 18 hours. Cannon asked Grant “How in hell can giant bears singing in German bring you closer to God?”

Cannon admits to feeling jealous while watching 30 feet away on a set watching Grant kiss Leslie Caron while filming “Father Goose”. She knew it was acting but felt they were “putting a little too much feeling” into their roles.

Grant and Cannon married. Grant convinced Cannon to take LSD again. She did not want to but finally agreed. Cannon’s father told Grant “She doesn’t need drugs, Cary. She needs love. Your love.” Grant responded “She’s under my jurisdiction now.”

Grant kept taking LSD yet Cannon wouldn’t. They drifted apart as Grant became more dependent on chemicals. They divorced. Cannon had a breakdown that ws attributable to the 10 or 12 times she had taken LSD and other drugs she had taken. She detoxed from her pills and chemicals.                                                                                                                                                                    

Cannon returned to acting. She appeared in the movie “Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice” and several others. 

The Unified Field by David Lynch

David Lynch. The Unified Field. Oakland, Ca.: University of California Press, 2014.

David Lynch studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. While he concentrated on painting, on his own he tried filmmaking. Neither film nor animation were taught at this school. Still, in 1967, he made a six minute animated film “Six Men Getting Sick”.

Lynch chose film over painting He next made a four minute animation and live action film “The Alphabet” in 1968 followed in 1970  by a 34 minute animation and live action film “The Grandmother”. These films helped him become a fellow at the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film Studies. He then created a move “Eraserhead” from 1972 to 1976. This led him to directing successful internationally known films such as “Elephant Man”, “Blue Velvet”, “Wild at Heart”, “Mulholland Drive” and to also create the TV series “Twin Peaks” in 1990-1991.

Robert Cozzolino states “Lynch is an artist who happens to make film as part of his expression”.

The social turmoils Lynch saw while living in Philadelphia helped inspire him. He also found great inspiraitons from his fellow art students.

Some themes that often appear in Lynch’s films are home, childhood, and nostalgia. His films are often voilent, to which he explains home “is a place where things go wrong.” Lynch notes his own childhood was happy. He also notes his paintings are “violent comedies”.

Famous Enough by Diane McBain

Diane McBain and Michael Gregg Michaud. Famous Enough: A Hollywood Memoir.Duncan, Ok.: BearManor Publishing, 2014.

At age 16, McBain auditionaed for and won a role in a play at the Glendale Center Theatre. She then modeled, appearing in several national magazines. Then she was going to work exclusively for Revlon yet was badly sunburned when appearing at her first shoot.

McBain appeared in the TV show “Father Knows Best”. Her few lines earned her $200.

A Warner Brothers talent scout, Sally Bianco, asked McBain to audition. She did and then did an episode of “Maverick” followed by an episode of “77 Sunset Strip”. She found Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. “mannered, stylish, and sophisticated” while she found E Bynes “insufferably egotistical”.

At age 18, McBain signed a seven year contract with Warner Brothers Studios at $250 a week. She writes men began at $275 a week and women began at $250 a week.

Her first movie, “Ice Palace”, was filmed in 1959. She later learned Richard Burton saved her from being fired. Burton knew the director wanted to replace McBain for struggling with memorizing her lines. Burton deliberately flubbed his lines so the blame on delays would be on him and not McBain.

McBain lost her virginity to Richard Burton yet writes his penis was too large to complete intercourse.

“Ice Palace” received poor reviews and lost the studio millions of dollars.

McBain observes movies are “profoundly infused with homosexual aestheticism. I think their cultural influence was so powerful, it’s mystifying to me that so many people---people who loved the movies---harbored homophobic prejudices.”

McBain continued with memorization difficulties while filming “Parrish”. She appeared with Troy Donahue who explained “method-style” acting. The movie ran 138 minutes which she writes was too long. The length hurt its audience appeal.

McBain was cast in the TV series “Surfside Six”. She was in most of the 74 episodes that appeared over two years.

The studio arranged for celebrity dates for her for publicity purposes. She writes “rather than making me sound interesting, I thought it made me a slut.”

McBain starrted in the movie “Claudelle Inglish”. The movie earned several million dollars. McGain was nominated for a Golden Laurel Award for Top Female New Personality.

McBain was date raped and blackmailed by her assailant who threatened to cliam she was a “whore”. Such an accusation could have ended her career a studio contracts insisted on public morality. She fell into depression.

McBain appeared in the movie “Black Gold”. The director was Leslie Martinson, who McBain writes was “arguable the most neurotically dramatic director I ever worked with” who would “fly off the handle over the silliest things.”

McBain was “rented out” to Paramount Studios to appear in the movie “The Caretakers”. When an actor was “rented out” to another studio, the actor received the same pay while the studio received an “inflated” amount. She found the other female actors “all behaved as if they had something to protect” which “degenerated into ugly bitch fights.” Joan Crawford had a vendetta against McBain and had most of McBain’s scenes removed from the film.

“The Caretakers” did poorly at the box office. President Kennedy asked for the movie to be shown on the Senate floor, which may have been the first time a movie was shown on the Senate floor. The movie is credited with helping the Senate unanimously pass Kennedy’s mental health bill.

McBain worked with Ty Hardin. whom she found a “strange actor” whose real name was Orson Whipple Hungerford, Jr. He was nicked “Ty Hard-on” for his attempts at picking up women while holding a Bible and telling them God wanted them to sleep together.

McBain was in the movie “A Distant Trumpet”. She found Suzanne Pleshette had “the foulest mouth I’d ever heard on anyone in my life---man or woman” although she grew fond of Pleshette.

McBain in 1963 turned down appearing in “Sex and the Single Girl”. Warner Brothers thus terminated her contract.

McBain dated a few men, including producer Aaron Spelling. She found him “very sweet” but “ust too nice. There was no chemistry.”

McBain appeared on the TV show “Batman”. Adam West believed the show was “a comic farce”” and not “campy” as some observed it. To McBain, “the experience was like being in a funhouse on acid.”

McBain appeared in “Spinout” with Elvis Presley, who “behaved like a complete gentleman:.

Johnny Grant, a talk show host, asked McBain to entertain troops in Vietnam on the 29th tour there. Tippi Hedren went with them. At one point, Viet Cong personnel took control of their parked jeepp. Tippi Hedren yelled at them to leave the jeep, and they did so, yet with sinister looks.

While in Vietnam, McBain and Hedren befriended Vietnamese actress Kieu Chinh. Chinh was on the last Pan Am flight out of Vietnam before it fell to the Communists. Hedren helped arrange for Chinch to enter the United States, where Chinch then revived her acting career.

McBain appeared in, which she describe as “a piece of celluloid trash” a movie “I sailed to Tahiti with An All Girl Crew”. At one point Edy Williams was in the water when all ten of her falsies popped out.

McBain appeared in the movie “Maryjane” which Fabian. It was written by Peter Marshall and Dick gaither. It appeared on a double bill in drive in theaters.

McBain performed in another tour of Vietnam in 1968. She saw lots more injured soldiers then. SH felt “an emotional dam burst” and began crying uncontrollably. She deiced “war means one thing---failure to communicate---and no one wins.”

After returning to the U.S., McBain visited many Veterans’ Administration hospitals.

Tippi Hedren’s husband, Noel Marshall, an agent, advised McBain to pose for Playboy magazine. McBain initially did not wish to yet realized it had helped Carol Lynley’s career. She agreed yet regretted it the next day.

McBain appeared in “the Mini-Skirt Mob” and then “Savage Season” which was Ron Harper’s first film.

McBain writes that agent Kurt Frings considered adding her a a client when “he literally chased me around his office and then threw me out when I refused to have sex with him.”

McBain filmed an episode in “ABC’s Wide World of Mystery”. She breast fed her baby at work. This prompted a national debate.

In 1977, McBain was cast in “The Silent Scream”. The film was “un-releasable” and in 1978 Barbara Steele and others were brought in for re-shots. Only 15% of the first filmings appeared in the final produce. McBain was totally cut from the film. This upset her as she “had delivered a good, balanced performance.”

Michael Druxman handled her publicity. One “story sounded amusing in paper, and it was a complete fabrication.”

McBain appeared int he TV movie “Donner Pass”. She writes “Druxman didd the best he could with the press, but the reviews were lukewarm”.

McBain next appeared in “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams” with Dan Haggerty.

Christopher Reeve confided to McBain that Reeve’s father appreciated Reeve’s theatrical performances but did not like his “Superman” film performance.

McBain filmed an episode of “Hawaii 5 O”. She found hat actor Jack Lord “proved to be another one of those egotistical males whose manners on the set needed some polish. Everyone handled him with kid gloves.” Lord had it written into his conract that he would not work past 6 pm. At 6 pm he suddenly walked off the set without saying any goodbyes.

As McBain found it harder to find roles, she took an acting class and dieted. She got a role on the TV show “Dallas”, Ten in 1982 she was cast in the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives”. While she worked steadily, she was hired only on days when called. Some other soap opera stars had three year contracts. On that set, she found her wardrobe was from “leftovers”.

On December 20, 1982, McBain was raped and beaten by two strangers. She later did interviews on how women may survive such trauma. “The Days of Our Lives”, though, dropped her.

McBain filmed an episode of “Airwolf”, She worked with actor Ernest Borgnine, who she found as “one of the sweetest actors I ever met.”

In 1988, McBain was on the soap opera “General Hospital” for several months.

McBain visited filmmakers in China. She found they did not know about American movies. She found, of their films, “the technical quality was very good. The subject matter was a bit old-fashioned and very melodramatic.”

McBain got a new agent and was cast on the movie “Puppet Master V: The Final Post”. She had to put on her own makeup and wear her own clothes.

McBain appeared as Granny in an episode of “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch”. She was told the part would be a recurring character yet she was never called back.

McBain was elected to the National Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Richard Masur was a pro-union President. She supported him even though she was elected opposing him. McBain supported merging SAG with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. She “reluctantly” supported the 2000 strike which successfully kept the Pay Per Play residuals and increased cable residuals by 140%.

Actors such as Peter Mark Richman, whom she had liked yet described them as “union busters, attacked McBain’s union activities “with malice, blatantly lying about my political activities and the activities of others in my coalition.” She was falsely accused of distributing pro-union pamphlets on Guild property. She was exonerated of the charges and SAG paid for her legal bills. She notes “I cannot say for sure whether the overt mudslinging or the negative chatters behind the scenes did me in, but the fact remains that after my acrimonious stint on the SAG Board, I never worked as an actress again.”

McBain advises people to give love instead of ego.

From Hollywood to Michael Dante Way by Michael Dante

Michael Dante. From  Hollywood to Micael Dante Way. Albany, Ga: BearManor Press, 2013.

Dante as a child worked as an assistant to a barker at the circus for $2 a day. He discovered he enjoyed performing.

Dante played on a baseball team that won the Connecticut high school championship in 1949 as well as a team that won the New England Newspaper League championship. The Boston Braves signed him for a $6,000 bonus, which was then the maximum bonus that could be offered without requiring the player be on the major league roster for two years. He hurt his arm playing. The doctor suggested he move to a warmer climate to heal. He moved to California. There, a scout signed him to play for Hermosillo in the Mexican Coast Winter League. This was followed with reporting for spring training for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League. Yet his injury prevented him from playing for the team. He kept in shape playing semi-pro baseball in Connecticut.

Dante could play baseball yet had troubles throwing overhand. An operation attempted to correct this. While healing, he started class at the University of Miami as an Acting major. He got a scholarship to be Assistant Manager of their baseball team.

Dante attended spring training with the Washington Senators. He was designated to go to their Chattanooga team when he was also offered a screen test. He chose the screen test.

Dante writes “the 1950s was perhaps the most exciting and creative time in the history of the business because television was just coming into its own.” Lots of new opportunities arose for cast and crew.

Dante’s screen test resulted in a standard several year studio contract. The studio, MGM, could cancel the contract every six months. He was offered to meet with an acting coach, even if just to say hello. He made a point ot do that at least twice a week. He wored on improving his diction.

Dante also learned that there was much “envy and jealousy” among other actors.

His first role was in “Shorty the Greek”. He shared a dressing room with Steve McQueen.

During filming, a truck’s brakes failed. The driver managed to avoid hitting people on ground. Dante pulled Steve McQueen away from getting hurt. The truck ran into a plank with a dolly which tossed the camera operator into the air. Neither was seriously injured.

Steve McQueen considered Dante to be with him in the movie “Bullit”. Dante had observed tht McQueen had a complex about his height. When Dante rose at their meeting before McQueen rose, McQueen asked him “Whoa, hey, man. What did you do? Get taller since I saw you last?” Dante correctly knew that he had lost the part.

MGM had one of the first large scale dumping of actors. Dante’s contract was among those MGM did not renew.

Warner Brothers, which was investing in tV shows, hired Dante for $250 a week with increases over the following six years. We has cast before getting the contact. Dante insisted of $275 a week, which he received as he was needed for the movie. He did earn the displeasure of the head of casting.

Dante’s first Warner Brothers role was in “Westbound” where he portrayed a one armed soldier returning from war.

Jack Warner wanted to change Dante’s name fro his actual name that he was using, Ralph Vitti. Warner said of the first and second names that one had to be long and the other short. He picked a relative’s name, Dante, to keep his Italian heritage.

Dante had guest roles in 13 TV shows in addition to three movies in his first year at Warner Brothers. He was getting his name in publicity magazines which helped create interest in his appearances.

Dante was in the movie “Seven Thieves”. Joan Collins was often missing from the set. She was then often found with her boyfriend Warren Beatty. Collins and the director got into heated arguments. Edward G. Robinson advised regarding Collin’s actions “Michael, don’t behave that way, it’s so unprofessional.” Dante followed that advice.

Actors went on strike for six months. This ended all studio contracts. Dante was among the last of the contract actors.

After the strike ended, Dante did several more TV episodes. He then appeared in the movie “Kid Galahad”. He filmed a boxing scene with Elvis Presley as no stunt doubles were used. Elvis accidentally cut Dante’s mouth with a late blow.

Dante’s next movie was a low budget “Operation Bikini” about the Bikini Atoll and not bathing suits. It took two weeks to shoot and made International Pictures a lot of money for their investment, The actors received little pay.

Dante next appeared in the film “The Naked Kiss”. The movie receive rave reviews.

Dante filmed “Apache Rifles” with Audie Murphy Much of the filming was in the 117 degree Mojave desert.

Dante filmed “Harlow” with Carol Lynley. He improvised a line with her on a polar bear fug stating “do you like fff..fireplaces?”, elongating the “f”. The director Alex Segal stated it was one of the greatest improvised lines ever.

Dante made an appeared on “Bonanza”. While filming it, the Executive Producer, David Dortort, offered Dante a role in a TV series he was creating, “High Chapparel”. Dante turned it down and the show ran for five years. Dante writes he has no regrets turning it down.

Dante appeared in “Get Smart” . He writes that experience was the most fun as laughter reigned on the set.

Dante was cast in the TV series “The Legend of Custer”. He portrayed Crazy Horse. Critics did not like the series. It lasted 17 episodes. Four episodes were later edited into a movie “Crazy Horse and Custer---The Untold Story.”

Gene Roddenberry offered Dante to be in “Star Trek” Dante did not have to audition as Roddenberry already appreciated his work. Dante accepted. Most who appeared on “Star Trek” earned more money at fan conventions and autograph shows than what they received for being on the show. Dante and seven others who were “Star Trek”, including a brief appearance by William Shatner, filmed a comedic homage in 2013, “Unbelievable!!!”

Dante filmed an episode of “Daniel Boone”. He performed a scene in water with Darby Hinton. The crew did not realize the water was cold and Hinton was shocked by the coldness. Dante swam 40 yards, holding onto Hinton. Hinton credits Dante with saving his life.

Dante appeared in “Willard”. He notes that the scene were rats appear to kiss Willard’s ear were shot by placing peanut butter on Willard’s ears, thus making their eating look like they were kissing him.

Dante continued appearing in TV episodes.

Dante had the title role in the movie “Winterhawk”. He suffered torn ligaments when the horse he was riding for the film caught his foot between some logs and then reared up. This caused Dante to slide off as the horse bolted. They had to shoot around him during his ten day recovery.

In 1977, Rep. Chris Dodd invited Dante to the National Prayer Breakfast. Dodd was a fan of “Winterhawk”.

Dante’s next movie role was in “The Farmer”, followed by “Cruise Missile”. He then filmed “Beyond Evil”, his only horror film.

While Dante had turned down appearing in a soap opera in 1963, he agreed to appear in “Days of OUr Lives” in 1984.

Dante filmed two movie with Fred Williamson. Dante believes Williamson was “ahead of his time” and that his movies would be more commercially successful today.

Dante got a radio show. After 13 weeks of the show, the manager offered him another 13 week contract. Dante insisted in creating his own show. He paid for airtime and obtained his own sponsors. The “Michael Dante Classic Celebrity Talk Show” lasted 12 years.

In 2011, a road in Stamford, Ct. was named Michael Dante Way.

Five Came Back by Mark Harris

Mark Harris. Five Came Back: A History of Hollywood and the Second World War. ew York: The Penguin Press, 2014.

During World War II, the Federal government had filmmakers filming in combat zones They were given great creative freedom even though the government’s goal was to create propaganda to inspire Americans to support the war well. In addition, the films informed people about the war. Five legendary directors were among those involved, including John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, John Huston, and George Stevens. Of them, John Ford was involved first.

Ford was a Navy Lieutenant Commander when Pearl Harbor was bombed. He had already begun creating the Naval Volunteer Photographic Unit involving professional camera operators, sound technicians, and film editors. They rehearsed working in simulated ship conditions.

Rod, at age 46, and Wyler at 39, were too old for the draft. Huston was 4F.

Wyler had directed “Mrs. Miniver” which was designed to give audiences respect for the British spirit.

Stevens watched Leni Riefenstan’s pro-Nazi “Triumph of the Will” movie and decided he needed to act, stating “All film is propaganda.”

Capra wrote that his decision to become involved was mostly out of boredom and somewhat out of patriotism.

The War Department had a long history with filmmaking. The Signal Corps first made soldier training films in 1929.

The movie industry feared government censorship and regulation.

The government’s decision to involve film professionals into a world war was made with little forethought or planning on what they were going to do.

In 1938, the major film companies all avoided films that touched on the politics of Hitler. Exception were allowed in dialogue comments. There was a Production Coe that covered movies that demanded movies avoid controversial topics.

Ford became active in the Anti-Nazi League in 1938. He lated helped found the Motion Picture Artists’ Committee to Aid Spain, which reached 15,000 members.

In 1935, Capra declared he admired Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was a fan of Capra’s films. Mussolini offered Capra $1 million o produce a movie biography of Mussolini. Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures President, stopped the idea stating “I’m a Jew. Hes mised up with Hitler and I don’t want no part of it.”

Capra supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Capra hated unions and declined, for the first 18 months of its existence, to join the Screen Directors Guild. Capra later switched from being anti-Roosevelt and a pacifist to being pro-Roosevelt and an interventionist. He did so after meeting Roosevelt and be awed by Roosevelt. Capra later became President of the Screen Directors Guild.

In 1939, the movie “Confessions of a Nazi Spy” was released. The German-American Bund objected. A Paramount censor warned Warner Brothers that films like that would mean “the Warners will have on their hands the blood of a great many Jews in Germany. Some feared the film would incite accusations that the film industry favored “a Jewish interventionist agenda.”

Capra’s films “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” had “quasi-populist anger: yet their “politics are completely non-specific.” Capra insisted his goal was to entertain When questioned if his films had a political theme, Capra declared “Go get fucked with your theme! Are you a Communist?”

Over half of American adults in 1940 went to the movies weekly.

The leaders of all eight major studios formed the pro-war Motion Pictures Co-operating for the Defense.

Ford, a Catholic loyal to his wife, produced for the military the six “Sex Hygiene”. It showed close-ups of penile sores and informed personnel that anyone wishing to have sex with a solider “probably has a disease.”

Ford’s proposed budget for the Field Photo Unit was $5 million for the first year, $3 million for the second year, and $2 million for the third.

Sen. Gerard Nye, Republican from North Dakota, berated the film industry as a group of “foreigners” with “non’Nordic” surnames who produced over 20 movie such as “Sergeant York” and “The Great Dictator” in order to make the public “fear that Hitler will come over here and capture them.” The Senate held hearings on the film industry’s propaganda and monopoly status.

The film industry decided to avoid the monopoly issue and fight back on the propaganda charges. The Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of American paid Wendell Willkie to appear with them at the hearings. Willkie was a pro-interventionist Republican who had been the Republican nominee for President, The strategy was not to appeae the Senators yet to refuse to apologize for informing the public about the international problems. Willkie spoke of the filmmakers’ patriotism.

The Senate committee on the film industry had four isolationists and one interventionist, Sen. Ernest McFarland. Willkie spoke first, proclaiming the studios “abhor everything that Hitler represents.” The committee refused to allow Willkie to ask questions during the hearing with McFarland objecting to that. Nye, who was not a member of the committee, testified first, calling the film industry “the most potent and dangerous fifth column of our country.” Nye declared “the people of Germany and of Italy...are also suffering.” He accused the studios with supporting England for profit reasons with their films shows in England.

Willkie ignored the prohibition on his questioning a witness and asked if Nye had seen the movies he questioned. Nye replied he hadn’t seen all of them. Willkie offered to show to the movies to committee members.

The second day’s witness with Sen Bennett Clark. Clark testified the film industry was controlled by six people and implied they sought to go to war to help the Soviet Union.
He warned if they did not halt their propaganda he would destroy their monopoly.

McFarland later wondered how the film industry could be taking orders from the Federal government, as some Senators accused, when it produced movies such as “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” which ridiculed the Federal government.

Sen. Sheridan Downey, Democrat from California, testified supporting the film industry, arguing “should be expect Hollywood to turn its back upon the reality of the world?”

Harry Warner of Warner Brothers testified the movies were “accurately recording on the screen the world as it is or as it had been.”

Warner testified disputing charges the movies were being greeted by public indifference. He correctly predicted that “Sergeant York” would be his most profitable film.

Darryl Zanuck noted that Hitler and Mussolini had banned U.S. films for “they wanted no part of the American way of life.”

The Senate committee realized it had litle support to bring its’ issues before the full Senate. It disbanded on December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor.

After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt named Lowell Mellett to operate the Office for Emergency Management in collaboration with the film industry. Darryl Zanuck, an active duty Lieutenant Colonel, met weekly with the War Departnet.

Mellett met with the film industry both to produce films both for government use, such as military training films, and for commenting on films to get the general public to support the war. Roosevelt was aware how public support decreased for World War I. Roosevelt declared he was against censorship, yet wanted public safety to be a priority. Some movie executives were not pleased that Merritt was not from the film industry and was advising them.

In 1942, Ford was ordered to overall the War Department’s first important propaganda film. I was designed to reassure the American public that the Navy remained strong despite in losses at Pearl Harbor.

The film Ford produced was “December 7th”. Ford filmed the Navy in Hawaii. He also did filming in California without informing the government of his California footage.

When an admiral was recommending shots, Ford yelled at the admiral that Ford knew what he was doing. This actually increased the confidence that Navy brass had in Ford. Ford was allowed to fly with airplane raids over Japan led by General James Dolittle. These shots were used in newsreels.

Capra received an Army Captain’s salary that reached $4,000. General George Marshall had Capra transferred from the Signal Corps, which was traditionally in charge of filmmaking, to the Morale Branch. Capra’s first film was “Why We Fight.”

Bette Davis, elected weeks earlier as the Academy Award’s President, proposed turning the 1942 Academy Awards into a war relief fund raiser selling tickets to the public. The Academy Board strongly objected and continued with a lavish Academy Awards. Davis resigned as the Academy’s President. Formal wear was rejected with the recommendation that the money for formal wear be donated to the Red Cross.

Carole Lombard died in a plane crash from Indiana to Los Angeles. She was returning from selling war bonds, She was seen as the first movie star casualty of the war effort.

Louis B. Mayer had led MGM away from making propaganda films. Mayer was upset at the Nye Committee for including MGM’s “The Mortal Storm” and “Escape” in their claims of films that were propaganda. Yet, in 1941, MGM released “Mrs. Miniver” which depicted British civilian strength during the war. Director William Wyler stated he deliberately made a propaganda film because it was something one wasn’t supposed to do. Mayer approved it as it was pro-British without being anti-German. Mayer wanted the movie toned yet after Pearl Harbor, Maybe told Wyler “You do it the way you want.”

Capra asked brothers Julius Epstein and Joseph Epstein as well as other screenwriters to join his war efforts. The screenwriters were all left wingers, the opposite of what Capra himself was politically before Pearl Harbor.

The screenwriters all agreed despite Capra’s reputation of being difficult to work with. Capra admitted he has trouble telling others what he wanted but he knew it when he saw it. He did ask that “to turn words into pictures.”

Capra claims the initial outlines the screenwriters produced “were larded with Communist propaganda.” The author notes the surviving copies of these outlines are not as Capra remembered them.

Capra’s request for office space was delayed by the War Department due to War Department bureaucracy. Capra on his own got the Interior Department to allow him to use some empty space they had in a cooling tower.

Lowell Mellett urged for showing more Blacks in the war effort movies. He wanted white viewers to see Blacks working at jobs not traditionally done by Blacs. It was also hoped ot get more Blacks to support the war. One survey in Harlem found half of Blacks thought there would be little difference in their lives if Japan won the war. There was talk among Southern Blacks of creating a Japanese-Black alliance.

The U.S. Army’s War College in 1937 studied Black soldiers and found them “careless, shiftless, irresponsible and secretive, immoral, un-truthful, and his sense of right is relatively inferior.”

400 movies with war themes were produced by move studies in 1942 and 1943.

Studios loaned screenwriters to Capra. Yet the studios insisted that their time left on their contracts should be extended by the amount of time they were with Capra.

The Museum of Modern Art collected pro-Nazi propaganda films. Some had been shown in U.S. communities with large German-American populations. The films argued that the Treaty of Versailles was “the rape of Germany” and that Germany was defending itself. Goebbels supervised the production of such films as “Campaign for Poland” and “Victory in the West.” Capra studied the films. Capra observed the films encourage the youth to fight for Hitler and that surrender meant death.

Capra developed the “Why We Fight” series.

Eric Knight was an advisor to Capra. He advised that the films required a cohesive theme that would motivate the troops. He found the early screenplays consisted of too many boring facts and contained too much dry information. Capra placed Knight to supervise the screenwriters.

Ford  was wounded with shrapnel with filming the Battle of Midway. Ford was filming from a roof as a Japanese plane attacked. He had picked a power station roof as it had telephones. A bomb hit the station, knocked Ford unconscious, and shrapnel hit his arm. The camera operator, Jack MacKenzie, Jr., stated “I got a swell short of a Jap formation coming in straight toward me.” MacKenzie continued filming elsewhere. Ford needed medical attention. MacKenzie continued filming the devastation of the battles for days afterwards.

Ford would later elaborate the story, claiming he did the filming. MacKenzie later clarified that he and Kenneth Pier had done the cinematography.

Ford was upset when men of Torpedo Squadron 8, whom he had met, died in action. He had a film made of the men and had a copy delivered to eery deceased man’s family. The film was never show to anyone else for about half a century.

Capra was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. “Prelude to War” became the film film of the “Why We Fight” series, telling about Italy invading North Africa and Japan invading Manchuria. This was followed by “The Nazi Strikes” about Germany invading Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Next was “Divide and Conquer” about France falling to Germany. The next two were about Germany’s war with England and Russia. The sixth was about Japan invading China. The several was about Pearl Harbor.

In 1942, the Academy changed rules allowing 25 nominees for Beat Documentary with four winners.

Huston had a cameraman who loved being shot at who flew nine missions in six days. They filmed in the Aleutian territory where the bright light required a rare type of film that was hard to find.

Stevens observed that soldiers seeing films experienced a “catharsis” of being reminded of things from home.

Wyler was sent to England with no written directive, officer assistance, or funds. He didn’t have a typewriter or a car. Wyler did not know Army protocols. Wyler was informed by a “Stars and Stripes” writer he won an Academy Award for directing “Mrs. Miniver.”

Ford’s film “December 7” included descriptions of Japanese race-baiting. Tug Gallagher, a film historian, believe the strong anti-Japanese narrative of the film may have been served to gain support for the internment of Japanese nationals. Ford’s film included dialogue that most Japanese Americans supported the U.S. Mellett stopped general release of “December 7th” yet it was show to military and munitions personnel.

A U.S. Senate Committee investigating waste questioned whether Zanuck was using his war post for stir training film contracts to 20th Century Fox. Zanuck denied doing anything improper. He was cleared of malfeasance.

The Army Inspector General conducted its own investigation on Zanuck. Zanuck stopped bragging about being in dangerous combat. It was determined no director had a full time salary from studios in addition to their military pay. The matter was dropped.

Wyler took dangerous shots. He shot from a hole in a plane’s belly to film a landing. He could have been killed had there been a rough landing.

Zanuck with Anatole Litwak filmed much footage of the Casablanca battle. The film was lost when the ship carrying the film was sunk by German torpedoes.

The film “Desert Victory” used some reenactments. Reviews liked the film and were not concerned with the reenactments. Variety’s review wrote “It’s the overall effect that counts.”

Capra produced cartoon shorts of Private SNAFU who would learn the importance of rules. Private SNAFU often wound up blown up.

Capra hired Theodor S. Geisel for the Private SNAFU project. Geisel would later be known as Dr. Seuss. Geisel partnered with Chuck Jones of Elmer Fudd fame. Mel Blanc did the voices. Friz Freling, Frank Tashlin, and Bob Clampett, experienced cartoon makers, joined the process. 26 cartoons were produced in a year and a half. The cartoons got lines past censors such as showing nuts falling off a jeep with the line “it’s so cold it would freeze the nuts off a jeep.”

Capra produced “Tunisian Victory” with reenactments.

Sam Goldwyn wanted Wyler to return to MGM. Wyler stated he would stay until the war was over. Goldwyn asked Wyler to sign that he would return within 60 days of discharge and that Toldwyn could end his contract if the war didn’t end by the end of 1945.

Capra’s film “The Battle of Russia” helped convince viewers that the U.S. was part of an Allied effort. This was not just a U.S. war. This was the first film of the “Why We Fight” series that was released to the general public. It ran for 80 minutes. This film was later used by pro-Joseph McCarthy supports during the 1950s in their claims Capra that Capra had Communist sympathies.

Capra was promoted to Coloneo had yet no additional duties.

Huston claimed he serve as a nurse to the camera crew in San Pietro. He did not. In fact, the footage used in the later scripted movie “The Battle of San Pietro” was taken by Jules Buck. Huston did film there.

Movie audiences were tiring of the documentary movies. THey were increasingly attending musicals, comedies, and biographies.

The Best Documentary Award went to the British production “Desert Victory.”

Ford was promoted to Captain, He produced the film “They Were Expendable.”

For the D Day invasion, Capra was sent to D.C. to handle quickly the arriving film footage and coordinating it for use.

Capra insisted on making “The Negro Soldier.” He was met with government hypocrisy as they wanted a movie that would win Black support yet would not upset whites. Military units were segregated. Black military units did not have this important jobs that would appear as exciting to Blacks they hoped to recruit. Capra kept stereotypes out of the fim. It was well received when released to Black audiences. It was released to general audiences in hopes of changing white people’s attitudes towards Blacks.

The filming of D Day was shot by the Field Photo Unit, SEPCOU (Special Coverage Unit) team, Coast Guard, Canadian Army, and British military. Film ws in London 76 hours afterwards. Color film was converted to black and white for newsreels.Some of the film was so graphically violent it was not shown for over a half century. Churchill watched a 1 hour, 40 minute synopsis.

Stevens filmed bombing results, including the dead and survivors.

Junius Stout, one of Capra’s camera operators, filmed the Omaha Beach invasion from the top of a boat. He died when his returning plane was shot down.

Ford gave his MGM salary to create the Field Photo Memorial Home for rehabilitating studio technicians who served in war. Year later, a critic declared it was a low cost veterans’ housing, which Ford denied.

Ford returned to make “They Were Expendable” for MGM. Zanuck, Ford’s former 20th Century Fox employer, was upset yet it was his patriotic duty to let Ford make the movie where he wanted. Ford told Zanuck he was recovering from shock and war wounds. Zanuck knew Ford like to overly boast and replied “I do not choose to believe all the facts as related by Ford, including the wounds.”

Capra’s family was financially hurting from the lower royalties his films earned. Capra tried to leave military service yet was denied.

Huston wrote scripts under pseudonyms which allowed him to get around Army regulations prohibiting him from having a civilian salary. He wrote “The Killers” and “The Stranger”.

Huston’s first cut of the film “San Pietro” was rejected by the War Department. They believe it was anti-war. Huston stated to the War Department representative that he “pompously replied that if I ever make a picture that was pro-war, I hoped someone would take me out and shoot me. The guy looked at me as if he was considering just that.” Huston recut the film.

It was decided that film propaganda should blame the people of the countries at war with the U.S. In the film “Know Your Enemy”, the Japanese were described as “pigeon-toed and perhaps bowlegged. He is near-sighted and has buck teeth.” 20th Century Fox’s “The Purple Heart” recommended that the was to handle the Japanese was to “wipe them off the face of the Earth.”

Capra, observing Stevens had not taken a break in seven months, ordered Stevens to temporarily report to London to supervise “The True Glory”. Paddy Chayefsky was writing the script. Stevens found there was little for him to do.

Wyler filmed “Thunderbolt” about P 47 fighter planes. Wyler also filmed the devastation of Italy. Wyler’s driver for awhile was Leicester Hemingway, Ernest’s brother, who was known for agreeing to drive into dangerous places.They filmed a ragtag group of local armed resisters. Wyler discovered that the Jews were missing from towns and no one knew where they were.

Ford filmed John Wayne in “They Were Expendable”. Ford yelled at Wayne “Duke! Can’t you manage a salute that looks like you’ve been in he service?” Wayne walked off the shoot. Robert Montgomery walked to Ford declaring “Don’t you ever speak like that to anyone again.” Ford apologized and gave Wayne an additional scene in the film.

During filming, Ford fell off a soundstage several feet and broke a leg. Ford was told he would be in traction for three weeks. Montgomery shot the scheduled close ups and inserts for the next two weeks. Ford returned after two weeks against his doctor’s roders to finish filming.

Wyler lost his hearing from loud plane engines while filming in Italy. Wyler was discharged due to his deafness.

Eisenhower ordered Stevens to film the 16,000 American and British paratroopers attacking Germany. Stevens arrived at a concentration camp in Nordhausen. He discovered piles of bones from mass murder. His film was the first confirmation of Nazi concentration camp atrocities.

Stevens filmed more atrocities at Dachau Concentration Camp. Many dead were there with 30,000 still alive. Those alive were starving and ill.

Theodore Geisel’s script for “Your Job in Germany”, a film for those occupying Germany included the dialogue that the Germans stating “they’re not sorry they caused the war. Someday the German people may be cured of their disease---the super race disease, their world conquest disease.” Ronald Reagan auditioned to read the narrative yet Geisel noted Reagan “didn’t see to have the understanding, the meaning, of the vital issue.” Eisenhower approved the film be shown to all U.S. solders encamped in Germany.

“San Pietro” showed the realism of war to the public.

Huston wanted to remove the stigma that psycho-neurotic veterans experienced. He filmed Let There Be Light”. Military police seized the film before it was to be shown at the Museum of Modern Art. It was not shown for 35 years

After the war, Capra directed “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Stevens commented on the elaborateness of the production, stating “He’s putting in snow scenes. WHy the hell can’t ti be springtime?”

Wyler wanted realism in films. He hired a non-actor Harold Russell, who lost both hands in a military training accident, to appear in “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

Ford tried to use veterans in his first postwar film.

Wyler was nearly fully deaf and worried about hearing actors the nuisances in their voices. He hesitated about returning to directing. Wyler regained his confidence and returned to directing.

The initial poor public reaction to “It’s a Wonderful Life” made Capra feel he has lost his directing skills.

Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty by Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton. Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty. New York: Random House, 2014.

The author admires “women who aren’t afraid to push the envelope” and those who “do what you aren’t supposed to do.”

Woody Allen encouraged her to continue auditioning after she lost at many auditions. She began doubting her own looks. Allen, an actor-writer-friend, told her she was funny and “funny is pretty.” She realized funny women “make funny beautiful.”

Keaton observes there is “no beauty without pain.” For example, Keaton observes that “Marilyn Monroe’s insecurity explains her continuing appeal.”

In shooting a movie “The Little Girl”, Keaton evoked emotions prior to filming an emotional scene by looking at a photograph of her then boyfriend to whom she wasn’t then speaking, Warren Beatty. By kissing the photograph, a flood of emotions returned.

Ann Miller, Keaton noted, had a nose job that did not look well. Ann Miller hid the botched nose job by wearing a fake nose. Once while dancing while filming “Kiss Me Kate” her fake nose flew off.

Many actors worry about their looks. Gary Cooper had a face lift.

Keaton observes “low comedy is looked down upon because it’s targeting towards people who want to feel better by laughing at someone else’s misery.” Yet she notices it makes great comedic experts to excel at slapstick and pratfalls, including Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Matin Short, Adam Sandler, and Melissa McCarthy.

Keaton argues “comedy is not a scene. It’s an art. As you try to analyze it, the funniness disappears.”

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Hollywood by Michael B. Druxman

Michael B. Druxman. Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Hollywood: More of My Wacky Adventures in Tinseltown. Albany, Ga.: Bear Manor Media, 2013.

Druxman advises that the most important quality required in the film industry is tenacity. It took him ten years before he sold his first screenplay. Once that happened, more offers were extended.

Druxman was an agent. Druxman collected movie press kits. He discovered a bookstore that was selling press kits that had been stolen from the Warner Brothers library. Warner Brothers got their press kits back. From then on, Warner Brothers was more apt to listen to Druxman when representing his clients.

Druxman began as a Drama major (he lated switched to Sociology) at the University of Washington. He learned, when wondering why a humorous line was not getting a laugh, was that an actor should never anticipate the laugh. Stating it naturally allowed the humor to come forth.

Druxman went into stage directing in Seattle theater. Druxman observed Seattle did not present edgier plays. He successfully challenged their perceptions and fought over censorship with the theater board. He then cast and directed the plays that he wanted to present.

Druxman found there was not much money to be made in community theater. He moved to Los Angeles. He opened a low cost publicity service for the film industry. It was called Michael B. Druxman and Associates, although there were’t really associates. The standard deal was Druxman received 5% of an actor’s income during the time he handled publicity.

Druxman had three clients who stayed with him when they receive larger incomes. He considers them “men of principles”. THey are Steve Kanaly, Michael Ansara and Henry Darrow.

One client whose career he tried to resurrect was Reed Hadley. Yet there was a demand for new talet at a time when Hadley was a familiar face yet lacked a memorable name as a box office draw.

Druxman was hired to add dialogue to the movie “She Freak”. His name does not appear in the credits. He earned not to let that happen again.

Druxman observed that, in a comedy duo, the straight person’s reaction to a comic’s joke is what causes laughter.

Druxman can confrim from steam club membership that on of the most endowed actors was Rock Hudson. As several frustrated actresses stated, “what a waste.”

Druxman handled publicity for several composers including John Williams and Johnny Mandel.

Gale Gordon was a Druxman client. A published once asked Druxman to write a biography of Gordon as none existed. Druxman explain there was no book, as he did his work, went home to his wife, and was never involved in any scandals.

Edward Dmyrtryk, a director, was a client. Drmtryk once told an actor, who questioned his motive for a scene walking through a door, that “your motivation for walking through the goddman door is that’s the only way you can get into the goddamn roo Now, shut up and let’s shoot the scene.”

Druxman similarly recalls when he was directing and a addressing an actor on his motivation, telling him “Your motivation is that that’s where I want you to be.”

A director Gerald Mayr once told Druxman that, when directing animals, there is “nothing to it. I just tell the trained that I want the chimpanzee to do this or that, and the trainer makes the chimp do this or that.”

Druxma did publicity for Stanley Myron Handleman. He became popular and did several TV appearances as a comic. Handleman fired Druxman. Handleman found peopel began to ire of him and his career dwindled to a few appearances.

Druxman represented Jack Carter. They had a falling out yet ears later had friendly reunions.

Druxman represented Nicholas Hammond, the actor who was the first life action Spiderman on the 1977 TV series “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Hammond though, ever wore the Spider-man costume as that was a stuntman.

Druxman notes it is not just talent that gets parts. Often an actor fits a conception that the director has for how the character should be. More talented people are often rejected in favor of an actor who fits the part.

Richard Castallano was one of the most difficult clients Druxman represented. He was demanding. He threatened creative people with threats suggesting he had mob connections.

Charles Nelson Reilly was a client. Druxman found him as “scatterbrained” in real life as his acting persona. Reilly was on “The Dean Martin Show” where Marin and guests read their lines from cue cards with little or no rehearsals. Reilly learned his lines until once his script blew out of his convertible car. He decided from then on to also read cue cards as the others did.

George Raft was actor Druxman knew although they didn’t work together. Druxman observe how Raft, a big star, turned down roles in what became big hit movies such as “The Maltese Falcon” and “High Sierra”. Raft [aod $10,000 to get out of his contract. Raft ended up hosting at a restaurant in return for meals and little pay.

Druxman had a client who wanted an expensive trade ad celebrating that the actor had one line on a TV show.

When an actor has a poor performance, the truth can hurt and lying may be bad. Keenan Wynn once advised, when seeing an actor after a bad performance, to smile, shake the actor’s hand, punch the actor on the shoulder, and say “son of a bitch.”

Barbara Hershey, a Druxman client, changed her name to Barbara Seagull. She then changed it back.

A writer once wanted to create a TV series based on a character he wrote for a “Get Smart” episode. The writer later realized the “Get Smart” owners had the rights to his character.

Druxman writers how powerful the film industry is. A major star, unnamed, once killed a woman in a drunken hit and run. The studio was able to keep the story from the press.

Druxman doubts author’s Charles Higham’s ethics in printing gossip without finding facts. Highman wrote Errol Flynn was a Nazi spy while those who knew Flynn find without any merit. The Flynn estate sued yet couldn’t since the law states a deceased person can’t be libeled.