From Beneath the Hollywood Sign Steve Cubine & Nan McNamara

EPISODE 36 - “Classic Hollywood Clones: The Remaking of a Movie Star” - 05/20/2024

SHOW NOTES: 
They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery. That may not be the case when it came to the star system of old Hollywood. When an actor like CLARK GABLE or GRETA GARBO or ROCK HUDSON emerged as a star, every studio in town tried to capitalize and create their own version. For every MARILYN MONROE, there’s a dozen CLEO MOOREs. Often studios would groom an actor with similar looks and skills to be a “threat” to bigger stars who become difficult to work with, or get older and less appealing, or refuse to appear in assigned films. Most of the stars groomed as a threat to a bigger star usually faded into obscurity, but others learned to get out of the looming shadow of the big star and carve out a career of their own. So this week, we pay tribute to the stars who got their starts by being groomed to replace another star.

Sources:

Jayne Mansfield: A Biography (1973), by May Mann;

Clark Gable: A Biography (2005), by Warren G. Harris;

Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon (2018), by Charles Casillo;

Ingrid Bergman: My Story (1980), by Ingrid Bergman;

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly (2017), by Jay Jorgensen and Manoah Bowman;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

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EPISODE 35 - “The Mystery Behind the Columbia Pictures’ Torch Lady and MGM’s Leo, the Lion” - 05/13/2024

Every major Hollywood studio has its recognizable logo. Paramount has its “mountain of stars,” 20th Century Fox has its roving klieg lights, and RKO has its radio towers. But two of the most famous studio logos have to be MGM’s “Leo, the lion” and Columbia’s regal “torch lady.” In this week’s episode, Steve and Nan dive into the history of these two iconic symbols of Hollywood excellence. From the image design to the models used to the roaring lions, we will tell you how these two ever-evolving images came to represent two of Hollywood’s finest movie studios.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

“The Story Behind Columbia Pictures’ Iconic Logo: How Photographer Found Model for 1992 Shoot,” One 8, 2023, by Tommy McArdle, People magazine;

“The Complete History of the Columbia Pictures Logo,” by Rachel Smith, Hatchwise.com;

“The Story of the Most Famous Lion,” April 17, 2107, by Kat Escher, Smithsonian Magazine;

“The Brief History of the MGM Lion,” June 25, 2022, www.silvescreenings.org;

“The MGM Lion,” April 15. 2020, The Vernacular;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

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In “It’s A Wonderful Life,” BEULAH BONDI played the most loving mother to JAMES STEWART. Ma Bailey is the epitome of sweetness, kindness, and supportiveness so it’s quite shocking when we meet the Ma Bailey who would have existed had George Bailey not been born. She’s cold, bitter, and unkind. It gives Bondi the wonderful opportunity to play two versions of the same character, which she does flawlessly. So to celebrate Mother’s Day, Nan and Steve are taking a page from Bondi’s playbook as they discuss the good and bad mothers of classic cinema. 

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Moms in the Movies (2014), by Richard Corliss;

Actresses of a Certain Character (2007), by Axel Nissen;

Irene Dunne: First Lady of Hollywood (2006), by Wes D. Gehring;

Shelley: Also Known as Shirley (1981), by Shelley Winters;

Gene Tierney: Self Portrait (1979), by Gene Tierney and Mickey Herkowitz;

“Mrs. Miniver: The film that Goebbels Feared,” February 9, 2015, by Fiona Macdonald, February 9, 2015, BBC.com; 

"Greer Garson, 92, Actress, Dies; Won Oscar for 'Mrs. Miniver’,” April 7, 1996, by Peter B. Flint, New York Times;

“Stella Dallas,” August 6, 1937, New York Times Film Review;

“Barbara Stanwyck, Actress, Dead at 82,” Jan. 22, 1990, by Peter B. Flint, New York Times;

“1989 Kennedy Center Honors, Claudette Colbert,” Kennedy-Center.org;

“Moving Story of War Against Japan: ‘Three Came Home’,” by Bosley Crowther, Feb. 21, 1950, New York Times Film Review;

“Queen of Diamonds: Angela Lansbury on ‘The Manchurian Candidate’,” 2004;

“Manchurian Candidate: Old Failure, Is Now A Hit,” by Aljean Harmetz, February 24, 1988, New York Times;

“Jo Van Fleet,” by Dan Callahan, May 10, 2017, Film Comment; 

“Pacific’s largely forgotten Oscar winner made impact on screen,” March 3, 2024, 
University of the Pacific;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com

Movies Mentioned: 
The Grapes of Wrath (1940), starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, and Charley Grapewin;
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Henry Morgan, Jane Darwell, Anthony Quinn, and William Eythe;
Mrs. Miniver (1942), starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Henry Travers, and Richard Ney;
Leave Her To Heaven (1945), starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Phillips, and Darryl Hickman;
The Manchurian Candidate (1962), starring Lawrence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury;
The Manchurian Candidate (2004), starring Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Live Schreiber, and Jeffrey Wight;
Gaslight (1944), starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and Angela Lansbury;
I Remember Mama (1948), starring Irene Dunne, Philip Dorn, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka, Ellen Corby, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Barbara O’Neil;
Stella Dallas (1937), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Anne Shirley, John Boles, Barbara O’Neil, and Alan Hale;
Stella (1990), starring Bette Midler, Trini Alvarado, John Goodman, Stephen Collins, Marsha Mason, and Eileen Brennan;
White Heat (1949), starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O’Brien, Steve Cochran, Margaret Wycherly, Fred Clark, and John Archer;
The Little Foxes (1941), starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Teresa Wright, Patricia Collinge, Dan Duryea, and Richard Carlson;
The Ten Commandments (1956), starring Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Yul Brynner, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne DeCarlo, Martha Scott, John Derek, Debra Paget, Vincent Price, and John Carradine;
Three Came Home (1950), starring Claudette Colbert. Sessue Hayakawa, and Patric Knowles; 
A Patch of Blue (1965), starring Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Hartman, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Ivan Dixon, and Elizabeth Fraser;
East of Eden (1955), starring James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey, and Jo Van Fleet
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EPISODE 33 - “Zachary Scott: Star of the Month (May)” - 04/29/2024

Suave, debonaire, and effortlessly charming, ZACHARY SCOTT is best known for his role in MICHAEL CURTIZ's film noir classic Mildred Pierce (1945). As the duplicitous, silver-tongued charmer Monte Beragon, he romances Mildred, played by JOAN CRAWFORD (in her Oscar-winning role), and Mildred's daughter, Veda (ANN BLYTH). This became Scott's signature role: the sexy cad who was usually at his best swindling, seducing, or being a general scoundrel. It was always fun watching Scott's dastardly ways unfold. He could rock a tux, looked naked without a martini in his hand, and always had a cigarette close by. He was so magnetic that he could even make film-goers feel sorry for him. While he seldom got to play the good guy, when he did, as in what is perhaps one of his best roles in JEAN RENOIR's The Southerner (1945), you realize the versatility that he seldom had the opportunity to display. With a career that included over 40 films and dozens of television roles, ZACHARY SCOTT is our Star of the Month.

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Zachary Scott: Hollywood’s Sophisticated Cad (2009), by Ronald L. Davis;

“Actor Zachary Scott, Leading Man for 3 Decades, Dies of Brain Tumor,” October 4, 1965, Akron Bacon Journal

“Who Was Zachary Scott?” www.zachtheatre.org;

“Zachary Scott’s Guilded Cage,” Spring 2020, by Farren Smith Nehme, www.filmnoirfoundation.org;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;


Movies Mentioned: 

Mildred Pierce (1945), starring Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Zachary Scott, Jack Carson, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick, and Butterfly McQueen;

The Southerner (1945), starring Zachary Scott, Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, Norman Lloyd, J. Carroll Naish, Jay Gilpin, Jean Vanderwilt, Blanche Yurka, and Percy Kilbride;

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944), starring Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet;

Hollywood Canteen (1944), starring Bette Davis, John Garfield, Joan Crawford, Joan Leslie, Dane Clark, Joe E, Brown, Barbara Stanwyck, Id Lupino, Sydney Greenstreet, and Jack Benny;

Danger Signal (1945), starring Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson, Mona Freeman, Richard Erdman, Rosemary DeCamp, and Joyce Compton;

Her Kind Of Man (1946), starring Zachary Scott, Dane Clark, Janis Page, and Faye Emerson;

The Unfaithful (1947), starring Ann Sheridan, Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden;

Stallion Road (1947), starring Ronald Reagan, Alexis Smith, and Zachary Scott;

Cass Timberlane (1947), starring Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Zachary Scott, Tom Drake, Mary Astor, Margaret Lindsay, and Albert Dekker;

Ruthless (1948), starring Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Diana Lynn, Sydney Greenstreet, Lucille Bremer, and Martha Vickers;

Whiplash (1948), staring Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, S.Z. Sakall, Jefferey Lynn, and Alan Hale Jr;

Flamingo Road (1949), starring Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet, David Brian, Virginia Huston, Gladys George, and Fred Clark;

Shadow On The Wall (1950), starring Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, John McIntire, Gigi Perreau, Kristine Miller, and Nancy Davis;

Born To Be Bad (1950), starring Joan Fontaine, Zachary Scott, Joan Leslie, Robert Ryan, and Mel Ferrer;

Stronghold (1951), starring Veronica Lake, Zachary Scott, and Rita Meceda;

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951), starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Zachary Scott, Ethel Barrymore, Ann Dvorak, Barbara Bates, and Janette Nolan;

Dead On Course (1953), starring Zachary Scott and Kay Kendall;

Flame of the Islands (1955), staring Yvonne DeCarlo, Howard Duff, and Zachary Scott;

Violent Stranger (1957), starring Zachary Scott, and Faith Domergue;

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EPISODE 32 - “The Mary Astor Purple Diary Scandal” - 04/22/2024

One of the most scandalous trials in early Hollywood history involved actress MARY ASTOR, who had made a name for herself playing virginal ingenues and good girls. Mary, who had kept a diary for most of her life, found her words used as a sensationalized weapon against her in her quest to regain custody of her 4-year-old child in 1936 after her acrimonious divorce from her doctor husband. The trial made worldwide headlines. Her sexy, salacious diary entries showed the world a more sensual side to our virginal Mary, and, in many ways, helped propel her career into the stratosphere. Listen as we discuss Mary Astor, her life, her career, and her shocking purple diaries that took center stage in a Los Angeles courtroom. 

SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:

Mary Astor: My Story (1960), by Mary Astor;

Mary Astor: A Life on Film (1972), by Mary Astor; 

The Purple Diaries: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s (2016), by Joseph Egan;

Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936 (2106), by Edward Sorel;

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;


Movies Mentioned: 

Beau Brummell (1924), starring John Barrymore and Mary Astor;

Dodsworth (1936), starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, and Mary Astor;

Red Dust (1932), starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Mary Astor:

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), starring Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Madeleine Carroll, Mary Astor, David Niven, Raymond Massey, and C. Aubrey Smith:

The Maltese Falcon (1941), starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Lee Patrick, and Elisha Cook Jr;

The Palm Beach Story (1942), starring Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor, and Rudy Vallee;

Act of Violence (1948), starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, and Phyllis Thaxter;

Little Women (1949), starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Janet Leigh, Margaret O’Brien, Mary Astor, and Peter Lawford;

Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorhead, Mary Astor, Victor Buono, Cecil Kellaway, and Bruce Dern;

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EPISODE 31 - “The Turner Classic Movies Film Festival Preview” - 04/15/2024
From April 18th through the 21st, the 15th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival will be held in Hollywood. Steve and Nan were fortunate enough to be invited to be a part of the media that covers the festival this year. To get everyone in the mood, we have a special episode about all the festival and everything you need to know. We will give you an overview of what to expect, and we’ll let you know who is scheduled to attend. In addition, we talk about several movies being shown this year that we are especially excited about. 


SHOW NOTES: 

Sources:
TCM.org

IMDBPro.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Movies Mentioned: 
Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Brooke Smith, Diane Baker;

Pulp Fiction (1994) — Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Eric Stoltz, Amanda Plummer, Tim Roth, Christopher Walken, and Harvey Keitel; 

Lady Sings The Blues (1972) - Starring Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Scotsman Crothers, Tracee Lyles, Isabel Sanford, and Kay Lewis; 

The Big House (1930) - Starring Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris, and Wallace Beery;

The Good Fairy (1935) — Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, and Cesar Romero;

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948) — Edward G. Robinson, Gail Russell, John Lunch, Virginia Bruce, and William Demarest; 

The Model and the Marriage Broker (1952) — Jeanne Crain, Thelma Ritter, and Scott Brady; 

The Prisoner of Shark Island (1949) —Starring Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, John Carradine, Harry Carey, Francis Ford, John McGuire, and Paul Fix;

Westward The Women (1951) — starring Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson, John McIntire, and Julie Bishop;
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