Significant Dates 2016

Upcoming 100th birthdays

Feb. 26 - Jackie Gleason
April 5 - Gregory Peck
July 1 - Olivia de Havilland (still alive)


10th Anniversary of Death (2006)
Jan. 14 - Shelley Winters
Feb. 24 - Don Knotts
May 30 - Robert Sterling
July 8 - June Allyson
Aug. 30 - Glenn Ford
Sept. 19 - Elizabeth Allen
Oct. 20 - Jane Wyatt


25th Anniversary of Death (1991)
Feb. 6 - Danny Thomas
Mar. 27 - Aldo Ray
Apr. 28 - Ken Curtis
June 19 - Jean Arthur
July 1 - Michael Landon
Sept. 3 - Frank Capra
Nov. 5 - Fred MacMurray
Nov. 6 - Gene Tierney
Nov. 27 - Ralph Bellamy


50th Anniversary of Death (1966)
Feb. 1 - Buster Keaton
Mar. 3 - William Frawley
June 19 - Ed Wynn
July 23 - Montgomery Clift
Oct. 13 - Clifton Webb
Dec. 15 - Walt Disney


50th Anniversary Films
Jan. 20 - The Ghost and Mr. Chicken - Don Knotts
Feb. 23 - Harper - Paul Newman, Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh, Lauren Bacall
Mar. 30 - The Trouble with Angels - Haley Mills, Rosalind Russell
Apr. 4 - The Singing Nun - Debbie Reynolds, Greer Garson
June 9 - The Glass Bottom Boat - Doris Day, Rod Taylor
June 15 - Duel at Diablo - James Garner, Sidney Poitier
               Stagecoach - Bing Crosby
June 22 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
July 13 - How to Steal a Million - Audrey Hepburn
July 14 - Hitchcock's Torn Curtain - Julie Andrews, Paul Newman
Dec. 21 - Grand Prix - James Garner

Remembering Henry Travers 50 Years Later

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the death of Henry Travers, best known for his role as Clarence, "angel second class," in It's a Wonderful Life (1946).

Henry Travers was born Travers John Hegarty on 5 March 1874 in Ireland and then moving early on to Berwick-Upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. When looking for his birthplace you may come up with several locations. This article explains how they found the right one. His parents were Dr. Daniel Hegarty and Ellen Gillman Hornibrook Belcher.

Trained as an architect, Travers joined the stage and changed his name to Henry Travers. A veteran of the British stage, he emigrated to the US in 1901. He continued working on Broadway and in 1933 appeared in his first Hollywood film, Reunion in Vienna. In the film he plays Father Krug, a role he had played first on Broadway.

His first wife was Amy Forrest-Rhodes, who died in 1954. His second wife was Ann G. Murphy.

Henry Travers died on this day in 1965 of artery disease.

Films:

Escapade (1935)

Dodge City (1939)

 

High Sierra (1941) as Pa

 

Ball of Fire (1941) as Prof. Jerome

 

Mrs. Miniver (1942) as Mr. Ballard the postman (nominated for Oscar)

Random Harvest (1942) as Dr. Sims

 

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) as Joseph Newton

The Very Thought of You (1944) as Pop Wheeler

 

The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) as Horace P. Bogardus

 

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) as Clarence

After that he made only four more films, retiring in 1949.

Sources:

TCMDb - click to see upcoming films of Henry Travers airing on TCM
IMDb
The Journal - UK: Wonderful Life of Henry Travers Revealed 
Find A Grave

Magazine Article

Can't Miss Movies to Watch on TCM in October

Sorry for the lack of posts last month; I started teaching again and am just getting into the swing of things.

There's several exciting things going on this month. First of all, on the eighth is the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of my blog!!!! Then, the very next day I will kicking off my VERY FIRST BLOGATHON!!! That's right! You only have a week to finish up those posts!! After that we'll be diving right into spooky movies in anticipation of Halloween.

Other things to look forward to this month:

Oct. 6: My favorite Carole Lombard's Birthday

Oct. 12: John Wayne and the Two Pedros for the Hollywood's Hispanic Heritage Blogathon hosted by Once Upon A Screen.

Oct. 18: Post honoring Henry Travers (best known for his role as 'Clarence' in It's a Wonderful Life) on the 50th Anniversary of his death.

Oct. 29-31: The Universal Pictures Blogathon hosted by Silver Scenes.

TCM Schedule

 

5th @ 9:30pm - trailer

 

10 @6am - trailer

10th @ 1:15am Robert Osborne's 20th Anniversary Tribute (in case you missed it last month)

 

11th @ 11am Moguls and Movie Stars 1929-1941 - This 7-part documentary actually starts on the 4th and airs every Sunday. Read more about it here.

 

16 @ 8:45am - trailer

 

18th @ 10 & 11am Moguls and Movie Stars 1941-1950, 1950-1960

 

23rd @ 8pm - if you participated of the Wonderful Ingrid Bergman Blogathon you probably read CineMaven's amazing post.

 

25th @ 10am Moguls and Movie Stars 1960-1969

 

30th @ 8pm Cat People

Help! The Beatles (Blogathon)

Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody! Help!

You know I need someone! HELP!

The first time I watched Help! it instantly became one of my favorite and most quoted movies.

 

Hey, someone's got a hold of me finger.

 

Go to the window.

 

 

Take this hastily scribbled note, hastily.

 

Would you pick this up for me please?

 

Say no more... I will say no more.

 

I am moving my right leg. I am moving my left leg.

 

I'm going to miss the sacrifice!

 

Hey! Be-a-tle!

 

England. It's a cold place.

 

George: I'm always getting winked at these days. It used to be you didn't it Paul?

 

Typed out they don't sound so funny, unless you've seen the movie before. You have to say it the way the Beatles say it.

 

It goes without saying that the Beatles were clearly on something when they made this movie. Most of it is pointless but that is what makes it hilarious.
 

 

The plot of the film is equally ridiculous.

 

Ringo (whose birthday is tomorrow by the way) is sent a giant ring from a fan. What he doesn't know is, whoever wears the ring must be sacrificed to the great Kali within a short time of wearing the ring. The sacrificial victim also has to be painted red.
 

The ring.

 

 Once Ringo finds out it is a sacrificial ring he is eager to give it back. The only problem: it's stuck on his finger. The rest of the movie shows the attempts made to sacrifice Ringo.

John finds glasses in his soup.

 

George needs his grass carpet cut.

 

At the pub.

 

Ringo is also being chased by a mad scientist, who wants the ring so he can, "Dare I say it, rule the world."
 

Trying to shrink Ringo's finger.

 

The film also has an amazing soundtrack. I love every song in the movie (my favorite is "I Need You"). Fun Fact: the song "Another Girl" was never performed in concert by the Beatles. Paul McCartney performed it for the first time in April of this year in Japan.

 

 

 

The film was released in the UK on 29 July 1965 and the USA on 25 Aug 1965. This year is the 50th anniversary of it's release. If you haven't seen, I suggest you do so immediately!

 

The official Beatles site has lots of video clips and photos. You can buy the Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD Boxed set for $95 here. It come with a lot of great memorabilia like lobby cards and a poster. It even has a reproduction script!!

 

 

This post is part of the Beatles Film Blogathon hosted by Steve at Movie Movie Blog Blog. Be sure and check out all of the other great posts about the Fab Four!

Day 1   Day 2   Day 3

 

David O. Selznick - 50 Years

 

You've all seen this image before. The sun-dappled sign. The big white house. It's the logo for Selznick International, the studio that produced such classics as Gone With the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940).

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of David O. Selznick. What does the 'O' stand for? Well it doesn't stand for O'Malley. In fact, it doesn't stand for anything! Here's his explanation:

I have no middle name...I had an uncle, whom I greatly disliked, who was also named David Selznick, so in order to to avoid any growing confusion between the two of us, I decided to take a middle initial and went through the alphabet to find one that seemed to give me the best punctuation and decided on 'O'.

With his wife, Irene

Selznick was born May 10, 1902. In 1930 he married Irene Mayer, daughter of Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM. Selznick worked for MGM until 1935, when he leased a section of the RKO Studios lot and opened his own production company, Selznick International (in 1957 it became Desilu). Production chief of MGM Irving Thalberg, who was married to Norma Shearer, helped finance the studio.

The trick in adapting novels is to give the 'illusion' of photographing the entire book. Tis is more difficult than creating an original [script].

Selznick International was committed to making pictures of the highest quality. Selznick ruled over his films with an iron fist (famously clashing with director Alfred Hitchcock, who was also used to complete control, on the pictures they made together). The studio produced between 2 and 3 pictures a year. Some of these pictures included: A Star is Born (1937), Nothing Sacred (1937), Made for Each Other (1939), Intermettzo (1939), Gone With the Wind (1939), Rebecca (1940), Since You Went Away (1944), I'll Be Seeing You (1945), and Spellbound (1945). The stars under contract there included Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Joan Fontaine, Shirley Temple, Joseph Cotton, and many others. You can see photos and drawings of the studio backlots here.

The difference between me and other producers is that I am interested in the thousands and thousands of details that go into the making of a film. It is the sum total of all these things that either makes a great picture or destroys it.

The studio closed in 1943, as Selznick could not afford to pay the enormous taxes. After that he formed Vanguard Films, Inc. and in 1946 it became the Selznick Releasing Organization.

Hollywood: The Selznick Years documentary

In 1949, Selznick divorced Irene and married the actress Jennifer Jones (who had divorced Robert Walker in 1945). They remained married until Selznick's death on June 22, 1965.

Here's a really cool article with photos of their home.

Hollywood's like Egypt, full of crumbling pyramids. It'll just keep on crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio prop across the sands.

One of the things Selznick was famous for was his exceptionally long memos. He even left a memo directing the handing of his funeral. Here's part of what he said (taken from Joseph Cotten's autobiography Vanity Will Get You Somewhere, 163):

I shall need a rabbi for, though I have not been a very good Jew, I am a Jew. But I would like a rabbi who doesn't know me too well; then he can't talk too long and bore my friends. I suppose a few words will have to be said; I would like them spoken by a good voice, so if Joseph Cotten is in the country I want him to say them. Also, he will be brief. 

Sources:
IMDb
Vanity Will Get You Somewhere by Joseph Cotten  
Wikipedia
Pinterest - images

 

36 Hours (1964)

36 Hours is a WWII drama starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and Rod Taylor. Released on Feb. 19, 1965, it is also it's 50th anniversary year. Here is the description from the DVD case:

It's 1950. Major Jefferson Pike (Garner) is in an allied military hospital under the care of an American doctor. Pike is an amnesiac, and if he could recount the details of D-Day, his last memory, perhaps it would unlock his mind. Only it's really 1944, and Pike is deep in German territory in a faux hospital built just for him. The Nazis have only 36 Hours to pull off their elaborate ruse and get the D-Day plans out of Pike. But if that doesn't work, they will use any means necessary. 

The DVD menu - at no point in the film does Eva Marie Saint dress or pose like that.

The film is described as a "tense cat-and-mouse, twist-filled wartime thriller."

Eva Marie Saint plays a nurse who is also posing as Garner's wife, one he can't remember. Rod Taylor is the German posing as an American doctor and friend of Pikes'.

Rod Taylor and some cool looking maps of the hospital grounds.

The film opens with a newsreel followed by the opening credits. It then moves into a meeting about the location of the D-Day invasion. Pike (Garner) is sent to Lisbon on a routine trip so as not to arouse suspicion that he knows about the invasion. Once in Lisbon however, Pike is knocked out and taken to a fake hospital in Germany.



Making Pike look older



A two-way mirror... sneaky

The 115 minute film was highly engrossing and put together very well. I can't believe I hadn't seen it before! I discovered it when I was writing about the passing of Rod Taylor. Then, recently, I looked up the trailer and, finding it interesting, got the movie through my library.

Fun Facts:

• Was remade in 1989 as a TV Movie starring Corbin Bernson in Garner's role. It was titled Breaking Point.
• The movie was filmed in Lisbon, Portugal and Yosemite National Park. The Wawona Hotel was temporarily made in the "hospital." After filming was completed, they were given 24 hours to remove all traces of the film from the park.

 

 The real hotel

 

 

Travel poster

• Is thought to be based on the book by Road Dahl, "Beware of the Dog," in which a WWII British Flyer is recovering and put into a hospital. He's about to tell everything he knows until he sees a sign, "Beware of the Dog."

My only complaint was the quality of the DVD. Several shots were extremely blurry, as if they put three strips of film on top of each other and then moved them just a tad so that they no longer lined up. It seemed mainly to be on the outdoor shots. Hopefully this film will be restored soon, as it is one that is an essential to anyone who likes watching films set during WWII.

source

And while we're on the subject of James Garner I suggest you also watch Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) and his TV show, Maverick (1957-59). Oh, and read his autobiography, The Garner Files :)

The Sound of Music: Filming Locations

The Sound of Music was filmed on Soundstage 15 at 20th Century Fox and on location in Austria and Germany. The principal cast and crew were in Austria for a total of 11 weeks - it was supposed to be 6 but the rainy weather delayed the film. Luckily it more than made up for the extra costs.

 

Here's the best tour site I can find with additional information for those who are actually traveling to Salzburg, Austria. Here's a map of all the locations. This site has a step-by-step walk-through if you want to get really technical. Also, on the Blu-ray special features disc of the 45th and 50th anniversary sets is a fantastic interactive map of all of the locations used with film clips, additional facts, and photos. I highly recommend looking at it.

 

Anif Castle, Salzburg - seen in the opening aerial shots

Schloss Fuschl, seen in opening aerial shots. Located about 40 minutes outside of Salzburg.

 

The field, which is private property, is located in Mehlweg, Germany, about 6 miles from Salzburg.

 

Journey to the Meadow - video

The stream and birch trees were brought in for the scene. An angry farmer, on whose property it was built on, punctured holes in the stream with his pitchfork, halting production while it was fixed.

 

 

The abbey gate seen in the film is from the Nonnberg Abbey where the real Maria Von Trap was a postulant. The nuns there allowed it to be used for the film.

 

Another exterior shot of Nonnberg Abbey (you can see the changing heights of the children here as they grew).

 

source

Schloss Frohnburg Palace, used for the front and  back of the Von Trapp Home

source

It is located just off of Hellbrunner Allee, an alleyway that connects the Hellbrun Palace with Salzburg.

 

Hellbrun Palace is also where the original gazebo from "16 Going on 17" is located. It was built at Leopoldskron specifically for the film. It was moved to Hellbrunn so that tourists could visit it. The interior shots of the gazebo were filmed on a sound stage, as the real gazebo was too small for the dance scene. No one is now allowed to go inside because some old lady tried to do the dance and hurt herself... yeah.

 

The front of the movie house, Schloss Frohnburg Palace (belonged to actress Hedy Lamarr at the time).

 

The real Von Trapp home. It was taken over by the Nazi's and used as offices during WWII. It is now a hotel.

 

The Mirror Room inside Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, which was copied and used as the ballroom.

 

Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg, Austria. Used as the back yard of the von Trapp house (actually they built a replica of this on the lot next door for filming).

 

The terrace at Scloss Leopoldskron where Uncle Max has pink lemonade. 

 

The "Do-Re-Mi" sequence was shot in nine different locations:

 

The Mozart Footbridge (Mozartsteg crossing the Salzach River)

 

The hills of Werfen (Untersberg Peak can be seen from their terrace). Also the meadow beneath the Untersberg.

 

Winkler Terrece

 

Mirabell Gardens

The Pegasus Fountain in Mirabell Gardens

 

Mirabell Gardens Tunnel

 

Mirabell Garden steps, from a different angle.

 

Statues in Mirabell Gardens

 

St. Wolfgang Schafbergbahn Mountain Railway (the final scene filmed with the children on location).

 

Pferdschwemme (Horse Pond), Karajan Square - a scene that was cut from the movie was shot here, more about that in the post on Charmian Carr's book, Forever Liesl.

 

I think this is where the children climbed the trees but I can't find where I found the photo.

 

Bertelsmann on Leopoldskron Lake, where the children were filmed boating.

 

Bertelsmann from the air - I think it's also in the aerial shots at the beginning.

 

Mondsee Church (mond-say), where the movie couple were married. It is located  in the village of Mondsee, which is situated in the middle of a lake at the base of sheer cliffs. It is about 20 minutes from Salzburg. The real Maria was married at Nonnberg Abbey.

 

The exterior of the church.

 

The Residenz Platz (Residence Square), where the Nazi soldiers are seen marching. When that scene was filmed, the town did not allow the public to watch. Also where Maria sings "I Have Confidence" near the beginning of the film.

 

 

Felsenreitschule (Rock Riding School), Salzburg - film location for the final performance of the von Trapps. This is the stage that the real Salzburg Festival takes place on every year.

 

St. Peter's Cemetery

Though not actually filmed here, the St. Peter's Cemetery was recreated on the sound stage at Fox so it's still a cool place to visit. It's located in the St. Peter's District of Salzburg.

 

The final scene of the movie shows the von Trapps hiking over the mountains into Switzerland (which is geographically and historically inaccurate - they really just drove a few minutes to the border). This scene was filmed at Mount Obersalzburg in Rossfeld, just a little ways from where Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" at Berchteschgaden, was located, giving the cast and crew a chilling reminder of how near the danger really was. It is a mere 12 miles from Salzburg.

 

View the rest of my Sound of Music posts here!

 

 

Sources:
The Sound of Music Companion by Lauence Maslon, 2006.
Forever Liesl: A Memoir of 'The Sound of Music' by Charmian Carr, 2000.
Sound-of-Music.com
Images found via Pinterest

More Travel Links:
Panorama Tours
BigBoyTravel - SoM Movie Locations - Map
Salzburg Official Site
Map of Locations