La Marr and Cregar celebrations

I wonder if London still looks like this?

Oh, those dandy 19th century people.

Or should I quote Tracy Lords in The Philadelphia Story (1940):

"English history has always fascinated me. Robin Hood, Cromwell, Jack the Ripper..."

Before I head off on a romantic holiday in the foggy London streets, I serve you a meaty post to enjoy yourselves with while I'm away.

I know that I originally said that we were going to Paris, but when it was time to order tickets we realized that a flight to Paris would cost us half a years of my boyfriend's salary and both our souls. Since I haven't had any soul for quite a few years, we simply couldn't make it. At least I got a drink tip from my mother (she spent some years in London in the crazy 1980's, listening to Bob Marley and flirting with bikers) - Snake Bite with sweet apple cider. But only half a pint - a mother can't let her daughter be intoxicated.

So here it is! (I'll be back on Sunday.)

July 28th was the birthday of two underestimated (or at least more or less forgotten) actors, with not too much in common - Barbara La Marr and Laird Cregar. The only connection between them is probably their too early deaths at ages 29 and 30 years of age.

I intend to compose some brief portraits of the actors, since it was ages since I did one of those. (Well, at least almost two months since the Lotte Reiniger portrait in early June.)

Barbara La Marr (1896-1926)

"I like my men like I like my roses - by the dozen."

Barbara La Marr was born Reatha (a name she loathed) Dale Watson in the town of Yakima, Washington in July 28th, 1896. Her mother was previously married and had two children in that marriage, and the father was an editor for a newspaper.

La Marr's up and coming late-night party life was seen at the horizon when she at 14 years of age was arrested for burlesque dancing. At 16 she had earned herself a full-blown scandalous reputation, some of it because of her modeling nude for several local artists. During one of many scandals she adopted the name of Barbara La Marr to avoid inconvenience. Finally she got rid of the hated name of Reatha.

Being famous for her beautiful physique (a judge supposedly once said to her that she was "too beautiful to be alone in a big city"), La Marr made her way to Hollywood to become a script writer. Through her job connections there, she soon took the leap to the other side of the film camera, debuting in 1920. In 1921 she appeared in a film called The Nut, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Marguerite De La Motte.

La Marr's most important film is probably The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), an adventure film with La Marr as the villain's mistress Antoinette de Mauban. The leading man is Lewis Stone playing double parts as Rudolf Rassendyll and King Rudolf. Also starring in the film is Alice Terry and Ramon Novarro.

Barbara La Marr in the arms of Ramon Novarro in Thy Name is Woman (1924).

La Marr lived a wild life in Hollywood's flapper age. She said that she never slept more than two hours a night, since life was too short to sleep away. One can wonder if she knew how short her life in actuality would be.

After an affair with John Gilbert (her co-star in the 1922 film Arabian Love, but mostly known for his on- and off relationship with Swedish movie queen Greta Garbo), her contract with Metro was determinated. She moved to New York, where her party life of drugs and alcohole (and some pneumonia) took her life, only 29 years old. La Marr's death is said to be one of Hollywood's first drug-related deaths.

La Marr was married no less than five times during her short life - none of the marriages lasting more than three years (the shortest being her 1914 marriage, being annulled after only a few days.)

After La Marr's death, it was revealed that she once had had an illegitimate son with a man (who's identity is still unknown). That child was adopted by La Marr's good friend Zasu Pitts and her husband.

Trivia: Actress Hedy LaMarr was named after Barbara La Marr, a choice made by MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer.

Laird Cregar (1914-1944)

"All my life I've had black little moods."

As George Harvey Bone
in Hangover Square (1945)

Samuel Laird Cregar was born 28th July, 1914 (although some sources say 1913, 1915 or 1916 - his tombstone says 1914) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of six sons, his father being a cricketer and a member of the team Gentlemen of Philadelphia.

At the age of eight, Cregar was sent to England to join the Winchester Academy. He eventually found work as a page boy and bit player with the Stratford-upon-Avon theatrical troupe. He then set his mind on becoming a serious actor.

Cregar returned to America, and forced Hollywood to recognize him by arranging his own one-man show playing Oscar Wilde. He soon found work in Hollywood, and made his on-screen break in the history/adventure film Hudson's Bay (1941) opposite Paul Muni and Gene Tierney, playing a part with the flattering name of Gooseberry.

Throughout his film career Cregar had quite a girth, and often used to play suave villains much older than he himself was. Notable parts are the supposedly homosexual columnist Natalio Curro in the matador film Blood and Sand (1941), a psychopathic detectivei n I Wake Up Screaming (1941), a con-artist together with Gene Tierney once again in the screwball comedy Rings on Her Fingers (1942) and Jack the Ripper in The Lodger (1944).




Quite a broad resume - the public loved his sincere over-the-top acting and colorful villains - but there was one problem. When Cregar lost the part of Waldo Lydecker in Laura (1944), because the director thought that the public instantaniously would know that the character would på the villain if Cregar got the part, it was a wake-up call for him. Afraid of being type-cast, Cregar decided to do something to change his career.

Being a promising actor as he was, but not given the opportunity to develop, Cregar got the devastating idea of loosing some weight to be able to play leading men. He obviously had attractive facial features (co-actress Merle Oberon encouraged him, and told him that he could be a romantic on-screen hero), but his weight stood in his way for more varying roles. Cregar changed his diet, and went from weighing 300 pounds (132 kg) to 200 pounds (88 kg). The result is to be seen in the dark, magical thriller Hangover Square (1945, review here) opposite Linda Darnell (my post on her here). In the film he plays a despicable composer, who black-outswhen he hears dissonance. Soon he suspects that he might have commited murder during his blackouts.

In his last role Cregar proved that he was an actor to count with. Tragically enough, that was the last example of his brilliant acting the motion picture audience got to see - Cregar's body couldn't handle his crash diet, and he was forced to undergo surgery for severe stomach disorder. His heart gave up on December 9th, 1944, days after the surgery. He didn't live to see himself finally getting the top billing, in Hangover Square.

Trivia: Laird Cregar was homosexual, something that wasn't too accepted in the 1940's. The man he lost the role of Waldo Lydecker to, Clifton Webb, was also homosexual.

Here's a compilation of some of Laird Cregar's on-screen characters. I made it in quite a haste, so I'm sorry if it's not a 100 %. (And I really should have included I Wake Up Screaming.)

Anyway - I felt that YouTube needed a little more Cregar, so maybe it makes someone happy.

Ta-taa for now, kittens!

3 x Shearer and Montgomery

It was Friday 17th of July, 2009.

Lolita was very eager to get a hold of some friend to take a cup of coffee with her. Seven bitter phone calls later, she had to give up and realize that she obviously didn't have enough friends - they either had other plans or were ill. How incredibly selfish of them. (Lolita really should get a job.)

She did however always find a solution for a problem like that. Rather than getting out in the real life and doing something important, she could always hang out with her friends from the silver screen.
So she sat down and watched three films in a row. And they had something important in common - they were all pre-code Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery vehicles. Great ones, too.

And to leave that silly third person story telling, I must say - Shearer and Montgomery might be among the most lovable on-screen couples in motion picture history. They sparkle.

So, here's a little summary of of the films I watched that awful day when I didn't have any friends to play with me.

Their Own Desire

Director: E. Mason Hopper

USA 1929

65 min

Lally (Shearer) is a wealthy girl, living a happy life playing polo and joking around with her father Henry (Lewis Stone). But the idyllic life is soon smashed to pieces when Lally's father after 23 years of marriage divorces her mother Harriet (Belle Bennett) to start a-new with a younger woman, Beth Cheever (Helene Millard), who also leaves her current husband.

Harriet is devastated, and Mandy turns against her father and his new woman. Bitter on all men on Earth, she and her mother go on a vacation. There she, of course, meets a charming young man; Jack (Montgomery), and falls in love. Things get more complicated when Lally realizes that the man she is wooing is none other than the son of Mrs. Cheever.

Their Own Desire is surprisingly fluent in its story-telling, considering that it is a pretty early talkie, and that those often tend to be a bit clumsy. The first scene with Shearer and Montgomery is fantastic - he sees her at a swimming pool, about to dive in. When she does, he goes after her (clothes on and all), and surprises her with a kiss in an under-water shot. Really beautiful. And, as would for any real woman, it works.

Strangers May Kiss

Director: George Fitzmaurice

USA 1931

81 min

Our leading lady Norma Shearer plays Lisbeth Corbin - a modern woman who doesn't feel the necessity to get married to her lover, Alan (Neil Hamilton). Or is it just he who doesn't want to get married? At least that's what Lisbeth's friend and family thinks (among them Irene Rich and Marjorie Rambeau) and warn her about.

Despite having the wonderfully charming Steve (Montgomery) volunteering to marry her, Lisbeth decides to follow her love interest to Mexico. While there, Alan confesses that he actually has a wife in Paris, making Lisbeth realize that she probably doesn't mean more to him than being another mistress. Heartbroken she decides to go to Europe and exploring the loose single life that all men obviously know about - being single or not.

Steve catches up with a Lisbeth surrounded by Spanish admirers. He quickly learns that Lisbeth hasn't wasted any time at her travels.

Steve: Ooh, what I heard about you in Paris, ooh...

Lisbeth: And of course, like a true knight, you refused to believe it.

Steve: Well, the first six or seven hundred times I did.

Lisbeth clearly enjoys the fruits of life ("I'm in an orgy, wallowing. And I love it!"), but as soon as she receives a telegram from her dear Alan - telling her that he's getting a divorce and wants to marry her - she lets go of everything and travels to Paris to meet him. Unfortunately, her reputation gets to Alan first, and he isn't that interested in having her for a wife anymore. For the second time in a row, she fails in getting the man she wants.

"Now, let dear Steve comfort you!", the naïve public hopefully thinks. Oh no - he's a gentleman. He leans back as problems get solved between his love interest and Alan-the-pig. There's always a champagne bottle to keep him company.

There were more sexual tension between Shearer and Montgomery in The Divorcee (review here), in their of-three-silent-clips-consisting-scene they shared in that one, than in this entire film. It feels like they should have switched Hamilton's and Montgomery's parts.

But it's a great film, and Shearer is that typical pre-code woman she always should have been able to play all through her career.

Private Lives

Director: Sidney Franklin

USA 1931

84 min

My favourite of this bunch. It starts off with cutting between two weddings - Elyot (Montgomery) being married to Sibyl (Una Merkel), and Victor (Reginald Denny) to Mandy (Shearer). We see the couples happily going away on their honeymoons, and soon we understand that Elyot and Mandy have been married to each other, due to their new inquisitive partners.

And it isn't finished there - the two newlywed couples happen to spend their honeymoons at the same hotel - door to door! It is of course only a matter of time before Mandy and Elyot bump into each other.

This is an insane comedy/drama, based on a play by Noël Coward. The snappy, insinuating dialogue and the blabbering of the characters who constantly interrupt each other remind me of the screwball comedies of the 1940's. I can however never decide whether Una Merkel's character is cute and neurotic or just insanely annoying. But the fighting scene with Shearer and Montgomery is hilarious - and I read at IMDb that Montgomery (unintentionally) was knocked unconcious while filming that scene! No wonder - it looks really hectic and temperamental to me.

In short - Private Lives is a wonderful and entertaining movie with Shearer and Montgomery at their absolute best. If you haven't seen it yet - DO IT.

Shearer and Montgomery in Their Own Desire.

Shearer and Montgomery in Strangers May Kiss.

Shearer and Montgomery in Private Lives.

Red-Headed Woman (1932)

Red-Headed Woman

Director: Jack Conway

USA 1932

79 min

Chester Morris and Jean Harlow in one of many sedustion scenes i Red-Headed Woman.

Times to review the second film in the Forbidden Hollywood Collection volume 1 - Red-Headed Woman.

The screenplay (originally written by the most influential writer in the 1920's America, F. Scott Fitzgerald, but re-written entirely by the admirable Anita Loos) is reminiscent of the screenplay to Baby Face (1933) (or is it the other way around?): Our protagonist is a woman determined to climb the social ladder by seducing rich and powerful men. There is bootleg whiskey, bare legs and a sceptical yet faithful side-kick who follows the leading lady whatever she does.

The likenesses of the films are however nothing remotely negative - it's a great concept for pre-code classics.
The leading lady Lillian (or "Lil" or "Red") is played by the irreplacable Jean Harlow, looking astonishing in a pre-code moviestar's typical wardrobe. Even though she became famous as "the platinum blonde", she wore a red wig for this film - with successful results. Her charming broad accent is the only thing that reveals that she is "from the wrong side of rail road".


Scene: The lovely introduction scene of the film, with Jean Harlow and Una Merkel.




Scene: The slap scene with Chester Morris and Jean Harlow. Naughty woman!




The first victim for Lil's irresistible legs is her boss Bill Legendre (Chester Morris, handsome as ever), happily married to a beautiful woman, Irene (Leila Hyams, known for playing "Venus" in the disturbing Tod Browning masterpiece Freaks from the same year). Lil is however successful in seducing her boss ("Well, he's a man, isn't he?"), and soon she gets hungry for more "up-grade". Bill Legendre's father (Lewis Stone) gets suspicious after finding one of Lil's handkerchieves in one of his important business partner's hotel room, and eventually Lil is revealed to both wanting the cake and eat it too...

Screenwright Anita Loos, director Jack Conway (I think...) and Jean Harlow.

If you haven't, for some reason, yet seen this film - the action is not over at that point. This is an amazing film, quite shocking even for a modern audience. (At least I think so, maybe I just have gotten used to old films.) This is clearly Jean Harlow at her best - I understand people getting disappointed with her being reduced to toned-down roles in films like Wife vs. Secretary (1936) after the despicable Hays Code tied the hands of film making.
Anyway, screenwright Anita Loos deserves an honorable mention for having written a fantastic screen play full of witty lines and a perfect variety of obvious sexual indications and not-so-obvious ones. Jean Harlow's sidekick Una Merkel as her room mate Sally does a lot to the film, and the early appearance by Charles Boyer as the French chauffeur Albert is very amusing. And I was surprised that the quality was held until the very last minute of the film - the end is very clever. I'm also happy to see that no alternative ending was added, as it was to Baby Face. Huah...

But I must admit that I am quite curious about how Fitzgerald's script looked like... (It was tossed away for "taken the matter too seriously". The best argument for rejecting something ever.)

Jean Harlow and Anita Loos. Such a charming pic.
(Anita Loos was the writer of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, first a not-so-successful silent film in 1928 with Ruth Taylor and Alice White, in 1953 a smash hit with Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.)

"I'm furious about the women's liberationists. They keep getting up on soapboxes and proclaiming that women are brighter than men. That's true, but it should be kept very quiet or it ruins the whole racket."

- Anita Loos

Quotes:

Lillian 'Lil': [trying on a dress in a store, Lil positions herself in front of a sunny window] Can you see through this?
Off-camera store clerk: I'm afraid you can, Miss.
Lillian 'Lil': I'll wear it.
Off-camera store clerk: Oh!

Lillian 'Lil': Sally I'm the happiest girl in the world. I'm in love and I'm gonna be married.
Sally: You're gonna marry Albert?
Lillian 'Lil': No, Gaerste.
Sally: In love with Gaerste?
Lillian 'Lil': No, Albert.