Backlots

For my first day of dueling divas, I am devoting my attention to that well-publicized “scandal” at the 1954 Oscars between Judy Garland and Grace Kelly. Now I must admit that I am a bit biased on the subject–as readers of my blog know, I am a HUGE Judy Garland fan, and have been since very early childhood. For years I had a chip on my shoulder about Grace Kelly, refusing to see The Country Girl (the film for which she was nominated) in protest of the outcome of the 1954 Oscars.

Why all this hullabaloo, you ask? Well, let’s start at the beginning.

In order to understand the significance of the 1954 Oscars for Judy Garland, we must revisit Judy’s career at MGM. She was signed to a contract in 1935, and shortly thereafter she was put into a virtual treadmill of productions that wore her young body out. She was given pills to sleep, pills to stay awake, and pills to make her lose weight, which in addition to the stress of her life at MGM, contributed to psychological problems and a severe addiction that culminated in the late 1940’s. Following a particularly difficult time on the set of Annie Get Your Gun (from which she was ultimately fired and replaced by Betty Hutton) and failure to appear on the set of Royal Wedding (in which she was replaced by Jane Powell), MGM suspended her contract and Judy Garland was a movie has-been at 28.

Almost immediately, however, she bounced back with an absolutely stellar concert career, playing some of the best houses in the world and breaking records at the Palace Theatre with her 19-week one-woman show. In the early 1950’s, Judy Garland was on top of the world, free from MGM and able to spread her wings to tackle anything. It is often said that the producer of the Palace show, Sid Luft, was almost solely responsible for her career revival, and the two married in 1952. Two years later, he was producing A Star is Born, heralded as Judy’s magnificent comeback to movies, and one that brought Judy her first Academy Award nomination as Best Actress.

All of Hollywood was abuzz about her performance, and everyone was convinced that it would bring her an Oscar–if not for her performance alone, then for the audience’s love and affection for her as a person and an entertainer. So convinced was everyone that she would win, that when she was unable to attend the Oscars ceremony due to having just given birth to her 3rd child, cameras were set up in her hospital room to televise her acceptance speech.

Judy was understandably very upset. The media had led her to believe that there was no way anybody else would win. Judy accused Grace of winning simply because she made herself dowdy in The Country Girl,  for her role as the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic. Judy is quoted as lashing out for Grace “taking off her fucking makeup and grabbing MY Oscar!” The telegrams that came in were very sympathetic, the cleverest one being from Groucho Marx: “This is the greatest robbery since Brink’s.” Many years later, upon being interviewed for the A&E Biography on Judy Garland’s life, MGM coworker June Allyson said “I really hated the Academy that year. Judy SHOULD have won that Oscar. She really should have.”

Per Judy’s self-deprecating sense of humor, the incident was relived many times, notably in a story from the “Born in a Trunk” segment of her TV show in 1963:

Poor Grace Kelly. Due to the legions of Judy fans across the world, she has developed a bit of a bad name, through no fault of her own. I am the first to admit that until about 7th grade, I held a major grudge against Grace Kelly. It wasn’t until I forced myself to read a biography and watch a few of her movies that I came around to her, and developed a great respect for her as a dignified human being (one of my favorite anecdotes is that when Josephine Baker was refused service in the Stork Club while Grace was dining there, she grabbed Josephine by the arm, stormed out, and vowed never to eat there again. She never did, the two embarked upon a lifelong friendship). Her performance in The Country Girl, as much as some Judy fans may hate me for this, is brilliant.

But I still think Judy should have won!

This post is an entry in the Dueling Divas blogathon!

All right everyone, are you ready??

I’m so excited for the Dueling Divas Blogathon, taking place between December 20 and 23, 2011!!

So again, a recap of the rules. You can post about:

• Those who had a rivalry in real life, either over a particular film role or over a personality clash, ie Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
• Those who had a rivalry on the screen, ie Mildred and Veda from Mildred Pierce
• Any dual role (see what I did there? Duel? Dual? Be proud.) played by an actor or actress in a classic film, ie Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap.

This opens the door for LOTS of possibilities, and I’m proud to say I have already got one stellar entry from Crítica Retro! Please link your posts to this page, and I will update this post with the links as the entries come in, beginning on the 20th.

Let the dueling begin!!

Now, how do we get from one to the other?

This race of linking Charlie Chaplin to Grace Kelly started off as such:

Charlie Chaplin ——-> Virginia Cherrill (City Lights, 1931), linked by ClassicBecky

Virginia Cherrill ————> Alastair Sim (Troubled Waters, 1936)

And now it falls to me to connect:

Here it goes:

Alastair Sim appeared in Rogue Male (1976) with Peter O’Toole.

Now for my turn to pick the next person to connect to:

And for the honors, I’m shooting it back to the creators of this game–My Love of Old Hollywood!!

Among Marlene Dietrich’s many friends in the industry was Judy Garland. The personas of the two couldn’t have been more different, yet they remained longtime friends and once shared an apartment building in the 1960’s. Marlene, the epitome of otherworldly glamor and chic, sharply contrasted with Judy’s humanity and humorous outlook on life, never taking herself too seriously and having a glorious time teasing those who did.

So as you might imagine, Judy had a field day with her good friend Marlene. Always a wicked impersonator with a real knack for mimicry, Judy could “do” Marlene to a t, and employed her talent both privately and publicly.

Here she is fooling around at a rehearsal, making fun of Marlene’s low voice.

In an appearance on the Jack Paar Show in 1964, Judy recounted a story about a strange record that Marlene put on at a party.

When the two shared an apartment building, Marlene was the frequent target of pranks at Judy’s hand, as Judy thought it was great fun to mess with someone who took herself so very seriously. Nonetheless, the two remained good friends until Judy’s death in 1969.

1930 was an incredibly important year in Marlene Dietrich’s career. Not only did it see two immortal collaborations with director Josef von Sternberg, but also saw her immigration to the United States and her transition from German film to American film, with which she would make her greatest mark. The two collaborations with von Sternberg produced some of her most memorable scenes, and the uniqueness of her persona in both films secured her in the public eye.

Their first film together was Der blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), which gave Dietrich the number that would become the most iconic song of her entire career.

Dietrich singing the song again in 1963.

Two versions of The Blue Angel were filmed simultaneously, one in English and one in German, and it is the English language version that is best known, due to the famous English lyrics of “Falling in Love Again.” Ironically, it is also the English language version that was considered lost, until it surfaced in a German film archive and had its U.S. premiere at the German film festival at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. I had the great honor of attending.

Here is a version of the song in German:

Dietrich was on a ship bound for the United States on the evening of the opening of The Blue Angel, and upon the success of the film, von Sternberg advised her to stay in Hollywood. She signed a contract with Paramount Pictures to further her career, and as von Sternberg was already established there, he went on to direct her in 6 American films between 1930 and 1935, the first of which was Morocco.

The production code was not yet born, and thus von Sternberg had much more leeway and freedom to make Morocco everything he wanted to be–and that included a number that touched upon Dietrich’s success with the cabaret feel of The Blue Angel. But this time with a twist:

Dietrich was bisexual, and though her private life remained strictly guarded, she was never ashamed to let her sexuality be known through film. In fact, it was Dietrich’s idea to add the scene we see at 2:16 to the script, saving it from being cut by the censors by cleverly throwing the flower she takes from the woman to Gary Cooper, thus making the scene confusing and disjointed if the kissing scene were removed.

The uniqueness of Marlene Dietrich was evident from the beginning, and as we can see, she always pushed the envelope. She continued to do so for her entire career, both on and offscreen.

Stay tuned for more Marlene, all this month, as we pay tribute to her as Star of the Month!

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this month, my fellow blogger Dorian at Tales of the Easily Distracted has just begun a wonderfully fun game where we try to connect two classic Hollywood stars through 6 degrees of separation. The current challenge is Myrna Loy and Danny Kaye.

Here goes:

1. Danny Kaye starred in White Christmas with Bing Crosby

2. Bing Crosby starred in High Society with Grace Kelly

3. Grace Kelly starred in To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant

4. Cary Grant starred in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House with Myrna Loy.

EDIT: Well, looks like I screwed up the rules of the game. We’re not supposed to solve the Six Degrees ourselves, but instead just pass one degree on to someone else. So since I awkwardly solved the entire round, it’s now up to me to pick two new stars and pass them on to someone else to try to solve.

Ok, so in keeping with my personal classic film obsessions, here are my two new stars:

Caftan Woman, try your luck with Judy Garland and Olivia de Havilland.

Readers, I apologize for my rather unannounced absence over the past week–Thanksgiving weekend kept me busy and this week it has been work keeping me busy! But as it is the last day in November, it’s time to say goodbye to Gene Tierney as Star of the Month, and to elect a new one for December. As I like to profile stars with birthdays in the corresponding month, the star whom I have chosen for honors in the month of December is:

MARLENE DIETRICH

With a birthday on December 27th, the legendary Marlene Dietrich will be profiled over this coming month.

Also, don’t forget that Backlots’ Dueling Divas Blogathon is happening December 20-23! If you haven’t signed up yet, drop me a comment to let me know you’ll be participating, and your blog will be added to the official participants’ list. I will be making another post in about a week, to which you can link your entries. In the meantime, start thinking about what you want to write about! Remember, this blogathon allows for all kinds of creative ideas. Keep them coming!

See you all in December!

Here’s hoping that all my readers have a happy Thanksgiving with lots to be thankful for! I’ll be spending the evening at a family friend’s house, but not before tuning into TCM for their SPECTACULAR lineup all day tomorrow:

(Please note: I have the TCM website set to Pacific Time because I’m in California–so the listed times will be 3 hours later if you’re on the East Coast!)

Have a wonderful, wonderful day tomorrow, dear readers!

After the difficult birth of her first child in 1943, Gene Tierney began showing some serious signs of mental instability. She ultimately spent a good part of her adult life in and out of mental institutions, struggling with what we would now term bipolar disorder (then known as “manic depression”), a mental illness that seems to be all too prevalent within the realm of classic Hollywood. Here, I would like to take a look at many of the stars who struggled with this illness, and how it affected their lives and careers.

Bipolar disorder is defined by the National Institute for Mental Health as “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” It is documented that many creative people have suffered from it, and as medication did not become available until relatively recently, many of our classic film stars lived untreated, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol or suffering painful electroshock treatments, the only known treatment before the advent of lithium in 1970, which is now the standard medication in treatment of the condition.

Sadly, Gene Tierney was one of the very few who came through to recount her experiences, with the vast majority of the stars having their lives ravaged by this horrendous disorder and thus retreating from public life. With mental illness still carrying an unbearable stigma, it took great courage for Tierney to come out and tell her story to a world that looked upon her as a flawless star and idol. As mentioned before, her condition was triggered by the birth of her daughter Daria in 1943. She committed herself voluntarily to the Harkness Pavilion in New York, later to be transferred to the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. She received many shock treatments, which she claimed destroyed her memory, and she became a vocal opponent to the practice. In 1957, she was seen trying to attempt suicide, and was admitted to the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, where she worked part-time anonymously as a salesgirl as part of treatment. She wrote about her experiences in 1979, one of the first actors to recount her battle with mental illness, and managed to keep her condition under control for the rest of her life.

VIVIEN LEIGH

Having come through a somewhat similar situation as Gene Tierney, Vivien Leigh began exhibiting strange behaviors around 1945, shortly after suffering a miscarriage following a fall on the set of Caesar and Cleopatra in 1945. According to those closest to her, Vivien would go through a period of restlessness, followed by a massive outburst of anger and vitriol (known as the “manic phase”), and then a deep depression during which she would not remember her mania.  A particularly severe episode occurred while Vivien was in Ceylon filming Elephant Walk with Peter Finch–her manic phase was so heightened that she had to be sedated and flown home, and subsequently replaced in the picture by Elizabeth Taylor. Though her behaviors became the worst in this period between 1945 and her death in 1967, many of her friends recall that she had been exhibiting milder episodes for quite some time–some remembering it from her childhood. In his autobiography, Confessions of an Actor, her husband, Sir Laurence Olivier, recalled his experiences with her illness:

“Throughout her possession by that uncannily evil monster, manic depression, with its deadly, ever-tightening spirals, she retained her own individual canniness–an ability to disguise her true mental condition from almost all except me, for whom she could hardly be expected to take the trouble.”

FRANCES FARMER

The story of Frances Farmer is perhaps the most well-known case of mental illness in classic Hollywood, due to the sensational media coverage of the time as well as the biopic starring Jessica Lange in 1982. Unfortunately, many of the true details have been sensationalized for media publicity, and it’s difficult to get accurate information. What we do know is that Frances Farmer was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct in 1942, and after behaving strangely at her hearing the next morning, she was jailed and sent to L.A. General Hospital where she was diagnosed with manic depression. She was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and was given a series of shock treatments to “cure” her. She alleged horrendous conditions at the mental hospitals, and despite (or perhaps because of) all these invasive medical procedures, Farmer lived with her illnesses for the majority of her life. Her autobiography, Will There Really Be A Morning? was published posthumously in 1973.

PATTY DUKE

The young actress who made waves with her remarkable performance as Helen Keller in 1961’s The Miracle Worker, has gone on to become the living embodiment of how one can come through mental illness to thrive. From childhood, Duke recalls feeling extreme highs and lows, which came to a peak during her late adolescent years. She exhibited extremely erratic behavior throughout her life, including a whirlwind 13-day marriage, leading people to believe that she had a problem with drugs and alcohol, with which she self-medicated. She was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982, relatively late in life. Her condition has stabilized, and she wrote her autobiography, Call Me Anna, in 1988. She now devotes her time to educating people about the disorder and mental illness in general. I had the great honor to meet her in 2009, when she came to San Francisco with a production of Wicked.

The stars of classic Hollywood did not have the advantages of medical treatments such as lithium that are available today. Fortunately today’s young stars have the luck to be able to get themselves treated if they so choose, but the diagnosis of bipolar disorder is still rare in Hollywood, probably due to fear of the stigma. It’s really crucial that it be eradicated, and the autobiographies of Gene Tierney and others I feel can help do that.

Today is Star of the Month Gene Tierney’s birthday! She would have been 91 years old. Here is a photographic and video tribute to her. Stay tuned the rest of this month for more Gene Tierney-themed posts!

Interview with Gene Tierney, July 1985.