Royal Film Performance Series: That Forsyte Woman (1949)

This poster proudly heralds the film as "THE CHOICE for the Royal Film Performance."

The fourth Royal Film Performance, which took place at the Odeon Cinema in Marble Arch, London on November 17, 1949, was attended by the King, Queen, and the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret (Elizabeth had missed the last two events due to her wedding in 1947 and the birth of Prince Charles in 1948. The following day she would leave to join Philip in Malta, where he was stationed).

Shown this year was the American film, That Forsyte Woman (released in the UK as The Forsyte Saga) starring Greer Garson and Errol Flynn. It was based on the first book of the the popular series by John Galsworthy.

Errol Flynn shared stories about That Forsyte Woman in his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways:

I worked hard for this role in That Forsyte Woman. Now I had the opportunity to show maybe that I could do something else. And it was a joy and a delight to have Greer playing opposite of me. I think that that picture is one of the few worth-while vehicles in which I played (256).

The picture was "...a great success and landed us a command performance in England."

Janet Leigh recalls in her autobiography There Really Was a Hollywood meeting Flynn for the first time: 

I actually gasped. He was as beautiful as I could possibly have imagined, and as charming, and as lovable, and as naughty. When I looked at him, I saw Robin Hood and Captain Blood and Essex, and I remembered the nights I had gone home from the theatre and dreamed of him. He was such a gentleman—except when he played his practical jokes (84).

The evening, like in previous years, was a great success and attended by, aside from the Royals, thirty-one movie stars and a crowd 10,000 strong. 

The London Times reported: 

After the white lights and the cheerful din outside, the waiting auditorium was decorously dim until their Majesties appeared, when floodlights in the proscenium wall suddenly illuminated the front of the balcony, the company rose and clapped, and the band played the National Anthem. It was an affair that delighted the audience, and would have seemed heaven to the eager and fascinating throng outside. It was announced that some £30,000 had been raised for the trade charity.

According to A Rose For Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson, the "screening was followed by an elaborate live performance by a stellar array of MGM and British celebrities, including Jean Simmons, Richard Attenborough, Moira Lister, Sir Ralph Richardson, Jack Hulbert, Ann Sothern, George Murphy, Michael Wilding, Gregory Peck, and John Mills. Greer appeared with Walter Wanger in a comic version of The Miniver Story'' (231).

The "throng" that appeared outside the theatre to see the Royals and the stars numbered about 10,000, according to this news article in The Daily News:

The article notes that Greer Garson wore "a dress of heavy 

silver satin embroidered at the bodice with pearl and diamond drops.

CLICK HERE to see a three minute video of the stars and Royals arriving. I'm obsessed with Margaret Lockwood's glittering ensemble (insert heart eyes)!

AND HERE is a fifteen minute video. I love the glimpse of the program and outside of the theatre at the beginning of the video! It has nice, long looks at the stars as they arrive. You can see Greer's gown well starting at the 5:14 mark. 

Here are some photos from The Illustrated London News.

The Stars Remember

For Greer Garson, who had recently married Texan cattleman, wildcatter, and lawyer Buddy Fogelson and was in England filming The Miniver Story, the premiere was:

...the most rewarding one she had ever attended. Indeed, it was one of the proudest moments of her career, for the picture was to be honored as a Command Performance... Besides the king and queen, a great number of celebrities from British and American theater and motion pictures would be present. Her escort was Errol Flynn, who had arrived from location work in India for MGM's production of Rudyard Kipling's Kim (A Rose for Mrs. Miniver, 230).

Stars who attended were given a sterling silver commemorative coin with an engraving of the King and Queen on the front and personalized with their name on the back. Here is Rosalind Russell's coin. 

Rosalind Russell recalled her unique encounter with the Queen in her 1977 autobiography Life is a Banquet (173-175):

In 1949 I was summoned to a command performance before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother of England). It wasn't too long after the war, and things were still very grim in Great Britain. ... I wore a metal scull cap [you can see it at the 2:40 mark in the fifteen minute video linked above]. Hundreds of years earlier, a Viking queen had worn that cap to be married in. ... It was light as a feather, and there were little Viking wings on the sides, over each ear, and a split in the back for a bridal veil to come through, and a little chain. It was enchanting. 

At a rehearsal for the command performance, I asked an equerry if it would be suitable to wear something on one's head when meeting the King and Queen. "Of course," he said. "When women are presented at Court, they wear the feathers, the three plumes."

I couldn't wait for the big evening. It came. I dressed, adjusted my silver helmet, told myself, "This'll kill the people," went onstage and launched into one of the Cockney songs Cary Grant had taught me. 

Later, being presented to the Queen, I curtsied, and she smiled sweetly. "Where did you learn that song?"

I told her about Cary's coaching.

"It's a long time since I heard that," she said, "and you sang it very amusingly.

We actors were being presented in alphabetical order, so Walter Pidgeon had gone before me [actually Ralph Richardson was between them], and Jean Simmons was to come after me. As the Queen started toward Jean Simmons, King George approached and I went into another curtsey. All of a sudden the Queen was back, gesturing to me. I came up out of a half crouch, leaving the King standing there. "Yes, ma'am?" I said. 

"Excuse me," said the Queen, "but what is that wonderful thing you have on your head?"

I never think of that moment without delight. It was like "Where did you buy the hat?" or "Is that diamond necklace real?"; it was such a marvelous, feminine thing.  

The chapter was titled: "A Queen May Look at a Cap." Watching the video footage (11:20), it doesn't seem to appear to happen just as Russell described, but it's a marvelous story!

It looks like Russell may have worn her helmet to a charity auction as well. 

I came across this picture in the September 1949 issue of Photoplay. 

George Murphy recalled in a 1988 interview (recounted in Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories, 1900-1955 by Rusty E. Frank):

In the 1940s, I was part of a royal command performance in London. I was kind of the leader of the group. There was Ann Sothern, Errol Flynn, two or three others. In any event, I was the first one on the stage. And I looked down as I came down the stairs; they had carpeted the stage! I said, "Your Majesty. I’ve had some success as a Soft Shoe dancer. But they’ve carpeted the stage. So with your Majesty’s permission, you will see the softest Soft Shoe dance that’s ever been done.” And they had the big BBC orchestra, forty men in the pit. I doubt they could hear any taps. But I could have danced all night.

THE CINEMA Nov. 16, 1949 British Film Magazine | eBay 

Sources:

Flynn, Errol. My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Rowman & Littlefield. 1959.

Frank, Rusty E.  Tap! The Greatest Tap Dance Stars and Their Stories, 1900-1955. De Capo Press. 1990. 

Leigh, Janet. There Really was a Hollywood. Doubleday & Company. 1984. 

Troyan, Michael. A Rose For Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson. The University Press of Kentucky. 1999. 

Russell, Rosalind & Chase, Chris. Life is a Banquet. Random House. 1977.

The Greer Garson Blogathon is HERE!!!

It’s here!! The Greer Garson Blogathon is here!

Musings of an Introvert kicks things off with the classic The Winsome Qualities of Greer Garson in the 1940 Pride and Prejudice.

Taking Up Room discusses Garson’s most famous role as Mrs. Miniver (1942).

Movies Meet Their Match watches Garson for the first time in Sunrise at Campobello (1960).

The Wonderful World of Cinema discusses Greer Garson’s Elegant Entrance: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).

Hope this Blogathon was a welcome distraction from the world! Don’t worry if your post is late. I’ll happily accept them all week. Hope all of you stay healthy and thanks so much for participating!!

ANNOUNCING “The Rose of MGM: The Greer Garson Blogathon”

In the month of February I ended up watching five new-to-me Greer Garson films and revisited two that I had seen before. I also started reading her biography, A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson by Michael Troyan. I decided it was time to hold a blogathon for Miss Garson and settled on the weekend of April 6th, the 24th anniversary of her death.

Since Garson appeared in under 30 films, I will allow two duplicates. However, it would be fantastic to have all of her films covered. Posts on her television appearances, frequent co-starrings with Walter Pidgeon, her many Oscar nods, or her impact on women during WWII are also welcome and encouraged.

To claim your topic, please comment with your choice and link to your blog. Then take one of these banners to display!

ALREADY CLAIMED TWICE:

Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Roster:

Phyllis Loves Classic Movies: Madame Curie (1943) & Greer Garson’s appearance on Father Knows Best

The Midnite Drive-In: Mrs. Miniver (1942)

The Wonderful World of Cinema: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Musings of a Classic Film Addict: Remember? (1939)

Musings of an Introvert: Pride and Prejudice (1940)

Movies Meet Their Match: Sunrise at Campobello (1963)

Rebecca Deniston: Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Cinema Wedding Gowns: Her Twelve Men (1954)

Today's wedding gown is one of those brief fantasy sequence gowns. It is worn near the very beginning of Her Twelve Men (1954) starring Greer Garson (I reviewed it in August).

 

In the promotional photo below the gown looks white, but in the film, which is color, it is actually pale pink which is totally befitting for a dream sequence!

 

As you can see, the dress, designed by Helen Rose, has a full tulle skirt and a high-collared lace bodice (over a sweetheart neckline) with long sleeves and peplum at the waist. The veil is also of tulle and appears falls gracefully to the floor. It is attached to a close-fitting cap on the back half of the head with some standing ruffles.

 

The bouquet is comprised of small flowers surrounded in lace with ribbons cascading halfway down the front of the dress. It is an absolutely gorgeous dress and one can only hope that Garson's character got to wear a gown just as beautiful after the end of the film.

Her Twelve Men (1954)

Image from TCM

Today is Greer Garson day on TCM's Summer Under the Stars. Garson is one of the actresses I've been wanting to get to know better for some time so I was excited to see that she was getting a whole day of films this month. I watched two of them this morning (and am recording another three). One of the films I watched this morning was Her Twelve Men (1954) co-starring Robert Ryan of Film Noir fame. One of the reasons I wanted to watch it is because in it Garson plays a teacher. As someone with a degree in Educational Studies who has been doing part-time teaching for three years it sounded like something I would enjoy, and I did!

The film begins with Miss Stewart (Garson) on a plane to the prestigious all boys boarding school The Oaks, where she will be the first female teacher. A recent widow, she has to find something to do with her life and having previously enjoyed teaching for a short time after college is returning to that field. Upon arrival she is met with disapproval by fellow teacher Joe Hargrave (Robert Ryan), who thinks a woman teacher has no place there. Miss Stewart, or as the boys refer to her "Sir," goes through the usual boyish pranks (frog in the bed, etc.) but learns quickly from these experiences how to handle the boys in a way they will grow to respect her and, over the course of the school year, proves Hargrave wrong  and wins the hearts of her lonely boys she is put in charge of.

 

There were many touching scenes in the film as Garson handles homesickness and heartache, making "Her Twelve Men" feel loved and special when they don't receive the attention they need from their parents. One boy's parents are too busy running around Europe to write their son so she writes him letters pretending they are from his parents. It definitely tugs at the heart strings.

David Stollery, Richard Haydn, and Garson

Partway during the semester a new boy is dropped off at the school (Tim Considine). Richard Jr. is the son of a busy oil man whose wife died shortly after his birth. Richard has a chip on his shoulder, scoffing at everything in the school and getting all the boys in his class in trouble when he sets off the sprinklers in the dorm. The rest of the boys freeze him out and Richard falls out of the bedroom window and fractures his leg as a result. Garson accompanies him back to his house while his leg heals. Richard gets to know his father better as a result and Garson gets a hint of a marriage proposal (prompting a rather funny conversation where the headmaster, played by Richard Haydn, suggests that Garson might soon be sending her sons to the school, even though Garson was nearly 50 at the time of filming).

Considine being introduced to the other boys (he's from Texas).

Tim Considine is best known for being one of the original Mouseketeers with Annette Funicello, starring in Disney's Spin and Marty series (with David Stollery who plays Jeff in Her Twelve Men) and the Hardy Boys serials with Tommy Kirk as well as other Disney films. But he is probably best known as the oldest son in the popular and long running My Three Sons starring Fred MacMurray and William Frawley. Considine also appeared in another film with Garson, Sunrise at Campobello (1960). In it Garson plays Eleanor Roosevelt and Considine her son. The film chronicles FDR's life from when he contracts polio up to his running for President of the United States.

Another familiar television face is a young James Arness as the gym teacher. His part is rather small, simply as another love interest to show Garson's effect on the staff.

Greer Garson played hostess at her lovely Bel Air home to the twelve youngsters who played with her the  film “Her Twelve Men.” From left to right are George Folsey, Peter Votiren, Dale Hartleben and Tim Marxer. 2/5/1954

This was Garson's final film for MGM. She did a few more movies, including one for Disney, as well as several television appearances as a guest star or made-for-tv movies. Robert Ryan was only a third of the way through his career. The film was not well received by critics or its audience but I enjoyed it. If you missed Her Twelve Men (1954) this morning or don't have access to TCM, you can watch the entire film (in two parts) here.

This post is part of the annual month-long 2017 TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Journeys in Classic Films.

Costume Dramas of Golden Hollywood

 

Costumes, like everything else involved in filmmaking, are extremely important to movies. Without them, viewers would have to try to imagine them (like imagining sets in a play). As you can see, it would be very difficult to envision the tone of a film without them. Therefore, Hollywood has long spent lavish amounts of money of costumes, whether they are fantastical or gritty and realistic, glamorous or ordinary.

Rhett is definitely not in costume!

Costumes are especially important in Period films. It would be very difficult to imagine an Elizabethan setting if the actors were dressed in jeans and t-shirts! Or think of Gone With the Wind without all of those hoop-skirted dresses! Costumes also help the actor to get into their character and therefore act more convincingly, especially in a time they are not familiar with. It can also be plain fun, as Greer Garson recalls:

I think all of us have often thought how interesting it would be to live in a different age and time. Imagination at best is a poor substitute for reality. My role as Miss Bennett (Pride and Prejudice, 1940) was one of the happiest I ever played. In the charming feminine costumes of the period. working on sets authentically re-creating Old English homes, schooled in the modes and manners for the period, and surrounded by the proper atmosphere - gallant gentlemen, candlelight, carriages and pianofortes - it was possible to believe that I was Elizabeth [Bennett] while the cameras turned, and each night after work it was like stepping out of one world into another. I always hated to take off the colorful costumes and put on slacks, feeling something like Cinderella after the ball.

Why Larry! How dare you suggest my costume isn't authentic!

Because movies are so popular, what we see in the movies is convincingly real and sometimes the line between fact and fiction becomes blurred. Especially with costumes, "Hollywood usually offers its audience an elaborate and excessive vision of the past, filtering history through rose-colored glasses... to create the effect of a different time."

That being said, Hollywood gets many aspects of period costumes correct, but oftentimes it is mixed in a little with modern trends to be more easily identifiable with the movie-going public. Fabrics, silhouettes, undergarments, make-up, and hair styles were frequently, and sometimes purposefully,  changed for a modern look with an authentic feel, making the viewer feel like they had just seen something of historical fact yet at the same time be able to relate completely with the characters. They could also incorporate the looks seen easily into their wardrobes, as these patterns from 1939 show (released by Hollywood of course):

With period films from the Classic Hollywood era, one can still always tell what decade the it was actually made in, even if you aren't familiar with the main actors. A 1930s period film looks like a 1930s period film, just like one from the 1960s looks like it was made in the 1960s.

The fabric is wrong. The makeup is wrong. But it feels right.

Some actors and actresses strove for authenticity however. Bette Davis famously shaved her hairline to play Queen Elizabeth I not once, but twice! Even then, she wasn't allowed to shave it back as far as she wanted for fear it would alienate the movie-going public.

Nowadays, Hollywood and other film-makers are much more careful with getting the details right. For example, the popular BBC television drama Downton Abbey had a historical advisor on the set at all times to make sure that every detail was as authentic as possible. Even such small items as a letter seen for only a split second were handwritten in the style of the period. The celebrated costumes were sometimes actual 1920s items or had pieces taken from a gown falling apart and refashioned into a wearable piece using only materials that would have been available at the time. Some dresses were so delicate that they fell apart soon after filming! The makeup was even authentic, with just a little powder to even out skin tones. Here is a short video about the costumes, hair and makeup on the show (Warning: gives away plotlines). Here's another really short one.

If you are interested in pursuing this topic further, Hollywood and History: Costume Design in Film by Edward Maeder is an excellent book. It was a companion piece to an exhibition hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The chapters include Historical Dress in Films, Hair and Makeup, and their impact on fashion.

       

This post is for the Characters in Costume Blogfest hosted by Christina Wehner and Into the Writer Lea. Be sure to check out all of the other "form-fitting" posts ;)

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3