The 1956 “Blithe Spirit” starring Lauren Bacall is on YouTube!!!

The 1956 TV Theatre “Blithe Spirit” starring Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert, Noel Coward, and Mildred Natwick is on YouTube!!! I’ve wanted to see it for so long!!!

Cinema Wedding Gowns: How To Marry a Millionaire (1953)

Today's wedding dress is probably on of the better known ones in cinema. It is the lace dress worn by Lauren Bacall in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).

Crafted of embroidered ecru lace in a floral pattern with iridescent sequins and a heavy satin lining, this exquisite mermaid style, off the shoulder gown was designed by Travilla.

The dress is fitted to just below the hip where a semi-circle piece is added to make it floor length and giving the dress movement. Three-quarter length sleeves and lace trim along the top complete the gown.

Rather than a veil, the dress is paired with a hat crafted of white sinamay and with piping swirled on the crown and hanging down the back. A small pearl necklace and bracelet are the perfect accessories.

 

The dress was later modified with the sleeves and ruffle across the front removed and straps added. It sold at Debbie Reynold's auction in 2011 for $8000, which was the start price. On another site it said that the modified dress was worn in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) but, while the design is nearly identical, the lace is different.

Frank Sinatra & Lauren Bacall: A Rocky Relationship

Today is the 100 birthday of the famous crooner, Frank Sinatra. In honor of this special day, Movie Classics and The Vintage Cameo are hosting the Sinatra Centennial Blogathon. Click here to read all of the other posts on this legendary man.

Known as "The Voice" and "Ol' Blue Eyes," Sinatra is famous for his songs, especially around this time of year, and for his films (From Here to Eternity, Guys and Dolls, The Man with the Golden Arm, High Society, Ocean's 11, Robin and the 7 Hoods). He is also known for his many relationships.

We all know about his turbulant marriages to Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow(!). Married four times total, he also had many affairs during and between marriages. One of his most well know was with friend and fellow Rat Pack member, Lauren Bacall (married to Humphrey Bogart 1945-1957).

Frank Sinatra: His Wives and Lovers in Pictures

Their relationship began in 1957, shortly after Sinatra's divorce from Ava Gardner and Bogie's death. It was doomed from the start, as both were known for their strong personalities.

In her autobiography, Bacall describes the affair as "volcanic" and "combustible."

"I can't remember how it all began - there must have always been a special feeling alive between Frank and me from earlier days. Certainly he was then in his vocal peak, and was wildly attractive, electrifying. And Frank had always carried with him not only an aura of excitement, but the feeling that behind that swinging façade lies a lonely, restless man, one who wants a wife and a home but simultaneously wants freedom and a string of 'broads'."

Frank invited Bacall to a prize fight - the middleweight championship between Sugar Ray Robinson and Gene Fullmer - and when they left "there were photographers waiting and the resulting pictures ended up in newspapers around the world. It was my first public outing in Hollywood - the first time Frank and I were linked, even tentatively, in a romantic way. I remember telling a friend I couldn't understand why the press cared so much. My friend looked at me unbelievingly. 'Don't be a fool - you and Frank can't go anywhere without causing a commotion. Individually you make news, but together it's insane.' The next eight months were to prove him right."

 

After Bogie's death, Sinatra was the "only unattached man I knew, and I was glad he was around." They soon became a steady pair, acting as host and hostess of each others parties. However, from the beginning there were those who knew it wouldn't last. Franks mood swings  threw Bacall off; she never knew where she stood with him, didn't know how to play the 'love game.'

Always when we entered a room the feeling was: Are they okay tonight? You could almost hear a sigh of relief when we were both smiling and relaxed.

 

Rejections led to insecurities and when two people are insecure it is not a good thing. "Had he been sure of himself and his own life then, it might have worked. But he wasn't."

 

On March 11, 1958, Frank met up with Bacall in New York, where she was promoting one of her films. He was contrite for his erratic behavior, saying he had felt trapped but could now face it and asked her to marry him. She said yes and Frank began planning how he wanted the ceremony.

 

Two days later, while Frank was in Miami on a singing engagement, the announcement was spread across the front page of the papers. Frank blamed Bacall (though later he acknowledged - in a roundabout way that he knew it wasn't her fault) and didn't see her again for six years.

 

"As I look at it all now, it doesn't seem possible it happened as it did. I see that under no circumstances could it ever have worked. I expected more from him than anyone has any right to expect of another human being - loaded him with more responsibilities. No one could have remained upright in that circumstance. We used one another in some crazy way. Actually, Frank did me a great favor - he saved me from the disaster our marriage would have been."

 

"Anyway, it turned out to be a tragedy with a happy ending. Now, after a slow start, we are back on some sort of friendly basis. We don't live the same kind of life or think the same kind of thoughts anymore, but I'll always have a special feeling for him - the good times we had were awfully good."

You can read more excerpts from Bacall's autobiography  here.

From Frank's point of view, he too was getting over someone he loved. Bogie had been the love of Bacall's life and Ava of Frank. Sinatra: Behind the Legend by J. Randy Taraborrelli, tells the story from Frank's side.

"He tried to convince himself that he now wanted to be with Lauren Bacall, that Ava Gardner no longer mattered to him. And think of the sweet revenge against Ava that would be exacted if he were to end up married to another exquisite, even younger star, and so soon after their divorce."

"You might as well try to analyze electricity," one writer said when asked why Frank acted the way he did. He simply dropped out of Bacall's life without any explanation.

Frank's mother offered her own explanation (which is insightful in itself as to his relationship with his mother and therefore all women): "The two of them, they're wounded, one worse than the other. They don't need to be together. What kind of marriage is that? It's based on tears: his for Ava, hers for Bogie. And not only that, that woman is going to run his life. And no one runs my son's life. But me."

A few other interesting facts (IMDb):

Briefly lost the ability to sing after his vocal cords hemorrhaged in 1953. When his voice returned it had an extra dimension which many fans believed made his singing better than before.

Although the song Sinatra is most identified with is his hit "My Way", he originally didn't want to record it because he thought the song was "self-serving and indulgent.". His persona became so associated with it however, that he ended every concert with it.

In 1966 he was given a song to record, and after reading it over once, he despised it. The song was "Strangers in the Night", which turned out to be one of his biggest hits. Even after its success, he still hated the song and took every opportunity to deride it.

At his funeral, friends and family members placed items in his coffin that had personal references. These are reported to include ten dimes, several Tootsie Roll candies, a pack of Black Jack chewing gum, a roll of wild cherry Life Savers candy, a ring engraved with the word "Dream", a mini bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey, a pack of Camel cigarettes and a Zippo cigarette lighter.

In 1963 his son, Frank Sinatra Jr., was kidnapped. The kidnappers told Frank Sr. to call them from pay phones. During one call he ran out of coins, and briefly feared that it had cost him his son (the kidnappers gave him another chance). He paid the $250,000 ransom, Frank Jr. was returned, and the kidnappers were eventually caught. However, as a result of the payphone scare, Sinatra swore never to be caught without dimes again, and carried a roll of dimes with him constantly until his death.

Sources:

Bacall, Lauren. By Myself and Then Some. 2005. Pages 308-324.
Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Sinatra: Behind the Legend. 1997. Pages 206-209.
IMDb

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Discovering Lauren Bacall

Serious eyebrow envy

Today would have been Lauren Bacall's 91st birthday. She died last year on August 12th.

The first movie I saw Lauren Bacall in was The Shootist (1976), starring John Wayne and Ron Howard. It's the best out of John Wayne's 70s films (in my opinion). Bacall's performance is very good in it but it is primarily a John Wayne picture and I didn't know anything about her at the time.

My next Bacall encounter was on the special features for You've Got Mail (1998), called "You've Got Chemistry." The famous on-screen couples highlighted were Bacall/Bogart, Powell/Loy, Tracy/Hepburn, Flynn/de Havilland, Mickey and Judy, and of course Hanks and Ryan. Since watching it I have watched many  of these couples on-screen and love all of them. It introduced me to such classics as the Thin Man series (1934 - 1947) and the other eight movies Powell and Loy made together (yes, I have watched them all as well as nearly 30 of Powell's films - TCM is a wonderful thing). I have watched the beautiful Olivia de Havilland get the better of the dashing Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), and others. I have loved Mickey and Judy since I was a little girl and especially enjoy watching them in the Andy Hardy series. And I watch You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) multiple times a year (all you have to do is play a song from the soundtrack and I'm a goner). And yes, I watched Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). Once. It was more than enough.

 

After doing a little research on IMDb to see which film Bogart and Bacall made together, I checked out To Have and Have Not (1944) from my library. I LOVED IT. It is very similar to Casablanca (1942), but as I am not a big fan of Ingrid Bergman, I liked To Have and Have Not much better. My favorite part is at the very end, when Bacall sort of wiggles over to Bogie and then smiles when he grabs her arm and leads her out of their hotel, which is also a café/bar. The smile she gives him is so cute and genuine, because she had fallen in love with him. Read more here!

The next film they made together, The Big Sleep (1946), was good but a little confusing. Even the author was confused! There are two versions: the pre-release version and the theatrical version with more scenes between Bogart and Bacall.

I did not like Dark Passage (1947). The first 30 or so minutes is filmed so that you are only seeing what Bogart sees, which was kind of weird and annoying. But when Agnes Moorehead fell out the window to her death and they showed her falling and screaming... that was too much. Here's an interesting post on the film locations then and now in San Francisco.

The last film they made together was Key Largo (1948), which is my second favorite of the four films. It has Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, and Claire Trevor in it. I really wanted to go to Key Largo after watching it.

Interesting article on the TCM blog about Key Largo: the movie and the island - did you know the African Queen is kept there?? And you can take rides on it!?!

And another one...

They were scheduled to make another movie together in 1957, but Bogart died before they started working on it.

Following those films I saw Designing Woman (1957) with Gregory Peck, Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - a hilarious movie starring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, and Henry Fonda, the aforementioned The Shootist (1976), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and William Powell, and Blood Alley (1955) - also with John Wayne. I also saw Young Man with a Horn but I didn't particularly like it. Still on my "To Watch" list are Harper (1966) with Paul Newman (and Robert Wagner!), and a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1974) - after I read the book of course.

                   

At the premiere of How to Marry a Millionaire - love her expressions ♥

And now, a brief bio.

She was born on September 16, 1924 in NYC. Her birth name was Betty Joan Perske (she was always called Betty by her close friends). She was an only child and her parents divorced when she was five. She lived with her Jewish mother and grandmother, both of whom she was very close to.

At age 9.

In 1943, at the age of 18 she began modeling. She was discovered on the cover of Harper's Bazaar by Slim, the wife of Howard Hawks, who signed her to a contract and took her under his wing. She took her mother's maiden name Bacal and added an extra "L" on the end for her screen name. Hawks chose the name Lauren. It was during the filming of her first film, To Have and Have Not, in which her character was based and named after Hawk's wife, that she fell in love with Humphrey Bogart. She was 5'8.5" tall to his 5'8." They married the following year on May 21, 1945, at the farm of a friend, Louis Bromfield. Bacall was 20 and Bogart was 45. It was one of Hollywood's greatest love stories. They had two children: Steve, born in 1949 and named after Bogart's character in To Have and Have Not, and Leslie, born in 1952, who was named after their great friend Leslie Howard. Bacall still did work in films, but she took time off to be with her children and travel with Bogart for his films.

On Bogie's boat, the Santana

With their children, Steve and Leslie

 

On location for The African Queen

I put my career in second place throughout both my marriages and it suffered. I don't regret it. You make choices. If you want a good marriage, you must pay attention to that. If you want to be independent, go ahead. You can't have it all.

~ source

Bacall and Bogart were part of the original Rat Pack, which included Judy Garland and her husband, David Niven and his wife, Frank Sinatra, and a few others. To be a part of it you had to be voted in unanimously and be addicted to nonconformity, staying up late, drinking, laughing, and not caring what others thought or said about you. Their great friend Spencer Tracy was an honorary member, as he preferred a more secluded life.

 

In January of 1957, Bogart died from cancer of the esophagus. Bacall placed a whistle in his coffin as a reference to the famous line she said to him in their first film together, "You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow."

 

A woman isn't complete without a man. But where do you find a man - a real man - these days?

After his death, Bacall continued working. She dated crooner and fellow Rat Pack member Frank Sinatra for a while and in 1961 married Jason Robards, a big stage actor. They had one son, Sam. In 1969 they divorced, due to Robard's drinking problem.

Bacall spent many years on Broadway, which had been her dream before becoming a Hollywood actress. She created the character of Charlie in Goodbye Charlie (1959), which was later made into a movie starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds (1964). She also played the part of Margo Channing in the musical stage version of All About Eve (played on the screen by Bette Davis) in 1970 called Applause and Woman of the Year in 1981 (based on the 1942 movie starring her close friends Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy). In addition to her film and stage work, she also loved to travel, especially to Paris, and was actively involved in politics.

 

With her Honorary Oscar, 2009

 She died August 12, 2014, at her home in NYC of a stroke. She was 89 years old.

 

Last year, not long before she died, I read her autobiography, By Myself ~ and Then Some published in 1978/2005. It is one you can read without saying, "Wow. I really didn't want to know that about you" that is in so many biographies. I love the style it is written in, just a bunch of short anecdotes separated by a space - no chapters to interrupt the flow. It was a very easy read and I enjoyed learning so much about her, her life with Bogie, and the behind-the-scenes of her movies and plays. I also read her book Now, published in 1994, which had separate chapters discussing her work, children, her house, acting, friendship and loss, and beginnings and endings. I liked the format of it as well. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Now:

There are many kinds of friendship: those from childhood and school; friendships - the passing friendships, the faraway ones; the I-would-do-anything-for-you, the understanding, compassionate; the part-time social and the work friendships. ~ p. 151

Memory is a precious commodity, not to be tampered with, not to be rejected. We have to be glad of its existence, for it keeps alive those special people - the moments, the places, the feelings. So, Memory, I drink a long life - for both of us. ~ p. 166

I have spent a good deal of time trying to  figure friendship out, without much luck. Why one friendship survives whether people see each other or not, why another fades for no apparent reason. Why sometimes old friends are easy to talk about everything and impossible to talk about anything. ~ p. 192

Here is a beautiful quote of Bogie's that was in By Myself ~ and Then Some:

(Coming home from the hospital during his illness) This is what it's all about - this is why marriage is worth it... I've been trying to tell these guys [attendants] how great it is to be married - that you can't beat having your wife and kids there to greet you, that there's nothing like it. ~ 265
 

This post is part of the Lauren Bacall Blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood.

 

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Blood Alley (1955)

Blood Alley (1955), a "vigorously directed action picture" (Clive Hirschhorn, The Warner Bros. Story), was one of director William A. Wellman's final pictures and his third with John Wayne. It was also the first picture produced by John Wayne's production company, Batjac.

The film was originally supposed to star Robert Mitchum, who was fired from the production, followed by Humphrey Bogart (he wanted too much money) and Gregory Peck (who turned down the offer). In order for the film to be made, John Wayne took on the role of Captain Tom Wilder. Lauren Bacall played Cathy Grainger, a surprising choice considering her political views. Read more about it in this TCM Article.

William Wellman was great; Wild Bill, a fascinating man! I liked working with Duke. We didn't agree politically, but we got along well and had a sort of chemistry."

 ~ Lauren Bacall

 

From the back of the DVD:

"Powder your nose, baby," the craggy-voiced skipper bellows. "We're coming into Hong Kong." Getting there wasn't easy for wily Merchant Marine Capt. Tom Wilder. But it's exciting - and all an action fan might expect from a movie teaming legends John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, and director William A. Wellman.

Wilder braves dangerous waters and pursuing Red Chinese forces while steering a boatload of Chinese refugees and a doctor's daughter (Bacall) along a 300-mile waterway to freedom's shores. Wellman and his crew cram the CinemaScope frame with riches both scenic (Northern California locales authentically stand in for the Formosa Straits) and action-packed. This ship is under full steam. Destination: Blood Alley!

The film was based on a short news bulletin which was turned into a novel by A.S. Fleischman and then a screenplay.

I was surprised to learn that the movie was filmed in Northern California. Locations included the Sacramento River, where they used the old snag boat PUTAH which was called the "Chicu San" in the movie (source), and the China Camp State Park and the San Pablo Yacht Club in Marin County. The cast and crew stayed at the Stockton Hotel, where after filming, John Wayne would sign around 100-400 autographs for his fans waiting outside (source).

Here's a commercial featuring John Wayne on the set of Blood Alley selling Christmas Seals.

Don't miss William Wellman at the beginning!

Wayne and Wellman receiving a certificate from the U.S. Air Force.

 

 

Make sure and read this 1955 New York Times Review! It mentions Wellman, the subject of this Blogathon, multiple times. Also, for the guys: weapons used in Blood Alley.

This post is part of the William Wellman Blogathon hosted by Now Voyaging. Be sure and read all of the other posts celebrating the work of this great director!

 

All images are screenshots from the DVD and its special features.

Lauren Bacall on Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall, or Katie and Betty as they called one another, met on the set of The African Queen. They became so close that Hepburn was the godmother of Bacall's third child, Sam (with Jason Robards).

Why do you want me? For heaven's sake, I'm no good at paying attention to children (355).

The following excerpts are all taken from Lauren Bacall's autobiography, By Myself, and Then Some; 1978, 2005.

Bacall, John Huston, Bogie, and Hepburn on the set of The African Queen

 

Our friendship would happen slowly. But very surely. And it would become one of the most affection, influential, and treasured friendships of my life and for always (208).

 

Katie is a private, private person whose standards of behavior are very high, and she must have felt alone a good deal of the time...she was an actress - a fine one, a successful one, a big, big, star on stage and screen - but the rest was a mystery. Until we became friends, that location must have been lonely for her, despite her happy nature and essential optimism (210).

 

 

 

As we headed for Ponthierville, we passed  bamboo forest. Katie said, 'Stop the car, I've always wanted to sit in the middle of a bamboo forest.' I thought Bogie was going to explode. Here was everyone trying to get out of there, and Katie wanted to sit in the middle of a bamboo forest. But the car stopped and out she got - as did I. 'What the hell, while I'm here I might s well see what a bamboo forest is like - I may never get another chance.' It was very still and very beautiful (211).

 

So many of the crew were confined to bed...even Katie...never complained and never missed a day's work. She had opinions, voiced them, and stuck to them (212).

 

 

One night she had Spencer Tracy, James Cagney, Bogie, and me for dinner...Katie and I sat spellbound. That is the only time I can remember that we both shut up.

 

It was an unforgettable night. Katie and I sat on the floor - at their feet of course. I remember thinking Katie was like a little girl - so thrilled to be in the company of these men, to know them. She hung on their words with a look of wonder and unending pleasure on that great face (216-17)

 

 

At last, my very first nomination [the Tony Awards, 1970 for Applause] for anything, anywhere. Katie was nominated too, for Coco. Of course I wanted to win, but Katie - my friend, one of the woman I admired above all others, set apart, and such a wonderful actress. I adored Katie so - it was ridiculous, actors in competition for a prize...Katie and I joked about it. She wouldn't go to the award presentation, she'd never gone to any function like that. Laughingly she said, 'If I win, you'll accept it for me, won't you?' And how I would! I was sure she would get it. Why couldn't we both get it?(414).

 

   

 

She watercolored a self-portrait for me - delivered the day after I won the Tony... As I read her praise of me, written more than 30 years ago, I am filled with nostalgia and great love for this amazing woman and am stunned by her flattery. For better or worse, here it is in her own words:

 

From Bacall's autobiography

 

My own dear friend

DESERVED - WARRENTED

All that pure simplicity,

unguarded modesty and

Boyish courage

poured into a frame of leonine splendor

You ROSE - you CONQUERED

And none could be more pleased than I -

Your smeared* friend, [referring to the edge of the printing]

Auntie Kate

ON THE OCCASION OF THE TONY AWARDS

April 19th 1970

 

I blushed when I first read it. I blush now. So flattering - so sweet - that she thought so highly of me. She could never say it, any more than I could, but she could write it - as I could. Being accepted as a true friend, despite the difference in our ages - with our bond growing stronger through Bogie's illness and death. Then the following years of closeness as we travelled for work and life in general until Spencer's death, and being able to talk about our lives on a personal level. Typical Kate - is it any wonder I adored her and told her that 10 minutes of her would be worth 24 hours of anyone else? (486-87)

 

Until the day she died, I never thought of Kate without thinking of Spence and Bogie. After all, our friendship really began and solidified during the making of African Queen in 1951. To think that Kate's and my friendship endured for more than 50 years is some kind of record. And it created a special bond between us - me without Bogie, followed by her without Spence. Those years of memories of four of us -then three of us - then two of us. Now, only one (488).

 

 

The very last time I saw her, I walked right over to her in her chair in the living room, sat next to her, kissed her.

 

That day, when I was about to leave, she said: "Please stay." After I had stayed for a half hour longer, I leant over and kissed her cheeks many times, after which she looked at me and whispered: "Thank you." So touching - so sweet. I wondered how much she knew. It mattered not. She knew something (490).

 

She was 96 years old...she was Miss Hepburn - Aunt Kat - Katie - Kate - Kathy (to Spencer Tracy). She was all of those depending on your relationship. And she was always Katharine. With an 'A'.

 

She was loyal - demanding - pure and purely demanding - open - reserved - formally informal - proud - intimidating - exasperating - funny - touching. She was a worker - a riser above everything - passionate in her likes and dislikes - saying what she thought but keeping herself to herself - loving - sentimental - a lover of beauty - of nature. She was there for those who needed her - really needed her and were in need. She was especially, wonderfully, uniquely, one of a kind (485).

 

Arriving in London after filming in Africa

 

This is the second of two posts for the 2nd Annual Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon. Be sure and read all of the other "divine" entries!

 

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