The Eve Arden Blogathon has finally arrived! I will update this post as entries come in so please check back throughout the weekend! I can't wait to read all the entries about this fabulous comedienne. A huge thank you to all who participated!
Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson, Warner Brother's answer to the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" movies of Paramount, made fifteen films together. The two were good friends in real life making their on-screen friendships very authentic and a joy to watch (check out my posts on Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson by clicking on their names).
One of my favorite films of theirs is Two Guys From Texas (1948), a follow-up to the successful Two Guys From Milwaukee (1946). Not only is their off-screen friendship evident on-screen, but it also features some great songs, including one that shows off Jack Carson's rich baritone. It's also set in Texas, which is the subject of The Midnite Drive-In's latest blogathon, of which this post is part of (it also gives me a chance to share several clips I recorded from the film).
Trailer
The film starts with sing and dance partners Steve Carroll (Morgan) and Danny Foster (Carson) on a road trip to California. While driving through the wide spaces of Texas (aka the WB Studios and Thunderbird Ranch in Palm Springs, CA) they run out of gas - not before they sing a song though.
Video from my YouTube Channel. Sorry about the quality. I recorded it with my iPad.
Watching this song, "There's Music in the Land," it is easy to imagine that this is something Morgan and Carson did in real life, not just in the movies. Their camaraderie is undeniable. This little clip was just after the song but I didn't want to record the song again so it's only a few seconds.
Anyway, they run out of gas and hitch a ride to a nearby Dude Ranch. There they meet an old friend of theirs, Maggie Reed (Penny Edwards). When their car is stolen, Reed helps them get a job doing their act at the ranch. The owner, the very pretty Joan Winston (Dorothy Malone) is none to keen on the two but they are completely broke and doing their act is a way to get free room and board. It also gives Morgan and Carson a chance to sing several songs. Carson singing "I Never Met a Texan" is a highlight.
Both of boys also take an instant liking to Joan, who has an "understanding" with the sheriff, who incidentally never seems to be out looking for the stolen car. Joan, somewhat reluctantly, becomes attracted to Steve, causing Danny to seek the advice of Dr. Straeger (Fred Clark), a guest at the ranch. Danny reveals a recurring dream he has. Enter a ridiculous cartoon sequence (Bugs Bunny's first appearance in a feature film!) where Danny is a shepherd who always loses his sheep to a wolf that just happens to look like Steve. This has in turn created a real-life fear of animals. The scene is too funny not to watch, as the caricatures are spot on.
The Doctor (later revealed to be a veterinarian) advises Danny to steal a girl away from Steve, which Danny does that very evening. Joan, who is trying to decide between Steve and Tex, willingly uses Danny to get out of an awkward situation, and even kisses him. It is in this scene Carson finally gets to sing a song straight, without trying to be funny (though he still pulls a few faces). I knew he could carry a tune but wow!! "Hankerin' " is my favorite song from the film.
The next morning, Danny finds he is no longer afraid of animals, just in time for the annual rodeo. While at the rodeo, the two guys who stole Steve and Danny's car, use it for a quick getaway after robbing the rodeo ticket booth. Tex is more than happy to throw them in jail, especially Steve. The boys escape and put on a disguise. Back at the ranch they overhear the bad guys (they work at the ranch) planning another robbery. Steve and Danny go back to the rodeo and set up a trap in order to catch the crooks and clear their names. In the course of their plan, Danny's fake beard falls off and while running from Tex he ends up joining and winning the bucking bronco contest.
The film ends with the bad guys getting caught and Steve and Joan deciding to get married. Their friend Maggie decides to marry Tex. What about Danny you ask? Throughout the film he is followed by an old Indian squaw who he thinks wants to marry him but turns out she wants him to marry her very beautiful daughter. So everyone is happy.
A few more photos...
Two Guys From Texas is airing on TCM
October 27th at 3:15pm ET.
This post is part of The Texas Blogathon hosted by The Midnite Drive-In. Be sure to check out the other posts celebrating the wide-open spaces of Texas (or the studio backlot, whatever).
I want to thank Emily for asking me to co-host this unique blogathon with her! I also want to thank all the participants. Without you there is no blogathon!
I watched Titanic for the very first time this week.
Eve Arden is the best friend everyone wants. With her quick wit and sarcastic wise-cracking humor, she always has something to say. I've recently watched several films of Arden's, whether she's a supporting player or one of the main characters, and decided to hold a little blogathon in her honor.
The two-day event will take place on Nov. 11 and 12 (the anniversary of her death). If you want to participate, leave a comment below with your choice and a link to your blog and grab a banner to display. Eve Arden has a lengthy filmography covering both movies and television and even radio so I'm allowing only two posts on the same topic. Feel free to write about something other than her onscreen work if you wish, as those sorts of posts are always fun.
As you can see below, I've chosen to write about Arden's Miss Brooks character, focusing mainly on the film. If you want to write a more in depth post about the radio or television series or a specific episode that is perfectly fine.
ROSTER:
Phyllis Loves Classic Movies: Arden's "Miss Brook's" character from radio to television to the film
I was thirty-two then, not an ideal age to be taking up so strenuous an activity as ballet.
So wrote Gene Tierney in her autobiography Self-Portrait on her experience playing a Russian ballerina in the film Never Let Me Go (1953) starring Clark Gable.
The film tells the story of an American news correspondent, Philip Sutherland (Gable), stationed in Moscow who falls in love with and marries Marya Lamarkina (Tierney), a ballerina. When they try to leave Russia they are separated as Gable is forced to board a plane and Tierney is held back. Gable must then figure out how to get his wife out of Russia. He and his friend (Richard Haydn), whose wife is also being held in Russia, plan a bold sea rendezvous off the coast.
For a more in-depth summery and analysis of the film, check out Critica Retro's post!
Trailer
When Tierney's character Marya is first introduced, she is one of the ballerina's in the background of a performance of Swan Lake. After she is kept in Russia and must wait for her husband to come back for her, she becomes a Prima Ballerina. Near the end of the film, Gable, in disguise as a Russian General, swims ashore and attends the theatre where his wife dances the lead in Swan Lake. You can view the scene below (in two parts because there's a scene with Gable pretending to be a doctor in the middle. Sorry for the poor quality - I recorded it with my camera off the tv). Real life Russian ballerina Natalie Leslie doubled for Tierney in the long shots.
To get ready for her role, Tierney began instruction with dance master Anton Dolin, practicing two hours a day for six weeks "just to master enough technique to get on my toes and do the few steps that would be required of me." The work was hard and Tierney soon had blistered and achy feet. Gable "was patient and considerate. One weekend he flew to Paris and came back with some salve he assured me would relieve the pain in my feet. The ointment helped." Even though the work was exhausting and painful, it gave Tierney a special love of ballet for the rest of her life.
The movie was filmed at the British MGM Studios in Hertfordshire, England and on location in Cornwall, where Gable stays to devise his plan to rescue Tierney. Outdoor locations of Russia had to be faked, as the Cold War was really gearing up. As many scenes took place at night, and with the use of some stock and newsreel footage, this was fairly easily accomplished.
Both Gable and Tierney were a little depressed at the time of filming. Gable, who had recently divorced fourth wife Lady Sylvia Ashley, still greatly missed the love of his life Carole Lombard (third wife) who had tragically died over a decade before in a plane crash while on her way home from a successful bond selling tour of the US. Tierney, suffering from mental illness, didn't socialize much with her co-star, despite her mother's urging to pursue a relationship with Gable. The two did go out to eat at a pub in Cornwall once, as was customary between a leading man and his leading lady. Gable mostly talked about Carole as Tierney sympathetically listened. "For all his he-man, no-undershirt screen image, I saw him as sweet and gentle, a hard crust with a soft center. I thought that quality was what came across on the screen and made him adored by so many."
After filming completed, Gable went to Africa to film Mogambo while Tierney remained in London for a while before going to Paris, where she met Rita Hayworth's ex-husband Prince Aly Khan. They began an intense relationship before parting the following year.
Never Let Me Go did not fare well at the box-office, despite getting good reviews:
It is cheering to have the reassurance that Clark Gable is one fellow, at least, who can still make the Soviet Union tough guys look like absolute monkeys—and does. In his latest Metro adventure, "Never Let Me Go," which was launched in a wide-screen enlargement at the Capitol yesterday, good old Clark does again what he accomplished back in 1940 in "Comrade X": he kidnaps a beautiful Russian lady right out from under the late Joe Stalin's nose. And, what's more, he does it with the coolness of a big boy taking candy away from kids.
Anyone who knows adventure fiction and what to expect from such a film will not be at all disappointed in the brand of whoop-de-do we have here. For the writing is brash and eventful, the texture of the production is fairly real and the performances by all the actors are in the appropriate make-believe style. To be sure, the whole film is romantic and just this side of ridiculous farce in an area that isn't quite that funny. But, after all, it's good old Clark's affair, you know.
Romance, daring, intrigue–that’s Clark Gable’s meat. That’s Never Let Me Go–the adventures of an American newspaperman in Russia who falls in love with a ballerina (Gene Tierney), marries her, and is forced to leave the country alone. His English friend, Richard Haydn, has also married a Russian and must also leave her behind. Gable lights on a fantastic idea. Why not sneak the girls right out of Russia? He decided to buy a fishing boat, sail it from England to a beach resort near the town where Gene is performing. At night the beach is crowded with bathers. No one would notice if two of those bathers swam out beyond the breakers to a rowboat, were taken by that rowboat to the fishing vessel, and freedom. Haydn’s skeptical, but what–besides his life–does he have to lose? Gable has a fiend, a radio broadcaster in Russia, whom he contacts and together they devise a code enabling Gable to make rendezvous plans with their wives. Everything works–up to a point. But there’s a run-in with a Russian patrol boat, and after that there’s Gable masquerading as a Russian Army officer, and after that there’s a chase right into the ocean. After that–well, see for yourself.
I greatly enjoyed this film. Tierney made a lovely ballerina, as can be seen in all the promotional photos below (click to enlarge) and the story was exciting, especially near the end where you wonder how they will get away with only minutes left to go on the film. And even though Gable is obviously older than Tierney - he was 54 and she was 32 - it somehow works.
TCM isn't showing this film anytime soon, but is available on DVD. I hope everyone gets a chance to watch it.
