Commentary Track ON

Behind-the-scenes tidbits from movies and tv that I find interesting. Your move, Robert Osborne. Seriously, though, TCM: Call me. Submissions welcome.
theatlantic: Singin’ in the Rain: 60 Years Later, an Example of Film Nostalgia Done Right With pop culture apparently suffering from a retro epidemic lately, today’s 60th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain provides a chance to look back at a film that was ahead of its time in the way that it, too, looked back. Still fresh and charming in present-day viewings, Singin’delivered a sophisticated take on a tremendous transition in moviemaking that had happened decades before its release. But unlike the recent Oscars’ slate of history-fetishizing films—The Artist, Hugo, and Midnight in Paris among them—it didn’t romanticize the past but rather voyaged happily forward. […] Beyond the actual backdrop of an industry in flux, Singin’ in the Rain’s jokes and light parodies of actors and Hollywood culture are still surprisingly insightful and effective. There’s the dopey screen siren thinking that she’s in a relationship with her co-star because she read it in a gossip magazine. There’s Kathy Selden’s (Debbie Reynolds) attempt to insult the cocky movie star with her emphatic declaration that “if you’ve seen one movie, you’ve seen ‘em all.” And there’s the brilliant segment where Don Lockwood recounts his rise to fame, telling his fans that he was trained at Juilliard and brought up on Shaw and Molière, while we in the audience are treated to an amusing simultaneous montage revealing that he actually cut his teeth through thankless beer-hall performances and dangerous stunt work. Read more. [Image: AP]

theatlantic:

Singin’ in the Rain: 60 Years Later, an Example of Film Nostalgia Done Right

With pop culture apparently suffering from a retro epidemic lately, today’s 60th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain provides a chance to look back at a film that was ahead of its time in the way that it, too, looked back. Still fresh and charming in present-day viewings, Singin’delivered a sophisticated take on a tremendous transition in moviemaking that had happened decades before its release. But unlike the recent Oscars’ slate of history-fetishizing films—The Artist, Hugo, and Midnight in Paris among them—it didn’t romanticize the past but rather voyaged happily forward. […]

Beyond the actual backdrop of an industry in flux, Singin’ in the Rain’s jokes and light parodies of actors and Hollywood culture are still surprisingly insightful and effective. There’s the dopey screen siren thinking that she’s in a relationship with her co-star because she read it in a gossip magazine. There’s Kathy Selden’s (Debbie Reynolds) attempt to insult the cocky movie star with her emphatic declaration that “if you’ve seen one movie, you’ve seen ‘em all.” And there’s the brilliant segment where Don Lockwood recounts his rise to fame, telling his fans that he was trained at Juilliard and brought up on Shaw and Molière, while we in the audience are treated to an amusing simultaneous montage revealing that he actually cut his teeth through thankless beer-hall performances and dangerous stunt work.

Read more. [Image: AP]

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Showing Cleveland to the world: 36th CIFF and film commission will offer bus tours for filmmakers →

fatgirlinohio:

In conjunction with the festival, the commission will be running a series of bus tours in hopes of luring future film projects. Executive Director Ivan Schwarz and his crew regularly show off the area to potential productions, but this program is a way to tap into the wide range of out-of-town filmmakers already visiting.

“Our mission is attracting people to the area,” said Schwarz. “When people come here they are blown away. They had no idea how much the area has to offer. They tend to view Cleveland differently than the average Clevelander. What some people here may view as an eyesore might be perfect for someone’s film.”

…

In past years, those visitors have dropped by the Rock and RollHall of Fame andMuseum and a few other downtown spots, but these tours will give them a much broader glimpse of the region. They’ll have a chance to see posh suburbs, industrial blight, quirky Tremont, the narrow coziness of Little Italy, and the expansive woods and fields of the Metroparks.

As a bonus: It’s all within reasonable striking distance for budget-conscious producers.

“You can shoot scenes on the lake and be in Amish country in 40 minutes,” said Schwarz. “It offers so much diversity.”

I approve of this idea. They’ve been doing a great job of making it affordable and attractive to shoot in Cleveland. I wish it had been more like this when I was growing up there. Hooray for the 36th Cleveland International Film Festival, starting Thursday!

Link
Interview with Jennifer Westfeldt - Writer and Director of Friends With Kids →

I think the best advice is to go out and make something.  Even if it’s flawed.  Even if you don’t quite have the money.  Just make it.  Don’t make just anything, make something you believe in, and have worked hard on — but make something.  Don’t just talk about making something.  See what it’s really like.  Don’t be so precious or fearful about it that you never get anything out there at all.  Don’t be too afraid of failure to learn what you need to learn.

Link
richardrushfield: Getting Yelled at By Celebrities at Sundance Stardust Memories: Part 3. James Gandolfini Previously: David Boreanaz and Pierce Brosnan This one is a story that has no heroes.  Certainly not me.  I might have yelled at me too if I had been on the other side of this, because certainly I am an idiot in this story.  But there is the other side to it that you’re up at Sundance, the most ridiculous celeb clutching mosh pit cloaked in self-importance on Earth, you’re surrounded by gifting suites and walking red carpets and the aroma of Paris Hilton is never far away.  So if you put yourself through that and you can’t have a little bit of a sense of humor about yourself and a few silly questions, well then, some might say you deserve to be badgered with inane questionnaires until your asking price falls down to the five digits. On the year in question here, I was shooting videos for the LA Times website. Since we had no budget for video production but we on the web team were trying to make the paper see the possibilities of this crazy thing called multi-media, we were making due with what we could capture on flip cams.  Mostly that was brief talking heads videos.    In prepping for Sundance, we tried to come up with a little questionnaire we could put to anyone we met that they could answer in 90 seconds or less.  Since every star there does a zillion interviews and there are a zillion people asking “Tell us about your film.  Tell us about your character.  Tell us about working with such a talented young director as - ” we wanted to do something that was not that.  So we thought up five dumb questions that might provoke people to have some non-pr digested thoughts about the insanity of the whole Sundance experience.  We called it Five Silly Questions and by and large it worked okay.  We put it to everyone from young actors to foreign documentarians, warned them in advance that they were silly questions, but those who played along actually produced some fun and thoughtful answers to the dumb questions, answers that did illuminate the insanity of Sundance.  (Here is one we did with someone who did have a sense of humor about it, Amy Poehler). We spent the day at the MySpace cafe waiting for people to interview.  The Cafe was next to the giant EW press tent, an area that film people came to for the purpose of being interviewed, and believe me most of these interviews were for more inane then mine, without the grace of any awareness of their innanity. After the interviews the movie folk would duck into this little velvet roped coffee shop for some free of charge chili fries from the menu with no prices on it.  When movie people came in, we would ask them or their publicists or their assistants whether they would mind doing our video questionnaire, explaining that it was some silly questions about the sillyness of Sundance.  Most said, yes, soon as I’m finished eating and then we’d set up our mini-tripod and shoot.  A handful said, that’s not my thing or, I can’t take any more interviews today, and that was fine and we went our merry ways, never to meet again. At one point James Gandolfini came in with his director and co-star from In The Loop which was being screened up there. I asked the publicist who was with them if he’d mind doing our silly questions.  She said she’d check with him and came back and asked, would you mind waiting until he was done eating?  I said, that was fine. Some minutes later she came back and asked, what will you be asking him about? I said, it’s just some silly questions about the sillyness of the Sundance experience.  It was not, I explained, an interview about the film, which I hadn’t seen. She ran back and came back and said that would be fine, if I could just keep waiting.  I said I could. The group finished eating and got up and walked out without doing our interview. I assumed I had been blown off, which was just fine.  It was my last day there and I wanted to get packed up anyway.  Just as I was preparing to leave, the publicist came back and said, they still wanted to do it but would I mind shooting it in the EW press tent.  I said that would be fine but we needed to do it right away, because I had to get going.  She ran back and came back again and said, it would be just 15 minutes, but they really wanted to do it so could I please wait.  She also said, Gandolfini had asked if I could also interview his director and co-star along with him.  I was sensing by this point that the publicist was extremely flustered about this and said, “You know, this seems like it’s going to be too much hassle. I’ve gotten enough stuff today, so let’s just do it another time.”  ”No no no,” I was assured, they really want to do it.  Just hold on for a few minutes. Over the next hour I was pushed back three more times. At every interval, I tried to insist, let’s just forget it, but was urged to stay on.  Although I needed to go, I thought a video with Gandolfini was probably worth waiting for, and despite my sense that something was not great here, I was being reassured that they wanted to do this, so wait I did. Finally, I was ushered into the tent into the presence of Mr. Gandolfini, his director Armando Iannucci and their co-star whose name I forget.  As soon as I took my flipcam out of my pocket, Gandolfini became visibly annoyed. The conversation went very close to this: James Gandolfini: What the fuck is that?Me: It’s a video camera.James Gandolfini: That fucking thing is a video camera?Me: It is…they didn’t tell you this was going to be a video interview?James Gandolfini:Noooo. They didn’t tell us.Me: Oh, well that’s what we’re doing. Is that alright?James Gandolfini: Wait, I thought this was for the LA Times?Me: It is.James Gandolfini :Isn’t that a newspaper?Me: Yes….James Gandolfini: So how the fuck are you going to put a video in a newspaper?Me: Well actually…the newspaper is just one product. We’re a media company and we have a website also, which is where this video is going.James Gandolfini: (Looks at me like I’ve just said the dumbest thing he ever heard.Me: Look, we don’t have to do this.  Why don’t we forget it?James Gandolfini: No no…if you think you can put a video in a newspaper, let’s go right ahead. (Actual quote, engraved in my brain until the day I die.)As they sat down, I told them we would be asking silly questions about the sillyness of Sundance. Gandolfini glared at me. His two colleagues shuffled uncomfortably. The filming started off as a disaster and went downhill from there.  When I hit them with the first question, “What do you like about Sundance?” Gandolfini looked like he wanted to put his fist through my skull.  Question two, what do you dislike about Sundance, I believe he refused to answer. When I hit him with question three, “What bodypart would you sacrifice to frostbite” he looked at me like he had never hated someone so much in his life and I actually thought, wow, this is going to literally turn violent; a daunting thought when two feet away from Tony Soprano.  I believe I skipped questions 4 and 5 and wrapped it up as fast as I could. A week later, director Armando Iannucci told the story on his blog about how some idiot from the Los Angeles Times had ambushed him and the great thespian with questions about what part of their body would they most like to give up.  Somewhere on the web there is a blog entry in which he says, somewhere on the web there is a video of James Gandolfini and I looking at each other and wondering what ever happened to a great newspaper.   That video is right here.  The pleasure was mine. Next up: Paris Hilton This is a great series. My only interaction with James Gandolfini has been positive (he even wished me a happy Thanksgiving once!) but it’s interesting to see the disconnect between the talent and the press, and how PR can both smooth out and exacerbate those tensions.

richardrushfield:

Getting Yelled at By Celebrities at Sundance Stardust Memories: 
Part 3. James Gandolfini

Previously: David Boreanaz and Pierce Brosnan

This one is a story that has no heroes.  Certainly not me.  I might have yelled at me too if I had been on the other side of this, because certainly I am an idiot in this story.
 

But there is the other side to it that you’re up at Sundance, the most ridiculous celeb clutching mosh pit cloaked in self-importance on Earth, you’re surrounded by gifting suites and walking red carpets and the aroma of Paris Hilton is never far away.  So if you put yourself through that and you can’t have a little bit of a sense of humor about yourself and a few silly questions, well then, some might say you deserve to be badgered with inane questionnaires until your asking price falls down to the five digits.

On the year in question here, I was shooting videos for the LA Times website. Since we had no budget for video production but we on the web team were trying to make the paper see the possibilities of this crazy thing called multi-media, we were making due with what we could capture on flip cams.  Mostly that was brief talking heads videos.   

In prepping for Sundance, we tried to come up with a little questionnaire we could put to anyone we met that they could answer in 90 seconds or less.  Since every star there does a zillion interviews and there are a zillion people asking “Tell us about your film.  Tell us about your character.  Tell us about working with such a talented young director as - ” we wanted to do something that was not that.  So we thought up five dumb questions that might provoke people to have some non-pr digested thoughts about the insanity of the whole Sundance experience.  We called it Five Silly Questions and by and large it worked okay.  We put it to everyone from young actors to foreign documentarians, warned them in advance that they were silly questions, but those who played along actually produced some fun and thoughtful answers to the dumb questions, answers that did illuminate the insanity of Sundance.  (Here is one we did with someone who did have a sense of humor about it, Amy Poehler).

We spent the day at the MySpace cafe waiting for people to interview.  The Cafe was next to the giant EW press tent, an area that film people came to for the purpose of being interviewed, and believe me most of these interviews were for more inane then mine, without the grace of any awareness of their innanity. After the interviews the movie folk would duck into this little velvet roped coffee shop for some free of charge chili fries from the menu with no prices on it.  When movie people came in, we would ask them or their publicists or their assistants whether they would mind doing our video questionnaire, explaining that it was some silly questions about the sillyness of Sundance.  Most said, yes, soon as I’m finished eating and then we’d set up our mini-tripod and shoot.  A handful said, that’s not my thing or, I can’t take any more interviews today, and that was fine and we went our merry ways, never to meet again.

At one point James Gandolfini came in with his director and co-star from In The Loop which was being screened up there. I asked the publicist who was with them if he’d mind doing our silly questions.  She said she’d check with him and came back and asked, would you mind waiting until he was done eating?  I said, that was fine. Some minutes later she came back and asked, what will you be asking him about? I said, it’s just some silly questions about the sillyness of the Sundance experience.  It was not, I explained, an interview about the film, which I hadn’t seen. She ran back and came back and said that would be fine, if I could just keep waiting.  I said I could. 

The group finished eating and got up and walked out without doing our interview. I assumed I had been blown off, which was just fine.  It was my last day there and I wanted to get packed up anyway.  Just as I was preparing to leave, the publicist came back and said, they still wanted to do it but would I mind shooting it in the EW press tent.  I said that would be fine but we needed to do it right away, because I had to get going.  She ran back and came back again and said, it would be just 15 minutes, but they really wanted to do it so could I please wait.  She also said, Gandolfini had asked if I could also interview his director and co-star along with him.  I was sensing by this point that the publicist was extremely flustered about this and said, “You know, this seems like it’s going to be too much hassle. I’ve gotten enough stuff today, so let’s just do it another time.”  ”No no no,” I was assured, they really want to do it.  Just hold on for a few minutes.

Over the next hour I was pushed back three more times. At every interval, I tried to insist, let’s just forget it, but was urged to stay on.  Although I needed to go, I thought a video with Gandolfini was probably worth waiting for, and despite my sense that something was not great here, I was being reassured that they wanted to do this, so wait I did.

Finally, I was ushered into the tent into the presence of Mr. Gandolfini, his director Armando Iannucci and their co-star whose name I forget. 

As soon as I took my flipcam out of my pocket, Gandolfini became visibly annoyed. The conversation went very close to this:

James Gandolfini: What the fuck is that?
Me: It’s a video camera.
James Gandolfini: That fucking thing is a video camera?
Me: It is…they didn’t tell you this was going to be a video interview?
James Gandolfini:Noooo. They didn’t tell us.
Me: Oh, well that’s what we’re doing. Is that alright?
James Gandolfini: Wait, I thought this was for the LA Times?
Me: It is.
James Gandolfini :Isn’t that a newspaper?
Me: Yes….
James Gandolfini: So how the fuck are you going to put a video in a newspaper?
Me: Well actually…the newspaper is just one product. We’re a media company and we have a website also, which is where this video is going.
James Gandolfini: (Looks at me like I’ve just said the dumbest thing he ever heard.
Me: Look, we don’t have to do this.  Why don’t we forget it?
James Gandolfini: No no…if you think you can put a video in a newspaper, let’s go right ahead. (Actual quote, engraved in my brain until the day I die.)

As they sat down, I told them we would be asking silly questions about the sillyness of Sundance. Gandolfini glared at me. His two colleagues shuffled uncomfortably.

The filming started off as a disaster and went downhill from there.  When I hit them with the first question, “What do you like about Sundance?” Gandolfini looked like he wanted to put his fist through my skull.  Question two, what do you dislike about Sundance, I believe he refused to answer. When I hit him with question three, “What bodypart would you sacrifice to frostbite” he looked at me like he had never hated someone so much in his life and I actually thought, wow, this is going to literally turn violent; a daunting thought when two feet away from Tony Soprano.  I believe I skipped questions 4 and 5 and wrapped it up as fast as I could.

A week later, director Armando Iannucci told the story on his blog about how some idiot from the Los Angeles Times had ambushed him and the great thespian with questions about what part of their body would they most like to give up.  Somewhere on the web there is a blog entry in which he says, somewhere on the web there is a video of James Gandolfini and I looking at each other and wondering what ever happened to a great newspaper.  

That video is right here.  The pleasure was mine.

Next up: Paris Hilton

This is a great series. My only interaction with James Gandolfini has been positive (he even wished me a happy Thanksgiving once!) but it’s interesting to see the disconnect between the talent and the press, and how PR can both smooth out and exacerbate those tensions.

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universal100:

Universal Pictures will be marking its 100th Anniversary in 2012. As Director of Archives & Collections for NBCUniversal, I am charged with keeping a vast record of the amazing work produced by our company. Part of that is also reflecting back on how our illustrious company has evolved over the past 100 years and looking at the tradition of re-imagining our logo to commemorate significant milestones.

I’m excited to share with you a recount of the many evolutions our logo has taken over the years.

Legend has it that Carl Laemmle named the company after seeing a “Universal Pipe Fittings” truck pass by his New York office window.  Though our name may have been inspired by a whim, today Universal is considered a pioneer in cinematic history.  Our logo symbolizes the films we’ve created which have not only impacted millions, but also helped tell the story of filmmaking.

The Universal logo has gone on to change over the years since 1912. From the silent logo of UNIVERSAL FILMS encircling the globe…to the ‘droning propeller plane circling the globe’ that marked the arrival of sound…and finally, to today’s more modern and vivid Universe—the Universal logo has reflected the evolution of film.

Today, we are unveiling the new still of the Universal logo for our centennial and giving you a special look into our logo’s progression over the years.  We thank you for being a part of our history and invite you to join us in the 100th anniversary celebration. It’s going to be an exciting year and I am thrilled to be documenting the entire celebration for our company!

(via oldfilmsflicker)

Photoset
oldhollywood: Days of Heaven (1978, dir. Terrence Malick) “At Malick’s insistence certain parts of the film were made at what he calls the ‘magic hour’, that is, the time between sunset and nightfall. From the point of view of luminosity, this period lasts about twenty minutes, so that calling it a ‘magic hour’ is an optimistic euphemism. The light really was very beautiful, but we had little time to film scenes of long duration. All day we would work to get the actors and the camera ready; as soon as the sun had set we had to shoot quickly, not losing a moment. For these few minutes the light is truly magical, because no one knows where it is coming from. The sun is not to be seen, but the sky can be bright, and the blue of the atmosphere undergoes strange mutations. Malick’s intuition and daring probably made these scenes the most interesting ones visually in the film. And it takes daring to convince the Hollywood old guard that the shooting day should last only twenty minutes. Even though we took advantage of this short space of time with a kind of frenzy, we often had to finish the scene the next day at the same time, because night would fall inexorably. Each day, like Joshua in the Bible, Malick wanted to stop the sun in its imperturbable course so as to go on shooting.”  -excerpted from A Man with a Camera, the autobiography of Days of Heaven cinematographer Néstor Almendros

oldhollywood:

Days of Heaven (1978, dir. Terrence Malick)

“At Malick’s insistence certain parts of the film were made at what he calls the ‘magic hour’, that is, the time between sunset and nightfall. From the point of view of luminosity, this period lasts about twenty minutes, so that calling it a ‘magic hour’ is an optimistic euphemism.

The light really was very beautiful, but we had little time to film scenes of long duration. All day we would work to get the actors and the camera ready; as soon as the sun had set we had to shoot quickly, not losing a moment. For these few minutes the light is truly magical, because no one knows where it is coming from. The sun is not to be seen, but the sky can be bright, and the blue of the atmosphere undergoes strange mutations.

Malick’s intuition and daring probably made these scenes the most interesting ones visually in the film. And it takes daring to convince the Hollywood old guard that the shooting day should last only twenty minutes. Even though we took advantage of this short space of time with a kind of frenzy, we often had to finish the scene the next day at the same time, because night would fall inexorably. Each day, like Joshua in the Bible, Malick wanted to stop the sun in its imperturbable course so as to go on shooting.” 

-excerpted from A Man with a Camera, the autobiography of Days of Heaven cinematographer Néstor Almendros

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mothernaturenetwork: 6 things you probably didn’t know about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’Even if you’ve seen the Christmas classic 100 times, we bet you didn’t know that … well, just keep reading.

mothernaturenetwork:

6 things you probably didn’t know about ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
Even if you’ve seen the Christmas classic 100 times, we bet you didn’t know that … well, just keep reading.

(via flavorpill)

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My favorite movie of all time. Considered the first screwball romantic comedy, It Happened One Night is a funny, sexy film that has aged wonderfully since its 1934 debut. Clark Gable is a fired newsman who needs a big story to get back in the game. Claudette Colbert is a runaway heiress trying to get from Florida to New York before her father can annul her ill-conceived marriage to a man who her father realizes is only after her money. Together, they make their way to New York, with Gable showing Colbert how to survive without her daddy’s money in exchange for her exclusive story. As they rely on each other throughout the trip, they fall in love.  Some tidbits about the film: The leading roles for this film were shopped all over Hollywood and turned down by a number of stars of the era: Myrna Loy, Margaret Sullavan, Loretta Young, Robert Montgomery, to name a few.  Columbia was a minor studio at the time, and MGM and Warner Brothers would “punish” misbehaving stars by loaning them out to Columbia. Clark Gable was reportedly one of these stars, but later stories refute this and say that since Gable was under contract, he was getting paid whether he worked or not and MGM simply didn’t have a picture ready for him. They loaned him to Columbia at a profit, getting $500 a week to Gable’s $2000. Gable reportedly arrived to work his first day saying, “Let’s get this over with.”  Claudette Colbert only agreed to be in the film by having her regular salary doubled to $50,000, having previously worked with director Frank Capra on a disastrous film called For the Love of Mike. She was quoted immediately after the shoot as complaining, “I just finished the worst picture in the world.”  The Best Actor and Best Actress awards Gable and Colbert won were the only ones they ever received, despite multiple nominations. Capra had to be creative since the film was relatively low-budget and, as another part of her deal, Colbert would only be working four weeks. That limited the number of sets that they built. As a result, Capra used camera movement and faster-paced editing to keep the film from getting boring. He also directed his actors to speak a little faster than normal. Oscar Shapely, the sleazy guy on the bus who recognizes Colbert as runaway heiress Ellie Andrews, is considered to be one of the inspirations for the characterization of Bugs Bunny because of their similar voices and fast-talking style. Another Bugs trait is his carrot-gnawing, as Clark Gable’s character does in the film. Finally, Gable threatens Shapely with a gangster story about “Bugs Dooley.” The man who steals their car late in the film is Alan Hale, who was good friends with Errol Flynn and best known for playing Little John to Flynn’s Robin Hood in 1938. His son, Alan Hale, Jr., is best known as Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island. Hale originally wanted to be an opera singer, and demonstrates his skills when he sings, “Young people in love are never hungry,” to Gable and Colbert. Claudette Colbert thought the hitchhiking scene, where she flashes her leg, was vulgar, until she saw the chorus girl brought in as a body double. Then she insisted on doing the scene herself. Colbert was so sure she wouldn’t win the Oscar that she was set to go on her own road trip - a cross-country train trip - when Harry Cohn, head of Columbia PIctures, had her literally pulled off the train to attend the ceremony. She wore a custom-made traveling suit designed by one of the Paramount costume designers. Despite all of her tantrums and complaints about the film, she was very gracious in her acceptance and thanked Capra for directing the film.  An urban legend persists that Gable’s undressing to reveal he wasn’t wearing an undershirt wreaked havoc on the the sales of men’s undershirts in the 1930s.

My favorite movie of all time.

Considered the first screwball romantic comedy, It Happened One Night is a funny, sexy film that has aged wonderfully since its 1934 debut. Clark Gable is a fired newsman who needs a big story to get back in the game. Claudette Colbert is a runaway heiress trying to get from Florida to New York before her father can annul her ill-conceived marriage to a man who her father realizes is only after her money. Together, they make their way to New York, with Gable showing Colbert how to survive without her daddy’s money in exchange for her exclusive story. As they rely on each other throughout the trip, they fall in love. 

Some tidbits about the film:

  • The leading roles for this film were shopped all over Hollywood and turned down by a number of stars of the era: Myrna Loy, Margaret Sullavan, Loretta Young, Robert Montgomery, to name a few. 
  • Columbia was a minor studio at the time, and MGM and Warner Brothers would “punish” misbehaving stars by loaning them out to Columbia. Clark Gable was reportedly one of these stars, but later stories refute this and say that since Gable was under contract, he was getting paid whether he worked or not and MGM simply didn’t have a picture ready for him. They loaned him to Columbia at a profit, getting $500 a week to Gable’s $2000. Gable reportedly arrived to work his first day saying, “Let’s get this over with.” 
  • Claudette Colbert only agreed to be in the film by having her regular salary doubled to $50,000, having previously worked with director Frank Capra on a disastrous film called For the Love of Mike. She was quoted immediately after the shoot as complaining, “I just finished the worst picture in the world.” 
  • The Best Actor and Best Actress awards Gable and Colbert won were the only ones they ever received, despite multiple nominations.
  • Capra had to be creative since the film was relatively low-budget and, as another part of her deal, Colbert would only be working four weeks. That limited the number of sets that they built. As a result, Capra used camera movement and faster-paced editing to keep the film from getting boring. He also directed his actors to speak a little faster than normal.
  • Oscar Shapely, the sleazy guy on the bus who recognizes Colbert as runaway heiress Ellie Andrews, is considered to be one of the inspirations for the characterization of Bugs Bunny because of their similar voices and fast-talking style. Another Bugs trait is his carrot-gnawing, as Clark Gable’s character does in the film. Finally, Gable threatens Shapely with a gangster story about “Bugs Dooley.”
  • The man who steals their car late in the film is Alan Hale, who was good friends with Errol Flynn and best known for playing Little John to Flynn’s Robin Hood in 1938. His son, Alan Hale, Jr., is best known as Thurston Howell III from Gilligan’s Island. Hale originally wanted to be an opera singer, and demonstrates his skills when he sings, “Young people in love are never hungry,” to Gable and Colbert.
  • Claudette Colbert thought the hitchhiking scene, where she flashes her leg, was vulgar, until she saw the chorus girl brought in as a body double. Then she insisted on doing the scene herself.
  • Colbert was so sure she wouldn’t win the Oscar that she was set to go on her own road trip - a cross-country train trip - when Harry Cohn, head of Columbia PIctures, had her literally pulled off the train to attend the ceremony. She wore a custom-made traveling suit designed by one of the Paramount costume designers. Despite all of her tantrums and complaints about the film, she was very gracious in her acceptance and thanked Capra for directing the film. 
  • An urban legend persists that Gable’s undressing to reveal he wasn’t wearing an undershirt wreaked havoc on the the sales of men’s undershirts in the 1930s.
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fatgirlinohio: 36 Gramercy Park East Once home to John Barrymore.

fatgirlinohio:

36 Gramercy Park East

Once home to John Barrymore.

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oldhollywood: From Katharine Hepburn’s 1981 interview with Barbara Walters:  Hepburn: “I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man…I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to and I made enough money to support myself. And I ain’t afraid of being alone.” Walters: “Is that why also you wear pants?” Hepburn: “No, I just wore pants because they’re comfortable.” Walters: “Do you ever wear a skirt, by the way?” Hepburn: “I have one.” Walters: “You have one.” Hepburn: “I’ll wear it to your funeral.” (via/photo via)

oldhollywood:

From Katharine Hepburn’s 1981 interview with Barbara Walters: 

Hepburn: “I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man…I’ve just done what I damn well wanted to and I made enough money to support myself. And I ain’t afraid of being alone.”

Walters: “Is that why also you wear pants?”

Hepburn: “No, I just wore pants because they’re comfortable.”

Walters: “Do you ever wear a skirt, by the way?”

Hepburn: “I have one.”

Walters: “You have one.”

Hepburn: “I’ll wear it to your funeral.”

(via/photo via)

(via littleorphanammo)

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