As Young as You Feel (1951). Is a comedy film starring Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, and David Wayne, with Marilyn Monroe in a small role.
Sixty-five-year-old John Hodges must retire from Acme Printing. He decides to impersonate the president of the parent company and arrives at his old plant on an inspection tour.
Acme president McKinley is so nervous not even his beautiful secretary Harriet can calm him. McKinley's wife Lucille has her eye on Hodges...
Video: all of Marilyn scenes.
We're Not Married (1952). A romantic comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding. Cast: Victor Moore, Ginger Rogers, Fred Allen, Marilyn Monroe, David Wayne, Eve Arden, Paul Douglas, Eddie Bracken, and Mitzi Gaynor. Co-stars included Louis Calhern, Zsa Zsa Gabor, James Gleason, Paul Stewart, and Jane Darwell.
Video: From We're Not Married (1952).
O. Henry's Full House (1952). (although he was not in the same scene as Monroe). Five O' Henry stories, each separate. The most well known, "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells his friend Horace another bum, that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a warm jail cell. The problem is, he can't even accost a streetwalker. The other stories are: "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Gift of the Magi".
Video: "The Cop and the Anthem", in full
How to Marry a Millionaire (1953). Three New York models, Shatze, Pola and Loco set-up in an exclusive apartment with a plan: they intend to use all their talents to trap and marry three millionaires, but run into trouble along the way.
Bedtime Story (1941). Comedy film directed by Alexander Hall. Cast: Fredric March, Loretta Young and Robert Benchley.
After seven years of marriage, stage actress Jane, has her heart set on leaving the stage and live on a farm in Connecticut. Her husband, producer-playwright Luke Drake, has different plans and is ready to start rehearsals for his new play and is late showing up for their retirement party.
Where Luke, informs Jane and the others that he has sold their dream farm and bought a theater. Heartbroken, she packs her suitcase and travels to Reno for a divorce. Wanting to stop the divorce, Luke plants a false story in a gossip columns, announcing that he is ill and that he has cancelled his play. Reading a newspaper article, that Luke is not well and has given up working, she rushes back only to find that it's not true.
Jane, goes back to Reno to get her divorce and begins dating banker, William Dudley. Luke follows Jane to Reno and arrives at her hotel just as William Dudley, shows up to take her to dinner. When Luke asks for a chance to talk to Jane alone, Dudley hands over the keys to his car and Luke and Jane go for a drive to talk things over.
Luke, accidentally runs out of gas and needing a place to stay for the night they get a hotel room. While there, she helps him with his script and tells him to cast someone else to perform in it. She, then tells Luke, that he owes her $4.40 for his share of the gas and hotel.
When Luke reads that Jane has become engaged to Dudley, he wants to win her back. Learning that the police plan to raid a club named Billy's that night, Luke suggests to Jane that she and Dudley join him for dinner. Asking Jane to meet him at the theater, Luke then phones Dudley and asks him to meet them at Billy's.
When Jane arrives at the theater in the middle of rehearsals, Luke pretends to chastise Virginia's performance and Jane offers to coach her. Jane, gives such a wonderful reading that Virginia leaves the stage. Now, without a leading lady Luke, says he has to cancel the play, Jane then offers to take the part until he can find someone to perform in the part. As they leave the theater, a policeman informs them that Dudley has been arrested and Jane, realizing that she has been tricked backs out of her promise. Then bails Dudley out of jail and elopes with him.
The next morning, Luke and Eddie, arrive at the apartment with flowers, to apologize. Only to find out that Jane has just married William. Luke, hires two men to act as inspectors, questioning Jane on the validity of her marriage. She hands William all of her Reno receipts... except the one from the California hotel. When she refuses to give Luke that receipt, he admits the inspectors are fake.
Their friend Emma, comes over to tell Jane, that the production has shut down and that Luke, paid them off with the last of his money.
Realizing how much he loves her, Jane hands Emma, the receipt and tells her that she wants the money Luke, owes her for the hotel room. It takes Luke a minute, to realize that with the receipt, he can prove that Jane's marriage is not legal.
At the hotel, Luke sends a parade of plumbers, electricians and maids... to interrupt Jane and William on their wedding night. Will he be able to break up the honeymooning couple for good?
"Bedtime Story", is a stylish comedy with a wonderful cast. Frederic March, was at the height of his movie career and Loretta Young, also has some fun scenes in the film. The supporting cast: Eve Arden, Allyn Joslyn, Helen Westley and Joyce Compton, will charm their classic movie fans.
Helen Westley (March 28, 1875 – December 12, 1942). A character actress and member of the original board of the Theatre Guild.
Westley, played roles, both comic and dramatic in many films: Death Takes a Holiday, All This and Heaven Too, four films opposite child star Shirley Temple (including Dimples and Heidi), the 1934 surprise hit Anne of Green Gables, the 1935 film version of Roberta, and the 1936 film version of Show Boat, in which she replaced Edna May Oliver.
She also appeared in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm in 1938 with Shirley Temple and Randolph Scott as Aunt Miranda.
In 1936 she played in Banjo on My Knee with Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Brennan and Buddy Ebsen.
Westley was married to John Westley, an actor on Broadway, on October 31, 1900. The couple separated in 1912 . The marriage ended in divorce. The couple had one daughter, named Ethel.
Virginia Fox (April 2, 1902 - October 14, 1982), was an actress who starred in many silent films of the 1910's and 1920's.
In 1924 she married film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, with who she had three children, Darrylin Zanuck, Susan Zanuck and Richard D. Zanuck.
The couple separated in 1956 over her husbands affairs with other women, though they were never legally divorced. According to Zanuck biographers, she cared for him at their home from the time he became mentally incapacitated in the early 1970's until his death in 1979.
Virginia Fox, is not related to William Fox, whose name is preserved in the company 20th Century Fox, which Darryl Zanuck created and led for decades. William Fox founded Fox Studios, but had lost control of it by the time Zanuck acquired it and merged it into his own empire.
The Playhouse (1921). A silent short film written, directed by and starring Buster Keaton. The movie runs for 22 minutes and is famous for an opening scene in which Keaton plays every role.
The film is set up as a series of humorous tricks on the audience, with doubling and things are rarely what they at first seem to be.
An uncredited Virginia Fox plays one of the twins. Edward F. Cline co-wrote the production and appears, uncredited, as a monkey trainer, whose monkey Keaton impersonates onstage after accidentally letting the animal escape.
Kitty Foyle(1940). Cast: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan and James Craig, which is based on Christopher Morley's 1939 bestseller with the same name. Ginger Rogers won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Kitty Foyle, and the dress she wore in the film became a new dress style, known as a Kitty Foyle dress.
Five years
One snowy day, Kitty Foyle, has to make a choice that will change her life forever: marry the kind hearted doctor Mark Eisen, or to sail away with wealthy Wyn Stafford, with who she has been in love with for years.
Kitty, thinks back to growing up in Philadelphia: as a young Kitty reads the society page she dreams of her "Prince Charming" concerned, her father, warns her against marrying out-side of her class.
Five years later, Kitty meets wealthy Wyn Strafford, who is so charmed by her that he offers Kitty a job at his magazine. The two fall in love, but Wyn is worried about his parents.
After her father's death, Kitty moves to New York, where she begins to date Mark. Later, Wyn comes for Kitty and the two are married, but when he takes her home, his family wants to "remake" her.
Things do not go well for the couple and the marriage is annulled. Kitty returns to New York, where she learns that she is pregnant and that Wyn is to marry a Philadelphia socialite.
Kitty's plans to raise the child by herself, but.. her baby dies in childbirth.
Years later, Kitty returns to Philadelphia to open Delphine Detaille a fashion house and happens to meet Wyn's wife and son. Kitty, decides to make a decision that will once again change her life..
Ginger Rogers, gives a wonderful performance as the young woman who makes her own way in life. You will need plenty of Kleenex.
Fun Facts:
At first Ginger Rogers was not sure that she wanted to take on the lead role, because Kitty has an abortion in the book. Rogers' mother reminded her that the production code wouldn't allow most of the material in the book, Rogers found objectionable to be seen in films.
Katharine Hepburn was first offered the lead role but turned it down.
The dress that Ginger Rogers wore to that year's Academy Awards was a lingerie-style top which was very racy for the day.
Among the many letters that Ginger Rogers received for her work in the film, this was the one that she treasured the most: "Hello Cutie - Saw "Kitty" last night and must write this note to say "That's it!" Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! You were superb Ginge - it was such a solid performance - the kind one seldom sees on stage or screen and it should bring you the highest honors anyone can win!! Hope to see you soon, As ever your, Fred."
Odette Myrtil (June 28, 1898 – November 18, 1978), she was the daughter of two stage actors. She studied the violin at a boarding school in Brussels and began performing the violin professionally at the age of 13.
In 1915, at the age of 16, she came to the United States to join the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway as one of the Ziegfeld Girls.
The following year she came to London where she was a major success in the West End show The Bing Boys Are Here.
She spent the next several years appearing successfully on the London stage and in vaudeville productions in major European cities.
In 1923 Myrtil returned to New York City as a vaudeville entertainer at the Palace Theatre where she had her first major success in America. She became a staple of the theatre scene in New York City up into the early 1930's, often appearing in Broadway musicals which featured her abilities as both a singer and violinist. She had a particular triumph as Odette in Jerome Kern's 1931 musical The Cat and the Fiddle which was written specifically as a vehicle for her.
Thereafter she only made a handful of appearances on Broadway, with her last show being the original production of Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's Saratoga in 1960.
She spent a couple years in the early 1950s portraying Bloody Mary in the original run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, having succeeded Juanita Hall in the role.
After 1935, she had a career as a film actress, appearing in mainly mid-sized roles in a total of 25 films from 1936 to 1952.
She had previously only appeared as a dancer in the 1923 film Squibs M.P. Her first speaking role was as Renée De Penable in Dodsworth (1936).
Some of her other film credits are Kitty Foyle (1940), Out of the Fog (1941), I Married an Angel (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Uncertain Glory (1944), Devotion (1946), The Fighting Kentuckian (1949), and as "Madame Darville" in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951).
She sang the title song on camera as herself in the 1954 film The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) and again portrayed herself in her last film appearance in the film Hot Pants Holiday (1972).
From 1955 to 1958 she managed The Playhouse Inn, located next door to the Bucks County Playhouse.
From 1961 to 1976 she operated the New Hope restaurant Chez Odette which is now a different restaurant bearing her name, Odette's Restaurant.
During her life, Myrtil was married twice: for eight years to vaudeville performer Robert Adams and later to film director and producer Stanley Logan.
She died in nearby Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1978, aged 80.
The Women(1939). Comedy/drama directed by George Cukor. The film is based on Clare Boothe Luce's play of the same name, and was adapted for the screen by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, who had to make the film acceptable for the Production Code. Cast: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Lucile Watson, Mary Boland, and Virginia Grey, Marjorie Main and Phyllis Povah, the last two of whom reprise their stage roles from the play. Florence Nash, Ruth Hussey, Virginia Weidler, Butterfly McQueen(debut), and Hedda Hopper also appeared in smaller roles.
While having her nails painted "jungle red," as the catty Sylvia Fowler learns from Olga, the manicurist, that her good friend Mary Haines's husband Stephen, is having an affair with perfume clerk Crystal Allen.
Mary is hosting a luncheon that afternoon and Sylvia cannot wait to spread the gossip among their friends. When Stephen calls to cancel a trip they had been planning, making matters worse.
Sylvia,recommends Olga to Mary for a "jungle red" manicure, who shares with her the details of Stephen's affair, not realizing that Mary is Mrs. Haines.
Mary's mother, Mrs. Morehead, advises her daughter to keep silent, but during a fashion show, Mary unexpectedly meets the gold digger Crystal. Sylvia, loves that the confrontation made the society columns front page.
Heartbroken, Mary, now facing every woman's nightmare, wants a divorce and travels by train to Reno. While on the train, Mary meets her friends, Peggy Day, Miriam Aarons and Flora, the Countess De Lave, as they all travel to Reno to get their divorces.
Soon after arriving at a dude ranch for women, they are joined by Sylvia, who has just been left by her husband for Miriam.
On the day that Mary's divorce is to become final, Miriam tells her to forget her pride and take back her husband, but Mary is too late, as Stephen is planning to marry Crystal.
Two years later, Crystal, now bored with Stephen, begins an affair with singing cowboy Buck Winston, the countess' young husband.
Mary is still in love with her ex-husband Stephen, and becomes hopeful when her daughter, Mary, shares with her mother that her daddy is not happy with his new wife.
Deciding to fight for Stephen.. Mary, tricks Sylvia, who has become friends with Crystal, into publicly exposing Crystal's affair. Will Stephen and Mary, reconcile and get back together?
Fun Facts:
No doubles were used in the fight scene where Rosalind Russell bites Paulette Goddard. Despite the permanent scar resulting from the bite, the actresses remained friends.
Sydney's, the beauty salon, was named after Sydney Guilaroff, the chief hairstylist at MGM from 1934 to the late 1970's. He was brought to MGM from New York at the request of Joan Crawford.
According to her autobiography, Rosalind Russell called in sick because Norma Shearer refused to share top billing. She stayed "sick" until Shearer finally relented.
Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo were the only top-tier female stars at MGM who did not star in this film, although Loy was considered for the role of Crystal Allen.
My favorite scenes in this highly entertaining film: the fight scene with Goddard and Russell, the bath scene with Crawford and last scene when all the woman get into a cat-fight at the ball. With beautiful costumes designed by Adrian.
Phyllis Povah (July 21, 1893 – August 7, 1975), made her Broadway theatre debut in Mr. Pim Passes By in 1921 and acted in minor roles in several productions over the next two decades.
She achieved a notable success in a featured role in the stage production of The Women, and the play ran for 18 months, from 1936 until 1938.
When a film version was planned, Povah and Marjorie Main were the only members of the cast who were chosen to reprise their roles in the film which was released in 1939. (The film was directed by George Cukor).
The film was a success, but Povah continued to work steadily in theatre, and appeared in the film Let's Face It (1943) with Bob Hope and Betty Hutton.
Dear Ruth, in which Povah starred with John Dall and Virginia Gilmore played on Broadway from 1944 until 1946, and provided her with a substantial role and her biggest success during the 1940s.
She made two films in 1952, The Marrying Kind with Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray, and Pat and Mike with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, both directed by George Cukor.
Her final Broadway role was in Anniversary Waltz with MacDonald Carey and Kitty Carlisle in 1954 and 1955.
The film version, re-titled Happy Anniversary (1959) and costarring David Niven and Mitzi Gaynor, was her final film.
She died from a heart attack in Port Washington, New York, aged 82.
Mariska Hargitay (born Mariska Magdolna Hargitay; January 23, 1964), is best known for her role as New York City sex crimes Detective Olivia Benson on the NBC television drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a role that has earned her an Emmy and Golden Globe..
She is the daughter of actress Jayne Mansfield and actor/bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay. Jayne Mansfield was a glamorous movie star but her favorite role was being a mother. She had five children: Jayne Marie, Miklos, Zoltan, Mariska and Antonio.
Video: Jayne Mansfield and 2-Year-Old Mariska Hargitay (Merv Griffin Show 1966).
Mariska Hargitay, was a former beauty queen who made her film debut in the 1985 horror-comedy film Ghoulies and her major television debut in the 1986 adventure drama series Downtown.
She performed in films and television shows throughout the late 1980's and 1990's before being cast as Olivia Benson, a role that led to her founding the Joyful Heart Foundation.
Housewife (1934). Drama. Directed by Alfred E. Green. Ann Dvorak, George Brent and Bette Davis.
Nan Reynolds, tries to run a household on her lazy, self centered husband Bill's small salary as an office manager. She wants him to find a better paying job, but he does not seem to want to better himself.
Pat Berkeley, who attended high school with Nan and used to be in love with Bill, is now working in advertising, has lunch with Nan and begins talking about her career:
Pat Berkeley says: Well, I've done alright. I suddenly found out I had some brains and decided to use them.
She now works for Bill's firm as an advertising copywriter and her success makes want Nan to talk her husband into asserting himself.
When he is turned away with his ideas, Bill is angry enough to start his own agency using the money Nan has managed to save over the years.
He begins to do well, not only from hard work, but with the help of Nan, he steals a major client from his former firm and hires Pat to come work for him.
Things take a turn for the worse when the feelings the two had for each other years before in high school are reignited and they begin an affair.
After landing the important account Duprey Cosmetics, they decide to advertise it on the radio show "The Duprey Hour", put together by Bill's office manager. Bill has been too busy with Pat that he has no idea that the campaign is in bad taste and topped off with a song "...if the circles under your eyes look like apple pies...".
Nan becomes aware of their relationship, but.. does not want to break up her family. Bill announces he wants a divorce, Nan refuses to grant him one, he angrily leaves the house and accidentally hits their son Buddy with the car, seriously injuring him.
Will the family ever recover?
This is a good example of an early Bette Davis film.
Ann Dvorak (August 2, 1911 – December 10, 1979), her name is pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent.
The only child of two vaudevillians, she was raised in the business that would later make her a star. Her father, Samuel Edwin McKim worked as a director at Lubin Studios, and her mother, actress Anna Lehr, found success as the star of many silent features.
The couple split when their daughter was four years old, and she moved with her mother to Hollywood. Ann would not see her father again until a national appeal to the press reunited the two in 1934.
As a child, she appeared in several films. She began working for MGM in the late 1920s as a dance instructor and gradually began to appear on film as a chorus girl.
Her friend Joan Crawford introduced her to Howard Hughes, who groomed her as a dramatic actress. She was a success in such pre-Code films as Scarface (1932), as Paul Muni's character's sister; as the doomed unstable Vivian in Three on a Match (1932), with Joan Blondell and Bette Davis; in Love Is a Racket (1932); and opposite Spencer Tracy in Sky Devils (1932).
Known for her style and elegance, she was a popular leading lady for Warner Brothers during the 1930's, and performed in romances and melodramas.
A dispute over her pay (she discovered she was making the same amount of money as the little boy who played her son in Three on a Match) led to her finishing out her contract on permanent suspension, and then working as a freelancer, but although she worked regularly, the quality of her scripts declined sharply.
She performed as secretary Della Street to Donald Woods' Perry Mason in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937).
She also acted on Broadway. With her then-husband, British actor Leslie Fenton, Dvorak travelled to England where she supported the war effort by working as an ambulance driver, and appeared in several British films.
She gives a unforgettable performance as a saloon singer in, Abilene Town(1946).
She retired from the screen in 1951, when she married her third and last husband, Nicholas Wade, to whom she remained married until his death in 1975. It was her longest and most successful marriage. She had no children.
Ball of Fire(1941). Screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The supporting cast includes: Oskar Homolka, S. Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Dana Andrews, and Dan Duryea. In 1948, the plot was recycled for a musical film, A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo.
At the Daniel S. Totten Foundation in New York, Bertram Potts, an overly dedicated linguistics professor, is writing the new encyclopedia, on which he and his eight colleagues have been working on for nine years.
When their financial backer, Miss Totten, stops by to check on their progress, not happy with what she finds threatens to withdraw her support, Bertram flirts with her. Charmed, Miss Totten changes her mind, agreeing to continue to back the encyclopedia project.
Soon after, a garbage man knocks on the foundation's door and asks the professors for help on a radio quiz show questions. Intrigued by the garbage man's slang, Bertram believes that his section on slang is outdated and requires further research. Bertram then walks the streets, where he eavesdrops on many conversations and invites several people to participate on his project.
When he invites nightclub performer Sugarpuss O'Shea to attend, Sugarpuss thinking him with the police refuses. Unknown to Bertram, Sugarpuss is wanted by the district attorney in connection with a murder that her gangster boyfriend, Joe Lilac, is suspected of committing. She and a couple of thugs, Asthma Anderson and Duke Pastrami, flee the club one step ahead of the police. Sugarpuss decides to take Bertram up on his invitation and shows up at the foundation's door step later that night.
Glad that Sugarpuss has changed her mind, Bertram, does not think it is proper that she stay the night, but.. his colleagues insist that she stay.
Meanwhile, at the district attorney's office, Joe is asked about a monogrammed bathrobe found in the murdered man's suitcase. Which the district attorney suspects belonged to Joe and was given to him by Sugarpuss. Concerned that Sugarpuss might agree to testify against Joe, his lawyer advises him to marry her.
Three days later, Sugarpuss, who has been helping Bertram with his slang expressions as well as teaching the other professors the conga, is visited by Asthma and Pastrami. The thugs present her with a beautiful diamond engagement ring from Joe and Sugarpuss, gladly accepts the ring and agrees to stay at the foundation until it is safe.
Just then, Miss Bragg, the professors' housekeeper, demands that Sugarpuss leave, as she has become too much of a distraction. Bertram, agrees and asks Sugarpuss to leave, admitting that she has distracted him from his work. Sugarpuss, quick on her feet says that she is.. "just plain wacky" for him and kisses him. Bertram, decides to propose to her and the next morning, he gives her a small diamond engagement ring.
Soon after, Joe telephones from New Jersey. As Joe has identified himself as "Daddy," Bertram assumes he is Sugarpuss' father and asks him for permission to marry her. Joe, agrees thinking it is the best way to get Sugarpuss past the police's dragnet, then insist that the wedding be performed in New Jersey.
Just as the wedding party is about to leave, Miss Bragg, having seen Sugarpuss' photo in the newspaper, threatens to call the police. Sugarpuss, slugs Miss Bragg and locks her in a closet, Bertram and the other professors leave for New Jersey.
On the way, Professor Gurkakoff, who is driving the car has an accident disabling the car. The wedding party is forced to spend the night at an auto court. Sugarpuss calls Joe with the news, he insists on picking her up that night.
While she waits in her bungalow, Professor Oddly, a widowed botanist, tells Bertram about his honeymoon, then retires for the night. Confused by Oddly's conversation with Sugarpuss , Bertram goes looking for him, but accidentally ends up in Sugarpuss' bungalow. Believing that he is speaking to Oddly, Bertram describes his love for Sugarpuss, she kisses him.
Joe and his gang arrive and expose Sugarpuss' for what she truly is. Finding lipstick on Bertram's face, Joe then attacks the professor. After lying to Miss Bragg, who escaped from the closet and the police saying that she has already left, Bertram confronts Sugarpuss. She tearfully apologizes, but Bertram returns to New York, heartbroken. Will Bertram ever forgive Sugarpuss and think her worthy of him?
Fun Facts:
Kathleen Howard was left with a fractured jaw when the punch that Barbara Stanwyck threw accidentally made contact. Stanwyck was reportedly mortified by the incident.
The roles of the seven professors (besides Gary Cooper) were inspired by Disney's Seven Dwarfs. There is even a photograph showing the actors sitting in front of a Disney poster, each one in front of his corresponding dwarf: S.Z. Sakall - Dopey; Leonid Kinskey - Sneezy; Richard Haydn - Bashful; Henry Travers - Sleepy; Aubrey Mather - Happy; Tully Marshall - Grumpy, and Oskar Homolka - Doc.
In the scene where Pastrami and Asthma have the professors hostage in the library, the gunmen begin shooting at random items. One gunman (Pastrami) says, "I saw me a picture last week," and proceeds to lick his thumb and then rubs it on the sight of his gun. This is a reference to star Gary Cooper's previous movie Sergeant York in which York uses this as a technique to improve his marksmanship.
Ginger Rogers was the original choice for Katherine 'Sugarpuss' O'Shea, but Rogers declined.
Lucille Ball was set to play Katherine 'Sugarpuss' O'Shea, but once producer Samuel Goldwyn found out that Barbara Stanwyck was available he gave her the part instead.
When Gary Cooper is taking notes of the news boy's slang, the marquee on the theater across the street advertises Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, an inside joke that refers to the script's inspiration.
To pick up authentic slang for the film script, screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett visited the drugstore across the street from Hollywood High School, a burlesque house and the Hollywood Park racetrack.
Hal McIntyre can be seen in the saxophone section during the number "Drumboogie". Also, Roy Eldridge has a brief trumpet solo.
Even though they play two of the "old men" lexicographers, Leonid Kinskey (Prof. Quintana) and Richard Haydn (Prof. Oddly) were both under 40 years old when they made this movie.
Lighthearted romantic comedy that belongs to Barbara Stanwyck, who is perfect for the part of Sugarpuss O'Shea. A Nice for a change to see Gary Cooper play a person who is awkward,intelligent and romantic.
Please click here to view past Ball of Fire review with videos.
Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978). After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, Homolka attended the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna and began his career on the Austrian stage.
Success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich where in 1924 he played Mortimer in the premiere of Brecht's play, The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele and since 1925 in Berlin where he worked under Max Reinhardt.
Homolka's made at least thirty silent films in Germany and starred in the first talking picture ever made there.
After the Nazi rise to power, Homolka moved to Britain, where he starred in the films Rhodes, Empire Builder, with Walter Huston, 1936 and Everything Is Thunder, with Constance Bennett.
In 1936, he appeared opposite Sylvia Sidney in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Sabotage. Although he often played villains such as Communist spies and Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the crusty, beloved uncle in I Remember Mama (1948).
He also acted with Ingrid Bergman in Rage in Heaven, with Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, with Ronald Reagan in Prisoner of War, and with Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot.
He returned to England in the mid-1960's, to play the Soviet KGB Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), opposite Michael Caine.
His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed(1974).
In 1967 Homolka was awarded the Filmband in Gold of the Deutscher Filmpreis for outstanding contributions to German cinema.
His career in television included appearances in several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957 and 1960.
Homolka married four times:
His first wife was Grete Mosheim, a Hungarian Jewish actress. They married in Berlin on June 28, 1928, but divorced in 1937. She later married Howard Gould.
His second wife, Baroness Vally Hatvany (died 1938), was also a Hungarian actress. They married in December 1937, but she died four months later.
In 1939, Homolka married socialite and photographer Florence Meyer (1911–1962), a daughter of The Washington Post owner, Eugene Meyer. They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence, but eventually divorced.
His last wife was actress Joan Tetzel whom he married in 1949. The marriage lasted until Tetzel's death in 1977.
Oskar Homolka made his home in England after 1966. He died of pneumonia in Sussex, England, on January 27, 1978, just three months after the death of his fourth wife, actress Joan Tetzel. He was 79 years old.
Alice Terry (July 29, 1899 – December 22, 1987), began her career during the silent film era, performing in thirty-nine films between 1916 and 1933.
Born Alice Frances Taaffe in Vincennes, Indiana, she made her film debut in, Not My Sister(1916). Which is now considered lost.
In 1921 she played several different characters in the 1916 anti-war film Civilization, co-directed by Thomas H. Ince and Reginald Barker. A kind hearted submarine commander, refuses to torpedo a passenger ship and his submarine is sunk and the captain drowns. In the spirit world, Christ returns the captain to earth. There he takes the warrior king on a tour of the horrors of war, which causes the end of war.
One of her well known performances was as "Marguerite" in 1921's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino. The story is about Madariaga, a wealthy old cattle owner of Argentina who does not care for his German son-in-law and spends all his time with, Julio
After Madariaga's death, the estate is divided and the family moves to Europe: the von Hartrotts to Germany and the Desnoyers to Paris. Julio buys a castle on the Marne and opens a studio, where he entertains, paints pictures, and soon falls in love with Marguerite Laurier, who is married to jurist.
After the War begins, Marguerite joins the Red Cross and her husband enlists. After he is blinded, she tries to avoid the attentions of Julio. A stranger's words, inspires the Four Horsemen: War, Conquest, Famine, and Death. Julio enlists and is killed shortly after.
In 1921, she married director Rex Ingram during production of The Prisoner of Zenda (1922), which he directed and in which she appeared as Princess Flavia. A silent adventure film, one of the many adaptations of Anthony Hope's popular 1894 novel of the same name. The couple sneaked away over one weekend, were married in Pasadena, and returned to work promptly the following Monday.
The Conquering Power(1921). Spirited Charles Grandet, is sent to live with his uncle after his father loses his fortune. He falls in love with his cousin Eugenie, but his uncle sends him away and tries to arrange a more suitable marriage for his daughter.
Video: full movie.
The Arab (1924). Jamil, son of a Bedouin tribe leader, is disowned by his father for a desert raid at the time of the Feast of Ramadan. He becomes a guide in a Turkish city, where he falls in love with Mary, the daughter of a Christian missionary.
The governor's attempt to massacre the Christians is foiled by Jamil when he calls the Bedouins to his aid. Following the death of his father, he is made leader of his tribe, and he accepts the girl's promise to return to him as she departs for America
During the making of The Arab (1924) in Tunisia, they met a street child named Kada-Abd-el-Kader, who they adopted upon learning that he was an orphan. El-Kader misrepresented his age to make himself seem younger and after he "began associating with fast women and fast cars throughout the San Fernando Valley", Terry and Ingram sent him back to Morocco "to finish school."
In 1925 her husband co-directed Ben-Hur, filming parts of it in Italy. The two decided to move to the French Riviera, where they set up a small studio in Nice and made several films on location in North Africa, Spain, and Italy for MGM and others.
Childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, Roman is now an officer, while Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, Israelite.
An accident during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned.
Years later, his determination to stay alive, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.
In 1933, Terry made her last film appearance in Baroud, which she also co-directed with husband Rex Ingram.
Terry and Ingram retired together in the 1930's and they remained together until his death in 1950.
After his death, Terry became romantically involved with actor Gerald Fielding, who bore a strong physical resemblance to her late husband. They were lovers until his death, at the age of forty-six, in 1956. Terry died on December 22, 1987 of natural causes.
