Times sure have changed. A motion picture star walking on the streets of L.A. without an entourage, stopping to let a fan take his picture. Amazing, really. And a total lack of traffic, at any time, anywhere in L.A. Mind-numbing.
No information came with the photo, nothing written on the back. So, I'm applying my usual mid-to-late 1940s quess. Too blurry to enlarge it any. Hey, I would have been shaking in the same situation.
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Realized my Milland folder was rather full of photographs I have not used on the blog, so decided to do this post. Hey, as good a reason as any, right?!
Ray was quite the horseman, did his own riding in his films. Haven't any information re the movie being filmed below.
Ray portrays a pilot in the movie Men With Wings (1938). Why does he look so much better in a pilot's cap than does Mr. Montgomery?
And, when given the chance to be the bad guy, Ray did quite well. He is a rogue and attempted blackmailer in the movie, So Evil My Love (1948), a movie with some great cinematography.
Going from a posting on how nice the photos could be on small trade/cigarette cards, to photos clipped from newspapers/magazines that one can hardly make out. For example, in the clipping below, the heading mentions Liz Harkness. But I have to disagree ... it just isn't Buffy. I've decided the info is associated with another photo on the page, that the lady is really Joan Harrison, Bob's producer for Ride the Pink Horse (1947) and Once More, My Darling (1949). Bob liked Joan, so you can't go by the way he's looking at her, smile and all. What d'ya think?
And this is a scene from the May 9, 1955 production of "The Great Gatsby" on Robert Montgomery Presents. I'm assuming that's our Bob portraying Gatsby on the far right. That is Phyllis Kirk playing Daisy. And one of the other gents is Lee Bowman, probably sitting next to Phyllis.
And there is no questioning who the three people are below: Bob (with a smirk), George Murphy (the cause of the smirk), and Bette Davis who is trying to decide which guy she'll slap. What a trio.
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Cigarette trading cards are great to collect. The photos can be of such wonderful clarity, for such a small item (less than 2 inches, some variance in size). Anything produced by the German company "Ross" is always excellent, their postcards are superb as well. And, if you combine technical expertise with gorgeous subjects, well ... enough to make you start smoking!
Do you think they are waiting for Irene Dunne to finish her makeup? Or are they waiting for Director La Cava and the writers to confer over some script changes? All the possibilities ... Poor lads.
Bob and Preston Foster in Unfinished Business (1941)
This article was published July 26, 1936. I obtained it as a clipping, do not have the name of the magazine, but it appears to be British. Bob had slowed down his film career in 1935-36, rather enjoyed his 3-month vacations. And then there was his illness (?), the Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) hassle, the Thalberg-Mayer war and Thalberg's death, Bob's SAG involvement, etc., etc., etc. A lot of stress for everybody!
It seems like Frank Morgan was in more than four movies with Robert Montgomery. Perhaps that is because three of them were bunched together: Trouble for Two (1936); Piccadilly Jim (1936); and The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937). In fact, Bob did not make any other movies during this time. They, of course, worked well together.
Frank (b.1890) and Bob (b.1904) had old school ties, both having attended Pawling, a boys' prep school. Frank attended one year when he was 17 which happened to be the year Pawling opened, 1907. Bob was there a couple years, leaving when his father passed in 1923. (Which makes Bob 19. Bob's early years are very fuzzy. Like, even at 19, Bob had not completed enough coursework to graduate. He was at Pawling, best guess, about two years. Lot of missing years. Yes, he may well have studied in Europe, but he wasn't spending much time there during WWI, particularly not France and Germany. I can certainly understand Bob's keeping his Dad's suicide private, but the rest is a puzzlement.)
Classy home for the young classy Gentleman. A built-in bookcase with wood framing ... now that you just do not see these days. And the real wood chair with the tapestry covering. Really nice stuff. (As is the center of attention, of course!)
At least the books are overflowing the bookcase. Normal people have that problem as well. The middle shelf is full of knick knacks that even with an enlarged photo I could not determine just what they were. There is a rather short candle and holder, for emergency lighting I'm assuming. And some metal critter that may be an ashtray. Ah, yes, back in the day when men smoked pipes and cigarettes and women stole puffs when no one was around.
Ward Bond and Barton MacLane ... studios did not have to waste screen time establishing who these gents were. Primo tough guys. Great duo in Maltese Falcon (1941).
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