Gotta Love Digital

Three cheers for getting copies of Photoplay and other fan magazines digitized on Archive.org.

I've started digging through some of the files already to find any Bob articles. If you do download/look at any of the issues, I've found the PDF files quite usable, especially when text searching.

and found a pair of shoes I'd love to get...

h/t: Trouble in Paradise

Book Recommendations?

Debbie posted a comment about books and I thought I'd share - see if we can stir up some discussion:

I'm reading my way through bio's on stars that either worked with RM or were friends, since RM died before he could do his autobiography. Anyone have any good suggestions? The book on Elizabeth Mongomery had some great info. So did James Cagney's. (I've read two on him since he and Bob were close buddies).

What would you recommend? I have some thoughts I'll add later.

Update: Here's some recommended reading. I can't think of any other stars' books talking about Bob, so here's some stuff in general.

Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services
James E. Wise
The "Stars in..." series is a great read. This particular book includes a chapter on Bob - I'd argue it is the most accurate write-up on him out there.

Architectural Digest, April 1992
Hollywood at Home issue - Bob's Beverly Hills home is featured w/vintage pics. You can find back issues for sale online.

Dangerous Men
Mick LaSalle
A little bit of everything on everyone.

The Debonairs
James Parish & Don Stanke
Not quite sure everything is accurate, but there's a fat chapter on Bob (and other favs).

Hollywood at Home

If you have a spare six bucks laying around, the November issue of Architectural Digest is out with its annual "Hollywood at Home" issue. Aside from looking at ads for accessories that probably cost more than my house, AD's Hollywood issue includes stories (and photos) on classic stars at home. Stars featured in this issue include John Wayne, Howard Hughes, Humphrey Bogart, single photo snippets, and much more. Yeah, modern stars too...

IMHO, the photo of William Holden on page 188 is worth the purchase.

Robert Montgomery? The April 1992 is the issue you want.

Monday Blips and Beeps

Hollywood biographer Allan R. Ellenberger has a new blog - it's off to a good start (...adds to bookmarks).

I'd like to salute (*censor*) all of the fine folks who jumped on ebay to sell their Charlton Heston memorabilia as soon as word made it out of his passing. I understand free markets, demand, and all that stuff, but sheesh.

Happiness is . . . having a coworker walk into your cube Monday morning to talk about a movie she watched over the weekend: Our Blushing Brides.

TCM played Lady of the Tropics last week as part of April's Hedy Lamarr film festival. I'm sorry, I couldn't make it past the 15 minute mark, even with Robert Taylor. On the flip side, TCM is showing Hedy's H.M Pulham, Esq. on April 10. One of my fav. Robert Young movies - and Bob aside - a really good story.

And speaking of Robert Taylor, Linda J. Alexander's book Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism is now out in ebook format and is coming to print in May.

Random Thoughts

For you noir fans out there, a new book on Raymond Chandler is out titled The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved by Judith Freeman. Read a brief interview with the author. If you get the chance to read this one, do drop me a comment & let me know what you thought.

Another new book that may make it to the library list is Hollywood's Censor: Joseph L. Breen and the Production Code Administration. From TCM's review: "...Breen strove to protect innocent souls from the temptations beckoning from the motion picture screen." I guess I missed that boat.

The actor who played Alfred the janitor in the original Miracle on 34th Street, Alvin Greenmann recently played a part in a radio update to the story. When asked in an interview about watching the film these days, Alvin noted, "I really can't watch it anymore," he says with a laugh. "I mean, you know, that's asking a lot."

And a last minute gift idea for that special someone - an autographed photo of Karolyn Grimes. Karolyn played Zuzu in It's a Wonderful Life. Now that would be a conversation piece for your cube at work.

And I'll leave you on this totally useless note. PBS had a special on the other night about the rise and fall Rat Pack. Being a fan of old-school Vegas I took the bait & watched it. I have come to the conclusion that Frank Sinatra scares me.

More From Busman's Haunted Honeymoon

If you're unable to locate a copy of Haunted Honeymoon on DVD, head to your local bookstore instead. Haunted Honeymoon is based on Dorothy L. Sayer's 1937 book Busman's Honeymoon. I picked up my copy at a local Half Price Books store. And if you can't get enough of Lord Peter Wimsey, don't worry. I believe there's 11 Sayers' books revolving around him.

Cocktail Per Un Cadavere

Farley Granger is in town next week to promo his new book. In addition to a book signing, the venue is showing Hitchcock's Rope on the big screen. Since (sadly) I won't be able to make the event and see Philip in action, below is my mini tribute to this often ignored, yet techinically interesting movie. I've come to realize either you love or hate Rope. Me - it's one of my Hitchcock favorites.

Really, I'd might more happy if the evil Brandon appeared at the event...

Joan Crawford Q&A

Alternative Film Blog has an interview with Neil Maciejewski, keeper of LegendaryJoanCrawford.com and co-author of an upcoming book on Joan (note: I believe this book has been put on hold pending a new publisher).

Twelve O'Clock High

Two things related to the film Twelve O'Clock High recently caught my eye.

First, there's a new book out on the film and the television show of the same name (The 12 O'Clock High Logbook). Talk about detail. I've only read a bit of one of the chapters, but it's interesting stuff - if you're into the little production & promotion details of a movie.

If I can add a side-note, the book did mention Robert Montgomery was considered for the role of Gen. Frank Savage (along with 1/2 of Hollywood: James Cagney, Dana Andrews, Ralph Bellamy, Van Heflin, Burt Lancaster, Lloyd Nolan, Edmund O'Brien, Robert Preston, and Robert Young). As much as I love Bob, I just don't think it would have been his style - which also was the thought of the studio given who they chose. Gregory Peck truly nailed the role of Gen. Savage.

Second, Fox reissued Twelve O'Clock High on DVD as a "Special Edition." To be honest, I think the only thing that makes this edition "special" is that they seem to have shaved 10 years off of Gregory Peck's face in the box artwork. Oh, and there's cool little postcard-like reproductions of lobby cards in the box too.

In The Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives

If you like movie stills, I've got a book for you. Santa delivered TCM's beautiful hard cover book over the holiday (ok, I'm behind on this post). From 2004 it's not new, but it's been on the "I'd like" list for a bit. 159 pages of pure photo pleasure ranging from 1925's Ben-Hur to 1968's Bullitt.

I've spent most of my time going from photo to photo looking at the details, backgrounds, and hidden gems - most of the photos are "behind the scenes." If you've seen the movie on TCM, chances are there's a photo in the book for it.

Some Bob & Rosalind love from Night Must Fall

New & Upcoming Books of Interest

Another actor worthy of a book is getting one - Charles McGraw. More details on the biography are over on the Movie Morlocks blog.

Coming out in June is Joan Crawford: An Illustrated Guide to Her Appearances in Film, Radio and Television. If it truly is more of a reference than biased biography, it should be a good one.

Last, in the "take out from from library" pile is Include Me Out: My Life From Goldwyn to Broadway by Farley Granger. Note to self: skip to chapters on Rope and Strangers on a Train.

Breakfast at the Smith Home

...Hitchcock gingerly made use of the relative freedom RKO accorded established directors by doing retakes during production – something he had not been permitted to do on Rebecca until Selznick had decided what was needed in post production. One such inspiration, shot the day after he had filmed a conventional close-up of Lombard looking lovingly at Robert Montgomery over breakfast, is the image he substituted of their feet under the table, with Lombard’s toes inserted comfortably into Montgomery’s trouser cuffs...

From the book Hitchcock at Work by Bill Krohn

Footsteps in the Fog

What's a Christmas without a fee movie related gifts! One in particular I'm paging through now is Footsteps in the Fog by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal. It's a look at Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco. The book is a nice change of pace in that it's not a rehash of Hitchcock information and mental analysis. It's a look at the films made in the Frisco area and Hitch's connections to the area.


A pleasant surprise, which I'm reading now, is a chapter on Shadow of a Doubt. It never clicked with me that Santa Rosa was north of Frisco.

The book goes into great depth on the buildings used in the film, what they look like today, maps, etc. The Newton home, at 904 McDonald Avenue, is still there. What really impressed me were photos from the film with prominent Santa Rosa landmarks in the background, compared to today. Also neat tidbits on filming at night during the war, the Til-Two Bar, Edna May Wonacott, and KSRO ("...with studios in Vallejo and Santa Rosa").

The book also touches on Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, and even a bit on Rebecca (yes, you heard that right). Check out the information on Hitch's ranch in Scotts Valley too.

Paid to Make You Like IKE

Not many people know what Bob Montgomery did beyond his film career. The truth is, life didn't stop for him at the film studio.

I ran across some some interesting text from The Direct Persuaders, a book by Vance Packard:

As the 1956 campaign got under way, party spokesmen made it clear that the days of whistle stops and torchlight parades were dead. The President himself stated he was going to rely on mass communication, and his press secretary mentioned that everybody had a lot of ideas on how to gear the 1956 campaign to the new age we are in, "the electronics age." Primarily this meant television—which had brought a new kind of persuader-consultant into the party councils: the TV adviser and make-up consultant. When in the spring the nation was intensely curious to know whether President Eisenhower would or would not run again in view of his illness, the tip-off came when reporters saw Robert Montgomery, the President's TV adviser, walking into the White House the day before an announcement was expected. This could only mean the President was going on the air, which probably meant he was going to run. The hunch was correct. After that appearance, incidentally, Mr. Montgomery received a scolding from TV columnist Harriet Van Home, of the Republican newspaper The New York World Telegram and Sun. She mentioned that Mr. Montgomery, "whose NBC show is also a B.B.D.&O. enterprise," was on hand to advise the President on lighting, make-up, and delivery. Then she stated:

Now I am going to be presumptuous and make a few suggestions to Mr. Montgomery. First, Mr. M., those pale-rimmed spectacles must go. They enhance the natural pallor that comes to every man after forty winters have besieged the brow. Also, pale rims tend to "wash out" when worn by anybody of fair coloring. Second, both lighting and make-up -- if, indeed, the President permitted the pancake touch-up he submitted to so reluctantly at the Chicago convention -- seemed to be aimed at making Gen. Eisenhower look pale. A man just back from a Southern vacation should look tanned, Mr. Montgomery, and the lighting should play up this healthy glow. [The President had been in Georgia to recuperate.]

Broken Promises

There's a lot of well-known anecdotes associated with the smooth comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith such as Alfred Hitchcock directing as a favor to Carole Lombard, Lombard directing Hitchcock in a scene in which he tries to panhandle Montgomery, and Lombard sneaking over to the parking lot and covering Montgomery’s car with FDR bumper stickers and Montgomery painstakingly removing them only to have to do it all over again the next day. One story I wasn’t aware of until I read an excerpt from Donald Spoto’s book The Dark Side of Genius was that Hitchcock altered a scene to include a promise to his wife, Alma, that they would leave for Saint Moritz after filming to celebrate their wedding anniversary--something they hadn’t been able to do for the past seven years. Hitchcock snuck the promise into a scene in which Montgomery, feigning unconsciousness, deliriously mumbles “We’ll go away the first two weeks in December…Playing in the snow, we’ll have a lot of fun…The first two weeks in December, we’ll go away to that ski resort…yes the first two weeks in December.”

I’m having a little trouble imagining Hitch whizzing down those slopes.

Ford & Montgomery

Some thought provoking words from Robert Montgomery. Part of an interview with Lindsay Anderson for the book About John Ford:

LA: Had you thought of directing before you finished off Expendable?

RM: No. That is, not specifically. I suppose I always had it at the back of my mind that I'’d go on to it one day. But that started me off . . . So little of what I did in Hollywood gives me any pride of achievement. Three or four pictures out of sixty-odd. It's not very much. Ford was the best I ever worked with: the only one I'’d call creative. After Expendable I'd cheerfully have signed a contract to work for him exclusively. I don'’t know that the idea would have appealed to him, of course. But I'd have been happy. He was a genius.

Thanks to Renee for the info!

Film Noir-ish

Picked up a cool book at the show the other day - Film Noir by Silver, Ursini & Duncan. Since I'm somewhat of a newbie Noir connoisseur, it's a good overview of the "must see" films. Really, a beautiful book with tons of movie photos, behind the scenes pics & commentary.

If you know everything about Film Noir already, enh, you might want something more meatier. But did I mention it has slick pics?

Night Flight

A good rule of thumb when you hear a pilot sing "how dry I am" as they approach the aircraft - head the other way. However, if you're in 1933 South America & it's Robert Montgomery about to take off on a mission across the continent, you might want to stick around.

Night Flight is an ok movie, but I had a hard time settling into it. It certainly seems to be the who's who at MGM for 1933 (John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy). It's the story of cargo pilots flying dangerous routes in all types of weather, overnight, through some of the most dangerous mountains Mother Nature can come up with. There are schedules to meet after all, and penalties if you don't meet them (your life being one). Bob is just one of the stories/pilots in this film. His brush with danger gives him a slightly different look on life.

The film reminds me a lot of Only Angels Have Wings - another film where you have daring pilots flying in South America to get the goods delivered on schedule. If you haven't seen Howard Hawks' Angels, it's a good one, and available on DVD.

Night Flight is based on Antoine de Saint Exupery book of the same name. I get the gut feeling the book might be better (isn't that the way it always is)?.

So now you know a little bit more why a pilot may have a drink or two - before going up on what may be his last flight.

A tip of the hat to Renee for passing the movie my way!

Movie Lot to Beachhead

Every once in a while I walk over to ye olde bookshelf & start looking at what I have. What usually happens is I grab something & say to myself, "wow, I forgot I had that." The "aha" moment this time was a book called:

Movie Lot to Beachhead The Motion Picture Goes to War and Prepares for the Future
By the Editors of Look
1945

It's not the rarest book. I see it pop up at antique shops here & there. Look Magazine probably cranked out thousands of these things back in their heyday.

Overall, it's an interesting collection of real wartime photos, with a focus on Hollywood's contribution to the war. You've got a chapter on Jimmy Stewart; another on the making of God is My Co-Pilot; Foxhole Circuit (entertaining the troops), Private Snafu; Hollywood is Just Another Town at War and more.

Let me grab you a part from the chapter titled "Costumes by Uncle Sam:"

"...Such is one aspect of filmdom at war. There are others. Robert Montgomery, suave drawing-room comedian, having two destroyers shot from under him in the South Pacific . . . Clark Gable, screen idol, winning the Air Medal for bomber missions of German-held territory. . . Gene Autry, crooning cowboy, refused by the Air Forces because of age, taking flying lessons and getting into the Air Transport Command . . . Jackie Coogan, the "kid" grown up, piloting the first glider landing behind Japanese lines in Burma . . . Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., urbane son of a famous father, winning the Silver Star for service at Salerno."

To this day I can't believe someone like Clark Gable was on bomber missions over enemy territory. Imagine if he was captured as a prisoner of war...

For The Library

Added to the Amazon Wishlist:

In the Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives

In the Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives offers a rare collection of B&W photographs taken on movie sets from the silent era to the 1960's, giving readers a glimpse of Hollywood at work in the Golden Era. Highlighting the energy, glamour and challenge of filmmaking, these production stills capture beloved movie moments both in front of and behind the camera. In the Picture offers a unique perspective on Hollywood history from the great studio productions of MGM, Warner Bros. and RKO.

Format: Hardcover 10 3/4 x 9 1/2, 160 pp and 143 tritone images
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Includes pics from TCM favs such as:

• Bringing Up Baby
• Dancing Lady
• Faithless
• Forsaking All Others
• Hide-Out
• Inspiration
• Lady in the Lake
• Night Must Fall
• North By Northwest
• They Were Expendable
• The Thinn Man
• Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
  

It's a bargain book over at Amazon - cheaper than TCM.