And Today's Birthday Boy is .......

 Gene Raymond, born August 13, 1908.  I rather enjoyed his performance as Jeff, best friend and law partner of David (our Bob) in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941).  Loved the southern accent, befitting his role as the ultimate southern gentleman.  The scene on the Ferris wheel is just great.  And he was one handsome dude, beautiful blond and wavy hair.  He fit the role as Mr. Montgomery's competition for Carole Lombard quite well.    

 Gene Raymond, photo by Clarence S. Bull

Three other Birthday Boy and Girls from this week that need to be mentioned:  Norma Shearer was born August 10, 1902 and Lloyd Nolan (the copper in The Lady in the Lake) was born on August 11th, 1902.  Only one day separating the two.  And Ann Blyth is still among us, born August 16, 1927, making Ann 98 years of age!  Way to go, young lady.  You'll always be "The Killer" to me.  

Yukky!

 Bob may be suffering a hangover in this still, but he looks pretty much like how I feel with the cold/flu I am currently experiencing.  I go through this most every fall, it lasts on average about two weeks.  I'm halfway through it.  I shall survive, but a Thursday post is unlikely.  Shall be back next week ... hopefully!

                    Still of Bob from Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)

Happy Valentine's Day from the Smiths!

Three Days To Go Until Bob's Day on TMC

Once again:  Bob's Day on TMC is this Monday, August 22nd.  They will be showing 14 of Bob's movies, all worth a watch.  Yesterday's post covered the first seven movies being shown, the remaining seven are covered here. 

Marion Davies is Bob's co-star in Ever Since Eve (1937).  This is a movie I need to watch again.  The film's rating on IMDB is an amazing 8.0.  I have always viewed it as one of Bob's weaker vehicles.  Maybe it's the shock of seeing how much the two have aged in the mere five years since co-starring in Blondie of the Follies. 

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937) is the only movie fellow MGM stars William Powell and Bob made together, so it is definitely worth watching.  It is not one of Bob's better movies, but the cast does what they can with a weak script.  This is the sixth and last movie co-starring Bob and Joan Crawford --- doubt either was too upset by that! 

    Bob and Frank Morgan playing backgammon on the set of Cheyney.

Lady in the Lake (1947) is a must have in any collection of Bob's movies.  After all, he is the star, director and able cinematographer's assistant.  And it's the great assortment of looks Audrey Totter gives the camera, or should I say Bob.  

They Were Expendable (1945) is simply an excellent movie.  It is shown quite often on TMC, understandably so.  John Ford, John Wayne, WWII and Bob in perhaps his best performance ... Bob given the chance at a dramatic role in an A movie with an A director, how wonderful.  To think what kind of career he could have had if provided the same opportunities throughout his career ...

Another Bob classic is Private Lives (1931).  Great script and story line and excellent performances by all, including Norma Shearer, Reginald Denny and Una Merkel.  Poor Una, losing Bob on the first day of their honeymoon.  Now, that is bad luck.

You watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) to see two of the best comedic actors to grace the screen.  Carole Lombard and Bob obviously enjoyed making the movie together, it shows through in their performances.  And, yes, that was one handsome nose!

You might say they saved the best for last, or perhaps it is just fitting that they show Night Must Fall (1937) late at night.  Bob's performance is truly impressive.  The scenes at the end of the movie, just pure perfection.  Ah, Danny boy, you were just so, so good (when given the chance). 

                             And just what is in that hatbox!  

Now, if I could just stay up for 24 hours straight!!

Do You Remember Your First Time?

Way back in 1983, my husband and I moved to California and discovered the true joy of Los Angeles TV stations with their immense movie libraries.  My taped movie collection grew rapidly with a lot of favorites, many of which I had never seen before.  I really disliked having commercials in my movie recordings, so I would dub my tapes to edit them out.  It was time-consuming (remember those huge VHS recorders!), but a great excuse to watch many wonderful movies. 

It was that summer when, with a glass (or two) of white wine in hand, I was dubbing Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) which I had not seen before.  I knew who Bob was, but mostly as a TV producer who had also been President Eisenhower's media advisor.  Anyway, I got to the nightclub scene where Bob (David) is desperate to escape his date and avoid being seen by Carole Lombard (Ann Smith).  He decides he will give himself a bloody nose, not the greatest excuse, but a truly funny scene. 

It was midway through the scene, between hitting himself in the nose and finally resulting to the salt shaker, that I realized I was watching an excellent actor who was having as much fun doing the routine as I was enjoying it.  Hey, Mr. Montgomery, besides being a very intelligent and handsome man, was also quite funny.  I fell in love with him on the spot. 

33 years later, after watching all his movies (numerous times!) and reading everything I can find about him, I have not discovered a thing about him that disproves that moment of enlightenment.  (And, no, it wasn't the wine, either!)  

Bob in PJs ... A Good Starting Point

 Bob on a four Poster with Madge Evans in Lovers Courageous (1932)


            Bob (Is that a gorgeous head of hair, or what?) with
                       Tallulah Bankhead in Faithless (1932)

  Carole Lombard being mean to poor Bob in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

Reminder: Bob's Mini-Marathon on TCM

Just in case you don't already have a copy, or you'd just like to spend the day with Bob, TCM will be showing six of his movies on his birthday tomorrow. 

Times shown are Eastern:
        * 12:15 p.m. The Easiest Way
        *   1:30 p.m. Hide-Out
        *   3:00 p.m. Night Must Fall 
        *   5:00 p.m. Three Loves Has Nancy 
        *   6:15 p.m. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
        *   4:30 a.m. The Big House

And below, Roz Russell gives birthday boy, Jimmy Stewart a big hug.  Looks like they're both enjoying it.  

                                No Time for Comedy (1940)

Happy Valentine's Day

 

"Chocolate my dear, not flowers."

Happy Valentine's Day

Heh, Debbie reminded me what today is. I don't recommend strangling your loved one, though.

Let's Talk Hitchcock for a Moment

I must have been living under a rock - just ran into my new favorite site: HitchcockWiki.com.

Tons of details and photo downloads. My favorite find so far . . . Know the movie?

Did I mention photos? Be sure to check out Mr. and Mrs Smith and your other favorites.

Related, I was driving home from work today and flipped to the Radio Classics channel on XM. I caught the tail end of a discussion of Ray Milland starring in a version of Strangers on a Train. From what I've dug up so far, it's dated 51-12-03 from the Lux Radio Theater. If you have a copy on MP3 and would like to share, please drop me a note! If I can get a copy, I'll post it on the blog as well for everyone.

UPDATE: Kelsey found a link to the MP3 of Milland's Strangers on a Train over at Calfkiller OTR. Thanks!

Valentine's Day

Happy? Yeah, whatever :0)

A Couples of Two

Some picspam to break up your week. And here's something to think about. Bob always on the left-hand side of photos? Smith is the only one below that seems to break the pattern. Ok, enough useless observation.

Biography of a Bachelor Girl - Ann Harding

Blondie of the Follies - Marion Davies

Fast and Loose - Rosalind Russell

Inspiration - Greta Garbo

Letty Lynton - Joan Crawford (and her dress)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - Carole Lombard

When Ladies Meet - Myrna Loy

A LIFE of Photos

Happiness is rarely seen photos: A good chuck of LIFE magazine's photo archive is now accessible via Google. As the site notes:

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

Search for your favorites, and yes, Robert Montgomery is well represented. The bulk of the Bob photos are from his Eisenhower days, but you'll also spot Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Ride the Pink Horse, and candids.

h/t: Alternative Film Guide

TCM Bob Schedule for October

Twice for Carole Lombard month? Fine by me, it's one of my favorites.

Oct. 22, 8 a.m.
Oct. 27, 10 p.m.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941)
A quarrelsome couple discovers their marriage isn't legal. Cast: Carole Lombard, Robert Montgomery, Gene Raymond. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

Someone help Mr. Smith and get him a stomach pump.

Two-gether

Continuing the birthday picspam-o-rama:

Virginia Bruce, The First Hundred Years

Marion Davies, Blondie of the Follies

Audrey Totter, The Lady in the Lake

Elizabeth Allan, The Mystery of Mr. X

Fightin' Norma Shearer, Private Lives

Leila Hyams, The Sins of the Children

Carole Lombard, Mr. and Mrs. Smith

One More Iteration - Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Ha, I bet you thought I was done posting different radio versions of Mr. and Mrs. Smith! So did I.

Nope, there's one more I've located, from the Hollywood Star Time show, which aired July 20, 1946. Frigidaire brings you Robert Montgomery and Mary Jane Croft in the roles you've come to love (and memorize) by now. I believe this last MP3 covers all of the Bob presentations of the story over the air.

13.8 MB MP3, 30 Minutes

I still believe the main character missing from all of these versions is Anne's mother: "By no means are you to..."

The Recurring Marly Horses

Fascinating stuff . . . see if you recall seeing any of these Marly Horses in the films you've watched. Learn more about the horses from the video's creator at YouTube (click on "About This Video"). Love the Django Reinhardt theme music too.

Smith Powehouse

Love the music, love the editing...



From YouTube: The video is dedicated to the brilliance of Carole Lombard, one of the funniest ladies to ever live, and Robert Montgomery. The music is the 1937 "Powerhouse" by Raymond Scott.

Multiple Personalities - David & Ann Smith

You've all watched Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and listened to the radio presentation I posted here a bit back. I recently found three more presentations of the story:

Gulf Screen Guild Theater - February 8, 1942 (10 MB - MP3)
Errol Flynn and Lana Turner

The Lady Astor Screen Guild Theater - December 14, 1942 (14 MB - MP3)
Robert Young, Joan Bennett, and Ralph Bellamy

The Lady Astor Screen Guild Theater - January 2, 1945 (13.5 MB - MP3)
Preston Foster and Louise Allbritton


All three offer the same version of the Screen Guild Theater script, just with different players. Two of the three presentations offer a celebrity voice, which I will not mention here, but is fall-off-the-chair funny when you hear him.

I'm partial to the Robert Young version, for obvious reasons, plus Ralph Bellamy as Jeff Custer is a perfect match. Errol Flynn as David...nope, doesn't cut it.

You may not want to listen to all three in one sitting - you'll end up with odd dreams of David (or Ann).

Hitchcock vs. Lombard

Carole & Co. has a writeup up on Carole Lombard directing Alfred Hitchcock's cameo in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I've seen video of her directing Hitch & believe it was also photographed for a Life Magazine issue.