The show must not go on - but you definitely must

On 29 March 1981, the musical Woman of the Year opened at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. Based on the 1942 George Stevens' film of the same name, the musical starred Lauren Bacall in the role of famous tv personality Tess Harding. (When Katharine Hepburn played Tess in the film, she was a newspaper columnist.) While Bacall earned rave reviews and a Tony Award for her role, she didn't stay with the show for its entire two-year run. In June 1982, Bacall left the production and was replaced by Raquel Welch (who had previously filled in for Bacall during her vacation in December 1981) and for the final month of the show Debbie Reynolds took over the role from a pregnant Welch. Woman of the Year eventually closed on 13 March 1983 after a total of 770 performances.

Above: After performing in Woman of the Year at the Broadway Palace Theatre, Debbie Reynolds returns for a curtain call.

On 5 March 1983, after Debbie Reynolds had given 24 performances since taking over the lead in Woman of the Year, she forgot her lines during a matinee show and suddenly fainted on stage. Fifty years old at the time, Reynolds was briefly hospitalised and doctors later said she suffered from a rare form of amnesia. Following the unfortunate incident, the actress/singer received this sweet, supportive note from Lauren (Betty) Bacall. Reynolds went back to work after a few days of rest, but not long thereafter the show was forced to close due to declining ticket sales. 

Source: Worthpoint

Transcript:

Dear Debbie —

Am so very sorry + sad for your bad luck. No matter what the producers might tell you - and as one pro to another- the show must not go on- But you definitely must.

I have been out of town + have heard only terrific things about you in "Woman of the Year". And I know it is not an easy show.

Anyway take care of yourself - get your strength back - Health comes first.

Affectionately —

Betty Bacall

The Tragic Life and Death of Bella Darvi

Today's letter made me read up on Bella Darvi, an actress I had not heard of before. She had a very brief Hollywood career in the 1950s. This is her (tragic) story.

Bella Darvi was born Bajla Węgier in Poland in 1928. Her parents were Jewish and immigrated to France in the 1930s. As a teenager during WWII Darvi was interned in a concentration camp for several years. She survived, but her brother Robert who was also in a camp died there. In 1950, Darvi married businessman Alban Cavalcade and moved with him to Monaco, where she became addicted to gambling. A year later, she met 20th Century-Fox studio boss Darryl Zanuck and his wife Virginia in Paris. The couple took her under their wing, paid off her gambling debts and eventually brought her to the States.

In 1952, Darvi divorced her husband and went to live with the Zanucks at their house in Santa Monica. She was encouraged to pursue an acting career and, at the suggestion of Mrs Zanuck, changed her last name from Węgier to Darvi (derived from Darryl and Virginia). Darvi took acting lessons and in 1953 signed a long-term contract with 20th Century-Fox. Hedda Hopper called the aspiring actress "an exciting new personality" and predicted that she would not only "make a splash" in her first film but also that she would be one of the "stars of 1954".

Hopper's predictions proved wrong, however. Darvi's debut performance in Samuel Fuller's Hell and High Water (1954) opposite Richard Widmark was poorly received by both the public and critics, with the New York Times stating that she "does not succeed convincingly". Her second role —the part of the courtesan Nefer in Michael Curtiz's The Egyptian (1954)— was not received any better. Darvi "smiles and postures without magnetism or charm", said the NY Times while Variety commented: "A weak spot in the talent line-up is Bella Darvi who contributes little more than an attractive figure". Co-star Jean Simmons was also unimpressed with Darvi, reportedly joking with other cast members that Darvi was "an actress who 'nefer' was". Criticised also for being very difficult to understand due to her heavy accent, Darvi would only make one more film in Hollywood —Henry Hathaway's The Racers (1955) with Kirk Douglas— before moving back to France at the end of 1954.

Darvi's lack of acting talent was not the reason why she eventually left Hollywood. While she was living with the Zanucks, Darvi and Zanuck had an affair and when Mrs Zanuck found out she kicked Darvi out of the house. Totally besotted with his protégé, Zanuck separated from his wife and followed Darvi to Europe. It was when he discovered that she was bisexual that he ended the affair.

In Europe Darvi continued her acting career but only appeared in mediocre French and Italian productions. She also kept gambling, losing huge amounts of money and increasing her debts (as late as 1970, Zanuck was still paying them off). In 1960, Darvi married restaurant waiter Claude Rouas, only to divorce him less than a year later. Suffering from depression, Darvi took an overdose of barbiturates in 1962 and 1968 but recovered. Then on 11 September 1971, she tried to kill herself again by turning on the gas stove in her Monte Carlo apartment. This time the attempt was successful. Darvi died, only 42 years old. Her body was not discovered until ten days later. 

Richard Widmark and Bella Darvi in Hell and High Water (above) and Darvi with co-star Victor Mature on the set of The Egyptian (below). Marilyn Monroe had lobbied to get the part of Nefer in The Egyptian which eventually went to Darvi.

Here is one of the many letters Darvi wrote to Darryl Zanuck during their affair (click on the source beneath the image for more letters, and some of her telegrams to Zanuck can be seen here). She reportedly never recovered from the affair, which may have led or contributed to her suicide.

Source: Heritage Auctions

Transcript:

Darling,

I really didn't think I would ever come to write you such a letter! but I am positive now that this is the right thing to do.

This letter won't be long, and what I will say won't be said in anger! I was angry at you but you know I won't be angry at you for a long time, I love you with all my heart but I realize I can not make you happy and neither can you! It is sad and I am sad too! but I thought it over and over and I want you to agree with me and to call it off!

I don't know what else to say, I only wish you would understand and not go crazy! If I only could write exactly how I feel! Oh sure I wrote you many letters but this one is a tough one and I want it to be so clear!

I am sorry if it makes you unhappy, this is a decision but don't think it makes me happy - I wish I was dead!

It is finished! Please don't answer and tell me things that will upset me, I know you and also know it will be one of your reactions!

Good bye my love -

B.

Above: Darryl Zanuck and his wife Virginia Fox photographed in June 1953; although they separated following Zanuck's affair with Darvi, the couple never legally divorced. Below: Zanuck and Darvi at a party in Ciros, Hollywood in January 1954, held in honour of Zanuck's daughter.

I personally feel that audiences are waiting to see you in a smart, modern picture

In 1935, while under contract to MGM, David O. Selznick was assigned to produce the next Greta Garbo picture. After being head of production at RKO, Selznick had joined MGM in 1933 and was given his own production unit, alongside the unit headed by Irving Thalberg. Prior to his film with Garbo, Selznick had already produced a string of successful films for MGM, including Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1934).

Greta Garbo was already a star by the time she and Selznick worked together. With her role in Anna Christie (1930) Garbo had made a successful transition from silent films to talkies and other successes soon followed, like Mata Hari (1931) and Grand Hotel (1932). For her project with Selznick the actress wanted to play the titular role in a new film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Garbo had played Anna in the 1927 silent film Love but, unhappy with the film's tacked-on ending, she was eager to reprise the role in a production that would stay closer to Tolstoy's novel.

Selznick was far from enthusiastic, however, about making Anna Karenina with Garbo. He very much wanted her to play in a contemporary drama and the project he had in mind was Dark Victory, a 1934 play written by George Brewer Jr. and Bertram Bloch, which had starred Tallulah Bankhead on Broadway. Trying to convince Garbo to choose Dark Victory over Anna Karenina, Selznick wrote her a letter in January 1935, his impassioned plea ultimately proving fruitless. Garbo didn't like Dark Victory and was intent on doing Anna Karenina. Seeing that her contract gave her the right to decline any project she disliked, Selznick had no choice but to accept Garbo's decision.

Above: Greta Garbo as Anna Karenina and Fredric March as Count Vronsky in David Selznick's production of Tolstoy's famous novel. Below the two actors are pictured on the set, with director Clarence Brown seated.

This is the letter Selznick wrote to Garbo, who at the time was vacationing at La Quinta near Palm Springs. Needing an immediate answer, Selznick had his letter hand-delivered to the actress by her close friend, screenwriter Salka Viertel.

January 7, 1935

Miss Greta Garbo

La Quinta, California

Dear Miss Garbo:

I was extremely sorry to hear this morning that you had left for Palm Springs, because we must arrive at an immediate decision, which, I think, will have a telling effect on your entire career.

As I told you the other day, we have lost our enthusiasm for a production of Anna Karenina as your next picture. I personally feel that audiences are waiting to see you in a smart, modern picture and that to do a heavy Russian drama on the heels of so many ponderous, similar films, in which they have seen you and other stars recently, would prove to be a mistake. I still think Karenina can be a magnificent film and I would be willing to make it with you later, but to do it now, following the disappointment of Queen Christina and The Painted Veil, is something I dislike contemplating very greatly.

Mr. Cukor shares my feeling and it seems a pity that we must start our first joint venture with you with such a lack of enthusiasm and such an instinct of dread for the outcome. If we make the picture, Mr. Cukor and I will put our very best efforts into it and I am sure we could make a fine film, hopefully one excellent enough to dissipate the obvious pitfalls of the subject from the viewpoint of your millions of admirers. But I do hope you will not force us to proceed.

We have spent some time in searching for a comedy and although several have been brought to me, there are none I feel sufficiently important enough to justify the jump into comedy; to say nothing of the difficulty of preparing a comedy in the limited time left to us.  

Therefore, since you feel that you must leave the end of May and cannot give us additional time, we have been faced with the task of finding a subject that could be prepared in time and which might inspire us with a feeling that we could make a picture comparable to your former sensations and one that would, at the same time, meet my very strong feeling that you should do a modern subject at this particular moment in your career. The odds against our finding such a subject were very remote and I was very distressed and felt there was no alternative left to us but to proceed with Karenina. Now, however, I find that if I act very quickly, I can purchase Dark Victory, the owners of which have resisted offers from several companies for many months. The play is at the top of the list at several studios and if we do not purchase it, the likelihood is that it will be purchased at once for Katharine Hepburn. The owner of the play, Jock Whitney, is leaving for New York tomorrow and it would be a pity if we were delayed in receiving your decision concerning it .... Therefore, I have asked Salka to see you and to bring you this letter and to tell you the story— which I consider the best modern woman's vehicle, potentially, I've read since A Bill of Divorcement and which I think has the makings of a strikingly fine film. Mr. Cukor and many others share this opinion .... 

Fredric March will only do Anna Karenina if he is forced to by his employers, Twentieth Century Pictures. He has told me repeatedly that he is fed up on doing costume pictures; that he thinks it a mistake to do another; that he knows he is much better in modern subjects and that all these reasons are aggravated by the fact that Anna Karenina would come close on the heels of the Anna Sten- [Rouben] Mamoulian- [Samuel] Goldwyn picture, We Live Again, from Resurrection [Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel], a picture which has been a failure and in which March appeared in a role similar to that in Karenina. Mr. March is most anxious to do a modern picture and I consider his judgment about himself very sound. We are doubly fortunate in finding in Dark Victory that the male lead is also strikingly well suited to Mr. March.

For all these reasons, I request and most earnestly urge you to permit us to switch from Anna Karenina to Dark Victory and you will have a most enthusiastic producer and director, respectively, in the persons of myself and Mr. Cukor.

I have asked Salka to telephone me as soon as she has discussed the matter thoroughly with you, and I can say no more than that I will be very disappointed, indeed, if you do not agree with our conclusions. 

Most cordially and sincerely yours, 

 

Source: Memo from David O. Selznick (1972); selected and edited by Rudy Behlmer.

_____

Selznick purchased the rights to Dark Victory and tried to get Merle Oberon for the female lead after Garbo had turned it down. Oberon was not available, however, and since Selznick was also facing problems with the script he eventually sold the property to Warner Bros in 1938. In the end, Dark Victory (1939) was made with Bette Davis and George Brent in the leads. Directed by Edmund Goulding, the film was a big hit.

Garbo got what she wanted and made Anna Karenina (1935) with Selznick. As her leading man Fredric March was cast, against his own wishes but at the insistence of his studio. (Selznick initially wanted Clark Gable but he was not interested.) Since George Cukor was not keen on doing the project, Clarence Brown was hired to direct. Anna Karenina became both a critical and commercial success. The film is the only collaboration between Selznick and Garbo. 

Above: Selznick in his MGM offices, ca. 1933-1935, photographed by Clarence Sinclair Bull. After doing Anna Karenina, Selznick made one more film for MGM (A Tale of Two Cities) and then quit to found his own production company, Selznick International Pictures. Below: Bette Davis and George Brent in the weepie Dark Victory in roles Selznick had originally envisaged for Greta Garbo and Fredric March. Bette plays the socialite Judith Traherne who suffers from a brain tumour and Brent is Frederick Steele, the doctor she falls in love with.

Just so you won’t forget that I love you dear

By the mid-1920s, Norma Shearer was one of MGM's biggest stars and had every intention to remain one. For that purpose she regularly visited the office of Irving Thalberg (head of production at MGM), complaining about the routine films in which she was cast and pleading to be given better roles. Thalberg listened to Norma's complaints but said that MGM knew best and that the films they had chosen for her had ultimately made her a star.

Attracted from the start by Thalberg's charm and commanding presence, Norma soon became romantically interested in her boss. While Thalberg didn't feel the same way about Norma, the two started going out together from July 1925 onwards (their first public appearance together was at the premiere of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush). At the time Thalberg was still involved with Constance Talmadge and Rosabelle Laemmle, yet on occasion asked Norma to be his date. "When Rosabelle or Constance are away, or someone stands him up, I'm always available. I'll break a date any time to be with him", Norma had said to Irene Selznick, referring to herself as "Irving's spare tire". Norma waited patiently, which eventually paid off. After dating on and off for two years, she and Irving were married on 29 September 1927 and had two children, Irving Jr. (b. 1930) and Katharine (b. 1935). The marriage lasted until 1936 when Thalberg suddenly died as a result of a congenital heart defect, aged 37.

In 2011, a group of more than 40 telegrams exchanged between Norma and Thalberg was auctioned at Bonhams, offering an intimate peek into the couple's relationship. A few of these telegrams are seen below. The messages clearly suggest that the two were in love, despite rumours that their marriage had been one of convenience. (A persistent rumour was that Norma had married her boss purely for the sake of her career.) The first telegram is from Thalberg to Norma and was sent in April 1927, five months before the couple got married. The other three messages —two of them shown only in transcript— are from 1929. 

Transcript:

SANTA MONICA CALIF APRIL 21 1927

MISS NORMA SHEARER

ARROWHEAD SPRINGS CALIF

JUST SO YOU WONT FORGET THAT I LOVE YOU DEAR

IRVING

_______

A telegram from Irving to Norma dated 16 March 1929: 

DEAREST CUTEST SWEETNESS DARLING ANGEL BUNNY HOPE YOU HAVE MISSED ME AS I HAVE MISSED YOU LOVE PAPA 

Another telegram from Irving to Norma dated 22 December 1929: 

HAVE FORD TRUCK FROM STUDIO MEET US PASADENA FIND OUT HOW LATE TRAIN IS SO LITTLE CUTIE DON'T WAIT LOVE=IRVING 

To this Norma responded with the following message (written on the back of the telegram):

Transcript:

Will be counting every minute sweetest little fella 

whats the truck for Eddie Loeb [MGM attorney]

I’ll find out how late the train is going to be honey 

+ I’ll sue the railroad for every minute 

Love from your lonesome baby little momma

Source: Bonhams

In order to marry Thalberg, Norma first converted to Judaism. The couple married at the Temple B'nai Brith in Beverly Hills. Above is their certifcate of marriage, dated 29 September 1927. Witnesses to the wedding were MGM boss Louis B. Mayer and studio attorney Edwin J. Loeb. (Source: Heritage Auctions)

Postponing the Oscars

Four times in Oscar history, the awards ceremony was not held as scheduled but postponed to a later date. The first time was in 1938 due to the floods in Los Angeles; the second time in 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King; again in 1981 after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, and finally last year due to the Covid crisis. 

Sammy Davis Jr. and Martin Luther King sharing a laugh in 1965

The 40th Academy Awards ceremony was scheduled for 8 April 1968 but eventually took place two days later. On 4 April Dr. Martin Luther King had been assassinated and many stars wanted to attend his funeral which was held on 9 April. Among the stars were four African-Americans who were to take part in the Oscar ceremony, i.e. Sammy Davis Jr., Louis Armstrong, Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll (the first two as performers, the latter two as presenters). The four had informed the Academy that they would not appear at the Oscars if the scheduled date of 8 April was maintained. On The Tonight Show Davis stated: "I certainly think any black man should not appear. I find it morally incongruous to sing Talk To The Animals while the man who could make a better world for my children is lying in state." (Talk To The Animals was the nominated song from Doctor Dolittle which Davis would perform at the ceremony and which eventually won the Oscar for Best Song.) Faced with the possible absence of several of the ceremony's key players, Gregory Peck, then president of the Academy, held an emergency meeting with the Board of Governors who unanimously decided to postpone the Oscars by two days. With the news of the delayed ceremony, Davis, Poitier, Armstrong and Carroll all announced their return to the show. 

Someone who also wanted the Oscars to be postponed was Barbra Streisand, who was also scheduled to be a presenter at the ceremony. This is the telegram Barbra sent to Gregory Peck two days after King's assassination.

Source: oscars.org

Barbra Streisand with Gregory Peck at the 1969 Golden Globes

It is no use saying one won't get typed - one always is

By the mid-1930s, Basil Rathbone was one of Hollywood's best-paid freelance actors. When Samuel Goldwyn offered him a four-year contract in 1936, the actor had serious misgivings, having worked under contract before (to MGM) and hating it. In a letter from December 1936, Rathbone voiced his objections to Goldwyn about signing with him. Apart from being very unhappy with the billing clause in the contract, Rathbone was not at all interested in playing the heavy in Goldwyn's upcoming film The Hurricane (1937). Ever since he had portrayed the evil Murdstone in David Selznick's production of David Copperfield (1935), the actor had played villains. Afraid of being typecast as a villain, Rathbone rejected The Hurricane ("my part is a cold blooded unaffectionate duty loving bastard"), the role eventually played by Raymond Massey. Incidentally, Rathbone's most famous villain role was yet to come, that of Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).

Here is the letter Rathbone wrote to Samuel Goldwyn on 2 December 1936, in which he complains about his billing situation, boasts about his acting achievements and —not wishing to be typed as a villain— suggests several characters he would be interested in playing.

 

Source: Heritage Auctions

Transcript:

Grand Hotel Dunapalota

Budapest

Dec. 2, 1936

Dear Sam, I would not for the world have you misunderstand why I have not signed the contract with you. There is so much to talk about, which even in a letter cannot be fully covered & I want to talk to you before doing anything as drastic as signing a 4 year contract. To you Sam, it is just another contract along with other artists engaged to you. To me it is the one & only contract & it has so many “ifs” to it.

I have been very happy freelancing & to me freedom is almost irreplaceable. Five years ago I was under contract to MGM & I was miserable. I only got just what was on paper & no more. I was promised this & promised that — hope was high one day & in the dust the next. After “[The Last of Mrs.] Cheyney” I was typed & I was allowed to do nothing but “tea cup & white tie parts.” Even as late as “Romeo & Juliet” promises have meant nothing. I was to be featured after John Barrymore & Edna May Oliver in the same type. I was not. I was put down with Ralph Forbes & Andy Devine etc. I accepted Count Anteoni in “The Garden of Allah” without reading the script because David Selznick told me the story & the part as he told it was colourful & vital & important. We came to shoot it & it was nothing. In “Allah” I was promised the same billing as John Barrymore got in Romeo & Juliet. I did not get it. This was my agent’s fault. It was not in the contract & Mr. Selznick pointed out it was not in the contract & would do nothing. So I was bunched down with Tilly Losch, Aubrey Smith & [Joseph] Shildkraut [sic]. I don’t say like things would happen with you Sam, but I have been so badly bitten & I am completely lacking in confidence in anyone. I am sure you must be able to understand this.

Your billing clause for instance gives me no more than I can get freelancing & yet you star Herbert Marshall with [Merle] Oberon & [Fredric] March in “Dark Angel,” & you have just starred Brian Aherne with Oberon. My contract would enable you to have me supporting Marshall & Aherne either as stars or featured players & I won’t do it. I must either be very important to you or I will go on freelancing. I earned $120,000 last year and 140,000 this year & I am completely content with your contract in that regard but it is not money I am after (much as I appreciate it!) I have been a very important actor both in London & New York for years. I bring you a very full experience & equipment, especially after the past 2 years in pictures. You not only made [Ronald] Coleman [sic], you gave him the opportunity to learn to act. I come to you a finished product groomed in every branch of my trade. Just look at this for a few important ones.

London—My Parts                                             

Peter Ibbetson—Peter (co star) 

George Sand—de Musset (co star)

Henry IV—The Prince of Wales (no stars)

Othello—Iago (co star) 

The Unknown (Maugham)—the atheist soldier (no stars)

He who gets slapped—“He” (co star) 

New York & on tour all over the Country 

Czarina—Count Alexis, 1st feature

The Swan—The Tutor, equal feature LeGallienne & Merivale

The Command to Love—Attache, co-star Mary Nash

The Captive—the lead, co-star Helen Menken

Melo—the lead, co-star Edna Best

Stratford on Avon Shakespeare Festivals

47 parts in 22 plays of Shakespeare!

The pictures you know. The above is an education Sam. Only a man like Charles Boyer has anything like it & he is starred & has yet to have an outstanding American success. I am not asking for stardom. I want to win it in pictures as I won it on the stage, but I must have protection against people who were not & are not my equals now or in the past. The Garbos the Gables the Gary Coopers yes, but the Marshalls Ahernes etc. NO NO NO. And I can see no reason why you cannot do for me what you do for Marshall & Aherne. and -

as regards “Hurricane” I have read the book & can see what a fine production picture it will make. I don’t know how it is being treated but my part is a cold blooded unaffectionate duty loving bastard! He has a brief moment of humanity at the end but what of it — he’s a horrible person. I played one for Selznick 2 years ago “Murdstone” & then I played Karenin & a part for Fox but no more. I am not against heavies, but I am against men whose wives dislike them, who are unsexed, complex & inhibited. Tybalt, Pontius Pilate & Levasseur (in Capt. Blood) were all heavies but glamorous & full blooded - men, not lily-livered knaves. Such parts as this man in Hurricane & Karenin limit one too much & a career along such lines would soon end. It is no use saying one won’t get typed — one always is & the better one plays the parts the worse it gets. Hurricane as Hurricane doesn’t interest me in a contract unless the contract contains the antidote to such poison. As a freelancer to do Hurricane, yes, perhaps, but with a term contract & nothing else stipulated, NO.

People say “O look at [Charles] Laughton”! Yes look at him. He couldn’t be anything but unpleasant - it’s no argument at all because we have only one thing in common — i.e. we can both act.

And I would be no good to you at all Sam, & so no good to myself unless we were going places untravelled by your other contract players to date. There is a wealth of parts for a man like myself — Casanova, Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, “The Cavalier of the Streets” (Michael Arlen), Charles I, Lafayette & a mass of modern stories I know — all good picture material. In other words anyone taking me on, on a contract must be bold & unconventional. I could be made to box office that way but never as a [Ronald] Coleman [sic] or a [Gary] Cooper or a [Walter] Huston or [Clark] Gable. I know myself very well & I will wait until someone wants to be bold with me as Irving Thalberg was going to be had he lived. Ask Frances Marion — she says it is criminal that no one sees how to promote me. She wants to write Leonardo da Vinci for me. Ask John Stahl too. There is a grand story on “Casanova” (by Billy Wilder). Bill Woolfenden has it — Wilder wrote it for me. If you can think along such lines with me, we could & would “go places” together, but just to sign a contract for the same money & billing as I now get freelancing does not make sense. To someone who loves their work, that work & its quality means something more than money can buy. I love my work & am proud of the past. The future must belong to the past & be of its quality & standing. You could do it Sam if you would — will you? Kindest regards & please understand I only write because I would like to be with you — If I did not think we could be happy together I would not write.

Yours very sincerely,

Basil Rathbone

Dec 14-17 – Ritz Paris

Dec 18 Sail “Normandie”

Dec 23 to 28th New York Lombardy Hotel

Jany 1st Home — 5254 Los Feliz Blvd. (Normandie 6140)

_____

The four-year contract with Samuel Goldwyn Productions was never signed. Rathbone kept freelancing and was just a few years away from playing the part he is best known for. Between 1939 and 1946, he would portray Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective Sherlock Holmes in 14 films and a radio series. Initially enthusiastic about Sherlock, by 1946 the actor hated the character and refused to renew his film and radio contracts. While afraid of being typed as a villain a decade earlier, he now hated being only identified with Holmes. In a 1938 interview with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, Rathbone had said that the only thing he dreaded was being typed, whether as a villain or hero. And in his 1962 autobiography In and Out of Character, he said with regards to quitting Sherlock: "I was deeply concerned with the problem of being 'typed', more completely 'typed' than any other classic actor has been or ever will be again. My fifty-two roles in twenty-three plays of Shakespeare, my years in the London and New York Theater, my score of motion pictures, including my two academy award nominations, were slowly but surely sinking into oblivion..." Rathbone left Hollywood in 1946, dedicating his later career to the stage while also doing film and television work and at times appearing in Sherlock Holmes spoofs.

Basil Rathbone as (from left to right) Sherlock Holmes, Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood and Murdstone in David Copperfield.

I thought we were considered GUESTS, not thieves!

The luxurious Savoy Hotel in London was home to many classic Hollywood stars, including Marlene Dietrich. Dietrich loved the Savoy and lived at the hotel on and off throughout her career for extended periods of time. Her good relationship with the hotel abruptly ended in 1975, however, after she had been accused of stealing the hotel's cutlery. While the actress was indignant at being accused (see the letter below), according to a 2011 article in the Daily Mail she did have a habit of stealing cutlery from the Savoy as well as silver salt and pepper pots delivered to her suite via room service. In her book Marlene Dietrich: The Life (1992), Maria Riva confirmed that her mother had kleptomaniac habits. Dietrich used to nick the clothes which she wore for her various film roles, said Riva, and she also took gloves, scarves, handbags and hats.

July 1949, Marlene Dietrich at the Savoy in London, waving to fans outside. Dietrich was in London for the shooting of Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950).

This is Marlene Dietrich's letter to the manager of the Savoy Hotel, written on 16 April 1975. I don't know what the hotel's reaction was, but apparently a reply was sent to Dietrich a month later.

Source: Gotta Have Rock and Roll

Transcript:

16 April 1975

Dear Mr. Griffin,

What a shame that after all these years the haggling over hotel hardware should be the termination of my relationship with the Savoy Hotel. For no matter how much I have loved this hotel in the past, being accused of "stealing" certainly makes it impossible for me to ever reside there again.

Actually the situation is so ludicrous that it has taken me some time to realize that you really meant such an insult.

Assuming that I would wish to travel around the world with my luggage full of cutlery — I assure you that it would be of stirling and not your tawdry stuff! What happens, once the tables have been pushed into corridors in a frenzy to get rid of them after waiting for hours for the atrociously bad room service pick-up, should have nothing to do with your guests.

So we have come to the operative word, "Guest". I thought I, and the many friends I encourage to stay at the Savoy, were considered GUESTS, not thieves!

I shall certainly now inform them of their new status should they ever decide to stay at the Savoy Hotel, which, of course, I shall never do again!

Ms Marlene Dietrich

Dietrich talking to the press at the Savoy in July 1949

Remembering Michael Curtiz

Born in Hungary as Manó Kertész Kaminer, director Michael Curtiz arrived in Hollywood in 1926 at age 39. Having already directed numerous films in Europe, Curtiz was signed to a contract by Warner Bros, the studio where he would make nearly all of his Hollywood films. While Curtiz didn't have a signature style like some of his peers (like Alfred Hitchcock or Frank Capra), he was a versatile director who could handle a variety of genres, including adventure, western, musical, drama, comedy and film noir. A lot of films that are now considered classics were directed by Curtiz, among them The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Casablanca (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945) and White Christmas (1954).

Curtiz was a workaholic, working long hours without pausing for lunch and dismissing actors who ate lunch as "lunch bums" (which led Peter Lorre to remark: "Curtiz eats pictures and excretes pictures"). A lot of actors as well as crew members found the director very difficult to work with. Biographer Alan Rode said that Curtiz's "demonic work ethic approached savagery" and that the working conditions on his sets had contributed to the founding of the Screen Actors Guild. As mentioned in this post, Bette Davis hated working with Curtiz. Among the actors who also had problems with the director were Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney, and the latter once said: "Mike was a pompous bastard who didn’t know how to treat actors, but he sure as hell knew how to treat a camera". 

Struggling with the English language, Curtiz was known for his use of malapropisms. For example, a well-known anecdote is that Curtiz had asked for a "poodle" on the set of Casablanca; some time later the prop master brought him a little dog, not realising Curtiz had meant a "puddle" (of water),  not a "poodle".

Seen below are three letters from actresses who remember what is was like to work with Curtiz. The letters, all written in 1975, are addressed to Curtiz's daughter Candace Curtiz who was working on a book about her famous father. (I couldn't find any information regarding the book, so I guess it was never published.)

The first letter is from Olivia de Havilland who had quite a hard time with Curtiz, finding him "exigent, emotional, and even harsh". She was directed by him nine times, i.e. in Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Gold Is Where You Find It (1938), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940) and The Proud Rebel (1958). 

Not all actors found Curtiz difficult to work with, however. Claude Rains, for example, whom Curtiz had directed in ten films, got along with the director quite well. And there were others, including Ingrid Bergman and Rosalind Russell, who said they enjoyed working with the man. Bergman, who was directed by Curtiz in Casablanca (1942), and Russell, who worked with him on Roughly Speaking (1945), talk about their experiences in the second and third letter of this post, written on resp. 5 February 1975 and 22 August 1975.

On the set of Gold Is Where You Find It with Olivia de Havilland, George Brent and Mike Curtiz.

(The image on the left only shows the back of Ingrid's letter.)

I belong to the people who loved your father. He was extremely nice to me during the shooting of “Casablanca”. He was under such stress because the script was written day by day. All his actors were nervous not knowing what was going to happen, all of them asking for their dialogue. He sat mostly by himself in deep thoughts, while the lights were being changed. He was very impatient and couldn’t stand people that worked slowly. How wonderful, if he had known he was making a masterpiece, a classic that would be loved for generations! I never met your father outside of work, so I really only know him from the set. I think Hal Wallis, the producer and still here in Hollywood, could help you. They fought over the story every lunch hour!! 

I wish you best of luck —

Ingrid Bergman 

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Mike Curtiz on the set of Casablanca.

Transcript:

Dear Miss Curtiz:

Forgive my not answering your letter. It was because I really had nothing to offer your book of great value.

I worked for your father but he did not use the "bon mots" many others said he did. He was hardworking + thorough, full of enthusiasm.

I enjoyed working with him + felt he put a good deal of his own unique energy on to the film he was making.

Good luck with your book about a splendid filmmaker!

Rosalind Russell

Mike Curtiz  and Rosalind Russell on the set of Roughly Speaking.

Source of all letters: One Of A Kind Collectibles Auctions

I'm fed up with being interviewed

In March 1957 on the television show Caesar's Hour, Joan Crawford conducted a short interview with fellow actress Ingrid Bergman after presenting her with the Look Magazine Award. The award was to honour Ingrid as Best Actress of the Year for her performance in Anastasia (1956). While the interview lasts only a few minutes, it's really nice to see these two actresses together, Joan being her glamorous self and Ingrid natural and graceful as always. Here it is:

During their careers Joan and Ingrid never played in a film together, although they did play the same role of a disfigured woman in A Woman's Face, Ingrid in the original Swedish film from 1938 and Joan in the 1941 Hollywood remake. Also, they were contenders for the Best Actress Oscar in 1946, Joan being nominated for Mildred Pierce and Ingrid for The Bells of St. Mary's. (Joan eventually won but, convinced that Ingrid would win, she had stayed at home during the Oscar ceremony, feigning pneumonia.) While I don't think the women were friends, they obviously admired and respected each other and occasionally sent each other letters. 

Below is some of Ingrid's correspondence to Joan. First up is a 1946 notecard, congratulating Joan on her Oscar for Mildred Pierce (written the day after the Oscar ceremony). 

March 8- 46

Dear Joan —

My very sincere congratulations!

Ingrid Bergman

(Source: Heritage Auctions)

Next is a letter (shown in part) from 22 April 1969, in which Ingrid tells Joan that she is sorry to have missed her at the Oscars, held the week before. At the time Ingrid was filming A Walk in the Spring Rain (1970) and had just finished Cactus Flower (1969).

Source: Heritage Auctions

Transcript:

I am sorry I didn't see you at the Oscar affair except a second on the monitor backstage. Hope you are well and happy (you looked marvelous!) and all is well with your children. Mine came for a brief visit over Easter vacation. It's too bad my two pictures are so close together. I had no time to go home.

All my warmest wishes and love,

Ingrid

Finally, this letter was written in May 1975 and apparently Ingrid had agreed to do an interview with a friend of Joan's but decided not to go through with it, fed up with being interviewed. (By the looks of it, she didn't mind being interviewed by Joan years earlier!)

Source: icollector.com

Transcript:

Dear Joan —

Sorry, but I just couldn't see your friend for an interview. I have been so pressed for time and am also fed up with being interviewed. 

I am going home tomorrow for a rest and I send you my warmest wishes —

Ingrid

May 13- 75

To credit or not to credit

A month after filming on Torn Curtain (1966) had ended, Alfred Hitchcock received a note from a Universal executive, asking him to include the name of set decorator John McCarthy in the film's credits. Baffled by the request, Hitch next sent a memo concerning the matter to production associate Paul Donnelly ("I never saw John McCarthy during the whole of our production. Who is he?"). Hitch was also confused about another credit which apparently was a customary credit and appeared on the Universal logo, i.e. the byline Edward Muhl In Charge of Production. In 1953, Muhl had been appointed the studio's vice-president in charge of production and was responsible for a run of very successful films (including comedies such as Pillow Talk (1959), Operation Petticoat (1959) and Lover Come Back (1961)). After MCA acquired Universal in 1962 and other executives became co-responsible for production, the Edward Muhl credit was still used and continued to be used until 1967. Hitch wondered "What is the point of this insignia?", sending a memo to Edd Henry, Universal's then vice-president.

The two memos mentioned are seen below. Apparently Hitchcock got what he wanted as neither John McCarthy's name nor the byline Edward Muhl In Charge of Production appeared in Torn Curtain's credits.

Hitchcock during production of Torn Curtain with leading man Paul Newman. The film proved to be a flop and is generally considered one of Hitch's lesser films.

 

INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION 

Date       March 18, 1966

To          PAUL DONNELLY
From      ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Subject   "TORN CURTAIN"- CREDITS

Copies:
EDD HENRY
JOE DUBIN [head of Universal's legal department]

I have received a note from Joseph S. Dubin to the effect that the name of a set decorator, John McCarthy, should be included in our credits.

I never saw John McCarthy during the whole of our production. Who is he? I know you'll answer that he is the head of a department, but who is he as a contributor to our picture? If Mr. McCarthy thinks he should be included in our credits, then I think that Governor Brown also should be included, because he came on the set, and I shook hands with him, and that is more than I did with Mr. McCarthy.

Emphatically yours,

 

In the end, it wasn't John McCarthy but George Milo who was credited on screen for the set decoration of Torn Curtain.

INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION 

Date   March 18, 1966

To      EDD HENRY
From   ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Dear Mr. Henry, 

In the list of comments on the credits I received from Mr. Dubin there was a mention concerning a 'custom' of putting the name of 'Edward Muhl, in charge of production'. What is the point of this insignia? Am I to believe that 1,000, or if we are successful, 1,050 people are looking at the screen and on seeing the words 'Edward Muhl, in charge of production' an agreeable murmur goes over the audience? If so, then I have no further comment.

However, I am reminded of an Apocryphal story that is told concerning a dispute among a family of three about which picture they should go out to see that evening:-

"The father said, "I'd like to see the Laurel and Hardy comedy".

"Oh no", said the mother, "I want to see that Greer Garson picture".

The daughter intervenes rather emphatically, "I don't want to see either of those pictures, what I want to see is that Edward Muhl picture around the corner".

Yours informatively, 

 

Source of both memos: Hitchcock's Notebooks: An Authorized And Illustrated Look Inside The Creative Mind Of Alfred Hitchcock (1999) by Dan Auiler. 

Above: The opening and closing of Torn Curtain without the Edward Muhl credit. Below: The Universal logo with the Muhl credit, taken from Pillow Talk (1959).