It Happened One Night

1934 was the first year to choose pictures for eligibility for Academy Awards within a calendar year: January 1st thru December 31st. It was the first year all of the major awards were swept away by one single movie, It Happened One Night. Talk about your sour grapes these awards were received by Columbia Studios a poverty row studio. Columbia Studios did not have a large stable of actors but what it did have was Frank Capra. And the Hollywood moguls also had a way of punishing contract players by loaning them out to lower studios to appear in low budget movies to keep them in line.
I’m sure Clark Gable an MGM boy and Claudette Colbert a Paramount girl were laughing all of the way to the podium when they received their Best Actor, Best Actress Oscars. I can picture Clark thumbing his nose to old Louis B.
On a side note 1934 was the year that almost 6 year old Shirley Temple received her miniature Oscar statuette for her ‘outstanding contribution to screen entertainment’. Shirley appeared in nine features during the calendar year.

Hollywood Good Girl Claudette Colbert

Sure, she was bitchy. She had all sorts of diva issues going on. She only ever allowed herself to be filmed from the left side- it was her best side. She never let her measurements be publicized. And she would have rather been on Broadway– only the desperate ones went for Hollywood.

But the Depression pushed her into films whether she liked it or not. She was a favorite of Cecil B. DeMille’s and was cast in two epic films- The Sign of the Cross, and Cleopatra- he liked her bitchy.

On screen she filled romantic comedies with Fred MacMurray, Don Ameche, Joel McCrea and the illustrious Clark Gable. Always the one talking sense into her men, Colbert had a cheekiness that we all loved- it felt like honesty.

Off screen she was married only twice. The first in secret which led to divorce, and the second to a doctor who she would be with until his death. She had pride, but was humble— so much so that she didn’t expect to win an Oscar in 1935 over write-in Bette Davis, and didn’t attend the ceremony. She was later summoned from the train station to collect her award for It Happened One Night.

 

 

 

Carole Lombard, Clark Gable and the Plane Crash

 

October 6, 1908 ~ January 16, 1942               Carole Lombard

Carole chooses to take a plane home from a war bond tour, ignoring a prophesy feared by her mother, an experienced numerologist, and the warnings of her publicist. Letting jealousy get the best of her, Carole puts her life in the hands of fate, hoping to get home before her husband Clark Gable gets too cozy with Lana Turner as they consider a re-pairing in  the film Somewhere I’ll Find You. Carole, her mother, and 20 other people died on the plane that day heading back towards California.

Dying much to young in 1942, we honor her birthday today, with her best films. My Man Godfrey plays her crazy girl opposite her ex-husband William Powell’s straight laced hobo turned butler turned entrepreneur. Godfrey tackles much in the way of the class divide, the depression, and the homeless situation in our country. In Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Carole plays the wife, loving her married life, until her and hubby, Robert Montgomery learn they aren’t “really” married. Uh, oh. In classic slapstick comedy form, the two begin to find their ways apart and then back together.

Most notable about Carole, besides her glamorous beauty, was that she glowed joy and fun, and spirit… sometimes too much of it. William Powell’s biggest complaint was that she was always “on” , but then it’s difficult to put those Hollywood lights out.  Thank God! Happy Birthday Carole.

And for any of you inclined towards astrology, I happened upon Carole’s Natal Birth Chart where the vocations of mime and assassin could have also been winners for our dear Carole. Enjoy!

 

 

Jane Russell

June 21, 1921 ~ February 28, 2011

Macao, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Tall Men

Happy Birthday Jane!

Happy Birthday Joan Crawford

March 23, 1906 ~ May 10, 1977 

Grand Hotel, Rain, Love on the Run

Joseph Schildkraut

March 22, 1896 ~ January 21, 1964

The Garden of Allah, Idiots Delight, The Shop Around the Corner

Happy Birthday Joseph Schildkraut!

MANDATORY CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD FILM LIST…PART DEAUX

LIST TWO…

Rochellelynn is correct we have watched A LOT of Classic Hollywood films. And making this list only confirms what I believed in the past. I am a Warner Brothers Studio Girl and Rochellelynn is an MGM Studio Girl. And I mean Studio as opposed to Archive. Because any Studio film can end up in an Archive or Vault Collection set. When you our illustrious readers compile your own mandatory film list it will be fun to see what kind of Classic Hollywood Film Studio type girl or boy you are, let us know!

Adventures of Robin Hood…Warner Brothers-1938

All Through the Night…Warner Brothers-1942

Angels Wash Their Faces…Warner Brothers-1939

Angels with Dirty Faces…Warner Brothers-1938

Because of Him…Universal-1946

Black Swan…20^th Century Fox-1942

Bride Came C.O.D, The.…Warner Brothers-1941

Brother Rat…Warner Brothers-1938

Calamity Jane…Warner Brothers-1953

Christmas Holiday…Universal-1944

Dead End…Samuel Goldwyn-1937

Dinner at Eight…MGM-1933

Edge of Darkness…Warner Brothers-1943

Foreign Affair…Paramount-1948

Four Daughters…Warner Brothers-1938

Gilda…Columbia-1946

Gone With the Wind…David O. Seltznik-1939

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn…Mickey Rooney…MGM-1939

Hunchback of Notre Dame…Charles Laughton…RKO-1939

I Married a Witch…United Artist-1942

It Happened One Night…Columbia-1934

Inn of the Sixth Happiness…20^th Century Fox-1958

It Started with Eve…Universal-1941

Juke Girl…Warner Brothers-1942

Life with Father…Warner Brothers-1947

Mad About Music…Universal-1938

Male Animal…Warner Brothers-1942

Meet John Doe…Warner Brothers-1941

Midnight Mary…MGM-1933

Miracle of Morgan’s Creek…Paramount-1944

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town…Columbia-1936

My Favorite Wife…RKO-1940

Only Angels Have Wings…Columbia-1939

Perils of Pauline…Paramount-1947

Primrose Path…RKO-1940

Princess O’Rourke…Warner Brothers1943

Quiet Man…Republic-1952

Rachel and the Stranger…RKO-1948

Saboteur…Universal-1942

Shepherd of the Hills…Paramount-1941

So Proudly We Hail…Paramount-1943

Spanish Main…RKO-1945

Strawberry Blonde…Warner Brothers-1941

Taming of the Shrew…Columbia-1967

Tarzan the Ape Man…Johnny Weissmuller…MGM-1932

To Have and Have Not…Warner Brothers-1944

Trouble with Angels…Columbia-1966

Unconquered…Paramoun-1947

Unfaithful, The…Warner Brothers-1947

Viva Las Vegas…MGM-1964

We’re no Angels…Paramount-1955

What a Way to Go…20^th Century Fox-1964

You Were Never Lovelier…Columbia-1942

MANDATORY CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD FILM LIST

LIST ONE…..

Note: We’ve watched A LOT of classic Hollywood films. This is my list so far- and no they’re not necessarily based on anything even close to “merit.” I know annstj will have her own list, so look out for  a LIST TWO. This was prompted by my younger brother asking what “other” old films he should watch( other than Thin Man) to complete his Classic Hollywood Education. Add your own Mandatories in the comments.

American in Paris…MGM -1951

Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer…RKO-1947

Ball of Fire…Samuel Goldwyn Co. -1941

Big Sleep…Warner Brothers – 1946

Breakfast at Tiffany’s…Paramount-1961

Bringing up Baby…RKO-1938

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…20^th Century Fox-1969

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof…MGM-1958

Christmas in Connecticut…Warner Brothers-1945

Darby O’Gill and the Little People…Walt Disney-1959

Double Indemnity…Paramount-1944

Gay Divorcee, The…RKO-1934

Gigi…MGM-1958

Girl Happy…MGM-1965

Glass Bottomed Boat…MGM-1966

Good Fairy, The…Universal-1935

High Society…MGM-1956

His Girl Friday…Columbia-1940

How to Marry a Millionaire…20^th Century Fox-1953

How to Steal a Million…20^th Century Fox-1966

Lady Eve, The…Paramount-1941

Libeled Lady…MGM-1936

Major and the Minor…Paramount-1942

Mark of Zorro…20^th Century Fox-1940

Mary Poppins…Disney-1964

More the Merrier, The…Columbia-1943

Move over Darling…20^th Century Fox-1963

Mr. and Mrs. Smith…RKO-1941

Music Man…Warner Brothers-1962

My Fair Lady…Warner Brothers-1964

My Man Godfrey…Universal-1936

My Sister Eileen…Columbia-1942

Pillow Talk…Universal-1959

Singing in the Rain…MGM-1952

Some Like It Hot…United Artists-1959

Something in the Wind…Universal International-1947

Sullivan’s Travel…Paramount-1942

Take Me Out to the Ballgame…MGM-1949

Thin Man…MGM-1934

Thoroughly Modern Millie…Universal International- 1967

Three Smart Girls…Universal-1936

Tom Jones…Woodfall Film Productions-1963

Two Sisters From Boston…MGM-1946

Women, The…MGM-1934

Clark Gable the King of Classic Hollywood!

February 1, 1901 ~ November 16, 1960
Wife vs. Secretary, Manhattan Melodrama, It happened One Night, Red Dust, Gone with the Wind

Dear Mr. Gable…the letter that a fifteen year old Judy Garland sang to her Clark Gable scrap book in Broadway Melody of 1938 says it all, ‘You Made Me Love You’.

Happy Birthday Clark!