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.

Mothers ~ Beulah Bondi

Beulah Bondi, she surprised us in Vivacious Lady by showing us her jitterbug side, she protected her son Fred MacMurray from a Christmas shopping kleptomaniac Barbara Stanwyck in Remember the Night and was the stand by your son Mom in another Christmas must watch every year movie It’s a Wonderful Life. She is another actress that made a career out of playing Mom, Granny, or not so very nice Auntie. A talented actress that played Jimmy Stewarts Mom four times however the one person she really wanted to play Ma to Henry Fonda was a part that eluded her losing out to Jane Darwell the Ma Joad part in the Grapes of Wrath. She was nominated for Oscars as Best Supporting Actress in 1936 for The Gorgeous Hussy and 1938 for Of Human Hearts. However longevity and excellence in her craft finally paid off in 1977 when she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for a single appearance in a drama or comedy series in an episode of The Walton’s titled: The Pony Cart
She was never a mother in real life but hey who says you have to be a mother to play a mother, sometimes that mothering instinct just comes naturally. Happy Mother’s Day to all of the real, pretend or mothering just comes naturally even though I don’t have kids of my own ladies out there.

Mothers ~ Spring Byington

Spring Byington made the mistake of playing a “heartwarming” Mrs. March in Little Women (1933) and was quickly typecast as Mother in a variety of films. Meet John Doe, Heaven Can Wait, and You Can’t Take It With You soon led to a career as everyone’s favorite mother-in-law in the TV show, December Bride. Her last film appearance at the age of 70 was Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, as the spirited mother of Doris Day, proving that like all mothers, Spring was in it for the long haul.

(Posted for Rochellelynn by annstj)

Hollywood Good Girl Jean Arthur

Hollywood Good Girl ~ Jean Arthur

Apart from the extremely steamy scene on the steps in The More the Merrier and the two husbands problem in Too Many Husbands, Jean actually was a very good girl. We saw it in innocent roles on screen in Easy Living as the broke writer who finds some good luck, and as the job seeking well meaning cook in If Only You Could Cook. Off screen Frank Capra could find no one more worthy to play his morally laced roles, even if she did throw up before shooting her scenes. Having left Hollywood at the height of her career after an Oscar nomination she went on to teach at Vassar for 5 years, and taught student Meryl Streep! Who knew?  Jean was only married twice(one annulled and one divorce), and spent the good part of her life alone with her cats… sad, and yet somehow, maybe for Jean Arthur, simply perfect.

It’s a Wonderful LIfe

 

 

The piece de resistance of all Holiday Films, which has enjoyed decades of acclaim, did horribly at the box office. It was rumored that 8 actresses turned down the role of Mary opposite George Bailey because of their dislike of James Stewart- of them ex-girlfriend Ginger Rogers. Luckily, the film came together beautifully, filled with memorable lines and scenes that have helped define the holiday season.
Enjoy this one today while unwrapping gifts, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!