Of the Columbus (^^^Lcsbtangmirnunity

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Of the Columbus (^^^Lcsbtangmirnunity NEWS Of the Columbus (^^^LcsbtanGmirnunity MARCH, 1978 ISSUE 2 Y Ohio Gay Rights Coalition... .DATES TO REMEMBER * The Lady Eve (Paramount) lt'« About: A man-hunter who gets March 4th caught in her own trap. Eyent Postponed/OGRC'a lobbying workshop sche­ duled for Saturday, March 4th has been post­ RIGHT as a silver dollar, gay as a poned until early April due to the coal strike B Christmas tree and funnier than and energy crunch. The workshop was to hare a cageful of monkeys is this latest been held at the OSU Student Union in Columbus, Preston Sturges story. Both written but that facility is new temporarily unavail­ and directed by him, it fairly oozes able on weekends. The date and location will freshness and charm. be announced as seon as a date acceptible te Adam Debaugh of GRHL (Gay Rights National Lobby Now take the idea of casting earthy, and MCC/Washington, D.C.) can be determined. country-boyish Henry Fonda as a por those whe missed the February newsletter.. millionaire's son given to dressing in ...This workshep is designed for politically the smartest men's fashions. Who but serious gay and lesbian activists (including Sturges would think of that one? And the novice) who wish to become mere skilled in maybe you think Henry, as the lad lobbying for gay/lesbian rights. Por more in­ who is almost hooked by card sharker formation please call 291-9114. Barbara Stanwyck and her father, Charles Coburn, isn't terrific? Bar­ March 5th bara herself is different and excit­ The OGRC meeting scheduled for March 5th at ingly glamorous and—er delightfully noon will be held as planned. The meeting will naughty. The way she gets her man oe held at Open Door Clinic, 237 E. 17th Ave., Columbus. —twice—is a scream. Coburn is marvelous. Eugene Pal- April 21st - 23rd lette, William Demarest and Eric Kent Gay Liberation Front will be sponsoring Blore are three brilliant assets to Mr. its annual Gay Conference at Kent State Uni­ Sturges' fine banquet of nonsensical versity. The OGRC meeting will be held there entertainment. Here's a motion pic­ on Sunday (the 23rd) at noen. ture that is really entertainment. ******* CLASSIC TO BE SHOWN Your Reviewer Says: Yield to the ****** temptation of Lady Eve. The film classic "Till, LADY EVE" will bo shown Thursday, //••«/ 1. lUii Inn a March 2nd at 144 Ilevis Hall \*esl Campus. Times arc 7:30 (Sninwrtk). mill and 10:00 p.m. Admission is $1.50. For more information I'II \lini mi ihc call 2913388. llll 1.41)) I \ I . a I1/111 1 Villi /I . llL.llllll movie review (next column, upper right) and picture (next column, lower right) are Irom a 1941 PhotopU)/Mo*ie Mirror Maga/iue. ******** THE METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH The first service of the Metropolitan Community Church of Columbus will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 5th at the Twilight Lounge, 2467 Cleveland Avenue. For more information please call 291-0230. BETTE THAWS OUT CLEVELAND Bette Midler finally opened at the Front Row Theater, Clev eland, Ohio on January 28th after a two day de lay due to our great blizzard. The sold out show got off to a hot start with the Harlettes .appearing in black sa tin dresses split up to here and down to ther e, s ing ing Dance,Dance,D ance, the single cut from there first ColumbT a album. The ladies the n charged ahead with A in't No Man rforth J_t. Phey kept the,pace wit h songs like Mister 3 andman, We Got It and a fantastic send up of t he Supremes with Chariot Crossley (hottest o f the trio) taking on Di ana Ross. The ladies exited to long and dese rving applause. The lights dim and a voice from the back of the theater sings "And I am all alone", sud­ denly Ms. Midler runs down the center ailse, and the theater is never quite the same. Her hair is a shade away from blonde and her garb is a glittering thirties blouse with black satin peddle-pushers. She sings her theme song, Friends while strutting, stamping and skittering about as much as the small theater- in-the-round stage will alLow. She procedes to give her audience a high that no amount of booze, pot or pills could. Looking over her domain, she launches into many superbly de­ livered comic dialogues during which she zings PEOPLE magazine, Englands Royal Family ("Prin­ cess Anne, a girl who loves nature in spite of what it did to her"), Roman Polanski and even the audience ("Vogue on the outside and vague on the inside"). She also had a first rate batch of new Sophie Tucker jokes. Her versa­ tility was evident throughout the evening from her comedy patter to the handling of many musi­ cal styles. She really heats the place up with Empty Bed Blues and Dr. LongJohn then moves from a fast and furious Leader of the Pack to a beautiful rendition of La Vie En Rose. Her voice handles the swing of In the Mood as easily as the rock of Red. Bette simply has one of the most expressive voices in pop music today. She capped off the evening with part of a Carl Sandburg piece about a woman who had lost all she had in life, but held on to her dreams. Then lit only by a single spot above her head she sang a brilliant version of I Shall Be Re­ leased. She brought the audience to a genu- ine emotional peak and reafirmed her place as a genius of the concert stage. Her nanaimg of this number was electrifying. The audi­ ence response was equally so, the thunderous applause and standing ovation was truly de­ served. Bette did her traditional Friends, thanked us for coming and was gone. As Sophie Tucker herself might have said I shall never forget it. A gay bar in the Ohio State campus area has WILL COLUMBUS EVER PROTECT OUR EMPLOYMENT been a goal long desired by local gay people. Now that goal is finally being reached. The RIGHTS? It May Be Up To You Bombay Yaught Club on North High Street (be­ tween Tenth and Eleventh Avenues) has been COGC and GMLA may soon face a major political attracting a gay crowd since it opened last hurdle in the form of a city ordinance prohib- year. While the bar is not exclusively gay, iting discrimination on the basis of sexual or the clientele is of an open-minded liberal New affectional preference, marital status, handi- York style. Generally the crowd is straight cap and age. We are in desperate need of com- or bi, but on Tuesdays the bar is definitely muni ty-wide support for this measure, and need gay. The management cind of era tors of Bombay your HELP. iVe are looking for non-gay organi­ enthusiastically welcome gay men and women, zations 'in 1 ividuals who are supportive of this and Tuesday has unofficially become gay night. legislation who are willing either to contact city council or to appear at public hearings anJ forums where this measure will be discuss­ ed. We can find an abundance of social ser­ vice organizations designed to aid the aged/ youth and the handicapped, but are having dif­ ********** ficulty discovering who/which organizations are the poli tical advocates for the handi­ capped and aged/youth. If you know of contacts who are interested in legislation or protect­ ing the rights of any of these groups of people PLEASE CONTACT Central Ohio Gay Coali­ tion at 291-911^. All information will be Speaking Engagements/Public Forums kept in confidence. Our major task is to con­ vince members of council that the discrimina­ The Blizzard of '78 put a damper on everything tion against each of these categories of including requests for speakers from the Gay/ people represents a major problem in the Co­ Lesbian Community (COGC and GMLA), but of late lumbus community and that there is broad- both organizations have received a rash of re­ based support for this ordinance. quests for speakers for February and lMarch. While speaking engagements for college classes and community organizations may lack the drama and excitement of rallies and public confron­ tations, they represent a crucial aspect of »*»»»**»#• the Columbus gay community's efforts to des­ troy the mythology surrounding Gay/Lesbian lifestyles and to de-fuse intolerance and fear. Realizing that mo3t of our society is still A BAR, A BAR, A BAR, vicitimized by ignorance about jay men and lesbians, these free forums of discussion where will be a continuing feature of our newsletter questions and issues can be raised without spot-lighting a different bar each month. ostracism and intimidation provide a vital service to the Columbus community. Here is a As we enter TYS from the rear non-neon doorway partial list of where we've been and plan to be you know you're not in just another gay bar. The feeling is more of an off-broadway bar with January 10th Capital University, Human Sex­ its rich brown wall3, highly buffed wood floors uality Clas3, 10-11 a.m. and broadway billboards on the walls. January 19th Alumni Scholarship House, 7»30 to 10»30 p.m. TYS has also used lighting techniques February 14th Summit United i.lethodist Church which not only impr( es, but help them interview with Pastor Dickhout to adjust to the d e/ " to discuss use of Campus Cen­ ter for C0GC/0GRC events.
Recommended publications
  • HOLLYWOOD – the Big Five Production Distribution Exhibition
    HOLLYWOOD – The Big Five Production Distribution Exhibition Paramount MGM 20th Century – Fox Warner Bros RKO Hollywood Oligopoly • Big 5 control first run theaters • Theater chains regional • Theaters required 100+ films/year • Big 5 share films to fill screens • Little 3 supply “B” films Hollywood Major • Producer Distributor Exhibitor • Distribution & Exhibition New York based • New York HQ determines budget, type & quantity of films Hollywood Studio • Hollywood production lots, backlots & ranches • Studio Boss • Head of Production • Story Dept Hollywood Star • Star System • Long Term Option Contract • Publicity Dept Paramount • Adolph Zukor • 1912- Famous Players • 1914- Hodkinson & Paramount • 1916– FP & Paramount merge • Producer Jesse Lasky • Director Cecil B. DeMille • Pickford, Fairbanks, Valentino • 1933- Receivership • 1936-1964 Pres.Barney Balaban • Studio Boss Y. Frank Freeman • 1966- Gulf & Western Paramount Theaters • Chicago, mid West • South • New England • Canada • Paramount Studios: Hollywood Paramount Directors Ernst Lubitsch 1892-1947 • 1926 So This Is Paris (WB) • 1929 The Love Parade • 1932 One Hour With You • 1932 Trouble in Paradise • 1933 Design for Living • 1939 Ninotchka (MGM) • 1940 The Shop Around the Corner (MGM Cecil B. DeMille 1881-1959 • 1914 THE SQUAW MAN • 1915 THE CHEAT • 1920 WHY CHANGE YOUR WIFE • 1923 THE 10 COMMANDMENTS • 1927 KING OF KINGS • 1934 CLEOPATRA • 1949 SAMSON & DELILAH • 1952 THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH • 1955 THE 10 COMMANDMENTS Paramount Directors Josef von Sternberg 1894-1969 • 1927
    [Show full text]
  • Slapstick, Sex Og Screwball
    The Miracle o f Morgan’s Creek Slapstick, sex og screwball Preston Sturges’ guddommelige komedier A f Kenneth T. de Lorenzi “There’s a lot to be said for making people laugh (Joel McCrea i Sullivans Travels) Verdensmanden og komediegeniet kameraet. Havde Sturges ikke Lubitschs Preston Sturges (1898-1959) var sammen lette touch havde han til gengæld en evne med sit store forbillede, den sofistikerede til skrive de mest vanvittige dialoger og få komedies ophavsmand, Ernst Lubitsch, en dem leveret i et hæsblæsende tempo, der af de få instruktører, der blev lige så får hans film til at virke friske, udfordren- berømt som de glamourøse stjerner foran de og enormt morsomme den dag i dag. 45 Slapstick, sex og screwball I 1940 blev Preston Sturges Hollywoods sådan. Der skulle dog gå næsten et årti, første egentlige writer/director, da han førend hans bemærkelsesværdige talent endelig fik lov at stå bag indspilningen af endelig fik ham placeret på toppen af sit på det tidspunkt seks år gamle origi­ filmbyens fødekæde. nalmanuskript The Great McGinty 1930’erne var dog på ingen måde (Portræt af en bums). Allerede senere ufrugtbare for Preston Sturges. Hans pro­ samme år kom så Christmas in July blem var først og fremmest den uskrevne (Sommerjul - baseret på hans eget teater­ regel - et vaskeægte ’punkt 22’ - at ingen stykke A Cup of Coffee) og over de følgen­ ville tage chancen at lade en uerfaren de fire år ialt otte film - alle for instruktør instruere sin første film. Men, Paramount - og de blev næsten hver og én ud over de mange film han skrev med på, forrygende kunstneriske og kommercielle med og uden navns nævnelse, formåede hits: The Lady Eve (1941, En moderne han alligevel at bryde tidens princip som Eva), Sullivan’s Travels (1942, Med ti cent dikterede, at mange forfattere til hver en på lommen), The Palm Beach Story (1942, tid ville gøre et hvilket som helst m anu­ Flugten til Florida), The Miracle of skript bedre.
    [Show full text]
  • THE LADY EVE / 1941 (As Três Noites De Eva)
    CINEMATECA PORTUGUESA-MUSEU DO CINEMA DUPLOS E GÉMEOS 2 de outubro de 2020 THE LADY EVE / 1941 (As Três Noites de Eva) um filme de Preston Sturges Realização: Preston Sturges / Argumento: Preston Sturges, baseado num conto de Moncton Hoffe / Fotografia: Victor Milner / Direcção Artística: Hans Dreier e Ernst Fegté / Guarda- Roupa: Edith Head com a colaboração de Edna Shotwhell (mulheres) e Richard Bachler (homens), Música: Leo Shuken e Charles D. Bradshaw / Direcção Musical: Sigmond Krumgold / Som: Harry Lindgren e Dom Johnson / Montagem: Stuart Gilmore / Interpretação: Barbara Stanwyck (Jean-Eve), Henry Fonda (Charles Pike), Charles Coburn (“Coronel” Harrington), Eugene Pallette (Mr. Pike, o pai de Charles), William Demarest (Muggsy), Eric Blore (Sir Alfred McGleman Keith, também conhecido por “Pearly”), Melville Cooper (Gerald), Martha O’Driscoll (Martha), Janet Beecher (Mrs Pike), etc. Produção: Paul Jones para a Paramount / Produtor Executivo: William LeBaron / Cópia: 35mm, preto e branco, legendada em espanhol e electronicamente em português, 90 minutos / Estreia Mundial: Hollywood, 21 de Março de 1941 / Estreia em Portugal: Cinema Eden, a 28 de Novembro de 1941. Aviso: A cópia, proveniente do circuito comercial, tem “saltos” em algumas passagens de bobine. Pelo facto as nossas desculpas. _____________________________ Preston Sturges (1898-1959) tem sido um realizador de décadas pares décadas ímpares, ou seja tanto foi levado aos céus (um dos maiores cineasta americanos) como reduzido à mediania (“o sobrevalorizado Preston Sturges”). Sturges, com uma história pessoal bastante atípica entre as celebridades de Hollywood (família rica e “colunável”, educação em França, na Alemanha e na Suíça, inventor de um “bâton” à prova de beijos) assentou na capital do cinema apenas aos 35 anos, em 1933.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbara Stanwyck Movies: a Treasure Trove
    Life & Times Barbara Stanwyck movies: a treasure trove Barbara Stanwyck movies are all over careers. When hers eclipsed his, he fell into 50 years old. In the recent retrospective of alcoholism and wife beating. Later, their her films at the BFI Southbank season, half story became the plot of a movie, A Star were over 80 years old. Yet what stands out is Born. from this body of work is how modern the Her co-stars were a roll call of stars on films are, not in their plots or settings but the rise including Clark Gable (Night Nurse), in the characters she played and how she John Wayne (Baby Face), Kirk Douglas played them. (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers), Burt Stanwyck was never meek, decorative, Lancaster (Sorry, Wrong Number), Henry or incidental to the plot. Whether a young Fonda (The Mad Miss Manton), James woman sleeping her way to the top in Baby Mason, Cyd Charisse, and Ava Gardner (East Face (in 1933, before the Hays code), a Side, West Side), Humphrey Bogart (The preacher in Capra’s The Miracle Woman, or Two Mrs. Carrolls), David Niven (The Other an eroticised missionary’s wife in The Bitter Love), Marilyn Monroe (Clash by Night), and Tea of General Yen, she chose a range even Elvis Presley (Roustabout). She had of parts in which strong-minded women more regular partners in Gary Cooper (Meet made a difference to how the story turned John Doe, Ball of Fire), William Holden out. In her 82 films she had top billing in all (Golden Boy, Executive Suite), Joel McCrea (The Great Man’s Lady, Banjo on my Knee), but three.
    [Show full text]
  • A Community Treasure Summer 2018 Dear Friends, Patrons & Members
    A Community Treasure Summer 2018 Dear Friends, Patrons & Members, Welcome to Summer 2018 at the Colonial! As usual our calendar is full of the balcony, we also launched our partnership with Point Entertainment to wonderful opportunities to get out of the sun and enjoy our healthfully air- add concerts and comedy to our popular film programming. conditioned theatres. By 2009 we had completed most of our strategic plan – but we soon realized Since this year marks the 60th anniversary of The Blob, we’ve prepared some that we ran out of space to continue our eclectic programming. Lucky for us wonderful surprises for Blobfest 2018, including great guests, fun films and the property at 225 Bridge Street became available and ACT purchased it in lots of shenanigans. Don’t miss out! 2011. And you know the rest of the story! It’s been a little over a year since we opened the new wing and we appreciate As the Colonial helped draw thousands of people to town with its unique pro- everyone’s enthusiasm and support for our campaign and expanded program- gramming many developers took note. Soon new restaurants and independent ming. As promised, there is more film, more live entertainment and more businesses opened their doors and invested in our business center. There’s no fun! We have also enjoyed hosting some of our favorite non-profits as they denying that the arts can be a major force in community revitalizations - and spread messages to the community through film and presentations. It is still ACT has proven that over the course of 20 years.
    [Show full text]
  • XV:4) Preston Sturges the MIRACLE of MORGAN's CREEK (1944
    September 18, 2007 (XV:4) Preston Sturges THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK (1944) 99 minutes Eddie Bracken...Norval Jones Betty Hutton...Trudy Kockenlocker Diana Lynn...Emmy Kockenlocker William Demarest...Const. Kockenlocker Porter Hall...Justice of the Peace Emory Parnell...Mr. Tuerck Al Bridge...Mr. Johnson Julius Tannen...Mr. Rafferty Victor Potel...Newspaper editor Brian Donlevy...Gov. McGinty Akim Tamiroff...The Boss Directed and written by Preston Sturges Written by Preston Sturges Produced by Buddy G. DeSylva and Preston Sturges Cinematography by John F. Seitz Costume Design by Edith Head Makeup Department Wally Westmore Selected for the National Film Registry by the National Film Preservation Board, 2001 Preston Sturges (29 August 1898, Chicago—6 August 1959, New York, heart attack) is the first Hollywood director to get the double credit, “written and directed by.” His only Oscar, in fact, was for the screenplay of The Great McGinty 1941. (He received best screenplay nominations for Hail the Conquering Hero and The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, both in 1944. He split the vote with himself and the award went to Lamar Trotti for Wilson, a film no one has heard of since). He wrote 45 screenplays and directed 15, among which were The French they Are a Funny Race (1955), The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), The Great Moment (1944), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Sullivan’s Travel’s (1941), The Lady Eve (1941), Christmas in July (1940), and The Great McGinty (1940). He won a best screenplay Oscar for The Great McGinty and was nominated for The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lady Eve Written and Directed by Preston Sturges USA 1941, 92 Mins, Cert U a BFI Release
    The Lady Eve Written and directed by Preston Sturges USA 1941, 92 mins, Cert U A BFI release Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn 'You can't get a better romantic comedy than The Lady Eve' Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show) Opening at selected cinemas UK-wide from 15 February 2019 with Valentine’s Day previews 18 December 2018 – The Lady Eve is a match made in cinematic heaven; a screwball comedy from the master of the genre, Preston Sturges (1898–1959), starring two film legends – Barbara Stanwyck (1907–1990) and Henry Fonda (1905–1982). This fast- talking battle-of-the-sexes romance returns to the big screen in selected cinemas UK- wide on 15 February 2019, with Valentine’s Day previews offering a dream night out on 14 February for fans of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The film will be screened as an extended run during ‘Starring Barbara Stanwyck’, the forthcoming season at BFI Southbank that takes place from 1 February until 20 March 2019. The Lady Eve was based on a short story by the screenwriter and playwright Monckton Hoffe who in turn played on the biblical fable of Adam and Eve. Glamourous con-artist Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) manipulates her way through life, getting what she wants with skill, charm and charisma. On a cruise ship, she sets her sights on Charles ‘Hopsie’ Pike (Henry Fonda), an innocent, gullible millionaire and snake scientist, who falls for her in a heartbeat. But he learns about her dubious past… and her ruse comes undone when she genuinely falls for him… In one of her most memorable roles, Barbara Stanwyck brilliantly portrays a confident, witty, resourceful woman in pursuit of revenge – and love.
    [Show full text]
  • CLOSING EXHIBITION April 20 at 2:00
    APRIL Anniversary Gifts 17 WEDNESDAY 21 SUNDAY 12:30 Film: The National Gallery's 12:00 Gallery Talk: An Introduction 12:00 Gallery Talk: Degas Waxes Early Years on Film to Art: The Artist's Choices 1:00 Film: Welcome to the Water See bottom panels for introductory 1:00 Gallery Talk: Landscape into Art 12:30 Film: Welcome to the Water Planet and foreign language tours; see 2:00 Film: The Strawberry Blonde; Planet 4:00 Mellon Lecture: Silver Tribute reverse side for complete film Angels with Dirty Faces 1:00 Gallery Talk: Lever No. 3 by from a Prince to a Grand Duke: The information 2:30 Gallery Talk: The American Martin Puryear 'Piatti di San Giovanni' Family Portrait, 1776-1876 2:00 Film: Voices in Celebration 6:00 Film: The Goldwyn Follies John Constable. Yarmouth Jetty, 1822. 7:00 Concert: George Shearing, piano, David Smith, Untitled (I irgitt Islands}, 1933, Promised Gift of Ruth Carter Stevenson iti Gift of Candida and Rebecca Smith in Honor 7 SUNDAY I lonor of the 50th Anniversary of the National 18 THURSDAY with Joe Williams and Joe Pass; Jazz of the 50th Anniversary of the National 1 MONDAY 12:00 Gallery Talk: Landscape Into Gallery of Art 10:15 Survey Course: American Art: Concert Gallery of Art 12:00 Gallery Talk: Bianca Maria Art The 18th Century and Early 19th Sforza by Ambrogio de Predis 1:00 Film: The National Gallery's 12 FRIDAY Century 22 MONDAY Early Years on Film 12:30 Film: The Home Show 12:00 Gallery Talk: Landscape into 1:00 Earth Day Lecture: Artist and 12:30 Film: James Stirling 2 TUESDAY 6:00 Film: Kitty Foyle
    [Show full text]
  • The Sublime Wisdom of Not Understanding: the Role of Knowledge in Preston Sturges’ the Lady Eve
    www.thecine-files.com FEATURED SCHOLARSHIP The Sublime Wisdom of Not Understanding: The Role of Knowledge in Preston Sturges’ The Lady Eve Jason Michelitch Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve (1941), as Stanley Cavell says, is a film that "knows itself to have been written and directed and photographed and edited."1 Indeed, this is a film that concerns itself with the question of knowledge. A transcendently strange film from a transcendently strange filmmaker, the story follows Jean (Barbara Stanwyck), a con artist on an ocean liner who sets out to ensnare bumbling billionaire Charles (Henry Fonda) in a web of lust, only to end up a prisoner of love herself after she falls for the mug. When he discovers her deceit and casts her aside, her broken heart fuels her with rage, and she sets out to con him again, this time infiltrating his family estate masquerading as the titular Lady Eve, seducing him once again, with an eye towards revenge. As always with Sturges, the convoluted plot meets with hyperactive dialogue and an idiosyncratic visual pattern, synthesizing into a rare confection of entertainment that feels so otherworldly that one hesitates to place it in any particular category, be it "romantic comedy" or even "Hollywood film." Nevertheless, while it may be more than the sum of its labels, it is a film that clearly fits within both traditions, and such placement is useful to us in exploring the deeper significance of this absurdist romp. The classical Hollywood formula is generally considered “conservative at best, reactionary at worst, attempting always to recuperate with ameliorative closure whatever problems and divisions it creates.”2 Scholars such as Robert B.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbara Stanwyck Centennial
    Film Programs Ball of Fire: Barbara Stanwyck Centennial July 6, 2007 - July 31, 2007 "Thank God I wasn't an ingenue. That would have killed me," Barbara Stanwyck said, reflecting late in life on her early career in Hollywood. Anything but ingenuous, Stanwyck (1907–1990) was the screen archetype of the independent woman with her wits about her, alert and often on the make. Born Ruby Stevens in Flatbush and orphaned early, she started working as a chorus girl at age fifteen; by 1930 she had embarked on a film career that ran from scandalous pre-Code sagas and "women's weepies" through noirs, smart-mouthed comedies, and whip-cracking Westerns (after retiring from the big screen, she was the memorable matriarch of TV's Big Valley). The movies made the most of her tough-broad- from-Brooklyn persona, but her performances also convey a certain reserve and a private tenderness, her vigor and slangy vivacity tempered by the ambivalence that comes with knowledge. Douglas Sirk, with whom she made a devastating pair of 1950s melodramas, called Ladies They Talk About, July 31 her "more expressive than any actress I ever worked with. She had depth as a person. There is this amazing tragic stillness about her, and there is nothing the least bit phony. She isn't capable of phony." Our centennial tribute showcases the very real qualities of this extraordinary actress: the knowing precision of glance and gesture, the husky voice that deepened with time and smoke—and then there were those legs. But why try to itemize her attributes? As Stanwyck said, "What the hell.
    [Show full text]
  • Preston Sturges & the Marx Bros
    Preston Sturges & The Marx Bros. by Richard von Busack “Somebody said that all I needed for success in American life was a bass voice and a muscular handshake, so I seized producers with a powerful grip, looked piercingly into their eyes and asked them in my deepest tones if they doubted for a second if I could direct. “When they said, ‘no’, and I said, “Then when do I start,’ they said, “As soon as you’ve directed for anybody else.” Such was Preston Sturges’ dilemma in the late 1930s. He was one of the best-paid writers in Hollywood, where, as the saying went, you never saw so many unhappy people earning $100,000 a year. He had worked for Goldwyn, MGM and Universal, had writ- ten dialogue for kings and drum majorettes alike, and he was burning to direct. It was during this time that a script of Sturges’ titled “The Vagrant” was being pre- pared for filming. Sturges offered his services as director for the sum of $1. Paramount producer William LeBaron accepted the deal for $10 to make it more official. The script was retitled “The Great McGinty.” In parting, LeBaron warned the novice direc- tor that he’d be happier as a writer: “Shoemaker, stick to your last!” “You show me a man who sticks to his last, and I’ll show you a shoemaker,” Sturges thought to himself, on the staircase out of the office. So began the directing career of Preston Sturges. In a startlingly short rush of creative fervor, which chronologically paralleled the US’s most desperate years during World War II, Sturges directed seven peerless comedies.
    [Show full text]
  • Amos Vogel Papers, 1896-2001 (Bulk Dates: 1960-1990) MS#1432
    Amos Vogel Papers, 1896-2001 (Bulk Dates: 1960-1990) MS#1432 ©2009 Columbia University Library SUMMARY INFORMATION Creator Amos Vogel, 1921- Title and dates Amos Vogel Papers, 1896-2001 (Bulk Dates: 1960-1990) Abstract This collection documents the professional work of film critic, professor, and author, Amos Vogel. The bulk of the records are concerned with numerous films that Vogel has screened for Cinema 16, the independent film society that he founded and directed for sixteen years, as well as administrative records, correspondence, photographs, and printed material. Size 63.4 linear feet (145 document boxes, 1 half-size box, 6 index card boxes, 1 flat box, 1 record box, 4 oversized folders) Call number MS# 1432 Location Columbia University Butler Library, 6th Floor Rare Book and Manuscript Library Amos Vogel Papers 535 West 114th Street New York, NY 10027 Language(s) of material Collection is predominantly in English; materials in German are indicated at the subseries level. Biographical Note Independent film in New York City has had several champions throughout its lifetime; one of the most vocal and committed being film critic and historian, Amos Vogel. Vogel, with his wife Marcia, has spent a lifetime promoting independent film and filmmakers, first through their non- profit membership organization, Cinema 16, and later as director of the New York Film Festival under the umbrella of Lincoln Center. Amos Vogel (neé Vogelbaum) was born in Vienna Austria, on April 18, 1921. His mother, Matel, was a kindergarten teacher and his father, Samuel, a lawyer. According to an interview by Scott MacDonald, Vogel had always shown an interest in the cinema, frequenting many screenings and was a member of a large film society in Vienna.
    [Show full text]