Song: “Good-bye-ee” – Elsie Janis and British soldier in “Behind the Lines”, 1926Elsie JanisElsie JanisElsie Janis  –  Honorary Chief of the Pep Division!

Love those World War I songs!  “Good-bye-ee” (by Brits, R.P. Weston and Bert Lee, 1915 [?]):

Good-bye-ee, good-bye-ee,
Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee,
Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,
I’ll be tickled to death to go.
Don’t cry-ee, dont sigh-ee,
there’s a silver lining in the sky-ee,
Bonsoir, old thing, cheer-i-o, chin, chin,
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, Good-bye-ee.

• Hear “Good-bye-ee“, recorded by Courtland and Jeffries, 1918.
• “Good-bye-ee“, and other vintage World War I audio and video are at firstworldwar.com.
• “Elsie Janis: in a vaudeville act “Behind the Lines” assisted by the Men’s Chorus of the 107th Regiment” (1926) can be seen with other Vitaphone Shorts on the 3rd disc of the 3-disc deluxe edition of the first full-length sound movie, The Jazz Singer (Al Jolson, 1927, released 2007).

Elsie Janis, 1889-1956, Columbus, Ohio, vaudeville and stage star, film actor, author, songwriter and screenwriter, was the “Sweetheart of the A.E.F. [American Expeditionary Forces]” during World War I.

“A very smart little French trench” - photo. The Big Show: My Six Months With the American Expeditionary Forces, by Elsie Janis, 1919

Elsie Janis – Theatre Magazine, March 1924

“Elsie Janis of the U.S.A. who probably did more than any other American artist to entertain the boys in France, has just returned from ‘over there’ after receiving the courtesy title of General.” The Theatre Magazine (July 1919), 5.

And from The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France), March 15, 1918:

Elsie Janis - Theatre Magazine, January 1920

“It is really a pity that, because of laws and general orders and other masculine inventions, the Government of the United States cannot commission Miss Elsie Janis and attach her to the A.E.F. for the duration of the war, with the title of Chief of the Pep Division.  By injecting her pepful and pulchritudinous personality into the Army camps she is visiting, she inspires every man who sees her perform — and who’s going to miss seeing her? — with an overwhelming desire to turn cartwheels over and over all the way along the rocky road to Berlin. In short, she’s There!

“To an Army which has these many months listened perforce to lectures on “Why We Are at War,” “The Mining of Carroway Seeds in Argentina,” … to an Army that has been persistently told that it can’t be happy and be good at the same time; to an Army that has been overwhelmingly “informed” and otherwise edified, Elsie Janis comes as a distinct relief.  She is an oasis of color and vivacity in the midst of a dreary desert of frock-coated and white-tied legislators and lecturers who have been visited upon us for our sins and the sins of our fathers.  Therefore, we are for her.

“Elsie Janis is as essential to the success of this Army as a charge of powder is essential to the success of a shell. More entertainment by her and “the likes of her” and less instruction by people who take themselves seriously — that’s one formula for winning the war!“  – (“Elsie”, The Stars and Stripes (Paris, France), March 15, 1918, v.1, n.6, p.4 — memory.loc.gov)

“Following the war, Janis maintained her commitment to the fighting men to whom she had become so attached. Charles Dillingham agreed to produce Elsie Janis and Her Gang, a revue which Janis created for returned out-of-work soldiers, some of whom she had entertained during the war.

‘Even though she was told no one wanted to hear about the war anymore, the Gang was a success, due, according to Janis, to “the boys [who] were the real thing and the public realised it from the moment they stuck their heads through the curtain….” (Janis, Elsie.  So Far, So Good!: An Autobiography.  New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1932, 211)” — (Elsie Janis: Some Sort of Somebody, Ohio State University Libraries)

This Italian poster IS the exquisite essence of Summertime …

Rossano Brazzi, Katharine Hepburn – Summertime, 1955

Summertime is based on the 1952-1953 Broadway production, The Time of the Cuckoo, by Arthur Laurents, starring Shirley Booth (1953 Tony winner) and Dino DiLuca.

“The cuckoo is a summer visitant to the whole of Europe. It proclaims its arrival by a cry, heralding the season of love.” — Encyclopedia Britannica

Dino DiLuca, Shirley Booth – The Time of the Cuckoo, Oct. 1952 (Life photos)

The Time of the Cuckoo (Oct. 15, 1952-May 30, 1953) was the last play at the Empire Theatre, 1430 Broadway, New York.  Built in 1893, it was torn down in 1953.

Empire Theatre, 40th and 41st, New York, NY

Finally on DVD!  Many have commented that they remember One Touch of Venus from childhood and have been mesmerized by the song “Speak Low (When You Speak Love)“.  Me, too …  There I sat in front of the tv, microphone in hand, recording the movie audio on my little reel-to-reel tape recorder.  Before VCRs, this was the next best thing for memory keeping.

“Speak Low” … Music: Kurt Weil.   Lyrics: Ogden Nash.  Introduced by Mary Martin in the theatrical musical comedy, One Touch of Venus, 1943-1945,  directed by Elia Kazan.

Speak low when you speak love.
Our summer day
withers away
too soon, too soon.

Speak low when you speak love.
Our moment is swift
like ships adrift,
we’re swept apart, too soon.

Speak low, darling, speak low.
Love is a spark, lost in the dark
too soon, too soon.
I feel wherever I go
that tomorrow is near,
tomorrow is here and always too soon.

Time is so old and love so brief.
Love is pure gold and time a thief.

We’re late, darling, we’re late.
The curtain descends
ev’rything ends
too soon, too soon.
I wait, darling, I wait.
Will you speak low to me,
speak love to me and soon.

One Touch of Venus, 1948 – Ava Gardner, Tom Conway and Eve Arden (a favorite character actress of the ever zinging comments variety)

]]> http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/one-touch-of-venus-1948/feed/ 2 teenyperk OneTouchOfVenus1948_AvaGardner_RobertWalker OneTouchOfVenus1948_AvaGardner_TomConway_EveArden http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/the-mysterious-ramon-novarro-1899-1968/ http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/the-mysterious-ramon-novarro-1899-1968/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:21:59 +0000 teenyperk http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/?p=995 ]]> How can I have a blog, without raising a glass to Ramon Novarro … Ramon … Why do I like him?  One of the sweet mysteries of life …

Signs of prior addiction:

• Plotting and planning to record his every film shown on TCM
• A thankfully brief eBay stint when I thought I could buy EVERYTHING Ramon.  Not possible, there’s just too much …
• Traveling miles over wintery mountain roads for a big-screen showing of The Red Lily, 1924,  at the Bijou Theater, Lincoln City, Oregon.  Now THAT was a coup,  finding it in  little coastal Oregon!  The Ramon stars were truly aligned! …  All thanks to supreme Ramon-arian, Matias Bombal …
• Finally locating his grave at Calvary Cemetary, Los Angeles.  Took two attempts, over several years, first with Debra, then Russ.  Brave souls!

I have a hazy memory of a movie on tv … an Arab, an oasis … black and white … on a Portland, Oregon station, sometime between the 3rd and 6th grades.  I bought a small gold picture frame at a store in Battle Ground, with a photo of a young-ish Rock Hudson in a red and black lumberman’s shirt.  I must have got it more for the frame … Rock Hudson wasn’t really on my radar.

Back home at East Beaver Creek, I wrote on the back of Rock’s photo, “Ramon Novarro”. I definitely wrote a name … with an Arab and an oasis in mind …   So, which movie was it?  The Barbarian, 1933?  The Sheik Steps Out, 1934?  Maybe even Son of India, 1931? …  All three are sound, unlike the silent The Arab, 1924.

The mysteries of memory … In any case, here are a few of my favorite Ramon Novarro photos:

The Arab, 1924 – with Alice Terry

Across to Singapore, 1928

Across to Singapore, 1928 – with Joan Crawford

The Pagan, 1929

The Pagan, 1929 – with Dorothy Janis

Son of India, 1931 – with Madge Evans

The Barbarian, 1933 – with Myrna Loy

Could this be the film that sparked it all?  The Sheik Steps Out, 1934

If you thought that was somethin’ … cast your peepers over this smolderin’ portrayal of macho and pulchritude! … You’d better watch out! Santa’s taken a wrong turn down a dark film noir alley!

What’s this? … It was only a dream? Those visions of noirish sugar plum thugs and molls that danced in my head have given way to the glistening, gleaming light of Christmas morning … and the REAL Holiday Affair …

All in all, it’s a charming film, with a required love triangle, fit for any season.  Take your best shot … Who gets the girl (Janet Leigh)? …  Wendell Corey … or Robert Mitchum?

Using the newly re-designed Sensitive Machitude-ometer, the winner is the one, the only … Robert Mitchum, Mr. Robert Mitchum!

Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey – Holiday Affair, 1949

Watch the Finnish version on YouTube:

“We are Siamese, if you please … We are Siamese, if you don’t please!”

Oomme Siamin rotukissat,
Oomme Siamin rotukissat.
Katsomme me kotiamme uutta taas.
Jos me täne päsemme, on rauha maas.

Katso, kuinka ui nyt tuo noin kehää vain.
Ehkä siitä herkkupalan minä sain.
Varovasti päälle sen nyt hiivitään.
Sinä siitä hännän saat ja minä pään.

Kuuletko sä, mitä kuulen? Itkua!
Siellä missä lapsi on, on maitoa.
Jos me kehtoon katsomme, niin ehkä on
Maitopullo myös se aivan verraton.

And for all you non-Finnish speakers, watch the English version on YouTube:

We are Siamese, if you please
We are Siamese, if you don’t please
Now we looking over our new domicile
If we like we stay for maybe quite a while

Do you seeing that thing swimming round and round?
Maybe we could reaching in and make it drown
If we sneaking up upon it carefully
There will be a head for you, a tail for me

Do you hear what I hear? – a baby cry!
Where we finding baby there are milk nearby
If we look in baby buggy there could be
Plenty milk for you – and also some for me

Näkemiin!

Lucille Bremmer, Margaret O’Brien, Judy Garland – Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944

A new Christmas Eve tradition, watching Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944 (used to be The Wizard of Oz, 1939).  The DVD sits happily on my shelves, but chose to catch it breezing by on TCM …

A trivia bug bit  … What’s Judy Garland’s character’s name?  Tootie? Of course not, that’s the little wee-ster,  Margaret O’Brien.  Of all the times I’ve half-watched, partially watched Meet Me, the name never made an impression.  Then the bolt struck … Esther …. ESTHER!!  That just doesn’t fit!

Esther Blodgett in A Star Is Born, 1954, yes!   Even then, the studio boss changed it to Vicky Lester. But Esther Smith in Meet Me …  no!    And Judy played them both.

Here’s  Janet Gaynor’s “Esther morphology” from the earlier A Star Is Born, 1937  …  (Janet Gaynor, Judy Garland … same role, identical initials!)

Lionel Stander: “Do you know what her name is? Esther Victoria … BLODGETT!”

Adolphe Menjou: “Hey, we’ll have to do something about that right away  … Let’s see … Victoria … Vicky.  How about Vicky? … Vicky … Vicky what? … Esther, Bester, Cester, Fester … Jester, Hester, Gester, Lester …. Vicky Lester! … Say it!”

“Vicky Lester … Vicky Lester … VICKY LESTER!”

Esther be gone! She’s now “Vicky Lester!” – Janet Gaynor says her new name for the first time – A Star Is Born, 1937

]]> http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/a-merry-little-esther-christmas/feed/ 0 teenyperk meet-me-in-st-louis_snow_family StarIsBorn-1937_VickiLester_450p_90res http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/the-last-sunset-1961/ http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/2009/09/13/the-last-sunset-1961/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:36:23 +0000 teenyperk http://teenyperk.wordpress.com/?p=693 ]]>

Carol Lynley, Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (Brendan “Bren” O’Malley):

“Find yourself a nice, big boulder with the waves breaking against it. Look deep. Dream of seahorses and they’ll come.

Not many people know of it; not many people care, but the sea is a place where the seamen shoe the hooves of the wild sea mare.

Not many men have seen it or caught the faintest gleam of the ice green cave in the deep green sea in the heart of the cold sea stream, but the sea mare hides her young sea colt wrapped in a shy sea dream.

But probably all the people know and can absolutely say that the foam on the sea is the sign that you see the mare and her colt at play.”  — Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo

Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Australian film, My Brilliant Career, 1979, directed by Gillian Armstrong.

1979 was also the 100th birthday of Miles Franklin (1879-1954) whose semi-autobiographical first novel, My Brilliant Career, was published in 1901.  Here’s a brilliant discovery:

• Thank goodness for digital archiving!  “Papers concerning the publication of  ‘My brilliant career’, 1899-1910″ are available online at the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

• In scans of handwritten correspondence, you’ll see her initially referred to as Mr Miles Franklin (Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin), in the age when many female authors used male pseudonyms, as she notes in a letter to Mr. J.B. Pinker, Feb. 6, 1901:

“4.  Please on no account allow “Miss” to prefice my name on the title page as I do not wish it to be known that I’m a young girl but desire to pose as a bold-headed son of the sterner sex.”

• Regarding the book’s title:

“2. Please be sure that in publication of said MSS. the note of interrogation is not omitted from the title, thus: — “My Brilliant (?) Career.”

Miles Franklin, circa 1901.  Travel to suburban Hurstville, in southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to find the sculpture by Jacek Luszczyk.  More sculpture photos.