books to film: pal joey and BUtterfield 8

After recently reading Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, I decided that I not only wanted to continue with my book-to-film theme, but keep it centered in New York City, too. That led me to John O'Hara's  Pal Joey and BUtterfield 8.

John O'Hara - Four Novels of the 1930s

I had heard for years that the 1957 film version of Pal Joey was nothing like the 1940 Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical - Gene Kelly apparently portrayed him as a genuine no-good crumb (as Joey would say). In the film Frank Sinatra isn't exactly an angel, but he has enough of the proverbial heart of gold to win the love of sweet Kim Novak. Not only does the original O'Hara text outline Joey's not-so-nice persona, but it is an epistolary novel, including a series of Joey Evans' missives to his "dear pal Ted." Down on his luck nightclub MC and singer Joey Evans is always trying to get his more successful friend Ted to help him get a job in New York, where Ted seems to be doing very well in his own musical career, but clearly Ted isn't biting. The novel started as a story that O'Hara submitted to The New Yorker, first published in 1938. It was so popular he wrote more and more, until they were compiled published as a novel in 1940. To the delight of the reader, your pal Joey writes like he talks, which, a la Derek Zoolander, is not too good:

Dear Friend Ted
That is if I can call you friend after the last two weeks for it is a hard thing to do considering. I do not know if you realize what has happen to me oweing to your lack of consideration. Maybe it is not lack of consideration. Maybe it is on purpose. Well if it is on purpose all I have to say is maybe you are the one that will be the loser and not me as I was going to do certan things for you but now it does not look like I will be able to do them.

From the 1957 film, Frank Sinatra as your pal Joey with mice Kim Novak and Rita Hayworth

Pal Joey is a mostly funny read. Joey is grasping, but mostly clueless. He does seem to have a pretty good talent for the music and jazz of the time, but his human relations skills are less than zero, especially with the "mice" (Joey's slang for girls) that he encounters along the way. Joey doesn't seem to be doing much better with his career by the end of the novel than he did when it started, which adds to the realism, and even humor of the piece. Joey may have been a heel, but his persona has lived on entertainingly in print, stage, and screen.

1935's BUtterfield 8 was made into a successful film in 1960, starring Elizabeth Taylor (who won the Oscar for Best Actress) and then-husband Eddie Fisher, right before she went on to make the blockbuster Cleopatra. The story centers on Gloria Wandrous, a young woman who lives her life freely - sleeping with men that she likes, while searching for a meaningful life. Gloria is a complicated person. It is revealed, midway through the novel, that she was a victim of child sexual abuse. She is quite frank and flirtatious with her closest friend, commercial artist Eddie, who seems to be her only true friend. Gloria is getting tired of her itinerant life and believes that she has fallen in love with her latest lover, married man Weston Liggett. But will she be able to get past her malaise and open herself to love and a life with Liggett?

From the 1960 film, Elizabeth Taylor in her Oscar-winning turn as Gloria Wandrous in BUtterfield 8

“On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who later was to be the cause of a sensation in New York, awoke much too early for her night before. One minute she was asleep, the next she was completely awake and dumped into despair. It was the kind of despair that she had known perhaps two thousand times before, there being 365 mornings in a calendar year.”

The book, although interesting to read and progressive for its time, has problems. Gloria is racist and abusive to her mother's black maid as a matter of course. She is the recipient of sexist behavior, which is not surprising, considering the time the story takes place, but that same sexism is also ultimately worked into the plot. Why is Gloria made to "pay" for her choices and behavior while her partner, Liggett, seems to get off scot free? That can happen frequently in life, but did the reader in 1935 accept her fate as unjust or inevitable? Events in the 1960 film may have been depicted as tragic, but seemed equally cliché. BUtterfield 8 seems a precursor, almost a companion story to Breakfast at Tiffany's. The authors each presented interesting, free-spirited women as their protagonists, but in the end, don't seem to know what to do with them.


This post also appears on Cannonball Read 11

favorite movie #59: it's always fair weather

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #59 - It's Always Fair Weather (1955) - When most people think of classic Gene Kelly films, Singin' in the Rain, On the Town, and An American in Paris come to mind. But my personal favorite Kelly film is It's Alway Fair Weather. A story about three GIs who plan to meet again after ten years home from the war, it could be described as the dark side of On the Town. Ted (Kelly), Doug (Dan Dailey), and Angie (choreographer Michael Kidd, in his first onscreen role) have led very different lives since they were in the army together, and after a few minutes of being back together frankly loathe one another. A bored Ted tries to pick up Jackie (Cyd Charisse), an advertising executive who decides the boys' story is just what her late-night television show could use — some real schmaltz. The film is prophetic in its criticism and depiction of reality television and its phony host (Dolores Gray). There are some great set pieces, with the trio dancing with garbage can lids on their feet, Cyd Charisse charming the denizens of a fight club ("Baby You Knock Me Out"), and the best number of all, "I Like Myself," with Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates. Yes, I said that right. Gene Kelly dances on roller skates. The script (and song lyrics) are by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the music by André Previn. Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen, their last film together.

The only odd note in the film is that Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse didn't have any dance numbers together. I found this on YouTube. It must have ended up on the cutting room floor.

favorite movie #16: singin’ in the rain

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #16 - Singin’ in the Rain (1952) - I will always like Fred Astaire, but Gene Kelly ... so sexy, so talented. This is his masterpiece. The title number. The Hollywood silent movies to talkies backdrop. The amazing cast, songs, dance numbers. The fine art-inspired set design. The dialogue. I could go on and on ...

[After filming a love scene] 

Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen): Oh Donny! You couldn't kiss me like that and not mean it just a teensy bit! 

Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly): Meet the greatest actor in the world! I'd rather kiss a tarantula. 

Lina: You don't mean that. 

Don: I don't - Hey Joe, get me a tarantula!

gene kelly: anatomy of a dancer

As we were checking out the DVDs at our local library the other day, the kid's eagle eye caught sight of  Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer, a documentary on the star originally broadcast by PBS on American Masters. What can I say, the kid has taste and knows what her mommy likes.

I have been a fan of Gene Kelly since I was my daughter's age. So many years later he still impresses. His grace and athleticism are unparalleled in movies. And the man was not just skilled, but sexy. Although he was possessed of a sunny grin, there was frequently a dark side to the characters he played onscreen. His daughter, Kerry, is quoted as saying that he was the only one of his Hollywood friends not in analysis. He worked his demons out in his choreography, and many of his most well-known dances are dreamscapes.

The film, narrated by actor Stanley Tucci, covers Kelly's career from his youth in Pittsburgh to his meteoric rise on Broadway and then Hollywood. I knew Kelly got his first big break on Broadway in Pal Joey, and his life-long love of sports (including the New York Yankees). What I didn't know was that when he went to Hollywood soon after Pal Joey and made his first musical, with Judy Garland, For Me and My Gal, that Garland helped him immeasurably in transferring his "exaggerated" stage moves to the more intimate screen. I also learned that back in Pittsburgh his brother Fred taught him to tap dance — their mother had all of her children take years of dance training and the family started a dancing school to help make ends meet.

Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer includes previously taped interviews with Kelley and the usual talking heads, including actress Betsy Blair (first wife), lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green and dancers Cyd Charisse and Donald O'Connor  (Singin' in the Rain), actresses Leslie Caron and Nina Foch (An American in Paris), composer Andre Previn (It's Always Fair Weather), Betty Garrett (Take Me Out to the Ball Game, On the Town), and co-director Stanley Donen (On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, It's Always Fair Weather).

There is much discussion of his being a stern taskmaster and a demanding perfectionist. Actress Debbie Reynolds tells us that "The two hardest things I did in my life was childbirth and Singin' in the Rain." But she also admits that her experience with Kelly and the film taught her a lot. The included clips confirm that all his hard work and attention to detail was well worth it. Kelly was the ultimate American dancer, and ex-wife Blair insists that "he wanted to democratize dance."

Kelly was the was only star working in musicals who was also choreographing, writing, and directing as well. He was constantly testing himself, and dance on film. He created some of the most innovative numbers in movie musicals, and he started early. In his fourth film, Thousands Cheer, his first film with MGM, he did a solo dance with a mop and broom. Two years later in 1945 found him dancing with Jerry the mouse in Anchors Aweigh. In 1949 he co-directed On the Town with Stanley Donen, and opened up the movie musical by insisting that it be filmed in real New York City locations. He memorably tap danced on roller skates in 1955 in It's Always Fair Weather.

What may not be known about Kelly is how the Hollywood blacklist affected his life. His wife Betsy Blair was blacklisted because of her left-wing politics and almost lost her most famous role, as Clara, Ernest Borgnine's girlfriend, in Marty. Kelly threatened to pull out of It's Always Fair Weather if she was denied the role and she got the part. Because of the political climate, the Kellys moved to Europe for a while and he made a pet project, Invitation to the Dance. But the studio shelved it for four years and it flopped with U.S. audiences when it was finally released.

Blair speaks in her interviews very fondly and proudly of Kelly and happy about their time together. She can't really explain why she asked him for a divorce. She and Kelly were close to Donen and his wife Jeanne Coyne (who was also Kelly's choreographic assistant). Coyne and Donen divorced after only a few years of marriage and Kelly married Coyne three years after Blair divorced him. Close quarters.

Kelly in The Pirate

Romantic complications aside, Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer is chock-full of wonderful footage of Kelly, and it will be impossible not to want to see one of his classic films after checking out this entertaining documentary. Kelly's performances still give so much joy. Just watching him do the title number from Singin' in the Rain can't help but bring a smile to your face. The only difficult decision will be which film to watch. An American in Paris for the amazing paintings coming to life sequence. On the Town for the kinetic dance routines. Cover Girl for his good/guy bad/guy persona and Phil Silvers and Rita Hayworth. The Pirate for his amazing, athletic spoof and homage to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. — the list goes on and on.

gene kelly in motion

from Sicilians are Sensational

call me

Gene Kelly makes my day, from We Had Faces Then

these are a few of my favorite blogs ...

We Had Faces Then is a great tumblr blog of Old Hollywood stills that its author has found cruising the internet. I'm grateful he is doing it for me, so I just have to scroll through his blog rather than go looking for fabulous photos of Gene Kelley myself.

Tumblelogs are interesting. These microblogs are actually designed for easy posting and sharing — and most bloggers give credit where credit is due. It gets kind of interesting when one photo can lead you back through four or five blogs to track down the source. Of course, then you might also want to start following four or five new tumblrs ... But for folks who like images, this is always a good thing.

Gene Kelly, tumbled back and forth between We Had Faces Then and kissmegenekelly


Looking a tad uncomfortable — Lucille Ball and Gene Kelly, via We Had Faces Then, via vintagegal


Gene Kelly, via We Had Faces Then, via theflamingcurmudgeon (via buttbeautiful, jenbebe)

a funny thing ...

My mom's memory continues to slip, tiny bit by bit, but with no discernible pattern. Some days it feels like there is only the worst to look forward to. Some days seem fine. One saving grace, at least for the present, is that no matter how hard it can be for her to communicate at times—the right word seems harder and harder to come by—she still enjoys reading and watching movies. And of course watching her adorable granddaughter.

I come from a family of movie buffs. My mom and dad had special nicknames for favorite actors. They always talked about movies particularly—how a certain movie at a certain time in their lives meant something. My brother and I would watch movies with them, mostly on television. From a young age we would also get to go out to the movies on rare occasions, to see something special.




Some of the movies we all trooped together to see made a lasting impression. Young Frankenstein is still my favorite Mel Brooks film, even though I was too young to get the dirty joke/punchline. I think I could probably quote it from beginning to end. 2001: A Space Odyssey bored the whole family to tears, and we are all sci-fi geeks. But shared misery can be a bonding experience. Star Wars thrilled us all and was the first movie we all saw together more than once. Life of Brian was controversial at the time it was released (sacreligious!), but my newspaperman dad wasn't going to let anyone censor his family seeing Monty Python or anything, for that matter. The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid we saw in the space of one week, while they were playing at the local drive-in. Robert Redford was probably the first movie actor I fell in love with that was in a current movie, and not someone from one of the old B&W ones my mom loved that we would see on television, like Tyrone Power or Robert Taylor. Another of my first loves was Frank Langella. We all went to see him in Dracula, as we liked scary movies as much as sci-fi—Langella was very sexy—sort of weird to see with mom and dad. Dad bought me the Bram Stoker novel with Langella on the cover, maybe to get me to read it, or get back to to the source. I was just thrilled at first to get to relive some of the movie's scenes, but then got caught up in the late 19th century epistolary writing style, so maybe dad was onto something. I think I may still have it somewhere ...





I remember when my mom and dad both got so excited about The Godfather coming out. They had both read the book from the library, taking turns, while trying to keep it away from us, from the racy and violent parts. When the movie came out my brother and I had to stay with our grandma while mom and dad drove to NY to see it on a big screen. Maybe my dad had some sort of press pass. Or maybe they just wanted a big night out in the city. My brother and I were so jealous, but we got from them that movies can be special.

I grew up with a B&W television until I was in my teens. One of my fondest childhood memories was when the Wizard of Oz was playing at the local movie theater and my mom insisted on us going to see it. My brother and I had already seen it on television, so we didn't know what the big deal was. We walked downtown with mom who made sure we got good seats. It was fun seeing Dorothy on such a huge screen, and I always liked going to the movies, but I didn't get it until ... She opened the door to technicolor Munchkinland. My brother and I both screamed. I looked at my mom and she just smiled. She had saved that surprise, that bit of movie magic, for us all those years.

So it is extremely gratifying to me that we can sit together in the evening on occasion and still watch movies together. I can see with some of the more recent films that she is losing the plot a bit. But if I put on an old movie, it's like magic. She's much more into the story and excited at seeing the old familiar faces of actors and actresses. I might have to supply the names, but she knows exactly who they all are, sometimes much better than I do. That happened the other night when I was flipping past channels and found Zero Mostel singing the opening number, "Comedy Tonight" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. I had seen the movie years ago, actually probably late one night on television with my dad. I didn't really remember it much, so it was fun to rediscover it with her.

The same thing happened again on a recent Sunday afternoon when we all watched The Pirate. My mom thought she hadn't seen it before (who knows?), but no matter. She loves Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, the kid got to dance along to Dorothy and that guy who tap dances on roller skates, and I got to see Gene Kelly dance in shorts, so it was a win-win-win.

I've always liked old movies, but I think I am going to like them even more now.

these are a few of my favorite things . . .

Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates in It's Always Fair Weather.

is it strange to have a crush on...

...someone no longer alive?

“I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls”

Last night I was flipping channels and landed on An American in Paris. It has never been one of my favorite Gene Kelly movies, at least I have always told myself that, much preferring Singin' in the Rain. On the Town is always fun, too. But after the kid was long asleep I stuck with it, just past this part or that number that I remembered that I really loved—Embraceable You (just how Kelly holds his shoulders in that dance with Leslie Caron is amazing), Stairway to Paradise, etc. The cap to, and truly, excuse for the entire movie is the spectacular end piece by Gershwin. The concept, costumes and set design to bring to life paintings by Dufy, Rousseau and Van Gogh is wonderful, but my favorite section would have to be the one set in Toulouse Lautrec's Moulin Rouge. Not only has Kelly never looked sexier (except maybe in that fantasy scene from The Pirate), but the lighting and make-up of the extras in the scene are spot-on. Someone did their homework to create art from art. Wonderful.




No offense to his pal Sinatra, but I would have loved to see Gene Kelly in the movie version of Pal Joey, the role he originated on Broadway. Apparently MGM prevented him from appearing in the film due to contractual blah-blah-blah, so we wuz robbed.

“I wanted to invent some kind of American dance that was danced to the music that I grew up on: Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart and Irving Berlin. So I evolved a style that certainly didn't catch on right away—but I had some good mentors in New York who encouraged me.”

There is always something a little dark to Kelly—a quality, besides his fantastic form and athleticism, which contributes to his sexiness. The character of Joey Evans in Pal Joey is basically a jerk. In American in Paris Jerry Mulligan is on his way to becoming a kept man, who finally chooses love over fame to run off to an uncertain future with Leslie Caron just in the last few moments of the film. In one of my favorites, It's Always Fair Weather, his character defines cynicism—and tap dances spectacularly on roller-skates. He was the Bogie of movie musicals. Or, according to Kelly:

If Fred Astaire is the Cary Grant of dance, I'm the Marlon Brando.

Musicals are an idealization of the world, and there is something that just brings a smile to one's face when watching someone sing and dance and express the big emotions with all the color, costumes and back-up dancers. Kelly did all that with style, muscularity and intelligence—and he could speak French! Sigh. At least we can still enjoy all that life and energy and dark emotion on film.

I never wanted to be a dancer. It's true! I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Apparently Kelly was also a big New York Yankees fan.

on the town

My daughter loves this movie. I have always had the hots for Gene Kelly. This isn't one of my favorites of his films, but it has a joy and exuberance that is infectious. This WWII era Coast Guard photo of my pop, lower right, has the same joie de vivre. Funny, since the times were so uncertain and dangerous. Ah to be seventeen again...(but not during wartime.)

My dad was also from that hell of a town, the up part...