Saturday Day 3 |
|
The morning started with the annual Cinecon business meeting. Members look forward to these meetings because it's a chance for them to find out first hand what's going on with the club, ask questions and make their own suggestions. Club president Bob Birchard led the meeting, and after various issues were discussed they paid tribute to Robert Nudelman, our Cinecon vice president who had passed away earlier in the year on May 3, 2008, by showing a video on his life that had been shown at his memorial service. |
|
The Saturday line-up started with a new restoration of the long-lost Lon Chaney film TRIUMPH (1917, Universal). It's a moralistic melodrama about the perils of a life on the wicked stage which co-starred Dorothy Phillips and William Stowell. Although restored, the film was still incomplete, missing its final three reels. Preservationists were able to reconstruct those reels using intertitles and production photos.
Next up was a new restoration of a fairly well known war drama, THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK, from 1933. In it Fredric March and Cary Grant play World War I flyboys. Grant is the rough & tough gunner who likes killing while March plays a more sensitive flyer who is being overwhelmed by the brutalities of war as he slowly begins to crack under the pressure. There's lots of great aerial footage and the newly restored print is stunning. |
After lunch it was back to the theater for the afternoon program of films starting with a comedy short ROOTIN' TOOTIN' TENDERFOOT (1952). It starred the unlikely comedy team of former boxers Max Baer and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom in a reworking of 1937 Laurel and Hardy vehicle Way Out West.
We've screened part talkie films before and MODERN LOVE (1929) is yet another one. But this one is special, its silent comic Charley Chase's first talking feature and the formerly lost film has been newly restored with its original music score and talking sequences.
Charley's a man who never wants his wife to work (he's the breadwinner and she's supposed to be the housewife) but his headstrong and talented girl has other ideas. So they get married secretly and maintain separate apartments (he does sneak in for sleepovers). This works for a while until her success as a fashion designer leads to a job offer in Paris. The cast features Kathryn Crawford, Anita Garvin and Jean Hersholt.
The silent western SKY HIGH (1922) starred cowboy favorite Tom Mix
Many Cinephiles have asked for another Tom Mix film, and here's the picture that established Mix's reputation for tongue-in-cheek action romps. Shot on location at the Grand Canyon, Sky High deals with smuggling Chinese laborers across the Mexican border and features hair raising aerial stunts.
|
|
|
For the last film of the afternoon we screened a great 35mm print of the 1944 Universal horror film HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Afterwards Stan interviewed one of the film's co-stars, Elena Verdugo.
It was a great popcorn flick which featured a mad doctor (Boris Karloff), the Wolfman (Lon Chaney Jr.), Dracula (John Carradine), Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and a sinister hunchback (J. Carrol Naish) along with Elena playing an innocent gypsy girl who gets involved with them.
|
|
There was a large turn out for the show and Ms. Verdugo had fun with the interview and answered questions about working with Karloff and Chaney.
She said that it was an enjoyable film to work on noting that "there's something about working with people that are so good that they bring out the best in you". She said that Lon Chaney was more accessible then the others and that there was an aura around Boris, they all called him Mr. Karloff.
|
|
|
|
Stan was having a great time finding out about Universal in the 40's but there was one special question that he just had to ask-- Since the film was in black and white, as were earlier Wolfman films, he wanted to know what the Wolfman's makeup really looked like? Her answer--"reddish brown with blonde highlights."
They hired a professional screamer for the right sound when the gypsy girl sees the wolfman for the first time which they didn't have to use because she was so frightened when she saw him in full makeup she let out a loud scream of her own
|
|
She talked about working with Abbott and Costello on the film Little Giant saying that it was a great experience and that they didn't play any practical jokes on her (as they did with others) because she was so young. She said that Lou was dedicated to his work and had a warm quality about him.
Working at Universal during that era was fun and while there she attended the studio school where some of her classmates were Linda Darnell, Ann Baxter, Roddy McDowall and June Haver.
|
|
|
After doing films at Universal and Fox she moved to TV where in 1952 she landed the title role in Meet Millie which ran for 4 years. She admitted that she hadn't done much comedy and didn't have comedy timing but experienced castmates Florence Halop and Marvin Kaplan helped her out.
Other TV work followed keeping her busy and in 1969 she ended up on the series she is perhaps best remembered for, Marcus Welby, M.D.
|
|
After the interview Stan opened the floor for audience questions and there were quite a few.
When they were finished she found herself surrounded by eager autograph seekers who brought books and photographs for her to sign. |
|
 |
Celeste Holm, who would be attending her own screening on Sunday, showed up to watch Elena's film. They posed for pictures together... |
...and shared a nice chat while fans continued to bring photos for Elena to autograph. |
|
After dinner the evening session started with a short from the SCREEN SNAPSHOT series from 1942 featuring James Stewart.
THE POOR NUT (1927) is a light college comedy starring Jack Mulhall. He's a nerdy botany student who tries to become a track star to impress a popular girl that he thinks he's in love with. He's helped by a sweet young botany student (played by Jean Arthur in an early role) who has a crush on him. Others in the cast include Charlie Murry and Glenn Tryon.
The slick little thriller THE NINTH GUEST (1934) is a great example of a locked room whodunit. A group of strangers are invited to a dinner party at a swanky penthouse where the unseen host has marked them for death and begins picking them off one by one. Donald Cook, Genevieve Tobin, Hardie Albright, Samuel S. Hinds and Edward Ellis star.
Next was another late night B-movie OUTLAWS OF THE PRAIRIE (1938). In this film popular "B" western star Charles Starrett plays a man who joins the Texas Rangers in hopes of someday meeting up with the man who murdered his father. Also in the cast are Donald Grayson and Iris Meredith with Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers along for a few songs. |
Sunday Day 4 |
|
The Sunday screenings began with chapter 14 of The Iron Claw the 15 chapter serial from 1941 about a reporter trying to figure out what's going on in an old house amid secret passages, sinister people and hidden gold.
1917 silent film THE DEVIL'S BAIT started off the morning features. Henry King stars with Ruth Roland, William Conklin and Edward J. Brady in the Balboa Studios production. This film comes to us from the vaults of the Library of Congress. The devil created precious gems to bait mankind into committing evil acts against each other to possess the stones. In the story two friends find a large ruby and begin fighting over it. Soon one man wins it and goes on to become a successful doctor and the other disappears only to return to years later to seek revenge against the doctor.
| |
Before lunch we had our final celebrity screening of the weekend, the delightful comedy CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950) starring Ronald Colman and our guest for the afternoon, Celeste Holm. In the film Celeste plays Flame O'Neill, a hard-boiled seductress, who is hired by the unscrupulous president of the Milady Soap company (played deliciously by Vincent Price) to stop genius Beauregard Bottomley (Colman) from winning all of the money on a TV quiz show owned the company.
After the film Cinecon president Bob Birchard interviewed Ms. Holm about her career.
|
|
|
Celeste has been an actress of stage, screen and TV for more than 70 years making her stage debut in 1936 at the age of 19. Over the years she appeared in many successful plays including originating the role of Ado Annie in Oklahoma!
In 1946 20th Century Fox signed her to a contract and she promptly earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her third film at the studio, Gentleman's Agreement (1947). Other notable films include All About Eve, High Society and Come to the Stable
|
Celeste's very charming husband, opera singer Frank Brasile, joined her and Bob for the interview. They've been married for four years and met through a mutual friend.
When Bob asked what it was like to work with Colman and Price on the film she offered that they were both great and very professional. She said that she loved Colman and was a big fan. |
|
|
|
She then shared stories about some of the stars she worked with saying that although Bette Davis was a talented actress she was rather unpleasant to work with. Not the case with Loretta Young who was wonderful and easy to work with on Come to the Stable and Frank Sinatra enjoyed working with her so much on The Tender Trap that he asked for her to be cast in High Society with him
|
when asked who her favorite director was she diplomatically answered that there were a many that she liked. She did add that Richard Whorf who directed Champagne For Caesar was a lot of fun to work with. She said that a good director is one who asks an actor what they feel about a part and lets them run with it, that's how you get the best out of them. |
|
|
There were a lot of audience questions and Celeste was candid with her answers, sharing additional stories about her career.
After the interview it was a time for fans to get photos.
|
After a lot of pictures inside the theater Celeste was taken to a table in the lobby where fans lined up for autographs.
|
|
The afternoon session began with the final episode of the 15 chapter serial from 1941 The Iron Claw. We finally find out who is the "Iron Claw"? and where is the gold? and who gets the girl? (okay so we knew that).
The wacky comedy team of Olsen & Johnson brought us CRAZY HOUSE (1943, Universal). The story follows the boys as they attempt to make a big budget movie at a major studio and the mayhem that ensues. Other cast members are Martha O'Driscoll, Patric Knowles, Cass Daley, Billy Gilbert, Hans Conried, Edgar Kennedy and Franklin Panghorn. The film had the added bonus of cameo appearances by many of Universal's stars of the day.
Attending the Crazy House screening and pictured here with Stan Taffel were Martha O'Driscoll's granddaughter, Candice Vaughn, and Billy Gilbert's grand nephew, writer Bryan Cooper.
Early silent DAMON AND PYTHIAS was released in 1914
Directed by Otis Turner, known as the "Dean of film directors" at the time, this rare early feature—the first completed at Universal City was made, stars William Worthington, Herbert Rawlinson, and Anna Little.
The last screening of the afternoon was a western from 1930, THE TEXAN starring Gary Cooper. In this rarely seen film Coop plays the Llano Kid, a wanted man. On a train to Texas he meets a man who persuades him to pretend to be the long lost son of a wealthy woman so that the man can earn the $1,000 reward for finding the son. The man also wants to use Coop to get his hands on the woman's gold but finding himself getting attached to the family Cooper has other ideas. Others in the cast are Fay Wray (looking as lovely as ever) Emma Dunn and Oscar Apfel.
After the film everyone had to rush back to the hotel to get ready for the cocktail reception and banquet. |
|
