The Skinny: It Happened One Night

Yesterday, I had the privilege of falling in love with It Happened One Night, a 1934 Claudette Colbert/Clark Gable love story about a really long bus ride. I'm not generally into bus movies. (I hope lightning doesn't strike me now as I say that Bus Stop is one of the worst movies I've ever seen, despite having Marilyn Monroe. Maybe it's because they make give me motion sickness, and the exhaust smells so terrible, and the bathroom situation (or lack thereof) gives me anxiety. But I digress....) However, I do love Claudette Colbert, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm glad I did, because it was fantastic. It also gave me the refreshing opportunity to see Clark Gable being funny and romantic, because (*gasp!) I kind of hate Gone With the Wind (did you just feel the earth tremble?).

But regardless of the cute love story and typical wholesome characters required by Frank Capra for everything, the movie was expected to bomb. Claudette Colbert was only called in when several other actresses refused the part, and she would only agree to do it for double her normal fee (and that was really only because she was interested in working with Clark Gable). Gable wasn't very inspired by it, either, especially since he was loaned to Columbia and forced to do the movie as a punishment for being a bad boy off the lot. It was allotted a maximum four weeks weeks for production, at the end of which Colbert reportedly told a friend that she had just made the worst movie in the world.

So, it came as quite a surprise when the film was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. The shock was magnified even more when it swept all five of the major categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. It held this record for almost forty years, and netted Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert the only Oscars they ever received. In fact, Colbert hated the movie so much, she didn't even go to the Academy Awards, opting instead for a vacation. She was hastily fetched from a train station and rushed to the ceremony to accept her statue, very under-dressed for the occasion in a simple traveling suit.

Claudette Colbert & Shirley Temple, 1935 Academy Awards

But even more interesting, because I cannot resist a link to Looney Tunes, is the fact that Friz Freleng loved this movie, rating as one of his top favorite films. AND, he wrote in his memoirs that there were three moments of inspiration in this movie that were later used in the development of Looney Tunes characters:

1. The personality of Oscar Shapely, an annoyingly smooth-talking fellow traveler on the bus:

Roscoe Karns as Oscar Shapely

2. A scene in which Clark Gable eats carrots and speaks in a fast, staccato manner:

3. And a fictional mobster, Bugs Dooley, invented by Clark Gable's character to frighten Mr. Shapely away from the bus:

Clark Gable & Roscoe Karns, It Happened One Night

There were also hints that Yosemite Sam and Pepe LePew possessed characteristics derived from two other characters from this film: Alexander Andrews and King Westley (the female lead's father & husband). It's also noteworthy that for a movie with so few wardrobe changes (Claudette Colbert only has 4 outfits in the movie: 2 items of nightwear, a wedding dress, and a travel suit), Vanity Fair chose to pay tribute to the fashion:

James Marsden & Rose Byrne, August 2009 Vanity Fair

Another interesting tidbit: Claudette Colbert was a prude while making this movie. The "walls of Jericho" were only added because she refused to disrobe on camera, and she put up quite a fight about having to expose her leg during the hitch-hiking scene.

I find this quite confusing, given the fact that Claudette Colbert was also in Cleopatra the very same year (1934), and she looked like this:

Yes, that is close enough, Mr. DeMille....



Information obtained from : www.tcm.com, www.imdb.com

The Skinny -- Eve Arden and Cover Girl

Who, me?

We Blackbird girls watch a lot of classic films. Robert Osborne is our hero. We live for technicolor, and die for black and white.  It's not uncommon for one of us to mutter to the other some obscure line from an old movie -- to the confusion of the people around us.  There was a time when, out of curiosity, I asked everyone I came across to tell me where the line, "Moses supposes his toeses are roses, but Moses supposes erroneously," comes from.  And then I was shocked when no one knew.  It's "Singin' in the Rain," people!  Isn't that required viewing?

Alas, no.  I thought people were just born with an appreciation for Gene Kelly movies, but they're not.  So therefore, I sometimes feel like I'm privy to a wonderful secret weapon -- an endless chain of inspiration and ideas.  And I'll share it with you, dear readers.  Beyond the wonderful acting and storytelling, classic movies' sets and costuming are chock full of ideas for the taking.  Want to decorate your house? Want to see some amazing clothing?  Just turn the TV to TCM and leave it there.

So, speaking of Gene Kelly movies, how many of you have seen "Cover Girl?"  Yeah, yeah, Rita Hayworth is gorgeous.  Gene is as sexy as he ever is as Danny McGuire...maybe even more than usual.  But who do we talk about?  Eve Arden.  Know her?  Of course, you do -- you know her as the principal of Rydell High in "Grease."  But when we think of Eve Arden we think of two movies -- "Stage Door" (fab movie, too, with Lucille Ball, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Ann Miller) and "Cover Girl".

Yeah, I know I'm the shizzle.

Eve Arden's career was wide-ranging, from movies to radio to theater to television, and spanned almost 60 years. She played the title roles in "Hello, Dolly" and "Auntie Mame" on the stage, and had many movie roles, like "Grease", "At the Circus" (with Groucho Marx), and "Mildred Pierce" (for which she was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar).  Her largest body of work was for "Our Miss Brooks", a radio program from 1948 to 1957, a feature film in 1956, and a television program from 1952 to 1956, about a teacher.  She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- one for radio and one for television.

Let's get back to "Cover Girl", though.  Made in 1944, Arden plays Cornelia "Stonewall" Jackson, assistant to magazine publisher, John Coudair.  Coudair sees Rusty (Rita) at Danny's (Gene's) nightclub, and remembers his long ago love for her grandmother, Maribelle (also Rita).  Drama ensues.  Cornelia perfectly captures the character of the often put-upon, ill-used, overworked assistant with a witty comeback for everything.  Personally, I think she steals every scene she's in -- if it's not her zingers, it's her FABULOUS wardrobe. Designed by Travis Banton, Muriel King, and Gwen Wakeling, all of the costumes in this movie are crazy awesome. But Cornelia's costumes, combined with her amazing accessories, are our favorites.  Brooches, hats, large Lucite ball buttons (be still my heart!), bracelets, and color.  Lots of color.

Yay, Eve!

That's how I think of Eve Arden.  Colorful.  Bold.  With her signature voice (think deep, raspy), and her smart-ass comebacks, she puts the "character" in "character actor".  She may be a background character, but she's memorable.  And she's got the personality to carry off the costumes.  I mean, it takes quite the lady to pull off those hats in the movie -- and not just anyone can wear three large brooches and a chunky bracelet and those huge ball buttons on her jacket!

I need those Lucite balls!

So, if you haven't seen it, you should.  Put it on your calendar -- I checked, and it's coming on Turner Classic Movies on April 7th, at 1:30 pm.  We'll be watching it...

Notice the matching buttons, bowtie, and hat.  <swoon>

John Coudair:  What would you do if your youth should walk in that door?
Cornelia "Stonewall" Jackson:  I'd put braces on its teeth.

You've never seen "Cover Girl"???

I need another brooch!!

They should pay me more...