Saluting our Real-Life Auntie Mame

Auntie Joy and Mom in Florida, 2007

Auntie Mame has done it all!  Author Patrick Dennis (pseudonym of Edward Everett Tanner III)  took irresistible, unforgettable Mame Dennis’ fictional exploits, inspired by Dennis’ own free-spirited aunt, Marion Tanner, and let them happily run amok in every form of storytelling, including Dennis’ original 1955 novel and its sequel, Around the World with Auntie Mame as well as:

• The 1957 Broadway stage hit Auntie Mame, earning a Tony nomination for leading lady Rosalind Russell and a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress Peggy Cass as naive stenographer Agnes Gooch;
• The 1966 Broadway musical hit Mame, starring Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur, with both actresses winning Tony Awards. The show  was adapted for the stage by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee;
• And of course, the Oscar-nominated 1958 Warner Bros. film version of Auntie Mame!  Broadway.com reports that Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) is working on a new film version!
• 1974 brought us the Warner Bros. musical version, Mame (1974), starring Lucille Ball. It was a mixed bag at best,but that didn’t stop Mame from becoming a box office hit at Radio City Music Hall, where I saw it with my Girl Scout Troop.  I guess it just goes to show that some movies are bulletproof, especially with Jerry Herman’s wonderful musical score (like Mame's "Bosom Buddies")!

But in a way, I feel like I’ve always known all these versions of Auntie Mame so well, because our family had our own real-life Auntie Mame:  our beloved mother, Jacqueline Tenore Kehoe (1927—2009), or “Jackie,” as friends and loved ones called her.  No doubt you’ve already realized this post is as much about Mom as it is about the classic 1958 movie!  With Mom’s warm, loving, colorful, multifaceted personality, we’ve enjoyed many memorable family anecdotes about her exploits and her overall amazing life, including this one (click here). 

Enter the Dragon! Patrick and Norah
find Auntie Mame in Asian mode

Patrick meets Auntie Mame's spectacular coterie!

Mame wigs out when Babcock makes a surprise visit!

On January 22nd, 2013, our family will commemorate what would have been Mom's 86th birthday.  Those who knew and loved Mom can attest that she was strong, stylish, and mesmerizing, yet also kind, warm, and witty in the great Cherry Girl tradition. Yes, Cherry happened to be the maiden name of Mom and her sister, our late Auntie Joy (they died a few months apart from Pulmonary Fibrosis).  And yes, The Cherry Girls were equally smart, witty, and soignee, as well as being Auntie Mame fans.  In their teens, Mom and Auntie Joy were sometimes the subject of racy jokes about their surname from those naughty boys—but of course, the Cherry Girls would glide past those insolent youths without a second thought!  Mom and Auntie Joy also loved Auntie Mame on both stage and screen.  As my cousins and I grew up (variously in New York and Wilmington, Delaware), Mom and Auntie Joy were both dubbed “Auntie Mame” at various times.  With both the Cherry Girls gone now, but by no means forgotten, I sometimes wonder if Mom and Auntie Joy each thought the other was the Vera Charles of the pair!  For more about Mom’s fond, funny life and times, feel free to check out my salute to Mom and the movie that became her favorite during the last two years of her life, The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men:

http://doriantb.blogspot.com/2011/01/no-country-for-old-men-tell-mother-i.html

In a delightful parallel to Mom, even Auntie Mame’s kaleidoscope opening credit sequence is perfect in showing how multifaceted Mame Dennis is, just like our mom.  The music by Bronislau Kaper (Whistling in the Dark; Gaslight; Them!) is perfect, sprightly yet swanky. And who could bring the lives and times of such real and fictional characters as Mame Dennis and our real-life Cherry Girls better than Betty Comden and Adolph Green?  Comden and Green, both fellow native New Yorkers (Betty was from Brooklyn, Adolph was from The Bronx) were legendary for their hit musical comedies such as Singin’ in the Rain; On the Town; Bells are Ringing; Applause; Wonderful Town; and so much more.  However, Comden and Green adapted Auntie Mame as a straight comedy for the movie version, and it was as sparkling and delightful as if it were indeed a musical.  I like the theatrical way the film’s scenes fade out on Rosalind Russell’s face just like on Broadway.  For those who thought Comden and Green were husband and wife, sorry—they were only good friends and collaborators, both happily married to others.  Even Mom had been sure Comden and Green were a married couple!

Onstage, Mame's jewels go jingle-jangle-jingle!

Peachy-keen Mame in Georgia!

Superstar Rosalind Russell’s long, triumphant career ranged from her 1934 film debut in Evelyn Prentice (co-starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, though this was definitely not a light-hearted comedy-mystery a la The Thin Man!) to her final role in the made-for-TV 1972 mystery The Crooked Hearts.  Russell was nominated for four Oscars in addition to Auntie Mame: My Sister Eileen (1942); Sister Kenny (1946); Mourning Becomes Electra (1947).  Russell won plenty of Golden Globe Awards, though, for ….Electra; Sister Kenny; A Majority of One (1961); Gypsy (1962); the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1973.

Good thing Patrick brought Auntie Mame's copy of
Riding Side-Saddle on Horseback for Dummies!

Patrick Dennis’ beloved fictional heroine walked into my life one rainy day when my family and I happened to be watching the 1958 movie version on TV on one of our local movie programs (on WPIX, if I recall correctly).  We were all delighted by the warm, funny film about the irrepressible Mame Dennis, with Russell reprising her Broadway triumph. Sitting there enjoying ourselves, we kids affectionately dubbed Mom “Auntie Mame.” In particular, Mom was pleased as punch when I said, “Mommy, she’s like you, only you’re even prettier.”  High praise, considering Rosalind Russell was stiff competition (no, I don’t mean Auntie Mame’s morning sidecars)!

Foxy Auntie Mame wins Beau's heart, and Patrick has a dad!

Auntie Mame’s zany yet tender saga ranges from the days of bathtub hooch and the Charleston, through The Great Depression, the 1940s and the 1950s.  We first meet young Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik, reprising his Broadway role) at the tender age of  9, coming to 3 Beekman Place with his adult companion Norah Muldoon (Connie Gilchrist of A Letter to Three Wives; Long John Silver; Song of The Thin Man; and many TV appearances) to live at Auntie Mame’s luxurious (and constantly changing) pad  after his dad dies unexpectedly. It’s one of Mame’s wild parties, but she makes them feel at home right away, with Mame’s fabulous coterie of wild-and-crazy yet likable Bohemian types. Patrick jumps into life with Auntie Mame feet-first, bless him.  I like the kid's willingness to go with the flow of Auntie Mame’s cheerful screwball antics, trying new foods and such, unlike many modern kids. Maybe kids were less finicky back then. (Can you tell I’m the mother of a finicky yet adorable kid?)  I love when Patrick reads from Auntie Mame’s list of new words to learn:  “‘Karl Marx.’  Is he one of The Marx Brothers?”  Although young Handzlik was talented and endearing in the role, he eventually dropped out of acting completely, and grew up to be a successful law partner at the renowned law firm of Kirkland and Ellis in Los Angeles, where he's a specialist in white collar crime.  He's  been listed several times in Who's Who in America. (Kids grow up so fast!)  I’m glad to hear Handzlik didn’t become one of those child actors who came to a tragic end— but I digress!

At Peckerwood, Mrs. Burnside is not to be sneezed at!

But Mame and Patrick’s happy household is in jeopardy when The Great Depression wreaks havoc on the nation.  A battle of wills begins between our heroine and Patrick’s trustee, Mr. Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark, one of the masters of the slow burn, deft at playing everything from a vicious villain in Ride the Pink Horse, to comic foils in Bells are Ringing, as well as many TV classic sitcoms).  Mame’s longtime friend, stage star Vera Charles (Coral Browne of Theatre of Blood; The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone; The Ruling Class. She was also Mrs. Vincent Price!) lands Mame a small role in her new play, Midsummer Madness, to earn money to get Patrick back. (Mame’s name is dead last and in teeny-tiny letters on the theater poster; gotta start somewhere!) Mame's jangly jewelry infuriates Vera, but wreaks hilarious havoc for us viewers. But Rosalind Russell wasn’t the only scene-stealer.  Look and listen very carefully to the actors onstage, and you’ll recognize Margaret Dumont of The Marx Brothers fame!  Nobody looks and sounds as much like Margaret Dumont as Margaret Dumont, by golly!

A tip of the hat to Mom & all us Cherry Girls!

Russell and young Jan Handzlik reprise their Broadway roles here, and you can’t help loving the mother-and-son-style bond between Auntie Mame and the “little love” she takes under her wing, eager to open new windows for her nephew after his dad’s death. It’s soon clear that Patrick’s late dad wasn’t exactly the “open new windows” type, but the endearing lad quickly takes to Auntie Mame’s joyful approach to life. I know Patrick’s dad died of a combination of too much exercise and arrogance, but I’ve always wondered whatever happened to Patrick’s mother?  Did the poor dear woman die of Old Movie Disease?  By the way, that’s director Morton DaCosta (The Music Man) playing the voices of both Edwin Dennis and “Manny, Moe, and Jack” of Pep Boys fame during the Christmas scene.

Invasion of the Patrick Snatchers?!  Oh noooo!!!

Peggy Cass thinks it's hilarious to tell the truth!

I love the wonderfully theatrical fade-outs with Rosalind Russell; very appropriate, since the book became a Broadway hit, and then, of course, a hit movie!  I especially love Auntie Mame’s priorities.  Her response to her publisher beau Lindsay Woolsey (Patric Knowles of The Adventures of Robin Hood as Will Scarlett; The Charge of the Light Brigade; Another Thin Man) makes me smile when he suggests they marry. Mame replies:  “How can I be a wife?  I’m too busy being a mother.”  I also like the irony that Patric Knowles was a bookbinder in his youth, and went on to play a publisher in Auntie Mame!  Knowles also has the funniest double-takes when responding to Mame’s wacky wit.  Other members of the Broadway cast  (at the Broadhurst Theatre, appropriately enough) include Yuki Shimoda (Career; A Majority of One; the British TV series A Town Like Alice) as playful houseboy Ito, and Peggy Cass as Mame’s “Boswell,” the hapless but lovable stenographer Agnes Gooch who, to borrow a lyric from Bye Bye Birdie, finds herself with a lot of living to do, getting a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in the bargain. Cass’ long career also included one of Vinnie’s favorite game shows, To Tell the Truth! 

Brian O'Bannion approves of Agnes Gooch's' makeover!

Mame, Patrick, Ito, and Norah end up having a Merry Christmas after all when her goof at her Macy’s salesgal gig results in love and marriage between kind-hearted Southern oil millionaire Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Forrest Tucker of The Yearling; Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood; TV’s F-Troop).   Soon the family are off to Peckerwood, Beau’s family ancestral home.  It’s The Big Apple vs. The Georgia Peaches! But if Mame can’t outsmart them, nobody can.

With rakish memoir-collaborator Brian around,
will Mame become a merry widow?

When Beau is accidentally (albeit in a dark comedy way) killed on the Matterhorn, the now-adult Patrick comes home from college to help, and he’s engagingly played by 1950s/1960s heartthrob Roger Smith (Man of a Thousand Faces;  TV’s 77 Sunset Strip; *snap snap*; and the TV series version of Mr. Roberts. He’s also Ann-Margret’s husband of many years).  Patrick suggests this would be a great opportunity for Auntie Mame to work on her memoirs.  He hires poet Brian O’Bannion (Robin Hughes from Dial M for Murder as Police Sgt. O’Brien; Cyrano de Bergerac; and many TV series episodes, including an episode of 77 Sunset Strip!)  With Beau’s death and Brian’s brooding Irish charm asserting itself (and eating them out of house and home; good thing Mame can afford this chowhound!), Patrick is starting to feel jealous, making him susceptible to Mr. Babcock, or as Patrick has begun to call him, “Uncle Dwight.”  Yikes, brainwashing!  Under Babcock’s influence, will Mame’s “Little Love” wind up a Babbitt, an “Aryan from Darien”?!  Would Auntie Mame let that happen? As if!

Patrick Dennis, the gent
behind the woman!

In her wily yet ultimately helpful way, Mame tackles snobbery, stupidity, and bigotry in the form of Patrick’s  beautiful but dreary fiancée Gloria Upson (actress-turned-writer Joanna Barnes, from both the 1961 and 1998 versions of The Parent Trap) and Gloria’s jolly yet equally dreary parents Doris (Lee Patrick, so memorable as Sam Spade’s Girl Friday Effie Perrine in The Maltese Falcon) and Claude (Willard Waterman, who deftly filled in Harold Peary’s shoes as The Great Gildersleeve on Radio and TV from 1950 to 1955).  Don’t get me started on the Upsons’ recipes for the clam juice-and-peanut butter ground-meat hors d’oeuvres, not to mention Claude’s diabetes-inducing daiquiri recipe; makes me glad I’m a teetotaler! 

Peggy Cass won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Drama for Auntie Mame, and she reprised her scene-stealing role in the film.  As an understudy, Cass took Jan Sterling’s role in a national tour of Born Yesterday.  Cass was finally cast in her own right in the 1949 Broadway musical Touch and Go. The mid-1950s brought her the defining role of Agnes Gooch in Auntie Mame.  Her stage and screen performances earned her a Tony and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Of course, my quiz show-loving husband Vinnie first knew of Cass from her regular television quiz show appearances, such as Password All-Stars and To Tell the Truth, as well as guest appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Phil Silvers Show, among others. The IMDb adds, “She was very smart and very funny, but her signature was her unmistakably raspy voice.” (Which I’ve always liked, by the way!)  Sadly, Cass died of heart failure on March 8, 1999, at Manhattan's Sloane-Kettering Hospital, but for her fans here at Team Bartilucci HQ, Peggy Cass’ delightful performances on stage and screen live on!

Actual dialogue from Auntie Mame:
Secretary Pegeen Ryan (Pippa Scott of The Searchers) and adult Patrick discuss Mame's Danish designer.

Pegeen: "It's by the famous Danish designer Yul Uhlu."
Patrick: "Who?"
Pegeen: (slowly, with innocent yet sensuous lips): "Yul Uhlu."
Patrick:"Say that to the right fella and you'll get kissed."

I bet the Upsons think Mame is serving fish for dinner!

And what became of author Patrick Dennis in later years?  Well, according to Wikipedia, he led a double life:  conventional husband and dad by day, bisexual man-about-town by night.  In later life, Dennis became a well-known participant in Greenwich Village's gay scene. Sadly, Dennis' rollicking tales fell out of fashion in the 1970s, and all of his books went out of print. In his later years, he left writing to become a butler—and he liked it!  In fact, Dennis  worked for McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc!   Apparently, although he was finally using his real name, Dennis was in essence working yet again under a pseudonym, since his boss hadn’t a clue that their butler, Tanner, was the world-famous author Patrick Dennis!  I wonder if Dennis thought it was a hoot to play butler after all his escapades?

Alas, Dennis died of pancreatic cancer in Manhattan in 1976 at the age of 55.  But a memorable character can never truly die:  the 21st century has gotten Auntie Mame and Patrick new young readers and movie buffs interested in Auntie Mame’s exploits — HOORAY!  With many of his novels available in print again, Dennis’ son, Dr. Michael Tanner, wrote introductions to several reissues of his dad's books, as well as some of Dennis' original manuscripts at Yale University and Boston University.

And remember Auntie Mame’s wise advice:
"Live!  Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

SLEUTH: Doppler Jeopardy

This post, Sleuth: Doppler Jeopardy, is my entry for the Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier Blogathon, hosted by Kendra Bean.

(Warning: You may find Spoilers amongst the clues!)

In honor of our Fearless Leader Kendra's Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier Appreciation Blogathon, we of Team Bartilucci are proud to participate by saluting one of our absolute favorite films of all time: the 1972 film adaptation of Sir Anthony Shaffer's diabolically suspenseful, witty international stage smash Sleuth.

Dorian says: Vinnie was particularly keen to participate, having loved Sleuth even before I did, so props to my dear hubby for writing the lion's share of this post! Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz of the Oscar-winning All About Eve (among so many other smart, entertaining movies) was a top-notch choice to direct the film version. Cole Porter songs are sprinkled throughout John Addison's sprightly, playful Oscar-nominated score. Ken Adam's production design for Andrew Wyke's grand home, Cloak Manor, is mouth-watering; we want to live there when we grow up! Mankiewicz’s dark, twist-laden, cracking good comedy-thriller works on many levels, including as an indictment of the class system. Too bad Sir Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine couldn’t have won some kind of Team Oscar for their work in this one; you know, like the Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2007, Sleuth was remade with Kenneth Branagh at the helm, with Caine now in the Olivier role and Jude Law in Caine’s original role.  A great remake is rare (the best ones that leap to mind are the 1941 Maltese Falcon and the 2001 Ocean’s Eleven), but the first half of the Sleuth remake was sleek and entertaining, until it suddenly took a bizarre wrong turn into gay-bashing and humiliation—not our idea of fun! In the meantime, you can still find copies of the out-of-print DVD edition of Sleuth on Netflix or even your local video store, so by all means seek it out!  Take it away, Vinnie!

Vinnie says: In a perfect world, a mystery should keep the audience guessing. With enough twists and turns, you shouldn't have a clue (pardon the choice of words) of the outcome, while still playing fair enough that a viewer might succeed, or could at least admit that he could have once the facts were laid out in the dénouement.

Sleuth has an unfair advantage. It's not a mystery. There is no murder (OK, there's one), so there's no need to play fair with the audience. There are only two men, one pompous and petty, the other angry as hell, in a long game of cat and mouse. The scenes play out so long that your confidence that things are as they are is stretched just past the point of confidence, and as soon is it is, they pull the rug out from under you.

Cloak Manor in the merry month of maze

Sir Laurence Olivier plays Andrew Wyke, endlessly award-winning author of the St. John Lord Merridew mysteries. Andrew is a classic upper-class British aristocrat, and has filled his home and his life with an obsession for games, puzzles and other things used by the insufferably intelligent to prove they are smarter than "ordinary people." He's dictating the end of his latest mystery as the film begins, safely hidden within his vast garden maze, which is of course rigged with cheats so he can win. He's met by Milo Tindle (Michael Caine), a hairdresser who's been having an affair with Andrew's wife Marguerite. Andrew is remarkably polite and accepting of the situation; indeed, he wants to arrange a scenario where everyone wins.

We’re not in Brother Lightfingers’ abbey, we’re in a hurry!

Andrew lays out the board simply: if Milo runs off with Marguerite, she'll need a divorce, and she will take Andrew for far more than he wishes or feels she deserves. However, if Milo plays the role of a burglar, steals a large cache of Marguerite's jewelry from the house safe, and fences them with a gentleman whose contact information Andrew will supply, Andrew will be able to get reimbursed for the loss from his insurance, Milo and the lovely Marguerite will end up with more money than they would from a divorce (especially since it'll be under the table and tax-free), and everybody can walk away whole and unravaged by the law. Milo agrees, and Andrew drags him about the house in a mad pantomime of a robbery, dressing him in a clown costume, walking him through the robbery and guiding him as to what bits of the house he should upset to make it look as if a scuffle has taken place. This last portion is where Milo chooses to stray from the script and get a tad more zealous in his disarraying activity.  (Dorian says: As writers ourselves, we can empathize with Andrew's dismay as Milo tossed his new manuscript all over Andrew's luxurious home! OK, back to Vinnie!)

The Day The Clown Cried—For Help!

Things take a turn for the hearse when Andrew points his gun at Milo and informs him that this has all been a plan for Milo to incriminate himself as a burglar, so that Andrew could legally shoot him in defense of his home. Dropping the friendly attitude he's had through the larcenous romp, he declares himself so far above Milo in station and intellect that he barely considers this to be murder. He fires the gun at the base of Milo's skull, Milo tumbles down the stairs of the living room in a crumpled heap, and Andrew calmly heads back downstairs to tidy up.

End scene.
Not bad, eh?

It was at this point in the stage play that Alan Bates left the theater after being offered the role of Milo, as he thought a character that dies midway through the story a la Psycho was beneath his position as an actor. In fairness, he's not the first to have jumped to that conclusion. (Though it does show that it's wise to sit through the entire play before making up your mind!)

Laura, er, Marguerite is the face in the misty light...

The narrative continues an unspecified period of time later. Andrew is puttering about his home, alone (as he always is — we never meet his wife Marguerite, save for her portrait, painted to resemble Joanne Woodward) when the doorbell rings. It's Inspector Doppler (Alec Cawthorne) who comes to ask about the mysterious disappearance of one Milo Tindle. At first feigning any knowledge of the man, when the Inspector presents a note in Andrew's handwriting, found in Milo's home, asking that they meet, Andrew is forced to put his cards on the table. Milo, he explains, was here, put through a series of escapades, and finally, Andrew shot him.

With a blank.

The entire affair was to put Milo through such terror and humiliation as to find out his true mettle, to see if he was "worthy" of his wife. Andrew decided he was, and when he awakened, Milo was allowed to leave, if not with his pride intact, at least his head.

Oh, you've got brown eyes, oh, you've got blue eyes....

The inspector is appalled to learn that someone could play such a ghastly trick on another person, and insists that he inspect the home. Andrew agrees happily, but when Doppler begins to find evidence of a far more serious act than a mere April Fool's trick (blood on the stairway, Milo's clothes balled up at the bottom of the wardrobe), he puts forth the theory that Andrew had, in fact, killed Mr. Tindle, albeit accidentally, and has disposed of the body to make the problem vanish. Andrew is dumbfounded and protests his innocence, insisting that his tale is true, and more than a little offended that this flatfoot wouldn't just take the word of a gentleman at face value and leave. As he begins to panic that he may be arrested for a crime that never even happened, let alone one he didn't commit, Doppler lowers the boom. He begins to remove makeup and padding, standing revealed as...Milo Tindle (Caine)! With the help of some stage makeup artist mates and a key he obtained from another acquaintance, he set up this charade to take Andrew to that point of fear for his life that Milo experienced. Andrew begins to regain his composure, and immediately starts shoring up the levees that his panic nearly burst. He knew it was Milo all along, was playing along to give him the fun of the game, a verbose version of "I let you win." (Dorian says: Surrrre you did, Andrew.... See how you like it, buster! Back to Vinnie!))

And that's when Milo reveals Act Two. While at the house to set up the evidence, he met Andrew's mistress, a young bit of stuff named Téa. They spoke, she had no problem believing that Andrew would play such a trick, Milo shags her rotten...and then strangles her. He then explains that he has contacted the police. They will be there within the hour to ask Andrew about, not Milo's disappearance, but Téa's. And Milo has planted three pieces of incriminating evidence about his palatial home to connect Andrew to the murder . He's sure the police will find them soon enough, but for Andrew to do so within this tight time frame, he'll need to play Milo's game.

Is it me, or is Andrew a little TOO into his toys?

The film ends with one dead body, police at the door, and the laughter of Laurence Olivier over some jaunty harpsichord music. And we haven't spoiled the ending at all.

While they give credits for several actors (including the aforementioned Alec Cawthorne, which is "a virtual anagram" of the words "or Michael Caine" if you manipulate a couple letters), it's a two-man play, and both Olivier and Caine were nominated for Oscars, among other major awards. Anthony Shaffer won a Tony and an Edgar, among other prizes. Sleuth rivals Deathtrap as the perfect comedy-thriller.

Kenneth Branagh remade Sleuth in 2007, with Caine graduating up to Sir Larry's role and Jude Law stepping into Milo Tindle's pricey Italian loafers. The first half of the film is very well done, with many technological upgrades to make Milo's attempted robbery all the more embarrassing, and the threat of murder after the act more realistic and less imperious. But alas, the last act descends into an overlong game of "Fag."

Perhaps it wasn't called that in your circles. Back in the days of childhood, before we Knew Better, boys would go to great lengths to get their friends to admit that at times, in the secret part of their heart, they'd thought that that guy was attractive, or that they'd wondered fleetingly wht it might be like to touch certain things or have certain things in their mouth. As soon as they would, the other assembled friends, who attoseconds before were swearing it was just between them, no one would mock anyone, lifted their fingers and pointed like Donald Sutherland at the end of the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and scream "FAAAAAAAAG!!!!!!!"

It's annoying, outdated, and shoehorned in from so far out in left field that it makes one want to wash. In short, it can't hold a candlepin to the original. The 1972 version of Sleuth holds up today, and can still surprise new viewers. It is worth missing a hand or two of cards and watching.

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Wow, I think this may have been one of Team Bartilucci's most prolific writing weeks to date! After you've read (and enjoyed, we hope!) our Sleuth blog post, feel free to visit Tales of the Easily Distracted for our very recent post about James Garner, "Discretion is the Garner Part of Valor." 

ALL ABOUT EVE: How Do You Like Those Apples, Eve?

The Antoinette Perry Awards, a.k.a. the Tony Awards, are taking place this coming Sunday, June 12th, 2011 (easy for me to remember, since the Tonys are always awarded sometime around my birthday :-))! What better film to write about this week than All About Eve (AAE)? Writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s wickedly witty, silkily cynical, sumptuously sophisticated comedy-drama, based on Mary Orr’s story and radio play “The Wisdom of Eve,” is one of the juiciest, most entertaining films about show business ever made. The movie begins with a close-up on an award trophy, described in voice-over by theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders, the King of Suave himself, at his droll, unflappable best in the role he was born to play) as the “highest honor our theater knows: the Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement.” By the way, although Sarah Siddons was indeed a much-admired Welsh stage actress, Mankiewicz in fact created the award itself specifically for AAE. Life imitated art in 1952 when a group of eminent Chicago theater-goers began giving notable Chicago actors an award modeled on and named after the one in the film. Need I say that AAE stars Bette Davis and Celeste Holm were eventually among the Sarah Siddons recipients? I wonder why they didn't use the Tony for Eve’s triumph, though? After all, it had been around since 1947. Rights issues, maybe? But I digress….

In flashbacks, we see how well-meaning Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), the wife of Broadway playwright Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), found young Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter, who’d won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1946’s The Razor's Edge), a down-on-her-luck fan and hopeful ingénue, waiting outside the stage door night after night for a glimpse of her idol, Broadway diva Margo Channing (the one and only Bette Davis). Once Karen brings Eve inside Margo's dressing room after a performance of her current hit play, Aged in Wood, Eve is encouraged to relate her poignant story to them: she was an only child who loved acting and make-believe. She grew up to be a secretary in a Milwaukee brewery who fell in love and married a radio technician named Eddie, only to lose him as a casualty of World War 2. Since then, Eve’s only joy has been going from city to city to watch Margo’s plays from the cheap seats. In today’s stalker-centric age, many folks might find that kinda creepy, but in the innocent early 1950s, who could resist a sweet, lonely, self-deprecating waif who loves the theater so? Almost everyone in the room is moved to tears by Eve’s life story except Margo’s tart-tongued dresser Birdie (Thelma Ritter, one of Team Bartilucci’s faves from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and so many others), whose assessment comes off as a tad cynical: “What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end.” But even the jaded Margo is touched by Eve’s poignant tale, taking “the kid” under her wing and into her home as her assistant. Ah, but who’s really being taken in?

As theater diva Margo Channing stands next to a caricature of the Southern belle she plays in her current Broadway smash Aged in Wood, she’s stunned when theater critic Addison DeWitt informs her that her adoring young fan/assistant/protégée Eve Harrington has insinuated herself into yet another aspect of Margo’s life. It seems Eve has become Margo’s new understudy, and her line readings are, as Addison puts it, “full of fire and music.”  Oh, yeah, that’s just what an insecure Broadway diva of a certain age wants to hear!

  

Margo and her Broadway pals shouldn’t have been so quick to scold Birdie. As AAE continues on its merrily jaundiced way, it becomes increasingly clear that fresh-faced ingénue is Eve is more like that tempting snake in the Garden of Eden. As New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said in his 1950 review, “the self-seeking, ruthless Eve (makes) a black-widow spider look like a lady bug.” Baxter’s subtle transformation from seemingly selfless sweetheart to ruthless predator is magnificent, with that throb in her smoky voice and that figurative stiletto in her dainty hand.

Superb though Baxter is, I must admit I was particularly touched by Davis’s performance as Margo, whose imperiousness and diva demeanor mask her heartbreaking insecurity. Margo’s constantly worried that her lover, director Bill Sampson (played with no-nonsense charm and sympathy by Gary Merrill, who became Davis’s real-life husband for the next ten years), who happens to be eight years Margo’s junior, will leave her for a younger woman. Of course, Eve would be only too happy to fill Margo’s shoes in every aspect of her life! You want to smack Margo one minute for having temper tantrums and making cutting remarks that only make it easier for Eve to slither in with her soothing pseudo-sympathy and forward passes, yet you can’t help wanting to hug and comfort Margo once you remember all the cracks beneath her armor (shown here in a lovely scene where Margo lets her hair down). Davis has her signature delivery and gestures, yet her portrayal of Margo never turns into caricature. By turns, she’s poignant, powerful, and self-deprecatingly witty. Davis had always claimed she based her portrayal on the great Tallulah Bankhead, but I strongly suspect there’s plenty of Davis herself in there, too, and it works beautifully. Oh, and that actress playing stage hopeful Miss Caswell from “The Copacabana School of Dramatic Arts” who was reluctant to call the party waiter “butler…somebody’s name might be ‘Butler’” was quite the scene-stealer, too. Maybe you’ve heard of her—a cute blonde starlet named Marilyn Monroe? According to the IMDb, audiences got a taste of budding star Monroe in several films that year: AAE, The Asphalt Jungle, A Ticket to Tomahawk, Right Cross, and The Fireball—busy gal, and rightly so!

Watching AAE multiple times is just as fun as watching the film for the first time, if not more so! Once you’re onto Eve, AAE is like watching one of Alfred Hitchcock’s wittier thrillers, with a soupcon of Barbet Schroeder’s 1992 suspenser Single White Female. We see the calculated scheming hiding behind Eve’s gimlet eyes while those poor jaded theater folk are lulled into trusting this alleged innocent. Once we viewers realize the truth about Eve, we want to yell warnings to Margo: “Run, Margo! The little bitch is trying to kill your career, not to mention your happiness!” Wow, Hitchcock’s Stage Fright should have been like this!

Every character in this scintillating Broadway satire gets a chance to shine and a kick in the ego to one degree or another. Each line of dialogue sparkles, including Davis’s immortal “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!” In fact, it’s another one of those great movies in which writing down all of the stars’ best lines would result in me transcribing pretty much the whole damn script! AAE won six out of its record-setting 14 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Costume Design for the ever-awesome Edith Head (black-and-white division), Best Director and Best Screenplay for Mankiewicz, Best Sound, and last but far from least, Best Supporting Actor for George Sanders. (Fun Fact: The all-time Best Picture Oscar-nominee runners-up to date are 1939’s Gone with the Wind and 1953’s From Here to Eternity with 13 nominations each.)

I only wish everyone else nominated for acting awards in the film could have won, too, even if it would’ve meant ties for Best Actress nominees Davis and Baxter as well as Best Supporting Actress nominees Thelma Ritter and Celeste Holm. The Academy ought to institute some kind of Best Ensemble Cast Oscar, like they have at the Screen Actors Guild awards. To be fair, I can’t complain about the wonderful actors who did win: Best Actress Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday, and Best Supporting Actress Josephine Hull for Harvey. Tough choices that year, with other worthy Oscar nominees including Sunset Blvd., The Third Man, Adam’s Rib, Father of the Bride, and King Solomon’s Mines; we need more Oscar years like that!

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION: Jury of the Peerless

Miss Plimsoll, won't you join me
in a duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"?

Sir Wilfrid's Monocle Test never fails!

Christine Vole: Hostile Hottie Witness!

Witness for the Prosecution (WftP), another one of my all-time favorite movies, sizzles, sparkles, and surprises from its opening credits in the Old Bailey, to its rollercoaster twists and turns, to its jaw-dropping climax. In fact, one of the things I love about the plot twists of this 1957 thriller is that they play fair with the audience, unlike so many films that don’t care if a twist doesn’t make a lick of sense as long as viewers get a momentary shock, however cheap and sloppily executed. The Billy Wilder Touch adds cynical wit to his sparkling adaptation of Dame Agatha Christie's suspenseful, internationally-beloved courtroom drama with some of the best lines in a Wilder movie since Double Indemnity, thanks to writers Wilder, Harry Kurnitz, and Larry Marcus.  Sir Wilfrid’s query about the features of defendant Leonard Vole’s eggbeater, "Is that really desirable?" has become a catchphrase in our household, as well as the title of one of Team Bartilucci's blogs.  Indeed, the only thing keeping me from putting WftP on my list of “Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies That Hitchcock Never Made” is the fact that even Hitchcock himself admitted that courtroom dramas weren’t among his considerable strengths or interests.

Talk about powerhouse stars! Charles Laughton plays Sir Wilfrid Robarts, a.k.a. “Wilfrid the Fox,” a brilliant veteran barrister who won’t let his cardiac health issues stand in the way of helping a client beat a murder rap riddled with circumstantial evidence. This adds extra suspense during the trial as the audience nervously wonders if Sir Wilfrid will keel over with a heart attack from the strain of it all! Laughton’s real-life wife Elsa Lanchester is a delightful foil for him as his chipper but no-nonsense nurse Miss Plimsoll. Laughton and Lanchester shine in the most engaging performances of their careers, garnering well-deserved Oscar nominations. (WftP also earned nominations for Best Picture, Billy Wilder's direction, Daniel Mandell's editing, and Gordon Sawyer's sound recording, but it was The Bridge on the River Kwai's year.) The comic sparring chemistry between Sir Wilfrid and Miss Plimsoll, and the playful warmth and understanding that's grown between them by movie's end (like the nice little bit at the very end with Sir Wilfrid actually smiling and putting his arm around Miss Plimsoll), had my husband Vinnie opining that if another movie was made featuring these characters, Miss Plimsoll would probably end up as Mrs. Robarts before it was over. What a delightful series that could have been, kind of like a British Thin Man (okay, so Laughton was chubby; it makes him cuddly!) except that Sir Wilfrid would be the eager crime-stopper while Miss Plimsoll would make a show of tut-tutting until she finally went along with Wilfrid the Fox’s schemes, smiling!

Tyrone Power is the client in question, Leonard Vole (look up “Vole” in the dictionary, and you’ll see how devilishly clever the name really is). An unemployed but likable inventor, Leonard’s a real lady-killer, it seems: he’s accused of murdering rich, lonely, aging widow Emily French for her money. Mrs. French is played by one of my favorite character actresses, Norma Varden (of Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, among others); Varden and Power work together beautifully in their scenes, portraying Mrs. French’s sweet-natured longing as funny and poignant at the same time.Speaking of beautiful, Marlene Dietrich is absolutely mesmerizing in both looks and acting talent as Leonard’s German war bride Christine, she of the duplicitous tactics, malleable marriage contract, and unshakable alibi against the gobsmacked Leonard!  Is Christine truly the ultimate bitch, or is there more to her agenda? The entertaining flashbacks that Wilder and company deftly weave throughout the film to give it more verve and movement work beautifully, especially in Christine and Leonard’s sexy meet-cute/fall-in-love/dig-those-legs scenes. Dietrich and Power are dynamic in their scenes, whether it’s love or hate or payback time!  It's a shame Dietrich’s brilliant, multifaceted performance wasn't nominated for an Oscar as well, on account of the producers not wanting to spoil a certain crucial surprise twist. Tyrone Power's usual ever-so-slightly wooden delivery actually serves him well as defendant Leonard Vole; somehow it adds to his air of feckless innocence. Veteran character actors Henry Daniell, John Williams, Ian Wolfe, and Torin Thatcher provide able support, too, with original Broadway cast member Una O'Connor stealing her scenes as Mrs. French's loyal Scottish housekeeper Janet MacKenzie, who’s suspicious and “antag’nistic” to the beleaguered Leonard. Sadly, WftP was the last film for both O’Connor and Power before they died within a year of each other, but what a memorable swansong they had. 


Maybe it’s a British thing, but I was struck by how people took Sir Wilfrid’s cantankerous side in stride.  It’s a refreshing change from what Vinnie calls “gas-permeable people” whose overly-fragile feelings are crushed by any response that’s less than 100% sweet and sensitive. I love how nobody takes Sir Wilfrid’s cranky pronouncements to heart, including Miss Plimsoll, who gives as good as she gets, like when she reveals she knows all about the cigars hidden in his cane (not to mention the brandy he’s squirreled away).

I promised Vinnie I’d carry on the great tradition of not revealing the stunning surprise ending of WftP.  While you’re at it, don’t blab to your friends, either! I’ll only say I'd have paid good money to see the sequel that the ending implies. The film’s suspenseful surprises were so zealously guarded that when WftP was shown in London for a Royal Command Performance, even the Royal Family had to promise beforehand not to reveal the surprise ending to anyone else! Here's the heads-up:

“Notice! To preserve the secret of the surprise ending, patrons are advised NOT to take their seats during the last few minutes of Witness for the Prosecution.”

Looks like Leonard doesn't have a leg to stand on,
but Christine sure does!

Hear

Hear Sir Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester in their romantic duet, "Baby, It's Cold Outside"!
Here's the YouTube link:  http://youtu.be/CJ5UIuAa0eM