A Noir Year Begins...

January 2013 brings, at last, the much-anticipated Noir City XI, San Francisco's 11^th annual film noir festival. Presented by the Film Noir Foundation at the city’s landmark movie palace, the Castro Theatre, the festival runs from January 25 – February 3 and will showcase 27 films!

Noir City XI begins with an opening night tribute to genre legend Peggy Cummins. Following Film Noir Foundation founder/author/film historian Eddie Muller’s onstage interview with Miss Cummins, Gun Crazy (1950), the noir classic that made her an icon, will screen. Other festival highlights include three world premiere restorations along with the U.S. premiere of 4K digital restorations of Sunset Blvd. (1950) and Experiment in Terror (1962). Also premiering will be 4K digital restorations of two of 1953’s first 3-D films, Inferno and Man in the Dark.

But wait, there’s more…

Returning with the 2013 festival will be the Noir City Nightclub event, set for Saturday night, February 2, at San Francisco's Regency Lodge. There'll be music - from jazz to noir-pop to the torch stylings of songstress Laura Ellis - and dancing and cocktails and a walk on the wild side courtesy of "international striptease sensation" Evie Lovelle.

Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, who not only founded the FNF in 2002 but also emcees the San Francisco festival (and nightclub), is also about to appear on Turner Classic Movies. Beginning at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific on Thursday, January 17, Muller will co-host "A Night in Noir City" with Robert Osborne. On the schedule are five films: Cry Danger (1951) starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming, Phil Karlson's 99 River Street (1953) with John Payne and Evelyn Keyes, Tomorrow is Another Day (1951) with Steve Cochran and Ruth Roman, Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point (1950) starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal and The Prowler (1951), directed by Joseph Losey and starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes.

Robert Osborne and Eddie Muller, A Night in Noir City, January 17

In his 1998 book Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, Muller contended that among the many film varieties to come out of the studio era, film noir held up best: "Film noir pointed toward the black core of corruption in our "civilized" society and our primitive essence. The struggle of the individual to transcend or escape provided the emotional tension. That's the theme that makes noir so compelling for the contemporary crowd." Muller was onto something, for over time film noir has proven to be a genre of lasting appeal. With each successive year, the popularity of Noir City has grown, its program schedule has expanded and the Film Noir Foundation has been able to restore ever more films. Today, San Francisco's noir-fest is the kick off point for other film noir festivals around the country, with Noir City events following in Seattle in February, Los Angeles in April, Chicago in August and Washington, DC, in October.

Click here to learn more about Noir City
Click here to learn more about the Film Noir Foundation

Peggy Cummins and Eddie Muller backstage at TCM's 2012 Classic Film Festival

 

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Halloween Treats

Joan Carroll and Margaret O'Brien in Meet Me in St. Louis

The origins of Halloween go back to the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sowˊ-in). Samhain began on the eve of October 31 and heralded the Celtic New Year on November 1. The Celts believed that during Samhain the divide between the living and the dead vanished, allowing spirits of the departed to briefly visit the world of the living. With the advent of Christianity, the Celtic New Year was
refashioned as All-Saints Day (November 1) and October 31, now known as All Hallows Eve, ushered in a festival called All Hallows.

Innocence

Today, October 31st is celebrated as Halloween, a night of costumed revelry and, if we're young or young at heart, "trick or treating." We classic film buffs usually include classic ghost or horror films as part of the holiday's festivities. This October, Turner Classic Movies has been offering "spooktacular" "fright films" with 'Classic Horror' every Wednesday though Halloween. Among the films featured so far was one of my own eerie favorites, Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961), based on a stage play of the same name that was an adaptation of the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw. Deborah Kerr starred and considered her performance as the distressed governess of two precocious children the best of her career.

...uninvited

TCM also aired the 1944 ghost classic The Uninvited as part of this month's "scarefest." Lighter but reminiscent in some ways of the Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), it stars Ray Milland, features the film debut of Gail Russell and introduced Victor Young's classic song "Stella by Starlight." I took a closer look at both The Uninvited and Rebecca last November with A Chill in the Air Part I and Part II.

...a witch

Also spotlighted on TCM this month, though as part of its political series rather than a lead-in to Halloween, was Rene Clair's I Married a Witch (1942), starring Veronica Lake as a 300 year old witch and Fredric March as a rising politician. Click here for Jacqueline T. Lynch's thoroughly entertaining review at Another Old Movie Blog.

Tonight, All Hallows Eve has finally arrived and Turner Classic Movies is featuring Universal horror classics: Frankenstein (1931), Son of Frankenstein (1939), The Wolf Man (1941), The Mummy (1932), The Mummy's Hand (1940) and Island of Lost Souls (1933).

And my costume choice this year: 

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

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You've Gotta Have Heart...Damn, Giants!

San Francisco's Coit Tower bathed in Giants orange on Sunday night  (photo by Luanne Dietz, SF Chronicle)

One of the best-known tunes from Damn Yankees (the 1955 Broadway hit and 1958 movie) is the catchy number "Heart," and it goes like this:

You've gotta have heart
All you really need is heart
When the odds are sayin' you'll never win
That's when the grin should start...

These lyrics aptly describe the situation the now World Champion San Francisco Giants found themselves in. Until they won the third game (in a row) of the World Series on Saturday night, the odds had been against them going into games one, two and three (not to mention the playoffs).

Unlike the hapless Washington Senators with not much more than heart in Damn Yankees, the San Francisco Giants team does have great sluggers, pitchers and is a great ball club. With this second World Series win in three years, no one can attribute the Giants' tremendous success to "luck" or a series of "flukes," it's a combination of talent and skill plus that key ingredient, heart.

Having descended from Dodgers fans (the Brooklyn Dodgers) and been raised in Southern California, I grew up a devoted fan of the LA Dodgers. Once I moved to the Bay Area, cheering for the Giants didn't come easily or quickly - the rivalry between SF and LA is serious and sometimes ugly. However, by the time the 1989 "Battle of the Bay" Series (the Giants vs. the Oakland A's) came along, I'd become a Giants fan. I'll never forget Game 2 of that series in Oakland; I was sitting high in the Oakland Coliseum and remarked to the group I was with, "I'd hate to be up here in an earthquake." Of course, Game 3 in San Francisco was disrupted by the monster Loma Prieta quake (which disabled the Bay Bridge, took down a few freeways as well as homes in San Francisco's Marina District). The A's swept that series once it resumed 10 days later. But that's all ancient history now...today, along with the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area, I'm basking in another Giants victory - in a four game sweep, at that. 

Last time the Giants brought the trophy home, in 2010, the welcome-home/victory parade through downtown San Francisco turned out to be the biggest event in San Francisco history (attracting an estimated crowd of one million+). This year the parade is set for October 31. Perfect. Giants black-and-orange on Halloween. It's going to be wild and woolly in downtown San Francisco this Wednesday.

Bravo, San Francisco Giants!

Buster Posey's home run

Closer Sergio Romo after the final pitch

The Giants win the 108th World Series in Detroit

And now, with Reel Life's classic movie theme as well as baseball in mind, a legendary Abbott and Costello routine - from The Naughty Nineties (1945):

  

(photos via SFGate)

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Prize Pack Giveaway this Weekend for Upcoming "To Kill a Mockingbird" Screening...Plus...

The Lady Eve's Reel Life is pleased to take part in a "prize pack" giveaway sponsored by Fathom Events and Harper Perennial books in celebration of the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, the 1962 film version of Harper Lee's acclaimed novel.

The prize pack consists of a pair of tickets to the special presentation on Thursday, November 15th, when movie theaters throughout the U.S. will screen the film - as well as a copy of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Update: ClassicBecky's name was drawn, she's been contacted and will soon receive her prize, a pair of tickets as well as the novel, from Fathom Events/Harper Perennial.

To participate, first click here for a list of participating theaters to make sure there is a screening at a theater near you. Next, comment on this post (and feel free to share it on your own blog, Facebook and/or Twitter). Finally, I'll select a winner at random on Sunday, October 28. (For more information contact ladyevesidwich@gmail.com.)

Gregory Peck with Oscar and Sophia Loren

This special presentation is the fourth event of the TCM Event Series in conjunction with NCM Fathom and Universal pictures. The film has been newly restored by Universal in celebration of its 100th anniversary. The presentation will begin with an introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, who will take viewers behind the scenes on the making of the timeless classic via interviews from the TCM Archives. To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It garnered three - Best Actor for Gregory Peck, Best Sceenplay and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. Future Best Actor Oscar-winner Robert Duvall made his big screen debut in the film as the enigmatic 'Boo Radley.'

To Kill a Mockingbird is a film with both a message and a heart. The event and book make for a perfectly serendipitous lead-in to the Thanksgiving season.

  

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A Film to Watch for...on TCM Next Week

Actress Jeanne Eagels, one of the great legends of early 20th century American theater, became the toast of the New York stage by the time she was 30. She most famously originated the role of Sadie Thompson on Broadway in John Colton's Rain (based on a Somerset Maugham short story); the play ultimately ran for a record-setting 648 performances. Eagels appeared in only a handful films during her career, most of them silents. The two sound films she did make were both produced in 1929, and she received a Best Actress nod for her performance in the first, a film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's The Letter. But Eagels' contention for an Academy Award occurred posthumously, for she had passed away, at age 39, in October 1929.

The acclaimed Bette Davis/William Wyler re-make of The Letter (1940) has been seen far more widely than the earlier Eagels/Jean de Limur version, but on October 24, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1929 original. New York Times film critic Dave Kehr has described Eagels' acting style as "radically innovative," and next Wednesday morning TCM viewers will have a chance to find out why.

Jeanne Eagels and Herbert Marshall in The Letter (1929)

Jeanne Eagels was born Eugenia Eagles in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1890. She left school to go to work while still a child and joined the Dubinsky Brothers traveling theater company as a dancer sometime between the age of 12 and 15. There she would eventually take lead roles in popular dramas such as "Camille, " "Romeo and Juliet" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Eagels later joined another touring company and made her way to New York where she hoped to develop her career. Though she was, for a time, a 'Ziegfeld Girl,' her primary focus was to build a theatrical reputation on the 'legitimate stage.' She was cast in a variety of small roles and, at some point, apparently developed a distinctly British accent off-stage. It was while she was vacationing in Paris that American actor Julian Etinge noticed and admired her, though they did not meet at that time. As it turned out, Etinge and Eagels would soon co-star in "The Crinoline Girl" (1914).

Portrait of Jeanne Eagels, 1918

In early 1916, Eagels earned her first Broadway credit with a featured role in "The Great Pursuit," which ran for just 29 performances. It was in 1917 that her star truly began to rise over The Great White Way with co-starring roles in three plays opposite George Arliss: "The Professor's Love Story," "Disraeli," and "Hamilton."  She went on to appear opposite George Abbott in David Belasco's hit, "Daddies," from 1918 - 1919. Eagels was so popular in her 1920 starring role in "The Wonderful Thing" that her entrances were greeted with such enthusiastic applause she had to wait for the house to quiet before she could go on. She opened in "Rain" in 1922 and it ran on Broadway and on tour over the next four years. She turned down many roles following the play's enormous success (including the role of Roxie Hart in the 1926 production of "Chicago"), but returned to Broadway in 1926 for George Cukor's production of "Her Cardboard Lover" with Leslie Howard.

Before going on tour with "Her Cardboard Lover," Eagels took time out to star in MGM's silent production of the Monta Bell-directed "Man, Woman and Sin" (1927) opposite silent screen idol John Gilbert. Bell would produce and write the dialogue for her talking debut in The Letter two years later.

At the height of her stage career Eagels, who had health issues along with a fondness for alcohol, became notably unreliable. When, in 1928, she failed to appear for scheduled performances of "Her Cardboard Lover" in Milwaukee and St. Louis, the show's producers requested that Actor's Equity ban her from appearing on stage with other Equity members. An 18 month ban ensued. During that time she appeared on the vaudeville circuit performing scenes from "Rain."  She was also free to make films - for which stage actors with trained voices were now in great demand. Following her high-voltage performance in "The Letter," Eagels starred opposite Fredric March in Jealousy (1929). This film was also re-made much later with Bette Davis in the starring role - as Deception in 1946. Eagels' next film was to have been The Laughing Lady (1929), but she dropped out of the project and her role went to Ruth Chatterton. 

Jeanne Eagels, 1921

While in New York in September 1929, Jeanne Eagels underwent successful in-patient surgery for ulcers on her eyes.  A few weeks later, apparently fully recovered, she suddenly fell ill. She was taken to a private hospital where, as she waited to be seen by a doctor, she went into convulsions and died.  Three different coroner's reports followed and all agreed that her demise was caused by an overdose - but each named a different substance. One report pointed to alcohol, another blamed chloral hydrate and a third attributed her death to heroin.

Jeanne Eagels was admired as an actress by many in her day. Bette Davis was reportedly a fan and Louis B. Mayer, taken with Eagels' performance, purportedly deemed The Letter required viewing for actors under contract to MGM at the time. But Eagels' turbulent life off-screen also inspired. "The Shooting Star," a Broadway play of 1933 starring Francine Lattimore was based on her life. The storyline for Dangerous (1935), the film in which Bette Davis portrayed a declining Broadway star (and for which she won her first Oscar), reflected elements of Eagels' own decline. And, in 1957, Kim Novak starred in the biopic Jeanne Eagels, a film that played fast and loose with the facts of Eagels' life story.
 

~ 

The Letter (1929) starring Jeanne Eagels, Reginald Owen and Herbert Marshall airs on TCM Wednesday, October 24 at 8:45 am Eastern/4:45 am Pacific. A few hours later, at 11 am Eastern/8 am Pacific, TCM will air the Lewis Milestone-directed version of Rain (1932) starring Joan Crawford.

Jeanne Eagels as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1929)

Sources:
Internet Broadway DataBase
Jeanne Eagels website

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One of Ours...on Turner Classic Movies

Moira Neylon, aka/moirafinnie, blogger on TCM's Movie Morlocks site and member of the Classic Movie Blog Association, will be a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies next month. Moira and three other Morlocks will be featured in segments with host Robert Osborne on Friday, November 30; each will discuss a film they've chosen to be screened that evening.


I was delighted to discover (thanks to the new issue of TCM's "Now Playing") that Moira selected the classic Jacques Becker crime drama, Touchez Pas Au Grisbi (1954), starring the incomparable Jean Gabin in what has been called his "comeback" performance.  It is one of his best. The film also features a young Jeanne Moreau.

Keep an eye out for Moira on TCM in November and, if you haven't already, check out her work at Movie Morlocks and on her blog, The Skeins. On Twitter, she's @moirathefinn.  She's also active at The Silver Screen Oasis.

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Many Thanks

It was nearly a year ago that I began to think about hosting a blog event focused on Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. I had just read an English translation of the French noir novel the film was adapted from and wanted to blog about it. But to simply write a book-to-film piece didn't appeal. And a straight-ahead review struck me as not only daunting but - redundant - so much has been written on Vertigo by so many over the years, beginning with France's Cahiers du Cinema set 50+ years ago. So, I thought it might be interesting to try something different. What evolved was "A Month of Vertigo," a more-than-a-month-long meditation on the masterpiece from many angles by many bloggers. This turned out to be much more work than I ever anticipated - and much more rewarding than I ever imagined. The icing on the cake has been the honor of being voted a 2012 CiMBA for "Best Classic Movie Blog Event" by the Classic Movie Blog Association.

This award would never have come my way if not for the incredible contributions of the superb guest bloggers who joined me in celebrating Hitchcock's great masterwork (now, according to Sight and Sound, the best film ever). I owe a special debt of gratitude to Brandon Kyle Goco (of Brandon Kyle the Cinephile) who created this wonderful teaser/promo as the event prepared to launch:

I'd like to again thank each of the bloggers who participated - this award belongs to them as much as it does The Lady Eve:

• R.D. Finch of The Movie Projector, who kicked off "A Month of Vertigo" on January 1, 2012 with "Deadly Obsession: Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo," a reflection on the film's structure and themes.

• Whistlingypsy of Distant Voices and Flickering Shadows who offered her contemplation of "Bernard Herrmann ~ Composer of Haunting Music and Treacherous Dreams."

• Blogger and author Christian Esquevin (Silver Screen Modiste is his blog,  Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label is his book) who explored "The Costumes of Vertigo."

• Brandie Ashe of True Classics, who assessed Kim Novak's greatest role and performance with "Kim Novak in Vertigo: A Hypnotic Presence."

• Michael Nazarewycz of Scribe Hard on Film, who considered the film's iconic setting with "More Than Just the Streets of San Francisco."

• Author Steven DeRosa (Writing with Hitchcock), expert on the Hitchcock screenwriters and screenplays, who explored the story behind Samuel Taylor's best known screenplay with "An Inconsequential Yarn."

• John Greco of Twenty Four Frames, who had recently interviewed award-winning biographer Patrick McGilligan about his new Nicholas Ray bio - and interviewed him again for our event on the subject Alfred Hitchcock, about whom McGilligan had written a 2004 biography, and Vertigo.

• Allen Hefner of Bit Part Actors, a man who knows his supporting players well, who took a closer look at some of the film's unsung character actors (and more) with Vertigo, The Bit Players.

• Brian/Classicfilmboy of Classicfilmboy's Movie Paradise, who examined one of James Stewart's greatest performances with "James Stewart: A Walk on the Dark Side."

• Brandon Kyle Goco who contributed not only the promo but also the vlog (video blog), "Vertigo: Alfred Hitchcock's Edifice to Obsession."

• Vertigo authority Dan Auiler, author of the definitive VERTIGO: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic, who wrote of the film's mesmerizing impact with "Vertigo for Life."

• Joel Gunz aka/the Alfred Hitchcock Geek, who meditated upon one moment of the film with "Hitchcock's Most Beautiful Shot Ever; Or, A Single Frame So Good, 2,000 Words Don't Do it Justice."

(My own contribution, "A Month of Vertigo, The Final Chapter," contemplated the transformation of a genre novel into a cinematic work of art.)

Thank you to the members of CMBA for honoring the blog event, the contributors and Vertigo with this deeply appreciated award.

  Click here for the complete list of 2012 CiMBA award winners.

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Ticket Giveaway this Sunday for "Lawrence of Arabia 50th Anniversary Event" on October 4th

The 35^th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the films of 1962, took place at Santa Monica's Civic Auditorium on April 8^th, 1963. Frank Sinatra, who nearly missed the event because he forgot his parking pass, hosted the festivities. The big winner that evening was David Lean’s epic production of Lawrence of Arabia, winner of seven golden
statuettes - for:

• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Art Direction/color
• Cinematography/color
• Film Editing
• Music Score
• Sound

The film also garnered nominations for Peter O’Toole in the Best Actor category, Omar Sharif as Best Supporting Actor and for its screenplay.

1962 was not a mediocre movie year - among other notable films that season were The Birdman of Alcatraz, Cape Fear, Days of Wine and Roses, Dr. No (the first James Bond film), Gypsy, How the West Was Won (one of only two dramatic feature films made using the three-strip Cinerama process), Jules and Jim, To Kill a Mockingbird, Knife in the Water, Lolita, The Longest Day, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Manchurian Candidate, The Miracle Worker, The Music Man and Ride the High Country. Lean’s sweeping tale, filmed in Super Panavision 70 and based on the legendary experiences of British Army lieutenant T.E. Lawrence in Arabia during World War I, became a legend in its own right and is today listed as #7 on the AFI’s “100 Greatest Movies of All Time.”

Now, in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the film's release, Sony Pictures and Fathom Events presents Lawrence of Arabia 50^th Anniversary Event: Digitally Restored in theaters on Thursday, October 4. The 50^th anniversary restoration of the Director’s Cut was conducted with the latest digital imaging technology and went through a painstaking color grading and re-mastering process. This special event presentation features an introduction by Omar Sharif, newsreel footage of the film’s New York premiere as well as an interview with director and film preservation/restoration champion Martin Scorsese who talks about the film and its enduring influence.

Update: Congratulations to Lorraine in Illinois, winner of the ticket giveaway!

On Sunday, September 30, I’ll conduct a random drawing for a pair of tickets to the one-day-only screening. Please send your entry, including your name, mailing address (no P.O. boxes, please) and theater selection (for a list of participating theaters, click here) to ladyevesidwich@gmail.com. The winner will be notified immediately and tickets will be sent directly from Pure Brand Communications. This special presentation of Lawrence of Arabia screens at 7pm local time on October 4 in theaters nationwide.

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328 Credits and Counting...Happy Birthday, Mickey Rooney!

Mickey Rooney, who celebrates his 92nd birthday on September 23, has spent 90+ of those years in show business. Born into a family of vaudevillians, he came closer to actually being "born in a trunk" in the back of a theater than even his frequent MGM co-star and pal Judy Garland. His stage debut came before he was 18 months old.


Mickey's mom always thought her boy had star quality and hustled him to Hollywood in the mid-'20s in hopes that he might be selected for the "Our Gang" series. Though he auditioned, it didn't work out and he later ended up making his big screen debut in a short titled Not to be Trusted cast as a midget.

"Mickey McGuire"

Mickey has not always been Mickey. Originally Joe Yule, Jr., he took the name by which he became known for nearly nine decades from his first breakthrough movie role. In 1927 he was cast as comic strip character Mickey McGuire and starred in the part for a series of 78 comedy shorts from 1927 - 1934. He briefly changed his name to Mickey McGuire but for legal reasons was forced to drop the surname. It was then that he became Mickey Rooney.

The two 'Blackies'

One day in 1934 producer David O. Selznick happened upon young Rooney competing in a ping pong match - and putting on quite a show for the crowd. Taken with the boy's showmanship and charisma, Selznick arranged for him to be cast as "Blackie as a boy" in the MGM hit Manhattan Melodrama (1934), starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and Clark Gable (who portrayed "Blackie" as a man). Soon Mickey was signed to a long-term contract with the studio. In 1935 he was given a small part in the Jean Harlow vehicle, Reckless, appeared as "Puck" in the star-studded Warner Bros. production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and was cast in the MGM adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! as Lionel Barrymore's mischievous youngest son, Tommy.

Roles in the Jean Harlow hit Riffraff and the Freddie Bartholomew vehicle Little Lord Fauntleroy would follow in 1936, and in 1937 he would once more portray Lionel Barrymore's son - this time in A Family Affair, as Andy Hardy to Barrymore's Judge Hardy. The film was so successful that it begat 15 sequels. 

Beloved as the Hardy series was from the late '30s to mid-'40s, there was more to Mickey Rooney's filmography during this period than Andy Hardy. Among the other popular films that fueled his ascension to #1 box office star in America from 1939 - 1941 were Captains Courageous (1937), Boys Town (1938), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939), Babes in Arms (1939) -  for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination, Strike Up the Band (1940) and Babes on Broadway (1941). In 1938, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences honored him with a "Juvenile" Oscar. From 1942 until he went into World War II service in early 1944, Rooney cranked out three more Andy Hardy sequels, received his second Best Actor nomination for his starring performance in the film adaptation of William Sorayan's The Human Comedy (1943) and co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet (1944). During the war he entertained troops in the U.S. as well as in combat zones and worked for American Forces Network radio. 

  The Human Comedy (1943)

Like the other top male stars who left movies for the the war, Mickey Rooney returned to a changed Hollywood.  Many of the most successful films of the post-war era were markedly dark and serious -  The Best Years of Our Lives, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, All the King's Men, Sunset Blvd., A Streetcar Named Desire. And TV was on the near horizon, portending more change to come. Rooney's first film following his war service was Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946), with Bonita Granville. But audiences had moved on from that particular brand of Americana and he would struggle to keep his career afloat. He would do admirable if overlooked work in early '50s noir (Quicksand, The Strip, Drive a Crooked Road), and earn a Best Supporting Actor nod for his portrayal of an American soldier serving in Italy in The Bold and the Brave (1956). He ventured into live television, appearing on various anthology series of the time, and garnered an Emmy nomination for his performance in "The Comedians," a Playhouse 90 drama, in 1957.

Jeanne Cagney and Mickey Rooney in Quicksand  (1950)

Rooney would work primarily in TV through the '60s, but would also turn in a gritty performance in the 1962 film adaptation of Rod Serling's teleplay Requiem for a Heavyweight, a searing drama co-starring Jackie Gleason and Anthony Quinn. He also appeared, along with a boatload of great comedians (Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Phil Silvers and Jonathan Winters), one Broadway diva (Ethel Merman) and a revered dramatic actor (Spencer Tracy) in the classic 1963 comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  And he had a supporting role in a premier romantic comedy of the early '60s, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). Unfortunately, his over-the-top turn as Audrey Hepburn's Japanese-American neighbor, though performed exactly as director Black Edwards requested, did not age well; eventually Edwards apologized for the characterization.

Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney in Requiem for a Heavyweight  (1962)

Though the glory years at the top of the movie star pile were over, Mickey Rooney continued on as a journeyman character actor. In Carroll Ballard's stunningly beautiful The Black Stallion (1979), Rooney portrayed aging horse trainer Henry Dailey, a role for which he received his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Both the film and his character recalled National Velvet, and footage of Rooney as jockey Mi Taylor in the earlier film was used in The Black Stallion to depict the trainer's previous career as a rider.

for "50 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances"

In October 1979, Mickey Rooney took to the stage with Ann Miller in the Broadway production Sugar Babies. For his performance he earned a Tony nomination and won the 1980 Theatre World Special Award. In 1981 he was cast in the title role of Bill, a TV-movie based on the true story of a mentally handicapped man, and won a Best Actor Emmy for his performance. He was Emmy-nominated for his portrayal in the 1983 sequel, Bill: On His Own, and was awarded a 1983 Academy Award in honor of his 50 year film career. Born to entertain, he says he fell in love with the spotlight before he could walk or talk, when he first crawled from the wings to center stage. He was a natural for movies and grew up in front of a camera. A whirlwind of energy onscreen, he could dance and sing and put on a one-man show. And he proved to be a fearless dramatic actor with a gift for naturally disappearing into character.

He has never stopped working - whether TV, voice or film work  - and has enjoyed the pleasure another hit movie, famously appearing with Dick Van Dyke and Bill Cobbs as one of a trio of aged and larcenous security guards in Night at the Museum (2006). He was interviewed by Turner Classic Movies' Robert Osborne for an early (1997) "Private Screenings" segment and appears at TCM-sponsored events (he'll be a special guest on TCM's 2013 Classic Cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel). He has also been outspoken on the subject of elder abuse and in 2011 testified before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

What more can be said about a living legend? I'll leave the last word to Cary Grant, who described Mickey Rooney as "the most talented actor in Hollywood."

When James Montgomery Flagg finished this charcoal sketch of Mickey Rooney in October 1941, he showed it to his subject and cracked, "There's the brat!" Rooney grinned and agreed, "Yessir -- one hundred percent brat!"

Sources (click on title for link):

The Official Mickey Rooney website
"Fate Slaps Down Andy Hardy: Mickey Rooney After MGM" by Jake Hinkson

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Email From an Oscar Winner's Son...

Every now and then a delightful surprise arrives in the ladyevesidwich@gmail.com emailbox.

A few months ago I was contacted by British scholar Dr. Susan Smith, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sunderland in England and author of Hitchcock: Suspense, Humour and Tone, published by the British Film Institute. Dr. Smith was interested in getting in touch with Edna May Wonacott who portrayed young Ann Newton in Hitchcock’s 1942 masterwork Shadow of a Doubt for a paper she was working on. I’d originally gotten to know Edna in 2010 and an interview I conducted with her was published online, in the local newspaper of the Arizona city where Edna now lives -and in Films of the Golden Age. Dr. Smith had came upon my interview (and those that followed) with Edna online and asked if I’d put her in touch with the now 80-year-old former child actress. I did, and Dr. Smith later interviewed Edna for her paper.

The King and I (1956)

More recently – i.e., last week -  I received an email from Brooke Wheeler, son of legendary art director/production designer/set decorator Lyle Wheeler, winner of five Academy Awards (for Gone with the Wind, Anna and the King of Siam, The Robe, The King and I, The Diary of Anne Frank). Last year, in July, I’d published a piece by a young woman, Constance/aka/”Captain Gregg,” who was then primarily blogging at Turner Classic Movies’ Classic Film Union. The piece was entitled “Lyle Wheeler – Setting the Scene.”

For those unfamiliar with Lyle Wheeler, he not only won five Oscars but was nominated for an additional 24 - for his work on films including Rebecca, Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, All About Eve, Viva Zapata!, My Cousin Rachel, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Daddy Long Legs and Journey to the Center of the Earth. He also contributed as art director and/or production designer and/or set decorator on well over 300 additional films that weren’t (though many should have been) Oscar nominated – films like A Star is Born (1937), Nightmare Alley, The Snake Pit, A Letter to Three Wives, Niagara, Pickup on South Street, How to Marry a Millionaire, The Seven Year Itch, Carousel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, No Down Payment, The Fly, South Pacific, The Long, Hot Summer, The Best of Everything and In Harm’s Way. Wheeler worked in movies during every decade from the 1930s through the 1970s, that’s five decades, and was inducted into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame (est. 2005) in 2008 (other illustrious inductees include Anton Grot, William Cameron Menzies, Van Nest Polglase, Hans Dreier, Cedric Gibbons, Henry Bumstead, Robert F. Boyle and Alfred Junge). Wheeler also worked in TV, most notably on the the noirish and iconic Perry Mason series.

Here is what Lyle’s son Brooke Wheeler wrote:

After doing some recent research on my father Lyle, I came across your excellent and well informed article…

I'm sure Lyle would have been appreciative of all the kind comments, as I am. Just an FYI, Lyle's career continued into the mid 1970's, renewing his relationship with Otto Preminger on IN HARMS WAY (1965) post 20th Century Fox, then with features through Columbia Pictures like MAROONED (1969) and his final feature, POSSE (1975) (with Kirk Douglas starring and directing). It is wonderful to hear younger audiences enjoying all the Classic "Golden Age of Hollywood" films…. Many Thanks,

W. Brooke Wheeler

To read the superb piece on his father that prompted Brooke Wheeler's email, click here.

Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

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