IMPRISON TRAITOR & CONVICTED FELON TRUMP.

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Rosalind Russell's tutorial on lighting the Shabbat candles


Recently, a lady contacted me to share some information about her grandmother's involvement in the film A Majority of One (1961), which we discussed here.

I receive emails from time to time from readers of this blog, but I seldom mention them out of the assumption that they prefer their comments to be private, otherwise they would leave their remarks in the blog comments section.  However, I was given permission to share this, though I will omit names.


"I read your article about Rosalind Russell’s moving portrayal of an older Jewish woman in A Majority of One and in particular her blessing of the Shabbat candles. 

"It meant a lot to me reading this because my grandmother... told us that she was the person who showed Ms. Russell how to do it."

A rabbi was consulted for the film regarding this scene, and he recommended her grandmother for the job of teaching Roz about the beautiful prayer ritual. 

"I think she went 1 or maybe 2 times to show her.  I never really asked the details, but she told us what she’d done at the time.

"I never saw the movie.  But to read of this as an especially moving part of the movie and to know of my grandmother’s role and remembering her pray over her own Shabbat candles brought back wonderful memories.  I’d like to see the movie.  Thank you."


Receiving this email was, of course, a great thrill for me, not only to hear from someone even distantly connected to the film, but to find out a little more about the behind-the-scenes technical consultants whom we sometimes don't learn much about, though probably most films then and now do rely on the expertise of consultants.  Even, in this case, if it's only for one very special scene.




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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism.  Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Public Domain Day - 2023


Time once again to update our annual look at Public Domain Day, which is January 1st, the day that another year of creative works enter into public domain.

This year the works of 1927 apply, and for films this includes:


Metropolis

The Jazz Singer

Wings

Sunrise

7th Heaven


As you can see, we have giants among them, Oscar nominees and winners among them, since the first Academy Awards covered entries from August 1927 to July 1928.  We also note that with the Jazz Singer, we’ve got a toehold in the coming sound era, so 1927 certainly marks a great sea change in our culture.



 Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2022

Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2021

Another Old Movie Blog: Public Domain Day - 2020

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism.  Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Sunday, January 8, 2023

Mary Field - What a Character! blogathon


Mary Field was a very good actress, with the ability to command a scene and entirely lose herself in a character, yet most of the roles she played were brief, uncredited, and leaves one wondering what her career might have been like had the Hollywood caste system not been so rigid.


This post is part of the11th Annual What a Character! blogathon, hosted by Paula of Paula’s Cinema Club and @Paula_Guthat, Kellee of Outspoken & Freckled and @Irishjayhawk66, and Aurora of Once Upon a Screen and @CitizenScreen.  Have a look here at the other great blogs on the roster.

Mary Field appeared in over 100 films, along with several television appearances in a career spanning 46 years before her retirement in 1963 at 54.  Many of her roles were spinster types: maids, shop clerks, librarians; many were comic, some were poignant, but all were unique individuals.  


The comic man-chasing spinster in The Great Gildersleeve (1942) who made Gildy’s life a wreck is unrecognizable from the quiet, concerned adoptive mother who brings her little Dutch-speaking orphan to see Santa Claus in a moving scene in Miracle on 34th Street (1947).  You would not know they were the same actress.  Unlike many character actors, I think she is less recognizable because of her ability to play nuanced roles.



She is one of the boarders in Shadows on the Stairs (1941), a larger-than-life personality who steals scenes.  She is perhaps barely noticed in many other films, but she appeared in greats such as Ball of Fire (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), and Mrs. Miniver (1942).



Mary Field was what was called a day worker, someone reliable to plug into a small role at short notice, but seemingly stuck in that particular orbit of studio system hirelings.  Many struggling actors would be, and were, grateful for a toehold in the industry, but most would find that it also meant a dead end of not reaching supporting player status on a studio’s roster, let alone stardom.

Yet Mary Field, I think, had the ability, much like Lionel Barrymore, to be a character actor-star. 


My favorite role, so far, is her turn as the shop clerk in a women’s clothing store in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) which we covered here.  I’ll quote from that essay:

The funniest scene in the movie is when Mr. Powell heads to a women’s clothing store in town to purchase some sort of top for his mermaid.  His befuddled awkwardness sets the stage for a terrific scene, and he plays the straight man for Mary Field, whom you’ve probably seen uncredited in a zillion movie walk-on parts.  Here she gets a good role as the primly officious clerk, who delights in her soliloquy sales pitches to the uncomfortable Mr. Powell.  She sounds like a Banana Republic or J Peterman catalog description gone amuck. 

She displays a sweater, “Light as a whisper, gay as a sunbeam, wearing it will be an emotional adventure spangled with the moon glow of twilight.”  

Miss Field continues her merry prattle, “A gay spectrum of springtime hues—fuchsia, purple almond, banana, marshmallow, peach dream and licorice!”

 Mr. Powell replies, “Would you be good enough to tell me something?”

Miss Field: “Enchanted.”  (I love her over-the-top playfulness with proper speech.)

Mr. Powell: “Whatever became of blue?”

She finds he is going to be trouble, especially when he wants to know if someone can swim in her sweaters.

“May I ask is the young lady’s prejudice against swimming in a swimming suit quite deep-seated?”  (One of my all-time favorite lines.  I just love her.  In a way, her intonation and enunciation reminds me of a reformed Eliza Doolittle when she is carefully trying to explain to Freddy Eynsford-Hill that, “Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin, let alone a hat.”  Her careful stroking of the difficult language as if to tame it.)

Mr. Powell just realizes he could buy his mermaid a two-piece swimsuit instead of a sweater and she could just wear the top part.  But Miss Field, Saleswoman of the Year, insists they do not sell half of a bathing suit.  She holds one up, “The diaper model.  Provocative, n'est–ce pas?”  (She’s straight-faced, slam-dunk hysterical.)

 


Here in Top o’ the Morning (1949), she plays a chambermaid who gets to sing a line or two with Bing Crosby.  She played against the greats, and held her own.

Miss Field’s personal life was something of an enigma.  Reportedly, she was a foundling left outside the doors of a church as a baby.  She was adopted, and went to school in Westchester, New York.  In her late 20s she went to Hollywood.  Perhaps there was some stage work in the interim, but I don’t know.  She married, had children, and evidently, was satisfied in middle age to leave her acting career.

Hat's off to the day workers, and to Mary Field, who deserved more screen time and a higher notch in the caste system (and the cast).

Check out the other great characters actors being paid tribute in this 11th Annual What a Character! blogathon here.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time - Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century and Hollywood Fights Fascism.  Her latest book is Christmas in Classic Films. TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

What a Character Blogathon!

 


Happy New Year!  I can't think of a better way to start the new year right, as Bing would sing, than to take part in the 11th Annual What a Character! blogathon, hosted by Paula's Cinema Club, Once Upon a Screen, and Outspoken & Freckled blogs.

My choice this year is Mary Field.  Join us this coming Sunday, January 8th, for a roster of wonderful blogs celebrating our favorite wonderful classic film character actors.  Have a look at them here.

See you then!


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