Sixties Posts

ALL ABOUT EVE

In September 1968, with much fanfare, Carol Lynley headlined the debut of the spooky (albeit short-lived) anthology series Journey to the Unknown, produced by Hammer Films, on ABC. She played “Eve” a department store mannequin who comes alive in swinging London and leads unassuming boutique assistant Dennis Waterman into danger when she is marked for destruction and he tries to save her. Check out this tribute promo on YouTube. (Ignore Karen Carpenter singing the grating song “Eve” and enjoy the clips from the TV show.)

Trivia note: Carol Lynley, living in London, had her beautiful blonde locks sheared off into the very short fashionable Vidal Sassoon cut (think Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby). It is one of her few appearances at this time where Carol was required to wear a “fall” keeping her hair long.

TRAGEDY TOMORROW! COMEDY TONIGHT!

TCM is airing the amusing musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) featuring stunning Glamazon Inga Neilsen on Sept. 10 at 10:30pm. Neilsen’s years of dance training helped her to win the role of Gymnasia, the romantic interest for conniving slave Zero Mostel. Trying to find his young master’s true love among Phil Silvers’ courtesans, enterprising slave Mostel flips for Inga who is simply charming as the towering, voluptuous mute. The feeling is mutual and the mid-riff clad beauty joins him in his zany plot to unite his master with the slave girl he covets who was sold to a Roman general.

You can read more about the stupdifying Inga Neilsen in my book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood.

R.I.P.

Japanese actress Miyoshi Umeki sadly passed away last week from cancer. She specialized in playing sweet, gentle, subserviant women, which is why she was never a favorite of mine. Miyoshi was the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award, which she received for playing a war bride who marries an American flyer in the WWII drama Sayonara (1957) and then played the Chinese waif newly arrived in San Francisco who suffers culture shock in the hit musical Flower Drum Song (1961) though for me the film is stolen by the more animated Nancy Kwan as the hot-blooded showgirl Linda Low.

Most fans though will fondly remember Miyoshi as Mrs. Livingston on the late 1960s/early 1970s sitcom The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Swinging bachelor Bill Bixby, his precocious son Brandon Cruz, and Miyoshi as their maid, caretaker, and advice-giver charmed audiences young and old. When the series ended in 1972, Miyoshi retired from show business.

DUELING HARLOWS

Last year two biographical movies about Truman Capote were released. This is not the first time this has happened. In 1965, two movies about the life of Jean Harlow were released. Carroll Baker was Jean Harlow in Harlow directed by Gordon Douglas for Paramount. Carol Lynley was Jean Harlow in Harlow directed by Alex Segal for Magna. Not surprisingly, I prefer the Lynley version, which has never been released on video and is super hard to find a copy of. The b/w film was staged as a live TV show and then transferred to film in a process called Electronovision making it look like a old grainy kinescope. Check out this tribute to Carol as Harlow on YouTube.

Neither Carol Lynley nor Carroll Baker received much praise for their performances but Lynley got more sympathy from the critics since her movie was filmed in only 8 days and closer in age to Jean Harlow she was able to capture her sexiness and determination though her Harlow lacked warmth. And she looked gorgeous outfitted in Nolan Miller fashions.

Regarding the movie, Carol Lynley remarked to me when I interviewed her,“To this day, I don’t know what led them to cast me. I only agreed to do the film because Judy Garland was already signed to play my mother. After rehearsing for about three weeks, Judy came to me and said ‘Carol, this is going to be a piece of shit. I’m quitting. I know the press will write that I was drunk and couldn’t handle it but I don’t care.’ I became frantic and begged her not to quit. That night I thought of calling her but I didn’t. I thought she was just being Judy and that she would change her mind. The next day I was shocked to see Ginger Rogers take her place. She did the part with only two days rehearsal! On the second day of filming, I learned of the other Harlow with Carroll Baker. I then tried to quit but they threatened to sue me so I finished the picture.”