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.”

SURF’S UP!

TCM is on a roll this weekend and on Sunday 4/2 at 6:15pm they are airing one of the best Hollywood surf movies of all time, Gidget (1959). The story of a teenage tomboy who doesn’t fit in with her landlubbing girlfriends and who just wants to surf with the guys is extremely entertaining. It makes a sincere effort to capture the surfer culture of the time albeit toned down for movie audiences. The film has lots of exciting surfing footage, beautiful Malibu scenery, and a wonderful cast headed by the sweet Sandra Dee as the “girl-midget” nicknamed Gidget, Cliff Robertson as the manly surf bum Kahoona, and James Darren as the wave-riding heartthrob Moondoggie.

Catch the movie and read more about it in my book, Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969.

ONE, TWO, THREE

TCM is airing one of my favorite movies of all-time on Sat. Sept. 1 at 4pm. It is Billy Wilder’s frenetic comedy One, Two, Three (1961) starring James Cagney as Coca-Cola’s harried man in Berlin hired to bring the popular soft drink to the Eastern Bloc. His wife (Arlene Francis) and family want to go back to the states; his mistress-secretary (Lilo Pulver) wants a raise; and his boss’ ditzy headstrong teenage daughter (Pamela Tiffin) has descended on him for a holiday and secretly elopes with a Communist (Horst Buchholz). Her antics elicited from Cagney’s character, “I’d rather be in hell with my back broken.”

James Cagney is a marvel to watch as he barks orders to his frazzled staff in machine gun rapid delivery. Gorgeous Pamela Tiffin and strikingly handsome Horst Buchholz make a super hot couple and hold there own against the pro. Pamela in particular won excellent notices as the impetuous, scatterbrained Scarlett Hazeltine. She was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for “Best Supporting Actress” and “Most Promising Newcomer – Female.” But her biggest rave came from the esteemed Billy Wilder himself who commented to Esquire, “She’s another Audrey Hepburn … she comes off on the screen even better than she looks and in this case that’s saying a lot.”

BEAT THE CLOCK

My new book Glamour Girls of Sixties Hollywood is due back from the printer on Oct. 3 according to my publisher. I am scheduled to attend the Chiller Theatre Convention in New Jersey Oct. 5-7 so it is a race to have the books there in time. Either way I still will be going despite the most uninteresting guest list in Chiller history. Check out their web site guest page. Yawn!

My friend (and co-author of Film Fatales) Louis Paul is hosting all the panel discussions at Chiller and he really will have his work cut out for him trying to distinguish these double D-cup bimbos from one another. Where are the Sixties and Seventies starlets!?!