Pawsome Pet Pictures: Leslie Howard, Carole Lombard and Gary Cooper.

Great picture of Leslie Howard, Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper and what looks like an Afghan Hound. Picture taken in 1933.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Gary Cooper.

Personal Quote:

 "The only achievement I am really proud of is the friends I have made in this community".

Ball of Fire(1941)

Ball of Fire(1941). Screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The supporting cast includes: Oskar Homolka, S. Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn, Dana Andrews, and Dan Duryea. In 1948, the plot was recycled for a musical film, A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo.

At the Daniel S. Totten Foundation in New York, Bertram Potts, an overly dedicated linguistics professor, is writing the new encyclopedia, on which he and his eight colleagues have been working on for nine years.

When their financial backer, Miss Totten, stops by to check on their progress, not happy with what she finds threatens to withdraw her support, Bertram flirts with her. Charmed, Miss Totten changes her mind, agreeing to continue to back the encyclopedia project.

Soon after, a garbage man knocks on the foundation's door and asks the professors for help on a radio quiz show questions. Intrigued by the garbage man's slang, Bertram believes that his section on slang is outdated and requires further research. Bertram then walks the streets, where he eavesdrops on many conversations and invites several people to participate on his project.

When he invites nightclub performer Sugarpuss O'Shea to attend, Sugarpuss thinking him with the police refuses. Unknown to Bertram, Sugarpuss is wanted by the district attorney in connection with a murder that her gangster boyfriend, Joe Lilac, is suspected of committing. She and a couple of thugs, Asthma Anderson and Duke Pastrami, flee the club one step ahead of the police. Sugarpuss decides to take Bertram up on his invitation and shows up at the foundation's door step later that night.



Glad that Sugarpuss has changed her mind, Bertram, does not think it is proper that she stay the night, but.. his colleagues insist that she stay.

Meanwhile, at the district attorney's office, Joe is asked about a monogrammed bathrobe found in the murdered man's suitcase. Which the district attorney suspects belonged to Joe and was given to him by Sugarpuss. Concerned that Sugarpuss might agree to testify against Joe, his lawyer advises him to marry her.

Three days later, Sugarpuss, who has been helping Bertram with his slang expressions as well as teaching the other professors the conga, is visited by Asthma and Pastrami. The thugs present her with a beautiful diamond engagement ring from Joe and Sugarpuss, gladly accepts the ring and agrees to stay at the foundation until it is safe.

Just then, Miss Bragg, the professors' housekeeper, demands that Sugarpuss leave, as she has become too much of a distraction. Bertram, agrees and asks Sugarpuss to leave, admitting that she has distracted him from his work. Sugarpuss, quick on her feet says that she is.. "just plain wacky" for him and kisses him. Bertram, decides to propose to her and the next morning, he gives her a small diamond engagement ring.

Soon after, Joe telephones from New Jersey. As Joe has identified himself as "Daddy," Bertram assumes he is Sugarpuss' father and asks him for permission to marry her. Joe, agrees thinking it is the best way to get Sugarpuss past the police's dragnet, then insist that the wedding be performed in New Jersey.

Just as the wedding party is about to leave, Miss Bragg, having seen Sugarpuss' photo in the newspaper, threatens to call the police. Sugarpuss, slugs Miss Bragg and locks her in a closet, Bertram and the other professors leave for New Jersey.

On the way, Professor Gurkakoff, who is driving the car has an accident disabling the car. The wedding party is forced to spend the night at an auto court. Sugarpuss calls Joe with the news, he insists on picking her up that night.

While she waits in her bungalow, Professor Oddly, a widowed botanist, tells Bertram about his honeymoon, then retires for the night. Confused by Oddly's conversation with Sugarpuss , Bertram goes looking for him, but accidentally ends up in Sugarpuss' bungalow. Believing that he is speaking to Oddly, Bertram describes his love for Sugarpuss, she kisses him.

Joe and his gang arrive and expose Sugarpuss' for what she truly is. Finding lipstick on Bertram's face, Joe then attacks the professor. After lying to Miss Bragg, who escaped from the closet and the police saying that she has already left, Bertram confronts Sugarpuss. She tearfully apologizes, but Bertram returns to New York, heartbroken. Will Bertram ever forgive Sugarpuss and think her worthy of him?

Fun Facts:

Kathleen Howard was left with a fractured jaw when the punch that Barbara Stanwyck threw accidentally made contact. Stanwyck was reportedly mortified by the incident.

The roles of the seven professors (besides Gary Cooper) were inspired by Disney's Seven Dwarfs. There is even a photograph showing the actors sitting in front of a Disney poster, each one in front of his corresponding dwarf: S.Z. Sakall - Dopey; Leonid Kinskey - Sneezy; Richard Haydn - Bashful; Henry Travers - Sleepy; Aubrey Mather - Happy; Tully Marshall - Grumpy, and Oskar Homolka - Doc.

In the scene where Pastrami and Asthma have the professors hostage in the library, the gunmen begin shooting at random items. One gunman (Pastrami) says, "I saw me a picture last week," and proceeds to lick his thumb and then rubs it on the sight of his gun. This is a reference to star Gary Cooper's previous movie Sergeant York in which York uses this as a technique to improve his marksmanship.

Ginger Rogers was the original choice for Katherine 'Sugarpuss' O'Shea, but Rogers declined.

Lucille Ball was set to play Katherine 'Sugarpuss' O'Shea, but once producer Samuel Goldwyn found out that Barbara Stanwyck was available he gave her the part instead.

When Gary Cooper is taking notes of the news boy's slang, the marquee on the theater across the street advertises Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, an inside joke that refers to the script's inspiration.

To pick up authentic slang for the film script, screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett visited the drugstore across the street from Hollywood High School, a burlesque house and the Hollywood Park racetrack.

Hal McIntyre can be seen in the saxophone section during the number "Drumboogie". Also, Roy Eldridge has a brief trumpet solo.

Even though they play two of the "old men" lexicographers, Leonid Kinskey (Prof. Quintana) and Richard Haydn (Prof. Oddly) were both under 40 years old when they made this movie.

Lighthearted romantic comedy that belongs to Barbara Stanwyck, who is perfect for the part of Sugarpuss O'Shea. A Nice for a change to see Gary Cooper play a person who is awkward,intelligent and romantic. Please click here to view past Ball of Fire review with videos.

Oskar Homolka (August 12, 1898 – January 27, 1978). After serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, Homolka attended the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Vienna and began his career on the Austrian stage.

Success there led to work in the much more prestigious German theatrical community in Munich where in 1924 he played Mortimer in the premiere of Brecht's play, The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele and since 1925 in Berlin where he worked under Max Reinhardt.

Homolka's made at least thirty silent films in Germany and starred in the first talking picture ever made there.

After the Nazi rise to power, Homolka moved to Britain, where he starred in the films Rhodes, Empire Builder, with Walter Huston, 1936 and Everything Is Thunder, with Constance Bennett.

In 1936, he appeared opposite Sylvia Sidney in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Sabotage. Although he often played villains such as Communist spies and Soviet-bloc military officers or scientists, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the crusty, beloved uncle in I Remember Mama (1948).

He also acted with Ingrid Bergman in Rage in Heaven, with Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, with Ronald Reagan in Prisoner of War, and with Katharine Hepburn in The Madwoman of Chaillot.

He returned to England in the mid-1960's, to play the Soviet KGB Colonel Stok in Funeral in Berlin (1966) and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), opposite Michael Caine.

His last film was the Blake Edwards romantic drama The Tamarind Seed(1974).

In 1967 Homolka was awarded the Filmband in Gold of the Deutscher Filmpreis for outstanding contributions to German cinema.

His career in television included appearances in several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957 and 1960.

Homolka married four times: His first wife was Grete Mosheim, a Hungarian Jewish actress. They married in Berlin on June 28, 1928, but divorced in 1937. She later married Howard Gould. His second wife, Baroness Vally Hatvany (died 1938), was also a Hungarian actress. They married in December 1937, but she died four months later. In 1939, Homolka married socialite and photographer Florence Meyer (1911–1962), a daughter of The Washington Post owner, Eugene Meyer. They had two sons, Vincent and Laurence, but eventually divorced. His last wife was actress Joan Tetzel whom he married in 1949. The marriage lasted until Tetzel's death in 1977.

Oskar Homolka made his home in England after 1966. He died of pneumonia in Sussex, England, on January 27, 1978, just three months after the death of his fourth wife, actress Joan Tetzel. He was 79 years old.

The first Academy Award Winner for Best Picture at the first annual AMPAS award ceremony in 1929.

On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Award ceremony was held at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. The winners were announced after a banquet in the Blossom room. After dinner Douglas Fairbanks, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, stood up and gave a speech. Then, with William C. deMille, he called the winners up to the table and handed them their awards. Although, there were no surprises as the names had been announced three months ahead of the ceremony.

The statuettes that were presented to the first Academy Awards winners were almost the same to those handed out today. Sculpted by George Stanley, The Academy Award of Merit (Oscar's official name) was a knight, made of solid bronze, holding a sword and standing on a reel of film.

For the next few years, the results were released in advance to the press under secret ballot. It was only when the Los Angeles Times, broke the rules and published the winners ahead of the show, that they went to the sealed envelopes.

Wings.. was entered in a number of categories, but in contrast with later ceremonies, there were two awards that were equally the top award of the night. These were Unique and Artistic Production, won by Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Outstanding Picture (later renamed Best Picture), won by Wings which went on to also win Best Engineering Effects for Roy Pomeroy.

The following year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Production award, and decided that the award won by Wings, was the highest honor that could be awarded. The statuette, not yet known as the "Oscar", was presented by Douglas Fairbanks to Clara Bow on behalf of the producers, Adolph Zukor and B.P. Schulberg .

Wings(1927). A silent film about two World War I fighter pilot friends, both in love with the same girl, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman and released by Paramount Pictures.

Wings.. was the first of two silent films, the other being The Artist at the 84th Academy Awards in 2012, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Clara Bow and Gary Cooper

Wings stars: Clara Bow, Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen. Gary Cooper's role helped launch his Hollywood career and also marked the beginning of his affair with Clara Bow.

The film, a war picture, was rewritten to accommodate Clara Bow, as she was Paramount's biggest star, but she wasn't happy about her part: "Wings is ..a man's picture and I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie".

Please click here to read past Wings movie review.

Gary Cooper: Super Duper Style.

In 1946, when Irving Berlin wrote the lyrics to his 1928 song “Puttin’ on the Ritz” he added the line: “Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper/Tryin’ hard to look like Gary Cooper/Super Duper.”

In an interview, his daughter Maria Janis told The Hollywood Reporter, " Her father had a natural sense of style and chose his own wardrobe without the help of stylists".

Cooper, combined a perfectly tailored European wardrobe with all-American casual sportswear to produce elegant, international, masculine style.

Ralph Lauren, calls Cooper the “definitive” male style icon of the 1940s. “He had an ideal American look—unstudied yet refined, natural, and playful.”

Love Hollywood Style: Gary Cooper.

My favorite actor, Gary Cooper, had been one of Hollywood's favorite leading men for over 30 years and had several high-profile relationships with actresses:

Starting with in 1927 Gary was chosen by the silent movie star Clara Bow, to play a reporter in her film, "IT"(1927). Clara, fell in love with Cooper and gave him a lead role in her next film, Children Of Divorce (1927). Cooper also had a minor but important part in her film, Wings (1927), which won the Oscar for best picture. Clara, insisted he be given a part in all of her movies. Cooper began to be known around Hollywood as the "IT" boy, a term he did not like.

Cooper had relationship with Lupe Velez, his co-star in, Wolf Song (1929), who gave him a couple of live wildcats. The stress of their 3 year troubled relationship caused Copper, to lose forty pounds and suffer a nervous breakdown after she shot and missed him, as he boarded the Twentieth Century train to Chicago. He took off to Rome to recover.

There, he met the Countess Dorothy Di Frasso, a decade older, who introduced Cooper to the lifestyle of the “International Set,” leaving him broke. Cooper returned home and was given a $125-a-week contract by Paramount Studios and became famous with his first talking picture, The Virginian (1929). He made an easy transition to sound films.

While filming Morocco(1930), Marlene Dietrich had an affair with Gary Cooper, despite the constant presence on the set of the temperamental Mexican actress Lupe Velez, with whom Cooper was also having a romance.

Gary Cooper, was paired with and had affair with Carole Lombard in, I Take This Woman (1931). A romance film directed by Marion Gering. Based on the 1927 novel Lost Ecstacy by Mary Roberts Rinehart, the film is about a wealthy New York socialite who falls in love and marries a cowboy while staying at her father's ranch out West.

After her father disinherits her, and after a year of living the life of a cowboy's wife, she leaves her husband and returns back east to her family. The film was released by Paramount Pictures. The film bears little resemblance to the 1940 film, I Take This Woman starring Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr.

On December 15, 1933, Cooper married Veronica Balfe, known as 'Rocky'. Balfe was a New York Roman Catholic socialite who had briefly acted under the name of Sandra Shaw. She performed in the film No Other Woman, but her best known role was in the film, King Kong (1933), as the woman dropped by Kong. Her third and final film was Blood Money (also 1933). Her father was governor of the New York Stock Exchange, and her uncle was motion-picture art director Cedric Gibbons. During the 1930s she also became the California state women's skeet shooting champion. Cooper and Balfe had one child, Maria in 1937.

Cooper, had an affair with the very young Grace Kelly, who played his Quaker wife in the film, High Noon(1952). The affair set Neal over the edge, as the next year, she suffered a nervous breakdown and left Hollywood.

Patricia Neal. Cooper and Neal began their affair after meeting on the set of, The Fountainhead(1949). The relationship eventually became an open secret in Hollywood. Cooper's wife, Rocky, confronted him with the rumors which he admitted were true and also confessed that he was in love with Neal.

Rocky, later told the couple's daughter Maria, of the affair who blamed Neal. The next time Maria saw Neal, she spat on the ground in front of Neal, but.. made up with her years later..

 

Cooper and his wife kept up a front of a happy marriage, but Cooper continued to see Neal. After Cooper and his wife separated. Cooper and Neal continued to see each other, but Cooper was hesitant to divorce Rocky fearing he would lose the respect of his daughter, Maria. With marriage impossible, his relationship with Neal had ended by 1953 and he reunited with Rocky the following year and stayed together until his death..

Please click here to view Gary Cooper's website..

Video:

Montage of stills from films that won Oscars for the year 1952 (presented at the 25th Academy Awards on March, 19 1953) set to the year's Oscar-winning song.

 

Fighting Caravans(1931).

Fighting Caravans(1931). A Western film directed by Otto Brower and David Burton. Cast: Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, and Ernest Torrence. Based on the 1929 novel Fighting Caravans by Zane Grey.

Fighting Caravans was remade three years later as Wagon Wheels, a low-budget production using stock footage from, Fighting Caravans. Cast: Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick in the lead roles.

Every character's name was changed in the remake except that of Clint Belmet, played by Cooper and Scott.

The story begins with Clint Belmet, sentenced to 30 days in jail. His partners, Bill Jackson and Jim Bridger talk a beautiful Frenchwoman named Felice, into telling the drunken marshal that Clint had married her the night before.

Clint and Felice, join the wagon train caravan carrying freight from Missouri to Sacramento, California during the civil war and before the railroads had been built.. Soon after, Felice, finds out that Bill and Jim, had lied to her... she really did not need a man to join up with the wagon train.

In a stopover, they learn that the Indians are causing trouble on the trail, Clint offers to guide the wagon train. Once on the trail, Felice's wagon goes out of control downhill and Clint comes to the rescue. After, Felice starts talking marriage, Clint, gets nervous and leaves.

He later finds out that the Kiowas and Cheyenne, have been talked into the warpath by crooked traders and are planning an attack the wagon train. Clint, Bill and Jim rush back to stop the Indians attack at the river crossing. Clint, saves the wagon train with some barrels of gunpowder, but his friends are both killed. The wagon train continues on to California.

This is a 'B' western/romance and there are some scenes that did reminded me of silent films.You might want to pass on this movie unless you are a Gary Cooper or a early western fan. Which I'm both, so I enjoyed the film..

Please click here to watch Fighting Caravans(1931) in full.

Lili Damita (July 10, 1904 – March 21, 1994) was a French actress who had appeared in 33 movies between 1922 and 1937. She was educated in convents and ballet schools in France, Spain and Portugal.

At 14, she was enrolled as a dancer at the Opera de Paris. She performed in several silent films before being offered her first leading role in, Das Spielzeug von Paris (1925) by director Michael Curtiz, whom she married in 1925 (they divorced a year later).

She was an instant success, and Curtiz directed her in two more films: Fiaker Nr 13 (1926) and Der Goldene Schmetterling (1926). Damita also performed in, (Die Grosse Abenteuerin(1927), The Queen Was in the Parlour(1927).

In 1928, at the invitation of Samuel Goldwyn she went to Hollywood, making her American debut in a film titled, The Rescue.

Her other films include: The Cock-Eyed World (1929), the semi-silent, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929) and This Is the Night (1932).

A comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle. It based on the play Pouche (1923) by Henri Falk and René Peter, and the English language adaptation, Naughty Cinderella (1925), written by Avery Hopwood. Cast: Lili Damita, Charles Ruggles, Roland Young, Thelma Todd, Cary Grant, and Irving Bacon. It was a remake of the 1926 film, Good and Naughty with Pola Negri.

This was Cary Grant's first motion picture. The story begins...While having a night of fun in Paris with her lover, Gerald Gray. Claire Mathewson loses her skirt in a limousine door, arriving home only in her slip, Claire is met by her husband Stephen, a javelin thrower who is supposed to be in Los Angeles for the Olympics.

Gerald and Claire insist the trip was to find Gerald a wife. Stephen, hires the down on her luck Germaine, as Chou-Chou, a glamorous actress. After watching them together, Claire becomes jealous, demanding that Germaine leave Venice. Germaine, refuses to give up her wonderful vacation. This Is The Night, the first of the Screwball comedies that Cary Grant becomes famous for later on. The humor is wonderful and Cary is very funny in this film. It may remind you a little of the silent film format.

In 1935 she married her second husband, Errol Flynn, with whom she had a son, Sean Leslie Flynn (born 1941). Following the marriage, she retired from the screen. The couple divorced in 1942. (Barbara Hershey portrayed her in the TV film My Wicked, Wicked Ways (1985) based on Errol Flynn's biography.)

Man of the West(1958).

Man of the West(1958). Western film starring Gary Cooper and directed by Anthony Mann in his last film in the genre. The screenplay, written by Reginald Rose, is based on the novel The Border Jumpers by Will C. Brown.

Link Jones, catches the train to Fort Worth, where he plans to use the money of his town friends, to hire a schoolteacher. While on the train, Sam Beasley has a conversation with Link, causing the marshal to become suspicious, who then warns Link that Sam, is a well known con man. Then says that Link looks familiar.

Later, Sam suggests that he may be able to help Link. Their conversation is overheard by bad guy Alcutt. When the train stops to pick up fuel, Sam introduces Link to saloon singer, Billie Ellis, who Sam thinks would make the perfect school teacher.

While the men help load the train with wood, Alcutt stays onboard  to signal to Coaley Tobin, Trout and Ponch, who plan on holding up the train. Link, tries to stop them and is knocked unconscious. The holdup is prevented by the train guard, who orders the train to pull away.

Alcutt, steals Link's bag with the money before jumping from the train, but is wounded as the outlaws ride off. When, Link comes to he discovers that he, Sam and Billie have been left behind, many miles from the nearest town. Link leads Billie and Sam to a run down farm, where he used to live.

While the two others wait in the barn, Link finds the train robbers inside the house. Coaley, does not believe Link when he says that he and his friends just want to rest for the night. Dock Tobin, who is shocked to see Link, his nephew, who left many years earlier.

Tobin, says that nothing has been the same since Link left and introduces him to Link's cousin, Coaley. Wanting to prove that he is a tuff guy Coaley, kills Alcutt, who is near death from his injuries. Now, knowing that he and his friends are in trouble, Link has Sam and Billie brought into the house and lies to Tobin, telling him that he wanted his uncle help after being left by the train.

Tobin, then tells him of his plan to rob the Lassoo bank and he needs Link's help. Link, agrees to be part of the holdup to protect Billie, he says that she is his girl friend. Then goes to help Sam, dig a grave for Alcutt.

Hearing Billie scream, Link finds Coaley drunkenly forcing her to take her clothes off. Coaley holds a knife to Link's throat to prevent him from interfering. Dock, then intervenes and sends Link and Billie to sleep in the barn.

There, Billie tells Link that she can not believe that he ever could have been involved with such bad men. Link, then tells her that he was just like them, until he decided he wanted a better life. Later, Link finds his empty bag in the hay, he knows that he must get back his friends money even if he has to kill his family to do it.

The following morning, Link tells Billie about is wife and two children, as well as his friends, who know about his past and in spite of it, trust him with their money. Claude Tobin, another of Link's cousins, arrives after hearing about about the train robbery and is not too happy about Link's return. Claude, then tells the men that the Crosscut marshal is connected Link, to the Tobin gang. Tobin, stops Claude and Coaley's, from killing Link and his friends and they head off on the four-day ride to Lassoo.

That evening, Link and Coaley, get into a fight and Link badly beats Coaley and brutally strips him of his clothes. Coaley, tries to shoot Link, but Sam interferes and is killed instead. Tobin, then shoots Coaley for disobeying him.

Later Billie, realizes that she is in love with Link, but knows she can never have him.

The next day, Link asks Claude why he is still with Tobin. Claude, admits that he thinks of Tobin, as father he never had. Then warns Link, that he will never beat the gang.

Just outside of the town of Lassoo, Link volunteers for the holdup job, but Tobin insists that he take Trout with him. Link and Trout, soon discover Lassoo is a ghost town and the bank deserted except for a old Mexican woman, who Trout shoots and kills. Link kills Trout, then waits for Claude and Ponch to show up. Will Link be able to out gun the gang, recover his friends money and return home to his wife and kids?

 

Fun Facts:

Gary Cooper was, at 56, a decade older than Lee J. Cobb who played his "Uncle" Dock Tobin. In the film Cooper and John Dehner talk about being children together - Dehner was actually fourteen years younger than Cooper.

James Stewart, wanted the role played by Gary Cooper, but since Stewart had fallen out with director Anthony Mann he did not get the part.

Gary Cooper, did his own horse-riding scenes despite physical pain from a car accident years earlier.

I loved the beautiful scenery and the scenes inside the train scenes seem to be real. The age difference of Gary Cooper and Dehner do seem a little weird. The bad guys are some of the meanest you can find in a western.

Julie London (September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000). Born Gayle Peck in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Jack and Josephine Peck, who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team.

When she was 14, the family moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, she began performing in movies. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional School in 1945.

 In July 1947, she married actor Jack Webb (Dragnet). They had two daughters: Stacy and Lisa Webb. London and Webb divorced in November 1954. Daughter Stacy Webb was killed in a traffic accident in 1996.

In 1954 she met jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. They married on December 31, 1959, and remained married until his death in February 1999. They had one daughter, Kelly Troup, who died in March 2002, and twin sons, Jody and Reese Troup (b. May 28, 1963). Jody died June 10, 2010, just 13 days after his 47th birthday.

 London suffered a stroke in 1995 and was in poor health until her death on October 18, 2000 (the day her husband, Bobby Troup, would have been 82), in Encino, California, at age 74.

London began singing under the name Gayle Peck in public in her teens before appearing in a film. She was discovered by talent agent, Sue Carol (wife of actor Alan Ladd), while working as an elevator operator.

London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956, and 1957.

While shopping for a record deal, she recorded four tracks that would later be included on the album, Bethlehem's Girlfriends, in 1955. Bobby Troup backed London on the dates, and London recorded the standards, "Don't Worry About Me", "Motherless Child", "A Foggy Day", and "You're Blasé". London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her high-school classmate, Arthur Hamilton, and produced by Troup. The recording became a million-seller after its release in December 1955 and also sold on re-issue in April 1983 from the attention brought by a Mari Wilson cover. London performed the song in the film, The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and her recording gained later attention in the films: Passion of Mind (2000) and V for Vendetta (2006).

Other popular singles include "Hot Toddy", "Daddy", and "Desafinado". Recordings such as "Go Slow" epitomized her career style: her voice is slow, smoky, and sensual. The song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under and appears on its soundtrack album. Her last recording was "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).

London also made more than 20 films. Her beauty and poise (she was a pinup girl prized by GIs during World War II) contrasted with her streetwise acting technique. One of her strongest performances came in Man of the West (1958), starring Gary Cooper and directed by Anthony Mann, in which her character, the film's only woman, is abused by outlaws.

She performed on many television variety series and guest appearances on: Rawhide (1960) and The Big Valley (1968). Her ex-husband, Webb, was executive producer for the series Emergency!, and in 1972 he hired both his ex-wife and her husband, Troup, for key roles.

London received second-billing as nurse, Dixie McCall, while Troup received third-billing as emergency-room physician, Dr. Joe Early. She and her co-stars, Robert Fuller, Randolph Mantooth, and Kevin Tighe, also appeared in an episode of the Webb-produced series, Adam-12, reprising their roles.

 London and Troup appeared as panelists on the game show Tattletales several times in the 1970s. In the 1950s London appeared in an advertisement for Marlboro cigarettes singing the "Marlboro Song", and in 1978 appeared in television advertisements for Rose Milk Skin Care Cream.

Her song "Love Must Be Catchin' On" appeared in the premiere episode of the ABC series Pan Am on Sunday, September 25, 2011.

Saratoga Trunk (1945).

Saratoga Trunk (1945). Written by Edna Ferber and Casey Robinson, based on Ferber's best-selling novel of the same name. Cast: Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Florence Bates, and Flora Robson, who was nominated for a Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

The illegitimate daughter Clio Dulaine, of an aristocratic New Orleans Creole man and a light-skinned Creole woman, returns from Paris to her birthplace, Rampart Street. Wanting, to get even with her fathers family for sending her and her mother to Paris. After, her mother accidently killed her husband.

Clio,arrives with her maid, Angelique and her dwarf manservant, Cupidon. They fix up a rundown house on Rampart Street.

At the marketplace, Clio stops for a bowl of jambalaya, there she meets Texan Clint Maroon, who is also eating lunch. Clint, offers to drive Clio to the cathedral in his carriage, but ... Angelique, does not like the idea and prevents her from going with him.

After the service, Clio, Angelique and Cupidon, decide to have breakfast at Begue's, the Dulaines favorite restaurant. There she tells the maitre d' that she is a relative of the Dulaines and he sits her at the table reserved for the Dulaines. When, the Dulaines arrive, they recognize her and leave. Clint and Clio, meet again at the restaurant and he drives her home. Clio and Clint, are attracted to each other and begin a romance.

Clio, who is so obsessed with her plans for revenge, destroys their relationship, with her odd behavior. She wants to marry a rich and powerful man to prove that she is as good as her father's family. Clint, has his own problems and is out for revenge on the railroaders who ruined his father.

Clio, wanting to embarrass the Dulaines, every chance she gets, sees the perfect opportunity to sabotage the society debut of her half-sister Charlotte Therese. The Dulaines, are willing to do anything to get rid of her and offer to pay her $10,000, to destroy the Rampart Street house and bury her mother in a New Orleans cemetery.

Later, Clio joins Clint in Saratoga Springs, where she sets her sights on wealthy railroad heir Bartholomew Van Steed. The hotel is completely booked, Clint, who is now calling himself Colonel Maroon, offers Clio two rooms in his suite. Later, Clint explains to her that Bart owns a railroad, the Saratoga Trunk, that is now worth millions. Railroader Raymond Soule, the same man who ruined Clint's father, is now trying to steal the railroad from Bart.

Clio, comes up with the idea to poses as the widow of a French count and is backed up by a fast thinking socialite Mrs. Coventry Bellop, who dislikes Van Steed's mother. Clio, quickly wins Bart's heart.

Clint, offers to help Bart, save the Saratoga Trunk from Soule, for shares in the railroad. When Clio learns that Bart is paying Clint to do his dirty work, she calls him a coward. Bart, now knows the truth about who she really is, but.. wants to marry her anyway.

During the costume ball, Clint and Cupidon, who saves Clint life, arrives seriously wounded after a train wreck and fight with Soule's men. Will Clio realizes before it is too late, that she loves Clint too much to marry another man?

Fun Facts:

It was shot in late February 1943 to late June 1943 but because of the overload of war related films they held the release to 1945. Share this The word "Trunk" refers to a branch railroad line - a 'trunk' line - in this case, to Binghamton, New York on the Delaware and Hudson.

Due to wartime rationing shortages, most of the vegetables in the New Orleans market scene were fake.

Jack L. Warner purchased the rights to the novel with the hopes to star Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn. But scheduling conflicts with both performers caused them to turn down the project.

Warners had hoped to possibly borrow Lena Horne from MGM for the role of Clio, but the studio refused to loan her out.

Two songs were published based on themes from the Max Steiner score: "As Long As I Live" and "Goin' Home", both with lyrics by Charles Tobias.

For the climactic train wreck scene, director Sam Wood used two complete trains, including 2 locomotives and 12 cars. Six cameras were used to film the scene where the trains meet in a head-on collision.

I have seen this film a couple of times and thought Ingrid, is at her best. I did have a little sympathy for Ingrids character, even though she was a little ruthless at times. Gary Cooper, is wonderful playing the handsome Texan Bachelor/Gambler, Clint. I do not think Gary Copper, can give a bad performance.

I loved the scene where Bergman, walks to the Saratoge Springs, to get some of the "sulfur" water and after she drinks it, she forces herself not to make a face and says " how good it is and that she must have more ".

The climactic train wreck scene, is amazingly well done.

Dame Flora McKenzie Robson, DBE (28 March 1902 – 7 July 1984) was an English actress, renowned as a character actress, who played roles ranging from queens to villainesses.

She was educated at the Palmers Green High School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Her father discovered that Flora had a talent for recitation and, from the age of five, she was taken around by horse and carriage to recite, and to compete in recitations.

 This established a pattern that remained with her. Robson made her stage debut in 1921, at aged 19. She specialised in character roles, notably that of Queen Elizabeth I in both Fire Over England (1937) and The Sea Hawk (1940).

At the age of 32, Robson played the Empress Elizabeth in Alexander Korda's Catherine the Great (1934). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ingrid Bergman's servant in Saratoga Trunk (1945).

That same year audiences in the U.K. and the U.S. watched her hypnotic performance as nursemaid and royal confidante Ftatateeta, to Vivien Leigh's Queen Cleopatra, in the screen adaptation of George Bernhard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).

After the war, demonstrating her range, she appeared in Holiday Camp (1947), the first of a series of films which featured the very ordinary Huggett family; as Sister Philippa in Black Narcissus (1947); as a magistrate in Goodtime Girl (1948); as a prospective Labour MP in Frieda (1947); and in costume melodrama, Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).

Her other film roles included the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1972), Livia in the abortively-attempted I, Claudius (1937), Miss Milchrest in Murder at the Gallop (1963). She acted late into life, latterly for American television films, including a lavish production of A Tale of Two Cities (in which she played Miss Pross).

 She also gave performances for British television, including The Shrimp and the Anemone. She also continued to act in the West End, in such plays as Ring Round the Moon, The Importance of Being Earnest and Three Sisters. Robson essentially retired from the theatre in the early 1970s, her last role being as a Stygian Witch in the fantasy adventure Clash of the Titans in 1981.

A very young Dame Flora McKenzie Robson

Along Came Jones(1945).

Along Came Jones(1945). Gary Copper, Lorettea Young, William Demarest and Dan Duryea. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, from the novel Useless Cowboy, by Alan Le May. Directed by Stuart Heisler.

When wounded during a stage robbery, masked bandit Monte Jarrad, drops a rifle engraved with his name. Having only the robber's name the sheriff of Payneville offers a $1,000 reward for his arrest. When Melody Jones rides into town with the initials "MJ" carved into his saddle, the people of Payneville believe him to be the masked bandit Monte.

Mild-mannered Melody enjoys the attention and begins to swagger like a gunslinger, until.. Cherry De Longpre, warns Melody to ride out of town. Melody, takes her advice and after he leaves, she visits the barn where she is hiding out the wounded Monte.

Melody, soon realizes that she has set him up as a decoy and returns to the ranch to confront her. That night Cherry, is shocked to find Melody in her bed and tells him that she wants to help Monte, her childhood friend. Cherry comes up with a plan.. to send Melody to lure the posse away from the ranch while Monte heads South. But, Melody is in love with Cherry and decides to return to the ranch with plans of his own.

*Note: Because of my blogger problems, I have to post all my western reviews here on N and CF.*




I thought this was a very entertaining western film with a wonderful combination of suspense, action, romance and comedy. Loretta Young, gives a wonderful performance as a woman torn between the bandit and the cowboy. Cooper gives one of his funniest performance.

Video: "Gary Cooper take me away."

Dan Duryea (January 23, 1907), was an actor of film, stage and television. He made his name on Broadway in the play, Dead End, followed by The Little Foxes.

He moved to Hollywood in 1940 to perform in the film version in the same role. He performed in similar roles as a weak characters in movies such as, The Pride of the Yankees.

As his career progressed throughout the 1940s he started to perform as a bad guy in a number of film noirs: Scarlet Street, The Woman in the Window, Criss Cross, Black Angel and Too Late for Tears.

From the 1950s, Duryea was more often seen in Westerns, Winchester '73 (1950), Thunder Bay (1953), The Burglar (1957), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), and the primetime soap opera Peyton Place.

He also appeared in one of the first Twilight Zone episodes in 1959 as a drunken former gunfighter in "Mr. Denton on Doomsday," written by Rod Serling. He also guest starred on, The Barbara Stanwyck Show. In 1963, Duryea appeared as Dr. Ben Lorrigan in the episode, "Why Am I Grown So Cold , on the show,The Eleventh Hour.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Gary Cooper.

Personal Quote:

This is a terrible place to spend your life in. Nobody in Hollywood is normal. Absolutely nobody. And they have such a vicious attitude toward one another ... They say much worse things about each other than outsiders say about them, and nobody has any real friends.

Beep Beep'm Beep Beep Yeah!


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Gary Cooper 1951  Montery Mercruy

William Powell admires Gary Cooper's duesenberg .

The Duesenberg was considered one of the most popular luxury cars, driven by Clark Gable, Gary Cooper. Each driving one of the two very rare SSJ 125″ short-wheelbase convertibles. You can also add Al Capone, Evelyn Walsh McLean, Greta Garbo, Howard Hughes, Mae West, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, William Randolph Hearst to the list of Duesnberg proud owners.

The following Pictures were provided by Gilby37.

Casanova Brown(1944).

Casanova Brown(1944). Cast: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Frank Morgan. Directed by Sam Wood.It was nominated for three Academy Awards; for Best Score, Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T. Moulton) and Best Art Direction (Perry Ferguson, Julia Heron).

When Casanova asks Madge's father, J. J. Ferris, for permission to marry Madge, her father believes that he is only marrying her for her money turns him down. Casanova and Madge, decide to ignore her fathers wishes and go ahead with their marriage plans. On the day of the wedding rehearsal, Casanova receives a letter from a maternity hospital in Chicago, asking him to contact Dr. Martha Zernerke. He thinks back: to when he first met his ex- wife Isabel's parents and when her eccentric mother wanted to consult the stars about their future.



The stars predicted disaster and he accidentally burns down the Drury mansion. When Mrs. Drury, says the fire is a warning about their future, their marriage is annulled. After sharing his story, with J. J. he decides to go to Chicago, but plans to be back in time to marry Madge.

At the hospital, Casanova, sees his baby for the first time. Dr. Zernerke, tells him that Isabel, has put the baby up for adoption. Casanova confronts Isabel, about the adoption and admits to her that he still loves her. Isabel, reminds him of his up coming marriage. Casanova, then decides to kidnap the baby.

Meanwhile Madge, is dressed in her bridal gown, when Casanova calls J. J. to break the news about the baby. Now, he has to tell his wife and daughter, that Casanova cannot make the wedding. Casanova, takes the baby to his hotel room where, he is helped by the maid and the bell captain.

When the bell captain, still wearing his hotel uniform, visits the hospital, asking too many questions Casanova worries.. that they will trace the baby back to the hotel.

Madge and her father and Isabel and her father, arrive at Casanova's hotel room where the bell captain, informs them that Casanova has gone to City Hall to be married to the maid. Casanova, hides with the baby in a different hotel room. Who will Casanova end up with at the end of the day, the maid, Madge or will it be Isabel?

This is one of those fluffy romance movies, where the characters find themselves always at odds with each other. The cinematography is really wonderful. If you are a hopeless romantic you will love this film.

Anita Louise (January 9, 1915 – April 25, 1970), made her acting debut on Broadway at the age of six, and within a year was performing in Hollywood films. By her late teens she was being cast in leading and supporting roles in major productions, and was highly regarded for her delicate features and blonde hair.

As her popularity in Hollywood grew, she was frequently described as one of cinema's most fashionable and stylish women. Her reputation was further enhanced by her role as Hollywood society hostess, with her parties attended by the elite of Hollywood.

Among her film successes were: Madame Du Barry (1934), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Marie Antoinette (1938), The Sisters (1938) and The Little Princess (1939).

By the 1940s, she performed in minor roles and acted very infrequently until television provided her with better opportunities. She played one of her most widely seen roles as the mother, Nell McLaughlin, in the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka from 1956–1957.