FABULOUS FILMS OF THE '50S: THE PAJAMA GAME (1957)

The Classic Movie Blog Association is hosting a Fabulous Films of the '50s blogathon from May 22 - 26. This is my entry for the event - click here for links to all participating member blogs.

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Doris Day began to make her way as a big band singer in 1939. She scored several million-selling records during her singing career, beginning with "Sentimental Journey," her hit with Les Brown’s band in 1945. Her next million-seller came in 1948 with “It’s Magic,” but her biggest hits were songs from two of her popular mid-‘50s films, “Secret Love” from Calamity Jane (1953) and “Que Sera, Sera” from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955). Day’s last hit single, Everybody Loves a Lover was released in 1959. Coincidentally, Pillow Talk, a frothy sex comedy, and a new direction in type for her, was also released in 1959 and it would change the course of her career. For the next four years she would reign as queen of the box office starring in bubbly romcoms, most often opposite Rock Hudson.

While she was still churning out hit records in the '50s, Day starred in a movie that was all but forgotten once her screen persona shifted and she became the super-feminine, stylishly gowned and bouffantly coiffed icon of the early ‘60s. The Pajama Game (1957) is an overlooked and underappreciated pièce de résistance of a musical that contains one of Day’s most captivating performances – along with 11 songs, quite a few of them show-stoppers…and more.

Giveaway: Signed Centennial Limited Edition of Romina Power's "Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power"

Tyrone Power and Loretta Young: The Romantic Comedies of 1937

Once upon a time there was a feudal kingdom known as 20^th Century Fox and in it lived a handsome prince and a beautiful princess… 

A too-fanciful opening? Maybe not, given that the prince and princess in this particular tale are Tyrone Power and Loretta Young. Talented, in the blossom of youth and blessed with storybook good looks, the two were becoming the American equivalent of royalty – Hollywood movie stars - when they first began working together in the 1930s. Under contract to Fox, the pair first shared the screen (along with Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, Don Ameche and Paul Lukas), if just barely, in Ladies in Love (1936), a Budapest-set precursor to 1953’s Bacall/Monroe/Grable vehicle How to Marry a Millionaire. The movie was a success, the studio deemed Power and Young a matched set, and in 1937 starred them opposite each other in three lighthearted screwball comedies in rapid succession.

POWER-MAD, the Tyrone Power Centenary Blogathon

He rose to movie stardom at the ripe young age of 22 and remained an international star for another 22 years, until his sudden death in 1958. During those two-plus decades, Tyrone Power was top-billed in hit films of many genres, from romantic comedy to disaster epic, musical, costume drama, western, adventure, wartime drama, swashbuckler, prestige literary adaptation, biopic, courtroom drama and even film noir. He also made time to serve as a pilot in the Marine Corps during World War II and to carve out a stage career for himself after the war. His wedding in Rome to his second wife, Linda Christian, caused a near-riot. When he collapsed and died, at age 44, while filming a King Vidor-directed biblical epic in Spain, it was headline news around the world. His private funeral in Hollywood was attended by filmdom's great luminaries and his burial was a mob scene of frenzied fans.

Today, May 5^th, 2014, marks the 100^th anniversary Tyrone Power’s birth, and my co-host, Patti of They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To, and I are celebrating with this blogathon honoring his life and career.

Click on the links below for contributions from participating bloggers. And thanks to everyone who is taking part for joining in to pay tribute to one of the true legends of Hollywood's Golden Age.

• Barry Bradford (barrybradford.com): The Razor's Edge (1946)
• Citizen Screen: The Black Swan (1942)
• Citizen Screen: Tyrone Power on the Radio
• Classic Film Freak: The Mark of Zorro (1940)
• Crítica Retrô: Lloyd's of London (1936)
• Greenbriar Picture Shows: One Hundred Years of Tyrone Power
• Hamlette's Soliloquy: The Sun Also Rises (1957)
• Immortal Ephemera: The Films of Tyrone Power and Alice Faye
• Java's Journey: Tyrone Power and Deborah Montgomery Minardos
• Kevin's Movie Corner: Son of Fury (1942) 
• Lady Eve's Reel Life: The Romantic Comedies of Tyrone Power and Loretta Young
• Lasso the Movies: Jesse James (1939)
• Laura's Miscellaneous Musings: This Above All (1942) 
• Movie Classics: Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
• The Nitrate Diva: Day-Time Wife (1939) 
• Phantom Empires: King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)
• Shadows and Satin: Blood and Sand (1941)
• Sidewalk Crossings: Crash Dive (1942)
• Silver Screen Modes: Johnny Apollo (1940)
• Slightly Shabby: Marie Antoinette (1938)
• They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: Abandon Ship (1957)
• They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: Happy 100th Birthday, Tyrone Power
• Thrilling Days of Yesteryear: Nightmare Alley (1947) 
• Twenty Four Frames: Rawhide (1951) 
• Tyrone-Power.com/Movie Memories: A Very Special Memorabilia Collection
• Tyrone-Power.com/Movie Memories: Tyrone Power, King of the Disaster Movies
• Tyrone-Power.com/Movie Memories: Supercouples: Tyrone and Annabella, Tyrone and Linda

In addition, today Movies, Silently takes a look at one of the silent films of Tyrone Power, Sr., Sweet Alyssum (1915), released when Ty, Jr. was just a year old...

 

A Tyrone Power Centennial

This month brings the 100^th anniversary of the birth of legendary actor Tyrone Power, “The King of 20^th Century Fox."  As part of a nationwide centennial celebration, The Northbrook Public Library in Northbrook, IL, welcomes actress Taryn Power-Greendeer on May 2^nd at 2:00 p.m. in the Multi-Media Department.  The daughter of Tyrone Power and actress Linda Christian, Taryn was only 5 when her father died at the age of 44 in 1958.  She will talk about growing up as the daughter of a film idol and the process of learning how to separate the man from the myth.  A feature of her talk will be the fascinating search she and her older sister, Romina, undertook in an attempt to discover the real Tyrone Power.  A Limited First Edition of Searching for My Father, Tyrone Power by Romina Power, available only at centennial events, will be on sale at the event. 

HOLLYWOOD DAYS AND NIGHTS

A FIRST-TIMER'S NOTES ON THE 2014 TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL 

Mid-day Thursday, April 10, as I waited for my repeatedly delayed flight to depart SFO for Burbank, I had to admit to myself that I'd made a miscalculation in planning my trip to the TCM Classic Film Festival.  I'd known for a few days that I would be arriving too late to attend both the Wednesday night "Tweetup" party I'd been invited to and the Press Day event set for Thursday morning. Now I was beginning to wonder whether I'd even arrive in time to check in at the festival press office and be able to attend opening night events.

By the time my plane finally landed and I managed to get to the Roosevelt Hotel, the press office was closed and its staff was down the street working the red carpet. Luckily for me, my contact, a hard-working member of the PR team named Chelsea, came back to the hotel as quickly as she could and signed me in. Armed with badge and goody bag, I was off to the entrance of the Chinese Theatre and got there just as most of the press and spectators were leaving the red carpet area. But Tippi Hedren was as late as I was and so I had a chance to snap a few quick photos of her before she moved on and the carpet was retired for the evening.

 

Tippi Hedren, April 10, on the red carpet

Roman à Clef: All About Eve...and Margo

In black-and-white, from left: Tallulah Bankhead, Bette Davis and Elisabeth Bergner; front and center: Bette Davis, Gary Merrill and Anne Baxter in a color still for All About Eve (1950)

In the spring of 1987 Joseph Mankiewicz was staying at the Hotel Cipriani on the lagoon in Venice, Italy, where he had come to be honored with a prestigious Leone d'Oro award. While there he received an unexpected call one day from a woman he described as "absolutely desperate-sounding." What she said to him came as a surprise - and he didn't believe her:

"Mr. Mankiewicz, this is Eve...the Eve you wrote the movie about. I was the girl who stood outside the theatre..."

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Celebrating Tyrone Power’s 100th Birthday

A One Day Blogathon on May 5

Monday, May 5^th is the 100^th anniversary of Hollywood mega-star Tyrone Power’s birth, and Patti of They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To and I will be hosting a blogathon in celebration of his life and career - Power-Mad, a one-day event.

Participants are invited to review the actor’s films (one blogger per film, please), post a photo spread or a biographical essay (you might cover his life in general or strictly his movie career, his military service during World War II or his post-war stage career, or...) – basically, feel free to get creative.

If you'd like to participate please send an email to me at

ladyevesidwich@gmail.com and include your name, your blog's name and web address, and the title/subject of your post. Or leave a comment below or at They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To.

Click here for all participating blogs/websites!

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APRIL IN HOLLYWOOD

GETTING READY FOR THE 2014 TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

The full schedule of screenings and events set for TCM’s 5^th annual classic film festival had just posted on the network’s website and I was eager to see what the four days and nights from April 10 – 13 have in store. As I scrolled through the listings for each day, I began feeling a little panicky. So many choices and so little time! To quote Holly Golightly out of context, “I must say, the mind reels!”