Free-For-All-Friday: Publicity Illustrations from the Past (Part 2)
March 14, 2008 by theroadshowversion
Like last week’s Free-For-All-Friday entry, the following images have to do with publicity. Except they’re not photographs, they’re illustrations–and beautiful ones at that! I’ve seen some of the illustrations in their original form (I have the Katharine Hepburn one somewhere on my hard drive), but they’re much more striking and lovelier in their illustrated version.
Along with the main illustrations, are tinier ones with little factual trivia blurbs. For instance, did you know that Joan Blondell’s diet consisted for skimmed milk and potatoes for a period of three days at a time (The carbs! The carbs!)? Or that Joel McCrea was one of the only actors never to use any sort of stage makeup? It might also interest you to know that Victor McLaglen cooked all the meals when he went camping and that the divine Tallulah Bankhead was an avid oil painter. Like the publicity packages of the time, I’m not sure how many of these “facts” are true, but they’re sure fun to read.
Click images for larger versions:
Tallulah Bankhead, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery:
Constance Bennett, Joan Bennett, Joan Blondell, Claudette Colbert
Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Jimmy Durante
Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Katharine Hepburn, Joel McCrea, Victor McLaglen
Also to go with yesterday’s penny-pinching post (say that three times fast), I forgot to link to this site that features old Montana Bar and Restaurant Menus. See how much a toasted sandwich and french fries would cost at the Coffee Cup Cafe or if you’re in the mood for drink, perhaps the drink list at The Club would be more to your liking. Only $.35 for a Daiquiri? I’m there!
These are great - thank you for finding and posting them. I wonder if Joan Blondell really brushed her teeth with peroxide, presumably left over from dyeing her hair?
I also love the menus, though I’m not sure what “hot cakes” are - maybe griddle cakes, or some kind of muffin? I wouldn’t mind trying one of those breakfasts, anyway.
Judy,
Hotcakes are pancakes here in the US. I love how every country has their own slang terms or specialty dishes that confuse others! And honestly, after reading those menus I had a hankering to go and make some for myself.
Have you ever seen “Sinners Holiday”? I know that’s the movie of the month on the Cagney community–Joan has dark hair in that one. She looks good, but I do prefer her as a blonde. It just fit her on-screen personality so well!
It is hard to know sometimes what’s made up by the studio and what’s real. I can shed some light on the one with Gary since I’m weirdly obsessed with him – ha!. Everything in the main article was correct except his height which was most often listed as 6’3”. Sometimes early on though, when this article was written (1933), it ranged between 6’2” and 6’4”. Also he wouldn’t stay a bachelor for long as he and Rocky (Veronica) were married in December 1933. All the other little tidbits are also correct except the one about him going to college in 1917. He would have only been 16 then. He actually began college around 1920 and left sometime in 1923. I don’t believe he actually graduated though (I’ve read differing accounts). He was engaged to a girl he met there and she wouldn’t marry him unless he found a stable job so he left Grinnell College and went to Chicago but had no luck finding work as a commercial artist. Then went back to Montana for a while before eventually heading out to California. Incidentally, the girl married a pharmacist not long after Gary left to find work. What a silly girl – ha!
Also I don’t know if it’s true that his was the first camera less screen test, but I do know he was given the contract at Paramount as described in the article. He walked into the room and kind of weakly smiled as he was nervous with a room full of people staring at him (heck, who wouldn’t be) but they liked what they saw and also going by his work in The Winning of Barbara Worth, they signed him. MGM wanted to sign him after Barbara Worth, but he just kinda fell through the cracks and was never put under contract. Sam Goldwyn always regretted it.
Thanks for posting those old menus too. Since Gary is from Montana, I’ve also got a weird fixation with all things Montanan so that what really cool!
Thank you for explaining what hotcakes are - and there I was wondering if they were an American speciality I hadn’t come across.
I’ve actually watched ‘Sinners’ Holiday’ twice in the last few weeks and am slightly obsessed with it at the moment - trying to get my thoughts clear and hoping to write a review of it soon… I think Blondell looks good with both dark and blonde hair, although I was surprised at first to see her with dark hair in that movie.
Angie, I love, love, LOVE your enthusiasm for Gary Cooper. It may sound silly, but it warms my heart every time I see someone getting extremely fangirl-y over a classic actor (I tend to get myself that way, so it makes me feel less alone). Also, it’s good to read all the background info on Cooper from an expert–there are always so many differing accounts and it’s hard to sift through the truth and made up stories.
I wonder how that girl felt when she realized that her future husband could have been Gary Cooper?!! On a completely unrelated note: what are you thoughts on his relationship with Patricia Neal? I know some Cooper fans dislike her, although I’m not sure why.
Judy, I look forward to your review of Sinner’s Holiday! But I wonder how bad Blondell’s hair was after peroxiding it. I used to dye streaks of blonde in my dark brown hair and needless to say, I fried mine out.
I just hope that girl who married the pharmacist instead of Gary was happy with him. If not talk about having egg all over your face!!
You may be surprised but I was actually first impressed by Gary’s amazing acting abilities in Pride of the Yankees and didn’t really notice how gorgeous he was until I saw Meet John Doe after that (those are my top two faves of his also). I just can’t contain my “enthusiasm” for him (I like that word better than obsession – ha!). John Mullholland, who is a film maker and film historian is the leading expert on Gary Cooper and he posts a lot at the TCM board as well as corresponding through emails with some of us. So we’ve been able to get a lot of good info about Gary from him.
At first I had very mixed feelings about Patricia Neal but now I’m leaning more towards liking her. She was not the first woman he had an affair with and she wasn’t the last either. He actually cheated on Patricia with Grace Kelly while filming High Noon. I don’t know how he kept up with all those women. Their affair seems to have been different than his others however in that they really loved each other. I saw an interview with her done a few years ago where she said he was the love of her life and that she still loved him today. It was so genuine and sad that it brought me to tears. The affair brought them both a lot of heartache along with physical and emotional problems too. Gary was so upset over leaving his family that he developed ulcers and I’ve heard stories (but don’t know for sure) that Patricia got pregnant and had an abortion. I do know she had about six months of therapy after their breakup. She also had to deal with the death of a son when he was still very young and her only husband Roald Dahl left her for another woman after about 20 years of marriage. Not to mention the series of strokes she had in her early 40s. She’s a very tough woman and I think a good woman too. I have both the films she made with Gary (The Foutainhead which is his only film I actively dislike and Bright Leaf which I do like) but I was not impressed by her acting in either one. However, when I saw A Face in the Crowd she won me over.
I know a lot of Coop fans dislike her and it’s probably for the same reason I disliked her at first. We get upset (mostly us girls) when he gets hurt or dies in a movie even though we know it’s not real and their affair brought real pain. Of course, we can’t place the blame just on her, it takes two to tango after all. I’m not sure that I’d be able to resist him either. I like one thing Patricia said about him and I think it shows what kind of good man he was; clearly flawed with all the cheating but a good man none the less. She said he was the first man she’d met who looked at her eyes when she talked, and not at her chest. The Foutainhead, which they first met while making, is a very sexually charged film and I can see that spilling over off screen as well. It will be very sad when she and his daughter pass away b/c they are the only two people left who really knew him well.
About feeling better knowing you’re not the only one who goes all fan girly over classic actors, here’s a great story about Fay Wray. I told somebody else this story the other day but I don’t think I’ve posted it here. If I have just ignore me :). She and Gary made four films together and she was married during that time but she was very attracted to him and later said she regretted that they did not have an affair. She also had a little shrine to him in her closet with pics and things from their movies together. She was not ashamed at all in admitting this to people and would bring it up herself if the conversation went in his direction. That is so cute and made me love her more than I already did.
Angie,
Even though I’m not a fan of cheating, I think I’d regret not having an affair with Gary Cooper as well! Of course, I can say this knowing that an affair with Gary would have to take place at least 50-80 years ago, so…I guess someone needs to invent a time machine! Although I think all you Gary fans would hog it first
Thank you for your thoughts about Patricia Neal. I kind of like her–I’ve seen “A Face in the Crowd” as well as a movie from 1968 called “The Subject Was Roses” which was made after her stroke. She’s not my favorite actress by a long shot, but she’s interesting. I’m always envious of her voice–I wish mine was sultry like that.
I always get a kick out of “The Fountainhead” - I did try to read it, but I find Ayn Rand really dry– because she and Gary are just on fire in that. I kept yelling out, “Get a room!” when I watched it because they’re really kind of oversexed.
There was a post over at Greenbriar Picture Shows a long, long time ago about Gary Cooper. He had another affair with some young actress, but I can’t remember who. It was one of those blonde 50’s ones. I’ll have to look it up. I always marvel that his wife stayed with him for the duration of their marriage though. I don’t know if I could do that.
Thank you for sharing all your info and thoughts on Gary! I enjoyed reading it, although all your Cooper girls should get together and start a blog exclusively devoted to him. It would be really interesting to read with all your knowledge!
Gary’s wife was a devout Catholic and did not want a divorce. She was a very classy woman and in the end (the last few years of their marriage) he was faithful to her after he also became Catholic (he was raised Protestant).
The sexual tension between Gary and Patricia in The Fountainhead just jumps off the screen at you. It’s the same with him and Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls as they were also having an affair at the time. The blonde from the 50s you’re thinking of may be Anita Eckberg; they had a short fling too.
You’re right about us hogging the time machine!!