Tagged: 1950s
Cliff Robertson’s “Big Kahuna” Beach Style in Gidget
Cliff Robertson and Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959)
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Cliff Robertson as Burt “The Big Kahuna” Vail, beach bum and Korean War Veteran
Malibu, California, Summer 1959
Film: Gidget
Release Date: April 10, 1959
Director: Paul Wendkos
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Now that it’s summer, let’s flash back to the beach party movie that started it all. Before Frankie and Annette and before we ever followed Elvis to Hawaii, there was Gidget.
Czech-born writer Frederick Kohner was inspired to pen a novel by his daughter Kathy, who was nicknamed “Gidget” (a portmanteau for “girl” and “midget”) while learning to surf on the beaches at Malibu. Gidget, the Little Girl with Big Ideas became a top seller after it was published in 1957, so Kohner sold the rights to Columbia Pictures—awarding five percent of the $5,000 sale to Kathy—where screenwriter Gabrielle Upton adapted it for the screen. With journeyman director Paul Wendkos at the helm, Gidget was shot in just 26 days through the early summer of 1958, primarily on location at Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu.
Gidget was a breakthrough role for Sandra Dee in the titular starring role as 16-year-old Francine Lawrence, who doesn’t share her girlfriends’ interest in man-hunting and rather wants to spend her summer learning how to surf. She makes a splash at the local beaches, where the regular surfers adopt her as their mascot. The boys like “Moondoggie” (James Darren) all idolize the beach-dwelling “Big Kahuna” (Cliff Robertson), who describes himself simply:
I’m a surf bum! You know: ride the waves, eat, sleep—not a care in the world.
A Face in the Crowd: Andy Griffith’s Silky Shirt, String Tie, and Sport Suit
Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes in A Face in the Crowd (1957)
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Andy Griffith as Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, folksy yet power-hungry media personality
Memphis to New York City, Spring 1956
Film: A Face in the Crowd
Release Date: May 28, 1957
Director: Elia Kazan
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today would have been the 100th birthday of Andy Griffith, born June 1, 1926. Already somewhat known as a comedian for routines like his breakthrough 1953 monologue “What It Was, Was Football”, Griffith made his explosive screen debut in Elia Kazan’s excellent 1957 drama A Face in the Crowd, a devastatingly prescient depiction of how susceptible American culture is to populism and celebrity cycloning into demagoguery. Budd Schulberg adapted his own short story “Your Arkansas Traveler” into the screenplay centered around Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a charismatic drifter-turned-demagogue plucked from obscurity by radio producer Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal) who ascends out of control into an influential public figure. Continue reading
Sterling Hayden’s Four-Pocket Sport Jackets in The Killing
Sterling Hayden in The Killing (1956)
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Sterling Hayden as Johnny Clay, professional armed robber and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Fall 1955
Film: The Killing
Release Date: May 19, 1956
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Wardrobe Credit: Jack Masters
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Stanley Kubrick’s third directorial feature The Killing arrived in select theaters 70 years ago today on May 19, 1956. The limited release hurt its box office, though it was well-received by critics and even received a BAFTA nomination for Best Film. In addition to establishing Kubrick as a more mainstream talent, it remains a quintessential example of heist film noir, influencing filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino who described his own debut Reservoir Dogs as his own take on The Killing.
Kubrick collaborated with pulp novelist Jim Thompson on the hard-boiled screenplay, adapted from Lionel White’s novel Clean Break. The action centers around recently paroled Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), who is already planning his next heist: the two-million-dollar robbery of a thoroughbred racetrack. Johnny’s scrappy gang includes two track employees, a crooked cop, a self-destructive former associate, and a sharpshooter whose job will be to shoot the favored horse and create chaos that distracts from the robbery. Continue reading
The Godfather: Moe Greene’s Golden Las Vegas Tailoring
Alex Rocco as Moe Greene in The Godfather (1972)
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Alex Rocco as Moe Greene, brash mob-connected casino operator
Las Vegas, Summer 1954
Film: The Godfather
Release Date: March 14, 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Costume Designer: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!
Despite his inflated opinion of himself and his importance to the city, Moe Greene actually had little to do with Las Vegas being founded 121 years ago tomorrow on May 15, 1905.
Portrayed by Alex Rocco in The Godfather, the fictional character Moe Greene was inspired by the real-life gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, who was born nine months later on the last day of February 1906. Something of a celebrity gangster, Siegel’s profligate control over the fledgling Flamingo casino during its first months of operation convinced his Mafia Commission partners that he was likely responsible for skimming millions from the mob, resulting in Bugsy’s assassination.
Siegel was sitting in his girlfriend Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills living room when he was peppered with .30-caliber rounds from an M1 Carbine, including one that launched his left eye several feet from his socket. This would be reflected in The Godfather when an anonymous hitman corners Greene during a massage and fatally shoots him through the eye—an execution method immortalized as “the Moe Greene special” during the first season of The Sopranos. Continue reading
Glenn Ford’s Tanker Jacket in Human Desire
Glenn Ford in Human Desire (1954)
Vitals
Glenn Ford as Jeff Warren, railroad engineer and Army veteran
El Reno, Oklahoma, Fall 1953
Film: Human Desire
Release Date: August 6, 1954
Director: Fritz Lang
Costume Designer: Jean Louis (gowns)
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Glenn Ford was born 110 years ago on May 1, 1916. The Quebec-born actor specialized as everymen with a tough side, making him the ideal star in classic film noir like Gilda (1946) and The Big Heat (1953) as well as westerns like 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and the school-set social drama Blackboard Jungle (1955) that featured both “Rock Around the Clock” and a young Sidney Poitier. In addition to being one of the most popular and bankable stars in the United States for a decade, Ford also enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II and returned to service with a Navy Reserve commission in 1958.
While I always liked Ford’s screen presence which reminds me of my grandfather, the Golden Globe-winning actor’s complicated personal life as a serial womanizer included four marriages that all ended in divorce and—according to his son Peter’s biography—affairs with at least 140 Hollywood actresses, including an on-and-off romance with Gilda co-star Rita Hayworth that lasted four decades. He also recorded all of his home’s phone calls (resulting from a paranoid belief that his first wife Eleanor Powell would discover his frequent infidelity), supported candidates on both sides of the political arena, and was busted for illegally raising 140 white leghorn chickens.
Hardly the best-known from either its stars or director, the solid 1954 film noir Human Desire reteamed Ford with director Fritz Lang and co-star Gloria Grahame one year after their previous collaboration in The Big Heat. Continue reading
Eddie Albert’s Casual Attire in Roman Holiday
Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday (1953)
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Eddie Albert as Irving Radovich, expatriate newspaper photographer
Rome, Summer 1952
Film: Roman Holiday
Release Date: August 27, 1953
Director: William Wyler
Costume Designer: Edith Head
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
It’s not easy to command attention when sharing the screen with icons like Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, but Eddie Albert shined so brightly alongside them in Roman Holiday that the actor’s supporting performance received one of the film’s ten Academy Award nominations! Continue reading
Gene Hackman’s Leather Jacket in Hoosiers
Gene Hackman in Hoosiers (1986)
Vitals
Gene Hackman as Norman Dale, controversial high school basketball coach and Navy veteran
Indiana, Fall 1951
Film: Hoosiers
Release Date: November 14, 1986
Director: David Anspaugh
Costume Designer: Jane Anderson
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Welcome to Indiana basketball…
The legendary late actor Gene Hackman was born 96 years ago today on January 30, 1930. On the first anniversary of his birthday since his death last February, today’s post centers around Hackman’s celebrated performance in the 40-year-old sports drama Hoosiers as Norman Dale, hired to coach a small Indiana town’s basketball team whose roster includes names like Merle, Rade, Strap, and Whit—which I think is just great.
Though set in the fictional town of Hickory, Hoosiers was loosely inspired by the true story of the Milan High School basketball team’s victory against Muncie Central High School to win the 1954 state championship. And if you don’t think that’s a big deal, just take it from Norm himself:
I thought everybody in Indiana played basketball.
The Menswear of Clue
Film: Clue
Release Date: December 13, 1985
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Today marks the 40th anniversary since the release of Clue, which overcame an underwhelming initial release to become perhaps the most successful cinematic adaptation of a board game. The Parker Brothers classic formed the foundation for John Landis and Jonathan Lynn’s zany murder mystery, framed against the backdrop of the post-World War II “Red Scare” though, ultimately, communism was just a red herring.
Clue was released with three separate endings (a fourth was dropped during production), intended to be varied at each showing. In addition to reflecting the spirit of the original game, Landis had hoped that multiple endings would bring audiences back for multiple showings, but the gimmick unfortunately backfired as the public. It wasn’t until Clue was released to home video with all three endings presented sequentially that it gained a cult following.
The movie is set over a rainy New England night in June 1954, as the game’s six colorfully named suspects—Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn)—are summoned to dinner at the foreboding Hill House mansion, where each are greeted by the butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry). Continue reading
Back to the Future: Doc Brown’s Snakeskin Robe for a Scientific Breakthrough
Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown in Back to the Future (1985)
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Emmett “Doc” Brown, eccentric inventor and amateur chronophysicist
Hill Valley, California, November 5, 1955
Film: Back to the Future
Release Date: July 3, 1985
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
If my calculations are correct… 70 years ago today was a red-letter date in the history of science: November 5, 1955. For those who haven’t seen Back to the Future, this was the day that Hill Valley’s resident mad scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown slipped from standing on his toilet to hang a clock, hitting his head on the bathroom sink—triggering his concept of the flux capacitor, which would make time travel possible.
Even a freshly bandaged Doc (Christopher Lloyd) seems unaware of that day’s significance when he’s visited by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)—not a space man from Pluto but a high school student from 1985 who was flung thirty years into the past by the DeLorean that Doc had transformed into a time machine. Continue reading
Sinatra’s Navy Striped Suit and Bow Ties in Guys and Dolls
Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine in Guys and Dolls (1955)
Vitals
Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson, smooth gambler
New York, Spring 1955
Film: Guys and Dolls
Release Date: November 3, 1955
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Costume Designer: Irene Sharaff
Background
Five years after its Broadway premiere, Guys and Dolls danced onto the silver screen 70 years ago today when Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film adaptation of Frank Loesser’s hit Tony-winning musical was released on November 3, 1955. Of the four principal roles, only Vivian Blaine was retained from the original Broadway cast while Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Frank Sinatra replaced Robert Alda, Isabel Bigley, and Sam Levene, respectively.
Fresh from the Academy Award win that marked his flourishing career comeback, Sinatra was cast as Nathan Detroit over the protestations of both Loesser and Mankiewicz, who both wanted to keep the lesser-known but better-suited Levene. For his part, Sinatra wasn’t too happy to be Nathan Detroit either—as he had coveted the larger Sky Masterson role which eventually went to Brando.
Despite the on-set drama among the cast and crew, Guys and Dolls found quick success among audiences and critics alike, becoming the top-grossing movie of 1956 and earning four Academy Award nominations, including Best Costume Design for Irene Sharaff. Continue reading
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