Cinema Society

  • Home
  • Cinema Society

Cinema Society All day, everyday, new discovery of Animals.

Wes Craven based the story of ''A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)'' on a news report about a group of young men who died ...
02/02/2025

Wes Craven based the story of ''A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)'' on a news report about a group of young men who died in their sleep during horrific nightmares despite having no history of health problems and showing no specific cause of death. His vision of Freddy Kruger came from a childhood memory. When he was 10 years old, he looked out the window of the apartment he lived in and a drunk man dressed similar to Freddy was looking directly at him and continued to stay there looking at the window for several minutes. This scared him, so, later on, he decided this will be the look for Freddy. Krueger shares his name with a schoolmate of Craven's, with whom he had shared a paper route, and who had bullied him for several years.

Craven's original concept for Krueger was considerably more gruesome, with teeth showing through the flesh over the jaw, pus running from the sores, and a part of the skull showing through the head. Make-up Artist David B. Miller argued that an actor couldn't be convincingly made up that way, and a puppet would be hard to film, and wouldn't blend well with live actors, so these ideas were eventually abandoned.

The idea behind the glove was a practical one on Craven's part, as he wanted to give the character a unique weapon, but also something that could be made cheaply, and wouldn't be difficult to use or transport. At the time he was studying primal fears embedded in the subconscious of people of all cultures, and discovered that one of those fears is attack by animal claws. Around the same time, he saw his cat unsheath its claws, and the two concepts merged, although in the original script the blades were fishing knives, not steak knives, as in the finished film.

Craven on "A Nightmare on Elm Street" having sequels: "I thought they'll never be a sequel. Boy was I stupid." (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Wes Craven!

Gary Merrill, regarding Bette Davis: "Whatever Bette had chosen to do in life she would have had to be the top or she co...
02/02/2025

Gary Merrill, regarding Bette Davis: "Whatever Bette had chosen to do in life she would have had to be the top or she couldn't have endured it."

The night before shooting for "All About Eve" (1950) was to commence at the Curran Theatre, Merrill invited everyone on the production to have drinks at the elegant Fairmont Hotel. Davis agreed to attend. "Everybody was showing off," recalled Celeste Holm about that night in Ed Sikov's 2007 book "Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis". "Bette had taken one look at Gary and Gary had taken one look at Bette, and something had happened. And from then on she didn't care whether the rest of us lived or died."

During the scene in the out-of-gas car, Margo (Davis) tells Karen (Holm) that she loves Bill (Merrill), but she's afraid that Bill is actually in love with Margo Channing the stage persona, instead of Margo Channing the woman: "Bill's in love with Margo Channing. He's fought with her, worked with her, loved her... but ten years from now -- Margo Channing will have ceased to exist. And what's left will be, what?" Davis and Merrill, who married after filming this movie together, did indeed divorce almost exactly ten years to the day after their wedding. Davis was quoted as saying that they had married their characters from the movie, rather than the actual people.

After the film's release, Davis implored Joseph L. Mankiewicz to write a sequel that would focus on the characters of Margo and Bill. Many years later, after she and Merrill had married and divorced, Davis ran into Mankiewicz at a party and said to him, "Joe, you can forget that sequel. I've played it and it doesn't work." (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Gary Merrill!

Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, Anna McKim (who you may know as Ann Dvorak) told The Literary Digest in 1936...
02/02/2025

Asked how to pronounce her adopted surname, Anna McKim (who you may know as Ann Dvorak) told The Literary Digest in 1936: "My fake name is properly pronounced vor'shack. The D remains silent. I have had quite a time with the name, having been called practically everything from Balzac to Bickelsrock."

Though Karen Morley was under contract at MGM, Howard Hawks was close with MGM studio executive Eddie Mannix, who loaned out Morley for the film "Scarface" (1932). She was reportedly given the choice between the role of Poppy, the title character's girlfriend, or Cesca, the title character's sister. Though Cesca was the stronger role, she chose Poppy, as she felt Cesca would be a better fit for her friend, Dvorak. She considered this "probably the nicest thing [she] did in [her] life."

Morley invited 20-year-old Dvorak to a party at Hawks' house to introduce them. According to Hawks, at the party, Dvorak zeroed in on George Raft (in the photo below with Dvorak), who was to play her love interest. He initially declined her invitation to dance. She tried to dance in front of him in order to lure him; eventually, he gave in, and their dance together stopped the party. After this event, Hawks was interested in casting her but had reservations about her lack of experience. After a screen test, he gave her the part, and MGM was willing to release her from her contract as a chorus girl to signb with Warners.

Dvorack often complained about the lack of quality of her films, which led to arguments with her bosses at Warners. She attempted to have her Warner Brothers contract terminated over financial issues, after finding out that she made the same money as the five-year-old who played her son in "Three on a Match" (1932).

"The trouble with Hollywood is everybody is crazy for money. The producers are trying to make pictures cheaper and faster. They do not realize the public is becoming more critical, and can see the cheapness."

After only three days of work in the movie "Network" (1976), in just a few scenes that actually made it into the final c...
02/02/2025

After only three days of work in the movie "Network" (1976), in just a few scenes that actually made it into the final cut, Beatrice Straight contributed such a stellar performance that she earned the Academy Award for the best performance by a supporting actress. Her role lasted a mere five minutes and two seconds on screen, making her performance the briefest ever to win an acting Oscar. The part was Hamlet compared to her final film appearance playing Goldie Hawn's mother in the thriller "Deceived" (1991). Her role in that film was a mere five seconds long.

In her long career, Straight actually did very little work in the movies, plying her trade mostly onstage. But when she did grace the silver screen, she did it with great skill. Her first love was theater, having debuted on Broadway in the 1935 "Bitter Oleander." Her work garnered her much acclaim, including laurels in her Tony-winning performance for which she won the award for best supporting actress as Elizabeth Proctor in the 1953 production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." In addition to theater and movies, she gave us notable work on television. In 1978, she won an Emmy nomination for her part as the matriarch Alice Dain Leggett in the miniseries "The Dain Curse." No less stately, she played the part of Lynda Carter's Queen Mother in the 1970s "Wonder Woman" series.

"Network"'s three Oscar winners, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, and Straight, share scenes with William Holden in the film, but they share no scenes with each other. Finch and Dunaway, who won the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars, have no scenes or dialogue together in the film. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Beatrice Straight!

Myrna Loy on her "Perfect Wife" label, based on her work in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946): "It was a role no one ...
02/02/2025

Myrna Loy on her "Perfect Wife" label, based on her work in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946): "It was a role no one could live up to, really. No telling where my career would have gone if they hadn't hung that title on me. Labels limit you, because they limit your possibilities. But that's how they think in Hollywood."

"Some perfect wife I am. I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg."

Loy's first film was a small part in the production of "What Price Beauty?" (1925). Later, she appeared the same year in "Pretty Ladies" (1925) along with Joan Crawford. She was one of the few stars that would start in the silent movies and make a successful transition into the sound era. In her silent films, Myrna (born Myrna Adele Williams in Radersburg, Montana) would appear as a Theda Bara-like, exotic, femme fatale. Later in the sound era, she would become a refined, wholesome character. Unable to land a contract with MGM, she continued to appear in small, bit roles, nothing that one could really call acting. In 1926, Myrna appeared in the Warner Brothers film called "Satan in Sables" which, at long last, landed her a contract. Her first appearance as a contract player was "The Caveman" (1926) where she played a maid. Although she was typecast over and over again as a vamp, Myrna continued to stay busy with small parts. Finally, in 1927, she received star billing in "Bitter Apples." The excitement was short lived as she returned to the usual smaller roles afterward.

Myrna would take any role that would give her exposure and showcase the talent she felt was being wasted. It seemed that she would play one vamp after another. She wanted something better. Finally her contract ran out with Warner and she signed with MGM where she got two meaty roles. One was in the "The Prizefighter and the Lady" (1933), and the other as Nora Charles in "The Thin Man" (1934, below) with William Powell. Most agreed that the "Thin Man" series would never have been successful without Myrna. Her witty perception of situations gave her the image that one could not pull a fast one over on the no-nonsense Mrs. Charles.

After "The Thin Man," Myrna would appear in five more in the series. Myrna was a big box-office draw. She was popular enough that, in 1936, she was named Queen of the Movies and Clark Gable the king in a nationwide poll of movie goers.

"You know, the truth was, I wasn't the perfect wife in the movies. I was the wife everyone wanted, but not the quintessential wife. I was someone fun to be around, not the woman in the apron. Now, don't you think that's so much better?" (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Myrna Loy!

Peter O'Toole on Henry II, a king he portrayed in both "Becket" (1964) and "The Lion in Winter" (1968): "I like the man....
02/02/2025

Peter O'Toole on Henry II, a king he portrayed in both "Becket" (1964) and "The Lion in Winter" (1968): "I like the man. He interests me. He never lost a battle, and yet he never fought a battle if he could arrange it diplomatically. The last thing he ever wanted was to fight, but when he did, he fought. A man of great wit - funny, a lawgiver - and yet at the same time, frail, human. Now, am I describing me? I don't know. I like to think it is, perhaps, just merely a fabulation but I like to think it."

Katharine Hepburn bested Peter O'Toole as the top dog on the set of "The Lion in Winter". Known to be something of a tyrant on most of his shoots, O'Toole meekly obliged, when she told him, "Peter, stop towering over me. Come and sit down and try to look respectable." O'Toole readily admittedly in her presence that she reduced him "to a shadow of my former gay-dog self. She is terrifying. It is sheer masochism working with her. She has been sent by some dark fate to nag and torment me." Her reply: "Don't be so silly. We are going to get on very well. You are Irish, and you make me laugh. In any case, I am on to you, and you to me."

Although Hepburn and O'Toole had met several years earlier, and she was a great admirer of his work, she had no intention of putting up with the rather bad behavior he often exhibited on his productions. "You're known to be late", she told him on the first day of work. "I intend for you to be on time. I hear you stay out at night. You'd better be rested in the morning if you're going to work with me."

When filming wrapped on the movie, Hepburn said to O'Toole, "When I started off in this business, my agent said to me, never act with children and animals, but you, Peter, are both."

O'Toole on Hepburn: "I worship that bloody woman. I've never enjoyed working with anyone so much in my whole life, not even Richard Burton. There were no problems, not a one." (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Peter O'Toole!

"I was 19 and folding T-shirts in a surf shop. And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a leading role on 'Baywatch ...
02/02/2025

"I was 19 and folding T-shirts in a surf shop. And I got chosen out of 1,300 people to play a leading role on 'Baywatch Hawaii'. I didn't even know how to act. It took me five years to get an agent after [that]. No one would take me seriously after 'Baywatch'. I lived in the shadow of that for a long time."

When that show ended, Jason Momoa spent the next couple of years traveling around the world. In 2001, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to pursue an acting career. In 2004, after the short-lived TV series "North Shore," he was cast as the popular character Ronon Dex in the TV series "Stargate: Atlantis," which achieved a cult-like following. In 2010, he appeared in the Emmy-nominated HBO series "Game of Thrones," playing the Dothraki king, Khal Drogo. To illustrate to the producers that he was Khal Drogo, he performed the Haka, a traditional war dance of the Maori of New Zealand.

"I'm half Hawaiian and the haka is a very sacred thing, something your family teaches you - my father taught me."

The audition was with the same casting director who was casting the titular role in the reboot of "Conan the Barbarian" (2011). Four weeks after being cast as the popular Robert E. Howard character, Momoa began shooting in Bulgaria. His approach, like that of the filmmakers, was to pull from the eight decades of comics and stories as well as the Frank Frazetta images rather than the hugely popular 1982 movie.

Mamoa first played the role of Aquaman in a cameo in the superhero film "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016), marking Aquaman's live action theatrical debut. Momoa played the character in a leading role in the 2017 ensemble film "Justice League," He then starred in the Aquaman solo film, which released in late 2018.

Geoffrey Holder was a Trinidadian-American actor, choreographer, dancer, painter, singer, and Tony Award–winning stage d...
02/02/2025

Geoffrey Holder was a Trinidadian-American actor, choreographer, dancer, painter, singer, and Tony Award–winning stage director and costume designer. He was known for his height (6 ft 6 in), "hearty laugh", and heavily accented bass voice combined with precise diction. From his film career, he is particularly remembered as the villain Baron Samedi in the 1973 Bond-movie "Live and Let Die" (below), and Punjab in the 1982 film "Annie."

Holder hated working with snakes. As he was playing Baron Samedi in "Live and Let Die," he was called upon to handle lots of them. He was particularly against having to play the scene where his character falls into a coffin full of them. However, he was obligated to perform the scene without raising too much of a complaint, because Princess Alexandra was visiting the set the day the scene was being filmed, and he didn't want to lose face in front of royalty.

Not only did Holder choreograph his own dance sequences, at the Voodoo club, but it's almost identical to a scene in the series "Secret Agent" episode "A Man to Be Trusted," which, not only features Boscoe Holder, his brother, but, is choreographed by, and features him, as well.

Holder was the bald "Un-cola Man" with the deep voice and memorable "Ha Ha Ha Ha" laugh in the 7-Up soda television commercials in the 1970s and 1980s. Upon winning the best-director Tony Award in 1975 for "The Wiz," he said in his acceptance speech, "Just try making that out of a cola nut!" This was a reference to his television commercial for 7-Up, which ended with the same words. (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Geoffrey Holder!

Henry Jones, who played LeRoy in "The Bad Seed" (1956, below), also plays the radio announcer who reports the Fern Schoo...
02/02/2025

Henry Jones, who played LeRoy in "The Bad Seed" (1956, below), also plays the radio announcer who reports the Fern School tragedy.

Billy Wilder wanted to direct a film version based on the successful play, but couldn't get permission from the Production Code Administration. They objected because in his version Rhoda's crimes went unpunished. Paul Henreid also tried to buy the rights to the play. He wanted to direct and was planning to cast Bette Davis in the role of the mother.

Though very ordinary in appearance ("The casting directors didn't know what to do with me. I was never tall enough or good looking enough to play juvenile leads"), Jones had a long and varied career on Broadway, in movies and television. His parts included a wide range of second-string roles (ministers, judges, janitors), often with a dark and even frightening underside. His television career, which included over 150 appearances, began early, in 1950. Though his movies included such well-known titles as "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1957), "3:10 to Yuma" (1957), "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "The Grifters" (1990), and "Dick Tracy" (1990), no doubt his most recognizable screen performance was in the brief role of the methodical, nearly cruel coroner in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958). (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Henry Jones!

John Carroll Lynch talks about "Zodiac" (2007)...Q: "Is Arthur Leigh Allen the Zodiac Killer?"John Carroll Lynch: "No......
02/02/2025

John Carroll Lynch talks about "Zodiac" (2007)...

Q: "Is Arthur Leigh Allen the Zodiac Killer?"

John Carroll Lynch: "No... in performing the role, David Fincher asked me to play it as an innocent man. (pauses) Until the end. (laughs)"

Q: "But there have been so many suspects over the years. People have made these iron, convincing cases against several people."

JCL: "Sure. That’s what the movie’s about, isn’t it? I think that movie is about the virus of obsession. And I don’t think that’s stopped. The Zodiac isn’t the first one to do that, obviously. The first one I can think of us is the guy here [in Chicago]. The Devil In The White City."

Q: "David Fincher has this reputation as an intense perfectionist, sometimes demanding fifty takes to get a scene right."

JCL: "As a person who came from the theater, I love that. It doesn’t bother me at all. The fact that he wanted to do it again was perfectly fine with me. I was also aware of it, so I didn’t take it personally. I didn’t think, 'I suck now,'because we were on fifty. I think if you get to fifty with Clint Eastwood, you’re doing something wrong. (laughs) But Fincher is meticulous. He’s like the other masters I’ve worked with. They understand filmmaking to a degree that I could only dream of. And they are following their passion. This is a poor analogy, but Picasso was a cubist and went through a wide variety of movements in his career. He could have drawn figures better than anyone if he wanted to. He didn’t want to. So that’s what it’s like working with David Fincher. He’s after something. And it takes him fifty takes to get it."

Q: "He knows what he wants."

JCL: "He knows what he’s looking for, and he know how to get it. I also think he likes the performances of exhausted actors. He finds something interesting about that." (AV Club)

Happy Birthday, John Caroll Lynch

Director J. Lee Thompson vaulted to international fame with "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) as a last-minute replacement f...
02/02/2025

Director J. Lee Thompson vaulted to international fame with "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) as a last-minute replacement for director Alexander Mackendrick. His take-charge attitude during its production earned him the nickname 'Mighty Mouse' from lead actor Gregory Peck. Filmed on location in Rhodes, Greece (co-star Anthony Quinn was so taken with the area that he bought land there in an area still called Anthony Quinn Bay), the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Thompson for Best Director.

As described by Thompson in the DVD commentary track, David Niven became severely ill after shooting in the pool of water underneath the cave elevator and almost died, remaining in hospital for some weeks as other portions of the cave sequence were completed by the crew. However, since key scenes with Niven remained incomplete at that time, and it was doubtful whether Niven would be able to return to finish the film, the entire production was in jeopardy. Reshooting key scenes throughout the film with some other actor—and even abandoning the whole project to collect the insurance—was contemplated. Fortunately, Niven was able to complete his scenes some weeks later.

A complication arose when it was found that Peck, whose character was supposed to be fluent in German, could not speak the language convincingly. Voice actor Robert Rietty dubbed all of Peck's German dialogue for the film.[

Navarone does not exist: It is a fictitious location. On fictitious charts shown in the movie, Navarone is shown to lie in the in the Aegean Sea, somewhere between the Islands of Khios, Tinos, and Icaria.

"If you get to do a small part and people notice it...and everybody seemed to enjoy it and notice it, you can't go wrong...
02/02/2025

"If you get to do a small part and people notice it...and everybody seemed to enjoy it and notice it, you can't go wrong with that, you know what I mean? If it's short, showy, funny, and they like it or they mention it, then you're home free. If you do a small part and they don't notice you, then you're in trouble. So, short, sweet, funny, noticeable? Anytime. I don't mind playing the lead; it just means you have to have lunch and dinner there."

Dom DeLuise has claimed that the role of the director of the film-within-a-film, "The French Mistake," in "Blazing saddles" (1974) was originally meant to be played by Peter Sellers. However, after Mel Brooks endured an exhaustive four-hour audition, he instead cast DeLuise.

The name of DeLuise's character "Buddy Bizarre" is a reference to the famed dance choreographer Busby Berkeley, who was renowned for staging highly elaborate and precisely-timed song and dance numbers, of which "The French Mistake" is a parody.

DeLuise's wife, Carol Arthur, plays Harriet Johnson (who wrote the letter to the Governor) in "Blazing Saddles." (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Dom DeLuise!

When Max Allan Collins wrote the graphic novel "Road to Perdition," his book agent saw potential in the story as a film ...
02/02/2025

When Max Allan Collins wrote the graphic novel "Road to Perdition," his book agent saw potential in the story as a film adaptation and showed it to a film agent. By 1999, the novel had reached Dean Zanuck, who was the vice president of development at the company owned by his father, producer Richard D. Zanuck. The novel was sent to the elder Zanuck in Morocco, who was there producing "Rules of Engagement" (2000). The Zanucks agreed on the story's prospect and sent it to director-producer Steven Spielberg. Shortly afterward, Spielberg set up the project at his studio DreamWorks, though he did not pursue direction of the film due to his full slate.

Sam Mendes, seeking a new project after completing "American Beauty" (1999), received "Road to Perdition" from DreamWorks as a prospect, and Mendes was attracted to the story, considering it "narratively very simple, but thematically very complex." He specified one theme being the parents' world is inaccessible to their children. Mendes considered the story's theme to be about how children deal with violence, and whether exposure to violence would render children violent themselves. Mendes described the script as having "no moral absolutes," a factor that appealed to the director.

Tom Hanks was sent a copy of the graphic novel by Spielberg while he was filming "Cast Away" (2000). Initially too busy to make sense of the story, he later received David Self's adapted screenplay, to which he became attached. Hanks, a father to four children, described Michael Sullivan's role, "I just got this guy. If you're a man, and you've got offspring ... emotionally, it's devastating."

In order to court Paul Newman to appear in the 2002 film, Mendes paid the actor a visit at his apartment. The first thing Newman said to him when he opened the door to Mendes was "Jesus, you're young."

The piano piece that Newman and Hanks play at the opening funeral was performed by them.

"I don't want to be known for one thing. I don't want to have an adjective based around my name. 'Lynchian,' I know what that is, I know what 'Kubrickian' is, and I know what 'Bergmanesque' means. But there isn't going to be, and I don't want there to be, a 'Mendesian.'"

Ted Cassidy, on the role he would most like to be known for playing: "None. None of them! I don't want to be remembered ...
02/02/2025

Ted Cassidy, on the role he would most like to be known for playing: "None. None of them! I don't want to be remembered for any of them because I don't like any of them. I'm not proud of any of them. I am still waiting for the one role I will have pride in and want to be associated with down the years."

After graduating with a degree in speech and drama, Cassidy moved to Dallas, Texas. His acting career started when he worked as a mid-day disc jockey on WFAA-AM, and also occasionally appeared on WFAA-TV Channel 8, playing Creech, an outer space creature on the "Dialing for Dollars" segments of Ed Hogan's afternoon movies. Incidentally, he gave an in-studio report from the WFAA radio station on the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and was among the first to interview eyewitnesses W.E. Newman, Jr. and Gayle Newman.

Cassidy's 6' 9" height gave him an advantage in auditioning for unusual character parts, which led to his most famous role as Lurch in "The Addams Family." Despite being an accomplished organist, the harpsichord was actually a dead keyboard that Cassidy pretended to play, and the actual music was dubbed by the show's theme composer, Vic Mizzy. When he wasn't on-screen, Cassidy played "Thing," the disembodied hand who assisted the Addams' household, and a crew member would fill in during Lurch's on-camera scenes.

Cassidy's filmwork included "Mackenna's Gold" (1969) and "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" (1977) among others, but his most memorable role was as Harvey Logan in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969, below) ("Rules? In a knife fight?") He also co-wrote the screenplay for 1973's "The Harrad Experiment," in which he made a brief appearance.

Michael Biehn almost didn't get the role of Kyle Reese in "The Terminator" (1984) because in his first audition, he spok...
02/02/2025

Michael Biehn almost didn't get the role of Kyle Reese in "The Terminator" (1984) because in his first audition, he spoke in a Southern accent as a result of working on a part for a stage production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (he didn't get the role). During a talk with Biehn's agent, the producers mentioned that they liked Biehn's performance, but they didn't want Reese's accent making him seem too regionalized; this puzzled the agent, who asked "What accent?" After the mystery was cleared up, the producers called Biehn back for another audition, and he got the part.

Biehn initially thought the movie would be a silly low-budget time-travel movie, but decided to audition anyway. Any misgivings he had about taking part in the film were instantly abated when he met James Cameron, who showed him detailed storyboards and gave him an expressive overview of the story, winning him over by his passion and clarity of vision. Biehn would be a frequent collaborator of Cameron over the next decades.

On the chase scenes in the film: "Looking back on it, I realize we were really going at some high speeds those nights. One night, my adrenaline was running so high I actually tore the steering wheel off, and I just looked over at Linda [Hamilton] and said "Here, you drive!"

On not spending much time with Arnold Schwarzenegger on set: "I saw him around, you know. He was doing his thing, I was doing my thing, but I didn't really get to talk to him because Linda and I spend the entire film running away from Arnold."
"I do firmly believe that I've been overlooked, especially in 'The Terminator.' Jim Cameron was saying to me at the time, "I don't know Michael why you are not being offered more movies now." All of us expected it, you know? But now, five or six years later, when everyone has seen the movie five or six times on video people are beginning to realize how good it was and what a good performance it was. But I have to say I don't feel shortchanged and I don't resent anything. I think it's best in the long run. Look at the Brat Pack: those guys got so much so fast that they were never allowed to really struggle and know what good chances they had in much of the work they were doing. So even though I felt that some of my work was overlooked at times I know that it has made me stronger and better and it has made me work harder to get other jobs and be good in them." (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Michael Biehn!

Fred Quimby was born in Morton, Minnesota, and started his career as a journalist. In 1907, he managed a film theater in...
02/02/2025

Fred Quimby was born in Morton, Minnesota, and started his career as a journalist. In 1907, he managed a film theater in Missoula, Montana. Later, he worked at Pathé, and became a member of the board of directors before leaving in 1921 to become an independent producer. He was hired by Fox in 1924, and moved to MGM in 1927 to head its short features department. In 1937, he was assigned to create MGM's animation department.

In 1939, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera presented Quimby with a proposal for a series of cartoons featuring a cat and a mouse. Quimby approved,and the result was "Puss Gets the Boot," starring Tom and Jerry, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Initially, he refused to pursue more "Cat and Mouse" cartoons after "Puss Gets the Boot." However, following the critical and financial success of that cartoon, he agreed to make Tom and Jerry an official cartoon of the MGM cartoon studio.

As producer, Quimby became a repeated recipient of the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the "Tom and Jerry" films (winning four consecutive Oscars between 1944-1947, in the category Best Short Subject, Cartoons), though he never invited Hanna and Barbera onstage when he accepted the awards. His name became well known due to its prominence in the cartoon credits, and Quimby took sole credit for approving and producing the "Tom and Jerry" series. The MGM animation staff, especially Hanna and Barbera, despised Quimby when he was head of the animation department. They felt he was a useless bore who had no love or talent in the medium but still fought with the artists continually over their creative ideas. The fact that he always took the credit for the awards won for the cartoons was especially galling.

Don Murray later remembered the difficulties of filming with Marilyn Monroe during "Bus Stop" (1956), who was essentiall...
02/02/2025

Don Murray later remembered the difficulties of filming with Marilyn Monroe during "Bus Stop" (1956), who was essentially his boss on the movie. Paula Strasberg had replaced Natasha Lytess as Monroe's on-the-spot acting coach, and Murray recalled that, while Strasberg was "polite," she constantly "huddled" with Marilyn and paid no attention to anyone else. Murray said that, because of Monroe's problems with lines, every scene with her was "difficult... On some scenes there would be 30 takes. The average film scene requires about five takes. If Marilyn was having trouble getting through a particular scene, and finally got it, they would print it. It did not matter how the other actors did. I had a feeling of relaxation doing the scenes she wasn't in... She was detached, into herself. On the set, she appeared frightened, worried. Just thinking about what she had to do. There was not much interchange."

Murray recalled a scene in which director Joshua Logan wanted a "two-head close-up" shot, one of the first in the CinemaScope process being used for the film. Because of the width of the image, the top of Murray's head was out of the frame. "The audience won't miss the top of your head, Don," Monroe explained. "They know it's there because it's already been established." Another laugh came when Murray mistakenly used the word "scaly" in a scene and Monroe told him it had been "a Freudian slip" because the scene had a sexual connotation. "You see," she continued, "you were thinking unconsciously of a snake. That's why you said 'scaly.' And a snake is a ph***ic symbol. Do you know what a ph***ic symbol is, Don?" Murray's reply: "Know what it is? Hell, I've got one!" (IMDb)

Happy Birthday, Don Murray!

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cinema Society posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Videos

Top 3 XL dog breeds we don't recommend #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #dog #animals #canecorso #canecorsoitaliano #greatdane #tibetanmastiff #dogmom #pet #doglover #PetLover #dogsofttiktok #explorepage #discovery #usa

Introducing the staffy, an amazing pet dog breed! #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #staffy #staffordshire #staffylovers #stafford #staffordshirebullterrier #staffysoftiktok #dogs #puppy #puppies #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Here's top 3 most intelligent dog breeds #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #belgianmalinois #malinois #beagle #australianshepherd #funnydogs #dogs #puppy #amazinganimals #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Introducing the Belgium Malinois, a dog often misunderstood but a true darling! #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #belgianmalinois #belgium #malinois #funnydogs #dogs #puppy #amazinganimals #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Do you know that some seemingly hsrmless fruit can ve toxic to your dog? #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viral #foryoupage #animal #dog #doglover #dogfood #dogfoodie #grapes #lychee #avocado #macadamianuts #breed #petcare #doglove #explorepage #discovery #usa

The most feared dog breeds #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #dogbreeds #bigdogs #pitbull #rottweiler #belgianmalinois #dobermanpinscher #bullmastiff #canecorse #akita #dogoargentino #puppy #amazinganimals #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

This is the most strongest dog in the world, Presa Caanrio #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #presacanario #strongest #powerful #puppy #amazinganimals #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Top 5 fastest dog breeds in the world #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #fastestdogs #chihuahua #saluki #dalmatian #doberman #Greyhound #fastest #puppy #amazinganimals #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Strange dog behaviours explained #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #dogs #animallover #doglove #dogbreeds #dogsofttiktok #petsoftiktok #breed #pet #explorepage #discovery #usa

Alabai Vs Tiger #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #dogs #alabai #alabaidog #tiger #tigers #animallover #doglove #fight #breed #pet #loyalty #ancient #Guardians #Intelligence #explorepage #discovery #usa

Don't feed your cat honey #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #cats #animals #food #catfood #honey #catlover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Smartest dog breeds in the world #fy #fyp #fypシ゚ #fypシ゚viralシ #foryoupage #animal #dog #animals #animallover #smart #poodle #germanshepherd #dobermanpinscher #bordercollie #shetlandsheepdogs #doglover #petlovers #explorepage #discovery #usa

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Videos
  • Claim ownership or report listing

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?

Share