Eleanor Parker

Actress Eleanor Parker (b. 1922) is largely forgotten nowadays, though she was a well-respected actress, especially during her 1950s prime. Often cast as the loyal but suffering wife (Detective Story; Above and Beyond), her most (in)famous role may be as a prisoner in 1950’s Caged, better known today for its camp value than for the Oscar nominations that Parker and co-star Hope Emerson received. I find it to be well photographed and with riveting performances by a well-known cast, which runs the gamut from Jane Darwell and Agnes Moorehead (ah-ha! That's why it's campy!!!) to Ellen Corby and Jan Sterling. Perhaps the female convict concept just lends itself to such sniggering and derision. Parker also received a Best Actress Oscar nod for 1951’s Detective Story, where she played Kirk Douglas’ loyal wife who nevertheless has a dark secret. 1955’s Interrupted Melody (a film I’ve yet to see) scored Parker her third and final Oscar nomination. Here she’s opera singer Marjorie Lawrence, who was stricken with polio at the prime of her career and fought gamely to return to the stage. 1955 would prove to be Parker's stellar year, as she appeared in The Man with the Golden Arm, Interrupted Melody, and a little gem called Many Rivers to Cross.

Parker is an actress I'm interested in because she wasn't the sex vamp or villainess, and not the "good girl" in the same vein as June Allyson or Doris Day. Her career is largely based on serving the thankless role of the loyal, supportive wife, a characterization that was emphasized in the 1950s. It hasn't aged well, as that type of woman doesn't exist anymore, and if it did, it would be frowned upon in this post-Feminist era. But I can imagine that time period more clearly because of Parker's place in it. Perhaps I find myself wishing that certain aspects of that era would make a comeback. Whatever the case may be, Eleanor Parker was always an entertaining, reliable and-- most of all-- sympathetic performer; and well worth discovering.

Selected Filmography:

Pride of the Marines (1945)
Of Human Bondage (1946)
Caged (1950)
Detective Story (1951)
Scaramouche (1952)
Above and Beyond (1952)
Valley of the Kings (1954)
Interrupted Melody (1955)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Seventh Sin (1957)
Home from the Hill (1960)
The Sound of Music (1965)

Thanks to Millie at Classic Forever for inspiring this post…

By His Side: Eleanor Parker and John Garfield in 1945's "Pride of the Marines."

Burt and Kirk: Crazy Cut-Ups

These photos were taken during rehearsals for the 30th Academy Awards, held on March 26, 1958. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas performed a silly musical comedy number written by Frank Sinatra’s favored songwriters, Sammy Kahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, “It’s Great Not to Be Nominated.” The bit was performed just before the Best Actor award was presented. The song’s cringe worthy lyrics poked fun at the five nominees:

“There’s Marlon Brando, Hi ya’ll/That corny southern drawl.”

“Anthony Franciosa, you’ve got our vote/If he wins I’ll cut my throat.”

“Charles Laughton, he’s great/Yeah, if you’re voting for weight.”

“Anthony Quinn, isn’t he uncanny/Your *father* would look great in a scene with Magnani.”

“Alec flew all the way from Britain/Bully, Burt that’s why my teeth are grittin’”

The three nominees present reacted in different ways; Marlon Brando smiled and waved to the pair, Anthony Franciosa nervously chomped gum, though wife Shelley Winters roared with laughter at his expense, Anthony Quinn was also amused--no nerves from a two-time Oscar winner.

The number ended with Douglas doing a handstand over Lancaster, who proceeded to carry the dimple-chinned tough guy off the stage. The two reprised the number on film the following year, which kicked off the 31st Academy Awards, with Burt and Kirk doing somersaults. I wonder if George Clooney and Matt Damon will do a number like that at this year’s show…

At the Peak of Their Powers: Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas howling at rehearsals, March 1958.

TIME Will Tell

I'm surprised at how many movie stars graced TIME magazine's cover during the 1930s-50s. Considering that many who appeared on it over the years were supposed to be important yet are totally forgotten today (men of industry, government, business, etc.) makes me wonder just how "important" people in those fields actually are. They may have been essential folk back in their day, but we're still talking about the movie stars. Sorry, Clarence K. Streit...you should have preserved your life's work on film.

Ginger Rogers April 10, 1939

Bette Davis March 28, 1938

Audrey Hepburn Sep 7, 1953



Elizabeth Taylor August 22, 1949



Katharine Hepburn September 1, 1952



Ava Gardner September 3, 1951

The timing of these cover shots is interesting. Ginger and Bette were at their career peak when they made the cover. Audrey, Ava, and Liz were at the beginning of theirs; Audrey had just made her film debut in Roman Holiday and Taylor was just beginning her career as an adult after a successful run as a child actress. Kate Hepburn was still going strong-- and yes, her cover sketch is far from the most flattering I've seen of her, (it's during her Pat and Mike period, a film I've never liked all that much--considering the director, George Cukor, is revered here at Hollywood Dreamland as are the movie's stars, Spencer Tracy and Kate Hepburn).

I haven't read these issues to determine the substance of the articles, but I'll guess that they were "state of the cinema" pieces, reviews, or personal profiles. In the case of the Ginger Rogers cover, it's about Astaire & Rogers' final 1930s film, The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle and includes a Ginger profile. If a performer made the cover because of their onscreen work rather than any charitable or offscreen accomplishments, but it has gotten me interested enough in TIME's journalistic history to take a closer look at how movie stars were covered in the national, non-movie mag press.

I guess appearing on TIME isn't the immortalization they'd like us to think it is. Maybe popularity is the pocket change of history, I don't know. At least not as far as these movie stars are concerned. Anyway, take a look through TIME's cover archive and see how many people you recognize-- and how many you don't.

Susan Hayward's Wonderful LIFE, Part II

What better way to cheer myself up from a personal crisis than to post more of my favorite Susan Hayward LIFE Magazine photos! I'm discovering that the lovely Susan isn't as well represented as many of her fellow 1950s actresses and haven't been able to obtain as many of her movies as I'd like, putting a crimp in the Susan Hayward Craze of 2009. Eventually, I hope to compile a list of her available DVD titles. However, being able to gaze upon her visage again should soften the blow of not having nearly enough of my favorite redhead in the olde collection.

As mentioned in Part I, LIFE has either added more photos from this Edward Clark photo session, or I just missed the "additional" shots the first twenty times around, because I'm constantly discovering new pictures.

Susan Hayward's Wonderful LIFE

One of the many great things that have come out of the LIFE Magazine photo archive is the slew of previously unpublished images. I'm not certain if these Susan Hayward photographs taken on November 11, 1949 fall into the "unreleased" category, but they sure are revelatory. These truly wonderful pictures (the one above is my favorite) find thirty-two year old Susan at the beginning of her run as one of Hollywood's most popular and respected actresses. By the time of this photo shoot, she had already received her first Academy Award nomination for Smash Up: The Story of a Woman (1947) and would earn another in 1949, for My Foolish Heart. So when LIFE photographer Edward Clark went out to the Hayward homestead to shoot these photographs, he was capturing Hayward at her unadorned best: no makeup, freckles in plain view, and looking absolutely beautiful.


In the search for All Things Susan Hayward, I've looked through LIFE's Hayward collection numerous times and I think that new images are continually being added. There are more "Susan Variations" of the actress in her dude-ranch style western wear; white blouse, slacks, and belt buckle, plus "domestic" pics of her doting over her two young sons. It's all so darned charming that the gal from Brooklyn, New York could look so right in those clothes. The overall spirit of the photos is one of a happy young woman just a few years before becoming a major star and Hollywood icon.

More to come...

Ginger Rogers' Oscar Moment

Thanks to a tip from Carrie at her excellent blog, Classic Montgomery, I was able to search LIFE magazine's photo archives and found another picture of Ginger Rogers' Oscar win at the 13th Annual Academy Awards in 1941. "The little Rogers gal" looks genuinely moved and in awe of the moment, in what would be the pinnacle of her career.

1941 also marked the first year that Oscar results were kept secret from the press and public until the actual opening of the envelope, so I'm sure that Ginger wasn't acting when she was announced as the winner (for Kitty Foyle). The presenter is stage actress Lynn Fontanne.