Barbara Stanwyck

[Girard]

Each Christmas I try to watch Christmas in Connecticut, which I'm sure in 1945 most people tought would be a quickly forgotten bit of fluff--perhaps Barbara thought so as well. It has endured and I always enjoy watching it. The cast was superb as well (Sydney Greenstreet, 'Cuddles' Sakcall (sp?), Una Merkel (I think?)), but I don't think Dennis Morgan did any singing.

[theuofc]

name='Girard' date='21 July 2010 - 04:45 AM' timestamp='1279680351' post='454506']

Each Christmas I try to watch Christmas in Connecticut, which I'm sure in 1945 most people tought would be a quickly forgotten bit of fluff--perhaps Barbara thought so as well. It has endured and I always enjoy watching it. The cast was superb as well (Sydney Greenstreet, 'Cuddles' Sakcall (sp?) ......

Yes, that's a perfect time to watch Christmas in Connecticut. Much agree, Girard. Here's a clip with Dennis serenading Barbara.





[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EQ4KHUKi1I[/media]



Enjoy,



Barbara

[Ray]

name='will.15' date='21 July 2010 - 02:35 AM' timestamp='1279676131' post='454501']

Will, they were fabulous, I have never seen them before!



She even curses with style!

[Ray]

[quote]name='Girard' date='21 July 2010 - 03:45 AM' timestamp='1279680351' post='454506']

Each Christmas I try to watch Christmas in Connecticut, which I'm sure in 1945 most people tought would be a quickly forgotten bit of fluff--perhaps Barbara thought so as well. It has endured and I always enjoy watching it. The cast was superb as well (Sydney Greenstreet, 'Cuddles' Sakcall (sp?), Una Merkel (I think?)), but I don't think Dennis Morgan did any singing.

[/quote





A delightful comedy which I am lucky to have on DVD. It was Una O' Connor who played the maid, and that was certainly Dennis doing his own singing.





[attachment=247:Christmas in Connecticut DVD.jpg]

[flynn]

name='theuofc' date='21 July 2010 - 01:54 AM' timestamp='1279673679' post='454495']

Hi, Flynn,



Barbara was such a beautiful woman, wasn't she? Her early photos are especially awesome. Here's another one:



Enjoy,



Barbara

Hi Barbara.

Thanks for that photo.she is especially lovely in that one

[flynn]

name='Ray' date='20 July 2010 - 11:24 PM' timestamp='1279664677' post='454477']

Don't waste your money on the so caled biography by Jane Ellen Wayne, she gives writers a bad name. The definitive biography on Barbara has still to be written. There is a great Book on her career by Ella Smith, it is out of print but you might pick up a copy in a second hand book shop.





[attachment=245:Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck - reprint 1985.jpg]

Thanks for the information on the Book Ray.thats the one i was going to buy.

i will keep my eyes open for the Ella Smith one

[Girard]

Has anyone read Robert Wagner's autobiography? Doesn't he claim to have had an affair with his much-older Titanic co-star? She was a great actress--I'd just never nominate her for a saint.



I guess she and Robert Taylor were having a hard time of it during the declining years of their marriage--because she really put him down when he had male friends over to their house.



Also, she and her first husband (and I am temporarily blanking out on his name--he originated the 6-foot-tall rabbit, 'Harvey' on stage) adopted a son--she fought him, who wanted the boy, and obtained custody. Turns out, she just wanted to keep her ex-husband from having the kid--she didn't care for him that much. I think this husband was very physically abusive to Barbara, however.



Anyway, I enjoy reading a biography that gives both the good and the not-so-good. Hopefully, I can pick up Wagner's book at a used-book store, since I don't want to pay $25 or so for it new. I did this with Tab Hunter's book--got it for $5--for what it's worth, it was autographed. I enjoyed it, but I didn't expect or want anything salacious, and I didn't get it.

[Ray]

She was certainly no saint, but I think that Wagner has exagerated their relationship. I should imagine it that it only lasted a few months, while they were working on Titanic together. In the 1950's, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons were the two most powerful gossip coumnists in Hollywood. I doubt whether a relationship between a 46 year old actress and a 23 year old up and coming actor would have escaped their attention. They never missed a juicy story, and they had their spys everywhere.

I will say that Wagner has always spoken very highly of Barbara, and I am sure that she helped and encouraged him when they worked together. Something else he wrote about her just didn't seem true. He said that she was a wonderful cook, while she always admitted that she had no interest in domesticity, and couldn't boil water. It was said that Bob Taylor did all the cooking when they were married.



Incidentally, her first husband was Broadway Star, Frank Fay.In 1947 he made a big comeback in Harvey, the story of the man who had an invisible rabbit as a companion. Arriving back in New York after her first and last trip to London Barbara was asked if she was going to see her ex in his big success, she replied:



"I think not, I've already seen all the rabbits Mr Fay has to offer"

[Ray]

Mr and Mrs Frank Fay when they first arrived in Hollywood from Broadway in 1929. She was 22, he was 38.







[attachment=260:Mr and Mrs Frank Fay.jpg]

[will.15]

FRANK FAY



...But there is something to the old adage that what lives longest are not words but deeds. Today Frank Fay lives on in the recorded memory as a notorious S.O.B. and a mean drunk, with nary a kind anecdotal word from anyone who knew him. Milton Berle once said, “Fay’s friends could be counted on the missing arm of a one-armed man.�



Apparently, Fay had one of those smirking faces that’s just itching to be smacked. On one occasion, he attempted to humiliate Bert Wheeler by dragging him onto the stage unprepared, and firing off a bunch of rehearsed lines at him to which he was supposed to attempt rejoinders. Tired of such treatment, Wheeler unnerved him by remaining silent the whole time. when fay finally cracked and said “what’s the matter? why don’t you say something?� Wheeler said “You call these laughs? I can top these titters without saying a word� and smacked him on the face – to howls from the audience. Some run-ins were far less light-hearted. Milton Berle recalled having watched Fay perform backstage from the wings, which is a real no-no with some performers. Berle heard him say “get that little Jew bastard out of the wings� and something about “that little kike�, so (according to him) he grabbed a stage brace and busted open Fay’s nose with it. Lou Clayton also let him have it across the jaw for his smart mouth.



Even when Fay meant to be nice he was rotten. Introducing Edgar Bergen for his first Palace date, he said: “The next young man never played here before, so let’s be nice to him.� As any performer can tell you, such an introduction is patronizing at best, sabotage at worst.



Through his friend Oscar Levant, Fay met and married Barbara Stanwyck, then a young chorus girl who’d just gotten her first Broadway show (Burlesque, 1927) In 1929 they did a dramatic sketch, as “Fay and Stanwyck� at the Palace. Later that year, they were called to Hollywood, so Frank could star in the film Show of Shows. Fay and Stanwyck’s marriage and their experience in Hollywood later became the basis of a Hollywood movie – A Star is Born.



In Hollywood, as everywhere he went, Fay did not make a lot of friends. A standard joke of the time went “who’s got the biggest prick in Hollywood?� Answer: Barbara Stanwyck. The womanizing, alcoholic Fay’s career floundered, while Stanwyck’s flourished for decades. In 1935 the two were divorced, and Fay continued his downward spiral, until 1944, when he was chosen to play Elwood P. Dowd in the original Broadway production of Harvey

[Ray]

Barbara certainly had a lot to put up with from Fay, but as late as 1933 she was still trying to help him. In a desperate attempt to revive his career and possibly save their marriage at the same time, she put over $125,000 behind the revue Tattle Tales. As a final measure of her support she agreed to star opposite Fay in the show.



Tattle Tales went on tour in April 1933 working its way through the larger cities on the way to New York. Reviews were mixed, but box office receipts were not disappointing. Barbara Stanwyck had developed quite a following across the country after such successes as So Big and The Miracle Woman, and many of those fans went to see Tattle Tales. Nevertheless, for all his faults, Fay was a seasoned stage veteran and knew that the New York audiences were different. So for two months Barbara, Fay and their troupe of travelling players worked at getting the show into shape for New York. they eventually opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 11th 1933, the New York Theatre crowd turned out in droves.



The critics for the most part approved, and though the New York Daily News found the show to be of inferior quality, he admitted that Barbara and Frank were 'still a little bit of Class A'. As far as Barbara was concerned, critic Burns Mantle wrote that she was 'blessed with that certain subtle something that distinguishes the real from the imitation, a sort of unconcious self- conciousness that we classify as poise'.



Tattle Tales might have run for a few months if it hadn't opened during the hottest summer on record in New York. The heat kept audiences at home, and Tattle Tales closed after after 28 days. Barbara was somewhat poorer, and her marriage was no better than it had been. As for Frank Fay, he was drinking more than ever.



By now Hollywood had claimed Stanwyck as their own, and they were outraged when she deserted them to return to Broadway. Not surprisingly all the blame was laid at Frank Fay'[attachment=264:with Frank Fay on Broadway in Tattle Tales - June 1933.jpg][attachment=264:with Frank Fay on Broadway in Tattle Tales - June 1933.jpg]s feet. He had not endeared himself to the Hollywood press over the last few years, and the columnists and reporters were more than willing to sacrifice him for Stanwyck. In an article plaintively captioned 'GIVE US BACK BARBARA', columnist Jim Tully wrote,

"Fay returned to the stage and took his genius wife with him, but surely now he will encourage her to return to films. They are sadly in need of her, there is a niche which she alone can fill".



Sadly, Barbara never did ever go back to Broadway. In fact she never walked on to a stage again, that is until I saw her make her entrance at the Lincoln Centre in 1981!

[John Llewellyn Moxey]

Thank you Ray. I now know slot more about a dear friend.



John

[Ray]

name='John Llewellyn Moxey' date='22 July 2010 - 04:53 PM' timestamp='1279814018' post='455030']

Thank you Ray. I now know a lot more about a dear friend.



John

You are very welcome John, and how lucky you were to have that lovely lady as a friend.

[Ray]

[attachment=275:The Crews Great Lady.jpg]You can get a pretty good idea of a great Stars character by listening to what the crew, electricians and the people working on the the set think of them.



In "Straight Down the Line", the excellent documentary on Barbara, author Bob Thomas talked about Barbara's relationship with "her boys". He said that they worshipped her, and would practically go down on their knees to get onto her films. It was usually the custom for the Stars to give gifts to co workers at the end of filming. It certainly wasn't usual for the crew to give gifts to a Star, but this happened regularly to Barbara. One gift was a broach inscribed, "To The Queen B from her Drones".



Another very personal gift was a carving of her as a 100 year old in The Great Man's Lady inscribed, "To the Crews Great Lady".



In her later years when Hollywood seemed to be trying to make up for snubbing her over the years, she was regularly receiving every award available. That included the Los Angeles Critics Award, The Lincoln Centre Award, The Golden Globe, The Emmy, Honorary Oscar and lastly, The Americal Film Institute Lifetime Achievment Award.



At every ceremony, she always mentioned, "My special group, the marvellous stunt men and women, the crew and electricians, Oh they are just wonderful".



No wonder they loved her, and why they made her an Honorary Stunt Woman!

[Ray]

Bette Davis was often congratuated for not caring how she looked, as long as she looked in character for the role she was playing.



Well as far back as 1932, Barbara was playing old ladies in such films as So Big. She was just 25 years old, and look who was in the supporting cast, yes it was Bette Davis! just 9 months Barbara's junior.







[attachment=282:So Big - 1932.jpg]

[Ray]

She went even further in 1942, aged 34, she played a character from the age of 16 to 112,[attachment=283:To Wally My Sincere Thanks For Your Great Makeup Barbara.jpg] in The Great Mans Lady. Here is a personally signed photo that she sent to her make-up man.



"To Wally - My sincere thanks for your great make-up - Barbara"

[Ray]

When I was a kid I would write to all my favourite stars, British and American, asking for a photo. I remember how thrilled I was when I received my first fan photo from Paramount Studios, signed, "To my friend - Dottie Lamour". I really believed that she had sent it to me personally.



It was always a thrill to see the postage mark with "Hollywood, Calif" stamped on the envelope, with the studio logo on the left hand corner.



This was my first fan photo from Barbara when she was at Warners, which I received around 1946. It was another 12 years before I found her home address, and then really did get several personally signed letters and photo's.





[attachment=288:Warner fan photo.jpg]

[theuofc]

name='Ray' date='24 July 2010 - 11:43 PM' timestamp='1280007832' post='455883']

When I was a kid I would write to all my favourite stars, British and American, asking for a photo. I remember how thrilled I was when I received my first fan photo from Paramount Studios, signed, "To my friend - Dottie Lamour". I really believed that she had sent it to me personally.



It was always a thrill to see the postage mark with "Hollywood, Calif" stamped on the envelope, with the studio logo on the left hand corner.



This was my first fan photo from Barbara when she was at Warners, which I received around 1946. It was another 12 years before I found her home address, and then really did get several personally signed letters and photo's.





[attachment=288:Warner fan photo.jpg]

Hi, Ray,



I just love hearing about Barbara writing to you. It speaks volumes about her. I can imagine the thrill of getting a letter AND a personally signed photo from her, not just once but several times over the years.



Everyone...Can you see why I've handed the baton over to Ray? I'd much rather sit back and listen to these wonderful memories and take in all the rare Barbara pics Ray has collected.



Cheers and keep 'em coming, Ray.



All the best,



Barbara

[Ray]

name='theuofc' date='25 July 2010 - 09:27 AM' timestamp='1280046445' post='455968']

Hi, Ray,



I just love hearing about Barbara writing to you. It speaks volumes about her. I can imagine the thrill of getting a letter AND a personally signed photo from her, not just once but several times over the years.



Everyone...Can you see why I've handed the baton over to Ray? I'd much rather sit back and listen to these wonderful memories and take in all the rare Barbara pics Ray has collected.



Cheers and keep 'em coming, Ray.



All the best,



Barbara

Thanks Barbara, it is a labour of love!



These two letters will show that her letter head and handwriting never changed over the years. The first is to her friend Joan Crawford the day after she won the Best Actress Oscar in 1946

The second letter was sent to me in October 1962.



[attachment=295:Letter to Joan Crawford - March 1946.jpg]







[attachment=295:Letter to Joan Crawford - March 1946.jpg]

[Ray]

That was my first attempt at downloading two files at once, and I managed to duplicate one of them, sorry about that!



Here is the photo that arrived with that letter.







[attachment=297:From Barbara to Me - 1962.jpg]