Temple Tuesday: No Jitterbug for Shirley

As soon as she hit the silver screen, Shirley Temple was known for both singing and dancing, as seen above in “War Babies” (1932). In “Miss Annie Rooney” (1942), her first teenage romantic role, it was only natural that Shirley’s footwork kept up with the times. Below, she can be seen getting coached by choreographer Nick Castle and costar Dickie Moore.



Fortunately for Dickie, for this jitterbug dance sequence he was able to get by with just standing still while Shirley did all the work.



Later in the film, wrong-side-of-the-tracks Annie (Shirley) finds favor with the rich kids by teaching them how to cut a rug. “Drizzlepuss” Stella Bainbridge (June Lockhard) refuses to join the fun and stands off to the right. 



When Shirley returned to the screen a little over a year later in David Selznick’s “Since You Went Away” (1944), the producer was adamant against Shirley doing any singing or dancing. According to publicity of the time, the movie “…definitely is not ‘another Temple picture.’ It is based on a series of letters written by Margaret Buell Wilder, Dayton, Ohio, newspaper-woman and mother of two teenaged daughters, to her husband in the Army. It is the every-day story of their problems and efforts to make ends meet by taking in boarders. And it is definitely not another Temple role. Shirley plays a straight dramatic part. No dancing and no singing.” In one of his famous memos, Selznick wrote, “I’m anxious to get the accent off this as a Temple vehicle and start hammering away at its tremendous cast.” Selznick would even go so far as to admonish Shirley against singing and dancing on her War Bond Tours. What a fink! Below is Shirley with costar Claudette Colbert who played her mother, Anne Hilton.



As in Selznick’s “Gone with the Wind,” a military dance plays a central part to the story of the film. Here, Jennifer Jones (playing Shirley’s older sister) arrives to the thrill of the soldiers who get a temporary break from World War II to dance with some pretty girls.



Shirley is not even in this scene at all; instead, the focus is on the romantic leads (Robert Walker and Jones) and their chaperones, Colbert and Joseph Cotten, who plays a close friend of the Hilton family.



According to the AFI website, the hangar dance was shot in a reproduction of an Army aviation hangar that encompassed two sound stages, over 20,000 sq. ft. of floor space and utilized 100 electricians. Below, director John Cromwell coaches Cotten and Colbert as they dance and recite their dramatic dialogue.



Colbert and Cotten rest between takes:



With Cromwell watching at right, Jones and Walker (married at the time the film was being made) perform their scene:



Silver Screen Magazine shot a series of dance photos during filming of the movie. From their publicity blurbs:

Jitterbugs Elsie Peritz and Jack Arkin warm up their motors, so to speak for an aerial take-off in the hangar dance sequence of “Since You Went Away,” first picture made by David O. Selznick since his Academy Award winning “Gone with the Wind” and “Rebecca.”



Peritz also had an uncredited role in the Robert Benchley Paramount Technicolor short, “Boogie Woogie” (1945). Arkin had a few small uncredited roles, including the Judy Garland film, “The Clock” (1945) and “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944) where he also danced the Jitterbug.

Below: Jack gives a spin and—oops!—we got something in our eye, so we didn’t see that.



Now Elsie is really getting up in Hollywood. The lady in the background, if she had it to do over again, would never learn how to knit but would concentrate on jitterbugging, as Elsie has, so that she too could be the life of the party.



Don’t feel bad for Shirley; she continued to dance for her fans, including in Central Park with former dance partner and close friend, Bill Robinson, Summer 1944:



She gave Franchot Tone Jitterbug lessons in “Honeymoon” (1947):



In the 1970’s, Shirley performed the Jitterbug with talk show host Mike Douglas. I have yet to find a clip of it on YouTube. From what I recall she was magnificent!

See more “Since You Went Away” photos at my main website.

Mineo Monday

Actor Sal Mineo is typically remembered for his role of Plato, the young boy seeking a father-figure who latches onto James Dean’s character in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955).



Along with Natalie Wood’s character, the three form a somewhat dysfunctional family, with Mineo and Wood competing for the affections of Dean. They bond one night at an abandoned mansion, as they secretly hope to all find what they have been missing throughout their already troubled lives.



Sharp-eyed viewers will recognize the mansion as the same one that Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) lived at in “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) with her ex, Max (Erich von Stroheim). The Getty mansion has long since been dozed.



But I digress…

While the censors of the 1950s would not allow any hint of Mineo’s character being gay, the actor’s performance made it very clear. In real life, Sal Mineo, he was quoted as saying, “I got a girl in every port — and a couple of guys in every port, too.” His life was tragically cut short in 1976 at the age of 37 during what was most likely a botched robbery. When it comes to celebrity deaths, no site is better than Scott Michael’s. During my last visit to Hollywood, I decided it was time to visit the spot where the murder took place. I texted Michael’s to narrow down the actual spot at Mineo’s West Hollywood apartment complex (known as the Hollyview Manor at the time) and within seconds, I received the photo below.



That’s a true friend. Below is how it looked the day I visited.



Michael’s pointed out to me that the odd sloping concrete shown in my photo:



…matches the one from the crime scene photo shot the night Mineo was murdered in the back alley of the complex:



This shot of a policeman looking for evidence was shot in the front of the building:



How the complex looks today:



Edited from Scott’s site:

Sal was renting an apartment in West Hollywood, at 8569 Holloway. Marvin Mitchelson, the famous lawyer, owned the building. On Thursday, February 12, 1976 at about 11:30 p.m., Sal returned home from the Westwood playhouse, where he was rehearsing the play, “P.S. Your Cat is Dead.” He parked his blue Chevelle in the garage, and just as he exited the garage a man with a knife confronted him. Mitchelson’s mom and neighbor Raymond Evans heard Mineo scream, “Help! Help! Oh my God!” Evans rushed to the scene and found Sal lying in a pool of blood trailing 10 feet to the sewers. Evans saw that Sal was losing color in his face and tried giving him mouth to mouth. The Sheriff arrived and found Sal in the fetal position. They turned him on his back, cut open his jacket and shirt to attempt resuscitation, but the stab wound was fatal. After 5 or 6 minutes of gasping, Sal was dead at 37. He was stabbed in the heart.…The case was still unsolved for a year and a half, until a Michigan prison inmate Lionel Ray Williams did a bit of bragging to fellow prisoners that he had killed the star. They pimped on him, and in 1979 Williams was convicted. He is serving 51 years to life. All for a random, botched robbery. Now he’s out – released after serving about 25 years.



A shot of Williams:



While searching on the web for more info about Mineo’s murder, I discovered a documentary film had been made that professes William’s innocence, saying that his incarceration was based on racial motivations rather than the truth. Documentary filmmaker Letitia McIntosh interviewed Williams himself, who claims he didn’t know Mineo and that it had to be somebody else. What McIntosh leaves out is that Williams confessed to numerous people (including a girlfriend and wife) to killing someone famous that night. If you can stand the staccato prose of James Ellroy, you can read his compelling account here.

What do I think? I wasn’t there. Not my circus. I just take photographs.

See more photos at my main website.

James Dean: 94th Birthday Tribute

Today would have been the 94th birthday of 1950’s icon, actor James Dean. Still relevant, still studied, and still written about. At the age of nine, Dean’s mother died and his father decided to let him be raised back on the family farm in Fairmount, Indiana, shown below:



Fairmount is an interesting little community, seemingly untouched by the passage of time. This video does a great job of capturing the town (and Dean) through interviews with the locals who still memorialize the actor.



The town has two museums that are Dean-centric; there’s the James Dean Gallery, run by David Loehr:



A picture of Loehr that I shot back in 1995 at a Rockabilly show in nearby Marion, Indiana. He is surrounded by Christy (whose father went to school with Dean) and fan Diane.



The other museum WAS the Fairmount Historical Museum, which was once located in this historic home:



It has since moved closer to downtown in a brand-spanking new building and been rechristened as the James Dean Museum. What’s the difference between the two? If you want to see vintage souvenirs and get to know Dean from a fan perspective, the Gallery is the place for you. If you want to see Dean’s personal effects and have a better understanding of him as an actor and a human, the Museum is the far better choice.

In downtown, there is a little park with a bronze bust of Dean, sculpted by the late Kenneth Kendall.



It is a copy of the same bust Kendall sculpted that is at the Griffith Observatory in Hollywood.



I met Stephen Payne (at right) when he first came to the U.S. and journeyed to Fairmount; you’ll get to hear his story in the video. On the left is Luke Williams, an Australian who traveled to Fairmount as well, seeking to find out more about Dean.



More than just a “rebel,” James Dean was a gifted human being who tragically died too young before getting to explore his many talents. We are fortunate to have the celluloid reminders that will forever enshrined his youth.

See more James Dean and Fairmount photos at my main website.

Arrivederci, Hotel Hollywood

The Hotel Hollywood was a staple of Hollywood Boulevard for years, just about a block away from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. It opened December 1902, designed and built by Lyman Farwell and Oliver Perry Dennis for Hollywood developer H.J. Whitley. The photo above was taken some time before 1910 (for explanation of how I know this, keep reading!). The photo below, which appears to be from the 1940s, was used to accompany an October 1952 news story:

HOLLYWOOD’S OLDEST LANDMARK

The Hollywood Hotel, on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, and the film capital’s oldest landmark, was at one time the show place of the stars and home for many of them. Part of the hotel was built in 1906, the rest 10 years later. Now the structure is occupied mostly by retired folk who like to sit on its porch and rock.



The below image from 1951 illustrates how the hotel had begun to suffer from deferred maintenance:



Below is a color shot from Christmas, 1954:



When I see photos of the large historic structure, it’s hard for me to believe that it was eventually removed. But, that’s what they do in Hollywood to its history. By the 1950s, the land it was on was worth more than the business, and so it was demolished in August 1956. Below is a shot from July, before the lot was completely cleared.



Oh, to have been there to salvage some of the items from that historic Mission Revival building!



In the corner, you can see Toff’s Diner, which was removed some time around the 1970s (don’t quote me on that!).



Originally, Hollywood Boulevard was called Prospect Avenue, as you can see from the detailed view from this post’s first photo:



By 1910, the town of Hollywood was incorporated into Los Angeles, and Prospect Avenue was officially renamed Hollywood Boulevard.

See more vintage and contemporary Hollywood photos at my main website.

Janet & Tony: Before Psycho

Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins will be forever linked because of their screen time together in the Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic, “Psycho” (1960). Before she took that famous shower, Leigh posed in front of the Beverly Hills Hotel pool for cameras in a swimsuit AND high heels for some cheesecake photography, circa 1950.

In February 1954, Perkins did a series of publicity photos inside his Chateau Marmont hotel room (#21). In this one, he is returning to his room after using the balcony from #29.



Knowing his future role as Norman Bates, this shot becomes all the more creepy.



Back in his room, he takes a phone call while sorting through the mess on the floor.



I was hoping the address would be visible on the shipping box, but all I can make out is the word “CALIF.” I also spy a stack of Movieland fan magazines.



See more Daveland photos at my main website.

Disneyland Album Cover Mystery Update!

Last March (can’t believe it’s been that long!), I was asked if I knew any information about the photo on the cover of the John Fahey album, “Of Rivers and Religion” (shown above). I wrote a post about it, and as it turns out, one of the people involved in the photo shoot recently reached out to me and gave the 411 behind this little known piece of Disneyland history. Here is the story that Scott J. Tepper (credited as the location scout on the liner notes) told me when I interviewed him.



How Scott met John Fahey: Scott was a brand new lawyer in the Los Angeles area. He moved from a firm in Santa Monica to one in the Mid-Wilshire area, focusing on selective service draft work. The attorneys there typically represented labor unions, communists, the blacklisted, and eventually political activist and philosopher Angela Davis. John had tax issues, and attorney Harry Margolis (who was indicted but acquitted for tax fraud in 1977) was assisting him. Scott became friends with the musicians that worked with his firm, even if he wasn’t all that crazy about their genre of music. In March of 1972, Fahey told Scott, “I just finished this album with an orchestra, and I have no idea for the cover.” When Scott heard the title, “Of Rivers and Religion,” he immediately thought of the Rivers of America at Disneyland. Reprise Reccords supplied the art director/photographer, Ed Thrasher, who told Scott, “This is your idea, so I want to see what it is.” The three went to Disneyland to see if the Mark Twain would work as the subject of the album cover. The day they visited, it wasn’t working. In addition, Thrasher realized what sounded good was not going to work out through his lens. “I can’t get the river AND the Twain in the frame. I also can’t really tie rivers to religion as it is, but while we’re here, let’s look around.” Scott was familiar with the Park from his childhood, so he guided Ed and John around. When he saw one of the Tom Sawyer rafts/barges, things began to come together.



Ed grabbed some of the cast members who were hanging out on the Mark Twain and asked if they were interested in making $5 posing for photos. “Do you have any other clothes?” Ed asked them. “We have rags that we work with,” they replied. Approximately ten cast members donned the old rags, got on the barge, and floated out on the river. Ed took about a half a dozen shots on his old-school Hasselblad camera (which was hidden in Ed’s satchel and snuck into the Park), sliding the plates in and out between each photo. Scott recalls it only taking about five minutes of shooting time before Ed said, “I think I have the photo for the cover!”



The amazing part? They did not have permission to shoot a single photo. The Disneyland publicity folk only gave John Fahey permission to scout the location, which really made John and Scott laugh at how everything came together so quickly. Afterwards, Scott heard from John that he told the people at Disneyland that he got the shot he wanted, and the publicity people told him they needed to see it before publication. After viewing the photo, they told John that as long as Disneyland was given credit, all was OK. In those days, they were just happy to get publicity. A very different mindset from how tightly Disney controls their image today. Something like this could never happen now without a resulting lawsuit! Scott never saw Ed again after the shoot. 

 

When the album was released, Disneyland was listed as the location (as promised), and Scott’s name was credited for the Location Concept. However, he was not happy that his middle initial was not used!

Scott also shared some memories of going to Disneyland as a child. In 1955 for his mother’s 40th birthday (which in a happy coincidence was July17), the family attended Opening Day. Thanks to the television program, “Walt Disney’s Disneyland,” the entire nation (including the Tepper family) was aware of the impending opening of the Anaheim park. The Teppers lived in Pacific Palisades at the time and hopped in the car for what seemed like a 2.5 hour drive, all on surface streets. They had never been to Anaheim before. Scott remembers the gigantic parking lot full of cars, but nothing like what it would eventually become. He also remembered the thrill of being able to park close to the entrance and seeing the Park when they got out of the car. The family didn’t have much of a wait to get in, but rather just walked right through the turnstiles. There were plenty of 15' high construction walls that day, as not everything had been completed. The family walked around the park and went on some of the attractions, with the favorite being The Rocket to the Moon in Tomorrowland.



When Scott exited the attraction, he looked for a restroom. Just one month away from being 10 years old, Scott was fiercely independent and went exploring on his own. He saw a wooden door in one of the construction walls and it opened, revealing a man who asked him, “How can I help you?” Scott told him  he was looking for a restroom and the man pointed down to the end of the wall. “There should be some there,” he told the child. “What did that man say to you?” Scott’s mother asked him when he returned. “Do you know who that was? That was Walt Disney!” Scott remembers his demeanor was kind, like a favorite uncle. Walt even seemed a bit bemused, especially since Scott had no idea who he was.

As for the oft-told stories about guests having to buy beverages because there weren’t enough water fountains, yes…that was true. Scott’s father was an orthodontist, so he was not crazy about having to buy sugary soft drinks for his kids. As for choosing between water fountains and restrooms, Scott says “Walt made the right decision!” He remembers it was a very hot day and that his father’s Buick sank into the recently paved asphalt of the parking lot. This made him even less happy than having to buy soda!



If you’re wondering how the Teppers got into Disneyland on opening day…so did I! One of Dr. Tepper’s patients was Annette Funicello. He took a technique from the 1930s and became the pioneer of removable braces in the early 1950s. Once the word got out, he got the business of every child actor in Hollywood. They all came to him so that they could have the removable braces, allowing them to snap them out before a scene. This helped give Dr. Tepper connections with everyone, including the rest of the Mousketeers. Years later, he also helped teen idol David Cassidy straighten his teeth.

And there you have it. The mystery of the album cover has been solved!

See more photos at my main website.