Above: Ida Lupino in a spectacular promo image made in 1946 for The Man I Love, which she headlined as a New York City lounge singer. It’s listed as a drama, so we’ll probably get around to it.
Imagine how good she'd sound if she used her hands.
Hello there, pumpkin. It's Halloween again.
Pumpkins are squashes, in case you ever wondered. And if you’ve ever wondered, we think Halloween is the most giving of U.S. holidays, because unlike Christmas your gifts go to strangers. We’ve cobbled together a collection of seasonal shots featuring Hollywood stars posing with jack-o’-lanterns, that yearly tradition we discussed a bit last year in another Halloween post. These pumpkins range from real, to plaster, to papier mâché, to paint, to shadows. There’s even a jack-o’-lantern house.
The stars are posted in the order of the keywords at bottom. Of special note are the last three: Peggy Ryan sitting on the identical pumpkin used by Ellen Drew for her Halloween shots (same prop department, we guess), Ava Gardner being her usual notable self, and finally, Gloria Saunders posed as if she’s about to let a scarecrow go doggy on her. Don’t judge us—you’ll think the same thing. Of all our previous posts along these lines, our favorite is at this link. Happy Halloween. Don’t eat too much candy.
Clara Bow, Myrna Loy, Barbara Bates, Yvonne De Carlo, Ann Rutherford, Betty Grable, Cyd Charisse, Etchika Choureau, Martha Vickers, Nancy Carroll, Ann Miller, Ida Lupino, Anita Page, Maila Nurmi, Myrna Dell, Alfred Hitchcock, June Pressier, Sandar Dee, Bunny Yeager, Mia Farrow, Audrey Totter, Peggy Ryan, Ava Gardner, Gloria Saunders
When there's a killer on the loose you'd better sleep with one eye open.
This poster for While the City Sleeps doesn’t impress with masterly art the way so many vintage promos do, but its simplicity is, in an oblique sort of way, we think, meant to echo tabloid covers from the era. RKO made a special poster in collaboration with Confidential magazine, which you’ll see below. The movie’s plot is pure tabloid fodder. A serial killer has slain women in New York City, leaving the cryptic message “Ask mother,” written on the walls of one murder scene. Vincent Price, owner of Kyne News Service, part of a media empire comprising ten newspapers, a wire service, and other interests, offers the position of executive director to three employees in order to draw them into cutthroat competition with each other. Soon it becomes clear that finding the identity of the “lipstick killer” is the winning move. Intrigue and subterfuge take over the office. Everyone gets involved, from senior editors to stringers to gossip columnist Ida Lupino, but the killer is too clever to be caught.
At least until intrepid Pulitzer Prize winning television reporter Dana Andrews airs a scornful and taunting broadcast, deliberately setting up his own fiancée as bait. He doesn’t even ask her permission. Well, he does, but only after arranging to publish their engagement announcement in the New York Sentinel right next to a story about the killer. Reckless? Yes. Presumptuous? For sure. There are intertwined plotlines here, but Andrews using his true love as a lure was the most interesting aspect for us. He isn’t the only heel on display. The movie is ostensibly about a serial killer, but is really a framework for exposing backbiting and cynical ambition in the big city. Director Fritz Lang, in what was his penultimate U.S. film, explores the cruel banality of what, these days, some call “hustle culture,” and brings the production to a conclusion that’s, in the words of Thomas Mitchell’s character, “Neat, but nasty.” Our words are: a mandatory watch. While the City Sleeps had a special world premiere today in 1956.
Edit: Vintage movies are excellent windows into bygone customs and practices. There’s a great moment in this one. Rhonda Fleming and James Craig are chatting in her apartment late one night when the doorbell unexpectedly buzzes. They look at each other confused for a second, then Fleming says, “It’s probably the drugstore. That was the last bottle of Scotch.”You know, there were a lot of things wrong with the mid-century era. But there were a few things right too. Getting the all-night drugstore to deliver booze has to be one of the most right things we’ve ever heard of, so we give thanks to While the City Drinks—er Sleeps—for clueing us in, and suggest you call your congressional rep immediately and ask for a law allowing pharmacies to deliver alcohol. If not for yourself, do it for the children.
Strange ideas from the minds and lenses of mid-century promo photographers.
A while back we shared a promo photo of Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame from 1953’s The Big Heat that was meant to imply oral sex (it absolutely was, and you can see for yourself here). We commented on its weirdness, and noted that an actress would probably not be asked or made to pose that way today. The shot got us thinking about whether there were other kneeling promo shots from the mid-century era, and above you see two others from The Big Heat.
Below we have more such shots, and while none are as jarring as that previous promo, they’re all interesting. We assumed there would be few if any featuring kneeling males, but we found a couple. Even so, there are probably scores more kneeling actresses that we missed. While many of shots took the form they did to highlight the criminal/victim themes in their parent films, you still have to wonder what else—consciously or not—was in the various photograhers’ minds. Anyway, just some food for thought this lovely Thursday. Ready, set discuss!
Rod Taylor and Luciana Pauluzzi swap subordinate positions for 1967’s Chuka.
Edmund O’Brien goes for the time honored hair grab on Marla English for 1954’s Shield for Murder.
Marilyn Monroe swoons as Richard Widmark snarls for Don’t Bother To Knock, 1952.
Inger Stevens and Terry Ann Ross for Cry Terror, an adaptation of a novel we talked about a few years ago.
Kim Hunter soothes an overheated Marlon Brando in a promo for 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire.
George Raft menaces Marlene Dietrich in the 1941 comedy Manpower.
As promos go, these actually make sense. They show three unidentified models mesmerized by vampire Christopher Lee for 1970’s Taste the Blood of Dracula.
Glenn Ford is at it again, this time looming over Rita Hayworth for the 1946 classic Gilda.
Aldo Ray and Barbara Nichols for 1958’s The Naked and the Dead.
This one shows less domination and more protectiveness, as Humphrey Bogart prepares to defend Ida Lupino for High Sierra, 1941.
Humphrey once more. Here he’s with Lizabeth Scott for Dead Reckoning, 1947.
This shot shows Brazilian actress Fiorella Mari with an actor we can’t identify in a movie we also can’t identify.
Shelly Winters and Jack Palance climb the highest mountain together for I Died a Thousand Times, 1955.
As we said, we didn’t find as many examples of kneeling men, but we found this gem—Cappucine makes a seat of director Blake Edwards on the set of The Pink Panther in 1963. Does this count, though? While Edwards is subordinate, he isn’t kneeling and it really isn’t a legit promo.
And lastly, in a curious example, Hugo Haas seems to tell Cleo Moore to stay in a shot made for 1953’s One Girl’s Confession.
The Big Heat, Chuka, Shield for Murder, Don't Bother To Knock, Cry Terror, Streetcar Named Desire, Manpower, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Gilda, The Naked and the Dead, Dead Reckoning, I Died a Thousand Times, The Pink Panther, One Girl's Confession, Rod Taylor, Luciana Pauluzzi, Edmund O'Brien, Marla English, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Inger Stevens, Terry Ann Ross, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, George Raft, Marlene Dietrich, Christopher Lee, Rita Hayworth, Aldo Ray, Barbara Nichols, Ida Lupino, Lizabeth Scott, Fiorella Mari, Shelly Winters, Jack Palance, Blake Edwards, Cappucine, Hugo Haas, Cleo Moore, cinema
Ryan reaches the limits of control in crimefighting and romance.
On Dangerous Ground, which premiered today in 1951, is a film noir melodrama about a bad cop who finds a reason to reset his professional and emotional lives. It was adapted from Gerard Butler’s novel Mad with Much Heart, and that title pretty much tells the tale, as Robert Ryan plays a detective so mean even his colleagues warn him he’s out of control.
He eventually ruptures a suspect’s bladder during a beating. He deserves to be drummed out of the police and publicly shamed for such a transgression (in our opinion), but his chief, instead of handing him the pink slip he deserves, sends him to the mountains to help with a distant investigation until the heat cools. Once there Ryan finds a reason to reassess his life in the form of Ida Lupino, the blind but insightful sister of a murder suspect. She can sense bullshit and hurt miles away, and she becomes the first person that Ryan has actually listened to for a long time.
On Dangerous Ground is not by any means the best that film noir has to offer, but it has its moments, including extensive location shooting in snowy western Colorado. For noir completists it’s certainly one to watch. Those with limited time allotments can probably give it a pass in favor of something better, but note that Lupino is a film noir icon as both an actress and director, and in fact directed some scenes in this movie, though she wasn’t credited. Keep an eye out for her official work.
They call it maximum security to scare you. I still get hair dye, cigarettes, good shoes, and pedicures, so I'm all good.
Let’s circle back to Jan Sterling, shall we? As you know, she’s become a favorite actress of ours, and since she has a number of excellent promo images we might as well run through a few. This one was made for her 1955 drama Women’s Prison, in which her co-stars were Ida Lupino, Audrey Totter, and Cleo Moore. Think we’ll be watching that? Well, with three great film noir icons in the cast, along with Sterling herself as one of the most elegant felons ever, you can bet on it.
Small town jealousy leads to big time problems in Lupino noir classic.
Duh DUH duh duh DUH. He has a degree is philosophy…
Duh DUH duh duh DUH. He’s broken over thirty bones…
Wait—wrong movie. That’s the 1989 Road House, Patrick Swayze’s unimprovable existential pugilistic epic. The movie we mean to discuss is the 1948 Road House, which premiered today and starred Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm, and Richard Widmark. Nobody destroys an automobile showroom by driving a monster truck through it. Instead Ida Lupino drives her monster truck through a couple of male egos and teaches them lessons about a woman’s right to choose her own life—and her own man. This gimmick-free proto-feminist drama is an excellent example from the film noir genre, and it’s exhibit A why Lupino is a legend. She’s mighty good in this. Mighty mighty good.
Duh DUH duh duh DUH. She has a degree from the school of hard knocks…
Duh DUH duh duh DUH. She’s broken over thirty hearts…
Ida done it better.
Occasionally we run across a VHS box we really like. This one for the 1954 film noir Private Hell 36, with Hollywood legend Ida Lupino in repose on the front, caught our eye with its simple but beautiful design. Anything with Lupino involved is worthwhile, including this film. We talked about it earlier this year, here.
Ida done it her way.
Above, an interesting German language promo poster for the Ida Lupino film noir Private Hell 36, which we talked about last month. Lupino is considered a film pioneer for her migration into directing, but she’s always good in front of the camera too. This piece is signed, though illegibly, so another artist loses their chance for internet immortality. Private Hell 36 premiered in West Germany today in 1956
We'd to hate to find out what the other thirty-five are like.
Private Hell 36. It doesn’t mean anything, but what a great title. And it comes with two great promo posters. These are probably in the first two chambers of hell to lure you in. Made in 1954, this film noir co-stars and was co-written by Ida Lupino, who plays a woman who is convinced to help the police on a stakeout for a counterfeiter. She’d been passed a fake fifty but the police can’t identify the crook unless she sees him and fingers him. As the days pass cop Steven Cochran takes a liking to her, and she to him. Star-crossed love in the noirish night. Lupino wants the finer things in life. Cochran wants to give them to her. When counterfeit bills start blowing on the wind, Cochran and his partner split over stealing the cash. You know where this goes—nowhere good.
Cochran is really good in this. As his decisions hurt those around him and his circumstances constrict his possibilities in the worst way, the performance he gives generates tension and empathy. Lupino does her usual great job, and the support from Dorothy Malone and Howard Duff is perfect, so in the end what you have is a solid film noir tinged with affecting interpersonal drama and working class pathos. In real life we don’t feel the least bit bad for dirty cops, but that’s the beauty of art—it puts you in other people’s shoes and for an hour or two you understand. Private Hell 36 is short and to the point. It asks: If $80,000 landed in your lap would you keep it? In film noir, you better not.
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HISTORY REWIND
The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1938—Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Created
In Basel, Switzerland, at the Sandoz Laboratories, chemist Albert Hofmann creates the psychedelic compound Lysergic acid diethylamide, aka LSD, from a grain fungus.
1945—German Scientists Secretly Brought to U.S.
In a secret program codenamed Operation Paperclip, the United States Army admits 88 German scientists and engineers into the U.S. to help with the development of rocket technology. President Harry Truman ordered that Paperclip exclude members of the Nazi party, but in practice many Nazis who had been officially classified as dangerous were also brought to the U.S. after their backgrounds were whitewashed by Army officials.
1920—League of Nations Holds First Session
The first assembly of the League of Nations, the multi-governmental organization formed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The League begins to fall apart less than fifteen years later when Germany withdraws. By the onset of World War II it is clear that the League has failed completely.
1959—Clutter Murders Take Place
Four members of the Herbert Clutter Family are murdered at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith. The events would be used by author Truman Capote for his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, which is considered a pioneering work of true crime writing. The book is later adapted into a film starring Robert Blake.
1940—Fantasia Premieres
Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, which features eight animated segments set to classical music, is first seen by the public in New York City at the Broadway Theatre. Though appreciated by critics, the movie fails to make a profit due to World War II cutting off European revenues. However it remains popular and is re-released several times, including in 1963 when, with the approval of Walt Disney himself, certain racially insulting scenes were removed. Today Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s greatest achievements and an essential experience for movie lovers.
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Robert McGinnis cover art for Basil Heatter’s 1963 novel Virgin Cay.
We've come across cover art by Jean des Vignes exactly once over the years. It was on this Dell edition of Cave Girl by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Untitled cover art from Rotterdam based publisher De Vrije Pers for Spelen op het strand by Johnnie Roberts.
Italian artist Carlo Jacono worked in both comics and paperbacks. He painted this cover for Adam Knight's La ragazza che scappa.
