Peck 'n Bette Birthday Spectacular!

Wise: Hello, Werth.

Werth: Hello, Wise. I see you brought a belated Happy Birthday cake for Gregory Peck with you today.

Wise: No, I brought a belated Happy Birthday cake for Bette Davis.

Werth: What? Both of these celluloid big-wigs had birthdays yesterday? No way!

Wise: Apparently way. Good Queen Bette would have turned 104.

Werth: And Gorgeous Greg would have been 96. Ironic that they shared a birthday but never screentime in a movie.

Wise: Bette would have made a marvelous Boo Radley.

Werth: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) is usually the first Peck movie that people think of, but he had a wonderfully long and prolific movie career. One of my favorites is the William Wyler romantic comedy Roman Holiday (1953). Peck is American journalist Joe Bradley who lucks out on his way home from a poker game when he finds an unconscious runaway royal princess.

Wise: Happens in the West Village all the time.

Werth: Only this doped-up princess is played by then newcomer, Audrey Hepburn. Much ado has been made of Hepburn's first starring role, and boy does she deserve it. You can't take your eyes off her. Her effortless beauty and youthful maturity leap off the screen. It's hard to imagine this girl ever being anything except a hugely successful movie star.

Wise: She wouldn't be scrubbing the john with those cheekbones. 

Werth: With all the attention being given to Hepburn's bird-like, belted waist, you'd think her co-star would just fade into the Trevi Fountain, but not Peck. He had wanted to do a comedy to get away from all the heavy dramas, biblical epics and westerns he'd been doing, so he relished playing the handsome, free-wheeling Bradley. 

This slick, "knows all the angles" newsman attempts to trick this incognito, day-tripping princess into giving him a whopper of an interview without disclosing who he is—or that he knows who she is. He leads her all over Rome on a once-in-a-lifetime tour that has probably done more for Roman tourism than any other movie.

Wise: Except maybe for Gladiator.

Werth: Shot entirely on location (with some help from the legendary Cinecitta Studios) Roman Holiday is just that: a wonderful adventure through a 1950's Rome crowded with horses, bicycles, Vespas, and wildly gesticulating Italian "types."  Of course the two fall in love—but wisely, the ending avoids the fairy-tale possibilities by showing us that sometimes the most magical day in our life only lasts one day. 

With ten Oscars noms (including Wyler for Best Director and pre-Green Acres Eddie Albert for Best Supporting Actor) and three wins (Hepburn as Best Actress, Edith Head for Best Costume Design B&W, and blacklistee Dalton Trumbo hiding behind McLellan Hunter for Best Writing Motion Picture Story), Roman Holiday is a light laugh confection that makes you yearn to use some of those air miles for a nostalgic Italian getaway.  

Wise: Bette Davis leaves for an island getaway at the end of Jezebel (1938), but it's not for a romantic romp. 

Werth: Unless you consider a Yellow Fever colony romantic.  

Wise: Davis plays Julie Marsden, a strong-willed Southern belle who asserts her independence to the detriment of her engagement to stolid banker Preston Dillard (Henry Fonda).  

When she dons a flaming red gown instead of the white traditional to unmarried women at the annual Olympus ball, Preston breaks their engagement and she is shunned by New Orleans society.  After a year spent in seclusion, Julie learns that Preston has returned from a sojourn up North and she goes to him begging for forgiveness and to resume their engagement only to find that he has married another woman in the meantime.  

To further complicate matters, a Yellow Fever epidemic sweeps the city, sickening Preston and condemning him to an island where all the victims are quarantined.  His new wife Amy prepares to accompany him, but Julie begs to take her place on the grounds that only a Southerner could survive the horrors of the island and to prove that her love for Preston has transcended her selfishness. 

Werth: I don't know about you, but there are better ways to try and prove you're unselfish than subjecting yourself to deadly communicable diseases. Donate money to the Milk Fund or something.

Wise: Hollywood legend has it that Davis used Jezebel as a lengthy audition for David Selznick as he was casting Scarlett O'Hara, but whatever the truth to that claim, the film is much more than a pale copy of Gone with the Wind. Davis won her second Oscar for Best Actress and the film cemented her status as a top Hollywood star. 

Of course all the hallmarks of classic Davis performance are here—the unruly pride, a frankness about women's desire—but she also incorporates a vision of ennobling female sacrifice that transforms the character from run-of-the-mill to extraordinary.

Werth: Her Louisiana accent by way of Boston is extraordinary.

Wise: Helping her along is William Wyler's evocative direction, Max Steiner's moving score, and Ernest Haller's alternately tender and terrifying cinematography.  But perhaps the biggest assist comes from costume designer Orry-Kelly who created not only the infamous red dress as well as its obverse, the dimity lace number she was supposed to wear, but also the self-abnegating gray cloak she wears at the end of the film that obliterates her vanity and asserts her sacrifice. So, Werth, whose cake should we slice into first?

Werth: Any way you slice it, we'll be back for next week's Film Gab. 

Wise: No, seriously. I want to eat both cakes.

Happy Birthday Lucy!

Although more well known for her prowess on the small-screen, Lucille Ball first started out as a hopeful silver screen actress, appearing in a multitude of uncredited chorus girl roles for RKO and MGM. Her non-traditional comedy talent didn't translate to the big screen and she became known as "Queen of the B's" for the many roles she played in lower-level pictures. In 1953, however, Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz would create a little TV show called I Love Lucy, and the world was never the same again. Now firmly ensconced in a television persona, Ball would make fewer forays onto the big screen, including the Vincente Minnelli comedy The Long, Long Trailer (1953) (with Arnaz), Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) (with Henry Fonda), and the movie musical version of Mame (1974) (with Bea Arthur). 

But her links to the Hollywood movie community remained strong and her television show would often feature guest stars who played themselves to the delight of Lucy herself and fans everywhere. Episodes with William Holden, Harpo Marx, Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Crawford are wonderful reminders that the First Lady of Television started off on a much bigger screen. Lucille Ball would have turned 100 today.

Film Gab Under the Stars

Werth: It's here, Wise!

Wise: Did my Liza Minnelli puppet finally arrive from Amsterdam?

Werth: No. And I don't know what disturbs me more—the puppet or you posting that clip. I'm talking about the annual HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival that starts Monday!

 Wise: It's the official start to summer in New York.  For those of us without digs in the Hamptons. 

Werth: For ten Mondays in the summer, lovely Bryant Park becomes an outdoor movie theater that presents some of the most popular classic films for our viewing pleasure.

Wise: I love cinema al fresco. 

Werth: I thought before we talk about some of the offerings this year, I'd give a few helpful hints to make our readers' Bryant Park moviegoing experience more pleasant.

Wise: You are always so generous with advice.
 

Werth: First of all—be on time. The grounds open at 5PM and it's like the Oklahoma Land Rush to grab a spot on the lawn, so get there early to get the choicest seat. Secondly—in addition to a blanket, bring trash bags to sit on just in case the ground is damp. Because nothing spoils a show more than a damp bottom.  Afterward you can be a good citizen and use the bag  to throw out any garbage.

Wise: I try to avoid damp bottoms and come prepared with my vinyl-backed flannel picnic blanket that folds into a neat satchel. 

Werth: Most people bring lovely food and drink items to enjoy picnic style, and I always wonder, "Hey, can I wash down that triple creme brie with a glass of chardonnay?" The technical answer is no. Alcohol is not allowed in NYC parks—but in my experience if you're discreet and not hauling a keg in, you'll probably be all right bringing a bottle of wine to add a touch of sparkle to your evening.

Wise: Or just pour your wine into a Sprite bottle like Werth does for family functions.

Werth: Finally, before you settle into the movie, remember to give yourself a quick spritz of bug repellent 'cause the only thing that likes a dusk-time movie more than you are bloodthirsty swarms of mosquitoes.

Wise: Enough tips! Which movies should we see?

Werth: The list is quite fun this year, but my personal pick would be July 25th's The Lady Eve (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.

Wise: The Lady Eve on a Summer's eve?  Sounds totally fresh.

Werth: Eve is yet another classic comedy from the hilarious pen and lens of Preston Sturges. Fonda is a milquetoast reptile expert who also happens to be an heir to an ale empire.

Wise: Snakes and beer—your favorites.

Werth: Fonda is coming home to New York on a boat from South America when the con-artist team of Stanwyck and Charles Coburn decide to fleece him for all he's worth. True to the romantic comedy genre, the hunter falls for the hunted and soon, in classic Sturges style, romance becomes a tangled, witty, pratfall-laden mess. 

Stanwyck in particular really shines as the sultry and smart gal who wants love, revenge, and then love again. The scene where she narrates as she watches in the reflection of her compact the ship's eligible bachelorettes attempt to woo Fonda at his table is some of the most whip-smart comedy of Sturges' career. Wonderful supporting work from a few of the best character actors of the time period (Coburn, William Demerest, Eugene Pallette and Eric Blore) make Eve a light summertime frolic, tailor-made for a snakeless park.

Wise: Comedies are perfect viewing for picnics with friends, so I'd suggest seeing Airplane! (1980) on August 8th because there's really nothing quite like snorting not-Sprite right out your nose. 

Werth: Unless of course it's snorting not-Coke.

Wise: The grandaddy of the hugely successful Naked Gun and Scary Movie franchises, Airplane! tops them all in sheer, gleeful absurdity.  

Co-written and -directed by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the film follows traumatized WWII pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) as he attempts to patch up his rocky relationship with his stewardess girlfriend Elaine Dickinson (Julie Hagerty) on a doomed flight from Los Angeles to Chicago.  Only by overcoming his worst fears can he save the day and get the girl.  

Werth: You make the plot sound like it's a classic airline disaster film.

Wise: That's part of what makes Airplane! such a successful comedy. The film sticks to the classic structure of Hollywood disaster films, but follows that logic to the most absurd ends. Plus the cast is full of tough guy stalwarts like Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and (perhaps most successfully) Leslie Nielsen, each of them playing to type and without a wink to the chaos around them. 

Werth: I particularly love the actors' straight delivery of such memorable lines as, "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?", "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking," and "I am serious... and don't call me Shirley. "

Wise: Of course I can't talk about Airplane! without mentioning the two single most hilarious screen cameos ever filmed.  I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie, but please look out for Barbara Billingsley and Ethel Merman.
 

Werth: So, Wise, what delicious items will you be bringing in your picnic basket?

Wise: Simple things, like bread, cheese and fruits.  Maybe a tart for dessert.

Werth: I love tarts.

Wise: We knew that about you.

Werth: So bring your damp bottoms, your Sprite bottles and your tarts to Bryant Park this Summer and join us next week for more Film Gab.