Six Degrees of Separation: Round 4

We are now on round four of Classic Film: Six Degrees of Separation with the round starting out with Becky of http://classicbeckybrainfood.blogspot.com/ starting the round with Charlie Chaplin and Grace Kelly. And here we are back to me and my star is Peter Finch who was chosen by our friend at http://backlots.wordpress.com/

I will choose Peter Finch in "The Flight of the Phoenix" (1965) with James Stewart and pass it along to Michael at http://ishootthepictures.com/

So that everyone can focus on their holidays/special posts we will resume Six Degrees after the New Year. So we will see you back for the game then when Michael picks the next two stars (assuming he can connect Grace to Jimmy that is) : )

Thanks everyone who has played so far and followed along. We'll see you back in January for more fun.

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The Academy Awards: 1935

It's time to continue with the Academy Awards! Next up is the 1935 ceremony in all it's glory, so if you're
ready lets take a look at the winners, losers and snubs.

BEST PICTURE:
Winner: Mutiny On the Bounty, Nominees: Alice Adams, The Broadway Melody of 1936, Captain Blood, David Copperfield, The Informer, The Lives of Bengal Lancer, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Les Miserables, Naughty Marietta, Ruggles of Red Gap and Top Hat

BEST ACTOR:
Winner: Victor McLaglen in "The Informer", Nominees: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable and Franchot Tone all in "Mutiny On the Bounty", Paul Muni was a write-in for "Black Fury"

BEST ACTRESS:
Winner: Bette Davis in "Dangerous", Nominees: Elisabeth Bergner in "Escape Me Never", Claudette Colbert in "Private Worlds", Katharine Hepburn in "Alice Adams", Miriam Hopkins in "Becky Sharp" and Merle Oberon in "The Dark Angel"

You did it Bette! You deserve to smile.

BEST DIRECTOR:
Winner: John Ford for "The Informer", Nominees: Michael Cortiz for "Captain Blood", Henry Hathaway for "The Lives of Bengal Lancer" and Frank Lloyd for "Mutiny On the Bounty"

1935 Oscar Snubs and Omissions:
Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire for their performance is "Top Hat"
Busby Berkeley for not being nominated under Best Dance Director for "Top Hat" (more on Busby a bit later)
Alfred Hitchcock for Directing "Thirty-Nine Steps"
James Whale for Directing "Bride of Frankenstein"
the Marx Brothers for "Night at the Opera"
Elsa Lancaster and Boris Karloff for "Bride of Frankenstein"
Paul Muni in "Bordertown"
"Dante's Inferno"
Joseph von Sternberg for Directing "The Devil is a Woman"
The Musicals "Roberta" and Reckless" omitted as well as their casts
Shirley Temple for "The Little Rebel" and "Curly Top"


My Honorable Mentions:

"Bride of Frankenstein" with James Whale Directing, Elsa Lancaster and Boris Karloff in one of our most iconic horror films.

Top Hat's two stars, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dancing their way into our hearts with Busby Berkeley showcasing his massive talent.

"David Copperfield" and it's outstanding cast, Freddie Bartholomew, W.C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Elsa Lancaster and Elizabeth Allan. George Cukor for Directing. 

"Anna Karenina" with Greta Garbo, Fredric March and Basil Rathbone being ignored for their performances. Director Clarence Brown also snubbed.

Oscar Trivia and Fun Facts:

The 1935 ceremony was held at the Bitmore Hotel in Los Angeles in March of 1936. The host for the ceremony was Frank Capra.

This would be the first year that the statuette would be publicly referred to as "Oscar".

This was the first year that the category "Best Dance Direction" was introduced. Three years later with much lobbying the category would be removed.  1935 was the perfect year for Busby Berkeley to win and Oscar in this category for "Top Hat" and for his choreography for two dance numbers for "Gold Diggers of 1935" but sadly it wasn't meant to be.  The statuette went to David Gould for "Broadway Melody of 1936.  Busby Berkeley would never receive and Academy Award which is a shame.

Dudley Nichols won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Informer" but he refused to accept the award due to union disagreements. The first time an Oscar would be declined but not the last! (Hello Marlon Brando). "The Informer" was nominated for six awards and it won four. Also Best Music Scoring. It should be noted that Nichols did claim his Oscar three years later once the union disputes were resolved.

Walt Disney would win his fourth consecutive Oscar in the Short Subject category for the cartoon "Three Orphan Kittens".

A Special Award was given to Director D.W. Griffith for his pioneering efforts pre-Academy Award Films.

Lullaby of Broadway won Best Song for the film "Gold Diggers of 1935".

Even though Claudette Colbert and Katharine Hepburn were nominated for Oscars for outstanding performances they had won an Oscar previously so Bette Davis was given the award to make up for her slight the previous year for her performance in "Of Human Bondage".  (She was a write-in the previous year and her snub created a lot of controversy in the acting community).

John Ford received his first Oscar for Directing "The Informer", this would be his first of four Academy Award wins. Ironically he would never win for a Western.

Charles Laughton was the second actor to appear in three Best Picture nominated films the same year. Claudette was the first in 1934.

This would be the first year that a studio would campaign with press ads with MGM going all out for a win with "Ah, Wilderness!". The film received zero nominations.

This would be the second and last year that write-ins were allowed. Paul Muni, a write-in for Best Actor and Hal Mohr for Cinematography for "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (the only time a write-in would win an Oscar)

Thanks for joining me for my Oscar series and stay tuned as we approach the holidays for more fun posts. Please enjoy a quick montage of all of the winners for 1935 below.

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A Quick Note!

We have just started our third round of the Classic Film: Six Degrees of Separation game and it's going strong. I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's signed on to play and are continuing with the fun. We've had a great first two rounds and I hope to see other CMBA members throw a logo up and get in on the action. If you do decide to join in just shoot me an email so I can add your blog to the list of players. If you haven't had the chance to follow the first two rounds to see how they played out I hope you will visit everyone's blogs that participated.

Also, a quick thank you to my new followers and those who visit here on a regular basis, join in on our discussions on Classic Cinema and the stars. Your comments are welcome and appreciated.

Stay tuned for what's ahead here at My Love of Old Hollywood!
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Milliners Invade Hollywood: Part One

I've been wanting to do a series on our old Hollywood stars wearing fabulous hats but I needed a co-host, one not afraid to give an honest opinion so I've chosen Shirley Temple! Right now Shirley looks thrilled but we shall see if that changes as this series moves forward.  So if you're all ready let the fashion show commence.

What do you think of Ann Miller, Shirley? Shirley: "She is very tall and pretty but I'm more interested in the swing"

Okay, what about Ann Sheridan? Shirley: "Is this a joke? I' would like to borrow it to go for a ride down a water slide"  Guessing it was a bit too expensive for that Shirley!

Betty Grable looks fabulous, don't you agree? Shirley: She looks trust worthy, like my school teacher."

Colleen Moore? Shirley: "Is that real fur?"   Nope! Not at all...moving along.

Carole Lombard looks divine! Shirley: I don't know what divine means but she's very serious and her hair reminds me of my puppies tail"  We all can't have perfect little curls Shirley!

Hedy Lamarr looks perfect! Shirley: It reminds me of an ice cream cone and that I'm working through lunch again!" Eat your pixie stick, we're almost done!

Claudette Colbert in faux fur (pretty certain) Shirley: Claudette knitted that between scenes one day..she's very talented for an adult actress"

Gail Patrick, looking fashionable in hounds tooth. Shirley: She isn't showing any teeth but I recognize that gate!"...It's what they use to keep us corralled between scenes"  Uhmmm.... It's probably best we don't discuss that here or anywhere.

Eve Arden in a pretty little hat.  Shirley: I've seen that one before, on the Good Ship Lollipop"

Jean Arthur, fancy smancy! Shirley: Was she trying out to replace me for my number in Poor Little Rich Girl? If not I like her just fine.

Well, we will stop here for now. Somebody needs a nap and Shirley is getting cranky too. We hope you'll return for our weekly series on hats followed by my Winter series: Stars in furs (shhhh, Shirley thinks they are all faux fur)

Have a great day!

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The Academy Awards: 1934

It's time to have a look at the Academy Award winners, nominees and the snubs for 1934.

BEST PICTURE:
Winner: It Happened One Night, Nominees: The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Cleopatra, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, Here Comes the Navy, The House of Rothschild, Imitation of Life, One Night of Love, The Thin Man, Viva Villa!, The White Parade

BEST ACTOR:
Winner: Clark Gable in "It Happened One Night", Nominees: Frank Morgan in "Affairs of Cellini", William Powell in "The Thin Man"

BEST ACTRESS:
Winner: Claudette Colbert in "It Happened One Night", Nominees: Grace Moore in "One Night of Love", Norma Shearer in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street", Bette Davis in "Of Human Bondage" (a write-in candidate)

BEST DIRECTOR:
Winner: Frank Capra for "It Happened One Night", Nominees: Victor Schertzinger for "One Night of Love", W.S. Van Dyke for "The Thin Man"

Oscar Snubs and Omissions:
Myrna Loy in "The Thin Man
Marlene Dietrich in "The Scarlet Empress"
Bette Davis in "Of Human Bondage" (she was a write-in candidate but more on that later)
W.C. Fields in "It's A Gift"
Joseph Von Sternberg for directing "The Scarlet Empress"
Howard Hawks for directing "Twentieth Century"
John Barrymore in "Twentieth Century"
Edgar Ulmer for directing "The Black Cat"
Leslie Howard in "Of Human Bondage"

Film Snubs and Omissions:
Of Human Bondage
The Scarlet Empress
The Black Cat
Twentieth Century
It's A Gift

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

An honorable mention goes to "The Black Cat" for it's cinematography and art direction/set design

John Barrymore and Carole Lombard's performances in "Twentieth Century"

Leslie Howard and Bette Davis for their outstanding performances in "Of Human Bondage" as well as John Cromwell for directing.

Oscar Fun Facts and Trivia for 1934:

The ceremony was held in March of 1935 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and hosted by Irvin S. Cobb. It had been held at the Ambassador Hotel the previous three years and at the Biltmore previously in 1931.

This would be the first year that Oscars weren't handed out for performances, films spanning over two years and the way it would be going forward.

"It Happened One Night" would be the first film to claim a "clean sweep" , winning the golden statue for all five of the top categories, Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Best Screenplay. A feat not duplicated again until 1976 with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" then again for "Silence of the Lambs" in 1992.

There was such a controversy, outrage over Bette Davis not being nominated for her performance in "Of Human Bondage" that the Academy allowed for a write-in candidate for the first time in Oscar history. Write-in candidates would be allowed until after 1935.

Three new categories would be introduced this year. Best Editing, Best Original Score and Best Original Song. (I'm sure all of you can think of one or two Best Song winners over the years that you just shook your head at)

The musical/comedy "One Night of Love" received the most nominations with 6 and it won two, Best Musical Score and Best Sound Recording.

This would be the first year that both leads won the Best Actor/Actress Oscar with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable winning for "It Happened One Night". This would be one of three career nominations for Clark and his only Oscar win. Claudette also broke records for starring in three Best Picture nominees with "It Happened One Night", Imitation of Life" and "Cleopatra" that year. I don't think anyone would dispute her Academy Award win. (well, perhaps Bette)

Walt Disney would pick up his third consecutive Oscar in the Short Subject: Cartoon category for "The Tortoise and the Hare" 

Shirley Temple, at the age of five at the time of the ceremony, received the first ever "Special/Juvenile" Oscar for her 'outstanding contribution to screen entertainment during 1934'. She was presented with a miniature version of Oscar.  Shirley appeared in 12 full length pictures during 1934, so you could say she was the hardest working person in pictures, not counting her downtime for naps and schooling of course.

The Best Picture category had a record 12 film nominees that year then in 1935 but it would then decrease to 10 then finally to five per year.

Thanks everyone for coming back for my Academy Award series as we approach the next Oscar season. Please enjoy the famous 'Hitchhiking Scene" from "It Happened One Night" and leave a comment about what you thought of the winners, losers and snubs for 1934.

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Classic Film: Six Degrees of Separation ROUND ONE continued

Well okay! Things are already back to me during round one and Dawn of Noir and Chick Flicks chose
Kirk Douglas and Gena Rowlands in Lonely Are The Brave (1962) to which I will say

Gena Rowlands and Rock Hudson in The Spiral Road (1962)
The next name out of the hat is Priscilla of Reel Revival so take it away Priscilla! (In case you missed my first post, the initial stars to connect by six degrees were Mabel Normand and Walter Matthau.)

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*Yes, I accidentally on purpose looped back so we could end the first round at six degrees. I should have known our members were too clever. : )

The Classic Film: Six Degrees of Separation game has officially begun!

You may have noticed these logos popping up on several CMBA members sites and wondered what it was all about.  Well, we are kicking off the first ever Classic Film: Six Degrees of Separation game. To get it started I have put everyone's name with a logo into a hat and the first person who will carry the game forward is Dave of Dave's Classic Films.

Without further ado The Password Is: Oh, wait, that's another fun game. The first two actors we will be connecting in hopefully 6 Degrees are:

Mabel Normand and Walter Matthau

Before the first round kicks off:
Anyone who hasn't yet added a logo can do so at any time.  The person who connects to Matthau will then choose the next two stars and so on.  For now we won't be including Directors or Television shows but perhaps that could be a fun option at a later date. Going forward I'm just another player so everyone will put their next star and film choice on their blog, hopefully within a day or two of being chosen.  Of course I will be available to answer any questions via email or if you want a different logo etc. Choose whoever goes next however you want to but as a courtesy make sure they have a logo first. I will keep an updated list on everyone who's participating so if you need that let me know.

Oh, I know stars can probably be connected in less than six films but hopefully each round goes to six so they aren't over before they even get started. (We have some very clever bloggers within the CMBA)

Thanks everyone who has signed on to play and for putting up with my emails while we worked out all of the details. You're all great sports.

*You don't need to 'sign up' to have a turn or let me know guys...just having your logo up is enough for others to find someone to move the rounds forward. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Let the fun begin!
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