Mildred's Fatburgers
  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Clips & Quotes
  • Blogathon Archive
  • Contact

I Thought Our Name Was "Potter"

8/8/2014

2 Comments

 
Holiday, 1938, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn
The marble pillars got me.

Highlights

  • This was to be Jean Dixon's last film. You will recognize her from My Man Godfrey or if you ever went to a Broadway play in the 1920s. You'll wonder why you haven't seen her in more pictures.

  • Columbia Pictures originally wanted Holiday as a vehicle for reuniting Cary Grant and Irene Dunne to capitalize on their success in The Awful Truth the year before.

  • I consider this to be one of Cary Grant's best pictures. It's easy to forget how very good an actor he was.

  • Doris Nolan is really, really believable at being fed up with Katharine Hepburn's character, Linda. Not sure how much acting it required, but I bought it.

Holiday  (1938)

Holiday, 1930, Mary Astor
No matter how many times I see this movie, I am always taken aback by what wonderful performances Cary Grant and Jean Dixon give in it. So great are they (and Edward Everett Horton), that you don't mind Katharine Hepburn's occasional scenery chewing, or the fact that Doris Nolan's character, Julia, seems like a highly unlikely choice for hero Johnny Case (Grant).

Holiday was originally a play by Philip Barry (author of The Philadelphia Story, another play-to-film success for Grant, Hepburn, and director, George Cukor). It had been filmed already in 1930 with Robert Ames as Johnny, Ann Harding as Linda (the Hepburn role), and Mary Astor as Julia. Edward Everett Horton played Professor Potter in both films, with (get this) Hedda Hopper as his wife, Susan. No Jean Dixon, she.

I have never seen the 1930 version, an oversight that shall be corrected forthwith. I mean --the poster alone...

Holiday is the story of Johnny Case, a happy-go-lucky self-starter, who has worked his way up from humble beginnings to a place of some promise in the world of finance. He meets Julia Seton while on his first vacation ever in Lake Placid and after two weeks of apparently not talking at all about anything that matters to either of them, they fall in love and decide to get married.

Back in Manhattan, Johnny meets up with his pals, the Potters (Horton and Dixon), a homey, perfectly-matched, charming couple, tells them he's getting married, and runs over to his fiancee's house to meet the family and get the father's blessing. The house in question takes up a block of Fifth or Park Avenue or something, so he figures Julia must work there and goes by the servant's entrance. Turns out she lives there and a freaked out butler escorts a baffled Johnny to a marble-lined entry way the size of an airplane hangar. Johnny is asked, in the words of Firesign Theater, to sit in the waiting room or wait in the sitting room, and runs into an unsteady young man in a top hat and head plaster who turns out to be Julia's massively hungover brother, Ned (Lew Ayres). Julia finally shows up and explains that she has to go to church to break the news to her father there so that he can't raise his voice about it. Johnny asks her why she didn't mention she was one of THOSE Setons, but says it makes no difference; after all, it's like learning that she can play the piano or something. He is to come back at lunch time to meet Father (Henry Kolker). On the way out the door, they run into Linda, Julia's elder sister, who is NOT going to church, and takes an instant liking to Johnny's carriage and humor.

So we've met just about everyone we need to and we've learned the following: The Potters are awesome and love Johnny; Ned is a drunk who does everything he's told, which is why he's a drunk; Julia is beautiful and manipulative; Johnny is at ease in any situation; and Linda is the black sheep. And once we meet Father, the rest falls into place. 

Old man Seton is a domineering martinet who dotes on Julia (who is very much like him, as we come to learn), barely tolerates Ned, and is continually exasperated with Linda (who is very much like his late wife). Johnny gets a chance to talk with Linda and Ned before meeting Mr. Seton. There is a special room in the house -- the children's old playroom -- where Linda spends most of her time. Johnny charms the bejeezus out the two of them and they are delighted that Julia made such a surprisingly good decision. We also find out that Johnny has a master plan: he wants to make a pile of money then retire to roam the world, see what it's All About, then come back and work when he knows what he should be working for. Who knows how long it will take, but he wants to do it while he's "young and feel(s) good all the time."

Linda thinks that's fantastic, but has he told Julia?

No. No, he hasn't, because I guess they hadn't covered that in the two weeks they hung out together on the ski slopes of Lake Placid. That, and her tremendous position of privilege and desire to keep it.

Anyway, Mr. Seton agrees to their marriage and proceeds to ride roughshod over their marital plans, which is just fine with Julia. At their New Year's engagement cotillion (Linda wanted to throw them a nice small party in the playroom, but father wouldn't hear of it) Johnny learns that a deal has gone through that earned him the necessary pile of dough to take his holiday. He finally tells both father and daughter about his life's ambition, and they are deeply horrified at the notion that there may just be "enough money." Johnny is stunned, but the engagement is still on. Maybe he should compromise. Maybe she'll come around.

Meanwhile, Linda, sulking up in the playroom, strikes up a friendship with the Potters, who have stumbled upon the room while trying to escape the sea of wealth and power of the party below. Their introduction to that event is one of the most delightful bits of writing and acting in the history of writing and acting.

I'm not telling you how it ends, but you can probably figure it out. You can get this picture streaming from various sources or on DVD. If you haven't seen it in a while, do yourself a favor. Then imagine how much better it would have been if Irene Dunne had been cast as Linda as originally planned. Don't get me wrong: I love Katharine Hepburn, but this isn't her best era. That begins with The Philadelphia Story.

2 Comments

Immorality May Be Fun

12/29/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sin, schmin.

Design for Living  (1933)

"... but it isn't fun enough to take the place of one hundred percent virtue and three square meals a day." 

Design for Living is what happens when you add Ben Hecht to Noel Coward, deliver through Edward Everett Horton, and let Ernst Lubitsch surround you with eye candy like young Gary Cooper and Frederic March. It's the story of Gilda Farrell (Miriam Hopkins), a commercial artist, who meets a struggling playwright (March) and painter (Cooper) on the train to Paris, falls in love with both, but can't decide between them.

It's a smart, funny, modern (by that I mean they use the word "sex"), and sophisticated (by that I mean they don't use the word "f**k") story that may surprise you. Frederic March is very funny, for instance, Gary Cooper speaks French, for another,  and Miriam Hopkins holds her own (I'm not her biggest fan) in this believable, never-resolved love triangle.

The best news is that you can watch it in pieces on YouTube or see the whole thing on DVD all at once without remembering which part you're on.
0 Comments

    About Mildred

    I'll do just about anything a movie tells me to do. Unless it tells me wrong...

    Then I get cranky.

    But go ahead, like me on Facebook.

    RSS Feed

    Visit Mildred's profile on Pinterest.

    Proud Member Of

    Picture
    Classic Movie Blog Hub Member

    Archives

    May 2019
    December 2017
    October 2017
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All
    Agnes Moorehead
    Akira Kurosawa
    Alan Mowbray
    Albert Salmi
    Alice Terry
    Aline MacMahon
    Allen Jenkins
    Alloy Orchestra
    Anna Massey
    Ann Dvorak
    Anne Bancroft
    Anne Baxter
    Anne Revere
    Anne Shirley
    Ann Miller
    Ann Sothern
    Anthony Quinn
    Anton Walbrook
    Arthur Penn
    Art Linkletter
    Arturo De Cordova
    Audrey Hepburn
    Baby Peggy
    Barbara Bel Geddes
    Barbara Stanwyck
    Barton MacLane
    Basil Rathbone
    Bea Benadaret
    Beatrice Straight
    Bette Davis
    Beulah Bondi
    Billie Burke
    Bill Scott
    Billy Wilder
    Birthday Of The Week
    Bob Newhart
    Bonita Granville
    Boris Karloff
    Brian Aherne
    Bugs Bunny
    Burt Lancaster
    Busby Berkeley
    Butterfly Mcqueen
    Carl Boehm
    Carl Theodor Dreyer
    Carol Haney
    Cary Grant
    Charles Boyer
    Charlton Heston
    Chester Morris
    Christopher Morley
    Claire Bloom
    Claire Trevor
    Clark Gable
    Claude Rains
    Claudette Colbert
    Cliff Robertson
    Cloris Leachman
    Connie Gilchrist
    Conrad Veidt
    Constance Bennett
    Cybill Shepherd
    Dana Andrews
    Dana Delany
    Dan Duryea
    David Niven
    Dean Stockwell
    Deborah Kerr
    Dennis Morgan
    Diana Lynn
    Diana Wynyard
    Dick Moore
    Dick Powell
    Donald Sutherland
    Donna Reed
    Doris Day
    Dustin Hoffman
    D.W. Griffith
    Eddie Albert
    Edie Adams
    Edith Fellows
    Edward Arnold
    Edward Everett Horton
    Elaine May
    Elissa Landi
    Elizabeth Taylor
    Ella Raines
    Ellen Burstyn
    Elvis Presley
    Emilio Fernandez
    Ernest Borgnine
    Ernst Lubitsch
    Errol-flynn
    Ethel Barrymore
    Eugene-pallette
    Eve-arden
    Evelyn Varden
    Fay-bainter
    Fay-bainter
    Firesign-theater
    Frank Hurley
    Frank McHugh
    Frank Morgan
    Frank Sinatra
    Freddie Bartholomew
    Frederic March
    Fredi Washington
    Fred MacMurray
    Fritz Lang
    Friz Freleng
    Gabriel Figueroa
    Gary Cooper
    Gary Merrill
    George Brent
    George Murphy
    Geraldine-fitzgerald
    Ginger Rogers
    Gladys Cooper
    Glenda Farrell
    Gloria Jean
    Government Cheese
    G.W. Billy Bitzer
    Hal E. Chester
    Hal Roach
    Harold Lloyd
    Hedda Hopper
    Henry Fonda
    Herbert Marshall
    Howard DaSilva
    Howard Hawks
    Howard Hughes
    Howard Keel
    Hume Cronyn
    Humphrey Bogart
    Inga Swenson
    Ingrid Bergman
    Irene Dunne
    Jackie Butch Jenkins
    Jackie-coogan
    Jackie Cooper
    Jack Lemmon
    Jacques Tourneur
    James Craig
    James-garner
    James Gleason
    James Mason
    James-stewart
    James Whitmore
    Jane Darwell
    Jane-powell
    Jane-withers
    Jane-wyman
    Jay Ward
    Jean Dixon
    Jeanette-macdonald
    Jean Harlow
    Jean Simmons
    Joan Blondell
    Joan Crawford
    Joan-fontaine
    John Carradine
    John Ford
    John Hurt
    Joseph Cotten
    Juano Hernandez
    June Foray
    Karin-swanstrom
    Karl-malden
    Katharine Hepburn
    Kathleen Byron
    Kathryn Grayson
    Keenan Wynn
    Kevin Mccarthy
    Kirk Douglas
    Lauren Bacall
    Lee J. Cobb
    Leif Erickson
    Leila Hyams
    Leonard Nimoy
    Letitia-palma
    Lew Ayres
    Lewis Stone
    Lillian Gish
    Lillian-roth
    Lizabeth-scott
    Loretta Young
    Louise-beavers
    Lucille Ball
    Lurene-tuttle
    Lyle Talbot
    Maggie-smith
    Marcia Mae Jones
    Margaret Sullavan
    Maria Schell
    Marie-dressler
    Marjorie-main
    Marni-nixon
    Marsha Hunt
    Marx-brothers
    Mary-boland
    Maxine-audley
    Max-linder
    Max Ophuls
    Mel Blanc
    Mercedes McCambridge
    Mia Farrow
    Michael Powell
    Mickey Rooney
    Mike-mazurki
    Mike Nichols
    Miles-mander
    Miriam Hopkins
    Moira Shearer
    Montgomery Clift
    Movie-theatres
    Ned Sparks
    Niall Macginnis
    Nicholas Ray
    Nigel Hawthoren
    Ninon Sevilla
    Norma-shearer
    Orson Welles
    Pamela Franklin
    Patsy Kelly
    Patty Duke
    Patty McCormack
    Paulette Goddard
    Paul Henreid
    Paul Lynde
    Peggy Cummins
    Percy Kilbride
    Peter Bogdanovich
    Peter Breck
    Peter Falk
    Peter Lorre
    Peter Ustinov
    Preston Foster
    Ralph Bellamy
    Ramon Novarro
    Renee Falconetti
    Rex Ingram
    Ricardo Montalban
    Richard Barthelmess
    Richard Basehart
    Richard Briers
    Richard Mulligan
    Rita Hayworth
    Robert Benchley
    Robert Ryan
    Robert Wagner
    Rock Hudson
    Rodolfo Acosta
    Roger Livesey
    Roland Young
    Rosalind Russell
    Royal Dano
    Rudolf Valentino
    Sabu
    Sam Fuller
    Sandra Dee
    Shelley Winters
    Shirley MacLaine
    Shirley Temple
    Skippy/Asta
    Soyuzmultfilm
    Spencer Tracy
    Spring Byington
    Sterling Hayden
    Susan Hayward
    Sydney Greenstreet
    Takashi Shimura
    Teri Garr
    Tim Holt
    Tod Browning
    Tommy Kirk
    Tony Randall
    Toshiro Mifune
    Una Merkel
    Van Johnson
    Veronica Cartwright
    Victor Buono
    Victor McLaglen
    Virginia Weidler
    Walter Huston
    Walter Matthau
    Walter Tetley
    Warren William
    Wednesdays Child
    Wendy Hiller
    William Demarest
    William Powell
    William Shatner
    William Wyler
    W.S. Van Dyke
    Yasujiro Ozu
    Zero Mostel

    More

    Upcoming Blogathons

    Picture
    Rhoda Penmark flaunts some norms in THE BAD SEED (1956)

    Blogathons Gone By

    Great Breening Blogathon
    NIGHT NURSE (1931)
    Picture
    THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
    Nature's Fury Blogathon
    THE GRAPES OF WRATH
    Reel Infatuation Blogathon
    Sugarpuss O'Shea changes my life in BALL OF FIRE (1941)
    Great Villain Blogathon 2016
    Charlotte Vale's Mean Mom in NOW VOYAGER (1942)
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.