Trudy Gold
Icons and Iconic Moments of the Silver Screen, Part 1
Trudy Gold | Icons and Iconic Moments of the Silver Screen
- And you might wonder: Why have I got portraits up of Heinrich Heine and Franz Liszt when I promised you Hollywood? And in fact, you’re going to get Hollywood on and off for the next month or so, couple of months from me, because I really feel that we want to go back. What was Hollywood created for, if you think about it? It was created for escape and it was created, if you like, to create a Dream Factory for all of us. And I think at the moment, we do need a little bit of an escape. Now that’s not saying that we shouldn’t be acutely aware of what’s going on, think about it. But also it’s very Jewish to reaffirm our own identity and just to stick together as a group. Now I’ve called this, “Icons and Iconic Moments of the Silver Screen.” And if one puzzles, “What on Earth is an icon?” Well, if you look it up in the dictionary, it’s a religious object of veneration. What is a hero? Look that up in the dictionary. What are heroic propensities? Courage, outstanding achievements, noble qualities. In mythology, certainly in Greek and Roman mythology, superhuman qualities, the qualities of the gods. In the Jewish tradition, certainly for the last 2,000 years, most of our heroes were religious men, were people, great rabbis, great thinkers. And if you look at our very dark times in history, who were our heroes? The people who really showed not just physical courage, but huge moral courage. But with the beginnings of technology, with the advent of modernity, these words were, if you like, transmuted. Never forget what Karl Popper said, “The 20th century is all about the meaning of words.” And what happens with Hollywood is that many of the stars are going to become icons, are going to become heroes. Now, the term mania was actually coined by Heinrich Heine about Franz Liszt. Franz Liszt was not just a brilliant composer, he was also a brilliant, he was a brilliant practitioner, and women went absolutely crazy at his concerts.
So much so that Heinrich Heine actually coined the phrase, “Lisztomania.” You could also use it for Chopin. So already people who were, if you like, brilliant practitioners of music, were going. Their concerts were becoming, if you like, rather vocal places where people screamed for their heroes. So it predates Hollywood, but actually, it comes to fruition in Hollywood. And after all, what was Hollywood always about? Let’s have a look at the sign of Hollywood. Can we see the next slide? Here you see Hollywoodland now, the Dream Factory. And it all began in 1895 when the Lumiere Brothers invented the moving image. And quite soon it was realised that this could become very interesting entertainment. You begin to see the emergence in the West and in America of a working class who all of a sudden had leisure time. I want you to think about how the middle classes occupied themselves. What was their leisure time before the radio, before television, before cinema? What was the leisure time? Well, they would read aloud to each other, there’ll be lots of walks, and of course there will be the playing of music. But the invention of the moving image is going to change everything. And what happens is Hollywood is chosen. Hollywood is chosen because you had great light down there, it was away from New York and therefore away from the Edison Trust, which controlled everything. And it was really the invention of Jewish Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Most of them had come from popular taste industry. For example, Fox was a man who imported gloves from the Old Country. He realised that if you imported them as pairs, you had to pay a tax.
So he imported them first the left-hand glove, then the right-hand glove, and then he paid people to bring them together. Saved him a lot of money. Lewis Selznick, David Selznick’s father, was in the schmatta jewellery business. Adolph Sutro, likewise. They came and Adolph Sutro made fox furs. Remember the furs? I didn’t know my grandmother had one with a head that with a sort of thing at the back, and you could make the fox fur worked. And I remember my brother absolutely horrified her when one day when he was eight, he cut off the head and made himself a Davy Crockett hat. Davy Crockett, he’d seen it on the movies. So basically these Eastern European Jews had an unbelievable talent for working out what people wanted. It’s the Dream Factory. It’s Tinseltown. And Louis B. Mayer, who was the biggest mogul of them all, he of course was MGM. He said, “I don’t care how it goes down in New York, is it going to work in Peoria, Illinois?” And as the studios developed, what happens is the stars. And the stars become almost these mythological creatures. And the other point, and I want you to consider this, when does a star become an icon? I’m going to suggest to you the real icons of Hollywood are characters like Rudolph Valentino, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe. Outside of Hollywood, of course, there was Elvis Presley. What they all have in common? They were beautiful and they died at the height of their beauty. There were a few others. To become a real icon, I think you have to die young. If Marilyn Monroe lived to be 75 or 78, as did Liz Taylor, would she still be an icon? It’s because she died at the height of that incredible luminescent beauty. And many of these characters had very, very tragic lives. There are others that we will consider because the other thing I want to look at in this series is also the great quotations from the movies. The movies today are not what they used to be for all sorts of reasons. We have television, we have internet. Today, we have influencers, and we have people who are famous just for being famous. I’m going back to Tinseltown when by the ‘30s, the majority of Americans went to the movies twice a week.
Louis B. Mayer became the highest paid executive in the world. And the movies were turning out, turning out, turning it out. And I had a great deal of fun thinking about the quotes from the movies. I consulted lots of different books. I even consulted the internet. And what comes up with as the most famous quote of all time, which later I’ll be showing you, is of course, well, you can probably tell me it’s “Gone with the Wind.” It’s the exit scene from “Gone with the Wind,” when Clark Gable says to Vivien Leigh, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” The emphasis on the give and not on the damn because it can’t offend the code. The most quoted film is, of course, “Casablanca.” And we’re going to look at extracts from that. But what I’m going to do today, I’m going to begin it. I’m beginning this series by going back to the Dream Factory. Can we see the next slide please? What made the escapism of the movies so important? Something else! MGM is going to develop as the great music. It’s really the great studio of the musicals, the lush romance, the total escapism. Even in the gangster films, and Warner Brothers was the real expert on gangster films, the good guys always won. But what was it against the backdrop of? World War I, that terrible war that changed everything. The silent movies were incredibly popular and it’s not just what happened in World War I and the cheapening of life, it was what happened after World War I. Fear of communism, the cheapening of life, huge depression.
There was a worldwide depression. If you think about what was going on in parts of America, and of course parts in Europe, remember what happened to the German mark? In a few months, particularly after Rathenau’s murder, in the beginning of 1923, a dollar would’ve bought you 18,000 marks. By the end of 1923, it bought you four billion marks. So you have all these horror stories. And what else do you have? Let’s have a look at the Great Depression. There was starvation, people, the Rescue Society, jobs wanted. America began to restrict immigration at the end of the First World War. Not just for because of the fear of communism, but also the great country of immigration, now there were many people who were turning against immigration because of the social, economic and political problems. Isn’t it fascinating when you think about what’s going on in Britain at the moment? History keeps on repeating itself, does it not, ladies and gentlemen? And I really become very despairing because it’s almost like we never learned any of the lessons of history. So what have I said about icons? Because this world, this world of depression, this world of poverty, it needed escapism. And the movies created the greatest escape of all. Now, who was the first icon? Let’s have a look at him. He fulfilled the criterion. His name was Rudolph Valentino and he died age 31. As I said, to be an icon, you’ve got to die young. He was actually an Italian actor. He was based in America. He is nicknamed The Latin Lover, and he becomes the great star of the silent movies. And let’s see the next slide, please. That was probably his most famous film, “The Sheikh .” He also made “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” and “Son of the Sheikh .”
This idea of the Latin lover is very much invented for him by the Hollywood moguls. They took these individuals, quite often fractured characters, because Rudolph Valentino was a very, very fractured character. He’d had a very chequered career. There were lovers of both sex, there was scandals, he’d done odd jobs. He’d actually become… He’d actually worked in the dance halls. One of the horrors of the depression, the dance halls. I’m sure you know the song, “Can You Spare a Dime?” Outside the dance halls where pretty young men would dance with older women, many of them got in big parts into the cinema. And he went through a terrible, terrible life. But finally, MGM took it on. And then it’s Jesse Lasky, one of the moguls who is brother-in-law to Cecil B. DeMille, cast him in “The Sheikh .” And it’s interesting because he is displayed as the great hero, but he himself had terrible problems about his own masculinity. What happens to him is he collapsed. He collapsed with appendicitis and unfortunately peritonitis set in, and then sepsis. Let’s have a look at his funeral. 100,000 people came to his funeral. There was all-day riots, there was mass hysteria, women threatened suicide. People were seriously hurt. The great hero was dead. And really the whole notion of the Hollywood icon was born. As I said, he fulfilled the criterion. He had become a big star, he was beautiful, he was a sex symbol. It’s fascinating how many of the stars had very kind of risque personal lives, which the studios really covered up. None did it as well as Louis B. Mayer, who was an absolute tyrant. His daughter, he had two daughters, and the daughter who married David Selznick, Irene, she said, “Our father was really straight-laced at home. We were only allowed out with escorts or with a rabbi’s daughter, who was an actress. But because she was a rabbi’s daughter, we were allowed to go out with her.”
And his notion of America was Mommy, Daddy, two children, an apple pie. His favourite music musicals were the backyard musicals with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. This is the man who, on the face of it, and many of the other moguls were like that, by the way, they had very straight-laced morals. They might have been womanisers outside of the home, but they were pretty straight-laced and their stars had to be straight-laced too. But in fact, you’re dealing with completely the opposite. But this is also the Hollywood publicity machine that 100,000 people came out to greet his funeral in 1926. Now let’s go on please. The next slide. This is Jean Harlow. Now Jean Harlow didn’t quite make it into my icon list, but she certainly, the Blonde Bombshell as she was called, or the Platinum Bomb, was the leading sex symbol of the early '30s, so in the period of recession. Remember people wanted something to aspire to. Now, women’s fashions were not, the fashion of ordinary women was not dictated by Hollywood, by Paris, it was dictated by Hollywood. And when she dyed her hair platinum blonde, so many young women, you could see them in the street with the Jean Harlow sex sort of haircut. She becomes one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. She was actually discovered by Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes, one of the richest men in the world with his airlines, et cetera. He went into the movie business and he produced her in “Red Dust.” Now, “Red Dust” is also fascinating for another reason. If you want to know about the power of Hollywood, Clark Gable took off his shirt in “Red Dust” and he wasn’t wearing a vest. Within three months, the sale of vests in America went down by 40%. She was in “Reckless.”
But unfortunately, she had a tragic personal life. She married a man called Paul Bern. He believed if he married this wonderful sex symbol, he’d be able to cure his impotence. And when it didn’t work, he beat her up badly and she becomes an alcoholic. She did have one very interesting boyfriend who fits into Jewish history. He was a Jew, he was a gangster. He was a man called Abner Zwillman. He was a close friend of Lucky Luciano. He was also a founder of the New Jersey Minutemen. Now this will interest you. It was a militant anti-fascist group that operated in New Jersey between 1933 and 1941. A lot of the gangsters, by the way, and there was a lot of crossover between the gangsters and the stars, they were very anti-fascist. They were very supportive of Jewish organisations. And of course many of them supported giving arms to the Jews of Palestine. And there’s lots and lots of stories. Now, Abner Zwillman was a fascinating character and he gave his girlfriend a real leg-up. Why? He managed to get her a two picture deal at Columbia because Harry Cohn, very, very difficult individual in charge of Columbia, he needed a huge cash loan and Zwillman gave it to him. But what happened to Zwillman is he finally married the daughter of Eugene Mendels, whose father, Emanuel Mendels, was one of the founders of the American Stock Exchange. As Zwillman was known as the Al Capone of Jersey, like many of the characters, he was finally investigated for tax evasion. And he was found hanging just before he was due to go to trial. Now, but the theories are that he was probably murdered by Meyer Lansky because Meyer Lansky, who was really the accountant to all the mob, he was going to give evidence. And this theory was actually supported by Lucky Luciano. So interesting by story. But that’s Jean Harlow. She died of alcohol really because her liver failed when she was very, very young.
She was 26 years old. So another icon who fulfilled the requirements. Terribly, terribly young and actually tragic characters, but they created magic on the screen. And then let’s have a look at the next one. Here, you see, this is “Public Enemy,” of course starring Jean Harlow with James Cagney, who I’m going to refer to later on. James Cagney is going to become one of the great stars of Warner Brothers, but I’m sure many of you know that he was also a great song and dance man. And later on, a great supporter of helping Jews in trouble in Europe and a great supporter of Zionism. So an interesting character, James Cagney. And this was the time when an awful lot of the Hollywood stars put their belief behind helping Jews. Can we go on please? Aha! “The Jazz Singer.” Now I’ve lectured, I’ve given a whole lecture on “The Jazz Singer” in the past, which you can get it online. But the most important point I want to make about “The Jazz Singer,” it’s terribly important because it’s the spoken word. And of course it was written by… It was purchased by Warner Brothers and really it is the story of a cantor and his son, played by Al Jolson, who of course himself was the son of a cantor, and he wants to be a jazz singer. And the film is about the great pull between the old world, which is silent, the father is silent in the old world, and the new world, which is him. And it’s the story of assimilation because the father comes to America, the father is in the cantor, in the shul, he has to sing for Kol Nidre. The son breaks away, he goes off, he becomes the great jazz singer. But when his father’s dying, he goes to sing Kol Nidre in the synagogue.
But then assimilation does win because you see the last scene, his father’s died, his mother and his non-Jewish girlfriend are sitting in the front row where he performs, and on her finger, is a huge engagement ring. But this appealed to all immigrants. And it was Warner Brothers’ great- It saved the studio and it ushered in a complete new era. And I’m just going to show you the very famous clip. I know there are lots of people online who will know all about all these movies, but when Georgie was going through them with me, she’d seen so few of them. And I really do advocate that as we go through, there are going to be some movies that I really think you should show your children and grandchildren. So, and remember, this must have been absolute magic for people. So can we see that little clip? Thank you.
Wait a minute.
This is sound!
Wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothing yet. Wait a minute, I tell ya! You ain’t heard nothing. You want to hear a good, good, good beat? All right. Hold on, hold on. Lou, listen. Play “Toot, Toot, Tootsie,” three chorus, you understand? And the third chorus, I whistle. Now, give it to ‘em hard and heavy. Go right ahead. ♪ Toot, Toot, Tootsie, goodbye ♪ ♪ Toot, Toot, Tootsie, don’t cry ♪ ♪ The little choo-choo train ♪ ♪ That takes me away from you ♪ ♪ You don’t know just how sad it makes me ♪ ♪ Kiss me Tootsie, and then ♪ ♪ Ow, ow, do it over again ♪ ♪ Watch for the mail ♪ ♪ I’ll never fail ♪ ♪ If you don’t get a letter, then you’ll know I’m in jail ♪ ♪ Hey, hey ♪ ♪ Don’t cry, Tootsie, don’t cry ♪ ♪ Kiss me, Tootsie, goodbye ♪
Fantastic! All Jolson, “The Jazz Singer.” There’ve been lots of versions of it. 1952 with Peggy Lee, and them, of course, Neil Simon with Laurence Olivier playing the father. Laurence Olivier spent much of his later career playing old Nazis or old Jews. But what can I tell you? And of course, it was written by Samson Raphaelson and it was based on his short story, which was actually called “The Day of Atonement.” And there’s this wonderful line, silent line, it’s just written, where the father says to the son, “I’ll teach him better than to base the word, to debase the voice that God gave him,” and whips him when he is 13 years old. So again, it’s a very important story on assimilation. And Al Jolson was the highest paid entertainer in America. He was an extraordinary individual. He married a non-Jew, but evidently she subjected him to antisemitism. Sad. Anyway, let’s have a look at the next one. Not an icon, but an extraordinary star. Can we see the next one, please? Mae West! Do you know what she said? “You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough. I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.” Once in a while, I’m going to come up with the quotations. And sometimes I’m going to show you the lines in the films because there’s so much part of speech. Now, what was her background? She came from a very tough background and she was a tough lady and she lived a very, very long life. She was born in Brooklyn. Her father was a prize fighter who later became a policeman. And he had his own investigation agency. Her mother was a former corset model. She was always a performer. She had a hugely extrovert personality.
She won prizes at local talent shows. By 14, she was in Vaudeville. Because remember before the movies, it was Vaudeville. She was discovered by the New York Times, and the reviewer said, “A snappy, a grotesquery, and a beautiful way of singing and dancing. On one level, it’s grotesque, but it’s amazing.” And gradually, she was a clever woman. She began writing her own plays. In 1926, one of her plays was called “Sex,” and she was prosecuted on a morals charge. She spent 10 days in jail. But of course she dined with the wardens. They adored her. Nothing frightened her. And this is where the image of the bad girl begins. She also would feature things in her movies like homosexuality. And she never appeared in New York in any of her plays because, quote, unquote, “The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.” On one level, she was passionate about women’s rights, she was passionate about gay rights, she was passionate about rights for African Americans. By 1932, she has a contract with Paramount. And let’s have a look at one of her films where she brings in an unknown from Bristol in England called Cary Grant, a name given to the young Archie Leach. She liked the look of him and she said, “If he can talk, take him.” And this film saved Paramount from bankruptcy. Let’s have a look at a quote. Let’s have a look at Mae West in action.
I want to thank you for those beautiful flowers. They were lovely. And don’t forget, come up and see me sometime.
Yeah, I love that. How often have you heard that said, “Come up and see me sometime?” By 1935, she’s the highest paid woman and the second highest paid person in America after William Randolph Hearst. So an incredible story. And it went on and on and on. In fact, in 1944, she did a brilliant spoof called “Catherine Was Great,” about Catherine the Great. And it was a spoof that she wrote surrounded by her imperial guard. And she went on performing, performing, performing. A great star. She lived too long to be an icon. And now for me, I think perhaps the most tragic of the all, let’s have a look at Norma Jeane. Norma Jeane, tragic background, totally dysfunctional, unstable mother. 12 foster homes, orphanage, married at 16. She was working in an aircraft factory in World War II where she met a photographer. He got her to dye her brown hair blonde, and she begins a career as a very successful pinup girl. And there what happens then is she comes to Hollywood, she hangs around at the studios as a bit part girl. She actually lived with Shelly Winters for a while, and she did all sorts of things to get herself noticed. But then there was a scandal because as a photographic model, there have been pictures of her in the nude, but then she manages to overcome it. And her first really important role was in “Niagara,” which is a film noir. And what happens with the studios, they see this beautiful dumb blonde and they exploit her sexuality.
In fact, she was a very, very good actress and she always wanted to better herself. She, of course, divorced her first husband. She then married Joe DiMaggio, who was the great baseball star, and the two of them together become America’s Golden Couple. But she wanted so much more. She goes to New York, she’s already a big star and she wants to be a real actress. And she enrols with Strasberg. And in the end, she would always have his daughter with her on the sets, which really drove the directors mad. I mean, you should read Billy Wilder, what he said about having her on the set of “Some Like It Hot.” Then she of course married the great playwright, Arthur Miller, himself Jewish. She converted to Judaism but the marriage floundered and she had many, many love affairs. I think she was really an abused, far more abused than abusing. And the whole story of the scandal with her and both the Kennedy brothers. And in fact, she dies of an overdose in 1962. And was it an accidental overdose? Or was it deliberate? Was she going to reveal things that people didn’t want her to reveal? Because she’d been part of the Rat Pack, she’d been part of the gangster scene, and she was very close to the Kennedys. And there are still, I know I don’t want to go down the conspiracy theory road, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions about Marilyn Monroe. But whatever it was about her, I’m going to show you a couple of extracts. And I don’t think anyone really could light up a screen quite as well as her. There are some contenders, and it’d be interesting if you want to send in who your contenders are. I know my son-in-law put forward Claudia Cardinale.
We often play these kind of games. But let’s have a look at. I want you to bear with me on this clip because it’s quite a long one. It’s from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and I think it is one of the great scenes. It’s one of the great scenes. But before that, I’m going to talk about the creation of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” because it’s such a Jewish affair. The song itself was written by Leo Robin and Jule Styne. And the play was written by Charles Ledra. Now Leo Robin, you know, 90% of the people who wrote the music that defined America were born Jewish. And Cole Porter said, “I was the only one who wasn’t a Jew, so I learned how to write Jewish.” He was born in Pittsburgh, was Leo Robin. Should we have a look at his? Let’s have a look at him. Next slide, please. His father was a salesman. He married a woman called Fannie Finkelpearl. That was his mother. He then went, clever boy, studied law, then went to drama school and already a reporter. And he had an absolute passion for writing. And this is where if you were brave and you were free and you had talent, you’ve got to remember a lot of the accepted by the '20s, a lot of the so-called accepted professions didn’t want Jews much. They tended to go into the new professions, the new trades that were wide open. And by 1926, he’s writing for the musicals. By 1932, he goes to Hollywood.
His first partner was Ralph Rainger, who in fact had been born Ralph Reichenthal, who started life as a lawyer. So, so many of them are Jewish, Jewish, Jewish. They had over 50 hits, had many other collaborators including Harold Arlen. But in 1949, he writes with Jule Styne, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” for the musical, which starred Carol Channing, and then the film for Marilyn Monroe. Now Jule Styne, can we see him please? Next slide. He was born in London to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants, Anna Kertman and Isador Stein. Isidor Stein ran a grocery shop. 1913, the family moved to Chicago. He attends, even before he went to the music school, he’d already attracted the attention of another teenager he met on the, basically on the streets of Chicago. His name was Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen. You would know him better as Mike Todd. Later on, of course, Mike Todd, “Around the World in 80 Days,” one of the greatest showman of Hollywood, who was third husband and probably the love of Liz Taylor’s life. Well, we’d debate that. And he persuaded Styne to write a musical. He was creating. He was 17 and it was the first of 1,500 songs. And his first hit was in 1926. He went on to become a vocal coach at Fox until Darryl Zanuck fired him as a luxury. And from then on, he wrote song after song after song. He established his own dance band. He was championed in Hollywood by Sinatra. He wrote many songs with Sammy Cahn, better known as Samuel Cohen. And he writes the score for “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Some of his other hits, you’ll know. “Everything Coming Up Roses,” “Don’t Rain on my Parade,” “I Fall in Love Too Easy,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” “It’s Magic,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the Week,” “Time After Time,” “Three Coins in the Fountain.” This is the man who wrote 1,500 songs.
He was an absolute genius, and he lived a long life in Hollywood. So! And the man who actually wrote the plot, can we see, for “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?” Let’s have a look at him. Charles Davies Lederer. It was based on a novel by Anita Loos and Styne and Robin, of course, had written the music for the show. Now he is the screenwriter and the director. His theatrical family in New York, and after his parents divorced, he moved to California to be brought up by his Aunt Marion Davies. Now those of you who know the story of Hollywood will know that she was also, she was an actress, but she was the mistress of William Randolph Hearst, who was parodied, or was he, by the great Orson Welles in, of course, “Citizen Kane.” He was a child prodigy, Lederer. He went to the University of California, but he dropped out to become a journalist for his aunt’s lover. He was a great comedy writer. He was very close to two other very important figures in Hollywood. Ben Hecht, I’ve done a whole session with you on Ben Hecht. Of course, Ben Hecht was the newspaper man who became a Hollywood writer because his friend Mankiewicz wrote to him and said, “There’s so much money over here, any fool can write for the movies.” And of course, Ben Hecht wrote so many of the gangster movies and became terribly involved in what was happening in Europe. And later wrote for the Irgun. And of course, Mankiewicz, Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote with Welles “Citizen Kane.” And of course his brother Joe Mankiewicz won so many Academy Awards.
So you’re looking at an incredibly talented group of characters. They could write, they could direct. And this is Hollywood at its height. Lederer wrote as a screenwriter for Paramount for 17 years. Then he became a writer and producer at MGM, and then a director. He made 11 films for them. And amongst his screenplays, “The Front Page,” which he wrote with Hecht, “His Girl Friday,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “Oceans 11,” “Mutiny on the Bounty.” His parentage. Now his father was called George Washington Lederer, who became a Broadway producer. He was Jewish. So his father, Lederer’s father, had started with a touring opera company when he was 13. By 17, he’s collaborated with the producer of the opera company and leased to the Casino Theatre, and he produced his first musical when he was 25. Producer of musical reviews. So these are the kind of characters that I’m talking about. Lederer’s mother. Oh, by the way! No, I should mention that his father, in 1903, presented the first all-black musical called, “In Dahomey,” and they crossed the Atlantic with it for the royal command performance at Buckingham Palace. His third wife, who was Lederer’s mother, was Reine Davies, who was the actress, not Jewish, and the eldest singer sister of Marion Davies, and her father was a judge. Her mother, Irish, Rose Riley. So he was of a very interesting background. And the film they produced, look, it’s pure utter escapism and it’s what it says, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” It’s the story of two actresses, adventurers, and adventuresses who go on an ocean liner to Europe. Rosalyn Russell and Jane Russell, I beg your pardon, who of course had been discovered by Howard Hughes. She’d been a dental receptionist, and Marilyn Monroe. And I want to show you, I think, the most iconic moment in the movie. So bear with it. It’s not short, but it’s magic, and I’m sure many of you will know it. This is the first- Sorry! Not first.
How about it?
We’re ready to dress you, Mademoiselle.
[Lorelei] Be right there.
Lorelei!
It’s men like you who have made me the way I am. And if you loved me at all, you’d feel sorry for the terrible troubles I’ve been through instead of holding them against me. No, no. Don’t say another word.
I wasn’t going to say anything.
Poor Gus. You have a pretty tough time. You know, if you really want to get upset, go out and see the number she’s going to do next.
You mean?
Oh!
Oh. Oh, dear. Thank you.
No! ♪ No ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ No ♪ No! ♪ No, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ No! ♪ The French are glad to die for love ♪ ♪ They delight in fighting duels ♪ ♪ But I prefer a man who lives and gives ♪ ♪ Expensive jewels ♪ ♪ A kiss on the hand may be quite continental ♪ ♪ But diamonds are a girl’s best friend ♪ ♪ A kiss may be grand ♪ ♪ But won’t pay the rental on your humble flat ♪ ♪ Or help you at the auto mat ♪ ♪ Men grow cold as girls grow old ♪ ♪ And we all lose our charms in the end ♪ ♪ But square cut or pear shape ♪ ♪ These rocks don’t lose their shape ♪ ♪ Diamonds are a girl’s best friend ♪ ♪ Tiffany’s ♪ ♪ Cartier ♪ ♪ Black Starr, Frost Gorham ♪ ♪ Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it ♪ ♪ There may come a time when a lass needs a lawyer ♪ ♪ But diamonds are a girl’s best friend ♪ ♪ There may come a time when a hard-boiled employer ♪ ♪ Thinks you’re awful nice ♪ ♪ But get that ice or else no dice ♪ ♪ He’s your guy ♪ ♪ When stocks are high ♪ ♪ But beware when they start to descend ♪ ♪ It’s then that those louses ♪ ♪ Go back to their spouses ♪ ♪ Diamonds are a girl’s best friend ♪
Hello? Okay. All right! Can we see the next slide, please? Okay. All right. Now I just want you to… “The Creature.” Now they’re coming out, this is from “Bus Stop.” Marilyn Monroe is coming out of the cinema with her boyfriend, and let’s have a look at one of the most famous clips in history. Can we do that? Or have we got a problem with our? What do you think, Drew? Oh, here we go. No.
Didn’t you just love the picture? I did, but I just felt so sorry for the creature at the end.
Sorry for the creature? What’d you want him to marry the girl?
He was kind of scary looking, but he wasn’t really all bad. I think he just craved a little affection. You know, a sense of being loved and needed and wanted.
That’s a very interesting point of view.
Oh! Do you feel the breeze from the subway? Isn’t it delicious?
Sort of cools the ankles, doesn’t it? Well, what do you think would be fun to do now?
I don’t know. It’s getting pretty late.
It’s not that late.
The thing is, I have this big day tomorrow. I really have to get to sleep.
What’s the big day tomorrow?
That big.
Tomorrow I’m on television. You remember I told you about it? “The Dazzledent Hour.” Oh! Here comes another one!
All right, let’s stop that there. All right, can we just take that? Now what I’m going to do, because I’m going to be doing three or four sessions on this, what I’d like you to do, Georgie, obviously I was going to go on to James Dean. What I’m going to be doing is I’m gradually going through the '30s, the '40s, the '50s, '60s, '70s. But I want to. I’ve as usual missed time because I really do want you to see some of the great extracts. And remember, we’re also going to be looking at some of the great quotes. Is it possible to go to Judy Garland’s song right at the end of the presentation? Because I really want us to go away singing. And of course the song I’d like us to go away with, and I’ll come back to it, is from, of course, we will be looking at Elvis. I want you to go right onto the last to the end. This is all for next. This is for next week. Can you go on? Because what I want from you, not that I want the final song, Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen. And of course here we have “Over the Rainbow,” which has been seen by many people as almost a song of the Jews. And don’t forget Judy Garland, little Frances Gumm, who was so abused by Hollywood but had that magic voice. So can we listen? As we worry so much about what’s going on, can we listen to “Over the Rainbow?” ♪ Somewhere ♪
Would it work, Georgie? ♪ Over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Way up high ♪ ♪ There’s a land that I heard of ♪ ♪ Once in a lullaby ♪ ♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Skies are blue ♪ ♪ And the dreams that you dare to dream ♪ ♪ Really do come true ♪ ♪ Someday I’ll wish upon a star ♪ ♪ And wake up where the clouds are far behind me ♪ ♪ Where troubles melt like lemon drops ♪ ♪ Away above the chimney tops ♪ ♪ That’s where you’ll find me ♪ ♪ Somewhere over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Bluebirds fly ♪ ♪ Birds fly over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Why then ♪ ♪ Oh, why can’t I ♪ ♪ If happy little bluebirds fly ♪ ♪ Beyond the rainbow ♪ ♪ Why, oh, why ♪ ♪ Can’t ♪ ♪ I ♪
Thank you very much, Georgie. And so next time, I think it’s next Tuesday, I’m going to start with James Dean. And gradually, you can make up your mind whether they’re icons or not. Now, quite a while ago we did, myself and my colleagues, we prepared a list of our 120 favourite films, which I think is still available. But as I go through, I will be recommending. And remember, this is all Hollywood. I will be recommending different films from different eras. So let’s have a look at the questions.
Q&A and Comments:
Re: Fox furs. This is from Myrna. Best was when the head had a spring on the jaw and it was used as a fastener. Had a lot of fun with my great aunt’s. Yes, you brought back some amazing, this brings back amazing memories. I told you about my brother and Davy Crockett hats. I think you can also be an icon if you live into your 90s, example George Burns, Betty White. Greta Garbo became an icon because she wanted to be alone. Princess Diana by dying young. Queen Elizabeth is an icon by living and reigning. Yes, of course.
And I think this is Shelly. This is, we can make our own minds. I had to make some choices. Don’t forget, they’re also fashion icons. And later on I will be looking at some of the musicals, the dance icons, because for example, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Fred Astaire, and so many of his partners, the wonderful Gene Kelly. So yes, you can. But I think when you’re looking at the specific, the ones who have almost become mythological. Like what really happened to Elvis Presley? What really happened to Marilyn Monroe? There are so many stories.
Oh, it was. Yes, the dance hall song was “10 Cents A Dance.” Thank you for that, Marilyn. Didn’t Hollywood see the introduction of the casting couch? Yes, of course it did. I mean, come on. If you’re looking at women’s rights, et cetera, et cetera. And in fact, when we come to “Gone with the Wind,” some terrible things happened because Selznick, who was the biggest PR man in, I think in the history of the movies, he made it into such a hype. And agents went all over the Deep South looking for Scarlet, and a lot of them were spurious. And a lot of young women were seduced onto the couch. And of course, many of the actresses! There’s a line in a Joan Crawford movie where she comes into the office and she actually says, “Who do I have to be nice to, to get to the top?” And of course the audience would know exactly what she meant by that. This is, of course, you know, it’s a problem if you have feminist sensibilities. And believe me, I do. You’ve got to… It doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate some of these movies. Everything is in its time and its era. And I think we should remember that when we look at the past. James Cagney grew up in Manhattan and spoke Yiddish.
Yes, Bob, he was a fascinating character, James Cagney. Because I got to know him, of course, through the gangster movies. And I remember when I saw him do, when he performed “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” And of course he was an incredible song and dance man.
And Rita said, “There’s a clip of James Cagney speaking Yiddish.” Oh, that would be for later on. Thank you for that, Rita. And of course, so many of the stars did become involved in war bonds and in helping out in raising money for Jewish refugees. And he was really on the side of the angels. Oh, did that? Yes, it was Neil Diamond who acted in a version. Yes, of course. I don’t know what I said, Faye. It was Neil Diamond and Laurence Olivier playing his daddy. It was Neil Diamond, yes. You see, if ever I get anything wrong, I get corrected. I love it.
This is Marian. She tells me she’s multitasking because she’s listening to the latest news in Hebrew as it unfolds, not wanting to miss the lecture. Look, I hope I’ve made the right choice to actually become a little lighter. You’re going to have a very serious lecture at seven o'clock because I just thought, look, we all know what’s going on. All our thoughts are with our friends in Israel. I mean, we all know what’s going on and our hearts are bleeding. What can we? I looked up the origin of Vaudeville. It goes back to 15th century France. Yes, thank you for that, Jean. Some people are saying there’s no Q and A. Ronald Marcus talks about Hedy Lamarr, who was not a particularly famous actress, but was a genius and co-inventor of a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes. But she was! But she was an incredibly beautiful woman. And of course she was Jewish. She came from Vienna and she starred, there’s an incredible nude scene in a film she made back in Europe, which created a hell of a stink. But she was an extraordinary woman and very, very smart.
Q: Was Mae West of Jewish ancestry?
A: Not as far as I know. But boy, did she have a Jewish attribute. Boy, did she have chutzpah! Rose agrees. She needed relaxation. Elizabeth Taylor got to age. You see, Elizabeth Taylor was a great actress. She was a star. But was she an icon? And I suggested maybe if you die, if you make it into old age. You know, on the other hand, Ava Gardner. Where do they fit in? You’ve all got your own opinions on this.
Ron? Oh, love Ron and Ron knows so much. I highly recommend the musical theatre version of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” It revised from time to time, a sparking little gem in contrast to the big screen Hollywood production. Cast recordings with clever, lesser known songs are also available. Thank you, Ron. And of course Ron gives some wonderful presentations himself. Roberta also thought it was a tonic. The movies might be escape for ordinary people, but the miserable lives of most of these stars are depressing. Yes! Look, it does seem that to be, if you’re fated, it’s beyond Hollywood. The same thing is happening today. Not just to stars, but to sports stars. If people tell you you are marvellous all the time and you have no freedom, no real freedom of action, for the majority of people, it must be absolutely horrific. But on one level, they want the acclaim, don’t they? They want the stardom. Today, I didn’t really know what an influencer was. My grandchildren find that very, very amusing. We don’t let’s go down that road. And Carla liked the song to end with. I do! I love “Over the Rainbow.” And of course there’ve been lots of interpretations that, in fact, and this is a fanciful interpretation, but it’s the song of the Jew really, “One Day Over the Rainbow.” And certainly both the Arlen and Harburg were very, very Jewish. And as I said to you, 90% of the songwriters were. Why? Because where did the talent come from on the move? A lot of them were so… A lot of the- And also I’m very interested in what made so many of the directors and producers, why were so many of them Jewish? It’s not just because it was a wide open industry. It was creative, it was new, but then Jews went into departments so it’s this understanding of popular taste. It’s thinking out of the box. It’s like the rag trade, isn’t it?
Miriam says, “Beautiful 'Over the Rainbow’ triggers tears for our beloved Israel. Thank you.” Marian tells us Iran has closed its airwaves. Right, Nona. Anyway, I hope everyone’s okay. Look after yourselves. And we have a very interesting presentation at seven o'clock on Hezbollah. And tomorrow, Tuesday, Mike Freer. Mike Freer was a Conservative MP in London, in Finchley. He was a great friend and he decided not to stand for office because extremism, the extremists, he was a very great supporter of Israel, and extremists actually set fire to his offices and terrorised him. It just got too much. And so as I’m looking at an era of heroes, I thought what happened to him and his reactions and how he stayed, he stayed as a steadfast friend to the Jewish people, was quite heroic, so I’ve invited him in tomorrow. So I wish you all well and I’ll see you all next week. God bless. Bye.