A Star By Any Other Name- the changing names of Hollywood

Bernie and Archie having the lols

Archibald Leach, Bernard Schwartz, Marion Morrison were all huge stars of the golden age of Hollywood though you probably know them better as Cary Grant, Tony Curtis and John Wayne.  The practice of changing one's name is common in Hollywood even today, for example America's sweetheart Reece Witherspoon is actually named Laura or my favourite name change is Olivia Wilde's original surname of Cockburn.

Names were changed for many reasons. It could have simply been that a given name was not very glamorous; the plain Maurice Mickelwhite become the far more flashy Micheal Caine and the boring Vera Palmer became the much sexier Jayne Mansfield. They were also often changes for equity reasons. If there was an actor already on the books with your name you might change it to avoid confusion for example Micheal Keaton's real name is in fact Micheal Douglas but that was already pretty famous. The main reason for changing one's name though seems to have been due to ethnicity. If one's name was too ethnic sounding or difficult to pronounce, it was generally changed to a more user friendly version so people like Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov became the more manageable Helen Mirren and Farrokh Bulsara became the legendary Freddie Mercury.  Here are some well know duos whose name changes probably changed their lives;

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, possibly the most famous double act of all time, may not have been so popular had they been known by their given names. Fred Austerlitz and Virginia Katerine McMath.

Another very famous double act were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. They had huge success in films such as 'Thats my boy' and 'artists and models' but somehow I don't think Dino Crocetti and Jerome Levitch would have looked right on a marquis.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland grew up together as child stars in the studio system and stared in nine hit films including 'babes in arms' and 'strike up the band'.they were also lifelong friends and thought of each other as siblings. They both changed their names from the decidedly forgettable Joseph Yule Jr and Frances Gumm.

Possibly the most adorable on screen couple in history, Rock Hudson and Doris Day lit up the silver screen ,in the late fifties, with their remarkable chemistry in films like 'pillow talk' and 'lover come back'.  the utterly dishy Hudson originally had the uninteresting moniker of Roy Scherer and the eternally sweet Day's original surname was the rather more harsh Kappelhoff.

Real life couple, Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee were the ultimate ,wholesome, golden couple of the sixties. He was a singing sensation with huge hit songs like 'mack the knife' and she was the saccrin sweet star of teen hit Gidget. both were formally know by less memorable names,  Dee was born Alexandra Zuck and Darin was originally Walden Robert Cossotto, I wonder if they would have become a power couple with these names. 

It just goes to show how important a name is, these stars might still be unknown without changing their names.  These are a just a few I found interesting, there are millions more so maybe this post will be a two parter who knows :)

Forgotten Gems - Love with the Proper Stranger

I think you may have gathered by now that I love old movies, so I can often be found trawling TCM or other classic movie channels for films I may not have seen. one such find was this little known gem Love with the Proper Stranger,  an early sixties romantic drama starring the annoyingly attractive Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen.  

This film caught my interest straight away because it has many of the variables I look for in a movie, set in the sixties, filmed in black and white, featuring a controversial story line and starring two actors I hugely admire. the film is not really an abiding classic and it was not a huge success at the time but it is an interesting and enjoyable way to pass a rainy afternoon.

The film is the story of a young Italian american girl, Angie played by the gorgeous Natalie Wood who finds herself in the family way, after what we are to understand, is a one night stand with Rocky Papasano, a charismatic musician played by the devastatingly cool and beautiful McQueen.  The film begins when Angie turns up and shocks Rocky by telling him she's pregnant and needs him to find a doctor to preform an abortion.  Angie, a sales girl at Macy's, lives at home with her mother and overbearing brothers. the film, for me, is sort of a coming of age story as Angie escapes the oppression of her home life where she is treated like a child and through her experiences with Rocky becomes a woman in her own right. 

It was, and to some extent still is, a controversial subject matter. The film touches on the horrifically unsafe nature of back street abortions that took place before the practice was legalized in the US.  In the end (spoiler alert) Rocky convinces Angie not to go through with the operation because he realized the danger and how completely shady the 'doctor' was, which Angie was too desperate to see.

Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen were both extremely competent actors and play the roles of terrified young people thrown together and struggling to deal with a crisis very well.  McQueen's character is in the beginning, as all his characters were,  a cool suave ladies man but is quickly ruffled by this situation.  Wood's Angie, is believable as the troubled shop girl trying to find her own space in a changing world.

The very last scene is one of my favourite movie moments. earlier in the film Angie and Rocky listen to the title song for the film, sung by Jack Jones, that talks about hearing bells and banjos when you fall in love.  Angie is cynical about this at the time and later in the film she tells Rocky she going to settle down with a clumsy local boy Antony (played by Tom Bosley in his first screen role. He went on to play the dad in Happy Days) having turned down rocky's proposal feeling that it was only out of obligation. she says its okay if she doesn't hear the bells and banjos every time she looks at Antony. The next day as she leaves work, there's rocky holding a sign saying better wed then dead and playing the bells and banjo.  Adorable right? of course after some resistance she falls in to his arms as the credits role.  In my mind they go on to live a long happy fulfilling life together but who knows. 

You didn't hear it from me but if you look on YouTube, you may find that some clever person has posted the entire film there. give it a watch and let me how you think they end up.

Are these not two of the most gorgeous people ever?

Saturday Swoon - Omar Sharif

hello gorgeous 

So the return of the blog means the return of the occasional Saturday homage to the hotties of bygone days. looking back at previous subjects I realize that I seem to have a type, so far I've profiled tall, dark, slightly mysterious and brooding gentlemen and this post is no different.one of my biggest movie star crushes has always been the dishy Omar Sharif. Sadly Omar passed away earlier this month so i thought it was fitting to dedicate this edition of Saturday swoon to the memory of his exotic good looks and enigmatic charms.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1932, he gained a degree in mathematics and physics before pursuing an acting career. he was also fluent in no less then six languages.  He began acting in his native Egypt in the mid fifties and broke into Hollywood with his role as sheriff Ali in Lawrence of Arabia.

He is, most likely, best known for playing the title role in the epic, Russian set, drama, Dr Zhivago. If you haven't seen this film, clear an afternoon and get a box of tissues and do yourself a favor. It is spectacular  and Sharif is perfect as the doctor with a poetic soul struggling with the horrors of war and being in love with the wrong woman.  Sharif was often cast as 'the foreigner,'  his dark looks and inscrutable accent meant he could very easily pass for Russian doctor or even European playboy.

He will, for me, always be Nicky Arnstien.  the role he played in one of my all time favourite films, Funny Girl.  He lit up the screen opposite the incomparable Barbra Streisand as a sort of prince charming character, based on the real life vaudeville comedienne Fanny Bryce, Sharif plays the handsome and glamorous professional gambler who sweeps naive uncultured fanny off her feet with his ruffled shirts and smooth talking before her success on the stage and his failures in business cause the marriage to go, well,  tits up really.  that is an extremely brief synopsis of a long, rich and layered story which again I urge you to watch if you haven't already.

with Julie andrews in the tamarind seed

Let's face it, my main reason for this profile is that Omar Sharif is flipping gorgeous. Maybe not in a conventional sense, he wasn't a matinee idol but his eyes, and smile are just so seductive. He had all the qualities of a fairy tale prince. He was sophisticated, intelligent, elegant and dashing, in fact William Wyler the director of Funny Girl, chastised him for trying to change his accent for the film. They wanted his own accent because they felt it was what prince charming should sound like.  Sharif led a long and interesting life and had an illustrious and celebrated career.  I'll always think of him fondly, and  Man, could he wear a ruffled shirt

The hills are alive with my love for The Sound of Music

I'm not sure I could ever express in words my deep and unwavering love for the Rodgers and Hammerstein masterpiece, The Sound of Music, but I'm going to give it a go. its over two years since I've posted here. many things have gotten in the way. at first wedding planning then married life and most recently being a mother to the most fantastic little boy on the planet but the main reason is my all encompassing laziness and phenomenal procrastination skills. I'm going to do my utmost to be better at this and I thought a sound of music post would be a good way to ease back into the blogging world. so here goes.

Released in 1965, the movie version of the hit Broadway musical, is one of the most enduring and successful movie musicals of all time and it has been a main stay in my life for as long as I can remember. I don't remember when I first saw the musical but I assume it was at a very young age because my beloved grandfather now in his eighties, bless him,  credits four films in the history of film making as having taught him all he needed to know about life.They are Mary Poppins, Oliver, Scrooge (the one with Albert Finney) and The Sound of Music. As a result of his influence, my mother also is a big fan of the film and so it is a tradition in our family to watch at the very least once a year if not more usually at Christmas with a tin of roses.

Set in the beautiful and picturesque city of Salzburg, Austria, the film is very loosely based on the story of a real singing Austrian family who did flee the country to escape the Nazis, just not over the mountains it would seem but of course Maria and the Captain piling all the kids on to a train to Italy would not have been as exciting or romantic an ending to a film so they used a little dramatic licence. In case you've been living under a rock for the last 50 years, the film is the story of Maria played by the simply luminous Julie Andrews, a feisty young woman living in Nonneburg Abbey hoping to become a nun, is given the task of being governess to the seven difficult children of the strict and stuffy Captain Von Trapp. Maria's chirpiness and unfailing positivity soon melts the cold, cold heart of the captain and children. all of whom fall in love with her causing the captain to abandon his glamorous yet stoic fiance and maria to abandon the nunnery in order to be together. then tragedy strikes when the Captain, an officer in the Austrian navy played by the divine Christopher Plummer, is called back to duty but this time will be forced to fight for the Nazis. luckily they manage to fool the baddies and get away over the mountains to safety.  This of course is all interspersed with the beautiful and stirring songs of Rodgers and Hammerstien.

it was those songs that got me hooked on the film.  From the first moments of the film,when the wonderful overture plays over shots of different areas of Salzburg to the last notes of climb every moutian as the Von Trapp family escape over the Untersberg, you are drawn in and then Dame Julie's crystal clear voice hit you and that was it, you just knew this was something special. Julie Andrews, needless to say, had a lot to do with the success of the film.  Maria's squeaky clean 'everything can be solved with a outfit made of curtains and a sing sing' attiutude would have come off twee and annoying played by anyone else but Ms Andrews. she has the credibility, the grace and just the right amount of glint in her eye ,that said she didn't really take her self so seriously, to pull it off. Have you guessed how much I adore Julie Andrews yet?

I love all of the songs in the film of course, even the lonely goat herd,  but I think my favourites are 'Edelweiss', the beautiful ballad sung by Captain Von Trapp and his oldest daughter in the film, the newly defrosted captain's tribute to his rapidly changing homeland.  its such a lovely soothing melody with simple but poignant lyrics, I sing it to my son every night at bed time.  I also love something good another sweet ballad, a duet between maria and the captain where they profess their undying love for each other, the song perfectly displays their disbelief at having been so lucky to find one another and gives the viewer the chance to say 'well finally.' 

I was lucky enough to travel to Salzburg a few years ago and I urge any sound of music fan to make this pilgrimage. It is a magical place, all references to the musical aside,  it is also the birth place of Mozart and the city really is alive with music.  the old town is quite unchanged from how it appears in the film which was thrilling for a super fan like me. the Salzburgers, however, know and care little about the sound of music and there is little evidence of the movie in the town, very few souvenirs or landmarks can be found. the only nod to the film are the big tour buses which cater to the many tourists who come to Salzburg purely for the sound of music tour.

my then boyfriend and I went on the tour on our second day in salzburg. our first day had been an absolute wash out so we ended up having a private tour because no one else had booked.  our tour guide was an English guy called David who had been living there for many years and was married to a native. he was wonderful, he played the soundtrack in the car, was extremely knowledgeable about the film and the making of it.  we got to see the famous gazebo where the sixteen going on seventeen scene took place,  the houses used as the facade of the Von Trapp mansion and various areas around town where the do re mi scene was filmed.

the steps of the stunning Mirabelle palace

The final stop on the tour was the basilica in a town outside Salzburg called Mondsee. this was where the wedding scene was filmed. it is a spectacularly beautiful church, David told us how they had to film it in a certain way to make it look like a huge cathedral when in fact it's quite small and that the alter had changed slightly from how it was in the film. Then he left us alone to explore for a little while, there were only a few other people in the church that day and the boyf and i walked around a little sitting in the pews and taking pictures of the art work. looking back, i guess he was a little shifty and quiet that day I should have known something was up. After a few minutes we made our way to the steps of the alter where the wedding ceremony in the film took place.

I was mesmerized by being there almost exactly where Julie and Christopher had stood. I vaguely remember Donal (the boyf) standing behind me, he said something like 'Is this where they got married in the film?' and when I turned to respond, he was down on one knee asking me to marry him.  crazy right? It was the most magical and surprising moment of my life. I must have said yes because, as i said, we have now been happily married for nearly two years and have a son. so the Sound of Music now holds an even deeper more meaningful place in my heart thanks to this wonderful moment.  Oh I also walked down the aisle to the wedding processional music from the film which was another of those perfect moments that will live in my memory for ever.

here's a super cheesy photo of us right after we got engaged 

I will always love this film for all these and so many other reasons.  it is, simply put, a good old fashioned feel good film and it is part of my family's history which i look forward to passing on to the next generation

' but somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good'

absolutely delighted to be on the do re mi steps 

the famous gazebo in the film 

and there's us in front of the very same gazebo

above - the cast running through a trellis in Mirabelle gardens and there I am in the same tunnel 

on the Mozart bridge

I had a wonderful time following in Fraulein Maria's footsteps