Classic Hollywood MTC Podcasts

Another mini episode by Mrs Classic Film Fan, who has been busy preparing her upcoming main episode on the late great Greer Garson. However, despite the efforts of the coronavirus to work her and her civil service colleagues to death, Mrs Classic Film Fan has discovered 2 great film books, that convey all sorts of interesting information, about the movie stars covered. Scott Eyman's comprehensive and fab  'Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise' more on which can be found via the following link https://bit.ly/CaryGrantBio and Mark Iveson's interesting 'Cursed Horror Stars' which can be accessed via the following link: https://telos.co.uk/shop/film/cursed-horror-stars/    Check out Mrs Classic Film Fans review of these books and give yourself a break from thoughts of C-19 by giving them both a read.   

Another mini episode from Mrs Classic Film Fan, on some of the source material used to inform her last podcast, on the late great Jerry Lewis, Mrs CFF also mentions some very interesting podcasts that you might want to give a try, one of which includes a Mrs Classic Film Fan review of an old British film Classic which will be shown on the Talking Pictures satellite channel this month. If you want to know more have a listen to this mini-episode.  Stay safe and as ever thanks for  taking the time to listen to CHMTC.    

Jerry Lewis was one of the most successful entertainers that ever lived. The only child of a showbiz family, his performing career, which kicked off barely beyond his toddler years on the burlesque circuit, quietly ended on the big screen, nearly 80 years later.  By his teenage years he was a married man, soon to be part of one of the most successful double acts that graced stage, screen, tv and radio. Thereafter, he became  a complete film performer, director and producer, whose success around the World, especially in Europe, led to substantial recognition of his inventive skills and style as a film maker. But though capable of great acts of kindness  and displays of  talent, Jerry could be a very difficult man, whose lonely childhood and troubled personal and professional relationships, sometimes reflected an angst ridden, confused and troubled persona, which sometimes had a negative impact on friends, professional colleagues, family members and most of all himself. Listen to the long awaited and latest CHMTC episode on the prolific life and career of the late great Jerry Lewis!!!!!    

This mini CHMTC episode gives a quick update on the upcoming episode of CHMTC and the launch of my new history focused podcast, Is It Cos Im from Croydon2? Give it a try when you can. It can be accessed via Apple and Stitcher and the links below.   http://isitcosimfromcroydon2.libsyn.com https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/simone-higgins/is-it-cos-im-from-croydon https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/isitcosimfromcroydon2s-podcast/id1463444277  Also, thanks for all the wonderful reviews received from all round the world for CHMTC, it's very much appreciated.  Best  to all, from Mrs Classic Film Fan, also known as Mrs Check Out Your History.

Tab Hunter was an unassuming, gentle and simple young man, whose stunning good looks and hard earned acting skills, bagged him Hollywood film stardom and a remarkable recording career, which enabled him to make some the best remembered films and music of the 1950's.  Part of a generation of young movies stars, whose film careers, signalled the end of the Hollywood Studio system, in order to sustain his success and live as peaceful a life as fame allowed, Tab, along with several other young movie stars of his day, was forced to live a double life, in an era where movie stars were often expected to meet impossible expectations by their fans and society at large. Have a listen to the latest CHMTC episode about the life and career of the recently departed, teenage heartthrob and movie star, Tab Hunter, who despite the risks he incurred, as a result of his personal life, managed to achieve something that most movie actors can only dream of, a long life of solvency and happiness. 

As promised this is  brief episode about some of the sources I used to put the last 2 CHMTC episodes together. Also included in these notes are some of the links I mention via which you can access the sources metioned about these great stars. I have also found a great new podcast which can be accessed via Itunes and other avenues. You might want to give that a listen while you are waiting for the next CHMTC episode, which will be on the late, great and recently deceased Tab Hunter, who represented the next generation of Hollywood beefcake.  Below the links mentioned in this episode: Official John Wayne Website https://jwayne.com/    The link to the infamous 1971 Playboy interview: https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Wild_Wild_Cold_War/files/2011/11/John_Wayne_Playboy_Int2.pdf    

Many film stars tell us that they are just ordinary people, who don't care about money, fame or possessions, but yet they go on living in their many luxury homes, riding in their fancy cars and accumulating tonnes of money, in their search for more and more acclaim and the rewards that go with it.  Sterling Hayden, was a Hollywood movie star, who spoke his mind. He  really liked being ordinary and really disliked being a Hollywood movie star. At first, troubled by his Hollywood fame, it eventually became a means to an end, the end being to service his real loves, sailing ships, his family and belatedly writing about real-life.  Listen and enjoy the latest CHMTC episode about a talented,unconventional and very complicated movie star, who often confounded his studio bosses, his family and himself, in his ever constant search for an uninterrupted life at sea  

This is the first of a two part CHMTC episode, on the lives and careers of two of the most successful beefcake actors ever produced by Hollywood. The western icon, John Wayne and the blonde seafaring  giant, Sterling Hayden.   John Wayne was a promising college student, who through the fates became one of the most successful movie stars that ever graced a Hollywood movie. Tall, handsome and virile, Wayne's love for his country influenced his films, his career and his love-life. Most of all it led to a search for redemption, to make up for his failure to serve in World War II. Along the way he  became a staunch opponent of anything he considered to be Un-American, including it seems,  certain types of civil rights, which in his view did not fit with the American dream. It also led to the creation of Wayne's great passion, his epic 1960 movie the Alamo.     Listen and enjoy the telling by Mrs Classic Film Fan of the eventful life and career of the late, great and decidedly imperfect, John Wayne, together with the trials and tribulations he suffered in making his great passion The Alamo. 

Dear Listeners,  An apology from Mrs Classic Film Fan for the long pause between CHMTC episodes and a foretaste of what is to come, in the way of new episodes, the first of which will be with you this week.  All the best Mrs Classic Film Fan  

As promised, here is the second CHMTC mini-episode, in which Mrs Classic Film Fan provides more on the sources of her research into the lives and careers of the late great studio movie stars. As well as some interesting books on Stanley Baker and the making of the film Zulu, Mrs CFF spills the beans on the main sources of her info on the late, great Marlon Brando, featured in an earlier CHMTC episode, including the 1962 Saturday Evening Post article which ruined Brando's credibility for years. The article can be accessed via the following link:  http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/mutiny-of-brando-1963.pdf She also also mentions the plight of London's beloved Cinema Museum, the former workhouse home of Charlie Chaplin and his mother, now a respected venue for the showing of some of the great American and British classic films of yesteryear and classic film memorabilia.  More on the CM and the petition to save this fab venue can be found on the following link:      http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2017/petition-to-save-the-cinema-museum/#.WkWBpzA9QUA.email Please do have look and sign up to save this worthy venue. 

Listen to CHMTCs last instalment of the series "the British Are Coming" about the life and career of the late, great Stanley Baker. Stanley Baker was born in the impoverished community driven  coalmining region of Ferndale in Wales. Like his contemporary Richard Burton, he was discovered by a local school teacher, who cast him in school plays and encouraged him to develop a real career in acting. This he did with considerable success, becoming  a powerful actor and producer in British and American movies in the 50s, 60s and 70s. It all culminated in the creation of a fine body of work, much of which has become an integral part of British popular culture. A life long labour supporter, Baker fought for roles that showed the inner workings of the new working class young man. Despair, disappointment, anger, intelligence and ambition, in a British movie landscape that still believed that heroes were stiff upper lip pretty boys, who gave orders rather than took them.   With films like Hell Drivers, Zulu, The Italian Job and The Accident, Stanley Baker showed a range and ability which took him to the top of the film business. Have a listen to the fascinating life and career of this too often forgotten Welsh actor, who remains in the eyes of many the first of the great Angry Young Men of British film, stage and TV screen. Also hear about the lives and personalities of some of the stars who were around in Stanley's day, making their own mark on the movies of their time.

As promised and in response to several requests this is a short CHMTC episode which will give some background on the material sourced by Mrs Classic Film Fan to inform most of the CHMTC episodes to date.  If they are not there already all the books, websites and links referred to will be uploaded to the Classic Hollywood MTC Facebook page. That will include the website link which gives you direct access to the famous Day v Rosenthal judgment which told the long and ugly story of Doris Days 20+ year legal battle against her lawyer.  As ever, thanks for listening and thanks for the lovely CHMTC reviews. It makes it all worthwhile. The next episode which will conclude the British Movie star series "the British Are Coming" should be with you all in late October early November. All the best and have a good day. 

Stewart Granger was one of the most successful Movie stars in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s. His looks, talent and athleticism attracted the powers that be in Hollywood, resulting in one of the best swashbuckling movies ever made absent Errol Flynn. His marriage to the talented and beautiful Jean Simmons who also found succcess in Hollywood made them a  golden British couple. But Granger was a challenging personality, unable to completely understand or properly address the political, corporate and financial ups and downs of an industry, where forbearance, tact and charm, as well as ego and talent were essential requirements, in order for an actor to get ahead. As a result, he missed out on a number of key roles which would have substantially enhanced his acting legacy and incurred a number of personal and financial misfortunes. Listen to and enjoy this CHMTC episode  on the life and career of the late great Stewart Granger. Thanks to all for the positive feedback and do let me know if you  favour the new non-music format of the show which is  being tried for the first time in this episode.

David Niven was the son of an upper class hero, with English and Scottish military heritage that stretched back to the Battle of Waterloo. Handsome, charming and witty he also had a strong touch of rebelliousness  and ambition which would help and hinder his  life and career in equal measure.   One of the first of the British Hollywood movie stars to leave the safe haven of America at the start of World War II to fight for his country, Niven's life was littered with good fortune, fun and tragedy.   Forever sexually adventurous he was well liked and oved by colleagues, friends, his children and the many lovers in his life. But his marriages proved to be a mixed blessing. Enjoy the telling by Mrs Classic Film Fan of the life and career of the late, great, and quintessentially English movie star David Niven, in this the 11th podcast episode and second of the CHMTC series the British Are Coming.     The music is called the 'British Grenadiers'. Articles and other source material from which information on this podcast episode is based will be placed on the Classic Hollywood MTC Facebook page  over the next few days.  

This is the first of a series of podcasts called "the British Are Coming." The series will cover the lives and careers of 4 great British film stars who left their mark on British and American Films in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.   Merle Oberon, David Niven, Stewart Granger and the late great Stanley Baker were and remain filmatic forces to be reckoned with.    Talented, good looking, charming and unique they represented at least in terms of their public image the best of the British Empire. Forging careers in the UK and Hollywood they reached levels of success that many British actors of today aspire to but are unlikely to achieve. But in true Classic film fashion they were also decidedly imperfect human beings who experienced many tears as well as laughter.   Merle Oberon, a child of the British Empire, was one of the most beautiful women that filmdom ever produced. She was a major film star of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.  When she died in 1979 she appeared to have it all, a handsome husband 25 years her junior,  wealth, fame, children and a respected film career. But Merle Oberon was a women full of mystery and anxiety who spent over 40 years covering up her past and denying her true identity. Enjoy the  telling of the story of Merle Oberon by Mrs Classic Film Fan an actress who chose never to look back.   NB: Check out the pictures, articles and other sources of information which informed this episode on the great MO, which will be put on the Classic Hollywood MTC Facebook page over the next few days.   

Marlon Brando was a legend in his own lifetime. At the peak of his film career in the 1950s he created a series of film performances including the character Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront that not only defined him as an actor, but defined an era marked by the rise of the Stanislavsky and method schools of acting. By the end of the 1950s Brando was at the top of his game, loved by actors, the studios and the public a like. His films minting millions of dollars. This all changed with the making of two films that have since become cult classics, the psychological western One Eyed Jacks, Brando's only official directorial effort and the seafaring epic Mutiny on the Bounty which Brando virtually directed by default. Brando's reported behaviour behind the scenes of both films would have a long lasting effect on the studios that commissioned both movies and his personal and professional career. Enjoy the eventful story of One Eyed Jacks and the Brando Mutiny as told by Mrs Classic Film Fan.    The music "The Wild at Heart" is by Jonny Easton.  Have a great Easter break and look out for the next Classic Hollywood MTC episode in May.   

Tony Curtis was one of the biggest film stars of the 1950s. Born in poverty and saddled with less than positive memories of his childhood, his good looks got him a lucrative Hollywood contract and the pick of  Hollywood's most beautiful actresses, including Marilyn Monroe and Janet Leigh. His talent gave him the will and determination to sustain a long career, which totalled over 100 Film and TV appearances and a successful second career as a respected master painter.  But despite his ever present smile and charm it was not all plain sailing. Troubled marriages, drugs, alcohol, family tragedy and resentment towards some in the Hollywood Establishment were also integral features of the Tony Curtis life experience. Enjoy the Classic Hollywood MTC treatment of the life and career of the late great Tony Curtis. A man who was Not Just A Pretty Face.    The music is called Piano Improvisation which can be found on the Free Music Archive.    

For those who want to know what fed the rise of the 2016 OscarsSoWhite scandal listen to this podcast about the life and career of the late great Hattie McDaniel. This podcast, the first 2017 Classic Hollywood MTC episode and the 7th of all the Classic Hollywood MTC episodes, will seek to explain the talent, the struggle, the unimaginable success and the ever present controversy that surrounds Ms McDaniel. As Mammy the forthright maid of Scarlett O'Hara Ms McDaniel earned her place in Hollywood eternity, by becoming one of the great stars of the most expensive and successful film ever made Gone with the Wind. She also became in life and in death a symbol of the challenges faced by black actors and entertainers in Hollywood prior, duing and post Word War II. The music in the podcast is called Tenderness and can be found on www.bensound.com This episode along with all the podcasts on Classic Hollywood MTC can be found on ITunes, Stitcher, Tune-in, Spreaker.com, Castbox and Player FM.  Listen, enjoy and have a Happy New Year.              

Unless you have been living under a tadpole you will know that one of the last surviving Hollywood movie stars Kirk Douglas has just reached his 100th birthday and that the celebrations have been glorious. Douglas seemed to specialise in anti-hero figures long before it became fashionable to do so. Ace in the Hole, the Bad and the Beautiful and the Detective showed that he was not afraid to explore people who were very damaged, but also very skilled at spreading huge swathes of that damage to others, through acts  of cruelty, manipulation, cynicism and self-loathing. That usually meant that any character in his way was going to have a really, really, really bad time.  It also meant that audiences never knew whether to love him or loathe him, but they all wanted to watch him. He did play actual heroes from time to time-but unlike some of his competitors he could never find it in him to play them straight.  This short  homage to the great KD, is about his great sword and scandal epic Spartacus. Made fun of today because of its high levels of sentimentality, this film was not just about heaving chests in skimpy ancient togas who cried "I'm Spartacus". This was Douglas (with the considerable help of Stanley Kubrick and Douglas Trumbo) telling us at the peak of his creative powers where America, the UK, France and the rest of the West was at.  Listen to the latest episode of Classic Hollywood MTC and learn about Spartacus the KD Way.  The music used in this episode is called "Memories" and can be found on Bensound.com.        

At 100 years of age Olivia De Havilland is one of the last great movie stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. At the peak of her film career she appeared in some of the best films ever made, including Captain Blood, Robin Hood, They Died with their Boots On and the Charge of the Light Brigade with the devilishly handsome Errol Flynn and Gone with the Wind with Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel.   Not just a pretty face and risking her hard earned career she fought and won one of the most powerful Hollywood studios in a legal battle which resulted in the creation of the De  Havilland law. A law that is still used today by actors and entertainers against unscrupulous agents, managers and corporate demi-gods. Her victory also allowed her to make even better films and in doing so become one of the most respected actresses of her generation winning 2 best actress Oscars. Enjoy hearing about the eventful life and career of Olivia De Havilland who is "still on this side of heaven". If you've enjoyed what you've heard do not forget to post a positive review and tell your friends about Classic Hollywood MTC. If you have any suggestions about movie stars of the classic era you would like CHMTC to cover drop Mrs TC an email on mrstc68@hotmail.com. Have a good day!        

Sammy Davis Junior was one of the greatest light entertainers America ever produced. Singer, dancer, actor and impersonator he could do anything that the entertainment world could throw at him to the highest standard.  During a show business career of 60 years he experienced unimaginable success on the  night club circuits of New York and La Vegas, having done the rounds of Vaudeville during his early years.  He made many notable Film, TV and Broadway appearances, reaching the peek of his fame as a member of the powerful Rat Pack led by one of his best friends Frank Sinatra.   But he was a scarred man, who throughout his life was deeply affected on a physical and emotional level by racial segregation and several high profile rejections. Although this fuelled his need for success it also fuelled his many weaknesses and excesses, which ultimately led to the decimation of his estate.     Enjoy this new episode of Classic Hollywood MTC on the rise and fall of the late, great Sammy Davis Junior and all who sailed with him.

In the 1950s Doris Day was one of the  most famous women in the world. Unfairly remembered as the actress who played professional virgins, Doris's talent was such that she was able to tackle a broad range of movie roles, including classic appearances in   Calamity Jane, the Man Who Knew To Much and Pillow Talk.  By the early 1960s with the coming of the Beatles and flower power her stardom was on the wane. Wanting to go out on top Doris was looking forward to a peaceful retirement. But instead her husband succumbed to heart failure leaving her with a financial legacy which was to result in one of the biggest courts cases in Californian history. Please listen to another true tale about a Classic Hollywood movie star by Simone Higgins also known to family and friends as Mrs Tom Cruise.  

In the 1950's Jeff Chandler was one of the biggest film stars created by Universal Studios. His good looks, tanned complexion, melodic voice and silver hair made him the perfect hero for a wide variety of Universal adventure movies, including one of his most famous parts the Native American chief Cochise in Broken Arrow, a film which captured the heart of America.  A civil rights advocate, supporter of the state of Israel and ladies man, despite his active career and success Jeff is one of the least remembered of Universal's stars. Yet his life and career was as dramatic, successful and crammed full of incident as his movies. This second episode of Classic Hollywood MTC by Simone Higgins also known as Mrs Tom Cruise explains the life, career and posthumous reputation of the late great Jeff Chandler, a man who found it difficult to be dull.     

This is the first of a series of podcasts (delivered by Mrs Tom Cruise the nick name given by family and friends to Simone Higgins)  on Hollywood stars and other ad hoc Classic Hollywood subjects which emerged during the peak of the big film studio era of the 1930s, 40s and 50s.  The first subject is the late, great and tragic Dorothy Dandridge. For a short period in the 1950s Dorothy Dandridge an Africa-American singer, dancer and actress sometimes referred to as the 'Black Marilyn Monroe' reached a level of mainstream Night Club, Film and TV success that was unheard of for black entertainer. The star of Otto Preminger's Carmen and Porgy and Bess was the first black performer  to become a bona fide studio film star.  The peaks and troughs of her shortlived personal and professional life were as dramatic as many of the movies she made. Enjoy the story of Dorothy Dandridge as told by Mrs Tom Cruise.