In Memoriam : Sara Brideson

Sara Brideson ( February 4, 1990 - January 23, 2017 ) 

On January 23rd, 2017, Sara Brideson, a very dear friend of mine and an extremely talented author, passed away suddenly. Sara was a sensitive and sweet-natured young woman who was graced with the gift of writing. Along with her twin sister, Cynthia, Sara authored a number of fine books relating to one of her passions - classic films. 

Also Starring : Forty Autobiographical Essays on the Greatest Character Actors of Hollywood's Golden Era, 1930-1965 was their first collaboration. This book stemmed from essays these sisters had written for Turner Classic Movies' Classic Film Union and features a wonderful selection of character actor biographies : Elsa Lancaster, Frank Morgan, Edna May Oliver, Eric Blore, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Davenport, and Marjorie Main to name just a few. Sara's favorite actress was the delightful Billie Burke ( Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz ) who is also one of the actresses profiled in this book. 

Sara also loved the films of Judy Garland ( Meet Me in St. Louis ), Gene Kelly ( Summer Stock ), Hayley Mills ( That Darn Cat and Summer Magic ), and Harold Lloyd. In addition to writing, she loved to draw and often sketched her favorite stars. 

Sara and Cynthia's second book was the highly acclaimed Ziegfeld and His Follies : A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer ( 2015 ) which was nominated for the Theatre Library Association's Freedley Award ( check out Liz Smith's rave review of the book here ).

"Theater-loving sisters Cynthia and Sara Brideson shine fresh and stimulating light on the genius of one of Broadway's greatest impresarios. Rich in research and broad in perspective, the Bridesons' book frames the classic revue era of the New York stage with a reverential but honest approach to Florenz Ziegfeld's extraordinary personality and career."―Examiner.com

Shortly after completing this book, Sara and Cynthia plunged into writing He's Got Rhythm : The Life and Career of Gene Kelly, a biography that took two years to complete. This book had several setbacks and has only recently become available for pre-order with a release date scheduled for May 2017. 

I miss Sara a lot, and some day I hope that I can learn to write as well as she did and in some small way pay homage to my most talented friend. However, right now I hope He's Got Rhythm becomes the smashing best-seller it deserves to be. Sara would be so proud! 

Show Boat - The Story Behind One of America's Greatest Musicals

A Ziegfeld show typically summons to mind images of glorified girls in fantastic headdresses descending twirling staircases to the strains of haunting melodies. Florenz Ziegfeld was the great glorifier of the American girl, it’s true. It is also true that he produced lavish revues brimming with glamour, comedy, and trend-setting music. However, he also happened to be the man behind arguably the twentieth century’s most groundbreaking production: Show Boat. The beloved story has been thrice adapted for the screen and revived countless times in theatres across the country. The first show to feature black and white actors sharing the same stage, it also broke precedents by addressing issues such as miscegenation. What makes Show Boat such a masterpiece, however, is its perfect balance between pathos and comedy and its seamless blend of music and dialogue.

Show Boat, the musical, was a far cry from Edna Ferber’s novel on which it is based. Ironically, the book is more frivolous in tone while the play is more sober. Ziegfeld told Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern, the writer and composer for the show, however, that “We can’t have a musical with all this sadness in it.” Ziegfeld, though he was alleged to have no sense of humor himself, recommended using the character of Captain Andy as comic relief, and Hammerstein heeded his request. Ziegfeld had been observing audiences for over thirty years and knew humor always won them over.

The story of Show Boat tells the story of Magnolia Hawks, the idealistic and naive, daughter of Cap’n Andy Hawks, the boisterous owner of the Cotton Blossom show boat, and his irascible wife, Parthy. Magnolia is best friends with Julie LaVerne, the Cotton Blossom’s main attraction. Julie and her husband Steve are forced to leave when the local sheriff reveals that Julie has “Negro” blood in her, thus breaking the state law by being married to Steve, who is white. Magnolia replaces Julie as the show boat’s female star, and handsome gambler Gaylord Ravenal ecomes the leasing man. Magnolia and Gaylord fall in love and marry. They and their daughter, Kim, grow rich while Gaylord is on a lucky streak, but live in poverty when he’s unlucky. During one dark period, Gaylord leaves his family and Magnolia starts over by returning to the stage. Unbeknownst to her, a now alcoholic Julie gives up her place at a nightclub so that Magnolia may fill it. The last act of the show seeds forward twenty years, revealing Magnolia as a huge Broadway star. Ultimately she and Kim return to the Cotton Blossom, however, and reunite with a repentant Gaylord. Like “Old Man River,” as the show’s immortal theme song goes, they “just keep rollin' along.”

Ziegfeld assembled a stellar cast for his show. Torch singer, and famous breaker of Prohibition laws, Helen Morgan, signed to play Julie. Helen’s hedonism continued and proved to be a boon to the show’s ticket sales. Jules Bledsoe portrayed Joe, the deck hand who sings ‘ol’ man river” (in Ziegfeld’s 1932 revival, the legendary Paul Robeson took over the part). Ziegfeld gave his black performers the full star treatment. After his death, a reporter from an African American newspaper stated that the black race had lost “a friend” and that Ziegfeld had been responsible for making African American chorines “glorified beauties.”

Actors who later became familiar faces on the silver screen filled the roles of Cap’n Andy and Parthy. Ziegfeld chose Edna May Oliver as Parthy while Charles Winninger filled the role of Andy. For the role of Magnolia, Ziegfeld cast Norma Terris.

After a year of casting and preparations for Show Boat, it finally went into production. Norma Terris stated that Ziegfeld was present at every rehearsal, many of which could last up to twenty hours. Ziegfeld moaned: “I’m suffering the tortures of the damned!” as he haggled with temperamental actors, costumers, and scenic designers.

Ziegfeld wanted to go with his customary method of using bright lights and decadent costumes for the show. But, urged by Jeorme Kern and set designer Joseph Urban, he sacrificed his own taste and agreed to use authentic costumes and realistic sets. Hammerstein, Kern, and Edna Ferber had all traveled to the South to gain a feel of the atmosphere.

By December 1927, the show was finally ready for out-of-town tryouts. Ziegfeld, as usual on opening nights, was sure his show would fail. At first, it seemed that Ziegfeld was correct in his dark predictions about the show. He keenly noted that there was little applause even after the show’s big numbers.

After the final curtain fell, the audience still did not applaud.

“Well, now I’ve really done it’,” Ziegfeld muttered to his secretary. Suddenly there was the sound of one person applauding, and then another and then another until the entire audience rose to their feet and would not stop cheering for five minutes.

Ziegfeld puffed on his cigar with the trace of a smile on his lips.

Ziegfeld arrived at his theater the morning after opening night to find a line wrapped around the block. When Brooks Atkinson of the Times finally reviewed the show, he heralded it as “one of those epochal works about which garrulous old men gabble for twenty-five hours after the scenery has rattled off to the storehouse.”

Ziegfeld had always been a risk-taker with his shows. His biggest hits contained elements that could alienate audiences if not done tastefully (i.e., sexuality, political satire, and themes of racial/class discrimination). But the Ziegfeld Touch, as Ziegfeld himself was to define it following the success of Show Boat, was “splendor and intelligence.” Show Boat so pleased theatergoers because it respected their intelligence. However, the production was not pretentious, for it still included plenty of glamour, spectacle, and comedy. Thomas Hischak, author of The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, called Show Boat “the first masterpiece and arguably still the finest musical play [in history].” Show Boat cemented Ziegfeld’s reputation as Broadway’s greatest producer.

Hollywood musicals, like Broadway ones, took decades to completely mature. The first all-talking adaptation of Show Boat was released in 1936, four years after Ziegfeld’s death. Universal Studios made Show Boat into a full-length musical film with Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson and Irene Dunne heading the cast (Dunne had played Magnolia in the 1929 touring company of the show). Charles Winninger reprised is role as Cap’n Andy. The film was faithful to the play, but because it was black and white, one could not fully experience Ziegfeld’s colorful show.

The most widely known version of Show Boat is the 1951 MGM musical adaptation. Its producer, Arthur Freed, was aptly dubbed the “Ziegfeld of Hollywood.” Like Ziegfeld, he took the stagey musicals of the 1930s and guided them into the golden age of Hollywood musicals where story, music, and dance blend into a cohesive whole. Also like Ziegfeld, he was a risk taker and produced the first all-black musical in 1943, Cabin in the Sky.

Freed preferred to do original films not based on Broadway shows, but when adapting any show to the screen, he insisted that one need not consider a show’s original book a Bible. “What happens in the old Show Boat is that the thread of the story is lost in the second act, and you become concerned with a second generation. The second act…becomes a series of specialties,” Freed stated.

Screenwriter John Lee Mahin’s adaptation placed less emphasis on some of the more comedic aspects of the original play, namely the characters of Cap’n Andy and Parthy. (portrayed by Joe E. Brown and the versatile Agnes Moorehead). The lack of comedy in the film does weaken it, robbing it of the “joy and whimsy” Freed usually added even to his more serious pictures. Freed insisted that Mahin build up the part of Julie LaVerne because “she is the character that lives in the mind, partly because she is a tragic figure.” Lena Horne had played the part in the whirlwind rendition of Show Boat in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) and wished to play Julie again. However, the Hollywood Production Code banned literal interracial relationships onscreen; consequently, a white actress would have to play the part.

Freed had thought of Judy Garland as Julie, but by 1951 she no longer worked at Metro. Freed next thought of Ava Gardner for the part. As Mickey Rooney’s ex-wife, present fiancée of Frank Sinatra, and one of Howard Hughes’ major objects of affection, her name along with the title of Show Boat would surely be enough to, in Ava’s words, “put bums on the seats.”

When Ava had first come to MGM, voice coaches had tried to rid her of her Deep South accent and now, for the part of Julie, they were trying to get it back. Her speaking voice proved to be ideal, though Freed had doubts about her singing voice, which Ava called a “whiskey tenor.” Ava’s biographer, Lee Server, stated “…her throaty, modest vocals stood in too great a contrast” to her operatically trained costars, Kathryn Grayson (as Magnolia in the same part she had played in Till the Clouds Roll By) and Howard Keel (as Gaylord). Annette Warren, a specialty performer, dubbed Ava. Ava was insulted and embarrassed at being dubbed by “a conventional soprano” with none of the “bluesy sound of [her] voice.”

After Freed finished assembling both the behind the scenes crew and the cast, the production was ready to begin shooting. Freed spared no money in creating the Cotton Blossom, which “set new standards for on-screen opulence.”

Like Ziegfeld, Freed had much backstage drama to deal with. As production commenced, the romantic elements in the film paled in comparison to those between the principals in the cast. “The moment we sang, the chemistry between me and Kathryn was more than I could control. She was so beautiful she took my breath away,” Howard Keel confessed in his memoir. Kathryn and Howard’s mutual attraction became impossible to hide. But, because Kathryn was in the middle of a divorce and Howard was married with a child, the actors did not welcome the press surrounding their affair.

One person not included in the cast was romantically linked with not only Kathryn, but also Ava Gardner: Howard Hughes. During filming of Show Boat, he sent her twelve dozen roses, which took hours to transfer to vases. Kathryn slowly began to warm to his affections and what followed was a “long, tender” relationship. He became a regular at the Grayson home, using it as a “place of comfort when the world was closing in on him.”

Ava Gardner was aware of Hughes’ doings on the set of Show Boat, and Kathryn noticed that her costar glared at her throughout the remainder of the filming. Ava had been a “Hughes girl” since 1943. Ava, however, was not easy to win. She had her limits—and a temper—that she was not afraid to show him. He hired private detectives and bugged her room to ensure she was not still seeing Mickey Rooney and, one night, burst into her bedroom using spare key he had surreptitiously made. Ava hit him over the head with an 18th century bronze bell and sliced open his forehead. “You don’t own me, bastard,” she shouted. “And don’t forget it.” Amazingly, Hughes and Ava kept seeing each other after the incident. “We fought all the time, but I fought with all the men in my life…it was my way of loving, I suppose.”

Filming wrapped in January 1951. Upon its release, the picture won nothing but praise from the formidable, hard-to-please critic for the New York Times, Bosley Crowther. The jaded reviewer was moved to write that the story “has never reached the screen…in anything like the visual splendor and richness of musical score as are tastefully brought together in this brilliant re-creation of the show…it is doubtful if even its first performance on the stage surpassed, except in novelty and freshness, this faithful translation...” Crowther’s primary criticisms had to do with the film’s pacing and with Ava Gardner, who proved to be more an audience than a critic’s favorite. Overall, Crowther called the musical “As sumptuous as sumptuous could be in the best Metro tradition.” The picture ranked as the third biggest money maker of 1951.

Though Freed’s Show Boat remains the most enduring version of the story, it is Florenz Ziegfeld’s production that fully caught the sweeping saga’s essence. Perhaps the greatest loss to modern audiences is the fact that none of Ziegfeld’s shows or the great productions of his contemporaries were caught on film. They are lost to history, becoming mere memories or myths in the history of the theater. What Show Boat did was establish a truly American style of musical, released from the influences of European operettas that dominated early Broadway shows. What Arthur Freed did for the film musical was to release it from the confines of the stage, using choreography and camerawork specifically designed for the cinema. While the work of Ziegfeld may be but a legend now, Freed’s films have kept the Ziegfeld tradition alive—the creation of musicals that combine splendor and intelligence in a uniquely American way.

Our special thanks to authors Sara and Cynthia Brideson for contributing this marvelous article on the history of Show Boat. To read more about Florenz Ziegfeld and Show Boat check out Cynthia and Sara Brideson’s latest book, Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway’s Greatest Producer, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Interview with the Authors of "Also Starring : Forty Biographical Essays on the Greatest Characters Actors"

Once Upon a Screen, Outspoken and Freckled and Paula's Cinema Club have teamed up to once again bring us the annual What a Character! blogathon. With all the excitement generated over the celebration of these marvelous unsung talents we thought we would spotlight an excellent book on the subject : Also Starring: 40 Biographical Essays on the Greatest Characters of Hollywood's Golden Era. This is the definitive guide to character actors, featuring insightful peeks into the lives of forty of the greatest characters of the silver screen. Each actor is profiled in depth with illustrations and filmographies and are introduced with clever taglines, such as "Jolly Jowls" S.Z Sakall, "The Gentleman's Gentleman" Eric Blore, "Steam in her Kettle" Marjorie Main, and "The Eccentric Harridan" Elsa Lanchester. It's definitely a book the ultimate film fan would include in their movie library, covering the character actors we all love, from the famous to the obscure. The authors, Sara and Cynthia Brideson, graciously took the time to answer some of our questions about this book and character actors in general : 

This is the first book that you and your sister have collaborated on, could you tell us why you chose to spotlight Hollywood character actors?

Sara: I chose to write about character actors because I feel that they were often more talented than the leading actors. Sometimes the lead characters are not nearly as interesting as the side ones. For example, in You Can't Take it With You, Spring Byington, as the eccentric mother who writes nonsensical plays, was even more interesting than Jean Arthur, who played the main, more 'normal' character. Almost every classic movie has an example of this. I wanted our book to proved how interesting the supporting actors were even if their names are not well remembered. 

Cindy: I agree with everything Sara said, though I had an added impetus to write this book. As a child I was very interested in Glinda from The Wizard of Oz and it caused me to be near tears that no libraries had any substantial literature about Billie Burke, the actress who portrayed the good witch. Sara was really into Judy Garland, who has had much written about her. I wrote the book almost as if it were a gift to myself as a seven year old child; maybe there's some other oddball kid out there today who is as interested in learning abut Billie Burke or another character actors who will find joy in Sara's and my book. We certainly hope so. 

“Also Starring” features many rare and interesting trivia on the actors, was researching this information difficult?

Researching the information for the book was quite easy for some actors but incredibly difficult for others. Using Google news archives, we were able to find a lot about certain character actors, namely Eve Arden, Spring Byington, Agnes Moorehead, and Roland Young. We were very excited whenever we discovered that an actor had written an autobiography. We especially enjoyed S.Z. Sakall's memoir and Shelley Winters'. The actors who we could find virtually nothing about were Henry Travers and Virginia O'Brien. It took much digging to find enough to go on for an essay about them, but we managed to find some interviews and newspaper articles that illuminated their characters enough to give an idea of what they were like. We feel lucky to live in an age where newspaper archives are so accessible. It's certainly easier than poring over microfilm for hours!

You must have also unearthed a lot of great trivia and behind-the-scenes tidbits about these character actors, could you share one of your favorite anecdotes with us?

Billie Burke was an extreme animal lover, though sometimes her efforts to make animals feel comfortable did not end well. Once in the goldfish pond in her garden, she poured warm water into it to keep the fish warm. The next morning the fish had all died. Billie was understandably heartbroken. Elsa Lanchester was quite a bohemian in her youth. She actually posed nude for painters in London! It is rumored that Hattie McDaniel took marijuana. One of her co-stars claimed they smelt smoke coming from her car between breaks from filming. Claude Rains demanded he always be in the foreground of a scene when with Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, so no one would be able to see she was taller than he was. Eddie Rochester Anderson was not included in his longtime co-star, Jack Benny's, will. Most people thought this was terrible, but Eddie never said a word against Benny. 

Character actors are often overshadowed by the big name Hollywood actors, despite their wide and varied career and their acting abilities. While you were conducting your research, which actor’s career stood out to you as being the most impressive and which talent do you believe to be the most forgotten today?

All of the actors had impressive careers. Many of them began as leading actors on Broadway before they went to Hollywood, like Lewis Stone, Fay Bainter, and Billie Burke. However, we feel Agnes Moorehead had the most impressive career. she began at the New York Academy of Performing Arts, then went with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre Group, and then became a huge success in radio, film, and TV. She mastered every medium. She also was nominated for more than one Oscar as well as Emmy awards. The most forgotten actors in our book are probably Virginia O'Brien and Jules Munshin. Both of them were specialty performers, but they were in some of the essential classic films, thus making it all the more vexing that they are forgotten. Jules Munshin is best known for his part as one of the three sailors in On the Town and Virginia O'Brien is best known for playing Judy Garland's friend in The Harvey Girls. We hope our book will make people want to discover the films of these forgotten actors. 

What distinguishes a character actor from a supporting player, such as Tony Randall or Gig Young?

A supporting player vs. a character actor has many different variations. We included both supporting players and character actors in our book. Supporting players, like Claude Rains, Shelley Winters, and Joan Blondell, are usually more well known and can even have a strong fan base. Their characters are usually "the third star" in the credits and they play a more integral part in the plot line. Character actors are often those actors who have 100 credits to their name but are still not well known. H.B. Warner, Eric Blore, and Beulah Bondi are among these. They make a huge impression on the audience, nevertheless. Character actors are usually more quirky than supporting players and their parts are much smaller. 

Like John Barrymore's agent told him in Dinner at Eight when convincing him to take a character part: "Audiences keep waiting for you to come back, and you never do!" That's how a character part is-- too short and it always leaves the audience wanting more. 

Many character actors found themselves typecast in certain roles, do you think they regretted this?

Some actors regretted being typecast while others did not mind at all. Hattie McDaniel, for example, did not mind playing a servant or a maid. Though many of her peers thought taking such roles was degrading she said: "I'd rather play a maid than be one." Agnes Moorehead often wished she could get more glamorous roles rather than ones in which she played women older and homelier than she really was. Billie Burke was regretful she did not get to tackle more dramatic roles, but in her autobiography she expressed that she did not wish to complain about her roles as "bird-witted women" because such parts kept a roof over her head. It was most difficult for actors who had started as leading men and women on Broadway to accept their typecast roles than it was for people who had started as character actors. For the most part,the actors accepted their typecast roles gracefully. 

Whom do you consider to be your favorite character actor?

Sara: My favorite character actor is probably Edward Everett Horton. He was always such a nervous wreck in his movies and made the most comical expressions. He really stole the show from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the films in which he co-starred with them. He was a really neat person off screen too, which is a bonus! My favorite character actress is Fay Bainter because she was so moving on scene but could take a comical turn a minute later. One of my best memories from junior high was having her nephew as my history teacher. He brought in the Oscar she won for Jezebel and let me hold it. It was heavier than it looks!

Cindy: Of course my favorite character actress is Billie Burke! She's so hilarious because half the time the ladies she portrays do not know they're being funny. Her most well-rounded performance is probably in Dinner at Eight; here, she has a chance to be both comedic and dramatic. For a character actor, I guess I'd have to say Ray Bolger. He was so much more than just the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. He saved many a film from being mediocre through his wit, hilarious, rubber-faced expressions, and mind boggling dancing skills ( I'm thinking specifically of a lackluster biopic on ballerina Marilynn Miller, 'Look For the Silver Lining.' ). I'd suggest watching him The Harvey Girls and Rosalie to see his best comedic skills.

Recently you completed a book about impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, could you tell us about this and some of your other upcoming projects.

Our next book is called "Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Flamboyant History of the Life, Loves, Work, and Legacy of Broadway's Greatest Producer, Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr." We've been working on this book in one form or the other since we were eight years old. Because Ziegfeld was married to Billie Burke, we immediately became interested in his life. The film The Great Ziegfeld is a good introduction to Ziegfeld's larger than life productions, but it does not capture the real Ziegfeld who was decidedly more private and serious than William Powell's portrayal made him out to be. Powell basically plays Nick Charles playing Florenz Ziegfeld in the film! We are also working on a book about classic stars and authors and their cats. It's amazing how many felinephiles there were (Billie Burke and Joan Blondell included!) The Ziegfeld book is currently under consideration of the University of Kentucky Press. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it will be accepted!

Also Starring: 40 Biographical Essays on the Greatest Character Actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood  by Sara and Cynthia Brideson is available to purchase in paperback, Kindle and Nook editions at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and through the publisher, BearManor Media.