The Silver Screen Oasis

Well I am interested in reading this book. Has anyone here read it?

Some movie star biographies are well written & pull you through the life story and others are just descriptions of their films and the author's personal impressions.

I'll never forget reading the Busby Berkeley biography "Then Buzz said to Mayer, "----" as if the author was in the room when it happened.
And what author reduces his subject to a "nickname"?

Looking for March's final resting place, was very disappointed he & his wife were cremated & buried in the garden of their CT home. Private property, so I could not pay my respects.

TikiSoo wrote: ↑April 1st, 2023, 6:07 am Well I am interested in reading this book. Has anyone here read it?

Some movie star biographies are well written & pull you through the life story and others are just descriptions of their films and the author's personal impressions.

I'll never forget reading the Busby Berkeley biography "Then Buzz said to Mayer, "----" as if the author was in the room when it happened.
And what author reduces his subject to a "nickname"?

Looking for March's final resting place, was very disappointed he & his wife were cremated & buried in the garden of their CT home. Private property, so I could not pay my respects.

Oh I've completed reading both of the two March biographies, both of which are well-deserved.

The 1996 version named Fredric March: Craftman First and Star Second by Deborah Peterson, features more life stories but some assumptions seem a little subjective.

The 2013 version is more objective and contains the latest stories which were presented after 1996, but it includes too many film descriptions.

In conlusion, I think the two versions are the counterbalance to each other. I really recommend to you both as much as the actor. He is such a genius who would have great achivements in any area he liked.

Anyone know the status of the movement to restore Fredric March's name to the University of Wisconsin's performing arts theater and which had been removed in 2018 because of some student advocates...well, lets just say they epitomized the truth in that old saying: "A little bit of learning is a dangerous thing" and had come to the false conclusion that March had been a racist, and when in fact the man had been an active supporter of the NAACP ?

(...this story always ticks me off when I think about it, and the reason I ask)

Dargo wrote: ↑April 4th, 2023, 3:17 am Anyone know the status of the movement to restore Fredric March's name to the University of Wisconsin's performing arts theater and which had been removed in 2018 because of some student advocates...well, lets just say they epitomized the truth in that old saying: "A little bit of learning is a dangerous thing" and had come to the false conclusion that March had been a racist, and when in fact the man had been an active supporter of the NAACP ?

(...this story always ticks me off when I think about it, and the reason I ask)

I always thought they came to that conclusion because of his portraying MARK TWAIN in a biopic as Twain had also been falsely thought of as a racial bigot. And that if March were truly not a racist he would have refused to portray Twain in any movie.

I can't say all this for sure, but it's the only senseless explanation for March's false accusation that makes any sense(so to speak).


Sepiatone

Sepiatone wrote: ↑April 4th, 2023, 11:27 am I always thought they came to that conclusion because of his portraying MARK TWAIN in a biopic as Twain had also been falsely thought of as a racial bigot. And that if March were truly not a racist he would have refused to portray Twain in any movie.

I can't say all this for sure, but it's the only senseless explanation for March's false accusation that makes any sense(so to speak).

March was briefly a member of an interfraternity society composed of leading students formed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1919 and 1920 named the Ku Klux Klan which is not believed to have been affiliated with the notorious organization of that name. In actuality, March was an outspoken proponent of the civil rights movement for five decades, and worked closely with the NAACP. When the collegiate organization was named, the (later national) KKK was a small regional organization. As the national KKK became better known, the collegiate organization changed its name in 1922.

False rumors based on a misunderstanding of the organization of which March was a member were spread on social media that March was a white supremacist. The 500-seat theater at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh was formerly named after March. The University of Wisconsin–Madison had named the 168-seat at the Memorial Union as the Fredric March Play Circle Theater; however, in 2018, his name was removed, after student protests following reports of March's membership in a student fraternal organization calling itself Ku Klux Klan. UW–Oshkosh pulled March's name from what is now the Theatre Arts Center shortly before the 2020–21 academic term. After new revelations about the nature of the KKK fraternity, as of autumn 2022, there were discussions for a return of March's name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_M ... erstanding

LawrenceA wrote: ↑April 4th, 2023, 11:34 am
...After new revelations about the nature of the KKK fraternity, as of autumn 2022, there were discussions for a return of March's name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredric_M ... erstanding

Thanks for the update here, Lawrence.

So, since autumn of 2022 it says here, eh?! I wonder how much longer it's going to take until someone or a group of someones with some guts and who has the authority to rectify this injustice to the man's memory will take the final step and actually do this?

(...hope it's soon)

Dargo wrote: ↑April 4th, 2023, 12:13 pm Thanks for the update here, Lawrence.

So, since autumn of 2022 it says here, eh?! I wonder how much longer it's going to take until someone or a group of someones with some guts and who has the authority to rectify this injustice to the man's memory will take the final step and actually do this?

(...hope it's soon)

While I agree that the place should have retained the old name, I also don't know how much I buy that the college group back in 1919 didn't know of an association between their group's name and the more well-known KKK. This was several years after The Birth of a Nation (1915) was such a colossal hit and cultural force that it inspired a massive resurgence in the KKK across the country, including in places where it had never really been before. The traditional KKK had been around for over 50 years by the time March was in college, as well. I think it was more likely a case of him signing up because that's what other "proper" men did at the time and in that school, much the same way many people attended Communist meetings or clubs in the early 20th century, without actually being a die-hard communist.

And now adding further credence to the thought that Fredric March was NOT a "racist", and thus why his name SHOULD be reinstated on that theater's marquee, I now present THIS...



(...and besides the idea that I've ALSO found on the internet a report that leading members of the NAACP sent a request to the University of Wisconsin to have his good name reinstated upon said theater's marquee, dated November of 2021)

I wonder if the Gish sisters will ever be forgiven at Bowling Green?

Just for laughs, these images are from the 1921 University of Wisconsin-Madison yearbook.


Second from right, top row:


Bottom right:


And their "Klan" logo:

scsu1975 wrote: ↑April 6th, 2023, 12:33 pm And their "Klan" logo:

Reminds me of Sparky the Sun Devil, the sports mascot of Arizona State University...

Dargo wrote: ↑April 6th, 2023, 12:53 pm

Reminds me of Sparky the Sun Devil, the sports mascot of Arizona State University...

So maybe they were Satanists and not White Supremacists.

scsu1975 wrote: ↑April 6th, 2023, 2:12 pm
So maybe they were Satanists and not White Supremacists.

And so now with WITH comment here Rich, you've now reminded me of...


...Dana Carvey.

You should know by now that everything reminds me something else, don't ya?!

(...btw, is there a name for that?)

Fredric March is an overlooked actor. You should see him in the 1935 version of Les Miserables, this is the best version in my opinion. Also stars Charles Laughton as Inspector Javert.

I'm still finding out about his other movies. Thanks for the list of films.

Also a noteworthy overlooked actor, Walter Houston.