CINEMATIC MAVENATIC TRANSFORMATION POLL

[CineMaven]

Great topic and lots of fun! To add to Vienna's mention of Ida Lupino, some of you probably know Ida's quote about her career, that she changed from the poor man's Jean Harlow to the poor man's Bette Davis to the poor man's Don Siegel...Hair color is important. To use a Tyra Banks expression, when Joan Bennett becomes a brunette she "pops." Frank Capra wanted Jean Arthur to be a star, and had her hair dyed different colors until they found just the right shade. If you've seen her in earlier films as a platinum blonde, you'll probably say, "I know it's Jean Arthur because of the voice, but it doesn't look like her." Bette Davis as a skinny platinum blonde looks quite different, too.

Thanxxx King Rat. Just trying to make stuff a little interesting and playful here at the 0asis.

IDA...I IDOLIZE YA:



There's something about Ida as a brunette. And then those roles came her way, "poor man's whosits or whatever."

Best to listen to a super-model, like Tyra says. Hair color does do it sometimes. Didn't they try to make Gene Raymond a brunette? You guys have it rough, Brother Rat. You can't just dye your hair. You have to grow a five o'clock shadow and get beat up a coupla times.

Joan Crawford also changed her image, from the flapper to the shopgirl, then after a bad patch in her career, found her inner Mildred Pierce and then her inner Queen Bee, all the way to cartoon parody of herself in her last films.

(( SPIT-TAKE! )) You had me at flapper. Joanieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! She was amazing. Her looks and types she played changed from the 1920's until "Trog." I admire her.

I've got a good one for you guys tomorrow. That is...if you don't name the star before I do.

[ChiO]

The Fred MacMurray shout-out made me think of Raymond Burr -- Noir Baddie to Preserver of American Justice.

Speaking of which: William Talman.

[JackFavell]

How about William Frawley? Geez, the poor guy played cranky flatfoot after cranky flatfoot.. then the big turnaround.... lovable Fred Mertz and finally lovable Bub. But I guess he was still kinda cranky.

[CineMaven]

Poor Fred...Bub...Bill Frawley. He spent the entire 30's making thousands of movies...only to be remembered as Ethel Mertz's husband.

Now I could be wrong about this transformation. He's played cowboys before throughout the thirties. A talllll drink of water, looking urbane in suit tie, as a Marine, a sailor, an adventurer in "She" and on a desert isle with Irene Dunne. but it seems that in 1947, after "'Home Sweet Home" he hung up his suit and 8-cylinder sedan, and traded it in for a horse. He's predominantly known now for westerns. Why, just look at "BLAZING SADDLES."

[charliechaplinfan]

I think Boyer's turnaround came with sound although it took a few years, he took 3 cracks at Hollywood, the first time playing Jean Harlow's chaffeur lover in Red Headed Woman. In his trips to and fro over the Atlantic he made some good French movies particularly Le Bonheur. Then when he came back third time he met Pat Patterson, was chosen by Claudette Colbert to star in a film with her and recreated his role from a french musical Caravan with Loretta Young instead of Annabella. By this time he was 35 and this time he hit his niche and stayed in Hollywood.

[JackFavell]

Oh that's a good one, Maven! since I've been on the boards, Randolph Scott has risen more in my estimation than anyone else.

[movieman1957]

Darn. I thought it was me.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

This is a wonderful thread idea, and I've enjoyed reading everyone's posts!

Although many folks remember Carolyn Jones, an Amarillo girl, as the iconic Morticia whispering sweet French nothings into the tilted ear of Gomez Addams, she didn't begin as a brunette, or even a raven-haired seductress.


Her appearance with Charles Bronson and Vincent Price in The House of Wax(1953) got her noticed, if for nothing else but her tragically heated demise, and she was the roommate of ever-youthful Joan Collins as the snarky reincarnation of Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen in The Opposite Sex, the 50's "musical" remake with an added dash of men rehashed from Claire Boothe Luce's The Women(1939).


The stark beret and new hue made all the difference in 1957's The Bachelor Party as she stunned everyone with her riveting performance as "The Existentialist," which earned her an Academy Award nomation. Marriage to "king of the nightime soaps" Aaron Spelling left them divorced but "still friends." She asked for no alimony while Aaron was still struggling to the pinnacle.


But as Morticia, she came into lasting recognition and fame with the long, black dress and her wiggly walk. Her onscreen sexual chemistry, shocking for the times if you can imagine, with John Astin as Gomez was one of the reasons for the success of a two-year run of The Addams Family.

[CineMaven]

And I watched every episode of "The Addams Family" when I was a kid. Carolyn Jones. PERFECT!! She hadn't even crossed my mind. I remember her as the blonde Lee Marvin burned in "THE BIG HEAT." But as a brunette, with a meaty role under neath her...yup. Thanxxx Sue Sue Sue Sue. ( So good I had to say it a couple of times. )

[JackFavell]

Darn. I thought it was me.

Oh you've always been tops with me.

Good one Sue Sue! Perfect!

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I want to say thanks to the "usual" suspects: Jackie and the Cinematic Marvelistic Mavenator!
(And Movieman, you are still tops with me, too!)
My Mom, Dorothy Applegate, made sure I would grow up to be a people-pleaser, and I thrive on positive vibes...

[RedRiver]

So you're hanging out on the corner of Hither and Yon? Be careful. That's a dangerous neighborhood! I don't know how this happened, but I never really knew John Payne had been a singer until a few years ago. I saw him in a short feature on TCM. I had only known him as the handsome, more or less all American guy in some largely forgettable movies.

I'm going to shake things up a little with Dean Martin. He rose to fame as Jerry's straight man. Played the obligatory romantic scenes, sang a few tunes. But most of the songs were mediocre, and did anybody really care about the love story? So the "Pardners" take different trails. Jerry pursues a career of manic slapstick. Dean? Becomes a credible actor, a TV superstar, and one of the sharpest, smoothest crooners of his generation. The man did OK!

I guess it's a stretch to include John Wayne. The reason I'm tempted is the gracious, unpretentious manner in which he aged. Young and dashing in the 1930's, mature and hardened in the 50's, tired but dignified in THE SHOOTIST and THE COWBOYS. At no time in his long career was he embarrassed to be John Wayne. In a way, this is the opposite of what we're talking about. He didn't invent a new persona. He simply allowed the old one to grow. It was impressive.

[JackFavell]

That was great, red! I love your description of John Wayne. You couldn't be more right.

[Vienna]

Red River, love your quote on John Wayne and I agree about Dean Martin - watching him with Jerry Lewis, who would have thought what he would go on to do.

[CineMaven]

So you're hanging out on the corner of Hither and Yon? Be careful. That's a dangerous neighborhood!

I'm safe on this corner. Look at all the back up I have here. Someone can yell for the cops while you fight 'em off.
(( Sigh! )) My hero.

I'm going to shake things up a little with Dean Martin. He rose to fame as Jerry's straight man. Played the obligatory romantic scenes, sang a few tunes. But most of the songs were mediocre, and did anybody really care about the love story? So the "Pardners" take different trails. Jerry pursues a career of manic slapstick. Dean? Becomes a credible actor, a TV superstar, and one of the sharpest, smoothest crooners of his generation. The man did OK!

DINO!!!



Well EVERYBODY loves SOMEBODY, SOMETIMES!! I love it. He totally didn't cross my mind, and now you put him on my radar. I loved Martin & Lewis when I was a kid; have a vague vague memory of them splitting up. But who cares about Dean...I loved that wild manic Jerry. And then my sister got me to see "Some Came Running." We always laugh about the hoity toity way Martha Hyer says to Sinatra: "This is my room and I did not invite you in." But somehow I noticed Dean ( "Don't touch my hat!" ) Martin and my mind totally changed about him. He was serious. He had gravitas. He didn't need Jerry. He had chops. I always liked his songstyle. Yes, Sinatra had The Voice. Smoky. Heartbroken. But I admit I like Dino's voice a smidgen better. I find his voice soulfull, sexy, softly lilting, lush & romantic:

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He was never the same after his son was killed in a plane crash.

I guess it's a stretch to include John Wayne. The reason I'm tempted is the gracious, unpretentious manner in which he aged. Young and dashing in the 1930's, mature and hardened in the 50's, tired but dignified in THE SHOOTIST and THE COWBOYS. At no time in his long career was he embarrassed to be John Wayne. In a way, this is the opposite of what we're talking about. He didn't invent a new persona. He simply allowed the old one to grow. It was impressive.

You make a good case for The Duke. Who am I to argue. Thanx for weighing in.