George Raft

[Western Guy]

Truthfully, George does not come across as quite the matinee idol in this image I have of him; his ears are indeed quite . . . prominent. I would guess the photo was taken when he was in his early 20s. Wish I had some way of posting some of these pix. They are unique.

I agree about A Dangerous Profession. Without the leads the picture would have been a crashing bore. Still, it's an absolute classic compared to later stuff, such as The Man from Cairo and I'll Get You. Watching films like those, you can really understand why George's movie career sank.

[charliechaplinfan]

I have both of those movies, it's a sign that I really like a star when I'm willing to sit through films like that, I'll have too see how I fare.

The pictures I promised, firstly one for the ladies, I mean you Theresa although I'm not sure about the chest hair Do you know the movie Stone



With another of my favourite movie guys, very handsome in this one



Stone, I'm not sure of the movie, can you be of any help



And again He doesn't look too comfortable, looks like he's trapped whilst the lady is away in her own reverie.



I love this look, I don't really go for the slicked back hair, I know it's the style of the time but give me hair that can be rumpled, like here

[charliechaplinfan]

Older George, still looking dapper, no idea when this was taken but he is wearing the ring I mentioned in the last few film reviews



Bolero I think, with the lovely Carole



Again with Carole, at least I think so Although whether it's Bolero or Rumba I can't tell



A suave older man, although perhaps the top part of his hairstyle is a toupee, it looks like it's just been placed there



I want to know the movie, the still has sold it to me completely. Can you help Stone?

[charliechaplinfan]

Demonstrating the slicked back hairstyle which reminds me so much of Valentino



Out on the town with Betty Grable



Displaying impeccable taste with one of my favourite actresses

[Western Guy]

Great images, Alison. The first shot is the shower scene from the opening of Invisible Stripes. Not sure of the next image. But the bullfighter attire is from the forgettable The Trumpet Blows.

Hey, just got an idea. If you send me through a PM your home email, I could forward you some of my unique Raft images that maybe you could post, including the baby pic. As I say, I'm a technological dinosaur and have no idea how to do so. Anyhoo Alison, let me know and we can have some fun.

BTW:It's interesting how in the bio "The George Raft File" (which George was not at all happy with) the author mentions that George NEVER smoked. That photo inclusion reminds me otherwise. And George, of course, died both of leukemia and emphysema . . . the latter clearly a result of his three pack a day Lucky Strike habit.

Love the look on Betty Grable's face in that second-to-last pic. As if she's disapproving of George lighting up a cigarette. Yet she succumbed to a smoking-related illness (lung cancer) years before George did.

[charliechaplinfan]

I will do Stone, I'll send you a PM then I'll post them on this thred. I'm delighted to have the skill to do it now, it took me a while and I think part of my problem is the internet connection, it's not good here, in the past the screens have frozen but now I seem to have found a site that hosts the images that I can manage.

I can't wait to see Invisible Stripes

It's funny you should mention the smoking because although I think it's admirable that he didn't drink (apart from his own isolated incidents that put him off alcohol and heavens knows what he was witness to during prohibition) but the smoking, it's as dangerous. Of course it wasn't realised in the early twentieth century and we had Olivier cigarettes named after the man himself. It always strikes me when reading biographies and flicking through studio pictures that most stars smoked, Charles Boyer smoked 80 a day, according to his biographer, I don't know how it's physically possible. I have to admit that sometimes the cigarette is quite artfully used, whether in stills or in movies and it can look very stylish, unfashionable to say so but I am fond of smoking on celluloid or in portraits.

[Western Guy]

Thanks for being my "poster", Alison. Hope the board members enjoy these rare images.

As for smoking - hard to believe today but back then you were almost considered odd if you didn't indulge in tobacco. From what I read in one of his family member's bios, John Wayne used only one match a day, the one he used to light his first cigarette. The rest of his cigarettes were lit off the tip of the one about to be discarded. Slightly exaggerated, I'm sure, but the Duke was known to smoke up to three packs of unfiltered a day.

Warner Brothers films in particular seemed to be hazed in a cigarette smoke hue.

Let me know your thoughts on Invisible Stripes. Despite the ridiculousness of Raft's character being 27(!), it's one of my fave G.R. films. Was fun to talk to Marc Lawrence and Frankie Thomas about being in the picture.

[charliechaplinfan]

I hadn't heard that about John Wayne, did cowboys smoke? Your moniker is Western Guy but apart from an initial posting I don't think I've spoken to you much about Westerns, that will be my fault, I don't have the great knowledge of the genre which I think I would have if I was American, it's part of your history if it is told by Hollywood, I do like a well made film though, so I've appreciated some without dabbling too far in. I've found I like movies like The Furies, The Cavalry Trilogy, My Darling Clementine, Stagecoach and The Ox Bow Incident, I don't like all the John Ford/John Wayne movies which is a bit sacriligeous. I'm inching into Westerns but Istill prefer precodes, gangster dramas, noir, musicals, silents etc

I love Warner Bros, I think it's the underdog in me. I prefer MGM for the musicals but give me a slice of Warner's realism rather than a piece of MGM gloss. For actors with the exception of Clark Gable who I like as much , I prefer Warner's stable of male talent, I like MGM actresses though, Harlow, Garbo, Shearer and Crawford, that was their strength.

[Western Guy]

Well, yes, I write Westerns (after publishing books ranging from horror to history). My last four books have been in the Western genre and my agent has just secured me a three-book deal with one of the leading New York houses. I've enjoyed success with Westerns but what is interesting is that it's a genre I never would have thought to approach maybe seven years ago. Now I'm enjoying every minute of composing frontier fiction.

I'm a Warner Brothers junkie. IMO no other studio produced better films or had a better stable of stars - from legendary leads to contract players such as Alan Hale, George Tobias, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, etc.

[charliechaplinfan]

I love the supporting actors roster. I can tell a Warner's film from the classic period without having to see he credit, not only because of the stars and supporting stars but the look, it was more distinct than any other studio I think.

[charliechaplinfan]

Just started Loan Shark, so far so good

[Western Guy]

Yes, definitely one of the better later Raft features.

[charliechaplinfan]

I could see Bogart playing this role. Now I've seen a few of his later roles, I got to musing about his later career. He's wasn't the only leading man reaching the middle age time of his life when film roles were drying up but could handle the tough guy roles believably, that I guess gave him longevity, the biggest hoods or best cops are often older guys. He's also one of the older of the actors from the thirties. He's a better actor than you led me to believe Stone, although I still haven't seen the really poor films he did. I understand that Bogart was an anomaly almost, becoming more popular as he got older, he certainly got more attractive, then he hit a plateau but his personality was so strong, that character that Bogart played, men and women would keep going to watch his movies because that persona was such a draw. He was a talented actor too. George was more attractive in the thirties than Bogie and he kept his looks but by the fifties, he's beginning to look, not his age but the type of guy that only gals of a certain age would go for, perhaps this lost him some audience. The Bogart's are few and far between, if Bogart had have lived longer I think he'd have had other successes. George was among leading men of yesteryear that didn't do stage plays to keep them busy but needed to work. I only wish he knew that I'm enjoying his output from the fifties, even if by that time he wasn't the type of guy that this gal would go for, he's a personality and that's way I like him.

Incidentally, Stone, what is his accent? I'm hopeless at accents, so bad I could easily insult a person by getting their accent wrong. I like his voice, but I daren't guess that it's a New York accent in case I insult someone. Even if he does sound a bit like Cagney, nobody speaks like Cagney.

[Western Guy]

IMO, Bogart needed that maturity. He was a pretty shallow youth in his early movies. He almost broke through as The Mug in Three on a Match. Then there was Midnight, but that was a pretty forgettable picture. The Petrified Forest made Bogie, removed the stigma of callowness from his screen characterizations. Actually, no one aged - or matured, if you will - so rapidly if not drastically onscreen. Not Raft, hardly Cagney (except for the weight issue - compare the eleven-year change in girth from Angels With Dirty Faces to White Heat), and Eddie G. was always . . . Eddie G. To me, Bogart looked much older than his years even before he hit fifty. Balding, weathered skin, overall haggard, hungover appearance.

Of this group, only Eddie Robinson made periodic forays back to the stage. As did Paul Muni. Raft was never a "stage star", and Bogart and Cagney could continue to enjoy their screen success; Bogart in particular made it clear he had no interest in returning to "the boards". The closest he came was when he reprised the role of Duke Mantee for live television. As for Raft . . . I feel he just wasn't that dedicated an actor to attempt to broaded his horizons with stage work . . . if such was even offered to him, which I doubt.

George spoke typically New Yorkese. It's funny, for example, to hear him pronounce "Yeah" as "Yaaar", which he does often in his films.

[charliechaplinfan]

I like the New York accent then. Did all of Warner's Murderer's Row hail from New York?

To me Edward G never really changed, he started off looking old and didn't end up looking that much older. Jimmy Cagney did broaden, I think George Raft did slightly. Bogart, the exception, never looked well nourished to me, I think part of his appeal to women is the nuturing and being able to save him from himself. Was he like the Bogie persona in real life? I've read varying accounts but I think I believe Lauren Bacall (I love her autobiography).