The Silver Screen Oasis

RedRiver wrote: And who doesn't cheer on his brash, bold Jean LaFitte in Demille's rousing THE BUCCANEER?

I love that movie RedRiver ... I did some reading and researching that movie and you jarred my memory bank and he was fabulous in that movie ... I would love to see it again on TCM someday. Thanks for bring that up.

THE BUCCANEER is one of my favorite adventures. I think it's Demille's best.

I regret I did not record "The Buccaneer" when it was aired years ago, along with the 1958 Antony Quinn version with Brynner. I prefer the De Mille version with March.

I haven't seen The Buccaneer, I would love to.

I've still got to watch him in Death of a Salesman. I couldn't imagine anyone better as Willy Loman.

I've never been aware of an opportunity to see "Salesman." It's as if it disappeared without a trace.

It was on youtube, I did save it somewhere, it's that somewhere I need to figure out. It might still be there.

The biography, Fredric March: A Consummate Actor by Charles Tranberg is now available. More can be seen here. Here's hoping he will visit us to discuss this book if he has time.

The link to the publisher's product page returns a 'not found' error. Can't find this book listed on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, either. [Perhaps they've spotted the spelling error in the title and are reprinting.]

Good point. I thought that misspelling was just a glitch, but perhaps the link, which was there yesterday morning was just a tease. BearManor books are often available through the publisher's website prior to availability elsewhere.

At first, I thought it said A COMMUNIST ACTOR. Oh, Lord. Here we go again!

RedRiver wrote:At first, I thought it said A COMMUNIST ACTOR. Oh, Lord. Here we go again!

No, though, as an active American citizen in his day, Fred was accused of that a few times. They couldn't make it stick. Now available (with corrected title page).

moirafinnie wrote:

RedRiver wrote:At first, I thought it said A COMMUNIST ACTOR. Oh, Lord. Here we go again!

No, though, as an active American citizen in his day, Fred was accused of that a few times. They couldn't make it stick. Now available (with corrected title page).

March did have a patch of being accused of being either soft on Communism or a red himself in the late 40's & early 50's, but he was one of the few who fought back and win a retraction from a vile publication called "The Red Channels." For a few years he didn't get top Hollywood film offers, but eventually he came back and by 1959 he was invited by a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress to recite Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on the ocassion of Lincoln's 150th birthday.

Thanks for joining our site, Charles Tranberg. Can't wait to read your book. One question for you:

Was there something in the water in Wisconsin?

How come so many fine actors hailed from the state?

Spencer Tracy, Agnes Moorehead, Fred MacMurray, Gena Rowlands, Ellen Corby and Fredric March are just a few from this state, (IMDb lists over 1600 actors and filmmakers from WI).

Was there a really strong little theater movement there?

Or did Wisconsin kids just have more imagination than usual?

moirafinnie wrote:Thanks for joining our site, Charles Tranberg. Can't wait to read your book. One question for you:

Was there something in the water in Wisconsin?

How come so many fine actors hailed from the state?

Spencer Tracy, Agnes Moorehead, Fred MacMurray, Gena Rowlands, Ellen Corby and Fredric March are just a few from this state, (IMDb lists over 1600 actors and filmmakers from WI).

Was there a really strong little theater movement there?

Or did Wisconsin kids just have more imagination than usual?

I'm really happy to be here Moira. It is amazing about Wisconsin. You mentioned three people I have written books about who lived in Wisconsin (Agnes, Fred & Freddie March) and I guess it could be that the state encouraged or at least at one time encouraged the arts. Agnes taught school here and her father had a church in Reedsburg, WI and later her mother retired to Reedsburg and so Agnes returned many times. Fred was your typical small town boy (Beaver Dam) who aspired to be a musician and eventually that led to him doing some acting. March (or Fred Bickel) was born in Racine and went to the UW with the hopes of becoming an international banker, but later found it bored him and that led him into the theater (though he did do some theater in college, but he really didn't make much of an imperssion at the time). As far as imagination I would say that Agnes had a great deal of it and as a girl often played 'pretend' or indulged in mimicry. March was the same way and he was a statewide champion orator, too. MacMurray really didn't do a lot of that and he just kind of fell into acting by accident. The wonderful thing about all of them is that once they achieved fame they didn't seperate themselves from Wisconsin and their roots here. Agnes probably visited the most because her mother lived here, but she spent weeks at a time here. MacMurray returned (often unannounced) several times to visit old friends and March had family and friends here that he kept in touch with, too. Other famous Wisconsinites include Orson Welles, Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan!! One day I'd like to tackle either Carson or Morgan as a subject, too.

@moira finnie @charliechaplinfan
Thank Moira for sharing such treasure interview materials with me, but the second one which is an audio, can't be accessed due to the 404 page. It sounds incredible to beg for the audio or transcript article 10 years after your talk, but it is what I'm doing

Back to the topic. I agree with @charliechaplinfan's view towards March's marriage and scruple, especially on the basis of the first interview article. It should be noted that Kazan, in his memoir, describes vividly how March made bad flirtations which at some point caused him to be sent to the police station! He then concludes that "Freddie was a child who couldn't keep his fingers out of the cookie jar". Despite this, according to Florence in this interview, Kazan also once commented on him "so uptight about sex". What a controversial personality.