Hollywood and Vine
My first home [albeit for slightly less than a week] was the Temple Hospital, located a few blocks from the corner of Hollywood and Vine. From this inauspicious beginning blossomed a life-long love affair with my hometown. As a kid, I threw newspapers on the lawns of actors and actresses, played hide-and-seek with the children of producers and directors, and played piano at the homes of screenwriters and music directors. I can never remember a time when there wasn't a photograph of my mother and silent screen star Lillian Gish in our den. In short, Hollywood has been coursing through my veins since day one. . . .
Come and join me for a journey back to the days when Hollywood was not only the “Film Capital of the World,” but the place where dreams indeed did come true.
• John Barrymore (1882-1942): “The Great Profile:” John Sidney Blythe was the young, most talented, and notorious of the three siblings known collectively as the “House of Barrymore. John had the talent and guts to perform a stellar Hamlet in England, and then wind up drowning his artistic genius in a sea of alcohol.
Clara Bow (1905-1965): The personification of the roaring twenties. At her peak, Bow received upwards of 50,000 fans letters a week. A grade school dropout who was nearly murdered by an insane mother and defrauded by an avaricious father, Bow wound up as the subject of a sensational trial in which her penchant for drugs, alcohol, gambling and men became public knowledge.
Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968): “Hello dahling!” The scion of a politically powerful family (her father was Speaker of the House of Representatives), Bankhead became the toast of Broadway and London's West End, conquered Hollywood, and enthralled two generations with her madcap antics.
Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957): “Bogie” Hollywood's penultimate tough-guy, Bogart was actually the son of a prominent surgeon and a world-famous photographer. After prepping at Andover and entering Yale, Bogart turned to the state – where he may well have been the first to utter that immortal line tennis anyone? – and then go on to a legendary Hollywood career.
How the Jews Invented Hollywood: How a group of impoverished Jews from Eastern Europe built the great studios, thereby transforming America and single-handedly creating a multi-billion dollar industry.
Enter Will Hays: The Great Hollywood Scandals: From 1920 through 1925, Hollywood was beset with one salacious scandal after another. Facing censure and declining revenues, studio moguls were forced to bring in a ‘morals' Tsar,' United States Postmaster General Will Hayes.
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been . . .? Hollywood had to fight off charges of harboring, supporting, and disseminating Communists, Communism and Communist ideology. A look at an unseemly chapter in Hollywood (and American) history.
How Hollywood Destroyed Orson Welles: The Story of Citizen Kane: Arguably the greatest movie ever made in America, Welles' Citizen Kane was also the target of one of Hollywood's most vicious campaigns. This lecture examines how a 25-year old wunderkind came to write, produce, direct and star in a film that had all America's attention even before it hit the silver screen. ( This lecture can be done with or without video clips)
D.W. Griffith: Father of All Directors: Unquestionably, the greatest of all silent directors, Griffith (1875-1948) wrote, produced and directed films that took the novelty out of the nickelodeon and gave an art form to the world. We will watch parts of such masterpieces as Judith of Bethulia, Broken Blossoms, Birth of a Nation, and Intolerance. (Requires VCR/DVD player)
Sir Charles Chaplin: Escaping a harrowing childhood in the slums of Victorian London, Chaplin eventually became the best-known, most beloved person in the world. We will examine this remarkable artist's vision and watch how he created developed and refined the character of “The Tramp,” his greatest achievement (Requires VCR/DVD player)
John Barrymore: One of film's greatest actors – and most tragic talents. We will view clips from Barrymore's greatest silent, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Requires VCR)
Douglas Fairbanks: “America's Greatest Exponent of the Smile,” Fairbanks (nee Douglas Elton Ulman) was about as popular a star as ever lived. We will view clips from his legendary The Thief of Bagdad.” (Requires VCR/DVD player)
D.W. Griffith (Intolerance): The “Father of All Directors,” directing cinema's only true “cinematic fugue.”
Raoul Walsh (The Thief of Baghdad): Griffith's greatest disciple, directing Douglas Fairbanks' greatest spectacles.
Buster Keaton (The General): After years in the critical wilderness, Keaton is now considered one of Hollywood's most brilliant directors.
Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka): The teaming of an enigmatic director with a volatile star (Garbo) resulted in a sophisticated classic.
Michael Curtiz (Casablanca): No one liked Curtiz. All he could do was direct brilliant films.
John Houston (The African Queen): The man and the film who drove Bogart to risk sobriety and Hepburn to consider homicide.
David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia): The quintessential English director and his unsurpassed masterpiece.
William Wyler (Dead End): A prolific director whose camera exposed the seamier side of American life.
John Ford (1895-1973): Orson Welles once said: “If you want to learn how to direct, you must study the masters – John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.”
Preston Sturges (1898-1959): Independently wealthy and eccentric, Sturges' life was as unlikely as the plots of his most famous movies.
George Cukor (1899-1983): Generally dismissed as ‘a woman's director,' Cukor got masterful performances out of Grant, Stewart and Boyer, as well as Hepburn, Crawford and Garbo.
Alfred Hitchcock (1900-1980): There's got to be a reason why Hitchcockian is a real word . . .
Howard Hawks (1896-1977): Hawks succeeded brilliantly in virtually every genre. Best known for screwball comedies like His Girl Friday and film-noir classics like The Big Sleep.
Frank Capra (1897-1991): From Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Meet John Doe , Capra was known for his pictures about “the little guy.”
Edward Dmytryk (1908-1999): Best known as a member of the “Hollywood Ten,” Dmytryk made such hard-hitting “message” films as Crossfire and Till the End of Time.
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): One of Hollywood's greatest screenwriters. Wilder “also” directed such classics as Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd. and Some Like It Hot.
Ninotchka (1939): Carrying the tagline “Garbo Laughs!” this film garnered four Academy nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay.
Wuthering Heights (1939): Nominated for eight Academy Awards, many consider this to be the most romantic picture of all time.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): With an astounding 11 nominations to its credit, Mr. Smith is considered the “most American” movie ever produced.
Stagecoach (1939): The movie that proved that John Ford was a genius, and that John Wayne was an actor.
The Wizard of Oz (1939): This film, perhaps Hollywood's most beloved, was plagued with seemingly insurmountable difficulties even before the cameras rolled.
Gone With the Wind (1939): Nominated for an incredible 15 awards (and a winner of ten), this epic is known as “The Film that Changed Hollywood Forever.”