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Goodbye to John Barrymore
From June 2, 1942: 1,000 Honor Barrymore at Simple, 12-Minute Rites Hollywood–June 2: John Barrymore was buried today with a brief ceremony that contrasted with his career as the most spectacular member of America’s royal family of the theater. Fewer than 70 friends and relatives crowded the dim little chapel at Calvary Cemetery, but lined among the 200 steps leading to the chapel and in front of the building were 1,000 other persons gathered to pay tribute to the veteran actor who died Friday night. Father John O’Donnell of Immaculate Heart Church, the priest who received Barrymore back into the Catholic church and administered extreme unction before his death, conducted…
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Movie of the Week: The White Sister (1933) and Night Flight (1933)
This week, we’ve got a Clark Gable-Helen Hayes double feature: The White Sister (1933) and Night Flight (1933). In The White Sister, Clark Gable is Giovanni Severa, a pilot in the Italian Air Force. He meets Angela (Hayes), an aristocratic daughter of a prince (Lewis Stone). Her father opposes their romance but they steal moments together anyway. When Giovanni goes off to fight in the 1914-1918 war, Angela waits for him so they can get married. When she learns he has died in combat, she knows she will never love again and joins a convent. Clark is quite dashing here, in a uniform and all full of romantic prose. It…
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Hollywood Hobbies
This cartoon appeared in Screenland magazine in 1933: John Barrymore Just as sure as not You’ll find John on his yacht Developing seaworthy legs. And spending his time, Without reason or rhyme, With his rarest collection of eggs. Joan Crawford You cannot ignore, In this group of four, The personal hobby of Joan. She considers it play To model in clay And even to chisel in stone. Norma Shearer If you can’t analyze The charm of her eyes Of the glamorous lure of her tresses– You, at least, should have known That Miss Shearer is prone To designing her very own dresses. Clark Gable Here is…
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September Movie of the Month: Night Flight (1933)
Okay, okay, I know it’s the end of the month and here I am just now declaring the Movie of the Month for September. In my defense, I just moved and my office has turned out to be the last room to get unpacked. I always rewatch the Movie of the Month and reread the passages about it in some of the books I have. So I had to wait until I found my DVDs and books! I actually had another film in mind for this month but I can’t find the DVD at the moment, so Night Flight it is. Night Flight is a true ensemble piece, boosting an impressive…
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The 13 Most Fascinating Women in John Barrymore’s Life
John Barrymore lists the thirteen most fascinating women in his life, from Look magazine, Nov. 5, 1940: The most fascinating woman I ever knew was my grandmother, Mrs. John Drew. But if you ask me to define glamour–well, I simply can’t. One doesn’t define that, and therein lies its charm. Actually, I haven’t the slightest notion as to what constitutes glamour. I really feel that to find out would be one of life’s tragedies–especially where a man’s search fir it in a woman is concerned. It is the very elusiveness of the quality, and the inability to define it that provides the incentve for the search that never should end. The best…
