Movie Books I Love: People Will Talk by John Kobal

This is an occasional series featuring my favorite movie books. Before TCM and the internet, the only way to satisfy my passion to know more about Classic Hollywood was through books, books and more books. I've cleared away the clutter over the years, but many remain permanent residents in my home. You'd never throw out an old friend, now, would you?

May we take a pause for moment a thanks to those precious movie-loving guides who shepherd us through our (hopefully) never-ending journey of classic film education and appreciation? You know who I mean – folks like Joe Franklin, Robert Osborne and the late, great John Kobal.

Besides being an important historian, collector and writer, Kobal was – above all – a fan. His enthusiasm was that of a star-struck fan. It is an enthusiasm with which I easily identify and admire. One of the great treasures on my library is Kobal’s 1985 collection of interviews called “People Will Talk” (Alfred A. Knopf publisher). It is worn, torn and mighty dilapidated, but I will only part with it when it turns to dust.

It all started with Marlene Dietrich

In 1960, when Dietrich was touring with Burt Bacharach, Kobal snagged an interview with her and ended up sleeping in her living room suite. After meeting her, he was seized by the passion of meeting and interviewing his favorite stars. None of them disappointed and many of them overwhelmed him with their kindness and patience for his boundless enthusiasm.

During the 1960s and 1970s Kobal conducted a series of interviews with the great and often forgotten stars, directors, choreographers and photographers of the silent and classic film era. Interviews with many of the obvious choices (Bette Davis, for example) were excluded in favor of more obscure or forgotten stars (June Duprez, Evelyn Brent). It is interesting to read how some remember exactly how things were and do not sugar coat things (Louise Brooks, Joan Blondell, Loretta Young), some “misremember” things to their own advantage (Miriam Hopkins, Howard Hawks), while others lived in a hazy fog of even hazier memories.

Here’s the complete treasure chest of interviews:
Gloria Swanson       Colleen Moore    Dorothy Gish    Olga Baclanova
Dagmar Godowsky   Louise Brooks    Evelyn Brent     Camilla Horn
Lewis Milestone      Anna Sten         Mae West         Anita Loos
Joan Blondell         Eleanor Powell   Arletty             George Hurrell
Joan Crawford        Joel McCrea       Irene Dunne     Katharine Hepburn
Bob Coburn           Miriam Hopkins   Lazlo Willinger  Loretta Young
Ann Sheridan        Joan Fontaine     Jean Louis        Ingrid Bergman
Howard Hawks      John Engstead    Ida Lupino       Barbara Stanwyck
Vincent Sherman   June Duprez       Jack Cole         Henry Hathaway
Hermes Pan          Arthur Freed      Kim Stanley     Tallulah Bankhead
Melba Marshall/Lois Lindsay/Madison Lacy

Each interview is prefaced by a beautiful photo of the subject at the height of their career and a summary of their contribution to that magic state of mind called Hollywood.


Some of My Favorites

Gloria Swanson, sharp as a tack, and full of stories about her great fame as a silent star and her role as Norma Desmond, ending the interview by saying "I just get a little tired of talking about myself." So cute. An authentic star of the highest order, she played the role of "movie star" to the hilt. But Gloria never forgot who she was and she viewed her job with flinty realism. Her recollections are mainly spot on, but if she errs, Kobal never corrects during an interview. With her and many others, he merely footnotes the correction. What a gentleman.

Louise Brooks, granting 2 in-person interviews and several phone interviews to Kobal, reveals herself as the grand observer of the silent era and films in general. Her great spirit and incredible intelligence shine through in each and ever statement. For all of her problems (she was alcoholic, suffering form emphysema and suffering from arthritis), she is like a happy child when talking about movies. She quotes Proust to Kobal: "The only paradise is paradise lost." As she pours over decades of great stars and directors with Kobal, we can only agree.

George Hurrell, a total gossip! He describes Rita Hayworth as instinctively sexy "not too mentally alert," tattles on the massive retouching required by Rosalind Russell, and giggles over the chance shot photographer Frank Powolny got of Carmen Miranda in mid twirl with her skirt flying high in the air and no panties. He as kind words for Harlow, Crawford and Lombard and proclaims Garbo the sexiest of them all without even trying.

Ann Sheridan comes across as the warm-hearted person we all knew she was. At the time of the interview, Sheridan had been diagnosed with cancer and was not looking her best. But she is jolly in her recollections of her days at Warner Brothers as the "Oomph Girl," and working with giants like James Cagney, Cary Grant and Bette Davis. A few weeks after their interview Kobal met Sheridan for lunch and, seeing her as he walked into the restaurant caused him to stop dead in his tracks. There, the center of attention, sat the Ann Sheridan he remembered. She was made up like a movie star and she was signing napkins, checkbooks and any and all odd slips of paper put before her for an autograph. Said Kobal: "She looked sensational. Then, before we said goodbye, she added, 'you know, darlin', I did this for you." What a gal, that Annie.

June Duprez, the beautiful princess of Korda's 1940 "Thief of Baghdad", tells a sad story. Poised for stardom, she was effectively blackballed by Korda's then-wife, Merle Oberon. Thanks to Merle, June was not even invited to the film's Hollywood premier. A gentle soul, she was ill used and advised by many more powerful than she, so much so that she was literally unable to find work. Hollywood was not a place for gentle souls like June Duprez.


Other Favorites
Vincent Sherman has a lot of great tales to tell as his days as a director (mainly for Warner Brothers), but nothing beats his tales of working with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins on "Old Acquaintance."


Loretta Young, Irene Dunne and Joan Blondell all give very realistic accounts of the unglamorous part of being a movie star.


Dorothy Gish, Mae West and Miriam Hopkins are not always in our reality. Evelyn Brent, a big star who fell into obscurity, is incredibly modest. Joan Crawford is so gracious and, despite her fame, her insecurity shows.


Each and every interview is carefully constructed. Kobal has the trust of his subjects and puts them at ease. Part of being a fan of Classic Hollywood is a consuming interest all of the behind the screen details. Like any good fan, Kobal knows exactly what we like. Good thing he knew how to get people to talk!

"People Will Talk" is available for a range of prices from a variety of sellers on line, including Amazon.

Click here to view the Kobal Collection.

MOVIE BOOKS I LOVE: "FROM SCARFACE TO SCARLETT" BY ROGER DOOLEY

This is an occasional series featuring my favorite movie books. Before TCM and the internet, the only way to satisfy my passion to know more about Classic Hollywood was through books, books and more books. I've cleared away the clutter over the years, but many remain permanent residents in my home. You'd never throw out an old friend, now, would you?

I don't know about you, but I really hate how each new book, celebrity, movie, song, anything is instantly labeled fabulous, the best, amazing, great - only to be surpassed by tomorrow's new thing and lie discarded and forgotten a week later. "From Scarface to Scarlett: American Films in the 1930s" by Roger Dooley is, without exaggeration, a truly fabulous, great and amazing book. And I'm not kidding. I've been saying this since its publication in 1981 (actually 1979, with an update in 1981).

"The 1930s were the golden age of film, don't you agree, Clark?"
"Why, yes, Joan, I most certainly do!"

"From Scarface to Scarlett" is a trip through the great movie decade of the 1930s. And it's a trip on the local, not the express. Think back, if you can to the dark ages of 1981 - no Turner Classic Movies, no internet. This makes Roger Dooley's work even more impressive. 

The book is divided into 14 mammoth sections, with corresponding subsections that are witty and insightful and chock full of descriptions of films ranging from the famous to the obscure. In a remarkable acheivement, the author personally screened almost five thousand films in a journey from television, revival houses to museums. There are facts galore, and fine criticism, but what makes this book so much fun is that Dooley writes like a real fan. A scholarly and knowledgeable one, to be sure, but a fan first and foremost. His love for the films and the stars and the era jumps off of every page. Dooley clearly considers the 1930s the apex of the studio and star system:


"In between came those ten phenomenal years that seem ever more incredible as they recede in time. Granted that then the movies were a giant industry, whose aim was to make the biggest profit by pleasing the widest public, the wonder is how many really fine pictures were produced within, or in spite of, the system. Even the most routine "B" films still show an un-self-conscious verve, pace and vitality, a crisp professionalism all too seldom seen today; dialogue is fast but clearly spoken, scenes make their point and end. The very speed of the shooting schedules left little time for self-indulgent writers, director or stars."


Here's a very small sampling (all sub-sections contain so many more references that are impossible to list here) to whet your appetite:


SECTION 1: Just Picture a Penthouse: Love Among the Millionaires
1. O Mistress Mine: Ladies with a Past
Films in this category include "Bed of Roses," "Shopworn," "Possessed," and "Camille." 

Constance Bennett and Joel McCrea in "Bed of Roses"

2. Puttin' on the Ritz: The Gold Diggers of 1930-1939.
Films in this category include "Red Headed Woman," "Girls About Town," "The Greeks Had a Word for Them," all of the Gold Digger films, and "42nd Street." 

Kay Francis and Lilyan Tashman in the outrageous "Girls About Town"

3. Happily Ever After: Cinderella Romances.
Films include "Sadie McKee," "Hot Saturday," "Page Miss Glory," and "Midnight."
4. Vivacious Ladies: Working Girl Comedies.
Films include "The Gilded Lily," Hands Across the Table," "Bachelor Mother," and "Theodora Goes Wild."

Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Elbert Coplen, Jr.,
and David Niven in "Bachelor Mother"

5. With Plenty of Money and You: Heiress, Madcap, Headstrong, Footloose and Runaway.
Films include "It Happened One Night," "My Man Godfrey," "Libeled Lady," and "Bringing Up Baby."
6. Scene- Drawing Room, Late Afternoon: Comedies of Manners from the Stage.
Films include "Our Betters," "Topaze," "The Women," and "When Ladies Meet."


SECTION 7: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: Cops and Robbers
1. "Aw Right You Guys!": The Gang's All Here.
Films include "Little Caesar," "The Public Enemy," "Scarface," and "The Roaring Twenties."

Paul Muni and Ann Dvorak in "Scarface."

2. Innocent Bystanders: Women and Children First.
Films include "Woman Wanted," "Mary Burns, Fugitive," "You Only Live Once," and "Ann Vickers."
3. Around the Law in Eighty Ways: Shysters, Mouthpieces and Ambulance Chasers.
Films include "A Free Soul," "The Mouthpiece," "Lawyer Man," and Counsellor-at-Law."

Warren William and "clients" in "The Mouthpiece"

4. Law and Order: The Enforcers.
Films include "The Great O'Malley," "G-Men," "Counterfeit," and "Show Them No Mercy."

James Cagney on the right side of the law in "G-Men"

5. "I'm Bustin' Out": Our Fettered Friends.
Films include "The Big House," "I am a Fugitive," "20,000 Year in Sing Sing," and "Each Dawn I Die."


These are just two sections! Other sections, with endlessly entertaining sub-sections, include:
● The Plot Thickens: Intrigue, Boudoir and Otherwise
● Remembrance of Things Past: Wistful Glances Past
● Long Ago and Far Away: Escapes Still Further into the Past
● The White Man's Burden: Imperialism, Hollywood Style
● Nice Work If You Can Get It: Occupational Hazards
● Blood Will Tell: The Nonprofessionals
● The Light Fantastic: Flights of Fancy, Musical and Otherwise
● The Show Must Go On: Behind the Scenes
● People Like Us: Everyday Folks - More or Less
● In Times Like These: Films of Ideas
● Over the Rainbow: 1939 - The Best of Everything - Almost


Is your brain churning, trying to figure out in which chapter your favorite 1930s film will appear? The book is filled with wonderful stills from films you don't see every day (not even on TCM) and a more than complete glossary of titles and another or persons. What more could a movie lover ask for? It has been a treasure trove of information for me and an endless source of delight. The binding is a little cracked and the pages worn and a bit worse for the wear, but all of these "blemishes" are proof of the love I have for this wonderful book.

Fiddle de dee this is a great book!

I notice that this book is available on Amazon and at other outlets for a ridiculously wide range of prices. If you do decide to locate it, all I can say is enjoy!