Biff Grimes: Character Crush 'Cause Character Counts

This is my entry in the Reel Infatuation Who's your Character Crush Blogathon hosted by the dynamic duo of Silver Screenings and Front and Frock. Click HERE for more cinematic affairs of the heart.

Sweet!

Oh for a man of character! They are few and far between in this world, aren't they? Thankfully we can escape into the world of movies where a man's word is as good as his heart because that's the kind of hairpin he is.

Father & son: Biff aspires to be a dentist and practices all
he learns from a correspondence course on his willing pop.

Biff Grimes of "The Strawberry Blonde" (1941) isn't your typical hero. Played in an incredibly sympathetic manner by James Cagney, he repeatedly plays second banana to his blowhard friend Hugo (Jack Carson) and is always a step behind his ne'er-do-well father (Alan Hale, Sr.). He has 2 critical weaknesses in his tough turn-of-the-century New York neighborhood: his basic decency and his romantic and chivalrous infatuation with the beautiful Virginia Brush (Rita Hayworth), the strawberry blonde of the title. 

All the boys at the barber shop long for Virginia

Biff is all bluff and bluster (in that charming Cagney way), but underneath he is honest, trusting, and maybe a bit naive (in the beginning). Outmaneuvered on that first double date, Hugo gets the luscious Virginia and Biff is stuck with suffragette wannabe  Amy (Olivia de Havilland). She, too, is all bluff and bluster, leading the shocked Biff to believe that she, a working woman (a nurse), smokes and, with the wink of an eye, might be open to premarital sex. Good girls in the 1890s didn't do or say things like that! As Amy later noted, she was without a date because "free thinkers usually have a lot of time on their hands."

Biff does manage a date with his strawberry blonde, but it is unsuccessful. While Virginia appreciates Biff's respectful ways, the material girl in her is drawn to sharpster Hugo, so much so that she runs off and marries him, leaving the ever hopeful Biff stunned and proposing to Amy as a consolation prize.

Virginia and Hugo: a deserving duo

As fate would have it, the gentle Amy and the trusting Biff were a good team, while the slimy Hugo and gilt-edged Virginia were also a match made in, if not hell, then at least purgatory. At Virginia's urging, Hugo hires Biff as an executive in his company. Virginia seems to enjoy torturing Hugo by keeping Biff around, as Hugo knows he sneaked in when a better man wasn't looking. 

Sitting behind a desk really wasn't Biff's style.

Biff is incredibly cute when he urges Amy to buy a new dress they clearly can't afford because he doesn't want Hugo and Virginia to show him up. But, Hugo, being Hugo, sets Biff up to take the fall for some shady practices  at his company and Biff goes to jail. Not only is Hugo dishonest, but he's also a coward (those 2 qualities usually go together, don't they?).

Biff kisses Amy goodbye before he is hauled off to jail.

It's upon Biff's release (with his dentistry diploma in hand) and his meeting with the patiently waiting Amy that reveals the truth about both characters: Biff has come to realize the depth of his love for Amy and Amy's patience is finally rewarded with the same love and appreciation she has shown all along.

Okay, so maybe I have a little girl-crush on Amy, too.

No pain killers for you, Hugo! We're doing this the manly way!

Fast forward to the present time. Biff is the neighborhood dentist (a dream fulfilled!) who finally gets an opportunity for revenge when, on a Sunday afternoon, he is the only dentist available to treat old nemesis Hugo's aching teeth. He's tempted to pay the lout back with a bit more gas than needed, but ultimately opts for pulling the tooth without any gas at all. Seeing the wedded misery of Hugo and Virginia only confirms what he has already learned: true love counts more than a pretty face. It took Biff a while, but this man of good character valued and loved the life he made with a woman of equally good character. Not only do they, presumably, live happily ever after, but a little Biff or Amy is on the way.

A note on the film: Rita Hayworth and Jack Carson make a dastardly duo, and some of the usual Warner Brothers suspects (George Tobias, Alan Hale Sr., Una O'Connor) are on hand (as well as a pre-Superman George Reeves ready to give Biff another black eye) to lend support, but it is the amazing chemistry between Cagney and de Havilland that gives this film its zest. There weren't many actresses that could hold their own in a great way against Cagney, but de Havilland matches him wink for wink and heartfelt look for look.

Rita Hayworth: American Exotic

Film historian David Shipman had this to say about Rita Hayworth in his masterful "The Great Movies Stars: The Golden Years":

"The appellation 'The Love Goddess' has been used about a dozen stars, but mostly about Rita Hayworth. Whatever other girls had - and sexy, desirable girls were never in short supply in films - Rita had more of. She was ravishing in black and white, and breathtaking when (very sensibly) they put her into Technicolor: auburn-haired, brown-eyed, and with the proverbial peaches-and-cream complexion. It wasn't just physical allure. Naturally it's preferable when a woman on the seducing end attractive - provocation was an early Hayworth specialty - but she did have that special star luster. One fan-mag-writer in 1963 considered her 'an interesting interval - if not an especially dynamic one - between Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe,' but her appeal was really somewhat more subtle than either. She was once described as 'the intellectual's glamour girl,' presumably implying that a lot of people liked her who weren't expected to."

Lately, I've just been thinking that she is one of the most beautiful women ever to to grace the screen.

Complex, Talented and Tragic

Rita's story is well known. Born Margarita Carmen Cansino, she followed in her dancing father's footsteps and was eventually noticed by the head of Fox studios, who put her under contract. Cast mostly as a foreign exotic, she was eventually dropped by Fox. Her first husband wrangled a deal with Columbia and there Harry Cohn saw a diamond in the rough in this B-film actress. Her name was changed, her hair-color changed from dark to red. A painful process of electrolysis to raise her low hairline completed the picture and a unique love goddess was made. The American beauties could never match the sex, mystery and allure of the European goddesses such as Garbo and Dietrich. While Hayworth projected all-American health, she also had that air of European sophistication. Film historian John Kobal called her an American Exotic.

Margarita and Rita

It seems Rita Hayworth knew very little happiness. Her second marriage to Orson Welles ended sadly. Her next romance, a scandalous one with Prince Aly Khan, for whom she left Hollywood. After than marriage ended, she returned to Hollywood, but her heart was no longer in it. 2 other disastrous and abusive marriages followed (to singer Dick Haymes and director James Hill). Harry Cohn continually made her life miserable at Columbia and, unbelievable though it seems, this great beauty was shy and insecure and relied heavily on alcohol to get her through the day. In her 50s she fell victim to Alzheimer's Disease. Because it was so misunderstood in those days, she was often accused of being drunk and/or crazy (her daughter, Yasmin Khan, cared for her mother with great compassion and is the president of Alzheimer's International).

Her Legacy
While she might have been sad behind the camera, Rita Hayworth left us with unforgettable images and breathtaking performances. Some on my favorites:

Gilda

Beautiful beyond belief, Rita famously said of the men in her life "every man I knew went to bed with Gilda and woke up with me."

Cover Girl

As Rusty Parker, she was the girl next door who just looked better than any girl who ever lived next door.

Pin Up Girl Extraordinaire

This photo of Rita on the cover of Life Magazine elevated her to the top of the heap (with Betty Grable) as WWII G.I.'s favorite pin-up girl.

Dancer

Rita's great friend, choreographer Jack Cole, said that Rita was only confident when she was dancing. Here are a few of her best moments.

Rita, you kicked ass.

To view more gorgeous photos of Rita, check out My Movie Dream Book right HERE.

THAT'S HOT! 10 SEXY PERFORMANCES FOR A STEAMY SUMMER

Yes, it's hot here in my neck of the woods. Words like steamy and sultry and sizzling are bandied about and, while it should make me think of air conditioning, it is making me think of sexy movies (I know, I'm hopeless!). Because they all come rushing into my head like bargain hunters at a one-hour sale at Walmart, I need to put them in some order. Otherwise, I may just pass out from the excitement!

So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 sexy male and female film performances. This list is totally subjective and based upon my feelings today (things change on a daily basis here sometimes).

*** WARNING ***

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AN ABOVE-THE-WAIST INTELLECTUAL DISSECTION OF WHAT MAKES THE LIBIDO TICK, MOVE ON!

Women

1. Clara Bow in "Call her Savage"

This poster pretty much says it all: "The throbbing adventures of a woman who unleashed her heart... so revelatory... so courageous in its searching depiction of the secret things in a woman's life that its burning words left a trail of readers breathless and amazed."

Clara is unbelievably sexy in this one, especially when she is horsewhipping Gilbert Roland's "Moonglow" (don't ask) and frolicking - clearly sans undergarments - on the floor with her Great Danes. Just outrageous pre-code stuff.

Clara, just 27, would only make one more film.

2. Rita Hayworth in "Gilda"

If you have never seen this, all I can say is fasten your safety belts. While my lists of top 5 may change ever so slightly depending on mood, this one will never fall out. 

This is one of the sexiest female performances ever committed to film. Rita is beautiful, daring and totally uninhibited. In other words, she is Gilda.

3. Louise Brooks in "Pandora's Box"

The legendary Louise Brooks is so unconsciously sexy as the conscienceless Lulu that it is impossible to take your eyes off of her.

Besides that face, that hair, that attitude, she also had a beautiful back and neck, with which Pabst was apparently fascinated!

4. Ingrid Bergman "Notorious"

I admit that I am a sucker for Hitchcock and Grant and think those 2 could make any woman feel and act sexy. However, for Ingrid, who was plenty sexy enough, this combo just upped the ante.

As the good-bad-girl who dabbles in espionage, she is all woman. Little girls need not apply for this role!

5. Eva Marie Saint "North by Northwest"

This one will never fall off of my list of tops, either. Eva is Hitchcock's sexiest leading lady in this film - bar none. 

Always cool, always a lady (no matter how many men she beds), but sexy down to her tippy-toes, she is a sweetheart underneath it all (not to mention a knock-out in those fabulous Edith Head costumes). She is fearlessly sexy in this film -  alarmingly, but charmingly, so.

Men

1. Rudolph Valentino in "The Son of the Sheik"

Unself-consciously romantic, macho and hot, Valentino lays it all out there for the world to adore.

Who needs subtlety when you look like that, kiss like that and have biceps like that? 


2. William Holden in "Picnic"

Need I say more?

Okay, if you insist. Aside from the fact that Holden was at the peak of his beauty and that the shirt kept coming off at the drop of a hat, when he and Kim Novak started dancing to "Moonglow," which segued into the "Theme from Picnic" there were never 2 more beautiful people on a lantern-lit dance floor.

3. Gene Kelly in "The Pirate"

Gene Kelly is a beautiufl, sexy man. Period.

In this film he gets to showcase his Fairbanksian charm, devastating smile and dangerous edge. His joie de vivre was never more evident as "Mack the Black" and he was never sexier. And that's saying a lot.

4. Laurence Olivier in "Wuthering Heights"

Again - you need more?

Okay, besides being impossibly handsome, earthy and sexy, his heartbreak over Cathy's demise was unutterably romantic. Great actor and great looks - some people get it all!

5. Cary Grant in "An Affair to Remember"

Notice how Cary crept into a few of the women's performances? Well, I can't help it and I really have a hard time just picking one, so I'm going with "An Affair to Remember," even though it is far from my favorite Cary Grant film.

I'm selecting this film because here Cary plays the pursuer. He is usually more the object of desire than the initiator ('though he always finishes up just fine). Here he is is the playboy who really wants Deborah Kerr. And what Cary wants, Cary should get! I can't think of anything sexier than being pursued by Cary Grant.

And finally, I am adding this photo because it looks fine on any day, but on a 104 degree day? I'd love to cool off with Cary, but I have a feeling you'd be able to boil an egg in that water!

Well, I could go on and on and on and on and have left out so many, but I did limit it to 5. Sorry Clark, Greta, Marilyn, Paul, etc.

So, how about you? Who steams up your glasses and sets you heart racing over the long, hot summer?

Star Transformations: This Does not JUST Happen!

Sometimes - a lot of times - most times - okay, all the time - when I look in the mirror I get very downhearted. It seems as though it takes a lot of product and effort to get me together to face the world and the results are not very encouraging. No matter how hard I try, I never look like a star. But then I remember that a star did not always look like a star. I'd like to think that, with a team of industrial strength beauticians giving me the Star Treatment, the same results could be achieved for me and I could be transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Here are a few that needed just a little assistance to achieve that "extra" something:

Greta Garbo:
Before the Star Treatment

No so impressive, is she?

After the Star Treatment:

Much better, no?

Marlene Dietrich:
Before the Star Treatment

Umm...not quite.....

After the Star Treatment

There she is!

The Star Treatment is not just reserved for foreign actresses who might not have the advantages of American Glamor. Here are a few American gals who needed the Treatment:

Joan Crawford:

Before the Star Treatment:

Not her best look

After the Star Treatment

Glamor Puss

Lana Turner:

Before the Star Treatment

(Yes - she needed a little assistance)

to go from this.....

to this!

Rita Hayworth
Even a goddess needs a hand. Before the Star Treatment:

 a pretty enough girl

After the Star Treatment

They did a good job with this one!

The guys are not immune to a make-over, either. A good haircut (both head and facial) as well eye makeup and lighting can do wonders.

John Gilbert
Before the Star Treatment

an ordinary fellow

After the Star Treatment

Wow!

Clark Gable:
Before the Star Treatment

Not bad, but not quite  royalty

After the Star Treatment

His Majesty, The King

James Cagney
Before The Star Treatment

Not so tough...

After the Star treatment. As Lady Gaga can tell you, a little eye makeup can make you look fierce...

You've got my attention!

Even Lassie needed some help!
Before the Star Treatment:

No one is immune to a bad hair day

After the groomer works his magic

Ready for my close-up!

So, I face each day looking like a "before" picture, but I just know that if MGM would send those beauticians to my house and follow me all day with the proper lighting, I, too, could look like a star!