AIN'T NOTHING LIKE THE REAL THING, BABY

Only the public can make a star. It's the studios who make a system out of it.                  Marilyn Monroe                                        

                                                                                             
Some stars are made by the public and some are the creations of, as Norma Desmond called them, "the masterminds." The Hollywood moguls of old liked to think that they had the power to create a star. Like Professor Henry Higgins, they imagined they could take the most improbable subject and transform him or her into someone the public would embrace.

By George, I really did it!

Once they hit upon a winning formula, their instinct was to mass-produce like a factory. It usually didn't work. Copycat stars rarely step out of the shadows of the originals, but once in a while, one is individual enough to stake a claim of their very own.

Here a just a few of the originals and their imitators:

The Original: Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin's enormous popularity spawned quite a few imitators, including:

The Copies: Billy West

West's greatest fame lied in his uncanny impersonations of Charlie.  Other than that, the rest of his career is merely a footnote.

Harold Lloyd

Yes, even the great Harold Lloyd started out as a copycat as "Lonesome Luke", a clear Chaplin rip-off. This always made Lloyd uncomfortable, and it wasn't until he hit upon his "glasses" character that his own genius was allowed to flourish (thank goodness!).

The Original: Rudolph Valentino

Valentino's popularity spawned a slew of exotic lovers, but none could touch the original.

The Copies: Ricardo Cortez

Ricardo (born Jacob Krantz) was totally manufactured star who managed to survive the Valentino craze and go on to have a respectable career in films before ditching them for a lucrative career on Wall Street.

Antonio Moreno

Best remembered as having "it" alongside Clara Bow, Moreno had a long, if unspectacular career. 

Ramon Novarro

A copy with real staying power and star quality, Novarro inherited the mantel of "Latin Lover" after the death of Valentino. He had a long career and a legion of fans.

The Original: Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford was the most popular woman in the world during the peak of her stardom. While many tried to copy her, no one could come close.

The Copy: Mary Miles Minter

Mary Miles Minter gave Pickford a run for her money for a short while, but a lack of fire, real talent and her role in the William Desmond Taylor murder mystery put an end to her career.

The Original: Pola Negri

Pola was the original foreign exotic.

The Copy: Greta Garbo

Although Garbo was originally placed in Pola-like roles, she proved to be too much of an original. Before long, stars and studios were emulating Garbo, but by then she had established herself as beyond duplication.

The Original: Marlene Dietrich

They should have known better - you don't copy this!

The Copy: Anna Sten

Known as "Goldwyn's Folly," the beautiful Miss Sten was brought by Goldwyn to Hollywood as his studio version of the foreign exotic. Unfortunately for both, Miss Sten did not click with the public.

The Original: Ronald Colman

The perfect, cultured and romantic Englishman. This was such a popular "type" that many were needed to fill the role!

The Copy: Brian Aherne

Brian Aherne was a very respectable "second choice" Colman (he was awarded the starring role in "A Tale of Two Cities," but it was taken away from him when his friend Colman became available). 

The Original: Errol Flynn

Looks alone did not define his appeal. Although others tried, Flynn's looks, talent, charisma and charm were a hard package to duplicate.

The Copy: Patric Knowles

Signed because of his resemblance to Errol, Patric never made it into the leading man category. Really, a passing resemblance, at best.

The Original: Freddie Bartholomew

This precocious little British boy was a huge star for a time.

The Copy: Roddy McDowell

Another case where the copy had more staying power than the original. While Freddie was usually an upper-crust kind of  kid, Roddy was blue collar. And when Freddie grew up and went on to other things, Roddy stayed with us forever.

The Originals: Hope & Crosby

This stellar crooner and comic combination was a hit with the public. 

The Copies: Morgan & Carson

Warner Bothers tried to duplicate the success of the "Road" pictures with the "Two Guys" series featuring crooner Morgan and comic Carson ("Two Guys From Texas," "Two Guys From Milwaukee," - you get the picture), but the chemistry between Bob and Bing could not be manufactured.

The Original: Marilyn Monroe

The one, the only. To this day, she is copied endlessly, but never duplicated.

The Copies: Jayne Mansfield

Mamie Van Doren

Sheree North

All three ladies were blonde, beautiful and talented. Some were more successful than others, but none came close to MM.

The Original: Grace Kelly

Cool, blonde, beautiful, talented, but with a warmth that set her apart.

The Copies: Dina Merrill

Talented and beautiful, for sure, but so cool she was chilly.

Tippi Hedren

Cool and lovely, but no Grace (sorry, Hitch).

The Original: Sophia Loren

This Italian sex-goddess inspired many copies, but Sophia had more than sexy going for her.

The Copy: Gina Lollobrigida

Turns out, Gina had more to offer than the Italian sex-bomb roles she was offered and turned to photojournalism for a second and rewarding career.

The Original: Robert Redford

This male blonde beauty look was all the rage in the '60s, but try as they might, Redford had that certain something that could not be duplicated.

The Copy: Nick Nolte

Hard to believe now, isn't it?

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then these originals should be blushing! As for those "masterminds" who think you can mass-produce a star - back to the drawing board. 






For more fun movie facts and fantasy, check out "Flesh and Fantasy" by Penny Stallings and Howard Mandelbaum (I confess to being a bit of a copycat myself!). It's a very fun book!

Career Girls: Daisy Kenyon, Laura Hunt and the Dana Andrews Connection

What do Daisy Kenyon 

Joan Crawford as Daisy Kenyon

and Laura Hunt 

Gene Tierney as Laura Hunt

have in common?

You mean besides being beautiful, artistic career girls (Daisy a commercial artist, Laura in advertising) and having FABULOUS New York City apartments?

You mean besides going out to fancy New York City restaurants and nightclubs?

Laura and her beau, Shelby, have a liquid lunch

Daisy and her 2 men have a civilized dinner 

Besides looking chic?

Smart Girls dress smartly

Just a "little something" Laura slips into for a typical evening soiree

This guy - Dana Andrews!

Dana Andrews: Loving Laura

Dana Andrews: Loving Daisy

Dana Andrews seemed to like those independent career girls!

Both films, directed by Otto Preminger, present the plight of those smart-but-sometimes foolish career women of the 1940s. The wartime "Laura" (starring the beauteous Gene Tierney as Laura) gives us the tale of a young woman whose success is almost unbearably perfect. She is beautiful, talented, tasteful and sweet. Of course, she has to be a nitwit about men. That's where Dana Andrews comes in.

In "Laura" he's the tough but tender cop who calls women dames, but knows a lady and a nice portrait when he sees one. He's good for Laura and eventually saves her glamorous hide from psycho Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) and wimpy and weak Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Actually, before meeting Detective McPherson, the manliest person in Laura's social circle was her aunt (Judith Anderson).

Judith Anderson's Ann Treadwell speaks the truth
 to her niece: "I'm not a nice person, Laura."

Naturally, it all ends well, with Laura rushing into the arms of the detective who saves her.

But, what if things didn't work out for Laura and her detective? Fast forward a few years. Could Daisy Kenyon's story be Laura's future?

Post-war Dana was not so good for poor "Daisy Kenyon" (Joan Crawford). Here he's the married hot-shot lawyer who annoyingly calls everyone "honeybunch" and is stringing poor Daisy along. He is the man who never lost a case and always gets what he wants. The chief thing that he wants is to maintain his marriage and keep Daisy on the side until he is ready to make a move. Where Laura is in the first bloom of youth, Daisy sees years wasted on a married man flying by. In defiance of Andrews' control of her, she takes up with a moody and haunted Henry Fonda (in a rare "dark" role). Dana eventually loses a case, is dumped by his ultra-neurotic wife (Ruth Warwick) and tries to make things right with Daisy (see, he's Dana Andrews - a nice guy after all), but Daisy sticks it out with Henry, who claims to really love her - really. And it appears he does, although Daisy has to get into a car accident and trudge home in the snow, wearing just flimsy high heels and a mink before she realizes it.

"Laura," is a classic. But Laura Hunt, other than being extremely beautiful, is not a very interesting character, mainly because she is so young and poised and perfect. Those jaded, corrupt and just plain nutty older folks who surround her are what make the story hum.

Dana Andrews, Vincent Price and Clifton Webb all have eyes for Gene Tierney's Laura

"Daisy Kenyon," while not a classic, is interesting precisely because Daisy is becoming a woman of a certain age. Here she is, a successful commercial artist, and she is still acting like a schoolgirl over her married lover and wasting precious years foolishly waiting for him to leave his wife. Daisy is a good sport, but she knows it's time for a change. She was strong and independent enough to land a great career and a swell apartment, but those cannot make up for lost time. Luckily, Henry Fonda (who Joan, for some reason calls "Pee-tah" rather than just "Peter") shows up and hangs in there for Daisy, outsmarting the smarty-pants lawyer and winning her love in the end. It's been said that Joan Crawford was too old for this role (she was 43), but that's the point: Daisy was too old to keep living the life of the girlfriend of a married man. She knows it's time to take control of her own destiny.


While Laura says all the right things about a career, it's really loves she's after. Daisy, on the other hand, sees her work as her salvation and sanity.  When the going gets sticky, Daisy works. She has no intention of giving it up for either man.

Both Laura Hunt and Daisy Kenyon presented a glamorous image of the 1940s independent New York City career girl. The glamour, the freedom, the wardrobe! No matter how many dumb choices they made for love (it goes with the territory, right?), their allure was irresistible. When Fonda and Andrews try to force Daisy Kenyon's hand to make a choice between them, she says,"I'll do my own thinking, thank you - and my own existing." I wonder how many young girls sat in theaters around the country and said to themselves "I want that life."

Daisy makes up her own mind!

There weren't many role models out there for independent-minded females in the 1940s. While both "Laura" and "Daisy Kenyon" offer imperfect views of career women, they both give a fledgling glimpse of the freedom, the glamour, and yes, the heartbreak, of an independent life.

I Confess - I Love Tony Randall!

I admit it - I love Tony Randall. Okay, not Cary Grant love, but love nonetheless!

The minute Tony Randall walks onto a scene, the entire movie is elevated. He is a delight, a smile, the guy you are always happy to see. Come on - didn't he really deserve Doris much more than Rock?

So, what is it about the wonderful Mr. Randall?

Well, for one thing, he's kinda cute in a non-Rock Hudson-ish puppy dog kind of way.

Don't you think?

Next, he speaks the American version of the King's English all the while acting the buffoon. 

Kind of an irresistible combination, no?

He was a fine actor, a fine comedian and best of all, a terrific supporting actor who always made his co-stars look better.

What a trio of pros - Rock, Doris and Tony

Giving MM some great support in "Let's Make Love"

But, he could play the leading man when called upon.

Tony with Debbie Reynolds in "The Mating Game" - they were so cute!

Tony and Jayne Mansfield in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?"

Barbara Eden's love interest, not "Master" in "The Brass Bottle"

7 Tony Randalls - my favorite TR film!

He wore plaids, tweeds and houndstooth with great flair!

I love his humor, his wit, his charm and most of all, that twinkle in his eye. Not bad for a guy from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

It was so much fun to see him in his last film, 2003's "Down With Love," which was a homage to those Doris-Rock-Tony films of the 60s.

"Down With Love" - Always Adding a Touch of Class

Thanks for everything,Tony (including the definitive Felix Unger). Now, shouldn't he have gotten Doris at least once?

Mabel Normand: Paying the Price

Eighth in a series about strong women in film. Strong women are independent, beautiful, sexy, feminine and just want everything in life that a man wants and believe that they have every right to have it!

Mabel Normand: A Breath of Spring

Being beautiful is not easy (or so I've heard), nor is being funny. Being funny, smart, beautiful and a woman, too? Those wonderful ladies who mange to pull it off surely belong among the rarefied company of angels. 


"Say anything you like, but don't say that I like to 'work.' That sounds like Mary Pickford, that prissy bitch. Just say that I like to pinch babies and twist their legs. And get drunk" - Mabel Normand to reporters.*

Before Carole Lombard, Judy Holliday and Lucille Ball, there was the talented, sassy and funny Mabel Normand. Mabel was the trailblazer who opened the door (and let in some fresh air) for all of the delightful ladies who followed. It is to her that they (and we) owe a debt for all of the female cinematic beauty and laughter that has come since. Unfortunately, trailblazers don't have those who have gone before them to lean on for advice and counsel. Movies were new in the early teens and even 20s and they were making it up as they went along. Mabel embodies all of the excitement, energy and joy of those early days. Sadly, the pitfalls were new and deep. Being free is not always easy.

Mabel was born Amabel Ethelreid Normand in 1892 in Staten Island, New York into poverty. Growing from tomboy into a beauty, she became an artist's model at age 16. Charles Dana Gibson, the creator of the "Gibson Girl," knew a beauty when he saw one and  the lovely young Mabel was one of his models. Mabel sat for a variety of artists during her teens, her lovely face gracing advertisements for all kinds of goods.

Mabel as a Gibson Model

In 1910 Mabel and fellow model Alice Joyce, decided to give the fledgling movie industry in New York City a try. Mabel landed first at Kalem, next at Biograph and ultimately at Vitagraph. In 1911 She returned to Biograph and D.W. Griffith at the urging of Mack Sennet. While not Griffith's biggest star, Mabel learned her craft and developed a reputation as a high-spirited, fun-loving and big-hearted girl. She is credited with being the  first person to throw a pie in film. Everyone loved Mabel.

Mack Sennett:
Mabel's Mr. Big

Mable's beauty, sense of fun and athleticism earned her a lot of time in from of Griffith's camera. But, the "Mr. Big" in Mabel's life was Mack Sennett, and when Mack, already in California with Griffith, decided to strike out on his own and form the Keystone Studios, Mabel was right at his side. While at Keystone Mabel was co-starred with a new fellow by the name of Charlie Chaplin (who she convinced Sennett to keep employed after a shaky start). She and Charlie made many short films together and, while during this period Charlie was not quite "Chaplinesque," Mabel is wonderfully natural and adorable, but always a strong and self-assured presence. At this time, Mabel was also directing a fair amount of her films, as well as starring in them and has the distinction of being one of the very few people to have directed Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin is reported to have had a brief romantic interest in Mabel, but she was much too strong and feisty a woman for Charlie. Well, you can't blame a guy for trying.

Mabel with Chaplin & Marie Dressler in "Tillie's Punctured Romance"

Mabel's biggest film with Chaplin was the feature-length hit "Tillie's Punctured Romance," also starring Marie Dressler.

Mabel was a fine swimmer and diver and  audiences
loved seeing her in action in her one-piece suit!

Mabel's most important co-star at Keystone was Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. The Fatty and Mabel comedies presented both at their most delightful and were tremendous hits with the public.

Roscoe & Mabel - so cute, so young, so funny

Even better things were to come. "Mickey," one of Mabel's greatest feature length hits was released in 1918 to an adoring public. Not only did they fall in love with "Mickey", but the title song was also popular. "Mickey" was the only film made by "The Mabel Normand Feature Film Company," a company set up by Sennett (probably to protect him from some convoluted business dealings at Keystone).

The world fell in love with Mabel as "Mickey"

Things were going swimmingly for Mabel at Keystone and her engagement with Sennett was announced, but the marriage never took place. It's alleged that Mabel caught Mack cheating (probably with Mae Busch) and it was all down hill from there. The actual break-up occurred in 1915, but they continued to work together. Sometime before "Mickey" was released to the public, a final break resulted in Mabel leaving Keystone and Sennett for Samuel Goldwyn.


From then on, things did not go well for Mabel. The time spent working for Goldwyn was not a happy one for Mabel. While Goldwyn presented Mabel in some very fine films, her personal life was falling apart. Goldwyn paid Mabel a much better salary than Sennett and she began spending that salary on drugs. On top of this, Goldwyn fell deeply in love with Mabel and pursued her relentlessly. While Mabel seemingly did not care for him, she did engage in an affair with the producer. The result was a stillborn child, another broken relationship and a further deterioration of her health.

Beautiful and Troubled Mabel Normand

At this point, Mabel's private troubles began to overshadow her professional life. While she did attempt to improve her mind and launched a determined self-improvement campaign, her well-known "in the wrong place at the wrong time" role in the William Desmond Taylor murder scandal in 1922 almost wrecked her career (along with that of Mary Miles Minter). While Mabel was never a real suspect, information about her drug addiction and her good friend Taylor's efforts to get her away from the drug pushers made the headlines that never seemed to go away. 


After the Taylor murder and the resulting bad publicity for Mabel, her films were banned in many states. Taylor's death and the 1921 Arbuckle scandal fueled the arguments of those who saw Hollywood as the sin capitol of the nation.

She returned to Sennett where she was given another opportunity to shine. As the little wardrobe girl who doesn't make it in the movies, she got to show her comedy skills in 1923's "The Extra Girl," as as she unknowingly leads a lion around the studio, thinking she has the studio dog on a leash.

Sennett had hoped things would get back on track again both professionally and personally with Mabel, but it was not to be.

In 1924, Mabel and her good friend, Chaplin leading lady Edna Purviance, were getting ready to attend a New Year's Eve party at the the home of their mutual friend, Courtland Dines. While it's not 100% clear what happened (there appeared to be a lot of drinking going on), what is known is that Mabel's chauffeur, Horace Greer, shot Dines with Mabel's pistol. Greer, an escapee from a chain gang, said he was defending Mabel's honor. Dines was only wounded, but Mabel's career was almost dead. Her films were again banned in many states.

The misfortunes of 1924 were not yet over. During the filming of "The Extra Girl," Mabel fell off a horse and broke her collarbone. While recuperating in the hospital she met a patient by the name of Norman Church. Mrs. Norman Church later claimed that Mabel and Church had an affair while together in the hospital! Mabel sued for libel and lost the case. Although Mabel proclaimed her innocence, I kind of hope that one is true (what a way to get healed!).

After her brief reunion with Sennett, she went to work for Hal Roach and continued to work from 1926 - 1927, all the while looking pale, worn and older than her age. Roach considered her "the wildest girl in Hollywood and the dirtiest girl you ever heard." By now, however, the jolly Mabel that audiences loved was gone. Stories of her drug addiction were rampant. Sadly, Mabel was not only addicted to drugs, she also suffered from tuberculosis.

Finally, Mabel's health could not withstand the pressures from within and without, and she passed away at age 37 on February 23, 1930 (managing to fit a marriage to actor Lew Cody in before her death). She was a grand gal who paid the price for an undisciplined life and suffered because she had no one to guide her through such uncharted waters. 

The pall bearers at her funeral included Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, L.B. Mayer, Sid Grauman, D.W. Griffith, Sennett and Goldwyn. Both Sennett and Goldwyn never forgot her.  Goldwyn remembered her generous spirit.  When his studio fell upon hard times, Mabel gave Goldwyn $50,000 in Liberty Bonds to help him through the crisis. Goldwyn also claims to have witnessed Mabel giving $1,000 to a "poor girl stricken with tuberculosis." For Goldwyn, who evidently never stopped caring for her, Mabel was "a creature of impulse." Sennett remained a bachelor. He later said, "I never married. There was only one girl"

Mabel Normand left behind a legacy of skill and joy that is as fresh today as it was 100 years ago. Cheers, Mabel!

For more information about Mabel and her friends, check out this handy page full of great links:

http://looking-for-mabel.webs.com/links.htm

* by the way, Mabel and Mary Pickford were actually very good friends. This was just Mabel being Mabel.