The Outer Limits Season One (1963-64) DVD/Blu-Ray Giveaway
Contains the Entire First Season, 32 Episodes in All!
“Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture…”
Yay! The contest is over and the winners are Tim and Steve W. Congratulations!
Now for a very special giveaway… To celebrate the release of The Outer Limits Season One, on March 27th, we’ll be giving away TWO copies of the title this month, courtesy of our friends at Kino Lorber. This 7-disc set contains all 32 episodes from the first season plus audio commentaries and a 40-page essay booklet. And, if you can’t wait to win a copy, you can purchase the Blu-Ray and/or DVD on amazon here.
In order to qualify to win one of these DVD or Blu-Ray Sets (winner’s choice of format) via this contest giveaway, you must complete the below entry task by Saturday, April 7 at 10PMEST. However, the sooner you enter, the better chance you have of winning, because we will pick a winner on two different days within the contest period, via random drawings, as listed below… So if you don’t win during the first drawing, you will still be eligible to win during the second drawing.
Mar 24: One Winner
Apr 7: One Winner
We will announce each winner on Twitter @ClassicMovieHub (or this blog, depending how you entered), the day after each winner is picked at 10PM EST — for example, we will announce our first winner on Sunday March 25 at 10PM EST.
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ENTRY TASK (2-parts) to be completed by Saturday, April 7 at 10PM EST— BUT remember, if you enter early, you’ll be eligible to win for the second drawing (if you didn’t win during the first drawing)…
1) Answer the below question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog post
2) ThenTWEET (not DM) the following message:
Just entered to win “The Outer Limits Season One” DVD/Blu-Ray #Giveaway courtesy of @KinoLorber and @ClassicMovieHub contest link: http://ow.ly/CRAq30iVR5m
THE QUESTION: Why do you want to win this DVD/Blu-ray Set?
*If you do not have a Twitter account, you can still enter the contest by simply answering the above question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog — BUT PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ADD THIS VERBIAGE TO YOUR ANSWER: I do not have a Twitter account, so I am posting here to enter but cannot tweet the message.
ALSO: Please allow us 48 hours to approve your comments. Sorry about that, but we are being overwhelmed with spam, and must sort through 100s of comments…
About The Set: Newly Re-Mastered in HD! There Is Nothing Wrong With Your Television Set… Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture… We Are Controlling Transmission… The entire first season – 32 Episodes – You hold in your hands an artifact from a time now vanished forever; a compendium of portals into worlds unknown. A seven-disc set that controls over 27 hours of transmission from the 1963-1964 series, this vessel has sought you out for one specific purpose: to expand your mind to The Outer Limits! Guest stars include Ed Asner, Macdonald Carey, Dabney Coleman, Robert Culp, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Mimsy Farmer, Don Gordon, Harry Guardino, Gloria Grahame, Signe Hasso, Miriam Hopkins, Richard Jaeckel, Sally Kellerman, Shirley Knight, Martin Landau, George Macready, John Marley, David McCallum, Ralph Meeker, Gary Merrill, Vera Miles, Leonard Nimoy, Simon Oakland, Warren Oates, Carroll O’Connor, Donald Pleasence, Cliff Robertson, Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, Martin Sheen, Henry Silva and many more. “The best program of its type ever to run on network TV!” – Stephen King.
DVD Extras Include:
Audio commentaries by David J. Schow (author of The Outer Limits Companion) and film historians Tim Lucas, Reba Wissner, Craig Beam, Gary Gerani, Michael Hyatt and Steve Mitchell
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR TELEVISION SET – 40 Page Booklet Essay by David J. Schow
Please note that only residents of the Continental United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and the territory of Puerto Rico) entrants are eligible to win.
Vitaphone View: The Coming of Talkies
The Theatre’s Angle, Part 1
This is the second part of my two-part blog series on the effect of the coming of sound to exhibitors in the late 1920’s……..
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A New Deal on Ticket Sales
The huge success of The Jazz Singer (WB, 1927) triggered a restructuring of the studio/exhibitor relationship. Prior to that film, except for blockbusters, theatre owners paid a flat rental fee to studios to exhibit films. Typical costs in the twenties would be $2 – $3/day per short and an average of $25/day for the average feature. Enterprising theatre owners could improve their profits by running creative publicity campaigns, contests, or presenting outstanding prologues with local talent to pack in audiences. With the advent of talkies, studios required both a flat fee and a percentage of the gate at every show. This practice enriched the studios, while driving exhibitors to cut costs by eliminating expensive live stage acts.
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Putting on the Show
In presenting a Vitaphone disc-synchronized program, the projectionist was expected to prepare and rehearse the program in advance. In addition to providing training, Western Electric issued a 60-page instruction book titled “Operating Instructions for Synchronous Reproducing Equipment – Western Electric Sound Projector System For Theatres.” Besides giving the nuts-and-bolts instructions on operating and maintaining equipment, the guide includes a dozen pages dedicated to rehearsing and troubleshooting the show. If a projectionist was running a sound-on-film Movietone show, a film break could be quickly fixed, and the program resumed. Not so with the Vitaphone disc process.
Western Electric told projectionists that if the film broke on a short subject, to simply abandon it and switch to the next title on the other projector. Keep in mind that if the film broke, the sound disc continued playing and there was no practical way for the projectionist to fix the film and resume it in precisely the same spot and in synchronism with the disc.
A feature, however, could not just be written off. Western Electric suggested that the film be re-threaded and warned “synchronism is usually lost under these conditions, but this can be tolerated in an emergency unless there is a direct cue in the record, such as a knock, voice or cheers. In such a case,” WE directed the projectionist to turn the sound down to zero.
In running a Vitaphone program, discs were set up on the turntable connected to each projector. While new theatres got the entire projector/turntable assembly installed, existing theatres could have the turntable/reproducer mechanism added to the Simplex, Motiograph or other projectors already in the booth.
Soundtrack discs were two-sided and pressed such that the first would contain reels 1 and 3, the next one 2 and 4, and so on. This allowed the first projector to be cued for playing back reel 1, while the second projector had reel 2. Once reel 1 film and sound had played, the projectionist would switch over to the second projector playing reel 2. He would then flip the reel 1 disc over to play reel 3 and thread up the film for that reel, awaiting the changeover. This process continued through each program.
Each 16-inch soundtrack disc was initially pressed in heavy shellac, with the starting point for the placement of the reproducer needle clearly marked with an arrow just outside of the label. Each disc played from the inside out and at 33 1/3 rpm. This foreshadowed the speed later used for LP’s in the late 1940s. Playing at this speed enabled one full reel (about 10 minutes) of sound to be reproduced.
Major studios often provided theatres with a disc containing specially recorded audience entrance, or overture, music. These were often non-vocal medleys of tunes from musical films, and readily addressed the reality that most theatres had dismissed their entire pit orchestra. The practice of producing audience entrance/exit non-synchronous music on discs continued well into the 1930s. Paramount Publix, Warner Brothers (which bought Brunswick Records in 1930) and later the American Record Corporation (ARC) all made such recordings available. Often, one lone Vitaphone turntable was left in the projection booth after the others had been scrapped, solely to play the audience music.
Each Vitaphone disc was shipped, in duplicate, to the theatre with the film. Normally heavy wooden or steel boxes were used by the local exchange to ship the discs. Each disc was in its own padded sleeve, and marked on the label with the film title and reel number. In rare instances, the studios might change the film’s title before release. Several surviving discs show in the space surrounding the label the crossed-out original title with the new one inscribed next to it in the wax. Such was the case with Fifty Million Frenchmen (WB, 1931) which was originally to be called Nancy From Naples. And Laurel and Hardy’s first feature comedy, Pardon Us (MGM, 1931) went through many title changes, with one — The Rap — present on some existing discs.
Contrary to the impression created in Singin’ in the Rain (MGM, 1952), the miscues and loss of synchronization of Vitaphone discs was not rampant. Nevertheless, the earliest known on-screen kidding of errant synchronization appears in The Talk of Hollywood (SonoArt, 1929), helmed by later Astaire/Rogers director Mark Sandrich, As in the MGM musical, Talk has the wrong voices coming from the mouths the screen actors, to great comedy effect. Notably, this film was produced in the RCA Photophone sound-on-film process.
In 1930, Warner Brothers was able to reduce the diameter of Vitaphone discs from 16 to 12 inches. Finer grooves were used to accomplish this. In 1931, a new and more forgiving record material was used in place of the brittle shellac. RCA’s “Vitrolac” was a somewhat rubbery and flexible material that was difficult to break during handling and shipment. Sound quality, though, was not as good as the shellac. But by now the handwriting was on the wall for the disc system.
Few Vitaphone turntables remain today. Most were pulled out of theatres in the 1930’s, bulky relics from the early days of talkies. Those still around in the early 1940’s were scrapped during wartime metal drives. The same, ironically, happened to the tens of thousands of steel stampers used to press the soundtrack discs. The Vitaphone Project uncovered the 1941 payment slip provided to Warner Brother for the scrap value of all of their stampers — just $971. They were melted down for the war effort. With thousands of shellac soundtrack discs missing today, these stampers would have provided the ability to still restore sound to otherwise surviving mute 35mm prints.
– Ron Hutchinson, Founder of The Vitaphone Project, for Classic Movie Hub
Ron is widely recognized as one of the country’s foremost film historians, with special emphasis on the period covering the transition to sound (1925-30) and early attempts to add sound to film. As the founder of The Vitaphone Project, he has worked with Warner Brothers, UCLA, LOC and private collectors worldwide to find previously lost soundtrack discs and restore early sound shorts. Ron’s unique knowledge has been sourced in over 25 books as well as documentaries for PBS and TCM, and commentary for “The Jazz Singer” DVD boxed set. He was awarded the National Society of Film Critics “Film Heritage Honor” for his work in film preservation and discoveries, and was the presenter of rare Vitaphone shorts at the 2016 TCM Film Festival. For more information you can visit the Vitaphone Project website or Facebook Group.
And, if you’re interested in exploring some of these newly discovered shorts and rarities, you can pick them up on DVD via amazon:
The Whales of August
An Interview with Michael Kaplan
As I cozied up on my couch to watch The Whales of August on a delightful winter day, I had no idea what to expect. Well, that’s not entirely true…I did know to expect Bette Davis and Lillian Gish, but that was about it. The plot of the movie is simple: two elderly sisters spend the summer in their family home in Maine. But don’t let that fool you. What I found was, that although the film wasn’t plot driven, it offers an absolute abundance in character and performance. The film manages to create a beautiful sense of intimacy in how it touches upon the themes of family, old-age, and the looming inevitability of death. And despite the heavy subject matter, the film manages to be light enough to be perfectly enjoyable. The Whales of August is a treasure for anyone interested in strong female protagonists, the art of performance, and the legacy of classic film actors. After watching the film, I was lucky enough to be able to interview the film’s producer, Michael Kaplan.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Michael Kaplan for taking the time to do this interview as well as to Kino Lorber for supplying CMH with a copy of the Blu-Ray!
1.) The Whales of August stars two of the most iconic women in film history, Lillian Gish and Bette Davis. How did you manage to get those two titans of the silver screen to agree to be a major part of this film.
The genesis of Whales was wanting to present Lillian to a modern audience in a major role that would equal her silent classics, Way Down East, La Boheme, The Wind, Broken Blossoms, etc. I met and became entranced by her on The Comedians, in which I felt she stole the film from Burton–Taylor, et.al. She responded to Whales when I took her to see David Berry’s play in New York. It took 15 years to find the right property.
Bette was always the first choice for “Libby,” feeling this was a class project she could shine in. She had never shirked from acting with major female stars… Crawford, de Havilland, Miriam Hopkins, Mary Astor. She turned down the role the first time it was offered; accepted three years later when she had regained much of her stamina and financing was in place.
The idea of these two acting giants together – Gish and Davis – was an intoxicating dream. The greatest silent actress with the greatest sound actress.
2.) The film also co-stars Vincent Price and Ann Sothern. What was it like working with Price, a master of his craft, and Sothern, who was the only cast member to be nominated for an Academy Award for this film?
Both were great to work with and were major talents whom audiences had followed and admired for decades… and like Bette and Lillian, offered a resonance of familiarity, bringing their history to us in their performances.
Vinnie really wanted to play ‘Maranov’ to display his versatility away from his ‘Master of Horror’ reputation. There was no doubt he could become the homeless Russian aristocrat who spent his life ‘visiting friends.’
Ann was a favorite of both director Lindsay Anderson and myself and brought a buoyancy to the film and the set. She and Lillian became great friends. Bette said when learning she was cast, “She’s a good actress; she could steal the picture.”
3.) Both Gish and Davis’ characters seemed to mirror what I would imagine both women were like in real life, with Gish reaching a level of almost saccharine sweetness and Davis always armed with a caustic comment. Did you find that to be true? How were they on set?
They were both consummate actresses who became sisters with opposing personalities in the film. As a person, Lillian was always open and gracious, filled with imagination and curiosity. She could play sweet, but I would argue,never saccharine; her performances always had a strength and determination. Her biggest part in a sound film prior to Whales was in the classic Night of the Hunter, where, with steely resolve, she stands up to the threat of Robert Mitchum as she does to the menacing Haitian secret police in The Comedians. Also watch her fighting the odds in The Scarlet Letter, Orphans of the Storm, etc.
Bette was frequently on the defensive, feisty and sharp, but that was only the surface. She knew everything that was happening with the crew and memorized the script. Nothing escaped her and once she accepted an idea, she was masterful. Whales was her first theatrical film in many years and her best and biggest role since Baby Jane and Sweet Charlotte. Part of her character was caustic and protective; another side was emotionally moving and conflicted.
Both Lillian and Bette respected each other’s talent.
4.) I found the film thoroughly engrossing despite the fact that, plot-wise, not much happens. It’s a difficult feat to achieve on a medium that is usually so plot reliant. What was the biggest challenge adapting material from the stage to the screen?
The dialogue and characters were well constructed in the play. Certain changes were added when Lindsay Anderson came aboard but the backbone of the movie was the play, to which everyone had responded.
The biggest challenge was going to be the location, which had to become another character in the film, re-enforcing the situations, bringing a realty to the seeming mundane. We lucked out on our second day of location hunting, seeing the cottage on the Pitkin Point peninsula of Cliff Island and finding Frank and Carolyn Lockwood Pitkin so open to the project.
The cottage had to be as significant and distinctive as the Victorian mansion in Giant, Bates Motel in Psycho or Tara in Gone with the Wind. And we felt it was.
5.) Was there anything that surprised you while making this film?
The changing weather which necessitated changes in what we could shoot. We were concerned this would affect the comfort and preparation of the elderly cast but for the most part, they adjusted to the changes with the professional responsibility that was their second nature after years of experience.
6.) One thing I particularly liked about the film was how the characters were unapologetically old. I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to On Golden Pond and The Golden Girls – stories where the characters are very frank about the problems they face as they age. It seems very different from current narratives about the elderly that seem to revolve around recapturing youth asmeans of avoiding aging and the inevitably of death. Why do you think there has been such a shift in how stories of the elderly are presented?
It’s always been difficult dealing with aging in TV and film. They are basically youth-oriented mediums. With Whales, there were no younger characters, deliberately, so that one became immersed in an elderly world, which was new information for many, and for others, who have seen the film again as they aged, it’s become more meaningful.
When seeking financing for Whales during the six year period it took to finally get backing from Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer at Alive Films, I was frequently asked “Where’s the Jane Fonda character,” referencing On Golden Pond. Ironic that Fonda and Lily Tomlin now have a very well conceived TV series, Grace and Frankie, which deals honestly with many contemporary issues facing seniors.
7.) What was the most rewarding aspect of making this film?
Just making it happen. Watching the dailies each night, knowing that all the effort and stress in keeping it moving was well worth the effort, that something unique was being created with a cast that could never be duplicated.
8.) What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie?
Keeping it together when inevitable glitches arose.
9.) At this point the film is over three decades old – considering Hollywood’s current trend of remaking/rebooting anything and/or everything, who would you cast in a hypothetical remake of the movie?
As Harry Carey, Jr. said, “There will never be another movie like this… Even John Ford, with his enormous ego, would want to be here to watch what was happening.”
In short, would never attempt a remake. It would be futile. Why remake something that isn’t broken.?
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Thanks again to Michael Kaplan and Kino Lorber for this interview. If you would like to purchase the film (which you totally should!), you can order the film here.
If you want a sneak peek at what you would be getting, please check out the music video for You Can Never Tell.The song is by Michael Kaplan, performed by Tisha Sterling, the daughter of Ann Sothern, and is premiering right her on Classic Movie Hub!
These posters are too great, making it impossible to choose just one.
Well, I kind of was. According to Scott MacQueen’s April 1990 American Cinematographer article on Mystery of the Wax Museum, that picture was indeed intended as a follow-up to Doctor X upon the latter’s lucrative debut in August 1932. In the early 1930s, Warner Brothers hopped on the horror train when musicals began to wane in popularity, and the results in these two cases were rather curious entries combining the now-faded tinges of early two-color Technicolor, gruesome thrills, wild stories, and… wisecracking reporters?! Doctor X features a suspicious research scientist and his equally dubious team, all being investigated in connection with mysterious killings. Naturally, the reveal occurs during a murder re-enactment gone horribly wrong – and, spoiler alert – fake skin is involved. In Mystery of the Wax Museum, the madman is a wheelchair-bound sculptor who turns to a sinister solution to recreate his masterpieces after his wax gallery is torched and his hands are burned: stealing corpses and targeting people whose appearance match his vision to enshrine in wax. Yes, both stories are that bizarre.
All that said, below are select parallels Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum share – and how they differ in the details.
No, this isn’t the movie in which Fay Wray plays Lionel Atwill’s daughter – that would be creepy. But that’s really Wray, posing as a Marie Antoinette wax figure in Mystery of the Wax Museum.
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Twinkle Twinkle Frequent Co-Stars
Besides Curtiz, many of the same names pop up in Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum, including cinematographer Ray Rennahan, art director Anton Grot, and leads Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray, playing slightly sketchy scientist father and daughter in the former and deranged artist and almost-victim in the latter. Atwill characterized men of varying degrees of insanity in each movie, a type of dark role he excelled at during this period, while Wray perfected her shrieking damsel in distress just before the public witnessed her most famous screaming lass in 1933’s King Kong. Fun fact: Atwill and Wray appeared together in another film cut from a similar horror cloth, 1933’s The Vampire Bat, released in between Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum.
Fire appears much more threatening in color, don’t you think?
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“All in Technicolor!”
Two-color Technicolor produced an array of faded pistachios, dull peaches, and murky tans in both films, a palette that pairs well with the grim plots, though we do occasionally witness some more vibrant tones, which help inject life into the pictures. In my opinion, the color was most effective during Mystery of the Wax Museum’s early wax fire scene, in which the camera remained trained upon various figures slowly singeing, their peculiar likeness and hues melting away into pallid, viscous liquid during what felt like a purposefully protracted sequence. As Technicolor’s tepid tints amplified the wax figures’ realistic features (some were indeed living, breathing actors – not the burning ones, though!), the two-tone process also created a heightened sense of discomfort as the figures burned.
There’s something slightly foreboding about this otherwise romantic shot of Lee Tracy and Wray, but I can’t put my finger on it…
You don’t want to know, Glenda Farrell.
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Reporters Save the Day!
Because both films were produced by Warner Brothers, you can count on the studio incorporating their standard gritty, urban house style somewhere. Enter: wisecracking reporters. Warners cast two sharp-witted contract players for both roles: Lee Tracy in Doctor X and Glenda Farrell, who would go on to play Torchy Blane in the late 1930s, in Mystery of the Wax Museum. As much as I enjoy Tracy’s mile-a-minute quips, I prefer Farrell’s unruffled ingenuity and slick witticisms.
Will this mask make my skin softer, or just regenerate it?
In a similar vein, Ivan’s (Lionel Atwill) 3rd act scorched face reveal in Mystery of the Wax Museum, which apparently horrified Fay Wray in real life, could have served as a precursor to Freddy Krueger’s hideous scalded mug.
Looks like Sparrow (Arthur Edmund Carewe) has had a rough night – or life.
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Arson and Dope and Dead Bodies, Oh My!
As far as pre-Code moments go, it’s hard to beat Farrell’s casual aside, “How’s your sex life?” to a cop taking peeks at a dirty magazine in Mystery of the Wax Museum. While the crowd in the theater expected some lascivious pre-Code quips, this one elicited audible gasps. Other honorable mentions in this picture include: Farrell jacking bottles from a coffin full of booze as the police turn a blind eye and Sparrow (Arthur Edmund Carewe), clearly addicted to some kind of substance, crumbling under police interrogation. Besides Tracy’s frisky flirtations in Doctor X, one line in particular, “Were the murdered women… attacked?” is strongly suggestive, so you can bet it met the wrath of several censor boards. Speaking of…
Warners vs. the Production Code Administration (PCA)
With comparable plot lines featuring murder, shocking effects, and immorality, it would be reasonable to expect the industry and state censors to react similarly to both pictures, right? Sure, and they did – for a while. (Just a head’s up, I’m going to start with Mystery of the Wax Museum below, which was released after Doctor X, and the dates will bounce around a bit, so bear with me.)
I don’t recall actually seeing any of the corpses’ faces in Mystery of the Wax Museum, but sliding a body out the window was a sore spot for some censor boards.
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Mystery of the Wax Museum’s gruesomeness initially concernedthe Studio Relations Committee (SRC), but they ultimately found the movie “very acceptable entertainment… and pretty well devoid of censorship difficulties” in December 1932. Tell that to B.O. Skinner, Ohio’s Director of Education, who wrote Warners a perturbed note upon his review in February 1933:
We are, as you know, approving this film with eliminations. I wish, however, to register a formal protest against the film. It contains so many elements we find objectionable, as setting fire to the museum to obtain insurance, naming a poison and telling how it could be taken to produce death, using of dope and also the general theme of horror. I feel it would be much better for all of us if the production of this type of film would be discontinued.
New York, Quebec, and British Columbia cut scenes largely in tune with Ohio’s complaints, but all in all, the edits weren’t staggering, and the picture passed without eliminations in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Chicago (given an “Adult Permit” in the latter). Despite Ohio’s opposition, the PCA approved Mystery of the Wax Museum in 1936 when Warners requested a Code certificate for re-release.
One year later, the studio inquired about a reissue for Doctor X, but this time Warners was flat out denied. Looking back during the movie’s pre-production in March 1932, the SRC’s Jason Joy remarked that Doctor X’s script, handled more as a murder mystery, would be satisfactory “in ordinary circumstances,” but recently boards were excising scenes involving operations, morgues, and other frightening imagery. Despite the disclaimer, Joy felt “there is little cause for concern on our part that we will have another Frankenstein on our hands.”
Can we agree that those fingernails alone are more terrifying than Frankenstein?
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The SRC offered no suggestions on the horror front after reviewing the finished picture in May 1932, and Doctor X was approved without eliminations in Ohio, New York, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Quebec, while recording only minor changes in Chicago, Australia, and Ontario; on the whole, the picture notched fewer concerns than Mystery of the Wax Museum would about six months later.
With this in mind, it’s quite curious that in 1937 the PCA’s Vincent Hart deemed Doctor X “un-Codeable” due to its “gruesome theme,” and thus requested that Warners withdraw their request as the film wouldn’t be approved for re-release. So what made Mystery of the Wax Museum, originally more harshly judged by state boards, satisfactory to the PCA in 1936 and the similarly themed Doctor X, which more easily passed censor entities, unacceptable just one year later? We’re talking the PCA here, so your guess is as good as mine; I got relatively equal cases of the creeps watching both.
Kim Luperi is a New Jersey transplant living in sunny Los Angeles. She counts her weekly research in the Academy’s Production Code Administration files as a hobby and has written for TCM, AFI Fest, the Pre-Code Companion, MovieMaker Magazine and the American Cinematheque. You can read more of Kim’s articles at I See A Dark Theater or by following her on twitter at @Kimbo3200.
Classic Movie Travels: Josephine Hutchinson Seattle Washington and New York City
Josephine Hutchinson
While the name Josephine Hutchinson may not immediately come to mind when reflecting upon the stars of the 1930s, Josephine showed great promise as a Warner Brothers star. With acting in her blood and a formal education in dramatics, Josephine appeared in a string of films and was poised for success as a film actress.
Josephine D. Hutchinson was born on October 12th, 1903, in Seattle Washington to aspiring actress Leona Celinda Doty or Leona Roberts and Charles James Hutchinson. Her father was a proprietor at a fuel, sand, and goods store and her mother was an actress. On September 20th, 1909, Josephine’s little brother, O’Neil Tom Hutchinson, joined the family. The Hutchinsons remained in Seattle through 1920 until Leona and Charles divorced.
Leona’s ambitions to become an actress led her to debut on Broadway in 1926, causing her to appear in about 40 productions between 1926 and 1945. Most of her roles were supporting ones. In fact, her younger sister, Edith Roberts, was a film actress with experience as a child performer in vaudeville prior to arriving in Hollywood in 1915. Edith would achieve over 150 screen credits before retiring from acting in 1929 and passing away six years later.
At the same time as her Broadway debut, Leona also began a film career as the lead in Poor Mrs. Jones (1926), produced by the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1937, she went to Hollywood and played in over 40 films, again in mostly motherly or supporting roles. She is best known for her portrayal of society gossip Mrs. Meade in Gone with the Wind (1939) alongside Harry Davenport, who played Doctor Meade. She can also be spotted in Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, Of Human Hearts (1938) with James Stewart, and The Blue Bird (1940) with Shirley Temple.
Through her mother’s show business connections, Josephine was able to make her film debut at the age of 13 in alongside Mary Pickford in The Little Princess (1917). Afterwards, Josephine enrolled at the Cornish School of Music and Drama and then relocated to New York City. There, she started to act in live theater. Once the 1920s arrived, Josephine transitioned from working in silent films to talkies.
Around this time, Josephine met stage director Robert W. Bell. While they were married in 1924, she met actress Eva La Gallienne and became involved in an affair with her in 1927. Josephine worked as a member of Le Gallienne’s Civic Repertory Theatre company and garnered much critical praise for her work as Alice in the 1932 production of Alice in Wonderland. Robert and Josephine separated in 1928 and were divorced in 1930. The press became intrigued and wrote about Josephine as Eva’s lover. Despite the scandal, both actresses were able to continue on with their individual careers. While Josephine would marry twice more–next to James F. Townsend in 1935 until their divorce, and then to Staats Jennings Cotsworth Jr. on September 23, 1972, until his death in 1979–Eva did not marry.
Josephine Hutchinson, 1932 production of Alice in Wonderland
Josephine was soon signed to a contract with Warner Brothers and appeared in her first credited role as Joan Bradford in Happiness Ahead (1934) alongside Dick Powell and Frank McHugh. She plays a society heiress who rebels against her mother’s choice of a future husband and pretends to be working class girl. Along the way, she begins dating a window washer. After portraying Joan Bradford, Josephine went on to fulfill several other film roles. Among her many film roles, she can be seen in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), in Universal’s Son of Frankenstein (1939) as Elsa von Frankenstein, in Love is Better Than Ever (1952), and in North by Northwest (1959) as Mrs. Townsend.
Josephine’s career spanned through film, television, and radio, and granted her many opportunities to work as a supporting actress. She made four guest appearances on Perry Mason between 1958 and 1962. Additionally, Josephine appeared in Rawhide, The Twilight Zone, and Gunsmoke.
An older Josephine Hutchinson
After carrying out a career that spanned several decades, Josephine passed away on June 4th, 1998, at the Florence Nightingale Nursing Home in Manhattan. Her brother died on December 31st, 1979, in Beaverton, Oregon. Josephine had no children and her ashes were scattered near her niece’s home in Springfield, Oregon.
While Josephine is no longer with us, there are several places of relevance to her life that exist to this day. In 1910, the Hutchinson family was living at 965 20th Ave in Seattle, Washington. Here is a picture of the property today, which is privately owned:
Josephine family home, 965 20th Ave, Seattle, Washington
By 1920, the family moved to 1620 32nd Ave in Seattle, Washington. The property is privately owned. Here is what it looks like today:
Josephine Hutchinson family home, 1620 32nd Ave, Seattle, Washington
Josephine’s alma mater, the Cornish School of Music and Drama, has now grown into the Cornish College of the Arts. It is located at 1000 Lenora St in Seattle, Washington. It is now nationally recognized as a premier college for the visual and performing arts, and as one of only three fully accredited private colleges in the entire nation dedicated to educating both performing and visual artists in an interrelated manner. This is the school as it stands today:
Today’s Cornish College of the Arts, alma mater of Josephine Hutchinson
In the 1970s, Josephine moved to New York. She resided at 360 E. 55th St in New York, New York. Here is the property today:
Josephine Hutchinson NYC address at 360 E 55 Street
The Florence Nightingale Nursing Home is no longer in operation due to several violations.
I strongly encourage you to remember Josephine and her career by watching Happiness Ahead, among many of her other works.
Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.
Gene Coon: From Beatrice Nebraska to Star Trek and Beyond Interview with Local Historian Jeanelle Kleveland, Gage County Classic Film Institute
“To me, in many ways, Gene L. Coon was the heart and soul of Star Trek.” -David Gerrold, screenwriter, The Trouble with Tribbles
This weekend the Gage County Classic Film Institute in Beatrice Nebraska celebrates the career of native son Gene Coon, writer and/or producer for many beloved classic TV shows including Dragnet, Wagon Train, Maverick, Bonanza, and Star Trek. Coon joined Star Trek as a screenwriter and producer during its first season and is credited with developing the Klingons and the interpersonal dynamics between Captain Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
The 3-day event kicks off Friday evening, March 2, with a screening of the fan-favorite Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles hosted by ‘Tribbles’ screenwriter David Gerrold. Saturday’s schedule includes discussions with David Gerrold, local film historian Jeanelle Kleveland and librarian Laureen Riedesel, and features screenings of Bonanza, Wagon Train and Star Trek episodes. The event winds down on Sunday with a screening of the first Star Trek movie.
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That said, we are delighted to have been able to sit down for a minute to chat with Jeanelle Kleveland about the event.
CMH:Hi Jeanelle, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the Gage County Classic Film Institute?
JK: I grew up, and live, in Beatrice, Nebraska, a town of about 12,000 people, about 40 miles south of Lincoln. I graduated from high school in Beatrice and then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where I got my undergrad degree and law degree.
The Gage County Classic Film Institute was founded by a small group of people to create events that celebrate famous people in the entertainment industry that have connections to Gage County. It still amazes me that we have so many talented celebrities from such a small community – among them Hollywood legends Robert Taylor and Harold Lloyd; three-time Oscar winner for special effects, John P. Fulton, and his father, special effects Oscar winner Fitch Fulton; character actor Janet Shaw who appeared in over 30 films; and television writer, Gene L. Coon, best known for his major contributions to the original Star Trek.
Before our Institute was formed, I attended two events celebrating Robert Taylor in Beatrice, organized through the Gage County Museum and Beatrice Public Library. I then became involved as a volunteer, and have been flattered to be asked to be involved with putting together these programs.
I’ve been collecting movie memorabilia for quite some time, primarily focusing on famous Nebraskans – and I have made it my personal mission to educate people about stars from here – Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Fred Astaire and Henry Fonda to name a few.
CMH: When did the Gage County Classic Film Institute organize?
JK: We started organizing in 2014 and have had four events, two of which featured Robert Taylor. The first Taylor event was in celebration of his 105th birthday (August, 2016) and featured discussions with two authors who wrote books on Taylor. His children, Terry and Tessa Taylor were in attendance. We also screened the Taylor film, Escape, co-starring Norma Shearer and Alla Nazimovaz, and featuring character actor Janet Shaw from Gage County. At our second Taylor event, we screened Quo Vadis.
We’ve also done two events about John P. Fulton’s special effects. The first one featured speaker Joanne Fulton Schaeffer (John P. Fulton’s daughter) and included a screening of The Ten Commandments for which John P won an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Our second Fulton event last March featured Jill Fulton McClure (John P. Fulton’s granddaughter) who brought along Fulton’s Special Effects Oscar for Bridge at Toko Ri. We were so surprised and thrilled that we all had the opportunity for a photo opp holding the Award!
Star Trek fan favorite, The Trouble with Tribbles
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CMH: What is the next event you have planned?
JK: On March 2-4, 2018 we are celebrating Gene L. Coon – one of the early writers and creatives on Star Trek. He invented the Klingons and developed much of the personalities of the main characters. He was known as the ‘other Gene.’ Coon was born in Beatrice Nebraska in 1924. His family moved to Glendale, California when he was a teenager. He was a teenage newscaster on the local radio station in Beatrice.
This event will feature David Gerrold as our keynote speaker, who was mentored by Coon on Star Trek. Gerrold wrote The Trouble with Tribbles and Coon produced it. We are showing this episode as a free event at the Beatrice Public Library on Friday night and will be having a reception with Star Trek refreshments. I can’t wait to see them!
On Saturday, we will be discussing the Beatrice years and showing two westerns written by Coon – an episode of Bonanza and an episode of Wagon Train that Coon co-wrote with his brother, Bloise. I will be discussing the similarities in Coon’s stories for westerns and science fiction. In the afternoon, we will feature two Star Trek episodes and keynote speaker David Gerrold. We have two more free events at the library on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. You can see the entire schedule here: Gage County Museum Info.
CMH: Does the Gage County Classic Film Institute have any future events planned?
Next year we are planning to spotlight the legendary Harold Lloyd. He lived in Beatrice as a child, and was born in Burchard, Nebraska about 25 miles away. We are very excited to be developing this event. Please feel free to follow us on Facebook at Gage County Classic Film Institute to see what we have in store for the future and to also find out about ‘our stars’ on television.
We want to thank Classic Movie Hub for helping us to advertise our event and putting us on the CMH calendar.
We hope we will have a big turnout for Gene L. Coon, one of my famous Nebraskans.
CMH: Thanks so much Jeanelle for spending time with us. Good luck with the event!
Win tickets to see “Grease” on the Big Screen!
In Select Cinemas Nationwide Sun April 8 and Wed April 11!
“If you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.”
Yay! The contest is over and the winners are: Liliana, Jodi, Javier, Diana, Jlwthe2nd, Migdalia, Tracy. Due to some ineligible entries, we only were able to award 7 prizes this month.
That said, we’ll be giving away EIGHT PAIRS of tickets to see “TCM Big Screen Classics: Grease” – The highest-grossing movie of 1978 directed by Randal Kleiser, starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing and Jeff Conaway — on the Big Screen!
In order to qualify to win a pair of movie tickets via this contest, you must complete the below entry task by Saturday, March 24th at 6 PM EST.
We will announce the winner(s) on Twitter on Sunday, March 25, between 6PM EST and 7PM EST. If a winner(s) does not have a Twitter account, we will announce that winner(s) via this blog in the comment section below.
ENTRY TASK (2-parts) to be completed by Saturday, March 24 at 6PM EST…
1) Answer the below question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog post
THE QUESTION: Although not officially a classic-era film, what in your opinion makes “Grease” a classic? And, if you haven’t seen it, why do you want to see it on the Big Screen?
2) Then TWEET* (not DM) the following message: I just entered to win tickets to see “TCM Big Screen Classics Presents: Grease” on the Big Screen courtesy of @ClassicMovieHub & @FathomEvents #EnterToWin #CMHContest link here: http://ow.ly/UKRx30iIbH9
*If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can still enter the contest by simply answering the above question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog — BUT PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ADD THIS VERBIAGE TO YOUR ANSWER: I do not have a Twitter account, so I am posting here to enter but cannot tweet the message.
NOTE: If for any reason you encounter a problem commenting here on this blog, please feel free to tweet or DM us, or send an email to clas…@gmail.com and we will be happy to create the entry for you.
ALSO: Please allow us 48 hours to approve your comments. Sorry about that, but we are being overwhelmed with spam, and must sort through 100s of comments…
About the film: Grease is the one that you want! Go back to high school with Pink Lady Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), leader of the bad-boy T-Birds, Danny (John Travolta), and a rockin’ and rollin’ all-star cast. This 40th Anniversary event includes exclusive insight from Turner Classic Movies.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
– Mae West
Welcome to March and a new series on Classic Movie Hub, “Looking At the Stars.” Every month we’ll be celebrating a star or two – or perhaps three – in short subject posts with a theme in common. Each entry will celebrate history, art or culture. Some notations will be serious and others whimsical. They will all take on a movie twist, of course, and (we hope) they will also be entertaining. For our inaugural entry we honor women’s history.
Following more than a century of women fighting for equal rights and fairness, the National Women’s History Project successfully petitioned Congress to officially name the month of March one during which the contributions of women across all facets of society and from all nations will be celebrated. (Women’s History Month).
Classic Movie Hub dedicates this entry to three actors who doubled as film pioneers by changing the course of motion pictures with hard work, perseverance and talent.
More than six decades before Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley saved the world from a terrifying alien, Pearl White’s Pauline was defying the forces of evil on a regular basis in Pathe’s popular serials. The first of the 20 chapters in The Perils of Pauline serial premiered on March 23, 1914, making its star a giant hit with audiences. Although Pauline was supposed to be a classic damsel in distress, she refused to give up and always became the hero in her stories. At any given moment Pauline would be hanging off a cliff, trying to evade being killed by a huge boulder, running from a burning house or fighting off all kinds of evil doers, usually in great numbers. She was a wonder. Pauline’s life was often in serious and immediate danger, yet she managed to survive at every turn by sheer grit and guts. The perilous situations Pauline escaped from make even Indiana Jones look like an amateur. It was Pearl White’s athleticism, bravery and star power that made this serial, and the subsequent ones she starred in, as entertaining as they still are today. Here’s to the one who was known as the “Peerless Fearless Girl.”
“Mae West controlled her own destiny. She created an archetype of a freewheeling sexually liberated women, in the 1920’s and 1930’s! She made her first film at 40, discovered Cary Grant along the way. She wrote on nine of the 13 films she acted in, yet she is not included when we talk about the pantheon of great auteur comedians? She should be included alongside Chaplin and Buster Keaton.” – Illeana Douglas
“On a February afternoon in 1940, Hattie McDaniel— then one of the biggest African-American movie stars in the world — marched into the Culver City offices of producer David O. Selznick and placed a stack of Gone With the Wind reviews on his desk.” – The Hollywood Reporter
“Hattie McDaniel, as Mammy, comes closest with a bid for top position as a trouper. It is she who contributes the most moving scene in the film…” – Variety, December 19, 1939
“Best of all, perhaps, next to Miss Leigh, is Hattie McDaniel’s Mammy, who must be personally absolved of responsibility for that most “unfittin'” scene in which she scolds Scarlett from an upstairs window. She played even that one right, however wrong it was.” – The New York Times, December 20, 1939
David O. Selznick submitted Hattie McDaniel’s name for Academy Award consideration and she became the first African-American actor to win the Academy Award because everyone agreed that her portrayal of Mammy in Gone With the Wind is the film’s heart. McDaniel accepted her Oscar statuette on February 29, 1940 at the ceremony held at the Coconut Grave in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, an establishment she was not allowed to enter because of her skin color.
Aurora Bugallo is a classic film-obsessed blogger, and co-founder and co-host of the Classic Movies and More Youtube show. You can read more of Aurora’s articles at Once Upon a Screen, or you can follow her on Twitter at @CitizenScreen.
You’ve likely all heard about Thomas Edison’s irreplaceable contributions to the development of cinema — particularly as a business — and are probably familiar with the iconic work of Georges “A Trip to the Moon” Méliès. The Lumière brothers probably ring a bell, too. But who were some other important early directors, who perhaps fly a little under the radar for most non-silent-film-fanatic folks?
6. Siegmund Lubin
One of the earliest directors and producers, Lubin was a native of Germany who moved to the U.S. in the 1870s. Having a background in optometry (he patented two types of spectacles), he was quickly drawn to the novelty of motion picture cameras and projectors. After spending some time as a distributor of Edison films he started his own film company, filming “actualities” (brief documentaries) and brazenly re-making films by fellow directors — he even re-made The Great Train Robbery... (This kind of copying wasn’t uncommon in the early days of cinema.) Not just content with re-makes, he also pirated some films. (Also not uncommon in the early days of cinema.) While not battling lawsuits from rival film studios, he churned out dozens of dramas and comedies and attempted to have his company be its own distributor, exhibitor, and manufacturer of its products. In 1916, at age 65, the headstrong Lubin decided to retire from film production, and would pass away a few years later.
One of the very first filmmakers in Japan, Shibata worked for the photography shop Konishi Camera, which had been on the scene since 1873 (a prominent Tokyo pharmacist had started selling photography equipment in his store). When the shop imported Japan’s first motion picture camera, famed benshi and producer of sorts Komada Koyo instructed Shibata to start making films, hoping to incorporate them into stage performances (a benshi was a type of lecturer who delivered running commentary for plays). Shibata obliged by first filming traditional geisha dances at a Kabuki theater in 1899, and then making Inazuma goto Hobaku no Ba (The Lightning Robber is Arrested), which was a hit. He would then film a number of Kabuki plays, featuring some of Japan’s most renowned actors. His last film credits are from 1904, and he apparently passed away in 1929.
4. Segundo de Chomón
The well-mustachioed De Chomón was born in Spain on October 17, 1871. He would marry Julienne Mathieu, an actress at the early film studio Pathé Frères. She was soon encouraging her husband to join Pathé, so he began working there as an agent and then a director. After filming documentaries, in 1903 he made Gulliver en el país de los gigantes (Gulliver in the Land of Giants) and discovered his new specialty: trick films. He was soon so talented at creating special effects that Pathé himself decided he should concentrate on competing with the work of the famed Georges Méliès. De Chomón happily obliged, and as a result his intricate, surreal fairytale-style films are often mistaken for work of Méliès today. He would eventually focus less on directing and more on cinematography, helping create effects for classics like Napoléon (1927). He passed away from a heart attack in 1929.
3. Alice Guy-Blaché
Guy-Blaché was born in Paris in 1873. Her father would pass away in 1891, and she became a stenographer in order to help her widowed mother. She soon became a secretary to Léon Gaumont, who at the time owned a company that sold camera equipment. Guy and Gaumont would attend one of the famous Lumière film showings in 1895, and inspired by this, Gaumont decided to start producing films. Guy-Blaché became one of his first film directors–which made her the world’s first female director. Her lengthy filmography began with La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy), which some consider the world’s earliest fiction film. She soon rose to becoming head of production at Gaumont, and after marrying Herbert Blaché in 1907, the two formed their own company, Solax. In 1919, after making literally hundreds of films (including many early sound films), Guy retired from directing. She drifted into obscurity, passing away quietly in 1968, but her pioneering work is gaining interest again today.
2. Edwin S. Porter
You likely know Porter as the man responsible for familiar film milestones like The Great Train Robbery (1903) and Life of an American Fireman (1903). Born in 1870, he was raised in Pennsylvania along with his six siblings and grew up to work a number of odd jobs, eventually settling on working with electrical devices. By 1899 he was a mechanic at the Edison Manufacturing Company and was soon involved in its film production. Working his way up to being a director, he was put in charge of Edison’s New York studio and his work became very popular with the public. He was a pro at both editing and dissolve techniques. After 1909 he left Edison and jumped from film studio to film studio until retiring in 1925. A quiet, humble individual, he would focus on his private film equipment inventions until passing away in 1941.
1. William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson
Otherwise known as William K-L. Dickson, you may know him as the young man holding a hat in the super early short Dickson Greeting (1890). Born in France in 1860, at age 19 he wrote to Thomas Edison asking for a job. While he was turned down, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. later that year and by 1883 he finally managed to be hired to work in Edison’s laboratory. He quickly proved himself, becoming one of the head assistants. Around 1888 he began experimenting with film, which fascinated him, and eventually designed both the earliest “kinetoscope” and the Black Maria — the world’s first film studio. Dickson is credited not only with patenting a practical type of cellulose film and the emulsion needed for it, but deciding that film needed to be 35mm, making him possibly the most important figure in the history of cinema’s development. He founded the American Mutoscope Company in 1895 and left Edison that same year. While he kept working as an engineer and director of documentaries, he became an obscure figure and spent his remaining years in England, passing away in 1935.
These hardworking directors, from all different backgrounds and from all over the world, are just a sampling of the important contributors to the art form that inspires and influences us today. They may not be household names (unless you’re a film historian), but the results of their long-ago experiments can still be seen every time you switch on your TV screen.
Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.
It’s time for our next giveaway, courtesy of Kino Lorber. This time, we’ll be giving away FIVE copies of the 1923 silent classic The Covered Wagon, starring J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson and Alan Hale… This is the first time ever that this film has been available on either DVD or Blu-Ray.
In order to qualify to win one of these DVDs or Blu-Rays via this contest giveaway, you must complete the below entry task by Saturday, March 24 at 10PMEST. However, the sooner you enter, the better chance you have of winning, because we will pick a winner on five different days within the contest period, via random drawings, as listed below… So if you don’t win the first week that you enter, you will still be eligible to win during the following weeks until the contest is over.
Feb 24: One Winner
Mar 3: One Winner
Mar 10: One Winner
Mar 17: One Winner
Mar 24: One Winner
We will announce each week’s winner on Twitter @ClassicMovieHub (or this blog, depending how you entered), the day after each winner is picked at 10PM EST — for example, we will announce our first week’s winners on Sunday Feb 25 at 10PM EST.
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ENTRY TASK (2-parts) to be completed by Saturday, March 24 at 10PM EST— BUT remember, the sooner you enter, the more chances you have to win…
1) Answer the below question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog post
2) ThenTWEET (not DM) the following message:
Just entered to win “The Covered Wagon” 1923 silent film classic #Giveaway courtesy of @KinoLorber and @ClassicMovieHub contest link: http://ow.ly/RS8230itxKn
THE QUESTION: Why do you want to win this DVD/Blu-ray?
*If you do not have a Twitter account, you can still enter the contest by simply answering the above question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog — BUT PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU ADD THIS VERBIAGE TO YOUR ANSWER: I do not have a Twitter account, so I am posting here to enter but cannot tweet the message.
ALSO: Please allow us 48 hours to approve your comments. Sorry about that, but we are being overwhelmed with spam, and must sort through 100s of comments…
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About The Film: The first Western epic! A great caravan of covered wagons, filled with hearty pioneers and their families and possessions, are waiting for the Spring “jump off” at Westport Landing, now Kansas City. The time is 1848, and the destination is far-off Oregon, in The Covered Wagon (1923), the first big-budget Western epic. Where countless pilgrims fell, a love triangle flourishes, as Molly Wingate (Lois Wilson) must choose between the brutish Sam (Alan Hale) and the dashing Will (J. Warren Kerrigan). Complicating her decision are the perils of the trail: a mile-wide river, prairie fire, heavy snowfall, a buffalo stampede, crippling hunger, and Native American attacks. Boasting a cast of thousands and an unparalleled commitment to authenticity, The Covered Wagon was an enormous box-office success in 1923 and became one of the major milestones in the history of the Western.
Please note that only residents of the Continental United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and the territory of Puerto Rico) entrants are eligible to win.
