Precode Picks #10

 

No Such Scene in the Picture We Have Access To, But We Can Dream, Can't We?

Precode: Cagney with Blondell, Welcome to Hollywood, and Have a Hard Seat

BLONDE CRAZY (1931) --- The first starring James Cagney after a quartet with him in support or unexpected lead (Public Enemy a surprise for Jim and employers). He was difficult from a start, demanding more money he knew he was worth, falling out also with the William Morris agency which he felt didn’t do enough for commissions they extracted. This was a star not afraid of courtrooms and immune to threats, which JL Warner issued regularly to no effect. Cagney said he’d as soon return home and enter agricultural college, or maybe study medicine, and yes, he was serious. We could all want to be James Cagney’s kind of movie star, spit in mogul eyes and make them like it. Being indispensable, which he was right off a start button, was advantage peers did not enjoy, like for instance Bogart, who’d do a lot of crawling before he’d walk, supporting Cagney in numerous incidents, plus Robinson, Raft, Bette Davis, even Priscilla Lane. Blonde Crazy was frisky Jim up to tricks skirting law, outright breaking same in fact, which even though this was precode, had to have consequence. Thing is, no one enjoyed seeing Jim in jail, Blonde Crazy bit of a downer at departure, though it’s implied Joan Blondell will wait for him (won't be for so long), saving goodies well worth the time. They were a team almost twins, same colorings, sassy mouths, as though sprung from a same cradle. She was five two, him five five, so were two-of-relative-kind side-by-side. Both were for adlibbing and made with tricks they knew a public increasingly liked, till Jim’s wife told him to slow down the spasms, which he did (like Hitchcock, Cagney got much advise at home). He was brave to play Mama’s boy and even crybaby where same suited drama. Blonde Blondell tells him constantly what a spoiled little kid he is. Most male leads would not have dared stuff Jim regularly engaged.

Splitting Spoils Three Ways (They Think), But At Least One Has Other Ideas

Blonde Crazy has him as dervish of a bellhop selling hootch and rolling craps, Jim’s “Bert Harris” like everybody ignoring Prohibition and figuring we all did, so long as we didn’t mind jail time or small town censure. Lots took umbridge at law so blithely ignored, clash of attitudes in part responsible for stricter enforcement of the Code. Bert keeps a scrapbook of favorite shady schemes and wants to imitate perpetrators, he and Joan little crooks feeding off bigger crooks like Louis Calhern, who makes the mistake of underestimating them. Blonde Crazy is raggedy but written well and under eighty minutes, still on training wheels typical of 1931 as opposed to later, even by a year, and thereby slicker, WB precodes. For repeated views and thus forewarned, I switch off seven of so minutes ahead of the end because I don’t like seeing Jim brought to book. Drat long arms of law says us who like precode for its letting crimes go unpunished. Cagney cites "Age of Chiselry" as he outlines scams he’ll play upon suckers, them already rich and underserving of it, or more dishonest than him which makes his fraud look fun, and I wonder if young folk didn’t learn from Cagney, then go to do likewise. Was he recognized by parents early on as a bad influence? This worried Jim too, who thought his stuff not only monotonous but unwholesome, a big reason why he rebelled against sort Blonde Crazy and too many others were. He made up for a life of movie crime by seeking class and culture offscreen, photographed among his books and art, learning to play piano and right away composing for it. Jim was quintessence of don’t-do-like-I-do in films, do instead like me at subdued and scholarly home. Seeking intellectual company got him in quicksand, for some of these were Red recruiters that saw Jim for a prize get. J.L. called him a Commie dupe and warned his star off bad company, a lesson Cagney had to learn maturing for himself. Best pal Robert Montgomery supplied corrective in that respect. Blonde Crazy shows up at TCM looking pretty good if not pristine like later Cagneys, and streams in HD at Amazon.

HO HUM, ANOTHER BORING BUSINESS LUNCH --- Let’s say you’re Bebe Daniels in the latter stage of life (the early 70’s), and you're among guests with varied interests and topics to discuss. Someone mentions Admiral Byrd and what he achieved decades before in the Antarctic. You then say casually I had lunch with him once, and the table goes silent. You, Bebe, have the floor. They want more, but what more is there? That meal in 1931 was merely part of work at Warners, your presence likely as not required. Being Bebe and on the job a crushing sixteen hours most days, what time did you have to follow Adm. Byrd or any other notable outside of movies? Note you’re standing close by Darryl Zanuck, him who might give your next good part, your left arm locked with George Arliss, as prestige a name as there is amidst your circle. Then there is Jack Barrymore. He needn’t fly over the Arctic circle to be top dog here, or anywhere. Unless you kept up closely with news of exploration, Byrd was just another VIP you were obliged to be nice to. Let us then flip the coin and say you’re him. Being far off where there was no movies nor news of stars ... who are these people with whom you now break bread? Barrymore yes, a more than meaningful name to almost anybody, but Arliss? You were shipboard and headed south before GA had his first talking American hit on film. Unless you were a stage hound and saw him perform during a US tour, chances are Arliss was a mere abstraction, just another defined in terms of celebrity, and you’ve sat through meals with plenty of those since coming off the ice.  Byrd plus Warner stars, any star, constantly met celebrities outside respective wheelhouses. What may we suppose Richard Barthelmess discussed with Albert Einstein, or Marion Davies stood beside Charles Lindbergh? They who served at behest of bosses … too busy perhaps to realize august company they’d be thrown amidst. Provided she gave an honest answer, Bebe’s likely as not would be, Oh, I don’t remember much about Byrd. It was so long ago, and we barely spoke. 

You Got to Be Pretty Hardcore at Home, and Have Plenty of Jack, to Rig Up An Outfit Like This

LAPS OF LUXURY? --- Imagine precode patronage in theatre seating like above. Did even the King of Persia have sits so soft? Audiences in the 30’s took hard backs and liked them. The Liberty offered Iron Maidens and we’d not complain. The Winston Theatre, home of 2001, introduced “Rocking Chair Comfort” in the late sixties and who imagined such extravagance being real? It might even have made up for bad pictures being shown. Now we get recliners, “cuddle couches,” even beds from which to watch in theatres. Greensboro’s Janus hippie house had ratty sofas and bean bags to host Last Tango in Paris and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein, latter in head-splitting 3-D, distinctly not for proposed “VIP” onlookers our modern luxuries aim at. Now a rocker/recliner, if not altogether lay-back, is but a least all expect, theatres more short-term motels than mere place to watch a movie. Surely there are somnambulists not easily awakened when time comes to clear auditoria. Home theatre is much to blame. What we construct in living rooms is way in front of anything paid cinemas can deliver. Could this in part be why they push IMAX so hard? Could be movies played loud is to keep folks from nodding off. Trade ad shown from 1933 seems to promise anything but comfort, “chairs” they call them, and for all of cushioning, these might better suit visitor’s day at the state penitentiary. Point is that audiences did not expect what we loudly do today, them content with any place to rest weary feet. Depression dwellers did not expect elegant furnishings in most spots they’d visit, common areas in movie palaces coming closest perhaps, thousand or more seats for viewing more functional than plush. Part of reason, among many, for my not going to current shows is no Lazy-Boy waiting for me with a pillow to prop my head like at home, plus a clearer picture like at home, better sound like at home, better popcorn like at … point hopefully made.