Award Season: Top 5 Precode Oscar Moments

The annual Academy Awards has always been an occasion for glitz and glamour and to honour members of the film industry who have excelled over the year. Since the event began broadcasting on television, the eager public has been the given the unprecedented opportunity to have live and comprehensive coverage of the ceremony and (more importantly) the red carpet pre-show. This technology has made the yearly scandals, snubs, bad jokes and outfit shocks instant news all in vivid colour. However, the period before television and the radio broadcast – and my personal interest – the early 1930’s also included a number of cringe worthy, unbelievable and ground-breaking moments. These incidents were only recorded thanks to the now seemingly out-dated medium, the newspaper, and organisations, such as, Oscars.org. Amid this awards season I have dug out my top 5 Precode Oscar Moments:

5. It Happened One Awards Night

The 7^th Academy Awards held February 27^th, 1935, proved a spectacular year for comedies and the famous, influential director, Frank Capra. His little romantic comedy, It Happened One Night, became the first film in the awards history to take a clean sweep of all the major Oscars. These include: Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable who won the top acting gongs, Best Director for Capra, Best Screenplay for writer Robert Riskin and also, the most celebrated category, of Best Picture. It would take more than 40 years for the feat to be repeated by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1976. It was also an astounding win because in conjunction with the film being the first romantic comedy to receive Best Picture, the film was never destined to be a resounding success. There were many issues with the movie pre-production, mainly with casting with none of the major stars of the period willing or able to take either the male or female leads. After a struggle Capra finally settled on Gable and Colbert both who had a long line of demands before agreeing to participate. However, the films dialogue, themes and the performances of actors struck a chord with both audiences and critics making the film a major triumph.    

Claudette Colbert with her Oscar

 

4. The Importance of Being Frank

Conversely, the 1933 ceremony, a year before, was embarrassing experience for the innovative director, Frank Capra. The filmmaker providing an interesting and hilarious talking point for the guests and media alike days after all the Oscars were awarded. Capra was nominated for Best Director for his work on the film, Lady For a Day, alongside George Cukor for, Little Women, and Frank Lloyd for the historical epic, Cavalcade. Actor and master of ceremonies, Will Rogers, announced the nominees and called, ambiguously, “Come up and get it, Frank!” Assuming he had been awarded the prize and in the confusion, Capra rushed to the stage to collect the statue. After a few moments of bewilderment and clarification, Rogers confirmed it was actually Lloyd who had won instead of Capra. It was an Oscar blunder that thanks to the lack of technology was not instant news and has become a part of the Academy Awards legend. Thankfully, Capra’s embarrassment was overcome when he was rewarded the following year with the Best Director award.

Frank Lloyd and Will Rogers

 

3. Let’s Call it a Tie        

Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Conrad Nagel and Fredric March

The 5^th Academy Awards celebrating the films created between August 1, 1931 and July 31, 1932 created an odd dilemma for the award’s officials. In the Best Actor category, front-runners, Fredric March nominated for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Wallace Beery for The Champ ended the voting with a one-point difference. The Academy rules at the time stated that the score was not a significant enough win and called the contest a tie. On the night both actors were presented separate trophies and, luckily, both appeared contented with the outcome. Although he was officially in the lead, March was happy to share his prize, with his biographer, Charles Tranberg, commenting:    

“March made a very witty acceptance speech.  He and Beery had both recently adopted a child and March said something to the effect that it was ‘a little odd that we were both given awards for the best male performance of the year.’  Very funny and witty--March really did have a good sense of humour.  It brought down the house.  March had no adverse reaction to sharing the award with Beery--after all they both got their own statuette and didn’t have to share custody of one trophy.”
 

2. The Kids

Young stars became a feature of the Academy Awards ceremonies between 1930 and 1934 as this era in films created many opportunities for the tiny talents to exhibit their abilities. Two outstanding examples are Shirley Temple and Jackie Cooper who both caught the public and the academy’s eyes in the early thirties. Temple created history winning the first ever Juvenile Award aged six at the 7^th Academy Awards which was created to acknowledge her achievements over her short career. She is still the youngest ever Oscar recipient. Similarly, Jackie Cooper entered the history books in 1931 after being nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Skippy aged only nine. His achievement was only surpassed in 1979 by Justin Henry nominated for his work in Kramer vs. Kramer. However, young Cooper didn’t have the stamina to last the entire ceremony. According to reports, Cooper fell asleep half way through the proceedings unfortunately on the shoulder of Marie Dressler who was nominated for Best Actress. When she won, Dressler had to slowly manoeuvre the sleeping Cooper onto his mother’s lap before accepting the award.   
 

Shirley Temple with her Academy Award

 

1. The Great Bette Snub  

Bette Davis with her Oscar for Dangerous in 1935

One of the most shocking ever Oscar snubs occurred in 1934. Bette Davis who had previously been given flimsy and melodramatic roles had forced the tyrannical Jack Warner to loan her out to RKO to star in the confronting Somerset Maugham story, Of Human Bondage. The role was challenging for Davis who not only had to behave outrageously flirty and cruel but appear physically hideous and die in the end of a degrading undisclosed illness. She was successful and a standout for the year with Life magazine commenting she gave, “the best performance ever recorded on the screen by an American actress.” However, astonishingly, Davis was not initially nominated for the Best Actress award. After pressure from the media, members of the public and other actors, The Academy was forced to reconsider its decision. The critics were insisting a “write-in ballot” be created. Later Academy’s president, Howard Estabrook stated, “The awards committee has decided upon a change in the rules to permit unrestricted selection of any voter, who may write on the ballot his personal choice for the winner.” This ruling allowed Davis to be officially named a nominee two weeks after the first announcement of the nominees were made. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, Davis did not win losing out to Claudette Colbert. Interestingly she wrote in her autobiography that everybody on the night assumed she would be victorious.

“The air was thick with rumours. It seemed inevitable that I would receive the coveted award. The press, the public and the members of the Academy who did the voting were sure I would win! Surer than I!”

She was rewarded a year later receiving the Oscar for her role as a fallen actress in Dangerous in a well-acted performance but Davis always considered this a kind of reparation for the snub the year before. 

Precode Pix: In the Great Outdoors

Actresses appeared to be loving all things natural in the Precode era. The use outdoor, slightly bohemian and action shots were quite popular with publicity departments during the early 1930’s. The result was pictures that appeared more artless, visually interesting and less formal then many of the classic portrait shots. Below is a great selection of photos from Precode actresses enjoying all things from the environmental world:   

Dolores del Rio

 

Toby Wing

 

Jean Parker



 Mary Carlisle

Fay Wray

 

Shirley Chambers

 

Joan Blondell 

Adrienne Ames

Loretta Young



Precode Beauty Tips

Take the advice from Precode’s biggest stars on how to stay screen ready:

Tip 1 - For Luscious Lips:

“For clearly defined, smooth rouged lips, follow Mary Carlisle’s advice: ‘Outline lips horizontally with edge or point of stick, then fill in vertically with flat side.’”

 

 

Tip 2 - To Even Skin Tone:

 “Almond meal mixed to paste with lemon juice makes a good, safe bleach, says Maureen O’Sullivan. Apply to cleansed skin, let dry, remove with cold water. Leaves the skin soft, clear.”

 

 

Tip 3 – Food and Skin:

“Una Merkel considers cucumbers a definite skin beautifier, not only in creams and lotions, but in the diet. Una looks as if she enjoyed them, too.”

 

Tip 4 – For Soft, Smooth Hands:

“Mary Carlisle remembers to slip on cotton gloves over her well-oiled hands before retiring, a sure way to flower-like skin. Specially treated sleeping gloves come for those with unusually sensitive skin.”

 

Tip 5 – Something Extra:

The beautiful Jean Harlow used a beauty mark to add to her attractiveness. “Beauty-marks are for the fair-skinned only, where the contrast between black and white is striking and exotic.”

 

For anyone wanted to measure their attractiveness. This is a devise used to measure a person’s beauty by looking at an individual’s symmetry. According to Max Factor and its inventors the nose, the forehead and between base of the nose and tip of chin should be the same length. The distance between the eyes should be the same as the length of the eyes. The actress is Sheila Terry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The (Not So) Merry Wives of Reno (1934)

A witty play on words from Shakespeare’s iconic play, Merry Wives of Reno (1934), focuses on the muddled lives of three quintessential Precode couples – perfect newlyweds, a cheating much younger wife and an older couple that never seem to see eye-to-eye. The champions of the film are three second banana staples of the early 1930’s – Glenda Farrell, Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert - who cause trouble for the youthful loved up couple, Donald Woods and Margaret Lindsay. Their performances only outdone by the hilarious comic relief from Eloise, a playful, animated and always present sheep.

 

Frank (Woods) and Madge (Lindsay) are a sugary married couple celebrating their first anniversary. As gifts they buy each other expensive overcoats and plan a romantic diner. Their neighbours, however, are the unhappy couple Tom (Kibbee) and Lois (Ruth Donnelly) whose decade’s long marriage has been filled with arguments, plate throwing and husbandly infidelity. Bunny (Farrell), a wealthy wife, with her husband out of town is bored and looking for excitement invites Frank over on the pretence of buying a boat from him. He soon finds out she wants more than just a sea vessel and tries desperately to leave the apartment before the energetic Bunny causes him more trouble. Thankfully it comes in the form of Tom who is also having a casual fling with the bored housewife arrives, drunk, looking for a fun time. Frank exits, negligently, leaving his new overcoat behind. Minutes later in another comedic twist, Bunny’s husband, Colonel Fitch (Herbert), returns from his business trip, glowing and satisfied, bringing along his new prized possession, Eloise the sheep. Flustered and still intoxicated, Tom exits, also unfortunately leaving his overcoat beside Frank’s in Bunny’s hall closet. 

Margaret Lindsay and Ruth Donnelly

When the husbands finally return overcoat-less – and one of them drunk – to their wives dual arguments ensue. Both creating invented stories as to the location their jackets and not succeeding to persuade their spouses that they are innocent. Impulsively, Madge and Lois conclude that the only solution is to divorce their lying, cheating and mistreating husbands and head to Reno. On the train ride the wives, in a serendipitous moment, finally meet, discover their connection and resolve to leave their marriages behind and find laugher and good times in Reno. Hot on their tails is their jilted husbands who have also joined forces desperate to win their wives back and restore their domestic homes. Following behind is Bunny and Colonel Fitch also on the train destined for Reno with a hidden Eloise under the passenger’s seats.

They all stay at a traditional Reno hotel filled with parties, alcohol and newly divorced women. All paying customers can have any need met by the accommodating concierge, Al, played by the hilarious Frank McHugh, who spends most of his time organising parties and acting as a kind of gigolo for lonely women. The couples constantly switch from separation to reconciliation as they navigate through misunderstandings, drunken nights and other women. In the end all it takes is a taste of their own medicine to bring the wives back to the comfort of their husband’s arms and a happy conclusion for this light-hearted Warner Bros. comedy. 

The use of supporting character actors brings a different edge to the picture. Although it is witty and poignant when it comes to marriage fidelity and infidelity, the film lacks slightly with casting. Both Farrell, Gibbee and name are perfect accompanying actors but seem not strong enough to carry a picture with name and name also a little weak. It appears to be a truly ensemble cast that could have benefited from the inclusion of someone like Joan Blondell or Warren William. The film shines with Eloise who is surprisingly vibrant and dramatic for a sheep. Frank McHugh is also brilliantly included as the naughty but helpful concierge. Merry Wives of Reno is not a great Precode drama or commentary on social issues but is a fun, light way to spend an hour in both in the 30’s and now.     

                

Banned: The Screen Life of Scarface (1932)

Finally released in 1932 the original Scarface film has become a legendary example of the 1930s gangster and crime genre and the use of shockingly realistic depictions in Precode Warner Bros. productions. But its journey to pop culture immortality was filled with more road blocks, obstacles and authority inference then the characters of the movie experienced. For its unabashed portrayals of criminals, killings and glorification of gangsters and, in its original version, political hypocrisy and lack of repentance, Scarface is one of only a handful of films significantly censored during the Precode period and even banned in several states and cities.

The movie featured successful gritty actor Paul Muni alongside Osgood Perkins, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley and iconic horror staple Boris Karloff. The film centres on Muni as an Italian immigrant caught up in the highly territorial gang warfare of 1920’s Chicago. He works under mafia boss Johnny Lovo (Perkins) and, after murdering another head Big Louis Costello, the pair take over his organised crime operation on the south side of the city. This mostly focuses on running speakeasies and manufacturing and distributing prohibited alcohol. But, Tony (Muni) becomes increasingly greedy interfering in the businesses of other gangs, such as, the Irish mafia and develops an obsession for machine guns. His ambitions makes him become increasing erratic and he becomes the key focus of public attention, law enforcement and politicians. The mainstream edition of the film ends with a shootout with Tony eventually surrounded by the police and gunned down after attempting to escape.    

Produced by perfectionists the two Howards – Howard Hawks and Howard Hughes – and directed by both Hawks and Richard Rossen the film, based on a 1929 novel by Armitage Trail, was not destined to sit well with censors. While in the production phrase the movie was beginning to draw interest from the Hay’s department mainly for its apparent similarities with the real-life drama of Al Capone. This included comparisons to many murders and massacres Capone was involved in. In addition, the film’s main writer, Ben Hecht, claims men working for Capone confronted him to ensure there was no blatant connections between the stories and some historians have even asserted the men were working on the film as consultants.

During the three month shoot there was increased pressure from Hays who was worried the film would be too violent and glorify crime. The script had to be changed several times; first to alter the depiction of Tony’s mother to make her less accepting of her son’s lifestyle and gang involvement – calling him ‘bad’ and ‘no-good’ - and a second to remove hints of political hypocrisy. Hughes was reportedly soo frustrated by the interference by censors he told Hawks, "Screw the Hays Office, make it as realistic, and grisly as possible." The original version of the film was completed early September 1931 but had to remain in production to shoot an alternative ending. In an attempt to appease the MPAA, a second version was created showing Tony’s being caught, tried and hanged for his crimes. This is opposed to the original ending which showed Tony killed by police bullets but not held accountable for his sins. Other edits were also made before the official release of the picture; namely, a sub-title ‘Shame of the Nation’ was added, the inclusion of a moral statement in the beginning of the film, removal of blame on law enforcement and removal of incestual undertones between Tony and his sister Francesca (Dvorak).

However the exhaustive changes proved not enough to pacify state and city censor boards. The film was ultimately banned in five cities and five states and censored further in others. The main issue was between Hughes and the New York censor board. After the film was banned – the organisation even refusing the sanitized ending - the producer took the board to court for the rights to show his film. After several lawsuits the restrictions were lifted.  In Chicago, the location of the film, the showings were delayed by over a year. Similarly there were issues selling the film overseas with Nazi Germany prohibiting the movie from entering the country. The issues with the overall circulation of the film made it – according to historians – not much of a box office success with Hughes forced to withdraw it from viewings and it wasn’t widely seen until its reissue in 1979.

Although its initial success is questionable, Scarface (1932) is undoubtedly a cult classic today. Its raw and realistic depiction of crime, gang warfare and the 1930’s depression society, is shocking even to contemporary audiences and shows the daring and will of the movies creators. The issues and controversy surrounding its original release – although arguably detrimental firstly – only adds to its notoriety and legend today.     

 

Author and Screenwriter Michael Druxman takes on ‘The It Girl’

For a period during the late silent era, Clara Bow, was firming seated at the dizzying heights of Hollywood’s Dream Factory. Her face drove the press pack and studio’s publicity machines and her films ensured Paramount’s financial stability for most of her short career. But her entire life from childhood to adulthood was filled with shocking scandal and tragedy alongside the fame and fortune of film stardom.  Her youth was plagued by poverty, a psychotic and violent mother and an abusive parasitic father. Her one solace was the movies and a desperate desire to be a part of that perfect community. Wining a magazine contest began Bow’s journey to becoming the ‘It Girl’ of the silver screen and with it several relationships with Hollywood elite, including Gary Cooper and Victor Fleming. However, her time in the sun was short lived with mental and physical breakdowns, scandals and conflicts with studio heads prompting her early retirement from acting aged only 28.  Her personal and private life was more volatile and complicated than any film plot; screenwriter, author and playwright, Michael Druxman, attempts this difficult task of analysing Clara Bow for his one-woman play, Clara Bow. 

Emma: Clara Bow was a complicated woman, what elements of her life and personality did you focus on for the play?

Michael: Clara’s life, in many ways, mirrors the life and career of Marilyn Monroe.  Both women were the reigning movie sex symbols of their day.  Both had mentally ill mothers.  The studios and the men in their lives “used” both women, and both were perfect fodder for the scandal newspapers and magazines. 

In a play, as opposed to a full biography, one has to pick and choose what you are going to focus upon.  In Clara Bow, I deal with the major elements of Clara’s life and I also try to bring her to some sort of resolution, so that she is, finally, “at peace” with who she is and what she has accomplished.

The play, much of it told via flashback, is set on the morning of the funeral of her estranged husband, former cowboy star and Nevada’s then-Lieutenant Governor, Rex Bell.

Clara Bow may, indeed, be a sad, tragic tale, but the story is also told with humor, because Clara was an out-going, warm and likable person.   Her problem was that she trusted the wrong people.


Emma: She was known as much for her private life as her professional achievements, did these relationships and scandals also become a part of your representation of Miss Bow?

Michael: They absolutely became a part of the play.   Aside from the mentally disturbed mother who once tried to kill her, Clara Bow deals with the actresses’ relationships with actors Gary Cooper and Gilbert Roland, song-and-dance man Harry Richman, film director Victor Fleming and others.

In researching the play, I interviewed Roland, Charles “Buddy” Rogers (her Wings co-star), and I even flew from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where her son allowed me to go through her trunk, which contained some intriguing personal letters.

Clara Bow and Gary Cooper, 1927

Emma: Tell me the basic information about where the play can be read and purchased?


Michael: The paperback version of the play can be purchased on Amazon, through Barnes & Noble or can be ordered though any bookseller.  The play is also available on Kindle, and has now been adapted to audio with Nancy McLemore, a terrific actress from Birmingham, AL, performing the role of Clara.  This version, which is presented in the style of a radio drama, with music and sound effects, can be downloaded from Amazon, audible.com and iTunes.


Emma: You have also completed many other one-person plays focusing on acting greats – Carole Lombard, Al Jolson, Errol Flynn and others. What made you interested in these characters and classic Hollywood in general?


Michael: I have always been a fan of classic Hollywood.  In the early 1980’s, I became intrigued with the one-person play format and decided to give it a try.  Up to that point, Hal Holbrook had done Mark Twain, James Whitmore had done Harry Truman and Will Rogers, Henry Fonda did Clarence Darrow and Julie Harris had played Emily Dickinson…but nobody had really done a great movie star, so I chose Clark Gable.  A local theater staged it, with my friend, actor Michael Ansara, directing.  The play was a huge success, so I started writing more one-person plays.  I now have 9 such plays, several of which have been produced in various venues around the United States.  These works, as well as a 2-person play (Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy), are available individually in paperback and Kindle or in a single volume, entitled The Hollywood Legends.  Orson Welles, performed by Ed French, is also available as an audio download.


Emma: Before you began writing stage plays, your writing career began composing scripts for Hollywood films. How did you get a start in this industry and what were your highlights?

Michael: Actually, I wrote several of the plays before I started selling my screenplays.

I began in the industry as a self-employed publicist.  I opened my own office and, very shortly, began representing some very important people.  I did that for about 35 years.  In the early 1970s, I started writing my non-fiction books about Hollywood and the movies, then the plays and, finally, I made my first screenplay sale in, I believe, 1989.  After that, off-and-on, I wrote several pictures for producer Roger Corman, including Cheyenne Warrior w/Kelly Preston, Dillinger and Capone with Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham and The Doorway with Roy Scheider, which I also directed.

You can read about my Hollywood adventures in my two memoirs, My Forty-Five Years in Hollywood and How I Escaped Alive, and the recently published, Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Hollywood: More of My Wacky Adventures in Tinseltown.

Clara Bow and her father

Emma: You also moved into writing nonfiction works and biographies as well as novels, was this an easy transition? Is it a different process writing books then it is creating scripts and plays? 

Michael: As I said in my previous answer, the non-fiction writing came first.  It’s definitely easier to sell non-fiction because you already have somewhat of a pre-sold audience.  People either want to read a book or play about Clara Bow or Basil Rathbone or movie remakes or whatever… or they don’t.  With fiction, you are, essentially, starting from scratch.  You have to “wow” the potential reader  (or producer) with your story concept, so that they will buy (or read)  your book or screenplay.

Certainly, the major difference between writing plays and screenplays, as opposed to books, is “real estate”.  In a dramatic work, you only have a limited amount of pages in which you can tell your story, so you must boil it down to its essence.  With a book, within reason, you do not have that limitation.


Emma: You have had a long and exceptional career; do you have any plans for future projects?

Michael: I now reside in Austin, TX, but I always have future projects.  Currently, I am researching a couple of new plays for The Hollywood Legends collection, a one-woman play and also a 3-person drama. 

I’m also planning to update a biography I wrote over 30 years ago about singer Dinah Shore.  Due to a legal dispute between the publishers of the hardback and paperback editions back then, the book was never published…although I did received some very nice advances which I was able to retain.  Now BearManor Media has asked me to update the material (no specific deadline), so this biography will, eventually, be published.

Clara Bow in ‘Call Her Savage’ (1932)

 

 

 

A Little Bit Precode-er: Top 5 Exploitation Films

Sometimes disguised as documentaries or news reports, Precode exploitation cinema focused on education, knowledge and warning audiences against dangerous behaviours…or so the films promoted. They mostly aimed to make money and tempt audiences through a filmmaker’s favourite method – lots of sex, violence, nudity and drugs. Below is my top five accompanied by amazingly saucy and provocative poster art:


1) Ingagi (1930)

A ‘documentary’ film from the Nat Spitzer's Congo Pictures company. It was promoted as a factual journey of Sir Hubert Winstead in Africa and his encounter with a gorilla-worshiping tribe of women. The film was denounced by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association for the fabricated scenes and subject when it was announced that the picture was mostly filmed in Los Angeles. The nudity and insinuation of sex between women and gorillas made Ingagi a notorious exploitation movie.

2) Elysia, Valley of the Nude (1934)

A look into the lifestyle of people in a nudist camp. The 45 minute ‘documentary’ was film in the largest nudist camp in California, located 10 miles from Lake Elsinore. This Bryan Foy Productions film is seen through the eyes of a newspaper reporter sent to investigate the people living within the Elysia nudist camp.    

 

3) Road to Ruin (1934) 

This exploitation film, directed by Dorothy Davenport (aka Mrs Wallace Reid), shows the journey of a young girl whose life is destroyed by drugs and sex. The movie concludes with main character, Ann (Helen Foster), pregnant suffering drug and alcohol addiction and forced to get an abortion. This movie is part of the precautionary sub-genre of Pre-code exploitation but was considered tamed compared to the original 1928 silent version.

 

4) Narcotic (1933)

Another precautionary tale, Narcotic, shows the impact of drug use on promising medical student, Dr. William G. Davies. The story continues with his downward turn into opium dens and the deterioration of his medical practise. The doctor slowly reverts to more powerful drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, causing hallucinations and an eventual mental breakdown. This hour length feature stars Harry Cording, Joan Dix and Patricia Farley.    

 

5) Maniac or Sex Maniac (1934)    

A loose adaption of Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Black Cat” and with references to "Murders in the Rue Morgue". It follows lab assistant Don Maxwell who is dutifully assisting mad scientist, Dr. Meirschultz, with his work of reanimating corpses. After being asked by Meirschultz to commit suicide for another radical experiment, Maxwell murders the doctor and covers up the crime by impersonating his employer. The character of the doctor begins to overpower Maxwell as he begins a downturn into insanity.