Category: Dear Reader

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #210

Dear Reader,

Some book news. Operation Liberty, book twelve in my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series, is #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases French Fiction chart.

Clara Bow’s forty-ninth movie was The Saturday Night Kid, produced between July 27 and August 19, 1929, and released on October 26, 1929. Clara played Mayme, one of two sisters in a love triangle. The cast included Jean Arthur, and Jean Harlow in her first credited speaking role.

Even though the producers had gifted Jean Arthur the better part, there was no resentment from Clara. Jean Arthur said, “I loved her. She was so generous, no snootiness or anything. She was wonderful to me.”

Clara also helped to promote Jean Harlow, arranging photoshoots for the two of them, even though at that stage Jean Harlow was a bit-part player. “She’s gonna go places,” Clara said of Harlow, identifying a talent that was going to take Hollywood by storm.

Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Jean Arthur in The Saturday Night Kid.

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century Poll

Result: 28% v 72%

Result: 42% v 58%

Result: 61% v 39%

Result: 18% v 82%

Last Sixteen

Result: 67% v 33%

Result: 52% v 48%

Result: 42% v 58%

My latest Golden Age of Hollywood article for the Seaside News appears on page 40 of the magazine 

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #209

Dear Reader,

My latest translation, the Dutch version of Operation Watchmaker, Eve’s War Heroines of SOE, book eight.

Clara Bow’s forty-eighth movie was Dangerous Curves, produced between April 17 and May 13, 1929, and released on July 13, 1929. Clara played Pat Delaney, a bareback rider.

The character of Pat Delaney was closer to the real Clara than any previous role she’d played. The wisecracking remained, but it was tinged with a hidden sorrow and sense of isolation. 

Clara’s accent was well suited to her character. However, a fear of the microphone was creeping in. Clara would involuntarily stare at the microphone as it appeared overhead. This ruined the scenes and distressed her. 

What is often overlooked in reviews of Clara Bow’s career is that she was the ultimate professional. Even though her private life was often in turmoil, she took filmmaking seriously, and took pride in her performances. Clara felt that she was letting people down. As ever, she was being too hard on herself.

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century, Second Round

Result: 87% v 13%

Result: 62% v 38%

Result: 34% v 66%

Result: 75% v 25%

Result: 69% v 31%

Result: 38% v 62%

Result: 39% v 61%

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #208

Dear Reader,

The cover for Dana, book three in my Golden Age of Hollywood series, scheduled for 2024. This noirish 1920s story is about a young woman employed by a Hollywood studio who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery.

My latest translation, the Italian version of Love and Bullets, Sam Smith Mystery Series book two.

*****

Clara Bow’s forty-seventh movie was The Wild Party, produced between 2 – 29 January, 1929, and released on April 26, 1929. Clara played Stella Ames an extrovert student.

The Wild Party was a landmark movie – the first Clara Bow talkie. Also, it was directed by Dorothy Arzner, at that time the only female director working in Hollywood.

Unlike Greta Garbo, for example, Clara was given no time to prepare for the transition from silent movies to talkies. She was thrown in at the deep end, and she struggled. 

Clara was nervous about her Brooklyn accent. She had no reason to be – her accent was natural and wide in range. She could deliver everything from high-pitched giggles to low, somber tones in the sad scenes. 

Clara was also nervous about the sound system. This was understandable because she relied upon spontaneity and the freedom to move around the set. Now, she was pinned to a mark, under a microphone. Dorothy Arzner tried to assist by devising the first fishpole microphone. This microphone offered flexibility and allowed Clara freedom of movement and expression.

In January 1929, Clara received 45,000 fan letters, more than twice as many as any other actor in movie history. Theatre owners voted Clara the top female box-office draw of the year. She received 2,700 votes, twice as many as anyone else.

With careful management and encouragement, Clara could have made the transition to talkies. At the dawn of this revolution in the movies, Clara was still box-office gold. But she was becoming disenchanted.

Fredric March and Clara Bow in The Wild Party

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century, First Round

Result: 31% v 69%

Result: 5% v 95%

Second Round

Result: 69% v 31%

Result: 25% v 75%

Result: 42% v 58%

Result: 27% v 73%

Result: 67% v 33%

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

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Dear Reader

Dear Reader #207

Dear Reader,

Latest Publications

Future Projects

Clara Bow’s forty-sixth movie was Three Weekends produced between September 10 and October 11, 1928, and released on December 8, 1928. Clara played Gladys O’Brien, a chorus girl.

Three Weekends is a lost movie, so we must rely upon the critics of the time for an opinion. Respected film critic Richard Watts Jr said, “Ever since Clara Bow had the doubtful fortune to be labelled the “It” Girl she has been placed in a wearying succession of unexhilarating comedies.” 

The producers had hit upon a formula: place Clara in a funny scene; place Clara in her underwear; place Clara in a funny scene in her underwear; repeat, repeat, repeat…

And the formula worked. Three Weekends made big money. However, some studios were now making talkies…

The Tatler, March 1933. Mary Pickford, Gary Cooper and Marion Davies at a party thrown by Gary Cooper. Mary was short, 4’ 10”, Gary was tall, 6’ 3”, and Marion loved to party 🍾

Port Arthur News, 23 December 1945

I stumbled across this article during my research into the murder of Hollywood film director William Desmond Taylor. The newspaper asked the question: which past and present actresses have to stand on a box during the love scenes? Here’s the answer 👇

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century, First Round

Result: 63% v 37%

Result: 65% v 35%

Result: 60% v 40%

Result: 72% v 28%

Result: 63% v 37%

Result: 14% v 86%

Result: 46% v 54%

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Dear Reader

Dear Reader #206

Dear Reader,

Some book news. Operation Zigzag, Eve’s War Heroines of SOE book one, is #1 on Amazon’s genre charts in America and France 🙂

Clara Bow’s forty-fifth movie was The Fleet’s In produced between June 18 and July 16, 1928, and released on September 15, 1928. Clara played Trixie Deane a “taxi dancer” who performed “The Clara Bow Stomp” with sailors for a dime a song. 

Clara was dancing in her private life too, in all-night gin-soaked jazz parties at her Malibu home. She was having a whale of a time. Or so she thought.

Comedian Jack Oakie met Clara at this time. He observed: “(When acting) she could turn even the simplest action into a moving one. The redhead was one of the greatest emotional actresses ever.”

Oakie was right, Clara Bow was a great emotional actresses. The tragedy: I don’t think Clara ever truly appreciated how good she was.

Hedy Lamarr was well cast in Dishonoured Lady (1947) as a hedonist who seeks help from a psychiatrist, then finds herself accused of murder. Hedy was married to one of her co-stars, John Loder, at the time of filming, but they divorced later in the year.

The Hays Office went into meltdown over this movie. They insisted that two love affairs in the script, one in Mexico and the other in New York, might be “overloading” the picture. They also objected to the “night of sordid passion.” 

A memo dated April 25, 1946 stated that, despite revisions, the script was unacceptable because of its “gratuitous sex”. Therefore, the “night of sordid passion” was cut from the film. 

All suggestions that Hedy’s character, Madeleine, was a murderer, or had even contemplated murder, were also removed from the film. Despite this, the plot remained solid, and the movie deserved a higher level of success.

The William O. Jenkins House, Norma Desmond’s house in Sunset Boulevard (1950). At the time of filming, the house was occupied by one of J. Paul Getty’s (five) former wives. As a condition of rental, she requested that Paramount Studios build her a new swimming pool, which they did, and promptly dropped William Holden’s “corpse” into it.

Favourite Movie Quote of the 20th Century, First Round

Result: 59% v 41%

Result: 80% v 20%

Result: 32% v 68%

Result: 57% v 43%

Result: 82% v 18%

Result: 56% v 44%

Result: 59% v 41%

Social media https://toot.wales/@HannahHowe

As ever, thank you for your interest and support.

Hannah xxx

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 38 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂