Ball of Fire

[Roger]

This 1943 movie was on TCM this morning at 3:00 a.m. I was watching it and it was not a bad flim, not a great film either. It starred Barbara Stanwych and Gary Cooper. Babs played a big band swinger who taught American "slang" to the stuffy language professor Gary Cooper and his fellow professors. What I found interesting in the satellite description of the movie it described Stanwych's character as a "stripper". Has society gone so far down hill that we must use "stripper" to get people to watch a classic film?

 

[Salv]

I love this film, and Barbara Stanwyck was a fine comedienne. It was remade in 1948 as A Song Is Born, starring Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo. Both films were directed by Howard Hawks, although the remake is in glorious Technicolor, and Kaye is one of a group of stuffy music academics who employ Mayo to teach them about contemporary music. Featured in the remake are Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnett, and Mel Powell. It's also well worth seeing if you get the chance but I prefer Ball of Fire - Stanwyck was far gutsier than Mayo.

 

[The Wolf]

One of the few times that I like the remake also

Stanwyck was indeed a fine comedienne. Check out "The Lady Eve" for more evidence.
"Ball of Fire" has some great character actors also: S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall (Casablanca), Henry Travers (It's a Wonderful Life), Allen Jenkins (the Falcon series), Dan Duryea (Woman in the Window), etc. Dana Andrews does a great job with his part too.
Hearing explanations of period slang should be enough for any of us Loungers to watch it!

"Ball of Fire" is of particular interest to us because of the musicians that appear in it. Benny Goodman is in it and Benny Goodman is mentioned in it but Benny Goodman doesn't play Benny Goodman. That might only make sense to people who have seen the film. When Danny Kaye is told about the different types of jazz during the 1940s is another scene for the Loungers.

Thanks for reminding me of these movies.

The Wolf

 

[Doctor Strange]

Did you guys notice that the screenplay - by Billy Wilder (who had not yet graduated to directing in America) and Charles Bracket - is a very clever reworking of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs? Sugarpuss O'Shea invades the "cottage" of a bunch of conservative little guys, becomes their new best friend, turns their world upside down, and both parties end up protecting each other... (This is not my own observation - it's been made many times.)

All this and "Drum Boogie" too...

 

[Quigley Brown]

I was another person who watched it at 3 a.m. this morning....my dog wanted out and I couldn't go back to sleep after that.

 

[Trickeration]

I really like both movies. The remake holds it own without insulting the earlier version, but still uses most of the original dialog. I thought of the Snow White thing, too, a long time ago, but had forgotten until Doctor Strange mentioned it.

Did anyone notice that the same actress plays Miss Totten in both movies?

And here's some music trivia about A Song Is Born. During the recording sessions for the movie, Benny Goodman was in the habit of showing up late, "waltzing in around 11am" as my friend put it. One day, he got on Tommy Dorsey's last nerve (which I understand is not hard to do) and when he came in late, Tommy strode across the room to him and punched him, knocking him to the floor. It was quite a commotion, and made all the papers at the time (I actually did find archived articles about it). The end result was that everyone decided to get the recording over with in a timely fashion and be done with it.

This story comes from my friend Page Cavanaugh. He's the piano player in the scene where Danny Kaye first sees Virginia Mayo (as Honey Swanson) singing with Page's trio in a nightclub. Page is 84 and still plays music around L.A. and my husband and I have gotten to know him quite well. Rob even played with him once.

Here's Rob on bass, drummer Jason Lingle and Page.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Cool story about Mr. Cavanaugh! I really enjoyed Ball of Fire, wasn't Dana Andrews the mob boss in that (its been awhile since I've seen it)? I find myself using the slang sometimes--my favorite seems to be "I've gotta hit the snoozebag".

 

[MelissaAnne]

Yup, Dana Andrews was the mob boss - his name was Joe Lilac and he liked to wear lilac pajamas.

I first saw Ball of Fire on PBS when I was in elementary school and had it on VHS for years. Last year I finally got it on DVD - it's still one of my favorite movies. It's impossible not to sing along to Drum Boogie!

 

[funneman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I've been telling people about this film for years, I just couldn't recall the title.

Barbara Stanwyck is awesome as the gangster moll, with that wonderful staccatto delivery: "....on account o' because I couldn't raise you on the Alexander."

I believe Dan Dureya is the heavy she's hiding from.