Recently I wrote about Radio Four/BBC World Service's look at Hollywood and the film industry. The first part examined how Hollywood managed to dominate the world movie industry, while the second episode asked if that domination is soon to end. Find the article HERE
"Adults are just not going to the cinema anymore. Most films these days are for children or at least childish." Director, Peter Weir.
Director Ken Loach recently called for UK cinemas to be put into public ownership in order to allow smaller films to be distributed.
"We don't have a home market as the American's do, and we are culturally colonised." Ken Loach.
Industry analysts seem to think we are very close to a film on demand cinema culture, which would open up the way for smaller independent films to be shown nationwide. The big Hollywood blockbusters are all very well but on times we want a movie that makes us think, that places a mirror to our society and reflects the issues of the day.
The show contained some interesting information on the Moviola service. What is moviola? -
Does the West Country really have the largest cinema in Europe?
Well, though our 78 screens regrettably don't yet operate every day, we are one of the largest rural film schemes in Europe
Moviola's rural cinema service is made up of four elements:
1. A complete cinema service for village halls and other rural venues across Dorset, Devon, Hampshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. For more information click on Venues or any of the county buttons on the main menu.
2. A programming and film booking service for individual rural venues and touring schemes across the UK. For more information click on UK Associates on the main menu.
3. Advice and guidance (consultancy) for anyone who wishes to establish their own rural cinema. For more information click on Add my Village on the main menu.
4. Projection services for Festivals, Churches and anyone wanting to run a special event. For more information click HERE
1946 was a bumper year for Hollywood - demobbed soldiers were eager for films to entertain them and their dates . after the uncertain war years. That year American cinemas sold more than 4000 million tickets and produced a total box office take of just under $1700 million. That figure would not be matched until 1974 when cinemas sold only a quarter of the number of tickets but inflation made things look better than they truly were.
Today the cinema is as vibrant as ever(financially if not creatively) but in the years immediately following 1946 movie moguls were convinced they were witnessing the death of cinema. Not only were they selling less and less tickets each year as the new medium of Television worked its way into more and more homes but the industry was altered by new laws which created distrust and paranoia in the creative camps. Between 1946 and 1948 movie attendances dropped by 16.9% but what was worse for the major American studios was the interest the government was showing in the cosy cartels that controlled Hollywood. From the mid-Thirties, the Department of Justice had been trying to break the stranglehold the major studios had over independent cinemas. The aim was to force the majors into selling off their highly lucrative cinema chains. But as the majors made most of their money from distribution they resisted. AS far back as the early Thirties the Department of Justice had brought legal cases against the major studios but these were delayed by the war. However in 1946 the Department of Justice started to strip away the powers of the major studios.
The war years had already seen Hollywood have to make major changes in the films they produced - their foreign markets, with the exception of Britain, had become out of bounds. Attempts had been made to create a larger market in South America with the Carmen Miranda films but this would never replace the loss suffered by the closing of the lucrative French, German and Italian markets. When the war ended and the markets opened back up it would seem Hollywood was once again onto a certain winner but soon the way they did business would be gone forever. Old Hollywood and the so called studio system was about to die, killed by the Department of Justice and their anti-trust laws.
When the world market opened up after the war it was only the US that had an abundance of film stock - in 1946 20 films were made in the Soviet Union, 54 in Italy and 432 in America. Films from the US dominated Europe with most of the profits coming back to the Hollywood studios. In 1948 France would rebel against the system and only allow only $3.6 million of a $14 million take to go back to America. The UK for their part would only allow £17 million to go to the US while $40 million remained tied up under foreign exchange regulations.
The next problem for Hollywood was with their labour. Post war prices meant that wage structures had to be improved. There was a major strike at Warner Brothers in 1946 and now that the unions were being closely scrutinised by the government it made the earlier practice of the studios paying off union bosses impractical. Ronnie Reagan was a union leader during this period.
The movie industry was in a state of turmoil when in the late 40's the House Un-American Activities Committee starting to take an interest in the film industry. The flimsy alliance between the US and Russia broke down after the war and there was paranoia that movies made in America, by American were spreading communist propaganda. At the infamous hearings Jack Warner, eager to explain several pro-Soviet movies made during the war, said that communist writers were poking fun at the US political system and picking on rich men. Blacklists were quickly drawn up of actors, writers and directors suspected of having communist leanings. It was revealed by the committee that Danny Kaye's real name was Daniel Kamirsky and June Havoc was actually June Hovick. This was enough to stop these two performers finding work for a long while and of course there was the jailing of the infamous Hollywood Ten
Communist paranoia entered the American psyche. John Wayne played Big Jim Mclain, an heroic investigator for the committee in 1952. And such was the paranoia felt by the studios that by the time McCarthy arrived on the scene in 1951 Hollywood was politically clean.
At the end of the 50's Television had gained a place as the entertainment of choice for the masses. However more films were made in 1950 than 1946 as a leaner and fitter Hollywood emerged.
A new occasional series on The Archive in which we will look at actors, writers, artists, musicians, comedians that mean something to us, those that have everlasting appeal. Each entry will give a potted overview of the subject's life and times. First up it's Richard Widmark who sadly passed away in 2008 and the age of 93.
It was a evil laugh that launched Richard Widmark into the big time - a hysterical, psychotic chuckle as he pushed a wheelchair bound old lady down a flight of stairs in 1947's Kiss of Death. The scene remains shocking to this day and the intensity of the acting in Widmark's eyes is as powerful as it ever was. The director, Henry Hathaway didn't originally want Widmark for the role of Tommy Udo but the studios pushed Widmark, then an established stage actor, on him. Widmark said in his biography that initially there was animosity between himself and the director but when he confronted him, threatening to push him down the stairs no doubt, they became firm friends. Indeed Widmark was actually a pallbearer at Hathaway's funeral.
Widmark played flawed characters very well - The Street with no Name (1948) saw him in great form as a gangland mastermind, the same year also saw him play a psychotic in Road House, Pick Up on South Street (1953) saw Widmark in great form as a down market grifter. But there was more to the versatile actor than tarnished heroes - he appeared in some great westerns and of course played Jim Bowie against Wayne's Davy Crochett in The Alamo. Indeed in 2002 Widmark was entered into The Western Performers Hall of Fame.
There's a great indepth article HERE that looks at Richard Widmark's contribution to noir cinema.
Even when success came his way Widmark refused to slow down his workload and he made several radio shows in the 1940's - it was actually radio that had given him his first break when he appeared in 1938 in Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories. He would also return to radio in 1979 as the voice of the host in Sears Radio Theatre.
Television also looms large in Widmark's CV - In 1954 he was a guest on, What's My Line (clip of his appearance embedded below) and the following year he appeared as a guest in I Love Lucy, playing himself and trying to fight of Lucy's affections. He had an Emmy nomination for his role as the American President in 1971's TV-movie, Vanished. And he reprised his cinema role as the PI Madigan for several 90 minute TV movies for NBC. And in the 1980's Widmark made several TV movies but these are not among his best films.
When the actor died he left behind an impressive filmography where the classics outweighed the turkeys easily - mind you, he does hold the distinction of appearing in what is possible the worse of the Disaster Film cycle with 1978's The Swarm.
Below is a short clip from Widmark's 1954 appearance on What's my Line. Interestingly he claims to be under 40 in answer to one question - well he was but only just, when the show was recorded he was merely months away from that milestone. It is worth noting that after the video plays several other clips from the quiz featuring Hollywood icons will come up. All are worth watching, the Kirk Douglas one is hilarious.
In comparison to the adventures they put on the page, most writers live a sedentary life, not so for writer, actor and filmmaker Steve Hayes - British born as Ivan Hayes he arrived in the USA in 1949 and made straight for Hollywood. He became an actor, changing his name to Steve Hayes (Ivan, no doubt, sounding a bit too commie for the times) on the suggestion of his close friend, Steve Reeves, and worked at MGM, Warner, Paramount, Columbia, RKO and Samuel Goldwyn Mayer as well as network television and radio.
Steve has in his time counted Errol Flynn, Lana Turner, Tyrone Powers, Marilyn Monroe, Alan Ladd and Clark Cable among his personal friends. His recollections of times spent with these golden stars are detailed in his two volume memoirs, Googies: Coffee Shop to the Stars.
Steve currently lived in California where he writes novels and screenplays - he can draw detail for his all action Black Horse Westerns from the fact that he has, in his eventful life, explored the Amazon, took part in the Cuban Revolution, trekked in both the Himalayas and Tibet and been involved in many escapades that would make your hair turn grey.
Here's a snippet from an Amazon review of Steve's memoirs:
"For a decade Steve supported himself as an actor, manager of the Googies
coffeeshop adjacent to Schwab’s Pharmacy, and by taking jobs as they were
offered. Along the way he met and often befriended many of Hollywood’s popular
stars. His insight into these personalities goes against the grain of what
you’ll normally encounter in books where the allure relates directly to the geek
fan base salivating for more celebrity gossip. What Steve Hayes has accomplished
is the creation of a memoir lacking in egotism and animosity. What I appreciate
is this man’s honesty when talking about his successes and failures, and his
unabashed look back at an era he knew was ending even as he experienced it.
There is an underlying tone of sadness, but without being maudlin. I was
particularly taken by his sensitivity when talking about his marriages,
girlfriends and friendship with the stars he encountered. For example, his view
on Clark Gable is right on, and ultimately heartbreaking. Ditto with Flynn, Ladd
and others. "
So where does one start interviewing a man like Steve Hayes. I started off by asking him if he was a hellraiser himself in his younger days? After all he hung around with all these hard drinking, hard living stars.
"No, despite having a great adventurous life and being in wars and revolutions (Congoand Cuban), I never considered myself a hellraiser. I was never much of a drinker. I was always with heavy drinkers (Flynn, and others like him) and usually ended up looking after them so had to be sober. Also, I can handle one drink. But two drinks brings out the violence in me. It can be directed at anyone, including friends, so long long ago I stopped any drinking sprees as it always landed me in trouble or jail.
However, I was constantly fighting because as a young man – 16-40 – I was extraordinarily good looking (the beautiful or pretty boy type not ruggedly handsome) and was extremely defensive and sensitive about it. I had lots of blonde hair, blue eyes and was/am 6’ 2” and with my British accent was a mark for older gay men. In Hollywood and around the world I was constantly being hit on. My older sister, being a ballerina, had lots of gay friends and from my teens I was always ready to fight to prove I wasn’t like that.
As for Errol Flynn, I was a house guest of his for a while and hung out with him. We used to go to all the big Hollywood nightclubs (Ciro’s, Mocambo, Earl Carroll’s, Cocoanut Grove, etc) together and have a great time. But since he was an alcoholic, and I was his pal, I felt obligated to keep him out of trouble – which, by the way, he usually didn’t initiate; it just came to him – and to get him back home in one piece. I did the same thing for several other big stars like Sterling Hayden and Ty Power. That kept me on my toes and usually sober.
I went out with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner on occasion, and was a friend of Marilyn Monroe’s (we spent time together during her wild relationship with DiMaggio) and I would have one drink during dinner; but again, because of my innate violence, seldom had more than one drink. Not sure where that violence stems from; if you met me you’d never dream it existed. But all my wives saw it frequently whenever I was challenged in some way. And all made a point of telling me to stay sober. Today, I am loved by my wife, Robbin (she’s 29 years my junior) and her partygoer buds because I am the official designated driver!!
I knew Bob Mitchum, but I was not a “friend.” Our paths didn’t cross that often. When I arrived in Hollywood in 1949 he had recently been arrested for pot smoking (1948, I think) and because I knew Lila Leeds, who was with Bob the night he got arrested, I met him several times. He was a good guy and always treated me, and most everyone else, well. Most of the stars at that time drank and smoked heavily. So it wasn’t that unusual. Flynn was not a good drunk; had a tendency to be mean and troublesome. Sober, which he seldom was, he was a delight. I had lunch recently with one of his daughters, Rory, and she and I grumbled about how the world always loved Flynn being a hellraiser but as we both knew, he also was a great father and a homebody who loved peace and quiet and loved to write more than anything.
The guy who I did occasionally let my hair down with was Rory Calhoun – who was a hellraiser and loved the women. He was also a bow and arrow hunter. He, myself, and our mutual buddy Guy Madison often went hunting together – sometimes with Howard Hill, the famous archer who taught Flynn how to shoot. We’d go to Catalina or in the High Sierras to hunt and on occasion to Santa Cruz Island to hunt wild boar."
Steve also took part in the Cuban revolution. I asked him about this.
"When Castro first started the revolution he had most of the world on his side – including many people in the US government. He was
considered a Robin Hood trying to get rid of the Sheriff of Nottingham (the dictator, Batista). I decided to go fight alongside him and left Hollywood in Feb 1958, I think it was. I also intended to write a Cuban version of For Whom the Bell Tolls – which is why I went and saw Hemingway at his finca outside Havana before going to see Castro. I had lunch with Hemingway (he left Cuba shortly afterward and went to Ketchum, Idaho where he soon died), who warned me not to get mixed up in the fight. He didn’t trust Castro, or his brother, and as it turned out he was right. I trekked through the Sierra Maestra mountains for several days, trying to find the rebels, and eventually word reached Fidel and he sent some of his men to round me up and bring me to him. I told him what I wanted to do and he wasn’t that thrilled to have me around – and Raul and Che were even less thrilled. I think they would have shot me, rather than risk my being a spy, but Castro knew a dead Englishman (I had not yet become a naturalized American) would not help his cause. I was blindfolded and led back to Holguin. From there I met two Australian newspaper writers who had interviewed Castro’s former military advisor, William Morgan, an American army deserter who was fighting a sort of Second Front in the Escambray Mtns in central Cuba. I used their name to meet Morgan and he agreed to let me join them. But after a raid on a sugar mill, and some unpleasant butchering of Batista soldiers in surrounding villages, I realized these guys were like Quantrill’s Raiders after the Civil War, out for themselves – and took off for Havana. While there I did bump into Flynn and Beverly Aadland, his teenage girlfriend, while they were filming a dreadful movie called Cuban Rebel Girls. Flynn was debauched and barely remembered me. (Back in Hollywood in ’59 I spent time with him again at the famous Garden of Allah hotel on the Sunset Strip – and he was a pathetic drunk by then. He died shortly afterward while trying to sell his yacht in Seattle.) I wrote the novel, calling it “The Wrong Revolution,” but no one would touch it. By then Castro was hated by the US and no one wanted to be associated with him."
Enough spills and thrills for one man but Steve was no stranger to an unconvetional life and he even worked as a private investigator. I prompted him to spill the beans on this period of his eventful life,
"In 1954-59 while the manager of Googie’s, I worked occasionally for Fred Otash, an ex-cop Hollywood cop turned PI. He became famous for his mo vie star cases. He cleaned up after Monroe was found dead. I and another detective, Norman Placey, who used to take photos for the gossip mag, Confidential, worked about a dozen cases for Freddy. The most famous was the one involving Michael Rennie and Anita Eckberg. We caught them screwing and when it hit the mags, it caused no end of grief. I think he was still married then. I hated the job and as my writing progressed, I gave up PI work. I found it sleazy."
These days Steve's main efforts are put into his novels, despite the fact that screenwriting can prove much more profitable. I asked him about his novels.
"I write novels only because I enjoy the challenge. I can make five times more writing a 30-minute animation than a novel. And the latter take only a weekend to write. But nothing beats the concision and beauty of a well-written, well-structured novel. If you read any of my work (I have 2 new BHWs coming out this year as well as another western, Viva Gringo! and a PI novel called A Woman to Die For, published by BearManor Media) you’ll see the style is very succinct and understated. I learned that from doing short shorts (one page short stories) for the slicks. Can’t remember if it was Look or Colliers that always pushed them, but whichever it was they were extremely difficult to do. Any idiot can write a story when the page count is unlimited. To make sense and create characters on one page – whew! I also learned to write short, as they say, writing scripts for episodic TV. An hour had to be 54-56 pages with commercial breaks; a thirty minute drama, 24 pages. So every word counted."
So is it the novels that give Steve the most enjoyment?
" Which do I enjoy writing most? I like all writing. It is why I am here and when I’m not writing, I’m pretty much thinking about writing. When I was writing episodic TV (age prevents that now as there is great discrimination in TV, where the producers are often in their 20s), I’d often write on three series at once. I’ve always gotten up about 3am to write, and I’d work on one show till before lunch; one show till before dinner, and one show after dinner. Maybe that’s why I’ve been married so many times!!!!!"
The Archive is a big classic Hollywood fan and will all these big names going about I am feeling rather starstruck. I asked Steve what John Wayne was like.
" I did not know John Wayne.He was one of the few big stars I didn’t know.I met him twice.Once when I auditioned for a minor role on one of his movies (a stinker with Betty Bacall, can’t recall the name) and another time when Louis L’Amour, who was a good friend, introduced me to him.Both times Wayne was really friendly.No stuck up star was he.I would have loved to have been on one of his movies with Ford, though; man, that must have been a doozy. "
As a screenwriter, Steve worked on many of the classic TV westerns. I asked him if he has any anecdotes for Archive readers.
"I worked on High Chaparral but unfortunately, the script ran into character problems (network interference) and did not get past the second draft stage.
Don’t know if you know, but you used to go pitch three ideas to the story editor; if he liked one he’d tell you to write a treatment (for which you were paid).If he liked that, you went to first draft (for which you were paid).If they liked that, you did second draft and occasionally a final “polish.”That meant you got all the money, whatever the WGA scale was, and it usually made it on the air.But you could be cut off any time and only be paid for what you wrote.
I knew a couple of the cast (Gilbert Roland; and Henry Darrow in particular) who came into Googie’s, but never had much contact with the show.So no anecdotes.
Gunsmoke, when I came aboard, was being produced by John Mantley, who I got to know very well on that show and others.Ron Bishop, Bill Kelley (both of whom I co-wrote with for a spell) and Paul Savage (I think Cal Clements, too) were among the writers then.We used to have a blast toward the end of the afternoon, most of the writers getting together for drinks and tall tales.A lot of pranks were played, all in good fun.I was never taken too seriously because I was still doing modeling occasionally and was, to quote Jim Arness (whom I later wrote for on How the West Was Won), “Prettier than goddamn Miss Kitty!”)It was a bit irksome, but I knew it was said in good fun – and besides, Arness was six five and weighed 250!And was the star, so what was I going to do pout or belt him?I don’t think so.One amusing incident happened late one day: Kelley hired a stripper to sneak into Arness’ trailer while all of us stood around watching to see what would happen.We heard Jim protesting and telling her to leave (he thought she was a fan), then she stripped and he came running out and we all took pictures of him in his long johns.He wasn’t as amused as we’d hoped; and Mantley warned everyone to cut it out or else.(Jim had a bad limp and to move quickly was not easy for him)
HTWWW was a mini-series, with each episode two hours, so the writers were pretty serious about their work – including Ron and me.We wrote three episodes, two of which were filmed – The Enemy and The Gunfighter – and one of them won us the Buckle Award (a beautiful buckle that I still have).Jim Arness once invited everyone to his home in San Clemente (he lived next to Richard Nixon’s Western White House).And folks in general were friendly and we all got along.Very few pranks and drinking didn’t start until shooting was over.
I co-wrote with Sam Peckinpaugh one espisode for The Westerner, starring Brian Keith.Sam was a wild ass and drank like a maniac.(I still email one of his relatives).He was pals with Lee Marvin, another huge drinker, and I once tried to teach both of them how to shoot a bow and arrow and Lee, bombed out of his skull, almost shot one of the extras.Sam thought it was funny and wanted me to shoot an apple off one of the girl’s heads – a no, no, if there ever was one.He got pissed at me when I refused, and threw the script out.I was enraged and we almost got to blows but the crew pulled us apart.Obviously, I did not work for Sam again.But I knew Lee well from his early days (I drove him out to Malibu when he starred in the cheapo Shack Out on 101, written and produced by my pal Eddie Dein and Millie Dein) and he promised to get me work on his next movie.Never materialized, but that’s because Lee probably work up next day, and once sober never remembered promising
me."
With such a wealth of experience in the western genre I wonder what Steve feels the future holds for the oaters.
"I sense it will survive.I hear they’re going to do a remake of Butch and Sundance (Travolta and Cruise), and other westerns are slated.But will it ever be as big as in the 60s?Never.There was a time when Warners had six western Tv series going at once, and Louis was selling 20,000 books a month!"
What future project does this remarkable man have up his sleeve?
"I have countless projects always going on at once.I still write all day, seven days a week.I’m considering writing the last book of my BHW Gabriel Moonlight series (so far it’s a trilogy, but I always knew there was a fourth book needed); I’ve been asked to write a screenplay for an indie producer (my wife and I – Sixgold Productions -- exec produced a small film called God’s Ears three years back and someone who saw it called me and wondered if I would be interested in writing something for him); and I have a PI series for TV that would translate well into paperbacks; BHW David Whitehead and I are co-writing several books as we speak, one is already in print called “Feral”; and finally I have finished a play called Wife Five which a director is interested in.My wife and I met her two weeks ago at a writer’s house in Malibu.She had read my Edgar Allen Poe play and liked it and then liked this comedy.No money in plays – unless it reaches Broadway but it’s still great fun to write them and see your words actually performed."
And so interview over I realise I have enough material for several more features on this remarkable man. Steve's own website can be found HERE. The website features details of all his books and where they can be purchased. His westerns are exceptional and Hollywood fans will love both volumes of his memoirs.
