Monday, September 19, 2016

2016 Summer Reading Challenge - Final Round-Up and Winners



That's a wrap! The 2016 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge is officially over. A big thank you to everyone who participated. I'm impressed at the variety of books read and reviewed. And a special shout out to those who were inspired to read more books this summer even if they didn't participate in the challenge. I love that you took the time out to participate in your own way!


Danny of Pre-Code.com
Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and The Birth of the Modern Man by Mick LaSalle

Grezilda of Doesn't She Ramble

Joan Crawford by Anna Raeburn

Strangers May Kiss by Ursula Parrott
Leave Her to Heaven by Ben Ames Williams
Star-Crossed: The Story of Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker by Beverly Linet
Scarlett O’Hara’s Younger Sister: My Lively Life In And Out Of Hollywood by Evelyn Keyes
Virginia Bruce: Under My Skin by Scott O’Brien
The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Times of Ricardo Cortez by Dan Van Neste

Kate Gabrielle of Silents and Talkies
Shoot the Piano Player by David Goodis
Truffaut: A Biography by Serge Toubiana and Antoine de Baecque
The Cinema of Cruelty by Andre Bazin
The Films in My Life by Francois Truffaut

Kristen of Journey
Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kauffman
Room 1219: The Life of Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood by Greg Merritt

Le of Critica Retro


Marya
Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum

Noelle
'Tis Herself by Maureen O'Hara

Star Style: Hollywood Legends as Fashion Icons by Patty Fox

The finalists who completed the challenge having read and reviewed a total of 6 books (or more!) include:

Danny of Pre-Code.com
Karen of Shadows and Satin
Java of Java's Journey
Lindsey of The Motion Pictures
Marya on Instagram
Raquel of Out of the Past
Vanessa on Goodreads

I don't qualify for the prizes and Danny graciously bowed out of this portion so that leaves 5 possible winners. Chosen by Random.org here they are!



Grand prize winner is Java of Java's Journey! She wins a copy of Conversations with Classic Film Stars, Helen Twelvetrees: Perfect Ingenue by Cliff Aliperti and a Warner Archive DVD.



Runner-up Marya on Instagram! Marya wins a copy of Conversations with Classic Film Stars.


Thanks again to everyone who participated. Any suggestions for changes to the challenge are welcome and will help me in planning for 2017!


Thursday, September 15, 2016

The Unconscious Actor by Darryl Hickman


The Unconscious Actor: Out of Control, In Full Command
The Art of Performance in Acting and in Life
by Darryl Hickman
312 pages
April 2007
Small Mountain Press
Hardcover ISBN: 9780977680924

Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Powells

At the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to actor Darryl Hickman on the red carpet. You can watch our discussion on my red carpet YouTube video. I asked Hickman about any interesting memories he had from being a child actor. He told me I should read his book. And so I did.

But let's be clear, this book is not Darryl Hickman’s memoir. First and foremost, and as the title and subtitle strongly conveys, Hickman’s book is a guide on becoming an “unconscious actor”. That is to say, how to tap into that reserve of instinct and emotion that will allow you to become an effective performer. How do you do this? By being simultaneously out of control and in full command. Those might sound like contradictory terms but with well plotted out instructions, explanations and insights Hickman makes the connection between the two clear.

“Acting in its purest form is an urge from deep in the human psyche to celebrate our aliveness, to act our dreams and fantasies in a public display of our most private selves.” – Darryl Hickman

Hickman tapped into the concept of unconscious acting as a child actor. The decision to pursue the craft came from Hickman’s mother who had aspirations of stardom but was too shy to pursue them. As Hickman reflects in the book, “my career would be her career; it was as simple as that.” At the tender age of 3, Hickman didn’t know what he was doing. Any parts he played he did unconsciously and not with the control that comes from methodical training. This made him an effective and sought after child star. Bing Crosby gave Hickman’s career a boost while they were making the film The Star Maker. Crosby guided the young boy, encouraged him and set him up with an agent. Soon after, Hickman became a regular at MGM thanks to a long-term contract.


  

He worked with top directors such as Ford, McLeod, Ratoff, C. Brown, Thorpe, Minnelli and Cukor as well as experienced actors and actresses too.  The child actor learned by working with them and listening to their guidance and advice. Hickman details the strengths and differences between each of the major directors and shares some background of working on films such as The Grapes of Wrath, Men of Boys Town, Keeper of the Flame, Song of Russia and others. Several of his most well-known films, including Leave Her to Heaven, are left out.

“Acting is reacting.” – Spencer Tracy

What drew directors to Hickman was his unconscious acting. He wasn’t trying to prove something or to be something. He was just a normal kid. This would prove vital in the second phase of his acting career. Hickman was out of work for several reasons: he was an awkward teen, briefly flirted with the idea of being a Passionist monk and was drafted into the army. Unsure if would ever be a Hollywood actor again, to his surprise he was offered a part in Tea and Sympathy.  Robert Anderson, the playwright, wanted Hickman in the role because he was the only actor “who didn’t look or act like an actor.” Unconscious acting was on Hickman’s side again.

Influenced by these early years but also by studying the masters Stanislavsky and Strasberg, the Method and reading extensively from many sources, Hickman developed his own methodology. He put it into practice first when he had the opportunity to be a substitute teacher in an acting class. From there he developed the ideas and practices that are clearly outlined in this book. It’s the heart of the text and Hickman’s passion for teaching acting shines.

By reading The Unconscious Actor, budding performers will learn Hickman’s 7 Principles of Acting and will be offered plenty of examples of how to be out of control yet in full command. Hickman’s book is a valuable resource and I would be doing him a disservice by giving away too much of the methodology in this review. Instead I thought I’d share a handful of my favorite quotes and reflections from Darryl Hickman:

“Go with the flow always. Don’t push the river.” 
“In any field, it’s the relaxed interviewee who gets the job.” 
“Visual information trumps the dialogue every time.” 
“A cast of professional actors is, from star to bit player, a true democracy, each individual equal to his or her fellow players, interdependent, open-hearted, a member of a team.” 
“Too much conscious mind mucks up the artist’s natural creativity.”
“Intellect and intuition must accommodate each others differing functions, embracing a partnership in which they work together as a creative team.”
“Dramatic art is about nervous, frightened, anxious, on-edge people. Good characters are forever in trouble.” 
– Darryl Hickman

Darryl Hickman told me to read his book and so I did. I was looking for some of those childhood stories but instead read a magnificent guide to unlocking creativity and imagination. Hickman's writing is superb and I could tell this book was written by a well-read and wise man. Even though I don’t have any aspirations to become an actress, if I ever change my mind I’ll have Hickman's guidance to kickstart my career.

Note that “The Unconscious Actor” and “ Out of Control, In Full Command” are trademark terms by Darryl Hickman.

This is my sixth and final review for the 2016 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.



Monday, September 12, 2016

Every Frenchman Has One by Olivia de Havilland

Every Frenchman Has One
by Olivia de Havilland
Crown Archetype
2016 Reissue
ISBN: 9780451497390 - 144 pages
Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Powells


Imagine sitting down for a nice long chat with actress and living legend Olivia de Havilland. Unless your Robert Osborne or some lucky soul, de Havilland’s book Every Frenchman Has One is as close as you’ll get to that experience.

Originally published in 1961 and reissued for Olivia de Havilland’s centennial year, this book explores the actress’s early days living in France during the 1950s. Why did she move to France in the first place? It all started when she was invited to the Cannes Film Festival to promote My Cousin Rachel (1952). She was in the middle of a divorce with her first husband Marcus Goodrich and thought a continental adventure would be a nice change of pace. She accepted the invitation but on one condition, that she would be able to bring her 3 year old son Benjamin. Little did de Havilland know that she’d soon meet her next husband Frenchman Pierre Galante. The two married, had a daughter Gisele and settled in France. De Havilland stayed long after both her children grew up and after she divorced Galante. But those first years in France took some getting used to.

Every Frenchman Has One explores all the stages of culture shock de Havilland experienced as she settled into her new life across the pond. Each chapter is an essay on the cultural differences between France and the USA and how she dealt with them. Topics include: nuances of the French language, traffic in Paris, French medicine vs. American medicine, the metric system, French stubbornness, living in old houses, hiring a French maid, Protestantism vs. Catholicism and more. Even though the subjects seem serious, de Havilland explores them in a jovial way. Each chapter is full of humorous and thoughtful anecdotes. When I read this I felt like I was transported back to 1950s Paris and was living these experience right alongside de Havilland.

Olivia de Havilland - Every Frenchman Has One


This book is only 140 or so pages and can be read in a day. The publisher Crown Archetype (an imprint of Penguin Random House) reissued the book in a slim and petite little hardcover edition that can practically fit in your pocket. It also has a gorgeous self-cover. For the 2016 edition, they added a very short interview with de Havilland about the book. It’s not the best interview. It doesn’t say who conducted it or what the circumstances were. It’s obvious the interviewer hadn’t read the book because the initial question would have been answered by reading the first chapter.

This was such a fun read and I’d recommend it to anyone who has an interest in Olivia de Havilland or French culture. I particularly loved reading about converting Fahrenheit to Celsius (it caused quite a stir when she wrote a piece for the New York Herald Tribune about it) and I was laughing out loud at her story of her disastrous home remodel. Her writing is sharp and witty and very entertaining. She's self-deprecating in the most charming way possible. A must read.


This is my fifth review for the 2016 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.



Popular Posts

 Twitter   Instagram   Facebook