SXSW: Being Mary Tyler Moore

 

Directed by James Adolphus and co-produced by Lena Waithe, Being Mary Tyler Moore is a new documentary that shines a spotlight on one of the most influential and iconic women of the 20th Century. The impact of Mary Tyler Moore on the entertainment industry cannot be understated. She really molded the image of the modern American woman with her performances in The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She became a household name and a role model for independent working women. Behind the scenes, she struggled with the tragic deaths of her sister and her son, a miscarriage and diabetes. She maintained a sense of optimism despite her struggles and found much joy in her later years with her third husband Dr. Robert Levine and her animals that she tended to on her sprawling estate in Greenwich, Connecticut.

I had the pleasure of attending the world premiere of Being Mary Tyler Moore at the 2023 SXSW Film and TV Festival. This documentary was the third I had seen at the festival in which the entire film is comprised of archival footage. The other two were The Lady Bird Diaries (my review) and Love to Love You, Donna Summer (my review). In Being Mary Tyler Moore, the viewer is treated to clips from Moore’s television shows and movies, home video and one particular long-form interview she did in which she discussed her career and personal struggles. The documentary also features audio of interviews with her husband Robert Levine as well as Rob Reiner, Ed Asner and several of her friends and colleagues who knew her well. I think it would have been nice to have talking heads and to actually see the interview subjects discuss Mary Tyler Moore. There was a bit of a disconnect seeing so many visual elements but not actually putting faces to names. From the post-film discussion, it was said that the decision was made to lean into the archival footage, much of which showcases Moore's unique personality and talents while also more intimate moments. Because Mary Tyler Moore is no longer with us, the footage was a way for her to tell her own story.

All three archival documentaries I watched had several things in common—one in particular was that the respective families was involved in the making of the films. While this will ultimately lead to some bias in the other two documentaries, I didn’t feel it affected Being Mary Tyler Moore. The film really didn’t shy away from the darker elements of Moore’s life. It also felt more celebratory than protective. For those who are interested in Moore’s work outside television, her films Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968), and Ordinary People (1980) were all discussed to some extent. The documentary also covers her stage work and her early career as a dancer.

Being Mary Tyler Moore is an intimate tribute to a legend. A must-watch for Mary Tyler Moore fans as well as anyone who enjoys biographical documentaries about interesting women.

The film is distributed by HBO and will be released later this year. You can find more information about on HBO's official website. 

A big thank you to SXSW for the opportunity to attend the world premiere!

The Classic Film Collective: Laura by Vera Caspary

 This was originally published in the former The Classic Film Collective Patreon.

Laura

by Vera Caspary

The Feminist Press

Paperback ISBN: 9781558615052

256 pages

Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Powell's

“You have so many friends, your life is so full, you’re always surrounded by people.” – Mark McPherson 

Laura: “It’s when you have friends that you can afford to be lonely. When you know a lot of people, loneliness becomes a luxury. It’s only when you’re forced to be lonely that it’s bad.” – Laura Hunt

Any film noir enthusiast will attest that Laura (1944), is one of the finest noirs of the era. It offers viewers an engrossing story, an air of sophistication, a couple of delicious plot twists and plenty of wit. Then there is the quartet of main players: Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), the bored aristocrat, Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), the sensitive police detective, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), the spoiled Southern gigolo, and caught in the middle is the least femme fatale of all the femme fatale: Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). Laura is the murder victim until she’s not and through both her absence and her presence we learn a lot about her as an individual and the men who want to possess her.

The story was born out of the imagination of Vera Caspary, a writer who was no stranger to Hollywood. In her lifetime she wrote 19 books and out of her novels, original screenplays, theatrical plays and other writing contributions, 24 film adaptations were made. Some of these include: Working Girls (1931), Letter to Three Wives (1949), The Blue Gardenia (1953), and Les Girls (1957). Caspary was particularly interested in writing about working women, like herself, and her stories dealt with themes of identity, romantic relationships, personal independence and crime. She didn’t consider herself a mystery writer and preferred to focus on character development and plot structure than genre form. According to writer A.B. Emrys, “Her novels revolve around women who are menaced, but who turn out to be neither mere victimized dames nor rescued damsels. Independence is the key to survival of such protagonists as Laura…”

Laura was written during WWII but its decidedly not at all influenced by the war. In fact, Caspary had spent much time exploring her political beliefs (she dappled in Communism which led her to be graylisted during the red scare), and decided she wanted a break from politics in order to return to writing. Laura started as a theatrical play and an original screenplay. When neither of those sold, Caspary wrote Laura as a novel. It was serialized in seven parts in Collier magazine and then published by Houghton Mifflin. Otto Preminger learned about the novel and presented it to Darryl F. Zanuck, with whom he had a long time feud, in order to get 20th Century Fox to acquire the film rights, which they did.

Caspary’s novel is divided into five parts, each giving the perspective of one of the four main characters before returning back to the police detective’s investigation:

Part 1 - Waldo Lydecker’s POV

Part 2 - Mark McPherson’s POV

Part 3 - Shelby Carpetner’s POV - as told through a police interrogation.

Part 4 - Laura’s POV

Part 5 - Mark McPherson’s POV

The film adaptation follows the book quite closely with some key differences. Lydecker is described as a middle-aged man who is overweight, pale and has lost his appetite due to the stress of the criminal investigation. He’s decidedly more biting with his remarks in the book than in the film. Clifton Webb really steals the show with his performance as Lydecker. Laird Cregar, who would have fit the novel’s characterization of Lydecker more closely, was considered for the role but Preminger thought his ominous presence would give away a key plot point.

Gene Tierney is as exactly as Caspary has Lydecker describe her in the book: “She was a slender thing, timid as a fawn and fawn-like, too, in her young uncertain grace. She had a tiny head, delicate for even that thin body, and the tilt of it along with the bright shyness of her slightly oblique dark eyes further contributed to the sense that Bambi had escaped from the forest and galloped up the eighteen flights to this apartment.” Her POV is strong and definitely the highlight of the book.

Mark McPherson isn’t much different than Dana Andrews’ role except that he’s more imaginative and his investment in Laura comes more from his thought process than his actions. The biggest different in characterization can be seen with Shelby Carpenter, who they indeed softened in order to give Vincent Price a much more friendly on-screen part. The novel’s Shelby is an insufferable cad. In fact, when I got to his POV I groaned loudly but lucky his part is reduced to a single chapter. Diane Redfern, the story’s true femme fatale and ultimate victim, plays a stronger part in the novel but like in the film, is never actually seen.

Caspary does a wonderful job exploring the male-female dynamic. She tackles misogyny, gender roles and obsession with clarity and confidence. It’s clear that each of the men sees Laura as an extension of themselves and their individual quests to gain complete control of her all fail in some respect. At several points in the novel, Caspary explores how a woman evolves into herself by her relationship with others, particularly men. But this also happens to men too. Laura is being molded by the men in her life but she is also molding them. It’s as though it takes group effort to blossom into the person you’re going to become. And because these characters are so dependent on each other for personal growth, there is a possessiveness that comes from that.

Laura by Vera Caspary is currently available as a stand-alone book from The Feminist Press or part of the Library of America’s Women Crime Writers anthology. You can borrow the stand-alone book from your local library through Overdrive. It’s a fantastic read and I highly recommend you check it out if you can.

I leave you know with a few of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Her flatter was never shallow. She found the real qualities and made them important. Surface faults and affections fell away like false friends at the approach of adversity.” – Waldo Lydecker

“I thought of my mother and how she had talked of a girl’s giving herself too easily. Never give yourself, Laura, she’d say, never give yourself to a man… That is why I have given so much of everything else; myself I have always withheld.” – Laura Hunt

“You are not dead, Laura; you are a violent, living, bloodthirsty woman.” – Waldo Lydecker

The Classic Film Collective: 7 Amazing Facts from Sidney Poitier’s Memoir The Measure of a Man

This was originally published in the former The Classic Film Collective Patreon.

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography

by Sidney Poitier

HarperOne

Paperback ISBN: 9780061357909

272 pages

Amazon — Barnes and Noble — Powell's 

“You don't have to become something you're not to be better than you were.” — Sidney Poitier

We lost a bright shining light when Sidney Poitier passed away last year He left behind a legacy of amazing acting work. Films like The Defiant Ones (1958), A Raisin in the Sun (1959), Lilies of the Field (1963), which earned him an Oscar, the first ever awarded to a black male actor, A Patch of Blue (1965), To Sir, With Love (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967) defined his career, challenged our notions of race and opened doors for many actors to come. In addition to his accomplishments as an actor, he was also a terrific writer. He published a handful of memoirs including This Life in 1980 and two more recent memoirs Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter and The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. His last book, published in 2013, was a science fiction novel entitled Montaro Caine.

In the 240+ pages of The Measure of a Man, Poitier does a lot of self-reflection. He contemplates growing up on Cat Island in the Bahamas, his treacherous journey to the United States, becoming an actor in New York City, his tumultuous love life, the many obstacles he faced as a black man and of course his amazing movie career. Let’s take a look at 7 amazing facts from this incredible memoir.

Fact #1 Sidney Poitier didn’t see his own reflection until he was 11 years old.

Growing up poor on Cat Island in the Bahamas, young Poitier didn’t have access to mirrors or any type of glass. Poitier recalls, there were “No glass windows, no glass doors, no stores with glass fronts…” Any reflection came from ocean or pond water, the sheen from metallic objects. Little did he know that the image of himself that he could not see would go on to have a major impact on the world around him. When he and his family moved to Nassau, Poitier finally saw his reflection. But it would still be years before he would be exposed to the effects of racism. He wrote, “I didn’t think about the color of my skin. Not any more than I would have bothered to wonder why the sand was white or the sky was blue.”

Fact #2 Poitier almost died by drowning on two separate occasions. 

Poitier recounts that as a child in the village of Arthur’s Town on Cat Island, there was a “ditch one hundred feet long, six feet deep, dug from the sea to an inland salt pond.” This was known among the locals as a death trap and the young Poitier felt determined to conquer it. He made a perilous attempt at opening a trap door through a tunnel but was not able to. It was high tide and if he had unlatched the door he would have surely drowned.

Decades later, while on a trip to Acapulco with his friend and agent Marty Baum went for a swim while their wives stayed behind on the shore. They swam out and didn’t realize that the ocean floor would drop off so quickly. They got caught up in a dangerous current. Poitier remembered, “then the ocean rose up beneath us. It wasn’t a wave on the surface of the water. It was a raging, thundering swell… The momentum of that angry wave yanked us free from the undercurrents that were pulling at our legs and flung us violently into the shallows of the beach.”

Fact #3 A bus station attendant convinced Poitier to move to New York.

Well, sort of. Poitier had a rough time of it when he moved to Miami. Poitier wrote “I knew that Miami wasn’t for me, because Miami designated me, by law and social custom, as being undeserving of human consideration.” He wanted to get as far away from the city as possible. He asked the bus station attendant how far each destination was and what the cost of each ticket was. Two trip options, Chattanooga and Birmingham, were just too close for comfort. He needed to be as far away as possible. The attendant said that “the next bus is going to New York” and that it would be “eleven dollars and thirty-five cents.” Poitier bought a one way ticket and never looked back.

Fact #4 A waiter helped Poitier learn to read proficiently.

Tired of working as a dishwasher in New York City, Poitier decided to give acting a go. In his memoir he writes, “I had no training in acting. I could barely read! And to top it off I had a thick, singsong Bahamian accent.” After approaching a casting agent at the American Negro Theatre, he was told in not so nice terms that he didn’t have what it took to become an actor. Poitier was too proud to listen to the man’s hurtful rejection. “Whatever it was, I knew I had to change it, or life was going to be mighty grim.” Poitier recounts that an older Jewish waiter at the restaurant where he worked offered to help him during breaks. “He became my tutor, as well as my guardian angel of the moment. Each night we sat in the same booth in that quiet area of the restaurant and he helped me learn to read."

Fact #5 Poitier softened his accent by listening to the radio.

Next he had to work on his thick Bahamian accent. Poitier had a disastrous start at the American Negro Theatre after he covered for fellow Caribbean actor Harry Belafonte. He knew that if this acting gig was going anywhere he had to improve on all fronts. Every night while practicing his reading skills, he would sound out syllables of difficult words to get better at enunciating them. He would also listen to radio shows, mimicking how the announcers spoke in order soften his accent. Poitier didn’t give up and strove to become a better actor. When he heard 20th Century Fox was casting for No Way Out (1950) he jumped at the chance. He got the part and a star was born…

Fact #6 Poitier had to be smuggled into South Africa to make Cry, the Beloved Country (1951).

No Way Out director Joseph Mankiewicz put Poitier in touch with Zoltán Korda who was then casting for Cry, the Beloved Country (1951). Korda flew Poitier out to London for an audition and he got the part. Poitier and Canada Lee, in his final role, play two priests in South Africa during the early years of apartheid. In order for Korda to get Poitier and Lee into the country, he had to tell immigration offers that the actors were actually indentured servants. While Poitier doesn’t go into detail about this, he does reflect on the experience of making Cry, the Beloved Country by saying “It was heady stuff, and I couldn’t escape the feeling that, not only was I one lucky youngster, but something more had to be at play here.” Some time after Poitier was asked to publicly denounce co-star Canada Lee because of his political beliefs and Poitier refused.

Fact #7 Poitier believed he was a catalyst for change even when others criticized his complacency.

In the memoir Poitier writes, “Social movement doesn’t come all at once, just as it doesn’t come out of nowhere.” He reflected on a New York Times article entitled “Why Do White Folks Love Sidney Poitier So?” Poitier was criticized for playing gentle characters rather than ones who chose force or to a greater extreme violence to make change. He writes “In essence, I was being taken to task for playing exemplary human beings.” These characters include those in To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, all of whom in the face of conflict remain steadfast. Poitier’s subversiveness was more subtle. He found strength in positivity. It was his form of self-preservation but it was also his way of making change. He went on to say, “simply put, I’ve learned that I must find positive outlets for anger or it will destroy me.”

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier is available through a variety of book retailers and can also be borrowed from your local library through Overdrive.