“Forgotten Hollywood”- A Universal Retrospective…

Posted on May 14, 2016 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   The Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan is known for extraordinary exhibitions and collection of modern and classic items. Founded in 1929 as an educational institution, it’s dedicated as the foremost modern art museum in the world. Through Wednesday, June 15th, MoMA is presenting Universal Pictures: Restorations and Retrospectives 1928-1937.

image006211   Founded in 1912 by German immigrant Carl Laemmle, Universal Pictures remains among the powerhouses of the American entertainment industry. This series focuses on one segment of the studio’s rich history — the period from 1928 to 1936, when the studio’s head of production was the founder’s son, Carl Laemmle Jr. The younger Laemmle was an ambitious, risk-taking producer, who gambled the studio’s finances on a series of challenging projects — and eventually lost. When cost overruns on the 1936 Show Boat forced the studio into the hands of its creditors, the Laemmle Era came to an end.

   Brief as it was, that era yielded an extraordinary number of important films, including such celebrated classics as DraculaFrankenstein, and All Quiet on the Western Front. This program concentrates on lesser-known work, much of it with a distinctively European flavor, provided by Universal’s many émigré directors, including James Whale (with 1933’s sublime The Kiss Before the Mirror); Paul Fejos (a major new restoration of the 1929 Broadway); and William Wyler (a Laemmle relative himself, represented by the Ibsenesque drama A House Dividedand the comedy The Good Fairy). At a time when other studios seemed bent on standardizing their product for sound, Universal gave free rein to such distinctive stylists as John Stahl (represented by Only Yesterday); the irrepressible Tay Garnett (Okay America); and the ferociously creative Edward L. Cahn (here with three films, including the recently rediscovered 1933 masterwork Laughter in Hell). John Ford is also on hand (Air Mail)

88735_A5_Yellow_Vinyl_Bag   The series opens with the revival premiere of the musical King of Jazz, shown in its full-length version for the first time since the 1930s, with its two-color Technicolor returned to its full glory by Universal’s new digital restoration unit.

   For ordering tickets to upcoming screenings at MoMA, click (or cut-and-paste) on the link below:

http://www.moma.org/calendar/film/1642?locale=en

—————————————————— vera

   Beth Howland (right) was the actress best known for her role as a ditzy waitress on the 1970s and 1980s CBS sitcom Alice. The sitcom was based on the 1974 Martin Scorsese film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Howland earned four Golden Globe nominations during the comedy’s 1976-1985 run for her performance

   She made her stage debut in the Carol Burnett vehicle, Once Upon a Mattress. At 16, she landed a role on Broadway alongside Dick Van Dyke in Bye Bye Birdie. CBS noticed Howland on stage in the 1970 production of Company and brought her to Hollywood for a bit part on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Small roles on The Love Boat, Love American Style, Fantasy Island, Cannon, and Little House on the Prairie followed. After Alice, she largely disappeared from television, aside from parts in Eight is Enough, Murder She Wrote and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. At one time, Beth was married to actor Michael J. Pollard.

   Beth Howland was 74.

Until next time>                              “never forget”

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 14th, 2016 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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