Born On This Day- July 1st... Farley Earle Granger

Friday, when I should have been composing a post for this, my little spot on the internet, I watched back to back Hitchcock on AMC. I thought I had seen all of Alfred Hitchcock’s Hollywood period films & some of his early British silent & early talkies, but I had somehow missed- Marnie, from 1964. I finally watched this film in amazement & afterwards I felt I needed to put together a post on my impressions of this nearly nutty psychological thriller about a frigid & fragile person, who is raped by Sean Connery, but then I thought- why, when I live it every day?

Immediately after viewing Marnie, I dug into my at least 5^th time with Rope. I am always up for a little Farley Granger. Granger had a career on stage & screen from the early 1940s- into the new century. He was well known for starring in a pair of films Hitchcock with legendary homosexual subtext- Rope & Strangers On A Train.

His first starring role in They Live by Night, directed by bi-sexual Nicholas Ray, is considered to be one of his finest film performances. Granger’s sensitive portrayal of a bank robber caught the attention of Alfred Hitchcock. While preparing to shoot Rope a movie inspired by the notorious Leopold & Loeb murder case, Granger & co-star John Dall (whose homosexuality was also well known in the Hollywood community) were cast as a pair affluent young men, who set out to commit a " Prefect Murder".

The men’s sexuality is never made explicit in the film, but the relationship between Granger’s & Dall’s characters has a strong homoerotic subtext, skillfully sewn together by Hitchcock & his actors. The film became notorious for its continuous, uninterrupted 10-minute takes, the amount of time a reel of Technicolor film lasted. It was a difficult feat as Hitchcock ran into numerous technical problems which frequently brought the action to a halt throughout the 21 day shoot.

3 years after starring in Rope, Granger again worked with Hitchcock in the classic thriller Strangers on a Train, based on the first novel by acclaimed lesbian writer Patricia Highsmith, who authored The Talented Mr. Ripley & a series of Ripley books. Although Hitchcock himself was dissatisfied with the end result, Strangers On A Train was a box office hit & the first major success of Granger’s career & is one of my favorite Hitchcock’s films.

Granger remained secretive about his private life, but his homosexuality has been widely known in the Hollywood & Broadway acting communities. Among his many lovers was Post Apocalyptic Bohemain favorite- Arthur Laurents who wrote the screenplay for Rope. Laurents speaks kindly of him in his memoir- Original Story By.

Granger had shorter affairs with Leonard Bernstein & Robert Walker, he remained friends with both of them until each of their deaths. In 1995 he was one of many on-screen actors interviewed for Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman’s ground-breaking documentary The Celluloid Closet, discussing the depiction of homosexuality in film, in particular Rope & Strangers On A Train.

Granger was a profoundly good looking actor of considerable range & style: Broadway, films, musicals, light comedies & noir. I found him to be the epitome of how to age with class. He was in a long domestic partnership with stage manager-  Robert Calhoun, who passed away on 2008. Together they had written Granger's dishy memoir, deliciously titled- Include Me Out. Granger died in the same week as Elizabeth Taylor last spring.

Born On This Day- July 1st... Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton had a most interesting & troubled career in Theatre & Film. Possessed by a silver voice with astounding command, he was responsible for some of the most recklessly flamboyant characterizations the screen has seen. & yet his doubts crippled him. Recognized in the 1930s as the screen's true creator of larger than life characters, his career declined into inconsequential movies. He sometimes mocked the parts he was playing, & found himself with a reputation for being unmanageable.

He was an artist with deep, volatile feelings who only occasionally found work in which he could believe. There is an almost brutal contrast in his films between artful invention & unchallenged emoting. A large, ugly actor, he was sometimes incapable of escaping the beastly man he often played. Laughton was a homosexual, tortured by the need to be secret & truly guilt-ridden because of it. He came to see his own looks as warranted punishment; he was his own hunchback.

Within a year of leaving RADA, he had found his 1st professional acting role on stage in The Government Inspector. With the theatre enjoying a resurgence after the hard war years, Laughton found work easily. In 1926, his 1st year of professional acting, he performed in 5 different plays. While performing in a London, he met Elsa Lanchester. From a bohemian background, Lanchester was lively & strong willed. She fell for the reserved & sensitive Laughton, & despite his suppressed homosexuality the pair began a courtship. The couple worked together in a few silent films before they married in 1929. In 1933, his large figure & pudgy face, along with classically trained acting skills, won him the title role in The Private Life of King Henry VIII. He starred alongside his wife, who played Anne of Cleves, & the role won him much public acclaim. In 1933 he won an Oscar for Best Actor, & The Private Life of Henry VIIIwon Best Picture.

Hollywood was anxious to use him for serious character roles. Laughton went on to play the uncompromising & brutal Javert in Les Miserables, the eccentric Captain William Bligh in Mutiny On The Bounty& the slightly unhinged artist Rembrandt in a biopic of his life. Great roles were now being offered Laughton & in 1939, he was the obvious choice to play the lead role in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Laughton was hesitant to play the role. Having long detested his own looks, the character of Quasimodo was maybe a bit close to home. He did take the role & despite not winning the expected 2nd Oscar, The Hunchback of Notre Dame became Laughton’s best-known film role.

In 1955, Laughton directed (but did not act in) the great thriller- The Night of the Hunter,starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters & Lillian Gish. The film is often cited among today's critics as one of the best of the 1950s, & has been selected by the United States National Film Registry for preservation in the Library of Congress. At the time of its original release, it was a critical & box-office failure, & Laughton never had another chance to direct. I am very affected by the film’s lyric & expressionistic style. I would put it in the top 10 scariest movies I have ever viewed. I give it an A on the Steve Report Card.

Only 2 years into the marriage, Lanchester learnt of her husband’s homosexuality. She was initially shocked & deeply upset, but over time the couple began to develop a relationship based on friendship. They decided to remain married. They both took lovers, but were constant companions, looking after & supporting each other. Laughton’s relationship with his sexuality was difficult. He had several lovers, but never had a significant male partner. Laughton still loathed his sexuality. Even at the height of his fame, Laughton’s sexuality remained a tight secret. Lanchester managed to keep that secret safe.

Charles Laughton died in December 1962, after a battle with kidney cancer at age 63. His cremated remains of Laughton are interred in a marbled crypt of the Court of Remembrance courtyard, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in L.A.

Miriam Santiago Pick-up Lines And Jokes 2012

Miriam Santiago Pick-up Lines 2012

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago cracked new pick-up lines and jokes during 1^st General Membership & Induction Meeting of the Credit Management Association of the Philippines, Inc held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel last week.

The usually feisty senator, who was the event's guest speaker, delivered the following hilarious jokes, filling the room with laughter:

"Kapag namatay ako, huwag na huwag kang pupunta sa libingan ko. Baka kasi tumibok ulit ang puso ko.

"Can you recommend a good back? Kasi I'm planning to save all my love for you?

"Gusto mo ba ng trabaho? Meron sa post office, P10,000 per day. Didilaan mo ang lahat ng stamps.

"Miss, kutsara ka ba? Kasi papalapit ka pa lang, napapanganga pa ako

"Balita ko meron ka raw kulasisi na 18 years old?

Politician: Lumang balita 'yan 28 years old na siya ngayon.

"A young boy asked his Dad, what is the difference between confident and confidential?
The father said, you're my son. Confident ako doon. Yung best friend mo sa school, anak ko rin yun. Yun ang confidential.

"Suicide, homicide, insecticide, lahat pamatay. Pero kung gusto mong pampabuhay, i-try mo ang 'by my side.'

"Malabo na talaga ang mata ko. Pwede ba akong humingi sa iyo ng kahit konting pagtingin?"

For more of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's pick-up lines and jokes, please visit here:  http://noypistuff.blogspot.com/2011/09/sen-miriam-defensor-santiago-pick-up.html

Photo courtesy of Sen. Miriam Santiago's Facebook page.