Fredric March's Leading Ladies : The First 10 Years
May 25, 2020 2:18:40 GMT
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Post by petrolino on May 25, 2020 2:18:40 GMT
Fredric March : Early Misadventures
"Let me in ..."
'Love Machine' - The Miracles
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"Born on August 31, 1897, in Racine, Wisconsin, and originally named Frederick McIntyre Bickel, Mr. March was the son of a small‐time manufacturer, John F. Bickel, and the former Cora‐ Brown. Marcher. He worked as a bank teller during high school vacations and studied economics at the University of Wisconsin; and when he came to New York in 1919 after a year in the Army, it was not to be an actor but a banker.
This was in spite of the fact that he had always been interested in theatricals and had played leads on the university stage, had been a champion college debater and had had modest success as a part‐time newspaper and magazine model. He had even quietly sent out résumés and photographs to agents and producers.
Fortunately for the theater, Mr. March had appendicitis shortly after his arrival here, and after an appendectomy, he applied for a recuperation leave of absence from his trainee's job at the National City Bank. His thoughts had turned increasingly to acting as a career. His professional debut, in 1920, came in Baldmore in Belasco's production of “Deburau,” in which he was also seen on Broadway for the first time soon afterward.
By that time the young actor with the square‐cut, all‐American good looks had decided that Bickel was not a good, name for a marquee. He dropped a couple of letters from his first name and adopted the first syllable of his mother's maiden name to come up, with the stage name of Fredric March. Versatile, cooperative, eager, he was seldom without work.
In Denver in the summer of 1926, Mr: March joined a stock company whose leading lady was Florence Eldridge. While appearing together in Molnar's “The Swan,” they fell in love, and were married in 1927 in Mexico. Their union, both personally and professionally, was to last for the rest of Mr. March's life.
In the late nineteen‐twenties, the moguls of Hollywood were struck by a crisis with the advent of sound in movies—many of the dashingly handsome stars of the silent movie era possessed voices of startling squeakiness, nasalness or raspiness. Mr. March struck Hollywood as the answer to a prayer, for not only was he the: possessor of a virile and handsome profile that could meet, the most rigorous demands of the camera close‐up, but also he had a rich, well‐trained stage actor's voice.
His movie career began in 1929 with a featured role in “The Dummy.” He was an instant success, and soon some of the top female stars were clamoring to have him in their pictures. In the nineteen‐thirties Mr. March appeared opposite Clara Bow, Ruth Chatterton, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins and finally Greta Garbo in “Anna Karenina.” Usually he was seen in romantic comedy or adventure roles, but in 1932 he switched to the serious dual role in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and won his first Oscar.
At a peak In his movie popularity, Mr. March, much to the consternation of his film employers, returned to New York to appear opposite his wife in “Yr. Obedient Husband,” a 1938 vehicle based on Samuel Pepys's diary.
The play failed so resoundingly that Mr. March, seldom without a sense of humor, felt constrained to make a public apology. He and Miss Eldridge bought advertising space in trade publications that showed a sketch depicting them as two trapeze artists missing each other's grip in midair. “Oops, sorry!” read the caption.
This was in spite of the fact that he had always been interested in theatricals and had played leads on the university stage, had been a champion college debater and had had modest success as a part‐time newspaper and magazine model. He had even quietly sent out résumés and photographs to agents and producers.
Fortunately for the theater, Mr. March had appendicitis shortly after his arrival here, and after an appendectomy, he applied for a recuperation leave of absence from his trainee's job at the National City Bank. His thoughts had turned increasingly to acting as a career. His professional debut, in 1920, came in Baldmore in Belasco's production of “Deburau,” in which he was also seen on Broadway for the first time soon afterward.
By that time the young actor with the square‐cut, all‐American good looks had decided that Bickel was not a good, name for a marquee. He dropped a couple of letters from his first name and adopted the first syllable of his mother's maiden name to come up, with the stage name of Fredric March. Versatile, cooperative, eager, he was seldom without work.
In Denver in the summer of 1926, Mr: March joined a stock company whose leading lady was Florence Eldridge. While appearing together in Molnar's “The Swan,” they fell in love, and were married in 1927 in Mexico. Their union, both personally and professionally, was to last for the rest of Mr. March's life.
In the late nineteen‐twenties, the moguls of Hollywood were struck by a crisis with the advent of sound in movies—many of the dashingly handsome stars of the silent movie era possessed voices of startling squeakiness, nasalness or raspiness. Mr. March struck Hollywood as the answer to a prayer, for not only was he the: possessor of a virile and handsome profile that could meet, the most rigorous demands of the camera close‐up, but also he had a rich, well‐trained stage actor's voice.
His movie career began in 1929 with a featured role in “The Dummy.” He was an instant success, and soon some of the top female stars were clamoring to have him in their pictures. In the nineteen‐thirties Mr. March appeared opposite Clara Bow, Ruth Chatterton, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins and finally Greta Garbo in “Anna Karenina.” Usually he was seen in romantic comedy or adventure roles, but in 1932 he switched to the serious dual role in “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and won his first Oscar.
At a peak In his movie popularity, Mr. March, much to the consternation of his film employers, returned to New York to appear opposite his wife in “Yr. Obedient Husband,” a 1938 vehicle based on Samuel Pepys's diary.
The play failed so resoundingly that Mr. March, seldom without a sense of humor, felt constrained to make a public apology. He and Miss Eldridge bought advertising space in trade publications that showed a sketch depicting them as two trapeze artists missing each other's grip in midair. “Oops, sorry!” read the caption.
The Marches tried again in “The American Way” the following year, with better results, and from then on Mr. March was to deftly balance his work between movies and plays. “It has been my experience,” he said years later, “that work on the screen clarifies stage portrayals and vice versa. You learn to make your face express more in making movies, and in working for the theater you have a sense of greater freedom.”
- Albin Krebs, The New York Times
Clara Bow in 'The Wild Party' (1929)
Colleen Moore in 'Footlights And Fools' (1929)
Mary Astor in 'Ladies Love Brutes' (1930)
Mary Brian in 'The Royal Family Of Broadway' (1930)
Nancy Carroll in 'Laughter' (1930) & 'The Night Angel' (1931)
Ruth Chatterton in 'Sarah And Son' (1930)
Norma Shearer in 'Smilin' Through' (1932)
Claudette Colbert in 'The Night Is Ours' (1933)
Miriam Hopkins in 'Design For Living' (1933)
Carole Lombard in 'The Eagle And The Hawk' (1933)
Constance Bennett in 'The Affairs Of Cellini' (1934)
Sylvia Sidney in 'Good Dame' (1934)
Anna Sten in 'We Live Again' (1934)
Evelyn Venable in 'Death Takes A Holiday' (1934)
Fay Wray in 'The Affairs Of Cellini' (1934)
Greta Garbo in 'Anna Karenina' (1935)
Olivia De Havilland in 'Anthony Adverse' (1936)
Janet Gaynor in 'A Star Is Born' (1937)
Virginia Bruce in 'There Goes My Heart' (1938)
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The Manimal Unleashed
"Martin Dies and the HUAC also began attacking other left-wing artistic groups. This included describing the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League as a Communist-Front organization. The actress, Luise Rainer, replied: "I do not believe in the so-called revelations made by the Dies Investigating Committee. I believe their purpose is purely destructive, aimed at discrediting worthwhile peace and anti-fascist organizations, which are so much needed in these worried times." The film director, John Ford commented in October, 1938: "May I express my whole-hearted desire to cooperate to the utmost of my ability with the Hollywood anti-Nazi League. If this be Communism, count me in."
Another supporter of the HANU, Frederic March, argued: "Every time during the last few years that I have felt impelled to protest an injustice, to cry out against man's inhumanity to man, or to espouse some social reform, I have been called a Communist. Because the founders of our country believed in justice, tolerance and the exercise of such social reform as would benefit the people at large, I insist upon the right to follow their example and still be recognized as a loyal American citizen."
The Un-American Activities Committee originally investigated both left-wing and right wing political groups. Some called for the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan to be interrogated by the HUAC. Martin Dies however was a supporter of the Klan and had spoken at several of its rallies. Other members of the HUAC such as John Rankin and John S. Wood were also Klan sympathizers. Wood defended the Klan by arguing that: "The threats and intimidations of the Klan are an old American custom, like illegal whisky-making." Eventually Ernest Adamson, the HUAC's chief counsel, announced that: "The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe." Rankin added: "After all, the KKK is an old American institution." Instead, the HUAC concentrated on investigating the possibility that the American Communist Party had infiltrated New Deal projects."
Another supporter of the HANU, Frederic March, argued: "Every time during the last few years that I have felt impelled to protest an injustice, to cry out against man's inhumanity to man, or to espouse some social reform, I have been called a Communist. Because the founders of our country believed in justice, tolerance and the exercise of such social reform as would benefit the people at large, I insist upon the right to follow their example and still be recognized as a loyal American citizen."
The Un-American Activities Committee originally investigated both left-wing and right wing political groups. Some called for the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan to be interrogated by the HUAC. Martin Dies however was a supporter of the Klan and had spoken at several of its rallies. Other members of the HUAC such as John Rankin and John S. Wood were also Klan sympathizers. Wood defended the Klan by arguing that: "The threats and intimidations of the Klan are an old American custom, like illegal whisky-making." Eventually Ernest Adamson, the HUAC's chief counsel, announced that: "The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe." Rankin added: "After all, the KKK is an old American institution." Instead, the HUAC concentrated on investigating the possibility that the American Communist Party had infiltrated New Deal projects."
- John Simkin, 'Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)'
The first 2 actors to win 2 Academy Awards for Best Actor : Spencer Tracy of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Fredric March of Racine, Wisconsin (March was also the first actor to receive consecutive Best Actor Oscar nominations)
Fredric March was the first actor to win 2 Tony Awards for Best Actor (for 'Years Ago' in 1947 & 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' in 1957), as well as an inaugural winner of the highest order (the Tony Awards premiered in 1947)
Jekyll & Hyde Transformations : John Barrymore (parodied by March in 'The Royal Family Of Broadway'), Fredric March & Spencer Tracy - all 3 actors were cited by Marlon Brando as being childhood idols
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Coda
Fredric March & Veronica Lake : My blue heaven ...
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