Love Cary Grant!
Posted on 01/16/2022 11:37:26 AM PST by Rummyfan
We can debate who was the perfect screwball comedy heroine until the end of time – Katharine Hepburn and Carole Lombard are the archetypes, and everyone from Myrna Loy to Jean Arthur to Claudette Colbert have their ardent followers. But it's nearly impossible to deny that Cary Grant has the clearest title to screwball's consummate hero, embodying every quality necessary to share the screen with the genre's defining heroines and reach the final credits with his skin intact, even if his dignity has been shed – sometimes happily – along the way.
It has to be remembered, however, that he arrived late to the genre, after it had been defined by The Front Page, It Happened One Night, My Man Godfrey, Twentieth Century and Libeled Lady, in a film where he co-starred alongside an actress who also came late to screwball, and who didn't esteem her talents as a comedienne at all, working with a director who'd only nip in and out of the genre like the patron who pays for the party house everyone else is enjoying.
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Love Cary Grant!
He was so great.
Barbra Streisand played a sort-of 1970s MPDG in What's Up Doc?
My #1 would be William Powell, but Powell and Grant are to comedy what Astaire and Kelly were to dance: Powell was the perfectionist, Grant was the Everyman.
Arsinic and Old Lace was Cary Grant at his comedic pinnicle!
Cary Grant’s real name was Archie Leach.
The character played by John Cleese in “A Fish Called Wanda” was named Archie Leach.
Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite movies. Hilarious.
Early 20th c motion pictures (the first 50 years) are among my passions. I’ve probably seen every screwball comedy that survived.
A handsome leading man and a good script — both honed on the live stage — are mutually beneficial and reinforcing.
Some are lucky in love, some at cards. Cary Grant was lucky at work! Choice roles, talented co-stars, topnotch scripts. Add to that his own splendid talent; he brought a lot of gold to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
I think one of the problems with leading men having to share the stage with more involved comedians is that until the Hayes Commission was taken back, the women of film were expected to be over shadowed by the male lead as society was treated that way. So few of them got to that superstar status on film as the spotlight never reached them when the commission handled their appearance.
With the Hays Code in full flower, filmmakers had to do some fancy footwork to add a little spice to their films. While the pre-code freedom of the 1930s was over, Hollywood continued to turn out message films like Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), and Crossfire (1947). The film noir genre gave women a chance to be villains for a change, and some actresses, like Ann Sheridan, Barbara Stanwyck and Jane Greer relished their femme fatale roles. But they still were considered second fiddle.
It’s unfortunate but our society had to grow into it. But I do have two others like Grant that had the capacity to work with their female counterparts. And they were in the same movie, Singin’ in the Rain...Gene Kelly and Donald O’Conner.
And another problem with the men was their aura. Men like James Stewart, Clark Gable, William Holden, Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck controlled the spotlight just by being there. Wasn’t their fault as each had done well with power lead actresses, it was the presentation of the studios that made them bigger than life. Women didn’t get that type of billing so they were swept into the background.
wy69
Grant in spite of or maybe because of the fame,struggled with insecurity. When a fan once said to him they wished they could be Cary Grant, his reply was “I wish I could be Cary Grant.”
I was surprised to know he was British. Moved to US as a young adult.
Grant said:
“We all wish we were Cary Grant. Sometimes I wish I was Cary Grant.”
Another time a ticket agent said to him “You don’t look liek Cary Grant” and he Replied smiling “I know, Nobody does”
I’m thinking the Screwball Comedy Queen of TV would have to be Lucille Ball, seconded by Carol Burnette.
I don’t know enough about Milton Berle to say whether he would merit being the King of TV Comedy. I know he was one of the first big TV Comedy stars. I’ve never been too swept away by Milt, but I was not around to be a radio fan first.
The majority of ‘retired’ TV funnymen become either grouchy or morose as they age; Johnathan Winters always seemed to have The Blues. Chevy Chase = A grumpy grouch.
Jerry Lewis = A mean and grumpy grouch who disinheirited his wife that bore him 6 sons, but a legendary movie maker of that slapstick style.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Big Cary Grant fan, and John Cleese fan - and never knew that - thanks!
Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash January 16, 1942.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/carole-lombard-killed-in-plane-crash
Flying as part of a war bonds selling tour... She was married to Clark Gable at the time.
I love that scene in Charade when Audrey says to Cary,
"Know what's the matter with you?"...."What?"..... "Nothing."
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