A Different Side of Cary Grant

Jennifer and Cary Grant (Photo from Parade.com)

This past Sunday, CBS Sunday Morning news ran a great segment on Jennifer Grant reminiscing about her famous father, Cary Grant. The segment includes many photos and home movies of a young Jennifer with her dad. My favorite is a clip of Cary dancing with his daughter and just having fun being a dad.

Director, writer, and film historian Peter Bogdanovich is also interviewed in the segment. Bogdanovich discusses how Cary Grant got his start in Hollywood and how the actor created the persona of Cary Grant. Bogdanovich shares a memory of when he, with then girlfriend Cybil Shepherd, attended an event with Grant.  Bogdanovich retells the story in his spot on Cary Grant impression, explaining that when they approached the ticket taker Grant said, "I'm terribly sorry, I forgot my ticket. May I get in please?" As the ticket taker was looking for his name, Grant says, "It's Cary Grant." "You don't look like Cary Grant," said the ticket taker. And Bogdanovich remembers that Grant, "as quick as wink" said, "I know, nobody does." 

If you missed this segment when it originally aired this past Sunday, it's worth a view. 

Your thoughts?

Nickelodeon (1976) - Film Locations

Peter Bogdanovich, Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds on set

One of my favorite Peter Bogdanovich films is Nickelodeon (1976), the director's ode to the silent film days. Bogdanovich, who really got his break into the film business as a journalist in the 1960s interviewing Hollywood legends, got the idea for Nickelodeon while interviewing early silent filmmakers like Allan Dwan and Raoul Walsh. Dwan and Walsh had some pretty crazy stories about making movies during that time period, particularly about the studios trying to force out the smaller filmmakers, and Bogdanovich brings those stories to life in his film.

Bogdanovich shot some of Nickelodeon on location but there were some scenes that were filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California. Here are some of those backlot locations.

Ryan O'Neal leaves the courthouse.

The film begins with O'Neal in court. The exterior of the courthouse was actually the city hall building on the New York Street of Warner Bros. backlot.

City Hall building, WB backlot.

Some of the other scenes were filmed on the Warner Bros. Midwest Street, the same street that was used for The Music Man, East of Eden, and most recently the hit show Pretty Little Liars.

Starr Hotel in Nickelodeon

Starr Hotel building on Midwest Street, WB Backlot

Starr Hotel building in background.

Another view of Midwest Street, Warner Bros. backlot.

Burt Reynolds on Warner Bros. Midwest Street

Midwest Street, Warner Bros. Backlot

This next location I'm not entirely sure about, but I'm pretty confident that the scene at the end of Nickelodeon where the D.W. Griffith film premiere is taking place, was shot on the Warner Bros. New York Street. Below is a facade that is used over and over again as a theater. I'm sure the set designers just dressed up the facade for the film.

D.W. Griffith film premiere as seen in Nickelodeon.

Theatre facade on Warner Bros. New York Street backlot.

Your thoughts?

Peter Bogdanovich and Cybill Shepherd Home

(c) People Weekly

I always enjoy flipping through old magazines and now, flipping through electronic archives of old magazines. I recently came across this People magazine article from 1974, on the hot young couple of the time, Peter Bogdanovich and Cybill Shepherd. The article is about the two playing house in their new home in Bel Air, a home once owned by Kay Gable (Clark's fifth wife).

(c) People Weekly

Bogdanovich met Shepherd when he cast her in his 1971 film, The Last Picture Show. Ironically, Bogdanvoich was at a Ralph's grocery store in California when his then wife, Polly Platt, pointed out a model on the cover of Glamour magazine. Platt thought she would be perfect for the part of Jacy. Bogdanovich did cast Shepherd, and an affair began during filming. Eventually, Bogdanovich and Platt would divorce. Jump ahead 3 years after The Last Picture Show, and Bogdanovich and Shepherd were living together, although not married.

(c) People Weekly

Of course, we now know the relationship between Bogdanovich and Shepherd would not last either, but it's interesting to see how in love they were at the time. My favorite part in the article is when Shepherd says, "Peter was so romantic. When he walked into the living room and saw the tile, he said, 'As Valentino used to say, there is nothing like tile for tangoing.'" And the two tangoed.

The Dukes

 Above is a picture from the summer of 2005 of actor and first time director Robert Davi (left) sitting with writer, director, producer, actor, and author Peter Bogdanovich. The location is the set of the film, "The Dukes," Davi's directorial debut.

The film tells the story of a group of men, who in the 1960s were a doo-wop group (think Dion and the Belmonts) that were popular and successful, that now in the present are experiencing difficult times. The guys are now older, forgotten, and broke. When one of the men (Chazz Palminteri) loses his tooth and is forced to go to the dentist, Davi overhears a conversation about a group of dentists who share a large stash of dental gold. Desperate for money, these not-so-young men decide to pull a heist on the dental clinic. The rest is a comedic mess.

Here is the trailer for the film:

I had the opportunity to work as a product placement coordinator on the film and on the day the above picture was taken, the production was about to shoot a scene featuring "Guiltless Gourmet," a healthy snack food company I was representing. This was a hilarious scene featuring all the men dressed up as tomatoes and singing a doo wop song about salsa. The times of the band performing on the late shows are now over and the best gig the band's agent (Bogdanovich) could get is a poor commercial.

Here are some more pictures taken from the set that day.

Preparing to do the tomato dance:

Me (When I was trying to sport a goatee. Yikes!) with Robert Davi.

The film had a theatrical release in 2008. If you didn't get a chance to see "The Dukes" in theatres, don't worry, you will get a chance to see it soon on video and it is definitely worth checking out. The cast is great, the story is a bit different from other heist movies, and you can't go wrong with a soundtrack set to early 60s rock'n'roll.