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Golden Couples: Gary Cooper & Patricia Neal

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It was April 1948 when director King Vidor spotted 22-year-old Patricia Neal on the Warner Bros. studio lot. A drama graduate from Northwestern University, she had just arrived in Hollywood following a Tony Award-winning performance in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. Impressed by Patricia's looks, Vidor approached the young actress and asked if she would be interested in doing a screen test for the female lead in his newest film, The Fountainhead (1949). Gary Cooper had already signed as the male protagonist, and the studio was then considering Lauren Bacall and Barbara Stanwyck to play his love interest. Neal liked the script and two months later, she met with the director for sound and photographic tests. Vidor was enthusiastic about Patricia, but her first audition was a complete disaster. Cooper was apparently watching her from off the set and he was so unimpressed by her performance that he commented, «What's that!?» He tried to convince Vidor to...
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The Third Doris Day Blogathon: Romance on the High Seas (1948)

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Directed by Michael Curtiz, Romance on the High Seas (1948) the the story of Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) and her husband Michael (Don DeFore), who suspect each other of cheating. For their wedding anniversary, Elvira books a cruise to Rio de Janeiro, but Michael suddenly cancels the trip for business reasons. Seeing an opportunity, Elvira pretends to go alone, but in fact sends Georgia Garrett (Doris Day), a singer she had met at the travel agency, in her place and under her name. By secretly staying behind, Elvira hopes to discover if Michael is indeed having an affair with his attractive new secretary, Miss Medwick (Leslie Brooks). Michael, however, is suspicious over his wife's willingness to take the trip alone, so he hires private detective Peter Virgil (Jack Carson) to see if she is sneaking around behind his back. (from left to right) Janis Paige, Don DeFore, Doris Day and Jack Carson on Romance on the High Seas . Peter joins the cruise and, as part of his job, becomes acqua...
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The Classic Movie History Project Blogathon: Juvenile Delinquency in Mid-1950s Cinema

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During the eight-year presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, at the height of the Cold War, the United States was the most influential economic power in the world. Despite constant threats of Communism and nuclear annihilation, it looked as though the «American Dream» was finally a reality. People across the country were comfortably complacent, indulging in new cars, suburban houses, television sets and all sorts of new consumer goods. For the nation's adults, who still remembered the hardships of the Great Depression, life had never been better. However, for their teenage children, who had grown up during World War II, shielded from the most worrying of its effects, life was flawed by powerful feelings of alienation and anger. As the number of teens doubled in the wake of the post-war baby boom, young people began turning their backs on the conformist ideals promoted by adult society. Parents could no longer impress their value system on their children, who longed for greater excite...
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