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+++   ********* Old age ain't no place for sissies. (Bette Davis) *********

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 about 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 ...

This week on "Film Friday," I bring you a little melodrama about individual creativity, power and compromise, set in an era of communism and modernistic architecture. Promotional release poster Directed by King Vidor , The Fountainhead concerns the life of Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), an individualistic and uncompromising architect who chooses to work as a driller in a stone quarry rather than sell out his ideals. While working at the quarry, Roark meets the sensual and emotionally charged Dominique Fancon (Patricia Neal), a writer who works for a newspaper that opposes Roark's individualism. They never exchange names, but they are instantly drawn to each other. After a brutal sexual encounter, Roark returns to the city to accept a new architectural commision. At a party for the opening of the new building Roark has designed, Dominique learns for the first time the identity of her mysterious lover. They proclaim their love for each other, but...

In 1943, Nancy Hawks spotted a 19-year-old model named Betty Bacall on the cover of the March editi on of Harper 's Bazaar . Fascin a ted by her sult ry looks and "scrubbed cl ean, healthy, shin ing and golden" appearance, Nancy urged her husband, director Howard Hawks, to screen test Betty for the new picture he was wor king on , To Have and Have Not (1944) , loosely based on the Ernest Hemingway 1937 novel of the same name. Hawks, too, was impressed with what he saw   — so much so that he immediately brought Be tty to Hollywood , where he began managing her career. There after, he changed her name to the se xier-sounding "Lauren " and as ked Na ncy to advise her on clothing, shoes and general demeanor. Hawks also sent Betty to a voice coach to lower her natu rally high-pitched, nasal voice to a deeper, sul trier tone. When both Hawk ses were sati sfied with their new protégée, Howard took Lauren to the set of To Have and Have Not and int roduced her ...

+++ ********* A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. (Ingrid Bergman) *********

This week on "Film Friday", I bring one of the most romantic films of all time and a personal favorite of mine. It's a proper tearjerker this one. Theatrical release poster Directed by Mervyn LeRoy , Random Harvest tells the story of Charles Rainier (Ronald Colman), a British officer confined to an asylum in the English countryside under the name of "John Smith", following a gas attack in the trenches during the First World War, which left him shell shocked and amnesiac. With the jubilation of Armistice Day, the asylum is left unguarded and he is able to escape. When he arrives in town, he meets a vivacious showgirl called Paula Ridgeway (Greer Garson), who nicknames him "Smithy" and nurses him back to health. The two soon fall in love and marry, settling in a cozy little cottage in the country where they live in blissful happiness for a few years. On a business trip to Liverpool, Smithy is hit by a taxicab and his early memory is re...