Sybil Bruncheon's "My Brilliant Career!".....Chapter 36:

A British film studio sent me a proposal for a remake of the 1960s film GEORGY GIRL with me in the title role……. Here’s the opening sequence:

London. Music plays on an old broken juke box in a rundown pub…."HEY THERE, Georgy Girl! There's another Georgy deep inside...show off all the love you hide.....". etc., etc.... Georgy (Sybil) an overweight dumpy girl dressed in a forlorn “mod” costume dances around sad pub, upsetting chair and a table with mugs on it..... she jumps up on counter to do the “frug”, when counter collapses onto 6 patrons, killing one, and crippling 3 others for life!!!!!.....music stops as ambulance and local police are called......patrons run out of pub screaming in horror..... (dramatic monster music)…

Gorgo suddenly appears from behind a hillside attracted by screams. Interacts with electrical power lines and Big Ben. While upending a tramp steamer on the Thames, a street car heading for Piccadilly, and a fish-cart selling cockles, mussels, (alive-alive-o!), he notices a plump rubber snack on the ground. He doesn’t realize it’s actually Georgy and picks it up in his mouth, shaking it like a puppy playing with a sock, and swallows it in one gulp...... He rampages on to Glasgow for a night of drinking and carousing on a pub crawl with Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra who have flown in for the weekend!.... more mischief ensues involving more ship sinkings, planes pulled from midair, and fish-cart tragedies.. in the closing credits, Judith Durham and The Seekers are heard singing "Hey there GORGIE-boy, there's another GEORGY deep inside.....". Credit roll reveals cameo appearances by Honor Blackman, Ethel Griffies, O.P. Heggie, Ernest Thesiger, and an as-yet-unknown Sean Connnery as a fish-and-chips peddler in Brighton. As the credits finish, the Monkees are seen running around in a fast-motion chase with tambourines and Benny Hill carrying an ax! Black-out.

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Sybil Bruncheon's “A Few of My Favorite Things”… Agatha Christie's "Jane Marple"...

Agatha Christie's "Jane Marple"... fortunately, the character is so extraordinary a creation that she is almost "actor-proof". It's nearly impossible to do her badly... or should I say, VERY badly?...

IMO; These are the best portrayals of Agatha Christie's iconic character Jane Marple... and each has her strong points and entertaining nuances...

Julia McKenzie is suitably fretful and self-deprecating as the clues (and murders!) pile up. But she keeps letting us know how “in the dark” she is, until, of course, she’s not!

And when I want a fluttering parakeet with a sharp little beak and tiny claws, it's Geraldine McEwan. Her lemony bite and snarky side-glances are perfect if you want your Miss Marple with an edge.

I can sometimes enjoy Angela Lansbury, if I don't mind stammering, squawking, and dithering. But her Marple is a bit like Mrs. Lovett… without the cannibalism...

…and Helen Hayes would be perfect if I wanted a busy-body granny from next door who smelled of gingerbread and Prince Matchabelli's "Wind Song"...

But I DO have my favorites; when I want comedy, I choose Margaret Rutherford. I love the way she chews everything on camera; the scenery, the dialogue, her fellow actors... nothing is safe from her ham-bone mugging, and every moment with her is a master class in how to mug shamelessly and still merit accolades as a genius. She delights me so much that I can actually binge-watch her "Murder Most-" series of 1960s again and again.

AND, drum roll please!... when I want to revel in my very favorite Jane Marple of all time, it's none other than Joan Hickson, the actress that Christie herself hoped would one day play the sleuth. She never embroiders or accessorizes Marple. There are no arbitrary vocal or physical tricks... no clutter. As a matter of fact, Hickson's Marple is almost a study in Method Acting, as if Marlon Brando or James Dean were doing her. She whispers and mumbles many of her lines, often as if she's not actually speaking to other characters onscreen with her. Her line deliveries are almost introspective meditations... I sometimes think we're reading her mind. Her silences are wonderful, and her glances at foolish people or at liars are the gold, nay, the platinum standard of stillness. She is the dead opposite of Rutherford, and only elicits laughter from me when I am gobsmacked by her acting brilliance. She has light literally pouring out of her... without the pyrotechnics! Rutherford has the fireworks... and for me, the others are cowbells, kazoos, caterwaulings, and whoopie cushions. Again, just my opinion...

(Counterclockwise from left: Joan Hickson, Angela Lansbury, Margaret Rutherford, Julia McKenzie, Geraldine McEwan, and in the center, Helen Hayes)

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A New Sybil's "Who'z Dat?"... ALAN RICKMAN (February 21, 1946 – January 14, 2016)...

Who can say why the passing of a stranger can be so heartbreaking?... an artist whose work has changed your life and perhaps not for "the role he was best remembered for"! I saw Alan Rickman walking alone on the street many years ago, and didn't want to interrupt his private time to gush over how much his talent meant to me. His Hans Gruber in DIE HARD (1988), homely-handsome, suave, witty, wry, merrily villainous, and the perfect foil to the goofy, fumbling-but-direct, all-American yahooist John McClane of Bruce Willis' was an astounding debut in American film! Unforgettable!.... and of course, then there's the Harry Potter juggernaut...

But for me, the role that changed my life was Rickman's Colonel Brandon in SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. He had none of the fireworks, glamour, or even the screen time as his co-stars, but I can't think of anyone who could have communicated so much through the silences, the soulful glances, the pauses, and his measured deliveries done like a viola being played in another room. I found myself looking at him and studying his “listening” more than the other characters even as they spoke.

I had no idea he was ill, and his passing has been described as fairly sudden. All I can do at this point is to borrow the much-used quote, "A great light has gone out.".... and it has indeed in the world of film and theatre according to the messages being posted by his compatriots. His many fans will miss him for Snape, but for me it will be for all those quiet moments in his most subtle performances, and the unexpected beauty, passion, and sexiness of his soul that came through those oh-so expressive eyes... A great light indeed.

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... BASIL RATHBONE (June 13, 1892 – July 21, 1967)

         Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think???.... while you’re reflecting, I’m inviting into our hallowed hall one of my very favorite people in show biz!!! Here he is folks, Mummy decided to add a special extra helping of WHO'Z DAT Deliciousness to the schedule...BASIL RATHBONE!!! (June 13, 1892 – July 21, 1967)

        For me, this fellow is the gold...NAY!..The PLATINUM standard for Hollywood royalty! (Ironically, he was knighted by George VI, and received even further elevations from Elizabeth II). Equally known for playing both heroic and villainous roles in some of the most iconic movies of the Cinema Golden Age, Basil Rathbone epitomized suave sophistication, brains, craftiness, and class. His face alone was one of the greatest pieces of cinema sculpture, and the camera adored him....you could light those bones a thousand different ways, and all of them were art! On the rare occasion when he would laugh without a villainous glint in his eyes, you could see all sorts of warmth and charm beneath that lacquered perfection, and indeed there are many stories about Rathbone and his wife being famous party givers to crowds of friends and admirers!

         Born Philip St. John Basil Rathbone in South Africa, (June 13, 1892), he rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and later went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films. He was twice nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, both for his role of Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" (1936) and for his role of King Louis XI in "If I Were King" (1938), losing out both times to Walter Brennan. His most famous role, however, was eccentrically heroic—that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series done with his great friend Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. His later career included Broadway and television work; he received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor for his performance as the unyielding Dr. Austin Sloper in the original production of THE HEIRESS, which featured Wendy Hiller as his timid, spinster daughter.                

         Rathbone was married twice; first to actress Ethel Marion Foreman in 1914. They had one son, Rodion Rathbone (1915–1996), who had a brief Hollywood career under the name John Rodion. The couple divorced in 1926. In 1924 he was involved in a brief relationship with Eva Le Gallienne. In 1927, he married writer Ouida Bergère; the couple adopted a daughter, Cynthia Rathbone (1939–1969). During Rathbone's Hollywood career, Ouida Rathbone, who was also her husband's business manager, developed a reputation for hosting elaborate expensive parties in their home, with many prominent and influential people on the guest lists. This trend inspired a joke in The Ghost Breakers (1940), a film in which Rathbone does not appear: During a tremendous thunderstorm in New York City, Bob Hope observed that "Basil Rathbone must be throwing a party". Although his later career may have vexed him on some level appearing in two spoofs of his earlier swashbuckling villains: CASANOVA’S BIG NIGHT (1954) opposite Bob Hope and THE COURT JESTER (1956) with Danny Kaye, he also appeared in major films, including the Humphrey Bogart comedy WE’RE NO ANGELS (1955) and John Ford’s political drama THE LAST HURRAH (1958).

The 1950s and 60s saw Rathbone performing on radio and television in various Christmas specials, variety shows, and even on game shows where he was very popular for his wit and polish. But he also was reduced to campy horror films and pastiches like THE BLACK SLEEP (1956), THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964) the only film to feature the "Big Four" of American International Pictures' horror films: Price, Rathbone, Karloff and Peter Lorre, QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966), THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI (1966, with comic Harvey Lembeck joking, "That guy looks like Sherlock Holmes"), HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE (1967, also featuring Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine), and his last film, a low-budget, Mexican horror film called AUTOPSY OF A GHOST (1968).

       Although his later career began to be made up of lower budget monster movies and spoofs of his own distinctive reputation as either a mad scientist or a British detective, Rathbone's immortality as a great invention of the Hollywood imagination will never dim! Basil Rathbone has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for films, at 6549 Hollywood Boulevard; one for radio, at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard; and one for television, at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. British actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell once described Rathbone as "two profiles pasted together", and later stated in the same autobiography, that she thought of him as "a folded umbrella taking elocution lessons." Rathbone died suddenly of a heart attack in New York City in 1967 at age 75. He is interred in a crypt in the Shrine of Memories Mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. For his many fans around the world, he continues to be luminescent, enigmatic, iconic.... a Star!!! 

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A New Sybil's "WHO'Z DAT?"... MADELEINE CARROLL (February 26, 1906 – October 2, 1987)

Darlings! Mummy has made a decision! After reading dozens of posts and having hundreds of conversations with well-meaning folks who just don't know about the great CHARACTER actors who gave films the depth and genius that surrounded and supported the so-called "stars", I am going to post a regular, special entry called SYBIL'S "WHO'Z DAT??"....there'll be photos and a mini-bio, and the next time you see one of those familiar, fabulous faces that you just "can't quite place".......well, maybe these posts will help. Some of these actors worked more, had longer and broader careers, and ended up happier, more loved, and even wealthier than the "stars" that the public "worships"......I think there may be a metaphor in that! What do you think??? Well, don’t think too long, because the lady coming through the door was once the epitome of class and glamour in both London and Hollywood! And technically, she's not a "character" actor, but more of a fascinating leading lady! Please welcome Madeleine Carroll!! (February 26, 1906 – October 2, 1987).

Born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, she started her acting career onstage in touring theatre companies. But because of her tremendous beauty, she quickly caught the attention of filmmakers in the late 20s Carroll's aristocratic blonde allure and sophisticated style were first glimpsed by film audiences in THE GUNS OF LOOS in 1928. Rapidly rising to stardom in Britain, she graced such popular films of the early 1930s as YOUNG WOODLY, ATLANTIC, THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL, and I WAS A SPY. Alternating in film and theatre she played the title role in the play LITTLE CATHERINE. Carroll always seemed to be detached from her career and abruptly, she announced plans to retire from films to devote herself to a private life with her husband, the first of four. Eventually however, Carroll attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock and, in 1935, starred as one of the director's earliest prototypical cool, glib, intelligent blondes in the immortal THE 39 STEPS with Robert Donat. Based on the espionage novel by John Buchan, the film became a sensation and with it, so did Carroll. Cited by the New York Times for a performance that was "charming and skillful", Carroll became very much in demand thanks, in part, to director Hitchcock, who later admitted that he worked very hard with her to bring out the vivacious and sexy qualities she possessed off-screen, but which sometimes vanished when cameras rolled. Of Hitchcock's heroines, as exemplified by Carroll, film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that they "reflected the same qualities over and over again: They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. They mesmerized the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps”. The following year Hitchcock paired Carroll with John Gielgud in the film SECRET AGENT.

Poised for international stardom, Carroll was the first British beauty to be offered a major American film contract; she accepted a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures. She starred opposite Gary Cooper in the 1936 adventure THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN, and with Ronald Colman in the 1937 box-office success THE PRISONER OF ZENDA. She tried a big musical, ON THE AVENUE (1937) opposite Dick Powell, and in 1938, her salary was reported to be over $250,000, making her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. During this time she also made many appearances on radio with the biggest stars of the day, and did films like MY SON, MY SON!, and LLOYD’S OF LONDON. But others of her films, including ONE NIGHT IN LISBON (1941), and MY FAVORITE BLONDE (1942) with Bob Hope, were less prestigious.

In 1942 she was married to actor Sterling Hayden, but it ended in divorce in 1946. After her only sister Marguerite was killed in the Blitz, she stepped away from her career and radically shifted her priorities from acting to working in field hospitals as a Red Cross nurse during World War II. She served in the 61st Station Hospital, Foggia, Italy in 1944, where many wounded American airmen flying out of air bases around Foggia were hospitalized. During the war, Madeleine Carroll donated her chateau outside Paris to more than 150 "adopted" orphans. She became a naturalised citizen of the United States. She made her final film for director Otto Preminger, THE FAN, adapted from Oscar Wilde's LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN in 1949. Madeleine Carroll died on October 2, 1987 from pancreatic cancer in Marbella, Spain aged 81, exactly one week after her THE PRISONER OF ZENDA co-star Mary Astor died. She was initially interred in Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain but in 1998 was reburied in the cemetery of Sant Antoni de Calonge in Catalonia, Spain.

For her contribution to the film industry, Madeleine Carroll has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6707 Hollywood Blvd. A commemorative monument and plaques were unveiled in her birthplace, West Bromwich, to mark the centenary of her birth. Her story is also of her rare courage and dedication when at the height of her career, she “gave it all up” during World War II to work in the line of fire on troop trains for the Red Cross in Italy – for which she was awarded the American Medal of Freedom. She was also awarded the Legion of Honor by France, for her tireless work in fostering relations after the war between France and the USA.

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