Trudy Gold
Icons and Iconic Moments of the Silver Screen, Part 4

Trudy Gold | Icons and Iconic Moments of the Silver Screen, Part 4

- Well, good evening everyone from London and welcome to another wonderful wallow in the movies of the ‘40s and '50s, and concentrating, of course, on the great scenes, the exits and the entrances. This is the second to last of the series, I hope you’ve enjoyed it. I just felt that it was time to get away from the horror and go back to what I call the Golden Age of Hollywood when there was such incredible talent. The acting, the directing, the music, it all created this pattern. And important to remember, so much of that pattern was the result of refugees fleeing from Germany and from Austria, and meeting up with the homegrown American talent. But ironically, most of that talent were the brain children of either immigrants from Russia, the Russian Empire, or children of immigrants. And this is so much illustrated by “Now, Voyager”, which I finished on “Now, Voyager” last time, so I’m starting on it again. And if you remember, it was directed by Irving Rapper, It was produced by Hal Wallis. Hal Wallis’ real name was Aaron Blum Wolowicz. He was the man who produced “Casablanca” and “Adventures of Robin Hood”. He was an absolute genius of a man. Now let’s wallow again in that great scene. You’ll know the plot of “Now, Voyager”, where Bette Davis plays the plain aunt who stays at home, looking after her tyrannical mother. She has a nervous breakdown. Claude Rains comes into the picture, and as a result of his encouragement, she goes travelling. And travelling, she meets up with Paul Henreid. There is a romance, but it’s an unfulfilled romance because he’s already married. And this is the scene, where they decide they can never be together, but they can have, through his daughter, who is enraptured by the Bette Davis character. They can have some kind of happiness. Now this, to me, is one of the great scenes of cinema with the wonderful Bette Davis and Paul Henreid, who I’m going to talk about in a minute. So can we see the first clip?

• Jerry, please help me.

• Shall we just have a cigarette on it?

• Yes.

• May I sometimes come here?

• Whenever you like. It’s your home, too. There are people here who love you.

• Look at you and Tina, share with you peace and contentment.

• Of course, and just think it won’t be for this time only. That is if you will help me keep what we have. We both try hard to protect that little strip of territory that is ours. We can talk about your child.

• Our child.

• Thank you.

• And will you be happy, Charlotte?

• Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.

• Wow, could Hollywood deal with schmaltz? Let’s see the next slide, please. And here you see the extraordinary Claude Rains, who, of course, is in that film and in so many of the films of the ‘40s, '50s, and '60s. He was a very interesting man, not Jewish. Once in a while, I’m going to talk about non-Jewish actors. He was a Tony Award winner, four times he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He was a great character star. He often played very cultured villains. And of course, he is the cynical character in “Casablanca” when he plays the Vichy police chief. I’m sure you’ve all seen that film. And he is the one who goes off with Humphrey Bogart at the end. And frankly, if I had to choose between the men in “Casablanca”, I would’ve much preferred Claude Rains to the Humphrey Bogart character, who I think is a bit sterile. So his background, he was born in Clapham in South London. He was born into the slums. His father was an out of work actor, but he was one of 12 children. Although four of those children died as infants, he grew up with a Cockney accent and a speech impediment. He spent a lot of time in theatres surrounded by actors. He made his spade stage debut when he was 10 years old at the Haymarket Theatre. He became a pool boy at Her Majesty’s Theatre and later a prompter. He worked his way up. Those of you who know the London theatres, he worked his way up. He became a stage manager and then an understudy. And then he makes it on to the stage in small parts, but well-reviewed parts. He moves to the America in 1912. There’s lots of opportunities for English actors on the New York stage. 1914, when war broke out, he returned to London to serve in the war alongside some fellow actors.

Those of you who love the movies, you will know these actors. Ronald Coleman, Basil Rathbone, Herbert Marshall, Cedric Hardwicke. These are all the great stars of the period because, of course, they’d had the experience on the London stage. In 1916, he was subjected to a gassing attack. Ironically, poison gas for the Germans have been invented by Fritz Haber, a German Jew, but his story is a tragic story. Another time, another place. As a result, he lost 90% of vision in the right eye and had damage to his vocal chords. He stayed in the army 'til 1919. He was brave, he became a temporary captain, and he remained in Britain. And he tried to develop his talents. He was actually recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who was the founder of RADA. And he told him to get rid of his accent and paid for elocution lessons. And this is what his daughter said of him. “He became a different person, a very elegant man with an extraordinary Mid-Atlantic accent.” One of the things about Claude Rains and his movies, he’s got this wonderful modulated voice. He’s one of my favourites, along with Orson Welles and James Mason. I think they’ve got the, for me, they’ve got the three best voices. He became one of London’s leading stage actors. And then he went to teach at RADA. John Gielgud and Charles Laughton, two great figures of the theatre and also cinema, were amongst his students. This is what Gielgud said.

“He was one of the best and most popular teachers at RADA. He was extremely attractive and all the girls were hopelessly in love with him. He was stocky, but handsome.” So he has a huge success on the London stage. And in 1932, he went to Hollywood lured by the money, he had a screen test for “The Invisible Man”. And of course, what happens is, his agent was a friend of Carl Laemmle. And Carl Laemmle happened to see him, his screen test and took him on. And that was his first big role. But then he goes to Warner Bros., where he has a long, long period with them. He is the villain in “Robin Hood”, he plays King John. If you haven’t seen “Robin Hood”, 1938, of course, directed by the Hungarian Jew, Michael Curtiz. It stars Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains are the villains. And Curtiz really rated him. He was then loaned to Columbia for another great film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. He was in “Kings Row”, “Casablanca”, and very much one of the great stars, Bette Davis, loved him. She shared the screen with him in four pictures. “Juarez”, “Now, Voyager”, the wonderful film, “Mr. Skeffington”. I haven’t had time to show you all the great films. What I’ve been concentrating on, of course, are those with the great entrances and exits or the special scenes.

But “Mr. Skeffington” is a Warner Bros. Pictures that touches what was happening in Nazi Germany. Mr. Skeffington is the wealthy Jew, who marries the beautiful woman, Bette Davis, who marries him to save her brother from ruin. Never really loves him. He finishes up going to Germany because of business interests. He’s in a concentration camp, and it’s fascinating how it’s dealt with. He was also in “Deception”. He was very much Bette Davis’s favourite star. And he was the first actor to receive a million dollars for Julius Caesar in “Caesar and Cleopatra”. And Vivien Leigh, of course, played Cleopatra. It was a dramatic failure, unfortunately. He was in “Notorious” in 1946, another brilliant film, which I’m going to talk about in a minute. And 1948, he was in David Lee’s “Passionate Friends”, a really, really brilliant actor. Towards the end of his life, he played minor roles. Unfortunately, he became an alcoholic. He had six different wives. He’s a colourful character, really worth reading a biography of. Can we see the next slide, please? Here we see Paul Henreid. Now what a character is Paul Henreid. He was born Paul Georg Julius von Henreid in Trieste to Karl Alphons Henreid, who was born Carl Hirsch. His father was a brilliant financial character. He actually even advised Franz Joseph, who, of course, was the ruler of the Habsburg Empire. The family converted to Catholicism because of antisemitism. So he wasn’t brought up as a Jew, but he had Jewish parents. He trained for theatre in Vienna, very much against his family’s objections. He worked at a publishing house while he was at school. His father died in 1916, and that’s when the family wealth dwindled. And whilst working in the theatre, he was discovered by a man called Otto Preminger, who I’m going to talk about later on, who was working at that time for a man I’m going to do a whole session on later on in the year, Max Reinhardt, who, in fact, was the great theatre director of Europe. He owned the most important theatres in Vienna and in Berlin.

And of course, I went to the Salzburg Festival this year, and he created the Salzburg Festival along with Hofmannsthal, with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and we managed to stay at his villa. He had this wonderful villa, Leopoldskron, and all the great figures of cultural life turned up there. And in 1938, of course, the Nazis took it away. But the point is, he comes to the notice of Max Reinhardt. Paul Henreid joins the theatre company in 1933. And first of all, for minor parts, but then he starred in “Men in White”. And then, of course, Nazis in Germany. The National Socialist Reich Film Chamber controlled the making of German films. He actually applied for membership of it, but was rejected because of his father’s Jewish origins. You know, this is fascinating because I could spend hours with you, and I’m doing this in another series, talking to you about what is Jewish identity. Paul Henreid did not identify at all as a Jew. The problem was he had Jewish blood. And to the Nazis, that is what mattered. He again applied for special permits, but it was turned down personally by Goebbels. And as a result of that, he’s working in Austria. Remember, it’s not yet the Anschluss. In 1937, he’s in the Austrian film, “Jersey Lily”, which is the story of Lily Langtry, the mistress of Edward VII. He then, in 1937, went to London to play King Albert in the play, “Victoria Regina”. Now the Anschluss. By this time, he had become fervently anti-Nazi and helped Jewish comedians and actors flee Germany. The German government then designated him an official enemy of the Reich. All his assets were confiscated. He fled permanently first to the UK, and then to America.

Now, why? Because in 1939, he risked internment as an enemy alien. It was actually Conrad Veidt, who we’ve already talked about, that extraordinary individual, who, unfortunately, he was such a liberal when Goebbels made them all sign. Everyone who was alien signed, which allowed them to go on acting. Even though he wasn’t Jewish, he actually said on his form, “I am a Jew.” He comes to London and Conrad Veidt was an extraordinary individual, who helps so much financially with the British evacuees. And of course, later on, tragically goes to Hollywood where he spends most of his time playing Nazis, including, because they were all together in “Casablanca”, remember? Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, and Conrad Veidt playing the ghastly Nazi character. So Conrad Veidt has vouched for him. In 1939, he’s in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”, where he plays the German teacher in Robert Donat’s brilliant production. He then plays the Gestapo agent in “Night Train to Munich”. Once he’s relocated to the U.S.A., he goes first to Broadway, then he signs with RKO and made him drop the von. He’s now Paul Henreid. He then moved to Warner Bros. He stars in “Now, Voyager”. And I suppose his great role was Victor Laszlo in “Casablanca”. He protested against McCarthyism. And as a result of that, he was blacklisted. And gradually, his career went down the tube, but a fascinating man and a brilliant actor. Arrogant, but then many of them were. Let’s go on, please. And now we come to the film “Notorious”. Now “Notorious” was, of course, with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. It was directed by Hitchcock, it starred Claude Rains.

And again, it’s on the subject of Nazis. Cary Grant plays an American agent, Ingrid Bergman is the daughter of a Nazi. It’s 1945, and she’s a party girl. She falls in love with the agent, but they need someone to spy on this Nazi ring. And the head Nazi is played by Claude Rains. Her job is to seduce him, to worm her way into his company. In the end, she has to marry him, even though she’s in love with the Cary Grant character. Cary Grant was brilliant at playing ambiguous characters. And of course, it has a happy ending in the end. But a great success directed by a Alfred Hitchcock, it was actually produced by David Selznick. They all worked together. So let’s go on to the next film. As I said, I’m being very, very picky. This is the wonderful film “Laura”, directed by Otto Preminger. Five nominations he wins for this film. Music is by a very interesting character called David Raksin. He had been born to Russian Jewish immigrants. His father was an orchestra conductor. He studied with Arnold Schoenberg in LA. You see, Schoenberg, just think we’ve touched on this. The number of the great film men who came from Europe to America, characters, of course, like Max Steiner, Korngold, Newman, and Schoenberg. Schoenberg never really made it into Hollywood, maybe the greatest of them all. He was arrogant. He didn’t think he could do film music when he was summoned in by, I think it was Sam Goldwyn, who wanted the big music, the big scenes he’d heard the great man was coming.

And basically, Schoenberg said, “You don’t need me.” And he taught. And amongst the people he taught was Raksin. And of course, his score of “Laura” with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, who by the way, was a distant cousin of General Patton, becomes a huge hit. He also scored wonderful films. If you haven’t seen “The Bad and The Beautiful” starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner on the evils of Hollywood, its genius. He also scored “Separate Tables” with Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth. These are films to add to your collection, and most of them are available on primetime. Now let’s have a think. I think I’ll show you the clip and then I’m going to talk about Otto Preminger. Let’s have a look. What have we got next? Oh, all right, I’ll talk about him first and then I will have a look at a clip from “Laura”. Now Otto Preminger was one of those characters who walked the world. Remember, he worked for Max Reinhardt. I’m going to give you a proper background to him because these are the interesting characters. They were formed in middle Europe, and these are the characters who are going to bring the great talents of middle Europe to Britain and America. He was born in a place called Wischnitz. Later, he claimed he was born in Vienna. He wasn’t. He just felt they’d just found it classier. His father had been born in 1877 in Czernowitz in Galicia, which, of course, is the German-speaking part of Habsburg Empire. And the Jews have been emancipated in 1878. So when his father comes to adulthood, there’s been emancipation in the Empire. On the other hand, there’s a lot of prejudice. His grandfather, Otto Preminger’s grandfather, was very poor. He was a Talmudist. But the son, Otto’s father, was very, very clever.

And Markus Preminger realised he was very, very able. And his father realised that he has to go to secular university. He does go. Unfortunately, Otto Preminger’s father, his father died young. So Markus was left to support the whole family, a mother and five sisters, but he already has a place at university. Even though he is working every hour to support the family, he graduates in law, with a doctorate in law, and his grades were so high. This is Otto Preminger’s father. He is received the gift of a ring from the emperor, Franz Joseph. Otto, whose brother was called Ingo, he wrote his biography and he says of this, “It was an exceptional honour, even more so because he was Jewish.” And so Otto Preminger’s father becomes the public prosecutor in Czernowitz. When he was 26 years old, he marries Josefa Frankel, who came from a prosperous, assimilating Jewish family. The family owned a lumber yard, and she was a terrible snob. But she loved the theatre, she loved music, she loved art. And she’s going to give her two sons an entry into the world of culture. And in a way, Markus, the Eastern European, from the outskirts of the empire, he’s married up. Just as later on, Louis B. Mayer marries up when he marries into a German family. And they have the two sons, Ingo and Otto. And this is what Otto later said of his mother. “I had an affectionate relationship with my mother, but she didn’t play a large part in the formation of my character. Intellectually, I was influenced by my father.” And ironically, Markus was offered the job of chief prosecutor of Vienna in 1916, but he had to convert and he turned it down.

What was extraordinary, they wanted him so much that they overlooked the fact that he wasn’t a Catholic. Don’t forget that Marla had converted for a place to play in the Royal Opera House. Baptism. Remember the quote of Hynes, “Even though there’s emancipation, baptism is the passport to European civilization.” So two decades later, Otto is going to be offered the part of head of the Vienna State Theatre. Same catch, conversion. And this is from his biographer, Foster Hirsch. “He was a secular Jew without religious conviction, but never denied he was a Jew. And he turned down the post rather than convert.” And Hirsch goes on to describe Preminger as both an old world gentleman and a lively reckoning turf. Of course, there’s going to be another side to him. He was considered to be a tyrant and a bully with an explosive temper. Now, what he’s certainly sure is that both the parents gave the children of a sense of self-worth. And to give you a bit of background to what was happening in World War I, the family, the Czarist armies were on the edge. And that’s one of the reasons the family fled to, first of all, to Graz, where Markus Preminger, became public prosecutor. And Graz was the cradle of antisemitism. It’s in that arc from Linz to Graz to Salzburg, Innsbruck. It’s a really conservative area. When I went to the Salzburg Festival, what was absolutely fascinating in 2025, the audience dripping in jewellery. And yet many of the women were wearing, of my age I’m talking about, the wearing the dirndls. It’s a fascinatingly conservative area.

And what happened was the sons are subjected to antisemitism. The father goes to the school and demands it stop, and it does. It’s then that they’d moved to Vienna, where he’s offered the position. And this is what his son said of him. “He remained a Jew to the end of his life.” Now whilst the family are in Vienna, they are the cultural connoisseurs. This is what they want. They tried it in the little towns. Now books, theatres, concerts, Bernard Shaw was incredibly popular. Young Otto went to see “Caesar and Cleopatra” 72 times. They were living in the Leopoldstadt. This we passed the heyday of Vienna. The heyday of Vienna has to be really from about 1880 to the first World War. But nevertheless, he dreamt of becoming an actor. He has a prodigious memory. He acted for his family and his friends. He missed lessons. At the end of the war, of course, with the Hapsburg defeat, what is going to happen? Markus opens his own law practise, it’s very successful. And of course, in 1923, Max Reinhardt establishes a theatre company in Josefstadt. Otto writes to him requesting an audition. He’s offered an apprenticeship with Reinhardt. Father wanted a compromise, law at the university. He’s constantly absent from the university, but he has a brilliant mind. The father’s hired tutors, but his primary commitment was to be extraordinary. Max Reinhardt, whose dream was to synthesise theatre, music, art into one discipline. The same thing was happening with Diaghilev.

These are the larger-than-life cultural figures. Otto’s very talented as an administrator, and he’s appointed assistant in Reinhardt’s acting school. So he’s got a very important job, but he wants to act. He spends a year with Reinhardt, learning his trade. And he said, “After a year with the professor, watching and learning, I decided my career would advance better if I joined a company where I had the opportunity to play important parts.” He has a small part in William Dieterle’s work, “Merchant of Venice”. These characters all trained with Reinhardt. William Dieterle, of course, later on, is going to become one of Hollywood’s most important directors. He joins a Czech theatre company, then a Swiss company, but then he loses his hair. Vain Mr. Preminger, he decides from now on, he’s going to act. He graduates in law, but the point is, the social life is within a Jewish milieu. With many Jewish millionaires, he’s short of funds. And what he wants to do is to become a director. And one of them manages. He managed to persuade one of these wealthy Jews to finance his first important film, “The Great Love”. He becomes very successful. Between 1931 and '35, he directed 26 shows. He becomes a man about town, a very important figure in Vienna. And in April 1935, he received a summons from Joe Schenck to the Imperial Hotel Vienna. And who was Joe Schenck?

He was one of the founders of 20th Century Fox with Darryl Zanuck. He offered him the dream, “Come to Los Angeles.” Now you’ve got to remember, Europe is being scoured for talent. All the big studios had their people in Europe. They had characters in Vienna, Paris, London, scouring for the best talent. It’s the '30s, remember. Hitler’s come to power in Germany. Preminger is working in Austria. And even though it’s Austrofascism between '34 and '38, he can still operate. Preminger decides he will go to America. He told him it would take a few months to wind up his affairs. His parents still identified with Austria. And even though it’s Austrofascism, they were optimistic. You know, Billy Wilder said something so painful and so harrowing. Billy Wilder, of course, was part of this milieu. He and Preminger knew each other very well. And later on, they’re going to work together. In fact, Preminger, one of his great film roles in Hollywood, was in a Billy Wilder film called “Stalag 17”. Billy Wilder actually said, “The pessimists are lying by swimming pools in Bel Air. The optimists died in the camps.” And that included, of course, most of Billy Wilder’s family. His parents could not be moved. They kept on saying to their son, he was desperate for them to come to America with him. They said, “Don’t.” He leaves Austria very, very bitter. And he never renounced those feelings. He was lucky, he wasn’t fleeing for his life. He was fleeing on his own terms. He travelled on the same train from Vienna to Paris with a man called Sam Spiegel. Mr. Sam P. Eagle, one of the great Hollywood producers. In fact, Janet Suzman later worked for him in “On Nicholas and Alexandra”.

And I really must invite her to come and talk about him because he sounds to be an incredible character. They met for meals. He now had money on Otto Preminger. So he sailed to New York on the Normandy. He was taken to the 21 Club, it becomes his restaurant of choice. And before he went to Hollywood, he decided to try Broadway. He rehearsed a New York play called “The Libel”, and he got wonderful reviews. This was the New York Times. Preminger’s direction proves that courtrooms can bristle with theatre. It played for 159 performances. Remember, he trained as a lawyer. His father was a city prosecutor, and he’s going to become incredibly good at the courtroom drama. He took off for LA. And in the States, he is lauded now as one of the youngest and most distinguished film producers of Europe. He works with Zanuck, not a very successful relationship. And after two fights, he returns to New York. Meanwhile, his parents had visited him. He did everything he could to try and persuade them to no avail. He has a great success on Broadway with a play called “Outward Bound”, starring Vincent Price. He often worked with him later on. He played “Margin of Error”. He actually acts in that, he plays a villainous Nazi. He was also, by the way, offered a teaching position at the Yale School of Drama. Anschluss. His brother, Ingo, was a successful lawyer, who had lived on the same street as Sigmund Freud.

He managed to make a hasty escape with his family to Zurich. Finally, much, much pushing the family, the parents agreed to leave for Switzerland. Otto wanted to get them out of Switzerland to America. It was not easy to get visas to America. We’ve talked about that in past sessions. And it was Tallulah Bankhead, who was a admirer of Preminger, she came to his rescue. Her father was a speaker of the House of Representatives, and her uncle was a U.S. senator. She intervened for them personally. And consequently, the Preminger family, the brother and his wife and children, and the parents, survived successfully in America. Spring 1941, 20th Century Fox purchased rights for “Margin of Error”. William Goetz, of course, one of the son-in-laws of Louis B. Mayer, he married Edith. The other one had married David Selznick was running the studio. So Zanuck was out of the picture. He was impressed with Otto, and he offered him a seven-year contract. And what Otto wanted, more than anything, was to play “Laura”. He wanted to bring the technique of film noir to Hollywood. Think of German theatre, think of German cinema, think of middle Europe. He’d seen the script. He wanted it, Zanuck is back now the war’s over. He said, “Okay, you can produce it, but not direct it.” He chose Rouben Mamoulian, but Rouben Mamoulian was not that into it. And finally, he allowed Otto Preminger to direct “Laura”. And I’m going to show you an extract from “Laura”. “Laura” is a wonderful film noir. It stars Dana Andrews as the policeman, the extraordinarily beautiful Gene.

Linda Darnell as, sorry, my brain is going, Gene Tierney. Later on, he works with Linda Darnell, and the wonderful Clifton Webb. It’s a murder mystery. And the scene I’m going to see you, everyone thinks Laura is dead because someone has been shot in her room in her house and the faces blanked out. And this policeman, this wild policeman, had developed a crush on this incredible, beautiful portrait of this extraordinarily beautiful woman. Fortunately, she’s still alive. She’s been in the country, someone else had been trying on her clothes. It’s a big mystery, very dark. And the scene I’m going to show you is where he sees Laura. But going on with Otto Preminger’s successes, he makes the “Fallen Angel”, again, with Dana Andrews and this time, with a very beautiful Linda Darnell. Then, “Forever Amber”. “Forever Amber” was very successful. It was based on a popular book. It’s about an adventuress. He didn’t want to do it, but he did it, provided you allow me to do “Daisy Kenyon”, which, of course, is a brilliant film. Put it on your list with Dana Andrews. Again, Henry Fonda and the wonderful Joan Crawford. He called “Forever Amber”, “The most expensive film I ever made, and the worst.” And “Daisy Kenyon”, he called it a high-powered melodrama for the fan market. Then he made “Lady in Ermine” with Betty Grable and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

It was a Lubitsch product, another great German Jewish director. But he died in the middle of it, so Preminger took over. He more and more begins to challenge the Production Code. More and more his films are dealing with on-the-edge issues. The Catholic Legion of Decency actually condemned his next film, “Moon is Blue”, because of use of words virgin and pregnant. Preminger had the film released without the Production Code’s approval. The “Man with the Golden Arm”, Sinatra and Kim Novak, another great film. It’s about heroine addiction. “Anatomy of a Murder”, a brilliant film courtroom drama with discussions of rape, sex. They completely objected to the use of the word rape, the word sperm, sexual climax, penetration. This is 1959. In the end, he made one concession. They substituted violation for penetration. And of course, his film “Exodus”, which for many Jews is the highlight of his career. He used the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay. He also, as I’ve already mentioned, he acted in his great friend, Billy Wilder’s film, “Stalag 17”, where he plays the Nazi commandant. Also, I want to spend a bit more time on him because he was a very controversial, but very important man in his day. He was so free of prejudice. He brought Carmen’s “Bizet” to the screen set in the context of Africa America. He used African Americans. “Porgy and Bess” based on Gershwin’s opera, all Black cast. In advising consent, it’s about homosexuality. He made “The Cardinal” in 1963 about the horror of the Vatican hierarchy, constantly breaking new ground, constantly challenging taboos of every kind.

Also, he was very good at being on time with the budget, but he was domineering. He had a very explosive temper. They used to call him behind his back, Otto the Terrible. He had two long-term affairs. One with Dorothy Dandridge, who starred in “Carmen” that went on for four years. He also had a child by Gypsy Rose Lee. He married and he had two children by his wife. So he was one of those larger-than-life characters that Hollywood was good at. Love them or hate them. And of course, as I said, for most of the Jewish audiences, I think it’s “Exodus” that he’s best remembered by, where he goes back to the Jewish roots. Fascinating man. Now let’s see an extract from “Laura”, please. Where the beautiful Gene Tierney. Oh, that was David Raskin, who, of course, wrote the music for it. I’ve already mentioned him to you. Can we see the extract from the film? He’s fallen in love with that picture. And remember this score David Raksin wrote, one of the greatest hits of the period, the words written by Johnny Mercer. He’s drunk too much, he falls asleep. Dreaming of Laura. One of the great entrance of the cinema. Don’t forget we’re keeping that going. So many of these beautiful women were so unstable, she suffered from terrible manic depression. Okay. Thank you. Can we go on to the next one, please? “Gilda”, another great iconic film. “I was true to one man once, and look what happened.” Now this was directed by another interesting character called Charles Vidor. He also was a middle European, came from a Jewish family in Budapest.

He immigrated to America, he was born in 1900. He became the assistant to Alexander Korda. And Alexander Korda, I’ll talk about him later when we look at “The Third Man”. He was later on the first filmmaker in England to receive a knighthood. Universal, and he was terribly talented. First to Universal, then RKO, then Columbia, where he directed what he said low budget pictures, I enjoyed them. Then he worked with Frank Capra on “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. At Columbia, he directed their first technicolour musical and he followed it with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly in “Cover Girl”. It was a huge success. He signs a seven-year contract. And of course, probably the pinnacle of his career was actually creating “Gilda”. He had huge fights with Harry Cohn. Harry Cohn, who, of course, was one of the great moguls, he was also the child of immigrants. His father, Joseph Cohn, was a tailor from Germany. His mother came from the Pale of Settlement. He was the only one of the big Jewish moguls who was born in America. Now Harry Cohn, what a character. He began his working life as a chorus boy. He was a fur salesman, he was a pool hustler, he was a streetcar conductor, he was a song plugger for Tin Pan Alley. He becomes a music printer.

He also did a stint in “Vaudeville” and he got his first film job at Universal. So basically, you have these incredibly talented, combustible, larger-than-life monsters, villains, or heroes. And of course, Vidor at MGM. He made some or I’ll just tell you some of the other great films he made, so that you can put them on your list. Ruth Etting, “Love Me or Leave Me”, a brilliant film. Grace Kelly’s last film, “The Swan”, he directed “Joker is Wild”. He goes into partnership with Sinatra. Selznick actually hired him to save “Farewell to Arms” replacing John Houston. He died quite young, actually. His last film was Liszt’s “Song Without End”. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack whilst making it. “Gilda” is one of many people’s favourite films because of, of course, the extraordinary Rita Hayworth. It starred Glenn Ford, incredible photography. Jean Louis wardrobe for “Gilda”. Don’t forget that a lot of women got their dreams of fashion, not from Paris, but of course, from Hollywood. The writers were Jo Eisinger, film and television writer. And he was, of course, Jewish. He was credited with “Sleeping City”, “Crimes of Passion”, Oscar Wilde, “The Jigsaw Man”, which is a fascinating film with Michael Caine and Lawrence Olivier. And it was also part written by Ben Hecht, but uncredited. Now the beautiful, beautiful Rita Hayworth, one of the most tragic stories of Hollywood. She was one of the top stars of the Golden Age. 61 films in 37 years, she was considered the love goddess.

She was the great femme fatale. Some of her films, “Lady from Shanghai” with Orson Welles, “Separate Tables”. She danced with Fred Astaire in “You’ll Never Get Rich”. She was a great dancer, we were never lovelier. Fred Astaire called her his favourite partner. She was the child of two dancers. Her father was a Spanish gypsy, her mother was of Irish Catholic descent. Her father came to Hollywood. He established a dance studio, where he taught people like James Cagney and Jean Harlow to dance. She was moulded by the appalling Harry Cohn, or was he a genius? He changed her hair colour, he said she was too Mediterranean. She had to have her hairline, the electrolysis to give her a higher hairline. She was loaned first to Warner Bros. for “Strawberry Blonde” with James Cagney, another great film, then back to Columbia. “Gilda”. It’s “Gilda” that makes her the cultural icon. In her private life, she was probably abused by her father. She had five marriages, including to the immensely talented Orson Welles. But she also married the Aly Khan. She had long-term relationships. Glenn Ford, she had a 40-year on off relationship with him. Later on, she becomes an alcoholic and tragically, Alzheimer’s. It was her image that was on the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and on Nagasaki. Can you imagine what that would’ve done to a person? She later said, “My tragedy was that men went to bed with Gilda and got up with Rita Hayworth.” Let’s just see a clip so that we can understand the passion and the glory of Rita Hayworth at her height. So many of these actresses were so fragile and they were destroyed by the system. We can talk about that at another time. Can we see the extract, please?

• Quite a surprise to hear a woman sing in my house, eh Johnny?

• That’s quite a surprise.

• Gilda, are you decent?

• Me? Sure, I’m decent.

• Gilda, this is Johnny Farrell. Johnny, this is Gilda.

• One of the great entrances in the cinema.

• So this is Johnny Farrell. I’ve heard a lot about you, Johnny Farrell.

• Really? Now I haven’t heard a word about you.

• Why, Ballin.

• [Ballin] I wanted to keep it as a surprise.

• Was it a surprise, Mr. Farrell?

• [Ballin] It certainly was. You should have seen his face.

• Did you tell him what I’m doing here, Ballin?

• [Ballin] No, I wanted to save that as a surprise, too.

• Hang on to your hat, Mr. Farrell.

• [Ballin] Gilda is my wife, Johnny.

• Mrs. Ballin Mundson, Mr. Farrell. Is that all right?

• Congratulations.

• [Ballin] Oh, you don’t congratulate the bride, Johnny, you congratulate the husband.

• [Johnny] Really? Well, what are you supposed to say to the bride?

• [Ballin] You wish her good luck.

• Good luck.

• Thank you, Mr. Farrell. My husband tells me you’re a great believer in luck.

• [Ballin] We make our own luck, Johnny and I.

• I’ll have to try that sometime. I’ll try it right now. Tell him to come to dinner with us tonight, Ballin.

• It’s an order. Come along, Johnny. We’ll let Gilda get dressed. Look your best, my beautiful. This will be the casino’s first glimpse of you.

• I’ll look my very best, Ballin. I want all the hired help to approve of me. Glad to have met you, Mr. Farrell.

• [Ballin] His name is Johnny, Gilda.

• Oh, I’m sorry. Johnny is such a hard name to remember and so easy to forget. Johnny. There. See you later. Mr. Farrell.

• That’s right, Mrs. Mundson.

• Okay, I think, no, actually, I’m going to give you one more clip, which I would go back to in my last session on the movies. I’m afraid I’m not going to get beyond 1960. So maybe next term, we can take it a bit further. Because there are great entrances and exits, of course, post this period. So let’s have a look at a scene from one of the really great movies of all time with Rita Haber’s husband. Or the reason that scene is because in “The Shawshank Redemption”, it’s fascinating how some films pay homage to other films. The pinup in his room, in the prison cell is, of course, “Gilda”. And later, it’s Rita Hayworth. And it’s later to be replaced by Raquel Welch. So this sort of cultural allusion continues through the cinema. But let’s have a look at one of the great entrances in the history of cinema, that of Mr. Orson Welles, and I’ll be talking about him next week. I want to finish on a high. This is the great one.

• What kind of a spy do you think you are, satchel-foot? What are you tailing me for? Cat got your tongue? Come on out. Come out, come out, whoever you are. Step out in the light and let’s have a look at you. Who’s your boss?

• Harry?

• Harry!

• All right, we’ll cut it there. We’ll cut it there. Vienna, post war Vienna. One of the great films. Practically everyone I know, it’s in their top 10 and I’ll talk about it. I will begin with it next week. And as I said, with any luck, we get up to 1960. I wanted to finish on “Psycho”, but there’s quite a few. And remember, this has all been about choice. So let’s have a look at the, and I’m afraid my choice. Let’s have a look at the questions, please.

Q&A and Comments:

Oh, Rosemary says that it’s her favourite movie of all time. And I think you were referring to “Now, Voyager”.

Oh, this is from John Norman. “My paternal grandfather, Norman John Norman, previously Oppenheimer, gave Claude Rains his first job in the London Theatre.” Oh, I love “Lockdown”, that’s fantastic.

Aha, Czernowitz was not, thanks for that, Eric. I’ll check that out.

This is Marla’s phrase. “No cross, no concerts”, according to Marla. That’s a fabulous quote.

Marilyn, “Otto Preminger was on a BBC radio programme called Desert Island Discs. It was designed by a very mild-mannered man called Roy Plomley. The guest had to choose eight discs to take on a desert island. I remember Otto Preminger appearing on the show and he was incredibly rude and bullying to the interviewer. He was quite uncomfortable to listen to. The programme can still be heard. Incidentally, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf chose eight of her own records.” Oh, that’s a lovely story. So Otto Preminger, yeah.

Oh, and Rita’s telling us where he can be heard. Are there any other questions or comments? Just check. I guess you’re all addicted to the movies like me. There’s a certain type of movie I love.

Anyway, I’ll see you all next week for the next session on the movies. And this week, I’m doing an extra session because I’m trying to consolidate because of all the horror we’re living through. I’m trying to consolidate in four lectures the major themes in modern history, Jewish history, 'cause I think it’s going to help us sift our way through. Take care, everybody, and just thank you very much. Goodnight.