Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anatomy. Show all posts

Monday, July 7, 2014

Heterochromia Different Colored Eyes

Heterochromia
Two different color eyes : Celebrities with 2 different color eyes 

Heterochromia iridum: A term usually used to mean having two different
photo of white cat with 2 different color eyes magnet
Khao Manee
White Kitten Magnet
colored eyes, different colored irises in the eyes. It's less common in humans but more common in dogs, cats and horses. Odd eyes can happen to anyone. 


You're apt to see it in Dalmatians and Australian sheep dogs. In cats it's common in the Khao Manee and it can be seen in the Turkish Van.

Trauma or disease can change the color of an eye. Contact a medical professional if you notice a change in your eye(s) that has you concerned.

Heterochromia may also mean a person has different colors of skin or hair, including eyelashes. I read of one doctor who had a patient who had different color eyelashes as well as irises in the eyes. (see below)

Different Colored Eyes Day is celebrated annually on July 12th.

Photo of actress Kay Francis
What Kay Francis thinks of the whole topic
8x10" Photo

I can't find information on Kay Francis' having heterochromia. Articles tend to say she had grey or blue eyes. Having different colored eyes would probably not have been advertised or noted back in the early days of cinema.

Also couldn't find an Alice Eve or Mila Kunis photo where it was visible, though they are on several lists.

From article, lower right: "... A beautiful blonde who had a blue eye with blonde lashes and a brown eye with black lashes on the other..."
clip of article about heterochromia eyes, eyelashes 1960s
Doctor speaking about
The Children's Castle Helsinki,
Finland. The Spokesman-Review,
June 7, 1965

How many people do you know with green eyes? Is this more common in people who have lighter eyes? Do these stars have mismatched eyes?

Celebrities said to have Heterochromia:

Gracie Allen one blue and one green
Kiefer Sutherland blue and green
Joe Pesci one blue one green 
Josh Henderson green and blue 
Michael Flatley one blue and one green

Dan Aykroyd brown and hazel
Jane Seymour one brown and one hazel

Demi Moore one green one hazel

Kate Bosworth blue and hazel
Christopher Walken blue and hazel

Norma Eberhardt brown and blue
Max Scherzer blue and brown
Alice Eve brown and blue
Tim McIlrath brown and blue
Pacho O’Donnell blue and brown?

Mila Kunis one green and one brown
 

Kiefer Sutherland color autographed photo
Kiefer Sutherland Autographed Signed 11x14 Photo PSA DNA
Hard to tell in most photos
Kiefer Sutherland, son of actor Donald Sutherland, is an actor and producer. He has appeared in films and television shows and lent his voice to to movies, TV shows and popular video games. Stand by Me and The Lost Boys are some of his famous films. 

He has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame and also on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where his star is near that of his father both with the address, 7024 Hollywood Blvd.

Gracie Allen:

"Gracie had two different color eyes. One eye was green the other was blue. Of course it didn't matter - on radio they were the same color and on black and white television."  

Early photo of Gracie Allen
Gracie Allen


Gracie Allen retired in 1958, leaving the Burns & Allen TV show. This was when television was switching to color and there was talk that she retired due to sensitivity about her eye color being seen on camera. She also had significant health issues, including having had a mild heart attack. 

It seems this was the real reason for her retirement. George Burns, by the way, had blue eyes and brown hair. Eventually he had grey hair. Then on top he had little hair so he had Promotional photo Burns and Allenstore-bought grey hair....

Gracie Allen had a scar on her arm that was due to an accident she'd had with a pot of boiling water when she was a very young child. She always wore dresses that had 3/4 length sleeves and was never seen in public without that arm's being covered. 

Even in a film like The Big Broadcast of 1937 when she was dancing in a toga, Gracie had a scarf situated so it covered that arm. 

In George Burns' book they said the injury was so bad that they thought at the time she might lose her arm. It's very difficult to find a photo where you get a hint of her different colored eyes. Gracie died from a heart attack in 1964 at the age of 58.

I read somewhere that someone back in the 1940s-50s wondered if she had something to do with drugs because her arms were always covered?! When you look at newspaper fashion reports of the 1930s and 40s, her name is often mentioned alongside the glamorous movie stars, telling what Gracie was wearing.


Abigail Van Buren column letter about different eye colors
Advice columnists Abigail Van Buren and Dear Abby received letters
from young people who were embarrassed because they
had two different colored eyes. They would often mention the names of
celebrities who also had different colored eyes. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Just one more of the many things eye-related that may worry a teen or tween is known as blepharospasm (excessive blinking and spasming of the eyes). This may be due to particularly dry eyes or those that are very sensitive to light.

Benedict Cumberbatch:

Cumberbatch has a case which is called Central Heterochromia, displaying two colors in the iris. Some also refer to this as Sectoral Heterochromia or Sectoral Hypochromia but others reserve these terms for non-humans, such as cats and dogs, etc. 

This gets a nickname, Cat Eyes. Note: these terms wouldn't normally be capitalized. With Benedict Cumberbatch, the outer part of his iris is blue while the inner part is more golden green. 

Simon Pegg, "blue-grey with brown areas" may also fit into this category.



Trauma to the eye, Changes in eye color:

"Trauma to the eye, whether accidental or surgical, can change eye color by changing the content of the pigment in the iris. 
Some David Bowie Posters
accentuate his eyes - he knows
different is good

"An injury to certain nerves in the upper chest or neck can result in a condition known as Horner's syndrome. 

"Here a lightening in iris color occurs in the affected eye. People are sometimes born with this condition. 

"A more recent cause for change in eye color has been the use of new types of medication in the treatment of glaucoma. .... 

"The natural aging process can cause certain conditions to occur which can change eye color."
 


-- Dr. John P. Nairn Jr. MD Ophthalmology, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 7, 2002

David Bowie:



Snip of article about David Bowie's eyes, color pupils
Young David Bowie and his friend were fighting over a girl, the story goes.
A punch in the eye left one of his pupils permanently dilated. Bowie's eyes also appear to be different colors.




Related Pages of Interest

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars near one another

You remind me of a man, copyright and short phrases: Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, David Bowie...

Who taught Paul Henreid to light 2 cigarettes at once for Now, Voyager? Bette Davis or Gracie Allen? 

Books:

The books on Kay Francis both get good reviews from readers and both available digitally for eReaders such as the Kindle

Gracie, A Love Story by George Burns
  
This one has gotten some good reviews recently Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten - Her Life on Film and Stage by Scott O'Brien with foreward by Robert Osborne 

Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career by Lynn Kear and John Rossman 


For kids with eye conditions, children who feel different & need support:

All Children Have Different Eyes: Learn to Play and Make Friends....Starring Tommy with Nystagmus (wobbly eyes) and Wendy with Strabismus (crossed eyes) 

The Patch A child must wear a patch over one eye. What will the other kids think?

 
colored contact lenses, prescription lenses
Some facts about AC Lens
* AC Lens is a full-service, direct delivery contact lens supply company
* They we ship lenses to all 50 US states as well as Europe, South America and the Far East
* All major brands and contact lenses are at 50-70% below retail.
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* Lenses are delivered to you in safe, sealed containers direct from the manufacturer.
* There is a 30-day money back guarantee
Image shown is of Golden Twilight Contact Lenses manufactured by Marietta Vision "Golden Twilight Contacts are golden amber in color with a cut out center."
"All Special Effects contact lenses have a 38% water content and are sold as one lens per vial."
Prescription Help Whether you have your prescription or not. They can phone the doctor. A prescription is required for all FX lens purchase. There is a sample contact lens prescription so you'll know what's needed. A Circle of Excellence Gold Honoree : Shopzilla

For a make-up artist, model or to wear for a performance or holiday sometimes we'd like to know how to change eye color.
"Perfect for a Halloween costume, theatrical productions, novelty contact lens, cosmetic eye changes and for parties year round." All lenses carry a money back guarantee for unopened or defective lenses
Try Special Effects Contact Lenses, turn your eyes a different color or go all out and get something like Special Effects Black and White Spiral Contact Lenses: Remember the opening of Twilight Zone??

-- Sources: Thanks to the book, Gracie, A Love Story by George Burns,
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Rome News-Tribune, BBC News, mentalfloss.com, wikipedia and other research
.
Because this list was culled from different sources, the information may not be entirely accurate.
 

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Nurses in the movies War and Military films

Nurses in War Films, Military Movies

So Proudly We Hail 1943
There seem to be more nurses in military movies about those set at wartime than any others. What are your favorite films, the ones you remember most? 

Those of us who have family members who are veterans and are in the service, people who are in the medical profession will appreciate the movies that much more.

Historical movies, some from famous novels, adaptations. How does a 1930s movie differ from the 1950s version? How often will they make a movie adaptation and why? 

Are there films that made you go into nursing or into medicine in general? These are in no particular order.

1) So Proudly We Hail! (1943) Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake.  A group of nurses returning from the war in the Phillippines recall their experiences in combat and in love.

2) MASH (1970) Sally Kellerman Jo Ann Pflug. Margaret Houlihan Hot Lips
sometimes referred to as Margaret O'Houlihan.  
 
Sally Kellerman Autographed Photo


4077 MASH unit Korean War field hospital. Feel that it's more the Vietnam War? Preceded the M*A*S*H television show with Alan Alda, where the character of Hot Lips is played by Loretta Swit.

Stars of the movie also included Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt and Robert Duvall.



3) A Farewell to Arms (1932) Helen Hayes. Also starred Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou. From the Ernest Hemingway novel.

The 1957 film starred  Jennifer Jones, Rock Hudson and Vittorio De Sica.


A tale of the love between ambulance driver Lt. Henry and Nurse Catherine Barkley during World War I. 2014 is the centenary of WW1.

4) The Army Nurse (1945).  Short film with Gary Cooper Details the importance of U.S. Army Nurses and all of the hard work and compassion that they provide on a daily basis. The film also shows the many different conditions they have to deal with in and out of work during wartime.





5) War Nurse (1930) Anita Page, Robert Montgomery. 

6) Pearl Harbor (2001) Kate Beckinsale. Also starring Ben Afflek and Josh Hartnett.

Pearl Harbor - Movie Poster

7) The Nun’s Story (1959) Audrey Hepburn. Also starring Peter Finch, Peggy Ashcroft and Edith Evans. The story based upon the life of Marie Louise Habets, a Belgian nurse who similarly spent time as a nun.



8) Battle Circus (1953) June Allyson costars with Humphrey Bogart.  Set in Korea and made during the war. Love story, an  Army surgeon and a new nurse ready to save the world. The 8666th MASH mobile field hospital. Keenan Wynn also stars.

9) Nurse Edith Cavell (1939) 

There was an earlier Australian silent film called Nurse Cavell

10) Miss Evers' Boys (1997) Alfre Woodard. Also stars Laurence Fishburne.  The true story of the US Government's 1932 Tuskeegee Syphilis Experiments, in which a group of black test subjects were allowed to die, despite a cure having been developed. 

Miss Evers' Boys Art Poster Print

Also check out Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet 1940, directed by William Dieterle with Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger. Both films should get more attention.

11) Men Must Fight (1933) Diana Wynyard, May Robson. Also starring Lewis Stone and Phillips Holmes.

Nursesneeded now,Army Corps recruitment
World War posters,S Savage 1944




Related Pages of Interest:

Nurses in Drama films

Nurses in Comedies and Comedy-Dramas
Includes Operation Petticoat with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis  

WWI Centenary Gardens Chelsea Flower Show-Never Forget

Julia: from Television Moms series Diahann Carroll, Nurse on TV, costumes

Tributes, Alternative Songs for Memorials, Setting up a memorial at a wedding or other event 

Related Books and Movies:

Saving Lives: Why the Media's Portrayal of Nurses Puts Us All at Risk

The Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies by Henri Colt, Silvia Quadrelli, Friedman Lester 

Precode Hollywood, Pre-Code movies Find out more, whatever your interest. A variety of Books, films, documentaries...

Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood 

Monday, April 7, 2014

Nurses in the movies Comedies

Nurses from Comedies and Comedy-Drama films
Some are from Satires/Musicals
Listed in no particular order ; Who's your favorite?

Operation Petticoat
Tony Curtis Original Lobby Card
How many nurse movies can you think of? Funny movies with nurses in them? If you're not feeling well, indulging in a watchathon might make you feel better. We like to find movies, old and new, featuring similar characters and situations.

We have doctors and other medical professionals in the family and more as friends. Here's a great idea for a living room film festival. If you're looking for an all natural pick-me-up, let these nurses entertain you.

1) Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) High Anxiety 1977
High Anxiety was a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock movies and several characters reminded us of characters or character types in Hitchcock films. How about Nurse Diesel? Maybe Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca? Not sure if there's a direct correlation with her, but she fits in just fine. 

This nurse rocks a severe cone bra look under her uniform but no one would dare talk to her about it. This RN means business, she also means Real Nervous.






2) Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) Meet the Parents 2000
Greg Focker must meet his inlaws to be and get permission to marry his girlfriend. The film also stars Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner and Owen Wilson.

3) Stephanie Dickinson (Ingrid Bergman) Cactus Flower 1969  She is Dr. Winston's assistant, a Dental Nurse. He asks her to pose as his wife. Goldie Hawn and Walter Matthau also star. Enjoy the fashion and music in this movie. :)



4) Dolores Hicks (Mary Astor) Oh Doctor  1925
"Exit Death watch Mary enter the Lovely View," a pretty young nurse to take the patient's attentions away from his hypochondria. 



5) Betty Sizemore (Renée Zellweger) Nurse Betty 2000

Betty isn't a real nurse. That's not too much of a spoiler. She's a waitress and soap opera fan who's witnessed her husband's murder. The mind is a tricky place sometimes.


Ingrid Bergman will take care of you
16x20 Inches Photograph High Quality

6) Operation Petticoat 1959 featured a submarine full of nurses working alongside men the likes of Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. Joan O'Brien as Second Lieutenant Dolores Crandall NC, USAR/ Lt. Dolores Crandall RN and Dina Merrill as Second Lieutenant Barbara Duran, NC, USAR.  

The film was a big hit that year. You'll find a lot of doctors and nurses in military movies. Military nurses such as Army nurses are celebrated for the work they did and continued to do.

7) Nurse Carey (Margaret Rutherford) Miranda 1948 and the sequel, Mad About Men 1954. Nurse Carey helps the doctor hide the fact that his patient, Miranda, is actually a mermaid.

8) Odessa (Rosetta LeNoire) The Sunshine Boys 1975
Odessa is private nurse to Willy (Walter Matthau). It's a small role, but a good one. She isn't the only nurse in this movie. LeNoire may be best known for her role as Estelle "Mother" Winslow (Carl's mother) on Family Matters. Odessa's no-nonsense humor is a good counterpoint to the voluptuous blonde politically incorrect nurse, Miss McIntosh (Lee Meredith) who appears in the guys' Doctor Sketch. George Burns won an Academy Award for his role in this movie.

A few movies that feature nurses in smaller roles. Honorable mentions to:

Nurse Preen (Mary Wickes) in The Man Who Came to Dinner 1942 Starring Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan and Monty Woolley. This isn't the only time Wickes played a nurse.

Nurse Eleanor Costello (Julie Kavner) in Awakenings. 1990. The movie starred Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro.

In International House from 1933 with W.C. Fields, George Burns and Gracie Allen play doctor and nurse. Burns and Allen also made a short film in 1931, Oh My Operation where Gracie plays a nurse.






In The Winning Ticket (1934) winning sweepstakes tickets are drawn from large barrels by a series of nurses.

"The Irish Sweepstakes was set up by a committee from six Dublin hospitals, the Hospitals Trust Ltd., in 1930. Anyone who bought a ticket anywhere in the world got a hand-written receipt.

"Each Irish Sweepstakes drawing centered on a horse race and winners were identified when uniformed nurses plucked tickets from a huge drum in the sweepstakes' offices near Dublin. The races involved were the Lincolnshire Handicap in Doncaster, England; the Cambridgeshire, in Newmarket, England, and the Irish Derby."

-- excerpt from Los Angeles Times, Irish Sweepstakes Loses Ticket Race to Lotteries, Calls It Quits 02/29/1987



Another set of nurse characters appear in some comedy/drama films, Dramedies...

1) Nurse Jenny Fields (Glenn Close) The World According to Garp 1982  In the film, she becomes pregnant (while working as a nurse during World War II) thanks to patient, severely brain damaged ball turret gunner known only as Technical Sergeant Garp. This was Glenn Close's first feature film and she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

2) Ensign Nellie Forbush, USN (Navy nurse) (Mitzi Gaynor) South Pacific.  Mary Martin is remembered for playing the part on Broadway. The musical is timeless and highly recommended. Rossano Brazzi played Emile de Becque.


3) Lieutenant Ann Girard (Betsy Palmer) Mister Roberts  1955  Ensign Pulver, a young Jack Lemmon goes on a mission to pick up aspirin for Doc
(William Powell). He  convinces head nurse (Palmer) to come to the ship. This film has a stellar cast including Henry Fonda, James Cagney and Powell (in his last feature film). Jack Lemmon won an Academy Award for his role as Pulver.



4) Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Sally Kellerman)
MASH 1970 American satirical black comedy film. Loretta Swit is remembered for playing the character on television.


This is part of a series. Coming up Nurses in Drama films, Noir, Horror movies and more.


Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies We chose Amazon Prime because we prefer their wide selection of movies and documentaries to other streaming video sites, and the yearly price is about the same. But you get added benefits to joining Amazon Prime. For your Kindle, download ebooks and more. Ship at a discount.

We found more documentaries, foreign films, more British television shows and many more old color and black and white films on Amazon. 

Having several of the videos free to watch with Amazon Prime is great. 

There are always movies you want to pay to rent or own. There are still some special films we want to own on DVD.

Related Pages of Interest:

Diahann Carroll is Julia Baker : Nurse costumes


Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca Reality TV: Mrs Danvers Interviewed, Speaking for herself

Miranda: Mermaid movies from 1948

Hands in film fashion: The Man Who Came to Dinner

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Have a Mermaid Movie Party Ann Blyth Glynis Johns

Ladies from the Mermaid Pool of 1948

Have a mermaid film festival in your living room. Just add water. This also ties in
Mr Peabody and the Mermaid
William Powell shopping

He only wants bikini tops,
She doesn't wear the bottoms.
with the man in the bath themed festival. Seems more than a few mermaid movies show the ladies in a bathtub...

Have discussion afterward, comparing the storylines, how makeup, ideas of relationships between men and women, even how technology has changed over the years. How about the idea of the ideal/fantasy woman, often seen in a mermaid film.

There are mermaid movies in many genres: horror, animated, pirate, comedy; for kids, teen and adults.
If you've got friends who are film buffs, there are rare films, those from every time period. 

What to serve: Sushi, fish tacos, anchovy pizza, oysters. Or maybe you'd prefer to stay away from fish altogether in deference to the mermaids, fish and sea creatures in the films? Use fish-shaped cookie cutters to shape the sandwiches, etc. Serve goldfish cheese and pretzel crackers.

Go for the gold with Berry Blue jello, include delicious fruits suspended within.
Decorate with seashells, starfish. 


Suggest people wear watery colors like blue and green. Make your guests want to pull out those camera phones. :-)

We've got friends who like to go all out for parties and those who don't.

Here are a couple movies, light comedies with familiar stars. Both movies can be streamed. Miranda and Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.  


The films are relatively short, at about 89 minutes each. 

Glynis Johns 24x36 B&W Poster Print
It's the mermaid in the British film, Miranda (Glynis Johns) who takes the most control of the situation. 

She can speak from the start. She holds her man (Griffith Jones as the married Dr. Paul Martin) captive until he agrees to show her the city. 

It was filmed in Cornwall, England.

The mermaid's tail by Dunlop Rubber Company, a company that also does/did make tires, garden hoses and Wellies (rain boots). In 1948 Dunlop invented the self-sealing tire, which reduced the risk from blowouts. 





Googie Withers plays the doctor's wife and Margaret Rutherford is the nurse who looks after Miranda. 

According to The Telegraph, Withers, who was born in Karachi, was given the nickname Googie by her Indian nanny. "A Hindi word, meant (according to who was telling) dove or crazy." Googie, as an aside, is the pet name George Burns had for his wife, Gracie Allen.

Glynis Johns made films from the 1930s-90s, One of her best-known film roles was that of Winifred Banks, the children's mother, a suffragette, in 1964's Mary Poppins. David Tomlinson, who is Charles in Miranda will go on to play her husband, George Banks, Mary Poppins' employer and father of the children. 

So the movie Miranda offers an unexpected pre-Poppins present.

Dr. Martin brings Miranda home under the guise of her being a patient who cannot
Bette Midler
Delores De Lago
Mermaid Doll
walk. I had to smile at the mermaid's being transported in a wheelchair. It reminded me slightly of Bette Midler's Delores DeLago mermaid character as memorialized in the concert film Divine Madness. She's also available in doll form. 


You may remember the controversy that was stirred up recently when Lady Gaga performed in a show as a mermaid who traveled on stage in a wheelchair. Was it a rip-off of Midler's idea? Some in the press labeled the brouhaha MermaidGate.

Miranda never sprouts legs. She is consistently either carried by Dr. Martin or a series of other men, including Nigel (John McCallum, Ms. Withers' real life husband) who is painting a portrait of Miranda.
 

She captivates the men so much that they sometimes argue over who gets to carry her off. In the final scene, Miranda is shown on a rock, holding a little merboy on her lap. This movie has a sequel, Mad About Men in 1954.

Also married is Arthur Peabody (William Powell) in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.
William Powell Ann Blyth
8x10" Photo
Peabody names her Lenore (Ann Blyth). She is young and naive. Aside from some soft singing, she never learns to speak. She is sweet and naive without being sappy.

His character is just turning fifty, Blyth was 19 when she made the movie. 


At the age of 17, she had already gained notoriety and an Oscar nomination for playing Veda Pierce Forrester in Mildred Pierce with Joan Crawford, who won an Oscar for her role in the film.

This movie is one of the last dozen that Powell will make in his long career of making movies 1922-1955. His final movie will be Mr. Roberts in 1955. Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid is one of the first dozen films that Ms. Blyth made.

Blyth's makeup including the elaborate fish tail was overseen by makeup artist Bud Westmore, who was the uncle of Michael Westmore.

Michael Westmore can now be seen as a mentor on the Syfy channel competition show, Face Off. The program is hosted by his daughter, McKenzie.

They are members of the House of Westmore, the famous family in film make up. The Westmores have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I've seen this photo in many different places and cannot track down its original source.
Ann Blyth with Glenn Strange who was playing Frankenstein's Monster in another Universal film, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
Also in that movie were Lon Chaney, Jr. as Lawrence Talbot/The Wolf Man and Béla Lugosi as Count Dracula.  The story I've read most often is that Blyth and Mr. Strange met when they were both made up for their day's work and thought the photo would be funny.

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid is also different from Miranda in its middle-age-crisis plot. "What's a few grey hairs?" he says. The character, we'd expect, speaks for many men when he holds the silent mermaid close and speaks of how he wishes for some peace and quiet. Lenore never speaks, she never walks.

Fishing trip in Libeled Lady William Powell, Myrna Loy, Walter Connolly 8x10"
The 1936 film also starred Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy

His wife is played with a bit of shrewness at the start. But that's evened out in the end when her anxiety about her husband is relieved. Powell was in his mid-50s when he made this film and clearly there was attention to how the relationship with the mermaid was portrayed. 



In real life, as with fellow actors such as Cary Grant and Bing Crosby, Mr. Powell often dated younger women and his wife was considerably younger. Bing Crosby was 30 years older than his last wife Kathryn. Grant, too was decades older than his wives.

This film has one of the best leg biting scenes since Rosalind Russell bit Paulette Goddard's leg in The Women, 1939. As much of this story is told in flashback, and told to a psychiatrist at that, we're left with the idea that it may be something of a fairy tale. Was it just a really rough entry into Mr. Peabody's fiftieth year? Was there really a mermaid down there in that pond?

Irene Hervey is Mrs. Polly Peabody. She was the real-life wife of actor Allan Jones, and mom of singer Jack Jones. We'll assume that she heard the Theme of The Love Boat sung once or twice. For a time, Jones and Robert Young ran The Bel-Air Stables. In a 1939 short MGM film, Hollywood Hobbies, the Bel Air Stables get a visit and Irene Hervey is featured.



If this movie is at all connected to the characters of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, who first appeared on the animated TV series, Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show in the 1950s, I can't say. I know that William Powell liked dogs. But it would be a pretty silly stretch.... 

1948 was a very big year for mermaids. Also from this year was Tarzan and the Mermaids starring Johnny Weissmuller. There were no actual mermaids in this movie.



It was recently announced that Sofia Coppola plans to direct a live-action version of The Little Mermaid for Universal Pictures and Working Title Films.

The 1948 Summer Olympics, were held in London, England. After a 12-year hiatus because of World War II, these were the first Summer Olympics since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The United States won more Gold Medals overall in swimming events that year with eight. No mermaids competed in the Olympics.


The Art of Theatrical Makeup for Stage and Screen
I read that Mr. Westmore was writing an autobiography

Related Pages of Interest:

William Powell and Carole Lombard married 1931-1933; their sapphires, My Man Godfrey. Pre-Jean Harlow and Clark Gable
Men in the Bath Film Festival Movies

Have a Mary Poppins Interactive Movie Party

I'm going to talk a little more about mermaids and Mermaid Movies in another post.  Until then, Bette Midler, as Delores De Lago, can sing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy!




Pages being revised/updated:
Mermaid Art Shirts:  Women Swimmers  Customize, Birthday Party Favor Ideas 
Centaur Costumes, Half Man Half Horse, DIY Ideas, Tutorials, Cosplay
Princess Mermaid Costumes, Half Girl/Woman Half Fish

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Film characters with prosthetic hands

The last in this series on hands in the cinema. Those with prosthetic hands, from the human-like to animated, to out of this world.

Included are some books that explore the sociology and psychology of cinema and disability, stereotypes in general. Where do they come from and why do they thrive in certain genres over others why do they continue at all?


The Best Years of Our Lives
Harold Russell
The important thing about this first set of movie characters is how close they actually are to people we might know or meet. 

What percentage of the time do we see a character with a missing limb portrayed as a pirate, a villain or a victim? The psychology may be revenge for what's happened to them.

Harold Russell as Homer Parrish in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), directed by William Wyler also starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright and Virginia Mayo. 

The film won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Russell who was not an actor. Here was a situation of their hiring a person who had lived what the character had lived. Russell was a WWII veteran, a double amputee who had the disability the character had. 

There is a great scene in a diner where a patron says what he thinks about the war while Russell is sitting there having given so much for his country.  

Whatever your political beliefs, it's a good film to see particularly now when we once again have disabled veterans returning home.

Not many people know that the talented and suave actor with the mellifluous speaking voice Herbert Marshall had a prosthetic leg. The fact was kept quiet from the public. He lost his right leg while serving in WW1 due to a sniper's bullet.

In May 2014 the final Debbie Reynolds Auction included a prosthetic index finger and thumb which Harold Lloyd used after having had an accident with explosives in one of his stunts. The piece, circa 1930, had blackened over time. Bidding started at $1200 and went to $3000. A pair of later personally owned glasses was also included in the lot.



 


The Steel Claw 1961 George Montgomery is a wartime drama set in the Philippines during World War II. It is an action-adventure film about a disabled ex-Marine on a mission to rescue an officer in the early days of the Japanese invasion. **It has no relation to the comic book series Steel Claw. 

Forest Whitaker plays Cyrus Cole in Smoke (1995).
Cyrus lost his left arm in a car accident. He wears a prosthesis with a hook.  

The film follows the lives of multiple characters, all of whom are connected by their patronage of a small Brooklyn tobacco shop managed by Auggie (Harvey Keitel).  




Cole comes to terms with a long lost son and other situations in his life during the course of the movie.


Cary Grant fights with Scobie on the Roof
in Charade
Charade 1963, stars Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. One of the bad guys, Herman Scobie played by George Kennedy has a hook hand as a leftover from WW2. 

There is a memorable rooftop struggle between Grant and Kennedy, who uses his hook as a weapon. 

Charade is a very good movie that
includes this character with a stereotypical feature.

The Claw, the villain from Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947). He's described as, "Steve The Claw Michel, A quiet, compulsive killer." He's played by Jack Lambert. To further create the stereotype of the villain, it's said that, "He has an extreme fondness for cats." Like James Bond's Ernst Stavro Blofeld and images we've seen of Marlon Brando as The Godfather with cats on their laps.Ralph Byrd played Dick Tracy in the movie.


TCM, Turner Classic Movies looked at "A history of disability in film." This one is particularly important as it looks at how the disabled, how our veterans and minorities have been portrayed in film and treated in society. Irving Thalberg said that the movies would be the best record of how we once lived.

Hook, Captain Hook Peter Pan. Dustin Hoffman played the character in Hook (1991). Captain Hook and Peter Pan have been long-term rivals. 

Captain Hook, the character we think of today is not quite the same who was the original antagonist of J. M. Barrie's early 1900s play, Peter Pan or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. 

Occasionally, I've seen images of Captain Hook merged with Long John Silver from Treasure Island (a character who has a wooden leg.)

In the 1959 B-movie Alligator People, Lon Chaney Jr.'s character has a hook after losing his hand to an alligator. None of these movies show disabled persons in a positive or realistic light. His father, Lon Chaney Sr., played several disabled characters throughout his career, perhaps most notably The Penalty in 1920 and in The Unknown with Joan Crawford (1927) he is a knife thrower pretending to be armless.





Poster for Dick Tracy's Dilemma, Ralph Byrd, Kay Christopher, 1947

Movies such as Adventures in Babysitting and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer tap into campfire stories of killers with disabilities. 

Monsters, cartoon and mythological characters
 

Actually more of them than we'll discuss. But here is a sampling. You'll see a common thread. A number of the characters have what film-goers have called Swiss-Army Appendages.  

This type of character probably dates back to earlier stories and legends. These characters serve as popular toys.
Joseph Wiseman James Bond Dr. No 8x10" Photo #C1147

Sanford Scolex (aka Dr. Claw) from the 1999 Inspector Gadget movie. Dr. Claw is leader of the evil M.A.D. organization.

Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) fitted himself with metal manual prostheses after Tongs cut off his hands. Dr. No is a 1962 James Bond film starring Sean Connery. 

He is the main antagonist and a reclusive member of SPECTRE. Certain DVDs of the movie come with collectible figures of the character.

In Live and Let Die, Tee Hee Johnson (Julius Harris), The Dragon to Big Bad Kananga, has a vicious-looking pincer in lieu of a right hand. Roger Moore is James Bond.  In fact, his whole arm is mechanical — he lost it to a caiman. He threatens to cut James Bond's little finger with it during an interrogation.

The Claw (Leonard Strong) from Get Smart is a parody of Dr. No. This is only one of many parody TV and film characters I'm mentioning.

Ron Perlman as Hellboy 2004, directed by Guillermo del Toro. The Allied team discovers an infant demon with a right hand of stone came through the portal. If you get the film on DVD you'll get extra including visits to the "Right Hand of Doom" set and a two-hour documentary.

March 22, 2014 you can celebrate Hellboy Day, marking 20 years of comics' favorite paranormal detective. Have you heard of Itty Bitty Hellboy from Darkhorse Comics? Things from Another World TFAW




Ash’s wrist-mounted chainsaw in Evil Dead 2 (1987). They describe his metal hand as Steampunk. 

Robert Englund appeared on the July 23, 2014 episode of SyFy's Face Off competition show for special-effects make-up artists. Englund talked a little about playing Freddy Krueger. He said that actors love accessories. The glove was like "an extension of the badness." Englund was also on the cooking challenge show, The Last Great Baker on the same evening, where bakers had to make horror themed cakes.

Sort of similar to Edward Scissorhands and Freddy Krueger, there's Wolverine’s claws from X-Men (2000). Played by Hugh Jackman, he is so iconic that people are getting tattoos of the character and he will appear on a tattoo competition show, Ink Master on March 25, 2014. 

In March 2014, it was announced that March 3, 2017 is the projected release date for the next solo Wolverine film. The screenwriter, David James Kelly is scripting the new Wolverine film, which will once again star Hugh Jackman in the title role. 
-- movie info from SlashFilm


A poster for 1965 film Knives of the Avenger shows star, Cameron Mitchell armed with long knives held between each finger ready to hurl at the bad guy.

 
Wolverine Bone Claws
Skeletal Replica Diamond Select Toys

There are so many collectible
Wolverine Costumes & Toys
Try making Origami Claws?
Innerspace (1987)  Mr. Igoe’s has a number of prosthetics for his hand, some of which shoot bullets.

The Hobbit, Orc Chief Azog has a metal prosthetic hand and forearm....

Gandalf: "Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the Mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin."
Thorin: "Curse his name, yes."  


Some animated movies:
With animation you can do just about anything.


John Silver’s arm in Treasure Planet (2002) His arm can be a weapon but a cooking gadget.... But then, I seem to recall that Edward Scissorhands did a little cooking with his hands, too. He sure did some
Sideshow James Bond
Julius Harris / Tee Hee
Live and Let Die
chopping.

Gobber’s arm in How To Train Your Dragon (2010). It can be a cannon andan axe, but it also transforms into a a tankard for his ale.


Christopher Lloyd (Judge Doom) in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Judge Doom had a variety of tools and weapons for hands, a chainsaw if you wanted to be a killer or a lumberjack.

Gigan, a monster who you'll find in Godzilla vs. Megalon. Gigan has razor sharp hooked blades, the "tips of the hooks can release an explosive charge on contact with an enemy."

A few others that people mentioned to me that kind of do and kind of don't belong....



The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) pre-code film with Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu and Myrna Loy as his daughter. Karloff displays long trademark fingernails, very villainous. Loy's character does as well on her pinkies, though hers are of the jewelry type. 

While this is a cult favorite movie, having Karloff and Loy playing Asian characters is not as acceptable by today's standards. We still have many able
Myrna Loy in Mask of Fu Manchu
bodies actors playing disabled characters.

Thai brass dancer's fingernails are one thing, but now with long knuckle rings in fashion, Myrna would have no problem finding something to suit her fancy.
10Pcs 3 Sizes Gothic Punk Black Crystal False Nail Claw Talon Finger Ring Cosplay Fashion Jewelry.

In The Piano (1993) we see Holly Hunter's character lose a finger. She receives a silver replacement finger fashioned by Harvey Keitel's character. Losing limbs isn't uncommon in movies (horror movies especially) but this is the only one I've heard of where something like this happened. The film also stars Sam Neill and Anna Paquin.

Uma Thurman's unnaturally large thumbs in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues 1993. 



Speaking of disability... With more and more baby boomers getting older and our own hearing getting worse (and despite regulations), we don't find enough closed captioning on television or on the streamed content. Sooner than later that's going to start to hurt vendors in the pocketbook. 


Books about History, Stereotypes in Film, Television, Media
Stereotypes, perception, imagery based on Disability, Gender, Racial, Ethnic, more...

Many are available now as eBooks for Kindle, Nook, Sony...

The Bigger Little Book of Hollywood Cliches: a Greatly Expanded and Much Improved Compendium of Movie Cliches, Stereotypes, Obligatory Scenes, ... Shopworn Conventions and Outdated Archetypes Lazy filmmaking? Roger Ebert

Hollywood Goes Oriental: CaucAsian Performance in American Film (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series) Think of Asian stereotypes in the movies

Images That Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media



Film and Stereotype: A Challenge for Cinema and Theory (Film and Culture Series)

Cinema Of Isolation: A History of Physical Disability in the Movies

Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body

Disability and the Media (Disability Library)


Picturing Disability: Beggar, Freak, Citizen, and Other Photographic Rhetoric (Critical Perspectives on Disability) is available digitally for Kindle and in paper. It talks about Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr. and much more.

The Science of James Bond: From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps, the Real Technology Behind 007's Fabulous Films  

Related pages of interest:

Disabled Actors should play disabled characters

Hands in film fashion, surrealist influences, The Women, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Elsa Schiaparelli

Movies with rogue, disembodied hands

Movies with transplanted, possessed hands

Buying, Selling, Auctioning Academy Awards : Harold Russell sells Oscar to pay for his wife's medical needs


Have a Charade movie watching party