dual personalities

Tag: Clifton Webb

April 17, 2020

Playing it like a waffle iron

by chuckofish

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We made it to another Friday! And without much cuddling, am I right?

My routine is down to the bare bones, the highlight of my day being a daily walk in the spring sunshine (if I’m lucky). Not much else going on besides work.

I did manage to record and then watch two movies starring Clifton Webb, whom I have always liked.

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Mr. Scoutmaster (1953) is a comedy about an effete television star (Webb) whose ratings are on the decline because he doesn’t relate to children. Somehow he is convinced by the local Episcopal minister (Edmond Gwen) to become the new Scoutmaster of a troop of incorrigibles. Of course, Webb really gets into being a Scout, buying all the stuff and learning all the rules–remind you of someone?–and hilarity ensues. There is  a subplot involving a neglected child who desperately wants to be a scout that is quite effecting and, if I had not been watching with the OM, I probably would have broken down several times and wept.

Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 12.56.02 PM.pngThey knew how make you cry in a comedy back in the day. The kid (George Winslow) was very good and the perfect foil for Clifton Webb.

Anyway, I recommend this movie whole-heartedly. Interestingly, the scout troop includes a couple of African-American kids and at the Court of Honor at the end of the movie a band of mostly Asian Boy Scouts plays. Even in 1953 the diversity of the Boy Scouts was on display and (subtly) applauded.

I also watched The Man Who Never Was (1956), a British espionage film about a scheme to deceive the Nazis about the impending invasion of Italy. The intricate plot entails releasing a dead body just off the coast of Spain, where strong currents will almost certainly cause it to drift ashore in an area where the Germans will find it and the secret papers it carries.Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 1.23.56 PM.png

 

Screen Shot 2020-04-16 at 1.27.42 PM.pngI had seen it before and it is definitely worth a re-watch. Clifton Webb plays Royal Navy Lt. Commander Ewen Montagu, who devises Operation Mincemeat and sees it carried out. A pre- Ben-Hur Stephan Boyd plays an Irish spy who nearly foils the plan. 

I wrote about Clifton Webb in an earlier post and included some other recommendations if you are interested.

I have also been reading some Raymond Chandler, who supplies some ready diversion to the person with a rather scattered concentration. (I refer to myself.)

“Some days I feel like playing it smooth. Some days I feel like playing it like a waffle iron.”

– Trouble Is My Business

Today I will make my weekly visit to the grocery store for “cornmeal and gun powder and hamhocks and guitar strings” and then it’s back to the virtual salt mine.

Hopefully I’ll get outside to enjoy the spring sunshine.

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Be encouraged! “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33

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November 19, 2015

“In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.”*

by chuckofish

Today is the birthday of the wonderful character actor Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966). Born Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (what a great name!) in Indianapolis, Indiana, he moved to New York City with his mother Maybelle when his parents divorced. By age 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer using the stage name Clifton Webb.

Between 1913 and 1947, Webb appeared in 23 Broadway shows, starting with major supporting roles and quickly progressing to leads. He introduced Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” and the Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You” in Treasure Girl (1928). Most of Webb’s Broadway shows were musicals, but he also starred in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and in his longtime friend Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit and Present Laughter.

Movies followed and he made some great ones: Laura (1944), of course,

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and The Razor’s Edge (1946)–he received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for both. But remember him in Sitting Pretty (1948) where he played Mr. Belvedere for the first time? This movie is hysterical.

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And he received a leading actor Oscar nomination for it. (Laurence Olivier won that year for Hamlet–go figure.) He made three Mr. Belvedere movies and also Cheaper By the Dozen (1950)–another classic Webb role.

I also really like him as Barbara Stanwyck’s husband in the under-appreciated Titanic (1953)

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and in the English war movie The Man Who Never Was (1956).

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He was equally adept at comedy and drama–never over-doing either. You could probably argue that Clifton Webb always played Clifton Webb, but he was always wonderful, so who cares?

He lived with his mother until her death at age 91 in 1960, leading Noel Coward to remark, apropos Webb’s grieving, “It must be terrible to be orphaned at 71.”

A toast to Clifton Webb and, if you can find one of his movies, watch it!

*Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) in Laura (1944)

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