Enough is enough

I work at the local library, and this week we received two new coffee table books on Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland, oh my god, do we need anymore books of them, give me a break. It seems every year new books are put out on Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando, get over it, they weren’t the only people in Hollywood back then. First off let me just say I think they are all over rated, Marilyn wasn’t attractive at all and she was a horrible actress, very annoying, and although I like the Wizard of Oz, I can’t stand Judy’s annoying whinny voice, she‘s the same in all of her movies. Marlon Brando acted the same in every picture he did, no talent, the same goes for Bette Davis, the queen of over acting. They’ve all been dead for so long, so what more can come out about them that we need more books every year, please find someone else to write about. For example I would love a book about Ruth Chatterton, not only was see very beautiful but quite talented, although she made to many over melodramatic movies. She was a major Hollywood star in the early 30’s, at one time one of the highest paid stars, she also was a star on Broadway, wrote a few novels, and was an aviator at a time when women didn’t fly. I’ve read she sponsored some air races, and I’ve seen photos of her with Amelia Earhart, so I’m sure she has a very interesting story, sadly she died in the 60’s, but then again so did Marilyn.

Why not a coffee table book full of photos on Clara Bow, ten times better looking than Marilyn and twice the talent. How about some nice books on Jane Wyman, a beauty and a fantastic actress, what about Judith Anderson, she was in some great movies and a star on Broadway, yet we have nothing. Like Jane Wyman, Ida Lupino had the looks and talent, not only as an actress but a director, where’s my coffee table book on her? How about a book on Olivia DeHavilland and her Sister Joan Fontaine, I’m not talking about just bios, I want the big books full of pictures and information. How about Gene Tierney, can you just imagine how bad Leave Her to Heaven would have been if Bette Davis had her role, Gene Tierney is one of the greatest beauties of our time and yet we get nothing, by the way her autobiography is a great book.

Even Loretta Young doesn’t have a big book, she had a long and interesting career in movies and early TV. How about a book on William Powell, the coolest guy ever in movies, or how about Edward G. Robinson? I know this is off topic, but I’m just tired of seeing new books every year on the same people, I am so sick and tired of Marilyn Monroe, please some one tell me what is so good about her. To get back on topic, I ordered two more Natalie Moorhead movies, so expect some more reviews shortly.

The King of Gamblers (1937)

An interesting movie starring one of my favorites, Claire Trevor, about a woman who gets caught up with the wrong people, but the typical happy ending. Natalie plays “woman at the table” one quick little scene with a line, although it doesn’t sound like her to me. At one point it looks like she was about to say something then it cuts to another angle, then she does say something but it doesn’t sound like her, was she over dubbed? I’m fairly sure that’s her, she’s credited as “woman at table” and it looks like her, but the voice just doesn’t seem right. I’d like to know a little more about this movie.

Heart of Arizona (1938)

I waited a long time for this movie, and finally I got a copy and it was better than I thought. Sadly the tape was used and had seen better days, but I recently saw that it’s available now on DVD, I may have to buy it. This was probably Natalie last leading part, and probably her first in a few years. I didn’t know what to expect, she always plays beautiful women with fancy clothes, very chic, but now she was going to play a cowgirl. She really pulled it off, she was a brunette at this point, I think that helped the look, the short blonde bob probably would have looked strange in that setting. First off this is a Hopalong Cassidy movie, so Natalie isn’t the star, but I would say she was probably third on the list, a leading character. She plays Belle Star, a woman with a troubled past, trying to go straight, and raise her daughter. Hopalong Cassidy and his partner are both in love with her, but of course trouble starts when another rancher tries to frame Belle with stolen cattle. Of course there is a shoot out in the end and sadly Belle gets shot trying to save Hoppy and gang, so much for the happy ending. This was a rare movie for Natalie as she doesn’t play the villain, she is actually Hoppy’s love interest, she did a good job with a western, to bad she didn’t make more, her career could have kept going, she looks great in the western clothes. It was really interesting seeing this woman who usually plays rich beautifully dress women riding a horse, it just seemed so strange, but Natalie could do it all, I hate to repeat myself but, why wasn’t she a star?

I Want a Divorce (1940)

I watched this movie the other day, not bad, I prefer my Joan Blondell and Dick Powell in comedies, but it was still pretty good. Why do I bring this up, well I’m working on a detailed filmography for Natalie Moorhead and I found out that this movie was one of her last. Funny I don’t remember seeing her in this, so I went back and skimmed through it, I still didn’t see her. IMDB lists her has Mrs. Tyrell, I don’t remember that name even coming up, and if her character is given a name then she must been seen or at least say something, if not she would just be woman at table or something like that. Now the copy I have looks like it was recorded from TV, it looks like they skipped commercials. Maybe her quick scene was cut out by mistake, or maybe the station cut some of it in order to fit a time slot, they used to do that for TV, thank god for TCM. I guess I’ll have to sit and watch it again sometime, I have a couple of ideas where she may be, but for now lets count this with “The Women” as one of the “Where’s Natalie?” movies.

Show Girl in Hollywood (1930)

I somehow missed this on TCM when I was putting together my recording schedule for this month, but I saw in just in time to record it and I’m glad I did. It was a fun little early talkie staring the always fun Alice White, but the good part came at the end. During the last few minutes, the characters are arriving at a movie premier, and when on of the characters gets out of the car, he has two woman with him, but wait a minute, that blonde looks familiar, could it be? The blonde then says a little line, and a few minutes later we see them again sitting in the theater, it sure looks like her. So I grabbed my filmography and sure enough, it was Natalie Moorhead, in one of her first movies, it wasn’t much but a very important part of her history, and now I have over half of her 64 movies, so close yet so far away.

New information found!!

I deleted my bio post because I have found a lot of new info that changes many things. I’ve updated the quick info post and I am currently revising the bio. Many thanks to a coworker of mine for finding a copy of the 1910 census, which answered a lot of questions and created many new ones. I’ve also found a copy of the 1880 census which gives me some info on Natalie’s parents, very interesting. The best thing is finally putting and end to the question of Natalie’s age, she was born in 1901, and her real name is Morehead, not Messner. I’m extremely happy to have this info, but I’m really more interested in the years after her retirement, 1941-1992, still too many questions that need answered, if I could only find someone alive who knew her.

Manslaughter (1930)

This movie stars the beautiful Claudette Colbert and Fredric March, Fredric wasn’t great, but he will be in future movies, but Claudette was great, she is easily one of the greatest actresses of all time, she’s great in comedies and drama’s, you can’t go wrong with Claudette. Natalie have very little to do in this movie, really not much to say, she had a small part as Claudette’s friend, said a few lines and that’s it.