Photographic Faves

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda perfect their ball-and-chain routine on the set of The Lady Eve, 1939.

Very Fonda Fonda

Half Price Books, the only place in the world in which I would voluntarily spend enough to cause my own bankruptcy without a second thought, further tempted my wallet with a 20%-off sale this weekend - and I walked off with three used-but-like-new condition, hardcover biographies of classic movie stars totalling less than $16. Of my fantastic finds, Fonda: My Life proved an incredibly worthy read on a desperately drizzly, freezing Saturday afternoon (we don't have many days like that in southern Arizona). Written like a delicious fiction novel and based on over 200 hours worth of audio-interviews with Henry Fonda himself, Howard Teichmann's hardcover is so juicy and engrossing that I nearly finished it in the better part of a day.
The best part? Hilarious recollections of Hank's life by luminaries and stars like best friend Jimmy Stewart, former girlfriend Lucille Ball, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Fonda's former wives, and his own children, Jane and Peter Fonda. Absolutely fascinating look at the man who became the face of stoic American integrity in movies like 12 Angry Men, The Ox-Bow Incident, and The Grapes of Wrath (Fonda's three favorite of all his films).
Check out the Half-Price Books website to find a U.S. store near you, or click the Fonda link above to order this book off of Amazon.com for much less than its retail price.

Quote of the Week

Henry Fonda warns the host of BBC talk show Parkinson about longtime pal James Stewart's sensational storytelling abilities and penchant for embellishment (excerpts from the 1970 interview):

______________________

HF: If he tells you the story about how (John) Swope(s) and he and I and Josh (Logan) decided we were gonna tunnel under Garbo's fence - 'cause she'd built a fence around her house to make it more private - he dramatizes the story that we run out and dug and started, and we finally hit a water main someplace and it sprung a leak. Well, now, that's not it at all...the four of us sat around drinking and got drunk one night and started talking about 'Let's dig a tunnel under that fence!' We talked a lot about it and laughed a lot about it, but we never left the house.

(audience laughter)

Host: What happened here - when I interviewed him he told me that story, and he actually came up in Garbo's bedroom, I think!

HF: It gets better every time he tells it.

______________________

This is part of a wonderful and very personal interview with Fonda which is included with the supplementary material on the recent DVD release of Young Mr. Lincoln, the first of eight Fonda/John Ford pairings. For a similar recollection of his bachelor days with Jimmy, I recommend reading Fonda: My Life, in which Henry indulges in some wickedly funny tales of his starving artist years, like living on rice and grain alcohol when in between jobs or fending off a clan of wild cats that overran the boys' yard (maybe that's why Greta put up her fence?)

What A Tease

Why am I always testing myself? What is it about challenging my own resolve and temperance, and subsequently failing, that appeals to me so much? I barely made it through giving up chocolate for the Lenten season, so how could I do this to myself?

Knowing that my family would be in the midst of a cross-country relocation this summer, thus throwing askew any plans of celebrating my birthday together, I decided to flash a little cash on some gifts for myself. The only stipulation? That I postpone indulging in my new purchases until I'm actually another year older. So, I bought it: The Lady Eve, Criterion Collection edition, barely $20 online. It's a beautiful single-disc edition in pristine shape, with a striking black-and-white contrast that fills the giant flat-screen in a way my pathetic 20-inch television could never capture. Barbara Stanwyck has never looked lovelier or more confidently appealing; Henry Fonda, never more naive or boyishly handsome. I already love this movie.

The Lady Eve arrived with the bills and bank statements just this morning in a nondescript manila envelope, but I was estatic as I sliced through the wrappings and eased out the gorgeous plastic keepcase with the bright cartoon depiction of Stany seducing the wide-eyed Fonda, who is so sublimely attracted to her womanly wiles that he can barely speak. Having never seen the movie, I slipped the disc in my dvd player, vowing to watch only five minutes - as if that would sate me for the next month, knowing I own such a fantastic transfer of this classic movie. Twenty minutes and a few truly endearing scenes later, I decided to give my challenge the old college try and truly abstain from any more Stanwyck/Fonda indulgences until the calendar deems me worthy.

As if I can last almost a month. As if.

Happy Birthday, Handsome

Today marks what would've been the 101st birthday of All-American actor Henry Fonda, whose unforgettable roles in films like The Grapes of Wrath have forever emblazoned his as an easily-identifiable face of integrity and honesty in American culture. I have harbored a completely understandable crush on Hank since watching 12 Angry Men last fall (and Jezebel, and Fort Apache, and Mister Roberts, and Yours, Mine and Ours, and Sex and the Single Girl...). Okay, yeah, I admit it. I adore One-Take Fonda.

If you missed tuning in to TCM's half-hearted birthday tribute to Fonda this morning, then I suggest renting any of the aforementioned films along with such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Young Mr. Lincoln, and On Golden Pond. In honor of my paramour's 101st, I myself plan to lie poolside and skim through Fonda: My Life once again, watch Jezebel for the second time this week, and spend the money I've allocated for a security deposit on the Criterion Collection edition of The Lady Eve instead. Ahhh, summer.

Interestingly enough, Fonda's first wife, actress Margaret Sullavan, was also born on this day; she died in 1960 at the age of only 48.



"He moved me always, this reserved man. There was a reason he was a star." - Sidney Lumet on Henry Fonda

Quote of the Week

"On the screen...I don't kiss the way you should. I keep my mouth closed. People tell me, 'Shit, Fonda, you can't even kiss good!' Not a girl, mind you - maybe a director. No girl ever told me that." - Henry Fonda, as quoted by Howard Teischmann in Fonda: My Life

The Fonda Fam

Friday's Trivia Question: Each of the three related people in this photograph are famous in their own right, and to varying degrees of fame. I'll give you a hint as to their better-known onscreen aliases: from left to right, think passenger, migrant worker, and gunslinger.
Who are they?

Update: You're looking at:

Henry Fonda, known for his role as migrant farmer Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, with kids Peter Fonda (of Easy Rider fame) and Jane Fonda (who becomes a sharpshooter in 1965's Cat Ballou).
source: The Screen Legend Henry Fonda Site

Congratulations to Joan for being the first to post the correct answer!