Gracie- James Mason- the Cats- a Chair and a Whip

James Mason on the Burns and Allen Radio Show

Seventh Veil Ann Todd, James Mason
Photograph Master Print High Quality

Actor James Mason and his wife Pamela were guest stars on one of my favorite Burns & Allen radio episodes. George Burns and Gracie Allen recorded the show on *February 17, 1949. 

This episode is sometimes called Impressing The Neighbors or George Collects Cats.  

While James Mason had appeared in many films up until this airing, they specifically talked about a film he did in 1945, The Seventh Veil.

The sponsor at that time was Maxwell House Coffee.  Announcer Bill Goodwin kept the show going, including providing introductions, commercial breaks (which were often incorporated into the show itself) and he served as an actor himself.

It's fun to hear those who are usually thought of as dramatic actors. On screen they have suave or maybe scary personas, they come onto radio shows make us laugh.

The other thing you notice on radio is what you don't hear on television shows and in films. On radio shows you hear actors stumble over their lines, you'll hear them say "uh," or even cough. You rarely hear things like that in the movies unless it's in the script.



The Seventh Veil, Starring James Mason, Herbert Lom, Ann Todd and Hugh McDermott 1945: If you're in the US, your best bet is to stream the film. *Please check. Depending on stock available, the DVD may not play on most US machines.

In his 1981 autobiography, Before I Forget, was published. Mason said people assumed he really was mean and asked if he beat his wife. In response, he wrote a satirical, facetious article titled "Yes, I Beat My Wife" with his own illustrations, which was published in a British humor and arts magazine, Liliput.

The fact that people assumed this about him in real life was probably some motivation for the bits in this show. The couple had also appeared on the very popular Fred Allen Show. They even had their own radio show for a while.

Mason was spy, Phillip Vandamm in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest. He was Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita and many other memorable roles. Later in his career he did 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the spooky Salem's Lot.

I've always liked James Mason as an actor and that's only one reason that this is a favorite Burns and Allen episode. I'm a British comedy fan and a cat person. Both the silly humor about Americans vs Brits and the cat theme makes it funny and charming.

Another interesting bit about this episode from the 1940s is hearing Gracie Allen's contention that women like to be dominated. It's said in humor but she could be right off of a present-day talk show.

Fanny by Gaslight, They were Sisters and The Wicked Lady, from around the same time period also have Mason in what was called his wicked beast persona. In They were Sisters, his wife Pamela played his daughter, even though she was only seven years his junior.

Upturned Glass James Mason '47 Portrait Lobby Card
James Mason appeared with his wives in films
Here he is with Pamela Kellino Mason

Did the show or the writers get an advance copy of 50 Shades of Grey? They're basically chatting about submissive women, Mason's being attractive because he beats women in his films, etc. It's really psychologically relevant today.

How often do you see the discussion something like, do dominant women want to be submissive at home? Is being abusive is synonymous with being 'rough and rugged.'  Regardless, Mason was there to both mock and put an end to that image of himself. Of course it's all satirical.

The premise of the show is that the Masons have moved from England to Beverly Hills. Gracie is thrilled, she's attracted to James Mason and wants to invite him over. Mason was one of the popular and good looking male movie stars of the day. Here are some fun parts of the show. I've had to condense and paraphrase what they said here and there.  


George (GB): Remember Mason in The Seventh Veil - Wasn't he great?
Gracie (GA): Wonderful. And just think, now he's our neighbor. We're almost close enough to hear his wife scream
GB: Why should his wife scream?
GA: It must hurt when he beats her with that cane
GB: Gracie, he only did that in the movie. In real life James Mason is probably very kind and gentle.
GA: Don't you dare say such mean things about him! Kind and gentle? That's a fine way to talk about that magnificent monster!
GB: I'm sorry I insulted him

Gracie: You know, some girls dream of getting a husband who'll cover them in diamond and minks.
I'd rather have James Mason and be covered with band-aids.

GB: You would?!
GA: Sure. Women love to be dominated. But in all the years we've been married you've never struck me once. You're very selfish, George. Well please try to act rough and rugged when the Masons get here. I'm going to invite them over for a visit...

GA: With those piercing black eyes and that cane all he has to do is give you a look and a clap
GB: Gracie for the last time, Mason is not that type of man. He's very soft spoken and gentle. As a matter of fact his hobby is raising cats.
GA: You mean pussy cats? ... Their hobby is raising cats?
GB: Sure they've written a book, The Cats in Our Lives.

George tells her they have nothing in common, she can't just go to their house and invite strangers over. She says, "I've been using his jars for years."
George explains that it's a different Mason who makes Mason jars......

She decides to pretend that they have something in common so they can meet.

Photograph Gracie Allen
8x10 b/w photo "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"

Gracie goes over to the Masons' house and introduces herself as their neighbor. She tells them that George has a rare collection of cats. They have a cute exchange about cats. Mr. (JM) and Mrs. (PM) Mason go back and forth asking Gracie questions about George's cats.

 GA: My husband has a rare and valuable collection and one of them disappeared
JM: Really? It so happens that Mrs Mason has quite a collection of cats
GA: You don't say
JM: Yes in our family my wife is the fancier
GA: Oh I don't know, you're pretty cute yourself.
JM: I meant she's an expert on cats
GA: Oh you mean like my husband

PM: Yes. How many do you have Mrs. Burns?
GA: Well only one. That's all the husbands they allow in this country
JM: I believe she was asking about cats, not husbands.

James Mason with Siamese Kitten 1945? Clipping Magazine Photo orig 1pg 8x10
The Masons were said to have Siamese named Flower-Face, Sadie and Tribute

GA: We had 15 when I left the house. Of course there may be more when I get back. Our mother cat is very popular
JM: Is she expecting a litter?
GA: No, her boyfriends can't write. They just call to her from the back fence.
JM: Mrs. Burns, when a cat has a litter she gives birth to kittens
GA: I don't doubt it! -- A shock like that. ...
PM: Do you have any Persians or Siamese?
GA: No. We don't keep people just cats.

JM: Mrs. Burns what is your method of raising cats?
GA: Well, you put both hands under their tummy and lift

PM: What do you feed your cats?
GA:: Cheese
PM: Cheese?
GA: Well yes. They're too aristocratic to go looking for mice. this way the mice smell their breath and they come looking for them.

After telling them that all these cats exist the Masons are anxious to visit and see them. Gracie talks George into walking with her through an alley after she's slipped a bit of aromatic fish into his pocket. A parade of alley cats follow them home.

The Masons arrive and Gracie introduces them. Cats are climbing all over George, who's still unaware that he's got fish in his pocket.

PM: We're so anxious to meet your husband

Gracie: Oh you'll love him Mrs. Mason.
He's the same type as your husband.
He beats me all the time

James Mason: What??
Pamela Mason: Your husband beats you?!
Gracie Allen: Oh he's so British! Here's my husband; he's frolicking with his cats.

JM: By Jove, Mr. Burns I've never seen cats so devoted to a man. They seem to be a curious mixture of breeds. Pam, what would you say that grey one is?
PM: Well it could be part Maltese but it's difficult to tell it's shedding its fur.
GA: Yes, it's part Maltese and part Striptease.

JM: Mr. Burns, your wife told us about your cat collection but we never expected anything like this. You must attend these creatures with a chair and a whip.

George and Gracie try to give all the cats to the Masons as a Welcome to America gift. The only want one, a fancy Persian cat from the neighborhood who wandered in with the others. George gives the cat to them. They name the cat George after their favorite performer, George Jessell.

The Decks Ran Red 1958
Original Lobby Card
Dorothy Dandridge, James Mason

Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American actress  to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Carmen Jones (1954).

Gracie thinks that Mrs. Mason was making eyes at George, that she's fallen in love with her husband. This may be partly because she's attracted to Mrs. Mason's husband. :)

Their neighbor wants his fancy Persian cat back and George sends Bill Goodwin to the Masons to retrieve it. 

As luck and sponsors would have it, James Mason suggests to Goodwin that they have a cup of tea. Goodwin freaks out saying he'll only drink Maxwell House Coffee. He storms out of the house without the cat. 

James Mason to his wife: "Strange that Burns should have one thoroughbred among all those mongrels. I'll wager it was Mrs. Burns who collected all those battered old veterans. With Mr. Burns at home she must have wanted a matched set."

Mrs. Mason has become particularly fond of George the Persian cat. He asks how she's getting along with him.

PM: Wonderfully, darling. I bathed him and brushed him and he's simply beautiful. He already responds to his new name. 

She goes outside "to have a romp in the garden with George." 

Judy Garland A Star Is Born 1954
High Quality Photo

Gracie goes to their house because she believes Mrs. Mason has enticed her husband George over. She wants her husband back.

GA: I've come to get George
PM: Oh please don't I've grown so fond of him. Must you take him away?
GA: Yes I must

JM: [He begins to beg.] Mrs. Burns, I appeal to you...
GA: You certainly do, but I've come to get George
JM: Please let my wife keep him.
GA: You wouldn't object?
JM: Not at all. If it makes Pam happy I'll even let him sleep at the foot of our bed.
GA: Gee you English are broad minded.

James Mason offers to pay Gracie for George. When Pamela tells Gracie that she gave George a bath, Gracie is shocked and distraught.

GA: You gave him a bath???
PM: Yes
GA: Well, if he let you do that I've lost him. He's yours Mrs mason.
PM: Oh thank you
GA: But be kind to him.... remember he's getting old
PM: You'd never know it he acts very frisky around me
GA: Well it's your first day together. He was frisky on our first day, too. ...

The show is funny and charming. If you get a chance, I suggest that you give it a listen.

Before I Forget, James Mason autobiography

I keep checking to see what volumes of The cats in our lives are available

Favorite Cat Stories of Pamela & James Mason Their cat books are hard to find.

Rudolph Valentino's Impact Lover Movie Idol, Dangerous Man, Valentino's Impact: Would he be such big a star today?

The Burns & Allen radio show Collection on MP3. They had an amazing assortment of film and music stars of the era. You'll find the George Collects Cats episode if you get the set.

Siamese Cats in Films, TV and Books

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



The first Daily Mail Film Awards were awarded in 1946 to the most outstanding British actor and actress during the war years. These awards preceded the BAFTA Awards as Britain's national film awards.  The awards ran from 1946 to 1951

James Mason won the first one for Most popular and outstanding British actor in 1946, their inaugural year. Mason also won Best Film Actor of the year 1947 but because he was in New York at the time of the ceremony, Mr J Arthur Rank Collected the award on his behalf. On the video, we also hear them sing for the Grand Old Order of Water Rats.

Also in 1946 Most Outstanding British actress award went to Margaret Lockwood. Ms. Lockwood would win Best Actress in 1946, 1947 and 1948 consecutively. Best Film was Way to the Stars.  The award was collected by Anatole de Grunwald (Producer) and Anthony Asquith (Director). 

The trophy is described as being "a silver nymph holding aloft a silver star in its right hand, standing approximately 60 cm high." 

I found more films from James Mason's era on Amazon than other streaming media outlets. Films like The Seventh Veil are only available on VHS and discs that are readable on machines in countries other than the US. 

What is James Mason's era? Mason made movies from 1933 to 1985! He also wrote and co-wrote books and illustrated them. He did other things too but we're not going to list them here just yet. ;)

James Mason was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes (winning the Golden Globe in 1955 for ripping our hearts out in A Star is Born). Judy Garland was his costar. 

James Mason has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6821 Hollywood Blvd. His star is between those of Matt Damon & Forest Whitaker. It's near The Bee Gees, Sammy Kaye, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Duvall, Muhammad Ali and Martin Landau.

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.  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 seems to still be some special films we want to own on DVD.

** Fun Fact: James and Pamela Mason's son, Morgan married Belinda Carlisle, who was the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's. The couple has a son who is an actor, James Duke Mason, born in 1992.

Related Pages of Interest:

Clark Gable visits Burns and Allen

Gracie or Bette Davis? Who taught Paul Henreid to light 2 Cigarettes at once?

Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert and Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth on Old Time Radio
  

*There's a chance the exact date of the radio show is a little off.

15 Great Early Best Original Song Oscar Winners

Over the Rainbow Dorothy
Wizard of Oz

Classic Early Winners of the Best Original Song Academy Award

The category of Best Original Song was introduced to the Academy Awards in 1935. The ceremonies were still on radio then.
 
Here's my list of fifteen pre-1960 Best Original Song winners that I think have become classics, recognizable and heard today in different settings. 

The Best Original Song category at the 86th Academy Awards held in 2014 has its share of excitement already, pre-envelope please. News on that score is at the end of this article.

I didn't know what films these songs were from and in some cases didn't know they were from movies at all. I also excluded songs that had the same name as the title of the film. It just so happens that Bing Crosby sings three of these songs and Doris Day sings two.

Short excerpts and video clips from several of the songs are included. Several of the movies are childhood favorites and/or classic films that we love and that great filmmakers of every era study and emulate. Baby boomers like myself may get sentimental over some of them.

1) The Continental from The Gay Divorcee
Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers spectacle
This was the very first winner of a Best Original Song Oscar. 
Music by Con Conrad; Lyric by Herb Magidson
7th Academy Awards February 27, 1935 

While there are lyrics, many people may be more familiar with the music which we heard in a 20-minute dance sequence near the end of the movie. Ginger Rogers, Erik Rhodes and Lillian Miles sang the song.

Gold Diggers of 1935
Movie Poster
Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou

2) Lullaby of Broadway from Gold Diggers of 1935
Music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin
8th Academy Awards; March 5, 1936
They say this is the first Academy Awards where the statuettes were called the Oscars.

Lullaby of Broadway is a Busby Berkeley production number. "It tells the story of a Broadway Baby who plays all night and sleeps all day. It opens with a head shot of singer Wini Shaw against a black background. Then the camera pulls back and up and Shaw's head becomes the Big Apple, New York City."

Director/Choreographer Busby Berkeley was nominated for three Academy Awards in his career but never won an Oscar. 

This included a nomination for Best Dance Direction for Gold Diggers of 1935. 

 

Last year, I read that a film biography and/or stage play of his life story is in the works. It could star either Leonardo DiCarprio or Hugh Jackman.  Check out Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley (Screen Classics). 

There were a few 'Gold Diggers' films. The Gold Diggers of Broadway in 1929 and Gold Diggers of 1933 preceded this film. It was followed by Gold Diggers of 1937 and Gold Diggers in Paris.

This, like most of these famous songs, has been featured many times and many places. We saw it on a fun episode of The Muppet Show hosted by the wonderful Gilda Radner. 





3) The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time
Music by Jerome Kern; Lyric by Dorothy Fields
9th Academy Awards; March 4, 1937
Performed by Fred Astaire

Dorothy Fields is said to be one of the great women of the early 20th Century Tin Pan Alley era of music, ballads, jazz, ragtime.
I recommend Sally Mayes' collection of songs titled The Dorothy Fields Songbook. A lovely rendition of The Way You Look Tonight is included.


You'll see winning songs show up in other movies and shows. This song was featured in the 1992 film Peter's Friends

 

Peter's Friends is directed by Kenneth Branagh Written by Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman. It stars Stephen Fry, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton.


During the 85th Academy Awards, host Seth MacFarlane sang the song while Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum danced.

Some day, when I'm awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight

Yes, you're lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft
There is nothing for me but to love you
And the way you look tonight

4) Thanks For The Memory from The Big Broadcast of 1938  
This song became Bob Hope's signature tune. He could adapt the lyrics to suit different situations. 
Music by Ralph Rainger; Lyric by Leo Robin 
11th Academy Awards; February 23, 1939
Bob Hope was a frequent host of the Academy Awards broadcast




He sang a special version on a Christmas special.





5) Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz
Music by Harold Arlen; Lyric by E. Y. Harburg

If ever there was an iconic song from film, this may be it.
12th Academy Awards; February 29, 1940
 
Number One on the Songs of the Century list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The American Film Institute ranked it the greatest movie song of all time on the list of AFI's 100 Years 100 Songs.

 

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high there's a land I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Along with Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Over the Rainbow was adopted by American troops in Europe in World War II as a symbol of the United States. 

Garland herself performed the song for the troops as part of a 1943 Command Performance. Like many big stars, Ms. Garland was on Command Performance several times in 1943. I'm not sure the exact date where she sang this song.




The Children of Sandy Hook School Sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow (feat. Ingrid Michaelson)  A portion of the sale goes to a Sandy Hook charity. I purchased this song. It's uplifting.


6) When You Wish upon a Star from Pinocchio
Music by Leigh Harline; Lyric by Ned Washington
13th Academy Awards; February 27, 1941



When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams
No request is to extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing


7) The Last Time I Saw Paris from Lady Be Good
Music by Jerome Kern; Lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II
14th Academy Awards; February 26, 1942
As with songs such as White Christmas, we often hear this song without the 'preamble,' the first short verse or stanza that was sung in the movie. 

The last time I saw Paris, her trees were dressed for spring,
And lovers walked beneath those trees and birds found songs to sing.

I dodged the same old taxicabs that I had dodged for years.

The chorus of their squeaky horns was music to my ears.

The last time I saw Paris, her heart was warm and gay,
No matter how they change her, I'll remember her that way.

I'll think of happy hours, and people who shared them
Old women, selling flowers, in markets at dawn

Children who applauded, Punch and Judy in the park
And those who danced at night and kept our Paris bright 'til the town went dark. 

Part of the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon

8) White Christmas from Holiday Inn
Music and Lyric by Irving Berlin
15th Academy Awards; March 4, 1943
 
Presenting an Academy Award to Yourself:
Not sure how often this has happened, but at the ceremony, Irving Berlin presented the Academy Award for Best Song, which he ended up winning for White Christmas.




 

The sun is shining the grass is green the orange and palm trees sway
I've never seen such a day in Beverly Hills, LA
But it's December the 24th and I'm longing to be up north

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the tree tops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
just like the ones I used to know
Where the tree tops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow


9) You'll Never Know from Hello, Frisco, Hello




16th Academy Awards; March 2, 1944
Music by Harry Warren; Lyric by Mack Gordon 
Alice Fay was married to Phil Harris who you may remember from The Jack Benny Show. Harris and Faye had their own radio show, appropriately called the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.

You'll never know just how much I miss you
You'll never know just how much I care
And if I tried, I still couldn't hide my love for you
You ought to know, for haven't I told you so

A million or more times?
You went away and my heart went with you
I speak your name in my every prayer
If there is some other way to prove that I love you


10) Swinging on a Star from Going My Way

Music by James Van Heusen; Lyric by Johnny Burke
17th Academy Awards; March 15, 1945 


Would you like to swing on a star?
Carry moonbeams home in a jar?
And be better off than you are?
Or would you rather be a mule?

A mule is an animal with long, funny ears
He kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny and his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And, by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule


11) Baby, It's Cold Outside from Neptune's Daughter
Music and Lyric by Frank Loesser
22nd Academy Awards; March 23, 1950
It's thought of as something of a Christmas/Holiday song today.
The film featured two performances of the song: one by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams and the other by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett.




The song was sung with slightly different lyrics, at the Oscar ceremony via a performance by Mae West and Rock Hudson. 




12) Mona Lisa from Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Music and Lyrics: Ray Evans and Jay Livingston
Performed in the film by Charlie Spivak with Tommy Lynn
It was a Number One hit for Nat King Cole
23rd Academy Awards; March 29, 1951

Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa
Men have named you
You're so like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only cause you're lonely
They have blamed you
For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile

Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there, and they die there
Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa
Or just a cold and lonely, lovely work of art




 

13) Secret Love from Calamity Jane
Music: Sammy Fain, Lyrics: Paul Francis Webster
26th Academy Awards; March 25, 1954
k.d. lang made a cover of the song, played during the closing credits of the 1995 documentary, The Celluloid Closet




Once I had a secret love
That lived within the heart of me
All too soon my secret love
Became impatient to be free

So I told a friendly star
The way that dreamers often do
Just how wonderful you are
And why I am so in love with you

Now I shout it from the highest hills
Even told the golden daffodils
At last my heart's an open door
And my secret love's no secret anymore



14) Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qué Será, Será) from The Man Who Knew Too Much
Music and lyrics: Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
29th Academy Awards;  27 March 1957

One alternative title Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)
The title sequence of the Hitchcock film gives the song title as Whatever Will Be. 


This is one of only six Academy Awards that were ever won by any of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Exceptions would be Mr. Hitchcock's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968 and  Robert F Boyle 2008 Honorary Academy Award for his work as a Production Designer.

 Rebecca (1940):
        Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (George Barnes)
        Best Picture (David O Selznick)

    Suspicion (1941):
        Best Actress In A Leading Role (Joan Fontaine)

    Spellbound (1945):
        Best Music, Scoring Of A Dramatic Or Comedy Picture (Miklós Rózsa)

    To Catch a Thief (1955):
        Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Burks)

 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
        Best Music, Original Song for Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) (Jay Livingston & Ray Evans)
-- with thanks to the Hitchcock Wikipedia page

Whatever Will Be Maternity, Mens, Womens, Family Tees 
Colors, styles sold out? Get as infant shirt, tank top, etc.
View more T-Shirts at zazzle

15) High Hopes from A Hole in the Head
Music: James Van Heusen and Lyrics: Sammy Cahn
Song sung by Frank Sinatra, The film was directed by Frank Capra
32nd Academy Awards; April 4, 1960



* Here's just one situation where you'll find entirely different songs that share the exact same or similar titles.


Next time you're found with your chin on the ground
There a lot to be learned, so look around...

Just what makes that little old ant
Think hell move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, cant
Move a rubber tree plant

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
Hes got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

So any time your gettin' low
Stead of lettin' go
Just remember that ant
Oops there goes another rubber tree plant!



Seth MacFarlane, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt performed the song at the 2013 Academy Awards.


The category of Best Song is not without controversy and it's not without its specific rules. Take this year's (the films of 2013) Academy Awards as an example:

Academy president on Oscar song: 'It's not about a punishment'

"Cheryl Boone Issacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, clarified Saturday why the academy revoked the original song Oscar nomination of composer Bruce Broughton earlier this week.

"'It's not about a punishment,' Isaacs told The Times, 'but protecting the integrity of our voting process.' 

"Broughton became the first person to have his Oscar nomination revoked on ethical grounds after he emailed about 70 members of the academy's 240-member music branch, calling attention to Alone Yet Not Alone, a song that was co-written by lyricist Dennis Spiegel and sung in the movie of the same name by Agoura Hills pastor Joni Eareckson Tada. ....

"Isaacs said the decision to revoke Broughton's nomination came Tuesday at a scheduled board meeting. She would not reveal whether any lesser forms of punishment for Broughton were discussed, citing the confidentiality of academy board meetings. She did note that she had heard from a number of academy members after Alone Yet Not Alone was nominated for the original song Oscar on Jan. 16. ....

"As to why the academy didn't replace Broughton's nomination with another song, Isaacs cited rule 5.7, which reads: 'In the event a nominated achievement is declared ineligible by the academy, it shall not be replaced, and the category will remain with one less nomination.'"
-- excerpted from the Los Angeles Times  February 1, 2014


Related Pages of Interest:

10 Songs for Second Weddings-Successful Second Marriages

15 Songs for Remarriage

Anniversary Songs, For Renewing your vows 

Tribute Songs for Memorials,  Events to honor heroes, Plan a tribute at a wedding

Other Articles in the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon:

Bringing Up Cary & the Oscars: Why didn't he ever win an Academy Award?

Hume Cronyn: One Life a Boatload of Characters, 6 Favorite Film Roles Lifeboat - Cocoon


Updated 02/05/2014

*About links: Please note that links will open in separate windows for your convenience. You can close them and go back to this blog article in its original window.  
Major updates to this page will be noted with a revision date. 

Movie Musicals Decades Still Singing about Money

80 years : 3 Dance numbers, Songs about money in the movies

Gold Diggers of 1933



We're In the Money 


Excerpt:
We're in the money,
We're in the money;
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!
We're in the money,
The sky is sunny;
Old Man Depression, you are through,
You done us wrong!

Film features Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers



Cabaret 1972



Money
 
Excerpt:
A mark, a yen, a buck, or a pound
A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around,
That clinking clanking sound
Can make the world go 'round.

Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey


Mamma Mia 2008
  
Money, Money, Money

Excerpt:
In my dreams I have a plan
If I got me a wealthy man
I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball...
Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world

Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried

Travels of Orson Welles Academy Award

Orson Welles 8x10 Original Prints
Directing

Hide and Go Oscar
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began handing out their Oscars in 1928. In 1942 Welles won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane, an award shared with co-writer, Herman J. Mankiewicz. 

• This page offers a timeline of the journey of Welles' Oscar, the most that we know
• Also there are a couple of videos including a Citizen Kane documentary that is very good

In 1950, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences passed a rule prohibiting Academy Award winners or their heirs from selling a statue without first offering it back to the Academy for a price of $1.

"Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00. This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest."
-- excerpted from the Academy Rules and Regulations

There are a lot of pre-1950 Oscars out there that have been sold and this includes Orson Welles' 1942 Academy Award.

The value of one of these awards has direct correlation to the film and personality connected with it. When you're talking about Orson Welles and Citizen Kane you're talking about legend.

The journey of Mr. Welles' Oscar, the statuette itself, has been interesting. The award weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces and comes to a total height of 12" tall. Welles won the award when he was 25 years old.

In 1971, he received a second Honorary Oscar for his lifetime achievement.

At some point the actor/director said he'd lost the Citizen Kane Oscar.  This is what his family believed. "...For years it had gone missing and the Academy issued a replacement to Beatrice Welles, Orson's youngest daughter and sole heir." -- Nate D. Sanders Auctions

Citizen Kane, Orson Welles Oscar Movie Poster Display

In 1994 cinematographer, Gary Graver, tried to sell it. He claimed that Welles had given him the award as a gift. 

He talks about the experience in his book, Making Movies with Orson Welles.

"Completely out of the blue, Orson handed me the Oscar.
 
'Here,' he said. 'Keep this Gary. You take it. I want you to have it.'
I was of course absolutely stunned. This was the Oscar for Citizen Kane, the greatest film ever made! I told him I couldn't possibly take it but Orson wouldn't hear of it.

'No, no,' he said. 'I want you to have it.'

"And that was that. What a gift! Can you imagine? And I ultimately owned that statuette for about twenty years. Then in 1994 one of Orson's daughters learned that the Oscar was in my possession, so she filed a suit in California Supreme Court. 

"...The assertion her lawyers made was that the Oscar was not actually a gift but something Orson had handed me for safekeeping."

It was also said that the Oscar may have been give as a form of payment. It was displayed at the 75th Academy Awards in 2003.


 
Orson Welles was interviewed about Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst and more.

His daughter Beatrice sued and won custody of the statuette.  Then the Academy sued her when she tried to auction it in 2003. 

After a legal battle, she won the right to dispense of the Oscar and sold it to a nonprofit that tried unsuccessfully to sell it auction. She sold it to a California nonprofit called the Dax Foundation, who in turn tried unsuccessfully to auction it in 2007.

Sotheby’s also was unsuccessful when it tried to auction the award in 2007 but failed to as it failed to meet the reserve price.

Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth magic show entertaining the Troops

Peter Stackpole; Buy photo poster

Finally in December 2011 the Oscar Orson Welles won for the screenplay of Citizen Kane sold at auction for $861,542 to an undisclosed bidder, Nate D. Sanders Auctions reported.

Here is the description the Oscar had before it sold:

James Cameron
Holds Two Academy Awards
Oscars Titanic Original
35Mm Transparency

"Two engraved plaques are placed on opposite sides of the Belgian marble pedestal. One reads, 'Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences / First Award / 1941.' The other reads, 'Academy First Award To Orson Welles / For Writing / Original Screenplay of Citizen Kane.'

"The figure and film reel, composed of gold-plated britannium measuring 10.5" tall, top the pedestal, bringing the total height to 12". The pedestal's diameter measures 5.25". The award weighs 7 pounds, 5 ounces.

"Some tarnishing to statue, primarily to the leg area of the figure. The green felt backing under the pedestal is worn away around the edge. Overall in very good condition."
 
David Copperfield, who was outbid in the auction, said he admires Welles not only for his cinematic successes, but because he, too, was a magician. Welles hosted Copperfield's first television special.

Copperfield told the auction house that he wanted the Oscar because "Orson Welles was not only a magician of the cinema but also a performing magician himself." The magician also has history with Welles, The filmmaker hosted Copperfield's first TV special, and Copperfield already owns many props from Citizen Kane. (Hollywood Reporter)

Earlier in 2011, an Oscar won by by Nathan Levinson for best sound recording for the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy was sold in Texas for $89,625. 

Le Voyage Dans La Lune Wrist Watches by moviebuffs
Shop for more Wristwatches at Zazzle

11th Annual Academy Awards, 1938
Spencer Tracy Boys Town with Bette Davies Jezebel
Buy photo poster print

The auction house said only a handful of Academy Awards have sold for nearly a million dollars. Michael Jackson famously paid $1.54 million in 1999 for the best picture Oscar awarded to David O. Selznick for Gone With The Wind.

Other awards can be found on auction regularly. Katharine Hepburn's Kennedy Center Honors ribbons and the BAFTA she earned for her performance in On Golden Pond were recently won at auction.

Among the awards available in a February 2014 auction at Nate B. Sanders Auctions is a Presidential Medal of Freedom With Distinction Awarded to Robert McNamara.






There are some fine documentaries about Citizen Kane.

There is some confusion about other nationally known industry awards such as the Emmy given by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. We've seen them block some sales of Emmys; Estelle Getty's Emmy Award was being sold on eBay in 2009. The sale of the Emmy was halted. But some Emmy sales have proceeded. 

Rita Hayworth has her hair dyed and cut 8x10" Photo

Related Pages of Interest:

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) See what all the fuss is about -- or enjoy it all over again. You can stream it onto your TV, computer, tablet, etc.

Orson Welles and the Oscars for Citizen Kane, Not so Terrific

Buying, Selling, Auctioning off Academy Awards  The Oscar Herman J. Mankiewicz won for co-writing Citizen Kane with Welles was auctioned off in 2012.

Collecting, Auctioning Entertainment Memorabilia

Nate B Sanders Auction House Orson Welles Oscar Consignment

Some information, not cited above from CNN, Reuters, CBS News, New York Daily News

Orson Welles and the Oscars for Citizen Kane not so Terrific

Orson Welles, Citizen Kane and the Oscars

Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
24X36 Poster Print

Citizen Kane has been called the best film of all time. A 25-year-old Orson Welles co-wrote the screenplay with Herman Mankiewicz. He directed and produced the movie. He also starred as Charles Foster Kane.

His radio drama, The War of the Worlds had been a sensation just a couple years earlier. He was young but now unknown and not a real newcomer.
 
Some critics boldly gave Citizen Kane the praise that it deserved. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. The story hit too close to home for one of the most powerful men in the country, newspaper mogul, William Randolph Hearst.

In January of 1941, Only a few days after the screening, Hearst sent the word out to all his publications not to run advertisements for the film.

He didn't like how the movie appeared to be portraying not only him, but especially a character who paralleled his mistress, Marion Davies. Major theater chains refused to carry Citizen Kane. It was a flop.

Hearst began a campaign to discredit Welles and a smear campaign against him. His papers called Welles a Communist and questioned willingness to fight for his country. It didn't help that Welles himself, was a Hollywood outsider.




Some people must have been pretty mad, pretty influential and pretty frightened of this film. Movie industry friends of the publisher circuitously made monetary offers to destroy the negative and all prints of Citizen Kane.  
-- What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman; Raising Kane by Pauline Kael

27 x 40 Citizen Kane Movie Poster
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane
Bruce Headlam, Media Desk Editor at The New York Times has
a large version of this poster on the wall of his office

Page One: Inside The New York Times is an award winning 2011 documentary about the iconic newspaper and newspapers in the digital age. You'll see this huge film poster on his office wall. 

Also featured in the documentary with Bruce Headlam are journalists David Carr, Richard Perez-Pena, Tim Arango, Bill Keller and Brian Stelter.  At the time it was made, Bill Keller was Executive Editor. Since then, they had female Executive Editor Jill Abramson, and now the paper's first African American Executive Editor Dean Baquet has been in place since 2014.

1942 the 14th Academy Awards: Citizen Kane had been nominated for nine awards. Despite it all, some expected the film to sweep the Oscars. The movie lost in every category except one. Welles won the shared the award for best screenplay with Herman Mankiewicz.

Mankiewicz, expecting the worst, had stayed home and listened to the Oscars on the radio. In one interview, Welles said of Mankiewicz, "Everything concerning Rosebud belongs to him."

Welles wrote a letter to his co-winner:
"Dear Mankie, Here's what I wanted to wire you after the Academy dinner,
'You can kiss my half.'

Citizen Kane
Orson Welles Movie Poster
It's Terrific!

I dare to send it through the mails only now I find it possible to enclose a ready made retort. I don't presume to write your jokes for you, but you ought to like this:
'Dear Orson: You don't know your half from a hole in the ground.' Affectionately, Orson."

"It was almost an insult. The Academy Awards are notoriously influenced by sentiment. Welles was the outsider, and not a humble one, either on whom sanction could be generously bestowed.

"Envy, jealousy fear whatever - the Hollywood majority just didn't like him. In every category the award went to one of their own. (Even best screenplay was no doubt more a gesture to old-time pro Mankiewicz than an award to Welles) ....

"Best actor went to an old favorite, Gary Cooper for Howard Hawks's Sergeant York. I'd (pb) be the last to say these pictures were without merit. Ford and Hawks being two of my favorite directors, they were certainly at the forefront of the films of that year. But Kane was the film of the decade.

"The most telling Oscar was for music. Bernard Hermann was nominated twice that year -- for Kane and for All That Money Can Buy (another RKO release) and the Academy gave him the award for All That Money Can Buy.

"'My only award in my entire career in films from America is for Kane as a writer, you know. Toland didn't even get it as a cameraman.... They hissed every time our names were mentioned at the Academy awards that year.

"'Poor Toland had to wait for two years until he made How Green was my valley to get back into the good graces of everybody.'"
-- Orson Welles: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) by Mark W. Estrin (Ed.), from an interview Welles gave to director, Peter Bogdanovich.This is a great book.

Gregg Toland had been up for Best Black-and-White Cinematography and, particularly in hindsight it's amazing that he didn't win. It's amazing that many of his collaborators didn't win. Robert Wise, for Film Editing, is another example. There was no make-up award in those days.

Similar to the situation with Cary Grant, I see different reasons why Welles was not accepted in Hollywood at the time. His apparently not wanting to be a part of the in-crowd was certainly a part of it.

Orson Welles and Lucille Ball, Magic tricks, 1940s? 16X20 Photo

I read quotes from the nominees themselves that the audience hissed at the mention of Welles' name and at the name of the film. At an event like the Academy Awards, that's really sad. I read online that the audience booed It's been said that Robert Wise said it, but I've yet to find a quote from him or anyone who was there saying they heard booing.

At the risk of losing readers, I found that the Academy Awards page has audio files of some of the nominations being read that year. This includes Best Picture and Best Actor. See if you can hear hissing, booing or rumbling. This is when they were still at a dinner banquet.

Jimmy Stewart presents the Best Actor Award to Gary Cooper and he is not surprisingly very nice and cordial to all who are nominated and sounds happy about the winner. Who doesn't love Jimmy Stewart. :)

David O. Selznick presents the Best Picture to Darryl F. Zanuck for How Green Was My Valley. He says Welles is "that talented newcomer."

I think Mr. Mankiewicz said he could hear hissing over the radio. He heard the entire broadcast.

Marion Davies vintage movie images Wristlet Clutch Choose size/style
by Jakestuff
See other Marion davies Bagettes Bags at zazzle

At the 71st Academy Awards in 1999 director  Elia Kazan received a controversial Honorary Oscar. Kazan directed classics such as On the Waterfront. In the 1950s, he was said to have been a 'friendly witness,' naming names before the House Un-American Activities Committee which investigated Communist influences in Hollywood. 1999 was the only time I can recall seeing a segment of the audience have a negative response to someone on stage.

Orson Welles photo

The most powerful demonstration of their feeling was to sit on their hands instead of clapping. Not sure, even though there was only radio in the 40s, what they would have to gain by that kind of behavior. We see some booing if a winner gives a political speech when a thank you speech is expected.



His daughter, Chris Welles talked on TCM about her father's making The Lady from Shanghai with Rita Hayworth.


At the 43rd Academy Awards in 1971, Orson Welles is presented with an Honorary Oscar. this is the year after Cary Grant received his Honorary Oscar. John Huston presenting an Honorary Oscar to Orson Welles for superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures.



In his biography and on other occasions, Welles tells that on the night of the Oscars while accepting the award he "pretended to be abroad."

"I didn't go because I feel like  a damn fool at those things. I feel foolish, really foolish. I didn't go not because i didn't have respect for it,after all all the people in the industry vote you something, you should show your appreciation. So I did, I made a piece of film and said that I was in Spain and I thanked them. ... John (Houston) introduced me and said at the end, 'Good night Orson wherever you are!' I was in Laurel Canyon!"
-- Orson Welles: A Biography by Barbara Leaming

1971 is also notable since it's the year that George C. Scott won for his role in Patton. Scott refused both the nomination and the Oscar that he won. The film's producer went up to accept the award. Scott had declined nominations in the past.

Scott had said, "The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade. I don't want any part of it. Scott's Oscar is said to be or at least was at some time displayed at the Virginia Military Institute museum in Lexington where generations of Pattons attended.

"George C. Scott declined his nomination and the award, but Academy President Daniel Taradash noted that, '…a person responsible for the achievement cannot decline the nomination after it is voted. Actually, Mr. Scott is not involved. It is his performance in Patton which is involved.'"
-- from the Academy Awards web site

In case you're wondering... It was the 45th Academy Awards, March 27, 1973 when Marlon Brando declined his Best Actor Oscar sending Sacheen Littlefeather onstage instead. On the eve of the 1972 Oscars, Brando announced that he would boycott the ceremony.


Part two of this post: The journey of the Oscar itself follows: The story, some think well.... is terrific!

In My Father's Shadow: A Daughter Remembers Orson Welles by Chris Welles Feder

Entertainment memorabilia- Collect Share Research Auction Bidding on early Academy Awards

Cary Grant and the Oscars, the 1940s and more


Marlene Dietrich documentary, Maximillian Schell :This 1984 documentary was an Academy Award nominee itself. It won The National Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics awards for Best Documentary. Dietrich made Touch of Evil with Orson Welles, and she made no secret of how she felt about the Oscars. This documentary is fascinating. It can be streamed or purchased on DVD.


2013 was the 75th anniversary of Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast. It was also the 70th anniversary of his wedding to legendary actress Rita Hayworth. There are celebrations of both on this fun page of alien shirts. You can listen to the broadcast.

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