6 movies with transplanted possessed hands

Six films featuring evil, possessed, transplanted hands

Isn't it a shame that in movies piano players seem to fall prey to transplanted

The Hands of Orlac

evil hands more often than non-piano players?  Even those like the 1960 Bert I. Gordon movie, Tormented feature a murderous piano player.

We're to believe that the technology has become so advanced that they can successfully transplant hands that function, respond, sense, etc but doctors have no source of these hands except eerie possessed killer hands. 

I've included a couple news videos at the end; what's happening in the real world of medicine when it comes to hand transplants. 

The Hands of Orlac (German: Orlacs Hände) is a 1924 silent film. This seems to be the granddaddy of them all. 

The hands of pianist Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt) are terribly injured in an accident. The surgeon decides to replace them with transplanted hands. 

After amputating Orlac's hands, he replaces them with those that are available, the hands of an executed prisoner. The piano player will now have a murderer's hands. Sound familiar? Well it wasn't familiar in1924.

Orlac is distraught to say the least when he finds what's happened. He can no longer play the piano, the family goes through what money they have. 

When Orlac's own father is found dead and it looks like he killed him, could that be

Jerry Lee Lewis
1986

true? Was it those hands that drove him to it??

In Frankenstein bringing back the dead and performing brain transplants are the thing of perhaps the ultimate horror film. 

Beyond that, hands are another often transplanted and replaced body part in horror films. 

News stories to this day talk about transplanted organs that bring with them thoughts and feelings of the person who had those organs originally. 

I found news reports of famous piano players who had accidents and could not play for a single concert or for a short while.

Mad Love is an 1935 version of the Orlac tale with Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol making his American film debut. Colin Clive is Orlac and Frances Drake is his wife. 

Ted Healy, Keye Luke also appear. When Orlac's hands are injured in a train accident, Dr. Gogol transplants the hands of Rollo, a knife thrower. 

Orlac is suddenly an expert knife thrower. And who is that man with sunglasses and metallic hands? 




The Hands of Orlac (1960) On his way to get married, famous pianist Stephen Orlac (Mel Ferrer) survives a plane crash but sustains a bad injury to his hands. 

It just so happens that the hands of a recently executed strangler, con man and magician are available and they'll work just fine. 

Christopher Lee, Donald Pleasence and Felix Aylmer also star.




Hands of a Stranger (1962) A pianists hands severed in accident. His new hands are those of a murder victim. The hands have a mind of their own. 

They want vengeance for their past owner's death. He now is under the control of the hands which are forcing him to commit evil acts. 

Liberace 1962

Severed Ties (1992) This is one reason we stay in school and choose our science projects carefully. 

The plot stems from replacing a severed lost arm with "a scaly replacement limb" in a regeneration experiment. 

The result is not successful. The limb becomes murderous, a reptilian creature in its own right. 

The movie features Johnny Legend, Garrett Morris, Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Dee Wallace.

Hands of a Stranger
Movie Poster (1962)

Quicksilver Highway 1997 The second of two creepy stories told: The Body Politic by Clive Barker.  

It's the story about a man who thinks his hands are plotting to rebel against him and the whole human race. 

Then he wakes to find that his hands have apparently strangled his wife. What do you do in this predicament? 

The film features Christopher Lloyd, Matt Frewer, Raphael Sbarge, Missy Crider, Bill Nunn and Veronica Cartwright.

The Outfit Poster Movie
Robert Duvall Karen Black
Joe Don Baker Robert Ryan

You'll see hand imagery in a lot of movies, and if the film is about a musician particularly a piano player it's even more probable. 


The 1973 film The Outfit with Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker and Robert Ryan has nothing to do with piano players. 

As the poster says, "No matter what this looks like to you, to The Outfit, it's just business." A scene where a character is shot in the hand is striking enough to be memorialized on a poster. 

In a 1946 cult classic film, The Seventh Veil, James Mason is a super controlling guardian grooming Ann Todd to be a great pianist. 

He pressures her to take very good care of her hands. After a fiery car accident she wakes up with her hands heavily bandaged and she fears the worst. Herbert Lom also appears.

The film, difficult to find on DVD, is finally available to stream through Amazon and it's included free with Amazon Prime.

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, more commonly known simply as Dr. Strangelove, 1964. Dr. Strangelove, just one of three characters played by Peter Sellers in the movie is an ex-Nazi scientist whose gloved right hand apparently has a mind of its own. The mind of the scientist himself is a little questionable, too. I thought it belonged on another list but maybe it goes here after all.

In the 1935 movie Roberta, Fred Astaire plays piano on the hands of his band. They're standing before him holding out their hands on which they're wearing piano-print gloves. Standing in a line they resemble a line like a human keyboard or pipe organ. 

This is part of a series I'm doing and I've got a couple more to go. A friend suggests that a movie that's something like this is an old favorite of mine, All of Me with Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. Half of Steve Martin's character's body is possessed with the spirit of Lily Tomlin's character. The result is very funny and a remarkable physical feat to watch as one side of Martin's body moves as a female and the other side as a male. Certainly not a horror movie.

Were you a fan of the 1960s gothic daytime television drama Dark Shadows? You might remember the mystical hand of Count Petofi. 

All this might make you wonder how far this is from reality. This story keeps getting told over and over. Amazing, interesting, and in no way meant to be related to the scary and silly theme of these movies.

Some news videos FYI

Information from UCLA






Links to related pages:
Johnny Depp and Lon Chaney, Edward Scissorhands and The Unknown, Comparing 2 movies

Six Movies with rogue, disembodied hands

Piano Dance: Fun with James Cagney, Tom Hanks, Liberace

Hands in Film Fashion: The Women, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Elsa Schiaparelli

10 Ergonomic Tips for Musicians
 

The Devil's Hand Wrist Watches by moviebuffs
See other Devil's Watches

Related Books of Interest:

Billy Joel 1982

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre


Hideous Progeny: Disability, Eugenics and Classic Horror Cinema (Film andCulture Series)
 
The Inhuman Condition: Stories by Clive Barker


Screams of Reason: Mad Science and Modern Culture


The Picture of Health: Medical Ethics and the Movies

Revlon Nail Polish AD T-Shirt 1944 by AdShirts
View other Revlon nail polish T-Shirts at Zazzle.com

Ducks and Geese in Movies - Fowl in Film

Ducks and Geese in Movies
Short List of Animals in Film, Feathered Characters

Already having covered some chicken in film, it seems only fair to look at ducks and geese who've appeared in films that we love. I'm going to look at bird scenes instead of reviewing or the films. While Donald Duck is included, these are live-action feature films. 

In 1986, Howard the Duck, a Marvel Comics comic book character starred in his own film alongside Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones and Tim Robbins. Howard isn't a toy figure or a real animal. It's a great costume, though.

1) Friendly Persuasion 1956
Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love and Samantha the Goose.

The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel. The film was originally released with no screenwriting credit because Wilson was on the Hollywood blacklist. 

His credit was restored in 1996. (Screen World Annual 1997 has information on blacklisted screenwriters whose credits were restored. Please see below.)

Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire are Jess and Eliza Birdwell, a couple with a great family name to start off. Their sons are Josh (Perkins) and Little Jess (Eyer). Samantha the Goose is Eliza's pet. The family members are pacifists amidst the escalating war.

When the father is away Confederate raiders storm the farm. Eliza tells them there is food inside and tells them to take what they want. They tear the place apart taking their farm animals. But when one of the soldiers grabs Samantha, she has had more than enough. 

She goes after them with a broom, telling them that goose is a pet not meant for a meal! Happily, maybe amazingly, the soldier apologizes. He didn't know the bird was a pet. After they've left Eliza tells her children not to let Jess know what happened. Even though Samantha is safe, she isn't proud of what she did.

The squawking, Samantha saving broom whooping scene is one of the most memorable bits in this movie.


2) Journey to the Center of the Earth 1959
James Mason Arlene Dahl, Pat Boone, Diane Baker, Thayer David, Peter Ronson, Alan Napier and Gertrude the duck. From a Jules Verne story.

Gertrude the Duck 
Image from movie trailer

This movie is a Steampunk lover's delight, particularly the early parts with its design and its gadgets. The Lost City of Atlantis is only one of the thrills you'll encounter in this film. 

Gertrude is the pet and great pal of Hans Belker (Ronson) and she accompanies him on his adventures. She wears a sporty black ring around one eye, walks with a no-nonsense waddle and she's got a penchant for danger.

Gertrude the Duck was apparently not in the original novel and there are certainly other differences. As the group flees from giant boulders, falls into traps and such we might wonder if Gertrude isn't the smartest one in the bunch. She didn't go on this trip voluntarily. 

But Gertrude isn't so big after all and she's no match for the bad guy who has followed the team of explorers into the cavernous underground "grotesque petrified jungle, crude subterranean caverns never beheld by human eyes." In a 2008 remake, there's no duck. I don't think Gertrude was acting anymore.

Bachelor Mother Ginger Rogers
David Niven Donald Duck Disney Toys

3) Bachelor Mother 1939 (Donald Duck)
Ginger Rogers David Niven, Charles Coburn and Donald Duck toys 

Ginger Rogers' character gets laid off at Christmastime. She's worked at a department store toy department where we saw her at the counter with wind-up Donald Duck toys. 

Duck illustrations also figure into the opening credits of the movie.

Hard to believe how new the character of Donald Duck was in 1939. He'd just appeared in some RKO short features. He made his first appearance in 1934 and first film appearance in 1938.

Just a couple of years before 1937 Disney produced its first full length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The scene where David Niven tries to return a broken headless duck to the store is pretty funny. The film was remade years later with Debbie Reynolds under the title Bundle of Joy.

Donald Duck has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which he received August 9, 2004. He's one of very few animated characters with stars. This may have been a combination of product placement and featuring a hot current trend in your movie.


4) His Kind of Woman 1951
Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price

Now from a famous but fictitious duck, we move to a, well.... When there's

His Kind Of Woman
Art Poster Print

nothing else to do, and you can't mumble... I usually paraphrase John Cleese in times like these.

This next duck is no more. It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late duck! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It..... Vincent Price is going to cook this goose. 

At the very least, Vincent Price is going to manhandle and tickle this goose. Did he ever cook it?

Price, as Mark Cardigan, is getting ready to cook a bunch of what looks like small geese or ducks. He picks one up and, as a conversation goes on and on and on, his handling of that bird becomes as interesting as their discussion.  

The Most Mysterious handling of a raw duck in a film in 1951 award certainly goes to Vincent Price. That was something else. By all rights, Alfred Hitchcock would have been there to present the award.

Mr. Price was a gourmet chef in real real life and he was having some fun with his screen persona in this movie.

His Kind Of Woman Vincent Price, Master Chef

"The His Kind of Woman mutual admiration society also included the erudite and amusing Vincent Price thoroughly enjoying himself in a self-mocking performance as the film's vain, Shakespeare-spouting thespian. 
 
"'Jane as a lovely, funny girl with a great attitude,' said Price, 'and Bob was just hilarious.' Many a time Price a gourmet cook, hosted the other two for lunch, serving fabulous meals he had whipped together from scratch. 

"Some days they would all remain on the perfectly pleasant Morro's Lodge set during the noon break, spread a blanket on the faux sand beach and have a family picnic, Reva delivering baskets of chicken and potato salad, bottles of wine and beer. 'We had a lot of fun on that picture," Vincent Price recalled. 'At least in the beginning before it got so ... crazy.'" 
-- Robert Mitchum: "Baby I Don't Care" by Lee Server





"What would you think of roast goose stuffed with apples?"
Rudy from The Shop Around the Corner gets to have goose for Christmas in the James Stewart Margaret Sullavan film.

5) The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup, The Cocoanuts, You Bet Your Life

The phrase duck soup meant it was simple, easy peasy. In their first film The Cocoanuts 1929, Mr. Hammer (Groucho) has an exchange with Chico. He doesn't speak English very well. Here's a segment of the Viaduct/Why a Duck sketch from The Cocoanuts:

Hammer: Well, we'll Passover that...You're a peach, boy. Now, here is a little peninsula, and, eh, here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.

Chico: Why a duck? 

Hammer: I'm alright, how are you? I say, here is a little peninsula, and here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland. 

Chico: Alright, why a duck? 

Hammer: I'm not playing "Ask Me Another," I say that's a viaduct. 

Chico: Alright! Why a duck? Why that...why a duck? Why a no chicken? 

Hammer: Well, I don't know why a no chicken; I'm a stranger here myself. All I know is that it's a viaduct. You try to cross over there a chicken and you'll find out why a duck.  

Harpo Marx communicated with a honk from an old automobile horn. Kind of goose-like now that you think about it.  Honk, Honk in his honor.

Why a Duck? is the name of one of the books about the Marx Brothers that I own. It's by Richard Anobile, with an introduction by Groucho Marx.

As Long As They're Laughing
Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life

You Bet Your Life was a comedy quiz show hosted by Groucho that aired on radio and television. If contestants said the Secret Word of the night, Hooray for Captain Spaulding would play and a duck would drop from the ceiling. Much of the humor still holds up today.

Costume Designer Edith Head is on You Bet Your Life.





6) Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and his Singing Duck

This short film from 1925 is a part of the National Film Registry. You can see it on a recent post on this blog, Film Registry, linked below. What a talented duck! Theodore Case made several early sound recordings with other birds, a squirrel and even a ukulele, close to our hearts as my husband has apprentices learning to build them.

Interestingly Mr. Case also made a recording with the Vaudeville comedy team of and Gallagher and Shean in 1925. Al Shean was an uncle of the Marx Brothers.

 
7) Duck and Cover 1951

Duck and Cover was a 1951 educational film put out by the US Government.

This film had nothing to do with ducks or waterfowl of any kind. Duck used as a verb.

It was to educate people, children in particular, what to do in the case of a nuclear attack. 

The phrase was memorable and the film is historic. Created as part of the Civil Defense branch public awareness campaign, Stewart the spokesturtle. 



8) Mentions/Appearances in movies and TV: Duck, Duck, Duck.... A Honk and a Quack 

When Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant's characters are arrested in Bringing Up Baby, to get in good with the guards, Cary Grant puts the finger on, "Mickey the Mouse" & "Donald the Duck." These two Disney characters were very popular in 1938 when Bringing Up Baby came out. This film also featured a dog and a couple of leopards.

Scrooge / Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: Get me the biggest goose in the window! Which is your favorite version of Dickens' Christmas Carol?

In 1916, there were at least two versions of the story produced. Paramount made A Christmas Carol.

Bluebird Studios made The Right to Be Happy featuring Rupert Julian, John Cook and Claire McDowell.

The Right to Be Happy 1916 Bluebird

If memory serves, someone actually says, "Lord love a duck!" in Foreign Correspondent.

Cary Grant Father Goose Original glossy Photo

 
The Magnificent Ambersons, a 1942 Orson Welles film, has talk of "The queer looking duck." Which is, I believe, right from the 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington which won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize.

Laura (1944) Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb): "I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom." He's also seen sitting in a bathtub typing on his typewriter. Lydecker is referred to as an imperious, charismatic newspaper columnist an imperious, decadent dandy who became Laura's mentor. He provides the memorable first lines of the movie, "I shall never forget the weekend Laura died...."

Freaks: There is debate about the creature that Cleopatra becomes at the end. Is she part duck? How it happened is complete speculation. Costume originally created for Lon Chaney in director Tod Browning's West of Zanzibar (1928).

In Suspicion (1941), when Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth (Joan Fontaine) is upset by her husband Johnnie's (Cary Grant) behavior, he and buddy Beaky (where did he get that bird-like nickname anyway?) (Nigel Bruce) try to cheer her up by making faces, tickling her and making sounds like a duck.

Question about The Birds:
Are any of those birds stuffed?
Alfred Hitchcock: 
"No. I'll tell you what we did. We rented 500 ducks and sprayed them gray. We started off with chickens but the neck movement gave them away.
-- From the book, Alfred Hitchcock: Interviews
 
In 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral, Anna Chancellor's character Henrietta was called Duckface by the friends of her (former) boyfriend, Charles (Hugh Grant).

The Vicar of Dibley: In the Series 2 episode Celebrity Vicar, as part of a show to raise money for a new nursery school, Owen Newitt (Roger Lloyd-Pack) did a stage act with a performing duck.

While Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Tevor Howard were in a film called Father Goose I don't recall there being a goose in it. If you saw one, let me know. 

What other prominent duck or goose actors
or other scene-stealers are missing? 

Majestic 3-Dimensional White Swan Costume Kids can climb into this majestic three-dimensional white Swan! Maybe it's Swan Lake, you want to let out your inner Bjork or it's holiday time for a Princess : 7th Day of Christmas?

Henry Fonda and Joan Bennett in Wild Geese Calling 24x36 Poster

The Bennett Sisters did their share of films with Goose, Geese in the title.

Constance Bennett appeared in two silent films in 1925:
The Goose Hangs High, a comedy other stars include Myrtle  Stedman, George Irving, Esther Ralston and Gertrude Claire.

She was in the well-known Goose Woman alongside Louise Dresser and Jack Pickford. There's  a scene where a feisty goose follows Dresser's character down the road to the scene of a murder.

As seen in the poster above, Joan Bennett was in Wild Geese Calling with Henry Fonda..


Geese vs Ducks, what's the difference?
Here are a few differences
Geese tend to be larger than ducks
Geese Honk
Ducks Quack






Final sequence from ... "Werner Herzog's classic film Stroszek (1977). The location for the closing sequence is in a strange fun-house where chickens dance, play the piano, a duck plays the drums and a rabbit is blowing the horn on a fire-engine!"
-- from description


Blacklisted Writers (re: Friendly Persuasion)

"Because of the blacklisting outrage brought on by the so-called McCarthy Era several screenwriters were denied final credit on films they worked on, starting in 1947 and continuing into the 1970s. 

"The Writers Guild of America recently voted to reinstate the correct writer credits on several motion pictures. The following are the corrected credits listed according to the corresponding volumes of Screen World in which they originally appeared..."
-- Screen World:1997 Film Annual: Volume 48 Expanded Format

Vincent Price standing in lake hair standing up
Very aquatic

Related Pages and Resources:

The National Film Registry : Incl. Gus Visser and His Singing Duck

The Top 5 Hitchcock Chicken Scenes

Animated Characters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Alfred Hitchcock: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) by Sidney Gottlieb






There are some public domain images on this page

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.