Stars celebrate Christmas around the world

Holiday Traditions from different countries
Stars' Christmas memories

"One thing I miss is the holly and mistletoe that grew along our country lanes at

Ronald Colman 1924

home. It is the custom for the boys to go out and gather some for Christmas decorations. 

"Then there is the celebrated Yule log. At home the most impressive part of our Christmas is the moment when the huge log is dragged into the fireplace and lighted with a splinter from last year's log." -- Ronald Colman, born in England. -- Christmas 1927

We can incorporate our own childhood memories into the holidays we have as adults. Maybe the memories these stars share from their childhoods can inspire us. Are they favorites of ours? 

Are some from a culture that is near and dear? What are your favorite Christmas traditions from around the world? So many things can make the season that much sweeter and often the things that are memorable don't cost much if anything at all.

"They will return to their beloved England leaving Hollywood fame and fortune behind them without even a backward glance." A November 1940 interview with Vivien Leigh. The actress intends to return to England where her husband, actor Laurence Olivier will enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and she will act on stage. 

Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier 1948

It was to be their last American interview. They had a little green Christmas tree on their piano. Also mentioned was Old Tom, "a huge alley cat who'd moved in with the Oliviers sans invitation. Old Tom was complained bitterly about the rain outside before curling up possessively on Vivien's right foot during the interview. 

"Cary Grant returned from his jaunt to England the complete California convert. 'I never thougth I'd be homesick for Hollywood - but I was.' The traditional gray weather of England brought Cary to a sharp appreciation of Hollywood's sunshine. (Now don't remind me of those floods again.)" Referring to the Los Angeles floods of 1938. There was also some teasing in the media as to whether he'd been accompanied by girlfriend Phyllis Brooks, which could have also altered his mood and caused his homesickness.
-- The Milwaukee Journal, January 1939

When shootings of Heaven Knows Mr Allison finished, Dorothy and Robert Mitchum talked Deborah Kerr and her husband, Tony into celebrating the Christmas holiday with them in New Orleans. "'I'll show you New Orleans like you've never seen it with anybody else,' Bob wheedled. 'It's his favorite city,' Dorothy laughed, 'so he probably could, too.'" Deborah Kerr was married to Royal Air Force Squadron Leader, film and television executive Anthony Bartley.

Renee Adoree 1931

"In France, Christmas Day or Noël is for children. New Year's Day is for the grown-ups. Noël is a family day. 

"The children put out their shoes instead of hanging up their stockings, and their gifts are stuffed into them. 

"Then of course there is a large dinner but it, too is for the children. ... As a child I was with my family in my father's circus but we always celebrated Christmas Day." 
-- Renee Adoree, Christmas 1927



The Legend of Santa Claus... What are the similar legends in other parts of the world?


Remember the little Dutch girl in Miracle on 34th Street? You'll hear children sing the same song in the video above. (Best example was colorized.)
  
Memories of Christmas in Norway, Sweden: Greta Nissen, Melvyn Douglas, Anna Q. Nilsson

"'Christmas in Norway,' her voice blurred a little with homesickness, 'the  snow-covered hills and the evergreens and the red roofs of the houses the cozy sitting rooms lighted with the glow from tall stoves the tantalizing smells where the cooking and roasting and baking have been going on for weeks! .... 

"Delicious sugary Berliner Kranz which were shaped into tiny wreaths, Fattig Man which literally translated means poor men, but there is nothing poor about those cakes made of eggs and butter and cream. ... 

"'No one is forgotten at Christmas in my country. Sheaves of wheat are hung

Greta Nissen

from city windows and country barns for the birds. A bowl of rich cream and rice pudding is left for the cat and the dog has a marrow bone. Out in the country the cows and sheep and horses get special rations. 

"'Then there is the Yule-nisse the little gnome-like man with long, white beard and red-tasseled hat who takes the place of your American Santa Claus. A man to be feared as well as loved, the Yule-nisse for if the children have not been good he pulls the little girls' braids and pinches the boys and never a thing does he leave them.

"'But for the good little boys and girls there are skis and sleds and dolls and skates all left under the tree in the living room. A bowl of rice pudding must be left for the Yule-nisse for if he is forgotten he displays a fearful temper and all sorts of ill things happen to the family in the coming year.'" The character may also be known as Tomte in Sweden. Beautiful snow in Scandinavia.

In 1933, Garbo had her Christmas tree shipped from her home country of Sweden to California.



When Melvyn Douglas was a child he went with his parents to visit friends in the Swedish countryside "for a Christmas filled with unforgettable joy and anxiety.  

"The anxiety as he explained in pauses between picture conferences on the Columbia lot came from the fear that Santa wouldn't be able to locate Melvyn if Melvyn were in Sweden instead of at home in England and from his own inability to say in Swedish what he wanted to eat."

Anna Q Nilsson 1923

"Anna Q Nilsson going back to Sweden to spend Christmas with her family. Good news that her doctors have told her she was well enough to travel. Her family has made all sorts of plans to celebrate her return." (Nilsson had hurt herself when she fell from a horse and had been recuperating.)
Christmas 1930

Bergen Marzipan - Assorted Fruit Shapes (18pcs.)

Still war die Nacht, Marlene Dietrich 1966

Germany: Marlene Dietrich, Lil Dagover

Six thousand miles separated Marlene Dietrich from her husband and baby in Berlin but she thought nothing of that when Christmas came near and traveled back to her home for the holidays. She'll be right back because she has made a great hit with her first picture, Morocco. This is when we first saw Ms. Dietrich in what would become her signature tuxedo. Christmas 1930

In 1933, Marlene Dietrich was "following the German custom of having the tree

Marlene Dietrich
8x10" Photo

on Christmas Eve. The tree that will make her body-guarded daughter Maria Seiber dance with glee and will be decorated with marzipan - German delicacies  made from chopped almond paste and covered with coatings of chocolate or other candy made into shapes of fruits and toys."

Actress Lil Dagover, "I have a husband whose name is George Witt. He is an executive for a German motion picture company. 

"We have a daughter, ten months old. Her name is Ave Maria. Her first picture for Warner Brothers will be I Spy." It was suggested that her plans, like Dietrich's were to return to her family in Germany for the holidays. Christmas 1930

Dagover was in The Woman from Monte Carlo, but she may be better known by some as an actress in the 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.



Christmas shopping in London 1940s

Christmas in Mexico, Ramon Novarro

Christmas 1931 Ramon Novarro gave an interview about his Christmas Spirit.

"The tale goes Ramon's house is open to anyone who can establish a legitimate claim to being of the Samaniegos (his real name) clan. And in Mexico they recognize cousins to the forty-second degree. Not long ago, a Samaniegos presented himself at the Navarro home, introducing himself as a member of the

Ramon Novarro
1931

clan. 

"Ramon had never heard of him but calling his mother the stranger was asked to establish his claim to kinship with her who knew the family connections better. Though she had never heard of him still his cousinship though remote was sufficiently remote according to the Navarro code to admit him into the family circle.

"'I never had a Christmas tree and never heard of Santa Claus until I came to the States,' said Novarro." He grew up having Christmas in Mexico.

"'Beautiful and unique is the Mexican celebration of the Christmas holidays. The holidays begin with the posados. Posados translated into English means nine days and are observed in commemoration of the nine day journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem. ... In 1930, actor Charles Bickford spent the Christmas holidays in Mexico City.
-- Christmas, Silver Screen 1931

Errol Flynn Nat King Cole Istanbul Original 8x10" Photo

Errol Flynn remembers Christmas in Ethiopia

December 1938 Hollywood magazine celebrities were asked to recall memorable Christmases. 

Here is a past Yuletide in the life of Mr. Errol Flynn. It's the only one that really involved travel or memories of lands outside of the US. Great story.

"Errol Flynn long before he entered the movies he landed in Ethiopia with Dr. Harry Erben a close friend en route from Australia to England. Simultaneously with Christmas Day he arrived in what was then Haile Selassie's kingdom. Flynn didn't speak the native language and there seemed to be no native very conversant in English. 

"Much to the surprise of Flynn and Erben the natives nevertheless escorted them to first class lodgings and proceeded to prepare one whale of a feast. What with banqueting and dancing and speech-making, the affair to Flynn's growing mystification, lasted three days. 

"He was beginning to wonder whether this was a normal Yuletide revel in Ethiopia when there arrived an English speaking native who explained that the whole thing was a social error. 

"The natives had mistaken Flynn and Erben for a pair of big game hunters, long awaited, who had promised to hire a good slice of the population for a trip South after lions. With mutual apologies, the festivities ended; but Santa Claus anyhow had had his fling."

Eighty years ago in December 2014, Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much was released in the UK. In 1935, the movie was released in the US. An article appeared around Christmastime, introducing American audiences to this "new German actor," German Star Studies his lines first in foreign tongue. How did he prepare for his first movie where he had to speak English?


Peter Lorre "learned the language in 60 days in an English-language picture, The Man Who Knew Too Much made in London and later pronounced the best picture of the year made in the British Empire. Lorre mentally translates the speeches into a language in which he is more at home in order to get the exact shades of the meaning and inflection more firmly in his mind. 

"When he is entirely familiar with the characterization, he studies that written appearance of the English lines and follows by repeating in English until he has the speeches perfect. It's a three-way system but it has made him letter-perfect in the rendition of his role."
-- San Jose News,December 1935


Related Pages, Books, Gifts:
 
Christmas Truce, Christmas in the Trenches included in: WW1 Centenary 2014 exhibit at the year's Chelsea Flower Show article

The Christmas Troll and Other Yuletide Stories: Magical Creatures; A Weiser Books Collection

Christmas Marzipan: A special gift package, special shapes, colors

Dressing Rathbone, Gable, Marlene Dietrich

Princess Car Gifts for the Bride, Birthday Girl, Business Woman 

Christmas & Holiday Cookbooks Kindle and Paper; Selection includes recipes from around the world, a World War 2 era cookbook, dessert themes and many more

Christmas in Sweden 45 Piece Assorted Chocolate Box by StuffOrSomething
More Boxes of Chocolates to Personalize for other occasions online at Zazzle

Merry & Bright Happy Christmas Photo Tree Ornaments just one of the personalized ornaments, add text and photos
Look at Year Ornaments, decor online at Zazzle

Dr Caligari Jane and Francis 2.0 Table or Pendant Lamp by TheDreamporium
Lil Dagover as Jane Olsen
 Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari
Conrad Veidt as Cesare
Friedrich Fehér as Francis
We have a table lamp and realize that with some designs a colored light bulb, pink, blue etc can add some drama
Design or Find another pendant or table lamp at zazzle

1930s Fan Girls chase Clark Gable

Fangirls in the 1930s out for Gable

Clark Gable's Offer, circa 1934: "If the person who found my wrist watch lost during my

They ripped off his buttons
[Even his
mustache is gone]

tour will return it to me I will be happy not only to send that person a duplicate of the watch but I will also pay a cash reward of fifty dollars."

"The watch was a gift from my wife therefore it has much sentimental value to me. If the finder, or taker, will return it to me, I will be happy not only to send that person a duplicate of the watch but I will also pay a cash reward of fifty dollars and ask no questions." Below are four Gable / Fan incidents.

The watch was white-gold and attaches to the wrist by means of a white-gold link chain. On its back were two initials C.G. Do you know who has the watch? If you do be sure and explain Clark's reward offer.

He was pawed, his possessions pilfered. Even those signature ears of his weren't safe from the pecking of adoring Clark Gable fans. Here are some movie magazine tales. What happens when fans meet their heroes, Mr. Gable's encounters with some adoring fans back in the golden days of Hollywood.

These fans were after autographs and the kinds of movie memorabilia that's one of a kind, movie star memorabilia, maybe celebrity news an experience to share.  Was there any talk of stalkers in the 1930s? A character in the Jean Harlow film Bombshell suggests that they did have obsessed fans even then.

These girls may have been our mothers or our grandmothers, though I'm sure

Clark Gable color photo

they weren't really. :-) He was married to Maria Franklin Gable, her nickname was Ria, when most of these events were going on.

What's your favorite Gable movie?

In the 1920s when Rudolph Valentino made his way cross country hundreds of thousands of frantic females literally shed their dignity and honor to get close to Valentino to see him to touch him to cling to him.

In the early 1930s, Clark Gable went from New York to Hollywood with a couple of stops in between. He had some pleasant, not-so-pleasant and even dangerous experiences with fans.

Note in a November 2014 Bonhams - TCM Turner Classic Movies auction the wedding ring given to Clark Gable by Carole Lombard was auctioned off for $40,000.

A toll of Gable's losses on his short trip included the following articles:
 
27 silk handkerchiefs
33 buttons torn from his clothes
1 complete sleeve of a dress-shirt
1 lapel from the coat of a business suit
1 pair of bedroom slippers
1 top half of a pair of silk pajamas
And that one wrist watch

Men's Classy Personalized Monogram Watch 
Choose style of watch band, customize monogram
William Clark Gable was born Feb. 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio
Design your own from scratch, Look at additional Watches 

The girl nipped one of Gable's ears with her teeth....
In Baltimore a girl rented the hotel room adjoining the suite occupied by Clark, Mrs. Gable and a constant guard who rarely left the actor's side. Beginning early one evening the girl knocked at the door of the Gable rooms. She was answered by the guard who politely but firmly told her that Clark was not in. 

At intervals of about one hour the girl continued to knock but each time she was greeted by the vigilant guard. Perhaps the girl thought that the guard would eventually go elsewhere in the hotel because she kept calling and knocking. 

Finally about two o'clock in the morning the guard informed her, "Beg pardon Miss, but I remain in these quarters all the time. No need for you to knock on the door I'll always answer you." Whereupon the girl thrust out her tongue and uttered that rasping noise known as the bird. 

The following morning as Gable stepped alone into the elevator to go downstairs for breakfast this same girl stepped in behind him. Barely were the doors of the elevator closed before she threw her arms around Clark and began to rain kisses upon his cheek and neck. When he attempted to turn away from her, the excited girl rudely (such, such manners!) proceeded to nip one of his ears with her teeth.

In the midst of this latter display the elevator reached the lobby and the doors were opened. A crowded lobby of people were treated to a show that caused Gable to break away from the girl roughly and dash for the front doorway. As for the brash young lady she only grinned and pocketed a button from her idol's coat. Gable never returned to that hotel. 

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1939 Premiere Gone with the Wind
Gable and Lombard, Olivie de Havilland, Vivien Leigh are all there, and a few fans show up. 2014 marks the 75th anniversary of Gone with the Wind. At the time these articles came out, that film was several years in the future.

Stroking Gable's cheek while smiling tenderly at him....
A chambermaid in another hotel owes the fact that she still holds her job to the good sportsmanship of both Clark and his wife. To designate the hotel or even the city might lead to the maid's identification, therefore such information must be withheld. At any rate the Gable suite usually consisted of a living room and two bedrooms one of which was occupied by Mrs. Gable and the other by Clark. 

This arrangement was of necessity because often Mrs. Gable would go to the hotels and retire early. Gable returning later from theatres would occupy the other bedroom rather than awaken his wife with the noise of his homecoming. Perhaps the chambermaid did not understand this arrangement. 

At any rate, the first morning of Clark's stay at this particular hotel, the maid entered the rooms, and went almost at once to the bedroom where Gable was sleeping. The actor was awakened with a start and discovered the woman standing beside the bed. She had been stroking Gable's cheek while smiling tenderly down at him. 

Perhaps more roughly than he should have spoken he snapped, "What's the idea?"

And with that the maid fairly burst into tears. She confessed that she'd long been in love with Gable on the screen. When she had learned that she was to clean his rooms her heart had overflowed. She wanted only to touch him to be close to him. That was what she had dreamed of since seeing his first picture.

At that moment Mrs. Gable came to the door. Thanks to her sense of humor she laughed heartily at the sight of her husband sitting bolt upright in bed with the covers drawn close around him while the husky chambermaid poured out her tale of love for him!
 
The maid was terrified. She opened her mouth to beg for forgiveness but before she could speak, Mrs. Gable interrupted. With the sense of humor that is typical of the woman Clark married, she told the maid to go about her duties but the next time be sure and pick a man whose wife is not so close by.



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The next Mrs. Gable probably
would have had a good
sense of humor as well,
Gable with Carole Lombard

He screeched around the corner on two wheels at 70 miles an hour...

We were driving down a busy boulevard in Los Angeles, Clark and I in his car. Two girls spotted Gable and chased him. They caught up, crowded his car over toward the curb. All of a sudden I almost went through the seat. 

Clark gunned his car forward like a jackrabbit, twisted it straight for two tall buildings. Luckily an alley was in between. I didn't know that. Clark did. We screeched around the corner on two wheels at 70 miles an hour. 

"What are you trying to do?" I gasped when I got back  my breath. "Kill me?!"
 
"Sorry," Clark said when it was safe to slow down."What if those kids had bumped me or I'd bumped them? An accident, maybe somebody hurt or killed. Whose fault? Clark Gable's. When you're in pictures, you're on the spot. That was trouble," said Clark, "so me, I just got out of the way!" -- A 1948 Modern Screen reporter describing a very memorable car ride.

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A tearing noise, then "Autograph this!" She cried....
One daring girl managed to sneak backstage at the theatre in Baltimore. She made her way unseen into Clark's dressing room. When Gable completed his turn behind the footlights. he found the girl awaiting his return. He had closed the door behind him when he saw her for the first time. He stopped short and demanded, "What are you doing here?"

She asked stammeringly, "Will -- will you autograph something for me, please, Mr. Gable?"

"Gladly," Clark answered believing this the easiest way to dismiss her without any fuss. 

"Autograph this!" She cried. With that there was a quick tearing noise, and the girl brought into view the brassiere she had been wearing.
 
Stern-lipped Gable threw open the door that opened his dressing room out on the back stage runway. That was for protection. Then he seized a sheet of writing paper from his make up case, scribbled a hasty autograph and gave it to the girl. 

Before she quite realized how she got there, the girl was outside the theatre, but clamped in one had was her autograph in the other hand the brassiere without the Gable signature.
-- end of excerpt

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I don't know if he ever got that watch back. Hope he did. Maybe Cary Grant might have given him one inscribed CG? I hear the two actors did silly things like that around holiday-time.

Sophia Loren Clark Gable 8x10 Photo

The Gable assessment....
 
"Our country is famous for its hero worship. I think the public is partially hypnotized by its very willingness to idolize. Even when fans see the stars in person and have that opportunity to discover that we are just human beings like themselves they continue right on with their unbelievable worship."

Have you ever met a big star who you admire? How did you react? 
 

Related Pages, Books of Interest:

You can tell them Clark Gable left his jacket at your place
American Legends: The Life of Clark Gable bio Kindle ebook or paperback
 
Clark Gable's Final Film, The Misfits

Academy Awards Spielberg, Collecting, Auctioning, Memorabilia

Masculinity and Film Performance: Male Angst in Contemporary American Cinema Kindle ebook or paperback

Joan Crawford Clark Gable vintage movie T-shirt by Jakestuff
Custom print shirts online at zazzle
 
Sources of excerpts
New Movie, Screenland magazines 1934
Modern Screen 1948 

Actor Lee Tracy What happened in Mexico 1933

What happened in Mexico
didn't stay in Mexico for Lee Tracy

Lee Tracy 1945
Betrayal From The East

"I heard a parade going by. I ran out on the balcony, waved and shouted, 'Viva La Parade.' I had on pajama pants. Some of the boys in the parade saw me waving my arms and shouting they hollered back at me to shut up. 

"I was feeling pretty high so I shouted as loud as I could, 'Why don't you go to hell.' But I was just helping them celebrate."

Lee Tracy had been a movie actor for several years by this point. He'd also been on Broadway. He was Hildy Johnson in The Front Page, the play that was transformed on screen as His Girl Friday. There Hildy Johnson became a woman, Rosalind Russell playing the role opposite Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy.  

It was 1933. A time before stylists and spin doctors. The studio had warned him not to talk, Tracy said. 
 
"The insult offered by this actor to the Mexican Cadet Corps has embarrassed and shocked the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer organization as deeply as it has the Mexican people," Mr. Mayer wired. 

"As a result of this actor's deplorable behavior, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has removed him not only from the film Viva Villa, but has dismissed him entirely from its employ and canceled his long term contract. Tracy's action in effect

The Front Page
1928 Play

voided his contract, it was said."
-- The Pittsburgh Press, November 23, 1933

Charles G. Clarke, the cinematographer on the picture, said that he was standing outside the hotel and doing some filming during the parade. People in the crowd were yelling for Tracy and Wallace Beery to come out and make an appearance.

"All of the paraders were not ardent fans, however, and some of them would make obscene gestures. The exact meaning may have been known only to themselves, but I gathered they were not complementary. Our boys, in innocence, may have laughingly returned a gesture or two, but if so, I did not witness it. 

"I thought it was nice of them to make an appearance and that they must have thrilled many of the country boys who could not return to their homes and boast to all their friends about how they had seen the famous actors in person. 

"In a short time our government liaison connections rushed down to the hotel and stated that Lee Tracy had to be gotten out of the country immediately. They said that the papers were coming out that afternoon with a story to the effect that Tracy had insulted the Mexican flag, Mexican motherhood and the nation in general. It would put the government in an embarrassing position and some action against Tracy would have to be taken.

"The Mexican papers raised such a scandal that our own press took it up. Lee Tracy became a martyr, and to satisfy public opinion he was removed from the picture. Much has been written about this affair, and there may have been other circumstances, but at least you have one eyewitness account of what really happened. *The most widely reported story is that Lee Tracy urinated on the people below."
-- Highlights and Shadows: The Memoirs of a Hollywood Cameraman



Lee Tracy appeared in Bombshell with Jean Harlow 

The earliest articles said Tracy was on the balcony in his pajamas gesturing,

Emporio Armani
Men's Cotton Pant

pretty much what the actor himself said. 

He'd also admitted from the start that he'd had too much to drink. He was hollering back and forth with people in the crowd. That behavior was bad, particularly as a guest in the country and a representative of the studio.

Some of the later articles changed things around. He became more and more naked and exposed in each article. His behavior was reported as being even more outrageous. Repeatedly he was called Godiva on a balcony.

"Tracy was accused of hurling insulting epithets from the balcony of his hotel at the passing parade. Not only that, but the actor is charged with playing the dickens with Mexican morals by appearing on said balcony with nothing between him and nudity but a carelessly draped blanket which revealed much of Mr. Tracy's physical magnificence."
-- The Sunday Morning Star, Wilmington Delaware

"At the Brown Derby in Hollywood. Irving Pichel, Isabel Jewell and the irrepressible Lee Tracy.
His Mexican adventure fitted in so perfectly with his screen character that he was promptly forgiven by his fans."
Silver Screen Feb. 1934

Director Howard Hawks had been in Mexico working on the movie earlier. He had already left Mexico at the time all this happened. Hawks however did say that Tracy urinated on people. Where the director got the story and why he repeated it isn't clear.

It seems there would have been some more immediate ramifications following such behavior that we also would have heard about.

There is at least a chance the 'urination' part of the story was manufactured entirely from thin air. That part of the story could have kept going to the point that it seemed to be fact due to repetition and word of mouth.
 
From a book about the director, a story he told:
"Hawks may have even inadvertently killed a man himself. At one location 'a fellow came out and shoved a gun at me and started to yell something. I just turned and hit him and he went over and hit his head on a railroad track. 

"I never heard whether he died or what happened. I said, 'What the hell was he yelling?' They told me that he said, This is for the revolution! Another man supposedly blew his brains out in front of everyone. Hawks's bemused comment on all this turmoil was simply, 'It was nutty.'"
 

"Actor clad only in blanket on balcony police say,
and then it slipped."
(Who came up with this?)

"US Ambassador to Mexico Josephus Daniels reported more fully to the State Department:

"'Tracy appeared on a balcony of the Hotel Regis unclad and using very profane and insulting language at  the moment when the military cadets marching in the parade of November 19th were passing in front of the hotel. He was immediately arrested and ... was released at 1:00 o'clock on the morning of November 20th and left the capital by plane at 6:00 a.m. that day. His arrival at El Paso Texas was reported in press dispatches from there the following day, November 21st.

"'From November 22nd to November 24th the Mexico City press gave considerable publicity to the Tracy incident as well as to the filming of the picture, Viva Villa! On November 23rd prominence was given to a telegram which Mr. Louis B. Mayer sent to President Rodríguez apologizing for the conduct of Lee Tracy and announcing his dismissal and the cancellation of his contract with the company. 

"'Prior to the arrest of Lee Tracy, considerable newspaper publicity had been given to alleged complaints against the filming of the picture Viva Villa!, which was said picture the former revolutionary leader of Mexico General Francisco Villa, in a manner defamatory to Mexico.'
[end of quote from the Ambassador to Mexico; ellipsis is part of quote]

"There was no mention of urination in the ambassador's summary, nor was there in a more detailed account prepared by the embassy's third secretary, John Aguirre. ... Hawks, who in his own memory of the events had left before any of this started, arrived at the US Embassy for a meeting at which he requested that the consulate general handle the case from here on, which was done."
-- Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood by Todd McCarthy

Viva Villa poster, Wallace Beery, Fay Wray

The only mention I've found of Tracy's urinating on people or anything else has been from those who weren't there, often written by people who weren't even born when it happened. Reading texts, books, newspaper accounts, they say he was intoxicated, dressed improperly, he spoke and gestured offensively. I saw nothing even hinting at his urinating, spitting, throwing anything, etc.

Cameraman Charles G. Clarke witnessed it, was filming and he says it did not happen. I can't find anything from Wallace Beery. 

The most offensive outrageous story will get the most traction whether it's 1933 or 2014, and faster online. The more outrageous they say his behavior was, the more justification for his being fired. It may have served someone politically, too. 

The most repeated information of Tracy's urinating on people is cited from the autobiography of Desi Arnaz. I haven't seen the book or the exact quote. I couldn't find what character Mr. Arnaz played in the film. If Arnaz was with them and/or witnessed the event, that's something right there. 

Some of the web sites, blogs and books who have mentioned it may have alternate information and sources. It isn't that easy to find.

The Hays Office reported having Tracy under a Gentleman's Ban, giving him time to cool his heels.

Eyewitnesses were interviewed in a 1934 magazine

Addition September 2014: George Rigas played Pancho Villa's father in Viva Villa. He stood below the window of Tracy's room, watching the procession with Charles Clark, the cameraman of the company. .... "I am not a personal friend of Mr. Tracy. I have talked to him only once or twice in my life," he says. " But I feel that a grave injustice has been done and I should like do see it righted. You see I saw it all. I was not in the room with him, but even better - I was standing under his window, watching the procession pass. ..."
This is an excerpt from the article.  Rigas says that a gesture Tracy made may have been misinterpreted by some in the crowd but if so it was a minority.

A newspaperman called the police and eyewitnesses admit that Tracy was argumentative with the officers who arrived. Another man, actor and director Irving Pichel, who was in the room with Lee Tracy was also interviewed.

Tracy takes out a full-page ad ...

In movie magazine Modern Screen he explains his side of the story, 1934

Excerpts:  
"To the readers of Modern Screen: I have no apology to make to anyone. In the first place, Mexico has forgotten my hilarious conduct while a guest in their country. Mexico is actually unable understand the unforgivably bad publicity meted out to me by uninformed members of the press. 

"Hollywood, however is not quite so charitable. Making mountains out of molehills, creating rumor stories out of thin air seems to be the favorite indoor sport of our best gossipers."

He goes on to make his official statement:
"I did nothing shameful or disgraceful while in Mexico. I was fully clothed. There was no balcony. I was in a hotel room seven stories above the ground, peering over an iron grating that reached to my chest. 

"Thanks to Modern Screen for their usual gesture of fairness in allowing me this opportunity of thus speaking my heart to their large body of readers. I hope I have assured my friends that my actions while in Mexico were the careless and natural actions of a hilarious young fellow who should have known better."

Questions: How different is this situation from something that might happen today? How would it be handled today? 

Do you think Lee Tracy's comments helped his cause? Mr. Tracy was in his mid-thirties when this happened, if that matters. 

Lee Tracy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1638 Vine Street. He received his star in February 1960 when many classic stars received theirs.

Lee Tracy in Fixer Dugan
He played a circus promoter in the 1939 movie

Spencer Tracy got his job in the 1934 film The Show Off because Lee Tracy, who'd been in The Show Off on Broadway in 1924 and was originally cast in the film, was no longer with the studio.

"Lee Tracy whose drinking was the stuff of legend in Hollywood, was accused of insulting a member of the Mexican Cadet Corps during a Revolution Day parade. .. Accounts differ as to exactly what he was supposed to have done. Later it was surmised that the growing strength of organized labor in Mexico had much to do with the resulting uproar over the incident."
-- Spencer Tracy: A Biography by James Curtis

The Film is Burned and Destroyed:

If all this weren't enough drama and confusion, there was an added situation also November 1933. 

An American Airways mail plane "exploded and caught fire 800 feet above El Paso." The pilot, who was able to bail out, was burned badly but was expected to recover. "Undeveloped film for the motion picture Viva Villa, taken in Mexico was destroyed. The film was valued at $60,000 to $100,000."

"Films of Viva Villa, the photoplay made in Mexico about which a storm has developed, were destroyed in a fire. The plane crashed near a residence section after the pilot bailed out.  [The pilot, who was] flying alone said his plane burst into flame from an undetermined cause. He was burned before he could escape."



"Howard Hawks, director of Viva Villa, said films burned were mostly of mob scenes and were valued at $60,000 to $100,000. He said they would need to be retaken."  About half of the mail was burned.
-- Quotes and information from The Spokane Daily Chronicle and California's Berkeley Daily Gazette, November 22, 1933

Jack Conway is given credit as being director of Viva Villa. Howard Hawks and William Wellman are the two most often said to have also done some directing without receiving onscreen credit. Wellman may have taken over for a short time while Conway was ill. Late 1933, early 1934 newspapers said that Hawks had quietly left the movie and MGM entirely moving over to a different studio. Jack Conway would finish the picture. 

Jack Conway also directed Libeled Lady with Myrna Loy, William Powell, Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy in 1936. It's one of only two films that Harlow and Powell ever did together. Howard Hawks famously went on to some screwball comedies such as Bringing Up Baby with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.

One good show deserves another

Apparently in December a theater group in Mexico City had quickly put together a show enacting scenes of the situations encountered by the actors and crew while filming Viva Villa. An act at one of the Mexico City Theaters was presenting a send-up of the movie troupe's escapades, the actors portraying the characterizations of Wallace Beery, Lee Tracy and even Howard Hawks. "This burlesque number shows Beery dissecting the beds and looking scornfully over his assigned room, refusing to stay there. ..." He refuses to stay in the finest hacienda in town.

There was a reenactment of "the famous Tracy balcony scene" and "throughout the play a man thrusts his head through a window and yells, 'It's Disartro!' Many other true incidents that took place while the troupe was there are also enacted much to the merriment of the audience. In fact the Metro invasion of Mexico City will not be forgotten by the natives there for years to come."
-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 19, 1933


Lee Tracy has been on the water wagon for 2 years still gets razzed

The actor said that the incident in Mexico had snapped him out of not only a life of alcohol abuse but caused him to give up drinking alcohol totally. "The trouble," Lee Tracy says, "is that every time anything happens in connection with me, and I mean anything everybody thinks that Lee Tracy is drunk again. ...
 
"Truth is Tracy hasn't had a drink in more than two years, or since his widely publicized escapade on a hotel balcony in Mexico City during a patriotic parade. That nearly ruined him as a movie actor, but he went on the wagon and eventually beat his way back to the top. He's starring now in See How They Run which will hit the RKO cameras in two weeks." 
-- Milwaukee Journal, September 1, 1939

Kohler Kitchen
Faucet Stainless

Books and Related Pages of Interest:

Highlights and Shadows: The Memoirs of a Hollywood Cameraman Charles G. Clarke


Spencer Tracy: A Biography by James Curtis

Boris Karloff wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving 1950, do you know your folk music?

Classic film actors jobs, clothes, tools of the trade Tour film stars' closets, more

A Book  Desi Arnaz Autobiography

TCM's Summer Under the Stars August 2014


10 Famous TV Dads Costumes and Trivia: Ricky Ricardo

Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood by Todd McCarthy
 

Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor watches and sapphires 1930s

Keeping time with Barbara Stanwyck
and Robert Taylor

Robert Taylor Barbara Stanwyck
Original Vintage Transparency
Rare Photo

Fans spent several years watching what would happen with Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck. Couldn't she have a dance with the man at a club without all the papers saying she was engaged to the man, she would ask.

This brief article covers their wedding, gifts of jewelry and their delayed honeymoon. Video interview regarding Ms. Stanwyck's relationship with Robert Taylor.

Ms. Stanwyck was divorced from comedian Frank Fay in 1935 and rumors were that she and Taylor were an item. December 1936-January 1937, she was filming Internes Can't Take Money with Joel McCrea and Lloyd Nolan. Taylor was making Personal Property with Jean Harlow.

One of her Christmas gifts to Taylor was an impressive gold wristwatch which he was showing off on his film set when they got back to work after the holidays. Harlow was showing off the 152 carat star sapphire given to her by boyfriend, William Powell.

Despite Bob's ring, Barbara snubs cupid
"Recent interviews with Barbara Stanwyck would lead one to believe that marriage is off her program. This despite the new diamond and sapphire ring which Robert Taylor has just placed on that right finger. 

"Says Miss Stanwyck, 'It is possible to succeed in motion pictures when married

Barbara Stanwyck 8x10 Photo

but those who are single have a greater chance to go places. I personally believe that I will remain single as long as I am in motion pictures.'"
-- The Milwaukee Sentinel March 27, 1937

Sapphires in 1937 ...
December 1937, reporters kept their eyes open for stars making holiday purchases....
"Dropping into one of the small exclusive shops in Beverly hills, I saw the great Garbo herself buying a man's wrist watch and a dozen necklaces. Now who was that watch for? ... 

"Veree Teasdale interested in a set of emerald and platinum studs for her husband Adolphe Menjou. ...
 
"Barbara Stanwyck buying star sapphire shirt studs for Bob Taylor in England."
-- The Sydney Morning Herald December 7, 1937

Barbara Stanwyck Dennis Morgan Christmas in Connecticut

Married in 1939
When Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck married in May 1939, the bride wore navy blue silk. Taylor gave her a gold band ring encircled with rubies. They were married at midnight by a justice of the peace. Mr. and Mrs. Zeppo Marx were there. Mrs. Marx was Stanwyck's matron of honor.

They'd driven to San Diego and waited until after midnight to marry because they were superstitious. It was the thirteenth. Neither wanted to wed on the 13th so they waited until the 14th to marry.
-- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 15, 1939 

It's looking like blue was a popular color for brides in the 1930s and 1940s.
 

August 1939, the couple defiantly announced that they were going to honeymoon in Europe, "war or no war." The studio stepped in and insisted their stars could not have these vacations. Robert Taylor would have to get to work with Hedy Lamarr. 

"It wasn't until war actually started that Taylor finally gave up."
-- The Pittsburgh Press, September 26, 1939

In September 1939 Germany invaded Poland. WW2 was beginning.

September 3, 1939 France and Britain declare war on Germany:
"Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announced the British deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland has expired. 

"He said the British ambassador to Berlin had handed a final note to the German government this morning saying unless it announced plans to withdraw from Poland by 1100, a state of war would exist between the two countries. 

"Mr Chamberlain continued: 'I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and consequently this country is at war with Germany.'"
-- excerpt from BBC News

December 7, 1941 hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. 

December 11, 1941, the United States Congress declared war upon Germany, in response to that nation's declaration of war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and only hours after Germany declared war on the United States.
-- Conf This Day in History, WWII The History Channel


Another Watch for Barbara
Every year since they became a acquainted Robert Taylor has given her some sort of a gift with a watch in it. The first Christmas it was a wrist watch, the second a ring watch and Christmas 1941, it will be a handsome leather purse with a watch insert. Inside will be an unstated number and denomination of United States Defense bonds.
-- The Spokesman-Review, December 24, 1941 Spokane, WA

Do you and your significant other give similar gifts each birthday or holiday?

In June 1941, Barbara and Robert would leave their hand and foot imprints and their signatures, "We love you!" in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

A Really Personalized Watch Idea ... That's so 1930s ...
"A novel gift from his wife, June Collyer is carried about by Stuart Erwin. A watch on the face of watch appear the letters of his name instead of numerals."  Erwin, who later appeared on such TV shows as Perry Mason and The Donna Reed Show was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1940 for his performance in Our Town.
-- quote from The Schenectady Gazette, November 11, 1933

June Collyer's brother was Bud Collyer first host of TV game show To Tell the Truth. He also famously played Clark Kent and Superman on radio and in animated short subjects.

Honeymoon in 1947



In 1947 Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor finally got to Europe sailing aboard the Queen Mary. Some reporters called it their second honeymoon, but they said "It's really our first honeymoon."



Also sailing with them were entertainers such as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Some parts of these newsreels are duplicate, but some not.


AFI, American Film Institute Tribute; Mr. Robert Wagner


Her Titanic costar, Robert Wagner was among those who spoke at the American Film Institute salute to Stanwyck, when she was awarded the Life Achievement Award in 1987.

Barbara Stanwyck didn't marry again after she and Taylor divorced in 1951. She did go on to have other significant relationships. One of them was an affair with the actor Robert Wagner. This happened before his marriage to actress, Natalie Wood. Wagner writes of his relationship with Stanwyck in his memoir, Pieces of My Heart.

Robert Wagner spoke of his love affair with Barbara Stanwyck in an interview.

Visage Collection - Barbara Stanwyck - The Eyes Poster by VinylzArt
Check out Visage Posters online
Choose size, paper type, framed, unframed at zazzle

Vintage Billie Dove Photograph Keychains by SaraSteingraber
Shop for Billie dove Keychains online at Zazzle.com

Books and Related Pages of Interest:

Jean Harlow receives a 152 carat sapphire from William Powell

National Film Registry, Amazing Shadows, Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck

Sapphire, Emerald engagement rings: Princesses, movie stars Old and New Hollywood

Homemade Halloween Costumes: 5 Famous TV Moms, Victoria Barkley The Big Valley; quick and easy last minute costumes
 
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940

Robert Taylor - A Biography by Charles Tranberg, includes an introduction by the actor's son, Terry Taylor.  His mother is Taylor's second wife, Ursula Thiess.

Ursula Thiess wrote an autobiography, But I Have Promises to Keep: My Life Before, With and After Robert Taylor

Insert Your Own Image Cool DIY Wrist Watches  
Browse other Cool Watches