Today is the 119th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. In 1938, Anatole Litvak directed Bette Davis and Errol Flyn in The Sisters, a melodrama about the trials and tribulations of three sisters in Montana. Bette Davis's character Louise meets Errol Flynn's Frank, a sportswriter and aspiring novelist. Despite her parents' disapproval, they marry and run off to San Francisco. Frank becomes an alcoholic and they aren't happy. Then the 1906 Earthquake and Fire strikes. Much of the earthquake and fire footage came from a Warner Brothers silent film, In Old San Francisco.
Frank Llloyd made an epic production based on Rafael Sabatini's novel The Sea Hawk. The 1924 movie, which starred Milton Sills and Enid Bennett, bears no relation other than its title to the 1940 The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn.
Exhibitors Herald, 14-June-1924
San Francisco Bulletin, 30-August-1924
I like the design of this ad, especially the sail and the waves.
San Francisco Bulletin, 30-August-1924
The San Francisco Bulletin's critic approved.
Exhibitors Herald, 23-August-1924
Meanwhile, Vitagraph was preparing an adaption of another pirate novel by Sabatini, Captain Blood.
Commercial radio had begun in the United States in the 1920s. The
first national network, NBC, the National Broadcasting Company, began
operating in 1926. The national networks and sponsors developed many
types of programs, dramas, comedies and variety shows. Recordings of
radio shows from before the mid-1930s are very rare. In part because of
union contracts, shows on the national networks, NBC, CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System) and MBS (the
Mutual Broadcasting System) were broadcast live. National shows were
performed twice, once for the Eastern and Central time zones and once
three hours later for the Pacific time zone.
Hollywood, after a short period of being worried about competition from the radio, embraced it as a mechanism to promote their movies and their stars. Warner Brothers even started its own Los Angeles radio station, which is still called KFWB. Warner Brothers star Olivia De Havilland made many appearances on the radio.
Radio Mirror, October, 1937
Actress Olivia de Haviland famously never had an acting lesson. In this article, "If You Want to Act," from the October, 1937 Radio Mirror, she says that "Any young actor should look at radio as his great opportunity ... Look at me. Radio makes me a better actress every time I go on the air. It gives me the inspiration and excitement I've never found in the movies. And it's teaching me things about the job of acting the movies can't even touch!" She speaks of the benefit of playing a story from beginning to end, building to a logical climax, rather than jumping around with lots of interruptions, as they do in movies. Radio also gave her the opportunity to play with actors who were under contract to studios other than Warner Brothers.
www.listal.com
In 1935, Olivia de Havilland's first big hit movie was Captain Blood, where she co-starred with Errol Flynn, who became a regular screen partner.
On 22-February-1937, an anthology show, The Lux Radio Theatre, which did weekly adaptions of popular movies, presented Captain Blood, with Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, Henry Stephenson and Basil Rathbone. The host was usually director Cecil B De Mille, but this week, he was away working on The Buccaneer. Actor Herbert Marshall served as the temporary host.
www.listal.com
In many cases, the original stars of a movie were not all available. In 1934 Alexander Korda produced an adaption of Baroness Emma Orczy's novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard played Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel and Merle Oberon played his wife, Lady Blakeney. Raymond Massey played the bad guy, Chauvelin.
On 12-December-1938, The Lux Radio Theatre presented The Scarlet Pimpernel. Leslie Howard reprised his role as Sir Percy. Olivia de Havilland played Lady Blakeney. Howard and de Havilland worked together again in Gone With the Wind. I could not catch the name of the guy who played Chauvelin. Cecil B De Mille was the host.
www.listal.com
In 1941, Alfred Hitchcock directed Cary Grant and Olivia de Havilland's sister Joan Fontaine in Suspicion. de Havilland was nominated for Best Actress for Hold Back the Dawn and Fontaine was nominated for Suspicion. Fontaine won. On 04-May-1942, Joan Fontaine appeared in Suspicion on The Lux Radio Theatre, Brian Aherne played Johnny, Cary Grant's role.
On 18-September-1944, The Lux Radio Theatre repeated Suspicion. Since network shows had to be broadcast live, they had to create a new production. This time, Olivia de Havilland played her sister's role and William Powell played Johnny. I wonder if this added to the friction between the sisters.
Olivia de Havilland appeared on other types of shows as well. On 04-October-1938, she appeared on the Bob Hope Show, a comedy-variety show.
Suspense was a drama anthology known as "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." On 07-September-1944 Olivia De Havilland appeared in "Voyage Through Darkness" with Reginald Gardiner. I always like the series opening: "We hope to keep you in ... suspense."
Search on the internet and you will find many more Old Time Radio shows featuring Olivia de Havilland.
We are lucky that she is still with us. I hope she has a wonderful 100th birthday.
This post is part of the Olivia de Havilland Centenary Blogathon hosted by Crystal at In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and Phyllis at Phyllis Loves Classic Movies. Thank you to Crystal and Phyllis for all the hard work. Thank you to everyone who visited and I encourage you to read and
comment on as many posts as you can. Bloggers love comments.
