Helen Kane is a star who influenced iconic people, characters, songs, etc. There aren't many who remember her now, though.
You probably remember Marilyn Monroe singing:
"I wanna be loved by you
Boop Boop Bee Doop"
This song was created by Helen Kane and the trademark scat singing "Boop a Doop" style also was popularized by her in the late twenties. She became such a sensation that Helen Kane merchandise (dolls, comics, etc.) was sold, she recorded 22 songs and made several films.
Max Fleischer (Popeye) capitalized on her fame by creating the cartoon character Betty Boop who went on to become more famous than her model. Helen sued but lost the trial.
In 1950, the film Three Little Words told a romanticized version of the lives of composers Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby and their meeting with Helen is portrayed. Debbie Reynolds played the part of Helen Kane in her twenties. But Helen's singing style was so special that she did the singing for the film.
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When Thunderball went into production, a new song had to be composed for the new title sequence. The producers were amused by the fact that the Japanese fans of James Bond called him "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". So it was decided that the theme song for the film would have that very title.
Maurice Binder designed the sequence from the song recorded by Dionne Warwick. Since the title of the film wasn't included in the lyrics (as opposed to those in Goldfinger for instance), it was thought that the singing should start after the word "Thunderball" had appeared. Thus the long musical intro for the song.
For some reason, it was eventually considered inappropriate for the theme song not to be named after the film and a new song was recorded by Tom Jones. Instead of creating a new sequence, it was timed to fit Binder's original designs in order to save costs.
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Remember when the hero sees his picture on the newspaper in Grand Central station and he's on the run? Or the glimpse that the loving wife throws her husband when she's just read her famous lover is coming to town in the morning paper?
Surely, the prop man photocopied a pre-existing paper with their pictures and a fake article on top. Yeah, in 1910, they probably did. Very soon, the matters of credibility and copyright came up.
Then came Earl Hays. Don't look for his name in the credits, not even in a story based heavily on newspapers like Citizen Kane. And yet... Earl Hays was there. And he did it all.
Phyllis Thaxter and Earl's creation for Fort Worth
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As early as 1921, he specialized on printing fake newspapers for the movie industry. He even had an office at 20th Century Fox. His first assignment was for The Speed Girl starring Bebe Daniels. Of course, over time, his technique allowed him to get better and better and to diversify his activities by printing posters, ads, programs, business cards, etc.
The secret was that he had collected newspapers and various items from all over the world since childhood, including famous copies like the one of the London Times announcing George Washington's death. He used this treasure to make his creations believable in terms of looks and content.
He would charge the studios from 24 to 38 dollars a copy in the 1950s, printing as much as 20 different newspapers for the single production of That Wonderful Urge for Fox.
Nowadays, the work of Earl Hays lives on through his firm (here's their website) which keeps providing major studios newspapers and other printed items for films or hit series like Desperate Housewives, as this article points out.
There aren't many films that have such a famous scene. Surely you remember that film where Marilyn Monroe swims naked in a swimming pool. Sure you do,... it had Dean Martin in it, right? For some reason, you just cannot seem to remember the plot, though. But that scene got a lot of press coverage and is just as famous as the blowing skirt in "The Seven Year Itch".
And yet... there never was a film. At least not one that was ever completed. After the United Artists film The Misfits, shot in black and white by John Huston, 20th Century Fox who had the actress under contract felt that she should do another one of her successful Cinemascope Deluxe Color comedies. So an old script produced in 1940 as My Favorite Wife (starring Irenne Dunne and Cary Grant) was dug up and revamped for Marilyn to star in. The film was to be called Something's Got to Give and her co-star were Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. George Cukor agreed to direct in spite of the problems he encountered with the temperamental star.
Marilyn had been a little plump in her last Fox movie Let's Make Love, but she went on a diet and came back in tip top shape for her makeup and costume test.
Some scenes were shot, among which the famous swimming pool scene. Precious time was lost shooting the same scenes endlessly with children or with a dog. And Marilyn's lack of sleep sometimes prevented her from shooting close-ups.
Unfortunately, Marilyn fell ill and George Cukor started shooting around her, until all the scenes that did not include her were in the can. The studio finally fired the actress. When her co-star would not work with anybody else and for various other obvious reasons, Marilyn was re-hired, but her subsequent death sealed the fate of the film.
However it still had a future. For 20th Century Fox, the first move was to use the script, some of the sets and start a new production with a completely different cast. They threw in a song and adapted the scenario to their new star: Doris Day. The result was Move Over Darling. A far less appealing title but a decent film nonetheless.
And then what? Several documentaries about Marilyn Monroe used the same footage over and over. Until a DVD of the documentary The Final Days came out. At the end of it was an attempt to edit all the scenes shot that could fit in a result that could make sense.
You can get a glimpse of what the film would have been, but the main attraction is missing from most of it. The comedy would probably have been in the line of Let's Make Love, but as shallow as Marilyn's role appears, it would have been a very definite turn in her career: never before had she played a mother.
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Here's a film I've seen and appreciated years ago. Sometimes, in a small simple film, profound feelings are found. All the easier if the star is Bourvil.
Le cœur sur la main (Heart on Sleeve) tells the story of a churchwarden, chosen by a touring singer to play the accordion on her show one night, an instrument he plays expertly. He falls in love with the creature and follows her to the city, becoming himself the musical phenomenon of Paris. The lady takes advantage of the admirer, who is too naïve, too good, too much in love..
A classic story, as told by an actor capable of switching register in a split second, to make us feel for the character in a middle of a laughter, so that we forget if our tears came from joy or sadness.
This film is only lost to those of you who will not see an old foreign film, although I must admit it is only available on French DVD.
More than the film itself, I wish to share a musical sequence (by Étienne Lorin) that best represents the French accent when speaking English.
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This song was created by Helen Kane and the trademark scat singing "Boop a Doop" style also was popularized by her in the late twenties. She became such a sensation that Helen Kane merchandise (dolls, comics, etc.) was sold, she recorded 22 songs and made several films.
