Tag: quotes

Happy 121st Birthday, Paul Muni!

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Actor Paul Muni was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund in what is now the Ukraine 121 years ago today. Here are 10 PM Did-You-Knows:

  • Both of his parents were professional actors in the Yiddish theatre.

  • Muni grew up speaking Yiddish. When he was seven, his family left Austria-Hungary and settled in Chicago.

  • Beginning in 1908, Muni spent four years with New York’s Yiddish Art Theatre before moving on to work for the next 14 years with other Yiddish theatres in NYC.

  • His first English-language role—and Broadway debut—was in a 1926 production of a play called We Americans. Though just 31 years of age, Muni portrayed an elderly man.

  • Muni began his motion picture career in 1929, but continued to alternate between the Broadway stage and Hollywood.

  • Muni, along with James Dean, is one of just two actors to receive an Oscar nomination for his first film role (The Valiant, 1929) and his last (The Last Angry Man, 1959). Muni totaled six Oscar nominations, winning once (Best Actor in a Leading Role for The Story of Louis Pasteur, 1936).

  • Muni’s nickname was Munya.

  • Muni suffered his entire life with a rheumatic heart.

  • Muni turned down the role of Roy Earle in High Sierra (1941). The part eventually went to Humphrey Bogart.

  • In 1956, Muni won the Tony Award for Best Actor (Dramatic) for his role as Henry Drummond in the play Inherit the Wind.

Happy birthday, Paul Muni, wherever you may be!

Paul Muni width=

Happy 123rd Birthday, Mae West!

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Actress, singer, playwright, screenwriter, comedian and sex symbol Mae West was born Mary Jane West 123 years ago today in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Here are 10 MW Did-You-Knows:

  • West was delivered in her family’s home by her midwife aunt. Her father was a prize fighter and, later, a private investigator.

  • Her first public performance is said to occurred at the age of five, when, ironically enough, she entertained at a church social at a still-extant Queens establishment called Neir’s Social Hall (now Neir’s Tavern). After that, she performed in local talent shows.

  • West’s first Broadway appearance came in a 1911 revue called A La Broadway, which was mounted by her former dancing teacher and long-time impresario of juvenile theatrical acts, Ned Wayburn. The revue folded after just eight performances.

  • Her first review in The New York Times, when she was 18 years old, stated, “A girl named Mae West, hitherto unknown, pleased by her grotesquerie and snappy way of singing and dancing.”

  • West began writing risqué plays under the name Jane Mast, and her first starring role on Broadway came in a 1926 play she wrote called Sex. Conservative critics and church groups objected to the play, but the production was a hit. Eventually, the pressure put on by the groups led to West being arrested and placed in jail at Jefferson Market Courthouse (it’s now a public library).

  • West could have paid a fine and remained free, but she opted for a sentence of ten days in jail, figuring it would be good publicity (it was).

  • Of the twelve pictures West appeared in, she wrote or co-wrote nine of them.

  • From the 1920s forward, West was an outspoken supporter of gay rights.

  • West’s 1928 play, Diamond Lil, earned her a ticket to Hollywood (the play was eventually adapted for the screen as She Done Him Wrong and costarred Cary Grant). She was nearly 40 when she signed her first movie contract.

  • After strict enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code began in 1934, putting a damper on her popularity (a toned-down Mae West wasn’t as appealing to the public), West performed in nightclubs, mounted a Las Vegas revue, made records (something she’d been doing since the 1930s) and wrote books. Her final film, Sextette (1978), closed out a career that had spanned more than seventy years.

    • Happy birthday, Mae West, wherever you may be!

    Mae West

    Happy 117th Birthday, Alfred Hitchcock!

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    Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock was born 117 years ago today in Leytonstone, East London. Few directors in the history of cinema have carved out so distinctive a niche as did Hitch. Here are 10 AH Did-You-Knows:

    • Hitchcock’s parents were both of half-Irish and half-English ancestry. His father was a greengrocer.

    • Hitchcock was the youngest of three children, born seven years after his sister, Eileen.

    • Hitchcock always wore a suit and tie while directing his pictures.

    • He found eggs revolting and claimed never to have eaten one.

    • When he was a child, his father asked the local constabulary to lock up young Alfred, telling him, “This is what happens to people who do bad things.” Though his stint in jail lasted just ten minutes, Hitchcock had an aversion to the police for the rest of his life and used the phobia to explain why he never learned to drive (no driving, no dealing with traffic cops).

    • Though he was nominated five times, Hitchcock never won the Best Director Oscar. He was, however, presented with the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the 1967 Academy Awards ceremony.

    • The speech he gave in accepting the award was the shortest in Academy Award history: “Thank you.”

    • In 1980, Hitchock was named an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (honorary because he had become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1956).

    • His favorite among his pictures was Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

    • Hitchcock’s wife, Alma Reville, was one day younger than he was (a belated happy birthday to you, Alma).

    Happy birthday, Alfred Hitchcock, wherever you may be!

    Alfred Hitchcock

    Happy 108th Birthday, Arlene Francis!

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    It could be argued that Arlene Francis falls just outside our purview here at Cladrite Radio. After all, she is best remembered for her post-1950 work, especially on the always very popular panel show What’s My Line? But Arlene had a solid career before 1950, too, in theatre, radio and, to a lesser degree, pictures, so we’re pleased to celebrate her 108th birthday with you.

    WML? still has a very large and devoted following online (you can watch virtually all the extant episodes of the series via the What’s My Line channel on YouTube), and though all the regulars on that show—Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen and host John Charles Daly—are held in high esteem among fans, for most aficionados, our Arlene is the belle of the ball, the queen of the quiz, a charming, delightful and lovely gift to us all.

    Happy birthday, Arlene, wherever you may be. We miss you dearly!

    Arlene Francis quote