Mr.
Blaum is a Free-Lance Writer
Based in State College, Pennsylvannia
He can be reached at bardas8@aol.com |
Comments
from "Baby, I'll Make You A Star! The Great Studios And Their
Development Of Young Actresses: 1927-60"
by Paul A. Blaum, Penn State - (2003-2004) |
" ... Diana Lynn took the television plunge as early as 1950,
when she appeared twice on the Silver Theater (April 17 and June 5)
and once on the Lux
Video Theater (December 18). She was soon a fixture in television
dramas (e.g. "The Last Hours of Joan of Arc), then such a prominent
part of that
medium's menu. On May 5, Diana Lynn, striking an aloof and regal pose,
appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine as one of "TV's Leading
Ladies."
Unfortunately, Diana's salary figures as a television "star"
paled before those of her cinema contemporaries, despite her near
omnipresence on
television throughout most of the 1950s ... In the late 1940s, the
top Paramount stars commanded salaries of $5,000 a week. In the early
1950s, television
actresses made comparatively puny salaries; the best of them at their
peak only earned $20,000 a year. Furthermore, Diana Lynn, like most
of the pioneer
television performers, did not enjoy the privilege of having her efforts
archived for posterity. Movie critic James Robert Parish, who is sometimes
harsh
in his judgments of Diana writes: "Like her sparking stage performances,
most of her early television work was done live, leaving only reviews
of her
accomplishments as her legacy." Her most memorable television
performance may have been in the NBC production of "The Philadelphia
Story"
(December 7, 1959), in which she played spoiled heiress Tracy Lord
and reprised the 1940 cinema role of Katherine Hepburn. In the early
1960s, the
sudden demise of television dramas and their replacement with the
likes of "Gilligan's Island" took away Diana's artistic
bread and butter; in the
meantime, four pregnancies in seven years must have sapped her energy
and rechanneled her priorities. Her last television appearance, as
a secondary
romantic interest, was on "The Virginian" on February 17,
1965.
"If the cameras were unforgiving of her graying hairs and thickened
features, Diana herself was more philosophical. To the New York press,
she once
remarked, "If I'm with my husband at a party and someone calls
me Miss Lynn, I feel downright immoral. People who call me Miss Lynn
run the risk of
having their heads handed to them." These words were not the
petulant carpings of a pampered pop idol, but the plea of an overripe
girl-woman who
wanted only the privilege of a graceful growing up. She spoke for
many who had their day on the wide screen, enjoyed and endured its
transitory
brilliance, then knew when the time had come to fold up their scripts
and take the road home."
APPENDIX: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DIANA LYNN
"... Diana Lynn made her three most memorable films before she
was twenty: "The Major and the Minor" (1942), "The
Miracle of Morgan's Creek" (1944),
and "Our Hearts Were Young And Gay" (1944). Of the three,
"The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" has stood the test of time
best, with Diana playing Emmy
Kockenlocker, a kid sister of fourteen going on forty. Her screen
father, played by William Demarest, is forever unsure what to do with
this shrewd but
lovable brat, whom he referred to once in exasperation as "Zipperpuss."
From the perspective of many film gurus, Diana Lynn never measured
up to her
early potential, although she made thirty-one movies in all. In William
Wellman's allegorical western, "Track of the Cat" (1954),
Diana seemed poised to snap
the fetters of typecasting, as judged by the following caption from
the back of one of her promotional photos: "Diana Grows Up: Diana
Lynn couldn't be
happier with her role in `Track of the Cat,' Wayne-Fellows CinemaScope
production of Warner Bros. In this adventure drama Diana gets her
first chance to
depart from sweet-young-thing types of roles and `be a woman.' "
Unfortunately, "Track of the Cat" was a misfire in the eyes
of both critics and the public.
Between 1955 and 1970, she had a long hiatus from film, reappearing
in a minor role in the ill-starred " Company of Killers"
with Ray Milland, Van Johnson,
and 1964 Playmate of the Year Donna Michelle. During that time (1956),
she married publishing executive Mortimer Hall, by whom she had one
son and three
daughters. Diana, with her usual perspicacity, maintained her Hollywood
connections and circle of friends. Among those pals was playwright
Matt Crowley,
who (according to Parish) penned much of his play, "The Boys
in the Band," in the privacy of her library. In 1971, Diana was
preparing a comeback in the
film adaptation of Joan Didion's novel, "Play It As It Lays,"
when she succumbed to a stroke and brain hemorrhage on December 18,
at age forty-five. Her
ashes now rest in an urn at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest,
facing Central Park, in Manhattan. The name on Niche #E9, otherwise
unmarked,
reads simply Diana Lynn Hall."
|
| Noteable
Responses to Mr. Blaum's Published work |
Following
the August 7 publication of my article on Diana Lynn and "The
Kentuckian" in the Lexington Herald-Leader,
I received this e-mail from J.D. Mayfield, DMD. I will reproduce his
electronic letter in its entirely. ~ ~
Dear Mr. Blaum:
"I read with nostalgic interest your column that appeared in
the Lexington, KY Herald-Leader on Sunday, August 7, 2005. I was in
the movie when I was
11 years at the time. My mother drug me everywhere trying to get a
part for me. She succeeded.
I had no speaking part but was seen in a number of scenes in the movie-schoolroom
scene, racing to the steamboat arm in arm with two ladies, walking
across the gangplank to the steamboat. The fight scene, etc. I worked
three weeks in the movie and received $75 a day, was furnished clothes
to wear and
given free catered meals that were unseasoned and barely palatable.
The fight scene with Bodine was filmed at Lincoln Pioneer Village
in Rockport, Indiana, which was across the river from Owensboro. The
steamboat scene
was film in Spottsville, KY on Green River midway between Owensboro
and Henderson, KY. I did not know that a portion of the movie was
filmed at
Levi Jackson State Park. We have a summer cabin on Laurel Lake remotely
close to that area.
My first experience on the set I will never forget. The movie company
leased a number of yellow 1953 Chevrolet Bel-Air station wagson to
transport the stars
to and from Owensboro to the daily set. One vehicle was leaving the
filming area with [when?] a passenger was seen beating out the beat
seat window with
a carpenter's hammer. Glass was going everywhere. My mother and me
plus my infant sister which accompanied us were aghast at the happenings.
The
driver of our vehicle said, `Oh, that is Walter Matthau. You know
he has a drinking problem.'
From then on we never experienced another outburst like that. And
on a number of occasions Mr. Matthau would grab my baby sister from
my mother's arms
and ride her around on his shoulders. My mother was always uneasy
about this situation.
The creek that Mr. Lancaster was running across to reach Bodine and
the Strohns (sp?) was too deep to wade through so they had to build
a wooden platform
below the water so that could be possible. That scene was filmed at
Carpenter's Lake near Owensboro.
I had fiery red hair at that time and the director Harold Hecht did
not put me in an advantageous position because they did not desire
to take away from
little Eli (Donald McDonald) so my parts were rather inconspicuous.
While on the set I received all autographs from the stars -- Diana
Lynn, Dianne Foster, Walter Matthau, John Carradine, John McIntire,
Donald McDonald,
John Litel, Una Merkel. I was unable to get Burt's autograph. Everytime
I would ask him he would say he was busy but ask him later. I never
succeeded.
He had rented a house in Owensboro on Roosevelt Road, a rather exclusive
area at that time. My parents lived about three blocks from that house
and as
kids we would ride by that residence on our bikes several times a
day and night hoping to get a glimpse of him but the house was always
dark.
One of Burt's favorite on-set comments was, `Quiet. This is our Academy
Award shot.' Too bad the movie bombed.
Sorry to hear about Mrs. Lynn (Loehr's) death. Even at an early age
I can remember that she was a `perfect lady.'
I would have been proud to have [had] her as my mother, that is, if
I had no mother.'
Thanks again for allowing me to relive my past and express my experiences."
Sincerely,
J.D. Mayfield, DMD
*********************
In response to the article, I received a second e-mail from Mimi Chandler
Lewis, daughter of Happy Chandler, Governor of Kentucky and Commissioner
of Major League Baseball in 1947 when the game was integrated by Jackie
Robison.
Mimi Lewis (born 1926) wrote as follows:
"I very much enjoyed your article on Diana Lynn in this morning's
Lexington Herald-Leader. Dolly and I were great friends when we were
contract players
with Paramount Studios and just starting our careers (1942-43). When
I opted for marriage in 1944 (in those days it was either or), Dolly
gave a lovely shower
for me. We made a picture together ... "And the Angels Sing"
in 1943 and it was very popular and played on TV for aeons. We were
only 15 and the big stars of
the picture were Dorothy Lamour, Betty Hutton, and Fred MacMurray.
We four played sisters in the picture. It was fun as I look back but
I didn't think so then
and decided the picture business was not for me. Dolly and I remained
friends through the years and were in mail and phone contact most
of the time. Her
marriage to John Lindsay was not happy ... but her marriage to Morty
Hall was and I have often wondered what her four children are doing.
Dolly was really a
concert pianist and I hope one of her children inherited that talent.
Our other great friend was Mona Freeman, who still lives in Beverly
Hills. She made many
movies but finally retired to become a painter and is very successful.
I am cutting out your article to send to her."
Mimi Chandler Lewis
*********************
In a subsequent e-mail to me, Mimi Chandler Lewis wrote thus:
"Dolly was just the kind sweet girl you thought she was and I
thank you for the nice article."
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