Classic Stars Match Play #13 - HEDY LAMARR vs AVA GARDNER

I'm back to kickstart the new year with a new match play. And I've chosen two women who both carried the title The Most Beautiful Woman in Hollywood at one time or another...Hedy Lamarr and Ava Gardner. Who was more beautiful? Who was more talented? Who has the better resume in films? This argument could go on for decades so in the meantime I figured a little match play was in order to see where both women stood...on All Good Things that is. The match begins today and will run thru next Sunday. Good luck to both women. And I will personally be present as to make sure that this match is kept clean and drama free. It's the least I could do.

HEDY LAMARR

Ummm Hedy...you don't need that whip, it's not that kind of match!

Name: Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler
Birth Date: November 9, 1914 (Vienna, Austria-Hungary)
Height: 5' 7"
Academy Awards: none
Monties: 1 nomination so far (Experiment Perilous - 1944)
My favorite Hedy film: I know it's regarded as campy today but I love Hedy in White Cargo (1942).
Match Play record: 0-1 (lost to Rita Hayworth in the first round of the 40's era of the Favorite Classic Actress Tournament)

CLASSIC STARS MATCH PLAY

AVA GARDNER

Ava..you have a match now. You're going make it or you're gonna stay and fish?

Name: Ava Lavinia Gardner
Birth Date: December 24, 1922 (Grabtown, North Carolina...love that name!)
Height: 5' 6"
Academy Awards: One nomination (Best Actress for 1953's Mogambo)
Monties: None so far...but I haven't reached her peak era yet
My favorite Ava film: The Night Of The Iguana

Match Play record: 1-1 (beat Jane Russell but then lost to Grace Kelly (her Mogambo co-star) in the 50's era of the Favorite Classic Actress Tournament

Ladies...the stage is all yours!

Happy Birthday to two film goddesses...Hedy Lamarr and Dorothy Dandridge

Two of Hollywood's film goddesses celebrate birthdays today...Hedy Lamarr and Dorothy Dandridge.

Hedy (1914-2000) was nicknamed The Most Beautiful Woman in Films when she arrived in Hollywood from Austria. She was usually cast as exotic women in such films as White Cargo, Algiers, Samson and Delilah. She was so striking that you really didn't realize she was actually a pretty good actress. Check out her performances in Experiment Perilous, The Conspirators, and The Heavenly Body. Ironically enough all three films came out in 1944. One of my favorite films of hers is Ziegfeld Girl. She was married six times and had three children (of which one was adopted). Happy Birthday Hedy!


Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) was a very talented woman with great natural singing ability and a good actress. Starring in such films as Carmen Jones (which earned her an Academy Award nomination), Porgy and Bess, and Island in the Sun. Her career was short lived at the age of 42 as she had a overdose of barbiturates Still Dorothy earned a place in the annals of Hollywood. Happy birthday Dorothy!

Ziegfeld Girl is solid entertainment

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Star loaded 1941 film Ziegfeld Girl is an enjoyable film. It stars Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner. Like I said star loaded. The film centers on three different girls who become Ziegfeld girls, which they hope mean fame and money. Judy is Susan Gallagher, one half of a musical variety act with her old school dad (played by the fabulous Charles Winniger) that play at very small locales just to earn some money. Well Susan gets the call that the great Mr. Ziegfeld is looking for new girls and she is all happy for her and her dad. But Ziegfeld just wants Susan and not dad. So tension arises from that situation but good old dad doesn't stand in her way. Susan becomes a Ziegfeld girl and her dad carries on the show by himself. Hedy plays Sandra Kotler, a married woman whose violinist husband Franz is struggling to make a name for himself. At the audition for acts for The Ziegfeld show, Franz is overlooked but Sandra is picked to be a ZG, much to Franz's displeasure. They end up separated for awhile and Sandra becomes close with the show's male vocalist Frank (played by Tony Martin). And finally there is elevator girl Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) who has a boyfriend trucker named Gill (Jimmy Stewart with a thick Brooklyn accent). Sheila is the type of girl from the wrong side of the tracks with a hard working family. Once she gets picked, she makes the biggest transformation of all the girls. She lets the fame and money go to her head and breaks up with Gill and starts romancing a much older and richer man. All the girls personal issues play out against the backdrop of the Ziegfeld musical shows. Judy Garland gets to belt out a few good numbers. But its actually Charles Winniger who has the best musical number: a song and dance number with an old vaudeville partner that leaves the audience amazed. Hedy Lamarr is pretty good here in one of her first musicals. Her scenes with Franz are excellent. Jimmy Stewart is good as Gill, a nice change of pace from playing the good guys..he ends up in jail for bootlegging after being dumped by Sheila. His Brooklyn accent is thick, but somehow he loses it by midway through the film. The standout in this film is Lana Turner as Sheila. Whoever may have question Ms. Turner's acting ability will be put in check by her performance here. It deserved some type of award for her hard take on this girl who becomes her own worst enemy. Towards the end, Sheila will have hit rock bottom and Turner nails it with a riveting performance. Ms. Turner may have been known for her beauty, but here she proves she can act with the best of them. There is also solid support from veterans Edward Everett Horton, Fay Holden and Eve Arden. Typical Eve gets in several good zingers. So, Ziegfeld Girl is a marvelous film, not really a straight forward musical, more of a drama that has a few musical numbers in it with solid performances by a talented cast. And one knockout performance by Lana Turner. I enjoyed every minute of it.

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