The Year of the Month is... 1948
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 3:29PM Lest you forget, we have two Smackdowns this month. The first, already published, was for 1979 and for the second half of the month our retrospective love will be devoted to 1948 when these five women were nominated for Best Supporting Actress
- Barbarba Bell Geddes, I Remember Mama
- Ellen Corby, I Remember Mama
- Agnes Moorhead, Johnny Belinda
- Jean Simmons, Hamlet
- Claire Trevor, Key Largo [winner]
Readers are the final panelist and your votes count (collectively) so between now and June 25th get your votes in with 1 (ouch) to 5 (total perfection) hearts for each. Please only vote on the performances you've seen (points are proportional so it doesn't affect the widely seen or the underseen).
To give you some context for the year, let's go over some high points of 1948...
Montgomery Clift becomes a superstar right out of the gate with his first two films: The Search and Red River
Great Big Box Office Hits: 1) The Red Shoes, 2) The Three Musketeers, 3) Red River, 4) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 5) When My Baby Smiles at Me 6) Easter Parade 7) Johnny Belinda 8) The Snake Pit 9) Ingrid Bergman as Joan of Arc and 10) Erroll Flynn in The Adventures of Don Juan
Oscar's Best Pictures: Johnny Belinda (12 noms / 1 win), Hamlet (7 noms/4 wins), The Snake Pit (6 noms / 1 win), The Red Shoes (5 noms / 2 wins), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (4 noms / 3 wins). The Search starring Montgomery Clift probably just missed the cut-off with 4 major nominations, 1 win and a special Juvenile Oscar. Johnny Belinda and Sierra Madre shared the Golden Globe honors while Hamlet won Oscar's top prize
Happenings: Hollywood is still under the thumb of the HUAC hearings and many valuable players have already been blacklisted and/or jailed at this point; Post World War II anti-semitism is a mainstream topic which results in a Best Picture win early in the year for Gentleman's Agreement and then the banning of another film, David Lean's Oliver Twist, due to perceptions of anti-semitism in the character of Fagin (Alec Guiness); The US Supreme Court rules against religious instruction in public schools; Alfred Kinsey publishes "Sexual Behavior in the US Male"; Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated; a subway fare hike in Manhattan kicks it up to a whole dime.
Other Arts: Truman Capote's "Other Voices, Other Rooms" and Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" are published, Pulitzer winners include James Michenere's "Tales of the South Pacific," Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire", and W.H. Auden for "The Age of Anxiety," Ed Sullivan and Milton Berle both begin their historical television superstardom this year with the variety shows "Toast of the Town" and "Texaco Star Theater" both of which will be retitled to reflect their star's name; "Mister Roberts" wins the first Tony Award for Best Play and "Kiss Me Kate" premieres on Broadway and will win the next year's inaugural Best Musical category.
Some Magazine Covers for Context
Various movie queens, a reference to Shirley Temple's baby (her first child was born in January of '48), hot topics like Alfred Kinsey and Mahatma Gandhi, and more...
Mix Tape (Born in '48)
Olivia Newton-John, Stevie Nicks, Grace Jones, Kenny Loggins, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Donna Summer, Jackson Browe, and Steve Winwood
Actors We ♥♥♥♥ Hard at TFE that were born in '48
Bernadette Peters, Dianne Wiest, Barbara Hershey, Kathy Bates and Christopher Guest
Other Key Showbiz Figures From '48's Fine Vintage
Joe Dallesandro, Samuel L Jackson, John Carpenter, Gérard Depardieu, Bonnie Bedelia, Margot Kidder, Bud Cort, Kate Jackson, Mercedes Reuhl, Phylicia Rashad, Linsday Crouse, Mimi Kennedy, Nathalie Baye, Nell Carter, George RR Martin (author), Ben Burtt (sound genius), Colleen Atwood (costume designer), Javier Aguierresarobe (cinematographer), Edward Lachman (cinematographer), Lindy Hemming (costume designer)
Showtune to Go: Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" is released which will later play a key role in one our mutual favorite films of all time Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Reader Comments (14)
Aside from the awful HUAC hearings this was a very good year in entertainment. Looking forward to this Smackdown although I have a strong inkling who will emerge victorious.
Love Montgomery Clift. My fav actor of all time. One of the VERY few male actors who was never afraid of showing vulnerability
I just watched Red River, and forgot how magnificent a movie it truly is. Monty is unbelievably handsome, and Wayne, who I've never really enjoyed, was very good. A haunting film, beautifully photographed, that captures Clift's overwhelming charisma in aeternum. That Best Picture lineup is pretty terrific.
Was there anyone more beautiful than Montgomery Clift in his prime?
I think not.
Best movie of the year was Anthony Mann's masterpiece of film noir, Raw Deal, for which Trevor should have won the Oscar. This movie has one of the most astonishing cinematography jobs ever, by the great John Alton.
For some reason I always thought that Dianne Wiest was mid-fifties like Turner or Winger. Anyway, I love this context pieces.
Nat, I can't you believe you posted that picture of Monty and you'll see why soon enough. ;-)
I was just reading how the drunken singing scene by Claire Trevor in Key Largo was lifted directly from a real performance of Humphrey Bogart's third wife Mayo Methot. Her story is a bit tragic, similar to Frances Farmer's. Bogie went on to an affair with Bacall and Mayo kind of sunk into oblivion.
trivia: all but the winner of that supporting actress line-up went on to play matriarchs on hit tv shows or mini-series (dallas, the waltons, bewitched, the thorn birds). i would have preferred to write "they all won emmys for playing matriarchs..." but, sadly, moorhead never won for endora. inconceivable
par, at least Moorehead got an Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Drama (although it was a guest role) in a year when she was double-nominated. Claire Trevor also won a statue in the '50s, making all five of these women Emmy winners.
And Jean Simmons also played the matriarch in the 1991 revival of Dark Shadows...but no Emmy there. ;-)
Wow, Olivia Newton-John (xo) and Stevie Nicks are the same age? They seem like an entirely different generation to me.
Bernadette Peters and Dianne Wiest (xo) are *also* the same age?! I can't believe how good the former looks.
Mareko -- Bernadette Peters...is from the Andie MacDowell school of probably selling her soul to the devil for eternal beauty or bathing in the blood of virgins or something. These people who don't age are so terrifying / awesome.
My Top 10 of the year:
1. Key Largo
2. The Snake Pit
3. Johnny Belinda
4. Rope
5. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
6. Red River
7. The Big Clock
8. The Naked City
9. The Search
10. The Three Musketeers
I'm glad that Trevor is an Oscar Winner but my vote would have go to Jean Simmons, possibly best movie Ophelia ever!