"Can Marlon Brando Be Tamed?" - the answer, as the next 50 years taught the world was an unequivocal "No."1954 is our "Year of the Month" and this post was fun to research. People who only care about 'the now' are really missing out. Movie tickets were only 70 cents. Can you imagine?
We'll announce the panelists for the Supporting Actress Smackdown (August 30th) on Tuesday. But until then let's marinate a little in the year that was.
BEST MOVIES ACCORDING TO...
Oscar:
On the Waterfront (12 noms / 8 wins)
The Country Girl (7 noms | 2 wins)
The Caine Mutiny (7 nominations)
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (5 noms | 1 win)
Three Coins in the Fountain (3 noms | 2 wins).
Just outside the Best Picture shortlist looking in was surely Billy Wilder's wonderful and funny Sabrina and maybe the airplane drama The High and the Mighty (both with 6 noms | 1 win). Probably not just-misses as they were not totally loved but definitely prestigious / respected were two musicals, the awesome A Star is Born (6 nominations) which should have definitely been there and which in fact won both the acting Globes for comedy/musical and the historic Carmen Jones (2 nominations). It's always worth noting that only beginning in the 80s were musicals like rare unicorns. There were 22 musicals released in 1954! It was just another type of movie with hits and misses like any other film genre for the first 50 years of sound cinema.
Golden Globe: (drama) On the Waterfront (comedy/musical) Carmen Jones
Cannes: Gate of Hell (Japan) took the Palme D'Or and after opening in the US in December and Oscar nomination for Costume Design and an Honorary Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (before that category was created)
List-Mania continues with music hits, debuts, and adorable "born in '54" people after the jump...
Box Office: 1) White Christmas 2) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 3) Rear Window 4) Demetrius & The Gladiators 5) The Caine Mutiny 6) Vera Cruz 7) Carmen Jones 8) The Country Girl 9) The Barefoot Contessa 10) [tie] A Star is Born and The High and the Mighty
New York Times Top Ten List (Bosley Crowther)
At the time the policy was to list them by release dates: The Glenn Miller Story, Genevieve, Knock on Wood, Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, On the Waterfront, The Little Kidnappers, Sabrina, The Country Girl, and Romeo and Juliet
Hitchcock has no objection if you see Rear Window 20 times!Nathaniel's Favorites: I still have a few key pictures left that I'd like to see -- really curious about Japan's Gate of Hell and the UK's Genevieve (I go by US release dates like Oscar does, rather than IMDb dates)-- and I'd love to revisit some films I only saw as a kid like Creature from the Black Lagoon. But my top ten currently looks like this.
- Rear Window
- A Star is Born
- On the Waterfront
- Johnny Guitar
- Sabrina
- White Christmas... such a delight
- Magnificent Obsession
- Executive Suite - so underappreciated!
- It Should Happen To You - another underappreciated gem
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
As for Oscars favorites, I enjoy Three Coins in the Fountain which is a fun gender/corporate/travel time capsule but The Country Girl is Stale Psychology 101 and Caine Mutiny is just agonizingly dull -- how was that such a hit?
Happenings
Brown v Board struck down segregation in public schools, President Eisenhower signs Social Security bill, Marilyn Monroe marries Joe DiMaggio, Elvis Presley's career essentially begins, and Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist Witch Hunt -- which so hobbled hundreds of Hollywood careers -- finally ends when he is censured by the Senate
Important Film Careers Launched in 1954
Omar Sharif made his first film in Egypt, Eva Marie Saint made a big splash with her debut in On the Waterfront, and two of Hollywood's most beloved leading men also arrived: Jack Lemmon emerged fully formed in the romantic comedy It Should Happen To You; Paul Newman's first film on the other hand was an inauspicious debut, it was the Biblical flop The Silver Chalice which he later apologized for with his co-star Natalie Wood
TV Series That Debuted in '54
"The Tonight Show" (the host then was Steve Allen) which is the longest running talk show in the world and "Lassie" both came to the small screen
Classic Fictional Characters Born in '54
Godzilla the King of Monters, Pig Pen from "Peanuts", and Wendy the Good Little Witch from "Casper," Any human, dwarf, elf or wizard from The Lord of the Rings
Tony Winners of 1954
Musical: Kismet; Play: The Teahouse of the August Moon
New Plays or Books That Become Movies
I'll Cry Tomorrow (Lillian Roth) on screens by 1955, A Kiss Before Dying (Ira Levin) on screens by 1956, The Bridge on the River Kwai (Pierre Boulee) on screens by 1957, Bonjour Tristesse (Françoise Sagan) on screens by 1958, Separate Tables (Terence Rattigan) on screens by 1958, Story of O (Pauline Réage) on screens by 1961... sort of, I Am Legend (Richard Matheson) on screens by 1964, Under Milk Wood (Dylan Thomas) on screens by 1972, Live and Let Die (Ian Fleming) on screens by 1973, Lord of the Flies (William Golding) on screens by 1990, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (JRR Tolkien) on screens by 1978...sort of.
Top Ten Songs of '54 According to Billboard
(Best Original Song Winner of 1954 and Gay Anthem - see Celluloid Closet, 1995)
- "Little Things Mean A Lot" - Kitty Kallen
- "Wanted" - Perry Como
- "Hey There" - Rosemary Clooney
- "Sh-Boom" -The Crew Cuts
- "Make Love To Me" - Jo Stafford
- "Oh My Pa-Pa" - Eddie Fisher
- "(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely" - The Four Knights
- "Three Coins in the Fountain" - The Four Aces
- "Secret Love" - Doris Day
- "Hernando's Hideaway" - Archie Bleyer
Born in '54 Mixtape
Adam Ant, Basia, Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, Rickie Lee Jones, Annie Lennox, Ricky Skaggs, Helen Terry, Cheryl Bentyne (of The Manhattan Transfer), Jon Brant (of Cheap Trick), David Lee Roth (of Van Halen), Neil Tennant (of Pet Shop Boys), Nancy Wilson (of Heart), Yanni
Hot New Things
Sports Illustrated Magazine and TV Dinners!
BORN IN 1954
The Single Greatest Thing To Happen To the World in 1954
Kathleen Turner (Actress/Goddess)
The Few. The Proud. The Oscar Winners
James Cameron (Writer/Director/King of World), Jane Campion (Writer/Director), Joel Coen (Writer/Director/Brother), Elliott Goldenthal (Composer), Ron Howard (Director/Opie), Ang Lee (Director), Michael Moore (Documentarian), Denzel Washington (Actor/Sidney-Poitier-Chaser), Lili Fini Zanuck (Producer)
Directors
Allison Anders (USA), Wolfgang Becker (Germany), Luc Dardenne (Belgium), Lee Chang Dong (South Korea), Emir Kusturica (Serbia)
RIP
Anthony Minghella (Director)
Perfect Physical Specimens Created in Lab To Make Everyone Else Feel Ugly
and many more from these other categories...
Christie Brinkley, Lesley-Anne Down, Sam J Jones, Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo
Nathaniel's First Absolutely Crushing Gay Crush
Ken Olin in thirtysomething. Hypnotized and confused I was each week.
Whatever Happened To...?
Lonette McKee (The Cotton Club), Donna Pescow (Saturday Night Fever), Jeffrey Townsend (1980s movie production designer of The Fabulous Baker Boys, After Hours, and more) Pia Zadora (Golden Globe Winner), Shari Belafonte (Daughter of Harry)
Big On TV
Ellen Barkin (Diva/Tony Winner/BFF of Julianne Moore), Scott Bakula (recently caught stealing every scene of his in "Looking"), James Belushi, Anthony Head ("Giles"), Michael Patrick King, Kathy Kinney, Chris Noth, Katey Sagal, Jerry Seinfeld, Barry Williams ("Greg Brady!")
(Charles Busch, Natasha Lyonne, and Frances Conroy in Die, Mommie, Die!)
Fabulous Broadway Babies
The legendary Harvey Fierstein (4 Tony Awards, 3 Drama Desk Awards), the one and only Charles Busch (1 Tony nomination, 1 Drama Desk Award), the wacky Julie Halston (4 Drama Desk nominations), powerful Susan Stroman (5 Tony Awards, 5 Drama Desk Awards), and indefatigable George C Wolfe (5 Tony Awards, 6 Drama Desk Awards), and stealth MVP Reed Birney (1 Tony nomination, 3 Drama Desk Awards)
Other Key Figures Born in '54
Brigitte Lin (Icon, Bride With White Hair), Catherine O'Hara (Comic Genius), John Travolta (Name Garbler, Scientologist), Barry Ackroyd (Cinematographer), Kazuo Ishiguro (Author), Rainer Bock (German actor), Jackie Chan (Hong Kong superstar), Oprah Winfrey (Oprah Winfrey), Howard Stern (Loud Mouth), Trudie Styler (Wife of Sting, Mover & Shaker) and Julie Brown (Blonde)
Happy 61st Birthday to anyone reading who was born in 1954!
P.S. Reminder: we're gearing up for the Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1954 in less than a fortnight (Sunday August 30th) and your votes are required. Readers are the final collective Panelist as you know. So make sure to get your votes in by Thursday August 27th. (If it's close readers can and do tip the scales.) How do you vote? Send us an email with your vote of 1 to 5 hearts on each of the Supporting Actress nominees of 1954 (only the performances you've seen please, no cheating).