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Tuesdays in November Private Screenings: Shirley Maclaine Tuesdays in November Turner Classic Movies Check local listings for more details Internet: http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com http://www.shirleymaclaine.com
During the course of the interview, a very relaxed MacLaine (who started her life as Shirley McLean Beatty) tells us about how she understudied for Carol Heaney on The Pajama Game, and how Casablanca producer Hal B. Wallis happened to be in the audience as Shirley replaced Heaney due to an ankle injury that night - one of these lucky strikes that would later earn her a Hollywood deal. She also tells us that her parents were both gifted artists who never did anything with their talents once they had a family to raise, and how that somehow was picked up both by MacLaine and her younger brother, Warren Beatty. She says that she realized even back then that she didn't want that to happen to her - not to use any talent that she might have. She also recounts her experiences with working with Alfred Hitchcock, and how he had a very British sense of humor that was hard to understand at times. "On the first day he came to me and said 'genuine choppo, girl' and I didn't understand what that meant and that was a cockney slang", she says. "Then I said 'I'm sorry sir, but I don't understand' and then he said, 'What's another word for genuine?' and I said 'real' and 'choppo' , and I said, 'slice,hit,um,ax?' 'Correct. Put them together real-ax.' - And that's how he prepped me." Later in the interview, she mentions that during her entire career, she had never been placed on the infamous 'casting couch' - the reason being, in the actress' opinion, that "no man likes to be laughed at - and I would have."
One of the most relevant films that she worked on
early in her career was The Children's Hour, the
Lillian Hellman 1934 play that dealt with the issue of
how a false accusation of lesbianism destroys the
lives of two teachers, played by MacLaine and Audrey
Hepburn - one of the first American movies ever made
to touch on the issue.
It hadn't been Wyler's first attempt at adapting the play. Twenty-five years earlier, the director had made These Three, but the gay theme has been shifted to a betrayal. Instead of being accused of lesbianism, Martha (then played by Miriam Hopkins) is rumored of having slept with Karen's fiancée (Joel McRea). By 1960, the Hollywood Production Code, which had forced the original changes had weakened a bit, so Wyler went on to produce the film as he'd originally planned - but in the end, the director did not, as MacLaine puts it. "Remember", she says, "the original script was not what it was on screen." "The original script had Martha(MacLaine) pressing Karen's clothing (this time around played by Audrey Hepburn), baking her food, brushing her hair, taking care of her in intimate ways, so I could build the character of this woman in love with this other woman in ways that the audience would see, but William got scared (or something) - he cut these scenes out - so the building of the Martha character that I had character is not what you saw on the screen." The movie ultimately did not do well, but today it is seen as a landmark on gay-themed film making, for it opened the gates to other films that deal with homosexual issues, such as 1962's Walk on The Wild Side and Advise and Consent. One could not go into Shirley MacLaine's career without mentioning The Apartment, in which Jack Lemmon plays an office worker who makes his way up the corporate ladder by lending his Upper West Side bachelor pad to his married bosses for their "private parties." Shirley plays his love interest who attempts suicide inside Lemmon's apartment after the company's big boss (Fred MacMurray) tries to break up their relationship. He nurses her back into health, and is made the corporation's VP until, having realized the emptiness of his life (films those days had to have a "moral lesson") abandons his dream job to find happiness with MacLaine's elevator conductor. MacLaine comments on how director Billy Wilder (who would later direct them in Irma La Douce) would give them the script bit by bit while he observed any chemistry that developed between his stars. "He wrote every night", she says "after he got home, seeing how we related to each other on the set - that's how the gin game got in there." "I was learning how to play gin with Dean (Martin) and Frank (Sinatra) and all the guys, and one day at lunch I had had some unhappy love affair and said 'why do people have to be in love with people, anyway? (...)' and Billy jumped up and said 'That's it, that's it' and then he went back and put it in."
Among other films that are mentioned in the interview
one must not forget Shirley's Academy Award-winning
performance as the comedic drama (or dramatic comedy?)
Terms of Endearment, in which MacLaine plays Aurora,
an aging mother who finds mature love (with Jack
Nicholson) while she loses a daughter to cancer (played
by Debra Winger).
The movie wasn't easy to come by. "It took Jim (Brooks) two years to put that thing together because he couldn't find anyone to finance it", she says. "I kept turning down things because Jim would find out about whatever I'd been offered and then he'd call me and say 'you can't do it, you can't do it, we're gonna do Terms, we're gonna do it in six minutes - that went on for two years! Private Screenings: Shirley MacLaine airs on Tuesday, November 4th at 8 PM (ET) Turner Classic Movies |
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Shirley MacLaine's career is profiled in November on Turner Classic Movies