URBAN LEGEND: JUDY GARLAND

URBAN LEGEND: Did Judy Garland steal her costume from the set of Valley Of The Dolls after she was fired from the film?

ANSWER: No!

STOLEN COSTUME? For years there were rumors that Judy Garland, upon being fired by Fox, stole the famous pant-suit eventually worn by Susan Hayward in VALLY OF THE DOLLS. This is not true. The studio, after hiring her at 75 Grand per week, found her drunk and loaded on pills and they were unable to film her first scene. She had already been through costume fittings and had recorded I'LL PLANT MY OWN TREE, one of her Broadway numbers for the Helen Lawson character she was playing. It went well. Her fans believe that the Director deliberately called her in for a morning shoot which was not scheduled until almost 5 PM. Whether he was testing Judy's resolve to stay sober or whether he had sabotaged her first day, is up for dispute. It's a difficult decision for a Movie Studio to make and Garland had been a big help in the HYPE PUBLICITY prior to the filming of Valley of the Dolls, so they paid her a fair settlement for her few days of work and let her keep the famous costume...

THE CURSE OF THE CONQUEROR

A few movies through the years have sad occurances or deaths among the cast. Often they are deemed to be cursed. A lot of the myths about cursed movies are simply urban legends that pop up. Sometimes the supposed curses give the movie more of a cult following and actually add to their appeal However, one tragic movie that was cursed from the beginning due to simply where it was filmed was The Conqueror.

The Conqueror is a 1956 CinemaScope epic film produced by Howard Hughes and starring John Wayne as the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. Other performers included Susan Hayward, Agnes Moorehead, and Pedro Armendáriz. Directed by actor/director Dick Powell, the film was principally shot near St. George, Utah. The Conqueror was a critical and commercial failure (often ranked as one of the worst films of the 1950s and one of the worst ever)despite the stature of the cast. Wayne, who was at the height of his career, had lobbied for the role after seeing the script and was widely believed to have been grossly miscast.

Reportedly, Howard Hughes felt guilty about his decisions regarding the film's production, particularly over the decision to film at a hazardous site. He bought every print of the film for $12 million and kept it from view until 1974 when it was first broadcast on TV. The Conqueror, along with Ice Station Zebra, is said to be one of the films Hughes watched endlessly during his last years.

The exterior scenes were shot on location near St. George, Utah, 137 miles (220 km) downwind of the United States government's Nevada Test Site. In 1953, extensive above-ground nuclear weapons testing occurred at the test site, as part of Operation Upshot-Knothole. The cast and crew spent many difficult weeks on location, and in addition Hughes later shipped 60 tons of dirt back to Hollywood in order to match the Utah terrain and lend verisimilitude to studio re-shoots. The filmmakers knew about the nuclear tests but the federal government reassured residents that the tests caused no hazard to public health

Director Dick Powell died of cancer in January 1963, seven years after the film's release. Pedro Armendáriz was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1960, and committed suicide in 1963 after he learned his condition had become terminal. Agnes Moorehead died of cancer in 1974, and Susan Hayward and John Wayne followed in 1975 and 1979. Cast member actor John Hoyt died of lung cancer in 1991. Skeptics point to other factors such as the wide use of tobacco — Wayne and Moorehead in particular were heavy smokers. The cast and crew totaled 220 people. By 1981, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease. Several of Wayne and Hayward's relatives also had cancer scares as well after visiting the set. Michael Wayne developed skin cancer, his brother Patrick had a benign tumor removed from his breast and Hayward's son Tim Barker had a benign tumor removed from his mouth.

Dr. Robert Pendleton, professor of biology at the University of Utah, stated, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30-some cancers to develop. With 91, I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." Indeed, several cast and crew members, as well as relatives of those who died, considered suing the government for negligence, claiming it knew more about the hazards in the area than it let on.

We may never know if the death of the cast members were due to the nuclear fallout, but what is known is that if nothing else The Conqueror is cursed as a horrible movie, that probably would have been better off not to have been made at all...

TCM IN NOVEMBER: MY TOP PICKS

Hard to believe it is another month. It is another month to see what cinema classics Turner Classic Movies will be showing. This month my picks are heavy into musicals, but there are a lot of goodies on the television this month...

NOVEMBER 3 - 6:30 AM
Jolson Sings Again (1949)

After a premature retirement, the legendary singer revives his career to entertain the troops during World War II. This sequel to the 1946 film is even more enjoyable than the first one, but again there is not much fact to this bio pic. (Cast: Larry Parks, Barbara Hale, William Demarest)

NOVEMBER 4 - 3:45 AM
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

A crazed, aging star torments her sister in a decaying Hollywood mansion. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I never get tired seeing Bette Davis and Joan Crawford going at it! (Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono)


NOVEMBER 6 - 6:00 PM
Trouble Along the Way (1953)

A famous football coach uses underhanded means to turn a bankrupt college's team into winners. John Wayne did not make many comedies, but this one is one of his best. He has a lot of chemistry with Donna Reed as well. (Cast: John Wayne, Donna Reed, Charles Coburn)


NOVEMBER 12 - 11:00 PM
The Producers(1968)

A Broadway producer decides to get rich by creating the biggest flop of his career. Mel Brooks can do no wrong in my eyes, and this film is a true classic. Only Brooks can get away with writing a song about Adolf Hitler! (Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn)


NOVEMBER 14 - 6:00 PM
Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)

A singer's wife turns to the bottle when she fears she's lost her husband to success. Reportedly when this movie came out it causes quite a sensation because it is reportedly the story of Dixie Lee Crosby, Bing Crosby's first wife. (Cast: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Marsha Hunt)


NOVEMBER 21 - 6:00 PM
Ada (1961)

A call girl weds an easygoing politician and helps him against corrupt state officials. I wish Dean Martin would have done more dramas. This movie has been on my list to see again for years. (Cast: Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfrid Hyde-White)

NOVEMBER 23 - 8:00 PM
Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)

When a reporter exposes her past in burlesque, a musical theatre star sets out for revenge. Since AMC stopped showing classic movies, it is hard to see Betty Grable films on television, so this is a rare treat. (Cast: Betty Grable, Robert Young ,Adolphe Menjou)


NOVEMBER 24 - 8:00 PM
Anything Goes (1956)

The members of a song-and-dance duo promise the lead in their next show to two different women. This movie was the second version of the Cole Porter musical, and it would be the last movie Bing made for Paramount after twenty plus years with the studio. (Cast: Bing Crosby, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor)


NOVEMBER 27 - 10:15 PM
Strike Me Pink (1936)

An assertiveness course gets a shy guy mixed up with racketeers at an amusement park. Eddie Cantor movies are hard to come by on television, and even though this is not his best effort, it is worth watching. (Cast: Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, Sally Eilers)


NOVEMBER 30 - 3:45 AM
Garbo Talks (1984)

A young man risks everything to help his dying mother meet Greta Garbo. Any movie with Anne Bancroft is worth watching, and this is a great movie to just relax on the couch with. (Cast: Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher)

SPOTLIGHT ON SUSAN HAYWARD

Susan Hayward was another one of those wonderful actresses who died painfully too young in 1975 at the age of 57. After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone With the Wind (1939). Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. By the late 1940s the quality of her film roles had improved, and she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her performance as an alcoholic in SMASH UP, THE STORY OF A WOMAN(1947). Her career continued successfully through the 1950s and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of death row inmate Barbara Graham in I WANT TO LIVE(1958). Susan Hayward is truly one of the great actresses of our times...