New Pages

After the photo lab I worked at went out of business, I ended up working on movie sets as a background actor and stand-in.  When I found this picture I knew exactly what it was.  The man on the right is an assistant director or production assistant and he's delivering new script pages to the actors.   Too bad their faces aren't visible.  Who knows, those two might be really famous.

Clifton Webb and Friends

The man on the right is actor Clifton Webb.  Curiously what's written on the back, "Dave McIntyre Don Larson June 59"  doesn't mention Webb.  Perhaps the writer assumed that  identifying Webb wasn't necessary.  I couldn't find any info on McIntyre and Larson, but for those of you too young and don't watch old movies.....

Webb was born Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck in 1889 in the less than cosmopolitan Indianapolis, Indiana.  As a child he studied voice and dance and was a professional ballroom dancer by his late teens.  His early career was mostly in the theater.  He had the occasional film role, including in silent movies, but didn't become a star until 1944 when he played villain Waldo Lydecker in Otto Preminger's Laura.  In 1948 he starred in Sitting Pretty as Lynn Belvedere an eccentric genius who takes a job as a babysitter.  The movie was so successful that Webb ended up making a series of Mr. Belvedere films.  He was in Titanic opposite Barbara Stanwyck, still my favorite film version of the sinking of the ship.  (Sorry James Cameron.)  Some of his more memorable films,  The Razor's Edge,  The Man Who Wasn't There, Three Coins in a Fountain, Cheaper By the Dozen,  and as Victor Parmalee, in Boy on a Dolphin.  I wonder if he chose the name of the character.  He lived with his overbearing mother Maybelle  until she died in 1960.  He died six years latter in 1966. 

Going by the backdrop, I'm thinking this photo was taken in a television studio. Perhaps he was being interviewed.

Mariette Hartley and Arlene Dayton?

One would think, since I live in Los Angeles and work in the movies (albeit at a very low level), I'd have lots of Hollywood photos.  Not really.  The fact is they don't interest me all that much. I only have these two pictures because they were in one of those occasionally purchased envelopes of images that almost always have stuff I wouldn't have bought by themselves.

So, the woman on the left is Mariette Hartley, an actress that those of us of a certain age would recognize right away.  She did a lot of episodic television, the occasional movie, and most prominently, along with James Garner, was a long time pitch woman for Polaroid cameras. 

Look at the bottom of the two pictures and stage lights can be seen.  Clearly from a sound stage, probably from one of her many television appearances.  Going by the hair styles and clothing, I took a quick look at her IMDB page, searching for a possible match from about the late seventies through the eighties, but couldn't find an actual show.  As far as Arlene Dayton, her name is written on the back of the top print, but no one by that name  has an IMDB listing. 

Born in 1940, Hartley is still active.  She's had a recurring role in the Fox series 9-1-1. 

Camera, Action!

I might be necessary to click on the photos and bring them up in a bigger window to see, but there is a camera in the upper left corner, behind the actors.  And my favorite thing about these pictures; written on the back of the top image, "disregard dark lines on face of print."   Come on.  Once it's mentioned, no one will be able to disregard the fogging.

Lights

Alright, the shiny thing is a reflector.  Obviously, it's used to reflect light, and less obviously, to soften light.  The crew members are getting a bit more casual in dress compared to yesterday's post.

Sound

After the photo lab I worked at went belly up, after going through my unemployment, savings and retirement fund, I started doing background work in the movies.  This piece of equipment is a boom mic, and quite frankly, they haven't changed all that much since this picture was taken.  But who is the guy?  All the techs I've seen on set dress casually.  For some reason, they seem to favor shorts.  Did boom operators once show up to set wearing suits?  Hard to imagine.