All language subtitles for Preston Sturges PBS Documentary

endowment for the arts and the financial

support of viewers like you

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the corporation for public broadcasting

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the marilyn m simpson charitable trust

and rosalind p walter

um

uh his name was preston sturges

starting as a broadway playwright he

opened the gates for generations of

future filmmakers

by becoming the first screenwriter to

successfully establish himself as a film

director

in the process he made himself one of

the most celebrated figures of the 1940s

but his star which had burned so

brightly fell

almost as quickly as it had risen to

this day the man who introduced irony to

american screen comedy

remains an enigmatic and contradictory

personality

a low-brow aristocrat and a melancholy

wise guy

he reaped the rewards and paid the price

for being a brilliant american dreamer

well professor sergius was the comedy

same thing as john ford was to the

western is

that shining ideal that people

stumble over trying to emulate

you see you see the symbolism of it

capital labor destroy each other it

teaches a lesson a moral lesson that has

social significance who wants to see

that kind of stuff

it gives me the creeps tell them how

long it played in the music hall it was

held over a fifth week

who goes to the music hall communist

communists

this picture's an answer to communist it

shows we're awake and not dunking our

heads in the sand like a bunch of

ostriches

i want this picture to be a commentary

on modern conditions stark realism

the problems that confront the average

man but with a little six a little but i

don't want to stress it

i want this picture to be a document i

want to hold a mirror up to life i want

this to be a picture of dignity

a true canvas of the suffering of

humanity but with a little section

with a little sex in it preston sturgis

what do you think ever earned you the

title of hollywood's bad boy

what did you do well i never did

anything possibly

i think in my extreme youth i was

impotent how he became so impudent was

the result of a wildly improbable

bohemian childhood dominated by a

theatrical mother

who thought nothing of changing her name

and her husband's to suit her artistic

potentials

mary destiny bore her only child edmund

preston biden

in chicago on august 29 1898

after disposing of a husband who no

longer held her interest

she married the successful chicago

stockbroker and amateur athlete

solomon sturges who quickly adopted

preston as his own and consented to his

new wife's wish to spend up to six

months each year away in europe where

mary was the constant companion of the

legendary dancer isadora duncan

the young boy wound up being dragged to

every museum and opera house on the

continent during his mother's pursuit of

high culture

but preston was much happier during the

months he spent with solomon in chicago

where he could relearn the english he

lost in france and lived the life of a

normal american boy

but when he was about eight his parents

separated permanently

and preston's life was disrupted more

than ever

preston was returned to europe for more

cultural indoctrination

he always said that he was surrounded by

culture and he hated it

for example he wouldn't listen to

classical music because he said he had

too much of it when he was in europe

because and dancing the same thing

balabi and all the rest of it because he

had to go to all the concerts to visit

her duncan

and all the poets who came and people

that sat at her feet

and all this he said i've run away from

culture

but it was there it was there you know

it was there when you see his pictures

and you see the dialogue

in some of his pictures and you know i

mean the the wide expanse of things he

discusses him i think

would give you an idea that he was just

not somebody that grew up

down the street at a succession of

boarding schools in france

germany and switzerland preston

encountered an endless parade of

upper-class eccentrics and idol rich

who would later populate his films he's

a nice fellow your father

he's a good card player too you think so

i don't want to be rude

but i thought he seemed a little uneven

he's more uneven sometimes than others

that's what makes him uneven of course

but now you on the other hand with a

little coaching you could be terrific

do you really think so yes you have a

definite nose

i'm glad you like it do you like any of

the rest of me

oh what i meant was card place i know

what you meant

i was just flirting with you oh

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you're not going to faint are you

who me it's that perfume

oh

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do you think they're dancing any place

on board

don't you think we ought to go to bed

[Music]

you're certainly a funny girl for

anybody to meet who's

just been up the amazon for a year

good thing you weren't up there two

years

come on

she was a very strong-willed woman in

the lady e if you recall

i would say that would be very much

based on what what his mother

would have been yeah she was that type

of person he came over to america when

he was

reported 15 16 because she was afraid he

was going to enlist in the french army

this was in

1914 and he was sent over with the

with the isadora duncan dances that's

how he came back to america

and uh he joined up in the air force and

was in texas i think and

training to be a pursuit pilot

preston spent the next 10 years drifting

from one false start to another

he ran his mother's new york cosmetic

shop where he invented a kiss-proof

lipstick

tried his hand at songwriting and

married for the first time to a wealthy

divorcee estelle

mudge godfrey installed at her country

estate

preston believed that they were living

an idyllic life until she abruptly

announced she no longer loved him

suddenly broke and alone he retreated to

his father's chicago apartment

in the middle of the night it hit him

and he got out of bed and he began to

pace the long corridor in his father's

apartment

next to the ambassador and decided that

in the morning since his heart had died

there was no point in keeping the old

carcass alive and at that moment

from the 16th floor the ambassador that

was then being built

a workman fell and crashed to the

sidewalk

that was the end of suicide thoughts for

him hand it over

hand it over

now that you've got it what are you

going to do with it eat it

i'll show you what i'll do with it as in

this scene from easy living

sturge has always displayed a knack for

transforming key events in his life to

comic ends

say what's the big idea anyway kismet

kismet indeed within a few tragic months

in 1927

mary dusty watched as the long scarf she

had given his adora

caught in a car wheel and broke her best

friend's neck

and preston sent to his father's tailor

for a new suit in which to seek

employment

suffered a near fatal attack of

appendicitis

while convalescing he happened upon a

book entitled a study of the drama

and saw a new way to reinvent his life

he would become a playwright throwing

out his first effort he impulsively

turned out a second the guinea pig

which he produced on a low budget on

broadway

preston told his father when you haven't

worked for 30 years you have quite a lot

of accumulated energy

he needed only six days to write

strictly dishonorable

which opened on broadway in september

1929

a month before the stock market crash

and became the comedy sensation of the

season

sturgis cloaked his european

sophistication with a slangy american

brashness

to create a smash hit that ran for 557

performances

i met him in 1930 when i got the job of

uh

uh county ruvo in this hit play that he

had written

strictly dishonorable we played it on

the road for about a year

i forget what theater we were playing

but preston came

with his wife he was married to eleanor

hutton

and i knew eleanor hutton because i'd

been i'd been to her coming-out party

and

she was a beautiful girl suddenly as

somebody

awash in celebrity and cash preston was

on a train from new york to palm beach

when he met the 20 year old

heiress eleanor post-hutton the couple

eloped a mere two months after meeting

sturges centered his last play child of

manhattan upon a wealthy society figure

who becomes involved with a lower class

dance hall girl

a reversal of his own domestic situation

[Music]

i'm in love with you absolutely

completely and insanely in love with you

i don't know why it is and i don't want

to know who it is

there's no rhyme or reason to it and

it's it's glorious

it's i'm in love with you that's all

you mean you want to marry me

no no i i didn't hardly think so

you're to marry some nice hard-working

young fellow

and if you'd asked my advice about it

that i'd tell you to do just that

but i hope you will because i want you

for mine

the powerful personalities of mary

destiny and isadora had made an

indelible impression

as had their sophisticated sexual

attitudes

although mary dusty died in 1931 her

influence continued to show itself in

her son's work throughout his career

even in the late 1940s he confessed her

pictures

and possessions and ideas and witticisms

are everywhere

not a day passes that she's not

mentioned many times

at night i sleep on her bed he did have

some other plays and they were never

successful

meanwhile with preston wrapped up in his

theatrical endeavors

eleanor left for paris where she soon

decided to end the marriage she

considered youthful folly

preston tried to patch things up but

eleanor refused

referring all calls to her lawyers

that's what lawyers are for

he said who says i don't know i

naturally presumed it was her lawyer

but she says she says she won't have

anything to do with lawyers that's

entirely irregular

well it's a thought having spent the

three hundred thousand dollars he had

made on strictly dishonorable

and in urgent need of cash preston

accepted an offer from universal

pictures

to come to hollywood we were very hard

up

and we had to enter our house and you

know person rented the house from us

priscilla bonner wolfen a silent screen

actress and her physician husband birdie

quickly became sturge's closest friends

in hollywood

he was a happy young man he was very

proud of coming out here

and of course he was a typical new

yorker

and he couldn't get used to certain

things about california

his initial stint at universal over

preston took time off to write an

original script

the power and the glory was inspired by

the life of eleanor hutton's grandfather

tycoon cw post who killed himself when

he was 55

declaring it letter perfect as written

producer jesse laske paid sturges 17

500 against the percentage of the

profits

an unheard of arrangement that outraged

studio heads

who believed in keeping writers in their

place at the bottom of the hollywood

totem pole sturgis acknowledged

the film made me a host of enemies

writers at that time worked in teams

like piano movers and my first solo

effort was considered a distinct menace

to the profession

his sparkling literate wordplay

benefited more than a dozen features

during the 1930s

most notably an adaptation of mulnars

the good fairy with his friend william

weiler

and another study of a bigger than life

industrialist who commits suicide

diamond gym for director eddie

sutherland

now among the elite of hollywood

screenwriters sturges married for the

third time to the cooly beautiful louise

sergeant

with whom he had his first child a son

named solomon

earning 2500 per week first at universal

then at paramount

sturgis began indulging his every whim

from backing his first sunset strip

restaurant snyder

to building a yacht to his own

specifications and opening a machine

shop where he could tinker with his

inventions

he gets sort of ideas as to how things

should be done and

and uh but he never took out any pens or

anything like that

edwin gillette became sturgis secretary

at paramount and was responsible for

taking down the writer's script

dictation

it looked to me like he sort of winged

it

uh sometimes he'd sort of start with the

kernel of an idea that the studio had

given him

and then he'd practically throw the

whole thing out and start

from scratch you know there was no

treatment

for the story it just script right off

and dialogue at that when he did if i

were king the ronald coleman picture we

had the big outside sets and i'd come

over to watch him film at night

and it was not unusual to see the lights

on up in preston sturgeon's office you'd

go up there and he'd be

he'd be riding away particularly when

he's hard-pressed by the studio he just

hated to work

and uh they'd get on his case because

they wanted

pages for all his procrastination

sturges was still

one of paramount's most prolific

screenwriters he followed the wall

street satire easy living

with the romantic drama remember the

night both scripts were directed by

mitchell lyson

a former art director who is now one of

the studio's hottest filmmakers

he didn't like the way mitchell eliza

handled his dialogue as

a matter of fact he didn't like anything

and he criticized everything

and he fussed and he filmed and uh

he said that he threw lines away that he

shouldn't and he

didn't throw lines away that he should

and he didn't do anything to suppress

him

i don't think he felt that any director

did justice to his films

that's why he was so anxious to direct

himself to just to get across what he

had

you know in mind dialogue and so forth

but he told him a story of mckinney

and he said i'll sell it to you for a

dollar with one

understanding and a signed agreement

that i direct

it

i said to him preston it was your

favorite story

the current things why did you sell it

for that price

and he said because i want to be

a prince of the blood

and that's what a director is

and of course i shouldn't know the

picture was a smash yet

[Music]

based on stories of political corruption

related to sturgess by a new york judge

the great mcginty tells of a bum who

rises through a crooked system to the

height of power

only to be tossed out when he becomes an

honest man

the film's humor was unsurpassingly

cynical for its time

its honesty about certain realities was

something fresh in hollywood movies

but unlike them sturgis continued to

work like a playwright

alone and using his own original ideas

hollywood would never be the same

preston opened the door

for writers to become directors which

was an unheard of thing in those days

where a director a writer could have

more say in how

his words were to be presented and how

the scenes would be set up as he had

seen them in his mind

and sturgis had his cake and ate it too

winning the first academy award in the

newly created category

best original screenplay shortly before

he died f scott fitzgerald wrote

they've let a certain writer here direct

his own picture

and he's made such a go of it that there

may be a different feeling about that

soon

sturgess was finally living the success

story he had dreamed of for so long

he told a friend it's taken me eight

years to reach what i wanted but now

if i don't run out of ideas and i won't

we'll have some fun

there are some wonderful pictures to be

made and god willing i will make some of

them

pushing himself harder than ever he

finished shooting the romantic comedy

christmas in july

even before the great mcginty was ever

released

visitors would come on the lot and they

knew his name the same as they knew

hitchcock's name the same as they knew

the mills name

disney's name and there were a few

people like that who

uh that were directors writers that were

popular known by the public and preston

sturgis was certainly one of them

mr demille had his own table in the

center

of the commissary against the wall and

sturgis then decided that he would like

his own table

and he'd rightly uh deserve one he went

over in the corner though where the mill

was in the center

at lunch preston may have had his own

table but for dinner

nothing less than his own restaurant

would do preston opened the players in

1940

and lavished it with his constant

attention even as he was making three

pictures in a year

he uh really thrived on it and every

night he would he would be there as a

matter of fact he built a table sometime

writing scripts and things were there

and he did it for two purposes because

he could entertain his people at his

friends at dinner every night he could

have a place where he could go and write

at night

and he could also be host and he enjoyed

meeting the visitors once again

reflecting his life among the upper

crust with elena hutton sturges created

his most memorable heroine

in the lady eve his films are full of

con artists and adventurouses who find

hapless young men

ripe for the picking and card sharp

barbara stanwyck finds easy prey in

henry fonda's gullible millionaire

[Music]

not good enough what'd you say i said

they're not good enough for them

every jane in the room was giving him

the thermometer and he feels they're

just a waste of time

he's returning to his book he's deeply

immersed in it

he sees no one except watch his head

turn when that kid goes by

won't do you any good dear he's a

bookworm but swing him anyway

oh now how about this one how would you

like that hanging on your christmas tree

oh you wouldn't well what is your

weakness brother

holy smoke that dropped kerchief that

hasn't been used since lily

you'll have to pick it up yourself madam

it's a shame that he doesn't care for

the flesh you'll never see it

look at that girl over to his left

look over to your left bookworm there's

a girl pining for you

a little further just a little further

there wasn't that worth looking for see

those nice store teeth all beaming at

you well she recognizes you she's up

she's down

she can't make up her mind she's up

again she recognizes you she's coming

over to speak to you the suspense is

killing me

life i haven't said aren't you fuzzy old

hammer i went to manual training school

within louisville

oh you're not well you certainly look

exactly like him it's certainly a

remarkable resemblance

but if you're not going to ask me to sit

down i suppose you're not going to ask

me to sit down i'm

very sorry i certainly hope i haven't

caused you any embarrassment

so and so i wonder if my ties aren't

straight

i certainly upset them don't i now who

else is after me

ah the lady champion wrestler wouldn't

she make a household

well you don't like her either or what

are you gonna do about it oh you just

can't stand it anymore you're leaving

these women don't give you a moment's

peace do they

well go ahead go sulk in your cabin go

soak your head and see if i care

i can see that picture and just see the

crew and preston sturgis and back the

cameras breaking up

laughing while this was going on i would

never know whether to watch the actors

or preston

because i don't know which one was

giving the best performance

the lady eve was a big hit as his

confidence and credibility grew sturges

began taking chances

the irony became more biting and the

tone more serious in sullivan's travels

a swifty and satire of a hollywood

director's search for meaning in his

work

i used to tell him i'm not very good on

long speeches but with his i would

rattle them right off

because they were so well written so

great so what you would say

you see many writers write

they type a thing out but they don't

know how it would be to actually say it

well preston apparently had the

instincts of an actor which he had the

instincts of practically

every phase of our business and so his

dialogue was very easy to say

and people were surprised they said well

i didn't know you could do anything

without your horse i said well there

you can look at it good morning

sir good morning boros how do you like

it i don't like it at all so

fancy dress i take it what's the matter

with it i have never been sympathetic to

the caricaturing of the poorer needy

side who's caricatured

doesn't know about the expedition sir

i'm going out on the road to find out

what it's like to be poor and needy then

i'm going to make a picture if you

permit me to say so sir the subject is

not an interesting one

the poor know all about poverty and only

the morbid rich would find the topic

glamorous but i'm doing it for the poor

don't you understand i doubt if they

would appreciate it sir they rather

resent the invasion of their privacy i

believe quite properly sir

also such excursions can be extremely

dangerous sir i worked for a gentleman

once

who likewise with two friends recruited

themselves as you have sir

and then went out for a lock they have

not been heard from since

that was some time ago 1912 sir son

[Music]

sturges landed his alter-ego in a

southern work camp where inmates are

offered a brief respite from the despair

of prison life

[Applause]

[Music]

am i laughing

[Music]

sullivan's travels was both brilliantly

funny and a moving self-justification of

the muse of comedy over

tragedy most screenwriters in hollywood

can write

you know good dialogue or good lines for

maybe three or four

maybe five or six people start just

could write good lines for like 25

people in it in a picture

i mean the the the amount of bustling

activity in a sturgis movie i think is

extraordinary the energy

and uh you go through these pictures

today and it amazes you because somebody

you know

the 14th person in the scene will come

up and say the funniest line in that

scene somebody you hadn't even heard of

before and they were all

contrasting types high low vulgar

philistinish

homosexual jewish uh

and and and the lines would be

unexpected and individual he had a sense

of otherness

such as no comic directors ever had a

writer in hollywood

sturges returned to familiar ground with

the screwball romantic comedy

the palm beach story preston believed

that there were three kinds of

aristocracy

he said there was the aristocracy that

you're born into

your account you're a duke you you know

you that sort of thing

then there is the aristocracy of great

power and great

money and the third aristocracy he said

is the aristocracy of beauty

in the case of the palm beach story i

mean everybody stepped in because she

was a beautiful woman and that was

that was the theme what's all this

malarkey about some old man paying the

rent for you that the whole

building is buzzing with oh it's not

malarkey darling

here's the receipted bill you see it

says paid and i paid the butcher and the

grocer and the drugstore and

i got this dress and had my hair done

and six pairs of stockings and some new

shoes

and here's is 14 and change that's for

you

isn't it wonderful sensational but you

haven't quite answered my question yet

what question did why this alleged old

man gave you how much is it

700 700 why

no reason oh is that so he just 700

just like that just like that i mean sex

didn't even enter into it

oh but of course it did darling i don't

think he'd have given it to me if i had

a hair like excelsior on little short

legs like an alligator

sex always has something to do with a

deer i see from the time you're about so

big and

wondering why your girlfriend's fathers

are getting so arched all of a sudden

nothing wrong just an overture to the

opera that's coming

durges tried to fulfill the mandate of

his favorite book and lived two

lifetimes in one with

manic hours of writing directing and

playing host at the players

as well as his torrid romance with his

new secretary which hastened the end of

his marriage to louise

that's the one he took back to lunch

every day

and they would write and swing

you know he had to have both he was i

would say over sexed a little bit there

but if that made him that talented let's

have some more of those you know

frank freeman was still in charge of the

studio and he brought buddy to silva in

to be head of production and buddy

and preston didn't always get along too

well they didn't see eye to eye on some

of their productions

sturges got a reluctant go-ahead for the

great moment

the story of the inventor of anesthesia

he did most of his talking and

rehearsing before so that when you went

into the scene you made two or three

takes he said well i like the first part

i'll print the first one and the third

one and then he would take the parts he

wanted

he was a very easy director to work with

which is not usual

some of the better directors that we

have are difficult but he wasn't

[Music]

oh

i'll do it as fast as i can

try fighting on this ox level sometimes

paramount so disliked the film's blend

of comedy and drama that it was put on

the shelf for two years

a direct insult to the studio's most

prolific moneymaker

that's when the marriage the honeymoon

between paramount

and preston sturgeon started to

disintegrate for the moment though

sturge's reputation was still

on the rise while tensions were mounting

with the front office

sturgis started what was to become his

biggest hit

[Music]

hold the presses give me the state

captain

i gotta talk to the governor immediately

it's a matter of life and death

with miracle as critic james agee

remarked

sturgis raped the haze office in its

sleep

by placing a wildly outrageous story

within the confines of classic movie

americana

sturgis was able to get away with the

unthinkable the miracle is i have

six babies and i don't know who did it

i mean you weren't allowed to shoot

movies like that

period wait a minute take it easy

william what happened down there you got

a flood or did you strike oil or

something

did we strike oil or something tell him

no mr governor we did not strike oil

anybody can

we have not got a flood anybody can ever

what we've got mr governor is

you got what yes this is shut up not you

now you sure you're thanks

this is terribly important i wish i

could be down there myself this is a

matter of state policy

state pride national pride whole wire

minute

get on this line take everything down in

shorthand get a map of the state make

sure that morgan strick is in it if they

maybe we could persuade him to move over

or something oh boy shut up not you

get me all the newspaper man i want to

speak to all radio stations what

happened things like this got to be

guided

shut up wow you better get right down to

morgan's creek buy up a few choice

corners maybe some hotel sites they'll

need some and the bus franchise will be

very valuable morgan's wife why this

crack cracked like a little river a

little river should have a big dam

why not all right now give me all the

facts this is the biggest thing happened

to this station we stole it from the

indians

borrowed every character that was

on that screen was him

it wasn't me it wasn't eddie

that's what he would have done had he

been in the scene

oh no julie what's the matter

i can't tell to do you know trudy if i

said anything to hurt your feelings you

know i wouldn't hurt your feelings

[Music]

after he's seen in the miracle morgan's

creek

we would all look to him to see whether

or not it's a print

so president would say eddie

did you like it yeah yes mr sturgis i

liked it

betty did you like it yeah yes mr

sturgis

john that's the cameraman he'd say yes

he asked everybody around to like it and

then

pause and he'd say we'll shoot it once

more

he walked in the commissary and they

would say wasn't betty great or

eddie and he would bow

and the hell was betty and eddie and

whoever it was

it was his movie

he was thoroughly respected as

a genius by his enemies as well as the

people who

loved it

he wanted his way and the only problem

he had was with buddy da silva

and the heads of the office who were

putting up the money and running the

show

but as far as he was concerned he was

the captain of his ship

and they were not going to uh sail that

boat he was

sturgis blended comedy and pathos more

perfectly than ever in his last film for

paramount hail the conquering hero

the four f son of a dead war hero eddie

bracken

has been hiding out during the war

ashamed to face his friends and family

it's all mental every bit of it small in

the world smiles with you

crown

[Music]

his most mature work it was a deeply

felt summing up of sturgis attitudes

toward many aspects of american life

including patriotism

and the public readiness to accept

anything at face value

[Music]

here contrasting an almost mythic image

with lowbrow banter sturgis sends in the

marines

like you could shoot your mouth off

you'd be the biggest breeze shooter this

side of hong kong

just too big i was fading the guy how am

i supposed to know the guy's going to

pass a time you was fighting the guy

with our money that was my money too

when whether we're partners they we

especially now wonders in a suit yeah no

dough nothing to do and five days to

throw it in if you want so big i'll take

a poke at that dumb chisel why don't you

try it meg save it for the chats you

shouldn't have faded so many you gonna

start now

give me one last 10 spot i'll go find it

fancy fingers

give me one last 10 spot who do you

think you're talking to morgan for

the marine spirit bracken home disguised

as a heavily decorated war hero

i don't want to sound ungrateful i know

you meant it for the best i don't mind

the seven tickets or anything i'm

i'm honored to have you go home with me

it's just a uniform it makes me nervous

well you can't go home without it well i

shouldn't go home with it

and this you should have liked your

mother i think it was before the prince

without a crick or something i don't

you ought to have the battle plays that

don't look right well i shouldn't not

have had the battle plays it's bad

enough like this

who's going to know the center who's

going to don't rip off the train we'll

kind of surround you we slip up a side

street your mother's waiting on the

front porch

you put your arms around it that's right

you slip out of the uniform you're

sorted away in more balls and there you

are home

she's happy you're happy everybody's

happy and nobody's after nothing

there was uh one scene in hell the

conquering hero

where the studio had a rule that you

must shoot at least three pages a day

and that way they could formulate their

budget

we were shooting this one scene and

buddy de silva's came on the set

at four o'clock in the afternoon they

were balling out sturgis for not getting

one shot during that day

and uh just said well he'll try to get

the three pages and not to worry about

it

the scene was shot and it was brilliant

hey tiggers the whole town's coming what

is it a lynchian with us here we'll kind

of surround you see

yeah you were gonna do that before you

remember sturgess

finally reached the breaking point with

paramount as his battles with buddy da

silva escalated into an almost daily

occurrence

he finished hail the conquering hero but

by the time it was released he was long

gone from the studio

of his struggles there he said no man of

value could stand it very long

if he could stand it he would no longer

be a man of value

so long gang all aboard

i don't know how to don't say it it was

a pleasure

anything for the son of an old pal i

knew the marines could do almost

anything but i never knew they could do

anything like this you've got no idea

uprooted from his show business family

it was a melancholy finale to one of the

most extraordinary associations in

hollywood history

after preston sturgis left paramount he

went with howard hughes

hard use was a very strange man

seeking total independence sturges

worked out a part-ownership deal with

hughes in the new california pictures

corporation

linking sturges the inventor of kiss

proof lipstick

with hughes creator of the aerodynamic

bra

well at the time that preston became

became the writer producer director

that in itself they were was was

was pretty good because there were only

three in the world at that time rene

claire in paris noah coward and london

and preston sturgis in hollywood

studio chief preston sturges green

lighted

writer director preston sturge's first

project the sin

of harold dittelbach for which producer

preston sturges pulled silent screen

star harold lloyd

out of retirement so much publicity

harold lloyd coming back after 15 years

retirement preston sturgis who was the

king of comedy

and the two of them making a movie

together for an independent company

that they preston owned

[Applause]

in addition to lloyd sturges cast

fashion model francis ramsden who became

personally involved with the director

[Music]

your eldest sister hortense came to work

here some

17 or 18 years ago i fell in love with

her she was a lovely girl

yes i know i mean that you fell in love

with her she died no

she swept me off my feet my

circumstances at that time did not

permit even the contemplation of

marriage i know she told me

when she very wisely stop waiting for me

and

marry the gentleman whose life she has

since illuminated

i felt that my own life was ended that i

would never love again

that the sunshine was drawn permanently

behind the clouds

i knew i was mistaken because when your

next eldest sister irma came to work

here

i fell even more deeply in love with her

than i had with hortense

i know she told me jorgen peter got a

little burn about it

well she didn't have because when herman

hurt turned

got married and was replaced by your

next eldest sister harriet

i felt that everything that had gone

before was

merely an appetizer i know she told me

they were getting better and better your

mother seemed to be making them nicer

every year thank you i haven't come to

you yet

sturgis and lloyd never really agreed on

an approach to dittelbach

as the director concentrated on his

dialogue and the actor tried to inject

some of his patented visual comedy

their differences drove the shooting

schedule zooming past the allotted 64

days

to 116 days and the budget skyrocketed

as well

while preparing to open diddlebox

sturges became embroiled in an

escalating battle with hughes

over the aptly named vendetta on which

hughes finally replaced sturges as

director

the project broke the friendship and the

collaboration

howard hills called up at seven o'clock

in the morning

and fired him they had a gentleman's

agreement that if either one of them

decided they wanted out that was all

there was to it

despite or perhaps because of fine

reviews in its initial engagements

little buck was withdrawn by hughes and

re-cut

he finally released it five years later

under the title mad wednesday

it was during these difficulties that

paramount finally brought out the great

moment

so through a combination of bad timing

and studio interference

the golden boy was brought down to earth

with two quick flops

despite this setback bidding was still

spirited around hollywood for sturgis

services

he finally signed with 20th century fox

when boss daryl f zaneck agreed to pay

him seventy eight hundred dollars per

week

which made sturgis the highest salaried

producer director writer in the world

they wanted him to do for mary grebel

what he had done

before betty otten somewhat reluctantly

sturgis agreed to write a picture for

the studio's number one star

pin-up girl betty grable he said all

right

that he would if they'd let him make

unfaithfully yours unfaithfully yours

concerned a renowned orchestra conductor

who suspects that his wife is cheating

on him friends agree that sir alfred

played by rex harrison was the closest

thing to an autobiographical portrait

that preston sturges ever created

here harrison meets detective edgar

kennedy who has been following his

wife only sturges would have thought of

putting such highbrow tastes

into the mouth of such a lowbrow

character here's to the world's greatest

living conductor this is hardly what i

came to see you about mister

the way you handle handles for alfred

for me there's

nobody handles handle like you a handle

handle

there's you up here and then there's

nobody

no second no third maybe way down here

a torah poor forth that is largely

debatable in any case what i came to see

you about 100

is delirious i usually have my tickets

as soon as they're printed

a change in schedule louse me up a

little but i'll get in somehow i'm

bitterly sorry to hear that you're a

music lover

i live for music without music i had

always hoped that music had a certain

moral and antiseptic power quite apart

from his obvious

engorgement of the senses which elevated

and purified his disciples

lifting them out of the shower

professionals like this information oh

sure alfred

spare me your compliments the flattery

of a foot pad is an insult in itself

you mean a flat foot don't you sir

alfred you don't need a footpath i mean

a footpad

and now that i know that you like them i

shall probably cut handle and dealers

out of my programs forever

don't talk to myself please refrain from

mentioning any other of your musical

favorites and poisoning those for me

[Music]

also

here the conductor concocts elaborate

revenge fantasies

while performing three different

symphonic pieces

so

[Music]

oh

but some of the action became too grimly

realistic for entertainment-minded

audiences

shortened by xanax after preview

audiences became impatient

unfaithfully yours found little support

among the public

and the industry began to wonder if

sturgis had lost it

nevertheless many today consider it one

of his finest films

increasingly anxious for a hit and

desperate for cash to keep the ailing

players and his many other enterprises

afloat

sturgis quickly launched into his betty

grable vehicle

the beautiful blonde from bashful bend a

period comic western

that would mark his only work in color

come here

you look so exactly like your name you

see

betty grebel was a dancer and very

good and one time she said

i can dance a little and i can sing a

little

but it's my legs it made me a star

and then they put her in a western with

long dresses

the beautiful blonde from bashful bend

was betty grable's first

box office failure and sturges fourth in

a row

he had cost fox four million dollars in

two years

and zanik feeling that the director was

over the hill decided to let him go

there were some nibbles from other

studios around town but sturgis had

burned many bridges

and the beautiful blonde was the last

film he made in hollywood

it's funny how the word goes around a

studio and

suddenly everybody waiters

waitresses in the commissary it's

suddenly the table is not there

nobody cares it's awfully easy in

retrospect to see where he made mistakes

he would have been better off to stay at

paramount

he was after all a golden boy there

there was tremendous jealousy for

preston sturgis

in hollywood that one man could have

his pictures have been so successful and

made so much

money that when he did have

a failure or two the contrast was so

much

that i think he suffered more than the

average person

and a lot of people wanted to see him

fail because he'd been too high and they

would never be what he had been

and they were very happy it's always the

way that dogs will get

to bring the lion down the failure of

those two pictures

and this fight with xanax he found

himself as he said to me one night

at the players when he was having these

little plays he sat

there very red-faced crying

actually actually in tears he said rudy

they won't even give me a job as a

writer

ostracized by hollywood his five-year

relationship with francis ramsden coming

to an end and saddled with debt

sturges went into a steep decline

spending almost all his time at the

players

and drinking heavily the restaurant

was a cesspool just dragged money away

didn't much matter

because he was in a 92 percent tax

bracket uh sturgis had just met

sandy now he was not working for any

studio not on salary

and he wanted to make a business out of

this

and the theater was supposed to do that

which it didn't we were married

after the place and the reception of

course was the whole restaurant

and we had a perfectly lovely time in

1953 the irs

which had dogged him for years finally

moved in putting a lien

on all his assets including the player

accepting the best offers that came

along he prepared a musical version of

the good fairy called

make a wish then took over another

ill-fated musical on its pre-broadway

tour

i was staying at the algonquin hotel and

then one day i bumped into him in the

lobby and he was

very excited he said i'm leaving for

paris he said we're all going to paris

we were living at 61 boulevard beertier

we had the studio floor

and the third floor and then someone

came from gomo

and asked if he would do a film for them

called the carnies of major thompson

and it turned out that we stayed there

for a very long time

well i went out to the shooting one day

he was you know i think it was goth

salazar they had a train

and and the colonel is leaving or

something he was very happy shooting out

here

well the opening night of course was

successful and i think it ran for

several

weeks which is a long run here it wasn't

like

here it is my fortune is made again

he just hoped it would do reasonably

well and not be an embarrassment

released in the united states under the

awkward title the french they are a

funny race

the film came and went quickly sandy

young preston and a new baby tom

returned to hollywood but preston

remained on in paris where many deals

and script ideas came to north

in a letter to priscilla wolfen in 1958

preston wrote

i had so very much luck for so very long

it is quite natural for the pendulum to

swing the other way for a while

and i really cannot and will not

complain

in late 1958 preston was called back to

new york to take over the direction of a

troubled new play the golden fleecing

he was fired after two weeks once

installed at the algonquin however

activity picked up

and with it preston's spirits he was a

great optimist you know it was almost a

religion with him

he was like micawber in uh dickens he

was something was going to show up

and it always seemed that it did he had

mentioned on the television program that

when he wrote his autobiography he was

going to call it the events leading up

to my death

well you know he was writing it at the

algonquin when he died and they say you

never

never tamper with death and so it isn't

funny if you're dead

preston sturges died of a heart attack

at the algonquin hotel

on august 6 1959

his irony and crackling irreverence have

kept his films as brilliantly alive as

ever

and in 1975 he became the first

screenwriter to be honored posthumously

with the writer's guild's laurel award

you know every time i hear someone

saying they're going to make a present

stir just like comedy

you want to feel sorry for them there

will never be another present theory

just like comedy

i know what person was capable of

and preston at his vest at his best

was certainly a fresh voice and

the irony of his writing the humor

and the tragedy at the same time

was unique

sally i just want to tell you that oh

brother is going to be the greatest

tragedy ever made well the world will

weep

humanity will sob they'll put

shakespeare back with the shipping knows

quiet your personal courage your

sacrifice the legs to which you meant to

sample the bitter dregs of assisted dude

will make our brother laugh

out positively i'm sorry i'll disappoint

you sorry this point yes and i say it

with some embarrassment but i don't want

to make her brother where art thou

you don't want to bake a brother no and

i say it with some embarrassment

i want to make a comedy you say it with

some embarrassment

he doesn't want to make a brother rock

how he wants to make a comedy he don't

mean that boss he's still a little stir

crazy

oh yes i do oh no i'm not you're joking

aren't you silly it's in bad taste but

it's a joke no but it's had more

publicity than the johnstown flood what

are we going to do with all that

publicity

oh brother why don't you want to make

old brother where art thou sully well in

the first place i'm too happy to make oh

brother where art thou

in the second place i haven't suffered

enough to make her brother are thou

you haven't suffered enough he hasn't

suffered enough no but sally i'll tell

you something else

there's a lot to be said for making

people laugh did you know that's all

some people have

it isn't much but it's better than

nothing in this cockeyed caravan

boy

[Music]

shortly before his death he observed

there are fortunately

few humorists at any given time and i

must be one of them in my time

or why were all those people laughing

[Music]

wow

huh

[Music]

the best evict of orga on vhs is only

1995 plus

395 postage and handling to order your

personal copy you must act now

morris likes his clothes elegant shelter

his women heart and his spirits

[Music]

a ghost story for grown-ups albert

finney the green man

an american television premier june 2nd

on a

e this program is brought to you in part

by

preferred mci's new service for small

business

[Music]

ah

uh

1926 the party was on

we danced the turkey trot and called it

the charleston we kissed valentino

goodbye

goddard played with rockets your sister

played with a permanent wave

thai cobb hit 370 and couldn't even beat

out harry heilman for the batting title

paramount studios released a film

version of fitzgerald's the great gatsby

showing the world that the rich did live

better than you and i

over at mgm garbo was tempting us in the

temptress

we were spoiled brats who really thought

we'd won that war seven years before

there were some of us who knew better

fitzgerald and gatsby lewis and babbitt

daryl making a monkey out of brian

you