Asides - It Takes Two To Tango

In Mid-November, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will offer a festival of films revolving around "Leading Couples". Chronicle Books has just published a book that TCM is offering in conjunction with the festival. I was fortunate enough to be given a pre-release copy for review.


The book features 40 leading couples, including those in a singular film, think Bogart and Bergman in Casablanca, and who those starred together in a number of films, Astaire and Rogers for example. And I was happy to see a certain playfulness with the inclusion of Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont, and King Kong and Fay Wray. The period covered spans what is commonly called the studio era, the late twenties through the early sixties, so while we see Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, we also see Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.


The book highlights each couple using the following format: A short bio, notes about the particular film or films including an Essential Team-ups area, a Behind the Scenes section, an Off-Screen Relationship page, key quotes, and a very nice selection of stills.

Each section is a factoid and trivia lovers dream.

For instance, in the couple specific Behind the Scenes sections we learn that Ginger Roger's pirouette down the flight of stairs in Swing Time (1936) took forty-seven takes and they had to stop shooting at times because her feet were bleeding. Hedy Lamarr, featured in the book due to her performance opposite Charles Boyer in Algiers (1938), turned down the role in Gaslight which garnered Ingrid Bergman an Oscar. Glenn Ford, we discover only agreed to star opposite Rita Hayworth in The Loves of Carmen (1948) because she asked him too. He so hated the result that in later years, whenever it showed up on TV he is quoted as saying "I pull the plugs out of all the sets." Last little bit of Behind the Scenes comes from John Wayne and Maureen O'hara. The author relates: Angered by John Wayne's teasing on the set of The Quiet Man (1952) she really tried to knock John out during a fight scene, but he caught the punch and accidentally broke her wrist. She hid her swollen hand in the folds of her skirt during the early filming.

In the appropriate Off-Screen Relationship writeups we find Errol Flynn had a "thing" for Olivia de Havilland, but being ultimately rebuffed, put a dead snake in her underwear drawer while filming The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936). When it comes to Garbo and Gilbert, quote, "Greta Garbo resisted all of John Gilbert's efforts to marry her. He even tried proposing in front of other people, hoping that this would embarrass her into saying yes." She never did. It is revealed that when Bogart was interred, Lauren Bacall put a gold whistle in the urn that holds his ashes. The inscription on the whistle reads, "If you need anything, just whistle." On her off screen relationship with William Powell, Myrna Loy is quoted: "It wasn't a conscious thing. If you heard us talking in a room, you'd hear the same thing. He'd tease me a little, and there was a sort of blending that pleased people. Bill is naturally a witty man. He doesn't have to have lines."

I have barely scratched the surface on all the information contained in the book's 230 plus pages. Author/editor Frank Miller and TCM have put together a delightful book, not solely for its purposed tie-in with the upcoming festival.

Here is a shot of the back cover - it lists all the couples featured.

When I thought about the book, before receiving it, I felt I would use it as more of a reference work, to be used when a particular film was being shown. However, the style, pictures, pleasing layout, and great anectdotes had me reading it from cover to cover in a couple of sittings. It is available now at Amazon, nicely discounted off its 19.95 cover price. It think readers of this blog would really enjoy it. Click here: Leading Couples (Turner Classic Movies) to learn more or pick up a copy.

A truly leading couple.

Lastly, tell us who is your favorite (and alluring) leading couple.