Round One (Part Two) Recap—And A Breather

Here are the rest of the results from round one of the Silent Era/1930s bracket of Monty's Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament:

"Funny Ladies"
#1.Carole Lombard def. #8.Gail Patrick, 80-16
#2.Myrna Loy def. #7.Margaret Dumont, 78-13
#3.Jean Harlow def. #6.Marie Dressler, 68-19
#4.Jean Arthur def. #5.Margaret Sullavan, 72-18

"Singers and Dancers"
#1.Irene Dunne def. #8.Luise Rainer, 83-8
#7.Hattie McDaniel def. #2.Shirley Temple, 51-41
#3.Ginger Rogers def. #6.Joan Blondell, 58-30
#4.Jeanette MacDonald def. #5.Mae West, 49-42

Only one upset, with Hattie McDaniel defeating Shirley Temple, 51-41. Today we'd consider that a very mild upset, if it's an upset at all, but in 1939, say, it would have been incomprehensible, on the order of the #64 seed upsetting #1 Kentucky in NCAA basketball. Times change.

We're taking a short breather here at the Monkey—Round Two officially starts Monday morning (although it'll probably be more like 10 p.m. tonight). As in Round One, Round Two will be split into three-day matches, with the schedule as follows:

March 12-14
"They Had Faces"
#1.Greta Garbo v. #4.Clara Bow
#2.Mary Pickford v. #6.Gloria Swanson

"Tough Broads and Pre-Code Babes"
#1.Barbara Stanwyck v. #4.Claudette Colbert
#2.Marlene Dietrich v.#3.Joan Crawford

March 15-17
"Funny Ladies"
#1.Carole Lombard v. #4.Jean Arthur
#2.Myrna Loy v. #3.Jean Harlow

"Singers and Dancers"
#1.Irene Dunne v. #4.Jeanette MacDonald
#3.Ginger Rogers v. #7.Hattie McDaniel

The Hattie McDaniel You Don't Know

While I'm sure everybody here is aware of her Oscar-winning turn in Gone with the Wind, maybe some don't know that Hattie McDaniel spent her youth singing as a band vocalist. Here's a taste from Jean Harlow's last movie, Saratoga.

She shows up at the 2:35 mark.

Looking Ahead: Monty's March Madness Favorite Actress Tournament #8

A look ahead at the Monty's March Madness Favorite Actress Tournament, part of which we'll be hosting here at the Monkey.

Voting begins March 5.

Shirley Temple
Birth Name: Shirley Jane Temple
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Singers and Dancers" #2
Birth Date: April 23, 1928
Birthplace: Santa Monica, California
Film Debut: Kid's Last Stand (1932)
Academy Awards: Juvenile Award (1935)
Katie Awards: Best Actress (Drama) (1937) (Wee Willie Winkie and Heidi)
Three More To See: Bright Eyes, The Little Colonel, The Little Princess

versus

Hattie McDaniel
Birth Name: Hattie McDaniel
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Singers and Dancers" #7
Birth Date: June 10, 1892
Birthplace: Wichita, Kansas
Height: 5' 2"
Film Debut: The Impatient Maiden (1932)
Academy Awards: 1 win, Best Supporting Actress (1939) (Gone with the Wind)
Katie Awards: Best Supporting Actress (1939) (Gone with the Wind)
Three More To See: Show Boat, Saratoga, The Great Lie

The winner of this match-up will face the winner of:

Ginger Rogers
Birth Name: Virginia Katherine McMath
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Singers and Dancers" #3
Birth Date: July 16, 1911
Birthplace: Independence, Missouri
Height: 5' 4½"
Film Debut: A Day of a Man of Affairs (1929)
Academy Awards: 1 win, Best Actress (1940) (Kitty Foyle)
Katie Awards: Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) (1935) (Top Hat)
Three More To See: Swing Time, Stage Door, The Major and the Minor

versus

Joan Blondell
Birth Name: Rose Joan Blondell
Tourney Bracket and Seeding: "Singers and Dancers" #6
Birth Date: August 30, 1906
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Height: 5' 3"
Film Debut: The Heart Breaker (1930)
Academy Awards: 1 nomination, no wins
Katie Awards: Best Supporting Actress (1930-31) (Sinners' Holiday, Other Men's Women and Night Nurse)
Three More To See: Gold Diggers of 1933, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Cincinnati Kid

The Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (1939)

A great year in film history that needs no introduction—which is a good thing because I haven't written one.

PICTURE (Drama)
winner: Gone With The Wind (prod. David O. Selznick)
nominees: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (prod. Victor Saville); Gunga Din (prod. George Stevens); The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (prod. Pandro S. Berman); Only Angels Have Wings (prod. Howard Hawks); The Roaring Twenties (prod. Hal B. Wallis); Stagecoach (prod. John Ford); Wuthering Heights (prod. Samuel Goldwyn)

PICTURE (Comedy/Musical)
winner: The Wizard Of Oz (prod. Mervyn LeRoy)
nominees: Destry Rides Again (prod. Joe Pasternak); Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (prod. Frank Capra); Ninotchka (prod. Ernst Lubitsch); The Women (prod. Hunt Stromberg)

PICTURE (Foreign Language)
winner: La règle du jeu (The Rules Of The Game) (prod. Claude Renoir, Sr.)

ACTOR (Drama)
winner: Clark Gable (Gone With The Wind)
nominees: James Cagney (The Roaring Twenties); Robert Donat (Goodbye, Mr. Chips); Henry Fonda (Young Mr. Lincoln); Cary Grant (Gunga Din and Only Angels Have Wings); Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights); Basil Rathbone (The Hound Of The Baskervilles and The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes)

ACTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Destry Rides Again)
nominees: Don Ameche (Midnight); Melvyn Douglas (Ninotchka); W.C. Fields (You Can't Cheat An Honest Man)

ACTRESS (Drama)
winner: Vivien Leigh (Gone With The Wind)
nominees: Ingrid Bergman (Intermezzo: A Love Story); Bette Davis (Dark Victory and The Old Maid); Irene Dunne (Love Affair); Merle Oberon (Wuthering Heights); Barbara Stanwyck (Union Pacific)

ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Judy Garland (The Wizard Of Oz)
nominees: Jean Arthur (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington); Claudette Colbert (Midnight); Joan Crawford (The Women); Marlene Dietrich (Destry Rides Again); Greta Garbo (Ninotchka)

DIRECTOR (Drama)
winner: John Ford (Stagecoach)
nominees: Victor Fleming (Gone With The Wind); Howard Hawks (Only Angels Have Wings); William Wyler (Wuthering Heights)

DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Victor Fleming (The Wizard Of Oz)
nominees: Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington); Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka); Jean Renoir (La règle du jeu a.k.a. The Rules Of The Game)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
winner: Thomas Mitchell (Stagecoach, Only Angels Have Wings, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Gone With The Wind and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame)
nominees: Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr (The Wizard Of Oz); Frank Morgan (The Wizard Of Oz); Robert Preston (Union Pacific); Claude Rains (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
winner: Hattie McDaniel (Gone With The Wind)
nominees: Olivia de Havilland (Gone With The Wind); Geraldine Fitzgerald (Wuthering Heights); Kay Francis (In Name Only); Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard Of Oz); Butterfly McQueen (Gone With The Wind)

SCREENPLAY
winner: Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, from the play by Clare Boothe (The Women)
nominees: Jean Renoir and Carl Koch (La règle du jeu a.k.a. The Rules Of The Game); Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Billy Wilder; story by Melchior Lengyel (Ninotchka); Sidney Buchman; story by Lewis R. Foster (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington)

SPECIAL AWARDS
"Over The Rainbow" (The Wizard Of Oz) music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by E.Y. Harburg (Song); Max Steiner (Gone With The Wind) (Score)

African American History Month

KC over at Classic Movies reminds me that February is African American History Month. As I've written before, images of African Americans in movies were few and far between during the first half of the 20th century, usually limited to small supporting roles as domestics, Pullman porters or racist stereotypes so broadly drawn, they shock the conscience of a modern-day viewer.

And while there's definitely something to Hattie McDaniel's assertion that she'd "rather play a maid than be one," every now and then a performer appeared on screen in a role just tasty enough to make you hunger for what might have been.

Here are a half dozen who made a splash during the early sound era:

Nina Mae McKinney

Ethel Waters

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

Louise Beavers

Paul Robeson

Hattie McDaniel