March Madness Preview: 1950s Bracket/Sweet And Sassy Division

The Lina Lamont Fan Club Throws Down The Gauntlet

FlickChick, author of the blog A Person in the Dark and president of the Lina Lamont fan club, is on the offensive:

"Yes, loyal fans," she writes, "we are still here. No matter how hard her enemies try to destroy her legacy, Lina Lamont's fans will not rest until the truth is known and Lina is awarded her proper place in the history of film."

You know the story—one of the biggest stars of the silent era, Lina Lamont's career took an abrupt turn for the worst with the advent of sound. While her screen partner Don Lockwood went on to a big career in sound pictures with wife Kathy Selden, Lina quickly faded from public view—and from the public's memory.

"They have rediscovered Louise Brooks," says FlickChick. "Now it's time for a Lina Lamont revival!"

We here at the Monkey will do our part. Digging through my treasure trove of silent era memorabilia, I've come up with this vintage poster of the biggest hit of Lina's career, The Royal Rascal.

Stop on over at A Person in the Dark, read the whole story and show your support for this worthwhile cause!

The Katie-Bar-The-Door Awards (1952)

"Looking up at him, I thought this is no actor but the hero of all mythology brought miraculously to life, a purely beautiful being."—Louise Brooks, on meeting John Wayne for the first time

PICTURE (Drama)
winner: High Noon (prod. Stanley Kramer)
nominees: The Bad and the Beautiful (prod. John Houseman); Bend of the River (prod. Aaron Rosenberg); The Narrow Margin (prod. Stanley Rubin)
Must-See Drama:

PICTURE (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Singin' In The Rain (prod. Arthur Freed)
nominees: The Importance of the Being Earnest (prod. Teddy Baird); Limelight (prod. Charles Chaplin); Monkey Business (prod. Howard Hawks); Pat and Mike (prod. Lawrence Weingarten); The Quiet Man (prod. Merian C. Cooper and John Ford)
Must-See Comedy/Musical:

PICTURE (Foreign Language)
winner: Ikiru (prod. Sôjirô Motoki)
nominees: Casque d’Or (prod. Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim and André Paulvé); Le plaisir (prod. Édouard Harispuru, M. Kieffer and Max Ophüls); Jeux interdits (Forbidden Games) (prod. Robert Dorfmann); Saikaku ichidai onna (The Life of Oharu) (prod. Hideo Koi and Kenji Mizoguchi); Umberto D. (prod. Giuseppe Amato, Vittorio De Sica and Angelo Rizzoli)
Must-See Foreign Language:

ACTOR (Drama)
winner: Takashi Shimura (Ikiru)
nominees: Gary Cooper (High Noon); Kirk Douglas (The Bad and the Beautiful); José Ferrer (Moulin Rouge); Stewart Granger (Scaramouche and The Prisoner of Zenda); Charles McGraw (The Narrow Margin); Robert Mitchum (Macao, The Lusty Men and Angel Face); Robert Ryan (On Dangerous Ground); James Stewart (Bend of the River)

ACTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: John Wayne (The Quiet Man)
nominees: Cary Grant (Monkey Business); Gene Kelly (Singin' In The Rain); Michael Redgrave (The Importance of Being Earnest); Spencer Tracy (Pat And Mike)

ACTRESS (Drama)
winner: Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba)
nominees: Marlene Dietrich (Rancho Notorious); Julie Harris (The Member of the Wedding); Jennifer Jones (Ruby Gentry); Jean Simmons (Angel Face); Lana Turner (The Bad and the Beautiful); Marie Windsor (The Narrow Margin)

ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Maureen O'Hara (The Quiet Man)
nominees: Joan Greenwood (The Importance of Being Earnest); Katharine Hepburn (Pat and Mike); Judy Holliday (The Marrying Kind); Anna Magnani (Le carrosse d'or a.k.a. The Golden Coach); Debbie Reynolds (Singin' In The Rain); Ginger Rogers (Monkey Business)

DIRECTOR (Drama)
winner: Fred Zinnemann (High Noon)
nominees: René Clément (Jeux interdits a.k.a. Forbidden Games); Vittorio De Sica (Umberto D.); Akira Kurosawa (Ikiru); Anthony Mann (Bend of the River); Kenji Mizoguchi (Saikaku ichidai onna a.k.a. The Life of Oharu); Max Ophüls (Le plaisir)

DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly (Singin' In The Rain)
nominees: Anthony Asquith (The Importance of Being Earnest); Charles Chaplin (Limelight); George Cukor (Pat and Mike); John Ford (The Quiet Man)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
winner: Donald O'Connor (Singin' In The Rain)
nominees: Ward Bond (The Quiet Man); Barry Fitzgerald (The Quiet Man); Buster Keaton (Limelight); Victor McLaglen (The Quiet Man)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
winner: Jean Hagen (Singin' In The Rain)
nominees: Edith Evans (The Importance of Being Earnest); Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful); Katy Jurado (High Noon); Margaret Rutherford (The Importance of Being Earnest)

SCREENPLAY
winner: Adolph Green and Betty Comden (Singin' In The Rain)
nominees: Carl Foreman, from the story "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham (High Noon); Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni (Ikiru); Frank S. Nugent, from a story by Maurice Walsh (The Quiet Man)

SPECIAL AWARDS
"Make 'Em Laugh" (Singin' In The Rain) music and lyrics by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown (Song)