The Screwball Story

Latest Episodes:

Carole Lombard - Interview with Carla Valderrama Mar 25, 2023

Show notes

In the season one finale, I discuss the "Queen" of screwball comedy, Carole Lombard, with This Was Hollywood author, Carla Valderrama.

You can follow Carla on Instagram and Tiktok @thiswashollywood

To purchase Carla's book, please follow the links on her website: https://thiswashollywood.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hands Across the Table (Mitchell Leisen, 1935) Mar 18, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss Hands Across the Table (Mitchell Leisen, 1935) starring Carole Lombard, Fred MacMurray, and Ralph Bellamy.

Works Cited:

David Chierichetti, Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director (Los Angeles: Photoventures Press, 1995).

John A. Gallagher, "Ralph Bellamy Interview" (1983). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkKvMGHDM1A

Charles Tranberg, Fred MacMurray: A Biography (Albany, GA: BearManor Media, 2007).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barbara Stanwyck - Interview with Cait Liberati Mar 11, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss Barbara Stanwyck's performances in The Lady Eve (Sturges, 1941) and Ball of Fire (Hawks, 1941) with Cait Liberati.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) Mar 04, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944) starring Betty Hutton, Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, and Diana Lynn.

Works Cited:

Matthew Bernstein, "'The Edge of Unacceptability': Preston Sturges and the PCA," in ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges, ed. Jeff Jaeckle (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2015), pp. 83-106.

Diane Jacobs, Christmas in July: The Life and Art of Preston Sturges (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1992).

Brian Kellow, Ethel Merman: A Life (New York: Penguin Books, 2008).

Otto Friedrich, City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s (New York: Harper Perennial, 2014).

Michael Slowik, "On Deadline and Reviewed in Pieces: The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and the Production Code Administration," Film History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Winter 2017), pp. 32-58.

Preston Sturges, Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in his Words (New York: Touchstone, 1991).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ernst Lubitsch - Interview with Chris Cassingham Feb 25, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I chat with film programmer Chris Cassingham about the comedy genius, Ernst Lubitsch.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936) Feb 18, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss the quintessential Depression-era screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936), starring Carole Lombard, William Powell, Gail Patrick, Alice Brady, Mischa Auer, and Eugene Pallette.

Works Cited:

Christopher Beach, Class, Language, and American Film Comedy (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

Roger Bryant, William Powell: The Life and Films (New York: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2006).

Bernard F. Dick, City of Dreams: the Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2021).

Lea Jacobs, Film Rhythm and Sound: Technology, Music, and Performance (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014).

Olympia Kiriakou, Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020).

Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Theodora Goes Wild (Richard Boleslawski, 1936) Feb 11, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss Theodora Goes Wild (Richard Boleslawski, 1936) starring Irene Dunne and Melvyn Douglas.

Works Cited:

James Bawden and Ron Miller, Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 2017).

Emily Carman, Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the Hollywood Studio System (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016).

Benjamin Dreyer, "Irene Goes Wild," Criterion, December 12, 2022. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8013-irene-goes-wild.

Hollywood and the Great Depression: American Film, Politics, and Society in the 1930s, eds. Iwan Morgan and Philip John Davies (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2016).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Libeled Lady (Jack Conway, 1936) Feb 04, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss Libeled Lady (Jack Conway, 1936) starring Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy, William Powell, and Spencer Tracy.

Works Cited:

Vincent Canby, "How a 1936 Screwball Comedy Illuminates Movie History," The New York Times (February 1, 1981), section 2, pg. 15.

The Dick Cavett Show, "Myrna Loy," (1980), season 12, episode 36.

Kathrina Glitre, Hollywood Romantic Comedy: States of the Union, 1934-1965 (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2013).

Grégoire Halbout, Hollywood Screwball Comedy, 1934-1945: Sex, Love, and Democratic Ideals (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023).

Emily Leider, Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).

Myrna Loy and James Kotsilibas-Davis, Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming (New York: Donald I Fine, 1988).

David Stenn, Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow (New York: Doubleday, 1993).

James Curtis, Spencer Tracy: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 2011).

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Jean Harlow - Interview with Sophia D'Aurelio Jan 21, 2023

Show notes

On this episode I discuss all things Jean Harlow with historian, Sophia D'Aurelio.

You can find Sophia at:

Website: https://harlowheaven.wordpress.com/

Instagram: @harlowheaven

Twitter: @harlowheaven and @vitaphonezone

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twentieth Century (Howard Hawks, 1934) Jan 14, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, I discuss Twentieth Century (Howard Hawks, 1934) starring John Barrymore and Carole Lombard.

Works Cited:

Elizabeth Kendall, Runaway Bride: Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1930s (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2002).

Olympia Kiriakou, Becoming Carole Lombard: Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020).

Howard Hawks: A Hell of a Good Life, dir. Hans-Christoph Blumenberg (Germany: Sunset Mark Productions, 1978).

Joseph McBride, Hawks on Hawks (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982).

Todd McCarthy, Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood (New York: Grove Press, 2000).

Andrew Sarris, "The Sex Comedy Without Sex," American Film 3 (March 1978), 12-13.

Larry Swindell, Screwball: The Life of Carole Lombard (New York: William Morrow & Co., Inc., 1975).

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