Confessions of an Ann Dvorak Biographer, Part 1
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 228
Today is Ann Blyth’s Summer Under the Stars day over at Turner Classic Movies. As many of you are aware, Ms. Blyth is alive and well and even made an appearance at the TCM Film Festival back in April. Before you ask – no, she is not interviewed in Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel.Â
Mind you, that’s not from a lack of trying. I wrote her a couple of letters that were not returned, so I assume they made it to their destination. No answer. About five years ago, I was volunteering at a screening of Mildred Pierce for the annual Last Remaining Seats series where Blyth’s daughter and grandchildren were in attendance. I accosted the poor woman in her seat and begged her to have mom get in touch with me. Had the aisles at the Million Dollar Theatre not been so narrow, I would have gladly gotten on my knees to emphasize my desperation. The daughter was lovely and receptive, but I still never heard from Blyth.
Even if Ann Blyth had contacted me, I probably would not have gotten much out of her. I am a fantastic researcher and a decent writer, which I feel confident in saying are two strengths of the book. However, I am a lousy interviewer, which was my main failing during this process. Locating people who were still alive and worked with Ann was hard enough, but trying to extract information about a person they worked with 50+ years ago in an insignificant film with minimal screen time – damn near impossible, for me at least.
I did get in contact with a handful of people, including Virginia Mayo, Hugh O’Brien, and Jane Wyatt. They didn’t have much to say other than Ann was lovely and very professional. It never occurred to me to send them a copy of the film to refresh their memory. Â Had I done that, Joan Leslie may not have looked at me like an idiot when I asked her about Flowers for John, the teleplay she an Ann appeared in sometime in the early 1950s.
In all honesty, I just flat out hate contacting people for interviews. I always felt like I was being intrusive and people were not always receptive. I tracked down the daughter of a couple who were caretakers on Ann and Leslie Fenton’s ranch. I figured she would be thrilled to hear from me. Instead, she had her husband email me to say she knew nothing about it and wasn’t interested. It didn’t help that I contacted her while she was planning her own daughter’s traditional Chinese wedding. You see? Intrusive.
Still, I sucked it up and tried to get a hold of people. Angela Lansbury never responded. Â Neither did one of Igor Dega’s (husband #2) dance partners. I was thrilled to find Herbert Rawlinson’s 90-something-year-old daughter was still around, as he seemed to be a friend of Ann and her mother. No response. I became so desperate to find people who knew Ann that I placed an ad in the Los Angeles Times. That resulted in a bunch of collect calls from county jail inmates, and one repeat caller whose messages were so obscene they made our unflappable friend Tony blush.
The best recollections I was able to pull out of people were actually from non-actors, including a gentleman who corresponded with Ann in the 1960s and spent an *interesting* evening with Ann and her mother, and another who knew Ann in Hawaii at the end of her life.
Don’t get me wrong, the book still turned out great and the primary source documents I was able to access are, in my opinion, Â far more valuable than vague, decades old recollections. But this aspect of biography writing is why I’ll probably never undertake a project of this nature again.
It won’t be long till future biographers of golden era stars won’t have any contemporaries to interview – they’ll all be dead. I agree, vague memories of someone the subject briefly worked with 50+ years ago, not as valuable as letters, diaries & other source documents.
This is the third time that TCM has aired “Our Very Own” over the last 7, 8 months. I wish they were as generous with their scheduling of her Warner films. As with “A Life of Her Own”, Ann is the best thing about “Our Very Own”. It’s not even close. The adjectives you used to describe her character in an earlier post spot on.
Yes, TCM does seem to have a preference for certain Ann films. “Merrily We Live” and “The Long Night” are currently on the fall roster and have been shown many times previously. Even though I think “I Sell Anything” is a terrible film, I do wish they would air it, just so I could replace my 5th generation TNT copy on VHS.
This post just made me even more excited for the book – thank you for your honesty, and your beautiful recognition of your own downfalls and strengths.
Thanks Amanda, I really appreciate that. As I was writing the post, I started thinking that maybe talking about these failings would turn people off from reading the book, so I almost backed out. I’m relieved to hear it did not have that adverse effect!
Even though I had just seen it a few months back when TCM had a mini 1950s melodrama festival, decided to dvr “Our Very Own” and give it another viewing in anticipation of Ann’s bio. Feelings remain same; Ann rises above the material with her touching performance. I’d rather spend time with her character than the bland Jane Wyatt.
The film does have some “time capsule” value, with its depiction of mid-century America, or at least, Hollywood’s version of mid-century America.
I think it’s definitely an interesting film for its time, though I have only sat through the whole thing once. Otherwise, it’s too tempting to fast forward to Ann’s scenes.
If you decide to watch again, take the time to sit thru Ann Blyth’s birthday/graduation party scene. Lasts about ten minutes, and it’s a scream.
This was a Sam Goldwyn production, just a few years removed from his great triumph “Best Years of Our Lives”. “A Life of Her Own” was likewise a seemingly prestige project, made at MGM and directed by the celebrated George Cukor, hot off major successes with “Adam’s Rib” and “Born Yesterday”. I would think that Ann felt by appearing in these promising films she might be giving her career a much needed boost???
Perhaps. She made Our Very Own in they midst of preparing for a Broadway show, so she was busy at the time.