Have you ever watched "The Childrens' Hour" by Lillian Hellman?

[PartyPooper]

It was on TCM earlier today. It stars Shirley Maclaine and Audrey Hepburn. James Garner is featured as the "boyfriend" of Audrey's character.

I've seen it several times. I watched it again today. And, I'm saddened that there are still so many themes against "gay folks" since this film was made in 1961.

So much prejudice and hate. So many ruined lives.

What about you? Have you seen this film? Do you have any comments?

:-(

[WCGreen]

1. Yea, that's a disturbing one all right.....

And rockford was in it as well, if I recall....

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. It's one of my all time "favorite" movies

I hesitate to say favorite because it's painful to watch, but both actors did their characters justice...proving why they were both at the top of their league

[MrBenchley]

3. There's a famous Hollywood story

Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, walked into a meeting to announce he heard the play was a big hit on Broadway and so he'd bought the movie rights, sight unseen.

There was a long silence. Finally somebody said to him, " Mr. Meyer, you can't make that picture. The main characters are lesbians."

And Meyer said, "That's all right. We'll change them to Americans."

[PartyPooper]

4. Did he think they were Grecians?

Dumbya called Greeks "Grecians" awhile back. Did Louis B. Mayer do the same?

:wow:

[MrBenchley]

7. Mayer was famous for his mangled language and strange thinking...

Once, asked about the head of Columbia Pictures (who had not-so-hidden ties to organized crime), he said "To hell with him! There are dead men walking the streets tonight because of him."

And once, after an epic had flopped, he yelled "We're never making another picture where anyone writes with a feather!"

[cmkramer]

15. How about

"A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on"? and

"Include me out".

[fudge stripe cookays]

14. Probably Lebanese.

I heard a joke like that once.

A guy tries coming on to a woman in a bar, but she stops him mid-come-on.

"I have to tell you," she says, "I'm a lesbian."

"Really?" he replies, "How are things in Beirut?"

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[hickman1937]

6. Damn. Now I have to rent that one.

Haven't seen it since I was about 16 or 17. All I remember was that lying little bitch that always got away with murder. I grew up with a lot of those types. The rest went right over my head.

[soothsayer]

5. Yes! As a young lesbian (before I even really understood what

that whole thing meant---must have been 8 or 10 or something the first time I saw it), I was totally riveted to it. Loved it! Still do.

[Lavender Brown]

8. What is amazing is that the play was written even earlier

It's such a sad story.

[CBHagman]

9. That ran on TV when I was a kid.

I remember thinking it was going to be a sweet, entertaining movie. :eyes: Oh, that title. Little did I know how grim the movie was (I HATED that malicious girl!). Naturally, I didn't have a clue what sort of lies were being spread in that movie. Some of that was due to my own ignorance and also probably the result of discreet handling of the themes due to censorship. The earlier version of the film, These Three, was reworked due to the more stringent environment in Hollywood at that time.

See article:

http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/ThisMonth/Article/0,,1109,00.html

[caty]

10. It also shows the power of the spoken word.

Whether the accusations were of lesbianism or anything else that is not considered "normal" or "moral". How false accusations can ruin lives.

[bertha katzenengel]

11. yes, I've seen it

It's very, very sad. That's all I can say.

[Atlas Mugged]

12. Yes

It's a classic.

I'm a huge fan of Hellman. Her autobiographies are fantastic. I lived in New Orleans when I read them and it was fun to go to the areas from her childhood that she wrote about.

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. No, but I did see the original,

"These Three", which was made back in the 30s (Joel McCrea, and I think Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon).

A lot of the subtext was removed from the Hellman original for that version (it was the time period), but I still found it interesting.

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