The Extras - Director Michael Curtiz and Warner Bros

Episode Date: January 11, 2022

This is part 2 of 2 with Warner Bros executive and film historian George Feltenstein and Alan K. Rode, author of “Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film.” In this episode, George and Alan broaden their discussion of the 1938 classic gangster film “Angels With Dirty Faces” with an entertaining look at the Warner Bros studio during the 1930’s and 40’s, including the Warner Club, the unique Warner blooper film reels, and the impact of World War II on the studio.  Then they discuss elements of Michael Curtiz’s legacy, including his relationship with actors, his personal life, and his films “Mildred Pierce,” “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, and “The Adventures of Robinhood.”And finally, George reveals some of the Warner Archive plans for the film “The Adventures of Robinhood.”Otaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers.  Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals.  www.otakumedia.tvThe Sitcom StudyWelcome to the Sitcom Study, where we contemplate the TV shows we grew up with and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Warner Archive Store on Amazon Support the podcast by shopping with our Amazon Affiliate linkDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.The Extras Facebook pageThe Extras Twitter Warner Archive & Warner Bros Catalog GroupOtaku Media produces podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connect creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals. www.otakumedia.tv

Hi, I'm film historian and author John Fricke. I've written books about Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz movie, and you're listening to The Extras. Hello and welcome to The Extras, where we take you behind the scenes of your favorite TV shows, movies, and animation, and their release on digital, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K, or your favorite streaming site. I'm Tim Millard, your host. This is part two of a discussion with Warner Brothers executive George Feltenstein

and author and cinema impresario Alan K. Rohde, author of the excellent book Michael Curtiz, A Life in Film. In part one, which is episode 28, they discuss the Warner Archive Blu-ray release of the 1938 classic film Angels with Dirty Faces. I highly recommend listening to that episode when you get the chance. In this episode, George and Alan share stories from more Michael Curtiz films, such as Mildred Pierce, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and The Adventures of Robin Hood. We pick up with the discussion of the impact of the Warner Brothers films on both George and Alan growing up in the New York area.

What my parents used to do for me at a very young age was plot me in front of the television and say, you need to see this movie. And that started when I was like two or three. And, you know, I was watching films like Angels with Dirty Faces or Singing in the Rain or Mildred Pierce, not quite getting the depth of watching Mildred Pierce 10 years later, you know, when I was, let's say, 16 or whatever. It became a different experience as I got older, but I was just mesmerized by the golden era of Hollywood filmmaking. And my two favorite studios were Warner Brothers and MGM. And I think, and I've said this before, Warner Brothers films tend not to date as much as the films of other studios. You are absolutely right. And that's why so many of them still resonate. You realize this movie is 83 years old.

Unbelievable. And it doesn't seem possible to me. It's incredible. And George, you and I came up a similar way, although I think I hold the all time record for most times watching Mildred Pierce, because my mother went to acting school with Jack Carson and actually dated Jack Carson. So every time Mildred Pierce came on, we watched it again and again and again. And we watched all these movies. And you're right. The Warner Brothers movie, as you said at the top, George, the proletarian, you know, MGM for all of its glitz and all of its more stars than there are in heaven, they would not have actors like Cagney and Edward G. Robinson and Ann Sheridan popping gum as a waitress and all of that. reflected the personality of the Brothers Warners that came up the hard way, that came up with guts and operating on gut instinct. I mean, there was a time during the Depression where Jack Warner had

one of the producers, Henry Blanke, take the cameras home and lock them up in his garage so the banks wouldn't show up and call their note in and take the cameras away. Every studio during the Depression, except MGM, suffered years of losses. And Warner Brothers actually, I think, had to shut down for a couple of weeks. People took day cuts. People took day cuts. But there was a familial quality to the Warner players. Right.

And there was something called the Warner Studio Club. Everybody that worked at the studio had a membership in the studio club members would gather at the Biltmore Hotel downtown L.A. and see the blooper reels of the studio from the prior year. And they're called Breakdowns of 1938. Breakdowns of 1939. Right, right. And we're not fortunate in that no one had the smartness to copyright these blooper reels. So they got out there looking terrible, but we have the original negatives and we have used them on multiple discs. So you'll see outtakes with angels of dirty faces on one of

our discs. I don't even know if it's on this one. I don't think it is. I wanted to do a disc at one time and just call it Warner Bloopers, but I just thought that would cause a little bit too much hassle in the legal department. So we were fortunate in that we got the permission to put these reels on various releases and get them out to the public. And no other studio in town did that. No other studio, MGM didn't have a blooper reel that you

saw every year. Tradition began, I think around 33, 34, and then was kind of locked in around 35. locked in around 35. And it kind of ebbed off a little bit during World War II. They stopped for a couple of years. And when the war ended and people returned to the studio, there were one or two more reels, but the world had changed. And just the sentiment of that pre-war period that gave birth to that kind of an environment where people really got down on their hands and knees and worked their tails off six days a week, just so dedicated to making the most entertaining films. the most entertaining films. And then 83 years later, we're talking about a movie that was just one of 52 that they released that year because they released a new movie every week. Right.

Plus all the cartoons and the shorts and the travelogues. It was an amazing thing. And unfortunately, it's not happening now due to the pandemic, but under normal circumstances, to be able to go to that hallowed ground every day and say, this is where I work. And you realize that you're walking where Cagney walked, where Curtiz walked, Curtiz walked, where Bogart walked. And I even got the pleasure of walking on the lot with Olivia de Havilland when she came out to get an award from Premier Magazine back in 2004. One of the trees have grown. Yeah. One of my favorite stories that I put in Michael Curtiz's A Life in Film was from my chum, Richard Erdman, when he was making a film and they were on a soundstage.

And all of a sudden, Jack Warner and his entourage walk on the soundstage and say, we're not going to work anymore today. The war is over. and say, we're not going to work anymore today. The war is over. And Ervin went on to describe this spontaneous celebration. He said people poured out of the buildings, people in costume dressed up as Native Americans or ballerinas, cowboys, everyone poured out on the Warner Main Street. And then Eric Korngold led the band, the Warner Orchestra, out onto the street playing God Bless America. And he said the only person that was cognizant that this was a great moment was Michael Curtiz. And he got a camera and went up in a crane

and started filming it. And I'd love to know where that film went to George, but he filmed it and he said, we were hugging and kissing. And I I'm paraphrasing with Dick. He said, we had, you know, they, they did a lot during the war. They gave blood, they held drives the Hollywood canteen. And he said, it was just such a glorious moment, Drives, the Hollywood canteen. And he said, it was just such a glorious moment, glorious, glorious. And when he told me that story, I said, you know, this has to go into the book. And he said, that's why I told it to you. Every studio in town, the whole industry gathered together. It was a time when being patriotic was not being a political thing. Correct.

And we were all united as a country. This was a wonderful thing in itself. And there was a common foe. And there was this incredible spirit of unity that was through the entire industry. And every studio did their best for the war effort, but no other studio did as much for the war effort as Warner Brothers. That is exactly true because their biggest hit during the war was the Irving Berlin review, This is the Army. And Jack and Harry Warner, particularly Harry Warner, gave all the profits from that, which amounted to a considerable sum of money to the Army Relief Fund.

And I'm very happy to tell you there's an epilogue to that story that went to the God Bless America Foundation and to Army Emergency Relief, and it was no longer part of our library. Interesting. And I got on the phone. I think I might have gotten the call from Ted Chapin at the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, which at that time was an independent organization that also handled the Irving Berlin song catalog. He called me and said,

George, we love the work you do. And we would love to see This Is The Army get restored and be back at Warner Brothers. And we made a deal to get the rights back to the film with royalties going to the God Bless America Foundation and Army Emergency Relief. And Army Emergency Relief still is a viable charity for soldiers who need help or money for their family while they're defending our country wherever they are overseas or domestically. That was, of course, directed by Michael Curtiz, as was Yankee Doodle Dandy, which went into production right at World War II. The day of Pearl Harbor. Right.

Well, the Joan Leslie story that she told me about the first day of Yankee Doodle Dandy, I told it on TCM, and I'll tell it again now because it's worth telling. Pearl Harbor had been attacked the day before. Curtiz and Cagney walked together onto the set and the other actors, Cagney's sister, Walter Houston, et cetera, Joan Leslie, were gathered around a radio listening to President Roosevelt talk to a joint session of Congress and making the famous Day of Infamy speech, asking for a declaration of war against Japan for their attack on us.

And as Cagney and Curtiz joined them, they listened for a few minutes and Cagney said, turn that thing off. I think a prayer goes in here. And then he bowed his head and there was a moment of silence. And then Curtiz, always the director, said, well, boys and girls, we have sad times, very sad times here for the country, but we have a great story to tell. So let's begin. And that was how the filming of Yankee Doodle Dandy started. And it's really interesting that, you know, I've always loved that movie.

We put the Blu-ray out in 2014. So it's been available now for seven years. And it's still in our top 10 sellers. And we have a page on our Facebook site where we must have posted a clip of the movie, I'd say probably four or five years ago. And there are thousands and thousands of comments. Most of them are just so moving and breathtaking because they speak of Cagney in the movie. And, of course, Curtiz made that all possible. He did. And you think that he made Yankee Doodle dandy and costume.

And it was his, and I actually, George, I actually, in my book, I came to the conclusion that that was Curtiz's happiest movie ever at Warner Brothers. Of the 90-odd movies he made at Warner Brothers, there was no movie he enjoyed more than Yankee Doodle Dandy for a couple reasons. Number one, Curtiz wore his patriotism on his sleeve. You have to remember, this was someone that grew up as a Jew in an empire ruled by an emperor, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He fought in World War I. He was reportedly wounded. He came to America in 26. He became a naturalized citizen in December of 35. But he had his family back there in Hungary. And when the World War II started, he got his mother out and he got two of his brothers out. In fact, he and Bess Meredith

used to go visit them because they had to stay in Tijuana before they could get a visa to enter the country. So they would go down there on the weekends and visit them. Unfortunately, Curtiz did not get out, two sisters and another brother, and they wanted to stay there. And for those familiar with the World War II and the Holocaust, the Jewish population of Hungary did not suffer the depredations of the Nazis until like was really happy about is my publisher, the University Press of Kentucky, that published Michael Curtiz's A Life in Film. They put the book out in paperback earlier this year, and I was delighted with that. But I said, you have to let me write an afterword to this book because it never fails as a biographer. As soon as you write a book about somebody, no matter how thorough you think you've been, all of a sudden people come out of the woodwork. Oh, did you know Curtis's brother lived in our house and he left these pictures? And that,

you know, that always happens. But in this case, I became acquainted with Curtis's grand niece, I became acquainted with Curtiz's grand niece, Agnes Judah, who lives in San Francisco. And I hosted a Curtiz event at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. And she was there and she came to Noir City when we showed one of Curtiz's movies and so forth. movies and so forth, she had the entire family tree on this huge chart and also told me this story about how Cortese's sister and his niece, which was Agnes's mother, survived the Holocaust and survived Auschwitz with one of the most heart-rending and unbelievable stories of survival. And she told me this story and gave me documentation, including Harry Warner, getting the people that were still associated with Warner Brothers in Europe amidst the chaos of the war, trying to help Michael Curtiz find out what happened to his

family. And I had all those documents. So in the afterward, I wrote this story and it's incredibly moving and it's just incredible. And I was really glad that I was able to include that in the new edition because it also includes some information about Curtiz's out of wedlock children, of which he had, I believe, let's see, one, two, three, I believe he had four out of wedlock children by four different women, including his last daughter, who's younger than me. So, but he cared much more about his children than was my initial impression and evidence. And I found out some things like one of his daughter that he had by a actress in Europe before he came to this country, her kids, they had a reunited and visited Curtiz near

the end of his life when he was at Paramount. And he took them to Disneyland, which had recently opened. And then he wanted to put one of his, this grandson, he introduced him to Fess Parker, who was then Davy Crockett. And then Curtiz asked his, the mother of his grandson, hey, you know, I'm making this movie. Maybe he could be, maybe I can teach him how to act. And he was trying to cast one of his grandchildren in a film shortly before he died. So he wasn't nearly as hard-hearted as he appeared to be. Yeah, there tend to be predominant stories

about him that somehow take on a negative stand and in certain ways but then you say this is the man that made when i look at yankee doodle dandy you know i defy anyone to watch the grand old flag sequence and not be in tears. You know what, George, if I may, he created that. He staged the whole thing where the flags come out in the stage and then you see a back projection of more flags and the Capitol Dome. He created that and then he rehearsed it for Hal Wallace and Harry Warner before they shot it. And that was his creation.

It's an amazing, it's an amazing scene. And you're right. To an old sailor like me who spent a lot of time serving in the U.S. Navy to see all of that, it's impossible not to get a little bit choked up. And I know that's probably old fashioned, but that's how I feel about it. That's the beauty of it. That's the beauty of it. And, you know, these are,

if you look at some of his other films, they're American stories. In Angels with Dirty Faces, there's still a love of country. You know, there's still a love of America because you know that Pat O'Brien's character is on a mission to set these kids on the right direction. So they don't glamorize Rocky Sullivan and they don't want to. And neither did Rocky want them to grow up like him.

And I don't want to give the end of the movie away. That's not what you're here to do. The movie has a moral lesson. There's no question about that. And that was not only part of audience expectations and part of the societal norms at that time, expectations and part of the societal norms at that time. But it was also part of the production code as enforced by Joseph I. Breen, who really took firm control over movie content for 20 years, beginning in July of 1934. And Breen was almost the de facto bishop of Hollywood in many ways for those familiar with him and the history of the Production Code Authority. Because you hear you have a gangster and you have a priest. And I do have a memo from Breams, you know, basically warning Hal Wallace, you need to

handle this material very carefully. You need to make sure that as appealing as Cagney is, that this character of Rocky Sullivan is not appealing and so forth. So they, I think, you know, Wallace, Curtiz, the screenwriters, Cagney, they had to do some adroitness to bring this off where it's obvious that Rocky Sullivan is going to pay the price because the rule of the day censorship wise was compensating moral values. I always that that phrase, if you kill someone or if you do wrong, there has to be the equalization in the story. And they got that.

But despite all of that, when you watch Angels with Dirty Faces, you cannot help liking Rocky Sullivan because it's James Cagney. And how can you not like him? Because he presents himself as the character is basically a good person. And as Pat O'Brien says near the end of the film, who didn't get the breaks when he was a kid. And that kind of was the coda to all of it. And it works. And it worked in 1938. And as you said, here we are, what, 83 years later, and it still works. It still works. And I wonder how many films made today will work 83 years from now. Stay with us. We'll be right back. Hi, this is Tim Millard, host of The Extras Podcast. And I wanted to let you know that we have a new private Facebook group for fans of the Warner Archive and Warner Brothers catalog physical media releases.

So if that interests you, you can find the link on our Facebook page or look for the link in the podcast show notes. I think you're right. Not a whole lot. I think you're right. Not a whole lot. I mean, the one film that Warner Brothers did, that Curtiz did, that I think a hundred years from now people will watch and it will not date at all is The Adventures of Robin Hood. Because it's based on myth. Okay. And it's, there's no way that that film dates. when you see that film now. It is just as entertaining, as lively, as amusing and as dramatic as it was in 1938. That film is is impervious to dating.

The thing that gives it that extra edge of eternal life is the fact that they shot it in Technicolor. Absolutely. Because unfortunately, for a great many people and people intentionally shoot in black and white for an artistic approach. I think Turner Classic Movies has also helped acclimate a newer audience, a younger audience for classic film as well, where black and white is something to be looked forward to rather than something to be avoided. rise of colorization in the mid-80s as really a gimmick to get new syndicated revenue out of these old black and white pictures. And I want to clarify for the audience, everybody blamed Ted Turner for starting colorization. And it is true that he very vividly supported it because he felt it was a way that he could, he had just bought this library of movies

that if they were colorized, he could sell them at higher prices and get primetime television space. And he did. But before he bought MGM and the MGM library, which at that time included the pre 49 Warner library and most of the Arcao library, the deal with color systems technology to do colorization was initiated by MGM before Ted Turner came on the scene. And I saw the contracts and they were preparing to do that. And the first film they colorized was Yankee Doodle Dandy. And of course, there is, I think there is truth in when people say Oh, God. But colorization, even with what colorization is now today, almost 40 years after that debacle, because old colorization looked like magic markers, you know, it was awful. greatness of storytelling where it doesn't matter whether it's black and white or color. If the

storytelling is good, the filmmaking is good. And of course, black and white photography is an art form all its own. Right. Well, you had James Wong Howe doing most of the photography on Yankee Doodle Dandy, and there was nobody better and doing black and white than him. And of course, there was the cost. You know, Robin Hood, Adventures of Robin Hood. This was a huge gamble for Warner Brothers. Now, this was 1937, 1938, which was a regressive year for the economy. We were still in the Depression and so forth. And Warner Brothers put over two million dollars into The Adventures of Robin Hood. And that was when two million dollars was two million dollars. It was a lot of money and still a lot. It's still a lot of money. But the the movie. Yeah, not to make a

movie. But the fact that Wallace at the time did something very controversial, he replaced the line director who directed the scenes that were shot first in Sherwood Forest, which was Chico, California. And he felt that the film did not have the the verve and vitality that Curtiz would give it. So he replaced Keeley with Curtiz. And both men are credited. And both men were credited because Keeley was certainly a good and very effective director for Warner Brothers. And a company man. And a company man.

But this movie was really in Curtiz's wheelhouse, was really his métier. in Curtiz's wheelhouse was really his métier. And the reason he didn't get it was a personality conflict between Michael Curtiz and Errol Flynn. And Errol Flynn went to Jack Warner and Wallace and said, I really would like Keeley. I believe Keeley had directed Errol in The Prince and the Pauper, and they had gotten on very, very well. And let's face it, I think Curtiz got Errol's greatest performances out of him at Warner Brothers. There's no doubt about that. Oh, without question. But at the time, he originally with Captain Blood, Curtiz believed in breaking somebody down that was inexperienced. And, you know, the old analogy of molding an actor like a piece of clay and where that probably was very effective.

It certainly didn't build a collegial relationship between the two men. And eventually, I think they made like 10 or 12 films together. And it ended with the World War Two airplane film that they filmed on location in San Diego. And I guess Flynn actually physically attacked Curtiz and that was the end of their association. But the coda to all of that was in 1959, Curtiz was nearing the end of his career, and he was making The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for Sam Goldwyn Jr. And Errol Flynn was literally dying. You know, Errol lived as great as he was and as wonderful as he was. He did live a life of excess, and it caught up to him.

And he applied for a part in the movie. He needed the work. up to him. And he applied for a part in the movie. He needed the work. And Sam Goldwyn Jr., who I interviewed, said that Mike treated Errol with such respect and such kindness. And he said it was just wonderful. And it said at one point, Errol gestured towards Curtiz and he said, well, that man's my whole career. And he said later that day, Goldwyn and Critiz went home and they were neighbors. And Sammy would give Mike a ride into the set and they would talk about what they were going to do that day and on the way home, what they did and what's tomorrow. And he said, after this meeting with Errol, he said, going home, Mike was quiet. And when he, I went to drop him off, he said he

had tears in his eyes and he looked at me and said, actor's studio can make actor, only God makes star. What role, I'm curious, was he? I think it was the, it was Mickey Shaughnessy. was he? I think it was the it was Mickey Shaughnessy. And he played the role of the Duke of what the heck was he played off Tony Randall and he played off Tony Randall. And that was the and that was the role that Errol came and he died like weeks or months later. He was just in terrible shape. And Curtiz let him down very gently and so forth. And it really made me feel good that these two men who had so much to do with making each other's careers, who could not get along. And I think that was more on Errol's part than Curtiz's part. That at the end of Errol's life, and quite frankly, just several years before Curtiz passed away, there was a good moment between them and what

amounted to a reapproachment. And when Sammy told me that story, we were sitting in his office there and Sammy's gone now too. And this, this was another one of these things where he says, I don't have much time to give you. And we were, I was in his office for like three hours because he loved, he hired Mike to direct the proud rebel in 57, I believe. And he loved the guy. He thought he was great. He thought he was great. He said, but you couldn't get that Warner brothers training out from him. And I said, what did you mean by that? He said he had to have the first shot in the can by nine o'clock in the morning because he was so used to Hal Wallace and Tenny Wright and all these people looking over his shoulder, checking on him. In fact, some of the memoranda that I read, Angels with Dirty Faces, you had Jack Warner was at the set urging Mike on. And I found this memo. I was going through my stuff, just looking at stuff. And here's a memo during the filming of Angels with Dirty Faces

to Mr. Curtiz from the office of J.L. Warner. Dear Mike, after I had the nice talk with you in the lobby last night, I want you to show me you can make the picture you are now shooting in 30 days. You are two days behind now, and I know if you can make it up, if you will just shoot the story that's been so well written. If you will stop with all that superficial roaming camera, Mike, you will make a great picture as you always have. And then he goes on to say sister act, which was four daughters. We had to cut 2000 feet out of it. You work so hard and wasted your time on the reflection shot of Jeffrey Lynn at the piano was 64 feet long, took several hours to get ready and we had to take it out. I could pick 10 or 15 more shots

that we cut out, which you worked hard to do and wasted time on. Do you call this good business and intelligent, properly displayed? You know it isn't. So let's buckle down and shoot the story. J.L. Warner. So this is what Curtiz had to put up with from an artistic point of view. I will say that Wallace certainly had it wasn't always right, but he was more often right than wrong and was a creative producer in terms of material, in terms of story. And he knew budgets and publicity inside out. So I'll give him his drew a Jack Warner artistically. I think his contributions to any movie could be summed up by two words, and that is, hurry up. That was it. That was it. Hurry up. You're costing money. Get done. And to the degree where Curtiz was able to ignore most of these people and continue to make the film his own way. One of the myths about Curtiz

is that he was this functional vocational mechanic of the studio system who just shot the script. And when you go through the production files and the memoranda for all of these films, you find out that it was exactly the opposite. He would go in and agree with Wallace and agree with Zanuck and agree with Jack to do it. And then he would go down to the set and do everything his way. And you had these vitriolic memos from Wallace, who was just furious that he couldn't control what was going on on the set from his office. And he almost fired Curtiz during the charge of the Light Brigade. He came very close to firing him. But after he appointed Curtiz as the director of The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Curtiz came through with him in just great fashion, and the

picture was a success, Wallace didn't, he toned down his criticism. He still would get exasperated with this talented man who he couldn't bend to his will. And they became, Curtiz and Wallace became great friends. In fact, when Wallace was interviewed at an AFI session near the end of his life, someone said, well, how about some of the great directors and so on and so forth? And he set this young man straight. He said, well, you didn't name Michael Curtiz. And Michael Curtiz was one of the great directors. And if you don't recognize that, you really don't understand movies and movie history. So Wallace thought very highly because, again, the Hal Wallace career and the Michael Curtiz career were linked, just as Flynn and Curtiz were.

Yeah, it's all incestuous in the best way. Correct. That's a good way of putting it, George. Because when you see when a lot of these people left, they eventually came back maybe a little bit here, a little bit there, because I'm thinking about Curtiz coming back to do the Helen Morgan story, you know, after his contract was up when you, you made reference to that. Right. Flynn coming back and giving that last run of performance in too much, too soon playing John Barrymore.

And it was like life imitating art. It was too scary for. Oh, it was. It was. And they wanted Curtiz to direct that. And he didn't want to do that. He didn't see the story there. He didn't he didn't like the picture and he backed out of it. But aside from Helen Morgan, his last go around with his friend Wallace was directing King Creole with Elvis Presley. Which is one of Elvis's best films. Some people say it is his best film. I am one of those people. I showed it a couple of years ago at my festival in Palm Springs, and it was a digital restoration and it was fabulous. And Elvis always said that that was his best picture because it's not an Elvis picture. It's a picture with Elvis

becoming a character. And you have really top flight actors, Walter Matthau, Carolyn Jones, Dean Jagger. I call her Mother Dolores because I know her. She is Mother Dolores Hart. And it's a wonderful, wonderful picture. And at one point, Curtiz thought that Elvis was going to be a rock and roll version of Errol Flynn and was kind of girding him. And Hal Wallace basically gave him the riot act and said, you will not use the steamroller approach. Because at that point, Elvis was a polite young guy who quoted the Bible.

And yes, sir. And yes, ma'am. He was the first guy on the set. He knew all his lines. He was great. And Curtiz asked him to lose a little weight and cut his sideburns down. And Elvis was quoted as saying, now I know now he had already made Jailhouse Rock and I think three other movies because Wallace signed him. Wallace saw Elvis on the Tommy Dorsey,

the Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey show. And he knew right away, this is the next big thing. And he got ahold of Colonel Parker, who was not the easiest person to deal with. Wallace said, it was the most difficult negotiation of my entire career with Colonel Parker getting Elvis. But he signed Elvis up. And Elvis said, when he made King Creole, he said, now I understand what a director really is, working with Mike Cortese. And it's one of, Cortese's late career gets criticized after he left Warner Brothers, and in some cases, justifiably so. Some of the movies he made are just not very good. But King Creole, The Proud Rebel, near the end of his career. Those are really, really good movies. My friend David Ladd agrees with you about The Proud Rebel.

Yes, yes. David, I've done The Proud Rebel with David, and he's also my good friend through this book. And he's recently moved. I talked to him several weeks ago, but he's doing good. And his insights into Mike Curtiz and Sammy Goldwyn and the Proud Rebel. And when he was in the Proud Rebel, as the playing the son of his father, Alan Ladd in the movie, the three people formed a bond of friendship. people formed a bond of friendship, David Ladd, Olivia de Havilland, and Sammy Goldwyn Jr. And every time Olivia came to town, the three of them would get together. And they stayed friends until Sammy and then Olivia passed away. And they were very, very close. David and I worked together when he was a production executive at mgm and when i was running mgm home video and we both worked for his half brother alan ladd jr laddy it was a magical

time but david and i have stayed friends and um i haven't talked to him in a while. I have to say, George, David, in our conversations, thinks so highly of you. It's amazing. It's a mutual admiration. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. He's just an incredible human being as well as a very talented, talented executive.

He was a good actor, too. Oh, he was? He was. I don't think he should have given up, you know, but whatever, you know, but the way he would speak about Mr. Haviland, I think as a little boy, he fell in love with her. And I did still, you know, he still was. I said one of his great one of his great moments in his life was Olivia de Havilland giving him a bath in the proud rebel. He said, I had Olivia de Havilland bathe me. I mean, what's better than

that? Right. He never told me that story. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And the other thing that's amusing about that is in retrospect is, uh, some of the stuff Sammy Goldwyn told me about Olivia and Curtiz. Curtiz wanted her for the film. He really wanted her. And she agreed, although she was somebody else who didn't approve of him, thought he was he was coarse and rough and so forth and so on. And Sammy told me at one point they were shooting interiors and Olivia was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, called him up and said, I'd like you to come down and have a drink with me tonight. So Sammy comes down there and she's almost in tears going, why did you hire this terribly mean man? He's still mean. Why did you hire him? And then there was another phone call where she said something about Cortese.

He was an SOB when I was a teenager, and he's still an SOB. But then Sammy said, when we saw the answer print and did the screening, he said, Olivia turned to him and said, well, you know, I knew Mike was the right director for this. And that was by that time she had moved to Paris. Well, you know, I knew Mike was the right director for this. And that was by that time she had moved to Paris. And absolutely, absolutely. And she had not seen The Adventures of Robin Hood for, you know, I don't know whether it was ever for a long time. And I guess she and her son went to see it in Paris. And she said, I was just delighted, the vitality and everything.

She said, we didn't realize we were making classics in the 30s at Warner Brothers, but we were. And then somewhat grudgingly, she says, and it had so much vitality. So she said, I guess Curtiz did have something to do with that. I guess Curtiz did have something to do with that. George, Ellen, it's been amazing to hear your stories, not only about Angels with Dirty Faces, but the career of Michael Curtiz and his work with so many great Hollywood actors. I want to thank you for joining the podcast today to share these with the fans. Oh, this has been a pleasure. You mean it's over? I thought George and I were just getting warmed up. Well, you know, I was going to, as fans will probably know, you didn't hear much from me this podcast because I become a fan as I hear these stories and hear the two of you talking about all the people you've

known and talked to and met. And it's a, it's a real pleasure. So I, I'm a fan and I just want to let you guys talk, but I think that we've kind of covered enough for today and I would love to have you guys back to talk more about some of the things we touched on like Yankee Doodle Dandy and Robin Hood and Michael Curtis and all these great actors. But well, you know, I think that's a perfect segue because I'm not revealing any secrets. This is not definite, but I'm campaigning right now to my colleagues that just as we kind of broke technological ground with our ultra resolution process for The Adventures of Robin Hood and made it look like true Technicolor again, about 20 years ago, I've been pushing hard for that film to be scanned in 8K and recombined in Technicolor for a 4K disc.

No one has said, yes, it would be incredibly expensive, but I'm going to continue campaigning for it because as sensational as it looks on Blu-ray, it's ready to make that leap. And what we were able to do with The Wizard of Oz, a film shot only a year later, I didn't know if we could make a 1939 film look phenomenal in 4K. And when we did tests on The Wizard of Oz in 2015, Dorothy had a beard like Bluto in the Popeye cartoons. Looked terrible. But technology progressed so much that we were able to make an amazing 4K disc. And I just believe that certain films

will take on an eternal life, especially in the best technological light. And a 4K scan of Angels with Dirty Faces on a Blu-ray disc for a black and white film is going to knock your socks off. But think about how it would look, a 4K disc of The Adventures of Robin Hood. a 4k disc of the adventures of Robin hood. George, if you need me to lead the, if you need me to lead a charge anywhere to support that I'm signed up for that, that would be tremendous. I'm I'm, I'm not, I'm not saying this is going to happen.

It's going to take a lot of begging and pleading. But I usually can. I don't give up easily. It took me 18 years to clear the home video rights to Popeye cartoons. So I did do it. And you got the Seawolf

complete. Right. Exactly. That was one of Curtiz's best films and the fact that you found, got a hold of the missing footage and put it back in and put it out on Blu-ray several years ago. So, George, as I always tell you, without any affectation, you're one of my heroes. And that's why it's an honor. And I thank Tim for this opportunity to be on the extras and talk about an extra special film like Angels with Dirty Faces. Absolutely. Coming your way from the Warner Archive on Blu-ray. Absolutely. Thanks for having us, Tim. And thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Thanks again to Warner Brothers executive George Feltenstein and author Alan K. Rohde for an entertaining discussion of some of the legendary director Michael Cortese's films. If you haven't yet had a chance to listen to their previous podcast, be sure and check out episode 28 angels with dirty faces. For those of you interested in learning more about some of the releases discussed in the show today, there will be detailed information on the website at www.theextras.tv, including links to Alan K. Rohde's website,

where you can purchase his fantastic book on Michael Curtiz. Also, follow the show on Facebook or Twitter at TheExtrasTV or Instagram at TheExtras.TV to stay up to date on the latest episodes and for exclusive images and behind the scenes information about the episodes and upcoming guests. And if you're enjoying the show, please subscribe and leave us a review at iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast provider. Until next time, you've been listening to The Extras with Tim Millard. Stay slightly obsessed. The Extras is a production of Otaku Media,

producers of podcasts, behind-the-scenes extras, and media that connects creatives with their fans and businesses with their consumers. Contact us today to see how we can work together to achieve your goals at www.otakumedia.tv or look for the link in the show notes.