Hepburn's math was off by a year: She made her film debut in "A Bill of Divorcement," in 1932.
|
|
After a slow start to negotiations to unravel more than 40 years of union, Britain hopes that by publishing policy papers and proposals for future ties it can persuade the EU to move beyond discussion of the divorcement.
|
|
All these films were produced by Sisk. Bill of Divorcement was Farrow's first "A" as director.
|
|
A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her film debut. It is based on the 1921 British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed insanity as grounds for a woman divorcing her husband.A Bill of Divorcement as produced on Broadway at the George M. Cohan Theatre, October 10, 1921-June 1922; IBDb.com It was the second adaptation of the play, having previously been made into a British silent film A Bill of Divorcement in 1922.
|
|
Haver (1980) p. 96. Hepburn arrived in California in July 1932, at 25 years old. She starred in A Bill of Divorcement opposite John Barrymore, but showed no sign of intimidation.Prideaux (1996) p. 15.
|
|
David's appearing to be oblivious to the prohibition laid down in it seems additional evidence in support of such theories. On that view, they were not technically divorced as David had not issued a writ of divorcement according to biblical law.
|
|
Rooted in the biblical tradition, they represent a "bridge" between the Old Church Slavonic lexical legacy and the Serbian vernacular, as well as demonstrate the possibility for the creation of a standard language based on vernacular, without divorcement from the tradition of Cyril and Methodius.
|
|
Cottrell 1975, p. 63. Esmond had been promised a role by David O. Selznick in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) but at only half-salary. Olivier had discovered that Katharine Hepburn had been offered a much greater salary, and convinced Esmond to turn down the role.
|
|
A Bill of Divorcement (1932). Critics praised her performance, and she became an instant star. A scout for the Hollywood agent Leland Hayward spotted Hepburn's appearance in The Warrior's Husband, and asked her to test for the part of Sydney Fairfield in the upcoming RKO film A Bill of Divorcement.Hepburn (1991) p. 128.
|
|
The studio, which had fought against divorcement for so long, became the first of the majors to break up, ahead of schedule, finalizing divestiture on December 31, 1949. By this time, there were 19,000 movie theaters in the United States.[Harris, Warren G. Lucy and Desi. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991. p.
|
|
When that contract ended he returned to Warner Bros. for five further films, and was then picked up by Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer, where he appeared in Grand Hotel, A Bill of Divorcement and Rasputin and the Empress (all 1932). At the end of the MGM contract he became "a journeyman movie actor", in the words of Norden.
|
|
In 1932, under Selznick, forty-one features were made for $10.2 million, with clear improvement in quality and popularity.Schatz (1998), pp. 131. He backed several major successes, including A Bill of Divorcement (1932), with Cukor directing Hepburn's debut, and the monumental King Kong (1933)—largely Merian Cooper's brainchild, brought to life by the astonishing special effects work of Willis O'Brien.
|
|
Katharine Hepburn and David Manners in A Bill of Divorcement A Bill of Divorcement describes a day in the lives of a middle-aged Englishwoman named Margaret "Meg" Fairfield (Billie Burke); her daughter Sydney (Hepburn); Sydney's fiancé Kit Humphreys (David Manners); Meg's fiancé Gray Meredith (Paul Cavanagh); and Meg's husband Hilary (John Barrymore), who escapes after spending almost twenty years in a mental hospital. After the family discusses Hilary's genetic predisposition toward psychiatric problems, which Sydney seems to have inherited, Hilary and Sydney give up Meg and Kit in order to avoid passing this trait to future generations. The film begins on Christmas Eve as Meg gives a party in her comfortable English manor. In addition to dancing and listening to Christmas carols, Sydney and Kit happily discuss their future together, as do Meg and Gray.
|
|
Harling began his Hollywood career in 1928. His film credits include The Vagabond King, This Is the Night, So Big!, A Bill of Divorcement, Blonde Venus, A Farewell to Arms, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Monte Carlo, Souls at Sea, and Penny Serenade. Harling won the Academy Award for Best Music Scoring for Stagecoach (1939) and was nominated for Souls at Sea (1937) and Three Russian Girls (1944).
|
|
Steiner composed, arranged and conducted another 55 films, including most of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' dance musicals. Additionally, Steiner wrote a sonata used in Katharine Hepburn's first film, Bill of Divorcement (1932). RKO producers, including Selznick, often came to him when they had problems with films, treating him as if he were a music "doctor". Steiner was asked to compose a score for Of Human Bondage (1934), which originally lacked music.
|
|
Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called her performance "exceptionally fine ... Miss Hepburn's characterization is one of the finest seen on the screen". The Variety review declared, "Standout here is the smash impression made by Katharine Hepburn in her first picture assignment. She has a vital something that sets her apart from the picture galaxy." On the strength of A Bill of Divorcement, RKO signed her to a long-term contract.
|
|
During his brief tenure with Warner Bros., which had loaned him to other studios quite frequently, Manners progressed from being a supporting player to achieving true movie-star status following his role in Crooner in 1932. Shortly after that production's release, he began to freelance with much success. One of the final films he made before the end of his Warner Bros.' contract was RKO's A Bill of Divorcement, starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke.
|
|
Despite his flourishing career and recently having become a father for the first time, Farrow was keen to be involved in World War II. He went to Vancouver in November 1939 and enlisted in the Canadian Navy. He went back to RKO to finish Bill of Divorcement then joined the navy. RKO promised to hold his job when he returned. Farrow was appointed lieutenant in March 1940 and assigned to Naval History and the Controller of Information Unit.
|
|
Beecher was a supporting player and lead on the Broadway stage between the 1900s and 1940s. Her Broadway debut came in The Education of Mr. Pipp (1905). Her final Broadway play was The Late George Apley (1944). Other notable plays she appeared in included The Lottery Man (1909), The Concert (1910), The Purple Road (1913), Fair and Warmer (1915), The Woman in Room 13 (1919), Call the Doctor (1920), A Bill of Divorcement (1921),(7 August 1955).
|
|
Phyllis Edith M. Blythe (13 February 1912 - 31 October 2001), known professionally as Jenny Laird, was a British film and television actress. Born in Manchester, Laird and her parents moved to the south, and she was educated at Maidstone grammar school and London University. She worked briefly as an advertising copywriter while studying acting with teachers such as the Central School's legendary Elsie Fogerty and in 1937 she made her repertory debut at the Brixton Theatre in A Bill of Divorcement.
|
|
He came to Hollywood for the film version of Cynara, starring Ronald Colman and with Stephenson reprising his role of John Tring. In the same year, he played the tycoon C.B. Gaerste in Red-Headed Woman, Leslie Howard's father Rufus Collier in The Animal Kingdom and Doctor Alliot in A Bill of Divorcement. In 1933, he appeared as Mr. Laurence in Little Women. He specialized in portraying wise, dignified and friendly British gentlemen in supporting roles.IMDb profile; accessed 19 September 2014.
|
|
A few of her screen credits at that time include Tarnished Lady; Husband's Holiday; A Bill of Divorcement; So Big!; The Story of Temple Drake; Hold Your Man; Remember the Night; Dinner at Eight; High, Wide, and Handsome; and No Man of Her Own. She also appeared in the role of Susan in two adaptations of John Willard's popular play The Cat and the Canary: The Cat Creeps in 1930 and The Cat and the Canary in 1939."Elizabeth Patterson", filmography.
|
|
One of Cukor's earlier ingenues was actress Katharine Hepburn, who debuted in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and whose looks and personality left RKO officials at a loss as to how to use her. Cukor directed her in several films, both successful, such as Little Women (1933) and Holiday (1938), and disastrous, such as Sylvia Scarlett (1935). Cukor and Hepburn became close friends off the set. Cukor was hired to direct Gone with the Wind by Selznick in 1936, even before the book was published.
|
|
To avoid trial, AT&T; withdrew from the patent alliance in 1931 and the remaining three companies developed their own divorcement plan which left RCA as the sole owner of NBC. A Federal Communications Commission decision in 1939 required NBC to divest itself of its Blue Network. That decision was sustained by the Supreme Court in a 1943 decision, National Broadcasting Co. v. United States, which established the framework that the "scarcity" of radio-frequency meant that broadcasting was subject to greater regulation than other media.
|
|
George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKO's major films, including What Price Hollywood? (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932), Our Betters (1933), and Little Women (1933). When Selznick moved to MGM in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935) for Selznick and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and Camille (1936) for Irving Thalberg.
|
|
A few years later , the FCC held hearings to address early cross-ownership issues; specifically, whether newspaper companies owning radio stations was in the public interest. These "newspaper divorcement hearings" were held between 1941 and 1944, though it appears that these hearings were geared mostly towards discussion by industry stakeholders. Around the same time, the commission held hearings as a part of its evaluation of the national television standard, and in 1958 held additional hearings on the television network broadcasting rules. Though public hearings were organized somewhat infrequently, there was an obvious public appeal.
|
|
When Shay decided she wanted to be an actress, her father contacted the heads of Fox and Paramount movies studio for their help. Quickly, she was given her first screen test with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and then studied acting with Clark Gable's wife, Josephine Dillon. Her first screen roles were small uncredited parts in such films as The Age of Consent (1932), A Bill of Divorcement (1932) starring John Barrymore and Billie Burke, and Roman Scandals (1933) with Eddie Cantor. Shay also dubbed the voice of Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel.
|
|
Katharine Hepburn, circa 1941 Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was a major American actress of the 20th century who appeared in 44 feature films, eight television films and 33 plays for over 66 years. Hepburn began her career in theatre in the late 1920s, and later appeared on the stage in every decade up until the 1980s. Productions Hepburn played in ranged from Shakespeare, to Philip Barry comedies, work by George Bernard Shaw, and a musical. Hepburn made her film debut in A Bill of Divorcement in 1932.
|
|
The divorce was considered scandalous. An early historian David Calderwood wrote: > Captain James Stewart, after that he was made tutor to the Earl of Arran, he > grew so familiar with the Countess of March that he begot upon her a child. > Tp cover this adulterous fact, a process of divorcement was intended by her > against her lawful husband, the Earl of March, which was easily obtained, > and so, the made earl and she were joined together in marriage. She was > delivered of a man child about this time.
|
|
"I deliberately set out to become the damndest commercial director in the business", he said later. "The only way to get anywhere in Hollywood is to make money pictures. Then you can get some measure of respect and authority from the studio bosses, and little by little you get to do more of the things you want to do." Farrow went on to direct Full Confession (1939), with Victor McLaglen; Reno (1939); Married and in Love (1940); and A Bill of Divorcement (1940), a remake of the 1932 Katharine Hepburn film, with Maureen O'Hara in the lead.
|
|
She next featured in John Farrow's A Bill of Divorcement (1940), a remake of George Cukor's 1932 film. O'Hara portrayed Sydney Fairchild, who was played by Katharine Hepburn in the original, in a film which she considered to have had a "screenplay [which] was mediocre at best". The production became difficult for O'Hara after Farrow reportedly made "suggestive comments" to her and began stalking her at home; once he realized that O'Hara was not interested in him sexually, he began bullying her on set. Then, O'Hara punched him in the jaw one day, which put an end to the mistreatment.
|
|
Katharine Hepburn, who made her debut in the same film, once commented that "David was a big star. I was so nervous working with him ... He was... just a dear to work with and a totally professional and talented actor." Publicity photograph of Katharine Hepburn and Manners in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) Lucille Ball, a "Goldwyn Girl" dancer in the 1933 musical Roman Scandals, also expressed her admiration for Manners and appreciation for his encouragement early in her own film career: In addition to RKO and Warner Bros., many other studios vied for Manners' talent and services, including Columbia, Universal, Paramount, Fox Film Corporation, Tiffany Pictures, and United Artists.
|
|
However, behind the scenes at RKO, long the financially shakiest of the conglomerates, the court ruling came to be looked at as a development that could be used to the studio's advantage. The same month that the decision was handed down, multimillionaire Howard Hughes acquired a controlling interest in the company. As RKO controlled the fewest theaters of any of the Big Five, Hughes decided that starting a divorcement domino effect could actually help put his studio on a more equal footing with his competitors. Hughes signaled his willingness to the federal government to enter into a consent decree obliging the breakup of his movie business.
|
|
Under the agreement, Hughes would split his studio into two entities, RKO Pictures Corporation and RKO Theatres Corporation, and commit to selling off his stake in one or the other by a certain date. Hughes's decision to concede to divorcement terminally undermined the argument by lawyers for the rest of the Big Five that such breakups were unfeasible. While many today point to the May court ruling, it is actually Hughes's agreement with the federal government—signed November 8, 1948—that was truly the death knell for the Golden Age of Hollywood. Paramount soon capitulated, entering into a similar consent decree the following February.
|
|
In 1930, Stewart joined RKO Pictures (then owned by RCA), working in their research and development department on a noise reduction system for optical film sound. When corporate interest in the project waned, he was able to move to RKO's production arm as a 'boom man', recording production sound (the "live sound" recorded at the same time as the picture). For the next several years, he participated in the making of some of Hollywood's earliest sound film classics, including A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and The Lost Patrol (1934). After working in the production phase of the filmmaking process for several years, Stewart switched to post-production.
|
|
An important 'end note' is that near his death, Anson had admitted to his caretaker-son Israel (Bowen's older brother, Mariah's eldest son) that Mariah and her children had been treated unjustly in the divorcement, in his taking custody of her children from her, and requiring her to begin her long forced 'exile' with her mother Louisa in Springville.Barney, Gwen M., Anson Call and the Rocky Mountain Prophecy, Salt Lake City: Call Publishing, 2002, pp. 189-200.Hartley, William G., Lorna Call Alder & H. Lane Johnson, Anson Bowen Call: Bishop of Colonia Dublán, 2007, p. 52. Colonizer of the Mormon colonies in Mexico, Bishop Bowen Call.
|
|
Michael Cox and Jack Adrian, The Oxford Book of Historical Stories. Oxford;Oxford University Press, 1994. (p.436). In 1919 she wrote Legend, the story of a group of acquaintances who debate the meaning of a dead friend's life and work. Dane's 1921 play, A Bill of Divorcement, tells the story of a daughter who cares for her deranged father and faces the fact that his mental illness may be hereditary. The smash hit play was adapted for the screen three times, using the same title as the play: a silent film in 1922, a 1932 film starring Katharine Hepburn and John Barrymore, and a 1940 film starring Maureen O’Hara and Adolphe Menjou.
|
|
Knowles signed a contract at RKO, for whom he made Beauty for the Asking (1939) with Lucille Ball; Five Came Back (1939) also with Ball, directed by John Farrow; and The Spellbinder (1939). He went to MGM for Another Thin Man (1939) and Fox for The Honeymoon's Over (1939) then went back to RKO for two more with John Farrow, Married and in Love (1940) and A Bill of Divorcement (1940), then Anne of Windy Poplars (1941), playing Gilbert Blythe. In 1940 a limerick circulated about Knowles: How pleasant to know Patric Knowles/ Who is the kindest of souls/ But being handsome and a British swell/ Nobody expects him to act very well/ Which is why he never gets good roles.
|
|
In 1912 she appeared as the Madonna in C. B. Cochran's production of the mystery play The Miracle at Olympia while in 1913 she played Mrs Gregory in Mr. Wu. In 1921 she was Margaret Fairfield in A Bill of Divorcement by Clemence Dane. Her greatest triumph was as the alcoholic mother in Noël Coward's groundbreaking drama The Vortex in 1924. She appeared in the 1927 Alfred Hitchcock film Downhill. Until then associated with tragic heroines, she proved that comedy was her greatest asset in a succession of drawing-room dramas and light comedies. In 1928 Braithwaite demonstrated her talent as a light comedienne when she played a ‘ten per cent lady’ in Ivor Novello's The Truth Game at the Globe Theatre.
|
|
While working for the Theatre Guild, he was offered a screen test with Universal Pictures in 1932. His screen test for A Bill of Divorcement (1932) for a New York representative of RKO was a failure but, according to some accounts, led to his being cast in the title role of James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) after his screen test and unique voice were inadvertently overheard from the next room. His agent, Harold Freedman, was a family friend of Carl Laemmle, who controlled Universal Pictures at the time, and had been acquainted with Rains in London and was keen to cast him in the role.Skal and Rains Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, p.48-9 According to Rains' daughter, this was the only film of his he ever saw.
|
|
Fabia Drake, p.58 Blind Fortune Back in London in 1921 and unemployed, she spent time with Meggie Albanesi in her dressing room during her 'waits' in Albanesi's current success A Bill of Divorcement at St Martin's Theatre. Drake wrote "Albanesi was by now established as the most talented young actress in England, under contract to Basil Dean...the warmth and sympathy of her personality was like a lodestar in my bleak night sky." Having tried, and failed, to gain employment with J.E.Vedrenne, Drake decided to join Madame Alice Gachet's French acting classes at RADA, another teacher of brilliance, her most famous pupil - Charles Laughton. She then signed with Vedrenne for 18 months, playing small parts, and understudying and was then sent to Basil Dean who was about to produce James Elroy Flecker's Hassan.
|
|
As Life magazine wrote in 1957 in a retrospective on the studio system, "It wasn't good entertainment and it wasn't art, and most of the movies produced had a uniform mediocrity, but they were also uniformly profitable ... The million- dollar mediocrity was the very backbone of Hollywood." On May 4, 1948, in a federal antitrust suit known as the Paramount case brought against the entire Big Five, the U.S. Supreme Court specifically outlawed block booking. Holding that the conglomerates were indeed in violation of antitrust, the justices refrained from making a final decision as to how that fault should be remedied, but the case was sent back to the lower court from which it had come with language that suggested divorcement—the complete separation of exhibition interests from producer-distributor operations—was the answer. The Big Five, though, seemed united in their determination to fight on and drag out legal proceedings for years as they had already proven adept at—after all, the Paramount suit had originally been filed on July 20, 1938.
|
|