More (Oddly Specific) Old Hollywood Trivia That I Didn't Know

 

In the 1910's through the 1920's roughly at least half of the silent movie directors were women (and some others were producers, and there were other jobs that they held). It was actually a surprisingly female dominated era considering (at least in that particular sphere). There were more female directors than there has been in all of film history apparently. Eventually they started getting pushed out after movies really took off, particularly with sound being incorporated, but for awhile it seemed to be a female dominated field. Obviously men did it too, it was just interesting to discover that we've never had that same sheer number of women in charge since then. According to some articles, particularly this 'The Atlantic' article, silent films were seen as more of an 'eccentric hobby' and weren't anything that would make serious money. WWI was also going on for part of the time, so there was probably more freedom than there was previously for women to be taking on these jobs. 

Lillian Gish (1893-1993) A Silent Movie Director
I don't know anything else about her currently.

Lucille Ball

I Love Lucy was one of the first sit-coms filmed with multiple cameras (and it was filmed in front of a live audience so the reactions were all genuine. Some of the laugh tracks from other things have been taken from the I Love Lucy audience reactions). Before that, shows were usually filmed with just one camera. It was the first show to show an interracial couple and the first one to have a pregnant woman play a pregnant woman even though they could not use the word 'pregnant'. Lucille and her husband did have a rocky marriage behind the scenes, particularly because of his drinking problem and his continuous adultery and they eventually did divorce to the dismay of the nation (Lucille called it her darkest day), although they remained friends. He apparently was really nice when he was sober but everyone knew to stay away from him if he was drunk. I think he was a raging alcoholic but I could be wrong about that. Lucille apparently had a famous temper as well but also considering everything she went through I think she was entitled. I forget what her exact reason was but Lucille, I'm assuming because of her husband but don't quote me on that, felt a little self-consciously threatened by the lady that played Ethel. She would have Ethel dressed down in comparison to her so she'd look better but eventually I think they had a genuine friendship and Lucille eventually stopped doing that. So that's something I guess. Although the lady that played Ethel and the guy that played Ethel's husband apparently kind of hated each other so it's kind of interesting to discover what some of the real-life dynamics were. Lucille and 'Ethel' eventually went on to work together on 'The Lucy Show' without the guys so I feel like that sort of speaks to they're friendship. I could be wrong, but I don't think there was even a in-show explanation for it, they just dropped the guys and did a show together which good for them honestly. I find it kind of hilarious though. That's sort of a brush-over of details though. Lucille did stuff in-between the shows, it wasn't just an immediate decision. She worked on a failed musical called 'Wildcat' and struggled with exhaustion at one point collapsing on stage. So there was definitely time that passed between both shows.

Janet Leigh (And Jamie Lee Curtis)

Janet Leigh (from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho) is Jamie Lee Curtis's mom (Jaime Lee Curtis, while she is famous for a lot, she was one of the original Scream Queen/Final Girls). I guess where her mom got murdered in a shower, she gets to take out the killer (not literally, I just mean instead of being a movie murder victim she got to be a Final Girl). Which is the kind of horror movie trope growth that I'm here for.

Janet Leigh (Top)
Jamie Lee Curtis

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor's mom at one point confronted Louis B. Mayer who was a notoriously imposing chief at MGM Studio's to get better roles for her after MGM (If I understood the documentary right, was starting getting stuck only doing small roles). According to Elizabeth Taylor he angrily responded 'Are you trying to tell me how to run my f***ing studio?!' She said (in a can-you-believe-it sort of tone) ' and foaming started around the edges of his mouth and he used words that I can promise you I had not heard until then, and since have become a favourite part of my vocabulary.' So she ended up responding to him 'Mr. Mayer, I want you to apologize to my mother right now, I am leaving your office and I am never going to come back in because I would love to go to school, to proms, to basketball games, football games, I don't give a damn if I ever act another day in my life.' She also said 'that I learned a rather cynical thing, I didn't get fired the next day and I realized I must have a intrinsic monetary value otherwise I would have been out on my fanny.' 

My favourite part was the fact that she was so 'can you believe it?' with her tone and then she momentarily paused her story to essentially say 'I learned words I'd never heard of, and now they are some of my personal favourites' before continuing on. It's one of those weird details I hyper-fixate on. That's pretty much this whole post though, the weird trivia details I get stuck on.

Katherine Hepburn

According to Jerry Adler, talking about Katherine Hepburn, 'a group of us were going to her house between a matinee and evening and she'd made some sort of shrimp thing I don't know what it was. Anyways, the car was full of us and so she sat in the trunk of the car while we drove over there' she kept telling them she'll be fine.

 

This isn't a particularly detailed post by any means, it's just weird random facts I found.