BARBARA STANWYCK’S
100TH BIRTHDAY: 24 Hour Tribute, Monday, July 16, 2007.
Barbara Stanwyck, born Ruby Catherine Stevens, began her 59 year
long film career as a chorus girl which convinced her to leave her
job at a local telephone company and shift to Hollywood. After four
Academy Award nominations and over 90 films, Stanwyck passed away
on January 20th, 1990, leaving behind memorable roles in such great
films as Double Indemnity (1944) and Sorry, Wrong Number
(1948). On the 100th birthday of Barbara Stanwyck, TCM celebrates
her legacy through a 24 hour tribute with films such as Jeopardy
(’53), Annie Oakley (’35), and Meet John Doe (’41).
Overview:
The femme fatale, the black widow and the quintessential bad girl,
Stanwyck perfected the role of the heavy. She often played a female
equivalent of the 30's-era gangster, stopping at nothing to satisfy
her personal desires. Baby Face, released in 1933, was
a great example of barbaric feminism. In the interest of furthering
her social status, Stanwyck, as Lily Powers, brought the strength
of her male suitors to a career low. She was able to masquerade
behind the allure of her natural beauty and turn everyone into a
pawn on her icy chess board. Stanwyck would play a woman of similar
virtue in 1944's Double Indemnity. Using her attributes
as bait, she turned an honest insurance salesman (Walter Neff,
played by Fred MacMurray) into the fall guy for her monetary
scheme. In reality, Stanwyck was simply a brilliant and gifted actress
with who few could compete. She created characters that stood under
a spotlight when the rest of the world fell dark. This is also true
of her holiday classic, Christmas in Connecticut, and her
1941 collaboration with Gary Cooper, Meet John Doe. In
both, Stanwyck plays a writer caught up in a game of impersonation.
Though there is nothing sinister about her character in either film,
the eye gravitates involuntarily toward her every move. This was
the kind of cinematic power that Barbara Stanwyck possessed. In
anticipation of this incredible retrospective, The Midnight
Palace is proud to promote TCM's effort. We've reviewed a few
Stanwyck gems, such as Baby
Face, The Strange
Love of Martha Ivers, Christmas
in Connecticut and Ball
of Fire, all of which you can read by clicking the individual
titles.
Radio
Work: Like many classic stars, Stanwyck did radio work
in addition to her films. Perhaps the most widely known are her
appearances on Lux Radio Theater. Despite the incredible
collection of personalities who appeared on Lux, (which
included Abbott and Costello, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Ingrid
Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Gary
Cooper, Joseph Cotton, Bing Crosby, Dan Duryea, Ava Gardner, Cary
Grant, Bob Hope, Vivien Leigh, Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Donna
Reed, Frank Sinatra, Ann Sothern, James Stewart, Gene Tierney, John
Wayne, Jane Wyman, Orson Welles and Loretta Young), Stanwyck
had the most shows of all the female stars, with 15. Don Ameche
led the men with 18. On March 25, 1940, Stanwyck performed a radio
adaptation (with co-star Fred MacMurray) of her hit film
Remember the Night. You can listen to this Lux Radio
Theatre episode in its entirety by clicking play on the player
below. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to Janet
of Radio
Revisited for providing us with this classic piece of radio
history. Please make sure that your web browser is equipped with
flash in order to play the audio correctly. If you do not have flash
installed, you can click
here to download the latest version of the software.
Lux Radio Theatre: Remember
the Night (3/25/1940)
Although
Stanwyck was nominated for four Academy Awards, she never won. Many
felt she was 'robbed', seeing as how her performances eclipsed many
of the competitive acts. She was often called "The Best
Actress Who Never Won an Oscar". In 1982, she was
presented with an honorary Academy Award for "superlative creativity
and unique contribution to the art of screen acting". TCM's
24 hour tribute is further validation that Barbara was like no other.
She was #11 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years of
The Greatest Screen Legends"; her character of Phyllis Dietrichson
in Double Indemnity was ranked #8 on the American Film
Institute's villains list of the "100 Years of The Greatest
Screen Heroes and Villains" and Entertainment Weekly voted
her the 40th "Greatest Movie Star of All Time". We would
like to encourage all of our readers and site visitors to mark their
calenders! Turner Classic Movies has run similar film tributes to
Lucille Ball and Audrey Hepburn, among many others. Please visit
TCM's official website at TCM.com
to get the inside buzz on the latest classic film news. Click
here to download their wallpaper for Ladies They Talk About,
the 1933 Stanwyck drama.
Overview:
The femme fatale, the black widow and the quintessential bad girl,
Stanwyck perfected the role of the heavy. She often played a female
equivalent of the 30's-era gangster, stopping at nothing to satisfy
her personal desires. Baby Face, released in 1933, was
a great example of barbaric feminism. In the interest of furthering
her social status, Stanwyck, as Lily Powers, brought the strength
of her male suitors to a career low. She was able to masquerade
behind the allure of her natural beauty and turn everyone into a
pawn on her icy chess board. Stanwyck would play a woman of similar
virtue in 1944's Double Indemnity. Using her attributes
as bait, she turned an honest insurance salesman (Walter Neff,
played by Fred MacMurray) into the fall guy for her monetary
scheme. In reality, Stanwyck was simply a brilliant and gifted actress
with who few could compete. She created characters that stood under
a spotlight when the rest of the world fell dark. This is also true
of her holiday classic, Christmas in Connecticut, and her
1941 collaboration with Gary Cooper, Meet John Doe. In
both, Stanwyck plays a writer caught up in a game of impersonation.
Though there is nothing sinister about her character in either film,
the eye gravitates involuntarily toward her every move. This was
the kind of cinematic power that Barbara Stanwyck possessed. 
Radio
Work: Like many classic stars, Stanwyck did radio work
in addition to her films. Perhaps the most widely known are her
appearances on Lux Radio Theater. Despite the incredible
collection of personalities who appeared on Lux, (which
included Abbott and Costello, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Ingrid
Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Gary
Cooper, Joseph Cotton, Bing Crosby, Dan Duryea, Ava Gardner, Cary
Grant, Bob Hope, Vivien Leigh, Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Donna
Reed, Frank Sinatra, Ann Sothern, James Stewart, Gene Tierney, John
Wayne, Jane Wyman, Orson Welles and Loretta Young), Stanwyck
had the most shows of all the female stars, with 15. Don Ameche
led the men with 18. On March 25, 1940, Stanwyck performed a radio
adaptation (with co-star Fred MacMurray) of her hit film
Remember the Night. You can listen to this Lux Radio
Theatre episode in its entirety by clicking play on the player
below. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to Janet
of 
Although
Stanwyck was nominated for four Academy Awards, she never won. Many
felt she was 'robbed', seeing as how her performances eclipsed many
of the competitive acts. She was often called "The Best
Actress Who Never Won an Oscar". In 1982, she was
presented with an honorary Academy Award for "superlative creativity
and unique contribution to the art of screen acting". TCM's
24 hour tribute is further validation that Barbara was like no other.
She was #11 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years of
The Greatest Screen Legends"; her character of Phyllis Dietrichson
in Double Indemnity was ranked #8 on the American Film
Institute's villains list of the "100 Years of The Greatest
Screen Heroes and Villains" and Entertainment Weekly voted
her the 40th "Greatest Movie Star of All Time". We would
like to encourage all of our readers and site visitors to mark their
calenders! Turner Classic Movies has run similar film tributes to
Lucille Ball and Audrey Hepburn, among many others. Please visit
TCM's official website at