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TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 13, 2020 -- Summer Under The Stars: John Barrymore
Day thirteen of Summer Under the Stars features John Barrymore. Tell us more, Bryce!Affectionately referred to as "The Great Profile," the classically handsome actor John Barrymore was more suited for leading man roles than his older sibling, Lionel, and more inclined to work in film than his revered stage actress sister, Ethel. The youngest member of the renowned Barrymore acting dynasty, the exceptionally adaptable performer transitioned from acclaimed work on Broadway to the emerging medium of silent pictures in films like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1920). He made the move to sound appear just as effortless in such heralded works as "Moby Dick" (1930), "The Mad Genius" (1931) and "Grand Hotel" (1932), the latter of which boasted an all-star cast, including brother Lionel and Greta Garbo. Films of the time, like "A Bill of Divorcement" (1932), "Dinner at Eight" (1933) and "Twentieth Century" (1934) consistently placed Barrymore at the top of the box office heap. The actor's unrestrained affection for women and alcohol, however, eventually eroded both his ability to maintain his finances and perform to expectation. A late-career turn as the star of "The Great Man Votes" (1939) gave audiences one last glimpse of his innate talent before giving way to self-parodies like "The Great Profile" (1940). Nonetheless, Barrymore's contributions to theater and film would be undeniable, continuing to reverberate in the performances of such actors as Sir Laurence Olivier and his own granddaughter, Drew Barrymore, and his storied life referenced in such films as "My Favorite Year" (1982).
Born John Sidney Blyth on Feb. 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, PA, Barrymore was the youngest son of noted actors Maurice and Georgina Drew, who used Barrymore as their stage name. Along with his older siblings Ethel and Lionel, John would later become a member of Hollywood's most prominent acting dynasty. Tragically, he lost his mother at the age of 11 after Georgina died from what was then termed "consumption" while traveling to California for a cure in the summer of 1893. Often in the care of relatives when not in school, he once spent an idyllic summer in 1896 with Lionel on his father's rambling estate, which was stocked with exotic animals, while the elder Barrymore was away on tour. Two years later, John - known for his promiscuity, even at that time - was expelled from the prestigious Georgetown Preparatory School after being seen leaving a brothel. Heavily influenced - as all the Barrymore children were - by their grandmother, the renowned actress Louisa Lane Drew, he made his stage debut in a fundraiser performance of "A Man of the World" in a production directed by his father in 1900. After Maurice experienced a complete breakdown during a stage performance in 1901, a horrified John was forced to commit his father to an insane asylum. Suffering the then-incurable effects of syphilis, Maurice Barrymore later died at an institution in Amityville, NY four years later.
An aspiring artist from an early age, John studied at King's College in the U.K. and New York's Art Students League prior to working for a time as a freelance cartoonist for the New York Evening Journal. Eventually, the need for income and the call of the "family business" proved too much to resist, and by 1903, Barrymore was appearing on stage full time, mostly in light comedies. By 1905, he was working on the stages of London, honing his skills with high drama and in acclaimed productions of Shakespearean classics. While touring the U.S. the following year, he survived the catastrophic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 then returned to New York and Broadway, where he quickly secured a reputation as one of the leading stage actors of his day in productions like "Justice" and "Peter Ibbetson." Once again motivated by financial necessity - fraternal competition and a dislike of theatrical touring may have also played a role - Barrymore followed his brother Lionel into the film business by the early teens. The revered thespian's first screen appearances were in such silent movies as "An American Citizen" (1914) and "The Dictator" (1915). The younger Barrymore's screen roles soon proved more diverse than his older brother's, which tended to be more of the curmudgeonly, character role variety. The difference was exemplified by title roles in wide-ranging films like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1920), "Sherlock Holmes" (1922) and "Don Juan" (1926).
Also at this time, Barrymore's prolific stage career reached its peak with a lauded interpretation of "King Richard III" ruling Broadway a few years earlier, and what many deemed the definitive portrayal of "Hamlet" completing its lengthy run in London after an extended Broadway engagement in the mid-1920s. Although the arrival of the talkies spelled the end for many vocally-challenged performers, Barrymore's commanding, stage-trained voice served him well on film in such early sound efforts as "The Show of Shows" (1929) and "Moby Dick" (1930), the later of which found him as the obsessed Captain Ahab, a role he had first played in a silent film four years earlier. Now at the height of his powers on screen, he co-starred with the brightest female stars of the day, including a young Katherine Hepburn, in her feature film debut, "A Bill of Divorcement" (1932), an acclaimed drama that made an overnight star of Hepburn. That same year, Barrymore worked on film for the first and only time with both siblings, Lionel and Ethel, in the historical drama "Rasputin and the Empress" (1932), in which his older brother played the eponymous mad monk. Also that year, in one of film's greatest tragically-romantic pairings, he wooed the sphinx-like Greta Garbo in the box-office sensation "Grand Hotel" (1932) and later teamed with Lionel once again for the comedy of manners "Dinner at Eight" (1933).
As he matured, Barrymore moved from leading man to much sought-after supporting player in dozens of high-profile films. He convincingly played a falling Broadway star opposite leading lady Carole Lombard in the quintessential screwball comedy "Twentieth Century" (1934) then impressed as Mercutio in a screen adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" (1936). The next year, Barrymore assisted British private detective Captain Hugh Drummond (John Howard) as the loyal Colonel Neilson for the first of several outings in the action-adventure "Bulldog Drummond Comes Back" (1937). He went on to portray King Louis XV opposite Norma Shearer's doomed "Marie Antoinette" (1938) prior to delivering what many considered his last truly masterful performance as a professor in decline whose ballot holds the key to a local election in the drama "The Great Man Votes" (1939). Always appreciative of a good laugh, regardless of whose expense it came at, Barrymore mercilessly lampooned himself in "The Great Profile" (1940). Less humorous was the fact that after decades of alcohol abuse the brilliant thespian's memory had become so poor that he was forced to read his lines from off-camera cue cards. Before long, the once-in demand actor was finding it difficult to secure work. Barrymore made his final film appearance in the comedy "Playmates" (1941), a film that once again found the clearly bloated and unhealthy actor playing himself, as he attempts to instruct a young bandleader (Kay Kyser) in the ways of Shakespeare.
Barrymore's last stage appearance came as the star of "My Dear Children," a farce most notable for his impromptu and often vulgar ad-libs. The show proved successful, although it drew crowds in much the same way as a traffic accident, with throngs of theater-goers coming to see what the unstable actor might say next. For his part, Barrymore recognized it as a form of prostitution, but parodies of himself such as this were the only parts he was being offered at the time and, after a series of costly failed marriages, he was in desperate need of money. With both his health and finances in precipitous decline, Barrymore collapsed while rehearsing for an installment of band leader Rudy Vallee's radio program in the spring of 1942. At a Los Angeles area hospital several days later, he slipped into a coma and died on May 29, 1942. His legend would live on in his children, the troubled actors Diana Barrymore - whose mother was Barrymore's second wife, poet Blanche Oelrichs - and her half-brother, John Drew Barrymore - whose mother was Barrymore's third wife, actress Dolores Costello. With addiction and mental illness a consistent issue within the family, Diana would die at age 38 of an overdose of prescription pills and alcohol; John Drew would become alcoholic to the point of homelessness, as well as suffer from mental problems. The latter's daughter, Drew Barrymore, would break the family cycle of drug and alcohol dependency after struggling with both as a child actress who first found fame as Gertie in "ET" (1982).
By Bryce Coleman
Born John Sidney Blyth on Feb. 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, PA, Barrymore was the youngest son of noted actors Maurice and Georgina Drew, who used Barrymore as their stage name. Along with his older siblings Ethel and Lionel, John would later become a member of Hollywood's most prominent acting dynasty. Tragically, he lost his mother at the age of 11 after Georgina died from what was then termed "consumption" while traveling to California for a cure in the summer of 1893. Often in the care of relatives when not in school, he once spent an idyllic summer in 1896 with Lionel on his father's rambling estate, which was stocked with exotic animals, while the elder Barrymore was away on tour. Two years later, John - known for his promiscuity, even at that time - was expelled from the prestigious Georgetown Preparatory School after being seen leaving a brothel. Heavily influenced - as all the Barrymore children were - by their grandmother, the renowned actress Louisa Lane Drew, he made his stage debut in a fundraiser performance of "A Man of the World" in a production directed by his father in 1900. After Maurice experienced a complete breakdown during a stage performance in 1901, a horrified John was forced to commit his father to an insane asylum. Suffering the then-incurable effects of syphilis, Maurice Barrymore later died at an institution in Amityville, NY four years later.
An aspiring artist from an early age, John studied at King's College in the U.K. and New York's Art Students League prior to working for a time as a freelance cartoonist for the New York Evening Journal. Eventually, the need for income and the call of the "family business" proved too much to resist, and by 1903, Barrymore was appearing on stage full time, mostly in light comedies. By 1905, he was working on the stages of London, honing his skills with high drama and in acclaimed productions of Shakespearean classics. While touring the U.S. the following year, he survived the catastrophic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 then returned to New York and Broadway, where he quickly secured a reputation as one of the leading stage actors of his day in productions like "Justice" and "Peter Ibbetson." Once again motivated by financial necessity - fraternal competition and a dislike of theatrical touring may have also played a role - Barrymore followed his brother Lionel into the film business by the early teens. The revered thespian's first screen appearances were in such silent movies as "An American Citizen" (1914) and "The Dictator" (1915). The younger Barrymore's screen roles soon proved more diverse than his older brother's, which tended to be more of the curmudgeonly, character role variety. The difference was exemplified by title roles in wide-ranging films like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1920), "Sherlock Holmes" (1922) and "Don Juan" (1926).
Also at this time, Barrymore's prolific stage career reached its peak with a lauded interpretation of "King Richard III" ruling Broadway a few years earlier, and what many deemed the definitive portrayal of "Hamlet" completing its lengthy run in London after an extended Broadway engagement in the mid-1920s. Although the arrival of the talkies spelled the end for many vocally-challenged performers, Barrymore's commanding, stage-trained voice served him well on film in such early sound efforts as "The Show of Shows" (1929) and "Moby Dick" (1930), the later of which found him as the obsessed Captain Ahab, a role he had first played in a silent film four years earlier. Now at the height of his powers on screen, he co-starred with the brightest female stars of the day, including a young Katherine Hepburn, in her feature film debut, "A Bill of Divorcement" (1932), an acclaimed drama that made an overnight star of Hepburn. That same year, Barrymore worked on film for the first and only time with both siblings, Lionel and Ethel, in the historical drama "Rasputin and the Empress" (1932), in which his older brother played the eponymous mad monk. Also that year, in one of film's greatest tragically-romantic pairings, he wooed the sphinx-like Greta Garbo in the box-office sensation "Grand Hotel" (1932) and later teamed with Lionel once again for the comedy of manners "Dinner at Eight" (1933).
As he matured, Barrymore moved from leading man to much sought-after supporting player in dozens of high-profile films. He convincingly played a falling Broadway star opposite leading lady Carole Lombard in the quintessential screwball comedy "Twentieth Century" (1934) then impressed as Mercutio in a screen adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" (1936). The next year, Barrymore assisted British private detective Captain Hugh Drummond (John Howard) as the loyal Colonel Neilson for the first of several outings in the action-adventure "Bulldog Drummond Comes Back" (1937). He went on to portray King Louis XV opposite Norma Shearer's doomed "Marie Antoinette" (1938) prior to delivering what many considered his last truly masterful performance as a professor in decline whose ballot holds the key to a local election in the drama "The Great Man Votes" (1939). Always appreciative of a good laugh, regardless of whose expense it came at, Barrymore mercilessly lampooned himself in "The Great Profile" (1940). Less humorous was the fact that after decades of alcohol abuse the brilliant thespian's memory had become so poor that he was forced to read his lines from off-camera cue cards. Before long, the once-in demand actor was finding it difficult to secure work. Barrymore made his final film appearance in the comedy "Playmates" (1941), a film that once again found the clearly bloated and unhealthy actor playing himself, as he attempts to instruct a young bandleader (Kay Kyser) in the ways of Shakespeare.
Barrymore's last stage appearance came as the star of "My Dear Children," a farce most notable for his impromptu and often vulgar ad-libs. The show proved successful, although it drew crowds in much the same way as a traffic accident, with throngs of theater-goers coming to see what the unstable actor might say next. For his part, Barrymore recognized it as a form of prostitution, but parodies of himself such as this were the only parts he was being offered at the time and, after a series of costly failed marriages, he was in desperate need of money. With both his health and finances in precipitous decline, Barrymore collapsed while rehearsing for an installment of band leader Rudy Vallee's radio program in the spring of 1942. At a Los Angeles area hospital several days later, he slipped into a coma and died on May 29, 1942. His legend would live on in his children, the troubled actors Diana Barrymore - whose mother was Barrymore's second wife, poet Blanche Oelrichs - and her half-brother, John Drew Barrymore - whose mother was Barrymore's third wife, actress Dolores Costello. With addiction and mental illness a consistent issue within the family, Diana would die at age 38 of an overdose of prescription pills and alcohol; John Drew would become alcoholic to the point of homelessness, as well as suffer from mental problems. The latter's daughter, Drew Barrymore, would break the family cycle of drug and alcohol dependency after struggling with both as a child actress who first found fame as Gertie in "ET" (1982).
By Bryce Coleman
Enjoy!
6:00 AM -- DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1920)
In this silent film, a doctor's research into the roots of evil turns him into a hideous monster.
Dir: John S. Robertson
Cast: John Barrymore, Martha Mansfield, Brandon Hurst
BW-68 mins,
Contrary to popular belief, this film was not shot at the Astoria Studios in Long Island. Principal photography took place between December 1919 and January 1920 in the rooftop auditorium of the Amsterdam Opera House on 44th St. in Manhattan, in order for Barrymore to make his regularly scheduled Broadway appearances. In between February, 1920 and September, 1920, Paramount used the downstairs auditorium when it became available. The Astoria studios opened the following month.
7:15 AM -- DON JUAN (1926)
In this silent film, the legendary lover fights to survive intrigue in the court of the Borgias.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Willard Louis
BW-112 mins,
Although this was the first feature film with a Vitaphone soundtrack (therefore being the first film with a completely synchronized soundtrack), it is by no means the first sound film. The first sound film can be dated back to 1895; the process was re-discovered and improved by a French company (using a gramophone) in 1910. In 1913 Thomas A. Edison announced that all the problems of sound films were solved, and showed what he called "the first sound film." As in the earlier efforts, Nursery Favorites (1913) had a gramophone that appeared to synchronize with the film. There was one problem: the film was projected at the wrong speed, and the soundtrack was slowed down inadvertently. This problem happened all too often, and a frustrated Edison abandoned his process. In 1921 D.W. Griffith employed various experts to film a sound introduction for his film Dream Street (1921), which still exists, and the performance went off without a hitch. Griffith soon stopped using sound because he thought it was financial suicide, stating, "Only 5% of the world speaks English, so why should I lose 95% of my audience?" However, by 1925 sound had arrived in the form of radio, and it was inevitable that film would follow. Movie studios tried various innovations to keep audiences coming (Technicolor, wide screen, etc.). Warner Brothers, then a lesser film company, bought the old Brooklyn-based Vitagraph Studios and its all-important network of 34 film exchanges (the film distribution network vital to each studio) in 1925 and laid out plans to become a dominant force in the film industry. Sam Warner, one of the four Warner brothers, felt the future was in sound and convinced his skeptical older brother Harry M. Warner (the money man) to throw their lot in with Western Electric's 16" disc-based recording system, forming the Vitaphone Corp. on April 20, 1926, as 70% stockholders. Oddly, Sam never envisioned the system for voice synchronization; rather, he saw it as an economical way to add the dimension of musical accompaniment. The Vitaphone process solved the synchronization problem electromechanically, corresponding the projection speed with the recorded disc by utilizing the same motor for both devices. While cumbersome in both recording (editing was impossible) and playback (discs were fragile), Vitaphone represented the peak of technological innovation, albeit briefly. This film, the first Warner Bros. feature to utilize the Vitaphone process, debuted in a gala premiere on August 6, 1926, and while it was a hit, it signaled an industry format war unrivaled until the 1980s Beta-vs.-VHS battle. Warner's The Jazz Singer (1927) would become a monster hit 13 months later, solidly proving the public's interest in sound. However, there were several sound systems then in development and none were interchangeable; the major studios like MGM and Paramount adopted a wait-and-see attitude that persisted well into 1929. The most practical, Fox's Movietone (sound on film) system, eventually won out and Warners abandoned recorded discs in 1930 but kept the Vitaphone trademark before the public well into the 1940s.
9:15 AM -- WHEN A MAN LOVES (1927)
In this silent film, a French adventurer fights to save a young innocent forced into a life of prostitution.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: John Barrymore, Dolores Costello, Warner Oland
BW-112 mins,
John Barrymore and Dolores Costello married the following year.
11:15 AM -- STATE'S ATTORNEY (1932)
A district attorney's arrogance almost costs him his career.
Dir: George Archainbaud
Cast: John Barrymore, Helen Twelvetrees, Jill Esmond
BW-79 mins, CC,
According to Carol Stein Hoffman, a biographer of the Barrymores, this film took only two weeks to shoot, and John Barrymore's salary was $100,000 ($1,731,000 in 2016).
12:45 PM -- RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS (1932)
True story of the mad monk who plotted to rule Russia.
Dir: Richard Boleslavsky
Cast: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore
BW-121 mins, CC,
Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Charles MacArthur
The only film in which all three Barrymore siblings - John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore - appeared together. Although all had starring roles, there are only a couple of short scenes in the film where all three sibling actors are actually on the screen at the same time.
3:00 PM -- NIGHT FLIGHT (1933)
An airline's owner runs his business with ruthless disregard for safety.
Dir: Clarence Brown
Cast: John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable
BW-85 mins, CC,
The third installment in MGM's spate of polished all-star vehicles that began with Grand Hotel (1932), a drama, and continued the following year with Dinner at Eight (1933), a comedy. Night Flight (1933) was envisioned as the studio's all-star entry in the adventure genre. The only actors to appear in all three of these films were John and Lionel Barrymore.
4:30 PM -- BULLDOG DRUMMOND COMES BACK (1937)
An old enemy kidnaps Bulldog Drummond's fiancée.
Dir: Louis King
Cast: John Barrymore, John Howard, Louise Campbell
BW-59 mins, CC,
John Barrymore was recruited for the role of Colonel Nielson after Sir Guy Standing, who played him in the first film in the series, died. Barrymore received top billing for this and two more films in Paramount's Drummond series. H.B. Warner succeeded Barrymore as Nielson in the final four films of the series.
5:45 PM -- MAYTIME (1937)
An opera star's manager tries to stop her romance with a penniless singer.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard
Cast: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, John Barrymore
BW-132 mins, CC,
Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Score -- Nat W. Finston (head of department) with score by Herbert Stothart
One of MGM mogul Irving Thalberg's personal projects, this originally began filming in Technicolor, with Paul Lukas as Nikolai Nazaroff and Frank Morgan as August Archipenko. When Thalberg died, production was halted. When it was able to resume, black and white was selected as a more economical format. Lukas and Morgan were no longer available, so John Barrymore and Herman Bing took over their roles.
TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: JOHN BARRYMORE
8:00 PM -- GRAND HOTEL (1932)
Guests at a posh Berlin hotel struggle through scandal and heartache.
Dir: Edmund Goulding
Cast: Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford
BW-113 mins, CC,
Winner of an Oscar for Best Picture
Greta Garbo was very particular as to how her love scenes with John Barrymore were shot. She requested red front-lighting and required curtains to be placed between the camera and film crew to help set the mood and create the illusion that she and Barrymore were alone. During one take, Garbo got so carried away with the scene that she continued kissing Barrymore for three full minutes after director Edmund Goulding had yelled cut. The bonus smooching footage survives, but was not used in the final cut.
10:00 PM -- DINNER AT EIGHT (1933)
A high-society dinner party masks a hotbed of scandal and intrigue.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery
BW-111 mins, CC,
John Barrymore relished the challenge of a strong character part. He got involved in his part, making suggestions along the way to play up his character such as having him misquote famous writers and botch his own suicide. George Cukor was pleased that an actor of such prominence was confident and committed enough that he would be willing to sacrifice vanity for the greater success of the film. He later said, "Although (Barrymore) was playing a second-rate actor, he had no vanity as such. He even put things in to make himself hammier, more ignorant."
12:00 AM -- NIGHT CLUB SCANDAL (1937)
When Dr. Ernest Tindal's wife is murdered, evidence mounts to convict her lover, Frank Marian. But Frank knows he didn't do it.
Dir: Ralph Murphy
Cast: John Barrymore, Lynne Overman, Charles Bickford
BW-70 mins,
Based on a play by Daniel Nathan Rubin.
1:30 AM -- ARSENE LUPIN (1932)
A gentleman thief risks his life in an attempt to steal the Mona Lisa.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley
BW-84 mins, CC,
The selling point at the time of the film's release was the first joint screen appearance of brothers John and Lionel Barrymore. Their chemistry was so strong that they would be co-assigned four more times by MGM in the next two years, in Grand Hotel (1932), Rasputin and the Empress (1932), Night Flight (1933), and Dinner at Eight (1933), the last of which gave them no scenes together. Rasputin and the Empress (1932) marked the only time that all three Barrymore siblings - Lionel, Ethel and John - appeared in the same film.
3:00 AM -- SVENGALI (1931)
A hypnotist falls in love with a girl using his powers to turn her into a great singer.
Dir: Archie Mayo
Cast: John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Crisp
BW-81 mins, CC,
Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Barney McGill, and Best Art Direction -- Anton Grot
In Svengali, John Barrymore became one of the first actors to wear contact lenses in motion pictures. The lenses were one of the earliest versions of hard contacts. Although clumsy and uncomfortable to wear, the lenses added a supernatural element to his performance.
4:30 AM -- THE GREAT MAN VOTES (1939)
A drunk fighting to hold on to his family discovers he has the deciding vote in a local election.
Dir: Garson Kanin
Cast: John Barrymore, Peter Holden, Virginia Weidler
BW-72 mins, CC,
Garson Kanin wrote that he insisted that everyone working on the film call John Barrymore "Mr. Barrymore" in a attempt to perk up the actor's sagging self-image, including people who had known Barrymore for years. Several members of the crew quit the film instead of following Kanin's edict.
