Jean Arthur — The Actress Everybody Should Know (English version)
“I guess I became an actress because I didn’t want to be myself.”
Jean Arthur
Today I am back, for the first time in a long time, to writing about classic cinema. So, I chose the biography of one of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Maybe you watch old American movies, but you don’t know her; or even like her work, or have heard of her but don’t know much about her. Or maybe you’re a fan or an admirer, but you never knew much about this enigmatic actress’ life. She was no sex symbol or bombshell, although she did have sex appeal; nor was she a Shakespearean actress, though she had talent and range. My choice for Jean Arthur is because this comedic actress deserves all our recognition, which was never fully given to her. After having read her biography (written by the excellent biographer John Oller), I finally had more access to a true study of Jean’s personality, and I hope through this text I will be able to at least clarify, but not really answer the question: Who is she?
After many years of research, Oller gives us a complete biography about the actress. The biographer says there are many biographies out there on Davis, Hepburn, Monroe; that he felt the need to meet and finally write about Arthur, the actress that many watch but few know to this day.
If still to this day Jean Arthur remains a mystery, or a forgotten name, even by the time she achieved success, especially the 1930s–1940s, she was already an outsider in the dream factory. To this day, even more so since classic movies occupy part of an increasingly distant world, rescued only through media, random downloads, torrents, cinematheque circuits and television reruns, information about Jean is scarce; even pictures of her are not numerous (she hated publicity). She is considered a queen of screwball comedy, though not as remembered as Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell. Her eccentric and extremely reserved personality even granted her the title of “American Garbo”, at times even more reclusive and mysterious than Garbo herself (Jean worshipped her). She didn’t like giving autographs or interviews. Her extreme shyness and privacy made her an outcast in the studio system. Arthur was an extremely perfectionist, which earned her the “difficult actress” label. But even so, she became a film legend through the lens of Frank Capra (Arthur and Barbara Stanwyck were the director’s favorites). She also received recognition from other movie giants such as David O. Selznick (with whom she had a love affair in the 1920s), George Stevens, who directed her in several films, and also the great Cecil B. DeMille, just to name a few. And it’s really impossible to think about classic comedy on film without thinking about Jean Arthur, the quintessential comedienne.
One of Jean’s first artistic portraits, early in her career, still a brunette. Circa 1923
Her real name was Gladys Georgianna Greene. Throughout her life, she was extremely vague about her hometown and date of birth (she used to give false dates), having lied several times about the details of her origins — which added to the aura of mystery around her. . . Officially she gave Manhattan as her hometown. But ultimately it was discovered that Gladys/Jean was born in Plattsburgh, a city located in the State of New York, on October 17, 1900. If we do some searching, we’ll see that October 17 is during Libra Sun, and a date filled with several famous birthdays.. . Such as Montgomery Clift, the famous and handsome tragic actor from the 1950s; the great diva Rita Hayworth (who deserves a post of her own in the future) is perhaps the most notable and remembered actor on October 17, with all due deserving, obviously. But the name of Libra Jean Arthur is often forgotten… Not by us, of course :-)
Gladys Greene at age 3 and around age 8 (from John Oller’s biography)
In Jacksonville, Florida, 1913 (around age 12–13)
Her birth chart is not complete, because due to the absence of the time of her birth it’s not possible to know her Ascendant. But in addition to being a Libra, it is known that her Moon was in Leo, Mars also in Leo, Mercury in Scorpio and Venus in Virgo. I don’t want to digress too much on this aspect, as not everyone is adept at Astrology, and personality is something that everyone has by itself, but I see many of these signs in her. Why? Libra would be the Venus charm, class and good taste that followed her all her life. Libra, from the Air element, symbolizes the incessant and rational search for beauty, for balance; therefore: for a perfection that does not exist, it is indecisive and fickle. Leo is the star, the sun, the ego, the need to shine; but being the Moon (emotional aspects), the person could also be retracted, showing a lack of self-esteem, or perhaps an importance given too much to the image itself — which we can relate to the mix of self-awareness and the notion of one’s talent together with the apparent contempt for one’s image. It ends up being a karmic moon often. Mars (action, work etc.) in Leo, on the other hand, needs recognition from others, needs to take care of things and to show that he or she is the king/queen; he points his energy always towards the ego, whether in an excessive self-assertion or even being swallowed up by his insecurities (things had to be her way; she was very impulsive, but then she didn’t know how to put herself in commitments and retreated into her shell). Besides, Venus (affective area) in Virgo indicates a perfectionist (she was probably her own worst critic), rational, super selective, little given to big passions or sentimentality (Jean had few relationships and was not really sexual) . Mercury in Scorpio is already an extremely profound, mysterious person who observes more than expresses things directly. But when he or she expresses himself/herself , it’s very intense and deep conversations are preferred. Anyway, her rising sign remains a mystery… Or it could even be Libra just as the Sun, who knows... Lol
The combination for the name “Jean Arthur” comes from Joan of Arc (Jeanne D’Arc in French), and Arthur comes from the celebrated King Arthur. (from Oller’s biography)
It’s hard to elucidate much about Jean’s childhood as there is always a bit of a haze over her private and personal life. But according to the biography, her maternal grandparents were immigrants from Norway. Her paternal ancestors came from England and settled in Rhode Island, helping to found the city of St. Albans. Gladys was the daughter of Johanna Augusta Nelson (1874–1959) and Hubert Sidney Greene (1863–1944). She was the youngest in the family, and had three older brothers: Donald, Robert and Albert. As the only girl and the youngest, Gladys grew up to be a lonely girl and left in the background, just like a wallflower. She was easily seen wandering around, playing alone and already showing signs of being very dreamy and prone to the performing arts. Perhaps somewhat excluded and misunderstood by those around her, or even an object of ridicule, she became very quiet, self-centered, stuck in her own world. Few people could really penetrate her mind. Her favorite movie crush at the time was Mary Pickford. She was not antisocial during her youth, but she rarely attended parties of friends. Because she did not identify with the traditional position of the woman as a housewife with a mediocre life; in one way or another she liked to see herself as independent, the owner of her own life, plus she adored male characters with an enchanted aura around themselves, like Peter Pan. Until her later years, many acquaintances would see her as a Peter Pan in a woman’s body. Arthur always considered herself as a “non-conformist”, a characteristic of her favorite characters such as Peter and Joan of Arc. Probably because she wanted to fight her way and so as to have a life more like her own dreams, Jean chose to be an actress.
Jean as Peter Pan, her favorite character, during the 1920s. To her, Peter represents more than just “the boy who doesn’t want to grow up”. He is freedom, non-conformity and imagination.
Like her characters, Jean struggled hard to reach the top. Loneliness, dissatisfaction and her father’s absence in her childhood would mold her adult self
But the road would be long, and success would not come overnight. Jean was always very nomadic early in life, as her family was constantly moving. Her former addresses were Saranac Lake (NY), Jacksonville (Florida), Schenectady (NY), Westbrook (Maine; her father had a studio in Portland), and finally Washington Heights, in Manhattan. Following a gypsy way of life, Arthur’s family was not very solid and depended heavily on the jobs of Hubert, Jean’s father, who was a photographer. Her mother Johanna was austere, a normal Norwegian trait. Her older brothers didn’t take her seriously. Her father proved to be a curious and strong figure in Jean’s life, as he seemed to be the one who understood her the most, along with a kind of crazy and amiable aunt, very close to her, named Pearl. However, her father was also an absent figure, as in many moments he simply disappeared and did not return for a long time, a fact that marked her psychologically. Feeling frustrated and passed over when her brothers seemed to have more interesting lives, she became a tomboy in self-defense, and decided that she would do interesting things in life, just as men seemed to do.
“It’s hardly fair for women to do the same things at the same hours every day of their lives, while men have new experiences, meet new people every day. I felt that way as a little girl, with two older brothers around the house. It seemed to me that they led adventurous lives, compared with mine. I felt cheated and frustrated. I became a tomboy in self-defense. I decided that I was going to do things that were exciting, or at least interesting.”
A life after ideals and principles
The family situation became unstable to the point that Jean was forced to drop out of high school. With the onset of World War I, the men of the family enlisted and Gladys/Jean began working as a stenographer in Manhattan until after the end of the War (a shadow of her future urban characters from the movies she would be in years later). She had always performed very well in school. With an aptitude for languages, she would even consider becoming a teacher if her acting career didn’t take off. What she had actually set herself to aim for was not to give up on having her own life — on her own terms, and not how she was supposed to live it (since she was a woman). And she would still need to know how to deal with life’s setbacks: personal demons, the wheel of fortune that is the artistic life and career, eventual losses (her brother Albert died in 1926, due to respiratory complications resulting from his period in World War I).
Following in the footsteps of her father, who was a photographer, Jean began to be a photographic model in New York. The young New Yorker did not have a typical standard beauty, but she had a charm of her own, a “pixie” look and a childlike aura, which were all reflected in the lenses of the cameras. She was eventually spotted by chance by Fox Studios, making her movie screen debut in Cameo Kirby in 1923. The film was also the official debut of director John Ford. Today, original copies of the film can be found at UCLA in the United States and at the Cinemateca Portuguesa in Lisbon. But the film is available on Youtube, in its entirety (as is most of her filmography).
[While she was a model] Someone in the studio noticed me sitting in the background. They asked me whether I would pose for girls’ hats, and with some diffidence I consented. My first posing was terribly self-conscious. The photographer liked my type, and employed me steadily that summer. I got $5 an hour and sometimes had five or six sittings in a day.
Cameo Kirby, Arthur’s forgotten film debut in movies
During the Jazz Age, it was predictable that studios were looking for new “american sweethearts” who would represent the new female style in vogue at the time: the flapper. Flappers like Clara Bow , Louise Brooks and Colleen Moore. Following the vibe, in the same year the studio tried to remodel Jean in this flapper look to meet the demand of the time. But when she was cast to star in a movie called The Temple of Venus, the director was angered by the lack of “life” in her and replaced her with Mary Philbin. She found it a relief that she didn’t turned into a studio-shaped doll. During those early years of talkies, she was long lost for not meeting Hollywood’s superficial agenda. Despite all that, she was in love with acting.
A sketch of Jean during the 20s — unknown artist (sadly)
In The Return of Fu Manchu (1929/1930). Jean was not amused, despite the good reviews
First, she made many forgettable and lackluster western films for Actions Pictures, part of Hollywood’s so-called Poverty Row. According to her, despite enjoying acting and finding the “make-believe” fun, the conditions were not good during these low-budget productions and the whole experience was extremely tiresome. She would make 20 Westerns in two years, earning only $25 dollars per movie.
Jean in August 1924 in Hollywood
But she was unstoppable, and so Arthur made dozens of films during this obscure time of her career. Until the beginning of the 1930s, she worked in Horse Shoes (with Monty Banks), The Block Signal (the lead), Danger Lights, The Poor Nut, Warming Up, The Saturday Night Kid (along with Clara Bow and Jean Harlow), The Canary Murder Case, Street of Chance (both with William Powell), Halfway to Heaven (with Buddy Rogers) e The Return of Fu Manchu. Plus: she had an uncredited extra role in Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances, in 1925. Playing roles in comedy shorts improved her comedic talent.
Lulu Brooks in 1927: a typical “flapper” style of young women, beautiful, bubbly, effervescent, dancing, bubbly, inconsequential and mundane — Jean was nothing like that.
An example of B-Western from Jean Arthur’s early career: The Drugstore Cowboy (1925)
The Block Signal, one of her few leads during the Silent Era
With Richard Dix in the successful baseball film Warming Up (1928). The film received good reviews and Jean signed a three-year-contract with Famous Players-Lasky, future Paramount Pictures
In interviews and in person, Jean Arthur was already averse to Hollywood stereotypes of fame and success. She didn’t consider herself beautiful or nothing much physically; she hated her close-ups, but she had a lot of determination inside her. She was never very social or adept at personal marketing, which hampered her popularity in her star system days. She preferred to stay home reading books voraciously or listening to classical music.
“I’ve never had a single close intimate girlfriend in all my life. I never had a chum to whom I could confide my secrets. I suppose that accounts for the fact that now it is so painfully difficult for me to open my heart and confide in people who are, so often, almost strangers. You have to learn so very young to open your heart.”
But that doesn’t mean that she didn’t have beaux. There were some dates in her youth indeed. In 1928, Jean got married on impulse to photographer Julian Anker. The most curious thing is that the marriage only lasted… One day! To her, there was nothing tragic about it , albeit comical. It was a matter of “willfulness” (in her own words), but the two of them acted like adults and called the whole thing off the next day. Simple as that!
I tried to find a photo of her 24-hour first husband, but I couldn’t find one.
“Julian [Julian Anckner] looked a lot like Abraham Lincoln, and that’s probably why I fell in love with him. One day we were out driving and he suddenly said, “Hey, why don’t we get married?” So we lied about our ages and got married in a sheriff’s office. You should have heard our families’ reactions — all sorts of screaming and shouting and carrying on about suicide. Well, neither Julian nor I had enough income to make it possible for us to live together, so our marriage lasted one day.”
And towards the end of the decade, just before Arthur decided to leave Hollywood after several forgettable films, she had a love affair with David O. Selznick. The relationship seemed prosperous, both being seen often together and very fascinated by each other. The relationship with the rising young producer brought better job opportunities for Jean at Paramount. But Selznick always put his career first, and the status that Irene Mayer (daughter of Louis B. Mayer, owner of MGM) represented as his wife. Without him giving up his marriage to Irene, Jean didn’t want to see him anymore. The end of the relationship and her (and the directors’) discontent with her bland roles of “ingenue” left her film career in limbo.
Irene Mayer and David O. Selznick — married until 1949, when Selznick married Jennifer Jones. The paths of Selznick and Arthur would cross years later… Backstage at the most famous movie of that era.
It took a while for the talkies to start reaching a balance of script/story quality, good direction, more natural performances, sound/acting sync. Jean’s big problem wasn’t the transition from silent to sound movies, but the mediocrity of scripts and typecasting/miscasting (same roles, wrong castings). She didn’t want to become a parody of herself. At first there was a suspense: if her voice so characteristically nasal, throaty, and at times hoarse would be well accepted by viewers. It may be precisely because of the unique quality of her voice (probably her best gimmick) that audiences have always reacted well to her acting, perfect for comedy. In the comedies of the next few years, her voice and her perfect timing, together, would result in an unparalleled comic combination. But it wasn’t her time yet. At the beginning of the 1930s, Jean decided to leave Hollywood and try her luck acting on the New York stage. Her voice was somewhat contained in early talkies, and during her time on Broadway she had good training. In the theater, she could finally improve as an actor and dedicate herself to her craft.
First I played ingénues and western heroines; then I played western heroines and ingénues. That diet of roles became as monotonous as a diet of spinach. The studio wouldn’t trust me with any other kind of role, because I had no experience in any other kind. And I didn’t see how I was ever going to acquire any other experience if I couldn’t get any other kind of role. It was a vicious circle.
I wanted to become a really accomplished actress, but I didn’t know how to act, and had no chance to learn. In those days the studios didn’t have coaches or drama schools and it was almost impossible to get on the sets to watch the older players. I finally decided there was only one thing to do: go back to New York and try to get into some plays there.
Jean returned to New York in 1931. She had dyed her hair blonde shortly before, in an attempt to change her image (and stop comparisons with Mary Brian). A year earlier, at 30, she debuted on stage in Spring Song in Pasadena, CA. Back in NYC, a Broadway agent landed her a role in Lysistrata. But his Broadway debut was with Foreign Affairs, alongside Dorothy Gish and Osgood Perkins. Even with not very good reviews and the play ending after a few performances, critics were delighted with the actress’ performance. In the following years, Jean would work in less flashy production, but she was increasingly attracting public attention and critical acclaim. In spite of her movie flops and then “low profile” acting jobs on stage, she said she was having the time of her life, improving herself more and more as an actress, learning new things and discovering who she really was after all. Her stage debut as a protagonist was at the end of 1933 in the play The Curtain Rises, which opened to good reviews and it did well at the box office. Her last play before returning to Hollywood was The Bride of Torozco. Her best roles were yet to come!
During this theatrical period in New York, Arthur refused most scripts offered to her, with a few exceptions. After two years without making movies, in 1933 she returned to Hollywood in the film The Past of Mary Holmes for RKO. Then the next year, most prominently, she made the drama Whirpool (1934) for Columbia Pictures — which would become the studio where Jean Arthur made most of her iconic classics. With the film’s success, the studio offered her a contract. Reluctant at first, since she was happy in New York, she finally decided to accept it for the stability it would bring her and her parents, who followed her back to California. By 1936, Jean had made eight films before her big break-out that would change her career forever.
The Most Precious Thing in Life (1934) is an interesting film: it is a cross between Madame X and Stella Dallas formulas. A maternal melodrama with Jean playing a woman in both her youth and old age. Despite her good performance, the soapy film was not very successful and Arthur did not like her own work
Some of her early 1930s movies: The Defense Rests; Diamond Jim; Public Hero #1; The Public Menace; Party Wire.
Jean Arthur’s rise to fame enabled her to start her first clashes with Harry Cohn, Columbia’s big shot. Like any movie mogul, Cohn was relentless and harassed his players at work in bizarre and humiliating ways, but Jean knew how to respond to his abuse. From then on, Jean would be more selective about her work, with the right to have director and script approval, in addition to being allowed to work in other studios.
Arthur’s movie career changed for good when Frank Capra, the American director of the common man and good principles, saw scenes of Jean in the studio’s projection room; he was enchanted by that actress, by her “half angel, half horse” profile. (Jean only liked being photographed on the left side, which she said was her “acceptable” side). Capra decided to cast her in his new film Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). Her role was Louise “Babe” Bennett, the cynical smart-ass journalist who takes advantage of naive and simple-minded Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper, perfect for the role of the traditional, simple-minded American hero). Deeds receives a multi-million dollar inheritance and is forced to leave his quiet country life for the chaos of the big city. Babe colludes with the powerful guys who want to get Deeds’ money, culminating in a trial in which they try to prove him mentally insane. A remake was made in the 2000s with Adam Sandler as Deeds and Winona Ryder as the smart journalist, but please pass that… Capra would spit on it.
Babe is enchanted by the “Cinderella Man” (Deeds’ nickname), whom at the same time she stabs in the back in her newspaper column. The film’s climax in court, when Babe defends Deeds, a simpleton so naive that he is unable to defend himself against those who condemn him. This is perhaps not only Arthur’s best moment on the silver screen, but also one of the best acting works in movies of the 1930s. Even years later, the super-demanding Arthur would still get emotional rewatching the film
Arthur’s performance was wonderful, but Capra and colleagues reported that the actress was very tense and self-critical on filming. They said Jean would excuse herself between takes to throw up out of nervousness. She immersed herself in her work to the point of sickness, but then free of nausea, she would come back right away, ready for a perfect take.
I won’t give more spoilers, but the journalist character is the type of role with which she would be associated for the rest of her career: the independent modern woman who knows what she wants and fights for it. While most actresses played femme fatales, housewives or damsels in distress (nothing against them, they also have their merits), Jean represented a new group of women that was already a reality in America and needed to be shown. They had strong personality, biting and witty humour, they were hard-headed, workaholic, self-made women, rather ordinary but also stylish and charming. Under the mask of cynicism and toughness, in the end Jean shows a heart of gold and enormous empathy with others — even more with the man she loves. Needless to say, Mr. Deeds was a smash hit with critics and audiences, raising Jean Arthur’s name to the top like a rocket. She was one of the highest paid, earning more money than President Roosevelt himself and baseball player Lou Gehrig (who coincidentally was played by Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees).
Overnight Jean Arthur became one of the most popular movie icons in the 1930s, playing modern and independent American women. This is perhaps her greatest social contribution through the Seventh Art: the creative, whimsical portrayal of the working girl after the Great Depression. Anyone who thinks that cinema is not culture, art, or sociology, better reconsider...
Jean earned $119,000 dollars in 1936, more than U.S. President F.D. Roosevelt
Being an introvert, the great repercussion of her work never went to Jean’s head. She never took herself too seriously as a movie star, and she had real horror of the occupational hazards, like publicity, social gatherings, empty interviews, Hollywood formal parties and movie premieres. She acted difficult, avoided social events and had very strong opinions, no makeup. It wasn’t snobbery, nothing against the general public or people in general, but Jean was just like that. Like Garbo, she was a very shy person with a real social phobia. But her introversion for a moment surpassed even Garbo’s, because Miss G. would eventually give interviews or talk to the press. Arthur, on the other hand, avoided all the interviews she could, did not attend events or parties, bypassed publicity sessions, and usually refused signing autographs (not always, but her signature remains scarce to this day). She rarely answered her fan mail. Life magazine in 1937 named her “American Garbo”, writing that after Garbo, Jean Arthur was the “reigning mystery woman”. She did speak to journalists sporadically, and even though she was a cordial hostess, she was evasive, distant, giving almost nothing away about matters of a private nature. “My private life is my business” she once told a reporter. What was her mystery?
A candid moment with husband Frank Ross at home in California. On rare occasions, Jean tried to socialize. The neighbors barely knew her. The few who had that privilege describe her as charming and friendly, though shy and reticent
“With Garbo talking right out loud in interviews, receiving the press and even welcoming an occasional chance to say her say in the public prints, the palm for elusiveness among screen stars now goes to Jean Arthur.”
Movie Classic magazine, 1937
But it wasn’t always like that. The few friends Jean had described her as pleasant, intelligent, lovable and kind. She was naturally funny. She didn’t know how to tell jokes: she knew how to say things in a funny, quirky way. But of course, she was very inhibited, closed in on itself — self-absorbed. She was unable to maintain relationships too. Joan Fontaine said in her biography No Bed of Roses that after she and Jean had lost the 1944 Oscar, they started chatting enthusiastically. First Jean lamented (as usual) for her endless fights at Columbia. Then they talked about adventures in the kitchen, and so they decided to meet up the next day. Joan would teach Jean how to cook. Jean didn’t show up the next day and never returned Joan’s calls. Fontaine was intrigued but not surprised.
Jean Arthur’s autograph (rare)
Trivia: Jean Arthur and Greta Garbo crossed paths once. In the most awkward context possible. In short, Arthur and Garbo had a common friend, and this individual asked Jean to personally deliver a box to Garbo. Jean was very nervous and anxious to meet her idol, but she had no idea how to behave. When she arrived at Garbo’s apartment, the melancholy Swede came downstairs and stared at her. Jean quickly explained the situation and gave her the box. Garbo opened it and there was a very expensive and ostentatious gem. Jean couldn’t even imagine the value of the object and was surprised to look at it. Garbo closed the box and said in her best deep voice, “Mind your own business.” And left, leaving Arthur speechless and embarassed.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford paired William Powell with Jean (he insisted on starring a picture with her) to cosplay the hit The Thin Man. Unlike uninspired Thin Man wannabes, this comedy is delicious because, in addition to Powell’s wit, Jean’s whimsical charm and personal talent add beautifully to the film, without being just another Nora Charles parody since Arthur had her own personality, making it a great entertainment.
After The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, in1936 ( The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, Stephen Roberts, on loan to RKO), Jean dreamed of a long vacation, but Harry Cohn rushed her into two more productions: Adventure in Manhattan and More than a Secretary . Both movies flopped. And yet, in a row, Jean was loaned to Paramount. But this would be a remarkable work, which she considered her favorite character so far. She would be Calamity Jane! (before Doris Day!).
Jean Arthur was DeMille’s second choice after Mae West
The Plainsman (1936) was directed by Cecil B. DeMille (who praised Arthur and considered moments filmed between Arthur and Cooper as one of the most romantic ever shown on screen). Jean made a sober but full of personality composition for her Jane Calamity, quick on the trigger but with a heart of gold. Remembering Gary Cooper years later, Arthur chose him as “her favorite”.
I loved working with Gary Cooper. Gary was my favorite. He was so terrific-looking, and so easy to work with.
The Plainsman — Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane together in a DeMille super production. During footage of the wild west outdoors, the animal advocate Arthur demanded that the animals should be treated decently and without cruelty
However, it would be James Stewart with whom she would be most associated. In You Can’t Take it with You (1938), Capra and Arthur struck again, and this time with a new member: Jimmy Stewart, still taking his first steps in cinema. Like Cooper, Stewart had a natural talent for playing the typical American hero, whether rich or poor. You Can’t Take it with You, despite its touches of inconsequential comedy like in Easy Living, meets the typical Capra themes: humanity, brotherly love, pure values.
The plot came from a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It is the story of a family of eccentric individuals who live happily apart in their little private worlds, each one with a particular talent. Arthur plays the part of sweet young Alice Sycamore. Tony Kirby, played by Stewart, is the young man from a wealthy family who falls in love with Alice, who works as a stenographer for Tony’s father, Anthony P. Kirby (Edward Arnold). Kirby is an authoritative businessman who only thinks about power and money. In addition to the fact that Tony is in love with a poor young woman, Alice’s family lives in a house that Mr. Kirby wants to demolish and use its area to promote his business — it is the only house Mr. Kirby still had not gotten his hands on. This situation is the beginning of a series of misunderstandings and clashes, from comical to touching, as they all provoke a great reflection on human values above material goods, after all, life is a passage and you don’t take things with you (as the title says). Just what you did, felt, lived, and what/who you loved (or were loved) is the legacy of your life.
The film won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director in 1939.
It wasn’t one of Jean’s big favorites, but she shined even with a great cast alongside and she received top billing. It is a less dramatic and idealistic Capra, and more of a family comedy.
Capra, Arthur and Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. “My favorite actress”, Capra would say years later
The appeal that Jean Arthur had in Hollywood at the time after so many consecutive successes is really remarkable. The most curious thing is to see her meteoric rise, considering that a few years earlier she had had only a modest recognition. Both before and after she avoided a social life and personal marketing as much as possible (although at that time, the studio took care of everything by itself, with or without the consent of the players). It is amazing that one of the most antisocial stars, like Garbo, became one of the biggest box offices of the late 1930s and subsequent 1940s. In the end, she was herself, she worked hard for herself and only did what she knew best... Almost never satisfied, but with complete devotion to her craft.
With her dog Pat, 1939
The weight of fame fell on Arthur in a way she didn’t know how to handle very well. She was practically Columbia’s biggest female star at the time. She earned enough money to have a comfortable and relatively stable life for herself and her parents as well (Hubert died in 1944, Johanna in 1959). She lived first in Beverly Hills, then moved to Brentwood, living in very private residences, usually spacious ones. With financial stability and greater benefits from her success, Jean began to be more demanding with job offers, constantly picking fights with Harry Cohn, often being suspended by Columbia. When not, she just refused to work staying at home, or she could decide to take a vacation during filming breaks, like a road trip, and simply disappear with her husband on the road (it was a kind of trip she loved to do). She loved staying at home, reading her books, listening to classical music. Another favorite hobby of hers was redecorating/renovating the house and always choosing new furniture, objects and artifacts that matched her idealistic and ethereal mindset. She enjoyed the mornings, especially the early hours, usually with her animals (she loved animals, dogs and cats) and walked along the beach, usually swimming in the cold water to start the day well. Away from the spotlight.
She honored her professional commitments as an actress, but she just didn’t accept making bad movies or having to pretend to be someone she wasn’t , after all it was very difficult to be herself. Costars and movie crews in general started calling her “difficult”. Being a perfectionist and never satisfied with her appearance, let’s say she wasn’t the most beloved by hairdressers and wardrobe staff. She also avoided small talk with others. After the scenes, she simply went to her dressing room and rarely left there other than to shoot a scene. She only socialized more with movie fellows with whom she created more affinity (not necessarily intimacy, in fact almost never, as most of her few friends were not the Hollywood jet-set). If Frank hosted a dinner party or a card-playing, Arthur would not join it. She would rather be by herself in the living room, reading or something, and then she would go upstairs to her bedroom. And that was all!
Relaxing and getting some sun while Frank Ross and a friend play tennis. Take a look at the book Saint Joan of Arc, by George Bernard Shaw, on her lap. She said her only regret was not having married the author. Jean would do the play at the theater years later
And then, with the end of the decade approaching, there was already an intense furor around the huge production of nothing less than Gone with the Wind , which would become become the quintessence of American cinema in 1939. But before it was completed, it took years of hard work to make this filmed dream come true. Margaret Mitchell’s novel was a resounding success, and simultaneously negotiations began for the film to be produced. The big question, which haunted David O. Selznick for years, was finding the ideal actress to play southern belle Scarlett O’Hara. The most unlikely was that the comedian Jean Arthur, Selznick’s former lover, was not only trying to get the part but it turned out that she was one of the finalists for the role! The most accepted hypothesis is that Jean, “for the old time’s sake”, asked Selznick for the opportunity to have a screen test. Some would say that she was never considered as a serious possibility for the part, but her test was filmed nonetheless.
The “Scarlett O’Hara war” was fierce. Dozens, even hundreds of actresses auditioned. Many de facto southern actresses like Miriam Hopkins and Tallulah Bankhead failed (although Tallulah was considered at first, but she was too old to play Scarlett anyway). Strong names like Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis (who refused to have Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler) were also not finalists— they were both too Yankee. Paulette Goddard was the closest to winning. Joan Bennett was seriously considered too, but in the end it would be Vivien Leigh the final choice for the role — it was meant to be. Ironically, she was not even American, but anyway she was born to play Scarlett, and eventually Blanche DuBois.
There was nothing tragic actually — Jean even got the chance to play Jezebel on the radio (the performance is on Youtube). The loss of the Scarlett role was a blow, in one way or another, for all the actresses involved. But Jean didn’t have much time to grieve… Shortly afterwards she made a hit, one of the biggest of her career. 1939 wouldn’t leave it out, as this was and still is the biggest year in cinematographic history. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind. Judy Garland and company in The Wizard of Oz. Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas in Ninotchka. John Wayne and Claire Trevor in Stagecoach. Robert Donat and Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Bette Davis and George Brent in Dark Victory. Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in Wuthering Heights. It’s a real star constellation. And finally, James Stewart and Jean Arthur in… Mr. Smith Goes to Washington!
For those disillusioned with politics, with the problems of the world and even with human beings in general, a scene like Jimmy’s speech in the US Senate full of rattlesnakes (Hello, Brazil) is soul-cleansing, a real balm.
Needless to say, this movie was a hit, repeating Capra’s successful formula: his tales of the American common man (Mr. Deeds — Mr. Smith — John Doe trilogy). In both movies Arthur played the know-it-all career woman surrounded by snakes. The one who sympathizes with the hero; and in the process of rescuing and saving this hero (an idealistic young man who is used by corrupt) to get him back on track and save the day, she herself becomes the great heroine. It was Jimmy’s second and final work with Arthur, and the actor said she was the best actress he had ever worked with. “The finest actress I ever worked with. No one had her humor, her timing”, Jimmy recalled decades later.
This time, despite the beautiful work of the production as a whole, the film was nominated more than an Academy Award winner in 1940. It won only for Original Screenplay. Gone with the Wind ended up winning most Oscars that night. With so many top stars and filmmakers in the running, I even feel sorry for the voters. But it was sad to see James Stewart losing, as it was by far his best work (despite my being a fan of Robert Donat). He would win the following year, as a consolation prize, for The Philadelphia Story (dir. George Cukor, 1940). Vivien Leigh was the queen of the night as Best Actress, no doubts about that. But Jean Arthur, again, was snubbed by the Academy, without even being nominated. Her first and only nomination for the award was yet to come…
Arthur and Stewart, despite their great screen chemistry, were never close behind the scenes
Still in 1939, Jean Arthur was directed by Howard Hawks in Only Angels Have Wings. Her leading man was now Cary Grant. Maybe not a masterpiece, but there are so many fun moments in it , and also interesting facts about this flick — on and off camera.
“I loved sinking my head into Cary Grant’s chest”
ARTHUR, Jean
Rita Hayworth’s star was now rising, whereas Arthur’s was gradually declining
Well, this movie is almost a screwball comedy by accident, featuring love triangles, people dying randomly and nobody gives a damn about it, animals in the middle of the scenes upstaging the humans, sexual tensions in the middle of nowhere, and so on. But it is directed by Howard Hawks, charged with bringing some sense to the plot (or not, vide The Big Sleep). Anyway it is good entertainment, with a great cast!
It was Rita Hayworth first big movie, already playing the femme fatale type she was later associated with (becoming a victim of the “Gilda” image, and Gilda she was not in real life). Hayworth was shy and reserved, but very determined at work, just like Jean Arthur was. The two were Libras from the same day (October 17), they practically had the same fears and dealt with similar psychological issues, but… They just didn’t hit it off. In fact, it was not a feud and things were unclear. What we do know, actually, is that at some point during filming, publicity photos were needed and the production asked to bring Arthur and Hayworth together for a shoot. Arthur allegedly said something like, “That beautiful girl and me? Forget it.” The truth is that Jean felt overshadowed by Rita’s beauty. Enfin, Jean ended up showing Hayworth her habitual indifference. Rita claimed that Jean did not speak to her behind the scenes. According to Rita, Arthur would do a scene, run off to her dressing room and lock herself in. Then Hayworth would do her scene, run back to her own dressing room, and lock herself in. Finally, on the last day of shooting, they bumped into each other. “You’re shy”, Jean observed to Rita, and Rita replied “You are too”. It was never a feud really, they were both just too shy and insecure about themselves.
Years later, a little more mature and self-aware, Arthur revealed to her frind Roddy McDowell that she regretted the attitude she had with Hayworth during the film. Rumors that, in addition to the beauty complex, Arthur supposedly felt threatened by the new rising star. Her relationship with boss Harry Cohn was never good (Rita herself often clashed with him), and Arthur’s glory at Columbia was in its twilight years , while Rita had just began (but no bed of roses either, if we know her biography), and in the 50s would be Kim Novak’s turn to emerge as Columbia Pictures’ new beauty.
Her next film was Too Many Husbands (1940). Tremendously insecure, Jean couldn’t feel attractive enough to be disputed by two men. When MacMurray joked that a scene could be done with her face covered in a blanket, she cried feeling ugly, thinking he really meant what he had said. Anyway, it’s an interesting movie because it is about a woman with her two “husbands” and threesome moments at a time of strong censorship in classic movies, especially since it was 1940. Similar to the formula of My Favorite Wife (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, very successful), Something’s Got to Give (starring Marilyn, unfinished because of her death) and Move Over Darling (with Doris Day). Despite being a hot comedy with a lot of cynicism and politically incorrectness, it wasn’t a great movie for all involved.
Arizona, also in 1940 and directed by Wesley Ruggles too, was another unsuccessful film. An exemplary female western pioneer who failed to engage audiences. Arthur was introduced to William Holden and simply turned and left, saying nothing, in an usual case of her lack of tact. Holden was upset, but over the course of filming they got along. Filmed in Tucson to give the film more veracity, Arthur retreated into her cave of obscurity and cared more about the animals than the humans of the film. The difference in age and chemistry between the two actors didn’t help the movie. Worth watching though.
The Devil and Miss Jones (dir. Sam Wood, 1941) after two lackluster films, was now a happier investment. It was co-produced by Norman Krasna (screenwriter as well) and Frank Ross, Jean’s husband. Ross would successfully produce several famous and expensive productions, such as The The Robe (dir. Henry Koster, 1953). The couple had created a production company, but that lasted a short time, releasing only this one and a following film with John Wayne, which I’ll talk about later. In fact, Jean and Frank were not that close anymore, due to personal differences. Not many details of their intimacy are known, but apparently the relationship simply wore off. The couple gradually grew apart and separated, although the formal divorce would only be finalized in 1949. They still lived together for some more years, but only for convenience until the divorce was final. Ross would later marry fellow actress Joan Caulfield, and had already been having an affair with her — which probably upset Arthur deeply. Jean for a long time harbored resentment against her ex-husband and they only got back in touch decades later. There is more gossip that I will tell you later.
Producer Frank Ross with the following wife, Joan Caulfield — everyone considered him “a gentleman”. Arthur resented her ex for many years
Despite the apparent marital crisis, filming proceeded smoothly. Miss Jones welcomes “the devil” with open arms, in this case, the boss who disguises himself to get to know the employees better and becomes humane in the course of the bizarre situations through the movie. Miss Jones is a free spirit and somewhat clueless. The film deals with working relationships and also social and personal issues in a fun and satirical way. Charles Coburn and Norman Krasna received nominations for Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay.
With straighter hair and bangs, Jean was trying to renew her image. In a rare relaxed and more revealing moment, Jean agreed to do a “cheesecake” photoshoot (showing her legs and her sex appeal). In the following films, Jean was able to further explore her image as a sensual and desirable woman. Probably the fact that her husband was the producer of the film made her accept this different image
A Lady Takes a Chance (William A. Seiter, 1943) was Arthur and Ross production company’s second and final film two years later. John Wayne enjoyed working with Arthur and vice versa, despite rumors against the actress’ introversion. The first scene of the two together is comical: in a rodeo, Wayne is thrown away and lands right on top of her. The movie is super silly, but captivating in its ingenuity.
Cary Grant and Jean Arthur were paired again, this time in The Talk of the Town (dir. George Stevens, 1942). The film brings up interesting dilemmas, driven by melodramatic drama and also with lighter moments, even slapstick tone. A curious film that, despite having certain imbalances to dose comedy and drama altogether, is successful in entertaining us with a peculiar story but no less real — along with typical poetic license of Hollywood. Cary Grant and Ronald Colman, two heartthrobs with inflated ego, agreed to share the film’s leading role, with Arthur as mediator. Filming went smoothly. Colman recited excerpts from If I Were King to a delighted Arthur between takes. Once the love triangle is formed, I leave unanswered who Arthur chooses to be with at the end of the film…
Fighting back Grant’s upstage in Only Angels Have Wings years before, Arthur took advantage of the final scene to goof around, something that was in the script actually, but she played the clown in such a charismatic way that she ended up stealing the limelight to herself. Grant was furious, but there was nothing he could do.
I particularly like this poster. Basically Grant (not as elegant as in the picture, since he was an outlaw in the movie) is wrongfully accused of a crime and seeks refuge in Arthur’s house, but she barely told him that law professor Colman is in the house and could ruin everything. Is he really innocent? Jean decides to hide him, but the outcomes are unexpected…
Director George Stevens, known for his complex relationships with his performers (vide Katharine Hepburn in Alice Adams), considered Jean “one of the best comedians cinema has ever seen” — he would cast Arthur two more times (The More The Merrier and Shane). As clown as she was on screen, she was an extremely methodical and perfectionist worker. Consequently, she identified with Stevens’ precise, repetitive and slow direction, while others pulled their hair out with so many retakes.
Incredibly, the actress was 41 years old already. Arthur’s hair got darker at the time, and she had more varied hairstyles, including bangs, braids and curls. Her wearing pajamas is quite interesting for the time, like Bette Davis did in Old Acquaintance at Warner
Interesting trivia: there were rumors about a possible love affair between Jean Arthur and actress Mary Martin. Due to Arthur’s introverted nature, sometimes even boyish and androgynous figure, there were rumors about a possible bi/homosexuality. She preferred pants to skirts or dresses, like Hepburn and Dietrich — so far so good. Nothing to date has actually proven that these rumors were true, but it’s not impossible either. Between the 40s and 50s, the two actresses shared many moments together, socially and privately — rare times when Jean opened her home to anyone. Arthur’s marriage was not going well. Martin was one of the few people who could consider themselves “close friends” of Jean’s. And by coincidence, the two would play the same beloved character on the stage: Peter Pan.
The two were married and successful. They were definitely not conventional beauties, and often played unusual characters like Peter Pan. Mary was a mother, while Jean never had children (she never gave it much thought, nor did it fit into her lifestyle). Martin enjoyed greater success on the Broadway stage in such grandiose productions like South Pacific and Hello Dolly. But the rumors between Mary Martin and Jean Arthur seem to have even inspired fiction. Paul Rosner’s The Princess and The Goblin, in the mold of juicy stories about fame like Valley of the Dolls, tells the story of how Maureen Covillion (Mary Martin), a shallow but ambitious young actress, “steals” the personality of sensitive acting genius Josie Adams (Jean Arthur). “It’s a campy melodrama that would have made a wonderful film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder”, says a reviewer on Amazon.com (lmao).
It is possible that Jean had had experiences with both women and men, if we think of the roaring twenties’ wanton madness, or her lifelong pathological need for privacy. A possible affair between the two women is not ruled out, as they shared a comfortable intimacy (something Arthur rarely had with anyone), but it is something we will never know. It is more coherent to conclude that Jean Arthur was not given to romance and over the years became practically asexual. She was more likely to have platonic relationships, preferring intellectual stimuli to carnal stuff (like Garbo). After the breakup with Frank Ross, and a fleeting romance with a Chicago psychologist in the late 1940s, Jean Arthur’s emotional life is really a mystery. Loneliness was always a constant in her life.
Martin appeared in Cole Porter’s biopic Night and Day (1946). Porter hated the movie.
Jean’s dissatisfaction with her career was latent. Even though she was a star and made a lot of money, she didn’t feel fulfilled as an actress, nor as a person. Despite her talent, the roles hadn’t really given her the achievement she so craved in dramatic work, a true tour de force. She couldn’t wait to retire from cinema, after having amended so many movies. She couldn’t wait for her contract with Columbia Pictures to end — which finally came after many years of work, in 1944. On the completion of her contract, she reportedly ran through the studio’s streets, shouting “I’m free, I’m free!”.
I am not an adult, that’s my explanation of myself. Except when I am working on a set, I have all the inhibitions and shyness of the bashful, backward child . . . unless I have something very much in common with a person, I am lost. I am swallowed up in my own silence.
Prior to her retirement, Jean starred in one of her best comedies: The More The Merrier (dir. George Stevens, 1943). The sardonic woman with lapses of humanity in Capra’s films was giving way to a more common woman, the typical “girl-next-door”, but with her own individuality that Jean always imprinted on her characters, even on things trivial as brushing her teeth in the morning or the intonation with which she said something, or the way she did a scene that in the hands of other actresses would go unnoticed. She could play drunk without sounding dramatic or vulgar.
During World War II, Dingle (Charles Coburn, everyone’s grandfather) searches for a house in Washington overflowed with people, until he finally finds Connie’s house to rent with her. The girl is reluctant, even more when Joel McCrea appears as a sergeant who is also looking for a place to stay. Dingle suggests renting half of half of the house, and in the end Connie accepts and the three end up living together.
Connie is engaged to a not-so-nice guy, which gives the old man the idea to play Cupid between Connie and the sergeant played by McCrea.
Her wardrobe for the film. The girlish persona hid a perfectionist, and very insecure woman
Arthur added personal touches even in small gestures
The film earned the first and only Oscar nomination for Jean Arthur for the Best Actress category. Competition was heavy, with the names of Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman and Greer Garson joining her. Jennifer Jones, Selznick’s new darling and future wife, won for The Song of Bernadette (dir. Henry King, 1943). Despite the Academy’s snobbery towards Arthur, who was averse to lobbying, publicity and campaigns, her achievement within an industry that overvalues status and over the top productions/performances was a victory. Awards often leave out comedies of quality and perspicacity, which do not fall into empty slobs or corny clichés. There were few Oscar winning actors and actresses for comic works to this day. I mean, in bizarre lapses, the Oscars awarded fluffy comedies/dramedies as well. But that’s another story.
Despite Jean’s defeat, Coburn won for Supporting Actor for the film. About to leave Columbia, it is clear that the studio made no effort to promote Arthur’s work for the Award.
Interestingly enough, Capra invited Jean to star in It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946, but the actress declined. Maybe she was tired of being the muse of Frank Capra movies — actually, people tend to think she didn’t want to work with James Stewart again (she hated his politics). Donna Reed got the part. More curiously, Donna Reed won the Oscar for Supporting Actress for From Here to Eternity, 1953, directed by Fred Zinnemann. That same year Jean worked in Shane (and was tipically snubbed by the Oscars once more).
Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead! It was difficult to get the perfect timing for scenes that required both physical and comic precision (romantic and sexual without sounding artificial or overly explicit)
And finally, after so much wanting this moment, her contract with Columbia came to an end. Jean wanted to enjoy life in other ways: studying, acting on stage, doing her favorite things within her seclusion. This did not mean that the actress would never make more films, despite being very reluctant and demanding to accept the offers that came to her. She refused practically everything. She only agreed to leave her seclusion to make two movies afterwards : A Foreign Affair and Shane.
A screenplay by Richard L. Breen and unbeatable partners Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (also the director), it really couldn’t go wrong. Although it’s not one of Wilder’s most remembered films, it’s a fun and politically-honed film. The film was brave in filming post-War pulverized Germany almost in a documentary tone, bold for the time. The film’s clever joke plays on the Americans’ relationship with the Germans in a cynical and shrewd way, without losing their good humor despite the troubled historical context. Some dismiss the film as a disaster, others praise it as a good comic and even historical exercise. There are those who are divided: some praise Jean Arthur, others praise Marlene Dietrich. It’s your choice.
Phoebe Frost is an American Congresswoman from Iowa who recently arrived in Germany with a large troupe to study the behavior of American soldiers. Erika von Schluetow is a Nazi cabaret singer protected by Captain Plinge (John Lund). Phoebe asks the Captain for help in finding out who is the American protective officer of the singer, not knowing that he himself is said to be the one.
The barbs exchanged between the provincial American and the elegant Nazi seemed to go beyond make-believe. It could be that Jean took Dietrich’s insults too seriously with regard to her appearance and her clothes… “Your dress is backwards”. “Your face without makeup looks like a kitchen floor.” “That’s a funny way to do your hair. Or maybe how not to do it.” During filming, Marlene didn’t hide her contempt and indifference to Arthur, who was not very popular among the crew.
Paranoia scared her, and she became a victim of self-sabotage. During the shooting of A Foreign Affair, Jean felt out of place in the German atmosphere of the set, as Marlene felt at home with the film, while Wilder himself was an Austrian who also lived in Germany, so both Dietrich and Wilder soon hit it off very well. Jean felt excluded and still overshadowed by Dietrich’s usual beauty and magnetism. One day, Jean knocked on Billy’s door, in tears and alongside her husband, accusing the director of sabotaging her performance in favor of Marlene (she even thought Wilder and Dietrich were having an affair). To the director’s astonishment, he showed her the footage of the film and said that she looked amazing in the film, which finally soothed the actress who was so unsure of herself. And he really meant it, because if she wasn’t really good, he wouldn’t think twice about getting her out of the picture.
After the movie, Marlene never gave a damn about Jean Arthur, always ignoring her existence when anyone reminded her of Jean Arthur in a conversation. Jean, on the other hand, held a grudge against the German diva, but she didn’t let go of her fascination with the icon. A mutual friend of both satisfied Jean’s curiosity about Marlene’s secluded life in Paris.
A very common Jean Arthur moment: nearly four decades later, Arthur watched the film on television and decided to phone Billy Wilder to tell him she thought it was a wonderful film. The director was surprised by the attitude, and even more when the actress asked if, after so long, they could still be friends… He said yes, amazed.
Marlene Dietrich in her supreme art: being herself. She considered A Foreing Affair one of her best career triumphs. Even being a patriot German, she did not refuse to play a Nazi and had always been always a fierce fighter against the Hitler regime during wartime. Sadly, Germany considered Marlene persona non grata for a long time. She never returned to her homeland afterwards, choosing Paris, France as her home, living there until her death in 1992
A book publisher tried hard during the 1970s to convince Jean to write a memoir. She never took the idea further. In a single moment though, she delivered three pages to the editor — about Marlene Dietrich. On the three pages, full of bitterness, she didn’t even mention the star’s name.
She never wrote the biography.
In the early 1950s, also for Paramount, Jean accepted what would be his last film: the western Shane, directed again by George Stevens. It was 1953, and ther swan song also became her most profitable film — it was a box office hit. Among all her movies, Shane is her only color feature!
The film, by Stevens’ conception, is an unglamorous, crepuscular western. There is no fetish for guns here: they are dangerous and deadly weapons. Period. What is at issue are human relationships, conflicts, the historical conflicts behind so much fight, so much work, so much bloodshed. Already in the 1950s, the Old West here is shown in a rarefied and disenchanted way, but in color, on widescreen to attract viewers accustomed to television, which was then on the rise. Wyoming vast plains and mountains, Arthur’s revolt, the meanness of greedy men, Shane’s silence, and the boy Brandon deWilde’s innocent worship for his new hero —all the feelings are poignant, they are life.
“You’re both out of your senses. This isn’t worth a life, anybody’s life. What are you fighting for — this sack, this little piece of ground and nothing but work, work, work. I’m sick of it.” says Marion (Jean Arthur), tired of the endless struggle for survival on the same land the actress’ own grandparents helped to plow. Van Heflin, who plays her husband in the film, worked with Arthur years before on stage during production of The Bride of Torozco.
“Nobody went to bed in Shane. We had two poker game, the big game and the small game. I’d play in the little one all night long, we’d go to work the next morning. It was no wonder we looked like hell, that was the way we should look”, Elisha Cook Jr. told an interviewer years later.
Marian (Arthur) is farmer Starrett’s wife and Joey’s mother. Shane (Alan Ladd, the iconic tough guy of the 1940s ) is a laconic and mysterious outsider who arrives to work and live decently, giving few hints of his past, which intrigues everyone. Marian, tired of the constant struggle of her people in those lands and the mediocre life she leads on the farm, is enchanted by Shane — not so much by the physical body, but more by the idea that Shane represents: an escape from that dirty world, the mystery. “Don’t get to liking him too much, he can leave at any time,” she says to her son (and to herself, in thought). The land conflicts get worse and Shane proves to be an excellent marksman. He sympathizes with the cause and resolves to face the villains of the town, even if he has to leave the place and go again like a wanderer, with the burden of having to carry his gun with him… With Joey’s echo, “Shane, come back”, dying in the light of the setting sun — the day that dies and goes by…
Despite her shy nature, the actress was aware of herself as a star several times. Befote accepting to make A Foreign Affair, she demanded top billing, with her name above Dietrich’s in the movie credits. In the 1950s, in her early fifties, Jean was aware of aging and didn’t want to play the character actress type, “old and worn out,” or mothering the younger actresses. But always very jovial, inside and out, in Shane she looked like she was in her thirties, not her fifties.
Obviously, Arthur’s deal with Paramount was over and they didn’t move a finger to get her an Oscar nomination. Brandon deWilde and “bad guy” Jack Palance were the only actors nominated for Supporting Roles. Not even Alan Ladd received any award recognition for his work, which is for sure the best of his whole career! SHAME.
Over the decades, audiences have come to notice that Shane-Marian relationship is the backbone of the story
Jean Arthur’s life was never limited to the movies, and the end of the 1940s was quite hectic for her. Theater, studies, even therapy. In 1948, she consulted with psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, a German fled from Nazism and settled in the United States. Also a philosopher and sociologist, he fascinated Jean Arthur for his humanist views in favor of freedom. Freedom was a dear topic for Jean: she was a lifelong advocate of imagination, authenticity, democracy, non-conformity with the status quo. In his book Escape from Freedom (1941), Erich Fromm discusses how freedom frightens human beings, as they are forced to face loneliness, anxiety and chaos altogether. Therefore, he claims that totalitarian regimes rise precisely out of a human need for control, repression, alienation from reality, as a comfort zone. Being free is not easy. It is difficult to be authentic, original, in a world where the status quo is imposed and those who are different are condemned. Close friends could not say that therapy helped Jean to be more satisfied with her own life (“She was no Pollyanna,” one would say). But it was good for her on a personal level, to accept certain things, to be able to laugh at herself, and for all her life she was grateful to Fromm.
“The individual ceases to be himself; he adopts entirely the kind of personality offered to him by cultural patterns; and he therefore becomes exactly as all others are and as they expect him to be… The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more. But the price he pays, is high; it is the loss of his self.”
In 1947, Jean attended classes at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. She was studious and hardworking. Naturally, she had few friends. As she had dropped out of high school decades earlier, now she was determined to go back to studying. She chose Stephens College because actor Maude Adams, famous for having played the first Peter Pan in a famous American stage production, taught drama at Stephens and was somewhat intrigued by the star-struck student. “Why does this woman keep staring at me, who is she?” The two ladies were introduced promptly.
Let’s go back in time a little bit. The year was 1945. Garson Kanin, renowned playwright and friend of Jean’s, even knowing her eccentricities, bet all his chips on her talent for comedy. The play was Born Yesterday, which later became a George Cukor film with William Holden, Broderick Crawford and Judy Holliday — her role earned her the controversial Oscar for Best Actress, ousting favorites Bette Davis (for All About Eve) and Gloria Swanson (for Sunset Boulevard). Before going to Hollywood, still an unknown, Judy played the role of dumb blonde Billie Dawn, who begins to study and contest her reality — her unscrupulous and vile millionaire lover (Crawford). Eventually she falls in love with her charming journalist teacher (Holden).
Fair play: Gloria Swanson, never dazzled by the award, salutes Holliday charmingly. Contrary to popular thinking, Gloria was a down-to-earth woman without Norma Desmond’s affectations. Jose Ferrer, Best Actor winner, is between them
It must have been fate, for Jean Arthur’s failure was Judy Holliday’s big chance. There’s no telling which actor is better than the other, but Judy was clearly better suited for the role, truly born for it. But the neuroses took over Jean, and contributed to the actress creating a terrible stage fright. She used to set so many high hopes on her performances that in the end she would grow scared,get sick and simply walk out. This stage fright haunted her until the end of her life. Jean tried to work in the theatre five times and, with the exception of Peter Pan, failed every single time, always for different reasons. That is, in the end for the same reasons…
The reasons for her quitting Born Yesterday are uncertain. The play’s success could have boosted her career. What is known is that Jean, already separated from Ross, had fallen in love with a doctor from Chicago, but it was a perfect illusion. Supposedly, with her personal life in pieces, the actress was feeling abandoned and lonely. Dissatisfied with the direction of the production and with herself, Jean became ill and abandoned the project, giving Judy Holliday a chance to shine. Fortunately, in 1950 one of Arthur’s biggest dreams came true: she would finally play Peter Pan — and on Broadway!
“I’m youth, eternal youth, I’m the sun rising, I’m poets singing, I’m the new world. I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg. I’m joy, joy, joy!” — Jean as Peter Pan on Broadway. Mary Martin could be more suitable for musicals, but Arthur was Pan’s soul mate
After several unsuccessful projects and personal frustrations, Jean was now able to enjoy personal and professional fulfillment playing Peter Pan. It was a dream come true, considered by herself the best performance of her entire career. Easy to say why: she identified with Peter in every way, and people around her saw Jean as a kind of enchanted being, inhabitant of a little world completely out of touch with reality, just like Neverland. It was the perfect match.
Jean’s characterization was simple but correct: to her, Peter should be represented as an enchanted but common boy, without glamour, without too many accessories or artifices
Not that there weren’t some problems. Arthur threw typical tantrums during production, and in case she didn’t show up for the show, an understudy was always there to cover for her. Out of pride, Arthur always attended because she felt the role was her exclusive property. When they consider replacing her with Shirley Temple, Shirley got an anonymous call from someone, begging, “Please don’t steal Peter Pan from me!”.
The production was very successful. Boris Karloff, Universal’s Frankenstein, played the villain Captain Hook. He disliked Arthur.
Saint Joan, on the other hand, was not a success. Despite bad reviews, humiliations by the director and excessive demands on herself, Jean’s brief tour as Joan of Arc was praised
Of all her failures, Saint Joan was the most difficult to overcome
In 1965, after years without appearing in front of a camera, Jean accepted an invitation to guest-star in an episode of the western series Gunsmoke, along the lines of Bonanza and Wagon Train. The public liked it and the rates were good. She was still beautiful in her middle age, but always insecure like a child.
Gunsmoke went well. But The Jean Arthur Show (1966) was a failed attempt and was canceled 11 weeks later. Jean returned to her recluse life in Driftwood.
Jean played a lawyer-mom on the sitcom. Despite her talent, the Monday night show didn’t take off, thanks to CBS (which had already mismanaged Judy Garland’s show), the poor cast, mediocre scripts and neuroses of the actress, naturally. She was looking great at 60 years old and with a good wardrobe though…
The pixie-like aura never left her. “She was not very real,” some people who knew Arthur would said about her. In the following years, Jean Arthur pledged to live her life out of the spotlight. Her hair was pixie cut, and she wore plain, comfortable clothes, usually slacks, nothing really fancy. Barely would she ever socialize in Carmel-by-the-sea. She had few but good friends nearby. With the exception of a few actors and showbusiness people, like Roddy McDowall, most of her friends weren’t famous. She threw all the fan mail she received in the trash. She liked to take her Jaguar and just take the road. She had many cats at home and declined an invitation from Frank Capra to go to a homage, as they had attended a symposium at the Yale Law School Film Society earlier and the actress was very well received. “Sorry but I need to go home and feed the cats.” It would also be Capra’s biographer who motivated her to turn off hermit mode a little to remember the old days. Asked about her films with Capra, she gave all the credit for the excellence of the films to the director and the screenwriters: “it was all in the script”.
With the advent of VHS and tapes, along with television reruns, classic movies were back in trend. The question came: Whatever happened to Jean Arthur?. Jean watched the movies, sometimes changed her opinion, managed to be less strict with herself and others, and even enjoyed her early work in later years. However, Arthur remained averse to interviews, saying that she would rather have her throat slit. She avoided signing autographs as much as possible and avoided photographs. But she gave in every once in a while. A student once knocked on her door, humbly asking for an autograph and telling her a little about his admiration. She said she appreciated the enthusiasm but she refused to sign at the first moment. The student spoke of the importance of her work as an actress and mentioned Shane, especially about his studies at college and how the film was a social contribution, historically important, how he would love it if she could attend an event at the institution and such… Jean was curious and said: “Come in, let’s talk.” Then, finally, she autographed a photo for the college and helped the students with their studies.
Despite the problems, failures and inner demons, Jean Arthur’s life was very unusual. In general, she feels very full and happy in her solitude. There was no drama about it, quite the contrary. She loved being by herself. As the years progressed and her retirement extended, she never got really over her stage fright. After all, she didn’t even have to work anymore or prove anything to anyone — sometimes she had to prove things to herself — because she was never satisfied with her own work, nor with herself. She only took a break from her hermit lifestyle to projects that interested her a great deal, usually in a moment of impulse that used to give her headaches afterwards.
She was a heavy smoker. At times, Jean was prone to drinking too much. She always had problems with alcoholism, until her later years. As she was so reserved, her discretion rarely made her moments of excess go public. But friends and former co-workers reported that Jean could eventually be seen drunk, out of control, and lonely.
From 1968 until 1973, Jean Arthur was a professor of acting at Vassar College, NY and at the North Carolina School of Dramatic Arts. It was during his time at Vassar that Jean Arthur watched a young student in Strindberg’s Miss Julie and reportedly said that “it was like watching a movie star.” That aspiring actress was Meryl Streep. Meryl, for some reason, never brings up the subject of Jean being her teacher, while she rubs in everyone’s face that she had Bette Davis’ praise (as much as she had Katharine Hepburn’s disdain).
Vassar College, where Jean taught for a few years (and caused terror to students and colleagues)
Jean’s teaching methodology was having no methodology at all. She didn’t know how to teach acting, she just knew how to do it her way, instinctively. She would simply show how she thought the scene had to be done correctly. And if it wasn’t good to her, she was like Katharine Hepburn saying “WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!”. During class, Arthur would digress on random subjects, giving a lecture about nature, the beauty of ethereal things, her ideal world. Once she took the students outside and pointed to the trees: “I wish people knew how to be people, just like trees know how to be trees.” In another unusual episode, she taught students to be good for animals. “If you see a little animal dead on the side of the road, you should get out of the car, take a tissue and wrap the animal up, and you should lay it reverently up the grass and then go on. But don’t just drive by the animal — give it the respect it deserves.” Finally, if she was out of patience, she’d just call everyone dumb and shrug. Arthur’s life in academia was short but certainly a lot of fun!
Not so much fun was in 1973, in the city of Winstom-Salem in North Carolina, where she taught acting. Jean was arrested for trespassing. The actress reported that she just went to give food and affection to a dog, who was trapped and crying. She ended up picking a fight with the owners of the house and also with the police. It was grotesque to handcuff and arrest a 73-year-old lady! When she was released, Jean yelled to the officers, “If I were Katharine Hepburn, things would be different!” Even though she wasn’t Miss Hepburn, when they realized that the troublemaker lady was Jean Arthur, the city of Winstom-Salem was the reason for massive boycott of the population, even Liz Taylor and Richard Burton sympathized with the eccentric actress. The process went like a screwball of hers from the 30s, but it didn’t end well. Finally, Jean was convicted, paid $75 bail and spent three years in the crosshairs of justice. She didn’t make any formal statement, but public opinion was in favor of her.
In October 2019, a mural in honor of the actress was unveiled in Plattsburgh, her hometown. Work by artist Brendon Palmer-Angell
In 1975, Jean Arthur formally acted for the last time. She risked a return to the stage again, this time her last attempt. First Monday in October was about the first female judge of the US Supreme Court. The conservative Ruth Loomis clashes with the liberal Dan Snow, and from the confrontation in the political environment, an affectionate relationship is born between the two. The role of the liberal Snow went to Melvyn Douglas, still an active veteran actor with a prolific career. Asked about the possibility of returning to work with Jean Arthur after Too Many Husbands decades earlier, he just said “Once was enough”. But in the end, he accepted and the rehearsals began. After eleven performances, Jean refused to continue and this was her last attempt to get back into acting. Nice try… Jane Alexander replaced her on the theater tour. Alone again, naturally, Jean returned to her lair in Driftwood. After a while, Arthur was forced to move to a smaller house in Carmel. Doris Day almost bought Driftwood, but Jean, a cat lady, was realistic and said it wasn’t a good house (structurally) for raising puppies, Doris’ favorites.
Despite the role of a Republican woman in the play, Jean was a lifelong Democrat. One of the reasons she turned up her nose at James Stewart was because of his politics, as Jimmy had always been a staunch Republican. But in later years, like the moment with Billy Wilder, Jean called Jimmy and broke the ice. Stewart responded affectionately, with great admiration for his favorite co-star.
In 1981, Paramount produced a movie based on First Monday in October, starring Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh in the leads
Barbara Baxley (her understudy in Peter Pan), Ellen Mastroianni (her best friend and confident), Pete Ballard, and Roddy McDowall were some of her friends in her final years, and they visited her frequently. In the 70s, Jean reconnected with her ex-husband Frank Ross, now as friends, after so many decades without exchanging a word. Jean Arthur’s life in her later years was quiet, without great emotions, sometimes regrets, many personal insights, or comical everyday scenes worthy of her classic screwball comedies. The only thing that was not happy was the loss of her dearest ones. Her older brothers all died before her; the eldest, Donald, committed suicide — Jean took care of everyones funeral arrangements. The absence of close and dear people came from an early age and accompanied it until the end. The death of her beloved (but absent) father years before was perhaps the most complex to deal with, as the influence of this elusive man shaped her also elusive personality. There were always too many mixed feelings inside her, too much overthinking.
Jean lived a long life and, in her own way, knew how to enjoy it. In 1989, the actress suffered a serious fall, breaking her hip. Then followed a stroke that caused brain damage and made her an invalid, under the care of her friend Ellen Mastroianni. “I just didn’t want it to be like this,” she said in a rare moment of lucidity. After two hard years incapacitated, on June 19, 1991, Gladys Greene/Jean Arthur passed away at age 90 in Carmel, California. Coincidentally, Joan Caulfield (Frank Ross’ second wife) had died the day before.
There was no funeral. She was cremated and her ashes scattered off of Point Lobos, California.
Sketch by her friend Pete Ballard, 1978
Upon her death, film reviewer Charles Champlin wrote the following in the Los Angeles Times:
To at least one teenager in a small town (though I’m sure we were a multitude), Jean Arthur suggested strongly that the ideal woman could be — ought to be — judged by her spirit as well as her beauty … The notion of the woman as a friend and confidante, as well as someone you courted and were nuts about, someone whose true beauty was internal rather than external, became a full-blown possibility as we watched Jean Arthur.
Charles Champlin
94 Oak Street: the house where she was born, in Plattsburgh, NY. In 2015 she was honored with a plaque in front of the house
Perhaps with audiences, throughout her career, Jean finally found her friends and confidants, so absent during her lonely life. She was never satisfied with her own work, save Peter Pan who was her soulmate — a free spirit trapped in his own world. She had no expectations for posterity. But her work, yes, it lives and will always be alive on the movie screen! Her talent after all transcended mediocrity and became a milestone in film comedy (and drama as well). She won our hearts forever.
Despite being a successful and independent woman all her life, Jean Arthur never considered herself a feminist, but even so she always defended the right of women to do whatever they wanted, to have the power of choice over their destiny, and fight for it. And after all, what was her advice for young people, future actors?
“None. That would be sticking my nose in somebody else’s business. Influencing their lives. And I think everybody has to find their own way.”
Fair enough!
Her two TCM DVD sets: Drama and Comedy collections
Thanks to everyone for reading. Thanks to biographer John Oller for bringing so much information (and rare photos) to the light of day. I hope you all enjoyed the life of this fascinating and peculiar film artist. Most of Jean Arthur’s movies mentioned here are on Youtube, they can be easily found on the Internet; many were released on DVD and Bluray.
Love,
Pedro Dantas
Portugal
Originally published at http://anovicacinefila.blogspot.com.
