Little Women

[drednm]

My blog article on the silent versions of Little Women.

https://silentroomdotblog.wordpress.com ... ent-women/

[Trueblood]

My blog article on the silent versions of Little Women.

https://silentroomdotblog.wordpress.com ... ent-women/

Hi, Ed.

Thanks for the excellent piece on LITTLE WOMEN. It's a killer that both versions from the teens are lost. Your photo of Ruby Miller is enticing. A beautiful face. Also, good timing for your article. I'm debating whether I need to see the new version from Greta Gerwig since I so love both the Hepburn/Cukor and the Ryder/Armstrong versions. I guess I do have to see it--given the universal praise. I noticed another piece on your site about Vilma Banky who I have been thinking about quite a lot recently. Watched again a few nights ago THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH and am now reading the enjoyable original novel by Harold Bell Wright--picturing the main character as Vilma looked in the silent. Thanks for your nice work.

David (Tucson, AZ)

[Harlowgold]

A touch off topic, but am I the only one who is disappointed the great Meryl Streep plays Aunt March in the new version? IMO this part should always go to a classic character actress, as it has in the past with Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mildred Natwick, and Mary Wickes. I was fine with Greer Garson in the tv version from 1978 given how rare it was to see her act in that era but Meryl is just too big for this part.

[WaverBoy]

A touch off topic, but am I the only one who is disappointed the great Meryl Streep plays Aunt March in the new version? IMO this part should always go to a classic character actress, as it has in the past with Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mildred Natwick, and Mary Wickes. I was fine with Greer Garson in the tv version from 1978 given how rare it was to see her act in that era but Meryl is just too big for this part.

Meryl Streep is now a classic character actress.

[boblipton]

Miss Streep is whatever she wants to be. Just be glad she didn't want to play Laurie.

Bob

[wich2]

A touch off topic, but am I the only one who is disappointed the great Meryl Streep plays Aunt March in the new version? IMO this part should always go to a classic character actress

Meryl Streep is now a classic character actress.

I was going to say just about that.

[Brooksie]

According to an old theatrical adage, 'there are no small parts - only small actors.' Judi Dench won an Oscar for her eight minutes of screen time in Shakespeare in Love (1998) - and deservedly so; she owned every one of those eight minutes.

[wich2]

According to an old theatrical adage, 'there are no small parts - only small actors.'

On the other hand Brooksie, as my old teacher Stella Adler used to remind us,

"Don't let 'em kid ya - if you're holding a spear... ya got a small part!"

[Harlowgold]

A touch off topic, but am I the only one who is disappointed the great Meryl Streep plays Aunt March in the new version? IMO this part should always go to a classic character actress, as it has in the past with Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mildred Natwick, and Mary Wickes. I was fine with Greer Garson in the tv version from 1978 given how rare it was to see her act in that era but Meryl is just too big for this part.

Meryl Streep is now a classic character actress.

Well, she's certainly old enough to be one (she's two decades older(!) than Edna May when she played the role) but she's still a star and will undoubtably be playing many more leads in the future. I'd compare her today to where Katharine Hepburn was 1967-1975, a senior citizen yes, but a very big box office name. My point was this is a nice little role for a non-b.o. draw actress to shine in and it seems a major waste of Meryl's star power to put her in it (though she was no doubt compen$ated) and at a time when what few Olivers and Watsons and Wickes we have today rarely get a shine it seems a bit not right and one can't help but wonder if the producers thought Meryl in this little part would be an easy 56th Oscar nomination for her as Best supporting actress since this category has been taken over in the last twenty years by major stars playing smaller (and often dubiously "supporting" roles) roles just at a presumed easier shot for an Oscar for the mantle. Big stars now usually take up the majority of slots in the supporting categories while the non-star actor has hardly a chance at an Oscar now.

[drednm]

The lost 1918 version cast Julia Hurley as Aunt March. Hurley played crones in Marion Davies; The Bride's Play and Enchantment and was born in 1848! So she was 70ish in the 1918 film. The British 1917 version cast an actress born in 1864, so she would have been 53.

The fab Edna May Oliver may only have been 50 but she played the role much older..... then again in 1864, 50 was old for a woman. In the 1949 version, Lucile Watson can hardly walk. She was also 70 years old.

[Harlowgold]

I was surprised recently to read in the AFI 1930's books that Edna May was an emergency replacement for Louise Closser Hale, who was originally cast as Aunt March but died during the production, especially since this role seems tailor-made to EMO and she was an RKO contractee (they borrowed Ms. Hale from MGM). I guess RKO initially felt Edna May was too valuable a draw to waste in the small part but asked her to step in so the production could continue. I've never read this story anywhere else; AFI credits trade papers for the information.

[drednm]

I was surprised recently to read in the AFI 1930's books that Edna May was an emergency replacement for Louise Closser Hale, who was originally cast as Aunt March but died during the production, especially since this role seems tailor-made to EMO and she was an RKO contractee (they borrowed Ms. Hale from MGM). I guess RKO initially felt Edna May was too valuable a draw to waste in the small part but asked her to step in so the production could continue. I've never read this story anywhere else; AFI credits trade papers for the information.

Yes I saw that also. It's probably why Edna May was the youngest of the Aunts March.

[Ricardo]

I have not owned this, but seems this is the 1918 version on DVD.

Good luck!

Ricardo

https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/dp/B013J8EJ ... -tv&sr=1-2

[drednm]

I have not owned this, but seems this is the 1918 version on DVD.

Good luck!

Ricardo

https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/dp/B013J8EJ ... -tv&sr=1-2

FAKE... This is actually a segment of LW from STUDIO ONE IN HOLLYWOOD (1950) starring Nancy Marchand as Jo.

[Frame Rate]

I have not owned this, but seems this is the 1918 version on DVD.

Good luck!

Ricardo

https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/dp/B013J8EJ ... -tv&sr=1-2

FAKE... This is actually a segment of LW from STUDIO ONE IN HOLLYWOOD (1950) starring Nancy Marchand as Jo.

More likely a stupid mistake than a deliberate deception, since the external vendor Amazon was fronting for had actually printed up keepcases and discs with original publicity artwork from the 1918 version and was shipping them out to customers -- even though the discs actually contained the TV episode instead!

I wonder how many returns and refunds occurred before the listing and the packaging was changed...

[sepiatone]

A touch off topic, but am I the only one who is disappointed the great Meryl Streep plays Aunt March in the new version? IMO this part should always go to a classic character actress, as it has in the past with Edna May Oliver, Lucile Watson, Elizabeth Patterson, Mildred Natwick, and Mary Wickes. I was fine with Greer Garson in the tv version from 1978 given how rare it was to see her act in that era but Meryl is just too big for this part.

never understood the fascination with Streep. And this going back to films like The French Lt's Woman(1982). I appreciated her in tv's 1978 Holocaust series.