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Dig A Hole: Bob Anderson, young George Bailey in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

June 9th, 2008 by Scott Marks

H. B. Warner and Bobbie Anderson in It’s a Wonderful Life

The image of a drunken Mr. Gower repeatedly striking young George Bailey hard enough so the boy’s ear bleeds is one of Hollywood’s most graphic pre-MPAA depictions of child abuse ever filmed. No one who has seen It’s a Wonderful Life (and that means just about everyone) will ever forget it.

Bob Anderson, who played the young Bailey in the Christmas classic, died June 6 of cancer in Palm Springs, California. He was 75.

Anderson grew up surrounded by Hollywood professionals…for the most part. His father Gene was an assistant director and later a production manager and his brothers and cousins were editors and production managers. He also had a pair of uncles that were directors. I haven’t seen enough James Flood features, but The Mouthpiece was a very strong letter of introduction.

Also hanging on the family tree, presumably by his tail, is Uncle William “One Shot” Beaudine, affectionately nicknamed for the fact that he never shot retakes even when necessary. I didn’t have to research his name to recall such mangled masterworks as Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla, Billy the Kid versus Dracula and too many Bowery Boys films to list, an indication that I’ve probably endured too many of Beaudine’s celluloid monstrosities.

Anderson got his big break when relatives arranged for him to appear in a movie scene that called for a baby. His first prominent role came at the age of seven opposite Shirley Temple in Young People. He also appeared with Cary Grant in another Christmas favorite, The Bishop’s Wife as well as landing roles in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Edgar G. Ulmer’s classic Ruthless, A Place in the Sun and Samson and Delilah. His last acting role was 1956 in the TV series The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty.

In a 1996 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Anderson spoke about the It’s a Wonderful Life bloody-ear scene. H. B. Warner was never more a method actor than on the day of shooting and according to Anderson’s wife Victoria was “pretty ripe.” Victoria Anderson said.

“He actually bloodied my ear,” Bob Anderson told the paper. “My ear was beat up and my face was red, and I was in tears.”

“At the end when it was all over, he (Warner) was very lovable. He grabbed me and hugged me, and he meant it,” Anderson said.

Around the time Anderson should have transitioned from ingenue to leading man, he enlisted in the Navy to fight in Korea. After the war, Anderson spent four decades in the movie industry working steadily as a second assistant director and/or production manager for movies and TV shows.

Links:
Scott Marks talks about It’s A Wonderful Life on KPBS-Radio’s Film Club
It’s A Wonderful Life photos

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How the Jews Spend Christmas

December 25th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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When I was in my teens, Timmy Murphy asked, “You know what my uncle says Jews do on Christmas day?” I hadn’t heard this one, yet. “No, my ruddy-faced only goyish kid on an all-Jewish block,” I thought. “What does your hard-drinking Uncle Roy say the Jews do on Christmas day?” Timmy smiled, threw out his chest and snarled. “They stay home and count their money.” No, Timmy. We put dead trees in our living rooms, life-sized illuminated Sear’s Santas on our front lawns, drink boilermakers to commemorate the birth of our Lord and Savior and pay retail for the gifts.

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Scott Marks talks about “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Lemon Drop Kid”

December 24th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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Les…

(Dolores Hope’s version of Silver Bells plays softly underneath)

It’s not often that I step out of character, but what the hell? It’s Christmas. You know ladies and gentlemen, no website is a failure that has friends. And I mean it. When I see the look on the faces of those kids who visit Emulsion Compulsion every day to study my reviews, read my rants and know the true meaning of 2 Girls 1 Kup, I tell ya’ it gets me right here. You have my utmost fondness and appreciation.

And to the man behind the curtain, my buddy Charles who called me up one day and said, “I read your crappy AOL blog. I’d like to build you a website that people will actually come to.” For a Republican who lives as far north of Chicago as possible while still being in Illinois and hasn’t been inside a movie theater since we saw 54 together in ‘98 you see things in me that confound your average aesthete. Your advice on how to make this site tick has been invaluable. Beyond all else, you are one of the most loyal people on the planet. Who needs Scorsese when I can talk to you everyday? You’re a great man, Charles, and one that I both value and love. Thanks!

And now before we all start vomiting blood from the sugar overkill, this is a piece that I did for KPBS -Radio’s These Days that I am particularly proud of. For a guy who never had a tree in his living room, I sure do have good taste in Christmas pictures!

Leave it to a Jew to point up the cynicism inherent in Frank Capra’s beloved holiday chestnut and leave it to a die hard Frank Tashlin devotee to champion a Bob Hope obscurity over the more familiar holiday DVD stuffers.

And speaking of people that I value, I pretty much owe my life on San Diego radio to Angela Carone. Like Charles, she not only gets me, but Angela unleashes me over the public airwaves. Listen to how brilliantly this piece is put together. She’s my personal Thelma.

Take it away Tom…

Tom Fudge: When the 1946 movie It’s A Wonderful Life entered the public domain in the 1970’s, practically every television station began broadcasting the film during the holiday season. The story is a familiar one. Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, who looks back on a lifetime of dashed dreams and personal sacrifices. One day, after a string of bad luck, he decides he wants to end it all. But before he can, a bumbling angel named Clarence shows him what life would be like without him. And he convinces George that he really does have “a wonderful life.”

Some argue that Frank Capra’s film is sentimental and even a little cheesy. But our Film Club of the Air’s Scott Marks has a different take on it. He stopped by the studio to give us his impression of It’s a Wonderful Life and to tell us about one of his favorite holiday movies starring Bob Hope.

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A few last minute Bob Hope Christmas items, Right Here!

December 23rd, 2007 by Scott Marks

1954 Bob Hope Family Christmas Card
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Bad Santa

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“He’s cold as ice, but he’s so nice!”

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Bring Back the Kathie Lee Gifford Christmas Specials!!!

December 17th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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It’s why television was invented.

I’m not sure how many of these there are. The Internet Movie Database lists only one, but somewhere in my archives I have at least 3 on tape. I need a digitally remastered box set.

They were vile. Kathie Lee Gifford (nee: Epstein) made Bob Hope’s Bagful Of Christmas Cheer look like Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Each year she’d trot out her adorable moppets Cody and Cassidy as poor, emasculated Frank stood in the background looking like a lummox trapped inside a pint-sized version of It’s a Small World re-staged for The Gay Ice Capades.

The list of guest stars (the type you’d expect to see during a 3 am Branson, MO remote on The Telethon) made one yearn for a Love Boat passenger list. Lots of Christian singers like Amy Grant and Aaron Neville and maybe even Kathy Mattea if I knew who the hell she was.

It was slick, self-aggrandizing showbiz pandering at its finest. Kathie Lee beaming God, the holidays and Vegas all into your living room with even more Jesus mentions than your average Grammy acceptance speech.

The most memorable Christmas gift arrived the year Frank had his fling with Suzanne Johnson. Kathie was pissed and wanted the world to know. A downtrodden Giff was sentenced to spend the last two minutes of the show on a couch with the kids. For a second I actually felt sorry for the slug. All he was allowed to utter was the curtain line, “Good night everybody.” I studied it more times than the Warren Commission did the Zapruder footage.

If you hear of reruns of any of Ms. Gifford’s holiday extravaganzas, please drop a comment. Sadly, my mind is a bit hazy in the idiosyncrasy department, so any specific remembrances on your part would also be greatly appreciated. The normally reliable You Tube offered little more that a couple of clips from the direct-to-DVD Kathie Lee’s Rock ‘n Tots Cafe: A Christmas ‘Giff.’ At the risk of sounding like Ethan Edwards, whatever you do, don’t go in!

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Bob “For A Gay New Playtex Happy Pants Wardrobe” Hope

December 14th, 2007 by Scott Marks

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“This is Bob ‘Short Eyes’ Hope here to tell ya’ ’sex by year eight before it’s too late.’ How do you like these nubile toddlers, huh? They look like lawn jockeys from the Neverland Ranch. I wanna’ tell ya that nothing brings this old ski nose to attention quite like the smell of a dirty diaper, and I don’t mean Dolores’. And it’s a lot cheaper to hang reusable diapers around the fireplace than forking over dough for Christmas stockings you’ll only use once a year. Yeah, well, hey I gotta’ go now. I’ll be appearing at a Toys ‘R’ Us opening in Fort Wayne, Indiana this Friday then it’s off to Sioux City, Iowa for the annual gathering of the Horatio Alger chapter of NAMBLA. Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen. G’night.”

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