This purpose of this blog is to put together a virtual list/collection of memorable (if fleeting) references to the cities of Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA in movies/TV/music/Broadway/books (in the script, setting, lyrics, etc).
We'd like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support and suggestions for the Entertainment blog. I'll continue adding these as blog entries as time permits.
Turner Classic Movieswill be broadcasting the 1940 Barbara Stanwyck/Fred MacMurray holiday film Remember the Night on Christmas Eve at midnight.
Written by Preston Sturges, Remember the Night tells the story of a repeat shoplifter (Barbara Stanwyck) who goes to Indiana for the holidays with the lawyer who is also prosecuting her (Fred MacMurray). The film also features a brief passing reference to Scranton.
Albright Memorial Library also has a copy of Remember the Night available to borrow on DVD.To place a hold, click here.
Also (and I'm not sure how long it will be up), it looks like someone uploaded the entire film on YouTube. To watch Remember the Night from the beginning (Part 1 of 10), click here. The Scranton reference occurs at the 8:30 spot of Part 8.
Check out the trailer below:
For information on another Christmas classic that features a Scranton reference, click here.
Remember the Night stars Fred MacMurray as an assistant DA who takes shoplifter Barbara Stanwyck (whom he is prosecuting) home with him for Christmas. The film also features a fleeting reference to the city of Scranton towards the end.
Remember the Night will be shown on TCM on the following dates:
Saturday, December 13th @ 6 PM
Wednesday, December 24th @ 11:15 PM
Thursday, December 25th @ 6:15 AM
Click herefor the previous blog entry on Remember the Night that details the reference to Scranton in the picture.
Remember the Night is long out-of-print on VHS and has never been released on DVD. I saw it last year and absolutely loved it, so I highly recommend it--especially to those who are all It's-A-Wonderful-Lifed out.
The legendary film noir actress Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo in the PineBrook Section of Scranton, Pennsylvania on September 29, 1922. Emma attended Central High School and Marywood College (nowMarywood University).
After moving to New York City while only in her late teens, Matzo attended the Alvienne School of Drama. She also worked as a model.
Her first big break came in 1942 when she was hired to understudy the legendary actress (with a legendary acid tongue) Tallulah Bankhead in Thorton Wilder'sThe Skin of Our Teeth; unfortunately, Bankhead never missed a performance and Matzo never had the opportunity to perform. However, Matzo took over the lead in the play from Bankhead's ill replacement Gladys George and garnished rave reviews--the next night, Matzo was no longer needed.
Matzo's luck was forever changed when renowned Hollywood producer Hal Wallis discovered her in 1945 and offered her contract in Hollywood; however, Matzo put Hollywood stardom on hold when she was offered the lead in the Boston production of The Skin of Our Teeth. it was in Boston where Emma Matzo took the stage name Lizabeth Scott.
After moving to Hollywood, Scott made a total of 21 films between 1945 and 1957--her main studio was Paramount and her main producer was Hal Wallis. She made her film debut in 1945's You Came Along, directed by John Farrow (father of Mia). Her most famous film role was the femme fatale Toni Marachek in the film noir the classic The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin. Scott acted alongside some of the best actors in Hollywood--her other notable films include: 1947's Dead Reckoning with Humphrey Bogart; 1947's Desert Fury with Burt Lancaster and Mary Astor; 1949's Easy Living starring Lucille Ball and Victor Mature; 1949's Too Late For Tears with Dan Duryea; 1950's Dark City with Charlton Heston (whom she also starred with in 1953's Bad For Each Other); and 1951's The Racket with Robert Mitchum.
Lizabeth Scott was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1624 Vine Street).
Her last screen appearance was in the role of Princess Betty Cippola in 1972's Pulp, directed by Mike Hodges and co-starring Michael Caine and Mickey Rooney.
For nearly forty years, Scott has mostly stayed out of the public eye.
I am a HUGE fan of Barbara Stanwyck. Her performances throughout her incredible career in classic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood are unforgettable--from the self-sacrificing mother in 1937's Stella Dallas, to the femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson in the film noir Double Indemnity, to the petty thief Lee Leander who finds love on her way en route "to Scranton or Pittsburgh" in 1940's Remember The Night, to her notorious performance as a backstreet girl who literally sleeps her way to the top of a New York City bank (floor-by-floor) with zero remorse in 1933's Baby Face (the catalyst that most critics agree was the film that was single-handedly responsible for the creation of 1934's Production Code). I was surprised by the Scranton reference (by another actor) in Remember the Night, but I was was absolutely shocked (and embarrassingly giddy) to hear Barbara Stanwyck herself say the words "Wilkes-Barre" in the 1943 classic tale of strippers and murder, Lady of Burlesque.
Based on the novel The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee, and directed by William A. Wellman (who also directed Stanwyck in 1931's pre-Code shocker Night Nurse; he also directed 1927's Wings, the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), Lady of Burlesque tells the story of The Old Opera House, a 1920s era theater transformed into a successful house of burlesque (and a target of the fuzz). Amidst the bum comics and cheap strippers that work at The Old Opera House is Dixie Daisy (Barbara Stanwyck), the reigning queen of burlesque. However, life takes a turn for the worst as strippers start turning up dead, strangled by their own G-strings.
Eleven minutes into the film, an unnamed burlesque dancer enters the shared dressing room of the strippers and complains of the bathroom facilities at The Old Opera House:
Stripper:
That settles it! We GOTTA have a new one!
Dixie:
New what?
Stripper:
(gestures towards the off-stage ladies' room)
Dixie:
Oh, the museum piece. I haven't seen one like that
since the Wilkes-Barre Regal.
The Lackawanna County Library System does not presently include Lady of Burlesque in our collection; even more unfortunate is the fact that Lady of Burlesque is a film in the public domain, meaning that inferior and unremastered copies of the film are widely available on a number of DVD releasing companies (for as little as $4.98); to purchase a copy from Amazon.com, click here. Hopefully, the film will be available sometime in the future from MyLibraryDV, an awesome library service that includes other public doman films for free online viewing.
But you can still catch some essential Barbara Stanwyck in a number of films on DVD circulating throughout the Lackawanna County Library System--click on any title to place a hold on Double Indemnity, Stella Dallas, Sorry Wrong Number, or the "so-notorious-it-has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed" Baby Face (part of the excellent pre-Code collection Forbidden Hollywood).
UPDATED NOVEMBER 13, 2008 - Because it is in the public domain, the entire film of Lady of Burlesque is available online at YouTube. At the two-minute mark in the clip below, you will find the Wilkes-Barre reference made by Barbara Stanwyck in the film.
Don McKeon has sent us another Scranton reference from a classic film:
"I had another great surprise hearing the name of Scranton mentioned in an old film. I watched a film called Remember the Night starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It was broadcast on TCM and it was the first time they every showed this film. By the way this was the very first teaming up of Stanwyck and MacMurray - they made 4 films altogether (their most famous teaming, of course, being the 1944 film noir classic Double Indemnity).
The film is a romantic comedy and features Stanwyck as Lee Leander, a con artist who steals an expensive bracelet (her third shoplifting offense). She faces trial (the setting is New York City) and is prosecuted by assistant D.A. John Sargent (MacMurray). It is Christmas time and the trial is delayed until after the holidays.
Sargent gets the trial postponed because it is hard to get a conviction at Christmastime, but he feels sorry for Lee nonetheless and arranges to pay her bail. Sargent learns that Lee hails from his home state of Indiana and decides to take her with him to visit her mother for Christmas. Lee hadn't seen her mother in years, but the reunion is anything but loving. Feeling sorry for her, Sargent takes her to his mother's home.
To make a long story short, when Sargent and Lee are leaving Indiana, his mom asks them if they are going back to New York by way of Scranton or Pittsburgh. By now, they are in love and even though Sargent has now changed sides and wants to get her acquitted, Lee decides to own up to her guilt so she can start her life anew.
It's a nice film, I hope you will be able to see it sometime."
Remember The Night had a rare holiday broadcast this past December 17th on TCM. Hopefully, it will air again.
Remember The Night was a very difficult film to get on video. Though never released on DVD, it was released in the early 1990s on VHS as part of the Barbara Stanwyck Collection, but the video is now out-of-print and a used copy typically sells for $40+.
Remember the Night was FINALLY released on DVD during the 2009 holiday season, which you can order directly from TCM by clicking here.
In addition, Albright Memorial Library now has the DVD of Remember the Night in its collection. To place a hold, click here.
Thanks again to Don McKeon for another great reference. Keep 'em coming!
Turner Classic Movies will be broadcasting the 1940 Barbara Stanwyck/Fred MacMurray holiday film Remember the Night on Christmas Eve at midnight.
