Movies From The Fifties

-

Mama said when they went to the movies, Daddy would be the one who took me out of the theater if I cried. He knew she loved the movies. I began to wonder which ones I may have seen with Mama and Daddy.
Hubby and I stayed up late watching Mrs. Miniver with Greer Garson last night. How is it I had never seen this excellent film? Greer Garson won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1943 for her portrayal of Mrs Miniver in war torn England. Mama would have only been nine when this was shown. I doubt she saw it in the theater.





I think I may have missed a lot of classic movies from the '50s. Here is a list of the best picture winners during that era.

1950

Broderick Crawford won Best Actor award for his role in "All The King's Men." Olivia de Havilland won Best Actress in "The Heiress."

1951


Although not a classic beauty, Betty Davis certainly had beautiful eyes. I read that Celeste Holm greeted Davis with a "Good morning" on their first day of filming for  "All About Eve." Betty Davis' reply was, "Oh ****, good manners."
1952

It was expected that "A Streetcar Named Desire" would win for Best Picture. Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh did win for Best Actor and Best Actress in 1952.

1953

Cecil B. DeMille won an Oscar for Best Director in this film. Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, and Charlton Heston were not nominated for awards. Gary Cooper won Best Actor for "High Noon." 

1954

Although the leading roles played by Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr did not merit them an Academy Award for "From Here to Eternity", Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed won Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. William Holden won Best Actor for "Stalag 17" yet he reportedly thought Burt Lancaster should have won "From Here To Eternity." 
1955

Marlon Brando was awarded an Oscar for Best Actor. Grace Kelly won Best Actress in "The Country Girl."

1956

Although Ernest Borgnine won Best Actor in "Marty", James Dean's roles in "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause" would launch his super star status. Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood received Supporting Actor and Actress nominations and would go on to become 1950s teen idols.

1957
                                 

Best Actress award went to Ingrid Bergman in "Anastasia." She is definitely a style icon of the 1950s as well. Yul Brynner won a very well deserved Best Actor award for "The King and I." James Dean was again nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "Giant."

1958


Alec Guinness  won a Best Actor award for "The Bridge on the River Kwai." Joanne Woodward won Best Actress for "The Three Faces of Eve." She reportedly sewed her own gown for the awards ceremony from $100 worth of green satin fabric. She and her equally stylish husband beat the Hollywood odds and remained married until his death.

1959


Vincent Minnelli won an Oscar as Best Director for "GiGi" but no actors or actresses were nominated for their roles in the film. Vincent Minnelli married Judy Garland and is the father of Liza Minnelli. Although Elizabeth Taylor was nominated for Best Actress in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", Susan Hayward won for "I Want to Live."


I do not recall seeing any of these movies as a child. I thought I remembered Jane Russell's performance in "The Outlaw", but since it came out in 1950, I would have had to be scandalized in utero.


Comments

  1. PondsideFebruary 6, 2012 at 12:56 AM

    The first movie I ever saw was Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, followed by The King and I. I was hooked on musicals after that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RoseFebruary 8, 2012 at 9:52 PM

    These are from before my time and even though we watch a lot of movies, I have not seen any of them. We have netflix and we get them there. I really like some of the older stuff better than what is out today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Colorful WorldFebruary 9, 2012 at 12:56 AM

    I love many of the old movies but there are a lot I haven't seen. After watching Broken Arrow the other day (about a man who befriended Cochise--I had read the true version in the book I had finished recently) with Jimmy Stewart and Debra Paget and Jeff Chandler it reminded me of Bird of Paradise with Debra Paget and Jeff Chandler (one of mine and Mom's favorites!) but alas they don't have that version at Netflix. (Can we say, "run-on sentence"!)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Birthday Baby Sister

-
Image
Today is my sister's birthday. I was not quite nine and Mama was twenty five when she was born. Mama was much older at twenty five when she had Freda than I was when I had my daughter at that age. Mama was sick before, during, and for quite a while after this last baby was born. I remember she mostly ate only toast and jelly. Our OKC Grandma came to stay with us while Mama was in the hospital and stayed long enough to help Daddy move into a different house before they brought Freda home. We always rented. Speaking of rent houses...we looked at a really pretty house on Sevier Street while I was still in grade school. It had a big picture window and enough bedrooms that we would not have to share. Daddy said we could not get it because the rent was $100.00 a month. I do not remember what should have been the memorable event of bringing a baby sister home from the hospital. I do remember Grandma staying a little while and asking me to take a dish back to a neighbor at the end o...
Read more

Happy Mothers Day

-
Image
Somewhere there is a baby picture of me with my Mama and Daddy. They had me lying on a pillow in a straight backed kitchen chair outside Aunt Maggie's little house. They are both looking down on me and the photo does not show their faces. Of all these old pictures I have, I cannot find that one. It makes me sad. I can't find the picture of Greg and Cassie I have titled, "The Fish Story" either. So, instead I am showing a picture of my Mama with her Mama. Except Mama always had to call her Mother. She said she would not answer her unless she did. I always thought that strange as we never called her Grandmother. I don't know why Mama (and therefore me too) was so short. Grandma was fairly tall and Grandpa was a very large man. It is a funny thing about genetics, isn't it? I have uncles over six feet tall and my Daddy was only 5'7". And sometimes those blue eyes pop up in a family of brown eyed children.
Read more

A Salmon Pink and Grey Car?

-
Image
This looks like a picture of my Mama's brother Bob. It may be her Uncle Glenn. I'm not sure who the girl is. I do not remember Mama saying she rode on a motorcycle with her brother but she did say she loved riding on her Uncle Glenn's motorcycle. Shortly before she passed away, she asked my husband to take her for a ride on his bike. She chickened out after we got there.  This picture of me and my OKC Grandma was taken at Lake Ludwig. I look like a little monkey up there. I wonder whose DeSoto that was? This is an Easter picture of us in front of an old salmon pink and grey Chevrolet car. This is the car my uncle would slide down into the floorboard in fear someone would see him in a pink car. SAID UNCLE This is not my "three words the whole bus ride to OKC Uncle." This is the one that took me to the movies one time. Although he did not actually stay in the theater with me, he did come back to pick me up. The movie was not quite ...
Read more