Dodsworth 1936 – A New Yorker State of Mind

Above: In his review of Tallulah Bankhead's performance in "Reflected Glory," Wolcott Gibbs noted that she was a force to be reckoned with: ..."she would pull any home in the world down around her ears in ten minutes, and after that perhaps eat the children." (newyorker.com/facebook.com)

Broadway’s fall season was still young when the Morosco Theatre staged Reflected Glory, featuring Tallulah Bankhead in a role that mimicked her famously flamboyant lifestyle.

October 3, 1936 cover by **Robert Day.**

The play, which ran for 127 performances, was not well-received by the critics, but audiences loved it, and especially those who, in the words of critic Wolcott Gibbs, “would be enchanted to spend the evening just watching (Bankhead) knit a sock.”

Bankhead (1902–1968) also appeared in films (she won a New York Film Critics Circle award in 1944 for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat), but she was mostly known for her stage acting and her wild lifestyle—drugs, alcohol, and lots of sex with both men and women; she was candid about her vices, including the claim she smoked 120 cigarettes a day.

ART IMITATES LIFE…Clockwise, from top left: **Tallulah Bankhead** in promotional photo for *Reflected Glory*; Bankhead played Muriel Flood, a flamboyant, self-absorbed actress who constantly dramatizes her own life both on and off stage; author and director George Kelly wrote *Reflected Glory* specifically for Bankhead; Broadway’s Morosco Theatre (demolished 1982). *(cinemaclassico.com/jacksonupperco.com/Wikipedia)*

Early in her career Bankhead, an Alabama native, moved into the Algonquin Hotel and quickly made her way into the orbit of the famed Algonquin Round Table—so, she was well-known to Gibbs, who noted in this excerpt that Bankhead’s only competition in Reflected Glory was William Brisbane, a man with a face “as mad and vacant as the moon.”

MAD MATCH…**Wolcott Gibbs** noted that **William Brisbane** was **Tallulah Bankhead’s** only competition in *Reflected Glory.* *(themovieb.org/npg.org.uk)*

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The Yankee Clipper

Baseball was mostly ignored in the early years of the New Yorker, but every now and then the magazine would feature a famous personality from the game, in this case Joe DiMaggio, who in 1936 would set a franchise record for rookies by hitting twenty-nine home runs (in just 138 games).

DIZZY AND JOE D…Yankees rookie **Joe DiMaggio** meets with Cardinals pitcher **Dizzy Dean** at the All-Star Game in Boston July 7, 1936. *(AP Photo)*

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Right of the Right

In his “Notes and Comment,” E.B. White took issue with a proposal by the New York Board of Aldermen to ban right-hand turns against a red light (the board ultimately approved the ban).

SEEING THE LIGHT…City officials examine new traffic lights on Fifth Avenue, 1933. *(Golden Age Of Travel via facebook.com)*

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At the Movies

Based on a 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis, the William Wyler-directed Dodsworth was acclaimed by critics as one of the best films of the year. New Yorker critic John Mosher wholeheartedly agreed:

SHE SAID, HE SAID…At left, **Ruth Chatterton** and **Walter Huston** portrayed a couple in a declining marriage in Dodsworth; at right, retired auto magnate Sam Dodsworth (Huston) reconsiders the life he has made for himself. *(torontofilmsociety.com/YouTube.com)*

COMPLICATIONS…While travelling on the RMS *Queen Mary* to England, the Dodsworths find romantic companions—at left, Sam finds a soulmate in Edith Cortright (**Mary Astor**), while Fran flirts with a younger Englishman, Captain Lockert, played by **David Niven.** It was Niven’s first sizable role—he was a lieutenant in the British Army before coming to Hollywood in 1935. (eBay.com/film-foundation.org)

Mosher also reviewed a mixed bag of films, including the “wicked comedy” La Kermesse héroïque (Carnival in Flanders) featuring French opera star Françoise Rosay as a mayor’s wife who cleverly thwarts potential troubles from visiting Spanish soldiers.

BAWDY FUN was how John Mosher described the schemes of a mayor’s wife in *La Kermesse héroïque (Carnival in Flanders)—c*lockwise, from left: **Françoise Rosay** (seated) organizes the village women to tame some visiting soldiers; **Betty Grable** and John Arledge in the crime drama Don’t Turn ’em Loose; *La Croisière Jaune* (*Yellow Expedition*) documented a 1931-32 French trans-Asian expedition organized by Citroën to promote its rugged Kégresse track vehicles; **Jack Oakie**, **Bennie Bartlett** and **Fred MacMurray** in The Texas Rangers. (mubi.com/imdb.com/radiofrance.fr/csfd.cz)

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From Our Advertisers

Fall advertising continued its uptick in the magazine, with many splashes of color including this carpet ad that greeted readers on the inside front cover…

…R.J. Reynolds continued to roll out endorsements from society mavens…here Anne C. Rockefeller stated that Camels gave her “a delightful sense of well-being”…

…more Colonel and Duchess archetypes turn up in this issue, on behalf of Ruppert beer…

…the Warwick Hotel (Philadelphia), and College Inn tomato juice “cocktail”…College Inn had softened the appearance of their Duchess…

…since she was last spotted in The New Yorker in 1935 (detail)…

…after a blazing hot summer, the brewers of Rheingold figured this image would still appeal to parched New Yorkers…

…a back of the book ad from Johnston & Murphy, quoting an unidentified author regarding some childhood wishes…

…John Held Jr. was one of the earliest contributors to The New Yorker—from 1925 to 1932 his woodcut-style cartoons and fanciful maps were frequent features…by 1936 Held had turned his talents to painting, book illustration, and the occasional advertisement, here on behalf of Macy’s…