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I was watching 'Miracle On 34th Street' a little while ago (which they haven't taken to showing much on free televsion in the last decade or so, but thankfully they showed it this year) and it made me want to post a tribute to Maureen O'Hara, so here it is!

I've been wanting to do a tribute series for some time so I thought this would be as good a place to start as any.

Maureen O'Hara is one of my favorite actors (though I guess it's fair to say that that group is fairly large......and hopefully some of them will turn up in future Tributes!)

Maureen was born in 1920 as Maureen Fitzsimmons (or FitzSimons). (It would be a neat trick though if she had somehow been born as someone other than herself.)

I think she may also have been Irish.

She was one of the most beautiful women in film as the above pictures prove. She always seemed to have a look of sweetness but you always knew that beneath that was a core of pure Irish steel. (Is Ireland known for its steel production?)

She started with a bit part in 1938's 'Kicking The Moon Around' (which featured Ambrose & His Orch., by the way, for all those Ambrose fans) and then in 1939 went under contract with Charles Laughton to America where they made William Dieterle's' The Hunchback Of Notre Dame' & Alfred Hitchcock's 'Jamaica Inn' together. (and later Jean Renoir's 'This Land Is Mine' (1943) with Laughton as a Nazi-fighting schoolteacher. Somehow always reminds me of that movie where Errol Flynn plays the Nazi-fighting Norwegian fisherman.)

Her role as the gypsy girl Esmeralda in 'Hunchback' was a pretty memorable introduction to American audiences (unless you don't remember it, in which case, ignore what I just said). Sanctuary! Sanctuary!........sorry, just like 'Daktari! Daktari!', I feel compelled to say that every once in a while.

She did a remake of Katherine Hepburn's 'A Bill Of Divorcement' in 1940 with Adolphe Menjou in the role John Barrymore originally played (which is kind of strange considering that it was only 8 years after the original. I guess it just goes to show that today's studios have longer attention spans before they do a remake......or not.) The remake was written by Dalton Trumbo, by the way. Don't know why I mention that, but it seemed interesting. Okay, maybe only to me.

Speaking of remakes (and things that are only interesting to me), she also made 'Sentimental Journey' (1946) about a dying woman who adopts an orphan, which was remade as 'The Gift Of Love' (1958) starring Lauren Bacall......and both films were composed by Cyril Mockridge! (who also did the music for 'Miracle On 34th Street')

By the way, I believe Tony at I Luv My Turntable has posted The Gift Of Love.....which is yet another reason why I Love Tony AND His Turntable! So go over there and give him the gift of love.......or at least a nice comment! (and say Hi for me!)

Then she got another big boost by playing the Welsh girl, Angharad, in love with Walter Pidgeon's character in John Ford's 'How Green Was My Valley'. I wonder.......if you're Irish, is it hard to play Welsh? Are the Welsh offended? Will I stop ending sentences with a question mark?

Considering Walter Pidgeon was playing a minister though, her character didn't have the easiest of times in the movie. The movie was a John Ford masterpiece (at least I think so) and one of the four non-Westerns for which he won an Oscar. (Not that you asked or anything, but the others were 'The Informer', 'The Grapes Of Wrath', & 'The Quiet Man'. And who says the Academy doesn't have respect for Westerns?) It beat out Citizen Kane, by the way, which I'm sure some people today may still be cheesed off about. I wouldn't be one of them though and I understand why it won (and basically agree with the choice, but that's a discussion for another day), but it is definitely like saying one apple is juicier than another orange.

This movie also reminds me of the story (if I remember right) of how John Ford did multiple takes of Maureen O'Hara walking in her bridal gown after her marriage in the movie (to another man) and how he carefully made sure that the back of her veil flew up in the wind. I forget what symbolism that represented (if any), but it was an incredible visual nonetheless. And it reminds you of what a great director John Ford was.

And she would go on to make 'Rio Grande', 'The Quiet Man', 'The Long Gray Line', and 'The Wings Of Eagles' with Ford. Thinking of her in the 'The Long Gray Line' (1955) with Tyrone Power (another sentimental look at an Irish couple but this time at West Point) reminds me of her in 1942's The Black Swan also with Tyrone Power (.........and come to think of it, she also did 'Ten Gentlemen From West Point' in 1942). There was something about her that seemed to fit in swashbuckling movies like that (and apparently in West Point movies too).

Maybe it was the feistiness that made her ideal for being around pirates and smugglers. (And ironically, 'The Black Swan' takes place in Jamaica while 'Jamaica Inn' actually takes place in Cornwall. Go figure.) She would go on to make films like 'The Spanish Main' (1945) (with Paul Henreid), 'Sinbad The Sailor' (1947) (with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), 'Tripoli' (1950) (with John Payne.....and no, it wasn't a sequel to 'Miracle On 34th Street' unless Santa Claus was secretly a Barbary pirate), and 'Against All Flags' (1952) (with Errol Flynn). And thinking of her in a swashbuckling role (that didn't involve pirates but did involve Musketeers) like 'At Sword's Point' (1952) (with Cornel Wilde) reminds me of watching that movie as a kid and thinking how refreshing it was to actually see a woman in a sword fight back then. In the last ten years or so it's a little more common sight with actresses like Geena Davis in 'Cutthroat Island', Catherine Zeta Jones in the Zorro movies, & Keira Kneightly in the Pirates films, but back then it seemed a lot more rare so it was especially fun to see Maureen O'Hara do it (or say, Jean Peters in 'Anne Of The Indies' (1951)). It seems to me Maureen even got to dress up as a Musketeer in that film.

There was also something about her that made her ideal to hang around the military whether it was in a war film or a Western. Again, maybe it's the feistiness. Or maybe soldiers just like having gorgeous women around. That seems pretty reasonable now that I think about it. I know I enjoy that and I'm not even a soldier.

She made movies like 'To The Shores of Tripoli' (1942) (with Randolph Scott and again with John Payne) (seems like she can't get away from Tripoli (or John Payne) either, except just as in the case of 'Jamaica Inn', 'To The Shores of Tripoli' wasn't in Tripoli, but takes place in San Diego), 'The Immortal Sergeant' (1943) (with Henry Fonda, but this time the movie actually WAS set in North Africa), and let's not even talk about all the Westerns!

Ones like 'Buffalo Bill' (1944) and 'Comanche Territory' (1950) or the ones with John Wayne like 'Rio Grande' (1950), 'McLintock!' (1963), and 'Big Jake' (1971).

For some reason in my mind, I tend to lump together some of those movie Westerns she did later in her career like 'Big Jake', 'McLintock!', 'The Rare Breed' (1966) (with Jimmy Stewart), 'The Deadly Companions' (1961) (with Brian Keith, in the same year as 'The Parent Trap'), and even, 'The Red Pony' (1972 TV-Movie) (with Henry Fonda) (with music by Jerry Goldsmith, not to be confused with Aaron Copland's version of 'The Red Pony'.......well, okay confuse them if you want to) even though they were all different. Or 'Spencer's Mountain' (1963) (with Henry Fonda) and 'Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation' (1962) (again with Jimmy Stewart) even though those two movies were as different as night and day. Or drama and comedy, as the case may be.

Maybe it was the fact that I kept expecting 'Spencer's Mountain' to star Spencer Tracy, but it would always be Henry Fonda. And maybe it was the fact that Tracy did that movie with Robert Wagner called 'The Mountain'. I think it just used to get me confused as a kid. Well, 'Spencer's Mountain' was really just a precursor to the TV show, 'The Waltons'. Is precursor the right word? I never know how to define movies like that. Both were written by Earl Hamner, Jr., but was it basically the same adaptation of his own life or two different stories about the same basic material?

That's the same dilemma I have, say, with a movie like 'Never Too Late' (1965) with Paul Ford & Maureen O'Sullivan (not to be confused with Maureen O'Hara). That movie would also confuse me as a kid because that was basically a precursor to the TV show, 'All In The Family' (1971-1979) or at least it seemed that way to me. They were both produced by Norman Lear and while I would watch the movie I'd be thinking, this seems like Norman Lear's characters even though the movie was based on a play. And then you'd watch the TV show and it would say that it was based on the British TV show, 'Till Death Do Us Part'. And then you'd hear Norman Lear talking about it and he would say the characters were based on himself and his own family. So as a kid I would be fairly confused (so what's the difference today?). I've never bothered to look it up though so I guess it couldn't have bothered me too much.

Maybe the British TV show was based on the play? I'm guessing Norman Lear just merged everything together. Except the playwright wrote the screenplay to the movie as well, so if it was Norman Lear using his own characters, you'd think the screenwriter would object. Or maybe it was just an incredible coincidence that Norman Lear's life was very much like that play and the British TV show. (An overbearing working class father with a meek wife and a pretty newly-married blonde daughter with a husband that the father abuses and insults partly because they all live together. Could just be a coincidence, I guess.) Oh, well.

So what does that have to do with Maureen O'Hara? Well, they both had Maureens in them. (but so did some of her military pictures.....no, wait. Sorry. That was marines. Never mind.)

And what about 'Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation'? In my mind, that tends to get lumped in with 'Take Her, She's Mine' (1963) even though that was Audrey Meadows and not Maureen O'Hara. It was all those Jimmy Stewart family comedies around the same time. Well, maybe those were really the only two (along with say 'Dear Brigitte', but that one's pretty distinctive).

Well, now you see why I don't talk more about the movies on the blog. You get discussions like these.

Well, since I was talking about 'Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation', maybe I should mention her comedies. Despite all of her dramatic work and even though she did fewer comedies than dramas and action pictures, I still always think of her comedically. Maybe because of 'The Parent Trap' (1961) and 'Miracle On 34th Street' (1947), two of my favorite films. And now that I think about it, two films that both get endlessly remade in film and television. Always a testament to great ideas.

And to me, a movie like 'The Parent Trap' is made even more impressive when you really consider it. Think about the basic premise of divorced parents separating their twin daughters, living at opposite ends of the country, and never telling them that the other even exists. Normally, the audience should think these parents are really terrible. If it hadn't been handled so well, the whole tone of the movie could've been very different. We easily could've been distracted by that nagging dislike of those characters in the back of our minds, but we actually really like Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith in that movie. Or Hayley Mills' character could've been overly precious or at the other end, obnoxious, but it wasn't (at least for me, although some other people might not feel that way). Or the audience could really groan at the incredible coincidence of them meeting at camp or the idea that they wouldn't automatically recognize that they were sisters, but it was handled well enough in the movie so that glaring moments requiring suspension of disbelief never really felt contrived. (Or maybe I just have a low threshhold of belief) [How about Brian Keith holding Maureen O'Hara's bra and wondering if it could be Hayley Mills'? Now that takes suspension of disbelief!........................and now that's reminding me of Maureen O'Hara's role as 'Lady Godiva' (1955).............sorry, nice mental flashback there............or is that fleshback?]

I've seen so many comedies made in the last twenty years or so where I think if it had just had a little better writing or direction or casting these would be classic comedies, but somehow they just miss. And that's nothing against the filmmakers in the sense that I don't think I could do any better, but you just know that at one time people seemed to know how to do it pretty frequently. I've seen a lot of comedies today with fantastic and imaginative ideas, but there's always something wrong with the execution and I think to myself, boy if that had just been directed by Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, or Ernst Lubitsch, for instance, it would be a classic comedy instead of a near-miss.

Not that 'The Parent Trap' exactly falls into that Billy Wilder-type category, but you think about Disney films like 'The Parent Trap', 'Pollyanna', 'Mary Poppins', or 'The Swiss Family Robinson' and they were all made with a great basic level of quality that you could easily imagine falling flat if it wasn't handled properly. The writing, the casting, the production quality, the direction. So solid!

So not only do I have an affection for movies like 'The Parent Trap' but a certain amount of admiration. Which probably also applies to Maureen O'Hara, now that I think about it.

And the whole idea of 'Miracle on 34th Street' is incredible. Such a simple idea, you'd think somebody would've thought of it before. Perhaps it was the kind of idea that you could only do after World War II. If it had been done after World War I or even during the Great Depression, maybe there would be too much cynicism or even too much reverence, in a strange way. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Either way, a great idea expertly executed. And an interesting way to tell if that's true or not is to compare it to its remakes. You could see if you just tweaked it a little bit here or there how it might not work so effectively.

And the interesting dilemma in both films is to make the characters likable enough so that we care about them, but hard enough so that they're believable and interesting. In 'The Parent Trap', we have to like Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith enough so that we care about their relationship with each other and to their daughters, but we also have to believe that they were hard enough to get along with so that we understand why they couldn't live with or even talk to one another.

And in 'Miracle on 34th Street' we have to believe that Maureen O'Hara would be a cynical enough mother not to let her daughter believe in Santa Claus, but not so cold that we wonder why she's being such a sourpuss. A fine line in both cases that requires a basic likability in the actress portraying both characters, I think. And both films benefit from having actors in the central roles who live up to those daunting acting challenges. Well, imagine winning an Oscar for playing Santa Claus! You HAVE to be a great actor! (Not to mention Hayley Mills winning a special Academy Award for 'Pollyanna'). Not that there was ever any doubt that Edmund Gwenn was a great actor, but you know what I mean.

Oh, and I almost forgot about another favorite comedy of mine with her in it! How could I forget about 'Sitting Pretty' (1948) (with Robert Young)? (Probably because I don't get to see these great movies as often as I once did! Someday I'll get around to buying that TV station and run my own programming! Oh, wait. That's called a video store. Sorry!)

Now that I think about it, that movie also benefits from a classic performance by its lead actor of another classic character. And Maureen ends up playing a mother with rambunctious or independent children in all three of those movies! There was something about her that also made her well-suited to play mothers on screen. It was probably that maternal quality. Yeah, I think that's what mothers have.

Well, I guess it's pretty safe to say that 'Sitting Pretty' doesn't get re-run on TV as often as those other two movies, but in case people never got a chance to see it, it's the first in the series of films starring Clifton Webb as the character of Lynn Belvedere which was later turned into the TV series, 'Mr. Belvedere' starring Christopher Hewett (sp?) (who may be just as remembered for his role in 'The Producers'). I never watched the show, but I guess the Bob Uecker (sp?) character would be equivalent to the Robert Young character in the movie (though I think the character names and families might have been different). I guess that means Ilene Graff would be Maureen O'Hara?

That was such a funny movie! And I liked the two sequels too, though they weren't quite as good as the original. Well, if you remember the TV show, you probably know the premise of the movie too. Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara play a young married couple who hire what they think is a female babysitter named Lynn, sight unseen, and Clifton Webb shows up at their door. They only want a regular babysitter, but he moves in and turns their household upside down. It's probably one of my all-time favorite movies. And Lynn Belvedere goes right up there with Derek Flint and Dexter Riley on my list of all-time favorite movie geniuses. (Oh, and stick Ronald Colman's character from 'Champagne For Caesar' (1950) on that list too while you're at it.)

See, again this is the reason why I don't talk about these films (or music) more often on the blog. You get this kind of movie diarrhea (which I guess is more like logorrhea, in this case). Of course, it's probably better than all the other times I talk about stuff that only I care about.

Oh, and I completely forgot about 'The Quiet Man' (1952)! Another favorite comedy of mine. I guess I tend to think of it less as a comedy and more as a John Ford movie. I know it's probably a mythical representation of Ireland and Irish people (you mean they don't all sing in pubs and have knock-down, drag-out fights in the middle of fields?), but it's an irresistible depiction.

John Wayne plays Sean Thornton who returns to the land of his ancestors to buy a house and settle down and meets a pretty, but tempestuous colleen played by Maureen O'Hara. But he encounters a little problem with her brother. It's the quintessential Irish lass character that Maureen O'Hara plays so perfectly though it seems to me that she didn't actually play it that often when you really think about it. And probably never to this extent. And now that I think about it, it may be my favorite role of hers. (See.....better blogs would've given you HER opinion of what her favorite role was, but I give you the vitally important information about what I think was MY favorite role of hers!)

And sometimes, parts of that fight scene in the movie (the one in the boxing ring, not the one with Victor McLaglen) remind me of Raging Bull. And that visual of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara standing in his house with the wind blowing is incredible. Though, for the longest time, I would wonder about the ending to that film. On the one hand, I understand it and on the other hand it seems to be sending the wrong message. In some ways, it almost seems she's being too materialistic, then in other ways it seems like she can only love a man who's violent? I know that's not quite the message, but the moral of that story sometimes makes me wonder. In order to show courage, you're going to have to beat somebody up? Or perhaps it's just that she couldn't really love a man who didn't face his own fears? Or maybe she just likes burning things? I don't know. Hmmmm.........it sort of reminds me of the ending to The Taming Of The Shrew. Is the moral of that play, total subservience is the key to happiness? Is it that women should be meek? Or maybe it's that happiness and self-discovery can only be found after being really irritated and making a big speech? I'm not sure. I get confused. I don't know the answers, but it's still fun to think about.

Well, in any case, it's a great movie. (And it's always fun to watch people beat each other up.)

And not to turn this into a Wikipedia entry about Maureen O'Hara, but I might as well mention some of her other comedies and comedy-dramas like, 'Father Was A Fullback' (1949) (with Fred MacMurray), Everything But The Truth (1956) (with John Forsythe and another child (played by Tim Hovey) that gives her problems!), Britannia Mews (1949) (with Dana Andrews and puppets!), Our Man In Havana (1959) (with Alec Guinness and Noel Coward), How Do I Love Thee? (1970) (with Jackie Gleason and music by Randy Sparks) [not to be confused with her musical, 'Do You Love Me?' (1946) (with Dick Haymes and music by Harry James)], The Battle Of The Villa Fiorita (1965), and Only The Lonely (1991) (with John Candy (not to be confused with Ally Sheedy)).

And then there's her movies with an international flavor like, 'Malaga' (1954) (with MacDonald Carey - drug smugglers), 'Lisbon' (1956) (starring and directed by Ray Milland - thieves), 'Kangaroo' (1952) (with Peter Lawford - con men), 'The Magnificent Matador' (1955) (with Anthony Quinn - matadors), Flame Of Araby (1951) (with Jeff Chandler - Arabian princesses), and Bagdad (1949) (with Vincent Price - Iraqi princesses? Okay, not princesses. She was more like the daughter of a chieftain.).

And there were movies like The Fallen Sparrow (1943) (with John Garfield) that had some of that same international intrigue (except they took place in the United States).

Well, she basically stopped making movies with 1971's 'Big Jake', except for the TV-remake of 'The Red Pony' in 1972 and then twenty years later was lured out of retirement (was it really retirement?) to make 1991's 'Only The Lonely' (with John Candy as the police officer) in the role of his Irish mother. I remember at the time her giving interviews and saying that she wasn't doing movies because the roles being sent to her weren't that interesting, but it just may be my memory playing tricks on me. But she liked the feistiness of the role in 'Only The Lonely'. And I think John Hughes was really persistent in courting her for the movie. Or was it Chris Columbus? I forget (see, this is why you shouldn't come to this blog for information). One of them was the one who talked to her. I can't believe it was that long ago. It seems like just yesterday that I was watching her give all those interviews for that movie.

It was great to see her doing pictures again even if it was only that one time. It always seemed a shame that she should stop when she could've easily done so many more films in the interim. It's the same reaction I have with Doris Day. Though in both cases, it's understandable. They would've had to do some very strange movies or some very tricky roles in order to keep doing movies in the 1970's and 1980's (let alone the 1990's!). Well, in Maureen's case, it seems to me she was too busy (and happy) taking care of her business interests. The airline business if memory serves. I could be confusing her with a different actress, but I think she owned her own airline (taken over from her late husband?). (Again, too lazy to look it up! Sorry about that!........Well, after writing all this and compiling that music, I'm surprised I still have the energy to type...............weklsiu I shwo3.........uh, maybe I spoke too soon.)

So many good memories associated with Maureen O'Hara! Well, I hope you enjoy a few listening to this as well, but I think you can still enjoy listening to it even if you have no interest in Maureen O'Hara whatsoever. Wait a minute. How would you have gotten this far down in the post if that were true? Hmmmmm........something to think about.

Enjoy!

Track List:

01 - Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (Cyril J. Mockridge) - 20th Century Fox Fanfare (Alfred Newman) / Main Title
02 - Miracle on 34th Street (1947) (Cyril J. Mockridge) - The House / Book Montage
03 - The Quiet Man (1952) (Victor Young) - The Fight
04 - The Quiet Man (1952) (Victor Young) - The Courting / Bicycle Made for Two (Village Street)
05 - The Quiet Man (1952) (Victor Young) - St. Patrick's Day
06 - Maureen O'Hara - Ireland Was Never Like This (1960)
07 - Maureen O'Hara - Come Back To Erin (1961)
08 - Maureen O'Hara - Nora Lee / I Once Loved A Boy (1961)
09 - Maureen O'Hara - Give Him To Me (1961)
10 - How Green Was My Valley (1941) (Alfred Newman) - Angharad And Mister Gruffydd
11 - How Green Was My Valley (1941) (Alfred Newman) - Angharad With The Minister
12 - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) (Alfred Newman) - Esmeralda In Bell Tower
13 - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) (Alfred Newman) - Esmeralda's Dance
14 - Only The Lonely (1991) (Maurice Jarre) - Guilt
15 - Only The Lonely (1991) (Maurice Jarre) - Teresa
16 - Maureen O'Hara - I Only Have Eyes For You (1958)
17 - The Fallen Sparrow (1943) (Roy Webb) - Main Title
18 - The Wings Of Eagles (1957) (Jeff Alexander) - Main Title
19 - The Immortal Sergeant (1942) (David Buttolph) - Main Title / End Title
20 - Big Jake (1971) (Elmer Bernstein) - Riders
21 - Big Jake (1971) (Elmer Bernstein) - Going Home - Finale
22 - The Red Pony (1973 TV) (Jerry Goldsmith) - Track 04
23 - The Red Pony (1973 TV) (Jerry Goldsmith) - Track 09
24 - Rio Grande (1950) - The Sons Of The Pioneers - Aha, San Antone
25 - McLintock! (1963) (Frank De Vol) - McLintock's Main Title And Katherine Theme
26 - McLintock! (1963) (Frank De Vol) - Rowdayoh
27 - The Parent Trap (1961) - Hayley Mills - Let's Get Together
28 - Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962) (Henry Mancini) - Side Winder
29 - Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962) (Henry Mancini) - Rudders And Sails
30 - Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation (1962) (Henry Mancini) - Main Title
31 - Maureen O'Hara - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (1958)

Total Time: 1:17:31

password = youdont

Tribute Series, Vol. 1 - Maureen O'Hara - Part 1 (Rapidshare) - 90 MB
Tribute Series, Vol. 1 - Maureen O'Hara - Part 2 (Rapidshare) - 80 MB

OR

Tribute Series, Vol. 1 - Maureen O'Hara (Megaupload)

around 170 MB

@ mostly 320 Kbps


P.S. The compilation was meant as a (hopefully) good listening experience and to highlight Maureen O'Hara more than the scores themselves so the tracks aren't always in the same order as they were in the films, but you could probably tell that by looking at it. It may be a little disorienting for those who are associating them with scenes in the movies, but it wasn't me being whimsical; they just sounded better rearranged in a certain order. (And if you want to hear some of these scores in their entirety, I'm sure if you hunt around you can find many of them posted all around the blogosphere (or posted at your local store). Another reason to be thankful for the online world!) :))

P.P.S. For instance, if you want 'It's A Wonderful Life / Miracle On 34th Street', might I recommend going to my friends' Sallie & Mel's wonderful 'The Vintage Place' which I haven't gotten around to talking about on the blog yet, but hopefully it'll be one of those thousand things I get around to doing! Well, go over there; you won't be sorry! :))) [and say Hi for me too while you're at it. Thanks!]

P.P.P.S. I just tried 'The Vintage Place' and it looks like it's disappeared and I fear the worst. If anybody knows what happened, let me know. Thanks.

P.P.P.P.S. Just spent the last fifteen minutes finding out what happened to 'The Vintage Place' and the worst has happened as Sallie had to shut it down. My thoughts go out to Sallie and Mel and I hope Sallie will not be too affected by the harassment she has had. I hope your holiday will still be a happy one and that you will have a wonderful New Year despite what has happened. Please feel free to contact me if you want to commiserate. :))