Ken tells stories about various altercations he has had in his career – none were his fault. Okay, maybe one. He also plays some fascinating radio clips and shares with you some celebrity fistfights that you won’t believe.
Couldn't find the video but John Huston related how he and Errol Flynn got into "a pretty good" fistfight at a Hollywood party. Huston said Flynn knocked him down a couple of times but instead of literally kicking him when he was down Flynn waited for Huston to get up, "like a gentleman." Those were the days. When there were actually fistfight ethics!
I must say that the storiews about YOU in peril were more interesting than the others. BTW, it's Charlie Watts, not Charlie Watt, as John Hiatt could tell you.
According to Michael Munn's book "Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend," the argument between Stewart and Fonda took place in 1948 when Stewart confided to Fonda that he had been sending reports on Hollywood communists to J. Edgar Hoover. Fonda called Stewart an informer, and the two argued heatedly, but stopped before they could come to blows.
Shortly thereafter Fonda went to New York and Broadway, and the two who had been best friends, didn't speak again until 1954 when Fonda suddenly showed up at the Stewart home with a model airplane that he and Stewart began working on together as if nothing had ever happened.
The problem with the entire Hollywood set and the entertainment industry in general is that they continue to condone both bad and continued criminal behaviour of low life people that participate in the industry by continuing to allow them to work when they should pull the plug on them as would happen in most other industries. But the standards in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general are exceedingly low in practice.
This Andy Dick character, if you look up his record, is a classic example.
There are seemingly hordes of apologists for these types. Watch.
Great podcast. I grew up in Norfolk, VA, and followed the Tides during the Bob Rathbun era. Nice to hear the reference to Military Circle. You have that writer's memory for details.
One I was hoping you’d include: John Wayne and Frank Sinatra. According to James Kaplan in Sinatra: The Chairman, at a charity performance in Hollywood in the late fifties, the kind where a thousand stars put on funny outfits and do short comedy routines, a drunk Sinatra got mad at John Wayne and attacked him in the parking lot. The best part: Sinatra was about five feet eight inches tall, while Wayne was six-four, and...John Wayne was in full cowboy regalia, while Sinatra, who had been playing a “squaw,” had on a faux-buckskin dress and a wig with pigtails. Apparently the “fight” mostly consisted of Wayne putting his hand on Sinatra’s head and keeping him at arm’s length while Sinatra windmilled his arms, sort of like the chicken hawk attacking Foghorn Leghorn. I would pay a lot of money to see footage of that event.
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Henry Fonda & James Stewart - art imitates life:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joPMuaFa1Ds
That was a great podcast one of the best!
ReplyDeleteCouldn't find the video but John Huston related how he and Errol Flynn got into "a pretty good" fistfight at a Hollywood party. Huston said Flynn knocked him down a couple of times but instead of literally kicking him when he was down Flynn waited for Huston to get up, "like a gentleman." Those were the days. When there were actually fistfight ethics!
ReplyDeleteI must say that the storiews about YOU in peril were more interesting than the others.
ReplyDeleteBTW, it's Charlie Watts, not Charlie Watt, as John Hiatt could tell you.
According to Michael Munn's book "Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend," the argument between Stewart and Fonda took place in 1948 when Stewart confided to Fonda that he had been sending reports on Hollywood communists to J. Edgar Hoover. Fonda called Stewart an informer, and the two argued heatedly, but stopped before they could come to blows.
ReplyDeleteShortly thereafter Fonda went to New York and Broadway, and the two who had been best friends, didn't speak again until 1954 when Fonda suddenly showed up at the Stewart home with a model airplane that he and Stewart began working on together as if nothing had ever happened.
The problem with the entire Hollywood set and the entertainment industry in general is that they continue to condone both bad and continued criminal behaviour of low life people that participate in the industry by continuing to allow them to work when they should pull the plug on them as would happen in most other industries. But the standards in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general are exceedingly low in practice.
ReplyDeleteThis Andy Dick character, if you look up his record, is a classic example.
There are seemingly hordes of apologists for these types. Watch.
James
Great podcast. I grew up in Norfolk, VA, and followed the Tides during the Bob Rathbun era. Nice to hear the reference to Military Circle. You have that writer's memory for details.
ReplyDeleteOne I was hoping you’d include: John Wayne and Frank Sinatra. According to James Kaplan in Sinatra: The Chairman, at a charity performance in Hollywood in the late fifties, the kind where a thousand stars put on funny outfits and do short comedy routines, a drunk Sinatra got mad at John Wayne and attacked him in the parking lot. The best part: Sinatra was about five feet eight inches tall, while Wayne was six-four, and...John Wayne was in full cowboy regalia, while Sinatra, who had been playing a “squaw,” had on a faux-buckskin dress and a wig with pigtails. Apparently the “fight” mostly consisted of Wayne putting his hand on Sinatra’s head and keeping him at arm’s length while Sinatra windmilled his arms, sort of like the chicken hawk attacking Foghorn Leghorn. I would pay a lot of money to see footage of that event.
ReplyDelete