Lester Anthony Minnelli was born in Chicago in 1903 to a conductor and a singer. As an ambitious young adult striking out on his own, he changed his first name to Vincente because he thought it sounded more stylish and alluring. It's true that his father's name was Vincent but that extra e was something that added the panache he was looking for. It would have been very smart for one of his biographers to have titled a book Looking for the Panache.
From the earliest years his artistic bent was known for its stylized look... his use of vibrant colors, inventive designs and later in the movies his meticulous use of camera angles and style and design and a talent for turning background action into stories of their own. Mostly I remember the colors. He should have been a painter. Actually he was a painter, but he should have been a painter as Van Gogh was a painter with those colorful canvasses. It comes as no surprise that one day Minnelli would direct Van Gogh's story, Lust for Life, a film that surpassed all others in capturing the director's passion and imagination.
The Minnelli Brothers Tent Circuit traveled throughout the Midwest and little Lester was right in the middle of it all. But there came a day when all agreed he needed formal schooling, resulting in his going to live with relatives. As soon as he graduated from high school, he flew out the door and over to the department store giant, Marshall Fields, and got on as a window designer. He studied at the Chicago Art Institute and next worked as a society photographer. He was always sketching... always... no matter where he was.
He got a lofty position with Chicago's biggest movie exhibitor as a costume designer. Later he was summoned to New York to work for Paramount as a costume designer. He became known in America's two largest cities for his brilliant designs and soon he was working at the newly-opened Radio City Music Hall to costume its elaborate stage shows. Within short order he was stage designing and then directing as well.
The Shuberts were then courting his favor and he began showing his stuff on Broadway. He was hobnobbing with all the young go-getter artists of the day... Josephine Baker, Eleanor Powell, Ira Gershwin, George Balanchine, Bob Hope, Ethel Waters. He had to push himself to participate fully in his glittering life because he had the heart and soul of a small town librarian.
His natural reticence didn't keep him from enjoying an active gay life. He enjoyed a lengthy relationship with a fellow designer. They never lived together although they spent most evenings that way. I suspect Minnelli was never truly out (he was too timid, even with those with like interests) but it's doubtful that anyone would have been surprised.
Few were likely surprised in Hollywood either, despite his four marriages. Upon arrival in the early 40's, however, Minnelli got the lay of the land and easily slipped back into the closet where he remained for the rest of his life. If I were playing some sort of word association and someone said gay Hollywood to me, Minnelli would at least be an early answer. Not only was he gay, but it runs through first wife Judy Garland's life (father and some husbands) and you tell me how many of Liza's husbands were gay. I know what I think. What I like about it is that there's a gay sensibility that I spot in quite a number (but not all) of his films.
Paramount Pictures in Hollywood requested his services, should he be interested, and he decided he was. But six months later he determined he couldn't stand it and he went sheepishly back to the Shuberts. Then in 1940, famed MGM producer Arthur Freed sought him out. He wanted to make Minnelli a deal... and a most unusual one at that. At a modest salary, he would become a special consultant. He would help stage or co-direct musical numbers in any number of films. But at the same time he was to insinuate himself into every area at the studio and learn it from the bottom up. He put some of his shyness aside and dove right in.
Never was a fit so right. Minnelli wanted everything to be pretty... and so did MGM. The look was unmistakable. Studio and director served one another well. Both loved their work to look colorful. No one else could have brought that blazing red to Gigi's Parisian flat or Mitchum's den in Home from the Hill, just to name two, better than Minnelli.
Cries of racism came from some quarters when his all-black musical Cabin in the Sky opened in 1943. The intention was to give new MGM arrival Lena Horne an impressive debut and while it was that, both blacks and whites scoffed at the embrace of the Southern folklore angle. Still its look was a tribute to Minnelli's splashy touch and the film earned a profit. He was on his way.
Then came one of the films for which he is most famous and one that had a marked influence on his personal life. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) introduced him to Garland. Well, actually he knew her slightly around the MGM lot but hiring her for this film was certainly the big introduction. Showcasing her at her red-haired prettiest, the heart-warming family story was a huge hit with critics and audiences and it's still admired today. Folks fell in love with such songs as The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Minnelli and Garland began dating and he pushed her to forego her girl-next-door image by hiring a makeup team to refine and redefine her appearance to give her a more grownup, sophisticated look. Just before they began their second (of three) pictures together, they married. It was his first trip down the aisle and her second. A year later they had their only child together, Liza. Her pedigree seemed to guarantee talent and stardom.
While Minnelli is best-known for his musicals, he did manage to make a few delightful comedies and some damned good dramas. One on the latter front is The Clock (1945). He was not the original choice to direct. The first choice became ill and Garland couldn't get on with the second. She then insisted the reins be given to Minnelli who was skittish about doing a drama. But he needn't have worried.
A totally charming WWII romance finds Garland in her first totally dramatic part and Robert Walker as the man she meets in New York two days before he's to be shipped out. They quickly fall in love but the tension builds when they became separated and have no idea how to meet up again. I thought these two were a perfect pairing not the least because they were so tragically similar in their personal lives which, in turn, gives the film a poignant touch.
Undercurrent (1946) is Minnelli's only foray into neo-noir (if one discounts some uncredited work he did on The Bribe three years later). It's the story of a spinster who marries a scientist and comes to suspect that he has something to do with his brother's disappearance and may be out to murder her.
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Katharine Hepburn and a pair of Roberts, Taylor and Mitchum, star in Undercurrent and they are unusual roles for all three of them. Hepburn said she hated making the picture and didn't get along with Mitchum at all. Minnelli didn't care Taylor, finding him a low-grade talent. If one were asked to name a half dozen Minnelli dramas, most would likely not think of this one. Too bad. I liked it.
The Pirate (1948) was a bust from start to finish. Minnelli delayed filming and then tinkered with it endlessly while it was being made and afterward. Garland had a serious problem with barbiturates during production and caused delays. The studio wanted to fire her but Minnelli and costar Gene Kelly intervened. A hackneyed plot and lackluster acting didn't help but Kelly's acrobatics were exciting and of course the color was a visual treat.
I've still never seen all of Madame Bovary (1949) despite a few tries. I was dazzled with the casting of Jennifer Jones, Van Heflin, Louis Jourdan and James Mason (as the author Flaubert). I do remember seeing the erotically-charged ballroom scene which is pure Minnelli.
Father of the Bride (1950) was his entry into pure comedy which was enormously successfully because of Spencer Tracy's superb approach to the genre and the crazy plot surrounding a young woman's impending wedding. It spurned a sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), which wasn't bad at all.
Leslie Caron must have been Minnelli's lucky charm because the only two times he was nominated for a directing Oscar, she was the lead actress of the film. She, in turn, was lucky to have been discovered by Gene Kelly which resulted in her costarring with him in An American in Paris (1951).
Kelly plays an art student with a wealthy benefactress (Nina Foch) whose ire is raised when he falls in love with a young dancer (Caron). It was a rousing success, one of Minnelli's most famous films, and won eight Oscars, including best picture, although Minnelli did not win. I liked the dancing (that 17-minute ballet at the end became very famous) but the picture's overall merits were lost on me.
In 1951 Minnelli divorced Garland. Her crippling insecurities, depression, anxieties, drug-taking, firings, nervous breakdowns and suicide attempts took an obvious toll on the marriage. Toward the end she also began an affair and Minnelli simply couldn't take it anymore. Garland, on the other hand, felt that her husband put MGM's interests above hers and given that he was known for putting work above all else, it seems like a valid complaint.
We know I love movies about Hollywood and 1952's The Bad and the Beautiful is one of the best and the most searing. It concerns an unsavory producer (inspired by Orson Welles and exquisitely played by Kirk Douglas) who is down on his luck and turns to three people to help him with a comeback, all of whom he has trashed in the past. They are an actress (Lana Turner), a writer (Dick Powell) and director (Barry Sullivan). Walter Pidgeon plays a studio head and Gloria Grahame is Powell's faithless wife whose death Douglas is indirectly responsible for. We learn their stories in flashback.
Films that take a negative look at Hollywood are not always well-regarded by Hollywood but this one was an exception. It was a mega-grosser and a critical darling winning several Oscars. One of them went to Grahame (and you know I loved her) but this was one of the great undeserved wins. She's done much better work. The movie is regarded as a Minnelli masterpiece and the look he gave to the film, particularly the way he embraces and mirrors the emotional expressions of the characters is part of the reason why.
I have never understood the acclaim for The Band Wagon (1953). It's a musical spoof of the pretentiousness of Broadway and although Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse handled the dancing expertly, her acting (usually) suffered from a strong case of inertia and the story itself was nothing exceptional. So why the acclaim, especially over other Astaire flicks? I don't get it.
His next four films were not among his best. The Long, Long Trailer and Brigadoon, both 1954) and The Cobweb and Kismet, both 1955... two musicals, a comedy and a drama.
Any MGM hack director could have helmed Lucy & Desi's The Long, Long Trailer. It had its moments but was not worth the time of Minnelli. Frankly, if the stars weren't playing the Ricardos, I wasn't interested. Brigadoon, about a mythical lands that materializes in the Scottish highlands every 100 years, was beyond awful. Its artificiality was largely due to being filmed on MGM's sound stages.
Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall and Grahame certainly piqued my interest in seeing the mental hospital film, The Cobweb, but what a tedious thing it was. Its plot dealt mainly with what to do about new drapes in one of the sanitarium's main rooms. Can you imagine? I liked Kismet, mainly because of Ann Blyth, but it was such a corny thing. Minnelli didn't want to do it but MGM dangled the new Van Gogh picture and promised complete artistic freedom.
Lust for Life (1956) was Minnelli's favorite of all his films, if not his most personal. Is it any wonder that doing a Vincent Van Gogh bio on a tortured artist given to using vibrant colors in his paintings would become a passion for an artist like Minnelli who felt the same? A great deal of it would be filmed in France (a favorite of Minnelli's and more so at the time because he had a new French wife) and other actual locales where Van Gogh lived and worked. Minnelli never considered anyone other than Kirk Douglas to play Van Gogh. The actor was the director's favorite. I think it is, by far, his best role.
I wish Tea and Sympathy (1956) could be made today. It would be so much better than it was in 1956 because of those pesky censors. It had all the makings of a tender rendering of a teenage boy not dealing with or much understanding his attraction to other boys. His schoolmaster's wife offers understanding and ultimately a little more. But little of this could be mentioned, much less shown, and the film came out looking just a little foolish. One can only wonder how Minnelli felt about making it.
Designing Woman (1957) is a comedy that has the look and feel of of a remake of the Tracy-Hepburn opus, Woman of the Year. Two people, a sports writer and a fashion designer, impulsively marry without considering how little they have in common. Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall received a few boos for their stabs at comedy but I thought both were perfect and the film a total delight. The sets, the clothes, the fashion world and the gays who inhabit it have Minnelli's stamp all over them.
Like everyone in Hollywood, he wanted so badly to win an Oscar. It would happen with Gigi (1958), a film famous for winning in all nine of the categories for which it was nominated. It is the perfect Minnelli musical... elegant, a hint of naughty, glorious colors, beautiful gowns, imaginative sets, a wonderful score and a thrilling visit to Paris. The story concerns a courtesan-in-training and her ever-evolving relationship with a rich playboy.
Audrey Hepburn, who played the role on Broadway, declined the movie and the part was offered to the more realistic Leslie Caron. Two actual Frenchman were also hired, Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier and Brit Hermione Gingold plays Gigi's grandmother. As good as they all are and with as many Oscar nominations that the film acquired, interestingly none were for acting. All those technical awards must have made Minnelli proud.
Gigi is considered to be the last great MGM musical made under the famed studio system. When Jourdan sings the title song while making his way to Gigi's flat, I am in my reverie... have I been standing up too close or back too far? when did your sparkle turn to fire, your warmth become desire? oh what miracle has made you the way you are? Thanks, Lerner (and Loewe).
I thought The Reluctant Debutante (1958) was a scream. We'll reserve comments for now because we're highlighting it next month.
Some Came Running (1958) is a hard drama about the return of a prodigal son to his Indiana hometown starring Frank Sinatra and his real-life pal, Dean Martin. There is some fine acting in this one with Shirley MacLaine, Arthur Kennedy and Martha Hyer all nabbing Oscar nominations. The melodramatic Home from the Hill (1960) is my favorite Minnelli film. It showcases one of Robert Mitchum's greatest performances as a southern patriarch with a cold wife, a weak son and an illegitimate one. I did a piece on it earlier.
Who knew The Bells Are Ringing (1960) would be Minnelli's last decent hit or Judy Holliday's swan song? It concerned a phone operator who plays Cupid. I never saw it, having grown weary of Holliday's whiny brand of acting.
The director's last seven films range from so-so to wretched. Whatever touch he had seemed to be lost or misplaced. Perhaps it was his age or his active personal life and a fourth marriage but he nonetheless still gave his work the old college try.
The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1962) was so dreary with an entire cast of wrong actors, none more so than Glenn Ford. Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) is the best of the bunch but the Kirk Douglas-starrer, an unofficial sequel to The Bad and the Beautiful, never really came alive. Ford improved in the romantic comedy The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) and it proved to be little Ronny Howard's best film, but the TV version was better.
Goodbye Charlie (1964) was Minnelli's first film outside of MGM and he should have said goodbye when Charlie did. His decision to do this Tony Curtis-Debbie Reynolds-Pat Boone clunker cost him My Fair Lady. The public was hungry to see Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in their third flick together but The Sandpiper (1965) was way below their talents-- and Minnelli's. It was beautifully filmed at Big Sur but the love story of a beatnik (Taylor!!!) and a married preacher was a misguided endeavor for all.
I remember walking out on On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970). I couldn't stand the conceited Yves Montand and what I saw seemed like one of Streisand's lesser efforts. The worst of all was A Matter of Time (1976), which did provide father and daughter a chance to finally make a movie together. The story of a chambermaid (Liza) and her relationship with an old countess (Ingrid Bergman) was so bad that the director never made another film. It was a most depressing finale to a once ultra-glorious career.
He had not been feeling himself for quite awhile and had apparently been in the early stages of Alzheimer's. In July, 1986, he died at age 83 of pneumonia and emphysema in Beverly Hills.
He will always be known as a lover of style over theme. He studied furiously and sometimes agonized over the look he wanted his films to take. It seems odd to say he didn't care about the story/plot but he didn't give it as much thought as most directors did. He also gave a lot of attention to his actors. He thought they should know their jobs and reminded them sometimes, when necessary, that they were hired for an expertise they already possessed. He didn't have the easiest time telling actors what he wanted and he was known for sometimes barking at them.
In his musicals, his great genius came into marrying the song to the story at that point in time. His dramas were hard-hitting and often took a cynical look at family life. I have a difficult time understanding why he didn't do more noir, although we mustn't forget this man's gift came in working in color films, not black and white noir.
Hollywood owes Vincente Minnelli a debt of gratitude. And where else but MGM in the 40's and 50's could a man of his talents have the freedom to create such works of beauty? And we know how I liked musicals and dramas... and I like pretty. And I like him. Thanks, Vincent, with the added e which must stand for excellence.
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Do you like Judy Garland? Do you like The hARVEY girls? I love
ReplyDeleteI liked her much more as a singer than as an actress/ I did enjoy The Harvey Girls although not a favorite, per se.
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