MovieChat Forums > The Trouble with Angels (1966) Discussion > Not exactly hip

Not exactly hip

posted 17 years ago by bgh48
19 replies | jump to latest

The girls reference Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon and Burt Lancaster, all stars who in 1966 were however, past their box office prime, and teenagers of the time surely had younger idols, didn't they??

[–] spike71 17 years ago

It was very common back then for young women to have crushes on older men (when I was their age, I had a major crush on David Janssen and William Holden) and they looked up to the older actresses. As a teen, I idolized Rita Hayworth and Ann-Margret. Kim Novak was a major sex symbol and Jack Lemmon and Burt Lancaster were older, sexier hunks.

Sad to say, today the young girls have such nice role models as Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton to look up to...

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

Hi, This is an interesting post. I thought maybe that Kim Novak was mentioned as a kind of "inside joke" because Roz, in 1955, had filmed the movie "Picnic" with Kim Novak (who had the lead). I also thought it was pretty interesting that they had the real Gypsy Rose Lee come to the school to teach the girls to dance (remember "willows, willows" dance scene) and Roz Russell had portrayed Gypsy Rose Lee's mother in the 1965 film "Gypsy".

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

Thanks, FilmSon! I knew about June Havoc, but had no idea that Gypsy Rose Lee wrote a murder mystery. I read recently that there is a new biography of Gypsy Rose Lee "in the works". The author has a history of doing very extensive and exhaustive research. It will be interesting what she finds!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

Thank You, filmson, for this post. I knew none of this info about Gypsy Rose Lee, her book and the movie. I found all you wrote fascinating. Interesting also about the Pinky Lee character and Pee Wee Herman. A good read and thanks again. I always enjoy finding out new things about those bygone days of Hollywood. You know your movies!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

Thanks again, FilmSon. I also enjoy the classic movies and the stars of that era and find imdb and the Internet great places. It is nice to be able to find other people that like the same old movies. Here is a little trivia about Roz Russell when she was filming TTWA (you may know this, but it is worth repeating and shows the type of star she was). As you know, some of TTWA was filmed on location at a Catholic orphanage in PA. Before filming was done, Roz invited the head of a big Philly department store to the set, had lunch with him and arranged for each child at the orphanage to get new clothes. Always thought that was a nice story!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

You are quite welcome!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thchicago 17 years ago

She was a classy lady! William Frye (the producer of "TTWA" and "Where angels go..." and a close friend of Rosalind Russell) wrote an article about her in Vanity Fair Magazine (April 2002) and mentioned what she had done for the kids before she left. There are a lot of stories about her generosity and all the charitable works she did throughout her life. You are right about her work with arthritis, which continues today at the Rosalind Russell Medical Research Center for Arthritis in San Francisco.

[–] whimsical5 17 years ago

I think maybe because Director Ida Lupino had also been an actress, maybe they paid homage to "older" actors, Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak,etc. And maybe that is why there were "Connections", such as, Roz played Gypsy's mother,etc. My sister is an actress and actually met someone who knew Gypsy, and had facinating stories about her, and especailly Mama Rose, who was even more outrageous in real life,
nice socks, man.....

[–] lnoft97 17 years ago

I believe major 'youth culture' was JUST getting a foothold back in the early 60's, Elvis and rock n'roll notwithstanding. The people in charge of movies were really much older men who didn't understand such phenomena and thought it was all a phase. So they 'stuck with the classics' like Kim Novak and Burt Lancaster as reference points for admiration. Not that they weren't admired by the young, but I'm sure Bobby Darrin and Sandra Dee, and by this time the Beatles were the celebrities in pictures put up on teenagers walls.

I believe also this is one of the reasons Johnny Carson *retired* - he had no clue as to what a young audience would find worth watching, and I remember thinking watching his last show, who's going to get custody of Don Rickles? LOL.

This thinking is apparent in the way the girls dressed when they came back from summer vacation - hats, little chic suits, just like their moms. They looked dated, and dressed too old. Though, come to think of it, showing up at the convent in striped miniskirts wouldn't have gone over very well, would it, LOL. I suppose a proper dress code in regard to civilian clothing was made clear to the girls from day one.

[–] loveoldmovies22 17 years ago

This movie was made in 1965 and released in early 1966. Girls did dress this way,--the miniskirt was not here yet--still quite a few months away. You can see the change in clothing, etc. between the 2 movies.
1965 was in many way so far away from 1967, 1968.
Also, Jack Lemmon was a big star--he was not at all past his prime and he still hadn't made "The Odd Couple" yet! Check the listings on IMDB. Mary and Rachel are also a bit more sophisticated, and would have been past the "TigerBeat", "Teen" magazine Idols of the day and moved on to someone a bit older.

[–] Jessica-656 17 years ago

From trying to locate a copy on the internet, I know that "Life with Mother Superior" was a play before it became a movie, and I believe the author based the book on her memories of convent school in the *1930s*, not the 1960s. I have no evidence for this, but I wonder if the film actors the girls mention were updated for the play, but then simply kept intact when the story was transferred to the screen several years later? That would account for their not being exactly the hottest new stars of the mid-60s!

[–] spike71 17 years ago

Both Jack Lemmon and Burt Lancaster were mentioned in the movie and they weren't popular back in the 30's. They were still at the height of their popularity in the 60's and had an excellent reputation as being not only good actors, but very handsome and charming. I still say that this is a sign of mere infatuation which girls were guilty of back then. It was very common for teens to have major crushes on older men back then.

[–] Flora_Poste 13 years ago

Yes! The Sixties were Jack Lemmon's heydey. He played the young romantic male lead opposite Shirley Maclaine, Romy Schneider, Lee Remick, and many more. Kim Novak was also a huge star who had just played Mildred in "Of Human Bondage" opposite Laurence Harvey and had also starred as Moll Flanders right before TTWA was shot.

It would be perfectly natural for convent girls who watched Hollywood movies to use Kim Novak, Burt Lancaster, and Jack Lemmon as points of reference. The piles of movie magazines by Rachel's bed would have been full of stars like these, along with stories about Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, as well as plenty of others that people not familiar with the era probably associate with previous decades.