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Thursday, November 26, 2015

Turkeys and Starlets - Happy Thanksgiving




Thanksgiving brought out some weird impulses from Hollywood studio publicity departments. We often see among classic film blogs examples of this "art" this time of year. Here is a gallery of examples below -- and I am inevitably reminded of the prescient wisdom of young Teresa Wright, who had stipulated in her contract that she should not be required to pose in a publicity photo, "... looking insinuatingly at a turkey for Thanksgiving." We discussed her unique contract in this previous post.



And now, for a Thanksgiving roll call:


Judy Garland as a male Pilgrim.  She looks like she is befriending this bird, rather than stalking it.


Bette Davis as a female Pilgrim, who appears to be employing this turkey as a draft animal to pull the kiddie wagon full of bounty from the fields.  Or the prop department.


Barbara Bates, as a sexy Pilgrim who appears to be dressing up the turkey because they are going out on a date to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Mocambo.


Marilyn Monroe as a cutie pie sexy Pilgrim who does not appear particularly threatening to that turkey.  



Doris Day, with no cutie pie Pilgrim nonsense, appears ready to get down to business.  I can't think of a more grim publicity photo for Thanksgiving, and I suppose for that reason it just makes me laugh more than the others.  It's as if Alfred Hitchcock directed the photo shoot.

Ann Blyth managed to get a more dignified and pleasant-looking Thanksgiving photo shoot here at my other bog.

Though there could have been an ax hidden somewhere among the props, I suppose.

Recently, I had to stop my car only about a mile from my home to let a flock of wild turkeys half-fly, half-stumble across the road.  Doris Day was not chasing them, so I'm pretty sure they got away.

To all our American readers: Happy Thanksgiving.

10 comments:

grandoldmovies said...

That Doris Day photo is hilarious in a macabre sort of way. Astonishing to think of the vast edifice of the old studio system sending out press agents, photographers, costumiers, make-up artists, and starlets to shoot silly pictures for holidays; but, hey, that's show business! Happy Thanksgiving!

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Happy Thanksgiving, GOM! I know, wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall for these photo shoots?

Silver Screenings said...

You're right re: the Doris Day photo – it does look Hitchcockian!

Yes, some of these photo shoots were quite strange, e.g. the Bette Davis photo. The fact that she looks like she's enjoying herself proves she's a good actress!

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Maybe the ridiculousness of it amused Bette. Or maybe she figured, "Eh, I'm getting paid for this."

Yvette said...

Such funny pictures, Jacqueline. Really, what on earth were they thinking of? Not much, I suppose. Ha! You can almost feel Bette Davis groaning out loud in that silly costume. :)

Hope you had a grand day, m'dear.

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Thanks, Yvette, my holiday was well. I did not don a Pilgrim outfit, however. Maybe next year I'll pose with my store-bought bird holding an axe or blunderbuss. Apparently, it's the Hollywood way to do things.

ClassicBecky said...

Great pics, Jacqueline. I too thought Doris looked sad for the turkey, and could have been Tippi Hedren in The Birds. Ann Sheridan with her wink killed me too!

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

I hope you had a great holiday, Becky. They certainly did a lot of these kinds of silly photos.

ClassicBecky said...

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks for asking Jacqueline. I had both of my boys, their wives and my grandchildren, all at the same time! That's not always easy, considering their various jobs and schedules. Couldn't have asked for more.

Jacqueline T. Lynch said...

Sounds fantastic!

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