#Ben Jaffe

[possible-streetwear]

[manitat]

2005: Clint Maedgen, Tom Waits & Ben Jaffe

[sonicziggy]

"Greatest Place On Earth" by Ivan Neville, Trombone Shorty, Ben Jaffe, Charlie Gabriel https://ift.tt/fmxH5No

[davidisen]

Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Tipitina's - What Could Go Wrong?

As Paula and I drove towards New Orleans for a week-long music safari, I discovered that the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was going to be playing at Tipitina's on Friday, February 3 . . . that was last night. I was over the moon. I couldn't buy the tickets fast enough. I've seen the Preservation Hall band half a dozen times, from a little room in New Iberia, LA, to The Apollo in Harlem, each show greater than the last. They're my favorites! This was going to be like seeing the Grateful Dead at Winterland, or the Red Sox at Fenway, or Dolly at the Opry. It was definitely going to be the climax of our NOLA sojourn. I couldn't wait. What could go wrong? . . . ?? . . . ???

And so . . . last night we arrived about fifteen minutes before doors, and stood on the sidewalk with a dozen other couples in excited anticipation. At 7:00 PM they let us into a big, empty room with not a chair in sight. We're not young anymore. After a couple of hours on my feet, I'm thinking about my back, no matter how good the music is. One of the employees told us there were chairs upstairs, so we beat it up there. No chairs anywhere. But there was a good view and a balcony rail to lean on. We chatted with fellow Preservation Hall fans on our left and right. I was eager to hear the band, and curious about the double drum kit setup.

At 8:00 PM one tall guy sauntered on stage . . . no applause . . . and started messing around with some boxes and lights. There were pops and clicks and thuds vaguely timed to this fellow's hand motions. The volume increased until we could not talk with our neighbors. And the volume increased more. And more. The noises got a vague rhythm, and got louder. Then it got louder. Now there was a rhythm, a pounding bass that sounded like an intense headache, only worse. And then it got worse. And louder. I couldn't figure out what this noise had to do with New Orleans jazz, if anything.

I looked at my watch. It was 8:25. Tipitina's main floor below was a wall-to-wall shoulder-to-shoulder mass of about 400 maskless, aerosol-emitting humans. Only about four people were moving to the cranium-splitting beat. They were probably on molly. The rest of us simply endured.

"This has to end at 8:30, right?" I thought. But 8:30 came and went, and the noises went from headache to nausea, but louder, and worse. I leaned over and shouted, "If this doesn't end in a few minutes, let's go!" I REALLY wanted to hear the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I didn't want to leave. I've gone to other continents to hear great music. I've paid thousands in air fares and taxis and hotels. Surely I could last another five minutes. I looked at the time. 8:35. Surely I could last another five minutes. 8:40. Grit my teeth. "This has to end at 8:45, right?" I thought. When 8:45 came I'd had enough. Let's go, I yelled, and started to move towards the door.

As we broke out of Tipitina's into the relative silence, I was furious. "What bullshit!" I said to nobody in particular.

A fellow with an official looking jersey was standing on the corner. "I'm sorry you're leaving," he said.

"I don't see what that noise has to do with New Orleans jazz," I replied. I may have used a few more adjectives and expletives. "I'm not going to argue with you," he replied, but, he said, they did advertise the DJ opener on their Web site. He was nice, and the smoke coming out of my ears diminished to a wispy curl. He offered to put us on the guest list for Sunday's show with another band. We accepted, but I don't think I'm going.

Bottom line: What was to have been the climax of our trip was replaced by one of the most unpleasant experiences I've ever had in the pursuit of music. An expensive night of skull-splitting headache, backache, endurance, and anger.

Message to Ben Jaffe @pres_hall_ben and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band: The DJ last night had NOTHING to do with tradition, New Orleans, jazz, joy, improvisation, counterpoint or anything else I associate with Preservation Hall or the PHJB. I feel betrayed and abandoned. What were you thinking?

cc: @preshallben-blog @preshallfound @preshall

[citizenscreen]

Vince Edwards and Sam Jaffe, stars of the medical drama “Ben Casey,” which premiered on October 2, 1961.

Also with guest stars Peter Falk, Eartha Kitt and Tuesday Weld.

[make-a-little-mischief]

Vince: "So you're sayin' all it takes is putting a pencil behind your ear and you're automatically ten times sexier? Man I gotta get me a pencil ASAP..."

Jer: "Well just hold it a minute Vince, the pencil trick ain't for everyone, you might not be ready for that level of sexiness just yet."

Sam: "I wonder what would happen if it was a pen...??"

This is what my brain does when I see Jerry photos. I will accept my award for "best original Tumblr postplay" now.

[kwebtv]

TV Guide  -  January 5 - 11, 1963

Bettye Louise Ackerman (February 28, 1924 – November 1, 2006) Film, stage and television actress primarily known for her work on television.

From 1961 until 1966, Ackerman played Dr. Maggie Graham on the ABC medical drama Ben Casey. She played Anne Frazer on Bracken's World and the original Constance MacKenzie on the daytime program Return to Peyton Place. She appeared in an early episode of prime time soap Falcon Crest portraying the character of Elisabeth Bradbury. She also appeared in two episodes of Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr: in 1965. she played the role of Amy Reid in the episode, "The Case of the Thermal Thief," and in 1966. she played Laura Brandon in "The Case of the Positive Negative." In 1977, she appeared in "Never Con a Killer," the pilot for the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang.  (Wikipedia)

Vincent Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) Film and television actor, director, and singer. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey.

When the Ben Casey television series ended, Edwards returned to acting in motion pictures.  In 1970, Edwards starred in another TV series, the short-lived Matt Lincoln.  That same year he starred in the TV movie “Sole Survivor” with William Shatner and Richard Basehart.   He appeared in the pilot episode of Knight Rider, Knight Of The Phoenix in 1982. He directed a number of episodes in a variety of television series including the original Battlestar Galactica. He was also the voice of Jake Rockwell in the 1986 animated series Centurions. Twenty-two years after the series ended, Edwards returned to television as Dr. Ben Casey in a 1988 TV movie, The Return of Ben Casey.

Shalom "Sam" Jaffe (March 10, 1891 – March 24, 1984) Film and television actor, teacher, musician, and engineer.

Predominantly a film actor Jaffe appeared in many TV series.  He co-starred in the ABC television series, Ben Casey as Dr. David Zorba from 1961 to 1965 alongside Vince Edwards. He also made many guest-starring roles on other series, including Batman as Mr. Zoltan Zorba, and the Western Alias Smith and Jones. In 1975, he co-starred as a retired doctor who is murdered by Janet Leigh in the Columbo episode "Forgotten Lady". He also appeared with an all-star cast in the TV pilot film of Rod Serling's Night Gallery and as Emperor Norton in one episode of Bonanza.  ( Wikipedia)

[deadmotelsusa]

Tropicana, the second-oldest resort casino on the Las Vegas Strip, is closing.

On May 9, 2023, it was announced that a 33,000-seat baseball stadium will be built on the Tropicana site. It has to be removed by late 2024 so construction can start.

The Tropicana dates back to 1955, when hotelier Ben Jaffe, part owner of the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, purchased the land. Gone is the original showroom where Les Folies Bergère dancers danced for 50 years, where Siegfried & Roy made their Vegas debut in 1967 and where Muhammad Ali held public training sessions for his fight against Ron Lyle in 1975.

Pictured here in the 1950s, 1990s and 2023. Two of my favorite features are the ornate stained-glass ceiling (built in 1979) above the blackjack tables and the bright orange carpet.

[petra-creat0r]

Art Fight attacks part two!!! Honestly this doing AF this month was really fun and I hope to participate again next year! Drawing these helped me not be depressed at still not having a job!

Bug-Byte for beetlebarks

Julius for Medievalturtle

Jayjay for PersianNut

Kitt Summers for @true-miamouse

Octo-Girl for Raflimmm1

Pepper for CoolestChicken

Ben and Gary for @maggyoutthere

Dess for @huecyles

Bibi for Mistertelevision

Sneeze for @packet-of-staples

Scratchton for @puppycharmz

Looker and .JAFF for @youwillneverguessmyurl

Matcha fpr @tofupixel

And finally... All of my revenges to @iced-souls

(... I thought there were more. Eh.)

Anyways, see ya later Creative Creators!

[vintagelasvegas]

Construction of the Tropicana, Las Vegas, 1955-1957

Tropicana began when Ben Jaffe (Bond Estates), a partner in Miami’s Fontainebleau hotel, bought the 40 acre site in 1955. Lessor of the property Hotel Conquistador Inc, owned by Phil Kastel, led the construction. The contractor Taylor Construction, from Miami, also built the Riviera. Architect M. Tony Sherman designed a water-cooling tower as the hotel’s signature fountain beside the entrance.

Tropicana history

Photos from Califboy101. “2 More Strip Hotels.” Review-Journal, 2/15/55; “Desert Investment – Success or Failure?” Review-Journal, 8/28/55.

[dweemeister]

You must face the age of not believing Doubting everything you ever knew Until at last you start believing There's something wonderful in you

Dame Angela Lansbury, who died at her home today in Los Angeles at the age of 96, is perhaps best known today as Jessica Fletcher in the acclaimed TV series Murder, She Wrote and in the Broadway stage plays and musicals in significant parts that Hollywood never gave her. But well before that, the Irish-British transplant to America (she and her family left Britain at the height of Nazi Germany’s bombing campaign of her home nation) made her career as mostly a character actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She may not have been a major star billed at the top of marquees and movie posters during her time while contracted to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), but she would come to be a recognizable figure to audiences of multiple generations – whether she might be playing a tough saloon owner with a belter of a singing voice, a schoolteacher just making ends meet, Elvis’ mother (despite a nine-year age difference), princesses and queens, the amoral and scheming wife of a political candidate, an emotionally manipulative mother, or a teapot matriarch.

She stepped onto a movie soundstage for the first time at seventeen years of age, while making Gaslight (1944) for MGM. Because she was still technically a minor, she had to be accompanied by a social worker while working on set. Despite this, director George Cukor and her co-stars (including Ingrid Bergman) treated her as equals, all of them recognizing right away her professionality and acting ability. Perhaps producers and studio executives might not have done the same, saddling her so often with character roles, but Lansbury – by all accounts – extended that same kindness Cukor and Bergman afforded to her to so many others over the decades, leaving a legacy that goes beyond whatever personal disappointments she may have had over the more considerable roles she never got to play.

Her distinction as Hollywood royalty came later in life, as our connections of Hollywood’s Golden Age are almost all gone.

Nine of the films Angela Lansbury appeared in follow (left-right, descending):

Gaslight (1944) – directed by George Cukor; also starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Dame May Whitty

The Harvey Girls (1946) – directed by George Sidney; also starring Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger, Preston Foster, Virginia O’Brien, Kenny Baker, Marjorie Main, Chill Wills, Selena Royle, and Cyd Charisse

The Three Musketeers (1949) – directed by George Sidney; also starring Lana Turner, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Van Heflin, Frank Morgan, and Vincent Price

The Court Jester (1955) – directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama; also starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, and Cecil Parker

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) – directed by John Frankenheimer; also starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Janet Leigh

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) – directed by Robert Stevenson and Ward Kimball; also starring David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffe, John Ericson, Cindy O’Callaghan, Ian Weighill, and Roy Snart

Death on the Nile (1978) – directed by John Guillermin; also starring Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jon Finch, Olivia Hussey, I.S. Johar, George Kennedy, Simon MacCorkindale, David Niven, Maggie Smith, and Jack Warden

Beauty and the Beast (1991) – directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise; also starring Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers, Rex Everhart, Jesse Corti, and Bradley Pierce

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) – directed by Rob Marshall; also starring Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, David Warner, and Dick Van Dyke

[maximiliano-aedo]

What could've been Animaze ..iNC during the 2010s

Talent pool (Note: any voice actor marked with * is union-only):

Steve Blum*

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn*

Crispin Freeman*

Kari Wahlgren*

Johnny Yong Bosch

Yuri Lowenthal*

Dave Wittenberg*

Roger Craig Smith*

Laura Bailey*

Travis Willingham*

Cherami Leigh

J.B. Blanc*

Sam Riegel*

Liam O'Brien*

Amy Kincaid*

Troy Baker*

Matthew Mercer

Joe Romersa*

Fleet Cooper*

Dyanne DiRosario*

Jennifer Love Hewitt*

Brian Hallisay*

Spike Spencer

Amanda Winn Lee*

Jaxon Lee*

Kyle Hebert

Ben Pronsky

Bob Buchholz

Richard Cansino

Murphy Dunne*

Carolyn Hennesy*

Jerry Gelb*

Adam Sholder

Ezra Weisz

Cristina Vee

Bryce Papenbrook

Michael Sorich

Richard Epcar

Ellyn Stern

Tony Oliver

Kirk Thornton

Lexi Ainsworth*

Aria Noelle Curzon

Grace Caroline Currey*

Michael Forest

Erik Davies

Adam Bobrow

Joshua Seth

Junie Hoang*

Kirk Baily*

Tom Fahn

Jonathan Fahn

Dorothy Elias-Fahn

Melissa Fahn

Stephen Apostolina*

René Rivera*

Deborah Sale Butler

Kevin Brief

Michael Gregory*

Riva Spier*

Cassandra Morris

Erica Mendez

Erika Harlacher

Erica Lindbeck

Marieve Herington

Kira Buckland

John Rubinstein*

Kim Matula*

Brittany Lauda

J. Grant Albrecht*

Michael McConnohie

Steve Bulen*

Dan Woren

Derek Stephen Prince

Wendee Lee

Edie Mirman

Jason C. Miller

Taliesin Jaffe*

John Snyder

Robbie Daymond

Ray Chase

Kaiji Tang

David Vincent

Christina Carlisi*

Christopher Corey Smith

Cindy Robinson

Rachel Robinson

Jessica Boone

Lauren Landa

Megan Hollingshead

Jalen K. Cassell

Doug Erholtz

Michelle Ruff

Gregory Cruz*

John Bishop*

Matt Kirkwood*

Lara Jill Miller*

Carol Stanzione

Steve Staley

Dave Mallow

Mona Marshall*

Darrel Guilbeau

Robert Martin Klein

Robert Axelrod

William Frederick Knight

Lex Lang

Sandy Fox

Joey Camen*

Randy McPherson*

Jad Mager

Richard Miro

Milton James

Anthony Pulcini

Douglas Rye

Patrick Seitz

Keith Silverstein

Jamieson Price

Skip Stellrecht*

Stoney Emshwiller*

G.K. Bowes

Alyss Henderson

Patricia Ja Lee

Peggy O'Neal

Carrie Savage

Melodee Spevack

Jennifer Alyx

Julie Ann Taylor

Sherry Lynn

Brad Venable

Christine Marie Cabanos

Greg Chun

LaGloria Scott

Steve Kramer

Melora Harte

Rebecca Forstadt*

Kyle McCarley

Mela Lee

Karen Strassman

Faye Mata

Laura Post

Kayla Carlyle*

Brina Palencia

Connor Gibbs

Brianne Siddall*

Barbara Goodson

Loy Edge

Jay Lerner

Jennie Kwan

Max Mittelman

Jessica Straus*

Alexis Tipton

Fryda Wolff

Michele Specht

J.D. Garfield

Debra Jean Rogers*

Julie Maddalena

Carrie Keranen

Tara Sands

Matthew Hustin

Cody MacKenzie

Bridget Hoffman*

Colleen O'Shaughnessey

Grant George

Jessica Gee

Jeff Nimoy*

Peter Lurie*

Brian Beacock

Paul St. Peter

Chris Jai Alex

Dan Lorge*

Ewan Chung*

Steve Cassling*

Philece Sampler

Stephanie Sheh

Sam Fontana

Ben Diskin

Juliana Donald*

Michael O'Keefe*

Christina Gallegos*

Tara Platt

Keith Anthony*

Beau Billingslea

David Lodge*

Kim Strauss

Eddie Jones*

William Bassett*

Kim Mai Guest*

Caitlin Glass

Hannah Alcorn

Ron Roggé*

Camille Chen*

Ethan Rains*

Yutaka Maseba*

Joe J. Thomas

Michael Sinterniklaas

Erin Fitzgerald

Joe Ochman

Marc Diraison

Xanthe Huynh

Brianna Knickerbocker

Dean Wein*

Michael McCarty*

[coliepng]

tagged by @mediocrefruitlover !

Rules: 5 songs you never hit skip on.

1) summer begs — sarah jaffe

2) head on (hold onto your heart) — man man

3) capable of anything — ben folds (also, landed by ben folds)

4) anything by paw paw rod tbh but some honorable mentions here are HIT EM WHERE IT HURTS, message (better days), beautiful… and im really diggin the brand new release rainy day

5) humility — gorillaz ft george benson

those were just the first 5 off the top of my head cos they’re on my ipod ha but i’ve got a decent amount of no skips. usually they’re songs i can sing to.

i’m gonna tag @silence-sun , @constantinesalmanac , @emspooky , @ellies-space , and @dandelionss-dream but no pressure to do this ha! also there’s tons of you i’d love to have tagged so if you feel like doing this just pretend you were tagged by me in writing so i can see your picks! :D

[blackswaneuroparedux]

How can we get a nice little war going?

- Sgt Archibald Cutter (Cary Grant) in Gunga Din (1939)

Three British soldiers stationed in India find themselves at the centre of an investigation into the sudden uprising among the indigenous Indian population. The titular character Gunga Din is a faithful servant to the British army who longs to be a soldier himself. Or at least that’s how my grandfather explained to me as we watched this film as children. I didn’t leave much of an impression on me then until it did later when I re-watched again as an adult. Only this time I was a returning British army officer just finished a tour in Afghanistan. Somehow the latter day ‘band of brothers’ tale melted my cynicism and enjoyed watching it again.

Based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling, Gunga Din stars Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Cutter, MacChesney and Ballantine respectively. They are joined by Sam Jaffe as Din. Ballantine is about to retire from the military to be with his wife Emmy (Joan Fontaine) while his pals want him to take another tour. The film opens not with these three men but with the ambush of a British army caravan who take on an unassuming band of Indian travelers who kill them in their sleep. When the troop never returns the military begins to worry, a concern that is justified when communicating with one of their bases and communication is suddenly silenced.

Extricated from a massive bar brawl over a fake treasure map, the three soldiers are punished by leading an expedition to the small village where the British telegraph operator and army base was stationed. There, their group is slowly picked off by the Indian residents who led the original assault only to be done in by the expert brawling of the three. They uncover the presence of a dangerous rebellion that will settle for nothing but the utter destruction of the British army. Their plans are further enhanced when Cutter goes off with Din in search of a temple of gold where they hope to find the impetus to encourage Ballantine to re-join, leading to his capture.

Aside from the feature's ability to tell a swiftly-paced, exciting yarn about British rule in India in the 1890s, it shows Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., as a trio of happy-go-lucky British army sergeants who typify the type of hard-bitten non-coms described by Kipling in his famed 'Barrack Room Ballads.'

Though the picture draws heavily on the Ballads for atmosphere and inspiration, and doesn't scruple to use Kipling himself, the brilliantly talented young war correspondent, as a minor character (it seems he dashed off the famous poem in time for the Commandant to read it over the water carrier's grave), the only historical or literary authority for it seems to have been an original story by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.

In this case, "original" may be taken to signify that the story is quite unlike other predecessors in the same genre, except possibly "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer," "Beau Geste," "The Lost Patrol" and "Charge of the Light Brigade." The parallels - some of them doubtless unavoidable - may be charitable excused on the ground that two memories are better than one.

So the basis of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's original story from the barrack ballad, is the outbreak of the Thugs, cruel religious marauders, who revolted against English troops in India late in the 19th century, 50 years after they had been originally put down. It is the constant and brutal warfare that they wage, almost from the opening scene until the sweeping battle climax, which forms the plot structure.

What follows is a powerfully staged fight between the British and the Thug hordes near the Khyber Pass forms a hair-raising climax as Gunga Din, regimental water carrier, fulfills his ambition, even though as a dead hero.

Cary Grant gives one of my favourite performances here. He’s charming and energetic without the need to be the center of attention, which he shares equally with his co-stars. McLaglen is a dominating presence and Fairbanks Jr. stands mostly in the background. The three work quite well together, which adds a level of camaraderie important to the story.

As for Gunga Din himself, it seems rather a pity that he should receive fourth billing in his own picture. Yet for all the dash cut by the three stars, Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., it is the humble, ascetic, stooped, yet somehow sublime, figure of Sam Jaffe that one remembers. "An' for all 'is dirty 'ide, 'e was white, clear white, inside, when 'e went to tend the wounded under fire," said the poet, and the sentiment, Victorian and patronising as it may be, echoes in the heart. There is infinite humility, age-old patience and pity, in the way old Din kneels to offer water to the living and the dying. And, though bent under the weight of his perspiring water-skin, his agility in dodging bullets is marvellous to behold. As Sam Jaffe plays him, Gunga Din is a better man than any in the cast.

Much like other films of the period, Sam Jaffe’s performance as Gunga Din looks from our current perspective of ‘Indian face’ a tad ‘problematic’ (as the SJW speak goes). True, it’s festooned with tics and stereotypes that convey the character without adding much depth. Yet, in spite of that, Jaffe injects passion and vigour into the role that enables the audience to form a very deep empathetic link to his desires to succeed and become a real soldier.

[kwebtv]

Series Premiere

Ben Casey - To the Pure - ABC - October 2, 1961

Medical Drama

Running Time: 60 minutes

Written By James E. Moser

Produced by James E. Moser

Directed by Fielder Cook

Stars:

Vince Edwards as Dr. Ben Casey

Sam Jaffe As Dr. David Zorba

Harry Landers as Dr. Ted Hoffman

Bettye Ackerman as Dr. Maggie Graham

Jeanne Bates as Nurse Wills

Aki Aleong as Nobby (Dr. George Nobura)

Bart Heyman as Dr. Paul Cain

Rafael Lopez as Pete Salazar

Angela Clarke as Mrs. Salazar

Maurice Manson as Dr. Harold Jensen

Adrienne Hayes as Dorothy Wilmer

Ann Morrison as Mrs. Wilmer

Francis DeSales as Dr. Donnelly

Stuart Nisbet as Dr. Taylor

Wilton Graff as Doctor

Susan Davis as Secretary

Nelson Olmsted as Lawyer

Maudie Prickett as Miss Walker

Adrienne Marden as Nurse

[byneddiedingo]

Sam Jeffe and Cary Grant in Gunga Din (George Stevens, 1939)

Cast: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Sam Jaffe, Eduardo Ciannelli, Joan Fontaine, Montagu Love, Robert Coote, Abner Biberman, Lumsden Hare. Screenplay: Joel Sayre, Fred Guiol, Ben Hecht, MacArthur, based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling. Cinematography: Joseph H. August. Art direction: Van Nest Polglase. Film editing: Henry Berman, John Lockert. Music: Alfred Newman. 

Gunga Din is imperialist and racist, and its title character is an example of the Magical Negro trope, the person of color who saves the white folks' asses. It's embarrassing to see actors like Sam Jaffe (in the title role), Eduardo Ciannelli, and Abner Biberman in brownface. So we have to swallow a lot that's objectionable to still enjoy Gunga Din. We typically evade the issue of a film's content and message by emphasizing style and technique, and Gunga Din is loaded with style and technique, from the comic performances of Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to the crisp cinematography of Joseph H. August, convincingly turning the Sierra Nevada into the Khyber Pass. The movie was originally supposed to be directed by Howard Hawks, when Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur developed a story out of Rudyard Kipling's poem. They did it by plagiarizing their own play The Front Page, which hinges on a man (in this case two men) trying to prevent his friend and co-worker from going off and getting married. Hawks might have made a better movie: He would almost certainly have given Joan Fontaine more to do in her role as the woman who is trying to take Fairbanks away from Grant and McLaglen. But he was fired from the film and replaced with George Stevens. Still Hawks got his chance to work with Hecht and MacArthur's original story when he made the best of all screen versions of The Front Page as His Girl Friday in 1940. The real star of Gunga Din (as well as His Girl Friday)  is Grant, playing at peak clown and loving it, while still pulling off the dashing hero. It's interesting to compare Grant's performance in this movie with the one he gave for Hawks in Only Angels Have Wings, which was released the same year, in which Grant is more serious as the troubled boss of a group of pilots flying the mail across the Andes.