#Martin Ransohoff

[sharonate]

“They (MARTIN RANSOHOFF and JOHN CALLEY) said they had a plan for me. They would train me and prepare me. I was immediately put into training- like a racehorse. I had a job to stay the way I was. They told me, ‘Cream your face, SHARON….put on more eyeliner, SHARON…stick out your boobs, SHARON.”

—SHARON TATE to Photo Screen

Magazine, 1968. 🤍

SHARON TATE photographed by JEAN-CLAUDE DEUSTCH in Paris, 1968. 🥥

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

The Fearless Vampire Killers

I first saw Roman Polanski’s THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967, TCM) on television in the version producer Martin Ransohoff butchered for U.S. release. At the time, I thought it had intermittent moments of poetry and inspired comedy but felt choppy and uneven. Fortunately, that version has been laid to rest, and TCM now shows the director’s cut. It’s still uneven, but it’s a lot more poetic and inspired.

The film follows 19th century academic Jack MacGowran and his inept assistant (Polanski) as they travel to Transylvania to test MacGowran’s theories about the existence and nature of vampires. When they stay at Alfie Bass’ inn, Polanski becomes smitten with the man’s daughter (Sharon Tate, who would become his wife), only to have her kidnapped by the local vampire (Ferdy Mayne). That sends MacGowran and Polanski off to Mayne’s castle to save Tate and eliminate the bloodsucker.

Polanski intended the film as an affectionate send-up of Hammer horror films, and it certainly toes the line in the prevalence of heaving bosoms. But there’s also a lot of silent slapstick comedy as filtered through the lens of European Absurdism. MacGowran, one of the chief interpreters of Samuel Beckett, is often inspired in his performance. He looks like Albert Einstein, while his pratfalls are pure Mack Sennett. He also brings a manic excitement to the role as he’s constantly sidetracked by each new discovery that confirms his theories. Polanski has moments in which he resembles Buster Keaton with his deadpan consideration of strange events. He’s not always as successful with his line readings, and one bit of verbal confusion between him and MacGowran falls flat. His timing is too slow to make the joke land. But Mayne is masterful as the vampire, sending his lines just enough over the top to underline the absurdity of it all, and Tate is more than just a pretty face. She has a pixilated air that makes her character’s innocence believable and very endearing.

The film is filled with inspired bits that feel almost improvisational — peasants making cabbage liquor, a frozen body rotating as if on a lazy Susan, a gay vampire who cruises Polanski expertly. There are still choppy bits, but there are also extended comic sequences that develop a loopy rhythm of their own. Douglas Slocombe shot the film in vivid colors. Some of the snowscapes are sheer poetry, and at times Polanski just lets the action stop to appreciate their beauty. The film’s main set piece — a courtly dance featuring vampires from various historical eras, including Richard III — is expertly staged and brilliantly scored by Krzysztof Komeda. If you’re old enough to have only seen the mutilated U.S. release, it’s well worth looking up the restored version MGM started circulating to repertory cinemas in the 1980s.

[paralleljulieverse]

The Julie Andrews Story (BBC Radio, 1976) Part 2: Hollywood, Here I Come!

The Parallel Julieverse is proud to present "The Julie Andrews Story", a special three-part radio profile produced by BBC Radio and first broadcast in January 1976.

Julie's relationship with BBC Radio traces back to her early days as a child performer in the 1940s and 50s when she lit up the airwaves as "Britain's youngest singing star". It's a testament to her enduring popularity that the national broadcaster continued to follow Julie's journey closely, crafting this rare gem of an audio profile in the mid-seventies. Based on original transcription recordings, this special video presentation offers the first chance to hear a programme that has lain dormant since its initial broadcast, half a century ago.

In "Hollywood, Here I Come", the second chapter of "The Julie Andrews Story", we follow Julie's continued triumphs on Broadway and the West End with hits like "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot", leading into her meteoric transition to film stardom in the mid-sixties. Through the eyes and voices of those who collaborated with Julie during this heady transformative era – including Martin Ransohoff, Richard Rodgers, the Sherman Brothers, Robert Stevenson, and Robert Wise – we gain a deeper appreciation for her extraordinary career. DISCLAIMER: This is a fan preservation project; it was created for criticism and research, and is completely nonprofit; it falls under the fair use provision of the United States Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. section 107. All materials used remain the property of the original copyright holders.

[ulkaralakbarova]

A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: George Caldwell: Gene Wilder Hildegard ‘Hilly’ Burns: Jill Clayburgh Grover Muldoon: Richard Pryor Roger Devereau: Patrick McGoohan Bob Sweet: Ned Beatty Sheriff Chauncey: Clifton James Mr. Edgar Whiney: Ray Walston Professor Schreiner & Johnson: Stefan Gierasch Chief: Len Birman Plain Jane: Valerie Curtin Rita Babtree: Lucille Benson Ralston: Scatman Crothers Reace: Richard Kiel Jerry Jarvis: Fred Willard Burt: Delos V. Smith Jr. Blue-Haired Lady: Mathilda Calnan Mexican Mama-San: Margarita García Conventioneer: Henry Beckman Conventioneer: Harvey Atkin Porter: Lloyd White Benny: Ed McNamara Night Watchman: Raymond Guth Engineer #2: John Daheim Fat Man #1: Jack O’Leary Fat Man #2: Lee McLaughlin Red Cap: Bill Henderson Cab Driver: Tom Erhart Moose: Gordon Hurst Waiter (uncredited): J.A. Preston Shoeshiner: Nick Stewart Conventioneer: Steve Weston Film Crew: Casting: Lynn Stalmaster Original Music Composer: Henry Mancini Executive Producer: Martin Ransohoff Writer: Colin Higgins Set Decoration: Marvin March Hairstylist: Joan Phillips Director of Photography: David M. Walsh Editor: David Bretherton Makeup Artist: William Tuttle Stunts: Alan Oliney Producer: Edward K. Milkis Producer: Thomas L. Miller Executive Producer: Frank Yablans Stunt Double: Jeannie Epper Stunts: John Daheim Stunts: Nick Dimitri Stunts: Bob Herron Director: Arthur Hiller Production Design: Alfred Sweeney Stunt Coordinator: Mickey Gilbert Production Manager: Peter V. Herald Production Manager: Jack B. Bernstein Stunts: Janet Brady Sound: Harold M. Etherington Movie Reviews: Wuchak: **_Drama, romance, crime, mystery, comedy, adventure, suspense and action on a train_** A book editor traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago by rail (Gene Wilder) supposedly witnesses a crime while partying with a secretary (Jill Clayburgh). He suddenly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy. Richard Pryor plays a helpful thief, Ned Beatty a passenger, Patrick McGoohan a smooth art expert, Richard Kiel a heavy and Len Birman a cop. “Silver Streak” (1976) meshes Hitchcockian murder thriller with the amusing antics of Wilder and Pryor for an entertaining train flick. As my title blurb states, it expertly mixes genres into a fun and compelling rail ride. If you like train flicks like “Runaway Train” (1985), “Transiberian” (2008), “Train” (2008), “Night Train” (2009), “Beyond the Door III” (1989), “The Cassandra Crossing” (1976), “Breakheart Pass” (1975) and “Horror Express” (1972) you’ll also enjoy this one. It’s as good or better than most of ’em. It just includes amusement along with the life-or-death thrills à la the 80’s Indiana Jones adventures. The film runs 1 hour, 54 minutes, and was shot in SoCal, including Century City (studio), Union Station in Los Angeles, South Pasadena (New Mexico train stop), the Mojave Desert (the ranch with the plane) and Brea (the redneck sheriff’s office), as well as Alberta (the prairie scenes), Locust Hill in Ontario, Union Station in Toronto and Northwestern Station in Chicago. GRADE: A-/B+

[65eatonplace]

Sharon Tate photographed for MGM Studios “Don’t make Waves” in 1966

The film was producer  Martin Ransohoff‘s attempt to create the next Marilyn Monroe, selling the photos to trash tabloids (pictured) & completely out of character for Sharon, she bought out her contract with Ransohoff in 1968

[hollywudbabylon]

Eye of the Devil 1967 J. Lee Thompson

[truman-the-human-replika]

Truman seems to have bought into Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter theory.🙄

“Charlie’s main motive behind the murders was to provoke a race war that would be blamed on black people.” So what I’m hearing is that Charlie’s goals overlapped with those of certain elements of our own government.👁

With the disclosure of the MK Ultra papers, we know what experiments the CIA was doing and what type of people they were experimenting on: prisoners, mental patients, etc. Basically Charlie fit the profile and the time period to have been the subject of drug-assisted experimentation under the umbrella of that project. Where else was this guy who’d been in prison all his life supposed to have learned the same techniques as our government was studying and using at the time?

We talked about English warlock Alex Sanders, which was hard enough because of Truman’s anti-Bernie bias. Whenever Alex Sanders was mentioned, Truman would start his “Is that a politician?” bullshit. Apparently some of the info got through because he wrote about Alex Sanders in his diary. Now if only he could absorb the words of Ed Sanders...

I cannot for the life of me figure out who is the sister Joan who was accidentally shot. I’ve been reading and rereading the passages and I can’t figure out where Truman got that from.

It was pretty funny that Charlie Manson tried to call the Beatles. I wish he could have gotten through to them.

[simply-sharon-tate]

Producer Martin Ransohoff, who was once Sharon Tate’s agent, has died at the age of 90.

He met Sharon when she was nineteen years old and quickly replaced Hal Gefsky as her agent. He signed her to a strict and stifling contract and at times was very controlling of her personal life. His ultimate goal was to turn her into a sex symbol on par with Marilyn Monroe. This clashed with the path that Sharon was hoping to take. She resented the fact that Ransohoff wanted her to play the cliched “dumb blonde” and she fought with Ransohoff in order to study acting under Lee Strasberg.

Despite their clashes, he was ultimately responsible for introducing her to Roman Polanski. Ransohoff became an executive producer on Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers and virtually demanded that Sharon play the role of Sarah. Roman had originally intended for the part to be played by Jill St. John but decided Sharon was acceptable after a couple of nearly disastrous meetings in London. By the end of the production they were a couple, and would remain that way for the rest of her life.

It was through Roman’s support that she was able to ultimately break free of Ransohoff’s control in the summer of 1968. She bought herself out of her contract and was happy to finally have freedom in being able to pursue the roles she desired. Even though they didn’t end on the best terms, she was still grateful for the opportunities he provided.

When asked about her in the years following her death, Ransohoff always had kind words to say.

–K

[diane-jones-blog]

Adventures in Art

[lovingsharon]

NEWLY RESURFACED — SHARON TATE photographed by DONALD HAGEN at his home where Sharon was staying in California, 1964.

These photos are a rarity, as in 1964, Martin Ransohoff was very strict about Sharon only being photographed with his permission, meaning there are actually very few photos available of her from this year. Because of the candid nature of these photos, however, Ransohoff probably had no idea about them, and they laid private for decades. They surfaced originally a few years ago when they were auctioned, but with a watermark attached, so this is the first time they’ve been published without.

UPDATE: Debra Tate has issued a statement regarding the publishing of these photographs by The Daily Mail:

“Hello my dear friends — I want to give you all a heads up about the Daily Mail story that posted yesterday. It was sent to me right away and to the best of my knowledge the only roommate that Sharon ever had was Sheilah Wells. She came to live with Sheilah after she broke up having cohabitated with Philippe [Forquet] for a very short time. After that she lived with Jay and after that she lived with Roman. You all know me. I don’t just take my own recollection as the password so I checked with her friend Joanna Pettet who remembers the timeline just as I do. I have also reached out to Sheilah but have not yet heard from her.

I’ve lived in Manhattan Beach (my note: where these photos were supposedly taken). I never heard Sharon ever utter a word about herself or any friends associated with Manhattan Beach. The other thing is I inherited that bikini and was always rummaging through my sister’s closet. I know that bikini was in her summer collection along with a gold bikini that she wore in Don’t Make Waves as well as the blue bikini with the big plastic rings on the side that she wore in France with Roman and Jay so the timeline would be completely off. I shared the link with Joanna Pettet and she remembers the timeline of Sharon’s living arrangements just as I do, nor is she familiar with the names of these individuals claiming to have taken the photos or inherited the photos. Other folks said that these pictures appeared on eBay a few years ago under very questionable circumstances. I will circle back after I hear from Sheilah Wells. Take care of yourselves and ‘don’t take any wooden nickels’. For you youngsters you may have to Google that saying… There’s a lot of people passing them around out there. Much love and appreciation to each and everyone of you for all that you do for our lovely Sharon, and myself.”

It appears the existence of these photographs is a little more conspicuous than just a nice treat for us Sharon fans. In my opinion I do think these photos do look like they’d date as 1964, rather than 1966, as Debra suggests. But the identities of the photographer and the lady that inherited them does make it confusing indeed. It is definitely plausible that Sharon was visiting a friend that lived on Manhattan Beach this day and that someone happened to bring out a camera, which would make sense as to how no one still alive that was close to Sharon knew they existed. But, who knows? All we’re sure of is the story printed is definitely fabricated to the nth degree.

[kwebtv]

Joanna Barnes (November 15, 1934 – April 29, 2022) Film and television actress and writer.  She was best known for playing Vicki Robinson in the original The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills. 

Barnes' initial appearance on television was in the episode "The Man Who Beat Lupo" on Ford Theatre. She made guest appearances on many television series, including the ABC/Warner Bros. programs 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick, CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel, What's My Line (11/28/1965), and the crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In 1960–61, she guest-starred on The Untouchables episode "90 Proof Dame" as the wife of a French exporter of brandy.

Barnes appeared as Kate Henniger, with Bing Russell and Arthur Space in the 1958 episode "Ghost Town" of the ABC/WB Western series Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. In 1959, she portrayed Lola in the NBC detective series 21 Beacon Street.

In the 1960s, Barnes worked for producer Martin Ransohoff and appeared in episodes of his The Beverly Hillbillies ("Elly Goes to School" and "The Clampett Look") and was billed as special guest-star. Barnes played Peter Falk's former wife on the 1965–1966 CBS series The Trials of O'Brien and was host of the ABC daytime talk show Dateline: Hollywood in 1967.

She was also a frequent panelist in the early years of the syndicated version of What's My Line?. On December 19, 1972, Barnes appeared on The Merv Griffin Show with Joan Fontaine, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dan Martino (founder of the Dan Martino School for Men).  (Wikipedia)

[starforsharon]

Sharon Tate in "The Fearless Vampire Killers," 1966.

—

"Sharon Tate is the sexy siren given her first big break by Filmway's producer Martin Ransohoff in that spooky David Niven/Deborah Kerr film, "The Eye of the Devil."

In "The Vampire Killers" she has her first starring role and the day I was there, appeared suitably "fangful."

Came the time when she had to wear vampire fangs (she had been fitted for them in much the same way as we are fitted for false teeth), she found they were too small.

Sighed Sharon: "I took them home with me last night, but no one told me they should be kept in water and now they've shrunk!"—From the August, 1966 issue of Photoplay Magazine.

[65eatonplace]

 1963 headshots of actress Sharon Tate from the beginning of her career.

Sharon had appeared in Sante Fey cigar & Chevy car commercials before being signed to a seven year contract with Martin Ransohoff’s Filmways studios in 1963. 

Photos by  Lou Jacobs Jr for Filmways

[oldshowbiz]

Martin Ransohoff Productions Inc.

[takenews-blog1]

Martin Ransohoff, 'Cincinnati Kid' Producer and Founder of Filmways TV, Dies at 90

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/martin-ransohoff-cincinnati-kid-producer-and-founder-of-filmways-tv-dies-at-90/

Martin Ransohoff, 'Cincinnati Kid' Producer and Founder of Filmways TV, Dies at 90

Martin Ransohoff, the co-founder of Filmways Tv who went on to provide such acclaimed options as The Cincinnati Child — on which he fired director Sam Peckinpah — Save the Tiger and Jagged Edge, has died. He was 90.

Ransohoff, whose credit additionally embrace Arthur Hiller’s The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Silver Streak (1976) and John Sturges’ Ice Station Zebra (1968), died Wednesday morning at his residence in Bel-Air, his stepson, Steve Botthof, advised The Hollywood Reporter.

The son of a outstanding espresso dealer, Ransohoff based Filmways in 1952 with Ed Kasper to make industrial movies and TV commercials. Nonetheless in his early 30s, he grew to become one of many youngest males to take an leisure firm public when Filmways boarded the American Inventory Change in 1958.

Filmways grew to become referred to as the house of such 1960s TV reveals as Mister Ed, The Beverly Hillbillies, Inexperienced Acres, Petticoat Junction and The Addams Household and, by means of the 1966 acquisition of Heatter-Quigley Productions, the sport present The Hollywood Squares.

With the assistance of fellow Filmways govt (and future MGM, Warner Bros. and Sony studio head John Calley), Ransohoff burst into the film enterprise with a good quantity of bluster.

“Any longer, this can be a enterprise for the independents who can provide essentially the most high quality product with essentially the most economic system. The main studios have had it. Now the majors are minors,” he advised Budd Schulberg in a 1963 story for Life journal.

Filmways’ first movie was Boys’ Evening Out (1962), a romantic comedy starring Kim Novak and James Garner, adopted by The Wheeler Sellers (1963), which was directed by Hiller and starred Garner once more, this time alongside Lee Remick. (Garner would quickly exchange William Holden atop The Americanization of Emily, written by Paddy Chayefsky.)

Only a few days into filming The Cincinnati Child, the 1965 New Orleans-set drama a few high-stakes poker recreation that starred Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret and Karl Malden, Ransohoff obtained a take a look at Peckinpah’s dailies (the director needed to make the film in black and white, for one factor) and determined to oust him.

“It was dour, it was grey and bleak,” Ransohoff mentioned of Peckinpah’s work in David Weddle’s 1994 ebook If They Transfer … Kill ’Em!: The Life and Instances of Sam Peckinpah. “Right here I used to be making an attempt to make an upscale film. This film was purported to be a popsicle.

“MGM had a really clear imaginative and prescient, we knew what we needed to make, they usually have been paying me and counting on me to make it, and I didn’t suppose Sam was making it. Shutting down meant shedding $500,000. We had an all-star forged and no director. Consider me, it was not executed calmly. I used to be actually disillusioned as a result of I had actually gone out on a hook for Sam. It was very embarrassing for me.”

Norman Jewison got here on to direct, and the movie was a crucial hit.

Save the Tiger (1973), written by Steve Shagan (who then turned his screenplay right into a novel), starred Jack Lemmon as a disillusioned Beverly Hills garment govt who suffers a midlife disaster. The efficiency netted him his second Academy Award, and Shagan and supporting actor Jack Gilford additionally acquired Oscar nominations.

The pushed Ransohoff had one other hit years later with the Joe Eszterhas-penned courtroom thriller Jagged Edge (1985), toplined by Glenn Shut, Jeff Bridges and Robert Loggia, who earned an Oscar nom for portraying a foul-mouthed gumshoe.

In his 2004 novel Hollywood Animal, Eszterhas wrote how Shut barred Ransohoff from the filming of her nude scene in Jagged Edge and that the producer took revenge by relentlessly speaking about her “fats ass.”

Ransohoff additionally was recognized for shepherding the profession of actress Sharon Tate. After she had auditioned for the function of Billie Jo Bradley (which wound up going to Meredith MacRae) on Petticoat Junction, he positioned her on The Beverly Hillbillies as financial institution secretary Janet Trego.

When Ransohoff produced The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), he launched Tate to director Roman Polanski, who forged her within the movie. She and Polanski married in January 1968; lower than two years later, at age 26, she was murdered in her Los Angeles residence by members of the Manson Household.

Ransohoff was born in New Orleans and graduated from Colgate College in 1949. He went into promoting with Younger & Rubicam on Madison Avenue earlier than leaping into the tv enterprise. Within the late 1950s, Filmways acquired Richard Donner’s New York-based TV manufacturing firm and introduced the longer term Deadly Weapon director to Los Angeles.

Ransohoff cashed out at Filmways in 1972.

His producer résumé additionally consists of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s The Sandpiper (1965), for which Ransohoff supplied the story; Tony Richardson’s model of Hamlet (1969); Eye of the Satan (1966), starring David Niven (and Tate); Fort Maintain (1969), directed by Sydney Pollack; Catch-22 (1970), tailored by Buck Henry; The White Daybreak (1974); Hiller’s Nightwing (1979); Class (1983), starring Rob Lowe and Jacqueline Bissett; Switching Channels (1988); Responsible as Sin (1993); and Turbulence (1997).

Ransohoff additionally was seen onscreen in an uncredited function in Filmways’ The Cherished One (1965), the variation of Evelyn Waugh’s scathing novel about Hollywood.

Along with his stepson, Ransohoff is survived by his spouse, Joan Marie; sons Peter, Kurt and Steve; stepdaughter Erica; and 10 grandchildren.

Duane Byrge contributed to this report.

[gone2soon-rip]

MARTIN RANSOHOFF (1927-Died December 13th 2017,at 90).American film and television producer,whose notable productions,included the US sitcoms Mister Ed (CBS 1961-66) and The Beverley Hillbillies (CBS 1962-71) and films such as The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967),Ice Station Zebra (1968),The Cincinnati Kid (1965),and others.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Ransohoff