“The Look” came from Ms. Bacall being so nervous her first time on set that she was shaking – so she dropped her chin down so her head wouldn’t wobble around.
BTW, Humphrey Bogart was a wicked chess player, a weak master in terms of strength, and he played any a game with Bacall. A few of those games have been preserved and are floating around online. She was okay, but he wiped the floor with her. (Stephen Sondheim, who was an uncredited “clapper boy” for the movie Beat The Devil, also played Bogart on the set and said he was a fierce chess player. Bogart became a chess player because he used to play cards but claimed the others cheated. He observed “You can’t cheat in chess,” which is basically true.)
A cool thing for me was when a friend said he had been out on a blind date with Leslie Bogart, Lauren Bacall’s daughter. He didn’t tell me until several years later, when the movie “Rosemary’s Baby” came out. It was filmed, he said, in Bacall’s NYC apartment, where he had picked up Leslie and met her mother. At the time, my friend was pretty well-known in New York’s local music scene.
Wow, she let a them shoot in her apartment? She really was quite a dame! Movie crews cause havoc—usually walls have to be patched and painted, and sometimes floor relaid—which they take care of… But knowing how they worked, she’s even more impressive. (Your friend still a musician?)
“Rosemary’s Baby” is one of my all-time favorite movies… which part was filmed in Bacall’s apartment? Was it the apartment that Rosemary and her duplicitous husband lived in, or was it the apartment of the old Satanic couple? I’m intrigued!
Can’t say the Bacall story is true, but it is a good one. My friend is still a musician. He will die one. David Bromberg, who you may or may not know, said he was as good as Clapton. But sadly, he never made it. His band in NYC was ready to breakout when he took LSD laced with strychnine. It sent him to a mental ward. When he recovered, he went out to California and played for tips until all his guitars were stolen. Broke, he returned home to play in bar bands. Last I saw him was many years ago in a cavernous club in Lancaster, Pa. After his set I went up to him, gave him the bro hug and all that. I guess he was pretty popular. When I returned to my table, women kept coming up to me asking, “Do you know him? Do you know him?” I had to chase them away. A tragic story of unrecognized talent. By the way, finished your book. Liked it. Will say more in email.
There it is….”The Look”.
Do you know how to whistle Miss Vickie?
I think I’ve forgotten how to whistle 😉
“The Look” came from Ms. Bacall being so nervous her first time on set that she was shaking – so she dropped her chin down so her head wouldn’t wobble around.
I am going to have to use the same trick when I meet you!
You’re going to have to drop your chin because I’m about a foot below your eye line.
ah ha you got my joke!
Were they whistling for it?
You’re lucky I don’t know how to type an emoticon for that.
BTW, Humphrey Bogart was a wicked chess player, a weak master in terms of strength, and he played any a game with Bacall. A few of those games have been preserved and are floating around online. She was okay, but he wiped the floor with her. (Stephen Sondheim, who was an uncredited “clapper boy” for the movie Beat The Devil, also played Bogart on the set and said he was a fierce chess player. Bogart became a chess player because he used to play cards but claimed the others cheated. He observed “You can’t cheat in chess,” which is basically true.)
I never thought of that, you really can’t cheat in chess, and the frame of mind is so different than cards…
I’ll have to see if I can find some pictures of him playing chess on set 🙂 .
A cool thing for me was when a friend said he had been out on a blind date with Leslie Bogart, Lauren Bacall’s daughter. He didn’t tell me until several years later, when the movie “Rosemary’s Baby” came out. It was filmed, he said, in Bacall’s NYC apartment, where he had picked up Leslie and met her mother. At the time, my friend was pretty well-known in New York’s local music scene.
Wow, she let a them shoot in her apartment? She really was quite a dame! Movie crews cause havoc—usually walls have to be patched and painted, and sometimes floor relaid—which they take care of… But knowing how they worked, she’s even more impressive. (Your friend still a musician?)
“Rosemary’s Baby” is one of my all-time favorite movies… which part was filmed in Bacall’s apartment? Was it the apartment that Rosemary and her duplicitous husband lived in, or was it the apartment of the old Satanic couple? I’m intrigued!
Can’t say the Bacall story is true, but it is a good one. My friend is still a musician. He will die one. David Bromberg, who you may or may not know, said he was as good as Clapton. But sadly, he never made it. His band in NYC was ready to breakout when he took LSD laced with strychnine. It sent him to a mental ward. When he recovered, he went out to California and played for tips until all his guitars were stolen. Broke, he returned home to play in bar bands. Last I saw him was many years ago in a cavernous club in Lancaster, Pa. After his set I went up to him, gave him the bro hug and all that. I guess he was pretty popular. When I returned to my table, women kept coming up to me asking, “Do you know him? Do you know him?” I had to chase them away. A tragic story of unrecognized talent. By the way, finished your book. Liked it. Will say more in email.