Professional Sweetheart: 3/16/24
March Madness! -- An Interview with Writer Jill Blake
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The other night as I was cruising the basic cable streets, I ended up pausing on the original A Star is Born (1937) starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. It had been a few years since I’d seen it (it’s my favorite iteration of the movie, personally) and it was at the scene where Norman Maine and Vicky Lester have rented a camper for their honeymoon. Norman is trying to take a shower in their tiny RV bathroom, and he can’t lift up his arms. I remember I cracked up the first time I saw it. It’s such a subtle moment in the grand scheme of the film but I thought it was so charming and funny.
A clip from A Star is Born (1937)
Despite the fact I worked at TCM for as long as I did and went to film school and all that, I really wasn’t aware of the actor Fredric March until about seven or eight years ago. I went down the rabbit hole after A Star is Born and pretty much became obsessed with him. I was always so impressed by his comedic performances, which always seemed so modern to me. Having watched as many classic movies as I have, you definitely notice the ways in which old actors are of their time and place with how they talk and move around. Back then everyone was rocking that transatlantic accent and would carry themselves more like theater actors, with big, demonstrative movements. Fredric March was of course a huge star in Classic Hollywood but to me he always seemed not that to me. His comic timing seems unbelievably fresh for the 1930s and 1940s, almost like he was a more modern actor AI-transplanted in an old movie. And even though he did period pieces and historical characters throughout his career, I was always drawn to his comedies, where he almost always played a charming, funny (and sometime drunk) love interest.
I would argue that an obsession with Fredric March is a pretty esoteric affair. Even by “movie people” standards, he doesn’t seem like the first person on anyone’s mind. It’s only when you mention he was in things like the original A Star is Born or in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) or was one of the first actors to play Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a movie that it might ring a bell. And while I’m usually okay bumming around solo in my weird passions (I truly believe it’s a pay-to-play thing when you like “old stuff”), I wanted to finally nail down what it is that makes Fredric March so great. So, since we’re in the month of March (get it?), I decided to tap in my friend Jill Blake, an Atlanta-based writer and researcher who is actually working on a book about Fredric March and his wife, Florence Eldridge, to help.
Jill Blake and Freddie.
Millie De Chirico: Hey Jill. So, I was just reminded about how awesome Fredric March is recently, then realized I don’t even know really anything about him. I can't even really put a finger on why I like him so much. And I just wanted somebody that I would consider a Fredric March expert to come on…
Jill Blake: I'm a fucking Fredric March-ologist, okay. Self-appointed.
Millie De Chirico: How did you even discover Fredric March? To me, he’s such an interesting classic movie star. He’s not the first guy that a normal person would think of when they’re like, “Who's an old actor?”
Jill Blake: Really weird people know who he is. No one normal.
Millie De Chirico: [laughs] I want to say, for the record, and this is maybe, I don't know if you've changed this…
Jill Blake: I have changed!
Millie De Chirico: …but the fact that you have a Fredric March iPhone cover is one of the best things about you, in my mind.
Jill Blake: And he's holding a mummified human hand. I don't know if it's from some movie that never got produced. He's totally dressed to the nines. He's young, he's like, in this hot phase and he's holding a human hand. Was that acquired through dubious methods?! Like what?!
Millie De Chirico: And he looks almost sort of perplexed or something. His facial expression is very funny to me.
A picture I took of Jill and her famous iPhone cover, with said Fredric March photo.
Jill Blake: I found that [photo] and I paid an ungodly amount of money for it. Anyway, so how did I get to where I'm spending $150 for one photo for my phone, you asked? So, I used to go and pick some actor and would go through their filmography, on a deep dive. I've done it with Gregory Peck. I've done it with Cary Grant. I've done it with Bette Davis, James Cagney. And so on.
Millie De Chirico: How old are you? What era of your life is this?
Jill Blake: This would have been like mid-2000s. I would have been in my 20s. [For Fredric] I had seen the big hits, some deeper cuts, and some cult classics growing up. So, I decide to go on this odyssey. And when you're going through, say, Cary Grant's filmography and you have to watch the Howards of Virginia (1940). Where he's got the suit with the ribbon tied and he's taking a bath in a metal washtub or something. I was on a William Holden kick at the time and had seen Executive Suite (1954). Fredric March is the villain. He's the evil accountant. And then I see him in The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). A couple years later, it was Summer Under the Stars and they did a whole day of Fredric March movies. This is probably like 2008 or something like that. And I start watching. It was the movie The Dark Angel (1935) with our girl Merle Oberon. And I was like, “Whoa, who's this babe — oh, shit, that's Fredric March from Executive Suite!” I was up for, like, 22 hours that day. Like, I watched the entire programing lineup. I was unemployed at the time. I mean, it was like, I've never loved a man so much as I'd love this man.
Fredric March in The Dark Angel (1935) and Executive Suite (1954)
Millie De Chirico: Wow!
Jill Blake: I can't explain it. He's the fucking dude.
Millie De Chirico: That's what I'm saying! There is some quality to him that I cannot describe. I don’t know if it’s because he reminds me of a modern actor. He has a modern sensibility even though he was primarily a 30s and 40s actor.
Jill Blake: Yeah, I think it's the combination. He was really easy on the eyes. He went from eye candy in the early talkies to matinee star. Paramount just put him as the handsome dude opposite Claudette Colbert or whatever. And Rouben Mamoulian, the director for Jekyll and Hyde, had to fight to get him the part in that because they did not think he could be a serious actor. And then after Best Years there’s this transition where he becomes more of a character and [in] supporting roles. He was a really great actor, who just like any great actor, if left unchecked, he would get a little hammy. So, he had to have solid direction, right?
Millie De Chirico: I can sympathize with that.
Jill Blake: So, maybe that's why I love him so much. He just, like, goes for it.
Millie De Chirico: [I also think] of the studio system having kind of a hierarchy when it comes to stars. A lot of people don't understand that. [I feel] there are certain classic Hollywood actors that are lesser known by the public at large, in the modern era. I kind of feel that way about Tyrone Power. Like, if you were like a Fox or Paramount star, those stars to me seem lesser known in the larger consciousness. Maybe Marilyn Monroe is an exception to that. Do you know what I mean?
Jill Blake: Oh, 100%. And I think a lot of it has to do with availability of the movies. When you've got a charismatic billionaire that buys up a catalog and creates a channel out of it. I think Universal owns a lot of Paramount stuff from a certain time period. But yeah, maybe the exception of James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne. And then, maybe a lot of people know Cary Grant or Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. Katharine Hepburn, especially the ones that lived forever. Everybody knows who Bob Hope is. But Fredric March was one of the biggest stars of the time. Like, huge and critically acclaimed, two Tony Awards [and] two Academy Awards for Best Actor. And no one knows who he is. Except now the kids know who he is. Because someone decided to Google a name on a building, and he got sort of canceled.
Millie De Chirico: So, let's talk about that. That's obviously now a part of his history or mythology or whatever. And I was actually unaware of this. So, can you explain what happened there?
Jill Blake: So, this is nothing new. This did not get uncovered in the last few years. This has been known for decades. Fredric March was born and raised in Wisconsin. He went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and he graduated 1919-1920. In his last year, he was selected or given membership into an academic fraternity where you don't seek that membership. It is bestowed upon you. And this fraternity had a very unfortunate name, and it was the Ku Klux Klan.
Jill Blake (continued): Now, that's not a great name to have for an organization that is not related to the actual Ku Klux Klan. But that’s what they named it. Why they named it that? I don't know. I have theories that, you know. 19-20-year-olds can be really stupid and do stupid things to joke or whatever. There was also a lull before the Klan came back in their second wave. So, I don't know if they were trying to take the name, if they thought it was kind of an ominous name to give mystery to the organization. Regardless, it was stupid and completely ill-advised and hella racist to take this name. But the organization was not the Klan. They did not have robes. They did not do anything that would be anything remotely close to the actual Ku Klux Klan.
The organization changed its name the following year. But [Fredric] was given this honor and that's that. And there's a picture of him in [the] yearbook — it's there plain as day. It says that it's an academic organization. This resurfaced, I want to say it was in the 50s or 60s when he went back to Wisconsin for an honorary. There were some protests about that. He came forward, the school came forward, and explained this was a coincidence. There was no connection whatsoever. And that was it. It resurfaces again in the 70s when they named the theater there on campus after him. And a theater at the Oshkosh campus as well. So, students find it — no, no, there's no relation, they provide all the information.
Fast forward to 2016, 2017. Look, things are shitty right now and racism is horrid. And there's been so much violence against people of color. And Wisconsin actually has a really shitty track record, in terms of dealing with diversity. So, some students, I guess, decided to Google his name or whatever, they found this, and they were horrified. Rightfully. I mean, when you see this and you see the name of this organization and you see this man's name on the building, you go, Oh my God, what are we doing here? And if it's in conjunction with other issues that are happening in the university? So, I get that. The school [forms] a task force. I actually went up to Madison because his papers are there. The archives are right across the street from the student union, which is where the Fredric March Play Circle was. I was talking to the librarian as she's pulling everything. And I asked her, “Has anyone from the school come over here and taken a look at his papers?” And she said no.
Jill Blake (continued): You don't even have to dig very far. Dude was progressive as hell and was doing things and supporting Black people long before it was cool in Hollywood to do so. And no one from that school, either, from the independent panel that was reviewing it, the student advisory group that was looking over it -- no one stepped foot in that archive to even ask the librarian, “What's the deal with this Fredric March guy?”
And by that time, they voted to remove his name because they said, “Well, just the idea that someone would be associated with an organization that has this name.” Here’s an actionable thing that we can do, which is pull this man's name off this theater.
Millie De Chirico: Wow.
Jill Blake: We just need to quit naming shit after people. And of all the things -- rip his name off for him being an ass pincher. Because he was going after women left, right and center.
Florence Eldridge and Fredric March
Jill Blake (continued): He and his wife, Florence Eldridge — she was a little more progressive than him. They were, like, having fundraisers for the Spanish Republic Army. They were socialists. They sponsored Marian Anderson, the opera singer when she was going to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. They held a fundraiser in their backyard in Connecticut for her. He was active with the NAACP. He was the treasurer of this anti-Nazi arts and sciences league. He was so entrenched in progressive causes and actually engaging with black people.
Millie De Chirico: Well, I think it goes back to that conversation that we were just having. Had he been a James Dean or a Cary Grant in the consciousness of mainstream film goers or film history, maybe this would have been cleared up sooner. Maybe the idea that he’s someone that doesn't immediately come to people's minds as being an old movie star is probably what is allowing for the misinformation in a lot of ways.
Jill Blake: Oh, 100%, there's not like this contingency of fans that gives a shit. No one's out there fighting for his honor.
Millie De Chirico: Except for you.
Jill Blake: Except for me, man. Somebody was even trying to petition to have his Oscars stripped from him. And I'm like, here's the thing: if you go down this road, then you're going down [the road of] every fucking person that's ever won.
Millie De Chirico: And to me, there's also other classic movie stars that did visibly, demonstrably worse.
Jill Blake: Yeah.
Millie De Chirico: So, what made you decide to want to write a book? Were you like, “I just watched 22 hours of an actor's films in one sitting! Now I want to dedicate my life to reading and writing about him!”
Jill Blake: You know, going back to, like, those little odysseys I would take on different actors. As I was watching those movies, I would go find books on them and I was devouring everything. The were the trashiest bios ever. Tony Curtis’ American Prince autobiography and it’s just absolute filthy trash. So, I get to Fredric March and there's really nothing. There was one book that really is more of a thesis. And I'm like, okay, there's got to be something else, right? I'm like, he deserves something better than this. He's a fascinating character. Yeah. So that's kind of where that came from. I've been working on this book for 12 years now. I think my mom's going to buy a copy. I could put you down for one, I know.
Millie De Chirico: Yeah, I'll get two. How about that?
Jill Blake: I'll take it. But also, his wife, Florence Eldridge, the little bit that's written about her is so unbelievably sexist. Digging further into her correspondence -- women put up with a lot of bullshit with him. Like, there is no jealousy there. It's just her keeping him in line because that motherfucker was horny as hell. I mean, he was cheating on her from day one, and she was devoted to him. So, I really wanted to do her justice. Because she was, you know -- every good man, there's a strong woman behind them.
Millie De Chirico: It's kind of like the Joanne Woodward to the Paul Newman.
Jill Blake: Absolutely. Like I said, I've been writing this book [for] forever. I mean, I own correspondence that I’ve lucked on, you know? The obsession is really deranged.
Millie De Chirico: I appreciate that because, again, there's something about him that I just cannot immediately put my finger on. All I know is that I like him so much. Every time I see him in a movie, he just makes me so happy. And maybe he's got that ham quality to him. I kind of came into him through the pre-code and screwball stuff. Nothing Sacred (1937). The one movie that crystallized it for me was Design for Living (1933).
Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, and Gary Cooper in Design for Living (1933)
Jill Blake: Dude.
Millie De Chirico: There's a lot of reasons to like that movie. It's just undeniable. The fact that you've got three attractive people in a throuple scenario, which is very modern for that era. The interplay between him and Gary Cooper, they're hamming it up, and I was like, “Who is this man? Why is he so great?” He's so modern seeming, even though he was actually making movies like, a hundred years ago.
Jill Blake: You know, someone like Cary Grant is modern, [but] the man could not play any kind of historical drama whatsoever. He tried it twice and he was horrendous in them. But Fredric March has that modern quality, and he could play fucking Mark Twain. And it's believable — it works. Design For Living was the first time I was like, “I'm in too deep.” And the fact that he looks hot next to Coop, who was smoldering in 1933. He didn't have Coop’s height, but man, he had the fucking charm. Miriam's all over them.
Millie De Chirico: Yeah. It's such a sexy movie.
Jill Blake: He's a playwright, hammering away at those typewriter keys, you know? That's hot.
Fredric March and Gary Cooper in Design for Living (1933).
Millie De Chirico: One of the things that I most appreciate about him, and I think was maybe one of the first times that you and I talked about him, was the fact that Fredric March played the best drunk. That’s a role that he's played several times, the charming alcoholic. It started for me with A Star Is Born and then obviously into The Best Years of Our Lives, Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)…
Jill Blake: I would throw it all away for him, too. I would give him everything I had, and he would drink it away. I'm on record saying that. [laughs] No, but he played a magnificent drunk. I mean, you could even say in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) that he's got a fucking drinking problem.
Millie De Chirico: [laughs] Yes! Yes!
Jill Blake: There's great drunk singing in Middle of the Night (1959), which is low key my favorite. That's probably my favorite performance. Yeah.
Millie De Chirico: So, for many years I had no idea who he actually was. And I totally thought, based on the name “Fredric March with a C at the end” that he was some European actor [in Hollywood]. Like, some Austrian guy to be in period pieces, and then maybe play Bette Davis’ husband in something.
Jill Blake: Yeah, the mechanism for Bette Davis to, you know, to do her Bette Davis shit.
Millie De Chirico: Totally a foreign boyfriend. It wasn’t until [much later] I figured out that he's from Wisconsin.
Jill Blake: He’s a cornfed motherfucker. His full name is Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel.
Millie De Chirico: What!
Jill Blake: That's Wisconsin as fuck right there.
Millie De Chirico: I always thought that if the 1930s or 1940s version of him existed today, when he was in his full star power, his “hottie with occasional pencil-thin mustache” era, he would be in Coen Brothers movies or something. He’s comedically genius. He has a quirky character actor look to him. But also, is traditionally handsome, like Andrew McCarthy or something.
Jill Blake: Absolutely. Like, I could see him being in Coen Brothers or maybe pop up in a PTA film at some point.
A famous shot of Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, and Fredric March in Nothing Sacred (1937)
Millie De Chirico: So, okay, this might be an evil question. If you could pick five Fredric March movies as your all-time favorite…
Jill Blake: Okay. Five movies. So, the first one would be Middle of the Night. Directed by Delbert Mann, script written by Paddy Chayefsky. That's Fredric March, Kim Novak. Then I would go with Best Years of Our Lives, William Wyler. Then I would go with Seven Days in May (1964), directed by John Frankenheimer. Then I'm going with Design for Living. That's Lubitsch. And lastly, Les Misérables (1935). His Jean Valjean is quite spicy.
Millie De Chirico: I love all that. That list is unexpected, which is the best part. I feel like mine is so fucking standard.
Jill Blake: [laughs]
Millie De Chirico: [laughs] I love we’re talking about an actor that nobody knows. And I have a “generic top five” for him.
Jill Blake: Any normal person would be like, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Millie De Chirico: It really goes back to the handshake quality of Fredric March. If you know, love, and are opinionated about Fredric March, I want to be friends with you.
Jill Blake: Like we need to have a talk, I want to know these people. I’m also sure that if you asked me this question tomorrow, it'd be five different movies.
Millie De Chirico: Totally understood.
Jill Blake: You’ve got to hit me with yours.
Millie De Chirico: Okay. Best Years of Our Lives. Nothing Sacred (1937). Because when he gets bit on the back of the leg…
Jill Blake: …by Billy Barty, man.
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Millie De Chirico: That is literally one of the funniest things I've ever seen in any movie. Ever.
Jill Blake: The fact that William Wellman made Nothing Sacred and A Star Is Born in the same year. You've got him getting bit in the ass in one and then diving into the ocean in the other.
Millie De Chirico: Polar opposites. And to that exact point, A Star is Born would definitely be on there. It’s a classic tale that’s obviously been redone for every generation at this point. So that's three. I have two left. I will pick Design for Living. I have to. And I think it's going to be Merrily We Go to Hell. I think that that's my five.
Jill Blake: [laughs] And that, again — it's insane that you're like, “Oh, Merrily We Go to Hell, that's such an obvious mainstream pick!” Like, NO ONE knows this movie.
Millie De Chirico: [laughs] We live in an extremely esoteric and small bubble, getting frustrated over not being able to pick more than five Fredric March movies. The fact that you cruised around for many months, and possibly years, with an iPhone cover of Fredric March holding a mummified hand is so amazing and funny. It's like one of the reasons why I like you so much.
Jill Blake: Let me tell you, showing up when my daughter was in elementary school and taking pictures of her and her friends, and they're like, “What is that?”
Millie De Chirico: [laughs] Well, this has been so fucking enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your love for Fredric March. He's such a great celebrity to be obsessed with.
Jill Blake: You know, I always want to be to an interesting person. [laughs]
To know more about Jill Blake, please go to CineJourneys, which she co-owns. The site features shared, interactive experiences where you can collectively embark on an exploration of all things film. Jill has also written about film for various outlets including Indicator/Powerhouse Films, Kanopy, Netflix Film, Turner Classic Movies, and FilmStruck. As mentioned, she is also working on a book on stage and screen actors Fredric March and Florence Eldridge, and lives in Atlanta with her long-suffering husband Thomas, daughter Ellie, and dogs Sugar and Ruby. Personal Substack: Sitting on a Backyard Fence. Bluesky: @biscuitkitten.bsky.social. IG: @biscuititten.
This made my morning! This woman is a badass and I want to read her book. She had me at phone case. Just a bunch of random thoughts:
• I keep a constant drip of Wodehouse audiobooks on, and someone JUST got bitten in the leg by a child. Love seeing it dramatized so effectively!
•Seems like the KKK showed up in Sherlock Holmes as a secret society of random murderers, was that was a prevailing misconception of the time? Unfortunate.
• I’m reading a bio of Martha Graham and Rouben Mamoulian just got her to teach dance at the Eastman School in the 20s, love the kismet of seeing his name in this random context.
Keep ruling, Millie!!! Thank you for your service
Holy shit this was such a fun, informative interview! I LOVE The Best Days of Our Lives and him in it but really never gave him much of a thought otherwise and now I'm excited to put your top picks on my watch list. I get so excited learning stuff from really learned early Hollywood movie people as a novice little old movie hobbyist. Thanks so much for this great conversation Millie!
I have only seen the Judy Garland version of A Star is Born and I have what's perhaps an unpopular opinion about this franchise......we've now remade a movie at least 3 times where a man is so bereft at being less successesful than his wife that he simply must die. I dunno, just irks me---but I'm open to arguments in favor of the movies, I mean the talent chops alone in all of them does speak volumes.