Of course, the biggest treat was a showing of the Tobin-starring 1932 Fox flick Pleasure Cruise. I was the first in line, waiting for 2 hours for the showing. When Tobin popped up on screen I applauded heartily-- that's the kind of person who runs this site, naturally. It's only the second Tobin movie I've seen in the theater after a showing of One Hour With You in Shibuya, and the print was great. The movie went over well, which surprised me-- the whole spousal rape that caps the film's third act is still fucked up-- but it quickly faded to the background among many of the other events of the festival. Too bad-- Tobin's scene in the stateroom where she battles a picture of her husband in deciding whether to give in to his jealousy is still a hoot.
(Above: Darin, Christina, Em, and me!)
Fun side note: as part of the Festival's Boutique, there were several custom chocolates given the names of several of the films being shown. Pleasure Cruise's treat was a coconut and macadamia mix-- two of my least favorite things in the world. I still ate it though-- how often do you get to eat chocolates named after obscure 1930s films? Not often enough, I say.
I stayed a little extra time in Los Angeles to do some serious Tobin research-- the kind you can only do in Los Angeles. I only had three days to do it, so I tried a couple of different places to get a feel for the process.
Monday was the Margaret Herrick Library, the home of the Academy archives and a treasure trove of artifacts. Unfortunately, most of their archival material is centered around Tobin's eventual husband, director William Keighley. And while it's fun that I got to hold his Legion of Honor award in my hands (don't think the nation of France will be giving me one of those any time soon), it was a little frustrating in how little about Tobin I found. However, some fun notes:
- Keighley's wedding notices to Tobin all say she's his second wife-- all of his obituaries mention her as his third wife.
- Keighley won the Legion of Honor for taking thousands of photographs of the French countryside and donating them to the government.
- Keighley was quoted in an article from the late 30s pondering the waning influence of 'the white man' as Japan ascended.
The next day, at the gorgeous UCLA campus, I got to dive into their archives and watch two obscure Tobin films-- Seed and Our Neighbors, The Carters. Both were nothing to write home about-- Carters especially was a treacly mess-- but it was cool to actually see them.
The last day of my trip involved going to the Los Angeles Public Library and digging through their photo archives. Discoveries here included the first photo I'd seen of her with her grown brother, George Tobin. There were also a number of charming pictures of Tobin post-1940 where her age clearly showed. My favorite picture from the newspaper archives was one photo that circled Tobin's face and crossed out those of people also in the picture-- namely then-unknowns Van Heflin and Deborah Kerr.
I also learned that Tobin's house in 1933 was at 626 Lorraine Blvd in L.A. The house still stands, and is valued at only $3.5 million. Can you say Kickstarter?
Now I'm vacationing back in my home town in Illinois, where I concidentally found a paperback copy of The Case of the Lucky Legs-- yes, the basis for the Perry Mason film with Warren William where Tobin portrays Della Street-- and blasted through it.
If I learned anything, it's that I'll have to spend a good amount of well-planned time in Los Angeles. It won't be soon, but getting the chance to investigate all of this has been gratifying and exciting.
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