People use the term “matinee idol” to describe an actor who mainly plays romantic leads, and is valued more for his looks and charm than for finely tuned acting skills. But back in the day, matinee shows were for kids: oat operas and slapstick comedies, plus cartoons. Was that phrase in use in those days, or was it coined by a later generation who thought “matinee” was a romantic-sounding word?
I wonder if you can identify a film for me. I can’t give you much to go on, so I understand if you can’t. It was a black and white sound film, and I think it would have been a screwball comedy with an ensemble cast. Character A is in the hospital, but not seriously ill. Character B thinks he can sing. Nurse hands phone to A. Cut to B,in front of a club orchestra, standing at a microphone, to which the phone is held up. B starts singing. A turns over and lets the phone drop, in amused disgust.
3)I don’t have a third question; I just thought this would sound better as “Three Questions for Eve”, rather than “Two”.
The term “Matinee Idol” goes back to the pre-movie days, when shopgirls would go to the Saturday matinee after they got off work (Saturday was a half workday till well into the 20th century). They’d go see their favorite gorgeous actor—Richard Mansfield, Maurice Barrymore, whoever—and wait outside the stage door to get their programs signed. It wasn’t till the B-picture days of the talkies that matinees changed meaning.
Ya got me stumped—sounds like it could be any Warner Brothers comedy of the late 1930s. Just one I haven’t caught. Do you remember any of the performers in it?
Oh, sure now it’s All About Eve. What about the rest of us?
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” - Adam Smith
You tell us all about it, Eve, and then remind me to tell you of the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke.
Alt-term for matinee idol, at least in England, was “darling of the gods.” The denizens of the cheap seats were sometimes called “gods” and would scream and carry on for their favorites (Tallulah Bankhead being a most obvious example).
Complete shameless highjack: I was watching a tape of “All About Eve” yesterday, to avoid the Elian/Jesus fests going on on the other channels. And as much as I love Bette Davis in the role of Margo Channing—wouldn’t Tallu have been even BETTER?