I am speaking as the author of this piece.

Thank you.

Essentially, I was trying to explain that I believed, based on my interpretation of Schickel’s The Men Who Made the Movies segment on Wellman and the director’s own autobiography, that Wild Bill–in his impatience with Colman’s “apparent forgetting” of his lines–was using the coolness between Colman and Lupino to evoke a better performance from both. Sorry if I didn’t express it clearly.

After the incident involving Lupino, Wellman and Colman, Halls of Ivy featured a character who was a bad guy. His name was Wellman.

Moriafinnie, with all due respect – which, of course, you have earned – I think that we are going to have to agree to disagree. I know I sound like Sidney Falco buttering up J.J. Hunsecker or one of the flunkies schmoozing the Godfather but I am sincere.

Wellman made his comments, which were pretty much the way I reported them, for a PBS show and a book that was written by Richard Schickel and published later.
Wellman said he made allowances that maybe Colman was blown away by Lupino and so quickly did a second take and again Colman forgot his lines. The reason Wellman thought it was on purpose was “Colman is like Stanwyck. She doesn’t know only her own part but she knows the whole script. Got one of those retentive memories that is absolutely fantastic.”

Colman was one of the best loved actors in Hollywood and it doesn’t surprise me that he later made friends with Lupino and even with Wellman. But he was a human being and not a perfect person. I have wondered how many of the great stars will be allowed to enter the gates of Heaven. Not many – unless God grades on a curve and that is what we are all hoping for.

I have written many articles as a free lance newspaper reporter. And it never surprises me when people try to change what they originally said because of reactions from others. Sienna Miller did some filming in Pittsburgh and referred to the city by a terrible nickname in an interview for a magazine (Rolling Stone, I think). She tried later to say it was out of context. How can it possibly be out of context?

So it wouldn’t surprise me if Wellman tried to change his story later.

I believe I started responding to the Morlocks last January and I have enjoyed myself and have appreciated the great writing you all do.

Yes. Happy Holidays to everybody!

One note to remember is that according to both Wellman and Lupino, her unexpectedly vivid portrayal of the cockney slut who modeled for Colman‘s artist was not rehearsed with the other actors until the day of the shoot. Wellman, who was bowled over by the performance that she put on for him in his office and kept her away from the other actors, perhaps in part to manipulate the others into reacting to her in a fresh way, (even though that may have been anathema to Colman’s often careful preparations for his scenes). So, aside from wishing that Leigh could have played the part, some of the distance between Lupino and Colman may have been deliberately fostered by the director as well.

Colman‘s character, who did not have any love for Lupino‘s harridan artist model; was never in a love scene with her, but was, in a sense, her tormentor, requiring her to pose for long hours. The enmity between the pair was an asset for that scene and was, by director Wellman‘s admission, manipulated in part by him, according to his memoir, “A Short Time For Insanity”. Wellman later wrote that “I was a wild guy. I’m housetrained now and have been for some years; however, the time during which I directed Light was my wildest time of all. A lot of people didn’t want to work for me, nor did I want to work with them.

“Now we come to Mr. Colman. He and I didn’t like each other from the very start. When they called me in and said they wanted to do this film with him, I said I loved the idea of doing Light but I though Wellman and Colman wasn’t such a good idea…I was a crazy guy, and he was very much the gentleman…he proved very hard to know.”

In any case, I think that Colman‘s frantic intensity in that scene may have been fed by his contretemps with the director and an honest reaction to Ida‘s pulling out all the stops. After the incident that you referred to with Lupino, the actress became a frequent guest at the home of Colman and his wife Benita Hume and they were friends from then on, and very active in British war relief efforts together.

Hi Medusa:
Thanks for adding the link to the Colman‘s Halls of Ivy, a radio show that they performed on together and briefly appeared on television in 1954 in the roles. You’re so right about his voice being MADE for radio.

You can listen to more Colman radio appearances at the link below too, including an aural version of A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol! I found that listening to some of his radio programs the skillful color and nuanced shading that he gave words was especially noticeable, bringing his characters to life in a way that is sometimes sharper than it seems in the movies. Thanks for adding the link, Medusa!

Btw, Happy New Year to All!
http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/colman/ivy.html