The John Garfield Guestbook

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Viewing messages 341 to 360.

Lori | @

Hi everyone. First of all I “bow down” to all of you regarding knowledge of John Garfield. All of you have obviously “fans” of his for many years, and I feel I am coming rather late to the party, so to speak. I have written this before but I am so grateful that I found this website, and I am learning so much from all of your posts. Thank you. John, I agree with you, Air Force is just an OK film, but of course Garfield does a great job with his part. I don’t think that Garfield was that concerned about having his name being first in the credits. It might have been that he was just happy to do a film like Air Force, because in a way it was a way to support the troops. You know what I mean? I don’t think his ego was like that of Paul Muni, who per a biography I read years ago, insisted on having his name above the title most of the time. Dennis you make a good point about other celebrities having their life story put on film, so like you I don’t understand what the problem would be with doing the John Garfield story. hanksT everyone for giving me information regarding other books on Garfield. And thank you Barbara thanks for the offer to lend me your book, but I am a little far from Long Island.
Thank you too, Gary and Karen for more information about books, I appreciate it. I know
Karen isn’t it UNBELIEVABLE that those HUAC monsters wanted Garfield to pose for picture and go out to dinner with him after they tormented him for hours! Yes, Lu it’s too bad none of us wasn’t around in early 1952 to help him. The thing is I am not sure he would have taken the help. But I would have gladly been his nurse and I would have ripped ever cigarette he lit right out of his mouth. That is if I knew then that cigarettes were very bad for ones heart. It however wasn’t meant to be though. I think that God said, Hey Julie, son you have suffered enough, you come home with me now, and I will give you true peace.

21 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Dennis | @

In case anyone s interested in John Garfield posters you can purchase posters at posters.com..there is also other sites with john Garfield posters...just do a search.

18 February 2012 - Hamburg ny

Dennis | @

I think many of us contribute information to this guestbook...all of us one time or another have found bits and pieces of info about John Garfield..again I do hope for a direcotr, producer...someone to take the reigns and make that movie on the career of HJohn Garfield!!!

17 February 2012 - Dennis

Hi, this is Lu. I have been busy with my house and chores and am very tired but after reading the many posts, I felt I just had to post something. I hope people who post on this website don't get angry at me for saying this and I think Barbara will agree with me and she even said it that ever since Lori joined "our group", this website has lit up with postings and information and I am SO DELIGHTED.

I am learning SO MUCH. Yes, when I was watching Air Force, I saw that John Garfield's name was way at the botton.

And I mentioned before that when you watch TCM and they mention different stars, never once do they mention John Garfield. IT'S A SHAME!!!!!

But Lori, I admire you very much. You are so informative especially about what you said about his dangerous lifestyle. Being that you are a nurse, you know about such things. It makes sense even to the average person that his lifestyle was indeed dangerous especially when he was in poor health to begin with, too bad none of us were around at that time to maybe be his friend when everyone else seemed to turn their backs on him. VERY SAD.

But I will say Lori, I am also impressed with you going on the TCM website and posting messages on their website. Like the rest of us, you seem to be very annoyed on how John Garfield was treated and how he is being treated now. From the information you are giving out, hopefully he WILL be rediscovered. Frankly, I didn't think many actors of today were aware of him and thought he was a great actor.

Hey, Lori, talk about a a large posting.

And thank you everyone else for the different websites you are mentioning as well.

17 February 2012 - Bergen County, NJ

Gary | @

Just discovered that McFarland put out a softcover edition of Patrick McGrath's Garfield book, but it has the same price tag as the hardcover: $39.95. Interestingly, it's currently out of stock & they're accepting backorders for the reprinting. That sounds as though interest in John Garfield is building; Lori, your info about interest in a JG film seems to confirm it. John, I appreciate your giving some notice to John Ridgely, a reliable, personable actor who's always a welcome presence in classic films.

16 February 2012 - USA

Karen

Lori
you wrote.....
they had the nerve to argue on who was going to go out to dinner with him and who was going to have their picture taken with them

Makes me so mad to hear this!

and thanks for the update about reading JG's full testimony on the TCM link! I will have to check that out!

Also Ebay has the book by McGrath
item # 280825496456 $15.95
there are other books on JG for sale on Ebay.

I remember it was an Oscar night and they were giving a Lifetime achievement award to Kazan and one of my favorite actors Rod Steiger was livid about this. He was with Liz Taylor at the time.

Great posting at this site ...I am enjoying everyones input!

15 February 2012 - Pa

Dennis | @

i agree with you Lori about top billing in the movie Air Force...certainly he was the big name star of the movie...the movie was a good WW2 film...I have always felt that someday Garfield would have a movie or mini series about his lfe in NY on the stage in in Hollywood...I have always said his storyis the perfect rags to richs story...like Danny Glover says in the 2003 documentary somehow you feel John Garfields story is your story ...

If it is true what this Professor says on the TCM website Lori then we should be encouraged. I know Robert Osbourne loves John Garfield, he has said so many times!! I would even think a Clint Eastwood might like to take a Garfield project and turn it into a movie. Remember Clint is 80 something, and he grew up with all those classic stars...I seen him interviewed many years ago on The Tonight Show, and he mentioned Garfieldas one of his favorties.

Also on the notion of actors being hesitant on starring in a Garfield movie becasue of the dark period that still looms over the entertainment...there have been many controversial movie plots...including the movie Lenny with Dustin Hoffman...the movie about Larry Flynt the Hustler editor...movies about actors who played Hitler...TV movies about Charles Manson...so a John Garfield movie would be tame next to those i have mentioned...the world needs to know the truth about what happened during the witch hunt from that Mccarthy era committee. And John garfield can be re-discovered by modern audiences who dont know him or heard of him....for he was the fore-runner of many actors yet to come...his style, his toughnesss, his sincerety...his street wise attitude needs to be broght out to the surface...

I too have all the fore-mentioned Garfield books including many others about your celebrities who died at a young age. The 1974 Swindell book is also good reading...I have it and every so often I go and read random pages...would love to see a John Garfield movie real soon!!!

15 February 2012 - Hamburg NY

Barbara | @

Hi, I'm so happy to see everyone's posts. Lori, I have the McGrath book, and yes, I paid $40 for it. I ordered it through Barnes and Noble. It basically has the same info as the Nott book. If you live on Long Island I would gladly lend it to you, Lori! Years ago, 1975 to be exact, there was a book on Garfield called Garfield: Body & Soul by Larry Swindell. I believe it's out of print, but some libraries still have it! My favorite Garfield book is the Illustrated one on JG's life by Howard Gelman. It is chock full of many photos! .....I'm not a big fan of Air Force either because I'm not into war films, though I believe this film was nominated for best picture. As for John Ridgely, I think his best role was the bad guy (for a change) in The Big Sleep!....I love Humoresque. I think JG had great chemistry with both Crawford and Levant. The dialoug was great. The music was fantastic too, and what about all the scenes filmed on location, particularily the ones at Rockefeller Center!

15 February 2012 - New York

John

I don't consider Air Force a great film. It was mediocre in my opinion. Garfield does play a supporting role in this film doing an admirable job.

Hey, give that great character actor John Ridgely a break, lol. It was probabaly the only time in his career he got top billing. He had small bit parts in many films. Ridgely supported Garfield in The Pride Of The Marines, a film I consider to be Garfield's best.

15 February 2012 - ny

Lori | @

I had to post my message in two parts. Sorry if it is too long.I have some exciting news to share. Over on the TCM message broads, there was a subject that had to do with Mankiewicz and the Blacklist. I guess Ben Mankiewicz after the airing of “On the Waterfront” said something like, Kazan was a great director but not a great person since he named names during the HUAC mess and in doing so threw many of his old friends “under the bus” to save his own career. The person who started this subject wrote something like, Kazan did the right thing and everyone who was blacklisted during that time deserved it. I of course posted a response stating he couldn’t mean John Garfield deserved to be blacklisted. Garfield didn’t deserve to have his career and eventually his life destroyed because he refused to “rat on his friends.” I ended with it was a real tragedy what happened to Garfield, and the tragedy continues because he has been forgotten by the general public. I had quite a few responses that agreed with me but one in particular made my day. He or she goes by the login name of Movie Professor, and here is the response I received
Well Lori3, I'm with you all the way on Garfield. And, as you mentioned, he's virtually forgotten. However, there's some hope lingering for the future ahead. There's been talk of perhaps some sort of a biographical film about Garfield. I can't really say much about it, but there are at least five major current male stars who for the past years have been interested in playing the lead role. Naturally, Kazan will be very much part of the story. I wonder who would be interested in playing his role? The idea for the project has been held up in some form litigation. This is probably expected, since there are sensitive issues of the past that still to this day can have their repercussions. This is because a film about Garfield might have to deal with popular celebrities of his era, shown unfavorably. So, only time will tell whether or not anything finally makes it to the big screen. If not the movies, there's also some sort of plan for a staged version (possibly a musical) of his life. But again, this is as of now, still a pipedream.

15 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Lori | @

Hi everyone. Well I finally got to see Humoresque and I loved it. I read somewhere that some thought that Garfield was miscast in this role, but I thought he did a great job as usual. I know they used different techniques for the close ups when he was playing the violin, but I guess he also studied a film of Isaac Stern playing the violin. There is one scene where he is talking with Oscar Levant, and during the conversation he is moving the fingers on his right hand, like is he is doing a finger exercise. It is these kinds of little touches that I think puts his acting in a class above many others. Also, even when he is in a scene but not speaking his character is also listening and reacting with little mannerisms and facial expression. Tomorrow TCM is showing Air Force at 1pm NY time. Here is how it reads on the TCM schedule; A bomber crew sees World War II action over the Pacific. Dir: Howard Hawks, Cast: John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy. Wait a minute isn’t there one more actor in this film that TCM hasn’t listed? This kind of stuff is what amazes me. Wasn’t John Garfield the bigger name than these actors who are listed? Wasn’t he the bigger “star” in 1943? It is this kind of thing that contributes to him being the forgotten actor by the general public.

15 February 2012 - Lori

Lori | @

Thanks Gary for the information. Yeah $40.00 is a bit pricey, especially since I am not employed at the present time. But will look around, maybe I can find a used one, with a cheaper price. My husband wouldn't be too happy if I spent $40.00 on a book, even if it is about John Garfield.

14 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Gary

Lori, the book is "John Garfield, The Illustrated Career in Films and on Stage". The publisher was McFarland, but I don't know if it's still in their inventory. It's probably available on Amazon, but it might be pricey (I think the original McFarland price was close to $40).

14 February 2012 - USA

Lori | @

Dennis I agree with you, Garfield did make some great movies during WWII and was a true patriotic. Remember he was one of the co-founder for the Hollywood Canteen, and was one of the first big “stars” to travel overseas to entertain the troops, often under dangerous conditions. Per Robert Nott’s book, it hurt and bothered him deeply that he was unable to serve his country during its time of need. He really was a great American, and did not deserve to be treated the way he was by those HUAC witch hunters. I heard Julie Garfield say that after his testimony before HUAC, (which she said took 11 hours) those jackasses had the nerve to argue on who was going to go out to dinner with him and who was going to have their picture taken with them. My God what nerve! And Dennis, like you if I were in a foxhole I would have wanted to be next to Garfield. I am sure he would be the one who would take a bullet for you or for his country for that matter. What an actor, what an American and what a guy.

14 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Lori | @

Hi Gary. Gary what is the name of the book that Patrick McGrath's wrote on Garfield? So, far I have only read the Robert Nott’s book, but I want to read them all. Haven’t there been about 3 or 4 books written on Garfield? , Being a nurse who worked for many years on a cardiac unit and I also worked as an Infection Control nurse for about 15 years I know the damage that rheumatic fever can cause to the heart. Actually rheumatic fever occurs about 2 to 3 weeks after an infection caused by Group A Strep, usually Strep Throat. Strep Throat is treatable now, but back in the 30s antibiotics were not around. Rheumatic fever is the body’s response to the strep infection, which causes an inflammatory response and unfortunately the heart is one organ that is negatively affected. As you noted at that time, (1940s & 50s) the damage that cigarette smoking, drinking and eating the wrong food was not known. So unfortunately, John Garfield wasn’t doing his heart any favors with these behaviors. But, I also know what stress can do the heart especially to an already compromised heart. It can I think be argued that with all the stress he was under resulted in increased smoking, increase in alcohol intake, not getting the proper about of rest,and in short not taking care of himself. Another factor is a person’s attitude, a positive attitude can help the body heal, but a negative attitude can do just the opposite and cause damage e.g. a heart attack. I don’t think Garfield had a positive attitude during that horrible time (really who would) and then add to that the fact that you see your friends one by one turn their backs on you, well it is too much for the heart to bare. Someone over on the TCM message broads wrote, “he died a broken man, of a broken heart.” I am one of the many who believe that it was the stress that the HUAC monsters placed on him that caused his premature death at 39 years of age.

14 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Dennis | @

Isint is amazing that John Garfield made some excellent WW2 movies, like Destination Tokeyo...Air Force...Pride of the Marines...the espionage thriller The Fallen Sparrow...and Dangerously They Live...and yet just a few years later he is called before the HUAC committee for having communist ties!!! I have seen countless interviews with Abe Polonsky...the director Vincent Sherman...his close friend Joe Bernard who all stated that Garfiled was a true American who loved his country.

The problem for him was he knew many of his counterparts, writers, directors..you name it who either were a member of the party or had some connection. Maybe I guess including your own wife...(which Robert Nott) points out in the Garfield bio. John Garfield was a huge name in Hollywood...so committe was out to get him...they wanted him to name names...and as we said before he wuld rat out friends...then the FBI met with him at theri offic ein NY...asked him to rat on his wife..well we all know what he daid to them...f--- You!!!...they even tailed him to Canada Lee's apartment in Harlem...Lee was dying and Garfield went to visit him.

HUAC picked the wrong guy to mess with...he wasnt rating on no one...like Norman Lloyd said in the Garfield TCM documentay...Julie was a progressive...a staunch liberal....no way a communist...but HUAC went on with their dirty work...and ruined many promising careers...including John Garfields...like I have said in the past....if I am in a fox hole....I want John right beside me..he was one tough son-of-a-gun...who lived through one of the darkest periods in this nations history!!

13 February 2012 - Hamburg NY

Gary | @

Lori,I read an excerpt of the HUAC testimony in Patrick McGrath's book on Garfield, and I think JG did an admirable job with his answers, all things considered. I also read somewhere (don't know where) that if JG had managed to hang on a little longer, he would've been okayed by the HUAC bullies and un-blacklisted. Sad, if true. Also sad, that booze and cigarettes were considered primary stress relievers in those days. A lot of that stress would've been better helped by friends not turning their backs on him.

13 February 2012 - USA

Lori | @

Hi everyone. Dennis, I too know what you mean when you say, Beatrice Pearson wasn’t on the right team. I wonder if Garfield tried to get her to “change teams?” Barbara, I agree with you, Beatrice was a little too mousy for me too. There was no chemistry between them, maybe because of the “team” she was on. And, yes Dennis that scene you wrote about in “The Fallen Sparrow” is amazing. I really like that film. I wish his character would of have ended up with Whitney the blonde singer. I think the two of them had better scenes and better chemistry than he had with Maureen O’ Hara. Barbara I agree with you that this film was the turning point in his career. Of course wouldn’t you know it was made through RKO as a loan out. Warner Bros just didn’t know what kind of talent they had with Garfield. Gary, it would be interesting to read what Lilly Palmer said about working with John Garfield. I know Lana Turner said her favorite film was “The Postman” and working with Garfield, kept a girl on her toes. Also in an interview Joan Crawford said, “Johnny was one of the most dedicated young actors I have ever worked with” and Humoresque was one of her favorite films. Someone over at TCM on the message broads posted a link where you can read Garfield’s full testimony for HUAC in April 1951. It is pretty long, (poor guy) and there are other testimonies you can read, but Garfield is the biggest name on this link. If any one wants me to post the link here just let me know. And lastly, it is such a shame about Whitney Huston, she had a beautiful voice.

12 February 2012 - Damascus, Oregon

Gary | @

Speaking of JG leading ladies, has anyone read Lilli Palmer's autobiography, "Change Lobsters and Dance"? I'm wondering what she might've said in it about working on BODY AND SOUL.

12 February 2012 - USA

Barbara | @

Oh my God, just heard the terrible news, Whitney Huston dead at 48! RIP!

11 February 2012 - New York

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