0 NINOTCHKA / DESIGN FOR LIVING Double Feature

Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins in

Design For Living (1933)

Earlier this month The Criterion Collection released a high definition digital restoration of the pre-code classic film, Design For Living (1933) on DVD and Blu-Ray, but if you want a chance to enjoy this film on the big screen as it was meant to be, prior to enjoying the film at home, the American Cinematheque will be presenting a screening of the film at the Aero theatre in Santa Monica, California. The screening is scheduled for Wednesday, December 28, 2013 and is the second part of a double feature, the first film being another Ernst Lubitsch classic, Ninotchka (1939). Lubitsch's daughter Nicola, will be introducing the double feature. And for those who haven't purchased a copy of Design For Living, all ticket holders will have a chance to win a DVD of the Criterion release.

Design For Living stars the always handsome Gary Cooper, the actor's actor Fredric March, and scene stealer Miriam Hopkins. Cooper and March play roommates living in Paris who both fall in love with the same girl, Gilda Farrell, played by Hopkins. Hopkins can't decide which man she loves, so what does she do? She decides to live with both men!

"Garbo Laughs!" was the tagline for the romantic comedy, Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas. In this film, Garbo is a tough Russian woman sent to Paris to sell some stolen jewelery and bring back three fellow Russians who couldn't complete the task because they had become distracted by the luxuries of a capitalist society. Garbo too begins to fall in love with the West and also with a charming Count (Douglas). What is a Russian girl to do?

Details

Where: Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA

When: Wedensday, December 28, 2013 at 7:30pm

Detail: NINOTCHKA / DESIGN FOR LIVING Double Feature

0 Cooper, Rainer and The Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills

Gary Cooper didn't waste any time going from silent film stunt man to the top leading man of the silver screen. With his tall, handsome looks and "aw shucks" attitude, Cooper charmed both women and men alike. He was the kind of guy audiences would pay to see. Cooper, who grew up in wild west Montana but spent a few years living in Bedfordshire, England to attend grammar school, developed qualities that made him believable playing both cowboys and refined urban characters. He would evolve into the image of the ideal American, even playing  a few real life American icons, including Sergeant York and Lou Gehrig. It's no surprise that even off screen Cooper attracted those around him, especially the ladies.

One of those ladies was German actress Luise Rainer. According to Jeffrey Meyers biography Gary Cooper: American Hero, Rainer, after seeing Cooper in the film A Farewell to Arms, was inspired to come to Hollywood. Meyers writes that "when she saw him in the lobby of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, she felt weak at the knees and was ready to surrender." Above is a contemporary image of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel lobby, but I much prefer this image below that shows how the lobby would have looked closer to the time Rainer first met Cooper there.

Beverly Wilshire Hotel lobby, probably late 1920s.

Photo: LAPL

The Beverly Wilshire Hotel, located at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, was built in 1928. It has always been a luxury hotel that appealed to Hollywood's elite. Some classic movie legends have even lived in the hotel at various times, including actors Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, who like Cooper, had their fair share of affairs. The hotel has even been used as a filming location, most famously in Pretty Woman (1990), starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

Gary Cooper and Luise Rainer

Meyers goes on to quote actor Richard Widmark as saying that Cooper "was catnip to the ladies" and that director Stuart Heisler said, "Coop was probably the greatest cocksman that ever lived. They fell over themselves to get him to take them to bed" - just like Rainer, at the site of Cooper, was ready to "surrender" herself in the  hotel lobby.

Detail: Cooper, Rainer and The Beverly Wilshire Hotel