It took longer than expected, but the new Conrad Veidt pages at The
German-Hollywood Connection are online. A photo gallery offers photos of
the April 3, 1998 ceremonies, among other things. (More in the future!)

Please take a look and let me know about any corrections, etc.

   http://www.german-way.com/cinema/cveidt1.html

- Hyde
----------------------------------
The German-Hollywood Connection
http://www.german-way.com/cinema/

Hyde,

What a wonderful surprise to wake up to!  Thank you so much for all your
original research and your work in putting all of the information you have
gathered on these pages.  I never expected to find out so many interesting
details about how Conny and Lily's ashes ended up in London.

About Conny's first Berlin stage appearance in "The Doctor's Dilemma"
directed by Max Reinhardt - is there any record of which part he played?

Sandy

Hyde Flippo wrote:

> From: hflippo@... (Hyde Flippo)
>
> It took longer than expected, but the new Conrad Veidt pages at The
> German-Hollywood Connection are online. A photo gallery offers photos of
> the April 3, 1998 ceremonies, among other things. (More in the future!)
>
> Please take a look and let me know about any corrections, etc.
>
>   http://www.german-way.com/cinema/cveidt1.html
>
> - Hyde
> ----------------------------------
> The German-Hollywood Connection
> http://www.german-way.com/cinema/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
> to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
> select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.

Sandy SJB <sjbock@...> wrote:

>About Conny's first Berlin stage appearance in "The Doctor's Dilemma"
>directed by Max Reinhardt - is there any record of which part he played?

Glad you like the new pages.

Veidt played a "writer" ("Schreiber"). More I don't know.

- Hyde

Has anyone read this new book on "Caligari" by David Robinson?

Sandy

>                 Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari remains the source and essence of
German Expressionist cinema. It centers on the haunting, sexually ambivalent
presence of Conrad Veidt, as a somnambulist exploited as an instrument of murder
by the sinister Dr. Caligari. David Robinson challenges long accepted versions
of the history and reception of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari. He reassesses
contributions of the director and writers, as he investigates the status and
significance of the recently discovered scenario for Caligari.
>
> [Image]
>
>      David Robinson is a film critic, historian of popular performing arts,
and director of the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. He has written many books
including Buster Keaton and Chaplin, His Life and Art.
>
>      March 1998
>
>      80 pages, 5 1/4 x 7 1/2, illus.
>      paper 0-85170-645-2 $ 10.95
>
>
>

http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/spring98/robinson.html

For you Powell/Pressburger fans.

http://www2.bbc.co.uk/movies/bbcap/archive/powell/interview1.shtml

Sandy

Today a friend showed me something very disturbing in the National Examiner
("America's Favorite Family Weekly") which reminded me of the Conrad Veidt
film, "The Man Who Laughs".  I know you can't believe everything you read in
the tabloids (I hope to God this is a hoax), but this article had photographs
of the Rat Children of Pakistan, who are allegedly one of the saddest cases of
exploited children in the world.   These innocent babies (offerings to the
shrine of Shah Daula or "The Rat's Nest" in eastern Punjab) are deliberately
deformed by a beggar's mafia to take on the horrifying appearance of rodents.
Quoting the article:  "As children their heads are held in iron vises that
slope back the forehead, elongate and point the nose and slant the eyes. Then
around their second or third birthday comes a man with a sharp knife to scar
the corners of their mouths.  The vicious, greedy mouth of a rat."   The
helmets are designed to crush the soft bones at the base of the skull,
deliberately damaging the pituitary gland to stunt their growth and make them
mentally retarded so that they will be more successful beggars.  If this
article is to be believed, then the evil men who horribly disfigure these
children are the modern day Comprachicos.

Does anyone know if this story is true?

Gilda

On a much lighter note, I have been reading the autobiography of Mary Ellis
for my Ivor Novello Home Page (http://members.aol.com/Novello/).  Miss Ellis
mentions her costar Conrad Veidt when she talks about the making of  Bella
Donna (1934):

"The spell was broken when the Teddington Studios asked me to do my first film
Bella Donna.  I had to leave at six every morning to be on the set at
Teddington, made up and ready, at nine.  That script of Bella Donna was
terrible, but Conrad Veidt was in it, and Cedric Hardwicke.  To work with
Veidt was a lovely experience in itself;  he was an outsize personality, very
funny and angry by turns and terribly attractive.  A pale, red-haired
American, Robert Milton, was the director.  He was of the theatre, and I don't
think making films was his milieu.  But we battled though and I've seen the
film several times over the years (it's still in the Archives, I believe) and
it is not much worse than most films of the that time.  At one point in the
story I got led into the desert on a donkey (piles of sand on the studio floor
-- no voyaging in those days to Arabian desert locations) by a young Arab
wearing a fez and a striped gpown.  The young Arab turned out to be one Rodney
Millington, in a very dark-brown make-up, long before he became the head of
Spotlight and known, I think, to every actor in the world."

From Those Dancing Years:  The Autobiography of Mary Ellis, page 77.

Gilda
http://members.aol.com/Novello/

It wouldn't surprise me.  There are lots of places in the Third World
where parents deliberately cripple their children to make them more
effective beggars.  Not to mention some of the parents in 'our' world
who do terrible things to their kids, with less excuse.




---Henning7@... wrote:
>
> From: Henning7@...
>
> Today a friend showed me something very disturbing in the National
Examiner
> ("America's Favorite Family Weekly") which reminded me of the Conrad
Veidt
> film, "The Man Who Laughs".  I know you can't believe everything you
read in
> the tabloids (I hope to God this is a hoax), but this article had
photographs
> of the Rat Children of Pakistan, who are allegedly one of the
saddest cases of
> exploited children in the world.   These innocent babies (offerings
to the
> shrine of Shah Daula or "The Rat's Nest" in eastern Punjab) are
deliberately
> deformed by a beggar's mafia to take on the horrifying appearance of
rodents.
> Quoting the article:  "As children their heads are held in iron
vises that
> slope back the forehead, elongate and point the nose and slant the
eyes. Then
> around their second or third birthday comes a man with a sharp knife
to scar
> the corners of their mouths.  The vicious, greedy mouth of a rat."
The
> helmets are designed to crush the soft bones at the base of the skull,
> deliberately damaging the pituitary gland to stunt their growth and
make them
> mentally retarded so that they will be more successful beggars.  If
this
> article is to be believed, then the evil men who horribly disfigure
these
> children are the modern day Comprachicos.
>
> Does anyone know if this story is true?
>
> Gilda
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or
> service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit
> http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.
>

Gilda,

Thanks very much for sharing Mary Ellis' impressions of CV.  I had never heard
of
Ms. Ellis so I doubt I would ever have read her autobiography and come across
this.  Her comment about him being "very funny and angry by turns" is one of the
only times I've heard anyone mention him having a temper on the set other than
the
comment by Jules Dassin about CV walking off the set of "Nazi Agent" when he saw
how young Dassin looked and learned Dassin had never directed a feature film
before.

Ms. Ellis  mentions that she thinks the film "Bella Donna" is still in the
Archives.  Do you think she means the British Film Institute archives?   Has
anyone on the mailing list seen this film?  If so, what are your impressions?

About the rat children.  I have heard of them before but only the part about the
parents deforming their heads, not the part about cutting their mouths.  Pretty
horrible stuff.
There is also a genetic condition (or it may be a metabolic disease that affects
humans in utero, I'm not sure which)  that causes a person to look like a rat.
The nose and front of the face are very pointed, like a snout and the outside
corners of the eyes are slanted severely downward.  There is an actor who has
this
condition..  I can't remember his name but he is married to the actress who
played
the dizzy receptionist on the television series "Moonlighting".  He has dark,
curly  hair, is extremely tall and has been in a lot of movies, usually as a
heavy.  (I think he might have been one of the burglars in one of the "Home
Alone"
movies.)  I wonder if the practice of deforming children to look like rats got
started from seeing how "successful" beggars with this naturally occuring
condition were.

Sandy


Henning7@... wrote:

> From: Henning7@...
>
> On a much lighter note, I have been reading the autobiography of Mary Ellis
> for my Ivor Novello Home Page (http://members.aol.com/Novello/).  Miss Ellis
> mentions her costar Conrad Veidt when she talks about the making of  Bella
> Donna (1934):
>
> "The spell was broken when the Teddington Studios asked me to do my first film
> Bella Donna.  I had to leave at six every morning to be on the set at
> Teddington, made up and ready, at nine.  That script of Bella Donna was
> terrible, but Conrad Veidt was in it, and Cedric Hardwicke.  To work with
> Veidt was a lovely experience in itself;  he was an outsize personality, very
> funny and angry by turns and terribly attractive.  A pale, red-haired
> American, Robert Milton, was the director.  He was of the theatre, and I don't
> think making films was his milieu.  But we battled though and I've seen the
> film several times over the years (it's still in the Archives, I believe) and
> it is not much worse than most films of the that time.  At one point in the
> story I got led into the desert on a donkey (piles of sand on the studio floor
> -- no voyaging in those days to Arabian desert locations) by a young Arab
> wearing a fez and a striped gpown.  The young Arab turned out to be one Rodney
> Millington, in a very dark-brown make-up, long before he became the head of
> Spotlight and known, I think, to every actor in the world."
>
> >From Those Dancing Years:  The Autobiography of Mary Ellis, page 77.
>
> Gilda
> http://members.aol.com/Novello/
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or
> service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit
> http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.

Has anyone been able to catch the tour yet and see Connie's uniform from
"Casablanca"?

Some trivia about the uniform:

It's the same one he is wearing in the photo in the London Guardian newspaper
article about the interment at Golders Green Cemetary.  (Connie and Claude Rains
seated at a table at Rick's cafe.)

"Casablanca" was on television a few weeks ago and I watched it again just to
see
in which scenes he wears the white uniform. (Not that I wouldn't have watched it
anyway.)    It makes it's first appearance in Major Strasser's  first scene in
Rick's cafe.  All the major male characters are wearing white jackets that
night.   That same evening Ugarte is arrested at the cafe as Strasser smokes a
cigarette and calmly watches the arrest.  (There are small cigarette burns or
coffee stains on the lapel of the uniform according to Robert Urich who narrated
the video clip I saw about the tour.)   Also that evening are the scenes in
which
Major Strasser questions Rick ("What is your nationality? I'm a drunkard.")
while
eating caviar and drinking champagne.   And later the same evening at Rick's,
Strasser and Victor Laszlo are introduced for the first time.   Strasser doesn't
wear the white uniform again after that night.

The uniform that is on display is missing a few items.  In the film, the uniform
has a  row of medals over the left breast pocket and emblem patches on the
collar
lapels but these are gone from the uniform in the exhibit.  The snaps where the
patches were attached are still there.  The uniform on display has one medal I
didn't see on it in the film.   The medal consists of a silver eagle in a gold
circle and is on the left breast pocket just below an Iron Cross.  In the film,
I
saw the eagle medal only on the dark uniform where it is visible in the scene in
which Strasser tells Louie it may be too dangerous to let Victor Laszlo stay in
Casablanca.

Does anyone in the mailing list know anything about real military uniforms?  I
know nothing about them and have no idea whether anything about this uniform is
historically accurate.

Sandy

Hello All,

In reply to Sandy's question:

Ms. Ellis  mentions that she thinks the film "Bella Donna" is still in
the
Archives.  Do you think she means the British Film Institute archives?

Yes, The BFI has a print of BELLA DONNA which it is in the process of
restoring. I learned this from a BFI mailing which I got as a result of
being a subscriber to their magazine SIGHT AND SOUND.

--

On Mon, 7 Sep 1998 04:57:39    Henning7 wrote:
>From: Henning7@...
>
>Today a friend showed me something very disturbing in the National Examiner
>("America's Favorite Family Weekly") which reminded me of the Conrad Veidt
>film, "The Man Who Laughs".  I know you can't believe everything you read in
>the tabloids (I hope to God this is a hoax), but this article had photographs
>of the Rat Children of Pakistan, who are allegedly one of the saddest cases of
>exploited children in the world.   These innocent babies (offerings to the
>shrine of Shah Daula or "The Rat's Nest" in eastern Punjab) are deliberately
>deformed by a beggar's mafia to take on the horrifying appearance of rodents.
>Quoting the article:  "As children their heads are held in iron vises that
>slope back the forehead, elongate and point the nose and slant the eyes. Then
>around their second or third birthday comes a man with a sharp knife to scar
>the corners of their mouths.  The vicious, greedy mouth of a rat."   The
>helmets are designed to crush the soft bones at the base of the skull,
>deliberately damaging the pituitary gland to stunt their growth and make them
>mentally retarded so that they will be more successful beggars.  If this
>article is to be believed, then the evil men who horribly disfigure these
>children are the modern day Comprachicos.
>
>Does anyone know if this story is true?
>
>Gilda
>
I wouldn't be surprised if it were true, Gilda.  There are so  many disturbing
attrocities that we don't know about.  Having worked in the mental health field,
I have known of institutionalized people who have had holes drilled into their
temples.  Generally referred to as lobotomies, these horrendous procedures were
performed on people to decrease bad behaviors.  I also am horrified by genital
mutilation.

Billiam
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Help support ONElist, while generating interest in your product or
>service. ONElist has a variety of advertising packages. Visit
>http://www.onelist.com/advert.html for more information.
>


Free web-based email, Forever, From anywhere!
http://www.mailexcite.com

I recently received a delightful letter from Vivienne Phillips in London and
she had a message which she wanted to relay to CVS members:

"Maybe members, especially those who so generously contributed to the fund to
secure the niche in the Columbarium, would like to know that, as I live just a
short distance from the Hoop Lane, that Connie and Lilli don't go unvisited;
since my parents and my closest friend are there,  I make regular visits on
their birthdays and anniversaries, and when I do, I always visit Connie, too,
taking a few flowers from my garden to put in the small glass vase by the
casket.  I think I do it as much for myself as for him - I still can't believe
he's really here!

Last week I received a video copy of the ceremony of April 3rd taken by one of
those attending.  It's an amateur film, of course, but rounds out the memories
of that great day.  It only lasts six minutes.  But I will try to find someone
to put it on a tape, and send it to Jim, who, I hope, will be able to get it
transferred to NTSC from our PAL system.  Whether it will be possible to
include it on your website will be up to you.

I do hope that many other CVS members will be able to come to London to visit
Connie, and, of course, I should only too pleased to take them, if they so
wish."

-- Vivienne Phillips, from a letter dated August 22nd 1998

Gilda

Sorry for the typos (my fault, not Vivienne's).  The following two sentences
should have read:

"Maybe members, especially those who so generously contributed to the fund to
secure the niche in the Columbarium, would like to know that, as I live just a
short distance from Hoop Lane, that Connie & Lilli don't go un-visited;
since my parents and my closest friend are there,  I make regular visits on
their birthdays and anniversaries, and when I do, I always visit Connie, too,
taking a few flowers from my garden to put in the small glass vase by the
casket."

"I do hope that many other CVS members will be able to come to London to visit
  Connie, and, of course, I shall be only too pleased to take them, if they so
  wish."


Gilda

Thanks for your reply, Bill.   I am still shocked about the Comprachicos old
and new.  When I first saw "The Man Who Laughs" years ago, I thought it was
all just a grotesque fantasy, until I researched more about the Comprachicos
and discovered they were an historical reality.  The idea that they deformed
children for the amusement of jaded royalty is bad enough, but to think that
this still goes on in our "enlightened age" is incredible, but as you said,
probably true.  It amazes me how socially relevant Connie's films are even
today and depresses me that the human rights violations he addressed still
persist.

Gilda

Thank you very much for your reply, Sandy.

sjbock@... wrote:

<<Has anyone on the mailing list seen this film?  If so, what are your
impressions?>>

No, I haven't seen "Bella Donna" but this is at the top of the list of Veidt
films I would love to see.   I wonder if Mary Ellis sings at all in this
film???  She had a magnificent voice!!! but also loved playing straight
dramatic roles, mostly on stage.  She was the original "Rose-Marie" on
Broadway in 1924, in the role which both Joan Crawford and Jeanette MacDonald
would later play in films.  Ivor Novello was inspired to write his two biggest
Drury Lane musicals for her -- "Glamorous Night" and "The Dancing Years."
Mary Ellis was born in New York City in June 1900 but England became her home
in 1932.  She is still alive and well, last I heard.

<< I wonder if the practice of deforming children to look like rats got
  started from seeing how "successful" beggars with this naturally occurring
  condition were. >>

That sounds very plausible, Sandy, or it has something to do with a religious
myth, according to the article:

"Dr. Mehdi says the roots of the trade can be traced to the shrine of Shah
Daula or The Rat's Nest, in the stinking impoverished town of Gujrat in the
eastern Punjab.
Childless women flock to the shrine and pray for motherhood, but, in a
perversion of the gentle, 350-year-old myth surrounding this place, there is
now a price to pay for fertility --- the firstborn.  It is these innocent
babies who are destined to become the Rat Children."

So the children donated by their parents to the religious shrine are later
picked up by the begging fraternity who artificially induce the rat appearance
and keep them as begging slaves.  The scars on the children's mouths give the
appearance of elongated grins which is why I instantly thought of "The Man Who
Laughs".

Here are some URLs which discuss the original Comprachicos and Victor Hugo's
"The Man Who Laughs":

http://www.stormy.org/edcompr.htm (Education: Comprachicos: Victor Hugo and
Ayn Rand)

http://www.zonpower.com/discovery/advantage84.html (PROTECTING CHILDREN
from MYSTICS AND NEOCHEATERS)

Gilda

--

On Tue, 8 Sep 1998 03:27:02    Henning7 wrote:
>From: Henning7@...
>
>Thanks for your reply, Bill.   I am still shocked about the Comprachicos old
>and new.  When I first saw "The Man Who Laughs" years ago, I thought it was
>all just a grotesque fantasy, until I researched more about the Comprachicos
>and discovered they were an historical reality.  The idea that they deformed
>children for the amusement of jaded royalty is bad enough, but to think that
>this still goes on in our "enlightened age" is incredible, but as you said,
>probably true.  It amazes me how socially relevant Connie's films are even
>today and depresses me that the human rights violations he addressed still
>persist.
>
>Gilda
>
Gilda, I question the term "enlightened age".  We are definitely getting more
technically advanced, but I think that has had a numbing affect on people's
morality.  I really think people are starting to become automated in their
actions and their beliefs.  Except for a few of us, morality is becoming extinct
as face-to-face human contact decreases.  People see what is going on with the
Comprachicos and nothing is done. As you know, Gilda, our churches are no longer
the bastiens of change. Instead they are nice little meeting places where we go
to feel good about ourselves.

The more I find out about Connie, the more I am just absolutely amazed.

Bill
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
>to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
>select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>


Free web-based email, Forever, From anywhere!
http://www.mailexcite.com

Well said, Bill.  However, I think before anything can be done about these
hideous problems, we have to at least talk about them and know about them.  I
think our age will truly be enlightened when every child of every nation,
color or creed has equal access to sophisticated technology such as computers.
Globally speaking, we are still in the Dark Ages.

Gilda


In a message dated 9/8/98 2:36:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
billcramer@... writes:

<< Gilda, I question the term "enlightened age".  We are definitely getting
more technically advanced, but I think that has had a numbing affect on
people's morality.  I really think people are starting to become automated in
their actions and their beliefs.  Except for a few of us, morality is becoming
extinct as face-to-face human contact decreases.  People see what is going on
with the Comprachicos and nothing is done. As you know, Gilda, our churches
are no longer the bastiens of change. Instead they are nice little meeting
places where we go to feel good about ourselves.

  The more I find out about Connie, the more I am just absolutely amazed.

  Bill >>

This year I had to miss DragonCon, the HUGE science fiction, fantasy and
horror con held every year in Atlanta, because I had to go to New Jersey for
some (happy) family events.  A friend who did attend told me that CV briefly
became the topic of conversation on a panel featuring legendary authors Harlan
Ellison and Ray Bradbury and equally legendary special effects creator Ray
Harryhausen.  The subject was the scene in The Thief of Bagdad where Jaffar
decides not to bend the Princess to his will and force her to love him. Harlan
Ellison said Veidt was wonderful in that scene because he was able to express
so many different emotions without any dialogue, just by the use of his eyes.

Or words to that effect... that's not an exact quote, merely what my friend
was reporting.

  -- Paula

I hate to be running against the current, so to speak, but I wouldn't believe
anything written in a tabloid newspaper unless I myself, or someone whom I
have reason to believe is honest, has actually seen the things reported.

                                                        Dina

I have just now visited Hyde Flippo's website and seen the Conrad
Veidt photo galley. (Thought I had the URL copied and don't - so if
anyone else hasn't been there, go to
http://members.aol.com/CVSociety/home.html  and follow the link on
that page.  (Not to mention a few other links Gilda has added!) Well
done Hyde!

Question.  It's been a couple of months since I've watched Above
Suspicion.  When in the movie does the scene occur that is shown in
this still?  For the life of me I can't remember such a scene.  Is it
just a 'publicity' still, with no actual relation to the movie, or was
it a scene that was cut?

On page 294 of From Caligari to Casablanca, Allen refers to The Thief
of Bagdad playing before an 'SRO' audience.  What the heck is an SRO
audience?

In a message dated 9/10/98 8:57:16 AM, you wrote:

<<What the heck is an SRO
audience?>>

Standing Room Only.  :)

  -- Paula

In a message dated 9/10/98 6:56:53 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
nocturne_cvs@... writes:

<< On page 294 of From Caligari to Casablanca, Allen refers to The Thief
  of Bagdad playing before an 'SRO' audience.  What the heck is an SRO
  audience? >>

"Standing Room Only"

Gilda

Sorry to be redundant.  I didn't know that Paula had already answered that
question.
I am signed up to the Conrad Veidt Onelist under two of my AOL screen names --
Paula's posting did not show up in my Henning7 mailbox.   I have been missing
some of the postings within the last few days -- sometimes on both screen
names.  I thought subscribing twice would ensure I get all of them, but for
some reason I missed a few.

Gilda

oh!

I hate acronyms!




---Henning7@... wrote:
>
> From: Henning7@...
>
> In a message dated 9/10/98 6:56:53 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> nocturne_cvs@... writes:
>
> << On page 294 of From Caligari to Casablanca, Allen refers to The
Thief
>  of Bagdad playing before an 'SRO' audience.  What the heck is an SRO
>  audience? >>
>
> "Standing Room Only"
>
> Gilda
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
> to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
> select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.
>

Good news!  At least if you live in Atlanta. :)

The Silent Film Society of Atlanta will screen The Man Who Laughs on Friday,
October 23, in celebration of the film's 70th anniversary.  This will be a
16mm print with (I assume) the original synchronized score (I'm going to plug
my fingers into my ears when the soprano starts screeching...) :-)  Doors open
7:30 p.m., SFSA meeting and screening starts at 8:00 p.m.  The location hasn't
been announced, but it will be on the campus of Emory University, probably a
room in White Hall.  I will be happy to provide directions if anyone here
plans on attending.

An interview with Bill Eggert, founder and director of the SFSA and Conrad
Veidt fan, should be available soon on the CV Society official home page...
er, right, Barbara? <g>

By the way, a friend of mine who is a professional scriptwriter just saw The
Man Who Laughs (with live orchestra) along with The Last Command and The
Crowd, at the Telluride Film Festival.  She loved The Last Command and The
Crowd, but *hated* -- she actually used the word "loathed" -- The Man Who
Laughs, and so did the people she saw it with.  I am at a loss to explain this
since I think it's such a lovely movie and usually we have the same tastes in
film, but there it is.  I wonder if that was the general reaction at Telluride
or if it was just my friend and her friends.

  -- Paula

>
>
> By the way, a friend of mine who is a professional scriptwriter just saw The
> Man Who Laughs (with live orchestra) along with The Last Command and The
> Crowd, at the Telluride Film Festival.  She loved The Last Command and The
> Crowd, but *hated* -- she actually used the word "loathed" -- The Man Who
> Laughs, and so did the people she saw it with.

Wow, Paula, this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone not liking this
movie.  I doubt this could be the whole reason but maybe it was the music.  Do
you
know what the orchestra played?

Sandy

Yesterday I received this email from Jim Danforth who is helping research a
book about Sabu and who just interviewed John Justin about the making of
"The Thief of Bagdad".  He has kindly allowed me to pass on to the mailing
list and other Veidt fans Justin's very interesting comments about CV.

>
>
> This morning I John Justin telephoned. To the best of Justin's knowledge,
> Veidt did no "Thief" scenes in Hollywood.
>
> You might be interested in Justin's additional comments re Conrad Veidt.
>
> "Connie was wonderful to me."
> "He was jolly kind - a wonderful man."
> "It was my first film and he was a man who had done many films.
> "He had Alex's ear; he corrected many problems."
> (I asked him to elaborate, and the gist of it was that if Justin simply
> mentioned something that was causing him difficulty regarding the
> production, Veidt would have a quiet word with Alex Korda and the
> necessary correction would be made.  I got the impression that this was
> all done privately, without Veidt taking any credit.
>
> The funniest thing Justin had to say about Viedt I will report just as
> it was told to me. (this is all reconstructed from notes.)
>
> "At that time I had a very beautiful girl friend.  One day she and I
> were in the corridor at the studio and along came Conrad Veidt, in full
> costume — cape and all — striding toward us.  As he passed, he
> winked...  I think my girl friend had an orgasm right there."
>
> What can I say?
>
> Jim

That about says it all.

Sandy