All posts tagged: Basil Rathbone

Films Rathbone Almost Made

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Have you ever thought about movie roles that Basil tried out for, but didn’t get, or roles that he was offered, but declined? And then there were films Basil was contracted to do, and for some reason the film wasn’t made, or it was made and Rathbone wasn’t in it. In this post we will take a look at Rathbone’s close encounters with the following films: The Hurricane The Gamblers The Knight and the Lady Victoria Docks at Eight The Hunchback of Notre Dame It Can’t Happen Here Lady of the Tropics Dark Victory The Boudoir Diplomat Reunion in Vienna Blood Beast Terror One of those films was The Hurricane. (See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029030/) In 1936 producer Sam Goldwyn was eager to give Rathbone a role in the film, but he wanted Rathbone to sign a four-year contract with his company. Rathbone didn’t want to sign the contract, so that role went to someone else. See “Was Basil Rathbone a Diva?” In April 1937 The Film Daily announced the following: “Feodor Dostoievsky’s celebrated novel ‘The Gamblers,’ will be directed …

Basil’s Citrine Ring

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Hat tip to a fan named Rani, who told me about a recent episode of Antiques Roadshow on PBS. On this episode, which aired June 27, 2016, Berj Zavian (from Cluster Jewelry in New York) appraised a ring with yellow diamonds, rubies, and a large citrine. According to the owner of the ring (who didn’t even know who Basil was!) Basil Rathbone gave the ring to his wife Ouida . Watch a 30-second clip from the show: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365784160/ http://player.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365784160 I tried to embed the video clip on this page, but it’s not working. Sorry! Here’s a transcript of the video clip: APPRAISER: Did you know Basil Rathbone? GUEST: Uh, no, I did not. APPRAISER: Well, he was Sherlock Holmes in the old B movies, and he was quite a prolific collector of good jewelry. GUEST: Really? APPRAISER: This is yellow diamonds with rubies and a citrine. Who did he give it to? GUEST: Uh, his wife, Ouida Bergere. APPRAISER: That’s the ring that she was wearing. It’s roughly 1945. A ring like this could easily bring from …

Heat Wave

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We’re having a heat wave, A tropical heat wave, The temperature’s rising, It isn’t surprising, I’m sweating like a … no, no. That isn’t right. Right now much of the USA, including where I live (east coast) is experiencing a blistering heat wave. Basil Rathbone knew how to cool off in the hot weather. Here are Basil Rathbone and Marlene Dietrich cooling off in a rain shower on a hot day at the studio (1939). He couldn’t have been prepared for a rain shower, could he? Did he just strip down to his boxer shorts (or is that a towel?) and run outside when it started raining? At home Basil cools off by swimming in his pool. Here he is climbing out. Basil also frolicked in the pool with his dogs. Ah, that’s the life! I feel cooler already.

Hollywood Tours 1937

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Marcia Jessen from BasilRathbone.net has very kindly sent The Baz these wonderful pdfs of articles advertising “Hollywood Tours.” Interesting to us mainly because amongst the delights offered the lucky tourists is a “cocktail party at Basil Rathbone’s home!” But almost as interesting is the glimpse of the culture of 1930s America. Fascinating to see the beginnings of present-day fear-marketing aimed at women. Warnings of the fire consequences of not being “dainty” enough, and post-Victorian coy recommendations for Kotex. And then, the culture shock of an ad aimed at “skinny girls”, promising they can “add five pounds!” Anyway, enjoy, and download the full pdfs from the link below. *** *** *** ***

New Year & New Look Blog

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Hello all. I’m  the new co-admin of The Baz. And this is  the new magazine-style layout, which I hope you like. It’s designed to showcase a good range of the fantastic array of material here. If you scroll down the front page you’ll find several new sections, full of various goodies. So far we have original featured articles, “The Baz on Film”, “Quotations”, “Magazine articles”, and “Talking to.” Take a tour and enjoy, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions we’d love to hear from you in the comments. best Chatte Noire  

Sunday Pic #16

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Marcia has suggested I post this and see if any of the fans out there has suggestions and answers. So….. Is the person above Basil?….. I mean the guy on the right, not one of the people wearing hats. The photo is being sold HERE, and has this description: “8h824 STAGE DOOR candid 8×10 still ’37 visitor Basil Rathbone talking to showgirls on set by Miehle!” The seller also adds this: “….Note that this is an incredibly perplexing still! Why do I say that? Because it has the still code “SD”, and it is identified on the back as being an RKO still from 1937. Stage Door WAS made by RKO in 1937, but the front of the still shows Basil Rathbone, who had nothing to do with this movie! Plus the showgirls on the still are no one we recognize. So what movie is this from? Rathbone didn’t make any movies for RKO during this time, and the ones he did make don’t look right for this. Our guess is that he was a …