Recorded at the Historic Camelot Theater, Palm Springs, CA on May 19, 2024
TRANSCRIPT
(ALIECE PICKETT:) Today’s speaker is Olympia Kiriakou.
Dr. Kiriakou earned her PhD in Film Studies from King’s College, London.
She holds an MA in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and a BA in Multimedia Studies.
She teaches film history and theory at Florida Atlantic University.
She created the website, “TheScrewballGirl.com”.
She hosts and produces the podcast, “The Screwball Story”.
She’s right up our alley.
Dr. Kiriakou is the author of “Becoming Carole Lombard, Stardom, Comedy, and Legacy”.
It is a fantastic book.
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Olympia Kiriakou.
(OLYMPIA KIRIAKOU:) Hello, everyone.
Thank you to Aliece and Ed, and the Film Society of Screwball Comedy for inviting me here to introduce what I think is one of the greatest comedies of the 1930s, “20th Century”.
It’s about a megalomaniac Broadway producer named “Oscar Jaffe”, played by John Barrymore, and his relationship with his ingenue turned movie star, “Lily Garland”, played by Carole Lombard.
It began as a play by Charles Bruce Millholland, called “Napoleon of Broadway”, which was based on his experience working with theater impresario David Belasco.
Millholland’s story was adapted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
This is a page from an exhibition book that Columbia used to advertise upcoming features.
You’ll notice that neither Barrymore nor Lombard are attached to the film at this point.
This was early into the adaptation process.
The play originally opened at the Broadhurst Theater in December of 1932.
Columbia bought the film rights in early 1933 and set about adapting it for the screen.
Columbia at the time was known as one of the minors in Hollywood, meaning that they didn’t necessarily have a big roster of stars under contract like some of the bigger studios, MGM or Warner Bros.
What they did instead, studio head Harry Cohn and his producers, they would negotiate loan-out deals with different studios in town to secure “talent” for their films.
In the case of “20th Century”, they negotiated a three-way deal with MGM and Paramount.
From MGM, they got Clark Gable and John Barrymore.
From Paramount, they got Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard.
Gable and Colbert went on to make “It Happened One Night”, (1934).
I hope you’ve seen that movie.
Barrymore and Lombard went on to make “20th Century” with Howard Hawks.
When it came to signing Barrymore, Howard Hawks said he didn’t have to sell the role too hard.
According to Hawks, Barrymore asked, Mr.
Hawks, “Why do you think I would be good for this role?” And Hawks allegedly replied, “It’s the story of the greatest ham in the world, and God knows you fit that!” Hawks said Barrymore accepted the role immediately.
Barrymore himself said this was his favorite role of his career.
I think it’s a highlight, for me at least.
When it came to casting “Lily Garland”, it was a little more difficult.
Hawks and Harry Cohn initially thought to offer the role to an established Broadway actress, like an Ina Claire or Tallulah Bankhead.
When that route didn’t pan out, they set their sights on established Hollywood actresses.
They offered the role to Constance Bennett, Miriam Hopkins, Ruth Chatterton, who all turned down the role.
Hawks said he was the one who offered the role to his distant cousin, the then unproven actress Carole Lombard.
There’s a common misconception Lombard was a “natural” Screwball comedienne because she spent her formative years, prior to this film, working with slapstick producer Mack Sennett.
That could not be further from the truth.
In 1927, Lombard signed with Mack Sennett to be one of his “Bathing Beauties”.
But apart from a handful of films, most of her silent roles are of the coquettish vixen variety.
She left Sennett in 1929, and landed a contract with Paramount in 1930.
At the time, glamour and sophistication were trendy at Paramount.
And considering Lombard was a relatively blank slate, the studio decided to transform her into a glamour girl, similar to what they did with stars like Kay Francis and Marlene Dietrich.
For the next four years, from about 1930 to 1934, around the time “20th Century” came out, Carole was cast in films like “No More Orchids” (1932), “No One Man” (1932), and “Sinners in the Sun” (1932), that really play up her sophisticated, albeit superficial, persona.
I think her glamour girl image came at the expense of her acting skills.
In these early films, she wasn’t given a chance to showcase her talents.
Paramount’s mismanagement was ultimately Carole’s gain.
It’s only through a series of strategic loan-out deals, like the one with Columbia, that she was able to hone her talent and blossom into the Screwball star we all know and love today.
At the time that she was cast in “20th Century”, there was really no indication that Lombard could match Barrymore’s ostentatious flair.
And Lombard herself was intimidated to work with Barrymore.
She was a movie lover from childhood, and grew up watching him.
One day, Hawks got fed up with Carole’s lackluster energy on set.
He decided to pull her aside and give her a pep talk.
And he ended it by asking, “Now, Carole, how would you react if a man spoke to you the way Oscar does to Lily?” If you know Lombard, you know she swore like a sailor.
She had a dirty mouth.
In true fashion, Hawks said that she said, “Mr.
Hawks, I’d kick him in the balls!” It was just the motivation she needed to dig into herself and give the performance one of the highlights of her career.🎥
Film Society of Screwball Comedy®
Edited by Aliece Pickett
Copyright 2025