This week Adam and Charlotte go head to head, discussing actors William Powell and Dick Powell. The pair debate which Powell reigns supreme, highlight their careers, love lives, awards and so much more. Which Powell will win in the first ever Perf Damage showdown? Tune in and find out!
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www.perfdamage.com
Email : perfdamagepodcast@gmail.com
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Instagram : @perf_damage
Letterboxd : Perf Damage
Check Out our Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@PerfDamagePodcast
This week Adam and Charlotte go head to head, discussing actors William Powell and Dick Powell. The pair debate which Powell reigns supreme, highlight their careers, love lives, awards and so much more. Which Powell will win in the first ever Perf Damage showdown? Tune in and find out!
Contact Us At:
www.perfdamage.com
Email : perfdamagepodcast@gmail.com
Twitter (X) : @perfdamage
Instagram : @perf_damage
Letterboxd : Perf Damage
Check Out our Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@PerfDamagePodcast
Powell vs. Powell
===
Adam: fighting from the red corner, handsome crooner and hard boiled, tough guy. Measuring in at five 11 emmy Award winner and walk. Waco fame star awardee from Mountain View, Arkansas, Dick Powell,
Adam: Fighting from the blue corner. A silent film star turned one of the most debonair leaning men of the talkies with a career spanning four decades. Three time Academy award nominee coming in at five 11. Fighting from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Adam: Will.
Adam: Welcome back everybody. Welcome. We got a fun one this week. I think this one's gonna be great. Yeah.
Charlotte: We do say that every week though.
Adam: They're all great, but they're all fun. This one is a true battle. It is. It's almost
Charlotte: like a sports episode, part two.
Charlotte: We got a whole Powell versus Powell going on today.
Adam: That's my guy, Dick Powell. Versus your guy William
Charlotte: Powell, which Powell is the superior Powell who
Adam: will reign Supreme. That's what we're talking about today. Who's gonna come out on top with this one?
Charlotte: So why are we
Adam: talking about this today? Because this has been a long running thing with us. It has, yeah.
Adam: I had my Powell when I met you, Dick Powell.
Charlotte: And I had my Powell William Powell.
Adam: And so anytime we heard that there was a Powell in a film, we wanted to know which Powell it was, right?
Charlotte: Yeah. And if it was Dick Powell, I would call him the wrong Powell. Which would just, which,
Adam: yeah. That I took real offense to that.
Charlotte: So he's become the wrong Powell, even though you hate
Adam: that. Yeah. But yeah, that's how we refer to him now. That's how I refer to him. Dick is always gonna be the wrong Powell. But I don't think he's the wrong P mean. I think he's a good p. Is
Charlotte: he the superior Powell though? Well, we're about to
Adam: find out, aren't we?
Adam: I guess so. We're going head to head here. Head to head.
Charlotte: Have they ever gone head-to-head
Adam: before these Powells were never in a film together.
Charlotte: No. But what if their movies played back to back on tv? You think there'd be like drop off numbers or more people would tune in for one P versus
Adam: the. I do. I think that your Powell would reign Supreme in the box office.
Charlotte: Oh. So we don't even have to discuss this then. So thanks for joining us.
Adam: No. I'm arguing that my Powell is a good p. All right. Yeah.
Charlotte: I'll, I'd like to hear
Adam: that argument May, maybe I'm just arguing that my Powell counts. Hey, my Powell was involved in a lot more than just film. He wasn't just an actor.
Adam: Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. Where your Powell has only done one thing, and that's act,
Charlotte: Have you ever heard of the Jack of All Trades Master a nun? Just saying.
Adam: What are you trying to say about my pal here? I didn't say anything.
Adam: You're the one that said it. All right. Stay tuned to find out who the best Powell is and who comes out on top.
Charlotte: Who reigns Supreme, who's taken home that championship
Adam: belt on Sunday? Sunday. Sunday. That's like monster trucks. I know. That's not your boxing.
Charlotte: Adam. What don't you tell us about the wrong Powell? I think you mean the right Powell? No. I'll get to him
Adam: later. Okay. I'll tell you about Dick Powell. How's that? Okay. That sounds good. Dick Powell was born in 1904, born Richard Ewing Powell in Mountain View, Arkansas.
Adam: No. So he is a youngin. Yeah, he's young compared to your Powell. That's for. He started outta college. He was a singer and he started singing with this group and he got a record deal. So he started out as a recording artist. And then maybe he
Charlotte: should have stayed a
Adam: recording artist.
Adam: I don't know. In a way he did. And then Warner Brothers bought the label that he was recording on and they saw him and they were impressed by him. And they said, Hey, have you ever thought about the
Charlotte: movies kid? So it was like a slow movies day and they were just looking for anybody
Adam: pretty much.
Adam: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Just make sure I follow along here. So they cut him a deal in 1932 and he debuted any film called Blessed Events. And this film basically sets up. What his first phase of his career is. He started out playing singing Heartthrobs. He was the young, good looking singer, crooner.
Adam: Often second fiddle, but sometimes the Star. And blessed Event was the first 1, 19 32. But then he really got popular being paired with Ruby Keeler in numerous Busby Berkeley films. They were in three films together. 42nd Street in 1933 was the first one. And then Gold Diggers of 1933. Also in 1933 and Foot Light Parade, also 1933. And that one he played a character named Scotty, but he was second fiddle to Cagney. As you should be. Everybody's second fiddled to Cagney when he's around.
Adam: Kaney. Okay.
Charlotte: So he was in some good films. That doesn't mean he is the right p though.
Adam: Not yet. But let's talk a little bit about a foot light parade, cuz it sets up the early part of his career, Foot Light Parade is basically the same character he plays for the first 10 years of his career.
Adam: alright, here's the synopsis for Foot Light Parade. Chester Kent struggles against time, romance, and a rival spy to produce spectacular live prologues for movie houses.
Adam: Let's talk about James Cagney. James Cagney was known as a gangster at this point. That's what brought him to fame and he really wanted to change everybody's point of view of what he could do, right? So he wanted to reach out side of his comfortable box and he didn't want to become pigeonholed.
Adam: So he actually actively campaigned to be in this film. It was the very first time he'd ever appeared as a singing, dancing spectacle, yeah, he's got
Charlotte: some
Adam: awesome dance moves. Oh, the guy's talented. He started out in Vaudeville as a dancer. It's
Charlotte: so funny because for so long I didn't know anything about James Cagney other than the tough guy.
Charlotte: And what is it? white heat. Yeah. Public enemy. Public enemy. These are the kind of things I always Yeah. Thought so. The first time I saw him dancing, my jaw hit the ground. not like the reaction I had the first time I saw Dick Powell, it was a little less dramatic.
Charlotte: But Jimmy
Adam: Cagney. Yeah. This was a incredible, a good jaw hit the ground instead of a, oh my gosh, what am I watching?
Yeah.
Charlotte: I'm so embarrassed for You should have stuck to the singing man.
Adam: Cagney this was the very first time he ever appeared on screen as a dancer. And everybody was blown away.
Adam: This was a huge hit. It was one of the biggest films of 1933. But Dick Powell almost didn't make it into the film. Dick Powell came down with pneumonia two weeks before they started to shoot the film. So he was replaced by a guy named Stanley Smith. Never heard of him. I don't think anybody did. This was his one shot. And unfortunately, Dick Powell got better about a week into the production, and they went back and reshot all the Stanley Smith scenes with Dick Powell because, so Dick
Charlotte: Powell ruined Stanley Smith's career?
Charlotte: Not intentionally. That's, I'm just, I'm asking, that's all. I'm genuinely
Adam: curious. Look, no, they the filmmakers really wanted Dick Powell in this film. They wanted him in so badly that they went back and reshot these scenes.
Charlotte: I don't know. Sounds like somebody paid somebody off, some blackmail going on,
Adam: but at this point he and Ruby Keeler were a on-screen duo and everybody really liked him.
Adam: So they were trying to cash in on that. Stanley Smith was a nobody at this point. I'm not sure that he became anybody ever. I think he was somebody. I'm sure his parents loved him.
Adam: So this was a pre-code film, which is fun. Those are fun. Yeah. We watched this one recently and we did, we were both amazed at the amount of skin you got to see on screen a lot of gratuitous female changing sequences in this one.
Adam: Yes, there were. Hey, it's a backstage comedy, there were a lot of dancing girls around and they had to change.
Charlotte: Yeah. And life outside of the theater, it's not so great. Come in. See some change in ladies. You don't even have to go peering in windows in your neighborhood. Yeah,
Adam: there were a lot.
Adam: You go to the movie, lot of gams in this one.
Charlotte: Lot of gams. Yeah. There's that really great quote.
Charlotte: Something about the legs.
Adam: The choreographer is auditioning a bunch of ladies for a new act and the first thing he says is, let me see your legs.
Adam: I love that. It's so good. Oh, I love that character too. So pre-code, that guy's so amazing. Yeah. Oh. Also, I just wanted to mention this too early on in the film They take Cagney to the movies. And on the screen is John Wayne. Yes. Yes, you're right. And yeah, John Wayne. It is a scene from the 1933 film, the Telegraph Trail.
Adam: Man, that was the same year. Yeah, absolutely. So it's funny because this actually takes place in 1933 that sets it in the actual time.
Charlotte: And Dick Powell and John Wayne would work together in
Adam: the future. He would. John Wayne would star in directed Dick Powell directed film The Conqueror, one of the
Charlotte: worst films of all time.
Charlotte: Who knows why, who knows who's to
Adam: blame? But that's not till 1956. We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Yeah. Dick Powell ended up playing this kind of young crooner character for a very long time till 1944, basically. He did a film called In the Navy, 1941, where he plays basically the same character with Abbott and Costello.
Charlotte: Oh. But that movie, he's got the worst mustache
Adam: ever. Whose mustache does that look
Charlotte: like? It's almost like he's doing a William Powell mustache in that film. But he looks like a teenager with Peach Fuzz. Yeah. It's
Adam: like he, he was a, he's a really badass, he was really attempting to do the William Powell one and just failing
Charlotte: hard.
Charlotte: It is one of the worst mustaches I've ever seen on screen from a grown ass man. Yeah.
Adam: Good news is that he shaves it off about 20 minutes into the film. He does.
Charlotte: But he had that in Gold Diggers of 1937 too. He also had a mustache.
Adam: Yeah. He's trying to be debona. Aaron powell was the personification of Debonair.
Adam: Yeah.
Charlotte: Didn't really work
Adam: for Dick Powell did it? No. Dick Powell wasn't a debonair dude. He was a QT crooner at this point in his career. Oh yeah. So what was your Powell doing around this time?
Charlotte: It's unfair to skip my Powell's whole upbringing and his origin
Adam: story. All right. Why don't you explain how your pal came into existence?
Charlotte: All right. My pal was born in 1892.
Adam: Whoa. He's an old one, huh? An
Charlotte: oldie, but a goodie. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he moved to New York whenever he was younger to be an actor, and that's where he cut his teeth, was on the stage, and he was there until the early 1920s and then he got a contract with Paramount Pictures and he moved to Hollywood and he worked in 34 silent films playing mostly villains.
Adam: Whoa. That'ss very different than the Powell that we got to know of. It is
Charlotte: So his big break came in 1922 when he got hired to play Mori Yardi's assistant in Sherlock Holmes.
Charlotte: And this was the John Barrymore led Sherlock Holmes film. William Powell said that John Barrymore recommended him for the role. So he has him to thank for his whole career. So his whole career, he always, he thanked John Barrymore for
Adam: that. Oh, so let me get the straight, your guy didn't start out as a recording artist making records that people were buying, huh?
Adam: No, he was
Charlotte: on the stage where people were going to see in person, and Hollywood wanted him so bad. They like drug him across the country.
Adam: Hey, my guy was selected out of a label full of singers.
Charlotte: It sounds like they bought this label and then they were just like we got, this guy probably had a contract.
Charlotte: They didn't know what to
Adam: do. Well, You're saying he's the only guy on the label? Yeah, he's only one.
Charlotte: They didn't know what to do with him. They're like, we gotta get him off to singing.
Adam: Maybe he can act. Your guy was so old he didn't even speak on screen for a really long time until 30 speak four films.
Adam: Do
Charlotte: you see that mustache? It speaks for itself.
Adam: It does. It absolutely does.
Charlotte: So back to the Wright Powell, he was in 34 silent films playing villains, which again, people that know William Powell always think of him as this debonair
Adam: Fast talking, smart erudite Debonair guy that was his character.
Adam: Probably, but not to begin with, huh? Probably who he was in real life too. He hadn't cultivated that
Charlotte: yet. No,
Adam: What's a standout performance from the silent period that, how much time
Charlotte: do you have?
Adam: I'm gonna go through 34 films now. Hey, why don't you call me when you're finished?
Charlotte: The one I wanna highlight is the last command from 1928 that William Powell was in. And the reason I'm gonna highlight that is not necessarily for William Powell's performance, but because the backstory of the film is just really fun.
Adam: Not to say that William Powell was not good in this
Charlotte: film. No he's incredible. And this is still, when he was playing against type for what we think of William Powell characters. He's dark, he's menacing, he's angry, he's vindictive and not what he would become, but he's very good at it.
Charlotte: But it is weird to go back and watch a film like that when you've got this preconceived notion of what, of who William Powell is. And you're absolutely, wait a minute, it's like seeing James Stewart doing a bad guy like he does in the Thin man.
Adam: Oh yes. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. Another amazing one.
Adam: But that's also jumping ahead. We're not there yet.
Charlotte: It's a first example I could think of where you go back, you watch the Thin man spoiler alert to anyone that hasn't seen it. James Stewart is the bad guy. They've had
Adam: almost a hundred years to watch it
Charlotte: though, so I know.
Charlotte: Yeah. You've had a really long time. Yeah. Sorry, but it's weird because you see him and you think, oh, he's gonna be the good guy, and then maybe he's not.
Adam: What is this film that you're gonna highlight
Charlotte: here? The last command from 1928, directed by Joseph Fon Sternberg, 88 minutes long for the T R T. A former Imperial Russian General and cousin of the Czar ends up in Hollywood as an extra in a movie directed by a former revolutionary.
Adam: Powell plays. Who in this?
Charlotte: Powell plays the Hollywood director. So the movie starts, he's a Hollywood director and he's got a stack of photos of head shots in front of him, and he's trying to find someone to play a general in a story about the Russian Revolution, which he actually lived through his character.
Charlotte: Oh, so
Adam: Powell came from Russia? Yes. Yeah.
Charlotte: Okay. He plays a character called love, Andrea. And he was part of the Russian Revolution and now he's in Hollywood making films and he sees this headshot for this one guy. And on the back of it, it says, part of the Russian revolution worked as a general cousin to the Czar Cheap works for seven 50 a day or something like that.
Charlotte: So he casually hires the guy that's
Adam: $7 and 50 cents what not. Seven 50. I'm just explaining that to everybody that's listening. It's not $750. That sounded like, oh, that's not so bad. Yeah.
Charlotte: Yeah. $7 and 50 cents Yes. A day
Adam: So this is basically Von Sternberg's story then,
Charlotte: was actually based on a real guy. Oh, was it? Okay. And this was Vonn Sternberg's second big studio feature film after he had done Underworld before. Oh, okay.
Adam: So we hired
Charlotte: this guy, but what nobody knows is that the two of them have a past, because William Powell was this Russian revolutionist who was put up against this guy who was the Grand Duke of the Russian army. And they have a whole past.
Charlotte: And most of the film is actually a flashback to what happened there. And I don't wanna give away the end because it's just a really solid film, but it's got a really interesting backstory too. The actor Emil Jennings, who in the film plays the general, the Grand Duke he was nominated for the very first Academy Award for best actor and he won. Oh, no way. So this is the very first film to win a best actor award.
Charlotte: And at the time, this award was actually given to him for two performances, and it was for the last command and for his role in the way of all flesh from 1927. So the year prior. So this was something they did in the very first few Academy Awards. It was for dual performances. Oh, interesting. Yeah.
Charlotte: But before they even were able to give him the award, he ended up leaving Hollywood because sound had come in and he was born in Switzerland. He spoke German. He had a very thick German accent, and he left and went back to Europe. Once talkies were a thing, because his accent was gonna cost him roles, yeah.
Adam: Sound killed. A lot of silent people's careers.
Charlotte: But the crazy thing is, when he moved back to Germany he got involved with Nazi propaganda films. Not only involved, he ran the studio that created all of them and starred in a bunch of them.
Adam: Whoops.
Charlotte: The very first actor to win best actor at the Academy Awards. Work
Adam: directly for
Charlotte: Bels.
Charlotte: Yeah. Work directly for him. Whoops. And of the ironic thing here,
Adam: I don't think the Academy talks about this all that
Charlotte: often, huh? They don't have his Academy award either. That's actually in Berlin. Oh, in a museum in Berlin and in a museum. But the funny thing is, the very first Academy award for best actor, he wasn't actually the one that received the most votes.
Adam: Really? Who was
Charlotte: it then? It was a German Shepherd named Rin Tin Tin that received the most votes for best actor. But the academy thought, this will not give us any cred if we award the very first best actor to a dog. I'm not kidding. This is true.
Adam: Hey, it's probably a smart move on their side, to not give it to the dog first.
Charlotte: So don't give it to a German Shepherd. Just give it to a German Nazi. Whoops. Yeah. They might have been better going with rent
Adam: Tin. I think in the long run, right? I think today everybody would be like, yeah, they give it to a dog. What a strong move. Yeah. What a strong move. Nope. Nope.
Adam: They gave it to a Nazi instead. Oh,
Charlotte: rent tin tins. Just so pissed. He got robbed
Adam: those damn Nazis. Damn Nazis. Every time stealing it from people. German Shepherds.
Charlotte: So you know the whole story I just told you about Rin Tin Tin? Well it's just Hollywood Legend and it's not true. It would be so cool if it were true, right?
Charlotte: Stop the podcast now. William Powell the winner. Go watch.
Adam: No, no, no. The last command. Hey, I got something coming right now that proves that my guy. Is better than your guy. Yeah, we'll
Charlotte: just see about that.
Adam: All right. So in 1944, my Powell,
Charlotte: the wrong Powell, aka
Adam: had the foresight to go, Hey, I'm getting a little long in the tooth here to be playing these young heart throbs that are singing and all the young girls fall for them. I'm a little too old to play these romantic leads. I need to reinvent myself. So he goes after the lead in double indemnity.
Adam: He campaigns super hard. Hey, what happened? He didn't get it. Yeah, he didn't get it. Fred McMurray got it. And it's an incredible film. 1940 fours,
Charlotte: who's to say? Probably because of the casting.
Adam: 1940 fours double indemnity basically started the whole film noir movement. Yes, it did. But he was going in the right direction.
Adam: Dick Powell saw himself as this new hard boiled type of character. Why do you think that? Because he started playing these kind of characters on the radio. He started in a show called Rogue's Gallery, where he played a private investigator named Richard Rogue from 19 45, 19 46. And then that also ignited a series of radio shows. He starred as.
Adam: Yours truly. Johnny Dollar. Yeah, he starred in the first season of Johnny Dollar. In 1948.
Charlotte: That's such a great title for a show too.
Adam: And he also played a long running PI Richard Diamond, private Detective, 19 49, 19 53.
Charlotte: I have to admit, I've listened to a lot of otr. That's Old Time Radio.
Charlotte: And those are the two shows that I always go for. They're
Adam: so good. Yos. Truly Johnny. Truly Johnny Doah. Yeah.
Charlotte: Richard Diamond is also really good too. It
Adam: is. So this is where he starts hunting for these kind of roles in film too. But
Charlotte: It sounds like he just had the voice, he could sing, he could be on the radio.
Charlotte: He had a face for
Adam: radio. Ah, come on. No, he was the young heartthrob for years and years. What that
Charlotte: mustache though? I don't know. He clean shaven,
Adam: so he didn't get the role in double indemnity, but in the same year he lands a role in the film. Murder My Suite, playing Philip Marlow for the first time on screen
Adam: Murder My suite was a massive success. And he also played Philip Marlow for the very first time on the radio and on television. So on the radio again. So he has the slow your,
Charlotte: you're just ignoring that. I'm totally ignoring it. Look, I think I'm discovering something here. I'm unveiling something about Dick
Adam: Powell here.
Adam: I don't think you're unveiling anything.
Charlotte: No. Yeah, you're right.
Adam: It was already Except unveil. Except for your thinly veiled hate for him. Like his
Charlotte: thinly veed mustache. You
Adam: know what it is? It's on his face. It's his talent. You're just jealous of his talent cuz your guy personally, your guy plays the same character over and over.
Adam: My guy reinvents himself completely. Sorry. How many
Charlotte: Oscars was your guy nominated?
Adam: Okay. So my guy was never nominated for an
Charlotte: Oscar. My guy. He nominated three times. Did he ever win?
Adam: He was nominated three times.
Adam: Exactly. Exactly. Look, hey, the Academy
Charlotte: screws up all the time. Okay. Alfred Hitchcock, right? Never won. Nope. Stanley Krick never won. Kirk Douglas never won. For best actor. They gave him the bullshit. Same with Alfred
Adam: Hitchcock. Yep. The Bullshit Academy Award. Yeah. Yeah. We don't count those. Hey, If you're talking about bullshit awards, my Powell. Oh, he's all a bullshit. No, he got a bullshit Emmy for his contribution to television.
Charlotte: I To be fair, that's the only kind you really would wanna give Dick Powell.
Adam: Shit. How many stars your guy have on the walk of fame? How
Charlotte: many? He's got one on Vine Street between Chuck Heston and Frank Sinatra. What's your guy got?
Adam: My guy's got three. Three for what? Three stars For what?
Adam: One for film, one for television, and one for radio.
Charlotte: Does he have his footprints in front of Groman's Chinese Theater? No. My guy does. So I think that Trump's yours. My guy's got three stars. Three? Yeah. Where's his star at? Three. Where's his star? Is it on Vine? Cuz that's where all the good ones are.
Adam: Let's get back to the second golden period of my Powell's career. Oh, he's got two
Charlotte: golden
Adam: periods. He had his first period, his second period and he even has a third period.
Adam: Yeah. So we
Charlotte: had all these failures in between. Is that what it is? They
Adam: separate, no, he just reinvents himself constantly because he doesn't know what he did. No. Cuz he's so good at what he does. He masters one thing and goes on to the
Charlotte: next. Yeah. Jack of all trade's master and none. It's what he is.
Adam: It's not his fault.
Adam: So Philip Marlow, bless his heart. Murder my sweet. He tried big hit. He decides to become this hard boiled character on screen. He does a series of films.
Charlotte: He's just grasping
Adam: at whatever he can do next. No, he does cornered in 1945. He does Johnny O Clock in 1947. He does right cross in 1950. He does cry Danger in 1951.
Charlotte: So he'd just take any job that someone would pay him for.
Adam: Cry, danger. He was not the credited director on, but everybody on set said he directed the film. No, it's true. Okay. Did your guy ever direct a film? He didn't
Charlotte: need to. He knew what he was good at and so did the
Adam: academy. Anyway, so my guy had the whole hard boiled period. He had, his radio career what is your guy doing after the silent period? Dude,
Charlotte: my guy did the Thin Man series, which by the way, we liked so much. We named our dog after the dog and the thin man.
Adam: That's true. We did. We love those films. They're amazing. So I wanted to highlight a film called Pitfall 1948 directed by Andre Deta, who goes on to direct house of Wax 3d.
Adam: And who was he married to? Veronica Lake. Yeah. Pretty amazing,
Charlotte: huh? That's pretty good.
Adam: So he, he was Thomas. He did good. He did good. Dick Powell is an insurance investigator and family man looking to spice up his life when he meets Liz Beth Scott on his case.
Adam: The only problem is that private investigator Raymond Burr already has his eye on her and he threatens to destroy Powell's life to get at Scott.
Charlotte: That movie's good cuz Raymond Burr's in it.
Adam: Yes. I would say Raymond Burr is the best part about this film. He's great. Raymond Burr is so scary in this film.
Adam: He plays a stalker before the word stalker was ever coined. He is obsessed with Elizabeth Scott and will do anything to get everybody else out of the way, including turning her old boyfriend into a jealous rage and giving him a gun to shoot our main guy, my Powell. This seems like such a pedestrian noir, the setup is.
Adam: But there's two things. Elizabeth Scott is not a femme fatal like you would come to believe. Most of these films have a woman who's after something and uses men to get that thing double crossing. This is not that case. Elizabeth Scott is an innocent and she gets wrapped up with a bad guy who ends up going to jail, who gives her gifts, and then she has to give those gifts back.
Adam: And that's why this is like the live action Johnny Dollar film because Dick Powell plays an insurance investigator and he goes in to regain the things that were bought with money that was claimed on an insurance scam. And so that's how he meets Elizabeth Scott. But she was given these things and she didn't know where they came from.
Adam: She didn't know that until the guy went to jail. And she gives him back freely he doesn't tell her he's married. And he's looking to spice up his life. And when she finds out that he's married, she backs off right away. She's like, what am I gonna stand up against your marriage of all these years?
Adam: You have a child? I'm not gonna come between you and that person. That is not the actions of AEM Patel. She doesn't bring him back into her life until Raymond Burr will not leave her alone. And she's like, look, I need somebody to help me with this. He's a creep. He shows up at her house, breaks in and he's acting like they're living together. When they're not. She breaks it down to him. She says, look, I'm not interested in you. I do not want anything to do with you. And he said, what about my feelings? And the creepy thing about this is he's so big and imposing. But he's so calm. Until he explodes in violence it's, that's what he's great at.
Adam: Incredible, though. It's absolutely incredible. His performance really makes this film. But the other thing that really makes this film is that, Even though the Hayes code was in full effect at this time. And Dick Powell's character is unfaithful to his wife. He's not punished in the end. In fact, what?
Adam: He kills another man and isn't punished for that either. Oh, I didn't even think about that. You're right. She gets away with it. And at that time, the Hayes code said, if you do something wrong, you have to be punished for it. So I don't understand
Charlotte: like how'd they get away with that then?
Adam: This is the story.
Adam: So the Hayes code flagged this film. They would not pass it, and Andre Deta became incensed by that. So he knew a lot of the board members personally, and he knew that two of them were having an affair. So he took each of them out separately to lunch and said that he would reveal their affair to their wives if they didn't pass it.
Adam: And guess what? It passed. So this is the one instance during that period where, The supposed good guy who isn't such a good guy gets away with, oh my God. Not only murder, but infidelity. That is amazing.
Charlotte: What year was this one?
Adam: 1948. So
Charlotte: Towards the end of the Hayes
Adam: Code. Yeah. It was pretty insane though.
Adam: I had to mention that it's, it stands out in that aspect. I, it isn't an amazing film but because that stuff happens in it, it makes it different. The film itself is really elevated by the acting.
Adam: The performances are all very good. I would recommend that film just because of that. Yeah. If you'd
Charlotte: like rear window.
Adam: Yes. This is pre rear window with
Charlotte: Raymond Berg. Who plays a bad guy. Yeah,
Adam: he's wife murder.
Adam: He's almost scarier in this window though. Yes. Just because of how calm he is. Yeah. I'll recommend
Charlotte: this for Raymond Burr. Not for Dick Powell. What?
Adam: You can't give it to You can't give it to him, can you? You just can't do it. Yeah.
Charlotte: I won't do that in front of you. Maybe to other people. Be like, yeah, take pills.
Charlotte: All right. Alright. This one.
Adam: Let's talk about your guy during this period.
Charlotte: My guy's a little bit older than your guy. A little older, a little wise.
Adam: We all know that. He's just looking at him. We know. We know. Your guy was never the heartthrob that my guy was. If Tiger Beat Magazine was around back then, my Powell would've been on the cover every.
Charlotte: Yeah. Cuz of his peach fuzz mustache. They would've thought he's, pre pubescent and so he would've been on the cover. That's why. Yep. That's exactly why. You're right. Yep. Whereas William Powell, he be on gq. Yeah.
Adam: He could have been on GQ for sure. Gq. Yeah. He would've been GQ guy. Sophisticated.
Charlotte: All right. So big whoop, your guy did some detective stuff. My guy did tons of detective stuff. All right. You heard of Filo Vance? You heard of it?
Adam: it.
Adam: We own it, so
Charlotte: yes. Yes. You heard of the Thin Man series.
Adam: Absolutely. Of course you have we have a dog named Asta.
Charlotte: Asta. We do. She's asleep. Because you were talking about Dick Powell. Is that and put
Adam: her, is that what put her to sleep? To sleep? Yeah. I don't know about that
Charlotte: actually, dude, both dogs are asleep, so maybe when they're making noise next time you just talk about Dick Powell and they'll just,
Adam: I think they're just like, oh, William Powell's range and that's what put 'em to sleep.
Charlotte: No. They were sleep way before. And Dick Powell talk every time anyways, so yeah, my guy did. Detectives, I don't need to tell people about his detective stuff because he excelled at detective stuff. So instead, I'm gonna talk about a film that was actually his last film from 1955 called Mr.
Charlotte: Robert.
Charlotte: Directed by John Ford and Mervin Leroy mr. Roberts is an officer who's yearning for battle, but is stuck in the backwaters of World War II on a non-commissioned Navy ship run by a bullying Captain Morton. This film stars
Charlotte: not only William Powell, it's stars, Henry Fonda, who was in the stage play version, James Cagney. So yeah, my guy did work with James Cagney too and Jack Lemon and he won the Academy Award for best supporting Actor.
Adam: Dang. All right. What do you gotta say about this?
Charlotte: This film was based on a play that Henry Fondo was in, and Warner Brothers did not wanna hire him to be in this film. They wanted Marlon Brando or William Holden to play the lead because they thought that Henry Fondo was too old for the part he was playing, say that sort of a junior officer, and he was in his late forties at this time.
Adam: Wow. That means he wasn't very good at being in the military.
Charlotte: So they thought he would be too old to be a junior officer, but he ended up getting the part. Anyways, so this film has two directors on it, and there's a reason why, because John Ford was the original but, John Ford didn't really get along with anyone, and
Adam: especially at this point.
Adam: At this point in his career. In his career. He was a surly bastard. Yeah. It started,
Charlotte: they drank a lot too, they shot this film in Hawaii. They shot a lot of it on location, on a ship, and the story goes that John Ford and Jimmy Cagney met at the airport when they were going to fly to go to set.
Charlotte: And without being prompted or anything. John Ford walks up to James Cagney and he says, that they would tangle asses before filming was
Adam: done. Wait, did you say tangle asses? The quote
Charlotte: is tangle. Asses, whatever that means. What does that mean? Before production was done. So that's just weird. Right away you got your director walking up to one of your lead actors saying, I'm gonna fight you before this movie's done.
Charlotte: And that sort of started the whole tone for the whole film. He argued with
Adam: everybody. Do you think that he was just like, how does that work? Tangling asses? That's just such a strange way to say that. That means they'd have to be facing away from each other, yelling at each other.
Charlotte: I don't understand the logistics,
Charlotte: but not long into production. James Cagney was late to set one day. Not extremely late. Just a little late. But apparently John Ford got. Pissed. So when James Cagney showed up, he just went livid and started yelling and screaming. And James Cagney walked up to him, got him to shut up and said, when I started this picture, you said we would tangle glasses before this was over.
Charlotte: I'm ready now. Are you
Adam: you, daddy Mack
Charlotte: you daddy. I knew you were gonna do it. Yeah. And so John Ford, they said he just stopped yelling, turned around, went back, and then they started shooting and apparently they never had an incident again. Wow. But that was only with
Adam: James K. That's cuz he didn't wanna mess with James Cagney, who apparently was always raring for a fight.
Charlotte: So not long after that. He got in a fight on set, like an actual contact fight with Henry Fonda and he punched him in the jaw. I don't know why. What? I don't know. He just got mad.
Adam: What he decided he was embarrassed by backing down from the short guy. So he picked the tallest guy on set to punch. The
Charlotte: thing was they had a long lasting friendship. Oh yeah. Before that they had been p Mr.
Adam: Lincoln, like Yeah. They'd done all kinds of films together. They were real close.
Adam: Yeah. Or punched
Charlotte: him in the jaw. Wow. After that he was replaced by Mervin Leroy. Oh, okay. Who had been on set and he ended up reshooting a lot of the stuff that John Ford shot. And apparently John Ford got so upset about this, that he drank so much. He ended up getting hospitalized in Hawaii after he was let go from the shoot.
Adam: So it's what happens when you pop your star in the jaw.
Charlotte: Whether he tried to start a fight with William Powell. I don't
Adam: know. William Powell is probably like just his martini buddy after. Yeah.
Charlotte: Jack Lemon. Guess he was just staying outta the way. I don't know. I don't know. So this was the last film that William Powells and, and it was actually the last Warner Brothers film that James Cagney was ever in.
Charlotte: Oh wow. And that's where he got his big start. And the last film that James Cagney was ever in was the film Rag time from 1981, which I worked on a couple years ago on the restoration, which I'm really proud about. And
Adam: hey, can we wait? Can we just pump the fact that you found a director's cut of the film and it's included on the
Charlotte: disc two?
Charlotte: We found two of them. My colleague Charles and I, we did a lot of research and we found that the MoMA Museum of Modern Art actually held a lot of film that Milo Foreman had donated or somehow they had all this film that contained the original work print we found a director's cut work print, which actually had scenes from the beginning in a completely different order.
Charlotte: And then additionally there was more film that had outtakes that weren't even in the director's work print, that weren't in the theatrical. There were tons of extra footage and somehow we convinced our home media people to include it on the disc, which I was really super excited. And the film looks gorgeous.
Charlotte: Milo Foreman is such a great director
Adam: in addition to a fully restored version of the film. Yes. You have this work print version that has Yes. Complete footprint. It's like like 20 or 30 minutes longer. then in addition to that, you have another 30 minutes of outtakes. Yes, we do. On
Charlotte: the second desk.
Charlotte: That's correct. So rag time Blu-ray, buy it. That actually is one of my favorite things that I've worked on so far .
Charlotte: Anyways, so that was James Cagney's last feature film. He wasn't a TV movie. A couple years later. I don't know why I started talking about James Cagney, I just love the guy.
Charlotte: Yeah.
Adam: We tie you
Charlotte: tying it back in. You're ty it back. I like Dick Powell. I could just talk about James Cagney. Oh, come on. Just so much. Dick Powell, Yankee Doodle Dandy. Have you seen his footwork in that?
Adam: It is incredible. Hey, so are you ready for the third phase of Dick Powell's career?
Charlotte: No.
Charlotte: I'd really rather talk about the sequel or Mr. Roberts from 1964. There was a sequel called Ensen Pulver. .
Charlotte: Starring Burl Ives Walter Math th Which is funny that it, the sequel stars Walter Mattau and the original starred Jack Lemon. And that's funny, only to me. Harry Hagman and Jack Nicholson
Adam: also. Larry had a Larry Hagman and
Charlotte: Jackon. Yeah. Did your guy do movies that spawn sequels?
Adam: Probably not. Hey, my guy also worked with that's a no, folks, that's a no. Hey, my guy also worked with Jack Lemon. So that's a great segue into the third phase. Oh, Jesus. Here we go of Dick Powell's career.
Charlotte: His third try, guys, cuz the first two, they just didn't go well. No, this
Adam: guy's a leader.
Adam: He just, this guy's a leader in radio and in television. So that's what we're about to get to. This guy's coming back again. So I had mentioned this cry Danger in 1951. It was credited to another director, but Dick Powell actually did most of the directing behind the scenes. That's what everybody said.
Adam: Sure. So at this point he goes why am I not getting credit for it? I should actually be a director. He goes on to direct five more films. Split second in 1953, the Conqueror in 1956 stars, the worst film ever made. John Wayne and Susan Hayward, one of the worst films ever made. Not his fault, by the way, probably his fault.
Adam: You can't run away from it. Jack Lemon, 1956, and then two films with Robert Mitchem, 1957 and 1958, the Enemy Below. And The Hunters. And the Hunters also stars Robert Wagner. Nobody's ever heard of these films. Yeah. No one's ever heard of any of these actors either. Nope, I'm sure. Nope. So while he was also doing this he formed an early powerhouse television production company.
Adam: He saw the future, he saw that television was something that they could exploit, and that it was becoming very popular with American public. So he teamed up to Form four Star Television with Charles Boyer, David Niven, and Ida Lapino, all powerhouse actors and directors on their own. And the four of them formed this massive company that produced early television shows.
Adam: Dick Powell, zing Gray Theater ran from 1956 to 1961. It was a anthology show that did westerns and they often got major stars to star in their hour long television show, which was very cool,
Charlotte: Except for when they got Dick Powell.
Adam: And then he had his own show, the Dick Powell show from 1961 to 63. It's a really clever name there. He was an early pioneer in television as well as a director in his final chapter of his career. Just couldn't figure out where he belonged.
Adam: He would shows he would appear in these television shows periodically, but the last actual feature that he did was Susan slept here for R K O, which he didn't really wanna star in but it's a light comedy. It's him playing the father role for the first time.
Adam: So then my guy dies at the age of 59 from cancer prematurely. So his career was cut short. Geez. Who knows what he could have become. He probably would've won that Oscar eventually.
Adam: Yeah, so my guy did tv. Did you guys, did your guy do TV at
Charlotte: all? I mean he just really met, he did movies and they were amazing, so Yeah.
Charlotte: My
Adam: guy did movies. He directed Your guy never directed. Your guy just couldn't find his niche. My guys, that's fine. Sang my guy was a hard boiled detective. My guy did it all. He was super well-rounded and versatile. Jack of all trades. What
Charlotte: was your guy? He was the master. Of mustaches. Of mustaches
Adam: and acting.
Adam: So I'm gonna argue that Mike Powell was the best pal because of all of the things that he did, and the fact that he contributed so heavily to television that he was a director, that he was a recording artist, that he was an actor, he was a heartthrob.
Adam: A lot of people thought your guy was a heart throb though.
Charlotte: Yeah I was just waiting for you to be
Adam: done. Oh, you tried. I could keep going. It's so hard. I could keep going on and on about the things, all the achievements that my guy did. Yeah. I He,
Charlotte: again, bless his heart, he just tried it all.
Adam: My guy married a model and two actresses. When he was 21. He married this model Mildred Mon. Hopefully it was
Charlotte: clean shaven at the wedding. That didn't last seven years.
Adam: He grew the mustache. That's why. Is that what it was, you think? Yeah. Yeah. But he traded up, he went on to marry Joan b Blondell.
Adam: All right. That's pretty good. I gotta say. That's pretty good. And that one lasted a lot longer. That was an eight year one. And then he ended up with June Allison. That's a really good actress too. All right. What about your guy? What's he got? What are his stats?
Charlotte: With the ladies.
Charlotte: With the ladies, his first marriage was to an actor's name I, Eileen Wilson, Then he was married to Carol Lombard for two years.
Adam: Oh, hey, that's a good one. Yeah,
Charlotte: Then that ended, but he still continued to act with Carol Lombard and. Recommend her for roles of pictures that he was in. Oh, like My man Godfrey. Like My man Godfrey, which I didn't mention.
Adam: Fantastic film. Yes. We might need a part two Lap Powell versus Powell. There's
Charlotte: so much to cover.
Charlotte: He might have been nominated for best actor in that film.
Adam: I think everybody was nominated for best actor in that film. It was the first film to be nominated for all four acting categories. It was the
Charlotte: very first year, you're right. 1936, that they introduced the supporting actor and actress categories.
Charlotte: And in fact, it was nominated best actor, actress, supporting actor. Supporting actress. It was nominated for best screenplay, best direction, but not best picture. Yeah, that's weird, huh? Which rarely happened. Yeah. And even rarer. It didn't win anything. Wow. Ouch. Yeah. That rarely happens.
Adam: That's a William Powell thing to do.
Adam: Not when anything That's pretty much par for the course. Jealousy in your It's boys par for the course, is what that
Charlotte: is. She's palpable. So after Carol Lombard, he was engaged to Gene Harlow for two years and they were gonna get married, but she died from kidney failure at the age of 26. Oh wow. That's very sudden, huh?
Charlotte: Yeah. Apparently she had a lot of health problems when she was younger, including Scarlet Fever when she was in her teens, and they think that might have contributed to it. Wow.
Adam: That's awful. Yeah. 26.
Charlotte: Almost everybody knows Gene Harlow's name. Yeah. She's a, she was the first platinum blonde.
Charlotte: Yeah. Very
Adam: first one. Yeah. There would be no Marilyn Monroe without Gene Harlow. In fact, do
Charlotte: you know Marilyn Monroe was gonna star in a movie playing Gene Harlow? That was planned really for her, but then she died. Wow. Wow. That's awful early. Yeah. They did make a movie about Gene Harlow in the sixties with Carol Baker playing Gene Harlow, and that's probably why it's not as Wil whom? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Marilyn Monroe would've been perfect for that. But after all this, William Powell married Diana Lewis, who was an MGM contract player, actress.
Charlotte: So that's four actresses that he was, he dated a lot of others too. But he was married to her in 1940 until his death in 1984.
Adam: Wow. 1984. So how old was he when he died? 91. Wow. My guy died a little younger than that. 59. Yeah.
Charlotte: That's a crazy story that we should, maybe we should do a whole
Adam: episode on that.
Adam: I think so. Yeah. We'll get into that whole conqueror thing on a future
Charlotte: episode. Yes. He died of cancer. Yeah. Like a lot of
Adam: people, he died of lung
Charlotte: cancer. Yeah. That worked on the film, the Conqueror.
Adam: We're doing
Charlotte: that. We should do that. Yep. We're deciding. We're deciding
Adam: right now we're doing that.
Adam: Yeah. All right.
Charlotte: William Powell decided Yeah. That's what we're doing.
Adam: Oh, no that's a Dick Powell film. Yeah. But he's gone, he directed it and get to, he, he directed that your guy never directed anything except for the vodka into his glass.
Charlotte: But that was, he made the best martinis
Adam: though. Yeah. We even talked about how he became the face of cocktail culture. Who? William Powell. Yeah. Yeah. He was the guy.
Charlotte: Hey how many movies did your guys star in that were nominated for Best Picture?
Adam: I have no clue. I did not do typical the numbers on that.
Adam: I'm thinking probably none though.
Charlotte: Yeah. My guy, four movies that he started were nominated for Best Picture, the Thin Man, the Great Zig Field Libel lady,
Adam: and my
Charlotte: man Godfrey. So yeah. Powell versus
Adam: Powell. I don't know that we are gonna be able to decide this cuz I'm not backing down with my Powell.
Charlotte: Look, I gotta be honest, I like Dick Powell. He's all
Adam: right. Hey, I gotta be honest. I love William Powell. That's right. Everybody loves William Powell. He has the coolest mustache.
Adam: He
Charlotte: does. That's right. That's right. You heard it here, folks.
Adam: Yep. It's true. His mustache is much better than Dick Powell's mustache.
Charlotte: I think we're gonna have to publish a photo of Dick Powell's mustache. It's really pathetic. It's so bad. Instagram, whatever you're thinking it looks like it looks worse.
Charlotte: I hope you've enjoyed listening to the right Powell story, and I hope you stayed awake during the wrong Powell
Adam: sections. Hey, I take offense, apologize to that. That's not, Hey that's not at all the case. I really
Charlotte: apologize for those. They had to be included.
Adam: I feel like you guys were really enthusiastic about being regaled about all the achievements of my Powell versus the very pedestrian, acting career of the other Powell.
Adam: That's all he ever did. Was that guys,
Charlotte: oh, I'm sorry. Were you talking, I just there doze off there for a second,
Adam: I think we'll leave it up for you guys to decide. Look,
Charlotte: So I asked my mom actually about what Powell she thought was superior between William Powell and Dick Powell, and she said, William Powell.
Charlotte: And I said, why? And she said, because I said so. And you can't argue with your mom when she says, because I said so. So I think that's the deciding factor here.
Adam: That's a tiebreaker. And I'm gonna say that I'm not going to go against your mom either, cuz I don't wanna get in trouble.
Adam: I don't wanna get in trouble. So you will lose so many privileges. So William Powell wins by decision of your mom. Oh no. I feel
Charlotte: of Bad for Dick Powell though. Just kidding. Dick Powell's.
Adam: Way better. Hey Dick Powell is gonna get his own episode coming up here. Cool. That'll be one. I'm gone. The conqueror coming up.
Adam: Yeah. Yeah. We definitely should talk. We gonna dive the conqueror into that one. It's a good tale. It's an amazing tale's. And Dick Powell directed that
Charlotte: film. Yeah. If you have time between now and then, whenever, then is you should seek out the conqueror, cuz that's worth watching.
Adam: Track it down. It was very rare for a very long time.
Adam: It
Charlotte: was. Nothing's rare anymore. No. Anyhow, hope you've enjoyed listening to our Powell versus Powell discussion. Powell versus
Adam: Powell in the Ultimate SmackDown versus the
Charlotte: wrong Powell. If you wanna tell us who you think is the right Powell, which is William Powell. Just send us a note.
Charlotte: We are perf damage podcast gmail.com or you can send us a note on Twitter. We are at Perf Damage. Adam's gonna list all the films we've mentioned today on letter box that both Powells were in. I wonder how many films we've mentioned of each Powell, like who will be Superior?
Charlotte: Oh yeah,
Adam: that's the ultimate in the list of Powell, the ultimate test there. I think I listed off a bunch of films. You should probably list them really
Charlotte: quickly. You were just listing 'em all off just to list them. Yeah,
Adam: because my Powell, how did you do that? His superior. How many films was your guy in?
Charlotte: Acting credits. 96 for William Powell. 96. That's right. 96 films. Hand print and footprint in front of the Chinese theater stars on the walk of fame in Hollywood and
Adam: in Palm Springs. 71 films. 96 Dick Powell. That's right. Dick Powell had a lot shorter career though.
Adam: He died when he was 59 people. Yeah. And he started in 1932 versus your guy who started in the silent
Charlotte: era in the twenties, and he acted until 55. So we probably had about the same length of career.
Adam: So no matter which pal you think came out on top, we hope
Charlotte: you've enjoyed hanging out
Adam: with us and you've enjoyed the SmackDown here on perf down damage.
Charlotte: Excuse me. Jeez, man, you're gonna have a burp outtake for real today.