Dean Martin at grand opening for Market Basket

Originally, I was going to post part two of The Big Fix (1978) film locations, but I decided to push that back to next week to make way for the swingin', crooning, Italoamericano, Dean Martin. 

In the film Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) Martin plays a doctor on a popular television show, particularly popular with female audiences. He is engaged to cute art teacher, Melissa Morris (Elizabeth Montgomery) who wants to get married but who is upset with Martin for delaying their wedding plans. Things get worse when all of the wives of Martin's poker playing friends, confusing Martin for his television persona, start coming to him for advice on their marital doldrums. Each encounter with his friends' wives makes Martin even more disenchanted with the idea of marriage and he decides to break his engagement with Melissa. With the help of her friend Stella (Carole Burnett), Melissa comes up with a plan to get Martin to propose to her again.

Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) may not be one of Dean Martin's best films, but it does have some funny moments, especially a couple with a scene stealing Carole Burnett appearing in her film debut. Other notable stars supporting Martin include Jill St. John and Richard Conte. The film also features a few interesting film locations, including scenes at Paramount Studios, a Market Basket supermarket, and the Beverly Hills Hotel swimming pool.

The film starts with Dean Martin appearing as the celebrity TV doctor at the grand opening of a Market Basket supermarket. This was a grocery chain and the location used in the film was one that was once located at 11315 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, California. Interesting to note is that this Studio City location had its grand opening in 1963, the same year as this film. The Market Basket supermarket is now gone and today the building is used as a Bally Total Fitness.

A crowd gathers at the Market Basket for the grand opening.

11315 Ventura Blvd, Studio City

11315 Ventura Blvd, Studio City

The Market Basket is now Bally Total Fitness

A view of the Market Basket parking lot.

The parking lot as it appears today.

Another view of the parking lot as seen in the film.

After Martin makes his appearance at the Market Basket grand opening we see Martin take off in his car. While driving, Martin leaves Studio City behind and gets on the 405 freeway heading south. In the next comparison below, Martin is on the 405 freeway with a view of Sherman Oaks in the background.

Martin driving on the 405 Freeway. Sherman Oaks in background.

A present day view looking down the 405 towards Sherman Oaks.

The 405 freeway looking towards Sherman Oaks.

The 405 freeway looking towards Sherman Oaks.

Stella arranges a phony wedding for Melissa, hoping it will make Martin jealous. The scene takes place at the pool of the Beverly Hills Hotel, located at 9461 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California. The pool area looks much different today. The hotel has expanded since the 1960s.

The Beverly Hills Hotel Pool as seen in the film.

An old photograph of the pool maybe from the 1960s.

The pool as it appears today.

Photo from BeverlyHillsHotel.com

Burnett & Martin at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

There are a few scenes that take place on the Paramount Studios lot. It's at this studio where Martin's character films his television medical drama. All of the scenes were shot on what is known as "Avenue P" of the Paramount lot.

Dean  Martin exits Stage 18 on Avenue P.

Stage 18 on the Paramount Studios lot.

It's this same area of the Paramount Studios lot that was so famously used in the classic film Sunset Boulevard (1950). Stage 18 is the same stage where in Sunset Boulevard Gloria Swanson goes to visit Cecil B. Demille. 

In the next comparison below, Martin's studio co-workers and poker buddies are seen standing on Avenue P of the Paramount Studios lot. The palm trees in the background are sticking up from Hollywood Forever Cemetery which borders the backside of the Paramount lot. The two story building seen of the left is the "Dreier" building, the same building used by William Holden in Sunset Boulevard  as the writers building.

Martin's studio co-workers and poker buddies.

Looking down Avenue P as it appears today.

The next comparison is still of Avenue P but looking the other direction, away from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery border. On the left is the Medical Services building and straight ahead is the Lubitsch building.

The Paramount Studios Medical Services building as

seen in Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)

Paramount's Medical Service building and Lubitsch 

building as they appear today.

Dean Martin signs autographs outside Stages 5 & 6.

Stage 5 & 6 as they appear today.

This last comparison shows the beginning of Paramount's Avenue P, just past the historic Bronson Gate. Stage 4 can be seen straight ahead and Stage 2 and the Edith Head building can be seen on the right.

Looking towards Paramount's Stage 4 as seen in the film.

Looking towards stage 4 as it appears today.

Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) is another Swinging Sixties sex comedy, similar to a couple other films I've covered here on Dear Old Hollywood: Sex and the Single Girl (1964) starring Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauran Bacall, and Mel Ferrer and Bachelor in Paradise (1961) starring Bob Hope and Lana Turner.

Thanks to my friend Chris Cottle for the photos at Paramount.

All StreetView images (c) 2011 Google.

Donald O'Connor as Buster Keaton & Ann Blyth

I've read many negative things about the bio film, The Buster Keaton Story (1957), but as a Keaton fan, I figured I needed to see the film once to judge for myself. To be fair, the film isn't awful, it is mildly entertaining, but the story really isn't about Buster Keaton at all. The story is almost entirely fictionalized, with only a few traces of Keaton's life worked in. If the filmmakers were trying to make Keaton's story more dramatic, they didn't need to fictionalize anything - Keaton's true story was pretty tragic already. 

To me the most satisfying thing about watching this film had nothing to do with Buster at all, it was spotting one of the buildings on the Paramount Studios lot that was also used as a set in the classic film, Sunset Boulevard (1950). In the screenshot at the top and and the screenshot below, Donald O'Connor, who portrays Keaton, is seen with the fictional studio exec Gloria Brent, played by Ann Blyth, in front of the offices of "Famous Studio." That office building with the exterior stairs is actually the "Dreier" building on the Paramount Studios lot.

O'Connor and Blyth with the Dreier building at left.

The Dreier building on the Paramount Studios lot.

Rhonda Fleming passes the Dreier building at Paramount.

In the screenshot above Rhonda Fleming, who plays Peggy Courtney in The Buster Keaton Story, walks past the Dreier building. Seven years earlier, we see in the screenshot below, William Holden and Erich von Sroheim in a scene from Sunset Boulevard in front of the Dreier building. In Sunset Boulevard, the Dreier building appears a couple times in the film. The first appearance is when von Stroheim drives Holden and Gloria Swanson to the Paramount Studios lot to visit Cecil B. Demille. The second appearance is when Holden visits the Dreier building late at night to secretly work on a script with Nancy Olson.

William Holden & Erich von Stroheim in front of the Dreier building.

Jim Parsons as "Sheldon" on the television show

"The Big Bang Theory"

Buster Keaton lived a very interesting life, filled with dramatic ups and downs, and it is unfortunate that no one has made a great film about this filmmaker icon. One of my favorite bio pics is the 1992 film, Chaplin, directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin. That film was so beautifully shot, had a stellar cast and a score that transported viewers to the Chaplin era. I wish that Buster Keaton could have such a film made about his life.

One challenge would be finding an actor around today that could portray Keaton. Every time I see the deadpan expressions made by Emmy winning comedy star Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon on the hit TV show "The Big Bang Theory," I instantly think of Keaton. Although, Parsons might be a little tall, I think his look is spot on. What do you think? Who do you think would make a good Buster?

Your thoughts?

William Holden (1930s)

After a couple of small parts in some mediocre films, William Holden was finally being cast in the lead role of a film that Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures, hoped would make his handsome acting acquisition a major star. The year was 1939 and the film was Golden Boy, which also starred Barbara Stanwyck and Adolphe Menjou. 

Unfortunately, the film's success was mild and it would be a few years before Holden would get such a major role again. This was the magical year 1939, the same year that Gone With The Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Dark Victory, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach and so many other memorable films were released, so Golden Boy had some tough competition at the box office. Nevertheless, Holden would always be known throughout the rest of his career as Golden Boy.

Holden was initially signed under contract to Paramount Pictures after being discovered by talent scout Milt Lewis. It was only by chance that Holden got the part in the Columbia film Golden Boy. Harry Cohn initially wanted John Garfield to star in Golden Boy, but Jack Warner at Warner Bros. refused to loan his star out. The producer of Golden Boy, William Perlberg, suggested they go after an unknown actor, how David O. Selznick did for casting the role of Scarlett O'Hara for Gone With the Wind.

Unknown actors auditioned for the part, including a young Alan Ladd. Other studios submitted screen tests of actors they had under contract. Paramount submitted a screen test with Margaret Young for another unfilled part in the film. In the screen test, reading opposite of Young, was Holden. When Perlberg and the film's director Rouben Mamoulian watched the test they were immediately drawn to Holden. Perlberg and Mamoulian convinced Cohn that Holden was the right guy for Golden Boy and to find out from Paramount who the young actor was.

Cohn phoned Y. Frank Freeman, the production chief at Paramount, to let him know he wanted not only to borrow Holden for his film, but that he also wanted to buy half his contract. Paramount was only paying Holden $50 a week, which meant Cohn could get a potential star for just $25! Freeman agreed and Holden went to work on Golden Boy.

Hollywood Athletic Club, where Holden stayed

during the filming of Golden Boy

To prepare for the part of Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy, Holden needed to learn how to box, play the violin, and he also needed to take some acting lessons. This meant Holden needed to get up at 6 a.m. every day to drive the 14 miles from his home in South Pasadena to the Columbia studio lot. He often didn't get home to bed until after midnight.  Holden became exhausted and complained to Artie Jacobson, a talent exec at Paramount. Jacobson suggested that he stay at the Hollywood Athletic Club, which was less than a mile from the Columbia studio lot.

Holden was now closer to the studio, but after he received his first paycheck, he noticed that the studio had deducted $60 for rent. Holden complained to Cohn that he was only being paid $50 and now they were deducting $60 from his check - that wasn't right. Holden demanded that the studio pay his rent. Cohn yielded to Holden's request. 

Brown Derby Restaurant on Vine Street, Hollywood

A.C. Lyles, who at the time was working in Paramount's publicity department, helped Holden move into the Hollywood Athletic Club. The two became fast friends. To read another post on A.C. Lyles click here.

After the release of Golden Boy, Holden was loaned out to Warner Bros. to work on the film Invisible Stripes. One night, after Invisible Stripes was released in theaters, Lyles and Holden had dinner at the Brown Derby restaurant on Vine Street. Above is an image from my postcard collection of the Brown Derby as it would have looked at the time.  After dinner the two men drove down Hollywood Boulevard and as they came up to the Warner Theatre, Lyles noticed that the name "William Holden" appeared on the theatre's marquee. 

Former Warner Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard

According to Bob Thomas's biography, "Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden," Lyles commented to Holden, "That must make you feel very proud."

"It doesn't mean a thing to me," Bill replied. "That's another fellow up there on that theater. I'm Bill Beedle [Holden's real name], who is somebody entirely different. I'm grateful that they changed my name. I want to keep myself separated from that other guy."

Your thoughts?

(c) Paramount Pictures

The same year (1950) actors William Holden and Nancy Olson appeared in the classic noir film, Sunset Boulevard, they also appeared in another less classic noir film together - Union Station. Unlike Sunset Boulevard which has a solid story, strong characters, masterful cinematography, and the Billy Wilder touch, Union Station works on a thin plot, using simple characters, with little depth. Nevertheless, Union Station does contain enough action and suspense that it can be a fun film to watch. 

In the film, Holden plays a detective at Union Station who is alerted by a train passenger played by Olson, that there were two suspicious men aboard her train. As it turns out, the men are part of a larger group of crooks involved in a kidnapping and are using Union Station as the location for the ransom drop-off point.

The true gem of this movie is the use of the Los Angeles Union Station as a filming location. As the title suggests, nearly the entire film is set at Union Station. The best part is little has changed at Union Station from the time of the film. One can really time travel back to 1950 by visiting the train station. Below I have captured a few images of Union Station comparing the site as it appears in the film versus how it appears today.