When I persuaded my parents that we should go see M-G-M's "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Fox Village Theater in Westwood, a prime venue for viewing widescreen films with stereophonic soundtracks (and I guess it still is very nearly a half-century later!), we found ourselves outside, delayed a bit in being allowed to purchase our tickets to enter the theater because the Fox Village was the site of a "Studio Invitational Preview." My parents wanted to return home and leave a viewing of "Seven Brides...et al." for a later date but, movie buff that I was already, I prevailed and we watched as various Hollywood luminaries made it past a phalanx of photographers. Arlene Dahl, on the arm of her then husband (I think I have my chronolgy right about this), Fernando Lamas, dazzled the paparazzi, one of whom congratulated her on her soon-to-be-released co-starring effort with Rock Hudson, "Bengal Brigade" a U.-I. adventure costumer.
When we non-luminaries were allowed to enter, the picture being previewed was Universal-International's big budget (for that second-string studio, anyway) "Sign of the Pagan." The Fox Village's enormous screen enhanced the almost top-of-the-line production values and the performances by Rita Gam and Jack Palance, especially, made the chore of sitting through it somewhat bearable. I have to admit that "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" was the happier viewing experience that night and was certainly grateful for my parents' forbearance in sitting through two full-length features, something they hadn't done since their courtship some years before.
Playing that little game of "Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon" which was fashionable a few years ago (maybe even now and one that I'd never be proficient at, by the way, failing to find Mr. Bacon in the least appealing as an actor), the earlier equivalent of it might have been, as their romantic entanglements played out, connecting Arlene Dahl, once married to Fernando Lamas, who eventually married Esther Williams, who at one time (most probably before she married Senor Lamas) had an affair with Jeff Chandler, the leading man in "Sign of the Pagan" - the American/Hollywood version of "La Ronde", n'est-ce pas?
When we non-luminaries were allowed to enter, the picture being previewed was Universal-International's big budget (for that second-string studio, anyway) "Sign of the Pagan." The Fox Village's enormous screen enhanced the almost top-of-the-line production values and the performances by Rita Gam and Jack Palance, especially, made the chore of sitting through it somewhat bearable. I have to admit that "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" was the happier viewing experience that night and was certainly grateful for my parents' forbearance in sitting through two full-length features, something they hadn't done since their courtship some years before.
Playing that little game of "Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon" which was fashionable a few years ago (maybe even now and one that I'd never be proficient at, by the way, failing to find Mr. Bacon in the least appealing as an actor), the earlier equivalent of it might have been, as their romantic entanglements played out, connecting Arlene Dahl, once married to Fernando Lamas, who eventually married Esther Williams, who at one time (most probably before she married Senor Lamas) had an affair with Jeff Chandler, the leading man in "Sign of the Pagan" - the American/Hollywood version of "La Ronde", n'est-ce pas?