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10 April 2014

The Man For All Seasons

My father loved the movies. His father, my grandfather, had loved the movies. I do not know if my great-grandfather had loved the movies, but I feel sure he would have done so if there had been movies back then! I grew up hearing tales of how my father and his elder brother , the two eldest of my grandfather's six children, were often taken to the cinema by their father. Of how, while growing up in Madras, they had once gone out to see one film, found that the show was sold out, and were promptly taken to the theatre nearby and shown another new release. Of how, when they came out of that screening, my grandfather had turned to the boys and asked, 'Do you want to see ---  film (that they originally came for)?' And upon my father and uncle nodding in excited agreement, had promptly taken them both to watch that film as well. 

It was a feat that my father would repeat, many, many years later, with me. We went to watch Zanjeer on its re-release,  found out that the matinee was actually Caravan and that Zanjeer was the evening show, watched Caravan, came out, had a snack at a nearby hotel and went right back in to watch Zanjeer. (My mother was, well, not pleased, to put it mildly.) 
I have other tales as well, of my tryst with the movies  - of my father taking me to watch My Fair Lady on the eve of my Maths board exams,  brushing off my mother's protests by saying that if I hadn't studied the whole year, I wasn't going to do much studying the night before. Of my father coming home from office, in the pouring rain, with tickets to Laawaris.  Of taking me to watch three Amitabh Bachchan films in one week. Of introducing me not only to Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, but Gregory Peck and Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe and Cary Grant...  

So it was, when I was going through a particularly bad time a month or so ago, my husband came back from the library, grinning as if he had found a treasure. Indeed he had. In the library's non-fiction section, he had stumbled upon a book on Cary Grant.  It was not a biography, though it did trace the growth of the man called Archibald Leach and the artiste known as Cary Grant.  I really wasn't in the mood to read (or write or work or do anything at all), but this was Cary Grant!  
While the blurbs at the back are most often used to hype a book, I was struck by what Gregory Peck had to say about Grant: 'The first book about the real Cary - lively, warm, always entertaining, totally honest - like the man himself.' So I flipped to where Nancy Nelson, the author (and Grant's agent on the lecture circuit during the last years of his life), had written about the background of the book. 

Nancy's first interaction with Cary Grant was over the telephone. Ginger Rogers was represented by the lecture bureau of which Nancy was vice-president, and for one of her appearances, she had provided a photograph of herself with Cary Grant instead of the usual (and more obvious) choice - Fred Astaire. But they needed Grant's approval as well. Grant was by this time, long retired from the arc lights, and had steadfastly maintained his privacy. So Nancy wrote asking for his approval. Within days, she got a call back from Cary Grant. He wanted to know how Ginger was, where he could find her, and did Nancy have a number where he could reach her? So casual and easy was the conversation that Nancy almost forgot to ask him about the photograph. 
Cary Grant with Ginger Rogers
Soon, however, she was trying to convince him to join the lecture circuit himself. 'Who would listen to an old geezer like me?' demurred Grant when she first asked. (It was 1982; Grant was in his late 70s.) Then, after he agreed, and arrived in the US, he had another qualm. 'It's too much to charge that poor man,' said Grant. I'm not Pavarotti with a big production. I'm just  a guy who's going to sit on a stool and answer some questions. You give me that man's number and I'll tell him I'll come for a lower fee.'
 
By this time, I was smiling. And my husband looked like a cat who had eaten all the cream. ('You smiled for three and a half seconds!

That first lecture went exceedingly well, with Grant holding an audience of 2600 people captive for two and a half hours. But he was not very keen to do any more. But almost a year after that initial lecture, Cary Grant persuaded Nancy to start her own agency, and promised he would be her first client. So began a professional relationship that would only end with Grant's death. 

Cary Grant had steadfastly refused to pen his autobiography. But Nancy Nelson kept detailed notes of the 36 public appearances he made between late 1983 and late 1986, when he died, intending to write a memoir based on her notes. But meetings with two of Grant's closest friends after his death, which ended in laughter and in tears, made her expand her original premise.

Grant's widow, Barbara, helped Nancy to get interviews with Grant's friends and colleagues, both famous and not so famous. Cary Grant had filed all his correspondence. Barbara Grant provided that immense collection to Nancy, along with photographs, early contracts, scripts, jokes, notebooks, speeches, etc. Grant's friends, introduced by Barbara and by Katherine Hepburn, were more than happy to part with Grant's letters to them. 

The book begins with the birth of Archibald Alexander Leach on 18th January 1904 in Bristol, England. He was thirteen when he discovered the theatre; by the next year, Grant was bunking school to attend the matinee at the theatre. Later that same year, he ran away to join Bob Pender's troop of knockabout comedians, writing a letter to Pender posing as his own father. 

We learn about his early days - how he came to the US, how he sold ties out of a suitcase on Broadway, or became a walking advertisement for the race track on stilts, how he took part in vaudeville acts whenever he got a chance... It was the memory of these days of hardship, and the unexpected kindness of Lucrezia Bori, the lyric soprano of the Metropolitan Opera, that made Grant generous to other strugglers throughout his life. 

Finally, from vaudeville, where he got his first speaking part in The Woman Pays, he moved rather quickly to Broadway where his friendship with Arthur Hammerstein's nephew got him the role of the understudy for Golden Dawn. Though he had quite a few successes on Broadway, Grant flunked Fox Film Corporation's talent hunt. '...bowlegged, and his neck is too thick' was how he was summarily dismissed. 

In a bid to legitimise his stage appearances, he began appearing in musicals, and was successful enough to buy himself a new car. But Grant wanted more - he had his eyes on the motion picture and begged to be released from his contract. A screen test with Paramount gave him his first break, and a new name. The studio didn't want a hero named Archibald Leach. And so emerged Cary Grant. (That would lead to one of Grant's famous quotes, when told by an admirer that he would love to be Cary Grant: 'So would I!'

In a later conversation with Roderick Mann, Grant admitted that there were so many advantages to the new name - every Christmas he telephoned Clark Gable to enquire if Gable had got any monogrammed stuff that he didn't want. 'If he said yes, I'd hurry around, and we'd exchange initialed presents.'

Grant's first feature film was This is the Night, and by the end of the year, he had six more films opposite some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Mae West often claimed to have 'discovered Grant'. (If that man can talk, I want him for my costar.) And despite his reluctance to talk ill of anyone, Grant made the exception in the case of West: 'She was intent upon what she wanted to do, and did it. Everyone else suffered the consequences...'. 

Grant had already done eight films before acting with West. But his professional life wasn't all that great. So he made excursions into Radio, working with some of the best talent in town. Paramount had also begun loaning him out to other studios. In 1934, one such loan to RKO had him starring with Katherine Hepburn in Sylvia Scarlett, the first of four movies he would do with her. This would be his breakthrough film, and the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Hepburn. According to Katherine Hepburn, Grant '...was the only reason to see Sylvia Scarlett. It was a terrible picture, but he was wonderful in it.'  
With Katherine Hepburn in Holiday (1938)
Finally, in 1937 came a film that advanced Grant's career - The Awful Truth with Irene Dunne. Grant hated working in the film, however, since director Leo McCarey didn't have a script. Two successes at Paramount and one at MGM propelled Grant to end his contract with Paramount and freelance, something that was unheard of at that time. Paramount offered him a stupendous sum of money - $3500 per week - to stay, but Grant wanted not only the liberty to choose his roles, but also his co-stars.  It is interesting to learn that Grant, now on his way up as a saleable star, was not without his own idols. He remembers being so nervous at meeting Greta Garbo that he struck out his hand and said, 'Oh, I'm so happy you met me.' 

Nancy does not shy away from tackling the oft-repeated canard about Grant's sexuality either. Grant was amused by the rumour that he was gay. According to him, it just made women want to prove them wrong. As one of his co-stars put it, Grant was admired by the men and loved by the women; and the more well-liked you are, the more the envy that surrounds you.

The book also chronicles his loving relationship with both his parents, and how he took care of both at different times, despite the distance between them. It faithfully records his romances with Phyllis Brooks and Sophia Loren, his five marriages (with Virginia Cherrill, the already twice married Barbara Hutton, Betsy Drake, Dyan Cannon, and Barbara Grant), and his absolute love for his daughter, Jennifer, whom he called his 'best production'. 
With fourth wife, Dylan Cannon, and daughter, Jennifer
Photo credit: Daily Mail, UK 
It chronicles his dislike of Arsenic and Old Lace ('I'd have been better as one of the old aunts!'), and how his attention to detail infuriated the set designers of Walk, Don't Run. (He made them rebuild a set because they had forgotten continuity.) And how, while shooting An Affair to Remember, he pushed the costume designers into a tizzy because he pointed out that the buttons on the ship's stewards' uniforms were different from those that stewards wore on the real Queen Mary. The filmmakers dismissed his concerns, noting that audience wouldn't know the difference. Grant was adamant. 'Yes, but I'll know it.' The buttons were changed.

Reminiscences from his friends pepper the pages - Katherine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Gregory Peck... he seems to have been not just liked but loved by both contemporaries and newcomers.  Co-stars, both male and female go on record to talk of his generosity as an actor, of his need to ensure the picture was good, not just himself. Ralph Bellamy, his co-star on The Awful Truth said, 'There was no upstaging. Quite the opposite. He would give you your moment. He was always laughing and great to work with - friendly and receptive.'  
With Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Gunga Din (1939)
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. credits Grant with giving him one of his best remembered roles in Gunga Din, telling him that he would play whichever part Fairbanks refused. 'He was wonderful,' reminisces Fairbanks, 'and the most generous player I 've ever worked with.' Rosalind Russell called Grant her black-eyed cupid - he had introduced her to his friend, Frederick Brisson. Ingrid Bergman was grateful for his public support of her during her time of trial. Alfred Hitchcock told George Barrie, 'Knowing Cary is the greatest association I've had with any film actor. Cary's the only actor I ever loved my whole life.'  

The only peeve that Grant had - with David Niven, one of his closest friends - is also faithfully narrated. Niven had a habit of appropriating others' stories, and Grant was irritated to find his stories in Niven's autobiography The Moon is a Balloon.

Grant always wrote long, hand-written letters to his friends (the foundation of this book), and he kept binders full of notes, including his collection of jokes. Grant was also fond of practical jokes. While staying at William Randolph Hearst's mansion, he took a ride in a plane flown by Hearst Jr. They filled paper bags with flour and buzzed around the hangar throwing the bags at the asphalt roof.  It destroyed the roof and frightened the guests. Hearst Sr. was not amused. 

His accountant, a friend of long standing, records how Grant steadfastly refused to take advantage of tax loopholes (at one point, he was paying a whopping 93% in taxes), and how he hated to waste money, even when he was on an expense account.  But Grant, unable to take part in the war (he applied, and was rejected) donated a lot of his time and money to the war effort. He also gave generously to charity, to friends, and even complete strangers (to him at the time) vouch for his personal generosity.

A number of scriptwriters (Richard Brooks, Sidney Sheldon) owe their start as directors to his generosity of spirit. Leading actors (Richard Anderson, Ramon Navarro, Gilbert Roland, Antonio Moreno) have owed roles in the beginning days of their careers to Grant's recommendations. 

Thus is drawn the picture of a man, who was truly beloved of all who knew him; not an autobiography, not a salacious peek into a celebrity's private life, not rumours or conjecture, not even a personal look at Nancy Nelson's relationship with Cary Grant. Instead, Nelson retreats to the background, acceding centre stage to the voices of the many people who were close to Cary Grant, as colleague or friend, or to those whose paths crossed that of a gentleman's and could not forget him.

With Hitchcock on the sets of North by North West (1959)
Photo credit: tcm.com
More importantly, we get to hear Cary Grant's voice, full of the charm and the dignity that he exhibited onscreen, coupled with some naughty jokes that were part of his vaudeville background, his honesty about his experiments with LSD and hypnotism, and to see some extremely rare photographs that capture the almost impish delight in his eyes - 'The most memorable thing about Cary was his sense of joy.'
 
I like biographies, a peek into the life of people I admire, and to know a little bit more of what shaped their choices and their life experiences. This must be the first book in ages that I have devoured in one sitting, putting aside even work so I could finish reading it cover to cover. I laughed outright at some of the episodes, and was touched at some of the others. Each episode, narrated by someone else, gave me a clearer, and more endearing picture of Grant, the man.

It is not the most perfectly written book - it is not chronological, so you are weaving back and forth as to timelines, and it could have done with tighter editing, but reading it is like being introduced to Cary Grant, and coming back each time knowing you had spent a delightful evening with a delightful human being. As James Forsyth remarked, 'In this book you will discover the real Cary Grant, and you will love him even more.' I did. And I do.

52 comments:

  1. I've seen a lot (maybe two dozen?) of Shashi movies in the last year, and not just because he happened to have worked so steadily during the era I love best. Sure, I haven't seen all the ones on this list yet, but for good reason. I mean, I've got to save DaDP and Kalyug etc. for a rainy--I need more Shashi in my life--day . . .

    I think my favorite Shashi role in terms of just brilliant characterization is either in Shakespeare Wallah, or Sharmilee (which keeps growing in my estimation upon re-watches). In the whole latter film, I kept thinking, "this guy's pretty, sure, but he's also kind of a narcissistic ditz, isn't he?", and then all of a sudden, he transforms in the third act into someone who genuinely seems to have grown up and started to think for himself. Sexy. And like you said, all the more interesting and preferable because that character is a flawed, real, person. And then there's that moment when the evil twin is on the stairs, and you can 100% see his thoughts turn from love, to suspicion, to understanding in the space of a few seconds. It's masterful, and gives me shivers every time.

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  2. I kind of feel like I don't have to read the book now. And I mean that as a compliment! You've really caught some of your own joy (along with a condensed feeling of the book itself) from this read and packaged it here for us :)


    That said, can we we talk about how vastly Grant under-appreciated his own role in Arsenic and Old Lace? And also, how amusing it is that the world still feels the need to speculate on his sexuality (a man who was married 5 times) in annoyingly (A) binary terms [bisexuality IS a thing], and (B) as if it was reflected at all in his own performances. Sure, everybody loves a good star-studded rumor, but seriously, people. It's annoying to real fans, and confusing to new ones (I remember how confused I was by sensationalist afternoon TV specials I saw about him as a kid and by family members vague insistence that he was not a "man's" hero).

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  3. I loved Junoon--how could one not?--and it inspired a whole January of themed posts on my blog. I will get around to Utsav eventually, because, yes, Shashi is almost always worth watching.

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  4. Oo, this sounds like just the sort of book I'd want to read! (Though I'm not sure where I'll find the time for it - I have about 20 books lined up to read right now). I know this is probably going to sound slightly mad, but I've always thought Cary Grant seemed like a really endearing person. Not just drop-dead gorgeous, but a genuinely lovable personality. It seemed to shine through in films like Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing up Baby and Charade... a warm, cheery man with a great sense of humour. Of course, it could have been great acting, but I preferred to think not. ;-) Glad to see that I wasn't too wrong, it seems.

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  5. OK now this is something definitely up my street but unfortunately I am once again away from home so I just do not have the time to read it. This calls for my undivided attention so I will come back later after I have read it.

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  6. Oh, yes! I did see the many posts on Junoon! (*smacking head*) How could I have forgotten it? :)

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  7. You weren't at all wrong, Madhu. He really comes across as an endearing human being. Get this and put it at the top of your to-read pile. :) It's totally worth it!

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  8. You travel a lot, don't you Shilpi? Take care, and yes, do come back when you have the time.

    Hugs.

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  9. I've already read one biography of Cary Grant, but since I still want to know more (!) I know what I'll be reading during Spring Break! :-) I especially like the more initimate focus this book promises. I don't want to know about Cary Grant's personal life but I do want to learn more about Cary Grant, the person.

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  10. Shalini, do read this. Because while it does touch on his personal life (how can it not?), the anecdotes reveal more about who Grant was as a person. And it is a nice person. :)

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  11. Oh my gosh, I've only heard of a couple of these. From your descriptions, and from the songs you posted, I can tell they are definitely worth seeing. I think Yahudi will be first on my agenda . . it sounds like the plot of some of the historical novels I was obsessed with in high school. Thank you so much for this list! Goldmine.

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  12. And oh, do watch Kohinoor if you get a chance. It's a lovely romp, and such a departure for both Dilip Kumar and Meena Kumari. :)

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  13. Anuji,

    Enjoyed reading the write-up on the book, Evenings with Cary Grant. I have watched three of his movies, all the three with Hitchcock, Suspicion, Notorious and To catch a thief. I remember Suspicion for the recurring theme music in different moods. Later I was told by my friend’s father that that it was Johann Strauss's music Wiener Blut. I had no idea, but I enjoyed both the music and the film. But out of the three films, Notorious was the film I like the most. Besides Cary Grant and Claude Rains, I remember the exciting performance of Ingrid Bergman. Although I have watched (only) three of his movies, I knew nothing about Cary Grant before. Thank you for the article once again. Do I need to read the book after reading your excellent post?

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  14. I have reviewed all three of those films. :) Didn't like Suspicion much because the ending really welshed out. Grant talks about it in this book. I loved Notorious; it's one of Hitchcock's and Grant's under-rated movies. I'm so glad Hitchcock persuaded Grant to come back for To Catch a Thief.

    Do I need to read the book after reading your excellent post?
    Thank you, Mr Venkatraman. :) But yes, if you can get your hands on the book, do read it. It's a wonderfully humorous book, and because it is anecdotal, you can just dip into it. I'm on a quest to find the original hardbound to buy. Sadly, it's out of print. But the quest continues. :)

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  15. Thank you, Jay. True it is that songs are often axed to reduce a film's length. Then it remains a part of the audio at least, since the songs are often released before the film is. The issue comes when the censor board decides to axe songs or scenes because of what they consider immoral or violent. Here is where I disagree - I do not like others taking decisions on what I want to watch. Rate it, like they do in the US, and let the audience decide. My morality is no one's jagir. (Sorry, pet peeve. *grin*)

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  16. In academia the more common word seems to be ‘self-plagiarism’. It is defined by Wiki as ‘the reuse of significant, identical, or nearly identical portions of one’s own work without acknowledging that one is doing so or without citing the original work.’

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism#Self-plagiarism

    To many it remains an oxymoron.

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  17. I find that weird as well. If it is *my* intellectual property, how can I be stealing it? I would call it laziness, though, if you cannot write original material, and instead rehash what you have written. In the case of songs, how do you 'cite' a tune you have used before? Or, in some of these cases, when the song has been axed from the film, why is it so wrong to use it elsewhere? That cannot be classified as recycling or reuse. It is still original material, is it not?

    Not arguing with you, Canasyaji, but these are thoughts that spring to mind when that word is used without context. :) I wonder if the others would like to weigh in? It would turn out to be an interesting discussion.

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  18. I love this post! I have read it three times so far, and drooled over the pictures! I saw CG for the first time when I was in college, in North by Northwest, and I was hooked! Then came Charade, and there was no looking back after that! The rest of the movies came after I came to this country and discovered AMC and TCM. I can't even decide which I like more - his Hitchcock movies, or his movies with Katherine Hepburn? Of course, I have lost count of the number of times I have watched An Affair to Remember and Father Goose, as well as Operation Petticoat and Bringing up Baby. I watch them every time I turn the TV to AMC and find one or the other of these movies being screened. Now I have to find this book at our local library and read it. Maybe I should look it up on their website now itself. Anyway, thanks for a wonderful post on my favorite screen hero!

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  19. Hey, Lalitha, good to see you back! I've been wondering where you were. :) My first Grant pic was, I think, Notorious. I'm so glad I brought back such good memories. (Should J be jealous? *grin* S is. Totally!)

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  20. p.s. S says to say that he is not jealous of Cary Grant. Message passed on. :)

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  21. And J will echo him. Do we believe either one? Nah.

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  22. Yes I have been travelling not for pleasure but out of necessity but I have finally managed to find the time and read this post. I love biographies and I have read several, almost all of them borrowed from libraries, saves money (HA!HA!). I am a diehard fan of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. I can understand your need to finish this book in a single sitting, I would too if I could lay my hands on it. Anyway thanks for sharing these gems with us. It was interesting.
    By the way I quite enjoyed reading about your father and grandfather and how your father repeated history with you. Imagine seeing two films on the same day, I have never done it, must have been quite an experience.

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  23. Oh yes I forgot to mention, thanks for the hugs and caring message, it was sweet of you.

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  24. I'm trying to buy this book, Shilpi. Amazon has a paperback (a later edition) available from its marketplace. Let's see. :)

    I'm glad you like my madcap tales. :) Yes, it was quite nice of my father to take me to watch two films in a single day. Especially since I had not been at all interested in watching Caravan, having come to see Amitabh in Zanjeer. I loved it!

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  25. Excellent! Superb post indeed!

    It really hurts when gems produced by the great MadanMohan and O.P. Nayyar(both my favorite composers) are omitted from the movies.Learning about "Sahil ki taraf." I really feel sad.....There seems nothing wrong with the song; Chhoti Bahu is getting moral support from Bhootnath,and people getting outraged because of their narrow-mindedness..And the heavenly voice of Hemant Kumar......why? :(

    About " Balma khuli hawaa mein" I recall seeing it the song on T.V. in chitrahaar.Thanks for the link to "Yunhi dil ne chaha tha" from Dil Hi To Hai as Suman Kalyanpur is one of my favorites singers.I had a H.M.V.audio cassette of Dil Hi To Hai,but the song was not there in it.I have heard "Main pyar ka raahi hoon"on youtube and it is indeed a very melodious song! Sad it was not included in the film.
    Shree 420 was a masterpiece of Raj Kapoor and a satire on the society which is still relevant now .I want to share an interesting fact about "Shaam gayi raat aayi" according to some sources,a major part of it was shot a dancer who later on became a brilliant actress and she had also appeared as a group dancer in "Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh"(Hint-my most favorite actress). She was heartbroken when the song was edited out due to the length of thefilm .She was only fourteen years old then.But by the stroke of fortune, she appeared opposite Raj Kapoor In Dulha-Dulhan

    Thank you once again for giving the links to these rare gems!

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  26. I'd heard that Sadhana was a group dancer in Barsaat? I tried very hard to spot her among the group dancers both in Barsaat and Shree 420. You know what is sad? They never used Shaam gayi raat aayi in any subsequent RK film either. :(

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  27. It's very sad indeed! Here is Sadhana for you (behind Raj Kapoor)............And another one(sorry for the poor quality....It is a hard task to take screenshot when the dancers are dancing rapidly) :)

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  28. Sorry for the reiteration of same images! Disqus is acting really weird :(

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  29. Wow. I wouldn't have recognised her. Thanks for this screenshot, coolone.

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  30. Love this and shall try to get the book - wish it were a film with clips of the man! One of our very favourite ones this (Gregory Peck the other, with no point trying to see which came first!) and so very many delightful films! and David Niven is yet another much loved one.

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  31. Yes, Grant, Peck, Stewart are my trifecta, but Niven is a close contender. Have you read Niven's The Moon is a Balloon?

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  32. Awesome post... the information you have shared is noteworthy.. Lot of research and passion for music.

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  33. What an interesting and informative post. So many well known songs and missing from the movies ? Here I thought the songs were missing because of choppy job of reproducing these movies on DVDs and VCDs. Heck, the audience would rather take another great song instead of the senseless whining scenes that are never ending, specially if the songs are cut for the length sake. Interesting reason for Sharmila song to be cut because of the flying duppata ? but she is allowed a swim suit in Evening in Paris ! I remember Nutan and Nargis in swimsuits too way before Kashmir ki kali..
    I do have another song to add to the list. "roz akeli aaye, roz akeli jaaye" from Mere Apne.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89mr-1zRcs

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  34. Neeru, it is sad, isn't it? And of course, VCD/DVD manufacturers are also guilty - not only of axeing songs but also scenes, quite arbitrarily, in fact. And I think the arbitrary measures for censorship also depends on the person who is watching the film at the time. It is all quite random.

    Thank you for that addition. I have a soft spot for Salilda. :) According to Gautam, the founder-archivist of Salilda.com, the song was axed because Meena Kumari was very ill during its shooting. And the shoot kept getting postponed. Gulzar was adamant that he didn't want it as a background song, but Meena Kumari never recovered from her illness and this song was not included in the film.

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  35. What a lovely post and a wonderful blog! Came upon this thanks to Dustedoff's recommendation... Among this list, I have a feeling that I have seen Jaata Kahan Hai Deewane and Main Pyaar Ka Raahi Hoon (back in the DD days)... Balma Khuli Hawa mein was chopped because of a flying dupatta??? Interesting! And I remember trying to find the video of Yunhi dil ne chaha thha! I even watched the DVD for that one song and was cursing Shemaroo/ or whichever company it was, for cutting that song. :-/

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  36. Thank you, hsvs! What a lovely thing to say - you've made my day. :) (And thank you very much to Dustedoff as well - she is too kind.)


    Welcome to my blog, and I'm glad you found the post interesting. Please do not remain a stranger. I hope you will continue to read, and comment.

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  37. Thank you :-) I will. Found it very interesting - and was thinking about all these posts to read!! :-) My name is Harini - Old hindi songs and movies are a passion - just started blogging on these (and got introduced to all these lovely blogs (like this!)). Do check out my rudimentary blog when you can - bagsbooksandmore.wordpress.com.

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  38. Ah, you are the commenter who posts as bagsbooksandmore over at Dustedoff's. :) That' s such a cool name!



    Will definitely pop over your blog.

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  39. I'm so glad I got a copy of this book, even if it's just second-hand. I love Cary Grant so much that when I saw the book, I bought it immediately. Reading the book was like hearing the stories from his friends first hand and was like listening to Cary Grant speak. Love it.

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  40. I got one second-hand as well. :) I'm so glad someone else has read the book and liked it as much as I did. Thank you for commenting.

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  41. Thanks for this informative piece. All the time wondering why these lovely songs were not picturesed!

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  42. You're welcome, Saumya. As you can see from the comments, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Thank heavens for YouTube where some committed people unearth the ones we haven't even heard of.

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  43. Great post! Another beautiful composition, which was not picturised, is the song 'Raat ki mehfil sooni sooni' composed by Roshan, from the film 'Noor Jehan' (1968). An eerily beautiful song, which would have probably been picturised on the amazingly versatile Meena Kumari.. Truly sad they didn't!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LORrizj2Tc

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  44. Thank you, Rishi, and thank you also for adding to this list. Interesting and I wonder why so many songs went missing, and sometimes for such odd reasons.

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  45. Chitrapat Sangeet30 May 2015 at 23:56

    http://www.scoop.it/t/sngeet-ke-sitaare/p/1479850636/2012/03/24/unpicturised-songs

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  46. My comments marked this as spam because of the link, I think. :) Thanks for the information, Karthik.

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  47. Anirudha Bhattacharjee3 June 2015 at 23:14

    Some of these are mentioned in my 50 songs book..a few are just mentions, while there are discussions on others .

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  48. Now you have piqued my interest more than ever! :)

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