THE ITHACA SUCKS ALUM CORNER PRESENTSDan Duryea, Film Noir Heavy
If you logged in the thousands of hours watching B-movies that Ez did, you will undoubtedly recognize this Cornell graduate who, in film after film, recreated the spineless, slightly psychopathic, misogynistic, snivelling, blackmailing, deceitful, cynical slime ball of such classics as
Scarlet City, The Black Angel, and Criss Cross. According to film critic, Stuart Kaminsky, Duryea "brought out the emerging attitude of disillusionment toward the end of World War II and in the years after. In the 1950s Duryea's mocking image became less one to be faced and overcome by the hero than one which had to be accepted as part of the postwar world" He was the perfect "evil counterpart for the lanky heroes of the 1940s, particularly Gary Cooper in Along Came Jones."
Kaminsy goes on to make the claim that "he (Duryea) developed a repertoire of understated shoulder shrugs, slight raisings of the eyebrow, a twitch of the mouth, and an almost imperceptible "suit-yourself, take-it-or-leave-it" movement of the hand. He became a master of the small signs of character that the camera could pick up, and he wielded his reedy, high voice like an irritating, cutting scimitar."
Holy Cagney, Ez-man. You can walk into Simeon's or Madelines on any given evening and see people mimicking Mr. D. Hey, looks like everyone wants to break into pictures, and leave their palm print on the Boulevard .
Now, here's the clincher. In an interview once, Duryea was asked how he crafted the persona of a petty, woman-slapping, double crossing louse that he played on the screen. His answer is priceless so Ez copies it verbatim.
"At first it was very hard as I am a very even-tempered guy ... but I used my past life experiences to motivate me as I thought about some of the people I hated in my early as well as later life ... like the school bully who used to try and beat the hell out of me at least once a week ... a sadistic family doctor that believed feeling pain when he treated you was the birthright of every man inasmuch as women suffered giving birth ... little incidents with trade-people who enjoyed acting superior because they owned their business, overcharging you. Then the one I used when I had to slap a woman around was easy! I was slapping the over-bearing teacher who would fail you in their ‘holier-than-thou’ class and enjoy it! And especially the experiences I had dealing with the unbelievable pompous ‘know-it-all-experts’ that I dealt with during my advertising agency days ... almost going ‘nuts’ trying to please these ‘corporate heads’ until I finally got out of that racket!"
Well, he did spend four years in Ithaca, right? 'Know it all experts'? Sadistic dentists that would make Laurence Olivier in
Marathon Man look like Mr. Rogers. And nasty trade people, Ez means nasty, galore. Was
Now You're Cooking open in those days, doya think?
Ez salutes Dan Duryea for his ability to get more than a classroom education in Ithaca, New York.
Comments invited at: ezrakidder@gmail.com - Peace, Ezra at 7:53 AM
