The unstoppable Richard Orton, he of the keen eye and the
passion for movie art direction, just sent me two screen-shots proving that in
1951 Paramount Studios used the same fancy set of decorative archways in two
very different films. One was George Stevens’ powerful romantic tragedy, A
Place in the Sun. This film starring Montgomery Clift as a young man on the
make, also featured Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, and murder most foul.
The other film, completely unknown to me, was a screwball romantic comedy, The
Mating Season. Dick helpfully advised me that’s possible to see The
Mating Season, completely free of charge, on YouTube. The film’s above-the-title stars are John Lund and the gorgeous Gene Tierney.
But it was when Dick told me that The Mating Season is considered one of
Thelma Ritter’s best performances that I decided to check it out.
Thelma Ritter (1902-1969) was never anyone’s idea of a
romantic lead. Diminutive, with a
gravelly voice and a strong New Yawk accent, she was born to play tart-tongued
women of the working class. Making her uncredited screen debut as a frustrated
shopper in 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street, she collected her
first Oscar nomination—for the supporting role of Margo Channing’s maid—in
1950’s All About Eve. The Mating Season won her a second nomination, and
she went on to accumulate four more noms (for With a Song in My Heart, Pickup
on South Street, Pillow Talk, and Birdman of Alcatraz): it’s
a supporting-actress record that has neve been broken. Only problem: none of
the nominations resulted in a gold statuette. It’s an omission I wish we could
somehow rectify, because Thelma Ritter—whether appearing in wacky comedy or a
tough-minded drama—was one of a kind.
For sure, The Mating Season would be dead in the
water without her. It’s the story of an eager young businessman (the blond and
rather bland Lund) who falls for the sophisticated daughter of a former U.S.
ambassador (Tierney). They marry, but rivals on all sides are rooting against
the pairing. While Lund, trying to advance his business career, moves his bride
into a swanky apartment, rivals in his firm are working against the marriage as
well as his career prospects. I won’t go into all the complications that arise,
but Ritter plays Lund’s salt-of-the-earth widowed mom, the good-hearted
proprietor of a hamburger stand that’s in financial trouble. When she learns
that her son and new daughter-in-law are trying to throw an elaborate dinner
party for friends and business associates, she shows up to take over the
kitchen, without ever revealing the family relationship. Of course she triumphs, both at the stove and
with the grateful new daughter-in-law who at first doesn’t realize who she is.
Eventually, there evolves a showdown of sorts with a new arrival, the bitchy
and self-serving snob who is Tierney’s mother. She’s played by Miriam Hopkins,
once a bright Hollywood leading lady herself but by this time quite convincing
as an obnoxious older woman. Remarkably, Hopkins is billed above Ritter as a
supporting player, when by rights Ritter should have had star billing, in a
story that clearly revolves, from beginning to end, around her funny, feisty
character.
I’d love to convey how poignant Thelma Ritter can be, when
she’s victimized in films like Sam Fuller’s noirish spy thriller, Pickup on
South Street. But her acerbic wit shines through as the nurse looking after
James Stewart in Rear Window, and in so many of her other roles. .Give
this gal an Oscar! Too bad it’s too late for that.
