Veronica Lake: The 1971 Dick Cavett Interview (Rare)

[Mister Obvious]

Holy shit, man...

Sooo, lately I've been down a rabbit hole of classic actresses...

A trend for me in life, I explain here:

"Gene Tierney: Most beautiful classic actress of all time"
https://www.sectual.com/thread-17132.html

Earlier today I was talking about Gene Tierney, and I mentioned I'd be commentating on this '70s Veronica Lake interview.

I just think later life interviews with these 1940s hollywood actresses are fascinating...

Veronica Lake died 2 years after this interview, here's her Wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Lake

I think there's a big difference between Gene Tierney and Veronica Lake, just as people... as personalities.

I feel like Veronica Lake has "swagger" (lol), and Gene Tierney is just over the top modest and sort of self-deprecating.

Veronica Lake will admit that she knows she was insanely beautiful, but she's still likable when she does it... because let's face it, both these women did possess otherworldly beauty that set them apart from everyone else.

Even Gene Tierney, innocent as she was, knew that the degree of beauty was intense like a burning sun...

People go so far as to say that their beauty was standing in the way of them being taken seriously, being given different types of roles, being given more honors, etc.

I dunno if I agree with that.

A basic part of film in general is to be immortalized.

The height of their perfect beauty was immortalized on film.

But regardless of any of that, Veronica Lake is saucy...

High level, definitely hardcore and intense.

She's bewitching, even as she sits 2 years from death on this interview...

Still enchanting, and it's clear that she has a lot of depth.

I love Dick Cavett and I think he's great... I don't have any true complaints about him, especially knowing how much he loved Janis Joplin.

But I do agree with some of the comments I've read from people stating they were displeased with his style of interviewing Veronica...

They just felt he could have been more serious.

I mean who knows, maybe he was having an off day or just didn't understand the magnitude of her importance.

There are no other Veronica Lake interviews... and especially not later in life.

It was a major historical honor for him to be the host.

4:30 I just feel like she's chill as fuck. I definitely get the 'hang out and chat for hours' vibe from her and I love it.

She's just so... fucking amazing.

I just keep thinking it again and again as I watch this, it's making me pretty fucking lit.

6:23 damn this is so fascinating... cuz honestly, I've been collecting Veronica Lake photos since like 2004, but I've only seen one of her movies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Married_a_Witch

You wanna talk about fucking iconic...



IMO her most iconic role and I gotta point out, it's basically a comedy movie...

It's a 1942 film, so IMO that makes it a pretty early standard comedy.

But there's also This Gun For Hire (1942)...



This is classic film noir... maybe people would argue that this is her most iconic role.

Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd during the 1940s

*shrug*

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e7/f0/3e/...eea0d7.jpg

That hot, hot heat though.

Classic hollywood actresses were the shit dude, check out the super hi-res photos sometime:

https://www.doctormacro.com/Galleries.htm

https://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star...-Annex.htm

https://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star...-Annex.htm

https://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Lake,...od)_02.jpg

https://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Lake,...ica_09.jpg

It's fuckin' unbelievable...

https://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Lake,...ch)_03.jpg

Take a hard look at her:

https://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Lake,...ica_14.jpg

https://imgur.com/a/K2q8lYp

Bitches these days have gotten sooo out of hand with the makeup and the fakeness.

Veronica was natural.

So was Gene Tierney.

6:45 she is sooo dominant. Both Gene Tierney AND Veronica Lake's interviews have been hard to watch, for SO MANY reasons... they're just so intense. The Presence. The LEGEND.

It's all too much.

7:00 so they start talking about Howard Hughes, which is pretty hardcore. Mae Brussell (one of my all time favorites) wrote an article about Hughes and discussed him in depth on her talk radio show...

http://www.maebrussell.com/Mae%20Brussel...ticle.html

This links Veronica Lake and Gene Tierney together via Howard Hughes...

Tierney's friend Howard Hughes paid for Daria's medical expenses, ensuring the girl received the best care. Tierney never forgot his acts of kindness. Daria Cassini died in 2010, at the age of 66.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney

VERY interesting!

7:28 she's just one of those people you could talk to for hours and she's so saucy and entertaining.

8:30 I feel like it's pretty fucking clear what she meant...

Either Dick was too stoned, or not stoned enough.

Don't get me wrong, there are ways I could critique her too...

But why bother? I think she's perfect with the good and the bad...

I would rather be fascinating and different than be beautiful and boring.

Gene Tierney was definitely the more humble of the two, and I think being that way is generally preferable.

It's too bad nobody seems to be able to strike the perfect balance between humbleness and confidence.

11:00 maybe Dick was scared of Veronica. ROFL!!!

It's certainly easy to be in love with her.

So glad I watched this interview tonight, I feel enriched.

[Mister Obvious]

Having said all that, she is sort of mean.

Now come on, hear me out.

I'm not saying she's ultimately mean or bad, but she is sort of insulting to Dick at certain moments...

Maybe there's a backstory and she's getting back at him...

Maybe he said something that pissed her off... maybe before the show, or she overheard something.

I'd be surprised if she acted that way unprovoked.

[Mister Obvious]

I think she was salty about some comments that were made and she wanted to make Dick regret it...

She was definitely directing that force at him and no one else.

[Guest]

this is why I like you mo , you aint just some dumb candy striper girl I screwed in the hospital you got a vast array of interests

[Mister Obvious]

26:00 I don't know a lot about Myrna Loy, but...

All these classic hollywood ladies seem to treat Dick like a bitch...

Mryna Loy was 75 here though, considerably older than Veronica was...

Seems like the rumors about notoriously obtuse classic hollywood actresses may be true.

[Mister Obvious]

Wow man...

So lastnight I got the Veronica Lake autobiography on Kindle...

https://www.amazon.com/Veronica-Autobiog...B081SLT65Y

I'm about 60 pages in so far, it got pretty late and I had to stop reading.

But I CANNOT BELIEVE this is what Veronica Lake (Connie) sounded like...

It's AMAZING.

She was...

Ahead of her time. Which sounds so weird to say.

Usually when someone is ahead of their time, they're not really accepted WHILE they're here. But she was.

Reading it is like having a conversation with her, straight up.

Some of the words and the phrasing is so modern...

I have wondered if there was some tampering in the editing of the book, but I kinda doubt it considering the oddities of the language sometimes.

It's a strange dichotomy...

At times, it sounds like you're reading from someone who is STILL ahead of their time, and other times it's like 1910 again.

She had a wicked sense of humor and a very interesting story.

I was glad to read about her early days in hollyweird and how she managed to escape unscathed from industry sex pervs.

It was cool reading about her first husband and how they ended up together, it was actually very sweet.

There have been a few quotes from the book that have stuck out for me so far, this is my fave...

https://i.imgur.com/D5WEqVd.png

Gurl, SAAAAAAME.

[Mister Obvious]

There was one part of the book where she describes herself at 17, fresh off a troublesome movie shoot, totally pissed and upset, driving across Arizona in the middle of the night, laughing at "close calls" on the highway...

The mental imagery was lit. Absolutely could be a movie scene if only there was ANYONE alive who could play her.

[Mister Obvious]

Having said all that, she is sort of mean.

I still agree with this...

She's definitely low key mean.

She's a titty snob and even though she's humble "enough" in my opinion, there's still a little loftiness in some of the things she says.

A bit crazy for sure...

But what do you expect out of a beautiful woman?

[Mister Obvious]

[Mister Obvious]

We wrote a story with a character inspired by Veronica Lake...

https://www.sectual.com/thread-17549-pos...#pid128281

Detective Delia Delicato...

https://imgur.com/a/LmRNZM5

[Mister Obvious]

Whoa dude...



It seems like everything she was involved in felt ahead of its time.

What high strangeness is this?

The woman hosting this seems like some chick straight off of YouTube.

This is so fucking weird.

1:28 what the hell?

This is fucking crazy you guys.

Nothing new under the sun...

Absolutely nothing.

[Mister Obvious]

She's a titty snob

I don't fucking jest...

She legitimately was.

She practically started off her life story bragging about having big tits for a short girl...

Then later she went on to recount how she and her beauty queen friends would hang out backstage in competitions and shit talk the little tittied chicks.

It goes to further support my theory that, for women, they are "into" whatever body type they happen to have.

I haven't read the whole book so I dunno if she ever discusses it, but I do wonder how into other chicks she really may have been...

All she's discussed so far is her various crushes on boys when she was young, her first husband, etc.

No gay vibes there, but I definitely feel like she might have been a little bit into the female sort.

[Mister Obvious]

At least I hope so...

[Mister Obvious]

7:15 that Alex Segal guy is oddly sexy as fuck, like yowza stop it.

[Mister Obvious]

"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000)

The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 Preston Sturges film Sullivan's Travels, in which the protagonist (a director) wants to direct a film about the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou? that will be a "commentary on modern conditions, stark realism, and the problems that confront the average man". Lacking any experience in this area, the director sets out on a journey to experience the human suffering of the average man but is sabotaged by his anxious studio. The film has some similarity in tone to Sturges's film, including scenes with prison gangs and a black church choir. The prisoners at the picture show scene is also a direct homage to a nearly identical scene in Sturges's film.

[Mister Obvious]

I was intrigued by this clip so I started watching the movie...

"Sullivan's Travels" (1941)

https://www.amazon.com/Sullivans-Travels...B00AAKBEE6

So far it's great. Snappy pacing and very funny.

1941...

Almost 100 years later and absolutely nothing has changed.

I think I get the game now.

It's always been the same, always going to be the same, and there's nothing more to it than that.

I'm excited to see "Ronni" in her hobo garb. Can't believe I haven't watched this sooner, but it all comes to you when it's time.

Holy frick...

The dialogue in this movie is amazing.

I am so glad I decided to watch it. I was really on the fence about it, even though I do like old movies sometimes. I tend to prefer old TV shows over old movies.

It looks like it must have been a blast to film. Veronica said as much in the autobiography.

The "action" scenes are totally insane, I've never seen anything like it.

But it's interesting because after reading her accounts of hollywood, how they film movies, etc. you can see all the tricks. That's not to say it's badly done by any means, but the glimpse behind the curtain that she provides in the book, well, you just can't unsee it.

Seems strange to say, but the sound is AMAZING in this movie. The theater scene where everyone's making a bunch of noise... it's just so perfect.

So now I'm at the first scene with Veronica, in the cafe... God she's amazing. God dang one of a kind right there. Her presence is incredible.

People have called her delivery "dry" and "flat" but that is absolute bullshit... she's perfect. Thank God nobody listened to the critics.

She was pregnant in this movie. According to the book, this was the best movie/filming experience she ever had. She said the film just seemed to attract friendly people and basically nobody sucked.

A lot of people weren't too fond of the turn the story takes in the second half, but I think the whole "be careful what you wish for" thingy must have been lost on 'em.