The myth of Jackie's red roses

[Vince Palamara]

We can put to bed the notion that Jackie was only given red roses in Dallas 11/22/63...she also received them in September 1962:

 

[Cory Santos]

Thanks, where was this? Still, only in Dallas for the Texas trip correct?

[Joseph McBride]

Jacqueline Kennedy told Theodore White in her "Camelot" interview

on November 29, 1963 (according to White's notes), "Every time we got off the plane that day, three times they

gave me the yellow roses of Texas. But in Dallas they gave me red roses.

I thought how funny, red roses -- so all the seat was full of blood and red roses."

(The person who presented her with a bouquet of red roses at Love

Field on November was Elizabeth [Dearie] Cabell, the wife of CIA-connected Dallas mayor Earle Cabell. Jacqueline Kennedy's reference

to "that day" must mean she conflated in her mind the airport landings of Nov. 21 and 22. On Nov. 21 they landed

in San Antonio and Houston. On Nov. 22 they landed in Dallas.)

Edited October 21, 2018 by Joseph McBride

[Joe Bauer]

A tip of the hat to our very own Joseph McBride.

I was listening to KCBS radio in San Francisco, CA around 6:20 pm this evening when Joseph was introduced and interviewed about the "new release" of the Orson Well's unfinished film "The Other Side Of The Wind."

JM gives a brief but fascinating historical summary of the film and how it has finally been finished and will be screened at the Roxie theater in San Francisco. It will also appear on Netflix on November 2nd and be shown at many film festivals as well.

What's really interesting is that McBride is actually ... in the film!

The following is the cast list. Notice J M's name and role six names down.

Cast[edit]

• John Huston as Jake Hannaford, modeled on Ernest Hemingway. Welles denied speculation that the character was also based on himself or Huston, although he noted that there were elements of early Hollywood directors with macho reputations, such as Rex Ingram^[4], John Ford, Raoul Walsh and William A. Wellman.
• Bob Random as Oscar "John" Dale, the pretty, androgynous leading man of Hannaford's new film, who walked out mid-filming, leaving the picture unfinished.
• Peter Bogdanovich as Brooks Otterlake, a protégé of Hannaford's who is now a commercially successful director in his own right, and who has a talent for mimicking celebrities. The character has many parallels with Bogdanovich himself, who took over the role after the departure of comedian Rich Little. Little remained credited as a party extra.
• Susan Strasberg as Juliette Riche, a savage film critic. The character was a thinly veiled spoof of Pauline Kael, with whom Welles was in a public feud over her allegation (later discredited) that he did not write Citizen Kane. The role had originally been written with Jeanne Moreau in mind, and was initially played by Bogdanovich's then-wife Polly Platt, who also served as the film's production designer, before eventually being taken over by Strasberg, who reshot the scenes previously filmed with Platt.^[5]:165
• Oja Kodar as The Actress aka The Red, Red Indian. The unnamed, enigmatic actress features prominently in the film-within-a-film, and is also at Hannaford's party. Much of her role is silent.
• Joseph McBride as Marvin Pister, an amalgamation of various cinephiles and socially awkward film critics whom Welles had met over the years.^{[5]:164, 177, 200}
• Lilli Palmer as Zarah Valeska, who owns the ranch which hosts Hannaford's party, was based on Welles's old friend Marlene Dietrich, whom he very much wanted to play the role, but Dietrich was unavailable for filming.^{[5]:165[6]:195}
• Edmond O'Brien as Pat, an aging actor with fascist political leanings who is one of Hannaford's cronies.
• Mercedes McCambridge as Maggie Fassbender, a cineaste married to Marvin P. Fassbender, working as Hannaford's secretary.
• Paul Stewart as Matt Costello, a leading member of "the Hannaford Mafia" of the director's old Hollywood cronies. He is reputed to have a long-standing association with the House Un-American Activities Committee.
• Cameron Mitchell as "Zimmie" Zimmer, a Texas-born makeup artist of Jewish heritage and one of Hannaford's closest artistic collaborators. He is fired by Costello (who stipulates his attendance at the party) en route to the ranch.
• Peter Jason as Marvin P. Fassbender, a bumptious film journalist.
• Tonio Selwart as The Baron, a parody of Welles's former business partner John Houseman, whom he had acrimoniously separated from in the 1940s, and who published several memoirs throughout the 1970s which were scathing of Welles.^[5]:165
• Howard Grossman as Charles Higgam, Hannaford's biographer, a parody of Charles Higham, who had written an influential and unflattering 1970 biography of Welles which had wounded him with its Freudian accusation that he had a "fear of completion" on films. A 1970 Higham article publicising the biography had directly led to one major investor pulling out from The Other Side of the Wind, who was put off by the "fear of completion" charge. The role was originally played by Bogdanovich, but then re-shot with Grossman when Bogdanovich switched to playing Otterlake^[5]:165
• Geoffrey Land as Max David, a young studio boss and former child actor, spoofing Robert Evans.^[5]:165
• Norman Foster as Billy Boyle, an aging former child actor from Hannaford's early films, and a member of his entourage, portrayed as a stooge. He is a recovering alcoholic, and a compulsive eater of candy.
• Dennis Hopper as Lucas Renard, a young avant-garde director with parallels to Hopper.
• Gregory Sierra as Jack Simon, a screenwriter with parallels to John Milius who questions Hannaford's sexual orientation in front of Otterlake.
• Benny Rubin as Abe Vogel, based on veteran Hollywood agent Abe Lastfogel.^[5]:165
• Cathy Lucas as Mavis Henscher, a spoof of Bogdanovich's then-girlfriend, actress Cybill Shepherd (who was present for at least some of the filming, and whose brother, Bill Shepherd, was part of the production crew filming in Arizona). A young actress, Henscher has difficulty balancing her acting career with the correspondence course her home state makes her take while working.^[5]:165
• Dan Tobin as Dr. Bradley Pease Burroughs, Professor of English Literature at Clivedale Academy, a boys' boarding school in Franahan which had been implicated in a pederastyscandal involving another teacher. His former star pupil is John Dale. When Pease Burroughs is brought out to Hannaford's party to discuss Dale he is noticeably ill-at-ease in the unfamiliar atmosphere of Hollywood.
• George Jessel as himself
• Richard Wilson as himself
• Claude Chabrol as himself
• Curtis Harrington as himself
• Henry Jaglom as himself
• Paul Mazursky as himself
• Cameron Crowe as a party extra
• Les Moonves as a party extra

Edited October 21, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[Ron Bulman]

Somewhere I once read there was a run on yellow roses in Dallas on 11/21-22/63.  Possibly by the Trade Mart in particular, in regard to the first lady's visit.  Irregardless, is it irrelevant?   I have a hard time believing that Jackie being given red roses in Dallas as opposed to yellow ones in San Antonio  and Houston the day before was a waring that JFK would be shot. 

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Ron Bulman