LBJ, Alexander Korda, and "That Hamilton Woman"

[Ron Ecker]

I’m sure everyone here is familiar with the fact that on November 22, 1963, evidence was being presented to a Capitol Hill hearing on the corruption of Vice President Lyndon Johnson. The hearing was adjourned when word came of the assassination in Dallas, and the hearing never resumed. JFK’s death may have been a “Get out of jail free” card for LBJ.

I came across a fascinating parallel in the career of Hungarian-born British film producer and director Alexander Korda, specifically how a world-changing violent event had saved him too from a Capitol Hill hearing and may have kept him out of jail.

Due to WWII in Europe, Korda’s British film company had to make the 1941 movie “That Hamilton Woman” in Hollywood. The historical drama (starring Laurence Olivier as the British naval hero Horatio Nelson and Olivier’s then-wife Vivien Leigh as his mistress Lady Hamilton) was also a propaganda piece, showing how the UK stood up to and defeated the aggressor Napoleon Bonaparte and his allies. In 1941 here was the UK left practically alone fighting the National Socialists.

I came across this in the Wikipedia article on “That Lady Hamilton”:

“In her research on the subject, film historian Professor Stacey Olster reveals that at the time the film was made, Alexander Korda's New York offices were ‘supplying cover to MI-5 agents gathering intelligence on both German activities in the United States and isolationist sentiments among makers of American foreign policy.’ According to Olivier's biographer Anthony Holden, ‘That Hamilton Woman’ ‘became Exhibit A in a case brought against Korda by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Committee had accused him of operating an espionage and propaganda center for Britain in the United States—a charge Korda only escaped by virtue of the fact that his scheduled appearance before the committee on December 12, 1941 was preempted by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor five days earlier.’”

I can imagine LBJ saying on the evening of November 22, “Whew. Things went according to Korda.”

BTW “That Hamilton Woman” is said to have been Winston Churchill’s favorite movie. Which reminds me of an old Churchill joke that my father once told me. If I remember correctly, he said that he and my mother heard it in New York nightclub act soon after the war, so take it so what it’s worth.

During the war Churchill was an overnight guest of the Roosevelts at the White House. Early in the morning Franklin caught Churchill coming out of Eleanor’s bedroom. Franklin said, “Now, Winnie, I’ll have no more of that.” And Churchill said, “By Jove, I don’t think I will either.”

[Pete Mellor]

5 hours ago, Ron Ecker said:

During the war Churchill was an overnight guest of the Roosevelts at the White House. Early in the morning Franklin caught Churchill coming out of Eleanor’s bedroom. Franklin said, “Now, Winnie, I’ll have no more of that.” And Churchill said, “By Jove, I don’t think I will either.”

Ha!  Yeah Ron, Winston was pretty sharp with the one liners.

[David Andrews]

One of the byblows of WW II was Churchill's vendetta against Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's filmThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), one of the great films about the Empire, sentimental division.  Churchill hated the newspaper comic it was based on, calling it unpatriotic in wartime.  The Scorsese-produced Blu-ray has a good documentary.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/colonel-blimp-the-masterpiece-churchill-hated-6270460.html

https://mathewlyons.co.uk/2020/07/18/colonel-blimp-winston-churchill-powell-pressburger/

Edited February 17, 2023 by David Andrews