We're Spending The Day With Olivia! --- Part 2
Here’s the original studio caption for the second in our continuing let’s-go-to-work-with-Olivia series ---
It is twenty minutes after six (no it isn’t, guys – we saw the clock!) and Olivia DeHavilland has been on the run since she awakened at six, because she must be on time for her latest Warner Bros. Production, The Adventures Of Robin Hood in Technicolor. A scarf over her head not only is used because it looks cute (oh yeah, she looks cute) but because it covers her hair which hasn’t been combed any too well (really, was that comment necessary?).
What a neat little safari outfit! Do women wear those any more? They should. A friend of the Greenbriar tipped us off to a few more issues arising from that so-called "breakfast" shot of yesterday (you see, the passage of a day has made us cynical). Our friend raised two questions --- 1. How does Olivia propose to eat her cereal without a spoon? 2. Is that an overcoat she’s wearing in bed, or just a heavy robe? Is it possible Carl Denham was there last night and left his overcoat? Maybe Olivia plans to stop off at the Venture docks and return it before C.D. sails for Skull Island. Anyway, she’s on her way to the studio, and here’s the caption that accompanied the next image ---
The camera begins to roll and a test chart is placed before Olivia DeHavilland’s face so that the cutter may be able to identify the scene from The Adventures Of Robin Hood at Warner Bros. Since the film is in Technicolor, the test chart is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. And because it is in Technicolor (yeah, guys, you mentioned that), twice as many lights as usual are used, making it more difficult on the eyes of the actors and actresses.
One seldom accuses the studios of understatement, but boy, that last sentence is a whopper. It’s a wonder those actors/actresses didn’t go altogether blind, considering what they had to put up with in those early three-strip Technicolor days. Talk about scorching light! And the heat! And those heavy costumes! They say it got up to 120 degrees sometimes on those sound stages. What about air conditioning, you’d say? What about the noise, they’d respond. Olivia really looks like she’s wilting in this shot. In fact, as I look at it, I’m expecting her to pitch forward and faint any second. She’ll survive, though, to pose for some lovely Robin Hood portraits we’ll be posting tomorrow. Stay tuned.
