Only the screen was small: Ida Lupino television work at UCLA Film & Television Archive

Film

It bodes one of those great-but-long evenings at UCLA Film and Television Archive, where we have produced several film events, in the Billy Wilder Theater at UCLA’s Hammer Museum. I want to go.

born to play with bogie, here, High Sierra (1941)

Why? Because Ida Lupino was so cool. She was a really good actress who brought credibility to the weakest of scripts; and, when paired with the right leading man, aka Humphrey Bogart, could play a tough, even spiteful, broad as well as a deeply romantic woman. She was so much more, we all know that. She was a director, debuting uncredited, with Not Wanted in 1949. Establishing, with her second husband Collier Young, the production company The Filmakers, Lupino directed, co-wrote and co-produced five features, including The Bigamist (1953), in which she co-starred, while continuing to act in other films. Television provided Lupino with assignments as a director, producer and performer, across genres within the new medium. 

In her new book, Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur: From Film Noir to the Director’s Chair, filmmaker and scholar Alexandra Seros examines Lupino’s industrious and unique career, from actor to director, first in film, then in television. A trio of television programs marks the Film Archive’s Lupino tribute evening, including the world premiere restoration of a noir television drama that she directed. First up, though, is one of those deeply embarrassing “This is Your Life” broadcasts, replete with original commercials.

This Is Your Life: “Ida Lupino.”

U.S. 1/15/1958

DCP, b&w, 30 min. NBC. Production: A Ralph Edwards Production. Producer: Axel Gruenberg. Director: Richard Gottlieb. With: Ralph Edwards, Ida Lupino, Howard Duff. Special thanks to Ralph Edwards Productions, Max Eckert, Bianca Pino.

In this kinescope of a live broadcast, Ida Lupino finds herself the honoree of Ralph Edwards’ immensely popular biographical television series. Host Edwards illuminates key milestones and introduces central figures in Lupino’s life, describing the pioneer as “Hollywood’s rarest talent, a woman producer-director.” Special guests includes Lupino’s husband Howard Duff, their daughter Bridget Duff, and Academy Award-winning director William Wellman. 

Mr. Adams and Eve: “Howard and Eve and Ida

U.S. 4/22/1958

New digital preservation from original 35mm negatives! 

Ida Lupino and Howard Duff’s satirical sitcom elevates its lampoon of the couple’s real Hollywood life to meta heights with Lupino starring in a dual role as fictional TV star Eve Adams and herself — as a director defending her artistic vision. Lupino received two consecutive Emmy nominations for her work on the innovative two-season series, which was executive produced by her ex-husband Collier Young (producer of Lupino’s directorial features Outrage and The Hitch-Hiker).

DCP, b&w, 30 min. CBS. Production: Bridget Four Star Production. Producer: Warner Toub, Jr.  Director: Richard Kinon. Writer: Louella MacFarlane. With: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Alan Reed. 

Special Screening: Restoration World Premiere of Noir Television Drama Written and Directed by Lupino! 

Director: Ida Lupino 
DCP, b&w, 30 min.

The evening closes with a Q&A with Alexandra Seros, author of “Ida Lupino, Forgotten Auteur: From Film Noir to the Director’s Chair.”

Book signing before the screening thanks to Larry Edmunds Bookshop..

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.


Ida Lupino and the Small Screen | UCLA Film & Television Archive | Billy Wilder Theatre, Hammer Museum | February 15

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