Jean Arthur

No actress had a voice like Jean Arthur. It was an almost undescribable blend of a squeak and froggy croak. Arthur put that voice to great use in the comedies and dramas she made in the 1930s through the early '50s. She literally purrs when she is kissed by Joel McCrea in George Stevens' 1943 comedy "The More the Merrier," for which she earned her only lead actress Oscar nomination. But in Arthur's breakout film, Frank Capra's 1936 "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," one can hear the pain and tension in her voice when she tries to persuade Gary Cooper's Mr. Deeds to defend himself at a sanity hearing.

The American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre has the perfect antidote for holiday blues -- a series of classic comedies from the golden age of Hollywood. "Screwball Comedy Classics for the 2013 New Year" serves up 1947's "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" Thursday evening. Cary Grant stars as the bachelor and Shirley Temple is the bobby-soxer who has a crush on him. Myrna Loy plays her older sister who also thinks Grant is quite dishy. Sidney Sheldon won an Oscar for his screenplay. Rounding out the double bill is an even funnier romantic comedy, 1943's "The More the Merrier," directed by George Stevens and starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and supporting actor Oscar winner for the film, Charles Coburn.

Jean Arthur, whose wit and cracked husky child-woman voice made her one of Hollywood's most popular comedians of the 1930s and 1940s, died Wednesday in Carmel. She was 90. Miss Arthur died of heart failure in Carmel Convalescent Hospital on the Monterey Peninsula, said spokesman Ronald H. Siebe of Paul Mortuary of Pacific Grove.

No actress had a voice like Jean Arthur. It was an almost undescribable blend of a squeak and froggy croak. Arthur put that voice to great use in the comedies and dramas she made in the 1930s through the early '50s. She literally purrs when she is kissed by Joel McCrea in George Stevens' 1943 comedy "The More the Merrier," for which she earned her only lead actress Oscar nomination. But in Arthur's breakout film, Frank Capra's 1936 "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," one can hear the pain and tension in her voice when she tries to persuade Gary Cooper's Mr. Deeds to defend himself at a sanity hearing.

Jean Arthur, her longtime pal Roddy McDowall said this week, was "absolutely unique." Grammatically speaking, someone or something is unique or isn't; no qualifications allowed. But McDowall was absolutely right. No other actress in the Hollywood galaxy was even remotely like Jean Arthur.

The American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre has the perfect antidote for holiday blues -- a series of classic comedies from the golden age of Hollywood. "Screwball Comedy Classics for the 2013 New Year" serves up 1947's "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" Thursday evening. Cary Grant stars as the bachelor and Shirley Temple is the bobby-soxer who has a crush on him. Myrna Loy plays her older sister who also thinks Grant is quite dishy. Sidney Sheldon won an Oscar for his screenplay. Rounding out the double bill is an even funnier romantic comedy, 1943's "The More the Merrier," directed by George Stevens and starring Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and supporting actor Oscar winner for the film, Charles Coburn.

Fifty years after it first played in theaters, "The More the Merrier" remains a charming mix of romance and comedy, despite some major handicaps. Not only does the movie manage to survive more idiotic plot devices than a week's worth of "Three's Company," but it withstands a conclusion that hinges on the incredibly dated notion that an unmarried man and woman discovered sleeping in the same apartment (not even in the same room!) must marry one another to avoid scandal.

Actress Jean Arthur, who died Wednesday at 90, made more than 70 films in a career stretching from the silents to the early 1950s, but only a dozen are available on home video. Luckily, however, nine of these films, made mostly between the late '30s and early '40s, are among her best. Nearly all are for rent or for sale in the $10-$20 range. The nine: * "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (RCA/Columbia, 1936).

Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are collaborating on a line of DVD sets as part of the TCM Vault Collection. This new partnership gets off to a rollicking start with "The Jean Arthur Comedy Collection," which features four newly restored films starring one of the most admired comedy actresses in the 1930s and '40s. The new collection features some of her lesser-known films — 1935's "The Public Menace," 1936's "Adventure in Manhattan" and "More Than a Secretary," and 1944's "The Impatient Years.

Jean MacArthur, widow of the late Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who won admirers around the world with her friendly, unassuming manner and "stand by her man" reticence, died Saturday in New York City. She was 101. The former Jean Marie Faircloth, who had lived in the city's Waldorf Towers, died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said Col. William Davis, director of the MacArthur Foundation in Norfolk, Va. Jean MacArthur was at her general's side in war and peace.

Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are collaborating on a line of DVD sets as part of the TCM Vault Collection. This new partnership gets off to a rollicking start with "The Jean Arthur Comedy Collection," which features four newly restored films starring one of the most admired comedy actresses in the 1930s and '40s. The new collection features some of her lesser-known films — 1935's "The Public Menace," 1936's "Adventure in Manhattan" and "More Than a Secretary," and 1944's "The Impatient Years.

Jean MacArthur, widow of the late Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who won admirers around the world with her friendly, unassuming manner and "stand by her man" reticence, died Saturday in New York City. She was 101. The former Jean Marie Faircloth, who had lived in the city's Waldorf Towers, died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said Col. William Davis, director of the MacArthur Foundation in Norfolk, Va. Jean MacArthur was at her general's side in war and peace.

Fifty years after it first played in theaters, "The More the Merrier" remains a charming mix of romance and comedy, despite some major handicaps. Not only does the movie manage to survive more idiotic plot devices than a week's worth of "Three's Company," but it withstands a conclusion that hinges on the incredibly dated notion that an unmarried man and woman discovered sleeping in the same apartment (not even in the same room!) must marry one another to avoid scandal.

Actress Jean Arthur, who died Wednesday at 90, made more than 70 films in a career stretching from the silents to the early 1950s, but only a dozen are available on home video. Luckily, however, nine of these films, made mostly between the late '30s and early '40s, are among her best. Nearly all are for rent or for sale in the $10-$20 range. The nine: * "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (RCA/Columbia, 1936).

Jean Arthur, her longtime pal Roddy McDowall said this week, was "absolutely unique." Grammatically speaking, someone or something is unique or isn't; no qualifications allowed. But McDowall was absolutely right. No other actress in the Hollywood galaxy was even remotely like Jean Arthur.

Jean Arthur, whose wit and cracked husky child-woman voice made her one of Hollywood's most popular comedians of the 1930s and 1940s, died Wednesday in Carmel. She was 90. Miss Arthur died of heart failure in Carmel Convalescent Hospital on the Monterey Peninsula, said spokesman Ronald H. Siebe of Paul Mortuary of Pacific Grove.

You can almost hear the clanging of the typewriters in the writers courtyard at Hollywood's Sunset Gower Studios, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The Spanish-style courtyard of offices housed such scribes as Ben Hecht ("His Girl Friday") and Sidney Buchman ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington") when the facility was home to Columbia Pictures. According to Brent M. Christo, sales and marketing coordinator for Sunset Gower and the neighboring Sunset Bronson Studios, one of the bungalows was the office of Oscar-winning producer-director Frank Capra ("It Happened One Night," "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town")

The American Cinematheque continues its tradition of chasing the holiday blues away with its Screwball Comedies festival, tonight through New Year's Day at the Aero Theatre. The festival begins with two classics, directed by Mitchell Leisen, not on DVD: 1939's "Midnight," penned by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and a scene-stealing John Barrymore, and 1937's "Easy Living," written by Preston Sturges and starring Jean Arthur and Ray Milland.