Gatsby, Francis Cugat, and the Jazz Age in Film and Iconography

[David]

I'm interested in seeing the 1940s GREAT GATSBY with Alan Ladd. I may look around for it on VHS. It isn't available on Region 1 DVD. I think my VHS player is still functional. I want to see how the Myrtle-Tom subplot is handled, inter alia. The 1974 GATSBY is a failure.

Incidentally, I think the fabled jacket illustration by Francis Cugat is the most eloquent & iconic visual representation of The Jazz Age ever created. The image is perfectly cinematic. What I didn't know was that Francis worked as a Hollywood designer for Douglas Fairbanks.

http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/essays/eyes/cugat_10.jpeg

Do any of you remember seeing BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR with Shelley Duvall? I believe it was part of the American Short Story Theatre series in the late 1970s. These episodes (of favorite American short stories) were often shown in high schools.

[BombaySapphire3]

No but I did see "It' starring Clara Bow and "Our Dancing Daughters" which catapulted a young Joan Crawford to stardom in 1928 ..that is my idea of the perfect jazz age image.

[trackaghost]

The 1949 version is a lot more faithful to the book, although it's typically melodramatic of the era. Ladd is pretty good as Gatsby, but then I sometimes I think I see more in his performances just knowing how unhappy he was in real life.
I quite like the 1974 version too though.