"The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" is a whitewash of a real sizzling scandal

The movie RAGTIME gives a clearer view of the scandal.

Also Jimmy Cagney's next to last movie. Poor Jimmy was in such bad shape when his character had to walk they put other actors on either side to help hold him up.

Here's an excellent, free 1080p copy of "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" to watch... pretty to look at, knowing the real story helps you read between the censored lines of the film version...

His name was THAW, not Shaw.

I think the original script title was “Tramp In The Red Velvet Sling” (?).

No wonder they cast Collins.

[quote]The movie RAGTIME gives a clearer view of the scandal.

So does the musical.

I read a book recently about the real story. It was heartbreaking and horrifying.

Another sad story is Audrey Munson

Reply 3, Thanks, I have it right in the review, but not in the paragraph capsule of this film! Thaw-nks!

Jesus, r7, everything but the blood hounds...

Here's a TCM intro from a couple of years ago, with a first showing of "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing," with Joan commenting. Interesting stuff, tho Joan was 22 when she made the film, not 20. Also, the current Joan's makeup makes her eyes look even farther apart!

It's never been a favorite historical scandal of mine, it's really just the story of another possessive straight man freaking out and committing murder, because his wife had a body count. Very trailer trash with money.

Now King George IV vs. Caroline of Brunswick, there's a good historical scandal!

[QUOTE]because his wife had a body count.

And here I was thinking Nesbit was the rape victim in a post-Victorian farago of mentally ill, famed industrialist rapists and heirs who just felt so put upon by having to deal with a drugged and raped 16 year old whose mother kept leading her around.

Joan’s “swing” hasn’t felt like velvet since the 1940s. By the time of Nixon, her swing was more like sand paper given all the friction it had taken.

A number of years ago, i saw a production of the musical at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield. The role of "Father" was played by former DL-fave David Harris.

Note to all future producers of the musical Ragtime... if you're going to have a show with Evelyn Nesbitt as a character and she is going to sing about being the "girl in the red velvet swing" - you better HAVE A SWING onstage for her to use.

Christ what a joke that Barrington production was... Evelyn Nesbitt on stage without a swing!

Harris was very good by the way and later I saw him as Billy Crocker in a Goodspeed production of Anything Goes. Again, he was very good - actually that production was a delight.

I'll bet that swing has more miles on it than Joan Collins' waterbed...

... her waterbed.

A quarter of a century later, Joan jumped back on the swing again in Collins' classic "The Stud!"

Here's a good doc about the triangle that became the "scandal of the century." Fills in the blanks of the sanitized film version...

And although the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906... and there were 94 years to go!

[quote]Very trailer trash with money.

So, very Joan.

Did Joan get her baps out in this one too?

Keep Joan's name out of your mouth!

In the youtube comments of her doc they have several people saying they didn't consider her that attractive but I think she was. She had a natural, subtle beauty, and the camera LOVED her.

EN must have also been either super forgiving or have an extreme bout of Stockholm Syndrome because all her life she would always Stanford White was the only man she ever loved.

[quote] Stanford White was the only man she ever loved.

Can you blame her ?

[quote]His name was THAW, not Shaw.

^ Cindy Brady.

Here's some film footage of the real Nesbit and THAW!

R23 hot for a red head

Ryan Murphy could build a season of Feud around this.

Who’d be cast as the three leads?

Gen Z and Millennials wouldn't watch a series about people of a century ago. The context would be too complicated for their understanding.

[quote]In the youtube comments of her doc they have several people saying they didn't consider her that attractive but I think she was. She had a natural, subtle beauty, and the camera LOVED her.

I think a lot of those people are just being contrarians.

It is obvious that Evelyn Nesbit was a very beautiful woman.

Or at least very photogenic.

Even by modern standards.

She looks 'modern' in several photos.

I think this was a particularly nice picture of her...and yes she does look very "modern" in some pics

Whatever you do, don't read "American Eve." Possibly the worst writing I've ever seen, and that's saying something.

Here's a sample: "Vixen. Victim. Ur-Lolita."

The trailer promises more than the movie delivers, as often the case with "racy" studio era films...

Has Joan ever been in a really good movie?

Not really, r33. Thank God for Dynasty.

Was Harry related to John Thaw, star of "Inspector Morse"?

[quote]And although the newspapers called the shooting the Crime of the Century, Goldman knew it was only 1906... and there were 94 years to go!

And it was especially topical since "Ragtime" (the musical from which that line was taken) came about around the same time as the O.J. trial. (Which also allowed for comparisons with "Chicago.")

Am I right in thinking Joan thought she was unfairly robbed of being a big Hollywood star or is she more of "I'm happy for what I got" attitude?

She seems pretty content with her life's journey, r37.

Joan ACTS like a movie star, though really, she was a TV star, thanks to Dynasty.

R39 and that didn't happen until she was in her fifties.

She was a B-movie star.

Joan had so many lovers when she first came to Hollywood she was known as The British Open.

Was Bette Davis referring to Joan COLLINS when she described an unnamed actress as "the original good time that was had by all?" "

Ray Milland always gives me the creeps.

There's a book about this case called American Eve that's really good. (See link)

Harry Thaw also physically and sexually assaulted a teenage boy. He was a nasty person

Is this window supposed to be symbolic of Evelyn's hymen about to be broken?

...and the ending, with a brassily made up Evelyn, resigned to her fate as a swinger...

Evelyn Nesbit apparently approved of Joan's portrayal

Wow

Thought this was interesting

Old joke: What does Joan Collins put behind her ears to attract men?

A: Her legs

R47 no, her backdoor

Evelyn Nesbit around age 45-46.

Here's the scene that depicts the infamous shooting of Stanford White rather well... with Farley Granger playing pouty and petulant as usual!

R1 It's a shame Cagney didn't return to the screen earlier. Around the time he got the AFI Life Achievement Award, for example. He was still energetic and sharp, at that time (1974). By the early 80s, he had aged a lot.

R34 Which wasn't really good, either.

Joan's best movies were probably The Virgin Queen (1955), starring Bette Davis as Elizabeth I (she really makes it worth watching), Island In The Sun (1957), one of the first major Hollywood movies to depict actual interracial relationships (though her role wasn't that large), and The Bravados (1958), a very good western co-starring starring Gregory Peck and Stephen Boyd.

Joan was never really a movie star, despite her best to rewrite history

She starred in the movie the blog is about, so how was she not a movie star? She also had the lead female role in Land Of The Pharaohs, The Sea Wife, and other things. Maybe she wasn't a superstar but she was a movie star under contract to Fox for around 10 years. That's how she made whatever name she had, originally, that led to her her TV work.

Reply 59, Only 2 of Joan's Fox films were hits, and not because of her.

This scene from "Death Becomes Her," where Madeline hears Helen's opinion of her, could have described Joan Collins!

The scene from Death Becomes Her... with aging starlet Mad...

The acting in this scene is about as phony as the mountain top set! Pouty Farley Granger and artificial Joan Collins in the proposal scene of Harry K. THAW and Evelyn Nesbit...

R62 I'm sending you aren't a big Joan fan?

Joan wasn’t the best actress by a long shot.

Evelyn looks a bit like Elizabeth Hurley.

I just watched a doc about the case and she later said her testimony on the stand was a lie and that White didn't drug or rape her, that it was consensual every time they had sex including the first.

"Joan wasn’t the best actress by a long shot."

But she was very good at some thing, such as playing the kind of witty bitches we all aspire to be.

That's why her career never really soared when she was young, nobody puts a beautiful young witty bitch as the lead in a film, at best they play the heroine's smartass friend or Miss Wrong. If Collins had done what she did best when she was young and beautiful, her career would have stayed B-list at best. No, she had to play "The Girl", and be glad of a few chances to play villainesses.

[quote] nobody puts a beautiful young witty bitch as the lead in a film

Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield 8.