By Violet LeVoit
Night of the Quarter Moon
Brief Synopsis
A San Francisco society boy learns that his new wife is part-black.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Hugo Haas
Director
Julie London
Ginny O'Sullivan Nelson
John Drew Barrymore
Roderic "Chuck" Nelson
Anna Kashfi
Maria Robbin
Dean Jones
Lexington Nelson
Agnes Moorehead
Cornelia Nelson
Film Details
Also Known As
Flesh and Flame, The Color of Her Skin
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Feb
1959
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Albert Zugsmith Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 36m
Film Length
8,628ft
(10 reels)
Synopsis
In San Francisco, newlywed Ginny O'Sullivan Nelson is cheerfully hanging paintings to decorate her new home when neighborhood teenagers hurl stones through the living room window. Terrified, Ginny telephones her husband Roderic "Chuck" Nelson who rushes home immediately and confronts the belligerent teens still menacing the house. Ginny runs out onto the lawn to intervene in the shouting match and, when one boy flings her to the ground, Chuck attacks him. The fight is broken up by the arrival of the police who take everyone but Ginny into custody. At the police station, the father of one of the disruptive boys enrages Chuck by insisting that Ginny taunted the youths by appearing half-dressed in the windows of her living room. On her way to the station to help Chuck, Ginny is picked up by the police and she and Chuck are grilled in separate police rooms about the event. Despite Ginny's explanations, the police insist that she played a part in starting the brawl and invite the press to the room, many of whom mock her and suggest she return to her home in Mexico. The goading prompts Ginny to recall her meeting Chuck: Several weeks earlier, Chuck and his brother Lexington arrive at a quiet Mexican coastal village for a week of fishing with Capt. Tom O'Sullivan. Lex, who has made the trip regularly, hopes the change of scenery will engage Chuck, who is still recovering from two years in a Korean prisoner-of-war camp. The next day while out walking, Chuck comes upon Tom's daughter Ginny swimming nude in an inlet and, after asking for a moment's privacy to dress, Ginny joins Chuck on shore. When Ginny inquires about Chuck's POW experience, he responds bitterly, then apologizes, realizing Ginny was offering him understanding. A couple of days later, Lex and Chuck receive a telegram from their mother Cornelia, requesting they return to handle a political matter regarding their vast, wealthy company. Enjoying the calm atmosphere and Ginny's company, Chuck asks to remain behind and Lex, pleased to see an emotional improvement in his brother, readily agrees. Over the next several days, Chuck and Ginny become close and one afternoon, while describing how she and Tom came to live in Mexico from Spain, Ginny reveals that her maternal grandfather was a Spaniard who married a Portuguese-Angolian woman. When Chuck fails to respond, Ginny points out that her grandmother was a black African, making her one-quarter black. Instead of expressing concern, Chuck declares that knowing her has provided him the first happiness since his return from the war and announces his intention to remain in Mexico. Soon after, Chuck is dismayed when Tom gives him a note from Ginny informing him that she has gone to Mexico City. Puzzled, Chuck asks Tom for an explanation and the older man says his daughter was concerned about her and Tom's relationship. When Chuck asks about Tom's own situation with his wife, Tom explains that he chose to live in Spain and accept the role as outsider. Chuck then hastens to the bus station where he stops Ginny from departing and proposes. Stunned, but delighted, Ginny accepts. Chuck and Ginny marry in San Francisco where Ginny is surprised to discover the importance of the wealthy Nelson family. After a warm welcome from Cornelia, Ginny and Chuck go to the UpBeat Club, owned by Ginny's cousin Maria and her black husband, Cy Robbin. To the Nelsons' dismay, their connection to Maria and Cy is discovered by the press who splash the story on the front page of a quadroon marrying into one of the city's most affluent families. Cornelia contacts Chuck to express her shock and pity, but when her son tells her that he is happy she insists that he is ill. Chuck buys a home in a modest neighborhood, but is disturbed when on the couple's first evening there, three neighbors visit to inform him that their neighborhood forbids "colored people." Despite their frustration, Chuck and Ginny decide to remain in the house. In the present, Cornelia, Lex and family attorney Clinton Page arrive at the police station and press the dazed Chuck to blame the fight on Ginny. When Cornelia insists that Chuck admit he did know of Ginny's racial background, Chuck, confused and weary, imagines himself under interrogation at the POW camp. The Nelsons take Chuck home and Ginny is later released and returns home alone. At the Nelson estate, Cornelia keeps Chuck sedated and refuses to allow Ginny to visit. Maria stops by Ginny's home to offer her sympathy and bitterly warn her against whites. After Chuck telephones Ginny and then forced by Lex to hang up, Ginny pleads with Maria for help. At the UpBeat, Cy grudgingly agrees to assist Ginny and introduces her to Asa Tully, a black attorney who has had to work other jobs due to discrimination. Asa immediately threatens Cornelia with a court order forcing her to let them see Chuck, but upon arriving at the estate, Ginny is met by a process server with annulment papers, declaring Ginny did not reveal her background to Chuck before the marriage. A few days later at the hearing, Asa protests Chuck's absence, blamed on illness, but Ginny insists they proceed. Page attempts to portray Ginny as manipulative and deceitful, which Asa successfully counters as untrue. Despite Cornelia's attempts to keep Chuck from court, he insists on testifying and, believing that he is helping stop his family's attacks on Ginny, states she did not tell him of her race prior to their wedding. Asa then questions Ginny who admits that Chuck saw her swimming in the nude more than once in Mexico and saw how dark her skin was before their marriage. When Asa asks Ginny to allow her skin to be shown in the courtroom, she agrees. After the judge dismisses the rabid press, Asa dramatically rips the back of Ginny's dress to expose her skin. Furious, Chuck leaps forward to cover Ginny with his jacket and insist that he loves her and does not wish an annulment. Leading his wife from the courtroom, Chuck tells the barrage of reporters he does not know where they will live, but assures them that he feels human again.
Director
Hugo Haas
Director
Cast
Julie London
Ginny O'Sullivan Nelson
John Drew Barrymore
Roderic "Chuck" Nelson
Anna Kashfi
Maria Robbin
Dean Jones
Lexington Nelson
Agnes Moorehead
Cornelia Nelson
Nat King Cole
Cy Robbin
Ray Anthony
The hotel manager
Jackie Coogan
Sergeant Bragan
Charles Chaplin Jr.
The neighbor
Billy Daniels
The headwaiter
Cathy Crosby
The singer
James Edwards
Asa Tully
Arthur Shields
Capt. Tom O'Sullivan
Edward Andrews
Clinton Page
Robert Warwick
The judge
Marguerite Belafonte
The hostess
Bobi Byrnes
The girl in the woods
Joseph Cordovan
The boy in the woods
Jack Kosslyn
Dr. Parkson
Katharine Scott
Amanda
Frank Gorshin
Bib boy
John Day
Officer
Fred Schwieller
Officer
Boots Wade
Dancer
Barbara Walden
Dancer
Ken Patterson
Detective
George E. Stone
Detective
Burt Douglas
Detective
Nicky Blair
Detective
William Vaughn
Photographer
Ivan Bonar
Photographer
Bill Layne
Cameraman
Hamil Petroff
Choreographer
Buck Young
Reporter
Mark Lowell
Reporter
Jerry Murray
Reporter
Carl Christian
Reporter
Lee Belser
Woman reporter
Irwin Berke
Realtor
Charles Horvath
Carter
Peter G. Vaiches
Sid Joss
Norman Grabowski
Tough kid
Glenn Jacobson
Boy
Gene Walker
Patrolman
Helene Marshall
Miss Kirby
Arthur Marshall
Stranger
Phyllis Douglas
Teenage girl
Kay Windsor
Teenage girl
Joe Greene
Bailiff
John Harding
Major Arnold Folsey
Pat Cawley
Miss Murphy
Patricia Lloyd
Police matron
Ike Jones
Cab driver
Joe Bardot
Man at shipyard
Crew
Malcolm Brown
Art Director
Sammy Cahn
Composer
Ridgeway Callow
Assistant Director
Ellis Carter
Director of Photography
Franklin Coen
Writer
Nat King Cole
Composer
Frank Davis
Writer
Bill Edmondson
Sound
Albert Glasser
Music Supervisor and Conductor
Henry Grace
Set Decoration
Lorenz Hart
Composer
Charlotte Hawkins
Composer
William A. Horning
Art Director
Ben Lewis
Film Editor
Kitty Mager
Women's Costume
Jack Mills
Set Decoration
Franklin Milton
Recording Supervisor
Richard Rodgers
Composer
Carl Saxe
Stunt nurse
William Tuttle
Makeup
James Van Heusen
Composer
Al Wyatt
Stunt nurse
Albert Zugsmith
Producer
Albert Zugsmith
Company
Film Details
Also Known As
Flesh and Flame, The Color of Her Skin
Genre
Drama
Release Date
Feb
1959
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Albert Zugsmith Productions, Inc.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 36m
Film Length
8,628ft
(10 reels)
Articles
Night of the Quarter Moon -
Nothing snaps Chuck (John Drew Barrymore) out of his post-POW malaise like the sight of Ginny (Julie London) shamelessly swimming in the nude. His brother brought him to this quiet Mexican hamlet so the battle-scarred vet could get his head together, but meeting Ginny--smart, funny, beautiful and uninhibited--hangs the trajectory of his whole life. He wants to marry her, but she's got a secret: a maternal grandmother who was "Portuguese Angolan," meaning Ginny's not really white. Undeterred, Chuck weds her anyway, only to meet the wrath of society back home, to say nothing of his money-conscious mother (Agnes Moorehead). Directed by sordid noir veteran Hugo Haas and produced by exploitation movie king Albert Zugsmith (High School Confidential! (1958), this uniquely tawdry-meets-socially-conscious movie follows the tradition of other movies like Pinky (1949) and Imitation of Life (1959) by casting white actresses as "tragic mulattas", but also makes room for distinguished performances by Nat King Cole, Anna Kashfi, and James Edwards, a forgotten "everyman" African American actor of the era.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Night of the Quarter Moon -
Nothing snaps Chuck (John Drew Barrymore) out of his post-POW malaise like the sight of Ginny (Julie London) shamelessly swimming in the nude. His brother brought him to this quiet Mexican hamlet so the battle-scarred vet could get his head together, but meeting Ginny--smart, funny, beautiful and uninhibited--hangs the trajectory of his whole life. He wants to marry her, but she's got a secret: a maternal grandmother who was "Portuguese Angolan," meaning Ginny's not really white. Undeterred, Chuck weds her anyway, only to meet the wrath of society back home, to say nothing of his money-conscious mother (Agnes Moorehead). Directed by sordid noir veteran Hugo Haas and produced by exploitation movie king Albert Zugsmith (High School Confidential! (1958), this uniquely tawdry-meets-socially-conscious movie follows the tradition of other movies like Pinky (1949) and Imitation of Life (1959) by casting white actresses as "tragic mulattas", but also makes room for distinguished performances by Nat King Cole, Anna Kashfi, and James Edwards, a forgotten "everyman" African American actor of the era.
By Violet LeVoit
Frank Gorshin (1933-2005)
He was born on April 5, 1933, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania into a family of modest means, his father was a railroad worker and mother a homemaker. His childhood impressions of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney paid off when he won a local talent contest at 17, and that led to his first gig at 17 at a the prize was a one week engagement at Jackie Heller's Carousel night club, Pittsburgh's hottest downtown spot in the day. The taste was there, and after high school Frank enrolled in the Carnegie-Mellon Tech School of Drama did hone his craft.
His career was interrupted briefly when he entered the US Army in 1953. He spent two years in Special Services as an entertainer. Once he got out, Frank tried his luck in Hollywood. He made his film debut in a forgettable William Holden vehicle The Proud and Profane, but his fortunes picked up soon when he and when he hooked up with American Internation Pictures (AIP). With his charasmatic sneer and cocky bravado that belied his slender, 5' 7" frame, Frank made a great punk villian in a series of entertaining "drive-in" fare: Hot Rod Girl (1956), Dragstrip Girl, Invasion of the Saucer Men, and of course the classic Portland Expose (all 1957).
By the '60s, he graduated to supporting roles in bigger Hollywood fare: Where the Boys Are, Bells Are Ringing (both 1960), Ring of Fire, and his biggest tole to date, that of Iggy the bank robber in Disney's hugely popular That Darn Cat (1965). Better still, Frank found some parts on television: Naked City, Combat!, The Untouchables, and this would be the medium where he found his greatest success. Little did he realize that when his skeletal physique donned those green nylon tights and cackled his high pitch laugh that Frank Gorshin would be forever identified as "the Riddler," one of Batman's main nemisis. For two years (1966-68), he was a semi-regular on the show and it brought him deserved national attention.
By the '70s, Frank made his Broadway debut, as the star of Jimmy, a musical based on the life of former New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker. He spent the next two decades alternating between the stage, where he appeared regularly in national touring productions of such popular shows as: Promises, Promises, Prisoner of Second Street, and Guys and Dolls; and nightclub work in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
He recently found himself in demand for character roles on televison: Murder, She Wrote, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and film: Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (1995), and the quirky comedy Man of the Century (1999). Yet his biggest triumph was his two year stint (2002-2004) as George Burns in the Broadway smash, Say Goodnight Gracie. It ran for 364 performances and he received critical raves from even the toughest New York theater critics, proving undoubtly that he was a performer for all mediums. He is survived by his wife Christina; a son, Mitchell; grandson Brandon and sister Dottie.
by Michael T. Toole
Frank Gorshin (1933-2005)
Frank Gorshin, a skilled comedian, impressionist and character actor who will forever be indentified with his role as "The Riddler" on the cult series from the '60s Batman lost his battle with lung cancer on May 17 at the Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. He was 72.
He was born on April 5, 1933, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania into a family of modest means, his father was a railroad worker and mother a homemaker. His childhood impressions of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney paid off when he won a local talent contest at 17, and that led to his first gig at 17 at a the prize was a one week engagement at Jackie Heller's Carousel night club, Pittsburgh's hottest downtown spot in the day. The taste was there, and after high school Frank enrolled in the Carnegie-Mellon Tech School of Drama did hone his craft.
His career was interrupted briefly when he entered the US Army in 1953. He spent two years in Special Services as an entertainer. Once he got out, Frank tried his luck in Hollywood. He made his film debut in a forgettable William Holden vehicle The Proud and Profane, but his fortunes picked up soon when he and when he hooked up with American Internation Pictures (AIP). With his charasmatic sneer and cocky bravado that belied his slender, 5' 7" frame, Frank made a great punk villian in a series of entertaining "drive-in" fare: Hot Rod Girl (1956), Dragstrip Girl, Invasion of the Saucer Men, and of course the classic Portland Expose (all 1957).
By the '60s, he graduated to supporting roles in bigger Hollywood fare: Where the Boys Are, Bells Are Ringing (both 1960), Ring of Fire, and his biggest tole to date, that of Iggy the bank robber in Disney's hugely popular That Darn Cat (1965). Better still, Frank found some parts on television: Naked City, Combat!, The Untouchables, and this would be the medium where he found his greatest success. Little did he realize that when his skeletal physique donned those green nylon tights and cackled his high pitch laugh that Frank Gorshin would be forever identified as "the Riddler," one of Batman's main nemisis. For two years (1966-68), he was a semi-regular on the show and it brought him deserved national attention.
By the '70s, Frank made his Broadway debut, as the star of Jimmy, a musical based on the life of former New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker. He spent the next two decades alternating between the stage, where he appeared regularly in national touring productions of such popular shows as: Promises, Promises, Prisoner of Second Street, and Guys and Dolls; and nightclub work in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
He recently found himself in demand for character roles on televison: Murder, She Wrote, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and film:
Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (1995), and the quirky comedy Man of the Century (1999). Yet his biggest triumph was his two year stint (2002-2004) as George Burns in the Broadway smash, Say Goodnight Gracie. It ran for 364 performances and he received critical raves from even the toughest New York theater critics, proving undoubtly that he was a performer for all mediums. He is survived by his wife Christina; a son, Mitchell; grandson Brandon and sister Dottie.
by Michael T. Toole
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was re-released in 1961 under the title Flesh and Flame by Cinema Associates, according to Hollywood Reporter, and in 1966 under the title The Color of Her Skin, according to Filmfacts. In August 1958, prior to production, M-G-M considered using two titles for this film, planning to use an "exploitation" title, either I Crossed the Color Line or Quadroon, and a "prestige" title, Night of the Quarter Moon, according to a Daily Variety news item. The studio planned to let exhibitors choose to play either one, but realized that the exploitation titles "would not play in the South." No further information has been located concerning the exhibition of the film under the exploitation titles.
According to information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, PCA officials, upon reading the script for this film, warned the producers about showing "Ginny" in the nude, urged them to use restraint in the vandalization scene and asked them to review the police interrogation scene, complaining that the third-degree methods "constitute a very bad portrayal of our police." In addition, the PCA objected to the climax of the film in which "Ginny" is instructed to disrobe in the courtroom: "The business of a woman being allowed to expose her intimate parts in the presence of a judge and other principles, in order to prove that the color of her skin is the same all over, is in our judgment an unacceptable portrayal of our Courts of Law. The thought comes to mind that any judge in maintaining the dignity of the Court would in a situation of this kind appoint a female doctor to make this examination privately and report her findings." According to Los Angeles Mirror-News, Anna Kashfi, who portrayed "Maria," protested this scene as it was filmed and ran from the stage "in hysterics." Kashfi stated, "It's humiliating. I am not a Negro but what they are doing is exploiting the race." Kashfi, according to the article, was forced to return, and though she expressed the wish to leave the project, director Hugo Haas said that would be impossible.
Many reviews were critical of the courtroom scene. BHC complained that the film "ends on a note of the preposterous" and "descends to mere cheap sensationalism." Monthly Film Bulletin called the film "vulgar, sensational and humanly false." The film was refused a permit by the Atlanta Censor Board in 1959. Reviews praised James Edwards' performance. Motion Picture Daily called his the film's best, while Hollywood Reporter wrote his character was "brilliantly enacted." Hollywood Reporter also praised Nat King Cole's performance as an "off-beat and interesting characterization of a self-made, successful colored man who is sick of racial issues." Cole sang the song "To Whom It May Concern" in the film, while Cathy Crosby, the daughter of Bob Crosby, made her film debut singing "Blue Moon" in a nightclub scene. Kashfi, in her book about her life with Marlon Brando, to whom she was married at the time of this film, stated that originally her character was to have been the daughter of a character played by Louis Armstrong, but when Nat King Cole got the role instead, her role was changed to his wife. Kashfi also stated that she won the best supporting actress award for this film at the 1961 Cartagena Film Festival.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1959
CinemaScope
Released in United States 1959
