San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

say, “Mr. Astaire, when you did this scene in here, what were you—?” So, it wasn’t like, “Tell us, Fred,
what’s it like to be a dancer?” It was more personal. And he was able to bring it out. So it was much
more of a—
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Well, he had such enthusiasm.
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes. And he was really able to—because he knew. And Arthur Freed, the same.
He knew all the musicals: Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris. And the audience was
beginning to pick up, and there were beginning to be more and more people. So it was more interesting.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Oh, the other thing about Opening Night, of course, was the revealing
gowns.
CLAUDE JARMAN: Oh, was that Jayne Mansfield and Carroll Baker who showed up?
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: What were their gowns like?
CLAUDE JARMAN: I can’t remember, but obviously they were—We were beginning to get more of a
Hollywood touch. It was kind of becoming a time when people wanted to be seen, and they could be
seen up here. So, it was good. Part of the result of—let’s see, the selection committee—myself, Niven
Busch, Ernest Callenbach, Conrad, Herb Gold and Marshall Naify. So we were the people who were—
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Ernest Callenbach was Film Quarterly, right?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Yes. And so we were the ones who were up against—we were the evil, Shirley
was the good.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Did you ever make it up with her?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Absolutely. We moved on. She moved on.
19