Word: skeffingtons
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...check along with the review copy. Back came the book and check in a few days, with a curt note from the doughty octogenarian: "The matter is in the hands of my attorneys." Reason for his indignation: a strong resemblance between the book's hero, Frank Skeffington, and James Michael Curley. Asked if he considered Skeffington to be a portrait of himself, Curley snapped: "No question about...
...Cellar. If Curley really sues, it will be like biting the hand that applauds him. For Skeffington is a lovable rogue-a combination of Santa Claus, Robin Hood, a Chinese warlord and the late John Barrymore. Over 70, Skeffington decides to run for re-election as mayor of the nameless big city, where the candidates usually share three qualifications ("All were Democrats, all were Irish, all were Catholics"). The old campaigner invites his nephew Adam to tag along and get acquainted with politics. It is through Adam's eyes that one sees the great old pro and his enemies...
...main reason I went into politics," Skeffington tells Adam, "was because it was the quickest way out of the cellar and up the ladder." Skeffington never forgets that there are plenty of votes to be picked up, back in the cellars of poverty, with new dentures, a pair of eyeglasses, some funeral money or a job. He runs on two planks: 1) "All Ireland must be free"; 2) "Trieste belongs to Italy...
...another section of Parliament some Britons felt that spring-cleaning had gone too far. When Laborite T. C. Skeffington-Lodge quoted statements that 40% of Britain's dewy, young (under 20) brides were pregnant on their wedding day, the House of Commons could only shake its collective fatherly head. Conservative Novelist Beverley Baxter doubted the shocking estimate, warned: "If this is published without considerable repudiation, it will shock the people of the Dominions...
Claude Rains is masterful in the title role. He plays Mr. Skeffington with an almost frightening cold reserve. And with Miss Davis at her best, the result is superb characterization that rescues a poorly-executed story and makes first-rate moviegoing...