August 10, 1950: "Sunset Boulevard" Premieres

Left to right: Erich von Stroheim,

Gloria Swanson and William Holden

August 10, 1950: Sunset Boulevard is released by Paramount Pictures. Occasionally, Hollywood turns the camera back on itself, only likes part of what it sees, and makes a movie about the movie industry. This may be the best of them, showing the industry for all its glory, and all its venality.

Sunset Boulevard, the street, runs from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, through the cities of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, through several districts in Los Angeles, including Hollywood (which, unlike Beverly Hills and "WeHo," is not a separate city), sub-including "the Sunset Strip," east to Figueroa Street, a north-south street on which the Crypto.com Arena, and, further south, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Banc of California Stadium (on the site of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena) sit. (UPDATE: In 2023, the soccer facility was renamed BMO Stadium.)

Sunset Boulevard, the film, was directed by Billy Wilder, who had already proven himself a master of both drama and comedy. There's not much comedy in this film. It's narrated by William Holden as Joe Gillis, a screenwriter who needs money now, especially because his car is about to be repossessed. Even in late 1949, when the movie begins, a car was necessary to get around Southern California.

(The 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has the L.A. streetcar line, known as the Red Car, discontinued in 1947. In reality, the Red Car did exist, but it kept running until 1961, and its "Western District" did run to Hollywood, Burbank and Beverly Hills, all the way to Santa Monica -- roughly the route of today's Metro D or E lines on Los Angeles' subway system. The film takes more dramatic license: The Red Car was not discontinued so that freeways could be built, to accommodate the increase in automobile traffic. It was the other way around: The increased traffic had already happened, and some of the freeways had already been built for it, making the Red Car obsolete.)

Joe hides his car in a secluded house at 10086 Sunset Blvd., 14 miles west of Los Angeles City Hall. (The address does not actually exist, but there is a driveway off Sunset that includes 10060 and 10100, so 10086 would be there.) It turns out to be the home of Norma Desmond, once one of the biggest stars in the business, but she hasn't made a film since the "silents" gave way to the "talkies." Joe tells her, "You used to be big." She says, "I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

She's played by Gloria Swanson, a silent-film star who did successfully make the transition, though many didn't. She was 50 years old when filming began, but seems much older. In modern Hollywood, she would have kept on working until around 50, and then gone from playing romantic leads to playing bosses, mentors and vixens, like Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep and Catherine Zeta-Jones have done.

Her house is run by Max, who, Joe eventually learns, is her ex-husband and ex-director, who "discovered her." He's as creepy as she is. He is played by Erich von Stroheim, who had been one of the silents' top directors, and an actor who specialized in playing villains, billed as "The Man You Love to Hate." To show Norma's earlier career, a clip is shown of Queen Kelly, a 1929 silent film in which von Stroheim directed Swanson.

Norma offers Joe a job as a "script doctor," editing a script she's written for her big comeback. Joe lives there, and Max takes care of his needs as well as hers. Joe soon realizes that Norma has fallen in love with him. He does not return her affections, and she attempts suicide. Joe and Max save her. Soon after this, Joe and Norma begin fooling around. Max knows, but he's still in love with her, and does not interfere with the first happiness she has found in a long time.

Max drives Norma and Joe, in her 1929 Isotta Franchini car, to the Paramount Pictures studios, where they meet another of her former directors, Cecil B. DeMille, who plays himself. He treats Norma with deference, but he doesn't want the script. The studio doesn't want to use the script, or her, just the car.

Finally, Norma discovers another script that Joe has been writing, with his other girlfriend, this one too young for him rather than too old, a studio script reader named Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), who had been the girlfriend of another screenwriter, Artie Green (future Dragnet star/producer Jack Webb). Norma telephones Betty to sabotage that relationship. Joe tells Norma he's leaving her, and that her bid for a comeback has already failed. She pulls a gun, and he tells her that he doesn't believe she will kill herself. He's right: She kills him instead, and he falls into the pool.

It is then that we discover that the dead body in the pool at the beginning of the film is Joe himself: He is narrating even though he is dead. The police arrive, and so do the newsreel cameras. Norma comes down the stairs, dressed in her old finery, and tells everyone, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up!" (The line is often misquoted as, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!")

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture for producer Charles Brackett, Best Director for Wilder, Best Actor for Holden, Best Actress for Swanson, Best Supporting Actor for von Stroheim, and Best Supporting Actress for Olson. None of those won: It only won 3, although 1 was for Best Story and Screenplay, which Brackett and Wilder shared with D.M. Marshman Jr.

In addition to DeMille, Warner Brothers studio head H.B. Warner, gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Sidney Skolsky, silent film stars Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson, and songwriters Ray Evans and Jay Livingston played themselves.

von Stroheim died in 1957, DeMille in 1959, Brackett in 1969, Holden in 1981, Webb in 1982, Swanson in 1983, Wilder in 2002, and Marshman in 2015. A young Jack Warden appeared in the film, and he lived until 2006. As of August 10, 2022, Olson is still alive.

In 1999, Kevin Spacey starred in American Beauty, and became the 2nd actor nominated for an Oscar, and the 1st to win one, for playing a dead narrator -- and an amoral narrator.

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August 10, 1950 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Alex Kellner outpitched Eddie Lopat, who was relieved by a rookie named Whitey Ford, who pitched 4 scoreless innings. Sam Chapman and Paul Lehner hit home runs for the A's. Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-4.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Granny Hamner led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a single. Andy Seminick singled, and the Giants' center fielder mishandled the ball, allowing Hamner to come all the way around to score.

That center fielder had gone 2-for-5 in the game, but was not a good outfielder. The next season, he lost his job to a rookie named Willie Mays. The former center fielder was moved to 3rd base. His name was Bobby Thomson.

Jim Konstanty was the winning pitcher for the Phils. They went on to win the National League Pennant, and he became the 1st relief pitcher to be named either League's Most Valuable Player.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 4-3 at Braves Field in Boston. Gil Hodges and Roy Campanella hit home runs in support of Elwin "Preacher" Roe, who outpitched Johnny Sain. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Washington Senators won the opener, 11-2. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 4-3. Ted Williams had been injured in that season's All-Star Game on July 11, and did not return until September 7.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-4 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The Bucs got home runs from Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake and Clyde McCullough.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 10-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, in the 1st game of a doubleheader. The 2nd game was called due to rain after 7 innings, with the score tied, 1-1.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Bob Lemon was the winning pitcher.

* And the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled.