Possible explanations for some names in "Hail, Caesar!"

Great post! Thanks!


I'm English, and if there's anything more deplorable than our cooking, it's our lovemaking

Mannix is based on a real person called Mannix but can be seen as Man X, man of the cross.

Capitol is a triple pun - the Roman capitol, Das Kapital (Marx) and capital as in chief city.

Laurence Lorentz might be partly referring to Laurence Olivier.

--
It's not "Sci-Fi", it's SF!

"Calvinism is a very liberal religious ethos." - Truekiwijoker

Todd Hocheiser (the actor playing Jesus):
- Hocheiser references (the Hocheisers of) "Where's Poppa?", a question of particular relevance concerning Christ Jesus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where's_Poppa%3F
- Mike Todd: theater and film producer. He was the driving force behind the development of Todd-AO, one of a number of widescreen film formats created in the 1950s, the first (commercially successful) 70mm film format (65mm image track, 6-track magnetic stereo sound and a frame rate of 30 fps used in the first two productions "Oklahoma" & "Around the World in Eighty Days"). (*) The (fictitious) movie "Lazy Ol' Moon" is supposed to have been shot in VistaVision, Paramount's large format process, which has also been used by other studios for some movies (e.g. Warner Brother's "The Searchers", MGM's "High Society").
(*) In the 1930s there has already been a short-lived 70mm widescreen format developed for Fox: "Fox Grandeur".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Todd
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/index.htm

Burt Gurney:
- "Gurney" might come from the title character's name "Joe Gurney" in "King of the Underworld", played by Humphrey Bogart.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031536/

Character names of "Merrily We Dance"
Allegra:
- female given name of Italian origin meaning joy (happy), lively (suiting the "Merry Widow Waltz")
Dierdra:
- tragic heroine in Irish legend
Biff:
- The bully's name from "Back to the Future". No coincidence, considering how often the word "future" is (in a significant way) used in "Hail, Caesar!" ("you have to think about the future", "we are 'The Future'"), including a line that would suit a time travel movie: "Someone from 'The Future' is calling you."
Monty:
- The scene with Monty and Dierda may seem like from a generic drawing-room melodrama, but I'm pretty sure that it's particularly inspired by the scene in Hitchcock's "Rebecca", where Joan Fontaine and her employer Mrs. Van Hopper meet Mr. de Winter (Laurence(!) Olivier) in Monte(!) Carlo. Mrs. Van Hopper makes a big fuss about "Monty", while Joan Fontaine is not very impressed by "Monty". Mrs. Van Hopper: "She's spoilt. That's her trouble. Most girls would give their eyes for a chance to see 'Monty'." Well, it seems Allegra isn't one of those girls. Also, Mrs. Van Hopper asks Mr. de Winter: "Are you playing the tables much here at 'Monty'?" Deirdra to Monty: "I'll partner you in bridge."

Baird/Burt:
In "The Stunt Man" (1980), stunt man Burt is replaced by someone who isn't a stunt man. In "Hail, Caesar!", actor Baird Whitlock is replaced by his stunt double, who can't act. Burt Gurney (like Gene Kelly (*), which isn't explicitly stated but may be assumed) does his own stunts.
(*) as pointed out by Fred Astaire in "That's Entertainment" (1974)

Burt Gurney:
- In "The Ruling Class" (1972), Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney (Peter O'Toole), who thinks he's Jesus Christ, mentions "Bert/Burt" as one of the names he prefers to be called by. Due to him stating that "pride and riches, pomp and property all must be lopped off" and that "love makes all men equal", his uncle Charles considers him to be a "Bolshie" (=Bolshevik).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/

Moran/Silverman:
Dolores Moran:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolores_Moran
- Via Dolorosa
- Moran's last film was "Silver Lode", a Western smuggling some more or less hidden "Red Scare" content (the villains name: McCarty).

Akron (where Jesus actor Todd Hocheiser comes from):
"Todd Hocheiser. Wonderful young actor we found in Akron, Ohio, in a nationwide talent hunt."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069198/movieconnections?ref_=tt_ql_trv_6#spoofed_in
14th Earl of Gurney: "It was Sunday, August 25th, at 3:32. I heard a terrible thunderclap and saw a body of light like the light from the sun and red as fire. I cried 'Hallelujah Lord! What will you do?' But the light vanished. Blackness and darkness, until a great brush dipped in light swept across the sky, and I saw the diversity, distinction and varity all clearly rolled up into the unity of universal love."
His aunt: "Where did all this happen?"
14th Earl of Gurney: "East Acton, outside the public urinal."
Baird Whitlock's room number on the studio lot is 14.
Thus linking Burt Gurney, Todd Hocheiser and Baird Whitlock.

Whitlock:
Tchoutoye wrote:

On the topic of the blonde Jesus/mermaid/Gurney, the origin of the name Whitlock is "someone with white or fair hair", from Middle English whit ‘white’ + lock ‘curl’.

Judy Canova:
Baird Whitlock to Herb Marcuse: "But Judy Canova was there and she knows Norman. She says 'Danny's not doing a Norman Taurog picture. He just wants you to shave his back.'"
"Broadway Danny Rose" (1984)
Theatrical manager Danny Rose handles his clients' problems, like Eddie Mannix the problems of the stars of Capitol Pictures. He once met Judy Garland, likes Danny Kaye and Lou Canova is his client.
Judy Garland & Norman Taurog working together in: The Wizard of Oz (1939), Little Nellie Kelly (1940), Girl Crazy (1943), Presenting Lily Mars (1943), Ziegfeld Follies (1945), Words and Music (1948).
So "Judy Canova" may be a coded nod to Judy Garland.