While recently visiting my 14-year-old nephew who lives in Orange County, CA, I asked him when he travels what airport does he fly out of?
He replied,” John Wayne Airport.”
It then occurred to me, “do you know who John Wayne is?” I queried him.
The answer should not have surprised me. The answer of course was no. “A politician,” he guessed.
I mean fame is fleeting but for goodness sake, John Wayne? Continue reading
While today it might be considered very creepy, “Old Blue Eyes,” Frank Sinatra did marry Mia Farrow on July 19, 1966. Frank was 50-years-old and Mia was 21. Continue reading
Gloria Stuart (b. July 4, 1910) played “Old Rose” in James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) and was nominated for Best Actress in A Supporting Role. She did not win.
This is what Gloria Stuart looked like in the early 1930s.
Vivacious and pretty, Gloria Stuart was a movie star throughout the 1930s appearing in 43 films. Continue reading
Java Break
Looks like serious business as Jack Palance pours coffee for Barbara Lang between scenes for a new movie, “House of Numbers,” on the Hollywood set. Some of the studio old-timers think Barbara suggests the late Jean Harlow. Photo credit: Wide World Photos 2/18/1957
At first glance in this still, Barbara suggests Marilyn Monroe more than Jean Harlow, but you can see a resemblance to Harlow.
House of Numbers is based upon a book by the great Jack Finney (The Body Snatchers; Assault on A Queen and the New York based classic Time and Again.)
The plot of House of Numbers is a prison yarn that has Palance playing twin brothers. Continue reading
A victory in the Texas Charleston contest four years ago gave Ginger Rogers the necessary stimulus for a stage career. Since her arrival on Broadway last season, after playing in vaudeville throughout the country, this talented young woman has won all sorts of honors in musical comedy and motion pictures.
She now has aspirations to be a radio star. When the inaugural Mardi Gras program is presented from WABC over the Columbia Broadcasting System on Tuesday (May 13) at 9 P.M. (E.D.S.T.) Miss Rogers will be the guest artist. One of the songs she will introduce is “I Wish I Could Be Sing A Love Song” from a new picture, “A Sap From Syracuse”, in which she plays opposite Jack Oakie. Photo: Columbia Broadcast System / NEA May 6, 1930.
92 years ago tonight listeners tuning into the radio could hear 18-year-old Ginger Rogers sing this song.
She was born Virginia Katherine McMath on July 16, 1911 in Independence, MO. Ginger got her nickname Continue reading
This kitschy publicity photograph for the 1930 film Paramount on Parade shows a few of the chorus girls. Though the girls are unidentified in this photo one could be a future star such as Virginia Bruce.
The film was a revue and would highlight the musical abilities of all the top Paramount Picture stars. Unfortunately the chorus girl scene in the film is missing today as are several other portions of the film. Continue reading
Lou Costello (l) and Bud Abbott (r) raise money at a War Bond rally in Los Angeles. Photo: Los Angeles Daily News
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were the number one box office stars in 1942, so who better to go out and rouse the public to buy War Bonds?
The United States entered World War II after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Abbott and Costello were too old to serve in the armed forces, but they would do their part to aid the war effort.
The comedians each donated their $10,000 weekly personal appearance salary to the Army and Navy relief fund. Traveling the country, Continue reading
SUCH IS FAME
Los Angeles – The four Marx Brothers, film comedians are now among the famous whose foot and hand prints now grace the foyer of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Enduring cement holds the imprint and the lobby of the theater is beginning to look like a Who’s Who in Movieland. Among the notables who are represented there are Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, William S. Hart, Ann Harding, Diana Wynward, and now the Marx Brothers. Photo shows (left to right) Jean Klossner cement contractor; Harpo, Groucho, Zeppo, and Chico Marx. Sid Grauman (standing). Photo: Acme; 2/17/1933
One thing to note about this news photo Continue reading
Lovely Diana Dors who plays her first dramatic screen role as a woman prisoner in the new Associated British-Marble Arch production, “The Weak and The Wicked” starring Glynis Johns and co-starring John Gregson, Diana Dors, and Jane Hylton with Sidney James, A.E. Matthews, Anthony Nicholls, Athene Seyler, Olive Sloane and Sybil Thorndike. Screenplay by J. Lee-Thompson and Anne Burnsby in collaboration with Joan Henry, author of “Who Idle in Gaol” from which the film is freely adapted. Directed by J. Lee-Thompson and produced by Victor Skutezky. photo: British Pathe June 5, 1954
Diana Dors was only 22-years-old during the filming of The Weak and The Willing. Yet Dors had already appeared in nearly two dozen British films; mostly uncredited bit parts. When The Weak and The Willing, was released in the United States it was re-titled Young and Willing.
Dors resemblance to Marilyn Monroe Continue reading
NEEDLE AND THREAD, QUICK!
Jayne Mansfield’s Japanese kimono, no longer able to contain her 41 inch bosom splits at the sides. Waitresses in a Tokyo restaurant take great delight in tightening it around the blonde bombshell’s 18-inch waist. Jayne, presently with the Bob Hope Show entertaining GI’s in the far east brought service in the restaurant to a standstill Monday, when she entered in the colorful kimono, which despite its traditional straight lines could not disguise the fabulous figure. – AP Wirephoto: December 25, 1957 Continue reading
