Tag Archives: Entertainment

Classic Hollywood #149 – Mae West & Alice Cooper

Mae West In A Revival & Hitting On Rock Star Alice Cooper

Mae Today
One of Mae West’s most noted successes – a role with which she is now a bit bored – is as a high-living lady in “Diamond Lil”. The play is still being revived. In a New York dressing room in 1949, Miss West puts on some “prop” diamonds – valued at $2,000 – which she wears in the play. photo: Wide World Photos 8/4/1952

Mae West remained in the public eye for decades. First in vaudeville, then the legitimate stage, followed by movies and radio. Topping off her stardom, there were whispers and rumors throughout her career that Mae West was not actually a woman. Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #148 – Linda Watkins Broadway Star Who Despised Films

1931 – Linda Watkins Who Gave Up A Promising Film Career at Age 24

If you have never heard the name of Linda Watkins, you can easily be forgiven. But you might recognize her face with appearances in many television programs and a few movies from the 1950s through the 1970s.

Heralded to become a major star with a very strong performance in her 1931 film debut, Sob Sister, Watkins then made only five more films before taking a 17 year screen hiatus. Continue reading

1945 – The Future Is Television, Including Home Shopping

Post WWII – Television Is Coming To Your Home

In late Summer 1945, with total victory secured, manufacturers could soon begin producing consumer products rather than armaments. With the transition would come amazing technological advances. Continue reading

Old New York In Photos #152 – 6th Avenue 31st Street & Eva Tanguay 1911

A Typical Busy Day On Sixth Avenue While Eva Tanguay Performs Uptown

There is nothing extraordinary happening as we look north up Sixth Avenue from 31st Street.

There’s lots of horse manure in the street and there’s some construction and workers beneath the Sixth Avenue El. The bar on the corner has western saloon style doors and advertises Triple X German Liquors on its sign. A high pressure fire hydrant is on the corner, a sight rarely seen today as the city removed most of them almost three decades ago . The tallest building on the left between 32nd and 33rd Streets is Gimbels Department Store.

As much as we’d like to put an exact date on the photo we cannot. It is uncredited and labeled 1911. There is one intriguing clue however. It’s blurry but if you look at the roof of the building on the left you can see a billboard ad for Eva Tanguay (1878-1947) appearing at The Colonial Theatre. Continue reading

I Dream Of Jeannie – Where Major Nelson Lived In Cocoa Beach

Where In Cocoa Beach, FL Did Major Nelson Live?

Plus A Bit Of Deep Trivia – What  Was Dr. Bellows Address?

The home of Major Anthony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie

Recently visiting me was my friend’s daughter a recent college graduate, and her friend Stephanie who was born and raised in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Cocoa Beach’s renown comes from The Kennedy Space Center, home of NASA during the 1960s. Continue reading

Classic Hollywood #143 – Cary Grant & Randolph Scott, “Eligible Bachelors”

Cary Grant & Randolph Scott At Home -1935

Two Male Stars Share A House

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

Did the two “eligible bachelor” movie stars living together have more than a roommate experience?

Here is what Continue reading

Flea Market Find – Album Of Marching Music

A Marching LP Album That Did Not Sell Many Copies

You never know what you’ll find at a flea market. Someone at the Stormville, NY Yard Sale in September had Marches Of The Israel Defense Forces. I took a picture of the LP but somehow deleted it. The photo below is from eBay.

Whatever possessed Columbia Records to release this?

Did this album sell even 100 copies?

So the only other thing to contemplate is what does the music sound like? Continue reading