Author: Vickie Lester

Susannah Corwin is a screenwriter and novelist (under the pen name of “Vickie Lester”). She started her career as a production assistant after studying Film at an east coast university. Her first duties behind the scenes in Hollywood included locating actors who had wandered away from set for romantic assignations. One particularly memorable roundup involved chivying said actors back into the makeup trailer where she picked up a sponge to help reapply their fake tans as they were required onset faster than all hands could paint them. Susannah Corwin’s screenplays have been optioned by David Matalon, Alan Blomquist, A. Kitman Ho, and Kevin Spacey. Her first novel, “It’s In His Kiss”, a modern Hollywood Noir, was published May 2014. She writes the blog “Beguiling Hollywood” (vickielester.com) peeking into the glittering past of Tinseltown with the witty eye of an educated observer. Susannah is now writing her second novel, “You Don’t Own Me” about a Hollywood babysitter who rises to studio boss.

September 28, 2012 /

The shop yard – Union Station:

September 27, 2012 /

Get a shave: Buy a cigar: Have a meal at the Harvey House restaurant designed by Mary Colter:

September 26, 2012 /

I’ve recently been contacted by one of the children of these glorious gals, they inform me the band’s manager, Dr. Leonard Stallcup, kept them on a tight leash and they were very sheltered, not at all like the characters in SOME LIKE IT HOT. You can hear them play on…

September 25, 2012 /

A nice publicity still showing director Fritz Lang conferring with actress Joan Bennett and costume designer Travis Banton over a wardrobe sketch. Later we’ll talk about the influence of Fritz Lang (“M” and “Metropolis”) on filmmaking  – and how costume designers like Travis Banton of Paramount created looks that conveyed…

September 25, 2012 /

This is, perhaps, the weirdest cake I’ve ever seen:

September 25, 2012 /

Joe E. Brown celebrates his birthday with friends, George Gray, Chester Conklin, Pinto Colvig, and Billy Beltcher, in 1963:

September 24, 2012 /

I know, I know, but several people have requested an update – so here it is. For the rest of you, apologies and we’ll have more old Hollywood tomorrow. – –

September 21, 2012 /

I just have to say I saw Endeavour over Griffith Park Observatory and the cheers and the glory and size and the way it banked and tipped its wings and the two fighter planes aloft and escorting in the bright blue California sky – and the impact that this vessel…

September 21, 2012 /

Today the Space Shuttle, built by Rockwell International, arrives in Los Angeles and will be on exhibit at the California Science Center. Fly overs will include JPL in La Canada, Griffith Park Observatory, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Venice Beach, the Long Beach Aquarium, The Queen Mary, the Getty Museum, and Exposition…

September 21, 2012 /

Bear with me, this is the last batch of photos before completion – which should be the first week of October… .. Tomorrow the floor gets sanded, Monday the cabinet boxes go in, Wednesday the contractor and I go to the stone fabricator and mark the cuts for backsplash and…