Category: Hollywood

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 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 18, 2012 /

Filming at the track in 1935: The building was designed by Architect Gordon B. Kaufmann (who also designed the Los Angeles Times building) in a fluid Art Deco style – 1936: The entrance and the paddock – 1936: A view of the stands the year it was completed – 1934:…

September 18, 2012 /

Marion Davies 1927: Bing Crosby at Del Mar – 1937: Joe E. Brown and Mrs. Edwardo Blackburn in the 1940s: Tony Curtis, Carol Burnett, and Cary Grant at Hollywood Park – 1978:

September 17, 2012 /
September 15, 2012 /

This is how I kit myself out to clean the fireplace… Imagine how I’d react if the kitchen weren’t sealed off, I’d probably be in a haz mat suit. And, since we’re having temperatures in the 95-105 range that wouldn’t be at all pleasant. Last time it was a great…

September 15, 2012 /

When I was young (the year was 1989) I got to see Ella Fitzgerald at the Hollywood Bowl – I’d never heard her before, and I was enchanted. I think she must have been in her eighties and at one point she stepped too far and stumbled off the stage…