Tag: Hal Roach

He helped shape Hollywood… Hal Roach

October 25, 2014 by Vickie Lester

This young man lived to be a hundred years old: He opened a film studio in the teens in downtown Los Angeles in the old Bradbury residence, referred to by his friend Harold Lloyd as “pneumonia hall” due the chilling drafts. He moved onto his own place and over the course of his career produced and directed over 2,000 films. He worked with Harold Lloyd (from 1914-1923) and Laurel and Hardy, created “Our Gang, and taught the likes of Leo […]

Categories: Architecture, Culture, Design, Entertainment, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Movies, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Bradbury Residence, centenarian, George Stevens, Hal E. Roach Studios, Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Leo McCarey, OF MICE AND MEN, OUR GANG, polo, Rolin Studios, Santa Anita Racetrack, TOPPER

George Kaplan tells us about the place Ridley Scott shot Blade Runner

June 1, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Lewis Bradbury was a mover and shaker in Los Angeles of the 1890s. In the 1920s Hal Roach opened a film studio in his old house on Bunker Hill, the Rolin Film Company. This is the house when Lewis lived there:Harold Lloyd called the place “pneumonia hall” due to the chilling drafts (if that sounds familiar it’s because I lifted it from an old post.) George Kaplan, is our guest blogger today – when I told him I’d sourced a […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, law, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Anaïs Nin, Architect, architecture, art gallery, behind the scenes, Blade Runner, Bradbury Building, Bradbury Residence, celebrities, design, designed by George Wyman, film, Forrest Ackerman, George Kaplan, Guest Post, Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, Harrison Ford, Henry Miller, history, Hollywood, humor, interior design, Los Angeles, neo-italianate, Old Hollywood, Ouija board, photography, Ray Bradbury, Ridley Scott, Rolin Film Company, Rutger Hauer, seance, tycoon, Yanco Varda

THELMA TODD

September 25, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Beautiful and funny and died too young. She was married to an abusive rat who she got wise to and divorced. I’m not going to write a blog about her death being mysterious, if you read the court papers you will find that it wasn’t. I just want to share a few cool pics of someone referred to in her time as “the ice cream blonde” and the terrific looking restaurant she opened with director Roland West on PCH. The […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Crime, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: actress, architecture, bar, behind the scenes, Classic Movies, comedienne, design, director, fashion, film, Hal Roach, history, Hollywood, ice cream blonde, Ida Lupino, Los Angeles, Movie Star, Old Hollywood, photography, restaurant, Roland West, Stanley Lupino, The Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, Trocadero

JEAN HARLOW AND HAL ROACH

October 18, 2012 by Vickie Lester

Hal Roach was the first to spot Jean Harlow’s comedic talents: Harlow (the real bathing beauty) is to the right of Charley Chase. Harlow was seventeen when she made “Double Whoopee”, a Hal Roach short, with Laurel and Hardy. Leo McCarey, who went on to become a preeminent director of comedy wrote the story. McCarey in later life credited himself with teaching Cary Grant about savoir-faire and screwball style. It was said Grant copied many of McCarey’s mannerisms and speech […]

Categories: Culture, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: 1926, Cary Grant, Charley Chase, CHASING HUSBANDS, comedy, comedy short, DOUBLE WHOOPEE, Hal Roach, Harlow's first screen appearance, Jean Harlow, Leo McCarey, MGM, Oliver Hardy, screwball comedy, silent movie, Stan Laurel

BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

If you want a little historical perspective you're home.

Tag: Hal Roach

He helped shape Hollywood… Hal Roach

George Kaplan tells us about the place Ridley Scott shot Blade Runner

THELMA TODD

JEAN HARLOW AND HAL ROACH