Faded Los Angeles beauty to get a facelift: Lasky-DeMille Barn 1
Mar
22
2012
In keeping with the celebration of its 100th anniversary, Paramount Pictures is putting some loving care into the bricks and morter where their company was born – the Lasky-DeMille barn. Col. Robert Northam built the Hollywood structure as horse stable, in 1901. The next owner, Jacob Stern was the owner when it became a film ...
A horse is a good clean animal, says Betty Grable 2
Check out Betty Grable in “Meet Me After the Show” (1951): Dancing in silhouette, on the platform: Jack Cole, who staged the number. Paired with Cole for a dance-y horse race is the choreographer’s muse and assistant Gwen Verdon. This we learn from the horse’s mouth … er… from Academy of Dance on Film founder ...
“L.A. RAW” film night
I cannot wait for this film night at the much-praised “RAW” exhibit at Pasadena Museum of California Art. Three documentary films concerning three of California’s important visual artists will be screened in tandem to the exhibit. Hans Burkhardt Hans Burkhardt: The Artist’s World 1987, 37 min Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Estate Films, Inc.An intimate portrait ...
Remembering Marilyn
Feb
29
2012
A sad memorial looms this year, the 50th anniversary of the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe, who died of an overdose to barbiturates in August 1962. I recently enjoyed two well made documentaries about Monroe. The Legend of Marilyn Monroe 1966, 16 format, b/w, 53 min, dir Terry Sanders Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lee ...
A masterpiece of dance on film: Jack Cole’s “Happy Ending”
The dance sequence below, choreographed by the great Jack Cole (he dances in it as well) closes Twentieth Century Fox’s “On the Riviera” (1951). Every element of “Happy Ending” rings true. Not a single step is wrong or jarring; on the contrary, all is balanced and golden and smart and right. It’s evidence of Cole’s ...
Earl Carroll’s beautiful construction site
[click on photo for detail] Label reads: Earl Carroll’s theater-restaurant is famed not only for its “most beautiful girls in the world” but, also, for its unique construction. During the show, leggy ladies of the line paraded onto a huge circular, revolving stage. This photo shows Earl Carroll and some of his aides and chorus ...
Wherefore art thou, o Hollywood choreographer? 2
[mouse over images for captions] Say you are a film producer, and you have a project that gets a green-light. There’s a dance sequence in the script and you need to hire a choreographer. Using the prime professional database of the film and television industry, IMDB Pro, you will be hard pressed to find one. ...
Turner Classic Movies launches pre-festival: Road to Hollywood
The amazing, generous-spirited, movie-loving peeps at Turner Classic Movies are launching a fun nation-wide program of FREE screenings in ten cities across the country en route to the third annual TCM Fest in Los Angeles, April 12 – 15, 2012. There’s a centralized ticket reservation website and it is here.
Anthony Slide on Hollywood fanzine cover art @ Hollywood Heritage
Feb
10
2012
We enjoyed the book talk by Anthony Slide on the occasion of the publishing of his 70th Hollywood book, “Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers.” Slide, a veteran Hollywood-focused author, gave his presentation at the vastly historic Lasky-DeMille Barn, also known as the Hollywood Heritage Museum, as ...
Pauline Wagner’s fateful Santa Monica beach encounter with Marion Davies
Feb
10
2012
Photos show Pauline Wagner, 101, celebrating the birthday of Marion Davies. William R. Hearst constructed the faux-Georgian mansion, with rooms numbering 100, precipitously near to the ocean. This unnatural structure was mercifully demolished in 1969. Remaining is the estate’s refurbished colonial guest house, now operating as the Annenberg Beach House, a community arts center. § ...