Stravinsky in West Hollywood, 1967, captured by photog Bobby Klein
I had been invited back to the Maestro’s house one evening to show him some of my previous work. He took me into his study and locked the door. Beethoven was playing on these huge Voice of the Theater speakers really loud. Stravinsky had been ill and was being watched like a hawk by his ...
Hello Harlow! 2
Jan
2
2013
In a nice movie-starrish start to the new year, we’re attending the opening of an exhibition dedicated to actress Loretta Young at the Hollywood Museum on Highland Avenue on January 8. Then the next night, we’re looking forward to attending a super fun “Evening at the Barn” presentation by the Hollywood Heritage group — a ...
Happy New Year 2013 from arts·meme! 1
[click directly on photos for detail] Incandescent dance photography from a Hollywood film. Why are we not surprised that Jack Cole stands behind it? The Harlequinade costumes are a dead giveaway; one of the enduring interests of this choreographer (he died in 1974 in Los Angeles) was commedia dell’arte. High-voltage performance (Gower Champion laudable in ...
Jack Cole, Hollywood director 4
On the camera crane works Jack Cole (in white sweater, click photo for detail), directing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,” exactly as he did for all four GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953) dance numbers (Two Little Girls From Little Rock, Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love, When Love Goes Wrong, Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best ...
Fitz featured in “Gatz”
Here stands the great American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in what strikes me as his penultimate Los Angeles portrait. Bleary-eyed but putting a good face on things — what we do so well in L.A. Noshing one night at Greenblatt’s Deli on Sunset Boulevard, I chatted with proprietor, the son of the original owner. He ...
“Hollywood Unknowns” stories revealed @ Larry Edmunds
We received this nice note from our good friends at Larry Edmunds Bookshop: Author Anthony Slide is no stranger to the Larry Edmunds Bookshop. His association goes back much farther than my 22 years, and the number of books this resident film historian for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has written is ...
Jack Cole’s mid-century-modern dance design 1
A lost Jack Cole dance sequence from DOWN TO EARTH (Columbia, 1947). [click on the photo for detail.] Called the “New York number,” it used to be part of the larger “People Have More Fun Than Anyone,” number before it was cut from the film. It was absolutely common in Cole’s Hollywood career that his ...
Lurch on, Universal monsters!
Oct
17
2012
There have been frightening happenings at the film world’s Halloween Headquarters, also known as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — and they’re still going on. “A Monstrous Centennial,” the Academy’s month-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures, screening 13 classic horror classics, has reach mid-point. The series is augmented by ...
The Tramp meets the Dying Swan
Two great ‘movement artists, Charles and Anna, pose for a photo looking like something more than just “cordial colleagues.” The photo is dated 1922. Like this? Read more: Pavlov(a)’s dog of a movie. Anna Pavlova visits Hollywood Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin Charles Chaplin in China
Ninety-year-old men in tights: “Robin Hood” at the Egyptian Theatre
Oct
4
2012
Ninety years ago, Douglas Fairbanks and wife Mary Pickford, joined by Charlie Chaplin, turned out for the premiere of Fairbanks’ swashbuckling adventure at their pal Sid Grauman’s new Hollywood movie palace. This evening went down in history as the very first Hollywood movie premiere. Fairbanks historian Tracy Goessel will introduce the film with live piano ...