Julie Andrews granted “Gypsy” award by Professional Dancers Society 2
An amazing line up of talent on view at the Professional Dancers Society 25th anniversary gala luncheon honoring Julie Andrews on March 18, 2012. Previous PDS honorees Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke, Marge Champion, Mitzi Gaynor, Carol Burnett, Joni Berry (Chairman of PDS), Rita Moreno and Florence Henderson, join Julie Andrews on stage as she ...
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 ...
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. § ...
Jack Cole rocks Rita Hayworth’s world in “Tonight and Every Night” (1945) 1
The ditty she sings is inane (remember, it was the War!) and the costume is not her greatest. But Rita Hayworth does her thing prettily enough. Life changes when a monster-dancer joins her on stage — Jack Cole. Choreographers: Pay attention @ 1:43. That is how to make an entrance — sliding in on your ...
Marie Bryant put a bun in Betty Grable’s oven 5
The silken jazz dancer, Marie Bryant (1919-1978), seen here jiving with the great Harold Nicholas, was, for a time, rehearsal assistant to Jack Cole. That’s interesting. Cole’s performance group was all white. It wouldn’t be otherwise. But he clearly relied on Bryant for special tasks. Asked what she did for Jack Cole, Bryant replied, “I ...
John Singer Sargent dresses Rita Hayworth for “Put the Blame on Mame” 2
“The designer Jean Louis, supposedly inspired by John Singer Sargent‘s famous portrait of the décolleté Madame X, created for Miss Hayworth a fetishistic black satin strapless gown, with elbow-length gloves, and the dance director Jack Cole devised the strip-tease routine in which she flung those gloves to her audience. The director, Vidor, expected the filming ...
Next up for Meryl Streep: Maggie T. takes cooking lessons 1
Dec
26
2011
We’re just back from the local multiplex. Yes, we double-dipped. We first watched a reenactment of an historical movie moment. An American actress, Michelle Williams, portrays a prior thespian, Marilyn Monroe, in her struggle to collaborate with Sir Laurence Olivier in the filming of “The Prince & the Showgirl.” Kenneth Branagh plays Sir Larry in ...
Jack Cole invites you to a ball 4
From MGM’s “The Merry Widow” (1952) Jack Cole’s beautifully calibrated waltz sequence pours forth. Minutes and minutes of on-screen dancing. Audiences apparently used to like this; I guess they don’t anymore. Enjoy! Cole’s gigs at MGM were fewer then at Columbia or Fox (at MGM: Kismet twice: 1944, 1955, Les Girls 1957, Designing Woman 1957). ...