“Sunset Boulevard”‘s Nancy Olson to appear @ Laemmle ‘Reel Talk’
Jul
7
2015
The one surviving leading-cast member of SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950), actress Nancy Olson Livingston, will honor the film’s 65th anniversary when film critic Stephen Farber interviews her as part of Laemmle Theatres’ Anniversary Classics and Reel Talk screening of Billy Wilder’s mordant classic on July 21 at the Royal on Santa Monica Boulevard. One of the greatest inside-Hollywood ...
Buy me! Marlon Brando’s 1969 Harley Davidson
Jun
23
2015
Shopping for a chopper with a pedigree? Buy one from the guy who starred in “The Wild One” (1953). On Saturday, June 27, 2015, collectors and the transportation-challenged will have a chance to bid on Marlon Brando’s personally owned Harley Davidson FLH Electra-Glide at Julien’s Auctions Beverly Hills (Lot #791, Estimate: $200,000-$400,000). Hollywood Legends Auction ...
How “Girl Shy” was Harold Lloyd? Find out at the Villa Aurora.
Jun
10
2015
What a nice notion … that Harold Lloyd was “Girl Shy” (1924). At an upcoming screening, we’ll learn more from Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne. (Her very existence a clear indication that Lloyd wasn’t totally girl shy!) She’ll appear at a wonderful silent-movie night with live organ accompaniment by Michael Mortilla pumping the pipe organ at the ...
How did ‘Cuddles’ do it? Revealed at Skirball Center’s “Light and Noir”
Feb
6
2015
As this TCM tribute sets forth, the Budapest-born, jowly S.Z. ‘Cuddles’ Sakall was adorable, hilarious and popular on the set. But did those qualities alone get the character actor prominent play in 46 Hollywood movies? One of many film people to flee Nazi-dominated Europe, arrive on American shores, and wend their way to southern California, ...
Jail bait from Hollywood choreographer Alex Romero
A new book “The Man Who Made the Jailhouse Rock: Alex Romero, Hollywood Choreographer,” author, Mark Knowles, briefly reviewed: Alex Romero was one of the last of the Hollywood Studio staff choreographers who never received the attention or success he deserved. As if his life story is not remarkable enough, his talents were well known ...
Dance DNA: The Nicholas Brothers honored at the Alex 1
What caused these two dancers, each bringing his own qualities and characteristics, to meld and synergize into a ballistic dance unit known as The Nicholas Brothers? Sly Stone said it best: “It’s a family affair.” This was the implicit message delivered across an incredibly fun Sunday evening spent with the two handsome and talented gentlemen ...
‘Kinetic Los Angeles’ heralds impact of Russian ballet in California
This startling and marvelous image of a ballerina garbed in an unprecedented and surely unreplicated costume graces the cover of “Kinetic Los Angeles: Russian Emigres in the City of Self-Transformation.” The journal, the 20th edition of the esteemed “Experiment,” has just been published by the Institute of Modern Russian Culture at the University of Southern ...
REVIEW: Daddy Dearest: Chris Lemmon’s touching tribute to Jack
A charming and winsome theatrical evening with a couple of talented Hollywood men … In “Jack Lemmon Returns,” now on through month’s end at the Broad Stage’s intimate “Edye” theater, Chris Lemmon shares his family photo album sprung to life. It’s the actor/musician’s one-man show of memories and anecdotes about his father, the hugely accomplished ...
Learn the rich story of Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” studios
Jan
13
2015
We always enjoyed hearing from our friends at Larry Edmunds Bookshop.The Lare is hosting a fun book talk next Saturday by two co-authors, friend of arts·meme Marc Wanamaker and historian E.J. Stephens. The duo’s new paperback tome, “Early Poverty Row Studios” is the latest Arcadia Publishing Images of America volume.Writes “Larry Edmunds:” The history of ...
Mae I entertain you, asks Ms. West
Jan
8
2015
Actress, singer, comedienne, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol — no, we’re not describing arts∙meme. Rather, it’s the inimitable movie star Mae West. Movieland’s most provocative purveyor of dirty double-entendres did her job while strapped into an hour-glass figure. West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the New York stage before moving to ...