Another Review
A thumbnail review of It’s a Wonderful Life written in the form of a favorable plot synopsis. Oddly, the film […]
Hollywood History
Dinner with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford
(Literary Digest, 1922)
This article is a simply wonderful read for many reasons and the chief among them is that the journalist hated Los Angeles. The New York writer Karl K. Kitchen was dispatched to Beverly Hills to interview the recently divorced Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford and he seemed to have had a nice enough time with the estranged couple, so much so that the Hollywood Royals invited him to dine at their house. The whole article is written in a very chatty way and there is one small, but distinct, slanderous aside referring to Jewish power in the nascent film industry.
My Brother Groucho
(Coronet Magazine, 1951)
In this six page essay Harpo Marx tells the tale of Groucho (1890 – 1977) as only an older brother could see it. From the Marx family’s earliest days in the slums of New York and Groucho’s first entertainment job (he was 13), Harpo (1888 – 1964) briefly recounts his brother’s wins and losses leading up to the team’s first popular show on Broadway (I’ll Say She Is, 1923) and the man’s travails on his T.V. game show, You Bet Your Life.
Groucho’s infatuation with the language has been the backbone of his entire life and has, undoubtedly, played the largest single part in shaping him into one of the greatest wits of our time. Groucho doesn’t regard words the way the rest of us do. He looks at a word in the usual fashion. Then he looks at it upside down, backwards, from the middle out to the ends, and from the ends back to the middle…Groucho doesn’t look for double meanings. He looks for quadruple meanings. And usually finds them.
Click here to read about the manner in which the Marx Brothers would test their jokes.
Talking Pictures Fail to Impress
(Film Spectator, 1929)
There can be no doubt that at some point between the appearance of this brief notice and the release of Gone with the Wind, culture critic Gilbert Seldes (1893 – 1970) was won-over to the side that believed sound-movies were the way to go- but in 1929, he wasn’t buy’n it.
The Discovery of Audrey Hepburn
(People Today, 1952)
American audiences came to know Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) when she was teamed up with Gregory Peck for the 1953 William Wyler production Roman Holiday (Paramount) – but the king makers of Hollywood sat up and took notice of her a year earlier, when she appeared in the European comedy Monte Carlo Baby (briefly reviewed herein). This movie was pretty quickly forgotten – and today Monte Carlo Baby cannot be found on DVD or cassette, and the film’s producer, Ray Ventura (1908 – 1979), is primarily remembered for his talents as a jazz pianist.
American Dominance in 1930s Film
(Stage Magazine, 1939)
The editors of STAGE MAGAZINE were dumbfounded when they considered that just ten years after audiences got an earful from the first sound movies, the most consistent characteristic to have been maintained throughout that decade was the box-office dominance of American movie stars, directors and writers. After naming the most prominent of 1930s U.S. movie stars the author declares with certainty that this could not have been an accident.
American Dominance in 1930s Film
(Stage Magazine, 1939)
The editors of STAGE MAGAZINE were dumbfounded when they considered that just ten years after audiences got an earful from the first sound movies, the most consistent characteristic to have been maintained throughout that decade was the box-office dominance of American movie stars, directors and writers. After naming the most prominent of 1930s U.S. movie stars the author declares with certainty that this could not have been an accident.
The Death of Diana Barrymore
(On the QT, 1960)
A sad article about the suicide-by-bottle choice that was made by actress Diana Barrymore in 1960.
As children, both John jr. and Diana were largely ignored by their famous father, John Barrymore, who preferred to simply pay their bills from afar and see them as rarely as possible. Young John, having abandoned all hope of ever playing a meaningful roll in the life of his father and seeing that the U.S. Navy valued him more, lied about his age and joined the Navy at 13. In later years he was much like his sister – he lead a life devoid of much meaning and drifted off into the bottle.
The Death of Diana Barrymore
(On the QT, 1960)
A sad article about the suicide-by-bottle choice that was made by actress Diana Barrymore in 1960.
As children, both John jr. and Diana were largely ignored by their famous father, John Barrymore, who preferred to simply pay their bills from afar and see them as rarely as possible. Young John, having abandoned all hope of ever playing a meaningful roll in the life of his father and seeing that the U.S. Navy valued him more, lied about his age and joined the Navy at 13. In later years he was much like his sister – he lead a life devoid of much meaning and drifted off into the bottle.
The Death of Diana Barrymore
(On the QT, 1960)
A sad article about the suicide-by-bottle choice that was made by actress Diana Barrymore in 1960.
As children, both John jr. and Diana were largely ignored by their famous father, John Barrymore, who preferred to simply pay their bills from afar and see them as rarely as possible. Young John, having abandoned all hope of ever playing a meaningful roll in the life of his father and seeing that the U.S. Navy valued him more, lied about his age and joined the Navy at 13. In later years he was much like his sister – he lead a life devoid of much meaning and drifted off into the bottle.