Hollywood History

Munchkin Gossip (Stage Magazine, 1939)

From the Hot From Hollywood page in STAGE MAGAZINE came this tidbit reporting on the curious events taking place on the sets of ‘The Wizard of Oz’:

The cast was extraordinary, from the stars Frank Morgan, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley to Toto, the Carin Terrier. But of them all, the most utterly enchanting were the midgets, two hundred and twenty-five of them, with their doll faces, their plastered hair that looked as though it had been painted on their heads, the little felt flowers that grew out of their shoes, the bells that jingled from their sleeves. They, of course, were in costume for the good little Munchkins.


Another article about this incredible film can be read here…

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A Profile of Shirley Temple (Film Daily, 1939)

As a phenomenon in the history of the show business and among all children, Shirley Temple (1928 – 2014) stands as absolutely unique. For four successive years she has led all other stars in the film industry as the number one box office attraction of the world. But Shirley’s influence has been wider than this – there is no country in the world, both civilized and uncivilized where at some time or another her pictures have not been shown.

In a few weeks Shirley’s fan mail reached avalanche proportions, with with the result in her next film, Bright Eyesstyle=border:none, Shirley was starred. The old contract was torn up and the Temples were given a new one.

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Jean Harlow, Star (Photoplay Magazine, 1931)

When this interview appeared on the newsstands, Jean Harlow (1911 – 1937) had fifteen credits under her belt (most of them short films) and only six years left until she would assume room temperature as a result of kidney failure. Written by the PHOTOPLAY reporter Leonard Hall (who would like us to believe that he was a Hollywood studio psychiatrist), this is a light and breezy two page interview conducted at the New Yorker Hotel at a time when that establishment appealed to Hollywood Royalty.


Click here to read articles about Marilyn Monroe.

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Hugh Harmon & Rudolf Ising: Animators (Film Daily, 1939)

A short account regarding Hugh Harman (1903 – 1982) and Rudy Ising (1903 – 1992) who were a team of Oscar winning animators best known for founding the animation studios at Warner Brothers and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In the last decade the animated cartoon has developed from its early grotesque form to its present lofty state and this development is really a miracle in art and achievement in entertainment… The significance of the animated cartoon can be realized only when we consider its world wide appeal and power of influence.

The same year this article went to press, Harmon-Ising produced their much admired anti-war cartoon, Peace on Earth.

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Bad-Boy Errol Flynn (Sir! Magazine, 1954)

There is no doubt that the Hollywood matinee idol Errol Flynn (1909 – 1959) was the Charlie Sheen of his day, and thanks to the unrelenting press control that the Hollywood studios exercised over the fan magazines of that day, we probably only know about a quarter of his assorted debaucheries. He was a masher and a lush, and the one law suit that the studio executives couldn’t kill was

the great case against him for statutory rape which, had it stuck, would have given him jail for fifty years. For weeks in 1942 it replaced the war news in the headlines.


In 1938, Flynn wrote an article in which he weakly defended the unique moral codes of Hollywood actors; you can read it here.

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