Hollywood History

Veronica Lake
(Click Magazine, 1944)

The attached magazine article is a profile of Veronica Lake (1922 – 1973) who was characterized in this column as an artist at making enemies.:

One of the most acute problems in Hollywood is Veronica Lake. Where, and at what precise moment her time-bomb mind will explode with some deviation from what studio bosses consider normal is an ever-present question. Hence, the grapevine of the movie industry always hums with rumors that unless Miss Lake ‘behaves’, she will no longer be tolerated, but cast into oblivion.


Her response was eloquent.

Howard Hughs and HELL’S ANGELS
(Photoplay Magazine, 1930)

The Thrilling, romantic story of how Howard Hughes, the millionaire kid, who tossed fortunes into the making of Hell’s Angels

The editors of Photoplay, like many in the Hollywood community between the years 1927 through 1930, were extremely curious about wunderkind Howard Hughes (1905 – 1976) and the wildly expensive film he was directing that never seemed able to reach a state of completion, Hell’s Angels. This article, by Bogart Rogers, makes clear that by the time the film was released, production costs had soared beyond the four million dollar range (although some contemporary sources believe it was a few hundred thousand south of that number)- and most infamously, four aviators had been killed during the filming. This article sums-up the Hollywood career of Howard Hughes up to 1930 and seeks to separate some of the falsehoods that circulated about the boy-director.

A Hollywood Star Before the Committee
(Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

Larry Parks (1914 – 1975) was an Hollywood movie actor. His career arched from bit player and supporting roles to top billing before his career was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been a member of the Communist Party USA; his candor soon led to his being blacklisted by all the Hollywood studios.

The Woman Who Created Marilyn Monroe
(People Today Magazine, 1954)

You can bet that throughout the short career of Marilyn Monroe there were voluminous amounts stylistes, cosmetologists, coiffeurs and doyennes of glamour who came in contact with the headliner at one time or another. Some offered genuine nuggets of beauty wisdom while others could only offer bum steers. Although the name Emmeline Snively may sound like a character from a Charles Dickens novel, she was in actuality the very first woman to offer sound fashion advice to the ingenue – advice that would start her on her path to an unparalleled celebrity status as the preeminent Blonde Bombshell in all of Hollywood. You see, Emmeline Snively was the one who recommended that La Monroe dye her hair that color in the first place.

Errol Flynn: Defender of Hollywood Morality
(Photoplay Magazine, 1937)

A sly little grin must have come to the lips of the editors of Photoplay when they asked Hollywood’s reigning scandal-monger, Errol Flynn (1909 – 1959), to write a small treatise concerning Hollywood morals – and he accepted their offer. Flynn sharpened his pencil and scribbled the following lighthearted defense of Hollywood hedonism; contradicting himself at several points, he opined that Hollywood was not much different than any other neighborhood – and actors are always good because they’re too closely monitored to do bad – and if you don’t believe that, then you should know that the acting trade brings out in all who heed the call a certain character trait that makes any monogamy highly unlikely.

A Review of the Whole Show
(The Commonweal, 1947)

It seems so odd that that the House Un-American Activities Committee that convened to examine the communist influence in the Hollywood motion picture industry lasted only nine days – yet it is one of the most well-known of all the Congressional committees in the history of the republic. That said, we have posted one journalist’s summary of all the hearings:


Former investigations of this kind were mainly concerned with what people had done or not done; this investigation set a precedent by being concerned about what people thought.

An Interview With Mary Pickford
(Current Opinion, 1918)

When this two page profile appeared in print Pickford was world famous, married to the handsomest actor in Hollywood, adored by all – she could do no wrong. Just fourteen years later, the respected New York playwright Clara Boothe Brokaw would ridicule her in the pages of Vanity Fair (August, 1932: p. 18) as a sad symbol representing a vulgar era.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, today few people know who she was – although she does get twice as many Google searches than Lillian Gish (but whose counting).


Amazon offers a PBS salute to the actress on a DVD that is strangely titled Mary Pickfordstyle=border:none.

Birth of a Nation Reviewed
(Vanity Fair, 1915)

One of Conde Nast’s most popular magazines reviewed D.W. Griffith’s film, The Birth of a Nation and gave a somewhat balanced account of the production. The journalist clearly recognized that the movie was unfair to the Negro yet remarkable for it’s photography.

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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