ImagineMDD

2016-03-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

North by Northwest

July 28, 1959 North by Northwest

North by Northwest
Vintage Original Movie Poster Hitchcock Mount Rushmore

Cary Grant Comes Home... for the weekend. Sunday, October 12. 2014 you can see North by Northwest at the Hippodrome in Bristol, England.

"Double bill gala screening of Arsenic and Old Lace and North by Northwest, two of Cary Grant’s most memorable roles on the big screen in the very theatre where young Bristolian Archie Leach decided to be an actor. .... The film will be accompanied by live performance."

North by Northwest
Original Grande Movie Poster, France
Alfred Hitchcock Cary Grant

When in Bristol for the Weekend with Cary Grant, be sure to visit the Cary Grant Statue. In the past to raise money for Save the Children in the UK, the Cary Grant Statue has been one of the notable statues to don a Christmas jumper (aka a Christmas sweater) in December on Christmas Jumper Day.

"Cary Grant shares some thoughts and comments about Alfred Hitchcock, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly when answering questions from the audience during one of his one-man-show evenings."
How did the suit in the film stay in such good shape? How did he like working with Alfred Hitchcock?

In the studio days, in most cases and when not doing a period or costume drama men provided their own clothing for films. They were compensated and if they were able to financially, had a tailor who worked with them. Cary Grant had a favorite tailor in London. He knew what was best for him right down to the best pair of Levi Strauss Jeans that looked and worked best, Levis 501s. Grant loved horseback riding.

Their closets at home contained not only their personal wardrobe, but also the items they would wear for a film, to an event, etc. Depending on the type of character you were apt to play, this included items down to gloves, hats and scarves, etc.

North by Northwest 1959
Original Poster Belgium

Bringing up Cary Grant, His Career and the Oscars, Was he snubbed?

Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words and by Those Who Knew Him Best

Cary Grant: The Leading Man, from The Hollywood Collection a biography on DVD, to stream, rent or own

Hollywood wedding rings borrowed fumbled proxy

2015-06-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hollywood Wedding Rings at the altar
Borrowed, Fumbled, Misunderstood
Proxy engagements, weddings

Prince Rainier takes ring for bride, Grace Kelly

When Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier the press and public misinterpreted some things that were done by tradition and/or protocol.

It's common to read that the Prince fumbled with the ring as he placed it on her finger in 1956. Princess Grace would later explain what had happened.

"Everyone thought the Prince had trouble putting the ring on Grace's finger, but actually it was prearranged that she would help him -- to show her willingness to marry."

In 1929 when Lydell Peck slipped an engagement ring on the finger of actress Janet Gaynor she reportedly told him that she

Handmade Rhinestone Crystal
Flower Bridal Wedding Headband Tiara

wasn't a natural redhead. "You have the right to know..."

Orson Welles forgot to take wedding ring out of the box in 1943 when he was at the altar with bride Rita Hayworth.

"After fumbling with it he was so nervous he couldn't get it on the proper Hayworth finger causing Judge Orlando H. Rhodes of Santa Monica superior court to suggest, 'hold her finger with your other hand.'" Actor Joseph Cotten was Welles' best man.

Engaged, Married by Proxy

Captain Blood poster
Errol Flynn Olivia De Havilland

During World War II there were multiple stories about couples, one of whom was in the military being engaged and married by proxy. They were unable to be together for the ceremony. Someone would stand in for the bride and groom.

Errol Flynn gave his bride-to-be, Patrice Wymore, a sapphire ring, the color of her eyes. "He did it by proxy since he was in bed with a cold.

"The ring was a six carat sapphire of deep blue crusted with baguette diamonds. No one would say how much it cost. A representative of the jewelers gave Miss Wymore the ring in her hotel suite."

Merle Oberon and film cameraman Lucien Ballard were married by proxy in 1945. She and Ballard were unable to leave work. Civil registrar in Mexico performed ceremony. Attorney JT Portillo took the role as bridegroom and

4 Tier Heart Multilayer Baking
Cake Tins Cake Pans 6" 8" 10" 12"

Alejandro Munox served as proxy bride.

Friend Cole Porter called it "the chicest thing I ever heard of."

Miss Oberon said, "We didn't want to be chic. We just wanted everything to be quiet and simple." There were also plans for a later wedding in the United States.

Borrowed Rings

In 1936 John Barrymore married Elaine Barrie. The groom lost her ring and had to borrow one from one of their witnesses.

Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley had to borrow a ring for their wedding in 1939. Their wedding was held shortly after Evans left the stage where she was appearing in a play in Ogunquit, Maine. The couple remained married for the rest of the bride's life, through 1981.

Lyle Talbot borrowed a ring for his wedding to dancer Tommye Adams (Abigail Adams) in 1942.

Misfits cast 1961 art print
Clark Gable Marylin Monroe w/Arthur Miller

The judge who married Marilyn Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller in 1956 said that "Miller mumbled something to the effect that the ring would be replaced later, indicating apparently that he had borrowed it for the occasion."

Antique Bronze 8-light
Double Round Crystal Chandelier

Joan Crawford was married to Alfred Steele, head of Pepsi-Cola, in Las Vegas it was with a loaned wedding ring. She said they'd expected to be married ten days later.

"We had ordered our wedding rings but at dinner we suddenly decided it would be a good idea to get married right away."

In 1970 When actress Patty Duke married William Tell, they borrowed a plain gold band from a neighbor of the bridegroom's parents.

Apparently the neighbor removed the ring and told the actress, "Here you can keep it."

Joan Crawford classic
movie magazine cover Watch by Jakestuff

Related Pages of Interest:

Hollywood Stars and their Lost Wedding Rings

The Misfits, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe; Final Films

To Catch a Prince: Grace Kelly Wedding Collectible Barbie Doll

The Pittsburgh Press December 1936
The Daytona Beach Morning Journal June 1956
The Deseret News September 1950
The Milwaukee Sentinel January 1942, May 1955
The Spokesman-Review June 1970
The St. Petersburg Times October 1950
The Evening Independent July 1939, June 1945
Modern Screen 1956

Lost rings at weddings Hollywood stories

2015-05-20T12:30:00.005-07:00

Old Hollywood Stars,
Lost Wedding Rings: Dawgone I forgot the ring!

Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge

Whether it's the best man's pretending to have forgotten the ring or the groom who's really left the ring behind, the show must go on. Though traditionally part of the best man duties to keep and hand over the ring, the groom has to remember to bring the ring to begin with!

What celebrities from the Golden Age of Hollywood dealt with a lost wedding ring at their own weddings??

"The ring proved to be undiscoverable. Gone, vanished, vamoosed you comprehend? We called a recess and all of us - even the parson knelt in prayerful repose to search the floor. Presently the ring was found in my vest pocket so the debate proceeded." Buster Keaton recollecting his wedding to bride Natalie Talmadge.
-- Screenland 1923

A celebrity is no different from anyone else. Harry Ritz dropped the ring during the service. Everyone including the minister got down on hands and knees, poking around under furniture to find the missing circlet. It was more elusive than a collar button, grumbled to bridegroom.

Harry Ritz performed with his brothers Jimmy and Al. Harry appeared in Mel Brooks' film, Silent Movie. When Caesars Palace hotel opened in Las Vegas August 5, 1966 the acts featured were Andy Williams in the main showroom and The Ritz Brothers in Nero's Nook.

In 1939 Madge Evans lost her engagement ring traveling to her stock appearance at Ogunquit, Maine. It was returned before her wedding to playwright Sidney Kingsley.

In 1935 Sally Blane was married in the home of her sister, Loretta Young. Alan Campbell the best man who temporarily lost the ring. Unfortunately Young was upstairs lying ill and she could not attend the proceedings.

When Errol Flynn married Lili Damita he couldn't find the ring. Then the minister noticed it was on nervous groom, Flynn's right thumb.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz 1955

At the wedding of Arthur Hornblow and Myrna Loy, the ring was also thought to be lost. They took their vows in Ensenada, Old Mexico. Hornblow began to search for it but it turned out that the best man hadn't really trusted him to carry it.

In 1955, the John Ericson-Milly Coury wedding. Best man Dick Clayton lost the ring hours before down a drain pipe while he was shaving and it was retrieved 30 minutes before the ceremony. Tab Hunter and Lori Nelson who attended the wedding helped transport guests to the reception when one of the wedding party's limousines broke down en route to the church.

Vivien Leigh did a screen test with Laurence Olivier for the role of the second Mrs. de Winter in the 1940 Hitchcock film, Rebecca. Joan Fontaine played the role, for which she won an Academy Award.

Vivien Leigh was married to Laurence Olivier for twenty years. During this time, she lost two wedding rings. One was once said to have been lost in a robbery. When Olivier gave her the third ring, the second of the replacement rings, he had it inscribed: "This is the last one you'll get I hope."

"I'd lost the first when I was sitting in a cinema in the west end watching Les Enfants du Paradis. I put my hand up to rub my eye and the ring slipped off."
-- Vivien Leigh, The Milwaukee Journal 1960

As a side note, when the couple was first married in 1940, reports are that their friend Benita Hume, wife of Ronald Colman, bought the ring for them. Most likely it means that she went to pick it up and brought it to the wedding site. The wedding was to be secret.

"I'll never forget the event - when we got to the part where Bob Burns was to put the ring on his bride's finger, he dug into all his pockets, looked red and frantic then gulped, 'Dawgone I forgot the ring!' And he had forgotten it. As soon as I pronounced the pair man and wife Burns kissed her and exclaimed: 'Now honey you won't have to laugh at my jokes!'" Quoted by the reverend who performed the ceremony.
-- Modern Screen 1942

In 1957 Desi Arnaz and his wife, Lucille Ball were vacationing in Honolulu.

Tile Item Finder for Anything

Before swimming in the ocean, Arnaz put his wedding ring onto a chain around his neck.

His wife had given him the gold chain. When he came out of the water the chain and the ring were gone. Also missing was a medallion that had hung from the chain.

Did Clark Gable lose his wedding ring on the golf course of the Arizona Biltmore? This would probably have been in the 1950s when stories of his visiting the hotel were in the news. Is the story apocryphal, urban legend? Gable was Rhett Butler, another star member of the Gone with the Wind cast along with Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.

"'I lose so many wedding rings that every time I see her it's a new one,' John Travolta says in January 1999 Harper's Bazaar.

"'I know he's not fooling around or anything,' Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston said. 'It's just that he goes to the spa and losees them. He gets in the car and loses them. The loses them on the set or at dinners. Sometimes we find them again. He has a box of them by the bed.'"

Okay he's not old Hollywood, but he's a favorite of mine so here he is. :) It was 1981. Bill Murray got married to Margaret Kelly. The best man was his older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray. "He did the classic fumbling-for-the-ring routine, looking around him in an exaggeratedly comic way and miming confusion. Everyone thought Brian was a riot at the wedding."
-- 1981 Rolling Stone Magazine

Bill Murray 2014

Carol Channing had her wedding ring stolen from her hotel suite while she was doing Lorelei in Detroit. Also taken was a costly cigarette case in which she had 12 custom made eyelashes. She said she hoped the burglar looks good in the eyelashes.

There are other rings of sentimental value. The stories of their losses are recounted.

Irene Rich had a ring, a sapphire encircled by diamonds and set in platinum. It

1929 Irene Rich with her
Packard All Weather Town Car

was given to her by her mother.

"At a beach party last summer near Santa Barbara she lost it in the sand. She felt so badly about its loss that the entire party spent several hours searching for it without result.

"Several weeks later she and the same group of friends were picnicking at the spot where the ring had been lost. One of the girls was scooping up sand when suddenly she felt a lump between her fingers. It proved to be the ring. Irene was overjoyed."
-- Picture Play Magazine 1932

Related articles of interest:

Actors wedding rings cover hide or show in movies: On Screen Cover-Ups: Stars covering wedding rings in films

Grinch steals holiday decorations Pranksters take lawn ornaments

Mini Waterproof GPS Tracker SOS Function,
Vehicle, Children, Seniors and Pets

Lighted wedding gowns and dresses

2015-05-19T09:25:00.002-07:00

They Lit Up the Room

The new Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Horton
Vicar of Dibley (Fanpop)

We might want to incorporate that princess sparkle into our parties and weddings. Is the epitome of sparkle the flickering of lights?

These clothes are unique in their design and their construction. They are often as playful and clever as those who wear them.

Headpieces, bridal belts and bouquet jewelry added to your bouquet may consist of cut glass, rhinestones or actual actual Swarovski crystal, pearls, etc. How about a fiber optic touch?

There are so many light features that can accessorize a wedding or any party. After receiving a wedding invitation not long ago we got a phone call. They were calling each guest because they wanted to warn people since they were planning to use so many lighting effects at the reception!

Alice Tinker and Hugo Horton married on the classic British Comedy, The Vicar of Dibley. Not only did Alice have among her attendants some children dressed as Teletubbies, but she had features on her dress and veil that lit up.

Included are a classic daytime drama Calliope & Eugene Days of Our Lives 1985 and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Dresses.

Carrie Underwood's 2013 Grammy Dress

The Bride wore flickering lights

Women's Light Up Blue Fairy Costume

TLC's Incredible Weddings

When do you think such elaborate outfits are most requested? Weddings and holidays. If you have a winter wonderland, Christmas wedding, these some of the most sparkly weddings and may be a great chance for a light feature on a wedding dress.

A Christmas or winter party. Then there are the fancy dress occasions and Halloween parties. If you're in a contest lights could make you a winner. Play dates, for both the dress up chest and performance. Pretend play and dramatic play are essential for all kids to play and explore possibilities.

Gypsy Wedding Dresses, everyone has her own budget and taste...

For all ages, boys or girls, find Light Up Dresses, Costumes & Accessories
Wide variety, just one example above is the Disney Frozen Elsa Musical Light up dress. Fun accessories, too.

Creating costumes LED lights blacklight paint

2015-05-19T09:24:00.001-07:00

Creating Light Up, Illuminated Costumes

The LED Stickman Costume is one of the most popular and enduring of the light up costumes. We see it for the whole family. You can adapt it by adding features to the look. There are different methods for making the costume. It may be easier to buy one already made. For a party, a con or another event you'll get the attention you want.

Start with the clothes that you're going to alter. A dark sweat suit? Will you create something from scratch? Whether you're painting it with black light paint or adding LED lights, the foundation is important for your comfort but also to make the look work safely and correctly.

Look for LED strip light the LED strip and power source (some configurations use the AA 12V power pack) online or find the materials locally.

Tron Legacy
How to make a Tron Costume, EL Wire
Also use the wire to make the 'stick figure' costumes; design your own

Make an accessory such as Fairy wings using EL Wire / Electroluminescent Wire

With reflective fabric

A ready-made
Tron Legacy costume

Reflective Fabric and fabric tape Apart from being a feature for costuming such as the one above, the tape has long been sold as a safety feature.

Added to clothing and accessories, such as book bags, shoes and jackets. Add it to dog and cat collars & leashes.

The tape helps you be seen by traffic regardless if it's dawn, dusk or nighttime. It may also be helpful to help your family, including pets being seen by oncoming traffic in a storm.

Be safe when walking to school, walking the dog, riding your bike or motorcycle, trick or treating.

You can create the look in a black light environment by wearing all black and adding black light paint. Will the paint work on your morph suit / second skin suit? I don't see why not, but it should work fine on a sweatshirt or T-shirt. I'm hearing that you have to use blacklight reactive fabric paint.

4oz Deluxe Neon Blacklight Reactive Fabric Paint Combo Set

Glow in the dark or fluorescent paints don't show up under the black light. It all depends on where you're going to be, will you re-use or pass along the clothes?

Companies like UVGlow and Tulip make an assortment of paints that get good reviews, including a Blacklight Reactive Fabric Paint Combo Set.

If you're looking for face or body paint or paint to use on walls and other art projects make sure that's listed on the label and/or in the product description.

As with everything, check on delivery dates and see if the paints come with any accessories.

Actors wedding rings cover hide or show in movies

2015-05-17T11:35:00.001-07:00

On Screen Cover-Ups: Stars covering wedding rings in films

Harry Houdini & Nita Naldi
The Man From Beyond 1921

What if married movie stars don't want to remove their wedding rings and they're playing a character who's single? What does an actor do? Are you superstitious? A romantic at heart? Do you ever remove your wedding ring?

Nita Naldi and Don Ameche refused to remove their wedding rings. It didn't matter if they was in films and playing unmarried characters.

Also in the 1930s Mary Pickford, Irene Dunne, Joan Blondell, Gary Cooper refused to remove theirs. They covered the wedding and engagement rings in different ways. Some with make up over adhesive tape, grease paint, flesh coloured sticking plaster, something like this. When you watch their movies you might still be able to spot them.

Spotting things like these can be little Easter eggs for film buffs. It goes beyond the question of, "Why is this single man or woman wearing a wedding ring?" It's part of the audience's willing suspension of disbelief. Audience members are alerted, know something of an inside story and you don't let it interfere with your enjoyment of the movie.

In the 1920s and 1930s hand models used in movie close-ups. Was that really

Joan Blondell Dick Powell 8x10"

the hand of Gloria Swanson or Pauline Frederick? Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn?

Betty Compson and Dorothea Wieck kept them with them but hidden. Dorothea Wieck hid her wedding ring in her shoe. Betty Compson on a gold chain pinned inside of dress. This was not a wedding ring, but a ring given to her by producer George Loane Tucker, credited as her discoverer.

Ruby Keeler had a special ring made that would cover her wedding ring. Ina Claire removed her wedding ring for the first time when making Ninotchka. She later learned that she could have just covered it.

Diamond didn't start becoming the gemstone of choice for engagement rings until the late 1940s when diamond company De Beers launched the slogan, A Diamond is Forever. To this day, couples may choose different types of engagement rings and special jewelry.

Anita Louise covered her ring finger with tape and doped it with flesh colored make up so it didn't show. When Penny Singleton objected to taking off the huge ceylon sapphire given to her by Robert Sparks and an entire sequence had to be rewritten.

The wedding rings of actors such as Fred MacMurray can be seen in movies. Check it out in Double Indemnity. Do you ever catch Robert Taylor's wedding ring? How about Cary Grant's in films such as Mr. Lucky? Grant wore a necklace that had personal significance. It appears in many of his films. Other actors' personal jewelry also is worn but not as noticeable maybe as wedding rings. More on that in an upcoming post.

For Constance Bennett they provided an entire false finger made of rubber to sit atop her real finger!

Musician Harry James, Betty Grable's husband, had a specially made prop ring which neatly covered his gold band.

Does Alan Ladd have his ring covered with tape and make up in a scene shown in the trailer for This Gun for Hire?

Alan Ladd wouldn't remove his wedding ring. He had a big cameo ring to cover his wedding ring. Do you see it in This Gun for Hire, The Great Gatsby, The Iron Mistress?

Joan Crawford is said to have asked for each costume for Reunion in France to have a pair of gloves. The film co-starred John Wayne. She doesn't wear gloveswith every costume and her ring may be seen in at least a couple of scenes.

Joan Crawford The Best Of Everything 1961

Lauren Bacall vowed she would not remove the ring given to her by husband Humphrey Bogart. Watch for it in Confidential Agent.

During Bogart and Bacall's wedding ceremony, when she slipped the ring on Bogart's finger she patted his hand and said "See that you keep it there all the time." Do you see his ring in movies? Was it switched to his right hand?

Cornel Wilde wore tape over his ring in Operation Secret. Steve McQueen openly wore his wedding ring in some movies, even if he was playing a teen such as in The Blob. Carol Burnett was said to wear a flesh colored bandage over her ring. Another article of the same time period notes that she takes it off from time to time when acting.

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint, The Sandpiper Trailer

Elizabeth Taylor's wedding ring was covered by flesh colored tape in some films. She wore her ring in The Sandpiper where she plays an unwed mother. Her husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash in March 1958. Taylor never took off the engagement ring and a bracelet that he gave her. On her right hand she wore Todd's own wedding ring which had been saved from the site of the crash.

Ernest Borgnine wore rings regularly. He may have had a prop ring that covered his wedding ring for films. We know for a fact when he married Ethel Merman it was a double ring ceremony. Would it be easier for men to remove their wedding rings since the tradition of men's wearing wedding rings was not that old?

In the early 1960s, Peter Fonda removed his wedding ring for his role in the play Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He wore the ring for curtain calls.

Specially designed jewelry; morphs into something else:

Arlene Dahl's engagement ring was designed so the setting of diamonds would

Ring Sizing/Streching Kit
3 Pc

detach from the platinum loop that forms the ring. Arlene wears the diamond setting as a pendant before the cameras and no one would guess its sentimental background.

Ann Blyth's emerald cut diamond engagement ring has actually two loops for the finger one size for her third finger and one for her little finger. When she is before the camera, the lovely ring on her little finger is actually her engagement ring.

Related Pages of Interest:

Hands in Film Fashion Surrealist Influences

Lucy Meets The Burtons, Here's Lucy features The Taylor-Burton diamond, Elizabeth Taylor’s 69.42 carat pear-shaped diamond ring

Lon Chaney Johnny Depp Knives Hands and Love Knives, Hands and Unrequited Love Alonzo and Nanon, Edward and Kim. Edward Scissorhands, The Unknown

William Powell and Jean Harlow and that 152-Carat Sapphire Ring

Sources include 1930-1978:
The Milwaukee Sentinel
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Toledo Blade
The Sydney Morning Herald
Photoplay Magazine

Boris Karloff Lon Chaney Humanizing Characters

2015-04-25T11:29:00.001-07:00

Humanizing villainous characters

"'Men don't go about being bad just for the sake of being bad. Unless they are

Lon Chaney, Priscilla Dean
The Wicked Darling

mentally deranged. There must be a reason for their badness, some human failing. Otherwise they merely are fictional characters having neither father and mother in life - neither cause nor effect.'"

William Powell's "prime grievance against motion pictures is the use of false characters. 'No amount of study will help a part if it is in the film merely because a menace is needed. No attempt at reality will succeed with the usual silly villain, like those in so many cheap stories.'"
-- Talking Screen 1930

William Powell

Actor William Powell was often cast initially as the villain in silent films. He may have been the dapper villain, but a bad guy nonetheless. His voice was understandably just right for the talking pictures and he also made a fine candidate for the playing characters other than the villain, a detective, a leading man. Very early screen villains had little motivation, little back-story.

Lon Chaney Sr. "is showing us people who are in the muck of life. Their habitations, their habiliments, their associates, their philosophies. ... How they induce an inverted regard for life and its manifold beauties. His ideal is to demonstrate that all people no matter how far they may have sunk in the mire have great and ennobling qualities and are reaching for the light. Sacrifice has been the moving spirit of his recent pictures. ...

Lon Chaney Jr. talks about his father, Lon Chaney Sr., born to deaf parents

"Chaney's characters have never been built on bizarre make-ups alone. He has prompted them from within. he has tried to picture their mental struggles rather than their outward hideousness. He has endeavored to show us that the basest of humans has a soul and great qualities that are aroused in exigencies. His message has been that love is all-potent; conquering all man-made limitations."
-- Hollywood Vagabond 1927

The Performance and Audience Reaction

Boris Karloff, more than monsters

Boris Karloff "is amazed to discover from his fan mail that many of his admirers especially the very young are consumed with pity for the grisly characters he portrays. In The Old Dark House, for instance he relates --

Boris Karloff and Colin Clive
Karloff Images

"'I played a most unwholesome creature who pursued the lovely lady hither and thither with the most sinister intentions. I was finally dispatched by an exceedingly upright young man who was made to appear much smaller than my awful self.

"'A twelve-year-old correspondent commenting upon this episode expressed great pity for the poor monster and deep indignation over his untimely death. The big bully! he said referring to the virtuous and physically slight gentleman who had slain me.'

"This feeling among Karloff's public may arise from the fact that Boris actually feels pity for these poor monsters. He is convinced that the most fiendish of the really criminally insane folk have moments when they are bewildered and terrified at the deeds which they are uncontrollably impelled to commit.

"They do not want to perpetrate these crimes, he believes, and he is sure that the very worst of them have moments when they say, 'Can this be I?" Therefore Karloff's monsters have a quality of helplessness and puzzlement over their own astonishing tendencies which lends them a certain pathos."

In the Mind of the Actor

Sometimes the performers themselves may be affected by the roles they play. Each actor is different as is his or her method.

Being horrible is a business, a matter of mechanics, Boris Karloff had said. He didn't even enjoy reading horror stories except as potential screen material.

Because of Dracula I make a living... 1951 interview

On the other hand, when asked about playing a character who is horrible, Bela Lugosi had this to say:

"'Your nerves are bound to be affected by any role which you play constantly over a period of years. If it were only the repetition it would do something to you.

"But when you are playing with all the earnestness and sincerity you can muster a horrendous monster when that portrayal is constantly on your mind it must eventually have some effect upon your nerves and your mentality. It never becomes quite mechanical. Toward the end of my session of portraying Dracula I became downright neurotic about the character."
-- Picture Play magazine 1935

Related Pages of Interest:

Lon Chaney Johnny Depp Knives Hands and Love: Knives, Hands and Unrequited Love, Alonzo and Nanon, Edward and Kim

Happy Thanksgiving from Boris Karloff Some of his memories and favorite folk songs and sea shanties, This Is Your Life

50 Greatest Screen Villains of All Time: includes Lugosi's Dracula

William Powell and Carole Lombard

Fans frightened meeting Character Actors in Person

2015-04-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

Fans React to Meeting Actors who play Frightening Characters on Screen

Q: Who are these 1920s-30s baddies?

"If for instance you play a bad woman on the screen most of your public take

Boxer/Actor Jack Dempsey
married to actress
Estelle Taylor

it for granted that you're a worse woman off of it. ... 'Vampires, they are terrible,' wailed their portrayer.

"Terrible on the screen and terrible in real life and if you play them on the screen people think you are one of them.

"No one stops to realize that theatrical life and real life are two opposite poles." Who is the Actress who made this statement in 1923?

In 1938, Edward G. Robinson said, "I'm getting tired of having little children faint when they see my face."

Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone
Robin Hood Original Photo

Actor A "went on to explain the social
repercussion of screen villainies. If he steps onto a department store elevator women cower against the rear wall of what he calls the lift and hide their affrighted children under their skirts.

"He believes firmly that the only reason women are wearing longer skirts is because the abbreviated skirts did not permit them to hide their affrighted progeny. When he walks along the boulevards policemen trail him in radio cars.

"Old men turn pale and cover their beards when they see him fearful that he will tweak their lush growths and perhaps sink a knife between their aged shoulder-blades." 1938

Would you like to meet a monster? Greet a gangster,
say Hi to a henchman?

Captain America serial 1940s
Dick Purcell, Lionel Atwill
Atwill played villainous
Dr Maldor / The Scarab
DVDs, posters

"'I have learned certain tricks of being dreadful. I have found them very useful in my private life." Actor B became before my eyes a frightful creature and just as I was preparing to leap through the French window he laughed I gasped and relaxed.

"'It is a useful face to make at people who want me to buy expensive and useless advertising space in small periodicals,' he observed.

"I thought that it might well be! ... A banker friend brought his eleven-year-old son to call recently. He tried to engage the boy in conversation without success. The lad merely peered at him from a corner. Actor B, knowing that the youngster had a passion for tennis finally asked him to come and inspect his excellent courts.'

"The boy declined politely but with an emphatic firmness. At last the truth came out. The kid was not sure that Actor B would not turn into something vicious before his eyes. After the actor had gained the lad's trust and friendship, he opined that the boy was really disappointed to find him just a regular human being." 1935

William Castle introduces The Tingler

Actor C:
"Mothers have been known to hide children at his approach; young husbands to look belligerent when his blue eyes rest upon their blushing brides." 1930

William Powell scares
Thelma Todd in Nevada 1927

"Recently when he was making a personal appearance at a theater an urchin recognized Actor D as he entered the stage door one afternoon and when he emerged there were swarms of youngsters waiting for him.

Bela Lugosi Dracula

"'Make bogyman faces for us!' they begged. Actor D explained to them that the management of the theater did not allow him to go about frightening people on the streets for nothing.

"But since the enthusiasts obviously could not pay to see him in costume and make-up, he donated a few dreadful grimaces to their intense delight." 1935

Actor E is a little different and may be easier to guess for those who know actors of the era.

"'I never make personal appearances. I am never more uncomfortable than on the rare occasions when I am in public and someone pokes someone else and says, audibly, There goes Actor E!

"'It is not policy - but my inclination is to shout back, 'Yes, and none of your

Lon Chaney in makeup 1917

***** business!'

"'I am very much afraid of my own vanity. We all have some of it. We have to have. It is necessary. It is not necessary to have that vanity catered to and enlarged. It isn't success that kills us that spoils us. It isn't the having of a great deal of money. It is the parasitism that goes with success and money.

"'It is the effect upon us of the yes-men and women. The effect of the men and women who fawn upon us and tell us we are greater than we really are or ever could be. I have seen more than one screen celebrity tumble from real ability to a sickening complacency and from there to failure and oblivion for no other reason but an inflated ego.'" 1930

Which actors do you think may have made these statements? Some actors wore such elaborate make-up and costumes they could walk down the street unnoticed. The years they were said follow each quote.

** Who are the speakers above: the Actress and Actors A-E?

Doreen Lang as
'Mother who is
hysterical with fear'
The Birds

Best Movie Villains Top 50 All Time

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AFI 50 Greatest Film Villains
How would your list compare?

Characteristics of a Villain:

Al Pacino Signed Godfather
w/ Marlon Brando
Do you think of Michael Corleone
#11 as a villain?

Wickedness of mind
Selfishness of character
Will to power sometimes masked by beauty and nobility
May rage unmasked
Can be horribly evil
May be grandiosely funny
Most are ultimately tragic

The American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Heroes and Villains List, their top 50 movie heroes and 50 top movie villains movie list. Above is the definition of a villain used in creating their list.

The list, as all of their lists is "meant to spark a national discussion of America's film history among movie lovers across the nation." Here I'll talk a little about the list of Villains and villains in general.

Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the Lambs #1
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, Psycho #2

Other Criteria considered by jurors while making their selections:

Feature-Length Fiction Film narrative format, typically more than 60 minutes in length

American Film: English language with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States

Cultural Impact: Characters who have a made a mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

Legacy: Characters who elicit strong reactions across time, enriching America's film heritage while continuing to inspire contemporary artists and audiences.

In The Godfather, Vito Corleone,
played by both Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, sported a black fedora hat. The young Vito Corleone 'graduated' from a cloth cap to the fedora once he gained money and power.

Men's Wool Felt Snap Brim Fedora (left)
This same company offers a grey Homburg hat
similar to the one worn by Michael Corleone.

Edward G. Robinson wore a Homburg in Little Caesar back in 1933.

The Corleone style, that of Bonnie and Clyde and others made an impact on society.

The voting jury is described on other famous AFI lists as "Leaders from the creative community, including film artists, critics and historians."

There were 400 nominated screen characters, 200 villains and 200 heroes from which the 50 of each on the final lists were chosen.

Vague Spoiler, What happens in the end:
At least 20 or 25 of the villains on this list are dead or otherwise destroyed by the end of their respective movies. They may be shot, crushed, burned, stabbed, dismantled or fall apart. They may freeze to death, be blown up or melt when a bucket of water is thrown upon them. Maybe they fall into a vat of molasses. The audience wants to see villains get what's coming to them.

Add to that an assortment who are arrested or jailed, replaced or left all alone. Some of the villains get sequels. Some, such as Darth Vader and Michael Corleone are on the list specifically noted in sequels.

1 Dr. Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Anthony Hopkins
2 Norman Bates, Psycho 1960 Anthony Perkins
3 Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back 1980 David Prowse/James Earl Jones
4 The Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard of Oz 1939 Margaret Hamilton
5 Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975 Louise Fletcher
6 Mr. Potter, It's a Wonderful Life 1947 Lionel Barrymore
7 Alexandra Alex Forrest, Fatal Attraction 1987 Glenn Close
8 Phyllis Dietrichson, Double Indemnity 1944 Barbara Stanwyck
9 Regan MacNeil, The Exorcist 1973 Linda Blair
10 The Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937/38 Lucille La Verne (voice)

Who are the Villains:
Parents, children, preachers, doctors and nurses
An actual animal and a Vampire who turns into a bat
An alien, martians
Machines, etc programmed, created by humans
Megalomaniacs, psychopaths, sociopaths
Those who went after power, love, money and fame
One possessed by the devil
At least one villain who is never shown on screen
Those who would claim to be just following orders
Those who are just plain evil
Finally, the list includes all of us. The #20 villain is Man from the 1949 animated film Bambi.

More for discussion
The Shark from Jaws #18; Nature v. Intent
HAL 9000 from 2000: A Space Odyssey #13; programmed by humans originally

Numbers 11-20 have some of what I've found to be the most controversial or conversational villains on the list. Michael Corleone, 2001: A Space Odyssey computer character HAL 9000, The Shark from Jaws and Man from Bambi.

11 Michael Corleone, The Godfather Part II 1974 Al Pacino
12 Alex De Large, A Clockwork Orange 1971 Malcolm McDowell
13 HAL 9000, 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Douglas Rain (voice)
14 The Alien, Alien 1979 Bolaji Badejo
15 Amon Goeth, Schindler's List 1993 Ralph Fiennes
16 Noah Cross, Chinatown 1974 John Huston
17 Annie Wilkes, Misery 1990 Kathy Bates
18 The Shark, Jaws 1975
19 Captain Bligh, Mutiny On The Bounty 1935/1962 Charles Laughton/Trevor Howard
20 Man Bambi 1942

When Bambi came out in 1942, the film was praised for its content and its look. Here's how one review mentioned its villain.

"More, there's a full-dyed villain: Man. Strictly speaking, man doesn't appear on screen. He's characterized by a short, ugly, realistic device; the sound of his guns."
-- Modern Screen Magazine October 1942

The list was published in 2003. That year a three-hour TV special AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains was hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who earned both a hero and villain honor for his portrayal of the same character, The Terminator.

* 14 of the 50 are female/villainesses. One more is the female half of a villainous team. Of the Top Ten Villains on the list, six of them are female villainesses.


Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde #32 and Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest #41

* Biographical Characters:
Four, five if you count them individually
Amon Goeth 1993 Schindler's List #15
Captain Bligh 1935/1962 Mutiny on the Bounty #19
Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker 1967 Bonnie and Clyde #32
Joan Crawford 1981 Mommie Dearest #41
All are fictionalized to some extent. This doesn't count others based on real people, real stories.

Leonard Maltin On Edward G. Robinson In Little Caesar #38, American Film Institute

* Actors appearing on the list more than once:
Actress Faye Dunaway plays both Bonnie Parker and Joan Crawford. She is one of the handful of actors who appears on villain list twice. Others are Robert De Niro, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Glenn Close and Robert Mitchum.

While Lansbury's character in The Manchurian Candidate is often referred to as Mrs. Iselin, her first name is Eleanor. The first name of one villainess, Mrs. Danvers from the film Rebecca, is never divulged.

Only two characters from Alfred Hitchcock films appear, Norman Bates (Psycho) and Mrs. Danvers (Rebecca).

21 Mrs. John Iselin, The Manchurian Candidate 1962 Angela Lansbury
22 Terminator, The Terminator 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger
23 Eve Harrington, All About Eve 1950 Anne Baxter
24 Gordon Gekko, Wall Street 1987 Michael Douglas
25 Jack Torrance, The Shining 1980 Jack Nicholson
26 Cody Jarrett, White Heat 1949 James Cagney
27 Martians, The War of the Worlds 1953
28 Max Cady, Cape Fear 1962/1991 Robert Mitchum / Robert De Niro
29 Reverend Harry Powell, The Night of the Hunter 1955 Robert Mitchum
30 Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver 1976 Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver #30 and Cape Fear #28

* Roles played by more than one actor:
Some villains were portrayed by more than one actor in films of different years. The list is unclear about which, if either, they mean. Other times, they're specific. So #19 Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty, may be the 1935 film with Charles Laughton in the role or the 1962 version with Trevor Howard. There are differences apparently in which film is more true to the reality of the character his story.

101 Dalmatians, Cruella De Ville #39. There is a 1996 live action film with Glenn Close in the role, but also a 1961 animated version with Betty Lou Gerson voicing the character. With Cape Fear #28, it may be Robert De Niro's role or Max Cady in the 1991 film or Robert Mitchum in the 1962 movie. In the case of The Joker #45 Batman the first actor to be in the first film is Cesar Romero in the 1966 Batman movie.

Anne Baxter talks about the character of Eve Harrington #23 in All About Eve.
Reportedly producer Darryl Zanuck wanted to hire Jeanne Crain for the role of Eve Harrington, but director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz said that Anne Baxter possessed the 'bitch virtuosity' required for the part.

Along these same lines, Villain #3 is Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. James Earl Jones provides the voice and David Prowse is the physical incarnation of the character we see on screen.

However, with movies such as Dracula, Scarface and Bonnie and Clyde, it's clear which actors, which films they had in mind.

For Michael Corleone #11, The Godfather Part 2 is specified in The Godfather Trilogy. This is the film where we see the his rise to power but also we see the character as a baby and a young boy.

31 Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca 1940 Judith Anderson
32 Clyde Barrow & Bonnie Parker, Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway
33 Count Dracula, Dracula 1931 Bela Lugosi
34 Dr. Szell, Marathon Man 1976 Laurence Olivier
35 J.J. Hunsecker, Sweet Smell of Success 1957 Burt Lancaster
36 Frank Booth, Blue Velvet 1986 Dennis Hopper
37 Harry Lime, The Third Man 1949 Orson Welles
38 Caesar Enrico Bandello, Little Caesar 1931 Edward G. Robinson
39 Cruella De Vil, One Hundred and One Dalmatians 1961/1996 Betty Lou Gerson/Glenn Close
40 Freddy Krueger, A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984 Robert Englund

* Won Academy Awards for their portrayals of the characters:
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes 1990 Misery #17
Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest #5
Others were nominated.

Louise Fletcher and Kathy Bates won Academy Awards for Best Actress
each playing villainous nurses

The Godfather, Marlon Brando, talks to his son Michael Corleone, Al Pacino #11. "I never wanted this for you."

* Most common ideology represented is Nazism
Amon Goeth 1993 Schindler's List #15 Ralph Fiennes
Dr. Szell 1976 Marathon Man #34 Laurence Olivier
Hans Gruber 1988 1976 Die Hard #46 Alan Rickman
Auric Goldfinger 1964 Goldfinger #49 Gert Fröbe
This can be carried further in discussion. While I've not seen any direct connection in the name, Freddy Kreuger in A Nightmare on Elm Street has a name similar to WWII Nazi official Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger.

There are three specifically Italian characters and Lugosi set a standard for a vampire's speech pattern (his Hungarian accent) that we'd hear again. Lugosi wasn't comfortable with the English language at the time and was said to have been reading his lines phonetically.

Glenn Close talks about her character in Fatal Attraction #7, AFI video

* Which type of villain is more frightening?

101 Dalmatians Cruella Shirt

One immediately physically identifiable as a villain, one you recognize from a film you probably saw in your childhood?

Or a villain who's not only attractive but looks like someone we could meet today? A person and a situation that we could encounter in our own lives?

As a matter of fact, Margaret Hamilton plays two roles in The Wizard of Oz, a character who frightens Dorothy in real life and then the Wicked Witch in the Land of Oz.

The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz
Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction.
A one-night stand turned into
a very big mistake for Michael Douglas' character.

Earliest films chosen were from 1931. Little Caesar, Edward G. Robinson as gangster Caesar Enrico Bandello and The Public Enemy, James Cagney's performance as bootlegger Tom Powers and Bela Lugosi as Dracula. The most recent film included is from 2001. Training Day, featuring Denzel Washington's corrupt cop, Alonzo Harris.

* Genres of films
There doesn't seem to be an overriding number of any one genre of films represented. No larger number of horror, science fiction, thriller, animated, gangster, etc. movies on the list. This may be because of the way movies are being more narrowly defined these days.

41 Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest 1981 Faye Dunaway
42 Tom Powers, The Public Enemy 1931 James Cagney
43 Regina Giddens, The Little Foxes 1941 Bette Davis
44 Baby Jane Hudson, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962 Bette Davis
45 The Joker, Batman 1966 Cesar Romero
46 Hans Gruber, Die Hard 1988 Alan Rickman
47 Tony Camonte, Scarface 1932 Paul Muni
48 Roger Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects 1995 Kevin Spacey
49 Auric Goldfinger, Goldfinger 1964 Gert Fröbe
50 Alonzo Harris, Training Day 2001 Denzel Washington

* Their Dirty Deeds and Physical Appearance
While greed and power are may be what drives many of these villains, some manage to get through a movie without blood on their hands. How are people changed by the introduction of things like money, passion, fame, drugs, childhood and psychological issues?

Villains may be charming and attractive or they may be hideous. They could be given a feature innocuous as eyeglasses or for some reason a prosthetic hand. They may have a scar meant to be frightening or a malady meant to be somehow comical. Further example of their being 'foreign.' Freddy Kreuger #40 and The Joker #45 share the comic book trope of being disfigured from accidents and moving on to evil deeds.

Lionel Barrymore, the actor was actually in a wheelchair at the time he played Mr. Potter. The chair was not a trait created for the character.

Along with his psychological issues, Cagney's character Cody Jarrett in White Heat #26 suffers from debilitating headaches.

Are people rewarded for bad behavior, glamorized? How many costumes are there devoted to exciting bad guys and gals vs the good guys?

Gordon Gekko-Michael Douglas images

AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time list includes quotes from some of the villains on the list. The quote by #24, Gordon Gekko seems especially appropriate.
If you're interested, the movie quotes list only includes talking/sound films and it does not include song lyrics. It begins with films of 1929.
Other quotes chosen:
1 "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Rhett Butler (not on villains list :) )
2 "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse." The Godfather
10 "You talking to me?" Travis Bickle
37 "I'll be back." The Terminator
56 "A boy's best friend is his mother." Norman Bates
58 "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." Michael Corleone
73 "Mother of mercy is this the end of Rico?" Little Caesar
99 "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" The Wicked Witch of the West

This article is part of The Great Villain Blogathon of 2015

Your hosts are Ruth of Silver Screenings, Karen of Shadows & Satin and Kristina of Speakeasy, and The Great Villain Blogathon happens APRIL 13 – 17, 2015.

Related Pages of Interest:

Real vs Make-Believe: Margaret Hamilton meets Mr. Rogers; Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz; Margaret Hamilton vs The Wicked Witch of the West

Mrs. Danvers interview Rebecca novel Hitchcock film: Her side of the story
A man's diabolical housekeeper accused of trying to kill his new wife!
Mrs. Danvers gives her side of the story: An Exclusive Interview
From The Great Villain Blogathon of 2014

Find out more about The American Film Institute, AFI

Vamps Vampires Villains and Flappers Female Vampires 1910s-1920s, Villains?

Join Amazon Prime (Free Month; One Year Membership) Streaming Movies & TV Shipping Discounts and more - Watch Over 40,000 Movies, HBO shows & specials, Wide selection of new/old movies, foreign films and documentaries compared to other streaming video sites and the yearly price is about the same.

Many of the films can be streamed over Amazon Prime and most of the films are in DVD sets.

Character/Actor Images:

The Silence Of The Lambs Anthony Hopkins Poster
Anthony Perkins in Psycho II 24x36 Poster
Louise Fletcher One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Photo
Glenn Close Photos She was in Fatal Attraction and the live action version of 101 Dalmatians

Robert De Niro Photos and Posters De Niro was in Cape Fear and Taxi Driver. He was also in The Godfather, Part 2 for which Al Pacino made the list in his portrayal of Michael Corleone.

Annie Wilkes - Misery - Kathy Bates

Faye Dunaway Autographed Bonnie & Clyde 8x10 Photo
Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest Original Vintage Postcard

Wicked Witch of the West

Please note: Some images may not be of actors' as characters on list and may not be from films discussed.

Vamps Vampires Villains and Flappers

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Vampires 1910s-1920s
She-Villains on the prowl

I glory in being heartless and wicked. I want people to whisper when they see me, 'The worst woman of all.'

I want to steal husbands and see the deserted wives weep and clutch their children to their breaking hearts.

I want to lure millionaires and drag them down until the soul within them dies. (You can sing that one.)

I want the lured millionaires to lose home, fortune, position and friends.

I want their wives to be obliged to take in sewing and washing. I want their children to cry for food and be cold.

I want to see these millionaires be reduced to the bread lines through my doings and mine alone.

I want to see people shudder when they they look at me.

Because if I can do all these things successfully, I shall usually be sure of a job in some picture as The screen's greatest vampire. -- Dagmar Godowsky, 1924

Dagmar Godowsky

When you think of female screen villains, you might first think of the witch, the old crone (who is often the wicked witch in disguise). I've seen female movie villains to have the power of magic.

The motives for their dastardly deeds may be different from their male counterparts. Sometimes gender doesn't seem to make that much difference when you look at the villain's motivation and actions. These days when a woman reaches a certain age, she might have a Croning Ceremony, taking back negative connotations of the term, and looking forward to the years ahead.

There's one type of character that I hadn't thought of as a villain but my research identified her as such: The Vampire or Vamp of the 1910s and 1920s. This character was played in different incarnations and in so many films. She wasn't always identified in reviews/articles as the villain. It comes back to how you define a villain. "The girl can't help it," or "She's just drawn that way," can only get you so far.

Bela Lugosi and his vampire character, Dracula are on the AFI, American Film Institute list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of all time. That film came out in 1931. A vampire is said to drain the life force out of his or her victim.

Here are some quotes and interview excerpts from the 1920s both talking about vamps and flappers and by the actresses who played the characters, themselves.

Miss Godowsky expands on earlier quote.....
"Normally and personally I am a kind-hearted average woman who with other average women would squirm at the things that I professionally desire to do. But if Nature made me the vampire type and I want to do in pictures that for which I am best fitted by Nature why shouldn't I want to be the best of the type?....

"Many actresses think it good publicity to decry the type of role they play best to demand that they be given 'wider opportunities for the display of their versatility.'.... Honestly if I met a woman half as wicked as some I have portrayed well, I wouldn't even invite her to tea."
-- Dagmar Godowsky, 1924

Theda Bara as Cleopatra and Fritz Leiber as Caesar
Cleopatra 1917

The Vamping Style of Four Film Sirens

"Quietly and secretly they have gone on their way, luring the hearts of men from the paths of righteousness and duty leaving destruction in their wake, sowing the seeds of discord and distension wherever their shadows have been cast."

"My methods are very quick. I never waste time. When I see what I want I go after it and usually I get it." Virginia Pearson

"I rely on my personality and dress. Take your time is my motto. I practice no tricks." Mme Olga Petrova

"'Theda Bara the greatest of vampires: 'I cannot tell you anything,' she breathed. 'For I am a mystery even to myself. Never understand yourself for if you do not no one else will be able to understand you either and there is nothing in this world that attracts as a mystery does. .. To prevent the contingency of my ever understanding myself I have hired an excellent corps of publicity writers. They turn out new stories about me every day.'"

"Final visit to pretty Charlotte Burton. 'I am the sulky type of vampire. Men say there is murder in my eye. ... I am the thunder and lightning, the brooding clouds of summer. I am harsh and violent. If I don't get what I want I yell. There's nothing like a good yell to bring them around.'

"You see there is no formula. Either you are born a vampire or you are not, that's all."

Theda Bara began making films in 1914. By the early-mid 1920s women were already starting to bob their hair distinction between the vampire and the flapper was being discussed. Were vamps on their way out? Or were they just morphing into something new?

Pola Negri 1923
Mad Love aka Sappho

Nita Naldi talks about the screen vampire....
"Consider what goes to make a screen vamp. You never heard of a blonde vamp, did you? No the screen vamp is a brunette, preferably with Latin blood flowing in her veins. The Latin type is a flaming contrast to any other. It is her inheritance the warm-eyed woman with her passionate response to moods, her sophistication, her sparkling yet subtle appeal to the opposite sex. That is her inheritance from the climate in which she and her ancestors were reared."

Rudolph Valentino and Nita Naldi Blood and Sand

"The woman I portrayed in A Sainted Devil is as devoid of scruples as a fence is of speech. She deliberately sets out to win the man to whom she has taken a fancy regardless of the fact that the may ruin his life. ...

"Now if there isn't a lesson to this I don't know where there could be a lesson especially as I suffer the consequences of my love-lawless deeds. The law of compensation plods to the certain ruin of the vamp provided she doesn't reform which in a picture she most assuredly cannot do. So again I say a vampire is an asset and not a liability to society."

In Blood and Sand Naldi, as Doña Sol bites Juan Gallardo's (Valentino) hand. He calls her a snake, a serpent from hell. "One moment I love you, the other I hate you!"

Is the devil a woman?
"Yes and a thoroughly good one thinks Kay Johnson, the Madame in Madame Satan (1930)

"Of this I am convinced, that if the devil is a woman she is not wicked and bad but a good woman who is thoroughly idle, mischievous rather than malicious, more blundering than wicked and more stupid than evil. For from such women all the troubles of the world are spread.

"A bad woman would be too obvious a mask for the Devil, who is insidious.... If such there be mark my words she is wearing apron strings with the happiness of some struggling, nagged male dangling from the ends. For the Devil is not a lady of free love. She is not that generous.

"The Woman-Devil is an immaculate housekeeper. Not because of the joy of neatness but because she may make her home a private hell for her husband. In her hands the dust-cloth is far more treacherous a weapon than the pitchfork as she wipes away the casual cigarette ash and 'tidies' after the comfort-seeker.

"Though she smiles often there is no real humor in her soul. She does not go to see risque shows or read improper books but she is fast to concoct fiction that will blast a reputation over her afternoon bridge table."

The Vampire is being replaced by the Flapper
A 1923 article says it's the women movie-goers who are making this happen.
"At first women were captivated by the vamp because they thought she could teach them how to wield new power over men. But then women discovered how dangerous it was for the men themselves to see this power operating in such a highly talented non-union manner and they immediately turned against the vamp and boycotted all pictures in which she did business. ...

"No man really desires protection from feminine machinations. Just what will be the fate of the flapper, now that she has supplanted the old-time vampire, no one can tell. It is all in the hands of the gods and the women fans.

"Perhaps she will be tolerated because is without the exotic mystery and the cryptic wizardries of her older duskier sister. Time alone will bring the answer. Personally I think she is more dangerous than the goggle-eyed, punk-burning, chaise-lounging vamp of yore."

Perhaps one reason the vamp is seen as a villain is a spoken or sometimes unspoken suggestion that the male of our species is powerless against her predatory ways. This makes her the 'bad guy.' If he couldn't resist, it could set up an exciting cat fight between the wife and the interloper, but that's leaving out the free will of a mature grown man.

"Isn't there some way of finding out what a man is in his everyday life before giving him all of yours?" Wine of Youth clip, 1924 Pauline Garon likes them both

Interview with Perfect Flapper Pauline Garon

"What, I ventured is the essential difference between the flapper and the young

Pauline Garon

lady?"

"'Let me see....' Pauline continued eagerly, 'The young lady is to the flapper what marriage is to an engagement. You know an engagement full of love and excitement and expectancy and marriage is just marriage - and the end of everything!'"

"Is it true, I ventured that flappers have gone out of style?"

"'Flappers,' announced Miss Garon, 'will never go out of style. The fact is they were never in style. They've always been and always will be - like love and bills and eternity - you know. Of course they may not continue to wear the outward signs of the flapper fraternity - galoshes, giddy ties and grey hats; but the flapper heart will beat as steadfastly - I think I coined that one myself - as steadfastly under rags or royal raiment as it does under the baggy sports blouse. Bless them! I'm talking too much, aren't I - am I not? How about a demi-tasse?'" ...

"So the idea of being a perfect lady does not hand you a thrill?"

"Again the cute shrug of the shoulders as she said, 'It's disgusting. I do not want to become a lady until I've passed my sixtieth birthday and even then I hope I'll have left to register a kick. My goodness look at the time. Did I talk so long?'"

"As I rose to go Pauline whispered, 'Let's have tea next Tuesday. I really haven't had a chance to say anything to you.'"

"And then off flapped filmdom's flappiest flapper."
-- Pauline Garon The Perfect Flapper 1924

AFI's 50 Greatest Film Villains of All Time

Where movie villains come from:Villain Nationalities in Early American Films; How did some of the movie stereotypes start?

Croning Ceremonies for Women 50-60 aging with pride

Sources not listed above....
Film Fun 1917
Motion Picture 1923 and 1925
Motion Picture Classic 1930

Where movie villains come from

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Villain Nationalities in Early American Films
How did some of the movie stereotypes start?

Will H. Hays became President of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors

Foolish Wives 1922 ad
Erich Von Stroheim

of America (MPPDA) in 1922. "If here and there a nation found a detail in a film offensive to its ideas - what matter? Ours were the only goods on the market."

"'What the motion picture business needs,' remarked one of Will Hays' assistants as he attacked his daily correspondence, 'is an island of its own. A child-size island will do so long as we have our own national government and a good, peppy name that people will always remember.'

"'What for?' asked his visitor obligingly.

"'For all the villains to come from,' replied the Hays man.

"The foreign work of the Hays organization began with that trouble - the nationality of villains. And in spots and spurts, it remains trouble even to this day."

Villains who rocked the world. "One of the first tasks of Filmland's adviser was to soothe the injured feelings of half the nations of the globe." Here are excerpts from an a 1933 article that discusses some of the common villain nationalities we see in old movies. Cliches and prejudices. It made audiences more comfortable if the villains had no back-story and if the villains were nothing like them.

The article doesn't address other marginalized segments of society, then or now, who may be seen as easy targets, stereotyped and placed a negative light. Characters of certain ethnicities and types were seen more rarely. When seen, they were too often represented only in certain ways. The article doesn't address the different female villains, African Americans, Native Americans or the number of villains with physical disabilities.

Change after World War One
When Hays took over, "the producers paid little attention to foreign tastes and preferences. It was not necessary or at least so they felt. Just at the moment when the American film was finding itself the World War had disrupted all the European studios. Foreign audiences had to take American pictures of go without. Decidedly they preferred not to go without.

"By train, by airplane, by muleback, camelback, llamaback, the American motion picture penetrated every corner of the world. If here and there a nation found a detail in a film offensive to its ideas - what matter? Ours were the only goods on the market. The producers simply translated the titles into sixteen or seventeen languages and let it go at that. Into this scene of honest industry and peaceful prosperity, enter the villain."

The Woman in Grey, Arline Pretty; Just one of the many early film serials. Where the term cliffhanger was born. What nasty villains!

Roots in Theater
"A superb showman named William Shakespeare had perceived long ago that it is always safest to make your heavy villain a foreigner. His Iago was Italian, his Shylock a Jew his king in Hamlet a Dane his Lady Macbeth a Scot.

"He couldn't do anything about Richard III without faking history but everyone knew already that Richard was a bad one. Popular drama, taking a cue from him, hardened this custom into a tradition."

"The Bad Man finds a worse man"
1927 Original Print Film Scene Bad Man
Western Holbrook Blinn

Westerns and Mexico
"Even to monotony the character who stampeded the herd, sniped at the foreman, kidnapped the ranch man's beautiful daughter and took a sock in the jaw from the one-hundred-per-cent-American hero was a Mexican. In spite of which these films were going to Mexico along with the rest. To say that the Mexicans did not like this would be to state the obvious."

American films 'offensive to Mexican patriotism' were prohibited from entering Mexico. Then all US films were prohibited; this included newsreels. Hays sent a representative to Mexico and he was there for five weeks. When he returned he carried treaty drawn in perfect diplomatic form signed and sealed by the high Mexican government officials. Hays was to sign it.

"It provided that the motion picture business should keep the Mexican villains out of their films, should in all other ways refrain from offending Mexican sensibilities. And on their part the Mexicans agreed to admit American films freely and without prejudice."

Edward G.Robinson was Caesar Enrico Bandello
Little Caesar 1931

Gangster films, Italy and Greece
"A simple gunman film had a villainous character called Nick - or some other name equally noncommittal. One scene showed, in just a flash, the front of his restaurant bearing the sign, Nick the Greek. A mere bit of background, it had slipped by unnoticed.

"But all the Greeks here and abroad noticed it and most emphatically. Spartan, Athenian and Corinthian societies protested, the Greek government expressed offense, their minister brought it to the attention of our authorities.

"A half dozen times during the craze for the underworld film, Italy stood offended at an Italian surname attached to an underworld character or even an Italian baptismal name." ...

Looking at character and cast lists of gangster movies from the 1930s and 1920s I see several that used nicknames instead of names with any nationality at all. Angels with Dirty Faces had Soapy. In 1928, The Racket had Spike and Chick. When used, last names tended to become vague as to nationality.

Little Caesar in 1931, a milestone film for Edward G. Robinson, costarring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. had characters with Italian names.

D.W. Griffith's short The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) said to be one of the first gangster movies, was made in a time when characters often had no specific character name anyway. The Little Lady, The Musician, The Sidekick, The Policeman. More than one character is called 'Rival Gang Member.'

Just like the old movie serial villains, Boris and Natasha on The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show are going to drop the heavy object du jour on our heroes' heads. This dastardly duo is not only foreign, but they are macabre like some of their horrifying villain fore-fathers and mothers of the past.

Dubbing; What did you say? Germany
"Up to last July [article was from mid-1933], American firms did some business in dubbing native films with German speech. Dubbing is the process of cutting out the English speaking sound-strip and supplanting it by voices speaking a foreign language and synchronizing with the lips of the actors. Now all dubbing for German exhibition must be done by German firms."

Related Books and Pages of Interest:

Early movie censorship 1900s-1920s Dirty Business Movie Censorship in Early Hollywood: Coverups, Arrests, Ballots and Scorecards, States and Cities

Badmen, Bandits, and Folk Heroes: The Ambivalence of Mexican American Identity in Literature and Film

Hollywood Italians: Dagos, Palookas, Romeos, Wise Guys, and Sopranos

Heroes, Lovers, and Others: The Story of Latinos in Hollywood

Boris and Natasha Vintage Post Card, Toys

Quotes
New Movie Magazine 1933

Classic film stars born under the sign of Aries

2015-04-10T12:43:00.003-07:00

April is the Lucky Movie Month

Mary Pickford
The Little Princess

"Is it any wonder that the same sign of the Zodiac should produce Mary Pickford the screen's best known star and Charlie Chaplin, the screen's greatest artist?

"Is it to be wondered that Harold Lloyd and Lon Chaney and Thomas Meighan and George Arliss and Wallace Reid and Mary Brian and Constance Talmadge and Warner Baxter and Joan Crawford and Gloria Swanson are all Aries children? Aries in astrological language is symbolized by the Ram -- and you can't keep a good ram down! ...

"Aries is a cardinal sign - a fiery spectacular publicity sign. Mars is the ruling planet of Aries. Mars is electric, forceful, active and aggressive. It gives courage, initiative, punch. It governs sex. It gives IT. It is the planet of personal appeal."
-- New Movie Magazine 1931

Gloria Swanson, Janis Joplin Janis Joplin, Margot Kidder and Dave Meggyesy appeared together on The Dick Cavett Show August 1970. Meggyesy was a linebacker St. Louis Cardinals in the 1960s and he wrote a bestselling memoir, Out of Their League.

We have a bunch of March birthdays around here to celebrate. I read that it's particularly lucky for those born under this sign in the Year of the Ram (Sheep) so Happy Birthday to all!

Lon Chaney Sr.

Elizabeth Montgomery 4/15/1933 and
Dick Sargent 4/19/1930 with their
Bewitched children

Other current and vintage stars who happen to be Aries March babies, or just on the cusp are Florenz Ziegfeld Jr, Elton John, Harry Houdini, Karl Malden (quite the quartet right there). Add to that Pearl Bailey, Rosie O'Donnell, Joseph Barbera, Chico Marx, Alan Arkin, Spencer Tracy and director WS Van Dyke.

The list of those born in April is very long, we'll limit it to 15 at random: Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando, Bette Davis, Maya Angelou, Loretta Lynn, Wallace Beery, Barbara Hale, Rick Moranis, Virginia Cherrill, Billie Holiday, Roger Corman, Walter Connolly, Bea Benaderet, Elizabeth Montgomery and one of her Bewitched Darrens, Dick Sargent. Add 1920s stunt woman and leopard trainer Olga Celeste for good luck.

On March 17, 1914 Teddy, the Mack Sennett dog was born. Teddy the dog actor, an Aries, was born in the Year of the Tiger.
-- Picture Play Magazine 1921

The above list of Aries celebrities makes for one terrific answer when someone asks for your list of guests to the ultimate dinner party. Clara Bow was well known for having IT. In 1927, she made a movie with that title. Bow was born in late July, under the sign of Leo. If you're born in March or April you have some great company.

A few quick silent movie chicks

2015-04-04T15:19:00.004-07:00

Happy Easter

Here are some silent film stars who are breaking out of their shells to celebrate Easter and welcome springtime. A short more recent video is in the middle.

Bessie Love is carried away by Easter Bunnies 1929


May Allison 1919 Blonde blue-eyed screen star half of famous Hollywood romantic pair with Harold Lockwood in 1910s

Josephine Hill comes out of her shell 1920
Her movies included Westerns
Hill was in films with Champion and Bullet,
two of the first famous dog actors

June Collyer 1928
Her work included the Stu Erwin Show (with her husband Stuart Erwin)
and a 1934 film with Bela Lugosi, Murder by Television

Hope Lange's Easter Party Roddy McDowall, Robert Redford 1965
Soapbox Productions (no audio)

Hope Lange was in the television version of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, co-starring with Edward Mulhare.

Director Alfred Hitchcock, who gave us the film Psycho, was said to have an aversion to eggs.... This dislike showed up in his films.
If you don't like the thought of egg salad or worse Deviled Eggs, don't look.

A couple of the guys:

Though Fred Kohler tended to play heavies,
he could be a softy, too 1928

Jackie Coogan and pet rabbit Oscar 1924
Coogan was in The Kid with Charlie Chaplin
He grew up to work with Betty Grable and
co-star as Uncle Fester in The Addams Family

Related pages of interest:

Animated Characters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Bugs Bunny and more

Ducks and Geese in Movies

Movie Quiz Answers Golden Age of Hollywood

2015-03-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

The past two articles presented a Movie History quiz. Here are the answers. How well did you do?

1) Director David Wark Griffith invented the close-up, first used 1911. What was it? A wrench! Other characters believed the character was carrying a gun. Some

Rudolph Valentino
& Alla Nazimova in Camille

directors scoffed at the technology. We're paying for an entire actor. Why should we only see part of their body?

2) An iris-in is a photographic trick by which when a scene is shown at first only a small circle appears which grows larger and larger until the picture covers the entire screen.
3) There are sixteen impressions taken by the camera are shown on the screen in a second
4) There are one thousand feet are there in a reel of film
5) $175,000 dollars was the largest sum ever paid for the film rights to a stage play. It was paid by DW Griffith for Way Down East.
6) The names of three women writers given in the 1920 quiz were: Anita Loos, Frances Marion and Ouida Bergere.

Just a few of the other prominent female screenwriters of the 1920s were June Mathis, Jane Murfin, Jeanie MacPherson, Elinor Glyn, Bess Meredyth, Clara Beranger, Dorothy Farnum, Agnes Christine Johnston, Frances Guihan and Eve Unsell.

7) The woman director given as the answer was Lois Weber. You could add Dorothy Arzner and Alice Guy-Blaché. Lillian Gish directed her sister Dorothy in the 1920 film Remodeling Her Husband. The costar was Dorothy's husband at the time James Rennie. Cleo Madison and Mabel Normand were among the list of actresses who were directing in the 1920s.

8) Mack Sennett went by the pseudonym Walter Terry

The devices used to create old time radio sound effects were similar to those used behind the scenes of silent movies

9) The man in the photo at right provides sound effects on a variety of devices to enhance silent movies. In the photo, he's operating a wind machine, which

Sound effects man 1922

simulates the sound of a snowstorm or a similar type of weather event.

**Note: The same sort of machine was used during the making of The Wizard of Oz (1939) to simulate the sound of the tornado.

10) Buster Keaton coined a new word Optience. He suggests we use it instead of the word Audience. His word refers to people who attend the movie theater vs the stage theater. It's also used to refer to people who attend the movies vs those who listen to the radio.

11) Cecil B. DeMille was called the answer to an extra's prayer.

Open questions 1 through 11 in another tab

Also Known As:
12) Charlie Ray, Mary Pickford and Louise Glaum
13) "It may shock you to know that Arline Pretty gurgled in her cradle under that very same name."

Years earlier in 1917, a magazine offered a contest. Fans could win $25. Arline Pretty was looking for a new name. "Star to discard real name and $25 will be given for a new reel one." Guess the studio and/or the star never liked any of the suggestions?

14) Juliet Shelby aka Mary Miles Minter
15) Gilbert Roland and Barry Norton
16) Lucille Le Sueur aka Joan Crawford
17) Anita Dooley aka Nita Naldi
18) Ricardo Cortez, his birth name is Jacob Krantz
19) Mack Sennett, producer
20) James Kirkwood's wife Augusta Appel aka Lila Lee
21) Gladys Smith aka Mary Pickford
22) Lucille Langhanke Astor combined with the given name of Mary
23) It's Talmadge; he is Richard Talmadge born Sylvester Metz, who had been a boy member of the famed acrobats, the Mazetti Troupe.
24) Joel McCrea, because "he is the most slug-nutty person in Hollywood."
25) Joan Crawford (his wife at the time.) He also called her JoJo and she called him DoDo.
26) Theda Bara was the first screen vampire. Her nickname was The Vamp, short for vampire. Bara began making movies in 1914.

Alan Roscoe, Theda Bara in Camille.
This 1917 film is considered to be lost.

F. W. Murnau's German film Nosferatu appeared in 1922. Count Orlok may have been the first cinema vampire, modeled after Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula.

27) Lewis Joseph Cote aka Lew Cody
28) In 1920 the most famous horse in pictures was Bill Hart's 'Pinto'
29) Actress Carole Lombard married someone named William twice. In 1931 she married actor William Powell. In 1939 she married actor William Clark Gable.

News and Gossip

Lew Ayres and Ginger Rogers
1934

30) Ginger Rogers "was to have started work on a picture last Monday but did not show up. She had left a note pinned to her pillow. 'Dear Mama am going away. I'll be perfectly safe so don't look for me!'"

Her mother contacted the sheriff's department and asked them to search for her. Some of her friends had a hunch that Lew Ayres, her boy-friend knew where she had gone, but he agreed she needed the rest and kept her secret.

Ginger, resting on a Nevada ranch was surprised to hear over the radio that she had been reported missing and contacted her mother right away. It was February 1934 at the time of her disappearance and Ginger Rogers was twenty-two years old. Rogers and Ayres were married later that same year.

31) "Dainty Lilian Harvey who weighs only 95 pounds can boast the smallest waist in Hollywood exactly nineteen and a half images. However Ginger Rogers who isn't quite as petite as Lilian weighing about one hundred and fifteen pounds comes very close to Lilian's waist measurements and perhaps hers may be called the second smallest."

What about your waist? The Ideal woman's figure through time....

Barbara Stanwyck 1932

32) Barbara Stanwyck was taking time off to try and heal a back injury. "Stanwyck suffered a serious spine injury several years ago which never properly healed. … Barbara's injured spine goes back to the days when she was working in Ten Cents a Dance, released in 1931. It was while making a scene for that picture that she sustained the injury."

By 1934 Stanwyck was nearing 30, she was probably more serious about life and her craft, her future. She had her health and her son to think about.

33) "Constance Bennett was the cause of the quarrel between Gilbert Roland and Clark Gable at a party at the home of Samuel Goldwyn.

"Roland who escorted Connie to the party took offense at the manner in which Gable spoke to Constance and was quoted as saying angrily to Gable, 'You quit picking on her and pick on me.'

"Clark seemed willing and for a minute it looked like the start of a good old fashioned fist fight, but other movie luminaries present stepped in and calmed the boys. In the absence of her husband Maquis Henry Falaise who is in China making a picture Roland has been acting as Connie's escort."

Gilbert Roland and Constance Bennett were wed in 1941 and remained married until 1945.

34) Karl Dane who made his first screen hit as the Swede in The Big Parade shot himself on April 14 despondent over his failure to obtain motion picture work. Dane's body was found surrounded by newspaper and magazine clippings of his former success - cut short by talkies.

35) Helen Vinson was selected the most beautiful Technicolor subject for 1937 by the International Color Camera Club.

36) Dick Powell's contract with Warner Brothers contains a clause saying that Dick is not to marry while said contract is in effect - lest he jeopardize his popularity. Dick scoffs at the danger and wants it taken out. Dick and Mary Brian have been going together so long that it is possible he wants to marry the girl.

[It's been suggested that other stars had such clauses in their contracts and that in other cases studios forbade stars from marrying such as in the case of Jean Harlow and William Powell in the 1930s.]

37) Danielle Darrieux was paid to learn English.
38) "Are Herbert Marshall and Gloria Swanson a mutual consolation society? Herbert's marriage to Edna Best once one of filmdom's happiest seems on the verge of a break-up, Gloria's marriage to Michael Farmer is about to end in divorce - and Herbert and Gloria have been night-clubbing together."

39) Alice Faye didn't like stairs.

40) Sigrid Gurie was forbidden by her studio to be seen in public before the release of her first picture.

Sam Goldwyn's publicity department suggested that she was the Norwegian answer to Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich as she was set to star in The Adventures of Marco Polo. After her debut, news was it "turned out she was from a little farm town of Cucamonga, California."

41) Lily Pons considered the number 13 to be good luck
42) Sue Carol had a phobia of birds, particularly hating their flapping wings.

These quizzes were prevalent and fun in the old magazines and even in the newspapers. They covered a variety of topics. I plan to run more from time to time. You'll find links here.

Open questions 12 - 42 in another tab

Download quiz questions and answers in a PDF file

Print out for your Hollywood movie party or long car or plane trip. Fun to occupy friends between movies.

Related pages of Interest:

Old Hollywood Stars Thanksgiving Menus Quiz: Match the stars to the menus they served Their traditional Thanksgiving meals

Retro TV Housekeeper Quiz Eight maids at Christmas not a-milking, Eight Maids at Holiday Time or Any Time

Group games for parties, For old and young: for Christmas, Birthdays, Vintage parlor games for any time of year, movie-inspired

Fake Snow Bringing winter to silent movies: Making snow blizzards in Hollywood California - Includes Way Down East

Keeping time with Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor: Gifts of watches and sapphires 1930s

Sources:
Motion Picture 1934
Movie Weekly 1922
Photoplay 1922, 1927, 1938
The Miami News February 21, 1934
Picture Play Magazine 1920 and 1922
Talking Screen 1930

1920s film star quiz 1930s news gossip

2015-03-20T10:41:00.001-07:00

Golden Age Movie Quiz
Questions part two of two

It was the roaring twenties. Movies were silent and still pretty much of a

Louise Brooks Gallery
Wrapped Canvas

novelty. Twenties Hollywood had its share of gossip and scandal as well as glitz and glamor. Here are more questions from the Twenties and the Thirties to test what you know about the stars of classic movies, the movie stars' names and movie studios.

This is the era of Jazz, the flappers and vamps, great screen lovers and swashbucklers. For some questions I've placed the exact year it was asked. All are from 1920-1939.

Also Known As:
12) Who are the following: The Best Loved Boy on the Screen,
America's Sweetheart and The Lady of the Peacocks?
13) What is the real name of actress Arline Pretty?
14) What motion picture star's real name is Juliet Shelby?
15) Which two Valentino successors are these Luis Alonzo? Alfred de Biraben?

16) What Black Bottom dance expert first strutted as Lucille Le Sueur?
17) Anita Dooley is a villainous vamp. What's her reel name?
18) Who are Jack Krantz and Jack Crane?
19) What American is known in England as Walter Terry
20) Whose wife is Augusta Appel?
21) This is almost too easy. Who is Gladys Smith?
22) What aristocratic surname does Lucille Langhanke use?
23) Three girls have the same screen surname Sylvester Mazetti uses. Do you know what this is?
24) Whose nickname is Slug? (1932)
25) For whom does Douglas Fairbanks Jr have the nickname Billie?
26) Who was the first screen vampire? (1920)
27) What Hollywood he-mannikin started life as Lewis Joseph Cote?
28) Name the most famous horse in pictures? (1920)
29) How many times did actress Carole Lombard marry a man named William?

Melissa & Doug Pirate Costume
Some of the best costumes around
for your own little swashbucklers

News and Gossip All were asked in 1934 unless stated otherwise.
30) The mother of what movie player asked the police to search for her daughter who had disappeared for several days?
31) Which feminine motion picture star has the smallest waist in Hollywood?

Get out your favorite corset, bullet bra and shoulder pads for that party. It's the latest thing in underthings.

32) Why has the popular Barbara Stanwyck retired temporarily from motion picture work?
33) Who are the two handsome screen heroes who almost came to blows over a blonde movie queen?
34) Which former screen star committed suicide in a fit of despondency over his failure to obtain motion picture work?
35) Name the actress selected the most beautiful Technicolor subject for 1937 by the International Color Camera Club.

The History and Science of Color Film: From Isaac Newton to the Coen Brothers

36) Who is the screen crooner who asked to have the no-marriage clause taken out of his contract with his producing company?
37) Who did Universal Studio pay more than 40,000 for learning to speak English? (1938)
38) Who has been seen with Herbert Marshall since his wife Edna Best went back to England?

39) This actress has a phobia about stairs. Her latest script is being rewritten for her so she won't have to work on them. (1938)
40) This star was forbidden by her studio to be seen in public before the release of her first picture (1938)

41) Most people regard the number 13 as bad luck. This actress not only considers the number thirteen her good luck number but has the number on her license plates.
42) Birds, particularly with flapping wings irritate this actress frightfully. To see or hear those wings flap almost drives her insane. This fear springs from a bad scare she had as a young child. Who is she? (1930)

** A page to print out questions with the answers will be available. Hand out the quiz at your Oscar party, during a long car trip, your movie themed baby shower, at your next movie party. Please be kind and rewind. Great conversation starter.

Related Pages of Interest:

Part One of this Quiz: Questions 1 - 11

Movie Quiz Answers

The Impact of Rudolph Valentino

Scenes removed by censors in the early days of censorship; just what lines and images were they removing?

Barbie Collector 2008 Black Label - Pop Culture Collection
Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds Barbie Doll
The answer to No.42 is not Tippi Hedren

Will Barbie hold in her hand a slip of paper that reveals
the name of the person who had the most correct answers?

Customizable Silent Movie Luggage Tag
Attending a festival or screening?

Classic Movie Soup Bowl, Popcorn, Ice Cream Ice Cream, Snacks Mug
Classic early image of actors John Barrymore. Theda Bara, Louise Glaum, Pauline Frederick, Antonio Moreno, Douglas Fairbanks (publicity photos taken on Fairbanks' 1918 trip selling war bonds. Also on that trip was Charles Chaplin and Mary Pickford)

Movie trivia questions Hollywood 1920s-30s era

2015-03-19T21:42:00.001-07:00

Test your film history knowledge
Hollywood Movie Questions 1920s - 1930s

All questions are from quizzes and tests that appeared in 1920s-30s movie magazines.

How well do you know old movies, legendary screen actors and actresses, directors, history? While there may be more than one answer to some of the questions, the answers given will be the answers they gave then. Consider the time period. How much do you know? Do you have to Search/Google the answers? * This is part one. *

Harold Lloyd Filmstrip 1922

Movie Making, the mechanics, trivia from 1920:

1) Who invented the close up?

2) What is meant by an iris-in?

3) How many impressions taken by the camera are shown on the screen in a second?

4) How many feet are there in a reel of film?

5) What is the largest sum ever paid for the film rights to a stage play and for what play was it paid?

Sunset Boulevard 1950, Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim; "Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up..."

This man operates machines during the film.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain"
--The Wizard of Oz

Behind the scenes 1920s - 1930s
6) Name three of the best known women writers of original stories for the

Harold Lloyd Gifts Clothing
Prizes? Customize

screen [1920 Magazine actually gave three names as an answer.]
7) What woman achieved distinction as a motion picture director? (1920 question)
8) What American is known in England as Walter Terry?
9) In the picture above you see a technician who's operating a machine. He uses it during silent films and he is usually offstage. What's the man's job and what exactly does this machine do?
10) In 1922 Buster Keaton is credited with coining the term Optience. What does it mean?
11) This director is called the answer to an extra's prayer because all his pictures call for hordes of extras.

Part Two: More questions:
How well do you know actors' nicknames and real names?
How about gossip and news of the day?
This is a free movie quiz for your next film party.

Page to print out questions with the answers will be available. Hand out the quiz at your Oscar party, your movie themed baby shower, at the next movie party at your house.

Buster Keaton's locomotive scene from The General, 1927. Nearly unbelievable by today's standards that this was real. How could they re-do it??

GoPro Camera HERO4
Life was different then but there are similarities.
Now we watch movies that friends shot on their GoPro cameras.
We laugh at footage they shot while they forgot the camera was running!
Now we can use software to create things that were impossible in those days.
Is the look better, worse or just different? Impossible to compare?

1920s Flapper
Gatsby Dresses
For that 1920s party, a costume

Related Pages of Interest:

Part two of this quiz: Questions 12-42

Movie Quiz Answers

10 Female Film Producers of the 1910s

A Good Cry-Off Camera Musicians Help Silent Film Actors Bring Tears

TV Anti-Tip Ideas Childproof Safety Plasma LCD Flatscreen Furniture

2015-03-19T12:48:00.001-07:00

Prevent injury from a toppling Flat Screen TV: Earthquake Proof Your Home : Protect Children, Pets

"The number and rate of injuries to children associated with furniture tip-overs are increasing. Pediatricians and caregivers should be aware of this important source of pediatric injury and the strategies for prevention."
-- Clinical Pediatrics Journal

Think about the layout of your room and your television or monitor. Which of these systems would work best for you?

These devices aren't limited to serving people with small children. Pets run around and could easily knock down a tall television. You don't want anything to make your heavy furniture tip. Is this something you'd like to buy your kids' grandparents or their care providers? Consider furniture safety.

Depending on the size and layout of your home and the placement of the TV, it could be just one bump in the dark or at a party that knocks over that expensive piece of equipment. Do you have an extra-large monitor for your computer? This may be a concern for you, too. If you're creating a baby gift basket for new parents, these are some items to include that are practical. They'll show that you really care and thought about their growing family.

Live in earthquake territory or a location prone to tornadoes or hurricanes? Just one storm when the lights go out and something can happen. There is the need to earthquake proof your flat screen TV. You know all too well about how furniture may shift without any notice. Losing the fancy television is the least of your worries if a family member, including our pets, are nearby when it falls over.

Child home safety is a serious issue. We secure book cases, entertainment centers and other pieces of furniture. Items on and within pieces of furniture can come out in a storm or earthquake.

Perhaps someone in your home is elderly, has a health or mobility issue. We don't want to lose balance and suddenly that find the thing you grab onto causes you and something else to fall. Children will pull out drawers to climb up onto furniture. Little kids in our family have the nickname little monkey. You can't be too careful.

At holiday-time, many people are also considering the infamous falling over Christmas tree. There are trips for keeping children, pets and other things from sending your tree over on its side. On Easter, children root around looking for eggs and special treats.

Will you be entertaining and have more people than usual going through your home? Will relatives be visiting or be house-sitting? Is a friend camping out on your couch? Holidays can be a festive stressful time for the whole family, including our pets.

What are your favorite movies to watch with your kids or grandkids? Do your toddlers operate the remote control themselves? We can show our kids movies from the past, enjoy with them what we loved when we were their age. We can take movies of them and watch them on TV or on other devices. For some of us, that wasn't possible when we were children.

Anti-Furniture Tip : Ready America Flat Screen TV Safety Strap
Ready America Flat Screen TV Safety Strap
Furniture safety straps. Flat Screen Safety Straps are your best defense against earthquakes. Secure large flat screen televisions from toppling in an earthquake, preventing damage and injury.

Easy peel and press application with no holes required and the straps are hidden from view. The straps are black in color to blend with the surroundings of the electronics.

Each package contains two straps for mounting your flat screen TV to your TV/entertainment stand.

Don't wait for accidents to happen. Protect your Flat Screen TV from devastating falls with these TV straps. Made of sturdy nylon, these flat screen safety straps will keep your TV in its place. Hidden from view, easy to install. Made in America.

Retro Vintage Kitsch Poster A Year From Now?
Jacket or Shirt

How stable is your TV? The information is important - Do you have misconceptions?

Excerpts of TVSafety, CPSC's First Twitter Chat
-- "Every other week, a child dies in the U.S. when a television, a piece of furniture or an appliance falls on him or her. CPSC held a Twitter chat with @KidsinDanger and @GaryASmithMD to talk about anchoring and strapping TVs and saving children's lives." February 2012

In Chicago alone, media has reported that since October four children have died and one has been seriously injured from televisions falling on them.

How many of you put the remote or toys up high on furniture that holds a TV?

Is this just a problem with older tube TVs?

What does childproofing a TV really mean? Where can you find anchors and straps?

Do you know how to safeguard your TV and furniture?

How stable is your TV?

Some of the statistics reported:

Head/neck injuries from furniture tip-overs are most common in kids 9/under.

Every day, more than 40 US kids are rushed to an ED after a heavy piece of furniture has fallen on them

Young children are less able to anticipate danger: That's where childproofing steps come into play. Anchor & Protect

65% of children who died in tipover incidents were between 1 and 3 1/2 years old.

Prevent a Flat Screen TV from tipping over

Choose 2-Pack or 4-Pack

KidCo Anti-tip TV Strap 2 Pack Use straps to help flat screen TV saver will help prevent flat screen TV's from dangerously tipping over.
Helps protect your child from injury. You need a Plasma or LCD TV tie-down to provide protection for your children.

From the day of the baby shower gift -- are other new moms and dads bringing little ones to your home for the party? -- these are good ideas to not only give but to have yourself.

TV Guards, Button Shields

Many of these companies also manufacture Button Shields and TV Guards for your electronics, your TV, DVR, DVD Player, etc. The VCR guards should still be available for those of us who still have VCRs and VHS/DVD player/recorders.

Have you heard the one about the frozen waffle that went into the DVD player? That's one reason the TV Guards were made.

Little fingers can quickly reprogram electronics. Having a plan to put away remote controls is a good idea.

We now use something similar to protect our pets, it helps with dust and pet hair as well.

How many televisions, computers and other monitors do you have in your home or office? Is your office secured?

Video Games & TVs Falling Older Children - At home safety

Practice furniture safety by securing your flat panel stand helpful short video

Attach to heavy furniture: Safety Straps for Equipment : 2-Pack

Option of mounting by attaching to the heavy piece of furniture

Parent Units 2 Pack Equipment Safety Straps, Black
Parent Units Safety Straps for Equipment
These proven performance, award-winning fasteners greatly reduce the dangers associated with unsecured equipment. TVs, stereo equipment, computer monitors, game consoles, etc.

Think about this as a great gift idea for a baby shower, a new mom, a Christmas gift for new baby, new parents. Add it to a new baby gift basket. For parents of toddlers, maybe these are things not thought about until something happens?

Our friends had a power outage during a party. Bad combination of a house full of disoriented friends and a house that was suddenly totally dark. Lots of folks bumping into each other, into furniture.

Safety Straps help secure appliances from being able to move, slip or slide.
These easy-to-use straps are safe on finished wood & all types of electronic equipment.

Please note:
Unless stated otherwise, information and product descriptions are from manufacturers and other sources. Images are also provided by manufacturers and/or merchants directly selling products. Since product photos change they are representational. Don't hesitate to click and get more information.

Rudolph Valentino's Impact Lover Movie Idol

2015-03-16T14:03:00.001-07:00

Valentino's Impact
Could he be such big a star today?

Valentino was the first
Sex Symbol

"George Washington may be the father of this country, Mary Pickford may be its sweetheart. But Valentino is its lover. ... Valentino has an almost perfect physical physique - a physique combining both beauty and strength: Apollo plus Dionysus. He is at once graceful and aggressively masculine.

"He is every woman's husband by proxy - the invisible Cavalier of the Boudoir. He is the Phantom Rival in every virtuous domestic establishment - the gallant courtier with whom every husband must bear comparison - the standard by which every wife measures her legal mate. And he is also the young lover's rival, the nemesis of every ardent swain, the third party on every honeymoon, the absent correspondent in every divorce proceeding."
-- Motion Picture 1923

Valentino is the Romeo of all ages....
1923 psychological profile

"He is less a shadow even though he is gone, than men who live in the world as flesh and blood, because he was all things to all women. He had glamour for all women. But he had also the wistful appeal of the boy whom all women want to mother, to scold a little perhaps, to soothe and console and cherish in their hearts.

"He was a brother to girls who never had brothers or having them wished their brothers could be as Rudy was. He was the other son of all elderly women whose own sons had deserted them or disappointed them. He was the Sheik, the good comrade ... he was all those things to me and to all women."
-- Actress Pola Negri to whom he was said to be engaged at the time of his death.
Motion Picture Magazine interview 1934

Julio's romance, "Do you promise to be good?"
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

In the early 1920s American society was changing. Women had gained the right to vote, they were entering the work force allowing greater financial independence. The Jazz Age influenced style. We had flappers on and off the screen.

Movies in general were sometimes seen as a threat to the home and family. What would we see on the screen? How would they influence the audience? What would happen in the dark at the movie theater? A push to censor films and keep them wholesome happened quickly.

Early Movie Idol Worship
"If you are an idol worshiper don't be ashamed. So was your great grandpa. Our pagan ancestors made idols out of wood and stone. To us in this enlightened age this seems a foolish waste of good building material. We make ours of celluloid. We picked models for their resemblance to the old Venuses and Apollos. Many would have passed for the wooden originals if they hadn't moved. Noting this, some genius called them 'movie idols.'"
-- Herbert Howe; New Movie Magazine 1931

In the early silent films most leading male actors were all-American cowboys such as William S. Hart or Broncho Billy from out of Essanay Studios. There were other handsome dramatic actors such as Richard Barthelmess and the swashbucklers like John Barrymore and Douglas Fairbanks. Youngsters really loved their films.

There were big stars from other countries, Ramon Novarro, Antonio Moreno and Sessue Hayakawa. But Rudolph Valentino was something different and special in his way. Valentino was the first Italian sex symbol, he was new and passionate and he seemed dangerous.

"Italians in movies were always characters; villains and peasants, maybe a crime figure, maybe a thief. With few opportunities for Valentino in traditional Hollywood films he found work instead in romantic fantasies about faraway places. His Italian looks would stand in Indian rajas, Spanish bullfighters and most famously an Arab Sheik."
-- from the 2015 PBS documentary series, The Italian Americans

Quickly the first sex symbols appeared in movies. For women, there were the lady vampires, the vamps such as Theda Bara. Larger than life characters, temptresses.

"Nita Naldi's sex appeal is her raison d'être in pictures. What other quality could possibly account for the great vogue of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties, a year or two ago? Why does Mae Murray appear in a pearl breast-band and a tinseled loin-cloth and nothing else in at least one sequence in every picture? Because the men for years who for years have paid money to sit in the bald-headed row within squinting distance of the beautiful chorus girls now get a mental thrill out of a pair of alabaster shoulders in what are deftly termed society dramas of the screen."

Sex Appeal
Who would get the women's hearts pumping? Magazines were full of psychological and medical analyses. Is the screen hypnotizing you? Do the movies harm your eyes? How will they hurt our children? Alongside were ads to write for movies, contests to get into the movies, gossip and news about the stars. They were as unusual and suspect as they were enticing and exciting. Sometimes the doctors, scholars, censors and pundits went to the movies as part of their work, in the name of the public good. That was okay.

Audience members' hearts flutter at a Valentino kiss

Someone hooked up an audience reaction meter aka a love meter to test women's reactions when they saw Valentino kissing on screen. A 1920s newsreel caught their palpitations as they watched him kiss Vilma Banky.

Fan Mail
In the early 1920s, Rudolph Valentino was the right man at the right time. He was born with the talent, determination and the looks. Those around him would control and mold his career. At one point the postage it took to send out photos in response to his fan mail was in excess of the actor's salary. One fan magazine suggested that fans tell the studio that Valentino deserved a raise!

They tried to explain why Valentino was as popular, as mesmerizing as he was. Why did American women worship him? Why did American men dislike him so? Some were able to pin their distaste for women's growing independence and for society's changing times onto Rudolph Valentino (a representation of what was wrong with movies in general).

The addition of disapproval often adds attention and attraction. It made Valentino's flame shine that much brighter. What was he doing that was so naughty anyway? Women wanted to have a look. Publicity departments had a field day building his reputation. Women would sit through an entire picture to savor just one elusive Valentino smile.

Rudolph Valentino with Nita Naldi Blood and Sand

A fine figure of a man...
"Mother used to blush when father mentioned his woolen underwear. Now she gets a kick out of the kinematized BVDs of Valentino as in the dressing-room scene of Blood and Sand. ... It wasn't his dramatic ability that made Rudolph Valentino the idol of American womanhood, practically overnight. And Valentino is a superb actor, at that.

"It was his sex appeal, whether you will admit it or not, you women who go to see his pictures five and six times as he crushes the heroine (the heroine who might be you!) to his breast, the fact that he makes you sigh blissfully at his romantic ardor. For this very reason many men do not like Valentino. Men never like to see a man more skilled in the art of love-making than they themselves. ...

"There is a perfectly good economic reason for the beach scenes where the strapping hero poses in a one-piece suit; for bedroom scenes the costume pictures where skin-tight trousers display a shapely thigh and slender waist. Valentino you remember has late appeared in snug toreador costumes in Blood and Sand in tight knee britches in The Sheik and a few strings of pearls in The Young Rajah."
-- The Sex Best Sellers, Screenland 1923

Valentino draped in pearls
The Young Rajah 1922

And here we thought showing men in tight pants was such a 1970s thing? Well, not really. Though it brought him fame and wealth, Valentino ultimately wasn't happy with how he'd been packaged. He looked forward to breaking out of the Latin lover, or what he sometimes called the lounge lizard stereotype. He looked toward his future and wanted to be more than a caricature. He was trying to assimilate. It was said by the end of his life at age 31, he'd already lost much of his Italian accent.

Job Opening: National Lover
"Valentino would not be the national lover unless the country was in sore need of such a lover. The very intensity of the emotion Valentino has aroused reveals how great a lack of adequate lovers there is in America. No nation creates a symbol for a thing which is prevalent in the flesh. ...

"Why then should there be a need for a romantic idol in a country where there are so many able-bodied men? Why should the American women create a symbol of the ideal lover in the person of Valentino when there are any number of willing males, that is potential realities, on every hand?

"The answer is simply that American men are not lovers. .... They are too busy, there are too many demands for their energy for them to devote themselves to the finer things in life. They give their wives a fur coat as a consolation prize for time and romance. European men are far better versed in the game of love and the art of love making than American men. They have or take more leisure."

Those who are the first, the first to attain an incredible height often leave a lasting impact. Before Marilyn Monroe, it was Jean Harlow for whom they coined the term Blonde Bombshell. Were Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford the first Hollywood super couple? How does Pickfair stand up against Brangelina? Greta Garbo and John Gilbert were another hot screen couple of the 1920s.

Valentino's sudden death and his funeral was so traumatic that many afterward are still compared to his. Perhaps most notably we think of James Dean's. There are too many to list. Huge stars who left us too young, too suddenly, left us wondering what might they have done.

Vintage Photo Sweet Picnic Kiss Rudolph Valentino
Sleeve for tablets, iPads

Valentino vs. The Sheik

To this day the actor is identified with a role which unfortunately he felt was poorly directed and one that he personally did not like.

"Mr. Valentino was not happy with The Sheik. He called it 'an error.' Speaking of how he was directed in the film, 'What nonsense it was!'" He said his performance including the eye rolling did not ring true to his character.

"Mr. Valentino declared one of his greatest problems was 'to live down' his reputation as a 'sheik' a character which he repudiates."
-- Picture Play August 1922; The Owosso Argus-Press February 1923

For what it's worth, The Sheik is a film that contemporary audiences may not like as much as others. Don't start and stop with that film if you want to get a real sense of Rudolph Valentino. The Son of The Sheik gets a better reception.

Rudolph Valentino as
The Son of the Sheik (1925) Poster print

Even though an article is to include his wife, Natacha Rambova, the writer swoons over Valentino. "The interviewer is confused, frankly, rattled. One has heard so much about this man and dreamed so much more that when one finally is in The Presence, words simply desert or worse still, mutiny and intelligent questions become chaotic stammerings. Yes, one is a little excited."
-- Motion Picture Classic December 1923

Valentino: Dangerous Man
The desire for that seductive, dangerous romance is nothing new. The fact that it's illicit makes it all the more tempting. Rudolph Valentino was given some of the first bad boy roles.

While Italian actors continue to be cast in roles as gangsters, it has to be noted that there are positives and negatives to the allure, the ongoing stereotype of taking those parts. There are often box office dollars there and the iconic Godfather Trilogy shows us that.

Valentino stars alongside Brando and Pacino?
Rudolph Valentino would have only been in his 70s when the first Godfather film came out, perfect for a role in that film. Brando was in his forties and relative newcomer, Al Pacino was thirty-two. Valentino could've played Pacino's grand-dad? (In the story, Vito Corleone's father had been killed, but Valentino's age was right.) Who knows? "Just when I thought I was out of the picture business, they pull me back in....."

In the 1940s, even though some female movie goers loved it, the actor James Mason was trying to shake his image. He was thought to be a dangerous lover after he made films such as The Seventh Veil. A Burns and Allen OTR radio episode spoofed the attraction of being dominated by the dangerous man when Mason appeared as their guest. Gracie said, "Some women dream of being covered in diamonds. I dream of being covered in bandaids."

There has always been the attraction to the suave otherworldly vampire. Look at the Twilight series with Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen. Replicas of Bella's wedding dress were hot sellers. Fifty Shades of Grey, the book and the movie are big news.

Herbert Howe 1931 article,
Movie Idols, types and the need to worship

A trip to the beach....

Would he be such a star today?

Manic Monday
The Bangles, 1986
lyrics excerpt...

"Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin' Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can't be late
'Cause then I guess I just won't get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made...."

A 1933 magazine asked, Could the sheik win hearts today? Again he was still associated with that persona, that character.

"The fickle feminine public no longer wants one man on the screen to have all their worship but chooses to divide it among the reigning stars with voice appeal.... each with his particular flair, special following. And yet, they admitted that There had never been a successor to Valentino. There had never been an actor whose death caused the outpouring of emotion of Valentino's.

"Cortez, Raft and LaRue are the villain-you-love-to-touch-you type and when they're heroes they have a darkly sinister quality of brooding or actual mystery that gets the girls who like to guess and wonder about the facts of life and the factors therein."

They were right. There could never again be one person who could so captivate the country. He had everything including the right timing. His story was similar to that of Jean Harlow and Elvis Presley. Had he lived, I believe he would have grown and evolved as an actor. He may not have continued to be the one and only but chances are he would still be a star.

"I do not want to go on in these Great Lover roles. People will soon get tired of them. Perhaps they are tiring already I must make a decided change."
-- Rudolph Valentino

His films continue to bring in royalties to his estate. Then and now people visit Castellaneta, Italy where he was born. There's a list of places reputed to have visits from Valentino's ghost not the least of which would be his grave and his former homes. There are seances or you can host your own.

Actor Rudolph Valentino 1925 Pillow
Change the photo on other side?
He'll rest with you ClassicOldPhotos

"I know Rudolph Valentino would still be great to-day if he had lived. It is my opinion that Rudy had not even reached the zenith of his career when death came. He was always studying always preparing. Rudy was not merely a handsome fellow with melting eyes and an unusual amount of sex-appeal. He had a whimsical flair for comedy and a depth of understanding for emotional drama that no one on the screen except perhaps Leslie Howard possesses to-day."
-- Director Sidney Olcott 1935

There were and are many movie idols after him. In the 1930s they tried to get Clark Gable and a new actor named Cary Grant to take on remakes of Valentino films. They refused hoping that the studios wouldn't force them to do it. Others such as George Raft were regularly compared to Valentino. Generations of actors were compared to Gable and Grant, too. Was the handsome and brooding Al Pacino some kind of new Valentino? Fine as they are, why not let all of them have their own identities. Not one can be replaced.

In the 1960s, when girls saw the Beatles in movies such as A Hard Day's Night they screamed at the movie screen.

I found articles from the 1920s through to the 2000s that asked what would happen if he were alive today, who might be the next or the current Valentino. But why are we asking?

Though they do keep asking the question, the end of a 1934 article pretty much puts it into perspective. Why even ask what would happen if he were alive. The fact that millions of people attend memorials, hold seances, watch/go to see his films, still talk about him, compare others to him.... "Valentino is alive to-day!"


Motion Picture magazine sums it up; Valentino lives on

This article is part of the Great Valentino Blogathon
Rudolph Valentino would be 120 in 2015
Born May 6, 1895

Related Pages of Interest:

Strange Experiences at Valentino's Grave Rudolph Valentino's ghost is said haunt his grave site

The Lady and The Ghost of Valentino Rudolph speaks to his wife from beyond

Falcon's Lair: Rudolph Valentino's legendary Haunted Mansion

Valentino speaks about, "When I Come Back;" Prophetic discussion as Rudolph and Natacha are leaving on their honeymoon

James Mason on the Burns and Allen Radio Show Gracie Allen, James Mason, the Cats, a Chair and a Whip

The Death of Jean Harlo w 'Goodnight, my Dearest Darling'

Several of his films are available to rent or stream through Amazon. Some are free through Amazon Prime.

Early 20th Century Women Movie Theater Owners Female Movie Theater Owners, Managers, Exhibitors

Rudolph Valentino Customizable Cigar Label Bags Add text

Monkey Around with Dietrich and Grant

2015-03-13T14:19:00.003-07:00

Monkey Around with Dietrich and Grant:
Are you going ape?

Blonde Venus is a 1932 pre-code drama which starred Marlene Dietrich and Herbert Marshall. It was one of the first big roles for the young Cary Grant. At one point we see her on stage in a gorilla suit. She peels off the gorilla hands, mask and the rest of the furry costume and adds a flamboyant wig before singing Hot Voodoo. Cary Grant is part of her audience. A striptease that starts off with a gorilla suit. Where else do you see that?

Dietrich in Blonde Venus
Hot Voodoo

Marlene Dietrich alternative simian dance costume tutorial

Marlene Dietrich began making silent films in 1919. Another famous film was The Blue Angel, 1930 as Lola Lola, with Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron.

One of her last films was Judgment at Nuremberg a 1961 Stanley Kramer film. Costars were Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Judy Garland.

There was a cameo in Paris When It Sizzles, 1964 with Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. Then Just a Gigolo 1979 with David Bowie, Kim Novak and Sydne Rome.

Her manner, the critic Kenneth Tynan wrote, was that of "a serpentine lasso whereby her voice casually winds itself around our most vulnerable fantasies."
"She has sex but no positive gender," Tynan wrote. "Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men." .... "Glamour," she observed, "is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way, mentally and physically and in appearance, and that, whatever the occasion or the situation, you are equal to it."

In clothes, she was a trend setter. Both on screen and off, she often wore trousers and mannish costumes. By proving that a woman could still look feminine in such clothes, she established "the Dietrich silhouette," emphasizing trimness and inconspicuous hips and bust. from her New York Times obituary. Ms. Dietrich lived December 1901 - May 1992.

Marlene Dietrich The Glamour Collection 5 Movies:
Blonde Venus/ Morocco/ The Devil Is a Woman/ Flame of New Orleans/ Golden Earrings

Phil Collins - Gorilla Drummer - Cadbury Advert (Dairy Milk)

"I Feel like a Hairy Ape"
Cary Grant to Gail Patrick
My Favorite Wife 1940

Cary Grant calls Joan Fontaine Monkey Face in Suspicion

Tips to Choose, Customize Your Costume for your Event, Gorilla Run Charity Races, Fun Runs

When will you wear it? Weather, Heat: Think about how hot it will be in your suit. Some runs appear to stay out of the summer months. Weather can be hot, humid, windy and rainy anywhere. What costume will you wear in the mud run?!

Costumes, including wigs & hats are usually hotter to run in than a track suit, but folks who make it to the finish line are excited that they made it. Consider a cooling vest to wear under the gorilla suit?

Is it for something special like a proposal or a similar surprise? The groom-to-be fights off the gorilla before the proposal. Add a top hat. Any day that includes a sudden, unexpected gorilla is usually remembered.

If you're hosting a Planet of the Apes watch-a-thon at your house would you give prizes for those who come in costume?

For Business? Are you going into a Gorillagram business? Can you sing while wearing it? Maybe it will be just one costume of several that you have. People want experiences these days. It's not enough to send flowers or candy to the office on her birthday. Make it an event. Do you want a realistic gorilla costume or something more cartoonish, maybe something along the lines of King Kong, comic book?

Choose separate parts, a snout, hat, makeup, etc? Your kids can create parts

Little Boys' Gorilla Costume

DIY with crayons, construction paper and glue sticks at a birthday party or on a rainy day.

It's your gorilla suit! Jazz it up! Add your business logo? A sash or tiara? (Tack it down!)

Add a zipper? Make it easier to use the portable toilets if necessary? I've read about people's getting costumes early and altering them if need be with zippers for quicker pit-stops! Always on the lookout for animal costumes and the like that have zippers. A very clever friend with a sewing machine and/or needle and thread may be able to make it a two-piece.

Try it out, Make it work: Try out the costume before the race. Do a practice run in it and see how it goes. What does it need? Add a zipper? Have a backpack, pocket, pouch? Remove something? Make it just right for you. This is what will make it really fun and functional. If you're trying to get attention for yourself, your cause, your business, determine how you might add to the costume in ways that won't impede your ability to run.

Are you on a team? Easier to find one another if you add something lightweight and colorful, visible like a hat (pinned on!) or tank top? A logo or great team name emblazoned on it makes it all the better. Come up with the best team chant to outdo that group next to you.... If you want a couples costume, I guess she could be Fay Wray, fun idea.

Order early and Do a fur test & mask eye test: Many of the costumes I saw across the merchants had reviews saying that they shed their fur to some extent. Also people had to make the eye holes on masks work for them. Give a good shake out when testing them. Read the directions and instructions. Decide for yourself. Lots of clever and industrious ideas made the costumes, masks work perfectly. How will you wear your hair?

Just love the Adidas Jeremy Scott designer sneakers whether it's the gorilla, the

Aadidas Originals by Jeremy Scott

bear, poodle... You'll probably have more luck running in way better than running in gorilla feet. Go psychedelic if that's more to your personality.

Fun Run? If you're going for a mud run, a gorilla suit or anything with fur may not be what you want. Mud will add weight to the costume. Will the elements damage the costume? This includes your wig, hat, etc. A popular mud run is the Devil Dash, where people dress as angels and devils. That leaves interpretation of the costumes wide open.

Pink Gorilla Costumes

Show your true colors: Be a Snow Beast in white. Practice that Rawr. Color up for an Awareness Event or wild pre-wedding video, Rage on as a Red Gorilla? Swap with a pal and put your pink gorilla head on his black gorilla suit body and vice versa.... It's all up to you. We found different shades of pink gorilla suits. Which one suits you best?

Don't forget other times to wear the Gorilla Costume. When you've run out of uses for the costume and it's still in good shape, pass it along.

Donate the suit to someone or a cause who'd like to have it. Be green and try a costume swap locally, with friends and family.

"Would you ask your wife to hook up with that ape?!" Jean Harlow.

“Uh, The Ape objects,”
William Powell

Libeled Lady 1936

Groucho Marx talks about monkey suits on the Dick Cavett Show (about 5:35) [Groucho talks about the gorilla suit & the orangutan suit that were used in At the Circus]

"Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"
Charlton Heston

Planet of the Apes 1968

Wonder Woman, yes, Wonder Woman wrestled with a gorilla in the 1970s. Those were the days.
Curious? Check it out below...

Related Articles of Interest:

1930s films Dressing Gable, Rathbone, Dietrich

Dietrich was on that 1938 list with Katharine Hepburn as being Box Office Poison

Throw a Hollywood Fancy Dress Party: 10 Tips for your costume party success
Marlene Dietrich wore a swan costume to the party in 1935, while an actress friend beside her was dressed as Marlene Dietrich.

Have a Mermaid Movie Party

"Fling him to the ape!
Let him be torn to pieces!"
Brandon Hurst/The Caliph
Thief of Bagdad 1924

Walk of Fame Animals Godzilla, Muppets, Kermit the Frog Big Bird

2015-03-05T11:41:00.002-08:00

Hollywood Walk of Fame Animals
Godzilla, The Muppets, Big Bird & Kermit

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Featured on this page are Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets as a group. They're sometimes live-action and not exclusively animated. This is the second half of a two-part series.

The only actual animals with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are three dogs: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Links to other pages at the end of this article.

Godzilla Posters, Cases, Shirts
Retro/Contemporary, Customize

Godzilla
6925 Hollywood Blvd.

Godzilla Hollywood Walk of Fame: Godzilla (Gojira) is a daikai, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishiro Honda's 1954 film Godzilla.

The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games, novels, comic books, television series and an American remake.

Where Godzilla is from: With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a monster created by nuclear explosions and a metaphor for nuclear weapons in general. As the film series expanded, the stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla in the role of a hero, while later movies returned to depicting the character as a destructive monster. ....

I read that the name Godzilla comes from the Japanese words for gorilla and whale. Do you know a BrideZilla, a BossZilla, Mom-in-Law-Zilla? What character started it all?

Attributes

Godzilla's appearance has changed over the years, but many of his characteristics have remained constant. His roar has remained the same, only changing in pitch. Godzilla's approximate appearance, regardless of the design of the suit utilized for the creature, remains the same general shape, which is instantly recognizable: a giant, mutant dinosaur with rough, bumpy charcoal-gray scales, a long powerful tail, and jagged, bone-colored dorsal fins.

Godzilla's iconic character design is a blended chimera inspired by various prehistoric reptiles, gleaned from children's dinosaur books and illustrations from an issue of Life magazine: Godzilla has the head and lower body of a Tyrannosaurus, a triple row of dorsal plates reminiscent of a Stegosaurus, the neck and forearms of Iguanodon and the tail and skin texture of a crocodile.

Godzilla's dorsal plates have themselves altered in size and appearance over the years. A Tokyo mall had a huge lighted Godzilla-shaped holiday tree recently that was a social media sensation.

Godzilla Costumes aren't that common but they are really varied. You can find dinosaur or dragon costumes, gorilla or sea creature costumes more easily. Put them all together and have a really fun event. The adult onesie costumes, such as the dragon, dinosaur Kigurumi are Snuggie-like and really popular.

Godzilla movie trailer 1954

Godzilla's coloration has been debated. Early on when the black and white films were produced, Godzilla was thought to be green. Artwork, toys and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon showed him this way. Later his color changed in different depictions to having a greenish hue to being "his classic charcoal gray" in films in the Millennium series starting with Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Although his origins vary somewhat from film to film, he is always described as a prehistoric creature, who first appeared and attacked Japan at the beginning of the Atomic Age. In particular, mutation due to atomic radiation is presented as an explanation for his size and powers. The most notable of Godzilla's resulting abilities is his atomic breath: a powerful heat ray of fire from his mouth.
-- Wikipedia

Ellie Shoes, Zilla Wedge w/Coil Trim
also available thru
Sole Boutique Velvet Bootie

Godzilla got his (its?) star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 29, 2004.
Artists, dress and shoe designers use these iconic characters for inspiration all the time.

The Zilla shoe has a hidden platform of nearly 2" and silver coil trim. Are you into ruffles?

Jeffrey Campbell, known for his incredible design sense, has done a wedge shoe named after the Little Shop of Horrors character of Audrey II. Like many of these shoes they sell out fast and can be hard to find.

The larger-than-life carnivorous Venus flytrap plant's teeth are referenced with zig-zag detail. The ones that are embellished with spikes and studs are that much better.

Kermit the Frog

Kermit Disco Dancer

6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the main protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over the years.

Kermit was performed by Henson until his death in 1990. Since then, Kermit has been performed by Steve Whitmire. He was voiced by Frank Welker in Muppet Babies and occasionally in other animation projects.

Kermit performed the hit single The Rainbow Connection in 1979 for The Muppet Movie, the first feature-length film featuring Henson's Muppets. The song reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Kermit's iconic look and voice have been recognizable worldwide since and in 2006, the character was credited as the author of Before You Leap: a frog's eye view of life's greatest lessons, which is an "autobiography" told from the perspective of the character himself. ....

Awards and commemorations

Kermit was awarded an honorary doctorate of Amphibious Letters on May 19, 1996 at Southampton College, New York, where he also gave a commencement speech. He is also the only amphibian to have had the honor of addressing the Oxford Union. A statue of Henson and Kermit was erected on the campus of Henson's alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003.

Kermit was given the honor of being the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade in 1996.

Kermit/Muppets Postage
With current postage rates

On Kermit's 50th anniversary in show business, the United States Postal Service released a set of new stamps with photos of Kermit and some of his fellow Muppets on them.

The background of the stamp sheet features a photo of a silhouetted Henson sitting in a window well, with Kermit sitting in his lap looking at him.

In 2006, on Kermit's 50th anniversary, Kermit, Texas was taken over by the frog during their homecoming week, ending with Kermit himself crowning the homecoming queen. The city of Kermit's main water tower was then painted with the face and signature of the frog.

Musicians who play left-handed: Kermit the Frog plays the banjo. Jim Henson was left handed. Like Paul McCartney, Dennis Wilson, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi, Kermit plays his banjo left-handed.

Kermit also grand-marshaled Michigan State University's homecoming parade in 2006.
-- Wikipedia

Muppets Kermit disco dancing (seen above) posing by Disney; The Muppet Shop is just one of the Disney specialty selections. Get designs on clothing and different products.

Kermit got his star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 14, 2002.

Jim Henson and some Puppet Trivia

Jim Henson, Muppets creator, also has a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6631 Hollywood Blvd. He posthumously received his star on September 24, 1991, which would have been his 55th birthday. He isn't the only puppeteer on the Walk.

Shari Lewis is one of a select group of puppeteers or ventriloquists who have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie? Jim Henson, Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Fred Rogers and Fran Allison are other puppeteers or ventriloquists who have been honored with stars.

First Emmy Award 1949

On January 25, 1949 the first person to win the Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality was Shirley Dinsdale and her puppet Judy. Dinsdale was a ventriloquist for the children’s show Judy Splinters.

So the first Emmy winner was not only a woman but a ventriloquist on a kid's show, to boot. It further shows the importance of the art and children's programming.

Kermit Costume : Kermit the Frog Toddler Costume : Infant Costume Kermit the Frog costumes for adults, kids, toddlers and infants Your little one can sing and dance along to the Jim Henson's The Muppet Show with our Kermit the Frog toddler costume. The Muppets Kermit the Frog Infant costume is an officially licensed The Muppets product by Jim Henson.

Lady Gaga costume

In 2010, Lady Gaga went on German television wearing a coat made of hundreds of Kermit the Frog dolls. It was designed by Jean Charles de Castelbajac. She wore a headband featuring a Kermit head shimmering with crystals.

"My friends and I in New York ... we believe in vanity," Gaga says, her Kermit headband staring down at her face. "I dress this way all the time because it inspires my life. I dress this way because my whole life is art and my whole life is performance." She also said, "You don't need money to live the way that I live. You just need a good idea and creativity."

The outfit was said to be a statement in honor of wearing something personalized and to call attention to the need to not wear fur and animal products.
-- quote from New York Magazine

Lady Gaga Kermit Costume : Adult Lady Gaga Frog Costume She rocks, she's eco-friendly - She won't wear real animal skin, she wears something else.....

2 piece Adult Lady Gaga Frog Costume
Comes with frog boa with lots of frogs. Would you use it as a Halloween costume? For the cocktail party at the local aquarium? Also includes frog headband. When you need a green costume, when you need to wear frogs or get noticed by the costume judges, when you want to be covered in amphibians for reasons of your own. One size. Wig and glasses are not included.

This was among the costumes featured when the characters on Glee did an homage to Lady Gaga (and Kermit?).

Union Bay Women's U149 Sunglasses, Three colors
"Encrusted with sparkling "diamonds," logo-scripted ear pieces, and gorgeous gradient lenses with 100% UV protection."

Style and safety without the big designer price tag. Similar to a style worn by reality stars such as Kim Kardashian. Budget friendly but look great and real UV400 protection included.

Are Kermit and Miss Piggy Married??

"In The Muppet Movie, she has just won such a contest (Miss Bogen County) when she first meets Kermit and joins the Muppets.

In The Great Muppet Caper Piggy proves she has a talent for tap dancing, seemingly without knowing it. She and Kermit also kiss (on the lips, yet slightly covered) while Miss Piggy is a prisoner in jail; Miss Piggy ends up wearing Kermit's fake mustache, while Kermit has X-marks on his upper lip.

Eventually in the films, Kermit started returning her affections and (unwittingly) married her in The Muppets Take Manhattan (though subsequent events suggest that it was only their characters in the movie that married, and that their relationship is really the same as ever.)"
-- From Miss Piggy's Wikipedia entry

Kermit the Frog serenades us with Rainbow Connection

What's My Line? November 16, 1952
First guest is a is a frog catcher, Then a woman who hand paints men's shorts.
Walter Winchell is the mystery guest

Can you do a Kermit the Frog impression?

Big Bird

7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Gund Soft and Shaggy Big Bird doll

Big Bird is the main protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends.

Officially performed by Caroll Spinney since 1969, he is an eight-foot two-inch tall bright yellow bird. He can roller skate, ice skate, dance, sing, write poetry, draw and even ride a unicycle. ...

He lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone (which he had to completely rebuild in Season 32 after it was destroyed by a hurricane).

He has a teddy bear named Radar, after Walter "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H, who had a teddy bear and was also lovably naive and innocent. Radar was given to Big Bird by Gary Burghoff when he guest starred on the show. Later on, however, it was said that Big Bird got the bear as a gift from Mr. Hooper. ....

What kind of bird is Big Bird?

It is believed that Big Bird is probably a giant canary. However, in an episode of Sesame Street Big Bird was asked if he was related to the cassowary, he replied, "I'm more of a condor." On a 1976 episode of Hollywood Squares, he said he was a lark.

In the film, Don't Eat the Pictures, Osiris calls Big Bird an ibis. Zoologist Mike Dickison hypothesizes that Big Bird or Grandicrocavis viasesamensis, is a type of flightless crane.
-- Wikipedia

The Colbert Report Finale

In September 1970, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were among the guests on the premiere episode of The Flip Wilson Show. Running on NBC, it is the first successful network variety series starring an African American.

October 2012, Big Bird has appeared on Saturday Night Live (at least once with Seth Meyers). He didn't appear on SNL alongside Paul Simon when he wore a turkey costume and sang Paul Simon still crazy after all these years November 20, 1976.

He also appeared on The Colbert Report and on the finale of Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report in December 19, 2014, singing We'll Meet Again. Here's a list of those who appeared courtesy of the LA Times:

"Barry Manilow shared the stage with Gloria Steinem, Ken Burns and Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Franco hummed along with Henry Kissinger, Cyndi Lauper, Big Bird, Tom Brokaw and the Cookie Monster.

"Mandy Patinkin was there and Bryan Cranston, singing along with Michael Stipe, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Huckabee, George Lucas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Katie Couric to name just a few. Pussy Riot showed up on tape as did former President Bill Clinton."

Cookie Monster must've appreciated the fact that Stephen Colbert had a C-shaped desk and "Cookie, Cookie, Cookie starts with C."

Big Bird was added to The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on April 21, 1994.

Big Bird Gets Political in 2012

Big Bird Costumes were popular in 2012 partly due to the mention of Big Bird and the funding of public broadcasting in a presidential debate.

Sesame Street characters are iconic, nostalgic characters for young and old
Find Big Bird Halloween Costumes Including the:
Big Bird Plush Vest Toddler/Small Child

Muppets Star on Walk of Fame

The group star for The Muppets received their group star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday, March 20, 2012

6834 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the El Capitan Theatre

Emcee was Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Leron Gubler

Guest Speakers: Walt Disney Studios President, Rich Ross; The Jim Henson Company CEO, Lisa Henson and Writer/Actor Jason Segel How cool that families were able to attend the ceremony

Related articles of interest:

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Part One

Animated Characters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Part One

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars next to or near one another

Raymond Burr Rear Window to the Senate floor : Burr remembered for playing Steve Martin (not THAT Steve Martin) in Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Contemporary Pop Rock Country Memorial Songs: Pop, Rock & Country Tribute, Memorial Songs, Inspiration from Paul McCartney, the members of Monty Python, the friends and colleagues of Jim Henson, more

Shari Lewis Lamb Chop, Las Vegas and Outer Space

There's a Skeleton in My Love Story; Love Your Local Paleontologist

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

2015-03-04T07:55:00.003-08:00

Animals on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
Famous Dogs, Character Costumes : Muppets, Godzilla

Walk of Fame Animals: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Strongheart, The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Godzilla

The only actual animals with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are three dogs: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Featured here are also Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets as a group just because they're sometimes live-action, puppets, etc and not exclusively animation. All information is correct as of the writing of this page.

The Muppets received their group star on the Walk of Fame March 20, 2012. More info on a post to come. Have you seen their latest film? Now Kermit and Big Bird are the first fictional characters to have received two stars!

If you're on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood would you look for animal stars? How many can you find? There's currently a push to get Tarzan's Cheetah the chimp a star.

When Roy Rogers signed his name in cement in at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, his horse Trigger also placed his prints on the sidewalk beside Roy's.

These are other animal characters with stars. Looking for your Hollywood Walk of Fame map? Included you'll find the Hollywood Walk of Fame address for each star. Did you know that there are several star walks in the United States and in other countries?

The American Buffalo and Midnight the horse, the most famous bucking bronc on the rodeo circuit from 1923 until 1933 can be found on the Texas Trail of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas. I may be wrong, but at the time of this writing, I believe there are no animals or fictional characters on Canada's Walk of Fame.

These aren't best known as being animated though they may be seen on film or TV in animated form sometimes. Hollywood animals work hard, they're remembered fondly and some get stars on the walk of fame.

The characters are Godzilla, Kermit the Frog and Big Bird. Do you think Godzilla has a secret rivalry with King Kong to see who's more popular?

The Munchkins are another example of fictional characters on the Walk of Fame.

I have a separate series of pages celebrating the animated characters with stars on the Walk of Fame. There are some fun and nostalgic YouTube videos here. If you're so inclined, give the folks who uploaded the videos some Likes, comments and such. They add a lot to the Web.
Kermit the Frog Star Hollywood Walk of Fame Poster Prints , Amazon, see below

On the Border poster 1930
Vintage Rin Tin Tin poster

Rin Tin Tin

1623 Vine Street : On the Border, Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin (often billed as Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s and 1930s) was the name given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television. ....

The dog's big break came when he stepped in for a recalcitrant wolf in The Man From Hell's River (1922). Rin Tin Tin would be cast as a wolf or wolf-hybrid many times in his career, though not looking like one.

His first starring role was in 1923's Where The North Begins, playing alongside silent screen actress Claire Adams. This film was a huge success and has often been credited with saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy.

Rin Tin Tin was featured in the one Technicolor segment of the Warner Brothers all-star 1929 The Show of Shows. Toto in The Wizard of Oz, which was shot partly in color in 1939 could look back on Rin Tin Tin's color performance a decade earlier.

It's said that in 1929, Rin Tin Tin may have received the most votes for the first Academy Award for Best Actor. The Academy determined that a human should win.

In her book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, Susan Orlean writes that in the first year Oscars were awarded, "according to Hollywood legend, Rinty received the most votes for best actor. But members of the Academy, anxious to establish the awards were serious and important, decided that giving an Oscar to a dog did not serve that end."

It was followed by Shadows of the North (1923), Clash of the Wolves (1925), A Dog of the Regiment (1927) and Tiger Rose (1929). As with superstar Lassie years later, there were mass produced Halloween costumes and other memorabilia in and with the likeness of Rin Tin Tin.

Although primarily a star of silent films, Rin Tin Tin did appear in four sound features, including the 12-part Mascot Studios chapter-play The Lightning Warrior (1931), co-starring with Frankie Darro.

Rin Tin Tin got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.

Radio

Between 1930 and 1955, "Rin Tin Tin" (though not always portrayed by the original dog) was heard in three different radio series, beginning April 5, 1930 with The Wonder Dog, in which the original Rin Tin Tin did his own sound effects until his death in 1932, when Rin Tin Tin, Jr. took over. This 15-minute program was broadcast Saturdays on the Blue Network at 8:15pm until March 1931 when it moved to 8:15pm on Thursdays.
-- Wikipedia

John Florea image from Life Magazine Close Up of Collie "Lassie"

Lassie Hollywood Walk of Fame

6368 Hollywood Blvd.

Lassie is a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a talented dog named Pal playing Lassie.

June Lockhart played Ruth Martin 1959-64, the wife of Paul Martin (portrayed by Hugh Reilly) and the mother of Timmy Martin (played by Jon Provost) in the 1954 CBS series, Lassie.

She also played Dr. Maureen Robinson, the wife of Professor John Robinson (portrayed by Zorro actor Guy Williams) in Lost in Space (1965-68) and appeared as Dr. Janet Craig on the final two seasons of Petticoat Junction (1968-70). Her character was brought in to fill the void created after Bea Benaderet died during the run of the show.

She was a regular, playing in the Maria Ramirez on the soap opera General Hospital during the 1980s and 1990s.

Pal then appeared with the stage name Lassie in six other MGM feature films through 1951. Pal's owner and trainer Rudd Weatherwax then acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM and appeared with Pal (as Lassie) at rodeos, fairs, and similar events across America in the early 1950s.

In 1954, the long running, Emmy winning television series Lassie debuted and, over the next 19 years, a succession of Pal's descendants appeared on the series.

The Lassie character has appeared in radio, television, film, toys, comic books, animated series, juvenile novels, and other media. Pal's descendants continue to play Lassie today.

A Christmas episode, Lassie's Gift of Love, she befriends a toy maker.

The character of Lassie was created by English American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, first published as a short story the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and later as a full-length novel in 1940.

Set in the Depression-era England, the novel depicts the lengthy journey a rough collie makes to be reunited with her young Yorkshire master after his family is forced to sell her for money. In 1943, the novel was adapted into a feature film, Lassie Come Home, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that starred Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was a hit and enjoyed favorable critical response.

MGM followed this with several additional films, including a sequel entitled Son of Lassie (1945), starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart, and Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor. A radio series, Lassie Radio Show likes lassie with his friends was also created, airing until 1949.

Between 1954-1973, the television series, Lassie was broadcast in America, with Lassie initially residing on a farm with a young male master. In the eleventh season, she changed to adult forestry workers as her companions, then had the collie on her own for a while before ending the series with Lassie residing at a ranch for troubled children.

The long running series was the recipient of two Emmy Awards before it was canceled in 1973. A second series followed in the 1980s. In 1997, Canadian production company Cinar Inc. produced a new Lassie television series for the Animal Planet network in the U.S. and YTV in Canada. It ran until 1999.

In 2005, a remake of the original Lassie Come Home movie was produced in the United Kingdom. Starring Peter O'Toole and Samantha Morton, Lassie was released in 2006.

Lassie made a guest appearance on Whose Line is it Anyway?

Remember the show with Lassie's Great Adventures DVD, Share it with your family

Lassie continues to make personal appearances as well as marketing a line of pet food and a current pet care TV show, Lassie's Pet Vet on PBS stations in the United States.

In 2005, the show business journal Variety named Lassie one of the "100 Icons of all time" - the only animal star on the list.
-- info from Wikipedia and other sources

Lassie made a surprise guest appearance on the 2015 season of Project Runway All Stars sitting between her trainer and designer Isaac Mizrahi.

Lassie got her Hollywood Walk of Fame star on February 8, 1960. (Walk of Fame site shows same date for Lassie, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin, as well as many actors and other professionals from the early era of Hollywood.)

Patricia Morison was in Kiss Me Kate on Broadway opening in 1948

I Hate Men Lyrics, from Kiss Me, Kate :
First on Broadway 1948
From Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate
Mentions Lassie

I Hate Men Lyrics excerpt

I hate men.

I can't abide 'em even now and then.

Than ever marry one of them, I'd rest a maiden rather,

For husbands are a boring lot and only give you bother.

Of course, I'm awfully glad that Mother had to marry Father,

But I hate men.

Of all the types I've ever met within our democracy,

I hate most the athlete with his manner bold and brassy,

He may have hair upon his chest but, sister, so has Lassie.

Oh, I hate men!

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Lassie isn't the only icon mentioned in a Kiss Me, Kate song lyric. Clark Gable's name also appears in the song, Always True to You in My Fashion.

Timmy is where??? tee shirts

Dog Stories on Old Time Radio

While you're driving, wrapping presents, doing housework, resting or any time you want to Dogs of Old Time Radio Collection: of dog-themed old time radio programs on this MP3 CD shows.

From man's best friend to man wolves, the OTRCAT Dog Collection includes radio shows about dogs.

One of the many artists who, through their alluring offering via the big chains, are making the ownership of a good receiving set ever more desirable. A dog's tail serves as a radio receiver for Frank G Kerk, Los Angeles, experimenter.

Kerk attaches an aerial to the collar of his Great Dane and hooks an ear phone to the animal's tail. The canine radio is then complete and all that is necessary is to place the phone to the ear and listen. Dogs have long served humans as protectors, hunters, herders, and companions.

They also make fun additions to radio shows.

Stories in this collection include:
* Cathy sneaks a scary, huge dog into her playroom in Father Knows Best.
* In Suspense a DJ investigates a haunted house with his dog, only to have the dog run out of the house!
* Cecil gets a dog named Nero in Cecil and Sally
* In Dragnet, a man that appears to be more wolf-like is hunting the women in Los Angeles.
* It's National Dog Week in Fibber McGee and Molly and Fibber tries to convince Molly to get a dog.

Their Cat Collection presents cat-themed shows.

"Cats have long been the muses of artists, writers, musicians, and now web pages. Worshipped by the Egyptians and Mayans, hated during the Inquisition, and cuddled by smart folks listening to old time radio shows. The world is under the paw of cat scratch fever. We're not a lion!

Roaring old time radio shows about cats, black cats, cat-eyed crooks and catty witch-wives are included in this collection - plus an extras folder with curious Cat Nursery Rhymes. It's the cat's pajamas. Before a cat can lick her ear, grab your catnip and fiddle plus your favorite purring puss in boots and listen to these purrfect shows. MEEE-OOOW!" --I have the Cat Collection. It's a good variety of shows.

[From the OTR Cat site Image from publicdomainpics]

Strongheart: The story of a wonder dog

Strongheart
1724 Vine StreetGerman shepherd, Strongheart was the screen name of Etzel von Oeringen, October 1, 1917-June 24, 1929.

After being trained in Germany as a police dog, he was brought to the United States by husband and wife filmmakers Laurence Trimble and Jane Murfin, who had previously worked successfully with Jean, the Vitagraph Dog.

He appeared in several movies, including a 1925 adaptation of White Fang. Some of these pictures were highly successful, and did much to encourage the popularity of the breed, but most have been lost.

In August of 1928, Etzel Von Oeringen, the canine who played Strongheart, was accused of murdering a young child by the name of Sofie Bedard. It reportedly "tried to eat her." Strongheart's name was later cleared and Sofie's family was prosecuted for wrongly testifying in a court of law.

A popular celebrity in his day, Strongheart paved the way for the much better remembered Rin Tin Tin. Strongheart and his mate, Lady Jule, had many offspring and their line survives to this day. In 1929, while being filmed for a movie, Strongheart accidentally made contact with a hot studio light and was burned. These burns caused a tumor to form and Strongheart died as a result of it.

Strongheart died the next year in peace. "God bless you Strongheart, God bless you", were the words of the eminent dog's Eulogist and former trainer, Henri Potts.

"Read in honor of the dear friends who walk patiently with us seeking no more than to be told Good Dog:"

Part of Letters To Strongheart by J. Allen Boone 1939. Timeless content not just about respect, living through bereavement and pet loss but about much more than that.

Filmography

* The Silent Call (1921)

* Brawn of the North (1922)

* The Love Master (1924)

* North Star (1925)

* White Fang (1925)

* The Return of Boston Blackie (1927); Thought to be the only Strongheart movie still in existence

Strongheart got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.

Strongheart appeared in popular winter silent movies with early movie snow He was owned by early female writer and producer Jane Murfin and trainer Larry Trimble.

The companion article to this one:
Animated Film Characters on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Homemade Halloween Costumes, Last Minute 5 Moms Includes June Lockhart Lost in Space

** This is part of a short series. Trivia, background, videos and costume ideas will be included.

Next Installments, Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets for their group star. Links will be added & announced on Twitter.

Sources not cited above
The Hollywood Reporter

To Catch a Prince Grace Kelly Costume Barbie Princess

2015-03-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

The Bride, The Movie Star: Grace Kelly Costume Mattel Barbie Doll :

May 1955, Grace Kelly was working on the Alfred Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief with her costar, Cary Grant. She visited Prince Rainier at his palace in Monaco.

Mattel Grace Kelly
The Romance Silkstone
Barbie Gift Set

The Barbie Doll, Barbara Millicent Roberts, made her debut on March 9, 1959. There is, however a debate about Barbie's birthdate. *More about this below. The Ken Doll, Barbie's boyfriend, was introduced in 1961.

The 60th anniversary of the film is fast approaching. Interest in the film, any of Mr. Hitchcock's films, and of course in the legendary Princess Grace, never wanes. Do you remember where you were when you first saw the film? When you saw the wedding?

This collectible doll wears a gorgeous floral print dress just like the one Miss Kelly wore when she first met her future husband.

Mattel tells us that the dress was from an "easy to sew" pattern the actress modeled for McCall's magazine.

Many of Grace Kelly's signature dresses had a similar simple and very attractive silhouette. This dress features details taken from the actual dress she wore, including a fitted bodice and full skirt that flares out.

As is customary with Mattel's best Barbie dolls, she's further styled as Miss Kelly was on that romantic day. Her hair is just right, her headpiece and navy pumps are just as Grace wore herself. A true lesson in couture, in that 1950s to 1960s, fashion through the decades, costume. How fun this doll will be.

Sometimes we can't afford actual movie memorabilia, actual costumes or props. Maybe we want to add to a collection. I like finding something like this that's pretty and movie-related and will fit in a small space.

Mattel's Barbie Princess Grace Kelly Bride in Silkstone

Grace Kelly married Prince Rainer III of Monaco on April 19, 1956. Their civil ceremony had been held the previous day.

Another Silkstone Collector Barbie, this doll wears a special replica gown just like the one Grace wore on her wedding day. Details of the real wedding are there:

She carries a small ivory prayer book, the bouquet. Collectors of film memorabilia or bride dolls will both adore this beautiful item. She will be passed down.

There are more pieces of clothing with this doll. A now iconic deep navy blue coat and dress, white, wide-brimmed hat and matching scarf that so many fans saw on theater newsreels, the outfit that Miss Kelly wore as she arrived in Monaco for her wedding to the Prince.

As you'll notice in one of the videos, as she gets off of the boat, she is carrying Oliver, the poodle given to her as a gift from her friend, Cary Grant. The Prince picks up the leash as they get into the car.

The doll is sculpted in Grace Kelly's likeness. Silkstone body. Silkstone, popular among collectors and used for many fashion and celebrity dolls, is made of a very hard plastic that is intended to mimic porcelain. She's a doll to build a dream on.

A crossover collectible as film, celebrity, history and fashion collectors just as a start would love to have her Grace their shelves.

Grace of Monaco, 2014. A film starring Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly, Tim Roth as Prince Rainier III, Roger Ashton-Griffiths as Alfred Hitchcock.

To Catch a Thief, 1955 Trailer, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Jessie Royce Landis. Alfred Hitchcock, director.

Grace Kelly arrives in Monaco, you see the famous hat and coat. She gets off the boat carrying the poodle given to her by Cary Grant. The prince kindly picks up the end of the leash as Grace gets into the car appx 3:10 on video

Exhibition at the Victoria & Albert museum pays homage to the style of Grace Kelly throughout her life and in her films. (Exhibit has now closed.)

Barbie Collector To Catch A Thief Grace Kelly Doll

It was during the filming of To Catch a Thief that Kelly would meet her prince, her future husband.

The Academy Award winning fashion designer Edith Head created Kelly's clothes for the film.

Madame Alexander 16" Jet Set Chic Grace Kelly Doll

How many people knew that Madame Alexander created Grace Kelly dolls? She has different styles, all lovely.

This is part of the 2009 Grace Kelly Couture Collection.

The Barbie Hollywood Legends Collection
Of course there is the premiere piece, the Jean Harlow FAO Schwarz Silver Screen Barbie Doll By Mattel Exclusive Limited Edition. This one I have featured in my review of the film Reckless. (link below)

Just a sampling of others.... The 1994 introductions to the Hollywood Legends collection were Barbie as Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind in the Green Drapery and Red dresses. Perfect for this 75th anniversary of Gone With the Wind. 1995 saw more Scarlett O'Hara dolls and the addition of Barbie Doll as Maria in The Sound of Music and Barbie as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, a film also having its 75th anniversary in 2014.

I'll never forget the amazing Lady Gaga's musical tribute to Julie Andrews and The Sound of Music at the Academy Awards in 2015.

You'll find James Dean in his famous jacket and jeans from Rebel Without a Cause. There are two Rhett Butler figures. That makes an actor, a costume or a star iconic? There are characters such as the witch from The Wizard of Oz are represented, and Ken as the Tin Man is a favorite. They're characters we can share with generations.

Debate over Barbie's Birth Date: Toy Fair 1959 March vs February

There has been debate as to the date of Barbie's debut.

Some said the doll first went on sale February 13, 1959. Some say Barbara Millicent Roberts made her premiere on March 9, 1959. In either case, what I usually see both times with a claim that it was at the New York Toy Fair.

Going back a few years, the Toy Fair appears to have been held the second week of February. The people at Mattel and Barbie collectors celebrate her birth date as March 9, 1959.

Doesn't seem realistic that the New York Toy Fair of 1959 went on from February 13 - March 9, nearly a month.

A possible answer comes from a sort of contemporary of Barbie and Ken, GI Joe. He turned 50 in 2014.

With G.I. Joe, too there was some controversy as to whether the action figure was introduced in February or March of 1964 at the Toy Fair.

Apparently Hasbro said it was February but fair organizers say it was held in March that year. This was quoted on several blogs and news sources February 2014. No actual quote has been found to date.

If it's true, that could mean that when Barbie was introduced, the New York Toy Fair was held in March in the 1950s and 1960s and the date she went on sale, the date of her premiere could in fact be March 9, 1959 at the New York Toy Fair.

The fair has been going on since about 1903. A history was not very apparent on the web site of The American International Toy Fair. Will check again because it would have some great images.

Related Pages of Interest:

Jean Harlow is Reckless 1935 : Harlow was a Living Doll, First of the Barbie Hollywood Legends Collection

Oliver, a poodle fit for a princess, Cary Grant's wedding gift to Grace Kelly

Wedding Bridal museum shows

List of famous people with Alzheimers Disease Dementia

2015-03-02T07:31:00.001-08:00

List of Famous people who have or had Alzheimers Disease

Rita Hayworth 1940s

Stunning color photo poster

This list will reinforce the fact that all of us are susceptible to the disease and more of us are caring for family members and other loved ones living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The disease has nothing to do with your intelligence, ideology or socioeconomic status.

While more people get it at an older age, it isn't exclusively an older person's disease. It has been around, and been diagnosed, longer than some of us may have realized.

Many of these people in the public eye and/or their family members have become advocates for Alzheimer's information, funding and research.

Once married to Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth was an iconic actress and dancer active from the 1930s through the 1970s.

She danced with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich. Some of her best known films include Gilda, Cover Girl, The Lady From Shanghai, Salome and The Story on Page One Rita Hayworth was an American servicemen's pinup.

Her marriage to Orson Welles lasted 1943-1948. They had one daughter.
Rita Hayworth died in 1987 from Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 68.

According to a 1987 New York Times article, Hayworth "had been under the care of her second daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, who by publicizing her mother's tragic illness had drawn national and international attention to Alzheimer's disease, about which little was known until recent years."

Peter Falk with Richard Kiley in an episode of Columbo,
"Just one more thing..."

Short list of some of the famous people who have or had Alzheimer's Disease:

Charles Bronson had a long career on television and in films, known for his work in the Death Wish series.
Peter Falk, actor in many films known well for his role as Lt. Columbo

Burgess Meredith Received Academy Award nominations for his work in Rocky and The Day of the Locust. Also prolific on television and the stage.
Charleton Heston In 1959 he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Ben-Hur, Heston worked in many memorable films such as Planet of the Apes.

Dana Andrews The Best Years of Our Lives
Estelle Getty Golden Girls

Jack Lord Hawaii 5-0

Arlene Francis Famous in part for being on the show, What's My Line?
James Doohan was Montgomery Scotty Scott on Star Trek, when they said "Beam me up, Scotty," he was the man to do it.

Glen Campbell: In early 2013 it was announced that Campbell would no longer be able to continue touring. Instead he would work as an advocate for Alzheimer's research. He spent his 77th birthday in Washington.

Mabel Albertson: The sister of actor Jack Albertson, Mabel Albertson played the mother of Donald Hollinger on That Girl, Howard Sprague on The Andy Griffith Show and Dick Van Dyke on The New Dick Van Dyke Show. She was Phyllis Stephens, Darrin's Mom on Bewitched. Her character was known to say to her husband, "Frank, take me home. I have a sick headache."

Sports:

Patty Berg, LPGA great

James Doohan visits NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center
Edwards, California.
Pictured w/ NASA
pilot Bruce Peterson 1967.

Sugar Ray Robinson, Boxer
Former Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in 2011

Music, Art:

Perry Como
Thomas A. Dorsey, known as Father of Gospel Music [wrote Peace in the Valley for Mahalia Jackson in 1937]
Artist, Willem de Kooning

Writing:

Sir Terry Pratchett
E. B. White, Classic children's books, Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web and The Trumpet of the Swan

Terry Pratchett on Alzheimers - BBC
An esteemed author of fantasy novels, Mr. Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease

Said to have had the disease:

Norman Rockwell
composer Aaron Copland
Rosa Parks

Alzheimer's Contact (lost) Card-Customize
Browse People Business Cards

Former President Ronald Reagan

In August 1994, at the age of 83, former President Ronald Reagan was

Vintage photo poster
California Governor Candidate
Ronald Reagan Petting Horse
at Home on Ranch

diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death. In November he informed the nation through a handwritten letter.
Excerpt from letter:

"I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease... At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainder of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done...

"I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you."

Reagan died of pneumonia, brought on by Alzheimer's disease at his home in Bel Air, California, on the afternoon of June 5, 2004.

"My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has died after 10 years of Alzheimer's disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyone's prayers." Nancy Reagan's statement.
-- Some information from Wikipedia

Visit the Alzheimers Association web site for the latest information about treatment for the Alzheimer's disease, the stages of the disease and dementia, also places to get help in your area.

If you've met one person with Alzheimer's Disease, you've met one person with Alzheimer's Disease.
-- Unknown

Alzheimer's Disease Books, Movies, Songs

More gorgeous photos of Rita Hayworth, President Reagan and many others.
Available framed or unframed, your choice of size, paper type
The names on this page are in no particular order.

Alzheimers Movies, Books and Songs

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Alzheimer's Disease in Movies and Songs

It's hard to have the time to escape when you're in the midst of caretaking for

Promotional poster for 1985
Do You Remember Love
Dave Bell Associates, Inc.

someone with Alzheimers or dementia. When you get a break, it's sometimes hard to relax your mind. It's also easy to feel that you're all alone in this. September is World Alzheimer's Month.

While your situation is completely unique, it's got a similarity to what others have gone through and are going through and there are people you can talk to for support. Being a dementia caregiver can be isolating. Watching a movie together may help get discussions going within the family.

There are movies and songs you can sample on the Amazon site if you choose to do so. Watch a trailer. Sometimes watching or listening might finally give you that excuse to cry for the first time in a long time.

They may help to relieve a bit of your caregiver stress if only for a moment. Many of the items on this page, CDs, DVDs, etc make wonderful caregiver gifts.

I'm including what were some of the most helpful informative books and documentaries on video, too. Mostly, this page has movies and songs that deal with getting older, caregiving or directly with Alzheimers. If you're one of the many Alzheimer's and/or dementia caregivers out there, please leave any more you might know of in the comment section at the end.

What is Alzheimer's Disease?

Is a progressive and fatal brain disease. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior severe enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies or social life. Alzheimer's gets worse over time, and it is fatal. Today it is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States. The web site and books can help you with the Warning Signs and Stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

September is World Alzheimer's Month. Think about participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's or sponsoring a walker.

Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, mixed dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia.

It has no current cure. But treatments for symptoms, combined with the right services and support, can make life better for the millions of Americans living with Alzheimer's. There is an accelerating worldwide effort under way to find better ways to treat the disease, delay its onset or prevent it from developing.

Iris about the author Iris Murdoch

Alzheimer's Themed Films to stream, get on DVD - Helping you to realize that you're not alone

Films to consider:

Iris, a film about the English author Iris Murdoch Stars include Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent who won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville.

I Never Sang for My Father: with Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman, director Gilbert Cates

The Savages: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Firefly Dreams: A Japanese film with Maho, Tsutomu Niwa, Etsuko Kimata, Shunsuke Kabeya, Atsushi Ono

Sundowning: Minor Rootes, Steve Jones, director Jim Cole
You may find them on DVD or on television

Still Alice, Julianne Moore won an Oscar for her performance. Costars are Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth, and Kristen Stewart. Still Alice is available for pre-order. You may want to read Lisa Genova’s best selling novel.

U Me Aur Hum: Bollywood DVD with Ajay Devgan and Kajol, director: Ajay Devgan

Tracy & Jess: Living with Early Onset Alzheimer's

The Alzheimer's Project 4-part HBO documentary Maria Shriver

The documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me includes the song I'm Not Gonna Miss You which was an Academy Award nominee. Tim McGraw sang the song as a tribute to the singer at the awards ceremony in February 2015 when Campbell was not able to attend.

I'm Not Gonna Miss You, Glen Campbell

Hanging Up
The film received mixed reviews but is a good look at family and how you may deal with an
aging parent.
"Hanging Up deserves credit for combining issues of sisterhood and elderly parent care while relying on neuroses to carry its unconventional plot.

But you've also got to lament this botched "dramedy" from screenwriting sisters Nora and Delia Ephron (adapting the latter's novel) and director Diane Keaton, who lacks a coherent plan for illuminating their trio of female siblings."

Three sisters bond over their ambivalence toward the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them was particularly close - Amazon

Video contains
Deleted sequence
Outake Gag Reel
HBO First Look: Getting Connected, the Making of Hanging Up.
Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow, Walter Matthau, Delia Ephron and Nora Ephron

Variety of Films, Documentaries, DVDs helpful to, made by, about and specifically for caregivers

Sandwich: Film about a woman handling her mother's Alzheimer's while bringing up her own daughter

Edith and Michel

Forget Me Not

The Forgetting Featuring David Hyde Pierce

A Short History of Decay

Grace: The Alzheimer's Documentary, William-Whiteford

Alzheimer's Dementia Hands-On Care DVD: "The Art of Caregiving" with Care Expert Teepa Snow. There are several titles with high user ratings to choose from: Alzheimer's Care with Teepa Snow

Academy Award Nominated Short Films

A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films
Academy Award Nominated Short Films including.....(Not Alzheimer's specific themes, but these are a couple of very good short films with older characters) Included in the set are:

Eramos Pocos (One Too Many) (Spain)
In this comedy, Joaquin, a husband and father, finds that his wife has left him. Joaquin seeks his son's help in bringing home his mother-in-law from the nursing home to do the housework. Beautifully portrayed with an interesting turn of events.

Helmer & Son (Denmark)
A son is called to the rest home where his recently admitted father has locked himself inside a closet. Distinguished by a good dialogue, the short provides an insight on the relationship of father and son.

Do you remember love? 1985 TV movie
Joanne Woodward

Joanne Woodward

CBS film about Alzheimer's Disease. This isn't easily found, but being from the mid-1980s, it was a landmark film and important to talk about. In a year with other fine performances, Ms. Woodward won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her role.

Barbara Wyatt-Hollis is an English professor who begins to fall under the effects of Alzheimer's. The film documents her decline and the emotional turmoil it causes for her. It also shows how the changes impact her husband, George and their children. The film also looks at the process by which families can be educated and supported to deal with the impact of the disease, as well what is done for those afflicted.

Excerpts from a March 1985 New York Times article about the movie;

"Cancer, heart disease and disabling strokes have already served as the bases of television dramas, and now Mr. Bell's company has just completed shooting a movie about Alzheimer's disease, Do You Remember Love, for CBS. The disease, a neurological disorder that causes loss of memory and confusion - which may leave victims incapable of caring for themselves - currently affects more than two million Americans and has no known cure.

"The film was directed by Jeff Bleckner, who won an Emmy last year for his direction of Concealed Enemies, the PBS dramatization of the Alger Hiss case. Joanne Woodward stars as an award-winning poet and college professor stricken with Alzheimer's disease; Richard Kiley co-stars as her husband, and Geraldine Fitzgerald plays her mother. The movie will be broadcast in May.

"Although the film makers were initially wary of doing another affliction drama, they concluded that this one had qualities that set it apart from the routine tear-jerkers. 'There's something about this disease which is especially frightening, because it attacks the most precious thing we have as human beings, our mental faculties,' Mr. Bleckner said.

"Although there is little hope for victims of the disease, Mr. Bell said Miss Patik's script still found a way to accentuate the positive. 'In the film,'' he said, 'Joanne's family becomes closer because of the disease. They cope with tragedy in a very loving way.'

For Miss Woodward, the subject had more than clinical interest. The actress's mother, Mr. Bleckner said, is an Alzheimer's victim. 'I think Joanne was often quite depressed while doing the film,' Mr. Bleckner said. 'On our last day, we shot in a real convalescent home with many victims of Alzheimer's disease. Joanne got very quiet, and you could tell that it upset her. But she's a consummate professional, and her work was never affected.'"

Alzheimers Disease Cross & Heart Tee Shirt
by fightcancertees
There are many shirt designs to choose from,
Personalize and customize

Retro Vintage Kitsch Poster A Year From Now? T Shirt
by seemonkee
Spending time with those we love.
It can be frustrating, it's tough, it's important

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Songs and Music

Neighbor Dan song about early-onset Alzheimer's
- Dave Maloney

Silent House by The Dixie Chicks
can be found on the CD, Taking The Long Way
Amazon Prime members get a very special deal on this and other MP3s

This is one of the songs on this page that we listened to when we were caregiving for some of the family members who've lived with Alzheimer's Disease.

Silent House, Emily Robison excerpt

One room
Two single beds
In the closet hangs
Your favorite dress
The books that you read
Are in scattered piles
Of paper shreds

Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart

And I will try to connect
All the pieces you left
I will carry it on
And let you forget
And I'll remember the years
When your mind was clear
How the laughter and life
Filled up this silent house
Silent house

Tom Paxton
Live For the Record

Tom Paxton Live: For the Record
He's forgotten the names of trees
This CD includes the poignant Names Of Trees
excerpt of the lyrics by Tom Paxton and Susan Graham White:

... There are days when he'll recall the forest in the fall,
When we can walk for hours together, and he's fine
There are precious days like that
when he can name them all;
The ash, the elm, the beech, the oak, the pine.
He's forgotten the names of trees ...

Live for the Record may sell out, be temporarily sold out at elsewhere. Please also try link above.
+++++++
Live albums don't usually stay in my rotation for too long, and only the best overtly political material stays fresh in my experience. So I'm surprised at how much I still like Live For the Record after nearly four years. As you know if you've been to a Tom Paxton concert in recent years, he starts off his concerts with what he calls "short shelf-life" songs - brief songs about current events that are, in his own words "of diminishing interest to us all."

This disc opens with a clutch of such songs on mid-1990s people and events such as Lorena Bobbitt, Bob Packwood and the 104th Congress; they do sound dated now, but they're still good for a laugh. More seriously, On the Road to Sribinica is the most positively haunting of the few Bosnia songs I've heard; this alone is worth the price of the disc. From there, Paxton switches back and forth with remarkable ease from the serious to the sentimental to the hilarious, a skill which has always been his strongest point as a songwriter and performer.

His band is in fine form throughout the show; it's often hard to believe this was a live recording! There are great renditions of most of his classics (The Last Thing on my Mind, Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound, Ramblin' Boy) as well as his trademark love songs (Dance in the Kitchen, You Are Love) and satire (Modern Maturity and an updating of What Did You Learn in School? that never fails to make my Republican friends angry!) -- Amazon

For My Broken Heart Reba McEntire MP3s or CD

The album was Reba's first new album in a few years, after the tragic death of her band on a plane. The pain and remorse is evident in her voice, on the title track, which is one of her best songs from the 90's.

Elsewhere, the album offers other great songs which will forever be remembered. Is There Life Out There is another great song about a mother who is working a job, raising two kids and going to college. Its a spirited performance by Reba, who gives the song life.

Her cover of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia is a great performance as well, as if the song was written for her to sing it. The album shows Reba's ability as a singer to convey different emotions and to get the message she wants to send out to the listener.

Other highlights include He's In Dallas, If I Had Only Known and Buying Her Roses. A must have. Give it a listen. -- Amazon

Not intended for to be about loss of memory, Too Many Memories is from the Tom Rush CD, What I Know. The song is available on MP3

Once a future so bright now seems distant and cold
And the shadows grow long and your eyes look so old
When there's too many memories for one heart to hold
Now there are those moments
And they just never fade
Like the look in her eyes
And the way the light played

God moved in that moment
And the angels all cried
And they gave you a memory
that you'll have til you die
And the lesson you've learned
And you don't dare forget
What makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret
When there's too many memories for one heart to hold

Neurologist and author, Dr. Oliver Sacks speaks about music and memory

Alzheimer's: The Answers You Need
A book to answer questions for the person with the disease
Many books about Alzheimer's disease assume that family caregivers or professionals are reading them. Alzheimer's: The Answers You Need is the first book written expressly for the patient. The book assumes that people with AD are intelligent, sensitive and desperately seeking answers to questions about their condition. Moreover, the book does not overwhelm with information nor does it condescend in attempts to convey a point.-- Amazon

I Remember Better When I Paint: Art and Alzheimer's Choose DVD and/or paperback book to accompany. "I Remember Better When I Paint, narrated by Olivia de Havilland, is a documentary about the positive impact of art and other creative therapies on people with Alzheimer's and how these approaches can change the way we look at the disease."

The 36-Hour Day A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementias and Memory Loss (A Johns Hopkins Press Health Book)
This is the book that our relative's doctors suggested. It was very helpful to us. Choose the most recent edition.
++++
It has been estimated that five percent of older people suffer from severe intellectual impairment. So these two eloquent and readable guides will be much in demand as the number of families facing the challenge of caring for a relative with some form of dementing illness continues to grow.

First published in 1981, The 36-Hour Day follows the format of the previous editions but has been thoroughly updated to incorporate new information on the latest research, several drugs that hold promise, and genetic aspects of Alzheimer's. The heart of the guide remains unchanged, focusing on helping families cope with this progressive and irreversible disease. Besides tips on how to care for the demented during the various stages of the disease (for example, place a picture of a toilet on the bathroom door), the text discusses the different kinds of help available and how to seek it. Financial and legal issues are well covered, while sections on nursing homes and other alternative living arrangements provide advice and practical suggestions.

Appendixes list recent books, videos, web sites, and U.S. and international organizations. Both titles are highly recommended: Rabins and Mace for the practical help and advice, Jones for her eloquent presentation of a comprehensive program that treats patients with dignity. Cleveland Clinic Fdn. (C) 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Please Note:
Other songs, films and books will be added. What are some that have helped you?

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Related Pages of Interest:

Painting as Therapy for Persons with Alzheimers

A list of celebrities with Alzheimer's Disease and/or Dementia

Alzheimer's Disease Programs at Museums: Art appreciation, therapy

Cinematic Journeys From One Traumatic Transition to Another: Puberty, Aging, Alzheimer's

Join Amazon Prime (Free Month; One Year Membership) Streaming Movies & TV Shipping Discounts and more - Watch Over 40,000 Movies, HBO shows & specials, Wide selection of new/old movies, foreign films and documentaries compared to other streaming video sites and the yearly price is about the same.

1985: Joanne Woodward won the Emmy for her work in Do You Remember Love? There were so many strong performances by women in important and memorable films and miniseries that year. Several were taken from books. Other nominees for the Primetime Emmy that year included Farrah Fawcett in a much praised performance in The Burning Bed, a story about a battered wife. It was taken from a non-fiction book.

Mary Tyler Moore in Heartsounds, playing Martha Weinman Lear former editor of The New York Times Magazine in a film dealing with heart disease. Jane Alexander for Malice in Wonderland which was based on the 1972 novel Hedda and Louella: A Dual Biography of Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Elizabeth Taylor was Louella Parsons. Alexander was Hedda Hopper. Finally Peggy Ashcroft in the very popular The Jewel in the Crown.

1950s Comic Strip Detective Joe Friday Dragnet

2015-02-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

What you are about to read is true

1950s Dragnet Comic Strip

"Realizing the lack of a completely authentic comic strip story of a metropolitan

Dragnet newspaper comic strip
began October 1953

police force in action, the producers of the famous Dragnet program including creator Jack Webb, have arranged for the presentation of their stories in picture form.

"The series will go behind the scenes with Detective Sgt. Joe Friday and his partner."

A reader of this blog reminded me of yet another aspect of the Dragnet show.

There was a comic strip that ran in newspapers. As with the TV show, they advertised the comic strip after some of the radio shows. There was also a Mad Magazine parody.

They built interest and excitement with a series of illustrated ads such as the one above. They were published in a countdown type fashion. Each featured the comic likeness of the Joe Friday character. Finally we saw, "Starts Today!"

Running only on weekdays, I found it in one newspaper, The Miami Daily News 1953-1954.

The Miami Daily News at least implied that they published the Dragnet comic exclusively though the ad that followed the radio show didn't suggest that. The comics would, in return, have ads for the times and local stations where people could see or listen to the show.

Announcement of the Dragnet comic October 19, 1953

The comic-strip is said to have run 1953-1955 and could be found in multiple newspapers.

On a brief search of other available US papers, I couldn't find it during that time period. That definitely doesn't mean it didn't run elsewhere.

The radio version of Dragnet began in 1949, the TV show started in 1951, with its color revival in 1967.

When movies or TV shows get this pervasive you start hearing the inevitable joke asking for a Dragnet on Ice version.

"It was Thursday, July 16th. It was warm in the city. We were working General Assignment out of Hollywood Division. My partner is Frank Smith. The boss is Captain Bert Jones. My names' Friday. We'd gotten a call from a real estate agent that some property had been stolen from a bungalow in the Hollywood area. We had to check it out."

"What you are about to read is true"
October 19, 1953 premiere of the
Dragnet Comic Strip

"Every relevant and interesting phase of police procedure will be shown in the Dragnet strip. The correct procedure for fingerprinting, ballistics and testing, as well as investigations, line-ups and interrogations will be covered.

"The stories in Dragnet are true complete and authentic in every sense. Every incident in the comic strip is carefully checked and receives police approval for authenticity."

-- Miami Daily News, October 13, 1953

Other comic strips of the time period included Alley Oop, Joe Palooka, Major Hoople, Pogo, Myrtle, Mutt and Jeff, Dottie Dripple, Disney's Donald Duck, Dixie Dugan, Snuffy Smith, Mickey Finn, Captain Easy, Mary Worth, Kerry Drake, Marlin Keel, Roy Rogers, Secret Agent X9, Hopalong Cassidy, Orphan Annie and There Ought Be A Law.

Like George M. Cohan, Orson Welles and others, Jack Webb was intent on getting his name and his brand name out there wherever he could. Director William Castle learned this same lesson when he worked with Orson Welles.

"Realizing the lack of a completely authentic comic strip story of a metropolitan police force in action," what a great line for marketers and creative types. There is something the world lacks that only you can provide.

Dragnet Comic Strip 1954, "All right Crawford, what have you got for us?"

I am no expert on the show, this comic or comics in general. If you have interest in comic art, artists, illustrators, illustrated books, you should check out a publication ImageS created by Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr. He is very knowledgeable on the subject, having written a book and been a consultant for others.

Most very reasonably priced these days, the show had its share of paperback tie-ins and included Dragnet "Case Histories from the Popular TV Series."

Dragnet: The Case of the Courteous Killer even has a Kindle version In this book, Joe Friday has been promoted to Lieutenant. He had that rank briefly during the run of the show but had the character made a Sergeant again, deciding that sergeants saw more action.

Related pages of interest:

Dragnet Early Television Cop Series 1950s

Jack Webb's early radio shows, pre-Dragnet

Orson Welles, Citizen Kane and the Oscars

William Castle, Scream for Relief

James Cagney is George M. Cohan the Yankee Doodle Dandy, Where were you in '42?