Hillary's Classic Cinema

Tinseltown Talks

2010-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

"I felt like a wonderful sandwich, a slice of white bread between two slices of ham."
- Dorothy Lamour on Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, whom Lamour co-starred with in six "Road To" films throughout the 1940's and early 1950's.

Photographic Faves

2010-01-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

Joseph Cotten and Loretta Young enjoy a snack on the set of their radio broadcast of The Farmer's Daughter, January, 1948.

Tinseltown Talks

2010-01-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

"About a week before (my) wedding was planned, I got a call from the casting director: 'Let your hair and your beard grow. You're going to be in a western.' So in the society column of the Santa Monica paper there was a picture of (my new wife and I), me with this beard, and it said, 'Mr. Andrews is an actor. Note the beard.'"
- Dana Andrews

Oppy New Year

2010-01-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

The new year, it is upon us. A new year, a fresh decade, a month just beginning - and yet, here at HCC, marking the passage of time as such simply reiterates how very long it's been since the Hollywood we know and love was in its heyday.

2010 draws us close to the centennial anniversary of landmark films like D.W. Griffith's Birth of A Nation. Eighty-three years ago, sound burst into cinemas, thereby rendering the medium of movies a format of limitless potential. Seventy years have gone by since David O. Selznick unveiled his epic Gone With The Wind and Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale became a childhood film staple; best-loved musicals and milestone dramas, richly reflective of the audiences they sought to satiate with their songs and their subject matter, now near fifty, sixty, seventy-five years old.

Decades have indeed passed since our favorite films held box office sway, but their appeal has not receded with the years; their poignancy remains, redoubtable and enduring. So let's relish them all the more. Rather than sighing over the absence of studio system musicals or lamenting that lack of Lana Turner on the marquee, let us be grateful for the many ways in which 2010 allows us to revel in those flicks of yesteryear, our film libraries replete with our favorite gems, our Netflix queues and DVRs full of undiscovered classics. This year, may you continue to uncover innumerable heretofore unfamiliar stars in the cinema firmament - and may they dazzle you, each and every one.

Now make a martini like you're partying at The Charles' apartment tonight. Happy New Year from HCC!

Jennifer Jones, 1919-2009

2009-12-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

Hillary goes about her regrettable obligations today with a sadness at the passing of beautiful character actress Jennifer Jones, 90, of natural causes in her Malibu, CA home this morning. An in-depth tribute to Ms. Jones is forthcoming at this time.

Classic Movie Trivia

2009-08-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

Who, based on ticket sales, is the third most popular actor of the twentieth century, preceded only by Clark Gable and John Wayne?

Van Johnson, 1916-2008

2008-12-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

Oh Vanny. Not you. Not the tousle-haired sailor, the baby-faced boy in battle, the relish-ably rogue redhead intent on weakening the prudish underpinnings of June Allyson with a wry smile and a soft-spoken sweet nothing. You were the redoubtable romance of so many black-and-white blockbusters, the genial gentleman in MGM's most dazzling musicals. You were boyish onscreen - boyish yet broad-shouldered, disarmingly darling yet deftly deceitful, a wooer of women with a shy sincerity submerged in a charming casanova front (do you remember getting June drunk in that grotto? I can never forget it). And now you're gone.

____

Charles Van Johnson, 92, passed away Friday, December 12, 2008. The Rhode Island-born only child made his Broadway debut at just 18, understudied Gene Kelly in the latter's hit stage hit Pal Joey, and coasted into cinema in 1940's Too Many Girls, having been brought to Hollywood as a member of the film's Broadway cast. He played bit parts in MGM B-movies after the studio picked up his three-year contract from RKO, but when serious injuries from a near-fatal 1942 car crash left him ineligible for military service, Van was one of the few young actors stranded stateside during WWII, and so gained a valuable foray into leading roles by virtue of his youth, appeal, and circumstance. His affability and humility after the gruesome accident earned him the acceptance and affection of millions of moviegoers, and, paired with some of the most beautiful and bankable actresses of his day - June Allyson, Judy Garland, and Esther Williams - Van proved to be a hugely popular star and top box-office draw for MGM.
After a string of successful dramas and romantic comedies in the postwar 1940's and 1950's, Van scaled back his film career, appearing onscreen only infrequently, focusing more on stage and television work, often collaborating with former fellow film stars like June Allyson and Angela Lansbury in the latter medium. He maintained a low profile in his final years, though he reportedly loved to reminisce about his golden days at MGM.
Van is survived by his estranged daughter, Schuyler, by his late former wife, Eve Wynn.

_____

There is a scene from Two Girls and A Sailor that has been with me today. June Allyson's character has been dreaming, and in her sleep-heavy state she is led through her dream to a wispy, glorious, cloud-covered place that could only be Heaven in a Pasternak production, vivid and bright even in black-and-white. The film's hero meets her here - Van Johnson, of course - and he is everything a film hero should be: winningly adorable yet non-threatening, endearingly tender, a touch shy, brave, lovable...the essence of Van Johnson, really. The dialogue doesn't matter, but the image of Van and June in heaven...I would like to savor that today.

"Van Johnson is one of the nicest boys who ever lived, and Hollywood hasn't spoiled him. Nothing ever will. He's just as honest and sunny-dispositioned as he looks." - Lucille Ball

Macy's Makes Me Cry

2008-11-25T23:32:00.000-08:00

It doesn't take a whole lot to make me cry. Lauren Bacall's autobiography, Judy Garland's singing voice, that scene in The Women where Norma Shearer informs tiny little Virginia Weidler of Norma's marital meltdown - all are time-tested tearjerkers. It was not lightly, then, that I received the first airing of the 2008 Macy's holiday season commercial, which strings together such famed and fabled film faves as Charlie Chaplin, Natalie Wood, Alice Faye, Bob Hope, Orson Welles, Shirley MacLaine and Lucille Ball.

Is it cinema nostalgia or simply heartfelt holiday warmth that makes me cry? In all honesty - I think it's Susan Walker.

Picture Pane Puzzle - Solved!

2008-11-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

In this age of at-your-fingertips knowledge, posting trivia questions has become a bit of a challenge for me - so, I give you a new type of trivia: The Picture Pane Puzzle. It's up to you to determine the mystery film by recognizing the images from it, posted below.

Think you know it?! Use the Comments option below to post your guess!

11/25: Poster Maryann has solved this week's Picture Pane Puzzle. She recognized Gene Kelly's cranium to identify this film as 1964's What A Way to Go! What a way indeed - bravo, Maryann!

Filially Fabulous: Stephen Humphrey Bogart

2008-11-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

When screen legend Humphrey Bogart succumbed to cancer in the early days of 1957, the last-century boy - he was born December 25, 1899 - left an indelible impression on the world of film, and a viable absence in the lives of his family. His actress wife Lauren Bacall chronicled the heartbreaking loss in her 1978 autobiography, where she stressed the impact of his untimely death on the couple's two young children, son Stephen and daughter Leslie, just 8 and 4, respectively, at the time of their father's passing. The bereaved trio ultimately coped, but Stephen, burdened by public fascination with his iconic father and vying to live outside of the shadow cast by such association, struggled with identity issues and substance abuse problems throughout his young life.

Fortunately, such unrest is impossible to place on the 59-year-old today. The younger Bogart is now a successful author and entrepeneur who utilizes his tony, unique childhood experience as celebrity offspring to lend an air of authenticity to his classic film-related endeavors; chief among them is MODA Entertainment, which he co-founded and developed from 1997 through 2008. His promotion of such retrospective-themed print, radio, and film work takes him to small, accessible venues throughout the country, where he interacts with reporters and fans and fields questions with genuine candor and enthusiasm, as he did when visiting Chicago's famed Hollywood Boulevard Cinema this past weekend.

Amiable and approachable, Bogart greeted fans and inquiries with equal graciousness as he hosted the presentation of the theater's latest addition, the Casablanca-themed "Moroccan Room," where his father's fabled film was the new theater's incendiary screening. He signed autographs, chatted with curious fans, even happily personalized my favorite photograph of his parents while talking film shop in the Boulevard lobby (he kindly indulged us in some incredible backstories about his mother and father).

With so many links to the golden age of cinema but tenuous and undignified ones, Stephen Bogart is delightfully refreshing representative and facilitator of film's preservation, celebration, and translation today. Here's looking at you, kid.

For more information on upcoming Hollywood Blvd events, please visit their website.
Find out more about the array of creative projects MODA Entertainment has spawned here.

Judy, Judy, Beauty

2008-11-14T17:35:00.000-08:00

  Strolling through the campus rose garden after Latin class this week, I came upon a particular placard that denoted a gorgeous crop of classic film flowers. These beautiful yellow-and-orange hybrid roses are named in honor of Miss Judy Garland, the sparkliest star of the MGM constellation in the 1930's and 40's.

  The idea for the Garland flower was developed and implemented by longtime Judy fan Pat Losiewicz in 1970, the year after Garland's death, but it took nearly a decade for the horticultural homage to become a reality. Frustrated with a lack of response from American rosegrowers, Losiewicz transferred the project to the President of the Great Britain Judy Garland Fan Club, Gwen Potter, who selected the rose from a collection of unnamed hybrids in 1978; the flower was finally available for sale in the United States in 1991.

  The flowers are planted near Judy's gravesite in Ferncliff Cemetery, New York, as well as at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand, Rapids, MN, the result of another effort spearheaded by superfan Losiewicz.

The Judy Garland Rose is available for purchase via Heirloom Roses. Please note that clicking this link will take you to an external site.

Did You Know?

2008-11-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Infamous print gossipmonger Hedda Hopper, whose dirt-dishing endeavors earned her a ruthless reputation (as well as gifts like a kick in the behind from an enraged Spencer Tracy and a skunk from a disgusted Joan Fontaine), was actually born Elda Furry in 1885. Though she was at various times known as Elda Furry, Elda Curry, Ella Furry, and Elda Millar, her eventual name was comprised of her married surname from husband DeWolf Hopper, whom she wed in 1913, and the name Hedda, which she selected on the advice of a numerologist.

I Heart Valley Art

2008-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Paul Newman's September 26th death at the age of 83, my sentiment at his passing has been piqued by the rush of remembrances that poured from a myriad of sources: contemporaries and cohorts, filmmakers and fans, beneficiaries and bloggers alike have sung the praises of the humble Ohian-cum-silver screen star whose ingenuity in his later years became the prosperity he diffused to innumerable worthy causes.

But amongst all the positive press Paul's life received, little has been mentioned of his screen legacy - and understandably so, in light of his charitable work and how he valued it, far above his film contributions. As an ardent classic cinema fan, though, I feel his Luke and his Ben Quick, his Hud and his Hombre (okay, maybe not Hombre) are worth more than a fond farewell acknowledgment in his many obituaries. This was evidently a sentiment shared by my local Harkins Valley Art Cinema, as they recently hosted a week-long, multiple-film retrospective in Paul's honor, which I was fortunate enough to attend.

Valley Art, the oldest theatre in the state, provided a sumptuously antique feel for late-night big screen viewings of some of Paul's most popular films, including Cool Hand Luke (1967), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and 1961's gritty The Hustler. As someone who had never reveled in the grandiose spectacle of silver screen stars in such sizable glory, to witness Newman the actor - thoughtful, passionate, impossibly Adonis-like - was to see his film presence finally in proportion to his personal and social legacy: larger than life.

Harkins Valley Art donated all proceeds from the festival, more than $3,000, to Newman's Painted Turtle Camp, a multi-disease camp and family care center based in California.

Photographic Faves

2008-10-23T02:09:00.000-07:00

American actress Grace Kelly in her most famous role, that of Princess to Monaco's Prince Rainier. The royal couple are shown here with their elder daughter, Caroline, and son Albert. Circa 1960.

I Am Unfit to Live!

2008-10-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that, in all my complete adoration for her, I missed June Allyson's birthday this month. I mean, I knew it was in October, but between mid-terms, homework, and working a job that has an odd policy about watching movies during my shift (they won't let me), I somehow overlooked October 7, the date which would have been Ms. Allyson's 91st birthday (she died in 2006).

So, in honor of Junie the Great - and in an effort to never allow this type of neglect on my part again - HCC has appointed October 7 as The Feast of Our Lady of the Perpetual Pageboy*, aka June Allyson Day.

Why the Perpetual Pageboy, you ask? Surely she is memorable for much more than a hairstyle that endured roughly 75 years. And she is - I can't downplay her tenacity, her unpretentious girl-next-door persona, her incredible box office appeal, or the fact that during any one of her movies, she cries approximately every 13.4 minutes, this heartbreaking little petunia. (Watching her, though, so do I.) But as much as June Allyson represents the best years MGM had to offer - the brightest, most colorful musicals, engaging biopics and first-rate stars - the pageboy represents, or is at least as lovingly associated with, Junie. Regardless of the time period her movie is set in, there it is, blonde and demure and expertly coiffured. Don't believe me? Let's take a little look-see at a few of her best and most memorable movies in our convenient Pageboy Table below:

See? It really is perpetual. Which isn't to say that there aren't any movies in which she has long hair (The Bride Goes Wild) or a short, chic coif (The Opposite Sex) or even a very un-Junie-like pile of tresses (Two Sisters from Boston), it's just that no matter what, she reliably returns to that perfectly complementary cut that's as sweet and uncomplicated as she always seemed to be.

Happy belated birthday, Junie!

*Disclaimer: Being Catholic, I understand that this reference may offend someone, but it is certainly not my intent to do so. Sweet as she was, I know Junie was not a saint!

Paul Newman, 1925-2008

2008-09-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Paul Newman died of cancer yesterday, September 26, 2008, in his Westport, Connecticut home. He was 83 years old.

_____

I must admit that for some time now I have been trying to write a coherent obituary for a good man. This early morning has been all phone calls and blurry-eyed seeking of confirmation on major news networks, and I am, in a way, unable to communicate the vague, detached sense of loss I feel at the passing of someone I didn't truly know, save through his artful acting, purposed philanthropy and sometimes-scintillating screen presence.

But I loved that screen presence. I loved the candor and undiluted veracity with which he spoke to the press: the barbs of self-deprecation were genuine, not ploys for applause or mere pretenses of unpretentiousness, and they only seemed to make the cerulean eyes glint with more mischief as he humorously deflected praise and veneration. I loved the unexpected contradictions of his nature - this man, this lean and laconic sex symbol whose celluloid sensuality set an exorbitant precedent for American men to live up to (and for American women to find for themselves), spoke openly of his love for and fidelity to wife Joanne Woodward, to whom he was married for fifty years. I was endlessly delighted at the various veins of interests he pursued, from producing to sailing to founding his lucrative charity organization, not to mention a typical Newman-esque foray into Formula 1 racing as he entered his 70s. And I must admit to crying openly each time I read of his continued efforts to sustain and expand his line of food products, Newman's Own (started in his own Connecticut home), that generated and funneled an astonishing amount of money and resources - currently estimated at over $250 million - to charitable organizations worldwide, including his personally-established Hole in the Wall Gang camps, which provide summer-camp experiences for terminally ill children and their families.

I loved Paul Newman. I didn't know him, it's true - but a good man so devoid of detectable artifice, one whose accessible personability and humanitarian efforts rivaled his fame as an Oscar-winning actor over the span of nearly six decades, one who, as he put it, saw "shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good" as a most worthy aspiration and business philosophy, he is a rarity, particularly when his fame and wealth afforded him the luxury of security and sedentariness. But that was not his nature. His altruistic approach to life and the inventiveness and tenacity with which he applied it was disarming, is disarming, as it will undoubtedly live on, evident as it is, this redoubtable humanity of his, even in his various onscreen personas.

I love Paul Newman. I loved discovering, at just sixteen, his delicious sixties sex appeal, all appreciative glances, subtle touches, and double entendres thinly veiling an undeniable masculinity; I still love reveling in the smoldering exchanges he and Joanne share in films like The Long, Hot Summer and A New Kind of Love. I loved the bits of his authentic self that made his Cool Hand Luke so compelling, his Butch Cassidy so lovably redeemable, his Ben Quick so scandalously stimulating. But it's undeniable that he would shake his head at such references, so I will refine my remembrance of Paul Newman to be just as he was: simple, joyous, and kind. And surely I can, in the name of this good man, set aside these still-intact affections of mine and afford him that.

Thank you, Paul.

____

"I would like it if people would think that beyond Newman, there's a spirit that takes action, a heart, and a talent that doesn't come from my blue eyes."

For more information on Paul's philanthropic endeavors, please visit the Newman's Own website.

Photo of the Week

2008-09-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

Pint-sized preciousness June Allyson, 31, with a puppy pal on the set of "Little Women", 1949.

Back To Cool

2008-09-08T23:40:00.001-07:00

Whether they're bare dorm room or needy den walls, if your abode is lacking any film fan paraphernalia, online retailer AllPosters.com is currently offering some great, iconic prints of your favorite stars and films.
Though only a select few classic movie posters are offered at an outrageously low price of just $4.99 (even for prints as large as 24x36 inches), nearly all of the celebrity 8x10 prints are on sale, and an additional 20% discount on your entire purchase. There's no excuse for bare walls anymore!

Visit this link to shop AllPosters.com!

Cary-ing On the Tradition

2008-09-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Actress Jennifer Grant, the only child of super-suave screen legend Cary Grant and his fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon, gave birth to her first child on August 12, 2008, in Los Angeles, California. Jennifer, 42, named her new son Cary Benjamin Grant.

Jennifer is currently working on a book about her life and famous father; entitled "Good Stuff", it is slated for a 2009 release.

Source

Photo of the Week

2008-09-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

Screen team Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland on the set

Photo Source

Current Love: Jennifer Jones

2008-08-05T01:15:00.001-07:00

'Tis a rare thing in classic film, a movie star is so believable as a celebrated historical or iconic figure as to transcend the studio system that redoubtably landed him or her the role in the first place - but I must admit that it does happen. Henry Fonda, for instance, was as complete an embodiment of Young Mr. Lincoln as anyone could dare to conjure; Gary Cooper suffered and stayed stoic just as we imagine Lou Gehrig did in his decline. But Jennifer Jones, that sweet wide-eyed thing I knew only from a handful of good forties films, trumps them all. She is - and I will swear to this, honest, I will - Jennifer Jones is Bernadette Soubirous.

How did the eminent awesome escape me until now?

Last week's impromptu viewing of the awe-inspiring Song of Bernadette moved me profoundly. The appeal of the film is in the sincerity of its story and the myriad levels on which it can be meaningful, but its beauty is that even a superficial appraisal cannot find fault with the performance, the presence, of Miss Jones, nor can it contest the clarity with which she channels the trusting piety of the young, uneducated peasant girl in rural nineteenth-century France. Void of any of the telltale mannerisms of then-contemporary studio actresses that threaten to date a decades-old drama or hinder its impact, Jones so convincingly becomes 14-year-old Bernadette that it is just that, a becoming. To see Jennifer accepting her Best Actress Academy Award for the role in 1944 - on the eve of her 25th birthday, no less - is to be stunned that any aspect of her could be removed from the humble and unassuming, unlearned and makeup-less teenager she so artfully revived, and immortalized, on the silver screen.

Henry as The Great Emancipator, Gary as Gehrig, and a young Oklahoman actress with limited stage experience and only 3 bit parts in films on her resume playing, being, the loved and lauded French peasant who became a saint? Only in Hollywood, mes chers. Only in Hollywood.

DeHaven a Party

2008-07-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

  Sizzling chanteuse and sometime-screen star Gloria DeHaven celebrates her 83rd birthday today, July 23. The daughter of vaudevillian Carter DeHaven and his actress wife Flora, Gloria infiltrated Hollywood practically from birth - she was born in Los Angeles - and kicked off her career with tiny, uncredited film roles during her teens, often appearing alongside her father. It wasn't until 1944's Two Girls and A Sailor that Glo was recognized as a bona fide star, and she brought fellow relative newcomers June Allyson and Van Johnson, her Sailor co-stars, into orbit with her, where all three remained for nearly a decade.

  After adjusting the pace of her film career to suit her 1944 marriage to actor John Payne (they divorced in 1950) and the family they raised together, Gloria premiered on the stage as a successful nightclub singer and Broadway actress, filmed several musicals, and eventually segued into frequent cameo television appearances. Still an active participant in retrospectives and benefits related to her Tinseltown past, she most recently appeared in the 1997 film Out to Sea, where she supresses the brazen, boy-crazy blonde role she typified decades ago and instead plays a modified version of what seems to be her more authentic self - chic, elegant, dignified, and successful.

  I had the pleasure of seeing Gloria in Hollywood recently, and she is every bit the definition of 'star' for her generation even as she maintains the warm and appreciative appeal of her celluloid youth. (Well, she is a little less flirtatious now, but maybe that's because June Allyson doesn't have an onscreen boyfriend for her to steal). She's still gorgeous, though!

Happy Birthday, Glo!

Decades of Darling!

2008-07-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

I will admit it. When I read of eternally-cute June Allyson's outspoken, matchmaking fans in her mildly heartstring-tugging 1984 autobiography, I knew immediately that I was one of them. After June's smash success alongside Van Johnson in their 1944 film, Two Girls and A Sailor, moviegoers the globe over began to plan the pair's nuptials, write scenarios of their wedded bliss, and submit potential names for future Allyson-Johnson offspring - all hypothetical, of course - to movie magazines of the day. While a reflective and amused Allyson divulged that she adored Johnson but enjoyed only a platonic relationship with him, their onscreen interaction was, and is, so sparkling and wholesome, so innocently romantic, so darned charming, you can't help but imagine a preacher and a white picket fence in their near future every time the credits roll on one of their five collaborative films.

Imagine my pure and unfettered delight, then, upon discovering the painfully adorable partners in a 1984 episode of the Angela Lansbury television classic, "Murder, She Wrote". Forty years after their first screen pairing, Van and Junie were still as darling as they had been when they were sharing marquees with Jimmy Durante and Gloria deHaven, and I'm sure there were more than a few erstwhile audience members thrilled at their onscreen reunion upon the show's airing nearly 25 years ago (though Van and June were still pretty young themselves: she was a mere 67 to his 68). Despite a rather lackluster storyline in the 48-minute mystery and a disappointing amount of screentime alloted Miss Allyson (she appears but briefly as a pivotal supporting character), that old MGM chemistry was in full force between those two dolls - all that was missing was a little Technicolor, Butch Jenkins and a Freed Unit number, and it would've been 1944 all over again!

The episode of "Murder, She Wrote" featuring Van Johnson and June Allyson is entitled "Hit, Run and Homicide" and is available in the first season of the show's DVD release.

Did You Know?

2008-07-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Inimitable screen siren Barbara Stanwyck was initiated as an honorary member of the Blackfoot Indian tribe's Brave Dog Society. She was adopted by the braves, who were impressed with her handiwork and willingness to perform her own dangerous stunts while shooting the 1954 film Cattle Queen of Montana, and she was given the honorary title of Princess Many Victories III.

Mary Astor-read

2008-07-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

Regardless of how long you have been visiting here, my voracious appetite for classic-movie-related literature is probably quite apparent. I purchase books quite frequently, and without discretion or forethought, simply if they bear the name of an erstwhile celebrity, and thus, I came to acquire a hardbound 1968 fiction novel penned by silent film star Mary Astor out of pure curiosity (and, perhaps, a latent desire to become more well-schooled in movie trivia than the revered Robert Osborne).

Astor, long celebrated as one of the few actresses to segue seamlessly from silent films to talkies in the late 1920's and early '30's, is notable in that her lengthy career encompassed roles of advancing ages as she herself aged, rather than being passed over in favor of younger starlets of her day. She was a rare actress who was sought to play the sexy ingenue in the 1920's, a thirty-something woman in the 1930's, and a parent with adult children in the 1940's (she's a memorable mama in both 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis and 1949's Little Women). Few had her versatility or longevity of appeal. Oh, and she wrote, too.

A Place Called Saturday is as much a meditation on the issue of fidelity, equality, and abortion as it is a reasonably engaging dramatic fiction. The last of her six novels (she also penned two autobiographies), Saturday begins at the scene of a violent sexual crime committed in a small American town, and follows the development of its aftereffects on the once-complacent marriage of its protagonist young couple. Astor is decidedly adept at conveying ambience with lush imagery, and she crafts complex characters through fine attention to idiosyncratic behaviors and selective descriptions of their intimate interactions; her writing is often the only element that keeps the story buoyant when a core character fails to provide the pre-denoument tension necessary to make this book truly satisfying. While it is poignant and by no means a poor read, Saturday is perhaps more considerable as an well-crafted opinion on such a touchy topic as abortion in light of its time of publication, than it is a literary achievement.

A Place Called Saturday is available in used condition through online retailers such as Amazon.com and Half.com.

To Be Seeing You, Pat and Mike

2008-07-07T23:58:00.000-07:00

No stressful, school-laden week is replete without a respite into the realm of classic movies, I've discovered: even 90 minutes in the silvery screen presences of uberstuds like Dennis Morgan or dashing comedic greats like Jack Benny is enough to renew my passion for the films of yore and to sate the vintage vixen in me. These three recently-viewed films, then, are enough to keep me happy long after summer's through - so take note, check your popcorn stock, and do indulge in:

To Be or Not To Be (1942) - The notion of seeing unrivaled radio and television star Jack Benny - who not only set entertainment standards with his delectable radio and television shows and rich, timeless humor, but who was himself an enduring element of 20th century entertainment - as the deadpan husband of glamorous Carole Lombard was, well, a bit unsettling. How could I accept him as anything but the notorious violin-playing cheapskate character he so believably perpetuated for nearly fifty years? I shouldn't have worried, though: Benny's appearances are brief but side-splitting as the somewhat cuckolded straight man cast in a Poland-set, Nazi-infused muddle of love, intrigue, spies, and the abiding hope that the right men will be fooled at the right times. Director Ernst Lubitsch deftly balances tension and wartime grimness with lighthearted farce and audience-flattering intelligent plot twists, all while showcasing the talents of his favored bit players and the best aspects of his stars' appeal. I definitely recommend this sweet, smart comedy.

I'll Be Seeing You (1945) - Oh, Ginger. Just when I thought 1940's stellar Kitty Foyle was the lone epitome of red-haired Rogers' touching dramatic acting skills, her turn as pensive prisoner Mary Marshall in I'll Be Seeing You convinced me that she is among the most dexterous screen stars of all time. Though the film's appeal lies in the evident and inherent redeemable qualities of its lead characters - the Rogers' heartsick Marshall and Cotten as her shy, self-doubting, shaky suitor - this is no mere wartime weepy; under its engaging, romantic plot are rich commentaries on acceptance and prejudice, love and loneliness, salvation and sanguinity. An added bonus (as though you needed one amidst the romance and heartache) is the haunting and melodic title track, a version of which is featured in the film performed by vocalist Helen Forrest (one of my perennial faves) and which has since become a timeless American Standard.

Pat and Mike (1952) - Every so often there is a film so transcendent of the era in which it was produced, so sturdy despite its soon-dated hairstyles and music styles and clothing styles, that it can be seen and appreciated in light of the day it is screened, be it days or decades later. Pat and Mike is one such film. This sparkling comedic gem, the fusion of four-part brilliance emanating from writers Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon and their friends, stars Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, imparts a likable plot conducive not only to easy humor, but to evidencing the appeal of the latter two talents, screen icons both.
Hepburn, a real-life athlete skilled in numerous sports, takes to her role of gym-teacher-turned-female-sports-star with enviable vigor and agility, while it's clear from his introduction that venerable old Tracy delights in channeling his roguish side to bring rough, tender-hearted, slightly legitimate business manager Mike Conovan to life. It's entertainment enough just to see Spence revert from his typical meted, articulate screen presence to talking in bum-lingo, and Kate relish her foray as fast-talking, sports-dominating, skirt-loathing feminist Pat - aside from their tender turn in their final screen collaboration, 1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, Pat and Mike may well be the pair's most true-to-life characterizations. And tee for tee, match for match - we're the ones who win big for having this sporting, delectable comedy to savor long after tournament's end.

For access to these and hundreds of other similarly-scrumptious classic movies, I recommend checking out your local cable lineup for channels like Turner Classic Movies, utilizing your library or video rental stores, or becoming a customer of home-delivered movie rental programs such as Netflix.

Quote of the Week

2008-06-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

"I always knew I was a poet."

Charlie Chaplin to Garson Kanin, when asked if his status as a great figure of the arts surprised him, 1938

Cyd Charisse, 1921-2008

2008-06-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

Actress, dancer and MGM Golden Girl Cyd Charisse, 86, died of an apparent heart attack today in Los Angeles, California. She is survived by her husband of 59 years, singer Tony Martin, and sons Nicky and Tony, Jr.

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Cyd Charisse. Just the sound of it evokes all of the most brilliant, the most intriguing, the most aesthetically awing elements of the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical. As MGM's foremost female dancer both during her career and throughout the studio's history, ballet-trained Cyd's contributions to cinema were not only technically superlative, but her performances, thankfully preserved on celluloid, are fused with all of the grace, color, and inherent expressiveness that was so artfully related through the lush orchestrations, vivid Technicolor, and engaging storylines for which classic movie musicals are known. Her dance was unrivaled, it's true. But in a strictly aesthetic sense, Cyd was the corporeal embodiment of the vivacity her films sought to evoke - elegantly costumed, sheathed in sequins or unencumbered by voluminous skirts atop radiantly-colored tulle, she expressed with her exactly disciplined body what neither Comden nor Green, Minelli nor Freed could convey in word or music.

Her status as dancer and, decidedly, a non-actress gave her license to channel such magnificence without inhibition, to infuse it with passion and sensuality and lithe, lovely newness, without her actions being misinterpreted as grandiose or excessive (dance as a means of expression was still a relatively novel and unregulated phenomena at the time). And Cyd Charisse did just that.

So long, it seems, have we been without her contemporaries - Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, glamour girls like Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner, that this additional loss compounds the chasm between what currently constitutes entertainment and the inimitable movie musicals of the past; this loss, however unsurprising, still further dims the potent presence of Old Hollywood in our midst. "The redwoods are falling," director Larry Gelbart once said of the mounting number of imminent passings of Tinseltown's once-brightest stars. The now-late Cyd is indeed of the breed of which Gelbart speaks, but true to her intrinsic gracefulness, this one didn't fall. She bowed out most humbly, Miss Cyd Charisse. And we already miss her so.

Photo Source

June's Silver Screen Siren: Janet Leigh

2008-06-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

She's played the hesitant ingenue, the virile Viking, the rogue reporter, dozens of gingham-clad girls next door, and the secret-laden lady on the lam in what is perhaps her most famous film, 1960's Psycho - and she's played them admirably well, considering that her fair face, and not her thespian aspirations, landed her in the heart of Hollywood in the late 1940's. Though fate and Norma Shearer plopped pretty 19-year-old Jeanette Morrison unceremoniously into a sea of stars, it was the girl's own talent and tenacity that kept her afloat at the biggest studio in Tinseltown: her easy beauty quickly blended with her natural knack for acting and her serious, dedicated, and poised attitude to create the ideal screen sensation, which was evidenced by a decades-long career that included film, television and stage work. Best of all, Janet - whose reputation as a kind, compassionate, and gracious lady on and off-screen has yet to be refuted - exuded a deep gratitude for her opportunity to work during the Golden Age of Cinema, and admitted that a most attractive element of her fame was that it allowed her to lend considerable clout in championing charitable causes.

Fans, fame, and a fair face - the endearingly self-effacing Janet Leigh had them all. Janet,we crown thee June's Silver Screen Siren. Wear thy title well.

Silver Screen Siren Stats
Jeanette Helen Morrison, born July 6, 1927
Mother, with actor Tony Curtis, to Kelly and Jamie Lee Curtis
Best-known Films: Little Women (1949), Touch of Evil (1958), Psycho (1960), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), The Manchurian Candidate
Best Book Bets: There Really Was A Hollywood: An Autobiography by Janet Leigh, 1984.

Quote of the Week

2008-05-20T00:44:00.000-07:00

"If Bess and I had a son, we'd want him to be just like Jimmy Stewart." - President Harry S Truman after viewing 'It's A Wonderful Life', 1947

Did You Know?

2008-05-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

In the wild and wacky world of Hollywood marriages, most matches come with an expiration date - and this was true even, or especially, decades ago, when the pretty and privileged denizens of Tinseltown first began to intermingle romantically. Perhaps the oddest example of Movieland amore, though, was the 32-day nuptials of brassy Broadway star Ethel Merman and Oscar-winning actor Ernest Borgnine, who garnered Academy gold for his portrayal of lonely, titular bachelor in the 1955 film Marty, whom the character himself deems a 'fat, ugly man'.

Despite her brief foray into film in the 1940s, her immense status on the stage, and a strong fan following, Merman's celebrity was more or less restricted to American audiences, while Borgnine's film career and his role in the popular television series "McHale's Navy" afforded him a much broader geographic appeal. According to a 2007 interview with Borgnine, it was this disparity that soured Merman to the marriage after just a few short weeks. The couple divorced in July, 1964, after barely a month of marriage.

That Astounding Astaire

2008-05-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

  When Fred Astaire, a man who came to epitomize a kind of homespun, effortless, comically-endearing glamour so appealing in grand escapist films in the 1930's and 40's - and who elevated dance to a veritable art form to be devoured by enthralled moviegoers of that time - was viewed in his first screen test, studio executives decided, "Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little."

  And so began the post-vaudeville chapter of the Nebraska-born hoofer who became known and loved as Fred Astaire. Born on this day in Omaha in 1899, Astaire, nee Frederic Austerlitz, entered show business with sister Adele at the tender age of 5, and the duo was well-received on Broadway and the vaudeville circuit. It wasn't until Adele's 1932 marriage that the act split up, and Astaire's star status began to rise as the film industry took off. His film career spanned an impressive four decades, linked him inextricably to numerous Porter- and Gershwin-penned American Standards songs, and paired him, as the perfectionist half of the duo, with the effervescent Ginger Rogers, though he also took the lovely likes of Eleanor Powell, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, and Cyd Charisse for a spin on the dance floor, as well.

  As popular as Astaire became, though - he was one of only two male lead dancers in major motion pictures of his day, so assumed dozens of prime roles that called for his nearly exclusive talents - he never seemed to grasp the enormity of his contributions to movies, to pop culture, to the lives of those who were enchanted with his lithe and joyful movement on the silver screen. Upon receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1981 at the age of 71, Astaire, gray-haired and awed, professed shock at seeing a montage of his dancing work, proclaiming, 'My gosh, I didn't know it was that good. It really looked good to me.'

Oh, to us, too, Mr. Astaire. To us, too.

Audrey-lightful

2008-05-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Amazingly enough, finding the perfect photo of Audrey Hepburn to commemorate this - what would have been her 79th birthday - was difficult, and was certainly not owed to the volumes and volumes of pictures of her available online, but to the fact that the sage, gentle actress was purportedly more comfortable in her casual, day-to-day life than in the savvy trappings of a coiffed, bejeweled screen icon, no matter how natural she looked dressed so decadently.

It's amazing to me that this goddess of couture had little or no interest in the material gains that her position in Hollywood could have garnered her, considering that she revolutionized the fashion world several times, often with only an Edith Head gown and an updo. Somehow she fully absorbed the delicate and long-lasting fads that took hold during her fifteen or so years as a box office contender, but she always managed to maintain the definitive elements of Audrey: the sad, passionate eyes, the lithe, spare figure, and the dark tresses, cropped Caesar-short in Roman Holiday, left long in the ill-fated Green Mansions, or teased into a chic chignon as the epitome of elegance, Holly Golightly.

Even fifteen years after her untimely death of cancer at the age of 63, Audrey remains an inarguable enigma of sartorial savoir-faire; she is still the benchmark of beauty that defies mere makeup but instead incorporates more emotive elements of femininity: intelligence, kindness, confidence, generosity, dignity.

And why do I rhapsodize at length about the exterior of this fascinating woman, when she has so many worthy attributes to admire? Because her beauty was owed as much to her giving spirit, her unpretentious attitude (a rarity in her profession), and the humanitarian efforts she wholeheartedly embraced late in her life as it was to the doe eyes and gamine figure. Selfless and self-effacing, affectionate but unaffected, owing her life to luck and not looks - that was Audrey. Watching her even now, that is Audrey, still.

Happy birthday, Miss Hepburn.

image source

Landmark Larceny

2008-04-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Rarely do I witness a film so moving, so exquisitely captivating and psychologically impactful, and so deft at magnifying the emotional intricacies of everyday life into powerful, universal statements that it leaves me nearly speechless, but it does happen. Vittorio de Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief), a simple glimpse into a painful crux in the life of an impoverished family, is one such film, proving nearly defiant of description (though I wouldn't be me if I didn't try).

Bleak, stirring, and a portrait of desperation in scratchy black-and-white, The Bicycle Thief observes the turns of disillusion and contentment which cycle through the face of a young, gaunt man seeking to support his family in mid-2oth century Rome: like most of his working-poor contemporaries, security and happiness are evasive for him until a much-needed job is attained, then forfeited upon the occasion of the titular theft. But masterful de Sica seems to have left his plot and his dialogue intentionally simple to highlight the anguish the larceny creates for those who feel its effect - and the film follows its leads' struggle for a just and deserved denoument til the final few minutes of this moving masterpiece.

Though available on DVD, Thief is difficult to locate; it is currently available in for viewing in a video series on the video-sharing site YouTube. Just click this link to be taken to the film's first 10-minute segment (please note this an external link).

Current Love: Marge & Gower Champion

2008-04-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Catching my fancy for some time now have been delightful dancing marrieds Marge and Gower Champion, the sometime-screen couple who lit up film with their inventive, acrobatic, and highly animated style of dance performance in the 1950s, while making their biggest impact on Broadway theatre in that decade and the years that followed.

Perhaps best known for his contributions as director and choreographer of such Broadway smashes as Hello, Dolly! and Lend an Ear, Gower met Marjorie Belcher, who performed under the name of Marjorie Bell, when the two were teens, and they maintained a platonic correspondence while they each pursued their respective romances and careers: Gower toured America with dance partner Jeanne Tyler, while Marge married Disney film animator Art Babbitt in 1937 (she was the live-action model for that year's animated version of Snow White). But upon reuniting years later, the two - newly-divorced Marge and solo act Gower - forged a deeper and more lasting cooperation when they wed in the fall of 1947, after devising various dance routines as a newly-founded partnership. The Champions' involvement in everything from Broadway shows to live television performances and film appearances (1951's Show Boat is among the best known of their films) garnered them a growing popularity as entertainers, and they kept just as stringent a schedule after son Gregg was born in 1957.

The couple continued their involvement in the world of dance even as the receding era of lavish musicals rendered them a less desirable film property: Gower funneled his creativity into Broadway, while Marge opted to scale back her contributions to raise their young son. (Gower eventually garnered 8 Tony Awards, the most ever won by a single recipient.) He died in 1980 on the opening night of his later-acclaimed 42nd Street; Marge, still active as she approaches 90, is a choreographer and dance instructor in New York City.

If you're unfamiliar with Marge & Gower and their dynamic screen presence, I highly recommend 1955's Three For The Show, an overlooked, under-appreciated gem of a film also starring Betty Grable and Jack Lemmon.

Quote of the Week

2008-04-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

"There are five stages in the life of an actor: Who's Mary Astor? Get me Mary Astor. Get me a Mary Astor Type. Get me a young Mary Astor. Who's Mary Astor?" - actress Mary Astor

Charlton Heston, 1924-2008

2008-04-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Before my formal and self-appointed introduction to classic cinema some ten years ago, my fascination with the scope and beauty of old movies was limited to but a few truly great films: The Wizard of Oz, The Ten Commandments, and Ben-Hur. As a very little girl I found myself fascinated with the agonizing tension in Hur's storied chariot race, and there are cherished fragments of my childhood wound up in the wonderment that was the biblical epic of yore: the grandeur and scale of the production, the timeless drama, the Charlton Heston.

Heston, 84 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease since 2002, died of unspecified causes this week in his Beverly Hills home. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Lydia Heston, and two children, Fraser and Holly.

Heston, born in Illinois as John Charles Carter, has portrayed among America's, the world's and even mankind's most famous and influential men, both factual and fabled: Moses of the Bible, Europe's Michaelangelo, Marc Antony, Henry VIII, and Cardinal Richelieu. He played to receptive audiences in science-fiction fare like Planet of The Apes and Soylent Green. And his turn in movies as varied as his screen introduction, 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth, to 1965's masterful The Greatest Story Ever Told guaranteed his appeal over several decades, as well as that moviegoers would associate his performances with greatness, whether the word actually appeared in the film's title or not.

Sadly, much of Heston's cinematic contributions were overshadowed by his outspoken political activism in recent decades, but controversial or not, he has earned a place in the echelon of legendary actors who transformed the medium of motion picture into an effective and enduring means of playing out history's greatest, most profound, most impactful stories - those that will never cease to hold meaning to the human heart - as much as it is of entertainment.

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"I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you (the audience), which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life. ... For now, I'm not changing anything. I'll insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring to my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you'll know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway." - Charlton Heston on the announcement of his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, 2002

From One Birthday Girl to Another

2008-04-01T02:03:00.000-07:00

In a fate that even the MGM Publicity Department of yore would consider too uncanny to be real, April 1st marks the birthday of not one, but two of Tinseltown's brightest and most beloved stars: Debbie Reynolds and Jane Powell. Party on the set, anyone?!

Jane was born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, on this day in 1929. She's probably best known for her role as Milly in the blockbuster Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), but Jane enjoyed over a decade of box office success as filmmakers found myriad means of incorporating her skill as a coloratura soprano into musicals of the day. Retiring from film in 1957 (she was not yet 40), she segued into stage performing, penned an autobiography in 1988, and currently lives in Connecticut. Next month will mark her 20th year of marriage to author and child actor Dickie Moore.

El Paso-born Mary Frances Reynolds - she was later christened Debbie by a studio mogul, but remained steadfast about retaining her true last name - came into being in 1932, and made her foray into film just sixteen years later. Her premiere movie under MGM's contract was the 1952 breakaway hit Singin' in the Rain, considered by many to be the greatest movie musical ever made, and Debbie instantly earned the title of America's Sweetheart, a role which she relinquished only after nearly a decade of film successes, a recording career, and the scandal that ensued when her 1955 marriage to crooner Eddie Fisher ended in a very public divorce. Being buoyant as ever, though, Debbie focused on stagework as the face of filmmaking changed to exclude her style of artistry, and after varied film appearances, television roles, entrepreneurial endeavors and the publication of her 1988 autobiography, my favorite girl is still in the spotlight today, actively promoting The Thalians, working to preserve the history of cinema's golden age, and frequently touring her one-woman show.

Being young, immensely popular and employed by the same studio, Jane and Debbie were often featured in films that were quite similar in style, content, and cast, and the pretty pair even co-starred together in a number of movie musicals, including Athena and Hit the Deck. Their best film together? 1950's Two Weeks With Love, a quaint comedy set in a Victorian-era vacation resort that features one of Jane's spectacular arias, an uber-romantic Ricardo Montalban, fireworks larceny, and an overly amorous Debbie, gorging herself on watermelon while admiring the spindly legs of a half-dressed Carlton Carpenter. Yeah. It's that good.

Hillary's Classic Cinema wishes a very happy birthday to two of its favorite ladies!

COVET!!!!

2008-03-23T13:43:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, one is not supposed to covet things, and I'm sure there will be a particularly harsh retribution for coveting as I am on Easter Sunday. But Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly in three fabulous forties films in ONE BOX SET?! How am I supposed to act nonchalant about that?! Warner Brothers is releasing this confection of a collection on May 13, 2008, and as it's priced at just $18.69, this is one fab set of films I won't have to covet for long.

Three Technicolor stunners showcasing the collaboration of MGM's most famous dancer/resident hotness Gene and charming crooner Frank are included in this set: 1944's On The Town, with Jules Munshin, Ann Miller, Vera-Ellen, and Betty Garrett, follows the travails of three sailors on 24-hour leave in New York City; 1948's Take Me Out to The Ball Game, which reprises the duo's teaming with Munshin, adds million-dollar mermaid Esther Williams to the turn-of-the-century baseball mix (it's comedy gold); and 1949's Anchors Aweigh, in which our lovable Frankie and Gene-o are once again amorous sailors, this time entangled with opera star Kathryn Grayson.

The Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly Collection is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

Precocious little Mag O'Brien's got the right idea - put on your Easter bonnet and party! May your holiday be filled with happiness, chocolate indulgences and at least one viewing of Easter Parade!

Mickey the Great

2008-03-20T22:47:00.001-07:00

  At an astonishing span of 81 years, his is the longest film career of all time. He was, as a very young man, the biggest star in the world. He's worked with Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, and every ingenue in between, and he is, let's face it, the closest I will ever get to the aura of Ava Gardner, unless I somehow come up with the cash to buy those earrings she gave Lana Turner off of eBay. And thus, mulling over such weighty attributes, I argued myself into seeing Mickey Rooney in person.

  He's aged a bit, yes, but impish Andy Hardy is still intact. Touting 2008 as his 85th year in show business - he made his stage debut in a vaudeville act at just 17 months - Rooney, his humor, and his 8th wife, Jan, have melded songs, jokes, and affectionate husband-and-wife shtick into a thoroughly enjoyable and genuinely funny two hours of entertainment, Let's Put On A Show!, which is currently touring the United States.

  Physically unimposing though he appeared onstage, Rooney, 87, is still an Old Hollywood legend, the extent to which can really only be felt acutely in his presence. That is to say, he doesn't look the part of a star so much as he speaks it - the stories he tells, the fond memories of dear friends like Judy Garland and Ava Gardner, the latter whom Rooney shared a brief marriage with - even the songs he sings, or rather talks, are remnants of his long-buried stint as a superstar. But Rooney's talent for balancing out snippets of self-deprecation with honest accolades to his own success allow for such sugar-coated sentimentality: if Mickey Rooney can't reminisce about the glory days at MGM, then who can?!

  I was hoping for at least a tiny bit of interaction with Mickey when the show was over, but it proved to be a futile hope, as the program ran beyond its anticipated end time, and the lobby was nearly empty when I finally reached it. But I can't take a shred of disappointment from such a night, and I have consolation in the fact that he couldn't have missed seeing me out in that audience: I was the girl in the seventh row with stars in her eyes.

Visit Mickey Rooney's official website to see when he'll be in your area.

Impressive!

2008-03-20T22:03:00.000-07:00

Contemporary actor Ryan Phillipe, 33, recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he attributed the name of his daughter Ava Phillipe to none other than 40's and 50's screen siren Ava Gardner. Ava, 8, was given her moniker long before its sudden and persistent surge in popularity in recent years; Phillipe noted that, in addition to belonging to his idol Frank Sinatra's second wife Gardner, he found the name to be "very classy and strong." I was simply impressed by such smart parentage with that move. If only she had a sister named Lana...

Ava is Ryan's daughter with ex-wife actress Reese Witherspoon.

Source: Celebrity Baby Blog

Did You Know?

2008-03-16T10:26:00.001-07:00

Prized pinup Betty Grable's first of two marriages was to famed child star Jackie Coogan, known in his later years as Uncle Fester on the 1960s television series The Addams Family. The two were married in 1937, when Grable was 20 years old and Coogan, 23; their marriage lasted less than 2 years.

Grable went on to marry famed trumpter Harry James and experience immense box-office success at Fox Studios in the 1940's, while Coogan, married three subsequent times, served as a Flight Officer in WWII and made various minor film appearances before becoming a tv regular in the 1950's and 60's.

Quote of the Week

2008-03-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

"If by chance some day you're not feeling well and you should remember some silly thing I've said or done and it brings back a smile to your face or a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled." - comedian Red Skelton

If redoubtable Red's never made you chuckle, it's probably that you've never seen him in action; check out this clip from 1949's Neptune's Darling, in which he bumblingly plays paramour to overly amorous Betty Garrett with the help of identity theft, a Spanish-language record and a head injury.

Neptune's Darling is available on remastered DVD as part of The Esther Williams Collection Volume 1.

They Can't Take That Away From Me

2008-03-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

  I'm not really sure what to do with myself. My TCM is gone.
  That means no more midnight Rick and Ilsa, no more random Dogville shorts, no more tuning in to Van Johnson movies on a Saturday morning and trying furiously to deny a crush on host Ben Mankiewicz. Cable television giant Cox Communications, my local provider, gave me and thousands of other subscribers the cold shoulder last week when they removed Turner Classic Movies from their standard cable lineup, and, like many of my movie-loving brethren, I was more than shocked to turn to my favorite channel and, instead of winding down to an obscure Marsha Hunt-June Allyson weepie, find a blank screen where Robert Osborne used to be.

  TCM has been my main source of film knowledge, insight, and viewing since my first interest in the medium over a decade ago, so to lose it in all of its self-supporting, commercial-free Technicolor splendor is a genuine disappointment. It's true that a considerable part of TCM's film catalogue has been recently released in dvd format, making many movies far more readily available to the public than ever before - but thousands of additional titles have been relegated to a completely hopeless state of being unworthy of even a VHS release. TCM is, truly, the only way to see the full filmographies of all your favorite stars of the silver screen, introduce you to new faces and names, and generally indulge any classic movie maven in their photoplay pastime.

  I've already launched a campaign to return my beloved network to the basic cable tier, penning letters, writing e-mail, leaving irate but articulate voicemails at appropriate desks and even, in a moment of caprice, accosting some Cox installation men I encountered at work. Why must you take my Cyd Charisse and Arthur Freed and Hermes Pan away - can't you take one of my seventeen Spanish-language soccer channels? seems to be my lingering question to all of them, though of course, I phrase it a bit more appropriately when addressing the bigwigs.

  Of course, I could always succumb to pressure and order more expensive cable service so as to re-instate the divinity that is TCM's 24-hour classic movie lineup. But it's the principle of the fight, and for now, I'll adhere to it blindly. It's just the Mr. Smith Goes To Washington in me.

Has TCM been removed from your channel lineup? If so, will its absence prompt you to upgrade your service just to access it again? If not, would you be upset if you no longer had TCM as part of your cable programming?

Candid Classics

2008-03-02T20:07:00.001-08:00

Actresses Olivia de Havilland and Margaret Lindsay listen to de Havilland's sister Joan Fontaine, right, tell it like it is, circa 1940

Stay Tuned!

2008-02-29T00:01:00.001-08:00

Just like perpetual gambler Lucky Garnett - Fred Astaire in the charming, dizzying, uber-enchanting Swing Time, 1936 - you're encouraged to swing by Hillary's Classic Cinema anytime, and bet your money on the great changes we'll be implementing in the coming weeks. Shopping suggestions, book recommendations, movie reviews, and delicious new pictures from a March Hollywood jaunt are just a few of the many new features we hope you'll enjoy as we whittle the site into more accessible awesomness. We're also excited to introduce our charity program this spring, which will allow you to honor the memory of your favorite stars of yesteryear by channeling your monetary donations to their personal charities and pet causes. Stay tuned, and remember - swing by anytime!!

Fab Finds

2008-02-28T23:08:00.000-08:00

In true can't-love-it-unless-it's-older-than-my-parents style, I indulged in one of my favorite pasttimes earlier this week: record foraging. There is nothing quite like flicking through stacks of discarded LPs, searching for gems that have been too long confined to basements or garages and discovering remnants of a bygone pop culture that few care to reminisce about (you and I are of those few, it seems).

This was a particularly lucky search effort that yielded three classic-film-related finds for just 99 cents a piece:

The campy, burlesque-themed soundtrack to 1962's Gypsy, starring Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell, is in perfect condition;
The endlessly romantic musical accompaniment to the ultimate street-gang love story, West Side Story, with vocals by Marni Nixon, Richard Beymer, and Rita Moreno, in addition to the supporting cast;
and the double LP offering of That's Entertainment, a hand-picked collection of MGM's best and brightest musical moments, featuring everyone from Agnes Moorhead to Yvonne de Carlo and every star in between (Gene-o, Junie, Mick and Joots - they're all there).

CD wha-?! Of course I know these are available in, well, a more accessible format, but I can't wait to give these a spin. And though the aforementioned compact disc and mp3 have long rendered vinyl obsolete as a means of making music, I find records to hold endless charm, to bring a certain authenticity to their sound, those delicate artifacts of yesteryear. And hey, they look fabulous framed in the foyer!

I'm Comin' Elizabeth!

2008-02-27T00:16:00.000-08:00

To celebrate your birthday, of course. Beloved actress, activist, cinema icon, entrepeneur and jewelry enthusiast Dame Elizabeth Taylor turns 76 today.

Arguably the last and most beautiful of the enduring and legendary stars to come out of Hollywood's Studio Era, London-born Liz moved to America at age 7, became box office gold at just 12 years old with the release of just her fifth film, National Velvet, and spent the succeeding decades cementing her star status - but the tumult and scandal of her private life has often overshadowed the luminous and lasting contributions she has made, both to American cinema during its Golden Age and to the charitable organizations to which she now donates her time. Read on as I proffer some tidbits on Miss Taylor, who:

Was married eight times to seven different men; her collective surnames would make her Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Warner Fortensky. She is currently not married, and recently expressed shock when a red-carpet reporter broached the subject of future nuptials.

Has four children from three relationships: sons Michael and Christopher Wilding, and daughters Liza Todd and Maria Burton.

Threw a "You Can All Go To Hell" party after her wedding to singer Eddie Fisher as a jab at the press, who hounded her during the couple's courtship - a scandal at the time, as he was still married to America's Sweetheart, actress Debbie Reynolds. Elizabeth and Debbie have since reconciled, collaborated on the made-for-tv film These Old Broads, and collectively loathe Fisher.

Was the first actress to earn a million dollars' salary for a film, 1963's Cleopatra.

Was nominated for Best Actress Academy Award five times in ten years; she took home the gold twice.

Received a 69-carat diamond from fifth husband Richard Burton, one of the world's largest, and later auctioned it off to fund an overseas hospital. It sold for over $3 million.

Has worked to raise AIDS awareness and financial support since 1985, and established an AIDS Foundation in 1991. She is a staunch and tireless advocate of research, fundraising, and public knowledge campaigns, and has auctioned off several pieces of her personal jewelry to benefit her efforts.

She launched a line of fragrances - all named after precious stones - the most popular of which is her signature White Diamonds.

Published the immensely popular My Love Affair with Jewelry, a beautiful coffee-table guide to her celebrated baubles collection, in 2002.

Elizabeth formally retired from acting in 2003, but she has made references to the fact that her recurring ill health has rendered her uninsurable by film studios (she has undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor as well as suffered a broken back numerous times).

Currently lives in Southern California, where she is actively involved in the business aspect of her AIDS foundation and its numerous charitable activities.

To a lady who has left us with as many film gems as she has diamonds in her jewelry box, Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

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Giant, Cleopatra, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof - What's your favorite Elizabeth film? Post in the comments section below.

Really, Mis-ta Awlnut

2008-02-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I didn't quite capture the essence of Katharine Hepburn's clench-jawed accent with the title of this post, but were I in the presence of the dilapidated old African Queen from the film of the same name, I'm sure I could dredge up more of an authentically eccentric impression of the saucy star. And Queen is more than accessible: the newly-repaired steamboat, one of several used in the 1951 film, is docked at the Holiday Inn Marina in Key Largo, Florida. And yes, you can take a cruise in her - leeches optional. How hot is that?!

The African Queen is located at Mile Marker 100, Key Largo, FL. You can find out more information by calling (305) 451-4655 or visiting The Holiday Inn Key Largo website

Love, Hollywood-Style

2008-02-14T00:18:00.000-08:00

It has long been said that love in Hollywood is but a celluloid reality: the fast pace and fickle nature of the celebrity-studded Dream Factory have never been considered an ideal environment for true and lasting romance to flourish. (With demanding bosses, studio politics, career competition, contract stipulations and on-location shooting, how could playactors of the past hold down a casual boyfriend, much less a husband and household?) So while it's true that perhaps most people never find sweet, lifelong, An-Affair-To-Remember sort of love, these Tinseltown twosomes have managed to evade the downfalls of fame and celebrate record numbers of anniversaries:

Cyd Charisse (1921-) and Tony Martin (1912- )
Married 59 years, 1948-present
Children: son Tony, Jr.

Perhaps MGM's most famous dancer next to superstud Gene Kelly is elegant, effervescent Cyd Charisse, the Texas-born ballerina who took a French stage name and traveled with the Ballet Russe before becoming hot property at her home studio in the 1940's. Terrifically talented, Cyd starred in some of the biggest musicals ever made - 1952's Singin' in the Rain, 1953's The Band Wagon, and the lush The Harvey Girls (1946), to name a few - and continually proved her popularity was owed more to substance than sequins (though her costumes were dazzling, to say the least).
Singer Tony Martin had less of an impact on the film world, though he's made his share of appearances in nearly three dozen feature films of the 1930's and 40's, such as Ziegfeld Girl and Till the Clouds Roll By. As a popular singer in the 1950's, his film contributions consisted mainly of soundtracks or cameo appearances.
Cyd and Tony currently live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and still frequent various celebrity functions and film retrospectives near their home.

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Hume Cronyn (1911-2003) and Jessica Tandy (1909-1994)
Married 52 years, 1942-1994 (her death)
Children: daughter Tandy and son Christopher

Serious stage actress Tandy should be remembered as the Blanche DuBois she created in the original theatre run of A Streetcar Named Desire, but her chance to immortalize her role on film was ruined with the casting of fellow stage star Vivien Leigh in the part. She continued to hone her theatre craft until experiencing a major resurgence in film popularity in her seventies; she won an Oscar for her performance as the titular character in 1989's Driving Miss Daisy.
Cronyn had his own modestly impressive movie resume, with minor parts in films like Ziegfeld Follies and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Younger generations will probably recognize the duo from their collaborations in 1980's films like Cocoon and batteries not included.

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Paul Newman (1925-) and Joanne Woodward (1930-)
Married 50 years, 1958-present
Children: daughters Elinor, Melissa and Claire

When Newman and Woodward were married in a hasty Las Vegas ceremony straight after wrapping their sizzling drama The Long Hot Summer in 1958, hardly anyone was surprised - their onscreen chemistry was, and still is, devastatingly electric. But three daughters, a dozen film collaborations and a sprawling philanthropical enterprise later, the tireless twosome are still forging a profound partnership with each new joint venture (last we checked, it was their work with their beloved Westport Country Playhouse) - and causing every jealous fan to wonder if Paul and Jo alone hold the copyright to married bliss.

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Ruth Gordon (1896-1985) and Garson Kanin (1912-1999)
Married 42 years, 1942-1985 (her death)
No Children

Perhaps Ruth Gordon isn't among the best-known of erstwhile actresses, but the feisty filly should be an A-Lister for the longevity of her contributions to classic cinema. First lauded on the stage, she eventually drew notice for her turn as Mary Todd in 1940's Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Shortly after, she married second husband Garson Kanin (her first husband died in 1927), and the couple gravitated towards the other glitterati of the stage and film world, collaborating and carousing with the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and Moss Hart and wife Kitty Carlisle Hart. Gordon and Kanin co-wrote several memorable film vehicles for the formidable Hepburn and Tracy, namely Pat and Mike and Adam's Rib, and separate from his wife, Kanin crafted comedies like My Favorite Wife and Bachelor Mother, both of which he also directed. Gordon experienced a resurgence in film popularity with her award-winning forays in Rosemary's Baby (1968) and the cult favorite Harold and Maude (1970).

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Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) and Mel Brooks (1926-)
Married 41 years, 1964-2005 (her death)
Children: Son Max

Though the world will forever remember Anne Bancroft seductively draped in leopard and clutching a mixed drink, denizens of classic filmdom can recall myriad movies of the Italian beauty's resume that add dimension to her Graduate legacy, including her first foray into film, 1952's Don't Bother To Knock (alongside Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, no less). Between this incendiary role and her 1962 Oscar win for The Miracle Worker were numerous B-movies that her screen presence elevated to worthwhile-viewing status, but she remained just out of the echelon of Big Box Office Success until the 1960's, when she met a persistent comedian named Mel Brooks. The two were married in 1964, and she proved to be a foil as well as a fan of her ambitious husband's, encouraging him to pursue the film concept that would eventually develop into The Producers, the 1968 hit that launched him into and set the standard for zany epic comedies to come. While Bancroft became more discerning in selecting movie work and lessened the number of roles she took on, Brooks continued to create his own outrageous brand of film, including Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and History of the World: Part I. Though Anne died of cancer in early 2005, Brooks is currently working with a musical version of his Frankenstein on Broadway.

"I'm married to a beautiful and talented woman who can lift your spirits just by looking at you." - Mel Brooks on Anne Bancroft

Blake Edwards (1922-) and Julie Andrews (1935-)
Married 38 years (1969-present)
Children: daughters Amy and Joanna

When one takes into consideration the amazing films churned out of Tinseltown in the 1960's, one has to ask: is there anything Blake Edwards didn't do? The jack-of-all-trades filmmaker created, wrote, scripted, and otherwise re-formatted some of the decade's biggest titles, a decadent slice of his resume wedged between television success in the 1950's (Edwards created, produced, and directed Peter Gunn and Mr. Lucky) and a series of fantastically popular satirical comedies, and inventive muscials in the 1970's and 80's. Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther Series, the confection that is 1965's The Great Race - they're all owed to Edwards (well, that first one is truly Capote's and Hepburn's), along with frequent collaborator, conductor Henry Mancini. 1969 saw the mighty Edwards merge paths with another 60's icon, the inimitable import Julie Andrews, and for life, it seems - the two have been cheerful co-conspirators throughout their nearly four decades of marriage, with each still involved in film ventures. Andrews, plucked from the British stage practically in her Eliza Doolittle ensemble, experienced immense and immediate popularity in her film debut (she scored her biggest hits with back-to-back musicals in 1964 and 1965 with Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music), and enjoyed successes in later films that were tailor-made to showcase her considerable singing abilities - Edwards-crafted gems like Darling Lili (1970) and 1982's Victor/Victoria. The couple remain active in their respective careers and still attend celebrity functions near their home; Julie recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.

"There's nothing better than working on something you love with someone you love." - Blake Edwards on collaborating with Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria

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Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) and Sir Laurence Olivier (1907-1989)

Married 20 years, 1940-1960

Turbulent and tempestuous as their union may have been - Leigh suffered from bipolar disorder that showed itself several years into their marriage - the lasting ardor between classical actor Olivier and British-born Leigh reads like a scene from one of the couple's many stage and screen partnerships. Olivier began his stage career opposite the likes of august Shakespearean great John Gielgud in 1935, and within two years, was sharing the spotlight with future wife Vivian Hartley, soon to be known as Vivien Leigh. Though each was married to another at the time, the two sparked an unmistakable onscreen rapport in 1937's Fire Over England; after separate stellar successes in the States - he in Wuthering Heights, she in the epic Gone With the Wind - they obtained divorces from their respective spouses and became one of Hollywood's handsomest and most popular husband-and-wife teams. Her devastating mental health issues proved a recurring strain on their marriage, though Olivier remained committed and frequently steered his wife's career on the occasions that her personal life proved unmanageable. The two did end their illustrious offscreen partnership in 1960; Leigh, unmarried thereafter, reportedly kept her former husband's framed photos throughout her house until her death of tuberculosis in 1967.

"Apart from her looks, which were magical...she also had something else: an attraction of the most perturbing nature I had ever encountered." Laurence Olivier on Vivien Leigh

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Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) and Lauren Bacall (1924-)

Married 12 years, 1945-1957 (his death)
Children: Son Stephen and daughter Leslie

Perhaps the most iconic love story in Hollywood history is that of aged actor Humphrey Bogart and lithe, lovely Lauren Bacall. Grizzled, year-worn Bogart, in the midst of gaining his legendary trench-coat-and-tough-talk screen reputation, met naive newcomer Betty Perske on the set of the girl's first film, 1944's To Have and Have Not. The attraction was not instant, but Betty - renamed Lauren Bacall by her personal Svengali, director Howard Hawks - soon became enchanted with the kind, lonely Bogart, entrenched as he was in a quickly-dissolving marriage to his third wife Mayo Methot. The two began a secretive friendship on the set, and, after taking the appropriate steps to divorce himself from his alcoholic wife, Bogart forged a romance with Bacall that horrified her mother, scandalized Hawks, and delighted American audiences who rooted for the unlucky-in-love Bogie to find elusive happiness with the bright and brilliant 19-year-old, newly a sensation with the release of To Have and Have Not. The couple were wed in 1945.
After a decade of marriage and two children Bogart never thought he would get to father, the Bogarts satisfying home life was permanently marred when Humphrey was inadvertently diagnosed with cancer. Though he underwent radical treatments and artfully erected a stoic facade against the ravaging disease, his condition deteriorated quickly in 1956, and he died in early 1957. The gradual unhinging of this iconic man is a heart-wrenchingly sad process described by Bacall in her 1978 autobiography, By Myself, which is highly recommended to all fans of the duo.
What audiences so love about Bogie and Bacall is the way their unabashed attraction to, amusement with, and respect for each other is so readily read in each of the four films they starred in together. After three scathing, scarring failed marriages, film fave Bogart had found his ideal match in the quiet, contemplative New York girl who eschewed career pursuits and reigning social mores for married life with him. It was as if the sweet domesticity that their film relationships lacked was made up for in their very home; even Howard Hawks, resentful or not at his protegee's flight, couldn't have directed a better love story.
That, after all, is Hollywood magic.

"They never wrote a romance the way we lived it." - Lauren Bacall on late husband Humphrey Bogart

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Was your favorite classic celebrity couple profiled above? If not, who are they?

Popcorn, Peanuts, and Plays

2008-02-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

Oft-lauded actor, director, philanthropist, and veteran sexiness Paul Newman will be returning to the theatre scene this fall with his stage-directing debut, according to the recently released schedule of the Westport Country Playhouse. He is slated to direct John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the historic site, saved from dilapidation and neglect largely due to the efforts of Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, who joined the Playhouse staff in the 1990s.

Newman and Woodward have been residents of the Connecticut town since the early 1960's; his hugely profitable for-charity food production company, Newman's Own, is also based there. Woodward, a former arts director at the Playhouse, has returned to her prior position on an interim basis.

Let me get this straight: Paul and Jo in their hometown glory - ?! Road trip to Westport, anyone?!

Photo: Paul and Joanne at home, 1963.

Deck the Walls

2008-02-12T23:28:00.000-08:00

Deck the walls with pics of Holly - Golightly, that is. US retail giant Target has channeled the work of artist Frank Ritter onto its shelves, where decadent framed faces of cinema icons like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe are now available for purchase. The images are transferred from a traditional paper print and fused onto a thick, artist-grade canvas, giving them a striking richness and texture that complements such subject matter as Norma Jean and Holly Golightly. Prices vary, but the unframed canvases shown here retail for just $35.99; framed prints run from $230-$300 or more.

Visit Target.com or a local Target to browse the selection of Ritter prints.

Only Sunshine For This Day

2008-02-12T22:15:00.001-08:00

Perpetually perky Doris Day - the bubbly blonde bombshell who proved a triple threat to the moviegoing public in the 1940's, 50's and 60's - received a considerable testament to her talent with Sunday night's presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy, better known as that shindig called The Grammys.

Doris, who charted the first of her 76 Billboard singles in 1945 with the million seller Sentimental Journey, continued to create immensely popular albums for nearly three decades, while simultaneously starring in some of the biggest box-office hits of the era: Young At Heart, Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk, to name a few. The 83-year old singer/actress retired from film in the early 70's, and to this day devotes her time to charitable work concerning animal welfare (she established the Doris Day Animal League in 1987, and continues to spearhead its efforts).

Though Doris didn't perform or attend the ceremonies, fans were treated to a comprehensive video tribute showcasing her career, narrated by presenter Natalie Cole. I really wanted to see that sunshine-y smile in the audience, but I assuaged my disappointment with a few viewings of Send Me No Flowers....) I just hope Clara Bixby is pleased with her long-deserved honor!

Click here to check out Amazon.com's full list of Doris ' discography.

Quote of the Week

2008-02-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

"Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses." - The understandably man-weary Elizabeth Taylor

Photo Source

A Passion for Page-Turners

2008-02-02T11:47:00.001-08:00

A co-worker of mine, visibly concerned with the number of books I consume during a routine work week, recently asked me how I managed to own so much literature, especially since I am rather vocal about our salary's ability to cover my movies/chocolate/champagne expenses. Was I stealing from the library, she asked? Or just attending a lot of garage sales?

Neither, of course, although I have managed to pay obscenely small amounts for the spines that sit proudly alphabetized in my bookshelf. And while I can't argue that movies themselves are the essential component of any classic film fan's media intake, the bevy of books on the subject - from autobiographies to photographic retrospectives to trivia and film guides - is an invaluable supplement to any classic movie diet. So where will film fans fare favorably when searching to expand their hardcover collection? Read on for details!

Click here for the full post, which provides extended shopping suggestions and recommended retailers.

Newman's Own Special Day

2008-01-26T01:45:00.000-08:00

  It is a rare thing that renders me speechless, as my many blog posts will attest (don't you care about Van Johnson's controversial 1947 marriage?!) - but oh, there is one exemplary specimen of man that does the trick every time. He is endlessly awing, heartbreakingly handsome, and I fear my entire romantic future suffers from a predisposition for disappointment because men, I'm afraid, don't come quite like this anymore. His name is Paul Leonard Newman.

  The venerable Mr. Newman - actor, philanthropist, salad dressing connoisseur, professional auto racer - may be celebrating his 83rd birthday today in his hometown of nearly fifty years, Westport, Connecticut. He may similarly be mulling over the fact that he and brainy big-screen beauty Joanne Woodward have been married exactly half a century, or that he's spent five decades in film, or even, perhaps, that his public is anxious to revel in one last collaboration between himself and frequent co-star Robert Redford, who is, not surprisingly, delectable as well. But in the presence of this rare man - his celluloid presence, my occasional daydream, or otherwise - I cannot mull over anything, so intrigued and enamored am I with the Aristotilian mind within the Adonis-like body (have you seen The Long, Hot Summer? Young, shirtless, flirtatious Paul Newman earns every bit of the Adonis title you just scoffed at).

  But beyond the beautiful facade over which I could rhapsodize for the rest of my born days, there lies the personality Newman presents to his public in sumptuous scraps: through his film characters, in his infrequent interviews, and in the family-oriented, Hollywood-eschewing way he has lived his life since the early 1960's. He is disarmingly witty, effortlessly self-effacing, and somewhere in him remain the traces of the rebellious rogues he played in his best-loved films like Cool Hand Luke and The Sting.

  Despite critical acclaim and a succession of box-office breakthroughs throughout the late 50's, 60's and 70's, it was during this same time period that Newman focused his energy on directorial efforts and pursued alternate interests, such as the auto-racing he performed into his late 70s (he owns half of Newman-Haas Auto Racing) and the food and beverage line he created, Newman's Own, the complete proceeds of which go directly to charitable causes and to fund the children's camps Newman and Woodward founded for children with terminal illness.

  So you see, I must be given some leeway with my fawning over this incredible man. It isn't just Ben Quick's broad, sculpted shoulders, Butch Cassidy's chiseled jaw beneath a cowboy hat or the way Fast Eddie Felson handled a pool cue that had me smitten from the outset. It is also Luke's insurmountable insolence, Rocky Graziano's downbeaten discontent, and Paul's perpetually enchanting persona. And, okay, maybe the eyes have something to do with it.

Paul Newman was born on this day in 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

To learn more about Newman's Own products, visit their website.

For additional information on Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang programs for children, click here to be redirected to an exterior site.

Awesomes in the Dust

2008-01-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Of all the lovely stars comprising the classic film constellation, brassy-haired Brit Greer Garson was among my least favorite ladies. The basis for my criticsim was as ridiculous as it was lacking reason: I had never seen a film of hers (but then again, I told myself, I didn't want to), I knew very little about her, and she had never offended me in any particular way, but still, disdain remained. There was so little sense to my dislike - now but a memory, to be sure - and it becomes even more of an oddity to consider now that I am officially in love with Greer, courtesy her heartbreaking 1941 film Blossoms in the Dust.

Crafted by seldom-credited screenwriter Anita Loos and finessed by the touch of deft-handed director Mervin LeRoy, Blossoms unfolds the story of turn-of-the-century children's rights activist Edna Gladney, who, through her rejection of then-contemporary convention and her obstinance towards the legal system of the day, significantly changed the process of child adoption to a more humane and loving procedure. And Blossoms is everything one would expect of an MGM biopic from cinema's golden age: love and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy, and a testament to a tenacious and intrepid life, all tinted in emotion-intensifying Technicolor. Gladney is gladly depicted as the heroine she was and, truthfully, still is: the testy Texas woman rallied in defense of abandoned children whose parentage was questioned and who were stigmatized with the legal branding of illegitimacy, a term whose assignment wreaked grave social implications as they grew up to seek jobs, get married, or even join 'respectable society'. The real-life activist opened her home to hundreds of children through her revolutionary day-care facility, which she also financed, never envisioning her impact on the social issues tied to pregnancy, parenthood and adoption.

As much a star as Gladney, though, is the woman who brings her to life in the film even today. Tough yet delicate and never histrionic, Garson presents the balanced and trailblazing woman Gladney likely was - feminine yet defiant, steadfast yet nurturing, a pioneer who saw her work as the good fight it was.

I wave my white flag proudly, Miss G, in deference to your awesome acting acuity. I will never speak ill of you again!

An unlicensed version of Blossoms in the Dust is available on dvd through Free Movies on Dvd.

Seen It?!

2008-01-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

In this age of at-your-fingertips knowledge, posting trivia questions has become a bit of a challenge for me - who's to say a quick Google search isn't truly responsible for all those right answers I've fielded? I don't mind, really, but don't you feel so much more the true movie connoisseur when you solve a perfectly perplexing puzzle without consulting a search engine? If so, then I give you a new type of trivia: The Picture Pane Puzzle. It's up to you to determine the mystery film by recognizing the images from it, posted below.

From what film were the following stills taken?

Post your answers using the comments link below.

Audreylightful

2008-01-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

If the myriad of posts on the subject didn't cue you in to the fact that I adored Life Magazine's Remembering Grace issue - the vibrant, glossy, picture-packed special edition devoted entirely to actress and princess Grace Kelly's timeless glamour - then you probably won't fathom how rabidly I received the news that Life has accorded like treatment to her sister icon, the inimitable Audrey Hepburn.

Fifteen years after her death of cancer at the age of 64, the life of The Gamine Girl of the 1950's and 60's is celebrated in page after page of photos by her trusted photographer Bob Willoughby, many of which were unpublished until now. And though captions are sparse in the 144-page tribute, they are nearly unnecessary when coupled with such lush imagery over the span of Audrey's life: instant and lasting stardom in Hollywood at the start of her career, two saddeningly tumultuous marriages, and two sons who saw her through to the charity work she participated in until her illness became debilitating. Even if each phase isn't depicted within these covers, Aud's essence shines through in the impressive array of pictures, whether she's being dirtied on the set of My Fair Lady or riding her bicycle around the studio lot with her Yorkshire Terrier in its wicker basket: she is at once kind and compassionate, self-conscious and slight. She is simply stunning.

Remembering Audrey. As if we could ever forget.

Photo Source

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The January 8, 2008 magazine reportedly retails for 12.99, just like Grace's, and is available on newsstands through April (it is not, however, available online).

Hometown Homage

2008-01-16T12:28:00.000-08:00

If there ever was a moment for re-inforcing my hometown pride, it was the Christmastime discovery of a Hollywood homage in my very own downtown. Handsome actor Kerwin Mathews, perhaps best known for his swarthiness and swordfighting in films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and 1962's Jack The Giant Killer, was recently honored in his home city of Janesville, Wisconsin, just months after his July 5th death in San Franscisco at the age of 81.

Mathews was born in Seattle but raised in Janesville (he attended high school with my grandparents), a city of around 60,000, and stayed close to his midwestern roots until his late twenties, when he left a high school teaching position to make a foray to Hollywood. Although he never achieved the fame of contemporary 1950s stars like William Holden or Spencer Tracy, with whom he starred in The Devil at Four O'Clock, he nonetheless found a particular genre of films which suited his acrobatic and acting abilities, and remains a cult favorite even today. He relocated to San Francisco in the 1970's, where he replaced a dwindling number of TV and film roles with an interest in dealing antiques and furniture; he remained in the city until his 2007 death.

The city of Janesville recently renamed a small street in its historic downtown area after Mathews, which I was giddy to find while home for Christmas break:

(I will, of course, completely overlook the fact that they spelled his name wrong, at least until I sit down to write my congressman about it).

Kerwin Photo Source

Happy New Year from HCC!

2008-01-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

A New Year and new resources mean only one thing: a fabulous 2008 is in store for all of you bloggers, first-time visitors and fab devotees alike! Once the effects of last night's champagne leave yours truly, I hope to add exciting new features, to expand my links to include retail suggestions, shopping tips, creative ideas, book reviews, and music connections, among other additions, and to generally improve upon Hillary's Classic Cinema to achieve a more cohesive, easy-to-navigate resource for classic film lovers everywhere.

Here's to a happy, healthy, new year filled with every good flick from The Apartment right down to Xanadu (okay, that's the champagne talking).

Merry Christmas, Movie House!

2007-12-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

December proved to be a hectic month that slid into a relatively relaxed holiday with friends, family, and fattening food, and I hope you've experienced the same happy Christmas season that I have. Even though Santa didn't bring me the laptop I wrote him for - the same one that would allow me to post every single day instead of twice a month, computer-less as I am - I'm confident I will have one before the new year. Until then I'll have to muddle through somehow (sounds so much better coming from Judy, I know).

And until then, you can revel in the vintage voice of Miss Judy Garland in this classic scene from 1944's Meet Me In St. Louis.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a reminder that there's a TCM Debbie Reynolds mini-marathon on Christmas Day!

Photographic Faves

2007-12-06T10:54:00.000-08:00

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda perfect their ball-and-chain routine on the set of The Lady Eve, 1939.

Classics Weekend

2007-12-06T10:07:00.001-08:00

Perhaps it's all the holiday spirit, but the redoubtable Turner Classic Movies doesn't fail to deliver gift-wrapped goodness during the first weekend in December, as their schedule clearly indicates. Some movies you'll need to see before the year is out:

Where The Boys Are, 1960 - The quintessential beach party flick amongst all those fluffy Frankie-and-Annette confections (not that we didn't love every Moondoggie moment of those). And oh, that theme song....12/7, 1:30pm ET
From Here To Eternity, 1953 - Deborah Kerr ditches her red tresses for blond locks in this novel-based naval blockbuster, but her icy facade is still intact, at least until the infamous beach scene. And don't miss demure Donna Reed as a call girl! 12/7, 10:15pm ET
Little Women, 1949 - Four of MGM's biggest stars comprise the March family in this quintessential holiday film, complete with Mary Astor as Mrs. March, Elizabeth Taylor as a blonde, and the hotness that is Peter Lawford. June Allyson, Janet Leigh, and Margaret O'Brien also star. 12/8, 6:00am ET
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 - John Huston cast his father, Walter, as well as his own brand of distinct movie-making in this memorable adventure, topped off with film favorite Humphrey Bogart. 12/8, 4:15PM ET
Bad Day At Black Rock, 1955 - Spencer Tracy and drama, that's all you really need to know. 12/8, 6:30PM ET
Casablanca, 1942 - Even if you've seen it six dozen times, could it hurt to savor Rick and Ilsa's fated romance just once more? Bogie, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Raines. 12/8, 10:00PM ET
On The Town, 1949 - Sexy sailors Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra (Jules Munshin, not so much) spend a 24-hour leave chasing skirts and carousing in New York City. Also starring Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen. 12/9, 4:15PM ET
High Society, 1956 - Grace Kelly reprises the role of Kate Hepburn in this musical re-telling of Hep's comeback classic, The Philadelphia Story. Not a standout film, but worth a view for leads Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, as well as the engagement ring worn by Kelly's character Tracy Lord - it was Kelly's own for her upcoming nuptials to the prince of Monaco, whom she married in April of 1956. 12/9, 6:00PM ET

Want more on the TCM lineup? Visit their online schedule at TCM.com.

Three Weeks Til Christmas...

2007-12-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

Cheryl Crane, infamous daughter of Lana Turner and ex-husband Stephen Crane, is the internet proprieter behind Lana Turner Estate Property, the eBay store auctioning off dozens of dazzling digs once owned by Miss Lana herself. Fabulous finds like vintage jewelry, hats, and ashtrays and even personal effects like handbags, perfume, and lipstick are up for sale, with each individual listing providing a complete description of each item and Cheryl's memories of its significance to her mother. There's the decanter set from Frank Sinatra, an ashtray given by Bob Hope, and a pair of emerald-and-pearl earrings that Miss Turner swapped with one Ava Gardner all up for grabs, the last of which I would probably denounce all of my worldly goods simply to wear for an evening.

Whether or not you have $125 to spend on genuine Lana-owned gold bangles or faux diamond bracelets, the anecdotes that Crane unknowingly offers are worth even more than that. In her precise but offhanded descriptions of her mother's treasures, Crane reveals facets of Lana you may not have read about in mama's autobiography, like the fact that she had to keep her massive collection of costume jewelry in custom-made storage, loved to wear pearls with black clothing, and swooned over Bob Taylor's expert wooing skills.

Under a photo of Lana and uber-stud Robert Taylor, for instance, is the caption

"At the time this photo was taken Mother and Robert Taylor were in the middle of a hot and heavy love affair. She always gave him credit for being a good KISSER.........."

Pawing through Lana Turner's jewelry collection, hearing firsthand accounts of her day-to-day life, perusing gifts from past lovers...this is essentially like having a gossipfest sleepover, only without the pajamas and popcorn. I absolutely love it. All this really means for me, though, is that I need a second job. My life will not be complete until I can wear a pair of Lana Turner's screwbacks!

One Week Left!

2007-12-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

A week left to get the newsstands-only Remembering Grace, a photographic tribute to the late and lovely Grace Kelly, that is. The exclusive publication features previously-unreleased photos of Grace by her career-long photographer and close friend Howell Conant, mostly dazzling candids and rare family images surrounding her engagement and marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. Don't let the $10.95 cover price deter you - this is a worthwhile collection that's a simple, elegant, and simply elegant as Miss Kelly herself.

Life's Remembering Grace commemorative issue will remain on shelves until December 10, 2007.

John Tracy, 1924-2007

2007-10-23T12:42:00.001-07:00

So much sadness this month.

John Tracy, only son of film legend Spencer Tracy and his wife Louise, died this summer at the age of 82. He is survived by his sister, Susie, son Joseph, and Joseph Tracy's family.

Born in Milwaukee, WI, in 1924, John arrived before his father's momentous transition from stage to film in 1930, but the realization that the boy was completely deaf and suffered from infant paralysis was a blow to his young parents, who were soon determined their son live as fulfilling and active a life as possible despite his conditions.

Many sources, including Spencer's longtime friend and romance Katharine Hepburn, have attributed Tracy's infamous bouts of alcoholism to depression over his son's condition, though Spence was, according to his wife and family, still very much interactive with John, continuing to read and sing to him as he grew. Mrs. Tracy deferred her acting career to care for the boy and his younger sister, Susie, striving to learn as much as possible to equip herself for the care and education of her son, and the family opened the John Tracy Clinic in 1942, offering free services and education to parents of children who are born with hearing impairments. Its sole benefactor at its outset was Spence himself, in constant support of and solidarity with wife Louise's efforts. The clinic still stands today in Los Angeles, California.

Spencer Tracy died of lung cancer in 1967; his wife died sixteen years later. John's sister, Susie, is living today at the age of 75 in Southern California.

You can learn more by visiting The John Tracy Clinic Online.

Photographic Faves

2007-10-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

Frank Sinatra and wife Ava Gardner take two straws apiece, early 1950's

OH MY LORD!

2007-10-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

I don't think I can articulate it enough: I love classic movies. There is something about the paradox of esotericism and universality that stirs me: not everyone has seen Harold and Maude, for example, but I know everyone would love it if they did, and yes I am too basing that on empirical evidence. But oh, you should try and reign in my excitement when I see something old-movie-related completely out of context, an erstwhile anachronism just existing in everyday life. For example, the tile mosaics depicting scenes from Hitchock films that were installed in a subway station in Hitch's Leytonstone, England, hometown. Hotness? I think so.

The panels, comprised of over 80,000 tiles and completed in 2001, represent scenes from movies throughout the director's entire filmography, from well-known blockbusters like The Birds and Rear Window to less commercially successful fare like Pleasure Garden. They are nonetheless stunning - an intricate balance of homage and artistic license, tied to the English city with sly and careful references (many of Letonstone's most famous institutions are integrated into the scenes). And the detail! Anyone who immortalizes Jimmy Stewart in tile pretty much has my seal of approval.

To see more, visit The Joy of Shards website.

That's Right, Joan, Party!

2007-10-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Eternal younger-sister (to no less than the redoubtably elegant Olivia de Havilland) Joan Fontaine celebrates her 90th birthday today in Carmel, California. The thrice-Oscar nominated star has maintained a decided longevity in Hollywood, beginning her career in 1935, winning her first Academy Award in 1942, and appearing in television and stage roles until the 1980's.

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland was born just fifteen months after elder sis Olivia, in Tokyo, Japan, where her parents divorced soon after. As an older child Joan bounced between American school in Japan and her mother's residence in Saratoga, California, where Olivia remained an active young stage and theatre-group actress. Family life soon centered around Olivia's burgeoning career in Hollywood, and Joan, partially following in her wake, moved to Los Angeles, roomed with Olivia, and tested for bit parts at MGM. It wasn't until 1937, when she adopted her stepfather's surname and landed more substantial roles, that Joan's own star began to rise. Her most memorable films came in the late 1930's and throughout the 1940's - George Stevens' delightful The Women, Hitchcock's Rebecca and Suspicion, and Letter From An Unknown Woman (1948) are among her best roles.

The first of Joan's four short marriages was to actor Brian Aherne, shown above with Joan; her only children resulted from her marriage to financier William Dozier, with whom she raised two daughters. She has been single since her final divorce in 1969.

While her eternal sibling-feud with Liv is arguably as publicized and enduring as both of their respective, respectable careers, I hope their impressive filmographies eventually take precedence in the public mind. Yes, the catfights and the estrangements are delicious to read about (oh, how I wish they had done a sisters' version of The Women!), but for two such talented women who have contributed so much during their concurrent tenures in Tinseltown, their unforgettable film roles deserve to be at the forefront of their legacies. Films first, ladies, hairpulling second.

Happy birthday, Joan!

Rhymes with Star

2007-10-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

Delicate Scottish star Deborah Kerr, best beloved for her roles in Black Narcissus, From Here To Eternity, and The King and I, and forever remembered as the endlessly elegant Terry McKay in Leo McKern's An Affair to Remember, died Tuesday, October 16, at the age of 86.

Kerr, retired from film since the late 1960's, spent the last years of her life in Switzerland, where Parkinson's disease interfered with her ability to publicly share her Hollywood memories through interviews or written accounts, and to accomodate fan requests. She is survived by her husband of almost fifty years, Peter Viertel, and two daughters from her first marriage, Melanie and Francesca.

I am forever indebted to Deborah for introducing me to the charms of peach lipstick, pink champagne, and sexy, witty banter as the reservedly passionate Terry in Affair. She was an inexhaustible example of timeless grace and propriety even when such attributes were out of vogue in Hollywood, but her professionalism and skill won out as she fought for better, more demanding, less decorative roles; her film legacy is a testament to such victories. And oh, was she right - pink champagne, chic camelhair coats and Cary Grant do a happy woman make.

When MGM brought British Deborah stateside in the 1940's and proclaimed 'Deborah Kerr rhymed with "star"', they were right. They just never knew she would be one herself.

Deborah Kerr (1921-2007)

For a more comprehensive tribute on the lady herself, you can check out my Actor Profile here.

Photographic Faves

2007-10-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

The incomparable Fred Astaire, date unknown

Candid Candice

2007-10-11T10:27:00.001-07:00

When you hear the name Candice Bergen, what do you think of?

Murphy Brown? Boston Legal? That one lady from Miss Congeniality?

For most - us classic film connoisseurs included - these are legitimate, and accurate, references, so entrenched in recent pop culture is this brazen blonde with an ample arsenal of witty banter and a stunning ability to articulate it for comedic effect. But Bergen's sphere of relevance spans far beyond groundbreaking television and cameos in feature films, as proven by her 1984 autobiography, the aptly-titled Knock Wood.

While her contribution to classic film is somewhat underwhelming, it is her personal history and frame of reference that prove relevant to one interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in 1946 to famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wife, model and actress Frances Westerman, Candice was blessed from the start: before the age of five, she attended parties at Walt Disney's house, made friends of celebrity offspring like Vicki Milland and Cheryl Crane (daughters of Ray Milland and Lana Turner, respectively) and dressed up in studio-gifted reproduction dresses during afternoons at pal Liza Minnelli's house. But the intelligent child was soon aware of the singular elements of her upbringing that, she felt, contributed to the ease with which she acquired elite privileges like private education, extensive travel, popularity, social prestige, and opportunity - namely, her wealth, influence, and beauty. The unrest accompanied her into young adulthood, and amongst European boarding schools, modeling contracts, college courses and the inevitable movie career, Bergen strove to seek out diversity, to estrange herself from the conservative politics and principles of her parents, to establish herself as a photographic and literary talent, and to familiarize herself with the struggles of others, all the while feeling that she could never fully extricate herself from the position of privilege she was born into, nor did she deserve it. Her struggles to find herself worthy of such entitlements speak to her depth and character and give a dimension to her words that is almost completely anachronistic in the genre of celebrity autobiography; additionally, she writes of her extended eschewing of adult responsibility, her long and isolated travels across the globe, her obstinance in personal relationships, and her continued seeking of her father's approval, traits at total contradiction with her public bubbly, California-girl, movie-star persona.

In essence, Knock Wood has a savory dichotomy in its every page: the adventures of a young woman coming of age in the turbulent 1960's and who strives to find balance, relevance, and fulfillment in the decades that followed, and the dealings of the entertainment business, the demise of the studio era, and the complete lack of acknowledgment of once-beloved entertainers of her father's WWII generation (Bergen's father, dejected at the idea of having faded into relative obscurity, died while on a farewell tour in Las Vegas in the late 1970s).

Pick up Knock Wood for an exceptionally honest, expertly-crafted, personalized view of life in Hollywood, looking out with dazzling deprecation over the manicured hedges of a swank Bel-Air mansion and set amongst the larger-than-life personalities of those who populated Tinseltown in our favorite era. After Charlie McCarthy and before Murphy Brown there was just Candice, and her story as a woman is well worth a read.

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Knock Wood is out-of-print, but I recommend buying a used copy from Betterworld.com. You'll pay only a few dollars, skip the shipping fees, and help fund local, national, and global charities with your online purchase.

Did You Know?

2007-10-10T09:36:00.001-07:00

Sinsister-voiced actor Vincent Price, best known for his roles in dark dramas like The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Wax, and my personal favorite, 1944's Laura, was a Yale graduate of art history, an avid art collector, and author of a syndicated art column in the late 1960's. He also founded and headed the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Arts at Los Angeles College, still an active element of the campus today.

Remembering Grace

2007-10-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Aside from the whole made-love-to-Cary-Grant-repeatedly-in-To Catch A Thief aspect of her movie-star life - that was also the film were she was devastatingly rich, wore fabulous Edith Head gowns, exceeded the speed limit along the coast of France in her sporty convertible and carried a picnic basket of chicken and beer to entice swarthy men like Grant's character, John Robie - posh Philadelphian actress Grace Kelly truly did have a pretty enviable life, cut short though it was by tragedy. The softspoken blonde beauty, best known for her roles in Hitchock classics like Rear Window and the aforementioned Thief (her chemistry with Grant is incendiary), attended the Academy for Dramatic Arts and cracked into stardom in only her second film, High Noon, at age 22. The movie was a blockbuster, and Grace, opposite perpetual American hero Gary Cooper, was vaulted into the hallowed halls of Hollywood superstardom, an instant and unforgettable icon who would only make 9 more films in the course of her career. (In case you aren't jealous of her resume yet, she won an Academy Award at the age of 25 for only her sixth film role ever and, less than a year later, married the Prince of Monaco, thereby becoming one of America's first princesses.)

Despite the obvious attractive elements of her fame, position and dramatic talent (not to mention the whole Cary Grant thing), the point is inarguable that Grace Kelly is absolutely and astonishingly beautiful, her lithe frame and delicate features a perfect complement to the chic, understated, fitted-and-full styles of her era; every aspect combines to create the epitome of effortless elegance that she embodies in so many of her films. Her propensity for being tirelessly photogenic would be intolerable were it not so enchanting, even decades later - a modern goddess in a Helen Rose creation.

Still smitten with her image decades later, LIFE Magazine has published a special full-length issue devoted to America's motion picture princess in honor of the silver anniversary of her tragic and untimely death in an auto accident - she would be 77, were she still living - and it is a lush, intimate photofest, cover-to-cover with voyeuristic views of the American princess's day-to-day life, spanning the years of her fame into the quieter, more reclusive time she spent with her family as Monaco's Royal Highness, where her films were banned and her actress past wasn't spoken of. Famed photographer Howell Conant provides the picture retrospectives which span from 1955 until Kelly's death in 1982, and his camera extracts a multitude of facets of his single subject matter - the demure, the sophisticated, the unforgettable Grace Kelly.

LIFE's "Remembering Grace" is available only at booksellers, not online, for a cover price of $10.99.

Update: I bought this magazine over the weekend and I absolutely cannot stop reading it - it was made to pore over again and again. The text may be a little lame, but the photos are simply stunning and well worth the price. Putting off my calc homework has never been so chic!

Perrylicious!

2007-10-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

If you consider how much I rhapsodize about the inarguable appeal of some of classic Hollywood's most prominent men - Henry Fonda, Gene Kelly, Cary Grant and the incredibly wooden John Gavin, just to name a few - it may seem curious, in contrast, that I don't print much about my favorite crooners of the era, of which smooth, suave Perry Como is paramount. Pair his particular brand of scintillating singing with the effortless effervescence of one Miss Cyd Charisse (well, she is Mrs. Tony Martin, but you know what I mean) and you have romance a la mode, mes chers. Here, once you bypass the pouty Mickey Rooney and the European sight-seeing tour - this clip was taken directly from 1948's all-star spectacle Words and Music, and includes additional portions of the film immediately pre- and succeeding the musical portion - you'll find the dreaminess only Como, Charisse and an MGM musical can provide. You can start the video at about 1:15 for the musical sequence only.

Now honestly, isn't that just the most heartwarmingly endearing thing you've ever seen?

Video courtesy YouTube user ComoFan123

She Must've Done Something Good

2007-10-01T10:02:00.001-07:00

The venerable Dame Julie Andrews, 1960s film phenomenon, accomplished soloist, and wife of veteran director Blake Edwards, turns 72 today. Happy birthday, Fraulein Maria!

Julie made her film debut in 1964's Mary Poppins, for which she won an Oscar; her best-known role, that of impetuous postulant Maria in the unforgettable The Sound of Music, came just a year later. She married Edwards in 1969 and the two formed a formidable film force, along with famed composer and frequent collaborator Henry Mancini, to create intriguing, esoteric movies as vehicles to showcase Edwards' gift for scripts and the musical abilities of Andrews and Mancini. 1970's Darling Lili, 1981's S.O.B., and the blockbuster hit Victor/Victoria, later revived for a Broadway tour, are prime examples of the couple's colorful collaborations.

A routine surgical operation in 1998 left Andrews with damaged vocal chords, culminating in the loss of her famous voice - but she has allowed this startling change to channel her creativity in new directions, namely, the line of children's books she co-authors with daughter Emma Walton and the numerous feature films she's starred in as of late.

_________

I had the distinct privilege of seeing Jules in person at a tribute to Edwards' work at my alma mater - I didn't meet her, just stared unabashedly - and she is absolutely the epitome of elegance one would expect; I've gotta wish her an extra happy birthday just for keeping that old Hollywood glamour alive and well.

I definitely recommend you pop in some Thoroughly Modern Millie in honor of L'Andrews. Carol Channing in a cannon, anyone?!

Happy Birthday, Dame Julie.

Photo of the Week

2007-09-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Rita Hayworth supports the US war effort, early 1940s

Jane Wyman, 1917-2007

2007-09-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

In an age where the everyday comings and goings of less-than-celebrity celebrities are monitored and published with the utmost vigilance, I find it truly saddening that something so notable as the passing of Hollywood royalty - predecessors of today's Tinseltown, remembered by only a few - is barely acknowledged in print, the internet, or on television. The September 10th death of Jane Wyman, then, four-time Oscar nominee and former wife of then-future president Ronald Reagan, is just one such overlooked instance.

Remembered by younger generations as the stern matriarch on TV's long-running soap Falcon Crest, Wyman actually started her career in the 1930's, appearing in bit parts in Warner Brothers films until her first credited role, that of a hatcheck girl, came along in 1937. She met and married co-star Ronald Reagan in 1940, garnering her even more publicity - but it was throughout the next decade she proved herself a golden girl in cinema based on talent alone, starring in movies like Billy Wilder's dramatic The Lost Weekend (1945) and the classic weepie The Yearling (1946), the latter for which she received an Oscar nomination.

Wyman's deft turn as the deaf-mute victim of rape in 1948's Johnny Belinda secured her place as a serious actress when she earned an Oscar for the role; she accepted graciously, saying only, "I won this award for keeping my mouth shut, so I think I'll do it again now." Her triumph didn't lessen her film appearances throughout the remainder of the 1940s and the 1950s, but her scrutiny and her devotion to her family did: those she did star in contrasted sharply in that they were either of considerably higher quality than those she churned out in the 1930's: films like Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, The Blue Veil and a same-titled remake of the Barbara Stanwyck classic So Big; or they were films in which she seemed completely out of her element (1953's Let's Do It Again is too painful an example to be forgettable). She also made several romantic comedies with Bing Crosby - quaint, endearing little cinematic gems like There Goes the Groom and Just For You, fondly remembered by fans of the pair and still sweet viewing today.

Wyman moved gracefully from the medium of film to that of television, and spent three seasons hosting, and occasionally starring in, tv's drama series Fireside Theatre. In the years preceding her 1981 inauguration into the coveted and memorable role of Angela Channing on Falcon Crest, she made numerous tv appearances and continued her quiet philanthropic habits, supporting arthritis research and the Catholic Church, which she converted to in 1951, shortly after her divorce from Reagan. She divorced for a fourth and final time in 1965, remaining single until her 2007 death.

Doe-eyed, elegant, and simperingly scandal-free, Jane Wyman was a rare thing in Hollywood indeed. But when you get to heaven and you meet up with Ol' Bing, Jane, I hope he's Zingin a Zong Just For You.

For more information or photos on Jane, visit her official family website or view a beautiful collection of images on Meredy's website.

Gene Kelly, 1912-1996

2007-08-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

In writing of my favorite films and the stars that populate them, I can't help but feel I've covered every aspect of uber-hot hoofer Gene Kelly before: the tough-nosed professional man behind the debonair onscreen romantic, the painstaking perfection he infused into each of his films, the vibrancy with which his colorful MGM spectacles still resonate today (and oh, did I mention that smile?). But as I celebrate what would've been Gene-o's 95th birthday today, I wonder if it isn't so much simpler on some level. Could Gene Kelly really be just a fabulous movie star?

Devastatingly handsome and supremely sensual, Kelly proved adept at playing his non-dancing roles pitch-perfectly: he was, in equal turns, Judy Garland's overzealous and histrionic lover in The Pirate, the despondent film star on the edge of decline in the insurmountably superb Singin' in the Rain, and the hardworn, Hopper-esque journalist in Stanley Kramer's dramatic Inherit the Wind. Watching his films decades after their respective releases, it seems that Kelly understood, even from the outset of his career in 1941, the great beauty of cinema, the legacy of the motion pictures he was creating. And so he worked to raise the medium to a higher standard regarding its inclusion of dance and its depiction of aesthetic beauty, moreso than any of his contemporaries: he often harangued scriptwriters and challenged directors, re-wrote dialogue and cast his own leading ladies in order to fashion the caliber of film he knew that he, and MGM, was capable of. What a legacy that leaves us to revel in.

So Gene, here's to you. Sexy, savvy, graceful and ingenius...Really. Our love is here to stay.

Not familiar with Gene? Check out my film suggestions to get acquainted with Monsieur Kelly here.

Classic Movie Trivia

2007-08-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

What legendary director sometimes referred to himself by the Gaelic version of his birth name, Sean Aloysius Kilmartin O'Feeney?

Same Script Scrutiny: Debbie vs. Ginger

2007-08-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Oh, how Hillary's Classic Cinema loves to roll its antiquated eyes at the very idea of film re-makes: once a good, bankable movie has been released (or even a brilliant B movie, for that matter), truly, why does the passage of a few years necessitate the re-issuing of a perfectly good film with brand-new stars? Become entrenched in classic cinema and you, too, will begin to see familiar storylines unfold in obscure old movies: character names are recycled, an identical foil in the plot is doled out with measured exactness, even dialogue may match another film's verbatim.

Surprised to find out that films like A Star is Born, His Girl Friday and even The Wizard of Oz are remakes? Don't be - that seems standard fare for classic Hollywood, where the emergence of new technologies allowed for the employment of new approaches to old stories (can you imagine the yellow brick road in sepia tones? Yeccch). In the days of the studio era, film assignments were often handed out with the same discretion and speed as lunch trays in the MGM commissary, and the actors and actresses of cinema's golden age were frequently forced to star in flicks that their predecessors had made famous just years before (unless they, like blonde beauty Betty Grable, tore up their contracts and stormed out of offices to avoid such fates).

It is with much haste, then, that I introduce a new feature here: Same Script Scrutiny, pitting two sinfully similar films against one another for a battle to wit's end. Okay, not really, but maybe you'll discover a new film to love - and that's always my aim in writing about the classic movies I love!

This edition features 1939's Bachelor Mother, remade as its opponent, 1956's Bundle of Joy, with both films telling the story of working girl Polly Parrish. When Polly finds a rollicking infant on the steps of a foundling home, she scoops it up to save it from harm, only to find herself unwittingly thought to be the child's neglectful mother. Extricating herself from the responsibilities that ensue proves mildly delightful, while romantic entanglements and the exasperations of child-rearing wear poor Polly down, and an overzealous grandpa throws his sentiments into the turmoil.

1939 1956

Ginger Rogers played Polly to David Niven's Mr. Merlin in the 1939 version; sparkly Debbie Reynolds and then-real-life-husband Eddie Fisher, lamer than a damp rag, portrayed the pair in the 1956 remake. RKO capitalized on the Fishers' own expectant status when the movie premiered, as their daughter, Carrie Frances, was born just weeks prior to the film's release.

Same Script Scrutiny: Which is the better film? You decide.

Photo of the Week

2007-08-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

Husband-and-wife team Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, circa 1962

Meet Monsieur Kelly

2007-08-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

As August here at HCC is not only the mark of what would be legendary dancer, actor, and all-around hotness Gene Kelly's 95th birthday, but also the month in which he is bestowed, posthumously, the petit homage of being our Star of the Month, I am more than happy to familiarize you with King Kelly in a summary of his best, can't-miss films below:

Anchors Aweigh, 1945 - Kelly teamed up with popular crooner Frank Sinatra in three separate films, but Anchors Aweigh has the added heft of operatic wonder Kathryn Grayson (and the inarguable appeal of the absence of google-eyed Broadway boy Jules Munshin, who appears in Kelly and Sinatra's other two films). The pair's onscreen camaraderie is irresistible as they, amorous sailors both, chase dames while on leave in Los Angeles and fall for the same pretty lady.

The Pirate and The Three Musketeers, both 1948 - The corral of stars at MGM is legendary, ostensibly more populous than even the heavens. So while it may have been simple studio policy to pair Gene with the beautiful likes of Judy Garland (The Pirate), June Allyson and Lana Turner (both, The Three Musketeers), minor romantic history is made in each of these, where Kelly gets a chance to flex his comedic talent as well as his, well, more athletic side. Swarthy and swashbuckling, Gene makes each of these star-studded films a true delight, whether he's running from the law on horseback, slashing sails with his sword or smothering any of his helpless leading ladies with his ever-appealing ardor. Swoon!

Singin in the Rain, 1952 - Often cited as a hallmark in Kelly's filmography and hailed as one of the best, if not the absolute best, musicals of all time, Singin stars Gene along with newcomer Debbie Reynolds, all of 19 here, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, and the inimitable Cyd Charisse. With an unforgettable score laden with Arthur Freed classics and dazzling Technicolor setting, this flick is a must!

An American in Paris, 1951 - I personally harbor an intense dislike for this movie, as it can be perceived as so cultivated and entrenched in the artistic aspects of its story - particularly Kelly's dance interpretations of classical paintings - as to potentially alienate viewers, not to mention mire the whole semi-credible plot in grating dialogue, forgettable music and seemingly-endless montages of its stars (I think Oscar Levant plays piano in a dream sequence for, honestly, an hour and twenty-seven minutes). If you can ignore Georges Guetary and Levant's screen time and simply revel in the heavenly hoofer that is Gene Kelly, then this one will prove a gem. Don't miss his heart-meltingly romantic rendition of "Our Love Is Here To Stay", either!

Quote of the Week

2007-07-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

"Lassie was a vicious bastard!"

- Peter Lawford, on his co-star in 1945's Son of Lassie

Oh, Shangri-La, Miss Foyle!

2007-07-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

I've got a tip for you. Watch Kitty Foyle.

In all my starry-eyed viewings of 1940's The Philadelphia Story, I could never fathom how any other actress could have give a performance worthy of nabbing that year's Oscar from fiesty female lead Katharine Hepburn, especially given that Phil was essentially Hep's comeback vehicle after years of box-office bombs in the late 1930s: the film is brilliant, filled with acerbic dialogue, runs at a deliriously snappy pace, and boasts a corral of first-rate stars to carry it from its uproarious opening all the way to its delightful denoument. How could any forties filly top Kath's snobby, priggish Tracy Lord in all her hearthfires-and-holocausts glory?

Easily, if you take it from Ginger Rogers, Hep's blonde box-office rival and fellow RKO 'It Girl' of the 1930s. Though she made her name as the sexier half of the most popular dance duo in history opposite Fred Astaire - and perhaps the more coordinated half, as she was always in high heels - Ginge's turn as white-collar working girl Kitty Foyle vaulted her into the serious spheres of dramatic acting, far from her days of tapping in Top Hat and waltzing in Swing Time. And deservedly so: those familiar with Rogers as the saucy but respectable young lady on the receiving end of the sweet advances of amorous male co-stars like David Niven, Jimmy Stewart and Astaire, will be astounded by her deft transformation into scrappy brunette Kitty, an indomitable Irish lass who finds, in her mid-20's, that stumbling upon love is far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. Co-stars Dennis Morgan - sexier than he is in 1941's Christmas in Connecticut, if you can believe that - and James Craig tear at the heartstrings as Kitty's suitors, each equally appealing, neither fully claiming Kitty's heart until the film's finish, when you can finally exhale through your tears and astonishment.

I've been a fan of Ginger Rogers since the days of Shall We Dance (1937) and Vivacious Lady (1938), but Kitty is out-and-out an incredible performance by an actress whose skill for subtle serious roles was, and still is, vastly underestimated, left in the shadow of her more well-known turns as the bubbly blonde on Fred's arm. Her sparkly comedic and musical roles are, I contend, equally important in her film legacy and not to be discounted as less than worthy of praise or acknowledgement, but, instead, they serve to highlight her dexterity as an actress even further. There's no harm in loving the Ginger who can Charleston her way into the arms of any of your favorite forties fellows, but please, for your own sake, get to know Kitty Foyle!

Kitty Foyle is available on DVD for the awesome price of just $12.20 from Deep Discount DVD!

Photo Source

Photo of the Week

2007-06-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Craggy screen grandpa Spencer Tracy comforts his diminutive co-star on the set of Father's Little Dividend, 1951

Keen on Gene

2007-06-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

I think I'm obsessed with Gene Tierney.
It happens every so often in my quest to find the most enchanting gems of classic cinema, whether I'm voraciously devouring an autobiography, sacrificing precious sleep to catch a late movie on TCM, or finding myself in the throes of conversation with any random passerby who happens to comment on my vintage slingbacks or Kate-Hepburn-inspired-hairdo: I stumble upon an actor, a director, or a film so incredible that it's a wonder I've lived a good twenty years without yet being enlightened as to its awesomeness. First it was director Blake Edwards and his slew of films that span genres and decades; then, I fell hard for Henry Fonda and the honest, compassionate, soft-spoken characters he's portrayed since the 1930s (the beautiful blue eyes may've played a part in my affection, too). Most recently it was the divine Barbara Stanwyck and her wise-cracking, no-nonsense persona, onscreen and off - Sugarpuss O'Shea, I salute you - and now, Gene.

Sweet, stoic and stunningly unfettered by her status as a Hollywood star, Gene Tierney entered the echelon of movie history in 1944's Laura, in which she plays the titular character of a glamorous society murder-victim-cum-murder-suspect. It was just her twelfth film since her 1940 debut, and Gene was doubtful of her true thespian talent, though she worked tirelessly to improve her skill. (She would often study great films that had preceded her generation so late into the night that the studio projectionist would fall asleep screening them.)

Despite her incredible beauty - she stands out even amongst her glittery starlet contemporaries like Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner - Gene was offered, and preferred, mainly dramatic roles that challenged her abilities, instead of the standard musicals or unsophisticated sex comedies assigned to Fox's younger leading ladies of the 1940s. Films like Tobacco Road, Leave Her To Heaven and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir are dark, humorless pieces that are illuminated as much by their overall impactfulness as by Gene's deft performances, and because she was neither influenced by nor dependent upon her movie career to support her financially, she had the advantage of employing discretion in the parts she selected.

Gene's film career had already lost precedence to her family life after an unsuccessful marriage to designer Oleg Cassini ended in divorce in the early 1950's, and her health soon became tabloid fodder as she surrendered to a curious and debilitating mental illness that required aggressive measures, extensive psychotherapy, and prolonged stays in various American institutions before it was nearly eradicated from her life and she was able to regain stability. Upon her tentative return to Hollywood in the 1960's, minor cameo roles were nearly all that were offered Gene, now in her 40's - and the newly-remarried mother of two accepted this fact readily, again focusing on her family and home life for the remainder of her life.

Leaving behind an impressive film legacy and a truly touching and effective autobiography, Self-Portrait, Gene Tierney died in November of 1991, just shy of her 81st birthday.

Photo of the Week

2007-06-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Judy Garland
June 10, 1922 - June 22, 1969

Were she alive, Judy would've celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday today. That girl - that voice - she's sorely missed.

Source

Le Movie Star Mysterieuse

2007-05-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

This screen siren has made appearances in some of the best-loved films of all time, though she's rarely, if ever, appeared in a starring role...

So just who is she? Take a crack at her identity and post your answers below!

Update 5/22: Poster Marc correctly guessed blonde bombshell Gloria Grahame was the mystery movie star! Somebody knows his stunning starlets...

Happy Birthday, James

2007-05-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

James Maitland Stewart (1908-1997)

I certainly don't remember the day Jimmy Stewart was born, but I do know where I was the moment I heard he had passed away - I was newly twelve and had just tasted what I found to be the most incredibly romantic film in the world, Capra's essential It's A Wonderful Life. Every facet of the movie appealed to my preteen ideals: the tender and hesitant romance, the resounding moral to be gleaned from George Bailey's struggle and his ultimate revelation from God (via Clarence, of course), and the inherent loyalty and desperate need for independence weighing down the young protaganist. It was the kind of movie that makes one ache with gratefulness and that inspires a renewed sense of purpose, and I was just beginning to understand how powerful cinema can be. I owe much of that discovery to Jimmy Stewart.

Whether he is wooing Hedy Lamarr with memorized poetry as night falls in a quiet country house (1941's Come Live With Me is an utterly sweet confection of a movie), drinking champagne and skinny-dipping with Kath Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, or avenging his son's death in films like the Civil War-themed Shenendoah, Jimmy is an unforgettable presence on the silver screen. He worked opposite the best and brightest of Hollywood; he shone under the direction of masters like Capra, Hitchcock, and John Ford; he was close lifelong friends with fellow star Henry Fonda; his film career spans an incredible five decades. Yes, James Stewart is one of the greats.

He inarguably appeals to every person in one character or another; he is somehow Everyman and yet each distinct character he portrays, simultaneously. Vertigo, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rear Window, Winchester 73, Shop Around the Corner, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance...there will never be another Jimmy Stewart.

So thank you, Jimmy, for your luminous career, for your enduring star persona, for all you've given us movie lovers to moon and dream over for decades and decades. Your inherent sweetness will no doubt never cease to charm us, and your stoic, dramatic side will allow your darker films to remain classics even as time renders their contemporaries inconsequential.

You know, Clarence was right all along. When a man isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

BALL OF AWESOME!

2007-05-20T13:59:00.001-07:00

Okay, dear readers, you must allow me the liberty of expressing my absolute fervor of excitement over the days-away release of 1941's sassy, saucy romantic comedy Ball of Fire. When nothing else could convince me of lead Barbara Stanwyck's classic actress status - her critically-acclaimed turn in Double Indemnity, my first foray into her films, left me totally unappreciative (the blonde wig! ugh!) - it was her part as Fire's wise-cracking gun moll Sugarpuss O'Shea that turned me into a true Stany fan. Pair her effortless effervescence with the expert direction of Howard Hawks and a script penned by Billy Wilder himself, and you've got a delightful flick filled with equal parts sentiment, sequins, and sex appeal. And don't forget Gary Cooper as the sweet and loyal Professor Potts - ohhh, the hotness!

Do yourself a favor and dig into this dish of forties farce a la mode, available on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 (just click on the link to order from DeepDiscountDVD). As Sugie herself would say, it's a killer diller.

Quote of the Week

2007-05-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

"I was to do something different, and, even more important, I got to die at the end! If anything was going to establish me as a serious actress, I thought, dying ought to do it."

- actress Jane Powell on making the film "Enchanted Island", (as quoted in her autobiography The Girl Next Door and How She Grew)

A Century of Eccentricity

2007-05-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

They call her Kate the Great, and with good reason. She's played a fierce lawyer and a con man, a hard-hitting reporter and a heartbroken widow, a battle-embroiled queen and a barefoot mountain girl. She's come to us as an East Coast socialite (many, actually - usually rich, lacking pretentions), a minister's daughter of the Old West, a concerned California mother and a Chinese peasant in the throes of oppression. She wore slacks and loafers in an age of platinum-blonde sexpots in slinky gowns, she balked at the Hollywood code of behavior, refused interviews and hid from the press, and, for over six decades, she remained a mainstay of then-contemporary cinema despite the fall of the studio area and the ushering in of innumerable new genres of movies. I'd say Kate the Great may be just the moniker for inimitable screen queen Katharine Hepburn, who, were she living, would be 100 years old today.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn hailed from Hartford, Connecticut, where she was born in 1907 to liberal and well-educated parents. The elder Hepburns' high-minded social ambitions, namely to educate society on such delicate and unmentionable issues as personal hygiene and birth control, combined with her mother's vocal discontent at being an educated woman relegated to merely running a household, contributed to the general air of eccentricism, self-assurance, and gender-blind aspirations in which Kate was raised and with which she later pursued her acting career. After obtaining a degree at Bryn Mawr, Kate heeded her mother's advice, eschewing the typical life assigned to women of the day: that of wife and mother, playing "nursemaid to the upcoming generation" as Hep herself called it, and instead, she set out determined to find her worth as a person, unrelative to her status as a female in what was then largely a man's world.

Through what she considers a lucky break, Hepburn was noticed by talent scouts while performing a role on Broadway and, within the same year of 1932, found herself starring opposite John Barrymore in the film Bill of Divorcement. It didn't know it then, but Hollywood would never quite recover from the arrival of the enigmatic starlet, though her icon-status would be years in the making.

Despite a rocky period of film failures in the 1930s which caused studio heads to deem her "Box Office Poison", Hepburn's popularity with filmgoers and movie moguls alike was essentially cemented with her performance in both the stage and screen versions of The Philadelphia Story (1940), in which she starred opposite fellow screen icons Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart and a host of superb supporting players. 1942 marked Hep's first pairing with the inimitable Spencer Tracy, whom she quickly developed a deep affection for and friendship with during the production of Woman of The Year; their mutual respect and attraction is evident in the film even today and, while not as incendiary as most romances of the era tend to be, theirs is an incredibly warm and affectionate romance to witness as it unfolds onscreen. The couple's real-life relationship lasted until Tracy's death in 1967, just days after the two finished work on another distinguished gem in their career, Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?.

She earned an astonishing twelve Academy Award nominations in her career and took home the statue an unprecedented four times, although, disinterested in the politics of the Oscar-giving process, Hepburn was never actually present to accept her awards (and the fourth, earned in 1982, she gave to an ailing friend to spur on his recovery). In her later years, Kate focused on spending time with her extended family in their Connecticut summer home, keeping a relatively active schedule, reading and responding to fan mail and conversing with historians and authors like A. Scott Berg, who published a book of his experiences with the actress after her 2003 death at age 96.

Whether she is putting her way to golf superstardom or taming leopards with song, battling court cases or scrambling to make breakfast for screen hubby Spencer, Katharine Hepburn remains an unforgettable face, an inimitable voice, a deft professional touch in some of classic cinema's most revered scenes and stories. Kate the Great, indeed...and one hundred years of her screen magic for posterity to delight in make her all the greater.

""I always wanted to be a movie actress. I thought it was very romantic. And it was."

Katharine Hepburn
1907-2003

Divine in the Briny

2007-04-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Wash your towels, perfect your pedicures, and stir your poolside lemonade, because a sea-worthy revelation is set to hit shelves on Tuesday, July 17, 2007: After spewing forth innumerable Cagney, Bogart, Davis and Crawford box sets, Warner Brothers Home Video is finally lavishing some overdue attention on The Million Dollar Mermaid herself, MGM darling Esther Williams.

A champion diver in her early teens, Williams revolutionized the film industry in the 1940s by using her films to showcase her extraordinary aquatic abilities - she not only swims in beautiful costumes amongst lavish underwater sets, but she dives, performs extended water ballets and acrobatics, water-skis, and choreographs complicated numbers for her myriad "chorus girls" to perform (Williams is credited with co-authoring the sport of synchronized swimming). Though retired from film and running her own line of swimwear from her California home, Esth still remains a fan favorite - she still signs autographs and recently published her autobiography, Million Dollar Mermaid (a scandalously good read) - but curiously enough, the advent of The Esther Williams Collection will mark the initial release of any of Williams' water-related films on dvd (1949's Take Me Out to the Ball Game is definitely dry-land fare).

Complete with featurettes, film trailers, musical number outtakes, and TCM's original Private Screenings with Esth herself, a five-disc box set will include:

Bathing Beauty (1944), with Red Skelton and Harry James
Easy to Wed (1946) with Van Johnson, Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn - easily my favorite flick of the set!
On an Island with You (1948) with Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse
Neptune's Daughter (1949) with Betty Garrett, Red Skelton and Ricardo Montalban - again
Dangerous When Wet (1953) with Fernando Lamas - let the real-life love affair begin!

Though these five flicks aren't entirely representative of Esther's unquestionable underwater appeal (where, exactly, is Million Dollar Mermaid?), fear not, swimfans...the "Volume 1" subscript on the case's cover is a sure guarantee that more mermaid is on the way!

The July-released Esther Williams Collection is available from Amazon.com for an astoundingly low $34.99 USD.

Gone with the Bind

2007-04-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

It seems I'm always reading. Celebrity autobiographies, vintage movie magazines, heavy, photo-laden coffee table books: I'll gladly pore over all of them, stumbling over decades-old love affairs, soaking up sartorial elegance splayed across yellowing pages, and discovering backstories of Tinseltown in its glory days, as told by those who lived it themselves (or by those who, like me, yearn to live it vicariously).

Some reads, like Lauren Bacall's By Myself and Katharine Hepburn's Me: Stories of My Life, have proven to be well-written self-portraits of fascinating personalities, penned with far more depth than is traditionally attributed to, or anticipated from, "celebrity autobiographies"; others, however, are in desperate want of the research and passion necessary to craft engaging stories as unforgettable and dynamic as their celebrity subjects (Lana Wood 's trashy homage to her sister, Natalie, for example, should be considered an affront to both Nat and to literate persons everywhere).
In keeping with my tradition of sifting through the tripe and presenting you with the best of the best, then, I present to you three of the most recent pieces to take up residence on my film library bookshelf:

Rita Hayworth: A Photographic Retrospective by Caren Roberts-Frenzel
Let's face it: Love Goddess or not, Rita Hayworth and her iconic pin-up presence is inarguably one of the most beautiful ever to grace film. Sultry or demure, blond, brunette or devastatingly red-haired, she is sizzlingly iconic of the 1940's, but few know of her painful shyness and insecurities, of the dissolve of five marriages, or of the devastating toll that Alzheimer's disease began to take on the Spanish beauty as early as the 1950's (Hayworth died of the disease in 1987). Author Roberts-Frenzel displays a dizzying array of photographs of the star's life culled from her own collection, one of the world's largest - and as sweet and telling as the photos are, equally valuable are the detailed captions paired with each pic, unearthing a side of Rita that the camera never picked up.

Selected works by Truman Capote - Paring off the shell of adulation that encases most biographers' writings, Capote instead crafts his portraits with keen observations and recollections of his esoteric interactions, both formal and informal, with the erstwhile celebrities he focuses on. These particular portraits follow no particular format or length (many were serialized and published in popular publications of the day); some are, in fact, comprised largely of conversation between the author and subject, the dialogue interspersed with recollections of most unconventional meetings between the two: he chaperones Marilyn Monroe to a funeral, visits Elizabeth Taylor at the apartment she shares with then-hubby Eddie Fisher, and spends a late evening in Tokyo listening to Marlon Brando vocalize his life's philosophies. The element that Capote employs that authors of similar work, like Peter Bogdanovich, do not, is his uncanny ability to absorb these people in their most natural and unguarded states; he comes to them an extrinsic party and leaves brimming with anecdotes that he so vividly translates into these portraits.For stunningly candid insights into selected stars, detailed and written in Capote's dramatic style, seek out these unflinchingly honest literary snapshots that are, perhaps, as notable as the author's 1959 novella-cum-blockbuster "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

*I recommend Capote's "The Duke in his Domain" (1957) on Marlon Brando; "Elizabeth Taylor" (date unknown); and "Beautiful Child", a portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Debbie: My Life by Debbie Reynolds and David Patrick Columbia - One would not be hard-pressed to dig up dozens of accolades for the divine Miss Debbie here at Hillary's Classic Cinema, such a favorite of mine is she - whether she's singing, dancing, or deftly deferring the advances of any of her amorous male leads on the silver screen, I just adore her. It is without bias, though, that I can unequivocally call Debbie: My Life a thorough and most captivating read for any fan of classic cinema.
My Life includes an impressive array of Hollywood characters as they came to intertwine with Debbie's on varying levels of professional and personal reasons, but set to the tone of Debbie's narration - candid, compassionate, naive - her story resists treading the touchy waters of a tell-all (Esther Williams' 2003 autobiography, in comparison, spares no details in dishing the dirt on anyone and everyone's personal goings-on). But the tale here is Debbie's very own, an engrossing portrait of the gifted comedienne who came from poor Texas family and entered movies with no serious intentions of ever becoming the legendary performer she is today.

Reynolds' trademark tenacity is intact from the very first page, evident as she survives a lonely childhood as a scrappy tomboy; struggles with being deserted by her first husband and the father of her two children, Eddie Fisher, for her former Hollywood classmate and box-office rival Elizabeth Taylor in 1958; through desperate financial situations, familial strains and the lifelong undercurrent of longing for unfulfilled normalcies of a non-celebrity life. Don't be mistaken, though - this ain't no sob story, it's an honest, humorous, often heartwrenching story of a young girl's rise to near-instant stardom and her tenuous, tenacious efforts to remain connected with the audience that keeps her buoyant in her fifth decade of fame. Now that's what I call unsinkable.

All of the above books are available at reasonable rates on Amazon.com, but for those with a stricter budget, I recommend browsing eBay, Half.com, or your local library for these titles. Betterworld.com, an online used-book seller, offers low prices, free shipping, and benefits charitable organizations at local and worldwide levels - I highly recommend it.

For more of my book recommendations, please click here.

Quote of the Week

2007-04-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

'"If I'd had a child," she said, "and the child got sick and was crying just as I had to leave for the theater, where hundreds of people were waiting for me to perform, and I had to make a choice - the play or the child - well, I'd smother the child to death and go on with the show. You just can't have both, a career and children."' - Katharine Hepburn, 1981 (as quoted by Jane Fonda in My Life So Far)

Kitty Carlisle Hart, 1910-2007

2007-04-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

As a girl who emulates that vanishing social set comprised of the talented, elegant women of yesteryear, I was truly saddened to hear that just months after touring the United States with her one-woman show, sassy singer, actress, socialite, philanthropist, lecturer, television personality, and Broadway star Kitty Carlisle Hart died this week at her Manhattan, NY home. She was 96 years old.

Perhaps best known for her long-running presence on popular game shows of the 1950s and 60s (she appeared as a favorite panelist on TV's "To Tell The Truth" for a span of more than forty years), Carlisle was born Catherine Conn in New Orleans on September 3, 1910. After her father died in 1920, Catherine and her mother took to Europe, where Mrs. Conn hoped to marry her daughter into royalty after she had been suitably educated. While intentions of noble nuptials never materialized, young Kitty finished her formal education in Switzerland, France's Sorbonne, and the London School of Economics; she also studied acting at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Returning to the United States at age 21, Carlisle soon took to the musical stage, premiering in the titular role of "Rio Rita" before embarking on a brief tenure in Hollywood. She made only four films during her ingenue period in the 1930's; perhaps most notable is her role in 1934's zany Marx Brothers classic, A Night at the Opera. Feeling films were not her fortitude, she returned to the theatre and continued performing sporadically through the 1970's, mostly musicals and occasionally drama, even making numerous noted and successful forays into opera (she premiered in Die Fledermaus in 1967).

Carlisle married prominent Pullitzer prize-winning playwright Moss Hart in 1946 - her only marriage - and remained devoted to him and to their two children after his 1961 death at age 57, never remarrying, despite the fact that she outlived him by nearly fifty years. Colorful accounts of the couple's glitzy social life, rife with renowned talents from the arts and New York's elite uppercrust society, remained a mainstay of Carlisle's personal appearances in theatres and nightclubs for the rest of her life.

Carlisle remained a foremost supporter and advocate of the arts in the years following Hart's death, most notably chairing the New York State Council of the Arts for over 25 years, where she worked to expand the council's budget by an estimated $50 million. She was still actively fundraising into her 90's.

The few in today's audiences who are privileged enough to be familiar with Kitty Carlisle Hart won't be surprised to learn that she continued her one-woman cabaret act until late 2006, even celebrating her 96th birthday with a performance at New York's Regency Hotel. Pretty, genuine, unpretentious, and endlessly enthusiastic about the perpetuation of memories of Hollywood's Golden Age, she created a name for herself by trying her talents in a multitude of mediums and endeared herself to New Yorkers with her dedicated efforts to enrich the art and culture of their legendary city. To tell the truth, a lady like this will never be forgotten.

Ms. Hart is survived by her two children with Moss Hart: son Christopher Hart and daughter Cathy Hart Stoeckle.

For more information on Kitty Carlisle Hart, I highly recommend reading Kitty: An Autobiography, which she published in 1988: it's an engrossing read that fully employs Kitty's wit and intelligence, detailing her youth, her romantic forays in Europe, her decades-spanning and multifarious career, her family life with Moss Hart, and the considerable strides she made as an independent woman in her later years. It's quite a book based on quite a life.

KittyCarlisle.com

Kitty: An Autobiography

Complicated Women (TV Documentary)

Vintage Episode of To Tell The Truth - Courtesy of YouTube (external link)

Classic Film Trivia

2007-04-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

What classic star was the first to win both an Academy Award and an Emmy?

Use the comment box to post your answers below!