Old Hollywood

[leaivory 2]

The Ultimate Dance Duo: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

http://blinditems.typepad.com/dish/

 

 

 

 

[pitt-lover 0]

I just finished reading Ginger Rogers' autobiography. She was very into Christian Science. In the book she constantly referred to instances where miracles occurred and people were healed overnight thanks to the power of studying Christian Science. It got kind of old, but she was beautiful and talented.

Edited September 26, 2007 by pitt-lover

[So Jaded 0]

I took 15 years of dance classes because of this man!

[leaivory 2]

OK...She's 83!

 

 

It seems like Lauren Bacall went from being a hot ass GILF to looking like that overnight! Getting old sucks, but I applaud Lauren for not going under the knife. Embrace the old! There's nothing wrong with it. Yes, you might scare children every now and again, but who gives a fuck! You are still beautiful to me Lauren.

 

I can smell her Jean Nate from here. My grandmother would wear the hell out of Jean Nate!

 

Here's Lauren at the NYC screening for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" last night.

[soho2chelsea 3]

I met her like two years ago. She's still sassy. But starting to lose it a bit.

[WillyWonka 0]

I don't get why 83 year old women keep their hair long and colored like that. Who do they think they're fooling? It looks terrible. She'd look much better with a shorter haircut and if she let her hair go it's natural grey.

[thelatemrfutterman 0]

Like many iconic screen couples, Fred and Ginger disliked each other. She was jealous of his repute, and complained that she did what he did but "backwards and in high heels". He liked to answer the question about his favourite dancing partner with somebody-other-than-Ginger. Audrey Hepburn sometimes, or Cyd Charisse.

 

Their films are almost unbearable to watch now, as films. But the dance scenes are as magical as ever.

[pitt-lover 0]

Like many iconic screen couples, Fred and Ginger disliked each other. She was jealous of his repute, and complained that she did what he did but "backwards and in high heels". He liked to answer the question about his favourite dancing partner with somebody-other-than-Ginger. Audrey Hepburn sometimes, or Cyd Charisse.

 

Their films are almost unbearable to watch now, as films. But the dance scenes are as magical as ever.

According to Ms. Rogers' autobiography, she claimed her and Fred really did like each other and all of the talk about them not get along was untrue. But I would believe there was resentment there. I got the feeling she put a positive spin on much of her history in the book.

Edited October 7, 2007 by pitt-lover

[Hoyaheel 1,874]

Their films are almost unbearable to watch now, as films. But the dance scenes are as magical as ever.

I disagree--I love the old movies, still So many are lighthearted and make me feel good. They're not deep, they're not trying to teach me something, they're just a way to be happy for 90 minutes

[socrates17 0]

Yeah. I still love the old Fred & Ginger films. I also love Damsel in Distress which, although RKO and in the same time frame, is often left out of the panthoen because Ginger was replaced by Joan Fontaine. It was written by the fabulous PG Wodehouse based on one of his books, and co-starred Burns & Allen.

 

Fred does a solo dance number in that, while playing drums, that is beyond belief.

 

But his best film, without question, was Silk Stockings and his best film partner was Cyd Charisse.

 

My mother, who saw him dance with Adele, said his best partners ever were his sister and Barrie Chase. I'm only in a position to verify, as I do, the latter.

[leaivory 2]

LAUREN BACALL HAS BEEN KNOWN TO FORGET HER MANNERS

http://www.janetcharltonshollywood.com/

 

Some of the clerks at Number One Beauty Supply on Montana in Santa Monica reacted strangely when Lauren Bacall walked in. They ran and hid! Apparently, the actress can be terrifying. Ms Bacall was nicely dressed in slacks and a sweater and she carried a $5000 brown Birkin bag and her 14 year old dog Sophie. She spent an hour examining and picking out hair clips and there were no pleases or thank-yous when she brusquely asked clerks to show her things. When she had accumulated a pile of merchandise she handed over her credit card and said "Don't tell me how much it is - I must have 200 clips at home - why am I buying more?"

[thelatemrfutterman 0]

Deborah Kerr has died.

 

She was a classy lady.

[NYCat 1]

From Here to Eternity Actress Deborah Kerr Dies

 

 

Deborah Kerr, who memorably smooched on the beach with Burt Lancaster in the 1953 Oscar-winning Best Picture From Here to Eternity, has died after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease. She was 86.

 

Her death occurred in England on Tuesday, said the Scottish-born actress's agent, Anne Hutton, the Associated Press reports.

 

Nominated for an Oscar six times as Best Actress (a record in the category for someone who never took home the prize), the flame-haired Kerr was presented a special lifetime achievement Academy Award in 1993, to honor the "perfection, discipline and elegance" of her screen work.

 

A major star during her career, Kerr's nominations were also for some of the biggest box-office hits of their time. They were: 1949's Edward My Son (with Spencer Tracy), 1953's From Here to Eternity, 1956's The King & I (with Best Actor winner Yul Brynner), 1957's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (with Robert Mitchum), 1958's Separate Tables and 1960's The Sundowners (again, with Mitchum).

 

One role for which she was not nominated but for which she will not be forgotten: 1957's classic tear-jerker, An Affair to Remember, opposite Cary Grant.

 

Besides a home in England, Kerr and her husband, White Hunter Black Heart author Pieter Viertel, also lived in Switzerland. Viertel survives her, as do two daughters and three grandchildren.

 

Edited October 18, 2007 by NYCat

[NYCat 1]

'Rat Pack' Comic Joey Bishop Is Dead

 

Joey Bishop, far right, with Sinatra, Martin, Davis and Lawford

 

Joey Bishop, the deadpan comic with the catchphrase "Son of a gun!" – and the last surviving member of Frank Sinatra's swinging '60s "Rat Pack" – has died. He was 89.

 

According to his longtime publicist, the Bronx-born Bishop (real name: Joseph Abraham Gottlieb) died Wednesday night of multiple causes at his home in Newport Beach, Calif., the Associated Press reports.

 

Besides his own 1961-65 NBC Saturday night sitcom, The Joey Bishop Show, the comic was ABC's rival to NBC's Johnny Carson on the 1967-69 late-night The Joey Bishop Show. His announcer and sidekick later found fame in morning TV: Regis Philbin.

 

As for the other Rat Packers, Peter Lawford died in 1984, Sammy Davis Jr. in 1990, Dean Martin in 1995 and Sinatra in 1998.

 

All of them appeared together in the original 1960 Ocean's 11.

[NYCat 1]

Teresa Brewer, '50s performer, dead at 76

 

Teresa Brewer, who helped write the soundtrack of the pre-rock 'n' roll 1950s with bouncy hits like "Music Music Music" and who scored big with New Yorkers by recording a love letter to Mickey Mantle, died early Wednesday morning.

 

She was 76, lived in New York, and had been suffering for several years from the neuromuscular disease PSP, which also afflicted the late comedian Dudley Moore.

 

Brewer was still a teenager when she hit the top of the charts in 1950 with "Music Music Music." She returned to No. 1 with "Til I Waltz Again With You," though New Yorkers might best remember "I Love Mickey," a duet she recorded with Mantle at the end of his Triple Crown year in 1956.

 

Mantle contributed a few spoken words while Brewer chirped her affection.

 

Born in Ohio, Brewer made her professional debut at the age of 2 on the local radio program "Uncle August's Kiddie Show." From ages 5 to 12 she toured with the Major Bowes Amateur Hour before returning home and performing locally for several years.

 

When she broke onto the national scene again in the '50s, her upbeat style also made her a popular guest on television variety shows.

 

By the 1960s she had turned to show tunes and jazz, which she continued to record for the next 40 years. She is survived by four daughters and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

[NYCat 1]

Rome festival honors Loren with career award

 

When the Rome film festival forgot to invite Sophia Loren for its first edition last year, she was said to be furious at the snub.

 

This year, Rome made good by giving Loren a lifetime achievement award and organizing a series of events to honor the half-century career of an actress who has been called Italy's best-known export after pasta.

 

"It's the first time I have had a career award in Italy, I hope I deserve it," the Oscar-winning star, wearing an Armani black chiffon dress, said late on Thursday at a red carpet ceremony.

 

Friday was "Loren Day" at the festival, with the actress answering questions from 700 fans and the screening of "Marriage Italian Style," one of her most famous films, kicking off a retrospective of her works.

 

Still glamorous at 73, Loren is regularly voted as one of the world's sexiest women and last year appeared in the Pirelli calendar which usually prefers top models a quarter of her age.

 

An illegitimate child who grew up in a slum outside Naples, Loren was discovered at a beauty contest as a teenager by a film producer who later married her.

 

She won an Oscar in 1962 for her tragic portrayal of a war-time mother in Italian director Vittorio De Sica's neo-realistic classic "La Ciociara," which was titled "Two Women" for British and U.S. audiences.

 

In the 1960s and 1970s her relationship with De Sica and actor Marcello Mastroianni made them a signature trio creating classic social comedies such as "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" (1963) and "Marriage Italian Style" (1964).

 

More than 10 years later she again captivated audiences with her performance in "A Special Day," directed by Ettore Scola. She was reunited with Mastroianni in Robert Altman's 1994 satire about fashion, "Pret-a-Porter" (Ready-to-wear).

[Bette Davis 0]

From Here to Eternity Actress Deborah Kerr Dies

 

 

Deborah Kerr, who memorably smooched on the beach with Burt Lancaster in the 1953 Oscar-winning Best Picture From Here to Eternity, has died after a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease. She was 86.

 

Her death occurred in England on Tuesday, said the Scottish-born actress's agent, Anne Hutton, the Associated Press reports.

 

Nominated for an Oscar six times as Best Actress (a record in the category for someone who never took home the prize), the flame-haired Kerr was presented a special lifetime achievement Academy Award in 1993, to honor the "perfection, discipline and elegance" of her screen work.

 

A major star during her career, Kerr's nominations were also for some of the biggest box-office hits of their time. They were: 1949's Edward My Son (with Spencer Tracy), 1953's From Here to Eternity, 1956's The King & I (with Best Actor winner Yul Brynner), 1957's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (with Robert Mitchum), 1958's Separate Tables and 1960's The Sundowners (again, with Mitchum).

 

One role for which she was not nominated but for which she will not be forgotten: 1957's classic tear-jerker, An Affair to Remember, opposite Cary Grant.

 

Besides a home in England, Kerr and her husband, White Hunter Black Heart author Pieter Viertel, also lived in Switzerland. Viertel survives her, as do two daughters and three grandchildren.

 

 

She was simply wonderful.

[tyler 408]

Does Roger Moore count as Old Hollywood?

 

If so, here goes, courtesy of Popbitch:

 

>> Moore the merrier <<

007 shocks the provinces

 

Roger Moore has just turned 80. Our favourite

ever story about him came from a handyman in

Deal, Kent. One day, many years ago, the

handyman was booked to do a DIY job at a

beautiful house in the conservation area of

the town. While doing some work on the ground

floor, he heard some noises coming from

upstairs. He'd been expecting the house to be

empty so decided to investigate. He climbed the

stairs, walked to the bedroom and pushed

open the door.

 

Three naked bodies were entwined on the bed.

Staring open-mouthed at the fruity ménage-

a-trois in front of him, the handyman got

a further shock when 007 popped his head

up from the bed, and announced cheerfully

in that inimitable drawl, "Don't worry

old chap. Just experimenting!"

 

The appalled handyman walked out of the

bedroom, down the stairs and straight out

the front door.

[QTPIE 0]

Rock Hudson bedded Dean to win bet with Liz Taylor

 

 

A former Hollywood starlet has revealed that actress Elizabeth Taylor made a bet with closeted gay actor Rock Hudson about which one of them could seduce James Dean.

 

The much-married Ms Taylor lost out, according to Noreen Nash.

 

Dean starred in the movie Giant with Taylor and Hudson, but he died before the film was released.

 

"Elizabeth and Rock took bets on who could get James Dean into bed first.

 

"I had an idea Rock would win but Elizabeth wasn't so sure. James was troubled but gorgeous," said Ms Nash, according to the Daily Express.

 

She reports that Ms Taylor lost her bet just days into the filming of Giant in 1955.

 

Dean was killed in a road accident on September 30th 1955.

 

The true nature of his sexuality has been endlessly argued over in the five decades since his death.

 

Some friends claim he only engaged in gay sex for "trade," others that he was bisexual.

 

Rock Hudson's death from AIDS in October 1985 brought the disease into the consciousness of many Americans for the first time.

 

His worldwide search for a cure drew international attention.

 

Elizabeth Taylor eventually married eight times, twice to Richard Burton, and won two Academy Awards.

[Bette Davis 0]

Rock Hudson bedded Dean to win bet with Liz Taylor

 

 

A former Hollywood starlet has revealed that actress Elizabeth Taylor made a bet with closeted gay actor Rock Hudson about which one of them could seduce James Dean.

 

The much-married Ms Taylor lost out, according to Noreen Nash.

 

Dean starred in the movie Giant with Taylor and Hudson, but he died before the film was released.

 

"Elizabeth and Rock took bets on who could get James Dean into bed first.

 

"I had an idea Rock would win but Elizabeth wasn't so sure. James was troubled but gorgeous," said Ms Nash, according to the Daily Express.

 

She reports that Ms Taylor lost her bet just days into the filming of Giant in 1955.

 

Dean was killed in a road accident on September 30th 1955.

 

The true nature of his sexuality has been endlessly argued over in the five decades since his death.

 

Some friends claim he only engaged in gay sex for "trade," others that he was bisexual.

 

Rock Hudson's death from AIDS in October 1985 brought the disease into the consciousness of many Americans for the first time.

 

His worldwide search for a cure drew international attention.

 

Elizabeth Taylor eventually married eight times, twice to Richard Burton, and won two Academy Awards.

 

Old Hollywood makes New Hollywood look like an episode of Seasame Street.

[thelatemrfutterman 0]

Tough luck, Liz!

[QTPIE 0]

Bette Davis stars in 2008 postage stamps

 

 

WASHINGTON - A face that will tease you, and please you and perhaps unease you is coming to the post office next year, it's those Bette Davis eyes.

 

 

On the 100th anniversary of her birth the great actress will be honored on a commemorative stamp, the 14th in the Legends of Hollywood Series.

 

A 10-time Academy Award nominee, Davis won twice, for her roles in "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938).

 

And speaking of centennials, the same year Davis was born, actor Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the song still famed in the seventh inning stretch. Postal officials hope buyers will root, root, root for a stamp based on a 19th-century baseball card recalling that special melody next year.

 

Also in 2008 the post office will launch a new multiyear Flags of Our Nation series, a 60-stamp set scheduled to include the Stars and Stripes as well as the flags of each state, the District of Columbia and territories.

 

Ten stamps will be issued in June — the Stars and Stripes and the flags of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut and Delaware.

 

Following in the fall will be a set with the flags of the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas.

 

Among the other new postage stamps scheduled for neat year are:

 

• Year of the Rat in January, marking the Chinese lunar new year. People born in the Year of the Rat are said to be industrious, adaptable and ambitious.

 

• Charles W. Chesnutt will be honored with the 31st stamp in the Black Heritage series. Chesnutt was a pioneering writer recognized today as a major innovator among literary realists who probed the color line in American life.

 

• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Yearling" and her memoir "Cross Creek."

 

• American Scientists: Theoretical physicist John Bardeen, who co-invented the transistor; biochemist Gerty Cori, who made important discoveries that later became the basis for our knowledge of how cells use food and convert it into energy; astronomer Edwin Hubble, whose meticulous studies of spiral nebulae proved the existence of galaxies other than our own Milky Way; and chemist Linus Pauling, who determined the nature of the chemical bond linking atoms into molecules and did pioneering work on protein structure was critical in establishing the field of molecular biology.

 

• American Journalists: Martha Gellhorn, who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War in a long career that broke new ground for women; John Hersey, whose most famous work, "Hiroshima," describes what happened when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city; George Polk, a young reporter killed covering the strife in postwar Greece; Ruben Salazar, the first Mexican-American journalist to have a major voice in mainstream news media; and Eric Sevareid, a broadcast journalist for CBS.

 

• Mount St. Mary's University stamped card, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Maryland university.

 

• Frank Sinatra, Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer and actor.

 

• reissues of the designs of the two 2007 Wedding Hearts stamps featuring vines that form the shape of a heart. These stamps come in two denominations designed for mailing wedding invitations and RSVPs.

 

• Minnesota statehood 150th anniversary.

 

• Love, an annual stamp this time featuring an oversized heart being transported by its owner to convey that a heart filled with love.

 

• Vintage Black Cinema set based on posters for five early movies.

 

• The Art of Disney: Imagination, featuring animated characters.

 

• Olympic Games, to coincide with the Games to be held from Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, China.

 

• Charles and Ray Eames, who made contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing and photographic arts. Among many other things the husband and wife team designed the stackable molded fiberglass chair.

 

• Artist Albert Bierstadt, featuring his painting "Valley of the Yosemite."

• Latin Jazz, with a tropical evening scene.

 

• Alzheimer's Awareness, calling attention to the most common form of dementia among older people.

 

• Nature of America, detailing the flora and fauna of Great Lakes Dunes.

 

• Four Holiday Nutcrackers stamps picturing Santa, a king, a captain and a drummer.

 

• Traditional Christmas Stamp featuring a detail of a painting titled "Virgin and Child With the Young John the Baptist" by the Italian master Sandro Botticelli.

[QTPIE 0]

Pinup Girl Jeanne Carmen Dies

 

 

By Associated Press

 

IRVINE, Calif. - Jeanne Carmen, the "little country girl" who became a 1950s pinup and actress and hobnobbed with Frank Sinatra and other stars, has died. She was 77.

 

Carmen died of lymphoma Thursday at her Orange County home, said her son, Brandon James.

 

Born on Aug. 4, 1930, in Paragould, Ark., Carmen picked cotton with her family before running away at 13.

 

"I was just a little country girl that wanted to be a movie star," she told the Orange County Register in 1996.

 

Carmen was still a teenager when she came to New York and, despite having no show business experience, immediately became a dancer in a Broadway show called "Burlesque," with comic Burt Lahr.

 

She later went into modeling, gaining a measure of success with a series of cheesecake shots in men's magazines. One gig turned into a new career as a trick golfer. On tour with golfer Jack Redmond, she would perform stunts such as hitting a ball out of a man's mouth.

 

Carmen claimed that she later hustled golfers with Las Vegas mobster Johnny Roselli.

 

She came to Hollywood while still in her 20s, where she appeared in low-budget movies with such titles as "Guns Don't Argue" and "The Monster of Piedras Blancas."

 

Carmen also claimed to have had affairs with Sinatra and other celebrities.

 

She moved to Orange County in 1978.

 

In addition to her son, Carmen is survived by daughters Melinda Belli and Kellee Jade Campo, and three grandchildren.

[Bette Davis 0]

Lauren Bacall gets brassy

 

Monday, December 31st 2007, 4:00 AM

Lauren Bacall Corkery/News

 

Lauren Bacall

 

Before the legendary British chat-show host Michael Parkinson retired this month, Lauren Bacall stopped by '21,' which turns 78 Monday, to record a tribute message.

 

Staff at the former speakeasy know to be en pointe when Miss Bacall is in the house. So pulses froze as a frown passed over her famous face when she approached table 30, where a brass plate commemorates her first date with Humphrey Bogart in that very spot in 1944.

 

"When was the last time you people polished my plaque?" she demanded in her trademark husky voice, as her papillon pooch, Sophie, gamboled among the chair legs.

 

Miss Bacall will be pleased to know that the plaque is now shining like a new dime.

 

NYDAILY NEWS

[Lea 0]

The Hottest Woman At The Oscars

 

 

It's Jane Fucking Russell! Finally, a real damn movie star. I think my butt just exploded in gayness. All these little movie whores need to step out of the way. A real star has entered the carpet. Yes, she looks like Dorothy Zbornak's twin, but she's still a hot piece.

 

 

http://www.dlisted.com/