MGM’s ‘fixers – Mannix & Strickling.

November 29, 2015 admin 0

    Back when the studio system was in vogue, back in the ‘Golden Years of Hollywood, each of the ‘Big Five’ had its ‘fixers’, men whose job it was to keep scandal and bad publicity at bay; to do whatever it took to ensure that the paying public remained […]

In the beginning…

November 27, 2015 admin 2

  It is difficult today for us to understand how the invention of moving pictures impacted on the public at the turn of the 20th century. After all, we have grown up with them. They are part of our lives and always have been. Back in 1903, however, they were […]

The 4 ‘Romeo & Juliets’ – enough already!

November 25, 2015 admin 6

  The chronic problem with casting Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is finding actors who are both young and experienced enough in stage acting to carry it off. After all, in Bill the Bard’s play Juliet is just fourteen years old. MGM producer Irving Thalberg unwisely chose to tackle the problem […]

Old TV Shows – more trivia.

November 23, 2015 admin 0

  Leonard Nimoy, the future Mr. Spock in the Star Trek series, served a stint in the US Army where he reached the rank of sergeant. In 1955 he suggested to an old army buddy named Ken Berry that he go to California and try to make it as a […]

Censorship – The Production Code & the C.L.O.D.

November 21, 2015 admin 2

  The major studios realized as early as 1922 that they had better start policing themselves before the government decided to move in and curb the questionable morality of the industry themselves. Scandals such as the murder of director William Desmond Taylor and the alleged rape of Virginia Rappe at […]

Joan Collins – England’s iconic beauty.

November 19, 2015 admin 3

      Joan Collins was born in London in 1933. Her father was a Jewish man from South African, a moderately successful agent whose later clients would briefly include The Beatles, Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey. Joan signed a contract in England with J. Arthur Rank at the age […]

More tragic Hollywood.

November 17, 2015 admin 0

  I fell in love for the first time when I was nine. It was 1957 and the object of my infatuation was a brunette with a cute smile and Mouseketeer ears on TV’s Mickey Mouse Club. Her name was Annette Funicello and to me she was perfection with a […]

The three ‘Beau Gestes’.

November 15, 2015 admin 0

So far the classic PC Wren novel Beau Geste has made it to the screen on three occasions – in 1926, 1939 and 1966 – with varying success. It has been nearly fifty years since the last version, so one expects the industry might be gearing up for another crack […]

Leonardo DiCaprio – sensible superstar.

November 13, 2015 admin 4

  I wonder if any of the non-entities who comprised the cast of the woeful 1991 low budget horror feature Critters 3 entertained any suspicions that the 17 year-old who made his movie debut playing the part of Josh in it would go on to become an icon in the […]

Did you know? Points of interest Pt. 24.

November 11, 2015 admin 9

  Yesterday I stole 203 minutes out of the remainder of my life and watched the Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson and Jimmy Dean 1956 blockbuster Giant. I have certainly seen worse movies, but two hundred and three minutes! I found Rock and Liz to be far better than I expected, […]