PT 109 (1963) – JFK biopic and not a girl in sight.

April 30, 2016 admin 4

  Most baby-boomers (like me) are familiar with the story of the PT-109, so this precis is for those late-comers who are, perhaps, a little less intimate with the war record of John F Kennedy, the man who would later become the 35th President of the United States, albeit all […]

M*A*S*H* – A decade of excellence (Pt.2).

April 28, 2016 admin 0

    Harry Morgan: (Colonel Sherman T. Potter) – 180 episodes. The photograph of wife Mildred you see on Potter’s desk is actually a shot of Morgan’s real-life wife Eileen Detchon who remained his spouse for 45 years until her death in 1985. Harry appeared as a character actor in […]

M*A*S*H* – A decade of excellence. (Pt.1).

April 26, 2016 admin 4

  M*A*S*H* was a phenomenally successful series that ran for eleven seasons over 251 episodes from 1972 until 1983. It concerned a US Mobile Army Surgical Hospital operating in Korea during the 1950-53 conflict. Only two members of the cast were contracted for all 251 episodes – Alan Alda and […]

Nostalgia TV #1 – ‘BONANZA’

April 24, 2016 admin 6

    Over 14 seasons (1959-73), none of the sons in Bonanza ever had a steady girlfriend, and little wonder, for they never changed their clothes! It was agreed early in the series to keep each actor in the same clothes so that stock footage could be drawn upon in […]

Patrick Swayze – A class act.

April 22, 2016 admin 0

  Patrick Swayze was born in Houston, Texas in 1952 to a devout Roman Catholic mother who was a dancer, instructor and choreographer. He acted in school plays as a teenager and played high school football. A serious knee injury put paid to his promising football career, but he was […]

The making of ‘West Side Story’ (1961)

April 20, 2016 admin 6

  It has been fifty-five years since Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet was re-located to New York City and transformed into the musical West Side Story. In place of the feuding Montague and Capulet families of Verona we are given two rival New York gangs – the Jets and the Sharks. […]

Yvonne de Carlo – A rare beauty.

April 18, 2016 admin 13

  The ravishing (and ravenous) Yvonne de Carlo was at the height of her beauty when Robert Wagner spotted her in her car alongside his at a drive-in restaurant called ‘Jack’s at the Beach’. She nodded for him to come on over, which he duly did, and she invited him […]

The loves in the life of Marilyn Monroe Pt 4.

April 16, 2016 admin 5

  Before moving on to 1953 it is worth taking the time to deal with the name Robert Slatzer. Several biographies about Marilyn Monroe speak of him not only seducing her in 1952, but of marrying her as well. They even give a date, (October 3), for their wedding day […]

The loves in the life of Marilyn Monroe Pt.3

April 14, 2016 admin 3

  In 1955 the director of On the Waterfront and Gentleman’s Agreement, Elia Kazan, wrote a letter of confession to his wife, apologizing for having an affair with Marilyn Monroe in 1950, just after her agent Johnny Hyde had passed away. Kazan came across her when she was distraught and […]

The loves in the life of Marilyn Monroe Pt.2

April 12, 2016 admin 0

  Marilyn met actor John Carroll and his wife Lucille Ryman in December 1947. Lucille was a talent scout for MGM. The three hit it off right away and their friendship resulted in Marilyn moving into their home for a while. Lucille even got her to sign a contract with […]