The Silent Movie Era – a few observations.

November 30, 2016 Alan Royle 6

                                                             Here are a few unrelated ‘snippets’ from the good old days of the ‘Silent Era’. Some of them you may already know about; others you may not. But each one contributes to our knowledge and understanding of that long ago […]

A few Hollywood substance abusers PT 2.

November 4, 2016 Alan Royle 17

    Anthony Hopkins Anthony Hopkins opted to join Alcoholics Anonymous after he awoke in another state without having any idea how he got there. Until then he had struggled with alcoholism since the beginning of his acting career. It turned him into a loner and destroyed several relationships.   […]

‘Hollywood – The Skeletons Are Out’ – a sampling

October 19, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  My latest book is titled Hollywood: The Skeletons Are Out. It contains 1,200 direct quotes by actors and directors about themselves, their colleagues and their films. Here is a random two dozen of them:   Young Joan Collins When Joan Collins was asked if she was ever unfaithful, she […]

Clara Bow – Hollywood’s first sex symbol.

August 6, 2016 Alan Royle 6

  Clara Bow was the original ‘flapper, the ‘It Girl’, the ‘Brooklyn Bonfire’. She enjoyed her sexuality. She exhibited it, she exploited it and she lived it. Yet, for all her voracious appetite for living life in the ultra-fast lane, underneath she carried dark secrets from her childhood that prevented […]

The ‘girl next door’ types – Pt.2.

May 6, 2016 admin 0

      In the fifties the iconic ‘girl next door’ arrived on the screen in a series of domestic romantic comedies, several of them opposite Rock Hudson. Doris Day would grace the pop music charts with numerous best-selling singles and albums, but her screen image of the suburban housewife, […]

THE ‘GIRL NEXT DOOR’ TYPES – PT 1.

May 4, 2016 admin 0

There has never been a shortage of classical beauties, sex symbols, femme fatales, man-eaters and out and out dramatic or musical stars in Hollywood. Many of these ladies led headline-riddled lives, married multiple spouses, and/or embarked upon numerous affairs, not always exclusively with members of the opposite sex. Some had […]

Bugsy and Virginia – a Hollywood romance?

May 2, 2016 admin 10

  New York crime boss Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano initially sent Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel out to California in 1937 to set up a horse-racing wire service on the West Coast for the National Crime Syndicate. Once in Los Angeles, however, Bugsy set to work infiltrating the movie unions. He also controlled […]

The exquisite Grace Kelly.

March 13, 2016 admin 19

  Fans of Grace Kelly (and I am one of them, believe it or not) are probably going to jump up and down if they read this, and accuse me of ‘muck-raking’ or, at best, sensationalising her track record (or should I say ‘sack’ record) with members of the opposite […]

Barbara Payton – what a waste.

December 6, 2015 admin 37

  One of Hollywood’s truly tragic stories was that of Barbara Payton, a pretty and talented actress who experienced both the highs and lows of life in Tinsel Town. Just sixteen years after starring alongside Gregory Peck in the western feature Only the Valiant (1951) she was dead. Her body was […]

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 […]