7 actors who recorded #1hit singles.

March 31, 2016 admin 0

  Ever since Billboard has been used to assess the popularity of single recordings there have been a few actors who have unexpectedly surprised us by recording songs that went all the way to the top of the charts. There were two in 1957, one in 1958, one in 1962, […]

The Goldwyn Girls Pt 2.

March 29, 2016 admin 1

  Betty Grable (1916-73): Betty appeared as a Goldwyn Girl three times, beginning with Whoopee! in 1930. Of course, her fame would ultimately stretch world-wide, mainly because of her staggeringly successful World War Two pin-up (above) and her highly publicized ‘million dollar legs’. In 1947 the United States Treasury Department […]

The Goldwyn Girls Pt 1.

March 27, 2016 admin 4

  There were over 200 girls who formed the ranks of The Goldwyn Girls over the years they were in existence (from about 1930 until 1955). Over that period they appeared in eleven movies only. Several of these young hopefuls went on to big screen careers and one of them […]

Tom Neal – getting away with murder.

March 25, 2016 admin 16

  Tom Neal was a man who came into the world with benefits and attributes that less fortunate souls could only dream of having, then he went ahead and made a complete mess of his life. And along the way he got away with cold-blooded murder. Born into a wealthy […]

The enigma that was Howard Hughes

March 23, 2016 admin 14

   Howard Hughes was a Texan, a maverick movie tycoon who hit the movie industry like a whirlwind in the Roaring Twenties and remained a force for a couple of decades. At the age of 19 he inherited 75% of his family’s fortune. His father had patented the two-cone roller […]

Girl # 27 – Patricia Douglas Pt 2.

March 19, 2016 admin 4

  Part 2 of the Patricia Douglas story. Patty Douglas did not seek medical aid in the days following her assault. ‘I would’ve been too embarrassed. Someone would’ve seen me naked’, she said. No-one, not even her mother, had seen her naked body since she was a little girl. Consequently, […]

Girl # 27 – Patricia Douglas Part 1.

March 17, 2016 admin 2

     This story will be in two parts. It is a tale of a young woman’s quest for justice in an era and a place where greedy and powerful men determined who was entitled to fair treatment and who was not. Ptricia Douglas was a ‘nobody’, one of thousands […]

Luise Rainer – the forgotten star.

March 15, 2016 admin 4

                             The lovely Luise Rainer is pretty much the forgotten star of Hollywood’s so-called Golden Era. The petite actress had all the assets necessary for screen success, but she was built of sterner stuff than her contemporaries […]

The exquisite Grace Kelly.

March 13, 2016 admin 18

  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 […]

Great character actors Pt.4

March 11, 2016 admin 0

  Elisha Cook Jr. achieved screen immortality with two memorable roles. His portrayal of Wilmer (the ‘gunsel’) in The Maltese Falcon (1941) is probably the one remembered by most fans, but I personally prefer his playing of ‘Stonewall’ Torrey twelve years later in Shane (1953). Whether he was getting slapped […]