SCOTTY BECKETT – A tragic Tale

SCOTTY BECKETT – A tragic Tale

October 11, 2023 Alan Royle 2

  SCOTTY BECKETT (1929-68) There has never been a shortage of tragic stories in Hollywood and, sadly, far too many of the worst of these involved child actors. Scotty Beckett’s tale is terribly sad. Of all the many child stars in Hollywood history, I cannot recall any individual, (with the […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT211

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT211

February 10, 2023 Alan Royle 1

  Rosie O’Donnell In 2006, Rosie O’Donnell donated $5,700,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, including Renaissance Village (a temporary shelter for Katrina victims), day care centres, a rehabilitation centre in San Antonio, Texas, and a Habitat for Humanity subdivision in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Not enough is reported about the generous […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT198.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT198.

July 11, 2022 Alan Royle 0

  Director James Cameron James Cameron, director of Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009), became the first person to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a one-man craft; a feat he accomplished on March 25, 2012. The Mariana Trench is the deepest known point on Earth, at 11 km […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT194.

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT194.

April 27, 2022 Alan Royle 4

  Tallulah Bankhead The outrageous Tallulah Bankhead sent the Stork Club into an uproar one evening when she encountered director Otto Preminger and actress Marlene Dietrich there, and decided to have a little fun with them. ‘Daaahlings, I haven’t seen you in a long time’, she gushed. ‘Do you like […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT188

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT188

January 12, 2022 Alan Royle 2

   Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series             The name Nichelle Nichols is well-known to fans of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966), in which she played Lt. Nyota Uhura. It might surprise her fans to learn that she was discovered […]

‘EASTER PARADE (1948) & ‘LITTLE WOMEN (1949).

‘EASTER PARADE (1948) & ‘LITTLE WOMEN (1949).

November 7, 2021 Alan Royle 2

  EASTER PARADE (1948)               Easter Parade was to be a lavish showcase for a bunch of Irving Berlin tunes and scheduled to be directed by Vincente Minnelli. It would star his wife, Judy Garland, and Gene Kelly. Supporting actors would ultimately include Peter Lawford, Ann Miller and Jules Munshin. There […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT174

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT174

May 20, 2021 Alan Royle 0

  W.C. Fields Legendary comedian W.C. Fields said that The Marx Brothers were the only act he couldn’t follow on the live stage. At a theatre in Columbus, Ohio in January 1915, he stood in the wings watching them perform and waiting to follow them onto the stage. ‘They sang, […]

KIDS & JUVENILES – PT2.

May 17, 2019 Alan Royle 0

  FREDDIE BARTHOLOMEW       (1924 – 92) London-born Freddie Bartholomew’s career spanned just 21 years and 28 screen appearances. Twenty-two of those performances were as a boy or juvenile; the other six after he was no longer a teenager. He was a precocious boy, reciting and performing on the stage from […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT65.

October 9, 2018 Alan Royle 0

Gary Cooper was 55 years of age when he played Jess Birdwell in Friendly Persuasion (1956). He was far too old for the part, yet found time to complain about the casting of Dorothy McGuire. She was a poor actress, he declared, and not nearly attractive enough to play his […]

FIFTIES MOVIE TRIVIA – PT1.

March 13, 2018 Alan Royle 2

The Moon is Blue (1953) is a pretty tame picture, yet it was the first post-Hayes mainstream Hollywood movie to use the words ‘virgin’, ‘seduce’ and ‘mistress’ (in the sexual partner sense). The mere utterance of these three words was enough to get the picture banned from theatres in Boston, […]