HEDDA & LOUELLA

HEDDA & LOUELLA

July 26, 2022 Alan Royle 8

  HEDDA & LOUELLA                                Movie-struck columnist Louella Parsons used extortion and blackmail to rule Hollywood’s gossip mill with an iron glove for decades. It would be accurate to say that it was more the stories she did not print that gave her a vice-like grip on the studios and their […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT180

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT180

August 30, 2021 Alan Royle 4

  Peter Lawford Peter Lawford was born in 1923, the son of Sir Sydney Lawford and his lover, a married woman named May Aylen. May’s cuckolded husband generously stayed with her until the baby was born, just so Peter would be born legitimate. All things considered, it was a most […]

LOUELLA & HEDDA – The Poisoned Pens.

November 19, 2019 Alan Royle 2

  (L) Hedda Hopper & Louella Parsons Beginning in 1912 with Photoplay, there have always been movie magazines, most of which relied almost entirely on being fed carefully orchestrated morsels of ‘facts’ about their stars by the studios’ publicity departments. The public was so hungry for ‘behind the scenes’ information […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT110.

March 2, 2019 Alan Royle 4

Doris Day at the peak of her beauty and talent The real Ruth Etting with her ‘benefactor’ Martin Snyder Love Me or Leave Me (1955) is one of the very best musical biopics ever made, thanks to superb performances from Doris Day and James Cagney, coupled with Daniel Fuchs’ Oscar-winning […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT89.

December 16, 2018 Alan Royle 4

  Marion Davies Marion Davies acquired a reputation for showing kindness to actors down on their luck. She was always writing cheques to help out struggling careers and to rejuvenate many. ‘You’re rich’, she said many times, ‘not because of money, but only through what you give.’ She also built […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT86.

December 8, 2018 Alan Royle 0

  Gregory Peck & Ava Gardner in On the Beach (1959) When Ava Gardner came to Australia to make On the Beach (1959), she did not exactly endear herself to the nation when she remarked that Melbourne was the most appropriate place on Earth to make a picture about the end of […]

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MOVIE TRIVIA – PT46.

August 18, 2018 Alan Royle 1

Leo McKern as Rumpole of the Bailey The Australian actor Leo McKern, best known for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey, once unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of ‘Pockets’ in Hatari (1962), the part eventually going to American actor Red Buttons. McKern always […]

Forties Movie Trivia – PT1

February 17, 2018 Alan Royle 2

It is generally conceded that Orson Welles’ 1941 classic Citizen Kane is loosely based on the career of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. What is not so generally known is that a sub-plot in which Susan Kane has an extra-marital affair was deleted late in the day by Welles himself. […]

Hollywood Mysteries Pt 1.

July 16, 2017 Alan Royle 0

                        There has been a number of mysterious deaths in Hollywood and the movie (and TV )business over the past hundred or so years. Over the next week or so I shall briefly look at the most interesting of […]

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 […]