WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT28.

WORLD WAR TWO – The stars & their stories – PT28.

August 1, 2020 Alan Royle 4

  CAROLE LANDIS (1919 – 48) In October 1942, the War Department organized its second entertainment troupe to go abroad, a tour that was intended to last for approximately five weeks. Carole Landis, comedienne Martha Raye, veteran actress Kay Francis and little known dancer Mitzi Mayfair volunteered. The tour would […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT 102.

January 17, 2019 Alan Royle 0

            Georgia Hale & Charles Chaplin in The Gold Rush (1925) The part of Georgia (the showgirl) in the 1925 classic silent film The Gold Rush was specially written by Charlie Chaplin for his new wife, Lita Grey. But the actress had fallen pregnant to him while she was still 15, hence […]

MOVIE TRIVIA – PT28.

July 3, 2018 Alan Royle 0

             Greer Garson & Walter Pidgeon                     Greer & her husband Richard Ney                     Teresa Wright, Ney & Garson in Mrs Miniver I just watched Mrs. Miniver (1942) on television […]

Forties Movie Trivia – PT2

February 19, 2018 Alan Royle 4

If you have ever watched the Spencer Tracy/Robert Young film Northwest Passage (1940), you have more than likely wondered why the picture was given that title when at no time in the entire movie do they get anywhere even remotely near a ‘northwest passage’. In fact, it is never even […]

Some Notable Character Actresses – PT 1.

January 22, 2018 Alan Royle 0

MARGARET DUMONT (1882 – 1965) Margaret Dumont’s great claim to movie fame was her regular role as the ‘straight woman’ to the Marx Brothers in their movies. She was totally bald beneath her wigs and, consequently, wore them all the time. Groucho was convinced that she rarely understood the group’s […]

The best pictures – year by year – PT 1 (1939-44).

October 23, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  I have often been flabbergasted or just plain disbelieving as the Academy ran out each year’s list of Oscar nominees, especially the Best Picture nominees, and time after time exceptional pictures simply did not make the list. Consequently, I thought I might (starting with 1939, the year movies came […]

Did you know? – Garson, Darnell, Eastwood & Boyle

October 5, 2016 Alan Royle 0

  Greer Garson Mr & Mrs Richard Ney 1943 Teresa Wrioght & Richard Ney in Mrs Miniver (1942) The first of Greer Garson’s three marriages did not last past the honeymoon in Austria in 1933. Her possessive husband virtually held her hostage the whole time. On their return to England she moved […]

PAST OSCAR WINNERS – Some observations – PT 2.

October 1, 2016 Alan Royle 2

  1942                Mrs. Miniver – Best Picture   Well, World War Two was in full swing and America was now in it, so a war picture (or at least a flag-waver) was bound to win Best Picture. And one did. There were four of these nominated: Mrs. Miniver, Wake Island […]

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 Bennetts of York, WA -Australia’s first Hollywood stars.

February 24, 2016 admin 2

Before Rod Taylor arrived in Hollywood in the fifties there had been other Australians who had made their marks on the American movie industry. In fact, even before Rex ‘Snowy’ Baker’s short, uneven movie career sputtered to a halt, a little lady named Enid Bennett tasted silent movie stardom in […]