Happy Birthday: Virginia Mayo!

Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005). Best known for the films: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and White Heat (1949).

After Mayo signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn she performed in several of Goldwyn's movies. With Danny Kaye in the films, Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).


Mayo was known as a "voluptuous beauty". It was said that she "looked like a pinup painting come to life," and she played just such a role in the film comedy, The Girl from Jones Beach (1949).

In 1949's White Heat she took on the role as the treacherous "Verna Jarrett", opposite James Cagney. She was also cast against type as a gold digger in, The Best Years of Our Lives. Her film career continued through the 1950s and 1960s, frequently in B-movie westerns and adventure films. While she also appeared in musicals, Mayo's singing voice was always dubbed.

Virginia and her husband, actor Michael O'Shea (of Jack London film fame) co-starred in the film, Tunnel of Love, Fiorello, and George Washington Slept Here. She has also starred in Cactus Flower, How the Other Half Loves, and the musical comedy, Good News.

In Memory: Leslie Nielsen(February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) .

Leslie Nielsen, (February 11, 1926 – November 28, 2010) was a Canadian–American actor and comedian. Nielsen performed in over one hundred films and 1,500 television programs.

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Nielsen enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and worked as a disc jockey. Beginning with a television role in 1948, he made over 50 television appearances. In 1956 Nielsen performed in dramas, westerns, and romance films. Nielsen's performances, Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) received positive reviews as a serious actor.

While Nielsen's early performances were dramatic roles, he became best known for his comedic roles, particularly in the 1980 satire Airplane!. Nielsen played Alan Rumack, a doctor on board a plane where several passengers and pilots get food poisoning after eating fish for dinner. Nielsen said the line that would later become one of film's most memorable quote. "Don't Call me Shirley".

Nielsen was also successful with The Naked Gun film series, based on a short-lived television series Police Squad!. His portrayal of serious characters seemingly oblivious to their surroundings gave him a reputation as a comedian. His wonderful sense of humor will be missed.

Horror: The Nanny (1965).

The Nanny(1965). Suspense film directed by Seth Holt. Cast: Bette Davis as a devoted nanny caring for a ten-year-old boy recently discharged from a home for disturbed children. It is based on the novel of the same name by Evelyn Piper (a pseudonym for Merriam Modell), and the film was scored by Richard Rodney Bennett.

The viewer feels the tension right from the very beginning. Nanny has always taken care of Virgie Fane and is now the nanny for her two children. After two years, Joey is now coming home, after being placed in a home for disturbed children. Everyone believes that he was responsible in the drowning of his younger sister, although, he puts the blame on, nanny.. Both of his parents Virgie and Bill, are worried about Joey's behavior when returns home. Joey refuses to have anything to do with Nanny, but no one believes his story except, maybe the girl upstairs. The father, is called away on business and the mother ends up in the hospital after being food poisoned. Aunt Pen, comes to take care of Joey and she begins to believe Joey is telling the truth, when she sees Nanny, standing outside his bedroom door with a pillow. Joey, is so disrespectful that you believe that he is capable of murder and it makes you wonder, did he or didn't he?

Fun Facts:

The role of the Nanny was originally intended for Greer Garson who first accepted then declined, saying the script would not be good for her career.

The last film of Nora Gordon.

Happy Birthday: Busby Berkeley!

Today on TCM:  Celebrate Busby Berkeley's Birthday tribute with the movies listed below:

Dames (1934)A reformer's daughter wins the lead in a scandalous Broadway show. Cast: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler. Dir: Ray Enright.

Gold Diggers Of  (1933). Three chorus girls fight to keep their show going and find rich husbands. Cast: Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.

42nd Street (1933). The definitive backstage musical, complete with the dazzling newcomer who goes on for the injured star. Cast: Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Warner Baxter. Dir: Lloyd Bacon.

Million Dollar Mermaid (1952). True story of Annette Kellerman, the world's first great swimming star. Cast: Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.

Easy to Love (1953). Two men vie for the heart of a Cypress Gardens swimming star. Cast: Esther Williams, Tony Martin, Van Johnson.

Please click on Busby Berkeley name to read bio.

A Trap for Santa” (1909)

A Trap for Santa Claus is a 1909 one-reel film, a Biograph Company production, directed by D.W. Griffith.

A Trap for Santa (1909, Biograph)

“A Trap for Santa” (1909) is a holiday film that was directed by D.W. Griffith at Biograph. Sixteen minutes in duration, this heartwarming melodrama was produced as a cinematic Christmas card to moviegoers of the era. The story begins with an unemployed man, played by Henry B. Walthall, with a wife, played by Marion Leonard, and two children, played by Gladys Egan and John Tansey. He turns to alcohol and eventually leaves his family when he feels he has let them down. Time passes and the mother inherits a fortune from her deceased aunt. On Christmas Eve, the children set a trap for Santa Claus to come through the window because their house has no chimney. The father, unaware that the house belongs to his family breaks into the house and falls into the trap.



Filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey, “A Trap for Santa” (1909) is a relatively well-made film considering it was made over 100 years ago. Griffith had personally directed for two years from the summer of 1908 all Biograph films. Thereafter as general director he superintended all Biograph productions and directed the more important features until October 1, 1913. Even though from a technical aspect there are a couple of weaknesses, it’s quite an interesting film. The acting style is a bit old-fashioned, but Henry B. Walthall turns in a good performance as the father. Fans of early silent films should recognize an uncredited Mack Sennett in a few scenes. Despite its shortcomings, “A Trap for Santa” is an interesting curiosity piece of the early years of cinema.






















Like his mentor D.W. Griffith, Henry Brazeale Walthall was a Southerner, with perhaps a little more affluent family background than the director. He was born, one of eleven sons, on a farm near Columbiana, Shelby County, Alabama, on March 16, 1878. He studied law, but quit to fight in the Spanish-American War, and then took up acting, making his New York debut in 1901. In 1909, a chance encounter with a friend and fellow actor, James Kirkwood, resulted in a meeting with D.W. Griffith at the American Biograph Company. Griffith was already familiar with Walthall’s stage work, and immediately cast him in “A Convict’s Sacrifice”(1909). Walthall appeared in more than 100 Biograph shorts from 1909 through 1913, and, with a short break at Pathe, was to remain with Griffith until 1915. Walthall played Holofernes in Griffith’s first and Biograph’s only feature-length production, “Judith of Bethulia” (1914). Walthall had played many Southerners in many Biograph shorts, and he was the obvious choice for Ben Cameron, the “little colonel” in “The Birth of a Nation” (1915). Walthall left Griffith and first joined the Balboa Amusement Company in Long Beach, California, and then the declining Chicago-based Essanay Company in late spring of 1915. Both Walthall and his actress wife, Mary Charleson, remained with Essanay through May 1917. Walthall formed his own independent production company, releasing through Paralta, the first two films which were directed by Rex Ingram. In 1918, Walthall returned to Griffith’s direction. He was cast in Griffith’s minor and “lost” production of “The Great Love.” By the late teens, Walthall’s career was in rapid decline. He made many films, but only a handful in the late 1920’s are famous titles: “Three Faces East” (1926), “The Scarlet Letter” (1926) and “London After Midnight” (1927). With the coming of sound, the situation improved. Walthall had a solid stage background, and his voice was quiet yet authoritative. Some of the sound films he made were “Abraham Lincoln” (1930), “Chandu the Magician” (1932), “Judge Priest” (1932), “Dante’s Inferno” (1935), and “The Devil-Doll” (1936). Walthall was to have played the High Lama in Frank Capra’s production of “Lost Horizon” (1936), but died on June 17, 1936, before shooting commenced. Walthall was 58 years old.

Silent Film Star: Anna Q. Nilsson.

In 1907, she was named "Most beautiful woman in America". Nilsson's modeling helped her get a role in the 1911 film Molly Pitcher. Anna's best known films are: Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917), Soldiers of Fortune (1919), The Toll Gate and The Luck of the Irish (both 1920), and The Lotus Eater (1921).

From The Barabra Stanwyck DVD Collection: Internes Can't Take Money (1937).

Internes Can't Take Money (1937). Cast:Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. McCrea portrayed Dr. Kildare in the character's first screen performance. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer continued the Dr. Kildare series with Lew Ayres as Kildare and Laraine Day as a nurse in love with Kildare, similar to Stanwyck's role in this film.

Exhausted from searching for her lost child and beaten down by two years in jail, widow Janet Haley faints at Mountview General Hospital, where Intern Dr. Jimmie Kildare treats her burns. Later at the bar where Jimmie is having a beer, Janet asks gangster Dan Innes to help her find her kidnapped daughter. Innes demands $1,000 for the information, but Janet is unable to pay. When gangster boss Hanlon collapses at the bar from a knife wound, Jimmie saves Hanlon's life with Janet's help.

The next morning, when Janet goes to find out more information about her daughter from Innes, he propositions her, but she refuses him. To make things worse, she is fired from her job because of tardiness. Later, Jimmie goes to check up on Janet because she did not show up for her follow-up appointment. He first stops at the bar, where the bartender gives him $1,000 from Hanlon for saving his life. Janet tries to steal the money, but Jimmie catches her and, disappointed, leaves. With nowhere else to go Janet decides to take up with Innes.

Jimmie returns the money to Hanlon, explaining that "interns cant take money" for their services. Wanting to repay Jimmie, will Hanlon and his men be able to find Innes and Janet, before they leave town and will Janet be reunited with her long-lost daughter?

Barbara Stanwyck, was very believable playing the desperate mother. Joel McCrea's performance as a doctor, was also very believable. They had wonderful on screen chemistry. I find it amazing that Barabra Stanwyck seems to have on screen chemistry with all her leading men.

Lloyd Nolan (August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985), was relegated to B movies for the most part. He costarred with actresses: Mae West, Dorothy McGuire, and the former Metropolitan Opera soprano, Gladys Swarthout. Under contract to Paramount and 20th Century Fox studios, he performed in roles in the late 30s and early-to-mid 40s and performed as the lead character of the "Michael Shayne" detective series. Oddly, the first screen version of Raymond Chandler's novel The High Window was transformed in 1942 from a Philip Marlowe adventure into part of the Michael Shayne series starring Nolan as Shayne.

His most famous films include: Atlantic Adventure, Ebb Tide, Wells Fargo, Every Day's A Holiday, Bataan, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Peyton Place, The House on 92nd Street and The Street with No Name.

This Month on N and CF.

Merry Christmas from (I Love Lucy, pictured above) and all of us here on N and CF.



This weeks (Updated Nov. 26 , 2010). Chick Flicks at the Movies. Three Came Home (1950). Please click picture on side bar to view movie. Adapted and produced by Nunnally Johnson, directed by Jean Negulesco, the film starred Claudette Colbert in the lead role. The New York Times reviewer said, "It will shock you, disturb you, tear your heart out. But it will fill you fully with a great respect for a heroic soul."  For last weeks N and CF at the Movies, movie review please click on..His Girl Friday.

ON TCM: Dec. 5, 2010. The Gilded Lily(1935). Directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland and C. Aubrey Smith.

ON TCM: Dec. 7, 2010. Dorothy Malone. Please click picture on side bar for featured films date and times.

ON TCM: Thursdays: Star of the month Mickey Rooney. (born September 23, 1920). During his career he has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award. Working as a performer since he was a small child, he was a superstar as a teenager for the films in which he played Andy Hardy, and he has had one of the longest careers of any actor.

On TCM: Fridays in Dec. Home for the Holidays. Click picture on sidebar to view featured films.

Monty and I are planning to feature Barbara Stanwyck on our blogs for the month of December. I hope you enjoy what we have planned.

Have a great week at the movies!!

Foreign Correspondent (1940).

Foreign Correspondent(1940). Spy/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann and Robert Benchley and Edmund Gwenn.

The film was Hitchcock's second Hollywood film, the first was Rebecca and had many writers: Robert Benchley, Charles Bennett, Harold Clurman, Joan Harrison, Ben Hecht, James Hilton, John Howard Lawson, John Lee Mahin, Richard Maibaum, and Budd Schulberg, with Bennett, Benchley, Harrison, and Hilton the only writers credited in the finished film. It was based on Vincent Sheean's political memoir Personal History (1935), the rights to which were purchased by producer Walter Wanger.

The film was one of two Hitchcock films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1941, the other being Rebecca, which went on to win the award. Foreign Correspondent was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for Albert Bassermann for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but did not win any.

Foreign Correspondent tells the story of Johnny Jones, an American newspaper writer who travels to England to report on the war as, Huntley Haverstock for the New York Globe. The young reporter's, first assignment is at an event held by Fisher, in honour of a diplomat named Van Meer. On the way to the party, Haverstock sees Van Meer and runs to interview him. Van Meer invites him to ride along in his car. At the party, Haverstock meets Fisher's daughter, Carol . Later, after Van Meer disappears, Fisher informs the guests that the guest of honor, Van Meer, will not be attending the party, instead he will be at a political conference in Amsterdam.

At the conference, Van Meer is shot by a man posing as a photographer. Haverstock, wanting to follow the assassin jumps into Carol and reporter Scott's car. They follow the assassin to a windmill in the countryside. Carol and Scott decide to go for help, Haverstock searches the windmill and is surprised who he finds. Will he be able to escape the kidnappers?

In my opinion the cast is very good, the settings are wonderfully put together. It has everything I look for in a Hitchcock film: action, suspense and humor.


Fun Facts:

Director Alfred Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper for the lead instead of Joel McCrea, but Cooper wasn't interested in doing a thriller. Which he later regretted.

Alfred Hitchcock had wanted either Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Fontaine for the female lead.

Alfred Hitchcock's eccentric marriage proposal to Alma Reville was written into the script.

Herbert Marshall's, first film was, Mumsie (1927). The actor spent many years playing romantic leads opposite stars: Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis, and starring in such classic films: Trouble in Paradise (1932), The Little Foxes (1941), and The Razor's Edge (1946). He was featured in both the 1929 and the more famous 1940 version of The Letter, first as the murdered lover, then the wronged husband.

Happy Thanksgiving Parade(1935).

The Great Dramas: The Night of the Iguana (1964).

The Night of the Iguana (1964). Based on the 1961 play The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams. Directed by John Huston. Cast: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr. It won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Actress Grayson Hall received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and Cyril Delevanti received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

A defrocked Minister by the name of Shannon, is now working as a tour guide for Blake Tours, his first job is to take a group of Baptist School teachers on a bus to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Charlotte's aunt, accuses Shannon of trying to seduce her niece and fires him. Panicked, Shannon drives the bus and ladies, to a Costa Verde Hotel in Mismaloya on the coast of Mexico, where he tries to prevent Fellowes from calling his boss.

Shannon is surprised when he hears that his old friend Fred, died a month earlier and the hotel is now run by Fred's widow, Maxine Faulk.

Soon after, Hannah Jelkes, a painter from Nantucket who travels from place to place with her elderly poet grandfather show up. They have run out of money and Shannon convinces the not to happy Maxine, to let them stay.

While Shannon ties to battle his demons, Miss Fellows niece continues to make trouble for him.

Shannon suffers a breakdown, the cabana boys tie him in a hammock, Hannah calms him with poppy tea and understanding..



Night of the Iguana is very emotional film. The characters all have their troubles, but.. they are also thoughtful and face life head on. Creating a film that is absolutely amazing. One that you will want to watch many times.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Esther Williams.

Personal Quote:

"I was just a swimmer who got lucky."

Turnabout(1940).

Turnabout(1940). Comedy film. Directed by Hal Roach. Cast: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis and John Hubbard. Based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Thorne Smith, the screenplay was written by Mickell Novack, Bernie Giler and John McClain with additional dialogue by Rian James.

Tim Willows and his wife Sally continually argue in front of Mr. Ram, an Indian statue given to them by a relative. After a hard day at work for Tim and Sally a day as a lady of leisure, get into a heated argument, both making a wish to change places. Mr. Ram begins to speak and grants their wish.

The next morning, Tim and Sally find themselves in the other's body. Tim, in the body of Sally, stays home and causes problems at home, while Sally, in the body of Tim, goes off to the office and creates problems at work.

When Sally returns home from her day at the office, the couple beg Mr. Ram to put them back into their original bodies. Using Sally's pregnancy as an excuse for their strange behavior, they go out to smooth things over with the clients and friends. Just as you think things are back to normal, the real trouble begins.

I really wanted to see this film because I'm a huge Carole Landis fan. I thought the main cast was very charming. Even the minor roles by Donald Meek, Franklin Pangborn and Marjorie Main, were wonderful performances. John Hubbard, was hilarious in his gender switching role. The situations and the dialog were rather colorful for a 1940's film.

John Hubbard, took acting lessons at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where he received movie offers. He was signed by Paramount in 1937, but his contract was sold to MGM a year later.

 At MGM, Hubbard played a leading role in, Dramatic School (1938), which lead to a four-picture deal with Hal Roach, who used Hubbard in comedies such as The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939), Road Show (1940) and Turnabout (1940).

Hubbard did a dramatic turn in Whispering Footsteps(1943), but returned to comedy.

In 1950 he became a supporting actor, he played "Brown" in The Mickey Rooney Show (12 episodes), "Bill Bronson" in My Little Margie (4 episodes), "Col. U. Charles Barker" in the military comedy Don't Call Me Charlie (18 episodes) and "Ted Gaynor" in Family Affair (8 episodes), but most of his television appearances were in one-off roles.

Between acting roles, Hubbard worked as an automobile salesman and the manager of a restaurant.

He retired from acting in 1974 after a character role in Herbie Rides Again, although he made one more appearance in a television movie in 1980.

Other John Hubbard films I have seen:
1941 You'll Never Get Rich
1951 Bullfighter and the Lady
1957 Pal Joey
1958 The Buccaneer
1974 Herbie Rides Again

Carole Landis

This is the list of  other "Body switch/swapping", movies I came up with:
1. Being John Malkovich
2. Big
3. Freaky Friday
4. Mulholland Drive
5. Face/Off
6. Vice Versa
7. 18 Again!
8. Like Father, Like Son
9. Dream a Little Dream

Suspicion (1941).

Suspicion (1941).  Romantic/ psychological /thriller. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans and Heather Angel.

Playboy Johnnie Aysgarth,  in a whirlwind romance sweeps Lina McLaidlaw, off her feet and convinces her into marrying him, even though her family does not want her to. After their honeymoon, she soon learns that Johnnie was hoping to live off her father. She tells him that he has to get a  job and he goes to work for his cousin, estate agent Captain Melbeck .

Lina soon learns that Johnnie has been  gambling on the horses and that he has sold her family heirloom chairs. Next, She goes to visit him at work and finds out that he has been  fired from his job. Johnnie's best friend Beaky tells her that her husband is a good man, but without much success.

Johnnie convinces Beaky to finance a land development project, Lina tries to talk Beaky out of it. Johnnie overhears and warns his wife to mind her own business, but later he decides to cancel the deal. When Beaky leaves for Paris, Johnnie travels with him. Later, Lina hears Beaky's died in Paris and she begins to suspect Johnnie in his friend's death.

Soon, she begins suspect she is next on her husband's list, so he can collect on her life insurance. Johnnie brings Lina a glass of milk before bed, but she is too afraid to drink it.



She makes up a story about staying with her mother for a few days and Johnnie insists on driving her there. He drives recklessly beside a cliff. Suddenly, Lina's door opens, will she be saved?

If you are a Hitchcock fan I think you will want to see this film.  Fontaine's believable performance allows the viewer to really feel her fear. I have read some negative reviews about the surprise ending, but it is worth seeing and deciding for yourself .

Nigel Bruce (4 February 1895 – 8 October 1953), was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes).

Bruce is also remembered for his roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films Rebecca and Suspicion.

During his film career, he worked in 78 movies.

Next week on N and CF.

This weeks (Updated Nov. 18 , 2010). Chick Flicks at the Movies. Meet John Doe (1941). Comedy/drama. Directed and produced by Frank Capra. Cast: Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The film, about a "grassroots" political campaign, created unwittingly by a newspaper columnist and pursued by a wealthy businessman. Please click picture located on the side bar to watch the movie in full.. Last weeks featured film review is located on the musical page.

ON TCM: Nov. 22, 2010, Leave Her to Heaven. Please click on picture on side bar to view movie review.

On TCM. Nov. 24, 2010. Turnabout (1940). Turnabout is a 1940 comedy film directed by Hal Roach and starring Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis and John Hubbard. Based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Thorne Smith, the screenplay was written by Mickell Novack, Bernie Giler and John McClain with additional dialogue by Rian James.

ON TCM: Nov. 25, 2010. The Night Of The Iguana (1964). Please click picture on side bar to view movie review.

ON TCM: Nov. 26, 2010. Alfred Hitchcock Tribute. Five of Hicthcock movies are going to be featured:

Foreign Correspondent (1940). An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat. Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, George Sanders. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.

Strangers On A Train (1951) A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly. Cast: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.

Dial M For Murder (1954) A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he'd hired to kill her. Cast: Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.

To Catch a Thief (1955) A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style. Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. C-106 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format

Alfred Hitchcock (1972) Alfred Hitchcock appears in an episode of The Dick Cavett Show that originally aired June 8, 1972.


On TCM: Nov. 28, 2010. Fiesta(1947). Click picture on side bar to view movie review. A Mexican beauty replaces her toreador brother in the bull ring so he can pursue his musical career.

Marilyn Monroe (picture above) and everyone here on N and C F want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday: Goldie Hawn!

Goldie Hawn (born November 21, 1945). Actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. A comedy television program which ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E.


She also performed in the films: Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Wildcats, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, The Banger Sisters, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

One of my favorite Goldie Hawn movies is, Butterflies Are Free(1972). Film based on a play by Leonard Gershe. Directed by Milton Katselas and based on a screenplay by Leonard Gershe who also wrote the original play.Cast: Eddie Albert, Eileen Heckart and Goldie Hawn .

The story takes place San Francisco in the 1970's. Don Baker, was born blind and has always lived with his mother. His best friend Linda, takes Don out to parties to help build his confidence. Soon, he has enough confidence to move out on his own. But.. after Don moves into his new apartment, Linda falls in love with a guy from a party and takes off to live in Mexico.

Don asks his mother not come to see him for at least two months. Jill Tanner, moves in an apartment next door. She over hears Don arguing with his mother over the phone and turns up the radio. When Don asks her to turn the volume down, she asks if she can come over for a cup of coffee. Jill does not notice that Don is blind, until she sees him dropping his cigarette ash on the table.

Jill questions Don on how he manages living by himself. She tells Don that her favorite quote is from Mark Twain: "I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies." Don tells her that actually this is a quote from the Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Don makes up a song and starts to sing Butterflies are free on his guitar.



Later that afternoon, Jill takes Don out shopping to find some groovy new clothes. They have picnic on the floor of Don's apartment and later spent they spend the night together.

In the morning, Don's mother makes a surprise visit finding Don still in bed, while Jill is in the kitchen looking for something to eat.. She believes that Jill will break Don's heart just like Linda did. Don fights for independence from his mother as he tries to convince Jill that they can be together.

There are some wonderful scenes in this movie especially the performances between Heckart and Hawn.



Please click on her picture located on the side bar to read Goldie's bio.

Betsy Drake, third wife of actor Cary Grant.

Betsy Drake (born September 11, 1923) is a French-born American actress and writer. She was the third wife of actor Cary Grant.

Betsy went to twelve different schools, both private and public, before going into theatre and acting at junior college in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.. She met the playwright, Horton Foote who offered her a job as understudy in his play, Only the Heart.

After winning the attention of the producer Hal Wallis, Betsy was pressured by her agent to sign a contract. She hated Hollywood and managed to get herself released from the contract by declaring herself insane. She returned to New York and in 1947 read for the director, Elia Kazan, for the lead role in the London company of the play, Deep are the Roots.

Cary Grant first met Drake in 1947 while she was performing in London. The two, were returning to the USA on the ship the RMS Queen Mary and quickly became friends. Drake was signed to a movie contract by RKO and David Selznick, where she performed in her first film, Every Girl Should Be Married (1948), opposite Grant.

On Christmas Day 1949 Drake and Grant married, in a private ceremony organized by Grant's best man, Howard Hughes. In 1952, they performed together in the film, Room for One More, and Drake performed in a number of leading roles in England and the United States, and a supporting role in the 1957 film, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.

Grant and Drake separated in 1958, remaining friends, and divorced in 1962. Their marriage was his longest union. Drake had no children with Grant but has 2 goddaughters - Tessa Dahl, daughter of actress Patricia Neal and Tracy Granger, daughter of actress Jean Simmons.

Drake gave up acting in order to focus on her writing. In 1971 Atheneum published - under the name Betsy Drake Grant - her novel Children You Are Very Little. She also worked as a practicing psychotherapist in various psychiatric hospitals in Los Angeles, California and earned a Ed.M. degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her most recent screen performance was in Cary Grant: A Class Apart, a documentary about the time they spent together.

Filmography:
Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
Dancing in the Dark (1949)
The Second Woman (1950)
Pretty Baby (1950)
Room for One More (1952)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
General Electric Theater as Ellie
Intent to Kill (1958)
Next to No Time (1958)
Wanted: Dead or Alive as Lucy Fremont in "The Spur"
Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965)
Cary Grant: A Class Apart (2005)

Happy Birthday Gene Tierney (1920 - 1991)

Somehow I missed recognizing the birthday of one of the most beautiful and talented actresses to ever grace the silver screen...Gene Tierney. I am so sorry and I apologize to all her fans and followers, which I am one of also. Yesterday was a busy day but I still should have posted something. So here it is now, A Happy Birthday to Gene Tierney, who would have been 90 years young today.

Gene was an American film and stage actress, born on November 19th, 1920 in Brooklyn, NY. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best-remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura (1944) and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her To Heaven (1945). Other notable roles include Martha Strable Van Cleve in Heaven Can Wait (1943), Isabel Bradley Maturin in The Razor's  Edge (1946), Lucy Muir in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Ann Sutton in Whirlpool (1949), Maggie Carleton McNulty in The Mating Season (1951) and Anne Scott in The Left Hand Of God (1955). Certain of her film-related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives, to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access. Gene died in 1991 of emphysema at the age of 70.

Silent Film Star: Claire Windsor.

Claire Windsor was educated at Broadway High School in Seattle, Washington, and Washburn Preperatory Academy in Topeka, Kansas. She studied voice and piano at Cohn's Conservatory of Music in Seattle, Washington.

She started her film career as an extra on the Lasky lot, was signed to stock by director Allan Dwan to work at First National Pictures.

She was then signed by writer/director 'Lois Weber' to the lead role in What Do Men Want? (1921), at which time sh changed her name to Claire Windsor (on the advice of writer Frances Marion).

She toured with Al Jolson in his stage show in 1933.

Video: Claire posing with Dolores Del Rio

The Blot (1921) Louis Calhern

“The Blot” (1921) is a silent drama starring Louis Calhern, Claire Windsor, Phillip Hubbard, and Margaret McWade. Directed by Lois Weber, this film is a realistic look at genteel poverty in the 1920’s. This domestic drama is about a weary college professor, Andrew Theodore Griggs, played by Phillip Hubbard, who does not make a living wage. His pretty daughter, Amelia, played by Claire Windsor, is a threadbare librarian while his wife, Mrs. Griggs, played by Margaret McWade, maintains a shabby house of tattered furniture, frayed carpets and an empty pantry. On the other hand, the Griggs’ next door neighbor, Peter Olsen, a self-employed immigrant shoemaker, is prosperous and his large family lives a comfortable lifestyle. Amelia has two suitors, Phil West, son of the wealthiest college trustee, played by Louis Calhern, and Reverend Gates, who is dirt poor. Well-born, but ill equipped for the daily struggles of poverty, Mrs. Griggs despairs to the point of insanity when Amelia is diagnosed with malnutrition. She even decides to go into debt in order to buy her daughter nourishing foods. Unfortunately, the grocer demands cash upfront for all the purchases. Mrs. Griggs returns home and notices that the Olsens have a very tempting chicken cooling in the kitchen window. What happens next with Mrs. Griggs, Amelia, Phil West, and the Olsens is interesting.

“The Blot” is certainly a realistic look at some social issues of America in the 1920’s. Unlike most films at the time that showed the poor as country folk living on a farm or as urban dwellers living in crime-ridden tenements, “The Blot” demonstrates that the poor can live in middle class areas with the façade of a middle class lifestyle but lacking the money to finance anything out of the ordinary. I found it interesting that Mrs. Griggs thought the immigrant shoemaker and his family didn’t have good taste in shoes or cars. It seems like she was envious of the success of the Olsens. I also noticed Mrs. Griggs encouraged the romantic interests of Phil West, the rich suitor, and was displeased with the minister, the poor suitor, even though both men were worthy of Amelia. I loved the use of shoes in this film to point out class differences. It looks like Reverend Gates’ chances with Amelia might be undermined because he cannot afford shoe polish or nice looking shoes. I also loved how Phil West, Louis Calhern’s character changed for the better at the end of the film. His character appears genuinely concerned about Amelia and her family’s plight. Even at this early stage in his career the twenty-six-year- old Calhern had great screen presence. I thought Claire Windsor was wonderful as the gentle, trusting young woman to whom life happens rather than someone who creates her own life. A little known silent gem with historical value, “The Blot” deserves much more recognition.

Claire Windsor was born Ola Kronk in Cawker City, Kansas, on April 14, 1897. She was already a professional dancer, a single parent with a three-year-old son, when she arrived in Los Angeles in 1920. After working as an extra in a couple of features directed by Allan Dwan, Claire was spotted by Lois Weber while carrying a luncheon tray in the Robert Brunton Studios cafeteria. She was signed to a one-year contract and renamed Claire Windsor. The name was selected by Lois Weber because she felt it captured what she perceived as the English, patrician beauty of the actress. Claire’s best work is in the five feature films produced and directed by Lois Weber between 1920 and 1921: “To Please One Woman” (1920), “What’s Worth While?” (1921), “Too Wise Wives” (1921), “The Blot” (1921), and “What Do Man Want?” (1921). Each of the films deals with the male-female relationship, and Claire and Lois Weber are helped tremendously in that the male in three of the films is Louis Calhern who was to go on to a distinguished stage and film career. Lois Weber and Claire might have continued to work together had their films been successful at the box office, but they were not. Claire signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and she was later under contract to MGM from 1924 to 1926. From 1925 to 1927, Claire was married to Bert Lytell, who had once been the highest paid male star at Metro, but whose career was rapidly declining. Claire was a very busy actress in the 1920’s, but none of her post-Weber films are worthy of consideration. Claire passed away on October 23, 1972. She was 75 years old.

Great Dramas: San Francisco(1936).

San Francisco (1936) Drama-adventure film directed by Woody Van Dyke, based on the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Cast: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy and Jack Holt.

"Blackie" Norton owns the Paradise Club on Pacific Street. He hires a classically-trained singer, Mary Blake, a romance develops between the two. Complications begin when Mary is hired by the Tivoli Opera House on Market Street and she becomes involved with, Jack Burley .

Blackie's long time friend, Roman Catholic Father Tim Mullen , keeps trying to reform him, while the other nightclub owners try to talk Norton into running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, in order to protect their interests. Father Tim, informs Mary that the new church organ was paid for by Blackie. On April 17, 1906 the San Francisco Police Department shuts down the Paradise. Then, at 5:13 a.m. April 18, 1906, the earthquake hits and the fires erupt. The water mains are broken. Mat has been taken from the destroyed Hall of Justice on Washington Street, a nurse tells Blackie, Mat will not survive. Blackie goes to Nob Hill, as the US Army troops from the Presidio have orders to blow up the mansions. Will Blackie ever find Mary alive?

Wonderful film about history, great acting and special effects. I also loved the cast and the great story line that will grab you from the beginning. A movie you will not soon forget.



Fun Facts:
One of Mary's opera gowns was later used for "Glinda" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

The dress Jeanette MacDonald wears while singing "Would You" was re-worn by Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal (1942).

Jessie Ralph (November 5, 1864 – May 30, 1944), made her Hollywood debut in 1916, she became a permanent actress in 1933. She was 70 at this time, her roles were those of frumpy old ladies, but.. she stole all the scenes she was in. Her best known roles are as Greta Garbo's maid in Camille, and as W.C. Fields mother-in-law in The Bank Dick. She performed in a total of 55 movies.

List of Jessie Ralph movies I have seen:
Captain Blood (1935)
San Francisco (1936)
Camille (1936)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The Good Earth (1937)
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)