Pre-code,Torch Singer(1933) With Claudette Colbert.

Torch Singer(1933). Directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners and Lyda Roberti.  It was released on DVD (as part of a six disc set entitled "Pre-Code Hollywood Collection") on April 7, 2009.

Down on her luck chorus girl Sally Trent, walks into St. Anne's hospital as a unwed mother and gives birth to a baby girl. She tries her best to support her daughter, but she is forced to give her up for adoption.

Sally becomes a disreputable singer known as Mimi Benton, but while she is at her boyfriend's radio station, she fills in for the narrator of a children's hour and becomes the favorite of children all over the country.

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The father of her child, Michael Gardner, who cast her aside.. returns from China and tries to reconcile with, Sally, bet she no longer trusts him. Doing the radio show softens Sally's heart and she hires a detective to find her daughter.

The detective comes up with nothing and Sally begins drinking her troubles away. Will Sally ever find her daughter?

It's fun to see Colbert in such a spicy role, who eventually gets back on track to find her daughter. Good performances from Lyda Roberti, Ricardo Cortez and David Manners.

Lyda Roberti (May 20, 1906 – March 12, 1938), was the daughter of a clown. As a child she performed in the circus as a trapeze artist, and was a vaudeville singer. As her family toured Europe and Asia, Roberti's mother left her husband, and in order to escape the upheaval in Russia after the Communist revolution, they settled in Shanghai, China where the younger Roberti earned money singing.

They moved to the United States in the late 1920's and Roberti began singing in nightclubs. She made her Broadway debut in You Said It(1931) and with its success became an overnight sensation.

She also appeared in the Gershwin musical, Pardon My English(1933).

Her sexy,  playful characterizations, along with the unusual accent she had picked up during her years in Europe and Asia, made her popular with audiences.

She starred in: Million Dollar Legs (1932), The Woman No Man Can Resist", a Mata Hari-based spy character who is hired to undermine the President of Klopstokia (played by W. C. Fields) in his efforts to secure money for his destitute country. Her plan is to seduce the athletes that Klopstokia is sending to the Olympic Games, and prevent them from meddling. Highlights of the film include Mata Machree's steamy rendition of "When I Get Hot in Klopstokia", and the dance she performs to inspire Fields's opponent in the weightlifting competition.

Roberti replaced Thelma Todd in a couple of films after the death of Todd, but her health was failing due to heart disease. She began to work less frequently although two days before her death she performed a radio show with Al Jolson. According to her friend and co-star Patsy Kelly, Roberti died suddenly from a heart attack while bending to tie her shoelace. At the time of her death, she was married to broadcaster Bud Ernest.

SO PROUDLY WE HAIL!(1943)

So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Directed and produced by Mark Sandrich. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance and Veronica Lake. The script for this film was written by using the stories from journals, and diaries of the actual nurses who served at Corregidor. Some of the surviving nurses of Corregidor were also brought in during production as technical advisers to the film makers. A few of them were used as extras. Issues of Life magazine and photographers from Life magazine who were there, were brought in assure even more accuracy concerning uniforms and surroundings.

On 5 May 1942, an Army plane with the only eight surviving nurses from the hard-hit Army base in Corregidor, are headed back to the United States. A physician asks them to recount their tour of duty so that he can help bring their superior officer, Lieutenant Janet "Davey" Davidson, out of the emotional breakdown that has caused her silence.

Lieut. Sadie Schwartz goes back to the day in 1941 when the nurses under Davey's command met in San Francisco to board the Army transport ship that was to take them to Honolulu, Hawaii, for their two-year tour of duty:

Pearl Harbor, is bombed on 7 Dec 1941 in a surprise attack by the Japanese, the United States declares war and the nurses' ship is rerouted to meet with the Army ships in the Pacific Ocean. One of the convoy ships is torpedoed and the survivors are saved by the nurses's ship. Among the survivors is Olivia D'Arcy, a nurse who is so distant that she alienates the other nurses.

Olivia, soon has problems with her fun loving roommate, Joan O'Doul. Wanting to get to the bottom of the bickering Davey befriends Olivia and finds out that she watched her fiance die at Pearl Harbor.

After the nurses are stationed at an army hospital in the Bataan Peninsula, Olivia requests duty taking care of the wounded Japanese prisoners, intending to kill them, but.. finds herself unable to go through with her plans.

While the camp is being evacuated... Joan runs back to her tent to get her treasured black nightgown. The delay causes the death of their escorts and the nurses are forced to hide from the Japanese soldiers. Realizing there is no other way out, Olivia grabs a grenade and turns herself over to the enemy. She pulls the pin... saving the other nurses.

Their new base Hospital Kilometer, is a primitive camp in the jungle where the nurses care for over 8,000 wounded men. Malaria and dysentery, make life miserable through the camp, but the affected nurses continue to work. After, Ma's son dies from war wounds, Davey's commanding officer informs her that General Douglas MacArthur, has left the island and that the supply ship has been sunk.

After a moving to another base, a Japanese bomb kills nurse Rosemary Larson, while assisting surgeon Jose Bardia. Davey, burns her hands trying to saving them from the burning building. Bataan, is evacuated and the roads and waterways are filled with evacuees headed for Mariveles.

After, completing the surgery on John's wounded leg, Davey boards a rowboat hoping to escape to Corregidor. Finally reaching the underground base at Corregidor, the nurses continue to work under the constant stress of the air raids until their supplies run out.

John joins a group headed for Mindanao for supplies, he and Davey break military rules by getting married. They spend their wedding night next to a gun-mount by the bay and at five in the morning, John leaves on his mission.

Several days later, the nurses under Davey's command are the first to be secretly evacuated from Corregidor. Davey, resists going because she promised John, that she would be there to meet him when he returns, but a bombing attack forces her to leave and she goes into shock.

Now back to the present.. the doctor reads to Davey a letter from John, informing her that he is safe and that he continues to fight for the peace of all people. Along with the letter is a deed to his American farm, where he promises to meet her some day. Knowing that her husband is safe, Davey says his name.

Fun Fact:

In keeping with Army regulation, Veronica Lake (Lt. Olivia D'Arcy) changed her famous "peek-a-boo" hairstyle. She only let her hair down once, in her final scene. Later she cut it, with much publicity, because women who copied her and worked in factories kept getting their hair caught in the machinery.



"So Proudly We Hail!" was one of the first films that put women in the spotlight as honored war heroes. Amazing performances by: Claudette Colbert, George Reeves, you will be impressed by Veronica Lake and Paullette Goddard who was nominated for an Academy Award.

Barbara Britton (September 26, 1919 – January 17, 1980) is best known for her Western film roles opposite Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, and Gene Autry, and for her two-year tenure as inquisitive amateur sleuth Pam North on the television series Mr. and Mrs. North.

 While in school she began to show an interest in acting and began working on local stage productions.

In 1941, while appearing in a Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, a photo of Britton was used on the front page of a local newspaper. A talent scout took notice, and she was soon signed to a Paramount Pictures contract. That same year, she appeared in her first two films: the William Boyd western Secret of the Wasteland and Louisiana Purchase starring Bob Hope.


 Her first major film appearance was in a small role in the John Wayne film Reap the Wild Wind (1942).

During the 1940's Britton starred in three films for which she is most recognized today, two of which co-starred Randolph Scott. The first was the 1945 film Captain Kidd with Scott, followed by The Virginian in 1946 opposite Joel McCrea. The third was the 1947 Randolph Scott film Gunfighters.

She teamed with Scott again in the 1948 western Albuquerque, and that same year she starred opposite Gene Autry in Loaded Pistols.

Reportedly because of lasting trauma suffered while making the 1943 war picture So Proudly We Hail!, she sought the help of physician and psychoanalyst Dr. Eugene J. Czukor in 1944. The film was about a group of nurses returning from the war in the Philippines who recall their experiences in combat and in love.

Britton and Dr. Czukor (22 years her senior) were married on April 2, 1945, and the marriage lasted until Britton's death 34 years later.

Britton starred in the 1950's television show Mr. and Mrs. North, a Thin Man-like mystery show, with Richard Denning and Francis De Sales.

She was probably best known for being the spokesperson for Revlon products in the 1950's and 1960's, appearing in ads and commercials that included live spots on The $64,000 Question.

She also portrayed Laura Petri in Carl Reiner's Head of the Family, the 1959 pilot for the later Dick Van Dyke Show.

One of Britton's last roles was on the daytime TV soap opera One Life to Live in 1979.

She died of pancreatic cancer in New York City on January 17, 1980 at the age of 60.

Donut Dunking lessons and It Happened One Night.

When I was putting together my Mae Murray, invented the tradition of dunking donuts in coffee post. Click here to view post. It reminded me of this charming scene from:

It Happened One Night (1934). Spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews(Claudette Colbert), locked up in the cabin of her father's yacht goes on a hunger strike to get back at her father, who wants to have her marriage to a playboy aviator annulled. 

When she finally escapes, travelling cross-country by bus, Ellie meets up with "down-on-his-luck" reporter, Peter Warne (Clark Gable).

After spending the night at a motor-lodge, Peter cooks her breakfast of a scrambled egg, a donut, and black coffee. Following Peter's lead, Ellie plunges her donut into the cup.

PETER: Say, where did you learn to dunk, in finishing school?

ELLIE: Aw, now, don't you start telling me I shouldn't dunk.

PETER: Of course you shouldn't. You don't know how to do it. Dunking's an art. Don't let it soak so long. A dip and--plop, into your mouth. If you let it soak so long, it'll get soft and fall off. It's all a matter of timing. I ought to write a book about it.

Please click here to read It Happened One Night(1934) movie reiew

Love Hollywood Style: Claudette Colbert.

Colbert, was best known for her confident, intelligent style and her subtle, graceful acting and in 1928, married Norman Foster, an actor and director, who performed with Colbert in the Broadway show, The Barker. They never lived together, supposedly because Colbert's mother disliked Foster and would not allow him into their home. Colbert and Foster divorced in 1935.

In December of that year, Colbert married Dr. Joel Pressman, a surgeon at UCLA. The marriage lasted 33 years, until Pressman's death of liver cancer in 1968.

For years, Colbert divided her time between her apartment in Manhattan and her summer home in Speightstown, Barbados. After suffering a series of strokes in 1993, she stayed at her home in Barbados, where she died on July 30, 1996, at age 92. Colbert is buried in the Parish of St. Peter Cemetery in Barbados.

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Montage of stills from films that won Oscars for the year 1934 (presented at the 7th Academy Awards on February 27, 1935) set to the year's Oscar-winning song.

Imitation of Life(1934).

Imitation of Life(1934). Drama directed by John M. Stahl. Based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Warren William and Rochelle Hudson, Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington. The film was released by Universal Pictures on November 26, 1934, and later re-issued in 1936. A 1959 remake with the same title stars Lana Turner.

Fredi Washington, was a light-skinned African-American. After playing this role, she was criticized by some in the black community who believed that the actress wanted to pass herself off as white. The truth was.. she was a civil rights activist.

Although, cast as the daughter of Louise Beavers, 'Fredi Washington, was less than two years younger than her onscreen mother. She was, considerably slimmer than Beavers, which allowed them to pass as mother and daughter.

The story begins, after the death of her husband, Beatrice Pullman, continues to sell his maple syrup and hires Delilah Johnson to take care of the house and her daughter Jessie. Delilah moves in with her daughter Peola, who, is light-skinned black girl.

One morning, after tasting Delilah's family recipe pancakes, Bea, decides to open restaurant named "Aunt Delilah's Pancake House". The restaurant business, makes them very wealthy, but... Peola, continues to resent her mother.

Soon after, the suggestion of a hobo Elmer Smith, Bea boxes the pancake mix and hires him as her manager. Delilah, makes twenty percent of the profits, but.. she still wants to continue working as Bea's maid.

At a party celebrating the tenth anniversary of the business, Bea meets ichthyologist Stephen Archer, who is a friend of Elmer. Bea and Stephen fall in love and make plans to marry.

Now, a college student Jessie returns home for a vacation, but Bea asks Stephen to look after her as she travels to Virginia with Delilah to find Peola, who has turned up missing. In Virginia, Delilah finds Peola working in a place that prohibits black customers. Peola denies knowing Delilah, then returns home to disown her mother, so that she can live her own life.

Things take a turn for the worse when, Jessie falls in love with Stephen, even though he does not feel the same way about her. And now.. Heartbroken, Delilah, becomes ill. On her deathbed, Delilah asks Bea to take care of Peola.

Peola attends Delilah's funeral, and becomes overwhelmed by the her loss of her mother. Bea takes her home, and Peola agrees to return to college. Bea postpones their wedding until Jessie no longer loves Stephen. Stephen promises to wait, and Bea and Jessie think back to the time when Delilah first moved in with them.

 I love both versions of this movie.. Even though the remake is in color, this one has many special scenes. Claudette Colbert, seemed like a more likable person than Lana Turner and Louise Beavers, giving such wonderful performance, pulls on your heart strings. I think that their friendship was was much more believable. I'm so glad to have both versions in my DVD collection.

Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was a talented African American dramatic film actress, who was active during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s).

She is best known for her role as Peola in the 1934 version of the film Imitation of Life. Fredi Washington was born in Savannah, Georgia to Hattie and Robert T. Washington, who according to her sister Isabel, were both African American.

 Fredi was the second of their five children. Her mother, Hattie, died when Fredi was a girl. As the oldest girl in her family, Fredi helped raise her younger siblings Isabel, Rosebud and Robert with the help of her grandmother, who the family called "Big Mama." After her mother's death, Fredi was sent away to a school for colored/minority girls in Philadelphia because motherless girls during this time were thought of as orphans.

Her sister, Isabel, soon followed her. At some point her father, Robert T. Washington remarried, but his second wife died while carrying his child. He later remarried a third time and produced four more children, giving Fredi a total of eight siblings.

While still in school in Philadelphia Fredi's family moved North to Harlem, New York in the Great Migration in an effort to seek better opportunities in the industrial north. Fredi followed her family to Harlem. She quit school soon after to help support the family.

Washington started her career as a dancer in the broadway play, Shuffle Along. She was in a few of the first black Broadway shows. Because of her beauty and talent, she easily moved up as a popular featured dancer. She toured internationally with a dance team. During this period she befriended many African American legends including Josephine Baker.

She is best known for her acting career. Washington's first movie role was in Black and Tan (1929) where she played a dying dancer. She had a small part in The Emperor Jones (1933) with Paul Robeson, based on the play by Eugene O'Neill.

In Imitation of Life, was nominated for an Academy Award. Washington turned down a number of chances to pass for white as an actress, which might have led to greater acting.

She had a light complexion and green eyes. Her beauty and appearance led directors to choose darker-skinned actresses for the stereotypical "maid" roles offered to black actresses in those years. At the same time, Hollywood directors did not offer her romantic roles with leading white actors. When Washington played roles in race films intended for black audiences, she often wore heavy makeup to darken her skin.

Washington had a role in, One Mile from Heaven (1937). Realizing that she had few opportunities in Hollywood at the time, Washington quit movies and returned to New York to work in theater.

Fredi was often dismayed that she didn't get to grow as an actress, and tired of being asked to pass or to play "tragic mulatto" roles, another stereotype. She wanted to perform in more complicated, versatile roles. Frustrated, she quit acting and focused her efforts on African American civil rights.

 Washington became a theater writer. She was the Entertainment Editor for People's Voice, a newspaper for African Americans founded by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a Baptist minister and politician in New York City. It was published 1942-1948. A very intelligent woman, Fredi was fearlessly outspoken about racism faced by African Americans. She worked closely with Walter White, then president of the NAACP, to address pressing issues facing black people in America.

 Her experiences in the film industry led her to become a civil rights activist. Together with Noble Sissle, W.C. Handy and Dick Campbell, Washington was a founding member with Alan Corelli of the Negro Actors Guild of America (NAG) in New York in 1937.

She served as executive secretary, and worked for better opportunities for African-American actors. She also was active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and worked to secure better hotel accommodations for black actors, who were often discriminated against, as well as less stereotyping and discrimination in roles. In 1953, Washington was a film casting consultant for Carmen Jones, which starred Dorothy Dandridge, another pioneering African-American actress.

 She also consulted on casting for George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, an opera performed in revival in 1952 and filmed in 1959. Washington dated Duke Ellington for some time but, when she saw he was not going to marry her, she started another relationship.

She married Lawrence Brown, the trombonist in Duke Ellington's jazz orchestra, a relationship which ended in divorce. Washington later married Anthony H. Bell, a dentist. Bell died in the 1980s. Washington died of a stroke, the last of several, on June 28, 1994 in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 90. According to her sister, Isabel, Fredi never had children. One of Washington's sisters, Isabel Washington (May 23, 1909 - May 1, 2008), was also an actress. Isabel married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the first African American elected to Congress from New York state.

The Secret Heart(1946).

The Secret Heart(1946). Directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Walter Pidgeon and June Allyson.

Lee is engaged to marry Larry Adams, a alcoholic widower with two children, Chase and Penny. While returning home on an ocean liner, she meets and falls in love with Chris Matthews, a friend of Larry's. Even though she loves Chris, she marries Larry, and moves to his farm in Rhode Island. Larry's talent is playing the piano, which he teaches Penny. Over the next two years Lee tries to live with his alcoholism. On evening while Lee is out with Chris, Larry's body found at the bottom of a cliff. He had committed suicide after embezzling money from his clients. Lee moves the family away from the farm, to New York where she takes a job to pay off Larry's debts, and keeps the truth from Penny, wanting to protect her.

Ten years later, a troubled Penny, drops out of school and is always playing the piano. Lee, now concerned goes to see psychiatrist Dr. Rossiger, and the story up to this point is told in flashback: The doctor advises that they move back to the farm for the summer, since that is where Larry died, and he believes that confronting the past will help cure Penny. Chase returns home from the navy and lands a job with Chris, who now owns a shipyard. He introduces Penny to his navy buddy Brandon Reynolds. They all move to the farm, together with Chase's friend Kay Burns, where Chris comes back into Lee's life after a ten-year absence, and Lee realizes that it was Chris she has always loved. Once at the farm, Chase tells Penny the truth, and she becomes despondent. Although, Brandon is interested in Penny, she loves Chris, and is heartbroken when she finds him in Lee's arms. Penny then tries to kill herself by jumping off a cliff, as Larry had done. Will Lee get there in time to prevent it?

This movie is an interesting psychological study of a young girl obsessed with the memory of her dead father.

Fun Fact:

After filming The Secret Heart together, Claudette Colbert and co-star June Allyson became such great friends in real life Colbert became godmother to Allyson's daughter Pamela.

Elizabeth Patterson (November 22, 1875 – January 31, 1966) was a film and television character actress remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy.

Patterson's acting in college theatricals, began her interest in drama. Her parents sent her to Europe in the hope of discouraging her from the theater, but her determination to become an actress was only reinforced by her experiences attending productions at the Comédie Française.

After returning from Europe, Patterson move to Chicago, where she joined a theatrical troupe, and toured with repertory companies. In 1913, she made her Broadway debut in the play, Everyman. She remained active in New York City theatre through 1954.

In 1926, at the age of 51, Patterson was cast in her first movie, The Boy Friend. She also performed in the films: A Bill of Divorcement, Tarnished Lady, Dinner at Eight, High, Wide, and Handsome, Intruder in the Dust, Remember the Night, No Man of Her Own, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, Little Women, My Sister Eileen and Pal Joey.

Never married, Patterson lived alone at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel during her thirty five-year movie career.

Claudette Colbert.

Claudette Colbert, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for three films: It Happened One Night (1935), Private Worlds (1936) and Since You Went Away (1945), winning for... It Happened One Night.

Claudette Colbert, is the only actress in the history of cinema to star in three films in the same year to be nominated for Best Picture Academy Award, those films being Cleopatra, Imitation of Life, and It Happened One Night which were all made in 1934.

Please click here to learn more about Claudette Colbert.

Personal Quotes:

"Most of us don't know about happiness until it's over".

Tomorrow Is Forever(1946).

Tomorrow Is Forever(1946). Directed by Irving Pichel. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles and George Brent. The music score is by Max Steiner. It also features the eight-year-old Natalie Wood in her first credited role.

After Elizabeth MacDonald, receives word that her husband, John Andrew, has been killed in the war. She faints at work and is taken in by her bosses, Larry Hamilton, aunt Jessie, who informs him that Elizabeth is pregnant.

In a German hospital, John is badly injured and decides not to give his real name, so everyone will still believe that he was killed in the war..

Elizabeth, gives birth to a boy, who she names John Andrew and accepts Larry's marriage proposal. Twenty years later, as the threat of war in Europe begins, Elizabeth, is holding on to all hope that her son John Jr., will not be called to duty.

John the father who is now crippled, lives in Austria and calls himself Erich Kessler, begins making plans to return to Baltimore, with his foster daughter Margaret, to work as a chemist at the Hamilton factory. After arriving, John takes Margaret, to the house, in which he and Elizabeth, used to live and tries to find out if his wife Elizabeth, still lives there. Later John, checks in with his new employer Larry, and is unaware that he is married to Elizabeth, accepts his dinner invitation.

John, is shocked when he sees Elizabeth, who does not recognise him, but, she does sense something familiar about him. John, then is introduced to John Jr. and it is not long before he realizes that is his son. Now, John must decide whether or not to reveal his true identity.



 This is a very touching story, with wonderful performances by Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles. Anyone, who loves a good old-fashioned love story, will want give this movie a try.

CMBA Blogathon - Movies of 1939: Midnight(1939).

Midnight (1939). Romantic/ comedy. Director: Mitchell Leisen. Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder based on a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and John Barrymore.

Eve Peabody an American showgirl, finds herself stranded in Paris one rainy night. Eve makes a deal with cab driver Tibor Czerny, to double his fee for driving her from nightclub to nightclub looking for a job. Eve, decides to run away from him when it looks like he is becoming interested in her. She hides from him at a charity event where she meets, millionaire Georges Flammarion.

The adventure begins after Georges gives her the title of the Baroness Czerny and Eve finds herself in a room at the Ritz, every girls dream, with beautiful clothes and a chauffeured limousine. Later that morning, Georges, appears at the Ritz to offer Eve the job of taking Jacques away from Helen. She accepts the job and his weekend invitation at his home. That same day, Tibor has organized the cab drivers of Paris to find Eve and on a tip, he finds her at the Flammarion chateau. Just as Helen is about to expose Eve as an impostor, Tibor arrives as the Baron to claim his wife. Will they be able to keep up the crazy charade?

Favorite quote: Eve Peabody: (at the ball) Don't forget, every Cinderella has her midnight.

This is my second Midnight movie review. I thought the story was magical. Once again, Claudette Colbert shows that she is a wonderful comedian. Don Ameche, gives one of my favorite performances. Mary Astor, combines beauty and meanness into a wonderful performance.

Please click here to view Dawn's first Midnight(1939) movie review.

Claudette Colbert ( September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996), was a French-born American stage and film actress. Claudette began her career on Broadway during the 1920s, moving onto talking pictures. She began a successful film career with Paramount Pictures and later, as a freelance performer. Claudette was recognized as one of the leading women of screwball comedy. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the film, It Happened One Night (1934), and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds (1935) and Since You Went Away (1944).

Her film career began to decline in the 1950s, and she made her last film in 1961. Colbert continued to act in theater and, briefly, in television during her later years.

Don Ameche (May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an Academy Award winning actor. Ameche was a versatile and popular film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the handsome, leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity began to fade in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film career made a comeback in the 1980s as an aging millionaire in, Trading Places (1983) and in the film,Cocoon (1985).

John Barrymore (February 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942). He began his acting career as a handsome stage actor in light comedy. His success continued in movies in both the silent and sound eras. John Barrymore is mostly known for his roles in movies like, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (1920), Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Don Juan (1926). He was the brother of Lionel Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore and was the paternal grandfather of, Drew Barrymore.

Mary Astor (May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was most remembered for her performance in the film, The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart. Astor began her long motion picture career as a teenager in the silent movies of the 1920s.

She made a successful transition to talkies, eventually winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film, The Great Lie (1941). She was an MGM contract player through most of the 1940s and continued to act in movies, on television and on stage until her retirement from the screen in 1964. Astor was the author of five novels. Her autobiography became a bestseller, as did her later book, A Life on Film, which was about her career.

She Married Her Boss(1935).

She Married Her Boss(1935). Directed by Gregory La Cava. Cast: Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas.

The story begins when, secretary Julia Scott, who is in love with her boss, Richard Barclay, the owner of Barclay's Department Store, who unfortunately only thinks of her as his right "hand man." Julia, is offered her dream job working in Paris, but she, turns it down because of her love for Richard. Julia, decides it is time to tell Richard about her feelings. While working late at his home, Julia finds Richard's hysterical sister Gertrude, his brat of a daughter Annabel. Richard, tells Julia to take charge of the house and she fires the servants and gives Annabel, a much needed spanking.

The next day, Julia finds out that her friend Martha, has gone to Richard and told him that Julia, has taken the job in Paris. When Richard asks Julia about it, she says she wants to go to Paris, to find a husband.

Later that same day, everyone, is in an uproar over the sudden, marriage of Richard and Julia. Heartbroken, Julia learns that Richard, sees her more as a business partner than a wife. The next morning, Julia decides not to go into the office so she can settle into her new home. Without her, there is trouble in the office and Julia has her own troubles at home. Martha, comes to visit Julia with Leonard Rogers, a womanizer who has just sold his department store to Richard. When Richard arrives home, he finds Julia, Leonard and Annabel singing together and tells Julia, that he doesn't think their marriage is working out. Julia tells him that she will return to the office the next day. Instead of returning to the office, Julia heads to Philadelphia to manage the Rogers store. After two weeks, Julia has the Philadelphia store in shape and her feelings are hurt, when Richard tells her to take her time in returning home. That night, Julia agrees to go out with Leonard and the two end up drunk in a display window of the department store. Two newspaper photographers, take pictures of the couple and the next day their picture is front page news. Will Richard travel to Philadelphia, to bring Julia back to New York?

Although, the story maybe a little unbelievable, it is still a cute film. One of my favorite scenes is when, Colbert and Bartlett host a cocktail party in the shop window of a department store, with shop mannequins as the guests.

Melvyn Hesselberg (April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981). Douglas shared top billing with Boris Karloff and Charles Laughton in the films, The Old Dark House (1932), The Vampire Bat(1932), She Married Her Boss(1935). He played opposite Joan Crawford in several films, although.. best known for, A Woman's Face (1941). He also performed with Greta Garbo in three films, As You Desire Me (1932), Ninotchka (1939) and Garbo's final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).

During World War II, Douglas served in the United States Army and when he returned home he performed  in the films, The Sea of Grass and Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House.

As Douglas grew older, he took father type roles, The Americanization of Emily (1964), Hud (1963), for which he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, The Candidate (1972) and I Never Sang for My Father (1970), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the dark comedy, Being There (1979). Douglas' final screen performancewas in the film, Ghost Story (1981). He did not finish his role in the film The Hot Touch (1982) before his death.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Claudette Colbert

Since You Went Away(1944).

Since You Went Away(1944). Directed by John Cromwell. Produced by David O. Selznick from the novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret Buell Wilder. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography by Stanley Cortez, Lee Garmes, George Barnes (uncredited) and Robert Bruce (uncredited). Cast: Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple and Joseph Cotten with Monty Woolley, Robert Walker, Lionel Barrymore, Hattie McDaniel, Agnes Moorehead, Guy Madison, Craig Stevens, Janelle Johnson, Keenan Wynn, Florence Bates, and Alla Nazimova.

Fun Fact:
At the time, the longest and most expensive Hollywood film since David O. Selznick's, Gone with the Wind (1939).

The story begins on January 12, 1943, when Anne questions her husband's decision to leave his family and his well paying job to fight in the war. Anne has to let Fidelia, the family's housekeeper go, as she can no longer afford to pay her wages.

Because of the housing shortage they decide to take in a border by the name, Col. William G. Smollett, a retired army officer.

Soon after, Fidelia asks to move back into the house, offering her housekeeping services as rent. To complicate matters even more, is the romance between Anne's daughter Jane and the Colonel's grandson.

This film captures perfectly the worry of those who with loved ones fighting in the war. Watch for the unforgettable scene when Mr. Mahoney leaves the movie theater. Also, one of my favorite Jennifer Jones performances. You will need a box of Kleenex for this film.

Robert Walker(October 13, 1918 – August 28, 1951). While attending the AADA, Walker met aspiring actress Phylis Isley, who later became the film star, Jennifer Jones.

The couple were married in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 2, 1939 and moved to Hollywood to find work in films.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and they moved to New York. Walker soon found work in radio while Phylis stayed home and gave birth to two sons, actor Robert Walker, Jr., born April 15, 1940, and Michael Walker, born March 13, 1941.

Soon after, Phylis was discovered in 1941 by producer David O. Selznick, who changed her name to Jennifer Jones.

She landed the role in the film, The Song of Bernadette (1943).

The couple returned to Hollywood, where Walker started work on the war drama, Bataan (1943). Walker's charming demeanor won him roles as the "boy-next-door in films: See Here, Private Hargrove (1944) and Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945).

He also appeared in the film, Since You Went Away (1944) in which he and his wife portrayed doomed young lovers. In real life, they divorced shortly after.

Also that year, Walker starred in the film, The Clock, opposite Judy Garland, in her first  dramatic film. Although Walker, continued to work steadily in Hollywood, he was distraught over the divorce and he suffered a nervous breakdown.

In 1946, Walker starred in, Till the Clouds Roll By, where he played the song writer Jerome Kern. He starred as composer Johannes Brahms in, Song of Love (1947), which co-starred Katharine Hepburn. Later, Walker starred with Ava Gardner in the film, One Touch of Venus(1948).

Soon after he was hired by director Alfred Hitchcock for one of his best performances, Strangers on a Train (1951).

It's a Wonderful World(1939).

It's a Wonderful World(1939). Romantic/comedy. Cast: Claudette Colbert and James Stewart, directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

Willie Heywood, is framed for murder while Detective Guy, hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are caught by the police, tried and convicted. Guy gets a year behind bars and Willie, is to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue while reading the newspaper's want- ad, placed by the actor telling him where to find the person, who could be the real killer. Guy jumps from the moving train into a river and escapes from the police...

Edwina Corday, accidentally gets involved in Guy's problems in trying to hide from the cops. At first, she believes him to be a dangerous criminal, but she soon learns that he is telling the truth. Eventually, becoming a runaway herself and falling in love with Guy, causing him a lot of trouble in their adventures.

In their only on-screen pairing, Colbert and Stewart, performances are just plain fun from start to finish. Even though Stewart plays a much rougher guy than his usual more likeable personality.

Frances Drake (October 22, 1912 – January 18, 2000). Made her Hollywood debut in the film, Bolero(1934) and was there after typecast as damsels in distress opposite horror stars Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.

List of Frances Drake films:
Bolero (1934)
The Trumpet Blows (1934)
Ladies Should Listen (1934)
Forsaking All Others (1934)
Mad Love (1935)
Les Miserables (1935 film)
The Invisible Ray (1936)
And Sudden Death (1936)
Midnight Taxi (1937)
Love Under Fire (1937)
There's Always a Woman (1938)
It's a Wonderful World (1939)
I Take This Woman (1940)
The Affairs of Martha (1942)