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Almost matching Mickey Rooney’s status as THE teenage star of the 1930s and 40s is his frequent co-star Judy Garland, seen above with Sophie Tucker in Broadway Melody of 1938. (Garland was 16 at the time.) No other Hollywood actress — perhaps excepting Marilyn Monroe — has withstood the test of time and maintained such prominence in […]
No one was a bigger star as a teenager in Hollywood than Mickey Rooney. Say what you will about Rooney’s life and career, the pint sized dynamo (he was all of 5 feet 2 inches) was a trooper. Because his parents were vaudevillians, Rooney made his stage debut at 15 months as part of the family […]
Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee. That of course, as mentioned yesterday is a song lyric from the 1978 musical Grease. Sandra Dee, who wasn’t in Grease, represented the wholesome girl next door, and the song satirizes that image. Sandra didn’t mind. In fact, she got a kick out of her mention. In any case, song denotes that […]
Her name epitomizes teenagers of the 1950s and 60s. Think of the lyric from Grease — “look at me, I’m Sandra Dee.” A few years ago, we featured a blog about Sandra Dee. And, frankly, we were pleasantly surprised by the relatively large volume of reader interest generated. Thus our Sandra Dee Monday Quiz. Yes, we […]
Howard Hawks made all sorts of pictures and worked with all sorts of stars. But one of his earliest films, based on a hit play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, was a screwball comedy with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. No question, it’s a classic. 1934’s Twentieth Century still inspires debate about its male protagonist […]
You remember her in 1949’s White Heat. You remember her in 1941’s Sergeant York. Those were her principal maternal roles. Here (below) she is in the former picture during which James Cagney explosively closes out the drama with the words: Made it, Ma. Top Of The World. (Note the less-than-thrilled expression of Virginia Mayo on the left, who […]
We are taking some liberties today to discuss a movie we both like — a lot — that strictly speaking falls well outside the time frame of the classic Hollywood period. It’s The Verdict, released in 1982, which remains one of the finest courtroom dramas ever filmed. A big reason for our enthusiasm is the […]
In 1986, director Federico Fellini came up with the delightful comedy, Ginger and Fred, about the travails of a pair of aging Italian music hall performers imitating Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire on European television. (If you haven’t seen this one, by all means track it down.) Back in Hollywood Ginger — who died in 1995 […]
Although she was the Biggest of Stars and made dozens of films Ginger Rogers isn’t well remembered today because she never made any films which are considered classics. Wait! Those of you out there who are Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers fans who consider all their films together classics, we don’t mean any offense. But although their […]
In our week highlighting the screen villains of the 30s and 40s we mustn’t forget women (in addition to film noir femmes fatales, general all-around baddies). Today’s choice is — Gale Sondergaard. She was the dragon lady? Or, perhaps a cat woman? Your may not at first be sure since today’s subject, born Edith Holm Sonderghaard in […]