I Walk The Line....

Even though I feel like the first couple of months were kind of a warm up rehearsal period, and I really consider the first of the year as the beginning of my company, it was about a year ago that I first announced here that I was starting it.

Holy cow, a year!  So I figured I should give you guys an annual report.

Miss Crawford, will you please bring in the annual report?

It's a funny thing that, living this thing day to day, it doesn't feel like things are growing fast enough.  Or even at all.  But to look over the big picture, it ain't so bad!
Without so much as a dime for publicity/marketing/advertising here's how things look:



**  I received a very small mention in The Los Angeles Times.

**  I was interviewed on "The List" a 30-minute web radio show.

**  I was invited to join an elite group of independent tour companies, 7 Days In LA

**  The tour has earned a 5-star rating on Yelp. 

**  I was interviewed and given a rave write-up in The Advocate Magazine.

**  There is another press piece coming at the beginning of the year I'll tell ya about later.

**  The Facebook page is on it's way to 500 followers.

**  Am preparing remarks for my participation in a swell historical/literary salon in January.

**  To date over 1000 people have taken the tour.

All in all, a swell year!  I'm looking forward to a slam-bang finish to 2011, and a banner 2012.

And I'd love to meet you guys on the tour really soon (Angelinos) or as soon as your next visit (everyone else)!

Mr. And Mrs. Mogul

Sam and Frances Goldwyn

Louis B. Mayer and second wife Lorena

Jack and Ann Warner

Irving Thalberg and Norma Shearer (Thalberg)

Harry Cohn and second wife Joan Perry Cohn

Darryl and Virginia Zanuck

David Selznick and Irene Mayer Selznick

Jesse and Bessie Lasky

Does He At Least Call Before He Drops In?

I guess there was a time when a production  just  wasn't a Production until Cary Grant came a-calling on the set:

Cary Grant visits Joan Crawford, Wm. Castle and John Ireland on the "I Saw What You Did" set.

Grant visits Frank Capra and James Stewart on the "Mr. Smith" set.

Grant visits Deborah Kerr on the "Young Bess" set

Grant visits Cab Calloway and Eartha Kitt on the "St. Louis Blues" set.

Grant visits Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward on the "Winning" set.

....And apparently the same held true for 
locker rooms!

Grant visits Yogi Berra.

Cary Grant, Professional Visitor.

The Mystery Gets Revealed!!!

Well, get me!!  I stumped you all.  So without further delay:


It's hard to believe that in only 37 short years this handsome young devil of 19:

Would become:

Theodore J. Mooney!!!

A few other fun facts about wonderful character actor Gale Gordon:

**He was the first actor (albeit on radio) to play the role of Flash Gordon. (take that Buster Crabbe!)

** He was the original choice to play the role of Fred Mertz but had to decline owing to his commitment on the "Our Miss Brooks" show.

** He is the only actor to have either guest-starred or was a series regular on every weekly series that Lucille Ball ever did starting in the 40s with her radio series "My Favorite Husband" and ending in the 80s with "Life With Lucy".

**He had a ranch in Borrego Springs, CA some 160 miles from L.A. and commuted to work.

** The output of his ranch made him one of the few commercial growers of Carob in the US.


Okay everybody, all together now:

"MISSEZ  CAAAAHHRMICHAEL!!!"

Mystery Guest Will You Enter And Sign In Please....

Yup it's that time again!

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS GAME PLEASE READ.  If you've seen this picture before, or know for sure who this is, feel free to send me an email, but for the sake of unbridled mystery and tension, let the gang have a go guessing in the comments section.

Who is this handsome chap?

Someone's In The Kitchen With......

Judy Holliday

Boris Karloff

Maureen O'Sullivan

Walt Disney

Richard Widmark

Judy Garland

Betty Garrett and Larry Parks

Sure They Could Talk, But Did They Have Faces?

Ever since the 'Talkie Revolution'  there has been many stories spun about the silent stars who couldn't make the transition:  the Europeans, John Gilbert, Harry Langdon etc.  But an interesting chat sprung up on day on the Columbia lot in 1942 that turned that topic on it's head.

Hedda Hopper paid a visit to the set of  "My Sister Eileen" and soon the producer and director of  "Commandos Strike At Dawn"  came over to do their time in the presence of Herself.  (above:  Commandos prod. and dir.  Lester Cowan and John Farrow are on far right and left flanking Eileen star and dir. Roz Russell and Al Hall.  Hopper is at center) 

John Farrow suggested that very few stars of '42 would be able to make it in the silents and offered his list of those that he thought could.  They were:  Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, Charlie McCarthy, Harpo Marx, Roz Russell, James Cagney, Rochester, Barbara Stanwyck, and Jimmy Gleason.

I'll discount the following:  Chaplin as he had reached the heights during that era, Charlie McCarthy was a wooden dummy and not an actor, and Harpo Marx as silence was his shtick.  But it's a curious question and one I'd like to have you weigh in on.  Soooo........

Who do you think, from the Golden Era (let's say 1930-1958), could have made a go in Silents?  And what of today's crop, anybody?

See You In The Funny Papers

Rock Hudson

Vivian Vance

Gary Cooper.