Showing posts with label MGM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MGM. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Xmas Cheesecake!
Fabulous singer, actor, writer and lovely friend, Monica Lewis,
does the ol starlet publicity grind with fellow MGM players
Tom and Jerry. She assures me that they were quite
lovely to work with.
If you haven't gotten your hands on a copy
of her marvelous bio/picture book yet,
"Hollywood Through My Eyes:
The Lives And Loves Of A Golden Age Siren",
treat yourself by going here right away!
Monday, June 20, 2011
America's - and my - Singing Sweetheart.
Listen, I figure you don't get a chance to say something like this all too often, and I'm not about to miss my chance, so here goes: Last Friday I met a gal who appeared on the very first Ed Sullivan show.
Yeah, I thought that might get your attention - it sure got mine.
On my tour company facebook page I feature a daily "Snapshot of Old Hollywood", and on the eve of Daylight Savings Time I used this one:
The caption informed me that the tiny figure precariously perched on the ladder atop the Eastern building in downtown L.A. was an MGM starlet named Monica Lewis. I wasn't familiar with the name and figured she had come to Hollywood somewhere in the late forties or early fifties done a few bit parts and then gone home to Oklahoma or Montana. Well let me tell you how wrong a fella can be!
On Friday Monica had a book signing of her new picture book/bio at a jewel of an independent book store, "Book Soup", on the Sunset Strip.
Now, I'm not going to go on at length here because there's an awful lot of 'Wow' factor in these pages that I don't want to spoil, and I really want you to get your hands on this book!
But to whet your appetite (in addition to the aforementioned appearance on the inaugural Sullivan show):
Her first love is music and when you read about her family; it couldn't have been any other way.
She and her first husband founded a jazz record label for which she recorded called Signature.
She has also produced records on Decca, MGM, Jubilee, Capitol and Verve.
She was the voice of Chiquita Banana for 14 years.
The Society of Illustrators named her "Miss Leg-O-Genic"
She was an indefatigable supporter and performer for troupes in both WWII and the Korean War.
MGM, in their infinite wisdom, and the shakeup of replacing Louis Mayer with Dore Schary, didn't know what to do with her and insisted on re-making her in the image of Lana Turner.
She had a long and beautiful second marriage to Universal Exec and Producer Jennings Lang, that permitted her to do small parts over the years in his pictures. Her appearances were seen as his good luck charm.
We got to speak for a couple of minutes before the signing and she confided that she found the event to be so much fun. She added that, at her age (she will soon be 90) she would take fun wherever she could find it! She told me that she doesn't walk so hot anymore and that her voice is gone. Later while waiting on line to have my book signed, the guy in front of me brought an old piece of sheet music with her on the cover and asked her if she would sign it. She took looked at it and smiled the smile of a thousand memories and sang the first line of it. What came out was a sound so rich and velvety that I broke out in chills. "No voice anymore?", I thought to myself, "yeah, sure!" She was beautiful, she was adorable, I was charmed.
I'm about half way through the book and what a swell book it is. Warm, funny, conversational, a bit saucy from time to time and not a dull moment. It's one to treasure, just like its' author.
Till you can read it pop over to her website, click on the 'songs' tab, and treat yourself to that voice. It was no mistake that she was called "America's Singing Sweetheart"
Yeah, I thought that might get your attention - it sure got mine.
On my tour company facebook page I feature a daily "Snapshot of Old Hollywood", and on the eve of Daylight Savings Time I used this one:
The caption informed me that the tiny figure precariously perched on the ladder atop the Eastern building in downtown L.A. was an MGM starlet named Monica Lewis. I wasn't familiar with the name and figured she had come to Hollywood somewhere in the late forties or early fifties done a few bit parts and then gone home to Oklahoma or Montana. Well let me tell you how wrong a fella can be!
On Friday Monica had a book signing of her new picture book/bio at a jewel of an independent book store, "Book Soup", on the Sunset Strip.
Now, I'm not going to go on at length here because there's an awful lot of 'Wow' factor in these pages that I don't want to spoil, and I really want you to get your hands on this book!
 |
| Did I mention she was stacked! |
But to whet your appetite (in addition to the aforementioned appearance on the inaugural Sullivan show):
Her first love is music and when you read about her family; it couldn't have been any other way.
She and her first husband founded a jazz record label for which she recorded called Signature.
She has also produced records on Decca, MGM, Jubilee, Capitol and Verve.
 |
| My very favorite picture of Monica. Dimples! |
She was the voice of Chiquita Banana for 14 years.
The Society of Illustrators named her "Miss Leg-O-Genic"
She was an indefatigable supporter and performer for troupes in both WWII and the Korean War.
MGM, in their infinite wisdom, and the shakeup of replacing Louis Mayer with Dore Schary, didn't know what to do with her and insisted on re-making her in the image of Lana Turner.
 | ||
| A blatant Lana-like Monica. |
 |
| After all those years, still hanging off of buildings! Monica and Charlton Heston from "Earthquake!" |
We got to speak for a couple of minutes before the signing and she confided that she found the event to be so much fun. She added that, at her age (she will soon be 90) she would take fun wherever she could find it! She told me that she doesn't walk so hot anymore and that her voice is gone. Later while waiting on line to have my book signed, the guy in front of me brought an old piece of sheet music with her on the cover and asked her if she would sign it. She took looked at it and smiled the smile of a thousand memories and sang the first line of it. What came out was a sound so rich and velvety that I broke out in chills. "No voice anymore?", I thought to myself, "yeah, sure!" She was beautiful, she was adorable, I was charmed.
I'm about half way through the book and what a swell book it is. Warm, funny, conversational, a bit saucy from time to time and not a dull moment. It's one to treasure, just like its' author.
Till you can read it pop over to her website, click on the 'songs' tab, and treat yourself to that voice. It was no mistake that she was called "America's Singing Sweetheart"
 |
| Beautiful Monica today. Photo by Alan Mercer. |
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Big Mistakes In Motion Picture History....
 |
| Norma Shearer and John Gilbert do The Bard Bit in "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" |
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
After All, You Were Warned....
You may recall two or three weeks back, I introduced you to my friend Shirley Claire. I finished that post by saying that you haven't heard the last of Shirley. Well I finally got around to enlisting the help of a friend (thanks T!) to start assembling some clips from our chat.
In this first one, Shirley talks about her time as an MGM stock contractee. She was in her early teens at the time, the US had just entered WWII. Historically speaking it gives us a fresh alternative to the usual "I was put under contract - and became a star" scenario. Shirley never got to make one movie! How many hundreds (thousands?) of hopefuls had this story? Of course, Shirley being Shirley, is not bitter and has nothing but fond memories of it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the magnificent Shirley Claire!
In this first one, Shirley talks about her time as an MGM stock contractee. She was in her early teens at the time, the US had just entered WWII. Historically speaking it gives us a fresh alternative to the usual "I was put under contract - and became a star" scenario. Shirley never got to make one movie! How many hundreds (thousands?) of hopefuls had this story? Of course, Shirley being Shirley, is not bitter and has nothing but fond memories of it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the magnificent Shirley Claire!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
My Latest 'Favorite Line From A Movie Of All Time'
The film is the 1954 MGM comedy "Susan Slept Here". Dick Powell as a jaded Hollywood screenwriter, Mark Christopher.
Alvy Moore is his subservient, yes-man assistant, Virgil.
My girl Glenda Farrell as Powell's wise cracking, soused secretary, Maude.
Obscenely gorgeous Anne Francis plays Powell's girlfriend and Senator's daughter, Isabella.
Into this well oiled machine of dysfunction, is thrown a wrench in the form of perky/spunky juvenile delinquent, Debbie Reynolds as Susan.
Madcap hilarity ensues.
I'm going to take the largely unpopular opinion and say I really like this picture. The story is ridiculously implausible, but the dialog is brilliant. The performances, across the board, are appropriately broad. The set of Mark's fab 50s Hollywood apartment (complete with wet bar) is absurdly groovy. To top it all off, there is a minimalist- modern dream sequence that is divine (and I'm a push over for a good dream sequence).
The problem most people seem to have with it is the vast age difference between the reluctant love interests. The Powell character is supposed to be 35 (the actor was 50) and Reynolds' character 17 1/2 (she was 22 at the time of filming). In an overwhelming number of reviews and opinions on the web that I've read, there is a compelling need to refer to this seventeen year spread as 'creepy'. Perhaps they are reacting to the fact that Susan is under the age of majority. By six months. If I'm going to be honest, I really don't see much difference between 17 1/2 years of age and that magic number: 18. As for the 17 year spread between them, that happens to have been the exact age difference between my parents. My folks start sleeping together when she was 21 and he was 38 and they married two years later. For all their problems (none of which had anything to do with their ages) they did just fine. And they stayed married till the end of their lives.
Oops, as you can see, my love of dream sequences takes a backseat to my tendency to digress. Never mind. The picture is in glorious widescreen Technicolor, and has a Holiday theme. Check it out.
I started all of this out with something about a line - well here it is.
Alvy Moore is his subservient, yes-man assistant, Virgil.
My girl Glenda Farrell as Powell's wise cracking, soused secretary, Maude.
Obscenely gorgeous Anne Francis plays Powell's girlfriend and Senator's daughter, Isabella.
Into this well oiled machine of dysfunction, is thrown a wrench in the form of perky/spunky juvenile delinquent, Debbie Reynolds as Susan.
Madcap hilarity ensues.
I'm going to take the largely unpopular opinion and say I really like this picture. The story is ridiculously implausible, but the dialog is brilliant. The performances, across the board, are appropriately broad. The set of Mark's fab 50s Hollywood apartment (complete with wet bar) is absurdly groovy. To top it all off, there is a minimalist- modern dream sequence that is divine (and I'm a push over for a good dream sequence).
The problem most people seem to have with it is the vast age difference between the reluctant love interests. The Powell character is supposed to be 35 (the actor was 50) and Reynolds' character 17 1/2 (she was 22 at the time of filming). In an overwhelming number of reviews and opinions on the web that I've read, there is a compelling need to refer to this seventeen year spread as 'creepy'. Perhaps they are reacting to the fact that Susan is under the age of majority. By six months. If I'm going to be honest, I really don't see much difference between 17 1/2 years of age and that magic number: 18. As for the 17 year spread between them, that happens to have been the exact age difference between my parents. My folks start sleeping together when she was 21 and he was 38 and they married two years later. For all their problems (none of which had anything to do with their ages) they did just fine. And they stayed married till the end of their lives.
Oops, as you can see, my love of dream sequences takes a backseat to my tendency to digress. Never mind. The picture is in glorious widescreen Technicolor, and has a Holiday theme. Check it out.
I started all of this out with something about a line - well here it is.
The Set Up
Virgil: What do you know about Motherhood?
The Payoff
Maude: I happened to have typed the script of Stella Dallas!
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