Ben-Hur Articles

Clara Bow, known as the "It" Girl, stars in the appropriately titled It Part III of Moguls & Movie Stars, A History of Hollywood, "The Dream Merchants," narrated by Christopher Plummer, continues today (a rerun of Monday’s presentation) on Turner Classic Movies. Accompanying features and shorts focus on 1920s comedies. Charles Chaplin’s The Pilgrim is on right now. Following "The Dream Merchants," TCM will show [...]

Jeanette MacDonald, Ramon Novarro, The Cat and the Fiddle Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro is a film star biography I wrote several years ago. The book tells the story of the first Latin American performer to become a major Hollywood star, Ramon Novarro. Born Ramón Samaniego to a prominent Mexican family, Novarro arrived in Hollywood in 1916, a refugee from the civil wars [...]

I first contacted author Allan Ellenberger shortly before the publication of his book on Old Hollywood star Ramon Novarro, as at the time I was working on my own Novarro bio. Instead of treating me like a pesky rival, Allan generously shared the information he’d amassed throughout about a decade of research — and for that I was very thankful. We’ve since become good friends [...]

Poster artist Paul Crifo poses in front of the In the Heat of the Night poster at the opening of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences‘ new exhibitions "Art of the Movie Poster: Illustrated One-sheets and Design Concepts from the Paul Crifo Archive" and "Irving Thalberg: Creating the Hollywood Studio System, 1920-1936," on Wednesday, September 16, 2009. Photos: Greg Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S. Click [...]