Author Anthony Slide discusses the frenzied and once hugely popular British comedian Arthur Askey, who has finally become the subject of a full-fledged biography.
Michael Llewelyn Davies dressed up as Peter Pan. J.M. Barrie’s favorite Llewelyn Davies boy, Michael was the most important source of inspiration for Peter Pan, “the boy who wouldn’t grow…
Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie. Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland ends on a sentimental note: Barrie (Johnny Depp) reminds the orphaned Peter (Freddie Highmore) that the power of imagination can be…
Author Allan R. Ellenberger discusses Miriam Hopkins in the interview further below – and in his Hopkins biography Life and Films of a Hollywood Rebel. From pre-Code antiheroine to matronly…
Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips. Ken Russell’s 1977 Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino is based on the dubious 1966 bio (“Was he a great lover – or a sham?”)…
Crime novel The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. While her husband is away during World War II, housewife Lucia Holley – the sort of “Everywoman” who looks great in…
How to be a Latin Lover: Ricardo Cortez, formerly known as Jacob Krantz from a working-class family of Austrian/Hungarian immigrants that had settled in New York City, succeeded in restyling…
Ricardo Cortez biography The Magnificent Heel: The Life and Films of Ricardo Cortez. Dan Van Neste’s book covers the life and career of Paramount’s “Latin Lover” threat to a recalcitrant…
One of cinema’s early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were Salvation Sue,…
Comedy actress Alice Howell on the cover of film historian Anthony Slide’s latest book: Pioneering funky-haired performer “could have been Chaplin” – or at the very least another Louise Fazenda.…
Andrew Sarris, auteur theory proponent in the U.S., died earlier today at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, apparently of complications caused by a stomach virus. Sarris, who was 83, was…
Myrna Loy biography: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood Myrna Loy: All-American wife and mother – and more Many believe that Myrna Loy is the best American actress never to…
Claudette Colbert Paramount star Those who remember Claudette Colbert, Turner Classic Movies’ “Summer Under the Stars” featured player today, will likely picture a woman raising her skirt so as to…
Ann Dvorak The name Ann Dvorak wouldn’t ring even a faint bell for most people around at the beginning of the 21st century. Most people, I said – but definitely…
F. Scott Fitzgerald Movies & Gina Lollobrigida + ‘Mare Nostrum’ & ‘Serious’ 1950s Hollywood Classics
Tender Is the Night with Jennifer Jones. Henry King’s 1962 movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1934 novel – screenplay by Ivan Moffat – starred Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer…
Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs, starring Conrad Veidt and Mary Philbin. Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Alida Valli, Pierre Brasseur, Angela Lansbury, Conrad Veidt, Sean Connery, John Wayne, Gene Wilder,…
J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye was never made into a movie. Upon learning of author J.D. Salinger’s death at the age of 91, I immediately thought of Phil…
“I’m looking forward to being ‘onstage’ Sunday at the Egyptian. I love talking about Irving, Norma, and Joan.” That’s author Mark A. Vieira, commenting on Allan Ellenberger’s post about his…
Fred MacMurray walks by Raymond Chandler (?) in Double Indemnity (top); Raymond Chandler lights his pipe (bottom) In a June 5 piece for The Guardian, Film London Chief Executive Adrian…
Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Directed by Sam Mendes – Winslet’s husband and the director of the 1999 Oscar-winning Suburbia Hell effort American Beauty – the dysfunctional…
“Everybody Comes to Rick’s” vs. Casablanca: A Warner Bros. release, the Michael Curtiz-directed 1942 movie classic stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman as war-crossed lovers; Murray Burnett’s and Joan Alison’s…
Julie Andrews: Biography signing. Julie Andrews autobiography: Book signing in Westwood Last night, I went to the Borders bookstore in Westwood to see if I could catch a glimpse of…
Kathleen Turner. Back in the male-centered 1980s, Bette Midler and Kathleen Turner were the only two Hollywood actresses with more than one or two major domestic box office hits. Turner…
Author Norman Mailer, as well known for his books as for his convoluted private life, died early today of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.…
Examples of extravagance in the world’s film capital: The Hollywood Book of Extravagance. The Hollywood Book of Extravagance. How do you write something with that sort of title without falling…
Magnificent Obsession book by Anthony Slide. Whereas Lloyd C. Douglas’ 1929 Magnificent Obsession book dealt with a playboy’s urge to restore the eyesight of the woman he had accidentally blinded,…
“Latin Lover” Ricardo Cortez, who went on to play a series of all-American scoundrels and criminals, in addition to similar unsavory types of other nationalities. Although never as big a…
Male impersonator Kitty Doner: Vaudeville Theatre History. Vaudeville theatre history: ‘The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville’ Vaudeville history in Anthony Slide’s The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Vaudeville is now extinct – at least…
Ann Dvorak and Rudy Vallee in Sweet Music. See previous post: Ann Dvorak: Hollywood Rebel. Ann Dvorak’s best-remembered film is probably the 1932 Scarface, starring Paul Muni, directed by Howard…
Director Karan Johar and star Shah Rukh Khan filming My Name Is Khan Following the success of Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan, which has grossed $31.9 million worldwide…
Movie couples: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex with Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn. In Leading Couples: The Most Unforgettable Screen Romances of the Studio Era (Chronicle Books,…
The Cervantes Center of Arts & Letters will celebrate the birth centennial of Mexican actor-singer superstar Tito Guízar (1908–1999) with a screening of the 1936 cowboy musical (“charro”) Alla en…
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