Arthur Askey: For decades, the British comedian was a vaudeville, radio, and television celebrity in his home country. Never an international name, Askey was also featured in a handful of…
Frank and Ava movie stars Rico Simonini as Frank Sinatra and Emily Elicia Low as Ava Gardner: The explosive real-life relationship between the two temperamental Hollywood stars is the focus…
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,…
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?”)…
Jimmy Edwards. Best known for his radio and television work – Take It from Here in the former medium; Whack-O! in the latter – British comedian Jimmy Edwards was seen,…
Antihero Ricardo Cortez in Symphony of Six Million, with Irene Dunne. Directed by Gregory La Cava, this 1932 family/romantic melodrama may have been one of Cortez’s favorite among his own…
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…
“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…
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.…
A history of sound in film: Hal Roach looks on as technicians install Vitaphone equipment in his studio screening room, ca. 1928. (Click on the image to enlarge it.) A…
Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Ingrid Bergman: The ‘Notorious’ British (Hitchcock, Grant) and Swedish (Bergman) talent. British actors and directors in Hollywood; Hollywood actors and directors in Britain: Anthony Slide’s…
Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond: Final Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder collaboration. Publication of Charles Brackett diaries quashes gay rumors and reveals screenwriter-producer’s troubled relationship with his…
John Travolta in the Scientology-inspired movie ‘Battlefield Earth.’ From John Travolta to Bob Dylan, from Ed Wood to Orson Welles: ‘The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time’ Phil Hall’s The…
Drew Denny. Drew Denny discusses The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had with My Pants On Filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter, actress, screenwriter Drew Denny’s first feature film, the partly autobiographical The…
D.W. Griffith Father of Film, controversial figure. To say that the movies wouldn’t be what they are today without D.W. Griffith is probably inaccurate. I mean, someone – or “someones”…