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.
Frank and Ava movie interview: Frank Sinatra portrayer Rico Simonini discusses indie drama about singer’s turbulent marriage with Ava Gardner.
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?”)…
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…
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…
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”…
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…
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…
Cam Gigandet, 5 Star Day Directed by Danny Buday (photo), and starring Twilight‘s Cam Gigandet and Sucker Punch‘s Jena Malone,the psychological drama 5 Star Day opened via Breaking Glass Pictures…
Joan Blondell biography: A Life Between Takes. Joan Blondell. Those who have heard the name will most likely picture either a blowsy, older woman playing the worldwise but warm-hearted saloon…
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…
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…
Jean Harlow in Hollywood. One of MGM’s brightest stars of the 1930s, Jean Harlow died of uremic poisoning in 1937. At the time, the 26-year-old actress had been playing opposite…
Jesse Eisenberg, Mike O’Connell, The Living Wake Directed by Sol Tryon, and co-written by Mike O’Connell and Peter Kline, The Living Wake is the sort of movie that defies both…
Wholesome silent era superstars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks drawn by Vargas (probably best known for his drawings of naked and semi-naked women in Playboy), Motion Picture Long before Robert Pattinson,…
Anthony Steffen biography cover (top); Anthony Steffen in The Last Tomahawk with Daniel Martin. Anthony Steffen may be a name best remembered by Spaghetti Western aficionados, but in his day, from the…
Easier with Practice with Brian Geraghty and Kel O’Neill. Easier with Practice, Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s feature-film debut based on an autobiographical article written by Davy Rothbart for GQ, has been…
Dawson Island 10: Filmmaker Miguel Littin tackles right-wing dictator Augusto Pinochet’s Gulag. Veteran Chilean filmmaker Miguel Littin’s Dawson, Island 10, Chile’s submission for this year’s best foreign language film Academy…
Like many other Hollywood filmmakers of the studio era, Frank Lloyd (1886-1960) is hardly remembered today despite his numerous box office successes – e.g., The Sea Hawk (1924), Mutiny on…
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,…
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.…
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…
International cinema and Hollywood Divas in Brazil. In As Divas no Brasil / Divas in Brazil, Brazilian author Evânio Alves narrates numerous little-known stories – some tragic, some humorous, some…
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…
Directed, produced, and edited by Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano, Neshoba: The Price of Freedom offers a unique peek into the mind of an unrepentant racist, Edgar Ray Killen. Killen,…
Mother with Kim Hye-ja. Bong Joon-ho’s Mother, a Spirit Award nominee and the winner of Korea’s 2009 Blue Dragon Award for Best Picture, has received widespread critical praise. At Salon.com, the…