IT'S JOHN O'HARA'S B-DAY

"Acting is the last thing you did after everything was ready, and you did that for two minutes at a time. Then they glued those two minuteses together until they had eighty minutes that made sense -- and then they put you in another picture. She could not understand how people got an impression of you from this collection of two-minute, one-minute, thirty-second snatches, but they did, and if they liked you that was all that mattered. Of all the girls she had known in Santa Ana she was the only one who could say, 'I'm going to get a new LaSalle,' at eleven o'clock at night and be sure that it would be delivered to her the next afternoon. She was certainly the only Santa Ana girl who had been kissed by Robert Taylor, and Garbo had smiled at her. Life was funny."
-- Natica Jackson by John O'Hara

THE ROAD ONCE TAKEN

HOLDEN CAULFIED'S MANHATTAN:
AN INTERACTIVE JOURNEY

THEY DON'T MAKE TROUBLED WOMEN LIKE HEY USED TO

The silky dark version of the Matt Dennis/Earl Brent classic torch in a surprising saloon turn by Bruce Springteen. (A tip of the hat to C. Schneider.)

KAYE PASSED IT ON TO MARY TYLER MOORE

When Kaye Ballard signed on in 1967 to share top billing with Eve Arden in NBC's "The Mothers-In-Law", she claims she got the best advice of her career from Vivian Vance: "Use your name as the character's name. Don't let them call you Helen or Barbara or Dot. I've spent most of my life being called Ethel Mertz wherever I go. Don't let this happen to you." The series went into ER at the end of the first season, but was given a second chance. At the end of the second season the body was pronounced dead. Produced by Desilu and with the same writers that created "I Love Lucy", it must have been a matter of bad timing.
We have mixed feelings to learn that MPI Home Video will release the complete series on DVD. Vivian Vance
Kaye Ballard

ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Allegedly, this is a picture of Rock Hudson on his way to have a lobotomy. Universal Studios had deemed it a necessary last recourse, in view of the actor's increasingly indiscreet hi-jinks with other men.
Lawyers for Hudson tried to intervene, even though there was a clause in his contract that allowed Universal to re-arrange the content of his brain without explanations (it had been said Universal also threatened to re-arrange the contents of Deanna Durbin's brain when she balked at renewing her contract.)
Rock Hudson was saved in the nick of time when his lawyers found another clause in his contract that would cancel re-arranging the content of his brain if he agreed to stop having hi-jinks with other men and married a woman.
Reportedly Hudson called his secretary, Phyllis Gates, and asked her to find a woman to marry in a hurry. Gates suggested herself and the two were wed in November 1955. The union lasted 3 years.
According to rumor, Phyllis Gates threatened to spill the beans to every newspaper and magazine if she was to receive only $250 a month in alimony. It's also rumored that Universal threatened to re-arrange the content of her brain if she so much as opened her mouth. Gates agreed when her lawyers arranged for the money to be paid for a 10-year period.
Rock Hudson died at 60 in 1985. Phyllis Gates died at 80 in 2006.

A TWO-SOME WAY TO START AND/OR END THE WEEKEND!

For the first time, these two Hollywood legends on one CD. These recordings were made in 1957, when both women were at the top of their game.
24 tracks include: After You’ve Gone • Another Year • Always • The Last Time I Saw Paris • You’ll Never Know • My Man • Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries • Summertime • Everybody’s Doin’ It Now • Where Or When • Let’s Fall In Love • Wayfaring Stranger • Ballin’ The Jack • Let’s Be Buddies • You’re Mine You.
If you click on this here link you can hear audio samples.

LOUISE BROOKS EXPOSED

Venus de Milo was noted for her charms,
But strictly between us,
You're cuter than Venus,
And what's more you got arms.
-- Love is Just Around the Corner, originally made famous by Bing Crosby. Written by Leo Robin and Lewis E. Gensler

THOSE CHAIRS ARE SO 2001!

PUT BACK THE MASK

Innocence and an over supply of testosterone were at play way back, when we thought the Creature from the Black Lagoon was pretty hot fish. No one had abs like that in those days. No one has abs like that today. Of course, we never shared this minor obsession with anyone, anyone who already thought a minor obsession with Aldo Ray was suspiciously queer. And now that we see the man behind the mask, well, we wished we had left the ball at the stroke of midnight with our illusions intact.

YOU HAD TO HAVE A GIMMICK

This site displays a rare collection of Burlesque and Strip-Tease photos for perusing and buying. For sale are also endearing objects like key-chains, ties, t-shirts and more, all emblazoned with the images of ecdysiast artists from a more innocent time: http://www.burlesquebabesshop.com

THE FIRST RECORD COVER

In 1939, Alex Steinwess, a 23 years old designer, convinced Columbia Records' suits to create the first true record cover. Until then, 78s were sold in generic brown sleeves.

DIE, DIE MY RHODA

Valerie Harper as Tallulah Bankead in LOOPED, coming to Broadway, like it or not, in February, 2010

NEW YORK BEFORE THE GLITZ

"When I was growing up in NYC there were still hints and whispers of my grandmother's world around me - in leftover elevated train stations and old automats, the back rooms of antique stores that used to proliferate on Columbus Avenue and the scratchy big band recording they played in the diners. So many dusty, evocative things that I wish I could find again. If only there were a secret doorway..."
-- Blog post from an unknown woman. Photo of 14th St/Union Square by Rebecca Lepkoff.

QUIZES WE LIKE

SHE MADE TOO MANY FACES

Daughter of a Hungarian Baron and a Countess, Lya De Putti was done in by a chicken bone. After a brief stint in Hungarian Vaudeville, she made several films at the German UFA Studios, most notably Variety in 1925. Following her success in Eastern Europe, she attempted a Hollywood career and failed. A bid for Broadway also fizzled. In despair, possibly eating more than was good for her, she swallowed a chicken bone which had to be removed by emergency surgery. Complications followed which De Putti, already weakened by pneumonia, did not survive. On November 27, 1931, Lya De Putti died in New York, all but forgotten by the public. She was 34.

ON THE ROAD, IN THE BACK SEAT OF A CAR, WE'LL TAKE JACK KEROUAK

SHE THOUGHT PINK

Romance novel icon Dame Barbara Cartland died in 2000 just short of her 99th birthday. She dressed almost always in pink and understood early on the power of being a recognizable writer. By 1995, the eternal coquette had sold more than a billion books with titles such as The Duke is Deceived, The Earl Elopes, A Heart of Stone and A Heart of Love. She wrote an astonishing 723 titles and left a staggering 160 unpublished manuscripts.
Because of her concern for the environment, she requested to be buried in a cardboard coffin. This request was honored and she was buried at her estate under a tree that had been planted by Queen Elizabeth.

D IS FOR DANIELLE DARRIEUX

In her 8th decade in show business, Madame D can currently be heard, if not seen, as the voice of the grandmother in PERSEPOLIS. We love that one of the truly great stars of international cinema is still giving it up for a tube of greasepaint and a follow spot. The iconic moment in film is there for anyone willing to be swept away by the ecstatic romance of THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE...