BORN ON THIS DAY: ETHEL WATERS

For this last day of October - and of course Halloween, I was hoping I would discover that Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi was born on Halloween but no such luck. However, a wonderful singer by the name of Ethel Waters was born on this day in 1896. Ethel Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, as a result of the rape of her teenaged mother, Louise Anderson (believed to have been thirteen years old at the time, although some sources indicate she may have been slightly older), by John Waters, a pianist and family acquaintance from a mixed-race middle-class background.Waters played no role in raising Ethel.

Ethel Waters was raised in poverty and never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her difficult childhood, "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family." Waters grew tall, standing 5'9½" in her teens. According to women-in-jazz historian and archivist Rosetta Reitz, Waters' birth in the North and her peripatetic life exposed her to many cultures. Waters married at the age of 13, but soon left her abusive husband and became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel working for $4.75 per week. On her 17th birthday, she attended a costume party at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs, and impressed the audience so much that she was offered professional work at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore, MD.

She later recalled that she earned the rich sum of ten dollars a week, but her managers cheated her out of the tips her admirers threw on the stage. After her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black vaudeville circuit. As she described it later, "I used to work from nine until unconscious." Despite her early success, she fell on hard times and joined a carnival, traveling in freight cars along the carnival circuit and eventually reaching Chicago. Waters enjoyed her time with the carnival and recalled, "the roustabouts and the concessionaires were the kind of people I'd grown up with, rough, tough, full of larceny towards strangers, but sentimental and loyal to their friends and co-workers."

She did not last long with them, though, and soon headed south to Atlanta, where she worked in the same club with Bessie Smith. Smith demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. Waters conceded and sang ballads and popular songs. Around 1919, Waters moved to Harlem and there became a celebrity performer in the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s. Recording contracts and countless concerts followed. In 1921, Waters became the fifth black woman to make a record, on the tiny Cardinal Records label. Fame and stardom followed Ethel Waters now, and as we always say the rest is music history...

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: MORE FINAL PICTURES OF THE STARS

Back in March of 2012, I featured the final pictures of famous stars. I was afraid that the post would be ghouslish and inappropriate, but I received positive feedback and over 300 people looked at the photos, so here are more final pictures of the stars. Some of the pictures are sad - and they just show you that no matter how much money or power you have, you can not stop the passage of time...

You can see the original photo post: HERE.

SOUPY SALES FROM 2008 - DIED 2009



JONATHAN WINTERS FROM APRIL 7, 2013 - HE DIED APRIL 11, 2013

LUCILLE BALL FROM MARCH 1989 - SHE DIED APRIL 1989



MARLENE DIETRICH - FOUR MONTHS BEFORE DEATH IN 1992



LARRY FINE AND MOE HOWARD FROM 1974 - BOTH WOULD DIE IN 1975

DEAN MARTIN ON SINATRA'S 80TH BIRTHDAY - DECEMBER 12, 1995. DINO WOULD DIE ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1995

RECENTLY VIEWED: ROSEMARY'S BABY

My friend, who is also a movie buff, lent me Rosemary's Baby (1968), and told me I had to see it. It's one of those classic movies I have never seen before. Since the movie is 45 years old now (yikes), I figured I better watch it. Around Halloween is the best time possible to see this odd and freaky horror movie. Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. The cast includes Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Sidney Blackmer and Charles Grodin (in his first film appearance). It was produced by William Castle.

Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), a bright but somewhat naive young housewife, and Guy (John Cassavetes), her husband and a struggling actor, move into the Bramford, an antiquated New York City apartment building. Their neighbors, Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer), are an elderly and slightly eccentric couple who tend to be meddlesome but appear to be harmless.

Rosemary meets a young woman, Terry Gionoffrio ( Angela Dorian), who has been taken in and helped by the Castevets after living on the street. As Rosemary admires a pendant necklace the Castevets gave to Terry, she notices its strange smell. Returning home one night, Guy and Rosemary find that Terry has thrown herself to her death from the window of the Castevets' seventh-floor apartment.

Minnie invites the Woodhouses to dinner and they reluctantly accept. Guy forms a bond with the Castevets. Minnie gives Terry's pendant to Rosemary, telling her it is a good luck charm and the odd smell is from a plant called "tannis root". Later, Guy lands a role in a play when the actor who was originally cast suddenly and inexplicably goes blind. Guy suggests that he and Rosemary have the child they had planned.
On the night they plan to conceive, Minnie brings them individual cups of chocolate mousse. Rosemary finds hers has a chalky undertaste and surreptitiously throws it away after a few mouthfuls. Rosemary passes out and experiences what she perceives to be a strange dream in which she is raped by a demonic presence in front of Guy, the Castevets, and other Bramford tenants. When she wakes, she finds scratches on her body. Guy tells her that he had sex with her while she was unconscious because he did not want to pass up the moment for her to conceive.

Rosemary learns that she is pregnant and is due on June 28, 1966. She plans to receive obstetric care from Dr. Hill (Charles Grodin), who is recommended to her by her friend Elise (Emmaline Henry). However, the Castevets insist she see their good friend, Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy), who says that Minnie will make Rosemary a daily drink which is more healthy than the usual vitamin pills.

 

For the first three months of her pregnancy, Rosemary suffers severe abdominal pains, loses weight, becomes unusually pale, and craves raw meat and chicken liver. Dr. Sapirstein insists the pain will subside soon, and assures her she has nothing to worry about. When her old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans) sees Rosemary's gaunt appearance and hears that she is being fed the mysterious tannis root, he is disturbed enough to do some research. Before he can tell Rosemary his findings, he mysteriously falls into a coma. When Rosemary can't bear her abdominal pains another minute, they suddenly disappear.

Three months later, Hutch dies. He leaves Rosemary a book about witchcraft and it is delivered to her at his funeral along with the cryptic message: "The name is an anagram". Rosemary deduces that Roman Castevet is really Steven Marcato, the son of a former resident of the Bramford who was accused of being a Satanist. Rosemary suspects her neighbors and Dr. Sapirstein are part of a cult with sinister designs for her baby, and that Guy is cooperating with them in exchange for help in advancing his career.

Rosemary becomes increasingly disturbed and shares her fears and suspicions with Dr. Hill, who, assuming she is delusional, calls Dr. Sapirstein and Guy. They tell her that if she co-operates, neither she nor the baby will be harmed. The two men bring Rosemary home, where she briefly escapes them. Despite Rosemary locking them out, they enter the bedroom. Rosemary goes into labor and is sedated by Dr. Sapirstein. When she wakes, she is told the baby died.

In the hall closet, Rosemary discovers a secret door leading into the Castevet apartment and hears a baby's cries revealing that her child is alive, she then finds a congregation gathered around her newborn son. After seeing the disturbing appearance of her baby's eyes, Rosemary is told that Guy is not the baby's father and that the baby, named Adrian, is actually the spawn of Satan. This horrifies Rosemary, who spits in Guy's face. Roman urges Rosemary to become a mother to her son and assures her that she does not have to join the cult if she doesn't want to. She adjusts her son's blankets and gently rocks his cradle with a small smile on her face.

I have never got Roman Polanski's movies. They were always so bizarre to me, and this file is no different. A few things I noticed about the movie is how beautiful Mia Farrow was in 1968. No wonder Frank Sinatra snagged her up. She was a pretty good actress in this film too. I loved all of the old stars that were in the film like Ralph Bellamy and in a small role comedian Patsy Kelly. I never thought I would see a movie with Patsy Kelly as a Satanist.

Polanski envisioned Rosemary as a robust, full-figured, girl-next-door type, and he wanted Tuesday Weld or his own wife Sharon Tate for the role. Since the book had not reached bestseller status yet, Evans was unsure the title alone would guarantee an audience for the film, and he felt a bigger name was needed for the lead. Mia Farrow came to light because of her high profile relationship with Sinatra. Despite her waif-like appearance (which would ultimately prove beneficial, as Rosemary became more frail as her pregnancy progressed), Polanski agreed to cast her. Her acceptance incensed Sinatra, who had demanded she forgo her career when they wed, and he served her divorce papers via a corporate lawyer in front of the cast and crew midway through filming. In an effort to salvage her relationship, Farrow asked Evans to release her from her contract, but he persuaded her to remain with the project after showing her an hour-long rough cut.

The acting was top notch in the movie, but I just do not care for the ending. I am glad I finally got to view this movie, and it is spooky for 1968. It is a shocking film to talk about sex, abortion, and nudity so openly back then, but at times the movie does seem dated, maybe even as more so than some movies 25 years older that Rosemary's Baby. Again, the acting is the best part of this 1968 horror film...

MY RATING: 6 OUT OF 10

THE LAST DAYS OF FATTY ARBUCKLE

No one seems to remember the comedic genius of Fatty Arbuckle. The poor man was completely framed for the murder of Vriginia Rappe. After three trials Arbuckle was finally acquitted on April 12, 1922 but not until his reputation was destroyed and his movies were banned. In November 1923, Arbuckle's estranged wife Minta Durfee filed for divorce, charging grounds of desertion. In January 1924, the divorce was granted. They had been separated since 1921, though Durfee always claimed he was the nicest man in the world, and that they were still friends. After a brief reconciliation, Durfee again filed for divorce, this time from Paris, in December 1924. Arbuckle married Doris Deane on May 16, 1925.

Arbuckle tried returning to filmmaking, but industry resistance to distributing his pictures continued to linger after his acquittal. He retreated into alcoholism. In the words of his first wife, "Roscoe only seemed to find solace and comfort in a bottle".

Buster Keaton attempted to help Arbuckle by giving him work on his films. Arbuckle wrote the story for a Keaton short called Daydreams (1922). Arbuckle allegedly co-directed scenes in Keaton's Sherlock Jr. (1924), but it is unclear how much of this footage remained in the film's final cut. In 1925, Carter Dehaven made the short Character Studies. Arbuckle appeared alongside Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, and Jackie Coogan.

Eventually, Arbuckle was given work as a film director under the alias William Goodrich. According to author David Yallop in The Day the Laughter Stopped (a biography of Arbuckle with special attention to the scandal and its aftermath), Arbuckle's father's full name was William Goodrich Arbuckle. A persistent but unsupported legend credited Keaton, an inveterate punster, with suggesting that Arbuckle become a director under the alias "Will B. Good". The pun being too obvious, Arbuckle adopted the more formal pseudonym "William Goodrich".

During the middle and late 1920s and early 1930s, Arbuckle directed a number of comedy shorts under the pseudonym for Educational Pictures, which featured lesser-known comics of the day. Louise Brooks, who played the ingenue in Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931), told Kevin Brownlow:

"He made no attempt to direct this picture. He sat in his chair like a man dead. He had been very nice and sweetly dead ever since the scandal that ruined his career. But it was such an amazing thing for me to come in to make this broken-down picture, and to find my director was the great Roscoe Arbuckle. Oh, I thought he was magnificent in films. He was a wonderful dancer—a wonderful ballroom dancer, in his heyday. It was like floating in the arms of a huge doughnut—really delightful."

In 1929, Doris Deane sued for divorce in Los Angeles, charging desertion and cruelty.[33] On June 21, 1931 Roscoe married Addie Oakley Dukes McPhail (later Addie Oakley Sheldon, 1905–2003) in Erie, Pennsylvania.

In 1932 Arbuckle signed a contract with Warner Bros. to star under his own name in a series of two-reel comedies, to be filmed at the Vitaphone studios in Brooklyn. These six shorts constitute the only recordings of his voice. Silent-film comedian Al St. John (Arbuckle's nephew) and actors Lionel Stander and Shemp Howard appeared with Arbuckle. The films were very successful in America, although when Warner Bros. attempted to release the first one (Hey, Pop!) in the United Kingdom, the British Board of Film Censors cited the 10-year-old scandal and refused to grant an exhibition certificate.

Roscoe Arbuckle had finished filming the last of the two-reelers on June 28, 1933. The next day he was signed by Warner Bros. to make a feature-length film. He reportedly said, "This is the best day of my life." He suffered a heart attack later that night and died in his sleep. He was 46. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean. The unhappy and tortured clown could finally rest at last...

WALTER BRENNAN - SINGING STAR

Here is another excellent story that was posted on the Geezer Music Club. You can read this story and more excellent stories here.

The most improbable recording star of the 1960s had to have been Walter Brennan. By then he was in his sixties and had already enjoyed a long acting career that included winning three Oscars and later starring on TV, but he turned out to be surprisingly popular with record buyers too. Of course, he didn’t exactly sing on those records, but he was still entertaining in his own way.


As Western (or sometime Southern) as he seemed to be in most of his roles, Walter Andrew Brennan was as Boston-Irish as they come, born and raised on the North Shore to immigrants from the old country. Even while growing up he was interested in performing, sometimes showing up on the vaudeville stage while still a teenager, but as an adult he followed his World War I service by becoming a rolling stone for a while. Eventually settling in the Los Angeles area in the 1920s, he made and lost a fortune in real estate before turning to acting.

It turned out to be a smart move, although it did take him a few years to get his footing. Beginning in silent films and continuing on into the talkies, he was mostly uncredited as he filled dozens of roles, but he could play anything from a sophisticate to a country bumpkin. By the mid-1930s he began breaking out and getting bigger parts, and by the end of the decade he’d won three Oscars, establishing himself as one of the finest character actors around.

But his acting career, including his starring role on TV’s Real McCoys (which he also produced) and countless other parts on TV and in movies, is pretty well known, and we’re here to talk about music. Brennan always had his eye open for opportunities, and in an era that loved story-songs he was a natural. His 1960 recording of “Dutchman’s Gold” (with Billy Vaughn’s orchestra) made a strong showing on the charts, and a little later “Old Rivers” did even better, nearly reaching the top. He would continue to record other songs and sell a lot of records in his later years, and when he died at age 80 in 1974 his legacy as a multiple media star was complete...

STAR FRIENDS: MARLON BRANDO AND WALLY COX

Cox's family moved frequently, eventually to Chicago, Illinois, then New York City, then back to Detroit, where he graduated from Denby High School.

During World War II Cox and his family returned to New York City, where he attended City College of New York. He next spent four months in the Army, and on his discharge attended New York University. He supported his invalid mother and sister by making and selling jewelry in a small shop and at parties, where he started doing comedy monologues. These would lead to regular performances at nightclubs, such as the Village Vanguard, beginning in December 1948.

He became the roommate of Marlon Brando, who encouraged him to study acting with Stella Adler. Cox and Brando remained close friends for the rest of Cox's life, and Brando appeared unannounced at Cox's wake. Brando is also reported to have kept Cox's ashes in his bedroom and conversed with them nightly.

On February 15, 1973, Cox died suddenly of a heart attack in his Hollywood, California home. He was only 48. He had been married three times and had two children.

Brando initially promised a respectful immediate scattering of the ashes at sea. But Brando had other plans. So devoted to Cox and his friendship, Brando covertly KEPT his buddy's ashes for the remained of Brando's natural days. It was only until after Brando's death, Cox's widow discovered she was lied to regarding the disposal of her beloved husband's ashes. What she learned, that Brando's true plans were to MIX his ashes with those of Cox, and scatter together in the hills of Death Valley, California. After all Cox & Brando were childhood friends from NY, since childhood.

Much has also been made of his countless liaisons, reputed to be both heterosexual and homosexual, and failed relationships. Some friends and family of both men insist Brando's relationship with Cox was platonic. Regardless, their bond offers a different perspective on one of the world's most famous, yet little known, men.

Marlon Brando died on July 1, 2004 at the age of 80 after suffering from numerous illnesses.

There are many reports about what happened to their ashes. The ashes were reportedly in the possession of a woman named Donna Lopez Geon -- who was in a relationship with Marlon's son Christian Brando ... until Christian passed away in 2008. Lately it has been reported that the partial ashes of Brando, Cox and another longtime friend, Sam Gilman were scatered together in Tahiti and Death Valley. Bizarre things happen when the stars are friends...

HEALTHWATCH: ELAINE STRITCH

There is just something about Elaine Stritch that I always liked. Here is an article on her current status from the NY Times...
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — Even at 88, and in what might be called spectacularly frail health, Elaine Stritch can still make a theatrical entrance.   

              

Dinner is ready, in the condominium just next door to the one Ms. Stritch herself moved into last spring in this pristine Detroit suburb, near where she grew up and where much of her family resides.

      

The crab cakes have been baked, the corn on the cob boiled, the spinach steamed, the cocktails stirred. Still, no sign of Ms. Stritch.

The minutes tick by, with a small frisson of anxiety building. The dinner’s hosts, Kim and Henry Hagood, who have become Ms. Stritch’s friends since she moved next door, can’t seem to get a response, either to a phone call or a knock on the door. We all know she’s not been well lately.

      

Then, with little fanfare, there she is, a beaming smile on her face, a barking command to her caretaker on her lips. She is dressed with her usual, ahem, minimalism, in black tights, a Detroit Athletic Club T-shirt and not much else. Except for one new and unhappy accessory: a wheelchair.

      

Ms. Stritch would doubtless prefer a modest string of pearls, but the last several months have not been kind. Before making her dramatic entrance from New York — to theater lovers for whom Ms. Stritch is an ornery goddess, it was as if the Chrysler Building itself had picked up its skirts and skipped off to Detroit, of all preposterous places — Ms. Stritch took a bad fall one morning while leaving her longtime habitat, the Carlyle Hotel. Eye surgeries followed.

      

Not long after that, Ms. Stritch took a second tumble, breaking a hip. Recovery was under way, and Ms. Stritch was settling down in Birmingham when she leaned over to brush her teeth one night at the bathroom sink, somehow lost her balance, and hit the deck again, fracturing her pelvis. So for at least another month or six weeks, she won’t be up and about, although for someone used to striding about with a commanding gait in those tights and heels, she seems to be taking her tumble into infirmity with some measure of acceptance.

      

When asked what she’s been doing to keep herself occupied, the answer comes quickly: sleeping, often until 3 or 4 in the afternoon — late, even by the standards of showbiz folk. But she seems to relish this: “I’ve been preparing for this nap for a long time,” she says.

      

Black humor has always come naturally to Ms. Stritch, whose long career, on the New York and London stage, and, more recently, on the television series “30 Rock,” has made her a well-armored survivor. Asked how she has been adjusting to her new life away from the spotlight, Ms. Stritch says, “I don’t really know, I’ve been too busy falling down.

      

“It’s like a comedy,” she adds, “only a not so funny one.”

      

Shortly after arriving in Birmingham, Ms. Stritch gave an interview to the Vanity Fair Web site, in which she seemed grousy and regretful. Grousing has always come naturally to this scaldingly frank woman, but she’s never made much of a song and dance about woulda, coulda, shoulda.

      

“I’m thinking maybe I left a little early,” grumbled the woman once notorious for being the last to abandon any party. The gods apparently can’t take a joke, because for now, at least, even strolling next door is out of the picture for Ms. Stritch. And yet, perhaps because she’s been forced to settle down, her attitude toward her sudden bolt from the spotlight seems to be mellowing.

      

“One thing I’m proud of myself for doing is combating those feelings,” she says, when those professed second thoughts are mentioned. “I don’t want to be a sad sack who made a mistake. I gotta have a home, a base, a place where all my shoes are. I’m settled. When I first moved in here, I had good friends around me, but I kept thinking, ‘I can’t imagine being here alone.’ But then I was alone, and everything was fine. Now I’d kill to be alone,” she adds, referring to the full-time caretaking she now requires.

“I’ve come up against tougher things than this,” she adds. “I want to win at this decision.”

      

If that still doesn’t sound like a ringing affirmation of her happiness, so be it. Putting up a veneer of good cheer has never been Ms. Stritch’s stock in trade. Putting it all out there is much more her style, and in conversations over dinner and in her kitchen the following day, Ms. Stritch remains the same blunt, acerbic, unedited personality she always has been, even if the pain killers she takes sometimes find her beginning a story, only to lose its thread (“I guess I just won’t be giving you that jewel,” she says grimly), or asserting an opinion only to proffer another view a few minutes later...

SOURCE

RECENTLY VIEWED: WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE

In my single days I used to go out pratically every Saturday night. Now that I am married with children, I am very happy to stay in on the weekend. However, some times I just can't sleep. On a recent Saturday I was flipping through the channels and came across a movie I had never heard of. I started watching the film and just could not stop until the end of the movie. That was movie was the cheaply made horror/thriller What Ever Happened To Aunt Alice.

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a 1969 American psychological-thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin with Bernard Girard (uncredited), and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller and Mildred Dunnock. The screenplay by Theodore Apstein, based on the novel The Forbidden Garden by Ursula Curtiss focuses on an aging Arizona widow who hires elderly female housekeepers and cons them out of their money before murdering them.

The opening scene of the film sets the tone. Claire Marrable (Page) is recently widowed and at the funeral, she frantically removes flowers from her husband's coffin, while eerie music plays in the background. A few days later, her husband's will is revealed by the junior partner of a law firm (The Bob Newhart Show's Peter Bonerz, in one of his first roles): her husband made bad investments and left nothing to her except a briefcase, a butterfly collection and a stamp collection. The home itself, and the furnishings in it, do not belong to Claire Marrable. Marrable goes ballistic, smashing the butterfly collection to smithereens and then tearfully frets about what lies in her future. At the lawyer's prodding, she remembers that she has a distant nephew in Arizona.

Forward a few months: Marrable is comfortably ensconced in a ranch home outside Tucson, Arizona. We had seen her murder what we later understand to be one of her housekeepers/companion. She has a penchant for successfully growing pine trees, even out in the hot desert. She lives with a housekeeper, Miss Tinsley (Dunnock). One evening, Miss Tinsley asks Marrable for an update on the stocks she has purchased through Marrable; this upsets Marrable, who threatens immediately to sell the stocks, even at a loss, to rid herself, and the housekeeper, of the anxiety. Upon arrival of a new pine tree from a nursery, Marrable demands that Miss Tinsley go out in the cool night to help her plant the tree. When the two women arrive at the recently dug hole for the tree, Marrable claims her watch has fallen in the hole and asks Miss Tinsley to jump in the hole to retrieve it. When the housekeeper searches for the watch, Marrable grabs a shovel and whacks the housekeeper over the head, then buries her in the hole, using the pine tree as a testament to her latest conquest. We then see five pine trees, in varying size in a long shot of the garden, each in different stages of growth, suggesting this process has been repeated.

Ruth Gordon as Alice Dimmock appears and wins the position of sixth companion, serving Mrs. Marrable well and to her employer's liking, but, in fact, Dimmock is investigating the disappearance of the last victim whom we learn had been Dimmock's own companion. After much intrigue and suspense, another murder is committed, atypical of the previous, plus two more attempted murders, until finally Mrs. Marrable's guilt is exposed, and the enormous value of the stamp collection left to her by her dead husband is inadvertently revealed.

After making over $2 million dollars in ticket sales, the movie went out to suffer a loss. What I can not believe is it cost that much to make the film. The film is the third in a trilogy of Robert Aldrich-produced films (following What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) to feature two female leads. He directed the first two. Of the three films, this is the worst acted and the worst filmed. However, Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon are actually excellent in the roles. All of the other actors around them seem wooden and stiff - almost going through the motions. There is also a fight scene with Page and Gordon, that is looks like they use mal stunt doubles with wigs on that is one of the worst filmed cat fights I have ever seen.

Despite this though, this cheapy looking 1969 film held my attention and was just plain old fun to watch. Although no Citizen Kane, What Ever Happened To Aunt Alice was an enjoyable romp. It was much more fullfilling and cheaper to spend my Saturday watching this flick than spending my money for a night on the town like I used to...

MY RATING: 6 OUT OF 10

OCTOBER 14, 1977

Remembering Harry Lillis Crosby (aka Bing Crosby), thirty six years after his death...

His voice spanned generations, and it was what made America great. There will never be another Bing...

MARILYN MONROE AND PLASTIC SURGERY

One of the most iconic actresses Hollywood has ever seen apparently had a little help in becoming a legendary beauty. A set of six X-rays and doctor's notes that indicate Marilyn Monroe underwent plastic surgery, including a chin implant, are to be sold next month. Hollywood surgeon Michael Gurdin wrote the notes, in which he observed that a chin implant Monroe had in 1950 had begun to dissolve. He later gave the items to an unnamed seller, who is putting them up for auction on Nov. 9 and 10, Reuters was the first to report.

The notes date back to the 1950s, in particular 1958, when Monroe began to complain about her chin and a possible deformity. See: Rare Photos of Marilyn Monroe Up for Auction The X-rays came years later, when Monroe saw Gurdin in 1962 after she suffered a fall. That visit happened two months before she died, on Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36. The X-rays, of Monroe's face, nose and the roof of her mouth, and notes are expected to get between $15,000 and $30,000, according to Julien's Auction in Beverly Hills, which will be selling the items.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's, told ABC News that the numbers are just an estimate. Similar merchandise about Monroe sold for $45,000 a few years back. Nolan said his auction house deals with celebrity memorabilia all the time and it always does its due diligence to authenticate the merchandise. "Everything added up," he told ABC News. "The timeline, the dates, the names, the addresses. I can tell you the seller also had a close relationship to the doctor." Gurdin died in 1993. In fact, Nolan said the seller just had these items in storage and finally went through them recently. "They are a part of pop culture history," he said. "Worldwide, people have a love affair with Marilyn."

SOURCE

THE PERSONAL SIDE OF JIMMY DURANTE

I want to admit something right now...I love Jimmy Durante. He was one of the nicest people in Hollywood. He wasn't the funniest comedian. He wasn't the best actor. He did not have the best voice. However, his sunny personality and great outlook on life came out in everything he did, and he delighted audiences for well over fifty years.

Jimmy Durante's successful radio show was bracketed with two trademarks: "Inka Dinka Doo" as his opening theme, and the invariable sign off that became another familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive. One theory was that it referred to the owner of a restaurant in Calabash, North Carolina, where Durante and his troupe had stopped to eat. He was so taken by the food, the service, and the chitchat he told the owner that he would make her famous. Since he did not know her name, he referred to her as "Mrs. Calabash." Another idea was that it was a personal salute to his deceased first wife, Jeanne (Olsen) Durante, who died in 1943. "Calabash" might be a mangle of Calabasas, the California city where they made their home during the last years of her life.

At a National Press Club meeting in 1966 (broadcast on NBC's Monitor program), Durante finally revealed that it was indeed a tribute to his wife. While driving across the country, they stopped in a small town called Calabash, whose name she had loved. "Mrs. Calabash" became his pet name for her, and he signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year.

Durante's first wife was the former Jean (Jeanne) Olson, whom he married on June 19, 1921. She was born in Ohio on August 31, 1896. She died on Valentine's Day in 1943, after a lingering heart ailment of about two years. She was 46 years old when she died, although different newspaper accounts of her death suggest she was 45 or perhaps 52. Her death was not immediately expected, as Jimmy was touring in New York at the time and returned to Los Angeles right away to complete funeral arrangements.

Durante married his second wife, Margaret "Margie" Little, at St. Malachy's Catholic Church in New York City on December 14, 1960. As a teenager, with her gorgeous red hair and undeniable charm, Margie had been crowned Queen of the New Jersey State Fair. She attended New York University before being hired by the legendary Copacabana, in New York City. They met 16 years before their marriage when he was performing there and where she worked as a hatcheck girl. She was 41, he 67, when they married. With help from their attorney Mary G. Rogan, the couple was able to adopt a baby, Cecilia Alicia (nicknamed CeCe and now known as CeCe Durante-Bloum) on Christmas Day, 1961. CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and horseback-riding instructor near San Diego, married a computer designer (Stephen), and has two sons and a daughter (Connor, Ryan and Maddie). Margaret died on June 7, 2009, at age 90.

Regarding his personal side, Durante also was very charitable. For the most part none of his selfless acts for those less fortunate made the presses. On August 15, 1958, for his charitable acts, Durante was awarded a huge three-foot-high brass loving cup by the Al Bahr Shriners Temple. The inscription read: "JIMMY DURANTE THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS COMEDIAN. A loving cup to you Jimmy, it's larger than your nose, but smaller than your heart. Happiness always, Al Bahr Temple, August 15, 1958."

Jimmy's love for children continued through the Fraternal Order of Eagles children, who among many causes raise money for handicapped and abused. At Jimmy's first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Jimmy replied, "Do not even mention money judge or I'll have to mention a figure that'll make ya sorry ya brought it up" "What can we do then?" asked Hansen. "Help da kids," was Durante's reply. Jimmy performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, even refusing travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles changed the name of their children's fund to the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund in his honor, and in his memory have raised over 20 million dollars to help children. A reporter once remarked of Durante after an interview: "You could warm your hands on this one." One of the projects built using money from the Durante Fund was a heated therapy swimming pool at the Hughen School in Port Arthur, Texas. Completed in 1968, Durante named the pool the "Inka Dinka Doo Pool."

Jimmy Durante was so much more than "Inka Dinka Doo", and he was one of the most beloved men in show business. Unfortunately, he was plagued with ill health for the last nine years of his life, and he died largely forgotten in 1980. However, he has left a lasting legacy. For that I say goodnight Mr. Durante - wherever you are...

RECENTLY VIEWED: WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

In this day of special effects and computer animation in films, there is just something special about 1971's Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. I grew up on the movie, and it is hard to believe the film is over forty years old. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum, in his only film appearance) as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.

Filming took place in Munich in 1970, and the film was released on June 30, 1971. It received positive reviews, but it was a box office disappointment. However, it developed into a cult film due to its repeated television airings and home video sales. In 1972, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.

The idea for adapting the book into a film came about when director Mel Stuart's 10-year-old daughter read the book and asked her father to make a film out of it, with "Uncle Dave" (producer David L. Wolper) producing it. Stuart showed the book to Wolper, who happened to be in the midst of talks with the Quaker Oats Company regarding a vehicle to introduce a new candy bar from their Chicago-based Breaker Confections subsidiary (since renamed the Willy Wonka Candy Company and sold to Nestlé). Wolper persuaded the company, who had no previous experience in the film industry, to buy the rights to the book and finance the picture for the purpose of promoting a new Quaker Oats Wonka Bar.

It was agreed that the film would be a children's musical, and that Dahl himself would write the screenplay. However, the title was changed to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in order to promote the aforementioned candy tie-in. Screenwriter David Seltzer conceived a gimmick exclusively for the film that had Wonka quoting numerous literary sources, such as Arthur O'Shaughnessy's Ode, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Seltzer also worked Slugworth (only mentioned as a rival candy maker in the book) into the plot as an actual character.

Dahl, who had rights to the film production, unsuccessfully pushed for Spike Milligan to play Willy Wonka. His next choice, Ron Moody, rejected the part. Jon Pertwee also turned down the role due to ongoing commitments to Doctor Who. Also initially considered was Broadway star Joel Grey, who ultimately was rejected due to his small physical stature. Auditions were held for a week in New York City's Plaza Hotel, where Gene Wilder was immediately awarded the role. Wilder said that he would do the film only if Wonka first appeared onscreen coming out of the factory hobbling with a cane, only to then lose it and do a somersault. Further auditions were held in New York, London and Munich to fill the parts of the other children and their parents.

A lot of critics says the movie placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie. However, I think what continues to endear generations to this film is Gene Wilder. Wilder portrayed Wonka in such a fashion that you never knew if he was serious or joking or deranged or crazy. One of my favorite songs in this so-called "musical" was the song "Imagination", which was surprisingly sung well by Gene Wilder. The most famous song was "The Candy Man". The song was recorded commercially by Sammy Davis Jr, and it would go on to be his only number one hit. The movie is great for children of all ages, and even though there are some scary elements, it is a great movie to sit down with the family with. Everyone should be able to spend a day in Willy Wonka's factorty at least once...

MY RATING: 10 OUT OF 10

MY FIVE FAVORITE FEMALE SINGERS

I figured since I did a list of my favorite male singers, I should do one on my five favorite songbirds. Surprisingly it was harder to do this list than the male counterpart list. My top three favorite female singers have stayed the same through the years, but the other two spots are up for grabs. It varies depending on my mood, so don't get too upset with this list. It is changes weekly...

5. ALICE FAYE (1915-1998)
I know people will find it shocking that I rank Alice Faye higher than such polished singers as Doris Day and Margaret Whiting or than some jazz songbirds like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, but I feel that Alice could sing anything. She did not have much or a recording output, and it was a crime because she had a wonderful voice. Faye recorded a little in the 1930s and then her studio boss Daryl Zanuck at 20th Century Fox would not let her make an more commercial recordings. She sang some nice number on her radio show with husband Phil Harris in the early 1950s and then she made one album for Reprise Records in the 1960s. Again it is a crime against musical lovers that she did not record more.

4. KATE SMITH (1907-1986)
Eddie Cantor once said that Kate Smith had such a huge frame to hold a heart so big. It is definitely true, because I do not think there was a nicer person in the musical business. A sign of a good singer is the ability to adapt to changing times and song styles. Kate Smith sang every genre from classic pop to country to rock from the 1920s to the 1970s. I love Kate's old vintage recordings from the early 1930s like "Too Late" and "River Stay Away From My Door". I also love some of her later work like "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine", "Yesterday", and "More". Of course I have three words why Kate should be on anyone's top list - "God Bless America". We were robbed of Kate's voice when she suffered a diabetic stroke in 1976 and for the next ten years she suffered greatly. Her recordings I have are among my prized possessions.

3. DINAH SHORE (1917-1994)
In later years Dinah Shore became more known as a television personality than a singer, but throughout the 1940s and 1950s I think she had one of the most pleasant voices on record. She was discovered by Eddie Cantor, and was a long time contract singer for RCA records. Her early 1940s records like "Skylark", "Sophisticated Lady", and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" showed that Dinah was vocally pretty advanced for her age. In the 1950s she moved to Capitol and then to Reprise for a bit, and I think her recordings suffered. However, she would still make a good record like "Mississippi Mud", "Carolina In The Morning", and even her version of the Frank Sinatra hit "Love And Marriage" was almost better than Sinatra's version. Dinah pretty much stopped recording or even singing for that matter in the 1970s, but her personality was like a beautiful song, and I was a fan until the sad day I heard she had passed away.

2. CONNEE BOSWELL (1907-1976)
Like most of the women on this list, Connee Boswell really did not make a bad recording. Even her horrible recording on Decca of the song "Mommy" is still worth listening to. Connee began her recording career with her sisters in 1925, and soon they were the most popular sister group in the country. The trio recorded some true masterpieces of music like: "42nd Street", "Heebie Jeebies", and "That's How Rhythm Was Born". By 1936, the sisters were all getting married, and Connee's two sisters - Vet and Martha wanted to retire. Connee signed with Decca Records and continued to make recordings for them for the next twenty years. Her best recordings were later in her career though. She recorded her final record on the Decca label with Sy Oliver in 1956 titled simply "Connee". The record is a masterpiece in my opinion. Her version of "I'd Climb The Highest Mountain" among others is one of my favorite recordings. She also made a great album with the Original Memphis Five a year later on the RCA label. With the change in music, Connee slowly withdrew from the scene, but again we are lucky for the wonderful music she left behind.

1. JO STAFFORD (1917-2008)
One of the true sadnesses in my adult years was that I never got to talk or meet Jo Stafford. I am lucky to have gotten her autograph, but in later years she did not appear much in public but was devoted to her family and fans. Jo started out singing with her sister in the late 1930s, and then she joined the Pied Pipers and worked with Tommy Dorsey. Unlike Frank Sinatra's recordings with Dorsey, Jo Stafford did not do any real great solo work with the band. However, Stafford was one of the first artists signed to the new Capitol Recordings in 1943. Her solo work made her one of the great voices of all time. In the 1940s her recordings included: "The Trolley Song", "Candy", and others - but one of her greatest recordings came in 1953. Her version of "You Belong To Me" is among my favorite records of all time, and the record is an example of the perfect pitch that Jo Stafford had. In the 1950s she moved over to Columbia Records and then to Reprise for a bit. Every album she made or song she sang was worth listening to, and like the other singers she retired from the musical scene way too soon. Jo Stafford stopped recording around 1970, but many of her recordings are among the best that were ever put on record.

Of course, this top five list does not include all of the great female singers out there - they are only my five favorites. Here are five more than deserve to be on anyone else's best of list as well: Margaret Whiting (1924-2011), Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), Judy Garland (1922-1969), Billie Holiday (1915-1959), and Doris Day (born 1924). Again, this list is not a definitive list by any means. Who would you have on your top five...

CLASSIC MOVIE NEWS - OCTOBER 2013

I have decided to steal a feature that Turner Classic Movies have on their channel each month spotlighting classic movie news. Each month I will do the same. I will talk about classic movie news that affects me.

Firstly, I have little children now so the amount of money I have that I can spend on buying movies and DVDS are limited. However, I started buying a few Christmas gifts. and if I am ordering a movie for the kids I can usually slip in one for me as well. So I bought my first movie in a long time - Eddie Cantor's KID MILLIONS (1934). It is really hard to find Cantor's movies on DVD. I think partially because of the blackface in his movies, they are pretty hard to come by. This is one of the best movies Eddie made for Samuel Goldwyn. It not only featured some great music including Irving Berlin's Mandy, but there is a scene (a little like The Wizard Of Oz) that is in technicolor. It is amazing that a 1934 would spend that type of money on that extravagant of a feature, but it is great to watch.

Now, with the children I just need to find the time to watch it. Last Sunday, a rare thing happened - both children napped at the same time. I got all of my chores done early in the day, so I just laid around watching television a bit. PBS had a very interesting documentary on their program Great Performances on the Jewish influence on Broadway musicals. It was really fascinating. I caught the documentary half way through it, but the program profiled some of the great Tin Pan Alley song writers like Irving Berlin and then ended with more modern Jewish composers like Mel Brooks. Narrated by Joel Grey, it was great seeing some actual Broadway performances from shows like "Fiddler On The Roof" and "Cabaret". Hopefully PBS will replay the program so I can watch it in its entirety.

With word that Jack Nicholson is not acting anymore, I started thinking about some of the final roles for great stars. How horrible for Gene Hackman that if he never makes another movie (which is probably the case), that he ended his great career on the horrible comedy WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT. Regarding the classic Hollywood stars, Fred Astaire's final film role was the 1981 adaptation of Peter Straub's novel GHOST STORY. This horror film was also the last for two of his most prominent cast mates, Melvyn Douglas and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The great James Cagney made a rare TV appearance in the lead role of the movie TERRIBLE JOE MORAN in 1984, his last work. He was in fragile health and confined to a wheelchair from strokes, but the producers worked his real-life disabilities into it by casting him as an 80-year old ex-boxer who needs a wheelchair to get around. One of the sadder final movies roles of a Hollywood legend was Joan Crawford's last role. She starred on the big screen one final time, playing Dr. Brockton in Herman Cohen's science fiction horror film TROG (1970), rounding out a career spanning 45 years and more than eighty motion pictures. Let's hope stars like Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, and Gene Hackman still have one more great role in them - because they will be missed on the big screen.

TCM MOVIE OF THE MONTH: OCTOBER 24TH 11PM - 11:00 PM House Of Usher (1960) A young man tries to rescue the woman he loves from her demonic brother. Dircted by: Roger Corman Cast: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey. C-79 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format. That is my classic movies news for the month of October. Have a wonderful autumn month...