PHOTOS OF THE DAY: CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD WEDDINGS

To commerate my 21st wedding anniversary today, I wanted to take a look at some classic Hollywood weddings...

Dick Powell & Joan Blondell, 1936

Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow, 1966

Angela Lansbury & Peter Shaw, 1949

Audrey Hepburn, 1954

Judy Garland & Vincente Minnelli, 1945

Lucille Ball, 1940

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD AND THEIR SWIMMING POOLS

With the heat of July opon us, I figured we could use a dip to cool down. Here are some great pictures of classic Hollywood stars and their swimming pools. Some of them looked afraid to get wet...

MARY PICKFORD (1892-1979) and DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS SR. (1883-1939)

AUDREY HEPBURN (1929-1993)

RONALD REAGAN (1911-2004)

PRESTON STURGES (1898-1959) and JOEL MCCREA (1905-1990)

MARLENE DIETRICH (1901-1992) and her daughter

BETTY GRABLE (1916-1973)

HISTORY OF A SONG: MOON RIVER

It is hard to believe that this year will mark ten years of maritial bliss for me. For our wedding song we had Etta James’ “At Last”. However, a song that probably means even more to me is the number we used for our closing – Andy Williams’ recording of “Moon River”. The song is one of my favorite songs from the 1960s.

“Moon River” is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. It received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its first performance by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.  It also won Mancini the 1962 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Mercer the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.^[  Since its original performance, the song has been covered by many other artists.

It became the theme song for Andy Williams, who first recorded it in 1961 and performed it at the Academy Awards ceremonies in 1962. He sang the first eight bars at the beginning of his eponymous television show and named his production company and venue in Branson, Missouri after it. Williams' version never charted, except as an LP track, which he recorded for Columbia in a hit album of 1962. Cadence Records' president Archie Bleyer disliked Williams' version, as Bleyer believed it had little or no appeal to teenagers.

The song's success was responsible for relaunching Mercer's career as a songwriter, which had stalled in the mid-1950s because rock and roll replaced jazz standards as the popular music of the time. The song's popularity is such that it has been used as a test sample in a study on people's memories of popular songs. Comments about the song have noted that it is particularly reminiscent of Mercer's youth in the Southern United States. An inlet near Savannah, Georgia, Johnny Mercer's hometown, was named Moon River in honor of him and this song.

"Moon River" was a hit single for Jerry Butler in late 1961, reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December, two weeks before Mancini's recording reached the same spot. Meanwhile across the Atlantic, South African singer Danny Williams had a hit version of the song that reached number one in the UK in the final week of 1961. Although Andy Williams never released the song as a single, his LP Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes, released in the spring of 1962, was certified Gold in October 1963 for sales grossing over $1 million.

Countless singers have recorded the songs through the generations. Andy William’s version is my favorite, but other great versions have been recorded by Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, Patti Page, and even by composer Johnny Mercer. Mercer recorded it on his last album “My Huckleberry Friend” in 1974. The song had different meaning when it was written for Audrey Hepburn, but to me it is a song about two people who have found each other, who fall in love, and who choose to face the world together. At least that is what happened to me ten years ago…

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD AND THE OSCAR

The Oscar ceremony of today is much different than the classic ceremonies of the past. Hollywood was so much different in the classic days. Movie stars were true legends, and the Oscars was THE event of the year. Here are some memories of those classic days...

LUISE RAINER, 1937



INGRID BERGMAN, 1944



GARY COOPER AND BING CROSBY, 1944

AUDREY HEPBURN, 1953



GRACE KELLY AND CLARK GABLE, 1954



JOANNE WOODWARD AND PAUL NEWMAN, 1958



PHOTOS OF THE DAY: CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD AND THE OSCARS

In my opinion, winning an Academy Award does not mean as much as it did in the classic days of Hollywood. In those days it was so much more of a glamourous event. It still is glamourous, but movie stars today to not shine as bright as they did in the classic days. Here are some pictures of classic Hollywood and the Oscars...

Shirley Temple and Claudette Colbert

Audrey Hepburn

Joan Fontaine

 

Ginger Rogers and George Murphy

Ray Milland

Charlie Chaplin

THE FIVE MOST OVERRATED ACTRESSES

I figured I would follow up my look at overrated stars by profiling the ladies now. I think my choices for overrated actresses will even be more controversial than my overrated actors profile. I have picked some of Hollywood's most beloved actresses, but in my opinion - and only my opinion, I believe that the following five actresses were overrated...

JOAN FONTAINE

5. JOAN FONTAINE (born 1917)
It is not that I think that Joan Fontaine is a bad actress. She won an Oscar for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" in 1941, but in every role she starred in she seemed cold and distant. She seemed cold in "Suspicion" (in that film it was called for), but if you want another example of her cold, almost wooden acting - watch her in "The Emperor's Waltz" (1948) with Bing Crosby. Watching Fontaine on screen I get a chill even if it is the hottest day in summer.

4. LANA TURNER (1921-1995)
Lana Turner was very popular in the 1940s and 1950s, but I feel her appeal was more her looks than her actual acting ability. I have to admit I do not hate everything Turner did. I think her best movie was the underrated "Ziegfeld Girl"(1941) which she plays a Ziegfeld girl. However, for the most part I feel that the public was going to see a Lana Turner movie to see beauty and not talent. That beauty (a form of talent) made her a popular star for decades though.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

3. ELIZABETH TAYLOR (1932-2011)
Before Elizabeth Taylor passed away, I would have said she was the most overrated. However, since she died I have seen some of her movies, and she did have talent. I still think though that her popularity was more about the men she slept with and the marriages she broke up than her actual ability. One movie I did like her in was a more demure role in "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1954). I watched it for Van Johnson, but I discovered an ability that Taylor did have. Still though, she may be an icon but a very overrated one in my book.

2. AUDREY HEPBURN (1929-1993)
I know having Audrey Hepborn on an overrated list is going to get me in trouble with movie fans everywhere. What was her appeal? I did not think she was beautiful - not to be rude, but she was kind of ugly. She made a lot of interesting movies ,and Hepburn has risen to such ultra stardom, but I do not understand why. She won an Oscar for "Roman Holliday" in 1953, and I do not think the movie role warranted an Oscar. I guess some people like the waif type beauty that Audrey Hepburn had, but her looks did not last, and I do not think her acting ability warranted legendary status either.

BARBRA STREISAND

1. BARBRA STREISAND (BORN 1942)
Okay even though I am not a fan of Barbra Streisand's singing, I do believe she had a good voice. However, as an actress I thought she was horrible. With the exception of her role as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl" (1968) and "Funny Lady" (1975), I have not seen another Streisand film I have remotely liked. I don't know who cast her as Dolly Levi in "Hello Dolly" (1969), but she ruined a great Jerry Herman musical. Her attitude like she knows she is this great star has also been a big turn off for me. Plus, I can't get past that nose! Like all of the stars on this list, they have more talent than I will ever have, but stars like Streisand are just way too overrated for me...