RECENTLY VIEWED: HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN

I just recently spent a pleasant morning watching one of the most charming and entertaining light hearted films of the war years. The film Hollywood Canteen is a time capsule of life and entertainment during World War II. Hollywood Canteen is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film starring Joan Leslie, Robert Hutton, and Dane Clark and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was written and directed by Delmer Daves, and is notable for featuring many stars (appearing as themselves) in cameo roles. The film received three Academy Award nominations.

Two soldiers on leave spend three nights at the Hollywood Canteen before returning to active duty in the South Pacific. Slim Green (Robert Hutton) is the millionth G.I. to enjoy the Canteen, and consequently wins a date with Joan Leslie. The other G.I., Sergeant Nolan (Dane Clark) gets to dance with Joan Crawford. Canteen founders Bette Davis and John Garfield give talks on the history of the Canteen. The soldiers enjoy a variety of musical numbers performed by a host of Hollywood stars, and also comedians, such as Jack Benny and his violin.

The film's setting is the Hollywood Canteen, a free entertainment club open to servicemen. The Canteen was created as a G. I. morale-booster by movie stars Bette Davis and John Garfield during World War II. Many of the stars that provided cameos in the film had previously volunteered to work there or provide entertainment. They include: The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Jack Carson, Joan Crawford, Faye Emerson, Sydney Greenstreet, Alan Hale, Sr., Paul Henreid, Joan Leslie, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Dorothy Malone, Dennis Morgan, Janis Paige, Eleanor Parker, Roy Rogers (with Trigger), S.Z. Sakall, Zachary Scott, Alexis Smith, Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Wyman, Jimmy Dorsey and The Golden Gate Quartet.

The movie's plot is utterly preposterous, but that makes no difference. The chemistry between stars Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton is wonderful. Joan's role was originally to have been played by Ann Sheridan, but she turned it down because she, too, thought the idea of a soldier on leave falling in love with a movie star at the Canteen and actually getting a chance to spend some with her was ridiculous.

In my opinion, Joan turned out to be absolutely perfect. She was quite young when the movie was made (only 18 or 19), but one of Warner Brothers' most popular actresses of the early 1940s.

Formal reviews of Hollywood Canteen at the time it was released tended to pan the movie, even though it was a commercial success. But for today's audiences it's two hours of great fun. There are terrific song and dance numbers by some of Hollywood's best.

The great irony of this movie has to do with what happened to John Garfield. Declared 4-F because of a heart condition, Garfield repeatedly tried to enlist but was turned down. He gave tirelessly of himself, entertaining troops in USO shows stateside and in Europe. Even Bette Davis acknowledged that he was the driving force behind the Canteen. So it is inconceivable to me that someone who gave so much of himself to the war effort could have been blacklisted as a communist sympathizer. His career and his life were ruined, and he died suddenly in May, 1952.

If you want to remember "The Greatest Generation" and to remember what great entertainment was and should be, then this gem of a 1944 movie is for you...

MY RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

BORN ON THIS DAY: PETER FINCH

One of those actors I am aware about but I have never seen much of his work is the actor Peter Finch. Since on this day he was born in 1918, I figured it would be a great opportunity to learn about the great actor, especially his early days.

Peter Lynch was born Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch in London. George gained custody of Peter and he was taken from his mother and brought up by his paternal "grandmother" Laura Finch (formerly Black) in Vaucresson, France.  In 1925 Laura took Peter with her to Adyar, a Theosophical community near Madras, India for a number of months, and the young boy lived for a time in a Buddhist monastery. Undoubtedly as a result of his childhood contact with Buddhism Finch always claimed to be a Buddhist. 

In 1926 he was sent to Australia to live with his great-uncle Edward Herbert Finch at Greenwich Point in Sydney. He attended the local public school until 1929, then North Sydney Intermediate High School for three years. At age 19 Finch toured Australia with George Sorlie's travelling troupe. This, along with continuous stage work, led to the attention of Australian Broadcasting Commission radio drama producer Lawrence H. Cecil, who was to act as his coach and mentor throughout 1939 and 1940. He was "Chris" in the Children's Session and the first Muddle-Headed Wombat. He later starred with Neva Carr Glyn in an enormously popular series by Max Afford as husband-and-wife detectives Jeffery and Elizabeth Blackburn as well as other ABC radio plays.

Finch's first screen performance was in a 1935 short film, The Magic Shoes, an adaptation of the fairy tale Cinderella. He made his feature film debut in 1938 with a supporting role in Dad and Dave Come to Town for director Ken G. Hall, who went on to cast Finch in a larger role supporting Cecil Kellaway in Mr. Chedworth Steps Out (1939).

After the war, Finch continued to work heavily in radio and established himself as Australia's leading actor in that medium, winning Macquarie Awards for best actor in 1946 and 1947. He also worked as a compere, producer and writer.

In 1946, Finch co-founded the Mercury Theatre Company, which put on a number of productions in Sydney over the next few years, as well as running a theatre school. A 1948 performance of The Imaginary Invalid on the factory floor of O'Brien's Glass Factory in Sydney brought him to the attention of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, then touring Australia with the Old Vic Company. Olivier encouraged Finch to move to London, and he left Australia in 1948.

He did not reach international stardom until the success of The Nun's Story (1959). Although he never worked in Hollywood for an extended period of time, preferring to base himself in London.

At the time of Finch's death, he was doing a promotional tour for the 1976 film Network in which he played the television anchorman Howard Beale  who develops messianic pretensions. He was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for that role, posthumously winning the award, which was accepted by his widow, Eletha Finch. Although James Dean, Spencer Tracy and Massimo Troisi were also posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, Peter Finch was the first actor to have won the award posthumously, as well as the first Australian actor to win a Best Actor award...

MUSIC BREAK: BING CROSBY & TRUDY ERWIN - THE RIGHT KIND OF LOVE

ANNIE STARS REUNITE

Tim Curry and his co-star Aileen Quinn reunite after 33 years, as he is honored with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award a couple months ago at the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles.

He is recovering from a stroke that continues to affect his speech, but that didn't stop legendary actor Tim Curry from attending a Tony Awards viewing party in LA on Sunday night.

Now it has been revealed that as well as receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the event, the 69-year-old actor was also reunited with his co-star in the musical Annie, after 33 years.

Actress Aileen Quinn, 43 - who played the lead role of the little orphan in the 1982 movie - spoke to People about their emotional reunion.

'Tim was the one [co-star] I hadn't seen in 30 years,' she told them. 'It was very emotional because what people don't realize about him is how kind he is in real life.'

The actor - who suffered a stroke almost three years ago - recently spoke about the importance of keeping a sense of humour throughout life, and Aileen echoed the sentiment to People.

She explained: 'When I came up to him I was like, "Tim, do you remember this face?" And he said, "Of course I do!" and he had kind of this wry smile,'

'He has that twinkle in his eye as always. Even though it's not quite the same as 30 years ago because he's older now, we had a very nice moment.'

She added: 'He's fighting the good fight. He's hanging in there. He came, he talked to a bunch of people, he got his award. He's a real fighter in true Annie spirit!'

Aileen currently fronts the band Aileen Quinn and the Leapin' Lizards and just released the album Spin Me. 

Meanwhile, Speaking recently to Los Angeles magazine, Tim said that he has been 'doing well' and was 'looking forward' to receiving the honor.

It is the legendary star's sense of humor that has helped helped him to remain optimistic since his July 2012 stroke when he collapsed at his Los Angeles home.

Tim is best known for his role as the brilliantly mad transvestite scientist Dr Frank N Furter in the The Rocky Horror Show (1975).

Meanwhile, at the viewing party, the veteran actor arrived in a black suit and was seated in a wheelchair.

He joins Theodore Bikel, Alfred Molina and Joe Morton as recipients of the same lifetime achievement award.

When asked what life would be like for him if it reflected the theater, he said: 'Scary. Well the theater is scary. And the longer the time in between the periods in the theater, the scarier it gets.

Adding: 'Life isn’t meant to be scary. It’s to be celebratory. In which case, it would be like the theater. I think of that as a celebration of life.' 

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IS DORIS DAY MAKING A MOVIE COMEBACK?

The 91-year-old former musical star Doris Day is apparently keen to return to the big screen after an offer from the 85-year-old American Sniper director! After a 47-year absence, Doris Day might be heading back to the big screen in a new film directed by Clint Eastwood.

The 91-year-old star of Calamity Jane has reportedly been in talks with Eastwood, her neighbour in Carmel Valley, California. According to German tabloid Bild, he presented her with a script on a recent visit.

It’s unknown what the role is but she is allegedly delighted with the opportunity and is involved in negotiations to make a return. She has allegedly made two demands: the film must be shot in Carmel and a cut of the profits must go to her animal welfare charity. Her last film was the 1968 romantic comedy With Six You Get Eggroll.

Eastwood, riding high off his biggest hit American Sniper, is working on a film based on the story of hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger, with Tom Hanks in the lead role. It’s not known if this is the film that Day is set to star in.

Day was known for roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and romantic comedies Pillow Talk and Move Over, Darling. She was also famed for her singing career and long-running TV series The Doris Day Show. She turned down the role of Mrs Robinson in 1967’s The Graduate as she found the script“vulgar and offensive”.

Since retiring, Day has spent her time devoted to her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation...

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THE SAD DISAPPEARANCE OF TYRONE POWER'S GRANDDAUGHTER

Many people are unaware of the sad disappearance of actor Tyrone Power's beautiful grand-daughter Ylenia Maria Sole Carrisi. It is a mystery that has yet to be solved even over 20 years after her disappearance.

Carrisi was born in Rome on November 29, 1970, the eldest daughter of Albano Carrisi and Romina Power. Her maternal grandparents are American actor Tyrone Power and Mexican actress Linda Christian.

In 1983, she appeared alongside her parents in the Italian film Champagne in paradiso. Later on, she was the letter-turner on La Ruota Della Fortuna, the Italian version of Wheel of Fortune. She envisaged for herself a career as a novelist, studying literature at King's College London, where she received the highest marks in her year.

During her studies, she began to entertain the idea of traveling the world solo with nothing but a backpack and her journal. She decided to take a break from studying and returned to Italy where she sold all her belongings in order to pay for the voyage. She began in South America. After having spent a few months in Belize, she decided to leave the day after Christmas 1993 by bus to New Orleans, Louisiana. Her brother Yari, also an experienced traveler, had decided to surprise his sister by visiting her that Christmas. He arrived on a rainy 27 December in the village of Hopkins, going door to door in search for her, only to find that the day before, she had hopped on a bus heading to Mexico. Unfortunately, he arrived 24 hours too late for she was already heading to New Orleans, where she disappeared on January 6, 1994.

Ylenia was last seen in the French Quarter area sometime during the month. Police efforts to find her did not yield any result. At the time of her disappearance, Ylenia was staying in the LeDale Hotel with African-American street musician Alexander Masakela, twenty years her senior. Masakela was arrested on January 31 on an unrelated charge but eventually released for lack of evidence to connect him to Ylenia's disappearance.

In relation to her disappearance, a security guard testified that he saw a woman vaguely matching her description jump into the Mississippi River saying the words "I belong into water". A Coast Guard search turned up no sign of the young woman's body, which may have been washed out to sea. In any case, it has never been established that the person was Ylenia. In 1996, two years after her disappearance, an unspecified caller assured emphatically that Ylenia was still alive but her whereabouts were unknown.

Carrisi's parents last heard from their daughter on New Year's Eve. They reported her missing on January 18.  In November 2006, Albano stated for the first time that he believed the security guard's story. In January 2013 he requested the declaration of the presumed death of his daughter. She was reportedly discovered in June 2011 in a monastery in the United States. Her father dismissed the report as "shameful speculation containing not a bit of truth.". The mystery has yet to be solved...

WHAT A CHARACTER: CHARLES COBURN

One of the most prolific of all of the character actors of Hollywood's golden age was Charles Coburn. Coburn was a character actor and Georgia native, enjoyed a lengthy career on stage, screen, and radio that reached its height in the 1940s and 1950s, when he was in his sixties and seventies.

Charles Douville Coburn was born in Macon on June 19, 1877, to Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Coburn grew up in Savannah and as a young boy handed out programs in a local theater, where he received his first role, a bit part in the stage performance of William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's opera The Mikado. Failing to win other parts for which he auditioned, Coburn worked briefly as a house manager until, at the age of nineteen, he left Georgia for New York City and the lure of Broadway.

His prospects in New York were grim, and he supported himself with a variety of odd jobs, including theater usher and package deliveryman. Shortly before he was to return to Savannah, he was hired as an advance man in a theater. This job yielded his first professional stage role, in a Chicago company's traveling production of Quo Vadis.

Coburn continued acting in traveling companies and by 1904 was starring in the lead role of The Christian. In 1905 he founded his own theater company, the Coburn Shakespearean Players. That same year he met Ivah Wills when they were cast together in a production of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. They married in 1906 and went on to produce several Broadway and off-Broadway plays.

After his wife's death in 1937, Coburn moved to Hollywood, California, and began a film career. Although his earliest listed film credit is for Boss Tweed in 1933, the 1938 release Human Hearts is often cited as his first substantial film role. He appeared in supporting roles in numerous films, including Idiot's Delight (1939), Made for Each Other (1939), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941),  King's Row (1942), In This Our Life (1942), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and The More the Merrier (1943), for which he won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Benjamin Dingle, a blustering but endearing businessman who typifies the characters Coburn often played. Although he was a classically trained stage actor, Coburn accepted many film roles that incorporated comedic and slapstick elements.

In the early 1940s Coburn appeared in as many as four or five pictures per year, but in 1945 he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures for just four movies in two years so that he could return to the stage and take on numerous radio and television parts. (The light film schedule also allowed him time to write an article on Savannah theater for a 1948 book titled Stories of Old Savannah.) In 1946 Coburn starred in the film Colonel Effingham's Raid, an adaptation of the novel by Georgia writer Berry Fleming. His later screen work included roles in Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953) and Around the World in 80 Days (1956). His final film was John Paul Jones (1959), in which he played Benjamin Franklin.

In 1959 Coburn married Winifred Natzka, who was forty-one years his junior and the former wife of Oscar Natzka, a New Zealand opera singer. Coburn died of a heart attack in New York City on August 30, 1961, at the age of eighty-four. He appeared in his last role, in a stage production of You Can't Take It with You, in Indianapolis, Indiana, a week before his death. Coburn, who visited Georgia throughout his adult life, bequeathed his collection of theatrical papers and photographs to the University of Georgia's Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. His ashes were scattered in Georgia, Massachusetts, and New York...