Mary Mallory: Hollywood Heights – Mary Pickford Day

Posted on May 16, 2016 by lmharnisch

Dec. 4, 1923, Mary Pickford Day

Note: Mary Mallory is taking this week off, so I’m running a post from several years ago.

Los Angeles in 1923 was a bustling, growing, optimistic place.  The town recognized all sorts of interesting people and topics, saluting them with their own days.  There were Raisin Day, Prune Day, Father-and-Son Day, Fireless Cooker Day, and many others that year.  Dec. 3, 1923 was Mary Pickford Day, which unfortunately coincided with Golden Rule Day.  Per the Dec. 4, 1923,  Los Angeles Times, only a few Golden Rule observations occurred.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Mad Libs From Real Life

Posted on May 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

Donald Trump Mad Libs: “It was reported in the (adjective) New York Times and other places that I want to (verb) on the (noun),” Trump (verb, past tense). “I’m the (noun) of (noun). I understand (noun) probably better than anybody. I know how to (verb) with (noun) very well. I love (noun).”

Newspaper cutback Mad Libs: As we attempt to become even more (adjective) local over the coming (plural noun), we’ll be making a few (plural noun). One of those (plural noun) is to replace (person’s name)‘s (noun) with more local (noun). For now, that’s going to take the shape of a (adjective) feature that will include (plural noun) from (adjective) citizens, interesting (adjective) anecdotes and reader (plural noun).

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 9, 2016 by lmharnisch

'Dark Shadows'
This week’s mystery production was the 1966-1971 TV show “Dark Shadows,” which aired on ABC. “Dark Shadows” followed “General Hospital” and “The Nurses” in the afternoon lineup of soaps, but unlike other soap operas (that would be “G.H.” “The Edge of Night,” “As the World Turns,” etc.)  it brought vampires, seances and time travel into America’s living rooms and dens.

“Dark Shadows” revealed an interesting generational gap in the Brain Trust. Baby Boomers and up nailed it immediately while it was more of a challenge for the younger folks. The show will mark its 50th anniversary next month and there will be a reunion June 24-27 in Tarrytown, N.Y. Stars scheduled to attend include Lara Parker (Angelique/Cassandra), David Selby (Quentin Collins), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans) and other veterans of the show.

L.A. Times articles about Alexandra Isles and Claus von Bulow are here. New York Times articles about Alexandra Isles and Claus von Bulow are here.

Jonathan Frid comes to Orange County, 1991.

It is available on DVD and is also on YouTube.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Hale’s Tours Offer Virtual Reality in 1906

Posted on May 9, 2016 by lmharnisch

George C. Hale
George C. Hale in the Salt Lake City Herald, Oct. 20, 1905.

 

Technology changes often move with the speed of lightning, upending life as it moves hurly burly into a brave new world. The early 1900s saw many new-fangled products introduced such as radio, air conditioning, and vacuum cleaners, while several relatively new inventions such as telephones, automobiles, and electricity moved more into the mainstream.

In the same way, motion pictures began undergoing their own revolution around 1905-1906, when retired Kansas City Fire Chief George C. Hale introduced his Hale’s Tours and Scenes of the World to paying audiences. Filmgoing would soon move beyond kinetoscopes into nickelodeons and eventually movie palaces. More importantly, audiences would no longer just view a movie, but experience it as well.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Books and Authors: ‘Deepwater Horizon’

Posted on May 3, 2016 by lmharnisch

Deepwater

 

Earl Boebert, a member of the Brain Trust, writes that his book “Deepwater Horizon: A Systems Analysis of the Macondo Disaster,”  written with James M. Blossom, will be published in September by Harvard University Press. This is a little off-topic from Hollywood and Los Angeles history, but we wish Earl the best with his latest project.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: 2016 TCM Film Festival Showcases Moving Pictures

Posted on May 2, 2016 by lmharnisch

TCM Wonderful Life

 

After a whirlwind weekend of movies, the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival comes to a close. A nonstop orgy of films, celebrities, and all things movie, the seventh annual festival offered a little something for everyone, particularly those just learning about classic films or who have just general knowledge of the subject. Basically a celebration of all things movie, the festival is light, breezy, and completely entertaining.

This year’s festival featured the theme “Moving Pictures,” concentrating on films that take flight, sound a call to action, arouse emotion, offer inspiration, or take us to new worlds. The packed schedule kept guests on the run themselves, with little time to rest, catch a real meal, or visit with friends before queuing for the next program.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

 

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on May 2, 2016 by lmharnisch

image
This week’s mystery movie was the 1943 RKO picture “The Seventh Victim” and there’s a bit of a story to go with it. On Sunday, I had dinner at Musso and Frank with Mary Mallory and Alexa Foreman, formerly head researcher at TCM, who was in town for the TCM Classic Film Festival. The restaurant was packed with TCM fans and we happened to see Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation and his wife, and (to do a bit of name-dropping) Quentin Tarantino. Over dinner, I asked Mary and Alexa to suggest this week’s mystery movie. They came up with several movies that aren’t in the Daily Mirror vaults, but then hit on “The Seventh Victim” and so here we are.

“The Seventh Victim” stars Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell and Kim Hunter in her screen debut, with Evelyn Brent, Erford Gage, Ben Bard, Hugh Beaumont, Chef Milani and Marguerita Sylva. It was photographed by Nicholas Musuraca, with art direction by Albert S. D’Agostino and Walter E. Keller. It was produced by Val Lewton, written by Charles O’Neal and DeWitt Bodeen and directed by Mark Robson.

It’s available on DVD with “Shadows of the Dark” from Amazon.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Film Noir Fest Shows the Dirty Side of Life

Posted on April 27, 2016 by lmharnisch

Noir City
Poster by Bill Selby, courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation.

The 18th Annual Noir City: Hollywood at the Egyptian Theatre just concluded after another successful run, focusing on the moral quagmires or despicable decisions of many an ethically challenged character. Duplicitous dames and shady shysters throughout the films attempt to manipulate the system for their own selfish ends, taking a walk on the dark side of the street. Most of these films have never been released on DVD, making seeing them on the big screen a rare delight.

Opening night Friday, April 15, 2016 started off with the powerful Argentinian film “The Broken Stems,” (“Los Tallos Amargos,” 1956), featuring outstanding cinematography by Ricardo Younis and an inventive score by the talented Astor Piazzolla. An insecure newspaper reporter joins a somewhat innocent sounding correspondence school scam, gradually giving way to paranoia and suspicion, leading to darkly ironic and tragic results.

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Raising Money for Documentary on Paul Henreid

Posted on April 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

Tubestart

I recently received word from Monika Henreid that she has begun a fundraising campaign to help complete a documentary on her father, Paul Henreid. She hopes to finish the film in time for the 75th anniversary of “Casablanca” in 2017.

Monika Henreid writes that she has visited her father’s childhood home in Austria, some of the sites of his early acting career and interviewed Robert Clary, Angie Dickinson, Norman Lear, Norman Lloyd and Doris Berger for the project.

Further information is here.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

 

Wicked as They Come
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1956 Columbia picture “Wicked as They Come,” with Arlene Dahl, Phil Carey, Herbert Marshall, Michael Goodliffe, Ralph Truman, Sidney James, David Kossoff, Faith Brook and Frederick Valk. The screenplay was by Ken Hughes (who also directed), from a story by Robert Westerby and Sigmund Miller based on the novel “Portrait in Smoke” by Bill Ballinger. Music was by Malcolm Arnold, conducted by Muir Mathieson.

The movie opened in Los Angeles on Jan. 16, 1957, as the second half of a double bill with “Nightfall,” starring Brian Keith and Anne Bancroft, at the RKO Hillstreet and Whittier theaters, and at local drive-ins. (Yes, drive-ins in January).

As far as I can determine, it has never been commercially released on DVD or VHS.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 56 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: TCM 2016 Classic Film Festival Celebrates Motion Pictures

Posted on April 25, 2016 by lmharnisch

 

TCM Classic Film Festival

Turner Classic Movies celebrates all things movies with its upcoming Classic Film Festival Thursday, April 28 through May 1, 2016. Organized around the theme “Moving Pictures,” films that inspire, utter a call to action, rouse emotions, or take us to new worlds, the festival affords attendees the opportunity of seeing celebrities, viewing restored films, hearing inspiring stories, and meeting and making like-minded friends. The festival offers something for lovers of every film genre and period, from silents to contemporary films.

The TCM Film Festival once again presents several restored and recently released films, many featuring introductions by those who discovered, restored, or revived them. Thursday night at 9:30, the Argentinian noir “Los Tallos Amargos” (1956) is screened, a beautifully shot, dark look at a newspaper writer involved in a journalism correspondence school scam who begins suspecting his partner’s motives. It recently played both at MOMA and Film Noir Festival in Los Angeles.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Coming Attractions: Mark A. Vieira’s ‘Into the Dark’

Posted on April 19, 2016 by lmharnisch

into_the_dark_cover

Mark A. Vieira writes that he will be signing advance copies of his book “Into the Dark” at the TCM Classic Film Festival. “Into the Dark,” published by Running Press and TCM, won’t be officially released until May 24, so this is an opportunity to be one of the first to get the book. Mark is scheduled to be signing “Into the Dark” on the lobby stage of the Roosevelt Hotel on April 29 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 18, 2016 by lmharnisch

 

 

April 23, 2016, He Ran All the Way
This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 film “He Ran All the Way,” directed by John Berry, with John Garfield, Shelley Winters, Wallace Ford, Selena Royle, Gladys George, Norman Lloyd and Bobby Hyatt. The screenplay was credited to Hugo Butler and Guy Endore (actually Dalton Trumbo) based on the novel by Sam Ross. The photography was by James Wong Howe with music by Franz Waxman.

It is available from Kino films on DVD and Blu-Ray. It will be shown during the TCM Classic Film Festival on April 29 at noon at the Egyptian Theatre, with Dennis Berry, the son of director John Berry, and Hollywood Reporter film critic Todd  McCarthy.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Shaw and Lee, ‘Nut’ Comedians

Posted on April 18, 2016 by lmharnisch

TCM Classic Film Festiva
A still of Shaw and Lee from “The Beau Brummels” is featured in the promotional material for a special program honoring the 90th Anniversary of Vitaphone at TCM’s Classic Film Festival.

Long before the term “deadpan” described the work of Buster Keaton or Jack Benny, critics employed it in reviewing the work of the now virtually unknown comedy duo, Shaw and Lee. Pairing up on stage around 1911, the team worked together for over 40 years, first in theaters and later in radio, films, and television performing nonsense songs, verse, jokes, and dancing. Like most of vaudeville, their act can be an acquired taste; uproariously hilarious to some and painfully dull to others. While most of their fellow performers are long forgotten, Shaw and Lee live on, thanks to the magic of Vitaphone.

Like many performers, the men came from humble beginnings and little schooling to find a lifetime calling to support themselves and their families. They aped more famous actors as well by changing their names to ones that more easily fell off the tongue. Though never huge stars, they earned a living doing what they loved.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Journalism in Los Angeles, 1912 – 1962, Saturday at Occidental College

Posted on April 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

I don't read the Los Angeles Times

I will be discussing this c. 1901 lapel button and other interesting facets of Los Angeles newspapers, 1912-1962, at the Historical Society of Southern California’s daylong conference on journalism in Southern California, on Saturday at Occidental College. More information is here.

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

 

April 16, 2016, Mystery Photo

This week’s mystery movie has been the 1937 Warner Bros. picture “The Case of the Stuttering Bishop,” with Donald Woods, Ann Dvorak, Anne Nagel and Linda Perry. It was directed by William Clemens from a screenplay by Kenneth Gamet and Don Ryan, based on a story by Erle Stanley Gardner.

It doesn’t appear that the film was ever commercially released on VHS or DVD.

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Mulholland Skyline Drive – The World’s Most Wonderful Highway

Posted on April 11, 2016 by lmharnisch

mullholland_drive
A postcard showing Mulholland Drive is listed on EBay with bids starting at 99 cents.

Spanning 21 miles from Hollywood to Calabasas, Mulholland Drive provides a dramatic dividing line between Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, providing both residents and tourists with gorgeous panoramic views of the metropolitan area. While providing a great scenic outpost to the city, its construction aided development of its surrounding foothills as well as provided a route to lay water trunk lines to the area.

Water guru William Mulholland himself first conceived the construction of such a highway in 1914 as both a way to celebrate the glories of the Los Angeles areas as well as to provide a more accessible route for conveying water to residents of the foothills and surrounding areas.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is now available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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Black Dahlia: BuzzFeed Goes ‘Drunk History’ on an Unsolved Murder

Posted on April 7, 2016 by lmharnisch

image

Since “Drunk History” debuted, I have been waiting for the show to do a version of the Black Dahlia case. But BuzzFeed Videos beat them to it.

Our hosts Ryan and Brent cruised L.A. and free-associated about the murder of Elizabeth Short. Think “Drunk History” meets “Carpool Karaoke.”

BuzzFeed

And, of course, since they are dealing with a gruesome unsolved murder, Ryan and Brent treated the case as a “Drunk History” laff fest.

Did it ever occur to you guys that some of Elizabeth Short’s sisters are still alive and might find this subject  rather painful?

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Movieland Mystery Photo (Updated + + + +)

Posted on April 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

April 9, 2016, Mystery Photo
This week’s mystery movie has been “Die Buchse der Pandora” or “Pandora’s Box,”  the 1929 Nero film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst from a screenplay by Ladislaus Vajda, photographed by Gunther Krampf, with Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goez, Krafft-Raschig, Alice Roberts, Daisy d’Ora, Gustav Diessl, Michael v. Newlinsky and Siegfried Arno.

The earliest showing I can find in Los Angeles is a 1962 revival at UCLA in which “Pandora’s Box” was screened in a series with “Fires on the Plain,” “The Cousins,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “M.” The earliest screening I can find in New York is a 1959 showing at the High School of Fashion Industries auditorium.

The movie is available in a Criterion Collection edition.

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Posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo | Tagged , , | 40 Comments

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Ahoy Mateys! Guests Walk Plank at Pirate’s Den.

Posted on April 4, 2016 by lmharnisch

Radio Television Mirror
The Pirate’s Den, Radio Television Mirror.

During the height of Hollywood’s Golden Age, colorful and elaborate restaurants and nightclubs filled the scene. In the 1920s, programmatic architecture flourished in California, providing automobile passengers giant iconic representations of the foodstuffs available inside. By the 1930s, the fanciful, elaborate elements moved inside, with eating or entertainment establishments virtual playgrounds of fun. The show had moved from the sidewalk to the interior, providing decorative ambiance.

Many celebrities capitalized on the craze, with stars like Raymond McKee and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle building or lending their names to businesses in hopes of raking in profits from the whimsical atmosphere. A group of celebrities followed suit in 1940, pooling their resources to open the Pirate’s Den at 335 N. La Brea Ave., helping a friend in need in the process.

“Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory is now available at Amazon and at local bookstores.

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