This week’s mystery movie has been the 1962 film “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” best known in its “Mystery Science Theater 3000” version.
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Colleen Moore’s doll house in a frame grab from CBS “Sunday Morning.”
From the beginning of time, people have been collectors. Objects as diverse as paintings, stamps, shells, rocks, postcards, photographs, baseballs, or even furniture have been compiled for the joy they brought to those acquiring them. Individuals such as J. P. Morgan, Henri Francis du Pont, Henry Huntington, and William Randolph Hearst created large assemblages of objects, which are now open for research and visits by the general public. Hearst’s “Enchanted Hill” on the Central Coast of California is now known as the stupendous Hearst Castle, filled with gorgeous and exquisite works of art from around the world, including whole magnificent rooms saved from mansions and castles in the process of being demolished.
Silent film actress Colleen Moore, the effervescent embodiment of the jazz-mad 1920s flapper, collected doll houses and small miniatures from the time she was a child. In the late 1920s, she began assembling what became her masterpiece, a luxurious doll’s house that reflected every young girl’s romantic dreams of what it meant to be a princess. Moore’s “Enchanted Castle,” a Lilliputian relative of Hearst’s “Enchanted Hill,” rivaled the newspaper magnate’s Hearst Castle for its unique works of art and outstanding craftsmanship.Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Here’s something truly awesome: A menu for the Cafe Frankenstein in Laguna Beach with artwork by Burt Shonberg, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $125. I wrote about Cafe Frankenstein in 2011 when a group of slides was listed for sale. And in the Beat Era, a cappuccino was 70 cents ($5.69 USD 2015).
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1957 MGM picture “Edge of the City,” which was Martin Ritt’s debut as a film director. It starred John Cassavetes (Tuesday’s Back of the Head Guy), Sidney Poitier (Friday’s mystery guest), Jack Warden (Friday’s mystery guest), Kathleen Maguire (Wednesday’s mystery guest), Ruby Dee (Thursday’s mystery guest), Robert Simon (Monday’s mystery guest), Ruth White (Wednesday’s mystery guest), Val Avery (not shown), William A. Lee (not shown), David Clark (not shown) and Estelle Hemsley (not shown).
It was written by Robert Alan Aurthur, with music by Leonard Rosenman and photographed by Joseph Brun, with titles by Saul Bass. The producer was David Susskind in his first venture into film.
“Edge of the City” was shown in Los Angeles as the second half of a double bill with the now obscure film “Lizzie,” which starred Eleanor Parker.
The DVD is available from TCM in its Greatest Classic Legends collection, with “Something of Value,” “A Patch of Blue” and “Blackboard Jungle.”
Jan. 6, 1924: The Times publishes a photo of an Oakland car that was driven up to the Hollywood sign.
Southern California and Los Angeles exploded into the public zeitgeist thanks to imaginative advertising and publicity from area supporters and officials. Posters, postcards, and lavish illustrations in magazines and newspapers touting glorious weather, abundant land, and great opportunities started the great march westward.
Later, real estate developments around the Los Angeles area like Hollywoodland that successfully promoted themselves as exclusive, elegant, and close to business centers prospered, thanks to creative advertising gimmicks by salesmen. Leland J. Burrud excelled in innovating practices and developing schemes to sell real estate, from bringing in newsreel cameras to record the construction of the Hollywoodland Sign in November 1923 to creating dramatic images of a car posing adjacent to the Sign. He developed his great talent from his multi-faceted film career traveling the American West in the late 1910s and early 1920s.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1948 Eagle-Lion picture “Hollow Triumph,” also known as “The Scar.” The movie stars Paul Henreid (Friday’s mystery guest), Joan Bennett (Thursday’s mystery guest) and Eduard Franz (Wednesday’s mystery guest). It was written by Daniel Fuchs, from a novel by Murray Forbes and was produced by Henreid and directed by Steve Sekely.
A DVD is available from TCM Shop and there is a restored version on Amazon.
A souvenir postcard for the Pig’n Whistle, courtesy of Mary Mallory.
Famous for decades as an upscale destination for sweet treats and light bites, Hollywood Blvd.’s Pig’n Whistle soda fountain and candy shop featured elegant surroundings and lighthearted family atmosphere, surrounded by jolly images of happy-go-lucky dancing pigs. A favorite destination for filmgoers and off-camera movie stars long before Starbucks, the gorgeous chain restaurant promoted itself through eye-catching images of prancing pigs.
In 1906, founder John. F. Gage, proprietor of the Hotel America on Market Street, escaped San Francisco with his family after the Great Earthquake and fire, which burned down his inn, per author Veronica Gelakoska in her book, “Pig’n Whistle.” Coming to Los Angeles, the entrepreneur opened a high class candy shop and soda fountain at 224 S. Broadway, next door to City Hall, offering afternoon tea, French pastries, and light lunches as well as excellent candy.
This week’s movie has been the 1934 RKO picture “Murder on the Blackboard.” The film, the second in the Hildegarde Withers series, was released by Warner Archive in a set of six films after being unavailable for years. The first film in the series was “The Penguin Pool Murder.”
A still from “Auction of Souls,” in the Washington Times.
For more than 120 years, Armenians have seen slaughter and death at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and the Turks. In 1894, Sultan Abdul-Hamid II ordered the first massacre and harassment of the Armenian population, with more than 300,000 people killed over three years. 30,000 Armenians were killed in 1909 when Turks in Cilicila revolted against Armenian democratization efforts. In 1915, the wholesale slaughter of Armenians began as a result of World War I, when Armenia became separated from the Allied Forces which supported it when Turkey sided with Germany. As Tony Slide reveals in his book, “Ravished Armenia and the Story of Aurora Mardiganian,” Russia invaded Turkey and British and French forces attacked Constantinople, precipitating disaster. On April 23-24, 1915, Turkish police began rounding up 800 leading Armenians in Constantinople, exiling them, and began widespread extermination of the Armenian population on April 24. This year marks the Centennial of the Twentieth Century’s first massive genocide, in which more than one million Armenians were slaughtered, half of the population at the time.
One young Christian girl, Arshalouys Mardigian “Aurora Mardiganian,” suffered horrific experiences during the genocide but survived and escaped to America. Her story of a young girl suffering abuses and ravages came to stand for that of Armenia itself when her book, “Ravished Armenia,” was released in 1918. Mardiganian herself starred later that year in a movie adaptation called “Ravished Armenia,” later changed to “Auction of Souls.” In many ways, Mardiganian represents her ravished homeland, as she was exploited and abused by the very individuals who were supposed to provide help, becoming a bit player in her own story. Her story helped publicize the widespread genocide and diaspora of her people, vividly personified in what little remains of the powerful film.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
An image of the Black Dahlia crime scene sets the mood for dinner. How about some pinot extra noir?
It takes a special sort of person to think it’s a swell idea to have a pricey meal ($65 per) while looking at photos of the Black Dahlia crime scene. Although I can’t imagine many things more distasteful, I suppose that in a city the size of Los Angeles, there are enough ghoulish people with too much money who will make this a profitable enterprise. The event was part of something called “Los Angeles Eats Itself” and no, we won’t go there.
The premise of this meal, by chef Jonathan Moulton of City Tavern, according Paul Teetor in L.A. Weekly, is that because Elizabeth Short had bad teeth, the meal would consist of dishes that she wouldn’t have trouble eating. Ignoring the fact that she carried a supply of candles with her and plugged the cavities in her teeth with melted wax. Had those who planned the meal been aware of this fact, possibly the table decorations would have included matchbooks and large, plain white candles so that patrons could apply wax to their teeth for the true Black Dahlia experience.
Teetor (whom you may recall from a gushing, unskeptical article about Steve Hodel in the now-defunct Times magazine) falls into the old lie that Elizabeth Short had “deformed genitalia.” Sorry, no. This popular story was concocted by the late Will Fowler, for whom lying was as natural as breathing.
Specifically, Moulton wanted to re-create what Elizabeth Short might have eaten on the last day of her life, quite overlooking the autopsy report on the contents of her stomach, which included feces. There apparently was no interest in going overboard with this accuracy nonsense.
I would suggest that for the next gathering of the grim eaters, the last meal of Bugsy Siegel, who dined at Jack’s on the Beach in Santa Monica shortly before being shot in the head with an M-1 carbine while he was reading the newspaper. And my, wouldn’t all those cartridges and bloody copies of the Los Angeles Times make festive table decorations? And maybe bits of eyelash stuck to the wall.
Bone appetit, folks.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1924 First National Picture “Her Night of Romance,” starring Constance Talmadge (Wednesday’s mystery woman) and Ronald Colman (Friday’s mystery chap). It was directed by Sidney A. Franklin from a story by Hans Kraly. The photography was by Ray Binger and Victor Milner and art direction by William Cameron Menzies and Park French. The movie also featured Albert Gran (Monday’s mystery gent), Jean Hersholt (Thursday’s mystery gent) and James O. Barrows (Tuesday’s mystery guest).
I felt it was time to have a silent mystery movie as I don’t do them very often. “Her Night of Romance” was restored by the Library of Congress and has a mediocre (at best) piano score by Bruce Loeb. It is available from Kino packaged with “Her Sister From Paris.”
Curiously enough, imdb doesn’t give Menzies credit for this picture. The overlords of imdb don’t seem to care for my fixes, so I will let someone else pursue the issue.
You can also watch it here without a score.
Community beautifier, social service agent, educator, historian, and protector, the Woman’s Club of Hollywood has served its community for 110 years, working to make Hollywood a better place. Following the dictums of the City Beautiful movement, the organization worked to beautify and uplift the small town, hoping to increase civic, moral, and personal virtue through educational and civic events.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the little town of Hollywood was slowly becoming more urban: immigrants arrived, mass transit was introduced, churches multiplied, and merchants opened businesses to serve the many farmers and ranchers surrounding the community. Population boomed, dwarfing city services. Organizations sprang up to serve the social, educational, and entertainment needs of the population.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
Some enterprising EBay vendor has listed Elizabeth Short’s FBI file for $20.
Don’t waste your money.
First of all, the FBI had no jurisdiction in the Black Dahlia case, so it’s mostly newspaper clippings and other assorted documents.
Second, the documents are heavily censored.
And third, the FBI has it online for free.
Well this is interesting. It seems that the FBI doesn’t want anyone linking directly to Elizabeth Short’s page, because the URL goes to a redirect “This page does not seem to exist.”
IMPORTANT: Notice that the FBI refers to her incorrectly as Elizabeth ANN Short. In reality, she had no middle name. A 1971 article in the Los Angeles Times titled “Farewell My Black Dahlia” incorrectly referred to her as Elizabeth Ann Short and the false middle name has been picked up everywhere.
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The FBI thins its files.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1947 Twentieth Century-Fox picture “Boomerang!” starring Dana Andrews (not shown), Jane Wyatt (not shown), Lee J. Cobb (not shown), Cara Williams (Wednesday’s mystery woman), Arthur Kennedy (Friday’s mystery man), Sam Levene (not shown), Taylor Holmes (not shown), Robert Keith (not shown) and Ed Begley (Thursday’s mystery man). It was written by Richard Murphy, based on a story by Anthony Abbott published in Reader’s Digest in 1945. It was directed by Elia Kazan, who had quite a year with “Sea of Grass” and “Gentleman’s Agreement.” My copy was aired by TCM on Feb. 27, 2012, during TCM’s “31 Days of Oscar” (Murphy was nominated for an Academy Award). The disc is available on DVD.
Joan Bennett photographed by Fred Archer, Modern Screen Magazine.
As stillsmen Elmer Fryer and Fred Archer wrote in the 1928 article for “Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers,” “In the advertising field, the still picture is used to illustrate and help plant the articles broadcast by the publicity department throughout the periodical world and it is used for lobby displays…A good “still” will attract and hold attention where many poor ones will receive but a passing glance.”
Photographic stills sold films both to exhibitors and to the public long before the advent of television and broadcast media. Movie studios sent out publicity stills en masse to magazines and newspapers looking for free copy in which to sell their product. Photographers in the 1920s-1940s devised glamorous, artistic images deifying motion picture stars, defining the glamorous iconography idolized and worshipped by decades of movie lovers.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
For the sixth straight year, the TCM Classic Film Festival has delighted fans of Golden Age cinema from around the world. Based in the film lovers’ paradise of Hollywood, California, the 2015 Festival, based on the theme, “History According to Hollywood,” offered newly restored, difficult to see, and classic movies on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, highlighted by interviews and appearances by the motion pictures’ stars. Films spanning the silent era to the 1990s presented historic events or eras, with Club TCM events giving detailed histories of creative aspects of cinema. The Festival offers opportunities to see film masterpieces on the big screen augmented by celebrity appearances, a treat for those across the country who lack these opportunities.
A diverse range of stars such as Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Ann-Margret, Shirley MacLaine, and the incomparable Sophia Loren appeared before screenings to talk about the making of these films. Peter Fonda appeared at Club TCM to discuss his legendary father’s career, with MacLaine also being interviewed. Special conversations with legendary performers like Norman Lloyd and Loren occurred at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. More intimate presentations held in the Roosevelt Hotel’s former Blossom Room called Club TCM included Peter Fonda and Rory Flynn discussing their legendary fathers’ careers, MacLaine describing hers, editor Anne Coates and stuntman Terry Leonard discussing their work, a look at Hollywood Home Movies, Bonham’s Memorabilia Appraisals, and 100 Years of Title Design.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
This week’s mystery movie has been “Always a Bride,” a 1940 Warner Bros. movie. I picked it because I had never seen George Reeves as a leading man.
Norvell and Hedy Lamarr in Screenland.
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines astrology as “the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects.” For thousands of years, practitioners of this pseudo-science have attracted legions of followers hoping to divine their futures. Those that more accurately predicted events rose to positions of great power and influence, like the renowned Nostradamus.
Astrologers have always been popular in the film and entertainment industries, fields where luck and timing often influences who will become big stars or successes. Many are superstitious, because their careers depend so much upon chance and their futures can be problematical. Many insecure or questioning performers often turned to these fortune tellers hoping to make the right decisions in shaping their careers or finding love and romance.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
This week’s mystery movie has been the 1936 Twentieth Century-Fox film “Champagne Charlie,” with Paul Cavanagh (not shown), Helen Wood (Monday’s mystery woman), Thomas Beck and Minna Gombell (Friday’s mystery couple) and Herbert Mundin (Thursday’s mystery chap). It was directed by James Tinling and written by Allen Rivkin.
Harry Houdini in “The Grim Game.”
Long considered mostly lost, Harry Houdini’s second film, “The Grim Game,” re-premieres in its entirety Sunday, March 29, 2015, at the TCM Classic Film Festival, 96 years after it was released. A suspense thriller packed chock-a-block with hair-raising stunts, “The Grim Game” smartly capitalized on an accident during filming to pack in audiences, obscuring some facts along the way.
Self-liberator and escapologist Harry Houdini ranked as the world’s top illusionist in the 1910s. Hungarian-born Houdini “magically” escaped from handcuffs, chains, strait jackets, and locked cases in performances around the world, thanks to careful planning and special keys. He masterfully employed newsreels, magazine, and newspaper coverage to exploit his fame and derring-do.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
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