This week’s mystery program was “Queen of the Orange Bowl,” which aired Jan. 13, 1960, on the CBS anthology show “U.S. Steel Hour.” With Anne Francis, Johnny Carson, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh, Elizabeth Wilson and Robert Elston. Adapted for television by Bob Van Scoyk from an original story by Roger Squire.
Directed by Paul Bogart. Executive producer George Kondolf.
“Queen of the Orange Bowl” was restored from 2-inch videotape by UCLA and is available online.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1963 Universal-International picture “For Love or Money,” with Kirk Douglas, Mitzi Gaynor, Gig Young, Thelma Ritter, Julie Newmar, William Bendix, Leslie Parrish, Richard Sargent, Elizabeth MacRae, William Windom, Willard Sage, Ina Victor, Amy Moore, Jose Gonzales Gonzales, Don Megowan, Billy Halop, Joey Faye, Theodore Marcuse, Frank Mahony.
Photographed by Clifford Stine, Eastman Color by Pathe.
Gowns designed by Jean Louis. Art direction by Alexander Golitzen and Malcolm Brown. Set decoration by Ruby Levitt, Sound by Waldon O. Watson and Corson Jowett. Jewels by David Webb.
Edited by Alma Macrorie, makeup by Bud Westmore, hairstyles by Larry Germain, unit production manager Lewis Leary, dialogue coach Michael Ross, titles by Pacific Title.
Associate director Joseph Kenny.
Music by De Vol, music supervision by Joseph Gershenson.
Written by Larry Markes and Michael Morris.
Produced by Robert Arthur.
Directed by Michael Gordon.
“For Love or Money” has never been commercially released. It aired once on TCM in 2014.
“The Great Corbett Fight” at Tally’s theater.
Note: This is an encore post from 2017.
Former Texan T. L. (Thomas) Tally pioneered early film exhibition practices in the film metropolis of Los Angeles, catering to the needs of his audiences. Always enamored with technology, he seemed to anticipate and lead trends in advancing both the presentation of films as well as their selling and distribution. Though Tally was recognized as an innovator, his history has been promulgated with repeated errors that distort history.
In my first post, I presented the first part of the factual history regarding Tally’s life. Born in Rockport, Texas in 1862, he established his first phonograph parlor in San Antonio in 1890 and first visited Los Angeles that year. Fascinated with engineering and mechanical marvels that produced sound and images, he began seeking out these products.
Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 1
T.L. Tally, Moving Picture World, 1915.
Note: This is an encore post from 2017.
Los Angeles has stood at the forefront of not only motion picture production, but the fields of exhibition and distribution as well. Former Texan T. L. (Thomas Lincoln) Tally pioneered in these fields, seeming to anticipate changes in the marketplace during the early decades of the Twentieth Century. Shrewd and risk-taking, Tally earned a fortune entertaining the citizens of Los Angeles, introducing several firsts to the city, including the first theatre built exclusively to show motion pictures and the first to cause a nitrate fire. As early as the 1920s, articles and books proclaim him as the pioneer exhibitor in Los Angeles, but “printing the legend” instead of the facts as to when he entered the moving picture business.
Little is known of his early life, save that Tally was born July 6, 1862, in Rockport, Texas (per ship passenger logs). By 1890 he resided in San Antonio per the March 26, 1890, San Antonio Daily Express and first visited Los Angeles in April, when the April 6, 1890, Los Angeles Herald lists him as a guest at the permanent exhibit of California on Wheels.
Hollywood at Play, by Donovan Brandt, Mary Mallory and Stephen X. Sylvester is now on sale.
My old Crime Buddy Nathan Marsak has written a book on Bunker Hill in his informed yet freewheeling style and will be appearing Wednesday at 7 p.m. PST in a virtual event hosted by Hollywood Heritage in its “Evening @ The Barn” series. Nathan will be interviewed by Mary Mallory and Brian Judd. Tickets are $7.69 for members, $15.38 for non-members and are available online. Hollywood Heritage says the book will be available through its online shop.
Note: This is an encore post from 2019.
World War I, the “War to End All Wars,” concluded 100 years ago at the 11th minute of the 11th hour, November 11, 1918. A bloody conflagration involving such countries and republics as the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia for more than four years, it saw borders dissolved and reconfigured, terrible new lethal means of killing and maiming men created, and eventually led to World War II.
Young American men found themselves weary, repulsed, and depressed as they slogged on and on, looking for a ray of sunshine and an end to the mayhem. Vaudeville and stage star Elsie Janis, quick with a quip and song, came to their rescue, providing a measure of hope and forgetfulness. Long before Bob Hope visited troops around the world during World War II to bring moments of levity, Janis became the first major star to tour camps and hospitals entertaining the American Sammies, our soldiers.
Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1955 Columbia film “The Crooked Web,” with Frank Lovejoy, Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning, John Mylong, Harry Lauter, Steven Ritch and Louis Merrill.
Story and screenplay by Lou Breslow.
Photography by Henry Freulich, art direction by Paul Palmentola, edited by Edwin Bryant, set decoration by Sidney Clifford, assistant director Gene Anderson Jr., special effects by Jack Erickson, sound by Josh Westmoreland, music conducted by Mischa Bakaleinikoff, unit manager Leon Chooluck.
A Clover Production.
Directed by Nathan Hertz Juran
“The Crooked Web” is on YouTube in a mediocre print and on DVD from Amazon.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 Columbia film “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” with Lee Tracy, Constance Cummings, Walter Connolly, Alan Dinehart, Arthur Vinton, Arthur Hoyt, Burton Churchill, Frank Sheridan, Clay Clement and Clarence Muse.
Screenplay by Jo Swerling, story by Maxwell Anderson, technical advisor Eugene Thackeray, photography by Ted Tetzlaff and Ira Morgan, edited by Richard Cahoon.
Directed by James Cruze.
“Washington Merry-Go-Round” has never been commercially released on VHS or DVD, but is available on the gray market. It last aired on TCM in 2013.
Note: This is an encore post from 2011.
Like Blanche Dubois, Peter depended upon the kindness of strangers to augment his spare existence working odd jobs and living in a shack in the Hollywood hills. He wore simple white shirts and pants and sandals, resembling an Old Testament prophet, and carried a staff or large walking stick in his hand. A gentle man and vegetarian, animals like dogs, goats, burros, and chickens gathered around him in the hills. Not exactly a panhandler, Peter accepted donations of food, money, and other things without flat- out asking for them. He spoke out in favor of vegetarianism, taking care of the environment, odd philosophizing, and looking out for each other long before these became accepted norms in this country.
Pier Angeli and her little friend remind Daily Mirror readers to turn back their clocks this Sunday.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1940 Paramount picture “The Ghost Breakers,” with Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas, Anthony Quinn (in two roles!) and Willie Best.
Screenplay by Walter DeLeon, based on a play by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard.
Photography by Charles Lang, art direction by Hans Dreier and Robert Usher, edited by Ellsworth Hoagland, costumes by Edith Head.
Music by Ernst Toch, musical adviser Andrea Setaro, recording by Harold Lewis and Richard Olson, process photography by Farciot Edouart, interior decoration by A.E. Freudeman.
Produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. Directed by George Marshall.
“The Ghost Breakers” is available on DVD from TCM. The recently released Blu-ray is available from Amazon. Howard Mandelbaum says that the Blu-ray is quite good. In some versions of the DVD, the audio is out of sync with the video for about the last 20 minutes of the film.
A postcard of A.G. Schloesser’s Castle San Souci, listed on EBay for $7.98.
Before movies introduced dream-like locations and visions to the world, Dr. Alfred Schloesser constructed stunning fantasy castles, mentally transporting viewers to more romantic times and places. Although Glengarry Castle and Castle Sans Souci existed for only a few decades, they left an indelible impression on the city of Hollywood.
Born in Chicago on April 19, 1851, Dr. Alfred Guido Rudolph Schloesser lived and dreamed large from a young age. Born to naturalized Americans who had escaped oppressive Prussia and then achieved success in Chicago real estate, Schloesser graduated from respected high end schools before receiving graduate and medical degrees. He graduated Rush Medical College at 20, the youngest as well as first in the class. After graduation, Schloesser toured Europe, gaining additional knowledge and experience, studying tuberculosis in Berlin and spinal deformities in Switzerland.
Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1951 Argentine film “Native Son,” with Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Nicholas Joy, Charles Cane, George Rigaud, George Green, Gloria Madison, Willa Pearl Curtiss, Gene Michael, Don Dean, Ned Campbell, Ruth Roberts, George Nathanson, George Roos, Lewis MacKenzie, Cecile Lezard, Charles Simmonds, Leslie Straughn and Lidia Alves.
Screenplay by Pierre Chenal and Richard Wright, dialogue by Richard Wright.
Photography by Antonio Utges Merayo, location shots by R.A. Hollahan, edited by Jorge Garate, sets by Gori Munoz, sound by Mario Fezia and Carlos Marin.
Music by John Elhert, song “The Dreaming Kind” by Lilian Walker Charles, vocal quintette of Katherine Dunham.
Produced by James Prades. Directed by Pierre Chenal.
An extensively restored print of “Native Son” is available on streaming via an arrangement between movie theaters and Kino Marquee, with an introduction by Jacqueline Stewart and Eddie Muller (TCM hosts, although TCM apparently wasn’t involved in this project). Check your local ZIP Code to see if it’s available. It’s $10 well spent.
A sketch of the “The Witch’s House” by Charles Owens from “Nuestro Pueblo,” courtesy of Mary Mallory
Note: This is an encore post from 2013.
Once upon a time, home design and architecture saluted fantasy and make-believe, and not just in fiction. Bilbo Baggins and lucky leprechauns resided in twee little bungalows, short, off-kilter, hutch-like, but so did imaginative and childlike Los Angeles residents of the 1920s. Storybook architecture, dreamed up and promoted by film industry veterans, flourished near movie studios, magical little Brigadoon-like structures.
A strong proponent of storybook design was Hollywood art director Harry Oliver. Noted for his work as art director on films “7th Heaven” (1927) and “Street Angel” (1928). Oliver merrily dreamed up colorful structures on the side, like the famous Van de Kamp’s windmills and Los Feliz’s Tam-o-Shanter restaurant. Another whimsical structure, however, remains his most famous design, the Witch’s House in Beverly Hills.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywoodland:Tales Lost and Found” is available as an ebook.
James Ellroy’s 1992 handwritten draft of “White Jazz” will be auctioned Thursday in a sale of rare books from the collection of Otto Penzler. Current bid (as of Wednesday night) is $975. Penzler is the proprietor of New York’s Mysterious Bookshop, which published many of Ellroy’s books under its Mysterious Press imprint, beginning with “Because the Night.”
In a tumultuous year filled with pandemic, isolation, ill will, and seeming madness, the 39th Annual Pordenone Silent Film Festival transported guests on magical journeys to other worlds, eras, and even dimensions, revealing the richness of love and humanity at a time it is so desperately lacking. Turning lemons into lemonade, the festival’s organizers masterfully arranged a thoughtful, select program of motion pictures, author talks, master classes, and live discussions that still engendered community, discussion, and scholarship.
At the conclusion of each film program, live discussion between festival director Jay Weissberg, archivists, scholars, authors, performers, and the like provided further context to the motion picture, performers, and themes located in the work, further enriching the experience.
Mary Mallory’s “Living With Grace” is now on sale.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1960 Columbia picture “Pepe,” with (hold on to your hats):
Cantinflas, Dan Dailey, Shirley Jones, Carlos Montalban, Vicki Trickett, Matt Mattox, Hank Henry, Suzanne Lloyd, Carlos Rivas, Maurice Chevalier, Bing Crosby, Michael Callan, Richard Conte, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr., Jimmy Durante, Zsa Zsa Gabor, the singing voice of Judy Garland, Greer Garson, Hedda Hopper, Joey Bishop, Ernie Kovacs, Peter Lawford, Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Jay “Dennis the Menace” North, Kim Novak, Andre Previn, Donna Reed, Debbie Reynolds, Edward G. Robinson, Cesar Romero, Frank Sinatra. Billie Burke, Ann B. “Schultzy” Davis, Col. E.E. Fogelson, William Demarest, Jane Robinson, “Big” Jack Entratter, Bunny Waters and Charles Coburn. “And ? ?”
Introducing Don Juan.
Art direction by Ted Haworth, photography by Joe Mac Donald.
Photographic lenses by Panavision, Eastman Color by Pathe, special sequences photographed in CinemaScope. Edited by Viola Lawrence and Al Clark, set decoration by William Kiernan.
Assistant director David Silver, associate art director Gunther Gerszo.
Pepi and Mimi special material and routines by Roger Edens. Makeup by Ben Lane. Hairstyles by Larry Germain and Myrl Stoltz. Script supervisor Marshall Wolins. Recording supervisor Charles J. Rice. Music editor Maury Winetrobe. Sound by James Z. Flaster.
Las Vegas sequences photographed at the Sands Hotel, the Tropicana Hotel.
With grateful appreciation to the members of the Motion Picture Production Workers’ Union of the Republic of Mexico for their splendid cooperation.
G.S.-Posa Films International production.
Songs: “Faraway Part of Town,” “That’s How It Went, All Right” music by Andre Previn, lyrics by Dory Langdon, conducted by Andre Previn. “Pepe” music by Hans Wittstatt, special instrumental by Johnny Green. Lyrics by Dory Langdon. “The Rumble,” instrumental piece by Andre Previn. “Lovely Day” (“Concha Nacar”) music by Augustin Lara. Spanish lyrics by Maria Teresa Lara. Special English lyrics by Dory Langdon. Maurice Chevalier recordings of “September Song” and “Mimi” courtesy of MGM records.
Choreography: “The Rumble” and “Faraway Part of Town” by Eugene Loring. Additional choreography by Alex Romero.
General music supervision and background score by Johnny Green.
Associate producer Jacques Gelman.
Screenplay by Dorothy Kingsley. Screen story by Leonard Spigelgass and Sonya Levien. Based on a play by L. Bush-Fekete.
Produced and directed by George Sidney.
“Pepe” has not been commercially released on DVD, but it is available in graymarket copies.
Note: The original reviews refer to a running time of three hours and 15 minutes without intermission. The TCM print had a running time of two hours and 37 minutes.
Motion Picture Magazine, 1925.
Note: This is an encore post from 2015.
In the early days of the motion picture industry, no rules and regulations held down the field’s growth and development as companies basically made it up as they went along. There were no labor rules, no production blueprints, no permits required for much of anything. This free form independence allowed filmmakers the opportunity to let their imaginations go wild on story ideas, sets, even film locations. With small crews, a film company could easily sneak shots at virtually any public location without notifying police or gaining anyone’s permission.
This guerrilla style of filmmaking is obvious in primitive cinema, where dogs standing on the sidewalk run into the scene, or crowds can be glimpsed watching the filming or even joining right in. Moviemakers basically shot wherever they wanted, as many owners of possible locations just wanted to see stars or a film being made, and required no payment. Others were given cameos, and some possibly earned a fee for allowing filming, there is no historic paperwork to explain.
Mary Mallory’s “Hollywood land: Tales Lost and Found” is available for the Kindle.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1932 film “False Faces,” with Lowell Sherman, Peggy Shannon, Lila Lee, Berton Churchill, David Landau, Harold Waldrige, Geneva Mitchell, Oscar Apfel, Miriam Seegar, Joyce Compton, Nancy O’Neil, Edward Martindel and Purnell Pratt.
Screenplay by Kubeck Glasmon and Llewelyn Hughes, photography by R.O. Binger and Theo. McCord, edited by Rose Loewinger, settings by Ralph DeLacy, supervising editor Martin G. Cohn, musical director Val Burton.
Directed by Lowell Sherman.
The film, restored by UCLA, is available for streaming online. The film is also on Vimeo.
Courtesy of University of Southern California, on behalf of the USC Special Collections. Oct. 1, 1910: The Times Building in flames, as seen from Broadway just south of First Street. Notice The Times Eagle outlined by the fire. |
Note: This is an encore post.
El Alisal, Oct. 1, 1910:
This is a sad day for me and for every other man that loves Los Angeles.
At one this morning I was dictating to Brownie and heard a terrible roar in town and remarked that it sounded like dynamite and just casually thought it might be The Times.
ladailymirror.com 