Bessie Love, as a burlesque clown. Perhaps the only clown that, while a tad creepy, isn’t scaring me to death.
December 29th, 2011
Burlesque Clown Love
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December 27th, 2011
Never Too Late For Santa
You have to post it when you find it.
Photograph from the 1915 Midnight Frolic Ziegfeld Follies production, The Girl from My Home Town:
Most notably in this tableau of feminine beauty is Olive Thomas, seen as “New York Girl” standing beside Muriel Hudson and Margaret Morris, costumes by Cora McGeachy. This important and seductive view which really showcases the fun and allure of the Follies in the 1910s was taken by White Studios, and is a large format hand printed phoograph, never intended for public distribution.
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December 17th, 2011
Have A Coke & A Smile
Thankfully, the old Coca Cola slogan wasn’t “Share a Coke and a smile” or we’d have to say something about sharing a lap and how that leads to smiles… Photo of Sally Eilers sitting on Norman Foster’s lap.
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December 14th, 2011
Look At Me, I’m Midget Frankie Dee
Vera Francis and Jimmy Edwards with “midget liquor salesman Frankie Dee.” (I’m pretty sure that means Frankie Dee was a midget; not that he was a salesman of midget booze bottles, like those you find in hotel room bars and on airplanes.)
Photo found in Jet magazine, February 19, 1953. More than that, Vera had midgets dueling for her affections. Check it out in my Vera Francis Timeline.
Yup, that’s Kitschy Kitschy Coo; showing you everything, from midgets to giants.
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December 2nd, 2011
Christmas In Hollywood Homes (1946)
From the pages of Modern Woman magazine, volume 15 number 7, 1946, two pages of vintage movie star holiday Q & A. Specifically the famous Hollywood folks were asked to name:
1) Favorite Christmas Story
2) Favorite Christmas Song
3) When Gifts Are Opened
4) Best-Remembered Gift
The celebrities included are, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ray Milland, Betty Hutton, Jack Carson, Alan Ladd, Joan Caulfield, Peggy Ann Garner, Lon McCallister, Lynn Bari, Peggy Cummins, Victure Mature, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, Robert Hutton, Martha Vickers, and Bette Davis.
As to be expected, I suppose, the most named Christmas story was Christmas Carol. My favorite was Jack Carson’s answer:
A story translated from Norwegian — doesn’t remember the name.
Maybe it was a translation of the Norwegian translation of A Christmas Carol.
My favorite answers were the ones naming their best-remembered gift.
Van Johnson’s:
His first fan, a mid-western Scandinavian grandmother, sent him a pair of Arguyle socks she herself knit. Because of his grateful thanks, she has kept his supplied with socks ever since.
Lucille Ball’s:
About ten years ago she was seriously injured — paralyzed — in an automobile accident. At Christmas everyone gave her gifts for an invalid — except her mother. Mother Ball gave her a new bicycle, and with it the assurance that she would walk again.
Jack Carson’s:
A puppy, part collie and part German shepherd. He was eight years old and living in Milwaukee. “I’ve never had a gift that thrilled me more.”
For what it’s worth, Bette Davis had “no specially-remembered gift.” Neither did Victor Mature — however, he was “emphatic about what he wants this Christmas; a new house! Victor, like thousands of other Americans, is desperate for a home.”
The whole this is as post-war American as pie.
The photo used on the first page is of Margaret O’Brien and “Butch” Jenkins who appeared together in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, discussing “the possibility of Santa getting down the Jenkins chimney.”
Jane Powell, Roddy MacDowell, George Murphy (and son Denny with train set), and Diana Lynn appear in photos on the second page.
November 30th, 2011
Game Over Elvira
November 30th, 2011
This Photo’s A Real Scream
Now, I collect a lot of things — a lot of odd things, mind you. So when I ask you, “Who would collect a photo of a woman screaming?” I seriously want to know.
Even the auction title word-salad has me wondering… “Vintage Color Photo Television Screen Woman Screaming” — who searches for any of that?
…Now, looking at this photo that long, wondering all that, I am three steps closer to bidding.
November 29th, 2011
Dames & Dogs #53
Jeanette MacDonald and what looks like a Cairn Terrier aka Toto dog.
November 6th, 2011
Welcome Back, Chris Farley
See what else I’ve posted at my Tumblr page.
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