Paulette Goddard on Home

Paulette Goddard

World traveler Paulette Goddard, to columnist Earl Wilson, about her Hollywood home:  "It's a wonderful place for my paintings and my loot."




[Source:  Quick Magazine;  November 17, 1952]

Jimmy Durante's Dream Presidential Cabinet

Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante, on his dream Presidential Cabinet:

Rita Hayworth

State Secretary Rita Hayworth - "She'd clean up our foreign affairs - to say nuttin' of a few domestic ones, too!"

Ava Gardner

Labor Secretary Ava Gardner - "Any man would wantta form a union wit her.  I'd insist on a closed shop."

Corinne Calvet

Agriculture Secretary Corinne Calvet - "Why, da farmers wouldn't ask for subsidies.  They'd pay them!"

Marilyn Monroe

Interior Secretary Marilyn Monroe - "Her exterior ain't bad neither."

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Army Secretary Zsa Zsa Gabor - "Any man would fight for dis girl!"

[Source:  Quick Magazine; November 17, 1952]

Mae West on the new "Mae West"

Mae West with a "Mae West"

Mae West, viewing the Navy's latest "Mae West" life-jackets, now colored red instead of yellow:  "I understand they can be seen from a great distance.  That's another thing we have in common."




[Source:  Quick Magazine;  July 28, 1952]




Gotta love Mae West!

Orson Welles as Othello

Othello Poster

Orson Welles, on one of his recent films:  "I starred in Othello because I was the only star I could afford to hire."




[Source:  Quick Magazine;  July 28, 1952]

Lionel Barrymore tells it like it is

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore:  "Acting is acting.  It hasn't changed.  The only change has been in the audiences which, I must say, have gotten lousier and lousier."




[Source:  Quick Magazine; November 10, 1952]




I have to agree with the fabulous Mr. Barrymore, but I don't think there are that many actors left either.  We have celebrities - not actors.  I can count on one hand the number of people who "act" on film which I would consider actors.

Ursula Thiess's First Film

Ursula Thiess

Actress Ursula Thiess, telling columnist Earl Wilson about her forthcoming film in which she swims nube:  "It was my first picture and I did what they told me."




[Source:  Quick Magazine; January 5, 1953]

Ursula Thiess

Ursula Thiess (May 15, 1924 - June 19, 2010)  born in Hamburg, Germany.  RKO brought her to America for a test in 1952 and she was voted most promising newcomer by Modern Screen (along with Marilyn Monroe).  While starring in a mere 5 films, she is probably best known for her marriage to Robert Taylor.  They met on a studio-arranged blind date.  They fell in love and were married May 24, 1954 until Taylor's death on June 8, 1969.  She had 2 children with Taylor.  Ursula basically retired from the screen after she married Taylor and concentrated on her family.  Her last screen appearance was in 1972.

Robert Taylor and Ursula Thiess

Superstitions of the Stars

Superstitions of the Stars

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth would slip a shiny new dime under the garter of her left leg for luck before stepping on a movie set.

Mae West

Mae West made everyone who whistled in her dressing room stand in the corner and spit three times

Bette Davis

Bette Davis thinks whistling in a dressing room is bad luck too, and pushed Jack Warner from her dressing room he whistled Hallelujah

Edwin Booth as Hamlet

Rumor has it that the superstition about whistling in a dressing room originated from the urban legend that actor Edwin Booth was whistling Dixie in his dressing room when his brother, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln.




[Source:  Point; August 1954]

Clifton Webb on California

Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb, visiting New York City from balmy Hollywood:  "California is beautiful.  So is a rose.  But I can look at a rose for just so long and then I want to spit on it."  




[Source:  Quick Magazine; January 5, 1953]

Bea Lillie on Television

Bea Lillie:  "Television has grown up to be just summer stock in an iron lung."




[Source:  Point;  August 1954]






Ouch!  Beatrice Lillie (May 29, 1894 – January 20, 1989) is known as being an amazing talent.  She shined on stage. She is an amazing woman and entertained the troops during WWII - even on the day she found out that her only son had perished in action.  Best known for her Tony Award winning 1953 revue An Evening with Beatrice Lillie.  She retired from the stage due to Alzheimer's.

Anita Loos Remains a Brunette

Anita Loos, author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, when asked why she remained a brunette:  "Personally, I don't prefer gentlemen."




[Source:  Point;  August 1954]

Anita Loos and Jean Harlow

Anita Loos was the author or contributor to some of my favorite films such as Red-Headed Woman, Another Thin Man, The Women, Susan and God, and When Ladies Meet.  

John Emerson and Anita Loos

Loos had two troublesome marriage:  First, to Frank Palma, Jr (from 1915-1919); and secondly to actor, writer, director John Emerson (married from 1919 to his death in 1956).  Emerson and Loos never officially divorced, but their marriage consisted of economic strife and Emerson's mental illness.  

Elaine Stewart on Bachelors

Elaine Stewart:  "A bachelor I know decided to reform.  The first day he cut out cigarettes.  The second day he cut out liquor.  The third day he cut out women.  The fourth day he cut out paper dolls."




[Source:  Point;  August 1954]

Fred Allen on Poise

Fred Allen:  "Poise?  That's the ability to continue talking while the other fellow picks up the check."




[Source:  Point;  August 1954]

Groucho on Skywriting

Groucho Marx, to a skywriter contestant on his TV show:  "When you're up there writing do you ever get the impression that someone is looking over your shoulder?"




[Source;  August 1954]

Jack Benny and Groucho Marx doing a 'You Bet Your Life' skit on 'The Jack Benny Show'

What Bob Hope thinks of Bridegrooms

Bob Hope's definition of a bridegroom:  "A wolf who paid too much for his whistle."




[Source:  Point;  August 1954]