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]

Eva Gabor Loves Women

Eva Gabor:  "I'm glad I'm a woman.  As Grandpa used to say, 'Always be satisfied with your own sex, or you'll never be satisfied with anyone else's"




[Source: Point;  August 1954]

Recent Items for Sale on Etsy and Amazon

Recent Items for Sale on my Etsy and Amazon sites.

Card with a piece of Mae West clothing on Etsy

5 Vintage 1930s Newspaper Inserts of Irene Dunne, Robert Montgomery, Jean Arthur, Fred MacMurray, and Bette Davis on Etsy

Some reproduction Godeys watercolor prints on Etsy

How to Draw the Muppets on Amazon

Some Laugh-In DVDs on Amazon

Or try some fun gambling on a Vintage Slot Machine on Etsy

Or a Vintage Black Jack Machine on Etsy

1940s Living and Dining Room Necessities

1940s Living Room Necessities

1 divan, sofa, or love seat
2 upholstered chairs - at least one of them should be "man-of-the-house" style
3 tables - 1 coffee, the others lamp or end tables
1 rug or rugs
1 radio
1 mirror
1 desk
1 desk chair
lamps
curtains
draperies
pictures
plants




*Aside from the radio, lamps, and chairs I think I'm set.  Minus the plants, of course.  Plants and I just just don't get along.

1940s Wherever You Eat Necessities

1 table - drop-leaf, pie-crust, bridge, or other
4 chairs






Table Linen
2 bridge sets with napkins
4 place mat sets with napkins - have at least 1 cork or plastic set
2 breakfast cloths with napkins
1 lace runner or doily set with napkins to harmonize
1 dinner cloth with 8 napkins
1 table pad






China
5 or 9 butter plates
5 or 9 dinner plates
5 or 9 salad plates
5 or 9 cereal dishes - use also for fruit
5 or 9 cups and saucers - more if you like bit parties
1 platter - round or medium oval
1 salad bowl
1 teapot and/or coffeepot
1 creamer and sugar
2 pair salt and peppers - unless you have a silver one




* I've virtually nothing in these categories - except for everyday stuff.  When it's just the two of us, it's hard to think about serving dishes and proper China.

Glassware Section of Hardware Store - 1943

Glassware
5 or 9 tumblers
5 or 9 highball glasses - use for iced beverages too
5 or 9 cocktail glasses - use for juices too
5 or 9 sherbet glasses






Silver
4 or 8 cream soup spoons
4 or 8 teaspoons - more are always handy
4 or 8 luncheon or dinner forks
4 or 8 luncheon or dinner knives
4 or 8 salad forks
4 or 8 butter spreaders
6 serving pieces
1 steak set
1 carving set
2 candle sticks - unless you have glass or china ones




*Just everyday stuff in these categories, too.  My glassware is good.  It's funny, but that was what we received most as a wedding gift.  The only trouble is that we never entertain and have maybe 1 drink per month. I'm not sure why everyone thought we were booze-hounds. 

[Source:  Making Housekeeping Easy; Dorothy Lois Abel;  Funk and Wagnalls Company; New York; 1948]

Favorite Actors - Part 1

Favorite Actors - Part 1

Don Ameche
Fun in films like That Night in Rio
Fabulous on the Radio - Wonderful Voice

Dana Andrews
Great in films
Fantastic on Radio - Another Wonderful Voice

Bob Bailey
Radio God - Yours Truly Johnny Dollar

John Barrymore
Stage and Silent Movie God
I melted when I saw Don Juan

Lionel Barrymore
Stage and Screen Legend
Fabulous Radio Voice

Humphrey Bogart
Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, and many, many more
My favorite Bogart film - Dark Passage

Jack Carson
Great character actor
Favorite films - Mildred Pierce and Romance on the High Seas

Ronald Colman
Screen Legend and Radio God
Favorite Films include Random Harvest, A Tale of Two Cities,   The White Sister
Radio appearances on The Jack Benny Show and The Halls of Ivy with wife Benita Hume , as well as appearances on Suspense such as in August Heat
OK, basically everything

Richard Conte
Great gritty actor
Favorite films - The Blue Gardenia, Somewhere in the Night, and especially Call Northside 777 (his character and characterization really spoke to me)

Errol Flynn
Swashbuckler extraordinaire
He's fabulous in adventures, westerns, war films, etc.
I wish he was known more for his wonderful acting rather than his bedroom antics.

Clark Gable
Fell in love with him since I saw him as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind
I also adore him in It Happened One Night

Cary Grant
Fantastic in everything - Who doesn't love Archie?
Favorite films - North by Northwest, The Bachelor and the Bobby-soxer,  and Arsenic and Old Lace