Harlow Hallucination

Jean Harlow
as Hattie Muller
from RiffRaff
by George Hurrell
1936

Marilyn and Miller - Part 3

More Marilyn and Miller photographs from 1957

Marilyn and Miller - Part 2

 

Marilyn and her third husband 

playwright Arthur Miller.

Matinee Monday - The Reptile (1966)

     I really love cheesy horror films, so I had to check out The Reptile (1966) which appeared on TCM last week.  It's a Hammer production, so that will tell you what kind of film we are talking about.  I recognized a couple faces, but generally was not familiar with any of the actors.  While not well known to me, they did a good job with the material.  But frankly, any time there is an old horror film on television, I'm there.  The fact that it is a Hammer production is also very intriguing.  I love their horror films with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing such as Dracula and The Mummy.

Pretty Printemps

Mrs Sascha Guitry  by Raymond Voinquel

     Mrs. Sacha Guitry, aka Yvonne Printemps (25 July 1894 - 19 January 1977), was a much-beloved French actress.  Working on stage on screen, she was known for her operatic voice.  Lovely (watch the link and you'll understand), she began her career at the tender age of 12 at La Cigale, becoming a Folies Bergere dancer by 13.  Her stage name, Printemps (meaning springtime), was given to her there because of her delightful disposition.  Yvonne appeared in 10 films.  One of the things she is mainly known for is her 1919 - 1934 marriage to French actor Sacha Guitry.  

Matinee Monday - Phibian Frolics

     I had to great pleasure (or torture to some) of some cheesy horror awesomeness starring the amazing Vincent Price.  From the cheesetastic minds of American International, I viewed the epic Dr. Phibes pictures - The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and the sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972).  I'm usually not a post-1960's horror fan unless it's so bad it's funny, so I was nervous about the serious looking films.  Most are just too gruesome and gross for me, focusing mostly on gore and not so much on an interesting or intelligent reason for the fear.  While these films may not have had a very intelligent reason for the fear, the story was interesting.  And frankly, I have yet to see a Vincent Price film where I don't at least enjoy his performance.

RIP - Alan Young, 1919-2016

Alan Young

     It's no secret that I adore Old Time Radio.  Alan Young was one of the last living legends of the era, and one of the few people public enough to still talked about it.  Yes, he is known mainly to the populace as a whole for Mr. Ed which brought him fame, but is not what I admire him most for.  I adore his turn as lovable Alan on the Alan Young Radio Show.  Running on various stations from 1944-1947 and 1949, it also starred the fabulous Jim Backus as Hubert Updike III which would eventually evolve into iconic Thurston Howell III on the television classic Gilligan's Island.