How Well Do You Know Hollywood? - Question 4

According to Photoplay, July 1940:

Two of these actors came to the screen direct from radio:

Ronald Reagan

Joel McCrea

Roger Pryor

Bill Lundigan

View the comments to find the answer

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.

Week in Review

Films of the Week

• Another Man's Poison (1951) - - Bette Davis (Janet Frobisher), Gary Merrill (George Bates), Emlyn Williams (Dr. Henderson), Anthony Steele (Larry Stevens), Barbara Murray (Chris Dale)

Week in Review

Films I've Viewed

• The Bribe (1949) - Robert Taylor (Rigby), Ava Gardner (Elizabeth Hintten), Charles Laughton (J.J. Bealer), Vincent Price (Carwood), John Hodiak (Tigwell "Tug" Hintten).  Taylor plays a cop, sent to find a group of people smuggling airplane motors and selling them illegally.  Ava is a down on her luck singer in a seedy nightclub, torn between her attraction to Rigby and her devotion to her shady, dying husband.  Elizabeth's husband is part of the gang, so if he does anything it will hurt her.  Robert Taylor is divine.  One of my favorite leading men.  Ava played the sultry singer well.  I don't think she was worth the trouble, but then, Ava is not one of my favorite actresses.  Charles Laughton and Vincent Price were fabulous as the bad guys.  Their portrayals were worth the film alone.  Well worth the view.

Wizard of Oz Wednesday

Cowardly Lion, Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow

These fun photographs were taken by Clarence Sinclair Bull or the cast of the Wizard of Oz (1939)

Links of the Week

Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle (R) with Gen. George S. Patton saluting as they review troops after landing at airfield.

Daytonian in Manhattan highlights the Humphrey Bogart House, where little Humphrey Bogart was born in 1899.

Matinee Monday - Creature With the Atom Brain (1955)

Creature With the Atom Brain (1955) poster

Creature With The Atom Brain (1955) is one of those fun, cheesy sci-fi films that could only have been made in the 50's.  I adore these films.  You can take the subject seriously or you may just enjoy the awesomeness and laugh along with the cast.

Happy Birthday Alice Faye and Tyrone Power

Alexander's Ragtime Band; 1938

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite stars of all time:  Alice Faye (5 May 1915 - 9 May 1998) and  Tyrone Power (5 May 1914 - 15 November 1958).

Alice Faye; Phil Harris; 1949

I adore Alice in everything, but my favorite Alice performance is as herself on her radio show The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.  I have a dress that is allegedly Alice's (it says A. Faye in it from Western Costume) but I have yet to find a photo or film of a dress even close to what I have.  I'm tempted to think it's not really hers. 

Tyrone Power; Marlene Dietrich; Witness for the Prosecution; 1957

And who doesn't adore Tyrone Power?  Handsome as all get out, and a fantastic actor.  My favorite performance of his happens to be his last on screen performance in Witness for the Prosecution with the fabulous Marlene Dietrich.  He played the character so that he was both incredibly lovable - and incredibly evil at the same time.  I've always marveled at how you can love and hate someone at the same time.  And what a twist!  I definitely recommend the film to anyone who hasn't seen it.

An Andrews Winter Vacation

Mary, Dana, and children

Dana Andrews is one of my favorite actors.  His voice is amazing!  Not only was he great on film, but he was amazing on the radio.  As you all know, I'm addicted to Old Time Radio, and he stars in I Was a Communist for the F.B.I., a fantastic show with definite insight into the times.  He also starred in the noir classic Laura, which one of my favorite films.  

Dana, Mary, and daughter Katharine

These photographs are from a 1947 winter vacation he took with his family.  It looks very fun.  On a side note, I love the winter posters on the walls in the above picture.  I wish advertisement today even half that beautiful today.

Family Roughhousing

Dana, his wife Mary, sons David and Stephen, and daughter Katharine, look like they are having a wonderful time.  I wish I could have that much fun in this cold weather.  I guess I'd rather burrow under the covers and wait until spring.

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

Orson Welles Does Not Want Credit

"Orson Welles wants it known that Mr. Dynamite was not written, directed, or produced by Orson Welles." (FIlm Fun, 1941)

I'm assuming that Orson thought this film was bad. I have not seen the film myself, and it appears to be somewhat obscure. It does not even warrant a summary on TCM. For what's it's worth the film was written by Stanley Rubin, Directed by John Rawlins, and Produced by Marshall Grant. From Universal in 1941, this thriller B film stars Lloyd Nolan, Irene Hervey, and J. Carrol Naish (whom I adore in OTR's Life With Luigi). It sounds like a fun thriller. Lloyd Nolan plays Tommy N. Thornton, aka Mr Dynamite, who is a dynamite baseball player. He follows a girl, Irene Nesbitt, into a theater. When the show is over, she's next to a dead man. Nasty characters become involved, and for some reason Shemp Howard as a fortune teller. I guess it's just one of those films I'll have to keep my eyes open for.

Happy Birthday to one of my favs - Phil Harris!

Happy 106th Birthday to my favorite:

Wonga Phil Harris!

Whenever you need a laugh, Phil Harris always fits the bill

He and Dean Martin always had hilarious encounters

One of my favorite Phil Harris quotes: "I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver."

I adore Phil Harris on the radio in the Jack Benny Program and of coarse, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. You can't be sad after listening to Phil. So full of life, fun, and hilarious. Happy Birthday Phil!