tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001984965829278332024-03-19T08:56:04.130+01:00Meanwhile... Back at the RanchHans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.comBlogger382125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-15238869308246452222016-09-02T11:17:00.001+02:002016-09-02T11:26:21.465+02:00VARIETY GIRL Andra Verne (1922-2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTRhXrgiNG5yiZkDa4k8qeV0Iekeqqw_xoMVIqv1cfkEoA8tZNXGT2EYa1-Rezh_poyZdX1o7p3RWS3AzwDHqN2YUlsGlsY3t5TYmVQVQldjleiG_7wMB85zAPmVp-ecHTRtXsGoKf0Y/s640/blogger-image-2015041346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaTRhXrgiNG5yiZkDa4k8qeV0Iekeqqw_xoMVIqv1cfkEoA8tZNXGT2EYa1-Rezh_poyZdX1o7p3RWS3AzwDHqN2YUlsGlsY3t5TYmVQVQldjleiG_7wMB85zAPmVp-ecHTRtXsGoKf0Y/s640/blogger-image-2015041346.jpg"></a> </div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;">Ever since I first saw this production still from the 1947 Paramount "all star" extravaganza <i>Variety Girl</i> I have wondered, not about the stars pictured - from Gary Cooper to Barbara Stanwyck - but the starlets (male and female) who for once achieved equal billing. None more so than #46, one <b>Andra Verne</b>, who also turned up, briefly and in the background, in the Alan Ladd- Veronica Lake starrer <i>Saigon </i>(1948). It was not much to go on, and in truth it took me 50+ years to discover who hid behind the intriguing name of Andra Verne. And that person, as you will see, is so much more than a long forgotten name listed in a casting sheet or two. So here, in the words of the author of her obituary, is the story of Andra Verne, <i>Variety Girl</i>'s number 46:</div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUrAzQgg9qkApIrIWhT9s9LQadc1qfdMcVeNpKbyoZdholkbg3Ae62HFEeVjTyvnVePzxrgPfzYzPzLOAIO1OmKkUzKpStwgj84jU3FbAW3bUNOoTM2Xe6fm-T2S_M_cZltysnW_D3rQ/s640/blogger-image--115342007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqUrAzQgg9qkApIrIWhT9s9LQadc1qfdMcVeNpKbyoZdholkbg3Ae62HFEeVjTyvnVePzxrgPfzYzPzLOAIO1OmKkUzKpStwgj84jU3FbAW3bUNOoTM2Xe6fm-T2S_M_cZltysnW_D3rQ/s640/blogger-image--115342007.jpg"></a></div> </div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: start;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></b></div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span class="style12" style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: start;"> IN MEMORIAM: ANNE STRAKACZ-APPLETON</div></span><span class="style12" style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: start;"> By Marek Żebrowski</div><div style="text-align: start;"><br></div><div style="text-align: start;"><div>Anne Strakacz-Appleton died in Sacramento, California on Friday, 31 July 2015. She was 93 years old. Widow of Louis B. Appleton, Jr., she leaves daughters Amy and Louise, residing in California, daughter Marguerite, a resident of Kansas, and four grandchildren.</div><div><br></div><div>Born in Warsaw on 17 March 1922, Anne Strakacz was the only child of Sylwin Strakacz, a career diplomat and longtime secretary to Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Anne’s mother, Aniela Karszo-Siedlewska, came from a very prominent Warsaw family of politicians, doctors and lawyers.</div><div><br></div><div>Known to her family and close friends as Anetka, she grew up between Warsaw and Riond-Bosson, Paderewski’s long-time residence near Lausanne, Switzerland. A precocious child, she was articulate and outspoken from an early age. Her mother recalled Anetka’s christening at the Sypniewski estate in Poland in November 1924. As soon as Anetka was held up by Paderewski, she solemnly enquired if he had his own teeth. This unexpected question elicited gales of laughter, also from her new godfather, who obligingly demonstrated that the teeth were still firmly his. </div><div><br></div><div>Educated in the prestigious Miss Platter’s School in Warsaw, throughout her life Anetka was fluent in Polish and French, and later mastered English when she and her family followed Paderewski on his last voyage to the United States in 1940. Throughout the 1930s, Anetka’s spirited presence was much appreciated by Paderewski, especially after his wife died in 1934. Her summer visits in Switzerland gradually extended to a permanent residence as the political situation throughout Europe worsened on the eve of World War II. </div><div><br></div><div>As a teenager, Anetka was a direct eyewitness to many truly fascinating events and met a great number of prominent musicians, intellectuals and politicians. Blessed with clear and unfailing memory, she faithfully remembered Paderewski’s piano students (Aleksander Brachocki, Stanisław Dygat, Stanisław Szpinalski, Henryk Sztompka, Albert Tadlewski), Paderewski’s co-editors of the monumental Chopin Edition (Ludwik Bronarski, Józef Turczyński), the visits of Polish politicians associated with the so-called Front Morges political faction (Józef Haller, Wojciech Korfanty, Gen. Władysław Sikorski), as well as many other notables from practically every corner of the world. Conversing with Anetka about almost any topic—history, politics, music or poetry—was always a rare delight, since probing insights and mesmerizing details were invariably forthcoming, oracle-style, practically without prompting. </div><div><br></div><div>Just like her father to whom she was especially close, Anetka was a devoted and courageous advocate for Paderewski, her benevolent and ever-present godfather. It became especially true after Anetka’s father died in Los Angeles in 1973, and she resolutely continued the family mission of honoring Paderewski’s good name. Anetka’s dedication to this task was exemplary and unrelenting: her steely wit and unassailable intellect are on full display in an op-ed published by the New York Times in 1990, where in a bravura argument she methodically demolished a myth about Greta Garbo visiting Paderewski in Switzerland in 1938. Over Paderewski’s long and eventful life, there were many wild tales about him and those she could refute, Anetka certainly did. After all, she was there, she met the people, she saw things, and she knew the facts. </div><div><br></div><div>Some facts were almost too cinematic and needed no embellishment, like Paderewski’s last moments, witnessed by Anetka and her mother in a New York hotel on a hot June 1941 evening. In his last breath Paderewski’s quietly had asked for a sip of champagne. Indeed, it was exactly like that and, quite possibly in honor of Paderewski’s memory, Anetka always had a chilled bottle of choice champagne on standby for visitors who called on her for decades to come.</div><div><br></div><div>After Paderewski’s death, the Strakacz family moved from the East Coast to Los Angeles, where Anetka—with her beauty and unmistakably continental flair—enjoyed a brief acting career in Hollywood and worked as a make-up artist and the main representative for Max Factor in Europe. Endowed with a great singing voice and truly spellbinding stage presence (inheriting her father’s musical talents and her mother’s 1930s glamour), Anetka often performed with such notable Hollywood film composers as Henry Vars or Bronisław Kaper, who accompanied her at the piano. </div><div><br></div><div>Also in Hollywood, Anetka met Louis B. Appleton, Jr., a producer, writer and director whom she married in 1949. They were married for 63 years until Louis died in 2013 at the age of 98. Eventually retiring to Rancho Murieta in northern California, Anetka bravely continued to champion Paderewski’s legacy. She gathered a number of memorabilia left to her by Helena Liibke (Madame Paderewska’s secretary who came to live with the Appletons in Rancho Murieta) and cooperated on preserving them with Małgorzata Perkowska at the Institute of Musicology at Jagiellonian University in Kraków as well as with a number of researchers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and the Polish Music Center at the University of Southern California. This is how young Paderewski’s letters to his future wife were donated to Jagiellonian University, that’s how Hoover Institution over the years has amassed a significant portfolio of Paderewski’s papers, and that’s how Polish Music Center became a repository for many of Paderewski’s personal items, correspondence, photographs and concert programs. </div><div><br></div><div>Surrounded by books and still more books, and propped in her favorite, semi-reclined position with an old-fashioned IBM Selectric typewriter on permanent stand-by, Anetka would engage in her other great hobby—writing and translating poetry. This she did almost to the end of her life, patiently correcting proofs and continuing to devour volumes of Polish, French and English poets. Reading well into the night, as was her lifelong habit, she finally fell asleep to the cadence of music and verse that accompanied her entire storied life. </div><div><br></div></div></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; clear: both;"><br></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-45171355381884386522016-04-20T19:35:00.001+02:002016-04-20T19:40:31.375+02:00The final home of REX LEASE<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">5262 Mary Ellen Ave., Van Nuys, CA</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWtWQXrYVmjZrNminiTlDR-2bCgh9VwyDPAceyMu1VR3SMFs_dI5BqnRRhSN68x5h9iLJvaFE-uN-Y1dvFD2fRZ14EnmR4ftgr1gwpTDjj4aNSI1UJ0EXEa70NNMi2cBouOU7-ubZSjA/s640/blogger-image--1545942496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWtWQXrYVmjZrNminiTlDR-2bCgh9VwyDPAceyMu1VR3SMFs_dI5BqnRRhSN68x5h9iLJvaFE-uN-Y1dvFD2fRZ14EnmR4ftgr1gwpTDjj4aNSI1UJ0EXEa70NNMi2cBouOU7-ubZSjA/s640/blogger-image--1545942496.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This San Fernando Valley property, currently under repairs, became the final home of silent era B Western star and later bit player/riding extra <b>Rex Lease</b>. The former "Cyclone of the Saddle" died here at the age of 62 sometime between New Years Eve, 1965 and January 2, 1966. His body was discovered by his son on January 3.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAxIlK8oOGEoc91bNtc3nzwwPqhUuI31rQ2tsGMRx5pnTtWFvX2TO4VIVlvxKTRHCg-jhIjTNSFZPad21LaVMPzQluda6MGLmbSYXxR7WpxbgkQQKIaAJIddy-yXyFxzKWvDggLgVIds/s640/blogger-image-198668353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAxIlK8oOGEoc91bNtc3nzwwPqhUuI31rQ2tsGMRx5pnTtWFvX2TO4VIVlvxKTRHCg-jhIjTNSFZPad21LaVMPzQluda6MGLmbSYXxR7WpxbgkQQKIaAJIddy-yXyFxzKWvDggLgVIds/s640/blogger-image-198668353.jpg"></a></div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-11927219427603245832016-04-06T21:27:00.001+02:002016-04-06T21:27:42.348+02:00The home of BASIL RATHBONE and OUIDA BERGERE10728 Bellagio Rd, Los Angeles, CA<div><br></div><div>The party-giving Rathbones purchased this Bel Air mansion in June of 1939 for the-then hefty amount of $65,000. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYcvFDMywWS-g0mjqD5_773xZFWqQVIaByMu2K9EFC1k-r9-IS3no5FoO5cp1nWCrDB1eAt0n7B8mWt-fH1UsKpNy7mWklJWGQ9VaodJaUHUfdvMoMAooidYTiB5eY2HW8Z21DedSe3o/s640/blogger-image--1120209952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDYcvFDMywWS-g0mjqD5_773xZFWqQVIaByMu2K9EFC1k-r9-IS3no5FoO5cp1nWCrDB1eAt0n7B8mWt-fH1UsKpNy7mWklJWGQ9VaodJaUHUfdvMoMAooidYTiB5eY2HW8Z21DedSe3o/s640/blogger-image--1120209952.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-82183296274055674372016-03-27T15:50:00.001+02:002016-03-27T16:09:06.978+02:00HALA LINDA in LEGION OF MISSING MEN (Monogram 1937)"A dour foreign legion picture," as the always perceptive Don Miller called it in his groundbreaking little tone <i>B Movies</i>, <i>Legion of Missing Men</i> takes a turn from desert stock to the incongruous sight of one <b>Hala Linda </b>performing in a dive frequented by our Leggionaires Ralph Forbes, Ben Alexander and Paul Hurst. The little ditty the supposedly Parisian Miss Linda performs, "You Are My Romance," was penned by Flo Browne and Richard B. Gump. The latter, as it turned out, was Hala's husband and the son of Abraham Levinston, "the San Francisco 'jade king'." Later that same year, Miss Linda, described as a "red haired Scandinavian actress" l(born Lindelof), learned that her husband had divorced her <i>while they were still cohabiting! </i>He, in turn, called his wife a gold digger and the couple quickly headed for court,me demanding that the divorce stand.<div><br><div><i>Hala Linda in </i>Legion of Missing Men<br><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2oBSDi7rFtw5VhPX1HbryEPSyF3afNPt52wvQC3WGimUIa0g_pasKhxUx5B1Yl3smHbSut6MyD95G0_Lc5Y9mH7qk4knNpXBT1NHwfw40BJDyWabp5EmtMrrEtBZEE0hR_PJh-kCYBjU/s640/blogger-image--456427729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2oBSDi7rFtw5VhPX1HbryEPSyF3afNPt52wvQC3WGimUIa0g_pasKhxUx5B1Yl3smHbSut6MyD95G0_Lc5Y9mH7qk4knNpXBT1NHwfw40BJDyWabp5EmtMrrEtBZEE0hR_PJh-kCYBjU/s640/blogger-image--456427729.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><a href="http://youtu.be/Da_WFkBOGD0">http://youtu.be/Da_WFkBOGD0</a></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><i>Hala Linda Gump in court</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKbJUMGpTmQIgR_RKLdX2UUcj7bR_a0DoC6jlPFbPMyfUNvp14H7ps-UNFD3uDg52u-vljg_J-tNsnakAQ7F2kK6olnHjH9koFL3K-eSdR9vdm8JY0Yoa9nVs0fyWnxVB8BQniWFGCrY/s640/blogger-image-611436843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKbJUMGpTmQIgR_RKLdX2UUcj7bR_a0DoC6jlPFbPMyfUNvp14H7ps-UNFD3uDg52u-vljg_J-tNsnakAQ7F2kK6olnHjH9koFL3K-eSdR9vdm8JY0Yoa9nVs0fyWnxVB8BQniWFGCrY/s640/blogger-image-611436843.jpg"></a></div><br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-68428991872242562492016-02-24T11:41:00.001+01:002016-03-09T09:45:36.820+01:00The (forgotten) women of the BIG FOUR FILM CORP. 1930-1931Founded by <b>John R. Freuler</b>, formerly of the American Film Company, <b>Big Four Film Corporation </b>was created to produce very low budget Westerns starring a constantly changing array of formerly silent Western performers: <b>Jack Perrin, Lane Chandler, Buffalo Bill, Jr., Yakima Canutt, Bob Custer, </b>and <b>Wally Wales. </b>Children and canines were also represented, by <b>Buzz Barton </b>and <b>Rin Tin Tin, Jr.</b><div><b><br></b></div><div>The leading ladies were not of the same caliber as the cowboy stars, but instead rank amateurs and chorus girls. Typical of the former was one <b>Bonnie Jean Gray, </b>"a well known Burbank horsewoman," who decorated Big Four's final release, <i>Flying Lariats </i>(1931) starring Wally Wales. Miss Gray had formerly toured the west coast as a trick rider with the Jayhawk Night Rodeo.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FJEky1ge-7gl5_kKN4lGhN6mz5CRB9gSbYvQwh8CrZQ8niI9e4B7SS9yjwZxTdRBKzJEc8o64nevgy-aky_oshEysHo0os-p7F9wN2yBPncUNWsBdaZQVNNmSwxbryqy2p02X0CZKKo/s640/blogger-image-1813665937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5FJEky1ge-7gl5_kKN4lGhN6mz5CRB9gSbYvQwh8CrZQ8niI9e4B7SS9yjwZxTdRBKzJEc8o64nevgy-aky_oshEysHo0os-p7F9wN2yBPncUNWsBdaZQVNNmSwxbryqy2p02X0CZKKo/s640/blogger-image-1813665937.jpg"></a></div> </div><br></div><div><b>Charline Burt </b><i>Beyond the Rio Grande</i> (1930, Jack Perrin). Miss Burt came from slapstick comedy, including Mack Sennett. Sadly, this Western appears to be lost.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Renee Borden </b><i>Ridin' Law</i> (1930, Jack Perrin), <i>Canyon Hawks</i> (1930, Yakima Canutt)</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZF2yNG7QYVUGQTX73-O72j801KssINRevkM1ubpDOOwKt8IAY8pP556oYqXSBSih8qEMjmFct5WFYuWpyHI0Vh2DZRHnhF7cxnLLwLWgWZPX-v8LReXXxOfnlUcrRjGOoVTyQy6ktf-U/s640/blogger-image--1356404913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZF2yNG7QYVUGQTX73-O72j801KssINRevkM1ubpDOOwKt8IAY8pP556oYqXSBSih8qEMjmFct5WFYuWpyHI0Vh2DZRHnhF7cxnLLwLWgWZPX-v8LReXXxOfnlUcrRjGOoVTyQy6ktf-U/s640/blogger-image--1356404913.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Bob Steele and Renee Borden in </i>Western Justice <i>(1934)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Aline Goodwin </b><i>Firebrand Jordan </i>(1930, Lane Chandler) Miss Goodwin, who almost exclusively appeared in silent and early sound Grade Z Westerns, later became an extra.</div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDsrJoM6y1cDWtJXqTuJAGscJ4DveFyJlzdkR4P0QGS_ifcN4rY7HPewGHpGJhtTxNrQggyy_6ogJk9kEGk05GX60IQTzFlcZQDqgZxI0HzAqfD69VRjMkNXqELixpqFPtQWfE3TK3l0/s640/blogger-image--2116576890.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqDsrJoM6y1cDWtJXqTuJAGscJ4DveFyJlzdkR4P0QGS_ifcN4rY7HPewGHpGJhtTxNrQggyy_6ogJk9kEGk05GX60IQTzFlcZQDqgZxI0HzAqfD69VRjMkNXqELixpqFPtQWfE3TK3l0/s640/blogger-image--2116576890.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Aline Goodwin and Lane Chandler in </i>Firebrand Jordan.</div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>Betty Baker </b><i>Bar L Ranch </i>(1930, Buffalo Bill, Jr.) Miss Baker hailed from South Carolina (b. 1907) but grew up in Los Angeles where she was educated at Metropolitan High School. She previously appeared opposite silent Western stars Buddy Roosevelt, Wally Wales and Buffalo Bill, Jr. <i>Bar L Ranch </i>appears to be her final film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi840BnohEe6liXIu5iNpXvFMdbVoGvkPxNHu04V8nLJ1TiQ07f2pxLiNrLd8kMnaBRqMmC-HYdBL6FQyi6R5h9V_Ph-C3_7s8OAqzymAXpI7QeVxx4Uu4RGG_On48q3wc9KCuqBpLrDi4/s640/blogger-image-335594241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi840BnohEe6liXIu5iNpXvFMdbVoGvkPxNHu04V8nLJ1TiQ07f2pxLiNrLd8kMnaBRqMmC-HYdBL6FQyi6R5h9V_Ph-C3_7s8OAqzymAXpI7QeVxx4Uu4RGG_On48q3wc9KCuqBpLrDi4/s640/blogger-image-335594241.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Betty Baker 1927</i></div><br></div><div><b>Lorraine LaVal </b><i>So This is Arizona </i>(1931, Wally Wales), <i>Riders of the Cactus </i>(1931, Wally Wales). Miss LaVal also appeared as a telegraph operator in Big Four's final release, <i>Flying Lariats.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsGiNtCc0m9G35C2rEX6JAKwnFkaj71izyYRgDyQaiYEcJkNA2WC-GZNcolr1YOQpsWfhRiAtOuoLOe0aasphfMAeIdyPM_F-E_V9Yc-7f_-HBfleeLqYXRTCxnHfr3zitsbIu0XmSwo/s640/blogger-image--1932617095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBsGiNtCc0m9G35C2rEX6JAKwnFkaj71izyYRgDyQaiYEcJkNA2WC-GZNcolr1YOQpsWfhRiAtOuoLOe0aasphfMAeIdyPM_F-E_V9Yc-7f_-HBfleeLqYXRTCxnHfr3zitsbIu0XmSwo/s640/blogger-image--1932617095.jpg"></a></div><br></i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><b>Pauline Parker </b><i>Human Targets </i>(1932, Rin Tin Tin) This appears to have ben Parker's only screen appearance.</div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-19347961132461547382016-02-22T23:06:00.001+01:002016-02-22T23:07:19.268+01:00EDNA ASLINIn honor of the US primary contests I give you early 1930 Z-Western starlet <b>Edna Aslin</b>, here demonstrating a certain lack of decision by advertising both the GOP elephant and the Democratic donkey. Miss Aslin, who sometimes spelled her name Aselin, starred opposite Ed Cobb, Jay Wilsey and other Robert J. Horner Western stalwarts. <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmLvqbTjf-ltWe-Ox76ZdMy7eHRp2Gj1AGAK5XZ0nsIXAXv7Ex_R8jEdMm8eRO1zRgZ94M7vx2DZoww9hgdMUXr5Z4IaqRqrAMehgmq1OJsUtUx1E6Oo5EeNNZ1p1ZASmUaW5Zoj_dDA/s640/blogger-image--1064918015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcmLvqbTjf-ltWe-Ox76ZdMy7eHRp2Gj1AGAK5XZ0nsIXAXv7Ex_R8jEdMm8eRO1zRgZ94M7vx2DZoww9hgdMUXr5Z4IaqRqrAMehgmq1OJsUtUx1E6Oo5EeNNZ1p1ZASmUaW5Zoj_dDA/s640/blogger-image--1064918015.jpg"></a></div> </div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-81197920003790733022016-02-22T15:14:00.001+01:002016-02-22T15:14:06.894+01:00ETHEL BECK in GUN GRIT at Talisman Studio.<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Well, actually, who is/was </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Ethel Beck</b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">? The nominal leading lady in a </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Jack Perrin </b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">western cum gangster movie </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Gun Grit </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">(1936), she clearly was no actress. The film is a bottom-of-the-barrel effort from indie producer <b>William Berke</b> made at the cheap Talisman Studio and directed by one Lester Williams who was William Berrke under any other name. Miss Beck is seen her holding a baby billed in the film as "Baby Lester," who was actually the producer's own son, Lester William Berke. Junior took over from his father when William Berke suddenly passed away while helming the sci fi flick <i>Mi</i></span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">ssile to the Moon </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">in 1958.</span></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW59-beB41N5oU05hyphenhyphenM1jByRnFcDl-36ujc0pYidTes98t_K0PCEQkzJfuWlfdd9LHNB9-pKFEDeVkrtq39KUF_5EH07gSSF0FoVlJ76KF5fF_XPoapiDeJK4WapEF0T9j7643-xmg4SM/s640/blogger-image--315528606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW59-beB41N5oU05hyphenhyphenM1jByRnFcDl-36ujc0pYidTes98t_K0PCEQkzJfuWlfdd9LHNB9-pKFEDeVkrtq39KUF_5EH07gSSF0FoVlJ76KF5fF_XPoapiDeJK4WapEF0T9j7643-xmg4SM/s640/blogger-image--315528606.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><i>Gun Grit </i>was released by <b>Atlantic Pictures Corp. </b>and was one of four Perrin "Blue Ribbon" westerns coproduced by Berke and the star himself. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuG0F3oNGzhLmTrDn1D3SUbC5muHJtdzDm6eFqaboFlUFq4XhV9tbxOCbs9-hBJEF8Liiuao_TkoCJ_blc8XZdo0RDZ8hKb-80Erv0Nsd1ratNC3xyrFL5On07NMcJL0OBm85jNJ4Tmng/s640/blogger-image--39042930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuG0F3oNGzhLmTrDn1D3SUbC5muHJtdzDm6eFqaboFlUFq4XhV9tbxOCbs9-hBJEF8Liiuao_TkoCJ_blc8XZdo0RDZ8hKb-80Erv0Nsd1ratNC3xyrFL5On07NMcJL0OBm85jNJ4Tmng/s640/blogger-image--39042930.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Talisman Studio, formerly Fine Arts and Tiffany-Stahl, at 4516 Sunset Blvd but seen here from Lyman Pl.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVD-JemgHFki53DI63-7rDHnrEBrMyniXsivAcTLTTep2lDYexO-uXbJH5g1oB7zCQ76icTDyid5IP-ByyAvU3vTv8bju2ssgxhjoYhLuRId1RSkxagFSMyO6I9sgN_4PmDYpOUpx-ZZM/s640/blogger-image--2142903661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVD-JemgHFki53DI63-7rDHnrEBrMyniXsivAcTLTTep2lDYexO-uXbJH5g1oB7zCQ76icTDyid5IP-ByyAvU3vTv8bju2ssgxhjoYhLuRId1RSkxagFSMyO6I9sgN_4PmDYpOUpx-ZZM/s640/blogger-image--2142903661.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The lot as it appears today</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzi55JPyZ3u-keMbQ2k_3oPlNKiNKM7ZyogsBGDh6ekaZX_PyCqtxMLgGY_VfutdoFGPKkIk2HdsoCxQdNZcxuIw01uMewNQvbVTktTe0xCH1Rrm1sjPc4Ye88AiSfcNibUnXZ6fBGR-M/s640/blogger-image-1752524722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzi55JPyZ3u-keMbQ2k_3oPlNKiNKM7ZyogsBGDh6ekaZX_PyCqtxMLgGY_VfutdoFGPKkIk2HdsoCxQdNZcxuIw01uMewNQvbVTktTe0xCH1Rrm1sjPc4Ye88AiSfcNibUnXZ6fBGR-M/s640/blogger-image-1752524722.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-17698535042719500542016-02-05T22:01:00.001+01:002016-02-05T22:18:23.535+01:00The home of MAY WYNN<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">'745 Domingo Dr., Newport Beach, CA</span></div><div><br></div><div>This rather drab condiminium complex near the Pacific Ocean in the Orange County community of Newport Beach is home to former Copa dancer <b>Donna Lee Hickey</b> who, under contract to Columbia Pictures in 1954, took the name of the character she played in <i>The Caine Mutiny </i>and became <b>May Wynn. </b>A true "Whatever Became of ...?" starlet, Wynn married TV actor <b>Jack Kelly </b>in 1956, a union described as one of Hollywood's most solid until the couple divorced in 1964.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbEozjr6e9ZyFx3fJrd0MEbd1aoR3RXh3kIvYOYHlQxBQ74yQp3aarg4o4bUkSUiYKZqkVYd3n-vkUYAaEBYY8HjFQVMS0jP0bKdYsPjnp3vWREpcnpUWu3o_F6dAKucf4XQVdUpa1w4/s640/blogger-image--1590170008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbEozjr6e9ZyFx3fJrd0MEbd1aoR3RXh3kIvYOYHlQxBQ74yQp3aarg4o4bUkSUiYKZqkVYd3n-vkUYAaEBYY8HjFQVMS0jP0bKdYsPjnp3vWREpcnpUWu3o_F6dAKucf4XQVdUpa1w4/s640/blogger-image--1590170008.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXa-qwCDZq6v96tObNwBf_YRNY8q6snP7rLidhpRTHk2-i3PW1br8UCjEYrvUW9CF-H8x624GWiLxYE5UpY4qLVIrCly7kCcW0Vam6xDgm9UgzVi-lRqLAOlx0SH7tIk0303v3WO-pru8/s640/blogger-image--1148597957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXa-qwCDZq6v96tObNwBf_YRNY8q6snP7rLidhpRTHk2-i3PW1br8UCjEYrvUW9CF-H8x624GWiLxYE5UpY4qLVIrCly7kCcW0Vam6xDgm9UgzVi-lRqLAOlx0SH7tIk0303v3WO-pru8/s640/blogger-image--1148597957.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><i>May Wynn and her leading man from </i>The Caine Mutiny<i>, <b>Robert Francis</b>, in their second film together, </i>They Rode West <i>(1955). May was dating the handsome Francis when he was tragically killed in an airplane disaster that same year. That Robert Francis was the male lover of billionaire Howard Hughes, as at least one modern writer claims, is wholly unsubstantiated. Then again, who could have blamed Howard?</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_3UUMPWcLjSvLurgOt3foQj3mIuQ-4M4H4s5hdiCm5ic1UaW6zbsb2WwbNzCfEUrrpfWbWdWE2zGx1iQCiPIp2ZYN_mXZT-f9tRpF2vAToRG2hjNlkFnfteye3uP94cYcMLh1k5v8j4/s640/blogger-image-2076758522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD_3UUMPWcLjSvLurgOt3foQj3mIuQ-4M4H4s5hdiCm5ic1UaW6zbsb2WwbNzCfEUrrpfWbWdWE2zGx1iQCiPIp2ZYN_mXZT-f9tRpF2vAToRG2hjNlkFnfteye3uP94cYcMLh1k5v8j4/s640/blogger-image-2076758522.jpg"></a></div><br></i></div> </div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-11239531923154430712016-02-05T13:11:00.001+01:002016-02-05T13:15:33.403+01:00The home of PATRICIA MEDINA and JOSEPH COTTEN17800 Tramonto Dr., Pacific Palisades, CA<div><br></div><div>This forbidding home overlooking the Pacific once belonged to the Hollywood acting duo of <b>Patricia Medina </b>(1919-2012) and <b>Joseph Cotten </b>(1905-1994). Earlier, the abode housed <b>Judith Exner</b>, famous for sharing her not inconsiderable charms with both Mafioso Sam Giancana and President John F. Kennedy. And allegedly around the same time. The property is right above the infamous garage on Castellamare where blonde comedienne Thelma Todd was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning December 16, 1935.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7eaohSjZ01F5JOyRt_DDqfaeHE_s6WOMuf9UwpMMqUrX5L1_NgoQDptbIFzDS5bO8NzIoQ39qQ7vwVd6HyA5e2WTiJ3bdPnGIvq7EqWeXWHMmxANd4WWU5hlir2TSpvhMyiTh4_rw0JY/s640/blogger-image-1398490402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7eaohSjZ01F5JOyRt_DDqfaeHE_s6WOMuf9UwpMMqUrX5L1_NgoQDptbIFzDS5bO8NzIoQ39qQ7vwVd6HyA5e2WTiJ3bdPnGIvq7EqWeXWHMmxANd4WWU5hlir2TSpvhMyiTh4_rw0JY/s640/blogger-image-1398490402.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpuISWkxdgr-zl4lCExCkqthW1ZY-qiqwqpIhok-OB-Cr6QIamn9BaMegRFA5dxn9_1KVXQ9azbuNxIAkSGiIQcYJ-o49kzeSXQ3KTKWnS9mkDjVowrxyHyUV5DQVehhqxOTEQC5-HTg/s640/blogger-image--1275517495.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpuISWkxdgr-zl4lCExCkqthW1ZY-qiqwqpIhok-OB-Cr6QIamn9BaMegRFA5dxn9_1KVXQ9azbuNxIAkSGiIQcYJ-o49kzeSXQ3KTKWnS9mkDjVowrxyHyUV5DQVehhqxOTEQC5-HTg/s640/blogger-image--1275517495.jpg"></a></div><br></i></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-63892691230410441432016-02-04T15:01:00.001+01:002016-02-05T12:56:00.245+01:00CAROL KELLY of the acting Kellys.<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Born in New York City in 1934, <b>Carol Kelly</b> was out of a performing family that also included sister Nancy Kelly and brother Jack Kelly, both of whom enjoyed long screen and television careers. Carol, though, not so much and her only prominent assignment came in <i>Terror in a Texas Town</i> 1958), a low budget but quite interesting western starring Sterling Hayden, directed by cult phenomenon Joseph H. Lewis and penned by actor Nedrick Young. The later, who was blacklisted, was unbilled. </span></div><div><br></div><div>Carol married prolific actor Joe Marross in 1958 but divorced him four years later. In her complaint, she alleged that her husband beat her and once even pulled her around the house by her ankles. "I guess I just can't adjust to marriage," Marross had explained in lieu of an apology. Carol was awarded full custody of their son, Michael. </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Cc41if7NbSsAn5z7ukRz87MCGyc2pozgSQ0m0m7EYJwJGNMzTA62lYieZ9QYtzrTZhDYFvOF70dFsndmfO6qJSeHcYaVIWQQ3rBUPL77o_nbuyCALhJ0PtQ_32webuh3ril0LGgDYmg/s640/blogger-image-106083518.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Cc41if7NbSsAn5z7ukRz87MCGyc2pozgSQ0m0m7EYJwJGNMzTA62lYieZ9QYtzrTZhDYFvOF70dFsndmfO6qJSeHcYaVIWQQ3rBUPL77o_nbuyCALhJ0PtQ_32webuh3ril0LGgDYmg/s640/blogger-image-106083518.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-20201223827153009722016-02-04T00:06:00.001+01:002016-02-04T00:17:39.393+01:00The Home of MONA KNOX1400 N. Gardner, West Hollywood, CA<div><br></div><div>The final home of 1950s starlet and popular girl-about-town <b>Mona Knox </b>(1929-2008)</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwxMF8dMhT2mbFJOyuoynXWYPUaq3Dza2e1ez4RCaWaULUl3egWFXSnLjVA06_YZ75qm0sx5l_dCE_A9yZDgZrKA5UHmq4Qg_oj9lmvKb5wP49FF5C18K3va5Uxd3j-TrBXDCizi9fUQ/s640/blogger-image-272882553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwxMF8dMhT2mbFJOyuoynXWYPUaq3Dza2e1ez4RCaWaULUl3egWFXSnLjVA06_YZ75qm0sx5l_dCE_A9yZDgZrKA5UHmq4Qg_oj9lmvKb5wP49FF5C18K3va5Uxd3j-TrBXDCizi9fUQ/s640/blogger-image-272882553.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgms7OVZIu-jz_Jb9iRtE1UOFn79ICjwVOcAzow31b8gKSFh0VgzNuUa3HQtsV69wLW0BVFuMy8qKL7VaTPw0R6AHS6V_RY1FAmlqJYwt14m7gDBhWnt9l4RxRF-QPU0ZhOuk6itseIE/s640/blogger-image--823933274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUgms7OVZIu-jz_Jb9iRtE1UOFn79ICjwVOcAzow31b8gKSFh0VgzNuUa3HQtsV69wLW0BVFuMy8qKL7VaTPw0R6AHS6V_RY1FAmlqJYwt14m7gDBhWnt9l4RxRF-QPU0ZhOuk6itseIE/s640/blogger-image--823933274.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Richard Crane and Mona Knox in </i>Thundering Caravans <i>(Republic, 1952), which starred Allan "Rocky" Lane but came with no caravans at all.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAzuIbvsI4ddpY-ewdpjGo-mizM6BqR3NbnzFdhmG2wS31MCZex5n-pwjBDUzzx_1fs-KanaLwRFFZ5Mh0db3Dm2WFdxYv5V1GvXK0zXcCRmewyQGE5jkAAZI7UhWFN4GSw8KaD8j2yw/s640/blogger-image--665184585.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEAzuIbvsI4ddpY-ewdpjGo-mizM6BqR3NbnzFdhmG2wS31MCZex5n-pwjBDUzzx_1fs-KanaLwRFFZ5Mh0db3Dm2WFdxYv5V1GvXK0zXcCRmewyQGE5jkAAZI7UhWFN4GSw8KaD8j2yw/s640/blogger-image--665184585.jpg"></a></div><br></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-14013255620170417982016-02-03T22:42:00.001+01:002016-03-09T09:43:46.452+01:00The home of MYRNA HANSEN2037 Coldwater Canyon Dr., Beverly Hills, CA<div><br></div><div>The current home of <b>Myrna Hansen </b>(b. 1934), <i>Miss U.S.A.</i> of 1953 and the runner-up in that year's <i>Miss a Universe </i>contest. Earned successive contracts with Universal-International (was there along with Mamie Van Doren and Rock Hudson) and MGM, but did mostly cheesecake layouts.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTNNVHCdnpsyBoO2XcNPhxK9zb2VuYSt6bmCs-jPft-2Prvx6wehZ833Blph4KsBkqNe_dwV7mXuolLKL3NB7t1gFjKsf83Y3W-akhQz1hrhEZ_ADIVBSwLDOLBPiZzAwuj7wRehVvKM/s640/blogger-image--380827835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTNNVHCdnpsyBoO2XcNPhxK9zb2VuYSt6bmCs-jPft-2Prvx6wehZ833Blph4KsBkqNe_dwV7mXuolLKL3NB7t1gFjKsf83Y3W-akhQz1hrhEZ_ADIVBSwLDOLBPiZzAwuj7wRehVvKM/s640/blogger-image--380827835.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHLdnDufmk2-9iB8mpuXMqUByJeKE9-EoerkH94rPqsxCDutQY4yks-47OLuOg6C9DyVTh0IGtRj1ahyphenhyphenCVl9haH1kX9ODTX7-rBF4ScE4EfjNSRvK7VO_IN03VgWTEM3PrmWOl6ggKCc/s640/blogger-image--2020457270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgHLdnDufmk2-9iB8mpuXMqUByJeKE9-EoerkH94rPqsxCDutQY4yks-47OLuOg6C9DyVTh0IGtRj1ahyphenhyphenCVl9haH1kX9ODTX7-rBF4ScE4EfjNSRvK7VO_IN03VgWTEM3PrmWOl6ggKCc/s640/blogger-image--2020457270.jpg"></a></div><br></div> </div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-20625030665569588822015-11-06T09:21:00.001+01:002015-11-06T09:21:32.653+01:00R.I.P. GREGG PALMER (1927-2015)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc2hsbhHdYwlVgmI1qot20zssq2-lU0lqJEghiEx6SnuUxSHfU4y6ldXB6GNxA4beTAQqbUyEDxuC7tmzZZxXEByrUlIefwfPaXev7NlOFnSza0vH2geA70yPOXj51M2GqNomDLBMPjE/s640/blogger-image-1508429409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgc2hsbhHdYwlVgmI1qot20zssq2-lU0lqJEghiEx6SnuUxSHfU4y6ldXB6GNxA4beTAQqbUyEDxuC7tmzZZxXEByrUlIefwfPaXev7NlOFnSza0vH2geA70yPOXj51M2GqNomDLBMPjE/s640/blogger-image-1508429409.jpg"></a></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-10519244629526763402015-10-01T12:44:00.001+02:002015-10-01T12:47:56.169+02:00ZARAH TAZIL in A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT (c.1935)Now how many Moroccan actresses do you think dabbled in Grade Z screenwriting in Hollywood in the 1930s? None, would be the obvious answer in a sane world. But this isn't a sane world and if you dig deep enough you'll actually come up with one <b>Zarah Tazil, </b>who is credited with writing or co-writing a handful of minuscule <b>Bill Cody</b> oaters released in the mid-1930s. Zarah also appeared as fiery senoritas in a couple of them but is probably best remembered as an equally fiery French-speaking, or rather French-screaming, villainess in <b>Lon Chaney's </b><i>A Scream in the Night, </i>a very mild actioner set in "the Orient" that didn't enjoy a wide release until 1943, a good eight or so years after it had been filmed at the old Marshall Neilan studio on Glendale Blvd. Miss Tazil earned a "technical advisor" credit in that one but who exactly was she? And how did she end up being credited with writing Bill Cody westerns? Well, we just don't know. The only clue is that the producers of both the Cody Westerns and <i>Scream,</i> <b>Ray Kirkwood, </b>advertised six additional Lon Chaney films to be filmed, all scripted by Miss Tazil. Only <i>The Shadow of Silk Lennox </i>emerged but our Zarah was credited as art director rather than screenwriter. She seems indeed to have been closely connected to Mr. Kirkwood but just how close remains unknown. Was she actually Mrs. KIrkwood? <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnx5AdHK-o3Lhym0lsESnyFz7QnWBGfmvNUT7Xdn8wvA-VRQKt0i7rwTVAkxXmHC_il9v0PWsVDwp62fMMgSG0t9q_JIOchSi6FUlqIBkOnfB8hllt6DaA7bA6yQtPdEgml3-tby5k3-c/s640/blogger-image--990051335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnx5AdHK-o3Lhym0lsESnyFz7QnWBGfmvNUT7Xdn8wvA-VRQKt0i7rwTVAkxXmHC_il9v0PWsVDwp62fMMgSG0t9q_JIOchSi6FUlqIBkOnfB8hllt6DaA7bA6yQtPdEgml3-tby5k3-c/s640/blogger-image--990051335.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-22789280532154124362015-09-30T00:03:00.001+02:002015-09-30T16:07:46.764+02:00TOVE LINDAN in HOUSE OF DANGER (1933)I've come across the odd name <b>Tove Lindan</b> a couple of times while researching low budget early talkies. Tove, who according to the IMDb, hailed from Nebraska, rarely had much to do in those poverty row potboilers but according to a February 1930 wire service report, she was "a famous American unknown in America." She had lived in "the Orient" since childhood, the news story went on to reveal, and become a famous actress there. Perhaps. But if her brief appearance as a house party flirt in <i>House of Danger</i> (1934), a mild little whodunit from shoestring company Peerless starring Onslow Stevens, is anything to go by she wasn't a very good actress. But there you are. According to the California Death Index, Tove Lindan passed away aged 64 on July 6, 1965. Since I've failed to locate any photos of the lady, this screenshot will have to suffice. <div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12XSu-ppBWkK0bAJF2AKxCr53q7Ygt58rfu1E-O-mPqJmigaDoOdol0u7u5Unv-JbM96RerbbI2FRgXSNkadRCk2RIub_SUasj4pqyDSGqyhBOfZnVSp5wD-NWGlScGPxqXEGz1vwC4E/s640/blogger-image-757815141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh12XSu-ppBWkK0bAJF2AKxCr53q7Ygt58rfu1E-O-mPqJmigaDoOdol0u7u5Unv-JbM96RerbbI2FRgXSNkadRCk2RIub_SUasj4pqyDSGqyhBOfZnVSp5wD-NWGlScGPxqXEGz1vwC4E/s640/blogger-image-757815141.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-23814103259780058532015-09-21T14:40:00.001+02:002015-09-21T14:40:15.207+02:00The home of JAMES BRIDGES and JACK LARSON449 N. Skyewiay Rd., Los Angeles, CA.<div>This fantastic Brentwood house built by <b>Frank Lloyd Wright </b>was the home of director <b>James Bridges</b> (d. 1994) and his longtime companion, the original TV "Jimmy Olsen," <b>Jack Larson. </b>The latter died yesterday, September 20, 2015. Jack Larrson was 87.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJ1anm8UdZ1q8OlnlbajZspfzQNbVjQ-DCxacW6vmOLIfTJYaYFrpdNFS40h74sO1MXUt3iKxjXOjH8rbILrHk1D1VJyUUYCal8tsORvOlndbfN8Z-GAIME7rDBL6O8RjzrMlGRLiOP0/s640/blogger-image-585425401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtJ1anm8UdZ1q8OlnlbajZspfzQNbVjQ-DCxacW6vmOLIfTJYaYFrpdNFS40h74sO1MXUt3iKxjXOjH8rbILrHk1D1VJyUUYCal8tsORvOlndbfN8Z-GAIME7rDBL6O8RjzrMlGRLiOP0/s640/blogger-image-585425401.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>Jack Larson on </i>Superman:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83iyiHTtHp245t4n69iv-SmHD42JzU-yp5IkKp5Jl75V8AcJS8ELtbKu01FSq-_yp9EO_9WA9_r99NgOvU7KfFfqeSLB0Agd_WPkF0zt7Yl8SGtF84ZeV_Yb91X-wg196P3dIFpJ7t1g/s640/blogger-image--1841951611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj83iyiHTtHp245t4n69iv-SmHD42JzU-yp5IkKp5Jl75V8AcJS8ELtbKu01FSq-_yp9EO_9WA9_r99NgOvU7KfFfqeSLB0Agd_WPkF0zt7Yl8SGtF84ZeV_Yb91X-wg196P3dIFpJ7t1g/s640/blogger-image--1841951611.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-91780071475914760902015-09-19T11:30:00.001+02:002015-09-19T11:30:24.640+02:00The home of ETHEL TEARE1133 Laguna Ave., Los Angeles, CA<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Could this ramshackle home near Echo Park date back to 1920? If so, it belonged at the time to Mack Sennett comedienne <b>Ethel Teare</b> (1894-1959).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxwV98rIb42VXgGMJsEnCRE9AqcaFHVmqdQPeMIpJExRP6HUyDGHPrESFxP7ibLMnalaFfdYS78T6IT0hjSusWwaK1ALUR4F1jki5pR83AJcfPUwzRi6aLySPTAjeTGD7CKOSTeQH5C4/s640/blogger-image--42927760.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzxwV98rIb42VXgGMJsEnCRE9AqcaFHVmqdQPeMIpJExRP6HUyDGHPrESFxP7ibLMnalaFfdYS78T6IT0hjSusWwaK1ALUR4F1jki5pR83AJcfPUwzRi6aLySPTAjeTGD7CKOSTeQH5C4/s640/blogger-image--42927760.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjslu8GEHfU9K8xabyhWQ5ipx8BboesEHvotJguUYXi6b_RHMHZKhSn6fxBmiW6CSDMcu1efbSqFlLhFDkp8lyqUqR8pzqe9twLje0VaBH8noRXXg1_mxMv3B973qiObLHStoV0XgkpSnY/s640/blogger-image-464665146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjslu8GEHfU9K8xabyhWQ5ipx8BboesEHvotJguUYXi6b_RHMHZKhSn6fxBmiW6CSDMcu1efbSqFlLhFDkp8lyqUqR8pzqe9twLje0VaBH8noRXXg1_mxMv3B973qiObLHStoV0XgkpSnY/s640/blogger-image-464665146.jpg"></a></div><br></div> </span></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-30033555984302535522015-08-24T15:19:00.001+02:002015-08-24T15:20:24.083+02:00Old Hollywood and "New"An interesting mix at a function in 1955: (l. to r.) <b>Betty Blythe</b>, silent screen femme fatale, <b>Hank Mann, </b>silent screen slapstick comic, <b>Susan Cabot, </b>1950s starlet, <b>Mack Sennett, </b>legendary silent screen slapstick producer and innovator, and <b>Peggie Castle, </b>1950s starlet. The veterans enjoyed long lives but both of the starlets died tragically, Cabot murdered by her own son, and Castle, an incurable alcoholic whose life had completely unravelled, of a heart attack.<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3ER3dPfVcdHI1IgqBcniZTC6mfNAWjfO3DP8RPwsao7XfEBhxhjfxXN9bCANiTPZsRTw5c3AOaY6c8UgcHhNpPeStIOxVfM2mYjItlROjLfFQ63VmShkPoEpZQ5NHgJIGeiU7ckC01I/s640/blogger-image--1365135216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3ER3dPfVcdHI1IgqBcniZTC6mfNAWjfO3DP8RPwsao7XfEBhxhjfxXN9bCANiTPZsRTw5c3AOaY6c8UgcHhNpPeStIOxVfM2mYjItlROjLfFQ63VmShkPoEpZQ5NHgJIGeiU7ckC01I/s640/blogger-image--1365135216.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-55449153199825667382015-08-23T21:22:00.001+02:002015-08-23T23:11:18.851+02:00MAMIE VAN DOREN meets royaltyYes, our <b>Mamie Van Doren</b> chats up <b>Prince Axel of Denmark</b> at the Universal commissary in 1954. The prince was a cousin of Edward VII of United Kingdom and a great-uncle of the current Queen of Denmark, <b>Margrethe II. </b>His mansion at the outskirts of Copenhagen is today the British Embassy.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNmMga4TxQDfdAX1Q2t8TEu-LZCJdkkegfxMkiyF0TRZs06iQRpLCVrN4j4mTVSX5mHyx2a0mHJimFHO8qXGuyzlCbVwhyphenhyphenaKvi-IjodNhUnul5NBxo6NFFjvkj8J29LttJiOktskxStU/s640/blogger-image-736567663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNmMga4TxQDfdAX1Q2t8TEu-LZCJdkkegfxMkiyF0TRZs06iQRpLCVrN4j4mTVSX5mHyx2a0mHJimFHO8qXGuyzlCbVwhyphenhyphenaKvi-IjodNhUnul5NBxo6NFFjvkj8J29LttJiOktskxStU/s640/blogger-image-736567663.jpg"></a></div> </div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-63622617797868737542015-08-23T20:40:00.001+02:002015-08-23T21:07:38.745+02:00Lili Kardell and Joan Bradshaw in LOOKING FOR DANGER (Allied Artists,
1957)<div><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><b>Huntz Hall </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">gets star billing in this the fourth to the last of Allied Artists' patented </span><i style="font-weight: normal;">Bowery Boys</i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> comedies, in which, once again, </span><b>Stanley Clements </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">stands in for the much missed Leo Gorcey, who had left the series the previous year. In a flashback to their adventures in the last war, the boys infiltrate the Casablanca household of Sultan Sidi-Omar (Michael Granger), who is a Nazi spy. His fiancée, the lovely Shareen (Lili Kardell), is also a spy, however for the allied cause. And so it goes. "Sach" rolls his "r's" menacingly pretending to be German and slapstick ensues, latter-day Bowery style. Nothing to get too excited about, but kinda fun if in the mood.</span></div></b></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FMh00wIKxhJSSdWGLyrSmZ_sXbB-X5Sz4FdWBYm8V73xhyiapKbLh6MJAD_FA0R2vGFgqunBf2bz_G5ZokK6Nkgc4JPsGaqEaRy6Bti37r-WG6MWqoBYmw_w3G3HK-GRBw0L5wg-f6E/s640/blogger-image--2014281379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FMh00wIKxhJSSdWGLyrSmZ_sXbB-X5Sz4FdWBYm8V73xhyiapKbLh6MJAD_FA0R2vGFgqunBf2bz_G5ZokK6Nkgc4JPsGaqEaRy6Bti37r-WG6MWqoBYmw_w3G3HK-GRBw0L5wg-f6E/s640/blogger-image--2014281379.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">From Norrkjöping, Sweden (rather than Stockholm as is usually claimed) <b>Lili Kardell </b>appeared quite a bit on television but was better known as one of <b>James Dean's </b>girlfriends. "I was like his sister," a sobbing Lili told the Swedish press when Dean got himself killed in his brand new Porsche. Sadly, Miss Kardell did not enjoy a long life, either, dying at the age of only 50 in New York City in 1987.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsIJYPd3WhACOM6xN-Ii35rI2cD9Tb_wPahmrWSWa5eo1lB7LL7mISHrnJW1QDKjfMXmSwxpwTKXbQ2XdN4288cL1nPktO1VpRkXvUuAuqZTpnlOGknS7SET9rdPYt5Hch4jiKHEvezw/s640/blogger-image-66925647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYsIJYPd3WhACOM6xN-Ii35rI2cD9Tb_wPahmrWSWa5eo1lB7LL7mISHrnJW1QDKjfMXmSwxpwTKXbQ2XdN4288cL1nPktO1VpRkXvUuAuqZTpnlOGknS7SET9rdPYt5Hch4jiKHEvezw/s640/blogger-image-66925647.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Among the obligatory harem girls in <i>Looking for Danger</i> we find Texas-born starlet <b>Joan Bradshaw</b>, who someone at the IMDb actually believes became a top Hollywood producer confidante of Steven Spielberg. Perhaps. If true, though, the now 74-year-old Miss Bradshaw will probably enjoy the rather revealing photo I shall post below. Va Va Voom, madam producer is all I can say!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This Joan Bradshaw, anyway, hailed from Houston, was Miss Texas and danced on television's <i>Arthur Murray Party </i>when actress Jean Simmons allegedly suggested she give Hollywood a try. In May if 1961, she became the third wife of producer <b>Frank Ross</b>, following in the footsteps of Jean Arthur and Joan Caulfield. The newlyweds honeymooned in Palm Springs. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJ_lfzLjG3qGVTQaGIH8zMEuQ1OxLfhcfSj8_A3Te2xU2zSJlc0b_5dpPQE6C05p6iaNJA7nhsJD0kPzXkWBMKeGK_bGoAl4luHirJgfFaFzDnErDmACH_W0gXe9RvjT7V1Ep_iMSMt8/s640/blogger-image-1772702802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJ_lfzLjG3qGVTQaGIH8zMEuQ1OxLfhcfSj8_A3Te2xU2zSJlc0b_5dpPQE6C05p6iaNJA7nhsJD0kPzXkWBMKeGK_bGoAl4luHirJgfFaFzDnErDmACH_W0gXe9RvjT7V1Ep_iMSMt8/s640/blogger-image-1772702802.jpg"></a></div> </div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div> </div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-58694284714775965542015-08-09T20:42:00.001+02:002015-08-09T20:56:57.607+02:00HOPE HAMPTON in 1961Silent screen star (mainly due to her producer husband Jules Brulatour) <b>Hope Hampton </b>(1897-1982) kibitzing with <b>Zohra Lambert </b>in <i>Hey, Let's Twist. </i>Hope plays Hope Hampton, Manhattan hostess-with-the-mostest and later actually performs the twist as a ballroom is momentarily turned into a groovy dancehall. <i>Hey, Let's Twist</i>, a true time capsule movie, may be enjoyed with a <i>Amazon Prime </i>membership. This was Miss Hampton's final screen appearance and she appeared to be enjoying it.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyP8scvCpRu8iQTRMDA6xcUUy9esvZoCbA3qzzlv0gXfLo5HBZfap4oyUp-Hq4Nu3pffjoXFVQcw6C5RD4nocwrwo_aSjlvtsYOwWQfTz9g7CMcNunDMJnqBz3Ap1hC7NdENPSMK257Vg/s640/blogger-image-794894149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyP8scvCpRu8iQTRMDA6xcUUy9esvZoCbA3qzzlv0gXfLo5HBZfap4oyUp-Hq4Nu3pffjoXFVQcw6C5RD4nocwrwo_aSjlvtsYOwWQfTz9g7CMcNunDMJnqBz3Ap1hC7NdENPSMK257Vg/s640/blogger-image-794894149.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9A889-VVp8Cd_JjN-WxI4R4uzpyyD9fKW9JYZJHzXPmkfe8CHEdVwsOcqqMioiJXcxgcteDctAJQFtDDPveCW8ZArBS3HYBfiH5zzWphOa6NHYrwi1jH_cvrHDGZTHP9Fy9deoTr9-YI/s640/blogger-image-1330014271.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9A889-VVp8Cd_JjN-WxI4R4uzpyyD9fKW9JYZJHzXPmkfe8CHEdVwsOcqqMioiJXcxgcteDctAJQFtDDPveCW8ZArBS3HYBfiH5zzWphOa6NHYrwi1jH_cvrHDGZTHP9Fy9deoTr9-YI/s640/blogger-image-1330014271.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-71569714684105594172015-08-09T20:19:00.001+02:002015-08-10T12:23:57.865+02:00SALLY KIRKLAND in 1961A brunette <b>Sally Kirkland</b> doing the New Year's twist in <i>Hey, That's Twist, </i>the future Oscar nominee's (<i>Anna</i>, 1987) second film appearance. <i>Hey, Let's Twist </i>is available on <i>Amazon Prime.</i><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyF_wFa_F-0s8S_76gh6dTsa6VtCFHDYSwGh4LEIzKp180U8L8pJVKmJStaTwaw5LgMKajDM_OOpxMdtJqk_9KWhu9XOnM4LiXChCUIjA7rlNhAA-0hfXgEOQTeJV45B3GuYDsFm9Bvk/s640/blogger-image-1392373480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyF_wFa_F-0s8S_76gh6dTsa6VtCFHDYSwGh4LEIzKp180U8L8pJVKmJStaTwaw5LgMKajDM_OOpxMdtJqk_9KWhu9XOnM4LiXChCUIjA7rlNhAA-0hfXgEOQTeJV45B3GuYDsFm9Bvk/s640/blogger-image-1392373480.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><i>Below: </i>Sally Kirkland<i> (left in print dress) cutting the rug back to back with singer </i>Kay Armen. The Starliters <i>on the stage.</i></div><div><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlefEQpEJ4kE39Zp6tfK4msnZyMQXCdEHFOpOBa86s42px5JQpenYIoDkDVQhh5RV6BiBgKSk-K_cF6Nrc8t5oCzBUtIFHkFLTfff_omoNUxGKRKGpjxcL53YWKXcaJ38Ze5WWrVwnDg/s640/blogger-image--1770045240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-style: italic; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlefEQpEJ4kE39Zp6tfK4msnZyMQXCdEHFOpOBa86s42px5JQpenYIoDkDVQhh5RV6BiBgKSk-K_cF6Nrc8t5oCzBUtIFHkFLTfff_omoNUxGKRKGpjxcL53YWKXcaJ38Ze5WWrVwnDg/s640/blogger-image--1770045240.jpg"></a></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></i></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-3935663202510752232015-08-09T13:01:00.001+02:002015-08-09T13:01:30.925+02:00The Home of RUTH STONEHOUSE204 N. Rossmore Ave., Los Angeles, CA<div>This was the home of pioneering action heroine and early film director <b>Ruth Stonehouse</b> (1892-1941), who, an avid gardener, spent her retirement here growing rare and exotic flowers. The property is but a stone's throw from beautiful Wilshire Country Club.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xISxAuHHb12G1maaFZQnrs8PrmCfLAqBpXTNdghJeuROrN7EmCstbceok7R_EFeF41WCgcG94UKOcchg9-hM2PziExYJjywVkXnyFpN7LolK9hKoOkySSUd0XZQi6sRUUUVApxc6lKo/s640/blogger-image-484394605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xISxAuHHb12G1maaFZQnrs8PrmCfLAqBpXTNdghJeuROrN7EmCstbceok7R_EFeF41WCgcG94UKOcchg9-hM2PziExYJjywVkXnyFpN7LolK9hKoOkySSUd0XZQi6sRUUUVApxc6lKo/s640/blogger-image-484394605.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa3A_AKkCBeCI28LANTj0Ge0J9C8mr5CA1tipC89ky2aL1RNF4NJNESSjOj0WG4igP5CEysiOHni_q2IL6fH4avhi-0IyECnQeZ-04xxy0cKyKfdWYniSVHfWmyBqs06nPAnXi5JSVxk/s640/blogger-image--1706678665.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJa3A_AKkCBeCI28LANTj0Ge0J9C8mr5CA1tipC89ky2aL1RNF4NJNESSjOj0WG4igP5CEysiOHni_q2IL6fH4avhi-0IyECnQeZ-04xxy0cKyKfdWYniSVHfWmyBqs06nPAnXi5JSVxk/s640/blogger-image--1706678665.jpg"></a></div> </div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-2541756282303185132015-07-14T21:32:00.001+02:002015-07-14T21:37:38.406+02:00On FANDOR tonight: FRANCES DAY & OLAF OLSEN in "Tread Softly" (1952)<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXXa5Y7FehTcxGJ0vz8ZTqRRzOoKIMl01k1OktxpEc7nx_iTAKSUV6xuv4zSg9LNeHAxS4UuepTSb4bYW4jLJxdtbw1EE-STU-JjI8a0NfvE_TKb2AjQ6Uqx1_kQlnbOe_oWVCqzaMSo/s640/blogger-image--145895536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXXa5Y7FehTcxGJ0vz8ZTqRRzOoKIMl01k1OktxpEc7nx_iTAKSUV6xuv4zSg9LNeHAxS4UuepTSb4bYW4jLJxdtbw1EE-STU-JjI8a0NfvE_TKb2AjQ6Uqx1_kQlnbOe_oWVCqzaMSo/s640/blogger-image--145895536.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">A mild little British backstage mystery about nefarious goings-on in an abandoned theater, </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Tread Softly </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">featured American singer-actress </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Frances Day </b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">(1907-1984) and </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Olaf Olsen </b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">(1919-2000), here conspiring to take over a failing but potentially lucrative show. A busy performer in what can only be termed experimental British television productions in the 1930, Olsen, from Heidelberg, Germany, left the United Kingdom when his career floundered in the 1960s in favor of Connecticut. Miss Day, who hailed from New Jersey, meanwhile, remained in England but in increasing obscurity. British reporter Michael Thornton, of the </span><i style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Mail Online, </i><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">takes up her story </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">in a March 28, 2008 column entitled "Uncovering the mystery of Britain's first sex symbol [sic]":</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The scene was an unpretentious red-brick house in Maidenhead, Berkshire, on a hot August afternoon in 1981.</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Apart from the top-floor flat, the building was divided into offices. The owner of the property, Samta Young Johnson, stood on the stairs, passing the time of day with a young solicitor, Howard McBrien, whose legal firm rented one of the floors in the building.</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mrs Johnson was a woman in her 70s, and a figure of absolute mystery, the subject of intense and feverish local gossip. Yet she blithely ignored every question about her past</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dressed carelessly and somewhat drably - "like the proverbial OAP", according to one of her neighbours - she nevertheless had an indefinable quality that compelled attention. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">McBrien, who regarded her as "a great character", knew her to be fond of a glass or two of bubbly, a flutter on the gee-gees and the finest haute cuisine. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What he did <cite style="max-width: 100%;">not </cite>know was that this reclusive figure had once been one of the most legendary and celebrated stars of her age and the idol of millions of film fans and theatregoers. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">American-born and flagrantly bisexual, in an era that scarcely accommodated such things, she had attracted men and women equally, becoming the mistress of four royal princes, and also of a future British Prime Minister. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She also inspired the passionate admiration of America's bisexual First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as that of the world's most famous dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, who wrote one of his last plays for her. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">On that August afternoon in the early Eighties, this tantalising figure, guarding her secrets, walked on up the stairs. Then suddenly she turned back to the young solicitor. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"By the way, Howard, you have children, don't you?" </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Yes, I have two boys," replied the puzzled McBrien. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I thought so," she said, and continued her ascent to her flat. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">McBrien was not to know that that day she would make her last will, one of the shortest and strangest documents on record, which she wrote out in her own handwriting, summoning a local draughtsman and a factory storeman to witness her signature. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When, three years later, Samta Young Johnson died from leukaemia at the age of 75, Howard McBrien was dumbfounded to discover that she had left him her house and her entire estate, valued at £162,000. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He was even more amazed to learn that his benefactress had been the fabulous Frances Day, Britain's original blonde bombshell and this country's first stage and screen sex symbol. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But she herself had lived in denial of that for almost 20 years. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What was it that caused a wealthy, famous and beautiful star to turn her back completely on her own past, abandoning even close friends such as the actor Sir John Mills and the ballet dancer Sir Frederick Ashton, and to deny her identity to the point of claiming that Frances Day had been her own mother? </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This extraordinary enigma is resurrected by the release of a new double-CD to mark the centenary of her birth in December. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It features 49 of her money-spinning hit records - made between 1931 and 1958 - and reveals that she was a dazzlingly talented performer, oozing sex appeal that seems at least two decades ahead of its time, coming across as a forerunner of Marilyn Monroe. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her story begins in the U.S. city of East Orange, New Jersey, where Frances Victoria Schenk, the daughter of an artist, Frank Schenk, of German-Jewish descent, was allegedly born on December 16, 1908.</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Allegedly, because there is no birth certificate. Like almost everything in her life, even her parentage is shrouded in mystery, and rumours persisted for years that she was really the illegitimate daughter of Horace Dodge, the wildly eccentric millionaire American automobile pioneer. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At the age of 16, Frances was to be found dancing the Charleston in the notorious New York speakeasy of nightclub queen Texas Guinan, whose invariable greeting to her patrons was "Hello suckers!" </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There, little Frankie Schenk was spotted by an ambitious Australian impresario, Beaumont Alexander, who thought she was "the ultimate in sex appeal". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He brought her to London, changed her name to Frances Day, transformed her into a platinum blonde, which was not her natural colour, and sent her to elocution lessons to eradicate all trace of her New Jersey accent. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Soon, he had masterminded her career as one of London's first exotic - and erotic - cabaret stars, dancing in West End nightclubs, where she created a sensation by performing in a G-string with only an ostrich fan for cover. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When she was 19, she married Beaumont Alexander, who was 18 years her senior, at London's Marylebone register office, but within three years they had separated, and she divorced him in 1938. There would be a legion of lovers - of both sexes - but she would never remarry. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1929, she first partnered the 21-year-old John Mills on stage. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"She was what in those days one called 'a knock-out'," Sir John recalled. "She was small with blonde hair and so well-endowed up front that, frankly, to put it in Army terms, she sported the largest pair of 'Bristols' it had ever been my pleasure to set eyes upon. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"She was devastatingly attractive, and I discovered later on, when I was in a show with her, that the men in the audience simply couldn't take their eyes off her." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Frances Day exploded into fully fledged stardom in the West End musical Out Of The Bottle, in 1932, aged 23. The following year, her extremely sexual performance as the notorious nightclub singer La MÙme ("The Shrimp") in Alexander Korda's movie The Girl From Maxim's rocketed her to the top of the film world, too. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, in 1934, came her biggest West End hit, Jill Darling!, in which her dancing partner was ballet legend Frederick (later Sir Frederick) Ashton. He would remember Day as "absolutely incandescent.</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The word 'star' in the theatrical sense might have been invented to describe her". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Frances Day was the 1930s equivalent of Marilyn Monroe: blonde, well-endowed, outrageously sexy and infinitely suggestive. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her risquÈ songs were provocatively delivered with a breathy, squeaky gurgle, as in one of her most celebrated hits, Me And My Dog: "I'm just a little girl lost in a fog, Me and my dog, We're lost in a fog, Me and the dog are just wandering in a fog, Won't some kind gentleman see us home?" </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The "little girl" in question is, of course, a prostitute, but Day delivered the number with so much charm and humour that not even the crustiest old dowager could have objected. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When she returned to the London stage in Beverley Nichols's 1937 revue, Floodlight, her co-star was John Mills, who observed: "Men adored her, but women disliked her. She became a permanent threat to their happy marriages from the moment the curtain went up." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">More successful films followed, and further West End hits, including The Fleet's Lit Up in 1938, in which she stopped the show nightly with Cole Porter's song "It's De-Lovely", which became her signature tune. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Diana Morgan, who wrote much of the material for Day's 1939 revue, Black And Blue, remembered her wearing diamond and ruby bracelets from wrist to elbow. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her lovers had included the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor), his brother Prince George, their cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince Bertil of Sweden, and Britain's Foreign Secretary and future Prime Minister, Anthony Eden. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was not only men who fell under Day's androgynous, quicksilver spell. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After Frances's visit to the White House, America's bisexual First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, 23 years her senior, wrote to her: "I find I am quite unable to resist your extraordinary and tempestuous magnetism." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But as her fame grew, the more outlandish Day's behaviour became. Choreographer Wendy Toye once saw her arrive just as the curtain was going up. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"She simply threw off her white mink coat and went on stage in a pink and white lacy nightdress," she said. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"But her name above the title filled theatres, so managements were afraid to reprimand her in case she walked out of the show." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Although she was one of the first truly liberated showbusiness lesbians - Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich were also involved in sexual interludes with her - Day's primary reputation was as a man-eater. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1941, she co-starred with the comedians Flanagan and Allen in the revue Black Vanities. When Frances arrived at one rehearsal looking decidedly crumpled, Bud Flanagan quipped: "Little Day, you've had a busy man." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was in that production that she introduced the song A Pair Of Silver Wings as her personal tribute to the Royal Air Force. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Close friends knew, however, that she sang it for one man only: her fiancÈ, Squadron Leader Sam Johnson DFC: "Although they say he's just a crazy sort of guy, To me he means a million other things, For he's the one who taught this happy heart of mine to fly, He wears a pair of silver wings." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But during Day's run in the wartime West End musical Du Barry Was A Lady, Johnson was killed on active service. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She received the news with outward stoicism, but some said that she was never quite the same person again. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her career went on. In 1944, she starred in another film, Fiddlers Three, and played the title role in Peter Pan on the London stage. But Diana Morgan felt that "the light that had made her a star was flickering and going out". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yet her natural outrageousness remained. At an ENSA performance in Brussels, she sang "Thanks For All You've Done" directly to Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein, and brought a blush to the bisexual hero's cheek when she "roguishly presented him with a pair of her drawers". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Noel Coward, who witnessed the incident, recorded that Monty "received both the sentiment and the drawers with dignified restraint". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After the war, there was a dramatic downswing in Day's popularity. In 1946, the West End musical Evangeline, of which she was both star and co-director, was booed by the gallery and closed after only 32 performances. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her next London appearance, with Bonar Colleano in the comedy Separate Rooms, also flopped. By 1949, when she starred in the West End revue Latin Quarter, she was showing signs of increasingly erratic behaviour, causing the show to over-run by insisting on performing encores that the management had vetoed. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was then, at the age of 41, that she began to pursue the legendary playwright George Bernard Shaw, who was 92. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The ficklenesss of the women I love," wrote Shaw, "is only equalled by the infernal constancy of the women who love me." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To Day, he wrote: "You want to come down to flirt with me." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What she actually wanted was to get him to write a play for her, and in the end she succeeded. "She seduced him into it," says Diana Morgan. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But once the resulting play, Buoyant Billions, opened in London, Day transferred her attention from the aged author to a handsome 27-year-old actor in the cast, the bisexual Denholm Elliott, who married twice but ultimately died from Aids. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Denholm was a bachelor and more interested in men at that time," says a friend. "Frankie didn't let that deter her in the slightest. She had the pants off him in no time." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">With the West End closed to her on account of her prima donna-like antics, Day turned to television, appearing in the Fifties as a panellist on What's My Line?, in which she irritated the chairman, Eamonn Andrews, by her insistence on "special lighting". </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In another Fifties radio game show, The Name's The Same, Frank Muir would never forget his first meeting with Day. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"From behind me," he recalled, "a hand came between my legs and grabbed my vitals. I turned round, considerably shocked, to find Frances Day looking up at me with her cute little pixie smile. 'Hello!' she said." </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Day's behaviour gradually became stranger and stranger. In 1956, she elected to make a number of rock records, under the pseudonym Gale Warning. One of them, a version of Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, is included on the new CD, and is a disastrous error of judgment. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1957, Day's last lesbian lover, Moie Charles, the 46-year-old author of the film The Gentle Sex, was found gassed in her Chelsea flat. Her death was judged to be accidental, but it provided the final knock-out blow to Day's stability. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her last television play, The Witching Hour, with Dennis Price and Thora Hird in 1958, showed that she was ageing rapidly. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her final film was Michael Winner's Climb Up The Wall in 1960. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1965, she starred in one final West End play, The Gulls, opposite Bob Monkhouse. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Arriving for rehearsals on the back of a motorbike, in skin-tight black leather, sprayed with gold paint, she insisted on being billed as Frankie Day, and claimed that Frances had been her mother. </span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; max-width: 100%;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Monkhouse commented: "I think she must have had some sort of emotional experience. She has just entirely thrown out the past.</span></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); max-width: 100%;"><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Frances Day, as far a </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">she is concerned, </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">seems to have ceased </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to exist." </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When the run ended, </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">she gave up her Mayfair </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">home, retreated to </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Maidenhead and </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">changed her name by </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">deed poll to Samta </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Young Johnson. </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Local residents who recognized</span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> her as Day </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">found that any reference </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to her past was </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ignored. </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1981, one of her </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Thirties recordings was </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">reissued after featuring </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">in the Donald </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sutherland movie Eye </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of The Needle, but EMI Records</span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> had no address </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">to which to send the </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">royaltie. </span><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When she died at the </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">age of 75 in April of 1984 </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"> from chronic </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">myeloid leukaemia, her </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">brief will — leaving </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">everything to Howard McBrien</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">, who had </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">known nothing of her </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">glory days — proved to </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">be an extraordinarily </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">poignant document. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">It directed that "there </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">be no notice or information </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">of any kind of </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">my death, except for </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">and if a death certifica </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">is obligatory. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">"Any </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">persons, private or </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Press, you shall simply </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">say that I am no longer </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">at this address. </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">"'Gone </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">away. Destination </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">unknown', and that is </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">the truth". </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">It was a sad and bewildering </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">final curtain to</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">the dazzling career of </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">one of the most glamorous show business </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">legends of the 20th </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">century.</span></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200198496582927833.post-67656057350178879012015-07-13T15:26:00.001+02:002015-07-13T15:31:26.967+02:00The home of JESSALYN VAN TRUMP4764 Elmwood Ave. Hollywood, CA<div>The leading lady of the pioneering American Film Mfg. Company of Santa Barbara, CA, in 1912, <b>Jessalyn Van Trump</b> does perhaps not look like a blushing prairie flower by today's standard. But there the Ohio-born stage ingenue was, being menaced in hundreds of one-reel westerns by <b>Jack Richardson </b>and rescued by the strapping <b>J. Warren Kerrigan , </b>off screen a mother's boy who didn't care for girls, but that was acting for you. All under the direction of <b>Allan Dwan, </b>whose directorial career lasted until 1961. Miss Van Trump, in contrast, found stardom much more fleeting and was by the 1920s reduced to mainly extra work. She shared this Hollywood home with her sister and brother-in-law until at least 1930, dying in Los Angeles in May of 1939. The former Western heroine was 52.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsX1m6Gq75TUZeptqium_NT3duM2atpywY4mR_-T4gxJEmWawo_BWVcpUpcarU81ab7hlt1caGSj2lN2E_7d2WVJJ28Z9BTiLllsRJ2tBKL1r9Uu30hJRXVe2lfv-VTI4PCxxPrD2gWS0/s640/blogger-image--594433292.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsX1m6Gq75TUZeptqium_NT3duM2atpywY4mR_-T4gxJEmWawo_BWVcpUpcarU81ab7hlt1caGSj2lN2E_7d2WVJJ28Z9BTiLllsRJ2tBKL1r9Uu30hJRXVe2lfv-VTI4PCxxPrD2gWS0/s640/blogger-image--594433292.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBWSanrHmvhRpOuub-b1jzkQE-fJMBbX9gIIaBmTrQET4dZVkb2uP58rtEDi9AU2ITuXxFGwRKK9TSAACsOnFcHyUS31olPever3sZWqKUffO12QugWr2p4vLpwsa5nvUdwuEn_cqKNA/s640/blogger-image--849312238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkBWSanrHmvhRpOuub-b1jzkQE-fJMBbX9gIIaBmTrQET4dZVkb2uP58rtEDi9AU2ITuXxFGwRKK9TSAACsOnFcHyUS31olPever3sZWqKUffO12QugWr2p4vLpwsa5nvUdwuEn_cqKNA/s640/blogger-image--849312238.jpg"></a></div> </div><br></div>Hans J. Wollstein (aka Lightning Bryce)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00228174988806837409noreply@blogger.com0