JeffDiego, thanks so much for your very fascinating posts.


Jane Frazee! One of my hobbies is collecting vintage holiday publicity department photos of Hollywood celebrities. I've had this one of Jane Frazee quite a long time: She's hung by the chimney with care.

http://i058.radikal.ru/1012/87/d76989585434.jpg

But just this week (!) I got this great one of Jane and friend:

http://flashbak.com/wp-content/uploa...leggy-1941.jpg


Having just talked about Aileen Pringle in a post about the goings on at the Hacienda Arms, your mention of her perked me up. I'll have to find the book with her interview in it because now I'm wondering, did they talk about that incident, or the Ince - incident, or being married to James M. Cain...?


CBD posted this photo of Richard and I have to ask, Jeff, if you might know if it was possible in the 1980's, when VCR's were new and fascinating and "all the rage," if Richard might have been a regular or frequent customer of Video West where I was a buyer for many years, because that face looks awfully familiar to me like I'd seen it many times. The name, too, has a little bell ringing, but that might be now just because I want it to. If he was, I missed a great opportunity to talk to him, or bother him (!), about all of this!

In a similar vein, there was a guy who worked at the St. James Club, as it was known in the 1980's, Sunset Tower now, and I now forget how it came about that he knew or met these people, but because of video he asked the St. James Club management if he could use one of the large vacant meeting rooms at the hotel and invite celebrities of the past to come and see one of their old films or works and meet interested people that would find this all interesting.

I'm hitting myself that I cannot remember this guy's name right now***, he was in his thirties and he had some kind of contact with these people in his work and thought they'd enjoy this type of thing. The St. James Club agreed and so almost every Monday for about three years people could come there and watch a film (a VHS projected on a large TV screen) starring or featuring one of these celebrities and afterwards meet them and chat and the like. The gatherings were no more than around thirty people, give or take. There was no charge, either.

I don't recall that any of the guests were men, though perhaps I didn't attend any that were...I went often, but couldn't always get there. At the time I did not know some of the people. One week we saw a 1932 film that starred Gloria Stuart. Whoever heard of her? (!!!) Another week Anita Page arrived with her daughter. Anita was one of the stars of the first sound film to win Best Picture, Broadway Melody! Meeting her was a true Norma Desmond experience. Nearly 10 years after that she appeared at AMPAS's 75 Year Best Film series night that showcased The Broadway Melody. (So did Gloria Stuart about a year after that when Titanic was shown.)

Some of the guests were more well-known, or well-known to me anyway. I can recall evenings with Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Virginia O'Brien and Patty Andrews; I was tickled to meet one of the Andrews sisters!

The largest attended evening was in honor of the host. The weekly gatherings finally had to end when he couldn't do it any more because he had contracted AIDS and the complications became too much. Virginia O'Brien contacted all of the people that had been featured in those Monday evenings to do a fundraiser for him to help pay his medical expenses. It was a melancholy end to a wonderful series of evenings, but a very generous and nice one as well.

Thanks for inspiring me to revive the memories JeffDiego and CBD.
__________________________

***JeffCraig kindly joined NLA to tell us this generous man's name was Marc Courtland. He also points out that Cesar Romero
was instrumental in putting together the benefit to help and honor Marc in his time of need. I thank them and Marc Courtland
and JeffCraig for his help in adding this further information. (Post #35913.)

You guys are cracking me up, lol!

To a good extent they still are this way! If one is interested in the movie studios, this curve in the road always gives you a thrill when you whip around the turn into it and see Warner Bros. Studios. Of course, now they adorn the walls with the latest giant movie and tv show posters.

The link you provided to the LIFE photos site isn't quite all it could be, is it? The photos have no captions, really, and to click on the "more photos" part is like spinning a roulette wheel or slot machine. I was interested to see all these photos were taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, a very famous photographer. All of them say they're dated 1938, though I'm a bit skeptical of that since the Ann Sheridan photo has her reading a Variety with an article titled "Studio to Cut Waste for War" unless they were being very prescient. The search engine for NLA is a whole lot better than the LIFE magazine photo site.



I happened to visit the Warners lot a couple months ago for a TV show taping. (Is there a new term since I don't think they tape now?)

This view is exactly the same as in 1938 except for a few adornments. They've put up some small terra cotta entrance areas, as some of the soundstages have studio audience visitors now. You're also liable to see a row of parking spaces in front of some of them. Several years ago they also placed plaques on each of the soundstages showcasing movies and TV series that were filmed there. (The "most" famous I guess, unless you believe every film shot on every soundstage was a Warner Bros. success!

Here's the plaques for these two soundstages:

http://www.thestudiotour.com/warnerb...es/stage12.jpg https://photos.smugmug.com/Photograp...6D-0306-XL.jpg

Stage 12 had The Adventures of Robin Hood filmed there in 1938. Later on there were Now, Voyager (1942), Mildred Pierce (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and What's Up Doc? (1972).

Stage 14 had 42nd Street (1933) and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex filmed there in color (released 1939), which is on the marquee of the Academy Theatre in HossC's post today. (And a great film if you haven't seen it.) Also the TV series 77 Sunset Strip. ...snap...snap Wonder if any of Kookie's combs are still in the dressing rooms?

These photos are a bit difficult to read, if you want to see a list of the titles on each more clearly, click the links below:

STAGE 12

STAGE 14

By the way, contrary to appearance, the above links are not affiliated with Warner Bros. Studios, so it's not Warner's fault if you notice a discrepancy or two, like 42nd Street listed as 1935, for example.

:previous:

Thanks for the information and links, Martin Pal. Unsurprisingly, I like this one. That's a real Dodge Charger with its drivetrain removed.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...erBrosDoH1.jpg
fotki.com

The Dukes of Hazzard is listed on the plaques for studios 20, 28 and 28a, but they've spelled "Hazzard" wrong on all three!

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...erBrosDoH2.jpg
www.thestudiotour.com/www.thestudiotour.com/www.thestudiotour.com

:previous:


Oops, now that would be Warner Bros. fault and not that website link!
Maybe the Duke boys should go visit them. :lynchmob:

"Rice a Roni the Mississippi treat?"


I enjoy your understated opinion of the links and the one-size-fits-all captioning.:yes: As you can attest, that is how they were found. Could it be that the archives were delivered as raw negatives, with little, if any, context/notes?

Many of the images are duplicates, reversed, unfocused and poorly exposed, so it is not difficult to see why so many never made it within the magazine covers. The gambling analogy is apropos, especially if you were to add alcohol into the mix. At least that's how I would explain the identification of a cable car sporting names like Presidio Avenue, California and Market Streets - as Memphis. :shhh: http://images.google.com/hosted/life...606f962f6.html Nevertheless, this collection contains many hidden-in-plain-sight treasures, by many well recognized photogs.:) While trying to discriminate in favor of landscapes here are some LA-related personalities.




TV Cowboy, Clint Walker or is it YobwoC VT? From http://images.google.com/hosted/life...1c2c2a04d.html
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3f843ff887edda4a_large



Clint and familiar friends quaintly shooting blanks at each other.:handguns:
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/7d61c631c2c2a04d_large




September 1956 American Legion "LA" Convention images http://images.google.com/hosted/life...6c41d4467.html


Richard
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/316875e6c41d4467_large




Estes Kefauver and Adlai.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/4d4a6a8d2908ec80_large




1956 - Van Nuys Swimming Pool political spring board (You're all wet?)
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/283f4ca315459cab_large

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/22da82fecb370dc8_largehttp://images.google.com/hosted/life...ecb370dc8.html



Adlai
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d4ba049690c9b6d1_large






1960 Democratic Convention with a few telling locations and personalities? http://images.google.com/hosted/life...fa85ffd44.html
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/2f126b3fa85ffd44_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/f8bc4c987442185e_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/ace5378631051439_large





??
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/4ea960e8a9c1a20f_large






Let the games begin. JFK appeals to the Coliseum crowd.
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/00bc9fcf56007df7_large







Statler Hilton, poolside
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/bc082a4f648bfc48_largehttp://images.google.com/hosted/life...f648bfc48.html

Who works in Long Beach with a net?



1953 - Long Beach Acrobats http://images.google.com/hosted/life...6e10b6830.html






http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/9b58ca5c3fd37887_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/2b416216e10b6830_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/18bea834c3f2826f_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/eca1538e5f3f0628_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/932f083fc4535cb9_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/902ea07d39367c20_large





http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/3da7a1499134ce53_large








http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/572cdc29bd4445e2_large

Nothing makes a bigger splash than a ship launching in view of oil derricks, except for maybe a CC Browns' sundae?



1941 - Long Beach (and/or Terminal Island per source:shrug:)


http://images.google.com/hosted/life...027019098.html


http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/d86c5928d739d146_large




http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/64b10ad027019098_large



http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/b292518bebae692b_large

Can somebody please help me with this - I know I've seen 753 S Broadway at 8th+Broadway in vintage photos (after the modernization) but I cant seem to find any. Probably 1940 or 1950s?

It's being remodeled right now.. Going to be sad if they rip the facade off. Its original form wasn't as exciting as many of its butchered neighbors.

Fair warning - if this post is buried by Life photos I'm just going to quote it to the next page.

2015
https://c4.staticflickr.com/9/8807/2...4ee126b6_b.jpg753 S Broadway by Hunter, on Flickr


Today
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8721/2...14f5c04c_b.jpg753 S Broadway by Hunter, on Flickr

:previous:

Here's a 1948 Julius Shulman photo that I posted back in January - maybe this is the one you're thinking of. It looks like I refered to the address as 749 S Broadway rather than 753.

Noircitydame then posted some earlier shots including this one.

Thats not the one I'm thinking of but that is an excellent one! Thank you!

Very interested to see what the next batch of modernization brings.

His name was Marc Courtland. He was a wonderful guy, really dedicated to remembering and preserving Old Hollywood and its Stars. Cesar Romero was also instrumental in setting up the fundraiser for Marc when he was dying of AIDS. It just shows you what people of class these stars were (and are).

:previous:

Thank you, Jim! Marc Courtland. Yes! I'll go back in my post (#35902) and put his name in there, he certainly deserves that much! I have some of those info sheets that accompanied the events, but have no idea where they might be right now! Did you go to any of those gatherings?

P.S.: And welcome!

Martin Pal - go and get something to eat before you read this :).

Last week I posted pictures of Stear's on La Cienega, and mentioned that they took over the site from Lawry's when Lawry's moved down the street. The second Lawry's site isn't new to NLA, but I can't resist Julius Shulman pictures. This is "Job 2816: Lawry's, 1959".

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original

The second shot shows the entrance ...

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original

... and the third appears to show a waiting area. I was hoping for a look at the dining room, but this is all there is.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...3.jpg~original

All from Getty Research Institute

As has been mentioned before, Lawry's later moved back to their original address, and this one is now The Stinking Rose.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...4.jpg~original
GSV

The Cow Cow Boogie Girl
 

Hi Ethereal:
Thanks for posting the photo of Miss Ella Mae Morse. She was born in 1924 so was "18!" when she recorded "Cow Cow Boogie" at fledgling Capitol Records in 1942, the same year she sang it in the movie "Reveille With Beverly" (released February 1943):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ortOAiClE34

Jeff

Thank you Martin - I have been "lurking" for years and enjoying each and every post of this marvelous blog. The depth of knowledge here never ceases to amaze me. I am a native Chicagoan and met Marc through mutual friends in Milwaukee. On one of my trips to Hollywood for the Rudolph Valentino Memorial Service I was invited to Marc's apartment which was filled with memorabilia he had been given by all the stars he featured at the St. James Hotel. Marc was always amazed that the stars of yesteryear all thought no one was interested in them but he proved that was not the case. He was so overwhelmed when they threw the fundraiser for him that he couldn't even talk about it without getting choked up. He couldn't believe the outpouring of love and generosity he received from them. He was a special person who was taken from us much too soon.

Did anyone answer this yet? Yes, it was saved. It's now on the exterior of a parking structure at 3rd and Locust (alias The Promenade) in Long Beach. I was in the old Municipal Auditorium many times. It was a wonderfully evocative place. The ceiling of the auditorium proper (the big room with the stage and where the audience sat) was painted a la Michelangelo, so there was lots to look at. During intermissions or whatever, one could step out onto a sort of open-air terrace overlooking the water's edge and beach . . . but they must have had some sort of leakage problem, as the terrace was lined with tar-paper, so it had an aroma which really opened up the sinuses. Its replacement, called the Terrace Theater, is pleasant enough, but doesn't have the evocative qualities of its predecessor.

:yes: Another answer :previous: http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/show...ostcount=24665

[QUOTE=Blaster;7497151][QUOTE=odinthor;7497064]Going a bit afield to show it (minutely) in the distance from one of my favorite corners, Broadway and PCH in Surfside (the water tower house is the tiny speck indicated by the red arrows)... I like this corner because it has competing figures on the buildings. Capt. Jack's has the captain himself peering over the intersection, while across the street is a pirate (I'll leave it to your imagination how that relates to the business beneath, Antiques of the Sea); and it used to be that a third corner housed a place called Harpoon Harry's, which had a statue of HH himself, evidently aiming his harpoon at Capt. Jack (alas that it's no longer there). The fourth corner had several little businesses, one of them a massage parlor, making me wish that they too had erected a statue on their building. But the intersection's still playfully noir, in beach town mode . . .

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/...psyr0unrq0.jpg

Jumping into the Wayback Machine to Captain Jack's in 1977...

One Saturday afternoon, I was having a few beers at the bar when a small and aggressive man on the next stool struck up and then dominated, a conversation. He introduced himself as "Spit Shine" and his claim to fame was that he had served during WW II on a battleship with Victor Mature where he earned his nickname by having the shoeshine concession on the ship. He then related to me several semi-obscene stories supposedly told to him by shipmate Mature about his sexual adventures with Rita Hayworth.

"Spit Shine" was full of it. Victor Mature was rejected for enlistment into the Navy due to being color blind. He somehow managed to enlist in the Coast Guard.

It took me awhile, but I found a photograph with both William Eythe and Lon McCallister.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/128...924/ZW0HRr.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/276104...n/photostream/

Wrap party for the film 'Wing and a Prayer'.

"Dana Andrews, Bill and Bill's boyfriend, and closest-chum, Lon McCallister all appear to be eating from the same plate.
Darryl Zanuck finally demanded that Bill and Lon stopped being photographed together. It ultimately cost Bill his Fox contract."
-Richard, flickr


_______




To be honest, I didn't know who William Eythe was, until JeffDiego mentioned him a few days ago.
I find it sad that he died at the young age of 38.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...923/OaqE5G.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/276104...-5BQq4j-5BLd7a

Emerging from his dressing-room trailer on the set of "Wing and a Prayer".






William Eythe can be seen in this rare clip of the New York premiere of 'The Razor's Edge'. He's announced as he's leaving the theater.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640...924/YGVtPY.jpg
CLICK HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji0trhPAyUo

He's the tall one with the dimples and the red arrow floating over his head ;)
The announcer doesn't say who his lady friend is. (after watching the video a few times, I think he's escorting Anne Baxter)
__


And here's an informal snapshot of Mr. Eythe and a friend....looking quite contemporary.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...922/djadpd.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/276104...-5BQq4j-5BLd7a

No one over at flickr can decide who the lady is, although several have suggested Francis Farmer. (I don't believe it's her)
-you can check out the discussion by clicking on the link under the photo.
___




one last thing.....

I thought it was great that Lon McCallister's 2005 obituary in the Washington Post, mentions William Eythe as his companion.
That's pretty amazing, considering Mr. Eythe died way back in 1957!

Here's the obit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061502454.html

__