31 Thursday Aug 2017
Posted in Anniversaries, History
≈ Comments Off on Remembering Diana, 20 Years On
Tags
Candle in the Wind, Drowned World (Substitute for Love), Elton John, Fairy Tale, Hilary Mantel, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Mario Testino, Princess Diana, The Princess Myth
My first memory of Diana is visual: that blue suit she wore and the sapphire ring, on the day of her engagement. When she married Charles in 1981 I was nine years old; she was twice my age, but still hardly a woman. Continue reading
25 Tuesday Apr 2017
Posted in Anniversaries, Marilyn Monroe, Music
≈ Comments Off on Ella Fitzgerald at 100
Ella Fitzgerald in Cannes by Jean-Pierre LeLoir, 1958
Ella Fitzgerald was born a century ago today, on April 25, 1917. Her voice was like sunshine, or a glass of champagne. As a woman, she had great warmth and dignity. She was also a friend to Marilyn Monroe, who had been introduced to her work by jazz pianist and arranger Hal Schaefer in 1953. Continue reading
10 Sunday Jul 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: John Gilbert 1897-1936
Tags
Anna Karenina, Greta Garbo, Ina Claire, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, John Gilbert, Louis B. Mayer, Love, Man Woman and Sin, MGM, Monta Bell, Silent Movies, The Fires of Youth
John Cecil Pringle was born on July 10, 1897, in Logan, Utah. His parents were both stock company actors, and after their divorce his mother married Walter Gilbert. After many years on the road, the family settled in California. Jack, as he was nicknamed, began working at Thomas Ince’s studio in 1915, graduating from bit parts to more substantial roles over the next five years. He married Olivia Burwell in 1918, but they separated a year later. Continue reading
30 Thursday Jun 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Madonna, Music
≈ Comments Off on ‘True Blue’ at 30
Madonna’s third album, True Blue, was released on June 30, 1986. Recorded during the honeymoon period of her stormy marriage to Sean Penn, and revealing a sleeker, more sophisticated style, True Blue yielded a slew of classic pop singles, affirming Madonna’s status as one of the decade’s musical icons. Thirty years on, you can read my expanded review here.
19 Thursday May 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Anthony Bushell 1904-1997
Tags
Anthony Bushell, Barry O'Neill, Colin Clark, Disraeli, Fredric March, George Arliss, Her Cardboard Lover, Jealousy, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Marilyn Monroe, The Prince And The Showgirl
Anthony Arnatt Bushell was born in Westerham, Kent on May 19, 1904. He was educated at Magdalen College School, and later Hertford College in Oxford. He was a champion boxer, rower, and member of the Hypocrites Club, infamous for its wild parties. After graduating, Bushell trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made his theatrical debut in Diplomacy (1924), opposite Gerald Du Maurier. Continue reading
10 Sunday Apr 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: George Arliss 1868-1946
Tags
Alexander Hamilton, Bette Davis, Darryl F. Zanuck, Disraeli, Florence Arliss, George Arliss, Hamilton, J.M. Barrie, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Knickerbocker Theatre, Maria Reynolds, The Professor's Love Story
Augustus George Andrews was born in London on April 10, 1868. He was educated at Harrow, one of Britain’s leading public schools. He worked for the publishing house owned by his father, William Joseph Arliss Andrews, before leaving at eighteen to pursue a life on the stage. After a long apprenticeship in provincial theatre, George Arliss established himself as a supporting actor in London’s West End. Continue reading
03 Sunday Apr 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Leslie Howard 1893-1943
Tags
A.H. Woods, Alexander Woollcott, Anthony Bushell, Her Cardboard Lover, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Leslie Howard, Percy Hammond, Tallulah Bankhead
Leslie Howard Steiner was born in Forest Hill, South London, on April 3, 1893. His mother, Lillian Blumberg, came from an upper middle-class family who initially disapproved of her choice of husband, the Hungarian Ferdinand Steiner. The Steiners briefly moved to Vienna, returning to London when the rift was healed. They had four more children, and changed their name to the less Germanic ‘Stainer’ at the outbreak of World War I. Continue reading
01 Friday Apr 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Laurette Taylor 1883-1946
Tags
A.H. Woods, Actors Equity Association, Actors Fund, Brooklyn, Evening of Happiness, Gilbert Miller, Her Cardboard Lover, Jacques Deval, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Laurette Taylor, Leslie Howard, Montauk Theatre
Loretta Helen Cooney was born in Harlem, New York on April 1, 1883, to Irish parents. Her mother, Elizabeth Dorsey, was the owner of a successful millinery, and the family breadwinner. Loretta had two younger siblings. A gifted mimic, she was encouraged by Elizabeth to pursue a life on the stage, though her father, James Cooney, disapproved. Continue reading
27 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Gloria Swanson 1899-1983
Tags
Gloria Swanson, Her Cardboard Lover, Herbert Marshall, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Joseph M. Schenck, Joseph P. Kennedy, Louella Parsons, Man Woman and Sin, Rain, Raoul Walsh, Sadie Thompson, Silent Movies, United Artists, Will Hays
Gloria May Josephine Swanson was born in Chicago on March 27, 1899. Her father was in the US army, and the family moved frequently during her childhood. After an aunt took her to visit Essanay Studios in Chicago, she left school to work as an extra. She made an uncredited debut in The Song of Soul, and acted alongside Charlie Chaplin in His New Job (1915.) Continue reading
23 Wednesday Mar 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Joan Crawford 1904-1977
Lucille Fay LeSueur was born in San Antonio, Texas, on March 23, 1904. Her father, Thomas E. LeSueur, abandoned her mother, Anna Bell Johnson, and her two eldest children, while she was still pregnant. Anna began a new relationship with Henry J. Cassin, and the family lived with him in Lawton, Oklahoma, where he ran the Ramsey Opera House. After Cassin was accused of embezzling, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1916. Continue reading
