Tag: MGM
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RIP ARLENE DAHL
1925-2021 Arlene Dahl was born on August 11, 1925, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Like Lucille Ball, she was a red-haired actress with an association to MGM who achieved notability during the 1950s. She was mentioned as one of Ricky’s possible “Don Juan” co-stars in “Ricky’s Screen Test” (ILL S4;E7 ~ November 15, 1954). Although TV audiences didn’t know it, an…
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RIP JANE POWELL
1929-2021 Jane Powell was born in Portland, Oregon, as Suzanne Lorraine Burce. Through the 1940s and 1950s, she had a successful career in movie musicals. However, in 1957, her career in films ended, as she had outgrown her innocent girl-next-door image. She has made brief returns to acting in front of the camera – on…
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MODELING INTO THE MOVIES
August 8, 1936 By Jeannette Meehan, HOLLYWOOD From the women’s angle, there are simply too many gorgeous newcomers in Hollywood. That fact is plain. From the gentlemen’s angle, Hollywood is pleasantly crowded with the most alluring bits of femininity ever to delight the bald-headed row. This fact is even plainer. Oh, say it isn’t so, but…
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EXPENDABLE to EXPENSIVE
July 25, 1943 BY EDWIN SCHALLERT She called herself an “expendable star” until about a year ago. This was because Lucille Ball thought she might be consigned to ultimate oblivion. Now she has a greater hopefulness about everything. “I was,” she said, “old Mother Ball the worrier. A louse if there ever was one. Now…
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LUCY SHUNS AUDITIONS
July 21, 1950 [In the below article, reprinted verbatim, Johnson writes using a lot of imagery and insider jargon. This sort of article was common in trade papers like Variety, but seems odd in a daily newspaper.] Hollywood—(NEA) Lucille Ball slipped me the lowdown on her failure to pin to the canvas the dumb chick role…
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LUCILLE WINS 10 YEAR FIGHT
July 15, 1943 By ERSKINE JOHNSON It took Lucille Ball 10 years to travel five miles to stardom. There’s a smooth, concrete highway all the way with only an occasional boulevard stop. “But its the toughest five miles,” Lucille said today, "that I’ve ever traveled in my life.” With, she added, plenty of stops and…
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EASY TO WED
July 11, 1946 Directed by Edward N. Buzzell Produced by Jack Cummings for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Written by Dorothy Kingsley, based on the screenplay Libeled Lady by George Oppenheimer, Maurine Dallas Watkins (as Maurice Watkins), and Howard Emmett Rogers. Uncredited contributions by Buster Keaton. Synopsis ~ When a newspaper runs a scandalous story about debutante Connie Allenbury,…
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VERTÈS / BALL
July 9, 1944 On July 9, 1944 it was reported that Lucille Ball was the first Hollywood star to pose for noted artist Marcel Vertès. His paintings of Ball were used for publicity surrounding MGM’s Meet The People. Marcel Vertès (born Marcell Vértes, August 10, 1895 – October 31, 1961) was a French costume designer…
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PERSONAL APPEARANCE
June 14, 1945 Personal Appearance (1934) is a stage comedy by playwright and screenwriter Lawrence Riley (1896–1974), which was a Broadway smash and the basis for the classic Mae West film Go West, Young Man (1936). Personal Appearance opened in 1934 at New York’s Henry Miller Theatre starring the famed stage and screen actress Gladys George (now…
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TWO SMART PEOPLE
June 4, 1946 Director: Jules Dassin Producer: Ralph Wheelwright for MGM Writers: Ethel Hill & Leslie Charteris, story by Ralph Wheelwright & Allan Kenward Synopsis ~ One of two con-artists ends up arrested and given five days of freedom before he must go to jail. The man loves to eat; knowing that prison food is lousy, he decides to…