Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

   Peter O’Toole was the British (or possibly Irish) star of stage and screen. He was the finest actor never to win a competitive Oscar in the history of cinema; nominated a record eight times. He won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003.

   His roles of note, and he had many, include Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, The Lion in Winter, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year, and Venus. These award-worthy turns lost to Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Cliff Robertson, Robert De Niro, Ben Kingsley, and Forest Whitaker. He first appeared on film in a 1959 bit-part in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England. Other movies throughout his illustrious career: Lord Jim, What’s New Pussycat, How to Steal a Million, The Sandpiper, Casino Royale, Murphy’s War, Man of La Mancha, and The Last Emperor. More recently, Peter was hired for the Pixar film Ratatouille.  PETER O’TOOLE  —->

   The actor played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier’s direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. His London stage roles were many, mostly at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company… King Lear, Othello, Pygmalion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Caligula.

   Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. His stomach cancer was misdiagnosed as resulting from his alcoholic excess. O’Toole underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes. In 1978, he nearly died from a blood disorder.

   Peter O’Toole was offered a knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons. He was a noted fan of Rugby Union, and attended Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris, Peter Finch, and Richard Burton. Other pals in his circle: Omar Sharif and Albert Finney. On July 10th, 2012, he retired from acting.

   The always controversial… the amazingly talented… Peter O’Toole was 81.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Denzel Washington is hosting a Screen Actors Guild screening of note. He’ll be joined by surviving members and children of the original Freedom Riders at a showing of Lee Daniels’ The Butler on Tuesday. This Hollywood-and-Vine moment (where Tinsel Town and Americana intersect) will be held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre and is sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This important event will include a conversation after the screening with the makers of the motion picture production, including Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Director Lee Daniels, among others in the cast with the Freedom Riders.

   In 1961, the Freedom Riders set out for the Deep South to defy Jim Crow laws and call for change. They were met by hatred and violence — and local police often refused to intervene. But, their efforts transformed the Civil Rights movement. They traveled on Greyhounds and other buses through Montgomery, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi in mixed racial groups to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation in seating.

   The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4th, 1961, and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17th. The Birmingham Police Commissioner, Bull Connor, together with Police Sergeant Tom Cook (an avid Ku Klux Klan supporter), organized violence against the Freedom Riders with local Ku Klux Klan chapters. The pair made plans to bring the Ride to an end in Alabama. Connor and Alabama Governor George Wallace became the faces of racial segregation. The president federally enforce protection of the Civil Rights’ activists.                                           BULL CONNOR —>

   Television, radio, and newspaper coverage provided accounts of the daily confrontations, which evoked increased participation by Northern Blacks, students, and those sympathetic to the cause. The Kennedy Administration  and other Democrats joined in the struggle, and the movement eventually led to President Johnson defiantly signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    Lee Daniels’ The Butler captures this historic moment in time in a momumental story that stars Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. Both are nominated for SAG Awards for their roles in the film.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Gene Kelly’s gray wool suit worn during the most memorable sequence in Singin’ in the Rain has just been sold to Planet Hollywood International. Gerald Sola, a retired postal worker, had kept it in a closet at his Northern California home for decades. He bought the suit at an MGM lot sale of props and wardrobe items following the purchase of the studio to financier Kirk Kerkorian in 1970. The former letter carrier bought it for just $10.

   Sola sorted through the racks when he ran across the article of clothing and had a feeling it was the one from the famous scene. The jacket’s inside breast pocket has an MGM label with Kelly’s name and the production number. The actor wore the item for the featured dance in the 1952 film musical. GENE KELLY ->

   Kelly’s clothes were purchased by the theme restaurant for more than $106,000. Heritage Auctions officials said that Planet Hollywood intends to display the wardrobe piece at one of its properties, but hasn’t decided which one.

   Cue the music…

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   One of MGM’s bad girls has died. Audrey Totter –> began her career in radio in 1937, and was signed to a seven-year film contract with the studio. She made her film debut in Main Street After Dark in 1945, and established herself as a popular female lead of the 1940s. Although she appeared in various genres, she became most widely known to cinematic audiences in film noir productions.

   Her movies of note include The Postman Always Rings Twice, Lady in the Lake, The Unsuspected, and Any Number Can Play. She offered reliable support to Robert Montgomery, Robert Taylor, John Garfield, Susan Hayward, Lana Turner, Clark Gable, Claude Rains, Cesar Romero, and Ray Milland. On television, Totter had a co-starring role on Medical Center. She also appeared in Perry Mason and Murder She Wrote.

   The femme fatale was 95.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   One of the highlights on the recent trip to receive my Gold Medal at Readers’ Favorite was a chance to appear on C-SPAN 2 BOOK TV at the Miami Book Fair International. I asked a question to the esteemed panel of Doris Kearns Goodwin and A. Scott Berg.

   Goodwin is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author best known for her work, Team of Rivals, which was adapted by Steven Spielberg in what became last year’s sensation, Lincoln; the motion picture that earned an Oscar for the formidable role of the 16th President played by Daniel Day-Lewis. Goodwin’s latest book is entitled The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. Spielberg is ready to also adapt this literary masterpiece for the big screen.

   Here’s a link to my cameo Q&A that took place in front of live audience in an auditorium at Miami Dade College:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4476639

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Eleanor Parker was an actress who appeared in over 80 motion pictures for three decades. An actor of notable versatility, she was known as Woman of a Thousand Faces, the title of her biography by Doug McClelland. Like Bill Holden, Robert Preston, Dustin Hoffman, among others, Parker was discovered at the Pasadena Playhouse.                      ELEANOR PARKER ——>

   After high school, she signed with Warner Brothers in 1941. She was cast that year in the film, They Died with Their Boots On, but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in Soldiers in White in 1942. Her breakthrough starring role was in the 1946 remake of Of Human Bondage.

   Other cinematic appearances include Pride of the Marines with John Garfield, Hollywood Canteen, Escape Me Never featuring Errol Flynn, It’s a Great Feeling, Chain Lightning starring Humphrey Bogart, The Man with the Golden Arm opposite Frank Sinatra, and The King and Four Queens with Clark Gable. And, Eleanor received three Academy Award nominations: for Caged in 1950, The Detective Story the following year, and Interrupted Melody in 1955. The latter motion picture dealt with the subject of an opera star contracting polio. In the 1960s, she garnered supporting roles in The Sound of Music and The Oscar.

   Parker guest-starred on the small screen with parts in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Vega$, Bracken’s World (earning her a Golden Globe Award nod), Hawaii 5-0, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hotel, and Murder She Wrote. Eleanor headlined in a number of theatrical productions, including Applause, which was originated by Lauren Bacall. She played Maxine in an Ahmanson Theater revival of The Night of the Iguana. She left a revival of Pal Joey during previews.

   Turner Classic Movies is altering their schedule on December 17th with a 14-hour motion picture tribute. This is the kind of programming that TCM is great at doing for their audience.

   The versatile Eleanor Parker was 91.

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   http://readtuesday.com/

   Read Tuesday will be a huge day like Black Friday for buying and gifting books at amazing sale prices. It will also be a great way to help improve literacy. Encourage a person to read! Here are the Amazon links promoting my books:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935359169/?tag=forgothollyw-20

http://www.amazon.com/Son-Forgotten-Hollywood-History/dp/1937454142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326436846&sr=1-1

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   The Fall-Winter Book Tour, which began in Miami, is rolling along. Thanks to holiday orders of both books in the series, Son of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History is complimenting its recent Gold Medal accolade from Readers’ Favorite to surpassing 900 in actual sales. Add to this fact, the Forgotten Hollywood Book Series is approaching 4000 paperbacks sold. Believe me, I’ll have a celebratory blog about this milestone at a later date.

   I appreciate Souvenirs of Hollywood and Hollywood Heritage Museum stocking their shelves with my books this week. And, the latter location had a successfully brisk Afternoon with the Authors day of business on Saturday. Holiday shoppers were treated to nostalgic copies of autographed literary faire, sure to become stocking stuffers for lucky friends and family.

   Our next stop is on Tuesday at the Granada Pavilion in Granada Hills for my third visit with the Tugnet Computer Group for their annual Holiday get-together. I’ll provide an update about the Forgotten Hollywood franchise. Of course, I’ll also be autographing copies of both of my books to their membership. The Granada Pavilion has been on the ground floor in support of my literary and documentary venture. Here’s a link to find out more about Tugnet:

http://www.tugnet.org/

   Another busy week is on tap as we roll through the Holidays for 2013!

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Over the next few weeks, lots of ink will be written about the legacy of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was imprisoned and then became a politician and philanthropist. He served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the everyday nature of apartheid through tackling institutionalized racism, poverty, and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Across the world, Mandela came to be seen as a moral authority with a great concern for truth.

   His larger-than-life persona has been depicted in cinema numerous times. Danny Glover offered an impassioned performance in the 1987 television piece Mandela, while he was still imprisoned. The small screen film Mandela and de Klerk starred Sidney Poitier; and Dennis Haysbert played him in Goodbye Bafana in 2007. In the BBC television film Mrs. Mandela, Nelson was portrayed by David Harewood, In 2009, Morgan Freeman earned an Oscar nod for his role in Invictus. The actor yesterday reflected by saying: As we remember his triumphs, let us, in his memory, not just ponder on how far we’ve come, but, on how far we have to go. Terrence Howard co-starred as the iconic leader in the recently released Winnie Mandela. Stevie Wonder dedicated his 1985 Academy Award for I Just Called to Say I Love You to Mandela, resulting in the songwriter’s music being banned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

   The figure known as Madiba or Tata is currently portrayed by Idris Elba in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. This current production is sure to receive upcoming attention from the acting guilds. It premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7th, and it went into limited release in this country on November 29th. President Barack Obama recently screened the motion picture at the White House. Prince William and his wife Kate were attending the London premiere of the movie when the former leader’s death was announced. Mandela was supposed to see the cinematic production, but passed on before he could. The theatrical release has turned from a living tribute to a big-screen eulogy.

   His funeral is expected to take place after lying-in-state at the Union Buildings, and before burial at his native village – Qunu. The majestic Nelson Mandela was 95.

 Until next time>                              “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   As you may know, each Saturday at 3p (PST), I host the Forgotten Hollywood Radio Show. Each hour-long program on the Financial News and Talk Network features Standards from the Great American Songbook, movie music, vocal snipits from cinematic classics, and occasionally, memorable interviews. Previously, we’ve chatted with Debbie Reynolds and Art Laboe, among others. Joe Lyons provides an On the Backlot segment, with current news and notes regarding Hollywood’s golden past.

   On December 28th, we’ve secured a conversation with Jackie Goldberg, The Pink Lady. Her immense vitality belies the fact that she is 81-years young. As I reported in a previous blog, Goldberg is the energy behind Senior Star Power, an official 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity organization committed to providing a year-round theatrical arts complex in the Hollywood area that will feature performers who are at least 60 years of age. As Jackie puts it:

It’s our goal to offer active Seniors performance opportunities, and enhanced by workshops, mentoring programs, and master classes. Your tax deductible donations, contributions, and sponsorship can make the dream of a theatrical performing arts complex that will engage the entire Southern California senior community into becoming a reality!

Visit our website for more informationon how to contribute: www.seniorstarpower.org/donate

*  *  *  *  *

   I invite you to listen to a most entertaining hour of radio with our very special guest… The Pink Lady. Her journey resembles the Forgotten Hollywood franchise trek (including a Book Series, Blog, weekly Radio Show, and Documentary currently in Production).

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   The Penn Museum, an archaeology and anthropology center, proudly offers touch tours for the blind and the visually impaired. The institution, part of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, began offering the tours last year in an effort to make their extensive collections more accessible.

   Most major US metro areas have at least one museum that offers some type of hands-on experience, from touching objects with bare hands or gloves to feeling replicas, according to Art Beyond Sight, a group that makes visual culture accessible to the blind and visually impaired. Such accommodations began well before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Museums that don’t offer tactile tours often have personal or audio guides for the blind.

   The free tours include a classroom lesson on how Egyptians prepared a body for burial. Students jiggle a gelatin mold of the brain — which is removed during the mummification process — and handle facsimiles of relics found in tombs. They also feel ancient linen, smell scented oils, and touch a reproduction of a mummy. Educators are already planning next season’s curriculum on ancient Rome.

   The Penn Museum has held hands-on tours twice each Monday — when the building is otherwise closed — for the past two Fall seasons. Overall, it’s engaged nearly 250 blind or visually impaired people, up about 32 percent from last year.

   I’m encouraged by this wonderfully sensible approach to education…

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   My wife Laurie will be spending this Saturday at the Howe-Waffle House, located at 120 Civic Center Dr. in Santa Ana, CA. Laurie will carry personally autographed copies of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History and Son of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History, unique literary gifts for family and friends. She also will be offering her quilted wares, handbags and blankets…  Great shopping ideas in time for the Holidays!    LAURIE PACHECO –>

  Holiday Open House and Boutique

Howe-Waffle House and Medical Museum

Saturday, December 7th, from 11 am to 4 pm

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Throughout the silent era, sheet music for cinematic-inspired tunes brought together the public’s fascination with the silver screen, and their love of popular music. Written by Tin Pan Alley songwriter Charles McCarron in 1915, Those Keystone Comedy Cops capitalized on the popularity of bumbling policemen who had been introduced by Mack Sennett just a few years earlier, but had already become audience favorites.

   Illustrated by Hungarian-born artist André De Takacs, this beautiful sheet music cover makes subtle reference to the world of moving pictures. The focal point includes a photo from the film In the Clutches of the Gang, featuring Ford Sterling and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. This tinted image mimics a movie screen, while the Keystone company logo glows behind dramatic silhouettes of stylized policemen. The silhouettes are also depicted on the two oversized billy clubs adorned with tassels that frame the image like theater curtains, evoking the elegant movie palaces of the era.

   This item is one of hundreds of pieces of silent-era sheet music donated to the Margaret Herrick Library by Robert Cushman, and archived in Special Collections. Other examples of silent-era sheet music may be viewed in the library’s Digital Collections. The library is also home to the Mack Sennett papers featuring scenarios, production materials, and photographs relating to the career of this prolific producer. While In the Clutches of the Gang is believed lost, the Academy Film Archive preserved a fragment of the production, recently discovered at the New Zealand Film Archive, as part of the New Zealand Project.

   This iconic music score is one the treasured artifacts to be featured in the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, scheduled to open in 2017.

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   Give the Holiday gift of a classic film Musical… and one of my favorites!  Just sayin…

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   The Forgotten Hollywood Book Series enters its 2013 ride through the Holidays…

2100 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, CA

DECEMBER 7th
12:00 NOON – 4:00 PM

Afternoon With the Authors

Hollywood Heritage Museum sponsors their second Afternoon With the Authors… An  opportunity to hear authors speaking about their books, and to buy a book as a holiday gift for that special person who loves Hollywood History. You can also have your book signed by the author, and then have it gift wrapped FREE!

Robert S. Birchard

Tom Mix: King of the Cowboys  Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood

Stanley Dyrector

Shedding Light Hollywood Blacklist

Chuck Harter

Little Elf

Rosemary Lord

Los Angeles Then and Now  Hollywood Then and Now  

Mary Mallory

Hollywoodland

Manny Pacheco 

Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History   Son of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History

Darrell Rooney

Harlow in Hollywood

Marc Wanamaker

Early Paramount Studios

Donald Seligman

Los Feliz and the Silent Film Era

Charles Ziarko

MGM: Saving the Best for Last

Brian Taves

Thomas Ince: Hollywood’s Independent Pioneer

   Come on down and pick up a copy of your favorite Golden Age of Hollywood literary work.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Based on the overwhelming response to the sold-out World and American premieres of Too Much Johnson, the George Eastman House hosted a one-night-only screening of the movie in New York City. It was shown last Monday at the Directors Guild of America Theater.

   Thought to be destroyed in a fire, the George Eastman House, along with the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF), Cineteca del Friuli, and Cinemazero, announced in August the recovery of Mercury Theatre’s long-lost Too Much Johnson, directed by Orson Welles in 1938. The piece was produced the same year Welles directed The War of the Worlds radio broadcast. The nitrate work print of the film – left unfinished by the Mercury Theatre and never shown in public – was found in a warehouse by a staff member of Cinemazero, an art house in Pordenone, Italy. It was transferred to the George Eastman House in order to be preserved with a grant from NFPF.

   Too Much Johnson was originally intended to be used in conjunction with a stage adaptation of an 1894 play by William Gillette. The Mercury Theatre planned to show the three short films as prologues to each act of the play. The three-part comedy was meant to be presented with the accompaniment of music and live sound effects, but was never finished. Joseph Cotten was cast in the lead role, with supporting roles going to other  Mercury Theatre actors, including Arlene Francis, Mary Wickes, Orson Welles, and his wife Virginia Nicholson. The play ultimately opened without the visual aid on August 16th, 1938. The cinematic work provides a unique insight to the immense talent Welles had as a filmmaker.

   Too Much Johnson had a world premiere on October 9th, at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone, Italy; and its North American premiere on October 16th at the Dryden Theatre in the George Eastman House.

   We, in Hollywood, are looking forward to a West Coast premiere…

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   It’s been a week since Laurie and I were at the Readers’ Favorite Awards Ceremony in Miami . As you know, Son of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History received a Gold Medal as a literary standard. I’m certainly proud of the 4th major accomplishment for my latest work, and my 9th overall accolade for the Book Series.

   You have already seen the photos taken by Laurie while we were on the trip. Now, I’d like to present the official Readers’ Favorite pictorial that documented special moments during the event. Special thanks to Michael Gard and Steve Gaynor, the official photographers. They took literally hundreds of pictures to make each author’s journey a special trek.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

   Jane Kean was a singer and actress whose career in show business spanned seven decades, and included nightclubs, recordings, radio and television, theatre and films. Among her most famous roles were as Art Carney’s wife on The Honeymooners; and the voice of Belle in the perennial favorite, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

   Jane, and her older sister, Betty, formed a comedy duo that worked the nightclub circuit throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The two appeared on Broadway in the short-lived 1955 musical Ankles Aweigh.  She had roles in Fats Waller’s Early to Bed in 1943, Call Me Mister (she replaced Betty Garrett), The Pajama Game, and Carnival! (replacing Kaye Ballard). Kean additionally had scenes in Take Me Along that starred Jackie Gleason. He remembered her years later when casting his weekly hour-long television program.

   Small screen audiences recall Kean was Trixie Norton in a series of Honeymooners episodes—in color and with music—on The Jackie Gleason Show from 1966–70. She succeeded Joyce Randolph, who played the part in earlier sketches, and on the 1955–56 sitcom. Kean played the role for more years than her predecessor. A memoir followed, entitled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Honeymooners… I Had a Life.

   Other credits include The Phil Silvers Show, Make Room for Daddy, Love American Style, The Lucy Show, The Love Boat, The Facts of Life, and Dallas. A feature film highlight was the character of Miss Taylor in Walt Disney’s live-action musical with animation Pete’s Dragon. More recently, she co-starred with Charlotte Rae in the 2002 Los Angeles production of Kander and Ebb’s 70, Girls, 70 at the El Portal Theatre.

   The perky Jane Kean was 90.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

Manny P. here…

  Book Awards.com is listing Son of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History for its latest accolade from Readers’ Favorite. This is a great acknowledgment from the literary community.

   Here’s a link to the site:

http://bookawards.com/book-awards/book-awards-genre-non-fiction-music-entertainment.htm

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   Books-a-Million is a new store-chain selling the Forgotten Hollywood Book Series… Just in time for Black Friday holiday shopping.

   Here are the links to purchase both books:

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Son-Forgotten-Hollywood-History/Manny-Pacheco/9781937454142?id=5855078948477

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Forgotten-Hollywood-History/Manny-Pacheco/9781935359166?id=5855078948477

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   Finally, I’m now a member of the Association of Independent Authors. This group is a membership organization representing, advancing, supporting, and encouraging self-published (independent) authors. Their mission is to create a culture of excellence, teamwork and professionalism in a community environment where sharing and collaboration benefits each individual member and independent authors as a whole.

Until next time>                               “never forget”