Manny P. here…
“`My Celebrating Act 2 series of interviews during Author’s Day at the Hollywood Heritage Museum are very popular. This week, I have a conversation with Mary Mallory, a member of Hollywood Heritage and committed to the preservation of architecture in Southern California. Her books inform and entertain!
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Amazon’s $8.5 billion deal to purchase MGM is a reality. Both companies announced that the legendary studio is now a part of Prime Video and Amazon Studios. This purchase of the movie lot behind iconic films such as The Wizard of Oz, Ben Hur, Singing in the Rain and the Thin Man series is just the latest in big-name media and streaming-service mergers.
“`Last year, AT&T announced the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, encompassing major networks like HBO, CNN and HGTV. Disney bought LucasFilm and Marvel Studios, giving the company the ability to develop exclusive content for Disney+ using storylines and beloved characters from Star Wars and the Marvel franchise. Amazon wants to do the same thing with MGM product. This is the second-largest acquisition for Amazon after purchasing Whole Foods.
“`No word when Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to watch the full MGM catalog, which includes more than four thousand film titles and seventeen thousand television episodes. What is known is streaming services are now the clear big dogs in town.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here… 
“`William Hurt was a consummate baby-boomer actor who helped define the post Cold-War generation; characters combining a protest mentality with the subsequent excesses of the 1980s. Hurt is well remembered for his celebrated roles in Kiss of the Spider Woman, Broadcast News, and Children of a Lesser God. He was also terrific in The Big Chill.
“`A product of the Juilliard School of acting, Hurt began his career on the stage. From 1977 to 1989, he was a member of the acting group at Circle Repertory Company. He garnered an Obie and several Theater World Awards. Hurt remained an active stage actor in the 1980s.
“`His resume of cinematic performances is prolific, appearing in Altered States, Body Heat, Gorky Park, The Accidental Tourist, A. I. Artificial Intelligence, A History of Violence, Syriana, Mr. Brooks, The Good Shepherd, Into the Wild and recently, Black Widow. He was a regular on the mini-series Damages and he guest-starred on Kojak and The King of Queens.
“`Hurt had relationships with co-stars Mary Beth Hurt and Marlee Matlin. Fluent in French, he maintained a home outside of Paris.
“`William Hurt (above right) was seventy-one.
Until next time> “never forget”
“`Celebrating Act 2 takes a tour of the famed Lasky-De Mille Barn, home of the Hollywood Heritage Museum. The Barn was initially used in the 1914 production of The Squaw Man. Your tour guide is Manager Brian Judd!
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “ever forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Not to jinx anyone, Art Kirsch, John Coleman and I cherish the memories of living actors on Celebrating Act 2. You will be surprised of the people on this list.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`We have lost a number of actors, familiar by the roles they played, if not by name.
*** Tim Considine was a popular young actor best remembered for his role as the eldest son during the first few seasons of My Three Sons. He yearned to appear on the big screen and landed roles in Executive Suite, Sunrise at Campabello, The Shaggy Dog, and Patton. His father John W. Considine Jr. was an Oscar-nominated producer for the film, Boys Town. Tim Considine was eighty-one.
*** Johnny Brown was a jovial actor, best known for his recurring part on Good Times. He was also a regular on Laugh-In and he guest-starred on The Jeffersons, The Flip Wilson Show, Family Matters, and Martin. He had a small role in The Out-of-Towners. Prior to acting, he gained attention as a r&b singer. Johnny Brown was eighty-four.
TIM CONSIDINE JOHNNY BROWN MITCHELL RYAN
*** Mitchell Ryan had a six-decade career, with noted performances on Dark Shadows (as Burke Devlin) and on Dharma and Greg. He also guest-starred on L. A. Law, The Golden Girls and on the soap opera Santa Barbara. His cinematic resume includes Thunder Road, Monte Walsh, High Plains Drifter, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Electra Glide in Blue, Magnum Force, Midway, Two Minute Warning, and notably, in Lethal Weapon. Mitchell Ryan was eighty-eight.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`My series on Hollywood Golden Age authors on Celebrating Act 2 continues with my dear friend, William Wellman Jr., as he shares great stories about his iconic father from his book, Wild Bill Wellman, Hollywood Rebel. The conversation takes place at the famed Hollywood Heritage Museum.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`The Shubert Organization just announced that Broadway’s Cort Theatre will be renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre to honor the actor. The theater has been under renovations since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Renovations are expected to be done by the summer. The Cort Theatre initially opened its doors in 1912 and is now America’s oldest professional theatre company.
JAMES EARL JONES
“`The beloved actor’s career spans seven decades. Jones has received much recognition for his vast contributions to both stage and screen over the years. In 1985, Jones was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame and went on to receive the National Medal of Arts in 1992. He was recently honored as a Disney Legend for his contributions to the Walt Disney Company through his various Disney roles over the years.
“`Jones has appeared in fourteen productions at Shubert theatres, which include two roles at Cort Theatre. His most recent performance was in the revival of Donald L. Coburn’s The Gin Game; the production taking place at the John Golden Theatre.
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“`I am thrilled to present Manny Pacheco’s Forgotten Hollywood, a new podcast on SPOTIFY. It will be presented in over ninety episodes with one program offered each week!
“`Episode Three is on the cloud. This week, I share tales about famous femme characters in film. The softer creations of screenwriters inspire musical compositions and and continue to capture our collective imaginations. PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK to give it a listen:
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here… 
“`Alan Ladd Jr. was a veteran film industry executive and producer. He received an Oscar for Braveheart, commissioned George Lucas to write Star Wars and was an influential studio head for Twentieth Century Fox and MGM / United Artists. He was also the son of iconic actor Alan Ladd.
“`Growing up in Hollywood, Ladd Jr. got his start in the business as a motion picture talent agent at Creative Management Associates. His client list included such heavyweights as Judy Garland, Warren Beatty and Robert Redford. He was in his mid-thirties when he began serving as Head of Creative Affairs at Fox. In 1976, he was promoted to president of Fox’s film division. During his tenure, the studio’s stock rocketed by 1,600%.
“`In 1979, Ladd became the head of his own production company. He later joined MGM / UA, eventually becoming Chairman and CEO of MGM-Pathé Communications. He quit executive life in 1993, resurrecting The Ladd Company at Paramount Pictures.
“`Ladd’s associated body of work is astounding by any standards. Besides the aforementioned blockbusters, he pushed to green-light the productions of Young Frankenstein, Scent of a Woman, The Towering Inferno,The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Silent Movie, Police Academy, Silver Streak, The Omen, Julia, The Turning Point, High Anxiety, The Boys from Brazil, Norma Rae, All That Jazz, 9 to 5, Brubaker, Chariots of Fire, Body Heat, Blade Runner, The Right Stuff, Night Shift, A View to a Kill, Moonstruck, Spaceballs, A Fish Called Wanda, Thelma and Louise, among others.
“`Ladd named Ashley Boone as Fox’s President of Marketing — making him the initial African American to be president of a studio division. His sister Cheryl Boone-Isaacs later became the first Black leader of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Laddie’s decisions made a difference and we are still feeling his positive reverberations, today.
“`Alan Ladd Jr. was eighty-four.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Villagers from a Ukraine hamlet are forced to escape by a rising Russian military presence. These unhappy wanderers eventually find themselves throughout Europe, Israel and even the United States. Is this a story ripped from the headlines… possibly! It is also the basis for the conclusion of Fiddler on the Roof. Plus, twenty miles outside of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, there is a little village inspired by the musical. It is called Anatevka.
“`Pogroms in the Russian Empire were large-scale, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting that began in the nineteenth century. Two million Jews fled the Russian Empire between 1880 and 1920, with many going to the United Kingdom and United States. An event that triggered vicious pogroms in the twentieth century was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II for which some blamed agents of foreign influence, implying that Jews were at fault.
“`In the animated film An American Tail, set during and after the 1880s pogroms, Fievel and his village is destroyed by a pogrom (Fievel and his family are mice, the Cossack attackers are cats). A pogrom is one of the central scenes in Fiddler on the Roof. The story adapted from Russian author Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye the Dairyman tales. The famous stage play and film highlighted the cruelty of the Russian pogroms on the Jews in fictional Anatevka.
“`For context, a comparison of Putin’s attack on the Ukraine to Hitler’s blitzkrieg during World War II is admirable. However, a more accurate assessment is this historical Eastern European atrocity known as the pogrom. Fiddler on the Roof poignantly offers a comparative tableau of real victims at the turn of the last century. Today’s victims of the current attack, all striving to maintain a democratic Ukraine, should be in our prayers, and eventually, remembered and honored.
Anatevka, Anatevka.
Underfed, overworked Anatevka.
Where else could Sabbath be so sweet?
Anatevka, Anatevka.
Intimate, obstinate Anatevka,
Where I know everyone I meet.
Soon I’ll be a stranger in a strange new place,
Searching for an old familiar face
From Anatevka.
I belong in Anatevka,
Tumble-down, work-a-day Anatevka.
Dear little village, little town of mine
`
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`We continue our Celebrating Act 2 series conducted at the Hollywood Heritage Museum during their Afternoon with the Authors event. Author Mindy Johnson delights us with stories about early pioneers of cinema in Pencils, Pens, Brushes: A Girl’s Guide To Animation.
“`Enjoy!
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“`Manny Pacheco’s Forgotten Hollywood, a new podcast on Spotify. It will be presented in over ninety episodes with one program offered each week!
“`Episode Two is on the cloud. This week, I share stories about Oscar-nominated music during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Sally Kellerman was the Oscar and Emmy nominated actress, who played Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in director Robert Altman’s 1970 film M*A*S*H. She had a career of more than sixty years in film and television.
“`Kellerman was born in 1937 in Long Beach, California, the daughter of a piano teacher and an oil executive. She moved to Los Angeles as a child and attended Hollywood High School. Her initial interest was in jazz singing and she was signed to a contract with Verve records at age eighteen. She opted to pursue acting, instead.
“`She took a drama class at Los Angeles City College and appeared in a stage production of Look Back in Anger with classmates Jack Nicholson, Shirley Knight, Dean Stockwell, and Robert Blake. She worked in television, with a lead role in Cheyenne and guest appearances on The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Bonanza. Her appearance in the original Star Trek pilot as Dr. Elizabeth Dehner is the most memorable of her early efforts.
“`In addition to working with Altman, Kellerman co-starred in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Boston Strangler, Brewster McCloud, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, Slither, A Little Romance, Foxes, and Back to School.
“`Sally Kellerman (above right) was eighty-four.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here… 
“`As part of my series of Author’s Day interviews on Celebrating Act 2 at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, I present a conversation with film critic and historian Leonard Maltin. This is part four in our series. LEONARD MALTIN ->
“`Leonard Maltin will be this year’s recipient of the Robert Osborne Award at the 2022 TCM Film Festival. The award is presented annually to a person whose work has helped preserve the cultural heritage of classic cinema for future generations. I have just been assigned my press credentials for this year’s event!
“`Enjoy!
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“`A reminder to listen to Manny Pacheco’s Forgotten Hollywood, a new ninety-part podcast on Spotify! I share fascinating stories about Hollywood’s Studio Era. Click on the link below…
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Celebrating Act 2 examines some of the funniest comedies by decade. John Coleman, Art Kirsch and I yuk it up during this engaging conversation.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Collector Tom Barnes created Retroformat Silent Films to perpetuate the original form of cinematic presentation; public silent movie screenings with live music. Now, the educational non-profit company has launched a brand new web-based archive of rare silent films for online subscribers: The Vault. It will cover a wide range of artists and genres, such as productions by the first major Black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux; and Jack Pickford, the brother of America’s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford.
“`A one-of-a-kind online archive of silent films and special features, The Vault will house Retroformat’s exclusive digital scans of 16mm celluloid from the USC School of Cinematic Arts HNH Foundation Moving Image Archive and additional private collections, as well as restorations by the Library of Congress and other sources. Flicks shall feature original music compositions performed by Retroformat musical director Cliff Retallick.
“`Retroformat Silent Films is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. They hosted the first drive-in silent movie show with live music in Hollywood history, Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman at the Hollywood Legion Theater Drive-In.
“`For membership information, email retroformat@gmail.com, and / or visit retroformat.org.
Until next time> “never forget”
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