Manny P. here…
“`Crazy colorful monickers are featured in memorable films. Art Kirsch and John Coleman make me take a quiz by handing me a character name and I have to guess the film! All on Celebrating Act 2.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget“
Manny P. here…
“`The living members of Dark Shadows performed their version of A Christmas Carol on Zoom. By all accounts, it was a huge success! David Selby shined as Mr. Scrooge. It is now available to watch on YouTube.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`It is that time of the year again! The 2021 selections of the Library of Congress National Film Registry have just been announced. Entrants including three silent film and a number of modern fantasy, science fiction, and horror productions, including Star Wars Episode VI — Return of the Jedi, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, WALL•E, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Even the postmodern subversive exploitation comedy that was a midnight staple at art houses, Pink Flamingos, made the cut. How divine!
“`Let us look at the Hollywood Golden Age selections:
~ FLOWERS AND TREES (1932) – A pioneering animated experiment, Flowers and Trees was the first three-strip Technicolor feature shown to the public. The overwhelmingly positive response convinced Walt Disney to produce all future Silly Symphony shorts in color. It was a commercial and critical success, winning the initial Academy Award for Best Cartoon Short Subject.
~ STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) – The final part by tormented actor Robert Walker, this riveting 1951 Hitchcock classic began the director’s string of iconic cinema that would continue over the subsequent twelve years with movies such as The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. This is one of the original identity-inspired mystery thrillers, in which natural human behavior is the driving force behind the true macabre rather than any supernatural elements. Hitch’s favorite device of an ordinary man caught in an ever-tightening web of fear was a common theme for lots of his productions. Farley Granger and Ruth Roman also star in this feature.
~ WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962) – The effort to make this motion picture include the legendary public feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Directed by Robert Aldrich, this 1962 horror dark comedy delves into the redundant worlds of fading stardom and the grotesque. The flick remains vivid and uncomfortably terrifying. As in the finest Hitchcock movies, suspense, rather than actual mayhem, drives the piece.
~ SOUNDER (1972) – This effort received acclaim, with critics praising it as an alternative to the contemporaneous wave of black movies, most of which were considered of low quality and budget and exploitative. The film’s depiction of a loving sharecropper family in the deep South during the Great Depression was hailed as a banner accomplishment for black filmmakers and audiences. Supporting parts were offered to local townsfolk and actors from regional theatre. Cicely Tyson cemented her status as a major star with her performance.
“`The Library of Congress National Film Registry annually inducts twenty-five movies that are considered culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. These films must be at least ten years old.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Art Kirsch and John Coleman pose an interesting question on Celebrating Act 2… What were the final films of legendary actors. It is an interesting examination.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`I am thrilled to be returning to the Cypress Chamber of Commerce Monthly Breakfast to be held at the Marriott Residence Inn, literally six blocks from my home!
“`I will be sharing stories from my Forgotten Hollywood book series and offering autographed copies of my book, which make unique holiday gifts.
“`To aid the less fortunate during this time of year, Cypress Chamber has adopted Precious Life Shelter for pregnant homeless mothers. Suggested items listed below…
For Children:
Toys for boy and girl toddlers
Teethers
Plush toys for 3-6 / 6-9 months
boys and girls Infant toys, toy blocks, plush toys,
Wooden puzzles (larger pieces) for childcare
Rubber/plastic play balls for outdoor play
For Moms:
Pajamas sizes M, L, XL
Slippers sizes 8 and up
Lotions and/or body wash
Gloves for cold mornings
Bristle hair brushes and hair spray
Lip Gloss
“`Reservations are recommended to secure your spot for the monthly breakfasts. Cost for the breakfast event is $25. If you live in and around Cypress CA, stop by for a morning of fellowship.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`There has been a monumental shift in the Los Angeles radio landscape. As December 6th at 3p, KNX 1070 AM began simulcasting on the FM dial. The platform is now called: KNX News 97.1 FM.
“`For over a century, KNX has been a dependable source for information on your radio dial. The unique opportunity to reach more listeners and the fact that electric cars are now being sold without an AM signal available were factors into this company decision. The corporate bosses of parent company, Audacy, are confident that all of the success enjoyed by the AM station will translate to its FM counterpart.
“`I am proud to be part of a new chapter in the iconic history of KNX!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`It is about time that Celebrating Act 2 has a converstion on the James Bond series of films. Art Kirsch and John Coleman join in to chat about the Bond franchise.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Hollywood Heritage is hosting its 10th annual Afternoon with the Authors this Saturday, from 11a to 3p at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 N. Highland Avenue. This is my ninth visit to the event, and I am thrilled to have all three of my paperbacks in the Forgotten Hollywood Book Series to autograph.
“`Among the noted authors on hand… Leonard Maltin, William Wellman Jr., Cari Beauchamp, Mary Mallory, Rocky Lang, and Marc Wanamaker. Fourteen authors will be there with literary inventory that shall make great Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers.
“`This year, we are thrilled to have the press at the event. The producers of Celebrating Act 2 will be interviewing the scribes for their nationwide YouTube channel. Hosts Art Kirsch, John Coleman will be there for most of the day covering current and future Hollywood publications.
“`Also covering the day is Pat Pattison, host and executive producer of The Best Of California with Pat Pattison. He will also be profiling the authors for his popular YouTube channel. He is a former Disney executive, and now a longtime television broadcaster with a very successful program. Pat is a great supporter of Hollywood Heritage.
“`Consider this your personal invitation!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Josephine Baker, the American-born entertainer, wartime spy, and civil rights activist who first achieved fame in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, was given France’s highest honor today when she was inducted into the French Pantheon, the nation’s mausoleum of heroes. She is the first performing artist, first Black woman, and initial American honored with a Pantheon induction.
“`As a teenager, Josephine moved to New York City and began performing with an all-Black dance troupe. She was discovered by a talent scout from Paris. Baker arrived in the French capital in 1925, at age nineteen. Baker became a fixture in shows at Les Folies Bergères, a famous music hall. She was a symbol of the Jazz Age, dominating France’s cabarets with a sense of humor, her frantic dancing and her iconic songs. One of America’s members of the Lost Generation, her contributions coincided with the talents of Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“`French President Emmanuel Macron presided over this evening’s official ceremony, broadcast live on French television, and included Baker’s family members, politicians, Monaco’s Prince Albert II, and crowds of spectators. The idea of Baker’s inclusion in the Pantheon was first proposed in 2013, and gained traction in recent years as France reckons with racism, its colonial past, and questions about their success of its model of social integration.
“`Eighty other luminaries, such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Marie Curie, are among those laid to rest in the Paris monument. Baker remains buried in Monaco. Her addition is commemorated with a plaque on a cenotaph. France has awarded Baker with several big honors over the years — a French Resistance medal, the Croix de Guerre, and in 1961, upon recognition by President de Gaulle, the Legion of Honor.
“`Today’s ceremony symbolizes the pioneering spirit of Josephine Baker (above).
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Arlene Dahl was an actress for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was a spokesperson for cosmetics throughout her career. She was married to Lex Barker and Fernando Lamas. Her son is Lorenzo Lamas. She leaves a shrinking list of actors with ties to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
“`As a young adult, she traveled to New York and worked as a model. She successfully auditioned for a part in a musical in 1945. This led to her getting the lead in Questionable Ladies, seen by a talent scout from Hollywood. Dahl had an uncredited bit part in Life with Father. She was promoted to leading lady in My Wild Irish Rose with Dennis Morgan, a big hit that led to an offer from MGM. ARLENE DAHL –>
“`Other memorable cinema include A Southern Yankee, Three Little Words, Carribean Gold, Here Come the Girls, Woman’s World, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. On the small screen, she guest-starred in Burke’s Law, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and recurring roles on One Life to Live and All My Children. On Broadway, Dahl replaced Lauren Bacall as Margo Channing in Applause, the musical based on All About Eve.
“`She began writing a syndicated beauty column in 1952, and opened Arlene Dahl Enterprises in 1954, marketing cosmetics and designer lingerie. She began working at Sears Roebuck as the director of beauty products in 1970, earning nearly $750,000 annually. She left in 1975 to found a short-lived fragrance company, Dahlia.
“`Arlene Dahl was ninety-six.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim would change American musical theater, reaching artistic heights with legacy works as West Side Story, Gypsy, Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, A Little Night Music, and Into the Woods. He began to grasp the essence of musical theater when he was a teenager from his neighbor and mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II. He later advised a new generation of Broadway influencers, including Lin Manuel Miranda.
STEPHEN SONDHEIM
“`He began his career writing for the television series Topper. He devoured 1940s and 1950s films, and called cinema his basic language; his film knowledge got him through The $64,000 Question contestant tryouts. Sondheim disliked movie musicals, favoring classic dramas such as Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath and A Matter of Life and Death. He loved the work of Michael Curtiz and Raoul Walsh.
“`He eventually collaborated with and wrote the lyrics to Leonard Bernstein’s score for West Side Story, inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He also worked with fellow composer Jule Styne as a lyricist for Gypsy, loosely based on the memoirs of burlesque star Gypsy Rose Lee. The initial musical for which Sondheim wrote music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The concept, based on farces by Plautus, was written by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Sondheim’s score was not well received; while the show won several Tony Awards (including Best Musical), he did not receive a nomination.
“`He scored signature hit Send in the Clowns from his 1973 musical A Little Night Music. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Judy Collins, among others. One of Sondheim’s greatest triumphs was the Pulitzer Prize he shared with composure James Lapine for the 1984 musical Sunday in the Park with George, about nineteenth-century French Neo-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat. The two later collaborated on Into the Woods. Other projects did not fare as well. Plus, he seldom compared favorably to the efforts provided by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
“`Other film assignments not related to his work on Broadway include The Last of Sheila, co-written with Anthony Perkins; and music provided for The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Reds, Dick Tracy, and The Birdcage. He recently collaborated with Steven Spielberg on an update of West Side Story to be released in December.
“`Sondheim received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man) from Dick Tracy. He also won eight Tonys for his work on Broadway and eight Grammy Awards for his musical theatre albums. Sondheim has also been nominated for two Golden Globes and he received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993. In 2015, President Barack Obama presented the lyricist the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony.
“`A virtual tribute Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Celebration was live-streamed on Broadway.com’s YouTube channel on April 26th. Participants included Lin-Manuel Miranda, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Nathan Lane, Josh Groban, Patti LuPone, Neil Patrick Harris, Bernadette Peters, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mandy Patinkin, Christine Baranski, Jason Alexander and Audra McDonald.
“`His work addressed darker, more harrowing elements of the human experience, with songs often tinged with ambivalence about various aspects of life. It allowed him to be uniquely relatable to his theatre-going audience.
“`Stephen Sondheim was ninety-one.
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Celebrating Act 2 examines the transition of stars from cinema to the small screen, such as Raymond Burr, Karl Malden, Walter Brennan, George Reeves, Robert Young, and Lucille Ball. I am thrilled to join Art Kirsch and John Coleman for this engaging examination.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here… 
“`I must admit… There is great comraderie among the cast of Dark Shadows still alive. Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott have been lifelong friends since they co-starred in the spooky soap opera. (Parker and Scott joining me at a book fest) —>
“`Now, they will join David Selby, Nancy Barrett, David Henesy, Jerry Lacy, and others for a Zoom Christmas reading of A Christmas Carol on December 19th at 4p (pst). Spend Christmas in Collinsport!
“`This is going to be spectacular!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here…
“`Celebrating Act 2 offers a complete rundown of a recent dedication of the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley in Hollywood. I join Art Kirsch and John Coleman for this engaging discussion.
“`Enjoy!
Until next time> “never forget”
Manny P. here… 
“`Dean Stockwell began his career as a child actor and spent seventy years providing audiences with memorable performances. He is best remembered as Admiral Al Calavicci on television’s Quantum Leap. Stockwell (right) earned Emmy and Oscar attention along the way.
“`Dean grew up surrounded by thespians. His father, Harry Stockwell, was an actor and lyric baritone singer in New York productions of Carousel and Oklahoma! as well as the voice of Prince Charming in Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. His elder brother was television and film actor Guy Stockwell.
“`Contracted my MGM, Stockwell appeared in Anchor’s Aweigh (alongside Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Kathryn Grayson), The Valley of Decision, The Green Years and as the son of Nick and Nora Charles in Song of the Thin Man. Dean was loaned out by MGM to co-star in Gentleman’s Agreement and The Boy with Green Hair. After his performances in Secret Garden and Kim, he took a break from Hollywood. As a young adult, he had impressive turns in Sons and Lovers and Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
“`He was busy on television, guest-starring in Combat!, The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dr. Kildare, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Night Gallery, Mannix, The F. B. I., The Streets of San Francisco, Columbo, McCloud, The A-Team, Hart to Hart, Miami Vice and Murder She Wrote. Stockwell spent five years on Quantum Leap. This effort led to other guest-starring roles in sci fi episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, Stargate SG1, and Battlestar Galactica. He was close pals with Leap co-star Scott Bakula and Russ Tamblyn, who he had known since the 1940s.
“`Some of his most impressive work was delivered in the 1980s after a brief hiatus from show business. He was cast in Dune, The Legend of Billie Jean, To Live and Die in L. A., Blue Velvet, and his celebrated turn in Married to the Mob. The latter film was his favorite.
“`Dean Stockwell was eighty-five.
Until next time> “never forget”
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