25 March 2008

sunny side up

          for Ray Craig

Barbara Pepper & Lucille Ball were Goldwyn Girls together.

Goldwyn Girls: a stock company of chorines used in production numbers such as those made famous by Busby Berkeley. rows of smiling girls like eggs in a carton.

joining Lucille Ball among the Goldwyn Girls in a pair of early '30s musicals with dances by Busby Berkeley was Betty Grable.

Barbara Pepper appeard in one of Busby Berkeley's few dramatic films "They Made Me a Criminal."

50 million people watchd when Betty Grable was a guest star on Lucille Ball's show a half century ago.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex,

The other night I watched _The Bad and the Beautiful_, with Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Barry Sullivan (didn't he become a game show host?), Barbara Billingsly (?) (who was Beaver Cleaver's mom in _Leave if to Beaver_, and others I don't remember exactly.

Well, NO, not a Film Noir flick, and not sure your cup of tea, but I suspect you've seen it, yeah? If so, you like it or no?

I enjoyed it -- hey, I enjoy ALL movies, even the ones I don't exactly love, and although I am NOT a big fan of Kirk Douglas (his particular brand of "machismo" or just him, personally, somehow turns me off big time, and of course I've never liked him, the gun guy Charlton Heston (whom some "booster"/grifter fellows from his generation that I once knew once "hustled" him on a golf course in Florida and used to refer to Carleton Cheston, which used to crack us up, or Yul Brunner
(whom a girlfriend and dancer of mine performed with in _The King and I_), or their particularly brand and generation of Hollywood icon -- they seemed like such dork jerks to me.

Anyway, though, I enjoyed it and I was glad to have taken it in, as it's a classic, I guess, according to *****, of **** Turner Classic Movies and evidently one of the best depictions of "shady dealings and corruption of Hollywood power-mongers" and also "a perfect role for Douglas" and that sort of thing.

Blah blah, just saying Hello!

Steve

Alex Gildzen said...

always good to hear from you Steve.

it's been a while since I've seen "B & B" but I adore Lana. her car scene is a classic.

& in support there's the always delicious Gloria Grahame & the always watchable Kathleen Freeman & the always there Bess Flowers as well as silent screen veterans like Francis X. Bushman & Stuart Holmes.

I liked Kirk when I was a kid. to me he WAS Van Gogh. but he hasn't worn well with me over the years. I prefer his buddy & frequent co-star Burt Lancaster.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I was going to say that -- Burt Lancaster, on the other hand, was a fellow of the same generation who did NOT have the turn-off effect on me. Maybe because he had some mellower roles and as he got older (well, I'm thinking of his role as the doctor in _Field of Dreams_, so maybe that not a whole lot of great examples), but he seemed to have a kind savoir faire (sp?) about that seemed more "dignified" without being so goddarned mean or nasty or something.

Oh, don't get me wrong! I never "hated" Kirk Douglas. Just that there was something about him that makes him and the "others" of his generation, kind of unsavory, but then maybe it was "the times," and what Hollywood sold as virile males during that era...

cinemage books said...

Yes I also dislike Kirk Douglas, but would never not see a film because he's in it. He's quite good in Lust For Life and also ace in the hole, but I can't stand his no talent son michael. I so much prefer the burt maybe it was his great looks and physical presence. See him in his early films like criss cross, brute force and several others. He's great in sweet smell of success and his last major role atlantic city which should have won him the Oscar that he so deserved, but Fonda was dying and we know about the Oscars. The Bad and The Beautiful has some terrific things and moments, one of Minnelli's great melodramas in spite of Douglas. Also in the cast was Elaine Stewart and Graham was also fine,but I liked her best in The Big Heat. She got so nervous the night of the Oscars that she forgot to put her eyebrows on, and how can you not love a girl who married her stepson. I knew a male nurse who was taking care of her when she was sick and dying at st. vincent's here in nyc.