yesterday

I was brave. accomplishd a download of a program which converts DVDs to iMovie. so I spent the day editing little films.


the quality is weak. my You Tube offerings were made from a DVD made several years ago from a videotape made decades ago of a movie which may not exist. but because so much of this footage is so historic I'm sharing it anyway. in a way the graininess suggests just how old the scenes are.


so you'll be seeing more videos here than usual. I'm having a good time -- & remembering many friends no longer here. last nite I didn't sleep at all because my mind kept plotting my next production.

watching

"Valley of the Dolls" I was struck by Paul Burke's unique position in the history of true crime in Hollywood.  it's been written that early in his career he was a bartender at Florentine Gardens & knew Elizabeth Short. & in this fabled bad movie he appears opposite Sharon Tate. so he may be the only person to have known both of these famous victims.

whispers from the dead

Elizabeth Short's fingerprints

Craig Arnold's footprint

Nicol Williamson (1938-2011)

when I saw him in "Inadmissible Evidence" he was the prince of Broadway. & a colorful character -- having sluggd producer David Merrick during the tryout.


Williamson was in films for over 40 years playing roles as famous as Sherlock Holmes & Little John.


but when he died in Amsterdam last month he reportedly was broke. & his death is just being reveald now.


yet another example of how fleeting is fame.

Theo Angelopoulos (1935-2012)

one of the biggest thrills I had attending the Toronto Film Festival in 2004 was to see this great

director introduce a screening of "The Weeping Meadow."  how sad to learn he was killd by a motorcycle while crossing a street.

when you think you've seen everything

dead modem

that isn't the name of a new rock band. it was yesterday's situation.


so after the gym this ayem I purchasd a new one. after installing & configuring I feel like an honorary geek.

between Vine St & Columbia Studios

tragic residents of 3 blocks in a row:


6263 Leland Way
showgirl Beryl Wallace who died with her companion Earl Carroll in a plane crash
(her home is now the popular restaurant Off Vine)


6238 DeLongpre
former flight attendant Hervey Medellin


6230 Afton Place
Marie Prevost


so this is Hollywood

layers of Hollywood history

today is the 75th anniversary of the death of Marie Prevost.


a few years ago I made a call on my cell phone to filmmaker Todd Hughes in front of the Aftonian where Prevost died.


exactly one block over on DeLongpre is the apartment building of Hervey Medellin who last nite was reveald to be the person whose head was found near the Hollywood sign. & altho we don't yet know exactly when he was murderd it may have been on the anniversary of the finding of the body of Elizabeth Short.

Etta James (1938-2012)

I took this 5 years ago at the site on Norton Ave where Elizabeth Short's body was found. what startld me then was that the Hollywood sign was visible.  it's difficult to see here but that white line in the mountains is the sign.

the Hollywood sign case

the finding of a human head near the sign was certain to garner big news coverage.  however the subsequent discovery of other body parts so close to the anniversary of the Black Dahlia case has all the makings of a major moment in the history of true crime in Tinsletown.

my madeleine

since posting the Tom Mahl video I've been corresponding with some old classmates.  the school in that video was Garford Elementary. from there I went to Eastern Heights Junior High. Bill Cooper (far right in bottom row) unearthd this picture. I wasn't a jock & rarely went to games but I remember most of these guys. & seeing some of these faces for the first time in years has unleashd memories heretofore lockd. I haven't studied the way memory works & don't know how individual it mite be.  but for me often a photo can release something which locates the past in my head.

statistics

on the old design for this blog there was something calld Sitemeter which allowd me to see the source of visits. with dynamic Blogger I can no longer put the Sitemeter banner on the site so that info is kept only for those few who still use the old view (which yesterday was one).


however I discoverd Blogger has its own tracking system. this one is quite different. & some of its "news" is strange.  for instance I went from 593 pageviews one day to 207 yesterday.  


Blogger also reveals that most my viewd post (with 1373 hits) is the one abt Gary Brockette. abt 500 hits behind is a picture I took of Ben Barnes. & coming in third a post abt former amour Robert Drivas.  so much for poetry......

change

since I now have a 27" LED screen on my new computer it seemd time to alter the old-fashiond look of this blog.


in the process I lost some links. however all that information remains available on my Facebook page. & to non FBers there's always a Google search.


change isn't always easy when one grows older but I've found it's necessary to a healthy life.

in remembrance

& from my chapbook Beth

my first iMovie

more HVD

in my backyard on Morris Rd (with the lemon tree from my parents which I gave to Algesa & Joe O'Sickey when I went west)

the latest abt HVD is from Michael Henry Adams.

pop food

years ago Lawrence Alloway named an art movement: pop art. let me apply that to food.


Xmas 2010 dinner at an upscale restaurant in the Venetian in Las Vegas. my side dish was mac & cheese. (I can see Bill Berger cringe.) but this mac & cheese had several quality cheeses & truffle shavings.


for the recent holidaze I was back in Vegas & while at chic hotel du jour the Artisan I tried their speciality a lobster BLT.


I love when chefs elevate the quotidian. just as pop art chose items from everyday life & made us look more closely at them this is being done in kitchens.

from the archives

Ira Joel Haber sent me this photo he unearthd. he took it at his loft. our dinner companions are John Perreault & Marjorie Strider. my best guess as to the date: nov. '73.

Hamlet

when I went thru my Henry Van Dyke files in preparation for sending them to my collection at Kent I found this snapshot.  he took it at P. Craig Russell's 1981 Halloween party.

Denise Darcel (1925-2011)

when I was 12 she came to the Capitol Theater in Elyria. the first movie star I ever saw was Gene Autry. but I was 5 then & have zero memory of that event. however I still remember asking La Darcel for her autograph in the book Aunt Sophie gave me for Xmas 2 months earlier. her sweetness to a kid forever left her in a place of affection in my life.

recent visitors

Eunice Rose

Rick Castro

back online

learning to apple

hiatus

for the holidaze the ethers gave me the gift of spyware. so after a century of PCs I've orderd a Mac. won't get it for a week & not sure how strenuous the learning curve will be.

year's 1st dream

I'm an artist
stepping into a boxing ring
to paint
2 naked bodies
with chocolate syrup