ValeskaSuratt

Arturo, I think Marilyn was one of the few who could rise above even the most undignified of publicity pix.

> {quote:title=misswonderly wrote:}{quote} > > I must admit that pic of Guy is very, uh, cougar-worthy ( although I of course am only 22, so cannot lay claim to cougarhood as yet. :0 ) What a coincidence ... I'm *122* (but still a kitten at heart).

> {quote:title=misswonderly wrote:}{quote}What does "grok" mean? ?:| It's from Robert A. Heinlein's 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land: "Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience." It's become a fairly obscure, slightly hyperbolic slang term for "Boy, do I ever GET what you MEAN !" Like, when you say: > It's not about how cerebral an actor is, or how academic or "intellectual" the movies he appears in are. There are a lot of very lightweight films that I love - possibly most of the films I love are "lighweight".> Most of the actors I find "sexy" were in some very good movies, some indifferent ones, and a few tht are downright wince-worthy. That "quality" I was talking about has as little to do with how "high-toned" the movies they appeared in were as it has with their looks. ( sorry, that was a pretty awkward sentence.) . . . I totally grok, right down to the 'awkward sentence' ... IOW, me too 1000% . . . "Right ON, Sistah !" . . . etc.. And you're dead right -- your supposed aspersions about Guy Madison were nothing but figments of my imagination ... as is (sadly) my affair with him. (sniffle) But, heck . . . every cougar needs a scratching post . . .

> {quote:title=TomJH wrote: > }{quote}Would anyone know who the man is standing with Shearer? It doesn't quite look like Irving Thalberg to me. It may be her brother, Douglas, the brilliant head of MGM's sound department. If this pic was taken about a decade before the one with Chaplin, that might explain the difference in his hairline ... ?

Now we know why Erich Maria Remarque fell head over heels in love with Paulette ! He saw those pix of her dressed as a kitty. (Meow.)

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}The fact that a Jew could be a friendly witness and assist HUAC proves that there was more going on than hatred against a religion, unless a Jew suddenly hated himself or his own people. Silly. Again, from that Tufts Journal article: "The response by the American-Jewish community? The most general answer is that the (mainstream) American-Jewish community did not want to touch the Jewish left with a 10-foot pole. The American-Jewish community was as anxious as Hollywood and the left in general (about being blacklisted), and wished to dissociate itself as much as possible from—and here we really need quotation marks—'bad Jews' who threatened to give the American-Jewish community a bad name." And just to reiterate an important point: *there were many shades of gray to the movitations behind HUAC*.

misswonderly, I totally grok. Rather than "sexy or not," I look at it as a question of "sexy to me, sexy to you." No stones hurled at my Guy can ever knock him off his pedestal in MY personal "Hall of Hunks." :^0 One of the reasons I find him striking is that, at the time of his debut during WWII when "men were men," he seemed like such a boyish "male ingenue." Instead of gawky or comedic like Robert Walker or Mickey Rooney, Madison appeared naive, guileless and, per Ms. Glyn's definition of "It," totally unaware of his beauty -- though all that could very well have been because he didn't know how to act. Interesting too that for someone who came off as fairly vapid, his career lasted over 40 years. He starred in a popular TV western series in the 50s and made his last appearance in the late 1980s. Ooops, gotta run ... Guy's awake and bidding three no trump !

There are many shades of gray to the movitations behind HUAC -- anti-communism, anti-semitism, an opportunity for studio heads to "clean house" of a few troublesome or obsolete stars . . . A fascinating article on the topic from the Tufts University Journal states: "(Tufts English professor Joseph) Litvak is the author of The Un-Americans: Jews, the Blacklist, and Stoolpigeon Culture (Duke University Press, 2009), a look at the Cold War era and its enduring cultural and political legacy. Specifically, the book examines the role that a particular strain of anti-Semitism—both in Hollywood and Washington—played during the time . . . “'Six of the Hollywood Ten, the first uncooperative witnesses—all of whom were imprisoned as well as blacklisted—were Jews,' Litvak writes. A non-Jew among the Hollywood Ten 'was accused of ‘writing like a Jew’ and Jews made up an overwhelmingly large percentage of the witnesses (both "friendly" and "unfriendly") who appeared before the committee.'” http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/2010/05_1/features/03/

True, Guy Madison's Shakespearian career was short-lived *(*:^0 *)* but his little cameo in Since You Went Away is sexy in a little-lost-puppy sort of a way. > I'd rather have had one drink with either of the above gentlemen than gone on for a whole romantic weekend with Guy Madison. I'll tell him when he wakes up -- he's all tuckered out from last night's bridge game.

How about this one ?

h2. Whatever Happened to Billy Jack? After a few too many peace rallies, biker fights and too-tight headbands, Billy Jack tries living quietly with his invalid sister, Jilly Jack, only to have their sibling rivalry explode into a brutal and bloody turf war. Despite scenes of pathos – as when Tom Loughlin, singing “One Tin Soldier,” dissolves into tears after a mirror reveals his days as a young, girlish Green Beret are long gone – the film was heavily criticized for its violence. According to Newsweek’s David Ansen, “The indignities heaped upon the poor, jiggle-wheeled Jilly go way beyond dead rats on lunch trays and include several karate chops, a pistol-whip- ping and an attack with a samurai sword. Fortunately, though armed only with lethally padded shoulders and razor-sharp eyebrows, Joan Crawford gives as good as she gets.”

> {quote:title=Arturo wrote:}{quote}ST: > > > > > > > > > > This sounds like Madame Elinor Glyn's definition of "It", which helped Clara Bow become a superstar in the late 20s. Per Wikipedia: From the 1927 novel, It: *"To have 'It', the fortunate possessor must have that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes... In the animal world 'It' demonstrates in tigers and cats-both animals being fascinating and mysterious, and quite unbiddable.*" From the 1927 movie, It: *"self-confidence and indifference as to whether you are pleasing or not".* Interesting definitions. Or was Ms. Glyn just full of "It" ?

> {quote:title=musicalnovelty wrote: > }{quote}I'm not sure I agree that either one is Lombard. I'm pretty sure the woman in front is Carole Lombard.

> {quote:title=musicalnovelty wrote: > }{quote}Looks like Buster Keaton. Bingo ! ... at around age 8 ? Keaton's version of his childhood: "My old man was an eccentric comic and as soon as I could take care of myself at all on my feet, he had slapshoes on me and big baggy pants. And he'd just start doing gags with me and especially kickin' me clean across the stage or taking me by the back of the neck and throwing me. By the time I got up to around seven or eight years old, we were called 'The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage.'" Buster's "official" professional debut occurred on Wednesday, October 17, 1900, in the fourth place on the bill, at Dockstader's Theater in Wilmington, Delaware: bq. Quite the image of his father, Buster, wearing a bald fright \wig, chin whiskers, cutaway coat, baggy pants and slapshoes, \had hurried across the stage and later, as the orchestra struck \up 'The Anvil Chorus,' Papa Keaton whacked the youngster \with a broom. The child also tried to imitate his father and \mother and whenever he fell down, he rose in all his juvenile \dignity, brushed his clothes and apologized very seriously, \'I'm so sorry I fell down.' It was about to become one of the \gags about town, heard even today among old-time Wilming- \tonians. Even on nights when his father drank too much and the onstage beatings became dangerously real, the comedy hinged on Buster's reaction -- none. "The puss ! The puss !" Joe would hiss at his son whenever some inadvertent emotion would cross his face while on stage. Hence "The Great Stoneface." The full ad from which the picture was taken, circa 1903. h/t to http://www.busterkeaton.com/bio1.htm

> {quote:title=Midge wrote:}{quote}Peter Lorre? Nope. Hint #1: He's American.

Even in a beard.

> {quote:title=hamradio wrote:}{quote}During the silent era (and to some of all time), Rudolph Valentino was considered the sexiest man alive. They were right.

Has anyone posted this one ?

(SIGH) ... GUY MADISON !!!!! EEEEEEEEK !

TomJH, In addition to the photos themselves, you've also created a potential captioning contest. *Joan Crawford Reveals Hazards of Too Much Halloween Candy* Crawford[/i]Halloween.jpg]

TomJH, What a perfectly BRILLIANT Idea for a thread ! "Dignity" and "publicity photo" is a contradiction in terms.

"Copy and paste" describes my jewelry collection.

> {quote:title=hamradio wrote:}{quote}Here is another informative link about Baby Peggy. > http://astarforbabypeggy.com/about-baby-peggy/baby-peggys-biography/ > > > > I found out from this site "The Darling of New York" (1923) was one of her popular movies but only the last reel exist. > Read the remaining list and *weep!* These don't include *totally lost* films. Hollywood can be a movie slaughterhouse. Great link ... "By 1923 she was making $1.5 million a year (adjusted for inflation this would be roughly $15 million a year)" ... a historical precedent for the Olsen twins. Re: nitrate ... "We're building on sand," said D.W. Griffith. He could have been talking about the film stock as well as the art. And if you've ever seen (and smelled) nitrate film burning, you'll squirm at the notion that among Mabel Normand's practical jokes was tossing firecrackers into Sennett's cutting room.