Thursday, June 29, 2006

DId you know??


  • For her second film, Lassie Come Home (1943), Elizabeth was paid $100 a week. The dog who played Lassie, however, was paid more than twice that: $250 a week.
  • Elizabeth attended school at the famous Little Red Schoolhouse on the MGM lot, which also educated the likes of Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Margaret O'Brien and Lana Turner.
  • According to Richard Burton, "Her breasts would topple empires before they withered."
  • Taylor owns another piece of historic jewelry, an elaborate enameled bracelet once owned by Napoleon's wife, Josephine Bonapart.
  • " Elizabeth has one of the foremost private jewelry collections in the world. Pieces she has owned include the 33.19 carat Krupp Diamond and the 69.42 carat pear-shaped Taylor-Burton Diamond, both gifts from Richard Burton.

  • She never read an entire script, just her own lines.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Top 50 R&B LADIES 1942-1999:




This list is compiled from the top 500 artist list in Joel Whitburn's Top
R&B Singles 1942-1999, based on Billboard's R&B charts (see point system below).
Included are solo women, girl groups and female lead singers who received

label credit along with their group.


Top 50 R&B LADIES 1942-1999:

1- ARETHA FRANKLIN
2- GLADYS KNIGHT
3- DINAH WASHINGTON
4- DIANA ROSS
5- JANET JACKSON
6- WHITNEY HOUSTON

7- SUPREMES
8- DIONNE WARWICK

9- PATTI LABELLE
10- NATALIE COLE
11- MARIAH CAREY
12- STEPHANIE MILLS

13- RUTH BROWN
14- MARY J. BLIGE
15- DONNA SUMMER

16- CHAKA KHAN
17- ROBERTA FLACK
18- MELBA MOORE

19- BETTY WRIGHT
20- MILLIE JACKSON
21- POINTER SISTERS

22- DENIECE WILLIAMS
23- ETTA JAMES
24- MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS
25- EVELYN "CHAMPAIGN" KING
26- EMOTIONS
27- ANITA BAKER

28- MARVELETTES
29- CANDI STATON
30- LAVERN BAKER
31- MARY WELLS
32- EN VOGUE
33- MONICA
34- ESTHER PHILLIPS
35- JODY WATLEY
36- ELLA FITZGERALD
37- S W V
38- STACY LATTISAW
39- TLC
40- PHYLLIS HYMAN
41- TEENA MARIE
42- SALT-N-PEPPA
43- TONI BRAXTON
44- FAITH EVANS
45- CARLA THOMAS
46- VANESSA WILLIAMS
47- BRANDY
48- KARYN WHITE
49- SISTER SLEDGE
50- SHIRELLES

Friday, June 23, 2006

Swing Out Sister - Waiting Game

1989 swing out sister
"Kaleidoscope World" still one of my top 10 CD

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Eva Marie Saint is Back!!!

Academy Award Winner Eva Marie Saint Is Back as as Clark Kent's adoptive mother in director Bryan Singer's much-anticipated revival of the original comic book superhero franchise, "Superman Returns"

Played one of most famous female leads in movie history, opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954). She certainly brought "real acting" in a time when melodrama still ran rampant in the industry. Who can forget her memorable argument scene with Brando when she says, "I didn't say I don't love you, I said I want you to get out." Eva Marie Saint is still going strong with her work. She takes the fact that she's part of film history in her stride.

She was well-served by the gripping drug-addiction drama, "A Hatful of Rain" (1957) and her cool intelligence made for a very suitable Hitchcock heroine opposite Cary Grant in "North by Northwest" (1959). After a fourteen year absence, Saint returned to features as Tom Hanks' mother in "Nothing in Common" (1986). Nine years later, she was in the cast of the as-yet unreleased film "Mariette in Ecstasy".

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Hollywood director Sherman dies at 99

Vincent Sherman, who directed — and romanced — Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth and Joan Crawford during his heyday as a leading Hollywood filmmaker in the 1940s and '50s, has died. He would have been 100 on July 16.

His death Sunday night at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital was announced by his son, Eric Sherman.

Vincent Sherman, whose film career was seriously damaged by Hollywood's communist "red scare," later became a successful director of such television series as "The Waltons," "Doctors Hospital," "Baretta," "Trapper John, M.D." and "77 Sunset Strip."

Because of his ability to evoke powerful performances from strong-willed female stars, Sherman became known as a woman's director, a title he hated. He was quick to point out that he also directed Errol Flynn in "The Adventures of Don Juan," Paul Newman in "The Young Philadelphians," Bogart in "All Through the Night," Richard Burton in "The Ice Palace" and Ronald Reagan in "The Hasty Heart."

Sherman also gained a reputation for romancing many of his famous actresses, and he wrote about them in his 1996 autobiography, "Studio Affairs."

No More Wire Hanger

We all "ve heard a lot of "wire Hanger story" is it true or not ..We didn't know but most of the time there came from Christina 's story... Here what I just read from http://joancrawfordma.tripod.com/id115.html

The years following JoJo's death were punctuated with the publication of "Mommie Dearest" by Aunt Christina. My mother appeared on Good Morning America in May 1981 to defend her mother. I realized that day that JoJo was a tremendous Hollywood star because my classmates and teachers interrupted the morning's lessons to watch the broadcast. That also marked the day I began keeping the name of my grandmother a secret. I had a belly full of Mommie Dearest jokes. No one but my closest friends I grew up with knew who I was. To most other classmates, teachers and neighbors, I was just another suburban kid.


Upon reflection of my grandmother's life, she left nothing to chance. That included her resistance to being called "grandmother," "grandma" or any of the many names children bestow on grandparents. She preferred a self-created nickname, "JoJo." It was a natural nickname, derived from her first name. It rolls off the tongue and was easy for a child to remember and master.

To me, JoJo was a loving and caring grandmother who lived in exciting New York City. To the rest of the world, she was Joan Crawford. Yes, The Joan Crawford, star of over eighty films and dozens of television appearances. Oscar winner, Pepsi diplomat and grandmother.

I knew her during her last years and while she was in failing health. But did she still shine! There was a spark even I as a child could see in her eyes. The same eyes that dazzled in "Rain" and "Mildred Pierce."

Read full story Here

J

Leave her to Heaven ****1/2

Leave her to heaven was one of the fabulous movie I've seen lately. It's one of the rare noir type that has a color in it . It also one of the most beautiful orgasmic color cinematography every been in a history of cinema.

" Leave Her to Heaven shares a closer kinship to Michael Powell’s British-made Black Narcissus (1947), where color similarly acts as a breathing character amidst turgid, denied emotions of lust, covetousness, dislocation, and death. If it sparks a memory of Douglas Sirk’s lush dramas, there’s a reason. Stahl directed Imitation of Life and Magnificent Obsession in the 1930s. Sirk remade both in the 1950s."

"The success of Leave Her to Heaven belongs foremostto Gene Tierney. She was much more than Hollywood’s most beautiful overbite. She had the preternatural ability to be alluring and icy at the same time; she could change emotional colors with magnificent yetsubtle clarity. Wasn’t she sweet and warm a moment ago? Maybe, but now she’s ready to kill. She was at the top of her game in Leave Her to Heaven,and alongside Laura, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Heaven Can Wait,and The Razor’s Edge, she amassed a list of credits to stack against any
others of the late 1940s."

read a full article at http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/48/leave.htm

More...


In a Lavender Limelight

"Truman Capote Is a Republican housewife from Kansas with all prejudices"

Gore Vidal

"Gore Vidal has never written a novel that readable with the exception of Myra Brekenridge, which you can sort of thumb your way through.. His novel are unbelievably bad . His essays is quite good... If he doesn't hate somebody much"

Truman Capote

"I took drug not a lot back then . I did it to please Cary Grant. He was trying LSD back then when it was legal. He had notion that he could become heterosexual with it ....He didn't want to do this thing solo...He was very lonely man ..Very insecure.. Obviously ..I am so secure ..It's ridiculous"

Truman Capote



Sunday, June 18, 2006

Janet Jackson's new single to be released Monday

Superstar singer Janet Jackson's new single to be released Monday

Jackson's new single, Call Me, which features rapper Nelly, will hit radio outlets Monday. It is the lead single from her new album, 20 Years Old, to be released Sept. 26, Virgin Records announced Monday.

Download and listen Call On Me at http://www.esnips.com/web/Jayspacesmusic

A Quite Come Back




Just got a new cd from "the Brand new Havies" N'dea Daenport is back as a leadsinger . Still wonderful .. Too bad They don't make music like this that much any more .. The Brand new havies till are one of my Fav. Along with "Incognito" and Swing out sister .

Listen new track at http://www.myspace.com/thebrandnewheavies







New CD of maysa is also very good . The most underrated voice in a show bis. Smooth sultry and sexyyyy. I think she deserve more attention..Her neww cd "Sweet classic soul " is a nother one you guys should check out... http://www.maysa.com/mleak.php

Screen Legend

A tribute to her work by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday night -- was a roaring success. She had an audience of film industry movers and shakers leaping to their feet to applaud the screen legend and her tales of a long-lost Hollywood. Olivia de Havilland, the last surviving star of the 1939 classic "Gone with the Wind" and two-time winner of the Oscar as best actress, received another accolade Thursday evening — a rare tribute from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.



“I’m told I’m only the fourth person to get such a tribute,” she said proudly in advance of the ceremony. It feature film clips of de Havilland’s long career, accompanied by her own remembrances.


De Havilland, a luminous beauty who won hearts as Melanie in "Gone with the Wind" and two Oscars for tragic turns in "To Each His Own" and "The Heiress," made her entrance walking briskly down the aisle of the Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 CHEERS

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 CHEERS

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Tops AFI's List Of
100 Most Inspiring Films Of All Time

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, SCHINDLER'S LIST, ROCKY
and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
Round Out The Top Five

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 CHEERS

Interesting Facts about the Ballot

Tom Hanks and Henry Fonda are the most represented male actors on the ballot with eight inspiring movies each. Sidney Poitier, Gary Cooper and Denzel Washington each have seven movies on the ballot.

Jean Arthur is the most represented female actor on the ballot with four movies.

Frank Capra and Steven Spielberg each have six inspiring movies on the ballot, leading all directors. Capra's films are MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN ('36), YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU ('38), MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON ('39), MEET JOHN DOE ('41) IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ('46) and POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES ('61); while Spielberg directed CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND ('77), E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL ('82), THE COLOR PURPLE ('85), SCHINDLER'S LIST ('93), AMISTAD ('97) and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN ('98).

Over one third of the movies on the ballot are movies inspired by real life people and events.

1939 is the most represented year on the ballot, with 12 inspiring movies.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Loose Talk!!




"Marilyn (Monroe) had this fantasy of having a child by Albert Einstien , whom she absolutely idolized. Marilyn coverted to Judaism , you know but not widely note , Anyhow ,Marilyn belive that beteween her and Einstien , they could have the perfect child -One with her look and his brain. But another token , what if they had a child and it had his looks and Marilyn brain??"

Otto Preminger

WHY LANA AND TY AGREED TO DISAGREE??

In the whole hectic history of Hollywood, there have been two great romances which became public property: the Greta Garbo-Leopold Stokowski entente and the Lana Turner-Tyrone Power love affair.


Garbo turned Stokowski down, only to watch him marry the fabulously wealthy Gloria Vanderbilt; and Tyrone Power called it quits with Lana to return temporarily to his wife Annabella, who is shrewd, intelligent, and older than he.

Lana Turner wanted to get married. Tyrone Power did not. By the time he had returned from his round-the-world flight, he had fallen out of love with Lana. In being married to Annabella, Tyrone has helped raise a ten-year-old stepdaughter, fathered by a man he never knew.

If he married Lana, he would have to help raise Cheryl, another stepdaughter, fathered by Steve Crane.

Tyrone is no exception.

Other reasons for the breakup with Lana are these; a woman in Ty’s life comes second to his career. That’s true of all men. Their work is of paramount importance. As for Lana, love comes first, and her career comes second.

Moreover, as regards background, there’s a tremendous difference between Ty’s and Lana’s. Ty is an actor by heritage, training, disposition, intent. Lana is an actress by luck, circumstances, fortune, and accident.

Lana is volatile, emotional, intuitively perceptive. Ty is logical, methodical, and formally educated.

Actually, they have little in common but screen careers. And marriage between two screen stars usually ends in divorce.

To Lana, on the other hand, personal romance meant everything. “The biggest mistake Lana made,” one of her closest friends recently revealed, “was when she let Ty get out of her sight. Girdling the globe by air, it seems, always cools Tyrone Power off.

by Monica MacKenzie
Movieland, Mar 1948

Read Full story at http://www.tyrone-power.com/article_lana.html

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Honorary For a REASON


Honorary Oscar: Generally given for exceptional distinction in the making of motion pictures or for outstanding service to the Academy. The award itself is an Oscar statuette and a lifetime membership to the Academy.

Notable reason

To Walt Disney for the creation of 'Mickey Mouse.'

To Bob Hope, in recognition of his unselfish services to the Motion Picture Industry.

To Harold Russell for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in 'The Best Years of Our Lives.'
*
To Fred Astair for his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures.

*
To Gene Kelly in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film.
*
To Bob Hope for his contribution to the laughter of the world, his service to the motion picture industry, and his devotion to the American premise.

*
To Greta Garbo for her unforgettable screen performances.
*
To Danny Kaye for his unique talents, his service to the Academy, the motion picture industry, and the American people.
*
To Bob Hope for unique and distinguished service to our industry and the Academy.
*
To Cary Grant for his unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues.
*
To Edward G. Robinson who achieved greatness as a player, a patron of the arts and a dedicated citizen...in sum, a Renaissance man. From his friends in the industry he loves.
*
To Mickey Rooney, in recognition of his 60 years of versatility in a variety of memorable film performances.

*
To Paul Newman, in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft.
*
To Sophia Loren, one of the genuine treasures of world cinema who, in a career rich with memorable performances, has added permanent luster to our art form.
*
To Deborah Kerr, in appreciation for a full career's worth of elegant and beautifully crafted performances.
*
To Sidney Poitier in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being.
*
To Robert Altman in recognition of a career that has repeatedly reinvented the art form and inspired filmmakers and audiences alike.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Get your copy today

in·ter·est·ing


1. Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?
by Adams, Henry E.; Wright, Lester W.; Lohr, Bethany
A.
from Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1996 Aug Vol
105(3) 440-445
The authors investigated the role of homosexual
arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted
negative affect toward homosexual individuals.
Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men
and a group of nonhomophobic men
; they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W.W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were
exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting
of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian
videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were
monitored. They also completed an Aggression
Questionnaire . Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to
the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only
the homophobic men showed an increase in penile
erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did
not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently
associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic
individual is either unaware of or denies. Reply With Quote

Thursday, June 01, 2006

June 2006 star of the month " Tyrone Power"



This month We 're celebrate " Gay Pride Month" with the first ever Male Star of the month (who happen to be Bi sexual!!!) Mr. Tyrone Power .

Stunningly, darkly handsome romantic lead of the 1930s and 40s whose affability and charm was put to good use in a number of stylish dramas. Power came to the fore at Twentieth Century-Fox (with whom he would stay for almost his entire career) in the costume drama "Lloyds of London" (1936) and he was soon paired with such leading stars as Alice Faye ("In Old Chicago" 1938), Norma Shearer ("Marie Antoinette" 1938, on a rare loan-out to MGM), and Sonja Henie ("Thin Ice" 1937). Power also proved a dashing action lead who intriguingly combined a bit of the fey with masculine bravado in such swashbucklers as "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) and "The Black Swan" (1942).

After WWII service Power, his features somewhat more grim and set, gave memorable performances as the phony spiritualist of "Nightmare Alley" (1947), as a man searching for faith in "The Razor's Edge" (1946) and as the earnest, but ultimately caddish, defendant in "Witness For the Prosecution" (1957). He suffered a heart attack while filming "Solomon and Sheba" (1957) and, upon his death, was replaced by Yul Brynner. Son of American stage actor Tyrone Power, Sr.; husband of actresses Annabella (1939-48) and Linda Christian (1949-55); and father of Tyrone, Jr., Taryn and Romina, all of whom have appeared in films.

King Of 20th century Fox.

MGM had Gable , Warner Bros. Had Errol Flynn but Tyrone Power was a King of FOx. In the golden era of film making, from the mid-thirties to the mid-fifties, there were five big theatre-owning studios. Those five were Lowe's Inc, which was parent company of MGM; Paramount Pictures Inc.; Twentieth Century-Fox; RKO-Radio Pictures; and Warner Brothers. Additionally, there were smaller companies, such as Columbia and Universal.



Tyrone was commonly called "King of 20th Century-Fox". He was their number one male lead for years, helping fill the studio coffers with the many boxoffice-successful movies that he made. Production chief Darryl F. Zanuck took special care to guide his career; to put him in the best movies; to give him the best supporting cast and an A-list crew. Ty served up hit after hit, building up the studio profits. Not only was Ty given the choice roles, but he was also given special privileges not accorded the other actors. Fellow 20th Century-Fox actor Victor Mature once commented to the effect that there were other actors who roamed the Fox lot, such as Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Don Ameche but "Tyrone Power was king".

from http://www.tyrone-power.com/why_kingoffox.html