Filmland Follies

               Oscars season is upon us again! I'm always excited to watch - especially for the red carpet - but I also love looking at photos and footage from Old Hollywood Oscars ceremonies. (It may be because those are the ones with actors I actually know.) I was thinking about this the other day when I realized something exciting - it's 2021! Which means it has been 80 years since my favorite Academy Awards ceremony, if one can have a favorite. Happy anniversary, 1941 Oscars!               The 13th Academy Awards was held on February 27, 1941, at the Biltmore Hotel. The ceremony honored films released the previous year, 1940, and was hosted by Bob Hope.                It was the first time the names of the winners were kept secret until the moment they received awards. This led to the line, "May I have the envelope, please?" Best Picture Who Won: Rebecca , starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock (his first American m

              This is my entry for the 5th Annual Doris Day blogathon hosted by Love Letters to Old Hollywood ! I must preface my article with two confessions: 1. This is my very first blogathon (!!) and... 2. Before watching  Romance on the High Seas , I had never seen a Doris Day movie. Really!                         I thought it fitting, since I had never seen one of her films, to start at the very beginning. So fasten your seatbelts Bette Davis-style: we're going back to 1948!           The leading role in  Romance on the High Seas was originally written as a star vehicle for Judy Garland, but when that fell through, it went to Betty Hutton. When Betty became pregnant, the director (Michael Curtiz) was persuaded to audition a  relatively unknown band singer - can you guess who? Doris  Day was already an established recording artist by the time she was cast in High Seas, but she had never acted on-screen, let alone in a starring role. However, Curtiz was impressed with her v