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...

              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...

               Brigadoon has a lot going for it. There's the all-star cast of Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, and Van Johnson. It was adapted from a Broadway show by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, masterminds behind My Fair Lady , Camelot , and Gigi . And it is an MGM musical! So why wasn't Brigadoon a hit?                  The movie opens with a series of landscape shots, presumably of the Scottish Highlands. In reality, they were the MGM Backlot Highlands. Brigadoon was filmed entirely on MGM's vast backlot in Culver City. Locations were scouted in Scotland, but the unpredictable weather and enormous expense of filming overseas caused the idea to be scrapped. Another idea - filming in the hills of Big Sur, California - was rejected for cost reasons as well. After all, why travel to Scotland when you can build a perfectly good Scotland in California?          ...

               Did the title make you do a double take?                         Filmland Follies is named for a reason - I write about Old Hollywood, which typically sticks to movies. However, yesterday in a crossword I found a clue which I realized was more obscure than it should be. The clue was "sister of Fred Astaire." So I was inspired to write this blog post to celebrate said sister, who though she never followed her brother to Hollywood, deserves to be known further than the sphere of crossword-solvers who also love entertainment history. Adele on an ocean liner, mid-1920s.               So here is my little tribute to dancer, actress, singer, wartime volunteer, British peeress, and crossword puzzle answer - Adele Astaire.               Adele Austerlitz was born in 1896 in...

                "My favorite Valentine is the one that says, 'Sweets to the sweet!' - and means it!" says Jane Withers in a 1939 issue of Modern Screen magazine. Jane began her film career at age three and was one of the most popular child stars of the 1930s and 40s. After a supporting role in the 1934 Shirley Temple vehicle Bright Eyes , Jane was signed to a seven-year contract with 20th-Century Fox. She was typically cast as a troublemaker or bratty character in contrast with that of Shirley's good girl persona. In later life she did voice work for Disney films and is known as a noted philanthropist and doll collector. Today in 2021, Jane is 94 years old!               I love to bake, so if I can combine that with old movies I won't pass up the chance! In this article, written when Jane was twelve, she shares her love for candy-making and four of her recipes for Valentine's Day treats. Here the...