Filmland Follies

              A milestone of any actor's career is placing their handprints in the forecourt of the legendary Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The theatre was opened by Sidney Grauman in 1927 - he's the "Sid" that so many messages are inscribed to.                I love photos of stars at these events - they always seem so happy and relaxed and it makes for some great candids! So here are some of my favorites from over the years. Joan Crawford (September 14, 1929) An early recipient of Grauman's honors, Joan signed her slab with handprints, footprints, and a pun: "May this cement our friendship." Jean Harlow (September 25 and 29, 1933) Jean shot to fame in 1930 after her role in the smash hit Hell's Angels , which premiered at Grauman's. Her original slab broke in transport, so she made a second four days later - hence the two dates. Ginger Rogers (September 5, 1939) Ginger capped off an incredible deca...

              Hello, friends and enemies - here's another blogathon article! This is my entry for the 4th Broadway Bound Blogathon: Tony Edition hosted by Taking Up Room .              1953's Kiss Me Kate is an adaptation of Cole Porter's Tony-winning stage show, which in turn revolves around a show-within-a-show of Shakespeare's the Taming of the Shrew. Less confusing than it sounds, I promise! Stage Show (1948-49)                Kiss Me, Kate  the stage show is awarded a lot of firsts: it was Cole Porter's first integrated musical, meaning all of the songs and lyrics connect directly to the plot. This was the vogue at the time, and Porter wrote  Kiss Me, Kate in response to big integrated-musical hits like Oklahoma! It was the first, and only, of Cole Porter's shows to run for over 1,000 performances on Broadway. And it was the first-e...

                My very first post on Filmland Follies was a Dress in Detail article where I analyzed the dress Ginger Rogers wore in Swing Time 's "Never Gonna Dance." You can read it here!               Here is the second installment in this little series; it's about another of my favorite cinematic dresses. From one of Judy Garland's most quotable numbers, I present... the "I Don't Care" dress! The Scene                In 1949, Judy Garland's career at MGM was coming to an end. In her time at the studio, she had made a string of wildly successful films, from Babes in Arms  to the Wizard of Oz to Easter Parade . Sadly, by the end of the '40s, Judy was struggling mentally and physically and was unable to complete multiple films. 1949 saw her on suspension from MGM, when she was replaced in the Barkleys of Broadway by Ginger Rogers. After returning to...

               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?          ...