Filmland Follies

               Nobody wants to marry Ralph Bellamy. After watching lots of Old Hollywood films you start to think, "hey, that guy's been in everything!" And in most major films he's been in, he plays the same character - the "unwanted fiance," the second-best option when the protagonist can't be with their true love. Take Carefree , for instance. Ralph Bellamy's character is going to marry Ginger Rogers, but as soon as Fred Astaire enters the picture, we know he doesn't have a chance. Or His Girl Friday - do we ever want Ralph Bellamy to marry Rosalind Russell? Not when she could re-marry Cary Grant, we don't.               Ralph Bellamy, born in 1904, had an incredibly long and successful screen career. Beginning in 1931 with the Pre-Code drama The Secret Six (also featuring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable), Bellamy didn't stop working until his final film appearance in Pretty Woman in 1990. Yes, t...

              Long time, no see! As some of you may know, I'm a high school student, and as most of you may know, high school is busy . I realized I haven't written an article since October 2021 (yikes!) but, like Katharine Hepburn in 1940, I'm making a comeback. Here it is, everyone - a new blog article about the Great Kate!                          Katharine Hepburn skyrocketed to fame in 1932 after her film debut in A Bill of Divorcement . Suddenly all of Hollywood was curious about this polished society beauty from the East Coast who had made her way to the West. She won her first Oscar in 1933 for Morning Glory , and made a hit adaptation of Little Women the same year. Needless to say, she was a quickly-rising star. But Kate wanted to prove herself on the stage, where her acting career had gotten its start. She asked for leave from her contract at RKO Radio Pictu...

                One day in the early '50s, Howard Hawks woke up and thought "What if I made Bringing Up Baby but with monkeys and an actual baby?" And just like that, Monkey Business was born.               Well, I don't know if that's how it really went. But in the realm of animal-driven screwball comedies, Monkey Business tends to be overshadowed. Maybe it wasn't as influential as, say, Bringing Up Baby , but it's sure a barrel of laughs (and monkeys). Just take a look at the cast:                I may be biased, but that's a pretty incredible cast. There's Cary Grant - arguably one of Old Hollywood's top screwball comedy stars (see above). There's Ginger Rogers - a top-notch comedic actress, with a knack for screwball as seen in films like Carefree . And there's Marilyn Monroe in an early film appearance! Don't be misled by the advertisements ...

                If you know me, you know I love movie costumes. I recently watched Royal Wedding for the first time, and boy, oh boy, did it have amazing costumes. The movie was originally planned as a Fred Astaire/Judy Garland vehicle to capitalize on their smash success in Easter Parade . Costume designer Helen Rose began making costumes for Judy, but when Judy had to drop out of the film, Rose transferred those designs over to up-and-coming star Jane Powell.               I had to do a fair bit of research to figure out who designed Royal Wedding 's costumes. There wasn't a designer credited in the film, and the Wikipedia page doesn't list one. Eventually, thanks to handy-dandy IMDB, I found one little bullet point hidden in the Cast and Crew section: "Helen Rose (uncredited)." Uncredited??!?! was my general reaction to that. Helen Rose was an icon of costume design! She did On The Town ...