Former Child Star Dickie Moore dies at 89. just one week before his 90th birthday;
He played Barbara Stanwyck's son In So Big, and Marlene Dietrich's son in Blonde Venus. He gave Shirley Temple her first screen kiss, and appeared in Marilyn Monroe's second film, Dangerous Years.

Dickie married former MGM singing star Jane Powell in 1988, and unlike so many former child stars, he had a very full and successful life.

RIP Dickie.

Awe thanks for posting this Walter. Sad news. I take it he was still married to Jane Powell at the time of his passing? I hope Jane is strong enough to withstand this healthwise as some elderly couples often die very close together

It's also good to hear of a child star who had a normal healthy life without going of the rails.

Yes, they were together till the end, and Jane said that he was suffering from arthritis and bouts of dementia. A friend of mine met them in London some years ago and he said that they were a delightful couple. I have always loved Jane, and she starred in two of my all time favourite musicals, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Hit the Deck.

Barbara fell in love with Dickie when he played her little boy in So Big. They kept in contact over the years, and he was at her Lincoln Centre Tribute. She said to him how sorry she was that they didn't have a clip from their film, because at that time it was feared that it had been destroyed in a fire at Warner's. Happily, it eventually turned up although it was after Barbara's death, and I have a perfect print of it.

Bette Davis made a big impression in a small role in the film, her second under her new Warner's contract that would last for 16 years.

Back to Dean Jones, watch this and be amazed, it is just beautiful!

https://youtu.be/am8qrrZAtP4

That was absolutely beautiful to listen to! I hadn't appreciated what a great voice Dean had and it was lovely to see and hear the one and only Elaine Stritch in that clip. Thank you. 👍

Thanks for the anecdote on Jane Powell. Did she go more in the direction of stagework after her Hollywood career ended after big musicals went out of vogue?

So glad that you liked it, although I knew you would, he sings with such genuine emotion and passion that he always brings tears to my eyes.

The reason that he didn't come to London with the show was that he was going through a messy divorce at the time, maybe that was why he was able to put so much feeling into that particular song.

You can also see Elaine Stritch rehearsing her show stopping number from the show on YouTube, "The Ladies Who Lunch" Also the wonderful Patti Lu Pone singing the same number, and the reaction from Elaine who is sitting on stage watching her.

I was fortunate enough to see Elaine on stage again in 1975 when she appeared at the Phoenix Theatre in "The Gingerbread Lady"

When they stopped making musicals in Hollywood Jane Powell transferred her singing career to the stage and took many musicals on the road, including Brigadoon, Peter Pan, Oklahoma, Carousel, Most Happy Fella, My Fair Lady, Meet Me in St Louis, and Irene, in which she made her Broadway debut when she replaced Debbie Reynolds.

She also reunited with Howard Keel in a stage version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, as well as South Pacific, and I Do, I Do,

Jane appeared frequently as a guest star on TV in The Judy Garland Show, The Tom Jones Show, The Frank Sinatra Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Jerry Lewis Show, The Dinah Shore Show, and many more. She also appeared in Murder She Wrote, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and The June Allyson Show, which I watched last night on the new Talking Pictures Channel.

I have her in a 1973 TV film The Letters, in which she appears in one of three stories about the results of what happens when missing letters turn up late after being delayed in a plane crash, John Forsythe co starred as her unfaithful husband. The other two stories starred Ida Lupino and Pamela Franklyn, and the third and best, starred Barbara, Leslie Neilson and Dina Merrill.

I have her in a T

Just watched an interesting movie on Movies for Men channel from 1947 called They Won't Believe Me starring Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer. Most enjoyable and I had never seen it before.

I have that one, good film, Susan and Jane would work together again in 1964 in Where Love Has Gone, with Bette Davis as Susan's monstrous mother.

Thanks for the information Walter -It's good to see that Jane flourished after the era of the Hollywood musical ended... But are there any stars who basically were finished off by the end of the musical era and career wise just faded into obscurity? Surely all weren't as lucky as Jane sadly?

I was unaware that she'd Reunited on stage with the lovely Howard Keel as my grandmother used to refer to him when he starred in Dallas with the late Barbara Bel Geddes.

PS Am I right in thinking that Dina Merrill is still alive?
Sorry for the delayed reply!

http://deadline.com/2015/09/may-boss...th-1201530534/

Thought that Walter and fellow golden era fans would be interested in this news.
A stuntwoman who doubled for Bette Davis, Dorothy Malone, Rita Hayworth and Doris Day amongst others has sadly died.

Yes, Dina is still alive, she will be 92 in December, and has outlived two of her four children.

I see that we have both been busy in the Soap Forum, with our shared loathing of that ghastly Cotton creature.

They didn't mention Barbara, but then she did all but her most dangerous stunts, and in fact was an Honorary stunt woman.

Indeed we were and I truly have my fingers crossed that the rather sterile non character he plays is axed!! 😁


Am I right in assuming that Barbara was exceptional as an actress in terms of doing her own stunts? Didn't most actresses opt for a stunt double?
Was there a reason why she preferred to do it herself do you know? IE to Barbara doing your own stunt was being more authentic? Or was she just much more of a physical woman /actress /performer in your opinion?

A little reading around revealed that Dickie Moore was also one of the few links left to the silent movie era before he died?

Most actresses, and many actors did use stunt doubles, but Barbara really loved doing her own stunts, and of course they always looked more authentic. There is a marvellous five part video on YouTube, "Portrait - Barbara Stanwyck" which opens up with her having an all out fight with a villain in her TV series. It is not a great print but well worth watching.

She was interviewed by director Ralph Nelson during the programme and explained that it was easier for everyone concerned when she did her own stunts. It meant that the camera could get in really close, as when she did the famous drag, with her foot caught in the stirrup with the horse galloping at full speed.

The blackfeet Indian's were so impressed with her fearlessness when she was filming a Western in Montana that they inducted her into their tribe, giving her the title, Princess Many Victories lll.

You are right about Dickie Moore, he was eleven months when he appeared in the silent film, Beloved Rogue. He was also the screen's first Oliver Twist when he starred in the very first film of the Dickens novel in 1933.

Incidentally, I took part in our town's annual 10K run yesterday, and went home with the veteran's trophy as the oldest runner out of 530 for the fourth year running.
The local press were out in force, taking lots of photo's as this our first year as an official running club. I even have a membership card describing me as a Registered Athlete, and it only took me 78 years.

You can see all the photo's on the Facebook page, "Faversham Running Club,"

Hi Walter, just finished watching A Dangerous Profession on Movies For Men, starring George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien and Jim Backus. It wasn't the best movie I have ever seen but watchable. I expect you have watched this movie and wondered what you thought of it and lead actress Ella Raines.

I must confess that is one old movie that I missed, and have only seen Ella Raines in Uncle Harry, which is an excellent film. I just haven't seen enough of her to make any sort of judgement on her acting ability I'm afraid.

Congratulations Walter _your energy and stamina is admirable and puts me to shame! I dare say your already planning your slate of marathons and runs for 2016?

That's some lovely information about Barbara -she certainly couldn't be described as pretentious or not taking her craft seriously. Are there any particular red lines you think she'd refuse to do in acting in terms of they'd cross a personal line for her?

Random question time -Do you know much about an actor called Rand Brooks?

I don't know about red lines, but there were certain lines in the script of Clash By Night that she didn't want to say, and for a very good reason. Her marriage to Robert Taylor had broken up, followed by a bitter divorce, when she was asked to read these lines:

"People change, you find out what is important, and what isn't what you really want."

Director Fritz Lang understood that the delicate subject of the film's plot closely resembled Barbara's recent problems. He spoke about it in an interview:

"One morning she came to me complaining about a particular scene which she said was badly written. I didn't agree, and asked if I could speak frankly to her, and she said, 'Naturally,' I told her that I thought that the scene reminded her of a recent event in her private life, and that was the reason she thought that it was badly written, and couldn't play it. Barbara looked at me and said, 'You son of a bitch!' turned round and did the scene in one take." He later described her as "An Angel" and that working with her was one of the great memories in his directing career. He also said that she had the patience of a saint when doing a complicated scene with Marilyn, who even in 1952 was having problems remembering her lines.

Barbara was never scared of a challenge, and in 1961 was the first actress to play a lesbian when she accepted the role of the owner of a bordello in Walk on the Wild Side.

I know that Rand Brooks played Scarlet O'Hara's ill fated first husband Charles Hamilton in Gone With the Wind. In 1948 he gave unknown starlet Marilyn Monroe her first screen kiss in Columbia's low budget, Ladies of the Chorus. I have it and it is not bad, incredibly Columbia dropped Marilyn who already showed great promise, and she sang quite well too. Brooks, who at one time was married to Stan Laurel's daughter died in 2003, three weeks before his 85th birthday.

I am scheduled to run the Ashford 10K on Sunday 11th October, and I will find out next month whether I have a place in next years London Marathon. I won't mind if I don't get through, but really want to take part in 2017, just a month before I turn 80.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...-eastwood-film

Thought you'd like this Snippet Walter and Co!

WOW that's a genuine revelation to me Walter that Barbara Stanwyck was the first woman to play a lesbian character in a Hollywood film. Now that really gives her extra kudos and significance /status in my opinion as that's watershed really especially given as Hollywood still only very rarely portrays lesbian characters onscreen. Quite brave of Barbara given were public attitudes were at the time.

That's a great story also about how Barbara's offscreen troubles really under the right circumstances (her offscreen marital woes) fed in to her work and really prompted a very memorable quality performance.

I often sensed this too for Bette Davis -I often felt that when she portrayed anger onscreen she was channeling whatever grudges or feuds etc were most foremost in her mind at the time of the performance! 😁

Thanks for the information on Rand -It certainly was quite intertwined with the Hollywood scene and community at the time even if he didn't become a big onscreen name.


PS All the best for Ashford and becoming a very senior marathon entree in London again next year -your appetite for life is huge!

I hope that Doris doesn't come back, not after 47 years. I thought that it was a big mistake when James Cagney came back in a cameo role in Ragtime after 20 years of retirement. It was sad to see that dynamic man looking old and frail, better to leave us with our memories.

Take a look at this clip from Walk on the Wild Side, it is a master class in screen acting. Just look at the way her whole body shakes with emotion, not surprising that most of the critics said that she walked away with the whole film.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lcc1Sn-Hbk

That's a BRILLIANT clip Walter and further underlines what a travesty it was that Barbara never won an acting oscar in addition to her honorary oscar. I'm a Barbara Stanwyck fan and yet to my shame I haven't seen that film yet but my appetite is whet after watching that clip. Definitely a knockout performance from the heart and drawing on her own personal sadnesses as many of the best actors do.

Yes Doris Day has pretty much squashed these rumours and I think she's made the right decision. I'd hate her to tarnish her legacy with the risk of a poorly conceived "comeback " in her twilight years.
It's sad that James Cagney did so but hopefully most people will overlook it given his fantastic body of acting work.

Oh BTW according to reports it's between Debbie Reynolds and Doris Day at the academy in terms of who gets the next honorary oscar and it looks like opinion is heavily weighted towards wanting to give it to Doris.

I just knew that you would be impressed, I am even more knocked out by her performance now than I was than when I saw it in 1961. She certainly deserved a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for it, but she wasn't even Nominated. The DVD is available on Amazon from £7.95.

It has been confirmed that Debbie is getting the Humanitarian Oscar this year, although Doris certainly deserves it for all the work she does for her dog charities.

I guess it is because Doris doesn't make public appearances these days, while Debbie would go to the opening of an envelope. Incidentally, I have always been a big Debbie fan, so I am delighted that she has been recognised.

I was puzzled regarding Doris Day because there's conflicting reports saying that she's become a recluse and shuns all links to showbiz, yet she let some members of the public and media be involved in an event /party for her 90th birthday in April 2014.

Apparently Doris is very reluctant to travel by plane and this has been the case for years.
Thanks for the information regarding Barbara's DVD

Do you know much about the history of the world famous Hollywood sign and did it exist in Barbara's time?

The trashy tabloid love to make out that Doris is a recluse and even a bag lady. She is just a private lady who shuns publicity after all these years, and who can blame her!

Yes, she did have party or her 90th birthday and there is film of her waving to her fans on that day, and she looked wonderful.

The "Hollywoodland" sign was erected in 1923, when Barbara was still Ruby Stevens, a 16 year old chorus girl, and one of the "Keep Kool Cutie's" at New York's Earl Carroll Theatre.

It was originals meant to last just 18 months, but ot is still there more than 80 years later. Each of the original letters were 30 feet wide, and 43 feet tall. constructed if 3x9' metal squares, rigged together by an intricate frame of scaffolding, pipes, wires, and telephone poles.

In 1932, a failed actress Peg Entwhistle climbed to the top of the letter H of the sign, and jumped to her death, she was just 24.

http://www.boyculture.com/boy_cultur...-standing.html

Walter and all fans of the Golden era of Hollywood and in indeed Hollywood and showbusines in general I thought you might like this list with details, dates and names of stars who are still with us -I found it fascinating and an interesting good read with a few names I'd forgotten about or who I thought were already deceased!

Jane Withers for instance for some reason I thought had already passed away but no wrong!

Thank you for all the information about the Hollywood sign Walter -Is it the academy or the big film studio's collectively that own it as such?

I agree with you on Doris Day -it seems a lot of the press cannot accept that some people even big stars are happy and content to step away from their fame and the accompanying lifestyle.