Looking forward to reading your review on here.

http://www.queensofvintage.com/vinta...ginger-rogers/

21 Years ago today the legendary Ginger Rogers died on this day in 1995.

I actually hadn't realised how pretty she was.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to revealing all!


I cannot explain how excited I am! Another bonus is its in the beautiful city of Edinburgh one of favourite UK cities. What was Forever Amber about please?



The wig certainly helps to make her character in the film seem emotionally cold and dark but I agree it looks very outlandish! I think double Indemnity will be an all time cinema classic years from now! I think film historians will be referencing it 100 years from now. I do feel the loathed wig adds to its aura and impact.

Hilda, have you ever watched "Tired Old Queen at the Movies" on Youtube? this guy reviews his favourite films and is very funny.

He is a big fan of Barbara, Bette and Joan, and his impersonations of them are accurate and hilarious. He reviews several of Barbara's films including, Christmas Connecticut, My Reputation, The Furies, Titanic, and Double Indemnity. He describes the wig perfectly when he says that it made her look like "a sheep in heat"

Hilda - Firstly is it ok to shorten your name or is this rude?

I agree, I love Edinburgh too. It's a lovely city.

Forever Amber is like a Restoration version of Gone With the Wind - I know it is not nearly as classic a movie as Gone With the Wind and some people may be horrified at the comparison lol.

Linda plays Amber St Clare, she is working in a country inn at the start of the film and meets Cornel Wilde, he is some sort of knight, if I remember - sorry I am quite vague. Basically she falls in love with him and follows him to London but he rejects her, she then suffers a bit, lol, thrown in prison, has a child out of wedlock, etc, all the while, climbing her way up the social ladder (the great fire of London features too).

It is really just a fun romp of a movie and very entertaining.

I think the book it is based on was even more scandelous than what they could film.

Certainly worth watching if it ever comes on TV - perhaps TalkingPictures may show it one day?

Duncann - thank you for this info. I am a fan of both Linda and Irene, and i am ashamed to say that I have never seen this movie. I knew about it, but had no idea that Linda was in the film.

I will have a look for it now though, so thank you.

CLL Dodge - thank you for this info. I will look at both versions as they may both be worth buying - like the idea of a radio adaptation

Yes it's ok to call me Hilda I don't view it as rude!

Forever Amber actually sounds like the kind of film I'd enjoy and you've pointed me towards an actress from this era who is new to me and I can probably have filmbuff fun trying to find out more about so thanks! 👍

I really do hope we get to the day were ALL movies from the past are easily accessible and available to watch in the future no matter how old they are!

I haven't spotted them on Youtube but they sound like they will be a very good laugh indeed!

What channels on Youtube Walter (I really should get into the habit of calling you Ray!!) would you say are the best for fans of Hollywood's golden era and everything about it?

Yes, do please call me Ray, and everyone else is welcome to do the same too.

I just type in any favourite star or film on Youtube and see what comes up.

You can find practically anything on there from interviews to Whats My Line with some of the greatest stars turning up as guests.

Do watch "Tired old Queen at the Movies" I know that you will love it. He did a special tribute to All About Eve for his 100th review. He also reviews Auntie Mame, and Barbara's two best comedies, The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire.

Hilda - I hope you have fun reading up about Linda Darnell, from the little I know she led quite a life. I think her mother made her lie about her age and she ended up starring in a film at only 16. I am reading Tab Hunter's autobiography at the moment (thanks to Walter's recomendation) and he talks about her - she sounded a lovely, kind down to earth lady.

Walter - I love Auntie Mame!!!!

David, I hope that you are enjoying Tab's autobiography. I can also recommend Farley Granger's, Include Me Out.

I think that I have mentioned this before, but out of all the many books that I have, my all time favourite is, "Once a Wicked Lady, a biography of Margaret Lockwood" by Hilton Tims, which I re read at least once a year.

If you love Auntie Mame then I can definitely recommend the books, the sequel is Around the World With Auntie Mame. I have all of the books by the author Patrick Dennis, who also wrote under the name of Virginia Rowans. They have given me so much pleasure over the past 50 odd years.

Thank you Walter, I will look for Farley Granger's book (apart from his two Hitchcock films, I don't think I have seen any other of his movies)

I have read the first Auntie Mame book but not any other Patrick Dennis novels. I also didn't realise he had a pen name!

This is why this is my favourite thread on here There is so much to learn

x

http://www.tvguide.com/news/madelein...od-dead-at-93/

Cat on a hot tin roof star Madeleine Sherwood dies aged 93

Marvellous actress, she also appeared with Paul Newman in my favourite film adaption of a Tennessee Williams play, Sweet Bird of Youth.

Here are the titles released under the name of Patrick Dennis, apart from the two Mame books:

Guestward Ho 1956

The Pink Hotel 1957 (the only book that I am not keen on, and have only read once)

Little Me. 1961. The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen Television, Belle Poitrine.
(or in other words, an hilarious piss take of a typical celebrities memoirs)

Genius. 1962. the very funny story of a megalomaniac faded film director attempting his big comeback, with more than a passing resemblance to Orson Welles.

First Lady - My Thirty Days Upstairs in the White House by Martha Dinwiddie Butterfield. 1964

Tony 1966. The fascinating tale of a handsome, ruthless charmer who sleeps with men or women to climb the ladder of success.

The Joyous Season. 1966. The brilliantly funny story of couples marriage break up, told by their precocious son.

How Firm a Foundation. 1968

Paradise. 1971

Anything You Like. 1972

As Virginia Rowans:

House Party. 1954

The Loving Couple. 1956 (His and Her Story) A clever and witty story of a young couples marriage break up. Told from his point of view, and then you turn the book upside down and read her point of view. Full of the most marvellous characters, this is one of my favourites of all his books.

Love and Mrs Sargent. 1961. The story of a sophisticated agony aunt who is very good at handing out advice to her readers, but can't seem to sort out the lives of her two troubled children. Very funny in parts, but it also tackles serious subjects as well, another big favourite.

There is also a fascinating biography Patrick Dennis by Eric Myers entitled "Uncle Mame"

Take a look at @ClassicMovieHub's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ClassicMovieHub/...295315456?s=09

I never knew that Dean Stockwells father Harry was also an actor Ray /Walter!
Anyway he was born on this day in 1902!

I will reply to other previous posts later as I'm off out to the cinema soon! 😁

Yes, I knew that Dean's father was the voice of Prince Charming in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.. He was born three weeks after my Mum who would have been 114 this month. It is a strange feeling when you outlive your parents, and next week I will have outlived my Mum by four years.

Incidentally, I completed my first NINE minute Plank in the gym this morning, that is three minutes 20 seconds more than I did on Good Morning Britain in January.

Thank you! Sounds like her mother was one of the typical pushy Hollywood showbiz mothers -a few other big name stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple and Natalie Wood allegedly had such mothers too. Kinda lived their fantasies of a career through their daughters and weren't shy about breaking some rules moral or otherwise in pursuit of that!
I find Tab Hunter very interesting -I often wonder if Rock Hudson had lived whether or not he too would have came out of the closet in his later years once his career heights were over? Any interesting tidbits of gossip so far from his autobiography?


Yes sad news. There can't be many of the players from that film left. We know that Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman the main stars have passed away.
Was Tennesse Williams a favourite of Hollywood as a "lot" of his plays seemed to be picked up by the studios? Am I right in thinking he was a cousin or relative of Diane Ladd or am I getting mixed up?


Congratulations Ray! Your the male version of Joan Collins with a powerful zest for life and refusal to lie down and accept what age throws at you! 😁 It's interesting to think of time and the generations in relation to Hollywood stars! To think Bette Davis would have been 108 this year, Joan Crawford 111,Barbara Stanwyck 109,Frank Sinatra 101,Gregory Peck 100,Judy Garland 94 and so many more I'm sure you could list!!

There's so much of a treasure trove that one can find on Youtube when exploring this era! I could get lost in it for days!

Couple of things I've found out which surprised me including that Debbie Reynolds starred in a movie with Bette Davis!! Why hasn't this firmly registered in my brain before! Whether or not the films any good is a different question!

That reminds me I spotted in my local library this week a BBC audiotape called Bette Davis In her own words but couldn't see any other golden era stars given the audio tape BBC treatment at least nor on my library's shelf

I must admit that I had to Google Tennessee Williams to discover that Diane Ladd was related to him, so you see I don't quite know everything.

I don't know whether he was a favourite, but most actors were delighted to appear in his plays and films.

I am always working out what the ages of stars would be if they were still alive. Incredibly, Judy has been gone for as long as she lived, 47 years. Barbara was 30 years older than me, in four years time I will have outlived her, which will feel very strange.

Debbie gave one of her best performances in Wedding Breakfast, aka The Catered Affair in Hollywood. It is well worth watching, she said that Bette was very helpful to her, and incidentally, she does a very funny impersonation of her.

Coincidentally, I recorded that BBC interview of Bette with my reel to reel tape recorder in 1963. It is one of the best that I have heard, and I urge you to borrow it from the library. It used to be available online, but unfortunately it no longer is.

I'm supprised by the news

On this day April 29th in 1992 Hollywood actress Mae Clarke died aged 81-she first starred in films in the 1920s but featured more career wise in the 1930's. Amongst other films she starred in Frankenstein which also starred Boris Karloff.

Also on this day in 1912 American actor Richard Carlson was born. He starred with Barbara Stanwyck in a film I quite like "All I desire" and whilst never an a lister I don't think he certainly has a pretty busy film career at one time going by his filmography.

I REALLY should try and watch Wedding Breakfast it sounds right up my street!

Wasn't The Glass Menagerie starring Jane Wyman based on a Tennessee Williams play? Would you say that was Janes best film?

I fully intend to borrow the Bette Davis interview and listen to it salivating on every word! It's just a shame there aren't more interviews easily available from this particular BBC series.

Hilda, did you know that Mae and Barbara shared a flat when they were chorus girls on Broadway ? Barbara later said, "If I had made a guess as to which of us would have made it big, I would have said Mae, because she was the better dancer, and the most vivacious." Mae of course is best known as the girl who had the grapefruit shoved in her face by Cagney in Public Enemy.

Glad that you like All I Desire, that was the first film that I ever saw on my own in the West End. It was at the long gone Gaumont, Haymarket, I was 16 years old, and it was Coronation year.

Yes, The Glass Menagerie was based on a Tennessee Williams play, and it is very good, but I don't think that it is Jane's best film. My favourite is the 1951 tearjerker, The Blue Veil, which also stars Charles Laughton, Joan Blondell, Agnes Moorehead, a young Natalie Wood, and Richard Carlson. She was Nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but lost to Vivien Leigh for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the screen adaption of the Tennessee Willams play, A Streetcar Named Desire.

Jane gave another great performance in one of my favourite Hitchcock films Stage Fright, with great support from Marlene Dietrich and Richard Todd.