Vivien Leigh, 1939

Hairdon't

I'm guessing she found one of Crawford's old wigs while dumpster-diving at MGM.

48 Hours Mystery

Last night covered the re-opening of the Natalie Wood investigation in a special episode meant to run later, but was moved up to take advantage of the publicity.

They also covered the Johnny Stompanato murder. Really, nothing new, all the same old shit rehashed. I did think it was interesting a lot of people (including Dummy's hairdresser, who claims Dummy told him herself that she, not her jailbait daughter, knifed her lover) still think Lana was responsible. I've always thought it, because she was a sneak.

Probably an unpopular position, but I feel sorry for Stompanato. Sure, he was a hood and one-time bodyguard of mobster Mickey Cohen, and probably did smack her around -- if I'd had to listen to that mewing dummy-speak hours on end, I probably would have taken a swing at her, too -- but really, who deserves dying like a stuck pig on her bedroom floor? Dummy should have found a more appropriate playmate; if you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas. And with all the power wielded by studios in general (and murderous MGM manager Eddie Mannix,) you can't tell me Lanita couldn't have taken other steps to rid herself of him.

If she'd spent a fraction of the drama she did in real life on any one of her films, she might have been a good actress. But she didn't, and wasn't.

This look needs to come back

D.B., Page, it's up to you to spearhead the movement.

Louise Brooks, 1924

In George White's Scandals of 1924.

Ziegfeld: Glorifying the American Cooch

I'm Gonna Get You Sucka

Natalie Wood's death inquiry re-opened....

About time. They should have done this when Suzanne Finstad's bio Natasha came out. She interviewed a couple of people on boats anchored not far from the Wagner yacht who heard all kinds of nasty things.

Anita Page, circa late 1920s

Happy Birthday Rock Hudson

Happy Birthday Veronica Lake

She was more loathed than loved in Hollywood, but her hair made history.

Quote for the Weekend from the Newly Dead

“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.”

— Andy Rooney

Sure, he spouted a lot of shit in his time, but this gem ought to be chiseled into the Statue of Liberty’s left ass cheek just for its plain unvarnished veracity.

Rudolph Valentino, circa 1922

Alice Terry, 1920s

Mrs. Ingram actually had chestnut hair and bucked teeth; husband Rex transformed her looks on screen with a blonde wig.

Camille (1921)

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Rudolph Valentino, 1922

In Blood and Sand.

Rudolph Valentino, 1922

As The Young Rajah.

Safe in Hell (1931)

Warner Archive Collection is offering William Wellman’s Safe in Hell (1931) on DVD.
It’s a great pre-Code tropical romp with Dorothy Mackaill playing Gilda, a New Orleans prostitute on the lam for a murder rap. I won’t spoil anything, but the ending was completely unexpected, a real stunner. Great cast including Nina Mae McKinney.

Happy Birthday Marie Dressler

On this day in 1868, Marie Dressler was born in Cobourg, Ontario

Happy Birthday Hedy Lamarr

Viennese siren, inventor and jaw-dropping beauty Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) was born on this day in 1913.

Happy Birthday Mabel Normand

Actor, comedian, director, screenwriter and producer Mabel Normand was born in Staten Island, NY on this day in 1892.

Mabel at the height of her stardom, photographed in 1920 by Clarence Sinclair Bull for The Slim Princess, a Samuel Goldwyn production.

Happy Birthday Margaret Mitchell

The Pulitzer-winning one-time author of Gone With the Wind was born on this day in Atlanta in 1900.

Vivien Leigh, circa 1940

Vivien Leigh, circa 1940

Happy 144th Birthday Marie Curie

Enabling stuff to glow in the dark for 100+ years.

Miriam Hopkins, circa 1933

Harlow, Candid, circa 1933

Gene Tierney, 1946

Happy Birthday Vivien Leigh

"My birth sign is Scorpio and they eat themselves up and burn themselves out. I swing between happiness and misery. I am part prude and part nonconformist. I say what I think and I don't pretend and I am prepared to accept the consequences of my actions."
                                  -- Vivien Leigh

Marion Davies, 1927

June 27, 1926

In Beverly Hills, tempestuous (code for batshit crazy) actress Mae Murray marries "Prince" David Mdvani of the golddigging Mdvanis. Mae was 37; David, 26.

Pola Negri, then dating Rudolph Valentino, was Mae's maid of honor; a year later, her sister-in-law when Pola married David's brother. Valentino served as David's best man; barely two months after this photo was taken, Valentino lay dead in a New York hospital.

Happy Birthday Burt Lancaster

Marion Davies, 1924

Jean Harlow Attends a Wedding: May 1, 1934

Harlow, Irving Thalberg, and Norma Shearer at the wedding of actress Carmelita Geraghty to MGM writer/producer Carey Wilson