Jack (Favell, not Gilbert)--He was a wonderful actor, wasn't he? There are several scenes where he is only seen from the back, and manages to get across a performance just through body language. He learned to act on the job: that's why being a stock player at Triangle was so important to him. Got t...

Moira , thanks for having me back! As for Jack (I hope you will forgive me the familiarity), how can you not love him? So talented, funny, smart, gorgeous--and so screwed up, poor thing. Thank goodness so many of his films were available for me to see, and that no author had really gotten around to...

Why do you say Hepburn "wasted" her life? It's not likely she felt that way about it. Let's just say I don't find the Hepburn/Tracy pairing as adorable and romantic as many people seem to. Nursing a married man though 30 years of binges doesn't strike me as a relationship to admire (it wa...

jdb1 wrote:It's small wonder that someone like Katharine Hepburn was so celebrated -- she did what so many women wished they had the courage (and the money) to do.

Wasted her life on a married alcoholic? Hell, I've done that, too.

Anyone else catch that? A friend had been telling me for years "you have to see this movie, I can't begin to describe it!" Carol Channing stripping for Frankie Avalon . . . Groucho Marx hiring Jackie Gleason to kill Mickey Rooney . . . Burgess Meredith and Peter Lawford on an acid trip . ....

Gosh, I really sound like I am calling Chandler a flat-out liar, which I am not . . . I just . . . hmmm . . . Wish she made her quotes sound more believable and cited her sources. You have to do that as a biographer and historian, and she should know that by now. As for Mr. Stenn's book, I have not ...

Wow, really? That's the first I've heard of that. She mentions the publicist's name who introduced her to Joan and I thought she related some background to how she became friendly with the star in the article Vanity Fair printed recently with excerpts from the book. I haven't checked the website ru...

Right now I'm reading Charlotte Chandler's biography of Joan Crawford ( Not the Girl Next Door ) and it's a peach. I didn't realize she was so close to Joan and had recorded all these amazing, indepth interviews because the book is largely told in Joan's own words. It's great so far. I call shenani...

Interesting. Ros Russell was a little too young for the role (Ruth Chatterton might have been better in '36), but the movie was better than I'd expected. Lots of plot changes from the later version, I wonder which was truer to the Broadway play? And I wonder if the silent, with Irene Rich, still exi...

Anyone see this? Interesting. Ros Russell was a little too young for the role (Ruth Chatterton might have been better in '36), but the movie was better than I'd expected. Lots of plot changes from the later version, I wonder which was truer to the Broadway play? And I wonder if the silent, with Iren...

I have Vol. 1 (1908-1928) and it is my favorite bedside reading. These volumes are impossible to find, for love or money (though to be fair, I haven't tried love yet). Does anyone know where I can get Vol. II (1929-1938)? Bookfinder claims that several sellers (mostly amazon-related) have it, but th...

There have been recent bios of Ros Russell, Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard . . . of course, you might not think they were good (or at least sufficient!) bios . . . You're right, a Ronald Colman book would be yummy.

I already have my next subject chosen (though I can't say anything till I have a publisher sewn up). I am known for writing about esoteric people no one else is nuts enough to tackle, as they never make any money. Which leaves me with university presses and the good old reliable "McFarland/Scar...

How about the exquisitely jaw-dropping African operetta Golden Dawn (1930)? Or the so-called classics Random Harvest (1942) and An Affair to Remember (1957)? In Random Harvest , poor amnesia victim Ronald Colman wanders around going, "goodness, I wish I could remember who I was," while his...

Enjoyable "good bad," like Valley of the Dolls or The Oscar, or unwatchable "bad bad," like Spitfire or When Ladies Meet?