Your Ultimate Adventure to Yesteryear
Esther Williams, the swimming champion turned actress who starred in glittering and aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, has died. She was 91. “Esther Williams had one contribution to make to movies — her magnificent athletic body,” the film critic Pauline Kael wrote. “And for over 10 years MGM made the most of [...]
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“Tell me I’m beautiful, it’s nothing. Tell me I’m intellectual – I know it. Tell me I’m funny and it’s the greatest compliment in the world anyone could give me.” – Julie Newmar Julie Newmar is widely remembered for her role as Cat Woman on the iconic television series, Batman. Film buffs know her [...]
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At the age of six, Margaret O’Brien turned to the director and asked, “When I cry, do you want the tears to run all the way or shall I stop halfway down?” A major child star of the 1940s, Margaret O’Brien was best known for her natural, emotional style and her startling facility for tears. [...]
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If you don’t recall Johnny Crawford as one of Walt Disney’s original Mouseketeers in 1955, you certainly remember him in the role of Mark McCain, Chuck Connors’ sensitive young son on television’s The Rifleman. Connors became an acting mentor for Crawford, who later recalled: “He was my hero. I enjoyed being with him. He wasn’t [...]
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When 20th Century Fox scored a hit with Marilyn Monroe, every movie producer wanted to cash in with their own platinum blonde. Diana Dors… Jayne Mansfield… and Mamie Van Doren come to mind. The latter of whom posed twice for Playboy in 1963 to promote her movie, 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964), [...]
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Recognizing the need for preservation of nostalgic pop culture, our guest of honor this year has an impressive list of accomplishments best described as “eyebrow raisers.” Garyn G. Roberts, Ph.D., is the chair of the Communications/English Discipline of Northwestern Michigan College (Traverse City, Michigan). Born and raised in Wisconsin, home of Stanley G. Weinbaum and [...]
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Gloria Swanson, a favorite of director Cecil B. DeMille during the silent era, became an actress as a result of being in the right place at the right time. When her aunt took her to visit Essanay Studios in 1913, the soon-to-be actress was captivated by the new technology and the costumes and makeup and [...]
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For all you Batman fans, this one’s for you. Not sure if you were watching the recent Barrett Jackson auto auction, but my wife does. She’s a tom boy and watches the auction like a religion. I have to admit that while I do not share her passion for four-wheel vehicles and couldn’t tell the [...]
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Radio Pro is actually several books in one, covering every aspect of personality radio—from the history of pioneer broadcasters to how to become a successful personality. Forty-one-year radio pro Joe Martelle also brings together a richly-varied selection of candid comments on the subject from over 150 of America’s best broadcasters, seasoned pros, who tell it [...]
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From 1956 to 1961, Playhouse 90 represented the best of live television drama during the “Golden Age of Television.” What very few know is that of the 134 telecasts, only one was not a dramatic presentation. It was a special gala affair titled “Around the World in 90 Minutes.” For this week only, Playhouse 90 [...]
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by Sally Stephens. In the beginning of 1940, the world’s outlook was bleak. Europe was teetering on the edge of war, and the United States was entering its tenth year stuck in the Great Depression. To top it off, it was an election year, and the great hope that started with Roosevelt’s New Deal was [...]
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At the age of 43, one of Hollywood’s great stars met a mysterious and tragic end while yachting with husband Robert Wagner and leading man Christopher Walken… With all the recent talk about her death, it seems fitting to remember Natalie Wood as a talented actress… and the fact that she appeared in 56 films [...]
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When 20th Century Fox scored a hit with Marilyn Monroe, every movie producer wanted to cash in with their own platinum blonde. Diana Dors… Jayne Mansfield… and Mamie Van Doren come to mind. The latter of whom posed twice for Playboy in 1963 to promote her movie, 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964), [...]
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