• Photos

    1938: Clark Gable and Carole Lombard Attend the Marie Antoinette Premiere

    74 years ago this month, lovebirds Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were among the throngs of celebrities attending the world premiere of MGM’s Marie Antoinette at the  Carthay Circle Theater  in Hollywood (no longer standing, sadly.) The film has been on MGM’s drawing table for years; a pet project of producer Irving Thalberg, who died in 1936 before a camera ever rolled on the project. His wife, Norma Shearer, was set to be the star of the picture. After her husband’s death, the project was shelved while Norma grieved and was ill with pneumonia. The film finally started production in December 1937 and was a lavish affair, with a $1.8 million budget–practically unheard…

  • Hollywood

    {Hollywood} Holy Cross Cemetery

    Holy Cross is a scenic Roman Catholic cemetery in Culver City that opened in 1939. It is said that if a star is Catholic, they’re buried here. Here in this scenic area called the Grotto are several celebrities grouped close together. The main reason for our visit was the grave of this eccentric fellow, Bela Lugosi (Dracula). To my classic-horror-fiend friend who traveled with me, Bela Lugosi is her Clark Gable. So he was a must visit! I stumbled upon the grave of “Der Bingle”, Bing Crosby, not too far from Bela. Nearby too is the grave of  French actor Charles Boyer, known for his role in Gaslight (1944). Also here…

  • Gossip

    Gossip Friday: Ann’s Ideal Man

    A short article from June 1940 in which actress Ann Sheridan describes her ideal man: Right here I’d like to mention that I don’t go around describing, unsolicited, my masculine ideal to everyone I meet. What I mean is, I was asked by Movie Mirror to do this…so in describing the sort of man I would choose if I were to marry I’m contriving a sort of composite of several men I know and like and admire… He’d dance like Cesar Romero. The Romero dancing is in a class by itself. He’d have Joel McCrea’s physique–tall, square-shouldered, rangy and not an ounce of spare fat on him! I hate bay windows,…