Happy Birthday Norma Shearer!
Edith Norma Shearer (August 10, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was an Academy Award–winning Canadian-American actress.

Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in the world from the mid-1920s until her retirement in 1942. Her early films cast her as the girl-next-door but after her 1930 film The Divorcee, she played sexually liberated women in sophisticated contemporary comedies and dramas, as well as several historical and period films.
Unlike many of her MGM contemporaries, Shearer's reputation went into steep decline after her retirement. By the time of her death in 1983, she was in danger of being known only for her "noble" roles in the regularly-revived The Women and Romeo and Juliet or, at worst, as a forgotten star.

However, Shearer's legacy began to be re-evaluated in the 1990's with the publication of two biographies and the TCM and VHS release of her films, many of them unseen since the implementation of the Production Code some sixty years before. Focus shifted to her pre-Code "divorcee" persona, and Shearer was rediscovered as "the exemplar of sophisticated [1930's] woman-hood... exploring love and sex with an honesty that would be considered frank by modern standards". Simultaneously, Shearer's ten year collaboration with portrait photographer George Hurrell and her lasting contribution to fashion through the designs of Adrian were also recognized.

Today, Norma Shearer is widely celebrated as one of cinema's feminist pioneers: "the first American film actress to make it chic and acceptable to be single and not a virgin on screen".

Having become a star, Norma’s new challenge was to remain one. There were many other talented actresses at the studio and she realised she would have to fight hard to stay ahead of the pack. Seeing that sensational newcomer Greta Garbo was one of a kind, she went to Thalberg and "demanded recognition as one of another kind". It was just one of the many visits she paid to his office, always to plead for better material, better parts. Thalberg would listen patiently, then invariably advise Norma to keep toeing the line, that MGM knew best, and that the movies she complained about had made her a popular actress. Occasionally Norma would burst into tears, but this seemed to make “no more impression than rain on a raincoat”.

Privately, Thalberg was very impressed. He admired Norma as a person as well as an actress: responding to her ambition and her capacity for hard work, her intelligence and sense of humour. Most of all, he identified with her determination to overcome physical obstacles that most people would have considered insurmountable. In a story conference, when Norma’s name was suggested to him for the part of a girl threatened with rape, Thalberg shook his head and, with a wry smile, said: “She looks too well able to take care of herself.”

Norma, for her part, found herself increasingly attracted to her boss. “Something was understood between us,” she claimed later, “an indefinite feeling that neither of us could analyse.” Irving’s appeal was not primarily sexual — what attracted Norma was his commanding presence and steely grace; the impression he gave that wherever he sat was always the head of the table. In spite of his youth, Thalberg became a father figure to the 23 year-old actress — the first real candidate for the role in her life.

At the end of a working day in July 1925, Norma received a phone call from Irving’s secretary, asking if she would like to accompany Mr. Thalberg to the premiere of Chaplin’s The Gold Rush. Suspecting that Irving was listening silently on the line, Norma told the secretary she would be delighted. That night, she and Thalberg made their first appearance as a couple.

A few weeks later, Norma went to Montreal to visit her father. While there, she had a reunion with an old school friend, who remembered: “At the end of lunch, over coffee, Norma leant in across the table. “I’m madly in love,” she whispered. “Who with?” I asked. “With Irving Thalberg,” she replied, smiling. I asked how Thalberg felt. “I hope to marry him,” Norma said, and then, with the flash of the assurance I remembered so well, “I believe I will.”

This was no impulsive whim on Norma’s part: she had given the idea years of thought. Love aside, she realized that marriage to the boss was a unique opportunity for her career — her wedding to Irving would, essentially, be a double ceremony, also seeing her crowned Queen of the MGM Lot. She also realized she would have to work quickly, for Irving was not only the youngest member of Hollywood’s ruling class, but also its only bachelor. With the same formidable will that had made her a movie star, Norma began rehearsing for her next assignment, the most important role of her life: Mrs. Irving Thalberg.

She could not afford to be subtle about it. To Joan Crawford, whose humiliating first job at MGM was to double for Norma in 1925’s Lady of the Night, it was obvious that the star was playing up to the boss — and that he was responding. “I don’t get it.” Joan commented. “She’s cross-eyed, knock-kneed and she can’t act worth a damn. What does he see in her?” Possessed of similar ambition and drive, Crawford would go on to become Norma’s chief rival at the studio.

"It is impossible to get anything major accomplished without stepping on some toes. Enemies are inevitable when one is a ‘doer’.” — Norma Shearer

Over the next two years, both Norma and Irving would see other people, but Hollywood insiders knew it was something of a charade — she was just waiting for him to propose. Louise Brooks remembered: “I held a dinner party sometime in 1926. All the place cards at the dinner table were books. In front of Thalberg’s place was Dreiser’s ‘Genius’ and in front of Norma’s place I put ‘The Difficulty of Getting Married’. It was so funny because Irving walked right in and saw ‘Genius’ and sat right down, but Norma kept walking around. She wouldn’t sit down in front of ‘The Difficulty of Getting Married’ – no way!”

Perhaps writer Anita Loos made the most astute comment: “Norma was intent on marrying the boss and Irving, preoccupied with his work, was relieved to let her make up his mind...”

By 1927, Shearer had made a total of thirteen silent films for MGM. Each had been produced for under $200,000 and had, without fail, been a substantial box office hit, often making a $200,000+ profit for the studio. She was rewarded for this consistent success by being cast in Ernst Lubitsch's The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg — her first prestige production, with a budget of over $1,000,000. Although it was her first film to lose money, it was well received by critics and the public. Today, it is the best remembered of Shearer's silent films (sadly, most of her silent work is considered lost).

While she was finishing ‘The Student Prince’, Norma received a call summoning her to Thalberg’s office. She entered to find Irving sitting at his desk before a tray of diamond engagement rings. Looking up with a smile, he asked her to choose the one she liked best. Norma picked out the biggest.

On 29 September 1927, Norma and Irving were married in the Hollywood wedding of the year.

Norma was married to Irving Thalberg from 1927-1936 and after Thalberg's death, Shearer embarked on romances with the then married actor George Raft, Mickey Rooney, and James Stewart.

Following her retirement in 1942, she married Martin Arrougé (March 23, 1914 - August 8, 1999), a former ski instructor twelve or fourteen years her junior. Confounding the skeptics, they were still happily married at the time of her death (from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease) at 80 years old, although in her declining years she reportedly called Martin "Irving".

Shearer has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6636 Hollywood Boulevard. She is entombed in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, in a crypt marked Norma Shearer Arrouge, along with her first husband Irving Thalberg. Her friend Jean Harlow is in the crypt next door. Thalberg's crypt was engraved "My Sweetheart Forever" by Shearer.

She would of been 106 years old, if she was still alive today. For more information about her life and career, please visit wikipedia.org! (which is also the resource of this entry).

The New Joan Crawford Fashion Doll - A 16" tall Starlet Legend.

Fashion doll innovator Robert Tonner, CEO of the TONNER DOLL COMPANY, returns one of Hollywood’s greatest treasures to her ardent fans! Named one of the top ten ‘Greatest Female Stars of All Time’ by the American Film Institute, Joan Crawford is sure to be named the Greatest Fashion Doll of All Time by fans and collectors everywhere.

The new Joan Crawford Fashion Doll is accurately sculpted in an amazing likeness of the Academy Award® winner herself, in cooperation with her family. "I am very pleased to work with The Tonner Doll Company in creating the first ever, authorized Joan Crawford doll collection,” said Casey LaLonde, grandson of Ms. Crawford. “Joan Crawford fans and doll collectors worldwide will be equally delighted with this high quality, life-like and collectible doll line. Tonner's attention to detail and features will make this a much sought after collection."

The approximately 16” tall starlet is crafted of fine quality vinyl and hard plastic with 13 points of articulation (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, bustline, waist, hips, and knees), so she can recreate all of her most glamorous poses before the camera. She features high end details such hand painted facial features and hand styled, rooted saran hair.

TONNER’S Joan Crawford collection will hit specialty retail store shelves later this year. For more information, contact the Tonner Company Store at 845-339-2960.

For more information about Joan Crawford, check out this web site http://joancrawfordma.tripod.com/news.html and more about the doll please visit http://www.roberttonner.com/jcrawford.htm

Resource: TCM.com

Paul Newman says he will die at home

PAUL Newman has finished chemotherapy and has told his family he wants to die at home.

Film star Paul Newman reportedly is suffering from cancer and may only have weeks to live, said a source described as a close family friend.

The Daily Mail newspaper quoted the insider as saying the 83-year-old Oscar winner is done with chemotherapy treatment and has told his family he wants to spend his last days at home.
Yesterday, it was reported in America that Newman, 83, had only weeks to live and had returned home to his wife, Joanne Woodward.

The source, described as a close family friend, said that the star had spent the past few weeks getting his affairs in order.
It was claimed that some of Newman's actions had caused tension among of his children.

"Paul didn't want to die in the hospital," the newspaper quoted the source as saying. "(His wife) Joanne (Woodward) and his daughters are beside themselves with grief. ... He gave a prized car -- a Ferrari with his racing No. 82 on it -- to a longtime pal. The sudden move angered his children. It's especially hard for them to come to grips with what's going on. The word they've been given is that he has only a few weeks to live."

It was reported last month that he had been readying their oldest child, Nell, to take over his Newman's Own salad dressings company, the profits of which are given to a charitable foundation.

Newman and Woodward have been married for 50 years and have three daughters. Newman also has two daughters from a previous marriage.

The Mail said the star of "The Sting," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money" has, thus far, declined to comment on reports regarding his health, other than to say he's "doing nicely."

Resource: Google News

I will be totally devastated when he dies! He is one of my favorite and it will just be so sad :-(

Clark Gable was the first to have called me a mermaid. - Esther Williams.

Happy Birthday Esther Williams!

Esther Jane Williams (b. August 8, 1921) is a retired United States competitive swimmer and movie star, famous for her musical films that featured elaborate performances with swimming and diving.

Williams was born in Inglewood, California to Bula Myrtle Gilpin and Louis Stanton Williams. She was enthusiastic about swimming in her youth. She was National AAU champion in the 100 meter freestyle. Williams went to Hollywood, where she quickly became a popular star of the 1940s and 1950s. Her brother, Stanton Williams, also had a brief acting career during the 1920s before his untimely death while still a teenager.

She appeared with swimming star Johnny Weismuller in Billy Rose's "Aquacade" during the San Francisco World's Fair, 1939-41, where she first attracted attention from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts, as she noted in her autobiography. She also had to fend off the amorous attentions of Weismuller, whom she said acted as if he were Tarzan on and off the screen.

The scene most people associate Esther Williams with is the famous and often spoofed grand water ballet finale in Bathing Beauty (1944). Several moments, such as the swimmers who dive past one another in the pool, the moment where Williams is received as a queen, then dives and reappears above water, surrounded by several other swimmers who form a circle around her, became iconic.

Many of her MGM films, such as Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) and Jupiter's Darling (1955), contained elaborately staged synchronized swimming scenes, with considerable risk to Williams. She broke her neck filming a 115 ft dive off a tower during a climactic musical number for the film Million Dollar Mermaid which landed her in a body cast for seven months. She subsequently recovered, though she still suffers headaches as a result of the accident. Her many hours spent submerged in a studio tank resulted in her rupturing her eardrums numerous times. In her autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid (1999), Williams detailed several other occasions in which she nearly drowned shooting her oxygen-defying stunts, since she rarely used a stunt double.

After years of appearing in musical comedies at MGM, she moved to Universal International in 1956 and appeared in a non-musical dramatic film, The Unguarded Moment. After that, her film career slowly wound down. She later admitted that husband Fernando Lamas preferred her not to continue in films.

Her love life was a source of media interest. She has been married four times. She met her first husband Leonard Kovner while at Los Angeles City College. She later wrote in her autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid that "he was smart, handsome, dependable...and dull. I respected his intelligence, and his dedication to a future career in medicine. He loved me, or so he said, and even asked me to marry him." They were married in the San Francisco suburb of Los Altos on June 27, 1940. On their split she said "I found, much to my relief, that all I needed for my emotional and personal security was my own resolve and determination. I didn't need a marriage and a ring. I had come to realize all too quickly that Leonard Kovner was not a man I could ever really love." They divorced in 1944.

She married singer/actor Ben Gage on November 25, 1945, with whom she had three children. In her autobiography, she portrays him as an alcoholic parasite who squandered her earnings. She also disclosed in her autobiography that she had a passionate affair with actor Victor Mature while they were working on the film Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), citing that at the time her marriage was in trouble and, feeling lonely, she turned to Mature for love and affection, and he gave her all she wanted. She was romantically linked with Jeff Chandler, but broke off the relationship when she discovered that Chandler was a cross-dresser, which she revealed for the first time in her autobiography. She and Gage divorced on 20 April 1959.

She then married former lover, Argentine actor/director, Fernando Lamas on December 31, 1969. They were married until his death from pancreatic cancer on October 8, 1982. She currently resides in Beverly Hills with actor-husband Edward Bell, whom she married on October 24, 1994.

Esther Williams retired from acting in the early 1960s and currently lends her name to a line of women's swimwear and to a company that manufactures swimming pools and swimming pool accessories. She co-wrote her autobiography The Million Dollar Mermaid (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999) with popular media critic and author Digby Diehl.

Resource: wikipedia.org, imdb.com.

Esther Williams fun facts:

• Received her first screen kiss by Mickey Rooney in Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942).
• Esther Williams' youth was spent as a teenage swimming champion. She eventually was spotted by a MGM talent scout while working in a Los Angeles department store.
• Before her stint in MGM musicals, she had been training as a competitive swimmer, and probably would've participated in the 1940 and/or 1944 Olympics (she would've been 18 and 22 years old respectively) if World War II hadn't canceled them.
• Was inducted into the Swimming Pool Hall of Fame in 1967.

She is 87! today, Best Wishes and Health to Miss Esther Williams on her birthday! - Want to get some of Esther Williams products?

Summer under the Stars continues tonight feat. Greta Garbo!

Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990) was a Swedish-born actress during Hollywood's silent film period and part of its Golden Age. Regarded as one of the greatest and most inscrutable movie stars ever produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the Hollywood studio system, Garbo received a 1954 Honorary Oscar "for her unforgettable screen performances" and in 1999 was ranked as the fifth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

All day long TCM features classic movies all day long starring the one and only Greta Garbo. Starting at 6AM! Playing today is some of her silent films including Flesh and the Devil, The Mysterious Lady, and A Woman of Affairs. Then Mata Hari, Queen Christina, Anna Karenina, Camille, Ninotchka, Grand Hotel, Two Faced Woman, The Kiss, then a Greta Garbo documentary and 5AM hosted by Glenn Close. For full information about all the movies playing today please visit TCM! to watch trailers and exclusive content about the star of the day: Greta Garbo.

Want to know more about Greta Garbo? visit, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Garbo.

Resource: TCM.com, wikipedia. org.

"I want to be alone" - Greta Garbo in Grand Hotel

I recommed watching Grand Hotel! tonight at 12AM! It's on late, but I plan on watching it because I've never seen the whole thing and I've been wanting too for a while now. It's stars, of course Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallance Berry, and Lionel Barrymore.

Grand Hotel is a 1932 MGM Pre-Code Art Deco film that won the Best Picture Oscar.

The plot device of the film—bringing together several unrelated characters into one setting—was popular and effective enough that it was re-used in other films and became known as "the Grand Hotel" formula. The "all-star" scenario was perhaps most successfully replicated the following year in MGM's own Dinner at Eight.

The film opens and closes with Lewis Stone's totally unaware statement : "Grand Hotel. People come and go. Nothing ever happens". The comment turns out to be ironic during the few days in which the plot unfolds, because everything seems to be happening at the hotel, from romance to robbery to an accidental death.

The film came from the original Austrian novel, Menschen im Hotel (English: People in a Hotel), by Vicki Baum as adapted by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs. It was produced by Irving Thalberg and Paul Bern at MGM (both uncredited on the film), and directed by Edmund Goulding. The top star, Greta Garbo melodramatically delivered her famous line "I want to be alone," in this film. The cast included a series of top names: Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone and Jean Hersholt.

It is the only film to have won the Best Picture Award without obtaining nominations in any other categories. The award was presented to Irving Thalberg, with no mention of Paul Bern. In addition, Garbo's line "I want to be alone" was voted #30 in the list of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.

The film was remade in 1945 as Week-End at the Waldorf starring Ginger Rogers.

In 2007, Grand Hotel was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot and information, thanks to wikipedia.org!

CLASSIC FUN FACT #OO1. Greta Garbo refused to pose in any photos with Joan, this is a publicity still that M-G-M produced from 2 photos

I'm not funny. What I am is brave. - Lucille Ball.

Happy Birthday Lucille Ball!

Lucille Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an iconic American comedienne, film, television, stage and radio actress, glamour girl, film executive, and star of the landmark sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. Lucille Ball was one of the most popular stars in America during her lifetime and had one of Hollywood's longest careers. She was a movie star from the 1930s to the 1970s, and appeared on television for more than thirty years.

Lucille Désirée Ball was born to Henry Durrell Ball (September 16, 1886 – February 28, 1915) and Desiree "DeDe" Evelyn Hunt (September 21, 1892 –July 20, 1977) in Jamestown, New York, and grew up in the adjacent small town of Celoron. Although Lucy was born in Jamestown, she told many people that she was born in Butte, Montana. Her family was Baptist; her father was of Scottish descent, whose mother was Mary Ball. Her mother was of French, Irish and English descent. Her genealogy can be traced back to the earliest settlers in the colonies.

Her father, a telephone lineman for Anaconda Copper, was frequently transferred because of his occupation, and within three years of her birth, Lucille had moved many times, from Jamestown to Anaconda, Montana, and then to Wyandotte, Michigan. While DeDe Ball was pregnant with her second child, Frederick, Henry Ball contracted typhoid fever and died in February 1915. After her father died, Ball and her brother Fred were raised by her mother and grandparents. Her grandfather, Fred C. Hunt, was an eccentric socialist who also enjoyed the theater. He frequently took the family to vaudeville shows and encouraged young Lucy to take part in both her own and school plays.

In 1927, Ball dated a gangster's son by the name of Johnny DeVita. Because of this relationship, her mother decided to ship Ball off to the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts in New York City. There, Ball attended with fellow actress, Bette Davis. Ball went home a few weeks later when drama coaches told her that she "had no future at all as a performer".

Ball was determined to prove her teachers wrong and returned to New York City in 1929. She landed work as a fashion model. Her career was thriving, when she became ill with rheumatoid arthritis and could not work for two years. She moved back to New York City in 1932 to become an actress and had some success as a fashion model for designer Hattie Carnegie and as the Chesterfield girl. She began her performing career on Broadway using the stage name "Diane Belmont" and was hired—but then quickly fired—by theatre impresario Earl Carroll from his Vanities and by Florenz Ziegfeld from a touring company of Rio Rita.

She was let go again from the Shubert brothers production of Stepping Stones. After an uncredited stint as one of the Goldwyn Girls in Roman Scandals (1933) she permanently moved to Hollywood to appear in films. She appeared in many small movie roles in the 1930s as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures, including movies with the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges. She can also be seen as one of the featured models in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Roberta (1935), where she met her lifelong friend, Ginger Rogers. She and Rogers played aspiring actresses in the hit film Stage Door (1937) co-starring Katharine Hepburn. Ball was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the 1940s, but she never achieved major stardom from her appearance in those films.

She was known in many Hollywood circles as "Queen of the B's"—a title previously held by Fay Wray—starring in a number of B-movies, such as 1939's Five Came Back. Like many budding starlets Ball picked up radio work to earn side income as well as gain exposure. In 1937 she appeared as a regular on the Phil Baker show. When that completed its run in 1938, Ball joined the cast of the Wonder Show staring future Wizard of Oz tin man Jack Haley. It was on this show that she began her fifty year professional relationship with Gale Gordon who served as the show's announcer. The Wonder show only lasted one season with the final episode airing in April 7, 1939.

In 1940, Ball met Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the film version of the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. Ball and Arnaz connected immediately and eloped the same year, garnering much press attention. Arnaz and Ball frequently argued, especially over his indiscretions with other women, but they always made up in the end. Arnaz was drafted to the United States Army in 1942. He ended up being classified for limited service due to a knee injury. As a result, Arnaz stayed in Los Angeles, organizing and performing USO shows for wounded GIs being brought back from the Pacific. Ball filed for a divorce in 1944. Shortly after Ball obtained an interlocutory decree, however, she reconciled with Arnaz again. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were only six years apart in age but apparently believed that it was less socially acceptable for an older woman to marry a younger man, and hence split the difference in their ages, both claiming a 1914 birth date.

Resource: wikipedia.org

She would of been 97! today, if she were still alive. In my opinion she was one of the greatest female comedians of all time. I Love Lucy is one of the most longest running tv series of all time, millions still watch Lucille Ball all over the world. She is also an inperation to many, and will be from time to come. We love you Lucy!

Classic I Love Lucy Vitameatavegamin Skit - (not working? click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBcdRDB14e0)

46 years ago today...

Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her live-in housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death.

Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide," but because of a lack of evidence, her death was not classified as "suicide." Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the death scene, believe that she was murdered.

Marilyn Monroe was buried in what was known at that time as the "Cadillac of caskets"—a hermetically sealing silver-finished 48-ounce (heavy gauge) solid bronze "Masterpiece" casket lined with champagne-colored satin-silk; the casket had been manufactured by the Belmont casket company in Columbus, Ohio. Before the service, the outer lid and the upper half of the divided inner lid of her casket were opened so that the mourners could get a last glimpse of Monroe. Whitey Snyder had prepared her face, a promise he had made her if she were to die before him.

The service was the second one held at the newly built chapel at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in West Los Angeles, and only 25 people were given permission to attend. Monroe's acting coach, Lee Strasberg, delivered her eulogy. An organist played Judy Garland's song "Over the Rainbow" at the end of the service.

Monroe is interred in a pink marble crypt at Corridor of Memories, #24. Monroe had visited the cemetery more than once as a struggling actress because Ana Lower, the adult to whom she had been closest during her juvenile years, had been buried there in 1948. Lower was related to Grace Goddard, Monroe's official guardian during much of her childhood. When Goddard committed suicide in 1953, Monroe, by then wealthy, arranged for her burial at Westwood.

Joe DiMaggio had a half-dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for the next 20 years.

The death of Marilyn Monroe is one of the most debated conspiracy theories of the twentieth century.

Resource: wikipedia.org, news.bbc.co.uk.

Classic Couples: My Top 5.

Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward.

They are definitely my number 1. They have been together for 50 years! what they have is such true love and what they say about each other in interviews is just the cutest thing. I loved the movies they are in together, they have amazing chemistry and they are just so cute. I hope to have a love like there's one day.

"Joanne and Paul met in 1953 while both were working in the Broadway production of Picnic. In 1957 they worked together in the movie The Long, Hot Summer and feel in love. Shortly after Paul's divorce from Jackie, Joanne and Paul were married on January 29, 1958 in Las Vegas at the Hotel El Rancho Vegas, making this one of the longest Hollywood marriages on record. They have been married for 50 years".

Resource: About.com:Marriage

Spencer Tracy & Katherine Hepburn.
They are just amazing together, I've always loved them in movies and they just belong to each other. It's sad they never got the chance to get married and really be with each other, but there romance is deffinitly a affiar to remember.

"Hepburn made her first appearance opposite Spencer Tracy in Woman of the Year (1942), directed by George Stevens. Behind the scenes the pair fell in love, beginning what would become one of the silver screen's most famous romances, despite Tracy's marriage to another woman. Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy loved each other deeply. Her whole life and career was dominated by her love for Tracy, though this affair had its moments of anguish and dejection. Hepburn and Tracy unleashed their passion and chemistry on screen and made a brilliant movie pair. The period of their love gave Hollywood some of the most brilliant films ever to be made till now. The nine films which this couple made together were a proof of their strong love both off screen and on screen. Hepburn continued to love Tracy even after his death. She was reclusive about her life and only spoke of her love for Spencer Tracy after the death of Louise Tracy in 1983".

Resource: http://www.mydearvalentine.com/, wikipedia.org.

Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz.
Who doesn't love Lucy and Desi? So it's pretty obvious that they were going to be on this list. They are just one of the cutest couples ever. I love them on I love Lucy and every movie they star in together. They are just perfect, it's sad that they didn't stay together forever.

"He was a sexy Cuban bandleader from an aristocratic family. She was a smart, leggy red-headed model from Jamestown, N.Y. Together they created one of the greatest love stories ever told". - Gerri Lewis


Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
I've recently started to love them, I think they are just so cute together and I can't wait to see more of there films.

"Bogart met Lauren Bacall while filming To Have and Have Not (1944), a very loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel. The movie has many similarities with Casablanca — same enemies, same type of hero, even a piano player sidekick (this time Hoagy Carmichael). When they met Bacall was nineteen and Bogart was forty five. He nicknamed her "Baby." She was a model since sixteen and acted in two failed plays. Bogart was drawn to Bacall's high cheekbones, green eyes, tawny blond hair, and lean body, as well as her poise and earthy, outspoken honesty. Reportedly he said, "I just saw your test. We’ll have a lot of fun together". Their physical and emotional rapport was very strong from the start, and the age difference and different acting experience also created the additional dimension of a mentor-student relationship. Quite contrary to the Hollywood norm, it was his first affair with a leading lady. Bogart was still miserably married and his early meetings with Bacall were discreet and brief, their separations bridged by ardent love letters. The relationship made it much easier for the newcomer to make her first film, and Bogart did his best to put her at ease by joking with her and quietly coaching her. He let her steal scenes and even encouraged it. Hawks, for his part, also did his best to boost her performance and her role, and found Bogart easy to direct".

Resource: wikipedia.org

Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio.
I just love her and there story is so cute, yet tragic. I think they were an adorable couple and it sucks that they didn't last, but I'm sure if Marilyn didn't die they would of gotten remarried!

"According to her autobiography, Marilyn Monroe did not want to meet DiMaggio, fearing he was a stereotypical jock. Both were at different points in their lives: the just-retired Joe wanted to settle down; Marilyn's career was taking off. Their elopement at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954 was the culmination of a courtship that had captivated the nation. The relationship was loving yet complex, marred by his jealousy and her ambition. DiMaggio biographer Richard Ben Cramer asserts it was also violent. One incident allegedly happened after the skirt-blowing scene in The Seven Year Itch was filmed on September 14, 1954 in front of New York's Trans-Lux Theater. Then-20th Century Fox's East Coast correspondent Bill Kobrin told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that it was Billy Wilder's idea to turn the shoot into a circus: "... every time her dress came up and the crowd started to get excited, DiMaggio just blew up." The couple then had a "yelling battle" in the theater lobby. When she filed for divorce 274 days after the wedding, Oscar Levant quipped it proved that no man could be a success in two pastimes. DiMaggio re-entered Marilyn's life as her marriage to Arthur Miller was ending. On February 10, 1961, he secured her release from Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic. She joined him in Florida where he was a batting coach for the Yankees. Their "just friends" claim did not stop remarriage rumors from flying. Joe was so alarmed at how Marilyn had returned to her self-destructive ways, falling in with people he felt detrimental to her (including Frank Sinatra and his "Rat Pack"), he quit his job with a military post-exchange supplier on August 1, 1962 to ask her to remarry him. But before he could, she was found dead on August 5. Her death was deemed a probable suicide but is subject to endless conspiracy theories. Devastated, he claimed her body and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood's elite. He had a half-dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for the next 20 years. Unlike her other two husbands or other men who knew her intimately (or claimed to) he refused to talk about her publicly or write a tell-all. He never remarried".

Resource: wikipedia.org

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC COUPLES?

People in the News: Elizabeth Taylor is 'fine' despite hospital stay.

Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized for an undisclosed reason but was expected to be released soon, publicists said Thursday.

Taylor's representative, Dick Guttman, did not divulge where the Oscar-winning actress was staying nor the specific reason for her hospital admission in a statement he released, AP reported.

"Ms. Taylor is fine," the statement read. "Her hospital visit was precautionary. She will be returning home shortly. At present, she is surrounded by family, friends and fabulous jewels."

Taylor, 76, has had health issues throughout the years, including congestive heart failure in 2004 that left her nearly bedridden, as well as spinal fractures and scoliosis. She had a benign brain tumor removed in 1997.

Resource: Google News

I really hope that she is fine! She is one of my favorites. It will be totally devastating and such a loss when she does pass away.

Summer under the Stars! feat. Gregory Peck.

Summer under the Stars continues tonight on TCM honoring Gregory Peck all day long. Tonight one of his classics and loved films with Audrey Hepburn is on: Roman Holiday. A beloved classic by many. Roman Holiday is also Audrey Hepburn's first starring film in the United States.

"Roman Holiday is a 1953 romantic comedy. The film introduced American audiences to Belgian-born actress Audrey Hepburn, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert co-starred. The movie was directed and produced by William Wyler. It was written by John Dighton and author Dalton Trumbo. As Trumbo was on the Hollywood blacklist, he was not credited; instead, Ian McLellan Hunter fronted for him. Trumbo's name was finally digitally added to the film's credits when it was released on DVD in 2003".

For following information about Roman Holiday go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Holiday. Thanks to wikipedia.org for the synopsis above. And for a list of the rest of the Gregory Peck films playing today go to TCM.com! (link to it is in the sidebar - under "classic links") . I also recommed watching this film, it's one of my classic favorites!

First Post!

So this is the first entry and I'm really excited! I'm a huge fan of old/classic hollywood so I wanted to make a website with ALL things classic hollywood. I'm going to be posting information about classic stars that are still alive, movie information (like up and coming dvd releases), my "movie reviews and recommendations " (I'm always watching a classic movie). Just ton's of stuff to do with classic hollywood from the 20's to the 60's. I'm setting everything up right now so it's pretty blah right now. Hopefully I'll have everything done by later tonight. And if anyone had any ideas feel free to leave a comment! :-)