Here’s episode three of Orson Welles marvelous six-part monologue series ‘Orson Welles’ Sketchbook’, which he made for the BBC in 1955. I posted the first entry in which he recalls his beginnings in the Irish theater on Monday. Yesterday I posted Orson discussing critics and Voodoo. Today the subject is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL3ZoUJ-Tek Yesterday I posted the first of six fifteen-minute TV monologues made by Orson Welles for the BBC in 1955. Today, in a fit of orderliness, I’m posting the second. The subjects at hand in this episode are critics and voodoo and I’ll leave it to OW to spin the
During most of the 1950s Orson Welles was a full-on expatriate, living in various different hotel rooms in various different European capitols, usually paid for by others who often believed they were investing in various Welles projects when in reality they were investing in various meals in various high-end restaurants.
It may seem odd that by far my favorite of Fred Astaire’s dance partners is, in fact, not a dancer at all. But the above clip of Paulette Goddard and Astaire performing “I Ain’t Hep To That Step But I’ll Dig It” from “Second Chorus” (1940) rocks me every time
On Monday I promised to post only Fred Astaire items this week, featuring dancing partners who he only worked with once or twice. Yesterday I broke that promise by not posting anything. (It was a travel day so I’m allowed). Here’s another Fred/Rita number, ‘I’m Old Fashioned’, from ‘You Were
Let’s keep this short (work-wise) and lovely (in every other way) week simple. I’m going to post only Fred Astaire dance numbers all week, specifically ones that might be a bit more obscure to those who mostly know the Ginger Rogers-era Fred. He made two movies with Rita Hayworth–”You’ll Never
In yesterday’s post, mention was made of the disastrous life and death of starlet Barbara Payton, a blonde bombshell who drank herself to death after plowing her way through a pile of men–some husbands, some producers, some tricks–consuming drugs and making a public nuisance of herself and in general alienating
Today’s offering is, I’m sorry to say, a major bummer. And yet, like a good train wreck, it’s perversely enjoyable to watch. Bluntly titled “Golden Age Actors and Singers Who Died In Poverty”, this mini-doc covers the sad endings of a number of stars of the…er…Golden Age. The familiar cases
When the Singer Sewing Machine factory decided to build their own office tower in 1907, they chose to do so with a bang. It was the tallest office building ever constructed and the technology involved in running the place was state-of-the-art early 20th century stuff. Alas, it’s life span was
Yesterday I posted a mini-documentary on the demolition of the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, created by a YouTube channel called ‘Old Money Mansions’. Here’s another of their demo docs, this one about the rise and fall of the once magnificent Pennsylvania Station, which met its end in 1963 (though it appears to