Billy ‘Froggy’ Laughlin appeared in Our Gang comedies over a four year period–1940-44. As these were the MGM produced OG’s, they weren’t in the least funny–MGM seems to have had a humor-block what with ‘Tom and Jerry’ being the best they could come up with in the cartoon department and
Here’s another one of these wonderful before-after looks at the locations of a 1929 Our Gang comedy then with dissolves into images of the exact area now. Scroll down and read yesterday’s post to understand who’s doing this cool work and what we’ve learned about the neighborhood now known as
The Beverlywood section of Los Angeles is a friendly, suburban, hilly and pleasingly landscaped pocket of real estate developed in the post-war era of the 1940s. It runs (roughly) from Robertson Blvd. on the east south of Pico Blvd. and almost reaches Venice Blvd. on the south (thus making it
Here’s a lovely look at Charlie Chaplin and his wife Oona (nee O’Neil as in Eugene O’Neil’s daughter who her dad disowned for marrying Chaplin one month after her eighteenth birthday) at their luscious home in Vevey, Switzerland in 1975. Chaplin is 86, two years away from his passing and
Dead On Arrival movies and TV shows have always held a special place in my heart. To see a super-flop is to remind all of us how bold and optimistic we are at the beginning of every enterprise, the best intentions so often leading to ultimate (and somehow pre-destined it
On November 5th, 1930, the third Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. Below is what it looked like. But a seven minute film was made of the ‘event–or at least a restaged tab version of it–possibly for newsreel consumption. It’s as
Once upon a time, a Catholic-baiting/politically liberal/legendary Jewish comedian sat down across from a politics-obsessed/regally contemptuous/possibly anti-Semitic Conservative icon and engaged in a spectacularly uncomfortable one hour of banter. Yes, Groucho Marx and William F. Buckley actually did an episode of Buckley’s ‘Firing Line’, the televised debate show which always
The fine director Milos Foreman went to his reward this past April 13th in his home state of Connecticut, aged 86. Much has been written about Forman and his meticulous body of work–both during his life and in the weeks after its termination. So who needs more text about his
I don’t know if Francis Coppola (or Francis ‘Ford’ Coppola as he was still known in 1979) still scratches his face when he speaks in public, but he scratched his face enough while presenting the Best Director Oscar in 1979 to last him a lifetime. In this clip, Coppola and
Here’s a little treat for you. Some color footage shot of the 1938 Oscars, giving us views of Frank Capra (bouncy, bubbly and looking rather like Chaplin did when he wasn’t suited up as the Tramp), W.C.Fields (who never appeared in a color movie, thus making this a rare view