Jean Harlow, the original blonde bombshell, started the trend for bleaching hair in the 1930s. Before this it was very much just prostitutes woman of ill-repute who coloured their hair, it certainly wasn’t something done by ‘nice girls’ When Harlow exploded onto the silver screen in the early 1930s her white blonde hair caused a(…)
Whether you know of Jane Fonda as a movie star, fitness guru or political activist, she’s certainly made her mark over the years. Here are some facts you might not know about her… Her real name is Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda. I have no idea whether the ‘Lady’ means she was titled, or whether it(…)
While Clara Bow was the iconic flapper of the 1920s Theda Bara was the original vamp. She made a prolific 40-plus movies over her 12-year career, all of which were silent movies. Theda Bara made her name playing exotic femme fatales, which she did a little too well, she ended up a victim of her(…)
When two people love each other, they don’t look at each other; they look in the same direction – Ginger Rogers
How can I talk about Gary Cooper without humming Irving Berlin’s Putting on the Ritz? Dressed up like a million dollar trooper Tryin’ hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super duper) That must have been the first time I heard Gary Cooper’s name, from the lips of Fred Astaire watching a Saturday afternoon movie on(…)
Grace Kelly truly was one of the most stylish women of all time. She exuded such easy style and sophistication, which is perhaps why Hitchcock adored her so much. He wanted her to continue being his iconic ice-cool blonde, but she had a prince to marry (as you do) and retired from acting in 1956.(…)
Some time ago the AFI (that’s the American Film Institute) released a list of the top 50 greatest screen legends from the Classic Hollywood era: 25 male and 25 female stars. I’m not sure exactly what their criteria were for reaching the top spot, but they classified a screen legend as an actor or actress:(…)
Bette Davis’ Hollywood career spanned an incredible six decades, but it was her style in the 1930s and 40s combined with her uncompromising movie roles which cemented her as a movie icon. She was no classic Hollywood beauty, and flatly refused to comply with the ideals of the studios, once claiming: ‘Hollywood wanted me to(…)
There really was an art to eyebrow shaping back in Hollywood’s Golden Era. When each young actress had their big Hollywood studio makeover their brows were plucked and teased (and sometimes even removed and pencilled in) in the process of turning them from a regular girl to a screen goddess. Each leading lady was able(…)
The 80s was a great time for movies. Perhaps because my whole childhood was the 80s: I was 6 at the start of the decade and 16 by the end of it so my choice of movies might reflect this. Although I have to admit discovering some of these movies later on. They’re not in(…)
Carole Lombard was one of the most popular comedy film actresses of the 1930s and tragically died because of a decision made with the toss of a coin. How many of these facts did you know about her? She was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s, earning around US$500,000 per year which(…)
One of the Christmas traditions in our house is the annual watching of Mary Poppins. We don’t even pay that much attention to it any more, it’s just on in the background and we just join in with our favourite bits. I’m going to have Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious suck in my brains for at least the next(…)
1940s studio publicity photo of MGM actress June Allyson for the film Music for Millions (1944). I love her stripey blouse, it’s another one of those outfits which probably look better in black and white than in colour! I didn’t realise who she was from the photo, but as soon as I saw her smile(…)
Lillian Gish 1922
Christmas just isn’t Christmas without some Bing Crosby and I thought this quote was particularly apt, especially after seeing the mayhem and stress out there with everyone doing last-minute shopping today! Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won’t make it ‘white’
Bebe Daniels from Motion Picture Classic, 1920. Miss Daniels stepped from screen farce to drama so recently that the even is still being talked about. Miss Daniels was Harold Lloyd’s charming foil in dozens of Pathe film comedies Source and copyright: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies(…)
Gardner was born the youngest of 7 siblings in a farming community in North Carolina She was scouted for a Hollywood screen test aged 18 after her brother-in-law put a photo portrait he took of her in his shop window. Despite her almost incomprehensible Southern accent (incomprehensible to the studio execs anyway!) MGM loved her(…)
The stunning 1920s silent movie star Bebe Daniels in a signed publicity photograph. She looks like she’s wearing a velvet coat with fur trim – very chic! If you fancy seeing her in action here she is in the 1918 movie Two Gun Gussie with Harold Lloyd.