According to insider talk, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was in danger of bankruptcy as the 1930s were drawing to a close, but the studio was saved thanks in part to the tap-dancing talents of Eleanor Powell, one of the greatest dancers of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Powell’s performance in Broadway Melody of 1936, her first starring role, was such…
Month: February 2023
Yul Brynner, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s King
With his iconic bald head and rich singing voice, actor Yul Brynner made a splash as the exotic King Mongkut in the Broadway stage performance and film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, The King and I. Brynner was not the typical leading man of the Golden Age of Hollywood, but he proved that it…
Lucille Ball’s Early Hollywood Film Career
Before she was the zany red-headed sitcom star of the 1950s and 1960s, actress Lucille Ball appeared on the Broadway stage and on radio, but it took a while for Ball to get her Hollywood movie career off the ground. And almost as soon as it did, she transitioned to television. During the 1930s and…
Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife”
On December 19, 1958, singer Bobby Darin made the unusual decision to record his version of the theme song for The Threepenny Opera, a German musical play that debuted in 1928, for his upcoming album, That’s All. Not everyone agreed with Darin’s move. According to legend, Dick Clark warned Bobby Darin not to include the…
Josephine Baker: The First Major African American Superstar
The extraordinary Josephine Baker was a groundbreaking actress, dancer, and singer. The Golden Era beauty was the first African American actress to star in a movie, but that was just one facet of her incredible life. Born in 1906, she grew up in poverty with parents who were only mildly successful as entertainers in segregated…