By the time director Alfred Hitchcock was preparing to film his mystery suspense thriller Rear Window in 1954, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly, he had earned a reputation in Hollywood for being a master filmmaker with an eye for details. It should be no wonder, then, that Hitchcock pulled out all the stops to…
Fatty Arbuckle: Rapist or Victim of Yellow Journalism?
The current “fake news” era of journalism has nothing on the Yellow Journalism era of the 1920s when publishers vied with each other to sell more newspapers even if that meant printing sensational stories and outright lies. This was the setting in which a young, aspiring actress tragically died and one of America’s most popular…
Carole Lombard’s Untimely Death: A Hollywood Tragedy
A native of Indiana, actress Carole Lombard was living in Los Angeles with her mother in 1920 when, at the age of 12 years old, she was recruited by a movie director who cast her in her first film, the 1921 movie A Perfect Crime. She moved from bit parts to leading lady status and…
Danny Kaye, the King of the Patter Song
As an actor, singer, dancer, and comedian, Danny Kaye was an energetic and versatile performer who starred in 17 films during his career. Danny Kaye, who was born David Daniel Kaminsky in 1913, was a man with hidden talents. He was skilled at pantomime, could do impersonations, and was a master of slapstick stunts. But…
“The Day the Earth Stood Still”: Sci-Fi with Social Commentary
Science fiction films are one of the most popular movie genres today, but in the 1950s, before the space race and moon landing, Hollywood simply didn’t make a lot of sci-fi movies. A notable exception to that is 20th Century Fox’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, which debuted in 1951. Based on a 1940…