A brief appraisal of Helen Lowell’s brief 1930s movie career followed by a collection of clippings highlighting her stage work from 1882 through the 1920s.
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Movie Star Biographies
Dorothy Dell, Star of Little Miss Marker (1934), Gone at Just 19
Dorothy Dell had only appeared in three feature length films when she died, age 19, in a 1934 car accident. This biography includes her rise to fame and looks at all three movies.
Cecilia Parker Biography: From B-Westerns to A-Support to Marian Hardy
The most complete Cecilia Parker biography you’re going to find. Corrects her marriage record and follows her career from B-westerns to Marian Hardy.
Lew Ayres – A Brief Biography of the Dr. Kildare Star
A brief look at the life and career of Lew Ayres, best remembered as the youthful star of All Quiet on the Western Front and several Dr. Kildare features.
William Frawley Before I Love Lucy
A look at William Frawley in the years before he achieved his greatest fame as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy. Special attention is paid to his baseball movies and his early days on the vaudeville circuit and Broadway. The article is illustrated with seven promotional photos from the 1939 film St. Louis Blues.
Marguerite Courtot – Biography of a Beauty of the Silent Screen
A long biography of silent film beauty Marguerite Courtot. She rose to fame as as teenager in the mid-1910’s and later married Down to the Sea in Ships co-star Raymond McKee. Mckee’s biographical details are covered as well.
Movie Reviews & Articles
I Married a Witch (1942) Starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake
Rene Clair’s I Married a Witch (1942), starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake, brings equal parts comedy, romance and fantasy to a story that later influenced the television series Bewitched. Fans will note a definite similarity.
Pick-Up (1933) Starring Sylvia Sidney and George Raft
Paramount pre-Code Pick-Up (1933) is the first of three movies co-starring Sylvia Sidney and George Raft. Also features William Harrigan and Lilian Bond. Based on a story by Viña Delmar and directed by Sidney-regular Marion Gering.
H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) – King Vidor Brings John P. Marquand Bestseller to Life
Comparing King Vidor’s adaptation of H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) to the novel by John P. Marquand, and why both tellings are wonderful. Excellent performances from Robert Young and Hedy Lamarr trickle down throughout the entire cast, most of who are perfect representations of the characters Marquand created on the page. It’s a quiet story that tells a lot in the end.
Frank Capra’s Broadway Bill (1934) Starring Warner Baxter and Myrna Loy
A look at Frank Capra’s follow-up to It Happened One Night, the 1934 holiday release Broadway Bill starring Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy and a horse named Broadway Bill. With comparison to 1950 remake Riding High and explanation of why Bill wound up out of circulation until 1992.
First Impressions: King Vidor’s The Big Parade (1925)
Thoughts upon watching King Vidor’s 1925 epic of love and war, The Big Parade, for the first time. The MGM classic stars John Gilbert and Renee Adoree with Karl Dane and Tom O’Brien.
How Green Was My Valley (1941) and the Black Slag of Time
Like Roddy McDowall I find myself focused on Donald Crisp throughout the Academy Award winning How Green Was My Valley (1941). Labor unrest invades the valley and Crisp’s once stable world changes.