Thelma Todd

BRIMMING WITH STAR QUALITY: Thelma Todd (1906-1935) possessed comedic timing that was as remarkable as her beauty. (Original Hal Roach photo from the author's personal collection.)

Called her, "Hot Toddy,"
the ice cream blonde with a smile
that could melt your heart.



Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd were Hal Roach's female answer to Laurel and Hardy. The duo worked together in 17 comedy shorts before Pitts left Roach Studios in 1933. Pitts was replaced by Patsy Kelly; and, with her new partner, Todd went on to make 21 more two-reelers before 1935.


For The Marx Brothers, Todd provided a luscious alternative to Margaret Dumont, Groucho's usual foil. Pictured with the actress in this still from "Horse Feathers" are Zeppo (left) and Harpo (right).


TWO TOWHEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: A playful candid of Todd and Harpo Marx. (From the author's personal collection.)


In August of 1934, the actress opened Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades. It became a favorite of celebrities, tourists and much less desirable characters.


Thelma Todd was found dead in the garage above her restaurant on December 16, 1935, a victim of monoxide poisoning. She was 29 years old.


Todd's death certificate.

Thelma Alice Todd was a teacher but her participation as Miss Massachusetts in The 1925 Miss America Pageant brought her to the attention of motion picture talent scouts. With her striking beauty and vivacious personality, Todd exuded a rich sense of comedic timing that made her a natural for the likes of Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers. Ten years later, the rising star with 120 films under her belt was found dead, slumped over in her car inside her garage, from monoxide poisoning. The coroner ruled it an accident but rumors of fowl play still abound. She was 29, a restaurateur, divorced from shady businessman Pasquale "Pat" DiCicco, living with married director Roland West and rumored to be having an affair with mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano. What really happened to Thelma Todd remains one of Hollywood's greatest unsolved mysteries.



With Buster Keaton in a scene from "Speak Easily."


A sexy studio portrait.


In an odd twist, the building is now occupied by Paulist Productions, a company dedicated to producing film and television projects that teach Christian values and tackle modern moral dilemmas. The structure is also reported to be haunted.


The eternally youthful, stylish and lovely Thelma Todd.



 

Marilyn Monroe

A publicity photo of Marilyn Monroe.

Icon of beauty —
A candle whose light remains,
though the flame has died.



A playful pose.


As a child, Monroe amused herself by pretending that Clark Gable was her father. Later, it was said that the tension she created on the set of "The Misfits" (1961) hastened the actor's demise.


An early photograph of Marilyn Monroe who was born Norma Jeane Mortenson.


Monroe's first significant screen appearance was in "Love Happy" (1949), the Marx Brothers' last film together as a comedy team. Although it was a very brief walk-on part, it was one that Groucho would remember for decades.


Marilyn Monroe's outdoor crypt (#24) in Westwood (California) Memorial Park's Corridor of Memories is stained from the red lipstick kisses of adoring fans.  (Photo by A. J. Marik)

Paradise Lost

THE GARDEN OF ALLAH was a mansion estate turned bungalow village hotel at 8152 Sunset Boulevard. Built and ruled by controversial (and openly bisexual) silent screen siren Allah Nazimova, some of the villa's illustrious and notorious guests and residents included: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Benchley, Ernest Hemmingway, Gloria Stuart, The Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Parker, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Clara Bow, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Swanson, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Ernst Lubitsch, Ronald Reagan, Ava Gardner, Joe E. Lewis, Artie Shaw, Marlene Dietrich, George Kaufman, Laurence Olivier, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Woollcott, Orson Welles, Somerset Maugham, Jascha Heifetz, Ginger Rogers and Katherine Hepburn — to name a few!

Refuge for talent.
A den of iniquity.
Gaud's little acre.



"I'll be damned if I'll believe anyone lives in a place called 'The Garden of Allah,'" wrote Thomas Wolfe, in a letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald, dated July 26, 1937.




During the filming of the 1939 remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Charles Laughton would return home to The Garden for lunch, still in character as Quasimodo, and float in the pool on his back with his face aimed skyward, to avoid ruining his complex makeup.

Following its heyday, The Garden of Allah endured years of neglect. In summer, 1959, it was torn down to make way for progress. The song "Big Yellow Taxi," by Joni Mitchell, mourns the incredible landmark's passing in the famous lyrics, "They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."

The Art of Survival

GERMAN & JEWISH ARTISTS IN EXILE: Only those who've endured it themselves can know what these and other talented individuals went through. But it's thanks to them that we have classics like "The Maltese Falcon," "Some Like It Hot," "Double Indemnity" and "Casablanca," not to mention the entire genre of film noir.

Fleeing Hitler's rule,
they brought a new look and voice
to film in the states.



Although satire, "To Be Or Not To Be" (1942), starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, captures effectively the pervading mood and climate of war-torn Europe.  The film was Lombard's last and was released posthumously.


THE SPIRIT OF DEFIANCE: This is, perhaps, the most powerful scene in Warner Brothers' 1942 masterpiece, "Casablanca." To those in the know, what makes it even more stunning is that it's cast largely with performers who escaped the Nazi terror and ultimately death, leaving behind home, family, friends and careers, some having lost all and having to start over with nothing. (Clip copyright © Warner Home Video)


A clip from the PBS documentary, "Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood." At the time of this writing, there was no word of a DVD release.  (Clip copyright © 2010 Educational Broadcasting Corporation.)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

THE DEMENTED RECLUSE: Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond making her final descent into her imaginary close-up and madness. This scene, more than any other, has come to represent the sometimes tragic downside of fame lost.

The breathing waxworks —
when fallen stars dim to shells
of their former selves.



The scene that inspired the haiku, although I'd never consider Keaton nor Swanson as has-beens. In fact, observe how, even with such a minor part, Keaton works the shot and steals viewer attention with nothing more than a brief facial expression.


Norma Desmond's famous happy ending.


The "Sunset Boulevard" movie trailer.


One of Comedienne Carol Burnett's zany spoofs as "Nora" Desmond. (This is live TV. Notice how you can see the set brace during the two-shot at the door.)

Ellen DeGeneres

A CHAMPION OF CHARITABLE CAUSES, Comedienne and TV Talkshow Hostess Ellen DeGeneres has raised more than $40 million for animals and people in need, and the tally keeps growing. A long-time supporter of PETA, The Humane Society, Animal Rescue Site, ASPCA and The Amanda Foundation, in 2008, she became co-owner of Halo All-Natural Pet Care, a groundbreaking company that specializes in optimally healthy food, treats and products for dogs and cats.

TV's Saint Francis,
dancing, laughing and living
with a caring heart.



This Ellen DeGeneres AMEX commercial pretty much says it all — with a smile.

IMDb, I Said

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Plots! Bios!! Facts and CREDITS!!!
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You can find the Internet Movie Database at www.IMDb.com.

Rita Moreno

STILL A KNOCKOUT: Rita Moreno is the first and only Latina and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. In 2004, Moreno was bestowed The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for her especially meritorious contribution to American cinema.

At seventy-nine,
she has legs like a goddess!
(Trampoline workout.)

Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco

In the mid-1970s, if you were young, wild and into glitter, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco at 7561 W. Sunset Boulevard was the place to be and to be seen. Rodney, the club's owner (second from right and surrounded by his then-usual assortment of jail bait and actress Mackenzie Phillips), caused a second British invasion that included artists such as David Bowie, T. Rex and Slade, and brought to light the American underground sounds of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Blondie and The New York Dolls, all of whom frequented his shabby hole-in-the-wall. The site is now a martial arts studio and Rodney is a deejay on KROQ.

Glam rock's Babylon —
where Starmen and Jean Genies
danced in platform shoes.



Zolar X was a fixture at Rodney's and got great reception.


A weekend regular at Rodney's, this adolescent fan and music scene junior reporter was dubbed "Gladys The Night Tripper" by Wolfman Jack and guested occasionally on his radio program.

Cate Blanchett

A publicity photo of Cate Blanchett.

A masterpiece act,
she paints rich characters of
cinematic art.

Sign Of Disillusion

On September 16, 1932, Broadway Actress Peg Entwistle (also known by the stage name Mary Cecilia Brown) leaped to her death from The Hollywood Sign's letter H, after her first (and only) film with RKO Pictures, "Thirteen Women," received bad reviews in test screenings.

Somehow, Mary Brown
failed to see the wisdom in,
"Look before you leap."



The Hollywood Sign as it appeared in 1923. The last four letters were removed in 1949.


BROWN/ENTWISTLE'S DEATH CERTIFICATE: Sadly, she never got to read the letter offering her a starring role in a Beverly Hills Playhouse production that arrived only days following her suicide.


A rare clip of Peg Entwistle performing as Hazel Cousins in "Thirteen Women" (1932).

Christina Ricci

A publicity photo of Christina Ricci.

The doe-eyed wonder —
brilliant each day of the week
and not just Wednesday.

Mae West

The sultry Mae West as Lady Lou in "She Done Him Wrong," 1933.

The chickadee who
had all the fellows coming
to see her sometime.