FILMMAKING

The long move into ‘Grey Gardens’

 Jessica Lange, left, and Drew Barrymore star in “Grey Gardens.”

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

 By Choire Sicha

Los Angeles Times

April 15, 2009

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Reporting from New York — Drew Barrymore, facing a window onto Central Park, held up a mirror. She took a long time reapplying her lipstick.

“Most of my best friends are gay and they all act like her, talk like her, dress like her at certain moments — they all quote her all the time,” she said, in her somewhat spooky way.

Gay men — well, not all of them, but many — do revere and constantly talk about Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale, the crazy-fabulous younger half of the East Hampton mother and daughter recluse-team made famous by the 1975 Maysles brothers (and company) documentary “Grey Gardens.” The family had been flush in the Depression — but, as revealed in the documentary, once left to their own devices, Jacqueline Kennedy’s aunt and cousin rapidly became crazy cat ladies and a town scandal. The last signs of their class were the house itself and their starchy, grating half-mid-Atlantic, half- Long Island accents.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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OBITUARY

Maxine Cooper Gomberg dies at 84; actress in the film noir classic ‘Kiss Me Deadly’

By Valerie J. Nelson

Los Angeles Times

April 14, 2009

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Maxine Cooper Gomberg, an actress best known for playing the secretary in the 1955 film noir classic “Kiss Me Deadly,” has died. She was 84.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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HOLLYWOOD EVENTS

Comedy is Dead 6.

 

  

Hosted by: Blaine Capatch

Thursday – April 16, 2009

in the historic Masonic Lodge at

Hollywood Forever

6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Calif.

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 Andy Kindler
Charlyne Yi
Chris Fairbanks
Ron Lynch
Natasha Leggero
Duncan Trussell

      

PLUS A SECRET SPECIAL GUEST!

 
Reservations: comedyisdead@gmail.com

 

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 FOR MORE INFO: Comedy is Dead!

OBITUARY

Jody McCrea, actor and son of Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, dies at 74

Roswell Daily Record

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On April 4, 2009, Joel Dee “Jody” McCrea passed away from a storied and fulfilled life of Hollywood fame, worldly adventures, and ultimately peaceful tranquility found on the plains of New Mexico.

Born in Los Angeles on Sept. 6, 1934, Jody was the oldest of three sons to film actors Joel McCrea and Frances Dee. Upon the advice of their father’s mentor, Western entertainer Will Rogers, the McCreas purchased a ranch about an hour north of Los Angeles where Jody and his brothers were fortunate to be raised out of the spotlight. Jody’s rural upbringing, however, would not keep him out of the spotlight for long.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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OBITUARY

Adult film star Marilyn Chambers dies at 56

One-time Ivory Snow model became famous for ‘Behind the Green Door’

LOS ANGELES – Marilyn Chambers, the pretty Ivory Snow soap girl who helped bring hard-core adult films into the mainstream consciousness when she starred in the explicit 1972 movie “Behind the Green Door,” has died at 56.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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Evening @ The Barn

Wednesday April 15th, 2009, 7:30 p.m.

Hollywood Heritage “Evening @ the Barn“

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Co-authors Robert Matzen and  Michael Mazzone present

ERROL FLYNN SLEPT HERE:

Inside the Lover’s Lair

Joining Matzen and Mazzone will be Steve Hayes, a friend of Flynn’s who spent five weeks as his houseguest at Mulholland in 1950. Hayes, a bit player in the 1950s, became a screenwriter, contributing the story to the feature film TIME AFTER TIME, and writing more than 100 hours of network television. Hayes documented his close association with Flynn, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and other Hollywood superstars in the two-volume GOOGIES: COFFEE SHOP TO THE STARS (Bear Manor Media, 2008).

Copies of ERROL FLYNN SLEPT HERE will be available for purchase and signing by the authors with partial proceeds benefitting the Hollywood Heritage Museum.

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Evening @ the Barn  for “ERROL FLYNN SLEPT HERE” will be held Wednesday April 15th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the

HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MUSEUM in the
Lasky-DeMille Barn

(Across from the Hollywood Bowl)

2100 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90068

Hollywood Heritage Members:  $5, Non-Members:  $8

Admission sold only at the door.

Doors open 7 p.m., show starts 7:30 p.m.

As always: FREE PARKING!  Refreshments Available.

To increase your chances of getting the best seats for ERROL FLYNN SLEPT HERE, please arrive early.  

Seating capacity at the Barn is, as always, limited to 120

Our fifth “Evening @ the Barn” will be in May, featuring Laurel & Hardy.  Exact date and details will be posted on the Hollywood Heritage website on the “events” page.

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 WALK OF FAME

Telegraph.co.uk

The Beatles’ former guitarist will receive a star on the fabled walk on April 14, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Friday. His widow, Olivia Harrison, and his son, Dhani, are expected to attend the unveiling.

Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, already shares a Walk of Fame star with all four of the Beatles, but only he and John Lennon, who died in 1980, will have their own stars.

Harrison’s, to be unveiled in front of Hollywood’s Capitol Records building, will be the 2,382nd on the Walk.

Although once known as “the quiet Beatle” for his shy, retiring nature, Harrison was one of the group’s most powerful forces.

His rockabilly-influenced playing gave the Beatles’ early recordings their distinctive guitar-driven sound and his voice provided many of the group’s most arresting vocal harmonies. His fascination with Eastern music also helped broaden the band’s sound on such classic albums as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album.

Although overshadowed by the more prolific songwriters Lennon and McCartney, Harrison composed several of the Beatles’ finest songs, including “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “Something” and “Within You, Without You”.

Following the group’s break-up in 1970, he enjoyed a successful solo career that included such albums as All Things Must Pass.

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GRAVE IMPOSTERS

Harry Potter

Could this be the grave of Harry James Potter, wizard extraordinaire and the subject of best-selling books and blockbuster films? Well of course not — Harry Potter is a fictional character silly. Besides, the grave of this imposter wizard is at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, just a few feet from the walls of Paramount Studios – Warner Brothers would never allow it.

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OBITUARY

Jane O’Brien Dart dies at 90; actress and her husband were in Reagan’s inner circle

By Valerie J. Nelson

Los Angeles Times

April 11, 2009

Jane O’Brien Dart, an actress who gave up her career to marry Justin Dart, the kingmaker who helped persuade Ronald Reagan to enter politics, has died. She was 90.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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HOLLYWOOD NEWS

Supporters band together to save Hollywood convent famous for pumpkin bread

Sister Mary Raymond, left, monastery prioress, laughs with Sister Mary Raphael as they join visitors. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) April 3, 2009

Monastery of the Angels has seen declines in its donations, gift shop revenue and investment income. A five-member panel of finance experts is helping it create a rescue plan.

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By Bob Pool

Los Angeles Times

April 9, 2009

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They’re being forced to live on crumbs, so nuns at a Hollywood convent famous for its pumpkin bread are warning that they may have to slice up the place for development.

The threat of a shutdown of the 75-year-old Monastery of the Angels below the Hollywood sign has prompted neighbors and supporters to mount a campaign to save the four-acre religious retreat.    (Click on ‘Continue Reading’ for more)

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