HOLLYWOOD BEGINNINGS

House Peters

House Peters is not a name that many remember today. Peters, a handsome stage actor, moved to the screen in 1913 eventually making more than 50 films over 40 years. In 1963 he told a reporter how he started in the business. Peters died at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, in 1967 and his ashes were spread in the Pacific Ocean. 

By House Peters

“Gardening is my hobby. I read a lot too, but my eyesight is getting bad. I started life as Robert House Peters, and on the stage I was billed simply, R. H. Peters.

“But after I was hired by Adolph Zukor for motion picture work around 1914, he suggested I change my name. Zukor thought too many actors of the day were named Robertes and so to distinquish me from the rest he insisted that I use the name House Peters.

“I didn’t care particularly — not, that is, until an ingenue passed me on the lot and greeted me: ‘Good morning, Mr. Bungalow,’ she said.

“I was born in Bristol, England in the Thunderbolt Inn, which was owned by my father. My father was a publican and, no doubt, a sinner. I travelled the world acting on stages in such divergent areas as South Africa and Australia. When I reached New York, I was hired to play the part of ‘silly Englishman’ in a vaudeville sketch about a baseball hero named Swat Mulligan.

“I had only a few minutes to study my lines before I went on stage in the theater at New Rochelle. The lines of the skit called for the other actors to chorus, ‘Where’s Swats?’

“I was supposed to reply, ‘He’s gone to first base,’ but I forgot the line and said instead, ‘He’s gone to the corner.’ The audience roared. The line was left in the skit that way from then on. Boseman Bulgar, who had written the skit told me, ‘I wish I had thought of that line.’

“After Zukor hired me, I had no work assignments for four weeks. I was ashamed to go down the fifth week and pick up my check. But soon after that I was starred opposite Mary Pickford in In the Bishop’s Carriage (1913), which was filmed in New York.”

_________________________________

WALK OF FAME

Anjelica Huston honored on Hollywood ‘Walk of Fame’

Anjelica Huston receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California. Credit : INFevents.com Ref.: infusla-64

Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston was immortalized on the streets of Hollywood on Friday as she became the latest celebrity to have a star laid in her honor on the district’s “Walk of Fame.”

The veteran actress, whose films include “Prizzi’s Honor” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” follows in the footsteps of her father John Huston, the legendary director who also has a star inset on Hollywood Boulevard.

A crowd of family, friends and celebrity well-wishers joined Huston Friday for the presentation of her star, the 2,398th on the Walk of Fame.

“The beauty of this award is that it’s as permanent as anything in life these days,” Huston said. “It can’t be misplaced or left in the ladies room by accident and I always get the same billing.

“From here on, I’ll always know where to find myself and so will other people. Now I don’t have to join Facebook, because when someone wants to find me, this is where I’ll be and I’ll always be here.”

_____________________________

OBITUARY

Jean Simmons dies at 80; radiant beauty was known for stunning versatility

Over a career that spanned more than 60 years, she appeared in about 55 feature films and nearly as many television productions.

By Valerie J. Nelson

Los Angeles Times

January 23, 2010

Jean Simmons, a radiant British actress who as a teenager appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in “Hamlet” and emerged a star whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s in such films as “Guys and Dolls, “Elmer Gantry” and “Spartacus,” has died. She was 80.

.

Click here to continue reading the Los Angeles Times obituary for Jean Simmons

____________________________________

100th BIRTHDAY

Irene Sharaff

AMERICAN COSTUME DESIGNER

• BORN: January 23, 1910, Boston, Massachusetts
• DIED: Auguts 10, 1993, New York City, New York
• CAUSE OF DEATH: Unknown
• BURIAL: Unknown

________________________________

HOLLYWOOD HISTORICAL MARKERS

Broadway Building:

Hollywood and Vine

 Former Broadway Department Store at Hollywood and Vine. You can see the plaque as the dark square on the corner of the building in the bottom-center of the photo (Photo: Allan R. Ellenberger)

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Hollywood and Vine was marked for posterity on November 24, 1953 with the unveiling of a plaque set in the wall of the Broadway-Hollywood Department Store on the southwest corner of the intersection.

The plaque was unveiled in a noon-time ceremony by John Anson Ford, chairman of the Board of Supervisors in conjunction with Hollywood’s 50th anniversary. It was accepted by Edward W. Carter, president of the Broadway department stores and placed with the cooperation of the Historical Society of Southern California.

Also participating in the dedication ceremony were E. M. Stuart, general manager of the Broadway-Hollywood and president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, and Harlan G. Palmer, publisher of the Hollywood Citizen-News. Music was furnished by the Los Angeles County Band.

 Plaque on the corner of Hollywood and Vine (Photo: Allan R. Ellenberger)

HOW PLAQUE READS…

Hollywood was given its name by pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Horace H. Wilcox. They subdivided their ranch in 1887 and called two dirt cross-roads Prospect Avenue and Weyse Avenue. Prospect Avenue, the main artery, was renamed Hollywood Boulevard and Weyse Avenue became Vine Street. This was the origin of “Hollywood and Vine.”

_____________________________ 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Edgar Allan Poe

Born January 19, 1809, Boston, Massachusetts

Click below for “The Life of Poe”

____________________________

HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY

Gideon Curtis Moody, first Senator of South Dakota, and former state justice

By Allan R. Ellenberger

Gideon Curtis Moody was a forceful, brilliant speaker, a man who detested shams and subterfuges, whose professional and private reputation was stainless. He commanded the profound admiration of his neighbors and friends, and his vigorous, pleasing personality made him a figure of prominence in the Northwest. He was South Dakota’s first Senator and that states Moody County is named in his honor.

Moody was born in Courtland, New York on October 16, 1832 where he spent his early years. He studied law at Syracuse and was admitted to the bar when he was only 21. He practiced law there and moved to New Albany, Indiana in 1852 and was appointed prosecuting attorney for Floyd County in 1854.

Moody married Helen Eliot of Syracuse on September 21, 1855. In 1860 he was elected to the Indiana State Legislature and served until the outbreak of the Civil War. In  April 1861 he enlisted in Co. G, Ninth Indiana Infantry and was commissioned a Captain. He was with that unit until the fall of 1862 when he was promoted to Colonel and assigned to the command of the Nineteenth United States Infantry, which was stationed at Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.

Moody was given a command at Murfreesboro, Tennessee and was named chief mustering officer with Major-General George H. Thomas.

After the Civil War he moved to Yankton, Dakota Territory and took an active part in the development of the Northwest. He was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court by President Rutherford B. Hayes, and his district at that time comprised all the territory west of the Missouri River. He filled this position from 1878 to 1889.

On November 2,1889, as a Republican, he was elected the first United States Senator to the new state of South Dakota along with Senator Richard F. Pettigrew. He remained a senator until 1891. He was also a member of the Territorial Legislature for two years, and was Speaker of the House. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention and was the first provisional Senator.

Moody’s specialty as judge was in corporation law and riparian rights and he ruled on many important cases. For many years he was the confidential attorney of the Homestake Gold Mining Company at Deadwood, South Dakota, which was the richest gold mining corporation in the world, and of interest to then Senator George Hearst, the father of William Randolph Hearst. Until his death, Moody was the confidential attorney of Hearst’s mother, Phoebe.

Around 1899, Moody began making occasional visits to Los Angeles and found the climate beneficial to his health. After his daughter and her husband settled here he spent the last nine months of his life with her while building an elegant mansion next door at 1019 Beacon Street. He and his wife moved into their new home only two months before his death.

On March 17, 1904, Moody died at his new residence from Bright’s Disease; he was 71. He was survived by his wife Helen and five children: Helen Dickenson of Los Angeles; Charles, editor of the Sturges Record (South Dakota); James, an attorney at Deadwood; Burdette, a civil engineer with the Homestake Company, and Warner, recently graduated from Yale and in a law office in Deadwood.

Moody children also buried at Hollywood Forever

Moody’s grave is located at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in the Chandler Garden’s (Section 12) just east of the Harrison Otis obelisk and a short distance from the road.

For the past 105 years, all published biographies have stated that Moody was buried at Rosedale Cemetery. This error is included in the official Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and is listed as such on Findagrave. The confusion probably came from his obituary which noted that his body was “placed temporarily in a receiving vault at Rosedale.” Hopefully that inaccuracy can now be corrected.

To read more about Gideon Curtis Moody, check out this article at Deadwood Magazine.

___________________________________

TODAY IN HOLLYWOOD

Storm clouds move in over Hollywood for a week of predicted rain

(Photo: Allan R. Ellenberger)

Looking Northwest from Hollywood Boulevard and El Centro, scattered clouds move in over the Capital Records building and the Pantages Theatre for a weeks worth of expected rains in the Southland.

___________________________________________

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mack Sennett

Born January 17, 1880, Richmond, Quebec, Canada

 Click below for a clip of “This is Your Life – Mack Sennett”

________________________________

INTERVIEWS

Mickey Kuhn recalls days as child actor in Hollywood

By Jonathan Foerster

Naples News

Saturday, January 16, 2010