If they were still alive....

...these notables would be celebrating their birthday today:


Leonard Warren would be 100 today.  He was undisputibly one of--if not THE greatest operatic baritones of the 20th century.  He had a flinty, masculine voice and an amazing range of notes and emotions.  One of the towering American performers of all time.  Yet he is perhaps best remembered for how he died.  He was in the midst of a performance of Verdi's La Forza del Destino (The Forces of Destiny) at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and had just completed the major baritone aria, "Morir...tremenda cosa" (Death...a momentous thing) when he fell to the floor, dead of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He was only 48 years old.  Reportedly, the audience initially thought it was part of the drama, but when management immediately brought down the curtain and cancelled the rest of the performance, the horrified audience realized what had really happened.  There now exists a Leonard Warren Foundation, to benefit the cause of struggling young musicians.  A fitting tribute to an amazing artist whose centenary is today.






Charlotte Brontë would be 195.  She was the eldest of the three British literary sisters (along with Emily and Anne) who wrote under assumed pen names that sounded male (at that time, women were not generally taken seriously as writers).  When her book, Jane Eyre, came out and was an enormous success, there was much curiosity as to who this "Currer Bell" was (the name under which she first published the book). When her identity was revealed, it went a long way in promoting the abilities of female writers.

Anthony Quinn would be 96.  He was a thunderously powerful actor when given the right vehicle...and a bit over the top in the wrong one.  He'll forever be known as the free-spirited Zorba, the Greek, one of his two Oscar-winning performances (the other, as Paul Gaugin in Lust For Life).

If they were alive today.....

...it would be the birthday of the following notables:

Harold Lloyd would be 118.  My god, this man was talented!  And his timeless style and form of comedy seem absolutely contemporary today.  He's remembered today as a daredevil comic, clinging to the sides of Los Angeles high-rises.  Just watching his artistry is jaw-dropping enough on its own; but taking into consideration that in a stunt that went wrong, he'd blown off the thumb and forefinger of his right hand, it makes it all the more amazing.  But more than "artistry" and "technical acumen"...never mind that!  This guy was just hilarious!  And still is.  My favorite of his films is The Freshman, the prototypical Harold Lloyd film, in which he plays the tenacious, good-to-a-fault college boy (adorably named "Speedy" Lamb) who saves the day, scoring the winning touchdown in "The Big Game".  Throughout the film, he does this little dance step whenever he meets someone for the first time...I've slowed down the film and tried to recreate it, but gave up.  It's all his--and I ain't no Speedy Lamb!  This is one of the films I often recommend to anyone looking to acquire an interest in silent films, as it's still absolutely fun and quite accessible, and invariably, new viewers walk away from it as devoted Harold Lloyd fans, without fail.  Here's the entire film!  If you want to see his little dance, advance ahead to 00:19:01--or if you have 76 minutes, watch the whole thing!  I swear, it'll make an instant fan out of you!



Bruce Cabot would be 107.  The square-jawed, handsome Hollywood leading man of the early 1930's is best known today as the hero who took on King Kong in the original 1933 classic film.



Edie Sedgwick would be 68.  She'd be no more than a footnote to the annals of the wild and wasted New York of the 1960's, had it not been for a fascinating biography of her, Edie, by Jean Stein and George Plimpton.  The Andy Warhol "actress" and model, who forsook her New England blueblooded heritage to become the drug-addled emblem of that era, was in fact no more than a petulant, infantile, rather nasty, all-around mess.  A "hot mess," in today's terms.  But the book's well worth the read. (available on Amazon for about $2.50--link below).






Jayne Mansfield would be 78 (yesterday...sorry Jayne...missed you yesterday!).  The ultimate Hollywood, "sex-goddess-or-die" starlet, Jayne Mansfield was really something!  I love this series of photos, taken at a Hollywood event in 1957.  The classy Sophia Loren, who was just exploding on the international film scene was shamelessly upstaged by Mansfield who was known to do anything to get attention.  Just observing the expressions of these two ladies is a wonderful study in subtext.  Poor Jaynie grew more and more desperate for that attention as the years wore on, ending her years appearing in cheapo sexploitation films.  Her tragic end came on a rain-slicked Louisiana highway in 1967, when the car she was riding in, asleep, slammed into a flatbed trailer-truck.  Contrary to the well-spread myth, she was not decapitated, but was indeed killed immediately.  Her children, who were asleep in the backseat, all survived (including popular television actress, Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order), then just three years old).




And Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" of 1938 would be 122.  That would be Adolph Hitler.  Here are some things you may not know about him:

• He was born with only one testicle.
• Toward the end of his life, he was beset with symptoms of the early onset of Parkinson's Disease.
• Reportedly, his two favorite movies were King Kong and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• His great-great-grandmother was Jewish.
• In 1940, there were 20 listings in the New York City telephone book of persons with the last name of "Hitler".  Today, there are none. In fact, there are only 5 people with that name listed in the entire United States.  Presumably, prudence dictates that in some circumstances, you simply HAVE to change your name (can you even imagine going through life with that name?)

If they were alive today...

...these notables would be celebrating their birthday:

Huntington Hartford would be turning 100 today.  His was an epic life of excess and squandering, ending up virtually broke, after having been born into one of the wealthiest families in America.  He was the heir to the A&P grocery chain family and was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth.  He was handsome and apparently charming and was a fixture of the gossip rags of the 1930's-60's, squiring some of Hollywood's most glamourous actresses (such as Lana Turner, as seen above).  He married four times and sank tens of millions into several grand, failed schemes--in the end, leaving him near destitution and drug-addicted, living as a recluse in a squalid Manhattan townhouse, from which he was finally evicted.  He declared bankruptcy and moved to the Bahamas, where he died in 2008.   He may not have had a happy ending, but he certainly had an interesting life.  There's a good biography of him called Squandered Fortune: The Life and Times of Huntington Hartford, available on Amazon for a penny (used, hardcover--link below).  It's quite a tale.




Wendy Barrie would be 99.  She was a prim and proper "English rose" type of lady who had a rather successful career in Hollywood in the 1930's-40's.  Incongruously, some might say, she was engaged to wed legendary mobster, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, though they never actually wed.



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Virginia O'Brien:  Hey! She's smiling!

Virginia O'Brien would be 92.  She had a very strange shtick for a movie musical performer:  She performed all her numbers absolutely dead-panned, very rarely smiling or showing any emotion at all.  Kind of strange, watching her today.  She was rather pretty and might have had some appeal...but the whole dead-pan thing is rather off-putting to some modern viewers (me! me!).

 

If they were still alive....

....today would be the birthday of:

William Holden would be 93.  It seems Holden is a bit taken for granted and rather underrated as an actor, despite his many awards and truly memorable performances (Stalag 17, Bridge on the River Kwai, Network...and probably most of all, his "Joe Gillis" opposite Gloria Swanson's "Norma Desmond" in that greatest of all of Hollywood's "Hollywood films," Sunset Boulevard.  His battle with the bottle shortened his life.  He was only 63 when he was found in a pool of blood next to his bed in his Santa Monica apartment.  Apparently, he had fallen while intoxicated and hit his head on a bedside table.





Writer/director George Seaton would be 100 today.  He wrote and/or directed several major Hollywood hits, including Airport, Song of Bernadette, The Country Girl and his "mini masterpiece," Miracle on 34th Street, which he indeed wrote and directed.  He won two Oscars during his starry career (Best Screenplay for Miracle on 34th Street and The Country Girl) as well as the 1962 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Academy Award.  Seems he's one of those who aren't remembered today, by name....but certainly his body of work is most memorable, indeed.










Anne Shirley would be 93.  She started in silent films at the age of four (as "Dawn O'Day"...her real name was Dawn Paris).  After appearing in the title role of Anne of Green Gables, she changed her name once again to the character's name, Anne Shirley, under which she is known today.  She played several mature juvenile parts, none larger or more challenging than the daughter of poor, self-sacrificing white trash, Stella Dallas.  She married hunky John Payne (seen above with Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street).  Their marriage didn't last, and she retired from acting about the time their marriage ended, in 1943.  One might suspect that she must have just grown tired of the Hollywood hustle, having been before the cameras while barely out of diapers.  She died in 1993.





Lon McCallister would be 88.  He actually had a lot in common with Anne Shirley.  Both successfully made the leap from child actor to juvenile to adult in Hollywood, a feat that not many could claim.  He was small, boyish and very likable.  Like Shirley, he had a role in Stella Dallas.  And also like her, he retired from acting very young, at the age of 30, having had more than his fill of Hollywood.


Arthur Lake would be 106.  His singular career distinction was introducing the character of "Dagwood Bumstead" to film viewers in the 1930's and 40's in the long-running series of Blondie movies.  He had been a fairly successful "bright young man" actor in early talkies, but was pretty much type-cast from Dagwood on.  An interesting sidebar to his story is his marriage.  He had a long (45 years), by all accounts very happy marriage to Patricia Van Cleve, who was known about Hollywood as the niece of Marion Davies--who lived with and had been raised by Davies.  They were married in 1942 at William Randolph Hearst's enormous California estate, San Simeon (Hearst Castle).  He died in 1987 and she survived him by 6 years.  On her deathbed, she "admitted" to her children what had long been whispered about Los Angeles society circles:  That she was, in fact, the illegitimate daughter of Hearst and Marion Davies.  She and Arthur Lake are both entombed in Marion Davies' large crypt at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery along with Davies, her mother and sisters, and her actual husband (whom she married after Hearst's death).  One other weird sidebar:  Arthur Lake was at one time investigated as a possible suspect in the Black Dahlia murder in 1947 (he was never charged or proven to have anything to do with it).

Patricia Van Cleve Lake--daughter of Hearst/Davies

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And a VERY happy birthday, to someone who is still very much with us....

Marta Eggerth turns 99 today.  She is one of the great treasures of the New York musical world, as she still continues to perform, a year from her centenary year.  And make no mistake:  There is nothing "bless her heart" about her performing.  Her voice, her charm, her loveliness---have been preternaturally preserved, as if stilled in amber.  The Hungarian-born soprano was a great star of operetta and film, having made her professional debut in 1923!  Miss Eggerth was married to the great, famed Polish opera tenor, Jan Kiepura until his death in 1966. She can still command top-price seats at her performances, mostly at the lovely Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie museum in New York City.  I witnessed one of her performances, about 5 years ago--and even had a chance to chat with her afterward. The cafe is on the street level on busy Fifth Avenue.  I recall that during one of her quiet songs, an ambulance came noisily screaming by.  She paused and with a fabulous deadpan, said, "Don't come for me!  I'm not going anywhere yet!"  Which the audience, of course, just loved.  I asked her if she looked back on her Hollywood career with happiness.  She had been briefly under contract to MGM in the early 1940's, playing opposite Judy Garland in two films:  Presenting Lily Mars and For Me and My Gal.  She paused, thoughtfully, and said, "I look back on working with Judy Garland with great fondness, as she was just lovely.  But I can not say that my years in Hollywood were very happy ones".  I think I can speak for the entire New York artistic community in wishing her many more years of health and our thanks for blessing us with her charm, beauty and many talents.  Here's a fairly contemporary clip of her performing one of her signature tunes:

If they were still alive today....

.....these notable folks would be celebrating a birthday:

Charlie Chaplin would be 122.  The most universally recognized man of the first half of the 20th century, his popularity as a silent film star was equaled by no one.  He was the greatest star to have his career impacted by the "red scare" of the 1940's/50's.  He wasn't a communist--but rather than stay and try to defend himself against nebulous charges by the slavering McCarthy inquisition, he abandoned his adopted country of America and fled to Switzerland, where he only worked periodically until his death in 1977.  He returned to Hollywood in 1971 to receive a lifetime achievement "honorary" Oscar--since he had never received an official Oscar during his career.  He was given an enormous welcome back, and perhaps the longest standing ovation in Academy Award history.  Here's my favorite scene from my favorite of his films, The Gold Rush, from 1925.  Turn down/off the volume to get rid of the very annoying commentator in the background!:





Dusty Springfield would be 72.  She was a very unique singer during the middle years of rock and roll's nascence.  The British belter's full-throated, somewhat hoarse voice was all-hers and was never mistaken for anyone else's.  Her all-out anthems are still powerful today and she still has a huge following, especially in the UK.





John Hodiak would be 97.  Sturdy, if somewhat stiff, all-purpose butch leading man of the WWII and post-WWII years, John Hodiak appeared to good effect in a few films, notably Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat in 1944, in which he parried with the inimitable Tallulah Bankhead.  He died suddenly, at the age of 40, of a heart attack.

Douglas McPhail, 1939

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With Judy Garland in Little Nellie Kelly

With wife and frequent co-star, Betty Jaynes

On the set of Sweethearts, with Jaynes and director, W.S. Van Dyke, 1938

With his voice teacher, Romano Romani, 1938

Also turning 97 today would be Douglas McPhail.  I remember seeing the original That's Entertainment as a child, when it first came out and being so impressed by the voice of the fellow who sang the title song in the 1939 MGM musical, Babes in Arms.  I tried to find out more information about him, but there was virtually nothing about him, anywhere.  But in this age of the internet, I've since found out that he had a meteoric rise, a brief, impressive career--and a shocking and tragic death at his own hand.  He was spotted by Jeanette MacDonald, the star of San Francisco, in which he appeared in the chorus.  She mentored him and he was groomed by MGM as sort of a "junior Nelson Eddy".  Unfortunately, this happened just about the time that film operettas were fading from favor, and there was less need for the real Nelson Eddy, let alone a junior version.  Still, he was given some large roles in major films, including Little Nellie Kelly, in which he played Judy Garland's love interest, in one of her first "adult" roles.  Apparently, his dwindling career was desperately frustrating to him and he developed a major problem with alcohol.  Finally, in 1944, he swallowed poison--ending his life at the age of 30.  Such a shame.  He had (as evidenced below) a most impressive voice and a commanding presence.






And poor Selena Quintanilla would have turned 40 today, had she not been assassinated by her psychotic assistant in 1995.  "The Queen of Tejano Music"...."The Mexican Madonna"....she was enormously popular in the Latin American market--in fact, she was the #1-selling Latin American artist of the 1990's, selling over 21 million albums. Such a shame...her murderess is, thankfully, rotting in a Texas prison, ostensibly for life, though she will be eligible for parole in 2025.