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July 13, 2008
Best of the Jewish Blogosphere #173
“Ladies, this is Jack, the man who hosts Haveil Havalim!”
Haveil Havalim # 173: The Wait for Avrech to Name it Edition is up and live, and hosted by the ever resourceful Jack.
Gee willikers, more work!
Well, as Orson Welles used to say at the end of his Mercury Theater broadcasts: “I am your obedient servant.”
Evelyn Keyes 1916 - 2008
Actress Evelyn Keyes passed away on July 4th in Montecito California She was 91-years old. Keyes is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara, Scarlett's younger sister in Gone With the Wind, 1939.
Keyes was beautiful, and talented. But she's best known for her multiple marriages and numerous affairs with the rich and famous. Her first husband was Barton Bainbridge, a wealthy businessman who committed suicide when Keyes left him for director Charles Vidor. Keyes vowed never to leave a man ever again. She made sure the men left her.
The marriage to Vidor lasted one year.
Husband number three was writer, actor, director John Huston. Huston was fond of dogs, he had a pack of hounds that ran wild at his estate in Ireland. Keyes hated the dogs so much she used to flee back to Hollywood and take up residence, for months at a time, with best friend Paulette Goddard, real name: Marion Pauline Levy.
Finally, Keyes gave Huston an ultimatum: “It's me or the dogs.”
Duh.
Keyes and Paulette Goddard cut a wide swath through Hollywood's leading men. Keyes conducted torrid affairs with Anthony Quinn, David Niven and Kirk Douglas.
Soon, Keyes moved on to producer Mike Todd, but Todd left her for Elizabeth Taylor.
Not one to give up, Keyes married band leader Artie Shaw, real name: Arthur Jacob Arshawsky. Not a great move. Shaw had already married and divorced screen legends Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. Both actresses report that Shaw used to beat them up when they refused to iron his shirts and sort his socks.
Needless to say, Keyes didn't do shirts or socks either.
Keyes' last role in a major motion picture was in The Seven Year Itch (1955) with Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. Keyes, in a finely tuned performance, plays Helen Sherman, the wife who leaves town, kicking off the mad flirtation between Ewell and Monroe.
Keyes said of her life in Hollywood: "I always took up with the man of the moment and there were many such moments."
Evelyn Keyes, studio publicity shot
Make-up test as Suellen O'Hara for Gone With the Wind
Keyes authored two autobiographies.
In 1977 Keyes published Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister. You can pick up a used copy on Amazon.com for, get this, one single American penny.
In 1991 Keyes again weighed in with I'll Think About Tomorrow.
Both books concentrate on her passionate romances rather than her career. Great dish.
Evelyn Keyes: Scarlett's Younger Sister
Cyd Charisse: Dancing Dynamite
Lana Turner: Bad and Beautiful
Hollywood Goes to War
Lillian Gish: Dying for Her Audience
Ricardo Cortez: Hollywood's Latin Lover or The Kosher Butcher's Son
Hollywood's First Western Hero: Billy Broncho, A Jewish Kid Who Couldn't Ride a Horse
Sylvia Sidney Replaces Clara Bow
Douglas Sirk Directs Linda Darnell
Less Dialogue is More: Mervyn LeRoy, Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor and Waterloo Bridge.
Alla Nazimova: Desperately Exotic
Charlton Heston: A Moment of Silence
Lilyan Tashman.
Carmel Myers: The Rabbi's Beautiful Daughter
Colleen Moore: The Stars and Stripes
Colleen Moore's Wedding Night
One Hairstyle, Three Memoirs: Alma Rubens, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks
Theda Bara: The Vamp Adopts the Troops
Movie Magazines: They Don't Print 'em Like They Used To
Alma Rubens: Dope Fiend, But Not a Jewess
Wallace Reid: Hollywood Shooting Star
Olive Thomas: Hollywood's First Suicide
Mary Pickford: The Greatest Movie Star
Seraphic Secret Chats with Actress Coleen Gray about John Wayne, Howard Hawks, and Stanley Kubrick
Susan Peters: The Great Unknown and Tragic Actress
The Blond Machine Gun: Jean Harlow
Peg Entwistle & The Hollywood Sign
Brigitte Bardot & Sean Connery in Shalako—Sorta
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at July 13, 2008 09:47 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Well, I must say Jack, you look just like I thought you would (but really, don't you think the bow tie is a bit much?)
Love this post Robert...you have the best "dish".
Posted by: cruisin-mom at July 14, 2008 08:28 AM
CM,
It is an old photo of me. I wear my hair differently now.
Posted by: Jack at July 14, 2008 12:04 PM
CM:
Glad you like the post. Personally, I like Jack's bow tie, it's so retro.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 15, 2008 11:57 AM