Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Bette Davis

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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peggy
[on being fired from Forever Amber (1947) and replaced by Linda Darnell] “Say it was my lack of experience, say it was the color of my eyes, say it was a lot of little things, but please don’t say I don’t have enough sex.” —Peggy Cummins
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Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“Becoming a sex symbol overnight shocked me. I didn’t know how to handle it and I kept all the unopened fan mail in the boot of my car because I didn’t know how to respond and thought it was rude to throw it away. Then my mother became my secretary and replied to the really inappropriate ones saying: ‘My daughter’s far too old for you. Go take a cold shower!’”
Diana Rigg, 1938 – 2020 RIP

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July 4th Flashback: When Hollywood Loved America

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Betty Grable wishes America a happy and meaningful July 4th. G-d Bless America.

A long time ago, in a universe far, far away, in a place called Hollywood, the movie studios and the actors who flourished in those dream factories, celebrated their love of America and enthusiastically indulged in unabashed displays of patriotism.

L.B. Mayer (b. Lazar Meir) the powerful head of MGM, was a pioneer of the motion-picture industry, and the man who invented the star system. Mayer adopted July 4th as his birthday. Scores of Hollywood historians get all snarky about Mayer’s birthday, claiming that he conveniently changed his birthday in order to cash in on a public identification with America.

What these historians fail to recognize is that Mayer probably did not know the date of his birth.

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Thanksgiving 2018: The Children of the Children of Israel

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Studio photographers shot millions of still photos of their actors, often with holiday themes. This is the one of the few religiously inclined Thanksgiving stills I have come across. The actress is Barbara Kent, a minor star in the silent ear best known for starring opposite Harold Lloyd in “Welcome Danger” 1929. But her very best role was in a little known but quite wonderful silent film “Lonesome,” 1928.
Studio photographers shot mountains of photographs of contract actors, often with holiday themes. This is a charming Thanksgiving  photo. The actress is Barbara Kent, (b. Barbara Cloutman, 1907- 2011) a popular star in the silent era best known for twice starring opposite Harold Lloyd, “Welcome Danger” (1929), and then “Feet First,” (1930). But her very best role was in a little known but quite wonderful silent film “Lonesome,” (1928). Seraphic Secret wrote a memoriam for this lovely actress when she passed away. You can find it here.

As far as I know, there are only two countries in the world that were founded on the idea of hope.

America and Israel.

And what was the hope?

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Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“They say the movies should be more like life; I think life should be more like the movies.”
—Myrna Loy

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