Tag Archives: Charlie Chaplin

By Robert J. Avrech | August 2, 2012

Hollywood on Trial

Tweet There is nothing Hollywood fears as much as a messy public trial. For movie stars, civil or criminal charges often spell the end of reputation and livelihood. In 1921, the false rape and murder charges against the wonderful knock-about comedian, Roscoe Arbuckle, destroyed his brilliant career—in pre-income tax dollars he earned a million a [...]

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood on Trial, Lupe Velez | Also tagged Dolores Del Rio, Hollywood Glamour, Jetta Goudal, Joan Barry, Mary Pickford, Roscoe Arbuckle | 5 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | February 10, 2012

Friday Footwear: Hollywood Steps Out

Tweet Classic photos of Hollywood stars usually reinforce a particular image. Lighting, composition, body language, wardrobe and the singular architecture of the face are the ingredients that create a glamorous narrative for audiences to internalize. Clark Gable is the man’s man who doesn’t give a damn; Carole Lombard, the girl next door who will drive [...]

Posted in Brigitte Bardot, Clark Gable, Friday Fashion, Friday Footwear, Gloria Swanson, Hollywood | Also tagged Brigitte Bardot, Carole Lombard, Clark Gable, Ginger Rogers, Gloria Swanson, Harold Lloyd, Pablo Picasso, Pola Negri | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | January 20, 2012

Friday Fashion: Hollywood Males It In

Tweet The operative word is effortless. In truth, Chaplin’s style was only achieved through the superlative tailoring of the English Savile Row firm, Anderson & Sheppard. As the new book, Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, edited by Graydon Carter and Cullen Murphy, makes clear, the venerable British tailors shunned actors and other show-biz [...]

Posted in Books, Clark Gable, Friday Fashion, Hollywood, Joan Crawford, Men's Fashion, Rudolph Valentino | Also tagged Anderson & Sheppard, Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, Douglas Fairbanks, Fred Astaire, Gary Cooper, Hollywood Glamour, Marlene Dietrich, Savile Row, Victor Fleming, Vivien Leigh | 6 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | December 23, 2011

Seraphic Secret Hollywood Star Quiz: Answer Revealed

Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Star Quiz | Also tagged A Woman of Paris, Adolph Menjou, Paths of Glory, Style, The Director's Cut: A Theda Bara Mystery | 7 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | November 24, 2011

The Greatest Thanksgiving Movie

Tweet Seraphic Secret usually recommends classic Hollywood movies to help celebrate our national holidays. But this year we’re going to switch gears and recommend one of our favorite Thanksgiving movies, Plains, Trains and Automobiles, 1987. Not only is this one of the finest, most touching Thanksgiving movie ever made, but it’s also the best film [...]

Posted in Great Movies, Hollywood, Thanksgiving | Also tagged Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, John Candy, John Hughes, Planes, Steve Martin, Thanksgiving Movies, Trains and Automobiles | 8 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | June 17, 2011

Hollywood For Sale

Tweet Tweet Debbie Reynolds The Auction tomorrow, June 18, 2011, is your chance to own a slice of Hollywood history. Hollywood’s Golden Age is over. The great stars exist only as silvery shadows on the screen. But some of the most important movie costumes and props, collected and preserved by actress Debbie Reynolds, [...]

Posted in Debbie Reynolds | Also tagged Auction, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Classic Movies, Costume Design, Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe, Walter Plunkett | 11 Responses

By Robert J. Avrech | November 24, 2010

The Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1930s: ’30-’33

Tweet Clark Gable, the greatest male star of the 1930′s. Gable was glamorous yet rugged, a man’s man. Women wanted him and men wanted to be him. We continue our decade-by-decade survey of The Twenty Greatest Movies. Last week we examined the 1920′s, the era of silent movies where a particular American vitality found expression [...]

Posted in Great Movies, Greatest Movies of the 1930s, Twenty Greatest Movies of the 1930s | Also tagged Adrian, Bed of Roses, Ben Hecht, Bombshell, City Lights, Clara Bow, Clark Gable, Constance Bennett, Duck Soup, Ernst Lubitch, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast, Herbert Marshall, Jackie Cooper, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Joel McCrea, John Barrymore, John Lee Mahin, Josef von Sternberg, Jules Furthman, Kay Francis, Marlene Dietrich, Marx Brothers, Mary Astor, Miriam Hopkins, Myrna Loy, Paul Bern, Pert Kelton, Possessed, Red Dust, Samson Raphelson, Shanghai Express, The Champ, Topaze, Troble in Paradise, Victor Fleming, Wallace Beery | 17 Responses

How I Married Karen

The new book
by Robert J. Avrech

Available in All Major Book Stores

Adobe Digital Edition's version is available through the Lulu store!
About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California
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I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
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2012
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audio-only mp3 [15MB]: Ninth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2011
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audio-only mp3 [18MB]: Eighth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2010
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audio-only mp3 [80MB]: Seventh Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2009
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audio-only mp3 [64MB]: Sixth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

2008
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audio-only mp3 [70MB]: Fifth Annual Ariel Avrech Memorial Lecture

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