Seraphic Secret

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

Doris Day

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do.”
—Katherine Hepburn

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Book Watch On My Night Table

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Considering Doris Day by Tom Santopietro

“A revealing look at a star who was much more than just our favorite girl next door.

“The biggest female box office attraction in Hollywood history, Doris Day remains unequaled as the only entertainer who has ever triumphed in movies, radio, recordings, and television. But while on screen Day may have projected a wholesome image, her acting and singing range made her the role model for independent American career women for four decades.

“In Considering Doris Day, Tom Santopietro reveals why Day’s work continues to resonate today, both in ever-increasing record sales and Hollywood lifetime achievement awards. Placing Day’s work within the social context of America in the second half of the twentieth century, Considering Doris Day is smart, funny, and grants Doris Day her rightful place as a singular American artist.”

What better watch to wear when reading about Doris Day than the Hamilton Ventura? The world’s first electric watch looks just as delightfully witty and futuristic today as it did in 1957.

 

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“I’m still Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff from Cincinatti, Ohio. All I ever wanted to do was to get married, have a nice husband, have two or three children, keep house and cook—a nice clean house—and live happily ever after—and I ended up in Hollywood. And if I can do it, you can do it. Anyone can do it.”
—Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; 1922 – 2019)

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Thanksgiving 2020: 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 nature of this hope?

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Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

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“I never take any notice of reviews — unless a critic has thought up some new way of describing me. That old one about my lizard eyes and anteater nose and the way I sleep my way through pictures is so hackneyed now.”
—Robert Mitchum

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