Jean Harlow

Independence Day: Once Upon A Time Hollywood Loved America

July 4, 2018 by Robert J. Avrech 4 Comments

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 overt 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.

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

March 23, 2018 by Robert J. Avrech 3 Comments

“The problem with beauty is that it’s like being born rich and getting poorer.”
—Joan Collins

Flashback: When Hollywood Celebrated Christmas

December 24, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 5 Comments

Mary Pickford helps Hollywood celebrate Christmas, 1920s.

There was a time when Hollywood openly and joyously celebrated Christmas. Now, among the Hollywood elite, the greeting I hear is “Happy Holidays.”

Look, we at Seraphic Secret are Orthodox Jews. This is not our holiday.

But we want our Christian friends to celebrate Christmas. The politically correct Happy Holidays shtick is another nail in the coffin of American culture; another instance where a minority of obnoxious liberals bully the larger culture into secular nothingness.

American Christianity is a unique force for good in world history. It is not the Christianity of Europe that is poisoned with genocidal Jew-hatred.

Hollywood used to celebrate Christmas using every tool in the cinematic playbook.

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

October 27, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 11 Comments

“The main problem in marriage is that for a man sex is a hunger like eating. If the man is hungry and can’t get to a fancy French restaurant, he goes to a hot dog stand. For a woman, what is important is love and romance.”
—Joan Fontaine

Hidden Hollywood: Mae Clarke, Girl, Gangster, Grapefruit

August 16, 2017 by Robert J. Avrech 4 Comments

The infamous grapefruit scene in *The Public Enemy* (1931), with Mae Clarke and James Cagney.

Most actors are remembered for their unique personae. Clark Gable was a man’s man. The humorous gleam in his eye sent daggers to the knees of women everywhere. Bette Davis practically cornered the market on the deeply neurotic woman clawing at the boundaries of love with baroque fury. Gary Cooper was the classic taciturn American, a solid, self-confident Yankee who spoke eloquently through his silences. Marilyn Monroe is the paradigm of the woman as vulnerable child waiting to be rescued by a knight in shining armor.

Of course Fay Wray, who played in over eighty motion pictures, is only remembered for her role in King Kong. Thus, for better or worse, Wray is the eternally shrieking woman.

Less common is the actor who is identified and remembered for a single brief scene.