1940's Inspiration

Check out these 1940's photos I came across. So much fun!!! My favorite is by far the typing girls.

1940's Vintage Pics Part II

I came across some more great 40's photos. I love the one of Cary Grant. What do you think of the girl scouts? Or the teenagers in the convertible? Wow, things seemed so much simpler. Have a great day!

(Oh, as a side note. I'm trying to post everyday, but am sooooo behind on comments until I get out of school. Please bear with me and continue to comment. They truly make my day!)

Vegas-- Old School

I've been thinking about heading to Vegas lately. It's been 7 years, yes 7 years since I've visited!!! I used to go all the time, but couldn't stomach paying $25 a hand for blackjack. There are so many new hotels and great places to visit now, that I think I must take a trip. Here are some vintage shots of old Vegas. Anything new you love there that I should check out?

DON'T FORGET TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY! I WILL BE CHOOSING A WINNER SATURDAY! GOOD LUCK FRIENDS!

Double Indemnity

One of the films I absolutely love from the Film Noir genre is "Double Indemnity (1944)." I was forced to watch the film during a film class I took in college and have been hooked on black and whites, and film noir ever since. If you haven't seen it, you have to check it out. The rainy day weather is perfect for it. Here's some fun facts about the film:

**The character Walter Neff was originally named Walter Ness, but director/writer Billy Wilder found out that there was a man living in Beverly Hills named Walter Ness who was actually an insurance salesman. To avoid being sued for defamation of character, they changed the name. In the novel, his name is Walter Huff, and Dietrichson is Nirdlinger.

**The scene where Neff and Dietrichson can't get their car started after the murder was added by Wilder after his car wouldn't start at the end of a shooting day.

**Dick Powell wanted the role of Walter Neff, but he was under contract to another studio and they wouldn't allow it. He was enraged and tore up his contract. The role went to Fred MacMurray.

**The blonde wig that Barbara Stanwyck is wearing throughout the movie was the idea of Billy Wilder. A month into shooting Wilder suddenly realized how bad it looked, but by then it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. To rationalize this mistake, in later interviews Wilder claimed that the bad-looking wig was intentional.

**In the first scene in which Walter first kisses Phyllis, we see a wedding ring on Walter's hand. Fred MacMurray was married and the ring was not noticed until post-production.

**Silver dust was mixed with some subtle smoke effects to create the illusion of waning sunlight in Phyllis Dietrichson's house.

**In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #29 Greatest Movie of All Time.

**The movie was based on the novel by James M. Cain, which in turn was based on the true story of Ruth Snyder, the subject of a notorious 1920s murder trial.

**Barbara Stanwyck was the first choice to play Phyllis, but she was unnerved when seeing the role was of a ruthless killer. When she expressed her concern to Billy Wilder, he asked her, "Are you a mouse or an actress?"

**In the early 1970s Paramount had plans to remake Double Indemnity (1944) with Robert Redford in the Fred MacMurray role. The project never got off the ground.

**Director Billy Wilder originally filmed an ending where Keyes watches Walter Neff go to the gas chamber.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY BEFORE FRIDAY!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!

WASPS--Women Pilots of WWII Honored

I really had no idea that there were female fighter pilots in WWII. These women were finally honored with a medal for their service many years overdue.

"Women weren't doctors, lawyers, engineers. I could be a nurse, a librarian or a teacher. Those were my choices. And if it wasn't for the war and the fact that they were so short of pilots that they condescended to let us enter the sanctum sanctorum. And they let us know that. They let us in because they needed us. They needed pilots."
-- Kaddy Steele, WASP 1942-1944

From 1942 to 1944, more than 1,000 women were trained to ferry aircraft, test planes, instruct male pilots, and tow targets for anti-aircraft artillery practice. The women came from all socioeconomic backgrounds: teachers, nurses, secretaries, factory workers, waitresses, students, housewives, debutantes, actresses, even a Ziegfield chorus girl.

Margaret Callihan gets out of a plane at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, TX. Photo courtesy of The Woman's Collection, Texas Woman's University.
On the surface, their differences seemed vast, but knew they all shared one commonality ‚ a passion for flying.

"We thought we'd died and gone to heaven," WASP Caro Bayley Bosca said. "We would have done it for free. It was hot, we were tired, we were sticky half the time, but we were having a ball because we had those airplanes and we all loved to fly."

They were pioneers, and as such they often faced disbelief and resentment from male officers. Nonetheless, the female pilots were fearless and committed. Thirty-eight women would be killed in the line of duty.

Here are some fantastic pictures of these true heroes. Hope you are having a great week friends!

1940's Lovely Pics

Just came across these gorgeous photos from the 1940's. What do you think? Which one is your favorite and why?

Jo Stafford

You might not know who Jo Stafford is, but she is one of the sweetest singers of the 1940's. Her voice is amazing, and has such a calming appeal.

Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era. She was also viewed as a pioneer of modern musical parody, having won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961 (with husband Paul Weston) for their album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris. She was also the first woman to have a No 1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Stafford was born in Coalinga, California, to Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna York Stafford, a distant cousin of World War I hero Sergeant Alvin York. Originally, she wanted to become an opera singer and studied voice as a child. However, because of the economic Great Depression, she abandoned that idea and joined her sisters Christine and Pauline in a popular vocal group, "The Stafford Sisters", which performed on Los Angeles radio station KHJ.

In 1937 she worked behind the scenes with Fred Astaire on the soundtrack of A Damsel in Distress and created the arrangement and, with her sisters, the backing vocals for "Nice Work If You Can Get It". She claimed that her arrangement had to be adapted as Astaire had difficulty with some of the syncopation, in her words: "The man with the syncopated shoes couldn't do the syncopated notes".

Her tenure with the USO, in which she gave countless performances for soldiers stationed overseas, acquired her the nickname "G.I. Jo."

In 1950, she left Capitol for Columbia Records, later returning to Capitol in 1961. While at Columbia she was the first recording artist to sell 25 million records for that company. During her second stint at Capitol, Stafford also recorded for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label. These albums were released between 1961 and 1964, and were mostly retrospective in nature. Stafford left the label when Sinatra sold it to Warner Brothers.

Jo Stafford died in Century City, California of congestive heart failure on July 16, 2008 at the age of 90.

You must hear her music. Just check out my playlist, I have tons of her songs on there. Have a great day!!

Haunted Hollywood Hotels

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought it was time for some spooky Hollywood tales. Many of the old "haunts" (ha ha) of famed actors and actresses are now torn down due to lack of care. But there are a few that are still around and have even been renovated over the years. The first such place is the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

The Roosevelt opened in 1927 and was host to several of the Hollywood elite. Many famous Hollywood legends such as Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift stayed here in its heyday. The hotel remained popular for many years and then in 1984, underwent a restoration. Since that time, the ghosts, they say, have been putting in frequent appearances. The first strange event took place in December 1985, about two weeks before the grand re-opening. Alan Russell, the personal assistant to the General Manager, was in the Blossom Room, where the first Academy Awards banquet was held in 1929 (I was just in this exact room in August and it is GORGEOUS!). He was sweeping the floor and noticed an extremely cold spot in one part of the room. He and the other employees who were present were perplexed to find there were no drafts or air conditioners to explain away the chill. Psychics who have investigated the hotel believe there is a man in black clothing who haunts this room, although who he may be, no one knows.

On that same day, another employee named Suzanne Leonard was dusting a mirror in the manager’s office. She looked into the glass and saw the reflection of a blond woman there. She turned quickly around but there was no one behind her, although the reflection remained for some time before fading away. So, who was this mysterious figure? It was later learned that the mirror once hung in Suite 1200 of the hotel, a suite that was frequently used by Marilyn Monroe. Could she still be lingering behind at the Roosevelt?

As guests began to arrive at the refurbished hotel, the staff was told of other encounters. They frequently heard complaints about loud talking in nearby rooms and of voices in hallways...rooms and corridors that would prove to be empty. Phones were lifted from receivers in empty suites...lights turned on in empty, locked rooms ... a maid was inexplicably pushed into a supply closet...a typewriter began typing in the middle of the night in an empty, locked office...a man in a white suit (who was seen by three different people on two different days) walked through a door and vanished ...extra bedspreads that were hung on a rod in the basement began moving on their own...a little girl was seen playing in the lobby and then vanished before the eyes of a startled staff member...and much more.

Some employees also reported strange shadows on the Ninth floor, prompting many of them to refuse to work on that level. Strange things were especially connected to Room 928. Here, housekeepers have reported cold spots that brush by them and others have felt a strong presence watching them or walking beside them. One night in 1992, a female guest reported that a man’s hand patted her on the shoulder while she was reading. She turned, thinking that it was her husband, only to find him sound asleep.

Room 928 has been most prominently connected to actor Montgomery Clift, who lived in the room for three months in 1952 while filming From Here to Eternity. Clift was said to restlessly pace his room and the corridor outside, rehearsing his lines and practicing the bugle. And some say that he still does...

Wow! What an exciting place! I can honestly say that it is truly amazing to be inside the Roosevelt. You can imagine being there in the 1940's with all the other starlets. It definitely has a "haunting" quality about it. Enjoy the photos!




Sources:
Haunted Places: The National Directory By Dennis William Hauck (1996)
Hollywood Haunted by Laurie Jacobson and Marc Wannamaker (1994)
Hollywood and the Supernatural by Brad and Sherry Steiger (1990)
Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger (1975)
Hollywood Babylon 2 by Kenneth Anger (1984)
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (official website www.hollywoodroosevelt.com)