2/23/21: The Best Actor You’ve Never Heard of

By Fred Muenz Born in Brooklyn on August 10, 1914, Arthur Zwerling, (aka Jeff Corey) was the son of European-Jewish immigrants. In high school, he was a mediocre student, but fell in love with acting after taking a drama class. Years later, he would say that choosing acting as a career saved him from a

2/19/21: Long Gone And Forgotten

By Fred Muenz At a time when movie audiences believed that an actor’s screen persona was a reflection of his or her real life, the studio’s publicity department claimed that “The Vamp” was the Egyptian- born daughter of a French actress and an Italian sculptor. The story continued that having been raised in the shadow

2/11/21: Two Very Familiar Faces

By Fred Muenz If you are a fan of movies of the 1930’s and 1940’s, you will immediately recognize the two familiar character actors pictured above. Combined, they appeared in over three hundred films during their careers. Standing only 5’6” tall, and weighing in at just 81 pounds, Donald Meek was doomed to be typecast

2/3/2021: Let Us Go To The Casbah

By Fred Muenz Born on August 28, 1899, in the small French village of Figeac, Charles Boyer was the only child of merchant Louis Boyer, and his wife, Louise. Young Charles was just 10 years-old when his father died, and he found solace in the local theater. As a result, he soon developed a passion

1/28/21: Martin and Lewis

By Fred Muenz In June, 1917, the wife of an Italian immigrant barber in Steubenville, Ohio gave birth to a son, Dino Paul Crocetti (aka Dean Martin). Since Italian was the only language spoken in the Crocetti home, Dino and his older brother William did not speak English until they started school at age five.

1/21/21 The King Of The Movies (Before Clark Gable)

By Fred Muenz Pictured here are two statues, one of patriot Nathan Hale which stands before the Tribune Tower in Chicago, the other, of Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore stands before the courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Also pictured is a U.S. postage stamp featuring the face of the Nathan Hale statue. A close examination of the

1/16/21:The King, The Pharaoh, The Cowboy And The Cossack

By Fred Muenz While he appeared in many different roles, Yul Brynner is best remembered for his role as the King of Siam in THE KING AND I (1956). Winning an Academy Award for his performance in the film version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, Brynner also received two Tony Awards for playing the

01/8/21: The Tragic Underside Of Hollywood

By Fred Muenz Frances Lillian Mary Ridste (aka Carole Landis) was born on New Years Day, 1919. She was the youngest of five children born to the daughter of a Wisconsin farmer and a drifting railroad mechanic, who left the family shortly after Frances was born. Her mother, Clara, later married a man with whom

1/2/21: Two Very Funny Ladies

By Fred Muenz Madonna Josephine Davis, (aka Joan Davis), was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in June, 1907. Her father was a railroad dispatcher. While she began her show business career in vaudeville while still a child, little is known of her life before her 1931 marriage to fellow performer Si Wills. She and Wills

12/27/20: A Bomb Shelter For One, Please

By Fred Muenz Best remembered as the portly, frog-voiced Friar Tuck in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), and a similar role as Father Felipe in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), Eugene Pallette’s long career included roles in more than 240 films. Eugene William Pallette was born in Winfield, Kansas in July, 1889. His parents