Makin’ Whoopee With Eddie Cantor
He’s not a household name today (though his character appears in episodes of “Boardwalk Empire”), but Eddie Cantor was the original renaissance man of the entertainment world in the early 20th century, conquering vaudeville, Broadway, records, Hollywood, radio and TV. Cantor began in vaudeville in 1907 in New York, moved to the Great White Way [...]
Stardom, Celebrity, Fame and Narrative
I’ve often wondered about Jennifer Aniston’s stardom. Here’s an actress who’s become a star of sorts despite her middle-of-the-road looks and just-average acting abilities. After the demise of “Friends,” she went on to star in a host of comedies, most of which — because of her co-stars or director or a good script — have [...]
A Real Hollywood Flop
Developers of The Millennium Project in Hollywood are proposing to build two 50+ story twin skyscrapers — one on each side of the 12-story historic Capitol Records Building. It is designed to have over 400 apartments, 100,000 sq. feet of office space, as well as restaurants, sports center, a 200 room hotel, and retail space. [...]
Washington’s Fiscal Shenanigans: Americans Take It on the Chin … Again
The People Fight Back: Storming the Tuileries (Paris), 1793 (Jacques Bertaux) Once again, the L.A. Times’ Michael Hiltzik has come to the defense of the middle and lower classes as the wealthy and corporate empowered special interests still call the tunes in Washington. Under the headline “The middle class languishes as the super-rich [...]
The Nude Marilyn
playboy-2 As some of you know by now, earlier this year I co-authored with another Los Angeles writer — under the pseudonym A.J. Laurence — The Hollywood Guide to Marilyn Monroe, a loving look at Marilyn’s life and films. The eBook includes a comprehensive timeline of Marilyn’s life; fascinating details about her films (both on [...]
Henri the Cat: Paw de Deux
For all my existential friends, here’s a little French cat with a lot of ennui: Here’s the link to the original Henri
Late Nights With FM Radio and the Firesign Theatre
firesign In the late sixties — like so many kids of my generation who were “revolting” against the status-quo and the all-too-narrow and straight pre-fab lifestyle of our parents (and many friends our age, as well, who opted for marriage and family right out of high school) — I would listen to the then-new phenomena [...]
Grove Press Publisher Barney Rosset, Champion of Free Speech, Dies
In 1963 — still a fresh-faced high school student just beginning to feel the need to step out and express myself, to maybe “revolt” against the staid and stunting middle-class rules and regulations that governed my school and social life — I was working on my uncle Mort’s parking lots in Los Angeles and Beverly [...]
Memo to Hollywood: Guard Your Traditions
chinese OK, we know that the business of moviemaking has always skewed more to the business side than to the movie side when big money is involved — the history of cinema has always revolved around a balancing act between art and commerce — but the folks over at The Grauman Chinese Theatre in Hollywood [...]
Rock ‘n’ Roll Greed — The Saga of The Malibu Edge
OK, time to put on our angry hat. Despite the fact that the boys of U2 are noted as being politically active, socially conscious and incredibly philanthropic (Bono, for one, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize), at heart they’re super-rich rock businessmen. In the past they’ve been criticised for trying to skip out on [...]
keep looking »
