Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awards. Show all posts

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Walk of Fame Animals Godzilla, Muppets, Kermit the Frog Big Bird

Hollywood Walk of Fame Animals
Godzilla, The Muppets, Big Bird & Kermit

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Featured on this page are Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets as a group. They're sometimes live-action and not exclusively animated. This is the second half of a two-part series.

 
The only actual animals with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are three dogs: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Links to other pages at the end of this article.

Godzilla Posters, Cases, Shirts
Retro/Contemporary, Customize
Godzilla
6925 Hollywood Blvd.

Godzilla Hollywood Walk of Fame: Godzilla (Gojira) is a daikai, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishiro Honda's 1954 film Godzilla.

The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games, novels, comic books, television series and an American remake. 

Where Godzilla is from: With the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a monster created by nuclear explosions and a metaphor for nuclear weapons in general. As the film series expanded, the stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla in the role of a hero, while later movies returned to depicting the character as a destructive monster. ....

I read that the name Godzilla comes from the Japanese words for gorilla and whale. Do you know a BrideZilla, a BossZilla, Mom-in-Law-Zilla? What character started it all?

Attributes

Godzilla's appearance has changed over the years, but many of his characteristics have remained constant. His roar has remained the same, only changing in pitch. Godzilla's approximate appearance, regardless of the design of the suit utilized for the creature, remains the same general shape, which is instantly recognizable: a giant, mutant dinosaur with rough, bumpy charcoal-gray scales, a long powerful tail, and jagged, bone-colored dorsal fins.

Godzilla's iconic character design is a blended chimera inspired by various prehistoric reptiles, gleaned from children's dinosaur books and illustrations from an issue of Life magazine: Godzilla has the head and lower body of a Tyrannosaurus, a triple row of dorsal plates reminiscent of a Stegosaurus, the neck and forearms of Iguanodon and the tail and skin texture of a crocodile.


Godzilla's dorsal plates have themselves altered in size and appearance over the years. A Tokyo mall had a huge lighted Godzilla-shaped holiday tree recently that was a social media sensation. 

Godzilla Costumes aren't that common but they are really varied. You can find dinosaur or dragon costumes, gorilla or sea creature costumes more easily. Put them all together and have a really fun event. The adult onesie costumes, such as the dragon, dinosaur Kigurumi are Snuggie-like and really popular.


Godzilla movie trailer 1954


Godzilla's coloration has been debated. Early on when the black and white films were produced, Godzilla was thought to be green. Artwork, toys and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon showed him this way. Later his color changed in different depictions to having a greenish hue to being "his classic charcoal gray" in films in the Millennium series starting with Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

Although his origins vary somewhat from film to film, he is always described as a prehistoric creature, who first appeared and attacked Japan at the beginning of the Atomic Age. In particular, mutation due to atomic radiation is presented as an explanation for his size and powers. The most notable of Godzilla's resulting abilities is his atomic breath: a powerful heat ray of fire from his mouth.
--  Wikipedia

Ellie Shoes, Zilla Wedge w/Coil Trim
also available thru
Sole Boutique Velvet Bootie
Godzilla got his (its?) star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 29, 2004.
Artists, dress and shoe designers use these iconic characters for inspiration all the time. 

The Zilla shoe has a hidden platform of nearly 2" and silver coil trim. Are you into ruffles?

Jeffrey Campbell, known for his incredible design sense, has done a wedge shoe named after the Little Shop of Horrors character of Audrey II. Like many of these shoes they sell out fast and can be hard to find.

The larger-than-life carnivorous Venus flytrap plant's teeth are referenced with zig-zag detail. The ones that are embellished with spikes and studs are that much better.



Kermit the Frog
Kermit Disco Dancer

6801 Hollywood Blvd.

Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creation, first introduced in 1955. He is the main protagonist of many Muppet projects, most notably as the host of The Muppet Show, and has appeared in various sketches on Sesame Street, in commercials and in public service announcements over the years. 

Kermit was performed by Henson until his death in 1990. Since then, Kermit has been performed by Steve Whitmire. He was voiced by Frank Welker in Muppet Babies and occasionally in other animation projects.

Kermit performed the hit single The Rainbow Connection in 1979 for The Muppet Movie, the first feature-length film featuring Henson's Muppets. The song reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Kermit's iconic look and voice have been recognizable worldwide since and in 2006, the character was credited as the author of Before You Leap: a frog's eye view of life's greatest lessons, which is an "autobiography" told from the perspective of the character himself. ....

Awards and commemorations

Kermit was awarded an honorary doctorate of Amphibious Letters on May 19, 1996 at Southampton College, New York, where he also gave a commencement speech. He is also the only amphibian to have had the honor of addressing the Oxford Union. A statue of Henson and Kermit was erected on the campus of Henson's alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003.

Kermit was given the honor of being the Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade in 1996.
Kermit/Muppets Postage
With current postage rates
On Kermit's 50th anniversary in show business, the United States Postal Service released a set of new stamps with photos of Kermit and some of his fellow Muppets on them. 

The background of the stamp sheet features a photo of a silhouetted Henson sitting in a window well, with Kermit sitting in his lap looking at him.

In 2006, on Kermit's 50th anniversary, Kermit, Texas was taken over by the frog during their homecoming week, ending with Kermit himself crowning the homecoming queen. The city of Kermit's main water tower was then painted with the face and signature of the frog. 

Musicians who play left-handed: Kermit the Frog plays the banjo. Jim Henson was left handed. Like Paul McCartney, Dennis Wilson, Jimi Hendrix and Tony Iommi, Kermit plays his banjo left-handed.

Kermit also grand-marshaled Michigan State University's homecoming parade in 2006.
-- Wikipedia  

Muppets Kermit disco dancing (seen above) posing by Disney; The Muppet Shop is just one of the Disney specialty selections. Get designs on clothing and different products.

Kermit got his star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 14, 2002.

Jim Henson and some Puppet Trivia

Jim Henson, Muppets creator, also has a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, 6631 Hollywood Blvd. He posthumously received his star on September 24, 1991, which would have been his 55th birthday. He isn't the only puppeteer on the Walk. 

Shari Lewis is one of a select group of puppeteers or ventriloquists who have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie? Jim Henson, Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Fred Rogers and Fran Allison are other puppeteers or ventriloquists who have been honored with stars.


First Emmy Award 1949

On January 25, 1949 the first person to win the Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality was Shirley Dinsdale and her puppet Judy. Dinsdale was a ventriloquist for the children’s show Judy Splinters

So the first Emmy winner was not only a woman but a ventriloquist on a kid's show, to boot.  It further shows the importance of the art and children's programming.

Kermit Costume : Kermit the Frog Toddler Costume : Infant Costume Kermit the Frog costumes for adults, kids, toddlers and infants Your little one can sing and dance along to the Jim Henson's The Muppet Show with our Kermit the Frog toddler costume. The Muppets Kermit the Frog Infant costume is an officially licensed The Muppets product by Jim Henson.



Lady Gaga costume
In 2010, Lady Gaga went on German television wearing a coat made of hundreds of Kermit the Frog dolls. It was designed by Jean Charles de Castelbajac.  She wore a headband featuring a Kermit head shimmering with crystals.

"My friends and I in New York ... we believe in vanity," Gaga says, her Kermit headband staring down at her face. "I dress this way all the time because it inspires my life. I dress this way because my whole life is art and my whole life is performance." She also said, "You don't need money to live the way that I live. You just need a good idea and creativity."

The outfit was said to be a statement in honor of wearing something personalized and to call attention to the need to not wear fur and animal products.
-- quote from New York Magazine


Lady Gaga Kermit Costume : Adult Lady Gaga Frog Costume She rocks, she's eco-friendly - She won't wear real animal skin, she wears something else.....

2 piece Adult Lady Gaga Frog Costume
Comes with frog boa with lots of frogs. Would you use it as a Halloween costume? For the cocktail party at the local aquarium? Also includes frog headband. When you need a green costume, when you need to wear frogs or get noticed by the costume judges, when you want to be covered in amphibians for reasons of your own. One size. Wig and glasses are not included.

This was among the costumes featured when the characters on Glee did an homage to Lady Gaga (and Kermit?). 

Union Bay Women's U149 Sunglasses, Three colors
"Encrusted with sparkling "diamonds," logo-scripted ear pieces, and gorgeous gradient lenses with 100% UV protection."

Style and safety without the big designer price tag. Similar to a style worn by reality stars such as Kim Kardashian. Budget friendly but look great and real UV400 protection included.


Are Kermit and Miss Piggy Married??



"In The Muppet Movie, she has just won such a contest (Miss Bogen County) when she first meets Kermit and joins the Muppets.

In The Great Muppet Caper Piggy proves she has a talent for tap dancing, seemingly without knowing it. She and Kermit also kiss (on the lips, yet slightly covered) while Miss Piggy is a prisoner in jail; Miss Piggy ends up wearing Kermit's fake mustache, while Kermit has X-marks on his upper lip.

Eventually in the films, Kermit started returning her affections and (unwittingly) married her in The Muppets Take Manhattan (though subsequent events suggest that it was only their characters in the movie that married, and that their relationship is really the same as ever.)"
-- From Miss Piggy's Wikipedia entry



Kermit the Frog serenades us with Rainbow Connection





What's My Line?  November 16, 1952
First guest is a is a frog catcher, Then a woman who hand paints men's shorts.
Walter Winchell is the mystery guest



Can you do a Kermit the Frog impression?




Big Bird

7021 Hollywood Blvd.

Gund Soft and Shaggy Big Bird doll
Big Bird is the main protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends.

Officially performed by Caroll Spinney since 1969, he is an eight-foot two-inch tall bright yellow bird. He can roller skate, ice skate, dance, sing, write poetry, draw and even ride a unicycle. ...

He lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone (which he had to completely rebuild in Season 32 after it was destroyed by a hurricane). 

He has a teddy bear named Radar, after Walter "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H, who had a teddy bear and was also lovably naive and innocent. Radar was given to Big Bird by Gary Burghoff when he guest starred on the show. Later on, however, it was said that Big Bird got the bear as a gift from Mr. Hooper. ....

What kind of bird is Big Bird?

It is believed that Big Bird is probably a giant canary. However, in an episode of Sesame Street Big Bird was asked if he was related to the cassowary, he replied, "I'm more of a condor." On a 1976 episode of Hollywood Squares, he said he was a lark. 

In the film, Don't Eat the Pictures, Osiris calls Big Bird an ibis. Zoologist Mike Dickison hypothesizes that Big Bird or Grandicrocavis viasesamensis, is a type of flightless crane.
 -- Wikipedia

The Colbert Report Finale




In September 1970, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch were among the guests on the premiere episode of The Flip Wilson Show. Running on NBC, it is the first successful network variety series starring an African American.

October 2012, Big Bird has appeared on Saturday Night Live (at least once with Seth Meyers). He didn't appear on SNL alongside Paul Simon when he wore a turkey costume and sang Paul Simon still crazy after all these years November 20, 1976.

He also appeared on The Colbert Report and on the finale of Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report in December 19, 2014, singing We'll Meet Again. Here's a list of those who appeared courtesy of the LA Times:

"Barry Manilow shared the stage with Gloria Steinem, Ken Burns and Doris Kearns Goodwin, James Franco hummed along with Henry Kissinger, Cyndi Lauper, Big Bird, Tom Brokaw and the Cookie Monster. 

"Mandy Patinkin was there and Bryan Cranston, singing along with Michael Stipe, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Huckabee, George Lucas, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Katie Couric to name just a few. Pussy Riot showed up on tape as did former President Bill Clinton."

Cookie Monster must've appreciated the fact that Stephen Colbert had a C-shaped desk and "Cookie, Cookie, Cookie starts with C."

Big Bird was added to The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on April 21, 1994.


Big Bird Gets Political in 2012

Big Bird Costumes were popular in 2012 partly due to the mention of Big Bird and the funding of public broadcasting in a presidential debate.

Sesame Street characters are iconic, nostalgic characters for young and old
Find Big Bird Halloween Costumes Including the:
Big Bird Plush Vest Toddler/Small Child

Muppets Star on Walk of Fame

The group star for The Muppets received their group star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday, March 20, 2012

6834 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the El Capitan Theatre



 

Emcee was Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, President/CEO Leron Gubler

Guest Speakers: Walt Disney Studios President, Rich Ross; The Jim Henson Company CEO, Lisa Henson and Writer/Actor Jason Segel
How cool that families were able to attend the ceremony



Related articles of interest: 

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Part One

Animated Characters on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Part One

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars next to or near one another

Raymond Burr Rear Window to the Senate floor : Burr remembered for playing Steve Martin (not THAT Steve Martin) in Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Contemporary Pop Rock Country Memorial Songs: Pop, Rock & Country Tribute, Memorial Songs, Inspiration from Paul McCartney, the members of Monty Python, the friends and colleagues of Jim Henson, more

Shari Lewis Lamb Chop, Las Vegas and Outer Space

There's a Skeleton in My Love Story; Love Your Local Paleontologist 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Animals on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Animals on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
Famous Dogs, Character Costumes : Muppets, Godzilla

Walk of Fame Animals: Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Strongheart, The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Godzilla

The only actual animals with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are three dogs: Strongheart, Rin Tin Tin and Lassie. Featured here are also Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets as a group just because they're sometimes live-action, puppets, etc and not exclusively animation. All information is correct as of the writing of this page.


The Muppets received their group star on the Walk of Fame March 20, 2012. More info on a post to come. Have you seen their latest film? Now Kermit and Big Bird are the first fictional characters to have received two stars!

If you're on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood would you look for animal stars? How many can you find? There's currently a push to get Tarzan's Cheetah the chimp a star.

When Roy Rogers signed his name in cement in at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, his horse Trigger also placed his prints on the sidewalk beside Roy's.

These are other animal characters with stars. Looking for your Hollywood Walk of Fame map? Included you'll find the Hollywood Walk of Fame address for each star. Did you know that there are several star walks in the United States and in other countries? 

The American Buffalo and Midnight the horse, the most famous bucking bronc on the rodeo circuit from 1923 until 1933 can be found on the Texas Trail of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas. I may be wrong, but at the time of this writing, I believe there are no animals or fictional characters on Canada's Walk of Fame.

These aren't best known as being animated though they may be seen on film or TV in animated form sometimes. Hollywood animals work hard, they're remembered fondly and some get stars on the walk of fame.

The characters are Godzilla, Kermit the Frog and Big Bird. Do you think Godzilla has a secret rivalry with King Kong to see who's more popular?

The Munchkins are another example of fictional characters on the Walk of Fame.

I have a separate series of pages celebrating the animated characters with stars on the Walk of Fame. There are some fun and nostalgic YouTube videos here. If you're so inclined, give the folks who uploaded the videos some Likes, comments and such. They add a lot to the Web.
Kermit the Frog Star Hollywood Walk of Fame Poster Prints , Amazon, see below


On the Border poster 1930
Vintage Rin Tin Tin poster
Rin Tin Tin
1623 Vine Street : On the Border, Rin Tin Tin

Rin Tin Tin (often billed as Rin-Tin-Tin in the 1920s and 1930s) was the name given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television. ....

The dog's big break came when he stepped in for a recalcitrant wolf in The Man From Hell's River (1922). Rin Tin Tin would be cast as a wolf or wolf-hybrid many times in his career, though not looking like one.

His first starring role was in 1923's Where The North Begins, playing alongside silent screen actress Claire Adams. This film was a huge success and has often been credited with saving Warner Brothers from bankruptcy.  

Rin Tin Tin was featured in the one Technicolor segment of the Warner Brothers all-star 1929 The Show of Shows. Toto in The Wizard of Oz, which was shot partly in color in 1939 could look back on Rin Tin Tin's color performance a decade earlier.

It's said that in 1929, Rin Tin Tin may have received the most votes for the first Academy Award for Best Actor. The Academy determined that a human should win. 

In her book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, Susan Orlean writes that in the first year Oscars were awarded, "according to Hollywood legend, Rinty received the most votes for best actor. But members of the Academy, anxious to establish the awards were serious and important, decided that giving an Oscar to a dog did not serve that end."

It was followed by Shadows of the North (1923), Clash of the Wolves (1925), A Dog of the Regiment (1927) and Tiger Rose (1929). As with superstar Lassie years later, there were mass produced Halloween costumes and other memorabilia in and with the likeness of Rin Tin Tin.

Although primarily a star of silent films, Rin Tin Tin did appear in four sound features, including the 12-part Mascot Studios chapter-play The Lightning Warrior (1931), co-starring with Frankie Darro.

Rin Tin Tin got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.



Radio

Between 1930 and 1955, "Rin Tin Tin" (though not always portrayed by the original dog) was heard in three different radio series, beginning April 5, 1930 with The Wonder Dog, in which the original Rin Tin Tin did his own sound effects until his death in 1932, when Rin Tin Tin, Jr. took over. This 15-minute program was broadcast Saturdays on the Blue Network at 8:15pm until March 1931 when it moved to 8:15pm on Thursdays. 

-- Wikipedia


John Florea image from Life Magazine Close Up of Collie "Lassie"
Lassie Hollywood Walk of Fame
6368 Hollywood Blvd.

Lassie is a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a talented dog named Pal playing Lassie.

June Lockhart played Ruth Martin 1959-64, the wife of Paul Martin (portrayed by Hugh Reilly) and the mother of Timmy Martin (played by Jon Provost) in the 1954 CBS series, Lassie.

She also played Dr. Maureen Robinson, the wife of Professor John Robinson (portrayed by Zorro actor Guy Williams) in Lost in Space (1965-68) and appeared as Dr. Janet Craig on the final two seasons of Petticoat Junction (1968-70). Her character was brought in to fill the void created after Bea Benaderet died during the run of the show.

She was a regular, playing in the Maria Ramirez on the soap opera General Hospital during the 1980s and 1990s.

Pal then appeared with the stage name Lassie in six other MGM feature films through 1951. Pal's owner and trainer Rudd Weatherwax then acquired the Lassie name and trademark from MGM and appeared with Pal (as Lassie) at rodeos, fairs, and similar events across America in the early 1950s. 

In 1954, the long running, Emmy winning television series Lassie debuted and, over the next 19 years, a succession of Pal's descendants appeared on the series.

The Lassie character has appeared in radio, television, film, toys, comic books, animated series, juvenile novels, and other media. Pal's descendants continue to play Lassie today.

A Christmas episode, Lassie's Gift of Love, she befriends a toy maker.


The character of Lassie was created by English American author Eric Knight in Lassie Come-Home, first published as a short story the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 and later as a full-length novel in 1940.


Set in the Depression-era England, the novel depicts the lengthy journey a rough collie makes to be reunited with her young Yorkshire master after his family is forced to sell her for money. In 1943, the novel was adapted into a feature film, Lassie Come Home, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that starred Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie was a hit and enjoyed favorable critical response.

MGM followed this with several additional films, including a sequel entitled Son of Lassie (1945), starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart, and Courage of Lassie with Elizabeth Taylor. A radio series, Lassie Radio Show likes lassie with his friends was also created, airing until 1949.

Between 1954-1973, the television series, Lassie was broadcast in America, with Lassie initially residing on a farm with a young male master. In the eleventh season, she changed to adult forestry workers as her companions, then had the collie on her own for a while before ending the series with Lassie residing at a ranch for troubled children.

The long running series was the recipient of two Emmy Awards before it was canceled in 1973. A second series followed in the 1980s. In 1997, Canadian production company Cinar Inc. produced a new Lassie television series for the Animal Planet network in the U.S. and YTV in Canada. It ran until 1999.

In 2005, a remake of the original Lassie Come Home movie was produced in the United Kingdom. Starring Peter O'Toole and Samantha Morton, Lassie was released in 2006.

Lassie made a guest appearance on Whose Line is it Anyway?



Remember the show with Lassie's Great Adventures DVD, Share it with your family

Lassie continues to make personal appearances as well as marketing a line of pet food and a current pet care TV show, Lassie's Pet Vet on PBS stations in the United States.

In 2005, the show business journal Variety named Lassie one of the "100 Icons of all time" - the only animal star on the list.
 -- info from Wikipedia and other sources 

Lassie made a surprise guest appearance on the 2015 season of Project Runway All Stars sitting between her trainer and designer Isaac Mizrahi.

Lassie got her Hollywood Walk of Fame star on February 8, 1960. (Walk of Fame site shows same date for Lassie, Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin, as well as many actors and other professionals from the early era of Hollywood.)




Patricia Morison was in Kiss Me Kate on Broadway opening in 1948


I Hate Men Lyrics, from Kiss Me, Kate :
First on Broadway 1948

From Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate
Mentions Lassie

I Hate Men Lyrics excerpt

I hate men.

I can't abide 'em even now and then.

Than ever marry one of them, I'd rest a maiden rather,

For husbands are a boring lot and only give you bother.

Of course, I'm awfully glad that Mother had to marry Father,

But I hate men.

Of all the types I've ever met within our democracy,

I hate most the athlete with his manner bold and brassy,

He may have hair upon his chest but, sister, so has Lassie.

Oh, I hate men!

~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Lassie isn't the only icon mentioned in a Kiss Me, Kate song lyric. Clark Gable's name also appears in the song, Always True to You in My Fashion.






Dog Stories on Old Time Radio

While you're driving, wrapping presents, doing housework, resting or any time you want to Dogs of Old Time Radio Collection: of dog-themed old time radio programs on this MP3 CD shows. 

From man's best friend to man wolves, the OTRCAT Dog Collection includes radio shows about dogs.

One of the many artists who, through their alluring offering via the big chains, are making the ownership of a good receiving set ever more desirable. A dog's tail serves as a radio receiver for Frank G Kerk, Los Angeles, experimenter. 

Kerk attaches an aerial to the collar of his Great Dane and hooks an ear phone to the animal's tail. The canine radio is then complete and all that is necessary is to place the phone to the ear and listen. Dogs have long served humans as protectors, hunters, herders, and companions. 

They also make fun additions to radio shows. 

Stories in this collection include:
* Cathy sneaks a scary, huge dog into her playroom in Father Knows Best.
* In Suspense a DJ investigates a haunted house with his dog, only to have the dog run out of the house!
* Cecil gets a dog named Nero in Cecil and Sally
* In Dragnet, a man that appears to be more wolf-like is hunting the women in Los Angeles.
* It's National Dog Week in Fibber McGee and Molly and Fibber tries to convince Molly to get a dog.

Their Cat Collection presents cat-themed shows.

"Cats have long been the muses of artists, writers, musicians, and now web pages. Worshipped by the Egyptians and Mayans, hated during the Inquisition, and cuddled by smart folks listening to old time radio shows. The world is under the paw of cat scratch fever. We're not a lion!

Roaring old time radio shows about cats, black cats, cat-eyed crooks and catty witch-wives are included in this collection - plus an extras folder with curious Cat Nursery Rhymes. It's the cat's pajamas. Before a cat can lick her ear, grab your catnip and fiddle plus your favorite purring puss in boots and listen to these purrfect shows. MEEE-OOOW!" --I have the Cat Collection. It's a good variety of shows.

[From the OTR Cat site Image from publicdomainpics]

 
Strongheart: The story of a wonder dog

Strongheart
1724 Vine Street
German shepherd, Strongheart was the screen name of Etzel von Oeringen, October 1, 1917-June 24, 1929.

After being trained in Germany as a police dog, he was brought to the United States by husband and wife filmmakers Laurence Trimble and Jane Murfin, who had previously worked successfully with Jean, the Vitagraph Dog.

He appeared in several movies, including a 1925 adaptation of White Fang. Some of these pictures were highly successful, and did much to encourage the popularity of the breed, but most have been lost.



In August of 1928, Etzel Von Oeringen, the canine who played Strongheart, was accused of murdering a young child by the name of Sofie Bedard. It reportedly "tried to eat her." Strongheart's name was later cleared and Sofie's family was prosecuted for wrongly testifying in a court of law.
 
A popular celebrity in his day, Strongheart paved the way for the much better remembered Rin Tin Tin. Strongheart and his mate, Lady Jule, had many offspring and their line survives to this day. In 1929, while being filmed for a movie, Strongheart accidentally made contact with a hot studio light and was burned. These burns caused a tumor to form and Strongheart died as a result of it.

Strongheart died the next year in peace. "God bless you Strongheart, God bless you", were the words of the eminent dog's Eulogist and former trainer, Henri Potts.



"Read in honor of the dear friends who walk patiently with us seeking no more than to be told Good Dog:"

Part of Letters To Strongheart by J. Allen Boone 1939. Timeless content not just about respect, living through bereavement and pet loss but about much more than that.

 

Filmography

* The Silent Call (1921)

* Brawn of the North (1922)

* The Love Master (1924)

* North Star (1925)

* White Fang (1925)

* The Return of Boston Blackie (1927); Thought to be the only Strongheart movie still in existence


Strongheart got his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood on February 8, 1960.

Strongheart appeared in popular winter silent movies with early movie snow He was owned by early female writer and producer Jane Murfin and trainer Larry Trimble.

The companion article to this one:
Animated Film Characters on The Hollywood Walk of Fame

Homemade Halloween Costumes, Last Minute 5 Moms Includes June Lockhart Lost in Space

**  This is part of a short series. Trivia, background, videos and costume ideas will be included.

Next Installments, Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and the Muppets for their group star. Links will be added & announced on Twitter.

Sources not cited above
The Hollywood Reporter


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Best Actor Best Actress Oscar Winners Decade-Half Decade

List of Academy Award Winners
for Best Actor and Best Actress
Awards presented on the
Decade and Half Decade

Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)

November 5, 1930: The 3rd Academy Awards honors films screened and
Irving Thalberg with wife Norma Shearer
and Mr. & Mrs. Clark Gable at the screening
of the MGM production David Copperfield 1935
released August 1, 1929-July 31, 1930.

George Arliss : Disraeli 
Norma Shearer : The Divorcee 
[Shearer was double nominated in the Best Actress category also nominated for her work in Their Own Desire]

February 27, 1935: The 7th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1934.
Clark Gable : It Happened One Night
Claudette Colbert : It Happened One Night


The Academy standardized the practice that the award eligibility period for a film would be the preceding calendar year.

Vivien Leigh wins Oscar for Gone With the Wind


February 29, 1940: The 12th Academy Awards ceremony, honored the best in film for 1939.
Robert Donat : Goodbye, Mr. Chips 
Vivien Leigh : Gone With the Wind

*The next year (the awards presented 1941) would begin the tradition of keeping the names of winners secret until the ceremony, with sealed envelopes and the famous phrase: "May I have the Envelope, please."

March 15, 1945: The 17th Academy Awards marked the first time this awards ceremony was broadcast nationally on the ABC Radio network.
Bing Crosby : Going My Way
Ingrid Bergman : Gaslight


Olivia de Havilland
 
March 23, 1950: The 22nd Academy Awards Ceremony awarded Oscars for the best in films in 1949. This was the last year for which all five Best Picture nominees were in black and white
Broderick Crawford All the King's Men
Olivia de Havilland – The Heiress


Marlon Brando
March 30, 1955: The 27th Academy Awards honored the best films produced in 1954
Marlon Brando : On the Waterfront
Grace Kelly : The Country Girl 


April 4, 1960: The 32nd Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1959.
Charlton Heston : Ben-Hur
Simone Signoret : Room at the Top


April 5, 1965: The 37th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1964.
Rex Harrison : My Fair Lady
Julie Andrews : Mary Poppins


April 7, 1970: The 42nd Academy Awards were presented
John Wayne : True Grit
Maggie Smith : The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  


Art Carney wins Best Actor Oscar


April 8, 1975: The 47th Academy Awards were presented
Art Carney : Harry and Tonto
Ellen Burstyn : Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore


April 14, 1980: The 52nd Academy Awards were presented
Dustin Hoffman : Kramer vs. Kramer
Sally Field : Norma Rae


March 25, 1985: The 57th Academy Awards were presented
F. Murray Abraham : Amadeus
Sally Field : Places in the Heart


March 26, 1990: The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films of 1989
Daniel Day-Lewis : My Left Foot
Jessica Tandy : Driving Miss Daisy


March 27, 1995: The 67th Academy Awards ceremony
Tom Hanks : Forrest Gump
Jessica Lange : Blue Sky


March 26, 2000: The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony honored films of 1999
Kevin Spacey : American Beauty
Hilary Swank : Boys Don't Cry


Jamie Foxx wins Best Actor Oscar


February 27, 2005: The 77th Academy Awards ceremony
Jamie Foxx : Ray
Hilary Swank : Million Dollar Baby


March 7, 2010: The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films of 2009
Jeff Bridges : Crazy Heart
Sandra Bullock : The Blind Side


February 22, 2015: The 87th Academy Awards ceremony will honor the best films of 2014
There are five nominees for Best Actor and five nominees for Best Actress

** How many actors have won Oscars for playing real-life characters? 

Related Pages of Interest:


James Stewart wins Oscar for The Philadelphia Story

Winning Oscars, buying, selling, collecting, auctioning Academy Awards, Steven Spielberg and more who are buying them back

Bringing up Cary Grant and the Oscars Above a Snub?

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Women film pioneers early 1900s behind the camera

Women professionals
behind the cameras in early cinema


Lillian Gish directed
sister Dorothy Gish
pictured w/DW Griffith 1922
Women were pioneers in the film industry. In the early 1900s they were bosses, technicians, producers, exhibitors, directors, writers, stunt women and editors. Many of us know that they were actors, costume designers, dressers. Don't forget ballyhoo. Women did even more.

I hesitate to say that someone was the first to do something. People may have been doing things earlier and simultaneously, some not getting credit. 

When it was unusual to see a woman in a certain job, a magazine or newspaper might do a write-up. 

If she was a manager or an owner of a theater, the publication could refer to her as a girl regardless of her age. Girl Manager in Ohio. But she got publicity and got to speak her mind. How about stunt girls and stunt men?

Director Kathryn Bigelow
2009 Seattle Film Festival
Women were directing films in the 1910s if not earlier. We recently celebrated Kathryn Bigelow's winning an Academy Award for Best Director. She was the first female to win in that category. Her film was The Hurt Locker and the year was 2009.

Even if she had talent, an idea or an invention she had to get a foot in the door. In the early days of cinema the first women were often those who had/were:

Finances: They could afford to do and try what they pleased.

Family: Your father, spouse taught you to do it, gave you entry into the field at
Gloria Swanson
Fred Clark, Ernest Anderson
Orig 8x10 photo, 3 for Bedroom C 1952

some level even if it was the ground floor to learn the trade. Sometimes it was planned, sometimes a high level producer died and the wife realized she had absorbed enough knowledge to take over. 


In the case of the wife of Thomas Ince. When the producer died in 1924, his wife, Elinor was prepared to take over the company.

Fixed: You were already in the business. Many women performed overlapping jobs and many worked their way up. It's hard to classify some in a category because they did so many things! Some women performed jobs locally, some did them just a few times.

Forced: How about that for alliteration? :) Talking about the wars, especially. Starting in the mid-1910s, with their male counterparts away fighting, women stepped into jobs not regularly available to them. They were trained to operate and fix equipment such as cameras. They pinned back their hair and donned overalls. Women rose into management. 

Thomas Ince with Mabel Normand 1919
Several actresses such as Gloria Swanson and Mabel Normand did some of their own stunt work. In the teens and twenties in particular, studios were actively looking for talent. Magazines ran contests for actors and writers. There were recurring lessons on 'scenario writing.' They offered reassuring messages: you don't have to be a fancy writer, just a storyteller to make it in the moving pictures. 

Watch for future articles. I'll be highlighting women who were prominent in different jobs in the film industry and in supporting arenas primarily from the 1910s-1930s. 


* This is the beginning of a series. It is part of a larger project. 

Celebrity family members who have Hollywood Walk of Fame stars next to or near one another

Related Books:

Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer (Screen Classics)

Many books have been written about Gloria Swanson. She wrote her autobiography,  Swanson on Swanson. 

 Kathryn Bigelow: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Hey Stella Dallas Kay Francis Barbara Stanwyck Angela Bassett

Hey Stella!


Barbara Stanwyck
Publicity Still for Stella Dallas
"Offhand how many girls or women whose names are Stella can you name? Not very many we think. However we may be wrong and perhaps you can rattle off the names of 10. So if you name happens to be Stella you don't have to go any further....

"What has caused the interest in this particular feminine name and inspired this search in the motion picture Stella Dallas, the famous story of mother love and sacrifice which comes to the Aldine Theatre on Friday.
Poster for the 1925 silent film
version of Stella Dallas

"Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley and Alan Hale are the stars of the new Samuel Goldwyn production, Miss Stanwyck playing the title role, Mr. Boles her husband and Ann Shirley her daughter.



Movie Star News Photo Print
I Found Stella Parish was 1935
"Perhaps this new and modernized motion picture production which brought fame before to Belle Bennett, Ronald Colman and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. will again rejuvenate the name of Stella."
-- excerpts from The Sunday Morning Star Wilmington NC, August 22, 1937

When the silent film version of Olive Higgins Prouty's story, Stella Dallas came out in 1925 a marked increase in the use of Stella as a birth name was noted over the next few years.

Prouty also wrote Now, Voyager. It was made into a 1942 film which starred Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Gladys Cooper and Claude Rains.

Do you share a name with a famous movie character? In High Anxiety, Mel Brooks played Dr. Richard H. Thorndyke. The H was for Harpo. His mother loved the Marx brothers. :-) 


Stella is a Latin name meaning Star. Looking for celestial names? Maybe you're into astronomy or science fiction. In the 16th century Sir Philip Sidney wrote a collection of sonnets, Astrophel and Stella. In some texts, the title is amended to Astrophil and Stella. Was this the first appearance of the name?

Stellaluna is a popular children's book written and illustrated by Janell Cannon. It's about a mother fruit bat protecting her child. The images are as wonderful as the story. I've heard of a mother of twins who named her children Stella (star) and Luna (moon).


What other movies are there with a character named Stella? Maybe even a title character? There was even a radio soap opera called Stella Dallas. 1930s movies are getting more popular. Check out Stella Adler's The Art of Acting, a great tool if you want to become an actor.

In 1937 that local newspaper was running a contest in conjunction with the film's opening to see how many women or girls named Stella they could find. A business can use something like this as a promotion. The first ten people with this name get in free.

I Found Stella Parish, starring Kay Francis 1935

Maybe the first one that comes to people's minds is A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.




The 2nd Annual Tony Awards in 1948 saw three women share the award for Best Actress in a Play. They were Judith Anderson in Medea, Katharine Cornell in Antony and Cleopatra and Jessica Tandy in the newly opened A Streetcar Named Desire. Interesting to note that there were no pre-announced Tony nominees before 1956.

Tandy played Blanche Dubois. Some others in that very first cast were Karl Malden as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell,  Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski and Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski.

Hollywood impacting fashion: When Clark Gable appeared without an undershirt in It Happened One Night (1934) sales of undershirts plummeted. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando made the undershirt and t-shirt back cool again and sales picked up noticeably. 



 

In the 1951 film, A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Elia Kazan, the cast was virtually the same with one difference. Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski, Karl Malden as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell. Vivien Leigh was Blanche DuBois.

Leigh won an Oscar for Best Actress at the 24th Academy Awards presented in 1952. Hunter and Malden received Oscars for Best Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor respectively. The film had even more nominations.

In a 1980 Sidney Lumet film called Just Tell Me What You Want, Myrna Loy plays Stella Liberti. The movie also stars Ali MacGraw and Alan King. This was Myrna Loy's final feature film.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back with an all-star cast, 1998. Angela Bassett is Stella. The film is from the Terry McMillan book. 


 
Angela Bassett Autograph 8x10


The first thing my friend thought of with the name Stella was Stella D'Oro Italian Cookies and Toasts. The biscotti can be dipped in wine or coffee, cappuccino is nice. We have relatives who make their own biscotti. You can dip it in chocolate, yum.

Stella Artois Belgian Beer 40-Centiliter Star Chalice

Vintage Ziegfeld Girl Makeup Mirrors
Vintage Ziegfeld Girl Makeup Mirrors by naughtybits
See other French Compact Mirror
Choose size and shape of compact
 


Links to Books and Related Pages of Interest:

Nurses in Movies: Drama

Keeping Time with Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor

Academy Awards Pre-1950: Auctions, Collecting, Returning

Mermaid and Aquatic Baby Name Ideas 

Stella Adler - The Art of Acting: preface by Marlon Brando compiled & edited by Howard Kissel