It's DORIS DAY all month long as the classic movie goddess

Let's all welcome Doris Day as she is the classic movie goddess of the month. Here are some notable facts about Ms. Day.

Was married four times.

It was during the location filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), when she saw how camels, goats and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated, that Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse.


Reportedly did not like "swear words." As a recording artist, she would require anyone who said a swear word to put a quarter in a "swear jar." In addition, she does not allow her songs to be used in movies that contain swear words.

Childhood idol was Ginger Rogers, with whom she starred in Storm Warning (1951).



Went to the same Cincinnati ballroom dance studio as a child as Vera-Ellen. Their parents used to carpool together to the dance studio.
Her dreams of a dancing career were dashed when a car accident on 13 October 1937 badly damaged her legs. She spent most of her teenage years wheelchair-bound and during this time began singing on the radio.

The film The Children's Hour (1961) was constructed with both Day and Katharine Hepburn as the two leading ladies. However both actresses backed out due to scheduling conflicts and as a result Shirley MacLaine was cast in Hepburn's role and Audrey Hepburn was cast in Day's role.



Has often cited Calamity Jane (1953) as her personal favorite of the 39 films she appeared in.
Her mother named her after her favorite silent film star, Doris Kenyon. By coincidence, in the mid 1970's when Day wrote her autobiography, Kenyon was her neighbor on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills.

Happy Birthday Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)

This was post done by Irene that was thought to be lost on that day Blogger crashed. Well I found it and had to post even though Kate's birthday has come and gone. Better late than never, I'm just glad Irene's wonderful post did not go to waste. Enjoy.

"Who is Katharine Hepburn? It took me a long time to create that creature."

Happy birthday to "The Great Kate " Katharine Hepburn - who is the only actress ever to receive a total of four Acadamy Awards as Best Actress.

Schmooze:

• Allegedly when in the early 1930s the costume department stole her slacks from her dressing room she walked around the studio in her underwear . She refused to wear anything else until they were returned.
• She and Spencer Tracy made a total of nine films together.
• She was famous (or should I say infamous??) for let noone in doubt when she disliked him/her.

• She was an an avid swimmer, golfer and tennis player. She also loved gardening.
• She was pyrophobic - which means she was scared of fire. ~ I almost can't imagine that Katharine Hepburn was scared of anything.. - can you? ~
• Did her stunts herself - because the stunt women "never stood up straight enough".
• She loved cold showers.
  

Quotes Corner:

"Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating."

Well, I find her absolutely fascinating, too! :")

Classic Movie Actor Tournament (Silent/1930's) Era Round 1 Matches

Let's begin the Classic Movie Actor Tournament..finally! The polls are on the right sidebar and you will have until Wednesday to vote for your favorite. And like before, you only get one vote per match.

I think the key matches will be John Barrymore vs Ronald Colman and Valentino vs Cagney. That Gilbert/Keaton match looks interesting as well. We shall see.
Here are the first round matches in the silent/30's era bracket of the classic movie actor tournament. Place your bets.
1 CLARK GABLE

VS


16 DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR

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8 JOHN GILBERT

VS


9 BUSTER KEATON

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4 DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS SR.

VS


13 FRED ASTAIRE

---------------------------------

5 RUDOLPH VALENTINO

VS


12 JAMES CAGNEY

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2 CHARLES CHAPLIN

VS


15 FREDRIC MARCH

-----------------------------

7 ERROL FLYNN

VS


10 PAUL MUNI

----------------------------------

3 JOHN BARRYMORE

VS


14 RONALD COLMAN


---------------------------------------------------------
6 WILLIAM POWELL

VS

11 GEORGE BRENT

I laughed so much it hurt while watching BRIDESMAIDS...

Bridesmaids is a truly hilarious film that I enjoyed from beginning to end. It focuses on the ever put upon Annie (played to perfection by Kristen Wiig) as she struggles in her daily life. Well her life long best friend Lillian (the engaging Maya Rudolph) is getting married and wants Annie to be her maid of honor. Complicating the matter is Lillian new friend, the upper crust Helen (Rose Byrne) who is jockeying for Lillian's full attention. Also in the bridal party is Lillian's sister in law Megan (Melissa McCarthy in full out comic mode), recently married Becca (Ellie Kemper) and forever married Rita (Wendi McLendon-Covey) who longs for an all out bachelorette party in Vegas. Most of the humor comes at the expense of Annie as Wiig is one of the funniest women working today. She is able to get laughs from things such as trying to convince a cop that she isn't drunk by doing the foxtrot. But she also conveys some dramatic moments as she is dealing with her scumbag on/off again boyfriend and her failing bakery business. All the other girls give great comedic support especially Rudolph, McCarthy and Covey. One of the funniest scenes has to be after the girls have lunch at a Brazilian restaurant, they go for some dress fittings and promptly get sick. All of them begin puking and racing for the toilet before they have to go and some don't quite make it. People were dying with laughter doing this whole sequence. Another funny scene has the girls flying to Vegas and Annie getting a little loose after mixing some pills with scotch. She does a terrific 5 minute routine that has to be improv, because she is just spewing total nonsense. After a brief falling out between best friends Annie and Lillian, things are patched back together in time for the climatic wedding, which features 90's pop group Wilson Phillips as guest singers, performing their classic song Hold On. Bridesmaids is one of the funniest films I have ever seen and it's not just a chick flick. These women can get down and dirty and crude just like the guys from The Hangover. And I enjoyed every single minute of it. Oh and look for the recently passed away Jill Clayburgh in a pivotal role as Annie's eccentric mom.
B+

The girls are ready to find some dresses...

Lillian showing her rock to Annie

Annie and Helen in a little duel of the better toasters..

Becca, Rita and Megan

This is the one, right girls?

ALL GOOD THINGS in JUNE: Classic Movie Actors, Doris Day and Irene Palfy...oh, my!

June promises to be one of my busiest months ever. My classic movie actor tournament kicks off and I hope it does as well as the women did. I'm sure it will, since people have already been waiting patiently for this to happen. The classic movie goddess of the month is Doris Day, which I am most definitely a fan of. Expect plenty of reviews, pics and facts about Ms. Day. I will not have a classic movie actor of the month since the tournament is going on and I didn't want to show any favoritism. And my guest for the month is one Ms. Irene Palfy. Most of you may remember Irene filling in for me a few weeks ago when I was on vacation and she did such a fantastic job, I thought my job here at All Good Things was in jeopardy. Well, Irene comes back to talk shop with me as we learn some of her favorite things. Plus I will have more posts celebrating TV's greatest comedies. So there is the menu for June,which looks very exciting.

Happy Birthday Christopher Lee (1922 - present)

Christopher Lee turns 89 today and is still active in film and TV. Best known as the 60's version of Dracula, Lee has appeared in countless films such as The Man With The Golden Gun, The Lord of The Rings, The Wicker Man, The Three Musketeers, the new Star Wars films and tons more. Happy Birthday Christopher!

Classic Movie Actor Tournament Play-In Match

The classic movie actor tournament officially kicks off on Monday, May 30th. But I am having one play-in match beginning tonight. It was an oversight on my part that Alec Guinness did not make the 64 man cut. Well I've decided to put him in the 1950's era where he had such success with The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Lavender Hill Mob, and The Ladykillers to name a few. He will face off against Richard Burton for the last spot in the 50's era bracket. Talk about a tough first match. It should be a very exciting one too. I know there are so many more actors that I could have listed but this 64 man limit is hard. Maybe next year I can expand it like I'm doing for the womens. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that next year's actress tournament will now feature 128 women. That should get just about every major actress and then some. Anyway the poll is open now and will run to Sunday 5pm EST. Good luck to both actors.

Happy Birthday John Wayne (1907 - 1979)

Happy Birthday to The Duke, John Wayne, who happens to be my classic movie actor of the month. My favorite Wayne films include RIO BRAVO (my all time Duke favorite), THE QUIET MAN, McLINTOCK!, THE COMMANCHEROS, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE, THE SHOOTIST, THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER and THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERT VALANCE, just to name a few.

Elizabeth Taylor's Unlucky Loves: Husband #4 (Eddie Fisher)

Now comes the scandalous affair between Liz and crooner Eddie Fisher that led to their marriage and his break-up with then wife Debbie Reynolds, America's sweetheart at the time. What made this even more worse was the fact that Liz and Debbie were such good friends. Liz and third husband Mike Todd were best buddies with Fisher and Reynolds. But when Todd died tragically in that plane crash, Liz turned to Eddie for comfort. Less than a year later, they were knee deep in a scandalous affair. Once Debbie found out about the affair, she quickly wanted a divorce. And how she found out was as bad as one can find out such things. Claiming the sponsor of his variety show needed him in New York for a meeting, Fisher left Debbie behind to meet Liz at the Plaza hotel. Lonely, Debbie called her friend Liz to chat and was shocked when Eddie answered the phone. Ouch! Shortly after, Reynolds and Fisher were divorced, he married Liz.

The now married couple though had to deal with an unforgiving press and were blasted by just about everyone. Their marriage had a decent run by Liz's standards but by 1960, both were hooked on alcohol and pills. And then once Liz started filming the troubled film, Cleopatra, she met Richard Burton. That was all she wrote for Eddie. They divorced in 1964 allowing Liz to move onto Dick. Fisher would remarry four years later to singer/actress Connie Stevens and have two daughters. He would wed twice more before dying in 2010 at the age of 82. Eventually Liz and Debbie made up when they co-starred in a TV movie called These Old Broads in 2001. So in retrospect, Liz's marriage to Eddie did not have any domestic abuse but did have the stigma of the scandalous way of how they met and led to their affair. Another unlucky tryst for La Liz. Things would not get better with her next husband...Richard Burton. Coming up next.

Animal Kingdom - Elizabeth Taylor and friends

I've been doing a series of posts about Liz's unlucky love life. Well here I want to show some good things about Liz and what better way than with dogs.

Photo Of The Day - John Wayne and Gail Russell

Here is a great pic of John Wayne and the lovely Gail Russell in Angel and The Badman (1947)

The Greatest TV Comedies - That Girl (1966 - 1971)

The adventures of fun loving and adorable Ann Marie (played by Marlo Thomas in her most recognized role) in Manhattan was one of my favorite shows that I watched during the 80's when WTBS was showing reruns at that time. The premise was simple as small town Ann Marie (great name by the way) leaves home and heads to New York to become an actress. Of course things are never easy and for 5 years Ann was put in about every comical situation you could think of. Marlo Thomas, daughter of Danny Thomas was awesome as Ann. Her performance is one of the best ever by anyone for television. The character of Ann could have easily become annoying and unfunny after awhile but Thomas kept her genuine and real. I'm sure there were tons of women and young girls that could relate to the problems and situations that Ann faced on a weekly basis. It also helped that writing was sharp and funny. It should be as it was created by Sam Denoff and Bill Persky, who wrote many episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show. And let's not forget that Marlo was a trendsetter as Ann was a young and single gal trying to make it on her own way before Mary Tyler Moore came along with her self titled series. Moore's show didn't air until 1970.

Ann would soon hook up with boyfriend Donald Hollinger (wonderfully played by Ted Bessell, a great light comedian, who jelled perfectly with Thomas). Donald would be the straight man to the wacky Ann, but he got in several laughs of his own as well. Also great was Lew Parker as Ann's exasperated dad and Rosemary Camp as Ann's mom. The running gag was that Ann's dad couldn't stand Donald and he was always suspecting the worse of Donald. The whole cast was just entertaining to watch and the show itself was always good for laugh aloud moments. Thomas proved to be a very gifted comedienne who wasn't adverse to getting down with physical comedy. She was a natural at it. And her being easy on the eyes didn't hurt matters either. I definitely recall having a crush on her while growing up. She was always wearing the newest and hippest clothes and lived in a huge one bedroom apartment. Don't ask how she afforded those things as she was always struggling to keep her job. But that was the best thing about this show. It never got serious or quibbled over such things like that. It's sole purpose was to make audiences laugh and forget about all the unrest going on in the turbulent 60's.

Featuring a cool opening sequence which focused solely on Ann gazing through a train window of the New York skyline, wearing if I remember correctly white gloves and a sailor hat. Then gazing at the billboards of Broadway, seeing herself as a queen in a store window display or flying a kite in Central Park. Take that Holly Golightly. That Girl would have a very successful 5 year run on ABC for a total of 136 episodes. It's said that ABC wanted Ann to marry Donald, but Marlo balked, saying it would be a betrayal of the single women who had watched the show all along to imply that the only happy ending was marriage. The show went off the air with Ann and Donald engaged and stuck in an elevator while on the way to a women's liberation meeting. That's Ann Marie all the way, playing by her own rules to the very end. The show is currently available on DVD which would be a great addition to anyone's classic film and TV library. Amazon is selling each season set for about $30 bucks. Anyway That Girl is a cherished memory of mine and it is one of the all time greatest TV comedies.






Ann: That's what I love about the theater! You know what I
mean, Donald? One day you're nobody, and the next,
Ethel Merman is stuffing your cabbage!