At eighteen, pretty blond Nita Pike made her acting debut in the “Goldwyn Girls” chorus of the 1931 Eddie Cantor musical romp Palmy Days. This kicked off a succession of non-credited roles that ran throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In 1940, film comic and impresario Charles Chaplin cast Nita in the role of a secretary …
What if Joe E. Brown really played the goof?
This is for my wife — a long-time Dead Head, a sometime twirler and a good sport about my playful ribbing over the last 39 years.
Neil Nephew struggled. He struggled with his career. He struggled with his marriage… and he struggled with his demons. In 1961, the young Neil Bernstein — using the stage name “Neil Nephew” — landed his first film role as part of an ensemble cast in the gangster tale Mad Dog Coll. He starred alongside future …
What if Cary Grant was “The Dude?”
With coaching and encouragement from her mother, Katherine Grant entered — and won — the 1922 “Miss Los Angeles Beauty Contest.” Her new-found fame landed her roles in several of Hal Roach’s “Little Rascals” comedy shorts. As the winner of the local beauty contest, Katherine entered the “Miss America” pageant, but lost to Mary Katherine …
What if the Three Stooges got scary?
Pretty Christine Maple was a character. Moving to Los Angeles from her native rural Kansas, the vivacious blonde began appearing in local beauty pageants. Her film debut in 1930 led to a coveted spot in the Ziegfeld Follies. During a performance, she surprised her fellow cast members, the audience and Ziegfeld himself, when she appeared …
