Once upon a time, a kindly old toymaker carved a little boy out of wood and named him Ben Affleck. Little Ben wished upon a star that one day he’d be a famous Hollywood actor. One night, a good fairy granted him that wish and he grew up to become a famous actor. However, he …
Pete Duel landed a role in the touring company of the play Take Her, She’s Mine. Hoping to use the part as a springboard for film roles, Pete’s mother drove him across the country to Hollywood, sometimes sleeping in a tent along the way. The good-looking 25 year-old found work in bit parts on episodic television in …
I met Patty Duke in 2011. I was at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Cockeysville, Maryland, seventeen miles north of Baltimore. (That’s right… Cockeysville!) She was sitting behind a table filled with glossy black and white and color photographs that chronicled her long and illustrious career. I waited patiently as she engaged each and every …
Totie Fields was just naturally funny. While still in high school, she sang and told jokes in clubs in the Boston area, not far from her native Hartford, Connecticut. Her talent and unique routines brought her to larger venues, including New York’s famed Copacabana. It was here that Ed Sullivan caught her act. Intrigued by her …
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates Smart guy, that Socrates. More people should listen to him.
Native New Yorker Andrea Feldman latched onto the crowd at Andy Warhol‘s Factory. She was featured in three of Warhol’s avant garde films, Imitation of Christ, Trash and Heat. Still a teenager, Andrea performed, what she called, the “Showtime,” a table-top striptease that was wildly popular among the regulars in the back room at Max’s …
Pretty Dorothy Abbott ‘s career began in Las Vegas, when she worked as a showgirl at the Flamingo Hotel. She moved on to Earl Carroll’s Hollywood Revue, where the showbiz impresario gave her the baffling moniker “The Girl with the Golden Arm.” In the mid 20s, Paramount Pictures offered her an unheard of $150 per …
After I graduated from sixth grade, I moved on to a new school for seventh grade. Several other elementary schools in my area sent students to the same school. I met a bunch of new classmates and one of them was Bryan Liesner. I remember in class, I passed him a note with a smart-ass comment …
Maureen O’Hara was a true movie star. From her debut in 1938 until the early 1970s, she made over fifty films. She starred opposite such big names as Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power and, of course, John Wayne. Maureen and Wayne appeared in five films and became lifelong friends. Wayne once remarked, “She’s a great guy. I’ve had …
Věra Helena Hrubá competed in figure skating the 1936 Winter Olympics, representing her native Czechoslovakia. She placed 17th. During the games, she met Adolf Hitler, who asked her if she would like to “skate for the swastika.” Věra looked him right in the eye and replied that she’d rather skate on the swastika. The Führer was not amused. …
