Wayland Flowers began making puppets by hand. A shy child, he was able to express himself through his puppets. One in particular, a loudmouth, crass “old broad” named Madame was his favorite. He patterned the character after a restaurant hostess famous for her outrageous eye shadow and her extremely colorful language. He landed his first …
What if the script for Ghostbusters was written in the 1930s?
In 1968, The Beatles began recording their ninth studio album, a self-titled release, more commonly known as “The White Album.” Tension was heavy and tempers were high during the sessions, as the four band members were experiencing creative growing pains. Feeling claustrophobic between a controlling Paul McCartney and a passive-aggressive John Lennon, usually easy-going drummer …
In 1936, Charlie Chaplin made his last silent film, Modern Times. It featured the star battling against progress. * * * * * * In 2011, the Illustration Friday word was “silent.” Here is my illustration from then.
“Sorry, fellas… we ain’t lookin’ for any novelty acts right now.”
Nineteen-year old Brigitte Helm couldn’t have imagined what she signed on for. With lofty aspirations of starring on the big screen, the Berlin teen joined a cast of thousands on director Fritz Lang’s vision of a dystopian future, Metropolis. She was subjected to Lang’s attempt at presenting gritty realism and, in 1927, without the aid of …
Recently, I had a Twitter conversation with my internet buddy, Philadelphia singer-songwriter-holder of a Guinness Book World Record* Adam Brodsky. Evidently, folksinger Loudon Wainwright III is featured in a current commercial for retail giant Walmart and Adam didn’t like it one bit. In typical “Josh Pincus” fashion, I smart-assed him. Our exchange went like this (including “two …
Long before Jeff Dunham, even long before Paul Winchell, there was Edgar Bergen. Bergen started off as a ventriloquist in vaudeville. He was offered an appearance on Rudy Vallee’s radio program. Bergen proved himself so popular, he was given his own radio show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour (sponsored by the then-famous coffee company), in 1937. Bergen and his …
Stints as a mechanic, a chauffeur, valet and chef were not a good fit for Sebastian Cabot. He wanted to act — a type of lying, as he called the profession. Sebastian worked regularly in films for thirty years, beginning with his debut in Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1936 thriller Secret Agent. (Actors Michael Rennie and Michael Redgrave …
As a teenager traveling through Paris in the 1920s, Faith Bacon began her career as a dancer through a chance meeting with singer Maurice Chevalier. She performed in Paris reviews exclusively in the nude, using bubbles, flowers and fans as props. When she returned to the United States, she appeared in Earl Carroll’s notorious nude …
