I love these 1945 Warner Bros publicity pictures demonstrating how actress Jane Harker apparently became a starlet overnight just by taking off her glasses, as ‘makeup experts found nothing else to do’. Bogus story, but charming in its simplicity!

I wrote briefly (and freely, if you catch my drift) about a couple of production stills from The Wild Party (1929) I found on eBay, one of which hints at an interesting change in the film's production, which could be simple, or not at all. Link: vitaphonezone.substack.com/p/production...

Jack La Rue, Glenda Farrell, Mary Brian, and Cary Grant in a publicity portrait for Gambling Ship (1933)

Clara Bow takes the BFGoodrich Silvertown Safety League pledge to promote safe driving in Hollywood, 1931 (or, me at the DMV)

I feel like I hardly see this picture on display at Hearst Castle anywhere else, so here it is

I’m not going to repost any pictures of it, but amazing levels of tacky cheapness being served at that Trumpian Gatsby party. Taking great pride in the fact that I can create better 1920s outfits with pieces from Forever 21 than these rich women can do with Mar-a-Lago money.

If you still haven’t picked up a copy of pre-Code Essentials, apparently my wife enjoyed it, so what are you waiting for? amzn.to/4qFyHLX

Dorothy Coonan Wellman gets a piggyback ride from Guy Kibbee in a publicity photo for Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933):

Watched too many terrible 70s horror movies this month and burnt myself out on watching any more horror before Halloween but in a roundabout way I think a Big Parade rewatch sort of counts boxd.it/bxmNsR

"I have never judged my mother for her emotional gluttony, only for the way she treated those who loved her." RIP Maria Riva. I think people wrestling with the extremes in Riva's Marlene Dietrich biography should read Molly Haskell's powerful 1993 review (no paywall) www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/b...

Always a pleasure to talk film with @frnclassics.bsky.social! This time, not-so-scary films for Halloween. Listen here: open.spotify.com/episode/1qjX...

Ann Savage bullies a Hitler-faced pumpkin for Halloween 1942 publicity: “Green-eyed starlet Ann Savage is about to give this Hitler-pumpkin a poke in the nose. With the way things are going in Stalingrad, it’s hard to imagine why the old boy should be smiling.”

Promotional photo of Pier Angeli for MGM (1950)

"Are you tired of sand being kicked in your face? I promise you new muscles in days!" -Charles Atlas #BOTD

Hope Emerson, #BOTD, and Buster Keaton in The Innocent Sleep on CBS’ Playhouse 90 (1958)

Great addition to my collection: Bit players Lita Chevret (in beret, pointing across RKO’s Forty Acre backlot) and Nadine Dore (following Lita’s finger) survey the props to be used in the filming of CIMARRON (1931) during its production in the fall of 1930.

Realized yet another favorite shot in The Public Enemy (1931).

Historic New England 1922

Olive Thomas by Maurice Goldberg as featured in Theatre magazine, March 1919

Happy heavenly birthday to the singular Olive Thomas (with my favorite intertitle from Alan Crosland’s The Flapper, 1920):

English actress, dancer, and singer Anna Neagle was born #OnThisDay in 1904. She is believed to have worn this c. 1940 Germaine Monteil bias-cut navy crêpe evening gown, with a sheer low back and voluminous sleeves, in a Warner Bros film. Sold by Kerry Taylor Auctions. #fashionhistory

Belgian poster for THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947) Directed by Orson Welles Starring Welles and Rita Hayworth - BOTD in 1918

Weird week, yet again.

Happy birthday to Marian Marsh! Seen here in an Elmer Fryer publicity photo for one of more questionably named Warners pre-Codes, Under Eighteen (1931), which she’s a delight in.

Mood: Gary Cooper and Mae West splitting a beer and some pretzels after the repeal of prohibition on April 7, 1933.

Bette Davis and William A. Wellman inspect a record player on the set of So Big (1932)

Suzy Parker by John Rawlings Vogue, October 15, 1953

Kathleen Burke, famed for portraying Lota, the Panther Woman in Island of Lost Souls (1932), wears a more subdued look while her sidekick takes the reins (scanned from a 1932 issue of Screen Book magazine).

A large crowd of kids gathered outside a theater showing THE AIR MAIL (1925) plus an Our Gang short

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester celebrate their new American citizenship, 1950

Thinking about this shot of Groucho and I at TCMFF last year

Surrealist painter Georges Malkine and His Meezer, photographed by Man Ray. Used by André Breton to illustrate the article “Surrealism in 1929,” published in the review Variétés.

Clara Bow

Saturday morning Secret Beyond the Door feeling

Supernatural (1933) dir. Victor Halperin

Barbara Stanwyck in Lady of Burlesque on the cover of Movies magazine, July 1943

Some midweek glam 🍸 Robe du soir, Jeanne Lanvin, 1933-34, via Palais Galliera, Paris.

Street Angel (1928). #SilentFilm

Jean Lorraine, Clara Bow, and Adrienne Doré in an Otto Dyar publicity portrait for The Wild Party (1929) featured on a French cigarette card:

My favorite photo of birthday boy Groucho, photographed by Ted Allan for A Day at the Races (1937). A good reminder not to take anything too seriously today.

Ruth Chatterton looking as cool as ever in dark sunglasses on the set of The Right to Love (1930) with director Richard Wallace at camera (from Photoplay, February 1931)

I have decided to embrace the full ridiculousness of my pen and married names together for some much needed fun.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS - Premiered in its hometown of Lawrence, Kansas this day in 1962 - Japanese release poster

The worst movie with the hottest people in it.

egyptian theater, ogden, utah, 1991

I love the motion blur of Ida Lupino’s earrings in this publicity portrait for The Light That Failed (1939).

Swedish poster for the lost Clara Bow movie RED HAIR (1928)

Ida Lupino getting a different flavor of glamour treatment from photographer Scotty Welbourne in a promo for “They Drive By Night” (1940)

Motion Picture magazine, March 1931.