It all turned to shit Thirty-three years ago today

June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975
We really like Edythe Marrener around herefrom "The Lusty Men" which is not a video of Mr. Tolson's

Holy shit it is Liza's birthday!!!!

Sheilah Graham guided Mr. Fitzgerald out of our villa this morning after an all night (and 7 cases of buie and cdm lighter) game of charades. She thinks the above is Liza Minnelli's seminal ('nother quarter in your "can", Loretta Young) work. Me, I think this is it:another one of those things in which your kid is gay should he show any interest in this.

It all turned to shit Sixteen years ago today

For Screenwriter and Director Richard Brooks, that is. In the 1940s he wrote the screenplays for the critically acclaimed Key Largo and Brute Force, both suspenseful examples of film noir. In 1950 he directed his film Crisis, which gave a much darker role to the actor Cary Grant than he had previously attempted. He won his only Oscar in 1960 for his screenplay for Elmer Gantry, although he was nominated for the films Blackboard Jungle (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Professionals (1966), and In Cold Blood (1967). For those of you living under a rock: Mr. Brooks currently resides in Hillside Memorial Park: Mother has added ANOTHER new slideshow at the bottom of the page, Westwood Memorial park (yes, Marilyn's burial place) if you like that kind of thing.

Jane calling from Schwab's

There is a problem with Mother's delivery order.
down about 16 inches

Mother is at Mass; Bob is Blacked out

Turnabout is fair play. This belongs to Mr. Benchley. He can have it back as soon as there are full bottles of Drambuie and Creme de Menthe in the liquor cabinet, no questions asked.

Today is Louise Beavers' birthday!!!!!

(Updated image thanks to Miss Irene Allen's maid Diptheria for correcting the earlier mistake- blame the internet.)

Mr. Benchley and Charlie Butterworth stumbled into Cobina's villa early this morning and took all the Drambuie and CdM. It made Mother so mad that she started shooting her .45 into the air demanding that her stolen treasure be returned. Thanks to you, Sgt. Dottie Dagg of the West Hollywood Sheriff's dept for taking that twenty and forgetting all about this incident. That is a lovely crewcut you have, ma'am. Speaking of stolen, the following comes from Wiki:
Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 - October 26, 1962) was an American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave. She was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Among the many films she appeared in were The Gold Diggers (1923), Freaks (1932), She Done Him Wrong (1933), General Spanky (1936), Holiday Inn (1942), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), and The Facts of Life (1960). Beavers' most famous and noted role was her portrayal of Delilah Johnson, the housekeeper/cook whose employer transforms her into an Aunt Jemima-like celebrity in the 1934 film Imitation of Life. One of the film's main conflicts was that between Delilah and her light-skinned daughter Peola (played by Fredi Washington), who wanted to pass for white. Imitation of Life was the first time in American cinema history that a black woman's problems were given major emotional weight in a major Hollywood motion picture.Had times been different she might have beaten Halle to the Oscar by some 70 years instead of being relegated to fifth billing.
The vast majority of Beavers' other film roles, however, were not as prestigious. Along with Hattie McDaniel, she became the on-screen personification of the "mammy" stereotype: a large, matronly black woman with a quick temper, a large laugh, and a subservient manner. Beavers' employers had her overeat so that she could maintain her "mammy"-like figure. Although Beavers did not approve of how her characters were scripted, she nonetheless continued appearing in films, because, as her contemporary McDaniel once stated, "it's better to play a maid than be a maid."
Beavers was one of four actresses (including Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Amanda Randolph) to portray housekeeper Beulah on the Beulah television show. That show was the first television sitcom to star an African American, even though the role was a somewhat subservient one.
Louise Beavers died of a heart attack in Hollywood, California on October 26, 1962, exactly ten years after the similarly typecasted actress Hattie McDaniel, at the age of 60. She was also a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, one of the four African-American sororities. She was inducted posthumously into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1976.

Today is Morton DaCosta's birthday!!!

Man, it doesn't get any better'n' this!!!!!! Ol' Morty was born on this date in 1914, and a piece of his seminal work:title sequence, the Southern stuff belowLove those Upsons

It all turned to shit Forty-three years ago today

for one Daisy Baker, also known as Margaret Dumont- who left us for the Pearly Gates on this date in 1965. Here is some of her iconic work with the Marx Bros.

Jane calling from Schwab's

There's a problem with Rage's charge account application

It all turned to shit Forty-five years ago today

Singer Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash on March 5, 1963, near Camden, Tennessee. She was 30. Born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia, Patsy's family moved around a lot. She was a talented child who enjoyed singing and dancing.

At 13, she became a choir singer in the Baptist church. Fate stepped in when she contracted rheumatic fever. After she recovered, the disease had somehow affected her throat. Cline said she had a booming voice like Kate Smith's. With her newfound voice, Cline began singing on local radio shows and at dances. Four Star Records eventually noticed her in 1954 when she was offered a recording contract.
Now married to Gerald Cline, she changed her name to Patsy. Cline was still doing local events when she met Charlie Dick, fell in love, and married him after divorcing Cline.


Cline had her first hit record in 1956, Walkin' after Midnight. It became a best seller after she sung it on the Arthur Godfrey Show. Several hits followed after that, including I Fall to Pieces, Crazy, and Sweet Dreams (released after her death.)


Cline's last concert was held in Kansas City on March 3, 1963. It was a benefit to raise money for a local family. Her plane, flown by her manager Randy Hughes, made it to Dyersburg, Tennessee. But enroute from Dyersburg to Nashville, the plane crashed and all aboard were killed. Along with Cline and her manager, singers Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were also killed.

(thanks to our friend the Internet, for that. Hey cutting and pasting is hard work!!!)

It all turned to shit Fourteen years ago today

For beloved comedian John Candy, who passed away in Durango, Mexico on the set of WAGONS WEST. A small sampling: Here he lies at Holy Cross, please note his neighbor Evelyn Haver, younger sister of June. She and Fred MacMurray lay beneath Evelyn.

Today is Jean Harlow's birthday!!!!!

Yup, "The Baby" is a spritely Ninety-seven today!!! Mind you, she's been dead for Seventy-one years. Here is a small peek at her short life: first, RED HEADED WOMAN: and a nice slideshow

And sadly, in front of this placeis where Bill Frawley dropped dead around 6pm on this date in 1966, someone better tell the Chiefs. Before he died, he did this promotional film during the second world war:

Not only am I kissing ass

...with my new boss, maybe you will like this too!!!!!Get yourself a cafe de leche con Don Drambuie and watch this:Yes, my brand-new employer, Desi Arnaz was born on this date ninety-one years ago today. Chief, these last five days have been the most meaningful of my life (pardon me while I hide from a bolt of lightning). I can't wait to hear all about your birthday party.

I woke up this morning and Cobina's bed hadn't been slept in- Rusty didn't come over last night because he was working a big party over at Charlie Feldman's, he and Jean Howard had a party for Countess di Frasso- Anyway, Poppers and I are the only two here right now and we are loving the quiet. I have not seen Rage since Friday morning, and all pill containers are currently empty. I just poured myself some coffee with vitamin B (as in 'buie). It's a nice sunny morning, and, Popper's sitting room which looks east across Crescent Heightswould be a very nice place to enjoy the morning, except for that smell. I'm going to open the windows and hope that the marijuana smoke from the Laughton's villa deadens the odor or my senses.

You know how it always turns to shit?

Well, depending on how you look at Jackie Coogan's lifeMaybe he finally got a break when he got to the Pearly Gates on this date in 1984

It was Oscar's Big Night, Seventeen Leap years ago today!

No, that is not Mother sitting around the pool at the Garden- it's Scarlett O'Hara and the Tarleton Twins (Mr. Navarro LOVES them, they have had several pillow fights in his Villa) as well as a few other Southern hunks; Scarlett and "Gone With The Wind" won eight Oscars that Leap Day night, including Best Picture. Here are some classic scenes:

It all turned to shit Seventy-five years ago today

For one Daisy Canfield Moreno, that is. Daisy lived the life of a princess, growing up on a 50 acre farm in Stone Canyon. She was married to movie star Antonio Moreno for almost a decade; they were in the middle of a divorce when her car plunged 200 feet off of Mulholland Drive on this date in 1933, killing her, making him a very wealthy man. Cousin Doris suggests that maybe it wasn't an accident.

PAY ATTENTION!!!!

Let us all keep our story straight, because I know Mother is going to ask you: I was at Ciro's after the Academy Awards on Sunday night after Polly Bergen's and ran into Howard Hughes
who made me watch ICE STATION ZEBRA in that smelly screening room on Romaine; he thinks I'm the best Production Chief in town (right?!!!) and has gotten me a new job, running....
This should hold her for awhile....

Other Big News Today

Elizabeth Taylor celebrates being Seventy-six years young, today!!!

Today is William Frawley's birthday!!!!

Pancakes Barbara with Ronrico Syrup was the order of the morning at a birthday brunch over in (lady publisher) Carlotta Goodladd's villa- she declined to say how old she was. Bill Frawley, however, won't be shy about being 121 today! Here is Bill, singing, with Steverino on what I think is "I've Got a Secret"also, Johnny Cash's birthday, born this date in 1932- this is the last picture he sent Cobina, prior to that "falling out"

Today is Eddie Mannix' birthday!

The Bulldog was born on this date in 1895. I'm busy, but you should Wiki him.
UPDATED: Still busy, but today the late Jim Backus is celebrating his 95th. Watch a few minutes of one of the funniest movies ever, Jim is not even in this sequence unless you count being passed out in the back of the plane Mickey Rooney is flying:Why don't we watch the title sequence, it's pretty great

While Mother and Oscar are at Mass

Just between you and me, Cobina is really putting the pressure on me to COME TO MY OFFICE and see what's going on at the studio. I am going to have to figure something out pdq. As for tonight's glamorous celebration, I'm going to Arthur J's with Rusty and Keenan Wynn, Van Johnson and Peter Lawford to watch the show then off to Romanoff's, then Polly Bergen's after party. Maybe something will come up at one of these Oscar parties.

Paparazzi!! Stay Away From Cobina's Bathroom Window!!!

Oscar weekend every year, the photographers hover around our villa, as so many celebrities pass through our doors. Mother spends HOURS in her personal can getting ready Long Pink shag is always such a practical covering in a bathroom, don't you think? And that tub looks super comfortable and usable. The only one of us who really can fit in there is Rage, who was in there with a Swedish transvestite working person last night. Where he gets his money I will never know.

Forty-three years ago today, the last of the "fine messes"

For Mr. Stan Laurel, the surviving half of the brilliant team that was Laurel and HardyGet yourself a nice cup of coffee (Drambuie optional)and enjoy some vintage Stan and Ollie and thanks Mr. von Sternberg for your personal copy of thisI just love all the yelling and screaming

Today is Drew Barrymore's Birthday!!!

Some of you may not be familiar with Miss Barrymore's work (as Rusty and Mother were not):That's funny, I thought Charlie's Angels 2 was in color.

I've got the fever!!!!!!

Oscar fever, that is. As you know, many of the villas here at the Garden have their own private screening rooms- Villa Cugat is no exception, although ours has a slight (cat urine) problem and is for the moment an undesirable location for anything that involves breathing in or out. Anyway, I digress. We went next door to Ramon Navarro's villa with it's pirate screening room (which has a smell of its own, believe me). This hardly seems the place to watch a Tommy Lee Jones movie. Mother, may I have a sip from your Bugs Bunny glass?REALLY GETTING EXCITED ABOUT THE BIG NIGHT!!!!

Today is the Chief's Granddaughter's Birthday!

Yup, Patricia Van Cleve Lake's illegit first cousin once removed, Patty Hearst turns Fifty-four today. I don't know much about her although Mother says she met her once with the Lakes at San Simeon, and with the exception of the seven-headed snake and getting pistol-whipped by Patty, thought her to be a lovely lass.

Today is Toni Mannix' Birthday!!!!

Little, sweet Camille Toni Frommess Mannix is born on this date in 1906. I'm not certain if they ever actually wed, but she was for certain the common-law wife of Edgar "Strawberry Shortcake" Mannix, right-hand man to Louis B. Mayer, and the third most powerful man on the lot. Theirs was an odd alliance; though they were certainly soulmates they both led wildly promiscuous lives by any era's standards. Just a taste of Eddie: he beat the shit out of and broke his first wife's back and then most likely arranged her mysterious roadside death in the Palm Springs desert during their contentious divorce. He had his Japanese mistress and Toni was passionately in love with George Reeves; their story has been told in two excellent books, HOLLYWOOD KRYPTONITE by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger (thanks for the pic of TM), and THE FIXERS by E.Y. Fleming. The Fixers is unbelievable reading, though it would be easier to believe as fact if someone had proofread the book. In certain chapters I thought there was some studio I had never heard of called MMG, but, nah, it's just MGM. Go to Alibris right now and buy a used copy of each. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Anyway, Toni was a tough chick who did lots of bad things. Then she dressed herself up and called herself a Catholic and spent the last days of her life living in a suite at St John's hospital. There is much to say about her, but hell, she dies next month.

It all turned to shit Twenty-four years ago today

For me, for Mother, and most pointedly, for Ethel Merman, who woke up dead on this morning in 1984. Friday mornings we host a small brunch in the villa's dining room for our neighbors. Over Honey-nut Cheerios drenched in 'buie and Creme de Menthe, Cobina's cousin Doris Daze told us that no photos of the Merm's cremains exist as her ashes were "scattered on Broadway". Several people threw up, just a little tiny bit, in their mouths, at this thought. Cousin Doris also mentioned that she had recently stepped on one of Merm's knuckles while traversing across 44th St. Here, for those of you not familiar with her work, is Ethel appearing in some costume drama with the legendary Judy Garland:

It's True!!! I have a Boyfriend!!!!!

His name is Rusty K. I can't say anything more. But I can tell you, we are headed off to a marvelous Valentine's day supper at Arthur J's followed by sundae's at Schwab's. I think he really likes me, Mother thinks he's makes an honest drink and he gets along swimmingly with Rage. Coincidentally, I am having just the slightest, teensy-weensiest feeling that Rage is an international fugitive. Maybe not, but I did catch him reprogramming my Mac so that the base language was Serbo-Croatian.

Today is Buck Benny's Birthday!

One of my heroes, celebrating his 114th to-day. He was a superstar in film, radio, and movies. A litle taste of Jack's television show:and in actuality a very talented musician

P.S. Your Mineo Is Dead

Yes, it all turned to shit thirty-two years ago this evening for one Sal Mineo. Sal was knifed in the alley behind his apartment (and Mother and Father Tilden insist that I point out, also across from St. Victor's). He was appearing locally in a play unfortunately titled "P.S. Your Cat is Dead. Here he speaks of James Dean, two years prior to his own deathicky. Further irony in action, Mr. Mineo's two-part appearance on I've Got a Secret (get it?)part deux, would you be a woolly lamb and bring Mother a refill on her beverage if you are going to our newly rebuilt kitchenHey, I didn't say this was interesting. Stay out of Sal's alley. Mother says you only filled her Bugs Bunny glass half-full.

Some days more stuff happens that others

Like, today:

Joined the world today-

1909- Joseph L. Mankiewicz, perhaps you've heard of him. He directed this movie: Don't get excited, it's just the first seven minutes of Margo.
One of his later iconic works, "Sleuth""Suddenly Last Summer" WHY DO ALL THE NEIGHBORS KEEP ASKING MOTHER AND ME IF WE'VE SEEN THIS FILM?and some period movie I never heard of

1917- Sidney Sheldon (truly an interesting man, I'm busy but you should Wiki him)lived here, but it looked better then

1921- Eva (the nice, not disgusting)Gabor

1934(Mother made a sound when she read this, you decide for yourself)- Tina Louise


Dead, today-

1963- Sylvia Plath (don't ask, too depressing)

1982- Eleanor Powell, tap dancer extraordinaire, hey thanks for ruining my shot

1985- Henry Hathaway- director of "Airport", "True Grit", and this film, not to mention scores of others:

1994- take this in- Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg) and William Conrad same day. Mother says she always confuses the two.

You Tramp!

Well, in truth, I mean that Ninety-four years ago today, Charlie Chaplin introduced the world to his iconic, down-trodden character. Thanks to our friends at public domain:and part two

Today also marks the Forty-fourth anniversary of the Beatles' arrival at JFK for their first American tour.

And, it was all over, Thirty-eight years ago today, for Mother's beloved "Hollywood Palace"- where can you find this today:or this

Today is Axl Rose's birthday!

Sadly, Mom has taken all of my photos of Mr. Rose (who turns forty-six today) pinning several of them to the wall of the sunroom, thinking they are pictures of composer David Rose. Miss Van Doren is celebrating her seventy-seventh birthday. Here is a riveting recent interview and, no, that is not yours truly interviewing this woman This morning we ate breakfast in the main dining room of the Hotel, and the food is terrible, let me tell you. While enjoying a Spicy Bloody Mary with our nutwaffles, I overheard Mr. Benchley telling Harpo Marx that today is also Ramon Navarro's birthday (109!)- we'll talk more about him on Halloween (hint-truly, it all turns to shit)-but this is Mr Navarro's fabulous Los Feliz residence
Today marks the tenth passing of Beach Boy Carl Wilson, who now is a Westwood resident.

It all turned to shit Twenty-one years ago today

For this guy. i'll bet hiis dry cleaner was really upset. You've got to admit this is creepy.and yet...he was talented (here, a sampling, this HAS to be near the end)

Talk about too many choices!!!

The kitchen in our villa is out of commission for the next three days; the fire was contained to the eating area. That should teach Mother to gesture so wildly whilst holding a lit Taretyon in one hand and an old Carl's Jr Bugs Bunny glass full of Drambuie in the other. We'll have to call St. Victor's later this morning and see how Father Tilden's facial burns are doing.

Anyway, while enjoying a light breakfast of Pancakes Barbara and Creme de Menthe in Miss Crawford's villa (apparently now redecorated entirely in a Pepsi motif, and now called the "Villa diPepsi"), I discovered that today is a shared birthday of two important people:
Mr. Mooney born 1906Happy 82nd, Miss Stritch
And, in terms of loss, on this date in 1969, we hardly knew ye, Boris Karloff, aka "Smiley". Twelve years ago this date marked the passing of Gene Kelly. Mr Kelly's iconic piece of work: And from "On the Town"

It all turned to shit Forty-two years ago today

For Hedda Hopper, that is. Now, as a reminder, Cobina is extremely devoted to her Catholic God, and Hedda is some kind of Quaker or whatever, and Mother and Louella often see each other at Dupar's after Mass on Sunday. Also, Hedda hates everybody and calls everybody either gay or a commie. Not nice.