Interview: Jerrol LeBaron of InkTip, Part Three

In Parts One and Two of this interview, Mr Lebaron described the many legal, moral and ethical problems plaguing the California legislative process. In Part Three, Mr. LeBaron describes how We The People can begin to bring the long-hallowed and honorable traditions of enlightened American lawmaking back to the State House in Sacramento.

Q: How could such a law as the Honor In Office Act be enforced?

JERROL: There are some legislators who will perjure themselves day in and day out. There is no hope for them, unless someone reports the violation. However, we are dealing with partisanship. That means that 45-55% are Democrats and 45-55% are Republicans, typically. The Honor In Office Act plays very nicely into that. Newly elected lawmakers might be far more conscious of the new rules. There are other lawmakers in office who have lost their way, because they have had no way to protect themselves from the less scrupulous. (more…)

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Tags: ballot referendum, California, government reform, Honor In Office, Honor In Office Act
Posted Aug 23rd 2009 at 6:57 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Politics | 2055786 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/08/23/interview-jerrol-lebaron-of-inktip-and-honor-in-office-part-three/Interview%3A+Jerrol+LeBaron+of+InkTip%2C+Part+Three2009-08-23+13%3A57%3A35John+T.+Simpson

Interview: Jerrol LeBaron of InkTip, Office, Part Two

In Part One of this interview, Mr. LeBaron provided background on his own classic American and Hollywood success stories, and why he started the Honor In Office campaign. Today, Mr. LeBaron tells us what Honor In Office is all about, and why real reform is so badly needed in Sacramento.

Q: Can you describe for me, specifically, what Honor In Office is all about?

JERROL: If you look at the header at the Honor In Office homepage you will see the phrase, “There was a time in this country when our leaders’ signatures meant more.” Be it the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or bills passed by Congress to conduct the People’s business, our Founding Fathers and early members of Congress drafted, read in full, debated at length, and either passed or rejected whatever legislation was before the Congress. (more…)

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Tags: California, government reform, Honor In Office, Honor In Office Act, InkTip
Posted Aug 22nd 2009 at 2:49 pm in Classic Hollywood, Law, Politics | 2065463 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/08/22/interview-jerrol-lebaron-of-inktip-and-honor-in-office-part-two/Interview%3A+Jerrol+LeBaron+of+InkTip%2C+Office%2C+Part+Two2009-08-22+21%3A49%3A30John+T.+Simpson

Tarantino’s Top Twenty Since 1992

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Tags: 1992, Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino, Top 20
Posted Aug 22nd 2009 at 7:52 am in Classic Hollywood, Video | 20987061 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/08/22/tarantinos-top-twenty-since-1992/Tarantino%27s+Top+Twenty+Since+19922009-08-22+14%3A52%3A11Big+Hollywood

Interview: Jerrol LeBaron of InkTip, Part One

THE BACKSTORY

From all appearances, Jerrol LeBaron’s life is both a classic American and Hollywood success story. Having started out in the construction industry in and around Los Angeles, Mr. LeBaron became restless and purchased a small jewelry business, which he owned and ran for seven years. In 2000, after dabbling in screenwriting and discovering just how difficult it was to market scripts in Hollywood, Mr. LeBaron sold his jewelry business and started the online Writers’ Script Network, now known today as Inktip.com.

Today, InkTip is the most successful venture of its kind in Hollywood, matching spec screenplays with prospective studios, producers, and other film industry insiders looking for new material. An average of twenty films a year are made from scripts discovered on InkTip. Mr. LeBaron’s bi-monthly magazine, containing the loglines of hundreds of screenplays in the InkTip database, is distributed industry-wide. Having optioned a script off of InkTip myself, I can personally testify to its success. (more…)

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Tags: ballot referendum, California, government reform, Honor In Office, Honor In Office Act
Posted Aug 21st 2009 at 11:58 am in Classic Hollywood | 20642217 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/08/21/interview-jerrol-lebaron-of-inktip-and-honor-in-office-part-1/Interview%3A+Jerrol+LeBaron+of+InkTip%2C+Part+One2009-08-21+18%3A58%3A10John+T.+Simpson

Top 15 Films of the New Millennium

Using reader scores, IMDB ranked their top 15 films produced since 2000. Other than “The Departed,” which along with “Mystic River,” “Crash,” “Crash,” and “Crash,” ranks in the top 5 over-rated films of ever, there’s little to quibble over. Taste is a subjective thing.

My personal Top 15 are ranked as my favorites always are — based on nothing more than re-watchability. “Rocky Balboa” might not be better written, photographed or acted than any number of films not on this list, but I’m going to watch it a helluva lot more, that’s for sure.  

1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) – Ever since the lights came up after that first screening, like a drug this lyrical, gorgeously photographed piece of myth-making has tugged me back for another taste. This isn’t easy to admit, but I think I admire Andrew Dominik’s directorial debut even more than John Ford’s “Young Mister Lincoln” (1939), which it resembles in so many ways. Were this also a listing of the greatest performances of the new millennium, Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Robert Ford would rank #1, as well.

2. The Passion of the Christ (2004) – Easily, the purest and rawest emotional cinematic experience I’ve ever had. The Left’s bigoted, venomous attacks combined with the film’s eventual blockbuster success were almost as satisfying as the re-election of George W. Bush. (more…)

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Tags: 28 Weeks Later, 300, A.I., Amelie, Assassination of Jesse James
Posted Aug 19th 2009 at 12:12 pm in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Reviews, Top 5 | 207866220 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/19/top-15-films-of-the-new-millennium/Top+15+Films+of+the+New+Millennium2009-08-19+19%3A12%3A10John+Nolte

No John Hughes, No 1980s

Without John Hughes, would there have been a 1980s? The filmmaker and screenwriter died of a heart attack while walking Thursday in Manhattan. For the uninitiated, he wrote National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off–directing several of those films as well.

Memories of Hughes’s films are as likely to be audio as visual: The Psychedelic Furs, The Smiths, and Simple Minds were among the acts introduced to a wider audience through Hughes’s sonically-savvy films. (more…)

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Tags: 80s, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, John Hughes, Molly Ringwald, National Lampoon's Vacation
Posted Aug 7th 2009 at 9:34 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture | 20164639 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dflynn/2009/08/07/no-john-hughes-no-1980s/No+John+Hughes%2C+No+1980s2009-08-07+16%3A34%3A55Daniel+J.+Flynn

Ben Stein: ‘John Hughes was an avid Republican’

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Tags: ben stein, Fox News, John Hughes, Neil Cavuto
Posted Aug 7th 2009 at 9:16 am in Classic Hollywood, Video | 20211046 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/08/07/bueller-bueller-ben-stein-remembers-john-hughes/Ben+Stein%3A+%27John+Hughes+was+an+avid+Republican%272009-08-07+16%3A16%3A04Big+Hollywood

Top 5: John Hughes Scenes (NSFW Language Warning)

1. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) - The hardest I have ever laughed in my life. There I was in the theater; bent over, my feet off the ground, convulsing and gasping for air. As a stand-alone, the scene’s funny, but Hughes meticulously uses everything that came before as a perfect set up to create an epic comedic moment. It’s so well-crafted that no matter how many times you watch, the laughs don’t diminish. A true classic in my book, alongside the Marx Brothers, Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder. (Runner up: “Those aren’t pillows!”)

P.S. I miss John Candy. (more…)

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Tags: Christmas Vacation, John Candy, John Hughes, Planes, Pretty in Pink
Posted Aug 6th 2009 at 11:19 pm in Classic Hollywood, Top 5, Video | 20175057 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/06/top-5-john-hughes-scenes-nsfw-language-warning/Top+5%3A+John+Hughes+Scenes+%28NSFW+Language+Warning%292009-08-07+06%3A19%3A48John+Nolte

John Hughes: Don’t You Forget About Him

It’s odd to consider which celebrity death will hit you the hardest. Michael Jackson’s bizarre and untimely passing certainly floored people around the planet. But for me, it’s this morning’s passing of John Hughes while he was walking in New York City at the also-far-too-young age of 59 that has hit me like a ton of bricks. 

Just last night, I went through my DVD collection and stacked up all the movies I own of his, and was planning to spend the next week watching them whenever I had a spare moment. Just thinking of the titles brought back 25 years’ worth of memories, from “Sixteen Candles” to “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and from the three Chevy Chase “Vacation” movies to the immortal holiday classic “Planes, Trains & Automobiles.” 

“Pretty in Pink”

These weren’t just movies to me, and to many others in my generation and the ones since. They were touchstones of our lives, that freeze-framed moments and memories both of the times we watched them and the amazing way in which they seemed to shine a light on our existence. And in particular, one character and one movie of John’s shaped my entire showbiz career ambitions. 

“Pretty in Pink” is the movie that made me want to write movies and led me to idolize John Hughes as a movie god ever since. Why? Well, I used to have a crush on Molly Ringwald but I got over that – especially when I met her for about two seconds last fall and she blatantly tried to keep it at two seconds. (Rude!)  (more…)

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Tags: Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), John Hughes, Planes, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles
Posted Aug 6th 2009 at 5:23 pm in Classic Hollywood, Entertainment | 20158619 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ckozlowski/2009/08/06/john-hughes-dont-you-forget-about-him/John+Hughes%3A+Don%27t+You+Forget+About+Him2009-08-07+00%3A23%3A25Carl+Kozlowski

The Frank Capra of Gen X Has Died

Iconic filmmaker John Hughes is dead of a heart attack at 59.

Anyone who came of age in the 80s and early 90s can’t help but remember the John Hughes era thanks to the many, many hours of warm, hilarious and unforgettable memories that sprung from the great man’s Midwestern mind.

John Hughes: 1950-2009

As producer, writer and director, Hughes created timeless stories that teenagers and parents alike will continue to discover a hundred years from now. Rich in universal theme, populated with lovable, relatable outcasts, and told by a creative genius who understood us and never talked down to us, John Hughes enjoyed nearly two decades of Hollywood success before retiring to private life in Chicago sometime in the 90s.

Long before today, we were missing John Hughes. (more…)

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Tags: Andrew Breitbart, chicago, Christmas Vacation, Deat at 59. Some Kind of Wonderful, John Hughes
Posted Aug 6th 2009 at 3:35 pm in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, News | 20131874 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/08/06/john-hughes-has-died/The+Frank+Capra+of+Gen+X+Has+Died2009-08-06+22%3A35%3A37Big+Hollywood

Lee Marvin: That Glorious Bastard

Only a tiresome poseur like Quentin Tarantino could think that the Hollywood pretty boys he cast in his soon-to-be released opus The Inglorious Basterds are convincing movie tough guys. Where is Lee Marvin when we need him?

You’ve probably experienced the Basterds publicity blitz.  Brad Pitt looks like he stepped out of a Calvin Klein underwear ad. Folks I know who have been around him say he really is a pleasant and laid-back guy, and these are hardly the characteristics of a beady-eyed killer.  Creepy Eli Roth, taking some time off from directing his degenerate torture movies, is just a leering clown – he looks like he should be squatting in the back of his Ford panel van offering Tootsie Rolls to passing tweens.  And B.J. Novak?  The guy is a hilarious writer and is really funny in The Office , but I’m not buying this cat as the scourge of the Third Reich.

In contrast, Lee Marvin’s tough guy legacy lives on despite the fact that his body rests with thousands of other heroes in Arlington National Cemetery. He earned that right when he was wounded fighting the Imperial Japanese Army in the Pacific as a Marine private. His Purple Heart is 100% USDA certified proof positive of his prime badassary. Who is the Hollywood tough guy of today who can dare step up to the Lee Marvin plate and take a swing?

Nobody. (more…)

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Tags: academy award, Arlington National Cemetery, B.J. Novak, brad pitt, Cat Ballou
Posted Aug 4th 2009 at 6:55 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture, Film | 197178154 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/08/04/lee-marvin-that-glorious-bastard/Lee+Marvin%3A+That+Glorious+Bastard2009-08-04+13%3A55%3A35Kurt+Schlichter

Cultural Kleptos: How the Left Hijacks Art (and Everything Else) for the Good of Mankind

Kids love movies about people who tell lies – because they’re such naughty, little fibbers themselves.  During my formative years, it seemed like the same two films were on TV everyday when I came home from school – to remind me of the dangers of mendacity.  Perhaps it was a portent of things to come.

William Wyler’s “The Children’s Hour” (1961)

One was Weird Woman (1944), a neglected camp classic that was part of Universal’s low-budget Inner Sanctum series - about a scorned librarian (scream queen Evelyn Ankers) who seeks revenge on her ex- (Lon Chaney Jr.) by spreading gossip about his new wife (Anne Gwynne), an all-American voodoo princess he met on a South Seas expedition (don’t ask).

After several people inadvertently die as a result of Ankers’s aspersions, Chaney and gang steal a move straight out of the Democratic playbook - they devise an elaborate, fear-mongering ruse to guilt her into submission (and make her confess).  Here’s a clip of Ankers being browbeaten – with prophecies of gloom and doom – by little-known B-actress Elizabeth Russell: (more…)

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Tags: Anne Gwynne, audrey hepburn, Cairo, Charles Bronson, Dashell Hammett
Posted Jul 30th 2009 at 5:03 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture, Featured Story, Politics | 18642669 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/07/30/cultural-kleptos-how-the-left-hijacks-art-and-everything-else-for-the-good-of-mankind/Cultural+Kleptos%3A+How+the+Left+Hijacks+Art+%28and+Everything+Else%29+for+the+Good+of+Mankind2009-07-30+12%3A03%3A16Charles+Winecoff

Stars With Pluck

Hedy Lamarr’s perfectly arched eyebrows emphasize her symmetrical features. Considered the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, Lamarr was also incredibly bright, co-inventing, in 1941, a “frequency-hopping device that now serves as the basis for modern spread-spectrum communication technology.” That quote is grabbed from Wikipedia. I have absolutely no idea what it means, but darn, I’m impressed. Anyhoo. Married six times, Lamarr gained and lost several fortunes. After her career was over she was arrested on shoplifting charges.

Screening movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, I’ve noticed an interesting trend—in eyebrows.

During the early days of silent films, female stars appeared pretty normal. Which is to say, eyebrows were lightly plucked, but retained a recognizably human configuration. (more…)

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Tags: Alice Faye, Anna May Wong, audrey hepburn, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard
Posted Jul 29th 2009 at 8:44 am in Classic Hollywood | 19256665 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/29/stars-with-pluck/Stars+With+Pluck+2009-07-29+15%3A44%3A40Robert+J.+Avrech

Do The Warhol—Part 4: The Manhattan Project of the Culture War

When preaching to the choir, one directs one’s lessons to those who already agree.  Conversely, those who otherwise might listen and gain something useful get nothing.  More on that as this inter-connected series of observations comes to an end.

American Icon: “If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There's nothing behind it.”

Vast, determined, highly successful forces and superior technologies dominated the theaters of WWII prior to America’s entry into the conflict after Pearl Harbor in 1941.  The Manhattan Project began in August of 1942, a couple of months before General George Patton invaded North Africa.  Character, strategy, and tactics played as large a role in dealing with Panzer and Tiger tanks as did Patton’s Shermans, of course, because firepower alone was insufficient in itself.  But the defeat of one totalitarian threat by 1945 was not apt to make much difference in taking down another in a place where school children were being trained to fight to the death for the Empire— with sharpened sticks.  The Manhattan Project, through funding, research, experimentation, design, development and production, met the challenge and made the difference. (more…)

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Tags: Art, breitbart, capitalism, consumer culture, Culture
Posted Jul 26th 2009 at 6:55 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Politics | 18482232 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/26/do-the-warhol-conclusions-the-manhattan-project-of-the-culture-war/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94Part+4%3A+The+Manhattan+Project+of+the+Culture+War2009-07-26+13%3A55%3A12Scott+Graves

Do The Warhol—Part 3: The Velvet (Underground) Revolution

“They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” —Andy Warhol

"I adore America and these are some comments on it. My image is a statement of the symbols of the harsh, impersonal products and brash materialistic objects on which America is built today. It is a projection of everything that can be bought and sold, and practical but impermanent symbols that sustain us." —Andy Warhol, 1962

Americans love rebels, even without cause or clue. Enough hip, smart, young people who are tired of having their faces and futures pushed into to sewage of bad ideas, pointless existences, and totalitarian ideologies, with strong support and encouragement, could really make a difference in the world. In contemporary context, they would be true anti-heroes, rebelling against the brave new world of ersatz freedom and the all-powerful fascist state, against crushing conformity and the annihilation of the rights of the individual.

Such things can and do happen.  Some might say they happened in the nineteen-sixties.  And they did—in Czechoslovakia. (more…)

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Tags: anti-communism, Charter 77, cold war, Culture, Gerald Ford
Posted Jul 25th 2009 at 10:57 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Politics | 18150215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/25/do-the-warhol%e2%80%94-part-3-the-velvet-underground-revolution/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94Part+3%3A++The+Velvet+%28Underground%29+Revolution2009-07-25+17%3A57%3A10Scott+Graves

Do The Warhol— Part 2: The Cult(ure) of Personality

“In fifteen minutes, everyone will be famous.” —Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol also spoke that jewel of wisdom, presumably demonstrating a sense of humor in referring to his most famous quote.  Or was it, perhaps, prescient, albeit unintended foreknowledge?  Pity he’s not around to toy with Twitter.

Bridge as visual metaphor, Media as bridge, Pittsburgh.

Looking back at Part 1, we considered a couple of insights into Andy’s Pop Life with the aim of solving some problems surrounding Mr. Breitbart’s incisive assertion that conservatives must come to terms with popular culture, and more, use it to advantage, or fail catastrophically in countering the negative effects of said culture and restoring public confidence in fundamental ideals.  Narcissism, amorality, and an attitude of entitlement, as examples, speak poorly to the future of democracy, while the virtues of valuing others, the practice of ethical discernment and choice, and the elevating ideas of individual liberty and self-reliance are greatly to be desired in the body politic, and traditionally set America apart from typical “statist” governments around the world.  Evidence abounds of the former set of attitudes in common currency as reflected in pop culture; the latter set, highly prized by conservatives, goes sorely wanting for attention in movies, TV, music, etc. (more…)

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Tags: "The Good", American Exceptionalism, Blair Witch, celebrity, Culture
Posted Jul 24th 2009 at 6:56 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Politics | 18009821 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/24/do-the-warhol%e2%80%94-part-2-the-culture-of-personality/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94+Part+2%3A+The+Cult%28ure%29+of+Personality2009-07-24+13%3A56%3A06Scott+Graves

‘Public Enemies’ Deserves a Second Look

Michael Mann’s Public Enemies was one of the most anticipated films of the year (Read my Parcbench review here, John Nolte’s slightly opposing view here). However, it seems that many critics are drastically underrating this film. This is unfortunate because even though the film may not be the gangster movie we are used to; it sure has hints of perfection throughout. After reading many reviews panning this film, I decided to give it a second look.

There were still some obvious flaws. There are a couple of choppy edits as well as questionable music in the scene where Dillinger walks into the cop shop. But the flaws most people discuss don’t seem to be a true flaw at all. I’ve heard and read many people say the film has no depth and the characters are shallow. This is simply not a fair assertion.

The film may appear shallow to some, but it doesn’t give us anything we don’t need to know. That is exactly what makes this film enjoyable; there is no abundance of useless information. It is about Dillinger’s short time as public enemy number one, nothing more. (more…)

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Tags: "Public Enemies", Dillinger, gangster movies, Johnny Depp, Michael Mann
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 at 4:28 pm in Classic Hollywood, Film | 18843022 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cyogerst/2009/07/23/why-some-may-be-wrong-about-public-enemies/%27Public+Enemies%27+Deserves+a+Second+Look2009-07-23+23%3A28%3A10Chris+Yogerst

Do The Warhol—Part 1: The Business of Vision

Your correspondent, as absorbed by the Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street, Pittsburgh, PA.

A dance craze— like “freaking”— it is not, but rather, a point of view.

Back in January of this year, Andrew Breitbart announced “Big Hollywood’s modest objective: to change the entertainment industry”.  The announcement is as important as it is radical, assessing the power of Pop Culture in shaping global attitudes and standing athwart contemporary assaults on Western values, yelling, as did William Buckley in 1955, Stop.

Ask yourself: Is a vision of the world that is contrary in almost every way to the prevailing cultural paradigms a difficult “sell”?  Given this is always so, how is such a challenge overcome? (more…)

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Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Art, artists, classical liberals, Conservatives
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 at 6:56 am in Art, Classic Hollywood, Politics | 17912639 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/07/23/do-the-warhol%e2%80%94-part-1-the-business-of-vision/Do+The+Warhol%E2%80%94Part+1%3A+The+Business+of+Vision+2009-07-23+13%3A56%3A47Scott+Graves

Story and the Power of Conservative Themes in Film

Boy, did I ever kick a hornet’s nest with my tongue-in-cheek Archie Bunker-on-steroids BH post, “My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican.” Lefties called it Reaffirmation With Senator Smalley, which I expected. But Righties nearly wet their pants in fear, which I did not expect in the least. Where’s the pioneering spirit, self-confidence and gutter-level humor that founded this country?

People, this is OUR Fortress Hollywood! This is OUR sanctuary! Since when the hell do we care about what demagogues like Keith Olbermann think or say? Or any other mental tinfoil hat Lefties like Garofalo for that matter? It’s like Churchill worrying about Hitler calling him a fat cigar-chomping drunk! Who won that fight, and why? And who was in the right, despite all the insipid name-calling?

Time to grow a pair, people. It’s also time to raise the stakes. Now, I’ve heard from some contributors here at BH that it is really bad in Hollywood in places. That people might even lose their jobs if they spoke up like I do here. If true, that’s McCarthyism at its worst. Fortunately, that’s not my experience. I still have great relationships with people in the biz who could care less about politics. All they care about is finding great scripts or literary works to adapt, and telling great stories on film.

And that is where the battle really needs to be fought: on their playing ground. An insurgency of ideas, if you will. Example. Just under the Big Hollywood sign today, I saw the banner “TNT’s ‘The Closer’ Thrives on Strong Moral Foundation.” That PJM-linked article describes how The Closer, a show that portrays the border, the illegals situation, and even the cops themselves in very gritty and realistic fashion, is the top-rated scripted show on ad-supported cable since its inception. (more…)

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Tags: Academy, Afghanistan, al qaeda, American Gangster, AMPAS
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 10:22 am in Classic Hollywood, Film, Politics, Religion | 184986103 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/07/21/taking-the-fight-to-the-left/Story+and+the+Power+of+Conservative+Themes+in+Film2009-07-21+17%3A22%3A45John+T.+Simpson

Hollywood Head Game

Ava Gardner had rich lustrous hair, but in this glamor photo from the 50’s, Ava is transformed into a sensual bird of prey.

Step into an Orthodox synagogue on Shabbat, the Sabbath, and you’ll notice that married women cover their hair, donning hats, scarves, or sometimes just an elegant patch of lace. Hat variations are endless, and to yours truly, fascinating.

In Israel, you can usually pinpoint a woman’s religious and political ideology—Modern Orthodox, Right Wing Hasidic, Hippie Hasidic, Orthodox Feminist, Black Hat Orthodox, Gun Toting Settler (totally hot!)—by noting the head gear she favors.

(more…)

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Tags: Betty Grable, Carrie Prejean, Chana Gittel, Dolores Costello, Hollywood millinery
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 6:56 am in Classic Hollywood | 18679868 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/21/hollywood-head-game/Hollywood+Head+Game2009-07-21+13%3A56%3A27Robert+J.+Avrech

Hollywood Unmasked: Latin Lover is Kosher Butcher’s Son

Ricardo Cortez (1899-1977) was a handsome and talented leading man whose image, in the silent era, was that of a hot-blooded Latin lover.

In truth, his name was Jacob Krantz, the son of a kosher butcher, born and raised in the mean streets of New York’s Lower East Side.

Cortez worked as a runner on Wall Street while training to be an actor at night.  Soon his good looks afforded him an opportunity to break into the young but flourishing movie business. Paramount groomed the tall and handsome Cortez by giving him bit parts, and then moving him up to more substantial roles.

One of the more interesting glimpses into Cortez’s career and character comes from a 1965 interview Cortez granted to silent film historian Kevin Brownlow, published in The Parade’s Gone By. Brownlow was seeking information regarding director D.W. Griffith. Cortez had starred in Griffith’s The Sorrows of Satan (1926).

(more…)

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Tags: Alma Rubens, Bebe Daniels, D.W. Griffith, Greta Garbo, Irene Dunne
Posted Jul 14th 2009 at 6:43 am in Classic Hollywood | 18018226 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/14/hollywood-unmasked-latin-lover-is-kosher-butchers-son/Hollywood+Unmasked%3A+Latin+Lover+is+Kosher+Butcher%27s+Son+2009-07-14+13%3A43%3A16Robert+J.+Avrech

Reborn on the Fourth of July

Every Independence Day, L.B. Mayer (1884 – 1957) would shut down production at MGM and celebrate twin holidays: America’s birth, and the birthday of L.B. Mayer.

Flags and bunting graced every building and sound stage. There was band music and rows of picnic tables groaning under the weight of food.

L.B. Mayer, a man without a birth date

Every MGM star was expected to attend and pay homage to America-and to L.B. Mayer. For in Mayer’s mind, the two were inseparable. All complied, except Greta Garbo, a woman far too narcissistic to lavish attention on any country or person other than her own mirrored island.

Though Yiddish was his first language, L.B. Mayer delivered a rousing Fourth of July speech. Mayer could be a forceful English speaker, mixing deeply personal anecdotes—usually about his beloved mother—and soaring rhetoric about his adopted home, America.

(more…)

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Tags: Anne Rutherford, Assimilation, Colleen Moore, Fourth of July, Jewish Studio Moguls
Posted Jul 4th 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story | 17423828 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ravrech/2009/07/04/reborn-on-the-fourth-of-july/Reborn+on+the+Fourth+of+July2009-07-04+14%3A03%3A47Robert+J.+Avrech

Malden Brought Depth, Morals to Film Roles

Actor Karl Malden, who died at age 97, was a fine performer who stood for good principles and conveyed a sense of moral responsibility in his performances.

Malden was instrumental in pushing the Motion Picture Academy to give a lifetime achievement award to writer-director Elia Kazan, who directed Malden in perhaps his best and most memorable role, that of Father Berry in “On the Waterfront.”

Kazan had been an outcast in Hollywood for several decades before the 1999 award, because of his opposition to communism. Malden’s support of him carried a great risk of ostracism by Hollywood’s political correctness police.

A measure of Malden’s integrity is that he was married to the same woman for seventy years and was surrounded by family members when he died. (more…)

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Tags: "One-Eyed Jacks", "The Streets of San Francisco", Baby Doll, communism, Elia Kazan
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 at 7:03 am in Classic Hollywood | 17547028 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/07/03/malden-brought-depth-moral-responsibility-to-film-roles/Malden+Brought+Depth%2C+Morals+to+Film+Roles2009-07-03+14%3A03%3A45S.T.+Karnick

Karl Malden Has Died

Some of you might remember the 1999 Academy Awards, the year the great Elia Kazan was finally given an honorary Oscar. The decision to honor Kazan was met with controversy and anger, especially among those who pride themselves on their tolerance, open-mindedness, charity and forgiveness. You see, before Kazan knew better he flirted with Communism, but being a true liberal with an open mind, after learning of the horrors of Stalin’s regime he turned against it and then committed a Hollywood sin worse than furthering an ideology responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths, he named names.

Knowing full well what it would mean, it was Karl Malden, a former Academy President, who proposed and publicly pushed for Kazan to receive this long overdue tribute. And that, along with a 70-year marriage, says an awful lot about the man.

The actor was just as impressive. The simple way to describe him would be as a beefy everyman, but that too easily dismisses a natural and very real screen presence that made him one of the most recognizable faces in the country. Malden worked with some of the most powerful actors of the last fifty years, Brando, McQueen, George C. Scott, Burt Lancaster, and yet he never got lost in the scene. He knew how to watch another actor, he knew how to listen and this kept our eye on him as we waited for what he’d do next. (more…)

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Tags: Baby Doll, Elia Kazan, Fear Strikes Out, Karl Malden, Streecar Named Desire
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 at 11:07 am in Classic Hollywood, News | 17541815 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/02/karl-malden-has-died/Karl+Malden+Has+Died2009-07-02+18%3A07%3A26John+Nolte

‘Meet John Doe’ and the Old Fakearoo

Dear Reader,

Do you have a little time to sit back and examine a classic movie that will absolutely shock you when seen through the prism of now? This is not my typical short article or essay. This is my own argument that what occurs in the 1941 picture “Meet John Doe” is exactly what has come to pass in America today with the Democratic Congress and their Presidential puppet. All the players and plays are clearly represented here and I was lucky enough to find the entire movie available on YouTube in small 7-10 minute scenes. I have selected only the scenes that I feel you must watch. But please, by all means, Netflix this movie before someone bans it.

“Meet John Doe” was released in 1941, written by Robert Riskin and based upon a treatment titled “The Life and Death of John Doe,” written by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell.  The film was directed by Frank Capra. The plot of the movie clearly shows how a media conspiracy could get a President elected and use him to “turn out the lights on freedom.” The similarity between the movie’s plot and today’s political situation is surreal. Add in the fact that Gary Cooper’s “John Doe” is modeled after Jesus Christ and you’ll be even more chilled at how a power hungry, ruthless political party figures out how to use a fake version of Him for their own gain. The claim by liberals that this is the practice of the religious right will be shattered once you’ve watched all the clips posted here. (more…)

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Tags: Barbara Stanwyck, Capra Corn, conservative hollywood, D.B. Norton, Edward Arnold
Posted Jun 30th 2009 at 11:10 am in Classic Hollywood | 860382 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmcgruther/2009/06/30/the-old-fakearoo/%27Meet+John+Doe%27+and+the+Old+Fakearoo2009-06-30+18%3A10%3A19Michael+McGruther

Ed McMahon – When Late Night Television Was Young

Picture it.  After passing through the Pearly Gates, Ed McMahon spots his long time friend and TV partner.  With a wide grin and outstretched arms, he greets him. “Heeere’s Johnny!” The affable, genial, self-described “Second Banana” to Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show,” has passed away at age 86.

In a November 2007 radio interview I did on The Andrea Shea King Show with McMahon to talk about his then newly published book “When Television Was Young, Live, Spontaneous and in Living Black and White,” we talked about his life, and what it was like to share the NBC “Tonight Show” set with The King of Late Night.

McMahon was dealing with a bout of layrngitis, but it didn’t stop him from opening the interview with the famous words that announced to American viewers it was time for their eagerly anticipated nightly entertainment — “Heeere’s Johnny!” (more…)

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Tags: bette midler, Ed Ames, Ed McMahon, johnny carson, Robin Williams
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 at 12:20 pm in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story | 1673468 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/asking/2009/06/23/ed-mcmahon-when-late-night-television-was-young/Ed+McMahon+-+When+Late+Night+Television+Was+Young2009-06-23+19%3A20%3A26Andrea+Shea+King

The Strings of Judy Garland’s Heart

Thirty years after Judy Garland-”Dorothy”-first publicly performed “Over the Rainbow” on June 29, 1939, previewing the soon-to-be-released Wizard of Oz, this quintessential girl-next-door reached for more sleeping pills and hoped-for sleep, only to be, mercifully, granted eternal rest.

She always wanted to be “glamorous,” forgetting her far-surpassing appeal as the very essence of America. 

Her story, the final earthly chapter ending forty years ago today, embodies American triumph and tragedy.  

Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, her life nearly ended in 1921 after her parents’ marriage was rocked by revelations of her father’s homosexual infidelity. 

But, family physician Dr. Marcus Rabwin told Frank Gumm, “you go back to your wife and tell her I said she must have this baby.”  The “powerful” Garland “force field,” as fellow MGM star Ann Miller put it, was evidently already at work.  (more…)

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Tags: Frances Gumm, judy garland, MGM, mickey rooney, Strike up the Band
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 at 3:21 pm in Classic Hollywood, Music | 166126One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mckendall/2009/06/22/the-strings-of-judy-garland%e2%80%99s-heart/The+Strings+of+Judy+Garland%E2%80%99s+Heart+2009-06-22+22%3A21%3A49Mary+Claire+Kendall