When I was a child growing up during the 50’s and 60’s, there really was an Easter parade up and down the streets of my beloved Brooklyn neighborhood. Off to church went our Christian neighbors, the working class men tugging uncomfortably at their ties, the little girls skipping along in their shiny Mary Janes. But it was the grown women, resplendent in new and colorful Easter bonnets, that stole the show.

Indeed, there was a time when a well dressed lady would never leave home without proper chapeau and gloves.

Hollywood stars of the Golden Age, were keenly aware they were part of a dream machine. Thus, even when not in front of the camera they worked hard at projecting a glamorous and refined image. Let’s step into the Big Hollywood time machine and look at a few stars posing in memorable hats.

Madge Bellamy seems to be channeling Napoleon. A huge Hollywood star in the early 20’s, most of Bellamy’s early silent work has been lost. But you can still see her in starring roles in John Ford’s Iron Horse (1924) and Maurice Tourneur’s Lorna Doone (1922). In the sound era, Madge’s most famous role is as Madeleine Parker, in White Zombie, with Bela Lugosi (1932), a cult classic. Tragically, Madge was one of the most self-destructive Hollywood stars of all time. In 1943 Madge shot her lover, Stanwood Murphy. The massive publicity and resulting scandal destroyed her already sputtering career. Regarding the shooting Madge said: “I only winged him, which is what I meant to do. Believe me, I’m a crack shot.”

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Another Easter season comes and goes without a single offering from mainstream Hollywood to attract oh, say, a billion or so believers into theatres. We’re not political, they say. We’re not agenda-driven, they say. Our choices are based on profit, they say. We have to appeal to an international audience, they say.

Right.

“The Pink Panther” sequel no one asked for we get, but where’s, “The Passion II: Acts of the Apostles?”  –and anyone familiar with the Bible knows I’m not joking.

Once again Hollywood steps over dollars to make pennies on “Observe and Report” and we’re forced to return to a more tolerant Hollywood on DVD. Congratulate me, tomorrow I celebrate my first year as a Roman Catholic and here are my five favorites over this Holy Week. (more…)