Joi | Hollywood Yesterday

Cabin in the Sky Lobby Card: Cannot Begin to Tell You How Much I Love This One…

July 8, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

I love when a Lobby Card or movie poster don’t just capture the actors and actresses involved but also capture the “energy” of the film. This lobby card for the wonderful Cabin in the Sky does just that. This is a very unique, colorful, and bold musical – one that very much marches to the beat of its own drum. This particular lobby card pretty much announces that to the world!

If you’ve never seen this one, I hope you get a chance to check it out soon. Lena Horne, Ethel Waters, Eddie Anderson, Rex Ingram (outstanding!), and the rest of the cast are breathtakingly good and this film deserves so much more attention than it currently gets.

I’m kind of on a mission to make that happen!

Watch Cabin in the Sky on Amazon Prime or add the dvd to your collection. The dvd linked to, on Amazon, has some of the wonderful artwork above on the cover. Gotta have it for my collection, even though I already have the dvd!

Maureen O’Hara, Behind the Scenes of The Long Gray Line (1955)

July 5, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Maureen O’Hara, The Long Gray Line

The lovely picture above is Maureen O’Hara, behind the scenes of The Long Gray Line. The 1955 film (which can be downright impossible to find on television) was directed by John Ford and also stars Tyrone Power, Robert Francis, Ward Bond, Donald Crisp, Betsey Palmer, Phil Carey, Milburn Stone, Harry Carey, Jr, and Peter Graves.

The movie can also be an absolute nightmare to find on dvd. The only place I’ve found it is on Amazon, as part of a John Ford collection: John Ford – The Columbia Films Collection (link to the collection on Amazon).

Picture of the Day: Maureen O’Hara, The Parent Trap

July 3, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Maureen O’Hara, The Parent Trap

Maureen O’Hara was every bit as gorgeous in The Parent Trap (1961) as she was in her earliest films. The Irish beauty aged as beautifully as any star I’ve seen.

While I love all of her films (okay, love may be a bit strong for “Father was a Fullback”), The Parent Trap has always been one of my favorites. It’s just an especially feel-good movie and all of the performances are wonderful. I also LOVE (this time love isn’t quite strong enough) the chemistry between Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith. They were outstanding together.

You can buy The Parent Trap on Amazon (link to the dvd) or watch it on Prime.

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, The Awful Truth Publicity Photos

June 27, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, The Awful Truth

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are just as adorable and fun in these publicity photos as they are in the film! They had great chemistry and seem to have enjoyed working together.

Usually… not always but usually… when you get two charismatic stars together for one film, magic happens. This is certainly the case with The Awful Truth. It’s extra special – just like its stars.

You can find The Awful Truth (link to the dvd on Amazon) or watch it on Prime.

Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, The Awful Truth

Beautiful Nina Mae McKinney: Often Called the “Black Greta Garbo”

June 27, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Nina Mae McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney was born on June 12, 1912 in Lancaster, South Carolina. Due to the times in which she lived coupled with the fact that she was only 54 when she died, she only has 26 acting credits in her filmography, and sadly 8 are “uncredited” and she is simply known as “chick” in another.

Frustratingly enough, she had the beauty and talent to be a household name, but is relatively forgotten today.

That’s why those of us up to our necks in Old Hollywood are here and stars like Nina Mae McKinney fuel us every bit as much as stars like Audrey Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. I’m having trouble getting my hands on many pictures of beautiful Nina Mae but will post more on Hollywood Yesterday as I get them.

You can learn more about Nina Mae McKinney by reading the biography Nina Mae McKinney: The Black Greta Garbo (link to the book on Amazon) by Stephen Bourne. It’s in my Amazon cart and I can’t wait to add it to my Old Hollywood biographies collection. I’m even more anxious to read it. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know all about it!

What a Beauty!

Beautiful Rita Hayworth, The Loves of Carmen

June 24, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Rita Hayworth, The Loves of Carmen

One of my favorite actresses of ALL time is Rita Hayworth. Love her, love her, love her. She was so much more than just a beautiful face – she was an exceptionally talented actress AND dancer. She was equally wonderful in dramatic roles, lighthearted comedy, and colorful musicals. I’ve seen all of her films and, while some are better than others, every single one was good and worth watching more than once.

Not many stars have a filmography like that!

The Loves of Carmen (1948, written by Charles Vidor) isn’t one of my absolute favorite Rita films, but it is good. She’s great in the role as Carmen… someone you don’t particularly like but you simply can’t look away. It’s funny, she’s the bad girl and Glenn Ford is the good guy… and yet, his character annoys me more than her character does! I mean…. she’s supposed to be bad – we expect that. But for him to be such a simpleton is unforgivable!

I normally love Glenn Ford in every single role, but I honestly don’t care for him in this role. He seems out of place, somehow. Whenever I watch the film, I always wonder if he FELT out of place in the role of if, perhaps, he wasn’t any fonder of his character than I was.

Either way, the film is definitely worth watching (obviously, since I’ve seen it four times, I strongly feel it’s worth watching). Rita is mesmerizing and the film is a visual masterpiece.

Clara Bow’s Last Film…. Hoopla, 1933

June 23, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Clara Bow, Hoopla

The beautiful, colorful, and talented Clara Bow’s last film was Hoopla (1933, directed by Frank Lloyd). She plays Lou, a carnival dancer at a carnival who is bent on seducing Chris Miller, played by Richard Cromwell. After she is paid to make him fall for her… she falls for him.

You can find the photo above as a photo print (perfect for framing) on Amazon. The movie poster is also available on Amazon.

Happy Birthday to Lindsay Wagner (I May be the Biggest fan of The Bionic Woman of All Time…)

June 22, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman

I have always been a huge Lindsay Wagner fan – mainly because of her outstanding role as Jaime Sommers on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. I can still remember when she first showed up as a guest-star on The Six Million Dollar Man (one of my favorite shows – I never missed a minute!) – as soon as she arrived, I was smitten. She was beautiful, funny, and as likable as any character I had ever seen on tv or in movies.

I wanted her to stick around for every episode. Fortunately, the network went one better and gave me The Bionic Woman! Needless to say, it became a huge obsession – never missed an episode and OF COURSE I had the lunch box and doll. I would give just about anything to still have them!

I have to order the complete series on dvd (The Bionic Woman – link to the dvd set on Amazon) and maybe start watching it on Prime until it gets here!

Happiest of birthdays to Lindsay Wagner!

Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman

Henry Fonda: 12 Angry Men Promotional Pictures

June 21, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Henry Fonda, 12 Angry Men

Henry Fonda, incapable of giving anything less than a wonderful performance, was certainly on top of his game in 12 Angry Men (1957). He’s one of the reasons a film that really doesn’t “sound” that interesting is positively spellbinding. You don’t want to look away for a minute!

The cast of 12 Angry Men: Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam, Jack Klugman, Ed Begley, Edward Binns, John Fiedler, E.G. Marshall, Joseph Sweeney, George Voskovec, Jack Warden, Lee J. Cobb, and Robert Webber were the jurors and Rudy Bond was the judge.

11 0f the 12 Angry Men

Maureen O’Hara and Alec Guinness: Our Man in Havana

June 20, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Maureen O’Hara and Alec Guinness

First of all, Alec Guinness is an actor I don’t talk nearly enough about! He was an absolutely wonderful actor and a colorful and classy individual. I think the reason I don’t often talk about this talented actor is a simple enough reason – I haven’t seen many of his films! I need to work on that right away.

I love this behind the scenes photo of him and Maureen O’Hara. It looks like she’s deeply contemplating something (a scene, perhaps… or where to have dinner…) and his expression is priceless as he watches her contemplation.

Maureen O’Hara spoke very, very highly of Alec Guinness in her autobiography and seemed to have enjoyed making this film a great deal. The film also stars Burl Ives, who she was also fond of. Maureen, Ives, and Guinness would frequently have dinner together during filming and she often attended Mass with Guinness.

Our Man in Havana (1959) was directed by Carol Reed and is very much worth finding. You can watch Our Man in Havana on Amazon Prime.

Amazon also has the Our Man in Havana dvd (link to the dvd on Amazon), for those who collect them as I ravenously do!