Barbara Stanwyck | Hollywood Yesterday

Barbara Stanwyck in two Beautiful Promo Pictures for The Lady Eve

June 21, 2021 By Joi Leave a Comment

Barbara Stanwyck

I am LITERALLY in the middle of cooking supper but I just had to publish these two gorgeous pictures of Barbara Stanwyck today. Sweet potatoes and chicken tenders, you can all wait!

These are publicity photos for the excellent The Lady Eve and she is even more stunning than usual.

Now, back to supper while you admire the ridiculously beautiful Barbara! (I want the one above large and framed… I need to make that happen.)

You can find The Lady Eve: The Criterion Collection on Amazon or watch it on Prime Video.

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, The Lady Eve

June 3, 2021 By Joi Leave a Comment

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck

I am really lucky in that many of my favorites didn’t just co-star in films, but they co-starred in WONDERFUL films… films that, not surprisingly are among my favorites.

Maureen O’Hara, John Wayne, and Barry Fitzgerald: The Quiet Man
Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda: Yours, Mine, and Ours
Katharine Hepburn and John Wayne: Rooster Cogburn
James Stewart and Henry Fonda: The Cheyenne Social Club
Maureen O’Hara and Henry Fonda: Spencer’s Mountain
Barbara Stanwyck and S.Z. Sakall, Christmas in Connecticut

There are many others, including the absolutely hilarious (and, to be honest, perfect in every way) 1941 comedy The Lady Eve. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, and Charles Coburn (love them all to distraction), this is one of the all time GREAT movies.

The Lady Eve was directed by the wonderful Preston Sturges who made the absolute most out of having three of Hollywood’s greatest talents of all time.

You can find The Lady Eve: The Criterion Collection on Amazon. It’s also available on Prime Video!

This is one of my all-time favorite movies and, if you haven’t seen it, it might just need to be the next film you see!

Christmas in Connecticut: One of the Best Christmas Classics of All Time

December 5, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Christmas in Connecticut

Those of us who love old movies and classic television, each, often have our own personal missions – stars, films, genres, music, and/or television shows we’d love to help become more popular and more celebrated. I have quite a few stars, genres, music, and movies that fall under my own personal missions heading, including Westerns, Jazz, Dorothy Dandridge, Maureen O’Hara, etc.

One of the movies I desperately want to see become better known and more celebrated is Christmas in Connecticut. It’s so fun, festive, beautiful, and boasts such an extraordinary cast – it deserves to be mentioned alongside other greats such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and White Christmas.

I believe that if it were shown on television as frequently as the others, it’d soon become a household name as well.

The wonderful movie stars Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Godfrey, and one of my favorite character actors ever, the always delightful S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall.

You can find Christmas in Connecticut (link to the dvd) on Amazon or watch it on Prime Video.

Speaking of Christmas… please forgive me for not having as many updates during the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas as usual. I stay so crazy busy during this time (online shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking, baking, baking, baking…) that it doesn’t leave me much time for anything else!

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, The Lady Eve Promotional Photo

June 17, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, The Lady Eve

Usually…. not always, but usually… when one of your favorite actresses and one of your favorite actors team up, the result is a movie you love. It’s certainly the case just about every single time Henry Fonda (one of my absolute favorite actors) teams up with one of my favorite actresses. Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball, Maureen O’Hara, Katharine Hepburn… he and each of these actresses made movie magic!

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck teamed up more than once and, in my opinion, their best movie together is the wonderful The Lady Eve (1941). It’s simply one of the most entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable films ever made.

You can find The Lady Eve on dvd (link to the dvd on Amazon)

Behind the Scenes of The Lady Eve: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Sturges, and Henry Fonda

June 3, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, and Preston Sturges

The Lady Eve (1941, directed by Preston Sturges) stars Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, and Charles Coburn. Four great reasons to see it, even if it wasn’t a wonderful movie! Fortunately, it isn’t just wonderful – it’s absolutely one of the best.

Hilarious, original, unique, and boasts three leads that are completely on top of their game.

(Continued Below the adorable picture…)

The Chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda is palpable and adds an underlying current to an already electric movie. The dialogue, the wardrobe, the acting, the directing… everything about this one is a 100 on a scale of 1-10 and if you’ve never seen it, I hope you will asap. If you have seen it, see it again! Trust me, it gets EVEN better each time you watch it.

You can find The Lady Eve: The Criterion Collection on Amazon. It’s also available on Prime Video!

The Mad Miss Manton: Quirky Comedy Starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda

May 17, 2020 By Joi Leave a Comment

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda Star in The Mad Miss Manton

The Mad Miss Manton (1938) is an especially fun film. When one sees that it stars two of the greatest talents of all time (Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda), they’d be inclined to think it might be a dramatic film – perhaps even bordering on film-noir.

One would be mistaken and it wouldn’t take them long to realize it!

Don’t get me wrong – I love it. I can’t think of anything either of these stars could be involved in that I wouldn’t love, though, so be warned – I may be biased. Having said that, films that allow you to escape into their madcap world of laughs and adventure are the heroes we need right now, aren’t they? Movies that don’t CAUSE extra stress or anxiety but help to ERASE any that may already exist – from… oh, I dunno… a global pandemic?!

Directed by Leigh Jason, The Mad Miss Manton delivers exactly what it sets out to – FUN.

Plot: Barbara Stanwyck plays the beautiful, lively socialite Melsa Manton who discovers a body. When said body disappears, police (as well as the press) think she’s nuts (“mad”) until she proves them wrong.

The chemistry between Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck is palpable – studios would capitalize on this chemistry again in 1941, when the pair made The Lady Eve together.

Every now and then, with my movie reivews or book reviews, I like to remind my readers why mine are so short when others create Literature 101-worthy productions.

This Old Hollywood and Classic TV Blog is only one of my blogs – the others require just as much attention… especially my cat blog. Very clingy blog, that one.
I don’t EVER like to give anything away. I want you to enjoy the adventure of the book, movie, or tv series just as I did.
I don’t play the “long content for Google advantages” game. It’s painfully obvious, kind of pathetic, and an insult to readers.
Mostly… what I think isn’t what’s important. What you think is. And the longer you spend reading what I think of books and movies, the less time you have to enjoy them yourself!

You can find The Mad Miss Manton (Amazon dvd link) on Amazon. I highly recommend it! ~ Joi (“Joy”)

Barbara Stanwyck: Annie Oakley (1935) -Fast Facts and a Priceless Picture

December 9, 2019 By Joi Leave a Comment

Barbara Stanwyck as Annie Oakley

Fast Facts About Annie Oakley (1935):

Jean Arthur turned down the lead role in this film. While I would have been interested in seeing her take on this colorful character, I’m very happy we have Barbara Stanwyck in the role to enjoy forevermore.
The first Western for both director George Stevens and Barbara Stanwyck.
Released less than 10 years after the death of the real Annie Oakley. If you’ve never read about Annie, I hope you’ll do so. She was a fascinating woman, far ahead of her time. And gutsy? Forget about it, the lady had guts to spare!
The working title was Shooting Star. I actually love that – I kind of wish they’d gone with Shooting Star: The Story of Annie Oakley.

Annie Oakley also stars Melvyn Douglas, Preston Foster, Moroni Olsen, Andy Clyde and Pert Kelton.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945): Time for this Movie to Be More Famous!

December 2, 2019 By Joi Leave a Comment

Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan, Christmas in Connecticut

Old Hollywood enthusiasts certainly know (and LOVE) Christmas in Connecticut (Amazon Link). We joyfully list it with our other favorite Christmas films – It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and White Christmas. However, for some reason (that’s beyond me), “mainstream” movie viewers aren’t familiar with it.

Maybe it’s time we start making more noise about this film!

(Continued Below….)

Creative Plot

Barbara Stanwyck stars as journalist Elizabeth Lane. She is a food writer with a popular column runs is one of the country’s most-read magazines. In these columns, she describes herself as a great cook, a hard-working mother… as a woman who runs her home, kitchen, AND farm!

Sounds impressive, right? Unfortunately it’s all lies! She lives (alone) in an apartment in New York and gets all of her recipes from her adorable best friend Felix (played by S.Z. Sakall, in the only way he knows how to play any role… to perfection and deliciously). Truth be told, Elizabeth would probably struggle with boiling water.

The owner of the magazine she works for has decided on a special holiday “angle” for the column: A heroic serviceman will spend his Christmas on Elizabeth’s farm. Obviously… first they’re going to need a farm!

Elizabeth fears that, if the truth comes out, she’ll lose the job she loves, so she gets desperate. Desperate to the tune of “creating” a family, cooking skills, and even the beautiful farm and home.

(Wrapped Up Below….)

Perfect Cast

Joining Barbara Stanwyck and S.Z. Sakall (who’d be plenty in and of themselves) is Sydney Greenstreet (another of my favorites), Dennis Morgan, Reginald Gardiner, and the always wonderful Una O’Connor.

Though he isn’t as well-known as most of the stars around him, Dennis Morgan is absolutely perfect in this role. He plays it to a tee and has noticeable chemistry with beautiful Barbara Stanwyck.

The film is filled with laughs, loves, and plenty of Christmas spirit and charm. If you’ve never seen Christmas in Connecticut (Amazon Link), check it out right away. If you have seen it…. you know what I’m fixing to say… see it again!

Lobby card with Barbara Stanwyck, Sk Sakall & Reginald Gardiner

Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent: Baby Face Promotional Photo

November 30, 2019 By Joi Leave a Comment

Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent, Baby Face

Barbara Stanwyck is one of my absolute favorite stars of all time – she wasn’t just wonderful, she was electric. Baby Face (1933) is one of my favorite films and one of my favorite Barbara Stanwyck performances. It’s also the film that made me a George Brent fan. I had seen him in a few Bette Davis movies (he was her favorite leading man), and had always liked him well enough, but this film made me a really big fan of his and caused me to see what Bette Davis saw in him!

Baby Face is a MUST HAVE for collectors but can be hard to find, individually on dvd. Most of the time you have to buy a Barbara Stanwyck collection… something I never mind doing!

Barbara Stanwyck Posters

June 11, 2018 By Joi Leave a Comment

As I’ve often said on Hollywood Yesterday – I have no idea why some Old Hollywood actresses and actors are so much easier to find when shopping. If you’re looking for a Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn handbag, for example – your only problem will be deciding which one to buy! However, if you’re in the market for a Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, or Joan Crawford handbag… well… good luck.

Now don’t get me wrong… I love Marilyn and Audrey as much as anyone… but I want to see more collectibles and merchandise for my other favorites as well.

James Dean or John Wayne? No problem, Pilgrim. But Jimmy Stewart, Glenn Ford, or Clark Gable (outside of GWTW)? Not so easy.

I mean – who decides these things?!

Okay, I’ll climb down off of my soapbox and calm the heck down.

I’m going to start highlighting and posting more posters, collectibles, and “gifts” that feature some of these harder to find stars. Maybe if we buy up enough of them, people will get the idea and give us more.

I’m willing to try!

The gorgeous poster above and the one below are of a personal favorite, Barbara Stanwyck. They’re both available on Amazon – click through the links for a closer look.

How gorgeous was she??!