Picture of the Day | Hollywood Yesterday

Marilyn Monroe, How to Marry a Millionaire Publicity Photo

April 29, 2022 By Joi

Marilyn Monroe, How to Marry a Millionaire

I love Marilyn Monroe to distraction… not just for her beauty, brains, style, and lasting legacy to my beloved old Hollywood. Heck, none of these are even the main reason I such a huge fan of hers. I love her for her film performances first and foremost. She has a truly wonderful filmography and gave one excellent performance after the other.

People often (bizarrely) try to compare her to Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, and other actresses. This is such a shame because it’d be like comparing Jerry Lewis to James Cagney… different roles call for different types of actors/actresses. She (same for Jerry Lewis) gave exactly what was needed from her for each and every role.

In the same way you may not be able to see her in, say, a Bette Davis role… you could also flip it and say you couldn’t really see Bette Davis in a Marilyn Monroe role. There’s room enough in old Hollywood for all types of stars and movies would be incredibly boring if they were all the same.

Marilyn Monroe’s performance in How to Marry a Millionaire is one of my favorite performances – of hers or anyone’s for that matter. She brings the perfect amount of vulnerability, humor, and genuine lovableness (I know, spellcheck, it isn’t a word… but I’m making it one) to the role of Pola. Truth be told, I think she’s the best thing about the movie – though all of the performances are wonderful.

The popular and fun comedy also includes Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Cameron Mitchell, Alexander D’Arcy, Fred Clark, and William Powell.

You can find How to Marry a Millionaire (Amazon link) on dvd for your collection or watch the movie on Prime Video.

How to Marry a Millionaire Movie Poster:

How to Marry a Millionaire Movie Poster (Amazon link)

Joseph Cotten, Loretta Young, Ethel Barrymore, and Charles Bickford: The Farmer’s Daughter

April 27, 2022 By Joi

Joseph Cotten and Loretta Young

When I first sat down to watch The Farmer’s Daughter, I was a little afraid that a blonde Loretta Young, faking a Swedish accent would be a great distraction. Although I love her to distraction, I honestly wondered, “Why didn’t they simply get a blonde Swedish actress WITH an accent already built in?!”

Inside of 10 minutes, I knew why… there’s simply no role Loretta Young could not play. In no time, I was completely buying everything she was selling. She managed the accent perfectly, never over or under doing it and she wore the blonde hair exquisitely.

The VERY entertaining film was directed by H.C. Potter and stars Loretta Young, Ethel Barrymore, Joseph Cotten, and the always wonderful Charles Bickford. It’s a wonderful story, brought to life by an outstanding cast. The entire cast had a magic-like rapport and the chemistry between Joseph Cotten & Loretta Young AND Ethel Barrymore & Charles Bickford is palpable.

The casting department struck gold with this cast.

You can find the wonderful The Farmer’s Daughter on dvd (Amazon link)… and if you love great movies, with wonderful storytelling and extraordinary casts, you should do just that!

Ethel Barrymore and Charles Bickford

Maureen O’Hara and Errol Flynn, Against All Flags (I Love this Swashbuckling Film so Much!)

April 26, 2022 By Joi

Maureen O’Hara

Against All Flags isn’t just one of my favorite Maureen O’Hara movies and favorite Swashbuckling films, it’s also one of my favorite of Errol Flynn’s performances. He’s wonderful in this role. He plays his character with wonderful layers and takes full advantage of the opportunity to show off his comedic skills.

Errol Flynn was one of those stars who was equally wonderful with drama and comedy. Many stars (in spite of possibly being great with both) were better with one of the other. For example, I think Cary Grant was better with comedy. I recently saw two Errol Flynn films (both re-watches) back-to-back, Silver River and Against All Flags and was struck by his brilliance in both genres.

Maureen O’Hara was, of course, also brilliant in all genres and she’s wonderful (as always) in this swashbuckler. She was such a beautiful actress, too, and it’s on full, colorful display in this film!

You can find Against All Flags on dvd and Blu-ray (Amazon link).

Errol Flynn

Jennifer Jones, Duel in the Sun Promotional Pictures

April 25, 2022 By Joi

Jennifer Jones

The beautiful and talented Jennifer Jones is, sadly, nowhere near as well-known today as she should be. It’s baffling because she had it ALL going on for her. These publicity photos are from the 1946 Western Duel in the Sun, produced by her then-husband David O. Selznick. They were married from 1949 to his death in 1965.

Duel in the Sun is a wonderful film and co-stars Joseph Cotten, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Lilian Gish, Charles Bickford, Walter Huston, and Herbert Marshall.

You can find Duel in the Sun on dvd and Blu-ray (Amazon link).

Jennifer Jones

Marlene Dietrich: The Garden of Allah Promotional Pictures

April 22, 2022 By Joi

Marlene Dietrich, The Garden of Allah

The wonderful Marlene Dietrich simply doesn’t get enough attention these days. Beautiful, poised, stylish, unique, talented, and brilliant – she was the sort of star we should all be talking about on the daily, shouldn’t we?!

Frustratingly enough, most people tend to talk more about stars who were surrounded by controversy and drama, either in life or death (sometimes both). Marlene pretty much stayed in her own lane and didn’t invite a lot of drama into her life. She lived a long, colorful life and died at the grand age of 90.

Another thing that keeps Marlene Dietrich from being mentioned in the same breath as Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Katharine Hepburn is the fact that her films aren’t shown nearly as often as the other actresses’ films are.

I would love to see her films shown more on television and to be more readily available for streaming. I’m convinced that the more we talk about a star, the more networks and streaming services will receive requests for their films. Marlene Dietrich is one of the ones I’m really focusing my energies on (along with Ann Dvorack and Ann Sheridan – a few of my other favorites).

You can find The Garden of Allah (Amazon link) on dvd and blu-ray. It isn’t available on Prime Video, unfortunately… yet!

Marlene Dietrich

Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai

April 21, 2022 By Joi

Rita Hayworth, The Lady from Shanghai

I don’t post many photos from or information about The Lady from Shanghai and I honestly have no idea why! Rita Hayworth gives such a wonderful performance in the film – truth be told, I love her performance more than I do the movie, itself. She’s truly remarkable in it.

The 1947 film-noir was based on a novel by Sherwood King and was directed by Orson Welles, who also wrote the screenplay and stars alongside Rita.

While Rita and Orson are most certainly the stars of the show, the drama also includes Everett Sloane, Ted de Corsia, and Glenn Anders.

You can find The Lady from Shanghai on dvd or Blu-ray (Amazon link) or watch the drama unfold on Prime Video.

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, The Lady from Shanghai

The Lady from Shanghai Scroll Movie Poster

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, Beautiful Promotional Photo for The Quiet Man

April 20, 2022 By Joi

John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man

While I love absolutely every movie John Wayne made, every movie Maureen O’Hara made, and most movies directed by John Ford (didn’t care for Mogambo), when the three teamed up, magic happened.

In addition to directing Maureen O’Hara in How Green was my Valley and John Wayne in MANY movies, John Ford directed the legendary cinematic pair in Rio Grande and The Quiet Man. While both movies are spectacular, The Quiet Man is absolutely magical – one of the best movies ever made… possibly THE best in my opinion.

The Quiet Man stars John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen, Mildred Natwick, and Maureen O’Hara’s own brothers James O’Hara and Charles B. Fitzsimons. It also stars one of the most beautiful scene-stealers I’ve ever seen, Ireland.

If you haven’t seen this uncommonly stunning movie yet, I hope you won’t let another day pass before you treat yourself to it’s beauty, magic, and perfection.

You can find The Quiet Man (Collector’s DVD on Amazon) on dvd or watch on Prime Video.

John Wayne, Stagecoach Promotional Picture

April 19, 2022 By Joi

John Wayne, Stagecoach

As far as I’m concerned, one of the best Westerns ever made was Stagecoach (1939). The cast includes John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, George Bancroft, Louise Platt, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill.

The outstanding cast was directed by the wonderful John Ford and is absolutely a perfect film.

You can find Stagecoach on dvd (Amazon link) or watch the movie on Prime Video. I simply CANNOT recommend this one enough – the “entry scene” for John Wayne is one of the best character introductions in the history of film.

Barbara Hale: Born on this Day in 1922!

April 18, 2022 By Joi

Barbara Hale and Raymond Burr in Perry Mason

One of my favorites, Barbara Hale, was born on this day in 1922 in DeKalb, Illinois. While she is best-known (and loved) as Della Street from Perry Mason, Barbara Hale also made a great number of films, many of which were Westerns (which means I’m certainly familiar with her filmography!).

The most recent role I enjoyed her in was in A Lion is in the Streets (1953, directed by Raoul Walsh). The movie co-starred James Cagney, Jeanne Cagney, Anne Francis, Lon Chaney Jr, John McIntire, and Warner Anderson and was pretty good. However, make no mistake about it… Barbara Hale was (as was the case with quite a few of her movies) better than the film she was in.

Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean I don’t recommend watching this film (or any of the others). In fact, the opposite is true. I’d LOVE for more people to see this remarkable actress in her film roles. She’ll blow you away. You won’t believe the number of times she steals scenes right out from under movie legends.

Truth is, she kind of made a habit of it!

The photos in this post are of her and the wonderful Raymond Burr in the roles they made famous: Perry Mason and Della Street. The extraordinary television series ran for 9 seasons, from 1957–1966. There were also many “Made for TV” Perry Mason movies which were all out of this world.

Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale

You can find Perry Mason on Prime Video (the series and movies) and, if you’re also a collector, the dvds are also available on Amazon (Amazon link).

You can also find the Complete Perry Mason Movie Collection (Amazon link) – the next purchase I, personally, plan to make!

Barbara Hale and Raymond Burr

Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn in Silver River

April 12, 2022 By Joi

Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn in Silver River

Ann Sheridan and Errol Flynn are, individually, two of my favorite stars. They’re also, combined, one of my favorite movie couples. I love their chemistry a great deal and, personally, think she made as wonderful a leady lady for him as Olivia de Havilland did… which is, of course, absolutely saying something!

Silver River was directed by Raul Walsh and also stars Thomas Mitchell (always wonderful), Bruce Bennett, and Tom D’Andrea (LOVE him in this role).

You can find Silver River on dvd (Amazon link). It’s a very, very good Western with an outstanding cast.