Steve McQueen 30th Anniversary Event

(c) Jules Verne Adventures

Jules Verne Adventures is organizing a tribute to the "King of Cool," Steve McQueen, to take place on November 11, 2010 at the Arclight Hollywood.  This November will mark 30 years from McQueen's death, who died at the early age of 50.  

To honor McQueen, Jules Verne Adventures will be doing a special screening of the film BULLITT, to be shown in the historic Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. In attendance will be McQueen's son Chad McQueen and grandson Steven R. McQueen (Vampire Diaries) to accept an award on Steve McQueen's behalf. Other celebrities and special guests who will be at the screening include Ali MacGraw, Jacqueline Bisset, and music composer Lalo Schifrin and I'm sure there will be others.

Here are the specifics:

When: Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 7pm

Where: Arclight Hollywood, Cinerama Dome - 6360 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, Ca

Cost: $25 General Admission / VIP tickets $45

For more info visit: www.julesverne.org

But wait, there's more!

Four days earlier, there will be a special kick-off event on Sunday, November 7, at 11am. Jules Verne Adventures is also organizing a Steve McQueen Motor Parade with Chad McQueen leading the way. This parade will be open to Jaguar, Mustang and Porsche owners if you want to register your car to participate. If you just want to watch, the parade will start at the intersection of Highland and Santa Monica Blvd.

Criss Cross (1949) - Film Locations

Criss Cross (1949) (C) Universal International Pictures

In the 1940s noir film, Criss Cross, Burt Lancaster plays Steve Thompson, a man still deeply in love with his ex-wife, Anna, performed by the alluring Yvonne De Carlo. In the film, Lancaster returns to Los Angeles to rekindle his relationship with De Carlo, however, there is one major problem - De Carlo marries mobster Slim Dundee. Despite the threat of the mob, Lancaster and De Carlo carry on an affair.

When the mob discovers Lancaster and De Carlo together, Lancaster attempts to avert the mob's attention to another matter - an armored truck heist. What the mob considers to be an impossible robbery, suddenly becomes possible after Lancaster reveals to the mob that he is an armored truck driver and he could be their inside man. Not until the robbery is midway does the mob realize they've been criss-crossed by Lancaster.

There are some great Los Angeles locations used in the film. Most notable are locations in what used to be the Bunker Hill neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles and Union Station. Here are a few of those locations:

Lancaster gets off trolley at Hill Street Tunnel near Temple Street

Temple @ Hill Street, (c) 2011 Google

The Hill Street Tunnel was demolished in the 1950s.

Lancaster walks up stairs along Hill Street Tunnel

Lancaster inside Union Station, Los Angeles

Information booth inside Union Station.

De Carlo enters Union Station

Restaurant entrance, Union Station

Lancaster spots De Carlo entering Union Station.

Information Booth, Union Station, Los Angeles

Lancaster leaves Union Station.

Entrance to Union Station

Lancaster walks up sidewalk in front of Union Station.

Outside Union Station

Lancaster at entrance to Union Station near

Alameda Avenue. City Hall in Background.

Alameda Avenue in front of Union Station.

Tip of Los Angeles City Hall in background.

Lancaster leans against Union Station Sign.

Union Station Sign on Right.

Bob Hope's "Laugh Makers"

"The Laugh Makers," by Robert Mills

Bob Hope was known for his one-liners, but a lot of those great jokes he is remembered for came from a group of writers and gag men that Hope had working for him behind-the-scenes. Hope was so in demand during his career that he constantly needed new material, which is why he kept so many jokesters on his payroll. Author Robert Mills and former Hope gag writer, will be discussing his book "The Laugh Makers," all about Hope's funny-men, at the Burbank Public Library on November 4. So, if you want to hear the behind the scenes story on Bob Hope's humor you should mark your calendar for this event.

Of course, as we all know, jokes don't make a person funny, it's how a person tells a joke. Hope was the master of comic delivery. He had such superb timing and the ability to ad-lib, that even when a joke didn't play well, he could still make something out of it. For this reason Hope was constantly being called upon to emcee different events, whether it be the Academy Awards, some banquet in Washington, or entertaining the troops.

Here are a few Hope one-liners:

"A James Cagney love scene is one where he lets the other guy live."

"Please don't stand up on my account." - To a group of amputees.

"I thought Deep Throat was a movie about a giraffe."

"Golf is a game that needlessly prolongs the lives of some of our most useless citizens."

"I do benefits for all religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality."

"Zsa Zsa Gabor got married as a one-off and it was so successful she turned it into a series."

Here are the details on Robert Mills's appearance at the Burbank Public Library

Who: Author and gag writer, Robert Mills

What: Discussing book, "The Laugh Makers"

Where: Buena Vista Branch Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St, Burbank, California

When: Thursday, November 4, at 7pm

An Evening With Cass Warner

Robby and Cass Warner Sperling

Last week I had the privilege to attend "An Evening with Cass Warner Sperling" at Ramsey's At The Club in Burbank, California, where Cass discussed her book, "The Brothers Warner" and her documentary film of the same name. Both the book and the film tell the extraordinary story of the Warner Brothers, the men who went on to create the iconic company that bears their name. I have yet to finish reading the book, but I have seen the film, and what I enjoyed most about the documentary is that it focuses more on the men, rather than on the corporation that the men started. The business is just one of the characters in the story. 

Now, Cass is the granddaughter of Harry Warner, so she brings an insiders perspective to the history of the Warner Brothers. At the event, one of the most touching stories Cass had to share was about the last time she saw her grandpa Harry. When Cass was ten years old she went to visit her ill grandpa Harry at a Bel Air mansion where a nurse was taking care of him. The nurse lead Cass into the room where Harry was resting. Harry did not vocally respond when he learned that his granddaughter was in the room - he couldn't speak - but his eyes found Cass and they concentrated on her. Harry reached across the bed and grabbed his granddaughter's hand. Cass says that between the look in his eyes and the way Harry squeezed her hand, it was as if he was passing a message. 

Years later, Cass would interpret the message to mean that Harry wanted her to carry on and share Harry's ideals. Harry's and the Warner Brothers's motto was "to educate, entertain, and enlighten" and Cass is certainly following that motto with the projects she is involved with.

To learn more about "The Brothers Warner" book, film, and other projects that Cass Warner is involved with check out these links:

www.thebrotherswarner.com and www.warnersisters.com

Your thoughts?

April in Paris (1952) - Film Locations

Doris Day & Ray Bolger, April in Paris (1952)

The first stars that come to mind when most people think of classic Hollywood male dancers are usually Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. It's almost like a Beatles vs. Stones relationship. You're either in one camp or the other. Then you have someone like Ray Bolger, one of my favorite hoofers, who is often forgotten or less appreciated. To use the rock band analogy, Bolger would be The Kinks, that group where you go, "They did all that?!"

Bolger is usually remembered for his performance as the Scarecrow in the The Wizard of Oz. Another film you can see Bolger's fancy footwork where he is not made up in so much make-up is April in Paris, which also stars Doris Day. In the film Doris Day plays a chorus girl who is selected to represent the United States at an art exposition in Paris, however, the invitation was intended for Ethel Barrymore, not Day's character. Bolger plays a member of the State Department that made the mistake and tries desperately to correct it.

Although Day is clearly the bigger star in this film, two of my favorite scenes are song and dance numbers featuring Bolger. One has Bolger imagining himself as President of the United States and in another he is drunk on champagne and dancing in the kitchen of an ocean liner.

April in Paris is a Warner Bros. film and I believe one of the early scenes where Bolger visits a New York City theatre (the Knickerbocker) to confront Day about the mistake that has been made, was actually filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot. Below are images comparing the present appearance of this area of the WB backlot with the theatre as it appears in the film. This facade has been used numerous times in films, a few of which I have shown on this blog - check out my A Star is Born (1954) post to see this theatre facade used for Judy Garland's film premiere.

April in Paris, Knickerbocker Theatre

Warner Bros. Backlot, Theatre Facade (2010)

April in Paris, Knickerbocker Theatre

Ray Bolger outside the Knickerbocker

Early Homes and Studios of Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Here are some of the locations that Walt Disney lived and worked at when he first arrived in Los Angeles. This was part of a post I did a while back for another blog but wanted to incorporate here.

In 1923, Walt Disney, unable to get the funds needed to keep his Laugh-O-gram cartoon business going, decided to file for bankruptcy. At the urging of his older brother Roy, he left the Kansas City business behind and boarded a train for California. Roy, because of health reasons, was already living in California, staying at a veterans hospital in west Los Angeles. Their uncle Robert Disney had retired to Los Angeles and was living in the Los Feliz neighborhood. When Walt arrived in California he stayed at his uncle Robert's place at 4406 Kingswell Avenue.

Uncle Robert Disney's Home, 4406 Kingswell Ave

Walt first came to Los Angeles, not with the idea of creating another cartoon business, but with ambitions of becoming a director at one of the major studios. Walt even had business cards created that said he was a Kansas City representitive for Universal and Selznick newsreels so he could hand them out to people at the studios. On one occaision Walt handed a secretary at Universal one of his cards and requested a pass to the studio - which he was granted. 

After trying to get a job as a director with no success, Walt was ready to settle for any job at one of the studios, but was told there were no openings. Finally, Walt figured if he was going to get into the entertainment business he would have to go back to cartoons.

Walt set up shop in uncle Robert's garage and started by making cartoon joke reels for movie theatre chains. He would eventually start making what would become the Alice Comedies, cartoons that featured a live girl in a cartoon world.

Around this time Walt moved out of Uncle Robert's house and into the Olive Hill Apartments where he stayed for about a month, and then moved to a cheaper place at 4409 Kingswell Avenue that he shared with his brother Roy. The apartment is almost directly across the street from Robert's home.

Walt and Roy then rented a room in an office building on Kingswell Avenue, just a couple blocks from their apartment, to create their cartoons. The men called their business the Disney Bros. Studio.

Walt & Roy Disney's Apartment, 4409 Kingswell Ave

Disney Bros. Studio

Disney Bros. Studio Kingswell Ave

Disney's Alice Comedies would become a hit and Walt would need to hire other artists to help create his cartoons. One of Walt's early employees, an ink-and-paint girl named Lillian, would later become his wife. In 1925, after little more than a year of courtship, Walt and Lillian married.

Roy had married his sweetheart about a year earlier and had moved out of the apartment he shared with Walt. When Walt and Lillian married they moved into a small apartment located on Melbourne Avenue, close to the studio on Kingswell, and then later to a larger apartment on Commonwealth Avenue.

With the success of the Alice Comedies, Walt and Roy put a deposit down for land and an office building on Hyperion Avenue, in the Silver Lake neighborhood. The Disney's planned to grow their business here, and they would, but it would not be easy.

The Disney's would move the studio from the Kingswell location to the Hyperion office. They moved on from the Alice Comedies and introduced a new character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which also proved to be popular with audiences. With the popularity of Oswald, Walt asked his distributor Charles Mintz for an increase in budget, only to learn that they wanted to decrease Walt's budget by 20 percent. Walt also learned that he didn't own the rights to Oswald, Mintz did, and he had hired away most of Walt's staff.

Walt, with his few loyal artists, would finish their contract with Mintz and complete the last of the Oswald cartoons while secretly working on a new character - Mickey Mouse. Mickey would prove to be more popular than anything Walt had done up to that point.

Below is an image of the Walt Disney Studios in the Silver Lake neighborhood and the site as it appears today (the studio is demolished and a grocery store stands in its place). It is at this studio that the early Mickey cartoons, Silly Symphonies, and the first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were all created. After the success of Snow White, the Walt Disney Studios would move to a new location in Burbank, a few miles away.

 

Walt Disney Studios, 2719 Hyperion Avenue

 

Former site of Walt Disney Studios, Hyperion Avenue

Walt Disney Studios, 2719 Hyperion Ave

In 1927, with the money the Disney's were earning from the Oswald cartoons, Walt and Roy bought matching homes on Lyric avenue in Silver Lake, near the new studio. The prefabricated homes were small, just 1100 square feet, with only two bedrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen. It was at Walt's garage on Lyric Avenue that he and his loyal animators in secret worked on the first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

Walt Disney's Home on Lyric Avenue

  

Roy Disney's Home on Lyric Avenue

Walt Disney's Home, 4053 Woking Way

As Walt's success grew and news came that his wife Lillian was pregnant, he decided to move from the small home on Lyric Avenue to a larger home up in the Hollywood Hills. The home was located at 4053 Woking Way, just above the Los Feliz neighborhood. To get there you need to drive up some steep narrow roads. Walt would live in this home for a few years and then move again to his most famous residence, which was located in Holmby Hills (it was at the Holmby Hills residence Walt had his backyard train).