Backstage Fakery at Universal City in 1963

Universal Pictures was founded by a German immigrant, Carl Laemmle, who opened his first cinema in Chicago in 1906. In the early days, other studio chiefs laughed at Carl’s haphazard Universal City and nicknamed it “Laemmle’s Folly”. But the ambitious film pioneer would become responsible for creating the “star system”, rather than just using anonymous actors in films, and…

A 1940s Abalone Picnic

Looking for a lighthearted distraction from life, I went diving into the Life magazine archives and found just the thing– a Hollywood beach picnic circa 1944, with pretty ladies, handsome boys and a how-to guide on preparing freshly-caught Abalone steak sandwiches. The perfect way to start the weekend… Our picnic hosts are young actresses Martha O’Driscoll, Ramsay Ames and former Yugoslav swimming…

Oh, Just a Gingerbread House Rendition of the Overlook Hotel from “The Shining”

Nothing says “Happy Holidays” quite like a cult horror movie turned miniature winter wonderland in the form of everybody’s favourite Christmas cookie! Come play with us… I logged on to Reddit to see what the online bulletin board had to share this Christmas Eve, and found something rather remarkable– this 4×5 foot wide homemade gingerbread house…

For Sale: The First Mid-Century Hollywood Hills Shag Pad

“Mid Century was Born HERE, ” says the property listing which prices the supposed birthplace of the quintessential hillside Hollywood bachelor pad at $1,125,000. And although I’ve always been weary of real-estate talk, this is one selling point that might actually be true… These groovy LA digs were built in 1948 by the well-known American innovators of modernist architecture,…

Hollywood’s Original “Bad Girl”: The Tragic Muse of Kurt Cobain

Even before she was famous, Frances Farmer had a bad girl reputation. In high school, she won a writing contest for her essay, “God Dies”, and was awarded a trip abroad to the Soviet Union in college, which she earned by selling subscriptions for a left-wing paper. She was a force to be reckoned with, heading straight…

The Secret Playboy Mansion Tunnels that led to the Hollywood Homes of Celebrity Casanovas

The editorial staff at Playboy.com recently revealed that they have discovered a bunch of dusty old blueprints, plans and photographs in an unfinished basement area of the Playboy Mansion, which unveil a network of underground tunnels that allegedly once linked Hefner’s notorious bachelor’s pad to the homes of “Mr. J. Nicholson,” “Mr. W. Beatty,” “Mr. K. Douglas” and “Mr.…

A Compendium of Teenage Bedrooms on Screen

I never thought teenage bedroom design would inspire me but then I found this amazing Tumblr dedicated entirely to just that. Hollywood set design at its most loveable. It’s also a handy tool for picking what to watch (or re-watch) on movie night. Enjoy this trip down memory lane! Valley Girl (1983) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)…

For Sale: Burt Reynolds’ Rolodex and other Awkward Stuff He’s Selling

So here’s a unique Christmas gift– Burt Reynolds’ Rolodex! You could own BR’s very own “little black book” from his home office, including the (possibly/ very likely out-of-date) contact information for his groovy celebrity friends, restaurants, and business contacts. It’s basically priceless (but last time I checked it has a current bid of $900). Burt Reynolds was…

Russian Hollywood: Inside the Studios

Today let’s head off to Russia and take a tour of the Soviet era film studios. Lenfilm and Mosfilm were the two largest movie studios of the Soviet film industry and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, both became quasi-private film production companies that still produce hundreds of films a year. This abandoned flooded…

So Jeff Goldblum has been playing a little-known Weekly Jazz Night for the last 15 Years

I had a pretty weird crush on Jeff Goldblum when I was a growing up. While other girls were buying teen pop magazines whose pages were filled with blonde, noodle-haired boy bands, I was picking up cigar aficionado magazines featuring interviews with the tall, stogy-loving actor, and renting his entire filmography at the video store on weekends. But that’s just…