Jackie DeShannon is 66 today! Here she is on Shindig, from 1965… with choreography by the American Psychiatric Association.
And now, Celebritweets Theatre.
Another cartoon, why of course! It’s Saturday… here’s one from Mark Fiore.
Marsha Hunt, in a rare singing turn in 1941′s “Unholy Partners” — watch for Edward G. Robinson to pop up! Marsha is still with us… she’ll be 93 in October. I love her in “Smash-Up, The Story of a Woman.” The gawker is William T. Orr, who married Jack Warner’s stepdaughter, Joy Page, giving rise to the phrase “The son-in-law also rises.”
Coco Chanel was born on this day in 1883, died in 1971, and still manages to have a great effect on the world of fashion. She was named one of the Time 100 Most Important People of the Century.
Shirley MacLaine just portrayed her in a TV movie. Katharine Hepburn was nominated for a Tony for her portrayal of her in “Coco.”
Karl Lagerfeld served as head designer and creative director of Chanel.
Coco Chanel introduced Chanel No. 5 in 1922 — still popular and profitable for the company. Chanel also created the ubiquitous LBD (little black dress).
Here are a few quotes from Coco:
“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.”
“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.”
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”
“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
“There is time for work, and time for love. That leaves no other time”
The fabulously glamorous Shelley Winters would have been 89 today — she died in 2006 at age 85.
Just a few hours before her death, actress Sally Kirkland (1987 Oscar nominee for “Anna”) officiated in a ceremony in which Winters wed longtime companion Gerry DeFord — Shelley had lived with him for nearly 20 years. Kirkland is a minister of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, and administered last rites to the dying star.
I once saw Shelley at the Silver Spoon in West Hollywood, where she sometimes had breakfast.
Oh man, I just love Shirley Bassey, here she is in 2007, age 70.
Billie Burke was born on this day in 1885. Here she is in “Dinner at Eight.”
I’ve been waiting for someone to post some Libby Holman video on YouTube, but I just learned that Libby Holman never allowed herself to be filmed. Her Reynolds tobacco heir husband died of a bullet in the head; his family asked that charges against Holman be dropped. Their only son, Christopher, fell off a mountain to his death in 1950. Holman was one of the best torch singers of the era. Here she is with “Moanin’ Low.”
Sid Caesar (88 next month) and Nanette Fabray (90 in October) — live TV, baby.
International socialite and couture whore Betsy Bloomingdale (seen here with designer and Oz monkey Valentino, left), a doyenne of Beverly Hills society and widow of Alfred Bloomingdale (whose mistress, Vicki Morgan was murdered via baseball bat after filing a palimony suit against his estate), is 84 today!
Her late husband, grandson of the founder of Bloomie’s, was a Reagan Kitchen Cabinet member, and was appointed to the covert Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Betsy remains best friends with former President Nancy Reagan (yeah, that’s what I said).
Betsy and Nancy were besties with former silent star turned designer William “Billy” Haines, who designed the above living room for Betsy’s Bel Air home in 1959 — where she still lives.
The alleged sex tapes of Vicki Morgan were never found.
That gorgeousness is the original “It” girl… not some Lohan trash imitation. Bow was the real deal, from Brooklyn too, born on this day in 1905. An abused and impoverished child, she somehow managed to become America’s first sex symbol.
The story about her taking on the entire USC football team was proven false by someone who interviewed members of the alleged dalliance team, and they all denied it. Among her many affairs, however, was Bela Lugosi.
Clara got into pictures by winning a contest and was a top box office star in the waning days of the silents — she exemplified the Flapper era, although she was making $35,000 a week during the Depression.
She made a few sound pictures and quit the business at 26, married cowboy actor Rex Bell and had two kids. She never attempted a comeback.
Bow died in Los Angeles of a heart attack at age 60. Her remains are at Forest Lawn, near those of George Burns and Nat King Cole, and right below Alan Ladd.
Sometime actor, minor league baseball player, Broadway star, singer and finally game show host Bert Convy was born on this day in 1933. Here’s a very queer excerpt from “Perry Mason,” followed by the last episode of “Tattletales,” from 1984 — in which he’s “very excited.”
Bert was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 1990, and died July 15, 1991 at age 57. Two of his three children work in show business.
Here’s a woman who survived losing her firstborn son in WWII, a daughter in a plane crash, two sons to assassination, the death of a grandson to a drug overdose, and the institutionalization of a daughter due to a botched lobotomy — and outlived her husband by over 25 years — and managed to live to be 104 years old.
That’s one of the last photos taken of Rose, in 1991. She had suffered a stroke in 1984 at age 94.
Fun Fact: The popular Cape Cod cocktail (vodka, soda and cranberry juice) was originally referred to as a Rose Kennedy.
"These are simple people. The common clay. The salt of the earth. You know... morons."
--Gene Wilder as "The Waco Kid" in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles"
