Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960). Comedy. Cast: Doris Day and David Niven. Director: Charles Walters. Produced by Joe Pasternak, with Martin Melcher (Day's husband) as associate producer. The screenplay, partly inspired by the book of the same name by Jean Kerr, a collection of humorous essays, was by Isobel Lennart. The film also features Janis Paige, Spring Byington, Richard Haydn, Patsy Kelly, and Jack Weston. A television series starring Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller premiered five years later and ran for 58 episodes.
Drama professor, Lawrence Mackay, first job, as as a New York newspaper theater critic, is to review his old friend, producer Alfred North's, new Broadway musical.
On opening night, Larry's wife Kate, is visited by wannabe, playwright and cab driver, Joe Positano, who wants Larry to read his play. After Kate tries settling down her four boys, with no luck.. agrees to tell Larry about the play.
Kate meets up with Larry, while is giving his last lecture as a professor, knowing he has become a critic, his students believe he will put down every performance he reviews, just to help his own career.
Alfred's new show is terrible, Larry feels guilty, that he has to tell the truth about his friend's play.
The next morning, Alfred runs over to the apartment upset about the review, Larry tries to calm his friend.
Later, while Larry and Kate have breakfast at a restaurant, Deborah Vaughn, the star of Alfred's show, walks in and slaps Larry in front of a cameraman who captures the moment on film.
Soon the picture makes front-page headlines and Larry, decides to publish a column with the photo claiming the shows popularity failed, not because of Deborah's bad performance but on her derriere.
Days later at a cocktail party, Larry is the center of attention while Kate is ignored. When Deborah arrives at the cocktail party, she heads straight over to Larry to apologize hoping that he will reconsider his opinion of her derriere. As Kate prepares to leave the party, Alfred warns Kate that Larry is on his way to the "downelator" becoming a critic who thinks his own jokes are better than any play. As they leave, Larry makes fun of the play opening that evening.
At home after seeing the play, angry/worried Kate asks Larry if he disliked the play before seeing it. Larry promises to her he had given the play an honest review.
Days later, as Larry reads Joe's biblical play and criticizes him for writing about a subject he does not know anything about. Offended, Joe tells Larry that he is not the same man he used to be and storms out.
Soon after, Larry and Kate learn that the lease on their apartment is about up and talk about their plans to move to a large house outside the city. Now, that Larry is a success, he wants to live in the city. Using her feminine wiles, Kate agrees that his work comes first and calls the entire family a "parasite". Larry charmed by her agrees to the move.
With not many choices in their price range, the family moves into a huge fixer upper of a house in Hooten, 70 miles outside New York. When Community leaders ask Larry and Kate to help them find a play for the local theater group, Larry says that he has no time.
Later in the city, Deborah finds Larry and makes a pass at him, but Larry refuses and then returns home.
On the children's first day of school, Larry refuses to volunteer, claiming the school is performing "moral blackmail."
The next day, when community leaders once again ask for a suggestion on a play, Kate calls Alfred for help. Alfred sees an opportunity to get even with Larry. Will he be successful getting even with Larry?
This is one of my favorite Doris Day movies. I feel it captures her best performances as a mother. Doris interaction with the children is hilarious, she's so natural with them.
And of course, the musical numbers are fluffy, but that was what we loved about her. Niven makes a wonderful husband for Doris. I also loved Janis Page performance in this film as she was the top billed female in Doris first film, Romance on the High Seas. Spring Byington is fantastic as the grandmother. I think Anyone who loves Doris Day will also say this one of their favorite movies.
Fun Facts: The musical number Kate rehearses for the amateur show ("Any Way The Wind Blows," music by Marilyn Hooven and Joseph Hooven, lyrics by 'By Dunham') had been written for Doris Day movie, Pillow Talk (1959).
After Doris Day and Janis Paige first had worked together in Romance on the High Seas (1948), Miss Paige performed on Broadway as, Babe Williams, in the Tony Award-winning musical of 1954, "The Pajama Game."
When Warner Bros., the former home lot of Janis and Doris, recast Babe Williams for the delightful 1957 film version, Babe then turned into - Doris Day!
Beginning her film career portraying Katharine Hepburn's mother in Little Women (1933), Spring Byington closed her movie years playing Doris Day's mother in this film.
Please Don't Eat the Daisies is a collection of funny essays by playwright Jean Kerr about suburban living and raising four boys. The essays do not have a plot or through-storyline, but the book sold so well it was later adapted into a film starring Doris Day and David Niven. The film was later adapted into a television series starring Patricia Crowley and Mark Miller.
The Apartment is a 1960 film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's follow-up to Some Like It Hot. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture.
The Apartment is not your typical fuzzy feel good Christmas story. Although.. I still feel that it is a wonderful classic, in which you will see Fred MacMurray in a very different role. Please click here to view past review: The Apartment(1960).
Ray Walston (November 2, 1914 – January 1, 2001) was a stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian.
He is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific (1949/1958), Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees (1955/1958), J.J. Singleton in The Sting (1973), high school teacher Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Judge Henry Bone on the drama series Picket Fences (1992-1996).
He started acting at an early age, as a "spear carrier" at many New Orleans theaters.
He played small roles with stock companies, where he not only starred in traveling shows but also worked at a movie theater, selling tickets and cleaning the stage floors. His family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he joined Margo Jones, theater company. He later traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, where he spent three years with the Cleveland Play House.
He then traveled to New York City, where he made his Broadway debut in a 1945 production of Hamlet. Three years later, Walston became one of the first members admitted to the newly formed Actors Studio.
In 1949, he appeared in the short-lived play Mrs. Gibbons' Boys directed by George Abbott, who later cast him as Satan in the musical, Damn Yankees(1955), with Gwen Verdon. They both won awards for their performances. After a decade in New York theater, he won a Tony Award, and he and Verdon were invited to reprise their roles in the 1958 film version.
He starred as Luther Billis in the London production of South Pacific(1949). He reprised that role in the 1958 film adaptation. He and Juanita Hall (as Bloody Mary) were the only cast members to appear in both the stage and movie versions.
Additional Broadway performances: The Front Page, Summer and Smoke, King Richard III, Wish You Were Here and House of Flowers, Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet.
Walston had a successful movie career beginning with: Kiss Them for Me (1957), South Pacific (1958), Say One for Me (1959); Tall Story, with Anthony Perkins and Jane Fonda, Portrait in Black, and The Apartment (all in 1960), Convicts 4 (1962), Wives and Lovers, and Who's Minding the Store? (both in 1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), Caprice (1967), and Paint Your Wagon (1969).
Walston is also featured in the 1973 Best-Picture-Winner The Sting, in which he is crucial to the successful swindling of an unsuspecting griftee (played by Robert Shaw) and in Silver Streak. He also played Mr. Timmer, a prominent character in the 1986 BMX movie "Rad".
He was also among many of the actors who played themselves in cameos for, The Player (1992), although Walston along with several other stars, are actually in character for a movie within a movie sequence.
Walston narrated many U.S. Department of Defense and Atomic Energy Commission (now Department of Energy) films about nuclear experiment, including, the Operation Hardtack I nuclear test film series of 1958.
He made many guest performances in the television shows beginning with, The Outlaws 1960-1961. Walston, was best known playing the title character ("Uncle Martin") on My Favorite Martian from 1963 to 1966, with Bill Bixby. My Favorite Martian, had typecast Walston and he had difficulty finding more serious roles after the show's cancellation.
He later, became a popular character actor in television of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a guest star in the shows: Custer, The Wild Wild West, Love, American Style, The Rookies, Mission: Impossible, Ellery Queen, The Six Million Dollar Man, Little House on the Prairie, and The Incredible Hulk with Bill Bixby (in which he played Jasper the Magician in an episode called "My Favorite Magician").
In 1976 he played the part of sleazy Edgar Whiney in the film, Silver Streak. Walston was also known for playing Starfleet Academy groundskeeper "Boothby" in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later on Star Trek: Voyager.
From 1980 to 1992, Walston starred in fourteen movies: 1981's Galaxy of Terror, and 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High (as well as its 1986 television adaptation) as Mr. Hand.
In 1984, Walston played a judge on an episode of, Night Court. Six years later, he would work with David E. Kelley while guest-starring on L.A. Law. These roles led to his work as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences. Judge Bone was originally a recurring role on the show, but Walston proved to be so popular that he was given a starring role the following year.
In his late 70s, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time.
Walston made an appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Boothby, head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, and then reprised the character twice on Star Trek: Voyager, despite the series being set in a distant part of the galaxy.
During his appearance on Star Trek: Voyager in "In the Flesh", he often had trouble with remembering his lines during long one-shot dialogue scenes, but while the cameraman was changing the film for the scene in the briefing room, he quoted a line from Hamlet. Robert Beltran then quoted the next line, and Walston the next. The two went on for several minutes, amazing the entire cast and crew.
In 1985, Walston made a brief appearance in the opening credits of Steven Spielberg's series Amazing Stories, as a caveman acting out a story for his tribe. Only a few seconds long, this performance began every episode of the subsequent series.
In 1992, Walston played the role of Candy in the big-screen remake of, Of Mice and Men. He would work alongside Sinise again two years later in the miniseries adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand.
Walston was nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for, Picket Fences, winning twice, in 1995 and 1996. Though Walston enjoyed his work in the series, its ratings were beginning to slip, and CBS cancelled the show after four seasons in 1996.
However, Walston made a guest appearance in an episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman entitled "Remember Me", in which he portrayed the father of Jake Slicker, who was stricken with Alzheimer's disease.
As his career was coming to an end he played Grandfather Walter Adams, in the Addams Family Reunion (1998), the second sequel to the1991 film, The Addams Family, this time starring Tim Curry as Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia Addams.
One year later, he appeared in the movie remake of his hit series, My Favorite Martian (1999). His final movie role was in the independent film, Early Bird Special.
He also appeared in an AT and T, TV commercial in which his dialogue implied he was Uncle Martin from Mars, looking for good rates to talk to fellow Martians living in the United States. Just before his death, his final TV guest appearance was on, 7th Heaven.
Walston, died at the age of 86 on New Year's Day 2001 in Beverly Hills, California after a 6-year battle with lupus. He was survived by his widow, Ruth, his daughter, Katherine Ann, and two grandchildren.
That Funny Feeling (1965). Romantic/comedy. Cast: Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, and Donald O'Connor. This was the third film pairing of Dee and then-husband Darin, following: Come September (1961) and If a Man Answers(1962). It was the second film that O'Connor and Kathleen Freeman made together, the first was, Singin' in the Rain.
Aspiring actress Joan Howell, who lives in a one room apartment, making a living as a maid, has many accidental meetings with Tom Milford, a big publishing company executive. Wanting to impress him she invites him to one of her employers beautiful apartment to whom she has never met. Which turns out to be Toms's own apartment.
Tom, cancels a trip and is surprised to see Joan in his own apartment, but he goes along with the gag and moves in with Harvey. They each learn of the other's identity, but neither spills the beans. Joan decides to play a trick on Tom and invites all his former girl friends to come over to his apartment dressed as prostitutes. Will he ever forgive her for embarrassing him?
This is a cute comedy full of misunderstandings and innuendo. A few funny scenes: Darin, in his boxer shorts, causing a scene outside a pay phone and two nosy bartenders gossiping away.
Nita Talbot(born August 8, 1930), began her acting career performing as a model in the film, It's a Great Feeling in 1949.
Some of her other screen roles were in the films: A Very Special Favor (1965), Buck and the Preacher (1972), Bright Leaf (1950), This Could Be the Night (1957), I Married a Woman (1958), Who's Got the Action? (1962), Girl Happy (1965), The Day of the Locust (1975), Serial (1980), Chained Heat (1983), Fraternity Vacation (1985), and Puppet Master II (1991).
She also performed in many TV series Joe and Mabel (1956), the second season of, The Thin Man (1958–1959), The Jim Backus Show, Here We Go Again (1973), Starting from Scratch (1988), Hogan's Hero's Man Against Crime, Bourbon Street Beat, The Secret Storm, and Supertrain. She also guest starred on several others like: Goodyear Television Playhouse, Robert Montgomery Presents, Studio One, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, The Lawless Years, Maverick, The Tab Hunter Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Peter Gunn, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Rawhide, Daniel Boone, The Virginian, The Monkees, The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Jimmy Stewart Show, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, The Rockford Files, Mannix, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, All in the Family, Columbo, Lou Grant, Matt Houston, Trapper John, M.D., Charles in Charge, The John Larroquette Show and Ellen.
Talbot, also had roles in the TV soaps: Search for Tomorrow and General Hospital. In 1971. Talbot's most recent acting role was in 1997 when she voiced the character of Anastasia Hardy, the businesswoman mother of Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, in the animated series Spider-Man.
The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, is a book written and illustrated by Norton Juster, published by Random House in 1963. The story was inspired by Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, in which the protagonist visits a one-dimensional universe called Lineland, where women are dots and men are lines.
In 1965, animator Chuck Jones and the MGM Animation/Visual Arts studio adapted The Dot and the Line into a 10-minute animated short film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, narrated by Robert Morley. The Dot and the Line won the 1965 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. It was entered into the Short Film Palme d'Or competition at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival.
The cartoon was released as a special feature on the The Glass Bottom Boat DVD in 2005. The cartoon is also featured on the 2008 release of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection and the 2011 release of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box-set on the third disc as a special feature.
In 2005, Robert Xavier Rodriguez made a musical setting of the book for narrator and chamber ensemble with projected images, and in 2011 he made a version for full orchestra.
The story is about a straight line, who falls in love with a dot. The dot, quickly becomes bored with the line and falls madly in love with a wild squiggle. The line, will do anything to win back the heart of his beloved dot and he bends himself into an angle. He then works and works at creating interesting shapes so complex that he has to label his sides and angles to keep his place.
It's not long before the dot realizes that she has made a huge mistake and what she thought she had seen in the squiggle to be freedom and fun was nothing more than chaos. She leaves with the line, realizing that he is better suited for her.
This was one of only two non-Tom and Jerry animated short subjects to be released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer post-1958. The other one is The Bear That Wasn't, released in 1967 as the last-ever MGM animated short.
The Bear That Wasn't is a 1946 children's book by film director and Looney Tunes alumnus Frank Tashlin. In 1967, Tashlin's former Termite Terrace colleague Chuck Jones directed an animated short film based upon the book for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Incidentally, The Bear That Wasn't was the final animated short subject made by MGM and the second-to-last animated project for MGM (The Phantom Tollbooth would be the last). Despite being credited as a producer, Tashlin had no involvement in the short. Chuck Jones credited him as a producer, so if the film won the Oscar for Best Short, Tashlin would receive an Oscar (in those days, Oscars for Best Short were given to producers, not the director). Frank Tashlin was dissatisfied with this film adaptation of his own book. Feeling that the film did not present the book's message .
The story begins, when a bear settles into hibernation and while he sleeps in side his den, the progress of man continues. He wakes up to find himself in the middle of an industrial complex. He then gets mistaken by the foreman for a worker and is told to get to work.
He tells the foreman, "But I'm not a man, I'm a bear". He is then taken to each of his successive bosses, who try to convince him that he is just a "silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat", reaching all the way up to the president of the factory who tells him he cannot be a bear because "all bears live in the zoo". "You are not a bear; you are a "silly man" who needs a shave and wears a fur coat." The bear is taken to the zoo, hoping to gain support from his own species, but even the zoo bears claim he is not a bear, because if he was "he'd be behind bars like us". He is now convinced that he is a "silly man" and works hard at the factory .
Things are going well until winter comes again and he wants to go into hibernation . He finds a cave and enters, feeling comfortable and bear-like once more. As the bear is sleeping, he reflects on the events of the year, as the narrator concludes that because all the bosses and even the zoo bears disbelieved he was a bear, did not make it so. "The truth is he was not a silly man...and he was not a silly bear, either".
Though a person may change for someone else, they revert back to old habits. What is fact or fiction, it is what it is ....
The Sandpiper(1965). Cast: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Directed by Vincente Minnelli.
Laura Reynolds, is living a wonderful life as single, bohemian artist/model, with Danny her 9-year-old son (Morgan Mason, James Mason's son), in a run down beach house. Until one day Danny, shoots and kills a deer which gets him in trouble with the law and Laura is ordered by the court, to enroll him in the private school, headed by clergyman Edward Hewitt and his wife. Even though she is resentful at first, she is surprised, at how quickly Danny accepts the schools routine.
Laura and Hewitt, fall into into a passionate love affair after he walks in on her modeling nude for her artist friend. They spend many long afternoons together, along the beautiful surf and sand. Things are going well until, a jealous colleague of Hewitt, blows the whistle on the couple.
Tormented by guilt, Hewitt tells his wife, Claire about the affair, who is brokenhearted. He then makes a public admission. Laura furious that he exposed their private relationship never wants to see him again. How will Hewitt confront is problems?
This movie is filmed at the height of the Burton/Taylor popularity. We get to see a side of Liz Taylor, that is so different from past silver screen performances… here she plays a "new woman of the 60s," who believes in free love, which turns out to be the film's theme... Richard Burton, character once again pays the price for his actions..
Fun Facts:
Then unknown Raquel Welch doubled (uncredited) for Elizabeth Taylor in some of Taylor's beach scenes on location at Big Sur, California.
The third of eleven films that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in together.
Script was originally envisioned as a Kim Novak vehicle, until she had a falling out with producer.
Speedway (1968). Musical/action film. Cast: Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra. Scenes were shot at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The film features guest appearances by many top stock-car better known now as NASCAR drivers . This would be the final "formula" musical film of Presley's career. The only guitar to be featured in the film during the performance of, 'Aint Nothing Like a Song' a sunburst Fender Coronado is used.
Playboy Steve Grayson, spends most of his time earning a living as a Stock-Car racer and helping his friend Abel Esterlake, support his large family. Steve, soon finds out that his manager, Kenny Donford, has lost all his prize money gambling at the race track.
To make matters worse, Steve owes a large sum of back taxes and Internal Revenue Service, sends Susan Jacks, to investigate the Steve's finances. After a ruff start Susan and Steve, fall in love and together they try to come up with the money he owes.
While qualifying for a race, Steve has an accident that seriously damages his car. Will he be able to repair the car in time for the race?
I thought this was a fun film and the chemistry between Elvis and Bixby and Elvis and Nancy are believable. The best musical numbers, "Your Time Hasn't Come Yet Baby" and Nancy's solo number "Your Groovy Self".
Fun Facts:
Nancy Sinatra sings the song, "Your Groovy Self" in this movie. The song was also included in the soundtrack LP, making it the first and only song by another artist to be released on an official Elvis Presley record.
Script originally offered to Sonny Bono and Cher.
Director Norman Taurog had his granddaughter in the film as an extra.
Racing sequences was filmed with 10 cameras.
Petula Clark was the first choice for the female lead but she turned it down. Annette Funicello was also briefly considered.
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940),was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at the University of California in Los Angeles. She dropped out after a year and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special, The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis, welcoming the return of Elvis Presley home from Europe following his discharge from service in the US Army. Nancy was sent to the airport on behalf of her father to welcome Elvis when his plane landed. On the special, Nancy and her father danced and sang a duet, "You Make Me Feel So Young/Old".
Sinatra was signed to her father's label, Reprise Records, in 1961. Her first single, "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip", went unnoticed. However, subsequent singles charted in Europe and Japan. Without a hit in the US by 1965, she was on the verge of being dropped. Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter/producer/arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, with Duane Eddy.
Hazlewood became Sinatra's inspiration. He had her sing in a lower key and crafted pop songs for her. He gave her a make over with bleached-blonde hair, frosted lipstick, heavy eye make-up and Carnaby Street fashions. Sinatra made her mark on the American and British music scene in early 1966 with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas starring her father and Dean Martin.
One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The camp promo clip featured a big-haired Sinatra and six young women in loose sweaters, go-go boots and hot pants. The song has been covered by artists such as Geri Halliwell, Megadeth, Jessica Simpson, Lil' Kim, Little Birdy, Billy Ray Cyrus, Faster Pussycat, KMFDM, Symarip, Operation Ivy and the Del Rubio Triplets and The Supremes.
A run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" and "Sugar Town". "Sugar Town" became her second million seller. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid" a duet with her father hit #1 in the US and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart. It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the US It became Sinatra's third million-selling disc.
Other 45s showing her forthright delivery include "Friday’s Child" (1966), and the 1967 hits "Love Eyes" and "Lightning’s Girl". She rounded out 1967 with the raunchy but low-charting "Tony Rome", the title track from the detective film Tony Rome starring her father, while her first solo single in 1968 was the more wistful "100 Years".
Sinatra, performed many duets with Hazlewood, starting with "Summer Wine" . Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, "Jackson" in 1967.
In December they released the song, "Some Velvet Morning", regarded as one of the more unusual singles in pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s vocal collaborations.
In 1967 she recorded the theme song for the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice. In the liner notes of the CD reissue of her 1966 album, Nancy In London, Sinatra states that she was "scared to death" of recording the song, and asked the songwriters: "Are you sure you don't want Shirley Bassey?" There are two versions of the Bond theme. The first is the lushly orchestrated track featured during the opening and closing credits of the film. The second more guitar-heavy version appeared on the double A-sided single with "Jackson".
In 1966 and 1967 Sinatra traveled to Vietnam to perform for the troops. Many US soldiers adopted her song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" as their anthem, as shown in Pierre Schoendoerffer's academy award winning documentary, The Anderson Platoon (1967) and reprised in a scene in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Sinatra recorded several anti-war songs, including "My Buddy", featured on her album Sugar, "Home", co-written by Mac Davis, and "It's Such A Lonely Time of Year", which appeared on the 1968 LP, The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas.
In 1988 Sinatra recreated her Vietnam concert appearances on an episode of the television show China Beach. Today, Sinatra still performs for charitable causes supporting US veterans who served in Vietnam, including Rolling Thunder Inc..
Sinatra starred in three 'beach party' films: For Those Who Think Young (1964), Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966). She was also scheduled to appear in the role that went to Linda Evans in, Beach Blanket Bingo, but was unable.
In 1966 she also starred in, The Wild Angels with Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern and in 1968 she shared the screen with Elvis Presley in Speedway, her final film. She was the only singer to have a solo song on an Elvis album or soundtrack while he was still alive. Since his death, several previously unreleased Ann-Margret solo recordings have appeared on Elvis albums, but Sinatra's was the first.
She also made appearances on: The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Virginian and starred in television specials. These include the Emmy-nominated 1966 Frank Sinatra special A Man and His Music - Part II and the 1967 NBC Emmy Award nominated for 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' by choreographer David Winters TV special Movin' With Nancy, in which she appeared with Lee Hazlewood, her father and his Rat Pack pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., with a cameo appearance by her brother Frank Sinatra, Jr. and guest star appearance by West Side Story dancer David Winters. At one point in the video, Sinatra shared a kiss with Sammy Davis, Jr. She has stated "The kiss one of the first interracial kisses seen on television and it caused some controversy then, and now. The special also features Winters' choreography, dancing and dancers. As there was no Emmy Award category for Choreography – the shows Emmy Nomination was placed in the 'Special Classification of Individual Achievements' category.
Possibly due to this specials choreography a new category for 'Outstanding Choreography' was created by the Emmys the next year. Movin' With Nancy was sponsored by Royal Crown Cola.
1970s and 1980s Sinatra remained with Reprise until 1970. In 1971, she signed with RCA, resulting in three albums: Nancy & Lee – Again (1971), Woman (1972), and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings under the title This Is Nancy Sinatra (1973). That year she released a non-LP single, "Sugar Me" b/w "Ain't No Sunshine". The former was written by Lynsey De Paul/Barry Blue and, with other covers of works by early-70s popular songwriters, resurfaced on the 1998 album How Does It Feel.
In the autumn of 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood’s duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK singles chart. In 1972 they performed for a Swedish documentary, Nancy & Lee In Las Vegas, which chronicled their Vegas concerts at the Riviera Hotel and featured solo numbers and duets from concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and scenes of Sinatra's late husband, Hugh Lambert, and her mother.
By 1975 she was releasing singles on Private Stock, which are the most sought-after by collectors. Among those released were "Kinky Love", "Annabell of Mobile", "It's for My Dad," and "Indian Summer" (with Hazlewood). "Kinky Love" was banned by some radio stations in the 1970s for "suggestive" lyrics. It saw the light of day on CD in 1998 on Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs. Pale Saints covered the song in 1991.
By the mid-1970s, she wanted to concentrate on being a wife and mother. She returned to the studio in 1981 to record a country album with Mel Tillis called Mel and Nancy. Two of their songs made the Billboard Country Singles Chart: "Texas Cowboy Night" and "Play Me or Trade Me".
In 1985, she wrote the book Frank Sinatra, My Father. 1990s–present At 54 Sinatra posed for Playboy in the May 1995 issue and made appearances on TV shows to promote her album One More Time. The magazine appearance caused some controversy. On the talk show circuit, she said her father was proud of the photos. Those close to the Sinatras claimed that family members were upset with the nude photo spread. Sinatra told Jay Leno on a 1995 Tonight Show that her daughters gave their approval, but her mother said she should ask her father before committing to the project. Sinatra claims that when she told her father what Playboy would be paying her, he said, "Double it."
She and Lee Hazlewood embarked on a US tour playing the House of Blues, the Viper Room, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the now-defunct Mama Kin in Boston, the Trocadero in Philadelphia, and The Fillmore. That year, Sundazed Records began reissuing Sinatra's Reprise albums with remastered sound, new liner notes and photos, and bonus tracks. She also updated her biography on her dad and published Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.
In 2003 she reunited with Hazlewood once more for the album Nancy & Lee 3. It was released only in Australia. One of her recordings a cover of Cher's "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" was used to open the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill: Vol. One. In 2005, Sinatra's recording was sampled separately by the Audio Bullys and Radio Slave into dance tracks (renamed into "Shot You Down" and "Bang Bang" respectively), and by hip-hop artist Young Buck in a song titled "Bang Bang", as well as covered for a single and music video by R&B artist Melanie Durrant. Sinatra recorded the song for her second Reprise album, How Does That Grab You? in 1966.
She and Billy Strange worked on the arrangement, and it was Sinatra's idea to change the song into a ballad. Sinatra's father asked her to sing it on his 1966 TV special A Man and His Music - Part II. The footage of Sinatra's performance on that special was used in the Audio Bullys' music video of "Shot You Down." Taking her father's advice from when she began her recording career ("Own your own masters"), she owns or holds an interest in most of her material, including videos.
In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles neighbour Morrissey to record a version of his song "Let Me Kiss You", which was featured on her autumn release Nancy Sinatra. Providing Sinatra with her first hit for over 30 years. The follow-up single, "Burnin' Down the Spark", failed to chart. The album, originally titled To Nancy, with Love, featured rock performers such as Calexico, Sonic Youth, U2, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Steven Van Zandt, Jon Spencer, and Pete Yorn.
Two years later EMI released The Essential Nancy Sinatra, a UK-only greatest-hits compilation featuring the previously unreleased track, "Machine Gun Kelly". The collection was picked by Sinatra and spans her 40-year career.
Sinatra also recorded "Another Gay Sunshine Day" for Another Gay Movie in 2006. Sinatra received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 11, 2006, which was also declared "Nancy Sinatra Day" by Hollywood’s mayor, Johnny Grant.
In 2002, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. Sinatra appeared, as herself, on one of the final episodes (Chasing It) of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos.
Sinatra recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Tarantino screenplays and related books.
September 2009 saw the release of Sinatra's digital-only album Cherry Smiles: The Rare Singles, featuring previously unreleased tracks and songs only available on 45.
Sinatra now hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio, Siriusly Sinatra, where she shares her personal insights about her father.
The Money Trap (1965). Film Noir. Cast: Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer and Rita Hayworth. Directed by Burt Kennedy.
When a burglar is reported shot and killed at the home of a doctor and during the investigation, Cop Joe Baron, gets to know the dead burglar's alcoholic wife, Rosalie and they begin a romantic affair.
It is not long before Baron, learns that the doctor, Horace Van Tilden, is the head of an illegal drug ring. He and his partner, Pete Delanos, conspire to rob Van Tilden's safe. The doctor, meantime, worried about Rosalie ratting him out, pushes her to her death.
While stealing a million dollars and two bags of heroin from the safe, the cops are surprised by Van Tilden and Delanos is shot. Baron, wants to make a deal with the doctor, if he will get help for seriously wounded Delanos.
But..after his partner dies, Baron kills the doctor. Wounded himself, he makes it home to Lisa, he knows that his fellow officers are on their way to put him behind bars.
Rita Hayworth
In this film Rita Hayworth, gives a wonderful performance as the widow of the dead burglar. She looks a little beat up as her character should, but.. she's still a beautiful woman with true chemistry with Ford. This is a must see movie for all Rita Hayworth fans.
Elke Sommers
Argentina Brunetti (August 31, 1907 – December 20, 2005) was an actress and writer. Brunetti, began her show business career at the age of three with a walk on role in the opera, Cavalleria Rusticana and followed Mimi Aguglia, her famous mother's footsteps in the theater performing supporting roles on stages throughout Europe and South America.
In 1937, she was placed under contract to MGM pictures and began dubbing the voices of Jeanette MacDonald and Norma Shearer in Italian. Next she became a narrator for the Voice of America, interviewing American movie stars for broadcast in Italy. At the same time she had her movie debut in the classic, It's a Wonderful Life (1946), as Mrs. Martini.
Throughout her career she has also written and performed in daily radio shows, became a member of the 'Hollywood Foreign Press Association', writing articles on Hollywood personalities, authored books, written music and acted in over 57 television programs and 68 movies in which she mainly played multi-ethnic roles.
She hosted a weekly weblog on the Internet, called Argentina Brunetti's Hollywood Stories, which her son plans to continue running, and has written a biographical novel called In Sicilian Company. She continued to act well into her 90s, most notably as a relative from the Old World who visits and stays with the Barone family on Everybody Loves Raymond.
She moved to Rome in 2004 to be with her family. She died there from natural causes on December 20, 2005, at the age of 98.
Dear Heart(1964). Romantic/Comedy. Cast: Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page and Angela Lansbury. Directed by Delbert Mann. The movie received an Oscar nomination for best song "Dear Heart". Music: Henry Mancini• Lyrics: Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
Quirky postmistress Evie Jackson, arrives in New York City, to attend a postmasters' convention where she meets playboy Harry Mork, a greeting card salesman who is engaged to Phyllis.
He, like most men is put off by Evie's personality, but after his failed date with June, he decides to take up Evie's invitation to a party. They have a wonderful time together and she falls in love with him. Evie, soon learns and is brokenhearted that Harry is engaged to another woman named Phyllis. After, Harry takes her to see the apartment he has rented she decides to return home.
Phyllis, who really does not love Harry arrives in New York, where Harry shows her the apartment. They find Phyllis' teenaged son, Patrick, living there with his bohemian girl friend. Phyllis, tells him that she prefers to live in hotels because she likes to be waited on and Harry realizes that she is only using him.Will Harry, leave her and make Pennsylvania Station in time to find Evie?
Glen Ford and Geraldine Page, are wonderful together, in this believable, sentimental movie. Page, as Evie gives one of her best performances, as she gives a speech about how women "give up" as they grow older waiting to find a husband.
Geraldine Page (November 22, 1924 – June 13, 1987). Her film debut was in, Out of the Night (1947). Her role in Hondo, opposite John Wayne, won her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Page received eight Academy Award nominations.
She finally won the Oscar in 1986 for a performance in The Trip to Bountiful. When she won (F. Murray Abraham, upon opening the envelope, exclaimed "I consider this woman the greatest actress in the English language"), she received a standing ovation from the audience. She was surprised by her win and took a while to get to the stage to accept the award because she had taken off her shoes while sitting in the audience.
Her other notable screen roles included Academy Award-nominated performances in Tennessee Williams': Summer and Smoke (1961), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), You're a Big Boy Now (1966), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Woody Allen's Interiors (1978), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984).
She also appeared in such roles as a psychotic, mass killer in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969); a repressed schoolmistress in the Clint Eastwood film, The Beguiled (1971); a charismatic evangelist in, The Day of the Locust (1975); a nun, Sister Walburga, in Nasty Habits (1977); and as 'Aunt' Beverly in Harry's War (1981).
She did many television shows in the 1950s through the 1980s, including movies and series, such as Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, and several episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, including "The Sins of the Fathers" and "Something in the Woodwork". She also was a voice actress and voiced the villainous Madame Medusa in the Disney animated film The Rescuers. Page has also appeared in television productions and won two Emmy Awards as Outstanding Single Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for her roles in the classic Truman Capote stories, A Christmas Memory (1967) and The Thanksgiving Visitor (1969). Her final film was the 1987 Mary Stuart Masterson film My Little Girl.
Penelope(1966). Comedy directed by Arthur Hiller. Cast: Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters and Dick Shawn.
The story begins when Penelope, lonely and wanting to get her banker husband James, attention. Dresses herself up as a sweet old lady and holds up her husband's bank for $60,000.
She then goes to the ladies' room, changing into a yellow suit, as she leaves she informs the guards that a little old lady with a gun is in the ladies' room, and quickly leaves the bank. Then heads straight for her ninkapoop of a psychiatrist, Gregory Mannix and confesses that she is kleptomania.
As luck would have it, one of the banks cameras has photographed the crime and caught a glimpse of a woman wearing yellow suit leaving the bank.
Police Lieutenant Bixbee, who is charmed by Penelope, suspects her after he notices that the little old lady and the yellow suited woman caught on camera, have the same walk as she does. Penelope, gives the yellow suit to a thrift shop and it is purchased by Sadaba, who runs a boutique.
Sadaba, learns the truth about the suit and she and her partner, Ducky, try to blackmail Penelope. Penelope confesses to Dr. Mannix, who goes to return the money through the bank's night deposit box and leaves the money sticking out of the box.
Penelope, confesses the truth when a streetwalker who finds the money is accused of the robbery, but.. will anyone believe her?
The photography in this film is absolutely gorgeous and it fun to see Natalie, wearing the styles of the mid-1960's, designed by Edith Head..
Norma Crane (November 10, 1928 — September 28, 1973) was an actress of stage, film and television. Among her best known roles was that of Golde in the 1971 film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof. She also starred in They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and Penelope.
Love Has Many Faces(1965). Drama, directed by Alexander Singer, and written by Marguerite Roberts. Nancy Wilson sings the title song. Edith Head designed Lana Turner's clothes.
After Kit and Pete are questioned by the Acapulco police when her latest fling Billy Andrews, body is found on the beach. Pete, blames her for Billy's death. Pete married Kit, only for her money and is now having second thoughts, because she thinks only of herself.
When Carol Lambert, Billy's fiancee, arrives in Acapulco, Pete becomes attracted to her and Kit, starts dating a bullfighter. At the ranch of Don Julian, Kit overhears Carol stating that Pete must choose between them. Upset, Kit rides her horse into the bullring and is gored by a bull, Pete jumps into the ring and saves her. Will they get Kit to the hospital in time to save her life?
For all you fashionistas and Lana Turner fans, this film is for you. Lana Turner, keeps turning up in one great costume after another, even in her forties she was a glamor girl.
Fun Facts:
Final American studio cinema film of Ruth Roman.
Lana Turner's wardrobe cost one million dollars.
Ruth Roman(December 22, 1922- September 9, 1999). As a girl, she wanted to become an actress and enrolled in Bishop Lee Dramatic School. After which Roman headed to Hollywood where she landed small parts before being cast in the thirteen-episode serial, Jungle Queen (1945).
She later played an important role in the film, Champion(1949). In one of her most memorable roles, Roman costarred with Farley Granger and Robert Walker in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Strangers on a Train (1951)and the film, Three Secrets(1950).
Please stop by to check out the rest of the pawesome films in the Classic Movie Dogathon. Click here for the full schedule.
Hollywood has catered to our love of dogs for as far back as I can remember. From the cute and friendly to the Cugo, dogs have played a role in more pawsome movies than you can bark at. When Rick first asked me to chose a dog movie for the blogathon. Several movies came to mind, but Lady and The Tramp (1966), was the first one that popped into my head. Yes, it may be animated, but no movie has ever pulled on my leash like this wonderful Disney classic.
The tail wagging story begins on Christmas Day when Lady, an adorable little Cocker Spaniel, finds her forever home. After 9 months she begins to feel neglected after the birth of the families baby boy. But she really feels like she is in the doghouse, when Aunt Sarah and her conniving Siamese cats, come to babysit and cause nothing but trouble for Lady.
Lady, escapes with her life from the Pet Shop as Aunt Sarah, has her fitted for a muzzle. It is nothing but one adventure after another when she meets the street wise, Tramp. Their puppy love and loyalty go through many challenges, such as a dog fight, a trip to the zoo and landing in the dog pound. Some of their friends include a tough-talking pooch named Peg, voiced by Peggy Lee, who also wrote the songs. And is there any song more romantic than "Bella Notte" that will make you want to howl at the moon?
After performing in, the movie flop, Fine Young Cannibals. Wood's career was saved by her wonderful performance in one of my favorite movies, Splendor in the Grass (1961)with Warren Beatty. The story is about a teen-aged girl living in a small town in Kansas in 1928, who tries follows her mother's advice of not giving into her boyfriend. Bud, follows the advice of his father, who suggests that he find another kind of girl.
Bud's parents are heartbroken, with his older sister Ginny, who is promiscuous, smokes and drinks while pressuring Bud to attend Yale University.
Bud does find a girl and when Deanie finds out, she is driven out of her mind and institutionalized. Bud's family loses its fortune in the Great Depression, which is the down fall of the family. Natalie's performance in this film earned her, Best Actress Nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.
Fun Fact:
Film debuts of Warren Beatty, Sandy Dennis, Phyllis Diller, Marla Adams and Eugene Roche.
I always loved Natalie Wood and felt that there was a real chemistry between her and Warren Beatty. Natalie Wood, gives one of her a strongest performance that tells the story of a great love of a life time.
The Law(1960). Directed by Jules Dassin. Cast: Gina Lollobrigida, Pierre Brasseur, Marcello Mastroianni.
The trouble begins, when engineer Enrico, who works for the government, is sent to small a village to drain the swamps, to stop the spread of malaria. Cesare, is worried because he believes that the swamps hold the Grecian sculpture, but.. Enrico, continues on with his work and wants a girl named Marietta to work for him. Marietta's mother and sisters, who all work for Cesare, think that Marietta should take the job. When, Marietta meets Enrico she tells him that she will "be his wife not his slave". Which causes complications for everyone.
This gorgeous film is set in Sicily and all about power and sex. I wanted to watch this film because of, Gina Lollobrigida. I thought her performance was very.. well um.. sophisticated. I probably will never watch it again, because I never got into the story. The title of the film The Law, comes from a game that the men in the small village play.
Melina Mercouri(18 October 1920, Athens, Greece – 6 March 1994). Her first movie was the Greek language film, Stella (1955). The film received praise at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, where she met the American film director Jules Dassin, with whom she married in 1966. The next year she starred in, He Who Must Die and other films by Dassin such as, The Law (1959).
She became well-known to international audiences when she starred in, Never on Sunday (1960). For this film, Mercouri received the Best Actress Award at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
After her first major international success, she went on to star in Phaedra (1962), for which she was nominated again for the BAFTA Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Drama. Her role in, Topkapi (1964)landed her one more nomination, this time for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Mercouri worked with other famous directors as well, such as Joseph Losey, Vittorio De Sica, Ronald Neame, Carl Foreman, Norman Jewison, and starred in film, The Uninhibited. She continued her stage career in the Greek production of, Sweet Bird of Youth (1960). In 1967, she played the leading role in Illya Darling (from 11 April 1967 to 13 January 1968) at Broadway, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, while her performance in, Promise at Dawn (1970) gave her another Golden Globe Award nomination.
She retired from film acting in 1978, when she played in her last film, A Dream of Passion, directed by her husband Jules Dassin.
