26 POSTS.
FEATURE Image: Douglas Fairbanks on Wall Street in New York City in 1918 before a massive crowd as one of the most popular silent film stars selling Liberty bonds. Other popular film stars included Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. The positive audience response from these Liberty drives was one important factor directly leading to Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, and director D.W. Griffith, to start United Artists studio in January 1919. Public Domain. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1883-1939). – CORRIDORS│An Educational Website in the Arts and History. Featuring My Photography and Videos.
News, Feature, Opinion: FEB. 16, 2026. Actor and filmmaker Robert Duvall died February 15, 2026, at 95, it was announced today.
Feature image: Dave Kunkel, Steve Lang, Robert Duvall. “Dave Kunkel, Steve Lang, Robert Duvall” by Wicklein Group is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. Robert Duvall died February 15, 2026, at his home in Middleburg, Virginia, at 95 it was announced February 16. In Tender Mercies, a 1983 American drama film set in Texas, Robert Duvall played washed-up country singer…
My Architecture & Design Photography: VILLAGE “ART” THEATRE (1916), 1548-50 N. Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60610. Designed by German-born Adolphe Woerner (1851- 1926) in Classical Revival/Renaissance Revival styles. One of Chicago’s oldest neighborhood movie palace chain theatres, it was demolished in 2018 for condos. Its decorative façade was saved. (9 Photos & Illustrations).
FEATURE Image: February 2018. Village “Art” Theatre, 1548-50 N. Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610. The use of masks had been used in theatre since ancient times. They were usually tied to their dramatic source material and the inherent psychology of the characters. The Landmark Designation Report for the Village Theatre described this polychrome character head…
My Architecture & Design Photography: GRAHAM, ANDERSON, PROBST & WHITE, Civic Opera Building (1929), 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois. (20 Photos & Illustrations).
FEATURE image: CIVIC OPERA BUILDING, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. The world famous Lyric Opera of Chicago mounts its productions in one of North America’s most beautiful opera houses, the Civic Opera House at 20 North Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Author’s photograph. Plan of Chicago Authors: The Burnham Plan, co-authored by Daniel H.…
Stage & Screen. 20th Century-Fox’s rom-com music film, ORCHESTRA WIVES (1942), has first-class swing music from the Glenn Miller Band including that year’s No. 1 popular, Academy Award nominated best original song, “(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo.” Ann Rutherford and George Montgomery star in a realistic plot about musicians and their wives on tour across wartime America.
FEATURE image: Glenn Miller Orchestra, 1940-41. Public Domain. The 1942 music film, Orchestra Wives, from 20th-Century-Fox is one of the best dance band movies ever made. Between 1934 and 1945 Fox studios made 57 musicals and music films (see – https://www.imdb.com/list/ls565533414/.) While M-G-M is known for its musicals where characters sing and dance in place…
Stage & Screen. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (1883-1939).
FEATURE image: Douglas Fairbanks, c. 1918. Harris & Ewing, photographer. Collection Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication. Public Domain. By John P. Walsh. Born in Denver in 1883, Douglas Fairbanks’ mother had been married three times before she had him, the younger of two brothers with his father, an East Coast publisher and…
Stage & Screen. Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977).
FEATURE image: Charles (Charlie) Chaplin (1889-1977), 1918, A Dog’s Life, First National. Public Domain. Twenty-four-year-old Charlie Chaplin was “discovered” in 1913 when he was touring Stateside in an English pantomime, acrobat and clown show troupe. Chaplin signed up to work for $150 a week in Mack Sennett’s Keystone Comedies. It was a definite pay raise…
Stage & Screen. UNITED ARTISTS movie studio, set up in 1919 by Hollywood’s elite stars, originated many of the industry’s great individual films for decades. A visionary corporate identity contracted self-financed, self-distributed independent production companies and gave them influence and freedom of artistic expression away from the major studios’ house styles and, so, invigorated the genre.
FEATURE image: United Artists founders in 1919, (Left to right) Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939), Mary Pickford (1892-1979). Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) and D.W. Griffith (1875-1948). By John P. Walsh It is debated whose brainchild the United Artists Corporation (UA), founded in 1919, ultimately was. Was it Mary Pickford’s and Douglas Fairbanks’ theatrical lawyer and a later UA…
Stage & Screen. Mary Pickford (1892-1979).
FEATURE IMAGE: Mary Pickford in 1927 in a publicity photograph for My Best Girl. Notes – https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/A-Mary-Pickford-group-of-portraits-and-negatives-by-KO-Rahmn/391-mary_pickford-20.11.18-bonham
My Architecture & Design Photography: R. HAROLD ZOOK AND WILLIAM F. MCCAUGHEY, The Pickwick Theatre Building, 1928, 3-11 South Prospect Avenue/6-12 South Northwest Highway, Park Ridge, Illinois. (10 Photos & Illustrations).
FEATURE Image: The Pickwick Theatre Building, an Art Deco movie palace, opened in 1928. Its marquee is one of the most recognized structures in Park Ridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The marquee became famous nationwide when it was featured in the opening sequence of the nationally syndicated television show, Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert’s…
My Architecture & Design Photography: S. CHARLES LEE (1899-1990). The Loma Theatre (1944-46), 3150 Rosecrans Boulevard; San Diego, California. (4 Photos & Illustrations).
FEATURE image: The Loma Theatre with its vertical sign in San Diego, California. was opened in 1945. This is a true transitional/hybrid building for American architect S. Charles Lee. The architect retains the curves (in the sign) of his pre-war theatre buildings and moves to the angles (in the main structure) that increasingly marked his…
Stage & Screen. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 film noir, “I CONFESS,” features Montgomery Clift as Fr. Logan, a Catholic priest framed for a murder committed by another man whose confession he heard and cannot reveal.
FEATURE image: “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” by twm1340 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. In I Confess, a 1953 film noir by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) from Warner Bros., a Catholic priest, Fr. Logan (played by Montgomery Clift) hears the confession of a man who works in the rectory and just killed another man. That killer had been dressed as a…
Stage & Screen. Hit single MARILYN in 1952 was written, recorded, and released by Ray Anthony’s orchestra with one Hollywood “It” girl in mind.
FEATURE Image: Marilyn Monroe in 1952. “Marilyn Monroe – 1952, Niagara” by Movie-Fan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) showed up in a bright pink dress for the release party of the song, Marilyn, in 1952. Though invited, she was the “surprise” stand-out guest who swooped in and out of the celebration fashionably in a…
My Architecture & Design Photography: RAPP & RAPP. Oriental Theatre (1926), 24 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois.
FEATURE image: Oriental Theatre completed in 1926 and renamed the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in 1997. It became the Nederlander Theatre in 2019. Author’s photograph taken in December 2017. Author’s photograph. In Chicago’s Loop, the Oriental Theatre opened on May 8, 1926. In the first half of the 20th century, Randolph Street was…
Stage & Screen. FRANCE. In Paris today, the most performed playwright at the Comédie-Française is 17th century Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit MOLIÈRE (1622-1673).
FEATURE image: Portrait of Molière, c. 1658, Pierre Mignard (1612-1695), Château de Chantilly. Pierre Mignard is one of the major classic French portrait artists. When the artist crossed paths with Molière in Avignon in 1658, after having worked in Orange and Saint-Rémy, a great friendship started between the two men, until the death of Molière…
Stage & Screen. 100 years of The Three Stooges (1922-2022).
FEATURE IMAGE: Jerry (Curley) Howard, Moe Howard and Larry Fine are The Three Stooges. “The Three Stooges” by twm1340 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. The year 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of The Three Stooges in show business. The Stooges began in 1922 as part of a vaudeville act called “Ted Healy and his…
Stage & Screen. Film Actress and Director, ALICE TERRY (1900-1987), in a 1922 Glamour Photograph by Melbourne Spurr.
FEATURE image: Alice Terry by Melbourne Spurr, 1922. Public Domain. Melbourne Spurr (1888-1964) arrived in Hollywood around 1917 at 28 years old. Spurr first worked at the studio of photographer Fred Hartsook (1876-1930) where he shot portraits of silent film stars. GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHER MELBOURNE SPURR’S CAREER LAUNCHED BY SILENT SCREEN STAR MARY PICKFORD After Spurr…
Stage & Screen. ETHEL BARRYMORE of the legendary Barrymore acting family became a Broadway star in 1901 in the new romantic comedy play, “Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,” at the Garrick Theatre in New York City.
FEATURE image: Ethel Barrymore on the cover of The Theatre in August 1901 following the close of the successful Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines which ran on Broadway for 168 performances from February to July 1901 and made 22-year-old Ethel Barrymore a star. Public Domain. 22-year-old Ethel Barrymore on stage at the Garrick Theatre…
Stage & Screen. CARY GRANT in the 1960’s: That Touch of Mink (1962), Charade (1963), Father Goose (1964), Walk, Don’t Run (1966) and his Courtship, Marriage, and Baby with Dyan Cannon.
FEATURE image: “Cary Grant” by classic film scans is licensed under CC BY 2.0. By John P. Walsh Cary Grant made 72 feature films between 1932 and 1966- 34 in the 1930’s, 20 in the 1940’s, 13 in the 1950’s, and 5 in the 1960’s. (Grant also appeared in 10 more short films between 1932…
Stage & Screen. The World’s Most Beautiful Woman, HEDY LAMARR, featuring her Glamour Portrait by László Willinger for M-G-M’s adventure film, Boom Town (1940).
FEATURE image: Hedy Lamarr, M-G-M, 1940. Photograph by László Willinger (1909-1989). PHOTO credit: Fair use.* Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) posed for the glamour portrait (above) in 1940. The legendary Austrian beauty in Hollywood was 27 years old. Since her first American film in 1938, Algiers from United Artists, Lamarr was believed to be the most beautiful…
Stage & Screen. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the Waltz Scene in M-G-M’s MADAME BOVARY (1949) featuring Jennifer Jones and Louis Jourdan dramatized the delusion and psychological breakdown of the title character.
FEATURE image: Madame Bovary (Jennifer Jones) and Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan) waltz at the ball in a still from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1949 film Madame Bovary directed by Vincente Minnelli. Fair Use. In the 1949 film Madame Bovary directed by Vincente Minnelli, a beautiful and charming Madame Bovary (Jennifer Jones) meets wealthy Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan) at…
Stage & Screen. MICHÈLE MERCIER: French Italian Screen Goddess Known as Angélique. A review of her legendary five-film role from 1964 to 1968.
FEATURE image: “Kippa – overige foto’s Reeks 1 – Michèle Mercier” is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Michèle Mercier (born New Year’s Day 1939) is a French actress perhaps best known for playing the lead role of Angélique in the mid1960s film series of the same name based on the 1956 sensational novel Angélique, the Marquise of…
Stage & Screen. Fashionable and versatile award-winning Italian film actress CAROLINA CRESCENTINI is always working. Filmography/Commentary.
FEATURE image: “File:Carolina Crescentini.jpg” by Nicogenin is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Carolina Crescentini is an Italian film and television actress who has appeared in more than 20 films since 2006. Born in Rome in 1980 (April 18) Carolina grew up in the elegant Monteverde Vecchio district. Not unlike Grace Kelly of Philadelphia, Carolina wanted to become…
Stage & Screen. ITALY. St. Francis of Assisi and the leper depicted in “The Flowers of St. Francis” (1950) by Italian filmmaker ROBERTO ROSSELLINI (1906-1977).
FEATURE Image: Saint Francis kissing the leper, Zacarías González Velázquez, oil on canvas, c. 1787, 217×264 cm, Prado. The painting is part of a serial of thirty-three scenes on the “Life of Saint Francis” commissioned for the Basilica of Saint Francis the Great in Madrid done by multiple Spanish painters. The artist was inspired by…
Stage & Screen. MARLENE DIETRICH, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, LANA TURNER: History of Hollywood Publicity Glamour Portraits in the 1930’s and 1940’s.
FEATURE image: Marlene Dietrich. Paramount, 1947. Photograph by A.L. “Whitey” Schafer. The actress was appearing in Golden Earrings, a 1947 romantic spy film made by Paramount Pictures and starring Ray Milland and Marlene Dietrich.* Photographer A. L. “Whitey” Schafer (1902-1951) was a still photographer who started shooting stills in 1923 and continued in that line…
Stage & Screen. Hollywood Princess: GRACE KELLY (1929-1982), Model, Stage, and Film Career, 1946-1956.
FEATURE image: Grace on the set of The Country Girl,1954. “Grace Kelly 1929 – 1982” by oneredsf1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Philadelphia-born Grace Kelly (1929-1982) had a short but dazzling film career in Hollywood. Called the “Greatest Screen Presence in Film,”1 passionate and dramatically talented Grace Kelly was Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite actress when she starred in three of his classic films…
Stage & Screen. Jennifer Jones is Miss Dove in Twentieth Century-Fox’s GOOD MORNING, MISS DOVE!
FEATURE image: Jennifer Jones in Good Morning, Miss Dove! (1955). Movie poster for Henry Koster’s Good Morning, Miss Dove! Starring Jennifer Jones, it was released by 20th Century-Fox the day before Thanksgiving in 1955. Jennifer Jones in Good Morning, Miss Dove! (1955). The 36-year-old actress plays an elderly teacher taken ill at school who, in…
