Category: Watch of Fame

  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: Little Miss Hoover and Eugene O’Brien

    Marguerite Clark and Eugene O'Brien in Little Miss Hoover.
    Eugene O'Brien in Little Miss Hoover

    If you’ve ever wanted to waste an hour watching a lifeless story about a woman raising chickens at the end of World War One, then this is the movie for you!

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Eugene O'Brien's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Eugene O'Brien.

    Eugene O’Brien (1620 Vine St) plays Major Baldwin, who pretends he isn’t a soldier so he can more easily talk to the locals. Everyone hates him for not being a soldier, so that didn’t work.

    There are very few images for this movie online, so I went with the simple and obvious choice. Fun fact: this is the first one of these posters to include horrible blackface. Not that there’s good blackface.

    A poster for Little Miss Hoover mimicking the poster for Little Miss Sunshine.
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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: Too Late for Tears and Lizabeth Scott. Also: Alice Lake and the weirdness of Vine Street

    Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea in Too Late for Tears
    Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy in Too Late for Tears

    If a mysterious car throws a bag of money into your car, just take it to the police and say you found it. When no one claims it, it’ll be yours. Seems a lot easier than murder and stuff.

    Also: Mulholland Drive has barely changed in 75 years. While I was watching them drive I kept thinking “I’ve been there on my bike!”

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Lizabeth Scott's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Lizabeth Scott.

    Lizabeth Scott (1624 Vine Street) is the casual femme fatale. No planning here; just a lot of “I guess I’ll fix this with murder.”

    And now, the fake poster. It’s weird and stretchy because the original is weird and stretchy.

    A fake poster for Too Late for Tears mimicking the poster for The Crying Game.

    Alice Lake

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Alice Lake's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Alice Lake.

    Alice Lake was often the female lead in Fatty Arbuckle shorts. I watched her in “Good Night, Nurse!,” where she played the important role of “Crazy Lady.” Her star is sometimes listed at 1624 Vine Street, and other times at 1620 Vine Street. I understand the confusion, since street number order on that block is really weird. If you look on Google Maps the street numbers overlap and flip around.

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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: Slightly Scarlet and Arlene Dahl

    Rhonda Fleming, John Payne, and Arlene Dahl in Slightly Scarlet.
    Arlene Dahl leaving prison in Slightly Scarlet.

    It’s like film noir, but with oversaturated color and a truly nonsense storyline featuring two sisters: one who works for a man trying to become mayor and clean up the town, and one who is a kleptomaniac just out of prison. And there’s a weird love quadrangle thing going on. And Chekov’s speargun.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Arlene Dahl's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Arlene Dahl.

    One thing is sure- Arlene Dahl (1624 Vine St) worked all the angles to wring as much cash as she could out of this gig. Besides whatever she got for acting, there was a line in the credits that said “Arlene Dahl’s lingerie by Arlene Dahl Fashions.” and then there’s this:

    An advertisement from a magazine for Lustre-Net hairspray featuring Arlene Dahl and the text:
Arlene Dahl 
starring in
"Slightly Scarlet"
A Benedict Bogeaus 
RKO Production. Print
by Technicolor in Superscope.

    Two fake posters based on beach movies in a row. One more and I have to change my name to Moondoggie.

    A fake poster for Slightly Scarlet mimicking the poster for Endless Summer.
  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: What Price Glory? and Dolores del Rio

    Edmund Lowe, Dolores del Rio, and Victor McLagen in What Price Glory?
    Dolores del Rio and Victor McLagen in What Price Glory

    Wikipedia calls this a “comedy drama war film,” but I think they need to add “bawdy” in there somewhere.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Dolores del Rio's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Dolores del Rio.

    This was yet another time I wish I knew Spanish. If I did, I could have watched a talkie where Delores del Rio (1630 Vine Street) was the lead, instead of a synchronized sound movie where she’s “the pretty girl” in a love triangle with the two lead actors.

    I didn’t quite match the font for this fake poster, but I think it still works. Please enjoy my half-assed “colorization.”

    A fake poster for What Price Glory mimicking the poster for Beach Blanket Bingo.
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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: The Blue Angel and Emil Jannings

    Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings in The Blue Angel.
    Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron in The Blue Angel.

    If you’re a high school teacher who hates his job, I can see how running away with a showgirl might look appealing, but it’s probably not going to work out.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Emil Jannings's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Emil Jannings.

    When the first Oscars were presented, the Academy supposedly had a problem. The actor with the most votes for Best Actor was Rin Tin Tin, and they couldn’t give the first award to a dog or they’d never be taken seriously. So they went with the runner up, Emil Jannings.

    Who later turned out to be a Nazi. Which didn’t stop the Walk of Fame from giving him a star in 1960 (1630 Vine Street). But to be fair, they also gave Rin Tin Tin his star on the same day.

    Today’s poster is another entry into the Good Idea, Bad Execution Club.

    A fake poster for The Blue Angel (poorly) mimicking the poster for Forbidden Zone.
    I disliked it so much (look at poor Marlene Dietrich’s face!) that I stopped early.
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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: An Affair to Remember and Delmer Daves

    Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant in An Affair to
    Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant in An Affair to

    Why does a movie full of strong banter between the two leads grind to a stop to include a hokey singing kids number? And why does it do it twice?

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Delmer Daves's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Delmer Daves.

    Delmer Daves (1634 Vine Street) wrote this based on his script for Love Affair. I wonder if the singing kids are as distracting in that version of the story.

    Today’s fake poster is based on one for a different movie about affairs and remembering.

    A fake poster for An Affair to Remember mimicking the poster for Total Recall.
    That’s supposed to be a cruise ship on the ocean, but it looks like the top of Nomad

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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: The Outfit and Jane Greer

    Joe Don Baker and Robert Duvall in The Outfit.
    The eyes of Robert Ryan in The Outfit.

    An aggressively standard old school crime thriller (complimentary). Really fun to watch a movie from when they used to actually film in Los Angeles. I’m pretty sure part of this was shot at a motel that’s around the corner from my apartment.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Jane Greer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the right, a black and white portrait photo of Jane Greer.

    Jane Greer (1634 Vine Street) only has one scene in this. I should have watched something else and saved this until I needed a Joe Don Baker movie.

    Fake poster time!

    A fake poster for The Outfit mimicking the poster for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
    My favorite part of this one is Duvall’s giant head.
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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: The Westerner and Fred Stone

    Walter Brennan and Gary Cooper leaning in to talk over a bar .
    Gray Cooper's head and a horse's ears.

    Gary Cooper was forced to make this. He didn’t want to do it because he thought you couldn’t have a western without gunfights. There is one gunfight at the end, and I wonder if that was added to appease him.

    …and it’s really more of a love story between Cooper and Walter Brennan, who plays the friendly murderous judge with charm Cooper can’t resist. Oh, you’re supposed to think he loves Doris Davenport, but Brennan’s the one he spends the most time with- and wakes up with in bed.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Fred Stone's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Fred Stone.

    Fred Stone (Walk of Fame: 1634 Vine Street) plays Davenport’s father. He was best known as a stage performer. He was the first person to play The Scarecrow in a stage production of The Wizard of Oz.

    Black and White photo of Fred Stone dressed as the Scarecrow from the stage production of The Wizard of Oz.
    …and he looked pretty freaking cool!

    I’m not sure how this movie connects to a movie about an Australian woman obsessed with ABBA and weddings, but here you go:

    A fake poster for The Westerner mimicking the poster for Muriel's Wedding.
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  • Walk of Fame Movie Adventures: Doctor X and Lee Tracy

    The monster from Doctor X shown in high contrast with bright solid color overlays.
    Lee Tracy and Fay Wray on the beach in Doctor X.

    Two words:

    SYNTHETIC FLESSSSHHHHHHH!

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Lee Tracy's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Lee Tracy.

    Lee Tracy (star at 1634 Vine Street) plays an obnoxious reporter who saves the day with the power of cheap magic shop pranks.

    Today’s fake poster is all about tic-tac-toe.

    A fake poster for Doctor X mimicking the poster for The Story of O.
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  • Walk of Fame Adventures: Ten Laps to Go and Tom Moore

    Marie Provost stacking oranges in Ten Laps to Go.
    Tom Moore, Marie Provost, and Muriel Evans in Ten Laps to Go

    This movie is terrible, and not in a fun way. Barely an hour long, but it feels like four. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it’s the last film of Marie Provost, who I only knew as the subject of a not quite accurate Nick Lowe song.

    Composite picture. On the left, a mockup of Tom Moore's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On the Right, a black and white portrait photo of Tom Moore.

    Tom Moore (star at 1640 Vine Street) plays Mr. Corbett, father of the leading man’s romantic interest and inventor of something that has to do with car engines, but because the script is incredibly lazy it never gets a name. Come on, just call it the “Ultra Efficient Spark Inducer” or “Frictionless Piston” or something. No one watching cares if it makes sense, they just want to know what to call it.

    I picked the source for today’s poster because it was pretty.

    A fake poster for Ten Laps to Go mimicking the poster for Pretty in Pink.
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