24 June 2022

Beach Party!

It is summer and holiday time! We are in Italy and tomorrow we are going to Bologna for the Il Cinema Ritrovato festival. So today at EFSP, we are organising a beach party with the stars. You are very welcome!

Vera Ellen and Peter Lawford
Belgian postcard by Nieuwe Merksemsche Chocolaterie S.P.R.I., Merksem (Anvers / Antwerpen). Photo: M.G.M., 1950.

Blonde, slim Vera-Ellen (1921-1981) was one of the most vivacious and vibrant musical film talents to glide through Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Whether performing solo or dueting with the best male partners of her generation, including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen gave life to some of the most extraordinary dance routines ever caught on film. She was a dance sensation in a string of light-hearted but successful films. Vera-Ellen retired from acting in the late 1950s.

English-American actor Peter Lawford (1923-1984), is mainly known as a member of the Rat Pack from which he was later banned due to an argument with Frank Sinatra and as the husband of Patricia Kennedy. Although he was never considered a very important actor, he has played in many famous films. He also appeared frequently on television. He was the first one to kiss Elizabeth Taylor and, according to him, the last one to speak to Marilyn Monroe before she died.

Richard Greene, Peggy Cummins
Dutch postcard. Photo: London Films. Publicity still for That Dangerous Age (Gregory Ratoff, 1949).

Darkly handsome British film and television actor Richard Greene (1918-1985) was a matinee idol of the late 1930s who appeared in more than 40 films. He was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-1960).

Blonde and beautiful Irish actress Peggy Cummins (1925-2017) was unforgettable in the Film Noir classic Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) as the trigger-happy femme fatale who robs banks with her lover.

Ruth Roman
Spanish postcard, no. 454. Photo: Warner Bros.

American actress Ruth Roman (1922–1999) had a memorable role in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Strangers on a Train (1951).

Abbe Lane
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 123.

Va-va-voom singer Abbe Lane (1932) achieved her greatest success as the vocalist for Xavier Cugat's orchestra, but she also appeared in several American and Italian films. The beautiful, curvaceous Lane was nicknamed 'the swingingest sexpot in show business.'

Yvonne de Carlo in Hotel Sahara (1951)
West-German postcard by Rüdel-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 542. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation. Yvonne de Carlo in Hotel Sahara (Ken Annakin, 1951).

Dark-haired Hollywood beauty Yvonne De Carlo (1922–2007) was a Canadian American actress, singer, and dancer whose career in film, television, and musical theatre spanned six decades. From the 1950s on, she also starred in British and Italian films. She achieved her greatest popularity as the ghoulish matriarch Lily in the TV sitcom The Munsters (1964-1966).

Ricardo Montalban
Dutch postcard by Takken, Utrecht, no. 1694. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ricardo Montalban takes a few minutes between scenes of Two Weeks with Love (Roy Rowland, 1952) to start a summer tan.

Georges Marchal
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1256. Photo: Raymond Voinquel.

Handsome and athletic Georges Marchal (1920-1997) was one of the main lead actors in the French cinema of the 1950s, together with Jean Marais. He starred in several costume dramas and Swashbucklers and later appeared in films by Luis Buñuel.

Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Italian postcard, no. 100 104. Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC (Don Chaffey, 1966).

American actress Raquel Welch (1940) is one of the icons of the 1960s and 1970s. She first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966). In Great Britain, she then made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although she had only three lines in the film, a poster of Welch in a furry prehistoric bikini became an amazing bestseller and catapulted her to stardom.

Pamela Anderson
British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD, London, no. SPC2610. Pamela Anderson as C.J. Parker in the TV series Baywatch (1992-1997).

Sexy Canadian-American actress and model Pamela Anderson (1967) is best known for the TV series Home Improvement, Baywatch and V.I.P., but the platinum blonde but naturally born brunette also appeared in a dozen of feature films and on a record 14 Playboy covers. Furthermore she is an international celebrity thanks to her rocky marriages, her animal rights activism and her changing bust sizes.

Ossi Oswalda
German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1597/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

Ossi Oswalda (1895-1947) was one of the most popular comediennes of German silent cinema.

Phyllis Haver
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4829/1, 1929-1930. Photo: DPG.

Phyllis Haver (1899-1960) was an American actress of the silent film era. With her curvy figure and blonde hair, she started her career as one of the most popular of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties. Haver quickly worked her way up to leading roles and she was signed by Cecil B. De Mille. Among her best roles were Roxy Hart in the first film version of Chicago (1927), Shanghai Mabel in What Price Glory? (1927) and the Temptress in The Way of All Flesh (1927) opposite Emil Jannings.

Mara Corday
American Arcade card. Photo: Universal International.

American actress Mara Corday (1930) was also a popular showgirl, model and Playboy Playmate of the 1950s.

Mamie van Doren
Belgian postcard, no. 96.

Voluptuous American actress Mamie Van Doren (1931) was a sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. Van Doren starred in several exploitation films such as Untamed Youth (1957), loaded with rock 'n' roll and juvenile delinquency. Her onscreen wardrobe usually consisted of tight sweaters, low-cut blouses, form-fitting dresses, and daring swimsuits. Mamie and her colleague blonde bombshells Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield were known as 'The Three M's.'

Evelyn Keyes
Dutch postcard, no. 3198. Photo: Europa Columbia.

Evelyn Keyes (1916-2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and for the female lead in the blockbuster hit The Jolson Story (1946). Her final film was The Seven Year's Itch (1955) starring Marilyn Monroe.

Clark Gable
Dutch postcard by Fotoarchief Film en Toneel, no. 3234. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

With his natural charm and knowing smile, Clark Gable (1901-1959) was 'The King of Hollywood' during the 1930s. He often portrayed down-to-earth, bravado characters with a carefree attitude, and was seen as the epitome of masculinity. Gable won an Academy Award for Best Actor for It Happened One Night (1934), and was nominated for leading roles in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and for his best-known role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Rock Hudson
Spanish postcard by Marte. Sent by mail in 1957.

Handsome American actor Rock Hudson (1925–1985) was a popular Hollywood star in the 1950s and 1960s. He was teamed up in romantic comedies with Doris Day, but he also starred in dramatic roles in Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Giant (1956). In later years, he starred on TV in the mystery series McMillan & Wife (1971-1977) and the soap opera Dynasty (1984-1985). Hudson, secretly gay, became in 1985 the first major celebrity who died from an AIDS-related illness.

Peggie Castle
Dutch postcard by Takken, no. 461. Photo: Universal International.

Tall, sultry, green-eyed blonde Peggie Castle (1927-1973) was an American actress who specialised in playing the "other woman" in B-movies. Castle was Miss Cheesecake in 1949.


Arrivederci!

No comments: