Some puppy love.. ..with Laurence Olivier

Welcome to a new puppy love issue on this blog.. 

Well.. well.. it's been quite a long time since the last post for this series.. Quite a time since my last post at all, too.. Did you miss it - at least a bit? A Tiny bit??

Today my guest will be birthday boy Laurence Olivier - of whom we all know countless pictures with the Siamese cats Vivien Leigh and he lived with..

So - today he is here - with some dogs:

With Pip during the filming of HAMLET (UK, 1948) - amazing film.. ..and the first one to feature both Peter Cushing AND Christopher Lee! Now - is that awesome or what??  

And my favourite - mostly because here the dog isn't wearing some silly skirt.. - and it looks a lot like a relaxed private moment.. I do not know the name of his friend - so I think we keep this a secret.. 

Thank you very much for listening!

Yours truly

Irene

Some puppy love.. ..with Gene Tierney

Wellcome to a new Puppy Love Tuesday issue!

Our guest today (- and just btw this month's star guest at Monty's and my blog LET THE SHOW BEGIN...):

Miss Gene Tierney!

The SPARKLE'S-team has met her during work..

~ with a very handsome friend
- oh.. and well.. yes: Clark Gable was there, too.. ~

... and had the luck to visit her also on set!

 She was filming THE EGYPTIAN (1954) with some very elegant co-stars:

(We want to thank 20th Century Fox for this oportunity!) 

And here is little Miss Tierney's with her younger sister Pat - together with Argus:

Thank you very much for listening!

Have a lovely day!

Yours very well and truly

Irene

Some puppy love.. ..with Dalida

Welcome to this new issue of Some Puppy Love.. 

Todays guest is Egyptian singer, actress and todays's birthday girl (well.. one of them..) : 

Dalida.

* January 17, 1933 (Cairo, Egypt)

† May 3, 1987 (Paris, France)

A few words about this very, very fascinating woman:

• She was born as Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti - which later became Yolanda Gigliotti.
  
  
• Her mother tongue was Italian - but growing up in Cairo she also learned French and Egyptian Arabic. Actually she would later sing in several langues: French, Arabic, English, Greek, Dutch, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, German and Hebrew. (I think that's about it..)

Hear her sing her version of the title song of NEVER ON SUNDAY (1960):

 
... I just love this song..

•  Her career went for 30 years from 1956 to 1986. She received 55 golden records - and was the first singer to receive a diamond disc.
  
  
  
  

  

  ~ Dalida is giving autographs - and looks just stunning. ~

  
  
  
  
• In 1967 - shortly after they announced that they wanted to get married - her then lover Italian singer/actor Luigi Tenco commited suicide - Dalida found his death body.

~ Dalida & Luigi Tenco. ~

• Her husband Lucien Morisse also comitted suicide some years after their divorce - and so did her ex-lover the magician Richard Chanfray - who actually must have been one of the most irritating people - stating that he had several powers due to Alchemy - like making gold out of lead.. (I wonder how he happened to be broke most of his life then..) 

~ Dalida & Richard Chanfray ~

• Also Dalida took her own life. She took some (actually too many) barbiturates and left a note saying "La vie m'est insupportable... Pardonnez-moi." which you could translate into "The life is insupportable for me... Forgive me."

When I was a child I often mixed her up with Hebrew singer and actress Daliah Lavi - to whom we listened very often.. Both had kind of a hoarse singing voice - actually something with which I share a bit with them.. 

I love both very much and I certainly hope to grow up to be as beautiful as those two women were in their "advanced youth".. - to me they were for sure..

Well.. but you're here to see some dogs - aren't you? 

So here we have Dalida with an anonymous dog - maybe a professional model..

~ epitome of showbiz - and a dog for the tender-hearted.. ~

I am quite happy to announce that Dalida  brought one of her best friends with her! 

Please say hello to Gerda - Dalida's pug!

~ two lovely ladies.. ~

~ Gerda looks a little irritated here.. ~

~ quite a lovely snapshot of Gerda and Dalida - this sure looks like fun! ~

And again - my favourite picture is the last in this series:

~ ... ~

Thank you all for listening!

Yours 

Irene

Some puppy love.. ..with Karl Dane

Welcome to a new issue of my puppy love series.. 

And this one actually today maybe a bit teary-eyed.. 

Our guest today:

Karl Dane

 * October 12, 1886 (Copenhagen, Denmark)

† April 14, 1934 (Los Angeles, California, USA)

Who-on-earth-is-that-guy-and-how-does-he-fit-into-this-month's-theme?? 

I don't think that he is too well-known - that's why I wrote a bit more - but quite not enough about Karl Dane: 

He was born as Rasmus Carl Therkelsen Gottlieb. His childhood wasn't an easy one - not enough money and apparently his father was more interested in alcohol than anything - or anyone - else. So young Carl is said to have done what many children do when they are in trouble: they escape into fantasy worlds - via imagination, music, books and theatre (and nowadays: films and telly).. 

In 1916 he emigrated to the United States of America - leaving his wife and two children in Denmark - planning to send for them later. That never happened - his wife filed for divorce. Leaving him apparently  - I wasn't there, you know.. - very sad and lonely in a country which language he hardly spoke.

He first worked in Brooklyn as a mechanic - before he went on to Hollywood. There he would gain some smaller parts but eventually started kind of a career as "the villainous hun" - WWI was going on and the mood was quite anti-German. This might be why he changed his name officially into Karl Dane when he became an American citizen in 1919.. The tall actor (6'3½ = 1.92m) should also become more popular as a comic actor - mostly used as comic relief. 

Two of his most famous films are THE BIG PARADE (1925) and SON OF THE SHEIK (1926).

~ With Scottish actor George K. Arthur he formed the comedy team Arthur & Dane - here in ROOKIES (1927)~ 

In the rising days of the talkies studios decided that his thick Danish accent wouldn't allow him to continue his career - and who could be funny with a foreign accent? ... This might be also one cause for the nervous breakdown Karl Dane suffered from - which of course didn't help to revive his career. His last film was THE WHISPERING SHADOW (1933) in which his friend Béla Lugosi starred.

Karl Dane then would sell hot dogs - outside the MGM studios - where he used to work so successfully before. His business didn't pay out and soon he was again about to find a job to gain some money - reportedly he even asked (and was neglected) for a job at MGM as a carpenter ($5 a day..).

In 1934 at the age of 47 he committed suicide by shooting himself into the head. His 28 year old friend Frances Leake found him - he didn't show up when she invited him to visit a show to cheer him up - and she was worried.. 

The more fortunate Danish actor Jean Hersholt is said to have convinced MGM studios to pay for his funeral - he denied that.

It is also said that the day before his death Karl Dane was pickpocketed and most (if not all) of his capital was taken from him: $18.. 

No happy ending here, isn't it?

Let's have a look on more brighter days of Karl Dane:

~ his nickname actually was The Great Dane.. ~

~ Here he is with George K. Arthur and Jack Benny. ~

And let's not forget that it's still a Some Puppy Love post!

Karl Dane was very fond of animals. Apparently after the filming of  THE TRAIL OF '98 (1928) he rescued two dogs.

I do not know whether those are said dogs - but I certainly like to share those pictures with you:

~ I think this is a really nice picture - a charming Karl Dane and a very smart looking dog. ~

and have one of my favourite pictures of Karl Dane:

~well.. yes.. one of these dogs is actually a deer - a dear deer indeed.. ~

Thank you very much for listening!

And if you could do me a favour: Whenever you watch one of his films: please watch out carefully for The really Great and still so sad Dane!

Thank you very, very much!

Yours

Irene

Some puppy love.. .. with Victor Borge

So... Today's guest is birthday boy

Victor Borge 

* January 3, 1909 (Copenhagen, Denmark)

† December 23, 2000 (Greenwich, Connecticut, USA)

So - how does he fit into the On The Run series??

In short:

He was born as Børge Rosenbaum and in the 1940s his parody of Adolf Hitler was quite popular (and by that famous) in Denmark - that is: he wasn't too popular with the Nazi ocupying force that he was Jewish didn't help either - so he escaped over Finland to America - and became there also very popular with mostly comic performances..

Back to Dog Tuesday:

He not only appeared on Telly with a very famous dog:

- he also had one of the coolest autograph cards ever:

~ I love that little arrow showing WHO of them is Victor Borge..~

Thank you very much for listening!

Yours (very well and) truly 

Irene

Welcome to a brandnew year!

I certainly hope that you all arrived savely in 2012  - Don't be irrated by the numbers in the Debra Paget pic - What? You didn't notice any numbers? mhm.. Me either.. 

[insert Groucho-Marx-eyebrow-wiggle

]

Where was I? Oh - yes: I hope you all arrived savely and happy. 

New Year's Day is an approved day to look into future and make plans - and tell those plans to each and every one  - no matter if they're interested or not. 

Oh - it's a wonderful tradition.. 

~ here illustrated by Zsa Zsa Gabor and Esther Williams ~

I myself looked into the cards for our beloved blog Sparkles (wait - did I hear a chuckle?? no.. must have been from another world..)

~ looking at this - I see.. I see a cold coming her way.. ~

And what did I see besides?? That's a good question indeed.. 

I saw: 

The "Start with a Smile" posts on Mondays will return

Have a little reminder - one of my guests then was Mr. Rock Hudson - doing something like a smile..

Then of course there will still be the Puppy Love Tuesdays and Completely Having Kittens Thursdays.. 

~ hope the guests then won't be as stressed as Elizabeth Taylor's friends here.. ~

I also saw some new things: 

 I will  post now and then (I don't know if I can do it weekly..) short posts about new released films in cinema I'd like to watch.

There will be definitively more European films on this blog - and for those films are now and then hard to come by (or frankly: hard to watch at all..) I will try to do kind of "photo novels" to illustrate some scenes.. I do not know if that really will work but I'll give it a try - and please be aware that I might get awfully ironic when I talk about German films..

~ German actress Ilse Werner with her a bit ironic look.. ~ 

And finally:

Themed months - I will start this month with a theme called:

ON THE RUN 

~ my cover girl will be Miss Lillian Gish ~

- and I will talk about some films dealing with Runaways and Refugees and Escapees and Escapists.. (Hence the new header..) Sometimes it'll make only sense for those who are brave enough to follow my "logic" - I will post after my own rules.. 

I hope I can also link the guests of my series to the themes somehow - we will see.. If it works out I will go on doing themed months like that.. A little challenge for myself.. (and hopefully not that challenging for you..)

Thank you all so very much for listening!

Yours 

(very well and) truly

  Irene

Have yourself a merry little (or great!?!) Christmas!!

 To all of you:

 A Merry Christmas!

~ Lana Turner ~

To all fans of horror films & musicals:

~ Boris Karloff & Ginger Rogers  ~

To all dog-lovers: 

~ Ava Gardner and a little pal ~

To all cat-ladies and -gentlemen 

(and my friend Kate - I'm afraid I don't know who's YOUR favourite, dear..):

~ Young Elizabeth Taylor - with an even younger friend.. ~

To Dawn: 

~ Gene Tierney - a little colour for you my noirandchickflicks - friend  ~

To Patti:

~ No sun picture - but: Bette Davis - always in the middle of attention.. ~

and to Michelle:

~ Bette Davis and a cat (!)..  Thank you for all Cat-Thursdays!! ~

To Monty:

~ Carole Lombard - with a Hungarian Christmas Wish ~

To our birthdaychildren:

 ~ It's Humphrey Bogart's birthday! Stephen Bogart and Lauren Bacall are celebrating with him.. ~

To all of you - no matter what age or species:

~ Shirley Temple and a wellbehaving little friend.. ~

And to me:

 ~ One of my favourite Christmas pictures: an actual snap shot of Marilyn Monroe at Milton Greene's house celebrating a no-publicity-Christmas with him and his family and friends.. ~

Thank you very much for listening!

And again: A Merry Christmas to you!!

Yours

Irene

And at last a really cute series of pictures - showing NOT me - but Diana Dors: