Yes – this is a hard hitting title I know but this is very much what I think when it comes to discussing the making of ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ at Denham Film Studios in the summer of 1951

It is well documented that Richard Todd and Ken Annakin did not respect Joan Rice as an actress and this is confirmed in a number of interviews Richard Todd gave – he said ‘She wasn’t an actress at all’ and impled that she was out of her depth.

Ken Annakin in his Autobiography states that she was poor and accident prone and much more.

He says that Joan Rice was ‘ a cross he had to bear’ and that she was ‘dumb and accident prone’ and he describes her ‘going off crying again’ following insults thrown at her by one of the crew.

He then says that Walt Disney visited the set and had his picture taken with a few of the actors and some with Joan Rice on the Archery set – and he declared that he had made the right choice in casting her as Maid Marian. Ken Annakin said that he and others , Richard Todd no doubt, did not agree with him and thought he could have done better

During the filming Joan had said amid tears that ‘if she wasn’t good enough then she would go back to being a waitress’ – however she had one very powerful ally in Walt Disney who chose her – in my view for her looks and how she fitted his own picture of Maid Marian. He was right – the public loved her in this role and still do

Ken Annakin says, again in his Autobiography, that he recalls one incident where one of the crew – an electrician – was walking past him and Joan Rice as Ken Annakin was going through her lines with her and the crew member in a loud whisper said ‘ She’s nothing but a big soft milk tart, Governor. Big boobs and and no drawers’. This again made Joan run off and cry until she was persuaded to come back.

This should never have been allowed and the crew member should have been reprimanded but the culture was such that this type of offensive behaviour to a very young girl was just let go,

What makes it even more galling for me is that Richard Todd had recommended James Robertson Justice for Little John – but here was someone who was not trained as an actor – and in fact was a fantasist and story teller on a grand scale – who seemed to get through each role by shouting his lines. He had a terrible Scots accent in Rob Roy although he claimed to be Scottish and born on the Isle of Skye which he wasn’t.

To add insult to injury Ken Annakin also in his Autobiography – says how well he got on with James Robertson Justice who, he said was ‘larger than life’ and always entertaining. In fairness to him, James would not have been pushed around and treated badly by Ken Annakin and Richard Todd – as Joan Rice was.

James Robertson Justice was a former public schoolboy as was Richard Todd, and as such had that confidence which Joan Rice with her poor upbringing did not.

It has also to be remembered that in the summer of 1951 when the film was made, Joan Rice was only 20 years old

Ken Annakin and Richard Todd I am sure looked down on her maybe because of this and treated her with disdain throughout the filming – maybe Ken Annakin, to be fair, was better to her than Richard Todd.

Richard Todd had nothing to do with her after the film was finished – he could have helped her but didn’t.

I sometimes think that if a different actress had been given the role – and I am pleased that they weren’t – she would have stood up to Mr Todd or maybe if Joan Rice had been a little older she would have.

Joan Rice was cruelly treated in the making of ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ by these two

Joan Rice went on to make ‘His Majesty O Keefe’ with Burt Lancaster out in Fiji and I hope that she was treated better there. It was another ‘big’ film.

Before she was cast in this film, Diana Dors had been approached for ‘His Majesty O Keefe’ but did not get the part – If Diana had worked with Ken Annakin and Richard Todd, she would have more than competed with them. She would have stood up to them

I did write this in an earlier post :-

Richard Todd said in a recent BBC radio interview that Joan Rice wasn’t really an actress although she was a very lovely girl. He also said that he didn’t know why Walt Disney and others had chosen her. In fact in Ken Annakin’s autobiography (and he directed the film) he states that Joan Rice was the choice of Walt Disney himself and Walt insisted she was in, having seen previous rushes of her films. He was absolutely right of course. She looked the part and acted pretty well – so much so that she got a major part in His Majesty O’Keefe opposite Burt Lancaster next.
Walt Disney knew what the public wanted instinctively. Joan Rice IS Maid Marian!!!

I wish Walt Disney had been around much more for the filming – he would not have allowed the bullying of this lovely young girl who was just making her way in the film world – and this one was about as big a film as you could get at the time.

George Brent came over from Hollywood for this one and it also starred a young Diana Dors

Above – George Brent with a smile on his face – he always seemed so serious in the films I saw him in – as he was in this one.

I watched this film a week or more ago – very good. Diana Dors looked glamorous and acted extremely well in one of her early film roles.

George Brent, at this point, was very much towards the end of his film career – it was mostly television after this.

He plays John Harman, manager of a British bookstore. Jeffrey (Peter Reynolds) starts to steal a book but is caught by Ruby (Diana Dors). Seems strange but after she catches him in the act, he somehow turns the tables on her, and charms her into accepting a date which leads her into a murky world of nastiness, blackmail, even death.

Ruby becomes embroiled in a plot to blackmail her boss ( George Brent) and this leads to murder.

There is quite an exciting end to the film – which is one well worth viewing.

George Brent here with fellow American star Marguerite Chapman both over here for this film. She plays another employee at the Book Shop but also a good friend of George Brent and his wife. She does everything to try to help in the blackmail dilemma – she also seems to show a love for George Brent. She had quite a big part and was very good.

ABOVE – Raymond Huntley plays a senior employee at the Book Shop and now is trying to help

Produced by Hammer Films, and Directed by Terence Fisher, who was more famous for directing many of the horror films for Hammer later on.

Dracula, The Mummy and The Curse of Frankenstein are three of the early – and most well known and best – ones.

The Film Trailer BELOW is exciting and gives a strong taste of what is to come – A very good trailer :

This was under the film’s other title ‘Man Bait’ which I don’t like.

‘The Front Page’ is much better

Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘North By North West’ was released in 1959

Cary Grant plays an ad-man caught up in international espionage in 1959’s North By Northwest 

ABOVE – Cary Grant watches, as does Director Alfred Hitchcock as the plane sequence is being filmed on location

The crop duster scene from ‘North by Northwest’ was filmed along Highway 41 in downstate Indiana.

Hitchcock’s 1959 suspense thriller “North by Northwest” is one of those must-see films

BELOW – Later in the film – in fact the climatic sequence partly filmed on this large and impressive Studio set.

The Sets from “North by Northwest”

Old Westbury Gardens

Cary Grant is a successful Madison Avenue ad man named Roger Thornhill, whose life gets turned upside down when he gets mistaken for an undercover CIA agent. He’s first taken to this large estate on Long Island.

The estate where they filmed the exteriors for those scenes is Old Westbury Gardens, which is on the North Shore of Long Island in New York.

The interiors shown in the movie were sets built on a separate soundstage.

When Thornhill gets locked in the library, he quips:

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll catch up on my reading.”

Screenwriter Ernest Lehman says Grant was a perfectionist who often complained about various parts of the script or the way things were being filmed and lobbied to get them changed.

North by Northwest turned out to be Grant’s biggest box-office success.

Scenes at the U.N.

Hitchcock wasn’t allowed to film outside the U.N. so they “stole” a shot of Cary Grant walking in.

The people walking around in the shot didn’t know they were being filmed.

The interior of the U.N. was just a matte painting:

The actual matte painting:

Mount Rushmore

The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman.

Hitchcock told him, “I always wanted to do a chase scene across the faces of Mt. Rushmore,” and that was the starting point for the movie.

Lehman recalled, “I wanted to write the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures. I wanted something that had wit, sophistication, glamour, action, and lots of changes of locale.”

After word got out that there would be a fight scene and a couple of deaths on the monument, government officials barred them from filming there.

The crew flew back to Hollywood, where Mount Rushmore had to be recreated at MGM.

The Vandamm House on Mount Rushmore

In the film this house is known as “The Vandamm House” after James Mason’s character, Phillip Vandamm.

The MGM researchers had to get special permits and Park Service escorts just to visit the area in order to photograph and measure it.

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?????? ?????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?? ????, ?????? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ?????????? ????????? ?? ????u? ?? ??????? ??? ????????? ????-???? ?????????? ????? ??? ??? ??????? ??????????. ???? ???? ?????? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????????? ?? ???????, ??? ?????????? ???? ?? ?????? ????????, ??? ?????? ?????????? ????????.

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??? ?? ??????? ??? ???????, ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????. ???? ?????????? ??????? ?? ??? ???????? ???????? ??????? ??? ??????? ??? ?????? ??? ????????? ?? ??? ????? ?? this famous film star. ?????? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ??, ? ?????????, ??? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ??????? ?? ????.

Leslie’s son Ronald Howard himself a film actor with many roles to his credit, wrote a book about his father and this included much detail of his father’s death

Leslie Howard had a younger brother Arthur who became a popular TV actor when he worked as side-kick to Professor Jimmy Edwards in the long running series ‘Whack O ‘

This is the article I did some time ago – and is repeated BELOW

Arthur Howard – Wacko and the film ‘Bottoms Up’

His famous actor brother Leslie Howard was about 20 years older than the character actor Arthur Howard who had his greatest success on television when he played the role of the deputy headmaster Pettigrew to Jimmy Edwards’s  incompetent head in Whack-O! in the late 1950s.

For many years Athur Howard had brightened the cinema screen with a series of cameos (often uncredited), specialising in nervousl type teachers, vicars or “men from the ministry”.

Though a distinct family resemblance was apparent, he lacked the finely chiselled features that made a matinee idol of his brother, and leading men or his nephew Ronald or his son Alan.

Born Arthur Stainer in 1910, he made his screen debut in one of his brother’s films, The Lady is Willing (1933), the first film to be made by Columbia’s British studio but, despite a script by Guy Bolton, the film was a failure. He did not make another film until 1947, when his role as a town hall clerk issuing ration books and identity cards in Frieda started a long and active period as a supporting player, contributing telling cameos to some of the best comedies of the era including The Man in the White Suit (1951), Laughter in Paradise (1952) and The Belles of St Trinian’s (1954).

ABOVE – In Passport to Pimlico 1949

ABOVE – Arthur Howard a signed picture

In Henry Cornelius’s classic Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico (1949) he was a councillor in favour of selling wasteland to prospectors rather than accept Stanley Holloway’s plans for a playground, and in Frank Launder’s hilarious The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), in which a girls’ school is unwittingly billeted with a boys’, he was the distracted science master barely aware of the chaos being generated around him.

He was a butler in both David Lean’s The Passionate Friends (1948) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright (1950) and in Sidney Gilliat’s atmospheric story of life in a London boarding house London Belongs to Me (1948) he was the head of the “South London Psychical Society”, offering lobster-paste sandwiches to members before a seance.

In Lewis Gilbert’s Cosh Boy (1952), controversial in its day for its depiction of juvenile crime, he was the registrar who marries the delinquent’s widowed mother to the man who brings discipline to the boy’s life.

Whack-O!, which started on radio before achieving its very suddessful run on television (1956-60), made him a household name as the none-too-bright assistant to Jimmy Edwards’s conniving and often inebriated headmaster.

Written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden, the series became a feature film, Bottoms Up!, in 1960 with Athur Howard in his original role, though when the series was revived on television in 1971 Julian Orchard played Pettigrew.

Other television appearances included guest spots on George and Mildred, Robin’s Nest, Ever Decreasing Circles, Happy Ever After, Never the Twain, The Eric Sykes Show and, as Professor Plum, the children’s series Plum’s Pots and Pans.

Arthur Howard played in a season of Crossroads, in 1984, and appeared last year in “The Last Englishman”, an episode of Heroes and Villains.

His stage work included classics (the Duke of York in Richard II at the Ludlow Festival: Love for Love at the Bristol Old Vic, the Earl of Caversham in An Ideal Husband at Greenwich) and modern farce (several years in No Sex, Please, We’re British). His later films included Moonraker (1979) and Another Country (1984); his last screen appearance was in Tristram Powell’s American Friends (1990).

Well here is an actor who requires no introduction – his name is firmly among the top icons of the film star world

Here Johnny is pictured with his wife at the time Lupe Velez – she looks very attractive

We all know about Johnny Weissmuller’s astonishing life from an Olympic Gold Medallist to Films with MGM the top Studio, as Tarzan, then Jungle Jim on film then to Television – the successful film career lasting around 25 years. On top of this were the many water show displays all over the USA

Much less is known of Lupe Velez, Johnny’s wife from 1933 to 1939.

Prior to this she had dated Errol Flynn

In 1924, Lupe Velez started that career on the Mexican stage

By 1927 she had emigrated to Hollywood, where she was discovered by Hal Roach, who cast her in a comedy with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Douglas Fairbanks cast her in his feature film, “The Gaucho” (1927), with himself and wife Mary Pickford.

Lupe played dramatic roles for five years before she switched to comedy. In 1933 she played the lead role of Pepper in “Hot Pepper” (1933). This film showcased her comedic talents and helped her to show the world her vital personality.

In 1934 Lupe appeared in three fine comedies: “Strictly Dynamite” (1934), “Palooka” (1934) and “Laughing Boy” (1934). By now her popularity was such that a series of “Mexican Spitfire” films were written around her. She portrayed Carmelita Lindsay in “Mexican Spitfire” (1940), “Mexican Spitfire Out West” (1940), “The Mexican Spitfire’s Baby” (1941) and “Mexican Spitfire’s Blessed Event” (1943), among others.

Her love life was a disaster: she never recovered from her failed romance with Gary Cooper, who never wanted to marry her.

She was married to Johnny Weissmuller, but they divorced after five years.

Lupe Vélez’s death was recounted in the 1959 book “Hollywood Babylon” by Kenneth Anger.

Her death certificate lists “Seconal poisoning” due to “ingestion of Seconal” as the cause of death.

These are some of her comments about herself – Very Interesting :-

“What I attribute my success? I think, simply, because I’m different. I’m not beautiful, but I have beautiful eyes and know exactly what to do with them.

Although the public thinks that I’m a very wild girl. Actually I’m not. I’m just me, Lupe Vélez, simple and natural Lupe. If I’m happy, I dance and sing and act like a child. And if something irritates me, I cry and sob. Someone called that ‘Personality.’ The Personality is nothing more than behave with others as you really are. If I tried to look and act like Norma Talmadge, the great dramatic actress, or like Corinne Griffith, the aristocrat of the movies, or like Mary Pickford, the sweet and gentle Mary, I would be nothing more than an imitation.

I just want to be myself

I didn’t know much about Lupe Velez but from what I have recently learned, I am certain that I would have liked her !

I am sorry to know that she died quite young and was unhappy

Similar details of her life as above really : Lupe Vélez (born María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez; July 18, 1908 – December 14, 1944). Lupe was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer during the “Golden Age” of Hollywood films.

By the end of the 20 s, Lupe Velez was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others.

Lupe Vélez then made the transition to sound films without difficulty. She was one of the first successful Latin-American actresses in Hollywood.

During the 1930s, her well-known explosive screen image was exploited in several successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez’s popularity peaked after appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on Lupe Vélez’s well-documented fiery personality.Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media,

Lupe Vélez’s personal life was as colourful as her screen personality. She had several highly publicised romances with Hollywood actors and a stormy marriage with Johnny Weissmuller.

I liked them both

• The New film ‘Elvis’ released July 2022 is currently showing throughout the Country to rave reviews. To coincide with that I am copying and including on this site the following interview
• Loanne Parker was Col Parker’s second wife. She was working as an RCA Records tour secretary a job she held until Elvis’ death. She married Col Parker in 1990 but their relationship went back to 1970. She has often defended the regular negative comments made against Col Parker including the fact that his manager stopped Elvis travelling overseasand denies that Parker had any gambling debts.

• The following interview – Joanna Johnson’s with Loanne Parker .There were absolutely no restrictions on the questions that ETA Radio was able to ask of Mrs. Parker, and in this interview Loanne and ETA’s Joanna spend considerable time discussing the various myths and stories surrounding the Colonel.As ETA Radio’s Joanna Johnson states at the end of the conversation, Loanne is a most dignified and loving spokesperson – and all of us at ETA Radio wish to thank Loanne Parker for her gracious participation in this heartfelt and meaningful rare interview.
  • Hi Loanne, I’d like to thank you for agreeing to this interview. Of course we all know that there’s been a lifetime of Elvis rumours, quotes, misquotes writings about the Col that people around the world have heard and we’re going to get into that. We may get into that later but right now I’d like to hear form you and how you would describe the Colonel as your knew him, as a person, as your husband and of course the personal and working relationship you had, both of you with EP.ETA: Start with when did you meet the colonel?
  • Loanne P: I met the Colonel in 1969 in Las Vegas, that was when Elvis was preparing to appear at the International Hotel, he was the second artist to appear, Barb Streisand (was) the first, because again the Colonel’s wisdom was don’t be the first act. You’re going to have a lot of problems with sounds, etc. and he didn’t want to put Elvis in that position. That’s when I met him, I was an employee of the hotel
  • ETA: I believe you were his secretary, how did that happen? LP: I was never his secretary. Colonel Tom and I had a personal relationship. And when they decided that Elvis would tour, the tour sponsor was RCA records, and they needed a secretary to travel on the tour and I was hired as the RCA records tour secretary and I held that position until Elvis’ death. So I was on the road with the show.
  • ETA: How long were you married to the Colonel? LP: Col and I were married in 1990 but again our relationship went back to 1970. ETA: That’s a long time.
  • LP: That’s a very long time and we went through a lot together Joanna. There were very traumatic things that occurred in his life, Elvis death, that just turned our world upside down, His wife Marie died and before she died she was literally a vegetable, that was very, very difficult for him. There were other problems that came up of course, the problem with the state of Tennessee. Everyone says there was problem between the estate and Colonel Parker. The problem was with the guardian ad lidim who was appointed for Lisa, in fact the estate refused to make charges against the colonel and that’s in the court record. The judge ordered them to proceed or they would be replaced. So there was never the problem between the estate and the colonel, that’s another one of those stories.
  • ETA:. We’re gonna come up with a few of them as we go along. Were you involved in any way with the Col’s business dealings?
  • LP:. Absolutely, I was the secretary for RCA record tours but I was assigned to the Colonel and my initial during that period appear at the bottom of many, many of his letters, plus he confided a lot in me. ETA: He was a great man. LP: He was great all on his own, he didn’t need anyone behind him. But I think he enjoyed having someone there who appreciated his work talents. Marie did not like show-business, she was uncomfortable with show business. And so he couldn’t discuss it with her, probably didn’t even think of discussing it with her. Because they were in the age group where a man had his life which was his business, the wife had her home, children if there were any and there were a few things that they would talk about in regard to the home and children but that was about it.
  • ETA: That’s something that’s very difficult, to have a working and personal relationship with your husband, you must have been very, very close.
  • LP: Oh, we were close, we were extremely close. In 1985 we closed all of our homes and moved here to Las Vegas. I’d had a home here all during that period and we were together 24 hours a day from 1985 until his death.
  • ETA: Is that where you’re from, Las Vegas originally?
  • LP: No, I’m from Ohio.
  • ETA: When did you move out to Vegas?
  • LP: 1968.
  • ETA: Did you get to go to any of Elvis’ concerts?
  • LP: Yeah. Of course. Elvis was dyn-o-mite
  • ETA: That’s what you remember?
  • LP: I wish every one of your listeners could have attended a concert and seen him perform in person because you had to be there to feel the electricity, to feel the excitement, he had an aura, a magnetism that doesn’t come across on film, he looks great on film but in person he was even more sensational. I was NOT an Elvis fan when I met colonel. I didn’t dislike Elvis but he just wasn’t my style but was I converted quickly, one show, that did it.
  • ETA: Would you say you ended up knowing Elvis very, fairly well?
  • LP: No, no, I didn’t not that well.
  • ETA: What would you remember the most of Elvis? What stands out in your mind?
  • LP: I think the most that stands out is that he was a human being who cared. His talent was a plus but I think he would have been a caring human being no matter what occupation he’d gone into. And I think people forget about that, too often they see him as Elvis the entertainer. It’s such a tough life to lead, I know people everywhere will disagree with that. A friend of mine who was an entertainer said one of the problems he had was, he said he was single at the time. He said that `women go to bed with a star and they wake up with me,’ and I think that’s very telling. Everyone expects a star to be a star 24 hours a day, and that’s a lot of pressure.
  • ETA: Many of Elvis’ friends have spoken highly of Colonel, have you kept in touch with these people?
  • LP: Yes, oh yes, Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling, Sonny West, I’ve been in touch with Jack Soden CEO of the estate, Priscilla and I talk from time to time, I’m friends with those people. Dick Grob is another one. I had breakfast with Jerry Schilling and Joe Esposito about six weeks ago. Charlie Stone, he was on this show, Mike Crawly , Someone else that you might be aware of is Paul Gongaware He and his partner, Concerts West has booked Celine Dion in Caesar’s palace.
  • ETA: When you talk to these friends I’m sure you share stories about you know remember when Elvis did this or that. Could you share a story or two with us about Colonel and Elvis, something he would have discussed whether it be amusing?
  • LP: I’m trying to think of something with colonel and Elvis. All right, one night, our group always travelled ahead of the show and we had our own plane . I travelled with Colonel’s group. We would go ahead and make sure that all the arrangements were set up, the hotel rooms were assigned. Every time a musician or any member got off the plane there was someone there to meet them with a hotel key and transportation to take them to the hotel and so forth. Colonel got a call before Elvis plane left and what they said was he’s not in a real good mood tonight, Colonel.So the Colonel went up to Elvis’ suite and he borrowed some paraphernalia from the janitor of the hotel and when Elvis walked in, Colonel had a push broom and he was sweeping the hallways. Elvis said `Colonel what are you doing.? And Colonel said `Elvis, I’d do anything for you.’ Elvis broke up, he thought that was really funny, It changed his mood.
  • ETA: How would you describe the relationship between E and the colonel?
  • LP: Complex. They trusted one another to the point where colonel said Elvis I am not a singer, I’m not an artist, I don’t know what songs you should choose, I don’t know what kind of attire you should wear on stage. Elvis handled everything in the creative part and he did an extremely great job. Colonel took care of the business, Elvis didn’t want to spend time in negotiation and things like that, so colonel would do that for him and here’s the misconception people think that Colonel made plans and Elvis had to follow through and that’s not true.Colonel did not make any contracts for movies, personal appearances anything before talking it over with Elvis and Elvis agreed to it or didn’t agree to it and if he didn’t agree, colonel went back and said it’s not a deal. No one told Elvis Presley what to do.
  • ETA: What happened, like the colonel engineered many firsts. For example the satellite show from Hawaii?
  • LP: Exactly and let’s go back even further, way, way back when the he negotiated RCA Victor contract for Elvis. Prior to that time, the A&R man picked out the material that was to be recorded, and a recording artist would walk into the studio and was handed the songs that he was to do for an album. Colonel changed that. He wrote into the contract that Elvis chose his own material. Which didn’t make Colonel very popular with the A&R people because that was a lot of power that they held before that time. And today I don’t think an artist would dream of letting an A&R man tell them what to sing, absolutely not, Joanne. So he did, he held a lot of power.
  • ETA: Let’s go back to you for a second, Loanne you’ve been involved in a project called the Definitive Elvis. Can you tell me a little about that. The video series in which you were involved…
  • LP: Oh right oh yes, the video this was done by Joe Esposito and Don Wilson, they went everywhere interviewing people. I was one of those people. At this point Joanna I think it’s time some of the misconceptions are set straight and if I can help do that I would be very happy. I’d like you to set the record straight right now. Let’s go.We’ve heard the Colonel being an illegal alien and that’s the reason Elvis never went overseas. Let’s take a look at that at the time of Elvis’ death Charlie Stone has told me Colonel had him checking into venues with plans to take Elvis overseas but going back just a bit common sense would tell us, how could Elvis pass customs carrying pills and guns. Frank Sinatra was arrested in Australia for a very small infraction. He couldn’t have gotten through customs, I’m sorry, he couldn’t.That’s number 1, number two, at that time the venues that we have today were not available. Elvis would not play outdoors, and I don’t blame him, he realized that in playing outdoors he could have been mobbed. Unfortunately, sometimes fans get carried away. In the early days he’s had his clothes nearly ripped off him, that was something that bothered his mother a great deal I’ve been told. He’d come home all scratched up. So he would not play outdoors and the indoor venues overseas were not large enough to enable a reasonable ticket.(EIN Note: London’s Royal Albert Hall was opened in 1880 with a capacity for 8,000 people but has held concerts of up to 12,000. London Earl’s Court built in 1937 had concert capacity of 20,000Led Zeppelin’s 1973 European tour played venues of 14,000.)The ticket prices would have had to been so high that quite honestly most of the Elvis fans could not have afforded to see the show. So if we just look at the practical aspect it makes a lot of sense. Col would not have needed to accompany Elvis overseas he could have sent him with concerts west, with Jerry Weintraub could have taken him. That is silly to say that Colonel didn’t want to go overseas he was in Canada three times.(EIN Note: It was only in 2008 that Americans and Canadian citizens were required to have a valid passport to travel between countries. Before that a valid ID or driver’s license was all that was needed.)When Elvis played Toronto in 1957, Ottawa April 3rd of 1957 and Vancouver August 31st of 1957. Colonel was outside the county and came back and forth.
  • ETA: That’s true.
  • LP: Colonel did not prevent Elvis from playing overseas, it’s that simple.
  • ETA: Now the series of what they call dead end movies that didn’t challenge Elvis, how big a part did the Colonel play in this, did he dictate?
  • LP: No, lets think about Elvis’ age at that time. He was young, he was having a wonderful time. I think probably the most important thing in his life, in any man’s life, is the female relationships that they have. Elvis made extremely good money, he was making more money than almost any big star and Colonel does not get credit for that. They look at what Elvis was paid for a movie and say, `oh that’s not much because they look at what a star is paid today and you can’t do that. Back in those days it was quite different. Elvis approved every script, that’s all I can say. As far as the money that he made, can we delve into, again, only what we’ve heard and you are setting the record straight?
  • ETA: Did the Colonel have gambling debts? And were his ties to the Hilton hotel, did this have anything to do with the amount of time that Elvis was working there?
  • LP: No absolutely not. Colonel gambled of course. Did he have debts? No, he paid as he went. And Joanna I can verify that because I was the person who quite often paid the gambling debt, he sent me down to clear it. I would take care of that. He never gambled something he didn’t have and he was always very careful to made sure there was enough money to take care of Marie if she lived to be a hundred and fifty. His ties to the hotel, the Las Vegas Hilton was the biggest, best hotel when they started. In 1969 it was THE new place to be. He did not have an exclusive contract with the hotel Colonel could have played any other hotel in LV no one offered better money.
  • ETA: So it was a matter of choice. It was a good business deal.
  • LP: It was a good business deal. Yes he did play in Lake Tahoe, they also paid very well. It was just good business. Let’s for one second go back to the movie years. I have I my possession a copy of a letter Colonel wrote to Elvis saying. Elvis enclosed is a script. It is my personal recommendation that you do not do this movie because I do not think it requires enough of your talent. You’d be better choosing a script that makes better use of your talents. Now does that sound like a man who just wanted money and didn’t think of anything else?
  • ETA: This is why you’re telling us this story, because you gotta set the record straight! Now how about the gossip about Colonel overlooking or ignoring Elvis drug problem?LP: Let’s use common sense again Joanna. Sadly, when you have a loved one who has an addiction, you would move heaven and earth to stop that. But what can you do if the person doesn’t want to end their own addiction? There were no Betty Ford clinics back then and you could NOT put someone in a facility without them signing themselves in. You had to have their permission.Colonel even at one time left, he and Elvis went their separate ways. He said, `I’m not gonna book you anymore’, that’s a matter of record. I think it was in 75 that, Colonel said, no I’m not gonna book you any more Elvis, you’ve gonna have to straighten yourself out, he even talked to Vernon about this. Vernon was very distraught about this. Everyone around was distraught. Everyone tried in their own way, but Elvis didn’t believe, he didn’t believe he had a problem, and we can sit here and judge Elvis all we like but we were not in his body. We don’t know the pressures that he was up against and it’s well known he was an insomniac. Which, it’s no fault to him being an insomniac. If Colonel could have discovered how to stop a person’s addictions, he would have made millions, just telling everyone else how to do it and it would have been done.
  • ETA: How about the terrible rumour of overworking Elvis to the point of exhaustion?
  • LP: The only time that Elvis stayed away from drugs, or let me say, you don’t stay away from something with an addiction the only time Elvis used fewer drugs was when he was performing and Elvis himself wanted to perform. It was a constant worry to Colonel that if Elvis stops performing he would go up in his bedroom and eventually no one will ever see him again. But Elvis himself agreed to every tour. Now, I don’t doubt that he complained about it on the road. Of course, don’t you and I complain about our jobs sometimes? He was a human being. And I’m sure he complained about it, ` Colonel’s got me booked again’ blah blah blah. But he would agree to the next tour and the next tour he was a human being.Elvis himself knew that the only thing that kept him going was his fans. They wanted him and he needed to be out there for them. And looking at all that his body was undergoing and so forth and probably most of it caused by the drugs, but we should say prescriptions I guess, using drugs because that’s what they call it, these were all prescription medication. I think that when we look even at the last show that was videotaped for the CBS special. Elvis did very well despite the physical condition. He really, he wanted, he wanted to perform for his fans.

• ETA: As far as Elvis goes, I bet you feel your heart cries, your heart laughs, your heart enjoyed, your heart appreciated, but moreover as I have understood from every word you’ve said you understand the predicament he was in, you understand and you’re a very wise woman.
  • LP: when you understand but you can’t change it, of course you hurt, everyone around Elvis hurt, it was not easy, it was not, and it’s so sad to be judged unfairly by those who weren’t there. One of the things that invariably is said during a conversation I have today with someone who is on the show, that is, we can only talk to one another about this because no one else can begin to imagine what it was like. We were all under tremendous pressure. Anyone of us would have given anything to help that situation.
  • ETA: Loanne, what are your feelings about the books that have been released about the Colonel lately and what kind of reaction have these books found among the Colonel’s friends?
  • LP: Actually they’re so far from the truth that we just disregard them. I guess, the way I feel about them is this, the writers of the books used what information they were able to gather. But Joanna, if you wanted to find out what it was like to eat an ice cream cone, would you talk to someone who had eaten an ice cream cone? Or would you talk to someone who had watched a person eat an ice cream cone? Or a person had read about another eating an ice cream cone? Or someone who had heard about an ice cream cone but never really got close enough to see it? And that’s they’re problems. The people who were closest to the Colonel are not talking. Because they fear their words to be twisted and misused, it’s that simple.
  • ETA: What do you feel is the biggest misconception about the Colonel?
  • LP: The biggest misconception is that he cheated Elvis, that he made E do things he didn’t want to do, that he misguided Elvis, that’s not true. Colonel lived for Elvis. He didn’t take a vacation because his thinking was, ‘what would I enjoy doing more than I do right now?’. I’m working for Elvis.And the day after Elvis died, Number 1, the Colonel did not go to New York. I was with him on a chartered plane to Memphis. Jerry Weintraub was there Pat Kelaher was there Tom Hewlett was there, Mark Hewlett, Tom’s nephew was there, and myself, George Parkhill. And Colonel gave us a little talk cause we were all just torn up and he said, I’m sorry, this is hard (she sobs) he said, `just because he’s gone we’re still working for him, it will always be Elvis and The Colonel till the day I die. He will always be there for me. And he said, ‘make him proud of us.’When we get off this plane, I don’t want any scenes, I don’t want anyone breaking down and getting emotional and in respect to him I want us to walk off, do our jobs, pay homage to him and make him proud. And then Col read that he had been riding a motorcycle in the funeral procession cause someone reported that which is so silly.
  • ETA: I’ll ask another question but I didn’t want to disturb you. What was the Col’ relationship like with EPE and Priscilla after Elvis’ death.
  • LP: It was strained during the period of time when the estate was forced by the state of Tennessee to proceed, because the people who were the estate at that time were not allowed to talk with the Colonel and everything had to be negotiated through attorneys. But once that was over at the settlement, when they were signing the papers, Priscilla looked at Colonel, smiled and said, “I wish you were my manager.’Anyone who worked with Elvis or FOR Elvis can talk about their relationship with Elvis and their relationship with Colonel, but their relationship with Colonel was always on a more friendship basis, because anytime that Elvis and the Colonel had a meeting they either excused themselves or they asked the guys to leave the room so those meetings were just Elvis and the Colonel and there can be all kinds of speculation about what happened but the people weren’t there, there were only two people there.
  • ETA: It was all behind close doors. That’s the same thing you did when you got home with the colonel. You closed the door, they weren’t in there, they weren’t involved.
  • LP: Colonel may have told me what transpired in the meeting and Elvis might tell the boys what transpired. So everyone today who’s alive today has had only the opinion of one of those people but they weren’t there.
  • ETA: There’s Elvis’ friends and the Colonel’s friends who have sat and talked to me and said this was my experience with Elvis but they had another experience with the Colonel and they were such wonderful stories, talking about what a benevolent man he was. It was incredible to hear that and I’m going to get on that and hear your opinion of that. I’d like to know if the Colonel worked with or helped promote any other artist after Elvis died?
  • LP: He was very free at giving advice but no, he did not work with any other artist, absolutely not.
  • ETA: Was he approached by any other artist?
  • LP: Oh, yes, absolutely, and I really don’t think it would be fair of me to tell you who they were, but just one and I don’t think he would mind me saying it but it was Tony Orlando. Who was real big at one time. He still plays here in Vegas and still does a great show. Tony called the Colonel and said he would like to talk to him and Colonel said `fine I’d be happy to see you any time Tony, but bring your manager.’ Because Colonel would NOT talk to an artist without their manager being there, and the manager had to be in agreement because he wouldn’t go behind someone’s back.
  • ETA: Oh wow.
  • LP: Tanya Tucker’s dad came and asked if Colonel would manage Tanya. He said `No, I wish you all the success in the world and if I can give you any helpful advice, I will do that but no Elvis was, that was it,’ he said, ` I’ve had the greatest, anything else would be a step down.’
  • ETA: I believe the Colonel turned over much of his memorabilia to EPE. Do you still own a considerable amount of Elvis memorabilia?
  • LP: No, in 1990 EPE purchased all of the memorabilia and all of the records , I’m talking about business records that Colonel had in his office in TN. And at that time his offices in Las Vegas and Los Angeles were sent to Tennessee so they got all of that. The only thing that I have now is personal records of the Colonel.
  • ETA: Do you have any plans for this memorabilia?
  • LP: I’m holding onto it, I’m keeping it safe because yes, probably at some point I will donate it to a university. So that’s it’s made available to anyone who is interested and wants to look at it. You know there are no secrets, Joanna, no secrets, because Colonel had no reason to keep things secret. When the problems arose with state of Tennessee and the estate and Colonel. Colonel’s feelings were let them go ahead, I’ve done nothing wrong. I have nothing to hide.’ Everything that the state of Tennessee requested, he made available. And eventually there was a settlement. In all the time this was discussed and talked about and threats of a lawsuit came up, it was not instigated. They never found anything that they could go to court with.
  • ETA: Something got proved right.
  • LP: Yeah.
  • ETA: Loanne, how do you feel about the Elvis entertainer, the imitator, the tribute artists? Have you ever seen any of them perform?
  • LP: I saw Donnie Seaton perform and two others, they were in Elvis, an American Musical, which the estate, it was their show they sponsored this. I’d like to call them tribute artist. I think that’s fair, `imitators’ takes something away from the person, the artist that’s doing the singing, but tribute artist, I like that a lot better. I have not seen many of them for a very selfish reason, it hurts.One of Colonel’s friends and yours Charles Stone, Oh yeah and Craig Parker, he’s a very personable man and I have no doubt that he’s very talented. He’s, gonna be here in February and I’m looking forward to that. I think he’s at the Sun Coast Casino. Feb 15 to 17, he’s fabulous. Las Vegas is a great place for Elvis fans and admirers to come because Elvis of course just captured the town, absolutely took it over.
  • ETA: Second time around, not the very first appearance, I’m told over and over again first time Elvis was in Vegas.
  • LP: And Colonel said `If it was such a bad event, why did they ask us to stay over and why did they offer us a chance to come back?” Well good for him because that’s what we think. They wanted him to stay an extra week but he was going to be in a movie in fact they stopped here on their way to the coast. They just picked up a little work on their way to the coast. Both Elvis and the Colonel gave generously to charities. He gave to so many, there was one group in TN these women ran a day school for under privileged children, and he gave a lot to them but he gave to different religious groups.Even when you think about when they had the Pearl Harbour Memorial, when they did the concert for that, each of them coughed up $35 thousand dollars, I mean Elvis and the Colonel, because any box office receipts went directly to charity. There was nothing deducted, nothing. If there were Expense, Elvis and the Colonel divided those expenses and paid for them out of their own pockets. I have volumes of letters from charities that Colonel donated to, letters thanking him. Every time he sent out a check it was with was a stipulation that there was no publicity he felt that you give from the heart not because you want publicity or attention.

Each day I used to walk up to school past a couple of cinemas with ‘Front of House Stills’ as they are called on show in a glass fronted cupboard near the Cinema Entrance

I loved them – still do – and I referred to them as ‘Scenes from the film’ which I consider a better title – they gave us a taste of what we were to see on the screen

The Rawhide Years & Others Lot (Universal International, 1955). Title Lobby Cards (6) (11″ X 14″). Western.
Starring Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, William Demarest, and William Gargan. Directed by Rudolph Maté. Included in this lot are title lobby cards from The Capture (RKO, 1950), Fury at Showdown (United Artists, 1957), Jubal (Columbia, 1956), Many Rivers to Cross (MGM, 1955), and Barricade (Warner, 1950). lobby cards with bright colour

The above are all Westerns from Universal – but they are not ‘front of house stills’ – mainly Posters but the ones below are. Well, all but one anyway

The ABOVE is not so much a classic Front of House Still but more a scene being filmed – with Audie Murphy

ABOVE – I chose this still from ‘Cimarron’ mainly because here we have a picture of Maria Schell who had made such an impact a few years earlier in the film ‘So Little Time’ opposite Marius Goring

She played the loving but lonely Sabra Cravat in the 1960 Anthony Mann-directed remake of Cimarron.  It was a big western, spanning decades .  Its central theme was the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 but its emotional theme was the long but fractured marriage of Maria Schell and Glenn Ford.  She suffers throughout because he is always leaving her for long periods of time to pursue other interests. 

During the filming Maria Schell fell deeply in love with Glenn Ford and wanted to marry him.  Although he loved her as well, he was suffering because his marriage to Eleanor Powell was ending and he didn’t feel able to commit in the way she wanted.  She always said it was one of the great regrets of her life.

Directed by Rudolph Maté
Starring Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, William Demarest, Robert J. Wilke, Chubby Johnson, I. Stanford Jolley


The Rawhide Years (1955). Tony Curtis is a riverboat gambler who flees when he’s implicated in a murder. He returns three years later to clear his name, track down the real killers and be reunited with his girl (Colleen Miller).

Coleen Miller had a career in films manily in the 50’s and she made a few Westerns

This film was released in 1955 the year that she got married

Tony Curtis is well on form in ‘The Rawhide Years’ – in it Arthur Kennedy played a nasty villain – a part he was used to playing in Westerns.

Irving Glassberg shot the film in Technicolor

Tony Curtis had appeared in Westerns before — “Kansas Raiders,” “Winchester ’73” and “Sierra” (all 1950) — but not with top billing.

This marked his last Western film

We are featuring a NEW film ‘Wonka’ – here this time with a strong connection back to a much older but very popular film ‘Charlie & The Chocolate Factory’ – ‘Wonka’ will be released in 2023

Also I have from childhood, strong family connections with the lovely city of St Albans, where scenes for the new film are being – or have been – shot

Warner Brothers used the area around the Lake as we used to refer to it – it is the Verulamium Park – for the Charlie & The Chocolate Factory prequel starring Timothée Chalamet.

A financial contribution “in the thousands” will be made to the Council and will be used to improve the park used as a film location for Wonka.

Parts of Verulamium Park in St Albans in Hertfordshire were closed to the public earlier this year for a short time.

Warner Brothers used the area for the Charlie & The Chocolate Factory prequel starring Timothée Chalamet.

As well as a set in the area near to the Ye Olde Fighting Cocks pub, a marquee and temporary pathways were set up on the flood plain next to the River Ver near Westminster Lodge.

A local spokesman said the production was “looking to do a park scene in particular – they were looking at Regent’s Park in London but thought it would be way too busy”.

He said after looking at Verulamium Park the producers “thought it would be ideal”.

The park was covered in fake snow and had a circus stall, Victorian lamps, and a vintage theme

It was only a day’s filming but the amount of logistics and infrastructure that went into that was astonishing

Wonka, directed by Paul King, focuses on Willy Wonka’s early life and is due to star Chalamet, Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins and Matt Lucas.

Warner Bros and the Roald Dahl Story Company announced in May that they were working on the new musical movie about the chocolatier before he opened his factory.

There is a financial contribution [from Warner Brothers] that has been ring-fenced for park improvements by the Council which could run into thousands

The film is due to be released in March 2023.

This was a film that I couldn’t remember seeing up until last evening on Talking Pictures but I can certainly recommend it when it turns up again as it will do.

Jack Hawkins plays a Police Inspector on the trail of a clever crime whereby a professional key maker at a Safe Factory had devised a way of robbing large companies, Everything goes wrong for him very early in the picture when he and his colleague run over a man who has seen them come out of a factory at dead of night. The young man dies and so a murder investigation begins.

Director Charles Frend does a splendid job with THE LONG ARM. The film has street scenes, and landmarks of the London and Wales of the 1950s which are fascinating

Ursula Howells, the pretty lady who plays the part of Mrs Gilson, she donates £5 towards Ian Bannen’s widow. When we see what happens later in the film we realise just how cruel this was

ABOVE – Ian Bannen goes off to work on an early morning shift

Robbery is about to take place

ABOVE – Dorothy Alison as Jack Hawkin’s wife in the film

ABOVE – The first robbery we see which finishes in tragedy

ABOVE and BELOW – I just love these scenes shot in North Wales

BELOW – the Petrol Station in North Wales – there were many of these around in the 50’s

ABOVE – We are back and now in Shepperton where the trail leads us

BELOW – Home at last – slightly injured

This is a superb police detection drama, with Jack Hawkins tackling a rather complex crime saga. The best supporting performance is by Ursula Howells, who brilliantly conveys menace and desperation in just a few scenes. Ian Bannen who many years later played Dr Cameron in the second series is killed off very quickly, but already in this early appearance we can see that he is a good actor.

The plot has some intriguing features. In the first safe robbery at the beginning of the film, the thief remains at the scene of the crime and pretends to be a night watchman, lets the police in, shows sympathy and bewilderment, and then makes his escape after they have gone. The whole case really is a requires some working out – but it is well worth viewing

It is ironic seeing Ian Bannen run over in this film – he actually died many years later in a car crash on the Loch Ness road in 1999

I also remember him being very good in Walt Disney’s ‘The Watcher in the Woods’ – a favourite of mine and my family