A unique cinema that I know well had to close down last year because at that time they did not have the digital equipment to show the modern films. However Thanks to the many local supporters the necessary money has been raised and it is due to re-open next month April 2015.
This is more of a 40 s story but nevertheless it feature a beautiful young actress getting married here in England and is well worth including I think.
Carole and Tommy Wallace’s Love Story
Joan Rice had travelled all the way to Fiji in 1952 to film His Majesty O Keefe with Burt Lancaster – a big Warner Brothers Production.
This followed very quickly after The Story of Robin Hood 1952 for Walt Disney. Joan Rice was certainly in the big league forthese TWO films. She was VERY good in them both but somehow, inexplicably, her film career seemed to fade after that.
Whatever happened to her at that time, we can only guess, but for these two films alone, she should be well remembered.
Sadly Joan Rice died a number of years ago in 1999. She was a very beautiful girl as this picture confirms.
Way back in the fifties this is the sort of advertisement we would get in the press – and in fact the type of films we would get at the time.
One a light comedy and the ‘big’ picture ‘The Golden Horde ‘would take us across the world and back in time with an acton packed big screen COLOUR picture – and in those days ‘In Colour’ was a big attraction.
The Golden Horde – 1951
With its dramatic coastline and verdant hills, Ireland’s County Cork has long been a magnet for celebrities wanting a break from the limelight.
However probably the most famous star to find a hideaway in County Cork is the queen of Hollywood romance, Maureen O’Hara, who has owned a spellbinding property on the coast for more than 45 years.
Spellbinding: Maureen O’Hara’s house nestles in the stunning coastal scenery in County Cork, Ireland
The movie legend, 94, has taken the painful decision to put the home, called Lugdine Park, on the market
Now, at the age of 94, the movie legend has taken the painful decision to put the home, called Lugdine Park, on the market and live full-time in the United States.
She said: ‘I have so many wonderful memories over these many years at Lugdine, and now it’s time to pass her on to another lucky family who will cherish her as much as I have.’
Once considered the world’s most beautiful woman, Dublin-born O’Hara is relocating to Idaho to live with her daughter Bronwyn.
‘I have the most wonderful neighbours a person can hope for in Glengarriff,’ she said. ‘We’ve been together for so long and love each other as old friends. Everybody has always been very respectful of my privacy if I want it, but I can’t wait to see everyone whenever I arrive.
Lugdine Park, which was built in 1935, boasts five bedrooms, 35 acres of land and two private islands
O’Hara made five movies with John Wayne, including Wings of Eagles (pictured)
O’Hara’s big break came when she auditioned for a movie role in London, after she had studied at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
Oscar-winning actor Charles Laughton happened upon her screen test and was captivated by her expressive eyes. He recommended her for the lead role in Alfred Hitchcock’s British-made 1939 film Jamaica Inn.
She starred in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, How Green Was My Valley, The Black Swan, Sinbad The Sailor and Miracle On 34th Street.
She also made five movies with John Wayne, including The Quiet Man, in which Wayne played an Irish-born American returning to his homeland.
She has been married three times, having her daughter with her second husband, the film director William Houston-Price.
One place that has been a constant for her over the past half-century is her vast home in West Cork.
Unique features: Home of Hollywood legend Maureen O’Hara, two private islands and private beach, 35 acres of land.
Maureen O’Hara last set foot in the property in 2012. She originally put it on the market for €2.3 million last year, but has now dropped that to €2.1 million.
She told the Irish Times: “I have too many wonderful memories of Glengarriff to pick just one. One is starting my golf tournament that goes on every summer. All of us, the whole village, pulled together to get it going. And it still is today. You miss Ireland for all your life when you leave. I miss looking out my bedroom window at the boats coming in and eating at Casey’s.”
The 94-year-old Quiet Man star has entertained a several celebrities and VIPs at the property including former Mayor of New York Ed Koch. A previous owner of the house before O’Hara was William Martin Murphy, founder of the Irish Independent.
Most of this article was copied from www.disneysrobin.blogspot.com – and this is a site well worth a visit – written by a friend of mine Tony who has done this for a number of years and has given me permission to use this – the Blog is all about the film The Story of Robin Hood 1952 Walt Disney – made at Denham Film Studios in England – and beautifully made I have to say !!
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| Elton Hayes (1915-2001) |
As the minstrel Allan-a-Dale, Elton Hayes led us magically through Walt Disney’s live-action movie The Story of Robin Hood in 1952. His role in the film gave him global popularity, but today he is sadly largely forgotten.Below is a snippet from a magazine article I recently found from 1954 which gives us another rare snapshot of his life:
Elton Hayes has been singing to a small guitar ever since he bought a sixpenny ukulele as a school boy. The smooth easy manner in which he sings those old English ballads and folk songs has come with many years of training in the theatre.Elton was born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, but spent most of his school days in Leicester. His parents were both in the entertainment business – his father was in the circus and his mother was a singer.It was natural that Elton should want to follow in his parents footsteps. He toured the country with them, and while they performed on stage, he would sit in the wings watching, and learning how show business worked.He soon mastered the sixpenny ukulele which he bought with his pocket money, and by the time he was ten years old he could play nearly every stringed instrument.Elton wanted to be a straight actor. However fate turned his career in other directions. He became interested in old English folk songs and ballads.When the war started in 1939 Elton joined the army and became a gunner in the Royal Artillery. He was posted overseas in India and decided to take his guitar with him. He was also given a commission.While in India he became seriously ill with rheumatic fever. This was a tragedy for Elton. for his fingers began to stiffen.One day he remembered his guitar. He took it from its case and began strumming it. And soon, after many hours of painful effort his fingers grew more supple. He could play again. His courage had brought him through.In 1946 Elton returned to Britain and appeared on In Town Tonight. This was a beginning. For, like thousands of other ex-serviceman, he found that he had to begin building a career again.Just how successful he has been can be judged from the number of programmes he has appeared in on radio and television.He has had a record spot on nearly every major radio station on the Continent and the BBC. He has appeared in his own show on television and was a permanent member of Eric Barker’s Just Fancy. And of course he makes gramophone records.When the film Robin Hood was made in this country, the producers did not have to search far for the man to play the strolling minstrel – Elton Hayes was a natural choice.
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| Elton fishing during a break from filming Robin Hood |
Elton’s collection of folk songs and ballads is one of the largest in Britain. How does he collect them? By listening, wherever he goes. If he hears someone humming, singing, or whistling a tune which he cannot place, he records it.
One day his agent was talking to him on the phone about a contract. Elton said: ‘just a minute, I’ll call you back in half-an-hour.’
When he called back he explained: ‘I heard someone in the street, calling- a vendor selling fruit. I’d never heard the call he used before, so I asked him to come in, and we recorded it on my tape recorder.
Elton will play back the recording, and adapt it to his style, with words and music. The finished work will be a catchy little song with which he will charm us when he next appears on radio or television.
Because his work is connected with history, and the past, it is probably natural that his hobbies should follow a similar path. They are horse mastership, and the old English sport of fishing.
Elton is married, and lives in a luxury flat in London. But at the weekends he goes to his 350-year-old cottage in Essex, which he restored from a ruin. It is there he works on the songs he sings to a small guitar.
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| Elton Hayes |
Elton was a fascinating person and one of many people involved in The Story of Robin Hood that I would have loved to have met. One person that did meet him was Sallie Walrond and in her book, Trot on: Sixty Years of Horses she says:
When Elton Hayes came to live at Thorne Lodge I was delighted to meet him. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word, incredibly wise and with a kind but quick sense of humour and bright as a button right up until his death. I remember as a child listening to him on the radio singing The Owl and the Pussycat and seeing him as the minstrel Allan-a-Dale in a favourite Robin Hood starring Richard Todd.
Movita Castaneda, the raven-haired actress who met Marlon Brando on a movie set and later married him and had two of his children, has died.
Barbara Sternig, a family friend, says Castaneda died last Thursday at a Los Angeles rehabilitation center after being treated for a neck injury.
The Los Angeles Times says Castaneda was believed to be 98. There is debate as to what year she was born, as her age was inflated during her time as an actress.
She married Brando in 1960 and the two stayed together until 1962 when he fell in love with his costar while remaking ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ – the very movie that made Castaneda a star.
However, Brando and Castaneda later had a second child together in 1966.
Injury: Castaneda (photographed) reportedly died Thursday at the age of 98 after being treated for a neck injury
The Mexican-American actress came to prominence after appearing in the 1935 classic ‘Mutiny on the Bounty,’ a film that would be remade decades later starring Brando.
In the film, Castaneda played a Tahitian named Tehani who marries a sailor.
The film was remade in 1962 with Brando, Castaneda’s then-husband, playing Fletcher Christian.
Castaneda was the second of Brando’s three wives.
Tarita Teriipaia, a Bora Bora native, played Brando’s lover in the film. He fell in love with the much younger actress and divorced Castaneda in 1962.
The two wed later that year.
Actress: She came to prominence after appearing in the 1935 classic ‘Mutiny on the Bounty,’ a film that would be remade decades later starring Brando (Here, Castaneda is seen in ‘Paradise Isle’ alongside Richard Kennedy)
Miko: Castaneda is survived by her son Miko Brando (right), who became an aide and longtime friend of Michael Jackson’s as well as a daughter, four grandchildren, and her 102-year-old sister
Castaneda was also known for roles in ‘Flying Down to Rio’ alongside Fred Astaire, ‘Paradise Isle,’ ‘Fort Apache’ with John Wayne,’ and ‘Captain Calamity.’
She married Brando in 1960 and reportedly won an annulment in 1968, according to Yahoo. Previously she was married to Irish prizefighter and singer Jack Doyle.
Castaneda is survived by her son Miko Brando, who became an aide and longtime friend of Michael Jackson.
She also has a daughter, Rebecca Brando, four grandchildren, and a 102-year-old sister, Petra.
Ronald Reagan (left) charmed more than 50 of Hollywood’s leading ladies at his luxury LA villa, according to a new biography. During his time as an actor he became involved with the young Marilyn Monroe (above.)
Ronald Reagan came to Hollywood in 1937 aged 26 from a small town in Illinois, he did stints as a lifeguard and a radio announcer before his film-star looks were spotted by studio chief Jack Warner, head of Warner Bros. Reagan was given a seven-year contract, starting at $200 (£24) a week.
Ronnie Ronalde has died a day or so ago – a name I remember so well from the radio days here in England in the early fifties. However I forgot that he whistled the soundtrack for Innocent Sinners in 1958 – a British film not really much known these days. I must search it out because apparently it is a charming film of its time – and it is adapted from a novel by Rumer Godden – featured on this Blog a while ago when we covered another of her works – Black Narcissus and The River.
And what about Ronnie Ronalde – The Voice of Variety AS HE WAS CALLED..
In the 40 s and 50 s he was a headliner, and broke box office records all over the world – he was a big name in the UK, US, Australasia, Scandinavia, Africa, South America and Europe.
Such was his success in the US in the 1950s, he was seen as serious competition to Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and others such as Richard Tauber and Josef Locke.
Ronalde had his own BBC Radio Show from 1949 called The Voice of Variety. During this series, the volume of Ronalde’s fan mail caused a problem for the BBC. The Voice of Variety News fan publication had a print of 55,000 copies twice yearly, and fan clubs during this era existed all across the UK. Thames TV also presented a weekly show titled Meet Ronnie Ronalde.
In 1949 Ronalde filled Radio City Music Hall in New York City (with capacity of over six thousand) every night for ten weeks. He was at that time the most frequent UK artiste to ever perform there (over a thousand times).
During the same period he filled a 25,000 capacity venue in Toronto Canada for a fortnight.
Ronnie Ronalde whistled the theme to Innocent Sinners.
Gentle children’s drama based on the novel An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden following a Cockney girl’s efforts to brighten her drab life by cultivating a bomb-site garden. Director Philip Leacock was an adept hand at capturing youthful emotions and had earlier done so on films including The Kidnapper’s (1953) and The Spanish Gardener (1955). Characteristically of the director, it’s a sensitive and well acted drama.
It is set in London during the period of post-war austerity. A 13-year-old girl, Lovejoy Mason (June Archer) lives with guardian parents whilst her mother Bertha (Vanda Godsell) treads the boards at the coastal holiday resorts. When the girl comes into possession of a packet of cornflower seeds she decides to make something beautiful out and creates a small garden in a bombed-out section of London. To tend her garden Lovejoy requires two-shillings for some garden tools and resorts to singing in the street – where she comes to the attention of terminally-ill resident Olivia Chesney (Flora Robson). She eventually gets the money she needs by robbing the collection box at a nearby bomb-damaged Roman Catholic church
A group of street urchins led by street-smart Tip Malone destroy Lovejoy’s garden and the young sparrow is forced to scour London in search of a new plot. Tip feels remorse for vandalising Lovejoy’s creation and offers to help her create a better garden in the grounds of the ruined Catholic church – providing she repays the money stolen from the collection box. Meanwhile, Lovejoy’s guardian’s, dreamer Mr Vincent (David Kossoff) and his wife Emma (Barbara Mullen), have troubles of their own with a restaurant that is failing and when news reaches them that Lovejoy’s mother has married and eloped to Canada the couple no longer have the funds to care of their young ward.
Lovejoy and Tip are arrested by the police for stealing from a communal garden, and together with her mother moving away, the young teenager is taken into care. The one sympathetic figure transpires to be golden-hearted spinster Olivia Chesney, who having overseen Lovejoy’s predicament, calls on her solicitor to draw up a trust fund to ensure both Lovejoy’s future and that of likeable restauranteurs the Vincent’s in a new West End premises. Sadly Mrs Chesney passes away before the fund can be finalised and it’s left in the hands of her stern sister Angela (Catherine Lacey) as to whether her dying wishes are carried out.
Ronnie Ronalde with the them from Innocent Sinners 1958 :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=85114404&x-yt-ts=1422579428&v=697ijtKw98w&feature=player_detailpage#t=5
I have recently acquired this item – an original typed film script from the famous film The Blue Lagoon. 
It is a fascinating find because it reminds us of an era now gone – and it also shows the great detail necessary in film making. Quite a lot of the filming went on in Fiji which in those days would be even more remote and inaccessible than it is today – but for young actor like Jean Simmons and Donald Houston it must have been a very exciting period in their lives. How on earth would they get there in those days. Even in the mid fifties to get to New Zealand would mean around nine hops by air – and whether Fiji meant another plane journey or by sea I don’t know. I do know however that Jean Simmons went to Sydney on her way out to film The Blue Lagoon and received a very warm reception there. She also describes how she travelled back in luxury. Jean Simmons said :- “I’ve got some lovely memories. I remember coming back from the Fiji Islands on the Queen Mary after we’d made The Blue Lagoon. I travelled with Eleanor Roosevelt and she gave me a bunch of violets. I was so thrilled. I was just 18. I’ve had a lovely life. Not bad for a kid from Cricklewood.” I must query Jean’s recollection here though, because there is a newsreel film of her celebrating her 19th Birthday on Fiji before she left for home. Still that hardly seems to matter !!
Below is a jig-saw puzzle from the film – my Mother and Dad bought me one like this way back probably in the early fifties and I treasured it and remember it to this day.
However years later I was able to get hold of the full set of FOUR of these which made me very happy.
