Category Archives: Mini-Portraits
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and… Tallulah Bankhead?
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! Ah, April—when our hearts and minds turn to baseball! Which of course brings us to Tallulah Bankhead. Wait, what? Oh yes, people! We all know Tallulah was a colorful character (to put it mildly, which she never would) and one-woman pithy-quote machine. (“I’m as pure as the driven slush.”) …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Dan Duryea — Gardener and Cub Scout Leader!
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! A few years ago, between films of a double feature at the Film Forum in New York (Black Angel and Criss Cross), this old guy sitting next to me muttered, to no one in particular, “I wonder if that was really Dan Duryea playing the piano.” And I …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Ann Miller, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland Hit the Town to Do the Charleston!
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! You’re Ann Miller. You’ve been hoofin’ your heart out all day long, and your dogs are barkin’ like there’s someone at the door. It’s a lovely spring night in Hollywood—perfect for parking your tired tootsies on a nice warm veranda somewhere. So what do you do? You call …
One of Alan Rickman’s Last Roles Is Saving Lives—And You Can Help
We all woke up to awful, heartbreaking news this morning. Is there anyone who didn’t love this man in something, or ten or twenty things? Reading just some of the tributes from his friends and colleagues, I was struck by how they were so much deeper than the usual “great talent… thoughts and prayers with his family” …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Teresa Wright, the Anti-Pin-Up Girl
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! We’ve all heard of unusual clauses in actors’ contracts. But Teresa Wright’s—written when she was just starting out at 23—takes the cake. (And that cake does not have a scantily clad starlet popping out of it): The aforementioned Teresa Wright shall not be required to pose for photographs in …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: Start the New Year Right with Gloria Swanson!
Happy New Year, my dear friends! And welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY! Need a little help making this year a bit healthier than the last? Sure, you could turn to a personal trainer or a gym coach. But wouldn’t you rather take your inspiration from Gloria Swanson? Here she is merrily camping it …
From Laurel & Hardy to James Dean and Beyond: A Love Letter to George Stevens
You know how with some people, you say “I love their work!” but really, let’s face it, you’re actually in love with them? That’s me with George Stevens. Today is his birthday, and yet it’s not even a national holiday. That’s just wrong. But we’re celebrating here at Sister Celluloid, sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of the man at work. (And at …
TINTYPE TUESDAY: The Cuddly Side of Boris Karloff
Welcome to another edition of TINTYPE TUESDAY, bringing you wonderful movie photos every week! Shooting the terrifying lake scene in Frankenstein was going to be emotionally fraught enough. But before filming even began, director James Whale faced another problem: Boris Karloff’s makeup required hours to apply, so he needed to be fully “monsterized” by the time …
The Topperesque Adventures of Roland Young
Roland Young almost became Cosmo Topper. Not in the movies—he did that in spades, all rubber limbs and befuddlement—but in real life. The manor-born, well-educated young man came thisclose to toiling out his days soberly and sensibly in some handsome, wood-paneled office. Young’s father Keith was the most prominent architect in London, and young Roland was being fast-tracked to …
Four Extraordinary Heroes, One Regiment: Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, Claude Rains and Herbert Marshall in World War I
Basil Rathbone conceived an almost certain suicide mission—and carried it off disguised as a tree. Herbert Marshall, who lost a leg to a sniper’s bullet, downplayed his sacrifice, saying his most salient memories of the trenches were numbness and boredom. Claude Rains lost almost half his sight to a poison gas attack. And Ronald Colman …
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