My First Day in Hollywood in Pictures

Today I got to spend the day in Hollywood. This is the very first time I have visited Hollywood and it was a real treat. First stop was our hotel. It's a wonderful little hotel filled with lots of great Hollywood memorabilia. (thank you to Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence for recommending this hotel to us!).

Carlos got to ride the elevator with Gregory Peck.

I got to pose with Joan Crawford, as you do.

The hotel had a cool mural of Harold Lloyd in Safety Last (1923).

A portrait of Tyrone Powers hangs above the hotel bed.

We walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame and I looked for all of my favorite stars. I took way too many pictures so I'll only share a few. Here I am with Norma Shearer's star.

Lewis Stone

Richard Barthelmess

Robert Montgomery

Jean Harlow

Of all the things I wanted to see in Hollywood, Robert Mitchum's star was at the top of my list. Big thanks to actor Bentley Mitchum, Robert Mitchum's grandson, who gave me the heads up as to where Mitchum's star was located (south side of the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard). Here is the star with my Robert Mitchum iPhone case!

It was worth all the blisters I got walking around to find this spot! The highlight of my day.

We saw Grauman's Egyptian theatre.

We had a late lunch at the Pig 'N Whistle. Laura of Laura's Miscellaneous Musings told me that Marsha Hunt used to eat here as a child during the 1920s.

TCM Classic Film Festival signage was very prominent on Hollywood Boulevard.

We saw the exterior of the Roosevelt Hotel. This is the home base of the TCM Classic Film Festival and where the TCM Club and TCM Boutique are located during the festival.

We saw Grauman's Chinese theatre.

It was so cool to see all of the hand and foot prints in cement. Here I am with Norma Shearer's prints from 1927.

Here Carlos is with Steve McQueen's prints from 1967.

We really liked this Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward panel and decided to pose with it.

We saw the Dolby Theatre where the Academy Awards ceremony is held each year.

These pillars list the winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture for each year.

Thanks to Eric, Laura and Jill who all recommended Larry Edmund's Bookshop to me. It's a great place and the people who work there sure know their stuff. 

Your wallet will be a whole lot lighter once you leave here. It's tempting to spend all your savings on books, magazines, posters and other collectibles.

I bought this Robert Mitchum book which contains transcripts of interviews he had done over the years.

I also got Myrna Loy's book Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming. I asked for it because I couldn't find it in the stacks. Turns out I was the second person to ask about it that day. I am glad I picked it up and I'll be stopping by the store later to see if they have a George Sanders book I have been looking for.

I had a lot of fun today! I'm a newbie to Hollywood and to L.A. and California to begin with. I wish I had more time to explore Hollywood but I am glad to have spent the afternoon exploring with Carlos.

The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival in Two Weeks! - My Plan

I can't believe the TCM Classic Film Festival is in two weeks! And this year I get to go. Woah!!!

I have been fairly quiet about the festival because frankly I have been in an extended state of disbelief. After I booked the passes, I still didn't believe I was going. Then I booked the hotel and still couldn't quite believe I was going. When I booked the flight, I finally started to let myself believe that it was really happening but I was still very cautious. It wasn't until I heard that I was received media credentials to attend the festival as a member of the press that I realized, holy crap I am going! I am actually going. Part of me still thinks that someone will call me and say "sorry Raquel, it was all a big mistake. You are not really going. Maybe next year." Part of me won't believe anything until I see it all for my own eyes. This whole experience has been very humbling.

The TCM Classic Film Festival this year is going to be epic. The folks at TCM have really outdone themselves planning a 4-day extravaganza of delights that will make the heart of any classic film fan skip a beat.

My husband Carlos will also be attending the festival with me. He'll have a Matinee Pass and I'll have a Media Pass so while we'll attend some events together we'll also be apart some of the time. I plan to blog while I am at the festival and go into more detail when I come back. Carlos has agreed to be a guest blogger and blog about the events that he goes to on his own. Thanks Carlos!

The festival schedule was released last week and while it's not completely finalized, I went ahead and made a preliminary schedule for the festival. My plan of attack is to attend as many of the events that feature a classic film star or someone involved with the film (i.e. producer, etc.). I watch a lot of films on the big screen here in the Boston area so I don't feel the need to attend a lot of regular screenings.

I prioritized to make sure I made time for the events that would mean the most to me attend. I tried to be realistic knowing that I can't be everywhere at once and that there will be long days and I'll get tired. I also created a back-up plan in case some events are changed or get canceled or if I miss one event, I can go to a similar one later. I did the best I could do planning this not really knowing what to expect.

This is our main plan:

Thursday April 25th

Meet the TCM Panel - TCM staffers discuss what's going on at TCM.
So You Think You Know the Movies - New York's Film Forum programmer Bruce Goldstein hosts a trivia challenge
Opening Night Party 
The Killing (1956) - Discussion with actress Coleen Gray
South Pacific (1958)  - Discussion with actresses Mitzi Gaynor and France Nuyen.




Friday April 26th

Libeled Lady (1936) (or sleep, whichever!)
River of No Return (1954) - Discussion with producer Stanley Rubin - (Robert Mitchum movie!)
Eva Marie Saint: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
The Great Escape (1963) - Discussion with executive producer Walter Mirisch (maybe if James Garner is free he could attend too?!)
On the Waterfront (1954) - Discussion with Eva Marie Saint

Saturday April 27th

Handprint/Footprint Ceremony with Jane Fonda

UPDATE: The Lady Vanishes (1938) - Discussion with Norman Lloyd (Thanks to Laura of Laura's Miscellaneous Musings - She convinced me with her post that I should definitely attend this one! Definitely check out her selection of TCM festival choices.)

Conversation with Max von Sydow
"What's the Score?" with Alex Trebek (OMG)
Mildred Pierce (1945) - Tribute to Ann Blyth (WOW!)
Le Mans (1971) - Discussion with Chad McQueen, Derek Bell and Vic Elford

Sunday April 28th

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) at the Cinerama Dome - Discussion with Barrie Chase, Marvin Kaplan, Carl Reiner and Mickey Rooney (MICKEY!!!) UPDATE: Unfortunately, Jonathan Winters was slated as a guest and he passed away recently. God speed Jonathan Winters!
Three Days of the Condor (1975) - Tribute to Max von Sydow
The General (1926) - World Premiere Restoration with live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra (Buster Keaton!)
Closing Night Party

Image Soure

Someone pinch me, I'm dreaming!

In addition to the above, I hope to be able to attend some pre-festival events on Wednesday the 24th. If you are attending the festival, please make sure to say hi!

Warner Archive Wednesday ~ Miss Pinkerton (1932)

Source: Cinemagraphe

Joan Blondell as Nurse Adams in Miss Pinkerton (1932). Nurse Adams is sick of the monotony of being a hospital nurse and is quite vocal about her discontent. But things are about to change for the bored nurse. She's given the exciting opportunity of working at the home of the well-known Mitchell family. The head nurse informs Nurse Adams that she'll also be assisting the police in a homicide case that happened at that same home. When she arrives, she finds herself in a situation that is a lot more than she bargained for. Her situation brings to mind the common saying: Be careful what you wish for because it might come true.

George Brent plays Police Inspector Patten who is continuously at the house investigating the suspicious death of the Mitchell family heir Herbert Wynn. He enlists Nurse Adams to help him look for clues and dubs her Miss Pinkerton, a reference to the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. It's a reference that someone from 1932 would have gotten right away but a contemporary audience might scratch their head in confusion.

The film has a rather convoluted plot and there is quite a lot going on including murder disguised as suicide, insurance fraud, a secret marriage, affairs, poisoning, forgery, tricks and more. The film tries to spook audiences but in my opinion it falls flat and loses itself in its own plot. Even Joan Blondell couldn't save the movie for me. And I absolutely adore her and will watch just about any movie she's in. In Miss Pinkerton, Blondell's wide eyes grow even wider whenever she screams in fear. She does the frightened look well. But her character is in no way a victim even when she's put in various dangerous situations. She's sassy, clever and scrappy: the perfect detective. If I had to chose one thing I really liked about the film, it was Miss Pinkerton as a pre-code woman!

Source: Pre-Code.com

Nurse Adams/Miss Pinkerton and Inspector Patten (George Brent) have a romance which I thought could have been played up a bit more. The love story is rather neglected. It isn't given enough time to develop and because of that we don't really see any sparks between the two love birds. That whole plot line seems to have been added as after thought rather than an important part of the story.

It was nice to see actress Mary Doran in the film. She plays Florence Lenz, a gopher of one of the story's villains. Doran also played the other woman in one of my favorite pre-codes The Divorcee (1930). Also, Lyle Talbot has a bit part early on in  Miss Pinkerton as newspaper reporter.

Miss Pinkerton (1932) is one of five films in Warner Archive's Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 5 DVD set. If you are a Pre-Code enthusiast, I recommend watching this film at least once to add to your repertoire.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I purchased Miss Pinkerton as part of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection: Volume 5.