English postcard by Superior, no. PC 92. Photo: Illuminations 3 + Ltd. Sylvester Stallone in Rambo - First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985).

 

Sylvester Stallone (1946) is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director. Film fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 30 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

 

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in 1946, in New York's gritty Hell's Kitchen. His parents were Jackie Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, and Frank Stallone, an Italian immigrant who worked as a beautician, and hairdresser. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, Anthony 'Tony' Filiti, to Philadelphia. His siblings are actor Frank Stallone, half-sister Toni D'Alto, and Dante Stallone. The young Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland and the University of Miami, eventually obtaining a B.A. degree. He was 23 years old when he got his first starring role in the softcore sex film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (Morton M. Lewis, 1970) in which he played the role of Stud 'The Italian Stallion'. He was paid $200 to play the sex-craved gigolo and appeared nude. In 1976, the film was re-released as The Italian Stallion after Sly's success with Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976). In between, he first struggled in small parts in films such as the thriller Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) starring Jane Fonda, and the comedy Bananas (Woody Allen, 1971). He got a crucial career break alongside fellow young actors Henry Winkler and Perry King, sharing lead billing in the effectively written teen gang film The Lords of Flatbush (Martin Davidson, Stephen Verona, 1974). He also wrote the screenplay for the modestly successful film. Further film and television roles followed, most of them in uninspiring productions except for the opportunity to play a megalomaniac, bloodthirsty race driver named "Machine Gun Joe Viterbo" opposite David Carradine in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975). However, Stallone was also keen to be recognised as a screenwriter, not just an actor, and, inspired by the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in Cleveland, Stallone wrote a film script about a nobody fighter given the "million to one opportunity" to challenge for the heavyweight title. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) became the stuff of cinematic legends, scoring ten Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Picture Award of 1976, and triggering one of the most financially successful film series in history. Whilst full credit is wholly deserved by Stallone, he was duly supported by tremendous acting from fellow cast members Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young, and director John G. Avildsen gave the film an emotive, earthy appeal from start to finish. Stallone had truly arrived on his terms and offers poured in from various studios eager to secure Hollywood's hottest new star.

 

Sylvester Stallone followed Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) with F.I.S.T (Norman Jewison, 1978), loosely based on the life of Teamsters boss "Jimmy Hoffa", and Paradise Alley (Sylvester Stallone, 1978) before pulling on the boxing gloves again to resurrect Rocky Balboa in the sequel Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone, 1979). The second outing for the "Italian Stallion" wasn't as powerful or successful as the first "Rocky", however, it still produced a strong box office. Subsequent films Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) with Rutger Hauer, and Escape to Victory (John Huston, 1981) with Michael Caine and Pelé failed to ignite with audiences, so Stallone was once again lured back to familiar territory with Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) and a fearsome opponent in "Clubber Lang" played by muscular ex-bodyguard, Mr. T. The third "Rocky" installment far outperformed the first sequel in box office takings, but Stallone retired his prizefighter for a couple of years as another series was about to commence for the busy actor. The character of Green Beret "John Rambo" was the creation of Canadian-born writer David Morrell, and his novel was adapted to the screen with Stallone in the lead role in First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982), also starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. The film was a surprise hit that polarised audiences because of its commentary about the Vietnam war, which was still relatively fresh in the American public's psyche. Political viewpoints aside, the film was a worldwide smash, and a sequel soon followed with Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985), which drew even stronger criticism from several quarters owing to the film's plotline about American MIAs allegedly being held in Vietnam. But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and "John Rambo's" second adventure was a major money-spinner for Stallone and cemented him as one of the top male stars of the 1980s. In between, he did his own singing in Did all of his own singing in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984) with Dolly Parton. Riding a wave of amazing popularity, Stallone called on old sparring partner Rocky Balboa to climb back into the ring to defend American pride against a Soviet threat in the form of a towering Russian boxer named "Ivan Drago" played by curt Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985). The fourth outing was somewhat controversial with "Rocky" fans, as violence levels seemed excessive compared to previous "Rocky" films, especially with the savage beating suffered by Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, at the hands of the unstoppable "Siberian Express".

 

Sylvester Stallone continued forward with a slew of macho character-themed films that met with a mixed reception from his fans. Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) with his wife Brigitte Nielsen was a clumsy mess, Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987) was equally mediocre, Rambo III (Peter MacDonald, 1988) saw Rambo take on the Russians in Afghanistan, and cop buddy film Tango & Cash (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 1989) just did not quite hit the mark, although it did feature a top-notch cast and there was chemistry between Stallone and co-star Kurt Russell. Philadelphia's favourite mythical boxer moved out of the shadows for his fifth screen outing in Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) tackling Tommy "Machine" Gunn played by real-life heavyweight fighter Tommy Morrison, the great-nephew of screen legend John Wayne. Sly quickly followed with the lukewarm comedy Oscar (John Landis, 1991) with Ornella Muti, the painfully unfunny Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Roger Spottiswoode, 1992) with "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty, the futuristic action film Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) with Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, and the comic book-inspired Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995). Interestingly, Stallone then took a departure from the gung-ho steely characters he had been portraying to stack on a few extra pounds and tackle a more dramatically challenging role in the intriguing Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), also starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. It isn't a classic of the genre, but Cop Land (1997) certainly surprised many critics with Stallone's understated performance. He has been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Raspberry Awards, usually in the "Worst Actor" category, and has won 10 times. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation awarded him a special "Worst Actor of the Century" award in 2000.

 

Sylvester Stallone lent his voice to the animated adventure story Antz (Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson, 1998), reprised the role made famous by Michael Caine in a terrible remake of Get Carter (Stephen Kay, 2000), climbed back into a race car for Driven (Renny Harlin, 2001), and guest-starred as the "Toymaker" in the third chapter of the popular "Spy Kids" film series, Spy Kids 3: Game Over (Robert Rodriguez, 2003). in 2005 he published his book 'Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live Your Dream'. Showing that age had not wearied his two most popular series, Sylvester Stallone brought back never-say-die boxer Rocky Balboa to star in Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006), and Vietnam veteran Rambo reappeared after a 20-year hiatus to once again right wrongs in the jungles of Thailand in Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008). Another success was The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), abound a band of highly skilled mercenaries played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 'dinosaurs' from the 1980's action film teamed up with each other. The action film opened at number one at the U.S. box office with a first weekend gross of $35 million. This makes Sylvester Stallone the only person in Hollywood history to have starred in films that have opened atop the box office charts over five consecutive decades. Soon followed the less successful sequels The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). In between, he also appeared with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan (Mikael Håfström, 2013). Stallone got rave reviews, his first Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for his role in the sports film Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015) opposite Michael B. Jordan. Once again he played Rocky Balboa who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In 2017, Stallone appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017) as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk, the leader of a Ravagers faction. Then followed Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018) and Rambo: Last Blood (Adrian Grunberg, 2019). The latter film grossed $91 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million. Sylvester Stallone married three times. His first wife was Sasha Czack (1974-1985) with whom he has two children: Sage and Seargeoh Stallone. Sage acted with Sylvester in Rocky V (1990) and Daylight (1996) and was found dead in 2012 in Los Angeles. From 1985 till 1987, Sly was married to Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. Since 1997, he is married to Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children: Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose Stallone. Firehouse at IMDb: "Love him or loathe him, Sylvester Stallone has built an enviable and highly respected career in Hollywood, plus, he has considerably influenced modern popular culture through several of his iconic film characters."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 171. Photo: M.G.M.Lucille Bremer and Fred Astaire in Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945).

 

American dancer and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

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Montblanc Zemiramis Patron of Arts 1996 fountain pen.

 

Every detail of the Patron of Art Edition Semiramis is given the same care that the great master craftsmen of ancient Babylon were famous for. The barrel of Edition 4810, made of black precious resin, is surrounded by delicate gold-plated fretwork.

 

On Edition 888 this fretwork is made of 750 solid gold, emphasised by exquisite inlays of red enamel lacquer. An inlay of the heraldic animal of Ishtar decorates the elegant, elaborately embellished clip, which in Edition 888 is finished off by an approximately 0.2-carat diamond. With its delicate engraving, the 18K gold nib recalls the great era of Semiramis.

 

The politically astute Queen Semiramis is responsible for uniting the two countries of Babylon and Assyria to create one of the most fascinating empires of the ancient world.

 

Semiramis, as a lover of fine arts and patron of Nabu, the tutelary deity of the scribes, ordered the building of several palaces and monuments. It was under her rule that the gigantic Gate of Ishtar and the legendary second Wonder of the World – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – were created.

 

Joan Chalmers - Canada obituary.

 

www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/joan-chalmers-turned-philant...

 

Peter Caldwell has a favourite story about Joan Chalmers. Back in the 1980s, when he was running the now-defunct Arts Foundation of Greater Toronto, he drew up a list of the foundation's board members and their occupations. After describing this vice-president of such-and-such a bank, and that partner in so-and-so's law firm, he came to the name "Joan Chalmers" and didn't know what to write. The wealthy lady didn't have an official job, let alone a job title, so finally he settled for "arts patron."

 

When she read that label next to her name, Ms. Chalmers – whom the painter Charles Pachter once called a cross between Vanessa Redgrave and Annie Oakley – rounded on Mr. Caldwell and let him have it with both barrels. "What?" she barked. "Arts patron?" A young Mr. Caldwell, shocked, asked how he'd offended her. "I'm not an arts patron," she told him bluntly, "I'm an arts activist!"

 

Ms. Chalmers, who died Dec. 2 in Toronto at the age of 88 from injuries suffered in a fall, was much celebrated for her philanthropy, channelling millions of dollars toward Canada's artists and arts institutions; but she did far more than just dash off cheques with multiple zeroes. "She had very strong ideas about what she wanted to support," said Mr. Caldwell, now director and CEO of the Ontario Arts Council, "and she put her money where her mouth was."

 

Often it was "first money." Ms. Chalmers, like her legendary father, Floyd S. Chalmers, loved to take a risk on new arts projects, making the initial contribution and urging public and private funders to follow suit. She saw it as her duty to help build Canadian arts and culture and she approached her self-imposed role with a missionary's zeal.

 

The late Urjo Kareda, long-time artistic director of Toronto's Tarragon Theatre, wrote of once seeing Ms. Chalmers dive into a gathering of dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, right hand extended, and work the room tirelessly, like a great ambassador. As she had explained to Mr. Kareda, "there's a lot of work to be done here for the arts."

 

It wasn't just the arts, either, that benefited from her activism. In the 1990s, she and her partner, Barbra Kate Amesbury, staged a touring exhibition dedicated to battling breast cancer. That mix of art and fundraising stirred up some controversy, as did a much-publicized decision in 1996 to withdraw financial support from the Ontario Arts Council over a perceived excess of bureaucracy. The rift with the OAC was soon healed, but it served as a reminder that Ms. Chalmers's enormous generosity came with a clear purpose: it was meant to help artists, not shore up administrators.

 

Yet Ms. Chalmers was almost always, to use a Shakespearean phrase, "in the giving vein." The trait was in her blood. She was the child of serial philanthropists who lavished their time and energy on the arts even before they came into serious money.

 

Floyd Chalmers, a go-getting newspaper editor who rose to become president of the Maclean Hunter magazine empire, and his wife Jean (née Boxall), were tireless supporters of their country's burgeoning arts scene from the 1930s onwards, helping to establish the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Stratford Festival, to list only a few now-august institutions.

 

Margaret Joan Chalmers, their second child and only daughter, was born May 30, 1928 in Toronto. From girlhood on she shared her mother's love of fine craftsmanship and later fondly remembered that her first job, at age 14, was helping at the downtown shop run by Ontario's craft guild. She studied interior architecture and design at what was then the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1948. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, she worked as an art director for magazines, notably Canadian Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine and other titles published by Maclean-Hunter – although there was no nepotism involved; her father was initially unaware that she'd been hired.

 

In 1964, however, the family's status abruptly changed from well-off to rich. That year, Maclean-Hunter went public and Mr. Chalmers, who had sold half of his 22-per-cent share in the company's stock, received $1.7-million (about $13-million in today's dollars). That's when the serious giving began.

 

Money was funnelled into the family's recently established Chalmers Foundation and dispersed widely to arts groups in Toronto and across the country. Ms. Chalmers left the magazine business and devoted herself to such new causes as the founding of Toronto's Young People's Theatre and – her special passion – advocating for the crafts community. She not only oversaw the creation in 1976 of the Ontario Crafts Council, she also bought a building for its headquarters.

 

"She really took a leadership role in the craft sector," said Emma Quin, the current CEO of the council, now called Craft Ontario. "She wanted to bring more professionalism to it and help members develop their business skills."

 

In 1973 the Chalmers family handed over the administration of its foundation funds to the Ontario Arts Council. The wide-ranging Chalmers Awards for Creativity and Excellence in the Arts, launched the year previously, became one of their most prominent contributions to the national arts scene. They included the annual $25,000 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, which bolstered the careers of many significant playwrights, from David French to Djanet Sears.

 

The prolific George F. Walker won a record number of eight awards before they were discontinued in 2001. Ms. Chalmers was "a gracious strong woman with a real twinkle in her eye," Mr. Walker recalled. "She asked me once how many of my children had their educations paid for by the foundation. I told her all of them."

 

Ms. Chalmers took great pleasure in such news. As she stated in Iris Nowell's 1996 book about Canadian female philanthropists, Women Who Give Away Millions, one of her goals was "helping make lives better for creative people in this country."

 

Early on, Ms. Chalmers preferred to keep her arts activism behind the scenes. That began to change when she met Ms. Amesbury in the 1980s. Ms. Amesbury was formerly Bill Amesbury, a saucy singer-songwriter who had enjoyed some minor hits on the Canadian pop charts in the 1970s. After re-emerging as Barbra Amesbury following sex-reassignment surgery, she met Ms. Chalmers at a Christmas party in the mid-1980s. "I may have been a bad influence on her," Ms. Amesbury said with a laugh. She came to play the hellion to Ms. Chalmers's "patron saint."

 

As a duo, their most publicized project was Survivors, In Search of a Voice: The Art of Courage, in which they commissioned 24 Canadian female artists to create works based on the stories of some 100 breast-cancer survivors. The resulting show opened at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto in 1995, drawing huge crowds but also some criticism for what was deemed to be "victim art" and tensions when Ms. Chalmers and Ms. Amesbury had a falling-out with the museum's management over costs.

 

The pair ended up taking the travelling installation out of galleries and sending it to large shopping malls throughout Canada and the U.S. Used as a vehicle to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research, it became, in Ms. Amesbury's words, "the AIDS quilt for the cancer movement."

 

Ms. Amesbury also encouraged Ms. Chalmers to commission art for her own pleasure – and, of course, to encourage others to do the same. In 1990, the couple bought a home on Chestnut Park in Toronto's affluent Rosedale neighbourhood and spent close to $2-million completely renovating it with custom-made fixtures and furnishings by Canadian artists and craftspeople. Among its striking features were a pair of 14-foot-high, curved bronze doors created by one of Ms. Chalmers's favourite craftsmen, Gord Peteran.

 

"I got called over to Chestnut Park and Joan was marching around in her nightgown," Mr. Peteran remembered with amusement. "She showed me two giant holes in the walls and said, 'Fill those! Do something wonderful!'"

 

The home became a showplace and a centre for arts fundraisers. Ms. Chalmers lent it to such favourite causes as the ballet, the opera and the Glenn Gould Foundation. "Maureen Forrester did a concert in the living room," Ms. Amesbury said.

 

Ms. Chalmers sold the place in 1994, but there were other impressive homes, and not just in Toronto. They ranged from a farm in Mono Mills, Ont., to a house next door to Hollywood legend Claudette Colbert in Speightstown, Barbados. Ms. Colbert was a standoffish neighbour until Ms. Chalmers, an expert gardener, resurrected the movie star's dying bougainvillea vine. "Claudette fell in love with Joan after that," Ms. Amesbury said. "She could do no wrong." Ms. Chalmers and Ms. Colbert remained fast friends until the latter's death in 1996.

 

The year prior, Ms. Chalmers herself suffered a stroke, which marked the start of serious health problems. She eventually moved into a luxurious retirement residence, Hazelton Place, in 2006. She held court there surrounded by art and her many honours, which included companion of the Order of Canada, member of the Order of Ontario and the international Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award. As she grew frail, Mr. Peteran fashioned her another piece of practical art – a handmade cane.

 

Ms. Chalmers was predeceased by her parents, her brother, engineer and philanthropist Wallace Chalmers, and her sister-in-law, Clarice Chalmers. She is survived by her partner, Ms. Amesbury. There will be a private burial in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where the family rests, and Ms. Amesbury is planning to hold a wake in the spring, in the same celebratory spirit as the old Chalmers Awards.

 

It was during a luncheon for those awards, on her 70th birthday in May, 1998, that Ms. Chalmers performed one of her most memorable acts of generosity. After handing out the previously announced prizes, she suddenly began dispensing large cheques to 21 arts organizations in a dizzying display of spontaneous philanthropy. In 17 minutes, she gave away $1-million. The unwary recipients were gobsmacked and profoundly grateful for this reverse birthday gift. As they thanked her, Ms. Chalmers smiled through her tears.

 

"There was great joy in it," said Ms. Amesbury, summing up both that day's surprise give-away and Ms. Chalmers's lifelong habit of giving. "I think for Joan, that was how she felt loved."

 

Annie Fratellini - Germany:

 

Annie Fratellini (14 November 1932 – 1 July 1997) was a French circus artist, singer, film actress and clown.

 

She was born Annie Violette Fratellini on 14 November 1932, in Algiers, French Algeria, where her parents, who were circus performers, were touring. She was the fourth generation of one of Europe's most illustrious clown dynasties, the Fratellini Family, a French circus family of Italian descent. Her father was Victor Fratellini, a clown and acrobat; her mother, Suzanne (née Rousseau), was the daughter of Gaston Rousseau, the director of the Cirque de Paris, a huge circus building located Avenue de la Motte-Picquet in Paris that was active from 1906 to 1930. Her grandfather was Paul Fratellini, one of the Fratellini brothers, the legendary clown trio that was the Toast of Paris (and Europe) between the two world wars.

 

Although she made her debut in the ring at age 13 at the famous Cirque Medrano in Paris, she eventually ran away from the circus when she was 18 years old, and begun a music-hall and recording career as a musician and singer. She also became a movie actress, appearing notably in 1965 in La Métamorphose des cloportes a film directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre (1927–2007), whom she had married in 1954. They had one daughter, Valérie.

 

In 1969, she starred in Pierre Étaix's Le grand amour. They fell in love and married that same year. Pierre Étaix (1928–2016), who had been a comedian and Jacques Tati's assistant before becoming a filmmaker himself, had a passion for the circus and clowns. Annie Fratellini had an inherited talent for comedy, and Pierre Étaix convinced her to take it seriously. Together, they created a classic European clown duo in which Étaix was the Clown to Fratllini's Auguste (the comic character of the duet). They made their debut on tour with the French Cirque Pinder.

 

In 1975, Étaix and Fratellini opened the École Nationale du Cirque, one of Paris's (and Europe's) first two professional circus schools, and created the Nouveau Cirque de Paris, an intimate, high-end traveling circus that was the performing arm of the school, and in which they regularly performed their act. Pierre Étaix and Annie Fratellini divorced in 1987, and Annie continued to run the school and the circus, performing her clown act with her daughter, Valérie. The school has become the Académie Fratellini, one of France's two major state-sponsored circus schools.

 

Annie Fratellini died from cancer on 1 July 1997, at Neuilly-sur-Seine and is buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, France, near the other members of her illustrious family.

 

Joseph Hotung - Hong Kong

 

www.flickr.com/photos/77903093@N00/26041364181/in/photoli...

 

Sir Joseph Hotung is a successful businessman, a knowledgeable collector of Chinese art and a generous philanthropist. Born in China, schooled in Shanghai and Tianjin, he completed his higher education in the USA. He later received an LLB from the University of London external programme. Having initially taken up employment in Marine Midland Bank, New York, he started his own business in Hong Kong. He subsequently served on the boards of HSBC and HSBC Holdings as a non-executive director.

 

Throughout his career Sir Joseph Hotung has actively participated in public and community affairs in Hong Kong and in London. Among his many and varied positions he has acted as Council Member at the University of Hong Kong and served as Chairman of the Arts Development Council, Hong Kong and as a member of the SOAS Governing Body.

 

Sir Joseph is an acclaimed and knowledgeable collector of Chinese art, especially Chinese jades, porcelain, bronzes and Chinese Ming furniture. He has served on a number of boards and committees of several major international museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where he is now Trustee Emeritus and a life fellow; the Freer Gallery in Washington D.C. where he is an Honorary Member of the Visiting Committee, and at the British Museum as a Trustee from 1994-2004 and where he has made possible the construction of new galleries, including the Joseph E. Hotung Gallery of Oriental Antiquities.

 

Through his interests, knowledge and generous support, Sir Joseph is an outstanding friend and ambassador for SOAS. His major research initiatives at the School include a project on human rights in China, and the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme in Law, Human Rights and Peace Building in the Middle East in 2003, which continues to this day. For his contribution and participation in many educational and governmental organisations and his numerous charitable activities, Sir Joseph was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1993. He was awarded an Hon. DLitt at the University of Hong Kong in 1997 and an Hon. DSc (Economics) at the University of London in 2003.

 

Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi - Italy

 

She has always been actively involved in preserving our Cultural and Environmental Heritage.

 

After her publishing activity (she was co-owner of the Corriere della Sera) in 1975, together with Renato Bazzoni, Alberto Predieri and Franco Russoli, she founded FAI (the Italian Environmental Organization) based on the English National Trust model. She became its President, closely supervising the institutional enterprises and the concrete work that FAI performs to save from abandonment and deterioration precious Italian testimonies of artistic, historic and naturalistic interest entrusted to FAI by donations and bequests.

 

Since 1965, Giulia Maria Mozzoni Crespi has also carried out a great deal of work as a national board member of Italia Nostra and in the Milan Section, where she ran the Environmental Education sector for 15 years, organizing training courses for teachers and students.

 

For 25 years, assisted by her son, she has been at the helm of an agricultural enterprise in the Padana plains that practices the Biodynamic Agricultural method, in which the use of pesticides, weed killers and artificial chemical fertilizers is abolished.

She works with the Biodynamic Agricultural Association to organize conventions and also coordinates courses in her farm that cover different topics such as health, diet (including alternative cures for cancer), agriculture, gardening, horticulture, biodynamic fruit-growing, the philosophy of life, artistic activities, etc …

 

Together with the other conservationist associations, she campaigns for the preservation and protection of the Italian artistic, historical and landscape heritage and intervenes on subjects of national interest regarding these matters.

 

So Kuramoto - Japan

 

Kuramoto Sou

From DramaWiki

 

Kuramoto Sou4 Recognitions:

 

Profile:

Name: 倉本聰 (くらもと そう)

Name (romaji): Kuramoto Sou

Real Name: 山谷馨 / Yamaya Kaoru

Profession: Screenwriter

Birthdate: 1935-Jan-01

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Star sign: Capricorn

TV Shows:

Yasuragi no Sato (TV Asahi, 2017)

Oyaji no Senaka (TBS, 2014, ep3)

Kikoku (TBS, 2010)

Kaze no Garden (Fuji TV, 2008)

Haikei, Chichiue-sama (Fuji TV, 2007)

Yasashii Jikan (2005)

Kawa, Itsuka Umi e (2003)

Kita no Kunikara (1982-3) (drama series, 8 specials up to 2002)

Aniki (TBS, 1977)

Zenryaku, Ofukuro-sama 2 (1976)

Zenryaku, Ofukuro-sama (1975)

Movies[edit]

Umi e -See You- (1988)

Recognitions:

2nd Tokyo Drama Awards: Best Screenplay for Kaze no Garden

External Links:

Japanese Wikipedia

 

Paloma O’Shea - Spain

 

Paloma O'Shea y Artiñano

DOB: February 19, 1936 (age 84). Guecho, Biscay, Spain

Nationality: Spanish

Occupation: President of the Albéniz Foundation

Spouse(s): Emilio Botín

Children: 6, including Ana Patricia

Parent(s): José O'Shea Sebastián

María Asunción Artiñano Luzárraga[1]

Paloma O'Shea Artiñano,

 

1st Marchioness of O'Shea,[2] (born 1936), is a pianist, patron of the arts,[3] founder and current president of the Reina Sofía School of Music and founder and president of the Albéniz Foundation, which organizes the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Santander (Spain).

 

Paloma O'Shea was born in Bilbao suburb Las Arenas, Biscay, Spain, a daughter of José O'Shea y Sebastián de Erice(descended from Irishman William O'Shea who came to Spain in the 18th century) and Basque María de la Asunción de Artiñano y Luzarraga, married at Concepción, Madrid, on 2 May 1935.[4]She started studying piano in 1941 in Bilbao and later moved to France to further her music studies.[2] At age 15 she won the Primer Premio Fin de Carrera and performed as soloist with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.[5] Several years later she married Emilio Botín, the previous Executive Chairman of Grupo Santander and devoted herself to promoting classical music in Spain.[5]

 

In 1972 she founded the Concurso de Piano de Santander, which was later named after her and in 1991 founded the Reina Sofía School of Music,[2] a private music school, now one of the leading music schools in Spain.

 

She was given the title of Marchioness of O'Shea by the King of Spain in 2008,[2]the Légion d'honneur of France,[3] the gold medal of the Spanish Institute in New York and the Picasso Award of the UNESCO.[3] She has 6 children and divides her time between Madrid and Santander.

 

Contents:

 

Professional career:

 

Her professional activity has always been linked to the music world, its beginning having taken place in 1972 with the inception of the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition. She has never stopped developing her initiatives ever since, through world-scale activities aimed at the modernization of the musical life in Spain:

 

1972: Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition

1987: Albéniz Foundation

1989: Isaac Albéniz Library and Research Centre

1991: Reina Sofía School of Music

1998: Yehudi Menuhin Prize to the Integration of the Arts and the Education.

2000: MagisterMusicae.com, which provides online music education.

2001: Encounter of Santander "Music and Academia".

2005: International Chamber Music Institute of Madrid.

2010: Classicalplanet.com.

 

Albéniz Foundation:

 

The Albéniz Foundation is the cultural institution that has been encouraging, managing and coordinating these programs for more than twenty years and the instrument that has allowed Paloma O'Shea to reunite private and public efforts altogether in a common project of community service. The impact and importance of these activities has been recognized many times by Spanish and international institutions. This recognition took place for the first time with the Ribbon of the Order of Queen Isabella I of Castile. In 1988, she received the Medal of Honor of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts and in 1994 the Picasso Medal of the UNESCO to her contribution to the cultural understanding between countries and to her dedication to the promotion of young artists. She has also received the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, of the Dominican Republic, the Golden Medal of the Spanish Institute of New York and in 1996 the Montblanc Prize of Culture. In 1998, because of an agreement of the Counsel of Ministers, Paloma O'Shea received from the hands of Their Majesty the Kings of Spain the Golden Medal to the Merit in Fine Arts. She has also been nominated by the Regional Government of Cantabria "Adoptive Daughter", in 2004 she was nominated Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government and in 2005 she was bestowed the Culture Prize of the Community of Madrid. A year later she was awarded with the Honor Medal of the Manuel de Falla Archive, "Adoptive Daughter" of Santander and Honorary Fellow title of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2009, the Madrid city council bestowed her its Golden Medal.

 

Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition:

 

Paloma O'Shea's "Foundations", in the words of Enrique Franco, had started in 1972 with the Santander Piano Competition, that very soon recollected international fame and relevance, as it is demonstrated by its entering in 1976 in the International Competitions Federation, based in Geneva. Today, after almost forty years of existence, this prize is a coveted one, to which opt the most talented young pianists. It was precisely the development of the Competition what woke in Paloma O'Shea the idea of an improvement of the musical training in Spain. Spanish pianists had problems to get to the final phases of the Competition and the reason was not their talent, but the few opportunities they had to reach a higher level of education. That was the inception of the piano masterclasses offered in Santander by important soloists and pedagogues, in partnership with Menéndez Pelayo International University. This isolated series of lessons gave place to a regular and broader call for Summer Courses, celebrated each year in Santander and including instruments other than piano.

 

Santander Encounter "Music and Academia":

 

This teaching progression in Santander had its climax in July 2001 with the foundation of the Santander Encounter "Music and Academy". Each month of July the Encounter encourages the coexistence of important maestri and young musicians coming from the best European Schools. It also mixes classrooms and stages, filling Santander and Cantabria with music with 60 public concerts and more than 500 hours of masterclasses.

 

Reina Sofía School of Music:

 

Paloma O'Shea, Queen Sofía and the mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmenaattend a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the School.

After the experience gained at the Competition, it was a necessity to create a permanent center in Spain with the highest international level. To make this ideal a reality, Paloma O'Shea managed to get the support of important artistic personalities including Alicia de Larrocha, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich. HM the Queen Sofía, knowing the necessities and lacks of the Spanish musical education, didn't hesitate in giving her full support to such a project. Today, the Reina Sofía School of Music counts on the most wanted Professors of each instrument and therefore with the most talented international students. After twenty years of temporary location in Pozuelo de Alarcón, the School was transferred in autumn 2009 to its new location, designed by the architect Miguel Oriol and built by Albéniz Foundation. It is an emblematic building, located in the Plaza de Oriente in Madrid, next to the Royal Palace and Royal Theater. Its interior offers all the facilities that requires a centre of musical excellence, including the most advanced technological systems and a superb Auditorium with 450 seats that has already become a cultural heart in downtown Madrid.

 

The Reina Sofía Music School has always aimed at starting educational projects within an international focus, in order to favour mutual enrichment and an exchange of music traditions. In these ambitious initiatives such as the Encounter, virtual music school Magister Musicae, Harmos Project or Yehudi Menuhin Prize, the School has always worked side by side with the most prestigious centres in Europe.

 

Sir Ernest Hall - UK

 

Ernest Hall (businessman)

Language: English

Sir Ernest Hall OBE (born 19 March 1930) is an English businessman, known for his restoration of Dean Clough Mills, Halifax; pianist, and composer.

 

Sir Ernest Hall

Born: 19 March 1930 (age 89)[1]

Bolton, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, England

Nationality: English

Occupation: Entrepreneur and musician

Known for: Restoration of Dean Clough Mills

Children: 5

Contents: Early life and education:

 

Hall was born in Bolton, Greater Manchester[2] in 1930.[3] He was educated at Bolton College Grammar School and the Royal College of Music.[1]

 

Career:

 

Hall made his first fortune in textiles. He then sold real estate through the Mountleigh Group. In 1983, Hall sold his company for £40 million and then invested £20 million in the Dean Clough former carpet factory site.[4] In 1983, he led a consortium which purchased a disused carpet mill complex, Dean Clough Mills, and converted it into an arts, business, design and education complex.[5][6] While in his 70s, he recorded the complete piano works of Frédéric Chopin.[2]

 

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours and knighted in the 1993 Birthday Honours.[1]

 

Show business:

 

He appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs on 26 April 1998,[7] and on the Radio 3 programme Private Passions on 18 September 2005.[2]

 

Residence:

 

Hall has homes in Lanzarote and in France.[8]

 

Autobiography:

 

His autobiography, How to Be A Failure and Succeed, was published in 2008.[9]

 

Personal life:

 

In 1951, Hall married firstly June Annable (died 1994), and had two sons and two daughters. He married secondly in 1975 Sarah Wellby, with whom he has a third son.[1]

 

In 2009, he revealed that he was in a romantic relationship with his long-time friend, the cookery writer Prue Leith.[10]

 

Bibliography:

 

—— (2008). How to Be A Failure and Succeed. Book Guild Publishing. ISBN 978-1846241635.

 

Tony Randall - USA

 

www.flickr.com/photos/27353948@N05/2554032384/in/photolis...

 

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Randall

 

Anthony Leonard Randall[1] (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor, comedian and singer. He is best known for his role as Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play The Odd Couple by Neil Simon.[2][3]In a career spanning about six decades, Randall received six Golden Globe Awardnominations and six Primetime Emmy Award nominations (winning one).

 

Tony Randall

1976 Tony Randall.jpg

Randall in 1976

Born: Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg

February 26, 1920

Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.

Died: May 17, 2004(aged 84)

New York City, New York, U.S.

Burial place: Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.

Education: Northwestern University

Occupation: Actor, comedian and singer

Years active: 1940s–2003

Spouse(s)

Florence Gibbs

(m. 1938; her death 1992)

Heather Harlan

(m. 1995; his death 2004)

Children: 2

Contents

Biography:

Early years:

Randall was born to a Jewish family, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia (née Finston) and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer.[4]

 

He attended Tulsa Central High School.[5]

 

Randall attended Northwestern Universityfor a year before going to New York Cityto study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He studied under Sanford Meisner and choreographer Martha Graham. Randall worked as an announcer at radio station WTAG in Worcester, Massachusetts.[6] As Anthony Randall, he starred with Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candidaand Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green.

 

Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II, including work at the Signal Intelligence Service.[7]:207 After the war, he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City.

 

In the 1940s, one of his first jobs was playing "Reggie" on the long-running radio series I Love a Mystery.

 

Broadway:

 

In 1946, Randall was cast as one of the brothers in a touring production of Katharine Cornell's revival of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.[8]

 

Randall then appeared on Broadway in Cornell's production of Antony and Cleopatra(1947–48) alongside Cornell and a young Charlton Heston and Maureen Stapleton.

 

He was in Caesar and Cleopatra (1949–50) with Cedric Hardwicke and Lilli Palmer.

 

Randall also began appearing on television, notably episodes of One Man's Family.

 

Mr Peepers:

 

Tony Randall's first major television role was as a history teacher, Harvey Weskit, in Mister Peepers (1952–1955). He continued to guest star on other shows such as The Gulf Playhouse (directed by Arthur Penn), The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Kraft Theatre, The Motorola Television Hour, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Appointment with Adventure, and The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse.

 

Randall replaced Gig Young in the Broadway hit Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1954).

 

Inherit the Wind:

 

Randall's first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind (1955–57) portraying Newspaperman E. K. Hornbeck (based on real life cynic H. L. Mencken), alongside Ed Begley and Paul Muni.

 

On television he was in Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl (1956) co-written by Neil Simon. He guest starred on The Alcoa Hour.

 

Film Star:

 

Randall's success in Inherit the Wind led to film offers and his first significant big-screen role in Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957). It was made at 20th Century Fox who promoted Randall to stardom with Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) alongside Jayne Mansfield. He had one of the leads in No Down Payment (1957).

 

In 1958, Randall played the leading role in the Broadway musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. Oh, Captain! was a financial failure, but Randall received a Tony Award nomination for his dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova.

 

Randall was in Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Goodyear Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, Sunday Showcase and Playhouse 90.

 

Doris Day and Rock Hudson:

 

Randall co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in The Mating Game (1959) at MGM. He was in a huge hit with Pillow Talk (1959) supporting Doris Day and Rock Hudson; he would reunite with Day and Hudson for two more films.

 

He then starred in an NBC-TV special The Secret of Freedom, which was filmed during the summer of 1959 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and broadcast on the network during the fall of 1959 and again in early 1960. On TV he was also in The Man in the Moon (1960) co-written by Mel Brooks.

 

Randall was top billed in MGM's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1960), then had a Pillow Talk style support role in Let's Make Love (1960) with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand and Lover Come Back (1961) with Hudson and Day.

 

Randall continued to guest on TV shows including General Electric Theater and Checkmate. In 1961 Randall played a highly dramatic role in "Hangover," an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in which he portrayed an alcoholic business executive who strangles his wife in a drunken rage.[9]

 

He starred in a TV adaptation of Arsenic & Old Lace (1962), and had big screen leading roles in Boys' Night Out (1962), and Island of Love (1963).

 

Randall starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1964 classic film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which was based on The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. In addition to portraying and voicing the eponymous 7 Faces (Dr. Lao, the Abominable Snowman, Merlin, Appolonius of Tyana, The Giant Serpent, Pan, and Medusa), Randall also appeared without makeup in a two-second cameo, as a solemn spectator in the crowd, for a total of 8 roles in the film. The film received an Oscar for William J. Tuttle's makeup artistry.

 

He had the lead in The Brass Bottle (1964) and made one last film with Hudson and Day, Send Me No Flowers (1965).

 

Randall had the lead in Fluffy (1965), a comedy about a lion; The Alphabet Murders (1965), playing Hercule Poirot for Frank Tashlin; Our Man in Marrakesh (1966), as a secret agent; and Hello Down There (1969).

 

Randall returned to Broadway in UTBU (1966) which only had a short run. He was in the TV movie The Littlest Angel (1969).

 

The Odd Couple:

 

Randall with Jack Klugman in a publicity photo of The Odd Couple, 1972

Randall returned to television in 1970 as Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role lasting for five years. The names of Felix's children on The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named for Randall's sister and Randall himself.

 

In 1974, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared in television spots endorsing a Yahtzee spinoff, Challenge Yahtzee. They appeared in character as Felix and Oscar, and the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple.

 

During the series run he had a small role in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972).

 

In 1973, he was originally hired to play the voice of Templeton the gluttonous rat in Charlotte's Web, but was replaced at the last minute by Paul Lynde, due to his voice sounding too sophisticated and the director wanting Templeton to have a nasal voice.

 

The Tony Randall Show:

 

From 1976–78, he starred in The Tony Randall Show, playing a Philadelphia judge. He had small roles in Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Scavenger Hunt (1979), and Foolin' Around (1980).

 

Love, Sidney:

 

Randall starred in Love, Sidney from 1981 to 1983. In the TV movie that served as the latter show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was written as a gay man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Randall refused to star in any more television shows, favoring the Broadway stage as his medium.

 

He did star in the TV movies Sunday Drive (1986) for Disney, Save the Dog! (1988), and The Man in the Brown Suit (1989). From October 30 to November 2, 1987, Randall hosted the free preview of HBO's short-lived premium channel Festival.[10]

 

In 1989 he returned to Broadway as a replacement in M. Butterfly.

 

National Actors Theatre:

 

In 1991, Randall founded the National Actors Theatre (ultimately housed at Pace Universityin New York City. Their productions included The Crucible (1991), A Little Hotel on the Side(1992), The Master Builder (1992), The Seagull (1992), Saint Joan (1993), Three Men on a Horse (1993), Timon of Athens (1993), The Government Inspector (1993), The Flowering Peach (1994), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1994), The School for Scandal (1995), Inherit the Wind (1996), and The Gin Game (1997). He also did a production of The Sunshine Boys(1997) with Klugman which was a big success.

 

In September 1993, Randall and Jack Klugman reunited in the CBS-TV movie The Odd Couple: Together Again reprising their roles. The story began when, after Felix ruined plans for his daughter Edna's wedding, his wife Gloria threw him out of the house for 11 days, which left him no choice but to move back in with Oscar and to help him recover, getting him back in shape after throat cancer surgery left his voice very raspy.

 

Randall in 2001:

 

Randall's later stage productions included Night Must Fall(1999) and Judgment at Nuremberg (2001).

 

Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman including a stint in London in 1996. Later film roles included Fatal Instinct (1994) and Down with Love (2003).

 

Randall's last appearances on stage as an actor were in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (2002) and Right You Are(2003).

 

Guest appearances:

 

On September 4, 1955, Randall and Jack Klugman appeared together with Gena Rowlands in the episode "The Pirate's House" of the CBS anthology series, Appointment with Adventure.

 

Randall was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and often spoke of his love of opera, saying it was due in no small part to the salaciousness of many of the plotlines. He also admitted to sneaking tape recorders into operas to make his own private recordings. He chided Johnny Carson for his chain-smoking and was generally fastidious. At the time of his death, Randall had appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show105 times, more often than any other celebrity.

 

Randall appeared frequently on What's My Line?, Password, The Hollywood Squares, and the $10,000 and $20,000 Pyramids. He also parodied his pompous image with an appearance as a "contestant" on The Gong Show in 1977.

 

First aired on October 11, 1980, Randall was a guest star on the 5th and final season of The Muppet Show. This was the 100th episode of the show.

 

Randall, along with John Goodman and Drew Barrymore, was one of the first guests on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on September 13, 1993. He would also appear in Conan's 5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000. Randall was a frequent guest as well on both of David Letterman's late-night shows Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman, making 70 appearances, according to his obituary in The Washington Post; Letterman said that Randall was one of his favorite guests, along with Regis Philbin.

 

On November 7, 1994, Randall appeared on the game show Jeopardy!, as part of a Special Edition Celebrity Jeopardy! episode playing on behalf of the National Actors Theatre. He came in second place after General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. and before Actress Stefanie Powers, with a final score of $9,900.[11]

 

Other creative activities:

 

In 1973, Tony Randall and Jack Klugman recorded an album called The Odd Couple Singsfor London Records. Roland Shaw and The London Festival Orchestra and Chorus provided the music and additional vocals.[12] The record was not a chart-topper but is a highly sought-after item for many Odd Couple fans.[13] Randall and Klugman also collaborated for a series of television commercials for Eagle Brand snacks, which can be viewed on YouTube.

 

A noted raconteur, Randall co-wrote with Mike Mindlin a collection of amusing and sometimes racy show business anecdotes called Which Reminds Me, published in 1989.

 

In keeping with his penchant for both championing and mocking the culture that he loved, during the Big Band-era revival in the mid-1960s, he produced a record album of 1930s songs, Vo Vo De Oh Doe, inspired by (and covering) The New Vaudeville Band's one-hit wonder, "Winchester Cathedral". He mimicked (and somewhat exaggerated) the vibratostyle of Carmen Lombardo, and the two of them once sang a duet of Lombardo's signature song "Boo Hoo (You've Got Me Crying for You)" on The Tonight Show.

 

Activism:

Randall was an advocate for the arts. During the summer of 1980, he served as the celebrity host of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra's concerts in Central Park, New York City.

 

He was politically liberal. During the U.S. presidential primaries in 1972, he appeared as the featured celebrity at numerous fundraising house parties for Democratic Party candidate George McGovern.[14]

 

Personal life:

 

Randall's headstone in Westchester Hills Cemetery

Randall was married to Florence Gibbs from 1938 until her death from cancer on April 18, 1992. The following year, he said, "I wish I believed I'd see my parents again, see my wife again. But I know it's not going to happen."[15] He remarried on November 17, 1995, to Heather Harlan, an intern in one of his theatrical programs. At the time, Tony was 75 years old and Heather was 25. They lived in a Manhattan apartment and bought a vacation apartment in Key Biscayne, Florida, in 2003. The couple, who had two children—Julia, born on April 11, 1997, and Jefferson, born on June 15, 1998—remained married until his death in May 2004.[16]

 

In his book Which Reminds Me, Randall maintained that any publicity an actor generates should be about his work, not himself. "The public knows only one thing about me: I don't smoke."[17]

 

Death:

 

Randall died in his sleep on May 17, 2004, at NYU Medical Center of pneumonia that he had contracted following coronary bypass surgery in December 2003. He had been hospitalized since the operation.[18] His remains are interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.[2][3]

 

Awards and honors:

 

Randall was nominated for five Golden Globe awards and six Emmy Awards, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work on the sitcom The Odd Couple. In 1993, he received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Pace University granted him an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2003. In 1999 the City College of New York honored Randall with the John H. Finley Award for outstanding service to the City of New York.

 

Bibliography:

 

Randall, Tony; Mindlin, Michael (1989). Which Reminds Me. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-29785-8.

 

www.airlineintl.com/product/montblanc-semiramis-888

Police officers: What's going on in here?

 

Waiter: This gentleman attacked me utterly unprovoked, officer.

 

Macho: I'll show you a gentleman, you ****! Eltin! Tell these people I was simply defending your honour!

  

This was a silly little photo story we played out on Siama's visit. Not much of a plotline or character development. LOL

Vintage postcard, no. 32.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Belgian collectors card by Kwatta, Bois d'Haine, no. C. 293. Photo: M.G.M. Publicity still for Three Little Words (Richard Thorpe, 1950).

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

(1) The Midnight Service first celebrates the resurrection of Christ. Yet no one can truly be joyous with the latest turn of events. The Empress, clad in her blue Russian gown, attended, as it abides the monarch to maintain a strong relation with the Russian Church. Her son Pavel, however, was nowhere to be seen, and no one could tell where he was.

 

Rumours say he has shut himself in his dead wife's bedroom with the corpse. Even on the day she has died the room has been giving off unbearable stench, but now with a corpse in the humid spring days - the thought alone makes one shiver!

 

Baryshnya Anna Vorontsova was seen sobbing by herself, whilst her chaperon stood before her next to the Empress. Graf Sheremetev couldn’t help but be concerned for her, and, in fact, other ladies who might, indeed, face the same fate.

 

Read what happened next in

"Tzarevna is Expecting" plotline: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_YiErkELGBmeIPXbRwcxHNaZl...

"Sheremetev in Love" plotline: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S1L8JesWESwnS1_1ehXmTyc3k...

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While the hostess, the young Knyazhna Golitsyna, was comfortably “spilling tea” in her own salon, including speculations on the rushed clear out of the late Tzarevna’s apartment, other tensions arose in the Golitsyn stronghold, especially in regards to Knyaginya Golitsyna’s “legendary” singing!

 

Graf Sheremetev’s close friend and Belossersky noticed a few glances, mostly from Baryshnya Anna towards the Graf...

 

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Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

 

The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known as the European starling, or in the British Isles just the starling, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.

 

The common starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa and Fiji. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter within the breeding range and also further south to Iberia and North Africa. The common starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. There are normally one or two breeding attempts each year. This species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. It is hunted by various mammals and birds of prey, and is host to a range of external and internal parasites.

 

Large flocks typical of this species can be beneficial to agriculture by controlling invertebrate pests; however, starlings can also be pests themselves when they feed on fruit and sprouting crops. Common starlings may also be a nuisance through the noise and mess caused by their large urban roosts. Introduced populations in particular have been subjected to a range of controls, including culling, but these have had limited success except in preventing the colonisation of Western Australia.

 

The species has declined in numbers in parts of northern and western Europe since the 1980s due to fewer grassland invertebrates being available as food for growing chicks. Despite this, its huge global population is not thought to be declining significantly, so the common starling is classified as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

  

Taxonomy and systematics

 

The common starling was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 under its current binomial name. Sturnus and vulgaris are derived from the Latin for "starling" and "common" respectively. The Old English staer, later stare, and the Latin sturnus are both derived from an unknown Indo-European root dating back to the second millennium BC. "Starling" was first recorded in the 11th century, when it referred to the juvenile of the species, but by the 16th century it had already largely supplanted "stare" to refer to birds of all ages. The older name is referenced in William Butler Yeats' poem "The Stare's Nest by My Window". The International Ornithological Congress' preferred English vernacular name is common starling.

 

The starling family, Sturnidae, is an entirely Old World group apart from introductions elsewhere, with the greatest numbers of species in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Sturnus is polyphyletic and relationships between its members are not fully resolved. The closest relation of the common starling is the spotless starling. The non-migratory spotless starling may be descended from a population of ancestral S. vulgaris that survived in an Iberian refugium during an ice age retreat, and mitochondrial gene studies suggest that it could be considered as a subspecies of the common starling. There is more genetic variation between common starling populations than between the nominate common starling and the spotless starling. Although common starling remains are known from the Middle Pleistocene, part of the problem in resolving relationships in the Sturnidae is the paucity of the fossil record for the family as a whole.

  

Subspecies

 

There are several subspecies of the common starling, which vary clinally in size and the colour tone of the adult plumage. The gradual variation over geographic range and extensive intergradation means that acceptance of the various subspecies varies between authorities.

 

Birds from Fair Isle, St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides are intermediate in size between S. v. zetlandicus and the nominate form, and their subspecies placement varies according to the authority. The dark juveniles typical of these island forms are occasionally found in mainland Scotland and elsewhere, indicating some gene flow from faroensis or zetlandicus, subspecies formerly considered to be isolated.

 

Several other subspecies have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades that occur where the ranges of various subspecies meet. These include: S. v. ruthenus Menzbier, 1891 and S. v. jitkowi Buturlin, 1904, which are intergrades between vulgaris and poltaratskyi from western Russia; S. v. graecus Tschusi, 1905 and S. v. balcanicus Buturlin and Harms, 1909, intergrades between vulgaris and tauricus from the southern Balkans to central Ukraine and throughout Greece to the Bosporus; and S. v. heinrichi Stresemann, 1928, an intergrade between caucasicus and nobilior in northern Iran. S. v. persepolis Ticehurst, 1928 from southern Iran's (Fars Province) is very similar to S. v. vulgaris, and it is not clear whether it is a distinct resident population or simply migrants from southeastern Europe.

  

Description

 

The common starling is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long, with a wingspan of 31–44 cm (12–17 in) and a weight of 58–101 g (2.0–3.6 oz).[15] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 11.8 to 13.8 cm (4.6 to 5.4 in), the tail is 5.8 to 6.8 cm (2.3 to 2.7 in), the culmen is 2.5 to 3.2 cm (0.98 to 1.26 in) and the tarsus is 2.7 to 3.2 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in).

 

The plumage is iridescent black, glossed purple or green, and spangled with white, especially in winter. The underparts of adult male common starlings are less spotted than those of adult females at a given time of year. The throat feathers of males are long and loose and are used in display while those of females are smaller and more pointed. The legs are stout and pinkish- or greyish-red. The bill is narrow and conical with a sharp tip; in the winter it is brownish-black but in summer, females have lemon yellow beaks while males have yellow bills with blue-grey bases. Moulting occurs once a year- in late summer after the breeding season has finished; the fresh feathers are prominently tipped white (breast feathers) or buff (wing and back feathers), which gives the bird a speckled appearance. The reduction in the spotting in the breeding season is achieved through the white feather tips largely wearing off. Juveniles are grey-brown and by their first winter resemble adults though often retaining some brown juvenile feathering, especially on the head. They can usually be sexed by the colour of the irises, rich brown in males, mouse-brown or grey in females. Estimating the contrast between an iris and the central always-dark pupil is 97% accurate in determining sex, rising to 98% if the length of the throat feathers is also considered.

 

The common starling is mid-sized by both starling standards and passerine standards. It is readily distinguished from other mid-sized passerines, such as thrushes, icterids or small corvids, by its relatively short tail, sharp, blade-like bill, round-bellied shape and strong, sizeable (and rufous-coloured) legs. In flight, its strongly pointed wings and dark colouration are distinctive, while on the ground its strange, somewhat waddling gait is also characteristic. The colouring and build usually distinguish this bird from other starlings, although the closely related spotless starling may be physically distinguished by the lack of iridescent spots in adult breeding plumage.

 

Like most terrestrial starlings the common starling moves by walking or running, rather than hopping. Their flight is quite strong and direct; their triangular-shaped wings beat very rapidly, and periodically the birds glide for a short way without losing much height before resuming powered flight. When in a flock, the birds take off almost simultaneously, wheel and turn in unison, form a compact mass or trail off into a wispy stream, bunch up again and land in a coordinated fashion. Common starling on migration can fly at 60–80 km/h (37–50 mph) and cover up to 1,000–1,500 km (620–930 mi).

 

Several terrestrial starlings, including those in the genus Sturnus, have adaptations of the skull and muscles that help with feeding by probing. This adaptation is most strongly developed in the common starling (along with the spotless and white-cheeked starlings), where the protractor muscles responsible for opening the jaw are enlarged and the skull is narrow, allowing the eye to be moved forward to peer down the length of the bill. This technique involves inserting the bill into the ground and opening it as a way of searching for hidden food items. Common starlings have the physical traits that enable them to use this feeding technique, which has undoubtedly helped the species spread far and wide.

 

In Iberia, the western Mediterranean and northwest Africa, the common starling may be confused with the closely related spotless starling, the plumage of which, as its name implies, has a more uniform colour. At close range it can be seen that the latter has longer throat feathers, a fact particularly noticeable when it sings.

  

Vocalization

 

The common starling is a noisy bird. Its song consists of a wide variety of both melodic and mechanical-sounding noises as part of a ritual succession of sounds. The male is the main songster and engages in bouts of song lasting for a minute or more. Each of these typically includes four varieties of song type, which follow each other in a regular order without pause. The bout starts with a series of pure-tone whistles and these are followed by the main part of the song, a number of variable sequences that often incorporate snatches of song mimicked from other species of bird and various naturally occurring or man-made noises. The structure and simplicity of the sound mimicked is of greater importance than the frequency with which it occurs. In some instances, a wild starling has been observed to mimic a sound it has heard only once. Each sound clip is repeated several times before the bird moves on to the next. After this variable section comes a number of types of repeated clicks followed by a final burst of high-frequency song, again formed of several types. Each bird has its own repertoire with more proficient birds having a range of up to 35 variable song types and as many as 14 types of clicks.

 

Males sing constantly as the breeding period approaches and perform less often once pairs have bonded. In the presence of a female, a male sometimes flies to his nest and sings from the entrance, apparently attempting to entice the female in. Older birds tend to have a wider repertoire than younger ones. Those males that engage in longer bouts of singing and that have wider repertoires attract mates earlier and have greater reproductive success than others. Females appear to prefer mates with more complex songs, perhaps because this indicates greater experience or longevity. Having a complex song is also useful in defending a territory and deterring less experienced males from encroaching.

 

Singing also occurs outside the breeding season, taking place throughout the year apart from the moulting period. The songsters are more commonly male although females also sing on occasion. The function of such out-of-season song is poorly understood. Eleven other types of call have been described including a flock call, threat call, attack call, snarl call and copulation call.[29] The alarm call is a harsh scream, and while foraging together common starlings squabble incessantly. They chatter while roosting and bathing, making a great deal of noise that can cause irritation to people living nearby. When a flock of common starlings is flying together, the synchronised movements of the birds' wings make a distinctive whooshing sound that can be heard hundreds of metres (yards) away.

  

Behaviour and ecology

 

The common starling is a highly gregarious species, especially in autumn and winter. Although flock size is highly variable, huge, noisy flocks - murmurations - may form near roosts. These dense concentrations of birds are thought to be a defence against attacks by birds of prey such as peregrine falcons or Eurasian sparrowhawks. Flocks form a tight sphere-like formation in flight, frequently expanding and contracting and changing shape, seemingly without any sort of leader. Each common starling changes its course and speed as a result of the movement of its closest neighbours.

 

Very large roosts, exceptionally up to 1.5 million birds, can form in city centres, woodlands or reedbeds, causing problems with their droppings. These may accumulate up to 30 cm (12 in) deep, killing trees by their concentration of chemicals. In smaller amounts, the droppings act as a fertiliser, and therefore woodland managers may try to move roosts from one area of a wood to another to benefit from the soil enhancement and avoid large toxic deposits.

 

Huge flocks of more than a million common starlings may be observed just before sunset in spring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark over the seaward marshlands of Tønder and Esbjerg municipalities between Tønder and Ribe. They gather in March until northern Scandinavian birds leave for their breeding ranges by mid-April. Their swarm behaviour creates complex shapes silhouetted against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as sort sol ("black sun"). Flocks of anything from five to fifty thousand common starlings form in areas of the UK just before sundown during mid-winter. These flocks are commonly called murmurations.

 

Feeding

 

The common starling is largely insectivorous and feeds on both pest and other arthropods. The food range includes spiders, crane flies, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, damsel flies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings, caddisflies, flies, beetles, sawflies, bees, wasps and ants. Prey are consumed in both adult and larvae stages of development, and common starlings will also feed on earthworms, snails, small amphibians and lizards. While the consumption of invertebrates is necessary for successful breeding, common starlings are omnivorous and can also eat grains, seeds, fruits, nectar and food waste if the opportunity arises. The Sturnidae differ from most birds in that they cannot easily metabolise foods containing high levels of sucrose, although they can cope with other fruits such as grapes and cherries. The isolated Azores subspecies of the common starling eats the eggs of the endangered roseate tern. Measures are being introduced to reduce common starling populations by culling before the terns return to their breeding colonies in spring.

 

There are several methods by which common starlings obtain their food but for the most part, they forage close to the ground, taking insects from the surface or just underneath. Generally, common starlings prefer foraging amongst short-cropped grasses and are often found among grazing animals or perched on their backs, where they will also feed on the mammal's external parasites. Large flocks may engage in a practice known as "roller-feeding", where the birds at the back of the flock continually fly to the front where the feeding opportunities are best. The larger the flock, the nearer individuals are to one another while foraging. Flocks often feed in one place for some time, and return to previous successfully foraged sites.

 

There are three types of foraging behaviour observed in the common starling. "Probing" involves the bird plunging its beak into the ground randomly and repetitively until an insect has been found, and is often accompanied by bill gaping where the bird opens its beak in the soil to enlarge a hole. This behaviour, first described by Konrad Lorenz and given the German term zirkeln, is also used to create and widen holes in plastic garbage bags. It takes time for young common starlings to perfect this technique, and because of this the diet of young birds will often contain fewer insects. "Hawking" is the capture of flying insects directly from the air, and "lunging" is the less common technique of striking forward to catch a moving invertebrate on the ground. Earthworms are caught by pulling from soil. Common starlings that have periods without access to food, or have a reduction in the hours of light available for feeding, compensate by increasing their body mass by the deposition of fat.

 

Nesting

 

Unpaired males find a suitable cavity and begin to build nests in order to attract single females, often decorating the nest with ornaments such as flowers and fresh green material, which the female later disassembles upon accepting him as a mate. The amount of green material is not important, as long as some is present, but the presence of herbs in the decorative material appears to be significant in attracting a mate. The scent of plants such as yarrow acts as an olfactory attractant to females.

 

The males sing throughout much of the construction and even more so when a female approaches his nest. Following copulation, the male and female continue to build the nest. Nests may be in any type of hole, common locations include inside hollowed trees, buildings, tree stumps and man-made nest-boxes. S. v. zetlandicus typically breeds in crevices and holes in cliffs, a habitat only rarely used by the nominate form. Nests are typically made out of straw, dry grass and twigs with an inner lining made up of feathers, wool and soft leaves. Construction usually takes four or five days and may continue through incubation.

 

Common starlings are both monogamous and polygamous; although broods are generally brought up by one male and one female, occasionally the pair may have an extra helper. Pairs may be part of a colony, in which case several other nests may occupy the same or nearby trees. Males may mate with a second female while the first is still on the nest. The reproductive success of the bird is poorer in the second nest than it is in the primary nest and is better when the male remains monogamous.

 

Breeding

 

Breeding takes place during the spring and summer. Following copulation, the female lays eggs on a daily basis over a period of several days. If an egg is lost during this time, she will lay another to replace it. There are normally four or five eggs that are ovoid in shape and pale blue or occasionally white, and they commonly have a glossy appearance. The colour of the eggs seems to have evolved through the relatively good visibility of blue at low light levels. The egg size is 26.5–34.5 mm (1.04–1.36 in) in length and 20.0–22.5 mm (0.79–0.89 in) in maximum diameter.

 

Incubation lasts thirteen days, although the last egg laid may take 24 hours longer than the first to hatch. Both parents share the responsibility of brooding the eggs, but the female spends more time incubating them than does the male, and is the only parent to do so at night when the male returns to the communal roost. The young are born blind and naked. They develop light fluffy down within seven days of hatching and can see within nine days. Once the chicks are able to regulate their body temperature, about six days after hatching, the adults largely cease removing droppings from the nest. Prior to that, the fouling would wet both the chicks' plumage and the nest material, thereby reducing their effectiveness as insulation and increasing the risk of chilling the hatchlings. Nestlings remain in the nest for three weeks, where they are fed continuously by both parents. Fledglings continue to be fed by their parents for another one or two weeks. A pair can raise up to three broods per year, frequently reusing and relining the same nest, although two broods is typical, or just one north of 48°N. Within two months, most juveniles will have moulted and gained their first basic plumage. They acquire their adult plumage the following year. As with other passerines, the nest is kept clean and the chicks' faecal sacs are removed by the adults.

 

Intraspecific brood parasites are common in common starling nests. Female "floaters" (unpaired females during the breeding season) present in colonies often lay eggs in another pair's nest. Fledglings have also been reported to invade their own or neighbouring nests and evict a new brood.[29] Common starling nests have a 48% to 79% rate of successful fledging, although only 20% of nestlings survive to breeding age; the adult survival rate is closer to 60%. The average life span is about 2–3 years, with a longevity record of 22 yr 11 m.

 

Predators and parasites

 

A majority of starling predators are avian. The typical response of starling groups is to take flight, with a common sight being undulating flocks of starling flying high in quick and agile patterns. Their abilities in flight are seldom matched by birds of prey. Adult common starlings are hunted by hawks such as the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), and falcons including the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo) and common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Slower raptors like black and red kites (Milvus migrans & milvus), eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), common buzzard (Buteo buteo) and Australasian harrier (Circus approximans) tend to take the more easily caught fledglings or juveniles. While perched in groups by night, they can be vulnerable to owls, including the little owl (Athene noctua), long-eared owl (Asio otus), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), barn owl (Tyto alba), tawny owl (Strix aluco) and Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo).

 

More than twenty species of hawk, owl and falcon are known to occasionally predate feral starlings in North America, though the most regular predators of adults are likely to be urban-living peregrine falcons or merlins (Falco columbarius). Common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) sometimes evict eggs, nestlings and adult common starlings from their nests, and the lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor), a brood parasite, uses the common starling as a host. Starlings are more commonly the culprits rather than victims of nest eviction however, especially towards other starlings and woodpeckers. Nests can be raided by mammals capable of climbing to them, such as stoats (Mustela erminea), raccoons (Procyon lotor) and squirrels (Sciurus spp.), and cats may catch the unwary.

 

Common starlings are hosts to a wide range of parasites. A survey of three hundred common starlings from six US states found that all had at least one type of parasite; 99% had external fleas, mites or ticks, and 95% carried internal parasites, mostly various types of worm. Blood-sucking species leave their host when it dies, but other external parasites stay on the corpse. A bird with a deformed bill was heavily infested with Mallophaga lice, presumably due to its inability to remove vermin.

 

The hen flea (Ceratophyllus gallinae) is the most common flea in their nests. The small, pale house-sparrow flea C. fringillae, is also occasionally found there and probably arises from the habit of its main host of taking over the nests of other species. This flea does not occur in the US, even on house sparrows. Lice include Menacanthus eurystemus, Brueelia nebulosa and Stumidoecus sturni. Other arthropod parasites include Ixodes ticks and mites such as Analgopsis passerinus, Boydaia stumi, Dermanyssus gallinae, Ornithonyssus bursa, O. sylviarum, Proctophyllodes species, Pteronyssoides truncatus and Trouessartia rosteri. The hen mite D. gallinae is itself preyed upon by the predatory mite Androlaelaps casalis. The presence of this control on numbers of the parasitic species may explain why birds are prepared to reuse old nests.

 

Flying insects that parasitise common starlings include the louse-fly Omithomya nigricornis and the saprophagous fly Camus hemapterus. The latter species breaks off the feathers of its host and lives on the fats produced by growing plumage. Larvae of the moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella are nest scavengers, which feed on animal material such as faeces or dead nestlings. Protozoan blood parasites of the genus Haemoproteus have been found in common starlings, but a better known pest is the brilliant scarlet nematode Syngamus trachea. This worm moves from the lungs to the trachea and may cause its host to suffocate. In Britain, the rook and the common starling are the most infested wild birds. Other recorded internal parasites include the spiny-headed worm Prosthorhynchus transverses.

 

Common starlings may contract avian tuberculosis, avian malaria and retrovirus-induced lymphomas. Captive starlings often accumulate excess iron in the liver, a condition that can be prevented by adding black tea-leaves to the food.

  

Distribution and habitat

 

The global population of common starlings was estimated to be 310 million individuals in 2004, occupying a total area of 8,870,000 km2 (3,420,000 sq mi). Widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the bird is native to Eurasia and is found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly in the north but regularly extending further south and extending into the Maldives) Nepal, the Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and north-western China.

 

Common starlings in the south and west of Europe and south of latitude 40°N are mainly resident, although other populations migrate from regions where the winter is harsh, the ground frozen and food scarce. Large numbers of birds from northern Europe, Russia and Ukraine migrate south westwards or south eastwards. In the autumn, when immigrants are arriving from eastern Europe, many of Britain's common starlings are setting off for Iberia and North Africa. Other groups of birds are in passage across the country and the pathways of these different streams of bird may cross. Of the 15,000 birds ringed as nestlings in Merseyside, England, individuals have been recovered at various times of year as far afield as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and the Low Countries. Small numbers of common starling have sporadically been observed in Japan and Hong Kong but it is unclear from where these birds originated. In North America, northern populations have developed a migration pattern, vacating much of Canada in winter. Birds in the east of the country move southwards, and those from further west winter in the southwest of the US.

 

Common starlings prefer urban or suburban areas where artificial structures and trees provide adequate nesting and roosting sites. Reedbeds are also favoured for roosting and the birds commonly feed in grassy areas such as farmland, grazing pastures, playing fields, golf courses and airfields where short grass makes foraging easy. They occasionally inhabit open forests and woodlands and are sometimes found in shrubby areas such as Australian heathland. Common starlings rarely inhabit dense, wet forests (i.e. rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests) but are found in coastal areas, where they nest and roost on cliffs and forage amongst seaweed. Their ability to adapt to a large variety of habitats has allowed them to disperse and establish themselves in diverse locations around the world resulting in a habitat range from coastal wetlands to alpine forests, from sea cliffs to mountain ranges 1,900 m (6,200 ft) above sea level.

 

Introduced populations

 

The common starling has been introduced to and has successfully established itself in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, North America, Fiji and several Caribbean islands. As a result, it has also been able to migrate to Thailand, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.

 

South America

 

Five individuals conveyed on a ship from England alighted near Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela in November 1949, but subsequently vanished. In 1987, a small population of common starlings was observed nesting in gardens in the city of Buenos Aires. Since then, despite some initial attempts at eradication, the bird has been expanding its breeding range at an average rate of 7.5 km (4.7 mi) per year, keeping within 30 km (19 mi) of the Atlantic coast. In Argentina, the species makes use of a variety of natural and man-made nesting sites, particularly woodpecker holes.

 

Australia

 

The common starling was introduced to Australia to consume insect pests of farm crops. Early settlers looked forward to their arrival, believing that common starlings were also important for the pollination of flax, a major agricultural product. Nest-boxes for the newly released birds were placed on farms and near crops. The common starling was introduced to Melbourne in 1857 and Sydney two decades later. By the 1880s, established populations were present in the southeast of the country thanks to the work of acclimatisation committees. By the 1920s, common starlings were widespread throughout Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, but by then they were considered to be pests. Although common starlings were first sighted in Albany, Western Australia in 1917, they have been largely prevented from spreading to the state. The wide and arid Nullarbor Plain provides a natural barrier and control measures have been adopted that have killed 55,000 birds over three decades. The common starling has also colonised Kangaroo Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and Tasmania.

 

New Zealand

 

The early settlers in New Zealand cleared the bush and found their newly planted crops were invaded by hordes of caterpillars and other insects deprived of their previous food sources. Native birds were not habituated to living in close proximity to man so the common starling was introduced from Europe along with the House Sparrow to control the pests. It was first brought over in 1862 by the Nelson Acclimatisation Society and other introductions followed. The birds soon became established and are now found all over the country including the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the north and the equally distant Macquarie Island far to the south.

 

North America

 

After two failed attempts, about 60 common starlings were released in 1890 into New York's Central Park by Eugene Schieffelin. He was president of the American Acclimatization Society, which reportedly tried to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare into North America, although this has been disputed. About the same date, the Portland Song Bird Club released 35 pairs of common starlings in Portland, Oregon. These birds became established but disappeared around 1902. Common starlings reappeared in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1940s and these birds were probably descendants of the 1890 Central Park introduction. The original 60 birds have since swelled in number to 150 million, occupying an area extending from southern Canada and Alaska to Central America.

 

Polynesia

 

The common starling appears to have arrived in Fiji in 1925 on Ono-i-lau and Vatoa islands. It may have colonised from New Zealand via Raoul in the Kermadec Islands where it is abundant, that group being roughly equidistant between New Zealand and Fiji. Its spread in Fiji has been limited, and there are doubts about the population's viability. Tonga was colonised at about the same date and the birds there have been slowly spreading north through the group.

 

South Africa

 

In South Africa, the common starling was introduced in 1897 by Cecil Rhodes. It spread slowly, and by 1954, had reached Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth. It is now common in the southern Cape region, thinning out northwards to the Johannesburg area. It is present in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State provinces of South Africa and lowland Lesotho, with occasional sightings in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and around the town of Oranjemund in Namibia. In Southern Africa populations appear to be resident and the bird is strongly associated with man and anthropogenic habitats. It favours irrigated land and is absent from regions where the ground is baked so dry that it cannot probe for insects. It may compete with native birds for crevice nesting sites but the indigenous species are probably more disadvantaged by destruction of their natural habitat than they are by inter-specific competition. It breeds from September to December and outside the breeding season may congregate in large flocks, often roosting in reedbeds. It is the most common bird species in urban and agricultural areas.

 

West Indies

 

The inhabitants of Saint Kitts petitioned the Colonial Secretary for a ″ ... government grant of starlings to exterminate ... ″ an outbreak of grasshoppers with was causing enormous damage to their crops in 1901. The common starling was introduced to Jamaica in 1903, and the Bahamas and Cuba were colonised naturally from the US. This bird is fairly common but local in Jamaica, Grand Bahama and Bimini, and is rare in the rest of the Bahamas, eastern Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and St. Croix.

  

Status

 

The global population of the common starling is estimated to be more than 310 million individuals and its numbers are not thought to be declining significantly, so the bird is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of least concern. It had shown a marked increase in numbers throughout Europe from the 19th century to around the 1950s and 60s. In about 1830, S. v. vulgaris expanded its range in the British Isles, spreading into Ireland and areas of Scotland where it had formerly been absent, although S. v. zetlandicus was already present in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. The common starling has bred in northern Sweden from 1850 and in Iceland from 1935. The breeding range spread through southern France to northeastern Spain, and there were other range expansions particularly in Italy, Austria and Finland. It started breeding in Iberia in 1960, while the spotless starling's range had been expanding northward since the 1950s. The low rate of advance, about 4.7 km (2.9 mi) per year for both species, is due to the suboptimal mountain and woodland terrain. Expansion has since slowed even further due to direct competition between the two similar species where they overlap in southwestern France and northwestern Spain.

 

Major declines in populations have been observed from 1980 onward in Sweden, Finland, northern Russia (Karelia) and the Baltic States, and smaller declines in much of the rest of northern and central Europe. The bird has been adversely affected in these areas by intensive agriculture, and in several countries it has been red-listed due to population declines of more than 50%. Numbers dwindled in the United Kingdom by more than 80% between 1966 and 2004; although populations in some areas such as Northern Ireland were stable or even increased, those in other areas, mainly England, declined even more sharply. The overall decline seems to be due to the low survival rate of young birds, which may be caused by changes in agricultural practices. The intensive farming methods used in northern Europe mean there is less pasture and meadow habitat available, and the supply of grassland invertebrates needed for the nestlings to thrive is correspondingly reduced.

  

Relationship with humans

 

Benefits and problems

 

Since common starlings eat insect pests such as wireworms, they are considered beneficial in northern Eurasia, and this was one of the reasons given for introducing the birds elsewhere. Around 25 million nest boxes were erected for this species in the former Soviet Union, and common starlings were found to be effective in controlling the grass grub Costelytra zelandica in New Zealand. The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of nest boxes to help this mainly insectivorous bird to breed successfully, and even in the US, where this is a pest species, the Department of Agriculture acknowledges that vast numbers of insects are consumed by common starlings.

 

Common starlings introduced to areas such as Australia or North America, where other members of the genus are absent, may affect native species through competition for nest holes. In North America, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, purple martins and other swallows may be affected. In Australia, competitors for nesting sites include the crimson and eastern rosellas. For its role in the decline of local native species and the damages to agriculture, the common starling has been included in the IUCN List of the world's 100 worst invasive species.

 

Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in orchards such as grapes, peaches, olives, currants and tomatoes or dig up newly sown grain and sprouting crops. They may also eat animal feed and distribute seeds through their droppings. In eastern Australia, weeds like bridal creeper, blackberry and boneseed are thought to have been spread by common starlings. Agricultural damage in the US is estimated as costing about US$800 million annually. This bird is not considered to be as damaging to agriculture in South Africa as it is in the United States.

 

The large size of flocks can also cause problems. Common starlings may be sucked into aircraft jet engines, one of the worst instances of this being an incident in Boston in 1960, when sixty-two people died after a turboprop airliner flew into a flock and plummeted into the sea at Winthrop Harbor.

 

Starlings' droppings can contain the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, the cause of histoplasmosis in humans. At roosting sites this fungus can thrive in accumulated droppings. There are a number of other infectious diseases that can potentially be transmitted by common starlings to humans, although the potential for the birds to spread infections may have been exaggerated.

 

Control

 

Because of the damage they do, there have been attempts to control the numbers of both native and introduced populations of common starlings. Within the natural breeding range, this may be affected by legislation. For example, in Spain, this is a species hunted commercially as a food item, and has a closed season, whereas in France, it is classed as a pest, and the season in which it may be killed covers the greater part of the year. In Great Britain, Starlings are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it "illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take a starling, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents". The Wildlife Order in Northern Ireland allows, with a general licence, "an authorised person to control starlings to prevent serious damage to agriculture or preserve public health and safety". This species is migratory, so birds involved in control measures may have come from a wide area and breeding populations may not be greatly affected. In Europe, the varying legislation and mobile populations mean that control attempts may have limited long-term results. Non-lethal techniques such as scaring with visual or auditory devices have only a temporary effect in any case.

 

Huge urban roosts in cities can create problems due to the noise and mess made and the smell of the droppings. In 1949, so many birds landed on the clock hands of London's Big Ben that it stopped, leading to unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the roosts with netting, repellent chemical on the ledges and broadcasts of common starling alarm calls. An entire episode of The Goon Show in 1954 was a parody of the futile efforts to disrupt the large common starling roosts in central London.

 

Where it is introduced, the common starling is unprotected by legislation, and extensive control plans may be initiated. Common starlings can be prevented from using nest boxes by ensuring that the access holes are smaller than the 1.5 in (38 mm) diameter they need, and the removal of perches discourages them from visiting bird feeders.

 

Western Australia banned the import of common starlings in 1895. New flocks arriving from the east are routinely shot, while the less cautious juveniles are trapped and netted. New methods are being developed, such as tagging one bird and tracking it back to establish where other members of the flock roost. Another technique is to analyse the DNA of Australian common starling populations to track where the migration from eastern to western Australia is occurring so that better preventive strategies can be used. By 2009, only 300 common starlings were left in Western Australia, and the state committed a further A$400,000 in that year to continue the eradication programme.

 

In the United States, common starlings are exempt from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the taking or killing of migratory birds. No permit is required to remove nests and eggs or kill juveniles or adults. Research was undertaken in 1966 to identify a suitable avicide that would both kill common starlings and would readily be eaten by them. It also needed to be of low toxicity to mammals and not likely to cause the death of pets that ate dead birds. The chemical that best fitted these criteria was DRC-1339, now marketed as Starlicide. In 2008, the United States government poisoned, shot or trapped 1.7 million birds, the largest number of any nuisance species to be destroyed. In 2005, the population in the United States was estimated at 140 million birds, around 45% of the global total of 310 million.

  

In science and culture

 

Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals. Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon's Ring as "the poor man's dog" and "something to love", because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they are straightforward to look after. They adapt well to captivity, and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms. Several birds may be kept in the same cage, and their inquisitiveness makes them easy to train or study. The only disadvantages are their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans. As a laboratory bird, the common starling is second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon.

 

The common starling's gift for mimicry has long been recognised. In the medieval Welsh Mabinogion, Branwen tamed a common starling, "taught it words", and sent it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brothers, Bran and Manawydan, who then sailed from Wales to Ireland to rescue her. Pliny the Elder claimed that these birds could be taught to speak whole sentences in Latin and Greek, and in Henry IV, William Shakespeare had Hotspur declare "The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I'll holler 'Mortimer!' Nay I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion."

 

Mozart had a pet common starling which could sing part of his Piano Concerto in G Major (KV. 453). He had bought it from a shop after hearing it sing a phrase from a work he wrote six weeks previously, which had not yet been performed in public. He became very attached to the bird and arranged an elaborate funeral for it when it died three years later. It has been suggested that his A Musical Joke (K. 522) might be written in the comical, inconsequential style of a starling's vocalisation.[35] Other people who have owned common starlings report how adept they are at picking up phrases and expressions. The words have no meaning for the starling, so they often mix them up or use them on what to humans are inappropriate occasions in their songs. Their ability at mimicry is so great that strangers have looked in vain for the human they think they have just heard speak.

 

Common starlings are trapped for food in some Mediterranean countries. The meat is tough and of low quality, so it is casseroled or made into pâté. One recipe said it should be stewed "until tender, however long that may be". Even when correctly prepared, it may still be seen as an acquired taste.

 

The introduction of European starlings to the United States in 1890 by New York pharmaceutical manufacturer Eugene Schieffelin was featured in the plotline of the Netflix original series, Ozark in season 1, episode 7, "Nest Box."

  

[Credit: en.wikipedia.org/]

English postcard.

 

Sylvester Stallone (1946) is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director. Film fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 30 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

 

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in 1946, in New York's gritty Hell's Kitchen. His parents were Jackie Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, and Frank Stallone, an Italian immigrant who worked as a beautician, and hairdresser. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, Anthony 'Tony' Filiti, to Philadelphia. His siblings are actor Frank Stallone, half-sister Toni D'Alto, and Dante Stallone. The young Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland and the University of Miami, eventually obtaining a B.A. degree. He was 23 years old when he got his first starring role in the softcore sex film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (Morton M. Lewis, 1970) in which he played the role of Stud 'The Italian Stallion'. He was paid $200 to play the sex-craved gigolo and appeared nude. In 1976, the film was re-released as The Italian Stallion after Sly's success with Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976). In between, he first struggled in small parts in films such as the thriller Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) starring Jane Fonda, and the comedy Bananas (Woody Allen, 1971). He got a crucial career break alongside fellow young actors Henry Winkler and Perry King, sharing lead billing in the effectively written teen gang film The Lords of Flatbush (Martin Davidson, Stephen Verona, 1974). He also wrote the screenplay for the modestly successful film. Further film and television roles followed, most of them in uninspiring productions except for the opportunity to play a megalomaniac, bloodthirsty race driver named "Machine Gun Joe Viterbo" opposite David Carradine in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975). However, Stallone was also keen to be recognised as a screenwriter, not just an actor, and, inspired by the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in Cleveland, Stallone wrote a film script about a nobody fighter given the "million to one opportunity" to challenge for the heavyweight title. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) became the stuff of cinematic legends, scoring ten Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Picture Award of 1976, and triggering one of the most financially successful film series in history. Whilst full credit is wholly deserved by Stallone, he was duly supported by tremendous acting from fellow cast members Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young, and director John G. Avildsen gave the film an emotive, earthy appeal from start to finish. Stallone had truly arrived on his terms and offers poured in from various studios eager to secure Hollywood's hottest new star.

 

Sylvester Stallone followed Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) with F.I.S.T (Norman Jewison, 1978), loosely based on the life of Teamsters boss "Jimmy Hoffa", and Paradise Alley (Sylvester Stallone, 1978) before pulling on the boxing gloves again to resurrect Rocky Balboa in the sequel Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone, 1979). The second outing for the "Italian Stallion" wasn't as powerful or successful as the first "Rocky", however, it still produced a strong box office. Subsequent films Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) with Rutger Hauer, and Escape to Victory (John Huston, 1981) with Michael Caine and Pelé failed to ignite with audiences, so Stallone was once again lured back to familiar territory with Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) and a fearsome opponent in "Clubber Lang" played by muscular ex-bodyguard, Mr. T. The third "Rocky" installment far outperformed the first sequel in box office takings, but Stallone retired his prizefighter for a couple of years as another series was about to commence for the busy actor. The character of Green Beret "John Rambo" was the creation of Canadian-born writer David Morrell, and his novel was adapted to the screen with Stallone in the lead role in First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982), also starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. The film was a surprise hit that polarised audiences because of its commentary about the Vietnam war, which was still relatively fresh in the American public's psyche. Political viewpoints aside, the film was a worldwide smash, and a sequel soon followed with Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985), which drew even stronger criticism from several quarters owing to the film's plotline about American MIAs allegedly being held in Vietnam. But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and "John Rambo's" second adventure was a major money-spinner for Stallone and cemented him as one of the top male stars of the 1980s. In between, he did his own singing in Did all of his own singing in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984) with Dolly Parton. Riding a wave of amazing popularity, Stallone called on old sparring partner Rocky Balboa to climb back into the ring to defend American pride against a Soviet threat in the form of a towering Russian boxer named "Ivan Drago" played by curt Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985). The fourth outing was somewhat controversial with "Rocky" fans, as violence levels seemed excessive compared to previous "Rocky" films, especially with the savage beating suffered by Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, at the hands of the unstoppable "Siberian Express".

 

Sylvester Stallone continued forward with a slew of macho character-themed films that met with a mixed reception from his fans. Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) with his wife Brigitte Nielsen was a clumsy mess, Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987) was equally mediocre, Rambo III (Peter MacDonald, 1988) saw Rambo take on the Russians in Afghanistan, and cop buddy film Tango & Cash (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 1989) just did not quite hit the mark, although it did feature a top-notch cast and there was chemistry between Stallone and co-star Kurt Russell. Philadelphia's favourite mythical boxer moved out of the shadows for his fifth screen outing in Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) tackling Tommy "Machine" Gunn played by real-life heavyweight fighter Tommy Morrison, the great-nephew of screen legend John Wayne. Sly quickly followed with the lukewarm comedy Oscar (John Landis, 1991) with Ornella Muti, the painfully unfunny Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Roger Spottiswoode, 1992) with "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty, the futuristic action film Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) with Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, and the comic book-inspired Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995). Interestingly, Stallone then took a departure from the gung-ho steely characters he had been portraying to stack on a few extra pounds and tackle a more dramatically challenging role in the intriguing Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), also starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. It isn't a classic of the genre, but Cop Land (1997) certainly surprised many critics with Stallone's understated performance. He has been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Raspberry Awards, usually in the "Worst Actor" category, and has won 10 times. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation awarded him a special "Worst Actor of the Century" award in 2000.

 

Sylvester Stallone lent his voice to the animated adventure story Antz (Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson, 1998), reprised the role made famous by Michael Caine in a terrible remake of Get Carter (Stephen Kay, 2000), climbed back into a race car for Driven (Renny Harlin, 2001), and guest-starred as the "Toymaker" in the third chapter of the popular "Spy Kids" film series, Spy Kids 3: Game Over (Robert Rodriguez, 2003). in 2005 he published his book 'Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live Your Dream'. Showing that age had not wearied his two most popular series, Sylvester Stallone brought back never-say-die boxer Rocky Balboa to star in Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006), and Vietnam veteran Rambo reappeared after a 20-year hiatus to once again right wrongs in the jungles of Thailand in Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008). Another success was The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), abound a band of highly skilled mercenaries played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 'dinosaurs' from the 1980's action film teamed up with each other. The action film opened at number one at the U.S. box office with a first weekend gross of $35 million. This makes Sylvester Stallone the only person in Hollywood history to have starred in films that have opened atop the box office charts over five consecutive decades. Soon followed the less successful sequels The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). In between, he also appeared with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan (Mikael Håfström, 2013). Stallone got rave reviews, his first Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for his role in the sports film Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015) opposite Michael B. Jordan. Once again he played Rocky Balboa who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In 2017, Stallone appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017) as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk, the leader of a Ravagers faction. Then followed Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018) and Rambo: Last Blood (Adrian Grunberg, 2019). The latter film grossed $91 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million. Sylvester Stallone married three times. His first wife was Sasha Czack (1974-1985) with whom he has two children: Sage and Seargeoh Stallone. Sage acted with Sylvester in Rocky V (1990) and Daylight (1996) and was found dead in 2012 in Los Angeles. From 1985 till 1987, Sly was married to Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. Since 1997, he is married to Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children: Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose Stallone. Firehouse at IMDb: "Love him or loathe him, Sylvester Stallone has built an enviable and highly respected career in Hollywood, plus, he has considerably influenced modern popular culture through several of his iconic film characters."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. Star 105. Photo: Carolco / Anabasis Investments BV. Sylvester Stallone in Rambo - First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985).

 

Sylvester Stallone (1946) is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director. Film fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 30 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

 

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in 1946, in New York's gritty Hell's Kitchen. His parents were Jackie Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, and Frank Stallone, an Italian immigrant who worked as a beautician, and hairdresser. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, Anthony 'Tony' Filiti, to Philadelphia. His siblings are actor Frank Stallone, half-sister Toni D'Alto, and Dante Stallone. The young Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland and the University of Miami, eventually obtaining a B.A. degree. He was 23 years old when he got his first starring role in the softcore sex film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (Morton M. Lewis, 1970) in which he played the role of Stud 'The Italian Stallion'. He was paid $200 to play the sex-craved gigolo and appeared nude. In 1976, the film was re-released as The Italian Stallion after Sly's success with Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976). In between, he first struggled in small parts in films such as the thriller Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) starring Jane Fonda, and the comedy Bananas (Woody Allen, 1971). He got a crucial career break alongside fellow young actors Henry Winkler and Perry King, sharing lead billing in the effectively written teen gang film The Lords of Flatbush (Martin Davidson, Stephen Verona, 1974). He also wrote the screenplay for the modestly successful film. Further film and television roles followed, most of them in uninspiring productions except for the opportunity to play a megalomaniac, bloodthirsty race driver named "Machine Gun Joe Viterbo" opposite David Carradine in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975). However, Stallone was also keen to be recognised as a screenwriter, not just an actor, and, inspired by the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in Cleveland, Stallone wrote a film script about a nobody fighter given the "million to one opportunity" to challenge for the heavyweight title. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) became the stuff of cinematic legends, scoring ten Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Picture Award of 1976, and triggering one of the most financially successful film series in history. Whilst full credit is wholly deserved by Stallone, he was duly supported by tremendous acting from fellow cast members Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young, and director John G. Avildsen gave the film an emotive, earthy appeal from start to finish. Stallone had truly arrived on his terms and offers poured in from various studios eager to secure Hollywood's hottest new star.

 

Sylvester Stallone followed Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) with F.I.S.T (Norman Jewison, 1978), loosely based on the life of Teamsters boss "Jimmy Hoffa", and Paradise Alley (Sylvester Stallone, 1978) before pulling on the boxing gloves again to resurrect Rocky Balboa in the sequel Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone, 1979). The second outing for the "Italian Stallion" wasn't as powerful or successful as the first "Rocky", however, it still produced a strong box office. Subsequent films Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) with Rutger Hauer, and Escape to Victory (John Huston, 1981) with Michael Caine and Pelé failed to ignite with audiences, so Stallone was once again lured back to familiar territory with Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) and a fearsome opponent in "Clubber Lang" played by muscular ex-bodyguard, Mr. T. The third "Rocky" installment far outperformed the first sequel in box office takings, but Stallone retired his prizefighter for a couple of years as another series was about to commence for the busy actor. The character of Green Beret "John Rambo" was the creation of Canadian-born writer David Morrell, and his novel was adapted to the screen with Stallone in the lead role in First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982), also starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. The film was a surprise hit that polarised audiences because of its commentary about the Vietnam war, which was still relatively fresh in the American public's psyche. Political viewpoints aside, the film was a worldwide smash, and a sequel soon followed with Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985), which drew even stronger criticism from several quarters owing to the film's plotline about American MIAs allegedly being held in Vietnam. But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and "John Rambo's" second adventure was a major money-spinner for Stallone and cemented him as one of the top male stars of the 1980s. In between, he did his own singing in Did all of his own singing in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984) with Dolly Parton. Riding a wave of amazing popularity, Stallone called on old sparring partner Rocky Balboa to climb back into the ring to defend American pride against a Soviet threat in the form of a towering Russian boxer named "Ivan Drago" played by curt Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985). The fourth outing was somewhat controversial with "Rocky" fans, as violence levels seemed excessive compared to previous "Rocky" films, especially with the savage beating suffered by Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, at the hands of the unstoppable "Siberian Express".

 

Sylvester Stallone continued forward with a slew of macho character-themed films that met with a mixed reception from his fans. Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) with his wife Brigitte Nielsen was a clumsy mess, Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987) was equally mediocre, Rambo III (Peter MacDonald, 1988) saw Rambo take on the Russians in Afghanistan, and cop buddy film Tango & Cash (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 1989) just did not quite hit the mark, although it did feature a top-notch cast and there was chemistry between Stallone and co-star Kurt Russell. Philadelphia's favourite mythical boxer moved out of the shadows for his fifth screen outing in Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) tackling Tommy "Machine" Gunn played by real-life heavyweight fighter Tommy Morrison, the great-nephew of screen legend John Wayne. Sly quickly followed with the lukewarm comedy Oscar (John Landis, 1991) with Ornella Muti, the painfully unfunny Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Roger Spottiswoode, 1992) with "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty, the futuristic action film Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) with Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, and the comic book-inspired Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995). Interestingly, Stallone then took a departure from the gung-ho steely characters he had been portraying to stack on a few extra pounds and tackle a more dramatically challenging role in the intriguing Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), also starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. It isn't a classic of the genre, but Cop Land (1997) certainly surprised many critics with Stallone's understated performance. He has been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Raspberry Awards, usually in the "Worst Actor" category, and has won 10 times. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation awarded him a special "Worst Actor of the Century" award in 2000.

 

Sylvester Stallone lent his voice to the animated adventure story Antz (Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson, 1998), reprised the role made famous by Michael Caine in a terrible remake of Get Carter (Stephen Kay, 2000), climbed back into a race car for Driven (Renny Harlin, 2001), and guest-starred as the "Toymaker" in the third chapter of the popular "Spy Kids" film series, Spy Kids 3: Game Over (Robert Rodriguez, 2003). in 2005 he published his book 'Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live Your Dream'. Showing that age had not wearied his two most popular series, Sylvester Stallone brought back never-say-die boxer Rocky Balboa to star in Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006), and Vietnam veteran Rambo reappeared after a 20-year hiatus to once again right wrongs in the jungles of Thailand in Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008). Another success was The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), abound a band of highly skilled mercenaries played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 'dinosaurs' from the 1980's action film teamed up with each other. The action film opened at number one at the U.S. box office with a first weekend gross of $35 million. This makes Sylvester Stallone the only person in Hollywood history to have starred in films that have opened atop the box office charts over five consecutive decades. Soon followed the less successful sequels The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). In between, he also appeared with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan (Mikael Håfström, 2013). Stallone got rave reviews, his first Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for his role in the sports film Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015) opposite Michael B. Jordan. Once again he played Rocky Balboa who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In 2017, Stallone appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017) as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk, the leader of a Ravagers faction. Then followed Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018) and Rambo: Last Blood (Adrian Grunberg, 2019). The latter film grossed $91 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million. Sylvester Stallone married three times. His first wife was Sasha Czack (1974-1985) with whom he has two children: Sage and Seargeoh Stallone. Sage acted with Sylvester in Rocky V (1990) and Daylight (1996) and was found dead in 2012 in Los Angeles. From 1985 till 1987, Sly was married to Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. Since 1997, he is married to Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children: Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose Stallone. Firehouse at IMDb: "Love him or loathe him, Sylvester Stallone has built an enviable and highly respected career in Hollywood, plus, he has considerably influenced modern popular culture through several of his iconic film characters."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1084. Photo: R.K.O. Radio. Fred Astaire in Follow the Fleet (Mark Sandrich, 1936).

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2750/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Terra.

 

German actress Hannelore Schroth (1922-1987) made her film debut at the age of nine and had a long and successful career in both theatre and cinema. She starred in Unter den Brücken/Under the Bridge (1945), one of the most beautiful love stories of the German cinema – without any trace of propaganda.

 

Hanne Lore Emilie Käte Grete Schroth was born in Berlin in 1922 as the daughter of actor Heinrich Schroth and actress Käthe Haack. Her half-brother Carl-Heinz Schroth would also become a well-known actor. Hannelore already made her film debut at the age of nine in the short comedy Dann schon lieber Lebertran/I'd Rather Have Cod Liver Oil (Max Ophüls, 1931) opposite her mother, Käthe Haack. At sixteen, she attended a drama school in Lausanne. To her early successes belong the love story Spiel im Sommerwind/Play in the Summer Breezes (Roger von Norman, 1938) with Rolf Möbius, and Kitty und die Weltkonferenz/Kitty and the World Conference (Helmut Käutner, 1939). During the wartime, she continued her career with leading parts in Friedrich Schiller (Herbert Maisch, 1940) about the 18th-century German playwright and blank-verse poet, the romantic comedy Sophienlund (Heinz Rühmann, 1944) and Unter den Brücken/Under the Bridge (Helmut Käutner, 1945), a classic love triangle with Carl Raddatz and Gustav Knuth. IMDb reviewer Christian Wasser calls the latter "one of the most beautiful love stories of the German cinema. The acting of Hannelore Schroth is wonderfully natural even today". Unter den Brücken was one of the last films to be made in Nazi Germany - it passed the censorship in March 1945, but didn't make it to the cinemas as the street battles were about to commence in Berlin in a few weeks. In 1950, the film was finally shown in cinemas.

 

After the war, Hannelore Schroth gained a foothold at the theatre and also continued her film career with such hits as Taxi-Kitty (Kurt Hoffmann, 1950) and Kommen Sie am Ersten/Come at the First (Erich Engel, 1951). Later well-known films are the classic comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956), the romantic drama Wie einst Lili Marleen/Like Once Lili Marleen (Paul Verhoeven, 1956) with the wartime song hit 'Lili Marlene' woven into its plotline, and the comedy Der Mann, der nicht nein sagen konnte/The Man Who Could Not say No (Kurt Früh, 1958) with Heinz Rühmann. She also became a popular voice actor and dubbed such Hollywood stars as Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor. From the 1950s on, regular engagements for TV followed. She became well-known for a younger audience when she impersonated the role of Mrs. Petrell in the successful Swedish film- and TV series Emil (Olle Hellbom, 1971-1976). The three feature films and the TV series were based on the novels by Astrid Lindgren about the 5-year-old prankster Emil, who lives with his family on a farm in the district of Lönneberga in Sweden, at the start of the 20th century. To Hannelore Schroth's last films belong the comedy Bomber & Paganini (Nicos Perakis, 1976) starring Mario Adorf, and Zwischengleis/Yesterday's Tomorrow (Wolfgang Staudte, 1978) with Pola Kinski. In 1980, Schroth was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her achievements in German cinema. Hannelore Schroth died in 1987 in München (Munich). She had been married to the actor Carl Raddatz, her co-star of Unter den Brücken, and from 1945 till 1950 with the Austrian deep-sea diver Hans Hass. Her son from that marriage, Hans Hass Jr., was an actor and singer. From her third marriage with a lawyer and film producer also comes a son, Christopher Köster.

 

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 449. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no 289. Photo: Lee Marvin in Monte Walsh (William A. Fraker, 1970).

 

American film and television actor Lee Marvin (1924-1987) began as a supporting player of a generally vicious demeanor, then metamorphosed into a star playing tough, hard-bitten anti-heroes. Known for his gravelly smoke burnished voice and premature white hair, Marvin initially played villains, soldiers, and other hardboiled characters. A prominent television role was that of Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger in the NBC crime series M Squad (1957–1960). He became a major star with Cat Ballou (1965), a comedy Western in which he played dual roles, but his career waned considerably after Paint Your Wagon (1969). For portraying both gunfighter Kid Shelleen and criminal Tim Strawn, he won the Oscar for Best Actor, along with a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, an NBR Award, and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. Marvin is also remembered for his 'tough guy' characters in The Killers (1964), The Professionals (1966), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Point Blank (1967), and The Big Red One (1980).

 

Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. was born in 1924 in New York City. He was the son of Lamont Waltman Marvin, an advertising executive and later the head of the New York and New England Apple Institute, and Courtenay Washington (née Davidge), a fashion and beauty writer/editor. As with his elder brother, Robert, he was named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who was his first cousin, four times removed. His father was a direct descendant of Matthew Marvin Sr., who emigrated from Great Bentley, Essex, England, in 1635, and helped found Hartford, Connecticut. Marvin studied the violin when he was young. As a teenager, Marvin "spent weekends and spare time hunting deer, puma, wild turkey, and bobwhite in the wilds of the then-uncharted Everglades". He attended Manumit School, a Christian socialist boarding school in Pawling, New York, during the late 1930s, and later attended St. Leo College Preparatory School, a Catholic school in St. Leo, Florida, after being expelled from several other schools for bad behaviour. Marvin left school at 18 to enlist in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1942. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II. While serving as a member of "I" Company, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, he was wounded in action on in 1944, during the assault on Mount Tapochau in the Battle of Saipan, during which most of his company were casualties. He was hit by machine-gun fire, which severed his sciatic nerve, and then was hit again in the foot by a sniper. After over a year of medical treatment in naval hospitals, Marvin was given a medical discharge with the rank of private first class (he had been a corporal years earlier but had been demoted after causing trouble) in 1945 Philadelphia. Marvin's military awards include the Purple Heart Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

 

After the war, while working as a plumber's assistant at a local community theatre in upstate New York, Lee Marvin was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals. He caught the acting bug and got a job with the company at $7 a week. He moved to Greenwich Village and used the GI Bill to study at the American Theatre Wing. He appeared on stage in a production of 'Uniform of Flesh', an adaptation of the novel 'Billy Budd' (1949). It was done at the Experimental Theatre, where a few months later Marvin also appeared in 'The Nineteenth Hole of Europe' (1949). Marvin began appearing on television shows like Escape, The Big Story, and Treasury Men in Action. He made it to Broadway with a small role in a production of Uniform of Flesh, now called Billy Budd in February 1951. Marvin's film debut was in You're in the Navy Now (Henry Hathaway, 1951), which also marked the debuts of Charles Bronson and Jack Warden. This required some filming in Hollywood. Marvin decided to stay there. He had a similar small part in Teresa (Fred Zinnemann, 1951). As a decorated combat veteran, Marvin was a natural in war dramas, where he frequently assisted the director and other actors in realistically portraying infantry movement, arranging costumes, and the use of firearms. He guest-starred on episodes of Fireside Theatre (1950), Suspense (1950), and Rebound (1952). Hathaway used him again on Diplomatic Courier (Henry Hathaway, 1952) and he could be seen in Down Among the Sheltering Palms (Edmund Goulding, 1952), We're Not Married! (Edmund Goulding, 1952), The Duel at Silver Creek (Don Siegel, 1952), and Hangman's Knot (Roy Huggins, 1952). He guest-starred on Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952) and Dragnet (1952-1953), and had a decent role in a feature with Eight Iron Men (Edward Dmytryk, 1952), a war film starring Bonar Colleano and produced by Stanley Kramer. Marvin's role had been played on Broadway by Burt Lancaster. He was a sergeant in the Western Seminole (Budd Boetticher, 1953), and was a corporal in The Glory Brigade (Robert D. Webb, 1953), a Korean War film starring Victor Mature. He was now in much demand for Westerns: The Stranger Wore a Gun (Andre DeToth, 1953) with Randolph Scott, and Gun Fury (Raoul Walsh, 1953) with Rock Hudson and Donna Reed.

 

Lee Marvin received much acclaim for his portrayal as villains in two Film Noirs: The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953) where he played Gloria Grahame's vicious boyfriend, and The Wild One (László Benedek, 1953) opposite Marlon Brando. Marvin's gang in the film was called "The Beetles". He continued in TV shows such as The Plymouth Playhouse (1953) and The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse (1954). He had support roles in the 3D horror mystery B-movie Gorilla at Large (Harmon Jones, 1954) and had a notable small role as smart-aleck sailor Meatball in The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1954), produced by Stanley Kramer. Marvin was in the war film The Raid (Hugo Fregonese, 1954) with Van Heflin and Anne Bancroft, and in episodes of the TV series Center Stage (1954), Medic (1954) and TV Reader's Digest (1955). He had an excellent part as Hector, the small-town hood in Bad Day at Black Rock (John Sturges, 1955) with Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan. Also in 1955, he played a conflicted, brutal bank-robber in the thriller Violent Saturday (Richard Fleischer, 1955) with Victor Mature. A latter-day critic wrote of the character, "Marvin brings a multi-faceted complexity to the role and gives a great example of the early promise that launched his long and successful career." Marvin played Robert Mitchum's friend in Not as a Stranger (Stanley Kramer, 1955), a medical drama also produced by Kramer. He had bigger supporting roles in A Life in the Balance (Harry Horner, Rafael Portillo, 1955), Pete Kelly's Blues (Jack Webb, 1955) and I Died a Thousand Times (Stuart Heisler, 1955) with Jack Palance. Marvin was the villain in 7 Men from Now (Budd Boetticher, 1956) with Randolph Scott, and was second-billed to Jack Palance in Attack (Robert Aldrich, 1956). Marvin had good roles in The Rack (Arnold Laven, 1956) with Paul Newman, Raintree County (Edward Dmytryk, 1956) starring Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, and The Missouri Traveler (Herry Hopper, 1958). Marvin finally got to be a leading man in 100 episodes in the successful television series M Squad (1957-1960). Set in Chicago, Illinois, it starred Marvin as Detective Lieutenant Frank Ballinger, a member of "M Squad", a special unit of the Chicago Police, assisting other units in battling organized crime, corruption, and violent crimes citywide. One critic described the show as "a hyped-up, violent Dragnet ... with a hard-as-nails Marvin" playing a tough police lieutenant. Marvin received the role after guest-starring in a memorable Dragnet episode as a serial killer. When the series ended Marvin appeared on such TV shows as Wagon Train (1960-1961), Route 66 (1961; he was injured during a fight scene), Bonanza (1962), The Untouchables (1961-1962; several times), The Virginian (1962), The Twilight Zone (1961-1963), and The Dick Powell Theatre (1963).

 

Lee Marvin returned to features with a prominent role in The Comancheros (Michael Curtiz, 1961) starring John Wayne. He played in two more films with Wayne, both directed by John Ford: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and Donovan's Reef (1963). As the vicious Liberty Valance, Marvin played his first title role and held his own with two of the screen's biggest stars (John Wayne and James Stewart). In 1962 Marvin appeared as Martin Kalig on the TV western The Virginian in the episode titled 'It Tolls for Thee'. He continued to guest star on shows like Combat! (1963), Dr. Kildare (1962-1964), and The Great Adventure (1963). For director Don Siegel, Marvin appeared in The Killers (1964) playing an efficient professional assassin alongside Clu Gulager. The Killers was also the first film in which Marvin received top billing. Marvin finally became a star for his comic role in the Western comedy Cat Ballou (Elliot Silverstein, 1965) starring Jane Fonda. This was a surprise hit and Marvin won the 1965 Oscar for Best Actor and several other awards. Playing alongside Vivien Leigh and Simone Signoret, Marvin won the 1966 National Board of Review Award for male actors for his role in Ship of Fools (Stanley Kramer, 1965). Marvin next performed in the hit Western The Professionals (Richard Brooks, 1966), in which he played the leader of a small band of skilled mercenaries (Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, and Woody Strode) rescuing a kidnap victim (Claudia Cardinale) shortly after the Mexican Revolution. He followed that film with the hugely successful World War II epic The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967) in which top-billed Marvin again portrayed an intrepid commander of a colorful group (future stars John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Jim Brown, and Donald Sutherland) performing an almost impossible mission. In the wake of these two films and after having received an Oscar, Marvin was a huge star, given enormous control over his next film Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967), co-starring Angie Dickinson. He portrayed a hard-nosed criminal bent on revenge. Marvin, who had selected Boorman himself for the director's slot, had a central role in the film's development, plotline, and staging. Marvin also appeared in another Boorman film, the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful World War II character study Hell in the Pacific (John Boorman, 1968), also starring famed Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. Marvin was originally cast as Pike Bishop (later played by William Holden) in The Wild Bunch (1969), but fell out with director Sam Peckinpah and pulled out to star in the Western musical Paint Your Wagon (Joshua Logan, 1969), in which he was top-billed over a singing Clint Eastwood. Despite his limited singing ability, he had a surprise hit song with "Wand'rin' Star". By this time, he was getting paid a million dollars per film, $200,000 less than top star Paul Newman was making at the time.

 

Lee Marvin had a much greater variety of roles in the 1970s, with fewer bad-guy roles than in earlier years. His 1970s films included Monte Walsh (William A. Fraker, 1970), a Western with Jack Palance and Jeanne Moreau; the violent Prime Cut (Michael Ritchie, 1972) with Gene Hackman; Pocket Money (Stuart Rosenberg, 1972) with Paul Newman; Emperor of the North (Robert Aldrich, 1973) opposite Ernest Borgnine; as Hickey in The Iceman Cometh (John Frankenheimer, 1973) with Fredric March and Robert Ryan; The Spikes Gang (Richard Fleischer, 1974) with Noah Beery Jr.; The Klansman (Terence Young, 1974) with Richard Burton; Shout at the Devil (Peter Hunt, 1976), a World War One adventure with Roger Moore; The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (Don Taylor, 1976), a comic Western with Oliver Reed; and Avalanche Express (Mark Robson, 1978), a Cold War thriller with Robert Shaw who died during production. None of these films were big box office hits. Marvin was offered the role of Quint in Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) but declined, stating "What would I tell my fishing friends who'd see me come off a hero against a dummy shark?". Marvin's last big role was in Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One (1980), a war film based on Fuller's own war experiences. His remaining films were Death Hunt (Peter R. Hunt, 1981), a Canadian action film with Charles Bronson; Gorky Park (Michael Apted, 1983) with William Hurt; and in France Canicule/Dog Day (Yves Boisset, 1984), with Miou-Miou. For TV he did The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1985), a sequel with Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Richard Jaeckel picking up where they had left off despite being 18 years older. His final appearance was in The Delta Force (Menahem Golan, 1986) with Chuck Norris, playing a role turned down by Charles Bronson. Marvin had married Betty Ebeling in February 1951 and together they had four children, son Christopher Lamont (1952–2013), and three daughters: Courtenay Lee (1954), Cynthia Louise (1956), and Claudia Leslie (1958–2012). Married 16 years, they divorced in 1967. A long-term romantic relationship with Michelle Triola led, after their breakup, to a highly publicized lawsuit in which Triola asked for a substantial portion of Marvin's assets. Her case failed in its main pursuit but did establish a legal precedent for the rights of unmarried cohabitors, the so-called "palimony" law. Marvin reunited with his high school sweetheart, Pamela Feeley and they married in October 1970. She had four children with three previous marriages, they had no children together and remained married until his death in 1987. In December 1986, Marvin was hospitalized for more than two weeks because of a condition related to coccidioidomycosis. He went into respiratory distress and was administered steroids to help his breathing. He had major intestinal ruptures as a result and underwent a colectomy. Marvin died of a heart attack on 29 August 1987 in Tucson, Arizona, aged 63. He was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

I don’t want to be a hipster douchebag or anything, but I was pretty early to the Stranger Things hype. I remember the summer weekend it came out, somebody on Twitter suggested Season 1 to me so I binged it all in one day and I was hooked. I didn’t write a review though because I didn’t really see much hype around it and I regret writing on to this day. Flash forward to today where Stranger Things has now swept the nation and I couldn’t have been more excited to Season 2! I binged all of Season 2 on Saturday, but I didn’t really have time until today to give you guys my thoughts on it. Also, I’m not going to go too much into details on the season in case any of you guys haven’t gotten around to finishing it yet, there’s no spoilers here! So how does Stranger Things Season 2 compare the the greatness that’s the first season? Let’s check it out!

 

Good: Ok first off, just gotta brag that I’m going to the same school that the creators, the Duffer brothers, graduated from, so yeah, Chapman fucking rules! Anyways, my favorite thing about Season 2 is that we’re given the characters the characters that we’ve grown to love in Season 1, but we get new pairings of these characters and new interactions that we didn't get from the previous season. If you’ve seen Season 2, then of course you know that I’m really talking about the legendary pairing of Steve and Dustin. These two have become my absolute favorite characters of the series just by those characters interacting with one another! Another standout that is my also one of my favorite characters of the series that really got to shine this season was Chief Hopper. I absolutely love David Harbor’s performance in this show and has become one of my favorite actors because of his role as Hopper. I can’t wait to see what he does as Hellboy! The rest of the cast is just as great as they were in Season 1, but we also get some new characters. Now I was unsure at first with some characters like Max and Billy at the beginning, but as the season goes on, they really grew on me and they’re just as great as the rest of the cast. Though my favorite new character has to be Sean Astin as Bob. I loved Bob so much, he’s such a swell dude and I’m so glad they defied the stereotype of the douchebag boyfriend of the main character’s mom. Anyways, that’s all I have to say about the cast, so let’s get to the story. Now the perfect simile I have for the first two seasons of Strangers Things is that Stranger Things Season 1 is like Alien, whereas Season 2 is like Aliens. Now although I like Alien more than Aliens, I believe Stranger Things Season 2 has a way more creative and interesting plot than Season 1. I understand why Season 1’s plot was a very homage-y plot, but I really like how since the Duffer brothers have an established fanbase for season 2, they can get a bit more creative in terms of the lore of this universe. There are still the references to classic 80s movies in the plot, but I feel like this Season’s plot is a bit more free. Anyways, I could go on and on about how good Stranger Things Season 2 is, but that would unfortunately give away some spoilers, so that’s all I say for the good.

 

Bad: There is only one single thing that bothered me with this entire season and I believe it’s the same problem for most people who have watched all of Season 2, and that’s episode 7. I’m not going to say what happens in episode 7 to avoid spoilers, but that episode has an entirely different storyline to what’s going on in the rest of the season and I just didn’t give two shits about it. Also, this plotline was introduced at the absolute worst time given with what happens in episode 6. I honestly believe that if you were watching Season 2 of Stranger Things, you could just skip episode 7 entirely!

 

Overall, Stranger Things Season 2 was an incredible second season! With the exception to episode 7, this season holds right up with Season 1! This show has really become one of my favorite TV shows ever, so for that reason, I’m giving Stranger Things Season 2 a 9/10! I can’t wait to see where Season 3 is going because there’s certainly some hints to where it could go! So have you watched all of Season 2 of Stranger Things? Let me know what your thoughts on the season are in the comments below and look forward to my review for Thor: Ragnarok tomorrow!

 

Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

 

The common starling (Sturnus vulgaris), also known as the European starling, or in the British Isles just the starling, is a medium-sized passerine bird in the starling family, Sturnidae. It is about 20 cm (8 in) long and has glossy black plumage with a metallic sheen, which is speckled with white at some times of year. The legs are pink and the bill is black in winter and yellow in summer; young birds have browner plumage than the adults. It is a noisy bird, especially in communal roosts and other gregarious situations, with an unmusical but varied song. Its gift for mimicry has been noted in literature including the Mabinogion and the works of Pliny the Elder and William Shakespeare.

 

The common starling has about a dozen subspecies breeding in open habitats across its native range in temperate Europe and western Asia, and it has been introduced to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, the Falkland Islands, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, South Africa and Fiji. This bird is resident in southern and western Europe and southwestern Asia, while northeastern populations migrate south and west in winter within the breeding range and also further south to Iberia and North Africa. The common starling builds an untidy nest in a natural or artificial cavity in which four or five glossy, pale blue eggs are laid. These take two weeks to hatch and the young remain in the nest for another three weeks. There are normally one or two breeding attempts each year. This species is omnivorous, taking a wide range of invertebrates, as well as seeds and fruit. It is hunted by various mammals and birds of prey, and is host to a range of external and internal parasites.

 

Large flocks typical of this species can be beneficial to agriculture by controlling invertebrate pests; however, starlings can also be pests themselves when they feed on fruit and sprouting crops. Common starlings may also be a nuisance through the noise and mess caused by their large urban roosts. Introduced populations in particular have been subjected to a range of controls, including culling, but these have had limited success except in preventing the colonisation of Western Australia.

 

The species has declined in numbers in parts of northern and western Europe since the 1980s due to fewer grassland invertebrates being available as food for growing chicks. Despite this, its huge global population is not thought to be declining significantly, so the common starling is classified as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

  

Taxonomy and systematics

 

The common starling was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 under its current binomial name. Sturnus and vulgaris are derived from the Latin for "starling" and "common" respectively. The Old English staer, later stare, and the Latin sturnus are both derived from an unknown Indo-European root dating back to the second millennium BC. "Starling" was first recorded in the 11th century, when it referred to the juvenile of the species, but by the 16th century it had already largely supplanted "stare" to refer to birds of all ages. The older name is referenced in William Butler Yeats' poem "The Stare's Nest by My Window". The International Ornithological Congress' preferred English vernacular name is common starling.

 

The starling family, Sturnidae, is an entirely Old World group apart from introductions elsewhere, with the greatest numbers of species in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The genus Sturnus is polyphyletic and relationships between its members are not fully resolved. The closest relation of the common starling is the spotless starling. The non-migratory spotless starling may be descended from a population of ancestral S. vulgaris that survived in an Iberian refugium during an ice age retreat, and mitochondrial gene studies suggest that it could be considered as a subspecies of the common starling. There is more genetic variation between common starling populations than between the nominate common starling and the spotless starling. Although common starling remains are known from the Middle Pleistocene, part of the problem in resolving relationships in the Sturnidae is the paucity of the fossil record for the family as a whole.

  

Subspecies

 

There are several subspecies of the common starling, which vary clinally in size and the colour tone of the adult plumage. The gradual variation over geographic range and extensive intergradation means that acceptance of the various subspecies varies between authorities.

 

Birds from Fair Isle, St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides are intermediate in size between S. v. zetlandicus and the nominate form, and their subspecies placement varies according to the authority. The dark juveniles typical of these island forms are occasionally found in mainland Scotland and elsewhere, indicating some gene flow from faroensis or zetlandicus, subspecies formerly considered to be isolated.

 

Several other subspecies have been named, but are generally no longer considered valid. Most are intergrades that occur where the ranges of various subspecies meet. These include: S. v. ruthenus Menzbier, 1891 and S. v. jitkowi Buturlin, 1904, which are intergrades between vulgaris and poltaratskyi from western Russia; S. v. graecus Tschusi, 1905 and S. v. balcanicus Buturlin and Harms, 1909, intergrades between vulgaris and tauricus from the southern Balkans to central Ukraine and throughout Greece to the Bosporus; and S. v. heinrichi Stresemann, 1928, an intergrade between caucasicus and nobilior in northern Iran. S. v. persepolis Ticehurst, 1928 from southern Iran's (Fars Province) is very similar to S. v. vulgaris, and it is not clear whether it is a distinct resident population or simply migrants from southeastern Europe.

  

Description

 

The common starling is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long, with a wingspan of 31–44 cm (12–17 in) and a weight of 58–101 g (2.0–3.6 oz).[15] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 11.8 to 13.8 cm (4.6 to 5.4 in), the tail is 5.8 to 6.8 cm (2.3 to 2.7 in), the culmen is 2.5 to 3.2 cm (0.98 to 1.26 in) and the tarsus is 2.7 to 3.2 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in).

 

The plumage is iridescent black, glossed purple or green, and spangled with white, especially in winter. The underparts of adult male common starlings are less spotted than those of adult females at a given time of year. The throat feathers of males are long and loose and are used in display while those of females are smaller and more pointed. The legs are stout and pinkish- or greyish-red. The bill is narrow and conical with a sharp tip; in the winter it is brownish-black but in summer, females have lemon yellow beaks while males have yellow bills with blue-grey bases. Moulting occurs once a year- in late summer after the breeding season has finished; the fresh feathers are prominently tipped white (breast feathers) or buff (wing and back feathers), which gives the bird a speckled appearance. The reduction in the spotting in the breeding season is achieved through the white feather tips largely wearing off. Juveniles are grey-brown and by their first winter resemble adults though often retaining some brown juvenile feathering, especially on the head. They can usually be sexed by the colour of the irises, rich brown in males, mouse-brown or grey in females. Estimating the contrast between an iris and the central always-dark pupil is 97% accurate in determining sex, rising to 98% if the length of the throat feathers is also considered.

 

The common starling is mid-sized by both starling standards and passerine standards. It is readily distinguished from other mid-sized passerines, such as thrushes, icterids or small corvids, by its relatively short tail, sharp, blade-like bill, round-bellied shape and strong, sizeable (and rufous-coloured) legs. In flight, its strongly pointed wings and dark colouration are distinctive, while on the ground its strange, somewhat waddling gait is also characteristic. The colouring and build usually distinguish this bird from other starlings, although the closely related spotless starling may be physically distinguished by the lack of iridescent spots in adult breeding plumage.

 

Like most terrestrial starlings the common starling moves by walking or running, rather than hopping. Their flight is quite strong and direct; their triangular-shaped wings beat very rapidly, and periodically the birds glide for a short way without losing much height before resuming powered flight. When in a flock, the birds take off almost simultaneously, wheel and turn in unison, form a compact mass or trail off into a wispy stream, bunch up again and land in a coordinated fashion. Common starling on migration can fly at 60–80 km/h (37–50 mph) and cover up to 1,000–1,500 km (620–930 mi).

 

Several terrestrial starlings, including those in the genus Sturnus, have adaptations of the skull and muscles that help with feeding by probing. This adaptation is most strongly developed in the common starling (along with the spotless and white-cheeked starlings), where the protractor muscles responsible for opening the jaw are enlarged and the skull is narrow, allowing the eye to be moved forward to peer down the length of the bill. This technique involves inserting the bill into the ground and opening it as a way of searching for hidden food items. Common starlings have the physical traits that enable them to use this feeding technique, which has undoubtedly helped the species spread far and wide.

 

In Iberia, the western Mediterranean and northwest Africa, the common starling may be confused with the closely related spotless starling, the plumage of which, as its name implies, has a more uniform colour. At close range it can be seen that the latter has longer throat feathers, a fact particularly noticeable when it sings.

  

Vocalization

 

The common starling is a noisy bird. Its song consists of a wide variety of both melodic and mechanical-sounding noises as part of a ritual succession of sounds. The male is the main songster and engages in bouts of song lasting for a minute or more. Each of these typically includes four varieties of song type, which follow each other in a regular order without pause. The bout starts with a series of pure-tone whistles and these are followed by the main part of the song, a number of variable sequences that often incorporate snatches of song mimicked from other species of bird and various naturally occurring or man-made noises. The structure and simplicity of the sound mimicked is of greater importance than the frequency with which it occurs. In some instances, a wild starling has been observed to mimic a sound it has heard only once. Each sound clip is repeated several times before the bird moves on to the next. After this variable section comes a number of types of repeated clicks followed by a final burst of high-frequency song, again formed of several types. Each bird has its own repertoire with more proficient birds having a range of up to 35 variable song types and as many as 14 types of clicks.

 

Males sing constantly as the breeding period approaches and perform less often once pairs have bonded. In the presence of a female, a male sometimes flies to his nest and sings from the entrance, apparently attempting to entice the female in. Older birds tend to have a wider repertoire than younger ones. Those males that engage in longer bouts of singing and that have wider repertoires attract mates earlier and have greater reproductive success than others. Females appear to prefer mates with more complex songs, perhaps because this indicates greater experience or longevity. Having a complex song is also useful in defending a territory and deterring less experienced males from encroaching.

 

Singing also occurs outside the breeding season, taking place throughout the year apart from the moulting period. The songsters are more commonly male although females also sing on occasion. The function of such out-of-season song is poorly understood. Eleven other types of call have been described including a flock call, threat call, attack call, snarl call and copulation call.[29] The alarm call is a harsh scream, and while foraging together common starlings squabble incessantly. They chatter while roosting and bathing, making a great deal of noise that can cause irritation to people living nearby. When a flock of common starlings is flying together, the synchronised movements of the birds' wings make a distinctive whooshing sound that can be heard hundreds of metres (yards) away.

  

Behaviour and ecology

 

The common starling is a highly gregarious species, especially in autumn and winter. Although flock size is highly variable, huge, noisy flocks - murmurations - may form near roosts. These dense concentrations of birds are thought to be a defence against attacks by birds of prey such as peregrine falcons or Eurasian sparrowhawks. Flocks form a tight sphere-like formation in flight, frequently expanding and contracting and changing shape, seemingly without any sort of leader. Each common starling changes its course and speed as a result of the movement of its closest neighbours.

 

Very large roosts, exceptionally up to 1.5 million birds, can form in city centres, woodlands or reedbeds, causing problems with their droppings. These may accumulate up to 30 cm (12 in) deep, killing trees by their concentration of chemicals. In smaller amounts, the droppings act as a fertiliser, and therefore woodland managers may try to move roosts from one area of a wood to another to benefit from the soil enhancement and avoid large toxic deposits.

 

Huge flocks of more than a million common starlings may be observed just before sunset in spring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark over the seaward marshlands of Tønder and Esbjerg municipalities between Tønder and Ribe. They gather in March until northern Scandinavian birds leave for their breeding ranges by mid-April. Their swarm behaviour creates complex shapes silhouetted against the sky, a phenomenon known locally as sort sol ("black sun"). Flocks of anything from five to fifty thousand common starlings form in areas of the UK just before sundown during mid-winter. These flocks are commonly called murmurations.

 

Feeding

 

The common starling is largely insectivorous and feeds on both pest and other arthropods. The food range includes spiders, crane flies, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, damsel flies, grasshoppers, earwigs, lacewings, caddisflies, flies, beetles, sawflies, bees, wasps and ants. Prey are consumed in both adult and larvae stages of development, and common starlings will also feed on earthworms, snails, small amphibians and lizards. While the consumption of invertebrates is necessary for successful breeding, common starlings are omnivorous and can also eat grains, seeds, fruits, nectar and food waste if the opportunity arises. The Sturnidae differ from most birds in that they cannot easily metabolise foods containing high levels of sucrose, although they can cope with other fruits such as grapes and cherries. The isolated Azores subspecies of the common starling eats the eggs of the endangered roseate tern. Measures are being introduced to reduce common starling populations by culling before the terns return to their breeding colonies in spring.

 

There are several methods by which common starlings obtain their food but for the most part, they forage close to the ground, taking insects from the surface or just underneath. Generally, common starlings prefer foraging amongst short-cropped grasses and are often found among grazing animals or perched on their backs, where they will also feed on the mammal's external parasites. Large flocks may engage in a practice known as "roller-feeding", where the birds at the back of the flock continually fly to the front where the feeding opportunities are best. The larger the flock, the nearer individuals are to one another while foraging. Flocks often feed in one place for some time, and return to previous successfully foraged sites.

 

There are three types of foraging behaviour observed in the common starling. "Probing" involves the bird plunging its beak into the ground randomly and repetitively until an insect has been found, and is often accompanied by bill gaping where the bird opens its beak in the soil to enlarge a hole. This behaviour, first described by Konrad Lorenz and given the German term zirkeln, is also used to create and widen holes in plastic garbage bags. It takes time for young common starlings to perfect this technique, and because of this the diet of young birds will often contain fewer insects. "Hawking" is the capture of flying insects directly from the air, and "lunging" is the less common technique of striking forward to catch a moving invertebrate on the ground. Earthworms are caught by pulling from soil. Common starlings that have periods without access to food, or have a reduction in the hours of light available for feeding, compensate by increasing their body mass by the deposition of fat.

 

Nesting

 

Unpaired males find a suitable cavity and begin to build nests in order to attract single females, often decorating the nest with ornaments such as flowers and fresh green material, which the female later disassembles upon accepting him as a mate. The amount of green material is not important, as long as some is present, but the presence of herbs in the decorative material appears to be significant in attracting a mate. The scent of plants such as yarrow acts as an olfactory attractant to females.

 

The males sing throughout much of the construction and even more so when a female approaches his nest. Following copulation, the male and female continue to build the nest. Nests may be in any type of hole, common locations include inside hollowed trees, buildings, tree stumps and man-made nest-boxes. S. v. zetlandicus typically breeds in crevices and holes in cliffs, a habitat only rarely used by the nominate form. Nests are typically made out of straw, dry grass and twigs with an inner lining made up of feathers, wool and soft leaves. Construction usually takes four or five days and may continue through incubation.

 

Common starlings are both monogamous and polygamous; although broods are generally brought up by one male and one female, occasionally the pair may have an extra helper. Pairs may be part of a colony, in which case several other nests may occupy the same or nearby trees. Males may mate with a second female while the first is still on the nest. The reproductive success of the bird is poorer in the second nest than it is in the primary nest and is better when the male remains monogamous.

 

Breeding

 

Breeding takes place during the spring and summer. Following copulation, the female lays eggs on a daily basis over a period of several days. If an egg is lost during this time, she will lay another to replace it. There are normally four or five eggs that are ovoid in shape and pale blue or occasionally white, and they commonly have a glossy appearance. The colour of the eggs seems to have evolved through the relatively good visibility of blue at low light levels. The egg size is 26.5–34.5 mm (1.04–1.36 in) in length and 20.0–22.5 mm (0.79–0.89 in) in maximum diameter.

 

Incubation lasts thirteen days, although the last egg laid may take 24 hours longer than the first to hatch. Both parents share the responsibility of brooding the eggs, but the female spends more time incubating them than does the male, and is the only parent to do so at night when the male returns to the communal roost. The young are born blind and naked. They develop light fluffy down within seven days of hatching and can see within nine days. Once the chicks are able to regulate their body temperature, about six days after hatching, the adults largely cease removing droppings from the nest. Prior to that, the fouling would wet both the chicks' plumage and the nest material, thereby reducing their effectiveness as insulation and increasing the risk of chilling the hatchlings. Nestlings remain in the nest for three weeks, where they are fed continuously by both parents. Fledglings continue to be fed by their parents for another one or two weeks. A pair can raise up to three broods per year, frequently reusing and relining the same nest, although two broods is typical, or just one north of 48°N. Within two months, most juveniles will have moulted and gained their first basic plumage. They acquire their adult plumage the following year. As with other passerines, the nest is kept clean and the chicks' faecal sacs are removed by the adults.

 

Intraspecific brood parasites are common in common starling nests. Female "floaters" (unpaired females during the breeding season) present in colonies often lay eggs in another pair's nest. Fledglings have also been reported to invade their own or neighbouring nests and evict a new brood.[29] Common starling nests have a 48% to 79% rate of successful fledging, although only 20% of nestlings survive to breeding age; the adult survival rate is closer to 60%. The average life span is about 2–3 years, with a longevity record of 22 yr 11 m.

 

Predators and parasites

 

A majority of starling predators are avian. The typical response of starling groups is to take flight, with a common sight being undulating flocks of starling flying high in quick and agile patterns. Their abilities in flight are seldom matched by birds of prey. Adult common starlings are hunted by hawks such as the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), and falcons including the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo) and common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Slower raptors like black and red kites (Milvus migrans & milvus), eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), common buzzard (Buteo buteo) and Australasian harrier (Circus approximans) tend to take the more easily caught fledglings or juveniles. While perched in groups by night, they can be vulnerable to owls, including the little owl (Athene noctua), long-eared owl (Asio otus), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), barn owl (Tyto alba), tawny owl (Strix aluco) and Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo).

 

More than twenty species of hawk, owl and falcon are known to occasionally predate feral starlings in North America, though the most regular predators of adults are likely to be urban-living peregrine falcons or merlins (Falco columbarius). Common mynas (Acridotheres tristis) sometimes evict eggs, nestlings and adult common starlings from their nests, and the lesser honeyguide (Indicator minor), a brood parasite, uses the common starling as a host. Starlings are more commonly the culprits rather than victims of nest eviction however, especially towards other starlings and woodpeckers. Nests can be raided by mammals capable of climbing to them, such as stoats (Mustela erminea), raccoons (Procyon lotor) and squirrels (Sciurus spp.), and cats may catch the unwary.

 

Common starlings are hosts to a wide range of parasites. A survey of three hundred common starlings from six US states found that all had at least one type of parasite; 99% had external fleas, mites or ticks, and 95% carried internal parasites, mostly various types of worm. Blood-sucking species leave their host when it dies, but other external parasites stay on the corpse. A bird with a deformed bill was heavily infested with Mallophaga lice, presumably due to its inability to remove vermin.

 

The hen flea (Ceratophyllus gallinae) is the most common flea in their nests. The small, pale house-sparrow flea C. fringillae, is also occasionally found there and probably arises from the habit of its main host of taking over the nests of other species. This flea does not occur in the US, even on house sparrows. Lice include Menacanthus eurystemus, Brueelia nebulosa and Stumidoecus sturni. Other arthropod parasites include Ixodes ticks and mites such as Analgopsis passerinus, Boydaia stumi, Dermanyssus gallinae, Ornithonyssus bursa, O. sylviarum, Proctophyllodes species, Pteronyssoides truncatus and Trouessartia rosteri. The hen mite D. gallinae is itself preyed upon by the predatory mite Androlaelaps casalis. The presence of this control on numbers of the parasitic species may explain why birds are prepared to reuse old nests.

 

Flying insects that parasitise common starlings include the louse-fly Omithomya nigricornis and the saprophagous fly Camus hemapterus. The latter species breaks off the feathers of its host and lives on the fats produced by growing plumage. Larvae of the moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella are nest scavengers, which feed on animal material such as faeces or dead nestlings. Protozoan blood parasites of the genus Haemoproteus have been found in common starlings, but a better known pest is the brilliant scarlet nematode Syngamus trachea. This worm moves from the lungs to the trachea and may cause its host to suffocate. In Britain, the rook and the common starling are the most infested wild birds. Other recorded internal parasites include the spiny-headed worm Prosthorhynchus transverses.

 

Common starlings may contract avian tuberculosis, avian malaria and retrovirus-induced lymphomas. Captive starlings often accumulate excess iron in the liver, a condition that can be prevented by adding black tea-leaves to the food.

  

Distribution and habitat

 

The global population of common starlings was estimated to be 310 million individuals in 2004, occupying a total area of 8,870,000 km2 (3,420,000 sq mi). Widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the bird is native to Eurasia and is found throughout Europe, northern Africa (from Morocco to Egypt), India (mainly in the north but regularly extending further south and extending into the Maldives) Nepal, the Middle East including Syria, Iran, and Iraq and north-western China.

 

Common starlings in the south and west of Europe and south of latitude 40°N are mainly resident, although other populations migrate from regions where the winter is harsh, the ground frozen and food scarce. Large numbers of birds from northern Europe, Russia and Ukraine migrate south westwards or south eastwards. In the autumn, when immigrants are arriving from eastern Europe, many of Britain's common starlings are setting off for Iberia and North Africa. Other groups of birds are in passage across the country and the pathways of these different streams of bird may cross. Of the 15,000 birds ringed as nestlings in Merseyside, England, individuals have been recovered at various times of year as far afield as Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and the Low Countries. Small numbers of common starling have sporadically been observed in Japan and Hong Kong but it is unclear from where these birds originated. In North America, northern populations have developed a migration pattern, vacating much of Canada in winter. Birds in the east of the country move southwards, and those from further west winter in the southwest of the US.

 

Common starlings prefer urban or suburban areas where artificial structures and trees provide adequate nesting and roosting sites. Reedbeds are also favoured for roosting and the birds commonly feed in grassy areas such as farmland, grazing pastures, playing fields, golf courses and airfields where short grass makes foraging easy. They occasionally inhabit open forests and woodlands and are sometimes found in shrubby areas such as Australian heathland. Common starlings rarely inhabit dense, wet forests (i.e. rainforests or wet sclerophyll forests) but are found in coastal areas, where they nest and roost on cliffs and forage amongst seaweed. Their ability to adapt to a large variety of habitats has allowed them to disperse and establish themselves in diverse locations around the world resulting in a habitat range from coastal wetlands to alpine forests, from sea cliffs to mountain ranges 1,900 m (6,200 ft) above sea level.

 

Introduced populations

 

The common starling has been introduced to and has successfully established itself in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, North America, Fiji and several Caribbean islands. As a result, it has also been able to migrate to Thailand, Southeast Asia and New Guinea.

 

South America

 

Five individuals conveyed on a ship from England alighted near Lago de Maracaibo in Venezuela in November 1949, but subsequently vanished. In 1987, a small population of common starlings was observed nesting in gardens in the city of Buenos Aires. Since then, despite some initial attempts at eradication, the bird has been expanding its breeding range at an average rate of 7.5 km (4.7 mi) per year, keeping within 30 km (19 mi) of the Atlantic coast. In Argentina, the species makes use of a variety of natural and man-made nesting sites, particularly woodpecker holes.

 

Australia

 

The common starling was introduced to Australia to consume insect pests of farm crops. Early settlers looked forward to their arrival, believing that common starlings were also important for the pollination of flax, a major agricultural product. Nest-boxes for the newly released birds were placed on farms and near crops. The common starling was introduced to Melbourne in 1857 and Sydney two decades later. By the 1880s, established populations were present in the southeast of the country thanks to the work of acclimatisation committees. By the 1920s, common starlings were widespread throughout Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, but by then they were considered to be pests. Although common starlings were first sighted in Albany, Western Australia in 1917, they have been largely prevented from spreading to the state. The wide and arid Nullarbor Plain provides a natural barrier and control measures have been adopted that have killed 55,000 birds over three decades. The common starling has also colonised Kangaroo Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and Tasmania.

 

New Zealand

 

The early settlers in New Zealand cleared the bush and found their newly planted crops were invaded by hordes of caterpillars and other insects deprived of their previous food sources. Native birds were not habituated to living in close proximity to man so the common starling was introduced from Europe along with the House Sparrow to control the pests. It was first brought over in 1862 by the Nelson Acclimatisation Society and other introductions followed. The birds soon became established and are now found all over the country including the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the north and the equally distant Macquarie Island far to the south.

 

North America

 

After two failed attempts, about 60 common starlings were released in 1890 into New York's Central Park by Eugene Schieffelin. He was president of the American Acclimatization Society, which reportedly tried to introduce every bird species mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare into North America, although this has been disputed. About the same date, the Portland Song Bird Club released 35 pairs of common starlings in Portland, Oregon. These birds became established but disappeared around 1902. Common starlings reappeared in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1940s and these birds were probably descendants of the 1890 Central Park introduction. The original 60 birds have since swelled in number to 150 million, occupying an area extending from southern Canada and Alaska to Central America.

 

Polynesia

 

The common starling appears to have arrived in Fiji in 1925 on Ono-i-lau and Vatoa islands. It may have colonised from New Zealand via Raoul in the Kermadec Islands where it is abundant, that group being roughly equidistant between New Zealand and Fiji. Its spread in Fiji has been limited, and there are doubts about the population's viability. Tonga was colonised at about the same date and the birds there have been slowly spreading north through the group.

 

South Africa

 

In South Africa, the common starling was introduced in 1897 by Cecil Rhodes. It spread slowly, and by 1954, had reached Clanwilliam and Port Elizabeth. It is now common in the southern Cape region, thinning out northwards to the Johannesburg area. It is present in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Free State provinces of South Africa and lowland Lesotho, with occasional sightings in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and around the town of Oranjemund in Namibia. In Southern Africa populations appear to be resident and the bird is strongly associated with man and anthropogenic habitats. It favours irrigated land and is absent from regions where the ground is baked so dry that it cannot probe for insects. It may compete with native birds for crevice nesting sites but the indigenous species are probably more disadvantaged by destruction of their natural habitat than they are by inter-specific competition. It breeds from September to December and outside the breeding season may congregate in large flocks, often roosting in reedbeds. It is the most common bird species in urban and agricultural areas.

 

West Indies

 

The inhabitants of Saint Kitts petitioned the Colonial Secretary for a ″ ... government grant of starlings to exterminate ... ″ an outbreak of grasshoppers with was causing enormous damage to their crops in 1901. The common starling was introduced to Jamaica in 1903, and the Bahamas and Cuba were colonised naturally from the US. This bird is fairly common but local in Jamaica, Grand Bahama and Bimini, and is rare in the rest of the Bahamas, eastern Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and St. Croix.

  

Status

 

The global population of the common starling is estimated to be more than 310 million individuals and its numbers are not thought to be declining significantly, so the bird is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being of least concern. It had shown a marked increase in numbers throughout Europe from the 19th century to around the 1950s and 60s. In about 1830, S. v. vulgaris expanded its range in the British Isles, spreading into Ireland and areas of Scotland where it had formerly been absent, although S. v. zetlandicus was already present in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. The common starling has bred in northern Sweden from 1850 and in Iceland from 1935. The breeding range spread through southern France to northeastern Spain, and there were other range expansions particularly in Italy, Austria and Finland. It started breeding in Iberia in 1960, while the spotless starling's range had been expanding northward since the 1950s. The low rate of advance, about 4.7 km (2.9 mi) per year for both species, is due to the suboptimal mountain and woodland terrain. Expansion has since slowed even further due to direct competition between the two similar species where they overlap in southwestern France and northwestern Spain.

 

Major declines in populations have been observed from 1980 onward in Sweden, Finland, northern Russia (Karelia) and the Baltic States, and smaller declines in much of the rest of northern and central Europe. The bird has been adversely affected in these areas by intensive agriculture, and in several countries it has been red-listed due to population declines of more than 50%. Numbers dwindled in the United Kingdom by more than 80% between 1966 and 2004; although populations in some areas such as Northern Ireland were stable or even increased, those in other areas, mainly England, declined even more sharply. The overall decline seems to be due to the low survival rate of young birds, which may be caused by changes in agricultural practices. The intensive farming methods used in northern Europe mean there is less pasture and meadow habitat available, and the supply of grassland invertebrates needed for the nestlings to thrive is correspondingly reduced.

  

Relationship with humans

 

Benefits and problems

 

Since common starlings eat insect pests such as wireworms, they are considered beneficial in northern Eurasia, and this was one of the reasons given for introducing the birds elsewhere. Around 25 million nest boxes were erected for this species in the former Soviet Union, and common starlings were found to be effective in controlling the grass grub Costelytra zelandica in New Zealand. The original Australian introduction was facilitated by the provision of nest boxes to help this mainly insectivorous bird to breed successfully, and even in the US, where this is a pest species, the Department of Agriculture acknowledges that vast numbers of insects are consumed by common starlings.

 

Common starlings introduced to areas such as Australia or North America, where other members of the genus are absent, may affect native species through competition for nest holes. In North America, chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, purple martins and other swallows may be affected. In Australia, competitors for nesting sites include the crimson and eastern rosellas. For its role in the decline of local native species and the damages to agriculture, the common starling has been included in the IUCN List of the world's 100 worst invasive species.

 

Common starlings can eat and damage fruit in orchards such as grapes, peaches, olives, currants and tomatoes or dig up newly sown grain and sprouting crops. They may also eat animal feed and distribute seeds through their droppings. In eastern Australia, weeds like bridal creeper, blackberry and boneseed are thought to have been spread by common starlings. Agricultural damage in the US is estimated as costing about US$800 million annually. This bird is not considered to be as damaging to agriculture in South Africa as it is in the United States.

 

The large size of flocks can also cause problems. Common starlings may be sucked into aircraft jet engines, one of the worst instances of this being an incident in Boston in 1960, when sixty-two people died after a turboprop airliner flew into a flock and plummeted into the sea at Winthrop Harbor.

 

Starlings' droppings can contain the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum, the cause of histoplasmosis in humans. At roosting sites this fungus can thrive in accumulated droppings. There are a number of other infectious diseases that can potentially be transmitted by common starlings to humans, although the potential for the birds to spread infections may have been exaggerated.

 

Control

 

Because of the damage they do, there have been attempts to control the numbers of both native and introduced populations of common starlings. Within the natural breeding range, this may be affected by legislation. For example, in Spain, this is a species hunted commercially as a food item, and has a closed season, whereas in France, it is classed as a pest, and the season in which it may be killed covers the greater part of the year. In Great Britain, Starlings are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it "illegal to intentionally kill, injure or take a starling, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents". The Wildlife Order in Northern Ireland allows, with a general licence, "an authorised person to control starlings to prevent serious damage to agriculture or preserve public health and safety". This species is migratory, so birds involved in control measures may have come from a wide area and breeding populations may not be greatly affected. In Europe, the varying legislation and mobile populations mean that control attempts may have limited long-term results. Non-lethal techniques such as scaring with visual or auditory devices have only a temporary effect in any case.

 

Huge urban roosts in cities can create problems due to the noise and mess made and the smell of the droppings. In 1949, so many birds landed on the clock hands of London's Big Ben that it stopped, leading to unsuccessful attempts to disrupt the roosts with netting, repellent chemical on the ledges and broadcasts of common starling alarm calls. An entire episode of The Goon Show in 1954 was a parody of the futile efforts to disrupt the large common starling roosts in central London.

 

Where it is introduced, the common starling is unprotected by legislation, and extensive control plans may be initiated. Common starlings can be prevented from using nest boxes by ensuring that the access holes are smaller than the 1.5 in (38 mm) diameter they need, and the removal of perches discourages them from visiting bird feeders.

 

Western Australia banned the import of common starlings in 1895. New flocks arriving from the east are routinely shot, while the less cautious juveniles are trapped and netted. New methods are being developed, such as tagging one bird and tracking it back to establish where other members of the flock roost. Another technique is to analyse the DNA of Australian common starling populations to track where the migration from eastern to western Australia is occurring so that better preventive strategies can be used. By 2009, only 300 common starlings were left in Western Australia, and the state committed a further A$400,000 in that year to continue the eradication programme.

 

In the United States, common starlings are exempt from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits the taking or killing of migratory birds. No permit is required to remove nests and eggs or kill juveniles or adults. Research was undertaken in 1966 to identify a suitable avicide that would both kill common starlings and would readily be eaten by them. It also needed to be of low toxicity to mammals and not likely to cause the death of pets that ate dead birds. The chemical that best fitted these criteria was DRC-1339, now marketed as Starlicide. In 2008, the United States government poisoned, shot or trapped 1.7 million birds, the largest number of any nuisance species to be destroyed. In 2005, the population in the United States was estimated at 140 million birds, around 45% of the global total of 310 million.

  

In science and culture

 

Common starlings may be kept as pets or as laboratory animals. Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz wrote of them in his book King Solomon's Ring as "the poor man's dog" and "something to love", because nestlings are easily obtained from the wild and after careful hand rearing they are straightforward to look after. They adapt well to captivity, and thrive on a diet of standard bird feed and mealworms. Several birds may be kept in the same cage, and their inquisitiveness makes them easy to train or study. The only disadvantages are their messy and indiscriminate defecation habits and the need to take precautions against diseases that may be transmitted to humans. As a laboratory bird, the common starling is second in numbers only to the domestic pigeon.

 

The common starling's gift for mimicry has long been recognised. In the medieval Welsh Mabinogion, Branwen tamed a common starling, "taught it words", and sent it across the Irish Sea with a message to her brothers, Bran and Manawydan, who then sailed from Wales to Ireland to rescue her. Pliny the Elder claimed that these birds could be taught to speak whole sentences in Latin and Greek, and in Henry IV, William Shakespeare had Hotspur declare "The king forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer. But I will find him when he is asleep, and in his ear I'll holler 'Mortimer!' Nay I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak nothing but Mortimer, and give it to him to keep his anger still in motion."

 

Mozart had a pet common starling which could sing part of his Piano Concerto in G Major (KV. 453). He had bought it from a shop after hearing it sing a phrase from a work he wrote six weeks previously, which had not yet been performed in public. He became very attached to the bird and arranged an elaborate funeral for it when it died three years later. It has been suggested that his A Musical Joke (K. 522) might be written in the comical, inconsequential style of a starling's vocalisation.[35] Other people who have owned common starlings report how adept they are at picking up phrases and expressions. The words have no meaning for the starling, so they often mix them up or use them on what to humans are inappropriate occasions in their songs. Their ability at mimicry is so great that strangers have looked in vain for the human they think they have just heard speak.

 

Common starlings are trapped for food in some Mediterranean countries. The meat is tough and of low quality, so it is casseroled or made into pâté. One recipe said it should be stewed "until tender, however long that may be". Even when correctly prepared, it may still be seen as an acquired taste.

 

The introduction of European starlings to the United States in 1890 by New York pharmaceutical manufacturer Eugene Schieffelin was featured in the plotline of the Netflix original series, Ozark in season 1, episode 7, "Nest Box."

  

[Credit: en.wikipedia.org/]

I recently did a shoot for Rochester City Ballet to promote their upcoming full-length original production called The Blood Countess™. It will open in May of 2011.

 

The fictional story follows the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, her dangerous blood-lust, and her eventual infatuation with a married mortal man, Count Dracula, who she ultimately turns into a vampire, destroying his previous human existence and life. The romantic tragedy is written and choreographed by Jamey Leverett.

 

View Large On Black

 

Models: Tara Lally & Jessica Tretter

 

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Photograph ©2010 Tim Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this image in any way without written permission is a violation of copyright law.

"The Blood Countess" is a trademark of Jamey Leverett. The Blood Countess story is ©2009 Jamey Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this original story, name, or plotline in any way without prior written permission is a violation of copyright law.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 773. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Fred Astaire in The Barkleys of Broadway (Charles Walters, 1949).

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

American postcard by Fotofolio, N.Y., N.Y., no. NM14. Photo: Nickolas Muray. Collection: International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire in 'Lady Be Good' (1926).

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British postcard by Athena International, London, no. 9249. Illustration: Oscar da Costa.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

English postcard, no. FA 220. Sent by mail in 1991. Sylvester Stallone in Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986).

 

Sylvester Stallone (1946) is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director. Film fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 30 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

 

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in 1946, in New York's gritty Hell's Kitchen. His parents were Jackie Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, and Frank Stallone, an Italian immigrant who worked as a beautician, and hairdresser. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, Anthony 'Tony' Filiti, to Philadelphia. His siblings are actor Frank Stallone, half-sister Toni D'Alto, and Dante Stallone. The young Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland and the University of Miami, eventually obtaining a B.A. degree. He was 23 years old when he got his first starring role in the softcore sex film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (Morton M. Lewis, 1970) in which he played the role of Stud 'The Italian Stallion'. He was paid $200 to play the sex-craved gigolo and appeared nude. In 1976, the film was re-released as The Italian Stallion after Sly's success with Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976). In between, he first struggled in small parts in films such as the thriller Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) starring Jane Fonda, and the comedy Bananas (Woody Allen, 1971). He got a crucial career break alongside fellow young actors Henry Winkler and Perry King, sharing lead billing in the effectively written teen gang film The Lords of Flatbush (Martin Davidson, Stephen Verona, 1974). He also wrote the screenplay for the modestly successful film. Further film and television roles followed, most of them in uninspiring productions except for the opportunity to play a megalomaniac, bloodthirsty race driver named "Machine Gun Joe Viterbo" opposite David Carradine in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975). However, Stallone was also keen to be recognised as a screenwriter, not just an actor, and, inspired by the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in Cleveland, Stallone wrote a film script about a nobody fighter given the "million to one opportunity" to challenge for the heavyweight title. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) became the stuff of cinematic legends, scoring ten Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Picture Award of 1976, and triggering one of the most financially successful film series in history. Whilst full credit is wholly deserved by Stallone, he was duly supported by tremendous acting from fellow cast members Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young, and director John G. Avildsen gave the film an emotive, earthy appeal from start to finish. Stallone had truly arrived on his terms and offers poured in from various studios eager to secure Hollywood's hottest new star.

 

Sylvester Stallone followed Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) with F.I.S.T (Norman Jewison, 1978), loosely based on the life of Teamsters boss "Jimmy Hoffa", and Paradise Alley (Sylvester Stallone, 1978) before pulling on the boxing gloves again to resurrect Rocky Balboa in the sequel Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone, 1979). The second outing for the "Italian Stallion" wasn't as powerful or successful as the first "Rocky", however, it still produced a strong box office. Subsequent films Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) with Rutger Hauer, and Escape to Victory (John Huston, 1981) with Michael Caine and Pelé failed to ignite with audiences, so Stallone was once again lured back to familiar territory with Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) and a fearsome opponent in "Clubber Lang" played by muscular ex-bodyguard, Mr. T. The third "Rocky" installment far outperformed the first sequel in box office takings, but Stallone retired his prizefighter for a couple of years as another series was about to commence for the busy actor. The character of Green Beret "John Rambo" was the creation of Canadian-born writer David Morrell, and his novel was adapted to the screen with Stallone in the lead role in First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982), also starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. The film was a surprise hit that polarised audiences because of its commentary about the Vietnam war, which was still relatively fresh in the American public's psyche. Political viewpoints aside, the film was a worldwide smash, and a sequel soon followed with Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985), which drew even stronger criticism from several quarters owing to the film's plotline about American MIAs allegedly being held in Vietnam. But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and "John Rambo's" second adventure was a major money-spinner for Stallone and cemented him as one of the top male stars of the 1980s. In between, he did his own singing in Did all of his own singing in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984) with Dolly Parton. Riding a wave of amazing popularity, Stallone called on old sparring partner Rocky Balboa to climb back into the ring to defend American pride against a Soviet threat in the form of a towering Russian boxer named "Ivan Drago" played by curt Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985). The fourth outing was somewhat controversial with "Rocky" fans, as violence levels seemed excessive compared to previous "Rocky" films, especially with the savage beating suffered by Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, at the hands of the unstoppable "Siberian Express".

 

Sylvester Stallone continued forward with a slew of macho character-themed films that met with a mixed reception from his fans. Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) with his wife Brigitte Nielsen was a clumsy mess, Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987) was equally mediocre, Rambo III (Peter MacDonald, 1988) saw Rambo take on the Russians in Afghanistan, and cop buddy film Tango & Cash (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 1989) just did not quite hit the mark, although it did feature a top-notch cast and there was chemistry between Stallone and co-star Kurt Russell. Philadelphia's favourite mythical boxer moved out of the shadows for his fifth screen outing in Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) tackling Tommy "Machine" Gunn played by real-life heavyweight fighter Tommy Morrison, the great-nephew of screen legend John Wayne. Sly quickly followed with the lukewarm comedy Oscar (John Landis, 1991) with Ornella Muti, the painfully unfunny Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Roger Spottiswoode, 1992) with "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty, the futuristic action film Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) with Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, and the comic book-inspired Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995). Interestingly, Stallone then took a departure from the gung-ho steely characters he had been portraying to stack on a few extra pounds and tackle a more dramatically challenging role in the intriguing Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), also starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. It isn't a classic of the genre, but Cop Land (1997) certainly surprised many critics with Stallone's understated performance. He has been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Raspberry Awards, usually in the "Worst Actor" category, and has won 10 times. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation awarded him a special "Worst Actor of the Century" award in 2000.

 

Sylvester Stallone lent his voice to the animated adventure story Antz (Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson, 1998), reprised the role made famous by Michael Caine in a terrible remake of Get Carter (Stephen Kay, 2000), climbed back into a race car for Driven (Renny Harlin, 2001), and guest-starred as the "Toymaker" in the third chapter of the popular "Spy Kids" film series, Spy Kids 3: Game Over (Robert Rodriguez, 2003). in 2005 he published his book 'Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live Your Dream'. Showing that age had not wearied his two most popular series, Sylvester Stallone brought back never-say-die boxer Rocky Balboa to star in Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006), and Vietnam veteran Rambo reappeared after a 20-year hiatus to once again right wrongs in the jungles of Thailand in Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008). Another success was The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), abound a band of highly skilled mercenaries played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 'dinosaurs' from the 1980's action film teamed up with each other. The action film opened at number one at the U.S. box office with a first weekend gross of $35 million. This makes Sylvester Stallone the only person in Hollywood history to have starred in films that have opened atop the box office charts over five consecutive decades. Soon followed the less successful sequels The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). In between, he also appeared with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan (Mikael Håfström, 2013). Stallone got rave reviews, his first Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for his role in the sports film Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015) opposite Michael B. Jordan. Once again he played Rocky Balboa who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In 2017, Stallone appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017) as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk, the leader of a Ravagers faction. Then followed Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018) and Rambo: Last Blood (Adrian Grunberg, 2019). The latter film grossed $91 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million. Sylvester Stallone married three times. His first wife was Sasha Czack (1974-1985) with whom he has two children: Sage and Seargeoh Stallone. Sage acted with Sylvester in Rocky V (1990) and Daylight (1996) and was found dead in 2012 in Los Angeles. From 1985 till 1987, Sly was married to Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. Since 1997, he is married to Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children: Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose Stallone. Firehouse at IMDb: "Love him or loathe him, Sylvester Stallone has built an enviable and highly respected career in Hollywood, plus, he has considerably influenced modern popular culture through several of his iconic film characters."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British postcard by Santoro Graphics, London, no. C201. Photo: Twentieth Century Fox. Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984).

 

Sylvester Stallone (1946) is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director. Film fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 30 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

 

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in 1946, in New York's gritty Hell's Kitchen. His parents were Jackie Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, and Frank Stallone, an Italian emigrant who worked as a beautician, and hairdresser. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, Anthony 'Tony' Filiti, to Philadelphia. His siblings are actor Frank Stallone, half-sister Toni D'Alto, and Dante Stallone. The young Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland and the University of Miami, eventually obtaining a B.A. degree. He was 23 years old when he got his first starring role in the softcore sex film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (Morton M. Lewis, 1970) in which he played the role of Stud 'The Italian Stallon'. He was paid $200 to play the sex-craved gigolo and appeared nude. In 1976, the film was re-released as The Italian Stallion after Sly's success with Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976). In between, he first struggled in small parts in films such as the thriller Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) starring Jane Fonda, and the comedy Bananas (Woody Allen, 1971). He got a crucial career break alongside fellow young actors Henry Winkler and Perry King, sharing lead billing in the effectively written teen gang film The Lords of Flatbush (Martin Davidson, Stephen Verona, 1974). He also wrote the screenplay for the modestly successful film. Further film and television roles followed, most of them in uninspiring productions except for the opportunity to play a megalomaniac, bloodthirsty race driver named "Machine Gun Joe Viterbo" opposite David Carradine in the Roger Corman-produced Death Race 2000 (Paul Bartel, 1975). However, Stallone was also keen to be recognised as a screenwriter, not just an actor, and, inspired by the 1975 Muhammad Ali-Chuck Wepner fight in Cleveland, Stallone wrote a film script about a nobody fighter given the "million to one opportunity" to challenge for the heavyweight title. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) became the stuff of cinematic legends, scoring ten Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Picture Award of 1976, and triggering one of the most financially successful film series in history. Whilst full credit is wholly deserved by Stallone, he was duly supported by tremendous acting from fellow cast members Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, and Burt Young, and director John G. Avildsen gave the film an emotive, earthy appeal from start to finish. Stallone had truly arrived on his terms and offers poured in from various studios eager to secure Hollywood's hottest new star.

 

Sylvester Stallone followed Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976) with F.I.S.T (Norman Jewison, 1978), loosely based on the life of Teamsters boss "Jimmy Hoffa", and Paradise Alley (Sylvester Stallone, 1978) before pulling on the boxing gloves again to resurrect Rocky Balboa in the sequel Rocky II (Sylvester Stallone, 1979). The second outing for the "Italian Stallion" wasn't as powerful or successful as the first "Rocky", however, it still produced a strong box office. Subsequent films Nighthawks (Bruce Malmuth, 1981) with Rutger Hauer, and Escape to Victory (John Huston, 1981) with Michael Caine and Pelé failed to ignite with audiences, so Stallone was once again lured back to familiar territory with Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982) and a fearsome opponent in "Clubber Lang" played by muscular ex-bodyguard, Mr. T. The third "Rocky" installment far outperformed the first sequel in box office takings, but Stallone retired his prizefighter for a couple of years as another series was about to commence for the busy actor. The character of Green Beret "John Rambo" was the creation of Canadian-born writer David Morrell, and his novel was adapted to the screen with Stallone in the lead role in First Blood (Ted Kotcheff, 1982), also starring Richard Crenna and Brian Dennehy. The film was a surprise hit that polarised audiences because of its commentary about the Vietnam war, which was still relatively fresh in the American public's psyche. Political viewpoints aside, the film was a worldwide smash, and a sequel soon followed with Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos, 1985), which drew even stronger criticism from several quarters owing to the film's plotline about American MIAs allegedly being held in Vietnam. But they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, and "John Rambo's" second adventure was a major money-spinner for Stallone and cemented him as one of the top male stars of the 1980s. In between, he did his own singing in Did all of his own singing in Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984) with Dolly Parton. Riding a wave of amazing popularity, Stallone called on old sparring partner Rocky Balboa to climb back into the ring to defend American pride against a Soviet threat in the form of a towering Russian boxer named "Ivan Drago" played by curt Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone, 1985). The fourth outing was somewhat controversial with "Rocky" fans, as violence levels seemed excessive compared to previous "Rocky" films, especially with the savage beating suffered by Apollo Creed, played by Carl Weathers, at the hands of the unstoppable "Siberian Express".

 

Sylvester Stallone continued forward with a slew of macho character-themed films that met with a mixed reception from his fans. Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) with his wife Brigitte Nielsen was a clumsy mess, Over the Top (Menahem Golan, 1987) was equally mediocre, Rambo III (Peter MacDonald, 1988) saw Rambo take on the Russians in Afghanistan, and cop buddy film Tango & Cash (Andrey Konchalovskiy, 1989) just did not quite hit the mark, although it did feature a top-notch cast and there was chemistry between Stallone and co-star Kurt Russell. Philadelphia's favourite mythical boxer moved out of the shadows for his fifth screen outing in Rocky V (John G. Avildsen, 1990) tackling Tommy "Machine" Gunn played by real-life heavyweight fighter Tommy Morrison, the great-nephew of screen legend John Wayne. Sly quickly followed with the lukewarm comedy Oscar (John Landis, 1991) with Ornella Muti, the painfully unfunny Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (Roger Spottiswoode, 1992) with "Golden Girl" Estelle Getty, the futuristic action film Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) with Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock, and the comic book-inspired Judge Dredd (Danny Cannon, 1995). Interestingly, Stallone then took a departure from the gung-ho steely characters he had been portraying to stack on a few extra pounds and tackle a more dramatically challenging role in the intriguing Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), also starring Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, and Ray Liotta. It isn't a classic of the genre, but Cop Land (1997) certainly surprised many critics with Stallone's understated performance. He has been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Raspberry Awards, usually in the "Worst Actor" category, and has won 10 times. The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation awarded him a special "Worst Actor of the Century" award in 2000.

 

Sylvester Stallone lent his voice to the animated adventure story Antz (Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson, 1998), reprised the role made famous by Michael Caine in a terrible remake of Get Carter (Stephen Kay, 2000), climbed back into a race car for Driven (Renny Harlin, 2001), and guest-starred as the "Toymaker" in the third chapter of the popular "Spy Kids" film series, Spy Kids 3: Game Over (Robert Rodriguez, 2003). in 2005 he published his book 'Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live Your Dream'. Showing that age had not wearied his two most popular series, Sylvester Stallone brought back never-say-die boxer Rocky Balboa to star in Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006), and Vietnam veteran Rambo reappeared after a 20-year hiatus to once again right wrongs in the jungles of Thailand in Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008). Another success was The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone, 2010), abound a band of highly skilled mercenaries played by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other 'dinosaurs' from the 1980's action film teamed up with each other. The action film opened at number one at the U.S. box office with a first weekend gross of $35 million. This makes Sylvester Stallone the only person in Hollywood history to have starred in films that have opened atop the box office charts over five consecutive decades. Soon followed the less successful sequels The Expendables 2 (Simon West, 2012) and The Expendables 3 (Patrick Hughes, 2014). In between, he also appeared with Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan (Mikael Håfström, 2013). Stallone got rave reviews, his first Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for his role in the sports film Creed (Ryan Coogler, 2015) opposite Michael B. Jordan. Once again he played Rocky Balboa who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. In 2017, Stallone appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn, 2017) as Stakar Ogord / Starhawk, the leader of a Ravagers faction. Then followed Creed II (Steven Caple Jr., 2018) and Rambo: Last Blood (Adrian Grunberg, 2019). The latter film grossed $91 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million. Sylvester Stallone married three times. His first wife was Sasha Czack (1974-1985) with whom he has two children: Sage and Seargeoh Stallone. Sage acted with Sylvester in Rocky V (1990) and Daylight (1996) and was found dead in 2012 in Los Angeles. From 1985 till 1987, Sly was married to Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen. Since 1997, he is married to Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children: Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose, and Scarlet Rose Stallone. Firehouse at IMDb: "Love him or loathe him, Sylvester Stallone has built an enviable and highly respected career in Hollywood, plus, he has considerably influenced modern popular culture through several of his iconic film characters."

 

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

I recently did a shoot for Rochester City Ballet to promote their upcoming full-length original production called The Blood Countess™. It will open in May of 2011.

 

The fictional story follows the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, her dangerous blood-lust, and her eventual infatuation with a married mortal man, Count Dracula, who she ultimately turns into a vampire, destroying his previous human existence and life. The romantic tragedy is written and choreographed by Jamey Leverett.

 

View Large On Black

 

Models: Tara Lally & Jessica Tretter

 

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Photograph ©2010 Tim Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this image in any way without written permission is a violation of copyright law.

"The Blood Countess" is a trademark of Jamey Leverett. The Blood Countess story is ©2009 Jamey Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this original story, name, or plotline in any way without prior written permission is a violation of copyright law.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 966. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Peter Lawford, and Sarah Churchill in Royal Wedding (Stanley Donen, 1951).

 

American dancer and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible.

 

Jane Powell (1929) was the singing and dancing star of MGM musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her role as Milly in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

 

British actress and dancer Sarah Churchill (1914-1982), was the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill. She is best remembered for her role in the Hollywood musical Royal Wedding (1951), starring opposite Fred Astaire.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 237. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British Art Photo postcard, no. 36-2.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British Real Photograph postcard, no. 113. Photo: Radio Pictures.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German collectors card in the series 'Vom Werden deutscher Filmkunst - Der Tonfilm', album no. 11, picture no. 94. Photo: Ufa / Ross Verlag. Willy Fritsch and Käthe von Nagy in Die Töchter ihrer Exzellenz/The daughters of her excellence (Reinhold Schünzel, 1934).

 

From the middle of the 1920s on, charming Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) replaced Bruno Kastner and Harry Liedtke as the darling of the female cinema goers in Germany. Fritsch became the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s, and with his frequent co-star Lilian Harvey he formed the 'dream team of the German cinema'.

 

Willy (sometimes credited as Willi) Fritsch was born as Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch in Kattowitz in German Silesia (now Katowice, Poland), in 1901. He was the son of Lothar Fritsch, a farmer and machine manufacturer, and his wife Anni (née Bauckmann). In 1912 he moved with his family to Berlin, where he planned to become a mechanic. In 1919 he took up acting lessons from the actor Gustav Sczimek. Fritsch debuted with a small role at Max Reinhardt's famous Deutsches Theater. There and at the affiliated Kammerspiele (Chamber theatre) he was cast in smaller stage roles, and played young lovers and comic parts. In 1922, he joined the Max Reinhardt Ensemble on its tour through Scandinavia. From 1921 on, Fritsch began to appear as a supporting player in films, like the sound experiment Miss Venus (Ludwig Czerny, 1921). In 1923, he auditioned for the leading role of a blind artist in the melodrama Seine Frau, die Unbekannte/His Mysterious Adventure (Benjamin Christensen, 1923), which was then re-written in order to fit his rather sunny nature.

 

Willy Fritsch convincingly played the would-be son of an aristocrat in Der Farmer aus Texas/The Farmer from Texas (Joe May, 1925), which made him the new star of the production company Ufa. Next he starred as the dashing Lieutenant Niki in Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz-Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), which turned out to be a significant success in the USA. At AllMovie, Janiss Garza writes: "This UFA silent, based on an old operetta, is far more light-hearted and spirited than the moody, heavy-handed fare that generally came out of Germany." Ufa intervened when United Artists offered Fritsch a contract. His next films, Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) and Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) basically followed the formula of Ein Walzertraum. Fritsch only occasionally altered his now well-established film image in Spione/Spies (1928) and Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (1929), both directed by Fritz Lang. Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German 'thriller' director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another."

 

Willy Fritsch took singing lessons in order to prepare himself for the sound film Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) with Dita Parlo. His breakthrough came after being paired with Lilian Harvey in Liebeswalzer/The Love Waltz (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930) and the two were also engaged privately. Liebeswalzer established Harvey and Fritsch as the immensely popular 'dream team of the German cinema'. Their next films such as Hokuspokus/Hocuspokus (Gustav Ucicky, 1930), the historical romance Der Kongress tanzt/Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931), Ein blonder Traum/A Blonde's Dream (Paul Martin, 1932) - co-written by Billy Wilder, and especially Die Drei von der Tankstelle/Three Good Friends (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930), were huge international box-office hits. Fritsch and Harvey appeared together in twelve films. Each of these films featured several songs, which became popular hits and were also released on records, and thereby further added to the popularity of the two stars. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "If a poll had ever been conducted amongst fans of international musical-comedy star Lillian Harvey, the actress's most popular vehicle would probably have been Die Drei von Der Tankstelle (Three From the Gas Station) - with Congress Dances running a very close second. The story opens as three debt-ridden young men pool what is left of their savings to open a roadside service station. Their most frequent customer is the wealthy, winsome Ms. Harvey, who frequently shows up fetchingly clad in hiking shorts. Each of the young men falls in love with the girl, unbeknownst to the other two. Which one will she choose? Most likely, the one who sings the best - and that would be Lillian Harvey's frequent screen vis-a-vis Willy Fritsch."

 

Willy Fritsch had a long-term contract with Ufa and was paid a monthly salary of 20.000 Reichsmark per month, which was doubled during the 1930s. Eschewing his trademark sunny boy persona, Fritsch proved his range as a character actor in films like Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht/I by Day, You by Night (Ludwig Berger, 1932) co-starring Käthe von Nagy, Walzerkrieg/The Battle of the Walzes (Ludwig Berger, 1933) opposite Renate Müller, and the satirical romp Amphitryon/Amphitryon - Happiness from the Clouds (Reinhold Schünzel, 1935) with Paul Kemp. Fritsch managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige. After the end of the war, he relocated to Hamburg. He spoofed his own image as the romantic lover in Film ohne Titel/Film Without a Title (Rudolf Jugert, 1947), and excelled as the comical conférencier in Herrliche Zeiten/Fun Times (Erik Ode, Günter Neumann, 1949). Although still in high demand, Fritsch didn't find satisfying roles in West-Germany's post-war cinema. He continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s. He remained a popular figure, partly due to his work as the host of nostalgic radio shows. Since 1937, he was married to dancer and actress Dinah Grace until her death in 1963. They had two sons, Michael and Thomas. After his wife's death he decided to retire. With his son Thomas Fritsch he starred in his final film, Das hab ich von Papa gelernt/I Learned It from Daddy (Axel von Ambesser, 1964). In 1963 he had published his memoir … das kommt nicht wieder/That will never come back, and in 1965 he was honoured with the Filmband in Gold, for his long and important work for the German film. Willy Fritsch died of heart failure in 1973 in Hamburg, Germany. He was 72.

 

Sources: Filmportal.de, Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), IMDb and Wikipedia.

 

For more cards of this series, check out our album Vom Werden Deutscher Filmkunst.

The Ober-Kamerger Knyaz/Prince Golitsyn emerges bearing the bad news - the newborn son suffocated in the womb and the mother is dead. The courtiers lament, whether for the deceased mother or loss of an heir to the Russian throne.

 

In utter grief, Tzarevich/Grand Duke Pavel refuses to surrender the body for funeral preparations, and he is left alone there for the rest of the day to grieve and mourn his wife in private.

 

Learn what happened next in "Tzarevna is Expecting" plotline: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_YiErkELGBmeIPXbRwcxHNaZl...

  

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Amidst the dancing, one maid, trying to serve the guests, was pushed to spill drinks on Tzarevna's trusted lady-in-waiting Nelidova. Who might have pushed her? Was this just a pure accident or more??

 

Read more on "Royal Treatment" plotline: docs.google.com/presentation/d/11w07wRtM64aT-slNCqxzs_0p8...

 

SLUrl: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Embers/159/124/3313

German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 455. Photo: Arthur Grimm / CCC-Film / Allianz. Publicity still for Stern von Rio (Kurt Neumann, 1955).

 

Italian model and actress Maria Frau (1930) was a very photogenic starlet of the European cinema of the 1950s.

 

Maria Frau was born in Sassari on the island of Sardinia in 1930. Very photogenic, she appeared in a few photo shoots of various weeklies. In 1950, she was cast in the lead role of a 13th-century mystic in the historical film Margherita da Cortona/Margaret of Cortona (1950, Mario Bonnard). Her voice was dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi. It was the start of a brief career in the European cinema. She again played the female lead in her next films Luna rossa/Red Moon (1951, Armando Fizzarotti) opposite Renato Baldini and Il lupo della frontier/Frontier Wolf (1951, Edoardo Anton) with Piero Lulli. Other Italian productions in which she starred were the adventure film Sul ponte dei sospiri/On the Bridge of D

Sighs (1953, Antonio Leonviola) with Françoise Rosay, Questi fantasmi/These Phantoms (1954, Eduardo De Filippo) starring Renato Rascel. Her first foreign film was the French comedy J'avais sept filles/My Seven Little Sins (1954, Jean Boyer) in which she played one of the seven lovely illegitimate daughters of an old French count (Maurice Chevalier) who keeps an index of all his past loves. D.B. du Monteil at IMDb: “Maurice Chevalier is absolutely unbearable as an old beau who wants to be still young (‘Tomorrow I'm 20’ is one of his repetitive songs). Only 'ham' can describe his work; the same can apply to the seven girls who pass for his illegitimate daughters (?), for his son (played by stage and TV actor Louis Velle), who is more interested in insects than in women, for the servant (an abominable Paolo Stoppa).”

 

Back in Italy, Maria Frau co-starred as Cleopatra opposite Totò in his comedy Totò all'inferno/Totò in Hell (1955, Camillo Mastrocinque). Then she appeared in the German-Italian adventure film Stern von Rio/Star from Rio (1955, Kurt Neumann) with Johannes Heesters and Willy Fritsch, and in the French-Italian detective film Vous pigez?/Diamond Machine (1955, Pierre Chevalier) opposite Eddie Constantine in his standard guise of hard-boiled American G-man Lemmy Caution. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “The plot is the usual mélange of intrigue, double-crosses and impossibly beautiful women. The delectable damsels in this outing include the toothsome Maria Frau, Nadine Tallier and Irene Tunc.“ In 1957, Frau left the film business to marry a Roman nobleman. Her last film was the peplum La Venere di Cheronea/The Venus of Cheronea (1957, Fernando Cerchio, Viktor Tourjansky) in which Belinda Lee featured as Aphrodite. Hal Erickson calls it an ‘overheated melodrama’: “Naturally, the plotline requires the curvaceous Lee to disrobe at the slightest provocation, and just as naturally, the censors had a hissy-fit every time she bared her knee or shoulder. The principal attribute of La Venere di Cheronea is the excellent colour cinematography of Arturo Galles.” Maria Frau has acted in 16 films.

 

Sources: D.B. du Monteil (IMDb), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia (Italian) and IMDb.

I recently did a shoot for Rochester City Ballet to promote their upcoming full-length original production called The Blood Countess™. It will open in May of 2011.

 

The fictional story follows the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, her dangerous blood-lust, and her eventual infatuation with a married mortal man, Count Dracula, who she ultimately turns into a vampire, destroying his previous human existence and life. The romantic tragedy is written and choreographed by Jamey Leverett.

 

View Large On Black

 

Model: Tara Lally

 

---------------------------------

 

Photograph ©2010 Tim Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this image in any way without written permission is a violation of copyright law.

"The Blood Countess" is a trademark of Jamey Leverett. The Blood Countess story is ©2009 Jamey Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this original story, name, or plotline in any way without prior written permission is a violation of copyright law.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 2368/1, 1939-1940. Photo: Terra.

 

German actress Hannelore Schroth (1922-1987) made her film debut at the age of nine and had a long and successful career in both theatre and cinema. She starred in Unter den Brücken/Under the Bridge (1945), one of the most beautiful love stories of the German cinema – without any trace of propaganda.

 

Hanne Lore Emilie Käte Grete Schroth was born in Berlin in 1922 as the daughter of actor Heinrich Schroth and actress Käthe Haack. Her half-brother Carl-Heinz Schroth would also become a well-known actor. Hannelore already made her film debut at the age of nine in the short comedy Dann schon lieber Lebertran/I'd Rather Have Cod Liver Oil (Max Ophüls, 1931) opposite her mother, Käthe Haack. At sixteen, she attended a drama school in Lausanne. To her early successes belong the love story Spiel im Sommerwind/Play in the Summer Breezes (Roger von Norman, 1938) with Rolf Möbius, and Kitty und die Weltkonferenz/Kitty and the World Conference (Helmut Käutner, 1939). During the wartime, she continued her career with leading parts in Friedrich Schiller (Herbert Maisch, 1940) about the 18th-century German playwright and blank-verse poet, the romantic comedy Sophienlund (Heinz Rühmann, 1944) and Unter den Brücken/Under the Bridge (Helmut Käutner, 1945), a classic love triangle with Carl Raddatz and Gustav Knuth. IMDb reviewer Christian Wasser calls the latter "one of the most beautiful love stories of the German cinema. The acting of Hannelore Schroth is wonderfully natural even today". Unter den Brücken was one of the last films to be made in Nazi Germany - it passed the censorship in March 1945, but didn't make it to the cinemas as the street battles were about to commence in Berlin in a few weeks. In 1950, the film was finally shown in cinemas.

 

After the war, Hannelore Schroth gained a foothold at the theatre and also continued her film career with such hits as Taxi-Kitty (Kurt Hoffmann, 1950) and Kommen Sie am Ersten/Come at the First (Erich Engel, 1951). Later well-known films are the classic comedy Der Hauptmann von Köpenick/The Captain from Köpenick (Helmut Käutner, 1956), the romantic drama Wie einst Lili Marleen/Like Once Lili Marleen (Paul Verhoeven, 1956) with the wartime song hit 'Lili Marlene' woven into its plotline, and the comedy Der Mann, der nicht nein sagen konnte/The Man Who Could Not say No (Kurt Früh, 1958) with Heinz Rühmann. She also became a popular voice actor and dubbed such Hollywood stars as Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor. From the 1950s on, regular engagements for TV followed. She became well-known for a younger audience when she impersonated the role of Mrs. Petrell in the successful Swedish film- and TV series Emil (Olle Hellbom, 1971-1976). The three feature films and the TV series were based on the novels by Astrid Lindgren about the 5-year-old prankster Emil, who lives with his family on a farm in the district of Lönneberga in Sweden, at the start of the 20th century. To Hannelore Schroth's last films belong the comedy Bomber & Paganini (Nicos Perakis, 1976) starring Mario Adorf, and Zwischengleis/Yesterday's Tomorrow (Wolfgang Staudte, 1978) with Pola Kinski. In 1980, Schroth was awarded the Filmband in Gold for her achievements in German cinema. Hannelore Schroth died in 1987 in München (Munich). She had been married to the actor Carl Raddatz, her co-star of Unter den Brücken, and from 1945 till 1950 with the Austrian deep-sea diver Hans Hass. Her son from that marriage, Hans Hass Jr., was an actor and singer. From her third marriage with a lawyer and film producer also comes a son, Christopher Köster.

 

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de, Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Dutch postcard by Van Leer's Fotodrukindustrie N.V., Amsterdam, no 351. Photo: R.K.O. Vera-Ellen and Fred Astaire on the set of Three Little Words (Richard Thorpe, 1950).

 

Blonde, slim Vera-Ellen (1921-1981) was one of the most vivacious and vibrant musical film talents to glide through Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Whether performing solo or dueting with the best male partners of her generation, including Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, and Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen gave life to some of the most extraordinary dance routines ever caught on film. She was a dance sensation in a string of light-hearted but successful films. Vera-Ellen retired from acting in the late 1950s.

 

American dancer and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

(3)To celebrate the Savoyard Delegation, the Empress took the Ambassador for the first dance, and all joined in, including Graf Sheremetev who showed possibly signs of affection towards Baryshnya Anna Vorontsova by sharing their first dance!

 

Learn more about our "Royal Treatment" plotline (#13): docs.google.com/presentation/d/11w07wRtM64aT-slNCqxzs_0p8...

Learn more about our "Sheremetev in Love" plotline (#13): docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S1L8JesWESwnS1_1ehXmTyc3k...

 

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I recently did a shoot for Rochester City Ballet to promote their upcoming full-length original production called The Blood Countess™. It will open in May of 2011.

 

(There were many shots that turned out really nice, but I am just uploading 4 for now as a representation of the shoot.)

The fictional story follows the life of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, her dangerous blood-lust, and her eventual infatuation with a married mortal man, Count Dracula, who she ultimately turns into a vampire, destroying his previous human existence and life. The romantic tragedy is written and choreographed by Jamey Leverett.

 

View Large On Black

 

Models: Tara Lally & Jessica Tretter

 

---------------------------------

 

Photograph ©2010 Tim Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this image in any way without written permission is a violation of copyright law.

"The Blood Countess" is a trademark of Jamey Leverett. The Blood Countess story is ©2009 Jamey Leverett. All rights reserved. Any use of this original story, name, or plotline in any way without prior written permission is a violation of copyright law.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 116/2. Photo: Ufa. Willy Fritsch in Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929).

 

From the middle of the 1920s on, charming Willy Fritsch (1901-1973) replaced Bruno Kastner and Harry Liedtke as the darling of the female cinema-goers in Germany. Fritsch became the immensely popular ‘Sunny Boy’ of the Ufa operettas of the 1930s and 1940s, and with his frequent co-star Lilian Harvey he formed the 'dream team of the German cinema'.

 

Willy (sometimes credited as Willi) Fritsch was born as Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch in Kattowitz in German Silesia (now Katowice, Poland), in 1901. He was the son of Lothar Fritsch, a farmer and machine manufacturer, and his wife Anni (née Bauckmann). In 1912 he moved with his family to Berlin, where he planned to become a mechanic. In 1919 he took up acting lessons from the actor Gustav Sczimek. Fritsch debuted with a small role at Max Reinhardt's famous Deutsches Theater. There and at the affiliated Kammerspiele (Chamber theatre) he was cast in smaller stage roles and played young lovers and comic parts. In 1922, he joined the Max Reinhardt Ensemble on its tour through Scandinavia. From 1921 on, Fritsch began to appear as a supporting player in films, like the sound experiment Miss Venus (Ludwig Czerny, 1921). In 1923, he auditioned for the leading role of a blind artist in the melodrama Seine Frau, die Unbekannte/His Mysterious Adventure (Benjamin Christensen, 1923), which was then re-written in order to fit his rather sunny nature.

 

Willy Fritsch convincingly played the would-be son of an aristocrat in Der Farmer aus Texas/The Farmer from Texas (Joe May, 1925), which made him the new star of the production company Ufa. Next, he starred as the dashing Lieutenant Niki in Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz-Dream (Ludwig Berger, 1925), which turned out to be a significant success in the USA. At AllMovie, Janiss Garza writes: "This UFA silent, based on an old operetta, is far more light-hearted and spirited than the moody, heavy-handed fare that generally came out of Germany." Ufa intervened when United Artists offered Fritsch a contract. His next films, Der Prinz und die Tänzerin/The Prince and the Dancer (Richard Eichberg, 1926) and Der letzte Walzer/The Last Waltz (Arthur Robison, 1927) basically followed the formula of Ein Walzertraum. Fritsch only occasionally altered his now well-established film image in Spione/Spies (1928) and Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (1929), both directed by Fritz Lang. Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Spies (Spione) was the first independent production of German 'thriller' director Fritz Lang. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya (Gerda Maurus). The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another."

 

Willy Fritsch took singing lessons in order to prepare himself for the sound film Melodie des Herzens/Melody of the Heart (Hanns Schwarz, 1929) with Dita Parlo. His breakthrough came after being paired with Lilian Harvey in Liebeswalzer/The Love Waltz (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930) and the two were also engaged privately. Liebeswalzer established Harvey and Fritsch as the immensely popular 'dream team of the German cinema'. Their next films such as Hokuspokus/Hocuspokus (Gustav Ucicky, 1930), the historical romance Der Kongress tanzt/Congress Dances (Erik Charell, 1931), Ein blonder Traum/A Blonde's Dream (Paul Martin, 1932) - co-written by Billy Wilder, and especially Die Drei von der Tankstelle/Three Good Friends (Wilhelm Thiele, 1930), were huge international box-office hits. Fritsch and Harvey appeared together in twelve films. Each of these films featured several songs, which became popular hits and were also released on records, and thereby further added to the popularity of the two stars. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "If a poll had ever been conducted amongst fans of international musical-comedy star Lillian Harvey, the actress's most popular vehicle would probably have been Die Drei von der Tankstelle (Three From the Gas Station) - with Congress Dances running a very close second. The story opens as three debt-ridden young men pool what is left of their savings to open a roadside service station. Their most frequent customer is the wealthy, winsome Ms. Harvey, who frequently shows up fetchingly clad in hiking shorts. Each of the young men falls in love with the girl, unbeknownst to the other two. Which one will she choose? Most likely, the one who sings the best - and that would be Lillian Harvey's frequent screen vis-a-vis Willy Fritsch."

 

Willy Fritsch had a long-term contract with Ufa and was paid a monthly salary of 20.000 Reichsmark per month, which was doubled during the 1930s. Eschewing his trademark sunny boy persona, Fritsch proved his range as a character actor in films like Ich bei Tag und Du bei Nacht/I by Day, You by Night (Ludwig Berger, 1932) co-starring Käthe von Nagy, Walzerkrieg/The Battle of the Walzes (Ludwig Berger, 1933) opposite Renate Müller, and the satirical romp Amphitryon/Amphitryon - Happiness from the Clouds (Reinhold Schünzel, 1935) with Paul Kemp. Fritsch managed to survive the Hitler era without any loss of prestige. After the end of the war, he relocated to Hamburg. He spoofed his own image as the romantic lover in Film ohne Titel/Film Without a Title (Rudolf Jugert, 1947), and excelled as the comical conférencier in Herrliche Zeiten/Fun Times (Erik Ode, Günter Neumann, 1949). Although still in high demand, Fritsch didn't find satisfying roles in West-Germany's post-war cinema. He continued to appear on stage and in films until the early 1960s. He remained a popular figure, partly due to his work as the host of nostalgic radio shows. Since 1937, he was married to dancer and actress Dinah Grace until her death in 1963. They had two sons, Michael and Thomas. After his wife's death, he decided to retire. With his son Thomas Fritsch he starred in his final film, Das hab ich von Papa gelernt/I Learned It from Daddy (Axel von Ambesser, 1964). In 1963 he had published his memoir … das kommt nicht wieder/That will never come back, and in 1965 he was honoured with the Filmband in Gold, for his long and important work for the German film. Willy Fritsch died of heart failure in 1973 in Hamburg, Germany. He was 72.

 

Sources: Filmportal.de, Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line - German), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), IMDb and Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

(3)To celebrate the Savoyard Delegation, the Empress took the Ambassador for the first dance, and all joined in, including Graf Sheremetev who showed possibly signs of affection towards Baryshnya Anna Vorontsova by sharing their first dance!

 

Learn more about our "Royal Treatment" plotline (#13): docs.google.com/presentation/d/11w07wRtM64aT-slNCqxzs_0p8...

Learn more about our "Sheremetev in Love" plotline (#13): docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S1L8JesWESwnS1_1ehXmTyc3k...

 

Visit us: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Embers/159/124/3313

Apply today! goo.gl/forms/OOKPVDMN5V4SBGeT2

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 2058/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.

 

Austrian actor Walter Slezak (1902-1983) began his film career as a thin leading man in silent films. Unable to keep his weight under control, Slezak decided around 1930 to become a character actor. When the Nazis came into power he moved to Broadway and Hollywood, where he usually portrayed a villain or thug, but also played lighter, kindlier roles.

 

Walter Slezak was born in Vienna, Austria into an artistic family in 1902. His father was the opera tenor and later film comedian Leo Slezak. Walter was the brother of actress Margarete Slezak. During a production of 'Lohengrin', when the mechanical swan that was to carry the hero across the lake malfunctioned and ‘floated’ off too soon, Leo allegedly said: "What time is the next swan?" This quote became in 1962 the title of Walter Slezak's autobiography. The young Slezak was a medical student before settling into the comfortable position of a bank clerk. Slezak was coerced by his friend, actor/director Mihály Kertész (who later changed his name into Michael Curtiz), to accept an acting role in Curtiz' spectacular Sodom und Gomorrha/Sodom and Gomorrah (Mihály Kertész, 1922) starring Lucy Doraine. With this film, Slezak's career in the world of finance came to an end. Subsequently, the then rather lean Slezak was signed by the Ufa and became a matinee idol in German films of the 1920s. Two years later, he starred in the German drama Mikael/Michael (1924) by the brilliant Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was released in the US under the more lurid titles Chained and The Story of the Third Sex, an unsubtle allusion to the plotline's homosexual subtext. Fellow director Benjamin Christensen stars as The Master, a world-renowned painter. Celebrated for his portrait of a 'beautiful' young male art student named Mikael, the Master graciously accepts the plaudits of his acolytes. Inwardly, however, he is tormented by his strong, passionate feelings for Mikael. Ironically, both men have a falling out over the affections of a woman (Nora Gregor) - and when The Master dies, Mikael is accused of his murder. In the next years, Slezak appeared as a romantic leading man in films like Grüß mir das blonde Kind am Rhein/Greet for me the blond child on the Rhine (Carl Boese, 1926), Junges Blut/Young Blood (Manfred Noa, 1926) with Lya de Putti and the Italian production Addio giovinezza!/Goodbye youth! (Augusto Genina, 1927) with Elena Sangro. Always somewhat too fond of the culinary arts, Slezak put on so much weight that, by the end of the decade, he was no longer considered bankable as a romantic star. Slezak decided around 1930 to become a character actor. He played in a supporting part in the musical comedy Spione im Savoy-Hotel/The Gala Performance (Friedrich Zelnik, 1932) starring Alfred Abel, and after that he went to the USA.

 

Walter Slezak made his Broadway debut in 'Meet My Sister' (1930). Though publicly modest about his vocal abilities, Slezak gained further plaudits for his role in the Oscar Hammerstein production, 'Music in the Air' (1932-33), scored by Jerome Kern. After 12 years of stage work, he was cast in his first American film, Once Upon a Honeymoon (Leo McCarey, 1942), playing the fifth-columnist husband of social-climbing Ginger Rogers. Next he appeared in This Land Is Mine (Jean Renoir, 1943) starring Charles Laughton. He walked away with most of the acting honours for Hitchcock's claustrophobic thriller Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944) starring Tallulah Bankhead. In Lifeboat, he gave a compelling performance as the callous, methodical Nazi captain, who gradually assumes command of the vessel containing the survivors of the passenger ship torpedoed and sunk by his U-boat. Film critic Bosley Crowther commented in the New York Times:"Nor is he an altogether repulsive or invidious type. As Walter Slezak plays him, he is tricky and sometimes brutal, yes, but he is practical, ingenious and basically courageous in his lonely resolve. Some of his careful deceptions would be regarded as smart and heroic if they came from an American in the same spot". Slezak worked steadily and appeared as a supporting player in films like the MGM musical The Pirate (Vincente Minnelli, 1948), as the scheming medicine-show man in Danny Kaye's The Inspector General (Henry Koster, 1949) and Call Me Madam (Walter Lang, 1953). A hulking figure at 2m, Slezak usually portrayed a villain or thug, but also played lighter, kindlier roles, as in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (Henry Levin, 1962) and as Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island (John Hough, 1972). Slezak also played the lead in Broadway musicals, including Cesar in 'Fanny' (1955), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In 1959 he followed in his father's footsteps by singing the part of Zsupan in 'The Gypsy Baron' at the Metropolitan Opera. His TV assignments included the role of the Clock King on Batman (1966-1967). Slezak married Johanna Van Rijn in 1943. The couple had three children: Ingrid, Erika, and Leo. Erika Slezak went on to become an Emmy-winning actress, and has starred as Victoria Lord on the long-running soap opera One Life to Live since 1971. In 1974 Walter appeared on the series as her character's godfather, Lazlo Braedecker. In 1983, just before his 81st birthday Walter Slezak shot himself in his Beverly Hills home, because of his advanced physical illness.

 

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), I.S. Mowis (IMDb), IMDb, and Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1406/1, 1926-1927. Photo: National.

 

Austrian actor Walter Slezak (1902-1983) began his film career as a thin leading man in silent films. Unable to keep his weight under control, Slezak decided around 1930 to become a character actor. When the Nazis came into power he moved to Broadway and Hollywood, where he usually portrayed a villain or thug, but also played lighter, kindlier roles.

 

Walter Slezak was born in Vienna, Austria into an artistic family in 1902. His father was the opera tenor and later film comedian Leo Slezak. Walter was the brother of actress Margarete Slezak. During a production of 'Lohengrin', when the mechanical swan that was to carry the hero across the lake malfunctioned and ‘floated’ off too soon, Leo allegedly said: "What time is the next swan?" This quote became in 1962 the title of Walter Slezak's autobiography. The young Slezak was a medical student before settling into the comfortable position of a bank clerk. Slezak was coerced by his friend, actor/director Mihály Kertész (who later changed his name into Michael Curtiz), to accept an acting role in Curtiz' spectacular Sodom und Gomorrha/Sodom and Gomorrah (Mihály Kertész, 1922) starring Lucy Doraine. With this film, Slezak's career in the world of finance came to an end. Subsequently, the then rather lean Slezak was signed by the Ufa and became a matinee idol in German films of the 1920s. Two years later, he starred in the German drama Mikael/Michael (1924) by the brilliant Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer. It was released in the US under the more lurid titles Chained and The Story of the Third Sex, an unsubtle allusion to the plotline's homosexual subtext. Fellow director Benjamin Christensen stars as The Master, a world-renowned painter. Celebrated for his portrait of a 'beautiful' young male art student named Mikael, the Master graciously accepts the plaudits of his acolytes. Inwardly, however, he is tormented by his strong, passionate feelings for Mikael. Ironically, both men have a falling out over the affections of a woman (Nora Gregor) - and when The Master dies, Mikael is accused of his murder. In the next years, Slezak appeared as a romantic leading man in films like Grüß mir das blonde Kind am Rhein/Greet for me the blond child on the Rhine (Carl Boese, 1926), Junges Blut/Young Blood (Manfred Noa, 1926) with Lya de Putti and the Italian production Addio giovinezza!/Goodbye youth! (Augusto Genina, 1927) with Elena Sangro. Always somewhat too fond of the culinary arts, Slezak put on so much weight that, by the end of the decade, he was no longer considered bankable as a romantic star. Slezak decided around 1930 to become a character actor. He played in a supporting part in the musical comedy Spione im Savoy-Hotel/The Gala Performance (Friedrich Zelnik, 1932) starring Alfred Abel, and after that he went to the USA.

 

Walter Slezak made his Broadway debut in 'Meet My Sister' (1930). Though publicly modest about his vocal abilities, Slezak gained further plaudits for his role in the Oscar Hammerstein production, 'Music in the Air' (1932-33), scored by Jerome Kern. After 12 years of stage work, he was cast in his first American film, Once Upon a Honeymoon (Leo McCarey, 1942), playing the fifth-columnist husband of social-climbing Ginger Rogers. Next he appeared in This Land Is Mine (Jean Renoir, 1943) starring Charles Laughton. He walked away with most of the acting honours for Hitchcock's claustrophobic thriller Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944) starring Tallulah Bankhead. In Lifeboat, he gave a compelling performance as the callous, methodical Nazi captain, who gradually assumes command of the vessel containing the survivors of the passenger ship torpedoed and sunk by his U-boat. Film critic Bosley Crowther commented in the New York Times:"Nor is he an altogether repulsive or invidious type. As Walter Slezak plays him, he is tricky and sometimes brutal, yes, but he is practical, ingenious and basically courageous in his lonely resolve. Some of his careful deceptions would be regarded as smart and heroic if they came from an American in the same spot". Slezak worked steadily and appeared as a supporting player in films like the MGM musical The Pirate (Vincente Minnelli, 1948), as the scheming medicine-show man in Danny Kaye's The Inspector General (Henry Koster, 1949) and Call Me Madam (Walter Lang, 1953). A hulking figure at 2m, Slezak usually portrayed a villain or thug, but also played lighter, kindlier roles, as in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (Henry Levin, 1962) and as Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island (John Hough, 1972). Slezak also played the lead in Broadway musicals, including Cesar in 'Fanny' (1955), for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. In 1959 he followed in his father's footsteps by singing the part of Zsupan in 'The Gypsy Baron' at the Metropolitan Opera. His TV assignments included the role of the Clock King on Batman (1966-1967). Slezak married Johanna Van Rijn in 1943. The couple had three children: Ingrid, Erika, and Leo. Erika Slezak went on to become an Emmy-winning actress, and has starred as Victoria Lord on the long-running soap opera One Life to Live since 1971. In 1974 Walter appeared on the series as her character's godfather, Lazlo Braedecker. In 1983, just before his 81st birthday Walter Slezak shot himself in his Beverly Hills home, because of his advanced physical illness.

 

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), I.S. Mowis (IMDb), IMDb and Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

 

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 8250/2, 1933-1934. Photo: Pan Film.

 

Austrian actress Gerda Maurus (1903-1968) was a star of the silent screen. With her protruded cheek bones and her forceful look she bewitched many men, including her director Fritz Lang and Nazi Minister Joseph Goebbels.

 

Gerda Maurus was born as Gertrud Maria Pfiel in 1903 in Breitenfurt, Austria. She grew up in Wien (Vienna). In 1918, the only 15 years old Gerda had her first engagement at one of the theatres of Vienna. As a stage actress she worked at the Volkstheater in München (Munich), in Nürnberg and from 1926 on at the Deutschen Theater in Berlin. In Berlin Gerda Maurus was discovered by director Fritz Lang, who choose her for the female leading role of a Russian spy in his next thriller, Spione/Spies (1928). Spione was Lang’s first independent production. The years-ahead-of-its-time plotline involves Russian espionage activity in London. The mastermind is Haghi (Rudolph Klein-Rogge), a supposedly respectable carnival sideshow entertainer. Heading the good guys is Agent 326 (Willy Fritsch), with the help of defecting Russian spy Sonya, played by Maurus. The film moves swiftly to several potential climaxes, each one more exciting than its predecessor. According to film critic, Hal Erickson of All Movie Guide, “Haghi's ultimate demise is a superbly staged Pirandellian vignette. Anticipating Citizen Kane by a dozen years, director Lang dispenses with all transitional dissolves and fade-outs, flat-cutting territory from one scene to another”. Gerda fascinated him thus that Lang finished his relationship with his partner and wife, Thea von Harbou, who had co-scripted Spione with him.

 

For Gerda Maurus her film debut was also her breakthrough. Her next film was the science-fiction film Frau im Mond/Woman in the Moon (1929), again with Willy Fritsch and again directed by Fritz Lang. Frau im Mond is one of the first major films to dwell upon the possibility of space travel. Hal Erickson writes that it is, “like many of its modern-day counterparts, more successful on a special-effects level than it is in terms of character development”. Among the many prescient aspects of the film is its use of a countdown before blast-off and its depiction of the effects of centrifugal force upon the lunar passengers. Willy Ley, later a leading light of the U.S. space program, served as technical adviser. Reportedly, Adolf Hitler was so overwhelmed by Frau im Mond that he used the rocket depicted in the film as the prototype for the dreaded V1 and V2 assault missiles. In Frau im Mond Gerda Maurus joined the extraterrestrial expedition in search of gold on the moon. And again she was a huge success.

 

The arrival of sound did certainly not finish Gerda Maurus’film career. She starred as a film diva in the intricate murder mystery Der Schuß im Tonfilmatelier/The Shot in The Talker Studio (1930, Alfred Zeisler) set in the Ufa film studio in Babelsberg. In Der Weisse Dämon/White Demon (1932, Kurt Gerron) she featured as a drug-addicted opera star, opposite Hans Albers and Peter Lorre as a slimy dope peddler. During the Nazi period the actress had a close contact with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. After Fritz Lang had emigrated in 1933, she reportedly often visited his Salon. Her charms did not only turn Goebbels on but also the communist dramatist Friedrich Wolf. In 1937 she married Robert A. Stemmle, who directed her in the film Daphne und der Diplomat/ Daphne and the Diplomat (1937). They would have a daughter, Philine, born in1943. Maurus appeared in more popular films like Der Dschungel ruft/The Call of the Jungle (1936, Harry Piel), Grenzfeuer/Boundary Fire (1939, Alois Johannes Lippl) and Die gute Sieben/The Lucky Seven (1940, Wolfgang Liebeneiner), but none of these films came near to the great successes of her first films with Fritz Lang. She concentrated on stage work and performed in Berlin, Wien, München and Düsseldorf. After 1945 Gerda Maurus played in only two more German pictures: the comedies Die Freunde meiner Frau/My Wife’s Friends (1949, Hans Deppe) and Die kleine Stadt will schlafen gehen/Little Town Will Go to Sleep (1953, Hans H. König). Later she appeared in the tv-plays Wir sind noch einmal davongekommen/The Skin of our Teeth (1961, Karl-Heinz Stroux) and one year later in Vor Sonnenuntergang/Before Sunrise (1962, Karl-Heinz Stroux). Her last tv appearance was in a supporting part in Das Käthchen von Heilbronn/ (1968), an adaptation of the classic play by Heinrich von Kleist. Gerda Maurus died in 1968 in Düsseldorf.

 

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Stephanie D'heil (Steffi-line), Wikipedia and IMDb.

British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. F 195. Photo: Radio (RKO). Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Follow the Fleet (Mark Sandrich, 1936).

 

American dancer and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible.

 

American actress, dancer, and singer Ginger Rogers (1911-1995) made 73 films during her long career. Her RKO musicals with Fred Astaire revolutionised the genre. Later, Rogers began to branch out into dramas and comedies. For Kitty Foyle (1940) she won the Oscar for Best Actress, and she became one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Not an easy one to review. It gave me a scar ache... I mean head ache :P

 

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (book 2)

Bloomsbury, 1998

Cover art by Cliff Wright

251 pages

 

Read this before in 2000. But I'm reviewing it as if I hadn't read it before.

As I rate it, however, I do compare it to the other books in the series.

 

In this second installment of the Harry Potter series, our protagonist and his friends begin their second year at Hogwarts, school for wizards.

 

Before even arriving at Hogwarts, Harry is already confronted with ominous warnings from house elf Dobby not to return to Hogwarts. Dobby is adamant - but Harry is set in his decision to attend.

 

If Harry thinks that even getting to the school (barely on time in a flying car which lands straight into a very aggressive willow) in one piece is a big challenge already, he's got another thing coming.

 

Barely recovering from last year's events, Hogwarts is left with a mysterious message: "The chamber of secrets has been opened... Enemies of the heir, beware..."

 

Though JK Rowling provides us with a decent successor to the first book, it is far from being the best in the series. Its story is, compared with the others... well, a little forgettable. When I think of the whole HP series, book 2 does not spring to mind.

 

This year's mystery is not exactly all that exciting and it felt as though it was brought to a close rather easily. I also felt this book was quite chaotic compared to the first; a lot happens.

 

However, whatever happens in this book might not be completely of value to the plotline of book 2 itself, but it is definitely important to the entire series. J.K. Rowling remains detailed in her writing and loyal to the first novel, providing us with excellent continuity.

 

By introducing new characters, providing further backstories for existing characters and developing the world of Harry Potter even more, this book has nonetheless become a valuable addition to the series despite its somewhat weaker plotline.

 

3.5

 

-------------------

 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Book review & accompanying photo copyright Karin Elizabeth. Do NOT copy and repost or reproduce the text or photo anywhere without my permission.

Copyright © Karin Elizabeth. All rights reserved. This photo is public only so you ("the public") may view it; it is not to be used as free stock. Use without written consent by the author (that would be me) is illegal and punishable by law; I will take action. This goes for blogging, as well. So, contact me beforehand if you are interested in using this image or any of my others (non-)commercially.

 

I have recently been scolded by someone random on my photographing the book itself and posting photos along with these reviews. It was a rude comment and I don't think I deserved to be spoken to in that way (perhaps because I saw no harm in what I am doing here), and though I wanted to ignore the whole situation I still realized that it would be wise to make a general statement regarding book (cover) photos in my R&R set description. Just to be safe.

 

I WILL DELETE COMMENTS WHEN THEY CONTAIN AWARD IMAGES, ADMIN INVITES OR OTHER INVITES, YOUR OWN IMAGES OR GROUP IMAGES IN GENERAL. (And I will block you if you continue to post any of these.)

 

I block assholes who bitch about my work, especially when they have nothing (good) up themselves.

British postcard in the Film Shots series by Film Weekly. Photo: RKO Radio. Blanche Frederici, Fred Astaire and Dolores Del Rio in Flying Down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933).

 

American dancer and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible.

 

Mexican and American actress Dolores del Río (1905–1983) was a Hollywood star in the 1920s and 1930s, and one of the most important female actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Del Río was the first major Latin cross-over star in Hollywood and was considered one of the most beautiful faces that have emerged in Hollywood cinema. She also appeared in several European films.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

While the hostess, the young Knyazhna Golitsyna, was comfortably “spilling tea” in her own salon, including speculations on the rushed clear out of the late Tzarevna’s apartment, other tensions arose in the Golitsyn stronghold, especially in regards to Knyaginya Golitsyna’s “legendary” singing!

 

Graf Sheremetev’s close friend and Belossersky noticed a few glances, mostly from Baryshnya Anna towards the Graf...

 

Read more in

"Royal Treatment" plotline: docs.google.com/presentation/d/1S1L8JesWESwnS1_1ehXmTyc3k...

 

Visit us: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Embers/159/124/3313

“I’m writing a story about a girl. She is hard to love.”

“Why is that so?”

“Well, you don’t know what the problem is, but she doesn’t let herself be loved. Maybe she was hurt, or maybe she just doesn’t believe in love anymore. Then a guy looks into her eyes and recognizes that something is wrong: her gaze is distant and cold; a string seems to be broken. So that’s the beginning. It’s a story that came to me this weekend, but it’s also based, in part, on a girl I met in real life.”

“Is this your first short story?”

“I’ve written quite a few. Last year I also wrote a novel about the contrasting experiences of 2 immigrants from Mexico—one legal and one illegal—and the nostalgia and assimilation they experience. I often write about that experience—being outside your country or Latin America, which is very different in language, culture, colors, the sounds in the streets … Those sounds are similar to what we’re hearing here today during the festival. That’s why I was walking around. It’s not something you see in the US very often, so it was a nice surprise. I’m from Mexico, and this is closer to what I’m used to. Most people here keep to themselves. It’s actually strange that right now you and I are talking about our lives even though we don’t know each other. So, I was looking at all these people and thinking about their emotions and ideas for plotlines.”

“Are you studying literature or creative writing?”

“No, I’m actually studying computer science and mathematics.”

“That’s interesting. Many people think of math and literature as very different.”

“For me, they’re both similar and complementary. Mathematics is very rigorous and structured; the approach to letters can sometimes be slightly less structured. I like numbers and the beauty of mathematics. It’s different from writing, and it’s not art, but it has certain artistic elements such as the excitement of solving a problem. For me, they appeal to similar things because my thought process is very visual. When I’m thinking of a story, I get to see it in my mind. And when you’re solving a problem, you’re immersed in this imaginary world of shapes, objects and relations. So, I mostly spend my days imagining and circling between letters and numbers, images and forms. I believe in beauty. And beauty is present in both mathematical constructs and the emotions of human experience. But above all I believe in love.”

portraitsofboston.com

French postcard, no. 207. Photo: Paramount.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

i didn't realize that i have two text things in a row on here.. sorry about that.

 

i lied,

i thought id edit more photos from NYC, but haven't gotten the chance. these from RI just seemed nicer to me!

 

don't really have much to say, except, AH i want to improve on my artwork so badly!

 

...and mr. darcy's love confessions are epic. pride and prejudice is just absolutely splendid.

the swan thieves... not so much. its a good plotline, though.

 

ignoring novels, i'm doing okay, and i hope you all are too!

French postcard by Editions Chantal, no. 32. Photo: R.K.O.

 

American dancer, choreographer, singer, and actor Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was a unique dancer with his top hat and tails, his uncanny sense of rhythm, perfectionism, and innovation. He began his highly successful partnership with Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio (1933). They danced together in 10 musicals in which he made all song and dance routines integral to the plotlines. Another innovation was that a closely tracking dolly camera filmed his dance routines in as few shots as possible. His career in film, television and theatre spanned a total of 76 years.

 

Fred Astaire was born Frederick Austerlitz in 1899 in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. 'Astaire' was a name that he and his sister Adele had adopted for their vaudeville act when they were about 5 years old. It is said that the name comes from an uncle who had L'Astaire as his surname. They conquered Broadway in 1917 with the play 'Over the Top'. In the 1920s, Adele and Fred performed regularly in Broadway theatres. Their duo ended in 1932 when she married her first husband, Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the Duke of Devon. Astaire headed to Hollywood. There is a famous story about the RKO Pictures screen test of Fred Astaire who was rejected with "Can't sing. Can't act. Gets a bit bald. Can dance a little". Many of the millions of fans of his films thought he could dance quite well after all. Cole Porter wrote a number of songs specifically for him. Signed to RKO, he was loaned to MGM to appear in the musical Dancing Lady (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933) with Joan Crawford. The film was a breakthrough for Astaire, who appears as himself and dances with Crawford. He first worked with Ginger Rogers in his second film, Flying down to Rio (Thornton Freeland, 1933). It was a box office success. They danced together in 9 RKO pictures. Their characters, after initially disliking each other, fell in love and performed dance and song numbers together. The two sang the hits of popular composers such as George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter in their films. The combination of the two dancers and the choreography of Hermes Pan made dance an important element of the Hollywood film musical. His films with Rogers include The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934), Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935), and Carefree (Mark Sandrich, 1938). During these years, he was also active in recording and radio.

 

From the late 1930s, Ginger Rogers concentrated more and more on her solo career, and Fred Astaire danced with other partners. He danced with Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (William A. Seiter, 1942), with Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (Norman Taurog, 1940), and with Joan Leslie in The Sky's the Limit ( Edward H. Griffith, 1943). Astaire also worked with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (Mark Sandrich, 1942) and Blue Skies (Stuart Heisler, 1946). After the great box-office failure of the fantasy comedy Yolanda and the Thief (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), Astaire temporarily retired from the film business. He soon returned to the big screen to take over the role of the injured Gene Kelly in Easter Parade (Charles Walters, 1948) opposite Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. Later he starred in The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953) with Cyd Charisse. One of his last musical roles was as fashion photographer Dick Avery alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (Stanley Donen, 1957). By the end of the 1950s, the popularity of musical films had waned considerably. Astaire, now in his 60s, increasingly refrained from dance roles, although he still appeared in television dance specials in the 1960s, which won several Emmy Awards. Astaire continued to act, appearing in such films as On the Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959), Finian's Rainbow (Francis Ford Coppola, 1968) alongside Petula Clark, and The Towering Inferno (John Guillermin, 1974) where he received his only Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. His last film was Ghost Story (John Irvin, 1981). Fred Astaire died of pneumonia in 1987 and, like Ginger Rogers, is buried in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. He was married twice. He was first married to Phyllis Livingston Potter from 1933 till her death in 1954. They had two children, Ava Astaire-McKenzie and Fred Astaire Jr. From 1980 till his death in 1987, he was married to Robyn Smith.

 

Sources: Diana Hamilton (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and German), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.