Why is it that everybody seems to love celebrities. It’s something that’s puzzled me for many years and I still don’t understand the fascination. During my lifetime I’ve met a number of celebrities and after short conversations very few of them were interesting. Underneath all the glitz and glamour and the famous roles that they’ve played, it’s still just a regular old human being playing dress up like they did when they were kids. They have the same problems and issues as all the rest of us except for the fact that a few problems they have are exacerbated by their fame and celebrity. Their worst problem is primarily the use and abuse of drugs as reflected by the endless list of OD fatalities. I dug into my archives again today and picked up a few trivia items concerning celebrities from the early Hollywood years. For those of you that love celebrities and can’t live without TMZ and the effing Kardashian clan, you have my sympathies. You should stop reading now and go have a cup of coffee or a stiff drink. That’s what’s I’m going to do.
- An old-time actress, Ethel Barrymore, was the first actress to have a theater named after her.
- A great actor James Cagney made his first stage appearance as a chorus girl in a show called Every Sailor.
- In the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho, the blood in the famous shower scene was actually chocolate syrup.
- Child actress Shirley Temple appeared in her first film, The Red-Haired Alibi, at the age of three.
- Yule Brenner was famous for his shiny bald head but most people who watched his movies had no idea his real hair was actually a dark brown.
- Jimmy Durante of the famous gravelly voice and large nose insured his nose at Lloyd’s of London.
- In the 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the out-of-control computer HAL, is taught to sing the song, A Bicycle Built for Two.
- Dolly Parton and her two wonderfully round and soft friends once had the name, Booby Trap as a CB handle.
- Famous leading man Sean Connery represented Scotland in the 1952 Mr. Universe contest.
- Elizabeth Taylor’s film career started at the age of 10 in a low-brow comedy called There’s One Born Every Minute, which also featured former Our Gang star, Carl (Alfalfa) Switzer.
As you can see most of the celebrity gossip from the good old days isn’t nearly as juicy as what we’re dealing with today. I just wish I had the power to bundle up all of the Kardashians (including big Daddy/Mommy Jenner), all of their associates and children and lovers and ex-lovers and husbands and ex-husbands, and dump them all back into the 1920’s. If only wishing made it so.
everyuselessthing.com 