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Today is the first day of summer, so I thought I would wish you all a very happy summer with a collection of photographs of classic Hollywood actors and actresses enjoying the sun and good weather, either by the pool or at the beach.    Birthday boy Errol Flynn just had a swim. Lana Turner is ready for a day at the pool. Here she is again by the pool at the Coral Casino in Santa Barbara in 1951. I'm not sure that cigarette is very good for you, Lana.   Ava Gardner enjoys the sun in a Spanish beach during a break in the filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951). Love her bikini. Bette Davis celebrates the 4th of July by lighting a firework on the beach (early 1930s). Ginger Rogers at the beach in 1936. Love her shoes! Douglas Fairbanks Jr. enjoys a day at his Santa Monica beach house. Debbie Reynolds poses by the pool in her cute swimsuit. Carole Lombard and Gary Cooper are ready to sail (1930). Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan...

This week on "Film Friday" I am celebrating Jeanette MacDonald's 113th birthday, which happens to be tomorrow. While I have only seen three of her films so far, one of them — this one — also features two of my favorite actors of the classic Hollywood era, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, hence why I decided to tell you a little bit about it today.   Original release poster Directed by W. S. Van Dyke, San Francisco (1936) follows Blackie Norton (Clark Gable), the rough-and-tumble own er of the Paradise , a saloon in the notorious Barbary Coast in 1906. He hires down-on-her-luck singer Mary Bla ke (Jeanette MacDonald), w ho soon b ecomes a sensation at the Paradise . Angered by the consequences of a recent fire, a group of citizens urge Blackie to run for city supervisor and a ttempt to get a fire or dinance passed that wo uld condemn many Barbar y Coast, but would save lives . En couraged by his ch ildhood friend, Father Tim Mullin (Spencer Tracy), Blackie ...