Back to Golden Days

In honor of Desi Arnaz's 100th birthday, which was yesterday (March 2), this week on «Film Friday» I bring you the film that marked his screen debut. It was also the picture that introduced him to (arguably) the greatest love of his life, Lucille Ball.   Directed by George Abbott, Too Many Girls (1940) is the story of Connie Casey (Lucille Ball), a high-spirited, headline-chasing heiress who keeps her manufacturing-tycoon father (Harry Shannon) busy worrying about her. Deported from Europe for her antics, Connie enrolls in her father's alma mater, Pottawatomie College, in New Mexico, to be near her latest sweetheart, British playwright Beverly Waverly (Douglas Walton). In desperation, Mr. Casey secretly hires four Ivy League football players — Clint Kelly (Richard Carlson), Jojo Jordan (Eddie Bracken), Manuelito Lynch (Desi Arnaz) and Al Terwilliger (Hal LeRoy) — to act as her bodyguards. (from left to right) Hal LeRoy, Lucille Ball, Eddie Bracken and Richard Carlson in Too Ma...

Esther Williams looking fabulous as always. Loretta Young is struggling to carry all of her presents. Christmas with Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Ann Blyth looking lovely and festive. Colleen Moore singing Christmas carols. Jean Harlow putting up her Christmas garland. Little Shirley Temple dressed in a little Santa costume. Carole Lombard sitting next to her gorgeous Christmas tree. Your tree looks great too, Janet Gaynor. Christmas at the Stewarts. That's James Stewart's wife Gloria, with their twin baby daughters, Judy and Kelly, and sons, Ronald and Michael. Merry Christmas to you too, Janet Leigh. And Merry Christmas to all of you. 

Debbie Reynolds looks pin-up perfect tooting the horn to 1953.   Olivia de Havilland falls her way into 1937. A few too many drinks, maybe...?   Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and James Stewart share a laugh on New Year's Eve 1957 over drinks at the Crown Room inside Romanoff's restaurant in Beverly Hills.   Dorothy Lamour welcomes 1938 in style.   «Happy New Ye» from Clara Bow and Larry Gray (1925).   Buster Keaton prepares to write down his New Year resolutions for 1929.   Bob Hope celebrates 1942 surrounded by a dozen Louisiana Belles who appeared alongside him in Louisiana Purchase (1941).   Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz welcome the New Year with a little kiss (1950s).   Joan Crawford and her then-husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr. on their way to a fancy-dress party toasting 1931.   Mae West wishes you a Happy New Year in full extravagant glory (1936).   Shirley Temple looks all kinds of adorable as she wel...

This week on "Film Friday" I bring you a cutesy little film that paired my favorite classic actress with one of the most dashing leading men of the Old Hollywood era. Theatrical release poster Directed by Alfred Santell, Having Wonderful Time (1938) tells the story of Teddy Shaw (Ginger Rogers), a hard-working office girl from the Bronx who consta ntly imagines herself as a sophisticated, well-read woman of the world. To escape the busy city life and the advances of her faithful but dull admirer, Emil Beatty (Jack Carson), whose interest in her is no longer returned, Teddy decides to take a vacation at a summer resort in the Catskill Mountains called Camp Kare-Free. Upon her arrival, she is offered a ride by Chick Kirkland (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), a handsome law school graduate employed there as a waiter. Although he's polite, they get off to a bumpy start (and quite literally, too) after she scolds him for accidentally dropping her suitcase. Once at camp, Ted...