"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Grace Kelly
Today let us highlight the Princess of Monaco.

Grace struck out on her own after high school, heading to New York's bright lights to try her luck. Grace worked as a model but made her acting debut on Broadway in 1949. She also had a brief stint in television. Not content with the work in New York, Grace moved to Southern California for the more prestigious part of acting -- motion pictures.

In 1951, she appeared in her first film Fourteen Hours when she was 22. It was a small part, but a start nonetheless. The following year she landed the role of Amy Kane in High Noon, a western starring Gary Cooper and Lloyd Bridges which turned out to be very popular. In 1953, Grace appeared in only one film, but it was another popular one, Mogambo. The film was a jungle drama in which fellow cast members, Clark Gable and Ava Gardner turned in masterful performances. It was also one of the best films ever released by MGM.

Must-See Movie: High Society

High Society (1956)
With a stellar cast and some catchy tunes, this is a no-brainer to see...but there are still some cons that go with the pros of how "must-see" this movie is.

Here's the story:  Jazz musician C.K. Dexter Haven (Bing Crosby) still holds a torch for his ex-wife, Rhode Island socialite Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly). He stays at a neighbor's house, bringing his full jazz band (including Louis Armstrong) to disrupt Tracy's upcoming nuptials to to a boring but wealthy man (John Lund).  But that's not the only conflict.  Reporter Mike Connor (Frank Sinatra) and photographer Liz Imbrie (Celeste Holm) from Spy Magazine, a fictional tabloid newspaper, are there to cover the wedding.  They are essentially blackmailing their way in, holding on to some embarrassing information about Tracy's father.  So to prevent the tabloid from getting the true story, Tracy begins an elaborate charade, pretending to be overly snobbish and frivolous, as well as introducing the tabloid to the wrong people.  To make matters even more confusing, Mike falls in love with Tracy, and she wakes up on the day of her wedding confused and unsure of what to do.

Happy Birthday, Grace Kelly!

(We almost missed it!)

Happy Birthday, Grace Kelly!

Read our previous Va-Va-Voom Star of the Day post on the beautiful princess.

"I've had happy moments in my life, but I don't think that happiness-- being happy-- is a perpetual state that anyone can be in. Life isn't that way."

"A person has to keep something to herself or your life is just a layout in a magazine."

"The freedom of the press works in such a way that there is not much freedom from it.”

"As an unmarried woman, I was thought to be a danger. Other women looked on me as a rival. And it pained me a great deal."

"Women's natural role is to be a pillar of the family."

"Emancipation of women has made them lose their mystery."

80 years of Women in Film

A little MySpace movie showing the transformation of women throughout history. See if you can find our favorites: Norma Shearer, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, and Audrey Hepburn (they're all in the beginning).
Women In Film


[Thanks to SorryIGotDrunk]

"Va Va Voom" Star of the Day

Peter Lawford
Saturday morning I fell in love. I was watching the Esther Williams' flick On An Island With You, and her leading man was a tall, tan wonderful navy pilot. His soft voice, his big puppy eyes, his thick eyebrows, and his gleaming white smile made my heart melt. And I was completely transfixed by the 1948 version of Peter Lawford. (Don't we look cute together?)

British-born, Peter's parents were un-wed when he was conceived. This caused a scandal that drove the family to the United States, where they travelled constantly. Because of his family's travels, Peter was never formally educated, and his lack of education was a sore subject. It contributed to his feelings of inadequacy later on as a member of the Kennedy family (his brother-in-law was JFK), and throughout his adult life.

Injuring his arm in a childhood accident kept Peter from entering World War II, the greatest thing that could happen to his acting career. Hollywood was infatuated with heroic Englishmen and as war movies were being churned out by the dozens. Peter Lawford was just what America was looking for.

Once he signed with MGM, his mother insisted that studio head Louis B. Mayer pay her a salary as Peter's personal assistant. Mayer declined, so Mrs. Lawford responded by claiming her son to be homosexual and that he needed to be "supervised". When Peter learned of his mother's actions their relationship was never the same.

Perhaps to prove to everyone his sexuality, Lawford had a reputation as a ladies' man, even as he was married to Patricia Kennedy. He allegedly had many affairs with famous women, including Ava Gardner, June Allyson, Lana Turner, Janet Leigh, Rita Hayworth, Dorothy Dandridge, Lucille Ball, Judy Holliday, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jackie O, Nancy Reagan, and Elizabeth Taylor, to name a few.

These affairs made Peter more of a celebrity than a movie star, especially when he was made member of the "Rat Pack." Later in life, Lawford fell into drug and alcohol abuse. This plus strained relationships and financial difficulties caused a great deal of stress on his increasingly fragile health. Lawford died alone in a hospital in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 1984 of liver and kidney disease culminating in cardiac arrest at the age of 61.

Interestingly enough, none of the Rat Pack members attended the funeral. This is possibly due to a falling-out between Frank Sinatra and Lawford over Peter's involvement with Ava Gardner.