Crushing on Peter Lawford

Hubba Hubba!  

We're crushing today on one of our former "Va Va Voom" subjects.

Click to enlarge.

Happy Monday indeed!

Monday's This & That

While we try to beat the heat here in the Lounge with a little dip, take a look at what's going on...

The Rat Pack Ultimate Collectors Edition is now on sale at Amazon.com, and includes "Oceans 11," "Robin and the 7 Hoods," "4 for Texas," and "Sergeants 3."

And it's been 45 years since the fantastic war adventure "The Great Escape" was released. Steve McQueen heads up an all-star cast that includes James Garner, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and many others. Watch it on AMC this Sunday. Check local listings for time. (Tonight on AMC is "The Magnificent Seven," also with McQueen, Coburn, and Bronson. Check AMC's website to see what time in your area!)

And I saw "Iron Man" over the weekend. Loved it! It's the perfect summer blockbuster movie. Good to see Robert Downey, Jr. back in action. Can't wait for the sequels.

What You Didn't Know...

*YAWN* So it's already 9:00 AM and Pixie has tagged me. I've been tagged before, but I just hate answering these things. Then I thought to my self, "Self, you never reveal enough information about yourself. No one knows any details about your personal life." So here are 7 things about me that you may not know:

1. I am a graduate of St. Pyre's School of Technical Pyrotechnics in Fioria, Virgin Islands, majoring in Pyrotechnical Arts. I studied under Pietro Pierre, the great international flame thrower. A genius in the world of deflagration.

2. I spend at least 5 hours a day at work procrastinating. This mostly consists of surfing the internet, blogging, playing on my MySpace page, or tooling around in Photoshop.

3. I have a thing for trumpet players. Especially those named Harry who know how to play Hora Staccato.

4. I have an unusually long tongue. When I was born, the doctor suggested to my mother that I get the tip of my tongue chopped off. The very thought of this procedure made her cringe, so she declined. As a result, I can touch my tongue to my nose (as well as many other special talents that shall remain unsaid).

5. Before my work as a pinup girl and go-go dancer, I was a famous big band singer under the stage name Kitty Keller. I sang for our wonderful men in uniform during WWII for the USO, and had 12 very successful albums throughout the 30's and 40's. However, I strained my voice during a performance with Doris Day (okay, more of a shouting match, but that's another story for another day) and I lost my record deal.

5. I've dated many famous men, but Peter Lawford was the one who really broke my heart. I'm especially hurt since there is no record anywhere of our relationship, which leads me to believe that he never has revealed to anyone that we were lovers.

6. I'm a MySpace whore. If you ask to be my friend, I'll automatically just say yes. I don't care who you are, what you believe in, or what you look like. I just want you as a friend!

7. I tried to sleep with Irving Thalberg to get a movie deal at MGM, but Norma Shearer beat me to it. That bitch.

As far as tagging people...I don't really go to other people's blogs, but I do hang out around other people's MySpace pages and websites (see the list on the right). I think if I tagged someone they'd never do it back. And if you're hurt that you didn't get tagged, it's because I don't know what the hell your blog is! Leave your addy in the comments so I can put you in a post or on my links list. Stop lurking and start commenting!!

Oh yeah... the obligatory rules (that I really had trouble following)...
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Crushing on Peter Lawford

Friday's This & That: The X-Rays Show...

As I get over the chill of this exam table, here's what's going on in the world:

Jose Luis de Vilallonga, author, aristocrat and actor who starred as the dashing Brazilian multimillionaire in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” died Thursday at his home on the island of Mallorca at the age of 87. A colorful character in Spain’s high society, Vilallonga had worked as a journalist and wrote an official biography of Spain’s King Juan Carlos. A high point in Vilallonga’s acting career came when he was in Blake Edwards’ classic 1961 movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's," playing Jose da Silva Pereira, whom Hepburn’s Holly Golightly planned to marry.

Two new DVD sets are out that you should definitely buy! The Esther Williams Collection gives you five films: "Bathing Beauty," "Easy to Wed," "On An Island With You," "Neptune's Daughter" and "Dangerous When Wet" -- all of my favorites! Among the co-stars are Red Skelton, Peter Lawford, Lucille Ball, Van Johnson, Jimmy Durante, and Ricardo Montalban. These movies also contain some fantastic performances from Helen Forrest, Xavier Cugat, and others of the swinging era of the golden age. (We've discussed many of these movies in previous posts of Van Johnson, Peter Lawford, Helen Forrest, and the Mermaid herself.) Waves of extras include outtakes, cartoons and classic shorts. (Warner)

The Elvis Collection stars the King with a bevy of beauties in this four-disc set. Elvis portrays a boxer, riverboat entertainer, and good-ole-boy in "Follow That Dream," "Frankie and Johnny," "Clambake" and "Kid Galahad." (MGM)

Set Your Moxies for Esther Williams!

This Friday, TCM -- the greatest channel of all time -- is having a mega-plex of our favorite bathing beauty Esther Williams!

(all times are PST)

9:30 AM Thrill of a Romance - one of my favorites with Van Johnson

11:30 AM Easy to Wed - also with Van Johnson, and Lucille Ball

1:30 PM Neptune's Daughter - with Ricardo Montalban

3:15 PM Dangerous When Wet - with a cameo by Tom & Jerry!

5:00 PM On An Island With You - with *hubba hubba* Peter Lawford

Enjoy!

"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.