Author: April VeVea
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The Fabulous Life of Penny McGuiggan
Recently, I was talking to my best Old Hollywood friends about Marilyn Monroe (as we do on the daily) when Lisa brought up Penny McGuiggan, a petite little firecracker who used to speak and perform her trumpet at Marilyn Remembered’s August 5th memorials (held annually since 1982). Why the trumpet? She claimed membership in Sweet…
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Ryan Murphy’s ‘Hollywood’ – A Beautiful Mess
Featured image from The Hollywood Reporte Spoiler Warning I originally intended to write about the factual inaccuracies of Murphy’s Hollywood but decided against something so incredibly voluminous, it would undoubtedly be skimmed or ignored with at least one person repeating Murphy’s term for his work – “faction.” I pressed play knowing I was going to…
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Frances Farmer Forgotten
When I first started my blog, I wrote an article about Frances and the stories swirling about her 40 years after her death. My focus lately has been about the bombshells who are now forgotten and cast aside – even though their impact is still around. Farmer is definitely one of those women – with…
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Review: Bombshells – The Women Who Set the Fifties on Fire
I have eagerly been waiting to read historian and author Shar Daw’s book on fifties blondeshells since its announced release. Yesterday, I received my copy and whizzed through it in less than 24 hours – a testament to how enthralling the subject matter is. But does it pass the Classic Blondes test? “..all five women…
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Burdensome Bardot?
Yesterday, Adele Haenel walked out of the Cesars due to convicted sexual predator Roman Polanski winning Best Director. Reactions were mixed – with most applauding Haenel for what is seen as taking a heroic stand in the era of the #MeToo movement, while others claim she was using it for a few minutes of fame.…