Saturday, March 19, 2011

Screen Gem Saturdays: Lily Munster, Eliot Ness, and Hollywood Nightclubs



Best known as Lily Munster, Yvonne DeCarlo was actually a great beauty with a respectable movie career behind her before she ever filmed the TV classic, “The Munsters.”

Here are two vintage shots of a date between Yvonne DeCarlo & Robert Stack (known as Eliot Ness in the TV series "The Untouchables"). What a handsome couple they made. According to Yvonne’s autobiography, the two actually dated for awhile.



I love the “back off bitch!” look that Yvonne shoots the Philip Morris cigarette girl. In shot #2, they laugh about how Yvonne has just put the poor cigarette girl in her place—or at least that’s what I think.



Once a glamorous nightclub at 8433 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Ciro’s was where all the movie stars used to hang out. Since 1972, it has been The Comedy Store. In this vintage image, Ava Gardner and Howard Duff enjoy an evening out together, back in the day when stars dressed up to go out.



Another favorite nightspot of the stars was The Cocoanut Grove, located inside the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sadly, this historic landmark was torn down recently.



For “Regions Beyond,” here’s a color closeup of the area requested from yesterday’s post:



To see more Hollywood photos, visit my main website.

4 comments:

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Wow, I forget how stunningly beautiful Yvonne was, "Lily" certain downplayed her assets.

"Howard Duff" - Arthur Curtis from Woodland Hills (or Jerry Reagan I guess) from my favorite Twightzone episode "A World of Difference" best ending of a TZ ever! I can watch that episode over and over, in fact I have...

Neat post, thanks Dave!

Major Pepperidge said...

I was always more partial to Carolyn Jones as Morticia, but Yvonne DeCarlo sure looks lovely in that first photo.

Ava Gardner and... Howard Duff? Who knew. She sure went through men!

Katella Gate said...

Dittos on eternal Goth question Major(Morticia or Lilly?), I preferred the funereal va-va-voom that Carolyn Jones had, but Miss DeCarlo certainly was a dish.

I also had a great epiphany right about 1972 ... I thought Agnes Moorhead and Lucille Ball were famous because they were Endora and Mrs. Ricardo. One night my Mom set me straight; that these women were famous before television was even invented.

Connie Moreno said...

Super groovy post! It wasn't until a few years ago that I learned Yvonne DeCarlo had a career before the Munsters. She was GORGEOUS. Just a couple of weeks ago I saw her in a movie called Criss Cross. It was GOOD!

I had a crush on Robert Stack as a kid - I'm glad I didn't know he was dating Lily!

Wow, Howard Duff was handsome! Sheesh, everybody smoked back then.

My senior prom was at the Ambassador!