Alexander at the Silhouette Shop

In my collection, I have a vintage silhouette cut at the Disneyland Main Street Silhouette Studio. You can see where it is located in this August 1956 shot, just a few months after it had opened in January (originally it was the short-lived Grandma’s Baby Shop):



…and how it looked when I shot it in 2015:



Zooming into the printed signature on the silhouette, we see the name Alex, with a pair of scissors cleverly standing in for the letter “A”:



Who was Alex? In the June 1956 edition of the Disneyland News, we can see a shot of him inside the newsprint pages.



Below, Main Street Silhouette Studio artist Alex DeGonslar presents singer/actress Jane Powell with a portrait he had just cut of her:



As fate would have it, I was contacted by his granddaughter who happened to stumble upon my blog. How cool is that? She was kind enough to share these family photos of Alexander at work, beginning with this image from 1956:



The next two photos show Alexander in the window of the shop:





The below shot is from September 1960. And in case you’re new to this blog or vintage Disneyland photos, let me inform you just how rare interior shots of shops/stores/attractions are.



From August 1961:



So fun to look at the detailed pictures on the wall. I wonder who the people in the photos are? I am guessing they were celebrities or dignitaries of some kind.



This 1962 image is labeled as being shot at Disney; since the background doesn’t seem like Disneyland, I am going to guess that it might have been shot at the Studio in Burbank. I believe the man that Alexander is cutting is actor/comedian Cliff Arquette, better known as Charlie Weaver.



What an unexpected treasure trove! Thanks so much to Alexander’s granddaughter for furnishing these. If you were a reader of Highlights Magazine as a tot, you might remember Goofus and Gallant. She is a true Gallant!



Just today, I was contacted by Goofus:

I kinda upset that you didn't do enough reach search on every silhouette artist that worked there.. on main. Street.. because my grandfather [name removed to protect the rude], was silhouette artist. For over 37 years.

Instead of supplying info or photos, they dumped their bad attitude on me. A true Goofus. This makes me all the more appreciative of the DeGonslar family!

See more Disneyland Silhouette Shop photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley, James Dean, and Gone with the Wind

I would not have imagined a post where there is a common thread for all three, but here it is! The backstory: when I acquired the first image from today’s post, I realized I also had another shot of Shirley from the same evening. At this point, I had zero context. No date of the shots or anything. So...I reached out to Melissa (aka “The Colonel”). Within minutes, she had figured out through Mr. Google that the photos were from August 10, 1954 when Shirley and husband Charles attended the re-premiere of “Gone with the Wind.” That was all I needed; I was off to the races and falling down a rabbit hole of six degrees of separation.

The photo below was found online with this vintage caption:

Shirley Temple was only 11 years old when she saw first premiere of "Gone With the Wind," 15 years ago. She is shown arriving with husband, Charles Black, for second premiere last night at the Egyptian Theatre. “I know I will enjoy and understand it a little better,” she said.

Although the press crossed Charles out from the published shot, I can assure you that Shirley NEVER crossed her beloved husband out of anything. Don’t they look stunning?

Here’s the backstory on the re-premiere: Selznick liquidated his company in 1942 for tax reasons, and sold his share in “Gone with the Wind” to his business partner, John “Jock” Whitney, for $500,000. In turn, Whitney sold it to MGM for $2.8 million. MGM re-released the film in 1942 and 1947. I THINK the shot below is from the night of the re-premiere; on the left is Kay Gable (Clark’s wife). In the middle I am fairly certain we have “Jock” Whitney, with Herman Hover the owner of Ciro’s on the right (thanks Beachgal for the ID!).

From the 1977 book Scarlett Fever by William Pratt:

In February 1954, fireworks had exploded after a televised tribute to MGM’s Thirtieth Anniversary. It seemed that on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” a film clip of GWTW had been shown along with some other MGM films produced over the previous three decades, and David O. Selznick was enraged by the studio’s taking credit for the production. By August—after apologies all around—the Hollywood “premiere” actually became a personal testimonial to the producer as Oscars representing the film’s Academy Award triumph were on display in the Egyptian’s lobby along with David’s own Thalberg Award for the August 10 grand gala event. MGM publicists informed the press that “the gala event marked the first time in history that any picture ever had been given a second Hollywood premiere.” The 125 stars who held reservations for that big night included most of MGM’s remaining contract players, a selection of the town’s Old Guard (Joan Bennett, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Tyrone Power, Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, Norma Shearer, Shirley Temple, and Spencer Tracy) and several surviving members of Gone with the Wind’s cast (Mary Anderson, Jane Darwell, Clark Gable, Cammie King, Thomas Mitchell, and Ona Munson, six months before her suicide). 

How did the film look after 15 years had gone by? The version shown in 1954 was the first time the film had been shown in widescreen. Since the film was not originally shot in that format, MGM cropped the top and bottom to an aspect ratio of 1.75:1. In doing so, a number of shots were optically re-framed. What do I think about that?

More from Scarlett Fever:

While viewers throughout America appreciated the film’s new panoramic scope that year, many wondered why the color had faded so drastically in certain segments. The cause was simple: in projecting the 1939 image onto a wide screen, crucial portions of some scenes were cut off and, to compensate, MGM had actually rephotographed those sequences with a black mask at screen bottom to raise the affected footage. In so doing, the original color was significantly drained from those moments and their new appearance was limited to a near tint-like quality.…The 1954 presentation also offered a novelty that was a distinct advantage for those theatres equipped with the latest sound systems. Despite is original one-channel, optical (or monaural) sound track, MGM technicians did a difficult and splendid job of dividing it onto a new multiple=channel magnetic tape which broadcast the film in “Perspecta stereophonic sound.” The effect was brilliant: conversations were actually divided line by line (only in certain scenes) and the voice of a character out of camera range could be heard over a viewer’s shoulder—from the back of the theatre. This was particularly well used for Ashley’s reminiscences at the lumber mill and in the finale. Stereophonic sound lost its popularity fairly quickly int he following years and this particular divided sound track was never employed again.

Based on the version available on blu ray, somehow the film has been restored back to its original glory. You can fiddle-dee-dee but don’t fiddle with the film, thank you.

As if all this weren’t exciting enough, guess who else was at the re-premiere event? JAMES DEAN! The thought of Shirley actually meeting my other favorite actor truly boggles my mind. Dean attended the event because he was dating actress Pier Angeli, who was under contract to MGM at the time. Note the Oscars behind them from “Gone with the Wind.”

Here they are with Jane Powell and then-husband Patrick Nerney. If Dean looks uncomfortable, you can bet he was. These types of events were not his type of thing, especially having to wear a tuxedo.

I have no idea if Shirley actually met James Dean. But, on the right side of the photo in the background, it looks like it could be Shirley. For the sake of this post, I’m going to say it is. Don’t burst my bubble, please.

Back to Shirley; this is HER post, after all. Let’s zoom in for a closer look at her in all her gala finery:

A closer look at the table tells us the after-party/dinner was held at Ciro’s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.

In my collection, I just happen to have a shot of the exterior of the Club from 1954:

Franchot Tone and Zsa Zsa Gabor seem to be having a deep conversation at the party:

Parliament cigarettes were apparently the smoke of choice that evening:

Here are Betsy Blair (wife of Gene Kelly at the time) and “Gone with the Wind” star Evelyn Keyes (who played Scarlett’s sister Suellen):

I’m not sure who the gal on the right is, but she has a big old pack of Parliaments, too. Maybe they were a sponsor for the evening.

Other guests that evening included Debbie Reynolds:

…and MGM musical favorites Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen:

Phew…that was a long one! I hope you enjoyed all the six degrees of separation going on here!

See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Sherry for the New Year

The Sherry-Netherland Hotel was the tallest hotel/apartment building when it opened in 1927. Today’s first image shows MGM actress and singer Jane Powell standing in front of the hotel as the bellman hails her a cab. Judy Garland used the hotel for a little get together with reporters in 1945 to promote her dramatic film “The Clock.”

Here she is again at the Sherry with Sid Luft on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1952. She was in town to sing at Ann and Jack Warner’s party for their daughter Barbara, held at the St. Regis Hotel. The private New Year’s Eve party at The Sherry was given by “Friends of Charlie Cushing,” and guests included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The Duke and Judy harmonized at the piano; that must have been something to witness in person!

Judy’s February 1964 stay at the Sherry was not quite as pleasant; she slipped in her three-room suite, resulting in a mild concussion which required a hospital check-up. Here’s a contemporary exterior view from 2016 that I shot during one of my visits to NYC:

Scrolling through ebay, I found a few vintage promotional items, like this ashray:

A matchbook:

This delightfully vintage advertisement. Don’t you love the pretentious alliteration? “Distinctive Domiciles for People of Distinction.”

See more Sherry-Netherland Hotel photos at my main website.

Screen Gem Saturdays: Steve Reeves in Hollywood

Steve Reeves became “Mr. America” in 1947 and used that fame to make a name for himself in Hollywood. Although calling him an “actor” might be stretching it, he was definitely a celebrity and carved a niche for himself in Hollywood history as Hercules and other muscle-bound characters in a series of sword and sandal flicks. Note the picture of Charlie Weaver in the background of shot #1.



These photos of Reeves freaks me out a little; I would have a hard time believing that his waist was not a product of early photo retouching!





Hollywood artist and sculptor Kenneth Kendall was very good friends with Reeves in the early years, helping him along the way as Reeves attempted to get established in Hollywood. Kendall painted and sculpted Reeves; here is a portrait he did of Reeves as Morgan the Pirate:



And a sculpture of Reeves that he created:



Last one for today features Steve posing with MGM musical darling Jane Powell (before she needed Efferdent):



See more Steve Reeves photos at my Steve Reeves web page.