Posted from my computer at work: My home computer crashed just after I came home from Easter holiday and it is in for service and upgrade at the moment. Besides I’m queuing up for a hip replacements operation and the line in front of me is getting shorter and shorter. When that operation is over I will end up at a convalescence center for at least four weeks (free of charge as the operation, standard here in Norway).
So you see there might be a while before I can continue my posting, but I’ll return with a upgraded computer and a right hip made from titanium as soon as I can. Enjoy some older post in the meanwhile – Ted
Note: I will unfortunately not be able to answer mail or messages until my home coomputer is back in action. Here at work I’ve got my hands full with other things.
Archive for the ‘Retro’ Category
IMPORTANT
Posted in Retro on April 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Jeanne Crain–American Actress
Posted in Actresses, Hollywood, Models & starlets, Movies, Retro, Television, The fifties, The forties, The seventies, The sixties, tagged American actresses, Jeanne Crain on March 18, 2015| 2 Comments »
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003) was an American actress whose career spanned from 1943 to 1975. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in the 1949 film Pinky, in which she played the leading role. She was also noted for her ability in ice skating.
Career
In 1944, Crain starred in Home in Indiana and In the Meantime, Darling. Her acting was critically panned, but she gained nationwide attention. It resulted in landing the leading role in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim in October 1944, a musical film which was eventually made with Betty Grable as the star.
Crain first received critical acclaim when she starred in Winged Victory (1944). She co-starred in 1945 with Dana Andrewsin the musical film State Fair, in which Louanne Hogan dubbed Crain’s singing numbers. After that, Crain often had singing parts in films, and they were invariably dubbed, in most cases by Hogan. Also in 1945, Crain starred in Leave Her to Heaven with Gene Tierney. Her ice skating ability was on display in the 1946 film, Margie, in which she and Conrad Janis danced around the ice rink as her boyfriend, Alan Young, slipped and stumbled his way along the ice.
In 1949, Crain appeared in three films — A Letter to Three Wives, The Fan, and Pinky, the latter earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Pinky was controversial, since it told the story of a light-skinned African American woman who passes for white in the Northern United States. Although Lena Horne and other black actresses were considered, producer Darryl F. Zanuckchose to cast a white actress for fear of racial backlash.
Crain starred opposite Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb in the 1950 biographical film Cheaper by the Dozen. Next, Crain paired with Cary Grant in the Joseph L. Mankiewicz film of the offbeat drama People Will Talk (1951). Despite Jeanne heavily campaigning for the female lead, Anne Baxter was initially cast in the part, but when she had to forfeit due to pregnancy, Crain was given the role after all. Shortly after, she starred in Charles Brackett‘s production The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951). Cast in May 1951, Crain was Brackett’s first choice for the role. Crain was reunited with Loy for Belles on Their Toes (1952), the sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen.
While still at 20th Century Fox, Crain played a young wife quickly losing her mind amidst high-seas intrigue in Dangerous Crossing(1953), co-starring Michael Rennie. Crain then starred in a string of films for Universal Pictures, including a notable pairing with Kirk Douglas in Man Without a Star(1955).
Crain showed her dancing skills in 1955’s Gentlemen Marry Brunettes co-starring Jane Russell, Alan Young, and Rudy Vallee. The production was filmed on location inParis. The film was based on the Anita Loos sequel to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Gentlemen Marry Brunettes was popular throughout Europe at the time and was released in France as A Paris Pour les Quatre (To Paris for the Four), and in Belgium as Cevieren Te Parijs. Later in the 1950s, Crain, Russell, and another actress formed a short-lived singing and dancing lounge act on the Strip in Las Vegas.
In 1956, Crain starred opposite Glenn Ford, Russ Tamblyn, and Broderick Crawford in the Western film The Fastest Gun Alive directed by Russell Rouse. In 1957, she played a socialite who helps a floundering singer and comedian (Frank Sinatra) redeem himself in The Joker Is Wild.
In 1959, Crain appeared in a CBS special television production of Meet Me in St. Louis. Also starring in the broadcast were Loy, Walter Pidgeon, Jane Powell, and Ed Wynn, with top billing going to Tab Hunter. Film roles became fewer in the 1960s as Crain went into semiretirement. She appeared as Nefertiti in the Italian production of Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile (1961) with Edmund Purdom and Vincent Price. During this period, Crain appeared – for the second time – as one of the mystery guests on the CBS game show, What’s My Line?, and made guest appearances on the NBC Western series, Riverboat, with Darren McGavin, and the ABC detective series,Burke’s Law, starring Gene Barry.
She starred again with Dana Andrews in Hot Rods To Hell (1967). Her last films were Skyjacked (1972) and The Night God Screamed (1975).
Legacy
Crain’s career is fully documented by a collection of memorabilia about her assembled by Charles J. Finlay, a longtime publicist at 20th Century Fox. The Jeanne Crain Collection resides at the Cinema Archives at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. These archives also hold the papers of Ingrid Bergman, Frank Capra,Clint Eastwood, and others.
Filmography
Film |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
1943 |
Chorus Girl/Pool Party Guest |
uncredited |
|
1944 |
‘Char’ Bruce |
|
|
Margaret ‘Maggie’ Preston |
|
||
Helen |
|
||
1945 |
Margy Frake |
a.k.a. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s State Fair |
|
Ruth Berent |
|
||
1946 |
Julia Rogers |
also Soundtrack |
|
Marjorie ‘Margie’ MacDuff |
also Soundtrack |
||
1948 |
Peggy Mayhew |
|
|
Peggy Taylor |
also Soundtrack |
||
1949 |
Deborah Bishop |
|
|
Lady Margaret ‘Meg’ Windermere |
a.k.a. Lady Windermere’s Fan |
||
Patricia ‘Pinky’ Johnson |
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress |
||
1950 |
Ann Gilbreth |
|
|
Jeanne Crain |
uncredited |
||
1951 |
Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Erickson |
|
|
Deborah Higgins |
|
||
Kitty Bennett |
|
||
1952 |
Ann Gilbreth |
a.k.a. Belles on Their Toes: The Further Adventures of the Gilbreth Family |
|
Della Young |
Segment The Gift of the Magi |
||
1953 |
Ruth Stanton Bowman |
|
|
Jill Lynn |
|
||
Linda Culligan |
|
||
1954 |
Marian Taylor |
|
|
1955 |
Reed Bowman |
|
|
Connie Jones/Mitzi Jones |
also Soundtrack |
||
Liza McClure |
also Soundtrack |
||
1956 |
Dora Temple |
|
|
1957 |
Diane Blane |
|
|
Letty Page |
a.k.a. All the Way |
||
1960 |
Laura Riley |
|
|
1961 |
Twenty Plus Two |
Linda Foster |
a.k.a. It Started in Tokyo |
Tenet/Nefertiti |
Original title: Nefertiti, regina del Nilo |
||
1962 |
Peggy Shannon |
|
|
Original title: Ponzio Pilato |
|||
1963 |
Helen |
Original title: Col ferro e col fuoco |
|
1967 |
Peg Phillips |
a.k.a. 52 Miles to Terror |
|
1971 |
Fanny Pierce |
a.k.a. Scream |
|
1972 |
Mrs. Clara Shaw |
a.k.a. Sky Terror |
|
Television | |||
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1955 |
Star Stage |
Nancy |
1 episode |
1956 |
Joyce Randall |
1 episode |
|
1958 |
Daisy Buchanan |
1 episode |
|
Ruth Elliot |
1 episode |
||
1959 |
Meet Me in St. Louis |
Rose Smith |
TV movie |
Lila Babrek Barnes |
1 episode |
||
Laura Sutton |
1 episode |
||
1960-62 |
G.E. True Theater |
Hope/Marion Miller |
3 episodes |
1963 |
The Dick Powell Theatre |
Elsie |
1 episode |
1964-65 |
Amy Booth / Lorraine Turner / Polly Martin |
3 episodes |
|
1968 |
Frances Merrill |
1 episode |
|
Mrs. McKendricks |
1 episode |
||
1972 |
Lily MacMurdy |
1 episode |
Text and filmography table from Wikipedia
The History Of Picnics
Posted in Retro on March 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »
The picnic season is right around the corner people. Here’s a little historic view on the subject from my other blog to set you in the right mood. Get your picnic baskets out of the cupboards and start planning
Food historians tell us picnics evolved from the elaborate traditions of moveable outdoor feasts enjoyed by the wealthy. Medieval hunting feasts, Renaissance-era country banquets, and Victorian garden parties lay the foundation for today’s leisurely repast. Picnics, as we Americans know them today, date to the middle of the 19th century. Although the “grand picnic” is generally considered a European concept, culinary evidence confirms people from other parts of the world engage in similar practices.
The earliest picnics in England were medieval hunting feasts. Hunting conventions were established in the 14th century, and the feast before the chase assumed a special importance. Gaston de Foiz, in a work entitled Le Livre de chasse (1387), gives a detailed description of such an event in France. As social habits in 14th century England were similar to those in medieval France, it is safe to assume that picnics were more or less the same…
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Up in Smoke: Norwegian Tobacco History
Posted in Retro on February 13, 2015| 2 Comments »
About those rolling papers 😉
Girls presenting Benson & Hedges cigarettes at the “Britain -66 exhibition in Oslo (Photo: Ørnelund/Oslo Museum)
In 2012, Norway’s largest newspaper Aftenposten reported that an increasing number of Oslo citizens have quit smoking. In recent years, the number of quitters have dropped even further, but not too many years ago, Oslo was a tobacco melting pot.
Nowhere else in Norway, smoking has gained so low status as in Oslo, but smoking cigarettes used to be a trend that spread out from the capital to the rest of the country.
Throughout the 20th century, tobacco was very visible in the city: Oslo had a dozen tobacco factories, and cigarette commercials adorned apartment buildings, kiosks, restaurants and cinemas.
According to Karl Erik Lund at The Norwegian Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research (SIRUS), this happened around 1900 when the tobacco factories began with machine-produced cigarettes.
Advertising from 1953: “Your…
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Book
Posted in Retro on February 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »
The always almighty struggle with ebooks vs printed. I love the printed versions but read mostly from my kindle but as it says at the bottom, doesn’t matter so long as you enjoy and keep on reading.
The Old Kings Road Voted Norway’s Most Beautiful Road
Posted in Retro on January 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »
More Norwegian roads for you.
Most Beautiful Road 1: Filefjell Kongeveien (Photo: Sverre Hjørnevik/ Norwegian Public Roads Adminsitration)
The old Filefjell Kongeveien (English: The Kings Road) is connecting Eastern and Western Norway and has been in use since the late 1100s. Now, it is voted the most beautiful road together with the Skjarvelandet landslide project on the Havøysund road in Northern Norway.
Every second year, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration awards “The Beautiful Roads Award” which is the Norwegian Director of Roads’ prestigious honorary prize for “roads with good aesthetic qualities adapted to their surroundings.”
The prize has been awarded fifteen times since 1988.
The Kings Road
The Kings Road, crossing the mountainous area of Filefjell, is the historical main route linking Western and Eastern Norway. It is named after King Sverre (1184–1202 AD) who traveled this route with his army. The road got official status as a main road in 1791.
The restoration of…
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Motorcycle women
Posted in Retro on January 13, 2015| 2 Comments »
Unique Opportunity: Summer Job as Viking Ship Høvedsmann/ Captain
Posted in Retro on January 13, 2015| 2 Comments »
The Viking ship “Lofotr” needs a new captain the coming summer. (Photo: Lofotr Viking Museum)
Have you ever dreamed of being Høvedsmann (Captain) on a Viking ship? This summer, you have the opportunity to apply for the position at the Lofotr Viking Museum in the Lofoten archipelago, Northern Norway – if you have the right qualifications.
There are two Viking ships at the museum. “Lofotr” is a full-scale reconstruction of the Gokstad ship dating back to the 800s. Like the original, “Lofotr” is an excellent seagoing ship which has won several regattas.
The Viking museum which is located on the beautiful Vestvågøy island is searching for two captains the coming summer.
(Article continues)
The reconstructed Viking longhouse at the Lofotr Viking Museum is the largest ever found. (Photo: Lofotr Viking Museum)
Here you will find the job ad translated into English. Notice that there is no requirement to speak Norwegian…
View original post 181 more words
2014 in review
Posted in Retro on December 31, 2014| 9 Comments »
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 540,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 23 days for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report. – The report is now public 🙂
A Lesson In Hats
Posted in Retro, tagged Hats on December 11, 2014| 15 Comments »
Conserving the Midland Railway poster, Blackpool
Posted in Retro on November 1, 2014| 4 Comments »
My absolute favourite museum in the world and I’ve been there more times than I can remember. I studied calligraphy and hand lettering in York for one year and I was at the National Railway Museum at least once a week, usually more often – Ted
Liquid Fuel Stoves and the Caravan Camper
Posted in Retro on October 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
If you’ve never made dinner on a hike you’ve missed out on one of life’s great pleasures.
Freia Milk Chocolate – A Part of the Norwegian Spirit
Posted in Retro on October 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Freia Milk Chocolate – A Little Piece of Norway 🙂 So alright, I love chocolate and I got a sweet tooth the size of a small country in Central America. What is that to you, huh 😉
In 1906, the Norwegian Freia Chocolate Factory launched a product that would become a bestseller and a national trademark aligned with the Norwegian flag, Henrik Ibsen and cross-country skiing: Freia Melkechokolade (Freia Milk Chocolate).
The company presented their new product as a “Cheerful chocolate that helps to preserve the mind’s joyfulness”. In 1916, the name was changed to Norsk Melke-chokolade to emphasize the Norwegian grammar. Four years later the chocolate was renamed Norsk Melk Chokolade – which was contrary to the contemporary spelling rules. The reason was probably that the spelling focused on milk as an important part of the Norwegian public health.
Their very first slogan was “The Best Chocolate in Europe”. In 1926, Freia launched their classic paper wrap design with cows on summer pastures – which is still in use. After the Second World War, the chocolate got its present name: Freia Melkesjokolade, which means…
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Chet Baker and His Music
Posted in Retro on October 12, 2014| 4 Comments »
A great post that deserves reblogging from more people than me. A good read, muscleheaded 🙂
Plaque in Amsterdam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I can’t explain why this is……
But it always seems like the ones who are blessed with the most talents,
are also the ones cursed with the deepest torments.
In a previous post, I referred to Brian Wilson….
……… and he certainly is an example.
As another case in point,
I could easily use one Chet Baker.
Chet was an extraordinary talent— in the late 50’s and early 60’s,
few people who heard him
would have doubted that his name would be remembered as one of the most important Jazz talents of the century.
He had an innate understanding of the emotional side of music.
One could say that listening to him play is an exercise in empathy.
David Gelly described his potential early in his career:
” James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Bix rolled into one “
Born in 1929 into a musical family…
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True colours
Posted in Retro on September 22, 2014| 3 Comments »
Even more interesting to me, who is still a graphic designer ;.)
Cheers to Jokke!
Posted in Retro on September 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »
All I can say is, let’s all take a few beers for Jokke today, he is sorely missed – Ted
Today, Joachim “Jokke” Nielsen, Norway’s biggest rock poet, would have turned 50 years old. Commentator in newspaper Aftenposten, Joacim Lund, has written a most honest tribute to one of Norway’s most unconventional and unpredictable poets and musicians. Happy birthday, Jokke!
Aftenposten: Finally, Jokke got on stage. It was him we were waiting for. I do not remember the other bands who played, only the fiery political appeals between their songs. Seething anger against politicians, moneymakers and apparently a completely outrageous culture budget. Rock against the Budget, I think the posters said. It might have been in 1989. Spikersuppa [in Oslo] was the place.
Jokke took the microphone.
– I should probably say something smart about the budget, he said.
– But I won’t. What I can say is that we’ve got a case of beer for playing here. One-two-three-four!
And then it started. He sang about beer and…
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The Kurér Portable Radio
Posted in Retro on September 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I got hold of one at flea market a couple of years ago, but my youngest daughter got hold of it 😉
Kurér Combi from 1960 (Photo: Northern Norwegian Radio Museum)
Kurér was a portable radio that became very popular in Norway in the 50’s and 60’s. The first model was launched 24 April 1950.and was produced by the Norwegian radio producer Radionette.
It had four vacuum tubes and a speaker with a permanent magnet and four wavebands: Longwave, medium wave, fisheries wave and shortwave. It was designed to be a portable radio that also could be used at home. The power source was either normal electricity or batteries, which was quite innovative at the time. The total weight was 16.8 lb.
The ftop photo is showing a Kurér Combi from 1960, a variation of the Kurér with in-built record player that did cost 103 dollars. Today, the price would be about 1193 dollars which meant that families had to save money to get hold of a quality portable radio.
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Classy classic combo
Posted in Retro on September 6, 2014| 3 Comments »
While were talking about sidecars….
The Gulf Racing colours of pale blue and bright orange are a classic and recognisable combination that work so well together. I’ve seen them on many vehicles, from Porches to Beetles, Mini’s, bikes and a fair few scoots over the years. But I think this is the first time I’ve seen them on a Lambretta sidecar combination. In my ever so humble opinion, it works. And it’s for sale on eBay. The scooter (a GP 150) has been upgraded to with a GT 186 kit, so should pull that Watsonian along nicely. It’s on eBay here. But be quick, the auction ends today.
Here’s that link again
A Slight Digression
Posted in Facts, Information, Retro, The sixties, tagged 1960, Ground school, Lunch boxes on July 19, 2014| 6 Comments »
This is my lunch box from ground school. I got it when I started in 1960. It should prove I’m the type of guy that doesn’t throw away things – Ted 😉
this Week’s Retro Recipe – Bunnies In Clover
Posted in Food & drinks, Recipes, Retro, Retro advertising, tagged apples, Bunnies In clover, Cheddar, cheese, Sausages, toast on July 17, 2014| 4 Comments »
A recipe from an ad for Kraft Cheese Company published in 1940Recipe HERE