Fifty-Seven Years After My Crush on William Holden

My mother, a native Angeleno, the term for those born in Los Angeles, once described herself as "a movie nut."  Using movies as her frame of reference, she'd say that an old boyfriend had the eyes of Victor Mature ... a store clerk's mouth resembled Ann Blyth ... a young family member looked just like Erroll Flynn.  She'd attended a party once where a then-unknown "casual looking" (as my mother called her) Joan Fontaine was introduced as Olivia de Havilland's sister.  Another time she found herself powdering her nose next to Jean Harlow.  When we kids were growing up, she liked to go (and take us) to the movies every week.  (Always a double feature.)  I seem to remember it cost something like 50¢.  Even as a tyke in L.A., I got taken to movies, my very first being the1942 film, Jungle Book, with Sabu.  It was showing at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.  The one with the hand- and foot-prints in cement.

Grauman's Chinese Theater

So it seemed natural that I became something of a movie nut, too.  I could tell you who Archibald Leach was, Spangler Arlington Brugh, Lucille LeSueur, Marion Morrison, Edythe Marrenner.  (Cary Grant, Robert Taylor, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Susan Hayward.)  And I knew that William Holden's real name was William Beedle.  I had a total crush on him--that smile, those eyes!  Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier were my other favorite actors.  (And Ronald Colman, for his voice.)  As for actresses, I decided the most beautiful were Ava Gardner, Hedy Lamarr, Elizabeth Taylor, and Vivien Leigh.  The most stylish were Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Every month, I'd walk to the local drug store for a current issue of Photoplay.  Every year I'd turn on the radio and listen to the Oscars.  The year William Holden won, I wrote in my diary, "'Swonderful." 

These people on screen seemed like part of the family.  So as the years went by and they began leaving us, I always felt a particular sadness.  Even as a favorite aunt or uncle, it did not seem possible that they would no longer be around to let us enjoy their company.

A few of the old crew remain but the list is fast-shortening.  The oldest now is Luise Rainer, born in Germany in 1910, winner of back-to-back best actress Academy Awards in 1936 and 1937.  Then there's Gone With the Wind's Melanie--Olivia de Havilland (1916). 

Others include:
Eli Wallach (1915)
Kirk Douglas (1916)
Joan Fontaine, Celeste Holm, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ernest Borgnine (1917)
Maureen O'Hara, Mickey Rooney (1920)
Esther Williams (1921)
Eleanor Parker, Lizabeth Scott (1922)
Lauren Bacall, Eva Marie Saint, Doris Day (1924)
Angela Lansbury (1925)
Jerry Lewis (1926)
Gina Lollobrigida, Sidney Poitier (1927)
Shirley Temple, Ann Blyth (1928)
Jane Powell (1929)  

Thank you, each and all!

What Makes March March

Seeing the first crocus and snowdrops appear

Making up house and garden "to do" lists

Thinking about doing a major de-cluttering

Eating asparagus--good for a spring-time cleanse

Realizing that winter is past and the good times can roll 

(Having begun these lists last April, this one now finishes the year.)