A Judy Garland Christmas

"Meet Me in St. Louis" lives on as one of Judy Garland's most iconic films. A technicolor holiday classic even though only about 25 minutes of the movie takes places at Christmas. "Meet Me in St. Louis" marks the debut of the now holiday standard, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Garland owns that song now and forever.

“Meet Me in St. Louis” influenced a number of future filmmakers. The Halloween sequence with Tootie and Agnes would inspire the color scheme of John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978, and Woody Allen would update the six-month family tale to 1996 Manhattan in his movie musical "Everyone Says I Love You."

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A Natalie Wood Christmas

Upon its release, "Miracle on 34th Street" is deemed "morally objectable" by the Catholic Legion of Decency - true-believers on a mission from a motion picture hating god. They hated the soon-to-be Holiday classic because Maureen O'Hara's character was a divorcee with a little girl. Heavens to Betsy, I do declare. Natalie Wood plays O'Hara's daughter, the non-believing Susan. In real life, Wood still believes in Santa: “I guess I had an inkling that maybe it wasn’t so, but I really did think that Edmund Gwenn was Santa." Gwenn wins the Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Macy's Santa Claus. "I had never seen him without his beard because he used to come in early in the morning and spend several hours putting on this wonderful beard and mustache. And at the end of the shoot, when we had a set party, I saw this strange man, without the beard, and I just couldn’t get it together.”

NANCY WILSON DEAD AT 81.

𝙰𝚝 𝟺 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚕𝚍, 𝙽𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚓𝚊𝚣𝚣 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 - 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚕 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚛. 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚘𝚕 𝚁𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜’ 𝚋𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝-𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜 — 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜. 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙿𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗, 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚊. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝟾𝟷. 𝚆𝚑𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝙽𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝙿𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗!?! 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚏 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝙿𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 & 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎?

Can't Get You Out of My Head

Whenever I finish a zine, I always have a hard time letting go and moving onto the next one. I haven’t been able to totally move on from Natalie as I start work on the next two issues of Dead in Hollywood: Dorothy Dandridge and Tab Hunter.

CLICK HERE for the zine DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: NATALIE WOOD (issue #8)

The Splendor of Youth.

The Splendor of Youth.

Geneva Williams: A Footnote in a Footnote's Footnotes

Hard at work on Dead in Hollywood: Dorothy Dandridge (Issue #9) and I’m finding it difficult to pull myself away from her mother, Ruby’s, story. Ruby was a successful radio and television actress in her own right who left her husband to live with her “companion” in 1922 America. Can you imagine? Sadly, her companion, Geneva Williams, was not a good woman. She overworks Dorothy and her sister, Vivian, and sexually assaults Dorothy one night after Dorothy returns home from her first date with a boy. I’d love to learn more about Geneva, but she’s become a footnote in another footnote’s footnotes.

Ruby Dandridge

Reading up on Dorothy Dandridge's life, I find myself drawn to her mother, Ruby Dandridge. Five months before Dorothy is born, Ruby leaves her husband, Cyril Dandridge, and moves in with her "companion," Geneva Williams. This was 1922! A black woman divorcing her husband was almost unheard of at the time and not to mention the fact that Ruby was also pregnant with Dorothy. But that's exactly what she does. She chooses not only to survive but to thrive in the repressed society of the 1920’s. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for Ruby.