Peter Falk Gets A Star

The Hollywood Walk of Fame will get a new star today, its 2,503rd and this one is a posthumous star. Today's star is dedicated to Peter Falk. Falk's star is located at 6654 Hollywood Blvd near Cherokee just steps from the Go-Go's star. Peter Falk best known for his portrayal of the LAPD detective Columbo.
Falk was born in New York in 1927 and started his career in 1956 in Broadway and off Braodway plays. Columbo started in 1968 as the made for TV movie "Prescription: Murder". The role had originally been offered to Bing Crosby who turned it down. Falk played the character of Columbo until 2003. Peter Falk died in 2011.

She's Always on Call

Dr. Nancy Snyderman is the hardest working doctor around! The woman must be working 24 hours a day. Dr. Nancy is not only chief medical editor for NBC News and a frequent commentator on the Today Show and Nightly News she also has a private practice. Dr. Snyderman specializes in head and neck cancer.

The doctor was born in St. Louis Missouri and was raised in Indiana. Her undergraduate degree was in microbiology and she received her medical degree from University of Nebraska. Dr. Nancy started off her career in Little Rock Arkansas. It was in Little Rock she started doing television for the local ABC station. From there she moved to San Francisco practicing at University of California Medical Center. She also was back on the air waves with KPIX. From there Dr. Nancy went big time! She headed off to New York and NBC. Catch her anytime of the day or night discussing medicine she is always at work!

The Chateau Marmont

Looming eerily in the hills above Sunset Blvd is a French inspired hotel called the Chateau Marmont. Built in 1929 as a luxury apartment building by LA attorney Fred Horowitz The Chateau Marmont was a great idea at just the wrong time. The building's opening and the depression were just too close together for Horowitz to make a go of the building so he sold it off to an apartment manager named Albert E. Smith. Smith then bought a bunch of European antiques that had also hit the market and turned the apartment building in to a hotel. It was finally popular. Hollywood celebrities liked it as it was convenient to the studios and private enough to keep out fans.
During Hollywood's golden age The Chateau Marmont was all the rage. It became a celebrity hot spot with people like Greta Garbo, Carole Lombard and Errol Flynn calling it home. The Chateau Marmont's hey day like all things didn't last and the hotel started to become a bit more run down. During the 1960's it was "discovered" by the rock and roll crowd and became known as a wild spot. People Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were guests. By the time the 70's came it was thought of as kind of a dive and dumpy. This is the spot where John Belushi died of a drug over dose.
In 1990 the building was sold again to hotel magnate Andre Balazs. It was given a full renovation and a new life. Today it is once again a hot spot for a new group of celebrities with room prices ranging from $170 to $1200 a night. It is now the place to run into Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp or maybe even a drunken Lindsay Lohan.

Great Ozzie Nelson's Ghost!

On a quiet street in the hills above Hollywood Blvd is a colonial style family home. It is a real family home it is the Nelson home. This is the house that Ozzie and Harriet Nelson lived in with their sons David and Rick. Not only did they live there it served as the exterior establishing shot of their home on their TV show. The interior of the house was also what the interior sets were based on. "The Ozzie and Harriet Show" ran on television for 14 years. Then in the mid-70's Ozzie and Harriet used the house again as the exterior for their short lived series "Ozzie's Girls".
The 10 room house was built in 1916 for a Los Angeles business man on a half an acre lot. The Nelson's bought the house in 1942. The Nelson's did some alterations over the years but the house was more or less as it was built. The three story house is in the colonial revival style and has a nice pool and patio out back.
The Nelson's were know for the very clean cut image. Ozzie and Harriet lived there until Ozzie died in 1975 and Harriet sold it off a few years later. It was after the house was sold that the new owners started reporting strange happenings. Things started happening like lights turning on and off and doors opening and closing. There were also reportedly strange "phantom" footsteps in the halls. The clear sounds of foot steps could be heard when no one was around. The strangest of all was described in a book called "Hollywood Haunted" by Laurie Jacobson and Marc Wanamaker. The have a description form a woman who was living in the house waking to find her bed covers pulled back and the feeling of an unseen something kissing her neck and breasts.
Could this be Ozzie just confused or allowing his inner perv to come out in his after life? Perhaps it is Harriet? But this just goes to show that not everything in Hollywood is what it looks like!

John Malkovich Super Hero

John Malkovich was just standing on a Toronto Street corner enjoying a cigarette when a man who was walking down the street stumbled and fell. When the man, Jim Walpole, fell against a scaffold on the way to the ground. The scaffold had a jagged edge and slit Mr. Walpole's throat. John Malkovich then jumped into action! He whipped the scarf from around his neck and applied pressure on the wound while someone called an ambulance. Jim Walpole was reassured he would be okay by Malkovich. Mr. Walpole, apparently not a Malkovich fan asked him his name. "John", replied Malkovich.
Emergency help came and relieved super hero John Malkovich and took Mr. Walpole away. So if you ever fall and slice open your neck on a scaffold hope John Malkovich is smoking near by!

Zsa Zsa Doesn't Have to Move

Zsa Zsa Gabor and her ersatz Prince husband have reached a sale agreement for their Bel Air home. The agreement sells the house for eleven million dollars and allows Gabor and her paramour to live in the house to the end of Zsa Zsa's life or three years which ever is longer. This would keep Zsa Zsa in her home until she is 102 years old. Zsa Zsa who his been in ill health and on death's door for the past several years will live out her remaining days in the glamour that she has always been accustomed to. The house itself has been getting a lot of work lately, it was used in the film Argo and in the HBO movie "Behind the Candelabra" about Liberace.
This of course isn't the end to all of the Gabor's legal problems. Francesca Hilton, Zsa Zsa's daughter, and Frederic Prinz Van Anhalt the ersatz prince of a husband are still at war over Zsa Zsa health care and cash.

You Broke My Penis!

MMA fighter Waylon Lowe says his penis is broken and it is the fault of a wonder product called "Kama Sutra Pleasure Balm Prolonging Gel". He claims he and his wife slathered on the "prolonging Gel" on Waylon junior and slipped on a magnum (natch) and he and his wive started being married. Well a product of their love started crying in the other room and boom buda band Waylon's member started "swelling" Mr. Lowe is now claiming "catastrophic and permanent damage" to his penis. Apparently he's kaput!
His Penis is valued at $50,000. A Bargain!

Do you Want to Live Like a Partridge?

If you want to live the glamorous and chic life like a celebrity like say Danny Bonaduce this is your chance! Danny is renting out his home in the Los Feliz Hills section of Los Angeles. The Spanish style house is now available for a mere $18,000 a month! Yes you too could live like Danny Partridge. The house built on a half an acre promontory over looks downtown LA and Hollywood. Built in the style of a Spanish hacienda Danny's house has over 7,000 square feet of living space. There is a screen room and a small pool. But beware you can be spied upon by the nosy neighbors!!!

Bob Hope Rummage Sale

On Sunday May 5th at North Hollywood Catholic church there is a rummage sale of some of Bob and Dolores Hope's paraphernalia. Linda Hope their daughter was given the massive task of going through her parents belongings to empty and sell their long time Tolucca Lake home. The Hopes were collectors and the recipients of loads of gifts! This is Linda Hope's second big clear out. She had one near Christmas that focus on holiday decorations and there is a big one at Julien's in Beverly Hills coming up.
The upcoming sale's profits will be donated to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church where Dolores Hope was a long time member. Linda Hope has a huge job on her hands. Items at the sale include memorabilia from her father's career and just stuff from their house. If you are in LA this weekend head to St. Charles Borromeo's on Moorpark in North Hollywood and pick up a Bob Hope bargain and help poor Linda Hope out!

Taylor Swift buys a Rhode Island Mansion

Taylor Swift may have out waspy-ed the Kennedys buy buying a home in Westerly, Rhode Island for 17million bucks in cash. Seeing as she bought in Rhode Island in cash the seller must have requested un-marked non sequential bills. The house is in the Watch Hill neighborhood of Westerly, Rhode Island a working class/multi-millionaire enclave in southern RI.
Watch Hill was discovered by the super rich of the 19th century and the elite of the Victorian era built "summer cottages" on the bluffs. The cottages were in actuality summer mansions. Rhode Island in the 19th century was the Monaco of the US. Everyone who was anyone needed to have a summer home on the Rhode Island shore.
It had been rumored that Ms Swift wanted to buy a home near the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport on Cape Cod but if a Kennedy matriarch doesn't like you, you might as well forget it. Ask Darryl Hannah. By buying in Rhode Island Taylor Swift has upped the anti. She will find her money and fame won't help her in Westerly with either high society or the locals. Both groups will find her more annoying than as an asset. So Taylor buy an old Volvo station wagon and ride a bike and maybe you will fit in.

Carol Burnett's Hollywood

Hollywood has always had a hardscrabble side to it. Just behind the glitz and the glamour is a seemlier life of small apartments and alcoholics. This is the Hollywood that Carol Burnett grew up in. Her parents were both alcoholics and divorced when Burnett was very young. She was raised by her grandmother Mae in a tiny apartment just a block or so north of Hollywood Blvd. Her mother lived in another apartment in their building. She was a poor kid and she knew it. Carol Burnett grew up sleeping on a couch and keeping her few clothes on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom of her grandmother's tiny apartment. The Hollywood she grew up in was the Hollywood of the 1930's and 40's, its heyday, she was so close and yet so far. In her memoir "One More Time" she writes of her childhood that to some could have been filled with misery and sadness but her reflection is filled with fun and funny stories. Her grandmother whom she called Nanny comes off as a true character, a pack rat Christian Scientist with palpitations and a quick temper. Carol's parents were at best ne'er do wells with drinking problems who had enough sense to let Nanny do the actual raising of their daughter. There was also a half sister Chrissy born out of wedlock when Carol was about ten. Life was not ideal.

Some how Carol Burnett was able to rise above what could have been a sad lot in life and become one of America's most beloved television stars. She has won Emmy's, Golden Globes and The Presidential Medal of Honor. There is now a square named after her not far from her childhood home on Wilcox and Yucca at the corner of Highland and Selma by her Alma Mater Hollywood High School.

Carol Burnett took that difficult past and created some of the funniest performances in the history of television. Her childhood home is still there about a block and a half from her star on the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame. She is the Hollywood success story.

Revolutionary, Mother Darling

There is hardly a more interesting character that that of Edith “Little Edie” Beale. She lived for years as a semi-recluse with her mother in their decaying family estate in the Hamptons on Long Island. She was also the first cousin of Jackie O and Princess Lee Radizwill. Edie came to fame later in life after the Maysles' documentary film “Grey Gardens” about her and her mother “Big Edie” lives and their 28 room mansion Grey Gardens.

"I'm really a dancer, you know. When I was young, I stopped many a dance in New York City. I really stopped the whole room! I just adored to dance. I think I stopped a dance at Princeton once, too."  Edie was an original and reveled in her originality. Her sense of style has influenced fashion designers, drag queens and fashionistas. After the death of her mother Edie moved back to Manhattan and attempted to restart her singing career with a night club act.

The Beales came from what passes an aristocracy in the USA. The family travelled in the high society of New York in the early part of the 20^th century. Big Edie was a Bouvier. Her brother was the father of Jackie Kennedy. Little Edie’s father was a society lawyer. Edie had two younger brothers both lived lives in society one not far from the decaying Grey Gardens. Both Big and Little Edie had debutante balls and lived in a rarified stratum of society until Phelan Beale, Big Edie’s husband, divorced Big Edie in the 1940’s. He moved to his lodge and eventually got a “Mexican divorce” giving the house to Big Edie and meager child support but no alimony. Big Edie lived on in the house and in a rather shocking and bohemian lifestyle in the eyes of her long Island neighbors. “You can get arrested for wearing red shoes on a Thursday in East Hampton” claimed Little Edie. Big Edie had always wanted to be a singer and after her divorce she attempted a career. Not fitting into what was considered society she made her own way. "The family never cared for me and they hated my mother. She was a dancer and a singer with a terrific voice she'd inherited from her mother and the relatives hated her because she was magnificent.” said Little Edie about her mother.

Even though she lived in isolation Edie did know what was going on around her in the world. “I think [America] is a fabulous country and I’m crazy about Bill Clinton” Edie once said and she thought television was “great for national emergencies”. When asked if she thought her cousin Jackie married for money Edie relied, “Of course, wouldn’t anyone.”

It was Edie’s isolation that helped define her style. There was no money for shopping so she made her own clothing. Her hair loss was the reason for her signature head wraps. Edie was an individual. There will never be another Edie Beale. The Maysles’ film lead to an HBO film and eventually a Broadway musical. She will live in on.

 

The Girl With Three Names

Mary Tyler Moore turned 76 today. That's right Laura Petrie aka Mary Richards is 76 years old! America's career girl and favorite wife is Mary Tyler Moore and has been since 1961 when Carl Reiner cast her in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Ms Moore had played some small roles and "Happy Hotpoint" a dancing elf before the role of Laura Petrie. She had auditioned for the role of Danny Thomas' daughter on the Danny Thomas show but was turned down as Thomas thought no one believe that a girl with such a small nose could be his daughter. Thomas did remember her and when he was producing the Dick Van Dyke Show he suggested the girl with three names to Carl Reiner. Mary Tyler Moore went on to play the role of Laura for five years.

In 1970 Mary Tyler Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker formed MTM Enterprises and they pitched the idea of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to CBS. The character of Mary Richards was the first single career woman to be an independent and happy woman. The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the most successful sitcoms of the 1970's. MTM Enterprises also produced the spin-off series Rhoda and Phyllis along with The Bob Newhart Show, Hill Street Blues, WKRP in Cincinnati and Newhart.
Married three times Mary Tyler Moore had only one child during her first marriage,a son named Richard. Her son died at the age of 24 from an accidental gun shot wound. Her second husband Grant Tinker was her partner in MTM Enterprises and eventually became Chairman of NBC. They divorced in 1981. Moore met her third husband a doctor when he treated her mother and made a house call.
She will always be Laura and Mary in the eyes of the television watching public even though she did play one of the coldest mothers ever in the film "Ordinary People". One of her other film roles more fitting to the perception of her persona was that of a nun in the Elvis movie "Change of Habit".

The Dancing Cop of Providence

Every city has it's own peculiar holiday traditions. Providence, Rhode Island has one that it truly unique; the Dancing Cop. Tony Lepore was a full-time police officer on the Providence police force for 17 years. One of the things that Tony enjoyed doing as a police officer was directing traffic. When Tony retired he didn't completely stop being a traffic cop, he now directs traffic in intersections of Providence's shopping district at Christmas. He doesn't just direct traffic he dances while doing it. He spins, pops, jives and discos about in the middle of the street with his whistle as his orchestra. Tony's "act" may not make for smooth flowing traffic but it gives pedestrians and drivers alike a holiday treat.
Not only does Tony direct traffic on Providence's streets but on television and in movies as well. He has appeared on both the Today Show and Good Morning America directing Manhattan traffic for the cameras. Tony also appears on local children's television as well as private parties. His website has offers of his various services. (http://www.providencedancingcop.com/about.html) He also has a doll!
Tony was a real cop. He saved lives and made arrests and walked a beat. One of the doing foot patrol was directing traffic. One day in 1984 he got bored while directing traffic and the dancing cop was born. He was influenced by an old Candid Camera episode. Tony is a lot of fun to watch unless you are in a hurray.
If you are in the Providence area during December stop and check Tony out!

The Agnes Moorehead Lounge

If you are a fan of "Bewitched" or maybe "Citizen Kane" there is a bar in Reedsburg, Wisconsin that is a must see. The Touchdown Tavern is a sports bar with what has to be one of the odder attractions of any sports bars. It is also the home of The Agnes Moorehead Lounge. Yes that's right there is a room dedicated to Endora. Filled with memorabilia of her life and career this sports bar has an entire room dedicated to Ms Moorehead who died in 1974. They have photos, autographs, letters written on her stationary and a gown that she owned. Agnes Moorehead has no real connection with the town other than she was once a a ribbon cutting. You have to give the bar owners credit for coming up with a truly quirky tribute to a fine actress.

Hey Have You Got 45 Million Dollars?

If you have a spare 45 million dollars have I got a house for you! It is in the very elegant South Palms Springs neighborhood and it was once the home of a bonafide celebrity. The house designed by architectural superstar John Lautner in 1973 but wasn't built until 1976. Well it was almost built but it burned to the ground just before the original completion and had to be rebuilt from the ground up. But who was the celebrity??? It was none other than Bob Hope. Hope and his wife Dolores had the house built to their specifications and it is a quirky house to say the least. The spaceship shaped two story house has 22,000 square feet and a mushroom like roof. It also incorporated natural elements like a huge boulder in the living room. Hope and his wife built the house for just over 2 million dollars. This is the first time it has been on the market as Dolores Hope lived there until her death last year. She was 102.
The house has six bedrooms and ten bathrooms and is next to another Coachella Valley architectural icon the Elrod house.

Who Wants To Die For Art?

Sixty-seven years ago today Harris Glenn Milstead was born in Baltimore Maryland. He was raised in the home of well to do conservative parents in the suburb of Lutherville. In the mid 60's he became friends with John Waters who gave him the name he would become know for, Divine.
Divine was a spoiled only child who's parents paid for his elaborate lifestyle. After high school Divine went to beauty school where he excelled creating "beehive" style up-do's. In 1964 his was at one time considered the chief suspect in the murder of a friend but was cleared when a serial killers was apprehended.
After high school Divine and John Waters would hang out in a Baltimore "beatnik" bar. It was during this time Divine started dressing in drag. He liked to dress as Elizabeth Taylor.  Waters started making films and Divine became his star. Divine's first film was "Roman Candles" in this film he played a smoking nun. Waters' films used a group of actors called the "Dreamlanders" made up of Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce along with several others.
Divine along with the Dreamlanders performed on Sunday's in Waters' films Divine normally in drag played characters like Jackie Kennedy (Eat Your Make-up), Diane Linkletter (The Diane Linkletter Story) and Divine (Mondo Trasho).
Divine moved from Baltimore to Provencetown, MA in 1970 and opened a vintage clothing store. He didn't actually get a permit so he was shut down. When he shut down he sold off all of the stock as well as the furniture from his rented furnished apartment causing the land lady to obtain a warrant for his arrest. Divine escaped arrest by fleeing to San Francisco.

While he lived in San Francisco Divine starred in Waters' next film "Multiple Maniacs". This was the first of their films to get any significant recognition. This film was followed by "Pink Flamingos". Divine once again is the star playing Babs Johnson "The Filthiest Person Alive". "Pink Flamingos" found success in the underground late night film circuit. The final scene of the film depicts Divine eating dog feces. The scene made Divine famous but proved to be a torture to him for the rest of his life.
After filming of "Pink Flamingos" wrapped Divine and Mink Stole moved to San Francisco where they became involved with the legendary "Cockettes". Divine starred in several shows including "Divine Save the World" ad "The Heartbreak of Psoriasis". Divine returned to Baltimore in 1974 to star in "Female Trouble" as Dawn Davenport. This film gave Divine a chance to play two roles. He plays a character not in drag who picks up a hitch hiking Dawn Davenport and impregnates her. Divine literally fucks himself in this film. "Female Trouble" would always be Divine's favorite movie.
Divine was unable to star in the next John Waters film as he was the star of the play "Women Behind Bars" and was performing in New York and eventually in London. While in London Divine appeared in the film "Alternative Miss World" which went on to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.  Divine's success in "Women Behind Bars" led to another starring stage role this time it was playing Flash Storm, a Baltimore strip club owner in "The Neon Woman". The play was a success in both San Francisco and New York. Divine settled down in New York for a while where he was a frequently seen at Studio 54.
In the late 70's Divine started performing a nightclub act in gay clubs that involved singing and getting into fist fights on stage with other drag queens. He released a single "Born to be Cheap". After performing the club circuit Divine went back to film work with the role of Francine Fishpaw in "Polyester". Her love interest in this film was Tab Hunter and there was tabloid gossip that the two were an actual couple. Both denied the allegations. Divine and Hunter were reunited in the film "Lust in the Dust". This was Divine's first real film not directed by John Waters. Divine followed this a role in "Trouble in Mind" playing Hilly Blue a male character.
John Waters then cast Divine in "Hairspray". Divine again played two characters one male and one female,  Arvin Hodgepile and Edna Turnblad. This would utimately be Divine's most successful and last film with John Waters. Divine's last film role was a cameo in a low budget horror/comedy "Out of the Dark". "Hairspray" is considered her last major role.
Three weeks after the release of "Hairspray" Divine was in Los Angeles working on an episode of "Married With Children" when he was discovered dead in his hotel room on March 7, 1988. He was 42 years old.
"I think I've always been respectable. What I do onstage is not what I do in my private life… It's an act… It's how I make my living. People laugh, and it's not hurting anyone." -Divine

LAPD Punk'd

LAPD were sent out in full force to an address in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday 10/03 after a caller to 911 claimed there was a hostage situation. The address was the home of a Christopher Ashton Kutcher and when the police arrived they found that it was a prank phone call. This is something new and is called "Swatting" an emerging crime. "Swatting" gets its name from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and it is when a full contingent of police go to what is believed to be a hostage situation. This is not the first time that LAPD has been swatted. They were recently sent out to the home of Miley Cyrus and it to was a hoax.
Kutcher was not at home and was in fact on the set of "Two and a Half Men".

Biting Bonaduce

"I loved you on The Partridge Family" That's all you have to say apparently to get close enough to Danny Bonaduce to bite him. Poor Danny was bitten by a crazed fan at a casino in Washington State. "Crazed Bonaduce Fan" now that's a redundancy if there ever was one! The "Duce" described his fanatical fan as having little bitty "chucky" teeth. She apparently saw him in the casino went up to him and bit him on the left check and then started sucking. Not unlike Danny's career. She drew blood and was pulled off of him and hauled away. Danny has decided not to press charges. He thinks it is all to blame on bath salts.

Movie Star Maps

Take a drive along Sunset Blvd in Hombly Hills and you will see the signs; movie star maps for sale. For a mere five or six bucks you too can buy a map that will show you where all the stars live. How exciting. You can drive up and see their homes in person. Well maybe you can and maybe you can't.
Tour buses from Hollywood Blvd will take you around and the driver will point out the sights of Hollywood and Beverly Hills and if you are lucky you too can see a real live star. This is big business but truth be told it is a sham. The maps for sale are generally inaccurate and the tour guides are often wrong.
A woman I met recently at a party told me of car loads of people coming to her home and gawking trying to see in and sometimes trying to get in as they had a map saying Brad Pitt lived there. This lady who will remained un-named told me she and her husband built their house. They had lived there since the 70's and Brad Pitt had never resided there and in fact had never to her knowledge ever lived in her neighborhood. She told me she sometimes would be annoyed by the star gazers but often felt bad for them having been duped.
While heading to an address in Bel Air one day I was passed by a tour bus pointing out the homes of celebrities. Well the driver was actually pointing out the hedges of celebrities. "Look look! It's Lee Major's maid!"
In this time of stalkers and psychos homes have become fortresses. The days of knocking on George Burns' door and being invited in for a lemonade are over.