The Gilbreth Family, Hollywood style - 1950 CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN , a  1948 memoir, written by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.  Their story recounts life in a large family with twelve children as raised by well known parents who are efficiency experts.  The title comes from one of Gilbreth's favorite jokes: "Hey Mister! How come you got so many kids?" To which Gilbreth would ponder and reply, "Well, they come cheaper by the dozen, you know!"  The cast featured Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy as Frank and Lillian Gilbreth . Out of the twelve young actors/actresses for the children, only two were given screen credit: Jeanne Crain as Anne Gilbreth and Barbara Bates as Ernestine Gilbreth . The rest of the children were portrayed as follows: Mary - Betty Barker, Martha - Patti Brady, Frank Jr. - Norman Ollestad, Lillie - Carol Nugent, William - Jimmy Hunt, Fred - Anthony Sydes, Dan - Teddy Driver, Jack - Roddy McCaskill, Jane - Tina Thompson, (...

SPIDER MAN is literally out of the realm of my understanding. Please enjoy this art work featuring Spider Man and the Green Goblin!

JUNE ALLYSON's image in Hollywood was the quintessential 'girl next door' with the raspy singing voice. Any cinephile of early musicals is familiar with June's vocal style and comes to expect a peppy, energetic performance.         "My voice is funny, I don't sing like Judy Garland."   June Allyson - 1986 Interview, CBS                          June Allyson was featured in three of the musical numbers in the film,  THE OPPOSITE SEX . I was very surprised to hear a very different voice style while she sang " A Perfect Love. " It didn't sound like June Allyson ... the voice was elegant and silky ... (no disrespect to June). My curiosity got the best of me, so naturally, I had to do some digging! My musical research led me to JO ANN GREER. Greer has a lovely, natural gift for phrasing a song. Clearly, the director of the film was not interested in June's unique, albeit husky, timbre for...

In Episode 106, we discussed the 1950 Walt Disney Production TREASURE ISLAND and its humorous Jim Henson Productions remake MUPPETS TREASURE ISLAND.  This blog entry will pay tribute to actor BOBBY DRISCOLL who portrayed  Jim Hawkins in the original Disney film.  Bobby Driscoll had an impressive career as a highly acclaimed child actor. He was the first child actor to be signed exclusively to Disney Studios. Including Disney, he acted in twenty-two films (1943-1955), twelve episodes in television series (1956-1960), seventeen (number may be higher) radio shows, (1946-1957) and three stage performances (1954, 1957) before before turning twenty years old. Driscoll was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award in 1950 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences  for his work in THE WINDOW and SO DEAR TO MY HEART. In 1954, he was awarded The Milky Way Gold Star Award (1954) for his work on radio and television. Bobby Driscoll's star (1960) on the Hollywood Walk of F...

THE GLASS SLIPPER is a lovely retelling of the age old Cinderella story. Forty three year old Michael Wilding, was cast as the handsome Prince Charming. Twenty four year old French actress/ballerina Leslie Caron was chosen as the shy, brooding Ella. In spite of their age difference, it did work!  THE GLASS SLIPPER is labeled as a musical.  Much of the original music, by Bronislau Kaper, was centered around two stunning ballet sequences. (I did read that Michael Wilding was not comfortable in tights - at all!) The feature song, Take My Love , was 'sung' by the Prince, Michael Wilding. The ONLY vocal piece in the entire picture - and the actor had a cover!!   As with most 'ghost singers,' they have a glorious voice and are not often given credit for their work. So, I went digging...... The person responsible for this beautiful performance is Val Rosing, a British big band vocalist. He sang and recorded with a number of bands. Rosing made the move to America, at the urg...

Kerri Lynn and I have featured three JUDY GARLAND films since our inception of ChatterBox Divas REMAKES:  "What Were They Thinking?!"   It wasn't intentional, it just happened that her films fell into our sequence of episodes.  Judy was one of MGM's top musical comedy actresses, with over twenty nine films between 1936 and 1954 to her credit. During that heyday alone, Judy also sang in countless radio appearances, numerous recordings and concerts.     JUDY GARLAND has been my favorite film actress since watching The Wizard of Oz  on our family's black and white television set as a child. I have seen most of her movies, and have a large (and varied) collection of her recordings. Thanks to the internet, I recently made a discovery about Judy's career that barely made a mention in all nine of my books about her.   On December 28, 1942 Judy portrayed the role of 'Vicki Lester' in the Lux Radio Theater broadcast of A STAR IS BORN with Walter...

THE CARTOON One of the voice actors featured in the Disney cartoon Beauty and the Beast was Hal Smith. Hal, an American actor and voice actor, provided the voice of 'Phillipe,' Belle's horse. Mr. Smith, oddly enough, may be remembered for his role as the town drunk, 'Otis Campbell,' in the television series The Andy Griffith Show. THE LIVE ACTION REMAKE The WHITE ELEPHANT in the room! (Tidbit from the web - February 4, 2015) Disney has announced a live-action Beauty  movie with Emma Watson as Belle. "Time to start some singing lessons," Watson wrote on Facebook. (The sound of singers groaning everywhere wafted across the lands!) Paige O'Hara , best known for voicing Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) told Review Journal that her agent has already reached out with an offer to be the teacher. We all want to know ... DID SHE??? In order to bring out the best in her voice, Watson took singing lessons (not from Paige, too bad!) and has re...

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW was originally intended for Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. I am very happy that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton invested in the picture to make it theirs. They made the perfect sparring couple! KISS ME KATE may well have given a musical spin on the Shakespeare story of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW . Did you know that the musical was inspired by Broadway’s actor power couple Alfred Lunt and wife Lynn Fontaine? Here’s the story that I found… September, 1935: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine turn Broadway upside-down with their volatile revival of the TAMING OF THE SHREW . Young Stage Manager Arthur Saint-Subber watches a fascinating phenomenon from the wings: Lunt and Fontaine quarrel mercilessly backstage, walk on stage and continue their bantering (albeit now using Shakespeare’s language), then walk off, taking up the battle again without missing a beat! The young man was amazed at these theatrical giants; the curtain between their stage personas and their ...

Hi there! Ann here! Welcome to our ChatterBox Divas Blog! You didn't ask for it...but here it is!! Kerri Lynn and I began researching/watching/discussing films and their REMAKES on March 20th as a fun distraction from our COVID- 19 isolation. Our usual performance routine had been suddenly scrapped. As it is with any topic that you discuss (or research), the more you find - the MORE you find! I am the Queen of information! Bring on the origin story… the useless tidbits … mistakes in filming … scrapped bits … unknown facts! We had agreed that each episode of ChatterBox Divas should be no longer than fifteen or twenty minutes, I still needed a spot to store these ‘extra crumbs.’ This blog is dedicated to unmentioned info that I deem ‘interesting.’  Check back here often for ChatterBox Divas additional dirt and fluff behind the film!