Hollywood wedding rings borrowed fumbled proxy

Hollywood Wedding Rings at the altar
Borrowed, Fumbled, Misunderstood
Proxy engagements, weddings

Prince Rainier takes ring for bride, Grace Kelly

When Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier the press and public misinterpreted some things that were done by tradition and/or protocol. 

It's common to read that the Prince fumbled with the ring as he placed it on her finger in 1956. Princess Grace would later explain what had happened.
 
"Everyone thought the Prince had trouble putting the ring on Grace's finger, but actually it was prearranged that she would help him -- to show her willingness to marry."

In 1929 when Lydell Peck slipped an engagement ring on the finger of actress Janet Gaynor she reportedly told him that she

Handmade Rhinestone Crystal
Flower Bridal Wedding Headband Tiara

wasn't a natural redhead. "You have the right to know..."

Orson Welles forgot to take wedding ring out of the box in 1943 when he was at the altar with bride Rita Hayworth. 

"After fumbling with it he was so nervous he couldn't get it on the proper Hayworth finger causing Judge Orlando H. Rhodes of Santa Monica superior court to suggest, 'hold her finger with your other hand.'" Actor Joseph Cotten was Welles' best man.

Engaged, Married by Proxy

Captain Blood poster
Errol Flynn Olivia De Havilland

During World War II there were multiple stories about couples, one of whom was in the military being engaged and married by proxy. They were unable to be together for the ceremony. Someone would stand in for the bride and groom.

Errol Flynn gave his bride-to-be, Patrice Wymore, a sapphire ring, the color of her eyes. "He did it by proxy since he was in bed with a cold. 

"The ring was a six carat sapphire of deep blue crusted with baguette diamonds. No one would say how much it cost. A representative of the jewelers gave Miss Wymore the ring in her hotel suite."  

Merle Oberon and film cameraman Lucien Ballard were married by proxy in 1945. She and Ballard were unable to leave work. Civil registrar in Mexico performed ceremony. Attorney JT Portillo took the role as bridegroom and

4 Tier Heart Multilayer Baking
Cake Tins Cake Pans 6" 8" 10" 12"

Alejandro Munox served as proxy bride.

Friend Cole Porter called it "the chicest thing I ever heard of."

Miss Oberon said, "We didn't want to be chic. We just wanted everything to be quiet and simple." There were also plans for a later wedding in the United States.

Borrowed Rings

In 1936 John Barrymore married Elaine Barrie. The groom lost her ring and had to borrow one from one of their witnesses.  

Madge Evans and Sidney Kingsley had to borrow a ring for their wedding in 1939. Their wedding was held shortly after Evans left the stage where she was appearing in a play in Ogunquit, Maine. The couple remained married for the rest of the bride's life, through 1981.

Lyle Talbot borrowed a ring for his wedding to dancer Tommye Adams (Abigail Adams) in 1942.

Misfits cast 1961 art print
Clark Gable Marylin Monroe w/Arthur Miller

The judge who married Marilyn Monroe and playwright Arthur Miller in 1956 said that "Miller mumbled something to the effect that the ring would be replaced later, indicating apparently that he had borrowed it for the occasion."
 

Antique Bronze 8-light
Double Round Crystal Chandelier

Joan Crawford was married to Alfred Steele, head of Pepsi-Cola, in Las Vegas it was with a loaned wedding ring. She said they'd expected to be married ten days later. 

"We had ordered our wedding rings but at dinner we suddenly decided it would be a good idea to get married right away."

In 1970 When actress Patty Duke married William Tell, they  borrowed a plain gold band from a neighbor of the bridegroom's parents. 

Apparently the neighbor removed the ring and told the actress, "Here you can keep it." 

Joan Crawford classic
movie magazine cover Watch by Jakestuff

Related Pages of Interest:

Hollywood Stars and their Lost Wedding Rings

The Misfits, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe; Final Films

To Catch a Prince: Grace Kelly Wedding Collectible Barbie Doll


The Pittsburgh Press December 1936
The Daytona Beach Morning Journal June 1956
The Deseret News September 1950 
The Milwaukee Sentinel January 1942, May 1955  
The Spokesman-Review June 1970
The St. Petersburg Times October 1950
The Evening Independent July 1939, June 1945 
Modern Screen 1956

Actors wedding rings cover hide or show in movies

On Screen Cover-Ups: Stars covering wedding rings in films

Harry Houdini & Nita Naldi
The Man From Beyond 1921

What if married movie stars don't want to remove their wedding rings and they're playing a character who's single? What does an actor do? Are you superstitious? A romantic at heart? Do you ever remove your wedding ring? 

Nita Naldi and Don Ameche refused to remove their wedding rings. It didn't matter if they was in films and playing unmarried characters. 

Also in the 1930s Mary Pickford, Irene Dunne, Joan Blondell, Gary Cooper refused to remove theirs. They covered the wedding and engagement rings in different ways. Some with make up over adhesive tape, grease paint, flesh coloured sticking plaster, something like this. When you watch their movies you might still be able to spot them. 

Spotting things like these can be little Easter eggs for film buffs. It goes beyond the question of, "Why is this single man or woman wearing a wedding ring?"  It's part of the audience's willing suspension of disbelief. Audience members are alerted, know something of an inside story and you don't let it interfere with your enjoyment of the movie.

In the 1920s and 1930s hand models used in movie close-ups. Was that really

Joan Blondell Dick Powell 8x10"

the hand of Gloria Swanson or Pauline Frederick? Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn?

Betty Compson and Dorothea Wieck kept them with them but hidden. Dorothea Wieck hid her wedding ring in her shoe. Betty Compson on a gold chain pinned inside of dress. This was not a wedding ring, but a ring given to her by producer George Loane Tucker, credited as her discoverer.

Ruby Keeler had a special ring made that would cover her wedding ring. Ina Claire removed her wedding ring for the first time when making Ninotchka. She later learned that she could have just covered it.

Diamond didn't start becoming the gemstone of choice for engagement rings until the late 1940s when diamond company De Beers launched the slogan, A Diamond is Forever. To this day, couples may choose different types of engagement rings and special jewelry.

Anita Louise covered her ring finger with tape and doped it with flesh colored make up so it didn't show. When Penny Singleton objected to taking off the huge ceylon sapphire given to her by Robert Sparks and an entire sequence had to be rewritten.

The wedding rings of actors such as Fred MacMurray can be seen in movies. Check it out in Double Indemnity. Do you ever catch Robert Taylor's wedding ring? How about Cary Grant's in films such as Mr. Lucky? Grant wore a necklace that had personal significance. It appears in many of his films. Other actors' personal jewelry also is worn but not as noticeable maybe as wedding rings. More on that in an upcoming post.

For Constance Bennett they provided an entire false finger made of rubber to sit atop her real finger!  

Musician Harry James, Betty Grable's husband, had a specially made prop ring which neatly covered his gold band.

Does Alan Ladd have his ring covered with tape and make up in a scene shown in the trailer for This Gun for Hire?




Alan Ladd wouldn't remove his wedding ring. He had a big cameo ring to cover his wedding ring. Do you see it in This Gun for Hire, The Great Gatsby, The Iron Mistress?  

Joan Crawford is said to have asked for each costume for Reunion in France to have a pair of gloves. The film co-starred John Wayne. She doesn't wear gloveswith every costume and her ring may be seen in at least a couple of scenes.

Joan Crawford The Best Of Everything 1961

Lauren Bacall vowed she would not remove the ring given to her by husband Humphrey Bogart. Watch for it in Confidential Agent. 

During Bogart and Bacall's wedding ceremony, when she slipped the ring on Bogart's finger she patted his hand and said "See that you keep it there all the time." Do you see his ring in movies? Was it switched to his right hand?

Cornel Wilde wore tape over his ring in Operation Secret. Steve McQueen openly wore his wedding ring in some movies, even if he was playing a teen such as in The Blob. Carol Burnett was said to wear a flesh colored bandage over her ring. Another article of the same time period notes that she takes it off from time to time when acting.

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint, The Sandpiper Trailer
 
 
Elizabeth Taylor's wedding ring was covered by flesh colored tape in some films. She wore her ring in The Sandpiper where she plays an unwed mother. Her husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash in March 1958. Taylor never took off the engagement ring and a bracelet that he gave her. On her right hand she wore Todd's own wedding ring which had been saved from the site of the crash.

Ernest Borgnine wore rings regularly. He may have had a prop ring that covered his wedding ring for films. We know for a fact when he married Ethel Merman it was a double ring ceremony. Would it be easier for men to remove their wedding rings since the tradition of men's wearing wedding rings was not that old? 

In the early 1960s, Peter Fonda removed his wedding ring for his role in the play Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He wore the ring for curtain calls.

Specially designed jewelry; morphs into something else:
 
Arlene Dahl's engagement ring was designed so the setting of diamonds would

Ring Sizing/Streching Kit
3 Pc

detach from the platinum loop that forms the ring. Arlene wears the diamond setting as a pendant before the cameras and no one would guess its sentimental background.

Ann Blyth's emerald cut diamond engagement ring has actually two loops for the finger one size for her third finger and one for her little finger. When she is before the camera, the lovely ring on her little finger is actually her engagement ring.


Related Pages of Interest:

Hands in Film Fashion Surrealist Influences

Lucy Meets The Burtons, Here's Lucy features The Taylor-Burton diamond, Elizabeth Taylor’s 69.42 carat pear-shaped diamond ring

Lon Chaney Johnny Depp Knives Hands and Love Knives, Hands and Unrequited Love Alonzo and Nanon, Edward and Kim. Edward Scissorhands, The Unknown

William Powell and Jean Harlow and that 152-Carat Sapphire Ring


Sources include 1930-1978:
The Milwaukee Sentinel
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Toledo Blade
The Sydney Morning Herald
Photoplay Magazine

Christmas Wishes Golden Age Hollywood Stars Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

1938 Holiday Greetings from Carole Lombard, Cecil B. DeMille, Gary Cooper, Ginger Rogers, Will Hay, Stanley Lupino, George Formby

 "Season's Greetings from The Thin Man and Family"
aka Nick and Nora Charles, Nick Jr and Asta
William Powell and Myrna Loy

MGM Stars wishing you a Merry Christmas 1921:
Bert Lytell, Viola Dana, May Allison, Alice Lake, Ina Claire, Buster Keaton

1923, silent movie star,  actress Shirley Mason's audio greeting Christmas in Hollywood

1924 Paramount Stars wish you a Merry Christmas. 

Left to right: Lois Wilson, Noah Beery, Lillian Rich, Vera Reynolds, Rod LaRocque, Betty Compson, Ernest Torrence, Jane Winton, Raymond Hatton, Mary Brian, Agnes Ayres, Betty Bronson, Constance Bennett and Esther Ralston. 

"They are all busy at the West Coast Studios."

Joan Crawford audio/radio Christmas message

Christmas Card featuring Katharine Hepburn in Little Women

Every good wish for 1921 from Silent film star Harrison Ford

Christmas Parade of Stars 1960 

Best Wishes from Houdini

Yuletide Greetings from
Harold Lloyd

Santa George Burns and Gracie Allen

Merry Christmas from Douglas Fairbanks 1919

Christmas clips with a song
 

A Christmas Lullaby by Cary Grant



Merry Christmas from John Wayne and Bob Hope 1976



The stars speak for charities at Christmastime:

Clark Gable for Christmas Seals:



Doris Day - Christmas Message for Toys for Tots 1954



Jack Webb for Christmas Seals



James Coburn for Christmas Seals



Joan Crawford for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Greetings from Will H. Hays  1924

"Greetings! With a proper feeling of gratification for what has been accomplished during the year now drawing to a close, but with much greater feeling of gratitude to the public which has made our accomplishments possible by its encouragement and support, the motion picture industry looks forward hopefully to the beginning of another year of opportunity to serve you. 

"During the twelve months now ending more really fine motion pictures have been produced and exhibited than ever before in the history of this form of entertainment. Of that fact we are proud. The success of 1924, however is but the urge for larger accomplishments in 1925.
 
"To all the men and women of the industry who have given their sincerest efforts to this great service of providing the public with its most popular form of entertainment, I offer my thanks and my most genuine good wishes that their Christmas may be happy and their New Year be one of attainment and the rewards that attainment brings."
Will H. Hays (above)

Related Pages of Interest: 

Watch favorite old holiday-themed television episodes

A Christmas Wish: Kermit the Frog and John Denver

Charles Boyer receives The Gift at Christmas, parents and grown children

Harrison Ford, Strong, Silent Movie Star

Five child photography tips 

Dirty Business, Film Censorship in the early days of cinema 

Cocktail Recipes film star ideas named drinks 1930s

Cocktail Party Vintage Hollywood Style Recipes

"The Garbo cocktail will make you act like a star? One of Hollywood's little

Bing Crosby
likes the
Bogey best

worries just now is that bartenders, without permission, are naming innumerable drinks for motion picture stars. 

"The Garbo cocktail for illustration has a dash of Swedish bitters in it and six of them would make anybody act, but Garbo never even saw one. There is a Gable cocktail but the suggestion that Gable really should be on the house probably will result in its fadeout. Wallace Beery seems the only big star who is safe for no one will consider putting out a Beery cocktail." -- March 1936

Rosalind Russell supplied the recipe for the Rosalind Russell to Lucius Beebe for his Stork Club Bar Book (Classic Cocktail Books series), a volume that also advertises the Ralph Bellamy Scotch Sour. 

Somehow vintage cocktails, those seen in our favorite films and the ones however they came to be, named for favorite film movie stars can be fun to make, serve and of course to drink.

Have you ordered a champagne cocktail after seeing them in An Affair to Remember? Tried a Gibson after that romantic train ride in North by Northwest? 

Some of these will give you an idea of how times have changed or stayed the same. A few may be less than politically correct. Retro drinks to use if you're planning an event, a movie party or the next time the family gets together. Toast one another over the 'net as you hate a Twitter party while a bunch of you watch movies together virtually.


The Stars Suggest Recipes for Cocktails & Drinks

Norma Shearer's favorite is a frappe consisting of one part cognac and one part grapefruit juice and sugar to suit your taste.

Stuart Erwin and Jane Collyer have a drink they call an Avenue A.
Two-thirds bourbon and one-third vermouth. Shake well and put on ice until thoroughly chilled. Add a sprig of mint.

"'The Upsy-Down cocktail has the potency of a Clara Bow kiss,' promises Richard Arlen. Probably you have never tasted a Bow kiss, but perhaps you have kicked a mule. The effects are the same. Dick's favorite mixture is thus concocted.
 
"'Take the juice of one lemon and disguise in four hookers (a hooker is a small glass about two inches tall) of Scotch whiskey. Add four teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar and one egg. Season with  two dashes of orange bitters. 

"'This should make enough for four people' said Arlen. 'Unless they're college students, in which case you'll only have enough for two. I mixed this for four Hollywood yes-men - and they went right out and said No to Cecil B. DeMille.'"

Clara Bow and Richard Arlen co-starred in Wings, the film that won the first ever Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Picture at the first Academy Awards, 1927.

Sherry Flip; They say Edward G Robinson likes this 
"His friends call it the Little Giant-Cracker Cocktail for Eddie's Benefit.
Take one-half jigger of imported sherry and pour into shaker.
Add one whole egg. (No, not the shell darlings.) Anyway, add one whole egg and one-half tablespoon powdered sugar and a liberal dash of rum. Pour into mixer with fine ice and shake until creamed. Serve in a cocktail glass and decorate the top with nutmeg."
 
The Bogey Cocktail, a favorite of Bing Crosby
Not named for Humphrey Bogart though. It was created when Crosby "entered a motion picture golf tournament." Good old Nineteenth hole, something to follow your game.

"'For each drink served in a ten-oz glass take two jiggers of gin, one part of lemon juice and a spoonful of powdered sugar. Fill the glass with cracked ice then add champagne until the glass is full.
 
"'No shaking, just stir,' says Bing. 'I guarantee this one will make you croon.'" 

The Morning Call
Use a tall shell glass, half filled with shaved ice. Add one-half wine glass of absinthe, one-half wine glass of lemon juice and one-half wine glass of Maraschino. Fill with seltzer water and stir.
"There are several morning cocktails. Here's a neat little number named The morning Call and prescribed by Grant Withers. It's a sure cure for those morning blues." - 1934

Joan Bennett prefers a good old Martini dressed up with a dash of absinthe and served in a glass with both lemon and orange peel.

There are drinks named for the original screen sex symbol, Rudolph Valentino. Included is the Blood and Sand cocktail named for one of his most famous films.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz. blended scotch, chilled
1 oz. Cherry Heering liqueur/Cherry Brandy
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice
1 maraschino cherry, orange or lemon slice garnish
Add ice then shake, strain into 8 oz chilled glass

A fave of Fred MacMurray, suggested 1935
Bridge Punch
"For one serving, the juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cubes of ice, pint of ginger ale in a man-sized glass
Float a glass of claret on top and add some fruit"
Guess it's good for when you're playing cards?

Planter's Punch, specialty of The Brown Derby Restaurant
Like fruity drinks? This is made with a jigger of brandy, juice of three limes, a dash of grenadine and Jamaica rum floated on top. Served in a tall glass filled with shaved ice and garnished with cherries and a slice of orange.



Make a layered drink the old fashioned way, with your bar spoon

John Taffer, host of Bar Rescue demonstrated the Layered Cocktail on the Rachael Ray Show  "This Red-and-Green-Layered Cocktail Is Perfect for Christmas" Make drinks that wow the guests at your next party. Find the Rainbow cocktail layering tool below. There is also the VacuVin Cocktail Layering Tool and the good old Black and Tan Beer Layering Tool.

Claudette Colbert's favorite is a Parisian Pousse-café (a layered drink) made in a wine glass with two-fifths curacao, two-fifths Kirschwasser and one-fifth Chartreuse. These liquids should be floated one on top of the other. Ah, somewhere over the rainbow.... 

This and the Wicked Witch seem ideal for your next Wizard of Oz party, especially if you get some of those round ice cubes -- you can see Auntie Em inside. Some non-alcoholic versions are fine for kids -- make them into ice cubes. There are layered coffee latte versions.

Some other layered or stacked drinks include the
B-52
Jellyfish
Angel's Kiss
Wicked Witch
Nuclear Rainbow
Tequila Sunrise cocktail

This reminds me of those Astro pop lollipops they had when I was a kid. Candy Cafe has those and lots of other nostalgic candies.

Final Touch Glass Rainbow Cocktail Layering Tool

Constance Bennett offers the Brandy Blazer:
One lump of sugar one piece of orange peel,
One piece of lemon peel and one wine glass of brandy. 
Serve in a small thick glass, light with a match and allow to burn for 30 seconds stirring it all the while. How's that for a fancy mixed drink recipe.

Christmas 1947, Dana Andrews, his wife and kids are on a fishing trip. 
"Stevie, [his wife] explains wants to catch a barracuda to put in his Christmas stocking. He's got it figured out that if he gives Santa Claus such an elegant fish he'll get more presents.

"Later, much later, when the dishes are washed, Dana Andrews takes off for the Isthmus in the shore boat just to prowl around and maybe drop in at the bar for a Horse's Neck (ginger ale, soda and spiral lemon peel)."

A quick search for the Horse's Neck and I find that like many drinks it can be a nonalcoholic virgin drink or mocktail as described above or it can be made with bourbon or brandy, with a kick. 

The Horse's Neck cocktail is ordered in the 1935 Fred Astaire movie Top Hat, the 1914 Charlie Chaplin silent film Caught in a Cabaret, 1934 Lloyd Corrigan movie By Your Leave and the 1942 ZaSu Pitts' comedy, So's Your Aunt Emma!

Movie stars' Bars After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933:


Joan Crawford and several other stars are now adding wings to their house to make room for bars. A sip or at most two is all that Joan ever takes but her friends will be entertained lavishly in this manner to which they are accustomed. Her barroom will be paneled in natural knotted wood and equipped completely even to full barrels of beer on tap." .... One Christmas Joan Crawford redid an entire room for use by her husband, Franchot Tone.


Prohibition was repealed December 5, 1933. Many people had a Repeal Party
 
"It was a bar if you remember that Mary Pickford prepared as a Christmas surprise present for Douglas Fairbanks only little more than a year ago. When he returned from abroad to spend the holidays with Mary the room was sealed in cellophane and marked 'Not to be opened until Christmas.' A large party attended the opening festivities, the last large party that Mary and Doug gave before their separation.

"In Carole Lombard's newly completed home the bar is done in Scotch plaid with a small upright piano finished in plaid to match. 

At Joan Bennett's and Gene Markey's the bar and barroom are amusingly done in green and white, very modern." Didn't anyone have a basement bar back then? If so it wasn't in this article.

"Clark Gable the ol' mechanical wizard has a gadget that
helps him mix his drinks."
Final Touch 6 Bottle Bar Caddy Liquor Dispenser

"At Ruth Chatteron's and George Brent's the bar has been built into an over-sized closet off the second-floor den. It is all mahogany, delicately carved and a thing of beauty in its own right. Ruth gives only small parties and has no use for a large bar.

"Bing Crosby's bar looks like a music store, with its walls papered with the covers of some of the songs he's introduced. Peggy Shannon and Allan Davis built theirs right on the edge of the swimming pool flanked by dressing rooms and glass-enclosed for comfort on cooler evenings. You can swim to your drinks - and do!"


Jean Arthur, John Wayne A Lady Takes a Chance (1943) - Cactus Milk
Remember to drink responsibly, as they say

Recipes for Cocktails & Drinks named after movie stars

Mary Pickford Cocktail:
Light rum, pineapple juice, grenadine and maraschino cherry juice shaken with ice. Served in a cocktail glass

Douglas Fairbanks:
A modified martini. Plymouth gin, French vermouth. Garnish with both orange and lemon peel.

The Tramp aka The Charlie Chaplin
[Recipes differ 1 ounce each vs ¾ ounce each]
¾ ounce Broker's London dry gin
¾ ounce Plymouth sloe gin
¾ ounce Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur
¾ ounce fresh lime juice
It is supposed to be pretty tart. One site suggested adding dry vermouth. 
Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

An article in Slate said, that the Charlie Chaplin cocktail should be "adjusted if it is to please a palate conditioned by Modern Times," (italics added by me.) Modern Times is one of Charles Chaplin's most famous films.



Clive Brook needs to go shopping, but he's been creative in decorating his bar

Do you have a drink shaker? They come in all different shapes and sizes. 

The Barware Styles® Classic, Elegant Stainless Steel 3-Piece Martini and

Cocktail Shaker Set is a cool style. Easy to clean and it's safe to use. It gets high ratings, good comments from buyers. Great price...
Included: Free Jigger, eBook.
Not Included: Strainer, Bar Spoon/Masher or Wooden Muddler for crushing fruits, etc.

Some recipes call for specific brands. Many of the recipes can be found in slightly different versions in different places. Use the finest ingredients that you can afford, whatever is right for your budget and your event.

Next, it may not be the first drink named after a celebrity, but it may be the first one you ever had. A mocktail, it's nonalcoholic.

The Shirley Temple
3 ounces lemon-lime soda
3 ounces ginger ale
Dash grenadine
Maraschino cherry for garnish

The Roy Rogers is very similar to The Shirley Temple. You substitute cola for the lemon-lime soda and ginger ale. 

The Ginger Rogers
1 ounce dry gin, 1 ounce dry vermouth, 1 ounce apricot brandy, 4 dashes lemon juice. Pour into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Shake well.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Will Rogers
Gin, dry vermouth, orange juice and a few dashes of curacao. 

Not necessarily old-school far as I know but The Royal Resort Hotel in Las Vegas has The Barrymore Restaurant and it offers, steady now .... The Barrymore cocktail. They say it is "a spin on the Manhattan, combining Gentleman Jack, blood orange liqueur, and orange marmalade with a splash of vermouth." 

Looks like a pretty cool place with a vintage Vegas atmosphere. Maybe the ghosts of Ethel, Lionel or John Barrymore will chat or even party with you?

The Bob Hope cocktail
Offered in 1962 Paramount Studio's commissary
It consisted of tomato juice, yogurt, a dash of steak sauce topped off by strawberries.  Interesting.

Where are the cocktails named for Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorre? 


Nick Charles gives a lesson in shaking your martini, a different rhythm for every shake
William Powell, Myrna Loy, The Thin Man

The Jean Harlow:
Light rum, shaken with sweet vermouth. Served with a lemon peel garnish. 


How to serve them:

If you choose to drink out of a slipper or stiletto, you can say you're partying in the style of the flappers of the 1920s.

"Never serve sweet cocktails before dinner," says Claudette Colbert. "Cocktails are an appetizer and should not dull appreciation of the meal to follow. 

"We were compelled to disguise some pretty horrible stuff with syrups during Prohibition. Now that is no longer necessary, why not give the cocktail its rightful function again?"


Temperature of Wine, more

"Be careful of the temperatures of the wines you serve," is Loretta Young's warning. "Ice only Rhine wine and champagne. White wines should be merely chilled. Fifteen degrees below room temperature is correct. Red wines should be at exactly room temperature. 

"But never warm any wine too suddenly. It loses its bouquet. Just place the bottle in the dining room several hours before you need it and let it be warmed gradually." Film stars aren't the only ones with good legs. Wine can have 'legs, tears or curtains,' just some of the jargon used by lovers of the grape.

How About Ice? Anyone thinking Frozen?

Kikkerland Gentleman's Silicone Ice Cube Tray
Thinking Charlie Chaplin & Buster Keaton
or Breaking Bad?
Cool sunglasses and Bow Ties are hot

Assortment of Round Ice Cube Trays and Molds 
There are round ice ball molds, too. Jon Taffer and other bar specialists
suggest round ice cubes may be best for using in drinks. They tend to be more clear. Add something like berries? Your guests may have never seen ice cube balls or spheres.
They often melt more slowly, too.
What size do you need?
Will you use them for anything besides ice cubes? Some you can use for desserts for instance.

"Never put ice in a glass with any liquor except for highballs, rickies and mixed drinks." This is advice from Gloria Stuart. "The one cordial exception if creme-de-menthe, into which a bit of ice should be dropped."


Irene Dunne suggests you consider having beer at your next party

 

Star Wars: Darth Vader Bottle Opener

Final suggestions... 

"Never fill a wine glass to the brim," Peggy Shannon will tell you. "Part of the function of the glass is to hold the bouquet of the wine and thereby dispense enjoyment of the odor as well as its flavor. Two-thirds full is correct."

"It is criminal to gulp down good wine," John Miljan says. "You might as well swallow your food without chewing it. Wine should be sipped if for no other reason than as a consideration to the host."


Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as Jeeves and Wooster. Do you have a good recipe for a hangover remedy?

The New Drinking Code; OK to say 'I Don't Drink'

"At a mixed wine dinner, you must never serve more than two glasses with any course." This from Hedda Hopper. "You are not striving for the stupefaction of your guests; you are merely garnishing your food.

Wine is a palatable addition to a good meal but it cannot fully disguise a bad one no matter how much liquor you serve."

The repeal of Prohibition has had far-reaching effects. For one thing over-indulgence is no longer smart. If you don't like it, stay away from it. No stigma is attached these days to the simple statement, 'I don't drink.' 

"You may be surprised at the names appearing on the Hollywood list of avowed drys. Girls such as Lois Wilson might be expected, when you think of her screen roles. But the roster also includes such names as Mae West, George Raft, Jeanette MacDonald, Estelle Taylor and Rita LeRoy all of whom if you judge by their screen characterizations would go in for the intoxicating things in life."

 



Water sommelier; Bottled Water with a Difference

Many people would probably think that water is all the same, but one Berlin connoisseur has a different opinion. Water sommelier Jerk Martin Riese co-authored a book on the subject. Die Welt des Wassers He sampled various bottled waters for euromaxx. Not sure if the book is available in English or other languages.


Modern Times Charlie Chaplin (The Criterion Collection) Stream instantly or purchase the film on DVD


Eat Drink Movie Meals Eat along with your favorite film characters - Dinner and a Movie at Home  Making movie night special: Meal, Snack Ideas, Video Clips; Some drinks

The Frog and Blue Peach, Pub Naming Ideas

Holiday Menus: Different Hollywood Stars celebrated with varying styles of drink, if you party with May Robson, it's bring your own coffee, tea, lemonade or ginger ale. But you still get jollification.


Holiday Gift Guides, By Person, Price, Popular Brands, Type of prodct, monogram, funny, etc. Retro/Contemporary, Customize

"There's Still Time: Custom Gifts by Christmas" Holiday Shipping Deadlines: When will my gifts arrive? Customize if ordered today from Zazzle. Helpful! By type of item, For Her, Him, Posters, Tablet Cases, Shirts, Gifts :: By department and then by each item

DIY Create a Unique Zazzle Drinkware Gift Item Mug 
Personalize coffee mugs beer steins, 2 color combos and frosted mugs Zazzle 

Hollywood Vintage Louise Brooks Flasks  
See additional hip flasks

Notes: These recipes originally came from a variety of sources, have been merged into this list.
Anything within quotes is as it was in articles; commentary, italics, etc.  

** Please do drink responsibly, prepare to spend the night and/or call a taxi. Many cabs, etc offer free service this time of year. There was an accident in our neighborhood just last evening. It isn't worth hurting yourself or anyone else.

Sources The Milwaukee Journal, March 27, 1936 
Movie Classic 1934 
New Movie Magazine 1935 
Slate Magazine online, About.com, flickr

Gift ideas from the stars hobbies comfort outerspace

Gift ideas from the stars
Thank you! Thank you very much

Robert Taylor
Barbara Stanwyck
1941

Making your gifts personal. Customizing a gift can show you thought of them in particular, commemorate something special in your lives.  If someone wants something simple, it can be all in how you present it that makes it memorable.

Choosing a theme like someone's hobby or job can be an idea. Maybe a gift basket when it comes to friends or coworkers. Simply fill up a coffee or soup mug. Nice idea as a get well or thinking of you gift, too Tailor gifts to the recipient's hobbies. 

Think of something beyond the expected. Are they going through a tough time? What might bring them some comfort, lift their spirits? 

Of course if they're stars, they could reach for the moon and treat their loved ones to wonderful things such as jewelry and cars. When did husbands and wives buy one another pets one another pets? 

Remember Christmas 1968? There's a Christmas Eve message from the Apollo astronauts on video at the end of this page. Relive the memory of the message that interrupted Christmas programming back in 1968.
 
Gifts for your Hobby

Choosing a theme like someone's hobby can also be an idea for a gift basket when it comes to friends or coworkers. Simply fill up a coffee or soup mug. Nice idea as a get well or thinking of you gift, too.

William Powell's youthful bride has had an imitation chief train made for him and a ruby ring. Bill is crazy about trains. Myrna Loy is also catering to that hobby by giving him a stop whistle as well as a mandarin tree. 

Lana Turner's present to Tony Martin is a set of golf sticks. 

Edward G Robinson's eyes sparkled when let it be known that he simply wants a nice new painting and a box of cigars from London ... 

Dick Powell would like a new set of sails for his boat. He'll be spending the holiday at home with his wife Joan Blondell ... 

Ginger Rogers will be in her new home with her mother, cousin and some close friends. She's looking forward to a complete outfit of painting brushes and other art paraphernalia. 
-- Christmas 1937

Arline Judge gets her son a motor scooter 

The wives of Clark Gable and Fred MacMurray gave them hunting equipment.


Are you a woodworker? We have a luthier in the family. My husband designs and builds guitars. He has apprentices who are learning to make ukuleles.

The trailer from the movie, Reckless focused on more than just the movie

One of Jean Harlow's avocations was writing. She'd mentioned that she kept running out of the items she needed to write. An interview with a friend of Jean Harlow's, where the friend told of a gift from Bill Powell.

"I know one thing he did that pleased Jean more than anything else. One day there was a ring at her door and there arrived two uniformed messenger boys carrying two huge and heavy packages. 

"Jean opened them and found two enormous bales of writing paper, one yellow foolscap the other of white bond paper, with several boxes of clips, two erasers, and four dozen pencils. With the paper was a note from Bill which said, 'Just fill these all up with words.'" -- 1935 

 

Glamorous Joan Crawford
hangs her stockings

Joan Crawford gave her husband, Franchot Tone a room. She re-did a room in their home all for him.

"Franchot's room is a combination of artistic beauty and masculine comfort. Typical of Joan she kept it a secret until Christmas eve. Promptly at five in the afternoon seven men in a huge truck drove up in front of the house. Orders had been given weeks before and everything was in readiness. When Franchot went down to the library to wrap some last-minute packages, Joan turned up the radio to full blast. 

"The men were then given the signal to start work. Exactly 30 minutes later Franchot Tone was the proud possessor of a brand new room. Furniture had been placed, rugs put down, draperies hung with each man having his own particular job to do.  Brown and white is the color scheme. ... 

"The moment the workmen were finished Joan raced downstairs. Grabbing Franchot by the hand, she made him close his eyes as she led the way. Piloting him to the center of the room, Joan cried, 'Merry Christmas!'"
- Christmas 1935


I've got you a Brand New Car!!

Tom Gallery, Zasu Pitts and their children

Ray Milland will give his wife an automobile in 1940. 

Olivia de Havilland wants a 'snorky sports roadster.' She's set a goal for herself that she must have a certain amount in her savings account or no car. 

Christmas 1924
Caption said Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. got a car from The Thief of Bagdad
aka his dad, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Stuart Erwin and June Collyer Last Christmas in the morning all of the presents were wrapped under the tree and there was a tiny box for me with a card in it reading 'Mommie dear your present is too big to go under the tree. It's in the garage!"  Christmas 1935

1937, John Barrymore is "looking a new motor cars."

 

New car for Christmas!
Funny old photo late 1920s Customize Christmas Ornament
Joan Crawford wants an autographed photo of Garbo. 

Shirley Temple wants to be a boy scout, knife merit badges and all. 

Janie Withers wants to captain a professional football team. 1939

Jackie Cooper's Christmas Party 1931
 

Bling, Please

Sterling Silver Diamond Heart
Pendant Necklace (1/4 cttw), 18"

Barbara Stanwyck will find "a pair of matching bracelets in gold and set with sapphires. Robert Taylor is her Santy, of course."


Christmas 1935  Carole Lombard mentioned the gifts she's given to her friend and secretary, Fieldsie. Gifts included a couple of evening gowns, an evening bag and other luxurious accessories. 

Madeline Fields Lang was a former Sennett bathing beauty. You'll see her first name spelled a number of different ways.

Christmas 1935 Fred MacMurray surprised Lillian Lamont with the breakfast set for her dinette that she'd asked for. They were married in 1936. That Christmas it was written that he gave his wife "an armload of jewels."

Ida Lupino's gift from Louis Hayward is a sapphire ring. 

An article told how Harlow was among the Hollywood hostesses planning a big Christmas dinner in 1936. Bill Powell sat at the head of her table. Powell gave Harlow a nice amount of jewelry. 

Dolores Del Rio who will probably be Mrs Orson Welles within the year is giving him a suede lamp.

Carole Lombard shirt

This year Wallace Beery will surprise little Carol Ann Beery with a collection of dolls, one from almost every country in the world which Wally collected himself on his recent trip to Europe.  Christmas 1935

An interview with a toy dealer in 1922:
"Last year the Charlie Chaplin doll was very popular. But no one wants them now. The Jackie Coogan doll has come in and is all the rage. 

"The Kewpie dolls which were so popular for many seasons are giving way to other character dolls. Of course we still have a steady demand for the old-fashioned golden-curled doll but most new dolls are made to look more like babies and real children and the little girls seem to prefer them."

This was over a decade before anyone would hear of a golden-curled child star by the name of Shirley Temple. Are you an Addams Family fan?

Old Movie/Design your own Soup Popcorn
Ice Cream Snacks Mug alone or filled with another special gift

Gifts of Comfort

Mrs. Jean Bello mother of the late Jean Harlow received an unusual present from William Powell - a trip to New Orleans Cuba and New York. He is paying for everything. Christmas 1937

 "During all these months I saw almost no one except Bill Powell, the Baby's Poppy, whom she loves so dearly. I went nowhere. Bill hoping that a change might help me. He persuaded me to take a sea trip to go on to New York. I wen to please him in appreciation of his thoughtfulness and his gift. For my trip was his Christmas gift to me. But I took my grief with me and found that I was more desolate away than I was at home."
A 1938 article, Without My Jean, "By Jean Harlow's Mother"

Loretta Young would like some comfy slippers, enough pairs for one in every room of her house, including her dressing room on the  set. 

A 1931 interview revealed that in Greta Garbo's bedroom she had "a big rough wooden box in plane sight shoved under a dressing table. It arrived soon after Christmas," said the housekeeper. 'Filled with an assortment of canned anchovies, sardines, caviar and liver pate. Miss Garbo had the cover ripped off and the box left in her bedroom. 

"'She must have gotten up in the night and lunched on the canned delicacies as we often found empty tin boxes in her bedroom in the morning. Other times we found them in the kitchen sink. It seemed that Garbo never has learned to take American food. .... The housekeeper said she also had "a mania for watching a burning fireplace."

Families of more than one religion

Celebrity families, like many others, have to deal with what to do when couples of different religions marry. George Burns and Gracie Allen, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Harpo and Susan Marx talked about how they raised their children. Burns and Allen always had a Christmas tree. It was one of Gracie's favorite times of year.

Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher celebrated all the holidays his and hers. At Christmas they had a tree but they also had a Menorah for Chanukah with more candles burning each night till all were lit. When they had children they thought the kids would be taught the principles of both religions and be allowed to choose their own.

All five Marx brothers 1961
An appearance they made on the Tonight! show
From left, Harpo, Zeppo, Chico, Groucho and Gummo

The Marx family, too had a Christmas tree. Harpo Marx tells a cute story in his book.

"When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas that year she said that just for once she she'd like money. She'd like a thousand dollars to spend any crazy way she felt like, on paints, brushes, sewing machine attachments, curtain fabrics, rose bushes, whatever. To Susan, who was very practical with dough, this sounded like a mad splurge. It would have been dull to put a single envelope under the Christmas tree for her.

"That was no kind of present and lousy showmanship.So I went to work long before Christmas up in town at Hillcrest. Early in December mysterious cards addressed to Susan and marked personal began to trickle in. Ten of them came together. Inside each was a card made out to Susan in some odd meaningless amount like $82.97, $73.33 or $26.56. Each was signed by some absolute stranger, a name that meant nothing to her.

"She decided not to worry me about the checks until after the holidays so she hid them. She herself was plenty worried. She was sure it was some kind of new extortion racket. On Christmas morning she found seven more cards with checks inside beneath the Christmas tree.

"These checks were also made out to her for odd amounts but they weren't signed by strangers. They were signed by George Burns, George Jessell, Danny Kaye, Harry Ritz, Eddie Cantor, Jack Benny and Milton Berle. Susan puzzled over them for a minute. 

"Then she gave me a sly smile. She ran to get the mysterious checks hidden in her dresser drawer, and her adding machine. The seventeen checks added up to one thousand bucks on the nose. She said it was her nicest Christmas ever."
-- Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx, Rowland Barber





Esther Williams had been working on helping blind and visually impaired children learn to swim. Christmas 1950, she and her her husband Ben Gage presented a school for blind children with a specially constructed swimming pool. Esther trained the teachers in instructing the children how to swim.  

Pets in our lives

Buddy Rogers
and Baron

For a happier and less stressful outcome, person or a family should adopt a pet together after thinking considering that you're signing up for a life-long relationship that can last 10-20 years depending on the animal. Best to leave this sort of gift to very close family members or the recipient themselves.

Buddy Rogers' German Shepherd dog, Baron was a Christmas gift.

Christmas 1937 Clark Gable gave Carol Lombard a sheep dog. Lombard had received some ducks from friends at work and she had at least one rescue cat. When the sheepdog came into the family, there was a period of adjustment especially between the dog and Lombard's Siamese cats.

Jeanette MacDonald gave her husband Gene Raymond an Irish setter for Christmas 1935

Claudette Colbert has asked for a cat. Claudette has had five cats and they refuse to stick around. She wants to try again.  Barbara Stanwood wants a dog. "Alas she is allergic to dog hair and sneezes to beat the band when a canine shows his face around her. Dion, he son owns a pooch but it has to stay in the stables."

Marlon Brando gave Josanne Mariani a dog and myna bird, Christmas 1954.


The Legend of Silent Night aired on Christmas Day 1968. Kirk Douglas, the on-camera host narrates the story at the United Nations surrounded by a group of children who belong to the United Nations dignitaries. To add drama to the telling, James Mason, John Leyton and an international cast bring it to life in a film set in the Austria of 1818 where it took place." 

Christmas 1968, special newspaper sections
were devoted to Christmas programming.
The above message about Apollo 8 coverage
appeared alongside.

During the first ever manned trip to another space object, while orbiting the Moon for the very first time by human beings, on Christmas Eve 1968 the crew of Apollo 8: astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders have appropriately decided to send a message to Earth by reciting first 10 verses from Book of Genesis (English King James Bible version).
-- description

Related Pages of Interest:

Harpo Marx Comedy Legend

Samantha Stephens' Bewitched Pave Heart Necklace

Stars from around the world celebrate Christmas

Princess Bedrooms, Pink Rooms, Furniture Bed and crib crowns, cornices and coronas : How to choose, design and style, Selecting the right paint colors....

William Powell, Jean Harlow and that 152-carat sapphire ring

Oliver, a poodle fit for a princess, Grace Kelly getting married 

Rocketship space playhouses, DIY recycled cardboard Astronaut videos, Rocket Man

Hospital Gifts, Footzyrolls, Custom Greeting Cards for Caregivers, Patients, Survivors

Clara Bow vintage hat advertisement Tshirt by Jakestuff
Get fast custom shirts online at zazzle

Sources

The Palm Beach Post - December 12, 1937

Modern Screen Magazine 1938, 1952, 1957

The Milwaukee Journal - December 22, 1935

The Evening News - December 15, 1922

The Miami News - December 25, 1937