I received an email from a man in Mill Hill called Nicholas Leonard who has been reading my blog and had heard about the book. He believes his great great grandfather is truly one of the son’s of Barnum. From a family archive, he came across some extraordinary facts about his great great grandfather, Percival…
I received an email from a Mrs Ponsford from Chipping Onger who told me an interesting story about her grandfather who worked for a travelling group of players who toured British seaside resorts with his Whodunnit, Cludoesque show. Giles Ponsford was not only stager manager and actor but also a madcap schemer in generating audiences…
It seems unbelievable in our current climate that the Hollywood Studios used to have so much power and hold over their actors and actresses, practically controlling their whole lives. Greer Garson, MGM’s first lady for many years, was one such actress who felt the reins of the studio system. Greer Garson was in love again,…
I have had a lot of enquiries as to why we don’t allow people to post comments. The reason is the amount of poker and porn sites that spam the blog with URLs for their sites to generate traffic and search engine listings. If people would genuinely like to post comments, please send them to…
The fledgling U.S. Poultry & Egg Association embarked on an awareness drive in the 1930’s. It was originally called The Poultry Breeders of America and its motto was to serve the mutual interests of poultry breeders by promoting the virtues of the chicken. It sought to establish its presence in the life of Egg eating…
Do those blokes holding Golf sale signs drive you nuts? The golden age of street stunts was in the 1920’s, when the publicity-hungry were dafter and more creative. The age saw flagpole sitting, public goldfish swallowing and other outdoor marathons to generate ballyhoo. The prohibition era in the States initiated an entire underground economy of…
After a week away holed up in a dusty library slaving away at more research I am pleased to report the blog is back. Last week’s research delved into the work of the studio teams who developed sophisticated methods of damage limitation. Homosexuality was one of the peccadilloes that every major Hollywood publicist had to…
Since Monday’s post on balding movie stars, I have received an email from Spencer Torvil, who has alerted me to a website – the bald movie stars forum. This website shows you how to read early indications of impending baldness by close observation of receding hairlines and scalp texture. Apparently the website was set up…
One of the greatest secrets of Hollywood was which actors and actresses wore wigs. Many Hollywood publicists held this information close to their chests, only to use the information later to get higher fees. But George Evans, Sinatra’s publicist would never even allude to such a thing for fear of ending up in the river….
While researching radio stunts recently, I was reminded of the famous marriage organised by BRMB in Birmingham where the station married off two complete strangers who were listeners of the show. Another good one was the dry ice stunt, where participants in an endurance test were encouraged to sit on dry ice for hours on…