Category: Interesting Stories

In 1937, Orson Welles took the theater world by storm with a string of Broadway successes, culminating in an influential modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The following year, his masterful adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds caused a sensation on the radio. And, after making the move across to Hollywood, the release […]

1941’s The Maltese Falcon strengthened Humphrey Bogart’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars, and thanks to its winning combination of rapid, smart dialog, femmes fatales, and brooding cinematography, it established many of the tropes and tricks that became the standards of film noir movies. Bogart himself almost didn’t land a role in the […]

Few Hollywood rivalries have been as bitter, or as long-lasting, as that between legendary sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland. Joan was the younger sister by just 15 months and their rivalry started in childhood. Olivia reportedly never accepting having a younger sister; on the other hand, Joan resented the fact that Olivia was […]

Given her legendary status today, it’s incredible to think that Katharine Hepburn was once considered something of a box office flop. A string of poorly received movies had left her in something of a slump by the late 1930s, and so, disillusioned by Hollywood and licking her wounds, she returned home to New York. There, […]

One of director Howard Hawks’ biggest hits was the acclaimed comedy His Girl Friday. Released in 1940, the movie starred Cary Grant as a gruff New York newspaper editor who will do anything and everything to stop his star reporter, played by Rosalind Russell, from quitting the paper. The movie was based on a hit […]

It might be almost a century old, but The Wizard of Oz continues to charm audiences of both children and adults alike to this day. Released in 1939, here are some facts and stories from one of the Golden Age of Hollywood’s greatest ever pictures. CUT! Incredibly, it took the work of five different directors […]

Actor Jackie Coogan is probably best known today for playing bald-headed Uncle Fester in the 1960s television series The Addams Family. But four decades before that, he was a major child star of the silent era. A lead role alongside Charlie Chaplin in The Kid in 1921 had established Coogan’s reputation in Hollywood by the […]

Only five films in history have made more than $2 billion at the box office, two of which—Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019)—are entries in the Avengers series. But when box office totals are adjusted for inflation over time, incredibly the most successful movie of all time remains 1939’s Gone with the Wind, the box […]

Incredibly, Howard Hawks’ classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby flopped when it was originally released in 1938. The movie came in over budget, was delivered to its studio late, and despite positive reviews only just managed to break even at the box office—leading to its star, Katharine Hepburn, being memorably labeled “box office poison” in […]

1935’s The 39 Steps tells the story of Richard Hannay, a man who becomes tangled up in an international espionage organization—the eponymous “39 Steps”—that are attempting to steal British military secrets. The movie was one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s earliest non-silent movies and remains one of his most popular masterpieces. Hitchcock, as well as being […]