Jean Dujardin, Gene Kelly, John Garfield

Natalie Portman will present the Golden Globes Awards 2012!

Natalie Portman attending the Golden Globes on 15th January 2012

Joining Natalie in presentation duties will be Jake Gyllenhaal, Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, Melissa McCarthy, Salma Hayek, and more! Be sure to tune into the Golden Globes on Sunday (January 15) on NBC! Ed Helms, Julianna Margulies and Natalie Portman will join Actor nominee Armie Hammer, SAG Awards® social network ambassador Regina King and SAG President Ken Howard as presenters at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced. Source: movies.broadwayworld.com

Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin at 17th Annual Critics' Choice Awards, on 12th January 2012

"I am thrilled. I am proud. I am over the moon," Dujardin, speaking in French, told PEOPLE about his Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for his role as a screen star in the silent, black-and-white pastiche about Hollywood's bumpy transition from silent movies to talkies.

Still of Jean Dujardin as George Valentin in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

The honors have been raining down all year. In the spring, Dujardin, 39, was named best actor at the Cannes Film Festival for 'The Artist' – a turn of events he says that he wishes never happened.

"I was thrilled, proud, and very scared," he says. "I didn't want to go to get the prize because it's not my job and because I'm very shy. It's a little irrational, because you never think of the prizes. I haven't had many. I still don't know if I really received it, in fact." Source: www.peoplestylewatch.com

"The Artist" is the winner of three Golden Globes 2012: Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Jean Dujardin, and Best Original Score - Ludovic Bource for "The Artist".

The scene in which Jean Dujardin and Missi Pyle appear saluting their audience in the beginning of "The Artist" (2011) is very similar

to that classic rapport between Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly.

"While The Artist’s Jean Dujardin does not possess the same dancing abilities as Gene, he manages to capture that same charismatic presence. So, while the dancing eliminates him as “the next Gene Kelly,” it is the Kelly charm and smile that so many critics have identified when describing Jean. And I would have to agree. While Gene’s smile stands alone (in my opinion), Jean’s is awfully nice, too. The similarities I draw from between the two men stem from that twinkle in the eye that they use to captivate their audience". Source: genekellyfans.com

With the war over, CSU (Conference of Studio Unions) garnered support from many motion picture unions. The Screen Writers' Guild, for one, divided its support, with left-leaning liberals backing CSU and right-wing members taking a more neutral stance. But all the guilds, as unions, were required to respect picket lines. In short, if CSU decided to strike outside a particular studio, no union member would cross that line. Members of the Screen Actors' Guild had a more difficult time choosing sides. Still, the strikers' determination led many actors to remain at home for the duration of the negotiations. At the time of the strike John Garfield wasn't even on the Warner lot.

John Garfield and Lana Turner in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

Garfield was in Culver City shooting 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'. But he responded to the strike action by joining the Citizens Committee for the Motion Picture Strikers, another innocuous sounding organization that supposedly had ties to the Communist Party, and drafted a petition (protesting the violence) which was sent via telegram to the Glendale chief of police, to various civic and political leaders in the Hollywood community, and to the Warner Brothers.

John Garfield was a member of the Screen Actors Guild executive board and he attempted to convince the Guild to mediate the strike. Ultimately, in 1947 the Screen Actors Guild recommended settlement through arbitration. However, by that time, most of the Hollywood guilds were against CSU and even Garfield voted against them, although as late as February 1947, he was showing sympathy for the CSU strikers. That month he participated in a benefit held at the Philharmonic Auditorium for strikers and their families.

It was staged with the help of him, Gene Kelly, Eve Arden, Harpo Marx, Keenan Wynn and others, all of whom performed in comedic and musical skits interspersed with dramatic sequences highlighting the dilemma the striking workers faced. Some of the things he petitioned for were worthy: he joined Gene Kelly and Gregory Peck in signing a petition for the American Crusade to Stop Lynching.

Among the members of The Committee for the First Amendment were John Huston, screenwriter Phillip Dunne, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly, Sterling Hayden, Marsha Hunt and John Garfield.

Gene Kelly said: "We formed The Committee for the First Amendment because we thought the people in Washington had gone too far. Everyone was being branded. If they couldn't brand you a Communist then you were called 'pink'. We formed the Committee not to protect Communism, but to support the right to free speech. There was a cloud of uncertainty hanging over this town which tarred a lot of us. People were afraid. They were losing their jobs. They had wives and kids to support. They just caved in. Even the movie moguls, who knew the blacklist was wrong, gave in."

John Garfield and his wife Robbe (1946) were among the usual guests at Gene Kelly & Betsy's parties.

Gene Kelly was married three times during his life. His first wife was Betsy Blair (December 11, 1923 – March 13, 2009). She was an aspiring actress/dancer from New Jersey who met Gene in 1940 when she was a day early for a night club audition. He was the choreographer for the show, and she was hired. They began dating, and were married in September of 1941. She was 17.

While married to Gene, Betsy was involved with various political groups, and would eventually be investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Her most famous role was in the film Marty (1955) for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA award as Best Foreign Actress. Shortly after these acclamations, however, she and Gene began living separate lives, and the couple divorced in 1957.

Gene Kelly with his first wife Betsy Blair and daughter Kerry

-"I can’t imagine an adult man not wanting marriage. Freedom is lonely... it’s sheer boredom. A little variety can’t possibly compensate for the joys of solidity, of having someone close by your side, of having children. For the joy of having a child, I’d eliminate a lot of freedom. And for a wife. A woman clips your wings a bit, but she’s worth it". –Gene Kelly, TV Radio Mirror (November 1962)

“I never wanted to be a dancer. It’s true! I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls.” -Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly was nominated in 1946 for Best Actor Oscar for "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) directed by George Sidney

Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly in "Cover Girl" (1944) directed by Charles Vidor

“I shan’t soon forget the first time I saw him, in 'Cover Girl'. When Gene did his Alter Ego number I realized that I was watching an artist. I grabbed my wife’s hand. ‘Look!’ I said. ‘Look at that!’ She maintained a loyal silence.” -Fred Astaire

“You know, somewhere in the world is the right girl for every boy. I guess I found the one for me before I even met you. I tried, but I can’t forget her.” —Gene Kelly, 'On The Town' (1949)

“Gene was one of a kind. He revolutionized dancing on film… he was a disciplinarian and a perfectionist, and I should know…” -Frank Sinatra

Classic Ladies & Noir Atmosphere

Gloria Grahame (Queen of noir atmospheres)


Classic Ladies & Noir Atmosphere video featuring stills of Golden Hollywood actresses, actors and 1940's noir aesthetic: Audrey Totter, Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Hazel Brooks, Lana Turner, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Humphrey Bogart, Virginia Bruce, Dick Powell, Ann Shirley, Jan Sterling, Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel-Geddes, Veronica Lake, Patricia Neal, Carole Landis, Ann Sothern, Donna Drake, Ann Savage, Anne Francis, Florence Marly, Joan Bennett, Virginia Mayo, Linda Darnell, Betty Grable, June Duprez, Hazel Court, Alida Valli, Paulette Godard, Carole Lombard, Gene Tierney, Marsha Hunt, Louise Carletti, Marlon Brando, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Gary Cooper, Anna Sten, Leslie Howard, Lilli Palmer, Burt Lancaster, Ruth Warrick, George Raft, Rosalind Russell, Joan Leslie, Joan Crawford, Ella Raines, Jeanne Cagney, Cornel Wilde, Ann Blyth, Larwence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Nancy Coleman, Dolores Moran, Marie Windsor, Mary Pickford, Kim Novak, Lauren Bacall, Claire Trevor, Kirk Douglas, Hedy Lamarr, Ava Gardner, Lizabeth Scott, Lenore Aubert, Vivien Leigh, Betty Lou Gerson, Sylvia Sidney, Sally Blane, Lee Patrick, Joy Barlow, Ann Dvorak, Dorothy Malone, Martha Vickers, Barbara Nichols, Toby Wing, Loretta Young, Una Merkel, Gloria Stuart, Mayo Methot, Joan Blondell, Priscilla Lane, Ingrid Bergman, Greer Garson, Anne Baxter, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Susan Hayward, Fay Wray, Mary Beth Hughes, Barbara Bates, Janis Carter, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Harlow, Jane Greer, Gloria Grahame, Gloria Dickson, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne, Anita Page, Joi Lansing, Maureen O'Hara, Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, Alan Ladd, Marion Davis, Corinne Calvet, Jean Seberg, Jean Arthur, Steve Cochran, Mamie van Doren, Joanne Woodward, Barbara Laage, Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Ray Milland, Sheila Bromley, Marlene Dietrich, Lynn Bari, Maria Montez, Norma Shearer, Olivia de Havilland, Simone Simon, Corine Griffith, Laraine Day, Constance Bennett, etc.

Soundtrack: "'Cause Cheap is How I Feel" by Cowboy Junkies, and Glenn Miller Orchestra: "I'm Old Fashioned", "Boogie Woogie" and "Sunrise Serenade"

Jake Gyllenhaal rejected by Minka Kelly

Jake Gyllenhaal hops into his Audi SUV after stopping by the doctor’s office on Thursday (January 12) in Los Angeles.

Minka Kelly was chosen by Esquire magazine as the Sexiest Woman Alive 2010

The 31-year-old actor reportedly asked Minka Kelly out on a date last fall but she declined.

Why, you ask? At the time, Minka was trying to patch things up with her on-and-off boyfriend, New York Yankees slugger Derek Jeter. Source: justjared.buzznet.com

"The Artist", "Humoresque", "The Big Knife", "Sunset Boulevard", "Singing in the Rain"

Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

"The Artist"´plot borrows not just from "A Star Is Born" but also "Singin' in the Rain" and several other Hollywood classics.

"The Artist" is a delightful and unique experience because it cares about things most movies no longer do. "The Artist" is a terrific showcase for Dujardin not only because the lack of dialogue gives his expressive face a workout but also because the film goes out with an exhilarating 1930s-appropriate finale" Source: www.twincities.com

John Garfield and Joan Crawford in "Humoresque" (1946) directed by Jean Negulesco

"Humoresque" is a remake of the 1920 film of the same name. The original title of this 1946 version was, "Rhapsody In Blue."

In the suds-drenched ''Humoresque'' whose walk-into-the-sea ending wrings a twist on ''A Star Is Born'', John Garfield is a self-absorbed genius violinist involved with Joan Crawford, playing an unhappily married alcoholic society woman. The lather reaches a mountainous peak in the scene where Crawford's Minnie Mouse eyes brim with tears as she listens to a radio performance of Wagner's ''Liebestod'' alone in her lavish beach house, and drinks herself into a suicidal mood. Source: www.nytimes.com

Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in "A Star is Born" (1937) directed by William A. Wellman

Judy Garland and James Mason in "A Star Is Born" (1954) directed by George Cukor

Jack Palance and Ida Lupino in "The Big Knife" (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich

"Hollywood, the mythical land of dreams. Though it's often glamorized on the screen, occasionally an industry insider dares to bite the hand that feeds him by showing us the flip side of fame and fortune in tinseltown; 'What Price Hollywood?' (1932), both versions of 'A Star is Born' (1937 & 1954), 'The Bad and the Beautiful' (1952) and 'The Player' (1992) are just a few examples. Yet, none of these films can match the negative depiction of the movie business and its power brokers offered in 'The Big Knife' (1955), directed by Robert Aldrich and based on Clifford Odets' 1949 Broadway play.

On the Broadway stage, John Garfield played Charlie Castle, which was ironic considering that Odets modeled his protagonist on Garfield. For the film version, Aldrich wanted Burt Lancaster for the lead role but when he declined the offer, the part went to Jack Palance.

Jack Palance and Shelley Winters in "The Big Knife" (1955)

Shelley Winters: "The Big Knife was my personal salute to the angry and gifted, great, sad and sweet John Garfield. It was also my personal tribute to my many friends who had been so brave, facing that truly un-American HUAC Committee."

It was actually the casting of Palance, however, that Aldrich identified as the major flaw. Most viewers refused to accept him as "a guy who could or could not decide to take $5,000 per week. We failed to communicate to the mass audience... that it was not primarily a monetary problem; it was a problem of internal integrity." Source: www.tcm.com


William Holden and Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) directed by Billy Wilder

In 1949 Hollywood, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) tries to hustle up some work at Paramount Studios. He meets with a producer who shoots down his proposed script as well as a request for a loan to bring his car payments up to date.

“Fame was thrilling only until it became grueling. Money was fun only until you ran out of things to buy.” —Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard

“You see, this is my life. It always will be. There’s nothing else. Just us and the cameras. And those wonderful people out there in the dark.” -Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond

Who better to play a once glamorous and popular silent screen actress than a real former silent screen actress than Gloria Swanson? Gloria Swanson was hugely popular in the 1920s staring in many silent films. Her life was splashed all over magazines with millions of adoring fans. By the time sound came her career ground to a slow halt. She made some sound movies in the 1930s such as 'Tonight or Never' but she accepted the end of her major career. Apparently Norma Shearer, Mae West, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo were considered and asked to play the part of Norma Desmond.

Gloria Swanson is so perfectly eccentric and wonderful that to imagine someone like Norma Shearer (who would have been awful) or Mae West would not have made as much of an impact. Gloria Swanson just had what it took to play an old star who was stuck in the past.


There is no movie musical more fun than "Singin' in the Rain,'' and few that remain as fresh over the years. Its originality is all the more startling if you reflect that only one of its songs was written new for the film, that the producers plundered MGM's storage vaults for sets and props, and that the movie was originally ranked below "An American in Paris", which won a best picture Oscar.

The verdict of the years knows better than Oscar: "Singin' in the Rain" is a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it. One of this movie's pleasures is that it's really about something. Of course it's about romance, as most musicals are, but it's also about the film industry in a period of dangerous transition. The movie simplifies the changeover from silents to talkies, but doesn't falsify it. Yes, cameras were housed in soundproof booths, and microphones were hidden almost in plain view. Source: rogerebert.suntimes.com

"And there’s that fade-out kiss between 40-year-old Kelly and 19-year-old newcomer Debbie Reynolds beneath a movie billboard. The kiss that many moviegoers saw but few know about. The one that Kelly put extra effort into.

The French kiss was such a shocker to Reynolds that she had to leave the set to gain her composure. “Filming was held up for about an hour while I drank Coca-Cola and gargled,” Reynolds says. She was eventually persuaded to return and reshoot the scene. This time around, an embarrassed Kelly promised that it would be a “simple kiss.” “I don’t know why he wasn’t aware that I had never had a French kiss. I was such a young girl. I was really upset". Source: articles.orlandosentinel.com

"Debbie Reynolds was 17 when she made 'Singing in the Rain'. In many ways, she says, she was surprised as much as anyone by her own stardom.

She was smaller and lacking in sex appeal compared with the Lana Turners and the Lauren Bacalls, the icons of the era who became her close friends. She had never danced before 'Singing in the Rain', and she had never kissed, either.

“I was taking ballet and acting,” she recalled. “I had no interest in boys, and I certainly didn’t want to be taking a class in kissing.” She says that if you take a look at the last scene of the film, you’ll see a mightily annoyed Gene Kelly giving her the tiniest of unromantic, closed-mouth smooches at what should have been the happy triumph of a couple over all manner of Hollywood adversity". Source: businessghost.com