Happy Birthday**, Robert Benchley, or Does It Look Like I Want Food for Breakfast?

                Robert Benchley (Sept. 15, 1889 - Nov. 21, 1945)
  
** (And a Happy Birthday to my bro David, who looks nothing like Mr. Benchley and rarely drinks, but is an American humorist in his own right, at least in the mind of his baby sis!)

September 11, 2001, Lest We Forget

                               Remember those once lost,
                                 And they will never be.
                               For no matter what the cost,
                                 They live inside you and me.

                               So long as we take the time,
                                 And remember the ones we miss.
                               As we listen to the clock chime,
                                 Blow them each a single kiss.               


From A Remembrance for All, a poem by Laura A. Neff (2001)

1950s, Anyone?

Can you imagine anything more 50s than Audrey Totter, in this dress, in a Cold War film noir co-starring Dana Andrews as a reporter sent behind the Iron Curtain (Budapest) to investigate a political conspiracy?  Nah...  By the way, in the movie Audrey has her sights on Dana's boss, George Sanders.  Now that's an interesting couple. 

                    Audrey Totter in Assignment - Paris (1952)

It Helps to be Over 50 to Appreciate This Post!

For the longest time I have wondered what it was about Jack Holt's face that seemed so familiar.  I was rather sure it wasn't another actor.  I searched through images of family in my mind, but did not see any Jack Holt lookalikes.  A former teacher, perhaps?  No such luck.  There was just something about that profile, besides being so distinctive.  Something from my long ago past. 

Voila!!  Recently ran across an article that states the cartoonist Chester Gould patterned Dick Tracy's jut-jawed countenance and stoic demeanor on his favorite film star, Jack Holt!  That's why he seemed so familiar, a pleasant remembrance from my childhood.  One of my Sunday heroes!

                                  Jack Holt (1888 - 1951)

                             Dick Tracy (1931 -  Still Alive!)

Willinger This Time, Not Hurrell

These two photos were taken in the same photo session by Lazlo Willinger.  Taken in late 1939, they were used to promote The Earl of Chicago, released on January 5, 1940.  Bob is 35 at this time, beginning the transition from youthful beauty to middle-aged handsome. 

It is always interesting to me how a photographer can change the look of a subject with lighting, positioning of the subject, or a little touching up of the final picture.  In the above photo, Bob's face appears more angular.  His eyebrows are slightly arched, causing his forehead lines to be more prominent.  It is a stronger, more competent Bob.  More the serious man he had become, much less the movie star. 

In the photo below, Bob's face is softer.  The eyebrows are lowered, the forehead lines are barely visible.  There is the hint of a smile in his eyes, he is not as formidable.  It is a friendlier Bob, still the movie star.  

Or to put it all more succinctly, Bob was one handsome man.