Have A Happy & Joyous New Year!

Happy Birthday, Dear Kasper ...

Whoever cast Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman in The Maltese Falcon (1941) is a hero of mine.  It is the perfect casting of an excellent actor in a great role.  And the success of that movie, largely thankful to Mr. Greenstreet, enabled him to take over other great roles, particularly Alexander Yardley in Christmas in Connecticut (1945).  I just love the Sydney Greenstreets, the Peter Lorres, the James Gleasons, and the long list of great character actors that have made a movie great, or at least for brief moments on the screen have dazzled us with their greatness.

                      Sydney Greenstreet, b. December 27, 1879

A Merry Christmas from Robert Montgomery

Merry (Cough) Christmas 1950s Style

Except for my maternal grandfather, I cannot think of an adult male that I knew as a youth in the 1950s that did not smoke.  Cigarette ads were aplenty, not trying to get you to smoke but to smoke their brand.  And giving a carton of cigarettes as a Christmas gift was perfectly acceptable, preferred if you got the brand right!

Of course, celebrities highlighted many a cigarette ad ...

And Bob was one of the many ...

Even Santa smoked his Prince Albert!

There have been many changes over the past six decades, a few even for the better ...

Isn't He Just Too Cute!

Theoretically, Bob had a pilot's license, obtained in July of 1930 along with good pal Chester Morris.  They went to Georgia for flying lessons and obtained their licenses at that time as well.  (Fast learners, our boys.) Then they flew their planes back to California.  There are photos of Bob on his return, thanks to the MGM publicity department.  And that's the first and last mention of his being a flyer.  Well, he did dabble in flying miniature planes in the 1930s.  And the man flew commercial planes extensively, liked to take naps on his flights.  But ...

Hmm ... perhaps he decided it was not a sufficient challenge or it simply did not appeal to him or he was too busy to continue with flying.  Perhaps the young and ambitious Mr. Montgomery participated in a complete fabrication by the studio.  Maybe Betty just said no.