I’m on my lunch break.  I have an hour.  I wonder if I can stop working for an hour. Debbie Reynolds below is still working and looks amazing for her age.  She’s the Agony Aunt on the back pages in the National Enquirer (which most people think is the most right wing, vicious nasty vile publication that has ever existed).  However, I ignore the paper’s politics and instead head for Stars’ outfits of the week and Debbie’s letters of advice which I find very helpful in its back pages.  Of course she is also known as Princess Leia’s mother.

Picturegoer Film Album 1956-57 Edited by Robert Ottaway Editor of the Picturegoer Cover with Debbie Reynolds

Some of these actors I’m afraid I haven’t heard of before…

George Nader used to be the stand-in for Jeff Chandler. Then the two of them were put together in ‘Away All Boats’ from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57

But I do have things to look forward to.  I am going back to Milan for a weekend to try and finish off an EP under the name ‘Bongo Express’ with Geppi.  This started last year.  We have written two tracks but we have another two in the pipeline.  Maybe we will manage another one when I’m out there.  I’m looking forward to spending a little more time in the city and I’ve positioned myself quite centrally. I’m not very good at slumming it these days. I’m like Diana Dors except I can’t really afford it:

I like luxury by Diana Dors from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57 Edited by Robert Ottaway Odhams Press Limited, Long Acre, London

But my funding comes from doing a pitch for an advert out there with a producer / composer of some renown but sadly we didn’t get it. It’s just enough to cover my costs though.  This is a very funny article.  Paul Grenville goes on to think that Marilyn, unless she can prove she can act, won’t be remembered particularly in years to come….

Can Monroe Stand The Break from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57 -She believes that she has registered hard enough to survive this yawning gap in her career.

I am also performing at a Members Club in London in June which will be fun.  It’s nothing too grand but it’s a chance to try out some new material.  The album is very nearly done. Click here  Unbeknown Records for an update on our progress!

Detective Magazine published by L Miller & Co (Hackney) Ltd Vol 1 No 21 (To protect innocentpeople many of the names used in this issue are fictious)

Anyway it’s all about figuring it out…

Figure this out -From Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57 Edited by Robert Ottaway

Figure this out – The Answers from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57

I’ve also been trying to get back into filming artists and I have just done one for my friend Raj Curry.  I do enjoy these little snapshots and I plan to do more when I can get the time.

Lettie in Notting Hill Gate with her purchases taken by Raj Curry April 2015

Anyway, here’s some nonsensical ephemera I picked up from Cliff under the Westway (incidentally I went to see Dave Barbarossa play there with Youth on Bank Holiday Monday) who was on great form.  This was before the gig started.  I couldn’t get very near.

Dave and Youth in motion Acklam Village Underground Monday 4 May 2015

Cliff told me to mention his name.  He’s there on Sundays (my favourite day on Portobello Market) under the Westway and he has such a wonderful collection of stuff.  The Picturegoer is one of my favourites.

Picturegoer Editorial Offices 189 High Holborn London WC1 copyright Odhams Press Ltd with Gordon Scott on the cover week ending May 2 1959

As a huge lover of film noir and B-movies I do love Oxfam Books further up the road. There’s a lovely man in there who recommends things to me. I recently saw upon his recommendation Attach of the Giant Leaches (1959) and The Amazing Transparent Man (1960).  The fear of the atomic bomb is fascinating.  Even in Marlene Dietrich’s husband in 1930’s Blue Angel  (unless she can fund for him to go seek treatment in Europe) is dying of Uranium poisoning. Kill Me Deadly a 50s noir film is really bizarre!

My favourite film noirs has to have a tough moll:

The Women Who Wait Outside from Detective No 21 Published by L Miller Copyright 1958

The double wedding Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine in Times Square from Guys and Dolls from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57

Now apparently Frank Sinatra gave Marilyn a dog which she named Maf (after Mafia) which he wasn’t so happy about.  He used her just as he was using in this incredible film …Poor Marilyn.

Scene We Couldn’t Forget from ‘The Man With the Golden Arm’ from Picturegoer Film Annual 1956-57

From one mystery lady to another …..

La Deliciosa Christine Schollin aparece aquie rodeada por los argentinos Enrique Carreras y Alonso 1966

My lunch break is up….