Warning... this is an adult site. If reading or viewing things about what gay men do sexually with one another bothers you - you should not read this blog. This blog is a reflection of my adventures and thoughts. Some are fun, some not so pretty. I won't name names, or kiss and tell... but I will live to tell. And baby, trust me - I am gonna spill it all over your pretty little party dress. Enjoy!
Everybody's from somewhere. In theory. Even in the abstract.
Today's cinema excursion dares to ask the poignant question: Where That Girl From?
And who has the answer?
Hollywood, of course. For Tinseltown has the 411 on anything or anyone who has ever graced the silver screen.
So, off we go... seeking answers, which these vintage films offer up in spades.
Yes, never fear. When it comes to the movies?
You are never truly lost.
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The Girl from Georgia
(1933)
Originally Released As: Her Secret
Johnny, the son of a rich man, is an idling, good-for-nothing loafer who leads a wild, hectic life. He flunks out of college, is disinherited and made to leave home by his father, who has written him off for good. Johnny opens a gas-station in Arizona, where Waffles, a girl from Georgia, takes him in hand and employs her own methods of reformation with astonishing and fruitful results.
Based on a play by Maude Fulton, this American comedy drama was directed by Warren Millais and stars Sari Maritza, William Collier Jr. and Alan Mowbray.
The original film (Her Secret) was banned in many locations on public morality grounds. It was re-released under the new title The Girl from Georgia in 1936, after a few scenes were deleted. You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube (under it's original title, Her Secret).
Sari Maritza
English actress Sari Maritza entered films in 1931 after gaining notoriety for dancing a tango with Charles Chaplin at the premiere for his film City Lights in 1931. Although her behavior was described as lurid, it was nothing more than a silly publicity stunt. She attracted attention and was cast in several low budget, but relatively popular British films. She made the German-UK film Monte Carlo Madness in Germany in 1932 before traveling to Hollywood, but her few films there for Paramount Studios and RKO Radio Pictures were poorly received. In America, she was portrayed as an exotic European vamp with emphasis placed on her mother's Austrian heritage, even though Maritza had lived most of her life in Britain. She disapproved of the studio's attempts to create a more mysterious facade for her, so she never became the next Garbo. In fact, as soon as she was married, she retired from film altogether. In later years, she admitted she had been eager to end her career, for she did not consider herself to be much of an actress.
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The Girl From Missouri
(1934)
AKA: Born To Be Kissed
With her pal Kitty, Eadie Chapman escapes from the sleazy roadhouse run by her mother and stepfather, only to become a showgirl. But her former milieu gave her a poor opinion of easy morals, and she plans to preserve her 'virtue' until marriage to a rich husband! All the while, Kitty keeps falling for servants. Will playboy Tom Paige break down Eadie's resistance before his cynical father intervenes?
Written by Anita Loos, this American romantic comedy-drama was directed by Jack Conway
starring Jean Harlow, Franchot Tone, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Patsy Kelly.
The original title of this film was Born to Be Kissed but with the Production Code about to take effect, MGM, in a panic changed it to 100% Pure. Calm, if not logic prevailed and it was released as The Girl From Missouri.
Jean Harlow, the star of the movie, was indeed The Girl from Missouri, having been born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 3, 1911.
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The Girl From Alaska
(1942)
After four unprofitable years in Alaska, gold prospector Steve Bentley prepares to return to the United States. His friend Ravenhill, who is known as Rave, tries to convince him to participate in a scheme to acquire 9,000 ounces of gold. Rave explains that he followed Mountie Travis as he was escorting a newcomer, Matt Donovan, to a remote location where Donovan was to help prospector "Boomer" McCoy and his son Pete take the gold out of Alaska. Travis was forced to leave the man when word came that a woman had been killed in Fort Nelson. Rave wants to follow the newcomer to McCoy's strike and steal the gold, but Steve turns him down. He then indulges in a drunken farewell party with his friends, during which he thinks he hears a wolf outside and attempts to shoot it. The next morning when he awakens, Steve is horrified to learn that Travis has been shot to death, and that the evidence indicates he is the prime suspect. Threatening to turn Steve over to the Mounties, Rave then blackmails Steve into helping him steal the McCoy's gold, telling him that the newcomer, Donovan has also been found dead! Will prospector "Boomer" McCoy's daughter believe Steve is innocent and that the only thing he's capable of stealing is her heart?
This American Western was directed by Nick Grinde and William Witney and stars Ray Middleton, Jean Parker and Jerome Cowan.
This is the first of seven(!) films Jean Parker appeared in released during 1942. She would repeat this same feat in 1944.
Jean Parker and Ray Middleton
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Girl From Tobacco Row
(1966)
Prison convict Earl "Snake" Richards seeks stashed stolen cash in a small tobacco town and ends up falling for the preacher's pretty daughter.
This low budget American film with music was directed by Ron Ormond and stars country music singers Tex Ritter, Rita Faye, and Earl Sinks, and actress Rachel Romen.
Although Tex Ritter appears in a supporting role, he got top billing because he was an established Nashville star. Known for his story-songs, Ritter is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He began starring in films in 1936, won an Oscar for best Original Song (The Ballad of High Noon), and enjoyed fourteen Top 10 country hits, including his signature song, I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven. He is the father of actor John Ritter. And, like father, like son, both would die suddenly of a hereditary condition called an aortic dissection.
Much of the film consisted of performances by various country and gospel acts - in addition to Ritter, Sinks, Faye and Johnny Russell the movie included musical numbers from harmonica duo The Mulcahys, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Smiley and Kitty Wilson and Martha Carson. The Wilsons were the parents of Rita Faye, who in turn was married to Sink. Using his character's name in this film, Sinks would go on to record numerous singles and two albums for a variety of labels.
The director, Ron Ormond crashed his plane on an airfield in Nashville en route to a screening of this film. After recovering, his films took on a remarkably more religious tone.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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Girl From The Mountains
(1972)
AKA: Devojka sa Kosmaja
The relationship between a boy and a girl shortly after the start of the war and the arrival of the Germans. He goes to Chetniks, and there he disappears without a trace, and she ,after much torture and solitude, begins to search for him not thinking in those moments of what the horrors of war can bring.
This Yugoslavian war/romance drama was directed by Dragovan Jovanović and stars Ljudmila Lisina, Mihajlo Kostić-Pljaka and Mihailo Janketić-Miša.
