Nov. 23, 1960: “Had a few days in New York while homebound from Europe so took in Lucille Ball's show 'Wildcat' in Philadelphia. It makes you laugh and cry and when it reaches Broadway it'll take this old town like she took the nation with 'I Love Lucy.' “
Just a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and reveal the answer on Friday ... or on Saturday if I have a hard time picking only five pictures; sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day.
I have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately, that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again).
If you're right, you will have to wait until Friday. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only reward is bragging rights.
The answer to last week's mystery star: Milton Sills!
Skin diver Harold B. Gavenman dies after a tragic series of accidents in which he was struck by a boat propeller and fell 100 feet while being lifted to a rescue helicopter.
Nov. 23, 1959: Jack Smith profiles Debbie Reynolds, 27, who is returning to the screen after an absence for the birth of her daughter, Carrie, and the breakup of her marriage to singer Eddie Fisher. "With tomboy energy, Debbie has bounced back into stardom -- and with astounding success. Today she is possibly the busiest star in Hollywood," Smith says.
Debbie Reynolds is “too busy for bitterness,” Smith says.
Nov. 22, 1959 -- Myrna Fahey says: “I was Zorro’s girlfriend Maria at a time when they felt it a good idea to have the idol of all the kids feel tender toward someone other than his horse.”
Nov. 21, 1957: “It was bound to happen. Marlon Brando and Stanley Kubrick, director, parted company. Brando may take on directorial job himself. The credits could then read: Written by, directed by and starred in ‘One-Eyed Jacks,’ or he may let Karl Malden direct. Karl’s making a fortune on this picture: on salary since Sept. 1. When I asked why Brando does anything he likes, I’m told he’s box office.”
Update: As many readers realized, this is Milton Sills. Although there’s no caption information on the back, the photo is evidently from “The Sea Hawk.”
Sept. 16, 1930: The Times reports the death of Milton Sills.
Just a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and reveal the answer on Friday ... or on Saturday if I have a hard time picking only five pictures; sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day.
I have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately, that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again).
If you're right, you will have to wait until Friday. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only reward is bragging rights.
The answer to last week's mystery star: Jane Frazee!
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Gertrude Olmstead in “Puppets,” Aug. 22, 1926.
Here’s another photo of our mystery star with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Eve Golden, Joan Myers, Mary Mallory, Mike Hawks (who says "this one is too easy") and Donna Hill for identifying him.
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Mary Astor in “The Runaway Enchantress” or “The Sea Tiger,” April 3, 1927.
Here’s our mystery guest with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Don Danard, Rick Scott, Carmen and Suzy Q for identifying him.
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Corinne Griffith in “Single Wives.”
Here’s our mystery fellow with another mystery companion. Please congratulate Stacia, Laura Aikens and Christa for identifying him and Jeff Hanna, Michael Ryerson, Mike Hawks, Carmen and Don Danard for identifying yesterday's mystery companion.
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Milton Sills and Dorothy Mackaill in “The Barker,” Jan. 6, 1929.
After the release of “Amelia,” the film about Amelia Earhart, I thought it would be fun to get into The Times’ photo archives and see what we had. Here are two pictures dated March 25, 1937, in which an anonymous photographer evidently tried to get some glamour poses of her. In the left photo, she’s looking through the radio antenna from the aircraft. In the right photo, she’s sort of draped herself against the propeller of her airplane. Earhart was a good sport about these poses – but honestly.
Nov. 19, 1956: "Jose Quintero, bright young director of the "Long Day's Journey Into Night," is a rage overnight. He's a Hollywood boy who couldn't make good in his hometown -- tried as an actor there and came to a little theater project in Greenwich Village. Mrs. Eugene O'Neill saw his direction for "The Iceman Cometh" and insisted he direct the O'Neill autobiography."
Nov. 19, 1919: Pietro Buzzi, operatic tenor, is take to the psychiatric ward of county hospital after being removed from a Hollywood studio. According to a 1916 story in The Times, he portrayed Kaiser Wilhelm in an unidentified Universal film.
