MISTINGUETT: Besides being the world’s first greatest cabaret super vedette, Mistinguett according to the French had the most beautiful legs in the world. Even, when she died in 1956 at the age of 73,  French  people were telling each other : «  Lorsqu'elle mourut en 1956, à 73 ans, elle fit la une de la plupart des journaux de Paris. - On chuchotait encore qu'elle avait les plus belles jambes du monde. », meaning : even at 73, people were whispering that Mistinguett had the most beautiful legs in the world.” IT WAS SAID THAT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAIR OF LEGS BELONG TO MISTINGUET, DEBBIE DECOUDEAUX, BETTY GRABLE, CLAIRE LUCE AND MARLENE DIETRICH... Full story

TOM MIX: The Most Highly Paid Actor in the History of Motion Pictures! Is Governor Arnold the most highly paid actor in the history of American motion pictures as he claims? No! The most highly paid actor in the history of American motion pictures is the western/cowboy pictures superstar Tom Mix. In 1920, he used to earn as high as $20,000 a week plus a big cut. Tom Mix was the top cowboy/actor of the American silver screen silent films. He did his own stunts! Very daring ones. He was famous too for his elaborate cowboy outfits; he's the model for the dandyish, squeaky-clean movie cowboy that was much parodied in later years. Mix also had a legendary horse named Tony the Wonder Horse. Mix's movie career ended when silent films were replaced by talkies, but later on, Tom Mix radio program ran for nearly 20 years, with various actors providing the voice of "Tom Mix." According to biographer Jason Buchannan Mix was born on January 6, 1880 in Mix Run, Pennsylvania, USA and died on October 17, 1940...Full story

JANE AVRIL: She was Aristocrat, Marquise, French-Italian Nobility, Striper, Author, Writer, Philosopher, Humanitarian, Lovers Collector, Queen of The French Can Can, Friend of Oscar Wilde, Verlaine, Mallarmé and the Greatest Poets of the Era…and a French Legend!  You will never meet a woman like Jane Avril. Don’t let the naked appearances fool you. In her own way, she was a saint and a woman with a heart bigger and larger than the world you live in. Although, she has been called “Jeanne La Folle” (Crazy Jeanne), also “La Mélinite” for being extremely audacious in her Can Can performance, Jane Avril had a lot of class and an enormous entrepreneurial talent.   Jane, despite being a dancer who performed completely nude, was a refined, sweet, generous, fun, audacious, liberal, elegant lady with finesse and savoir-faire. French used to refer to her as a lady with “ Une personnalité distinguée”, meaning a lady of a distinguished personality...Full story  

BOB HOPE: For a man who played third billing to Siamese twins and trained seals, Bob Hope has become the most recognized profile and talent in the world. And, in the entire history of show business, no individual has traveled so far -- so often -- to entertain so many. Hope's entertainment persona has been evident in every decade of the 20th century -- from impersonating Charlie Chaplin in front of the firehouse in Cleveland in 1909, to celebrating an unprecedented sixty year with NBC in 1996...Full story

ANNE MILLER: What breaks my heart is the fatal blow of death that takes away from me, the people I love and admire. Our biggest enemy is not communism or absurd intellectualism, radical fanaticism or arrogant vanity, but DEATH ITSELF. The fact that we will never see again the face of  our beloved friends, family members and buddies who left us for ever kills me. And how silly is the human race that waits for such tragic loss to immortalize or remember such outstanding human beings. People like Ida Lupino, my wonderful friends Simone Signoret and Melina Mercouri, Maria Felix, and now Ann Miller...Full story

LOUISE WEBER (LA GOULUE): THE WORLD’S FIRST CABARET CAN CAN SUPER STAR AND ITS HUMAN TRAGEDY. THE SUPER STAR OF LE MOULIN ROUGE. THE QUEEN OF MONTMARTRE CABARETS…  AND THE SADDEST SHADOW OF POVERTY AND DESPAIR IN  THE STREETS OF PARIS. She lived the two lives of Cabaret: The happy one of a rich and famous dancer on stage and the tragic one in her real life, when her last  impoverished days ended her up  in the streets of Paris, where she died homeless and toothless...Full story

MAURICE CHEVALIER, MISTINGUETT AND THEIR TIMES: In 1918, the first world war constant bombardments forced « Le Casino de Paris » to close its doors. Around the end of the war, the Casino resumed its operations and offered a sensational show to inaugurate and celebrate its comeback. The two headliners were Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett. It was an obvious choice. Every six months, their show was renewed and enlarged to include various acts by other Parisians singers and dancers. Volterra, the mastermind of the Casino’s attractions and shows kept the show and other artistic presentations going for 12 consecutive years. Quite a record. He produced 24 productions of superb beauty. Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett wrote four of those memorable shows... Full story

AUDREY HEPBURN: Think of Audrey Hepburn, and any number of words and phrases come tumbling into the mind: elegant, touch of class, gamine, clothes horse, sophisticated, chic, innocent beauty. And above all, a good person, thanks to her tireless work in her later years as a special ambassador for Unicef. Posthumously she has achieved the status of secular saint. This adds up to a complex set of associations, a fact that attests to the power of Hepburn's presence on screen in a film career that scaled the heights for 15 years. But these same associations mask her acting abilities. This makes the National Film Theatre's retrospective of her work especially welcome...Full story

KATHARINE HEPBURN: Katharine Hepburn was born and raised in Hartford and West Hartford. She was the daughter of Katharine  Houghton Hepburn, a member of the rich and socially prominent family that founded the Corning Glass Works and an active supporter of women's rights, and Dr. Thomas Hepburn, a prominent surgeon. The second of five children, Katharine was bright and independent and excelled in athletics. She became interested in the theater at an early age, and at 8, she dramatized Uncle Tom's Cabin, cast it with neighborhood children and presented it in the tiny theater that her father had built for her in the back yard...Full story

MORE ARTICLES EN ROUTE:  EDITH PIAF,  ROBERT OSBORNE, JEAN GABIN, CHARLES BOYER, LANA TURNER, CILIA CRUZ, SARITA MONTIEL, PAULETTE ATTIE...