Showing posts with label MELODRAMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MELODRAMA. Show all posts
8/9/18
BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD TEA SALON
BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD
TEA SALON
AUGUST 15TH 5PM
(SALON ENDS PROMPTLY @7PM)
$15-PREPAID RESEVATIONS
$20 DAY OF THE SALON
PREPAY- antebellum@earthlink.net
~ENJOY~
HAND-BLENDED TEA
CAKES & DAINTIES
VIEW EROTIC ART
ENGAGING JOVIAL CHATS
RELAX & HAVE A NICE CUPPA
CELEBRATE BELA
HOSTED BY RICK CASTRO
TOM OF FINLAND HOUSE
1421 LAVETA TERRACE
ECHO PARK, CA 90026
INFO-ANTEBELLUM@EARTHLINK.NET
BELA LUGOSI
20 October 1882 – 16 August 1956),
Hungarian-American actor famous for portraying Count Dracula
in the 1931 film and for his roles in various other horror films.
He had been playing small parts on the stage in his native Hungary
before making his first film in 1917, but had to leave the country
In 1927, he appeared as Count Dracula in a Broadway adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel. He later appeared in the classic 1931 film Dracula by Universal Pictures.
Through the 1930s, he occupied an important niche in popular horror films,
with their East European setting, but his Hungarian accent limited his repertoire,
and he tried unsuccessfully to avoid typecasting.
Meanwhile, he was often paired with Boris Karloff, who was able to demand top billing.
To his frustration, Lugosi, a charter member of the American Screen Actors Guild, was increasingly restricted to minor parts, kept employed by the studio principally in order that they could put his name on the posters. Among his pairings with Karloff, he performed major roles only in The Black Cat (1934), The Raven (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939); even in The Raven, Karloff received top billing
despite Lugosi performing the lead role.
despite Lugosi performing the lead role.
By this time, Lugosi had been receiving regular medication for sciatic neuritis, and he became addicted to morphine and methadone. This drug dependence was noted by producers, and the offers eventually dwindled to a few parts in Ed Wood's low-budget movies—most notably Plan 9 from Outer Space.
Lugosi, who was married five times and had one son, Bela George Lugosi,
died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956.
8/6/18
7/27/18
DEATH IN THREE CITIES
DEATH IN VENICE- 1971
DEATH IN VENICE, CA- 1994
LOVE & DEATH ON LONG ISLAND- 1997
2/5/18
2/4/18
12/21/17
8/9/17
HANGOVER SQUARE
Hangover Square
1945
film noir directed by John Brahm,
based on the novel Hangover Square (1941) by Patrick Hamilton.
The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon who made a number of changes to the novel, including the change of George Harvey Bone into a classical composer-pianist and filming the story as an early 20th-century period piece.
The movie was released in New York City on February 7, 1945,
two months after its star, Laird Cregar, suffered a fatal heart attack.
Laird Cregar, a fan of the original novel, encouraged 20th Century Fox to buy the film rights. Fox relented, but wanted to recreate the success they had enjoyed with The Lodger the previous year and made several changes to the story, including the main character's personality and the setting. Cregar, George Sanders and John Brahm, who had all worked together in The Lodger, were announced as working on the film.
Cregar, who had ambitions of being a leading man and was worried that he would always be cast as a villain, refused the role and was put on suspension. Glenn Langan was announced as his replacement.
However, Cregar realized he could use his romantic scenes with Linda Darnell and Faye Marlowe to his advantage in order to change his public image into a more romantic one. He thus accepted the role, but began a radical crash diet to give his character more physical appeal.
The film had to be shot entirely in sequence so as to be consistent with Cregar's real life weight loss.
This frustrated director John Brahm, who frequently clashed with Cregar over how the film should be handled. Cregar, a real-life musician, was eager to perform the musical pieces on his own; however, Brahm insisted that Cregar mime. Cregar used amphetamines to aid his rapid weight loss which led to erratic behavior on his part. Brahm lost patience with Cregar and forced the entire cast and crew to sign a document stating they were on Brahm's side and not Cregar's in order to humiliate him into submission.
When the filming had ended, Cregar told Brahm: "Well, I think we've worked together long enough to know we never want to work together again."
George Sanders also brought complications. Having been put on suspension the previous year for refusing to perform in The Undying Monster, George accepted the role of Dr. Allan Middleton. However, he was unhappy with his script, particularly the final line in the film, which required him to justify the death of George Harvey Bone by saying, "He's better off this way." When shooting the scene, which was very expensive to film, George repeatedly refused to say the line. He later got into an altercation with the film's producer, Robert Bassler, which ended in George punching Bassler. The line was later changed to, "It's better this way."
American composer Stephen Sondheim has cited Herrmann's score for Hangover Square as a major influence on his musical Sweeney Todd
4/9/17
GASLIGHT
Gaslight
1944 mystery-thriller film, adapted from Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play Gas Light, about a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane.
The film was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor, & Best Screenplay;
it won the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Production Design.
The psychological term gaslighting, which describes a form of psychological abuse in which the victim is gradually manipulated into doubting his or her own reality, originated from the play and its two film adaptations.
Gaslighting, today, mostly refers to one of the methods of abuse used by a narcissist to emotionally control a victim, through which the narcissist gains pleasure.
GASLIGHT- 1940- ENGLISH VERSION
GASLIGHT- 1940- ENGLISH VERSION
4/4/17
DIAMANDA GALAS
SINCE THE EARLY 90S I HAVE FOLLOWED DIAMANDA GALAS.
FROM HER PLAGUE MASS~
DEDICATED TO HER BROTHER~PHILIP~DIMITRI GALAS~ WHO DIED OF AIDS IN 1986~
DEDICATED TO HER BROTHER~PHILIP~DIMITRI GALAS~ WHO DIED OF AIDS IN 1986~
TO HER "DEATH JAZZ" PERFORMANCES WITH JOHN PAUL JONES, TO HER MORE RECENT~ O DEATH, AND HER INTENSE REINTERPRETATIONS OF
THE SUPREMES CLASSIC~MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU.
THE SUPREMES CLASSIC~MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU.
DIAMANDA IS AN ORIGINAL VOICE IN A WORLD OF BANAL "BRANDING".
SHE IS HER OWN WOMEN; AN ARTIST OF DEPTH AND CLARITY.
SHE IS HER OWN WOMEN; AN ARTIST OF DEPTH AND CLARITY.
DIAMANDA IS A GOTH IN THE TRUE SENSE OF THE WORD- GOTHIC.
3/17/17
SALOME
SALOME- ALLA NAZIMOVA- 1923
SALOME WHERE SHE DANCED- YVONNE DECARLO- 1945
SALOME- DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS- RITA HAYWORTH- 1953
SALOME'S DANCE OF THE SEVEN VEILS- KING OF KINGS- 1961
STRAUSS OPERA- SALOME- TERESA STRATAS- 1974
SALOME'S LAST DANCE- KEN RUSSELL- 1988
STRAUSS OPERA- SALOME- PATRICIA RACETTE- 2016
2/25/17
2/17/17
BATTLE AXE: THE MAKING OF STRAIT-JACKET
Strait-Jacket, (1964_
American horror thriller film starring Joan Crawford and Diane Baker
in a macabre mother and daughter tale about a series of axe-murders.
Released by Columbia Pictures, the film was directed and produced by William Castle,
and co-produced by Dona Holloway. The screenplay was the first of two written for Castle by
Robert Bloch,(Psycho) the second being The Night Walker (1964). Strait-Jacket marks the first big-screen appearance of Lee Majors in the uncredited role of Crawford's husband.
The film's plot makes use of the psychological abuse method known as gaslighting.
After the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Joan Crawford and other older actresses, including Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck, made numerous horror movies throughout the 1960s. Strait-Jacket is one of the more notable examples of the genre sometimes referred to as psycho-biddy or Grande Dame Guignol. During the film's original release, moviegoers were given little cardboard axes as they entered the theater. At the end of the closing credits, the Columbia logo's torch-bearing woman is shown in her traditional pose, but decapitated,
with her head resting at her feet on her pedestal.
Crawford replaced Joan Blondell in the role of Lucy Harbin after Blondell was injured at home prior to shooting and could not fulfill her commitment. Crawford's negotiations included script and cast approval, a $50,000 salary, and 15 percent of the profits. Anne Helm, who was originally cast in the role as Carol, was replaced by Diane Baker, reportedly at Crawford's insistence. Baker and Crawford had appeared together in the film The Best of Everything (1959).
1/21/17
10/20/16
GILLES DE RAIS TEA SALON~ OCTOBER 26TH @ ANTEBELLUM
PRESENTS
GILLES DE RAIS
DEATH DAY SALON
OCTOBER 26TH
5PM TILL 7PM
$5~ TEA SERVICE
$10 TEA SERVICE & GLASS OF RED WINE
HAND-BLENDED TEA
RELAX & HAVE A NICE CUPPA
SIP A GLASS OF RED WINE
OR PEACH BELLINI
VIEW ROMANTIC/OTHERWORLDLY ART
CHAT WITH FELLOW GILLES DE RAIS ENTHUSES
TAKE A LOAD OFF YOUR SLING-BACKS
Gilles de Rais
( September 1405 – 26 October 1440)
Gilles de Montmorency-Laval Baron de Rais was a knight and lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, a leader in the French army, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc. He is best known for his reputation and later conviction as a confessed serial killer of children. A member of the House of Montmorency-Laval, Gilles de Rais grew up under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather and increased his fortune by marriage. He earned the favour of the Duke of Brittany and was admitted to the French court. From 1427 to 1435, Gilles served as a commander in the Royal Army, and fought alongside Joan of Arc against the English and their Burgundian allies during the Hundred Years' War, for which he was appointed Marshal of France. In 1434/1435, he retired from military life, depleted his wealth by staging an extravagant theatrical spectacle of his own composition, and was accused of dabbling in the occult. After 1432 Gilles was accused of engaging in a series of child murders, with victims possibly numbering in the hundreds. The killings came to an end in 1440, when a violent dispute with a clergyman led to an ecclesiastical investigation which brought the crimes to light, and attributed them to Gilles. At his trial the parents of missing children in the surrounding area and Gilles' own confederates in crime testified against him. Gilles was condemned to death and hanged at Nantes on 26 October 1440. Gilles de Rais is believed to be the inspiration for the 1697 fairy tale "Bluebeard" ("Barbe bleue") by Charles Perrault. His life is the subject of several modern novels, and referenced in a number of rock bands' albums and songs.
In 1438, according to testimony at his trial from the priest Eustache Blanchet and the cleric François Prelati, de Rais sent out Blanchet to seek individuals who knew alchemy and demon summoning. Blanchet contacted Prelati in Florence and convinced him to take service with his Master. Having reviewed the magical books of Prelati and a traveling Breton, de Rais chose to initiate experiments, the first taking place in the lower hall of his castle at Tiffauges, attempting to summon a demon named "Barron. "
De Rais provided a contract with the demon for riches that Prelati was to give to the demon at a later time.
As no demon manifested after three tries, the Marshal grew frustrated with the lack of results. Prelati responded that the demon Barron was angry and required the offering of parts of a child. De Rais provided these remnants in a glass vessel at a future evocation. All of this was to no avail, and the occult experiments left him bitter and with his wealth severely depleted.
In his confession, Gilles mentioned the first assaults on children occurred between spring 1432 and spring 1433. The first murders occurred at Champtocé-sur-Loire; however, no account of these murders survived. Shortly after, Gilles moved to Machecoul where, as the record of his confession states, he killed, or ordered to be killed, a great but uncertain number of children after he sodomized them.
Forty naked bodies of children were discovered in Machecoul in 1437.
The first documented case of child-snatching and murder concerns a boy of twelve called Jeudon, an apprentice to the furrier Guillaume Hilairet. Gilles de Rais' cousins, Gilles de Sillé and Roger de Briqueville, asked the furrier to lend them the boy to take a message to Machecoul, and, when Jeudon did not return, the two noblemen told the inquiring furrier that they were ignorant of the boy's whereabouts and suggested he had been carried off by thieves at Tiffauges to be made into a page.
In Gilles de Rais' trial, the events were testified to by Hillairet and his wife, the boy's father Jean Jeudon, and five others from Machecoul.
In his 1971 biography of Gilles de Rais, Jean Benedetti tells how the children who fell into Rais's hands were put to death:
Gilles' bodyservant Étienne Corrillaut, known as Poitou, was an accomplice in many of the crimes and testified that his master stripped the child naked and hung him with ropes from a hook to prevent him from crying out, then masturbated upon the child's belly or thighs. If the victim was a boy he would touch his genitals (particularly testicles) and buttocks. Taking the victim down, Rais comforted the child and assured him he only wanted to play with him. Gilles then either killed the child himself or had the child killed by his cousin Gilles de Sillé, Poitou or another bodyservant called Henriet.
The victims were killed by decapitation, cutting of their throats, dismemberment, or breaking of their necks with a stick. A short, thick, double-edged sword called a braquemard was kept at hand for the murders.
Poitou further testified that Rais sometimes abused the victims (whether boys or girls) before wounding them and at other times after the victim had been slashed in the throat or decapitated. According to Poitou, Rais disdained the victim's sexual organs, and took "infinitely more pleasure in debauching himself in this manner ... than in using their natural orifice, in the normal manner."
In his own confession, Gilles testified that “when the said children were dead, he kissed them and those who had the most handsome limbs and heads he held up to admire them, and had their bodies cruelly cut open and took delight at the sight of their inner organs; and very often when the children were dying he sat on their stomachs and took pleasure in seeing them die and laughed”.
Poitou testified that he and Henriet burned the bodies in the fireplace in Gilles' room. The clothes of the victim were placed into the fire piece by piece so they burned slowly and the smell was minimized. The ashes were then thrown into the cesspit, the moat, or other hiding places.
The last recorded murder was of the son of Éonnet de Villeblanche and his wife Macée. Poitou paid 20 sous to have a page's doublet made for the victim, who was then assaulted, murdered and incinerated in August 1440.
The extensive witness testimony convinced the judges that there were adequate grounds for establishing the guilt of the accused. After Rais admitted to the charges on 21 October, the court canceled a plan to torture him into confessing. Peasants of the neighboring villages had earlier begun to make accusations that their children had entered Gilles' castle begging for food and had never been seen again. The transcript, which included testimony from the parents of many of these missing children as well as graphic descriptions of the murders provided by Gilles' accomplices, was said to be so lurid that the judges ordered the worst portions to be stricken from the record.
The precise number of Gilles' victims is not known, as most of the bodies were burned or buried. The number of murders is generally placed between 80 and 200; a few have conjectured numbers upwards of 600. The victims ranged in age from six to eighteen and included both sexes, but were predominantly boys.
On 23 October 1440, the secular court heard the confessions of Poitou and Henriet and condemned them both to death, followed by Gilles' death sentence on 25 October. Gilles was allowed to make confession, and his request to be buried in the church of the monastery of Notre-Dame des Carmes in Nantes was granted.
Execution by hanging and burning was set for Wednesday 26 October. At nine o‘clock, Gilles and his two accomplices made their way in procession to the place of execution on the Ile de Biesse.
Gilles is said to have addressed the crowd with contrite piety and exhorted Henriet and Poitou to die bravely and think only of salvation. Gilles' request to be the first to die had been granted the day before. At eleven o'clock, the brush at the platform was set afire and Rais was hanged. His body was cut down before being consumed by the flames and claimed by "four ladies of high rank" for burial.
Henriet and Poitou were executed in similar fashion but their bodies were reduced to ashes in the flames and then scattered.
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