Thursday, December 22, 2016

Fun Finds: Modern Screen Magazine, March 1979

The holiday madness just won't end. Too much going on both at work and at home for me to get a grip on this blog! But I've been trying for four days now to at least get something up, so here we are with another Fun Find, a celebrity gossip magazine from early 1979, just before the '80s hit! Join me now as we observe the various blatherings and photos from Hollywood days gone by...
I don't know why the photographer on this first spread thinks it's in any way admirable to be "sued by Jackie O" or "Punched by Brando," but he sounds awfully obnoxious. There are two more incidents mentioned in the text! I had NO clue that Armand Assante once dated (lived with!) Dyan Cannon. La Liz was in her frump period. LOVE the pic of Jaclyn Smith and Dennis Cole. Jack Nicholson's eyebrows! Natalie Wood looks a mite rough here.
I also didn't know that Ryan O'Neal dated Melanie Griffith! Paparazzo Ron Galella is still alive today at eighty-five, having lost several teeth over the years thanks to his in-your-face, brash style of photo-"journalism."
The big "secret" that Linda Lavin's article refers to is the fact that the little Jewish girl from Portland, Maine would perform in her kitchen when no one was around, hopping up on the sink and fantasizing that it was four tuxedo-clad dancers holding her there and so on...
Though Lavin and then-husband Ron Leibman had finally been reunited in California after her series Alice took her away from New York (He landed a lead in the short-lived show Kaz), their marriage only lasted until 1981. Lavin, now seventy-nine, is with her third husband while Leibman (the same age) has been with second wife Jessica Walter since 1983!
Cindy Williams didn't wind up staying with Michael Brandon, but wed Bill Hudson (Goldie Hawn's ex and the father of Kate Hudson) in 1982 (till 2000.) I had no idea that Dirk Benedict ever canoodled with Marie Osmond. He didn't wed until 1986 (till 1995), though she wed her first husband in 1982. They divorced in 1985 and she remarried in 1986, having and/or adopting seven children. That union ended in 2007 and four years later she re-wed her first husband! I recall lots of articles and interest in who Christopher Reeve was with as he emerged as Superman (1980.) Eyebrows were raised that they lived together unmarried. Reeve didn't marry until 1992, about five years after he and Gae Exton split up.
I live for pages like this with celebrity quotes and photos of the stars. Henry Winkler really did stay with Happy Days until its bitter end in 1984. Poor Zsa Zsa, she lived a long life, though the latter part of it was awfully miserable.
We lost ol' Grizzly Adams (Don Haggerty) about a year ago to spinal cancer at age seventy-three. He was a sort of bear/lumbersexual type of guy before those terms came to prominence! I recall as a kid thinking that Maren Jensen was just amazingly beautiful, but she was never given much of anything to do on Battlestar Galactica.
Katherine Helmond may be ten years older than her husband David, but something definitely worked. They are still wed today fifty-four years later! Oddly, Bo Svenson's name is misspelled here. He is seventy-five now and still acts occasionally. I'm not sure what the story is with Betsy Drake and the movie Players (1979.) Imdb.com doesn't list her in it, even uncredited or with scenes deleted.
Wow. Jacqueline Bisset was offered $1 million for Bloodline (1979) and turned it down? That's integrity! Her replacement, Audrey Hepburn, was fifteen years older. I don't know where I've been that I didn't know Tom Jones ever acted in a TV-movie! His costars included such greats as Rhonda Bates, Tanya Roberts and David Hasselhoff! Peter Fonda "denies" romance rumors with Brooke Shields? Christ, I would hope so. She was fourteen here!  LOL  The article's text lists Toni Tennille's husband as Carol Dragon (!) instead of Daryl Dragon. Babs Streisand as a possible Evita? The mind reels. Mark Hamill married the young lady he's shown with here in 1978 and they're still together today! By the way, Denise Crosby did more than "tell-all" in her Playboy interview. She bared-all, too!
After Saturn 3 (1980), I don't think Kirk Douglas was of a mind to develop more projects for himself and Farrah Fawcett. The troubled film was a box office bust. As for Joey Travolta, fortunately for him he moved into directing and writing in the mid-1990s. He also became involved in work with teens. Did you know he is married to the daughter of comic actor Dick Shawn? Dudley Moore's diet plan sounds hideous to me!
Since I was eleven or twelve at this time, I clearly remember the much written about romance between Cher and Gene Simmons.
It used to freak me out that he would cover his face (and sometimes go about town with a hanging black cover over much of it!) Anyway, I don't know how "wild" she was in comparison to him! I seem to recall hearing somewhere that she didn't even drink and also that she left second hubby Gregg Allman over his drug use. The article really just notes that her immense notoriety as a singer and sex symbol made it hard for him to be incognito in his private life.
Oh dear...
This one is just bad... and dumb. Linda Ronstadt never even MET Elvis (unless it was something brief at an industry function, if even then.) She listened to his music on the radio while lying on the cool basement floor of her Arizona childhood home. All she did here was cover one of his songs on her latest album.
I just adored Richard Hatch as a tyke. Those sparkling blue eyes!
There's a lot wrong with this article. The girl shown in the photo is NOT who the story is about. The story concerns Jane Seymour. But she wasn't an ongoing cast member of the series Battlestar Galactica. Her character died in the movie-length pilot! All Hatch (and his other costars) did was lend an ear and a shoulder to Seymour while she was suffering from some unwanted phone calls and telegrams from an obsessive fan.
The sensationalism (and misleading falsity) of this publications articles reaches still further heights with this headline.
The article actually has the nerve to go on to say that since Burt and Sally had been together for three years, that their "love" could be considered like their child. (What??) Field already had two young boys by this point from her first marriage. This article is really dumb.
Star Wars (1977) fans might like this two-page photo spread of then-hot Carrie Fisher modeling some tossed together "disco duds!"
Is it wrong of me to suggest that she looks like she may be a tad under the influence in these pics? I already got myself in hot water recently with a Star Wars fan when we were looking at "mannequin challenges" on Facebook and I said that one of them was the best one I'd seen since Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)!
I've been watching Vega$ lately on DVD and will likely be pointing out some of the guest stars in future post. But this stuff about him being plucked from obscurity (from a Florida State University production of The Rainmaker) by Burt Reynolds and brought to live with Burt for six weeks until he landed steady work is intriguing...
Urich had one guest role on TV before landing a lead in the sitcom Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Later, Aaron Spelling took a hand in his success with S.W.A.T. and Vega$. Urich died altogether too early of cancer at age fifty-five in 2002.
Vince Van Patten is back in the public eye again as of late as the husband of Eileen Davidson of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
If this is their idea of being "caught kissing in public...." Wow. I do recall, though, Frrah Fawcett playing a lot of tennis and Van Patten was an excellent player as well, in fact he later turned professional. Did you know he was once wed to Betsy Russell of Avenging Angel (1985) fame?
It's true that Shaun Cassidy seemed to go for older women. His first wife, a Playboy Playmate and the sister of Janice Pennington, was eight years his senior.
Check out the young Jamie Lee Curtis, one of Shaun's dates around this time! (In this case, the two were the same basic age.)
What else can I say that the text doesn't?
Dolly was a "legend" in 1979, so lord only knows what she would be now, still going on as strong as ever! She's also still married to the same elusive husband Carl, a sixty year union that has intrigued and mystified many a person on the outside. What a whirlwind life of success and celebrity she has had!
You can really tell that this page on daytime soaps was from a time just before the soaring '80s successes of General Hospital, Days of Our Lives and All My Children. Those shows barely rate mention if at all while many of the stars and shows featured were all washed up before too long.
Some of the incidents in this page on the music business are quite startling. (And I barely recognized Anne Murray, though it looks like she was photographed through a hook rug.) Tammy Wynette and her crazy kidnapping, Waylon Jennings' entourage trashing a hotel room and "sex checks" at Teddy Pendergrass concerts? Not sure what occurred between Billy Joel and boxer Mike Rossman.
I don't seem to associate the movies Magic (1978) and Midnight Express (1978) as having been released around the same time, yet here they are. The movie Angie Dickinson had made called "Labyrinth" was a French-Canadian production called L'homme en colere (1979), released in the U.S. on home video as Jig-Saw. No matter how many times I ever see Karen Grassle out of Prairie gear, it shocks me... Fonda's Broadway play was First Monday in October (opposite Jane Alexander), which was later made into a 1981 movie with Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh.
The long, long parade of people who knew The King continues with this article by the business owner who supposedly sold Elvis Presley his very first guitar.
These you may read for yourself... LOL Nothing really jumped out and grabbed me, but Farrah's quote was sort of amusing-interesting.
The Kate Jackson-Andrew Stevens relationship and marriage just never did seem to fit right to me... Interesting to see a report of John Travolta prepping for American Gigolo (1980), a movie that would ultimately star Richard Gere. I always thought that Gregory Harrison and Stephanie Zimbalist worked opposite each other very well!
Not sure what happened to Dyan Cannon's directorial project, but it actually took until 1990 for her to helm a feature-length film. The woman with Dick Clark is NOT his second wife Loretta, who he divorced in 1971! This is his third wife Kari, who was with him from 1977 until his death in 2012. And that brings a close to this latest Fun Find! A mini-bonus to follow below!
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If you've been coming here for a long while, you know that I have an unusual Christmas tree. I call it "The Famous Hollywood Tree" because it's got an Oscar on top, the Hollywood sign along the bottom and the whole thing is bedecked with famed performers and characters from the big and small screen. Near the top are Elvis, Marilyn and James Dean, but on their heels are Scarlett & Rhett, Lucy & Desi, Groucho, Bing, Chaplin, Hope & Crosby and so on. Then the middle segues into TV with animated characters along the bottom. (Determining the placement - "billing" if you will! - of all these is always a considerable exercise...) Anyway, a few pics of the homestead, including this year's additions!
The Famous Hollywood Tree
My Royal Copley doggie figurine who holds some of the smaller cards in his mailbox.
This affords a slightly closer view, but only shows a fraction of the ornaments.
Larry Hagman, Dallas' J.R. Ewing, which plays the series' theme song.
A sucker for costar reunions, I have Hagman near his old series-mate Barbara Eden from I Dream of Jeannie.
Miss Julie Newmar in her iconic guise of Catwoman from Batman. I have her near a Batman ornament, too.
This was a 1988 ornament I recently picked up while antiquing. Howdy Doody isn't actually as close to The Grinch as it looks from this angle, but he still might want to watch his back!
My dining table on days when no one's actually eating on it!
Wishing all of you joy this holiday season, whatever it is you celebrate. Thank you so much for reading & remarking at Poseidon's Underworld!

8 comments:

petercox97 said...

Maren Jensen's best role was in an episode of Fantasy Island around the third season opposite Annette Funicello. Maren was so much wicked fun that Aaron Spelling should have chosen her after Pamela Sue Martin left Dynasty in 1984. I will never understand why that girl was not a bigger tv star. She was exotic, gorgeous, and smoldering. She would have been great opposite John James or Maxwell Caulfield.

Anonymous said...

YES! I've been chomping at the bit for one of your fun finds. Thanks so much for posting one before the holidays! I live for these which may be incredibly flattering or insanely pathetic!


The paparazzo Ron Galella IS obnoxious! He famously stalked Jackie O. until she was forced to get a life time restraining order against him. I found a book he "wrote" called Jacqueline at a library sale for $2 and snapped it up as I love almost anything Kennedy - especially Jackie. It is the creepiest, most delusional book ever and I've read Joan Crawford's My Way of Life! It's really not even enjoyable as it seems like the diary of a deranged stalker. The lengths he went to to get a pic of her was just disgusting (and this coming from a person who secretly loves the intrusive paparazzi shots!). He even began dating her maid to get dirt on her and find out where she was going (the maid was promptly fired!). He actually said that he was sure Jackie enjoyed his relentless pursuit of her and her children. Dude is nuttier than a fruit cake!

Love the completely misleading story about Sally Field and Burt Reynolds. Am I the only one who still can't wrap their mind around that relationship? I still can't over that Burt was married to Judy Carne!

Poor Bob Urich. He definitely was taken too soon. I read somewhere that he holds the record for appearing in the most canceled-after-one-season shows. I think one of his last roles was on Emeril Lagasse's ill fated sitcom.

Love your Christmas tree and decorations! Those ornaments are a hoot and a half! Happy holidays!

Gingerguy said...

This was just the holiday break I needed. Ron Galella-ugh! that was my childhood introduction to paparazzi and he just seemed to make famous people miserable. The photos of poor Jackie were so stalkery, but I do remember they were all over the Star or Enquirer (we got both!). My takeaway from this is that Ron Leibman married Jessica Walter. I love them both and that is nice to find out. Lol, when I was a teenager I always believed any gay rumor I heard, until someone clarified that Christopher Reeve lived with someone named "Gae" not that he was "gay". There is such a marked difference from frumpy 70's Liz to the glamorous 80's. She really did hit her stride again around 50. I liked Robert Urich and watched "Vegas" every week. Last night I was watching him in a "Star Wars" rip-off called "The Ice Pirates" and he had a perm. It starred Mary Crosby (with all the Bing specials on GET TV this week it was an unintentional Mary Crosby film festival at my house). Love the tree and your house is quite festive. Happy Holidays to the Underworld.

http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/ said...

Poseidon! Happy Holidays and thanks for the great work you do here year around. Always brightens my day to see a new post by you : )

Oh, how I used to devour those movie mags, really on their last legs in the '70s.

On two of my favorite ladies: Poor Liz, see what being married to a Republican did to her?! ET really turned it all around in the '80s, thankfully. As for Cher, she's freely admitted to being a total square, off-camera. I'm sure after the hell Gregg Allman put her through, dating Gene Simmons, who never drank or did drugs, must have been a breath of fresh air! They're still friends, and when Cher was ready to move on, she thought he might enjoy dating her friend, Diana Ross. I'm sure most guys wouldn't mind getting dumped like that!

Cheers,
Rick

joel65913 said...

Great fun Poseidon! That headline about Linda Ronstadt and Elvis is so indicative of the lengths the truth stretching went to in the name of attention grabbing.

That is a less than wonderful picture of Natalie Wood. I think it's a combination of angle and a somewhat wilted hairdo.

I'd forgotten that Linda Lavin was married to Ron Leibman. They actually seem more suited than he does with Jessica Walter, just goes to show appearances are deceiving since it's obviously the other way around considering the length of their marriage.

Bloodline...UGH! One of poor Audrey's biggest misstep when she decided to return to work.

LOVE your Christmas tree and decorations! Very, very cool! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Thanks for all the hard work you do for our enjoyment.

Poseidon3 said...

Petercox, I've seen that episode of FI (natch!) and you are right, she was really mean! I was shocked at how nasty she was to Mouseketeer Annette! LOL Your idea for her replacing Pamela Sue Martin is/was GENIUS and someone somewhere should have thought of it. She'd have been perfect...!

DevilYouKnow, glad you liked this (and others before it.) I don't think I could bear reading Galella's book. I also find Burt's marriage to Judy baffling, though it seemed easier to understand when I was reading her auto-bio. His taste in women has always had a bit surprising range to it, though! I mean Dinah Shore and Loni Anderson?!? I recall Bob Urich as the Captain on a redux of "The Love Boat" ("The Next Wave!") and for much of it he was bald due to chemo. Very sad.

Gingerguy, think about La Liz in this muu muu-ish period and then the phoenix-like version that came about when she wrote Elizabeth Takes Off! It seems impossible to have been the same woman. That book was an inspiration to me many times in my 20s & 30s when it came to losing weight. (I probably ought to read it again!! LOL) I used to watch "Ice Pirates" on cable back in the day... it's been a long time. There were so many cheesy "Star Wars" rip-offs back then!!

Rick, that's neat about Cher and how cool she was to attempt to match up her soon-to-be ex with someone she felt he'd be more suited to! That's confidence and comfort with oneself, I should think.

Joel, the way the old mags would cut and paste celebs together for the cover (this one a prime example, even though it's hideously awful work) was so prevalent and outrageous, though it still happens today with the magic of photoshop. Kinda scary actually! I have yet to see "Bloodline!" One of these days...

Thanks, everyone for the remarks about my tree, too! Now that I'm back in the saddle, I see that my comments about Carrie Fisher were probably ill-timed, though I am always writing about someone only to find them stricken or dead right after!!! I need to watch it...! LOL I hope she is able to recover from this horrible health incident. (Hey, at least I didn't include a Zsa Zsa quote in that series of posts just before her demise, poor thing.)

Forever1267 said...

This is a year old story, I know, but your home is gorgeous, and that tree is to die for! I LOVE IT!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

Poseidon3 said...

Hello, Forever1267! Thanks for reading this and commenting. This year's tree is up. Newly acquired are John Travolta in "Grease" (who pairs perfectly with Olivia Newton John in "Grease," who I got FOR Christmas last year and who didn't make this post) and Cruella De Vil (retrieved from an antique shop in February.) And my parents are getting me the new Beauty and the Beast one this year. So it continues to be a fun element of the holiday season for me. :-)