MY HOLLYWOOD JOURNAL
  • Home
    • FROM THE EDITOR
    • Celebs
    • Feed >
      • Breaking News
      • Breaking News Releases
      • Entertainment & Media
      • Insider News
      • News USA Entertaining
    • HJ Video Digest
    • Headlines
    • Streaming
    • Training
  • About
    • Jobs
    • Contact Us
    • Chat
  • Gaming
    • News >
      • Blog Sphere
      • ESA
      • Feed >
        • E3
      • Headlines
  • Movies
    • AFI Happenings
    • Blog Sphere
    • Box Office >
      • Feed
    • Classics
    • Documentary
    • Fests
    • HFPA Golden Globe
    • Indies >
      • Crisell Productions >
        • Views & Reviews
      • Douglas Horn
    • Movie Previews
    • News >
      • Feed
      • Headlines
      • Podcast
      • Studio System News
      • The Film Catalogue
    • Previews >
      • 2017 TRAILERS
    • Reference
    • Reviews
    • Screening Room
    • Soundtracks
    • The Low Down
    • Trade Shows
    • Webzine
  • Music
    • International
    • News >
      • Blog Sphere
      • Feed
      • The Recording Academy
      • Topix Music Feed
    • Webzine
  • Radio/TV
    • Comedy
    • News >
      • Feed >
        • 89.3 KPCC|The Latest
        • The Business - KCRW 89.9 FM
        • NAPS Radio Feed
      • Podcasts >
        • AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA
        • HuffDuff
        • International Podcasts
        • THE DINNER PARTY DOWNLOAD
        • THE WRITERS ALMANAC
        • VOA American Cafe
      • Headlines
    • SOUNDTRACK
    • Streaming
  • New Media
    • BIZ TV >
      • Moving America Forward
    • E-Books
    • News >
      • Global News >
        • Blog Sphere
        • Feed
        • CNN Feed
        • Reuters
        • TOPIX Top Stories Feed
        • TOPIX US News Feed
        • TOPIX World News Feed
    • Social Media Widget Profile
    • Streaming
    • Tools
    • Trending
    • YouTube Fav
    • Video Wall
    • Webisodes >
      • Bona Petite Greek Style
  • Theater
    • News
    • Tech >
      • News >
        • TOPIX Tech Feed
      • Profiles
      • Streaming
      • What's Happening

Commentary Blogs From
The Editor's Desk

Spotlighting the best in entertainment, its talent, its people, its craft, its business and the genius of what makes show business everybody's business.

Button Text

                     The Fundamentals: Movie Making At It's Finest                                             James Whales' "The Bride of Frankenstein"

11/28/2014

0 Comments

 
Los Angeles -- As an unintended sequel to our tribute to the the genius of Jack Pierce and his make up techniques here is a documentary in 4 parts that gives us a more fuller walk through the movie making process and the collaborative interaction in creating a memorable classic.  What one learns foremost is that regardless of originality and creativity this is still a business and as a business profit is king. 
Post by The Bride of Frankenstein.
Post by The Bride of Frankenstein.
Post by The Bride of Frankenstein.
Post by The Bride of Frankenstein.
0 Comments

THE FUNDAMENTALS: JACK PIERCE THE MAN BEHIND THE                                          FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER

11/28/2014

0 Comments

 
Los Angeles -- We continue the fundamentals of movie entertainment with a look at the Make Up Artist.  Horror has been a mainstay revenue stream for the studios as far back as when movies were silent and the way to heighten the suspense and terror was communicated through pantomime and make-up.  Lon Chaney Sr.  without doubt is considered the father of the Horror genre and make up.  His pantomime and endless fiendish characters that he created with his legendary make up kit laid the foundation for the Horror formula and subsequent character make up.  

Jack Pierce was a Hollywood makeup artist best remembered for creating the landmark iconic makeup worn by Boris Karloff in Universal Studios' adaptation of Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece "Frankenstein" (1931).  He also was responsible for various other classic monster make-ups such as "The Mummy", "The Wolfman" and "Dracula".  Although Bela Lagousi insisted on doing his own makeup for the role of the blood sucking Count.  Pierce created the overall look and feel of the aristocratic ghoulish vampire from Transylvania. 


So what better way to examine the craft of the makeup artist than to begin with the man who would helm the Universal Studios' make-up department for the next 20 years and literally brand the studios iconic creations till this day. Let's then take a look at the craft of the make up process that literally propelled a middle aged British actor into a life long career of scaring the be Jesus out of all of us.

Here is what Wikipedia had say about this short unassuming man whom you would hardly notice in a crowd were it not for his genius in creating the archetypal horror movie characters. 


After immigrating to the United States from his native Greece as a teenager, Pierce tried his hand at several careers, including a stint as an amateur baseball player.

In the 1920s, Pierce embarked on a series of jobs in cinema—cinema manager, stuntman, actor, even assistant director—which would eventually lead to his mastery of in the field of makeup. The small-statured Pierce was never a "leading man" type, and he put his performing career aside to 
or other performers. In 1915 he was hired to work on crews for the studio's productions. On the 1926 set of The Monkey Talks, Jack Pierce created the makeup for actor Jacques Lernier who was playing a simian with the ability to communicate. The head of Universal, Carl Laemmle, was won over with the creative outcome. Next came the rictus-grin face of Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs (1928), a silent picture. Pierce was then immediately hired full-time by the newly established Universal Pictures motion picture studio. The death in 1930 of Lon Chaney, who throughout the 1920s had made a name for himself by creating grotesque and often painful horror makeups, opened a niche for Pierce and Universal, Chaney's films provided audiences with the deformed, monstrous faces that Pierce and moviegoers so clearly enjoyed.

The most significant creation during Pierce's time at the studio was Frankenstein (1931), with Lugosi originally cast as the Monster. The preliminary design (from contemporary newspaper accounts and a recollection of the screen test by actor Edward Van Sloan) was similar to Paul Wegener's German film of The Golem (1920). This is not surprising, since studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. and director Robert Florey were both familiar with German Expressionist films. When James Whale replaced Florey as director, the concept was radically changed. Pierce came up with a design which was horrific as well as logical in the context of the story. So, where Henry Frankenstein has accessed the brain cavity, there is a scar and a seal, and the now famous "bolts" on the neck are actually electrodes; carriers for the electricity used to revive the stitched-up corpse. 


Collaboration with Karloff....They both cooperated on the design of the now iconic make-up, with Karloff removing a dental plate to create an indentation on one side of the Monster's face. He also endured four hours of make-up under Pierce's hand each day, during which time his head was built up with cotton, collodion and gum, and green greasepaint (designed to look pale on black and white film) was applied to his face and hands. The finished product was universally acclaimed, and has since become the commonly accepted visual representation of Mary Shelley's creation. 


0 Comments

When I Was Hungry You Fed Me

11/27/2014

0 Comments

 
Los Angeles -- If there is an emblematic visual disparity between rich and poor certainly Hollywood would take the honored seating at the banquet table for the rich and famous.  November is television's rating sweep ( February, May and July) the other periods where the viewing data from the individual weeks is aggregated and program scheduling and advertising decisions are made according to the data. 


Even though the focus is on nothing else but yourself in this town of me, me, me days like today give us all an opportunity to refocus and see the value of what were doing not in what we accomplished but what we gave back.  

So here are some celeb's in action this Thanksgiving.



Kim Kardashian feeds the homeless for Thanksgiving by Zoomin_UK
Los Angeles News | FOX 11 LA KTTV
0 Comments

Love What You Do So That You Do What You Love

11/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Los Angeles -- We came across this vignette that reveals the motivations and unedited feelings of some of the most successful business icons in the last 30 years certainly the latter part of the 20th Century early 21st Century.  

Frankly if these people were not rich and famous we don't think most of us would take notice.  But they are and what they say isn't beyond the advice a good parent would give to their children.  It is in a way common sense with a billion dollar bank account backing them up or a household name or even both.  

But if necessity is the mother of invention then the common sense wisdom these remarkable individuals say can be possibly considered the progeny.  

Quite remarkable indeed and for our e zine whose focus is on entertainment...their contribution is priceless.
0 Comments

                      The Fundamentals: Looking At The Making                                                            Of A Hollywood Blockbuster

11/14/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureRamsey Seikaly
Los Angeles -- We have been examining through video and print the mechanisms and steps that it takes to translate a story  from script to screen.  By examining the various above and below the line responsibilities we have gained valuable insight and knowledge into the intricacies involved in creating motion picture entertainment.  Here is a documentary we came across that was made after the release of the Superman movie with the late Christopher Reeves before his equestrian accident that left him a paraplegic until his death.  

It is remarkable because this move really was at the cusp of the change over taking place in Hollywood where films of substance and character were being crowded out for the nascent special effects coming on line after the blockbuster trailblazing picture Star Wars seemingly overnight rewrote the production process in favor of the post-production sfx teams that would soon follow in creating nearly all the memorable movies in recent memory or for the past 20 years.

Here is a young Christopher Reeves, right after his career making role as Superman, hosting the 60 minute documentary and the making of Superman circa 1978.   

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Editor

    Make this your home for all the exciting and fun things from the world of entertainment news. Be it the movies, music, theater or sporting events, we try to bring the action on demand, up close and right at your fingertips.  From mobile to desktop the information you love through the most popular hi tech platforms that you choose to use.  Convenient and accessible 24/7.  We stay in touch with the news that you demand  much.

    Instagram
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    My Hollywood Journal

    Promote Your Page Too
    Fresh Content.net
    Tweets by @myhllywdjournal
    Home - Zapaday

    Archives

    June 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Celebrities
    Enterainment
    Filmmakers
    Movies
    Movie Stars
    Television

    Free content by Fresh Content.net
Photo used under Creative Commons from GoodNCrazy