Watching 'Red Tails' With the Real Tuskegee Airmen
January, 22, 2012 11:02 am | Comments On #Movies, Red Tails
Racism in the Army during WWII. Who thinks about this? Who talks about this? Yet segregation was thriving in war torn skies over Europe. Tuskegee Airmen were African American fighter pilots who escorted and protected U.S. bombers.
"We were a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement," said Tuskegee Airman Major Joe Gomer. This 332 Fighter Group, paved the way for a black president. Some 150 airmen perished out of 450 who eventually won the hearts of their white majors. This struggle required that African Americans resort to their skill as fighter pilots, their courage and their regard for each other to command respect from the "white" folk in the military.
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Read MoreMisogynistic 'Bridesmaids' Wins Praise from Gervais at the Golden Globes
January, 16, 2012 9:58 am | Comments On #MoviesI hated "Bridesmaids" because I felt it was misogynistic.
Yes, it’s written by two women, Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Does this protect it from claims of misogyny? I don’t think so. Or that, comedian Melissa Mc Carthy, not a man, which could have been the circumstances in "The Hangover," was made famous for defecating in a sink?
Perhaps "Bridesmaids" won Best Comedy at the Critics Choice Awards because, as Ricky Gervais said to the Golden Globes audience, “Defecating in a sink was less demeaning then what most of you have done to make it in show business.”
But I don’t...
Read MoreFlying Into Istanbul for Turkish Delight
January, 09, 2012 12:04 pm | Comments On #Istanbul, Pan Am, stewardess, TelevisionWith the return of the ABC series “Pan Am” on Sunday, I recalled my visit to Istanbul in my stewardess days.
Istanbul was a city steeped in mystery. Historically it was known as Byzantium and Constantinople and had been the capital of the Roman, Byzantium, Latin and Ottoman Empires.
Visiting it with my mother on our way around the world from Hong Kong was going to be a real treat—especially to see the handsome faces of the men. The women had dark features and their own beauty, but it was a city and nation represented by virility. A testosterone capital.
Istanbul was located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompassed the natural harbor, the Golden Horn. It extended to European and Asian...
Read MorePan Am Stewardess Meets Rock Star: My '60s Roman Holiday
November, 25, 2011 1:20 pm | Comments On #Television
The first time I saw Rome I was as a stewardess for Pan Am.
It was the mid-'60s, and British pop stars were invading the USA and Rome. We had a layover of one night in this romantic city known for its la dolce vita. As I walked down the aisle in economy, I noticed a handsome man with shoulder length ringlets. By his side was a cute, red-haired and fair-skinned Englishman.
Buzz had gone around the stewardesses that this adorable twosome was Peter and Gordon, British rockers, who had recently performed the hit, “A World Without Love.” This dynamic duo was part of the British Invasion in...
Read MoreDon't Cry for Me Joe Paterno
November, 10, 2011 12:00 pm | Comments On #MediaTears were shed Wednesday morning by 84-year-old Joe Paterno when he met with the Penn State football team and announced his retirement -- but was he crying for the boys raped and molested during his days as Happy Valley’s legendary football coach?
Apparently the Board of Trustees didn’t think so and fired the iconic Paterno by phone while the president of 16 years, Dr. Graham Spanier, "was allowed" to resign. John Surma, VP of PSU’s Board of Trustees said, “We thought to allow this process to continue was damaging to the university. We had to end it and to make a change in the leadership. This was a unanimous view for long term benefit of the university and to show this university is about more than just sports.”
Jerry Sandusky, the defensive coach under Paterno, and who was a professor emeritus of physical...
Read MoreFlying to Hong Kong in the Mid-'60s as a Pan Am Stewardess
November, 06, 2011 4:50 pm | Comments On #Carole Mallory, hollyblogs, MediaSeeing Rita Hayworth in all her glamour in Orson Welles’ "Lady from Shanghai" had intrigued me to want to see to the Orient.
After flying as a stewardess for Pan Am for six months, I was granted discount tickets.
I was going to fly my mother around the world -- Hawaii, Tokyo and Hong Kong! I could hear the rickshaws being pulled on the streets and alleys and smell the freshly roasted pork that the authentic Chinese restaurants specialized in.
This past Sunday, the series "Pan Am" took a trip to Hong Kong, and my memories were revived.
My mother had been...
Read MoreDrugs, Sex, Girls: Being Directed by Peckinpah on His 'Killer Elite'
October, 07, 2011 10:35 am | Comments On #James Caan, Movies, Sam Peckinpah, The Killer EliteWith both “Straw Dogs” and “Killer Elite” playing in theaters, I feel it’s the moment to tell what it felt like to be directed by Sam Peckinpah. The new “Killer Elite” is not the same script as Peckinpah's, but it is the same title.
In 1975 he cast me in the original. For the audition I was told to look sexy. I wore a blue suede dress from St. Tropez that had a Tarzan’s Jane look to it. It was cut low. It had a Native American feel, and I thought Sam -- who claimed to be part Native American -- would “cotton” to it.
When I walked into his office, he was seated and wearing a blue...
Read MoreAndy Rooney Was a Class Act ... Conan O'Brien, Not So Much
October, 03, 2011 10:10 am | Comments On #Andy Rooney, Conan O'Brien, Television
I will always have fond memories of Andy Rooney. He offered to sit down for a dual interview with Conan O'Brien. I thought two cantankerous comedians would make a good, interesting interview.
I had interviewed Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer together for Esquire and went on to do Joseph Heller talking to Kurt Vonnegut for Playboy, then Erica Jong and Jay McInerney, followed by Jesse Jackson and Brooke Astor. This all began with Jerry Lieber chatting with Mike Stoller for Los Angeles Magazine.
Well, Rooney was a class act. Not true with O’Brien, who initially agreed then kept stalling and stalling and with each excuse was insulting Rooney and me.
I got word that his PR person was planning a cover of New York magazine and did not want to foil this opportunity --...
Read MoreAirsickness to Addiction: I Was a Real-Life Pan Am Stewardess
September, 29, 2011 10:51 am | Comments On #Pan Am, stewardesses, TelevisionA recent graduate of Penn State, I had been teaching art in Lower Merion, Penn., and was asked to dance with my students during the prom. Something wasn't right. I had to get out of Philadelphia. I wanted to see the world. Couldn't join the Marines. That was too rough.
I was going to become a stewardess -- yes, a stewardess. (This was what we were called, not a flight attendants, please.) And for the best airline ... Pan Am. This was 1966.
Moving to Kew Gardens in New York was a requirement. A woman had just been stabbed in the street, 48 people watched. Nobody tried to help her...
Celebrating Sheila MacRae's 90th in Song -- a Dynasty Ritual
September, 23, 2011 4:45 pm | Comments On #TelevisionThe ageless beauty and talent Sheila MacRae will be 90 on Saturday and will be celebrating it with her daughter and my friend, Heather MacRae. Michael Alden, the Broadway producer and Tony Newfield, the actor, also will join in the celebration at the Actor’s Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
Together they will gather around the baby grand piano and sing showtunes such as “Oklahoma,” “Surrey With the Fringe on the Top,” “If I Loved You” and those wonderful songs made famous by Sheila and her husband Gordon.
Heather and Sheila used to sing for my mother who was in her wheelchair and who lived to be 100, so this is a ritual in the MacRae dynasty -- singing as we grow along. Heather is very pleased with the care that her mother is receiving at the Actor’s Fund Home in New Jersey and...
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Description
Carole Mallory is an actress, journalist, professor, film critic. Her film credits include “Stepford Wives” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” As a supermodel she graced the covers of Cosmopolitan, New York, Newsweek. Her new novel, "Flash," hit #22 on Kindle's bestseller list of erotica in its first day of release. She also has written a memoir of her time with Norman Mailer, “Loving Mailer.” After the writer's death, she sold her archive of his papers to Harvard. Her journalistic pieces on Vonnegut, Jong, Vidal, Baryshinikov, Heller have been published in Parade, Esquire, Playboy, Los Angeles Magazine, the Huffington Post. Her review of Charles Shields' biography of Kurt Vonnegut, "And So It Goes," was published in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer. She is teaching creative writing at Temple University and Rosemont College and blogs at malloryhollywoodeast@blogspot.com.
