TWO film stars arrive in Glasgow - Margaret Lockwood and Irene Dunn. It is a regular scene at Glasgow's Central Station where stars arrive off the London train and head to the Central Hotel where they usually stayed. But our eyes are drawn to the chap on the left who looks well dodgy. Look at that sharp parting in his hair, the moustache which marks him as a bit of a bounder, the supercilious stare through hooded eyes, and the coat...well actually I love the coat.
The occasion was a Royal Film Performance in 1950 when Irene Dunn appeared as Queen Victoria in the film The Mudlark. Some tale about a street urchin persuading the Queen to come back into public life after becoming a bit of a recluse. Sounds as historically accurate as the current series about Victoria on television.
Irene was American, and was nominated five times for an Oscar with the films Cimarron, Theodora Goes Wild, The Awful Truth, Love Affair, and I Remember Mama. Margaret was not Oscar material but she was British and glamorous and at one time was the highest paid British actress. Her film roles include Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, and the film The Wicked Lady.
She was cast for fewer films in the fifties, returned to the West End stage, and even made some television appearances including a Yorkshire Television series Justice, which won her Best Actress award from the TV Times. Don't know if the chap with the moustache was still around by then.
The things we do to our stars. Here is a contrived picture of band-leader Jim MacLeod and singer Kenneth McKellar wearing straw boaters and eating strawberries and ice cream as if on a picnic in June, 1989. The reason for this pose was that they were headlining the Midsummer Festival of Songs which was to run for a week that month at the Aviemore Centre. Apart from Kenneth, Moira Anderson was also going to be singing, there was also a Fiddlers' Rally, and Andy Cameron was going to provide the laughs.
As if that was not enough excitement there was also going to be a midnight fireworks display on the longest day of the year.
THIS lot look so wooden you half imagine there is a robber with a gun in the background telling them to act natural. If these two couples at the back are on dates it doesn't look as though they are going too well. They look as stilted as their conversations.
This is Glasgow restaurant L'Ariosto in 1988. Notice the fake balconies above their heads to give the impression they are dining in an Italian courtyard. See the waiter bringing the trolley to their tables to cook the steaks. No doubt there will be flames, adding to the scene. That's what Italian restaurants were like back then. Think I prefer the more relaxed vibe in the city's Italian restaurants these days.
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