DVD report: This week's new releases (Nov. 30) Nov 30, 2008
Replica production materials include producer Hal Wallis's memo pushing for Bogart to be cast over George Raft. (Warner, $59. (Boston Globe)
Hollywood 'paid stars a fortune to smoke' Sep 25, 2008
Page last updated at 00:51 GMT, Thursday, 25 September 2008 01:51 UK. Hollywood 'paid fortune to smoke. (BBC News)
A Pinch of Salt Aug 3, 2008
For free booze, old-time movie gangster George Raft would simply have sauntered into a bar and said, "Gimme a free beer or I'll tell everyone old jokes like the one where a horse walks into a bar and the barman says, 'why the long face?'" Of course, in this scene it would be the barman who uses a gun. Now the only old crime film I can remember that was set, but not filmed, in Florida was "Some Like It Hot.". (Hanford Sentinal, CA)
New on DVD: Oscar-nominated 'Atonement' is solid Mar 21, 2008
But Gene Tierney plays Heflin's wife, famed movie hood George Raft plays a cop, and Ginger Rogers flames in what is probably her definitive diva role. Due Tuesday: A deluxe Bonnie and Clyde brings back the cast; Humphrey Bogart joins the Klan in Black Legion; Kirk Gibson in the complete 1988 World Series. (USA Today -- Life)
Clandestine mistress of Bogart dies Feb 11, 2008
A hopeful starlet who had spent most of her youth in Mexico, Thompson had trained in wig-making and then established herself in Hollywood as an expert in the preparation of toupees, working for stars such as George Raft, Ray Milland and Gary Cooper. When she travelled with Bogart, she always carried a suitcase packed with 10 hairpieces, including a 'cocktail wig' and a 'shaggy wig. (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
Beware: Next comes the Oscars' 'smear campaign'?... Nov 8, 2007
e. Edward G. Robinson, George Raft, were employed to subvert the American consiousness about Italians. Now if anyone believes that the todays American gansters (and have been for the last 3 decades) are not African Americans and Hispanics, they must be living in Iceland or glued to the tube watching the next Sopranos episode of dreck. (The Drudge Report)
The Frisky Factor Increases Jul 21, 2007
Participants will come up to see three addresses where the blonde bombshell hung her famous hats along with the former speakeasies where she rendezvoused with Rudolf Valentino, George Raft, and others. Other locations include her dance school, the jewelers who created the "Diamond Lil" sparkle, legitimate theatres, former vaudeville houses, and more. (Yahoo News -- Press Releases)
Frank Sinatra and the Jewish Mob - In New Mickey Cohen Bio Jul 21, 2007
Cohen told actor George Raft who tried to intercede, "You shut up, Raft, or you know what you're gonna get." When Cohen was released from prison, Sinatra supplied a quick $25,000, and a promise of more. At ringside during bouts in L.A. Sinatra would kiss his pal "Michael" on the cheek and impressed Cohen's dates. (Yahoo News -- Press Releases)
Ripley's Triumphant Return to New York! May 25, 2007
Also playing for Ripley's team were boxing champion Jack Dempsey, comedians Jimmy Durante, Bugs Baer and W. C. Fields, actors George Raft and Al Jolson, World War I Hero and founder of Eastern Airlines, Eddie Rickenbacker, and billionaire William Randolph Hearst, Jr.. 3,197-lb. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
Vintage film set presents crime in black and ... Apr 26, 2007
George Raft plays a hard-boiled adventurer mixed up in a stolen-gold racket in Ray Enright's atmospheric 1952 caper set in Algiers, The Man From Cairo sharing a disc with the 1951 mystery Mask of the Dragon, with Richard Travis and Sheila Ryan. Mr. Raft returns as an FBI agent in 1953's I'll Get You, again joined by Mr. Travis and Miss Ryan in the entertainingly campy companion feature Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951). (Washington Times, DC)
Remembering “Hebrew Hercules” Apr 6, 2007
In his young personal life, Coleman was also known as a carouser and befriended several celebrities who shared his love of cigars, poker matches and horse races including actors Jack Oakie, Paul Muni, George Raft and Mickey Rooney. In 1936, he met June Miller, after spotting her in the crowd during a match and telling his opponent to throw him out of the ring, so he could accidentally land in front of her Townsend recalled. (Queens Chronicle, NY)
Musical star Janet Blair dies at 85 Feb 21, 2007
She appeared opposite George Raft in the gangster movie Broadway and co-starred with Cary Grant and a dancing caterpillar in the 1944 comedy-fantasy Once Upon a Time. She was the love interest in The Fabulous Dorseys, starring bandleaders Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey and appeared opposite Red Skelton in the 1946 sleeper hit The Fuller Brush Man. (MSNBC -- News)
A.I. Bezzerides, 98; novelist became a screenwriter known for film noir classics Jan 9, 2007
Bezzerides was working as a communications engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power when his 1938 novel "Long Haul" was turned into "They Drive by Night," a 1940 melodrama with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as struggling trucker brothers hauling California produce. It was only after Warner Bros. (Los Angeles Times)
Valley influenced Bezzerides' writing Jan 7, 2007
He may have been best known as the author of "The Long Haul," which was made into the film "They Drive By Night," starring George Raft, Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. He also wrote the books "There is a Happy Land" and "Thieves' Market."Mr. (Fresno Bee -- Local)
