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Richard Lamparski

Auteur van Lamparskis Whatever Became Of

15 Werken 291 Leden 17 Besprekingen

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Gangbare naam
Lamparski, Richard
Geboortedatum
1932-10-05
Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
USA
Geboorteplaats
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Woonplaatsen
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Santa Barbara, California, USA

Leden

Besprekingen

I was first introduced to Richard Lamparski's coverage of the movie world decades ago and I became addicted to his sometimes catty coverage of actors and other noteworthy people.

Lamparski's Hidden Hollywood sadly doesn't rise to the heights of snidely dismissing the great Hedy Lamarr but we do get a lot of insights into where things happened; the respective sites of William Desmond Taylor and Thelma Todd's murders (as well as the house Mary Miles Minter lived as a recluse for the rest of her life), where the world's best ice cream was served, where Lili St Cyr had her lingerie shop and where Falcon Lair, Rudolph Valentino's mansion was located. We also a got an update on what was located at these landmarks when Lamparski's Hidden Hollywood was being researched in the late 1970s (sadly, mostly office space).… (meer)
½
 
Gemarkeerd
MiaCulpa | Nov 27, 2023 |
Richard Lamparski does another sterling job covering a group of former celebrities (the vast majority of which I have never heard of) with a late 1980s update of what they were then up to.

There's some unusual trends I come across reading the "Whatever Became of ..." series, such as the odd fact that many of the stars were Christian Scientists and many had moved into real estate. The best bits though are the little factoids Lamparski drops, including that Romano Brazzi had been arrested for gun smuggling, that some blind chap named Fred Lowery was the world's foremost whistling virtuoso and that Mark Herron, Judy Garland's fourth husband was in a relationship with another man - between Judy and Liza Minnelli they must have married at four or five gay men; is this a mother/daughter record?

Sadly, this eleventh edition appears to be the last in the "Whatever Became of ..." series and the sixth and seventh editions are impossible to find but the whole series are a fine body of work for Mr Lamparski.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
MiaCulpa | 1 andere bespreking | Feb 2, 2018 |
Richard Lamparski realised earlier than many that nostalgia sells and it paid off with his seemingly highly profitable "Whatever Became Of ..." series.

This edition, number ten, follows the same process as the earlier editions; 100 people, most of which you've never heard of, are profiled, with a general run down of what they have been up to since their brush with fame. I see that Turhan Bey still won't discuss the scandal that made him leave Hollywood, while the chaps that wrote "I'm a gnu" are profiled, as is one-time Tarzan Gordon Scott, who does not come across well.

Perhaps saddest of all though is the profile of June Duprez, a British actress of the 1940s and 50s, who told of her time in Hollywood, particularly when she wouldn't let leading film producer David O. Selznick into her house one night to molest her, he broke a window to get in, or how film studio head Harry Cohn marched into her house one day, intent on molestation, and was then told by her agent that she was lucky she didn't call the police as her career would have ended.

I finished reading that paragraph and thought "ho ho, at least actresses are not having to deal with producers like Harvey Weinstein doing the same thing to them today." And then, less than 1/2 an hour later, I was shown to be so incredibly naïve.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
MiaCulpa | Oct 17, 2017 |
If you have read any of Richard Lamparski’s other “Whatever Became Of”’s, you know what you are in for here; lots of short biographies of stars of yesteryear, many of whom I had never heard of, with an update on what they were doing when Lamparski interviewed them in the 1980s (a surprising number were in real estate). There were some interesting tidbits, such as learning about Dayton Allen, the man behind the voice of Deputy Dawg, who was apparently most known for his catchphrase “Why Not” (I’m guessing it sounded much funnier in the 1950s) and the Dolly Sisters

And then there is Lawrence Tierney, the late actor who was in the news a decade or so ago for pulling a knife on Jerry Seinfeld. This wasn’t a once off, as to quote Lamparski:

“He has been arrested for breaking the jaw of a college student, tearing a public phone off a wall, shoplifting, trespassing, assaulting actress Jean Wallace, striking a nightclub pianist, hitting a waiter in the face with a sugar bowl, tearing off a friend’s neck brace and then throwing a drink in his face, drunk driving, contempt of court attempting to choke a cabdriver, breaking and entering, punching a security guard who attempted to prevent him from crashing the party Elizabeth Taylor was giving for the Moisyev dancers, attacking a TV cameraman, kicking a collie and its owner, assault with a deadly weapon, and fighting with a professional boxer at Fifty-third Street and Broadway. At one time a dishevelled, barefoot and belligerent Larry sought sanctuary in a Roman Cathlolic Church and had to be removed in a straitjacket”

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more charges against Tierney but Lamparski just became weary of writing more down.
… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
MiaCulpa | 1 andere bespreking | Jul 28, 2016 |

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Statistieken

Werken
15
Leden
291
Populariteit
#80,411
Waardering
4.0
Besprekingen
17
ISBNs
19

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