Better than MGM reunion -- the RKO star reunion of 1979
Rare reunion of Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Jane Russell, Fay Wray, Rhonda Fleming, Virginia Mayo, Janet Leigh, Frances Dee, Joel McCrea, Anne Jeffreys, Rudy Vallee, Guy Madison, Dorothy McGuire, Lizabeth Scott... and more!
Skip to the 7:00 mark for the roll call of stars.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 32 | September 19, 2019 10:31 PM
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I think Rhonda Fleming may be the only one still alive.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | October 4, 2017 1:03 AM
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OP, That was lovely. Even though it looked like an American Legion convention, they had been schooled on how to behave with a modicum of decorum in a public setting.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | October 4, 2017 2:12 AM
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Is Fred Astaire the only star who got to go to both the MGM and RKO reunions?
by Anonymous | reply 3 | October 4, 2017 2:20 AM
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Just like RKO. Looked like it was held in an insurance company's regional HQ lobby.
Anyone who says it's "better" than one of the MGM reunions is nuts. Very enjoyable, but PLEASE.
Oh, I get it. The SJWs and frau types think of RKO as the "studio of color" and some kind of victim pool to be praised and condescended to against the bad white and Jewish Warners and MGM and Paramount.
Sure, RKO did fine work, but that kennel of stars never matched the top studios in the Big Five/Big Six.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | October 4, 2017 2:29 AM
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That Paramount one is sad. All the people who worked there in the golden age were long gone, and none of those actors were contract players with Paramount, as was the case w the MGM and RKO reunions.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | October 4, 2017 2:36 AM
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Interesting how modest those stars were, OP. Many had lived the high life in the lap of luxury. Now they all looked grateful to be alive and kicking. And nary an entourage in sight.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | October 4, 2017 2:41 AM
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That was wonderful. Thanks OP. Didn't Anne Jeffreys just pass?
by Anonymous | reply 8 | October 4, 2017 2:57 AM
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Wow. I was in high school that year. I recall seeing most of these people in their films on regular television and on The Merv Griffin Show, of course!
by Anonymous | reply 9 | October 4, 2017 7:08 AM
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Kate was at Lucy's fingering her technicolor muff.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 18, 2019 7:20 PM
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Katharine Hepburn never did these types of things. She didn't even attend the Oscars in any of the years she was nominated.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 18, 2019 7:30 PM
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I was still mourning the death of Spence you bitches!
by Anonymous | reply 14 | September 18, 2019 7:35 PM
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R4 has to make everything political instead of enjoying a harmless thread without trying to drag everybody down.
FF.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | September 18, 2019 7:38 PM
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[Quote]Is Fred Astaire the only star who got to go to both the MGM and RKO reunions?
Janet Leigh was at both reunions as well.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | September 18, 2019 7:44 PM
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Why wasn't Ball at both? She was a contract player at both RKO and MGM and had no problem appearing in public.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | September 18, 2019 7:49 PM
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We saw Fred Astaire standing in (a short) line at the teller's window at the Bank of America Beverly and Wilshire a long time ago. Fred was surpisingly tiny and was dressed in some sort of orange/pink jump suit.
We also saw Zsa Zsa in the underground parking garage of the same bank about the same time. She looked FABULOUS.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | September 18, 2019 7:55 PM
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[quote]Why wasn't Ball at both? She was a contract player at both RKO and MGM and had no problem appearing in public.
Lucy wanted to go, but Gary ... well, you know.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | September 18, 2019 8:10 PM
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R18 Ball was looking horrific by the mid-seventies, much older than her age thanks to her chain smoking and heavy drinking, and probably didn't want to be mistaken for Hepburn's mother.
She didn't get that voice from drinking buttermilk.
by Anonymous | reply 21 | September 19, 2019 6:57 AM
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Yes, Lucy aged terribly because of all the cigs and booze. Bette Davis, too.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | September 19, 2019 1:10 PM
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Well they needed to get some pleasure out of life.
I sure know how they feel.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | September 19, 2019 9:20 PM
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...but with a little sex R25
by Anonymous | reply 26 | September 19, 2019 9:51 PM
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Ann Miller also was an RKO and MGM contractee (and Columbia too).
by Anonymous | reply 27 | September 19, 2019 10:08 PM
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^ Anne Miller was in the 50s. I thought everyone was freelance in the 1950s.
The Studio System and the long-term contracts finished after the big Loew's case in 1951.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | September 19, 2019 10:19 PM
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They were doing studio contracts until the early 60s I believe.
At least at Warner Bros.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | September 19, 2019 10:23 PM
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Ann Miller was at RKO in the late 1930s then moved to Columbia in the early 1940s then MGM in the late 40s. She left MGM in 1955.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | September 19, 2019 10:27 PM
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Stanley Donen went freelance in '55.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | September 19, 2019 10:30 PM
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The steady stream of MGM musicals ended with a thud in '55. After that there was the occasional Freed nocturnal emission like Silk Stockings and Gigi.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | September 19, 2019 10:31 PM
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