Arlene Dahl

She was the last replacement in APPLAUSE on Broadway. Came after Bacall and Anne Baxter.

Posed for Playboy in the 50's.

"She also founded her own business, Arlene Dahl Enterprises, which marketed lingerie and cosmetics. She eventually became an astrologer and wrote a syndicated column on the subject.

She strikes me as bland, bland, bland. %0D %0D Ava'd eat her for breakfast.%0D %0D

Sorry, OP, but I'm with r4. Her features were small and her face undistinguished. Pretty, but not beautiful. Attractive, but not sexy. %0D %0D And yes, I know she was "sexy" to all those hot men in real life, but I'm talking about on film.

Looks like she'd have a mustache.

I always wanted to go to her family's valley.

Your MISSED in Llanview, dear.

NOT!!!

I have her book "Always Ask a Man: Arlene Dahl's Key to Femininity" And in it she asks Hollywood bachelors what they find most alluring in a woman. Stars like Montgomery Clift, Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, & Liberace. Cary Grant was especially displeased by women with "odors."

Take the paint off her and she looks like any other typical Wal-Mart shopper.

She was boring and a bad actress, that's why we don't talk about her

Loved her on What's My Line. She was so classy and fresh. Loved her rapport with Bennett Cerf. Dorothy was a cunt.

I'll take Kitty Carlisle anyday over Arlene.

Arlene was more bawdy than Kitty. Arlene loved a good off color joke, Kitty was a little too proper for that.

That's a great number. So simple in its staging, yet it's the best thing in that whole movie (which is otherwise awful, despite a good cast with Fred Astaire and Debbie Reynolds). I wish I had that fan of giant pink maribou!

I don't know what r5 is talking about: she has great cheekbones and beautiful blue eyes. She's Lorenzo Lamas's mother, of course.

She is a huge presence on the NY society circuit. Ihave seen her at Feinstein's, at Doubles (years ago) and at the Christie's auction of the jewelry of Doris Duke a few year's back.

I only really know her from WOMAN'S WORLD in '54 but adore her in that as the go-getting bitch wife of Van Heflin - she steals the movie as the other 2 wives are Bacall and Allyson doing their usual thing. There is that terrific scene where she is poured into a tight green sheath dress with an adorable little fur trimmed bolero which she knowingly removes as she puts the make on motor boss Clifton Webb to show him how appreciative she will be if her husband gets the top job. %0D Most of her other movies though are not in the same league - the kind of programmers never seen now.

She was interested in being a socialite more than being an actress. She quit her acting career when she was still doing very well to raise Lorenzo Lamas, and then when she came back it was with her lingerie company and "What's My Line" rather than movie star parts. But she was pretty much quintessentially a late 40s and 50s actress--it would be hard to imagine her in 60s films.

Is that really her singing in the clip, or is she dubbed?

Just this past Tuesday she appeared live at the Film Forum on Houston St. to talk about her film "Sangaree" which was made in 1954. It was part of their "3D films of the 1950s" series - yes, we all wore paper glasses with red and green lenses to watch the movie. She was charming and funny and talked about how difficult it was to shoot a movie in the primitive 3D process they had in the 50s.

She was great for Technicolor with her trademark flame-colored hair.

[quote]Is that really her singing in the clip%0D %0D Yes. She talks about it in the extras on the DVD.

The average age of the posters in this thread has got to be around 90.

PLEEEEEEASE talk about Justin Bieber and the Kardashian sisters! They're so interesting and beautiful!

Fat, bland, with bozo the clown looking hair.

Are we talking about Arlene Dahl or Arlene Francis?

Seeing as the woman in the clip from "Three Little Words" at the OP is Arlene Dahl, I would think that would answer your question pretty clearly, r25.

That plus the fact the thread is called "Arlene Dahl," not "Arlene Francis."

r26 - I thought the references to "What's My Line" were just jokes posts but some of the posts seemed to really be talking about Arlene Francis.%0D %0D

Who is Arlene Dahl? She wasn't on What's My Line?

Let's not forgot that interesting story she told about meeting Joan Crawford for the first time.

I forgot...is she Lorenzo Lamas's mother or is Esther Williams?

Both Arlene Dahl and Arlene Francis were on "What's My Line" as panelists.

Arlene Francis was on it more often as a panelist; Arlene Dahl was a mystery guest star and then was also a panelist.

Hey Francis: get your own fucking thread. This one is MINE.

Don't forget about me.

Dahl, have no problem cutting a bitch. Don't try me.

or me..

Let's talk about me, shall we.

I remember years ago Liz Smith making a joke on her little gossip segment on WNBC's Live at Five that if Arlene Dahl married the Dalai Lama, her name would be Arlene Dahl Lama.

I heard this is the thread where all the classy dames are getting together.

When was I castrated?

Not another Valley of the Dahl thread. You fags need to get a life.

Her current husband refers to Lorenzo Lamas as "my stepson."

Did shomeone shay Hello, Dahlly?

Loved Jane Fonda in "The Dahlmaker." The film captured Arlene's early years in Hollywood so vividly.

I heard someone started a thread about me.

I love that song they did about her in the eighties, "Come On Arlene."

She is Lorenzo Lamas' mother but I remember all kinds of stories long ago of how Esther Williams nobly raised Lorenzo after she married Fernando because of Arlene's disinterest.%0D %0D But reading all the lies in Esther's bio Million Dollar Mermaid have made me rethink the whole matter.

Fuck off, McDormand.

Like sands through the hourglass...

Her best performance was in the off off Broadway adaption of 101 Dahlmations. She was the BEST Cruella de Ville ever. Oh yeah I went there.

My "World of Suzie Wong" performance killed on Broadway, bitches!

And no I don't have "flame-red" hair--it's black, baby!

Arlene is pretty wonderful in that 3 Little Words number, esp. if it is really her singing, and it's remarkable that in those days a relatively unskilled dancer could be shot doing a musical number in so few takes. %0D %0D She manages to get all the way down those steep stairs in full-length gown, high heels, huge feather fan in hand and surrounded by all those men in just one shot.

That's what you call talent? Oh Dahling.

She was always confused with Rhonda Fleming.%0D %0D Arlene Dahl, that is.

You know when they have nothing to give, they always part their lips for what's negative. %0D %0D

R17, I also lover her in "Woman's World" particularly when she throws open the window in her New York hotel room, thrusts her bullet tits out and proclaims, "this is where I belong!".

Arlene managed to marry Lex "Tarzan" Barker right before he married Lana Turner. Arlene and Lex didn't last long and Lana threw the bastard out after she learned that Lex was sexually molesting her daughter, Cheryl Crane. I'm surprised that he didn't find himself on the business end of a butcher knife too.

R 15 I am surprised a musical lover such as yourself can't recognize an OSTRICH feather fan when he sees it. Maribo is for tacky mules.

Christ Almighty. Don't * I * deserve a fucking thread?!

My first exposure to Arlene was as a little boy in 1959 when she starred in Journey to the Center of the Earth with James Mason, Pat Boone, Diane Baker and a goose named Gertrude.%0D %0D Loved that movie!

Her own singing? I highly suspect, like every other glamorpuss cast for her looks and lifted by derrick and crane through static musical numbers, that Arlene was dubbed.

And whoever it was that saw Sangaree, stop that libel about the paper red and green glasses. Every motion picture in 3-D since 1939 is shown using the Polarized format.

Ugh. I hate them both. Was Chad Everett a gay?

Mama!

Definitely a great beauty, but limited as an actress.

I can take very little of her, just a dahlop.

Hey R29, thank you for posting that video link. I think everyone on this thread should watch that that interview. That is really amazing how mean John Crawford was. I could listen to the stories of old Hollywood for hours. It would be so neat to be able to ask these movie stars one on one what various people were really like, and how old Hollywood was like verses reading it second hand from a biography or an autobiography.

R59 thank you so much for that video link. Joan Caulfield was gorgeous! and that is really an adorable clip. I love old films because they are so light and fun how people used to be. I used to work in an antique store, and the antique dealers would love to watch the old films because they would check out the sets and backgrounds and point out the various items and furnishings. They would debate what the estimate age an item really was or who was the company who made the item etc.

R62, thank you very much for your link as well. Oh man! Chad Everett was soooo hot. He looked like a dark haired Brad Pitt in that video clip. I couldn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t take my eyes off of him. Someone on DL once said he is awful she said you wouldn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t like him trust me.

I'm surprise by the various not so great comments about Arlene Dahl. I heard she was incredibly beautiful when she was younger. Sure she wasn't an actress, but she was a movie star, and an extremely classy one as well. In the interviews she gives she seems like able and a nice lady. You wonder how can someone who seems so nice give birth to a son who is a monster to women. I guess he was his father's creation.

I love these threads on Classic Hollywood. They are truly so much fun especially for a movie buff like me. Your awesome OP. I would live to see more of these type of threads in the future they are just great. No political arguments or other stuff, just fun subjects.

About Lex Barker, Lana had on and off affairs with Frank Sinatra for a long time. I'm surprised that Frank didn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t have Lex Barker roughed up a bit after what he did to Lana's daughter. I have to admit, Lex Barker was extremely, stunningly, handsome, but he was pure evil.

R57 you have an interesting point about Lex Barker not being on the business end of a butcher knife. I think you were referring to Cheryl Crane stabbing of Johnny Stompanato right? If the daughter stabbed Johnny Stompanato for the way he treated her mother, why didn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t she stab Lex Barker? She wasn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t raped once, it was done repeatedly poor thing. To me this points to the mother more even more so. I think the daughter went to jail for the mother. I think the mother stabbed her boyfriend. A movie star in those days couldn%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99t go to jail for something as scandalous as that. It was bad enough her daughter was accused of murder, but it would have been much more shocking for a Hollywood star to be accused as a murderer. Her career would have been totally obliterated.

I have an autograph by Cheryl Crane that I really think is neat.

That clip of Arlene Dahl's Beauty Spot (1966)with Chad Everett was a time capsule moment of everything that caused the Women's Rights Movement.

Thinking about her performance on OLTL still gives me goose bumps.

I was surprise to find that Arlene was NOT dubbed in her films. Heard her sing at the MGM tribute at Carnegie Hall - gorgeous voice, and a gorgeous woman.

I like R29's link. Joan Fontaine screaming at Crawford: I hope everyone at the table broke into applause.

I know, I wish Arlene finished the story and told us what happened after Joan F screamed at Joan C.

Unlike Arlene Dahl, however, Joan Caulfield was DEFINITELY dubbed in that clip at R59.

Caulfield couldn't carry a tune in a suitcase.

Poor Arlene. She got fucked by Lex Barker.

Here are her marriages

Spouse Marc Rosen t(30 July 1984 - present) Rounsevelle W. Schaum t(7 December 1969 - 1976) (divorced) 1 child Alexis Lichine t(23 December 1964 - 1969) (divorced) Chris Holmes t(15 October 1960 - 13 October 1964) (divorced) 1 child Fernando Lamas t(25 June 1954 - 1960) (divorced) 1 child Lex Barker t(16 April 1951 - 15 October 1952) (divorced)

ok a more readable version of the previous reply

Here are her marriages

Lex Barker t(16 April 1951 - 15 October 1952) (divorced)

Fernando Lamas t(25 June 1954 - 1960) (divorced) 1 child

Chris Holmes t(15 October 1960 - 13 October 1964) (divorced) 1 child

Alexis Lichine t(23 December 1964 - 1969) (divorced)

Rounsevelle W. Schaum t(7 December 1969 - 1976) (divorced) 1 child

Marc Rosen t(30 July 1984 - present)

It's not always about the Benjamins, baby.

When it comes to cash, many of us believe the $100 bill, graced with Ben Franklin's face, is king. Not so. Long before everyone starting talking about a trillion-dollar coin to fix the deficit, the U.S. government was printing and minting some seriously valuable lucre.

Behold the $100,000 bill. The 100-grand bill was printed at the height of the Great Depression on Dec. 18, 1934, according to Bloomberg. Technically called gold certificates, these bills were designed to spur inflation and were only swapped between Federal Reserve banks. They were never circulated publicly (just owning one is illegal).

Primarily designed to facilitate money transfers between banks, the big bills largely fell out of circulation after wire transfers were invented -- making life a little harder for gangsters, and nobody else.

...

Yes, this is Arlene.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl - publicity portrait from the 1956 film Slightly Scarlet

I have read that they just hated each other. Is that true?

Did she know that Lex Barker was pretty shady?

It's creepy that hunks like him could be nauseating in their private lives. Such a waste of charm!

OK, everyone back to sleep, along with this thread.

Won't you defend your mother Lorenzo ape?

Dore Schary wrote in his autobiography that he had a serious crush on Arlene Dahl.

On that horrible reality series with Lorenzo and his children, they visited Arlene at home on one episode.

She's known among the family as "GaGa".

Why Gaga? Was she a tool? Is she still GaGa?

Lex Barker must have been one of the handsomest men Hollywood ever produced.

Was he just too handsome for that era? Would he have been a bigger star had he started in the 60s?

Rhonda Fleming had a nice singing voice.

Was she named after Arlene Francis?

**kisses Dahl**