Happy Birthday Deanna!

Today is Deanna Durbin's 90th birthday!  There is a wonderful birthday series going on at the blog West End Dumplings: Go to Part 1: From Winnipeg to Hollywood (1921 - 1936) Go to Part 2: A smashing career (1936 - 1949)Go to Part 3: Whatever happened to Winnepeg's Sweetheart? Deanna's 26th Birthday in 1947 took place on the set of Up in Central Park.Co-star Albert Sharpe (right) looks on as Deanna blows out the candles...

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West End Dumplings: Deanna Durbin, Winnipeg's Sweetheart, Turns 90 !

Click here to read a wonderful 90th birthday post from Christian Cassidy of the blog West End Dumplings:West End Dumplings: Deanna Durbin, Winnipeg's Sweetheart, Turns 90 !: December 4, 1947, Winnipeg Free Press On December 4, 1921 Edna Mae Durbin , was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba...

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"Christmas Holiday" shows this Fri in LA

Thanks Laura for the reminder that Christmas Holiday will beshowing this Friday night at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles,a great theater (I've been there) that screens classics year-round.If you live in the Los Angeles/Southern California area, well worth checking out,and a nice way to celebrate Deanna's 90th birthday!Check out the link here for more details:CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY / COMFORT AND JOY | American CinemathequeAero Theatre1328 Montana Avenue,Santa Monica, CA 90403Fri, December 2 7:30pmTickets are $11 General Admission, with reduced rates...

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Time Machine to the Twenties: Visit Deanna Durbin's House - Part 2

Time Machine to the Twenties: Visit Deanna Durbin's House - Part 2: And now, it's back to visit with the lovely Deanna Durbin: Gorgeous Living Room Hear Deanna Play Perhaps She Might Even Sing f...

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Link: A Visit to Deanna Durbin's House - Part 1 (Time Machine to the Twenties)

Amanda shared some great photos of Deanna's Hollywood home from LIFE. Check them out here: Time Machine to the Twenties: A Visit to Deanna Durbin's House - Part 1: Welcome to Deanna Durbin's House! The View from the Exterior is Lovely Deanna Humbly Welcomes You Lovely Stonework ...

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More Deanna artwork

Deanna by ~Helyss on deviant...

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Deanna Durbin Compared with Newer Teen Stars

Classic movie fans often bemoan the lack of discretion and innocence in films today. This was also the case in 1987 when Hollywood journalist and reporter to the stars Vernon Scott used Deanna Durbin's public persona as a comparative study with then-sensation teen actress Molly Ringwald. Here is the article: October 6, 1987 NOWADAYS, A KISS IS JUST A KISS Author: Vernon Scott, United Press International Edition: FIRST Section: ARTS AND FILM Page:...

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It’s a Date (1940)

Deanna Durbin plays Pamela, the aspiring thespian daughter to Broadway actress Georgia Drake (Kay Francis). Mother and daughter unknowingly vie for the same part in a play and also for the affections of the same man (Walter Pidgeon). It's a thin plot, but Ms. Durbin and the rest are charming as ever. Director William Seiter held the reigns for It’s A Date. Seiter’s catalog includes directing Shirley Temple films and early Fred Astaire musicals, such...

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Deanna Durbin on DVD and VHS

Are you craving a Deanna Durbin film and wonder if it is available for home viewing?  We've put together a list of Durbin films  and explain which are currently available for home viewing and in what format. (Please note that all DVD information on this post refers to Region 1 DVDs) DEANNA DURBIN ON DVD Deanna Durbin made 21 feature films for Universal Studios and 1 short subject for MGM. Only 11 Durbin feature films are on DVD. Universal...

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Deanna Durbin's 3rd Wedding Venue is a Perfect Fit

After her retirement from films in the late 1940s, Deanna Durbin married for the third time on December 21, 1950 to director Charles Henri David (Lady On A Train). The ceremony was held in city hall in the French village of Sarreguemines. The Pittsburgh Press remarks about the relative stillness of the proceedings for the movie star, contrasting it with the “showy Hollywood style weddings” seen around postwar France. However, the venue was the perfect...

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It Started With Eve (1941)

Arguably Deanna Durbin’s best movie is It Started With Eve (1941). In addition to near perfect casting, the script brings the romantic comedy genre up a notch or two. Unable to find his fiancée in time, business tycoon Johnny Reynolds (Robert Cummings) pays struggling singer Ann Terry (Durbin) to pretend to be his fiancée for a few moments to please his fatally ill father, Reynolds Sr. (Charles Laughton).  The deceit goes awry when Reynolds...

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The Amazing Mrs Holliday (1943)

Deanna plays a schoolteacher in China who must flee with a group of orphans after the Japanese attack her village. In a more dramatic role that usual, Deanna Durbin is wonderful in her role as Ruth, a young missionary who rescues a group of orphans from war-torn China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The film begins with Ruth - an orphan herself - and the children arriving in San Francisco on a lifeboat after their ship was torpedoed by the...

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Deanna on the big screen in Palo Alto, Califonia

The Stanford Theater in Palo Alto, California will be showing Three Smart Girls on June 22-24 at 7:30 PM. The Stanford is located on 221 University Avenue, near the campus of Stanford University. If you live within driving distance this would be a great chance to see Deanna on the big screen! The movie is part of a summer series devoted to Hollywood Musicals of the Golden age: see the full calendar here...

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1981 Photo of Durbin by Charles David

Deanna Durbin has notably shunned the spotlight since her retirement from film in the late 1940s. Since then, any interview, missive or photo of the star has been increasingly rare. Below is one I had not seen before. This photo was taken in 1981 by her husband Charles David (director of Lady On A Train). It was later sent to NYU Cinema Studies professor William Everson.  Scrawled at the bottom of the photograph are these words: Dear Will Everson In...

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Durbin's "Certain Age" Co-Star, Jackie Cooper, has Died

Actor/Director, Jackie Cooper died on May 3, 2011. He was 88. Cooper began his show business career as a child actor, gaining popularity in Hal Roach's Our Gang series. For his work in Skippy (1931) at the age of nine, Cooper holds the record as the youngest actor to garner an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Later, the teen would famously date Judy Garland and co-star with Deanna Durbin in That Certain Age (1938), with whom he also claims...

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Lady On A Train (1945): A Leslie Charteris Premise with a Lucille Ball Twist

Deanna Durbin’s film career can be divided into three overlapping eras: the adolescent years, from which comes the perky (and profitable) Durbin formula of youthful tenacity and pluck; the post-adolescence/struggle era, where the now-grownup star fights for mature material and sometimes wins; and the resignation years, when Universal’s movie veteran - weary over the struggle for challenging scripts - essentially gives in to whatever work is offered. Lady...

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Life Magazine Announces Deanna Durbin's Engagement to Vaughn Paul

The December 16, 1940 edition of Life Magazine makes a brief announcement on page 24, amidst stories of general unrest and conflicts around the world, the engagement of film star Deanna Durbin to Universal Studios associate producer, Vaughn Paul. This would be Ms. Durbin's first marriage. It recounts the studio's reluctance to allow Ms. Durbin to mature onscreen, throws in trivia about the star and posts a picture of the happy couple. Life Mag ...

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Dick Van Dyke Show Star on Durbin's Influential Clothing Style

In Hold the Roses, the autobiography of Rose Marie (who is probably best known for her role as Sally on "The Dick Van Dyke Show"), the star gives this brief account of Deanna Durbin's influence on her own early career as a child performer." Kids in those days [late 1930s] had a rough time going from twelve to sixteen years old. There were no 'in-between' clothes or shoes like kids have today. It was Mary Jane flats, Red Cross shoes or high heels....

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Deanna Durbin's Big Night at the 1938 Academy Awards

The 11th Annual Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles on Thursday February 23, 1939 in the dining room of the Biltmore Hotel, which is still there today but of course no longer hosts the ceremonies.The dining room, The Biltmore Bowl, was one of the hottest dining rooms and nightclubs in LA at the time.Below is a photo of what the Oscar ceremony looked like at the time (the photo is on a wall in the hotel today).Deanna arrives at the hotel with...

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For the Love of Mary (1948)

Originally posted on the blog Java's Journey For the Love of Mary (1948) is a light RomCom which follows Mary Peppertree (Deanna Durbin), a White House switchboard operator who takes her job very seriously and is on familiar terms with people in all three branches of government, including the President of the United States (who personally wants to make sure that Mary gets married to someone... anyone, it seems, so he arranges her dates). David...

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Deanna in color

I discovered some amazing colorizations by Megg on the Deviant Art website. Megg granted me permission to display some of her work on the blog. Doesn't Deanna look amazing in color?! Deanna Durbin Colorized 2 by ~ajax1946 on deviantART Be sure to use the links above to check out Megg's other work on Deviant Art and request prints of your favorites! Posted with permission from the art...

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Ronald Reagan was almost cast in a Deanna Durbin movie

As I was reading the book Reagan: A Life in Letters (Free Press, 2003), a compilation of hundreds of Ronald Reagan's letters sent throughout his lifetime, I was surprised to come across one letter related to Deanna.Here is how the editors of book preface the letter (my notes in blue):Joe Pasternak, a producer of 83 movies, wrote Reagan that Universal Pictures once vetoed his decision to cast Reagan in a Deanna Durbin movie. Durbin had starred in...

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Photos inspire Durbin movie scene

click to enlargeIn an article dubbed "Speaking of Pictures," from February 19, 1940, Life Magazine argues that movies should be more complex and realistic. The magazine showcases its preference with a number of movie stills which were directly influenced by life in general and Life Magazine photos in particular. The article displays the movie stills next to their candid inspiration.One of the film frames is taken from the Deanna Durbin vehicle, It's...

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