It's always a treat when Cinema Retro subscriber Rory Monteith delves into his collection of vintage photos and makes a contribution to our site. This time, Rory has unearthed a wonderful photo of Times Square in June 1965. Note the billboard for director Ken Annakin's Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. On Broadway, Gwen Verdon was starring in Sweet Charity years before the film version would be made. Sammy Davis Jr. was also starring in Golden Boy. Rory advises that the theater showing Magnificent Men was the now-defunct DeMille Theater which had previously been known as The Mayfair. It was here that Frankenstein premiered in 1931. (see original ad below)

Never let it be said that Cinema Retro readers are not appreciative of the human anatomy. We've received a number of letters griping that we've been negligent in presenting our Gratuitously Sexy Photos of the Week. We plead guilty, but only because there has been such an abundance of other stories. Nevertheless, we herewith resume the feature that has earned us high marks not only from straight guys but also from our female readers and gay guys who appreciate the fact that we never fail to include some vintage male cheesecake shots to satiate their lurid desires as well.

Having barely survived the horrors of Germany in the final days of WWII, young Elke Sommer never dreamed she would become one of the major starlets of the 1960s. Elke has recently given Cinema Retro interviews about her films from this period. Look for the first in issue #10 in which she recalls making Deadlier Than the Male.

Long and hard- that's how you can describe Dick Chamberlain's surfboard in the 1960s flick Joy in the Morning. Chamberlain, like Rock Hudson and so many other gay Hollywood hunks of the era, had to stay in the closet in order to maintain their lucrative careers as the "boys next door". Chamberlain set the record straight, so to speak, in his autobiography from the 1990s in which he opened up about the trials and tribulations of hiding his sexuality for so many years.

In answr to those who say the Cinema Retro gang can't appreciate a movie unless it's a western made by Italians or a spy movie made by the Brits, here's a vintage movie still to show we're really in touch with the artiste in each of us. The still is from the wonderful 1974 MGM documentary That's Entertainment which paid homage to the legendary stars of the studio's musicals including Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, who still had the right stuff. Maybe white men can't jump, but at least a few of them sure can dance. The film has spawned several sequels over the years and each one serves as a reminder that as long as the video format lives on, so will the stars who epitomized class and style.

This trade magazine advertisement for the 1964 reissue of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window illustrates why the master director wouldn't make it past the studio gates today. Hitch's morbid sense of humor would have seen him sued by mental health professionals and murderers who claim that he was mocking the psychological demons that caused them to commit crimes. Then, Oprah would have devoted an entire hour to the tragic tales of the theater owners who are "threatened" in the ad for not showing the film. On air, theyu would relate that the ad has been so traumatic that they hadn't been able to sleep in weeks!

In going through the endless Cinema Retro archives, I came across this lobby card from the 1971 Swedish soft core porn film, Dagmar's Hot Pants and it brought back some misty-eyed memories of my youth. When Dagmar opened, I was a sophmore in high school and my friend and I tried to see it. Alas, an eagle-eyed old lady at the box-office (was there ever anyone but eagle-eyed old ladies manning the boxoffices in those days?) would not let us in because we were not 17 years old. (The film was rated a blazing-hot "R"). Disappointed, we ended up rebelling by going to a grind house on 42nd Street where, as long as you didn't ride up to the boxoffice on a tricycle, you were deemed old enough to see the hardcore shows. We ended up watching the latest "loops" from good old John Holmes (aka Long Johnny Wadd, the screen's greatest swordsman since Errol Flynn). Yet, I've always been haunted by the elusive Dagmar and have long pondered why he was so indelibly associated with the short-lived trend of hot pants. Even more fascinating is that it's a sex-based film starring Robert Strauss - yes, that Robert Strauss - the guy who played Animal in Stalag 17 and who sported a gloriously "lived in" mug that made Rondo Hatton look like Paul Newman. Locating the above lobby card only whetted my appetite even more. It appears to feature an Asian midget in a Swedish sex film starring an aging American character actor. If anyone out there in cyberspace has seen Dagmar's Hot Pants, please let us know more about this Swedish contribution to happier living. If nothing else, we're hooked on the tag line for the film that we found on www.imdb.com

Cinema Retro subscriber Bill O'Hara, who has a mega collection of rare movie stills sent this fascinating photo in with this notation:

David McCallum as Ashley-Pitt and Steve McQueen as Hilts get soused while celebrating the 4th of July with homemade moonshine. The scene was ultimately removed from the final release cut of The Great Escape.

Well, Bill, this photo really surprised us as it wasn't among other stills of cut sequences we had come across. So, Cinema Retro worked it's magic and we did send it on to David McCallum, but -alas- David could shed no light on the background of the scene. He wrote, "I've seen the still before but have no recollections of the scene or the moment. All I remember are the 'Wows' ..." Hmm..We have to remind ourselves to ask him what "the Wows" refers to - the success of the sequence, or was it real moonshine in the jugs?

Thanks for sharing the photo, Bill. If other collectors have rare stills they'd like to discuss, feel free to send them in.

(For major coverage of the making of The Great Escape, see Cinema Retro issue #1. For David McCallum's exclusive interview about the film, see Cinema Retro issue #8)

Control yourselves, ladies: it's heart throb Liberace in his appearance in the 1965 MGM musical "When the Boys Meet the Girls". What really does happen when the boys meet the girls? Not much if you're Liberace.

Long before it was fashionable to come out of the closest, generations of gay actors and entertainers not only had to cover up their sexual preferences but also had to go beyond the pale to establish they were as straight-as-an-arrow. This tended to work with major stars such as Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson, even though the studios often had their most popular gay stars go through the ritual of "dating" starlets and in the case of Hudson, even entering a sham marriage with a pre-determined divorce date. However, attempts to make Liberace into a female heart throb defied even the power of the studio moguls. In the 1955 film Sincerely Yours, ol' Lib was cast as a world famous pianist (we always knew he loved pianists!) who must not only cope with going deaf but also losing his dream girl. If you find that a bit too much to believe, so did audiences. Beyond Liberace's core group of blue-haired old ladies, the public at large found the scenario hilarious. However, when a British film critic suggested Liberace was gay, the world's ultimate pianist sprang up successfully and sued the writer for libel. The indignity of having to hand over thousands of dollars to Liberace for suggesting he was gay was like apologizing for saying Jackie Gleason was fat. Yet, this was the state of denial the film industry was in at the time. He continued to maintain this charade even on his death bed, years after he could have used his popularity to help the cause of gay entertainers by coming out of the closet.

The finding of the London court in Liberace's favor for some reason did not turn him into a matinee idol. He only made two other films - including playing himself in a musical cameo in MGM's 1965 teen extravaganza When the Boys Meet the Girls. The following year he received positive reviews for his self-mocking performance in The Loved One, the infamous send-up of Hollywood hypocrisy.

Happily, it's a different world today - at least to some degree. Gay actors can indeed come out of the closest and find themselves the toast of the town on the party circuit but the hypocrisy is still there: unless they want to continuously be cast as flamboyant gay characters, studios rarely entrust them with leading roles.

Sadly, neither of Liberace's masterpieces Sincerely Yours or When the Boys Meet the Girls have made it on to DVD yet. However, you can get the terrific DVD of The Loved One discounted from Amazon by clicking here

VINTAGE GEMS FROM THE CINEMA RETRO PHOTO ARCHIVE

Director Richard Lester prepares to give a boost to young Ringo Starr as he prepares to film a segment from the madcap opening sequence of "A Hard Day's Night" in London. The 1964 movie was the first feature film for The Beatles. Notice the poster on the wall advertising Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. The films were a stark contrast: "Cleopatra" cost a fortune and lost millions while The Fab Four's flick was made a shoestring and grossed huge profits for United Artists.

W.C FIELDS ONCE CRACKED "THERE'S NOTHIN' WRONG WITH GAMBLING. LOOK AT LADY GODIVA- SHE PUT EVERYTHING SHE HAD ON A HORSE!" FOLLOWING SUIT IS THIS LOVELY FROM "ZARDOZ". MISTER ED NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD.

WHO IS THAT MASKED MAN? NO, HE'S NOT THE DOORMAN AT THAT BAR IN GREENWICH VILLAGE WE SAW YOU DUCKING OUT OF LAST WEEK. IT'S SEAN CONNERY IN DIRECTOR JOHN BOORMAN'S BIZARRE BUT FASCINATING 1973 FILM "ZARDOZ". SEAN TOOK OVER THE ROLE WHEN BURT REYNOLDS HAD TO BACK OUT OF THE FILM. CONSIDERING THE COSTUME, WE'RE GRATEFUL THAT ORSON WELLES DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE OVER FROM CONNERY!

ORDER ZARDOZ SPECIAL DVD EDITION FROM AMAZON USA

ORDER ZARDOZ SPECIAL DVD EDITION FROM AMAZON UK