The Hollywood Motion Picture Collection:
Over the years, actress Debbie Reynolds has amassed a huge collection of movie memorabilia, including 3,000 costumes, furniture pieces and entire sets from movies spanning half a century. It will now be housed in a 20,000 square foot museum on the top floor of Hollywood & Highland. The multi-million dollar collection includes Judy Garland's gingham dress from "The Wizard of Oz," a pair of her ruby slippers, and Marilyn Monroe's billowing "subway skirt" from "The Seven Year Itch." On display will be entire sets from movies like "Planet of the Apes," "Gigi" and "Hello Dolly" (1969), and of course films that Debbie herself starred in, such as "Singin' in the Rain." Accompanying the sets and costumes will be video clips from the movies, with Reynolds doing voice-overs. Former rival Elizabeth Taylor has donated a suit of armor worn by her late ex-husband Richard Burton in "Cleopatra," and has agreed to join the board of the foundation. The museum is slated to open in March 2002.

Some of the Oscar's greatest "losers" are foreign-born actresses who have won multiple awards from the New York Film Critics Circle. The British actress Deborah Kerr, a six-time Oscar nominee, won three New York Film Critics Awards, for BLACK NARCISSUS; HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON; and THE S U N D O W N E R S.
Swedish Icon Greta Garbo, a three-time Oscar nominee, was cited twice by the New York Critics Circle, for Anna Karenina and Camille. Liv Ullmann, Ingmar Bergman's quintessential acresss, earned two Oscar nominations, losing both. She won three New York Film Critics citations, for Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, and Face to Face.
No such striking cases exist among the men. Two British winners of the New York Film Critics Circle were not ever nominated for their performances by the Academy: Sir Ralph Richardson, for Breaking the Sound Barrier, and Sir John Gielgud for Providence. Both actors were nominated by the Academy for other performances, and Sir John won the Supporting Oscar for ARTHUR.

Ernest Borgnine's looks ~ wide face, beady eyes, gap between his teeth ~ made him a "natural" screen villain in Hoolywood's eyes. Mr. Borgnine's appearance was exploited in his early years, when he was cast as a sadistic sergeant in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and other menacing villains like BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. Nonetheless, Ernest won the Oscar for a role that represented a change of pace ~ the lonely, sympathetic and kind butcher in MARTY.
Donna Reed built a name for herself as a sincere, wholesome girl, as in It's a Wonderful Life in which she plays Jimmy Stewart's loyal girlfriend-then-wife, but she won the Supporting Oscar for a role that was the exception, Alma, the good-hearted "hostess" in From Here to Eternity. Under pressures of censorship, that film was less explicit than the book in describing Alma's line of work; in the book, she's a prostitute.
In 1960, the two female awards were given to actresses who played prostitutes; Dame Elizabeth Taylor in BUTTERFIELD 8 and Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry. How can we forget this performance by Elizabeth . . . . at the young age of thirty-four, she portrayed an older, fatter, gray-haired, harsh and deglamorized woman in WHO'S Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Katharine Hepburn, as a demented aristocratic mother in love with her homosexual poet-son, with Elizabeth Taylor as her niece, who almost goes mad after witnessing her cousin's rape and murder. Both Hepburn and Taylor received Best Actress nominations, though neither won.
The winner was Simon Signoret for ROOM AT THE TOP.

DEGLAMORIZATION OF MEN AND WOMAN
AND SCREEN ALCOHOLICS

Ray Milland, " The Lost Weekend "
James Mason, " A Star is Born "
Jack Lemmon, " Days of Wine and Roses "
Dudley Moore, " Arthur "
Paul Newman, " The Verdict "
Albert Finney, " The Dresser " and " Under the Volcano "
Nicolas Cage, " Leaving Las Vagas "
Robert Duvall, " The Apostle "
Susan Hayward, " Smash-up, the Story of a Woman, " " My Foolish Heart, " and " I'll Cry Tomorrow "
Deborah Kerr, " Edward, My Son "
Vivien Leigh, " A Streetcar Named Desire "
Piper Laurie, " The Hustler "
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, " Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? "
Bette Midler, " The Rose "
Marsha Mason, " Only When I Laugh "
Simone Signoret, " Ship of Fools " (drugs)
Julie Christie, "McCabe and Mrs. Miller " (drugs)
Diana Ross, " Lady Sings the Blues " (liquor and drugs)
Jessica Lange, " Frances "
Jane Fonda, " The Morning After "

SAL MINEO TO PLAY "EXODUS'" Dov Landau

New York, February 25th, 1960: In one of the most off-beat castings in recent years, Sal Mineo was today assigned to play Dov Landau, 17 year old survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto and Auschwitz, in the film version of EXODUS. Mineo, long a teen aged favorite due to his films, records and tevee appearances will be reveting to the kind of acting that made him the youngest performer ever nominated for a best supporting actor award for the role in Rebel Without a Cause. Mineo, obviously delighted, said he could not wait to begin work in the role.
Mineo, who was born in New York on January 10th, is twenty-one and EXODUS is his 13th motion picture. His others included, notably, GIANT, Somebody Up There Likes Me, The Gene Krupa Story.
He has also appeared on Broadway in The Rose Tattoo and The King and I with Yul Brynner. He has appeared on all the major TV shows, and his recording of Start Moving sold over a million copies.

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Postal Service puts stamp
on activist's legacy

A United States Postal Service stamp hpnoring athlete, performer and social activist Paul Robeson was going on sale Tuesday - 1/20/04 - in the town where he was born 106 years ago.
The Postal service was launching the stamp during a ceremony at Princeton University, just a few blocks from Robeson's birthplace and boyhood home.
" I am very gratified, " Robeson's son Paul Robeson Jr. told THE TIMES of Trenton. " To say the least, the family and I are very pleased. " The elder Robeson was a football All-American and valedictorian at Rutgers University at a time when few blacks attended college. He later became an actor, singer and activist for racial justice and international peace.