Sunday, October 23, 2022

Sleep, My Love, 1948


I saw this movie, Sleep, My Love, 1948, years ago and loved it then. love it even more today. Bob Cummings' performance is memorable, "Bachelor in the bleachers."  This is a good review of the film.

A lot of scenes in this movie that later movies borrowed.  The ending where Dr. Rhinehart falls through the glass inside the mansion several floors to his death: that scene reminds me of the first installment of the Jason Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Identity, 2002, referred to as the "stairwell plunge."

Friday, October 14, 2022

Not Quite Moby Dick but Similar Denoument

Shack Out on 101, 1955, with a young Lee Marvin and workhorse, Frank Lovejoy, shares something in common with Terror in a Texas Town, 1958, starring Sterling Hayden as George Hansen.  
 


The script for "Terror" was written by Dalton Trumbo.  



Stan's Drive-Thru in The Crooked Web, 1955

I saw the movie The Crooked Web, 1955, the other day, starring Richard Denning, Frank Lovejoy, and Mari Blanchard.  


From the start, I liked the movie, in large part due to the car hop in the opening scene, named Stan's.  It turns out that Stan's was an actual restaurant, and not something built just for the movie.  


Another view of Simon's from the 1950 movie, 711 Ocean Drive.  Hollywood High School can be seen across the street.  This means that the drive-in sits on the southeast corner of Sunset Blvd. and Highland Avenue in Hollywood.  Built in late 1938, the drive-in became a "Stan's" in December 1951.  It was demolished in 1971.

You can see Stan's sign in the very opening scene, and its art deco design is quite elegant and beautiful.  
 

(1958)^^ - View showing Stan’s Drive-in Coffee Shop on the SE corner of Sunset and Highland, 6760 Sunset Blvd, across from Hollywood High School and Currie’s ice cream.
 

Historical Notes

Previously, the southeast corner of Sunset and Highland was the site of Simon’s Drive-in…one of two Simon’s on Sunset for a few years (since 1938). As of December 1951, Simon’s became a Stan’s drive-in. Since Stan’s took over the Carpenter’s at Vine that same year, there were now 2 Stan’s on Sunset.



Payoffs at Simon Drive-In, 6700 Sunset Boulevard on the SE corner of Highland, one of several locations of this local mini-chain.  The Church of the Blessed Sacrament at 6641-6657 Sunset can be seen beyond the trees.  

More pics of Stan's from Water and Power.


(ca. 1966)^.^ - Stan’s Drive-in on the SE corner of Sunset & Highland, kitty-corner to Hollywood High School.  Sunset-Highland Recording Studios is seen in the background.
 

Historical Notes

Stan’s stood on the SE corner as seen above until 1971 when it was demolished. Today, a Chick-fil-A is at the corner. Click HERE to see the contemporary view.


(1950s)##^* – View showing a woman drinking a soda while leaning on a street sign post with a Stan’s Drive-in seen in the background on the 4400 block of Sunset Blvd (SE corner of Sunset and Virgil Ave, across the street from the Vista Theatre). Click HERE for contemporary view.

 

 

Historical Notes

Stan's was a chain of drive-ins with at least a dozen LA locations built in the late 1950s and '60s.

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of LA Drive-in Restaurants.