Dave G., and Bonnie B.... a puff peice for the Spanish-speaking market.

Well, here I am about a year later without single post until now. I have been remiss, but I will try to find the time to continually add to this little Blog of mine. In the last few years, I have feared that the well would run dry, that is to say that I thought I would run out of things relating to Bonnie Bannon to upload. My fears (for now) were unfounded as I found more publicity photo's of Bonnie that I forgot I had. And that isn't counting all the newspaper articles concerning her time in Hollywood that I hope to one day start lodging in here as well. So, on with the photo's, shall we?
               I found and subsequently purchased this photo on-line about 4 months ago. The seller was in South America (Argentina, I think?). Included on the back of the photo (who doesn't like a good little back-story?) was an explanation. As I do not understand Spanish, a Facebook friend more or less translated it for me. The man in the photo is Director, Dave Gould, and apparently, he is having trouble on the film, so Bonnie Bannon is helping him. I do not believe for one moment that Nana is helping him with anything in this staged photo. But it is a fun look into the publicity machine at MGM in the early 1930's. As I have probably stated on this Blog before, it is likely that Nana would have taken the seat, then used whatever direction they were giving, and when they were done taking some photo's, somebody would yell "Next!".... It is a business, after all.

"Roman Scandals" collect the whole series.

From the Eddie Cantor movie "Roman Scandals". I am sure that Lucille Ball is in a few of these, let's see if I can figure out where she and Bonnie are. Here's a news flash.....

Bonnie Bannon, front right with mirror in her right hand. Lucy absent?

Bonnie Bannon front row,  left.

Bonnie Bannon, behind gal in the front. Barbara Pepper 3rd row back, on left.... I think.

Bonnie Bannon, back row, on the grass.

The wigs don't help at all.  You might have noticed, I opted again to include Bonnie's hand-written notes around the edges, on the paper that she mounted these on originally.

That guy Bill again.... how does he do it??

  I will do one more today, on the day of her 100th. A photo like this might be a bit of a come-down after the photo with Lucy and friends, but I am gonna do it anyway. I think this is just a fun publicity photo from "The Great Ziegfeld". And like I said in an older post from the same movie, they probably just brought the gals in small bunches, shot pics until one or more of them stopped saying "my eyes were closed in that one" and then brought in the next group. As I might have referenced with the other William Powell upload, life must have been pretty rough for Bill that day.
        As an aside, you might have noticed that it looks a bit ragged at the top. I could have easily cropped this photo, but I think in the interest of purity, I still have it attached to the non-acid free paper that Bonnie originally mounted this and most of her other publicity photos on. Included (again, on purpose) are Bonnie's notation as to what this is. Pretty sure that is her, third from the left. I am wondering, just a bit, what flavor the studio chose to serve that fine day..... Any ideas?   ;)

And now, for the first time anywhere.

Left to right, Mary Lange, Vivian Keefer, Omar Kiam, Lucille Ball, Bonnie Bannon, Jane Hamilton.... Hey, where's the dog??

I have been waiting on this day, of her 100th birthday to upload/release these. These too, come from Bonnie's private collection. Besides being great pics (from 1933) I am thinking, you might recognize a quite young Lucille Ball. Family legend has them (Bonnie and Lucy) as roommates back in the early days, which sounds quite believable to me, what with two girls out of their element, in

Left to right. Awww, forget it, I did it already, and I could not make it fit. Oh look, it's Rexey the dog! 

Hollywood, trying to make it. Some years ago, I conferred with Thomas Watson, who runs the site Lucyfan.com, and while he believes that Bonnie and Lucy were very likely roommates, he feels it probably wasn't just the two of them, but a group of gals trying to get the get-by, as I like to say. If you have seen my older post of Mary, Lucy, Bonnie, and the Big Strawberry, then you have seen that great, obscure (throwaway?) photo. You should know that you can see that great find on his (Thomas's) site as well, as I shared it with him some years ago. That said, these two marvelous photos that I have been holding onto just for this day, and just for this occasion, will be on his site soon, with my blessing. Mr. Watson is waiting until I give him the word, after these two get uploaded for the first time ever (here and my personal Facebook page). These are not just great pics (and very small, around 4x5 or something) but they have a bit of history as Lucy is just starting out, and she is flanked by her friends (and fellow dreamers). I like how Bonnie wrote their names on them, back in the day, as it helps to identify the other gals, and Mr. Kiam, that was a heavy hitter in Hollywood at that time, and some years following. As I don't really know the back-story here, I would like to believe it is just some friends in the picture business (as Bonnie and Lucy called it) taking a break and going out for a good time. I hope you enjoy it, and I really do think it is special on a lot of levels. I am curious as to where these might end up, it is the web after all. Now to push the "publish" button. Oh, and I just noticed, Ms. Keefer has what looks like "Rexey's" cousin wrapped around her neck, no wonder he looks like he wants to get away!   ;)     Cheers!

I'M GOING TO HOLLYWOOD, I'M GOING TO HOLLYWOOD!! Maybe Bonnie said that?

A good friend found this clipping earlier this year. As I am still not completely sure which family legend is true (there are a few versions) this little blurb in the Bonnie's local paper (the Fresno Bee) might very well have been what gave her the idea to "go to Hollywood". I am pretty sure that folks must have been telling her most of her life how pretty she was, perhaps even telling her "you oughta be in pictures"..... or at least, that's what I like to believe (sorry, I can't help it). Part of the legend is that she was working at a local Warner Bros. theater, but that doesn't explain her getting to be a "Goldwyn Girl" or also known as one of the lucky 7. The uploaded newspaper clipping is a bit grainy, but I hope you can make it out. If I keep working on this Blog, as is my intention, I will eventually run out of pictures of her worth uploading. It is at that point where this thing will go deeper, as it seems that every time Bonnie got ink, she preserved it in a scrapbook. But until that time, let me see if I can upload some more cool pics today.

Happy 100th Birthday, Pauline Francis Bannon!!

Birth certificate, Pauline Francis "Bonnie" Bannon

Well, here we are, on a day I have been waiting awhile for. As Nana (sorry, it's still weird calling her by her first name, even if it was not her birth name) would have been 100 today, had she not passed so many years ago. Like a great many of the things I have uploaded here, this comes from her personal collection that I have owned since my father's, her only child's passing. She was born in California's Central Valley, as one of 5 children. I have seen pictures of her siblings (all of them have been gone for some time now) and for the most part, all of them were actually an attractive-looking bunch. Not surprisingly, Bonnie's (see, I can do it) folks were hard-working and honorable, and instilled good values into their children. And while she never had a really big career in Hollywood (her choosing, perhaps?) this simple document is proof that one can come from fairly humble beginnings and go on to become more. I still have not learned yet where the name "Bonnie" came from, but as I am in contact with 3 of her nieces, perhaps one of them will tell me as I will post this on my Facebook page as well (Warren W. Jones). Perhaps yet another family mystery will be solved?