Front Row Dress Circle

This is a popular series and, having been hotel owners of several years ourselves until recently, it is always interesting to see how people who own and operate hotel and bed and breakfast businesses behave when they become guests in other peoples establishments. This show is terrific advertising for the contestants – 30 minutes of television exposure that you could not normally afford to pay for, highlighting your property, your services and – most importantly – YOU.

How you come across to your guests can make or break your business and on television this is magnified enormously because you’ve got millions of people watching you and judging you. So of course, you go all out to represent yourself and your business to be as customer friendly as possible. Right? you’d have to be a fool to behave as complete plonkers and expect your business to prosper as a result. Right?…………..

Ask Amanda and Mike Daly of The Old Mill, Borrowby in Thirsk – they operate a stunning and thriving b&b in the Yorkshire Dales (well, it was until last Monday…) and made the grave error of appearing on Four in a Bed in a manner that has caused quite some stir on media internet forums. In short, Amanda came across as extremely rude in refusing to stay at one of the featured establishments on day two of the show. This is a show folks, you are part of a competition and despite what you are used to in your own time, you take part and play by the rules. Unhappy with their room in the Richmond Hotel, Edinburgh, the couple flounced out ‘Hotel Inspector’ style  and stayed elsewhere more to their ‘standard’. They dined with the other contestants at the Richmond that evening but refused breakfast next morning. As a result, A & M paid the Richmond owners nothing on day five, results day. Big fat zero.

This has not happened before on this show and Amanda has not won any fans for this new innovation. Now, I am not going to go into the points raised in the many online arguments and discussions currently raging regarding Amanda’s personal appearance, her habit of speaking with her mouth full of food, her lack of self-knowledge and her lofty attitude…what really galls me about this couple is that they consumed two meals plus drinks in the Richmond Hotel and did not pay for them. Amanda refused to allow Mike to pay even £20 for the facilities they used in the short time they spent in the Richmond, so effectively they scored two free evening meals. Lucky them – free grub for a night and then complain about everything being ‘below your standard’ and refuse to pay up.

Call it whatever you like – but I call that theft.

Very sad news today reports that the 36 year old son of ‘Rocky’ actor, Sylvester Stallone, Sage Moonblood Stallone, has died of a suspected drug overdose in his LA home. Sage was his father’s eldest child, born in 1976 during his first marriage to Sasha Czack. A second son Seargeoh was born in 1979  and is autistic.

Those of us who have seen all the Rocky films will remember Sage in his acting debut as Rocky’s son in Rocky V. This is very sad news. I recall Sly appearing on the Dinah Shore Show in ’77 and talking about his baby son Sage – I was a school girl at that time and I had a huge crush on ‘Rocky’ back then…I have to admit I felt quite jealous that he was married, I thought back then that Sascha was the luckiest woman in the world, lol.

Thoughts are with Sly and Sascha today – they will be devastated.

Sage Moonblood Stallone : b. May 5, 1976 LA – d. July 13, 2012 LA.

Movie buffs are fascinated by the tricks of the trade employed when an actor dies suddenly during the making of a film. In the early years of movies they simply used a ‘double’ who was filmed from behind, as in ‘Saratoga’ (see below), or later on when a replacement actor was brought in and the scenes shot around the deceased actor. It is something of a game to play ‘now you see him, now you don’t’ with some films where footage of someone was kept in a film after they died and mixed with footage of the replacement actor. Making movies was an occupational hazard for some, so read on about some actors for whom the final scene came too soon….

* Saratoga, 1936 - Actress Jean Harlow died aged 26 just a few weeks before completing her final scenes. A double was used in her place and you notice towards the end of the film that her character’s face is never shown and does not speak any lines. She appeared in the final scene when they used a scene that was intended for use earlier on in the movie.

* Solomon and Sheba, 1958 - Tyrone Power had filmed about 75 percent of his scenes when he was stricken with a massive heart attack, as he was filming a dueling scene with his co-star George Sanders. He died enroute to hospital. He was replaced by Yul Brynner in the role. Power’s closeups in the film were res-hot with Brynner but the long shots featuring Power were kept; you can still spot Power in the long shots and even in a couple during the fatal dueling scene.

* Plan 9 from Outer Space, 1956 – a classic this one. Bela Lugosi died of a heart attack during production of Ed Wood’s cult film. It features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, and hired his wife’s chiropractor to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The double is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape. You can really spot the difference during his ‘walk through the graveyard’ scene.

* Giant, 1955 - Actor James Dean had only just completed his scenes with only some dubbing required when he was killed in a high speed road crash within 48 hours of leaving the set. His final scenes are shown in the film however as he was killed before he  could complete the dubbing he was ‘voice-overed’ by his friend Nick Adams; it is Nick’s voice you hear in Dean’s ‘drunken’ final scenes.

* The Misfits, 1960 – Clark Gable died of a heart attack just a matter of days after filming strenuous scenes in this western flick.  He had completed the film but a couple were re-shot with a double.

* Canadian Bacon, 1995 - John Candy died from a heart attack during filming. A double was used in some scenes but the film was a flop.

* Twilight Zone, the Movie, 1983 - Actor Vic Morrow was killed, along with 2 children, during an action scene. A helicopter hovering above the set crashed down into the actor and the two children. His episode in the film was included in the release but was edited to change the ending.

* My Friend Irma, 1949 – Prussian-born actor, Felix Bressart (b.1892), fled from Europe to America when the Nazi Party seized power in 1933 and began a career in films that followed on from a distinguished list of stage appearances in his native Prussia, Germany and Austria. Bressart acted in major Hollywood films of the late 30′s and into the 40′s, namely Edison, the Man – Ernst Lubitsch’s famous comedy To Be or Not To Be & also the oscar-winning Blossoms in the Dust. Bressart was filming scenes for the adapted-from-radio My Friend Irma (which launched the career of Jack Lemmon) when he was suddenly diagnosed with leukaemia after falling ill on set. The disease was well advanced and he died within days of the diagnosis. Hans Conreid replaced Bressart in the film and speaks throughout however Bressart is still seen in the long shots.

Actors injured during filming…

* Raintree County, 1957 - Handsome Montgomery Clift was filming when he was horrifically injured in a car smash after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor’s house one evening. His facial injuries were severe and production was halted for several months while he recuperated. His face never looked the same afterwards though. He completed the film eventually but if you watch the film you can easily spot the before the crash and after the crash Monty in his scenes.

* I, Claudious, 1937 - Actress Merle Oberon suffered facial injuries in a car crash during filming; the project was abandoned and never released even though the film was well into production.