Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 6 (1942)
*** (out of 4)
Actress Hedda Hopper appeared in well over one-hundred movies from the silent era up to the early 40s when she pretty much retired and instead focused on radio and eventually television. HEDDA HOPPER'S Hollywood was a six part series that featured the former actress turning into a gossip columnist where she would report on various Hollywood parties and the stars that attended them. The benefit of these short films today are being able to see many famous faces including some who weren't captured on film too much during this period. It's also worth mentioning that rumor has it that Hopper was one of the biggest influences on the character Burt Lancaster played in SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS.
The final part in Hedda Hopper's six-film series takes us back to the basics in that it delivers a lot of stars within the short running time. This time out we visit Pickfair, the event held by Mary Pickford at her home where soldiers from WWII got to meet their favorite stars, eat and play games. We get a large number of familiar faces here including Boris Karloff, Adolphe Menjou, Joyce Matthews, Anita Louise, Lola Lane, Reginald Denny, June Duprez, Melville Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Joan Bennett, Rudy Vallee and Mack Sennett. We even get to see Pickford standing next to Basil Rathbone. With this amount of stars on hand you know this one here comes across highly recommended and full of terrific entertaining. I had always read about these Pickfair events so actually getting to see one was quite nice. Not only do we get all of these celebrities in one short but we also get to see some of the men and women who served in WWII. Fans of classic Hollywood will certainly get a kick out of this short and it comes as a must see.
