🎾Star-Studded Serves: Celebrating National Play Tennis Day!

Happy National Play Tennis Day!

Did you know that actress Ginger Rogers was a dedicated player who regularly won tournaments? She adored tennis throughout her life and, by 1950, wanted some real competition. “Tennis is my game,” she said years later, “but I’m a tennis snob. I only like to play with very good players.”

At age 39, she played mixed doubles with Frank Shields (Brooke Shields’ grandfather) at the US Open. In a rain-delayed first-round match at the US national championships at Forest Hills, Barbara Wilkins and William J. Tully defeated Rogers and Shields, 6-3, 7-5.

Ginger Rogers playing a week before the U.S. Open in Forest Hills, NY

Take a look at some classic movie stars who have embraced the sport in publicity shots, their personal lives, and their films.

Barbara Stanwyck

Donna Reed

Lucille Ball

Paul Newman


Spencer Tracy

Carole Lombard

Claudette Colbert

Gary Cooper

Mel Ferrer & Audrey Hepburn

Ava Gardner


Jane Fonda

Cornel Wilde

Dolores Del Rio

Judy Garland & Paulette Goddard

Lew Ayres

Rita Hayworth


Bette Davis

Norma Shearer

Debbie Reynolds

Fred Astaire

Jean Harlow

Directed by Ida Lupino, Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951) stars Claire Trevor as a demanding stage—or court—mother who is determined to mold her tennis-prodigy daughter, Sally Forrest, into a national champion. However, her relentless ambition ultimately leads to the creation of a monster.

On a train, wealthy sociopath Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) recognizes tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and strikes up a conversation in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951). Guy is constantly being harassed and watched by Bruno, who wants him to murder his father after having just killed his soon-to-be ex-wife. Guy suspects Bruno's intentions and tries to distance himself from him. In a gripping and tense tennis scene, a crowd of tennis fans shift their heads side to side during the match, except for Bruno, who remains still, fixated on Haines.

Farley Granger practicing for the tennis scene with tennis pro Jack Cushingham who played Fred Reynolds in the film.

In the comedy Pat & Mike (1952), Katharine Hepburn portrays a professional athlete. She plays a tennis player and actually performed all the sports footage in the film herself.

“I could have accomplished three times what I’ve accomplished. I haven’t realized my full potential. It’s disgusting. I could have been a great tennis player.” - Katharine Hepburn (February 1979)⁣

Who remembers how Alvy Singer met Annie Hall? That's right, it was during a game of tennis doubles with friends. In Annie Hall (1977), Alvy played by Woody Allen encounters Annie, portrayed by Diane Keaton.

In the dark fantasy comedy The Witches of Eastwick (1987), the witches (Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer) engage in a not-so-friendly game of tennis with the devil, portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Envy and rivalry arise among them, and they inadvertently levitate a tennis ball.

Ending on a comedic note, Tom Hanks is caught in a not-so-serious tennis match with fiance (Tawny Kitaen) and his future in-laws (George Grizzard, Barbara Stuart) in the sex comedy Bachelor Party (1984). He keeps smashing the ball, sending it flying into the neighbor's yard.

"One of these days, I'm gonna burn the Thompson court right to the ground."

Comments

🌟Star Quote: Jean Simmons

"Every actress has to face the facts there are younger, more beautiful girls right behind you. Once you've gone beyond the vanity of the business, you'll take on the tough roles."

🎥 Review: Key Largo (1948)

"When your head says one thing and your whole life says another, your head always loses." John Huston directed this film-noir masterpiece with an incredible cast which included the legendary Humphrey Bogart, Lionel Barrymore, Lauren Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, and the fabulous Claire Trevor - who won an Oscar for her outstanding performance. The movie is set in Key Largo, where a hurricane is fast approaching, adding to the already-tense atmosphere inside the hotel. The sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco storms in and takes the hotel owner, James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud, hostage at gunpoint. Fun fact: When Claire Trevor asked John Huston for some insight into her character, he gave her a hilarious description of "a drunken dame whose elbows are always a little too big, voice a little too loud, and a little too polite. Very sad, very resigned." And to top it off, he even showed her how to embody the character by leaning on the ...

🛣️🎥 Road Trip! & Film Review: A Christmas Story- What I Want for Christmas by Ralphie Parker

“What I want for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time. I think that everybody should have a Red Ryder BB gun. They’re very good for Christmas I don't think that a football's a very good Christmas present." This is the class theme and Christmas wish of 9-year-old Ralphie from the 1983 film A Christmas Story. During the holiday season, I usually watch classic Christmas films like A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life. While I adore these movies, what I particularly love about A Christmas Story is its nostalgic portrayal of the joys and anticipation of being a child before Christmas. It gives us a glimpse into what kids really desire for Christmas from their own perspective. I just had the incredible opportunity to watch the film on the big screen surrounded by my loved ones and friends. The shared delight of experiencing this movie together truly enhanced my entire experience. When A Christma...

🎥 Review: Shoot the Moon (1982)

There have been motion pictures made about the collapse of marriages. Scenes froth with denial, anger, depression, to bitter custody battles and destructive emotions of jealousy and abuse. Some that comes to mind like Scenes from a Marriage (1974), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), An Unmarried Woman (1979), and more recently A Marriage Story (2019). But none of them in my opinion quite captured the confusion, heartbreak, and turmoil like Shoot the Moon (1982). The phrase "shoot the moon," comes from the card game hearts. It refers to taking a risk when playing your hand to achieve a higher score. Directed by Alan Parker (Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame) and written by Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Melvin, and Howard). The film depicts an intense look at marital disintegration from the perspective of both parents and their children. Parker and Goldman called upon their marriages to create the screenplay. The late Albert Finney and Diane Keaton are T...

🛣️ Road Trip! The Clark Gable Museum

In June of last year, I had the good fortune to take a tour of the Clark Gable Museum located in Cadiz, Ohio. The museum is an exact reconstruction of the original house where Gable was born, which sadly, had been previously demolished. The two-story home is full of Gable memorabilia from his early days in southeastern Ohio, including his prized New Port Blue 1954 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, which was my personal favorite part of the tour. Additionally, famous Gone With The Wind stars Cammie King-Bonnie Blue Butler, Ann Rutherford, and Butterfly McQueen have also left their handprints and signatures on display at the museum. Interestingly, my hand size happens to be the same as Ann Rutherford's, which was a fun fact. However, the tour also contained a somber and poignant moment with the Carole Lombard room. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take any photographs of the personal notes or jewelry that Gable had gifted to Lombard, or any of his childhood memorabilia, including his b...

🛣️ Road Trip: Bogie & Bacall Slept Here

Nestled in the charming hills of Pleasant Valley Road in Lucas, Ohio, you'll find Malabar Farm - a lovely estate built in 1938 by Louis Bromfield. Born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1896, he was a farmer, conservationist and published 33 books of fiction and nonfiction including a Pulitzer Prize, 18 best-selling novels, and 14 major motion pictures. This picturesque farm holds a special place in Hollywood history, serving as a peaceful escape for celebrities seeking respite from the hustle and bustle of the big cities in the 1940s. One of the most memorable events to take place in the great entrance hall of the big house between the open staircases was the wedding of iconic actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on this day in film history May 21, 1945. I had the incredible opportunity to visit this historic farm and follow in the footsteps of the the classic stars who stayed here and the legendary couple's marriage ceremony. Let's go back to the beginning - the farm's n...

Search This Blog