crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 16/10/2026In the Los Angeles Times (October 16, 1994), Patt Morrison noted that a decade before the Charles Van Doren quiz show scandal, Champagne for Caesar satirized rigged quiz shows with “droll prescience.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 12/10/202610/12/38: Boston Globe heralded marriage of “Hollywood Hermit,” the “unattainable” star, to Benita Hume, his opposite: “gay, vivacious and socially inclined,” but with a sophistication that matched his own, as well as an aversion to Hollywood publicity. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 11/10/2026Colman thought the ratio of words to action is what made the film succeed: “what the screen and screen fans all over the world demand is a succession of motion pictures in which the players move ten times as often as they talk.” (Birmingham, UK Evening Dispatch, October 11, 1938). 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026“Halls of Ivy Real to Many,” the headline read in Fort Worth Star Telegram (October 8, 1950). Frederick L. Horde, president of Purdue University, flew to Hollywood to present Ronald Colman with an award for “giving the American people, honest realistic stories of American college life.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026On September 30, 1938, Two days after the release of If I Were King, Ronald Colman (47) married Benita Hume (32). 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Signed the Michigan State University Press contract for A Detroit Odyssey, my work in progress; working on copyedited text of my Sappho book; awaiting publication in February 2027 of my presidential biography book; awaiting copyedited text of Our Eve Arden. 120 2
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Part of my research for A Detroit Odyssey 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 18/09/20269/18/20: A month after marrying Thelma Raye, he left for the U.S. with a dress suit and just enough money for a steamship ticket and traveling expenses. Thelma waited until he could send for her, no longer the driving force in his career. www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 010 1
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 15/09/20269/15/47: Enters a Cynthia contest. Cynthia Clubs, organized for girls between 14 and 19, were part of a marketing campaign including a line of Cynthia clothes, reflecting a generational shift toward the driving force of children and young adults. 50% off: www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/T/The-... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 04/09/2026A panoramic view of Detroit from Topa, the restaurant at the Bonstelle Hotel, where I’m staying. It’s been an exciting day, learning some family secrets for my book, A Detroit Odyssey, and then descending into the depths of the Detroit Public library during a tornado alert. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 29/08/2026“consummate rascal and a gentle, adoring father,” as Ed Sullivan put it (Citizen-News, August 29, 1944). 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026flamboyant and suave (Hollywood Reporter, August 22, 1944) 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 21/08/20268/21/34: Variety: “Gallant nonsense,” echoed Variety: “Colman is attractively Colmanesque” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 15/08/2026In the first night Hollywood audience, Louella Parsons (Los Angeles Examiner, August 15, 1929), noted the joy in watching the “really preposterous situations” at an “ultra motion picture gathering.” 020 2
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 24/07/2026July 24, 2003: “Ronald Colman’s best-acting award for ‘A Double Life’ . . . sold at Christie’s last year for $174,500.” (David Kerr, “Auction house pulls storied Orion Welles Oscar from block,” The Albuquerque Tribune) 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 19/07/20267/19/51: North Hollywood Valley Times: Nat Wolf described putting the show together: Ronnie would pick a script and say “let’s kick it around a bit.” Benita pitched for lines, struggling to “get a word in edgewise.” Don Quinn polished the script, cutting to fit the half hour. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 09/06/2026The Jack Benny shows were a huge hit, with the couple signing a contract for both of them to appear at least 3 times a season, and preparing them for the success of The Halls of Ivy. As early June 9, 1946, the Chicago Tribune reported that “a radio show may be built around them.” 110 1
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 08/06/20266/8/83: Marlene Dietrich to biographer Sam Frank: “Mr. Ronald Colman had no sense of humor whatsoever—he was a rather dull man.” Probably so. Quiet by nature, it took some doing for his wife to get him to be sociable outside of his accustomed range of friends. 010 1
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 07/06/2026 I did this one minute, off the cuff, promo for my biography of Sylvia Plath for someone who said he was going to promote the book, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that being so. As a result, I’m back to self-promotion. 010 1
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 31/05/2026The Halls of Ivy went off the air in June 1952 after the Schlitz Brewing Company dropped its sponsorship, although the program’s impact continued: “L. B. State College President’s Wife Provides ‘Halls of Ivy Atmosphere” read the headline in Long Beach, California Independent (May 31, 1953) 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 22/05/20265/22/31:Jackson Clarion-Ledger praises portrayal of “literature’s most spirited character…strange composite of good and evil forces…curious mixture of conventional attributes…uncontrollable desires.” www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/W/Will...; more about the film: www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/F/Faul... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 10/05/20265/10/50: Brooklyn Daily Eagle announces letter writing contest: “Why I would like to be as smart as Ronald Colman in ‘Champagne for Caesar,’” the winner to receive a “handsomely bound” fifteen volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannia. www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 26/04/2026April 26, 1951: Highly rated Halls of Ivy wins Peabody Award for best dramatic radio show of the year. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 25/04/2026Jay Carmody in the Washington Evening Star (April 25, 1950) noted Colman’s “high style: No actor can assume a more amusingly acid distaste for human folly.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 18/04/20264/18/43: At the mention of Greer Garson, Charlie McCarthy pants, calling Random Harvest “Rundown Harvest,” a farming picture. Charlie wants to know, confidentially, what Colman thinks of Garson. “Confidentially, Charlie she's…” and he begins panting. www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 17/04/2026The Basque cheesecake I made for my wife Lisa’s birthday. It’s going fast. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 09/04/2026April 9, 1983: Channel 4: 11:05: Cynara: “Ronald Colman is as smoothly and touchingly convincing as ever as the happily-married barrister who gradually becomes inextricably entangled in a love affair with a working-class girl.” (Lincolnshire Echo). www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 07/04/20264/7/37Chicago Tribune feature about Prisoner of Zenda: “New records in swank, clank, rustle, and pomp have been on display during the coronation of Ronald Colman.” www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma...; only $4.46 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 02/04/20264/2/47: Reads Socialist paper, feels “very strongly about the subject of world peace…as if I had suddenly come into contact with the turbulent political world…I was gripped by a cold, tense excitement that made me and my ideas an important part of the chaos in the world today.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Columnist Hal Humphrey reported in the Los Angeles Mirror (March 30 1951): “Probably no one in Hollywood radiates such a sense of well-being as the Colmans. . . Watching them rehearse . . . one gets the impression that here are two people that are completely confident and secure.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 22/03/20263/22/46: Publisher proposes Hemingway preface edition of SF & AILD. WF: tantamount to making him one of those “eunuch-capon pampered creatures in some spiritual Vanderbilt stables, mindless, possessing nothing save the ability and willingness to run their hearts out at the drop of Vanderbilt’s hat” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Quoted in the La Grande [Oregon] Observer (March 22, 1927): “I hope all my future roles will be as human and inspiring as the role of Montero [in Night of Love]. . . my favorite thus far—because he lived and breathed as a real man, devoid of all movie sanctimoniousness.” 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 20/03/2026March 20, 1948 Wins Academy Award for A Double Life. My biography is now an audiobook, $9.18: www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 16/03/20263/16/52: NY Daily News: Didn’t Benita miss the thrill of making motion pictures? “No,” she said. “It’s much more fun to have a REAL prince charming, much more exciting than acting ever was.” At home is where the traditional Ronald Colman wanted his wife, and she did not demur. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 13/03/2026At Parc Bistro today for lunch, fortification for more Melville at the Rosenbach. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 12/03/2026The three volume English edition of Moby-Dick (notice there is no hyphen on title page), signed by Melville’s brother Allan. No other markings in the book. Melville wrote much of the novel in a house on 26th Street in Manhattan that he shared with his brother, which is where my biography begins. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 10/03/2026Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that watching Random Harvest reminded her that the “man who is always seeking his lost memories, is not very different from the rest of us, for most of us go through life seeking something.” Now in audio: www.amazon.com/Ronald-Colma... 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 27/02/20262/27/62: “He would blunt the blandishments of predatory womanhood…in the sad, wistful, gallant manner that made Ronald Colman a household remedy. ‘You wouldn’t know to look at me that I was a terminal dandruff case, would you, my dear?’” “Bachelor Days,” Pittsburg Press 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Rebus on the Rebus trail, made this morning, digging out 18 inches of snow. 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 04/02/20262/4/41: Sid Shalit, NY Daily News on Rebecca, starring RC and Ida Lupino: “If radio had its equivalent of Academy Awards, it couldn’t do better than last night’s drama. It jammed suspense, skillful telescoping of plot situations and unbelievably good acting into a perfect hour.” 040 4
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 29/01/20261/29/90: “…50 years since Ronald Colman…clapped his eyes on the Ojai Valley…Vista Point…trash can was overflowing and a power line obscured the view. But…easy to understand that Shangri-La is not so much one view as many.” “Shangri-La, The American Way” Newsday 000 0
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 18/01/2026the New York Times (January 18, 1935), Andre Sennwald concluded: “Ronald Colman, suppressing the debonair manner which has made him one of our finest light comedians, enacts the title rôle with vigor and conviction, providing a touching portrait of a man with a consuming passion for power.” 010 1
crollyson.bsky.social @crollyson.bsky.social · 17/01/20261/17/64: Nicholas arrives in great gush of water drenching Sylvia, Ted, midwife, doctor. She revises earlier depiction of herself as placidly cowlike: ” I am always so broody before a baby is born” She will always deserve another biography because of her polyvalent personality. 000 0
