Blog Archives

Gary Cooper, The Confidence Man, and the Ghosts of Old Hollywood

Posted on May 23, 2015 by ronbase — 1 Comment

What fascinated me most researching the Los Angeles of 1928 for my new novel, The Confidence Man, was the lost world of movies I encountered. That was the year, as any film buff knows, sound movies were introduced (most notably…

The Legendary Watering Holes Have All Dried Up

Posted on February 23, 2012 by ronbase — 6 Comments

Back in another mist-shrouded time when I was single, I always took dates to Bistro 990 in downtown Toronto. With its arched ceilings and pale gold walls, you could believe for a few hours (aided by a glass of wine)…

Norman

Posted on August 11, 2011 by ronbase — 4 Comments

My favorite Norman Jewison movie is Gaily, Gaily. I was only twenty and just starting out in the newspaper business when I saw it in 1969. I, of course, identified with the movie’s innocent reporter-protagonist, played by a very young…