There were only four golden years enjoyed by William R. Wilkerson’s original Cafe Trocadero (8610 W. Sunset Blvd**., West Hollywood, CA) — the spring of 1934 to May 1938, when Wilkerson sold the place to Nola Hahn.

Over the next nine years the “Troc” opened and closed under several shifty owners. By the time Clark Gable and his new Lincoln Continental posed for this shot on Sunset Plaza Drive in the fall of ‘46, the “Troc” was in its final year of operation. It shuttered in ‘47.

The Hucksters, Gable’s first significant post-war film, opened on 7.17.47. Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr co-starred.

** Chin-Chin West currently occupies the lot at 8610 W. Sunset (the address is actually 8618 W. Sunset Blvd).

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I have a vague feeling that Timothee Chalamet‘s dweeby-dork appearance in Marty Supreme (soup-bowl haircut, insubstantial jerkoff moustache, string-bean bod) will diminish the box-office popularity of Josh Safdie’s ping-pong film (A24, 12.25).

Everybody was loving him in Santa Barbara three nights ago, but at the same time some were muttering “what’s with the dorky green shirt?” and “why does he look so dweeby?” You could feel this in the room.

Which presumed Democrat candidate is likely to beat him? Think about it. There’s no one. The Democrats are weak and flabby.

— from Patrick McGilligan‘s “Woody Allen: A Travesty of a Mockery of a Sham” (Doubleday, 2.5.25)

After catching The Substance in Cannes on 5.19.24, I wrote the following:

Now here’s ‘80s Olympic gymnast superstar and biomale-trans-scolding enterpeneur Jennifer Sey more or less saying the same thing in a 2.5.25 Federalist post:

As I said on 1.9.25…

For what it’s worth, I’m no fan of David Hogg either. The Dems need real dudes in charge, not Harvard-educated woke wussies. Okay, Hogg isn’t necessarily a wussie but he’s certainly a skilled opportunist.

What Hogg endured during the Parkland nightmare was obviously traumatic and devastating. In no way have I dismissed or minimized the terror of almost being shot to death by a deranged teenaged maniac.

Nonetheless Hogg DID seize upon and then master and then ride this experience to fame and influence and political glory in much the same way that Audie Murphy rode his WWII combat trauma like a racehorse to become a famous movie actor & a man of property and symbolic power.

Murphy would have been foolish to turn that opportunity down at the end of WWII; the same applies to Hogg in the wake of Parkland.

Hogg may well have had political careerist ambitions all along (I’m presuming that he did), but surviving the Parkland trauma and then railing against the pro-gun lobby served as quite the dynamic springboard.

And here he is now…a political player, a guy with skin in the game, a young establishment Democrat who has risen in the ranks. He’s in a position now to run for a seat in Congress before long or for the U.S. Senate when he’s a bit older, and perhaps even the Presidency some day. He rode that traumatic horse, all right.

HE’s American LAX-to-JFK jet touched down around 8 pm Thursday night. I’m now (10:18 pm) parked on Metro North train to Westport. Public transportation almost always lets me down in some way — this time it didn’t — thank you.

The jig is up for Team Lively. She may as well throw in the towel — everyone despises her — vindication is out of the question. Team Baldoni needs to give in also…please.

Just walk away, and there will be an end to the horror.

The days when an actor like John Lithgow could be shamed into not playing a role over Stalinist trans outrage rhetoric are over. A couple of years ago trans terror was a force to be feared. Not so much these days. In my view J.K. Rowling is a woman of backbone.

Gulf of Emptiness? Gulf of Nowhere? Gulf of Infinite Nothingness?

I’ve always liked the sound of the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone should revert to that when Trump leaves office on 1.20.29. He won’t die in office — of that I’m fairly certain. German genes.

Gulf of Jose Jimenez?

…if I skip this one? Can’t hurt, right? Sorry but I’m 95% sure that I’m not stupid enough to really enjoy it. I know, I know…just sit through the damn thing and then trash it, if you’re so inclined.

This is a life-size mannequin, sitting in the lobby of the AMC Grove, where last night I caught a 7:15 pm screening of Becoming Led Zeppelin.**

** I first saw the Ledzep doc in Telluride in ‘22 (or was it ‘21?). It was 16 minutes longer then. It’s nothing close to a probing documentary — it’s more like a fan-created infomercial.