MissHughes.net: A Mary Beth Hughes Blog

2007-05-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

Blah.

So that 1960 issue of Mermaid magazine I mentioned a few posts ago? Major bust. She's in there. It's a series of photos from a stage production of "Pajama Tops" she was in in the early '60s, but they're not good shots. In most, she has her back to the camera. Kind of lame. :( Oh, well. I have two really fantabulous cheesecake pictures on the way. Yum! We're talking serious hotness! They should arrive this next week, so stay tuned. I'll try to post them in an actual timely manner! :P

2007-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

A few screen shots from my new copy of Sleepers West from the Mike Shayne boxed set. The picure quality is fantastic, and Mary Beth looks smokin' as Helen Carlson. Definately worth s Netflix rental (or purchase the whole boxed set from Amazon). Special thanks to my boyfriend Kevin for grabbing these shots!

2007-05-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

Exciting DVD news!

VCI Entertainment will be releasing Holiday Rhythm on DVD in August 2007! Mary Beth has a starring role in this film, so this is great to hear! 2007 is shaping up to be a good year for Mary Beth Hughes releases. Sleepers West and Blue, White and Perfect were released in March by Fox as part of the Mike Shayne boxed set, Holiday Rhythm is coming out in August and Riders in the Sky is coming out in November. And there could always be other new releases to come.

I know updates have been sparse lately. I'm hopefully going to scan some new pics today, and I'll try to post some as soon as possible. I have two childhood pics of Mary Beth, as well as some promotional photos from her film career and newspaper clippings.

2007-03-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

Quick little update . . .

According to GeneAutry.com, Riders in the Sky is coming out on DVD on Nov. 6, 2007. Mary Beth Hughes has a small role in this movie as a saloon girl named Cleo. I haven't seen this movie, so I don't know how much screen time she has, but I'm sure it will at least be worth a Netflix rental.

I know updates have been nonexistent lately. I have stuff coming, such as screenshots from Four Sons and scans from a 1960 issue of Mermaid. So sit tight! I haven't forgotten about this blog!

2007-02-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

Mary Beth Hughes photo orgy!!!

Here are some MBH pics from my collection for your Saturday afternoon eye candy pleasure!

A lovely swimsuit pic of Miss Hughes. Not sure of the date. I'd guess 1941 or 1942.

This is cropped from a "Fox Players" group photo. Probably from 1942 or 1943.

A screen shot from Men On Her Mind, 1944.

This was cropped from a press shot for Sleepers West, 1941. The half-cropped face to the left is Lloyd Nolan as Detective Mike Shayne.

Hope you all enjoy! :D For more pics and stuff, be sure to check out the Archives to the right!

2007-02-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

I love this pic of Mary Beth. I think it dates from around 1949. She has a more mature look about herself than in earlier pics—I guess that happens after you have a kid and go through a divorce. But she has a very calm look about herself. I think she looks great.

In the '50s, MBH's look changed quite a bit. Her hair got much, much shorter and was usually styled very close to her head. It's not my favorite look for her—she has the kind of face that needs big hair. She also got thinner during the '50s, which I thought was sad. I'm sure she was just doing what was required by producers and directors.

Anyhoo, enjoy the pic and have a very Mary weekend! :D

2007-02-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

We have a new URL: http://misshughes.net ! The old one still works. I just thought I'd get something a little shorter and catchier than marybethhughes.blogspot.com.

Yay!

2007-01-21T18:55:00.000-08:00

Got my copy of Star Dust. Pretty disappointing to say the least. Not enough Mary Beth Hughes to really keep my interest, though she did look really cute when she was on screen, and she was very bitchy (she's so good at that! :P).

And the plot! It was just vile! Ugh! The main character (don't remember her name, but the actress was Linda Darnell, who I'm sure was a wonderful person/actress—don't know a thing about her other than she had a horrible untimely death) was simply vile and unlikable, but you're supposed to be rooting for her. It's hard to root for someone who steals. :(

Don't buy it unless you're a MBH completist (did I spell that right?). Ack! I hate it when I buy a MBH movie and she's barely in it! I wish I could find more complete reviews of her movies, so I could know which ones to buy and which ones to avoid (or just put off buying for now).

I really want Holiday Rhythm and Waterfront at Midnight. I just can't find copies anywhere.

That's all my whining for today! Back to watching Reno 911 and re-writing my zombie short story.

2007-01-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

I have so many new MBH pics, but alas, I haven't had a chance to scan them and share them with the world. :( Maybe this weekend? Or something?

There was an AMAZING pic of MBH on eBay recently, but the bidding just got too high. I think it was from 1949. Maybe another one will pop up later.

I'm about to buy a real, live domain name for this blog, so watch for that. It will be a bit more graceful than http://marybethhughes.blogspot.com. Yeah, that's not doin' it for me.

I leave you now with this:

2007-01-14T08:39:00.000-08:00

OMG! I just found out, via a really random Google search, that Mary Beth Hughes enjoyed knitting and beading (and was very good at it). That's so awesome to find out she was into crafty stuff! I read it here. It's waaaay down in the page, so use your browser's search feature (command + S on a Mac) to search for "mary beth". That should take you right to it!

I just watched Men on Her Mind for the billionth time. I really wish someone would release a clean copy on DVD. I have a VHS I bought from Nostalgiafamilyvideo.com. It's shaky and blurry and the sound is pretty awful—very fuzzy, which is a shame, because it features a lot of MBH's singing. Legend Films? Kino? VCI? Are you reading this? Release me a copy of Men on Her Mind with a clear picture and decent sound. Please?

While I'm talking about DVDs, you know what I think would be effing awesome? Legend Films should release a restored, colorized version of I Accuse My Parents with commentary by Mike Nelson. That would totally rock my world! If you don't know anything about Legend Films, you need to check them out. I have their colorized versions of Reefer Madness (it's like the I Accuse My Parents for potheads) and Plan 9 From Outer Space. They are both superb!

2007-01-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

No MBH news today (that I know of, anyway), but I'm procrastinating and putting off doing other things, so here I am! Here's a MBH pic to justify my posting:

Screenshot from my somewhat crappy copy of Sleepers West. Hot!

That's all for now. Back to procrastinating!

2007-01-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

Mary Beth DVD alert!

OMG! Fox is releasing a boxed set of Michael Shayne movies on March 20, 2007. You can pre-order it at Amazon.com. It includes two of the three Mike Shayne movies with Mary Beth, Sleepers West (the best one ever!) and Blue, White and Perfect! This is so exciting because they're being released by Fox, not Alpha video, so they're sure to be good quality prints. I have bootlegs of both Sleepers West and Blue, White . . ., and their quality is not the best. It'll be awesome to see better quality versions of these! Go pre-order it, now!!!!

2007-01-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Want to see something hot?

This:

I recently comissioned this portrait of Mary Beth from John Clark (http://johnclark.etsy.com). It's done with a Sharpie marker on an old mystery novel page. Awesome? Way. I haven't had a chance to frame it yet, but will soon. I just moved into a new apartment (a restored '20s one—awesome!), so I can't wait to get it on my wall. Visit Mr. Clark's Etsy shop for your own custom portrait. He's very fast, and as you can see, very good . . .

I have a new MBH movie on the way from eBay—1940's Star Dust. I think MBH plays one of her usual roles as The Bitchy "Other" Woman. I'll let ya know how it turns out. I won't be able to post any screen shots because it's on VHS and I don't have the equipment to get VHS screenshots right now. :(

2007-01-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

It's late, and I'm bored, so you're gettin' a double helpin' of Mary Beth Hughes eye candy. You can't complain about that, right? Here we go.

Here she is looking all makey-outey in The Ox-Bow Incident

Another Ox-Bow shot, though this scene never appeared in the final cut, sadly.

Heh, Mary Beth can handle my gun any day . . . wait . . . I'm a GIRL! :O

A lobby card I won on eBay from The Lady Confesses. She was incredibly curvy and cute in this film. It was her last film before she took a two year break to have her only son, Donald.

2007-01-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day! Holy crap!

(this is my MBH "WTF" picture)

I think if anyone ever made a biopic about Mary Beth Hughes (like that's gonna happen, but I can dream), there's only one actress who could pull it off:

Yep, Kate Winslet. They have similar facial features, both are natural red heads, and Winslet's one of the few modern actresses curvy enough to portray Ms. Hughes. Hilary Duff might be able to pull off a teenage MBH, if she put on a few pounds. Why did Duff lose so much weight in the first place—curves are good! Argh!

I leave you now with a picture of Mary Beth kickin' some ass in Orchestra Wives.

2007-01-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Look at me neglect my blogging duties . . . it's nothing new.

Want to watch Ms. Hughes' piece de resistance (that is so misspelled)? For free? You can download The Great Flamarion for free (legally!) here. This is seriously one of her best movies. I'm watching it on DVD right now!

Issue #2 of Free, Blonde and 21: A Mary Beth Hughes Fanzine is pretty much done. I need to add a few more pics and make copies. That's it! I'm just being lazy about getting around to it. :( Oh, Mary Beth, you deserve better fans than I!

Wanna see something fan-FREAKING-tastic?

A '40s lipstick ad featuring the gorgeous Ms. Hughes. It's from 1945 because it mentions The Great Flamarion. See more pics of it here on my boyfriend's Flickr page. It even came with an actual vial of the lipstick. And only $8!

Some random DVD company released Rimfire on DVD as a double feature with Little Bighorn. Rimfire was made in 1949 and features a fair amount of MBH action. You can rent it from Netflix or you can buy it from Amazon. I'd recommend renting it first.

Oh, also, Tanya, one of her '70s sexploiters was released on DVD, but MBH is NOT in it! I found this out the hard way. They probably cut the movie down to make it seem more like a straight porno and MBH was in some of the scenes they cut. Lame. So if you see it, don't rent it, and especially don't buy it. It was released as a double feature DVD with some flick called Wilbur and the Baby Factory. Classy.

2006-07-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

I've always admired Ms. Hughes' legs. Now it's your turn . . .

2006-07-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

I've been finding some fantastic Mary Beth Hughes pics lately. Want to enjoy some?

I scanned this one from a July 1940 girly mag. Mary Beth is the blonde one in the middle. She was 20 years old when this pic was taken!

This is a "color" photo from the movie Orchestra Wives. Of course, it wasn't a genuine color photo, it's a black and white one that was hand-colored, hence the super-garish coloring. I love it! Mary Beth looked especially lovely in this movie. If you have Netflix, you should definately rent this one. The scribbling on this pic is an autograph from George Montgomery (far right) that dates from 1982 (the year I was born!).

This one is cropped from a cast/costume shot from Caged Fury. Mary Beth has red hair in this one. I think she always looks great, but she really looks fabulous with that red hair! And fishnet stockings! I just might faint! ;)

2006-06-09T16:27:00.000-07:00

Another Ebay Find!

Got this in the mail the other day. It's from a vintage scrapbook page I snagged on Ebay for $3 or so. Very worth it! I made the image into a Mary Beth Hughes sticker at Cafe Press. Check it out: http://cafepress.com/marybeth

Today, I got a copy of Decoy in my PO box. Not Mary Beth Hughes related, but it starts Edward Norris, who I adore almost as much. Real downer of a flick, but good, especially for a Monogram picture. I should be getting a copy of Loophole, which does star Miss Hughes, in the mail soon. Can't wait!

2006-06-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

Men On Her Mind (1944)

In PRC's Men on Her Mind, Lily Durrell (Mary Beth Hughes) wants nothing more than to be a singer. Unfortunately, men keep proposing to her or telling her that her proper place is in the home. She first meets redneck Joe Munroe (Lyle Latell) who wants her to be a housewife. Lily wants none of that, so she runs away to some other unnamed town where she witnesses the murder of a night club owner she just aditioned for, and runs away again.

In the next town she gets a job as a secretary for Roland Palmer (Alan Edwards), a rich, much older man who falls in love with her and wants to help launch her singing career. Lily is relunctant to accept his gift of singing lessons, so Roland admits he's in love with her and that he wants to win her love through making her a star. Unfortunately, his sister thinks Lily is just a gold digger and threatens to have her investigated, so Lily runs away . . . again.

This time she meets the rich, young and attractive Jeffry Wingate (Edward Norris) who falls in love with her and also helps her get some singing gigs. And this time, Lily falls in love with him as well. Everything is peachy until he proposes and gives her a diamond bracelet. The next morning Lily reads a story about a diamond thief in the paper and jumps to conclusions, thinking it's Jeffry. So she runs away. Again.

Next, she meets Jim Lacey (Ted North), a music teacher, who mistakes her for a Miss Andrews he's supposed to pick up for a new teaching job. Lily goes along, pretending to be Miss Andrews and Jim falls in love with her. But Roland finds her and has gotten her a gig to sing on the radio. So Lily goes, leaving Jim behind, and sings on the radio and fulfills her dream of being a singer. But now she has to choose who she wants to be with (and no, Jeffry didn't steal the bracelet). She chooses Jim, unsurprisingly. I thought she should've chose Jeffry, but I didn't write it.

Men on Her Mind is pretty standard PRC fare. It shares a lot of incidental music with two other PRC Mary Beth Hughes movies I've seen, The Lady Confesses and I Accuse My Parents. It also shares stock footage of a train with I Accuse My Parents. Mary Beth Hughes and Edward Norrris were both quite good acting-wise, Ted North was a little wooden but still okay. Everyone else was adequate. If you like Mary Beth Hughes (I sure do!), you should definately check it out, because she looks great and there's a lot of her. imdb.com classifies this as a musical. It's not. I'd classify it as 'classic exploitation' or maybe 'romance.'

Trivia: Ted North was Mary Beth Hughes' real-life husband. After their divorce in 1947, he never appeared in another movie. She continued to appear in b-movies and TV shows until the late 1950s.

2006-06-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Just scanned this lovely pic from the back cover of a 1952 issue of Ecran, a Chilean movie start magazine (at least, that's what it looks like, it's all in Spanish, so I'm just kind of assuming). Mary Beth was 32 when this picture was taken. I hope I have that great of a figure when I'm 32!

I won this magazine on Ebay last week. I really paid more than I probably should have because I didn't pay attention to the shipping info, so I didn't realize it was shipping from Chile. Thus, the postage really bit me in the butt, adding a whopping $9 to the total! Oh, well. It's worth it seeing Miss Hughes in a swimsuit! :)

2006-06-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is a blog all about '40s b-movie starlet Mary Beth Hughes. I'll have pictures, movie reviews, stuff about her and other things up here soon. In the meantime, check out Mary Beth Hughes.org to see pictures, posters, screenshots and reviews.

For now, enjoy this lovely picture of Miss Hughes:

Oh, and just so ya know, I'm not Mary Beth Hughes, nor am I related to her or anything like that. I'm just a crazy fan who can't get enough of her. I co-maintain Marybethhughes.org.