Muirmaiden's Corner

                 Anatomy Of A Stage Parent What is a stage parent? More importantly, what separates a parent who simply wants the best for their offspring and who want them to achieve what they couldn't, and the ones who want to live vicariously and keep the lifestyle and wealth that their child earns? I'm not a psychologist but I think I have an idea of what strays from normal ambition to perverse domination and exploitation. Child star and later adult character actor Jackie Coogan (1914-1984), filed suit against his mother and stepfather in 1935 for his money that he earned in his childhood acting career and he was awarded only a relatively small sum. Soon thereafter, the Coogan Act was formed - trust funds set up for child actors to protect their earnings.  These examples from the classic Hollywood era are interesting looks into the dynamic between the star child and the stage parent.  ...

                 Suspense Awaits On "The Dark Shore" It's been quite a long time since my last blog post, and I thought it might be a good time to revisit some literature, and I thought my first introduction to the romantic-suspense/gothic genre was a good idea. Susan Howatch's first novel, published in 1965, has often been compared to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca which can be said of many books of the romantic suspense/gothic genre. However, The Dark Shore has a compelling quality all its own. The familiar and often reused plot is here - a young bride, newly married to a wealthy and successful man, finds herself thrown into his world - namely, his home estate which is filled with secrets, danger and the shadow of his departed first wife who died in suspicious circumstances. The setting is in the same part of Britain - Cornwall. But Howatch puts her own unique spin on the often-told tale, crea...

Lana Wood's telling last statement at the end of her interview on "Piers Morgan", despite her insisting that she believes that Robert Wagner didn't mean to hurt her sister Natalie, is very compelling .  Although she clearly chose her words carefully as to avoid compromising the investigation and possibly to avoid more negative reaction from her former-brother-in-law, Lana is and has been an important part of bringing the case to national and international attention once again. Lana still has a lot of pain and it shows.  I'm sure their older sister, Olga, still has that feeling of grief and loss as well.  It never should have happened, Natalie should still be here, enjoying her golden years, having watching her daughters grow up, get married and perhaps have children of their own. Lana stated in her book that in many ways Natalie was like a surrogate parent to her as well as a big sister, whom she always loved, even when they didn't see eye to eye.  Lana s...

I think I was about thirteen when I first saw Natalie Wood in a film - back when channels like A&E and Bravo! actually aired older films and television shows before the former, especially, lapsed into the CSI fictional type programming and reality shows. Something about her touched me deeply, and has continued to do so since.   Not long after having seen "Splendor In The Grass" (1961), "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955), "West Side Story" (1961) and "Inside Daisy Clover" (1965),  her E! True Hollywood Story aired, and it compelled me to learn as much about Natalie as I could. At the time, there was very little biographical information available, so I started with her sister Lana's book, "Natalie: A Memoir By Her Sister", and later followed it up with Suzanne Finstad's "Natasha: The Biography Of Natalie Wood", followed by "Natalie Wood: A Life" by the late Gavin Lambert and finally "Goodbye Natalie, Good...