St. John's Confidential File

HELLO AMERICA!—Upon leaving Fox Studios, I was ready to return to the usual gossip world of madness. As soon as it was known that I was resuming my column, the phone began to ring off the wall. Sonny West, a mutual friend and one of Elvis Presley’s bodyguards, called and gave me information about the rock king that no...

HELLO AMERICA!—It is rather gratifying to receive so many messages from people, young and old who indicate how much they respect my determination to survive in the industry for so many years. They even ask about some of the experiences which made it a tough journey; hopefully, encouraging them to keep the faith as well, I thought they might...

HELLO AMERICA!—Even though the nation is experiencing a feeling of social and possibly professional division in our cities, the entertainment industry is forging ahead with very positive changes on every level. More diversity at each turn for people of every color are being considered and hired in every vital facet of the TV and film industry. Women, especially, are branching...

HELLO AMERICA!—It is quite exciting, I must admit, to meet someone of color who paved the way for so many extraordinary accomplishments. Shelby Jacobs is a mechanical engineer from the Apollo era. As Project Manager of the Apollo-Soyuz orbiter, Shelby designed instrumentation that would capture one of the most repeated images in space history: the separation between the first...

HELLO AMERICA!—This is a time of year when introspection comes into focus. One suddenly looks back, sometimes a long way, in order to see the reality of yesterday and so many before. Since I have interviewed tons of stars, celebrities, politicians and achieving regular folks for so many years, I suddenly have a need to interview the so-called OUTRAGEOUS...

HELLO AMERICA!—In Oran, Algeria, he is known as Kamel, actor, musician that young people are going nuts over. His dream is to come to America where he can meet his relatives and artists he has grown up idolizing.  Since Kamel is planning to move to America next year, he doesn’t hesitate to express his ideas and feelings about his...

HELLO AMERICA!—Those of us who take the arts quite seriously, especially motion pictures are recognized critics of any new face or personality projected from the silver screen. Greta Garbo, Mae West, Kate Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, the iconic list goes on; all of those marvelous, extremely talented actors were different in beauty, voice, attitude and character...

HELLO AMERICA!—It is always exciting when one has an opportunity work with an extraordinary, imaginative writer and film editor in the entertainment industry. Without a doubt, Daryl Perle definitely is one of those who have that certain kind of magic that Hollywood has always needed and dreamed about since the early days of silent films. I remember as a youngster...

HELLO AMERICA!—There are some people who cover nearly every facet of work in Hollywood who are loved and respected down through the years, no matter how many changes come about.  One of these very special people is George Livingston. He was recently inducted into the Bay Area R&B Hall of Fame. His ability to perform magic with his camera...

HELLO AMERICA!—A few days ago, I received a message on Facebook from a young actor who resides in Algeria. It turned out that this young 25-year-old knew much about American TV, film history as well as tons of iconic, respected actors of the theatre and film industry. Admittedly, I was shocked and pleasurably surprised, especially when he informed me that...