When I started this little project—which hoped to gather a number of juxtaposed images showing various celebrities' first and last filmed acting performances—I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. While it's easier for some of the most iconic names since so much research exists regarding their early years, I encountered time-sucking troubles, and not only when it came to old-timers (whose first films, as you might expect, were often lost silents).

Along with that challenge, I found that many stars' first appearances were as uncredited extras (therefore hard to ID) in obscure movies (therefore hard to find in any form), and that those whose early-years films I found easily might well have ended their careers in similarly obscure straight-to-video releases or in episodic TV, much of which is not floating around on the Internet.

But I pushed ahead and cooked up 25.

I wanted the group to be fairly random, and I think it is. It's less about icons and more about just seeing the changes of life and of career. It's fascinating to me how difficult it is—in all but a few cases—to guess what heights a career may have hit when only viewing its genesis and its conclusion.

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Greta Garbo (1905—1990)

How Not to Dress (advertising film, 1920) & Two-Faced Woman (1941)

Garbo's first film was for a department store, made to instruct viewers on how not to dress. Ironically, she would become a style icon before her final film, a comedy, led to embarrassing reviews and a not-quite-intentional retirement.

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Van Johnson (1916—2008)

Too Many Girls (1940) & Three Days to a Kill (1992)

From an uncredited spot in the chorus of a Lucy & Desi musical, Johnson ended his time on screen as a crusty commander in a Fred Williamson action groaner alongside Chuck Connors. That was also the final performance for Connors. Those two had more in common than just their final movie!

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Lizabeth Scott (1922—)

You Came Along (1945) & Pulp (1972)

Thanks to her close association with producer Hal Wallis, this sultry answer to Lauren Bacall was the star of the very first film she did. She sued Confidential Magazine for outing her and by 1972 was making her final appearance, opposite Michael Caine, in a film about an old-time movie star (Mickey Rooney) who hires a pulp-fiction writer to do his memoirs. In that role, Scott's character is told, "I'll bet that was a fairy tale romance," to which she says, "On the contrary, the prince was very hetero."

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Ray Milland (1905—1986)

The Flying Scotsman (1929) & Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984)

His first role was a lead in a British part-silent/part-talkie, starring as a fireman aboard a train who falls for the engineer's daughter, running afoul of the fireman he replaced. His last was as the Home Secretary in a made-for-TV Sherlock Holmes installment starring fellow old-timers Peter Cushing and Sir John Mills.

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Dorothy Stratten (1960—1980)

Autumn Born (1979) & They All Laughed (1981)

One of the most infamous (for reasons beyond her control) Playboy bunnies of all time kicked things off with a seedy nudie flick and kicked off right after filming her lover Peter Bogdanovich's screwball comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and John Ritter.

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"Notice me."

Nineties relic Camille Paglia is still out there blathering away, peddling her narrow point-of-view when it comes to art and pop culture. A mega Madonna fan until after Madonna refused to see or discuss her, Paglia has for the past 15 years or more trashed her former idol's every move.

Now, she tells Joy Behar that Madonna has lost her instinct for performing (!) because she has too many social issues in her show. Even Behar, not much of a Madonna fan or even very informed on Madonna's latest show, scores points on Paglia by shooting down her flawed Dietrich comparison.

P.S. Paglia doesn't think much of Lady Gaga, in case you were wondering.

Full video after the jump...

Last week, I was lucky enough to score preview tickets to the revival of Follies, the ground-breaking musical with a book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim that will open September 12. While I felt the show stumbled as a cohesive narrative, I do think it has so many outstanding elements it's still a can't-miss production.

After Marlene Dietrich's death in 1992, the contents of her tiny apartment were splashed across several European magazines, including Paris-Match. This was a tear sheet of Meryl Streep—at her prettiest, mind you—with Dietrich's acidic, hand-scrawled observation: "How ugly can you get?'

An interesting document illustrating the tension between Old and New Hollywood, and between an old woman and old age.

As of midnight tonight, it will be exactly five years since my first post. It's hard to imagine it's been that long, and a lot's changed—the tone and subject matter are different, how often I post, my limits (no nudity in a couple of years due to ad constraints). I've devoted a crazy amount of time and money and energy to this blog for a very small financial return (you couldn't guess low enough), but it's always rewarding to have this forum with which to express myself, keep my writing ability fluid, perhaps influence a couple of people here and there, share obsessions with strangers (in both senses of the word) and learn new things.

Take That's Howard...can you believe this happened onstage at a pop concert?

Here are some of the posts that were most important to Boy Culture's history. For the uninitiated, some of the oldest ones refer to Boy Culture, the movie made of my novel; I started the blog at the time Boy Culture was being filmed as a way to keep people informed of the progress...and it all snowballed from there.

Subtle

Some of these posts are milestones when it comes to the hits they provided but most are filled with original writing and/or photography and video and are just the posts of which I'm proudest. I hope you'll take some time to click on them and send their links around to others—and some time is what you'll need...

MY ART

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novella, novel and movie Boy Culture; might be my ultimate post.

From '07, one of my faves. Old iPhones were better because they were worse.

"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.

GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.

i-i-i (phone)

TriBeCa is for Boy lovers...

BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.

I was left "Reeling" by the experience

FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.

RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.

Let's call it a draw

DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.

ME

Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life

BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.

I had the Fever for Jon-Erik Hexum

AN OBSESSION IS BORN (2009): One of my best posts about my obsession with...obsession.

Death becomes here

ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.

Life is short and meaningful

PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.

I was given the red-carpet treatment

HAVEN'T WE MET? (2010): Celebrating my time with someone I've only met once—Madonna.

Two clips of "If You Go Away," Madonna's English remake of "Ne me quitte pas" recorded in 2001 for her aborted Texas Guinan movie musical Hello, Suckers!, have leaked here. Gorgeous if not as melodramatic as other versions.

After the jump, Dietrich's three-hanky version...

Nancy Wilson tells Us (August 23, 2010) that she's into Pink and Lady GaGa:

"There are so many bells and whistles today, but you still have to be good, and they are!"

I'm fascinated by the intersection of stars of yesteryear and stars of today. I remember a special issue of Life in the '80s showing different generations of stars interacting—Liz Taylor in the midst of her final va-va-voom re-blossoming staring into Harrison Ford's eyes—that held me transfixed. And of course I loved knowing that Madonna had met and interacted with the likes Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Gene Kelly. Marlene Dietrich is alleged to have said of her that she "sings badly and is very vulgar, but her show is impeccable! The public never makes a mistake."

I contributed my list of 10 favorite books (fiction or non-fiction) to Elisa Rolle's excellent LiveJournal blog, if you'd like to see which ones made the cut. As I explained to Elisa, my list fluctuates daily, but I picked 10 books I really fuckin' love.

Courtesy of this blog here, some screen grabs of the final "Celebration" video showing a Dietrichy Madonna vamping her young DJ boytoy Jesus Luz. The press release breathlessly describes it as a "short film" full of "mind-boggling dance moves." We'll see tomorrow, when it's downloadable for free on iTunes.

More screen grabs after the jump...

Via Joe.My.God.: Jimmy Somerville gives Dietrich a run for her pansies with his new take on "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"