Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday. Today is a Monday in which all of Hollywood has yet to awaken and most of America has already forgotten about who won what last night at the Emmys. It's also a day when DJ Li'l Scratch is eager to introduce us to yet another forgotten Mademoiselle of Music™, this time a jazz crooner who was also a songwriter and a sharp-eyed businesswoman. Tonight, make sure to swing by the Manor's exclusive Muffin Puffin After Hours Lounge and you'll hear all about this smart 'n fiery sex-bomb songstress. Her name is Nancy Steele, a va-va-voom performer who began her career as a commercial artist in Philadelphia and New York City in the late 1940s and early 50s. At the same time, purely as a hobby, she was taking voice lessons, and her teacher was so impressed, he urged her to pursue a professional career. With that bit of encouragement, it didn't take long for our Nance to snag a prime gig at the ve...

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today’s article is by SpiceDong , the concluding chapter in their epic three-part Ava Gardner series! The first part is HERE and the second part is HERE . In October in 1957, a group of friends invited Ava Gardner to visit the Peralta Ranch, an estate dedicated to raising Lidia bulls. She had been drinking, and on a dare agreed to get on a horse. The steed got spooked by a bull, threw her off - and she fell, hitting the right side of her face. The ranch hands quickly intervened and kept the bull from goring Ava as she lay on the ground. A photographer with a high-speed camera just “happened” to be there and captured the whole scene.  Afterwards, Ava suspected someone in her circle may have tipped the photographer as to her whereabouts, and that everything had been a set up. The photos (seen below) fetched high sums, causing a media frenzy. Paris Match was ...

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from SpiceDong , the second in a three-part series! The first part is HERE . By the early 1950s, Ava Gardner had become one of the top leading ladies in Hollywood. She was in high demand and even got an Oscar nod for “Mogambo” in 1954. On the personal front, her tempestuous marriage to Frank Sinatra, marred by jealousy, drunken fights and constant press, had disillusioned her, while also making her a gossip column staple. Ava’s career was on the rise while Sinatra’s was in the dumps. She was supportive of him, to the point of using her clout to get him the screen test for the Private Maggio role in “From Here To Eternity.” He got the part, won an Oscar for it and rose back to the top. But by then, Ava was already fed up with his antics and emotional manipulations, including his suicide attempts. She terminated two pregnancies while they were ...

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from SpiceDong, the first in a three-part series! In 1950, Tossa de Mar, a then sleepy fishermen village in The Costa Brava of Spain, was put on the map when an A-list Hollywood production landed on its shores. This spectacular stretch of Mediterranean coast a few miles north of Barcelona was to be the backdrop for “Pandora & The Flying Dutchman," the film by Albert Lewin starring British actor James Mason and Hollywood’s rising femme fatale, Ava Gardner. The cost of filming in Spain at the time was very low, and it was also a way for MGM, Ava’s home studio, to put some distance between her and the still-married Frank Sinatra, as they were hoping the scandal of their budding romance would die down in the press. Little did they know that the drama off-screen would soon rival the movie's plot. It was Miss Gardner’s first trip abroad....