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Can I revive this topic with some classic singers (who also acted)? TONY BENNETT When I worked on West 57th St. in Manhattan (1980's-90's) I used to regularly go for a shine at a shoe repair place on 57th near 6th Ave. One day I stop in and Tony Bennett is getting a shine and I take a seat next to him. We chatted and he told me that he lived nearby (can't remember exactly where), don't remember much else of the conversation but he was very friendly. In 2000 or 2001 when I worked at The Rainbow Room, Mr. Bennett performed at an event there, and while he waited to be introduced he was in a kitchen, or large pantry. The staff had just left the service floor, so there was a bunch of waiters passing through, and Mr. Bennett was very congenial with them, shaking hands, smiling. RAY CHARLES I twice had the pleasure of working events at which Mr. Charles performed. On these occasions I didn't really have the chance to interact with him, his managers (understandably) stuck close to him and communicated any needs on arrival to the site, and that was it. But I did have the strange and exciting experience of being onstage and singing (for about 20 seconds) with Ray Charles. In the late 1990's I worked as Banquet Mgr. at the Boathouse in Central Park. One evening, we have an event thrown by the family of some rich guy (can't remember who, but it was a surprise birthday party). The deal was the the guy thinks his family is taking him out for dinner, they walk into the room and there's 150 people there (good surprise). The entertainment was a very good band plus horn section, backup singers. Ray Charles was stashed away to perform after dinner as another surprise. Before his set concludes, the maître d' and I are to bring a table with a large birthday cake (candles lit) onto the stage while Ray Charles and band sing "Happy Birthday". The stage was pretty packed with equipment and people so I had asked the band leader to save us same space for this, which he did, at the front left corner of Mr. Charles' baby grand piano (forward and slightly left of where Mr. Charles sat). On our cue, we mounted center stage with the cake, and I sang "Happy Birthday" with Ray Charles, and his singers. It was very surreal and exciting. ROSEMARY CLOONEY In the early 1990's while working as a waiter at The Russian Tea Room, we had regular, brief pre-meal meetings where the chef would explain the specials, and a manager would go over the day's business (always at lunch "we're gonna take walk-ins until 12:00, we need the tables back by 12:45) including what regulars and celebrities are coming. One day among others Rosemary Clooney's name is mentioned. I did not have the table but I recall, one of the first members of her group to arrive is a very good-looking guy in his late 20's. I notice that his sportcoat and tie are not high-end, but otherwise the guy looks like he's comfortable in this environment. The buzz I overhear around the room is "Rosemary Clooney's son?" "Nephew?" "Is he an actor?" "George... George Clooney, yes he's an actor." The rest of the group, including Rosemary Clooney arrive and that generates more buzz. Our regulars included a lot of agents, producers, and publicists who are contemporaries of Ms. Clooney. So from the conversations that I overhear the buzz is improving "He's on a new show, ER", "I really like this kid", "I hear he's great", "George Clooney's ready to break through". Does anyone know what happened to that Clooney guy?

Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967) After delaying it for a long time I finally stuck out this sorry combination of music, "comedy" and "horror." Three country and western performers (Ferlin Husky, Joi Lansing and Don Bowman), on their way to a Nashville Jamboree, stop off at an abandoned mansion for the night, not knowing it has a reputation as being haunted. Inside the place they will encounter four characters searching for some rocket fuel formula in the basement, along with a gorilla. The film is as lame at it sounds. Those into country and western music (I'm not) might like portions of this film as the movie stops cold countless times for a country soul hurtin' tune. I assume that Ferlin Husky and Don Bowman are, or were, country and western stars, because this film shows that they sure weren't actors. The last 15 minutes of this film is, in fact, nothing but music. The only reason I watched the film with its painfully lame "comedy" is because of the appearance in it of three Hollywood veterans, all sadly desperate for a pay cheque, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr.. You feel embarrassed for these three actors that they had the financial need to appear in a cheap disgrace like this. This would be Rathbone's second last film and the final one released before his death. He looks very frail, says his lines and looks like he wants to be off the film set as soon as possible. I was surprised, too, that on occasion, this actor always known for his clear diction, slurs a few of his words. "Mexico," for example, sounds more like "Messco." The beautiful blonde Joi Lansing was cast in cheesecake Mansfield-Van Doren type roles, in outfits emphasizing her bust line, in a lot of '50s and '60s films and TV. It's a sorry comment on her career that she was reduced to appearing in a cheapie like this, as well. Tragically, Lansing would be dead from breast cancer just five years after this film's release. There's not a lot to be said in favour of any film that can't even spell hillbillies correctly in its title. .5 out of 4

Tempest Storm, exotic dancer called ‘The Last Queen of Burlesque,’ dies at 93 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/tempest-storm-dead/2021/04/21/9dd23354-a2c3-11eb-a774-7b47ceb36ee8_story.html

It was artificially distilled into a wrong concept that should be discarded because it sows only confusion. I'll make it even simpler. Noir is a pan generic dark story told in a visually stylistic manner with enough of those elements to tip it Noir for you. That is what explains why besides Crime Noir, there are also Drama Noir, Noir Westerns, Noir SiFi, Noir Thrillers, Noir Suspense, Noir Fantasy, Bio Noir, Noir Exploitation, Noir Women's Films, Noir Period Pieces, Noir Horror, and Noir Experiential. "You watch enough Noirs and you literally get to the point where, I've heard it put this way, that "you know them when you see them." I'll go that one better. Noir, for me is a pan generic dark story told in a stylistic way that triggers a vibe that you tune to, almost akin to a drug/alcohol high. You get a Noir buzz. But its a strange type of high that is actually topsy-turvy to a drug/alcohol high in that it works like this. For Noir neophytes they will only get that high from the hard boiled hardcore Noirs with Detectives, Femme Fatales, and murder. They are the Noir junkies, the mainliners. But with the more Noirs you get exposed to you'll find that there is an endless variety of stories that shuffle and spiral away on different tendrils that provide enough of the elements that make a film a Noir. Your personal life experiences will also inform your affinity to the types of stories that will tip Noir for you. So your tolerance level to Noir goes down, you don't need the hardboiled, hard core stories to get the fix and you recognize the noir in all the various tragedies and picaresque situations that plague the human condition. Noir expands out to an ill delineated, fuzzy "on the cusp of Noir" point where a film can tip either way for an individual. A good example of this effect is the the film Somebody Up There Likes Me that has a few very noir-ish sequences sprinkled through out its length, but not enough to tip it Noir" A good example of Noir being just a STYLE is the "Potterville" sequence of Its A Wonderful Life nobody is calling it a Film Noir but that particular sequence sure is Noir

Friday, April 23 Not long ago I suggested this double bill. I know that this is a no-brainer as it is alphabetical, but red shoes are mentioned in Red River. 8 p.m. Red River (1948). "and buy her a pair of red shoes." 10:30 p.m. The Red Shoes (1948)

Zero Mostel - RHINOCEROS Ethel Merman - CALL ME MADAM Ray Bolger - WHERE'S CHARLEY? Phil Silvers - TOP BANANA John Raitt - THE PAJAMA GAME Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Gary Beach - THE PRODUCERS (2005) Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith - PIRATES OF PENZANCE Only eight performers have won the Tony and later the Oscar for the same role (Some of these have been mentioned but I wanted to submit this as a complete list)-- Jose Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) Yul Brynner - The King And I (1956) Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker (1962) Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady (1964) Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons (1966) Jack Albertson - The Subject was Roses (1968) Joel Grey - Cabaret (1972)

Jimmy Stewart - Harvey Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart - Petrified Forest Shirley Jones - Oklahoma!

I saw that Sally Field interview and I agree with you: Sally was mistaken. Note that I just finished reading the book (part of my; read all the books I have collected but never read Covid-19 pastime!), and to me the Hatfield's underplaying is similar to how Wilde describes the character. The character is asexual\bisexual and such a film performance commutates that within the limits of the code. E.g. in the book the painter clearly is in love with Dorian.

Also staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel -- Gregory Peck at the beginning of DESIGNING WOMAN And Emma Thompson as PL Travers in SAVING MR BANKS

I thought the 1937 version was an exceedingly good film with bracingly good performances from Montgomery, Russell, and Whitty. The 1964 remake though was too overexplicit (it said Albert Finney as the killer whacking away at a victim during the opening credits) and far too ostentacious.

California Suite 1978 they stay at Beverly Hills Hotel Pretty Woman 1990 Richard Gere takes Julia Roberts shopping on Rodeo Drive.

Shampoo (1975) Beverly Hills hairdresser Beverly Hills Madam (1986 TV Movie) The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (TV show)

Beverly Hills Cop 1984 Troop Beverly Hills 1989

TopBilled, your comments are quite astute. You may have something there, a TV series about movie stars from the POV of those who serve them. Quentin Tarantino, this could be your next project! With regard to judging the clothing of customers, in the service business, it sounds petty and elitist, but we do this. This helps us estimate how much they value being in the establishment, and the tip that we shall get from them. A guy wearing a Brioni suit, with a supermodel on his arm, in all likelihood will tip better than the guy in the Jos A Bank suit with his mother-in law. Kirk Douglas, yes based on the two hours he was in the restaurant... I will never forget his awareness of who he was, where he was, and who he was around him. And how he could make someone else's day.

Here are my favorite movies for the 1960s, whether all or any deserved Best Picture is debatable: 1960: Sons and Lovers 1961: Fanny 1962: To Kill a Mockingbird 1963: Hud (My personal favorite of the decade) 1964: The Night of the Iguana 1965: The Sound of Music 1966: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1967: In the Heat of the Night 1968: Funny Girl 1969: Midnight Cowboy And working backwards, here are my favorites for the 1950s: 1950: Sunset Blvd. (My personal favorite of the decade) 1951: A Place in the Sun 1952: Singin' in the Rain 1953: Shane 1954: Rear Window 1955: East of Eden 1956: Giant 1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai 1958: The Brothers Karamazov 1959: Ben-Hur

There's a "comedy' moment in the film in which Ferlin Husky throws a sheet over Basil Rathbone and wrestles him to the floor. While it's undoubtedly a stunt double rolling on the floor underneath the sheet, it's Basil we see lying on the floor as he removes the sheet from his head and tries to adjust his hair. Rathbone was still trouper enough to perform in a so-called comedy bit like this but I was sorry the screenplay asked the aged actor to do it. I considered it demeaning to the man who had once, with such great pride and dignity, played roles like Sherlock Holmes and Sir Guy of Gisbourne. I wrote a fan letter to Rathbone around the time this film was made, knowing nothing about the junk in which he was currently forced to appear, as I enthusiastically waxed nostalgically on paper about his performances in Robin Hood, Captain Blood and Zorro. I never heard back from him and will, of course, never know if he even saw my letter. In retrospect, I wonder how dispirited Basil may have felt in his final years with the film drek that he had to accept because he needed the money.

Yes this one is as bad you can get. Rathbone, Chaney and Carradine were obviously there for the paycheck, I guess they all needed it very badly. Joi Lansing was one of the most gorgeous of the blond bombshells at the time, to see her at her most stunning, see the episode of The Adventures Of Superman called "Superman's Wife". She looks like an actual doll come to life. I'd also like to mention Asian actress Linda Ho, she had a short film career, mostly playing sexy, evil "dragon ladies" from the Far East.

The music was nice but he's a little over dramatic. *** Fargo (1990s) 😀. next : hurling something at somebody

Wha???? Did I just hop into the HOT TUB TIME MACHINE????? Maybe I was in that globe thingy that Jodie Foster was in CONTACT. "How long was I gone?" I experienced it. It was real!!!

King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942)

I'm surprised that no one has gotten Buddy Hackett's theme music. When he came on stage or was introduced on a TV show, the band always played the tune that actor turned bandleader Buddy Rogers had used as his own theme song years before. The song is "My Buddy" which is an old standard from the twenties that has been recorded by many singers over the years. Here is a slow version by Doris Day that includes some photos of some well known screen teams. Thanks to everyone who participated in this question. It looks like Lavender got the greatest number correct, so she gets to go next.

The Hot Heiress

1936

This is one I can't wait to not see.

Hale, Honey--Ginger Rogers in Flying Down to Rio

Trooper Hook, The Great Man's Lady, The Lady Gambles Next: Gene Nelson, Virginia Mayo

Robert Preston The Music Man Jason Robards Long Day's Journey Into Night A Thousand Clowns

Arsenic and Old Lace: Jean Adair, Josephine Hull, John Alexander Barefoot in the Park: Robert Redford, Mildred Natwick

Rex Harrison My Fair Lady Cameron Mitchell Death of A Salesman William Daniels Howard Da Silva Ken Howard 1776

My Living Doll Next: Dack Rambo, Morgan Fairchild and Nicollette Sheridan

Dennis Hopper was with James Dean in Giant 1956 and with Simon Pegg in Land of the Dead 2005. next: Claire Trevor and Judy Geeson

ETERNALLY YOURS (1939)...THE PERFECT MARRIAGE (1946)...THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1947) Next: Paulette Goddard & Burgess Meredith

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)...SEPARATE TABLES (1958)...THE GYPSY MOTHS (1969) Next: Van Johnson & Keenan Wynn

Remembered this the other day after hearing that The Black Cauldron was getting a Blu-Ray release. Still makes me laugh.

HARPER (1966)...WINNING (1969)...THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974) Next: Deborah Kerr & Stewart Granger

How does Albert Finney work? MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS 1974 with Gielgud and ANNIE with Burnett in 1982. Whew! Let's try this one. Next: Laurence Olivier and Brad Pitt I'm going to go out on a limb that there's more than one. I have one....but won't be surprised if you come up with a different one.

michael musto @mikeymusto Here are my Oscar predictions, which are as definitive as Oscar predictions can get. Probably. Nomadland! Judas! Minari! Who’s Getting The Oscar and Why It Still Matters | The Village Voice Save yourself from Oscar night tedium with Musto’s sure-fire predictions villagevoice.com 11:16 AM · Apr 21, 2021·Twitter Web App

Brown, Wally

Oh Boy, 1931 again...

Ben Affleck OK, now that I'm back in 2021...... Next: QUEEN HIGH (1930)

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971)

Second Fiddle (1939)

Piccadilly Incident 1946 Maytime in Mayfair 1949 The Lady With A Lamp 1951 next: Alan Bates and Julie Christie

A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO (1942)...AIR RAID WARDENS (1943)...JITTERBUGS (1943) Next: Anthony Quinn & Maureen O'Hara

Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden in A Streetcar Named Desire Stubby Kaye and Vivian Blaine in Guys and Dolls Joel Grey in Cabaret

THREE LOVES HAS NANCY (1938)

From April 21-23, 1921, the feature at the Poli was Hush, starring Clara Kimball Young as Vera Stanford and J. Frank Glendon as Jack Stanford. The film’s release date is uncertain, but it was six reels, and is presumed lost. Plot: Vera and Jack Stanford have been married a short time. Vera’s conscience begins to bother her and she considers telling her husband of an affair she had in her younger years with Herbert Brooks. Vera’s friend, Isabel Dane, cautions against it, but Vera goes through with the confession, but does not name the man. Jack mistakenly believes the man in question is his friend Hugh Graham. Vera leaves Jack, and goes to live with Isabel. Jack believes she has gone to Graham. Eventually, Isabel clears up the misunderstanding, and Vera and Jack are reunited. The stills below could not be placed in context. The first shows Clara Kimball Young: The second shows Kathlyn Williams (as Isabel Dane), Young, J. Frank Glendon, and Jack Pratt (as Hugh Graham): Wid’s Daily was not impressed, writing “Clara Kimball Young’s latest production to reach Broadway contains a direct warning and then gives a six-reel reason why wives should not tell their husbands too much that isn’t good for them to know. Other than the message it carries, “Hush” doesn’t fulfill any further mission. It is too unconvincing and actually lacks the strength of its own convictions. The basis of the plot is meagre and certainly not substantial enough for the amount of footage accorded it.” Motion Picture News was lukewarm, noting “it being so familiar, the contents of the offering are easily anticipated. One knows in advance just how the sequences will develop. There are no surprises in the situations and climaxes. And for that reason “Hush” doesn’t always hold the interest.” Photoplay added “seldom have we seen a heroine so intent upon telling her husband an episode of her past that she knew would result in their estrangement, as the lady who is the mainspring of the action in “Hush.” She simply refuses to listen to reason. Possibly because she knew if she did there would have been no picture.” A few years before her death in 1960, Clara Kimball Young was living alone in a Hollywood apartment. She had kept no mementos from her 50 years in show business. “I threw out all those scrapbooks and photos,” she said, in a 1955 interview. “If I weren’t with you now I wouldn’t be talking about the past. I’m living today. I’m in the rocket ship era. To hell with the past.”

Anthony Powell, Three-Time Oscar-Winning Costume Designer, Dies at 85 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anthony-powell-three-time-oscar-winning-costume-designer-dies-at-85

Gene Tierney was in "Leave Her to Heaven" with Chill Wills.