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Frankenstein's Monster

So many come to mind, but I’ll begin with Myra, portrayed by Vivien Leigh in Waterloo Bridge (1940). Believing her love, played by Robert Taylor, has been killed in battle, she becomes a prostitute to survive. Upon learning he’s actually alive, she’s unable to live with the shame. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

Saw RAUL JULIA on stage in NYC in Man Of LaMancha. With SHEENA EASTON. I was ther for RAUL JULIA, another favorite.

Okay, this is an obvious variation on another thread here. The movies have provided us with an array of memorable characters who, even If fictional, can still haunt us, a few even, dare I say, passing into cultural legend. Here's one character that immediately comes to my mind. He was a king on his island until kidnapped and brought to civilization, where he was doomed by modern technology. Yet within his huge heart there beat the love for a woman. Twas beauty killed the beast. So anyone else have any nominations for tragic characters in the movies, some perhaps even bringing tear to your eye?

Blood on the Sun Sun Valley Serenade Valley of the Sun Little Miss Sunshine Sunny Side Up Sunrise at Campbello Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Sunset Boulevard Shine on Harvest Moon Paper Moon Montana Moon Shoot the Moon Garden of the Moon Black Moon By the Light of the Silvery Moon New Moon On Moonlight Bay Three Cornered Moon Honeymoon Paris Honeymoon Once Upon a Honeymoon Haunted Honeymoon Honeymoon for Three

A Place in the Sun (1951) A Raisin in the Sun (1961) A Trip to the Moon (1902) A Walk on the Moon (1999)

Originating in the Steinbeck novel, and brought to life on film by Lon Chaney, Jr, the character of Lennie, in Of Mice and Men (1939) is certainly one that makes me weep. He is a big, mentally-challenged man with a love of “soft” things, eventually leading to tragedy that even his good friend and protector, George (Burgess Meredith) cannot prevent.

She's wonderful with Astaire which is remarkable considering the age difference.

Frances looks like she will cut you if you don't get outta her way!

ONE THING I WILL BET YOU.... With her THIRD BEST ACTRESS OSCAR and now ONE FOR PRODUCING AS WELL, we are going to be seeing, within the next 2-3 years, THE MISGUIDED VANITY PROJECT TO END ALL MISGUIDED VANITY PROJECTS coming from FRANCES MACDORMAND. something delicious in its avarice and tone-deaf presentation, like, maybe she'll get that LENI REIFENSTAHL biopic that JODIE'S PEOPLE managed to talk her out of for years off the ground; maybe she'll be a GUITAR-PLAYING FRENCH-CANADIAN NUN saving a band of deaf and blind aboriginal children from an Australian wildfire, maybe a PANSEXUAL WICCAN POTTERY TEACHER IN TAOS who organizes and single-handedly saves an indigenous tribe by teaching them how to bedazzle yoga mats for a living...? disclaimer: I cannot stand FRANCES MACDORMAND and I have never been able to stand FRANCES MACDORMAND. IF YOU DO- that's fine, it is a free country. ps- she looked like WILLAM DEFOE in an off-the-rack schmatte from TJ MAXX.

I've just read some articles about Alan Carr's Oscar show which, quite frankly, I didn't think was that terrible. However, apparently he's the one who initiated the "...and the Oscar goes to..." bull nonsense, so deduct points for that. It's well known that the "establishment" was appalled, spearheaded by Gregory Peck, former Academy President. And Disney's faux outrage, while Mouseketeers were scribbling notes in advance of the Broadway invasion. But I read that Jennifer Jones secretly delivered Carr a note expressing her enjoyment of the entertainment. (There was probably a lot of that, behind closed doors. )

Whenever the name Mike Nichols is mentioned I think "10 percent", which was what he always tipped. He spoke very slowly with a smile and manner that could be taken as condescending. Yes, I do recall hearing or reading about his marriage to Diane Sawyer and hoping that if they came in together that she would take care of the tipping! The poor tipping was strange, none of us, including management had ANY idea why he tipped so poorly. Regulars and celebrities routinely tipped 20%+. Even 30%+. I believe I did see Rather and Brokaw there, but I don't remember serving them. One CBS news guy that I remember well was Mark McEwen. I served him a few times and he was unbelievably nice. I remember on one occasion after lunch, he was waiting to collect his coat by the entrance, and some customers engaged him. He turned and smiled and chatted with them, thanked them for watching his show. He didn't do the "nice talking to you, I need to be going". He talked with these folks for a pretty long time! I said to him, "Mr. McEwen, that was probably the best example I've ever seen, of how a famous person should behave with the public." Mr. McEwen thanked me for the compliment, and said something like, "Or how anyone should behave with anyone?" I was instantly his fan.

I understand the feeling well as I have several posters on 'ignore' and have never missed them. I must say that she is truly one of the greats of the forum and her comment to you was uncharacteristically curt. She is a wonderful person and very insightful. I am sure that you will come to like her. I welcome you to the forum also!

Barbara Hershey was so ignored and unappreciated ...."Hannah and Her Sisters ", "Black Swan" were nomination worthy.

THE VERDICT (1964)

actress Soleil Moon Frye Moon (2007) Moonraker (1979) Sunshine (2007) A team of international astronauts are sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.

PAINTING THE CLOUDS WITH SUNSHINE MOONSTRUCK MOONFLEET MOONLIGHT (2016) CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON

I agree TikiSoo, and most celebrities did "do the right thing". Mr. Nichols was a rare exception. One reason why we relied on the celebs for high percentage tips, is that especially in the daytime, their guest check$ were not that high and the celebs caused a waiter to be under-seated. In other words say Sylvester Stallone and his agent come in, they would be seated in one of the large booths AKA a "six-top". A six top is a table that maxes out at 6 guests. Because there's only 2 people seated the tip might end up being 1/3 of what you might receive if the table is maxed out. Most of our regulars understood this and were great tippers. Many would sprinkle additional sugar at holiday time. Celebs would typically not order much food, especially at lunch. Sometimes it seemed like a competition to order as little as possible. Did you ever see the Kevin James routine about models dining out ("I'll just have a bowl of steam"). So their guest checks were low. Back to Stallone, he usually came in as someone else's guest. So I didn't know his tipping habits. Once, I waited on him when he hosted a couple of his boys and they ate a pound of caviar, Stallone paid and tipped quite well. Good man.

Sophie MacDonald - The Razor's Edge (1946).

For a moment there in the mid-80s that movie got a lot of buzz. I haven't heard anyone talk about it in decades. That is a wonderful film.

When I think of Vivian and a tragic character, I think of her Blanche DuBoise from A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. And some might think it odd, but I long felt the monster that was crated by the mad doctor in FRANKENSTEIN was a tragic character based on the idea he was created from various parts from dead men, and given life at what might be considered an "adult" age, with no previous "upbringing" to internally inform him of right from wrong and to not live all that long before dying in such a tragic and horrible manner. (but really luckily living long enough to do all those sequels. ) Sepiatone

SPOILER ALERT: SHANE had one of the most poignant endings of any western. A gunfighter living out of his time, now with an untreated bullet wound, he rides off towards the mountains, from which he originally came, with an uncertain future ahead. I have always found a haunting doom of tragedy about the final images in this film. Listen for little Joey's last cry to Shane in the final seconds of this clip as the music builds (the image is far too dark, I know), and it adds to the tragedy. The little boy, at the end, realizes his hero is not coming back.

The Sun Also Rises 1957 The Sundowners 1960 The Moon is Blue 1953 The Moon-Spinners 1964

You would think any celebrity would remember what their "salad years" were like and tip more generously. What goes around comes around and in show business especially, the roles of served/server could quickly be reversed. (I wasn't aware Nichols & Sawyer were married!)

Friday, April 30 1 p.m. Two Women (1960). And 60 years later Sophia Loren is still making films.

DINKY

Audrey Hepburn tended to find chemistry with just about all her male co-stars, didn't she? It's a precious gift.

All About Eve Next: Jack Lemmon & Joe E. Brown do the tango.

Hired Wife/My Sister Eileen/What a Woman! Next: Maureen O'Sullivan & Mickey Rooney

1939

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) next: James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, and William Daniels

International House (1933)

Yes, they teamed up in a segment of A MIRACLE CAN HAPPEN (ON OUR MERRY WAY), 1948.

1976...ROBIN AND MARIAN Next: Judith Anderson meets her employer's new wife.

1951 -- The Red Badge of Courage Next: Audrey Hepburn poisons Sean Connery

1963...THE V.I.P.S Next: Audie Murphy goes to hell and back in the Civil War.

Taber, Roslyn -- Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits

An American Tragedy (1931)

The Smiling Ghost (1941) I tend to like this type of movie, a vaguely horror plot, set in a mysterious mansion populated with a lot of odd characters. This one is surprisingly posh for the genre, in terms of cast and production values, but it just gets too silly. Wayne Morris locks himself in his office, hiding from his creditors. His assistant (Willie Best) passes him milk over the transom. A phone call comes, inviting him for a job interview. Wayne and Willie go to the interview, where they are referred to Helen Westley, who is hiring a suitor for her granddaughter -- Alexis Smith -- whose boyfriends have been murdered, after each engagement. The family wants to stage a wedding to catch the murderer. Morris and Best go to the mansion, where they meet the usual gaggle of strange relatives. Charles Halton is probably the strangest. He takes a fancy to Willie Best's head and wants to shrink it for his collection. Lee Patrick is another strange one. She's obsessed with a string of pearls (a very red herring!). Alan Hale is not your usual butler. A few miles away, there is a man in an iron lung who was one of the previous suitors. Brenda Marshall is a busybody reporter. Warner Brothers gives us an A-list cast. It could have been a contender for a great film in its genre, but it just gets too crazy, and there are plot holes and confusing devices. How did the man in the iron lung (David Bruce) get inside the locked mausoleum? Why didn't Helen Westley know about all the secret passages in her house, which she has presumably lived in for decades? There are other silly and confusing issues that I won't go into. I love these movies, so I don't expect logical perfection (or perfect logic). The humour is over the top, and diminishes the movie. But you know what? Willie Best is an excellent actor, and he has some good lines. When he and Wayne Morris go to the job interview, the woman at the desk asks, "Which one of you is the applicant?" Best replies, "The light complected gentleman." Best's exchanges with the man who wants to shrink his head are also amusing. But then, they just get so into the stereotypical stuff, including fear of cemeteries; and the very end is embarrassing. For the first part of the movie, though, Best is a fairly equal sidekick to Morris. Despite my caveats, I guess I enjoyed it.

Sweet Sue, played by Joan Shawlee in "Some Like It Hot"

Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth (1930) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021571/mediaviewer/rm3089407744/ The Wind (1928) Fire (1996)

As for this year's Oscars, I think that it was downright insulting that Mank won for cinematography. It is one of the worst-photographed films I have ever seen, and an insult to the great black and white photography of classic Hollywood.

VALERIE (1957)

"I hold that there is no such antick fellow as your bombastical hero who doth so earnestly spout forth his folly as to make his hearers believe that he is unconscious of all incongruity". - Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - W. S. Gilbert - 1874

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) Two characters with no story of their own and unsure of their identities are summoned by the king and queen and tasked with finding the cause of the affliction of young Hamlet. Gary Oldman and Tim Roth are the title characters but it is not clear at all times which is which. Richard Dreyfuss is the leader of a troupe of actors and is the irreverent and slightly irrational voice of reason. This movie is a play which is a play of words and on words. It is absurdly existential and existentially absurd. It twines in and out of a larger play which the characters do not know exists. I love this movie so much that I watch it again about once a year. 8/9.2 It is available on several streaming services.

Here are the TCM premieres for May, as determined by MovieCollectorOH’s TCM schedules database. Notes: - The dates shown are based on a programming day starting at 6 am ET and running past midnight. - Shorts and cartoons are listed separately. - Feature Films May 3 - Three Daughters: The Postmaster (1961) May 3 - Three Daughters: Monihara (1961) May 3 - Three Daughters: Samapti (1961) May 3 - The Holy Man (1965) May 3 - An Enemy of the People (1989) May 3 - The Stranger (1991) May 7 - The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951) May 7 - Plan 9 from Outer Space Table Read (2020) May 8 - Tex Avery: The King of Cartoons (1988) (doc.) May 8 - I Love Trouble (1948) May 8 - Nichols and May: Take Two (1996) (doc.) May 8 - From Broadway to Hollywood (2015) (doc.) May 9 - Her Man (1930) May 9 - Hollywood Home Movies: Stars at Work and Play (2021) (doc.) May 9 - So This is Paris (1926) May 11 - Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970) May 16 - Run Lola Run (1998) May 18 - Precious (2009) May 18 - Fat Girl (2001) May 23 - Youth of the Beast (1963) May 23 - Everything Goes Wrong (1960) May 24 - Chaplin (1992) May 27 - High Hopes (1988) May 28 - The Trap (1966) - Shorts May 4 - Helping Hands (1941) May 7 - Let Me Come In (2021) May 9 - La Chambre (1972) - Cartoons May 8 - Tex Avery at MGM (1943 - 1955) (collection) May 15 - MGM Cartoons: Wild Honey (1942) May 15 - Popeye: Klondike Casanova (1946) May 22 - MGM Cartoons: What's Buzzin' Buzzard? (1943) May 22 - Popeye: Peep in the Deep (1946) Thanks as always to MCOH!

From 1932

The Stratton Story 1949 The Glenn Miller Story 1953 Strategic Air Command 1955 next: Rhonda Fleming and Ronald Reagan

Another Billy Mumy reference from me -- TWILIGHT ZONE , "It's the Good Life"