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reneex said: Here's my short list of some of a number of actors/actresses from the Golden Age who should never have been afforded a screen test. And now MY assessment of YOUR assessment of them in red... 1. Ruth Chatterton ...no, good actress 2. Jayne Mansfield...yes, you're right here 3. Guy Madison...yes, you're especially right here...lousy actor who, yes, only got that screen test because he was so damn handsome 4. Lupe Velez...no, fairly good actress 5. Nat King Cole...yes, great singer but lousy actor 6. Farley Granger...no, fairly good actor 7. Van Heflin...you're kiddin' here especially, right...no, great actor...one of the best in fact 8. Troy Donahue...yes, you're right here 9. James Dean...no, very good actor who would've only gotten better 10. Jane Russell...no, fairly good actress (...and now MY picks for the worst...George Raft and James Craig)

BACK TO THE FUTURE JUNIOR PROM NAPOLEON DYNAMITE THE NUTTY PROFESSOR

West Side Story 1961 Bye Bye Birdie 1963 Hollywood Knights 1980 these sitcoms had school dances The Patty Duke Show Gidget Family Ties Growing Pains The Partridge Family Modern Family Eight is Enough

1976 Carrie 1986 Pretty in Pink 2017 Lady Bird

things get chaotic in Best Foot Forward Ginger Rogers is belle of the school dance in The Major and the Minor Jamie Lee Curtis doing some awful disco in Prom Night Clifton Webb cuts loose in Cheaper by the Dozen

1940 - Strike Up the Band (Do the La Conga) 1947 - Good News (The Varsity Drag) 1955 - Daddy Long Legs (Slue Foot)

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946) Splendor in the Grass (1961) Footloose (1984) Sing Street (2016)

One of the most chilling scenes in Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT when Joseph Cotten's charming Uncle Charlie reveals his contempt for "useless" rich "faded, fat, greedy" women. The camera slowly moves in for a closer inspection as a cold blooded psychopath lets down his facade of congenial respectability and reveals his true feelings.

Good News (1947) Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) ("Let's fold scarves!")

Northwest Passage (1940) Next: Gina Lollobrigida, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson

My choice is this guy:

WOW! Gotta say here Sepia ol' chum that I'm surprised, first, that you never liked those three sitcoms you listed up there. And secondly, that you apparently are one of those out there who's never realized that Gary Cooper WAS one of the finest film actors to ever grace the silver screen. (...yup, he sure was...few actors have ever been able to express true human emotions through just their eyes as he could)

Unless he was acting as a singer like in Cat Ballou.

I did a show with Jim Burrows once. He was tops. It used to be when pilot season came around, everyone wanted Burrows to direct their sitcom pilots, rightly thinking it would make for a better chance to be picked up to go to series.

I was waiting to see that name...

The Time of Your Life set entirely in Nick's saloon Mary, Mary about 90% takes place in one room of a NY apartment Carnage --a NYC apartment The Mist everyone trapped in grocery store

So who would you nominate as the classic screen psychopath of all time? My vote goes to Tony Musante. Who starred alongside Martin Sheen in the gritty 1967 drama, The Incident. Musante and Sheen portrayed two violent city thugs who enter a local train in Manhattan one early morning and began harassing a group of frightened passengers.

You have to see him in silent films. He is an entirely different actor in those. Not that he changed but the medium did.

That's a great story. I do like CRIMSON KIMONO and yes it resembles PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. Interesting we are having this conversation about Anna Lee. She was fired from GH in 2003 (budget cuts and the producer Jill Phelps didn't like having elderly women on the show). She died in 2004, her son claiming that she lost the will to live after her firing. Anyway, last night I caught up on this week's episodes of GH on Hulu. And I was surprised to see that one of the episodes this week had Anna Lee's picture (in a frame) on an end table in the Quartermaine set. After her firing and death, producer Jill Phelps did a memorial episode but was reluctant to reference her character on screen after that. So it's nice to see that Frank Valentini, the current producer, respects her legacy and they are using her photo in new scenes.

An impressive memory! According to an old lzcutter post, Ray Milland was SOTM for April, 2011. 🙂

American Graffiti 1973 Fast Times At Ridgemont High 1982

7.) He was originally signed to star in the movie version of "The Sunshine Boys. After his death, his friend, George Burns, replaced him.

Fourteen Hours

1961 The Spring of Mrs. Stone next: James Stewart makes an solo Trans Atlantic flight to Paris

Wilson next: Edmond, Margaret and Pat

Hmmm...so I take it you've never watched Odds Against Tomorrow then. eh? (...I've always thought he was REALLY good in THAT one, anyway)

Ruth Chatterton? See Dodsworth. Not only a good actress, sometimes she was great.

Back to Noir Alley. I have watched Touch of Evil twice before and never thought much of it. Started watching it again this morning and still don't think much of it. Wells appears to be half-drunk all the time and garbles his speech. I realize he is supposed to be an alcoholic or a drunk, but still he overplays it to the detriment of the movie. In addition, I find the plot confusing other than the frame-up and disjointed in the way the scenes just seem to jump around. The camera angles add nothing to the movie, but rather seem to be affectations by Wells. As for Orson Wells, the only movie I like him in is The Long Hot Summer, but even there he overacts or poorly acts. Again gives the impression of an always half-drunk, obese man garbling his speech.

I was the lighting best boy on the show. Chuck Lorre is the current master of the sitcom.

I'm very very sorry, but I need to talk about that half-hour's worth of TELL ME...JUNIE MOON that I saw some more. WARNING: I am going to speak in broad stereotypes here, but please know that I know of what I speak. So, I gather the reason for LIZA being all "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA" in the movie was that she went to the prom with a repressed homosexual whom she attempted to seduce. He couldn't "see it through" and, out of his twisted shame born of his repressed homosexuality, he KNOCKS HER OUT, takes her to a junkyard, removes the battery from a car, takes about 2 minutes to crack said car battery like an ostrich egg on the side of the car while LIZA is laying unconscious on the gravel, he then dumps the battery acid on her face. THIS BOTHERED ME VERY, VERY MUCH BECAUSE: 1. Any homosexual, repressed or not, knows that it is in the CONTRACT: if LIZA MINELLI tries to seduce you, YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES, YOU THINK OF JUDY AND YOU SAY "YES." 2. The car battery acid plot point would be MUCH MORE BELIEVABLE of lesbians; I find it extremely hard to believe that any gay man who actually knew where the battery was in a car- or that cars even have batteries that had acid in them- would then take the two meticulous, EFFORT-FILLED minutes to extract said acid when it would definitely involve ruining a manicure. i PERSONALLY FELT LIKE THEY WOULD BOTH MOVE BEYOND THE INCIDENT AND SPEND THE REST OF THE NIGHT LAUGHING AND CRYING AND BRAIDING ONE ANOTHER'S HAIR. in conclusion: stereotypes: the language of hate, sometimes yes, but sometimes a useful tool for life!

Like Lavender said above, it's all a matter of opinion. I disagree with James Dean, Troy Donahue, and Guy Madison, as I'm a fan of theirs. Anyone who knows me knows I can't stand Farley Granger. His voice is extremely annoying, and it gets on my nerves after awhile. He's basically the male version of Kristen Stewart; both were former teen stars who got juicy adult roles based on luck and not on talent. Here's a couple more: Gary Cooper is extremely boring. He talks very slowly out of the side of the mouth. Plus, my dad has never made it through a Gary Cooper movie without falling asleep. Tab Hunter is a very bland actor who coasts through movies with his looks. He's better known to me in his real life role as Anthony Perkins' ex-boyfriend.

THE YOUNGER GENERATION

Wow, Dargo, you basically read my mind with those comments. Haven't decided yet whether to compile my own list, but at least among actors with "major" careers, George Raft would certainly be on it (although I do enjoy his mild self-parody in Some Like it Hot...just not sure he recognized it as such). Re Troy Donahue, I happened to catch about 2/3 of Rome Adventure the other day (that was about as much as I could take), and was surprised to learn that he and Suzanne Pleshette were (very) briefly married shortly afterwards. She just seems like so much more vivid a person and actress than he is, I don't quite get the attraction. At least in that film, he always looks vaguely annoyed for some reason--maybe he was more charming in real life.

Baby Peggy (Diana Serra Cary) was one of the biggest child stars of the silent era and amazingly how fast she became FORGOTTEN! More tragic 95% of her movies are gone forever (nitrate decomp / vault fires)

Speedy and MissW. During Spring the inland land mass of the west coast begins heating up and rising the atmosphere and thus in turn begins drawing the cool mist and fog formed by the cold water of the north-to-south gulf stream which runs along the west coast in for about 3-5 or more miles inland daily. This weather/climate phenomenon is a yearly occurrence until mid-Summer, and the further north up the coast, the later in the year it burns off during the day. In Los Angeles, we natives always called this the "June Gloom". And, further north in San Francisco this weather phenomenon can extend well into the months of July and August. And so the reason for that saying I posted earlier which has been attributed to Mark Twain and who for a while lived in San Francisco, a city I've always thought the most beautiful in all the U.S. (...and one, yes MissW, you should definitely put on an itinerary to one day visit)

Jackie Coogan in "The Ragman" (1925) Sybil Jason in "Little Big Shot" (1935), too bad the unneeded violence was a turnoff to people in her screen debut.

Peggy Ann Garner was one of the finest child stars of the Golden Age and one of her most impressive roles was captivated in haunhting 1944 melodrama, Jane Eyre. Honestly, I would have perferred watching her carry this role throughout the entire film as the youtful Jane Eyre than by the somewhat "wooden Lady", Joan Fontaine.

a good list but Guy Madison wasn't that bad. he starred in a childhood favorite of mine The Beast of Hollow Mountain along with patricia medina. it is better than it's Harryhausen remake the valley of Gwangi. take a look at Guy in On the Threshold of Space an interesting variation of Torwards the Unknown

1955: DADDY LONG LEGS Next: Desi & Lucy's road trip gets messy.

Here is a version of The Lady is a Tramp by Bireli Lagrene. For me he is one of the top 2 - 3 guitarist on the planet. When he did the album Blue Eyes, he decided to sing this song.

Moby Dick (1956) Moon (2009) In the Heart of the Sea (2015) The Martian (2015) The Guilty (2018)

He's fantastic in Dead Calm.

Well, speedy, looks like you'll be going to California again, come October. I'm excited for you to take this trip (hey, "get hip, take this California trip,"....don't suppose you're going on Route 66, are you?) it sounds like everything you're planning guarantees a fabulous time ! And yes, check out the weather for us while you're there (hopefully nice, but maybe just one rainy day will make you feel like you're in a noir - especially if you're going to Musso and Frank's!)

The Collector (1965) Death and the Maiden (1994) All is Lost (2013) My Dinner with Andre (1981)

"War of The Worlds" (1953) has some trash littering the deserted streets.

"Sharky's Machine" (1981), Henry Da Silva plays a hit man who like to blast large holes in doors. Aiiihhhhh... [BOOM}

Not a bad comparison here Grace, but for my money, there were always two other actors who resembled James Dean a little more than Franco. Michael Parks and Christopher Jones. (...and with the former even possessing a very similar voice and many of the mannerisms that Dean had)

I don't agree that the " whole story is about a girl who is not attractive": For me it was more than just the girl being average in the looks department: it is also about a girl that is way too shy, has no scene of style, or grace or some of the other "womanly" traits her mother had (as viewed by husband, the girl's father). For me that is a major part of the story: I always get the sense that when her father compares his daughter with her mother, his disappointed centers more around her bland personality and dullness than just her physical appearance. Olivia great acting is in the pulling off of out-of-place-clumsy-shy etc... women and thus the casting and overall film in believable, in spite of Olivia being too-good-looking for the role.

From May 15-18, 1921, the Poli ran The Great Lover, starring John Sainpolis as Jean Paurel. The film was released in November of 1920 at six reels, and is presumed lost. Plot: Jean Paurel, aka “The Great Lover,” is a famous baritone who has had numerous love affairs. Now middle-aged, his vocal chords are delicate, and his physician has warned him to avoid stress. He falls for Ethel, a young American singer, and gives her a small part in the opera. He has an understudy named Sonino, who, unbeknownst to Paurel, is the product of one of his affairs. Sonino has also fallen for Ethel. The night the opera premieres, Paurel proposes to Ethel in his dressing room between acts. Sabotini, who has her sights set on Paurel, angrily tells Sonino where Ethel is. There is a quarrel, and Paurel loses his voice. Ethel accepts his proposal out of obligation. Sonino substitutes for Paurel and wins instant acclaim. The following day, Ethel calls on Paurel. While she is in another room, Paurel’s ex-lover Bianca shows up and tells him that Sonino is their son. She begs Paurel to give up Ethel so the girl can marry Sonino. Paurel releases Ethel from the engagement. As the fading opera singer sits alone brooding over his fate, his phone rings. A female admirer is on the line, and his spirits immediately are lifted. “Then we’ll have a little lunch,” he tells her, as the film ends. The stills below could not be placed in context. The first shows Sainpolis with Rose Dione (as Sabotini). The second shows Alice Hollister front and center (as Bianca): The film was based upon a stage play of the same name. Most reviews described the play as a comedy. Wid’s Daily wrote that the original play “is not and never has had any screen material. Its popularity on the stage was due to its catchy dialogue. It’s a one man play, with little action, much grand opera atmosphere, and professional temperament.” The daily added “since it is a one-man picture and since John Sainpolis, although an excellent actor and admirable in the title role, is not a star in the commonly accepted term, and since the dialogue of the play is missing on the screen, little is left in favor of the screen version excepting a picture, approximately six reels long, well directed, well acted and lavishly produced.” Motion Picture News described the film as a “slow moving drama that depends entirely on titles to tell its story, and all the money that has very evidently been spent in producing it will not make up for the lack of action and the many sequences where characters walk into a set, only to talk to each other, while titles explain what is happening.” Director Frank Lloyd employed a seventy-five piece orchestra for the opera scenes, which were shot in Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles. The auditorium’s sixty-foot stage was used to recreate two acts of “Don Giovanni.” Nearly 800 people, dressed in evening clothes, were used as the audience. For technical advice, Lloyd used John McCormack, an Irish tenor and opera singer. The story was remade in 1931, with Adolphe Menjou in the title role. John Sainpolis was involved in an amusing incident in 1919. John McGraw, owner of the New York Giants baseball team, was being honored for his birthday. McGraw, who had been a player for the Baltimore Orioles, had invited some of his New York theatrical friends to the festivities, which were being held at the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore. Several people gave speeches, and then was it was Sainpolis’ turn. The actor had once been McGraw’s personal guest during a training camp, and the sportswriters had dubbed him “Minneapolis-St. Paul.” After making several glowing remarks about McGraw, Sainpolis concluded by saying “and at last I’ve come to understand why they call John McGraw Muggsy. I don’t know why John should object to that word, Muggsy; to me Muggsy always was a term of endearment.” What Sainpolis did not know was that “Muggsy” was an insult to McGraw. The name had been pinned on the baseball owner during his playing days in Baltimore; there had been a character in the comics named Muggsy, and also a sleazy Baltimore politician named Muggsy McGraw. Brandon Tynan, another actor at the party, screamed at Sainpolis “you stupid muttonhead; what do you mean insulting my friend, John McGraw?” While this was going on, Harry Schumacher, baseball writer for the New York Globe, laughed hilariously every time the word “Muggsy” was mentioned. His laughter, rather than Sainpolis’ remarks, infuriated McGraw. “You frog-faced lout,” McGraw yelled at the reporter. “I’ve never had any use for you, and now I’ve less than ever. I’ve been waiting a year to tell you what I really think of you. What’s more, I don’t want you to travel with this club again. First thing I get back to New York, I am going to tell your sports editor to assign another man to the Giants. I don’t want to have to look at that puss of yours again.” That was the end of the evening’s festivities.