coffeedan1927

No, nick, you were right the first time. Charles "Heinie" Conklin is Chester Conklin's brother. I have it on good authority -- from Heinie's son.

Two of my favorites are Columbia House and Overstock.com. I've gotten some incredible bargains off both these sites, many times cheaper than deepdiscountdvd.com.

I got word through another group I belong to that Grapevine Video, that fine purveyor of silents, early talkies, and public domain films, is back in business (since September) and slowly making their old library available again on DVD-R. Proprietor Jack Hardy not only wants to make Grapevine a great source for famous and obscure classic films, but also a clearing house of information on the best deals in classic films everywhere. There's also a free download available each month, and a free biweekly newsletter packed with news on the latest classic DVD releases and other fun stuff for the classic movie fan. Sign up now at www.grapevinevideo.com!

Hey ML, my fellow Jolson fan, hope you're feeling better soon. It's just not the same here without you. Rest easy, and come back as soon as you can!

I love Peter Lorre. What a great actor! One of my prize possessions in my OTR collection is the run of Lorre's radio show Mystery in the Air, which ran as a summer replacement for Abbott & Costello in 1947. He brought some of the great short stories and novels to life on that show, ending with his famous performance in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. I heard some great stories about the show from Peggy Webber, one of Lorre's stock company of actors on the show. On stage, Lorre would stand at one microphone by himself, the rest of the company at another, facing him. During the performance, Lorre would get so much into his role he would often turn red or break out in a sweat. Webber said one time Lorre got so agitated (in character) that he threw his script into the air! And for a few seconds, everybody just watched the pages float to the ground, not knowing what to do. Then one of the actors got on mic with Lorre and shared his script, while the rest of the company fell back in and tried to recover Lorre's script at the same time. And all this was going on in front of a live studio audience! "Somehow we made it to the commercial," Webber said, "where we got everything back together again and finished the show." There were giants on the air and on the screen back then -- Peter Lorre was one of them.

I'd have to look at it again to make sure, but I'm almost certain that the movie is Rex Ingram's THE CONQUERING POWER (1921), one of Rudolph Valentino's early starring vehicles.

Aw, stoney, you shouldn't hate Will Hays. If you must hate somebody, hate Joseph Breen, who took over the enforcement of the Hays code in 1934 -- in fact, it was known as the "Breen office" after that. In fact, Will Hays did us a great service -- more on that presently. First, a little history: The Hays Office was formed in 1922 in response to a round of scandals that had rocked Hollywood the previous year -- the death of Wallace Reid from drug addiction, the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and the maelstrom of false rape charges against Roscoe Arbuckle. Fearing censorship by the federal government, the studio moguls set up an internal policing organization, along with a code of standards, under the leadership of Will Hays, postmaster general during Warren G. Harding's administration. While studio moguls initially chafed under the Hays Office, it had a hidden benefit. Before then, all film censorship was local. Every city in the country had its own decency standards, as did many theater owners. Every one of them left a mark in scenes removed from a film. Often when prints were returned to the studios, they suffered from severe continuity problems at the hands of all those meddlers. But the Hays office greatly reduced the number of hands in the censorship process, down to a central office and eight state boards. Later, scripts were submitted to the Hays Office so problems could be ironed out before the cameras began turning. While this censorship process was bothersome to the studios, it did give them greater control over the integrity of their films in distribution, so it was kind of a two-edged sword. During the so-called "pre-code" years, the Hays code (revised in 1927 and 1930) was still in effect, but not rigorously enforced. By that time, Hays had left the stewardship of the office to Jason Joy, a self-confessed movie lover who did just enough to keep his job. It wasn't until the ascendancy of Joe Breen and the formation of the Legion of Decency in 1934 that you began to see really tough censorship in the movie industry. As for silent pictures, I don't think it's a "screen to brain" thing so much as "brain to screen." You can't control the screen, but you can control your brain. You have to decide to watch them. In other words, silent movies are an acquired taste. I decided to acquire that taste in my teens, which probably made it easier. A silent film depends so much on its presentation -- a good quality print, the right music, the right venue, even the size of the screen. There's so much that can go wrong, but when everything goes right -- as it often does on TCM -- the effect is magical. Silent movies require a level of participation that the average talkie or TV show doesn't require. If you're the type who sinks into an easy chair, turns on the TV and says "Entertain me," you're going to be disappointed by silent films. However, if you remember to pick up your imagination along with the remote, you'll be amply rewarded. There's a whole 'nother world to be discovered in silent pictures, stoney, and you'll get it if you put your mind to it. Just keep trying.

Not a stupid question -- George Clooney is Nick Clooney's son.

Okay, I'll give the nod to Bob. But at the same time, Nick Clooney is no slouch at talking about classic movies. Secretly, I wish he could have been the weekend host at TCM. I met Nick back in my radio days here in Cincinnati (before his gig at AMC), and almost all we did at the time was talk movies. Nick still had a newspaper column in the Cincinnati Post at the time (he had to give it up when he decided to run for Congress in Kentucky), and every so often he would run a movie trivia quiz. These were not for the faint of heart -- you really had to know your stuff to score high on one of Nick's quizzes. He really did his homework, and I owe a good deal of my prowess in movie trivia from trying to keep up with him. I understand that Nick did much of his own writing at AMC. While he didn't do all of the research, every word that he uttered on AMC was his own. And I suspect that's true of Robert Osborne to the same effect. He doesn't do all his own research, but he edits the material to fit his own style. I know from personal experience that the job of research is just too big to do by yourself, even when you have access to the best sources. And I've occasionally caught Osborne giving press agent puffery the weight of historical fact. On that basis, I tip my hat to Robert Osborne, but still insist on some repsect for Nick Clooney.

Years ago, when I had to prepare a monologue for an acting class, I had just seen the movie HOLIDAY with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, and thought that might be a good source. So I checked out the original play by Philip Barry from the library. In it, I found this wonderful speech from Nick Potter on how he invented the bottle -- and it wasn't in the movie! I found out that author Donald Ogden Stewart, who played Nick Potter in the original stage production, had written the monologue himself. It was also Stewart who adapted the play for the screen, and I guess he left it out of the screenplay for personal reasons. Anyway, I successfully used "How I Invented The Bottle" as a comedy audition piece for several years, and directors always asked me where I found it!

Leave it to me to come late to the party. I was away from home during TCM's tribute to Buster Keaton, and I had to tape most of the films so I could watch them later. I just watched the last of them yesterday. Part of it was fun. I enjoyed COPS and THE CAMERAMAN, probably more so than in the past. I really liked Arthur Barrow's new score for THE CAMERAMAN. The last time I saw the film on TCM, it had a standard piano score, but the new score was a welcome improvement. Keaton's one-man baseball game is one of his best routines. SPITE MARRIAGE wasn't top-drawer Keaton, but even bottom-drawer Keaton is better than many actors' top-drawer stuff. This time around, I noticed that SPITE MARRIAGE bore passing resemblance to a Frank Capra silent picture I saw recently, THE MATINEE IDOL, released the year before. Both films deal with a young man in love with the actress in a Civil War stage drama, who eventually gets on stage with her. I wonder if Keaton might have borrowed and refined the idea for his film. Regardless, Keaton is still a joy to watch. I wish I could say the same for his talkies, though. Sitting through most of these was an endurance test. While there were flashes of the old Keaton brilliance, you have to endure a lot of noise and bother to see them. Although I didn't find any of them entirely satisfying, SPEAK EASILY was probably the easiest to sit through, followed by FREE AND EASY. Keaton probably had his best support in those films. SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK was the absolute worst -- it gave me a headache. Which brings up another point: Keaton isn't totally in control in his early talkies. It's almost like he was shoehorned into somebody else's picture, and that affects the cohesion. Fair-to-poor writing and direction didn't help, either. I was astounded to find out that SPEAK EASILY was based on Clarence Budington Kelland's serial Footlights. Kelland had originally written the story for Harold Lloyd, but Lloyd didn't like it. I wonder how Keaton got hold of it? I could see Lloyd in the leading role, but I don't think it would have helped his career either, at that point.

Good news! TCM will be showing TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS in December, along with two more silents produced by Howard Hughes, THE RACKET (one of the first movies nominated for Best Picture) and THE MATING CALL! Just one more example of how TCM continues to surprise and delight us classic film fans . . .

You also have to consider that AMC is beamed into nearly 10 times as many cable households as TCM. (That's the last report I heard, anyway.) In most parts of the country, AMC is part of the standard cable package, but you have to pay extra for TCM. That was the situation here in Cincinnati until a few years ago, when Time Warner Cable made TCM part of its standard cable package, a move for which I'm eternally (and financially) grateful. TCM is about the only reason I watch TV to begin with. As for GREED, the four-hour reconstruction last aired on TCM in July (twice, if I remember right). It does show up in the schedule with some regularity. But to be on the safe side, use the "Suggest-a-Movie" feature to put in a request to TCM. They really do listen to us!

Hey, if you guys need a good editor, I have DECADES of experience . . . and my rates are reasonable!

I've seen a good variety of the new "Today" graphics now, and I'm beginning to like them. TCM has been going for a more urban look in the last few years, and they fit in well with the "TCM City" motif. I particularly welcome the addition of the stars of the movies to the on-screen listings. And I agree that the background music isn't terribly exciting. Again, in keeping with the "TCM City" theme, I'd prefer to hear some hustle-bustle music, a moaning saxophone, or something like Alfred Newman's "Street Scene" (depending on the time of day) in back of the day's offerings.

I like intermissions. They give you a chance to relax, rest your mind, reflect on what you've just seen, and prepare for what's coming afterward. I also like overtures and exit music, too, for much the same reasons. (And an opportunity to empty one's bladder and get some much-needed refreshment doesn't hurt, either.) I remember that TCM first showed the reconstructed GREED with an intermission, right after McTeague and Katrina's wedding. When the film resumed, they had been married for a few years, and I thought that made a nice transition. So, in a way, the intermission can serve as a literary device ("The curtain will be lowered for five minutes to denote the passage of five years"). I hope it's included if and when GREED is released on DVD. On the whole, I think that any movie 3 hours or longer almost requires an intermission, just so you can sit there and take it all in without being bombarded with too much information all at once. I've watched GONE WITH THE WIND both with and without an intermission, and I much prefer it with. I've seen audiences get tired and restless without an intermission, so perhaps it's necessary.

Mark your calendar, Antar! TCM is showing ECSTACY on November 5 at 2:15 am.

Keep watching the Movie News section. They always publish the results there.

Since James Cagney is one of the most under-represented stars on DVD, I'd like to rectify that by offering "James Cagney: The Early Years at Warner Brothers." Covering the years 1930-34, the set would include SINNERS' HOLIDAY, DOORWAY TO HELL, THE PUBLIC ENEMY, BLONDE CRAZY, SMART MONEY, THE CROWD ROARS, TAXI!, WINNER TAKE ALL, LADY KILLER, HARD TO HANDLE, PICTURE SNATCHER, FOOTLIGHT PARADE, JIMMY THE GENT, HERE COMES THE NAVY, and THE ST. LOUIS KID. I've purposely omitted a few because I don't think they display Cagney adequately, and I want to keep the set lively. For extras, I might include Cagney's small but pivotal scene with George Arliss from THE MILLIONAIRE (1931), which is self-contained and good enough to stand by itself. Also an episode of Bobby Jones's HOW TO PLAY GOLF series in which Cagney appears. And, of course, any surviving trailers! Besides Gloria Stuart, I don't think any of Cagney's co-stars from this period are alive today, but an interview or commentary from a Cagney biographer like Michael Freedland would be welcome. All in all, I think this would make a nice three-to-four DVD set, since most of these films run at or near the 75-minute mark. Warner Home Video, I'm waiting . . .

It's CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950), starring Ronald Colman, Vincent Price (in a scene-stealing performance), Celeste Holm, and Art Linkletter. Wonderful movie!

After getting my first DVD box set, I thought this would be a great topic: What star or theme would you choose for a DVD box? What films would you include? And what extras would you try to throw in?

Just got the Fox Studio Classics Best Picture collection, comprised of ALL ABOUT EVE, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, and SUNRISE. Can't say a lot about it now, because I've been practically living with the SUNRISE disc this past weekend. Beautiful restoration of the film (a marked improvement over the print TCM showed five years ago), plus a lot of extras -- including two different music scores, outtakes, a reconstruction essay on F. W. Murnau's lost film FOUR DEVILS, and more! This disc alone is worth the price of the set, which I got for only $25.72 at Overstock.com. (That's a cheaper price than both Amazon.com and deepdiscountdvd.com!) And for only $4 more, I got a prety good Hitchcock double feature of YOUNG AND INNOCENT and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. Not great -- I could see moving video lines in Y&I -- but not bad for the price. The print of THE MAN WHO KNEW is better than the one I taped off AMC in 2000.

Of course it ain't -- TCM keeps getting better and better . . .

There's also a dark-house thriller with Bela Lugosi called NIGHT OF TERROR (1933) that uses this gimmick. It's about a maniacal serial killer who leaves newspaper clippings pinned to the bodies of his victims. After the hero kills him in the final reel, he comes back to life at the very end of the movie and says something like: "Only you know my secret -- and if you tell anybody, I will kill you! I will kill YOU! (pointing in a different direction) I -- will -- haunt -- you -- " I saw this movie as a teenager, and it was the first time I realized a movie could be scary and funny at the same time.

Leo, you're nothing but a tease . . .