jakeem

Perhaps you're right. When it comes to Tarantino, continuity sometimes doesn't matter. An observer once wrote that you could watch "Kill Bill, Volume 2" before "Kill Bill, Volume 1" without becoming confused!

The movie began somewhere in the middle and then ended. And then it started over, but omitted the opening credits and the first half hour of the film. I didn't wait around to see how it played out, so I will try again via Watch TCM.

TCM On Demand for December 15, 2014 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Great Expectations (1946) -- Sir John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Sir Alec Guinness, Francis L. Sullivan, Bernard Miles, Martita Hunt, Finlay Currie, Ivor Barnard, Freda Jackson, Torin Thatcher, Eileen Erskine, George Hayes, Hay Petrie, John Forrest. Sir David Lean's adaptation of the 19th-century Charles Dickens novel is about a young boy's rise to prominence, thanks to a mysterious benefactor. The film received two 1947 Academy Awards: Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Set Decoration (John Bryan, Wilfred Shingleton) and Best Black-and-White Cinematography (Guy Green, who went on to direct the 1960s dramas "The Mark" and "A Patch of Blue"). It also was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lean, Ronald Neame and Anthony Havelock-Allan). Wager plays the protagonist, Philip "Pip" Pirrip, as a youth; Mills takes over as the adult version. Simmons, who was in her late teens when the movie was filmed, appears as the younger Estella. Two years later, she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Sir Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet" and embarked on a noteworthy career in Hollywood. She later played Estella's vengeful foster mother, Miss Havisham, in a 1989 miniseries version of "Great Expectations" for British television. Mills would go on to win the 1970 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as a mute village idiot in "Ryan's Daughter," Lean's drama about political and romantic turmoil in early 20th-century Ireland. Guinness, who plays Pip's friend Herbert Pocket, was a frequent Lean collaborator, and won his only competitive Academy Award -- a Best Actor Oscar -- for his performance in the director's 1957 drama "The Bridge on the River Kwai." He also starred as Fagin in Lean's 1949 version of another Dickens story, "Oliver Twist." The story of Pip has been filmed many times for the screen and television. In 1998, director Alfonso Cuaron, a two-time 2013 Oscar winner for "Gravity," remade it with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow in a modern-day setting. Director Mike Newell ("Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") filmed a 2012 screen version with Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes. Expires December 21, 2014. 2. In the Good Old Summertime (1949) -- Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, Buster Keaton, Marcia Van Dyke, Lillian Bronson. Uncredited: Joi Lansing, Liza Minnelli. Technicolor musical in which Garland and Johnson play music store co-workers who don't get along. Neither realizes that the other is a much-appreciated and desired pen pal. The film is a remake of Ernst Lubitsch's 1940 romantic comedy "The Shop Around the Corner," which starred Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The late Nora Ephron used the same source material to film her 1998 hit "You've Got Mail," which was the third film to pair Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard ("The Great Ziegfeld," "The Divorcee"), the Garland-Johnson version takes place in Chicago around the turn of the century. At the end of the movie, look for Garland's 3-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in her first screen appearance. The movie isn't only about summertime. Garland introduced the song "Merry Christmas" by Fred Spielman (music) and Janice Torre (lyrics). Expires December 21, 2014.

TCM On Demand for December 14, 2014 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Gaslight (1944) --Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Dame Angela Lansbury, Dame May Whitty, Barbara Everest, Emil Rameau, Edmund Breon, Halliwell Hobbes, Tom Stevenson, Heather Thatcher, Lawrence Grossmith, Jakob Gimpel. Uncredited: Terry Moore. Bergman won the first of her three Academy Awards for her performance as a late 19th-century British woman who believes her husband (Boyer) is trying to drive her mad. Thanks to this movie, the term "gaslighting" is now in many dictionaries. Boyer and Bergman Directed by George Cukor ("A Double Life," "The Chapman Report"), the film also marked the screen debut of Lansbury, who turned 18 years old during the filming. She earned the first of three Academy Award nominations for playing a flirtatious Cockney maid much older than herself. Almost seven decades later, on November 16, 2013, the 88-year-old Lansbury was presented an honorary Oscar as "an entertainment icon who has created some of cinema's most memorable characters, inspiring generations of actors." Bergman's character, Paula Alquist, is played as a teenager by Moore. Expires December 20, 2014. 2. Marnie (1964) -- 'Tippi' Hedren, Sir Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Martin Gabel, Louise Latham, Alan Napier, Bob Sweeney, Milton Selzer, Henry Beckman, Edith Evanson, Mariette Hartley, Bruce Dern, S. John Launer, Meg Wyllie. Uncredited actors: Harold Gould, Linden Chiles, Rupert Crosse, Emmaline Henry. Hedren, who made her major screen debut in Sir Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963), reunited with the "Master of Suspense" for this psychological thriller. Based on the 1961 novel by Winston Graham, the drama was adapted for the screen by Jay Presson Allen ("Wives and Lovers," "Funny Lady"). Hedren stars as the title character, Margaret "Marnie" Edgar, a compulsive thief pursued by authorities for previous heists. Her specialty is inside jobs -- ripping off employers, and then changing her identity and moving on. Her next target is The Rutland Company, a Philadelphia publishing firm where she hires on as a clerical worker. She also attracts the attention of owner Mark Rutland (Connery), who soon realizes that Marnie is a bundle of complications despite her cool exterior. For one thing, she sometimes has an averse reaction to the color red. She also doesn't like to be touched by men, which Rutland discovers after he marries her. Hedren, a model who was discovered by Hitchcock and signed to a personal contract, became the first of three generations of actors in her family. Her daughter, Melanie Griffith, has been acting since she was in her teens and received a 1988 Academy Award nomination for her performance in "Working Girl," the romantic comedy directed by the late Mike Nichols. Griffith's 25-year-old daughter, Dakota Johnson, stars in the film version of the best-selling novel "Fifty Shades of Grey." Her father is former "Miami Vice" star Don Johnson. After seven films, including "Vertigo" (1958) and "Psycho" (1960), this was the last complete collaboration between Hitchcock and composer Bernard Herrmann. The two quarreled over Herrmann's score for the 1966 Hitchcock film "Torn Curtain," which the director refused to use. Hitchcock then hired John Addison to provide a new score. This also was Hedren's final appearance in a Hitchcock film. In the 1983 book "The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock," author Donald Spoto wrote of the director's apparent obsession with Hedren. "He could be two different men," Hedren told Spoto. "He was a meticulous and sensitive director who gave so much to each scene and who got so much emotion into it -- and he was a man who would do anything to get a reaction from me." She also said: "I had always heard that his idea was to take a woman -- usually a blond(e) -- and break her apart, to see her shyness and reserve broken down, but I thought this was only in the plots of his films." The actress' rocky relationship with Hitchcock was re-created in the 2012 HBO drama "The Girl," in which Hedren was portrayed by Sienna Miller, with Toby Jones (Truman Capote in the 2006 film "Infamous") taking on the role of Hitchcock. Hitch's traditional cameo: About five minutes into the film, Marnie -- disguised in a black wig -- follows a bellboy down a hotel room corridor. Just before she turns the corner, the director emerges from a room and looks toward the camera. Memorable quote: "There...There now." -- Marnie says this twice -- the first time after she is forced to put down her prized horse Forio when it is injured during a foxhunt. She says it again during a revelatory moment near the end of the movie. Rutland, Mark Rutland: This movie was released two months before "Goldfinger," near the height of the James Bond craze. As Marnie's husband and ultimate saving grace, Connery's Rutland doesn't drive an Aston Martin DB5 or pack a Walther PPK. But he's so smooth -- and a tad ruthless -- that he'll remind you of 007. As he aged, Connery evolved into a superb character actor (see his Academy Award-winning performance in "The Untouchables" as well as "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"), and you sometimes forgot he ever played the British superspy. Cast notes: Dern, who appears in a flashback segment as an unlucky sailor, starred in Hitchcock's clever 1976 movie "Family Plot," which turned out to be the last of the director's 50-plus films dating back to the silent era. The young Marnie was played by Melody Ann Thomas, who was making her first screen appearance. Now known by her married name, Melody Thomas Scott, she has played Nikki Reed Newman on the CBS daytime drama "The Young and the Restless" for the past 35 years. Another child actress in the film, Kimberly Beck (Jessie Cotton) also has had a long career, including appearances in the movies "Independence Day" (1996) and "Roller Boogie" (1979). Expires December 20, 2014. 3. My Fair Lady (1964) -- Audrey Hepburn, Sir Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Dame Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Theodore Bikel, Mona Washbourne, Isobel Elsom, John Holland. George Cukor's colorful film version of the 1956 Alan Jay Lerner-Frederick Loewe stage musical won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Harrison). Both musical versions were based on George Bernard Shaw's 1912 play "Pygmalion," which became a 1938 Best Picture nominee and earned an adapted screenplay Oscar for the Irish playwright. In Cukor's film, Harrison reprised his original stage role of Professor Henry Higgins, an expert in phonetics who is adept at identifying a person's origins based on speech patterns. He makes a wager with his colleague Colonel Pickering (Hyde-White) that he can transform lowly Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Hepburn) into a proper lady. Warner Bros. head Jack L. Warner caused a stir when he passed over the original stage Eliza, Julie Andrews, in favor of Hepburn. Andrews gained a measure of revenge when she won the 1964 Best Actress Oscar for Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins," while Hepburn was not nominated at all. Hepburn's vocals were performed by Marnie Nixon, who previously had dubbed the singing voices of Deborah Kerr in "The King and I" (1956) and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" (1961). Nixon eventually appeared onscreen for the first time as Sister Sophia opposite Andrews in the 1965 Best Picture winner, "The Sound of Music." Harrison's first Oscar win came a year after he was nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance as Julius Caesar in the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton epic "Cleopatra." The actor's style of non-singing narrative served him well. He used it again in the 1970s when he became the TV commercial spokesman for Dodge Aspen automobiles. "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane has confessed that he based the voice of Stewie Griffin on Harrison as Professor Higgins. Brett, who played Freddie Eynsford-Hill in the movie, later became celebrated for his performances as Sherlock Holmes on British television in the 1980s and 1990s. Memorable scene: There are many in this musical, but one involves Holloway, who co-stars as Eliza's father Alfred P. Doolittle, as he prances around with his barmates while performing "Get Me to the Church on Time." Holloway was offered the role of Admiral Boom in "Mary Poppins," but he chose to reprise his original stage performances as Doolittle instead. He was rewarded with a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Meanwhile, Reginald Owen then stepped in as Boom for the Disney film. André Previn won an Oscar for his musical arrangements, which included the classic songs "Why Can't the English Learn to Speak?," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?," "With a Little Bit of Luck," "Just You Wait," "The Rain in Spain," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face." Another Oscar winner was Cecil Beaton, who was awarded for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. Expires December 20, 2014.

Can't wait until Christian Bale stars as the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in a film biography!

Was Paul McCartney in it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ErrZ-ipoE

I should have guessed there would be beaucoup stories about it. Here's one from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/12/13/12-13-14-date/20350501/

It's December 13, 2014, which makes it 12-13-14! And there won't be another one for 100 years. Let's hope it's a memorable day!

TCM On Demand for December 13, 2014 The following feature is now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: Torch Song (1953) -- Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau, Harry Morgan, Dorothy Patrick, James Todd, Eugene Loring, Paul Guilfoyle, Benny Rubin, Peter Chong, Maidie Norman, Nancy Gates, Chris Warfield, Rudy Render. Uncredited performer: India Allen (as Jenny Stewart's singing voice). This drama with musical numbers was directed by Charles Walters, the subject of Turner Classic Movies' Friday Night Spotlight segments for December 2014. The film features Crawford as Jenny Stewart, a veteran Broadway musical star who does not realize that her pianist (Wilding) -- blinded in World War II -- is in love with her. Walters, who also was a well-known choreographer, dances with Crawford to the song "You're All the World to Me." The fly in the ointment: Crawford and apparently all of her backup dancers perform "Two-Faced Woman" in blackface (actually, it's more like brownface -- and brown legs in Crawford's case). "Torchy Song": In a 1977 episode of her long-running CBS variety series, Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman spoofed the film. Burnett and Korman Expires December 18, 2014.

TCM On Demand for December 12, 2014 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Fitzwilly (1967) -- Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon, John McGiver, Dame Edith Evans, Harry Townes, John Fiedler, Anne Seymour, Norman Fell, Cecil Kellaway, Stephen Strimpell, Helen Kleeb, Paul Reed, Albert Carrier, Nelson Olmsted, Dennis Cooney, Noam Pitlik, Sam Waterston. Uncredited actors: Billy Halop, Laurence Naismith, Robert DoQui, Meg Wyllie. Directed by Delbert Mann ("Marty"), this caper comedy stars Van Dyke as Claude R. Fitzwilliam, the loyal butler of a philanthopist (Evans) who has run out of money. The film details how Fitzwilly manages to keep the household thriving by planning and executing clever robberies. Look for one of the earliest screen appearances by Waterston, who went on to earn a 1984 Academy Award nomination for "The Killing Fields" and star in the long-running NBC series "Law and Order." Van Dyke celebrated his 89th birthday on Saturday, December 13, 2014. Expires December 17, 2014. 2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940) -- Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, William Tracy, Inez Courtney, Sarah Edwards, Edwin Maxwell, Charles Halton, Charles Smith. Ernst Lubitsch directed and produced this romantic comedy about two Budapest gift store employees (Sullavan, Stewart) who don't get along. Neither realizes that the other is a much-appreciated and desired pen pal. This was the third of four films that teamed Sullivan and Stewart. The others: "Next Time We Love" (1936), "The Shopworn Angel" (1938) and "The Mortal Storm" (1940). Lubitsch's film was remade in 1949 as the Technicolor musical "In the Good Old Summertime," starring Judy Garland and Van Johnson. A 3-year-old Liza Minnelli made her first screen appearance at the end of that movie with her mother and Johnson. The late Nora Ephron used the same source material to film her 1998 hit "You've Got Mail," which was the third film to team Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Expires December 17, 2014.

Check out the horror stories about Rudin in this 2007 Gawker piece. Imagine what's happened in the seven years since. Be sure to read the comments below the story. http://gawker.com/243908/new-yorks-worst-bosses-scott-rudin

The vitriolic emails from producer Scott Rudin shouldn't be a surprise. He's notorious for being nasty to people who work for him, which is a shame because he's been immensely successful. He's one of only 12 people in history who've achieved EGOT status -- winning at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. This all began because of Sony's upcoming movie "The Interview," a black comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen. The film is about an attempt to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. North Korea is not pleased about it, and it is believed Sony was hacked in retaliation by the militaristic Asian country or North Korean sympathizers. Sounds like a movie plot in itself!

Gee, what were the odds of that? One in 50?

TCM On Demand for December 11, 2014 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. AFI's Master Class: The Art of Collaboration — Rob Reiner and Robert Leighton (2014) -- In the fourth special in this series, Reiner -- whose directorial credits include "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), "The Sure Thing" (1985), "Stand By Me" (1986), "The Princess Bride" (1987), "When Harry Met Sally" (1989), "A Few Good Men" (1992) and "The American President" (1995) -- talks about his work with film editor Leighton. They also examine scenes by other filmmakers that influenced them. "We've been together for a long time," Reiner says at the outset. "I mean, with 15 movies, we've spent many, many years in a dark room. More time in a dark room than I've spent with the opposite sex." Previous Turner Classic Movies/American Film Institute specials have centered on the film collaborations of director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams (2011), director David O. Russell and actor-producer Mark Walhberg (2012), and director Robert Zemeckis and cinematographer Don Burgess (2013). Expires December 16, 2014. 2. The Sure Thing (1985) -- John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Nicollette Sheridan, Anthony Edwards, Boyd Gaines, Tim Robbins, Lisa Jane Persky, Viveca Lindfors, Marcia Christie, Robert Anthony Marcucci, Sarah Buxton, Lorrie Lightle, Joshua Cadman, Krystal Richards, John Putch. Cusack was 16 when he was cast for director Rob Reiner's romantic comedy about a sex-obsessed college student who hopes for a major score during winter break. The student, Walter "Gib" Gibson (Cusack), winds up on an eventful cross-country road trip with Alison Bradbury (Zuniga), a classmate with whom he has had a rocky relationship. Cast notes: This film marked the screen debut of the British-born Sheridan, who has become best known for her work in the television series "Knots Landing" and "Desperate Housewives." It also provided an early film role for Robbins, who went on to become an Academy Award-winning actor and nominated director. A decade later, Edwards began a long run as Dr. Mark Greene, the heart and soul of NBC's Emmy Award-winning television series "E.R." Zuniga starred in the popular 1990s series "Melrose Place" and made appearances in "One Tree Hill" from 2008 to 2012. Gaines, who appears as Alison's long-distance boyfriend Jason, played Valerie Bertinelli's husband in the final stages of the CBS sitcom "One Day at a Time." But he also has had an illustrious Broadway career as the winner of four Tony Awards in five nominations. He was the first actor ever to win Tony nominations in all four acting categories. Cusack reunited with Reiner for "Stand By Me" (1986), in which the Chicago product made several poignant appearances as Wil Wheaton's deceased older brother. He has evolved into one of the most durable and dependable actors in the screen industry. But he's never received an Academy Award nomination -- his older sister Joan has had two -- despite his work in several noteworthy films. Among them are: "Eight Men Out" (1988), "Say Anything..." (1989), "The Grifters" (1990), "Bullets over Broadway" (1994), "Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997), "Con Air" (1997), "The Thin Red Line" (1998), "Being John Malkovich" (1999), "High Fidelity" (2000), "Runaway Jury" (2003), "Grace Is Gone" (2007) and "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (2013, as Richard M. Nixon). Movie crossover reference: In a scene atop the roof of their college's library, Alison reveals to Gib that she wanted to be a princess when she was 6. Two years after this film was released, Zuniga starred in "Spaceballs" -- Mel Brooks' 1987 send-up of "Star Wars" -- as Princess Vespa of the planet Druidia. Expires December 16, 2014.

I guess you had to be from Mississippi to really appreciate it.

You meant 1968. President Johnson announced his decision not to seek re-election on March 31st, four days before the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. By the way, the song "Mail Order Bride" performed by Flatt and Scruggs on the YouTube video was the theme from the 1964 Buddy Ebsen film of the same title.

Not only was she the 1959 Miss America titlist (Mississippi's Lynda Lee Mead succeeded her a year later, giving the state back-to-back winners), but her talent performance also was unforgettable. She sang Puccini's "Un Bel Di" from "Madame Butterfly," and then did a semi-striptease while singing "There'll Be Some Changes Made." Here's the interview portion of the competition with host Bert Parks (By the way, she lost the Southern accent and developed perfect diction after she became an actress): She also was the first person to play April Dancer in a 1966 episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (with Norman Fell as her sidekick), and seemed poised to star in the series spinoff "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." But the Powers That Be signed Stefanie Powers to headline the series, which ran on NBC during the 1966-1967 season. She was in line to play Batgirl during the 1967-68 season of ABC's "Batman," but that role, too, went to another actress -- Yvonne Craig. During the 1985-1986 season, she became a regular on the ABC sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes," replacing Dixie Carter as Maggie McKinney, the woman who marries Conrad Bain's character. It was the final season for the long-runnng comedy series, which had been on NBC from 1978-1985.

And then there were classic moments like the time a real-life band, The Seeds, appeared as a group called The Warts on NBC's "The Mothers-in-Law" in April 1968. The series starred Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard. Check out Deborah Walley's awesome go-go dancing!

TCM On Demand for December 10, 2014 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) -- Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Patric Knowles, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale, Sr., Melville Cooper, Ian Hunter, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin, Montagu Love, Leonard Willey, Kenneth Hunter. Uncredited: Carole Landis, Sam Jaffe, Leonard Mudie. Directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley, this Technicolor action-adventure film based on legendary British tales stars Flynn in his best-remembered role. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won three Oscars: Best Art Direction (Carl Jules Weyl), Best Film Editing (Ralph Dawson) and Best Music, Original Score (Erich Wolfgang Korngold). In 2005, Korngold's score placed 11th on the American Film Institute's ranking of the top 25 film scores of all time. This was one of eight films that co-starred Flynn and De Havilland. The others: "Captain Blood" (1935), "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1936), "Four's a Crowd" (1938), "Dodge City" (1939), "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" (1939), "Santa Fe Trail" (1940) and "They Died with Their Boots On" (1941). Seven of the films were either directed or co-directed by Curtiz. Memorable scene No. 1: Displaying great athleticism and ingenuity, Robin escapes from the clutches of Prince John's soldiers at Sir Guy of Gisbourne's castle. Memorable scene No. 2: Although it's a ruse to smoke him out, Robin (in disguise) can't resist displaying his prowess with a bow and arrow in a royal archery tournament. Future mane attraction: De Havilland's horse in the film was a golden palomino stallion named Golden Cloud. The steed eventually was purchased for $2,500 by Western star Roy Rogers and renamed Trigger. Expires December 15, 2014. 2. Gentleman Jim (1942) -- Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, Sr., John Loder, William Frawley, Minor Watson, Ward Bond, Madeleine Lebeau, Rhys Williams, Arthur Shields, Dorothy Vaughan. Uncredited actors: Clara Blandick, William Hopper, Mike Mazurki. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film headlines Flynn as the great prizefighter James J. Corbett (1899-1933), who reigned as heavyweight champion of the world from 1892-1897 and 1900-1903. The film re-creates the title bout in which Corbett won the championship for the first time, defeating John L. Sullivan in 21 rounds. Sullivan is portrayed by Bond, who gives a touching performance near the end of the movie when he congratulates his victorious opponent. Expires December 15, 2014.

It's interesting that Ruby Keeler was his aunt, and his uncle was Rudd Weatherwax, who trained several generations of collies that played Lassie.

Howard Stern's longtime radio sidekick Robin Quivers is TCM's Guest Programmer for March 2015, and her selections are very mainstream, including "A Place in the Sun" (1951) and "A Raisin in the Sun" (1961). Can you imagine the movies that Howard would have asked for?

Absolutely right! 1. At the beginning of the 1939 version of "Beau Geste," three young brothers preside over a miniature Viking funeral, using toys. The young Beau (Donald O'Connor) tells his siblings that he wants the real ritual when he dies. 2. In "The Vikings" (1958), Kirk Douglas' character, Einar, gets the traditional flaming funeral in the movie's final moments. 3. "Rocket Gibraltar" (1988) stars Burt Lancaster as a patriarch who celebrates his 70th birthday with his extended family. He announces that he wants to go out in style with a Viking funeral. 4. Early on in "The 13th Warrior" (1999), Antonio Banderas' character witnesses a Viking funeral for a Norse king slain in battle. Good for you, Swithin! I was beginning to believe no one would solve this without any clues. It's your thread.

TCM On Demand for December 9, 2014 The following features are now available on TCM On Demand for a limited time: 1. Back to the Drawing Board: Animated Shorts (2014) -- Turner Classic Movies devoted its prime-time schedule on Monday, October 6, 2014 to early animated films. Among the pioneers discussed were Winsor McCay (1896-1934), who created the comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and then turned to filmmaking, and the Bray Studios, founded by animator J.R. Bray (1879-1978). A segment on the Van Beuren Studios did not air as scheduled on TCM, but was later shown during the early morning hours of Monday, December 8. 2014. The Van Beuren Studios, which had its heyday from 1928 to 1936, originally was called Aesops Fables Studio because it created a series cartoons based on the old Greek morality tales. For a time, producer Amedee J. Van Beuren was in a partnership with cartoonist Paul Terry. When they parted in 1929 over the issue of making cartoons with sound, Terry went on to create Terrytoons, which eventually introduced such popular characters as Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle. Among the film shorts available to TCM is a 1933 version of "The Wizard of Oz." Expires December 14, 2014. 2. The Fountainhead (1949) -- Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas, Henry Hull, Ray Collins, Moroni Olsen, Jerome Cowan. Uncredited actors: Morris Ankrum, Frank Wilcox, Ann Doran, John Doucette, Thurston Hall. Based on the Russian-born author Ayn Rand's best-selling 1943 novel, the drama stars Cooper as unconventional architect Howard Roark, who refuses to make compromises with his work. Directed by King Vidor, the movie was derived from a screenplay adapted by Rand. After completing this film, Cooper and Neal embarked on an illicit romance that lasted several years. When it began, he was married and almost 50; she was single and in her early 20s. "I loved him," Neal told Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne in a 2004 "Private Screenings" interview. "I thought he was the most ravishingly beautiful man I had ever seen. And I still think so." After the rocky affair ended, Neal married the Welsh author Roald Dahl and continued a brilliant career sometimes beset by personal tragedies. Expires December 14, 2014. 3. The Talk of the Town (1942) -- Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Ronald Colman, Edgar Buchanan, Glenda Farrell, Charles Dingle, Emma Dunn, Rex Ingram, Leonid Kinskey, Tom Tyler, Don Beddoe. Uncredited actors: Lloyd Bridges, Clarence Muse. Directed by George Stevens, this comedy/drama stars Grant as a political activist who becomes a fugitive from justice as well as one-third of a romantic triangle involving a schoolteacher (Arthur) and a law professor (Colman). The film was nominated for seven 1942 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Writing, Original Story (Sidney Harmon) and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Sidney Buchman, Irwin Shaw). Grant and Stevens had previously worked together for the movies "Gunga Din" and "Penny Serenade." Stevens directed Arthur to her only Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in "The More the Merrier" (1943). Expires December 14, 2014. 4. Topper (1937) -- Cary Grant, Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Eugene Pallette, Arthur Lake, Hedda Hopper, Virginia Sale, Theodore von Eltz, J. Farrell MacDonald, Elaine Shepard, Doodles Weaver, Si Jenks, Three Hits and a Miss. Uncredited actors: Lana Turner, Ward Bond, Hoagy Carmichael. Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, this comedy stars Young as Wall Street banker Cosmo Topper, who makes the acquaintance of the fun-loving ghosts of socialites George and Marion Kerby (Grant, Bennett). Burke co-stars as Topper's wife Clara; Mowbray is the faithful servant. The movie received Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Young) and Best Sound, Recording (Elmer A. Raguse). The box-office hit was followed in 1938 by a sequel (without Grant) titled "Topper Takes a Trip." Another sequel, "Topper Returns," was released in 1941 -- without Grant and Bennett. The film trilogy inspired the 1950s television series that starred Leo G. Carroll as Topper, Lee Patrick as Clara, and Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys as George and Marion, respectively. Expires December 14, 2014.

Ellen Corby was in "Napoleon and Samantha" (1972) with Henry Jones. Henry Jones was in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) with Paul Newman. Next: John Lennon.

Does March begin the new season for The Essentials?