Swithin

I remember my first horror film. A slightly older boy who lived in my building told me about Shock Theater on Channel 7, so I pleaded with my mother to let me stay up to watch Dracula's Daughter. The "Swan Lake" music came up over the opening credits, and I ran out of the room in terror, but slunk back to watch the movie. Shock Theater followed Ben Hecht, so it would have been 1958/9. They showed The Mad Doctor of Market Street and many of the other horrors at that time. They must have lost the rights a few years later. Just came across a piece that said that Shock Theater was originally called the Night Show, which you mentioned. I don't remember that name. I do remember the TV Guide would have a small ad for the horror films -- a photo of Gloria Holden for Dracula's Daughter. They were called melodramas in those days. http://www.scrabo.com/scrivani4.htm Edited by: Swithin on Sep 23, 2012 6:30 PM

Clore, now you've got me wondering. When I was a boy growing up in NYC, there were two horror movies series on local television: "Shock Theater" on Channel 7, on late, right after the Ben Hecht Show; and "Shock-o-Rama," which was on Channel 13, in its pre-PBS incarnation. PBS is now celebrating 50 years, and I thought I remembered the 1949 Fall of the House of Usher having been on Channel 13 pre-PBS. But now I wonder, was it 7 or 13? A little after that, Chiller Theater, Fright Night, and other horror film series came along, but I think it was 7 and 13 that started it all. Though of course "Million Dollar Movie" on Channel 9 occasionally showed films that were horror-related, particularly if they featured big apes!

My local theater -- the Film Society of Lincoln Center -- does a wonderful job of showing a wide range of movies as well as presenting the NY Film Festival. I love going there, but they do sometimes have introductions, interviews, etc., before the films. Most people seem to like that; it certainly is an enhancement to hear the director after the film. But when I go, and the chat is BEFORE the film, I usually get around to thinking, "Enough!!!, show the !%+!xo film already!!! I tend to think a film stands on its own, like a painting. But I do like Robert and Ben and judicious introductions.

*I totally disagree with you!* I remember when I first glanced at the October schedule, courtesy of Calvin. I think (assuming that early schedule still holds), that it's one of the best all-round months in ages, both Halloween-related and otherwise. The Hammer is thankfully minimized, compared to last year. And one movie I have been waiting to see again FOR DECADES is scheduled: the 1949 *Fall of the House of Usher,* an odd film for sure, and a real rarity. Many other films to look forward to as well!

Great photo! And Goin' to Town is one of those Mae West rarities that I'd love to see on TCM.

LZ, I'm afraid this sort of thread is just the sort that could spin off the subject, because the OP was a statement of fact. There really isn't that much to say about it. But, out of respect for your desire to get back to the original subject, here are my thoughts: The hosting part of TCM is not that important to me. I like Bob -- met him a few times at parties in NY -- and I think he and Ben add something, provided they don't go on too long. Sometimes I think they spend too much time about the gossipy angles related to the film -- who was getting along with whom -- rather than the work itself, but I can deal with that. Sometimes I like an additional guest -- a great friend of mine was a co-host recently, but I don't like too much of that, meaning those actors who help pick and discuss the films. Spend the time showing films, not talking too much about them! Also, I wish Bob good health and happiness. But if a host is out sick, I don't think it has to be treated like an illness of the head of Red China, or some dictatorship, where it has to be kept hush hush for fear the country would fall apart. Whenever anyone is out sick from their job, or takes a lighter schedule in anticipation of retirement, that's not kept secret. I'm not saying that's the reason Bob's schedule is changing; just that if it might be the case, there's no need to be cagey about it. So now I hope I've got this thread back to its original subject!

Alot of those films are way too new, I wouldn't want TCM to show them quite yet. But I would love to see the S. Ray films again, they may be "ready" for TCM. But some of those foreign "greats" don't necessarily hold up well. A Godard film was shown in NYC recently and was re-reviewed, not favorably. What looked imaginative in the '60s can look dated now.

Right, Lavender, your thread. Some great character performances in that film -- Gladys Cooper, Edmund Gwenn, Frank Morgan, and Dame May Whitty.

Thanks Lavender. Smart sea denizen, decorated for St. Patrick's Day, has a road named after him.

Loved her as Laura-Louise, one of the aged devil worshipers in Rosemary's Baby. And as Billie Burke's Maid in Topper Returns.

Heaven's Above ?

Beautiful photo, TopBilled. My favorite Frank Morgan lines, from Tortilla Flat, spoken to his dogs, who've just had a religious vision: "Did you see him, it was St. Francis! Did you see him? Did you see him? What good boys you must be to see blessed St. Francis!"

Well, maybe not the whole cast, but the five wonderful ladies in *Tom Jones* (1963) are dead: Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Susannah York, and, most recently, the great Joyce Redman. Cilento, York, and Redman left us within the last year or so. Of the gentlemen, Albert Finney and David Warner are still with us; Hugh Griffith and George Devine are not.

*This Island Earth vs. the Flying Saucers* Next: Venus

Thanks, Kathan, for your charming and sweet story. I actually met a great actress and a great lady named Sian Phillips a couple of times. Sian was married to Peter O'Toole for twenty years, including the period that LOA would have been filmed, I think. She's lovely -- so genuine to talk to, so un-grand and un-theatrical. Hard to believe that one of her greatest roles was as the evil Livia in "I Claudius"!

Ernest Thesiger is one of the great characters, from The Old Dark House to Bride of Frankenstein, to Last Holiday to The Man in the White Suit, and so forth. And there's plenty of Mary Boland to go around, major roles in Pride and Prejudice, etc., to films I never heard of. All the character people mentioned are worthy, rather than yet another tribute to some "star." And the stars would come in on the coattails of the characters.

A friend just sent me an article called Deadline London (an article about "Downton Abbey" season 3), don't know this site, but I noticed the following caveat in the comments section: *Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, don't get your facts wrong, and don't bore me.*

I love *Zorba the Greek*, I remember seeing it for the first time at the Ridgeway Theater in Stamford, CT. So glad Lila Kedrova won, in fact I just watched her acceptance speech on YouTube, very moving. Some great ladies nominated along with her, although -- who the heck is Grayson Hall? But Best Actor that year, I think, was one of Oscar's worst mistakes. The worst man won! Quinn should have won, but if not Quinn, then Sellers, Burton, or O'Toole. But who won? Rex Harrison, who walked through the role of Henry Higgins!

Devote the whole year -- all SOTM slots -- to character people. The "big stars" will be included by default.

I saw LOA at the Ziegfield Theater in NYC, probably in the 1990s, so it must have been the restored print. I had seen it before on television, it's an impressive and gorgeous movie, but I have to confess -- and I'm SO in the minority here -- I like it, but I'm not mad about it. I love parts of the story, the acting, the images, but in terms of the greatness of director David Lean, I think his A Passage to India, which I also saw at the Ziegfeld, is a better film, in fact a brilliant one, IMHO. I did visit T.E. Lawrence's house, though, on a beautiful summer's day about ten years ago. Some friends drove me down to Dorset where, on the way to visit Thomas Hardy's cottage, we stopped at Cloud's Hill to pay homage to T.E. Lawrence. His little cottage was very sweet. Evidently it had no electricity, even when he lived there. It was along those country lanes that he was killed on his motorcycle, swerving to avoid two boys on their bicycles. The release of the Blu-Ray is a cause for celebration.

Don Luis -- Claude Rains in *Anthony Adverse*

Nice group, thanks for that info. I worked on a project with Makarova once. Nice person, so talented, though quite a character.

White Cargo's great, though kinky for its time! Tondelayo (Hedy Lamarr) to Langford (Richard Carlson): "You beat me, then we make love, then you give me much bangles..." (Or something to that effect, meaning rough sex followed by gifts of jewelry).

Here's some good advice:

Just look at his Broadway credits -- he was part of the Group Theater and appeared in many of its important productions: http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=67585