ThelmaTodd

Hi infinite1, I think the confusion about *Lugosi's* country of origin could be cleared up by looking at the map above. Following the end of the First World War, the victorious Allies imposed a very punitive territorial settlement called the *Treaty Of Trianon in 1919*. Hungary lost 2/3 of it's territory. Lugosi was born in a town called *Lugos*, not far from the present Hungarian border, but which fell to Romania. You can see above that Romania was quite enriched territorially. (Their piece of the pie also included Translyvania, where a lot of Hungarians lived.). I blog extensively on European and Hungarian political and cultural websites. The nationalisms still rage over this treaty and it's consequences, and it has and continues to breed a neo-nazi nationalist right. What fuels the resentment and madness to this very day was the fact that a lot of Hungarians (shown in orange above) were left outside the revised borders for Hungary. (Lugosi's hometown was in one of those orange patches near the corner where Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania met.) To Romanian nationalists, that territory was never legitimately a part of Hungary. To Hungarian nationalists on the other hand, that lost territory is still Hungary! After a bout of that kind of stuff, the TCM message boards are like a peaceful sanatarium to me where I can rest and recuperate my spirit! Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Jan 23, 2012 8:18 PM Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Jan 23, 2012 8:23 PM

For those that missed it and would like to see, I have posted a complete film link to *Haxan* on the *VINTAGE EXPLOITATION FILMS-FILMOGRAPHY* *thread* (Page 7 from current) http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=161844&start=90&tstart=15 There are quite a number of stills and some commentary. It's one hell of a film!

Dear Tom, Having studied his life and filmography, I believe it boiled down to a lack of a good agent and not "playing the game" in Hollywood. Had he sought my advice in 1931, I would have counseled him to get the best agent in town (that would not have been a problem after his smashing *Dracula *success). He didn't earn very much money for a star of his name recognition, another result of a lack of good representation. I also would have advised him to hit the club and party circuit more. Showing up at the "right" parties and meeting the "right" people was how so many deals were consumated. (That's still probably true.) Getting invited to the best shindigs also would not have been a problem for him after his Dracula triumph. Being seen at the "right" nightspots was also essential for publicity purposes. Lugosi was an intesenly private man who confined his social life to compatriots in the Hungarian American community. I would have told him to keep his social calendar open for poolside parties with Goldwyn, Marion Davies et al. I would also have told him to demand the type of 5-7 year contract that most any star got back then. Instead, he appeared to work as a "free agent", bouncing around from one studio and production company after another. He worked for all the majors, many of the poverty row producers and a few independents. Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Jan 23, 2012 7:42 PM

Hello finance, I edited my post to clarify. There are a few words of Hungarian dialogue in the *Black Cat (1934).* When the police show up at Poelzig's house in feathered caps, they say: "*Csendőrség!"* (constabulary, the word literally means "guardians of the peace".) (Officer): "*Mondja kérem, hogyan történt ez a baleset?"* (Tell me please, how did the accident happen?) (Lugosi): "*Én meg a másik úr voltunk a résztvevők*" (Myself and the other gentleman were involved.) The rest is in English. Some of the geographical references: The famed *Orient Express* went through Hungary on it's way to Istanbul, and was often taken by honeymooners, as depicted in the film. {font:Arial}{color:black}*Visegrád* was one of the stops on the way to *Budapest*, which lies a few miles to the north of the capital city. It features a spectacular view of the Danube river taking a tight, virtually 90 degree turn from east west to north-south. *Gömbös* is a town no longer in Hungary, located in Slovakia. *Máramaros* was a region and county that is no longer in Hungary. It was the scene of savage fighting (as the film suggests) when the Russians invaded in the First World War. It is an area now shared by Ukraine and Romania.{font}

Hi folks! I'm delighted by all the milage and interest Lugosi is getting around here! As scsu pointed out, his original name was Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó. Béla is still a very common man's name in Hungary. "Ferenc" means Francis; "Dezső " is David. He was originally of Slavic ancestry, hence the name Blaskó. When he joined the theater, he wanted to Hungarianise his name. Being born in the village of Lugos, adding an "i" to the end of it meant "one from Lugos", hence Lugosi. In English, we pronounce the "s" in his name as in "sit", but in Hungarian it is pronounced "sh" (as in shot). "Loo go-shee" (said rapidly), would come close. There is some confusion as to what country he was born in, due to the changing territorial settlements in the region. Lugosi was born in Hungary, but Hungary was reduced considerably in territory following the First World War at the Treaty of Trianon in 1919. Lugosi's hometown was ceded to Romania, where it is still located. I believe it is now called Lugoj in Romanian.

*The Black Cat (1934)* was definitely "pre-code". In fact, I'm wondering how they got what they did past the *Hays Office*. Suggestions of Satanism, a black mass depicted with an unchristian cross, torture and the marrying of a step-daughter; all of this would have been unlikely once the code went fully into effect. The visual novelty of modernist architecture at the time (there is even a digital clock represented, a rare thing back then) was used to evoke a sinister atmosphere. This was a departure from other horror movies of the period, which featured gothic settings and old castles and mansions.

As a fluent Hungarian speaker, I can attest that "Bay-la" comes the closest to the true pronunciation. An exact transliteration is not possible, as the "é" in "Béla" has no precise equivalent in English pronunciation. I appreciate Mr. Osborne's show of accuracy. Béla is a true blue, ancient man's name in Hungary. It is a pagan period name in the Hungarian language that goes back to over a 1,000 years, when the Hungarians converted to Christianity and took on the names of Catholic saints. There were a number of ancient kings named Béla. Hungarians would be dismayed to hear it pronounced as "Bella"!

Hi positively4thst! Thank you and welcome to this thread and forum! I appreciate it that you have become a participant! Feel free to post here in the future! *SOPA and PIPA* appear stalled to say the least. The President has said he would veto it. Hollywood appears to have lost this round. What is helping to kill it is that there are a lot of other big business interests that don't want it. If enacted, it would have altered a lot of things to the disappointment to many. One possibility would have been that TCM might have had to disallow the continued posting of pictures and film links, as the copyright holders could then go after any web-portal that their work appears on, even if hosted and sourced from youtube or photobucket. Thanks for the expression of appreciation. I thoroughly enjoy what I do around here, and sharing with others is my greatest joy. The sheer volume of films on the *filmography thread*, which now runs to over 200 films, compels me to create an index list. I have been busy the last two days compiling it. When I post it soon, you will be able to see what's available and the *titles will be hyperlinked,* so all you will have to do to watch the film is click on the film title! That way you won't have to scroll through 17 pages. There are a lot of gems there! The subgenres of exploitation film allow for great variation. Recently, I have pivoted from a *Busby Berkeley celebration, to the Ku Klux Klan to Timothy Leary* and the flower children! On what other thread can you bounce around so much and still be "on topic"?!

One of my favorite early Lugosi flicks was *The Black Camel (1931),* one of the *Charlie Chan* films. Shot on location in Honolulu at the vintage *Royal Hawaiian Hotel*, it offers a wonderful documentary glimpse of what Hawaii looked like in those days before mass tourism and jet travel. You had to be rich in time and money to visit the islands back then. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZZOTEi5NKo One of his silent films that was quite good was the *Silent Command (1923),* which was shot on location in the *Panama Canal Zone*: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ6QsIgvb2E I have the *Black Cat (1934)* posted for viewing on the *Lugosi Birthday thread* I mentioned in my last post. A very dark film, with depictions and suggestions of satanism, torture and incest. In terms of style and atmosphere, a marvel. The *Thirteenth Chair (1929)* is not currently available on the internet. It's a murder mystery where Lugosi plays a rare good guy role as police investigator.

As a fortunate counterbalance, I have met many young 20 somethings who were fascinated with classic film and who love old black and white movies. A great number of the people who post classic films onto youtube, or who start classic film websites, are quite young. In every generation there are cultured and uncultured people! In every generation there are those who appreciate the past, and then there are those that live entirely in the present are affected by contemporary tastes exclusively.

Hi folks! Being Hungarian, I've always been a big Lugosi fan. Take a look at a thread I created devoted to his early fimography in Your Favorites called: BELA LUGOSI FILMOGRAPHY- A BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=162004&tstart=45 (You can watch the movie by clicking on the underlined hyperlink title!) There you will be able to watch his films that I have posted as well as the film posters and graphics for his films from the Deerslayer (1920) to Murder By Television (1935). I have also included some of his serials like the Whispering Shadow (1933) as well as a lot of his early films! I have also posted a number of his films to a thread called Bela Lugosi for SOTM, which includes his later works: http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8568538? There appeared a biography of Lugosi in an English website out of Budapest that you might find interesting: http://www.pestiside.hu/20101029/sink-your-teeth-into-a-hungarian-stars-legacy/ Enjoy! Hi Mark, I included Haxan- Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) for viewing on the exploitation filmography thread (page seven from current): http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=161844&start=90&tstart=0

Hi Movie Magazines! Wow, when you mention the old revival house circuit, in New York City, I also think of the old *Bleeker St. Cinema in St. Marks Square* (an old haunt of Woody Allen). They used to show a different classic film double feature every day. It was there in the 70's that I first saw *Stormy Weather and Cabin In the Sky*. These revival houses were one of the glorious advantages of being in a very large city back then. If you lived in the sticks or in a small burg (unless it was a major college town), you were out of luck when it came to seeing classic films screened. These old films are greatly enhanced by large screen theater projection and the presence of a live audience. *La Fiesta Santa Barbara* was included in my *Exploitation Film* *thread* because it contains a humorous tongue in cheek pot gag! I give the full explanation in my accompanying post. I don't think Louie B. Mayer "got it", because if he did, it would have been deleted and there would have been "consequences" for the smart aleck(s) responsible! Writers loved "slipping by" subversive references and "putting things over" the heads of the studio bosses, who they felt were uncultured and unqualified to judge their work. I went to Best Buy out of curiosity and saw one model of hand held scanner called the "*Wand*" for $99. It might do nicely for scanning the inside content of your magazines. It was about 1/2" thick, which would enable a magazine closure angle of about 20-30 degrees while scanning. You could get most of the page that way into the inside; the entire if you feel the original can withstand a full insertion. As you know, there are a lot of cool stills and articles of interest content wise. For a newbie, you sure have hit the ground running around here with the launch of a thread like this! PS: I am busy creating a hyperlinked title index to the more than 200 films posted to the exploitation film thread, which I will post to both threads soon. That will enable the reader to see at a glance what's there and to instantly open the film by clicking on the title without having to dig through all those pages! Best wishes! Hi gagman, Great great stuff from you like always! I notice that the magazines from the 20's sold for 20 cents a copy, while the one's from the 30's went for as low as 10 cents. A visible sign of the deflation due to the Depression.

Hi james! The irony you mention was not at all lost on me either! The only internet content that can get you in hot water over there is: mocking the "Big Guy" (Putin), ridiculing the Eastern Orthodox faith (which is a state protected religion), disparaging Russians and their culture and slandering a local with big connections. Anything else and it's "all good"! Should Hollywood complain about one of their films being illegally uploaded, they would be told that we've got a nice kite for you to go fly.(!) Having grown up during the Cold War, I never thought or dreamed the day would come when I could recommend Russia as a "haven", a refuge for free dissemination of information and content! I'm glad you appreciate my posting of Keaton's *Speak Easily (1932).* Those moving pictures are a quite a novelty!

Hi gagman, Understood. The suggestion about Russia was meant for posting of submissions and content. The Russians will let you post anything (and keep it posted), provided you aren't mocking Putin! It's also very possible that your youtube and google accounts were hacked, by somebody who then posted something objectionable unbeknownst to you- causing disciplinary action. A while back on the Exploitation film discussion thread, I mentioned a "phishing" attempt by someone posing as youtube, asking me to "verify" my password, The email from "youtube" referenced me as "Thelma Todd", causing me to believe that the "phisher" was well familiar with these message boards. I would reregister with these sites and use a password that is "strong", meaning a combination of caps, lower case letters and a numeral. Edited by: ThelmaTodd on Jan 21, 2012 3:58 PM

Hi filmlover and Movie Magazines, I jumped on this thread early, because I too think it has great potential! With enough submissions, this one is good for 10,000 hits as surely as I am posting here! This makes for a remarkable entree and start from a "newbie" who so far has only 13 posts under his belt! He deserves the support and encouragement of the more senior members of the community. If Movie Magazines could acquire a hand held scanner, he could greatly expand the interest and scope of his submissions to include the inside content of these magazines, without damaging the fragile originals. One step at a time!

Thelma Todd From 1933. I doubt she was into riding horses. She wasn't very athletic by nature, and so I think this was nothing more than a publicity shot.

They liked her in France too! The French are renowned for appreciating beauty! She appears to be sinking her elbows into grapefruit as a beauty/skin treatment. From 1931.

From 1933.

Thelma endorsing chewing gum on the back cover of a 1934 magazine. "3 for 5 cents"!

*Thelma Todd* Couldn't resist! Must date from 1933-1934,as indicated by the *NRA eagle emblem (National Recovery Act).* (The NRA was declared unconstitutional and struck down by the Supreme Court in 1935) Hi Movie Magazines, You might want to check out my *VINTAGE EXPLOITATION FILMS-FILMOGRAPHY* thread (In *Your Favorites*) to view a 1935 short featuring a very young *Judy Garland* and her two sisters singing *La Cucaracha * (3:17 into part 2) in: *LA FIESTA SANTA BARBARA (1935).Posted Dec 18, 2011 8:33 PM* http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=161844&start=0&tstart=0 (Go back to the 4th page from current) I have set up a seperate *discussion thread* in *General Discussions* for the subject, in order to keep the filmography thread clear for the numerous film links: http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=161845&tstart=15 *Feel free to comment!*

Hi gagman, I regret to hear of your youtube troubles. Find a hosting service in Russia (".ru") and these problems will be over.(Write to them in English, no problem.) The Russians act as if there are bigger and other things for them to worry about besides what a Hollywood studio doesn't like! (BTW, the Russians are becoming a major internet resource for world classic film. They have many serious film buffs over there, some of whom demonstrate a formidable knowledge of American classic films!)

Here is a treat from *Buster Keaton's* sound period, that features (the original) Thelma Todd! A very funny film. Keaton's sound films unfortunately are less known and appreciated. (As are Harold Lloyd's soundies.) Relaxing off camera on the set of Speak Easily There was a lot of physical horseplay in the film between Keaton and Thelma. How he must have relished shooting these scenes! Thelma with Chico in Horsefeathers, made the same year. Depression over! *SPEAK EASILY (1932)* *MGM w/ Buster Keaton, Thelma Todd, Jimmy Durante* http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1286508871674453179#|http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1286508871674453179 *Full movie in one clip* *This film is a great showcasing of the comic talents of Keaton, Todd and Durante. Keaton plays a staid, formal college professor who leads a sheltered humdrum life. He thinks he has inherited $750,000, and uses to opportunity to add excitement to his life by bankrolling a show that had hit the skids out on the road, away from Broadway. The title of the film is a joke, from when Thelma suggests going to a "speakeasy". Keaton, as naive grammarian who doesn't know what she is referring to, corrects her saying that the proper form is "speak easily"! She cheerfully overlooks this inane eccentricity because she's looking to Keaton to be her sugar daddy!* *Durante's comic trademark and genius was telling (deliberately) bad jokes, but delivering them so that you end up laughing anyway! Doing that successfully just may take more talent than telling good jokes! (As a life long pianist, I can also attest to the fact that he was one hell of a good piano player!)* *I couldn't resist taking this opportunity to post some motion images of Thelma from a few other films!* *This post is a good illustration of the power of free internet content to educate and and raise awareness of classic film among the message board community and readership! Speak Easily is in the public domain, and available on video for as low a $6-7.*

Hi mark! You are very kind. On behalf of my namesake and myself, we thank you!

Hi GinnyMae, I would suggest that you get the *7 disk Buster Keaton Collection published by Kino.* They are a high end, high quality publisher that offer restored versions. I have it in my collection and am very pleased with it! I took a quick glance on the web and found that you could pick up a used set for $87. (The set originally sold for about a $150.) Go to Amazon and look around for price and availability. I am of two minds on the issue of free downloads vs. buying videos. I agree with krieger that not everybody can afford to buy DVD's all the time; it's a very personal choice, often influenced by one's finances. I am aware of the advantages and disadvantages of both. Buying videos costs money. Looking at free web content also has drawbacks, as the upload could be of a poor quality, in parts and often risks being withdrawn from the hosting service at the request of the copyright holder. (Youtube films are often here-today-and-gone-tomorrow!) For purposes of sharing films with this community, I absolutely revel in the free resources of the internet. Perhaps no one has resorted to posting free complete film links around here more than myself! In doing so, I am in no way trying to discourage the purchase of video copies! Perhaps a broken up youtube download might give you enough of a taste to decide to make a purchasing decision. Happy shopping!

Hi MovieMagazines! In that last post, was the second picture the back cover? I was going to suggest that you scan the back covers as well. It's easy to do on a flat bed scanner wothout damaging the magazine. The other reason is that even if the back is an ad, the ads themselves are interesting in very old magazines! I have some National Geographics that go back to as early as 1915, and many from the 20's and 30's. I find that the ads are every bit as interesting as the articles with their vintage graphics and products!