wouldbestar

I got back into town yesterday and caught the two DVD episodes that were on that evening. One was a b&w from '59 and a color from the 60's both with "The Old Ranger" rather than the future POTUS or other hosts. I also caught one this morning with George Gobel; did that ever take me back to the days! They were okay but I'd still like for them to go back to the first ones. I'll take these as "half a glass". I was surprised to see the introduction with the 20-mule team and wagon was intact. The show was sponsored by a company that made household cleaners 20-Mule Team Borax and Boraxo with Rosemary de Camp as their spokeswoman. One season she was pregnant and visibly showing at its end. The following one she introduced us to her baby daughter, Anita Louise-I don't know if she was named for the movie star or not. This is how I best remember her. The Texan didn't run all that long so it might not be in syndication. It was good but I think people knew that the real Bill Longley ended up hanging for murder so maybe this nice version of him didn't set well with viewers. I remember Rory Calhoun doing commercials in costume for the cigarette company that sponsored the show, something about a "smoking man's pleasure and a thinking man's taste". Yikes!

I'm sorry to see this as well as the notice about Donna Douglas. His voice was made for those History Channel documentaries and delightful car series. It's nice to know he was such a classy man off-screen as well. He also did a comedy-drama for Disney with Susan Clark and Karen Valentine, The North Avenue Irregulars, which showed his versatility. Joan Blondell and Cloris Leachman are also in it so he was shining with some real pros. I'll miss him.

It wasn't just the clip from Song of the South but the three cartoons that opened the evening that made those of us who aren't "PC Police" wince. Of course Blacks are offended, now that I've seen that part I've no interest in seeing the rest. As for Davy Crocket, as the map shows, the story opens just after the Fort Mims massacre and most whites would have been angry at the "Natives" after this justified or not. If Crockett and Russell are shown dispatching then too heartily, that might have been accurate. They do soften their attitudes as the story goes on. I was stunned at how I remembered the show's opening after only a few seconds when I'd not heard it in nearly 60 years. Disney deserves the title "Inventor of the Infomercial" as this series and the Mickey Mouse Club were nothing more than hour long ones for whatever product the company wanted to promote. I figured that out by the time I was ten and that the Macy parade was doing the same for NBC. The same holds true for that mess up in Orlando. As for The Vanishing Prairie, that was a gem. Might we also see the companion film, The Living Desert as well? These were films even my brothers and I agreed on-for different reasons. I liked the narratives, they the music and animal antics. Would there have been a Merrkat Manor without them? This will be my last post for a while. I'm off to see the Wizard, er my Mother, tomorrow. I hope those of you who have celebrating Hanukah are enjoying you "Festival of Lights"; I think of you all lighting my Advent Wreath each night. For the rest of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, or just have a safe and happy holiday ! See you all next year! Regardless,this was quite an evening for my emotions and collective memory. I'm glad I tuned in.

Ben told an interesting story about "The Duke" when introducing The Gunfighter today. It seems he very much wanted this film but not if he had to do it at Columbia with Harry Cohn. When that fell through he tried to buy it for his company but was outbid by Fox who gave it to Gregory Peck. Peck is a favorite of mine, this is one of his best roles and the film a Western classic. Yet I can see the Wayne of Red River and Sands of Iwo Jima - where his career was at the time - playing the role as he was about the right age and his physique had not yet begun its slide. That cliche about it not being the same movie might hold but I think it would have still been interesting. Score this as a possible loss for Wayne. The movie was not successful and that was blamed on the usually heroic Peck playing a villain even though he was one with a conscience and played a worse one in Duel in the Sun (which I did not like him in-but then I didn't like the whole picture.) Ben said that Darryl Zanuck blamed the moustache even though it was authentic for that time. I think Peck nailed it perfectly. A point for discussion?

Ouch, we've been had! I was expecting the original 50's b&w Death Valley Days with Stanley "The Old Ranger" Andrews as the host. These were the ones repackaged with Dale Robertson, Robert Taylor and Ronald Reagan hosting. I'll give these newer ones a look but the trailer doesn't seem to have the grit and honestly of those originals; just color which is great for Westerns but not if there's no cake under the frosting. A real letdown!

I don't know if this qualifies but in the introduction to The Gunfighter today, Ben mentioned that this was considered a fresh take on the prevalent romantic legend of the "fast gun". There was no romance here, just a man regretting his choices, with little chance to start again, and trying to starve off a death he knew was coming. At the end he tells the smart-alec kid who's shot him the kind of life he can now expect and it's not pretty. In Gunfight at the OK Corral and The Magnificent Seven experienced and world-weary such men try to talk young wanna-bes out of the life-with mixed results-so this might have been true. Another one in the Will Penny vein is Monte Walsh. Whether you watch the Lee Marvin or Tom Selleck version you see the West at the end of it's pioneer days and those men who can't/won't adjust to the changing one. Again, there's nothing glamorous about any of it.

When I saw this thread listed I thought: How strange this seems to be one scandal that's been largely forgotten. It led to a near government shutdown and suicides. This was bigger that the Clinton-Lewinsky affair here in the 90's I guess I was wrong! I never did see the movie, Scandal, but will if possible. I remember when Mandy was present at some high-toned British social function and people seated at her table got ticked when they found out she was there but she seems to have turned it to her advantage at least a bit. RIP!

Thank you for that photo of the real Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I still remember when the papers reported they had broken off their engagement and "would begin dating others." Of course six weeks later their wedding photo was in all those same papers. I'm glad that reconsidering it worked out so well for them and they both look pretty chipper. I seem to recall that he has/had a long term medical condition and always admired how she stuck by him as he did her when she had that stage accident that hurt her so badly. A great Hollywood love story for a change!

Errol Flynn poses with his wife, birthday gal Patrice Wymore and their 3 daughters. Not so, only the youngest was from the Flynn-Wymore marriage. The other two, including recent TCM guest Rory, are from the marriage to Nora Eddington which it seems was his most stable. These two girls have gone on to full and productive lives while this last daughter sadly inherited her father's dependency on drugs and alcohol and died at an early age with little to show for her life but a child whose father she never revealed. That makes this a sad portrait indeed.

I have and found it interesting. You sympathize with Turner's character being married to a jerk like Nolan's but the answer she comes up with destroys a man whose came so far in life. Saxon and Dee make a great romantic team and Walston is terrific as the driver who knows more than he should and intends to profit by it. The scenery and costumes are gorgeous and while you know how it will pretty much end getting there is worth the ride. Not great but a good time passer.

Okay! Now if we could just get Zane Grey Theater and Tales of Wells Fargo we'd be all set.

We are talking about a movie right? Yes, James, we are but one of the things I use to judge a movie is to wonder what happened later on. Such as what Marty and Clara did if they married-did she get him to go to college at night so they'd both have educations? Did he make a go of the butcher shop? What happened when the survivors got back to Fort Bravo - was Carla shot as a spy or just sent to prison and did she end up with Roper afterwards? If I can come up with a plausible scenario then the ending was a good one; if not it puts the whole movie in question. My point was that what our culture defines as success and what that turns out to be for many folks are two different things. IAWL showed that and I'd like to think our hero got some of his dreams to come true eventually. Sometimes it seems that the screen is the only place where it does nowadays.

Who says the Baileys never left home? I always figured that Potter died soon after of sour grapes at being bested and his theft of the Bailey Company money was discovered. With no heirs to run the Bank George took over and ran it right. In their later years George and Mary got to see some of the places he'd dreamed about. This would be poetic justice and a realistic answer to 'What happened next?" One person can make a difference or so a lot of folks seem to think today. The question seems to be whether it is a positive or negative one. Plenty of people make contributions to their communities that go unnoticed to anyone outside the area but are remembered long after they are gone because of the lingering impact those actions leave. George and his real-life counterparts are not losers where it counts.

TopBilled: The first 30 minute soaps were As the World Turns and The Edge of Night which debuted on the same day in 1956. I know because I saw them. While the existing 15 minute shows ran as such for a while longer all subsequent soaps started out as 30 minute shows. Nobody has mentioned Mark Rydell who started out as an actor on ATWT as half of the original "super couple" of Jeff and Penny until he left to begin directing. Their wedding was as big a deal in the 50's as Another World's Steve and Alice in the 70's or General Hospital's Luke and Laura in the 80's. I'd watch anything he directed after that and was delighted when he became a star behind the camera.

Dothery: Thank you for the information on George Brent. In her first book Bette Davis mentioned that he had once been wanted by the "Black & Tans" - a British military or intelligence group - so I knew he was Irish. She did not say why. I still don't like him as an actor but admire his willingness to fight for the independence of his country.

Drago wrote Yeah, in fact, I'd say Theo (Bikel) in his younger days there looked quite a lot like Tony Franciosa...after a good couple of meals. (...am I RIGHT?!) Yes!

Does anybody else remember that June Lockhart was not Jan Clayton's original replacement on Lassie? That was Cloris Leachman who did one season before bailing out. When June took over they felt they had to replace the character's husband as well and did so. I remember this because of Cloris' unusual name. Can you imagine this salty-tounged and outspoken woman as a farm wife? She couldn't either. The trail from both NY and CA soaps is so loaded with stars that somebody should write a book. In the past few days I've seen Kathleen Turner, Alec Baldwin, Armand Assante and Michael Nouri in TV and feature movies and can remember them in their daytime roles. These must have been valuable training grounds for young actors who got to practice their craft fairly steadily and learn from the old pros who got a second life before the cameras.

Thank you for the Mary Martin/Theo Bikel photo from The Sound of Music. I've only seen him on film in his older years and while I know he can sing wondered about him as a leading man. He doesn't look bad here. For the record I also had doubts about Christopher Plummer in the movie version as I'd only seen him as villains; he surprised me also.

James Garner did a Playboy interview? Is there any way to access this online? I loved his book, the RO and AFI interviews and would probably feel the same about this one. Regardless of what he though about himself he was an interesting read/listen. How did you manage to get those Dean Stockwell comments past the administrator? He censors that word for mammary glands even when the poster's talking about chicken rather than women. No, it's never been part of my vocabulary, I'm just asking.

Tom JH wrote: This film would later be remade as the premiere episode of TV's Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker. In fact, one of the film's featured players (Peter Coe, second from left at top) would also appear in the television episode. When his character is (once again) killed by Indians, Warners, as a cost saving measure, spliced his death scene from Rocky Mountain into the Cheyenne episode. (Yep, they made sure to have Coe wear the same clothes in both westerns). It wasn't just Peter Coe that the two versions had in common. Ann Robinson wore Patrice Wymore's costume, both look to have been shot in the same place, the little dog appeared in both and the Rebel flag looks the same. They did the same thing when they remade a Kirk Douglas/Virginia Mayo film later that year. Morris Ankrum played the murdered man's father in each and the scenery looked the same. Many of those early Cheyenne episodes were shortened versions of feature films and I thought they were well written. Thank you, Tom, for the article. This is the kind of Hollywood history I love.

Isn't it amazing that TV was originally thought of as anathema by film people who "wouldn't be caught dead involved with it"? Then it gave new life to stalled 40's careers, aging stars of the silent and early sound eras who still had the talent if not the youth and gave experience and exposure to newcomers to stage and screen. Topbilled, I had no idea we liked so many of the same shows. I remember Jerry Lewis’ last scene as Eli on Wiseguy when he tells the FBI agent “Always know who you are, John” which he had not done himself and was paying the price. The SVU role was great as well; he worked well with fellow comedian Richard Belzer whose Munch was my favorite character on the show (It’s not been the same without him). I enjoyed Raymond Burr in Centennial as well but that’s my all-time favorite series so maybe I’m a bit prejudiced there. That death scene with Dorothy McGuire and Nick Nolte in RM,PM was only matched by Nolte’s with Peter Strauss later on in the show. I was reading something about Tallulah Bankhead and realized that outside of Lifeboat this Lucy-Desi episode was the only other piece of her work I'd ever seen (she hosted a Sunday night variety show on radio which of course I could hear but not see). I still remember it; She's doing a play with Lucy and Ethel who are going crazy with her "prima donna" act. They get even by serving her strawberries instead of oranges in a scene on stage. Tallulah is allergic to strawberries and must play the scene in full-blown attack. It's a riot. Perry Mason used many such performers: Jon Hall, Fay Wray and Barton McLane for starters. James Coburn was deservedly wacked in two and Leonard Nimoy was the perp in a couple of others. Perry helped Louise Fletcher beat the rap twice and Ellen McRae/Burstyn and Burt Reynolds were suspects. This is why I love Classic TV as you never know who will show up in anything.

Arturo wrote: And speaking of Lee Remick and Doris Day, Remick was considered as Marilyn Monroe's replacement in the Ill fated SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE, but original costar Dean Martin balked at that, saying his contract called for him to star with MM. When the movie resumed, under the title MOVE OVER DARLING,.it was with Doris Day and James Garner in the leads; also replaced was Cyd Charisse as the other wife with Polly Bergen. In his book, James Garner stated that along with Marilyn he was to be the original star of SGTG but something-I've forgotten what-went wrong and Dean Martin ended up with the lead. Garner and Doris Day had just had a hit with The Thrill of it All so when she took over for Marilyn after her death, Martin bailed out and Garner was again available that seemed the way to go. While I like Cyd Charisse as an actress I can't imagine anybody but Polly Bergen as Bianca. Fox put all the footage of SGTG in order and AMC showed it on Sunday along and MOD afterwards. I never liked Dean Martin but Marilyn was quite good in what we saw. It's a shame she didn't get to finish it; if this had been her final film it would have sent her career out on a high note. Garner and Lee Remick did The Wheeler Dealers the next year. What went around seems to have really come around back then.

As a woman I appreciate Ford's honest depiction of us in his Western films. It was a very hard life for us back then and he shows that even in that "man's world" they could not have made it without us though they wouldn't admit it. Women of courage like Mrs. Collingwood (Anna Lee) of Fort Apache, Tess Milay (Joanne Dru) of Red River and Nell Robertson (Veda Ann Borg) of The Alamo don’t have big roles but give their men the support they need to do what they must. The Marthas of Red River and The Searchers fit in there too even if they bite the dust before the end. In short, he did all right by us.

Like so many other classic era actors I had no idea who Norman Lloyd was until St. Elsewhere hit TV 30-odd years ago. I then discovered he was also a producer of the 30-minute Hitchcock shows and co-star of many of his films. I even saw him in a U-I Western from the 50's. What a talented man! I'm glad he made it to 100, will SAG honor him as they did Charles Lane when he hit the century mark a few years ago? Oh wait, CL left us shortly after that and we want to keep Mr. Lloyd around for a while longer. Happy Birthday and thanks for all the great movies.

Great Movie Alert! At 1:45 stop what you're doing and watch or tape for later The Southerner. This is Zachary Scott as you don't usually see him and the rest of the cast is wonderful as well. It's brutally honest in its depiction of sharecropper life in the 40's and beautiful due to the determination of a large loving family to make it all costs but keep the love intact. It makes you proud to be from Dixie if you are. I've not seen it in a while and can't wait.