JamesJazGuitar

True, which is why I used the term celebrity instead of film star or actor. Such TCM "events" as SOTM are PR\marketing events and the viewing public's knowledge, appreciation and general "love" of the celebrity impacts how marketable they are. Another factor is what celebrities are still alive that can assist in the promotion. E.g. Carol Burnett is still fairly well known and she is a big fan of Ball. Burnett's show is on retro T.V. (E.g. ME-TV, right before Perry Mason so I sometimes watch it). Burnett does funny ads promoting ME-TV shows where she pretends (as she is today) to talk to T.V. characters - E.g. Sheriff Taylor, Hogan of Hogan's Heroes, etc... (via clips from their ME-TV show of course). I could see a great ad for TCM were Carol "talks to" Lucy saying something like "hey, do you know you're being featured as Star of the Month", and Lucy responds (via a clip from one of her T.V. shows).

This post confirms what I posted when Ball was announced as SOTM: She is more well known as a celebrity than other film actors of her generation, who have a more solid film legacy.

I agree with that; Like I said I like The Strip mostly because of the jazz angle. It is an MGM film and that is a double-edge sword in terms of being noir-ish: MGM "noir" films have higher production values but are not very gritty and often lack noir visuals (as is the case with The Strip). The Strip features L.A.'s Sunset strip but does not use it to its full advantage. The film is set against the backdrop of Hollywood's Sunset Strip, with Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and Jack Teagarden appearing as themselves in the film. Pete Rugolo, who is credited with Leo Arnaud with the film's orchestrations, was a well-known jazz arranger. Much of the picture was shot on location in and around the Sunset Strip. Interiors were shot at popular nightclubs Mocambo and Ciro's and at restaurants Little Hungary and Stripps.

I didn't know you have been at this forum at least since August of 2017.

The Strip is my favorite Rooney noir. Rooney gets to play drums and the film features jazz music. Quicksand is a good one with Peter Lorre. Drive a Crooked Road has it moments.

We have a common understanding. Joe did turn-it-around in that he really started to think about others and the impact his actions had on others, but sadly for him, it was too late to save him from doom.

It is worth seeing. I like Kevin McCarthy and Jack Kelly as the bad guys.

Next week on Noir Alley is Drive a Crooked Road. Odd that the poster say "a new" Rooney; He had made two other noir\crime films before this one: Quicksand and The Strip.

I agree Joe was being noble when he has Betty come to the home, but I'm not so sure he was being noble when he gave her the brush-off in the drug-store.

Do you mean that by the time Joe runs into Betty and Artie in the drug-store, Betty has fallen in love with Joe? I guess that is the case; Betty does treat Artie kind of poorly when he makes some jokes about Joe and his fancy cloths and being a keep man. As for why Joe gave Betty the brush off: That is a very sympathetic view of Joe. I can see it, but I don't fully buy it.

Here is Doug Raney with his Gretsch hollow body:

I just posted about this film on another thread: TCM showed this when Bergman was featured in SUTS.

About 8 years ago TCM and Ball State University teamed up. TCM showing films and Ball State had online classes about noir, and they hosted a noir forum at this website where the professor of the class would participated (but it was mostly the students). One of the main topics was: What are the essential elements of film noir? Of course there are multiple POV on the subject, with the extremes being there are essential elements and these are them (i.e. a film without these isn't "noir"), to there are no essential elements and each of us defines what is "noir" for us. I fall somewhere in the middle: there are common elements but none are essential. The more of these elements a film has the more "noir" it is for me.

I don't feel that way about the violin virtuoso but maybe that is because I'm too much of a fan of Leslie Howard. He doesn't come off as just a guy that wants to bed beautiful, women. Also there is the musical connection: make art\music with someone and the creative process creates a strong emotional bond. The violinist wasn't seeking a relationship and he wasn't cavalier about the impact it would have on all those in his life. None of this, in any way, justifies what he did, but for me it does place it in a context where I can have some degree of sympathize for him. For me the film handled the overall topic in a mature manner. As for the ending: We all knew the film would end with this cannot-work relationship ending and the man going back to his family. But I do get the feeling the screenwriter took the easy way out with that ending.

Well they said that back in the 50s and they were right. But all kidding aside, I don't think TCM is going to reduce the percentage of B&W films they show by anything more than 5%, if that.

Nice list of films: Have you seen a good print of The House Across the Bay? One of the retro over-the-air stations (Get-TV, ME-TV or MOVIES-TV), was showing this film but the print was really poor, as well as the sound.

First, I would like to say welcome to this forum. I just watched Gunga Din on TCM and yea, the Newman score really enhances the film. Very interesting article. Note that I got into American Studio Era films when I was learning to play jazz guitar. At first I would try to learn a new jazz standard and would find the film the song was introduce and\or featured in. As I got more into such films, I would hear songs I wasn't aware of, get the sheet music and learn that song. I have a lot of respect for the composer-for-hire that worked during the studio-era. The creative process of composing music to fit-what-is-on-screen is something I still don't fully understand; I.e. how did they do that, AND do it so well. Of course I'm interested in movies with jazz scores. Was Newman ever involved in one of those?

I can't see a reason why any autocensor wouldn't allow punk. While I think it is silly when I talk about Boston B l a c k i e that the second word is censored, I do understand the so called logic of why.

Tension (1949), has a lot of scenes that shows how such a drug store in L.A. functioned in the 40s.

Here is my top five favorite actresses: Davis, Stanwyck, DeHavilland, Jean Arthur, and Lombard.

Hope you are safe and that things get back to some degree of normalcy for you and you're family. (and yes, I see those changes you made and thus shows how one can mess with someone's post by using the "quote" feature, and that this is a bug TCM should fix).

Yea, property of the Warner Bros studio costume department.

What word oddamn? (i.e. words can get in by using spaces). I have to do this anytime I wish to mention Chester Morris and Boston B l a c k i e Anyhow, looks like I missed something.

Oh, I see what you mean by "original drawing"; the artwork is original in that it was made by your dad, but he likely used photos to get the image. I have three large "original" charcoal drawings of Bette Davis, Olivia DeHavilland and Carole Lombard. A woman I worked with did such drawings, mostly of people's kids (from photos). I provided her one photo of each of these actresses and she made the drawing. Below is the photo I provide of Lombard. This is hanging over my fireplace.

I wondered if the drawing was original since I had never seen it before; very cool. My avatar photo was selected because my hobbies are jazz guitar playing and studio-era films. So when I found this photo of Cagney, it was the perfect fit for me.