JamesJazGuitar
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Posts posted by JamesJazGuitar
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2 hours ago, Hibi said:
Yes, but they could come up with a decent overview WITHOUT Fox. They just aren't interested!
And if TCM did that, you would move forward?
Dang, I wish I knew this before, because I would have called Charles personally and lobbied on your behalf.
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1 hour ago, TopBilled said:
1. Some Star of the Month selections are repeated.
2. TCM airs 24-7...365/366 days a year. There's always a variety of themes.
3. TCM programmers seem to give preference to musicals and noir. Westerns and science fiction are underplayed.
4. TCM is not the only place for classic film but it's a very worthwhile source of classic film.
5. TCM airs promos between films. TCM does not air commercials during films.
6. TCM has never just defined classic film as studio era output (1925-1968). It's always shown films made after the production code was abolished (post '68).
7. TCM mostly airs films from MGM, WB, RKO and UA. Films from Paramount, Universal and Republic air much less often. TCM has had long-term leasing deals in the past with Sony (for Columbia classics) and 20th Century Fox (now owned by Disney). So many films from these studios have been broadcast.
8. TCM now likes to do tie-ins to cultural events and progressive news stories.
9. The hosts get a bit socio-political in some of their commentaries (it wasn't always this way).
10. TCM has upgraded its website several times and it has always been moderated fairly.
This is a nice list but I would re-word #6: to me it is irrelevant how one defines "classic". What is relevant to a potential new viewer is the movies that will be shown; So I would just say over 80% of the films shown will be American Studio-Era talking films (1929 - 1968), with the remainder a mix of post Studio-Era films, silent and foreign films.
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54 minutes ago, 37kitties said:
Both, most likely.
The producers already changed the theme song from "and the rest" to mentioning the professor and Maryann. They didn't wish to make another change: "and babies, Gingerpie and Mary Jr" (but "professors seedlings" would have been cute).
See how I tied this to the title of this thread.
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Just now, Bethluvsfilms said:
Yes! I absolutely agree.
When will Joan get her due?
Likely never especially since Disney acquired Fox.
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10 minutes ago, filmnoirguy said:
Some actors naturally look older than they are. Jo Van Fleet was 40 when she played 38 year old Susan Hayward's mother in 1955's I'll Cry Tomorrow. That same year, Van Fleet also played James Dean's mother in East of Eden, but he was 24 so that was a bit more realistic.
And some actors can look authentic playing way older characters, regardless of their natural look; I.e. they don't look like a much younger actor with a lot of make-up.
Walter Brennan comes to mind. Of course since one rarely see actors "naturally" I don't know how one would know this.
E.g. I looked up Jo Van Fleet when receiving her Oscar; Is how one looks when going to such an award show their "natural" look?
I assume it is much different than how one looks right after they get out of bed!
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GILLIGAN'S ISLAND had to end before Ginger or Maryann got pregnant.
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1 hour ago, Hibi said:
Joan made the mistake of always trying to correct herself, rather than just moving on like there was no mistake......
I believe you're on to something there. I have seen character's discuss other characters and using another character's name.
I assume it is hard as an actor known for making movies other than plays or T.V. (when the producer\director were too cheap to say "cut" and do a retake). I.e. for someone like Joan not to react but just go-with-the-flow is very difficult. Hey, maybe that is why the child actors appeared to be the most seamless actors on the show. They didn't know any better!
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14 minutes ago, lavenderblue19 said:
Lydia the Tatooed Lady was written by EY Harburg for lyrics and Harold Arlen. for the music. The same 2 who wrote Somewhere Over the Rainbow and the original songs for the Wizard of Oz.
Michael Feinstein is a very talented pianist and singer, He recorded Lydia the Tatooed Lady on one of his albums. Michael Feinstein founded the Great American Songbook Foundation. Michael Feinstein worked with Ira Gershwin. The Library of Congress appointed Michael Feinstein to the National Recording Preservation Board.
The song Lydia The Tatooed Lady was sung by Groucho in At the Circus and was one of Groucho's signature songs. Virginia Weidler sang ( the first verse) in The Philadelphia Story.
I meet Mr. Feinstein once and I have a lot of respect for him. He helps keeps the music from my favorite period in American history "alive" using multiple means like his work with the Library of Congress, as you note, other historical efforts and of course his interpretation of this music. Thanks for making others aware of this.
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4 hours ago, txfilmfan said:
I visited the area in Switzerland where the mountaintop scenes were filmed and the hotel I stayed at ran that movie on a loop 24/7.
I have been to St. Moritz in Switzerland and that town is mentioned in two Bond films. About 24 years ago I drove there on my honeymoon when we were staying at a fairly large hotel on the Italian alps side.
The drive to St. Moritz was nice but it was the scariest road I have ever been on. Very steep, winding road with access for only two cars, both direction.
Another funny thing is that when we woke up in the morning the Hotel was empty. We were there in late September and the hotel closed for the season. My Italian wife talked to the owner and it was clear they made a mistake by giving us a 3 day reservation. Once he knew we were on our honeymoon he gave us a key, so we could access anything in the hotel and his family did the maid services. He offered to have us eat with his family each day but we declined that. It was like we were in The Shining!
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With regards to a new adaptation of Nightmare Alley: I would make the story about phony influencers and how they extort money from both sides of the fence: E.g. extorting hotels and resorts; pay me X if you wish for me to recommend you. Getting paid from consumers for these extorted recommendations.
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28 minutes ago, nakano said:
Well Lucille Ball's movie career does not warrant a third Star of the Month while so many do not even get one ! If i follow the logic of selecting Lucille Ball for a 3rd time .Bela Lugosi should have been selected in october a few times in the past It would make sense,His career even with many low budget movies was more important than Lucille Ball's movie career but he has never been selected.But of course we will be hammered by the next podcast(I love Lucy ?) like we are right now by Bonfire of the Vanities ,The Plot is obvious.TCM was better 5 years ago,it is downhill and i do not like the current situation at the channel.
Again, it all depends on how one "measures" the term "warrant"; if SOTM is mostly about TCM marketing and PR (i.e. bringing in new fans to the network), than the primary measure of "warrant" is how many new fans come on board. It clearly isn't to appease existing fans like us (especially the diehard ones at this forum); E.g. how many of us members here are going to stop watching TCM because of who they did or did not select for SOTM?
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16 hours ago, Eucalpytus P. Millstone said:
Used to see Tom Scott and his west coast band often during the 70s and 80s when I was just getting into jazz and being a jazz musician.
Had a talk one night with Victor Feldman, a fine musician (keyboards, vibes, drums and other percussion instruments).
I asked him how much Miles Davis really contributed to the Seven Steps to Heaven song since the rumor was that this was another song Miles stole from a one of his bandmates. Victor just gave me a wide smile! Note that Feldman played on the first 7 Steely Dan albums. E.g. It is Feldman's percussion work on Steely Dan's song "Do It Again" that gives the song its Latin groove.
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33 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
I agree that marketing a star to a recent event is advantageous. But it is not always necessary.
When they chose Ann Sothern for Star of the Month a few years ago (her second time) they did not connect that with any recent pop culture event. Similarly, choosing Dick Powell was not related to anything newsworthy.
Now in the early days of TCM (mid 90s to early 2000s) I do think a lot of the Star of the Month choices were meant to promote the release of films just put out on DVD through the Warner Archives. But most everything's gone to streaming now so I don't think that is very much part of their consideration now.
Good points; I assume there are many criteria TCM programmers use to determine who will be the next SOTM. My overall point was a review of past SOTM and then ranking those that have never been SOTM in order to determine who "deserves" to be SOTM is just one of these many criteria.
Somewhat related to this: The Economist last-page obituary: I always check this out to get a view of what the editors feel was the person they decided to cover as a way to get a pulse on the relevance of the deaths that took place, worldwide, the previous week.
This week it was Jane Withers. I'm aware of her passing mainly due to this website but I admit I was very surprised The Economist featured her. The article mentions her as the more realistic young girl compared to Temple: I.e. it plays up her tomboy persona in a positive way. Anyhow, my point is about; how the people that make these decisions arrive upon them and I find this interesting and I wish I knew more about that.
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23 minutes ago, Sepiatone said:
😱 CRIPES!!
It's my 7TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER!!!!
Sepiatone
I felt the same thing, expect it was about you.
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12 hours ago, Katie_G said:
The more I think about Nightmare Alley 2021 remake, it seems like a bad idea
That all depends on how one views new adaptations and what is a good or bad "idea".
E.g. for a Producer who invested in such a project it is a "good" idea if it make money. The quality of the work, or how it stacks up to previous adaptations are irrelevant.
Very view general public viewers are even aware of over 50 year old prior adaptations and those that are, typically don't think in terms like: I'm only going to see the new one if I'm told it is better than the prior one.
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1 hour ago, DougieB said:
but I know your core complaint is about fairness and I can support you on that.
But as you know such programming as SUTS or SOTM are promotional and marketing and "fairness" isn't a concept here.
Therefore the best way to get Joan Bennett to be promoted by TCM would be to tie her to a more recent cultural event; E.g. Dark Shadows. TCM should have done that when the Depp remake was released.
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4 minutes ago, Judith laucka said:
Wait a minute, I totally neglected my favorite The Razors Edge
Difficult type of movie to make but the 1946 version as directed by Edmund Goulding does a good job.
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17 hours ago, Hibi said:
Was she his muse or something? LOL.
Cleo Moore made somewhat of a splash in the film On Dangerous Grounds (Ray directed Lupino\Ryan film), and Columbia signed her to a contract since blonde bombshells were an item in the early 50s.
What is surprising is that Columbia signed Haas to direct films allowing him to produce, write, direct and act in them.
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25 minutes ago, TomJH said:
So if Robin is so concerned about the poor how come they're not invited to the feast in the forest which is happening a short distance away? You know, with all that mutton and ale and dancing and Friar Tuck laughing. Why are the poor stuck in a dark and quiet spot of the woods? Why aren't they invited to join in with all the merriment? They look like they could use a laugh.
Robin didn't wish to expose these poor everyday citizens to Guy and the Sherriff and his men since they could later round them up and torture\kill them.
I.e. these folks were not part of Robin's group of fighting men.
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Since Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life is being discussed I felt I would post his interview with Gloria and Skip Ficking, creators of the Honey West character.
Just a few days ago Gloria was told she only had a few days to live but the surgical procedure was successful and hopefully she will be release this week.
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1 hour ago, cmovieviewer said:
Sorry to say that the premiere of Strange Fascination (1952) may be the first casualty of the schedule, as Cat People (1942) is currently listed during the Noir Alley times for the weekend of Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 instead.
MOVIES-TV has been showing many of the Hugo Haas produced\directed\staring in films that feature Cleo Moore.
Strange Fascination is the 1st one they did.
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April 8, 1931 - August 13, 2021 Dolores Joan Henriksen (originally Boucher, then Van Ness) has passed away at the age of ninety. Born in Farmington, Michigan, she was a longtime resident of Inglewood, and then San Juan Capistrano, California. Dee (as she was known to many) was an amazing dancer, singer, and actress who appeared in many movies including It's a Wonderful Life, and was a regular (with her musical act, "The Showtimers") on The Kate Smith Show. She then taught dance and drama at The Gladora Theatre Studio (owned by her mother, Gladys Boucher, and her aunt, Dorothe Wilbour), and directed their annual "June Show". She also was a choreographer for the Kentwood Players, taught ballroom dancing, and waitressed for many years at the LAX Hyatt Hotel. Later in life she enjoyed a third (fourth? fifth?) career as the Lunch Supervisor at Ambuehl Elementary. Obviously, never one to shy away from responsibility, Dee raised her two daughters as a single mom, putting them through private school, braces, and every extracurricular possible, with her incredible skill of making ends meet. Not your stereotypical "sweet little old lady", Dee loved showbusiness, Andres champagne, Jazzercise, her blue convertible Miata, the TCM Channel, the LA Times, happy hour at nice restaurants, her cat Penny, and her family. Dee is survived by her two daughters, her three grandchildren, and her cat. You will be missed Dee. Cheers to you!
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7 minutes ago, TopBilled said:
Tyrone Power day is tomorrow on TCM.
Is everyone ready?
I'm looking forward to it.
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14 hours ago, Eucalpytus P. Millstone said:
I was a big fan of The Tubes and saw them in concert at least twice, perhaps thrice -- the last time for free at a local outdoor musical festival. The first time was, I thought, at The Pantages Theatre in Hollywood during the 1980s -- but I don't see a performance at that venue listed in The Tubes' concert history. I remember Waybill on stage in his priapic Quay Lewd drag coaxing reluctant band members, "Oi! You can wrap yor teeth 'round me beef!"
Similar with Jethro Tull, the songs by The Tubes that I liked and which made me a fan were never major hits, while The Tubes tunes that became hits -- e.g., She's A Beauty -- I didn't dig.
Here's a Tubes song that I liked and which, of course, wasn't a hit:
Sushi Girl is a favorite of mine as well. Just dropped Waybill and his wife at the airport since they left their car at my house. Picking them back up on Monday.
White Punks on Dope is a classic (ha ha_)!
Charlie Watts 1941-2021
in General Discussions
Posted
Sorry but that doesn't add up to me as a musician; clearly Charlie had enough money to build a sound-proof music room.
I have one and I don't have close to the net worth of that guy.