ValeskaSuratt
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Posts posted by ValeskaSuratt
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> {quote:title=dpompper wrote:}{quote}Indeed, it is a CLASSIC film. I especially appreciate the REAL scenes of New York streets from that period.
Just FYI, Night and the City is set -- and was shot -- in London.
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casablancalover2,
You make statements like:
> Our posts will illuminate the ideas we have.> When I write something, I ask myself, would this be something Charlotte could claim, "Yes, I did write that. That's my statement, and that is what I believe."> Don't be threatened by what other's expound--love your position more.
I see a lot in what you posted about "me" and "I" ... but what about the benefit of one's comments FOR OTHERS ?
There are so many posts in which opinions (invariably negative ones) are stated as absolute, intractable facts :
"So-and-so does NOT deserve a day in SUTS ..."
"Such-and-such was a lousy actor ..."
or such humdingers as
"I've never seen any of so-and-so's movies." (Period.)
I mean ... WHO THE (blank) CARES ?????
Comments like that don't further a discussion of film, they only reveal the limitations of the commenter.
When *I* post something, I KNOW I can claim, "Yes, I did write that. That's my statement, and that is what I believe." If it wasn't, I wouldn't write it.
But FAR more worthwhile "claims" would be things like "I'm writing this in order to share information I find interesting, in the hope that others may think so too (should anyone feel so inclined)" or "I think this is funny and I hope it will give somebody else a chuckle."
I'd like to see commenters ask themselves -- BEFORE posting -- "What does my comment contribute to the discussion ?" "Why do I need to post this ?" "What good does my opinion do for anyone else ?"
The world is suffering from an epidemic of selfishness ... everything's about "me, me, me" ...
Is it just too much trouble to devote even a milisecond of thought to those who might READ the junk we post ?
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Another good one ... Lot #354:
"A group of 11 items relating to Greta Garbo’s friendship with Sam
Green. The one time friends had a break after Green leaked news
of Garbo’s visit to his home in Colombia ...
"Garbo’s great-nephew happened to be with Garbo after the Green
incident, and Green telephoned asking what he could do to repair
their friendship, to which Garbo replied, ‘*You can hang up*.’”
Ouch !
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> {quote:title=ziggyelman wrote:}{quote}Nice write-up, Valeska. I had heard of the film, but never watched it before. Usually like anything Dassin directed... Was sure since it was Noir, it had to take place in NYC, silly me!
> Stanislaus Zbyszko was something else...IMDB and Wiki say he was born April 1, 1879...which means, he was 70 or 71 when this film was shot!
Thanks, ziggyelman.
What's amazing is that even at that advanced age, Zbyszko has a long and very exertive wrestling match with Mike Mazurki. (No spoilers -- I'll let you find out for yourself who wins.)
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Gotta love the description of Lot #352, a bunch of papers regarding a "lost"
tax refund check.
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"...Greta Garbo had a tenacity to follow an issue through to the end and felt the right
thing should be done. She would not passively be taken advantage of ... At issue with
the check was that it was found in storage and never cashed. The check was a refund
in the amount of $164.87 *from Garbo’s 1944 taxes and issued in 1946*. Included are
letters, copies of letters, documents, copies of documents, including the final receipt
for the deposit of the check *on October 26, 1965*."
The hilarious part is that Garbo owned blocks of real estate in Beverly Hills ... yet had
the "tenacity" to track down a check for $165 !
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Garbo's Great-Nephew Is Auctioning Off Her Possessions !
http://forums.tcm.com/thread.jspa?threadID=166256&tstart=0
*GARBO at 79 (from her 1984 passport):*
*Garbo's Waffle Iron & Recipe - Est. $250:*
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> {quote:title=johnbabe wrote:}{quote}Greta Garbo's personal items are going up for auction this coming December by Julien's auctions and will be part of a cruise this November to show case the items.....do you think Greta would have approved of her Personal items for sale - and the fanfare connected with this????????????????? I have my doubts - what does anyone else think?
What *would* Garbo think ???
Nobody knew the answer to that when she was *alive* ...
I want to think she was pragmatic enough and had little enough regard for her legacy that she wouldn't have cared ...
But then, I want to think that so I can *look through all 307 pages of the on-line auction catalog* without guilt !
http://www.juliensauctions.com/images/auctions/2012/greta-garbo/flipbook/icatalog.html#/7/zoomed
There's a very "Garbo-would-have-wanted-it this way" sort of message from her grand-nephew on page 7.
And wow ! Some of her scrapbooks are on page 9 !
One thing I recall mentioned in several biographies is that -- at least up until the 30s -- she was always buying fan magazines, scouring them for articles about herself and then having her employees return those that didn't mention her.
I don't know if I'd bid on "Greta Garbo's Sewing Notions" but the movie stills and especially the pieces from her personal wardrobe are STUNNING ....
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I'd never seen it, never even heard of it, but Jules Dassin's
Night and the City (1950) was a stunner -- film noir so black
its 'moral center' is a London gutter.
From Wikipedia:
"Dassin said Darryl F. Zanuck in 1948 called him into his office
to inform him he would be blacklisted, *but he still had enough*
*time to make a movie for Fox*. (Gee, thanks, Mr. Zanuck ...)
"Dassin was officially blacklisted during production of Night and
the City and was not even allowed on the studio property to edit
or oversee the musical score for the film."
It's got one of Widmark's rattiest rats, Gene Tierney for window
dressing, a sneeringly evil nightclub owner named Phil Nosseross,
and in the supporting cast wrestlers Stanislaus Zbyszko and Ken Richmond.
Zbyszko was wrestling royalty, seen here in 1913:
According to Wikipedia:
"Knowing that a key role in the film was a grizzled Greco-Roman wrestling legend,
director Jules Dassin said he 'didn't want to pick an actor and train him to be a
wrestler -- I wanted to do the opposite. I had never gone to a wrestling match, but
I had an image of a wrestler from my youth.'
"The wrestler turned out to be Zbyszko. Dassin said, 'I was told he was dead,
but it turned out he was alive and was a chicken farmer in New Jersey.' He turned
out to be 'a beautiful, cultured, multilingual man' *who looked like a graceful*
*rock formation*."
As for the 6'5" Richmond, he went on to win a bronze in the '52 Olympics and
then became the logo for J. Arthur Rank.
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> So if TCMAdmin strictly enforces all the rules, all the time, so that nobody is offended by anything, then this board will become pretty boring, pretty fast.
Dahling, that's stretching it a little.
#1 Were TCMAdmin to strictly enforce all the rules, someone would still be offended by SOMEthing ...
#2 ... the board would not necessarily become "pretty boring, pretty fast" -- unless it's only by misconduct that people are entertained.
I don't understand why the concept of personal restraint becomes warped into supposedly Stalin-esque censorship.
I don't understand why asking people to be considerate of one another and to behave by a posted Code of Conduct amounts to heresy these days.
But then I don't understand what all the buttons on my TV remote do.
I hate being old.
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*The Creature From the Black Lagoo-hoo-hoon*
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Michael,
Thank you for attempting to address this topic head on.
It's a problem which has, on *MANY* occasions, kept me from posting and, in some cases, from even bothering to read certain threads because by title alone they seem designed only to generate arguments among commenters or offer some jaw-droppingly ignorant criticism of TCM's programmers.
In the year I've been posting here in "General Discussions" and in "Hot Topics," I've become extremely disheartened that for every genuinely interesting bit of information or insightful observation, there must be at least ten pointless comments -- infantile complaints that TCM is showing movies the commenter does not like, base attacks on a star's talent, or digressions into topics specifically forbidden by the Code of Conduct.
Instead of intelligent and enlightening commentary about the classic movies we're seeing, SO many threads become dominated by commenters who seem intent on derailing any such discussion.
(Of particular note are the vast number of embarrassingly childish comments about George Brent's rear end which might be tolerable if they were only relegated to the thread created to discuss that riveting topic. Why they've been allowed to intrude in other threads without being deleted by TCMWebAdmin is a mystery to me.)
> I really want to hear from the folks who feel they should have the right to be as mean and nasty as they want to be.
For the life of me, I can't understand why. The reasons incivility is epidemic these days are many but, ultimately, unimportant. What really matters is finding a solution and it hardly seems likely that "the folks who feel they should have the right to be as mean and nasty as they want to be" will suddenly be convinced to become mature and respectful and start posting with restraint and consideration toward others.For those people, posting here has little to do with classic cinema and much more to do with getting some attention by stirring up contrived controversies. While some may find this entertaining, as one who's been "targeted for attack" with insults and snark, what should be an opportunity to discuss classic our love of movies instead becomes a humiliating and disheartening experience.*I agree whole-heartedly with Capuchin's post.* Either TCMWebAdmin takes a far more active role in policing these boards or else they should take a completely hands-off approach and allow the "discussions" here to descend even further into childishness, clique-ishness, peurile humor and bullying.
Finally, any attempt to turn this conversation into some sort of attack on "freedom of expression" is farcical -- there can be no freedom without personal responsibility. Posting comments here is a privilege similar to being invited into someone's home. I sincerely doubt people would express themselves with such purposeful discourtesy and obvious intent to stir up trouble were they not able to hide behind anonymity.
P.S. *Has there been any sort of outage of these forums for the last few hours*, or is it just me ? I've tried repeatedly to access any page in the TCM message boards only to have the page time-out every time.
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I like the 1953 musical version, This Hand Is Your Hand.
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> {quote:title=AddisonDeWitless }{quote}
From the Washington Post, 8/17/12:
"After 19 years, Marsha Mason is selling the farm.
"The actress had racked up four best actress Oscar nods for her work in Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Only When I Laugh and Chapter Two when she decided to swap movie stardom for Santa Fe. She wound up running a certified organic farm, selling herbs wholesale and creating 'Resting in the River,' a line of health, bath and body products.
"This was not exactly where she planned to spend nearly two decades of her life, in a place where the howl of coyotes had her so petrified that, on her first night in New Mexico, she slept with a shovel next to her bed. 'I thought, "Oh Marsha, what . . . do you think you’re doing?" ’ she reflected one day before a rehearsal for Shakespeare Theatre Company’s All’s Well that Ends Well, a reprisal of the 2010 production that STC is bringing back Aug. 23 for their annual Free for All.
"In 1993, the twice-divorced Mason (her second husband, Neil Simon, wrote three of the four films that garnered her Academy Award nominations) needed a change. 'My identity had been wrapped up, really, in only being an actress,' Mason said.
"As she aged, 'work began not to come as quickly as it used to. I experienced a certain amount of identity crisis.' Mason is 70, though you wouldn’t guess it to see her; she doesn’t look much older than your average Desperate Housewife ..."
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> {quote:title=Bildwasser wrote:}{quote}
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> Great post. If I wanted to point out the sheer absurdity of the conspiracy kooks,
> I couldn't have done a better job than you have done. The official version of Oswald
> as the sole assassin firing three shots, missing once, hitting Kennedy twice and
> with the single bullet also wounding Connally is ridiculous, but 12 shots fired
> by who knows how many supposed shooters and one from a storm drain? That's
> not ridiculous (of course there's no evidence that more than three shots were fired.
> or that the Zapruder film was tampered with)? I guess this could be called the X Files
> plus scenario. You really can't believe this nonsense, can you? I suspect a big leg
> pull. And the limo was not taken away and destroyed. It was cleaned, retrofitted,
> and returned to service for a number of years. It is now in the Henry Ford Museum
> in Dearborn, Michigan. Facts are stubborn things.
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> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-100-X
You make a convincing argument and I respect your level-headedness.Unfortunately, there have been so many seemingly-outlandish "conspiracy theories" which have been proven to be 100% true, such as 1. Watergate ... 2. the Tuskeegee syphillis study ... 3. the CIA's Operation Mockingbird and 4. MKUltra programs (to name but a few ) ...
I mean, as mind-boggling as it is, there *really is* solid, unassailable, documented PROOF that certain people "serving" in our government actually conceptualized, planned, budgeted, administered and then endeavored to keep secret such activities as 1. trying to help a President win re-election by committing burglary, perjury, etc.... 2. creating a "study group" of African-American men dying of syphillis that never informed them they had the disease ... 3. attempting to gain control of the news media by turning nearly 400 journalists into CIA informants ... and 4. administering LSD and other mind-altering drugs to innocent people without their knowledge.
Now, just because these atrocities occurred, it doesn't mean that *every* conspiracy theory is true.
But, unfortunately, for many people (myself included), those events have opened up an uncomfortable chasm of doubt between the information we're fed and what we ultimately believe to be true.
That has, in turn, made it much easier for some to believe in conspiracy theories, no matter how "kooky" they may seem. (And please consider: had proof of the examples I cited above not surfaced, they'd sound ridiculously kooky as well.)
I doubt any of us REALLY want to wind up wandering the streets while voices in our heads warn us of impending alien abduction, but neither is it healthy to slam shut our minds to questioning mysteries and inconsistencies.
Answering those questions with FACTS is the only way we can (hopefully) prevent recurrence of similar wrong-doing.
End of sermon ...
Now ... perhaps you'll tell us who you're *really* working for and what exactly "Bildwasser" is secret code for ??
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> {quote:title=ginnyfan wrote:
> }{quote}So, what's more shocking? Astaire as a milkman,or the discovery the Finance apparently posts here from 1955 when there were milkmen?
Cute idea, Astaire as a musical milkman ... and he rattles the bottles in time with his taps ? ... on second thought ...
Congrats to finance for 1955 ... I'm struggling with 1922 ...
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Thanks, mr6666 ... I'd never heard of him.
Interesting info on him at the link below, including:
"He’s the guy that the joke was wrote about:
"‘Is he a criminal lawyer?’
"'Yes, very.’"
–Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest
http://nypress.com/bill-fallon-the-great-mouthpiece-and-archetypal-amoral-criminal-defense-lawyer/
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Leave ... (sniff, sob) ... Jimmy Caan ... ALOOOOOOOOOOONE !!!! :^0
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> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}The guy on the right looks more like my milkman than he does like Fred Astaire.
Sorry ... ya lost me ... Fred Astaire delivers your milk ??? :^0
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> {quote:title=smitty1931 wrote:}{quote}I noticed that Cleopatra was shown as code number 80. What was the first film released under the 1934 code?
That's funny ... I had exactly the same thought last night, Smitty1931.
According to Wikipedia:
"An amendment to the Code, adopted on June 13, 1934, established the Production Code Administration (PCA) and required all films released on or after July 1, 1934, to obtain a certificate of approval before being released. The PCA had two offices, one in Hollywood and the other in New York City. The first film to receive an MPPDA seal of approval was The World Moves On."
As for the other 78 films between The World Moves On and Cleopatra ... ?
Turns out somebody's actually set up a website to compile a list of ALL films with MPPA certificate numbers ... (talk about your labor of love !) ...
Certificate #2 went to Handy Andy ...
#3 went to Baby Take a Bow ....
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> {quote:title=Stephan55 wrote:}{quote}Jeesh guys, as Freud (perhaps one of, if not the biggest, promoter of subliminal Idish messages -- next to TopBilled ) once confessed, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a bed is just a place to sleep." okay, I added that second part. But seriously guys (and gals) I think some of us are really reaching on this topic for, quite frankly, messages that only exist in the individual viewers mind/s.
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> Sometimes a bed is hard to come by... case in point, the time when a couple of our founding fathers were once forced to share a coveted bed, or sleep on the floor....
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> In 1774, on a way to a meeting, Franklin and the committee spent a night in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The Inn was so full that Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were forced to share a bed. The result was a somewhat farcical matter recorded by Adams in his diary which gave a delightful glimpse of Franklin's personality and the odd couple relationship he had over the years with Adams....
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> http://www.highminds.com/Franklin_Allegory.php
Well said, Stephan55, and great link.
Heck, sometimes even the STARS weren't sure ...
*Stephen Boyd, Charleton Heston and Army Archerd (the big blabbermouth)*
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> {quote:title=Lori3 wrote:}{quote}Another great picture. I am pretty sure this is from Cover Girl, 1944, the alter ego dance. One of the hardest ones Kelly said he ever did. It least that is what I remember reading.
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> Lori
Bingo, Lori.
I'd love to see it blown up to life-size.
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*Gene Kelly side by side*
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*LET'S MAKE LOVE ...*
*. . . when we finish our coffee . . .*
Julien auction
in Hot Topics
Posted
I appear to be the only one who finds this topic fascinating. Sorry if it strikes people as exploitative or disrespectful ... (or just plain DULL) ...
To me, the catalog is like an inventory of King Tut's tomb ... it provides a lot of information about Hollywood's most mysterious sphinx
For example ... the rumor that Garbo had big feet became a part of every satirical image made at the height of her fame.
Well, some of the shoes in the auction catalog are marked as *women's size 9*.
Or the question of authenticating her autographs since she signed so very few ...
The catalog contains several items that are essentially the "gold standard" by which to measure questionable signatures:
Another interesting find re: Garbo giving autographs is Lot #764, "GRETA GARBO POSTCARDS":
The catalog explains:
“A collection of over 65 postcards picturing Greta Garbo sent to her by fans requesting an auograph. Garbo would not indulge sending the autograph but did save these postcards ... Contained in a black binder.”
So .. she wouldn't grant autographs but saved these images -- and in a binder no less.
And throughout, there are all these drop-dead gorgeous "artifacts" ... like this 1951 portrait (which, the catalog points out, did not belong to Miss Garbo but was purchased by a family member -- so they ARE milking the auction for all it's worth):
It also creates new questions: there are a surprising number of objects (including
handkerchiefs, luggage, brooches, fur coats and even cocktail shakers -- which are
monogrammed and yet, in later years, she adopted the nom de anonymouse (?)
of "Harriet Brown" and wouldn't even respond to "Miss Garbo."
Edited by: ValeskaSuratt on Sep 4, 2012 2:01 PM