Sepiatone

What cracks me up about the late '60's version of DRAGNET( and I remember watching BOTH incarnations. OY!) was that both the cops, AND the "hippies" were based on cartoonish stereotypes. I particularily liked how all the "bags" of weed were gathered at the top, and held closed by "twist ties". But I also noticed that the show used a regular rotating roster of "ensemble" actors. One week's crook would be next week's victim, fellow cop, or witness. More recently, LAW AND ORDER would employ the same method. CLINT EASTWOOD would also rely on many ensemble cast members in many of his earlier movies. Sepiatone

PAT BOONE covered "Long, Tall Sally" too? I thought he learned his lesson with "Tutti Frutti"! Sepiatone

LOL!! Just got a quick mental image of Jack Webb and Harry Morgan coming in and busting up a gang of "hooligans" rolling dice and exchanging GAG GIFTS! Sepiatone

While straightening out the room I keep this computer in yesterday, I discovered a copy of an old children's book called "Chicken Little". Could this be ANOTHER prophecy? Sepiatone

The most common used phrase in any discussion of apocalyptic events is "The end of civilization AS WE KNOW IT!" Judging the state in which our "civilization" is in now, it might NOT be such a bad thing! Sepiatone

Please. Feel free to reply with your OWN funny Christmas story. Sepiatone

We play a similar game in our family called "crazy bunco". Each player places a gift on the middle of the table. Two sets of three dice are given to the persons on opposite ends of the table. To obtain a gift, one must roll the dice and get "doubles". Once every gift is out of the middle, "doubles" rollers can then claim any gift held by someone else at the table. There's a time limit on the game. At the end of that time, anyone with two or more gifts in their possesion has to choose one and place the remaining gifts back in the middle. Those who at the end of the game that have NO gifts then take turns rolling the dice. You must STILL roll "doubles" to choose one gift. The remaining player to have not rolled "doubles" gets the remaining gift on the table. It takes only a couple of plays to get the hang of it. OUR rule is that the gifts need not be fancy or expensive, more or less something from the DOLLAR STORE. Gag gifts are most welcome. In the past, I've won Q-Tips, Baby rattles, **** hose and strawberry ****. All in good fun. Sepiatone

It's not a NEW book, but I thought SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK'S autobiography "CHILD STAR" was a very compelling and interesting read. Sepiatone

The "personal issues" you refer to were largely obtaining enough money to maintain ownership of his island. Story has it that he never really wanted to do *Superman* , but they kept offering him more and more money to the point it was foolish to refuse. Yet, HE was derided because somehow word went out that HE DEMANDED it. After that, each producer felt that to obtain Brando for any role, the ante had to top the last payday, and he kept getting offers for mediocre parts for boatloads of money. Personally, I don't blame him. I mean, if somebody came up to me and said, "Hey, Sepiatone! We'll give you $20 million to walk onto a set, light a cigarette and scream like a chicken. How about it?" HE has a DEAL! Sepiatone

During it's run, *Soylent Green* recieved many good reviews, and movie goers were nuts about it. As we're now living past the period of "the future" in which the story takes place, it may seem anachronistic and campy, but taken in proper context should STILL be enjoyable. Good idea line at any rate. MY vote for this thread's main subject is the outstanding CAROL LOMBARD in the dreadful *Mr. and Mrs. Smith* . More recently, the very talented RALPH FIENNES in 1998's God-awful *The Avengers* . Sepiatone

A lot of MY point, sansFin, WAS that a lot of people who own handguns have no business owning them. I distincly recall two stories heard on the news sometime ago: A man woke up to see what he thought was a BURGLAR lurking at the foot of his bed. He pulled his pistol from under his pillow and SHOT HIMSELF IN THE FOOT! Another man thought he heard a house breaker in his living room. He snuck out, pistol in hand, saw a shadowy figure moving through his living room, and emptied his clip into his TEEN-AGED SON! I noticed that either by design, or oversight, you chose NOT to address the notion that many of the criminally minded obtain their handguns through burglaries. There once was a kid in my grade school every guy thought was cool because he had his own shotgun, and his Dad would often take him duck hunting. My understanding is he STILL goes duck hunting, and an aquaintance of mine told me the guy is a serious opponent to relaxed handgun laws. Gun laws need to be seriously reviewed. Some, with good intention go too far as to how they allow possession. My niece's husband has a long time friend who, when 17, got caught breaking into a car to steal the radio. As the radio was an "after production" Alpine stereo, worth over $100, the guy was charged with a felony. Over the last 27 years since, he obtained his GED, went to college and eventually became a Methodist minister. He has a desire to get back into duck hunting, but by Michigan law, he can't even purchase a 20 gauge shotgun due to his nearly 30 year-old felony conviction! Background checks, while able to do SOME elimination of possibly dangerous individuals, fail miserably in the case of those with criminal leanings lucky enough to have never been caught and therefore will never raise a red flag in a criminal background check. This "gun control" issue seems to have no easy or clear cut resolution. Sepiatone

I never did see LAST TANGO. Those I know who did had opinions that seemed to run the gamut. Sepiatone

As this really did happen in the latter 1970's, the kid in question is now probably 40 years old, or at least pushing it. At the time, I had a sister-in-law that taught Sunday school at her Luthern church. That year, like this one, Christmas was on a Tuesday. Knowing the kids would be too "juiced up" so close to the holiday for any bible lesson, she decided to pass out blank paper and brought out a bucket of crayons and told the kids to draw a picture about Christmas. When they were done, she sat down and went over all the pictures with each of the kids. There were plenty of drawings of Christmas trees, and even though it was Sunday school, several pictures of Santa Claus were offered. And, of course, several tried their hand at drawing the Nativity. While going over one of them, she critiqued the efforts. On one of the drawings, the scene went like this: Her: This is a nice drawing. Let's see...Here's Joseph and Mary... Little boy: That's right! Her: And these are the Three Wise Men? LB: Right! Her: These two are...? LB: Those are SHEPPARDS. Her: Oh, I see. And this must be the Baby Jesus. LB: Uh-huh. Her: Well, this looks really nice. But what's this you have up HERE? It looks like a GORILLA floating in mid air? LB: (looking at her like she's crazy) THAT'S no GORILLA! That's MARK, the HAIRY ANGEL! This all happened that long ago, and STILL cracks me up! Merry Christmas, all. Sepiatone

I brought up the "uptight" matter some years ago, and a black guy I worked with clained that in that period, in the African American vernacular, the word was sort of an abbreviation of the referrence that the situation was "wrapped up tightly", which meant all was good. As I'M not black, I'd have to take his word. "CUT THE MUSTARD". I used to think this was a corruption of "CUT THE MUSTER", meaning someone was good enough to make the cut. other explanations claim it comes from the fact the mustard plant is so fibrous that it's difficult to cut down. Therefore, the ability to do so was considered a great one. You're able to "CUT THE MUSTARD PLANT". The word "plant" simply disappeared over time. Sepiatone

Jimmy Cagney reprising his role as George M. Cohen at an award ceremony for Foy, and the sharp barbs Hope and Cagney exchange as Foy and Cohen is a highlight of the movie. I usually find Hope, in most of his movies, as silly. But it WORKS in this one! Sepiatone

I can't argue much with you, James, or Valentine. But I fear that any approach to a federal gun control ordinance will raise the arguement of "state rights", and get bogged down. Here's an example: When my brother died, I knew he was in possession of a few rifles and handguns. When my sister and I travelled from Mich. to Kentucky to clear up his property matters, we noticed those guns were nowhere to be found. The dimwit who was crashing at his place claimed he didn't know about any guns, and denied having took them. When I contacted the Fort Thomas, KY police about the matter, I mentioned they might use his name to track down the registration numbers for the handguns in able to keep some track of them. I was told that IT WASN'T REQUIRED to register firearms in Kentucky! ??!!?? While we're at it, let's mention the half-witted myth that people rely on..."I bought a gun to protect my home and property." From WHAT? Invading hoardes? Oh, right. In case somebody breaks into your house. Sorry, folks. The bulk of home invasions occur when nobody's home. The exceptions you hear about on the news are ON the news because it happens seldomly enough to BE news. Yeah, I know someone's going to post, "Well, I have a friend who has a neighbor whose COUSIN had a guy come into his house while he was sleeping..." Spare me. Having a gun in your house to "protect" it does little good when you're out to dinner, and a break-in occurs. An experienced house breaker knows ALL the hiding places. Chances are, when you come home to your burgled house, your DVD player, stereo, jewelry and silver will be gone ALONG with your GUN. You didn't seriously think gang-bangers and other crooks buy their guns at gun shows, or have some twit come to their place with firearms in a suitcase like in "TAXI DRIVER", did you? No, they get their weapons from YOUR HOUSE! The one you bought the gun to PROTECT. NOW you have to worry about YOUR GUN being used to blow away some store clerk or other innocent bystander. STILL don't GET IT? OK. Let's say I HAVE a gun in my house for just such a reason. Someone breaks in while I'm asleep. Waking up, I notice, by the sounds, that there's a crook in the house. I'm pretty sure, after moving around on my creeky bed to get out of it, stumbling around still half asleep in the dark, searching for where I hid my gun, THEN bumping into walls trying to find the ammo, the burgular has either FLED, or, him already being wide awake and alert, as well as having a heightened sense of anxiety, eyes long adjusted to the dark, has the ability to quickly move through the house where all the NOISE I'm making is coming from and do away with me in a timely manner. WHILE I'm trying to LOAD my gun in the DARK! I do have a few friends who own handguns and keep them locked up at a range. They go to said range to fire them as a HOBBY of sorts, or to find some form of release. One of THEM pointed out the scenario I've mentioned above. I also have several family members who regularly hunt, and THEY even agree the need for automatic rifles isn't sensible. Sepiatone

The OP is right. Why DO some in here have to be mean? Isn't it enough to agree to disagree? I see nothing wrong with some mean-spirited sounding opinions of certain actors and actresses, as long as they're posted in the spirit of "tongue-in-cheek" good nature, or to flex one's level of wit, but towards other members is just uncalled for. Here's an example: Who could NOT fall in love with Marlene Dietrich after seeing her in *The Blue Angel* sing "Falling In Love Again"? Anyone with EYES and EARS most likely! Compared to: If you can fall in love with Dietrich at anytime shows that YOU have SH** for brains! If anyone wishes to attack an actor or actress that I seem to adore, feel free. As long as it's THEM you're attacking, NOT me. Sepiatone

Valentine, I don't know if *The Fugitive Kind* is one of his BEST, but it IS one of my favorite Brando films, too. It, along with *The Wild One* propelled me to become a Brando fan in my youth. And in spite of everyone else's dislike of it, including Brando himself, I still enjoy *Teahouse of The August Moon* . Other Brando films I like are: ON THE WATERFRONT THE MEN SAYONARA ONE-EYED JACKS THE UGLY AMERICAN VIVA ZAPATA THE CHASE THE GODFATHER THE MISSOURI BREAKS In his autobio, Brando liked to mention that while filming TEAHOUSE, he noticed all the tricks Glenn Ford would use to upstage and scene steal. They annoyed him greatly, so to cheer himself up, he'd pull the same cheap stunts as Ford in response. Drove both Ford and the director crazy. Which, of course, amused Brando. Whether you think he was the "greatest" or not, he WAS a unique individual. Every "shortcoming" you could point out Brando himself had already admitted to. When the gun control "issue" was in it's infancy in the mid 1960's, I saw Brando on THE TONITE SHOW with Johnny Carson. While gun control was being discussed, and Carson was saying something about it, Brando pulled out the biggest handgun I'd ever seen! Carson jumped two feet in his chair, and looked kind of scared. Brando went on, saying, "You see? That's how easy it is to get a guy. Now, this gun isn't loaded, and I'm leaving it on your desk. You can have whatever authority do whatever they wish to do with it, but I don't want it anymore." You gotta kinda LIKE a guy like that! Sepiatone

I don't know about where any of you all live, but here in Michigan the first thing that comes to mind when state legeslators want to cut back on state expenses is to shut down state mental health facilities. They closed a LOT of them down in the late'70's-early '80's, and the patients were simply put out and now make up a large part of the homeless. Sepiatone

Many of those "old time" phrases are fun to hear and try to figure out. But even more contemporary phrases get skewed, corrupted and discombobulated. Examples: Over the years, that 500 pound gorilla has gained 300 pounds. The "elephant in the room" often gets specified as being a WHITE elephant! But a WHITE ELEPHANT used to mean a bad investment, often used to describe houses that weren't up to par; "This house turned out to be a WHITE ELEPHANT". How THAT originated is another matter. RIP OFF used to be a drug-world term for the perpetration of a fraud. If, for example, you sold 500 hits of vitamin C, but told the customer it was SPEED, THAT was a "Rip-Off". NOW it's applied to any level of theft. In the early '80's, MADONNA wore a belt buckle in a video that claimed her to be a "BOYTOY". Meaning SHE was the "toy". As in "Cat Toy", or "Baby Toy". Now, it refers to any young man attached to an older woman. UPTIGHT of late means something akin to anxiety ridden. But in the Stevie Wonder song, the line "Everything is alright, UPTIGHT, out of sight" is redundant, because "back in the day", UPTIGHT meant the same as the other two terms. I wonder if anyone 60 or more years from now will initiate a similar discussion? Sepiatone

I've always preferred the KAYE version to the original for three basic reasons: 1. VIRGINIA MAYO is far more sexy than Stanwyck could have ever dreamed of being. 2. I've been a lifelong DANNY KAYE fan, and he's funnier than GARY COOPER could ever have dreamed of being. And, 3. It's study group is about MUSIC, not language, and music plays closer to my interest. But do not dismay. I like them both. Sepiatone PS: On a similar note, I much prefer *Philadelphia Story* to *High Society* . Edited by: Sepiatone on Dec 18, 2012 6:29 PM

As she got older, she might have done less "Ingeniue"(sic) roles and moved to more serious, "darker" roles, like DeHavilland's in *Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte* . In keeping her relationship with Hitchcock, she might have done Bacall's part in HARPER. Eventually by the '70's, she might have gone to the stage, as GINGER ROGERS and MICKEY ROONEY did in that decade. Sepiatone

But you see, James, Peirs is NOT the only person LIKE that. Many people might seem level headed and reasonably even tempered UNTIL you hit one that one particular topic that's close to their hearts. THEN they go ballistic, and sound off vapidly. By THEN, it's TOO LATE. Sepiatone

Indeed, the word "classic" can be seen in many a different light. When applied to music, even modern day "orchestral" music is categorized by many as "classical". And, sad to say, I know a few dipwads who would consider the movie *Talladega Nights* to be a "classic"! Sepiatone

Well, to reiterate MY point, on the VERY NIGHT of the day of the tragedy, PEIRS MORGAN, on his program brought in two individuals from opposite ends of the spectrum of the gun control issue. Within a couple of minutes, the discussion turned into a shouting match, with neither side allowing the other to finish making their point. I thereby rest my case. And as pointed out that too many ignore the preamble to the 2nd amendment and only concentrate on that section which pleases them, the 1st AMENDMENT as well, gets largely ignored when it states it's tenets for the importance of the separation of church and state. ie: "Congress shall make no law in the establishment of religion, nor prohibit the free practice thereof". Sepiatone