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DeMille badly wanted Hepburn to play Nefeteri in his remake of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but when he saw her in the costumes he decided Hepburn was all wrong for the role and replaced her with Anne Baxter a more voluptuous woman.

DeMille badly wanted Hepburn to play Nefeteri in his remake of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but when he saw her in the costumes he decided Hepburn was all wrong for the role and replaced her with Anne Baxter a more voluptuous woman.

DeMille badly wanted Hepburn to play Nefeteri in his remake of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but when he saw her in the costumes he decided Hepburn was all wrong for the role and replaced her with Anne Baxter a more voluptuous woman.

DeMille badly wanted Hepburn to play Nefeteri in his remake of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but when he saw her in the costumes he decided Hepburn was all wrong for the role and replaced her with Anne Baxter a more voluptuous woman.

DeMille badly wanted Hepburn to play Nefeteri in his remake of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, but when he saw her in the costumes he decided Hepburn was all wrong for the role and replaced her with Anne Baxter a more voluptuous woman.

I just finished watching Paramount's splendid DVD release of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. There is a short interesting feature with Elmer Bernstein explaining how he got the assignment. He was to assist DeMille's favorite composer Victor Young. Since Young was too ill, Bernstein took his place and scored the entire film. Bernstein's score for this epic film is one of his best. Some of my favorites scores are FROM THE TERRACE (I always found this romantic score very moving), THE CARPETBAGGERS, SONS OF KATIE ELDER, WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and of course TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. After hearing Bernstein's early scores (along with Jerry Goldsmith) I always thought these two composers were worthy successors to the composers of the golden age: Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman and Erich Korngold. Now with these two greats gone there simply is no one else to take their place.

I'd use the cutoff date as 1960 for good movies. That was just about the end of the studio system.

In my comments below I meant to say the newer the star the more illegible the signature. As for Ms. Reynolds, this must be new, she never charged before. Does she charge if one were to send her a photo with a self-addressed envelope? In the past some stars asked for a nominal fee to go to their favorite charity, but never put the money in their own pocket. I really think this is outrageous. At one particular celebrity show in L.A. some celebs charge up to $50 for an autograph -- and I am talking about many obscure TV personalties. A word of caution: One has to be careful in not sending Ms. Reynolds original photos since she will keep them. I found out she collects on herself. Before I started in-person collecting, I sent her a gorgeous original movie still along with two others, she kept the original. So I learned a lesson from there on. One does have to be careful about this!

Like Crawford, Marlene Dietrich is another who did sign all photos. In fact even towards the end I heard she opened all her own mail and signed each and every photo. And like Crawford she would occasionally write a personal note to the fan. I sent her several photos at different times and each and every one came back signed. Another great one was Audrey Hepburn. I remember seeing her on Larry King and she mentioned that she was behind with all her mail but she would eventually get to it. It took me about six months to hear from her but eventually all my photos came back signed. To this list I would add James Stewart and Vincent Price. I know Price received tons of mail requesting autographs and he never failed to answer each and every piece of mail. I'd say over 95% of old-time stars responded to my mail. I think the studios trained these stars to be good about this. Alas, today's so-called stars couldn't care less about their fans. And for some reason the newer the star the more illiterate the autograph. It is usually a scribble. Personally, I have rarely paid for an autograph. And I would think $80 sounds a bit high for a Glenn Ford autograph. If one has access to attending a collectors show, one might get a better deal.

Ginger Rogers is definitely one of my all time favorites. She was one of the most versatile actresses in Hollywood. Just compare the two films that TCM ran the other day MAJOR AND THE MINOR and KITTY FOYLE. She could go from comedy to musical to straight drama with ease. How many actresses could manage that today.

classicfan1119, this is a tough one. I'd say most of the old time stars do their own autographs, especially the retired ones. In the 90s I had gotten such stars as Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Vincent Price, etc. through the mail. Since these actors were no longer working there was probably no need for a secretary and they signed everything themselves. I even got a typed letter from Katharine Hepburn signed with her scratchy signature. I know these signatures were authentic. I sent Cyd Charisse some photos in the mail and she did sign them. I also met her in person and the autograph she gave me was the same. And as I said previously some stars signatures have changed greatly over the years. (See my previous comments on Gregory Peck.) There have been a few times I bought autographs: Olivia de Havilland, Anne Baxer and Irene Dunne. But I consulted with someone who was familar with those signatures. Sending through the mail, one has nothing to lose. One has to be very careful only in buying autographs since they could be forgeries. Most of the autographs I have obtained were in-person. That is the only way one can know for sure.

In the early 90s I sent Mr. Ford several pictures which he signed and returned to me. But as of today, I think Mr. Ford is not in good health, so who can say whether he will sign pictures or not. I suppose you can e-mail him first and see if its ok to send pictures.

I had much success in getting autographs through the mail in the 1990s. But one has to be careful. Many stars (mostly current stars) are too busy and have secretaries who can duplicate the stars signature, so what you might get is not quite the real thing. And there are a few who never return your photos, so I would not advise sending orignals. Most of the older stars that I got through the mail (Fred Astaire, Van Johnson, Ginny Sims, Lillian Gish, etc.) I know were authentic. I consider myself lucky since so many of the old time stars have passed away in recent years. As to buying autographs through the mail/stores one has to be careful that the signatures are authentic. I have seen many bogus signatures. Also, many old time stars signatures have changed over the years. In the 1990s I was lucky to have Gregory Peck sign a picture. I have seen some photos he signed back in the late 40s early 50s and his signature had changed completely.

The studio you mentioned was called PRC. They made mainly 'B' films in the forties. Another independent studio was Eagle-Lion which was later taken over by United Artists. One of their more interesting films was REPEAT PERFORMANCE which starred Joan Leslie, Zachery Scott and Richard Basehart. An intesting premise about an actress who gets her wish to repeat an entire year over again. This one has disappeared from TV completely.

I would have preferred to see more of Sellers' British flicks like THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, I'M ALL RIGHT JACK and THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH. Unfortunately TCM doesn't hold the rights to these films. The PINK PANTHER movies have been shown over and over again.

I believe these titles will be released in January 2005, although they have yet to announce the winners.

I think everyone would love to see DeHavilland interviewed by Robert Osborne. Her name has been suggested several times before. But, I think it unlikely since she resides in France and I doubt if she would come to this county just for a one hour interview. Now if Osborne would go to France, that might be another story. I heard Glenn Ford is not in the best condition, so I would probably rule him out. DeHavilland's sister Joan Fontain would be more likely candidate, if only she would accept. More likely candidates would be Ann Rutherford, Mickey Rooney, Marsha Hunt or Kathryn Grayson. These people are out and about and I'm sure would consent. My suggestions for interviews would be international stars Michele Morgan or Danielle Darrieux. Unfortunately, these ladies also reside in France.

Parker has always been a favorite of mine and I would also love for Robert Osborne to interview her. Recently Parker made an in-person appearance at a tribute in Palm Springs with the showing of CAGED. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend. Ms. Parker never seems to make personal appearances and has been out of the limelight for quite some time now. The fact that she lives in Palm Springs made it easy for her to appear at this tribute.

Evem though WB just released THE BAD SEED, in October they will team this one up with WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? for a 2-DVD set. What a double feature!

To this list I would add MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID (1948) which co-stars William Powell. A charming fantasy with Blyth as a Mermaid. Another film that seems to have vanished.

As far as I know EVE has only run on AMC. That station has licensed much of the FOX library. So far other than BLOOD AND SAND, TCM has run few FOX films. Hopefully, when AMC's license agreement with FOX expires much of the library will move to TCM.

The one Ophuls film I would love to see again is THE RECKLESS MOMENT. This film noir suspense thriller starred Joan Bennett and James Mason. The 1949 film was originally released by Columbia but has all but vanished. The RECKLESS MOMENT was effectively remade (a rarety) in 2001 as THE DEEP END, with a slightly altered storyline.

I was fortunate enough to meet Ms. Wray around 1989 at her book signing of ON THE OTHER HAND. The lines were around the block, and the actress stayed until everyone got their books signed. A few months later she was an in-person guest for a special showing of KING KONG in Los Angeles. One hopes that Wray has participated in the Warner newly mastered DVD release of KONG due out next year.

Both THE STAR (AMC?) and ENCHANTED COTTAGE (a few months ago on TCM) have been run on TV in recent times. I would like to see the following: John Huston's WE WERE STRANGERS which stars Jennifer Jones and John Garfield, UNDER MY SKIN which also stars John Garfield, Max Ophuls' THE RECKLESS MOMENT with Joan Bennett and James Mason which was remade as THE DEEP END and lastly DREAMBOAT a very funny film from FOX which stars Clifton Webb and Ginger Rogers who are two silent screen stars who's career is revived when their films appear on TV. These four films has been off TV for years.

One of the few times a film shunned music -- and it does work. Another similar film not to use music was Patterns, also about big business.