lzcutter

***************************************Western Union Telegram***************************** Special Instructions: Do not deliver until morning From: Interim Dean LzCutter, Classic Cinema College To: Commander Aloysius ?Buck? Hudsucker, Capital Headquarters, State Police Hudsucker, Am relieved to hear that Professor Klondike and Bill Hopper have been released and are on their way back to us here at the College. Given this time of year, you have no idea how much the bureaucracy up there has put us behind schedule. God's Nightgown, man, how could you think for a moment that Professor Klondike could be an international spy? He may have the demeanor of a circus clown from time to time and be prone to dressing as one as well (right downt to the sad eyes and tear falling on his cheek) but even the youngest of our students here knows it is just Klondike being Klondike. To have almost started a Territorial incident over this, defies imaginition. Surely, you Mounties must have something better to do? I hear you have a Mountie who sings Opera with a very beautiful young woman. Perhaps y'all should concentrate on those two and leave our crazies to us down here in the States where we can at least decipher between those who are really a crazy and those who are masquerading. If you would like, we offer a summer course, taught by Professor Joan Crawford that will help you distinquish between the two. Please let us know if you are interested.

********************Western Union****************** Canadian-American Border To: Professor Klondike, In Transit From: Interim Dean LzCutter, Classic Cinema College Professor Klondike: Glad to hear that you have been sprung from the depths of Canadian Bureaucracy. Please be advised to meet Professor Humphrey Bogart and Police Chief Louis Renault at the border stop. They will have your letters of transit which should allow you to enter the country with no further ado. Am glad that you are a free man. Have sent Filmlover to light the clock tower for you and Dean Finnie to guide you all home safely. Over the hectic week-end, perhaps when we are cryin' in our ales together, would like to talk with you about the Motor Pool. After all their shenanigans this past month, I think they may need to be reminded of the fear of the Almighty. Who better to administer that fear than our own Milly Natwick. You will be glad to know that late this evening, Professor Cagney, Msgr. O'Brien and Wrestling Coach Vic McLaglen stumbled back to the College no worse for wear. They were dressed rather bizarre, even for them. Professor Cagney was wearing a donkey's head and quoting Shakespeare: "Man is but an a** if he go about to expound this dream. Man is but a patched fool if he will offer to say what methought I was and what methought I had. " And then he would bray like a donkey. He might be a wee touched in the head, perhaps suffering a concussion from one of the scuffles with Vic McLaglen. The Monsigneur was dressed as if he had just come from a nightclub. In the pockets, the girls down in laundry found cocktail naopkins for some place called the Garden of the Moon. Lord only knows. As for Vic McLaglen, truth be told, he looked like he was wearing his best Sunday go to meeting clothes, except they were about two sizes too small. I can only imagine the stories behind this bender of theirs and I suspect we will be paying for the damages for some time to come. Thank the Lord we have such kind and beneficial benefactors. The light is on, the coffee brewing and Milly Natwick has left a bottle of Carolens Irish Creme next to the coffee pot for you, the Dean, Professor Bogart (who will likely prefer scotch) and Chief Renault. Get some sleep as we will be burning daylight early.

Anne, The easiest thing to do is to highlight the long link you want to convert. Once highlighted, choose copy from your Edit Menu or use control key+c to copy the link. Go to File on your upper toolbar and choose new tab or new window. Type www.url.com into that new window or tab's search window. Hit enter. It should take you to www.tinyurl.com You will see this page: Are you sick of posting URLs in emails only to have it break when sent causing the recipient to have to cut and paste it back together? Then you've come to the right place. By entering in a URL in the text field below, we will create a tiny URL that will not break in email postings and never expires. There will be a place directly following where you can paste your long link. Paste your long link in that window and hit the Convert button. A new page will appear with your short url. Copy the short url, come back here and paste it into your message. Then hit enter and post your message. If you have any other questions let me know!

God's Nightgown! Filmlover, Are you telling me that O'Brien and Cagney are on the lam drinking up the countryside? I would wager that they have hooked up with McLaglen and we won't see the three of them until the beginning of Dean Finnie's upcoming St. Patrick Celebration. Please high-tail it back to the Constable's office and ask him to put you up for the evening in one of the cells. Your rescuers wil be there bright and early so try to get some sleep. I suspect that Professor Klondike will give you a verbal dressing down after handing over the hang-over cure. I would suggest blaming it all on Cagney, O'Brien and McLaglen and begging Miss Milly Natwick's forgivenance on bended knee. I will send Professor Klondike to round up the other three. After drinking, snipe hunting and following strange hollowed eye creatures around the country side, you are under house supervision this upcoming weekend.

Filmlover, When you return to the campus, please make an appointment with my secretary so that you and I can talk further about this little escapade. There will have to be some sort of punishment. Nothing corporal or militaristic nor something (that the sheriff and judge willing, won't appear on your record) but perhaps some sort of community service in the Classic Cinema Theater during the upcoming Spring Frolic scheduled for the week before Easter. I will give the matter some grave thought and discuss it with the Restoration faculty. In the meantime, I will have Hollywood Kyle prepare you a hangover cure and send it in a thermos with your rescuers. I am assuming that O'Brien and Cagney, like McLaglen, are no worse for the wear.

****************INTERDEPT. MEMO****************** TO: Alpha Beta House Mother, Mildred Natwick, School Counsel Attorney, Gregory Peck and Professor Klondike, History Department. From: Interim Dean, Lzcutter I have just received an urgent note from one of the Film Restoration School's teaching assistants, Filmlover. I believe he is a member of the Alpha Beta House. As he is one of our top students in the Film Restoration program I was quite surprised to see that he had fallen prey to an early St. Patrick's celebration with Coach Pat O'Brien and Professor Jimmy Cagney. I suspect that Filmlover was unaccustom to their appetite for the drink and tried to match them glass for glass. I'm sure the young man strongly regrets his choice of drinking companions. The problem is that they were all too snoockered to realize they were arguing with Wrestling Coach Vic McLaglen (who was no worse for wear at the Faculty meeting this morning). Because it was McLaglen they got into a brawl with, it goes without saying, though I am, that there was a fair piece of damage done to the tavern where all this took place (as there always is when McLaglen is involved). I would appreciate it if first thing in the morning, you could go to town and arrange, to get our student teacher and professors released from the slammer on their own recogniance. Should bail money be necessary, Professor Klondike will be along to take care of any financial transactions that need handling. Please ask the tavern owner to add the damage to our bill. I suspect that we will owe much more to the tavern owner before the weekend is over. Again, let's try to keep this as quiet as possible. We have had enough gossip and speculation from townfolk about whether we are running a college or a beer hall. So again, please be sure to play this close to the vest and keep it off the record, on the QT and the very hush, hush as much as possible. I will begin batting down the hatches for our upcoming St. Patrick's Celebration. Message was edited by: lzcutter because spelling correctly is important

Catydid, The 31 Days of Oscar Salute just ended last week. During this time, TCM salutes the Oscar winners and nominees. Now that the Salute is over, TCM has returned to its normal programming of studio era and post studio era films. As noted, they have recently completed deals to begin broadcasting films from Columbia Studio Film Library and others, TCM ran some Jean Harlow films this past December, including Red Headed Woman[] and I believe Red Dust was aired during the Oscar salute.

During this celebration, at the request of Dean Finnie, The Chieftains will play, Enya will keen, Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers will sing "Courtin' in the Kitchen", Bing Crosby will warble "Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy's Chowder?", the NYC Fire Dept. Emerald Society Bagpipes will perform "Danny Boy" and James Galway will play a penny whistle made from 24 karat gold. >> Look for myself, Prof. Klondike and Vic McLaglen to be cryin' in our brews during all this singing. The Film Restoration Dept. will be announcing our screening schedule for the upcoming Spring Frolic. Stay tuned.

Filmlover, By now, you know me and a deadline! Just in time, here it is: First of all, I want to say WOW!!!! These schedules are all terrific and everyone who has participated deserves kudos and props all around for a job well done. It is very heartening to see how far this Challenge has come in just a year. A special thanks to Filmlover for moderating this Challenge. Having been in your shoes, I know it is not easy even in the best of times. Lest anyone think that I have grown weary of participating, I sat this one out for two reasons: 1) My mother had surgery which took me away from home and research for much of the month. We just refer to her now as the bionic woman. 2) Having participated in the challenges from the beginning, I wanted to take a rest. Also, with so many freshmen and sophmores (along with a couple of seniors) participating, I loved the idea of new blood being introduced into the game. I have the TCM swag from the first Challenge (and I love my prize, The Lion of Hollywood) so I don't need more. Besides Mr Cutter prefers I try to cut down on the amount of movie memorabilia and books in our library. Fat Chance there. So, to all who participated, take a bow!! This is not always easy and I think Path's original intent was to make those who do participate aware of how difficult it is to program this Channel 24/7, 52 weeks a year. I'm sure all the Challengers have a new found respect for the Programmers job. All that said, I wish I could choose all of you because there is something from each schedule that I suspect we will be seeing throughout the year if TCMProgrammr has his way. Great themes, great movies, great subjects all. The hard part for the rest of us is voting. As I said,it was not easy making a choice. There were contenders vying for first spot every time I read a schedule. But in the end, my vote goes to MovieMan1957. We could sit down in the theater in the ClassicCinema College and we wouldn't leave the theater for a week nor would we have an argument. The only downside, Mr Cutter would wonder why he couldn't use either Tivo in the house. Honorary mention goes to BenWHowell for his wonderful idea of promos for the schedules! For DVD box set, my vote goes to BenWHowell for the wonderful William Haines set. If ever an actor deserved more recognition, a box set and a documentary, its Billy Haines. Thanks again to everyone who participated and especially to Filmlover for moderating so well. That so many people participated is a wonderful sign and I hope you keep participating!

*****Western Union****** From: Interim Dean Lzcutter, School of Film Restoration To: Dean MoiraFinnie6, Classic Cinema College Location: Blair General Hospital, care of Dr. Kildare Subject: 2007 Spring Frolic Dear Dean Finnie, We all are continuing to hope for your complete recovery from the dogsledding fiasco of last winter. Professor Klondike is often heard muttering under his breath after Faculty and Staff meetings "This wouldn't happen if Buffalo Gal were here". There have been some attempts at coups to take over your position but with the help of Prof. Klondike, Wrestling Coach Vic McLaglen, Night Security Officer Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and others who prefer to remain nameless but trust you know who they are, those attempts have been completely unsuccessful. We have managed to get through the dark of winter without much incident. The Birthday celebration for Thelma Ritter was a complete success. No broken bottles, chairs, tables, no one went to the hospital or was sent to the slammer. Which for us, is quite a feat. Which brings me to why I am writing. St. Patrick's Day is coming and you and I both know how traumatic that can be for many members of our Staff and Faculty. The "Irish Brigade" has been hard at work down in the motor pool mixing up some crazy, strange smelling brew. JackBurley's complaints about Human Resources sending over Zombies to help him restore our Musical Heritage films probably spearheaded the motorpool into action. Jack had complained about all the sugar cane that the Zombies had clinging to them every day. Well, the Motor Pool, completely on their own, followed the Zombies and found the source of the sugar cane. Within 48 hours, the sugar cane field was leveled and the Zombies quit. I suspect that the sugar cane has been seized by the Motor Pool in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. To make matters worse, Professor and Magician Frank Morgan has wired from Kansas inquiring to our plans regarding our annual Spring Frolic. What shall I tell him? Should we plan one, knowing that the St. Pat's celebration will be a headline maker? Bear the scrutiny and the burnt of criticism and let everyone blow off steam? Law Professor Gregory Peck has kindly offered to be our defense counsel should anyone get hauled before the judge. And you and I can both think of a half dozen staffers and faculty who that could happen to. The good news, Professor Peck is a great orator. So, Dean Finnie, we write to you for guidance. We can hold the coup makers at bay for as long as takes for you to get well. But if there is to be a Spring Frolic we would like to send the invitation using your name and your blessing. Hoping for your speedy recovery, Acting Dean Lzcutter ps The girls in the Steno pool ask that you say hello to Dr McDreamy, excuse me, Dr. Kildare for them. Message was edited by: lzcutter because a bigger box to write my post in might result in fewer typos but no promises.

Sue Sue, Interesting to note that Ellroy no longer talks to Hodel and dismisses Hodel's book as fabrications. Not having seen Ellroy as part of live discussion before I was taken back by how much he kept the conversation focused on himself when he was there to interview Wambaugh and it was Wambaugh we were there to hear. Sandy, I will try to find the name of the book that the play was based on for you!

I just want to put something in, flick a switch, have anything I want recorded with no muss or fuss, and know that it won't be erased.>> Bronxgirl, Sounds like a Tivo would be just the ticket. I got the second Tivo as a Christmas present for Mr Cutter last year. Bought it off of Ebay. With shipping, it was cheaper than buying a new one. Works like a champ. I think Hughes now makes DVR's with Tivo built in. But if you can find one on Ebay that is a true Tivo it is worth it because they are that easy to use. Trust me, if my folks can use it, it's easy. You can PM if you would like the link to the seller on ebay.

Filmlover, I agree. We have DirecTV, two Tivos and a Sony DVR that I can record stuff to when the Tivo gets full. But, Bronxgirl was asking for something that was easy to use and user friendly. That's why I suggested the Tivo if she was not going to be building a library but only wanted to record programs to watch at a later date.

Bronxgirl, I should amend my post to say 80 hours on the hard drive, not gig. A Tivo can store up to 80 hours of programming and you can tell it when to delete stuff. It is one of our favorites, we have two and we got one for my parents two years ago. My dad loves it. He can pause a program he is watching in real time (or that he recorded) if my mother interrupts him with a question. He can rewind to see a part if he missed part of the dialogue. All hail Tivo!!!

Ideally, I want something very user friendly and that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.>> Bronxgirl, Do you want to start a collection of film taped off of TCM or do you just want to be able to record them and watch them? If it's the latter, a Tivo might be the thing for you as they are very easy to program. You don't have to set a start or stop time. Just pick the date, channel and time and tivo does the rest. They come with 80 gig hard drives and you can store the movies for watching later for quite some time.

Anne, You should PM Larry and let him know. He may have stories he'd share with you. Agnes Moorehead was one of his very favorite ladies as I recall.

Kyle, From your keyboard to God's ear, here's hoping. I like the idea of a few people from this forum being asked to be part of the November Guest Programmer idea. Especially since for that month they are going outside the box to people from other walks of life besides being well known names. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Kesey's dead? So - uh - what does that mean? >> I do like the image of tying his arm up (and he probably would have too) but it means that his Estate now oversees his literary properties. Cinesage may know if it is, in fact, being held up for broadcast or DVD because of the Abend Ruling.

After cutting back their animation staff, laying off artists a few years back and investing 7.4 billion dollars to buy Pixar (the pioneer in CG Animation) t seems Disney has reversed course. Their production of The Frog Princess will be a return to hand drawn animation it was announced at the annual shareholders meeting in New Orleans. Randy Newman will compose the score and songs. The lead female character will be the first African American animated heroine that Disney has had. The co-directors of The Little Mermaid who were forced out of Disney by the pre-Pixar regime will helm the movie. John Lassiter is credited with bringing them back to Disney. Disney dropped its hand drawn animation department in 2004 when Home on the Range failed to ignite at the box office. Because Disney laid off their hand drawn artists they will have to find new artists or hire the old ones back. Read about it here in today's LATimes: http://tinyurl.com/3dog5r Remember when posting links tinyurl.com is your friend! Message was edited by: lzcutter

If I could get Paul Newman, then I'd also find out who I'd have to tar-and-feather in order to get his first directorial effort SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION on-screen. And if that's Ken Kesey, fine, I'll get him on-set, too. >> Ollie, I think Ken Kesey was not pleased with the movie adapted from his book. The film may be subject to the Abend decision or it could be a similar situation to the Gershwin estate and "Porgy and Bess". Ken Kesey passed away a few years back so his estate would have to be contacted. I saw the film on its initial release years ago. The scene in the river with Newman and Richard Jaeckle has stayed with me ever since.

Kyle, I agree with Chris. I think you'd make a great Guest Programmer. From many of your Challenge schedules I can only guess what films you would pick but I'm willing to bet we would all be watching!

I understand "poverty row" was a real location in Los Angeles...I forget the name of the street.>> Rusty, The name of the street is Gower. The building and lot are still there though now used mainly for television production. It is located at Sunset and Gower just north of the cemetery and Paramount Studios.

I, for one, am not likely to buy another Fox DVD set again, at least not without making sure there hasn't been some hideous problem with the video transfer.>> Have you watched a copy of The Gang's All Here yet? I ask because there is alot of controversy about the look of the latest transfer. You posted a critique of the DVD and since the national publication of that piece, evidence has come forward that the DVD transfer may not be as bad as the critic thought and that other elements exist rather than being completely destroyed.

I can't understand the copyright on those Universal Holmes films. The CBS/Fox Key Video tapes had the Lorimar logo on the reverse of the sleeves, and Lorimar's library is (I thought) held by Warner. However, the copyright lines on those Key tapes showed various parties as the owners, including an individual person in the case of one film.>> Dan, Often films can beset by rights hell. In the 1970s an individual contacted 20th Century Fox about The Gang's All Here. He was granted a license by Fox for the film. He did some restoration and by all accounts has one of the best looking prints (legally) of this film. When it came time to for Fox to author this film to DVD last year, they instead used another version in their vaults rather going with the one of the best sources. Why? Probably had something to do with the dollars involved.

I was referring specifically to the process by where other studios with film libraries that have classics in them are slowly starting to see TCM as a viable option for the purposes of selling classic programming. >> But with that often comes making the archiving and restoration to make it possible for DVD releases. TCM has a digital server. All that it airs must be on a digital format. For a studio to undertake putting a film, previously on a analog format like Betacam SP or 3/4", on a digital format they at least have then have the material available for a DVD release.