lzcutter

Larry, It is Obama Barack that is thinking of running for president here next year. Sasha Baron Cohen is hopefully making too many deals with HBO and such to have time to consider a run for the presidency.

They're both riding on the coattails of someone else's work, Ms. Haskell no doubt getting into the business because she married right.>> To say that Molly Haskell has been riding her husband's (Andrew Sarris) coattails all these years is wrong. Whether you like her or not, she earned her chops and her reputation on her own merits as a film critic and a writer. Again her book "From Reverence to Rape" was a big deal in its day and she was one of the first to seriously look at the de-evolution of womens roles in film history. She had her career started when she met and married Andrew Sarris I don't think she is well suited to co-host "The Essentials" but she didn't get the job because she married well. She got the job because she is a well-respected film critic and scholar.

I know that a recording of "The Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish" does exist, because I own it (I assumed everyone had it! "Sheesh, what a freak."). It came out in a three-lp set of Warner Brothers Studio soundtracks. And actually there were two three-lp sets: Fifty Years in Film and Fifty Years in Film Music; one featuring music from non-musicals, the other obviously from musicals.>> Jack, When they first came out, I bought the 50 Years in Film and the separate Fifty Years in Film Music. I lost my copy of the 50 Years in Film but thanks to Ebay was able to replace it in vinyl. Come to the Southland, I will keep Footlight Parade tivo'd and you and me and Kyle and filmlover can debate this piece of music back and forth throughout our tour of Old Hollywood. My dream would be that we meet up with Larry who joins us on our journey of Old Hollywood and keeps us in stitches with his stories.

John Ford can't quite compete with the Amalfi Coast...except to lzcutter.>> Hey, I resemble that remark.... I've almost got Mr Cutter talked into going to Monument Valley for our milestone anniversary this year. I know the world is filled with beautiful places but Monument Valley speaks to me in a way no other place does thanks to John Ford.

I can't imagine you've found it at all difficult. Sorry to have disillusiond you, but if you think about it, being disillusioned is a good thing.>> While I did not find Molly Haskell an engaging co-host for "The Essentials", I do have to stand up for her book "From Reverance to Rape" that was published back in the 1970s. The book is great and was quite revolutionary in its day. The thesis is basically the devolution of womens roles in film over the years. I haven't read it since it was originally published but she did earn her chops for writing it.

Kyle, It should really not surprise us (though it always does) that JB had the Raymond Scott discs. It's one reason I want JB to visit us down here in the Southland as I think we would have a wonderful day of exploring old Hollywood and sharing stories. Anyways, back to the song. I have Footlight Parade tivo'd and cued up to that particular scene. The beginning of the piece in question is very similar to "The Whirling Dervish" (from our fave Garden of the Moon) it then seques (cross fades) into a more oriental sounding piece. But the beginning is sounds like every movie that takes place in Morroco, the Foreign Legion, etc. Do you or JB know when "Whirling Dervish" was written or first recorded? By the way the John Wayne early oater that Cagney and the Producers are watching, looks like an actual work print copy with the fade marks drawn in grease pencil. You can see the fade marks as the curtain is going down but the scene is not actually fading down.

Fred, If I remember correctly, Walter Lord's book "A Night to Remember" was the most thoroughly researched book on the disaster when it was published in the mid-1950s. He had gone back and done extensive interviews with the survivors and poured over documents about the building of the ship, the sailing and the inquests. The book put to rest many of the urban myths and preconceived notions that people had carried with them since the disaster. When Robert Ballard found the Titanic in the mid-1980s, another book was published that confirmed that Walter Lord had gotten the majority of the story right. Lord's retelling of the sinking was taken from first hand accounts and it wasn't until Ballard found the ship that the pieces were put together as to how it actually had sunk. Lord and the survivors were unaware that the ship had broken in pieces on its way down to its watery grave. But in the end, even Ballard said that Lord was 98% correct.

> Do you know if there was a blue diamond aboard the > Titanic?>> I don't remember a blue diamond being mentioned in Lord's book but John Jacob Astor and his young wife were aboard and while he made sure she was safely away in a lifeboat, he went down with the ship along with all her jewelry and effects. Also Isidore Strauss and his wife (they started Macy's Department Store) were aboard and went down with the ship. A copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was actually on board the Titanic. The book had 1,051 semi-precious stones set in 18-carat gold, 5,000 separate pieces of colored leathers, and 100 square feet of 22-carat gold leaf in the tooling. It went down with the ship.

Since so many of the plot elements are so similar in all the Titanic films, I wonder if there was a famous book on which they are all based? Does anyone know?>> Fred, If you've not read A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, I highly recommend it. It is the basis for the film of the same name and many of the real people in Lord's book are portrayed (some quite correctly) in Cameron's "Titanic". Famous people from the ship that Lord writes about in his book and are portrayed in Cameron's version include: John Jacob Astor and his wife Sir Cosmo Duff and Lady Duff Gordon Thomas Andrews Bruce Ismay Col. Archibald Gracie Jack Thayer Benjamin Guggenheim Isidor and Ida Strauss "Molly" Brown

SPTO, I hope you folks in Canada are able to enjoy Carrie and RO this year. Carrie, besides being Debbie's daughter, is a respected writer and script doctor here in tinseltown. She is renowned here at least for her knowledge of classic films. She and her mother live in separate houses on the same property and have pajama parties (usually with Penny Marshall and friends) watching classic films. Debbie will dish while they watch. Or so they say.

Kyle, The Raymond Scott song is similar in nature but the piece from Footlight Parade is slightly different. The Scott song features horns and such and the piece in question is much lower and uses drums. The piece in question reminds me of some of the incidental music from Casablanca. Running out to my special dinner, will try to do more sleuthing when I return!

Jack, It appears that Ms. Haskell (despite the thread in the General Forum calling for her to be fired) has finished her stint as Essentials Co-Host. Carrie Fisher will be the Essentials Co-Host for 2007 beginning, I think, in March.

Weapon, While I don't necessarily agree that every film has to only have positive things said about it, you'll be glad to know that Molly Haskell will not be returning as the Essentials co-host in March. Carrie Fisher will be co-hosting the show with RO.

Are you thinking of the "Shanghai Lil" number?

There is a western, I want to say it's Audie Murphy, that was shot in some of the most interesting rock formations I've ever seen. It was a mountain of boulders. I don't think I've ever seen it in any other western. I wish I could remember .>> It could be the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine where everything from Gunga Din to Randolph Scott westerns were shot. Or the other possibility is the Garden of the Gods area in Chatsworth where the famed Iverson Movie Ranch was located.

My memory tells me that the article centered on her performing in a "little" stage show in the Santa Barbara area. I don't think it was related to her appearance at the Egyptian Theater for a film festival.>> Kyle, That's it, she was performing in Santa Maria! The article talked about her and the songs she would be singing as well as her career and her move to the Central Coast and the church she is involved with!

Ayres, I'm a fan of "24" (my dad got me hooked on the show last season). I'm looking forward to the two part premiere this weekend. I don't find "24" to be an overly violent show. Yes, people get shot and killed but it never seems gratuitous to me. The show is very good about building suspense and tension. I can weigh in better on the article after the first part of the premiere tomorrow night. I suspect that reading the scene makes it sound much more violent and in some ways gratuitous than the way it may play visually in context with the rest of the script. I'll come back on Monday and let you know my reaction!

Larry, There was an article last summer in the LA Times about Ms. Russell. I believe she was appearing at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood for a film festival sponsored by the American Cinemateque. I remember the photo because she was wearing a shade of orange lipstick and I think both Kyle and Filmlover commented on the pic. I think Filmlover went to the Film Festival but I can't remember if he saw Ms. Russell. She looked great in the photo (lipstick notwithstanding) and the article made it sound like she was doing very well health wise. I believe she moved from Palm Springs to a small community on the Central Coast and is involved in with a church there. Kyle, Filmlover does this sound right or is my memory hazy?

*****Blushing******

Moira, It's a new Western but "Silverado" is beautifully shot on location in New Mexico. Also, "Heaven's Gate" shot on location in Wyoming and Montana is beautifully shot as well.

Thanks guys, I hope we can all take it to heart.

embody the spirit of TCM: nostalgia for a kinder, gentler era... That's what TCM means to me... >> Otterhere, I think we will find that TCM means different things to different people. While you have a nostalgia for that kinder, gentler era there will be those that look at that era and remember it as oppressive, segregated and filled with hard times. TCM takes into account that movies mean different things to all of us. They are out there helping to preserve films, talking with other studios and distributors to work out deals so that they can bring us films from all eras, working to bring us 24/7 a plethora of films that we request and many that we aren't aware of but will watch because TCM is airing them. They seem to appreciate much more than we do sometimes that films from all eras are important because film has the power to show us as we were and how we have changed as a culture and as a society. Film has the power to show us prejudice that we might otherwise turn a blind eye to, social matters that required and still require our attention. Film is an escape to another place and time but it can also open our eyes to the less kind, less gentle nature of us as a people. One reason movies evolved into more realism after WW2 was because the audiences wanted movies that were more grounded in real life and less escapist fare. Escapist fare was still produced but so were more realistic movies. TCM makes a valiant effort each month to bring us films from all decades. Each month the majority of films are from the 1940s and 1950s with the 1930s and the 1960s coming next and a smattering of silent films and post-1970 films rounding out the schedule. And we reward all that each month by complaining about the schedule because they dare to show seven or eight post-1970s films that some people detest and some people enjoy. In the end, perhaps the fault is not with TCM but with ourselves for not respecting that each one of us appreciates the different decades of film for different reasons and that while we may not like a particular film being shown that someone else in the group will be filled with joy at the chance to enjoy it. Message was edited by: lzcutter because articles really do help make a sentence more understandable.

but I believe TCM's "mission statement," as it were, should be emphasizing pre-1960 film Actually, they do have one and it has been printed a few times. lzcutter, do you happen to have it and can you paste it here? >> Thanks to the Wayback Machine: From the TCM Home Page, December 1997: Turner Classic Movies, a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., presents the greatest motion pictures of all time, from the 1920s through the 1980s, commercial-free and without interruption. Visit the TCM Home Page. Their mission statement has never included just pre-1960 films. This may be an instance of that pesky memory and perception coming into play.

On the one hand, people whinge about individual consumption and people not caring about each other, and looking at the Norman Rockwell image as the halcyon days.>> Fedya, It seems to be a very American trait to look back at our past, especially with how different our lives are now vs then, and yearn for that simpler time when life seemed so much better. The reality is that those halcyon days were filled with just as much strive, hard times, segregation and oppression as they were filled with love, caring and looking out for one another. Were we to actually live in those times, we likely wouldn't find them so rosy. But we tend to overlook the negative aspects of that in our yearning for the way it used to be.

Happy Birthday, Anne From one Capricorn to another!