lzcutter

>It does show though like in the movie about Patton that time is fleeting, ""For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.."

> Why doesn't TCM post the TCM Remembers video on their website? They do. It usually gets posted to the Media Room a few days after it starts airing. Perhaps by the end of the week you could look again.

Helen, Welcome back! Sounds like you had a terrific time sailing the ocean blue with TCM. Thanks so much for sharing your memories with us. Hanging with Tom Brown is always fun and Bingo with Ben just makes me smile. Can't wait to see on TCM the sneak preview you got to see first! Get some rest and thank you again!

> both Susann and Harold Robbins share the "limelight" of literary smut associated to American publishing. While their books were popular, in as much as best sellers, the two are probably the great forerunners to what most know today as block-buster popular media trash. Props should probably also go to Grace Metalious, the housewife who scored a major success with *Peyton Place* which was published in 1956.

> Fonde had occasionally played somewhat of a bad guy in the '30s. If you are talking about Henry Fonda, by the time he did *Once Upon a Time in the West*, he was more known for his good guy roles and I don't know that, prior to this role, he had played a stone cold killer like that.

> Anyone else miss this? Has it started running yet? It usually starts running the middle of the month.

Joe, I had the opportunity to meet Tommy Kirk last year when he came to Disney Family Museum for a program. He now lives in Oregon. We had Tim Considine and David Stollery (Spin and Marty) here last month as well! Ah, memory lane.

> I would adore seeing, "It's a Wonderful Life" without commercials on TCM. When will this be happen? Seren, I think we would all love to see TCM air *Wonderful Life*. Unfortunately, NBC has a long-term exclusive broadcast contract for *Wonderful Life*. Because it's an exclusive contract, other channels aren't able to broadcast the film. The NBC contract runs for a few (if not more) more years.

> Also had a question. These fragments, for example the short clip of Theda Bara as Cleopatra, the clip they showed was about 10 seconds longDoes this compilation show the entire existing fragment, or just a piece of what still exists? It's probably all that exists. The negative and fine grain master of Bara's *Cleopatra* were destroyed in a vault fire that destroyed many of Fox's silent and early films. The vault fire occurred in 1937. The destruction instituted a change of policy of storing negatives and fine grain masters together. Also among the films lost in that fire: *Way Down East* as well as films starring William Farnum, Harry Carey and Tom Mix. Also films from companies such as Educational Pictures and World-Wide that Fox sub-distributed were lost.

It sounds like *Star in the Night* which is on the schedule next Tuesday night.

John Gilbert's biggest problem wasn't his voice, it was the fact that the screen image the public had of him was quickly going out of fashion. It wasn't just talkies that there were changing the landscape of movies but the Depression as well. And Depression audiences wanted more modern movies and movie stars. The Depression made possible the stars that we still associate with 1930s. Gilbert's other big problem with MGM was his salary. He was one of the highest paid (if not the highest) star on the lot and the conversion to sound and the Depression were playing havoc with MGM's bottom line. By the time that Gilbert realized the big cultural shift that had taken place he was already behind the eight ball. He was the victim not only of that shift but of the bad business decisions made not only by himself but by his handlers. But the urban myth of his voice recordings being sabotaged makes for much better reading than the story of man who couldn't keep ahead of the changing times and fell victim to the changing tastes of movie goers because of that.

One thing to keep in mind, just because the schedule is up, it's not the official schedule and as Michael, the new WebAdmin likes to remind us at times like this, it is subject to change.

> I seem to remember this movie being shown more often in years past, Possibly on other channels. I don't think the Sims version has been on TCM very often as fans are often posting about its lack of screenings on TCM at this time of the year. But this year, those requests have been answered!

> I still wonder why there seems to be a need for such detailed plot outlines. MsW, Here's some info on the AFI catalog and database that the top info in the TCM database comes from: "The AFI Catalog, the most authoritative filmographic database on the web, includes entries on nearly 60,000 American feature-length and 17,000 short films produced from 1893-2011, as well as AFI Awards Outstanding Movies of the Year from 2000 through 2010. The AFI Catalog is a unique filmographic resource providing an unmatched level of comprehensiveness and detail on every feature-length film produced in America or financed by American production companies. Detailed information on cast, crew, plot summaries, subjects, genres and historical notes are included for each film. " (emphasis added) A quick look at the AFI database shows that the paragraph free full synopsis originated with the AFI and was not a problem with importing the synopsis into the TCM database. Hope that helps!

> Who writes these things? The Full Synopsis for each film came from the AFI database. If you notice on any film page of the TCM database the first section is bracketed and says "data from the AFI catalogue". That's probably why they are so detailed as well. The Brief Synopsis gives a one line description of the movie and the Full Synopsis gives a full description of the movie. As to no paragraph breaks, they may have been written that way or (more likely) there could have been a problem when the information was imported and the paragraph breaks did not import over. Considering the number of films in the TCM database, the time and labor involved to go in and create new paragraph breaks was probably considered cost prohibitive.

> I can't see any former owner wanting any back any more than I can see SONY wanting back vinyl from Columbia Records, LTalbot, They usually don't. One reason they get rid of old film and tapes is for the same reason studios did back in the day, they feel they need the space for other things. The last thing they usually want back is material they dumped in the first place. It will be interesting to see if the John Glenn footage is a copy of famous footage or if it is something different. Please keep us posted!

> You guys are the best thanks- I love movies about Los Angeles Retiredblue, If you can find it on YouTube, I highly recommend *Los Angeles Plays Itself*, a documentary about the City of Angels and it's role in film history. It's long (almost 3 hours) and due to various rights issues probably won't be coming to DVD any time soon but if you can find it on Youtube, chances are, you'll enjoy it!

> I would Love to see for the Holiday season " It's a wonderful Life" I think many here would love to see *It's a Wonderful Life* as part of the holiday line-up on TCM. *Unfortunately*, NBC has the long-term exclusive broadcast contract for the film, so we will have to wait that out and hope that when the contract comes up for renewal, NBC won't get first dibs on renewing.

> they weren't kept is a controlled environment,some of the cans have TV station labels so whatever the contents are they were probably readily available for broadcast in the 1950s and/or 1960s As they haven't been kept in a climate controlled environment, you may not want to risk running the films through a projector. Over the years, film grows brittle and splices dry out. If the films aren't inspected and repaired (if need be) before going through a projector, projecting them could damage the films further. Another factor is that even safety film can fall victim to vinegar syndrome. These are all things that need to be taken into consideration before projecting the films. If he has footage from a local television station or network affiliate, the station or network may still own the rights. Did LT or someone else order the footage years ago? Did the station throw the footage out? Even if they did, they could still retain the rights. The movie starring Jimmy Durante? Depending on the title, the rights could belong to a studio, not LT. As another poster pointed out, the studios used to sell movie titles for at home projection. Just as owners of DVDs do not own the rights to those films, just because LT has a film collection does not mean necessarily mean he owns the rights to those films. If he does have footage that he or a family member shot of historic events, both local and national, that is a horse of a different color but from LT's posts, he hasn't mentioned that.

LT, If I may ask, where are you located? If we knew approximately where you were located, we might be able to make some suggestions that would be of more help to you. It sounds like you may have old news footage from one of your local stations/broadcast affiliates among your other footage of Jimmy Durante and newsreels.

Jeffrey's suggestion of visiting Nitrateville.com is a good one. That forum is filled with working archivists and film preservationists from around the country and around the world. They have fielded questions like the OPs in the past and are very helpful to any one who asks. Not all facilities are like the one you encountered in Kansas City and to paint them all with such a broad brush does a disservice to those archivists and preservationists who fight the good fight every day on the main lines of preserving history. http://www.nitrateville.com

Kyle, You are .. and always shall be... my friend. Live long... and prosper.

It's not available on DVD (and probably never will be due to clearances and rights issues) but *Los Angeles Plays Itself* is a nifty (if too long) look at the way the City of Angels has been portrayed on the big screen from the silent era through to the present. I think it's on Youtube.

> I have no idea what I am typing. Rich, As always, your recap had me laughing out loud! The films may be bad but your recaps are priceless! Thank you for doing this!