June Schedule is Up! Jane Powell SOTM

[Tikisoo]

On 4/29/2019 at 7:17 PM, kingrat said:

I was a big fan.

Thanks for admitting that. GL was the only soap (besides SOAP) I ever watched, they were forbidden in my household, so I sneaked watching. It gave me a great appreciation for actors/writers-so much talent hone their chops in the genre.

It's always fun spotting a soap actor in a movie! My other favorite on GL was Roger Thorpe played by Michael Zazlow. Sadly, both Bernau & Zazlow died very young of Aids/ALS. respectively.

[Tikisoo]

Well, Jane Powell is one of my favorites, so I've seen all the movies TCM is showing. I'm getting my list together of what to watch, thanks for the heads up on Nora Prentiss & others.

I'm most excited to record a juvie double feature on the 19th: BOY OF THE STREETS '37 and BOY SLAVES '39 which I've been waiting for since the raves last time it aired.

I highly recommend:

ZOU ZOU- too few Josephine Baker movies-she's electric!

PANDORAS BOX- too few Louise Brooks movies-this is her best. We once returned from dinner to find 16 y/o TikiKid enraptured watching this....a SILENT!

WOMAN IN WHITE - I enjoyed this atmospheric ghost story

IN WHICH WE SERVE- love Noel Coward stories of WW2 Suburban Brits, this one is excellent; moving & entertaining

BOB CAROL TED & ALICE- I've been on a Dyan Cannon binge (♥️ HER) and this was a big hit in our household once we realized it was a sex farce. Elliott Gould gets the best lines at the end of the movie, no wonder he got an Oscar. We LOL at his "mouth full of peanuts confession". The great fashions were an added bonus.

CACTUS FLOWER- Great cast, great writing make an excellent uh, sex farce. Goldie Hawn is adorable, Matthau is hilarious. Guess I really go for that kind of movie these days.

[RoyCronin]

Funny you bring up Bob&Carol:  I was just reading The New Yorker article about Doris Day:  The Matchless Presence of Doris Day.

One of its observations:  " ...the sexless comedies that Day went on to make with Rock Hudson and James Garner have lasted rather better, with their folly and their freshness intact, than some of the more liberated flicks that succeeded them  Be honest:  if "Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice comes on TV at the same time as Pillow Talk, which one do you sit down and watch?"

 

 

[Tikisoo]

Just finished compiling my "what to record" list for June. As with most months, I've already seen most of the best ones.

If you like Eddie Cantor's brand of humor (I'm a huge fan) FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS is one of his cutest.

Similarly cute type movie is Jack Benny in HORN BLOWS AT MIDNIGHT, a movie seen as a kid that got me into classic film. I was so taken with Alexis Smith I wanted to name my first born daughter -unusal then-too common now-Alexis.

Dick Van Dyke elevates any movie he's in, his performance is always worth watching. Except skip Disney's NEVER A DULL MOMENT for the later broadcast of COLD TURKEY, much funnier. Well, as I remember it from seeing it in the theater as a 10 year old.

Looking forward to (a new to me) double feature CLAUDIA and CLAUDIA & DAVID.

[LsDoorMat]

On 5/21/2019 at 7:28 AM, TikiSoo said:

Thanks for admitting that. GL was the only soap (besides SOAP) I ever watched, they were forbidden in my household, so I sneaked watching. It gave me a great appreciation for actors/writers-so much talent hone their chops in the genre.

It's always fun spotting a soap actor in a movie! My other favorite on GL was Roger Thorpe played by Michael Zazlow. Sadly, both Bernau & Zazlow died very young of Aids/ALS. respectively.

Completely OT but I was a huge fan of both Zaslow and Bernau on GL too. It's too bad the reality shows killed off the soaps. I guess it's hard to justify paying actors to behave like awful human beings when people will line up to act like rutting pigs for free as long as it gets them their 15 minutes.

[TopBilled]

14 minutes ago, calvinnme said:

Completely OT but I was a huge fan of both Zaslow and Bernau on GL too. It's too bad the reality shows killed off the soaps. I guess it's hard to justify paying actors to behave like awful human beings when people will line up to act like rutting pigs for free as long as it gets them their 15 minutes.

The show wanted to keep the characters going. Dennis Parlato took over as Roger Thorpe, while Zaslow was in the final stages of ALS...but Parlato only lasted about a year. In fact the viewers had such a problem accepting him in the role that the producers decided not to try with another recast. Roger was killed off-screen (after Zaslow's death) with a special episode that featured old clips of Zaslow, none with Parlato.

Bernau was written out in early 1985 but was brought back in the summer of 1986. However, he was written out again in the summer of 1988. Typically, they would either send his character Alan Spaulding out of the country or to prison for awhile. But he always seemed to return and cause more trouble. In 1989 actor Daniel Pilon, who had played a similar character on Ryan's Hope (as scheming Max Dubujak) was hired to take over. I presume Bernau was too ill by that point to be rehired. But Pilon didn't catch on, and in 1990 the character was written out again. 

However, in 1993, a new producer decided to recast the role of Alan Spaulding and try again. That time they succeeded. Ron Raines, who was known more for his singing and stage work in musicals, was cast as Alan. And Raines somehow won viewers over. It probably helped that Bernau hadn't been on screen for five years, so it was a little easier for Raines than it had been for Pilon, who clearly was laboring in Bernau's shadow.

Raines had a lot of front burner stories. But then he was taken off contract in late 1998. He still appeared on Guiding Light on a recurring basis throughout 1999 and early 2000, but those appearances were sporadic and he was not used to drive any major story. That changed in mid-2000 when he was put back on contract and Alan Spaulding became a central focus again. Raines remained on contract until the show went off the air in September 2009. In the show's last week, Alan Spaulding died of a fatal heart attack. All those years of schemes and dirty dealing had finally caught up with him.

[Tikisoo]

22 minutes ago, calvinnme said:

I guess it's hard to justify paying actors to behave like awful human beings

Wonder why we relish these charactors so?I was delighted by Roger Thorpe's evil antics, I instinctively knew Zazlow enjoyed playing a total jerk! And when his entire personality softened (by marriage to a young niave woman? having a baby?) and suddenly he was the most redeeming character!

I wonder where writers come up with this stuff?

A good friend is kind of ashamed to admit that Amon other gigs she's a costumer on a soap. Hey, she's in "the biz" professionally and I think it's great that people see her work on a daily basis. No shame in that.

[LsDoorMat]

3 minutes ago, TopBilled said:

The show wanted to keep the characters going after the actors had died. Dennis Parlato took over for awhile as Roger Thorpe, but he lasted about a year. In fact the viewers had such a problem accepting him in the role that the producers decided not to try with another recast, and Roger was killed off-screen awhile later with a special episode that featured old clips of Zaslow, none with Parlato.

Bernau was written out in early 1985 but was brought back in the summer of 1986. However, he was written out again in the summer of 1988. Typically, they would either send his character Alan Spaulding out of the country or to prison for awhile. But he always seemed to return and cause more trouble. In 1989 actor Daniel Pilon, who had played a similar character on Ryan's Hope (as scheming Max Dubujak) was hired to take over. I presume Bernau was too ill by that point to be rehired. But Pilon didn't catch on, and in 1990 the character was written out again.  

However, in 1993, a new producer decided to recast the role of Alan Spaulding and try again. That time they succeeded. Ron Raines, who was known more for his singing and stage work in musicals, was cast as Alan. And Raines somehow won viewers over. It probably helped that Bernau hadn't been on screen for five years, so it was a little easier for Raines than it had been for Pilon, who clearly was laboring in Bernau's shadow.

Raines had a lot of front burner stories. But then he was taken off contract in late 1998. He still appeared on Guiding Light on a recurring basis throughout 1999 and early 2000, but those appearances were sporadic and he was not used to drive any major story. That changed in mid-2000 when he was put back on contract and Alan Spaulding became a central focus again. Raines remained on contract until the show went off the air in September 2009. In the show's last week, Alan Spaulding died of a fatal heart attack. All those years of schemes and dirty dealing had finally caught up with him. 

TopBilled! You are quite an expert on GL history! Bernau died June 14, 1989, and can you believe GL contacted Michael Zaslow to come back onboard to play Alan Spaulding???  After his rancorous past with Zaslow's old character, Roger?? Zaslow said he knew the fans would never accept that, so they decided to resurrect Roger Thorpe from the dead. After we all saw him fall off a cliff and bounce off of several rocks on his way into the sea back in 1980.  Turns out he had been palling around all those years with the CIA!

[LsDoorMat]

5 minutes ago, TikiSoo said:

Wonder why we relish these charactors so?I was delighted by Roger Thorpe's evil antics, I instinctively knew Zazlow enjoyed playing a total jerk! And when his entire personality softened (by marriage to a young niave woman? having a baby?) and suddenly he was the most redeeming character! 

I wonder where writers come up with this stuff?

A good friend is kind of ashamed to admit that Amon other gigs she's a costumer on a soap. Hey, she's in "the biz" professionally and I think it's great that people see her work on a daily basis. No shame in that. 

I started watching GL because of Roger Thorpe! I guess we relished these evil characters because so many of them were incredibly nuanced. Zaslow's Thorpe in particular was so evil, yet he would soften in the presence of his daughter. She was his world.

[TopBilled]

7 minutes ago, calvinnme said:

TopBilled! You are quite an expert on GL history! Bernau died June 14, 1989, and can you believe GL contacted Michael Zaslow to come back onboard to play Alan Spaulding???  After his rancorous past with Zaslow's old character, Roger?? Zaslow said he knew the fans would never accept that, so they decided to resurrect Roger Thorpe from the dead. After we all saw him fall off a cliff and bounce off of several rocks on his way into the sea back in 1980.  Turns out he had been palling around all those years with the CIA!

Yes...it would have been too confusing for Zaslow to switch over and play Alan. They made the right decision resurrecting Roger.

Another thing that worked in their favor-- there was a lengthy writers strike in 1988. I think it went on for about five months. During that time a non-union replacement writer introduced a young businesswoman character named Blake Lindsey.

When the strike ended and the original headwriter came back (Pamela Long)...she had to figure out who this new Blake Lindsey was, who was she connected to, why was she in Springfield trying to take the Spauldings' business from them. Long decided that Blake was really Chrissie Thorpe, the daughter of Roger and Holly, who hadn't been on screen since 1981. They just made Blake her middle name. She was going by Blake instead of Chrissie now, and her last name was Lindsey because her mother Holly had married some guy with that name in Europe, while they were off screen those seven years.

Maureen Garrett soon returned as Holly in December 1988, then Zaslow returned as Roger in February 1989. They did recast the role of Blake (they dropped blonde Elizabeth Dennehy for redhead Sherry Stringfield). But this rewrite worked, and it mined all the old history that Roger had with the Spauldings and Bauers. 

[mr6666]

Joel Williams‏ @joelrwilliams1 3h3 hours ago

 

ICYMI:

Count of films airing by decade on @tcm in June 2019. #TCMParty

[Det Jim McLeod]

Looking forward to seeing "The Moon Spinners" again, for the first time in decades. It's closest Disney ever came to a Hitchcock movie. Hayley Mills is at her best and Eli Wallach is a menacing villain. 

[burlyq]

So after 25 years the geniuses at TCM are finally featuring Alice Faye, one of the most talented and popular stars of her era.

[kingrat]

4 hours ago, burlyq said:

So after 25 years the geniuses at TCM are finally featuring Alice Faye, one of the most talented and popular stars of her era.

For years they did not have access to the Fox library.

[burlyq]

2 hours ago, kingrat said:

For years they did not have access to the Fox library.

They have shown plenty of Tyrone Power, Shirley Temple, and others.

[sewhite2000]

I would contest the assertion that they've shown "plenty" of Tyrone Power!

(though I support your call for more Alice Faye)

[burlyq]

Ok, how about several Tyrone Power?

[Tikisoo]

6 hours ago, burlyq said:

They have shown plenty of Tyrone Power, Shirley Temple, and others.

Uh, mostly Power in other studio's films, and common public domain Temples, certainly not "plenty"