The TCM Programming Challenge

[lzcutter]

Rusty,

 

Congratulations!

 

Love your Magazine to Movie choices. A great idea. Was it Coffeedan who once suggested that one of the reasons for the decline in original movie ideas has been the loss of stories from magazines such as you cited?

 

Also, kudos on the Dean Martin Birthday tribute!

 

Alot of fun to read and hope TCMProgrammer uses some of your ideas and films!

[nsallieharding]

A great week of programming, your RKO films would really work in nice with all of the great Warner films that are in lzutter's programming week. I have really enjoyed going back and looking at everyone's films that they have chosen. Serials on Saturday are a great idea.

[jarhfive]

allieharding, lzcutter (whoops, sorry about my last message...this time I spelled screen name good) and path40a,

 

I thank all of you for the kind words.

 

Thinking about the "awards" references bandied about earlier in this thread, I picture myself (amongst your company) the "running naked guy inviting a David Niven bon mot" sort of fellow.

 

Rusty

[hlywdkjk]

jarhfive -

Well, this has to be the most unique schedule of all posted so far. And I have even learned a few things from your work. (Walter Plunkett was a Costume Designer, for one.)

 

I am curious how you knew so many of these films had their genesis with magazine articles. I think it is one of the best ideas presented in the challenge.

 

And I have nothing but respect for a person who posts a night of Buster Keaton. Such a joy!

 

I hope you are taking a bit of pride in your work. You definitely should. For someone who was at sixes and sevens a few days ago, you pulled off a wonderful week for TCM. Good Job "Tenacious J".

 

Kyle in Hollywood

[filmlover]

Thinking about the "awards" references bandied about earlier in this thread, I picture myself (amongst your company) the "running naked guy inviting a David Niven bon mot" sort of fellow.

 

I remember the joke on the Oscars going back a number of years. The winners go to the Governor's Ball. The losers go to Shakey's. I want double cheese on my pizza.

[jarhfive]

Kyle,

 

Thank you for taking the time (and interest) to provide me with so much information--it is what 'kick started' me to do my schedule last Friday.

 

How did I gather "magazine to movie" information? I had read coffeedan's message last August and I had remembered the 'gist' of his post.

 

The steps I took to find appropriate movies follows (you may be familiar with this search routine):

 

Using the "advanced Google search" option--type in the name of a source magazine (coffeedan mentioned several in his August message) and the words "user" and "comment" in the "find results" field. In the "domain" field--type in IMDB.com.

 

Using the search terms "user" and "comment" focuses the Google search (ignores a lot of not relevant IMDB material). With a list of movie title 'hits' displayed, it is simply a matter of grinding through the movie titles. First, find how the magazine name is used (e.g. does it mention"Saturday Evening Post" as source literature). Second, determine if the movie title 'fits' a TCM schedule.

 

You might be able to tell that my last programming day (sort of) ran out of steam. I was having a hard time finding appropriate movies. Note that I added "A Christmas Story" because I was surprised at the "Playboy Magazine" source...not because the movie fit with the June holidays.

 

Rusty

[jarhfive]

filmlover,

 

Now, wait until all the votes are counted!

 

Rusty

[nsallieharding]

I make one super-duper pizza and here it is:

 

Dough

1 package active dry yeast

11/3 cups warm water

ADD:

3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar

Kneed until elastic(10 Minutes)

coat dough with oil and let rise double in size (1 to 1 1/2 hours)

 

Spread on pizza pan, cut dough with fork to keep bubbles from appearing and add pizza sauce and your favorite toppngs.

 

Bake in 475 degree oven for 45 minutes.

[hlywdkjk]

jarhfive -

I guess I missed the discussion of magazine source material last year. (I lurked around here for quite awhile before posting much - and then only if I felt I could add something relevant.) Regardless of how you came to it, it is an outstanding theme idea and you did so well with it - "A Christmas Story" and all. And isn't the Internet a wonderful tool.

 

Kyle in Hollywood

[bansi4]

Rusty, just wanna tell ya that your schedule was just swell. A great variety of films indeed to just about please any movie buff. Cheers!

 

And thanks for the mention.

 

Mongo

[coffeedan]

Rusty, thanks -- and you're welcome. Your excellent schedule -- and your innovative way of putting it together -- makes this old magazine collector feel humble and quietly proud.

 

'Way to go!

[vallo13]

Rusty.... Top Notch!

vallo

[movieman1957]

I also saw the John Wayne serial years ago. Every Saturday morning just like it was intended I was in front of the TV because I knew then it may never be on again. Frankly, I don't think it has in my TV world. A stroke of genius on your part. It wasn't that the film was so great (there was certainly no shortage of action) but what a chance to experience something that was so popular but now seldom seen. Thanks to you and all who have put so much time into this interesting thread.

[sandykaypax]

Rusty, I love the idea of showing an entire serial in one day!

 

Sandy K

[filmlover]

There is a drawback to that, Sandy, something I experienced many years ago. A local theater where I grew up had a special showing of a 1940s Batman serial in its entirety (somewhere between 12-15 episodes).

 

Before I continue, let me elaborate for a moment of what an individual chapter would consist of:

 

In the old days, a chapter would have the regular opening credits which would take a minute or two, then came a series of individual still images of the hero, sidekicks, villain, and henchmen, and a written description of what they had done plotwise up tot his point in the serial, then would come a few minutes of footage from the last episode that brought the hero to the point of the exciting cliffhanger, then show how he escaped, then would come several minutes of new footage to expand the story, a new cliffhanger ending, and then end titles. Since you would go once a week, it was necessary to provide so much repeat stuff in each episode in order to remind the audience (basically of kids) what happened seven days ago (they still do that with weekly TV drama shows). For each fifteen minute episode, you were seeing only 8 to 10 minutes of new stuff and the rest was what you had already seen. But that was okay, because in the days of the 1940s, it was just one chapter per week.

 

Now, we jump ahead to that special showing of the entire serial in the 1960s. It took about three to four hours to show the whole thing, and each episode had the entire opening credits EVERY...SINGLE...TIME, as well ad the recap slides EVERY...SINGLE...TIME, the repeat footage of the last episode EVERY...SINGLE...TIME, etc. etc. etc EVERY SINGLE TIME. After about three episodes, the audience was groaning. After five or six, people were rushing for the exit. I thnk I made it through but what an endurance test on the nerves it was.

 

At least, if they showed the entire thing on TV, you could TiVo it and fast forward through the repeat stuff.

[nyoka1]

That's a great anecdote about seeing the "Batman" serial, Filmlover. Wish I'd been there.

 

http://greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

[MattHelm]

I just rented the Batman serials two weeks ago. You're right on about the cons of seeing them all in a row. The DVD did just what you said about showing the credits and flashbacks on each episode and it sort of ruined the cliffhanger element that was a part of their charm. I kept fast forwarding through that stuff and that kills part of it too. That's why I suggested the weekly serial program, so that they could show a few serials from different genres each week, and keep the cliffhanger essence in tact.

[path40a]

Only two more days to participate ...