Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...COUNT THEM ONE BY ONE: BLACK MISSISSIPPIANS FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE is a new book by Gordon A. Martin, Jr., the father of a longtime acquaintance who shares my interest in classic girls' literature. The book blends Judge Martin's personal experiences in the early '60s with contemporary interviews with those who were involved in the case. I'm looking forward to reading it. Anyone living in the Boston area can see Judge Martin speak at the Kennedy Library next month.

...KC of Classic Movies posted the news that actress Coleen Gray turned 88 today.

...Here's a teaser trailer for CARS 2, due from Pixar and Disney on June 24th, 2011.

...The latest Disneyland news has been posted at MiceAge. Mention of a possible return of some form of the PeopleMover always gets the attention of Disneyland fans.

...The release date for The Films of Rita Hayworth has been pushed back from November 2 to December 21st. It seems like other Sony collections have been delayed in the past...wonder why.

...New film book: EDITH HEAD: THE FIFTY-YEAR CAREER OF HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST COSTUME DESIGNER, by Jay Jorgensen, was published on October 5th. It's 400 pages...hope I can check out a copy at a bookstore soon.

...According to the L.A. Times, online viewing is growing while the DVD market shrinks; more people seem content to rely on rentals rather than owning their own DVD libraries.

...Speaking of changing technology, how about the death of the phone call? The article rings true to me; much of my business communication, for example, has shifted to the internet, and over the years I've watched as my teens used instant messaging and now texting and Facebook rather than actually phoning their friends.

...Reviews, reviews, and more reviews: Kevin's Movie Corner recently reviewed Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray in MAID OF SALEM (1937), which I watched earlier this year...Glenn Erickson checked out the new DVD of MY FAVORITE SPY (1951), which stars Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr...Mark of Where Danger Lives reviews BUNCO SQUAD (1950) at Noir of the Week. It stars Robert Sterling and pre-Code fave Ricardo Cortez...Mondo 70 reviews John Payne and Evelyn Keyes in 99 RIVER STREET (1953), which comes to TCM in January...and at Another Old Movie Blog Jacqueline reviews CRY WOLF (1947) with Errol Flynn, Barbara Stanwyck, and Geraldine Brooks.

...Reviews of the Douglas Sirk Collection from TCM were recently published by R. Emmet Sweeney of TCM's Movie Morlocks and Dave Kehr of the New York Times. Those interested in the set should also check out the DVD Beaver review I recently linked to here.

...A new DVD edition of Bob Hope's THE LEMON DROP KID (1951) was released last week. I've got my dad's decade-old DVD in my "to watch" stack. This is the film which gave the world one of my very favorite Christmas songs, "Silver Bells."

..London's Telegraph recently ran an article on the history of Queen Mary's Dolls' House, which I was able to see for the second time on a return visit to Windsor last year. I own a wonderful hardcover book on the doll house.

...The UK paper The Guardian published an interesting take on Hitchcock's women, with some good rebuttals in the comments section. (Via Classic Movies.)

...Jim Fanning has written another of his excellent articles on Disney film and TV history for the D23 website, this time focusing on ZORRO. I may have mentioned here previously that Zorro's author, Johnston McCulley, owned a cabin near my grandparents in Twin Peaks, CA, when my mother was young.

...Lou Lumenick of the New York Post describes the experience of filming a TCM intro with host Robert Osborne.

...Sincere congrats and best wishes to Matthew of Movietone News and his bride, Angela!

Have a great weekend!