The 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival: Day Two

Day Two of the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival was simply gorgeous!

I couldn't help remembering how hot the festival's opening day was in 2015, which made me appreciate the beautiful weather all the more.

The El Capitan wasn't a venue for the festival this year, but I loved the very "California" look below with the palm tree and the sign. The El Capitan is a wonderful venue, and I hope TCM will be using it again next year.

In the meantime, perhaps I'll visit the El Capitan in July; it's been a while since I've attended one of their Throwback Thursday screenings!

Several of us met for breakfast at Mel's Drive-In at Hollywood and Highland bright and early on Thursday morning. It was a great chance for everyone to catch up and enjoy some leisurely moments together ahead of a busy four days.

After breakfast it was time to visit this year's festival boutique, where I left behind quite a bit of money...

...with this great tote bag being one of the treasures I took home this year.

At Larry Edmunds Bookshop I managed to restrain myself to one book, LOVE IN THE FILM, by a favorite historian, William K. Everson.

After shopping, my roommate KC and I had lunch in the Hollywood Roosevelt with a fun group of Canadian bloggers, including my great pal Kristina, plus Ruth, Mike, and Pam. It was Ruth and Mike's first visit to the festival.

Seeing Kim Novak's suit from VERTIGO (1958) in Club TCM was a wonder!

For the second year in a row I watched the red carpet arrivals from the bleachers. Here, left to right, my friends Nora, Kim, Raquel, and Kristen prepare to interview the red carpet guests:

Click any photo to enlarge for a closer look.

I met TCM Ultimate Fan Contest winner Tiffany Vazquez a couple of years ago. Earlier this year she was on-air host host for the TCM Spotlight Girlfriends series.

Ben Mankiewicz is interviewed by TCM's Sean Cameron:

The Film Noir Foundation's Eddie Muller, who hosted TCM's 2015 Summer of Darkness, greets the fans in the bleachers:

The hip-looking, ebullient Darryl Hickman does not possibly seem to be 84 years old!

Fan favorite Leonard Maltin stops by to say hello:

And here's Disney composer Richard Sherman greeting the fans!

Ann Robinson, star of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953), was so lovely and gracious. Later in the weekend she posed for a close-up photo for me! I'll be sharing that in a future post.

Ted Donaldson, who played Neeley in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945), was one of the hits of the festival. He gave a wonderful interview before the movie, was available to fans in Club TCM during the weekend, and reintroduced the movie when it received an encore showing on Sunday!

Here's 101-year-old Norman Lloyd, with Alec Baldwin "photo bombing" in the background. When Mr. Lloyd came to the Egyptian Theatre to watch himself with John Garfield IN HE RAN ALL THE WAY (1951) he was greeted like a rock star!

Gorgeous Lee Meriwether greets Alec and Hilaria Baldwin on the red carpet:

Salvatore Casico of CINEMA PARADISO (1988) can be seen in the background of the above photo on the right, in the sunglasses.

I cut out of the bleachers at that point so that I'd have time to make it into my first movie of the evening, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945). I hadn't seen it since I was a teenager, so it was almost like discovering a new movie. More on that to come! (Update: Here is my review of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN.)

Before the film Jeremy Arnold interviewed former child actor Ted Donaldson about his memories:

Unfortunately some nut pulled the fire alarm at a really inopportune moment during the movies; in our theater, Dorothy McGuire was about to have a baby, and over in the DARK VICTORY (1939) theater, Bette Davis was two minutes from dying! However, the theater staff did an excellent job keeping us informed and making the best of a bad situation. We were ultimately able to return to our theaters; the movies were backed up a few minutes to re-set the context, and we finished the films (whew!).

Then it was off to my first-ever viewing of BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1946), introduced by Illeana Douglas:

I really liked BRIEF ENCOUNTER, although it started fairly late in the evening, especially with the fire alarm having pushed back the start time. The next day when friends were discussing a particular scene I realized I had no idea what they were talking about! I remember most of the movie quite well but it appears I "zoned out" for just a few minutes. Funny thing, that also happened to me when I saw SAFE IN HELL (1931) on opening night of the 2013 festival, although I missed much more of SAFE IN HELL. It's a busy day!

(Speaking of busy, here's a fun stat: in addition to 15 movies, my smartphone says I also walked at least 15 miles during the festival.)

I'll be getting the Criterion edition of BRIEF ENCOUNTER next time it's on sale, as it was as good as I'd heard and I'd like to give it a second look. And a third and a fourth, I'm sure...

Coming soon: Day Three, and some individual movie reviews!

Today's roundup of just some of the posts available from other bloggers:

"2016 TCM Festival Post-Mortem" by James David (Jay) Patrick at 30 Hertz Rumble (I've enjoyed all recaps but I found this one especially fun -- it's also fascinating how different everyone's experiences are, there is so much to choose from!)

"TCMFF - Part 3 and Part 4" by Kate at Silents and Talkies

"TCM Classic Film Festival 2016: Day #3 Recap" by Raquel at Out of the Past (and here is Day 4!)

"TCM Classic Film Festival 2016" by Nicole at An Ode to Dust

"Ranking the TCM Film Festival: Days 1 & 2" by Jandy at Flickchart

"2016 #TCMFF: The Festival Begins" by Stephen at Classic Movie Man

"TCM Film Festival 2016 Scrapbook" by Emily at The Vintage Cameo

"2016 TCM Classic Film Festival Side Trips" by Kristina at Speakeasy

"Turner Classic Movies Film Festival 2016: The Films" by Jessica at Comet Over Hollywood

"TCM Classic Film Festival 2016: Opening Night Red Carpet" and "TCM Classic Film Festival 2016: Francis Ford Coppola Hand and Footprint Ceremony at the Chinese Theatre" by KC at A Classic Movie Blog

"The 2016 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival - Even More Adventures in Paradise, Part 2" by Karen at Shadows and Satin

"The TCM Classic Film Festival - Day 3" by Kristen at Journeys in Classic Film