Around the Blogosphere This Week

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

...Frank Lovejoy, a favorite of this blogger, was born on March 28, 1912. Here's my 2014 tribute to the actor, which has been updated over the years with new links, including a visit to his final resting place at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, CA.

...This week's Kino Lorber Studio Classics announcements included THE SUSPECT (1944), which I reviewed after a 2015 Noir City Hollywood screening. Charles Laughton and Ella Raines star, direct by film noir master Robert Siodmak.

...ClassicFlix announced a third volume of Hal Roach Streamliners, the "taxi" comedies starring William Bendix and Joe Sawyer. Info on the upcoming ClassicFlix release of "Westerns" Streamliners may be found in my March 14th roundup.

...Senior Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has announced his retirement. He's been with the paper since 1991, and he'll be missed!

...ShoutTV is honoring the late Kenny Rogers by making his TV-movies THE GAMBLER (1980) and COWARD OF THE COUNTY (1981) available for streaming. Sequels to THE GAMBLER are also available.

...Classic film books by James Robert Parish are now available for Amazon Kindle.

...Glenn Erickson's colleague Charlie Largent reviews Kino Lorber's upcoming Blu-ray release of MURDER, HE SAYS (1945), starring Fred MacMurray and Marjorie Main. I anticipate reviewing that title here next month.

...See's Candies announced its first complete closure in 99 years due to the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, including mail order shipping. The company had previously had limited operations during WWII. We'll all look forward to the day when they, along with the rest of the world, reopen for business!

...On Sunday, March 29th, Ben Model will livestream another Silent Comedy Watch Party at 12:00 noon Pacific/3:00 Eastern. I watched the first "episode" and thought it was a lot of fun.

...At A Classic Movie Blog, KC reviews teenaged Diane Lane's film debut in A LITTLE ROMANCE (1979), just released on Blu-ray by the Warner Archive.

...Last week Turner Classic Movies announced a Special Home Edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival, cheering news to those of us who planned to attend this year's cancelled festival.  The "at home" version will have special looks back at films and events from the festival's first ten years. I'll have more on this in next week's look at TCM's April highlights.

...Yesterday the Los Angeles Dodgers Tweeted an encouraging video message from the beloved Vin Scully.

...Notable Passings: The Harlem Globetrotters announced the death of the legendary Curly Neal at 77. In addition to being an amazing basketball player and performer who I was privileged to watch in person as a child, his likeness also became a cartoon character in TV's Harlem Globetrotters (1970-73) series...The Los Angeles Dodgers announced the death of '70s star Jimmy Wynn. He's one of the players I first remember being aware of as a very young Dodgers fan.

...For anyone who may have missed it earlier this week, here's my new overview of recent and upcoming Disney books.

...For additional recent links of interest to classic film fans, please check out my March 21st roundup.

Have a great week!