...One of my all-time favorite actors, Tyrone Power, was born 98 years ago today, on May 5, 1914. Here's a link to the birthday tribute I posted last year, updated with a link for an additional film review. I'm looking forward to watching THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946) later this year.
...Last week at Speakeasy, Kristina paid tribute to Glenn Ford on his birthday. Be sure to check out her beautiful art and a very nice anecdote about Glenn's son Peter, who I was able to meet briefly at a booksigning at last year's Noir City festival. While you're at Speakeasy, take a look at Kristina's other good stuff, such as the latest roundup of Quick Reviews.
...Over at Out of the Past, Raquelle has a new feature called Warner Archive Wednesday. Her first reviews in that series are of George Sanders and Yvonne DeCarlo in DEATH OF A SCOUNDREL (1956) and Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan in IT ALL CAME TRUE (1940).
...I read an interesting article in the L.A. Times last week about a young widow who lives in the American Gothic house (as in the famous painting!) and bakes pies. Thanks to my Kindle Fire, I'm already reading her book, MAKING PIECE: A MEMOIR OF LOVE, LOSS AND PIE, which is an interesting read. (While I still prefer to do most of my reading via "real" books I can keep on a bookshelf, I'm finding that the Kindle is good for some nonfiction reads I want to check out but don't feel a need to give precious shelf space. I don't often have the time to visit the library or finish reading a book by its due date, so the Kindle is the perfect in-between solution.) There's more info at the author's blog, The World Needs More Pie....At The Cinementals, my friend Will editorializes forcefully against texting and Tweeting while at the movies. Needless to say, I couldn't agree more.
...At Riding the High Country, Colin has a terrific review of CRISS CROSS (1949). I wasn't able to get in to a sold out show at the TCM Classic Film Festival last month, but perhaps I'll be able to catch it at the L.A. County Museum of Art in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed!...Nighthawk writes on another film I'd like to see, GUILTY BYSTANDER (1950), at Noir of the Week. It stars Zachary Scott and Faye Emerson.
...I really liked THE RICHEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (1934) when I saw it in 2009. Miriam Hopkins plays the title role, costarring with Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, and Reginald Denny. Cliff has written a very nice, detailed post on the film which is posted at Immortal Ephemera.
...Cliff also recently tipped me off to a very informative post on the great character actor Sir C. Aubrey Smith.
...Since I save the ticket stubs to all the movies I see in a 5 x 7 envelope, I appreciated Leonard Maltin's essay on movie tickets and their gradual disappearance in favor of things like barcodes on smart phones.
...Sissy Spacek has publisher her autobiography, MY EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY LIFE....Interesting e-reader news: Microsoft is teaming up with Barnes & Noble to offer support to B&N's Nook. Microsoft will invest $605 million in the Nook.
...Fans of THE WEST WING will get a kick out of this public service video reuniting several cast members to extol the virtues of walking. My favorite moment was when President Bartlett yells for Mrs. Landingham.
...The Self-Styled Siren muses on trains and the movies.
...I enjoyed thoughts on John Wayne shared at The Sheila Variations. I particularly like how she shreds the silly notion that if you're not taking on accents and looking different in each role, you're "just playing yourself."...The Oscars are staying in Hollywood. The Academy just signed a new 20-year agreement for the annual ceremony to remain at the Hollywood & Highland Center. Dolby will take over the naming rights from the Kodak Theatre.
...I enjoyed a thoughtful post at Bobby Rivers TV on IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) and its subtle messages on race.
...I just discovered the "Seven Shadows" series at Karen's blog, Shadows and Satin, and I'll be heading back soon to read more of the entries on several film noir classics.
...Caftan Woman's "One for May" TCM pick: Joel McCrea in STARS IN MY CROWN (1950), airing on May 16th....Frank McCourt no longer owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is fantastic news! The new owners made some good initial calls, such as dropping the price of parking (a move with symbolic significance on multiple levels) and having beloved former owner Peter O'Malley front and center at their first press conference. I'm just not sure I'm comfortable returning until I understand whether McCourt will be profiting in any way from the parking fees. I'm not sure the new owners understand the depth of fan antagonism toward McCourt and his trashing of the team as he used it as a personal ATM; they'd better understand that quickly if they want the crowds in the stands to return to normal levels.
...Notable Passings: Character actor George Murdock has passed on at the age of 81. He appeared on countless TV series over the past half-century; I particularly remember him as Dr. Salik on the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in the late '70s...Composer Joel Goldsmith, the son of Jerry Goldsmith, has died at the age of 54. He is best-known as the longtime composer for the STARGATE shows.
...Attention Southern Californians: The American Cinematheque will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992) at the Egyptian Theatre next Friday night, May 11th. Director Michael Mann will be present screening his Director's Cut. (I love the gaps the Director's Cut fills in, but on the whole prefer the theatrical release; I wish he had only added footage and not taken anything away!) I would really love to be there, as it's one of my favorite films of the last couple decades, but I may not be able to make it as I'll be traveling from Arizona to California earlier that day, bringing our son home from his freshman year at NAU in Flagstaff. Here's the MOHICANS trailer....Finally but most importantly, please join me in sending prayers and good wishes to Dawn of Noir and Chick Flicks, who recently announced she's fighting breast cancer.
Have a great weekend!
Oh no, not Joel Goldsmith!! That will make me cry. Of course I was a gigantic fan of his father, but I also really loved Joel's music, from Kull to Moon 44 to the them from the Untouchables tv series. He will be sorely missed.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so sorry to hear about Dawn's fight. I'll be sending her good wishes, thankful we live in this age where there are more options for those battling this disease.
Another great round up Laura!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm hungry for pie though. I'll have a look for that cookbook.
Had to bookmark the C. Aubrey post. I adore that man!
Good stuff!
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thanks for the mention, Laura! and for the wonderful newsy roundup as always.
ReplyDeletealso: C.Aubrey Smith! Whistling Cecilia Sisson would approve :)
cheers!
Thank you, Laura!
ReplyDeleteRe: Ty Power on May 5, always find it extra neat that Alice Faye was also born that same day! I'm terrible with birthdays so luckily that pair annually reminds me that May 5 is also my Dad's birthday :)
Thanks again, very cool that you linked to that C. Aubrey article as well!
Laura -
ReplyDeleteA few notes on texting and tweeting at the movies (etc.)
I confess that after years of making children turn their phones off and putting them away during live theatre, I was called down by my daughter at a graduate music recital at her university. She asked if I had turned my phone off, and I said, "It's on vibrate - I never turn the sound on." She replied, "Oh, you HAVE to turn it off; the signal messes with the recording and sound equipment in the recital hall if you receive an incoming text or anything." Who knew?
And, similarly, have you heard of the Broadway production of Godspell having "tweet seats"? Watch this humorous piece on the presence of phones.
Now, I have heard that the ringtones going off in symphony halls, etc. are a fixable problem; usually the offenders are adults new to the technology; not the tweens, teens, and young adults. They KNOW how to use their phones; it is the rest of us slow to capture the use of the devices. The uber-present announcements about cutting off your phones won't exist in 20-30 years, they say, once our generation quits going out to the theatre and symphony! Interesting ideas to ponder.
Here are two links to pieces on it; I found the second actually repeats my earlier comment that we'll age out of this problem (I found the second piece while looking for the first to link for you!)
As always, I enjoy your writing.
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/news/blogs/pew-partner-notes/the-rev-mark-bozzuti-jones-featured-on-nbcs-rock-center-with-brian-williams
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/20/10778865-tweet-seat-how-broadways-godspell-deals-with-cell-phones?lite
Hi Jill, Great to hear from you! I'll look forward to exploring those articles later today. I'd not heard of a signal messing with recording, that's interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest issue for me in a movie theater is how distracting the glowing screens are in the dark if people insist on using their phones - even if people have the sound off, that problem doesn't seem solvable.
Happy Mother's Day!
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura,
ReplyDeleteWatch the Godspell pieces and see what you think. It MAY be the answer is to have tweet seats? I realize it's a "if you can't beat them, join them" attitude, but perhaps if the ones who insist on using their phones are sitting together, they won't be bothering the rest of you.
I agree - the glare is distracting to me, as well!
Laura,
ReplyDeleteOops - I should have said, "the rest of US"!!
Happy Mother's Day to you, too!
Jill