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Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

GEORGE RAFT; THE DANCING GANGSTER PT. DEUX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTkl_Nyzh90https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXPr32BHmNAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTY6GpGdDF8 Above are three rare clips of George Raft dancing–one from the 1944 wartime propoganda musical ‘Follow The Boys’ (1944), another from one of his earliest films ‘Quick Millions’ (1931) and finally a duet with Alice Faye from ‘Every Night At Eight’ (1935).  The quality of the second two clips

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January 24, 2024 No Comments

GEORGE RAFT–THE DANCING GANGSTER (PT.1)

George Raft was a perfectly good actor but a great dancer as witness in the above clip from ‘Bolero’ (1934) where he dances with Carole Lombard. Raft began his career in New York in the so-called roaring twenties, first as the driver of prohibition kingpin gangster Owney Madden, then as

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January 23, 2024 1 Comment

WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Grips, Grunts and Groans’ (1937) is the 20th short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Friday, October 30th through Thursday, November 5th, 1936 and was released on Friday, January 15th 1937 (the 15th day in the Gregorian calendar). This is a deeply unsettling

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January 20, 2024 No Comments

JEAN HARLOW AT A PREMIERE

Apropos of yesterdays post featuring home movies (I think) of Jean Harlow in the early 30s, here’s documentary footage of the premiere of ‘Hells Angels’, Howard Hughes World War 1 aviation epic, in 1930. It was the first big time role of Harlow’s career which makes the announcers description of

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January 19, 2024 No Comments

JEAN HARLOW IN WHITLEY HEIGHTS

Here’s a completely obscure, not to say befuddling, piece of footage showing us Jean Harlow in conversation with her ‘vocal coach’ Samuel Kayzer. (It somehow makes sense that this footage is entirely silent). Who shot it? For what purpose? It doesn’t look professionally done so was it some kind of

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January 18, 2024 2 Comments

‘HOLIDAY’–THE 1930 EDITION

Try this one on for size in the bad-luck show-biz department. You’re a successful Broadway actor in the 1920s. The movie business comes calling. You land roles of increasing prominence. The talkies arrive and it’s found that your voice is more than adequate for leading man status (at a time

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January 17, 2024 1 Comment

MARVIN GAYE DOES ‘THE HITCH-HIKE’

Yesterday I posted Marvin doing his hit tune ‘Hitch Hike’ on ‘Hollywood A Go Go’ but sans the dance known by the songs title, which had previously created a sensation on ‘American Bandstand’. Well, here’s that clip of that dance that created that sensation. The ‘Hitch Hike’ dance is pretty

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January 16, 2024 No Comments

MARVIN GAYE-A-GO-GO

Here’s Marvin on a 1965 episode of ‘Hollywood A Go-Go’ singing ‘Hitch Hike’, with some of the most bodacious go-go dancers ever invented backing him up. The single of’ Hitch Hike’ was successful enough to land Gaye his first top forty pop single in 1963 with the song reaching number

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January 15, 2024 2 Comments

LENNY ON CPW

Here’s a nice little video essay on Leonard Bernstein’s apartment in the Dakota, on Central Park West and 72nd Street. It features mostly stills of the large, tall and crowded rooms (stuffed with furniture and artifacts), though there is also a little doc live-action stuff thrown in. The apartment was

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January 12, 2024 No Comments

HENNY ON EDDIE

Apropos of yesterday’s post featuring Henny Youngman, here’s another Henny TV appearance, this time on Ed Sullivan. (We see the terrifying looking Sullivan briefly at the top of the clip). I continue to question why Henny is funny, given the staleness of the jokes and the charm-free nature of the

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January 11, 2024 No Comments

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