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Movies 'Til Dawn BLOG

THE ART OF THE TV STATION SIGN OFF (AND ON)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu1FLQ3sFEghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kz469Be8CQ&list=PLzIxbVR-uc38-qT2ytfezf_rpJdzhETIh&index=49https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbZr9CbK59s&list=PLzIxbVR-uc38-qT2ytfezf_rpJdzhETIh&index=23https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK3I4op-M5E&list=PLzIxbVR-uc38-qT2ytfezf_rpJdzhETIh&index=83 Above are a veritable Valhalla of television station I.D. sign-offs and sign-ons which continue to prompt my unanswered question from yesterday’s post: why did TV stations bother signing off and on? Wasn’t there sufficient viewership in the wee morning hours to warrant spending a little dough on an overnight

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May 4, 2023 No Comments

GOOD NIGHT FROM KHJ-TV

Why did television stations used to sign off in the wee morning hours? Couldn’t they get anyone to work the overnight shift? Aren’t TV stations supposed to be like hotels–they never close? At least the sign offs were dramatic and interesting. Dig the above 1970 sign-off from KHJ-TV, Channel 9,

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May 3, 2023 No Comments

GET YOURSELF A MONKEY GLAND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X9UEu1qJRo To my intense frustration, some self-important copyright upholder has removed all traces of the musical numbers from The Marx Brothers maiden cinematic effort ‘The Cocoanuts’ (1929) from the wilds of YouTube. Why? Why why why? Is it an Irving Berlin estate kind of thing? (Possibly). A DVD reissue kind

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May 2, 2023 2 Comments

A GROUCHO-DUMONT THREE-WAY?

The generally accepted word on the Marx Brothers films is that they constitute a clear case of downhillism, with the first five Paramount films being their supreme achievements, the first MGM (‘A Night At The Opera’) being the most successful yet also signifying the beginning of the end, and a

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May 1, 2023 No Comments

WEEKEND STOOGEFEST

‘Monkey Businessmen’ (1946) is the 92nd short subject made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, January 30th through Saturday, February 2, 1946 and released on Thursday, June 20th of that year. The short is largely a painful experience to watch, due to Curly’s recent

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April 29, 2023 1 Comment

MY METROMEDIA TELEVISION

Yesterday’s posting of the Merv Griffin theme song brought forth a memory (in the middle of the night, unfortunately) of the KTTV logo and theme song, which naturally preceded Merv’s opening theme. (KTTV was the L.A. station owned and operated by Metromedia television that aired Merv’s syndicated talk show).The potent

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April 28, 2023 No Comments

MERV’S THEME

Today lets have a restful few moments staring at an unchanging opening graphic for Merv Griffin’s long-ago TV talk show and listening to its famous theme song. A lovely big-band ballad apparently titled ‘Hello, Hello’ (according to the copyright held by Merv Griffin Enterprises), it was written by the protean

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April 27, 2023 1 Comment

RODNEY MEETS REAGAN?

Continuing with our Rodney Dangerfield postings from yesterday and the day before, here’s Rodney on a 1981 special called ‘The Stars Salute The President’. His delivery is at top speed and one wonders how much Reagan was able to take in. He certainly gets Rodney’s last line, which has to

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April 26, 2023 No Comments

EARLY RODNEY

Yesterday I posted one of Rodney Dangerfield’s greatest appearances on Johnny Carson. Today we’re seeing him on The Mike Douglas Show in 1969. This is one of his earliest TV appearances (it’s shortly after his breakthrough opening for Dionne Warwick at The Sands) so it’s important to view it through

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April 25, 2023 1 Comment

RODNEY DANGERFIELD–OR IS HE?

Every move, every twitch, every eye-pop of Rodney Dangerfield’s is a brilliant piece of method acting. Add to that the non-stop jokes and you have one of the truly ‘performative’ comics; he’s a man named Jacob Cohen (his real name) who, under the pseudonym ‘Jack Roy’ (his first stage name)

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April 24, 2023 2 Comments

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