https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Godu_t3BUjwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHRwrF8DniI Apropos of yesterdays post about Kay Francis, I did some snooping around on YT for early pre-code Kay moments and ran across a couple of clips from a 1931 comedy called ‘Girls About Town‘, directed by a young George Cukor. I’ve known the title over the years but have
Today is Kay Francis’ 120th birthday–or would have been had she not died in 1968 at the age of 63. When I was a kid in the early 1970s, the Marx Brothers revival was in full swing and theaters around L.A. often did all-day showings of the Paramount Marx output
Here is one of the most delightful time-travel videos provided by YouTube artist and film-restoration expert NASS, who finds black and white documentary footage of old urban areas, colorizes them, adds a period sound bed of traffic and pedestrian noises and slows the frame rate down slightly, thus giving it
It may seem odd that by far my favorite of Fred Astaire’s dance partners is, in fact, not a dancer at all. But the above clip of Paulette Goddard and Astaire performing “I Ain’t Hep To That Step But I’ll Dig It” from “Second Chorus” (1940) rocks me every time
On Monday I promised to post only Fred Astaire items this week, featuring dancing partners who he only worked with once or twice. Yesterday I broke that promise by not posting anything. (It was a travel day so I’m allowed). Here’s another Fred/Rita number, ‘I’m Old Fashioned’, from ‘You Were
Let’s keep this short (work-wise) and lovely (in every other way) week simple. I’m going to post only Fred Astaire dance numbers all week, specifically ones that might be a bit more obscure to those who mostly know the Ginger Rogers-era Fred. He made two movies with Rita Hayworth–”You’ll Never
When the Singer Sewing Machine factory decided to build their own office tower in 1907, they chose to do so with a bang. It was the tallest office building ever constructed and the technology involved in running the place was state-of-the-art early 20th century stuff. Alas, it’s life span was
In queasy acceptance of the fact that the most noxious week in American history has now officially begun, I’ve decided to post the most noxious musical numbers ever filmed. What better way to kick things off than with this stinker from ‘The Goldwyn Follies’ (1938) featuring the wildly unfunny Ritz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG0rnd-m3CU Here is a fascinating travelogue reel showing Hollywood and environs in 1928 (not 1929 as the YouTube poster has labeled it). I date it as late summer/early winter ’28 as the two movies we see advertised, ‘Four Rooms’ and ‘The Man Who Laughs’, were released in August and November
When Ted Turner began to colorize black and white classics in the 1980s the entire film buff/film history/old Hollywood community rose in a uproar. How dare he desecrate the gorgeous and historic black and white films of the past! Who was this heathen who couldn’t appreciate the true cinematic art