Much like the Ernie Kovacs clips I’ve been posting over the past few Fridays, SCTV was very much an acquired taste. If you got it, you got it forever. One of my favorite bits was Rick Moranis’s cruel (and impressively accurate) impression of Merv Griffin. They never did an actual
Here’s a recently ‘unearthed’ (according to the YouTuber who has kindly provided it) promotional film for Las Vegas made in 1955. It’s a remarkable document, not so much for what it includes as for it what it excludes. While extolling the many fun activities tourists can have when visiting the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqIeYLSMDew In the land of great public meltdowns, this clip from a 1975 local L.A. television show called ‘Both Sides Now’ is royalty. George Putnam and Mort Sahl faced off in what was supposed to be an invigorating hard-ass debate. But things went south almost from the get-go, as you’ll
Last week (or was it the week before?) I posted an experimental 1929 film called ‘Skyscraper Symphony’ by Robert Florey, which was a paeon to art deco New York and the then startling proliferation of the massive and impressive buildings of the era. On a very different note, avant garde
‘Don’t Throw That Knife’ (1951) was the 131st short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, June 20 through Thursday, June 22, 1950 and was released on Thursday, May 3rd, 1951 (the 123rd day on the Gregorian calendar). I think this is one
This Friday’s Ernie Kovacs entry is a guest appearance he made on ‘You Bet Your Life’. Kovacs and Groucho are an uneasy fit and this little segment is proof that comedians often sniff around each other, uncertain as to who has the power.in the dynamic. Ernie to his credit shows
Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film, ‘Blackmail’ (1929) was shot in both silent and sound versions, a typical one-foot-in one-foot-out practice at the time. Above is a sound test made, it would seem, to see if the voice of the lead actress Anna Ondra would be suitable for recording. As you
One of my favorite underrated directors of the past is Charles Vidor. Among the top films in his filmography are ‘Cover Girl’ (1944) starring Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth, which is certainly one of the best musicals of its era and the delightfully sensuous and darkly peculiar ‘Gilda’ (1946)–really the
It’s Friday so guess who you get to have a visit with!.Click above and have a fab weekend. And think of me on Sunday as I celebrate my 60th trip around the sun. I’d do the same for you, you know…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnAEHFhxuQIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNbAtTMZXc Yesterday I posted a 1929 art film by Robert Florey called ‘Skyscraper Symphony’. Above is the experimental film he made the year before in collaboration with montage artist and film theorist Slavko Vorkapich called…well, read the title of this post. There’s a good deal to understand about how the