The history of RKO Pictures–how it began life as Radio Pictures before merging with the Keith-Albee-Orpheum Vaudeville theater chain (thus the KO appended to the R)–is a fascinating one, involving dirty deeds, unsavory mergers, forced stock liquidations and–to top it off–the manipulations of one Joseph P. Kennedy, who was in
Above is a reel containing all the various iterations of the RKO Studios logo over the years, including not only the opening logo but the different styles of the words ‘The End’ which naturally appeared at the finish of the films. Of all the studios in the heyday of Hollywood,
I could never remember the name of the ‘The Inn Of the Sixth Happiness’ when I was a kid. I liked the movie but referred to it by several different variations when noting to somebody that it was soon to be on TV. ‘The Sixth Inn of Happiness’, ‘The Happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCkk6iAZxIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEDTuampIMg Decades may pass, styles of filmmaking may change, but the architecture of the Hollywood premiere/awards show remains the same. The stars get out of cars, stand on ‘the carpet’ to be admired and photographed, then go inside. That’s about it. Yesterday I posted the 1953 version of a premiere.
This past Saturday we screened ‘House Of Wax’ (1953) at the Directors Guild theater on West 57th street. I did the historical context intro and briefly discussed (i.e. jammed through) a mini-history of 3-D filmmaking. Some often cite ‘House Of Wax’ as the first 3-D movie released at the dawn
Yesterday I wrote about my fascination with lost films–movies of the 20s and 30s that have vanished into the ether seemingly with no explanation. The truth is that most movies of the time were considered largely disposable after their initial run in theaters and little effort was made to preserve
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JzIhWg2R2chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2mvN9x_Egc The concept of a ‘lost film’–in other words a film that there is proof of having been made but no known print extant–is a terribly sad one. But the concept of a fragment of a lost film surviving is downright ghostly. Oftentimes these scraps of otherwise vanished films are
From the ridiculous (see yesterdays post about Curly Howard) to the sublime; today we are looking at color(ized) footage of the eternal city in 1940, brought to us by the YouTube artist known as NASS. As always, NASS has taken black and white footage documenting a city from the past,
I’ve mentioned a few times this week my new favorite podcast ‘The Marx Brothers Council Podcast’ and the episode I listened to this morning, which focused exclusively on Chico Marx, is one of the best and most touching so far. Leonard Marx remained an enigma to most people who knew
Here’s a lovely short silent film showing Groucho Marx and family on a typical day in 1933 outside their home at 701 N. Hillcrest Drive in Beverly Hills. These are not ‘home movies’ per se–this was clearly staged, shot and edited so as to make a film in the style