To those of us who remember the Johnny Carson incarnation of ‘The Tonight Show’, the band (or the ‘NBC Orchestra’ as they were formally known) looms as an important piece of the magical synthesis of talents that produced the greatest talk show in TV history. (If you haven’t delved into
‘They Stooge To Conga’ (1943) was the 67th short subject made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, May 6 through Saturday, May 9, 1942 and released on New Years Day, 1943. The film is generally considered to be the most hideously, nauseatingly violent Stooge
‘A Pain In The Pullman’ (1936) was the 16th short film The Three Stooges made for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, April 29th through Monday, May 4th, 1936 and was released on Saturday, June 27th of that year. The film belongs to a long and venerable tradition of
R.I.P. the great Burt Bacharach. Here’s a commercial front the late 70s featuring Burt and then-wife Angie Dickenson shilling for Martini &Rossi Vermouth. The dashing Burt (he always makes me think of cologne, elaborate shaving gear, highly polished Italian mens boots etc.) once provoked a famous Sammy Cahn crack: ‘Songwriters
Here is a way-too-adorable-for-words clip of Groucho Marx and his youngest child Melinda performing a Gilbert and Sullivan duet on ‘You Bet Your Life’ from 1954. The song is ‘There Is Beauty In The Belly Of The Beast’ from ‘The Mikado’. I’ve never cared for G&S until watching this clip
Groucho Marx had three children, a boy and girl from his first marriage (the boy, author Arthur Marx, wrote two books and two plays about Groucho) and one girl, Melinda, from his second marriage to Kay Gorcey, ex-wife of ‘Bowery Boy’ Leo Gorcey. (Now there’s an odd case of indirect
‘Studio Stoops’ (1950) was the 126th short film made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, February 22nd through Friday, February 25th 1949 and was released on Thursday, October 5th 1950, a full twenty months after it was made. Like all the Stooges shorts directed
The ridiculously fetching Paulette Goddard (or Paulette Goddard Chaplin Meredith Remarque) was a finalist for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone With The Wind’. David O. Selznick apparently liked her well enough to include her in the final grouping of possible Scarlett’s which included Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett and
Here’s a knockout dance number from the MGM 1947 version of ‘Good News’, featuring the great and mostly now-forgotten dancer/performer/personality/actress Joan McCracken. The original Broadway show, a big hit in the late 1920s, had long been on producer Arthur Freed’s list to adapt as a movie musical at MGM and
‘Slippery Silks’ was the 19th short subject made by the Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Wednesday, June 10th through Monday, June 15th, 1936 and released on Sunday, December 27th of that year. The film satirizes the world of women’s fashion in the Deco era and uses