https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdNDRDsFdk0 Let’s tie together this weeks poker on film theme with our now regular Friday’s-with-Ernie Kovacs feature with this little poker-themed nugget from a 1961 Kovacs special. Let me be honest; it’s not very good. But its important to remember that visionaries like Kovacs often are more process-oriented than result-driven
To commemorate the year of my birth (my 60th b’day is coming up in a fast 27 days) I’m posting a few minutes of excellently restored home movie footage taken from a car driving around Hollywood in that banner year of 1964. In addition to this being particularly high quality
‘3 Dumb Clucks’ (1937) was the 22nd short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Monday, February 1 through Friday, February 5th, 1937 and was released on Saturday, April 17th of that year. This is a neatly conceived and executed mistaken identity comedy with
Apropos of yesterday’s post which showed us Bogart as a working actor meticulously and professionally going through a series of wardrobe tests, here’s another example of Bogart out of character (more or less) as he blows his lines during takes. While blooper reels are fairly low hanging fruit in terms
On February 20th, 1956, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall reported for work at Warner Brothers to do costume tests for their upcoming movie ‘Melville Goodwin, USA’. Based on a John Marquand novel, the story had to do with a career military man who becomes a Major General thanks to the
Above is a ninety minute feature film made in 1920 called ‘The Flapper’, starring the then sensationally popular actress Olive Thomas. I can’t imagine anyone is actually going to watch the whole movie (I certainly didn’t) so why am I posting it? The film was shot on location in New
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TtERu8NKf8 A few days ago I posted a video of Vincente Minnelli’s abandoned mansion in Beverly Hills. It’s a fascinating and acrid experience to witness the shards of a once worldly and elegant existence. So lets close the week with a more sophisticated and Minelli-esque moment and bring the man
Before you read any further let me quickly give you fair warning that the above posted videos are a complete and total waste of time, lacking in anything remotely akin to cultural interest, intellectual rigor or even pop-culture delight. Still, I find the mid-show plugs that aired in the middle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emVTQEWhjM Dig a live radio remote from the premiere of Judy Garland’s 1954 “A Star Is Born”, featuring the voices of Judy Garland, Moss Hart (who wrote the script) and Kitty Carlisle (Hart’s wife). Moss Hart sounds like a man playing the role of a playwright named Moss Hart and
If you’ve never seen a restored Technicolor three-strip movie a real cinematic treat awaits you. The color is by no means realistic–it shimmers, glistens and looks like an especially scrumptious box of colored candies that probably costs a fortune (I’m thinking of a specific designer sweets shop on Madison Avenue).