The first item on the agenda addresses the natal anniversary
of my nephew Davis (pictured above), who is celebrating Birthday Number 3 today and hosting two parties: one earlier this morning at a park pavilion here in the
Classic City (a “Chocolate Bubble Party,” which featured cupcakes and much
bubble making) and one later this evening at his home at “The Double K Ranch.” Because of this social obligation, TDOY’s
weekly Serial Saturdays excursion will be postponed until tomorrow…it
will spotlight the final chapter of the thrill-a-minute serial Jungle Queen
(1945), meaning our long national nightmare will at last come to an end.
The nephew’s third birthday isn’t the only event that’s been
keeping me busy of late: I’m also racing a deadline to complete a
project for the good people at Radio Spirits…which is why I regretfully didn’t
get to put up something for this year’s For the Love of Film III Blogathon. I had every intention of slapping something
together—I’ve been a Hitchcock devotee since the time the ‘rents allowed me to
watch Frenzy (1972) with them on TV
back in the seventies (my folks didn’t want me watching All in the Family, but
apparently had little objection to a film about rape and necktie murders…figure
that one out if you can). I just couldn’t
find the time to work it in, but I’d like to stress that my slackitude
shouldn’t discourage you from putting something in the pot (boy) for a worthy
cause like film preservation (the take this year is regretfully small, so do what you can). My
apologies to her Sirenship, Ferdy (on Films) and Rod for having to bow out like
this at the last minute.
I recently received the honor of being asked by Jill Blake
(of Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence) and Will McKinley to be a guest contributor at
the collaborative blog The Cinementals, and popped the champagne cork on that
puppy with this inaugural post explaining the wackiness that goes on here. There just aren’t enough adjectives to
describe my delight at being among such distinguished company, particularly
since many of my blogging friends—Brandie of True Classics, Chris at Silent Volume, Cliff of Immortal Ephemera, The Lady Eve (positively the same dame!),
etc.—are also part of the lineup, as well as other authors with whom I’m making
fast friends thanks to both my charm and my mother’s pepperoni rolls. I will do my darndest to keep you apprised of
my comings and goings there and I hope you’ll make The Cinementals an essential part of your classic film blogging
breakfast.
TVShowsOnDVD.com announced a
pair of upcoming classic TV-on-DVD releases that I thought might be of interest
to the TDOY faithful. The first is that CBS DVD-Paramount is
planning to release the last of Gunsmoke’s half-hour seasons (season
six) to disc August 7. The collection
will be one of the company’s notorious split-season sets (gasp!) and since the
info at TSoD indicates it’s a 3-DVD’er,
I’m guessing about nineteen episodes will appear in the first volume (the
series had thirty-eight episodes total in its sixth season) and the remaining
nineteen for the wrap-up. You know, if
my math is right—that would mean that a complete season set would comprise six
discs…do you honestly mean to tell me CBS-Paramount couldn’t sell these
furshlugginer collections without having to…okay—I promised myself I wouldn’t
rant about this in the post. I’m just
grateful they continue to make the shows accessible to fans, and with the
completion of “Marshal Dillon” (the syndication title of the half-hour Gunsmoke)
hopefully we’ll move speedily along to the hour shows (which are my favorites).
The other TSoD blurb
is that the same company that’s jumpstarting The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
on DVD, Inception Media Company, has acquired the rights to the 1957-63
sitcom The Real McCoys from former holder Infinity Entertainment. Between 2007 and 2008, there were three
complete season sets (1-3) released of the bucolic sitcom, and Season 4 was
made available in 2010…but since that time, bupkis. While it’s good news that Inception Media is
on the case—the bad news is that the company is going to start back from the
beginning, with The Real McCoys: The Complete Season One hitting the streets July
24th. Seems like a lot of waste motion
to me, and there’s really not much info on this release beyond an Amazon pre-order listing but if—and this is a very big if—I had assurance that the company
had access to the original masters (Infinity used the edited-for-syndication prints,
making their “complete season” claim a tiny bit bogus) I might entertain the
notion of repurchasing them. (Though I
wouldn’t be happy about it.) But if I
could add my editorial two cents here—maybe the reason why Infinity forfeited
the DVD rights is that it took them so
freaking long between releases.
Before I skedaddle off to prepare for the birthday
festivities I’d like to say how thrilled I am at the response to the blog’s Dark
Crimes Giveaway (particularly after the lackluster reaction to the
previous contest) and just remind you that if you’re interested in a chance to
win this latest Mill Creek release (okay, technically it’s a re-release—but there’s
some great stuff in this 50 pack: The
Red House, Cause for Alarm!, The Scar (aka Hollow Triumph) and the 1948 movie tie-in to radio’s Inner
Sanctum) shoot me an e-mail at igsjrotr(at)gmail(dot)com before 11:59pm
EDT this Tuesday (May 22)…and make sure you include your name, address and
e-mail. I’ll draw and announce a winner
the next morning…and if you’re not fortunate enough to be one of the lucky
winners you can still purchase this set here (and take advantage of a discount
code on this page). Thrilling Days of Yesteryear—where the winning tradition continues!
1 comment:
That is the most adorable picture of Davis I've ever seen! The birthday boy is undoubtedly in bed by now, but give him a big ol' happy birthday for me when you see him again.
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