MELISSA (brandishing a gun): You’re
through, do you hear me? This is the very last time you’ll do dirt to
me…you’ve turned my daughter against me…had my mother committed to an asylum…turned
me into an alcoholic nymphomaniac, incapable of knowing real love or stopping
at one last drink…you sit there in your ivory tower, manipulating people’s
lives…well, this is the last straw,
Trevor!
ME: It’s Ivan, actually…
And scene! Yes, that
little bit o’nighttime soap drama was inspired by the revelation that the 65th Annual
Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony Sunday night was unable to single out TV icon
Larry Hagman (I Dream of Jeannie, The Good Life, Here We Go Again, Dallas)
or past award winner Jack Klugman (Harris Against the World, The
Odd Couple, Quincy, M.E., You Again?) for tribute…but did find
time to do it up right for Kelly Montieth.
Which, really…oh…I’ve just been handed a note—that’s Cory Montieth. Anyway, I won’t rehash the outrage that
erupted on the Internets from this pathetic attempt to lure young viewers into
watching a show they probably have no interest in from the get-go—suffice it to
say, I skipped the show and settled in with a MOVIES! double feature of Absence of Malice (1981) and Come Back, Little Sheba (1952).
Last Wednesday, I listed the nominees for this year’s Classic Movie Blog Association Awards
(you like this awards show transition thing?
I thought it rather nice) and mentioned that we’d know today who would soon
be busting out the Pledge and shining up CiMBAs on their mantles. Well, I lied.
I lied a lot. Actually, they
decided to extend the voting deadline until the end of this month so it looks
like we won’t know the results until early October. (Plenty of chances to get a bet down in the
meantime.)
My friend Harry Heuser, who blogs at broadcastellan, has just had his
study Immaterial Culture: Literature,
Drama and the American Radio Play, 1929-1954 published…and I thought I’d
mention it in passing here on the blog.
Those of you with an academic interest in old-time radio and its impact
on popular culture (stage, movies and books) will find much of value in this
book (though Harry rather modestly describes it as “me writing about the stuff
we like”)—there are discussions on such artists as John Dickson Carr, Lucille
Fletcher, Norman Corwin, Leslie Charteris and Arch Oboler, as well as shows and
personalities as Amos ‘n’ Andy, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Lum ‘n Abner and Vic and
Sade. You’ll find the meaty tome
here in softcover and e-Book form.
The movies obsessed gang over at True Classics are spotlighting the genius
(and that’s really the only way to describe it) of animator Tex Avery this week…and
to supplement their splendid posts, they’re running a contest in which some
nifty swag will be given away. Click here
to find out the “deets” on how to enter, and I’ll warn you right now—I’m
determined to win these goodies, so if anyone gets in my way I might drop a
piano on you.
Last year, Aurora at Once Upon a Screen—in cahoots with her partners-in-crime Kellee (of Outspoken and Freckled) and Paula (of Paula’s Cinema Club)—sponsored the What a Character! Blogathon to great success, and so the three of them have planned a sequel (What a Character II: Texas Blood Money) for this November (November 9-11, to be exact) that looks to be every bit as informative and crowd-pleasing as the original. (Well, you have to say that with sequels—otherwise no one will go see them.) I’m not sure if I’m going to have the time for this one (I have some outside “bidness” around that date) but I do know that my BBFF Stacia will be contributing an essay entitled Regis Toomey: You Cannot Kill Him, You Can Only Hope to Contain Him.
Annnnnddd…speaking of Stacia
(honestly, I should write segueways for a living)—we break out the streamers
and noisemakers today because six years ago today, she made a daring escape
(yes, I know I used
this joke in 2011—but times are tough) from the fetid fever swamp that is
Usenet (“a wretched hive of scum and villainy,” as I fondly refer to it) and
started construction on She Blogged by
Night here in Upper Blogistan.
Though many were disappointed at first (well, they thought it was going
to be a Five Guys and a Burger) the naysayers quickly closed ranks and realized
that Stacia’s scrap of the blogosphere is one of the funniest and most
well-written sites out there. I am proud
to call her my friend and confidante, and wish her many, many more years of
productive blogging. (And even
non-productive, which I have sort have cornered the market on here.)
3 comments:
I didn't bother to watch the Emmys (well, not having cable made it impossible, but I swear I wouldn't have anyway), and what a crass load of crap it was, from what I could tell. Oh, by the way, get your piano ready, because as much as I have control over, the Avery prize is mine, all mine!
I'm still shocked that the Emmys did not do special tributes to Larry Hagman and Jack Klugman. And if they were wanting to attract younger viewers, then I think were a bit misguided! The majority of twentysomethings I know do not know who "the guy from Glee was", but they do know who Larry Hagman and Jack Klugman were! After all, they grew watching reruns of I Dream of Jeannie and The Odd Couple! Indeed, I know a few twentysomething women who have confessed to having crushes on Major Anthony Nelson when they were little girls!
The Emmy thing was just awful. You could so easily imagine someone involved saying, "Hey guys, a young actor died for once! We have GOT to take advantage of this incredible opportunity!" Vultures, all of them.
Thanks for the blogiversary wishes!
And even non-productive, which I have sort have cornered the market on here.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
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