“Oh, boss…come now!”

Over at the Radio Spirits blog this morning, I wrote up a little birthday tribute to the one and only Eddie “Rochester” Anderson (born on this date in 1905)—comic sidekick/second banana beyond compare, and faithful “valet” to the one of the funniest men to ever walk the planet, as my friend Jeff was often fond of saying.  (That’s Jack Benny, in case you didn’t recognize him in the above photograph.)  Anderson also gets a shout-out via a scheduled ClassicFlix tweet now available at a Facebook or Twitter feed near you, so if you’re not already subscribing why not check it out?

Hot on the heels of the successful Gish Sisters Blogathon, Movies, Silently has another project underway in the ol’ blog kitchen—a ‘thon to celebrate the 88th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera (1925).  The Chaney Blogathon (“Two men…thousands of faces”), underway from November 15-18 and co-hosted by TDOY fave The Last Drive-In, will cover the careers of Lon, Sr. and Lon, Jr.—Thrilling Days of Yesteryear will kick in with a review of one of my favorite Lon, Jr. turns: the 1952 western classic High Noon.  (After this event, Movies, Silently will enter a treatment program to kick their blogathon addiction.  Okay, I’m just kidding about that.)

Speaking of blogathons (smooth as glass), two film reviews that I wrote here for my BBFF Stacia’s Camp and Cult Blogathon, Seconds (1966) and The Court Jester (1956—in tandem with The Hollywood Revue’s Paramount Centennial Blogathon), have been nominated for two prestigious “CiMBA” awards, bestowed by that august organization of classic film bloggers known as The Classic Movie Blog Association.  To those folks who nominated TDOY—words simply cannot adequately express my gratitude; I know it sounds like a time-worn cliché but it really is an honor to be nominated.  Here’s the full list of nominees:

BEST CLASSIC MOVIE REVIEW: DRAMA

Scarface: The Shame of a Nation, Once Upon a Screen

31 Days of Oscar: The Rains Came (1939), The Lady Eve’s Reel Life

CMBA Fabulous Films of the 1940s Blogathon: My Darling Clementine (1946), Caftan Woman

The Black Cat (1934), Pre-Code.Com

The Camp and Cult Film Blogathon: Seconds (1966), Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

BEST CLASSIC MOVIE REVIEW: MUSICAL OR COMEDY

The Paramount Centennial Blogathon/The Camp & Cult Blogathon: The Court Jester (1956), Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon: Ball of Fire (1941), Old Movies Nostalgia

Caftan Woman's Choice: One for December on TCM (Babes in Toyland, 1934), Caftan Woman

The Awful Truth, 1938, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Review of The Doll (1919), Movies, Silently

Search for Beauty (1934), Pre-Code.Com

BEST CLASSIC MOVIE ARTICLE

Top 10 Oscar-Less Dames and Their Oscar-Worthy Roles, Shadows and Satin

Sunset Blvd...It IS Big!  Once Upon a Screen

Fashion in Film: Shanghai Express (1932), The Lady Eve’s Reel Life

The Man Who Saved Cinerama, Jim Lane’s Cinedrome

My Ten Favorite Classic Foreign Film Actors/Actresses, The Movie Projector

BEST PROFILE OF A CLASSIC MOVIE PERFORMER OR FILMMAKER

Happy Birthday, Olivia de Havilland! Backlots

Tyrone Power's Acting Lineage, Java Bean Rush

Julie Adams Chats with the Cafe about James Stewart, the Gill Man, Elvis, and Her Autobiography, Classic Film & TV Cafe

Cagney, The Lady Eve’s Reel Life

What a Character! Blogathon Canadian Edition: Miss Lucile Watson and Miss Maude Eburne, Caftan Woman

BEST BLOG DESIGN

Java's Journey

Once Upon a Screen

Shadows and Satin

Movies, Silently

Pre-Code.Com

BEST CLASSIC MOVIE SERIES (multiple posts)

TCM Pre-Code Pick of the Month, Shadows and Satin

Luck of the Irish: Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Jim Lane’s Cinedrome

Women Warriors, Another Old Movie Blog

Silent Take, Movies, Silently

BEST CLASSIC MOVIE BLOG EVENT

James Cagney Blogathon, The Movie Projector

Coverage of the TCM Classic Film Festival, Backlots

Worthy candidates, one and all—voting is now underway (it’s limited to CMBA members—so don’t try any funny business) and we should know the results by next Tuesday.  So good luck to the nominees!

And I hate to close this one out on a sad note…but yesterday, there was much buzz on the Facebook about the passing of a true Chicagoland legend: Jerry G. Bishop, the original Svengoolie, died this weekend at the age of 77.  R.I.P, Mr. Bishop.