Roll Yuletide!

Merrrrrrrrry Christmas, cartooners!  Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to every member of the TDOY faithful!  I had hoped to get back into the blogging habit by Wednesday of this week…but I’m having too much fun spending quality time with the family (both the ‘rents and sisters Kat and Debbie), so I’ve decided to extend my holiday vacation through the rest of this week.  (Plus, I’m trying to shake off a really wicked cold, an extra Christmas gift from Kat.)

The ‘rents and I joined Kat and her partner’s family for a sabbatical in a big honkin’ cabin located in beautiful downtown Lake Lure, NC.  Now…I must admit that I shed my country boy origins many years ago—but the retreat was rather sweet, and everyone ended up having a swell time.  (Particularly Mom and Dad, who don’t get out of the house much.)  The food was fantastic (we had the traditional Roast Beast, and it was amazing), the company most pleasurable…and I got the opportunity to meet-and-greet with a cousin whom I have not seen in over thirty years.  I was also amused by the antics of my nephew Davis, who plays Monopoly as if he were auditioning to be the Mini-Me version of Donald J. Trump.  (I’m not making this up.  He kept running around, holding a wad of Monopoly cash and singing out “I’m really rich!”)

We returned to Rancho Yesteryear just in time to greet sister Debbie and her family, who’ll be staying with us until Sunday; they gifted me with some Amazon gift cash that I have socked away for blank DVD-R emergencies.  I’d like to send out a special “You’re good people” to Todd, who also bestowed me with a gift card—this one of the Barnes & Noble variety (it was put to good use purchasing the third season DVD release of Lou Grant).  Sister Kat got me some goodies for a stocking, including some antique collectables of two of my personal heroes, pictured below:

I mostly received presents of the “spanking new duds” variety, but I did splurge a bit and took advantage of a couple of Blu-ray sets that were on sale at Amazon.com for one day only: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection and The Honeymooners “Classic 39” Episodes.  (I told Rick “Cultureshark” Brooks about this last one, and he, too, was able to capitalize on the sale price.  Fa la la la la la la la la…)  I feel kind of bad that I wasn’t able to mail out the traditional custom-made TDOY Christmas cards (I had a last minute medical matter that gobbled up the Shutterfly funds I had set aside for that cause) but I do want to thank everyone who sent a bit of holiday cheer in card form to the House of Yesteryear—I promise there will be cards sent out in 2017.

I hope everyone had as splendiferous a Yuletide as I did…and since this looks like the last post in 2016, I want to extend a hearty handclasp to one and all as we roll in 2017.  (I have a feeling we’re going to need all the luck that’s available.)  Auld Lang Syne, cartooners!

Christmas swag and other items

Unless I’m struck by an inspiration bolt from the blue within the next few days, this looks like it’ll be the last post here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear in 2014.  I won’t lie to you—I was disappointed with my output on the blog this year, and the fact that there were 162 posts to last year’s 174 is proof that my intentions to work on TDOY a lot harder fell short of my personal goals.  I suppose I could offer up the defense that my other outside assignments (my latest “Where’s That Been?” entry is currently up at ClassicFlix) compete for my time…but who am I kidding?  Most of the time, my inactivity is due to just pure dagnasty laziness.

The lethargy and the holidays contributed to why I didn’t cobble together an edition of Serial Saturdays yesterday and why there won’t be a Doris Day(s) tomorrow.  We had an exceptionally grand Christmas; my sister Debbie, her husband Craige and my niece Rachel visited for the occasion and they presented me with enough Amazon gift card largesse to be able to purchase a Blu-ray player for our main TV in the living room (we’ve not been able to watch DVDs since I moved the DVD recorder back to my boudoir—and I don’t have the right cordage to hook my spare DVD player up, since it’s an older model).  The Double K’s sent me the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray/DVD set pictured at the beginning of this post and this replica of a major award…

…and my nephew Davis (seen here opening up the Lego Treehouse I sent him) gifted me with an Elvis ornament which plays I’ll Be Home for Christmas very loudly when you press a button so I’ve only pressed it once.  Mi madre got me a copy of Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life and a Darden Restaurant gift card…which, coupled with the Red Lobster gift card she received from sister Debbie—and some Olive Garden cards she already had on hand—means that we’ll be taking my Dad to Longhorn for twenty-pound butt steaks (with lobster chasers) on his birthday in February.

Also, too: there were mimosas.  Many mimosas.

I learned during my sister’s visit that she has been furthering my niece’s classic movie education: Debbie took Rach to see Gone with the Wind (1939) on its 75th anniversary showing in December and Rach thought it quite good.  (Well, she’s young.)  Rachel was also inducted into my mother’s adoration for The Lone Ranger; she watched with “Nana” some of the reruns on FETV and pronounced them tres awesome.  FETV ran the first three LR “origin” episodes Friday, but Rach didn’t get to see those—I told her I’d send them on to her because I had them on DVD.  “Of course you do,” she cracked, followed by a rimshot.  (I also gave her a copy of the Radio Spirits collection Six Gun Hero that I wrote the liner notes for a while back, so that she could experience the radio Ranger and also brag on her uncle a bit.)

Los Parentes Yesteryear and I watched a Lone Ranger repeat Friday night that I have to tell you about: the title is “Sawtelle Saga’s End,” which originally aired on March 24, 1955.  You have two outlaw brothers, Peter (Peter Hanson) and Benjamin (Robert Foulk), who are responsible for a perplexing series of payroll robberies in and around the town of Sandstone—the only reason why they’ve not robbed the Sandstone Wells Fargo office is because Sandstone is their home base of operations, and they don’t want the heat of being under investigation.  They return to their hideout—the Sawtelle Ranch—where we learn that they’re merely the henchman of the real brains of the outfit…

“Aunt” Maggie Sawtelle, played by none other than Frances Bavier.  When I caught sight of her I shouted “I knew it!”—because I have posited during many a previous write-up on Mayberry Mondays that Beatrice “Aunt Bee” Taylor was twisted and evil, yet with nothing truly substantial to back up my assertions.  Aunt Maggie has instructed her nephews (they’re redopted, by the way) in a life of crime and is getting ready to pull out of Sandstone…but she directs “her boys” to rob the Wells Fargo office before they skedaddle.  Andy Griffith Show fans will really get a kick out of this episode: Bavier’s kindly persona is mostly an act to stave off any suspicions of her true identity as a criminal mastermind (“Why don’t you wash your neck now and again,” she scowls at Peter.  “My, but you’re an untidy boy.”)

The Sawtelle boys carry out her instructions but Benjamin is wounded by the Ranger in their getaway…and though he’s tossed into the pokey, he’s not talking.  After chatting with—I swear I’m not making this up—Sheriff Taylor (William Forrest), the Lone Ranger and Tonto head out to Aunt Maggie’s to see if she has the skinny on what’s become of Ben’s accomplice.  (The Ranger says to Maggie “We’re friends of Sheriff Taylor’s” as means of introduction, much to my amusement.)  Maggie plays the innocent old lady in attempt to fool the two men—but though the Lone Ranger may have been born at night, it wasn’t last night; he saw quite plainly Peter’s horse outside on the way in.  So Maggie whips up a lie: yes, Peter was here but he left—she had no idea those boys were in such trouble!

LR still isn’t buying it—Peter left his saddle behind on the outside horse—but by that time, Maggie’s got him and Tonto locked in a shed and she orders Peter to grab a kerosene lamp for the purposes of making that shed burn, baby, burn.  (A prospect that she, by the way, enjoys with unbridled glee—you can understand what Andy Griffith meant when he subtly suggested Bavier could be a real rhymes-with-witch at times.)  Our heroes escape via the roof (they chop an exit with an axe) and tackle Peter; while the Ranger gives the bandit a proper pummeling, Tonto has to deal with Maggie kicking his shins.  He then says to the Ranger in a line that had us all in hysterics: “Next time me take easy job—fight man, you fight woman.”

No, this is not a lost episode of TAGS in which Barney accidentally locks Aunt Bee in one of the holding cells.  Bee is going to the real slammer, where she'll no doubt make a fellow cellmate her bitch.

All in all, 2014 was a swell year—and I’m hoping 2015 is a most worthy sequel.  Special thanks to my BBFF for the hilarious card (and swell DVD present of Gunsmoke’s seventh season) as well as to Doc Quatermass, Kim, Rodney, the Kelleys, Laura, Brandie and Martin for the wonderful Christmas sentiments as well.  From all of us (the ‘rents and me) at Rancho Yesteryear—Season’s Greetings and a Happy New Year!

Last post in 2013!

I thought it would be appropriate to squeeze in one more post before we wipe the slate clean and start a brand new year in 2014.  If you’re hoping to see a list of what was good about 2013…well, I’m going to have to disappoint you.  I didn’t see enough new or old movies this year to qualify for a Top Ten, and I’d rationalize this by saying I’ll try harder in 2014 but I’d also be fibbing.  Actually, the best Top Ten list I’ve read this year can be found at my good friend Dr. Film’s blog—a ranking of the best film preservation stories in 2013.  (Ben Model’s Accidentally Preserved collection made the list…and I’ll have some additional news and a review of the second volume in that series sometime in 2014.)

The holiday season here at Rancho Yesteryear was one of the best; my youngest sister Debbie spent Christmas with us, accompanied by her husband Craige and daughter Rachel.  There were good eats, much merriment (we had mimosas on Christmas morning—and those of you who know me well know that I am a man who likes his mimosas) and the initiation of niece Rachel into the wonderful world of classic film.  Christmas Eve Eve, I announced my intention to watch Miracle on 34th Street (a yearly tradition, of course) back in my bedroom environs while my sports junkie parents and the rest devoured football and basketball…and I asked Rachel if she would be interested in seeing it.  She told me would very much like to, and though I stressed to her before the feature presentation that this was an older movie, I apparently did not emphasize it forcefully enough because as the opening credits rolled, she cried out: “You didn’t tell me this was in black-and-white!”  But I’m happy to report that this did not deter her from enjoying the movie (she thought the scene where Kris Kringle is able to converse with the little Dutch immigrant girl “adorable”), and in fact, we watched It’s a Wonderful Life together on Christmas Eve.  I think she had seen a portion of it before, because she remembered the scene where the dancers at the high school fall into the swimming pool.  (By the way—it’s not easy explaining to your niece why you’re a sobbing mess after Life concludes.)

She also inquired as to whether I had The Music Man on hand—which I had recorded off The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ a few years back, and so I spent most of Christmas Eve morning trying to locate it in my boxes o’discs.  (You won’t believe this, I know—but it was in the very last box I looked in.  It always is.)  We watched Man on Christmas night, and she loved it as well; but there is often a price to pay in schooling younger people in this sort of thing in that you have to occasionally allow yourself to sit down with something they enjoy.  I had bought her the DVD of the 2013 documentary One Direction: This is Us for Christmas, and I agreed to watch it with her on the night after Christmas.  It wasn’t bad—I think the part I enjoyed most was watching Martin Scorsese become a gushing fanboy with his granddaughters in tow—though in all honesty, I’m not the target audience for those kind of movies.  (The doc was directed by Fairmont, WV native Morgan Spurlock…whose Super Size Me documentary was a request by Rach a couple of visits back except her folks vetoed it because it’s unrated.  Rach told me that she finally got to watch it in school, in a version that made a small edit or two due to language.)

I already shared with you on the blog the news of two Christmas gifts I was going to receive: the Naked City: The Complete Series box set and the Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection.  These two gifts (what can I say—I have great taste) were supplemented by volumes 1 and 2 of Have Gun – Will Travel: The Sixth and Final Season, courtesy of my BBFF Stacia (what can I say—she has great taste).  In addition, both of my sisters generously sent me some Amazon gift cards…and with this largesse I was able to purchase a Blu-ray burner/player for the computer, so I have now officially made the leap into the 21st century.  (Which is scary…a cellphone might be next.)

I also want to take a moment to thank everyone who sent a Christmas card my way: I received warm holiday wishes from Brandie (and her saucy Laszlo), Laura, Bill “Get away from my outside decorations, you hooligans!” Crider, Toby, Rodney and my old Morgantown pal Kim.  But the winner for this year’s most offbeat card came courtesy of the folks from The Lightning Bug’s Lair (Zachary), Gonna Put Me in the Movies (B. Goode) and Three Makes a Collection (Peggy)—hey, the family that blogs together stays together—which I will share with you here:

“Ron,” in case you don’t recognize him off the bat, is adult film star Ron Jeremy.  Explaining to the ‘rents who Ron was constituted high hilarity (plus they didn’t quite understand why I was rolling around on the floor laughing); I just want to say that I would trade them in for cool parents like Zach’s (Zach confessed on Facebook: “Best family picture ever!”) in a New York minute.  (Okay, I probably wouldn’t.  But don’t think for a moment I’m not envious.)

So what’s in store for Thrilling Days of Yesteryear in 2014?  Well, I have truly been making an honest effort to get more content up on the blog, and I think you’ll have to agree that this month has had the most compared to all the rest of the months in 2013.  I’m working on movie and book reviews, plus the continuation of Serial Saturdays (Riders of Death Valley will be completed soon and I’m interviewing candidates for our next presentation) and (heaven help us all) Doris Day(s).  I hope that my rewarding associations with Radio Spirits and ClassicFlix continue, too.  For everyone who stops by the blog now and then, I want to wish you all a joyous and prosperous New Year’s—now let’s hit the mimosas!  (Oh, the image on the left comes from Pretty Clever Films—who gave me a nice shout-out in April and I just now came across it.  Mea maxima culpa and thanks for the plug!)

An additional story in the Naked City

No one is as more surprised as I to see the flurry of activity on the blog this week…but since TDOY’s been on a roll since Monday, I figured I’d continue running the table.  (Particularly since a fallow period is headed for the blog soon, as I have a couple of Radio Spirits projects on my plate.)  But today, I’d like to indulge in a bit of bragging.

Back in May, I mentioned in passing that TVShowsOnDVD.com had posted an announcement in which RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) had plans to release all 138 episodes of the seminal police drama Naked City in a 29-disc set that, at the time of the announcement, had no official street date (it was later announced that the set would be released on November 5) but was available at Amazon for a pre-order tariff of $99.99 (the set itself retails for $179.98).  Even though I painstakingly parted with the wherewithal to buy the previous not-quite-complete collections/sets released by Image…and even though my religion has strict rules against “double-dipping”…I told myself that I would have to have the set, because Naked City is seriously one of my all-time favorite television shows.

My mother and I have a conversation a month or two after this announcement is made.  She asks me if there’s anything I have my eye on for Christmas, and I tell her the only thing I really want is this set.  After groaning about yet another portion of discs making their way into Rancho Yesteryear, she acquiesces and has me pre-order the set…then issues strict instructions that I am to be surprised on Christmas.

Now…here’s where the story takes an amazing turn.  I do not know for what reason I happened to stop by DVDPriceSearch.com that fateful day in October—lately I’ve been trying to avoid the site because I’m weak when it comes to temptation—but I cannot ignore an entry on that site that says the Naked City set I’ve pre-ordered from Amazon is available from Walmart…

…for $25.48.

My eyes leave their sockets for a brief second as if I were in a Tex Avery cartoon.  I could not believe it—it had to be some sort of error.  So I mosey on over to Walmart.com…and sure enough, the set is selling for $25.48.  I even read the description, just to make sure they haven’t misidentified the collection.  Same one they’re selling at Amazon (and by this stage of the game, a few other places as well).

I was convinced that this was a huge mistake, and that Walmart was going to find some way to weasel out of this…but I was also convinced that if I didn’t avail myself of this deal of a lifetime, I would hate myself for the rest of the time I have on Earth.  So I ordered a copy, and set aside enough time to wait until I was sure I would be getting this deal before I canceled the Amazon pre-order.  The last week in October, the Amazon order was cancelled.  I figured, what the hell—if it does turn out to be a boo-boo, I can always re-order…and what’s more, I’ll shop around to see if there’s a better deal (as I said earlier, a few more places had started selling it since my initial order).

The package arrived yesterday—and it’s the same set as the one advertised on Amazon.  I am convinced Baby Jeebus loves me, because I cannot believe my good fortune—even my mother high-fived me, and we all know how she feels about DVDs.  The word on this apparently got out on Facebook—I know Video Watchdog’s Tim Lucas shouted it from the rooftops—and after who-knows-how-many-people capitalized on this deal, the $99 price eventually returned to the listing.  I checked the site the other day and I couldn’t even find the set in the inventory; somebody must have removed it after the company took the bath they did on the discounted sets.  (The imp in me wants to believe that the poor schmendrick responsible was demoted for this fox paw and is now on greeter duty.)

I do feel bad about buying this from Walmart, though…because there’s no love lost between me and a corporation who represents everything I despise about corporations, and I try not to patronize the business as a rule.  But I simply couldn’t pass this up, and I’m sure if I light a few candles and say a few novenas during the holidays that will right the situation.  (I just need to be able to remember where the church is.)

In other DVD news, Barnes & (Ig)Noble are running their annual 50%-off Criterion sale as of this post…and because B&N appears doomed to be crushed under the boot heel of the gigantic behemoth known as Amazon, I figured I’d drop a few shekels (okay, it was more like a lot of shekels) into their coffers and buy a few nice things for myself (including The Uninvited, which Laura has sold me on with her latest ClassicFlix review).  (Brandie proved to be a first-rate saleswoman as well, since I grabbed I Married a Witch while I was at it.) I also pre-ordered the City Lights release, which is being sold as a Blu-ray/DVD combo…so on the off-chance I eventually do acquire a Blu-ray player I’ll have something to play in it.

And I thought I knew classic movies!

In 1999, my good friend John DiLeo published a book entitled And You Thought You Knew Classic Movies—an entertaining tome packed with quizzes on the subject of classic film, with plenty of esoteric queries that were guaranteed to trip up even the most devoted TCM-phile.  No less a movie authority than the late Pauline Kael gushed (and rightly so) with praise for John’s work, calling it “the smartest quiz book I’ve ever seen.”

The book has been OOP for a good many years, but has recently been reissued (with a bit of additional tweaking and additions) through Hansen Publishing, and they were nice enough to send me a promotional freebie.  In fact, when John e-mailed me to ask if I’d mention it on the blog in exchange for a gratis copy I asked him if this was the same one for which Madame Kael had so much praise.

He e-mailed me back and confirmed my query, adding that Kael’s rave was “the gift that keeps on giving.”  While I’m sure Pauline and I would probably clash over our taste in movies, I’d like to think that we’d bond over our mutual approval for John’s book.  It is one of the smartest movie quiz books out there, and many of the questions even flummoxed yours truly…here’s an example of some of them:

Katharine Hepburn stars in what play at the climax of Stage Door?

Can you name the classic in which a cigarette is put out in a jar of cold cream?

What star (not Alan Ladd) is the top-billed male in This Gun for Hire?

At the risk of shaming myself, I only got two out of three of these right…I won’t tell you which one I missed.  (Though I will give you a hint and just say I may have to sit down and watch Stage Door again one of these nights after the ‘rents are sleeping soundly from the sedagive.)

And You Thought You Knew Classic Movies contains 200 quizzes, all covering a variety of different vintage film areas…and while I’ve not had time to take them all, I believe more than a few of them would even baffle the Oracle himself, Robert "Bobby Osbo" Osborne.  (I’ll just wait for the lightning to subside.)  There’s a scoring system in the back of the book that made me laugh out loud with the description for those folks only able to score 0-250 points: “’Sorry, Wrong Number’ – It’s okay to admit that the only pre-1970 movies you really care about are The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life.”  (On the other hand, I hear Entertainment Weakly Weekly is hiring.)

I’ve been a big fan of John’s writing since November 2008, when I found a mention of his book Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery on cocktail king Vince Keenan’s weblog.  I quickly added it and another DiLeo book, 100 Great Film Performances You Should Remember – But Probably Don’t, to my Amazon.com wish list…where loyal sister Debbie located them and gifted me with copies for that following Christmas.  100 Great Film Performances is the only one of John’s books not published through Hansen, but it is one I would recommend without hesitation—it’s very similar to the content in Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscars, and both are necessary tonics to anyone disgruntled by the outcome of the various Academy Awards presentations year after year.

Screen Savers is my favorite of John’s books; I have always argued that the mark of a great critic is to write about a movie in such a fashion that s/he makes you want to take a second look at it to see if there might possibly be something you missed the first time.  There are plenty of those movies in Screen Savers, and well-written essays on longtime Thrilling Days of Yesteryear favorites, too—The Killing, Pretty Poison, Stars in My Crown and many, many more.  The success of that book led DiLeo to publish a sequel last year, Screen Savers II: My Grab Bag of Classic Movies—which contains more flicks awaiting rediscovery, tidbits and essays written about classic films (culled from John’s blog, Screen Savers Movies), and a few more brain busters in the area of the same kind of quizzes featured in And You Thought You Knew Classic Movies.

Tennessee Williams devotees will also clutch to their bosom (well, I had to get a little sex into this review) a book written by John and published in 2010: Tennessee Williams and Company: His Essential Screen Actors.  The publication is crammed with the kind of movie writing DiLeo does best; examining those actors who gave career-defining performances in vehicles based on the famed playwright’s works, like Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor.  You can find more information on John’s publications and what he does when he’s not writing good books at his website here.

If you’re a classic film fan—and you must be, otherwise you’d be poring over a blog about air-conditioning repair—not buying And You Thought You Knew Classic Movies means you’d be missing out on a really splendid book, written by a tried-and-true movie fan who knows his subject and knows it bloody well.  What you should do is buy a copy for a friend, allowing them to catch up with you on classic movie knowledge and alienating you with their know-it-all….well, on second thought…buy an extra copy for yourself, and that way your friendship will stand the test of time.

The state of the blog

Happy 2013 to the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful!  It wasn’t easy finding time for a sit-down to compose this post—my mistress Antenna TV rang in the New Year with reruns of Burns and Allen and The Jack Benny Show, and as I write is featuring a lineup of Three Stooges shorts during the premiere day of 2013.  This is a terribly tempting turn of events for a person who has made as one of his New Year’s resolutions a vow to clear away some of the weeds around the blog.

Over the Christmas holiday, the ‘rents and I managed to get away from the familiar environs of Rancho Yesteryear and into the North Georgia mountains for a little R&R with my sisters Kat and Debbie and their families as kind of a Christmas/50th wedding anniversary present.  (I sort of kept mum about it on the blog to avoid the possibility of an unsavory criminal element ransacking the jernt during our absence.)  We had a great deal of fun over three days, with many goodies consumed (including a snowman cake and Grape Nehi) and two amazing dinners prepared by Kat and Mom; Madre made her specialty, homemade pizza, while Kat prepared a sumptuous standing rib roast.  (Duh-rool, duh-rool…)

Being with family is great…but returning home is even better, and so upon our return I went back to work, making certain that I had the inaugural Serial Saturdays post of Don Winslow of the Navy prepared, along with another installment of Mayberry Mondays—which became the final post of 2012.  In looking over some of the past posts, I noticed that while I’ve managed to be fairly consistent in keeping those two features running (well, with one or two minor exceptions) I’ve really gotten kind of slack in maintaining a presence on the blog, save for the occasional participation in someone’s blogathon.

So although I have made this resolution in the past—and will probably break it at the first available opportunity—I’m really going to try and get some more reviews and the like up on TDOY in 2013.  In 2012, I put together 229 posts…nine more than 2011.  I can and will do better.

I got an added assist in this quest for blog excellence with a nice bit of Christmas swag: my niece Rachel bestowed upon me a Target (pronounced TAR-ZHAY) gift card that allowed me to pick up the Timeless Factory box set The Tall Man: The Complete Series at a reduced price.  I also lucked out and scored Timeless' Mr. Lucky: The Complete Series from my best friend in the blogosphere…and there are a few other goodies that have surfaced here in the House of Yesteryear, with an emphasis on silent cinema.  Finally, I need to start poring through all the films and TV shows that I have been collecting over the years and stop spending so much time in Count Comfy von Chair accomplishing nothing but strenuous eyeball rolling at the crap my father watches on TV.

While I’m dedicated to entertaining the folks who are kind enough to drop by this ‘umble scrap of the blogosphere in a regular basis…there will be occasional interruptions from time to time when deadlines for my Radio Spirits gigs loom.  But I’m going to try my darndest to make certain those are few and far between.  On with the blogging!

B-Western Wednesday: Night Time in Nevada (1948)

Because the ‘rents were nice enough to bestow upon me a wonderful Christmas gift of two honkin’ big DVD collections of B-westerns (America’s Greatest Westerns Volume 3 & 4) last December, I’ve been wanting to watch some of the content and write up some of these nifty little oaters for the blog for quite a while now.  And then my muse whispered into my ear: “Why not do this every Hump Day and call the feature ‘B-Western Wednesdays’?”  (Okay…maybe not the most clever or inspirational of muses…but all the good ones were taken.)

So I decided to inaugurate this feature with a film starring my favorite of the B-western heroes—none other than the “King of the Cowboys” hizownself, Roy Rogers.  I’m on the record as saying that while I certainly can enjoy an oater starring “America’s favorite cowboy,” Gene Autry…I always preferred Roy because he was a better actor (and better singer, to be honest).  And yet Autry played an important role in jump-starting Rogers’ film career; Roy (billed alternately as “Dick Weston” and his real name, Leonard Slye, at the time) made his earliest movie appearances in several Autry films as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers.  When Autry got into a tiff with his movie studio, Republic Pictures, and walked out on his contract the studio went auditioning for replacements…and lo and behold, Roy Rogers was born.

My favorite Roy Rogers pictures are the ones he made toward the end of his stay at Republic; together with ace serial director William Witney, he appeared in a series of action-oriented westerns that appealed both to adults and his loyal Saturday matinee fan base…and yet retained many of the elements of the oaters he appeared in since his starring debut, Under Western Stars (1938)—songs, comedy relief, etc.  Night Time in Nevada (1948) is a superb example of the kind of Rogers vehicle I enjoy—it would be among my first choices of movies to show any individual who’s not normally a fan of the genre.

Ran Farrell (Grant Withers) has been corrupted by the shiny precious metal known as gold—and he’s hatched a plan to dispose of his partner, Jim Andrews (James Nolan), by dynamiting the mine at which the two men are working (banking on Andrews being killed in a cave-in).  Andrews doesn’t immediately draw his rations, however…with his dying breath, he asks Farrell to keep an eye on a trust fund that consists of the money from the gold he’s saved, and to make certain his young daughter Joan gets the inheritance when she turns 18.  (Farrell then demonstrates that he’s just the man for the job by concealing Andrews’ body in a mine that has turned out to be utterly worthless…carelessly leaving not only a lucky money piece bearing Jim’s name but an article of his clothing hanging on a tree.  We will return to this, by the way)

With the passage of time, we learn that Ran has been dipping into Joan’s account—which shouldn’t come as any huge surprise, since a guy what croaked her pa is probably not someone you’d entrust to keep watch over a tidy sum—and that Joan is headed to Nevada claim her inheritance.  Farrell tells a panicky (and oh-so-very-crooked) lawyer named Jason Howley (George M. Carleton) that he has everything under control—he knows that a gi-normous herd of cattle to be sold will be traveling by train and that all he has to do is hijack the bovines, sell them and replenish the missing trust fund with the ready cash.  Farrell and his henchmen succeed with their illegal cattle acquisition…but during the hi-jacking, a beloved train engineer named Casey (Joseph Crehan) is rubbed out.

Casey was a pal to retired state policeman Roy Rogers…who is also the owner of the cattle, along with his ranch hands, The Sons of the Pioneers (Bob Nolan, Pat Brady, Tim Spencer, Lloyd Perryman, Karl and Hugh Farr).  Roy rides into town, looking for information on his friend’s death…and in doing so, gets himself reinstated into the agency by Sheriff Cookie Bullfincher (Andy Devine), who for the purposes of this film provides the comic relief.  Roy and Cookie, disguised as tramps, travel out to a hobo’s camp to ask some of its inhabitants what they know about Casey’s murder, but they are unable to help.  (However, it’s not a total loss—one of the tramps is played by Hank “Fred Ziffel” Patterson, who does a little shuffling footwork to Roy’s rendition of Big Rock Candy Mountain.)  Our heroes then run into Joan Andrews (Adele Mara) on their way back to town; Joan and her gal pal Toni Borden (Marie Harmon) are on their way to claim Joan’s inheritance, traveling by trailer.  (Toni is Joan’s comedy relief—because why shouldn’t the leading lady get the same perks as Roy?)  Roy and Cookie surreptitiously hitch a ride with the two women after first being refused a lift by sneaking into the trailer, and a wildly comic action sequence results with them being bounced around when the girls get wise to their shenanigans.

After explaining to Roy how she and Toni happen to be so far west, Joan pays lawyer Howley a visit to set in motion receiving her fundage…and the wily shyster stalls her by telling her that there is much paperwork to be filled out (I’s crossed, T’s dotted) because in actuality—there are insufficient monies to replace what that rat bastard Farrell has swiped out of her trust fund.  Joan goes on her merry way, but the treacherous Ran has decided that he wants all of the money…and makes plans to eliminate Joan and Toni while they sleep peacefully in their trailer.  He just so happens to spot this outside the rig:

Subtle it is not.  But fortunately for the girls, Roy rides out to deliver a telegram to Joan and catches Farrell doing his deviltry…and gives him a right pummeling in the process.  Then, he instructs his trusty golden palomino Trigger to keep an eye on Farrell (“Watch him, Trigger!”) while he checks on the girls (I swear I’m not making that up)…so Farrell decides to make tracks for the horizon.  He’s just wasting his time—Roy and “the smartest horse in the movies” easily catch up to the evil Farrell, and Ran is locked up in the town pokey, over the strenuous protests of lawyer Howley.

Howley can do nothing for his client until after Roy and the Pioneers serenade the ladies with the title tune.  By morning, however, the devious Howley has hit upon a surefire way of springing his client: they inform Roy and Cookie that Farrell is not who he says he is—he’s actually Jim Andrews, Joan’s father!  (Suffering synopsis, Batman!)  Farrell gives the two lawmen a cock-and-bull story about how he concealed his identity because he had once served a stretch in the pen, and had promised Mrs. Andrews that he would keep his jailbird past a secret from his daughter.  Roy releases “Andrews” (knowing full well Ran is full of it) but goes out to the location of the gold mine with Joan to see if he can find out what happened to “Farrell.”  Once there, Roy and Joan the previously mentioned discarded objects that had belonged to her father and conclude that Farrell is responsible for murdering her pa.

Roy and Joan were trailed to the mine by a weaselly henchman named Mort (Holly Bane), and Mort rides back to Howley’s office to report on their activities.  As Roy and Cookie make plans to ship out the last of Roy’s cattle, Farrell, Howley and Mort dupe Joan into thinking Roy has been killed (this is accomplished by her being held prisoner in an adjoining room while Farrell and his goons do a little “play acting”—but it becomes a little too real when Farrell dispatches Howley with his shootin’ iron) and that they’re planning to hijack the cattle train at station called Devil’s Pass.  Roy hides in the cattle car to surprise Farrell and Company—but Farrell and his men are actually planning to jump the locomotive at a different junction, and carry out their nefarious bad guy work while Cookie, Joan and the SOP (Sons of the Pioneers) are waiting at the wrong place.  It looks hairy for our hero—particularly when he would appear to be outgunned—but his friends come to his rescue in the nick of time, and that no-goodnik Farrell gets his comeuppance falling into a crevasse (where he is presumably devoured by pumas) after an exciting knock-down, drag-out fight with Roy behind the wheel of a fleeing truck.

Despite its occasional plot contrivances and coincidences (the screenplay was penned by Sloan Nibley, who also authored such classic Rogers westerns as The Far Frontier and Quentin Tarantino fave The Golden Stallion), Night Time in Nevada is a most entertaining western—an artifact of a bygone era when the good guys and bad guys were easily delineated, and a hero cared more for his horse than he did his lady friend.  The print of Night Time is even in fairly good shape for a public domain offering, though it’s presented here in black-and-white because the original Trucolor (an inexpensive alternative to Technicolor owned by Republic) print wasn’t available (there are a number of Rogers’ Trucolor films that only exist today in black-and-white versions).  The movie is for the most part intact—I clocked the running time at about 67 minutes, which seems to jibe with the info at the always reliable IMDb.  (There is also a truncated 54-minute version of this movie floating around; so it’s nice to have the full version even in its monochromatic form.)  The dark tone of Night Time is considerably lightened by some great musical numbers (my favorite is Over Nevada, written by Pioneer Tim Spencer and performed by the group as they make repairs to a fence on the ranch) and reliable comedy relief (Devine, Harmon and Pioneer Pat Brady—a few years before he became Roy’s TV sidekick).  If you can find the 2003 DVD release of this film at a good price I’d recommend it—Oldies.com also has a version that they released in 2009 (paired with Roy’s The Man from Colorado) at a tariff that’s easier on the wallet.

Let us now praise the carpenter

You may remember reading in an earlier post that one of the gifts I received for Christmas was the DVD collection I’m Dickens…He’s Fenster: Volume 1, a 3-disc set containing the first sixteen episodes of the ABC situation comedy that lasted a solitary season from 1962-63.  Created and produced by Honeymooners/Phil Silvers Show scribe Leonard Stern, who would later have a hand in such later shows as Get Smart, He & She and McMillan and Wife, the series starred John Astin (Dickens) and Marty Ingels (Fenster) as a pair of enthusiastic (if sometimes inept) handymen who were bosom buddies despite their disparate lifestyles: Arch Fenster was a carefree and somewhat irresponsible bachelor, with pal Harry Dickens the more stable (if a bit insecure) married man, lawfully wedded to supportive spouse Kate (Emmaline Henry).

I’ve talked about the show on the blog before, how I was looking forward to the release after having previously enjoyed sampling it through my nefarious bootleg connections.  The Volume 1 set was mailed out to interested parties in the early part of December (provided you purchased the collection directly from the website) in advance of its official April 10th date, and those who jumped on the special deal also got a bonus in an autographed postcard from one of five performers who had appeared on the show (I scored one with Lee Meriwether) in addition to getting a credit when Volume 2 (the final sixteen episodes) is released as a “co-architect.”  I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of my irritation with split-season DVD collections but I find it hard to be angry at this one (“Stay not mad!” as Stacia would say) because of the bodacious extras…including commentaries from creator Stern, cast members Astin, Ingels and Dave “Agent 13” Ketchum and guest stars Meriwether and Yvonne “Batgirl” Craig (Chris Korman, son of Harvey, also offers some insights on an episode his pop had a part in, “The Acting Game”).

Of the episodes of Dickens…Fenster that I’ve watched so far, my favorite is probably “The Joke”…and I consider it my favorite possibly because it would be the episode that I’d show to someone who’d never seen the series.  I talked about the episode in this January 2008 post but a few of the other outings on this collection that I deeply enjoy are “The Double Life of Mel Warshaw” (Harry, Arch and their pals attempt to fix up a dilapidated cabin), “Harry, the Father Image” (which includes a falling-down funny scene that has Astin having to cope with a sudden influx of Ingels’ girlfriends as he tries to keep them from meeting Marty’s fiancée, played by Ellen [McRae] Burstyn) and “Here’s to the Three of Us” (Astin executes similar laughs as he rushes around his house hiding party food, keeping Ingels from learning about a shindig to which he’s not been invited).  “How Not to Succeed in Business” is also a pip; the highlight is a riotous scene where Harry and Arch, striking out on their own and inviting potential clients to dinner, get stuck with a check they cannot pay.

Of special interest to OTR fans is an episode “Party, Party, Who’s Got the Party?” which was penned by Ray Singer and Dick Chevillat, the two men who wrote the wonderful Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.  The episode begins with some hilarious physical comedy in a restaurant as Astin’s Harry is explaining the plot of Big Deal on Madonna Street to Ingels’ Fenster and Ketchum’s Warshaw…but Harry keeps getting interrupted as a result of his being seated too close to the door to the kitchen, much to the amusement of another co-worker, Bob Mulligan (played the great Henry Beckman).  Harry’s irritation can clearly be detected in this exchange with his pal Arch:

ARCH: Saturday night…I think I’m due at somebody’s house for dinner…

HARRY: You’re always due at somebody’s house for dinner…

ARCH: Well, what’s that supposed to mean?

HARRY: Just what I said…

ARCH: You’re mad at Mulligan and that door and you’re takin’ it out on me…I’m no moocher!  If I’m not due for dinner, I don’t go…

HARRY: If you’re not due for dinner you don’t eat…

ARCH: Oh yeah?

HARRY: Yeah!

MEL: Hey, you guys…if I wanted to hear a fight, I’d eat at home…

Harry explains to Arch that he has social obligations to meet—that he should repay the people who’ve had him over to dine over the years, so Arch decides to throw a big “roof raiser” and invite everyone to whom he’s duty-bound, including Harry and wife Kate since they’ve had him over the most times.  (Also since he’s throwing the shindig at their house.)  In making the menu arrangements, Arch has to prune his list of guests to accommodate the caterer he’s hiring…and when he insists on inviting co-worker Mulligan, Harry puts his foot down—if the obnoxious Mulligan is going to be in attendance, no party.  Arch compensates for this by asking Mulligan if the party can be hosted at his house, and Harry parries by planning a gala for the same night; he even has the inspiration to invite their boss, Myron Bannister (the hilariously deadpan Frank DeVol), to insure everyone that works with them comes.  But Arch gets to Bannister first, and so Harry and Kate spend their Saturday night alone in pajamas playing gin until Arch comes by to plead with his friend to reconsider coming.  After some initial reluctance, Harry agrees and while Kate is getting dressed Arch introduces Harry to his date…Mulligan’s cousin.

ARLENE: You know, I’m awfully glad you’re coming to my cousin’s party…

HARRY: Well, I’m…I’m happy to count Bob Mulligan among my closest, at work and at play…

ARLENE: Oh, he’s very fond of you, too…

HARRY: Oh?

ARLENE: Yes, he’s always talking about you…the fun you two used to have together…playing cards, hunting, bowling…

HARRY (interrupting): Excuse me…he told you about the hunting trip?

ARLENE (laughing): Funniest story I ever heard…you and that moose…I know it by heart; he tells it every time he comes to Cleveland…

(A look of terror can be seen on Harry’s face as Arch tries to warn his date off the subject…)

HARRY: They know about me and the moose in Cleveland?

ARLENE: Oh, yes!  And say…I meant to ask you something, Mr. Dickens…that time in the woods when you…

ARCH (interrupting): Arlene, I think we’d better go… (Rising off the couch) Harry, I’ll meet you at the party…

HARRY: Now wait a minute!  I want to hear this…what was your question, Arlene?

ARLENE: When you were swimming in that lake…and you hung your pants and shirt on what you thought was a branch of a tree (Arch buries his face in his hands as Arlene laughs)…did you really have to chase that moose three miles up a mountain just to get your clothes back?

Harry becomes furious once again, and changes his mind about going to the party (Arch: “There’ll be one empty place…”  Harry: “Invite the moose!”) just as Kate emerges from the bedroom, dressed and ready to go.  The Dickenses resume their gin game, and Arch soon returns—this time with Mulligan, who apologizes for being an asshat and laughing at Harry’s various predicaments, promising to be the picture of sobriety.  So Harry agrees to let bygones be bygones and while Kate returns to the bedroom to resume gussying up, Harry demonstrates to Arch and Mulligan how he puts on a tight cummerbund.   The article of clothing goes sailing out the window once Harry exhales and Mulligan is helpless with laughter.  That’s what leads to the camel being buried in a straw stack, only this time Arch insists he’s not returning to the party because he, too, has been insulted by the way Mulligan has treated his friend.  As a wrap-up, Harry dreads explaining to Kate that they are definitely not going to the party but she’s one step ahead of them…removing her wrap, she reveals underneath that she’s still in her housecoat.

The Dickens…Fenster set closes out with the hysterically funny “The Godfathers,” in which co-worker Mel is about to become a father…for the eleventh time…and Harry and Arch agree to baby-sit for his brood while his wife is delivering.  There’s some first-rate slapstick and sight gags in this one, my favorite has our heroes gathering up milk bottles for the milkman and the two of them go back and forth carrying multiple containers, culminating with Harry’s dragging of a milk urn to the door.  (Arch takes out a pad of paper and pencil to leave the man a note: “Please leave one cow.”)  Astin does some uproarious physical comedy in this outing, including falling over not just one but two skates and getting trapped in a converted bed.  I like how even though Astin’s character was considered the more sensible of the two he carries most of the slapstick…but I’ve also developed a new appreciation for his acting talent (he’s always been a favorite since my macabre childhood days staring at The Addams Family) because I get the impression that despite their exemplary chemistry he and Ingels never really got along on the show (and yet the only way you’d know this is by listening to Ingels’s audio commentary on “Harry, the Father Image”).

Among the bonuses on this set include a moving tribute to creator Stern, who left this world for a better one in mid-project…I’m hoping that the creative minds behind Volume 2 have something similar planned for Stern’s collaborator Mel Tolkin, who served as story editor and co-wrote many of the episodes (also working alongside the great Don Hinkley).  There’s also an amusing Ivory Soap commercial featuring Astin, Ingels and Henry as their characters, mot to mention a promo (which unfortunately doesn’t have the same video quality of the Ivory ad, but you do what you can with the tools you have) announcing the show’s premiere on ABC.  But above and beyond all that, there are sixteen half-hours of a show that was sadly canceled before its time; a marvelous blend of physical and verbal comedy that thankfully will see its second volume released soon.  Here’s a short preview of an episode I have not seen (it sounds hilarious—I like how Emmaline’s closing line in this clip reminds me of that current McDonald’s commercial), “Table Tennis, Anyone?”: