This week at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

I am diligently working on getting this week’s Doris Day(s) up for tomorrow…but I wanted to give you a heads-up that it might not post at the usual time.  There have been some pretty big doin’s here at the House of Yesteryear—notably the acquisition of a bookshelf that my sister and her partner could not take with them to their new West Coast digs.  (I also inherited shelf space on a previous unit that formerly held the toys my nephew would play with whenever he came over to the house.)  With an empty shelving unit at Rancho Yesteryear, naturally it would not be long before my mother started nagging gently suggesting that I relocate to the vacant space several stacks of DVDs that were cluttering up my room.

Merely an approximation.

I’d estimate that I’ve cleared out about 95% of the discs that were piled up on my worktable, the only other chair to sit on, the floor, etc.; I’ve still got a stray box or two to round up but otherwise it is a marked improvement.  Mater gave me the seal of approval when she poked her head in and dryly remarked: “Hey!  You have a piece of furniture I didn’t know was there!”  (She was referring to my dresser.  She’s a real doodle, that one.)

The other big news is that I will be retiring the computer I have been using these many years…

Shall we play a game?

…okay, I stuck that in there for comic effect—the computer was originally purchased from Gateway in 2002, and a new one was sorely needed since I’m rarely able to do more than one thing at a time (I believe the kids call this “multitasking”) on the present one due to its skimpy memory.  I am looking forward to the arrival of the new PC with a mixture of excitement and dread—the “dread” part is because it is equipped with Windows 8, which I have heard from countless numbers of people is the Prince of Darkness’s operational system of choice.  I got a pretty good deal on the computer (it’s a HP Envy 20-d030 TouchSmart All-in-One) but it wound up draining pretty much everything in my credit union account so I’m temporarily low on funds for a while.  How low, I hear you asking?  (And to be honest…that’s being kind of nosey…)  Well, my father offered to spring for a transfer cable—a rare offer of generosity that forced my mother to lie down for a few minutes—in order to make it easy to move some of my files on the old PC to the new one, it says here.

The reality of being skint (as they say on the other side of the pond) also means that I’ll have to miss the premiere of the Summer Classic Movie Series at the Classic City’s premiere movie revival house, the Ciné-Athens Bar-Café.  They’re going to kick things off on July 11 with Singin’ in the Rain (1952), a movie I would dearly love to see on the big screen (Mom made a face when I mentioned this, which just adds more proof that I was adopted).  After that, the schedule will be as follows:

July 18: The Voice of the Moon (1990)

July 19-21: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

July 25-28: Grand Illusion (1937)

July 27: Bugs Bunny Birthday Bash

August 1-4: Young Frankenstein (1974)

August 8-11: Breathless (1959)

August 15-18: The Searchers (1956)

I may have to miss out on SITR, but I am definitely planning to squeeze in a showing of The Searchers…and I might even check out Bugs’ birthday as well.

There are a couple of upcoming blogathons that are worthy of mention—and because TDOY is planning to participate, that makes it all the more worthier (that actually got past SpellCheck)…

The Classic TV Blog Association will be hosting a swanky event in conjunction with my wife, Me-TV, entitled Me-TV’s Summer of Classic TV Blogathon from July 15-19.  You don’t have to be a member of that august body (even though they’re hosting it in July…nyuk nyuk nyuk…) to participate—but you do have to decide on a topic (if you plan to participate) by July 12.  The guidelines are very simple: the topic has to be on one of the shows currently showcased on the premier TV nostalgia channel…and it can be either an overview of the series, a profile on a member of the cast or just a favorite episode in general.  The CTVBA has already got a schedule of who’s in, and you’ll see that TDOY is on deck Wednesday, July 17 when I’ll take a look at one of the unsung sitcoms of the 1960s, The Mothers-in-Law.

Movies, Silently announced this morning that they—along with Lindsey at The Motion Pictures—will host The Gish Sisters Blogathon this September 7-9 in honor of the 101st anniversary of Lillian and Dorothy’s motion picture debut.  The topics for discussion to participants are boundless: it can be a review of a film either sister appeared in (or both, if that strikes your fancy), an overview of their stage careers, a biography or anything else that is pretty much Gish-related.  (Your Gish is their command, in other words.  Okay, put the chair down…)  TDOY has RSVP’d, and I’ve decided that I’ll talk about one of the…well, I hesitate to use the word since it suffers from overuse—but “masterpiece” is really the only way to describe one of the finest of all features from silent cinema, The Wind (1928).

There is one additional blogathon I need to bring to your attention…but I’ll save the specifics for later this week, when I’ll have a Coming Distractions post up for TCM in August.

And the last item on the agenda…back in June, I did a review of the recently released Accidentally Preserved DVD—a disc that came to fruition thanks to the generosity of a number of people who funded the release through a Kickstarter project initiated by silent film accompanist and historian Ben Model.  Ben sent a note out to the Kickstarter backers this morning to deliver the sad news that he will not be using Kickstarter to raise money for an Accidentally Preserved sequel.

Now, now…dry those tears!  It’s because he doesn’t have to!  The response to the DVD has been tres encouraging: through royalties of Amazon sales and the income Ben’s generated from selling the disc at various venues over the past month, enough revenue has been raised to produce a second volume of rare and/or lost silent film shorts.  (Ben writes: “I had to look at the numbers a few times myself to make sure I wasn't hallucinating...I wasn't.”)

It’s a little premature to announce when Accidentally Preserved II: Texas Blood Money will be ready…but Ben guesstimates it will either be by the end of the current year or early in 2014.  He thanked everyone for the positive word of mouth (posting about the disc on either Facebook or Twitter, blog articles/reviews, etc.) and I for one am pleased as Hawaiian Punch that a second DVD of cinematic rarities will be a go without having to pass the hat around.  As always, I will keep you posted when I hear breaking news.

Thursday’s checklist

It seems like no sooner do I take a second to grab a treat from the snack room I return to my office and find my inbox full.  Among the items on today’s agenda: my recent nomination for the coveted Liebster Award, bestowed upon me by screenwriter-blogger Dave Enkosky at KL5-FILM (For All Your Movie Needs).  “Liebster,” a German word meaning “favorite,” has also come to symbolize a certain excellence in blogging…so the fact that nearly 5,000,000 blogs have also received this honor within the past two weeks shouldn’t tarnish its distinction in the least.  (Okay, I’m just having a bit of fun—I really do appreciate Dave passing this along to me, he's good people.)

Now…normally there is no one in the blogosphere more enthusiastic than I in keeping a meme going—but I’m really working double-time on cobbling together a “Coming Distractions” post, so I am going to shamelessly violate some of the tenets of this award—I need to also explain that I don’t mean this as a slight to Dave, it’s just that the Distractions pieces do take up more than the usual amount of blog preparation time.  (Those Margaret O’Brien jokes don’t write themselves, you know.)  The rules applied to the Liebster are as follows:

1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. Answer the 11 questions the person who has given the award has set for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you are giving the award to.

4. Choose 11 people and send them a link to your post.

5. Go to their page and tell them.

6. NO TAG BACKS

Posting things about me is always the difficult part of these memes because…well, I don’t think there’s anything earth-shattering that I haven’t already shared with the TDOY readership in the past.  I do have this interesting tidbit:  I “crossed over” in the recent Georgia primary election and voted as a Republican.  Now—before there’s a scrambling for an intervention as folks become convinced this is one of the Signs of the Apocalypse…I need to point out that the reason I did so was because I wanted to vote against a Ga. House legislator—Rep. Doug McKillip—who was elected as a Democrat in 2006 and then went running for the tall grass in 2010 by switching parties (McKillip apparently got religion in 2009—whatever his reason, I don’t really give a damn).  He put through a draconian anti-abortion bill in the state House this year that even his Republican primary opponent thought a bit beyond the pale…and so I decided to help her vanquish him, which she did.  (McKillip kind of brought this on himself, really; he foolishly came by the house one day seeking our vote and left to the accompaniment of my father’s derisive laughter.)  So I’m not succumbing from Lyme disease or anything—I just felt like being a supervillain (all I need is a white cat on my lap to stroke and I’d be in business).

Oh, and I can answer the questions that Dave took the time to create…don’t want to be a total ingrate…

What's your favorite movie decade?

Probably the 1920s—when the great silent clowns of yesteryear were at the peak of their filmmaking powers, and when movies made the (some say unfortunate) decision that they needed to “talk.”.

Warren Oates: awesome actor or awesomest actor?

Oh, Warren was all sorts of awesome sauce…though I don’t think I could ascribe to him the “awesomest” appellation because I think he knew he functioned best as the “glue” in each film he appeared in and rarely aspired to anything more.  (Though he was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Two-Lane Blacktop.)

What is a movie you wish had a greater following?

I’ve mentioned it on the blog in the past, but I’m a huge fan of His Kind of Woman.  Targets is another film with which I’d like to see people become more familiar.

What is a movie you feel is unduly praised?

2001: A Space Odyssey.  Sorry, folks—it’s like watching paint dry.  (I’d rather watch Quatermass and the Pit.)

What is the proper punishment for people who talk on their cell phones in a movie theater?

In the afterlife, they will live in a cramped studio apartment with a DVD player…and a library filled with nothing but Adam Sandler movies. (Maniacal laugh, strokes cat.)

Which deceased or retired director do you wish could make just one more movie?

I’d be up for something by Billy Wilder or Preston Sturges.

Are there any movies people are surprised you like?

I don’t think there’s enough bandwidth for a list of films people have commented: “You liked that?”  (It’d be easier to drop by the house and have a chat with my father one afternoon.)

How often do you go to the theater?

The last time I saw a film in the theater was in 2008, as folks who read my submissions to Dennis Cozzalio’s exams know by now.

Which movie have you seen the most?

Undoubtedly Casablanca.  North by Northwest is a close second, though, followed by Citizen Kane, The Glass Key and Winchester ’73.

What was your most awkward movie date? (Make one up if you've never had an awkward movie date)

I’m not sure if I’ve told this story before but my BFF The Duchess and I once went to a double feature of Friday the 13th and Friday the 13th 2 at a theater in Huntington, WV during our college days.  She had seen the first one but remembered nothing about it because her eyes were closed the entire time—so she kept asking me when she could open her eyes.  I foolishly assumed that the movie was over (but wasn’t aware of the shock at the end—you know which one I mean) and told her to open ‘em…whereupon she gave out an ear-piercing scream that rendered me deaf for the next hour or so.  (We never did see the second feature—she ran out of the theater, swearing she’d never see another horror film.)

What was your best movie date? (Make one up if you've never had a good movie date)

It wasn’t technically a date: I knew a woman (also during my Huntington college days) from a sci-fi club I belonged to and I thought she was a bit of a flake, to be honest.  Anyway, I was attending an afternoon showing of Key Largo and before the picture started I looked up to see her standing over me—she asked if she could sit in the seat next to me because she didn’t know anybody else in the theater.  We ended up talking quite a bit before Key Largo started and for about a half-hour afterward; it turned out that we shared a lot of the same likes and dislikes, movie-wise.  I’d like to say there was a happy ending involved but we never “hooked up” or anything—it did teach me, however, that you can’t always judge a book by its cover…and that cinema is a universal language.

The next item on the list involves more shameless self-promotion: I got an opportunity to watch Inner Sanctum (1948) yesterday—a noir that was definitely made on the cheap (hence its inclusion in the great reference book Death on the Cheap by Arthur Lyons) but actually wasn’t all that bad for a B-pic: the acting is better than usual (courtesy of Charles Russell, Mary Beth Hughes and a few really good character thesps) and there’s a nifty twist ending.  You can read a little more about this neglected gem at my latest blog post at Radio Spirits if you’re so inclined.

Okay: last instance of tooting my banjo and then I’ll stop.  I mentioned three weeks ago that according to TVShowsOnDVD.com (someone saw the item advertised at DVDEmpire.com) Shout! Factory was planning on releasing a DVD set entitled The Jack Benny Program: The Lost Episodes in September…the eleventh, to be exact, which would work out splendidly for me, birthday-wise.  An announcement a few days later then corrected that September date, stating that the release probably wouldn’t see the light of day until some time next year.  So that kind of shot my birthday present plans to H-E-double hockey sticks, and necessitated a backup plan.  I gave some serious consideration to investing in Shout! Factory’s Route 66 box set—but according to some Amazon.com reviewers and The Classic TV History Blog’s Stephen Bowie the company made no effort whatsoever to correct the technical messes made by Infinity Entertainment when they released the first three seasons to disc.  (One reviewer made me laugh when he mentioned that a Shout! rep named Brian Ward “has an EXTENSIVE history of lying to Shout's consumers concerning various TV show releases,” and then followed this bulletin with the news that sugar is sweet.)

After spirited negotiations with the ‘rents (specifically my mother—Dad kind of acted purely in an “I’m not interested” capacity), I have arranged to welcome two nice TV-on-DVD box sets into Rancho Yesteryear.  One of them has already arrived: it’s the Timeless Factory Video collection of the 1961-62 crime drama 87th Precinct, which I am very stoked about (gotta wait until the actual natal anniversary to tear it open, though).  The other will hopefully get here soon—I decided that the MPI Home Video release of The Honeymooners: The Lost Episodes (1951-1957) had to have a home here (seeing as I already have the classic 39), particularly since I’ve been seeing them early in the a.m. on Me-TV.  A review at DVD Talk mentions that this is a must-buy, so I’m really looking forward to devouring its contents.

On a related note: Me-TV has been running a few promos of late announcing the arrival of Emergency! and Remington Steele to its fall lineup.  I’ve a Han Solo-esque feeling about these developments, particularly since I’m concerned that some of my current favorites will be put out to pasture (I’m also worried Me-TV will start morphing into RTV, which did a similar thing when they couldn’t come to terms with Viacom).

But back to TV-on-DVD news: TSOD has the official press release up for Shout! Factory’s upcoming Peter Gunn: The Complete Series collection due out October 23rd (they corrected the number of episodes, too)—I thought about acquiring this when shopping for presents but I think I’m going to wait for a sale for the simple reason that I have the first two seasons on Region 2.  There’s also an announcement that Sony Pictures Entertainment will release a honkin’ big box set entitled Charlie’s Angels: The Complete Series on September 25th—a 27-disc collection containing all five seasons (110 episodes) of the iconic 1976-81 T&A crime drama.  The fifth season of Angels has not been previously released, and the press release does say that it will be issued separately in the future for the benefit of those of you who’ve bought the previous four seasons…but you know me—I’d get it in writing.  (This is a set that I won’t lose too much sleep over not having; I thought the show was inane and would cringe when my sister Debbie would watch it religiously during its heyday.)

In split-season CBS DVD-Paramount news, the company will manage to finish the disc releases of The Streets of San Francisco on October 30th with The Streets of San Francisco: Season 5.  Both volumes of this final season will be released at the same time (*sigh*) and they can either be purchased separately (at $39.98 SRP each) or as a “shrink-wrapped bundle” for $69.98 SRP.  Seems like an awful lot of money to fork over for a show that no longer had Michael Douglas in it (he left after four seasons) but then, I’m not a DVD company executive…though oddly enough, I found myself thinking like one when I was in the voting booth.  Hey—now that you guys have finished San Francisco—how about some more Phil Silvers Show releases so that future generations might know what an incredibly funny sitcom it was?

Also on the schedule for a future release is the third season of TV’s Cannon…and like the old saying goes, I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that CBS DVD Entertainment has finally wised up and will release William Conrad’s junior year in a single set—six discs containing all twenty-four episodes of the third season.  The bad news?

Wait for it…

…it’s going to be one of those Amazon CreateSpace MOD affairs.  There’s a listing already up for it at the giant bookselling behemoth, but still no news as to what date you can expect it.  Poor Bill Conrad…he deserves better than this injustice.

The final item on the agenda is an event that’s definitely out of my bailiwick…but I thought there might be some parties in that area interested in a film series that will be hosted by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, starting tomorrow at 7:30pm and continuing through September 28 at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood Village.  It’s called “The Two Faces of Jean,” and the “Jean” in the title is the lovely Jean Arthur, who will be in several films that are not easily accessible to classic film fans like The Defense Rests (1935) and Most Precious Thing in Life (1934), and there’ll also be restored prints of such Arthur favorites as If You Could Only Cook (1935) and The More the Merrier (1943).  (There’ll also be a free showing of 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington at a Sunday matinee on September 23 at 11am.)  Here’s where you’ll find the details, and here’s a nice article in the L.A. Times talking about the event.  I wish I could be there.

Thursday’s checklist

I know that last Thursday that I promised to have the remaining Thrilling Days of Yesteryear giveaway prizes mailed out by last Saturday…and I believe I even stuck in a “scout’s honor” in there for good measure.  Well, I lied.  (And I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I was drummed out of the Cub Scouts.  Something about fomenting subversion among the other members of the den…they weren’t all that specific when they gave my Mom the news.)  But before you start forming an angry mob, you’ll be happy to know that I did get everything mailed out today.  Yes, indeedy.  Took it all down to the post office, including some books that Mom wanted to get out to sister Debbie that she’s been holding on to since the end of March, so she’s almost as bad as I am.  The reason for my sudden burst of activity is threefold—one; obviously, I needed to get those fabulous prizes out to the winners…so I appreciate everyone’s patience in that delicate matter.  The second reason is that I have some more free swag to give away; the details of which will be announced Sunday…and I’ll just hint and say if you’re a sitcom fan, you’ll definitely want to get in on this.

The last reason is that I myself was the beneficiary of some free stuff, courtesy of my Facebook saddle pal Lloyd at his luxurious Vegas spread of Rancho Mardecortesbaja.  Lloyd recently ordered the Warner Archive box set The Monogram Cowboy Collection,Volume 1 and as luck would have it…they accidentally sent him two copies.  He asked me if I’d be interested in taking the other one off his hands, and I responded with a most emphatic “gimme!” (Lloyd’s a big fan of B-Western Wednesdays here on the blog).  There’s some great rootin’ tootin’ shoot-‘em-up fun on this three disc-set that contains nine westerns starring Jimmy Wakely, Johnny Mack Brown and Rod Cameron…and the best part of it is I only had one of the films on the set (Wakely’s Oklahoma Blues, which I taped off of TCM a good while back) so there’ll plenty of fodder available for our regular Wednesday feature.

Our good friend and Shirley Temple Fan Club president Page at My Love of Old Hollywood is hosting a horse-themed blogathon in May (which I discussed in this space last week) but the response has been so positive she’s added a fourth day so the dates on that will be May 25-28.  She’s in the process of putting together new banners with the revised date change but I decided to concoct one of my own (above).

A blogathon that I had planned to mention last week but the details were still being hammered out (and I didn’t want to steal his thunder) is R.D.’s William Wyler Blogathon at The Movie Projector, which will take place from June 24-29.  (The Academy Award-winning film director will celebrate his 110th natal anniversary on July 1.)  There’s an amusing story behind TDOY’s selection for this event (it involves a lot of “e-mail tag”) but I’ll be reviewing 1965’s The Collector (yeah, the one with the creepy guy whose hobby is butterflies) on the 28th—for a full list of the films to be examined and the participants, you’ll find all the pertinent information here.

Also, next week (April 26) I’ll be the “guest linker” at K.C.’s Classic Movies blog.  What will I link to?  Your guess is as good as mine, but since there are no retakes I will simply have to summon forth the requisite intestinal fortitude and pretend like I know what I’m doing.

Vulture.com’s review of the travesty that is the new Three Stooges movie featured the headline: “The Farrelly Brothers’ Three Stooges is a Wonder”—which prompted me to crack (via Facebook) “As in ‘I wonder why they made this.'”  Leonard Maltin’s review is not quite as laudatory though also not too disdainful (but Len’s always been a bit squishy—about as mean as he gets is an observation that goes “a really good cover band is still a cover band”)…all I want to say is that such horrible ideas occasionally reap small rewards, as in this honkin’ big DVD box set The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection, which will be released June 5th.  (This set features the real Stooges, and contains fewer fart jokes than the Farrelly Brothers flick.)

The attraction of purchasing this set is that there are going to be three bonus discs included in the 20-disc compilation; they will include the Three Stooges feature films Rockin’ in the Rockies (1945) and Have Rocket—Will Travel (1959).  But the big draw for us here at Castle Yesteryear is that the discs will contain all of the Shemp Howard shorts—solo, and the ones he did with “The Glove Slingers” and Andy Clyde (only 1938’s Not Guilty Enough is missing)—and the solo shorts with Joe Besser (only 1938’s Cuckoorancho is missing) and Joe De Rita, plus a couple of bonus cartoons released by the Columbia studios (“Color Rhapsodies,” they were called).  At the time the first chronological DVD release of the Three Stooges shorts hit the streets in 2007, there was speculation that these shorts would be put on those sets as extras…so it’s nice to see Sony come through finally on this.  (Some of the Shemp outings, particularly Mr. Noisy and Society Mugs, are first-rate little two-reelers.)

Now…when I first heard the news about this set, my Rage-o-Meter started pegging in the red because I assumed that the company was going to adhere to standard industry practice and make everyone who bought the original sold-separately sets fork over cash for this box set…thus thoroughly pissing everyone off in the process.  The scuttlebutt is that Sony will release this bonus material separately for those who have already collected the earlier Stooge DVDs, so I’m hoping they don’t disappoint.  (Because if they do I’ll give them such a pinch…)

I don't think so.

While we’re on the subject of unnecessary remakes, J. Kingston Pierce at The Rap Sheet sums it up better than I possibly could on why this idea for a Vince Vaughn ego-driven Rockford Files remake is wrong in so many ways.  Now, in so many words (see what I did there?), our good friend Yvette tried in good faith to make the case that this wouldn’t be such a terrible thing but a few of her friends (moi included) and a visit from a Mr. Fitch have convinced her that this is just plain crazy talk.  (But, hey…it’s good to talk these things out.)

Speaking of rap sheets, the 14th annual Noir City Film Festival gets underway tomorrow night at the Apollo Theatre in the City of Nets…unfortunately, because of the Film Noir Foundation’s steadfast reluctance to move it closer to my neck of the woods here in the Classic City I will not be able to attend.  But Facebook chum, World O’Crap blogger and TDOY mentor Scott C. is standing right outside at the Apollo’s box office as I type, and if he’s able to score tickets he generously agreed to write up a guest review here for us at the blog.  In the meantime, we’ll have something from our guest-reviewer-in-residence (the Honorable Philip Schweier) tomorrow, so you’ll definitely want to stick around for that.

Finally, a Facebook friend who asked not to be identified (she’s up for a promotion, and it wouldn’t benefit her career to associate with unsavory elements such as myself, what with that whole Cub Scout thing and all) was good enough to remind me earlier this past Monday that my fiancée, Me-TV, has put The Honeymooners back on their regular schedule (the change was effective on April 16)…enormously good news for yours truly, as his evenings are rarely complete (and you can check my Twitter feed if you don’t believe me) without The Great One at 10:30, followed by The Twilight Zone at 11 and Perry Mason at 11:30 afterward.  Me-TV is showing “The Original 39” in the 10:30pm slot while relegating “The Lost Episodes” to weekdays (and Sundays) at 5:30am.  They’ve had to shift a few programs around and say temporary au revoirs to a few (adios, Gomer) so if you’re curious as to what kind of cosmetic work they’ve had done you can check out the revised schedule here (they’ve also added a few classic Saturday morning titles for the benefit of “Mr. Saturday Morning” himself, hobbyfan).

Here’s not looking at you, kid

You’ve no doubt heard the scuttlebutt on the Internets that my favorite classic movie of all time, Casablanca (1942), will be shown in select theaters across the U.S. this evening at 7:00pm as part of a 70th anniversary celebration engineered by Warner Brothers and, of course, The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™.  It’s one of those deals where they wanted you to purchase your tickets in advance…something that I would have been only too enthusiastic about doing so until I hit upon one teensy snag.

They won’t be showing the movie in Athens.  Here’s a list of the lucky cities that will get to play it again, Sam, and I was slightly bummed about the snub the first time I glanced at the list.  But I’ve seen Casablanca on the big screen before (several years ago in Savannah) so it’s not a crushing disappointment—what I can’t quite figure out is this part, courtesy of the press release:

The event will begin with Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne taking audiences behind the scenes of this epic love story in a special original production showcasing stories from those who were on set and those who simply admire this timeless classic. Audiences will then be able to see again on the silver screen this beautiful and timeless classic.

A few years back, Bobby Osbo hosted an annual event here in the Classic City entitled The Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival but ever since the University of Georgia “postponed” the event two years ago (blaming it all on the economy) the film fest has become a mist in the memory, and Rob has moved onto to other pursuits like the honkin’ big TCM Classic Movie party held in Hollywood each year.  (I had tickets to see two of the presentations in 2010, until that whole hospital deal reared its ugly head.)  You would think that he could have pushed aside some room on the Casablanca circuit to give a shout-out to the hamlet where the classic film festival wheels first got rolling, but apparently this is not the case.  (Ingrate.)

But don’t let my loud sour grape-munching spoil the experience for those of you who are getting to go this evening; my RS compadre Rodney Bowcock mentioned on Facebook that he’s going, though I don’t know if our pal ClassicBecky will still be able to attend (she had a small surgical matter to attend to this morning, and I hope she’s back in the pink PDQ).  The people putting on the show have also got a contest you can enter to win a romantic weekend getaway at a B&B (plus din-din) for two—and all the details are here.  (They want you to do this on Facebook, with the photo and the “My most romantic experience” stuff, just to let non-Facebook fans know.)

A swarm of B-movies

I talked about TheB-Movie Celebration in a previous post, and because the festival kicks off tomorrow in Franklin, IN (and runs until September 25th), I thought the TDOY faithful might be interested in a warts-and-all look at this event…and so Cub Reporter Tom Stillabower jotted down some recollections from some of the previous BMC’s he’s attended in the past.  Please put your hands together and join me in welcoming a special guest post from the esteemed Mr. Stillabower…

My wife and I have been attending the B Movie Celebration in Franklin, In. for the last few years now. Four years ago, on a Saturday, we went up to Franklin just for a visit and to get out of Evansville for a couple of days. Franklin's my hometown. I grew up there. When we get into town, we're always on Jefferson Street which intersects with Main St., where the Artcraft Theater is located. Whenever we drive past, I always look to see what's playing on the marquee. These days, the Artcraft is only open on weekends and shows classic films. We sometimes go up there if they're showing something of interest. Now imagine my surprise when I see: B Movie Celebration up there on the marquee. When we got to my mom's house, I got on my sisters computer to do a little investigating. Sorry to say, I wasn't able to get down there right away, but I did manage to get down there later in the evening. They were playing Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) in the theater (I didn't watch the film, but I could hear it in the lobby. Sounded like a fun movie), but it was who I met in the lobby that held my interest. I met Mr. Lobo, a movie horror host from California. We chatted for a while (a great guy, by the way), bought a couple of videos from him. Then I got to meet Conrad Brooks of Plan 9 From Outer Space fame. Got an autograph and bought a movie from him. Didn't get to see a movie, but I did have a good time nonetheless.

Three years ago, my wife & I attended the celebration proper. We bought our tickets and watched some movies. Met Mr. Lobo again. Bought some more movies from him. Had a great time. Two years, the celebration was being held in both Franklin & nearby Shelbyville. Attended Friday evening at the Artcraft, and went to Shelbyville on Saturday. The main road connecting the two towns was being worked on, so it was detour time for us, cruising through some back roads (I swear I could hear banjo music). Saw some good films, no Mr. Lobo, and did not have as good a time as the year before.

Last year, the celebration was only being held in Franklin at both the Artcraft and at the Canary Creek Cinema. Thank God. Friday evening, before the first movie started, they had a live performance by singer Jane Jensen. It was loud, but once I got used to it, she was alright. The first movie shown at the Artcraft was a light comedy called Monster Cruise (2010), filmed in and around the city of Franklin. Direction by Jim Wynorski. After the credits (with a pre-title sequence featuring Hal Fryer, known to many of us as Harlow Hickenlooper, who hosted the Three Stooges shorts on Saturday mornings back in the '60's), the main character gets up, goes running out of his apartment house, late for work. As he is running down the outside steps of the apartment house, my wife leans over to me and says, "hey, isn't that your mom’s house?" I took a good look. Yeah it was, The exterior of his apartment house was my mothers house. That was a trip. The film itself was pretty good. Next up was The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008), an oriental western. A lot of fun. We left after that one because my wife, who had worked overnight as a patient sitter, was getting tired, so we packed it in for the night.

The next morning, I was up and out the door at 10 a.m. back at the Artcraft for The Valley of Gwangi (1969). I've seen part of the film before, but this was the first time I had seen it from beginning to end. Not a great Harryhausen film, but a decent time killer. Didn't make it to any of the panel discussions. I was there mainly for the films. That afternoon, I went over to the Canary Creek cinema for the afternoon (my wife wanted to do some shopping with my mother). First up was Robo-geisha (2009). That's right, Robo-geisha. Geishas were turned into bionic killing machines and it took another one of their own kind to stop them. It was a dumb as it sounded, but it was a lot of fun. Almost wish we had a packed house for that one. Would have made it a lot more fun. Next up was The Hitch-Hiker (1953), a low budget film directed by Ida Lupino. A very good film. After that was over I stopped back by my mom's house for a visit. In the evening, we went back to the Artcraft for the Golden Cob awards. I don't remember the name of the band playing (they weren't bad), but they delayed the awards show, and we had to leave if we wanted to get to the Canary Creek Cinema (they also have a drive-in outside the theater) for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). Sorry to say, the attendance for it wasn't better. Back in the 80's, I used to go to Rocky Horror a lot. Been a while since I've seen it. I was a bit rusty on the lines I used to yell back them. They're running it again this year, but at another location. If I make it there, we'll see if I can do better than last year. The following film at the drive-in was Nomads (1986) starring Pierce Brosnan. An okay thriller and Brosnan was all right in the part. I will say this for the Canary Creek Drive-In. You do get the drive-in experience. In between the films, they had the 10 minute intermission, which the closest drive-in to Evansville, In. doesn't do. They give you a trailer, then the movie. After the first movie is over, they automatically start the second feature.

The next day, my wife and I went back to the Artcraft for an early afternoon viewing of Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952). Now, I watched a fair number of the Ma & Pa Kettle films growing up, but I found this film absolutely funnier than I was expecting it to be. After it was over, we joined my mother to go out to the local flea market. It was uneventful until I noticed a book on one of the shelves called: They Came From Outer Space. 12 Classic Science Fiction Tales That Became Major Motion Pictures. Normally, a book like that would fly under my radar (I work in a used book store after all. I see a lot of books on any given day.), but it was edited by Jim Wynorski. Could that be the same Jim Wynorski who directed Monster Cruise? I paid my money and I took my chance. When we went back to the theater for the last movie we saw before heading back home to Evansville, I took the book up to Mr. Wynorski and asked him if he edited the book. He did indeed and he signed it for me. How cool was that? Anyway, our last movie was Rocketship X-M (1950). A classic sci-fi b-movie from the early 50's starring Hugh O'Brian & Lloyd Bridges.

There were several other movies that were shown at the Celebration that we did not have time to peruse. But that goes with the territory. I did buy one of the movies shown at there (Death of the Dead [2011]. A horror comedy that wasn't too bad). Anyway, this years is almost upon us and I have been looking forward to it practically since last year. It's a good way to relax, get away from the daily grind, see a movie or two (or three, or four, etc....) with a group of people with similar interest.

Notices on the bulletin board

Seems like every time I begin a new blog post around the ol’ TDOY ranch it usually kicks off with an apology for not posting more often…so today’s entry is no exception.  With the month of September rolling in, I have a trunkful of assignments that I’m trying to get an early start on…notably a new Radio Spirits collection (that would be the paying gig) that’s due in a couple of weeks, so while I’ve been working on that the blog fields remain fallow.

But one of those projects that I completed ahead of schedule is now up at She Blogged by Night—yes, while pal Stacia continues snorkeling off the coast of the tropical paradise known as Tourist Trap Bay, guest stars have invaded her ‘umble scrap of the blogosphere and I was granted the privilege to do a second post…this one on a cult film that she was nice enough to make a copy for me, Madam Satan (1930).  If you read this, I don’t want you to get the impression that I didn’t enjoy watching this movie because I did get a tremendous kick out of it—it’s just there are some moments in the film that are a little slow (anytime I don’t care whether the romantic leads get together or not is never a good sign), which is pretty typical of a lot of the product cranked out in the early talkie era.  I laughed out loud at Stacia’s introduction to my guest post because she wrote: “Interestingly, this post documents the exact moment Ivan realized that I have really horrible taste in movies.”  (I found it funny because I actually learned this tidbit about the time she recommended I watch Skidoo. Thank you and good night, everybody!)

I received a nice pre-birthday present from my father today, courtesy of FedEx—he saw an HP F4500 printer/copier/scanner/coffee machine/weather station on sale in some catalog and ordered me one for my natal anniversary.  What Dad did not realize, however, was that the unit was “refurbished”—which is a technical term meaning “not new.”  This matters very little in the overall scheme of things, I needed a scanner (my old one died shortly before the move to Athens in 2008) and once I figured out the intricacies involving the machine’s ink cartridge system (the set-up is definitely not one of Hewlitt-Packard’s finer hours) everything started running like a top.

And speaking of the move to Athens in 2008 (okay, that one might need a little work) apparently my coveted DVD copy of The Phantom Creeps was a victim of that redeployment three years ago—it’s got to be in one of several boxes containing DVDs that is now being held hostage in Dad’s storage area because I’ve turned our current house upside down and can’t find it to save my life.  As such, this necessitates a switch in the entry I had planned to do for the Classic Movie Blog Association’s Guilty Pleasures Blogathon—I e-mailed Rick to notify him of the program change, which will now be Brenda Starr, Reporter…the “lost” 1945 Columbia cliffhanger serial that was located in the Library of Congress a few years back and released to DVD by VCI Entertainment.  And though it’s going to be a bit tight, I’ve also found a pair of films that I can review for the Juxtaposition Blogathon at Pussy Goes Grrr beginning September 12th: The Fuller Brush Man (1948; with Red Skelton) and The Fuller Brush Girl (1950; with Lucille Ball).

While researching a post at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s old Salon Blogs neighborhood yesterday, I discovered something…well, mildly shocking.  The neighborhood…ain’t there anymore.  (They’ve even razed the Church’s Chicken!)  The previous four years of TDOY has vaporized into the Internets ether, and though I’m fortunate in that when the Net Gods created Google they also judiciously created its cache properties it means that all the links to previous posts here at the Blogger incarnation of TDOY are finished. (Fertig! Verfallen! Verlumpt! Verblunget! Verkackt!)  This also means I need to step up production on TDOY’s “spin-off” blog, which is proving to be a Herculean labor beyond my expectations.

Finally, I was sent a press release yesterday regarding the Fifth Annual B-Movie Celebration, held in Franklin, IN yearly and this year will get underway from September 23-25.  I put up a notice about this amazing event practically every year here on the blog but since this is the first time in recent memory someone took the time to give me the complete skinny, I will present it here for your edification:

As we all know, the B-Movie has had a long and humble tradition beginning with the double features of the 1930s and 40s where a lower-budget production would be used to fill the bottom half of a double bill. Within that time, there were hundreds of low-budget westerns, horror features, comedies and even film noir (“Detour” from 1946, for example) filled screens and entertained audiences as companies like Republic, Monogram, PRC and Lippert kept them coming.

The drive-ins came along in the late 40s and 50s and soon more companies came to meet the demand like American International Pictures, who were best known for their monster flicks, teenage juvenile delinquency pictures, sci-fi epics and beach party movies. What’s more, many budding film talents found their first work in these conditions, often working for the man who would be called “King of the B’s,” Roger Corman. This would continue on through the 60s and 70s as people like Peter Bogdanovich, Monte Hellman, Jack Nicholson, Allan Arkush, Joe Dante, James Cameron, Ron Howard and many more.

The 80s and 90s saw another boom in the B-Movie business with the arrival of the videocassette. Now, movies could be brought straight to video for the home market and still more prominent names appeared to produce these direct to video features. Even so, there were still lower budget pictures brought to the theatres and have earned massive cult followings, including Stuart Gordon’s “Re-Animator” and Joseph Ruben’s “The Stepfather.” Other prominent names to appear during this period include Charles Band’s Empire and Full Moon companies, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus’ Cannon Films and two people who we are honoring at this year’s celebration, Fred Olen Ray and Albert Pyun.

This little history only scratches the surface of the vast history of theB-Movie’s influence and popularity. Some have said that the B-Movie is dead, but they’re wrong. Outlets like the SyFy channel regularly show lower budget pictures from people like B-Movie Celebration favorite Jim Wynorski and the Asylum company, which regularly produces well-received science fiction and fantasy items for the SyFy channel and for the DVD and Blu Ray market.

The B-Movie Celebration honors all those traditions from then to now. Here you’ll find late night TV perennials like Ib Melchoir’s “The Angry Red Planet” (1959) and the first in the series of popular films featuring “Francis, The Talking Mule.” You’ll get pioneering black efforts like the black vampire movie “Ganja and Hess” and Fred Williamson’s “Boss Nigger.” You’ll get underground films from John Waters (“Desperate Living”) and 80s classics like “Fright Night,” “Night of the Comet” and “Killer Klowns From Outer Space,” all of which feature significant creators on those films on hand to introduce the screening and talk about the film.  The Chiodo Brothers will all be at their respective screenings to chat with you about their work.

We are also looking toward the present and the future in B-Movie filmmaking with films not just from the USA, but around the world. We have films from Finland (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, critically acclaimed by Roger Ebert and others), Spain and Australia, among many others. And we have several world premieres as well: Fred Olen Ray’s “Dino Wolf,” Albert Pyun’s “Tales from an Ancient Empire,” “Night Beast”  and still more, more, more.

Plus, we have a massive guest list roster this year, which means you get to talk to the filmmakers and learn from them. In addition to the Chiodos, there’s B-movie mavericks Fred Olen Ray and Albert Pyun, scream queen Debbie Rochon, drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs, “Cashiers Du Cinemart publisher Mike White, Angry Filmmaker Kelly Baker, hosts Jim O’Rear and Bryan Wilson and still more. The B-Movie Celebration also offers many seminars with experts to talk about the art of screenwriting, directing and other aspects of the filmmaking process. So not only can you watch a lot of great movies, you can learn a whole lot, too.

And we can’t forget the Golden Cob Awards in which the cream of the crop of B-Movie talent is awarded and honored for their work. This, like every aspect of the B-Movie Celebration, continues to grow and expand every year with recipients of the awards present to take their slice of B-Movie glory.

That’s the B-Movie Celebration. 3 days of basking in the glow of killer B-movies and hanging out with many of the stars and filmmakers. There’s networking opportunities, lots of star gazing and loads of movies to see. We are proud once again to bring you an experience in B-Movies that we hope will enrapture you and enthrall you. So let the B-Movies begin and let a weekend of cinematic fun and excitement commence!

I’ve spoken with the treasurer here at TDOY Enterprises and inquired about the possibility of attending this event…and he probably wouldn’t be in a body cast right now had he not been laughing hysterically and unaware of that car racing toward him to run him over.  So I’ll be a no-show, but maybe some of our loyal Hoosier readers will make a pilgrimage and let us know how it went.  I hate to blog and run, but the ‘rents and I are going to wing our way over to the Double K Ranch this evening for a pre-birthday feast (fire up the grill, good people!) so I shall return to this space on the morrow.