Tote bag memories

TCM ran a mini-festival of gridiron movies yesterday, and while I had planned to sit down with some of them (many of them are wonderfully entertaining B-pics with casts of great character actors) the only one I really got to look at was Saturday’s Heroes (1937), a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it programmer starring a very young Van Heflin as a…

A lulu of a Boo-Boo

Since posting about the Saturday Morning Cartoon DVD releases being planned by Warner Home Video this past Sunday, TVShowsOnDVD.com—from which I procured the information—has since put forth a major correction…and believe you me, I’m not treading lightly around that “major” part. Apparently there were a few rampant “something’s-not-quite-kosher” rumors that burst through the TV-on-DVD dam shortly after the…

DVR-TiVo-Or whatever recording device strikes your fancy-Alert!

Because I’m determined to never…ever…let TCM out of my clutches after suffering from withdrawal for nearly seven years, I make it a point to check the programming schedule from time to time only because they're often a tad tardy in announcing what shorts will be shown after the scheduled main features (in order to keep…

Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #18

The Hoodlum Priest (1961) – Actor Don Murray, who was so committed to this project that he also produced and co-wrote the script (under the nom de plume Don Deer), is the titled man-of-the-cloth; as Father Charles Dismas Clark he’s a passionate advocate for ex-cons, believing that recidivism can be curtailed if the dignity of the individual is…

Ask Bobby Osbo

I got this in the e-mail box about ten minutes ago: After I took a breather from all the sarcastic possibilities ricocheting through my head like bumpers on a pinball machine, I began to entertain serious thoughts about what question I would ask. I have it narrowed down to: “If Robert Osborne is all powerful, could he create…

“When are you coming to church, Jed?”

Yesterday was washday at Rancho Yesteryear, and no sooner had I started with the washer-dryer duties when I got a call from my mother, inviting me over to dine with her and a man who, when properly leant upon, will confess to being my father. Always great to get an invitation to dinner, because as…

Movies I’ve stared at recently on TCM #17

Kind of a spotty weekend, movie-wise…outside projects ate up some of my viewing time and most of the movies I watched were ones I’d already seen: The Bad News Bears (1976), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), Silverado (1985—I remember taking my Dad to see this when it came out, and it’s still as enjoyable as the first time I saw it). I would…

What they didn’t teach me at Walt Whitman High

Rick “Don’t Call Me Sparky” Brooks over at Cultureshark (a very entertaining blog that should seriously be considered a part of any pop culture blogroll) tells an interesting story about Amazon.com, which apparently was offering the upcoming DVD box set of Room 222: Season 1 for the low, low price of $10.99. Yes. I couldn’t believe it, either, when…

The days of cold cereal and footy pajamas

TVShowsOnDVD.com has an interesting blurb up that I think will appeal to people like the real Sam Johnson hissownself, touting two DVD sets forthcoming from Warner Home Video May 19th. The collections are Saturday Morning Cartoons – 1960’s Volume 1 and Saturday Morning Cartoons – 1970’s Volume 1; both sets will contain a potpourri of favorites from those halcyon days of…

Ruminations

Sorry about being away from the blog yesterday. The end of the month usually finds me in busy-beaver mode, and I was working away, putting the finishing touches on a set of liner notes for both Radio Spirits and First Generation Radio Archives—two collections that I unfortunately need to keep mum about for the time being, because I…