“Don’t make a fuss, dear…I’ll have your spam…I love it…I’m having spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam and spam…”

The old spam filter here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear has really been earning its keep the past day or so thanks to the tenacious individual above, who answers to “llq” and has been commenting up a storm on past posts, trying to turn my pretty head with blatantly shameless flattery like “Possibly the most amazing blog…

“It’s a good story today…tomorrow they’ll wrap a fish in it…”

Spectacle and sensationalism as presented by the media—be it print, broadcast or online—is certainly nothing new throughout recorded history but to make a motion picture that portrayed the fourth estate is a less than flattering light got director Billy Wilder in trouble sixty years ago on this date in theaters.  Wilder followed up his corrosive…

“I can handle big news and little news…and if there’s no news, I’ll go out and bite a dog…”

This essay was originally published at Edward Copeland's Tangents. Cinephiles and classic movie fans alike marked off July 17, 2007 as the date when one of their Holy Grails was finally released to DVD: Ace in the Hole (1951), director Billy Wilder’s pungent portrayal of both the fourth estate and the public’s insatiable appetite for the sensationalism they…

I knew there was a reason why I haven’t stepped inside a multiplex for three years now…

Faithful TDOY readers are aware of this but for those of you just joining us…I am woefully behind in catching up with recently-released movies.  Granted, it’s not something that keeps me awake at night because I’ve rationalized that there are too many older and classic films still on my “Must-See” list but occasionally it does cause me…

Queer Film Blogathon: Caged (1950)

This essay is Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to the Queer Film Blogathon, being hosted by Garbo Laughs in honor of June being LGBTQ Pride Month.  The full list of participants can be found here. Nineteen-year-old Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker) is going to be a guest in the Grey Bar Hotel for about one to fifteen years because she happened to…

Movies that I’ve stared at recently on FMC #1 (Gotcha!)

Yes, ever since the big move to the new Rancho Yesteryear in May and the discovery that we are now paying for the package that includes the Fox Movie Channel, I have been watching my fair share of classic flicks on the channel that I wish were more like The Greatest Cable Channel Known to…

The passings parade

Last week, I wasn’t able to include (as longtime TDOY chum Brent McKee mentioned in the comments) an obituary for musician Clarence “The Big Man” Clemmons because the renowned tenor saxophonist with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band played his last solo shortly after I posted the news of the week’s passings from the areas of music, TV, movies and…

“It all began at a small 5000-watt radio station in Fresno, California…”

When I first started Thrilling Days of Yesteryear back in November 2003, I got into the blog business for one reason and one reason only.  Women.  I was told at the time that girls couldn’t get enough of bloggers, and my fellow online diarists told me wild and fantastic tales of outrageous parties where the liquor would…

Roger Corman Blogathon: A Bucket of Blood (1959)

This essay is Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to the Roger Corman Blogathon, which is being sponsored by and is currently underway at Nathanael Hood’s Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear from June 17-19. When writer-director-producer Roger Corman—known to film buffs and fanatics as “The Pope of Pop Cinema”—was paid tribute with honorary recognition at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and…

The passings parade

We bid a fond farewell to a genuine television pioneer this week—his name might not be instantly familiar, but some of the people whose shows he worked on certainly are.  Bob Banner was a young production assistant at Chicago’s WMAQ-TV, working on the children’s classic Kukla, Fran & Ollie and being fortuitous enough to work at a…