Author Archives: Jnpickens

About Jnpickens

Classic film lover and reporter in North Carolina.

Musical Monday: Sincerely Yours (1955)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Sincerely Yours (1955) – Musical #683

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Gordon Douglas

Starring:
Liberace, Joanne Dru, Dorothy Malone, William Demarest, Alex Nicol, Lori Nelson, Lurene Tuttle, Richard Eyre, James Bell, Ian Wolfe (uncredited), Ed Platt (uncredited), Guy Williams (uncredited)

Plot:
Anthony Warrin (Liberace), who loses his hearing unexpectedly. Depressed that he can no longer play the piano due to his hearing loss, Anthony learns to lip-read and begins watching people from his penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He learns about their problems by lip-reading and helps strangers.

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Musical Monday: Wake Up and Dream (1946)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Wake Up and Dream (1946) – Musical #738

wake up and dram

Studio:
20th Century Fox

Director:
Lloyd Bacon

Starring:
John Payne, June Haver, Connie Marshall, Charlotte Greenwood, John Ireland, Clem Bevans, Charles Russell, Irving Bacon, Charles D. Brown, Charles Russell, Charles Smith (uncredited), George Cleveland (uncredited),

Plot:
Set in 1943, Jeff Cairn (Payne) leaves the farm and enlists in the U.S. Navy at the start of World War II, leaving his little sister Nella (Marshall) to live with a cousin. After two years, Nella runs away back home, saying she doesn’t like the cousin, she stays with Jeff’s girl, Jenny (Haver). She is also helped by elderly Henry Pickett (Bevans), who the whole town thinks is crazy because he built a boat while living 300 miles from water. When Jeff is Missing in Action, Jenny, Henry and Nella take the boat on a journey to find Jeff on their “secret island.”

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Musical Monday: Double or Nothing (1937)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

double or nothingThis week’s musical:
Double or Nothing (1937) – Musical #737

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
Theodore Reed

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Martha Raye, Andy Devine, Mary Carlisle, William Frawley, Benny Baker, Samuel S. Hinds, William Henry, Fay Holden, Walter Kingsford, Bert Hanlon, Dennis O’Keefe (uncredited), Victor Sen Yung (uncredited)
Specialty performers: Frances Faye, Elsie Ames and Nick Arno (as Ames and Arno), Steve Calgary and Andre Calgary (as the Calgary Brothers), Harry Barris, Tex Morrissey, Alphonse Bergé, Edward Rickard

Plot:
When a philanthropist millionaire dies, he leaves little for his family members in his will and instead wants to help an honest person. After wallets are tossed around the city, only four people return them: Lefty Boylan (Crosby), Half Pint (Devine), Liza Lou Lane (Raye) and John Pederson (Frawley). Those four are each given $5,000 and are given 30 days to double the money (legally and without gambling). The first one who does, gets the entire estate. The Clark family isn’t happy with this idea and tries to find a way to keep the money in the family.

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Watching 1939: Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

smashing21939 film:
Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

Release date:
Oct. 21, 1939

Cast:
Ronald Reagan, Margot Stevenson, Eddie Foy, Joe Downing, Charles D. Brown, Joe King, William B. Davidson, John Ridgely (uncredited)

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Terry O. Morse

Plot:
A mob printing counterfeit money are connected to a gambling ship. When the leader, Dice Matthews (Downing), lands in jail, a Secret Service agent, Lt. Brass Bancroft (Reagan), goes undercover as an inmate. While in jail, Bancroft investigates how and where the counterfeit money is printed and distributed.

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Musical Monday: Lady Be Good (1941)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

lady be goodThis week’s musical:
Lady Be Good (1941) – Musical #260

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Z. McLeod
Busby Berkeley, musical numbers

Starring:
Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Eleanor Powell, Lionel Barrymore, Tom Conway, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Reginald Owen, Virginia O’Brien, Dan Dailey, Phil Silvers, Rose Hobart, Buttons the Dog
Themselves: Connie Russell, The Berry Brothers

Plot:
The film begins in the divorce court telling the story of married songwriters Eddie Crane (Young) and Dixie Donegan (Ann Sothern) begin to grow apart as they find more success. Dixie prefers their more simple life together, while Eddie revels in the glamorous party set of high society.

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Musical Monday: The Great Morgan (1945)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
The Great Morgan (1945) – Musical #736

great morgan

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Nat Perrin

Starring:
Frank Morgan (as himself), Leon Ames, Rand Brooks (uncredited), George Chandler (uncredited), Inez Cooper (uncredited), Ken Davidson (uncredited), Dell Henderson (uncredited),
Themselves: Cedric Gibbons, Douglas Shearer, Irene
Stars in archival footage: Eleanor Powell, Virginia O’Brien, The King Sisters, Tommy Dorsey, Lucille Norman, Carlos Ramirez, Jacqueline White, John Nesbitt, Ben Blue

Plot:
Frank Morgan (as himself) is fed up with his acting career and wants to produce his own film. The studio head (Ames) is fed up with actors wanting to produce, so allows him to produce a film. While Morgan’s own film is being edited, he knocks over film reels and ends up with a mix of MGM films.

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Musical Monday: An American in Paris (1951)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

americanThis week’s musical:
American in Paris (1951) – Musical #8

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Vincente Minnelli

Starring:
Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Nina Foch, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, Madge Blake (uncredited)

Plot:
Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) is an American living in Paris trying to make it as a painter. He often doesn’t sell his work and pals around with his unemployed concert pianist friend, Adam (Levant). One day, wealthy American Milo Roberts (Foch) takes an interest in Jerry’s work … and more. But then Jerry meets and falls in love with Lise (Caron), who happens to also be engaged to his pal (Guétary).

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Watching 1939: Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

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In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

angels41939 film:
Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

Release date:
Aug. 26, 1939

Cast:
Ann Sheridan, Frankie Thomas, Bonita Granville, Ronald Reagan, Henry O’Neill, Eduardo Ciannelli, Berton Churchill, Bernard Nedell, Dick Rich, Margaret Hamilton, Marjorie Main, Minor Watson, Cy Kendall, Grady Sutton, Aldrich Bowker, Cy Kendall, William Hopper (uncredited)
The Dead End Kids: Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly, Gabriel Jordan, Bobby Jordan

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
Ray Enright

Plot:
Teenager Gabe Ryan (Thomas) is released from reform school on good behavior, and he returns home to live with his older sister, Joy (Sheridan). However, life isn’t easy when Gabe returns home. After a local mobster’s (Ciannelli) romantic advances are turned down by Joy, a mob starts framing Gabe as an arsonist, accusing him of setting fires. Because of his reform school background, locals and school teachers corroborate the story. A group of neighborhood kids (Granville, The Dead End Kids) help to clear Gabe’s name after the mob burns down an apartment home and frames Gabe.

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Musical Monday: Hooray for Love (1935)

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It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

hooray for love3This week’s musical:
Hooray for Love – Musical #734

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
Walter Lang

Starring:
Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond, Thurston Hall, Pert Kelton, Georgia Caine, Lionel Stander, Etienne Girardot, Sam Hardy, Lucille Ball (uncredited),
Themselves: Bill Robinson, Jeni Le Gon, Fats Waller, Maria Gambarelli

Plot:
College graduate Douglas Tyler (Raymond) is eager to get into show business. Doug meets and falls for performer Patricia Thatcher (Sothern), and her father (Hall) cons Doug into mortgaging his family home to put money into a musical show.

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An interview with Russ Tamblyn

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When you think of actor Russ Tamblyn, the first image that comes to mind is an energetic young man.

Tamblyn stood out in his films, particularly because of his acrobatic style of dancing, whether the role was in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), HIT THE DECK (1955), WEST SIDE STORY (1961) or THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BROTHERS GRIMM (1962).

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Russ Tamblyn on the red carpet at the Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival. Photo by Comet Over Hollywood

Tamblyn attended the Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF), held April 13-16 in Hollywood, and introduced SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, PEYTON PLACE (1957) and participated in a one-on-one interview focusing on his career.

Starting his career as a child, Tamblyn grew up in Los Angeles and watched Hollywood history firsthand as a young actor. Tamblyn’s first film was in 1948, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR, when he was a young teen.

“I worked for Cecil B. DeMille (in SAMSON AND DELILAH), for god’s sake. I think I’m the last one alive that worked for him,” Tamblyn said in an interview with me at the red carpet opening night event at TCMFF.

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