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historical-hollywood · 26 days

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Cowpokes Ken Murray and Laurie Anders get a bit entangled in this promotional photo for The Ken Murray Show, August 21, 1951.

#historical hollywood #classic hollywood #ken murray #laurie anders #the ken murray show #1951 #1950s #promotional photos #strike a pose #welcome in western wear #hat lady

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kwebtv · 2 years

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The Ken Murray Show - CBS - January 7, 1950 - June 21, 1953

Variety (88+ episodes)

Running Time: 30 minutes

Regulars

Ken Murray - Host

Nelson Case - Announcer

Darla Hood

Laurie Anders

Jane Bergmeier

Jack Mulhall

#The Ken Murray Show #TV #1950's #Variety #Ken Murray #CBS #Nelson Case #Darla Hood #Laurie Anders #Jane Bergmeir

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friendlessghoul · 6 months

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An embellishment to the skit that brought the biggest laugh of all. It wasn't Keaton's invention--he always gave his father the credit--but it was an idea that took the pratfall to the level off high art, a signature bit that would remain in the collective memory of an entire generation of viewers. As Wynn used a kettle of boiling water to loosen the grip of the molasses on his shoes, Buster hoisted on leg onto the counter, then the other, and seemingly paused in mid-air before plummeting to the floor--where the sticky stuff proceeded to saturate the seat of his pants. How he did it without breaking his neck was a mystery to many, but to Keaton himself the technique was elementary. "When he did the 'Butcher Boy' fall," Eleanor explained, "his feet were high enough that when he crashed, all his weight fell on the shoulders, which is where it should be. He's got that heavy muscle structure [and it] acted like a pad. The spine, the tailbone--nothing like that ever touched the floor. You could get hurt. But if you held your breath and tensed the muscles, it doesn't even knock the wind out of you." (James Curtis, A Filmmakers Life, pg 536)

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laundrybiscuits · 1 year

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(young man what do you wanna be tag)

“Why won’t you pretend to date me?”

“Jesus fucking—holy goddamn taint-biting hell, Harrington.” Eddie clutches at his chest, trying to recover from a minor cardiac event caused by opening his bedroom door to find Steve Harrington sitting at his desk. “Why the fuck are you here? How the fuck are you here? Also, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“Wow, rude,” says Steve. “Wayne let me in. And Jonathan told me about the, uh, the Will plan. I think Argyle called it Operation Happy Ending? I don’t…I never know how serious he is about that stuff, man. Is he, like…okay?”

“Argyle is an enigma beyond mortal ken,” says Eddie fondly.

“Sure,” says Steve. He sounds doubtful. “Anyway, why won’t you pretend to date me?”

Eddie groans, pitching backwards onto his mattress and scrubbing his palms over his face. “Because that idea sucks! It’s a bad idea! A better question is: why are you letting Jonathan Byers talk you into shit?”

“It sounds like a pretty good idea to me. It’s for Will, right? Jonathan said he needed to, uh, see a healthy model of a same-sex relationship.”

Eddie would bet just about anything that the last part is a direct J. Byers quote.

“First, I’m not lying to a child. It’s deeply unethical, and as you well know, I am a scrupulously moral individual at all times. Second, do you really think it’s prime role model behavior to construct a fake relationship which will inevitably be unveiled as a sham and a farce? The foundations of young Byers’s world will be rocked, marking the beginning of a slow slide into disillusionment and crime. He’ll be serving twenty to life before you know it.”

Steve sighs, big and gusty like Eddie’s being somehow unreasonable. “God, you’re impossible. So just—actually date me, then.”

“Right,” says Eddie. “Obviously. Why didn’t I think of that. What the fuck, Steve.”

“What’s the difference between fake dating and real dating, anyway? We’ll go see a movie or something, get dinner.”

“Am I having a stroke? Okay, first of all, we cannot and will not do any of those things. Crash course on being gay in Hawkins: it sucks, and we will get jumped.”

“I’ll protect you,” says Steve, because he’s an arrogant dumbass with a white-knight streak a mile wide. Eddie likes him so, so much.

“Jesus. No, okay? You can’t fist-fight the entire goddamn world. They will literally, literally murder me. Lit-er-al-ly. This is—it’s a fucking stupid idea. You’re not even gay, what the fuck.”

“Uh, yeah, I’m bisexual.” Steve’s got a mulish look on his face. “So you should date me.”

“What.” Eddie sits up. “Since when? This is new information. Is this information I was supposed to have had previously? Is this information that other people have?” If Jonathan and Argyle knew and didn’t say anything, Eddie is going to murder them to death.

Steve looks away, scratching at his jaw, and doesn’t answer. He doesn’t show when he’s nervous, usually, and it dawns on Eddie that Steve probably doesn’t have a lot of experience coming out of his sporty little closet.

“Ah, hey, I didn’t mean…I’m, uh, proud of you? I support you?” Eddie leans over to pat Steve’s shoulder awkwardly, trying his best to channel Murray but probably landing a little closer to Jonathan Byers.

“So…I can pick you up at six tomorrow?” Steve says.

“Nope, still not happening,” says Eddie, and leaves the room.

———

“I don’t get it. You’re, like, in love with him—” Jonathan ignores Eddie’s indignant squawking. “And he asked you out, and you said no?”

“He wasn’t asking me out for real! It was your bullshit garbage so-called plan, which is continuing to ruin my life. When I said I wouldn’t fake-date him, he just—switched tactics. He’s obviously trying to trick me into being part of this whole fake dating thing.”

“You realize that’s completely insane and makes no sense, right,” says Jonathan.

“I am the Dungeon Master. I see all, and I know all.”

Jonathan squints at him with an undisguised and unwarranted skepticism. “You really gotta stop saying that, man. It does not sound as cool as you think it does.”

“I am extremely cool always. Also, I’m not in love with him. Gross,” Eddie grumbles.

“Don’t be homophobic, dude,” says Argyle peaceably. “Love is never gross in any form.”

“Excuse you, I will be as homophobic as I damn well please. Love is gay and I won’t have it in my house.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re joking but this is making me really uncomfortable,” says Jonathan.

“That’s homophobic, dude,” says Eddie. “Hush up and let the queers talk. I’m not in love with Steve, I’m in love with Argyle and we’re gonna run away and get married.”

Argyle shakes his head, laughing. “Nah, I don’t hang with matrimonial attachments. It’s all a scam by Big Wedding.”

“Wait,” says Jonathan. “Seriously? Like, even if you fell for a girl?”

“If she’s the right lady for me, she won’t need a piece of paper to celebrate love. Love’s gotta live in the heart-house, Jonathan. In the heart-house.” Argyle taps Jonathan’s chest.

“Hear, hear,” says Eddie, who doesn’t have any particular opinions on the matter but would back just about anyone and any position in the entire world against Jonathan Byers at the moment.

#fic: young man what do you wanna be #still choosing chaos with this one #all of the voices here are uhhhh highly questionable in their accuracy #I really am gonna have to look at Jonathan's canon speech patterns at some point bc I have no actual idea what he's supposed to sound like #but that point will not be today #tomorrow's not looking good either

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agentnico · 4 months

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Top 10 WORST Movies of 2023

For every good movie there’s always a dozen stinkers, and 2023 brought out a lot of turkeys, and I’m not referring to all the poor birds that ended up in our bellies this Christmas season. It’s become a tradition for me every year to do a top 10 best and worst movies of the year list, and I tend to leave the top 10 best list till later as I catch up will the awards potentials, however with the bad list I get right on into it. There are of course many bad movies this year I didn’t see, as I don’t actively seek out to watch the bad ones, but I have heard that these following haven’t been the best: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Marvels, Indiana Jones 5, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, Expend4bles, Children of the Corn, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey…… damn, a lot of films got a bad rep this year. Yet I have 10 other ones that I’ve seen that I thought were crap. Don’t worry if a film you loved ends up on this list, it will simply mean your opinion is wrong and your have to live with that. With that in mind, here’s my humble list of the shit-fest Hollywood had to offer in 2023…

10) ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA - Everything that is wrong with the current state of Marvel is exhibited on full display here. Lacking a sense of direction and exploiting the idea of the multiverse just for the sake of it, the movie is a dud. It feels like whilst trying to focus on going bigger and bolder, the movie lost the sense of fun that elevated the earlier instalments in the tiny hero’s franchise. Paul Rudd is still as charming and likeable as ever, however the introduction of Kang as the next MCU Big Bad is pointless seeing as this big baddie can be defeated by a bunch of ants. Don’t make no difference now anyway with Jonathan Majors losing the court case, but who in the first place thought “oh yeah, Kang is a badass who killed many Avengers, but a giant head of Corey Stoll should weaken him no problem”. Look, there’s no sugarcoating it - this movie is bad. Also, Bill Murray appears in this because…?

9) THE BEANIE BUBBLE - Zack Galifianakis without any facial hair is truly a sight to behold, but that’s not enough to make this fluffy yet bland behind-the-scenes look at the famous Beanie Babies toys even remotely interesting. It’s as if this film can’t bear (thank you) to show the creepier side of these toys, as this should have been a more darker and messed up tale, especially with the lightly implied institutional sexism. Oh well, that’s that then.

8) WE HAVE A GHOST - If ever there was a movie that fit more to the phrase “Netflix & Chill” then this is it, as you will be too busy banging your partner or your sock than caring about a silent speechless David Harbour creeping about Casper-like and being all quiet and mysterious. To be fair he’s the only redeemable quality as the rest of the movie is a mishmash hodgepodge of genres that is neither funny, nor effective in its family drama dynamic. At least seeing Jennifer Coolidge jump out a window was mildly amusing. Mildly. Anyway, where’s that sock?

7) THE OLD WAY - It is truly fascinating that after starring in over 100 films, this is Nicolas Cage’s first ever western. Aside from that mind boggling revelation, this movie comes out with less than a bang. I don’t know, I was hoping for something a bit more mad, especially with Cage’s involvement. Heck, in the movie’s opening sequence Nicolas Cage is introduced with a sprawling Poirot-like moustache, and immediately I assumed that I am in for something ridiculous. However following that scene the movie cuts to 20 years later, and with that both the moustache and the hope for something exciting or weird is diminished to singular unseen atoms.

6) FOOL’S PARADISE - The directorial debut from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Charlie Day (who also writes and stars), misfiring Hollywood satire Fool’s Paradise wastes a strong ensemble cast that also includes Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Kate Beckinsale, Ken Jeong, Common, John Malkovich and the late Ray Liotta. Look, in a way I feel bad about including this film on this list, as you can tell this is a true passion project for Day and one that has good intentions by attempting to go back to the old-school slapstick Charlie Chaplin-era of comedy, with a lighthearted satire on the way the film industry works. In this case the result is neither sweet nor funny enough, and as such it’s an unfortunate misfire, but easily the most disappointing inclusion on this list.

5) GHOSTED - Adrien Brody’s crappy French accent in this movie I could have forgiven, if only I have not seen John Wick: Chapter 4 a couple of weeks prior where I experienced the most delightful Parisian mouthing of Bill Skarsgard’s villain, so now Brody’s French-ish slur sticks out like a sore thumb. What else sticks out is that Ghosted feels like a film from the early 2000s, featuring every cliche of the genre and with a romantic pairing of Chris Evans and Ana de Armas whom share zero chemistry. Their kissing scenes reminded me of that Andrew Garfield/Emma Stone SNL sketch where they don’t know how to kiss on camera, only in this case it’s unintentional. Also featuring a slew of pointless cameos, and I do mean pointless, this is a throwaway campy spy-action flick that is destined to be forgotten.

4) THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER - Billed as the true sequel to William Friedkin’s original horror masterpiece, it really shouldn’t have strived for that. Ellen Burstyn’s return is a waste. For those excited to see her, she’s only in 3 or 4 scenes total, and the creative choices made with her character are such a disservice to the original movie. Without spoiling, it’s a choice that seems to be inspired by the modern woke culture, with Burstyn’s Chris having being studying the art of exorcism ever since the events that transpired with her daughter, and then when questioned about why she herself did not partake in her daughter’s exorcism she blames the patriarchy. The choice of bringing her into this narrative and then what happens to her…it’s basically taking a classic character and making them dumb. I must say though that the only actual shocking moment in the movie comes in a scene involving her character, and though that moment itself is memorable, the build up towards it is so stupid. Also, with the return of Burstyn it comes as no surprise within the movie when a certain other character pops in for a cameo. Does it add anything to the movie’s story? No, it’s just there for cheap fan service. As for the movie itself, the horror hardly works. It’s not scary at all and you really shouldn’t believe in this one.

3) THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE - Yeah, I know, my inclusion of this film on the list will rattle some feathers, but I don’t care, as for any of you pricks out there thinking that stupid “Peaches” song deserves an Academy Award nomination, you guys are stupid and must be high on some very powerful shrooms. If so, I hope you’re having a great trip, but the fact stands that this movie is bad. Simply doing fan service for the sake of fan service don’t make for a good narrative. Me and my friend were bored throughout, as this movie is 100% for kids. There are nostalgic elements to it all, but I do believe that Illumination and Nintendo should have followed more in The Lego Movie’s footsteps and targeted the film for audiences of all ages, due to the fact that many who grew up with Mario are now adults themselves.

2) LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND - So much wasted potential. A long drawn-out slow shuffle to Nowheresville. A movie that offers so many ideas, plot points, and thread lines that are never answered or go anywhere. In Leave the World Behind things are truly happening under the motto “just because” and “why the hell not” and it makes the viewing experience immensely frustrating. Especially when the movie is nearly 2 and a half hours long and the anticlimactic abrupt ending is a slap to your face for wasting your time. Oh, and if I weren’t a fan of the Friends show before, now more so than ever.

1) 65 - Right ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to ask you all so kindly to rise up from your seats and give a humongous round of applause to 65 - the 2023 film to exhibit qualities of a top contender of the worst movie of this year. Look, I’m disappointed as you are. Adam Driver fighting dino-dinos’?! You’d be a madman to not want to see that! However here’s 65′s first mistake: there actually aren’t that many dinosaurs, let alone fights with them. I know right, I can sense the resounding aura of you, my kind audience, in unison thinking “what the f***?”. Exactly, what the fudge indeed. No, instead what we get is a couple of somewhat thrilling dinosaurs interactions, but overall the movie is just Adam Driver and this little girl walking. Just walking. Walking and whistling. Bunch of jackasses.

That’s it - we did it! Now I can happily forget I ever watched any of these and mentally prepare for what wonders of stupidity 2024 will bring to the big screen. As for my Best Movies of 2023 list, don’t worry, it’s a-coming. Still need to watch The Boy and the Heron and Poor Things and then all will be revealed…

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brian-in-finance · 1 year

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Gif: @clairelizfraser

S02E10 Prestonpans • 11 June 2016 Official Script

Outlander Rewatch 2023 Countdown To Season 7

Favourite Word

It’s a gamble, but one worth the risk. Besides, I wouldn’t mind showing my mettle to The Prince, and Murray, and the rest of those jackanapes. — Dougal

Gifs: @jamieclaire

Favourite Line

The day is ours. — Jamie

Favourite Image

On your way soldier. — Claire

Gifs: @jemscorner

Remember… I thank you, lad. Truly. And I promise to give you no need to regret your generosity. But I ken what ye’re up to. Ye champion me and exile me, both at the same time. A plan worthy of my brother Colum. — Dougal MacKenzie

26th of 75 • Friday, 28 April 2023

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Outlander #Rewatch 2023 #Countdown To Season 7 #26th of 75 #S02E10 Prestonpans #Aired 11 June 2016 #Rewatched 28 Apri 2023

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jbird5by5 · 7 months

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Saddened to learn of the passing of Actress Phyllis Coates (1927-2023)

Phyllis Coates, the first Lois Lane television ever saw, has died.

She was 96.

The actress died on Oct. 11 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills

The actress first appeared in the first full-length feature film to star the DC hero, 1951's dark Sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men, the success of which soon led to a syndicated television series, Adventures of Superman. Coates portrayed the journalist for 26 episodes before departing the series at the conclusion of the first season.

She was replaced by Noel Neill, who had played the character in previous Superman Columbia serials, and the show lasted another five seasons.

Born January 15,1927 in Wichita Falls, Texas, Phyllis Coates moved to Hollywood as a teenager with intentions of enrolling at UCLA. A chance encounter with Ken Murray in a Hollywood & Vine restaurant landed her in the comedian's vaudeville show. She started out as a chorus girl and worked her way up to doing skits before moving on to work for veteran showman Earl Carroll and later touring with the USO. Coates got some of her first motion picture experience in comedy short subjects at Warner Brothers and then graduated to roles in early '50s films. After a one-season stint with the Man of Steel (George Reeves on Adventures of Superman (1952)), she began to divide her time among TV, B-movie assignments and serials at Republic.

Throughout her career, she'd be seen in series like The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, and Leave It to Beaver, and in 1994 appeared as Lois Lane’s mother in an episode of ABC’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She also appeared in several classic films, like I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and Girls in Prison, The Incredible Petrified World and Panther Girl of the Kongo. She also appeared in the film Invasion U.S.A. (1952) with future Lois Lane Actress Noel Neill.

My Condolences to Family and Friends.

#R.I.P. 😔🙏🥀

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kevinpshanblog · 7 months

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Remembering Phyllis Coates, TV’s First Lois Lane

Phyllis Coates, who portrayed the fearless reporter Lois Lane in the first season of Adventures of Superman, died on Wednesday at the age of 96. She passed away from natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Coates was born as Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1927. She moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and started her career as a chorus girl and a vaudeville performer. She was discovered by comedian Ken Murray, who taught her comedy and put her in his variety shows.

She signed a contract with Warner Bros. and appeared in several films and shorts, including the popular Joe McDoakes comedy series. She also starred in Republic Pictures serials and B-movies, such as Panther Girl of the Congo, Girls in Prison, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, and The Incredible Petrified World.

But her most memorable role was Lois Lane, the intrepid journalist who worked alongside Clark Kent (George Reeves) at the Daily Planet and often got into trouble with Superman’s enemies. Coates first played Lois in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men, which was later re-edited into a two-part episode of the TV series.

She continued to play Lois in all 26 episodes of the first season of Adventures of Superman, which aired from 1952 to 1953. She did most of her own stunts and earned about $350 per episode. She said in an interview that she and Reeves had a good chemistry and that they “were very much alike — we didn’t take ourselves too seriously”.

However, Coates decided not to return for the second season, despite being offered a higher salary. She wanted to pursue other projects and was replaced by Noel Neill, who had played Lois in two earlier Superman serials starring Kirk Alyn.

Coates later regretted leaving the show and said that she “didn’t realize the importance of it” at the time². She remained friends with Reeves until his death in 1959. She also befriended Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olsen, and attended several Superman conventions with him.

Coates continued to act in films and TV shows until the late 1990s. She had guest roles in Perry Mason, Lassie, Gunsmoke, The Andy Griffith Show, The Munsters, and many others. She also played Lois Lane’s mother in an episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1994.

Coates was married three times and had two children. She is survived by her daughter Laura Press, who said that her mother “gave a lot to the industry” and that “her career passed through so many genres”.

Phyllis Coates will always be remembered as TV’s first Lois Lane, a role that inspired generations of fans and actresses. She brought charm, wit, and courage to the character and made her a worthy partner for Superman.

Rest in peace, Phyllis Coates.

#phyllis coates #Adventures of Superman #rip #lois lane

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renee-writer · 4 months

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Single Chapter 20

AO3

The soft cry stops his hands and perks her ears. Jenny. He drops his hands and she turns to the door just as Ian knocks.

“Many pardons but Jenny’s labor has began. She is asking for you, Claire.” He says through the door.

“I will be right there, Ian,” She forces her mind from Jamie to Jenny, “well, this shows she trust me. You will be alright with Brianna?”

He smiles. “Aye. We shall be just fine.”

She kisses him long and hard. Were it not for the presence of their daughter and Jenny ‘s labor, she would be getting fully reacquainted with her husband.

“Later, we shall…” No need to finish that statement. He kens exactly what she means.

“Aye, we shall.”

She hurries to her sister -in-law.

Jenny paces across her room. Claire watches, for now. She longs to ask her about Mary, to find out why she pushed a marriage so fast. But now isn’t the time, or so she thinks.

“I wanted him to stay. After almost losing him,” she says out of nowhere, “I didn’t ken all I do of ye now but, I kenned something different about you. He would,” She stops as the relentless pain rises again. Clinging to her bed post, she rides it out, “follow you across the world. Mary, she is settled here. He needed a wife. I thought I could anchor him here and help him over ye at the same time.”

“Does he love her? I know she does him, but…”

“Not in the way you are asking. They would have had a nice marriage, got on alright, but, his heart would always long for ye. There is none but ye for him. I was foolish to think otherwise.”

“I won’t take him away. This is his place, Bree’s place, and mine. Home and family. I swear to you.”

She nods. In the mighty grip of another contraction, she can’t yet speak. When it fades, “Would you have Mary dismissed?”

It is a good question. A part of her, still jealous of the other woman, is anxious to say yes. But, the other part, the more rational one, can’t . She helped him through a very rough time.

“I will be honest, a very big part of me wants to, but, it would be unnecessarily cruel. Just please find her a husband, as fast as you can. Now if she acts in an unladylike fashion…”

“She won’t. No matter how she feels, she will never do anything about them.”

A few hours later.

“This fist baby is ready to be born.” Claire deduced that Jenny was right. She carries two.

Jenny presses down hard, using the bed post as support. Slowly the newest Murray makes an entrance. Auntie Claire guides the infant out.

“A lad. Hearty and hale.” She announces with relief. The newborn is passed to Mary, fetched when Jenny drew close. She starts to clean him up.

“Michael,” His mam announces, “his name.”

“Quite lovely Jenny,” There is no time to say more. His sibling is on the way.

Claire delivers Michael ‘s afterbirth into a bowl. Soon after, his sister arrives, as healthy as her brother.

“And a fine lass.” Her auntie announces.

“Janet,” a chuckle as the exhausted new mam takes her children in her arms, “after all this, one should be named after me.”

Neither of her birth attendants can argue that.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #single #chapter 20 #jamie and claire #cannon divergence #outlander fandom

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historical-hollywood · 26 days

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The Ken Murray Show, 1952

Photo caption: STREAMLINED GLAMOURLOVELIES Ken Murray, star of CBS-TV's "Ken Murray Show," and his famous Glamourlovelies (l.-r., Joan Shea, Lillian Farmer and Cathy Hild) are the headliners when the Electric Auto-Lite Co. previews a special automobile show on CBS-TV, in place of its regularly scheduled "Suspense" program, Tuesday, April 1, 9:30-10:00 PM, EST. Gun-totin' Laurie Anders, who prefers the "w-i-i-d-e open spaces," will be there, too.

#historical hollywood #classic hollywood #joan shea #ken murray #lillian farmer #cathy hild #laurie anders #the ken murray show #1952 #1950s #as seen on tv #glamourlovelies #chorus girls #stars upon cars #welcome in western wear #hat lady #pleasing in plaid

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scotianostra · 1 year

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On 12th April 1941, Scottish poet, Charles Murray died at Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

Though easily the best known and most popular Scots poet of the period from 1910 till the 1960s, Charles Murray’s literary output was modest. Though there was nothing amateur in his approach to his poetry, Murray was not a professional literary man and had to compose in the time he could spare from a busy working life first as prospector and mine manager, then as a senior colonial civil servant, in the newly created Union of South Africa.

In 1969, twenty-eight years after Murray’s death, poems which had not appeared in book form during his lifetime were published as The Last Poems, with Preface and Notes by Alexander Keith.

Finally in 1979, Murray’s friend, the novelist Nan Shepherd, edited Hamewith: the complete poems of Charles Murray. These publications were supported by the Charles Murray Memorial Fund.

Misfits

I've kent auld dominies wi' little skill o' teachin'

When put aneth the soundin' board show eloquence divine;

An' richt learn'd ministers nae worth a doit at preachin',

An' middlin' tradesmen, wonderfu' at gien oot the line.

Sometimes a Genius sets a bonny lowin' flame

Aneth the bushe'l in a neuk, lest it should stop the flails;

Whiles feet that should hae trod up the brae that leads to fame,

Gae trailin' weary doon a fur ahin' the ousen tails.

Now sirs, can ye explain why square pins sae aft are set

To fill roun' holes? Ye dinna ken? That brings menae surprise

For here I'm jamm'd sae ticht, where some other man would fit,

An' he is rattlin' in a place that's just my very size.

But bide till my corners are ance a wee bit worn,

An' I can turn as free as those wha think I shouldna try,

Syne mony wha look doon upon me now wi' scorn,

When speer'd at gin they ken o' me, will proudly answer, Aye.

Read more about the poet here, all in Doric, of course, you can also listen to his words as they are meant to be spoken. https://www.thedoric.scot/charles-murray.html

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peterlorrefanpage · 1 year

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Peter Lorre Skit: Mr. Moto + Other Detectives [RADIO]

What would happen if all the great detectives of fiction worked together on one case?

Peter Lorre appears as Mr. Moto in my stitched-together clip from the comedy-variety show, Texaco Star Theater, October 4, 1939.

youtube

This one took me quite awhile to track down. It was listed as "Tomorrow and Tomorrow," but it turns out that Peter is only in the first part of this show, piped in from Hollywood.

The second half of the show (not included here) is piped in from New York and contains the drama "Tomorrow and Tomorrow," with Fredric March.

I love Fredric March (see him in the surreal "Death Takes a Holiday"!) but sorry, Freddy, not today.

All the players, some of whom are with Peter: Irene Ryan, Kenny Baker, David Broekman and His Orchestra, Peter Lorre, Philip Barry (author), Jimmy Wallington (announcer), Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Larry Elliott (commercial spokesman), Lehman Engel (composer, conductor), Burns Mantle (New York host), Ken Murray (Hollywood host), Frances Langford.

#peter lorre #mr. moto #old time radio #peter lorre radio #otr #comedy variety show #peter lorre comedy

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papermoonloveslucy · 1 year

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LUCY UNIVERSITY!

Classes, Lessons & Other Tutorials

The Lucy character was one of the most inquisitve characters on television. A basic education did not prevent Lucy from furthering her education. Here are some lessons learned by Lucy!

HIGH SCHOOL

“Lucy Gets Her Diploma” (1967) ~ When Lucy Carmichael finds out the bank has a new policy of only employing high school graduates, she must go back to school to get her diploma in order to keep her job.

Lucy takes the usual classes - with a fair amount of physical comedy for extra credit. Her teachers include Dave Willock (Math), Donald Randolph (History), Olive Dunbar (Biology), and Barbara Babcock (English). The principal of Wilshire High School is played by George E. Carey.

MATH

“Liz Goes To Night School” (1950) ~ Liz's arithmetic skills are so bad, George sends her to night school where she somehow winds up in a math contest.

CHEMISTRY

“Lucy and Viv Take Up Chemistry” (1963) ~ Viv regrets letting Lucy talk her into joining her for a night school chemistry class. Lucy gets carried away trying to invent a youth serum and develops a huge ego between explosions. The frustrated biology teacher is played by Lou Krugman.

To teach her a lesson, Viv and the professor make her drink her own concoction. She’s horrified by the results of her youth formula.

AUTO MECHANICS

“The Not-So-Popular Mechanics” (1973) ~ Lucy Carter and Mary Jane take an adult school course in auto mechanics so they can change the oil on Harry’s vintage Rolls Royce. Their teacher is played by Robert Rockwell, who played biology teacher Mr. Boynton on “Our Miss Brooks” opposite Gale Gordon and Mary Jane Croft.

MUSIC

“Piano and Violin Lessons” (1949) ~ Liz takes up the piano to win a radio talent contest. To get even, George starts learning the violin. Who will win?

“The Benefit” (1952) ~ When Lucy wants to get into Ricky’s new act, she’s determined to improve her singing.

Lucy Carmichael was given singing lessons by Dr. Gitterman (Hans Conried) in “Lucy’s Barbershop Quartet” (1963). She used those same techniques on Agnes Schmidlap (aka Ethel Merman) when “Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman to Sing” (1964).

DANCE

“Lucy Helps Ken Berry (1968) ~ Ken Jones (Berry) teaches a course of tap and soft shoe for $25. Lucy signs up and recruits a dozen truck drivers to participate - not your typical dance students.

“Dance Lessons” (1950) ~ After a disastrous experience at a club dance, Liz and Iris send their husbands to Professor Crawford’s School of the Dance. Instead of being greeted by a befuddled old Professor, they meet his daughter, a breathless sexpot who immediately agrees to be their instructress.

RUDOLPH: “I’ve seen those girls who teach at Arthur Murray’s.”

“Liz Teaches Samba” (1950) ~ George talks Liz into teaching Wally, the son of the bank’s newest director, how to dance the Samba, and Wally gets a crush on Liz. The radio show served as the basis for...

“The Young Fans” (1952) ~ Lucy gives private dance lessons to Arthur Morton (Richard Crenna) so he can better woo Peggy Dawson, but he turns out to be more attracted to Lucy.

“The Ballet” (1952) ~ Thinking Ricky’s new act requires ballet, Lucy attends a class led by Madame LeMonde (Mary Wickes). “Abbas! Abbas!”

“The Adagio” (1952) ~ Fred teaches Lucy to do the Apache dance for Ricky’s new act. When Fred’s lessons prove unhelpful, Ethel suggests Jean Valjean Raymond (Shepard Menken), a Frenchman who is more interested in amour than apache. This episode was partly inspired by....

FRENCH

“The French Lessons” (1949) ~ Liz and Iris are humiliated when they can't read the menu at a French restaurant, so they decide to take French lessons. The lessons lead to the prospect of a duel between her favorite husband George and her amorous French teacher, Jacques Duval (Rolfe Sedan). The radio episode inspired...

“The French Revue” (1953) ~ A trip to a French restaurant makes Lucy think she should take French lessons from the waiter Robert DuBois (Alberto Morin) so she can take part in Ricky’s new show. Lucy later taught herself French when preparing for her trip to Europe.

DUBOIS: “In French, everything it is either masculine or feminine. You Americans don’t have that.” LUCY: “You haven’t been in this country very long, have you?”

ENGLISH

“The English Tutor” (1952) ~ So that her baby will be surrounded by proper elocation, diction and grammar, Lucy recruits tutor Percy Livermore (Hans Conried) to teach them how to speak properly - for free. Naturally, he has ulterior motives.

LIVERMORE (to Ricky): In lieu of the remuneration for my tutelage, I am to be permitted to introduce my talents into your nocturnal bistro.

ART

“Lucy Goes To Art Class” (1964) ~ To impress handsome bachelor John Brooks (Robert Alda) Lucy and Viv join him at an art class. The art teacher is played by John Carridine.

BROOKS: “I do believe that all of us have some sort of creativity bottled up inside of us.” LUCY: “I think this class might be just the thing to pop my cork!”

“Lucy and Uncle Harry’s Pot” (1973) ~ When Lucy breaks a vase which has great sentimental value to Harry, she goes to a ceramics class to make him a new one – with dubious results! Her teacher is played by Roger Twedt, an actual high school art teacher from Palm Springs.

ACTING

“Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (1966) ~ Mickey Rooney takes out a loan from Mr. Mooney's bank to open an acting school. Lucy and Mooney each wangle free acting lessons.

EQUESTRIANISM

“Horseback Riding” (1949) ~ George’s female co-chair for his horseback riding club’s upcoming breakfast ride has Liz so jealous that she’s determined to overcome her fear of horses and learn to ride herself.

COLLEGE

Fictional Pottawatomie College in New Mexico is the setting of Too Many Girls (1939), the film in which Lucille Ball first met Desi Arnaz, although their characters never meet on screen.

“Lucy’s College Reunion” (1963) ~ Lucy Carmichael (nee Taylor) goes back to her alumnus, Milroy College.

“Lucy and the Professor” (1973) ~ Lucy hears her daughter is dating an older man, so she goes to Kim’s college to see for herself. Unfortunately, Lucy mistakes an elderly professor (Murray Matheson) for the younger one (John Davidson) that Kim is actually dating!

PROFESSOR KLEINDORF: ”Thanks Professor Dietrich. You’re really groovy.” PROFESSOR DIETRICH: (points to his frown lines) “These aren’t grooves. They’re wrinkles.”

At Desilu Studios, Lucy opened the Desilu Playhouse, recruiting promising young performers to practice their craft under her tutelage, much in the same way Lela Rogers taught her at RKO. Some of the more famous graduates were Robert Osborne, Carole Cook, and Majel Barrett.

In the early 1980s Lucille Ball become Professor Ball, lecturing on comedy at UCLA.

Grade school students listen to Lucie Arnaz talk during Lucy Lessons, educational modules built around episodes of “I Love Lucy.”

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oldshowbiz · 2 years

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youtube

The Ken Murray Show (1950) with guest Joe Besser

#The Celluloid Closet #joe besser #ken murray #lgbtq

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mariacallous · 1 year

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On the inaugural night of the Chippendales club, the audience’s disbelief at the sight of a half-dozen men dancing and disrobing quickly melts into delight. The financially struggling owner, Somen (Steve) Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani), has named his Los Angeles establishment for an eighteenth-century cabinetmaker whose rococo designs, Steve claims, adorned the residence of the viceroy of India. The venture may well be the earliest of its kind: a mainstream venue for striptease, by men, for women. The visual appeal of the amateur gyrators, who swan about on a sunken stage in the center of the room, to the Village People’s “Macho Man,” is questionable: they sport muscles and skimpy black underwear, but also mullets and long, greasy curls. Their looks may not matter much anyway; the hooting women are thrilled just to play the part of men for a night. But, for some, a real show needs more than role reversal. “Talk about a flaming pile of trash,” the choreographer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) says at a later performance, when Steve asks him to leave. (Male patrons are not allowed.) In less than a decade, the two men, working in tandem, turn Steve’s frantic experiment into a national sensation, and lock themselves in a rivalry so radioactive it cannot but end in mutual destruction.

Opening in the late nineteen-seventies, Hulu’s “Welcome to Chippendales” is a night-club-lit comic tragedy that traces the spectacular rise and sordid fall of a cheesy yet pivotal corner of the sexual revolution. The series’ initial pleasures coalesce around the streamlining of the production numbers and the chiselling of its mall-sexy, Ken-doll-on-steroids camp aesthetic. Nick hires dancers who can move in unison—some, like Otis (Quentin Plair), boast professional stage experience. The troupe’s costumer, Denise (Juliette Lewis), smooths out the act’s kinks by supplying tearaway pants. Dorothy Stratten (Nicola Peltz), a Playmate turned rising actress, whose slimy, controlling husband, Paul Snider (Dan Stevens), talks his way into a small stake in Chippendales, is responsible for what becomes the brand’s signature flourish: the stand-alone cuffs and collars, inspired by the bunny uniforms at the Playboy Club. (When bean-counting Steve first meets Dorothy, he’s impressed—not by her title or her soft yet staggering beauty but by her acquaintance with Hugh Hefner.) As the business’s original mastermind, Steve goads a church group into protesting the club, then calls up a local TV station, garnering his “den of perversion and sin” some free publicity on the evening news.

Those who know Chippendales only from the “Saturday Night Live” sketch or as a popular Las Vegas revue may be surprised to learn of the organization’s violent history: in the early nineties, the real-life Banerjee pleaded guilty to racketeering, attempted arson, and murder for hire. It’s fitting, however, that the Hollywood version of this story focusses on a briefly magical collaboration that turns toxic over credit-hogging. The showrunners Jenni Konner (“Girls”) and Robert Siegel (“Pam & Tommy”) nurse ambitions of sociological insight in their reimagining of an Indian immigrant whose American Dream takes the form of a queer white man’s channelling of suburban-female desire. And yet the writers are also loath to relinquish the story’s twisty, true-crime roots. The result is an ideas-rich but disjointed series that feels like it’s tackling too much, yet somehow hardly enough, with a protagonist whose motivations are subject to whatever wild happenstance the scripts are setting up next. (Why does Steve idolize Hefner? And what does he think of his own improbable role in granting a greater degree of sexual agency to the kinds of women who might not consider men like him—brown, speaking accented English, financially unsteady in a disreputable industry—a viable sexual or romantic partner? “Chippendales” is strangely uninterested in the answers.) As the eight-episode season progresses, and the stripteases become sleeker, the show around them only gets messier.

No one enjoys the club’s runaway success for long. Nick, a Sondheim-loving snob with two Emmys that he won’t let anyone forget about, is tortured by the artistic challenge of having to top his own themed stagings. (An early favorite: shirtless bellhops thrusting against an ecstatic becardiganed hotel guest on a spinning fourposter bed—a genteel porn scenario that simultaneously emphasizes the woman’s allure and class status.) Although many hands went into building Chippendales, Nick knows, as does pretty much everyone else, that it is his genius that sustains it as an attraction. After a coke-fuelled bender, he and Denise decide that the most logical way to level up the stage show is by mounting “Hunkenstein,” a horror-tinged rock opera, to be performed by a live band, about the creation of the ultimate beefcake, assembled from the exceptional parts of various men. Steve’s angry rejection of the pitch poisons the well of his relationship with his choreographer. Every subsequent no from the boss further convinces Nick that he is “Mr. Chippendales,” a meaningless designation that he’s happy to trumpet on national television as he turns the production into a franchise and a tour, stoking Steve’s rancorous, scheming rage.

The divalicious Nick is the series’ only fully realized character, though Lewis and Annaleigh Ashford, who plays Steve’s charmingly practical wife, Irene, lend their scenes a lived-in sweetness that their narcissistic male counterparts resist. (Bucking the trend in recent strip-centric entertainment such as “Magic Mike,” “Hustlers,” “Zola,” and “P-Valley,” which reframe exotic dance as labor, sometimes under precarious or perilous conditions, the performers here, save one, are little more than a huddle of glistening torsos.) Compared with the supernova that is Nick, who is endowed with every last drop of Bartlett’s considerable charisma, Steve is a cold, gray moon. His arc is grander, though, transforming him, à la Walter White, from a striving underdog into a self-pitying sociopath. Nanjiani is serviceable as an actor from scene to scene, but he can’t find his character’s core, and receives little help from the writing. The racial microaggressions that Steve regularly endures are flat and obvious, almost P.S.A.-like. His biography is frustratingly spartan; the series only suggests, and barely makes coherent, why he moved to the U.S. and, before Chippendales, sacrificed half a decade of his life to an ascetic existence as a gas-station manager, subsisting on expired sandwiches, despite having enjoyed a comfortable life back in India. It’s only when Steve decides to wield America’s racial hierarchy against other minorities in pursuit of his own upward mobility—a dramatization of the middle ground between white and Black America that many Asian Americans occupy—that the series periodically achieves the political relevance it fumbles toward.

When Nick signs up Otis, the most talented of the auditioning dancers, Steve hesitates, noting, “He is Black.” Then he sees an opportunity in Otis’s race: “Customers will love it.” Both Steve and Nick turn a blind eye to the way their mostly white clientele single out the token dancer of color for particularly loutish objectification, grabbing Otis’s head for a kiss or reaching inside his briefs despite his clear discomfort. (“You don’t really get that at Lincoln Center,” Nick jokes.) Otis, who admires Steve’s achievements as a “brown-skinned brother . . . making shit happen for himself,” seeks racial solidarity with his employer, who sees his own hunger reflected back at him in a flattering light. But the entrepreneur, always sniffing around for a shortcut, realizes that the fastest way to climb up is by stepping on others. Steve’s misfortune is not that he’s wrong but, rather, that he lacks the wealth and the connections to discriminate at scale. America may be where Steve aspired to reinvent himself, but his adoptive home is relentless in making sure he knows his place. ♦

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byneddiedingo · 2 years

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The Three Faces of Eve (Nunnally Johnson, 1957) Cast: Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb, Edwin Jerome, Alena Murray, Nancy Kulp, Douglas Spencer, Terry Ann Ross, Ken Scott, Mimi Gibson, Alistair Cooke. Screenplay: Nunnally Johnson, based on a book by Corbett Thigpen and Hervey M. Cleckley. Cinematography: Stanley Cortez. Art direction: Herman A. Blumenthal, Lyle R. Wheeler. Film editing: Marjorie Fowler. Music: Robert Emmett Dolan. When cases of what was then called "multiple personality disorder" were first diagnosed and made known to the public, it was a godsend to actors, who could then show off their skills in three-or-more-in-one roles. Playing "Eve White," "Eve Black," and "Jane" in The Three Faces of Eve launched Joanne Woodward's film career and won her a best actress Oscar. Later, it would give Sally Field a chance to play more than a dozen characters in the TV movie Sibyl (Daniel Petrie, 1976), earning her an Emmy and helping her break out of the "manic pixie dream girl" type that she had been stuck in after the TV series Gidget and The Flying Nun. (Woodward played Sibyl's psychiatrist.) Today the disorder is more usually known as "dissociative identity," and it still stirs controversy in psychoanalytic circles, with some questioning whether it really arises from childhood trauma like the ones portrayed in The Three Faces of Eve and Sibyl, and even if it might be induced by the psychiatrist's own techniques in treating patients. That is to say, despite the attempts -- which include a sober-faced introduction in which Alistair Cooke solemnly asserts that the film is a "true story" -- by The Three Faces of Eve to present its narrative as a sort of docudrama, the movie needs to be met with a lot of skepticism. That doesn't deny, of course, that Woodward gives a terrific performance, carefully segueing from one Eve to another and eventually to Jane. And I liked Stanley Cortez's manipulation of shadows in filming the story -- though it's not a movie that needed to be in CinemaScope, always something of a distraction in black-and-white. But what makes Woodward's performance stand out even more is its contrast with the hamming of David Wayne as Eve's violent hick husband, a man almost as much in need of a shrink as she is. And Lee J. Cobb is uncommonly bullying as Eve's doctor, constantly sucking on a cigar as if invoking Sigmund Freud. We have a happy ending, of course, despite the fact that the real "Eve," Christine Costner Sizemore, led an anxious and troubled later life, at one point suing 20th Century Fox over a contract that deprived her of the rights to her own story.

#The Three Faces of Eve #Nunnally Johnson #Joanne Woodward #David Wayne #Lee J. Cobb

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