The Silver Screen Oasis

Thank You Rita.

I appreciate your kind words. We at TCM love our viewers and it is great to hear from you "first hand."

PT-

I meant the one that you have posted. Highlights that great red hair.
You cannot get better than Agnes in Citizen Kane and yet most people only know her as Endora.

thanks.

Mrs. Osborne wrote: Are there any Bette Davis or Dana Andrews fans out there?

Most definitely - I'm a fan of both but it's Mr. Andrews of whom I'd like to speak today. I've never gotten to see ENCHANTED ISLAND in color and I've not seen it since the late 60s. If you could nab that late RKO entry, it would be appreciated. I think that the only one of his Fox films that has eluded me is NO MINOR VICES.

I'm also hoping that when the Warner Archive grace period has ended, that you'll be able to air THE FROZEN DEAD which I saw theatrically. Only problem there was that the U.S. release was in black-and-white.

Thanks in advance.

Mrs. Osborne wrote:PT-

I meant the one that you have posted. Highlights that great red hair.
You cannot get better than Agnes in Citizen Kane and yet most people only know her as Endora.

thanks.

My avatar comes from a rare color photo of a stage performance she gave as Phaedra in 1956. Here is the complete photo, courtesy of Tony Duquette:



Citizen Kane is not one of my favorite AM performances, but it's certainly one of the best known. One of my favorites is in a little and little-known picture she made with Laraine Day and Dane Clark in 1949, called Without Honor. For that performance she was entered into competition at the Cannes film festival as best actress, for the first and only time.

Mrs. O, thanks so much for spending your weekend with us. The sheer volume of the work you do is mind boggling, and it shows in the level of excellence of our beloved TCM. Whenever you have a "spare" moment or two, I hope you will drop in to visit..the door is always open, the coffee freshly made, doughnuts on the table!

Thanks, Alexa! We are so happy you are here!

And no! I didn't know Jean Herscholt was Leslie Nielsen's uncle! I wonder what he thought of Leslie's career?

Well, in the scene in The Opposite Sex, when June and Jeff are riding around in the canoe canoodling, she didn't look like she was having a miserable time, and I STILL have a crush on that gorgeous Jeff Richards.

And I also guess it must have been uncomfortable with the current AND ex Mrs. Powells, but things must have worked out well for Blondell because she had a lovely little character part in that. I am glad that Dolores Gray sang the title song because she could belt it out with the best of them. Her character, Sylvia, makes a few comments about struggling with her weight, and that was a problem Gray also struggled with, but she looked "mahveluss" in all those Helen Rose creations.

I remember reading (somewhere) that June hit her so hard it knocked Joan's earring off! If you know what to watch for, you'll see it go flying.

Thanks for your interest and your answers Alexa.

knitwit

Thanks so much, and please put a cold beer on ice near the coffee and doughnuts since we will be talking for weeks to come.


PT
I love Agnes Moorehead's radio work and we are lucky to have it. Her Sorry Wrong Number is soooooo great. I am not a fan of the movie. The radio version is perfect, thank you. I met Tony Duquette very briefly near the end of his life. What a talent.


clore-
I think I would have to say Dana Andrews is my favorite actor. I never met him but I wrote him and he wrote back.
He survived alcoholism and yet Robert once pointed out to me that he is not believable in his drunk scenes (Best Years, Where the Sidewalk Ends) Interesting....
No Minor Vices is a picture that I know we have elements for and I talked to Lee Grant about it once. Her husband Arnold Manoff wrote it and as you probably know, he was blacklisted and died at age 50. It would be great to see it finally air.

Thanks all. Sorry to combine 3 topics in one reply.

and Sue Sue, Dolores Gray in It's Always Fair Weather is FAB!!!! aren't we lucky to have these people and performances ON FILM TO SEE?

Yes, we are!

I am also a fan of Dana Andrews, and I am currently enjoying Carl Rollyson's well-researched biography of Andrews, who spent many of his formative years in Texas.

Andrews was involved in a 19 minute short of a Carson McCullers story, A Tree. A Rock. A Cloud(1978). Where might a copy of that be found? Any comments on this film?

Thank you!

Masha

here is something interesting. I gave a talk at a high school and showed the Star of the Month Bette Davis by Meryl Streep piece. The kids had no idea who Davis was. They knew Hattie McDaniel (she had been mentioned in an Oscar acceptance speech) but had never heard of Davis. I had the honor of meeting her (before her stroke) and she was really something. TINY with huge blue eyes, cigarette burned down to the filter and yes, she really did WALK like that.

I do not know about the poster - fantasy schedule. I need to find out more.


Thanks for letting me talk a bit of Bette....

I'd love to hear more about Bette! Share...Share!

One of my favorite lines of hers is from Beyond the Forest. "EVERYTHING DELUXE!"

Sue Sue

Some of those short subjects are gone forever I am afraid, but let me do some digging.
and I meant WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS for a Dana drunk movie, but I typed WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS....sorry.

Robert knew Bette well and told me a great story about visiting Paris with her once.

She made the driver of the taxi/limo stop on the way to the hotel since she saw that THE WHALES OF AUGUST was playing.
She had the projectionist STOP the movie!!! and had him bring up the house lights. She went to the front of the theater and spoke FRENCH and said hello and thank you and as she was leaving the startled audience was up and all reaching to touch her.
They get to the hotel and he takes her to her suite and goes to his room to rest and by the time he gets back to her suite, she - and her assistant have moved all of the furnishings and paintings around to suit her. WOW!!!!

Talk about restless energy!