WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

I'm glad to hear your celebrations were happy, fer. I'm excited to see some Loretta Young films this month that I have not been able to catch before.

[MikeBSG]

Finally saw "The Artist" (2011), directed by Michel Hazanavicius, today.

I really liked it. The film really won me over from the first, with the hero's movie being shown in a 'dream palace.' Jean Dujardin exhibited real charm and likeability, while Berenice Bejo was simply enchanting. The montage of her rise, which ended with her embracing her 'fiancee' and winking at the camera, was simply adorable. The dog is perhaps the best dog in film since Asta.

I thought the film was more than just a rehash of "Singin' in the Rain" or "A Star is Born." It was funny, moving, and very enjoyable. While I might think "Hugo" was a bit better, I can live with "The Artist" getting Best Picture.

[charliechaplinfan]

I was dissappointed with Hugo, I could see the artistry and the appeal but it fell flat with me, I love The Artist, utter perfection for me.

[RedRiver]

Has anybody seen the DICK VAN DYKE where they do a show in a prison? Don Rickles is the guest star. "Warden, there's trouble in Block 3. Burt Lancaster has taken Hume Cronyn hostage!" I had forgotten he said that. Seeing it years ago, I probably wasn't familiar with BRUTE FORCE. Didn't get the joke!

[moira finnie]

Has anybody seen the DICK VAN DYKE where they do a show in a prison? Don Rickles is the guest star. "Warden, there's trouble in Block 3. Burt Lancaster has taken Hume Cronyn hostage!" I had forgotten he said that. Seeing it years ago, I probably wasn't familiar with BRUTE FORCE. Didn't get the joke!

"...and they want Pat O'Brien back as warden!" I missed that episode on Me-TV. Just as I started to get intrigued by the "new-to-me" Remington Steele's glossy '80s vibe (and those bizarre clothes and hair...did I really wear those styles? Yes!) they switched to two shows I never liked--even as a kid--at the start of the evening. I can't get used to the new lineup, but I should have recorded this Dick Van Dyke show that was on around here at 10:30pm. I love the Brute Force reference...and any program that also features Robert "The Animal" Strauss as an inmate and Ken Lynch as the head screw has my respect. For others like me who missed this, the episode "The Alan Brady Show Goes to Jail" can be seen here:

[JackFavell]

I was so excited to get Me TV finally at Christmas (thanks to a new television that carries in between numbered channels). But whenever I turn it on, Emergency! is the only show I ever see!

[moira finnie]

I was so excited to get Me TV finally at Christmas (thanks to a new television that carries in between numbered channels). But whenever I turn it on, Emergency! is the only show I ever see

Oh, great, Wen. Once you get the hang of recording them perhaps you will now have a chance to see The Fugitive and Naked City on a weekly basis too!! (Those two noir-tinged programs are on at midnight and one early Mondays). Which reminds me--Route 66 is on at 3am early Mondays too, right after Peter Gunn gets through being cool. I hope you get to see some of those eventually.

I find Emergency!--another show I never saw before--sort of odd in its "Jack Webbiness," with a minimum of characterization, episodic events and bland leading men--though they are extravagantly over-the-top compared to Dragnet and the patrolmen of Adam-12....I know that there are many people who became EMTs and firemen because of Emergency!, so maybe it was geared toward impressionable little kids with short attention spans (or maybe Jack Webb ran out of ideas about plots once he came up with situations).

[JackFavell]

Thanks Moira! Oh man, all the middle of the night shows are the ones I want to see! If they would add Mr. Lucky, Dobie Gillis and The Millionaire, my life would be complete. I'll have to check out the new schedule to see when to record.

[JackFavell]

Hey, I found Dobie Gillis! 3 AM Sunday night. Of course.

[JackFavell]

Oops, I found Mr. Lucky too! Seems that the late night Sunday lineup is for me. Now for a write in campaign to get them to show The Millionaire.

[RedRiver]

they switched to two shows I never liked

That would be BEWITCHED and JEANNIE, right Moira? I was never big on those either. I have been watching this week. I've known several people to recommend BEWITCHED, people whose tastes are similar to mine. It's OK. Not something I'll make a habit of. You see some good acting, though. Agnes Moorehead goes without saying. She's exceptional as the ultimate mother-in-law. I'm also impressed with Larry Hagman on JEANNIE. He's a natural in the "say it with your eyes" world of the sitcom foil.

3 AM Sunday night. Of course.

The best stuff is always in the middle of the night. Even my dog doesn't get up that early!

[JackFavell]

Mine either, Red! That's about the time we can be sure she's finally sleeping.

[moira finnie]

Oops, I found Mr. Lucky too! Seems that the late night Sunday lineup is for me. Now for a write in campaign to get them to show The Millionaire.

When is Mr. Lucky on???

That would be BEWITCHED and JEANNIE, right Moira?

Guilty as charged. One reason I can't enjoy Bewitched is because it vexes me to see Agnes Moorehead pulling a junk wago-- earning her money the hard way and not using her great talent as it should have been--but at least she made some good long green (I hear).

I Dream of Jeannie came along at a time when television was "an insult to our intelligence" and was not allowed to be viewed in our house. Not because it was so edgy, but rather because one of my father's best friends in prep school was the son of a once famous actress, Margaret Hayden Rorke. Mrs. Rorke later became an influential color designer and consultant whose pioneering work laid the ground for the kind of things that Pantone does today in fashion and design.

Above: Margaret Hayden Rorke in later years.

I don't know what happened to the senior Mr. Rorke, but Mrs. Rorke sent her son to Brooklyn Prep (a Jesuit high school with a great reputation academically) and there he met and befriended a scholarly, curly-haired red head who commuted from Long Island everyday. Due to his inability to blend in and his being a commuter, Dad was consequently labeled a "hick" by many of his classmates and a "mick" or "harp" by the worldly denizens of Brooklyn whom he would have to fight to and from the train station every day. Fortunately, the kindness and sophistication of young Rorke swept my future father along and helped him become more outgoing. Rorke was interested in a broader range of academic and social activities than any friend Dad had ever known. I believe that his friendship helped a shy kid feel as though he might have something worthwhile to contribute to the world.

Eventually, Dad got Bill Rorke (as Hayden was then known to one and all) to play sports and to learn his Greek and Latin as well as quite a bit of German, which they practiced on the streets of Williamsburg among the many Germanic immigrants. My pop eventually saw Bill share the stage with his mother in Shakespeare and appear with the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Fritz Leiber, Shirley Booth, and Laura Hope Crews when those names and "the theatre" meant something special. They stayed in touch and my parents went out to dinner with Mr. R. when they were all in the same town, but it chagrined Dad to see him in this dismal sitcom. And, yes--my straight arrow father did, as he quaintly put it, realize that Bill was "light in the loafers" but didn't care a bit. He was a nice guy, had played baseball on the Brooklyn Prep team, and had expanded Dad's appreciation of life through his generosity and that of his talented mother, who also took a shine to Dad. I now understand that it made Dad feel rather sad to see his former school mate in such drivel as Jeannie, though I know lots of people love this stuff. Maybe I would feel the same way if I didn't know Mr. Rorke's background.

Aren't you glad you asked? Ha!

BTW, it's always fun to spot Hayden Rorke as a mouthpiece, doctor, banker or family friend in old movies such as Magnificent Obsession and tv shows--especially when he plays a shady character.

[JackFavell]

According to the site schedule, it's supposed to be on at 2:30 AM on Sunday night, right in between Peter Gunn and Route 66. However, there is a disclaimer if you go look up the SHOW on the site, saying that it might be on only in some areas.