Favorite Films (lists up to participating site members)

[Mayerling]

Ok, I have a new favorite film to add to my list now... I saw it last night for the 1st time ( and had never even heard of it before then) and it's called

Rhubarb- the Millionaire Cat

Starring Ray Milland and Jan Sterling from 1951...adorable film where an eccentric millionaire falls in love with this wild cat, takes him in, and when he dies leaves all his money and his Baseball team to the cat ...maybe I was just up too late and was punchy, or maybe the fact that Rhubarb looks a lot like my beloved cat ( Sgt. Pepper) but I loved this movie!!

anyone else seen this classic?

Steadmund Brand

Hi Steadmund,

I saw part of "Rhubarb" once. It was based on a story by humorist H. Allan White. Oddly enough it is one of two baseball comedies that starred Ray Milland - an odd choice as he being from Britain he would not have been the actor I would have first thought of for any films about baseball (someone like William Bendix - who did play "Babe Ruth" in a fictionalized biography - of Paul Douglas - who was in the original "Angels in the Outfield", as a team's manager - would have seemed better for such roles*. The other Milland film was "It Happens Every Spring" where he is a chemistry professor at a college who invents a liquid compound that when put on wood repels anything - and soon he is hitting .400 and above when he joins a baseball team. One critic, taking a justifiably dim view of this activity, said there is a simpler solvent that one can add to wood that does this: it's called "spit".

*Bendix was in a very funny comedy about baseball called, "Kill the Unpire", where (as a very noisy game spectator) he is forced to become an umpire as punishment for his belaboring these poor figures. It has one of my favorite scenes, where Bendix (in an attempt to avoid this situation) goes to some team owner and manager wearing bottlecap style eyeglasses, and stumbling all over the place suggesting he's the last person in the world one hires for such a job (it doesn't work!).

Jeff

[Mayerling]

Wow bet that cat lived high on the sardine

G'day GUT,

Bet the only ball he ever played with was made of yarn!

Jeff

[Paddy Goose]

Don't Look Now

Was scary

[John Wheat]

My Top Five Gore Films are as follows:

The Wizard of Gore
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Murder Set Pieces
The Collection
Bad Biology

[DJA]

Jack Benny fan..Some of his radio stuff i dig, and the TV show was ok.. the only film of his i really liked was Buck Benny Rides Again (god knows why.. but it makes me laugh) ...

Steadmund Brand

One of his TV Specials "The Slowest Gun in the West" is worth a peek on YouTube.

Phil Silvers,Jack Elam....

[Steadmund Brand]

One of his TV Specials "The Slowest Gun in the West" is worth a peek on YouTube.

Phil Silvers,Jack Elam....

I have actually seen this.. I am a big fan of Phil Silvers!! and you are right this is fun

Steadmund Brand

[GUT]

I have actually seen this.. I am a big fan of Phil Silvers!! and you are right this is fun

Steadmund Brand

Anything with Phil Silvers is fun.

[Mayerling]

I have actually seen this.. I am a big fan of Phil Silvers!! and you are right this is fun

Steadmund Brand

It was rather amusing and dates back to the early 1960s. Silvers has become the sheriff of a town in the west and uses his "psychological" (for want of a better description) approach to beat the desperados (one, about to die after a shoot out with other desperados, looks at his two colts, and calls them "My teddy bears!!!"). Silvers' foes hire Benny, considered the worse gunfighter around (he rarely wins) to confront Silvers because the latter is afraid of fighting - but the story ends with both men facing each other (apparently endlessly) calling for the other to draw his gun, and neither doing so.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

Phil Silvers is one of my favorite autographs in my collection.. yes I am one of the autograph nerds!! I think I spent too many years collecting this stuff... I need a bigger apartment haha

any other collectors? if so what are some of your favorites?


Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Phil Silvers is one of my favorite autographs in my collection.. yes I am one of the autograph nerds!! I think I spent too many years collecting this stuff... I need a bigger apartment haha

any other collectors? if so what are some of your favorites?


Steadmund Brand

Hi Steadmund,

I confess to being one myself - running from autographed books to letters, and by all types. One of my prize ones is a note, from his Maida Vale apartment address (dated 1937) by George Arliss. It's fun to collect people few others collect.

Recently I got a signed photo of Linda Darnell.

Not all of the people I purchase autographs of are actors or actresses. I have politicians too, and some writers. Among the politicians I got were Charles Evans Hughes and Wendell Wilkie (I tend to get Presidential hopefuls who never made it). I have an eye for odd items - one of the oddest is a letter from a Mr. Adee, one of the Assistant Secretaries of State in 1901, to a Spanish gentleman in New York City, in response to the letter that man wrote hoping for the President's speedy recovery. The letter, dated in September 1901, was regarding (in Mr. Adee's phrasing) the ATTEMPTED assassination of President McKinley in Buffalo. It was sent about four days before McKinley died.

I have made inquiries about bad guys (passing such political figures as Nixon, for example, but stressing convicted criminals). I learned John Wilkes Booth is difficult to find examples of his signature on the market - it seems that after Lincoln's murder to be known to have been intimate with Booth was not a smart thing, and Booth's acquaintances tended to destroy correspondents they had with the actor/assassin.

Naturally I have never found an autograph from "Jack".

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

Nice, sounds like you have a great collection as well... I try to think of my favorite items... it's hard to say... I am really proud of my Ernie Kovacs, because it's not easy to find one... I have some great Boxing ones as well.. big shock to anyone who has read my posts hahah....My favorite signed book I have is a Bio of Houdini written by the Amazing Randi and Bert Randolph Sugar signed by both ( Bert was a great friend of mine and I miss him terribly..I don;t care what any commercial says, Bert was the "Most Interesting Man In The World"... seriously anyone who ever spent more then 2minutes with him would say the same thing... and I was lucky enough to call him a friend!!!)... I have a nice Boston Blackie display with Dick Kollmar and Chester Morris (the radio and movie Blackie... looking for a nice Kent Taylor the TV Blackie to add to it) problem is i keep getting stuff and have no room for it... so much of my collection is in storage it's sad..


Steadmund Brand

[Mayerling]

Nice, sounds like you have a great collection as well... I try to think of my favorite items... it's hard to say... I am really proud of my Ernie Kovacs, because it's not easy to find one... I have some great Boxing ones as well.. big shock to anyone who has read my posts hahah....My favorite signed book I have is a Bio of Houdini written by the Amazing Randi and Bert Randolph Sugar signed by both ( Bert was a great friend of mine and I miss him terribly..I don;t care what any commercial says, Bert was the "Most Interesting Man In The World"... seriously anyone who ever spent more then 2minutes with him would say the same thing... and I was lucky enough to call him a friend!!!)... I have a nice Boston Blackie display with Dick Kollmar and Chester Morris (the radio and movie Blackie... looking for a nice Kent Taylor the TV Blackie to add to it) problem is i keep getting stuff and have no room for it... so much of my collection is in storage it's sad..

Steadmund Brand

I know the feeling. My house is just too full of books I bought and said I'd read, but never did. Sometimes I do finally get around to reading them, and then get rid of them. I keep my autographs in several drawers but I really only started the habit four years back. My prize signed books include one by President Carter from April a year ago (his book signing was very business like, as he sat at a desk, was handed a book for his signature, and then said "Good morning". Next book, please.). Lesser celebrities, like actress Diane Keaton, you can actually talk to a bit. I have several signed by Jonathan Goodman, but those were gifts. One has a dedication to my mother in it! I'll have to go through the listing I began to put together to see what special autographs I do have.

Jeff

[GUT]

I know the feeling. My house is just too full of books I bought and said I'd read, but never did. Sometimes I do finally get around to reading them, and then get rid of them. I keep my autographs in several drawers but I really only started the habit four years back. My prize signed books include one by President Carter from April a year ago (his book signing was very business like, as he sat at a desk, was handed a book for his signature, and then said "Good morning". Next book, please.). Lesser celebrities, like actress Diane Keaton, you can actually talk to a bit. I have several signed by Jonathan Goodman, but those were gifts. One has a dedication to my mother in it! I'll have to go through the listing I began to put together to see what special autographs I do have.

Jeff

What's the link between your mum and Goodman?

If you don't mind me asking.

[Mayerling]

What's the link between your mum and Goodman?

If you don't mind me asking.

G'Day GUT,

I don't mind you asking. Jonathan Goodman was a literary mentor and close friend of mine. He helped me get some writing published. In fact, the last work of mine published in "The Ripperologist" (aside from a book review) was Jon's obituary in 2008. When he was in New York City he visited me and my mother on several occasions, and they became friends. His book, "The Supernatural Murders" is dedicated to her as "the 'weird lady'". She is also mentioned with me in his last book "Tracks to Murder", because his transcontinental rail trip at the basis for that book begins in NYC and his contact with us.

Jeff

[Steadmund Brand]

I just saw that Oct 15th of this year Flicker Alley will be releasing the 1916 Sherlock Holmes ( with William Gillette) on DVD and blu ray fully restored and with some great bonus material added.....Flicker Alley has done some great restorations in the past so this should be quite good... remember this film was considered to be a LOST silent film until a print was found last year.. and William Gillette was world famous for his portrayal of Holmes on stage... so we at last get to see his take on Sherlock....I think this is an amazing find

the price is a bit steep for pre-order of $34.99 ( On Amazon.com)but this is a 2 disc collection and well, these films are always a bit more expensive, what with the limited audience for them, and the cost it takes to restore these old films, I don't feel bad paying a bit more..

just thought I would share this with all you film fans!!


Steadmund Brand