learningwithmrsmith Reviews

The Truth About Youth (1930)

Loretta Loves Dick

[3/10 · 17 July 2022]

This is a film awash in dramatic irony. There are so many details that the characters don't know but we see clearly. If it were only more interesting...

OMG, Loretta Young is a vision. I try not to get too carried away by the looks of any particular starlet, but this one is simply gifted on the visual sense. Her doe eyes makes a perfect distraction from the awkward exposition at the outset.

The only way this plot works is if Phyl is a total moron. The clues that the imp has lost interest are very clear. I'm not sure Loretta Young could play an idiot if she tried.

Loretta gets pretty flirty with her father figure, "Can't you respect me a little less?" Then she puts her arm around his shoulder while sitting on the arm of his chair. Dick and the audience are confused.

What do these young ladies see in this wealthy older man. Dick is called "Baby darling, big boy, and daddy." Oh yeah....he's mega rich.

ODDS AND ENDS

The phone booths have standard doors like a bedroom.

Phyl, "Where will we go on our honeymoon?" The imp, "Oh anyplace." Phyl, "Oh that'll be nice." (take a hint lady!)

Dick ask the old men about the imp's slutty interest, "Is she a...a..." "Yes, quite notorious." How are these old guys up on the gossip?

Firefly to Phyl, "You have a couple of dangerous curves yourself." One gold digger to another.

SMOKING RITUAL

We open with three men on a dark porch each enjoying a smoke, a perfect symbol of post-meal bonding.

The imp intently smokes as he gets interrogated by the old men about the firefly.

The firefly prefers Russian cigarettes. I wonder if those were banned at some point. We don't see her light up, but they are used to get the imp to see her pile of bills.

Why Be Good? (1929)

My Favorite Silent Musical

[7/10 · 15 July 2022]

"Why be good?" A question with which toddlers have struggled for ages. Maybe more like "Does it pay to appear to be bad."

Here's pert Coleen Moore playing Pert in an interesting relic. The quality of the image, the rolling crowds, the frenetic dancing, the spot-on jazz score are all exceptional. The dialogue (as I read it) is snappy and irreverent. Here we have one extremely lively silent where our toddlers are hyped up spoiled thirty-ish metropolitans.

Pert meets a man she calls Greasy. She points to him as he sits next to her and says to her neighbor on the other side, "Extract of aromas." The bad guy (Greasy) is tremendously sleazy. He has the hairline of Nixon and a partial mustache, and sideburns that point to the bridge of his crooked nose. He won't stop his open mouthed gum chomping for anything. Later Pert is chewing gum, one can only hope it is not the same piece.

With Pert, you're hitting a triple and staying on third. She claims she is "Too hot for this old folks home," but I'm not so sure. A person can be pretty convincing when they pretend enough.

ODDS AND ENDS

The family business employs 200 men and 1000 girls! How big is this store? This means there are five girls for every man. This is a problematic ratio.

It might be the make-up but this Pert appears to have an extraordinarily tiny mouth.

What is she doing with those bracelets? (12:42) I can't really describe it on a family website.

He rubs his hands together when she asks for a ride home. I have yet to see this gesture anywhere but in these old movies.

The mannequin's face seems very "champaign at the polo club" to me. (35:10)

SMOKING RITUAL

As soon as dad enters the party we see a dancing lady holding her cigarette in the left hand she gently rests on her partner's shoulder.

Neil Hamilton is an uninspired smoker. I'm not sure whether or not that's an insult. When he's waiting in his car he takes a puff with a sort of overhand grip with his palm down. This particular move is seen more in films from the 60s.

When dad lectures son about the dangers of broadmindedness the old man is gripping an unlit half smoked cigar. I think he places it somewhere on the dresser. Are those elevated ashtrays?

New Morals for Old (1932)

Say, Would You Get Your Lips Off Your Sister

[3/10 · 10 July 2022]

The title promises some norm bashing culture shift, but it seems the new morals are indistinguishable from the old. Will this generation be the first to NOT become their parents?

Robert Young comes across as a whimpering, squeaky voiced, na'er-do-well. Margaret Perry is the playful coquette sister in the expensive flattering clothes. They are both sleeping past the crack of noon and, get this, "going about."

This brother and sister show a great deal of physical attention to one another. They hug, dance, kiss and caress more than any of the romantic couples. Some of the kisses are full on the mouth. For these people "like you kiss your sister" has a whole new meaning.

ODDS AND ENDS

The party hosts explains a painting she'd overpaid for, "He didn't paint the goat, he painted the bleat."

Duff Wilson says "Can't we go someplace else?" Then he and Phyl move two feet to the left and kiss again.

Not sure where the down-low couple are staying. When the neighbor from the flat next door apologizes for the noise from the night before due to "a couple of out-of-town buyers" it seems that they're not in the best part of town. This neighbor offers Phyl a money making opportunity with some other Johns, uhhh friends (nothing new about those morals).

A bathtub is described as having "more rings than a pawn brokers widow."

It is a poignant moment when Mom dines at her empty table with a ticking clock, 1933 empty nest.

The art teacher insults Ralph, "You are not the first to mistake the desire for the ability." Then cuts him down in a way similar to what happened to me when a teacher called me a natural illustrator. Like Ralph, I can still quote the teacher's comment exactly.

The passage of time is shown with written panels. When Ralph goes to Paris it says "10 days later." Could this be how long it took for one to cross the Atlantic by ship?

SMOKING RITUAL

Here smoking is used to emphasize the sketchiness of a situation.

No smoking at all among the lead characters.

The siblings walk in to the swanky party where several women are seen puffing on their cigarillos. Women smoking is particularly edgy.

Two women puff heavily in the background when Young hits the buffet at the party.

Some smoking among the students in the life drawing class in Paris. I wonder if they have the ability?

Star of Midnight (1935)

Q. Can I Use Your Dictograph?

[7/10 · 27 June 2022]

RANDOM NOTES

Here Powell shows what Nick Charles would be like if he were to move from the lower-upper class to the middle-upper class. The differences are subtle.

Not the best story but Rogers and Powell are both great. The sets, the lighting, and the camera work are all wonderful. Watch when Powell sees the woman in the mirror, just one awesome image after another.

Loved it when the woman with a bucket knocks on the door, sees Powell and says only, "garbage" with hardly a hint that this is meant as a question.

How much do you tip the guy who brings the message penciled on a little piece of paper. He hands this thing to Powell and stands waiting for his tip.

Interesting wipe transitions when he gathers the suspects over the phone. I love it when they use modern technology, the editing technique and the phone,

Powell cradles the head of an injured man and calls out to his man servant. "Some brandy, Swaim." Guy dies. "Never mind, Swaim." If only Swaim could move a little faster.

Powell pronounces Rogers to be "Free, white, and 21." I take this to mean she is able to make her own choices in life. Obviously all three boxes must be checked. This phrase is the perfect example of systemic racism. The racism is so engrained that a top star justifies it as part of his witty Rom/Com banter.

I guess there were no donut shops around, so a cop has it out for the guy who sold him his defective arch supports. Hwah, hwah, hwah.

A. Use a pencil like everybody else.

SMOKING RITUAL

Powell steps to the bar with his nice cigarette case in hand and taps his ciggy longwise on the same end he lights. This is a custom that would adjust to the other, in the mouth, end when filtered cigarette came along. Watching Powell do this with the non-filtered cig made me feel a little unbalanced.

So...I little review (feel free to correct me): Pre-lit filtered cigarettes are tapped on the filter end. Pre-lit non-filtered cigarettes are tapped on the end you will light. My father told me that this tapping made the cig "burn more evenly."

In this scene a cloud of smoke pours out of Powell straight at Rogers' face but makes a mid-air turn to quickly escape toward the bottom left of the screen.

I thought we were going to see Rogers shuffle the cards with cig in place, but Powell takes over. Rare moment when she smokes but not him.

We miss all the lighting at the restaurant, but we get a good look at that case. I suspect it was supposed to make him seem upper class. I wonder how many cigarette cases were sold last year, and in 1935?

Fast Company (1938)

Anyone Want a Date With My Husband?

[5/10 · 23 June 2022]

Some short notes and then to the smoking issues upon which I can't help but focus.

The "Thin Man" comparisons are obviously valid. This couple seems too cute as compared to Nick and Nora, who tip toe along a line these two cross regularly. At times they're more like smitten 13-year-olds than the urban adults they proclaim to be.

Another cultural oddity seen in this film, and many others from this era, Is the strange platonically open marriage concept. In the films of the 1930s spouses in modern urban marriages seem cool with their special one going on dates with other potential suitors. A husband might find another fellow to keep company with his wife while he's away. I can't imagine one of my married friends today suggesting I take his wife out so she won't get bored while he's on his sales trip to Poughkeepsie.

SMOKING RITUAL

We have some interesting smoking from the guys in this one. Don't remember seeing any of the females lighting up (good girls?).

Sloan gives Morgan a cigarette and then lights it for him in a tender but masculine moment in what appears to be a well furnished lobby of a movie theater. Then he holds the match while the dialogue progresses. When he wants his own smoke, he just flings the now cold match down to the floor between his feet. They continue talking as he lights up his own and all I can think of is "Aren't you going to pick up that match?"

The great Louis Calhern has the best smoking moment when he enters a room, lit ciggy in mouth. He transfers the cig from mouth to left hand and then from left to right hand so smoothy you hardly notice. He has this graceful grip on the cigarette between the middle digits of his first two fingers where his fingers are staggered like a spiral staircase. Then he gets indignant and punches Dwight Fry with a short left upper cut and eventually pores from a pitcher with that right hand, all this with that cigarette still i gently smoldering in his right hand. This man was a dedicated smoker, right up to his fatal heart attack at 61.

Stage Struck (1948)

We Expect Our Girls to be Nice to Customers

[4/10 · 9 June 2022]

This is a film about what you don't see and what they don't say. When one girl claims Nick is going to introduce her to theatrical producers another girl says "So that's what he calls them."

When the cops come to the club unannounced they're swarmed with 4 young ladies all anxious to get to know these total strangers. When the cops make it clear they are not interested in this bevy of beauties, the girls all slink away looking of greener pastures.

The word "talent" is used like a code, maybe for sexual availability: "He said I have a lot of talent," "They're looking for new talent," "that girl didn't have any talent."

I'm not sure what the latin guy is planning but it requires a truckload of friendly young females. We're just left to imaging this orgy.

I'm wouldn't call what's going on here sex trafficking. These women seem free to leave if they want. They don't have a lot of optional occupations in mind. Make a note, if you're a hot girl with no plan B, someone sleazy will have a suggestion.

SMOKING RITUAL

At times, Conrad Nagel is engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke. Imagine how he must have smelled.

Watch the conversation at the bar between the new recruit ("He's going to give me the lead part") as the seasoned escort handles a 4 inch cigarette holder. This trashy/classy accessory is one I've seen only in the movies.

Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)

CLEE-on-TEL Lolligags with Stenographer

[8/10 · 9 June 2022]

This is a very nice historical relic.

I love the big ritzy hotel. At the outset the GM is taking roll by calling out job titles, obsolete they may be. "Elevator Boys" Because this was a time when we needed such a profession. Elevators did seem more precarious in the 1930s. "Telephone Operators" this was local to the hotel and not the official Telephone Operators at the phone company.

It seems this whole scene with the hotel staff is a comment on tipping out. This is when part of the tips you earn are given up to another worker. I'm not sure if Berkeley is just anti-tipping out or anti-pressure tactics from management. There's some point being made but it's not so clear to me.

Running through the whole movie is the theme of dividing up the spoils (the nature of a golddigger). If these parts are meant to be funny, they're way overdone. I wonder what mid-depression audiences felt about this soap opera about silly rich people .

ODDDS AND ENDS

Tightwad Mother is keen on her investments paying 3.5%, six years after the crash.

When the mom refers to all those new people scattered about with their good name, she's officially referring to Junior's ex-wives and not his fun babies. They fooled me at first (didn't they pull me in that direction?).

The great Glenda Farrell is underused but, she gets the strangest dress in the film award. Look at that wild white collar job. It looks like her head is in the middle of a huge edible taco salad bowl. Competition was stiff, see the taco collars on those ladies at beginning and end of the dancing pianos number.

At 50:20 there's a sliver of spit between our young lovers when they back away after (apparently) swapping spit. When you're kissing right this is natural but not in any other movie kiss that I've noticed.

Ann is a kitten in heat and the only tom around is Mosely until she gets a free pass when Mom pimps her out to spats-wearin Dick Powell.

Powell escorts her on one of those money's no object shopping sprees, but this one is limited to the basement of this hotel.

A lot of fractional math in here. I wonder if the writers thought the audience would follow along or if their eyes would glaze at all fraction references.

Ann says, "Ive never been sung to like that before." No kiddin lady. You pretty much have to be under klieg lights wearing heavy make-up for that to happen.

All her neighbors seem quite pleased to see Winnie the party girl dragging in at (what?) 6 am? They're all smiling and patting her on the back.

I never knew that song was about staying out all night.

SMOKING RITUAL

It feels weird when Winnie finishes her big song, her disembodied head revolves so that we're now looking down at her face rom her headboard and she places an unlit cigarette in her mouth. This is the job-well-done cigarette.

Later, during this same song she compression taps a ciggy on the bannister. She then steals a light from the guy in the white bowler. They had to make the brunette the smoking harlot..

Not a great movie but I found it exceedingly watchable.

Night Nurse (1931)

Somebody get this guy a tub of milk.

[8/10 · 3 June 2022]

I'm with those who focus on the whole "Try the milk bath" trope. I gotta dive into the milk bottle now, then make some random points about the other 90% of this well made movie.

Why do they discount the old lady's advice? These nurses make some pretty authority stretching moves, but they draw the line at dunking a kid into some 4% whole. The old lady is so sincere and persistent. The best argument is a question "What can it hurt?"

Then they send the Princeton dufus to get enough milk to fill the child size tub. This guy has to ask where you could go to find milk. They answer politely (and not as if they thought the Princeton dufus was a moron for not knowing where to buy milk). Turns out, cow milk consumption was most likely not a part of these 1931 Hollywood screen writers' background. Cow milk consumption in the US started in the late 1800s and was still growing in popularity in the 1930s.

Then, when they finally start the milk bathing process we go all training film editing as they heat the milk and fill the container so the sick girl gets an extended soaking. They show us someone slopping all this milk into a sink. We linger as it circle the drain.

Maybe the oddest part of the milk bath story is the old lady's holistic method is not actually discredited. When the real doctor gets there he recommends a blood transfusion. The child had just got the milk out of her hair. We can't determine which treatment brought on the result, blood transfusion or tub of milk. Its a clever way of satisfying the science believers and those who favor more magical thinking.

RANDOM NOTES:

By the way, would you rather (a) soak in a tub of milk or (b) get a blood transfusion?

I wonder if Berkeley's milk bathing obsession caused him any IRL problems?

Everyone is right - Stanwyck is great. This is a 20-something woman who shows a rare confidence. She is underrated and highly rated at the same time.

The acting is good. It's much easier to find bad acting in the top level films of today. You didn't have to fit into a set archetype back in the thirties and you see much more interesting faces because they were chosen for their acting skills (that's my unfounded opinion).

Gable's Chauffeur suit was somehow so black it was a total void of a silhouette. This is a nothingness kind of look that you won't see in color films. The suit's design seemed clownish, it sure put him in a bad mood. OK, I'm not a Gable fan, but he was well cast here. Were his ears taped back here?

Has the tub clabbered yet?

Boulder Dam (1936)

A Buffet of Bodacious Banter

[5/10 · 7 May 2022]

This mid-depression era film shows the hardscrabble nature of the 1930s. I felt the dirt in my own teeth while watching these dust caked characters struggle through life.

Ross Alexander is at home as the wisecracking jerk. My only complaint about his performance involves how believable he is as a changed man with that same dill-weed pompous twit showing through. Both Ann and Rusty Joe are attractive and believable, even when Joe starts making like Spiderman...I'm buying it.

The best part of this film is the depression era banter. There are several references I can't explain. I see film dialogue and music lyrics as lagging indicators of language in culture. The thirties and forties were replete with what was then hip, lingo. Here are my favorites from this film.

Top ten gaudy banter from "Boulder Dam":

10. Rusty- I got yellow and pulled a sneak.

9. Rusty- (to his boss) Wasamatter sweetheart, did I forget to kiss you goodbye?

8. Rusty- Don't forget, it's the old mezuma you're working for. (money?)

7. Ann- I'm liable to put some wrinkles in that pan of yours.

6. Lacy- If you don't I'll tip my mitt and send you over the road. (squeal?)

5. Rusty- Listen sister, put it on the cuff will ya and I'll pay ya when and if. (there's an interesting fill-in-the-blank)

4. Rusty- I had dames figured out the same way as I had booze, they were great when the laughs were going on, they were a headache the next day.

3. Pete- Every time that geek rolled over last night, he sandpapered my neck with his chin. (score one for the kindergartener)

2. Rusty- Thanks for the flop and the grub, I'll put it down on the books. (I love this line, Ann had to go some to beat it)

1. Ann- Butter yourself with embarrassment and forget it. (I'm determined to work this one into my own conversations)

Smoking ritual:

Two smoking references are worth mentioning. When Lacy sees Joe smoking next to his gas truck, he says, "In a hurry?" an odd reference the flammable possibilities. Later, when Ann and Joe are imagining their perfect dream home, Joe visualizes "lots of ashtrays."

The Bob Newhart Show: Death of a Fruitman (1975) Season 4, Episode 3

Keeping unbalanced people off balance

[10/10 · 20 April 2022]

Truly a great episode. This is why this show still works so well.

The 4-author poem where each Client brings a different line is pulled off beautifully. This complex story is woven through an idea heavy episode. The first fifteen minutes runs through this poem gag while more thoughtful concepts bubble up along the edges. We uncover the difference in Emily and Bob's attitude toward death. Bob seems to come from a family of stoics and Emily thinks they should celebrate the passing of this unlikeable character. And Bob struggles with knowing how angry he was with the departed character the last time they spoke. This leads to Jerry's over-hugging. All this adds up to an interesting blend of comedy and philosophy.

Wanted to point out a couple of art pieces in the Hartley's remodeled but still cool apartment. First is the still-life on the wall to the right as one would enter the apartment. The composition is outstanding. The striking yellow and dark blue painting is the best thing I've seen on the Hartley's wall yet. The second piece is the large square drawing on the wall between the kitchen and den. The lack of contrast is bothersome but I want to see more of it.

This Land Is Mine (1943)

"Let's All Sing!": Nazi Occupied Europe

[9/10 · 9 April 2022]

Quite a complex vignette to start this one. Quick cuts to reinforce the position with which the audience already agrees. My favorite segment was the "KEEP OUT" sign on the wall behind the crawling soldier statue atop the WWI memorial as the nazis march through the streets. Can it get any clearer?

George Sanders (as George Lambert) does very well with the most challenging role I have ever seen him in. He manages to make the argument for going along with the invading nazis. Seems odd now but takeovers of countries can not work without a substantial amount of compliance with the locals (who's driving the busses?)

SMOKING RITUAL

Von Keller gets distracted holding an unlit cigarette requiring George to strike three matches and let all of them burn down close to his fingers each time.

Albert's Mom can't stand the smell of tobacco in the house. She mentions this after Al returns from his dinner with O'Hara. Has the hot neighbor got her baby on tobacco after one dinner?

He says he only took one puff and didn't like it...this tends to reinforce his wimp reputation. Later he has another cigarette in his mouth when he admits, "it's my second one."

ODDS/ENDS

Listen for the low volume mob moaning when the publisher/saboteurs are loaded in the paddy wagon. Something disturbing in that sound.

Nice, low-angle interiors showing ceilings. Low angle with ceiling slightly darker than the walls during the dinner with neighbor babe. There's a different ceiling when Albert's mom bangs on it with her cane to summon her son.

There's a little anti-establishment vibe here toward the pre-nazi power structure. The Mayor comes off poorly and Alfred's Mom wasn't too surprised. Who knows what's going on at the Mayor's house?

The glass near the door at George's office breaks in the candy cane shape of the old lady's walking stick when she assaults the attendant (got to love the comic pummeling). This can't possibly be real glass, looked to have the density of peanut brittle.

The promotional poster for this film has Maureen O'Hara all over it, but she was not that much of the plot. I'd say there were three characters who were more integral to the story. However, she looks good in the poster and the film.

A Free Soul (1931)

Washing His Filthy Mark From Our Souls

[8/10 · 4 April 2022]

This is a complicated film that is partly about extra-marital coitus when such a thing was considered extremely shameful.

Norma Shearer has an alcoholic father and a gangster boyfriend and no control of either situation. Barrymore (father) has deep seated disdain for Gable (boyfriend). When Gable tells him he's interested in marrying his daughter, Barrymore says,"The only thing I hate about democracy is when one of you mongrels forget where you belong." Geeze, you just defended the guy.

The hopelessly drunk father confronts his daughter who has "been" with Gable and it is the daughter who is ashamed. I guess because her vice is a newer development. Is it possible that there were more drunks around in 1933 than willing and available women? Talk about a depression. Later, Gable tries to manipulate Shearer by threatening to reveal their cohabitating past.

SMOKING RITUAL:

There's a turning point at 1:02 when Gable forgets to light her cigarette. My favorite Lit professor at UT Arlington would call this the inciting moment. You see in this instant this slight means she no longer has the same hold on her man. She flops onto the couch like a pitcher hitting the bench after a 5-run first inning. This is how strong the failure to offer her a light, when he was lighting his own, is seen in her eyes. She might as well be the laundry lady. Gable, however, carries on as if everything is copasetic.

While reflecting on her alcoholic father's mortality she dreamily says, "said he, and suddenly the moonbeams turned to worms and crawled away." She delivers this existential line while staring at an inch long cylinder of ash on her burning and neglected cigarette. Foreshadowed is the isolated neglect her aging, drunken father faces.

ODDS AND ENDS:

There's a recognizable character actor who stuttered through a whole career providing comic relief DURING a drive by shooting.

They must have spent so much on Norma Shearer's sexy gowns, they couldn't afford her underwear. It's all very revealing. All her contours are proudly displayed while maintaining the thinnest of coverings.

One of Gables minions (slouch) explains an attempted murder with a blistering string of 1933 hep talk that ends with something about "typewriters" and "ukuleles" (I'm thinking firearm references?).

One week into their three month camping trip, Dad is seen sleeping with a cigarette in his mouth (howzat?). Later, he apparently jumps a freight train that is going full speed. Impressive for a guy who hasn't been walking so well for the whole film.

Barrymore tells James Gleason, "Give this problem a thought, Mr. Einstein." Already, in 1933 the name Einstein is a stand in for brainy problem solver.

Finally, I don't get Gable. I do recognize his notable masculine handsomeness, but he's an actor who always sounds like he's acting. I never buy into his character. He bites off his lines like a detective in an old radio drama. When he says, "You're mine and I wancha" I wonder how this would sound if it weren't grunted out at top speed.

The Bob Newhart Show: A Pound of Flesh (1975) Season 3, Episode 19

It's Getting Edgy In This Sandbox

[6/10 · 2 April 2022]

Jerry puts an enormous amount of pressure on his best friend to loan him the $ for a new motorcycle. Then has a petulant snit when Hartley smartly says "no." Soon Bob is acting equally childish and normal Howard fits right in.

Bob's sideburns are starting to bother me. There was a time when upper middle class 70s men wore these 1850 style sideburns. There's a comeback resistant fashion.

I'm pretty sure the older lady playing Bob's childish patient is the same woman featured in the "Were's the beef?" commercials for Wendy's.

At one point Jerry rubs his hands together as he anticipates getting the $ from Bob. Does anyone actually rub their hands together thinking of collecting money? Isn't this melodrama stage business?

Lost in Space: There Were Giants in the Earth (1965) Season 1, Episode 4

Why's That Chimp Have Fred Flintstone's Hat?

[3/10 · 29 March 2022]

You got to wonder about voice recognition that can't distinguish between the real Dr. Smith and Will Robinson's weak impression. My friends at Central Elementary could do a better Dr. Smith than that kid.

When they're testing the forcefield there's an awkward moment when Mark fires his laser directly at the 3 Robinson children, counting on the forcefield to save them. He's "testing" the forcefield he and Pa Robinson just assembled. "testing" implies the possibility of failure. Oddly dangerous moment for the smiling cast. One thing Sci-Fi got wrong was this idea of advanced laser weapons. I guess there might be stuff I don't know in a hangar in New Mexico, but I don't think we got anything close to the laser rifle Mark uses.

Will, who is left in charge when the men leave, is seen drinking a cup of coffee. Later he saves the girls (and Dr. Smith) with a laser. Will talks to himself in a way that sounds like a narrator. All alone, he says to no one in particuliar, "boy, now I know how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt." It's starting to get all Will-centric in here.

Maureen's hair is an ever changing palette. She is on the vanguard of the adapted bee-hive look of the mid-60s. In fact everyone's hair is right in line with conservative America of 1965. Maureen's hair changes in the details but it generally has the shape of an over stuffed ottoman. It's odd how it doesn't occur to these people how a culture might have a different way of doing their hair in the future.

Why did they make the viewing machine so that you had to bend like a question mark to look into it?

We hear Dr. Smith say "Never fear and you'll find me here." This is getting closer to full blown catch phrase I identify with this character.

One of the more trippy details so far is that Penny gets to keep a space chimp as a pet. They've put a big hat on this animal that looks like the Water Buffalo Lodge hats Fred and Barney wore back in Bedrock. Penny names this creature "Debbie" - the quintessential name for the 1960s middle class American white girl.

Dangerous (1935)

Bette Emerges from the Boredom Soup

[3/10 · 27 March 2022]

Bored rich guy sees once acclaimed actress and describes her as down and out and ashamed. But, Bette Davis never looked better. She's seen walking, unsmiling with her big eyes straight ahead. She gets plenty of closeups during the more romantic moments that are boring but well lit. Later she borrows his clothes and leans back on a hay bail in a perfect pin up pose. She's a young babe at the very beginning of her peak fame.

Bette wakes up in the architect's house demanding a pre-breakfast cocktail finally looking as haggard as described in that opening scene. Watch the editing (around 19:00) on Bette''s master class on the cigarette ritual. As Tone drones on about how much he cares for her Bette says little, but we see how a heavy smoking starlet reacted to nicotine withdrawal fidgets. Scene 1: Bette sets down her drink and finds the cigarette box. Left hand removes the top and right hand goes in and out, poof cigarette between the index and middle. Scene 2: Cigarette transported to left hand and clutching a burning match with the right. Scene 3: The now lit cigarette is back in right hand as she takes a big drag and says "Well" on the exhale. She then keeps the cigarette in the proper 2-fingered smoker's grip while she picks up the glass and the bottle, stands up, gives the guy a sarcastic thank you and saunters away in a cancer causing cloud.

Unfortunately, Margaret Lindsay barely shows up. Her dog impression is too good (there's no way that sound came out of that woman's mouth). Says "You may kiss me" to end one conversation. She takes her dumping like a trouper in one of the most civilized "it's not you-it's me" scenes ever.

Tone is notable as Bette's benefactor/love interest because of his invisibility (Oh, excuse me, I didn't know you were still here). He disappears into the background on this one as he tends to do. His character doesn't build houses or homes. He builds estates. And he longs for "consistency of feelings." He claims he's no "Stage Door Johnny." Maybe we should have let old Stage Door play this part, he sounds interesting.

Lost in Space: The Derelict (1965) Season 1, Episode 2

Origin of the Will-Smith Team

[6/10 · 26 March 2022]

I am mildly enjoying this series from my childhood with a casual infrequency. The glaring problem is the writing is at the level of a child's comic book from the 40s, feel free to judge your own level of interest.

These early episodes seem different from what I remember, but I can see the LiS I'm familiar with coming into focus. I'm not sure these black and white episodes were a part of the UHF repeats I grew up on, but the stark black and white is impressive.

The positives: the acting is consistently good; all involved seem to be taking these silly stories seriously; the hilariously over-acting evil Dr. Smith; and the best props, sets, and costumes available in the mid 60s.

A couple of significant moments here for those who share my memories of this show. This is the first misadventure for Will Robinson and Dr. Smith as a team. When Will crosses his little arms while shaking his head at the cowardly Dr. Smith I remembered that same moment in every episode from my youth. There's another moment when Dr. Smith says "Never fear..." with the exact inflection I remember. He does not finish it off with "Smith is here." This full five-word phrase was very popular for a while at Central Elementary.

The star of this episode is the alien craft featured in the second half of the show. These big metallic prongs open and close at key moments. These black and white images have a sublime beauty that stands out today, 60 years later. They should have done more with this ship and less with the Robinson parents' floundering space walk in the first half.

The Bob Newhart Show: Dr. Ryan's Express (1974) Season 3, Episode 7

Senile People Do The Darnedest Things

[7/10 · 20 March 2022]

This episode gives us Dr. Hartley's therapy group for people over 65. At the same time, Carol's replacement, the wonderful Debbie, looks to be the same age as those in this group. I spent about 10 minutes on IMDB to find that the three older females, two in the group and Debbie, were all between age 50 and 56 IRL.

I find the actual age of actors playing the parts of older characters interesting. It seems in today's media we get less of this sort of casting, slightly older people playing substantially older characters. Odd when actors are seen as too old to play characters who are their own actual age.

We get no real over 65 type issues, but they couldn't resist the urge to go for those dementia laughs. Poor Debbie can't remember squat. Shouldn't Bob be professionally interested in a person like Debbie?

So the old folks on this episode are the three women each with a long list of IMDB credits and one man whose only credit is on the BNS. His age is not revealed but he looks at least 70. How do you get your first part at that age and then get so many lines?

This 7's for Debbie.

One More Tomorrow (1946)

A Flaming Food Stick Triangle

[6/10 · 17 March 2022]

Right off, we're driving in a neighborhood of no lights and entering a party where everyone's voice is straining under the challenge to sound as uppity as possible. Professional vixen Alexis Smith longs to "walk into any restaurant and know that every woman envies me." Alexis Smith gets the bulk of my attention, walking around with her shoulders thrown back, dragging hard on her omnipresent cigarette. Her hair is a different work of sculpture in each scene.

I find her character completely believable. Is she pure gold-digger or a more complex figure? They marry at the end of the whirlwind montage and she takes over the house by "taking advantage of the late Summer sales." It's housewives of Connecticut-1946.

Part of what makes Alexis' character so vile is that she openly shuns parenthood. She thinks children are for other people and is called selfish for that opinion. Once she told her husband she was too ill to go out so he and apparently the people doing the background music think her swoon might be because of pregnancy. She slaps this idea down like a mosquito. Later in the film it is this non-mom determination that sends her husband ping-ponging within their triangle.

This film is about...

This relationship between Morgan, Sheridan, and Smith? YAAAAAHHNNN The challenge of journalist who want to print the truth? I'm awake, go on... The class struggle between rich and poor in life and Communism in theory? I'm supposed to eat popcorn with this?

Other strange background stuff...

Moneybags Sr. Hears his sister scream in the background while playing "Puss in the Dark." I wonder if that involves a blind fold?

A liberal magazine is defined as one that accepts no advertising.

Sheridan is memorably fierce in the restaurant dumping "I'd know it if I was in love with you." Ouch.

Morgan tells Carter "there's not much future in BUTLING." And nobody laughed.

When it sounds like the new servant couple are throwing punches off stage, Morgan says "the best I can do is give her a long count." It's so NOT the year 2022.

The Mad Genius (1931)

Barrymore Dominates and Butterworth Loves It

[3/10 · 15 March 2022]

Not much here to recommend beyond the set pieces. Allow me to pick over the other bits I found interesting, even if not enjoyable. The couple we're supposed to care about are overshadowed by Barrymore and Butterworth, the actual love story in this film. B&B see a boy running from his father and notice that he has a unique way of hurdling a gate (is that slow motion?). They decide on the spot to become kidnappers and develop him into a dancer, well Barrymore decides and Butterworth complies.

There's a flash forward to allow the boy to grow up. There is a moment of confusion when the human dancers in current time resemble the puppet dancers from the opening scene. An expensive visual trick that was likely missed by many.

The 2 young lovers are apparently meeting in an aviary. The incessant chirping makes their dialogue hard to follow. I bet the birds' lines were more interesting than anything these two had to say.

Butterworth tries to explain his idea for a ballet. When we finally hear him explain the plot, it is stranger and much more interesting than the story through which we're suffering. In his story a man removes a pearl gray derby and 30 or 40 pigeons fly out. One character delivers the line, "You go to your church and I'll go to mine." Barrymore listens intently and then calls his friend a "stupid *ss." They are the perfect S/M match.

Barrymore sees Fidor's lover as a distraction. He encourages her to leave her young dancer and become a sugar baby for the Count, a slimy mustachioed character who says "A-Gain" instead of "again." Don't you hate that?

There's a final scene where we see Butterworth without Barrymore and the sadness is palpable. Who will treat him like garbage now?

There is some pre-code racy dialogue. A comparison of alcohol and sex as addictive behaviors. Some weird projected shadow scenes. And we never get to see Fidor, the great dancer, dance a lick.

Butterworth has always reminded me vaguely of Stan Laurel. Here he seems to go even further into his Stan Laurel persona. Not sure what to make of it. I imagine he was older than Laurel. Maybe this is just a standard character type from that time.

The Bob Newhart Show: Big Brother Is Watching (1974) Season 3, Episode 1

Is That A Begonia In Your Tuba?

[7/10 · 14 March 2022]

Sister Ellen's job offers are pretty bleak. Even with the college degree, her only offers are Avon Lady or Fuller Brush Man. There's some comedy disdain for the door-to-door sales rep in sit com history, remember Barney Fife hawking those vacuums? The tight job market is accurate for the mid-70s. In 1975 the US unemployment rate was 8.2% and GDP was -0.2. YIKES.

In another cultural diversion, how about Carol's Pier 1 Imports apartment? It's all wicker furniture, bean bags, chair swinging from the ceiling, hanging baskets kind of place. I would love to have that tuba as planter by the door.

That bag on Carol's head has a hose that would attach to a drier that would send heated air to fill that bag in order to .... I don't know why anyone would use a thing like that. Did she need this sort of treatment to get her hair to look like it usually did during this show? I wonder if anyone ever showed their barber a Carol photo asking "give me one of these"?

Back to the show. Bob's queasy about his little sister being with Howard. This is another sexual tension issue that seems less edgy with the passage of time. Ellen is a healthy attractive young woman and Howard, up to now, has been cast as an openly active heterosexual. There's a bit of nudging and winking and at the end of the show the happily unmarried couple are heading to Howard's apartment. We're left to wonder what happens next.

The Bob Newhart Show: Confessions of an Orthodontist (1974) Season 2, Episode 23

TERI GARR and some goofy triangle story

[4/10 · 8 March 2022]

Teri Garr wasn't even in the triangle part of this story.

Seems like a really bad plot point, that Jerry would see his infatuation's husband is covering for his psychologist and then confess that what he really wants is his best friend's wife. Once again, the best friend and the replacement psychologist and the threatened husband of the apparently desirable lady is just one guy guy, Dr. Bob Hartley.

Hard to fathom that after Jerry confesses that he is in love with Emily, there seems to be no damage to the Bob Jerry Emily friendship. Seems odd. Bob and Jerry just rent office space on the same Chicago high rise. If they didn't have this strange shared secretary out by the elevators (Carol deserved a less public office) they may have never met.

Even with the goofy main plot line, this show is worth noting for the appearance of Teri Garr. She's in her early twenties with 60s hair and looks great. Here she has a few lines and moves the plot along. Like most men my age, I liked Teri Garr. She seemed so fresh and natural. I think the world would be better off if Teri Garr would have become a bigger star.

Confidentially Connie (1953)

For the Love of MEAT

[8/10 · 5 March 2022]

Connie has a problem. She wants meat. There is some suggestion that her craving is pregnancy related, but her meat obsession seems well engrained. A local butcher describes her as "knowing the price of every cut." This is not new for her, Connie is "meat people," the sort who might name their first born Chuck or Patty. Janet Leigh, the gorgeous movie star, tempts her guests with a tray full of steaks. Don't think anyone will disagree, this is a weird film.

The whole meat crazy town explodes with a meat price war with angry mobs, meat investment schemes, and political intrigue. One Meatville citizen refers to their freezer full of meat a "our own little Fort Knox."

Connie's craving erupts early when she gives up smoking (oh no!) to buy 4 lamb chops. Should she be trading one vice for another? She looks up all dreamy-eyed at the table and says with her wide eyes "Why you know how I feel about ... meat." When Paw presents her with a sirloin strip, Connie admits she rates meat above jewels, minks, or money.

The old professor delays news of his decision on the big promotion so that he can enjoy the meat laden dinners at the homes of brown-nosing job candidates. Then, he accurately predicts the beef stew for dinner that night. Our couple moves into the lead on the job opening by serving a superior cut of meat.

Turns out Connie's husband, Joe, comes from a ranch, a successful producer of what my uncle called meat-on-the-hoof. After Paw says, "Thar aint nothin better than meat," Connie weakens at the thought and halfway collapses against the door frame as if she were leaving a smitten lover. All she can think of is meat. Paw wakes up from a ridiculous dream and comes to the obvious conclusion, "That girl has got to have meat." I'd say this Connie is the most meat obsessed starlet I've ever seen.

The Bob Newhart Show: Clink Shrink (1974) Season 2, Episode 19

Uncle Leo, The Fonz, and Betamax's Grandpa

[9/10 · 4 March 2022]

It was a trip seeing Uncle Leo from Seinfeld push his nose around his face. I'm thinking "cool. Big star from TV's comedy past" then Fonzi pops out of Bob's elevator. Henry Winkler plays an edgy but honest thief.

Bob ends up with this weird device for recording TV programs. We get only a glance at this machine, it looks like some misshapen reel to reel audio recorder from the sixties. This must have been filmed more than year before Betamax started with their tape inside the enclosed box.

Also, some interesting commentary on time misspent on watching sports on TV. I wonder if Newhart was a sports fan IRL.

Best Howard line yet, "Tell the worm everything's fine."

The Bob Newhart Show: Have You Met Miss Dietz? (1973) Season 2, Episode 6

Orgies, gun control, and what?

[6/10 · 21 February 2022]

Mariette Hartley as Marylin was well cast as a young woman who got the attention of every single man around. She was a little hippie-ish. She'd dumped her establishment husband and returned to college. When she describes her college experience she uses a word that I doubt has ever been used in a network sit-com before or since. In the list of non-academic activities she lists "orgies, gun control, and ABORTION." Wow. Then Bob makes a little joke about her on campus activities, "That certainly leaves little time for pep rallies." This was filmed not long after Rowe v Wade made abortions legal across the land. This was, I'm sure, not an indication that her character had had any particular medical procedure, but instead that she had been involved with some sort of campus protests involving these issues. OK, that's just a wishful assumption on my part.

Can anyone name any other sit-com where this word came up?

Is there any surprise that a woman who lists orgies as a college activity would be sporting both Howard and Jerry? Come on fellas, loosen up.

The Bob Newhart Show: The Crash of 29 Years Old (1973) Season 1, Episode 16

We'll Need to Freshen Up after Freshening Up

[8/10 · 17 February 2022]

I'm really enjoying how this show has this under-the-radar sexual innuendo thing going on. When I first saw it, as a middle schooler, so much passed me by. Here, Howard pops in to get his messages with a brunette by his side. He tells our favorite couple that he and his lady friend are there to "uh...freshen up...if you know what I mean." Well, now I do.

I find Howard increasingly irritating over time, but he does carry much of the sexual innuendo baggage on this show. After all, he is single and has the apparently irresistible occupation of navigator (huh?). He refers several times to the adventure and romance of his job and the draw this has on women. This was a time when people dressed up to take an airline flight.

What's with this Howard guy? Is he an idiot and a navigator? He is so childlike in his mannerisms. It seems like anything surreal the writers come up with comes out of the mouth of this one character.

I think the original idea was to have Howard and this other lady (mom with 3 kids) be there at the apartment to interact with the Hartley's. By the end of season one the other character is gone (Margaret?) and whenever there's a knock on the Hartley's door, we're 90% sure it's Howard.