Off we go... Placer County is no stranger to the film business. Not to brag, but Hollywood has loved our scenery since the silent era. Charlie Chaplin, of course, filmed The Gold Rush in Truckee. Nike, when much wiser and more daring heads prevailed in the PR department, used Foresthill Bridge for the bungee-jumping scene … Continue reading Hollywood Comes To Auburn
Your Face Is Bogart’s
Nice to have you back, Ms. Bacall... Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart made five movies together. Their chemistry was so electric that no matter what the story was about, she would always smolder and he would always appraise her coolly and wordlessly. The 1947 film, Dark Passage, however thinks outside of the box due to one simple … Continue reading Your Face Is Bogart’s
Bird Is the Word
Here we go... One of Alfred Hitchcock's most infamous films is the 1963 chiller, The Birds. Following the strafing of a seaside town by angry, murderous birds, it's commonly attributed to Daphne du Maurier's novella of the same name. However, there's much more as to how the film came to be. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), … Continue reading Bird Is the Word
Hail, Alma Mater
A couple of weeks ago, I returned to my alma mater, Sacramento State University, for the first time since graduating in 2000. My older niece just got her computer science degree there, and my younger niece started her upper division business classes this semester. Being at Sac was kind of a weird feeling, even though I … Continue reading Hail, Alma Mater
Why I Never Say Someone Is “Drinking the Kool-Aid.”
Today's post is not going to be exactly cheery, and if anyone wants to stop reading due to sensitivities or thinks this topic is too macabre, I completely understand. History's not always a pretty sight. However, I wanted to at least touch on Jonestown because it shook a lot of people in America, and Northern … Continue reading Why I Never Say Someone Is “Drinking the Kool-Aid.”
And Now For Something Completely Different
Who's up for a little classic intrigue? Sometimes when a chance presents itself, there's nothing to do but take it (Within reason, of course). In the early nineteen-forties, Fred MacMurray was a durable rom-com guy, but 1944 brought him a new kind of opportunity--a role in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity. Based on a story by James M. … Continue reading And Now For Something Completely Different
The Doors Made Me Do It
Happy birthday to Miss Lupino! This seems to be the weekend for hairpin plots. Yesterday's movie started with newsreel cameras and ended with a South American rescue. Today, well, you'll see... I've reviewed 1940's They Drive By Night before when my blog was a newborn, but it was such a short take that I have no problem … Continue reading The Doors Made Me Do It
Charlie Goes To Niles
Time for a walk down Memory Lane... Before I moved to Placer County, one of the places I lived in was the city of Fremont, California. It's a patchwork of five little towns that were incorporated into one big town in 1956, and each of those towns-turned-districts has its own distinct flavor. While they're all … Continue reading Charlie Goes To Niles
Amarillo Or Bust
Miss Bette's back, y'all... We all know how studios liked certain stars in certain roles. It streamlined the whole casting process to know who could play gangsters, or high society types, or ingenues. Every once in a while, though, studios did color outside the lines, and one example of that is 1941's The Bride Came C.O.D. A … Continue reading Amarillo Or Bust
Whales of Star Trek
The time, it must be traveled. Little side note: Because Star Trek is so well-known, I won't be including the names of the principal cast. Supporting actors are a different story, though. Although I like Star Trek, I'm not a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. Or maybe I am--I've seen most of the movies, and … Continue reading Whales of Star Trek
Mary’s Dilemma
And now for that surprise blogathon I told you about... San Francisco is a town of extremes. Even in its earlier days, it had both upstanding citizens and degenerates, plus everyone in between, and it wasn't always in relation to one's station in life. It is the city Emperor Norton called home, after all. The … Continue reading Mary’s Dilemma
Garbo At M-G-M
Once Greta Garbo came to America, the only studio she ever worked at was M-G-M. She was never loaned out, she never went freelance, and she didn't divide her time between the movies and the stage like many other actors of that era. M-G-M was Garbo's studio, and she knew how to use what it … Continue reading Garbo At M-G-M
In Old San Francisco
Anyone who has ever been to San Francisco, especially between the upper ends of Hyde Street and Market Street nearest the Bay, has probably seen (or at least walked over) the bronze compasses that commemorate the Barbary Coast Trail. The Barbary Coast was the stuff of legend in the nineteenth and early twentieth century with … Continue reading In Old San Francisco
Lionel On the Air
Lionel Barrymore was a towering actor, but unfortunately he had to deal with severe physical pain after the mid-nineteen-thirties, which limited his prospects somewhat. The possible causes range from rheumatoid arthritis to a drawing room table falling on him in 1936, to breaking a kneecap, to hip injuries. No one knows for sure. Some think … Continue reading Lionel On the Air
Judy Garland Lived Here
Judy's life was an odyssey and like most of us, her place of residence changed frequently. I thought it would be interesting to post current-day photos of as many of her former homes as possible, preferably using Google Maps. There was only one slight hitch (and being a Californian I should have remembered this): Mansions … Continue reading Judy Garland Lived Here
Surf’s Up
We Californians have to deal with some funny stereotypes, none of them true. Most of the time, anyway. We all live next door to movie stars, we're all uber-liberal, we're all hippies. And we all surf. I had a friend in high school who moved to California from Ohio, and she told me her friends … Continue reading Surf’s Up
Battle of the Backlots
(Cue Rocky theme music.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioE_O7Lm0I4 Welcome, film fans! We have come to a big face-off between two movie heavyweights. Both are scrappy and determined, but only one will win the title of Best Backlot. In this corner, we have M-G-M, which roared onto the scene in 1924. Called by industry professionals "the Tiffany of the business," M-G-M … Continue reading Battle of the Backlots
Taking Up Room 