From Those Were the Days:

1936 - Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler starred in Burlesque on the Lux Radio Theater.
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Mail call

I was kept pretty busy at work last night, so I had to forego listening to any OTR—but I wanted to put something on the blog today, so I thought I would offer up some tidbits that relate to some of the mail I received this week.

I finally received the latest issue of Scarlet Street in the mail (I subscribed to it sometime back in December of last year, which I think it is a little long to wait for a subscription, wouldn’t you agree?) last week and one of the articles that I really enjoyed was a piece entitled “The Great Chan Ban.” Written by Ken Hanke—who is the author of a must-have McFarland book entitled Charlie Chan at the Movies: History, Filmography, and Criticism—it examines the recent brouhaha (brouhaha?) over Fox Movie Channel’s decision to yank a scheduled marathon of Chan films after an eruption of protests about the stereotyping of Asian-Americans. Hanke’s conclusion—and one that I certain agree with—is that these films reflect an earlier time when people weren’t quite as sensitive to these things as they should have been, but nevertheless they are important and entertaining films and that we shouldn’t resort to censorship or revisionism in the hopes that they’ll go away.

While thumbing through Street, I saw an ad for a newsletter currently being published by film historian Leonard Maltin, Movie Crazy—a yearly subscription (it’s published four times a year) of which can be had for $25. I’ve always been a fan of Maltin’s, though we don’t always see eye-to-eye on many films, and I’ve frequently defended him from criticism by pointing out that his credentials—as far as the history of cartoons and movie comedians are concerned—are impeccable. I ordered a subscription and some back issues to boot, and I have been genuinely entertained by the articles—the first has a story that illustrates that Orson Welles was at one time considered to play the role of Sheridan Whiteside in the 1942 comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner (the part was ultimately played by Monty Woolley, who starred in the Broadway version as well). Maltin speculates that had Welles been able to make this deal with Warner Brothers, things might have turned out differently—he most certainly would have had a hit on his hands, which would have blunted the bad P.R. from Citizen Kane and perhaps kept him in Hollywood longer. Leonard further comments that the Great Profile, John Barrymore, was also considered for the part of Whiteside (a copy of Barrymore’s screen test was uncovered at the Museum of Modern Art a few years back) and—here’s where we disagree—I think Barrymore would have been great in the part, echoing his earlier triumph in Twentieth Century. Issue #2 has a nice piece on Arthur Q. Bryan, and the third an interview with Blake Edwards on his early radio days when he was churning out scripts for Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Richard Diamond and The Line-Up. If you’re mad about old movies and nostalgia, you should definitely check the newsletter out.

I also received a nice little haul of DVDs this past week—DVD Empire is having a sale on selected 20th Century-Fox titles (2 for $15)—including two box-sets; The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 2, which continues where Volume 1 left off and contains eight of their feature films, most notably The Time of Their Lives (1946), Buck Privates Come Home (1947), and one of my very favorites, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947). I also invested in The Tarzan Collection—a set with the first six Tarzan films made at MGM with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan; my mom wanted to see one Sunday morning so I put on Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). It’s the first—and I think it’s the weakest, it’s awfully slow going at times—and, of course, contains the famous scene where Tarzan introduces himself to Jane; I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” doesn’t appear in any of the films, seeing as it’s a movie myth along the lines of “Play it again, Sam,” “Judy, Judy, Judy” and “You dirty rat!”

Finally, turning to old-time radio, the latest issue of the SPERDVAC Radiogram made its way to my door—I was particularly impressed with an interesting article on comedian Bob Burns that manages to balance criticism and plaudits in the same piece. (Burns’ home town of Van Buren, Arkansas has decidedly mixed feelings about its famous native son—some feel that “Robin” just used the town to further his own nefarious comedy ends while others sing his praises.) It’s a good read, and well worth checking out. Meanwhile, I’m going to be off from work the next two nights, so I’m going to hunker down in my DVD bunker and put on a few movies—and I hope to have them reviewed and up tomorrow.
9:12:37 PM    comment []  trackback []