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TV Tuesday: Wisden Trophy 1963
Sixty years, ago, today, the British TV Series Wisden Trophy debuted.
The trophy is named after the famous cricketing publisher Wisden and was presented by John Wisden & Co. after gaining the approval of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The [trophy] was presented to the victorious team as a symbol of its victory but, then, returned to the MCC Museum at Lord’s.
The [trophy was] awarded to the winner of the Test cricket series, played between England and the West Indies. It was first awarded in 1963 to commemorate the hundredth edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Series were played in accordance with the future tours programme, with varying lengths of time between tours. If a series was drawn, then, the country holding the [trophy] retained it. In 2020, it was announced that the trophy would be replaced by the Richards–Botham Trophy, named after Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Ian Botham.
Wikipedia Summary
The list of “cast members” consisted of various cricketers hosting the show. Brian Lara had the most appearances (34), with Garry Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Micky Stewart hosting the first episode.
I have to confess that I know squat about cricketing. ~Vic
Flick Friday: Barney Oldfield’s Race For A Life 1913
One-hundred, ten years ago, today, the black & white, silent comedy short (13 min., 14 sec.) Barney Oldfield’s Race For A Life was released. Directed & produced by Mack Sennett, it starred Mabel Normand, Sennett, Ford Sterling, Barney Oldfield, Raymond Hatton, William Hauber, Helen Holmes, Rube Miller & Carmen Phillips (per IMDb). Wikipedia is a bit different and I’m not sure why. Additional actors are Hank Mann, Al St. John and The Keystone Cops. Usually, cast listings match between IMDb & Wikipedia, as well as release date. The release dates don’t match, either…off by one day.
Virtuous Mabel rejects the improper advances of a villainous cad. The furious villain, and his henchmen, then seize Mabel and chain her to a railroad track. Mabel’s anxious boyfriend turns for help to the great Barney Oldfield, who jumps in his racing car and speeds to the rescue.
IMDb Storyline
A lady, Mabel Sweet and Lovely, is courted by a gentleman, A Bashful Suitor. He offers her a corsage, which she accepts. They coyly share a kiss. After the Suitor leaves, the Villain appears and grabs the lady. She hits him and escapes. This angers the Villain and he vows to get his way. At the next opportunity, the Villain, once again, kidnaps the lady, this time with the help of two henchmen and chains her to the railway tracks.
The three villains travel by handcar to the station, where they assault two workers and steal a locomotive engine. The villains drive the train back towards the location of Mabel, who is still tied to the tracks. The railyard worker alerts the Suitor about the situation, who then rushes to ask his friend, racecar driver, Barney Oldfield for help.
The two friends jump in the automobile and race the speeding hi-jacked locomotive to rescue the damsel in distress. Mabel is dramatically saved at the last moment and is carried away to safety. The foiled villain kills his accomplice and shoots five Keystone Cops arriving by handcar to arrest him. Finally, he turns the gun on himself but, upon discovering the bullet chamber empty, he drops dead in a rage.
Wikipedia Plot Summary
TV Tuesday: Stage Door 1948
Yes, I am still alive. I took a break for health reasons. ~Vic
Seventy-five years, ago, today, the TV movie Stage Door aired. The information on this movie is limited but, there is a record of it in the IMDb. Based on a 1936 stage play, written by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman…
[It is] about a group of struggling actresses who room at the Footlights Club, a fictitious theatrical boardinghouse in New York City, modeled after the real-life Rehearsal Club. The three-act comedy opened on Broadway on October 22, 1936, at the Music Box Theatre and ran for 169 performances. The play was adapted into the 1937 film of the same name and was also adapted for television.
Wikipedia Summary
Directed by Ed Sobol, it starred Louisa Horton, Harvey Stephens, Mary Anderson, John Forsythe, Enid Markey and Mary Alice Moore. It was an hour & 30 minutes long and there is no indication as to which network carried it. The 1937 film adaption starred Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball.
An additional one-hour television adaption aired on CBS in April of 1955. There are plenty of clips on YouTube from the 1937 movie but, nothing from either television version.
Movie Monday: The Princess In The Vase 1908
One-hundred, fifteen years ago, today, the short, silent black & white comedy The Princess In The Vase was released. Directed by Wallace McCutcheon, Sr., it starred only three actors…D.W. Griffith, Edward Dillon and Linda Arvidson, Griffith’s then-wife. Griffith is the Lover, Arvidson is the Lady-in-Waiting and Dillon is the Waiter. C. W. “Billy” Bitzer was the cinematographer.
The opening scenes of this production are laid in Egypt, five hundred years before Herodotus, the Father of History, visited that country. Three thousand years ago, there dwelt in Egyptian Memphis, the ancient capital of the Pharaohs, a wealthy prince, whose wife in beauty was likened to [Hathor], the Egyptian Venus, with [a] heart as cold as Egyptian marble. The prince, worried and suspicious, seeks the royal seer, who tells him the princess has a lover and, in a vision, shows him the princess in the arms of that lover, a Theban warrior. Instant death is the punishment meted out to the guilty pair. The princess is placed on a bier and carried out in front of the Temple, under the very shadow of the Pyramids of Gizah. Here, the High Priest, with a flambeau, sets fire to the pyre and her body is burned as an offering, with prayers, to mighty Osiris, beseeching that he overcome Typhon, who seems to hold sway. Alongside the pyre is placed a vase, decorated with hieroglyphics, which is to be the sarcophagus, of that ethereal, of the unfortunate princess. The smoke and vapor, as it arises from the body, enters the vase in a most mysterious manner. The vase is then sealed and the cavalcade proceeds with it to the tomb, where it is deposited and the door of the tomb closed, it was thought forever. Three thousand years later, there came to the “Land of Ruins” a Boston professor, student of the illustrious Jean Francois Chainpollion, discoverer of the key to Egyptian hieroglyphics, who unearthed the vase and took it to his home in Boston. Vague, indeed, was the story he learned about the treasure and, while sitting in his study, cudgeling his brain to lift the veil of mystery from it, falls to sleep. [In] this psychological condition, [he] imagines the maid, while dusting, knocks the vase from the tabouret on which it stands. Bursting into bits, it emits a dense vapor, from which the reincarnated princess appears. Here is trouble. Our friend, the professor, is a married man, whose better-half is a buxom, unethereal person, who doesn’t believe in the “Soul Sister” tommyrot. She, of course, wants an explanation, which the nervous professor is unable to give, so he bolts and runs hatless out of the house, followed by the princess, both followed by Mrs. Professor. Into a restaurant he rushes, with the princess at his heels. At the restaurant, as they sit enjoying a repast, the reincarnated Theban lover appears and claims the princess. This, the old professor resents and is run through by the Egyptian just as the wife enters. Mortally wounded, he falls to the floor, from the sofa, [as] the scene changes and we find the professor awakening from a horrible dream, the pain of the sword thrust being induced by a severe attack of indigestion.
There are no videos of this or any pictures. Since the movie was about a Princess, I grabbed a photo of Linda Arvidson from her IMDb profile. She also has a nice picture on Wikipedia, linked, above. The film is listed for 1908 releases and there is a note/citation referencing a mention of this short in Horror In Silent Films: A Filmography 1896-1929, though IMDb does not tag this as a horror. The production company was American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, the first company in the US devoted entirely to film production and exhibition. There is a survival status of some print in the Library of Congress. I wish I had more. ~Vic
Flick Friday: Enchanted 2007
Fifteen years ago, today, the #1 movie at the box office was Enchanted. Directed by Kevin Lima and written by Bill Kelly, it starred Amy Adams (Giselle), Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Timothy Spall, Idina Menzel, Rachel Covey, Susan Sarandon (Queen Narissa) and Julie Andrews (The Narrator).
The beautiful Princess Giselle is banished by evil Queen Narissa from her magical, musical, animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment, that doesn’t operate on a “happily ever after” basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world, badly in need of enchantment. [When] Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer, who has come to her aid, even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale Prince back home, she has to wonder…can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?
IMDb Storyline
In the animated fairy tale kingdom of Andalasia, Narissa, the corrupt, ruthless queen and dark sorceress, schemes to protect her claim to the throne, which she will lose once her stepson, Prince Edward, finds his true love and marries. Giselle, a young woman, dreams of meeting a prince and experiencing a “happily ever after”. Edward hears Giselle singing and sets off to find her. She and Edward are instantly attracted to each other and plan to be married the following day. Disguised as an old hag, Narissa intercepts Giselle on her way to the wedding and pushes her into a well, where Giselle is magically transformed into a live-action version of herself, [then] transported to New York’s Times Square in the real reality.
Partial Wikipedia Summary
Trivia Bits:
♦ The actresses who provided the voices for three previous animated Disney Princesses made appearances in this movie…Jodi Benson (Ariel/The Little Mermaid 1989), Paige O’Hara (Belle/Beauty and the Beast 1991) and Judy Kuhn (Pocahontas/Singing Voice 1995). Also, Dame Julie Andrews, who starred as the title character in Disney’s live-action Mary Poppins 1964, provided her voice as The Narrator and Idina Menzel, who played Nancy, voiced Queen Elsa in Disney’s Frozen 2013 and Frozen II 2019.
♦ One of the elderly male dancers appeared in Mary Poppins 1964 as a chimney sweep.
♦ Disney had originally planned to add Giselle to the Disney Princess line-up. [The] Giselle doll was featured with packaging, declaring her with Disney Princess status. [Disney] decided against it when they realized they would have to pay for life-long rights to Amy Adams’ image.
I’ve never seen this but, it looks cute. The sequel came out on November 18, 2022. ~Vic
Trailer 2007
Sequel Trailer 2022
Movie Monday: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012
Ten years ago, today, the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey premiered in Wellington, New Zealand (its very first premiere before wide release). Directed by Peter Jackson, the screenplay was written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro & Jackson. J.R.R. Tolkien, of course, is the original writing master. The cast list is extensive (lots of dwarves). Main characters are Young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Old Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm), Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), Gollum (Andy Serkis) and Smaug the Dragon (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the wild, through treacherous lands, swarming with Goblins, Orcs, deadly Wargs, giant spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities…a simple gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-Earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
IMDb Storyline
Trivia Bits:
♦ Asked how many wizards there are, Gandalf says there are five, naming Saruman, Radagast and himself, then saying [that] he can’t remember the names of the other two, merely saying, “the two blues.” Their names, Alatar and Pallando, appear in the book Unfinished Tales, a collection of J.R.R. Tolkien ideas, and half-manuscripts, edited into book form by his son Christopher Tolkien. The filmmakers didn’t have rights to use material from that book, so the two blue wizards remain unnamed in this movie.
♦ The production team returned to the same shooting location for Hobbiton as they used in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The land is part of a farm, which the owners allowed to be transformed into the Hobbiton set by The Lord of the Rings production crew in the late 1990s. After filming wrapped on the first trilogy, the farm’s owners turned the land into a Tolkien tourism spot, offering guided tours of the Hobbiton set. With the crew from The Hobbit trilogy making improvements and additions to the aging Hobbiton set, the farm owners were happy to temporarily close down their tourism business, so filming could take place there again.
♦ Sir Ian Holm and Sir Christopher Lee filmed their scenes at London’s Pinewood Studios because health concerns left them uncomfortable with flying to New Zealand.
Four years ago, when I started blogging, again, I covered the second movie. ~Vic
Announcement Trailer
Official Trailer Two
Flick Friday: Jigsaw 2017
Five years ago, today, the #1 movie at the box office was Jigsaw. Directed by the Spierig Brothers (identical twins Michael & Peter) and, written by Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldberg, it starred Matt Passmore, Tobin Bell (as Jigsaw), Callum Keith Rennie, Hannah Emily Anderson, Clé Bennett, Laura Vandervoort, Paul Braunstein, Mandela Van Peebles, Brittany Allen, Josiah Black, Edward Ruttle, Michael Boisvert and Shaquan Lewis.
Bodies are turning up around the city, each having met a uniquely gruesome demise. As the investigation proceeds, evidence points to one suspect: John Kramer, the man known as Jigsaw, who has been dead for over 10 years.
IMDb Summary
The plot follows a group of people who find themselves forced to participate in a series of deadly “games” inside a barn. Meanwhile, the police investigate a new series of murders that fit the modus operandi of the eponymous Jigsaw Killer, who has been dead for almost a decade.
Wikipedia Summary
Trivia Bits:
♦ Tobin Bell stated that he was not interested in having John Kramer appear alongside other slasher horror icons in future films.
♦ Previously called “Saw: Legacy”, the title changed to “Jigsaw”, making it the first film to have Tobin Bell’s character’s name displayed in the title.
♦ The tagline for the film “Make America Bleed Again” derives from the motto instilled by a former president of the United States: Donald Trump, who inserted the mantra in his electoral speech “Make America Great Again”.
♦ The John Kramer fan site to which Eleanor Bonneville is a frequent visitor is entitled “Jigsaw Rules”.
&diams This is the first “Saw” film to feature a laser-related trap.
Honestly, I’ve never seen a “Saw” movie and have never wanted to. Blood and gore torture movies are not my choice for a good movie. It’s hard to watch, peeking out from behind the couch. ~Vic
Movie Monday: Suffrage And The Man 1912
One hundred, ten years ago, today, the B&W silent, short comedy film Suffrage and the Man was released. Produced by the French company Eclair, in conjunction with the Women’s Political Union, its original title was Suffrage Wins Herbert.
A young man learns that his betrothed is leaning toward the suffragette cause. He remonstrates with her father to be told “My butler and my bootblack may vote, why not my wife and daughter?” He cannot agree, however and their quarrel brings about a broken engagement. Disappointed and unhappy, he seeks forgetfulness by going to a summer resort. There, he succumbs to the wiles of a designing mother and, caught in an embarrassing position, her daughter “feinting a faint” in his arms, he permits their engagement to be announced. He learns, by an accidental eavesdropping, of the mother’s trickery. He loses no time to denounce the deception and withdraw his offer of marriage. The mother and daughter promptly start suit tor breach of promise. In the meantime, votes have been won for women. The trial of the suit comes up before a mixed jury of men and women with the old sweetheart as forewoman of the twelve peers. Their verdict is acquittal and, as might be expected, “Suffrage Wins Herbert” with a permanently happy result in his reconciliation and marriage.
IMDb Summary
Written by: Moving Picture World
According to Silent Era, the director is unknown, the cast is unknown and the film’s survival status is unknown. There is one trivia bit…it is based on a story written by playwright Dorothy Steele. ~Vic
Hans-Max 2022 TV Draft: Round Four-Pick Two-The X-Files (1993-2018)
Hanspostcard/Max has a TV draft challenge. This is my Round Four pick.
I’ve stated, before, that I was born and raised in law enforcement. I’ve also worked in law enforcement (non-sworn) at two different agencies, one state and one county (think of me as the blond chick on Criminal Minds, sitting in front of a computer screen…though I am not blond). It can be an interesting job if you’re lucky enough to be employed with an agency that doesn’t take its political self too seriously (virtually impossible these days). I’ve met and worked with a couple of FBI agents. They were nice, everyday guys, back in the late 90s and early 2000s. I’ve seen and heard a lot of things.
The Sci-Fi geek that I am, I’m not presenting this show in that light. This show is, first and foremost, law enforcement. These are the folks, alongside first responders, to arrive at the scene of the accident, the scene of the disaster or the crime scene. In the case of these FBI agents, they investigate the weird shit. That being said, I do have a very full binder of X-Files non-sport cards and chase (special) cards, plus, all of the original series-run DVDs. ~Vic
Created and written by Chris Carter, there were many other writers, including David Duchovny (Agent Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Agent Dana Scully) and Stephen King but, this was Carter’s baby. It starred Duchovny and Anderson as the dynamic duo, investigating all manner of odd, macabre, out-of-this-world or just plain gross happenings. In later years, Duchovny reduced his presence on the show and eventually left. In 2000, Robert Patrick (Agent John Doggett) was brought in as a new partner for Gillian Anderson. In 2001 Annabeth Gish (Agent Monica Reyes) showed up and, with the upcoming departure of Anderson, became Patrick’s partner. There was some chatter that the show would live on with Patrick and Gish but, it never materialized. Gish returned in the series revival but, Patrick did not. Neither of them were in the X-Files feature films.
Other regular cast members were Mitch Pileggi (Asst. Dir. Walter Skinner), William B. Davis (Cigarette Smoking Man), Nicholas Lea (Alex Krycek), Chris Owens (Jeffrey Spender, son of the Cigarette Smoking Man) and James Pickens, Jr. (Asst. Dir./Dep. Dir. Alvin Kersh). Secondary, popular characters were Tom Braidwood, Dean Haglund & Bruce Harwood (The Lone Gunmen), Don. S. Davis (Captain William Scully, Agent Scully’s father), Sheila Larken (Margaret Scully, Agent Scully’s mother), Melinda McGraw (Melissa Scully, Agent Scully’s older sister), Pat Skipper (Bill Scully, Jr., Agent Scully’s older brother), Jerry Hardin (Deep Throat), Steven Williams (Mr. X), Rebecca Toolan (Teena Mulder, Agent Mulder’s mother), Peter Donat (William Mulder, Agent Mulder’s father) and five separate actresses portrayed Samantha Mulder, the agent’s abducted, younger sister. Agent Scully also has a younger brother, Charles but, except for flashbacks, the character is uncredited.
Addendum: Honestly, I was hoping the show would continue on with Agents Doggett & Reyes. They had a lot of really good on-screen chemistry and I liked both actors. After nine years, I had grown weary of Duchovny’s primadonna attitude. When the series was revived, the magic was gone and I wasn’t impressed. Naturally, they turned Agent Reyes into a bad character and killed her off.
Addendum #2: I also have to mention that the theme song changed, just slightly, at some point. The first theme has a solid, continuous echo sound. The second theme is a double-repeating echo sound. Why it changed, I don’t know (it drove me crazy). It is never mentioned but, it did happen. Listen, below.
Trivia Bits:
♦ As stated in my last draft, Mark Snow created the X-Files theme, the Starsky & Hutch theme for Season Three and many others.
♦ Gillian Anderson was nearly replaced when she got pregnant during the first season.
♦ Props from Mulder’s office are preserved at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum in LA. The I Want To Believe poster kept disappearing from the set.
♦ The agents badges read “Federal Bureau of Justice, United States Department of Investigation” as making a fake FBI badge is illegal.
♦ Gillian Anderson has stated that she based her approach to the role of Dana Scully on Jodie Foster’s performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
♦ Dana Scully was named after the famous sports journalist Vin Scully. Mulder is the maiden name of Chris Carter’s mother.
♦ Chris Carter lists All the President’s Men (1976) as one of his inspirations for the series. There are numerous references to the film, including the shadowy informer Deep Throat, meetings in underground parking garages and hints at conspiracies which stretch all the way to the F.B.I.
X-Files Original Opening
X-Files Second Opening…Can you hear the difference?
Hans-Max 2022 TV Draft: Round Three-Pick Three-Starsky & Hutch (1975-1979)
Hanspostcard/Max has a TV draft challenge. This is my Round Three pick.
I was raised in law enforcement. My dad was a Probation/Parole Officer, his younger brother, a city cop in our hometown and my first cousin became a deputy. Some years later, when my dad re-married, my stepmom was Parking Enforcement for the same city police department. I grew up watching every manner of cop TV show you could find, from re-runs of Dragnet to Hawaii Five-O to Kojak to The Rookies to Baretta to Adam-12 to The Rockford Files to Police Story…and everything in-between. My personal favorite was Starsky & Hutch. I had a “thing” for Paul Michael Glaser. His picture was one of four photos I kept as a kid and young teen. The others were Lindsay Wagner, Olivia Newton-John and John Schneider. I later regretted my attachment to him. I didn’t remember most of the episodes but, I was reintroduced to the show in the 90s with re-runs. ~Vic
Created and written by William Blinn (Brian’s Song, The Rookies, Eight Is Enough & Pensacola: Wings of Gold), it starred David Soul (Det. Sgt. Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson), Paul Michael Glaser (Det. Sgt. David Michael Starsky), Antonio Fargas (Informant Huggy Bear) and Bernie Hamilton (Captain Harold C. Dobey). In the Pilot TV Movie, Captain Dobey was played by Richard Ward. Sgt. Hutchinson was from Duluth, MN, was divorced and was a reserved, intellectual type. Sgt. Starsky was from Brooklyn, NY, was an Army veteran, had street-smarts and, could be intense & moody. Informant Huggy Bear was a flashy, ethically ambiguous bar owner that provided the two Sergeants with whatever street action knowledge he could gather. Captain Dobey was their barking & gruff but, fair boss. He had his hands full with those two. One of the main characters of the show was Starsky’s red, 1975 Ford Gran Torino (four of them, actually), nicknamed the “Striped Tomato.” In the show, Hutch calls the car that name in the episode Snowstorm (10-01-1975) but, that crack actually came from Paul Michael Glaser when Aaron Spelling showed him the car (First Season DVD Collection). Hutch’s vehicle was a beat-up, tan, 1973 Ford Galaxie 500, whose horn would blow when the door was opened.
Photo Credit: IMDb & Amazon
Favorite Episodes:
♦ The Fix (10-08-1975)
♦ Running (with Jan Smithers/02-25-1976)
♦ The Las Vegas Strangler Part I & Part II (with Lynda Carter/09-25-1976)
♦ Nightmare (11-28-1976)
♦ Starsky’s Lady (with Season Hubley 02-12-1977)
♦ Long Walk Down A Short Dirt Road (with Lynn Anderson/03-12-1977)
♦ Fatal Charm (with Karen Valentine & Roz Kelly/09-24-1977)
♦ I Love You, Rosey Malone (10-01-1977)
♦ Blindfold (with Kim Cattrall/09-26-1978)
Trivia Bits:
☆ Originally, Starsky was supposed to drive a green and white Chevy Camaro but, the producers had a contract with Ford.
☆ On numerous occasions, Paul Michael Glaser has talked about how much he hated the car, as well as playing Starsky and, that he had campaigned to be released from his contract.
☆ Zebra Three was the radio call sign for Starsky, Hutch…and the car.
☆ Starsky and Hutch were based on Lou Telano and John Sepe.
☆ The Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver used by Hutch is the same pistol carried by David Soul in his role as Officer John Davis in Magnum Force.
☆ The show had four different opening theme songs with seasons two and four crafted by Tom Scott and sounding similar. Season one was crafted by Lalo Schifrin and season three crafted by Mark Snow, known for the X-Files theme.
Different Themes
TV Tuesday: Tomorrow’s Child 1982
Forty years ago, today, the TV Movie Tomorrow’s Child, also known as Genesis, debuted on ABC. Written & executive produced by Jerry McNeely and directed by Joseph Sargent, it starred Stephanie Zimbalist, William Ahterton, Bruce Davison, Ed Flanders, Salome Jens, James Shigeta, Susan Oliver and Arthur Hill.
The wife of a research geneticist agrees to the experimental procedure of a “test tube” baby by having her fetus brought to full term in a glass jar in a laboratory.
IMDb Storyline
A couple agree to take part in a secret experiment to produce the first test-tube baby grown entirely outside the mother’s body.
TV Guide Synopsis
There is not a lot of data on this TV movie but, here is the full video of it. ~Vic
Movie Monday: The Dying Swan 1917
One hundred, five years ago, today, the 1917 short, silent film The Dying Swan (Russian: Umirayushchiy Lebed) was released in Russia (Moscow). Starring Vera Karalli (Gizella), Aleksandr Kheruvimov (Gizella’s Father), Vitold Polonksy (Viktor Krasovsky), Andrej Gromov (Valeriy Glinskiy) and Ivane Perestiani (Glinskiy’s Friend), it was directed by Yevgeni Bauer and written by Zoya Barantsevich.
A grief-stricken ballerina becomes the obsession of an increasingly unhinged artist.
Gizella, who is a dancer and mute, falls in love with Victor, whom she met at the lake. She believes that love is mutual but, […] sees Victor with another girl after he cancels a date with her. She becomes an object of sympathy for the artist Glinsky, who sees Gizella dancing The Dying Swan and uses her as a model for a picture on the theme of death.
When Viktor meets Gizella one day beside the lake, he takes an interest in her and begins to call on her regularly. When Viktor deceives her and she finds him with another woman, she moves away and begins a career as a ballerina.
A brokenhearted dancer and an artist desperate for inspiration form a strange collaboration in Russian director Yevgeni Bauer’s psychological drama. Morbid in the best possible way.
Additional:
The Dying Swan (Century Film Project/12-10-2017)
Full Movie
Hans 2021 Song Draft: Round Ten-Pick Seven-Bad Weather-Emily Hackett (2014/2015)
Hanspostcard has a song draft challenge. This is my Round Ten and final pick.
Back in 2014, I happened to catch a wonderful song that played during a commercial on HDNET (movies). HDNET didn’t have normal commercials, they just had clips from movies that it was showcasing, changing each month. I loved the song but, had no idea what the name of it was, other than what I could glean from the lyrics. I desperately wanted to know who the singer was because she had a beautiful voice. I could find nothing, so, I contacted HDNET for help. Her name? Emily Hackett. The song? A Heart Worth Saving (and I wasn’t the only one asking). It is the third track from a short compilation album called Girl Electro Pop, released July 11, 2014 (as best as I can tell). There is no chart information on the album or the song and what lyrics that are on the Internet do not match all of the words she sings. That being said, I was overjoyed to find it and download it.
That brings me to Bad Weather (no chart information on it, either). In digging around for data on Emily, I found a demo video of her singing the song with a guitarist. Then, I found the album it was on…The Raw EP, released July 24, 2015. It’s a beautiful, sad song that reminds me of a stripped down Carrie Underwood piece.
“I started this song in California when I was making lunch one day at my parent’s house. My boyfriend, Mikey, was goofing around on the guitar and I stopped him like, “What is that? We are writing that. It’s awesome.” It wasn’t until we got back to Nashville, a couple months later that we sat down with our friend Adam James and poured out this song in a couple of hours. It felt so right, we just went with it. It’s one of my favorites I’ve ever written.”
Daily Discovery: Emily Hackett
Songspace
American Songwriter
2014
She was born in Cleveland, Ohio and was in high school in Georgia when she took off with a friend to visit Belmont University. Headed for the University of Georgia, she fell in love with Nashville and interned in the music industry:
“Here I was in Nashville at school. I had no idea that there was this whole world of music where you could have careers. I didn’t realize there was so much to it. It was cool to be studying the music business at college. I thought I could always be a writer and in Nashville, writers actually get to perform.”
Music Spotlight: Emily Hackett
Bethany Bowman
The Tennessee Star
October 17, 2018
Some months ago, I commented on one of Music City Mike‘s blog posts, regarding interviews of local musicians in Nashville. I told him about Emily but, I don’t know if he ever got the chance to chat with her. Give her a listen. She is a different genre from Lissie but, just as talented.
Thanks, Hans, for the invite to participate. Much like the movie draft, picking favorites is a tough go. There is SO much good music out there. I look forward to sharing more in the upcoming 2022 Draft. ~Vic
Official Website
Bandcamp
Reverbnation
Soundcloud
Additional:
Emily Hackett Looks To The Past & Future On “Nostalgia” (Taste of Country/Sterling Whitaker/08-10-2017)
CMT’s Next Women Of Country (People Magazine/Katie Kauss/11-16-2018)
Cleveland Native Emily Hackett Comes To Beachland (Cleveland Scene/Jeff Niesel/12-04-2019)
Emily Hackett Releases Heartfelt “Handle” (The Virginia Star/Bethany Bowman/05-29-2020)
Emily Hackett Is Creating Magic (The Aquarian/Debra Kate Schafer/05-31-2020)
Demo In The Attic
HDNET Commercial
Royals Cover With Megan Davies
Happy Christmas Cover
TV Tuesday: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 2001
Twenty years ago, today, the animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy or just Billy & Mandy premiered on the Cartoon Network. Created by Maxwell Atoms, the story line follows a ditzy, kind-hearted boy and, a sinister, cynical girl, that have the Grim Reaper as a personal slave after he lost a wager in a limbo match. They use the Reaper’s supernatural powers to visit the underworld and other weird locations for twisted adventures. They encounter creatures such as Dracula, the Wolfman and the Bogeyman.
Voice Credits:
♥ Billy (Richard Steven Horvitz)
♥ Mandy (Grey DeLisle Griffin)
♥ Grim Reaper (Greg Eagles)
♥ Irwin (Vanessa Marshall)
♥ Harold (Richard Steven Horvitz)
♥ Gladys (Jennifer Hale)
♥ Dick (Phil LaMarr)
♥ Grandmama (Phil LaMarr)
♥ Mindy (Rachael MacFarlane)
♥ Sperg (Greg Eagles)
♥ Phil (Dee Bradley Baker)
♥ Claire (Vanessa Marshall)
♥ General Skarr (Armin Shimerman)
♥ Pud’n (Jane Carr)
♥ Hoss Delgado (Diedrich Bader)
♥ Jeff the Spider (Maxwell Atoms)
♥ Nergal (David Warner)
♥ Nergal, Jr. (Debi Derryberry)
♥ Bogeyman (Fred Willard)
Trivia Bits:
♦ The spooky droning gibberish played in the end credits in a creepy voice is Maxwell Atoms talking backwards, saying: “No, no. This is the end of the show. You’re watching it backwards!”
♦ Originally, Maxwell Atoms wanted Grim to speak in a “British” accent and had Jonathan Harris in mind to voice him. When Greg Eagles auditioned, and spoke in a Jamaican accent, he was impressed and had him retooled.
♦ Tom Kenny was originally considered to voice Billy in the show, but he declined.
Movie Monday: Holly 2006
“Out of thousands, he tried to save one.”
Fifteen years ago, today, the drama film Holly debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Directed by Guy Moshe and, written by Moshe and Guy Jacobson, it starred Ron Livingston, Chris Penn, Virginie Ledoyen, Udo Kier and Jacquie “Thuy” Nguyen as Holly.
Shot on location in Cambodia, including many scenes in actual brothels in the notorious red light district of Phnom Penh, “Holly” is a captivating, touching and emotional experience. Patrick, an American card shark and dealer of stolen artifacts, has been ‘comfortably numb’ in Cambodia for years when he encounters Holly, a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl in the K-11 red light village. The girl has been sold by her impoverished family and smuggled across the border to work as a prostitute. Holly’s virginity makes her a lucrative prize and, when she is sold to a child trafficker, Patrick embarks on a frantic search, through both the beautiful and sordid faces of the country, in an attempt to bring her to safety. Harsh, yet poetic, this feature forms part of the ‘K-11’ Project, dedicated to raising awareness of the epidemic of child trafficking and the sex slavery trade through several film projects. The film’s producers endured substantial hardships in order to be able to shoot in Cambodia and have also founded the Redlight Children Campaign, […] a worldwide grassroots initiative generating conscious concern and, inspiring immediate action against child sex-ploitation.
IMDb Summary from Anonymous
Trivia Bits:
♦ Tom Sizemore was originally slated to play Freddie but, after being arrested for failing several drug tests, he was dropped from the production and replaced by Chris Penn.
♦ This was one of Chris Penn’s last films.
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