may 14

Flick Friday: Friday The Thirteenth 1933

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IMDb & Amazon Image
Image Credit: IMDb & Amazon

I got lucky, today and found a Friday The 13th movie that had nothing to do with Jason or Camp Crystal Lake. Ninety years, ago, Friday The Thirteenth was released in the UK, at some point in November of 1933. The movie opened in New York on May 14, 1934. Curiously, this movie seems more science-fiction than spook. ~Vic

Directed by Victor Saville, produced by Michael Balcon and written by Sidney Gilliat, George Moresby-White, & Emlyn Williams, it starred Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Muriel Aked, Cyril Smith, Richard Hulton, Max Miller and, Alfred Drayton.

IMDb & Amazon Image Two
Jessie Matthews as Millie
Photo Credit: IMDb & Amazon

It is pouring with rain at one minute to midnight on Friday the thirteenth and the driver of a London bus is peering through his blurred windshield as his vehicle sails down an empty road. Suddenly, lightning strikes and a vast crane above topples into the path of the oncoming bus. Then, Big Ben begins to wind backwards. Time recedes and we discover the lives of all of the passengers, and the events that brought them to that late-night bus journey, from the con man with a hundred pound cheque to the businessman’s distraught elderly wife. Time flows on, inevitably, to the crash and past it, as some live and some die.

IMDb Storyline

The complicated lives of twelve people travelling on a bus are traced up to the point when the bus crashes into a shop, killing two of the passengers.

BFI Screen Online

In London, near midnight, as a rain storm rages, several people travel across the city on a bus. Of the passengers, one elderly woman seems anxious and upset, a young man who has just been robbed by a pickpocket gratefully accepts money for his fare from another passenger, another man boasts of his knowledge of art, and a young woman angrily destroys a photo of a man. When a lightning strike causes the bus to crash, each passenger recalls what brought them on the ill-fated journey.

Rotten Tomatoes Movie Info

After a London bus crash leaves two people dead and several injured, the clock is turned back twenty-four hours to show the lives of the bus passengers, how they happened to be on that bus at that time, and the effect of the crash upon their lives.

TCM/AFI Synopsis

AllMovie Synopsis (Hal Erickson)
Review: Friday The Thirteenth (1933) (Comet Over Hollywood/Jessica Pickens/April 13, 2018)

You can watch the entire movie on the Internet Archive HERE.

Snapshots Sunday: Pooh Bear

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Pooh In The Backyard Image One
My Pooh Bear
Stumpy-tailed Manx
05-14-2008

Pooh was not originally my cat. When the Marine and I moved to Texas, Pooh (the owners called him Oliver) lived three doors away. He was very friendly and walked the sidewalks like a person. The story we got from the owner was, he was purchased as a kitten for her son. Her son developed allergies to the cat so, she put him outside. He could get in and out of the garage and, had a sleeping pad on a bench on the front porch.

Pooh With Rabbit Image Two
He decided that my Ty Beanie Baby Rabbit…was HIS.
01-01-2008

He didn’t visit our house too much because we had Buddy. When we lost Buddy, he got closer and closer to the front door, unsure because he wasn’t allowed in his own home. One day, we opened the door and he walked in. We fed him some tuna and…he stayed. We taught him how to use the cat doors we already had and he returned to us every day. His previous owner, at this point, had re-married, had two more kids (plus the husband’s kid) and three dogs. I’m not sure they ever noticed.

Passed Out Pooh In My Chair Image Three
Passed out in my office chair.
01-24-2011

He didn’t look like an Oliver to us. My Marine made the remark that he looked like a little bear walking up the sidewalk. I immediately went to my childhood days and thought “Pooh!” He got a new name with his new home.

Pooh On The Couch Image Four
Couch Kitty
Pooh liked to watch TV.
02-25-2009

Poor Pooh had spine problems related to his stumpy tail. The entire time he was with us, he had spells…twice a day. Something in his spine would move or catch and he would howl in pain. Then, he would chase the pain…until he was dizzy. It was something bizarre to watch and you couldn’t miss the sound. Think Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian Devil. When he regained his faculties, he would begin to groom as if nothing had happened. Unfortunately for me, some of those spells occurred in my lap. I still have scars…bless his heart.

Pooh On The Couch Image Five
So. You gonna change the channel or what?

He was our baby for three and a half years. He developed pancreatic cancer and had to be put down February 17, 2011. He was a character. When he wanted your attention and you weren’t fast enough, he made this sound of frustration that always reminded me of Number 5/Johnny Five from Short Circuit.

Passed Out Pooh Image Six
Passed out in the hallway.
06-20-2009

Tune Tuesday: Reunited 1979

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Peaches & Herb Image One
Photo Credit: mm-group.org

Forty years ago, today, the #1 song on the Billboard Hot R&B chart (and the Hot 100 chart, simultaneously, plus Cash Box) was Reunited by Peaches & Herb (Herb Fame & Linda “Peaches #3” Greene). The song was co-written by Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren, whom also co-wrote Shake Your Groove Thing, a previous Peaches & Herb song and, I Will Survive, the Gloria Gaynor hit. This was a sequel piece to the duo’s (Herb Fame & Francine “Peaches” Hurd Barker) previous song (We’ll Be) United released in 1968, a cover of The Intruders hit from 1966.

The song sold over two million copies, was the Billboard #5 song for 1979 and the RPM (Canadian) #9 song for 1979 (Wayback Machine). Artists Louise Mandrell (with husband R. C. Bannon), Faith No More and Lulu (with Cliff Richard) have done cover versions. [This link reflects David Hasselhoff and Raven-Symone as cover artists but, I can’t verify. ~Vic]

Nominated for:
American Music Award: Favorite Soul/R&B Song
Grammy: Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus

Lyrics