Matinee Monday - Village of the Giants (1965)

Check out those giant . . um . . . teenagers

The other night TCM had a cheesefest-athon of  the films of Bert I Gordon.  He apparently was quite good at making cheesy films about mutating things that grow to become huge.  This addition to his film pantheon seems to be a mix between a 1960's surfer movie and a vehicle for the Ron Howard.  It's almost like the Howards had something against someone at the studio and they were like "Let's make a film starring Ron Howard so they stop blackmailing us - I don't care what it is, just throw in almost naked teens with slow motion gyrations segments, dancing, musical groups, Flubber, little Ronny Howard, Toni Basil with some choreography and strange orange wig, and for some reason Beau Bridges.  

Fashion Friday - Loving Lucy

For Fashion Friday, I thought I'd put up the remaining sketches for I Love Lucy I have saved.  

Cinema Saturday - The First Year (1932)

1932 Ad from a mystery magazine

     This ad was in a mystery cut up group of magazines I purchased a few years ago.  I'm not sure exactly what magazine they are since none of the remaining pages have the title of the magazine nor the date.  The magazines are full of torn out pages and cut out pictures.  At some point someone was trying to create scrapbooks or more than likely it was a recent person trying to make a buck by selling certain cut out images and ads.  Naturally, the probably beautiful covers as well as the table of contents are missing, so I really have no idea as to the actual magazines themselves.  Naturally, they do present some clues.  This ad provides a big clue to the year of this magazine.  The First Year was released 31 July 1932 so I've some to the conclusion that this issue is probably from 1932 and more than likely close to the release date such as June or July.  I also noticed that much of the magazines look quite similar to the features and look of Film Fun magazine or one of the similar magazines published by the same company.  Film Fun really is a fun look into the early film community.  Plus they had amazing cover art, specifically the amazing girl art of Enoch Bolles.

Fashion Friday - Lucy's Looks

Elois Jenssen thumbnail costume sketches for Lucille Ball 

as “Lucy” in I Love Lucy. (Desilu, 1951-1957)

Fashion Friday - Dracula

Not many people think about the fashion involved in horror films.  I personally think the fashion is an integral part of these gems.  They set the mood for the wonderful scenes in the film.  Who doesn't look at the suave Bela Lugosi and think Dracula?  There is conflicting information about who created the iconic look, but Bela Lugosi is largely credited with popularizing the tuxedo and cape look.  While actor Raymond Huntley apparently was the first to use this look in the 1924 London stage adaptation, not many people know it [1].

Fashion Friday - Lucky Lucy

Elois Jenssen black and pink gown costume sketch for Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy (Desilu, 1951-1957)

Creepy Short - Time Out for Trouble (1961)

Shorts are one of my favorite types of film.  They can provide a great musical or dance number, be funny like a Joe McDoakes short, or teach us things.  But in the guise of teaching us, sometimes films can be just darn creepy.  This is a perfect example of an informative film gone horribly creepy.  The premise of the film is to teach us how to be calm and not hurt ourselves through the carelessness that comes from anger or distraction.  While actually having a good lesson and good tips to alleviate these problems, all I could think about was that our clocks are possessed and secretly are plotting our death.

Warner Archive Wednesday - The Swan (1956)

The Swan (1956) [1]

The Swan (1956) - Grace Kelly (Princess Alexandra), Alec Guinness (Prince Albert), Louis Jourdan (Dr. Nicholas Agi), Agnes Moorehead (Queen Maria Dominika), Jessie Royce Landis (Princess Beatrix), Brian Aherne (Father Carl Hyacinth), Leo G. Carroll (Caesar), Estelle Winwood (Symphorosa), Van Dyke Parks (George), Christopher Cook (Arsene).  Directed by Charles Vidor. Studio - MGM.


Fun Fact: This film was released the same day Grace Kelly became a real princess - April 18, 1956, the day she married Prince Ranier of Monoco [2].


Fun Fact: Many thought this would be Grace Kelly's "swan song".  She would star in only 1 film after this, High Society, released July 17, 1956 [3].

Awesome Ebay - Inscribed Photo Circa 1936

1936 Ebay Item

There are a lot of cool items for sale on Ebay, and this is definitely one of them.  It looks like it was from a fun event and has signatures from many people I adore.  The hefty price tag of $9,999.00 clearly makes it a clear impossibility for purchase.  I can't even afford my groceries or to fix my car, so this definitely is not going to be in my collection.  But it's just so cool, I had to feature it.  The item is from the collection of Saul Goodman (1919-2003), apparently a businessman who loved getting cool photographs and having celebrities sign them.  Because of the rarity of the photographs and rarity of some of the autographs, the prices for items from his collection are insanely expensive.  This is clearly not an exception.  But it is exceptional.

Vintage Inspiration - Rhonda Fleming

Rhonda Fleming; 1949