Café Roxy is an IDEA for coffee houses, cafés, restaurants, libraries and wherever people gather to eat, drink and have a good time. To attract customers during off hours: Show Free Movies! Movie Theaters as well can offer Saturday Matinees for $1.00 and profit off concessions. Public domain programs that include feature films, TV shows, cartoons and serials still hold the power to entertain. www.fesfilms.com
Last August I met with a local man who told me his father had recently died from cancer and the only thing that brought joy into his last days was laughing at classic comedy. This gave the son the idea to create an online channel of streaming videos devoted to comedy. That is a lofty goal but quite ambitious and I did not hear back from the man. However, it gave me the idea to create a series of DVDs that were chock full of laughs, only the cream of the crop. One projected audience was the retirement homes who prefer to watch films in one hour periods, but these would not be Movie Memories with discussion segments, only one comedy bit after another of the older films and TV shows which naturally are in the public domain.
To fill out the 2-hour DVD I would add two TV comedy episodes from shows like Beverly Hillbillies, Lucy Show, Love That Bob, Petticoat Junction, etc.
I at first called the series "Laughing Out Loud" and the first DVDs still use that name in the Introduction that is on the discs. Then I found out Disney is about to release a feature called "Laughing Out Loud," plus of course "LOL" abbreviation one uses in emails has become an overused cliché. So any word such on Google under Laughing Out Loud would never find my videos even if they became famous. Ah, fame, how elusive you remain after all these years! Anyway, an eventual name change to "Lotsa Laffs" and the funny way of spelling Laughs. Perhaps this very blog entry will propel "Lotsa Laffs" into the Internet search engines. Ah, fame!
"Nothing cures the blues better than a good laugh... with an audience! The “Lotsa Laffs!”series presents highlights and hijinks from the funniest TV and movie comics of all time: Milton Berle, Lucy, Spike Jones, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Joe E. Brown, The Andrews Sisters, The East Side Kids, Ozzie & Harriet, Groucho Marx, Betty White, W.C. Fields, Our Gang, Jack Benny, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and cartoons galore!"
"Lotsa Laffs! is perfect for cafés, sports bars, hospital laughing rooms, country clubs and retirement communities -- wherever and whenever folks need a hearty laugh out loud! 3 to 10 minute segments are guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a crack in your funny bone! A Bouncing Ball sing-along concludes each first hour session of non-stop laughs."
While "The Dentist" is a hilarious W.C. Fields short all the way through, the part everyone remembers is when he tries to pull the tooth of the ritzy society lady, and that can be excerpted and enjoyed on its own. The short golf game from the same film is also great, though I have not used that to date. Other classic bits included are Abbott and Costello doing "Who's On First" from Colgate Comedy Hour, Buster Keaton as a bank teller with sticky money from "Haunted House," Laurel and Hardy wreck their car from the public domain short "Stolen Jools," a clip from ""Lucy and the Monkey" and the trailer for "The Giant Claw" that I throw in everywhere. Each of the four volumes is a mirth-packed two hours. You can read about the Contents Here!
So I put them up without fanfare on my web page with a single link from my left hand column, and they have suddenly started to sell.
More importantly they were turned into the ToonWhiz Program and poster shown here. I will discuss ToonWhiz' unique operation shortly!
So we are half way through Black History month, which comes up every February for years now, and I finally have my act together with new programs that are longer, better, better, more enjoyable and can be advertised with a fresh poster for each showing. All the African-American or Black Heritage films I have in the public domain are listed HERE, but more useful are the Black Posters for Programs.
I prepared the posters and programs for use by Toon-Whiz Pictures whose infant website has rapidly evolved since yesterday. I made the "Lotsa Laffs!" poster for them last night, and just discovered they will use that program in their new venue in Oakland's Durant Square area. The idea, briefly as I understand it, is a storefront in a tourist district with a film viewing area for public domain films, which will either be the all-comedy clips show or Black Cinema shows. Admission is free so they do not have to qualify as a "Theater" and revenue will come through sales of concessions and merchandise. Much more about Toon-Whiz in the near future.
BLACK CARTOON SHOW
Includes mostly Hollywood cartoons that contain black characters like Inki, Jasper, John Henry, and some of which have caricatures that were common at the time and might be offensive to a few today, though I feel society has moved beyond complaining about past wrongs and history should not be changed.
CAB CALLOWAY'S "HI DE HO" (1947)
With George Pal Puppetoon "Jasper in a Jam" and Duke Ellington short "Symphony in Black" featuring Billie Holiday in a short scene.
LENA HORNE IN "BRONZE VENUS" (1938)
Also known as "The Duke is Tops," plus Ethel Waters two-reeler "Bubbling Over" (1934) and the Warner Bros. cartoon "Inki and the Minah Bird" (1943).
LOUIS JORDAN IN "REET, PETITE AND GONE" (1947)
With the swinging Walter Lantz cartoon "Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat" (1941) and "Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" (1934).
PAUL ROBESON IN "THE EMPEROR JONES" (1933)
With Bessie Smith in her only film "St. Louis Blues" (1929) and the 1931 Warners cartoon "Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land," that includes Uncle Tom in a graveyard.
BLACK JAZZ LEGENDS
Two hours of musical shorts and Soundies featuring Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Mills Bros., Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Dinah Washington, Herb Jeffries, Fats Waller and many more!
So I'm all ready for Black History Month next year! Except at Toon-Whiz, every day is Black History Month!
Yesterday I was listening to the Alex Bennett radio program on Sirius XM when Alex was discussing that Frank Sinatra was the first American Teen Idol with screaming, adoring fans. I'm a big Sinatra fan myself and give Frank all the credit and superlatives imaginable, but it's time to set the record straight. As far as firsts go, Bing Crosby became the first American Idol in the fall of 1931. I thought about sending Alex an email to explain why, but then got a better idea. A film clip is worth a million words so I created the montage below.
It's time to start a little crusade to tell the world that Bing was first and why. "American Idol" is still running strong on TV in its 10th or 20th season. The "public" may not be that interested in history, but they do have curiosity about their current interests. Discovering new singers, with perhaps a touch of infatuation, never goes out of date.
My good friend and associate Bob DeFlores and I released a documentary about Bing Crosby's rise to fame in 1996 called "The Road to Hollywood" that concentrates on this story. Bing struggled in his early days when he was one of the Rhythm Boys singing group with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. His problems stemmed from his profligate early lifestyle of drinking to excess, late night partying, mingling with show business and generally living the high life to excess. Bing even got kicked out of Hollywood in mid-1931 but suddenly soared to fame later that year. So lots of drama and surprises in his early years!
Back to what it takes to be an American Idol. I would argue no performer could become one until the entire country was able to experience a meteoric rise to fame at the same time, which means both seeing and hearing a singer, which means it could not happen until the era of sound movies. It's also important for the public to make their own discovery.
Certainly the first super star of sound films, and a superb singer as well, was Al Jolson. Bing always credited Al as being his inspiration for going into show business. But Al was 41 when "The Jazz Singer" debuted in 1927, he was never a handsome man, he belted "Mammy" songs to the back of the balcony and he was never idolized by women, young or old, in a romantic way. Bing Crosby was 28 when he made good in late 1931, he crooned romantic songs and certainly had that elusive sex appeal -- all the ingredients needed to capture the heartstrings of the world -- and he did in a superlative fashion that had never happened before.
Although obviously lacking television and the Internet, here is how all four of the mass media of the time came together for Bing in late 1931 / early 1932.
RECORDS. After four years of singing on Paul Whiteman records where Bing was not identified or listed as one of the Rhythm Boys, his first solo hit was issued in January, 1931: "I Surrender Dear." Bing had ten hit records in 1931, including these #1 hits: "Just One More Chance," "Out of Nowhere," and "At Your Command."
RADIO. Until the middle of May, 1931, Bing had built a radio following on the west coast with Gus Arnheim's orchestra broadcast from the Cocoanut Grove. The Rhythm Boys walked out on their contract and Bing was banned from working in Hollywood. He moved to New York City to find work and on Sep. 2 began a nightly radio broadcast for CBS: "Fifteen Minutes with Bing Crosby."
MOVIES. Comedy producer Mack Sennett saw Bing at the Grove and signed him to star in six two-reel musical comedies. The first, "I Surrender Dear," was filmed in March of 1931 and released in New York on Sep. 13. Sennett's second short "One More Chance" was released on Nov. 15.
Note the timing of Bing's national radio show and first movie both taking America by storm in September, 1931, after a string of hit records that had also been playing on the radio. The last piece of the puzzle was the chance for fans to see him live.
LIVE ON STAGE! On Nov. 6, 1931, Bing was engaged at $2,500 a week to appear four times daily in New York's Paramount Theater where as emcee he sang a few songs and introduced other acts like the Mills Brothers, Cab Calloway, Lillian Roth, Burns & Allen and the Boswell Sisters. During this wildly popular stint Bing may well have been the first white singer to actually perform with African Americans onstage in a major venue, but that's another story.
Bing remained in New York until mid-April, 1932, with appearances at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater and then back to the Paramount on Broadway. He toured cross-country from April 15 to June 12 to great acclaim on a long trip back to Hollywood where he filmed "The Big Broadcast" for Paramount that opened on Oct. 14. Back in New York, Bing appeared at the Capitol Theater Dec. 2-8 singing, dancing and clowning with Bob Hope!
It was during his sudden rise to national fame in late 1931 in all of the existing media that every woman in America discovered Bing Crosby and many indeed swooned for the crooner. No actual film footage exists of his personal appearances, but his popularity was alluded to in a brief clip from his Sennett short "Blue of the Night" and in his first scene in "The Big Broadcast." An interesting aspect of the Sennett shorts is that Bing played himself in many of them -- the radio and recording star -- but his fans did not yet know what he looked like and so did not believe him when he said he was actually that Bing Crosby! An illustration of this from "I Surrender Dear" is in the montage that follows. The second segment shows Bing mobbed at the end of a night club song in Sennett's "Blue of the Night." The clearest proof Bing was idolized and assaulted by fans in 1932 is satirized in "The Big Broadcast."
I feel Bing has never been given credit for being the First American Idol for a number of reasons. After numerous record setting live shows thru May of 1933, Bing settled in Hollywood for good making 3 movies a year for Paramount, continuing a weekly radio show, cutting more hit records and starting a family with wife Dixie. He had to cut down somewhere and that would be on personal appearances. His later successes in every venue of show business, including TV, eclipsed his claim to being America's first teen idol. History tends to remember later and more significant accomplishments, in Bing's case the Oscar, the Road pictures, "White Christmas," most hit records, most popular actor of the 1940s, "Mr. Christmas" and much more.
I'm sure Bing would not have cared about being the first idol, nor would Frank Sinatra have cared if history eventually bestows this title on Bing. After all, Frank was inspired to become a singer after seeing Bing in the Paramount Theater at the age of 16. Their work together entertaining the troops during World War-II, in TV specials, in "High Society" and in "Robin and the Seven Hoods" are lasting tributes to their professional friendship and mutual respect.
Yes, I have a Youtube channel. I never planned to have one. I don't promote it. It's just kind of there. Where? Well, let's see, it seems to be exactly HERE! It was started April 18, 2009 and currently has 69 videos. The videos were put up for various reasons:
To promote series like the Saturday Matinees.
To illustrate topics discussed in my blog.
To post videos that Matinee at the Bijou could embed in their blog.
To post to my Facebook page.
A few copyrighted shorts just for fun.
For future projects not yet announced (and maybe never will be)
As Movie Memories sample pieces.
The most watched video may be First Buck Rogers Film with over 3,100 views. This 8 minute film is embedded on one of my web pages that promotes the free sample DVD, but most views likely come from Youtube searches for Buck Rogers.
Second most watched is amazingly a copyrighted Screen Song cartoon Candy Cabaret that I only put up on Aug. 5, 2011 when I was researching the color bouncing ball cartoons. It's a lot of fun so go and watch it! 1954 Paramount "Noveltoon" cartoon. Although no longer called a "Screen Song" cartoon, it does feature a Sing-Along with the Bouncing Ball to the 1927 song "Ain't She Sweet." The final Bouncing Ball came along in 1963: "Hobo's Holiday." I believe it has gotten so many views because some other cartoon sites on Youtube have linked to it. They "monetize" views thru their site and so make money off my posting. Hey, folks, it's copyrighted and youtube or whoever owns the cartoon or the music could take it down someday.
I won't rewrite the above so you can see my surprise here when I just noticed that another Screen Song -- The Circus Comes to Town -- has had 4,250 views! 1947 Paramount/Famous Studios cartoon is the first official entry (of 38) in the revived "Screen Songs" series. It was preceded by five color Bouncing Ball sing-alongs. The song is "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze." Same story as for Candy Cabaret. I found I had and posted on Youtube for fun and it turns out the cartoon was not up there already so other sites linked to it.
It is inscrutable - beyond reason -- why this has been watched 1,140 times Main title Only to Paramount's color "Screen Song" series, with the Paramount Mountain with clouds background logo. I thought I was re-creating the original opening, but the only comment I got was from a better expert on the subject who has a youtube channel called Paramountcartoons, who said I got it wrong. I wrote him, but received no reply. So perhaps I should have taken the video down, but left it up and all those folks have watched it since August.
Recent videos put online at youtube:
Most Boring Scene Ever that was filmed for a Hollywood movie, from "Mystery Liner." This is for a DVD project of boring scenes to be marketed as a sleep aid -- "Sleeperzzz - Guaranteed to Put You to Sleep!" More about this later, or maybe not unless I can find someone to promote it in a big way as a Christmas present with the same camp appeal as that old Pet Rock!
Our Gang in "Good Cheer." The only Christmas themed Our Gang short was this gem from 1926 about a gang of thieves dressed as Santas. Where did Hal Roach get all that realistic looking snow? I put my copy of this up so I could share on Facebook. I just watched it again last night and see that some footage is missing that explains why or how a gang of crooks are dressed up as Santa Claus. Our Gang expert Dick Bann wrote me that this one is very hard to get a good copy of. So if he doesn't have a great one, probably no one does.
A number of recently posted videos are for a Matinee at the Bijou webpage that will discuss a typical sample show in a planned revival of the 1980's PBS hit show. Much more on this as it evolves. The four pieces of film I put on Youtube for this purpose are:
Also for Christmas is Rosemary Clooney sings for Christmas Seals was posted for Facebook friends. Please take a look if interested! And finally I only recently became aware that I had an Abbott and Costello Christmas show on Colgate Comedy Hour.
It's that time of year again, a joyous time to bring back holiday memories by showing the old films. Christmas really is a time to recall childhood and happy times, and what better way for the older generation than to re-watch TV shows you might have seen in the 1950s? For all you youngies, take a chance. They still offer timeless entertainment and holiday spirit that never ages.
Virtually every TV series in the 1950s created special Christmas themed shows year after year, including Robin Hood, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, Four Star Playhouse, Racket Squad, Burns and Allen and more. The TV shows that I offer can be found on various DVDs HERE or on posters that promote Christmas Programs for movie theaters, TV stations or home viewing.
The poster on the right gathers the very best of the best, or ones guaranteed to entertain and uplift today. A Howdy Doody Christmas is silly but short -- Howdy and Buffalo Bob fly to the North Pole to rescue Santa, all in 8 minutes. Santa's Surprise is the first Little Audry cartoon; she and some ethnic friends from around the world stow away in Santa's sleigh and give him a big present back at the Pole. Betty White always delights, and in this 1957 episode of "Date with the Angels" she works in a department store where the aged Santa starts giving away all the presents. In a rare episode of Ozzie and Harriet from 1953, The Miracle, Ozzie recalls a childhood Christmas incident. Ricky plays Oz in the flashback while Ozzie and Harriet play his parents and David is his brother. Um, don't try to figure that out, but do try to see it someday. "Christmas Shopping Show" is a hilarious Jack Benny Show in which he shops for a present but sends clerk Mel Blanc to the loony bin. In "Cop and the Anthem," Red Skelton as Freddy the Freeloader tries to break into jail Christmas Eve to get a good meal.
All of these are included in the 13 DVD volumes listed later on the page, so get one for the best shows or get em all like a small TV station did this past week. They plan to run a segment of TV shows, cartoons or features every day until Christmas, starting as soon as they get them this coming week.
Lots of other good shows are on the other discs like Our Gang in "Good Cheer" (1926) on Volume 13:
On Christmas Eve, it's bitter cold in a raging snowstorm. (How did they do that on the Roach lot?) Poverty and misery are shaking hands. The gang enjoys what they can: watching a Santa in a toy-shop window and smelling bread baking. But hope is in short supply when Joe says that all Santas are fake. The kids ask the shoemaker who tells them Santa is real, you just have to wish hard enough. Mickey and Jackie want to make the younger kids' Christmas happy; the Spirit of Santa helps them out by giving them an idea to sell hot bricks to peddlers, beat cops, and others stuck outside. With the money, they buy presents to distribute that night. Meanwhile, the Mob is using a dozen fake Santas to steal toys; the police force them down a chimney right where the Gang lives, so....
Also on this disc is a DuPont Theater episode from 1956 "Three Young Kings." As part of the Christmas festivities in a Latin-American village, 3 youngsters dressed as the Magi traditionally distribute gifts to other children whose parents purchased the presents. But one year passing through the poor section of town they give all the gifts away to the truly needy. You can watch all of these and more for free soon -- hey, it's Christmas time -- on Flictopia.
Beloved character actor Sid Melton died on Nov. 2 at the age of 94. I heard about Sid's death a few weeks ago while listening to the "Alex Bennett" radio show. Alex mentioned that celebrities always seem to die in 3s, and the current deaths were Andy Rooney, Joe Frazier and Sid Melton. Who doesn't fit in this group? The first two!
Yup, that's Sid on the left. If you ever enjoyed 1950s TV, then you often spotted Sid and said something like, "Oh, there's that guy again!" I first knew him as sidekick "Ikky" on the Jet Jackson show. Sid can be spotted unbilled from 1941's "Shadow of the Thin Man" to "White Heat," "Knock On Any Door" and "On the Town." Features in which he did have a part were Sam Fuller's war classic "Steel Helmets," the sci-fi clunker "Lost Continent" and "Lemon Drop Kid" with Bob Hope. His salary in all three of these was $140 per week.
"For years I auditioned for producers and directors who would fall on the floor laughing, but then I'd never hear from them again. Go ask them why I'm not working. Believe me, there's a lot more to working steadily than being a name and delivering the laughs. There's a certain--let's call it kowtowing--that I'm not prepared to do." -- Sid Melton
Sid was short at only 5-4, and remarkably ... remarkable looking, but we loved him anyways. He provided long-standing comic relief for Danny Thomas on his classic TV show as Charlie Halper, owner of the Copa Club where Danny performed. Eventually Pat Carroll was added to the cast playing Halper's wife Bunny. Frequently kidding with the press, he told reporters he got the part of Charlie because Sid was the only person Thomas could find that was homelier than he was.
So Sid has passed on. Name another character actor from the 1950s who is still with us. OK, how about Frank Cady at age 96. Frank played Doc Williams on Ozzie and Harriet and had numerous appearances on Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction. But I defy you to recall the image of Frank Cady as easily as Sid's unforgettable kisser, so back to Sid...
I have a pretty incredible TV show called "Lines and Fines" thanks to my friend Derek Myers. At first glance it seems to be a game show similar to "I've Got a Secret." Then you think it's a spoof when they say at the very start, "The greatest brains in show business" which turn out to be Sid Melton, Mike Mazurki, Gretchen Wyler, George Tobias and quiz mistress Pat Tillman. But no, it's really the world's first infomercial. Every single question is about Admiral Refrigerators. The inane questions and fake answers will leave your mouth agape. Here is a short sample:
We sold the one and only episode of "Lines and Fines" to Alpha video some time ago, so look for it to someday appear as a bonus on some release or other.
So, B-Western fans, do you ever wonder why you have seen lots of Buster Crabbes and Bob Steeles but very few Lash LaRues or Tim Holts? The answer, other than that perhaps I have no western readers, is that many films starring the first two cowboys are in the public domain, while no Tim Holts from Columbia are PD and only one Lash LaRue from PRC. I knew about the Tim Holt films, and saw a few of them on TCM a few years ago. They are just inexpensive B-westerns like so many others and not as enjoyable as many, though that could be because of unfamiliarity.
I was surprised this week to discover that "Law of the Lash" starring guess who is the only PD Lash cowboy film. I did not happen to have it, but do now. I also found out that Lash had a short-lived TV series in 1953 called "Lash of the West." I screened one poor quality chapter that seems to have survived. It opens with Lash discussing one of his adventures with two guys, who may have acted in the films with Lash, then cuts to highlights from one of his Columbia films, who knows which? They are 15 minute segments so you can't cram in as much as the half-hour Gabby Hayes Show managed. At the end of a chase they return to talk, but the show is about over.
Codger with mustache: "I'm sure glad that Trader Joe got what was coming to him, but what was on that stagecoach the outlaws wanted?"
Younger guy: "I want to find out what Lash did with the man behind it all. I think he knows too."
Lash: "Yes, I'm sure he does, but I'll have to tell you all about it next time. I'll see you all real soon."
*****
Switching gears radically, the very nice, original German still, from Metropolis shown here just sold at auction by www.emovieposter.com. How much? $6,820. Now that surprised me? What is the top price paid for any 8x10" glossy still? I will close with their lengthy description of this rare and pricey item:
"Note that this is an extremely rare "country of origin" still for this German movie! It has the UFA logo at bottom right, the "Parufamet" logo at lower left, and a faint embossed German "approved" stamp in the top right! Also note that this German still measures 9 1/4" x 11 3/4" [23 x 30 cm]. Also note that original German movie paper of any kind from this classic movie is incredibly rare and ultra expensive (the most expensive movie poster ever sold is the original German three-sheet from this movie!).
On November 2, 2010, we auctioned four other original German Metropolis stills, and they auctioned for $4005, $585, $545, and $310, and on September 18, 2011, we auctioned five additional stills (one of them was a duplicate of the one we auctioned for $310) from the same consignor (who has had them for many decades) and those five auctioned for between $311 and $881. Now, our consignor has given us their remaining 12 stills, and we are auctioning six of them (in separate auctions) in these Halloween auctions, and the final six of them will be auctioned in our December Mini/Major Auction.
Note that of all the 21 Metropolis stills owned by this collector, only TWO showed an image of the iconic robot (the one we auctioned on 11/2/10 for $4005, and the one we are auctioning in this current Halloween set of auctions!)."
In the same auction they sold an original German program for Metropolis for $3,105. One of the interior pages is reprinted here.
From Lash LaRue to Metropolis, always something old that's new comes to light. Love it!
