The Donna Reed Show – 1958-1966

July 2, 2015 — Look what arrived in yesterday’s mail! The Donna Reed Show, second season DVD set!

This year I’ve really cut back on DVD purchases, but Season Two passed the Netflix “I’ve gotta have it” test and joined Season One on my shelves. I’ll probably stop with this …

Once the show moved into the 1960s, it lost its fifties charm. Especially when Paul Peterson’s real little sister, Patty Peterson, came on board in 1963 as adopted sister, Trish. A one-way ticket to Shecky Greene Island for her! (my version of “jumping the shark” … Glynnis and I … driving back from the 1985 World Expo, Vancouver, BC)

But beyond that, there’ll always be …

Season One – 1958-1959

Season One’s opening title kiss to start the day (Carl Betz)

Season Two – 1959-1960

Season Two’s opening title kiss changed to a closeup

[First posted August 19, 2009]

Before Hazel

Sunday, November 30, 2014, 12:30 pm — Shirley Booth, Humphrey Bogart! … Hell’s Bells, 1925, her first Broadway play … “Hazel” was quite a dish! …

Glorious Gene

Thursday, November 27, 2014, 12:20 pm — OK. This is it. The best photo of Gene Kelly. Ever … The Three Musketeers, 1948 … My favorite of his non-musical films …

But wait! … 1948 was also the year of my other supreme Gene Kelly favorite … The Pirate … Supremely Gene … pulling Judy Garland under his mesmeric spell … Mama mia! … This glorious kiss on YouTube …

… a tiny animated gif for immediate appreciation …

Looked high and low … Can’t find my Pirate DVD … the case is mysteriously empty … In years past I preferred to listen to the soundtrack CD … Now, the visuals are MUCH more …. just … MORE … Ordered a replacement from Amazon last night …

Regis Toomey

November 16, 2014 — Whenever I see Regis Toomey’s name I have to think twice … Is he British, Reginald Denny? … No, he’s Irish-American, Regis Toomey, 1898-1991 … Oh …. THAT guy … the nice guy … the guy I’ve seen a million times guy … THIS guy …

There he is, on the left … Pirates of the Skies, 1939 … that other guy is Kent Taylor …

He was even leading man-ish in the early 30s … Touchdown, 1931 …

1931 was the year for more glamour shots, like a guy-and-his-dog …  wire haired terrier, Mr. X …

He got to be romantic with the ladies … Constance Bennett, Rich People, 1929 … possibly a lost film …

The Light of Western Stars, 1930 … He’s kissing Mary Brian … but will cowboy Richard Arlen lasso her heart?

1931’s Under Eighteen … REALLY got me wondering … who IS this guy? … His sleeves are rolled up … he’s a milk delivery guy, who wants his own business … and he sure can kiss … as Marian Marsh discovered …

Whether they lived happily ever after or not, who knows … but I sure do like those rolled up sleeves … a hard working, honest, real guy’s rolled up sleeves …

Hey! Look who’s got rolled up sleeves … Dad … plant manager, Battle Ground cheese factory … Left, June 1955 … Right, May 1957 … Hmm … Regis delivered milk … No wonder!

Through Two Centuries

November 8, 2014 —

“Now I’ve kissed you through two centuries” … New Year’s Eve … 1799-1800 …

Laurence Olivier to Vivien Leigh, That Hamilton Woman, 1941

Now THAT caught my attention! THE most romantic line!!

SO entranced I just ordered the Criterion remastered DVD, chock full of extras … commentary, etc.

Another kiss, for good measure …

They were married 1940-1961 …

“Despite Larry’s difficulties in coping with Vivien, she was the love of his life, even after their divorce in 1960. Shortly before the actor passed away, he was seen by a friend watching a film on television starring his ex wife. With tears in his eyes, he said: ”This, this was love.”

More Natalie

October 6, 2014 — Our Very Own, 1950 … there’s young love … Farley Granger, Ann Blyth …

MUCH more important and riveting … the family’s first TELEVISION SET …

Natalie was there, every step of the way …

Eagerly pestering Farley Granger with questions while he installed the antenna on top of the roof …

See her on the ladder? … No timid girly-girl she!

Jane Wyatt arrives in time to send her daughter inside the house and save his sanity.

Not so lucky is Farley’s partner, Gus Schilling, trying to assemble the cathode ray tube into the cabinet … clearly rattled by Natalie’s rat-a-tat questions … Then, what every child of the 50s remembers  … the TEST PATTERN … Let there be TV! … Eventually …

Two more stills … without the tv … but with Natalie …

Author Suzanne Finstad in her biography on Natalie Wood, Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood, notes, “Jane Wyatt and Ann Blyth felt there was something very touching about Natalie, an endearing quality the camera captured.  As Blyth, who had been a child actress remarked, ‘You can’t teach that to someone.  That is something that owns you, and she had that ability.’” – Another Old Movie Blog, May 22, 2014