Jean Harlow
An evening pause: A look back at early Hollywood, and someone who was then a big star and a great comic actor but who is mostly forgotten today.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Tag: Hollywood
Fred Astair & Ginger Rodgers – The yam dance
Miracle on 34th Street
An evening pause: This movie used to be a tradition for televion on Thanksgiving. At that time the holiday was well linked with the then joyous and relatively Christian Macy’s Day Parade (now warped into a queer agenda demonstration).
It I think makes for a good opening to the holiday season.
Today’s blacklisted American: Hollywood’s new racist discrimination employment policies which blacklist whites
They’re coming for you next: According to a lawsuit filled by the non-profit legal firm First Liberty on behalf of James Harker, a white film electrician, the film industry has set up a racially segregated apprentice program that specifically excludes whites and is designed only for minorities.
When Harker complained about the bigoted nature of this program, he was then blacklisted, and has no longer been able to get any freelance jobs, despite 27 years of experience in the industry.
You can read the lawsuit here [pdf]. The program itself is called “Double the Line” (DTL). Its purpose is to force film companies to hire one minority to match every crew person it hires normally. That minority will be paid a full if not higher salary, regardless of his or her experience or training, and will later receive favored treatment in hiring, in order “to push forward a demographic shift,” as noted on the Equity and Inclusion website of the Association of Independent Producers (AICP), one of the defendents in this case.
In other words, the program specifically favors minorities in hiring and training, and specifically excludes whites because of their race.
The lawsuit was triggered when Harker discovered this program on a job. » Read more
They’re coming for you next: According to a lawsuit filled by the non-profit legal firm First Liberty on behalf of James Harker, a white film electrician, the film industry has set up a racially segregated apprentice program that specifically excludes whites and is designed only for minorities.
When Harker complained about the bigoted nature of this program, he was then blacklisted, and has no longer been able to get any freelance jobs, despite 27 years of experience in the industry.
You can read the lawsuit here [pdf]. The program itself is called “Double the Line” (DTL). Its purpose is to force film companies to hire one minority to match every crew person it hires normally. That minority will be paid a full if not higher salary, regardless of his or her experience or training, and will later receive favored treatment in hiring, in order “to push forward a demographic shift,” as noted on the Equity and Inclusion website of the Association of Independent Producers (AICP), one of the defendents in this case.
In other words, the program specifically favors minorities in hiring and training, and specifically excludes whites because of their race.
The lawsuit was triggered when Harker discovered this program on a job. » Read more
Busby Berkeley – Tap dance sequence from Lullaby of Broadway
An evening pause: Time for another Berkeley extravaganza. This except is only a small part of the full thirteen-plus minute Lullaby of Broadway number in the movie Gold Diggers of 1935. This movie was made when the talking pictures were still new, and making films that highlighted “All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!” was the rage. It was also a time when all Americans danced arm-in-arm as one of their main forms of entertainment, so interest in great dancing like this was at its height.
Hat top Judd Clark.
Busby Berkeley – By a Waterfall
An evening pause: From the 1933 Hollywood musical, Footlight Parade, one of Berkeley’s most spectacular overhead dance numbers. Remember, no CGI. These are real women performing this number.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Today’s blacklisted American: Modern Hollywood now celebrates McCarthyism and blacklisting
The modern dark age: Despite a history during the 1950s McCarthy era, when many of its most talented members were blacklisted because of their leftwing political beliefs, Hollywood today celebrates and encourages the blacklisting of conservative talent.
Consider the blacklisting described by comedian Adam Carolla and late night Fox show host Greg Gutfield during one recent podcast:
“Oh, we can’t get the guys who wrote on ‘Conan’ to come into the writers’ room because they’re scared of being blackballed. It drives me insane that they never stop complaining about McCarthyism and they’re more than happy to blackball anybody who crosses the line,” Carolla said.
“They’re the new McCarthy-ites, especially in this woke culture,” Gutfeld said. “I’m counting on this show succeeding without names and creating our own celebrities, which is actually what happens at Fox.”
Both men also described how, even if a writer or performer wanted to work for them, they often backed out because their agent or publicist told them not to, either because of the same fear or because of hostility to their politics.
In addition, Carolla in a different podcast described how this same blacklisting culture is now being used not just against conservatives, but against those who refuse to bow to the absurd COVID edicts.
The story of one actor, Clifton Duncan, is typical.
» Read more
The modern dark age: Despite a history during the 1950s McCarthy era, when many of its most talented members were blacklisted because of their leftwing political beliefs, Hollywood today celebrates and encourages the blacklisting of conservative talent.
Consider the blacklisting described by comedian Adam Carolla and late night Fox show host Greg Gutfield during one recent podcast:
“Oh, we can’t get the guys who wrote on ‘Conan’ to come into the writers’ room because they’re scared of being blackballed. It drives me insane that they never stop complaining about McCarthyism and they’re more than happy to blackball anybody who crosses the line,” Carolla said.
“They’re the new McCarthy-ites, especially in this woke culture,” Gutfeld said. “I’m counting on this show succeeding without names and creating our own celebrities, which is actually what happens at Fox.”
Both men also described how, even if a writer or performer wanted to work for them, they often backed out because their agent or publicist told them not to, either because of the same fear or because of hostility to their politics.
In addition, Carolla in a different podcast described how this same blacklisting culture is now being used not just against conservatives, but against those who refuse to bow to the absurd COVID edicts.
The story of one actor, Clifton Duncan, is typical.
» Read more
Sam Dodge – the Mitchell BNCR camera
An evening pause: A bit of history about one of the most fundamental pieces of equipment used on practically every big Hollywood film.
Hat tip Wayne Devette.
Julie Andrews – My Favorite Things
An evening pause: From the movie The Sound of Music (1965), a song about teaching children to face fear, to push past it, and live boldly and with courage. And to do it with humor. As Ray Bradbury wrote in his book, Something Wicked This Way Comes, you defeat evil and fear by laughing at it. The world needs to recapture this idea, or else we are doomed.
Hat tip Tom Wilson.
Today’s blacklisted American: Leftist actor/rapper Icecube forced from Sony film rather than get a COVID shot
Ice Cube: now an unclean non-person
Original photo by Adam Bielawski
They’re coming for you next: Actor and rapper Icecube, who has throughout his career been linked to leftist and pro-black racial causes, has pulled out as one of the leads of a Sony film because he refuses to comply with the film company’s COVID shot mandate.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story,
Ice Cube has departed Sony’s upcoming comedy, Oh Hell No, in which he would’ve co-starred with Jack Black, after declining a request from producers to get vaccinated, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Apparently this decision has cost him a $9 million check.
The first link above notes this important point about Ice Cube:
» Read more
Ice Cube: now an unclean non-person
Original photo by Adam Bielawski
They’re coming for you next: Actor and rapper Icecube, who has throughout his career been linked to leftist and pro-black racial causes, has pulled out as one of the leads of a Sony film because he refuses to comply with the film company’s COVID shot mandate.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the story,
Ice Cube has departed Sony’s upcoming comedy, Oh Hell No, in which he would’ve co-starred with Jack Black, after declining a request from producers to get vaccinated, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Apparently this decision has cost him a $9 million check.
The first link above notes this important point about Ice Cube:
» Read more
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – Lonesome Polecat
An evening pause: This song, from the 1954 MGM classic musical, was one of the first evening pauses I posted back in 2010. As Diane and I recently rewatched the musical, I think it time to repost it. As I said then,
This haunting song from the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is notable not only because of the beauty of the music and dancing, but because the entire number is shot as one take, no cuts. Everyone, from the actors with their axes to the crew moving the camera on its dolly and crane, had to be right on cue for everything to work.
Having spent almost twenty years in the movie business, I can promise you that this is not easy.
The 2010 evening pause uses the original voice of red-haired Matt Mattox, which was dubbed for the movie.
An evening pause: This song, from the 1954 MGM classic musical, was one of the first evening pauses I posted back in 2010. As Diane and I recently rewatched the musical, I think it time to repost it. As I said then,
This haunting song from the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is notable not only because of the beauty of the music and dancing, but because the entire number is shot as one take, no cuts. Everyone, from the actors with their axes to the crew moving the camera on its dolly and crane, had to be right on cue for everything to work.
Having spent almost twenty years in the movie business, I can promise you that this is not easy.
The 2010 evening pause uses the original voice of red-haired Matt Mattox, which was dubbed for the movie.
Today’s blacklisted American: Anyone in Hollywood who is white
A banned race in Hollywood.
Blacklists are back and Hollywood’s got ’em: Warner Brothers has decided its next Superman will be super-woke and must star a black Superman.
More important, the studio has decided that in order to make the film the “super-woke” concept they envision it must only hire blacks to make it. Not only has the studio hired a black writer to write the script, it is insisting that the director and crew must be black also.
The Hollywood Reporter proudly makes note of the fact that they are looking for only black people to do it all, and are looking for a black director. The piece unabashedly excludes the film’s producer J.J. Abrams as a candidate purely because it would be “tone-deaf.”
Nor is that all. Hollywood also wants the focus for all its future superhero films to be “diversity” and racial oppression rather those evil and quaint old concepts of “truth, justice, and the American way.”
» Read more
A banned race in Hollywood.
Blacklists are back and Hollywood’s got ’em: Warner Brothers has decided its next Superman will be super-woke and must star a black Superman.
More important, the studio has decided that in order to make the film the “super-woke” concept they envision it must only hire blacks to make it. Not only has the studio hired a black writer to write the script, it is insisting that the director and crew must be black also.
The Hollywood Reporter proudly makes note of the fact that they are looking for only black people to do it all, and are looking for a black director. The piece unabashedly excludes the film’s producer J.J. Abrams as a candidate purely because it would be “tone-deaf.”
Nor is that all. Hollywood also wants the focus for all its future superhero films to be “diversity” and racial oppression rather those evil and quaint old concepts of “truth, justice, and the American way.”
» Read more
Today’s blacklisted American: A movie about the dark side of Planned Parenthood
Burning witches: What Hollywood now routinely tries
to do to conservatives.
Blacklists are back and Hollywood’s got ’em: When long time Hollywood filmmakers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman decided to make the film Unplanned, telling the story of a woman who went from being Planned Parenthood clinic director supporting abortion to an avid advocate for the unborn, they did so under assumed names, and discovered themselves fighting an aggressive effort both in Hollywood and in social media to suppress the film once released.
Multiple cable networks, such as Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, USA Network, Food Network, The Travel Channel, refused to carry commercials promoting the film. Multiple theater owners received death threats and harassment prior to screenings, with a few cancelling the screenings out of fear for themselves and their families.
And then there was the usual Twitter censorship.
» Read more
Burning witches: What Hollywood now routinely tries
to do to conservatives.
Blacklists are back and Hollywood’s got ’em: When long time Hollywood filmmakers Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman decided to make the film Unplanned, telling the story of a woman who went from being Planned Parenthood clinic director supporting abortion to an avid advocate for the unborn, they did so under assumed names, and discovered themselves fighting an aggressive effort both in Hollywood and in social media to suppress the film once released.
Multiple cable networks, such as Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, USA Network, Food Network, The Travel Channel, refused to carry commercials promoting the film. Multiple theater owners received death threats and harassment prior to screenings, with a few cancelling the screenings out of fear for themselves and their families.
And then there was the usual Twitter censorship.
» Read more
Today’s blacklisted American: Bi-racial make-up artist fired for singing a rap song as requested by black actor
They’re coming for you next: An experienced bi-racial make-up artist was immediately fired from a new Amazon television project for simply singing a rap song — with the black actress who had suggested it and had joined in — that happened to contain the evil N-word that must never be spoken.
Earlier this month, Page Six reported that the artist in question was canned from the “Untitled Tracy Oliver Project” — the new show from the “Girls Trip” creator dubbed the “Black Sex and the City” — for allegedly saying the N-word repeatedly in front of one of the show’s lead actresses, while singing along with a rap song. (We know both the name of the actress and the makeup artist, but we aren’t going to print them due to the sensitivity of the situation. The makeup artist is a veteran of many major TV shows and movies.)
Now Page Six is told that her peers are outraged that the artist was fired for using the word — especially, we’re told, because the makeup artist is biracial.
Her union has done nothing to help this artist, though it graciously decided not to pursue charges against her. How nice of them.
I also do not have much respect for the so-called outrage of the artist’s “peers.” They only care because of her race. If the artist had been white and done the same, inspired by the black artist, I don’t believe they’d care at all. In the modern leftist culture that these people are seeped in the only thing that matters is race. If you have the right minority race, you can do no wrong. If you don’t, your rights are forfeit, and instead you must bow like a slave to that culture.
This is also par for the course for Amazon, which is enthusiastically embracing blackballing for petty and political reasons, almost always against conservatives or anyone who criticizes their leftist racist identity politics.
They’re coming for you next: An experienced bi-racial make-up artist was immediately fired from a new Amazon television project for simply singing a rap song — with the black actress who had suggested it and had joined in — that happened to contain the evil N-word that must never be spoken.
Earlier this month, Page Six reported that the artist in question was canned from the “Untitled Tracy Oliver Project” — the new show from the “Girls Trip” creator dubbed the “Black Sex and the City” — for allegedly saying the N-word repeatedly in front of one of the show’s lead actresses, while singing along with a rap song. (We know both the name of the actress and the makeup artist, but we aren’t going to print them due to the sensitivity of the situation. The makeup artist is a veteran of many major TV shows and movies.)
Now Page Six is told that her peers are outraged that the artist was fired for using the word — especially, we’re told, because the makeup artist is biracial.
Her union has done nothing to help this artist, though it graciously decided not to pursue charges against her. How nice of them.
I also do not have much respect for the so-called outrage of the artist’s “peers.” They only care because of her race. If the artist had been white and done the same, inspired by the black artist, I don’t believe they’d care at all. In the modern leftist culture that these people are seeped in the only thing that matters is race. If you have the right minority race, you can do no wrong. If you don’t, your rights are forfeit, and instead you must bow like a slave to that culture.
This is also par for the course for Amazon, which is enthusiastically embracing blackballing for petty and political reasons, almost always against conservatives or anyone who criticizes their leftist racist identity politics.
Robots
An evening pause: This sequence from the animated film Robots (2005) is a very typical scene from almost every modern Hollywood film, whether real or animated (though the difference is getting harder to see as they put more and more CGI in every film). Regardless, it is fun, and takes the idea of a Rube Goldberg device to a very strange extreme.
Hat tip Bob Robert.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World – Then & Now
An evening pause: A fun look at the outdoor locations shot for the 1963 movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World and how they look today. It is actually surprising how little change has occurred at so many of these places.
Hat tip Wayne Devette.
Cagney & Hope – Dance routine
An evening pause: From the 1955 film, The Seven Little Foys, with Bob Hope playing Eddie Foy, and James Cagney reprising the role of George M. Cohen, first played by him in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
Hat tip Thomas Keener.
Eleanor Powell & Buddy Rich – I’ll Take Tallulah
An evening pause: Actually, the song is the least interesting thing about this dance number from Ship Ahoy (1942). Stick with it to see the dance interplay between dancer Powell and drummer Rich.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Paul Robeson – Ol’ Man River
An evening pause: From the 1936 movie adaptation of the Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein Broadway musical Showboat. While some of the visuals are a bit overstated and feel a bit preachy, this is still the best movie version of this song I have seen. Rather than strut about with big visuals, the film focuses on Robeson, who sings the song introspectively, as if it is something he is thinking.
A bit of trivia: The film’s director was James Whale, the man who made the 1935 classic The Bride of Frankenstein.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Buddy Ebsen – I’m nuts about you
An evening pause: Ebsen is joined by Eleanor Powell, Jimmy Stewart, Una Merkel and Sid Silvers in this dance number from the 1936 film, Born to Dance.
Ebsen is remembered most for playing Jed Clampett in the tv comedy series, The Beverley Hillbillies, but he started out as a dancer in movies.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers – Jumpin Jive
An evening pause: The dancing here is as good if not better than anything you will see in an Astaire & Rogers movie.
Hat tip Thomas Biggar.
Harpo Marx – Swanee River
Armstrong filmmakers purposely obscured American flag
The filmmakers for the Neil Armstrong biography film, First Man, made a conscious decision to hide or obscure the American flag in certain situations.
This new information has been provided to me by a Washington consultant who, because of his own outrage over their decision to not show the planting of the American flag during the lunar landing, had been given the opportunity to see selected clips from the movie as well as ask questions to the production team.
According to that meeting, he learned that they had consciously made the decision to either reposition or remove American flags from the blue flight suits that the astronauts wore from day to day so that it would not be visible. The image on the right, from the movie, illustrates this, as the American flag was almost always sewn into the upper left shoulder of these suits.
The filmmakers also purposely repositioned the flag or filmed angles for many scenes that acted to obscure the flag on the astronauts’ white pressure suits.
The reasons the filmmakers gave for doing this was to enhance their foreign ticket sales.
To this I say, baloney. They might have had this financial excuse, but I think this holds little or no weight. By willingly admitting that they hid the flag in this petty way they have confirmed their political agenda, their desire to convince the world that this mission was not an American achievement but a “human achievement.” Both the film’s Canadian star as well as its director have made it clear they have a globalist vision of the Apollo program, and wanted to spread the credit of its achievement to all humanity. Consciously hiding the flag in this small-minded manner demonstrates their political motives.
Moreover, even though the director, Damien Chazelle, might have wanted to focus on “Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours,” removing or obscuring icons of the United States serves no purpose other than to remove the United States from this decidedly American moment. Showing the flag on the flightsuits and pressure suits does not make this a jingoistic pro-American propaganda film. Nor does it do anything to prevent Chazelle from telling Neil Armstrong’s personal story. In fact, if anything, hiding the flag detracts from that goal, as Armstrong was very much doing this for his country (as numerous people who knew him have said), and to de-emphasize that reality is to rewrite history in a very dishonest way.
The pettiness of this entire action further outrages me. There is no doubt that sales would not have suffered in foreign countries, in the slightest, had the American flag been left where it belonged on these suits, and had been shown appropriately in other scenes. It accomplishes nothing positive for the film. What it does do is tell us what these Hollywood “artists” think of America.
So that there is no misunderstanding, I must add that neither my source nor I have as yet seen the entire film. It is still possible that these criticisms are unfair, and that the filmmakers might have shown the American flag appropriately in other scenes, and might even have shown it prominently.
Nonetheless, what we now know is that these filmmakers did made a conscious effort to rewrite history so that the United States no longer appeared as prominent in these events as it should have. Once again, it appears to me that these Hollywood filmmakers did this to express their disdain, almost hatred, of the United States and all that it stands for.
For this fact alone I think Americans should reconsider spending any of their hard-earned money on seeing this propaganda piece.
Director of Neil Armstrong movie responds to flag critics
The director of the movie about Neil Armstrong, First Man, has issued a statement about criticism the movie is getting for not showing a scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag on the Moon.
Below is Damien Chazelle’s statement in its entirety:
In “First Man” I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments of the Apollo 11 lunar EVA that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon — particularly Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.
I wanted the primary focus in that scene to be on Neil’s solitary moments on the moon — his point of view as he first exited the LEM, his time spent at Little West Crater, the memories that may have crossed his mind during his lunar EVA. This was a feat beyond imagination; it was truly a giant leap for mankind. This film is about one of the most extraordinary accomplishments not only in American history, but in human history. My hope is that by digging under the surface and humanizing the icon, we can better understand just how difficult, audacious and heroic this moment really was. [emphasis mine]
That he did show the American flag on the Moon is encouraging to me, and makes me think that the criticisms about this issue being leveled at the film, including mine, are possibly unfair.
At the same time, I have witnessed too often the desire of Hollywood to denigrate the United States, so I remain suspicious. Getting eyes on the film to get another perspective would I think be very helpful. I might myself have to view it to give my own perspective.
The director of the movie about Neil Armstrong, First Man, has issued a statement about criticism the movie is getting for not showing a scene of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag on the Moon.
Below is Damien Chazelle’s statement in its entirety:
In “First Man” I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments of the Apollo 11 lunar EVA that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of America’s mission to the moon — particularly Neil Armstrong’s personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.
I wanted the primary focus in that scene to be on Neil’s solitary moments on the moon — his point of view as he first exited the LEM, his time spent at Little West Crater, the memories that may have crossed his mind during his lunar EVA. This was a feat beyond imagination; it was truly a giant leap for mankind. This film is about one of the most extraordinary accomplishments not only in American history, but in human history. My hope is that by digging under the surface and humanizing the icon, we can better understand just how difficult, audacious and heroic this moment really was. [emphasis mine]
That he did show the American flag on the Moon is encouraging to me, and makes me think that the criticisms about this issue being leveled at the film, including mine, are possibly unfair.
At the same time, I have witnessed too often the desire of Hollywood to denigrate the United States, so I remain suspicious. Getting eyes on the film to get another perspective would I think be very helpful. I might myself have to view it to give my own perspective.
What Happened to James Garner?
An evening pause: I previously posted a biography of Robert Mitchum by this same filmographer. This one, about James Garner, is equally worth a viewing. And like the Mitchum biography, it shows how humble and ordinary a man Garner was.
Hat tip Willi Kusche.
Hollywood’s worst summer box office in 25 years
Link here. The numbers and details are truly horrifying:
Even before this catastrophic Labor Day weekend is factored in (more on this below), the domestic 2017 box office is in hideous shape. This year is –6.3% behind 2016 and continues to fall behind 2015, 2013, and 2012.
If you figure in inflation, those numbers are even worse. For example, in 2012 the average ticket cost $7.96. Today it is almost a full dollar more at $8.89. Yeah, things are that bad and will look even worse on Tuesday.
With no apparent faith in their own product, this is the first Labor Day in 25 years where a new title has not been released on more than 1,000 screens. Over this weekend last year, the box office hauled in nearly $130 million. This year will do about a third of that. Summer attendance is at a 25-year low. The summer box office is down a whopping –16% compared to 2016.
The author provides some cogent analysis, all of which suggests things are going to get far worse for Hollywood in the coming years. The essence of the problem comes back to the same intellectual bubble that the elitists in Washington remain trapped in: A refusal to cater to the interests of their customers.
Unfortunately, this is the times in which we live. The dominate intellectual culture today is intellectually dishonest. The public has been making choices it disagrees with, and it continues to show an utter unwillingness to honestly assess those choices and figure out why. Instead, that culture, almost entirely leftwing and liberal in make-up, has decided that such dissent can only be the work of evil racists, an absurd conclusion that only serves to alienate that bankrupt intellectual culture more from the general public that is rejecting it.
Link here. The numbers and details are truly horrifying:
Even before this catastrophic Labor Day weekend is factored in (more on this below), the domestic 2017 box office is in hideous shape. This year is –6.3% behind 2016 and continues to fall behind 2015, 2013, and 2012.
If you figure in inflation, those numbers are even worse. For example, in 2012 the average ticket cost $7.96. Today it is almost a full dollar more at $8.89. Yeah, things are that bad and will look even worse on Tuesday.
With no apparent faith in their own product, this is the first Labor Day in 25 years where a new title has not been released on more than 1,000 screens. Over this weekend last year, the box office hauled in nearly $130 million. This year will do about a third of that. Summer attendance is at a 25-year low. The summer box office is down a whopping –16% compared to 2016.
The author provides some cogent analysis, all of which suggests things are going to get far worse for Hollywood in the coming years. The essence of the problem comes back to the same intellectual bubble that the elitists in Washington remain trapped in: A refusal to cater to the interests of their customers.
Unfortunately, this is the times in which we live. The dominate intellectual culture today is intellectually dishonest. The public has been making choices it disagrees with, and it continues to show an utter unwillingness to honestly assess those choices and figure out why. Instead, that culture, almost entirely leftwing and liberal in make-up, has decided that such dissent can only be the work of evil racists, an absurd conclusion that only serves to alienate that bankrupt intellectual culture more from the general public that is rejecting it.
Baby it’s cold outside
An evening pause: From the 1949 musical comedy Neptune’s Daughter, with Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalbán, Red Skelton, and Betty Garrett.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson
Martin Brest – Hot Tomorrows
An evening pause: Hat tip again to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime. As Phil wrote to me, this scene is “the sensational finale from Martin Brest’s NYU student film, Hot Tomorrows. Brest, who went on to direct Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman, broke all the rules in scrounging every resource he could find to make this 73-minute tragi-comic riff on the subject of death.”
Makes for a perfect Halloween evening pause.
An aside: Long ago, when I was in the movie business, I worked with many of the people who helped Brest make this film, and can say without doubt that he scored the best crew one could imagine finding for a student production.
Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters – You Don’t Have to Know the Language
An evening pause: From The Road to Rio (1947), with a little help from Bob Hope.
Hat tip again to Phil Berardelli, author of Phil’s Favorite 500: Loves of a Moviegoing Lifetime, which I have found to be a great reference for finding the best films from movie history.