A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.
An evening pause: This clip is only one segment from what Johnny Carson himself considered the best Tonight Show of all time. George Gobel comes on last and steals the show. Also, watch Dean Martin closely during the segment.
An evening pause: The Best Years of our Lives (1946).
An evening pause: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film. This short segment near the film’s beginning, showing the family’s arrival in a new home, illustrates Miyazaki’s incredible ability for creating real characters in a real story, even if that story has a fantasy element.
An evening pause: Lawrence of Arabia (1962). One of the greatest epic films ever made. And though the story is heavily dramatized, it captures quite accurately the substance and reality of T.E. Lawrence’s time in the Middle East during World War I. Sadly, I wonder if anything has changed.
An evening pause: Bugs Bunny in Water Water Every Hare. “In my business you meet so many interesting people.”
An evening pause: The Snake Pit (1948). The story of the rescue of an insane woman (played by Olivia de Havilland). This scene expresses the longing for sanity by all the patients in the insane asylum.
An evening pause: The Star Wars trilogy, told in a little over two minutes.
An evening pause: Angel Falls in Venezuela, as filmed by the BBC, with music by John Williams.
An evening pause: From the 1960s Dick van Dyke Show, Laura Petrie (played by Mary Tyler Moore) has revealed to the world the fact that her husband’s boss, television star Alan Brady (played by Carl Reiner), is bald and wears a toupee. The scene in which she tries to apologize to Brady is probably one of television’s funniest scenes.
An evening pause: Bill Staines, singing his lovely song, Sweet Wyoming Home.
An evening pause: Let’s take another hike in a place most people wouldn’t want to go. This time, to Mount Huashan in central China. This is a holy mountain with a temple at the top. To get there you need to climb up a lot of steps along an exposed ridgeline. Eventually, you must also put on a harness and do what is called the plank walk. Enjoy!
An evening pause: An American hymn, How can I keep from singing?
An evening pause: A clip from The Time Machine (1960). Though not a completely accurate adaption, this enchanting film captured the essence of H.G. Wells’ novel. As Wells wrote,
But to me the future is still black and blank — is a vast ignorance, lit at a few casual places by the memory of [the Time Traveler’s] story. And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers — shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle — to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.
An evening pause: The Muppets, again!
An evening pause: A concert performance of Ennio Morricone’s theme from Cinema Paradiso (1988), one of the best films ever made. Even if you don’t speak Italian, see it in Italian with subtitles, rather than the dubbed version.
An evening pause: Daffy-the Commando. From World War II.
An evening pause: Stan Rogers’ classic song, Northwest Passage.
For just one time, I would take the northwest passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea,
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage,
And make a northwest passage to the sea.
An evening pause: I love silly! Here is Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, celebrating Christmas.
An evening pause: Johnny Carson and Doc talk about Thanksgiving.
An evening pause: Forbidden Planet (1956). Almost a half century after its creation, this science fiction film is still one of the best every made. The story is supposingly inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This is also the film that gave Gene Roddenberry his inspiration for Star Trek.
