He’s back….and he’s glad he is….

TCM website kept me up for many hours and taping  a lot…..first…my beloved Tarzan marathon.  I spent many, many Saturday matinees at the Harris Theater in Tarentum, PA watching and loving the Tarzan films.  They were always fun and exciting for me….saw all the 40’s Weissmuller films and some of the later ones.   Maureen O’Sullivan was so lovely and I also enjoyed Brenda Joyce…who didn’t love Boy, an amazing Johnny Sheffield and last but most certainly not least…Cheetah.  Plus there were always wonderful supporting casts. 

The next day was Marilyn and although I have most of films on DVD, I watched the Monroe Magic and it was magic…Bus Stop, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Niagara, Some Like It Hot, Seven Year and The Sleeping Prince. 

When I was a cabdriver here in Los Angeles (can U believe that????) The dispatcher sent me to Hecht, Hill & Lancaster, and a major production company in Beverly Hills (Hill was Rita Hayworth’s husband) and Lancaster was Burt)   It was around 7 PM and no one was in the lobby and as I walked up the staircase,   wondered who it would be, Hecht…Hill or Lancaster?  I stuck my head in the doorway and asked “Did somebody called a cab??”  You can only imagine my surprise when Laurence Olivier turned around and said, I did   the gentleman with him turned out to be Terrance Rattigan, the playwright who wrote The Sleeping Prince.  They gave me the address and we entered the cab.   I couldn’t resist. I had to ask why they had changed the title to The Prince and the Showgirl.    Sir Laurence said “Well dear boy, seems that the powers that be at Warner Brothers had decided that it was much more marketable film title” and he winked at me…yes, he did…

And just when  I thought it couldn’t get any better…we pulled up at the address and British fiilm star Kay Kendall (one of my favorites) came out of the house to greet them!  All  I needed was for Sexy Rexy to join her!  (He didn’t)

The World of Television According to McInnes

THE YOUNG & RESTLESS....Don't which writer has a sense of humor but the stuff on "Father Knows Best", the house, etc. was a stroke of genius. It is so ripe for daytime to throw some humor into the dreary soaps and having ELINOR DONAHUE (Betty Anderson) .. from original FKB as the judge was joyous. Wasn't Elinor's first soap, she appeared on DOOL as Kate Honeycutt (1984-1986). Also trippy was an episode with all the ladies of Genoa City in a spa sequence right of the classic film, THE WOMEN (1939). The classic one, not the piece of junk that came out last year. You know, MGM itself tried to update and musicalize it as "THE OPPOSITE SEX'with JUNE ALLYSON, ANN SHERIDAN, ANN MILLER, ETC. and then in the infinite wisdom of producers who take a great film and then change it, added men. The total charm of THE WOMEN is that you never see the men. Anyway, my adored ladies of GC were terrific and non-restrained. A lot of fun to watch. And I watched it three times.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES.....Did you notice the nun nurse, Sister Anne on DOOL? Look familiar??? She's EILEEN BARNETT who was Stephanie Wooddruff (1978-1980) She's also listed Brooke Hamilton for the same time period. She was killed off in a red convertible and afterwards in her nightclub act (she's an outstanding singer) included a song written by Billy Barnes warning actresses not to ever get into a red convertible cuz that's the car of death on soaps.l Very clever!

Let's Soap Talk

Daytime Emmies....DOUG DAVIDSON was soooo robbed, It was nice to see the two ATWT actors being honored. Watched Young & Preposterous & Bold & Stupid today. They wonder why soaps are going down the tubes. The powers that be seem to want to make soap watchers total jerks. No one can believe these storylines. Do the "writers" realize how much damage they do to actors. It's painful to see KKL have to say those lines and for Flannery to act like such a stupid bitch and wonder who would go to Taylor for advice and help for mental health when she doesn't even recognize it in her own daughter. Of course mental health takes beating on Y&P, what kind of a hospital has so many ways for patients to escape and good old Adam knows them all ! Kathryn Hayes is supposed to be blessed by getting 5 appearances a year! Do these fools realize that we grew up watching soaps and enjoyed all the age groups because we entered each category along with the actors.? Young, young, boring! Hope (B&B) turns into a shrew, I understand her pain but her mean, mean comments to her mother. Mean. Meanwhile kudos to DOOL and Corday for bringing back so many oldies but goodies. What a pleasure to see faves making a return, Alice's funeral was terrific. Wish some of them would come back and stay. Maggie (the magnificent Suzanne Rogers) is still knocking me out with her multi colored performance and she should have been nominated for an Emmy and won it. Whew...do I feel better. Love to hear your comments.
The Bubble King has to go to bed!

Oscar Noir at the Academy

Do not...I repeat do not miss the exciting Oscar Noir series at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences honoring 1940's Writing Nominees from Hollywood's Dark Side.


Are you ready? May 17 at 7 PM, Shadow of a Doubt; May 24, Laura; June 7, Double Indemnity; June 14, Mildred Pierce; June 21, The Killers; June 28, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers; July 12, The Dark Mirror; July 19, The Blue Dahlia; July 26, The Stranger;
August 2, Body and Soul; August 9, Crossfire; August 16, A Double Life; August 23, Kiss of Death and August 30, White Heat. Wow, is that a lineup???

I saw the first one last week, The Maltese Falcon.....great fun. And starting this Monday, they will be showing a chapter a week of the 1941 serial, Captain Marvel plus cartoons of the period. Randy, Haberkamp, you've done it again...put together a dynamite 15 weeks of movie memories. Thanks.
Check the Academy website for more info. Hurry some of them are selling out already.

I Told You So

I wrote this and posted it on Twitter April 15, 2009 after witnesssing Doug Davidson's reaction when Nikki dumped him.

"Doug Davidson for President! Easily one of the great soap performances of all time! Now we have to wait a year for his Emmy nomination!"

Well, the waiting is over.....Doug Davidson nominated for Best Actor in a Daytime Drama...hip..hip...hooray!

His subsequent scenes concerning Patty and his ungoing anguish are the stuff that dreams are made of for actor and he came through each time. The pain in his eyes said it all.

Bravo Doug! And good luck!

This N That

Biggest surprise of Dancing With The Stars???? Pamela Anderson, basically has been a joke for years, her appearance on this dyno show has shown her to be funny, an interesting actress to watch and quite delightful. This show is amazing, not only do I enjoy it a lot but it has revitalized careers and shown us a completely side of their stars!! Brava Pamela! With the proper role, she may join the ranks of respected actresses. Now if DWTS would remember that is called Dancing with the Stars (STARS) and that there must be some American dancers and judges out there! And it would be nice to not just acknowledge the wonderful singers but introduce them sometimes. Assuming that they have names and it can't take that long.

GLEE has knocked me out. Yes, I finallly watched it and I'm totally in love with the entire show. My loss of GLEE virginity was during the recent epiosode with Kristin Chenowith in which they did a killer version of "A House is not A Home". It's not a show with rock and now music but also a trip down memory lane when music was music and they even had lyrics, what a concept! DO NOT MISS GLEE! I promised myself that I would watch three episodes and then decide whether it was worthwhile. Well, Blanche one episode did the trick.

Reverend David Walker of The Hollywood Church of Religious Science has made his transition and he will be sorely missed. One of the most beloved men that I know and easily one of the funniest made church-going a most amusing as well as informative experience. I knew him for over 30 years, meeting him when he was a show singer in Las Vegas. He brought that Vegas touch to the chapel and it worked. Bless you, David and thanks for the fun memories!!

Well I'm back and it won't be another year before I continue this blog thing.
Until next time, here's looking at you, sweetheart