Happy New Year!

TCM Bob Schedule for January

As always, check your local listings for exact start time in your area!

Saturday, Jan. 17

10 p.m. Earl Of Chicago, The (1939)
A Chicago gangster inherits a British title. Cast: Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen. Dir: Richard Thorpe.

Friday, January 23

7:30 a.m. Last Of Mrs. Cheyney, The (1937)
A chic jewel thief in England falls in love with one of her marks. Cast: Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, William Powell. Dir: Richard Boleslawski.

Merry Christmas!

2009 Calendar - We Need You!

It's time for a new year and that means it's time for the 2009 Robert Montgomery "printable" calendar (the third annual to be specific).

If you have any high-res photos you would like to contribute for the monthly calendar, please leave a comment or contact me via email. More details to come.

The Business of Movies

When I'm not playing blogger, I have a full time job in an office. Sounds exciting, doesn't it. Participating in office politics, managing projects, and turning gray has given me a warped interest in "office" films. Some that come to mind:

Female (1933)
Aside from eating her mates alive, it's awesome to see a female CEO (Ruth Chatterton) in the early 30s. Love the assertiveness.

Mildred Pierce (1945)
Another strong-willed businesswoman, Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) builds up quite the restaurant business only to have murder get in the way. Ok, the murder & business part don't go together (well...), but she has strong management skills.

Executive Suite (1954)
The company president collapses dead and the fun begins. Just adding a dime a year to the dividend...

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
Yes, someone who is no one can become someone in a big company. In this case it's WWW - World Wide Wickets. I just like saying that. In real life, people sing in the office just as often as in this film - but no dancing. Unlike WWW's office, my office is lacking the presence of Robert Q. Lewis.

Office Space (1999)
The king of office movies (where is your TPS report?) If you live your work day in cubicle-land, you can probably recite the lines to this movie. Do you have your red Swingline? Careful with the audio if you have young ears around (or a boss):



Holiday (1938)
Johnny (Cary Grant) wants to "retire" now rather than wait til he gets old. Amen.

Controversy! Censorship! Johnny Carson?

March 1969: Apollo 9 just splashed down, Crossfire is on tonight at 11, and Bob Montgomery seems to be irritating the TV networks again. Boy have times changed.

If anyone has seen copies of Bob on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, please drop me a note.

Kind thanks to 'CM staff researcher' Tracy for digging this up.

(Almost) 20 Actresses Movie Meme

I've been 'smacked' (tagged lovingly) by Raquelle from Out of the Past to list my 20 favorite actresses. I'll tell ya, 20 actors would have been a lot easier, but what's the fun in that? Here it goes:

Joan Crawford


Carole Lombard


Myrna Loy


Rosalind Russell


Missy


Norma Shearer


Jean Arthur


Teresa Wright


Lucille Ball (Trailer brakes first!)


June Allyson


Priscilla Lane


Ruth Hussey

I'm sure as soon as I hit the "post" button I'll realize I forgot someone. Who's next? Laura - have you spilled the beans on your top 20 (or so) yet?

As Seen on Ebay

Yeah, I'm falling into the trap of making posts from ebay auctions. I'll keep my comments to a minimum on that. But I had to laugh out loud when I read the caption on this litho:

Hmm, there has to be a story there...

Van Johnson (1916-2008)

Sigh, he always had a great smile...we'll miss you, Van.

From the Life magazine archives

Resort, Film Set, Prison, Naval Base: The Norconian Resort

Sixty-seven years ago this week, on December 8, 1941, The Norconian Resort in Norco, CA became a United States Naval Hospital. Before it's war service and sad decline, The Norconian was a destination for classic stars and home to a number of movies filmed on the resort grounds.

Born in 1929, and after on-again/off-again operation, the resort lived a short life and closed in 1940. In 1941, the Navy purchased the grounds, later opening it as a hospital the day after Pearl Harbor day. Since then, the grounds have been home to a prison and continue to have a naval presence to this day. And through all of this, original buildings and decor remain, in rough condition, behind a fence.



Laura from dropped me a note the other day about The Norconian's connection to some of Bob's early films, specifically Love in the Rough and Their Own Desire with Norma Shearer. We've talked about Love in the Rough's connection in a past post, but Their Own Desire was news to me. After some research (tough work!), Laura was able to confirm that the pool scenes in Desire match photos of The Norconian's pool, high dive, and bleachers. So much for Lake Michigan!

I am far from an expert on the topic, but these resources can fill you in more:

• Where is this place? Google Maps
  
• Lake Norconian Club Foundation (source of the post's photos)
  
• LA Times article
• The Norconian Resort - Arcadia Publishing

401k vs. Movie Collectibles

Profiles in History has a massive auction coming up Dec. 14 and has posted an ton of really neat (technical term) items for viewing on ebay. I'll tell you, the four drawer metal file cabinets full of stills really has my interest. I'm sure they went through them first to weed out the nice items, but that whole "grab bag" idea gets your imagination going. Shipping will be murder, I'm sure. As hinted to in this post's title, collectibles just might be doing better right now in value than my retirement.

Now it wouldn't be a Classic Montgomery post without mentioning there are some sweet Bob Montgomery photos up for sale. In addition to Hurrell portraits, stills from films such as No More Ladies, Untamed, Letty Lynton, When Ladies Meet, and Our Blushing Brides, Faithless are up for grabs.

If you go digging, I recommend checking out ebay and also Profile's Web site at ProfilesInHistory.com. I've noticed for some lots, additional or different photos are on their Web site vs. ebay (and vice versa).

Oh, and one more hint, hunters. Search for film titles or co-stars to your fav. films - you'll find more.

Joan representing fangirls worldwide

A Hurrell from Faithless (also a Picture in Picture topic)

Just Joan

Photo Friday: Life With Cotten

Today's Photo Friday takes a slightly different slant, highlighting photos from the Life magazine collection. The below are from the excellent Shadow of a Doubt.

If I may add a small editorial comment, how in the world did Joe get bumped from the cover of TCM's Dec. magazine for Herbie the Love Bug?

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Holiday Leftovers

Leftovers - in the style of Larry King's ol' blurby column:

Watched Hollywood Party: Jimmy Durante is half naked and overly hairy (gah). Thank goodness the many cameos and "pre-codeness" of the film make up for that image. Another insanely catchy tune and a brief appearance by Robert Young make up for Jimmy's Schnarzan (I mean that in a loving way).



Magnificent Obsession is coming out on Criterion Collection DVD in January - both the Rock Hudson and Robert Taylor versions. I've only seen Rock's version and am inexplicably hooked.

Caught a documentary on Irving Thalberg on the History channel the other day. Very interesting - I need to find a good book on him now. I was surprised that in the 30 minutes I watched, there was no film or audio of him - just stills floating by.

Belated birthday wishes to Hoagy Carmichael (Nov. 22). Ahh, Stardust.


The current run of The Name's The Same ends this week. Withdrawal will be setting in, although not for Clifton Fadiman.

One of Lifetime's many channels had White Christmas in HD over the weekend. All queued up and ready on my DVR.

And on this day in history in 1934, Benny Goodman debuted on radio. Ahh, Moonglow...