Merv and Judy Head New Get-TV Variety Night

Get-TV unveiled yesterday a new Monday night variety show line-up that kicks off October 12th with The Judy Garland Show at 8pm (ET ), Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey on Broadway at 9pm, and The Merv Griffin Show at 10pm. 

The Judy Garland Show originally aired in 1963 on CBS, but due to stiff competition from the popular Bonanza western series on NBC, it was canceled after its first season. GetTV will be airing all 26 of these episodes which featured guest stars such as Barbara Streisand, Diahann Carroll, Mel Torme, Bobby Darin, Ethel Merman, June Allyson and Jack Jones. 

In the 9pm time-slot will be a rotating variety program which may include classic CBS musical specials, or episodes from the Andy Williams, Dionne Warwick or Jim Nabors show. 

And last, but certainly not least, The Merv Griffin Show returns! To celebrate Merv's 50th anniversary ( the famed talk show host launched his series in the spring of 1965 ) Get-TV will feature a selection of 50 hand-picked episodes with such guest stars as Robert F. Kennedy, Carl Reiner, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., George Carlin, the Everly Brothers, Totie Fields and Jayne Mansfield. The episodes were originally an hour-and-a-half in length, but they will be trimmed down to one hour. 

Well, there you have it folks. It's a winning Fall line-up, and one that will finally rival Dancing with the Stars! 

The Rogues of Sherwood Forest ( 1950 )

After the box-office success of Warner Brother's The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938, a number of studios tried to replicate the appeal of the original by creating their own versions of the Robin Hood legends with such films as The Bandit of Sherwood Forest ( 1946 ), The Prince of Thieves ( 1948 ), The Story of Robin Hood ( 1952 ), The Men of Sherwood Forest ( 1954 ), and The Sword of Sherwood Forest ( 1960 ).

Most of these films were just standard fare, but one Columbia Pictures production stood out as a fitting sequel to ( or rather, a replica of ) The Adventures of Robin Hood, it was The Rogues of Sherwood Forest released in 1950. John Derek may not have had the charisma of Errol Flynn but he portrayed the character with a vigor suitable to the son of that knavish hero of yor. 

The Rogues of Sherwood Forest is set in a post-King Richard England. With his brother dead, Prince John ( George MacReady ) - now in his 50s - takes control of the throne once again and he hasn't lost any of his youthful zest for bloodshed and tyranny. Aghast at the injustice of this malicious monarch is Robin, Earl of Huntington, son of the famous Robin Hood, who has also since passed on. He rallies up some of his father's old cronies - including Little John, Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet - and gathers a fresh band of outlaws to wage woodland war on Prince John and his cohorts. 

Alan Hale costars as Little John in his final film role ( and his third outing as the stout comrade ). The lovely Diana Lynn portrays Lady Marianne ( not Marion, but awfully close ) with the now-retired merry men of the greenwood being played by Billy House ( Friar Tuck ), Billy Bevan ( Will Scarlet ), and Lester Matthews ( Allen-a-Dale ). 

Gordon Douglas ( director of the Our Gang shorts ) takes the helm of this rousing Technicolor swashbuckler, which features some stunning cinematography ( by Charles Lawton Jr. ) and beautiful matte-painted backdrops. 

While many of the other Robin Hood remakes/sequels are worth a gander at, we believe The Rogues of Sherwood Forest boasts the best cast, filming, and script, which comes as no surprise since screenwriter George Bruce was no stranger to writing swashbucklers. Some of his previous films included The Man in the Iron Mask ( 1939 ), The Son of Monte Cristo ( 1940 ), and The Corsican Brothers ( 1941 ).

Hollywood Home Tour - Fredric March

It's been awhile since the Hollywood Home Tour bus last passed by any celebrity homes, but Al is here today to introduce you to the latest home you will see : 

1065 Ridgedale Drive, Bel-Air

"Hi folks! It's Al here, welcoming you back to the Hollywood Home Tour bus. We're heading away from Bette Davis' home to take a gander at one of the truly legendary Bel-Air structures. 

"Back in 1932, Fredric March and his wife Florence Eldridge, commissioned architect Wallace Neff to design a spacious home for the couple to reside in while in Hollywood making films. What resulted was a 12,000 square foot French Normandy estate set in beautiful Bel-Air, a rural area at the time. 

"Let me stop the bus so that you can take pictures. Here it is on your right. Construction on the home began in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. As one of the biggest stars of the era, March had his home built as extravagantly as one would expect of a star. There were twenty-two rooms, eleven bathrooms, an octagonal dovecote tower, a private screening room, his-and-her living rooms, a wine cellar, an enormous swimming pool and, of course, the prerequisite tennis courts. 

"Wallace Neff had also designed Pickfair - the home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford - as well as homes for Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, and Charlie Chaplin. He is often referred to as the Architect of Hollywood's Golden Age so it is no wonder that Fredric March chose him to design his residence.

"If you take a glance across the street you can see Frank Morgan's beautiful home. We'll get a better look at that house a little later in the tour."

Up-to-Date Info : Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston purchased the house in 2001 for $13 million, spent a tidy sum renovating it, and then sold it for $28 million five years later. Click here to see pictures of the March house when it was under construction.

Moments of Intuition from Seven Actresses - Part Three

Doris Day

When I was 12, I was bedridden for weeks because an accident had injured my legs and both of them were in heavy plaster casts. One morning, finally, the doctor had come to my hospital room and very carefully removed them. This was a happy day for me, for my dancing lessons had been long neglected, and I knew that if I was ever to become a professional dancer, I'd have to practice twice as hard now. 

The doctor usually had a poker face - you could never tell what he was thinking - but this time his look frightened me. When they had finished removing the plaster, they took me to the X-ray room. After they made the films, they brought me back to my room and left me alone. About half an hour later, the doctor and my mother came in. Mom was trying desperately to be cheerful. So was the doctor. He took my foot, raised it gently and said, "Wiggle your toes, Doris." I tried as hard as I could, but my toes didn't move. Then the doctor did something to the soles of my feet and said, "Did you feel that, Doris?" I just stared at him and shook m head. I was never so scared in my life. The doctor looked at my mother. Mom sensed the verdict. She started to cry. It was strange, but the moment I saw the first tear in her eye, I wasn't afraid any more. I said, "Don't cry, Mom. I'll be all right." Then the doctor said, "I'm sorry, Doris, you shouldn't hope. I'm afraid you won't walk any more."

But, intuitively, I knew the doctor had made a mistake. 

Six weeks later, I walked again. 

Natalie Wood

The one time that intuition hit me the hardest was on an evening in September, 1955. Nick Adams, Sal Mineo, Richard Davalos, Mrs. Davalos and I were having dinner at a Chinese restaurant in New York City. I guess we were the happiest group in the place. Nick and Sal started us laughing while we were eating wonton soup and kept us in stitches all through the egg rolls, chop suey and fortune cookies. After we finished dinner, we were still laughing. I don't remember at what. 

Suddenly, although until then I wasn't concerned at all, I had to know what time it was. I stopped laughing and asked Sal to let me see his watch. He was talking and didn't hear me. I had spoken in a low voice. Then I said, "Sal, Sal, what time is it?" I felt as if I were dreaming. Sal checked his watch and said, "It's nine thirty-one, Nat. Why?"

I said, "I don't know, but I think I'm going to cry." For no reason I could understand, my whole being was swept by a wave of almost unbearable sadness. It only lasted for an instant. Then I told the others to forget it. 

The next day, Nick told me that Jimmy Dean had been killed in an auto accident in California the night before. 

It wasn't until days later that I realized that Jimmy's death had occurred at about 5:30pm in California. At that moment, because of the difference in time zones across the states, it was 9:30pm in New York. 

This post is the final part of our republication of the 1957 Motion Picture magazine article that featured seven actresses sharing stories of moments of intuition. We hope you enjoyed reading it. Please be sure to check out the first post and the second part here! 

The Magnificent Dope ( 1942 )

"There's fun to be had in Dope!"

This was not the original tagline for The Magnificent Dope ( the Hayes Code would have never approved of that one! ), but it could very well have worked for the film is indeed fraught with humor. 

Henry Fonda stars as Tad Page, a country yokel selected by Dwight Dawson ( Don Ameche ) and his marketing manager/fiancee ( Lynn Bari ) as the "Laziest Man in America" for their advertising campaign. Dawson heads up the Dwight Dawson Institute, a self-improvement school for success that is floundering for lack of new students and subscribers to their correspondence courses. Dawson and his fiancee hit upon the idea of holding a contest to find the most complete failure in the country with the purpose of demonstrating that if the laziest man in America can take the Dawson course and find success in life, you can too. Only the bumpkin they selected has no interest in taking the Dawson course.....but plenty of interest in Dawson's fiancee! 

The Magnificent Dope was a mild hit upon its release in July of 1942, but today it has been almost completely forgotten, in spite of its many amusing scenes. Had the film been under Frank Capra or George Steven's direction it may have become a memorable classic, but as it is, this Dope could have been made more magnificent. Namely, George Seaton's screenplay - from a story by Joseph Schrank - would have benefited from a subtler touch. 

Tad Page is a lazy country boy and his philosophy of enjoying life to its fullest should have been demonstrated rather than described. 

"I haven't any respect for a man who was born lazy; it took me a long time to get where I am"

In You Can't Take it With You ( 1938 ) the Sycamore family were good honest simple folk, living life the way they wanted and accepting others who lived life differently, but they never preached their lifestyle unto others. In The Magnificent Dope, Tad Page openly promotes his lazy way of living to every soul he meets, professing that it was a skill he spent years improving upon. At first, you assume that Tad and Dwight are two characters with opposite natures, but upon closer inspection they are very similar - they are both promoters. Dwight promotes hard work and a firm handshake as the ingredients to success, while Tad promotes plenty of rural inertia and fishing as the secrets to a happy life. However, the Green Mountain hayseed holds the upper hand when it comes to natural public speaking. In fact, the Dawson Institute could take a lesson or two from Tad on the power of persuasion!

"This dope," some one discovers, "isn't a failure. He's the happiest man in the world." 

However, he puts his happiness and his philosophy of life in jeopardy when he falls in love with Dawson's fiancee, proving that even the Laziest Man in America will work when the stakes are high enough. 

The premise of The Magnificent Dope is excellent and a strong leading and supporting cast ( Edward Everett Horton, George Barbier, Frank Orth ) make it an A-class picture, but its script and Walter Lang's direction reduce it to secondary fare. As Frank Capra once said, "If you want to send a message, try Western Union". For this film, subtlety would have been the key to success. 

The Paramount Vault on Youtube

Ever since Warner Brothers released rarities from their vaults in their popular print-on-demand Warner Archive DVD-R series, other film studios have followed suit. Currently there is the Sony Pictures' Columbia Classics, MGM Classic Collection, the 20th Century Fox Cinema Archives, Paramount Vault and the Universal Vault Series. So far none have come close to the amount of films that Warner Archives have been releasing, nor the quality, but the Paramount Vault is penetrating a new method of making their archives accessible to the public. 

Currently they offer a number of great Paramount classics, available in their entirety, on Youtube.....and get this, they are absolutely free to watch! How long each of these films remain on Youtube we are unsure of, but at the moment most of the titles have been online for several months already. 

Many of the films date from the 1970s-1990s, but there is quite a nice selection of classics among them too, including these films ( * represents our viewing recommendations ) : 

• *The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
• *King Solomon's Mines
• Paris When it Sizzles
• The Devil and Miss Jones
• No Man of Her Own
• Casanova's Big Night
• *Here Comes the Groom
• A Touch of Larceny
• The Strange Love of Martha Ivers 
  
• *Omar Khayyam
• *Elephant Walk
• The Mountain
• *On the Double
• Dear Brat
• Artists and Models
• The Stooge
• Crack in the World
• Dark City 
• The Colossus of New York
• My Six Loves
• The Fighting Kentuckian
• A Girl Named Tamiko
• Escape from Zahrain
• Quebec
• King Creole
• *The World of Suzie Wong

Click here to check out the official Paramount Vault channel on Youtube and start watching!

Bill Walsh - Disney Legend

Bill Walsh was a prolific screenwriter and producer at Walt Disney Studios and his name is probably very familiar to Disney fans because it appeared on the credits of just about every live-action film the Studio made during the 1960s. Yes, this man was busy, busy, busy! And oddly enough, quantity had no effect on quality, nor on box-office receipts….Bill was one of the most successful producers in Hollywood and each and every one of his releases were practically guaranteed “winners”. 

In 1973 Variety magazine listed seven of his features as all-time box office champions. Quite an impressive record. Some of these films were The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, Mary Poppins, That Darn Cat, The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

“ I don't believe in giving animals ridiculous names. I call him Cosmic Creepers, because that's the name he came with.” – Eglantine Price                                                               Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1971 


                     

Bill Walsh was very close in spirit to Walt Disney and shared all of his ideas of what kind of features and programs the Studio should release. In fact, in 1966, when Walt Disney died, the Studio executives were considering who should replace Disney at the helm and Bill Walsh was the man they selected. He had the experience, the creativity, and the operational know-how to lead the company forward, but Bill liked to work on independent projects and didn’t want to oversee the entire Studio, and so he declined.

But loyal he was to Walt Disney ….he continued to work for the Studio up until his death in 1975, in spite of numerous offers from other Hollywood motion picture studios who wanted a top producer like him on their staff.

" Good night, old woman, I can't hear a word you're saying, but whatever it is, I disagree with you one hundred percent! " - Mr.MacDougall  
                                                                            That Darn Cat 1965

Born in New York City in 1914, Bill was often known as the “Midwesterner” around the Studio because he spent his childhood and teen years in Cincinnati, Ohio and it was there, at the University of Cincinnati, that his love for writing for the stage began.

                     

After college he joined Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay’s theatre company “Tattle Tales” as a rewrite man and gained experience writing and improving on a variety of different script scenarios, from westerns to crime dramas to sophisticated comedies.

Jane – " Wanted: a nanny for two adorable children. "
Mr. Banks – " Adorable? Well, that’s debatable, I must say "

                                                         Mary Poppins 1965

He headed to Hollywood in 1934 and joined a publicity office where he worked writing press releases and copy for advertisements for such company clients as Elizabeth Arden and the Brown Derby. But it was another client, Edgar Bergen, who offered him his big break – an invitation to write gags for his comedy routines. And writing lines for puppets Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snird soon led to writing comic book lines for that nationally famous marsupial Mickey Mouse……because Edgar Bergen just happened to be a good friend of Walt Disney’s. The hand of Fate at work!

He worked for the Studio all through the 1940s and one day in 1950 Walt asked him to write and produce One Hour in Wonderland, Disney’s very first venture into the fledgling medium of Television. As Bill recalled….

"Walt called me into his office and said he'd decided to go into television and I was the guy who was going to do it. I looked stunned and said, "But I don't know anything about television." Walt smiled back at me and said, "That's okay. Nobody does!"

Bill Walsh had a creative way with words and an ingenious talent for dreaming up new and unique ideas. During the 1950s he produced The Mickey Mouse Club ( including its numerous serials of the Hardy Boys and Annette ) and it was he who thought of dividing the show into different “lands” and choosing weekly themes. Also, it was Walsh who came up with the Mickey Mouse ears.

It was in the feature film department though, that he really made his mark, writing and co-scripting over 30 films ….from the very first Davy Crockett film in 1955 to his last motion picture, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing,  released in 1975. 

Twenty years of movie magic with many box office successes in between and each and every one of his films are still a delight to watch.

Moments of Intuition from Seven Actresses - Part Two

Audrey Hepburn

I was engaged. 

I don't think there was a girl in all the world who looked and acted happier than I did. His name was James Hanson and I had met him at a party in England. Love? No woman who ever lived could have been more honestly betrothed to a man. I could not have dreamed of a more perfect match than Jimmy and me. We had picked a beautiful ivy-covered English church for the marriage, and on the third finger of my left hand was the most grand of all engagement rings - mine. I scoured the courtiers of Paris and London for the wedding trousseau which I had pictured in my mind since I was a little girl. I had secured one whole week free from the shooting of Roman Holiday. 

On the evening of my last day's work, I went back to my apartment in Rome and, with a kind of gloating that only a woman can understand, I got out the entire trousseau : the wedding gown, the night gown, the unmentionables, the suits, the shoes, the hats, the hose, the gloves. My little flat looked like a dress shop. Wherever I looked in that room were clothe. I spun around the room in happy pirouettes until I was dizzy with pleasure. 

And then, for no reason at all, I sat down in the middle of the floor and cried. I tried to stop, but I couldn't. The tears poured down my cheeks and as I sobbed, three words kept coming to my mind. This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong. 

At first, I thought I had gone crazy with happiness. Then I looked at the wedding dress and felt nothing. No love, no pleasure, no joy. 

In that split second, a beautiful dream had ended. 

The next day, I talked with Jimmy and told him I couldn't marry him. 

To this day, I do not honestly know what changed my mind. 

***************************************************

Jane Wyman

The time I remember was a beautiful bright, sunny day on the patio of my home. If it hadn't been for the sparrows - well, I get a chill in my heart just thinking about it. 

Maureen, our first baby, was then about seven weeks old. Every morning, I'd bring her out in the bassinet and let her bask in the sun. Then I'd go back into the kitchen to get a napkin full of crumbs for the sparrows. They were a noisy lot and I'd laugh at the way they scrambled and fluttered about trying to get the food. 

It got so that the moment I'd come out on the patio each morning, the sparrows would come seemingly from nowhere and perch patiently on the rose bushes and trees, just waiting for my morning handout. 

On this particular morning, I set Maureen in the sun, as usual. She was gurgling happily, squirming her little body, kicking her legs and waving her arms. I fed the sparrows. Then I leaned back on the redwood chair and closed my eyes. Then sun was warm and soothing and I fell asleep. 

Suddenly, I was awakened by a terrific chirping and flapping of little wings. I opened my eyes and there were sparrows all around me. They'd swoop down close to me, fly over to Maureen's crib, then come back to me. At first, I thought they were trying to peck at me for more food. I was a bit irritated by this and I tried to shoo them away, but they only screeched louder and flapped their wings harder. 

I don't know why, but in that split second I knew something was wrong. Then I realized what the sparrows were trying to tell me. I jumped up and ran to Maureen's crib. She had turned over, and her small face was buried deep in the blanket, which she had worked around her head. She was completely still. Quickly, I picked her up and turned her over. She was limp and there was an unnatural blueness in her white skin. I was terrified. Then Maureen took a big deep breath, as if she were sobbing. 

Pretty soon, she was breathing regularly and opened her eyes and smiled. I hugged her to me as if I had just seen her for the first time. And then I cried. 

After a few minutes, I looked around for those wonderful sparrows. There wasn't one in sight. I waited and waited for them, but they never came back again. 

This post is Part Two of our republication of the 1957 Motion Picture magazine article that featured seven actresses sharing stories of moments of intuition. We hope you enjoyed reading it. Please be sure to check out the first post here and stay tuned for the third part!