A very illuminating weekend, Eve! Thanks so much for coming over!

Okay, onward: Considering everything John Gilbert got in his second contract, did he have his own "unit" at MGM? I mean in a similar way that George Arliss and Richard Barthelmess had their own units at Warner Brothers at the same time. He seemed to be very "hands on" with his la...

Before I ask my next question, I wanted to pass on this poem by Baron Ireland that I found in the June 28, 1928 issue of Life : THE GREAT LOVER Oh, some like Charlie Chaplin And some like Harold Lloyd And some there are who think no star Shines bright as William Boyd. But the best of 'em all's John ...

Good morning, Ms. Golden! I finished reading your book on John Gilbert last week, and I just wolfed it down -- I finished it in less than four days. Really a fine piece of work, and I say it because I have also done a lot of research on John Gilbert (intensely in the last 20 years or so), and even a...

Belated happy birthday wishes to you both, Joe and Donna!

I'll be glad to explain it to you, Ann -- as soon as you can tell me what President Obama did before Feb. 1, 2009 that was worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. (NB: Feb. 1 was the nominations deadline for this year's NPP.)

What's next? "Cash for Empties"?

TCM was instumental in making me a fan of John Gilbert, and I would like to see more of his films, especially his talkies. I heard that HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT (1929), Gilbert's ill-fated talkie debut, was fully restored a few years back, and I'd love to see it on TCM (I understand it's currently owned b...

Hi Charlie! We corresponded several years ago after you started posting on the TCM boards, and I think I may have talked to you on the phone once. Having been a film programmer myself, I know the job can be both thankless and highly rewarding, so I thank you for taking the time to chat with us on SS...

Sounds like fun, Lynn. I'll fire up the old DVD player and Netflix the films I don't have already (only a couple, actually).

Another tantalizing glimpse at a lost film -- Ernst Lubitsch really knew how to use the moving camera. But for all its critical acclaim, THE PATRIOT was one of the worst box-office flops of 1928. Could that be one reason why it's lost?

The one film 'they missed' was SAFE IN HELL with Dorothy MacKaill, but I'm happy they gave us WILD BOYS and HEROES in there. They could probably do another two full sets of Wellman films before I'd be ready to move on, though. The problem with SAFE IN HELL was lack of pre-production materials. The ...

bdp wrote:Kino was able to release Peter Pan because Paramount never owned it, which was a mandate of James Barrie.

Same thing with THE VANISHING AMERICAN -- Zane Grey's estate controls the rights.

The film was green-lighted by Thalberg and shot while Mayer was in Europe. The writer and driving force was Carey Wilson. When Mayer got back and saw it, he hit the ceiling. The release was delayed and Carey Wilson never worked at MGM again. On the contrary -- Carey Wilson had a long and busy caree...

In fact, confessed-drug-addict Rush Limbaugh labeled Hilary and the entire feminist movement, “femin-nazis”, and, while I can’t say for sure, i don’t think it was a term of endearment. Not true. Here's how Rush defines the term "feminazi" in his book The Way Things Ought To Be : " Fe...