Can someone bring me up to speed?

[Hollis]

Thank you kind sir,

That would indeed explain the inconsistency. It somehow doesn't seem quite equitable, and I'm certain that there's still a fair amount of politicking that goes on but... Must be my lucky day, I actually learned something! I wish they were all like that! Or maybe I'm just a victim of fluctuating density of the cranium! Again, thanks as always for the education.

Seeya,

Hollis

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Hollis,

Ha, ha - - if you really knew how the density of my cranium fluctuated, you'd marvel at my still being upright and cognizant (well, fairly understandable!!).....

Truth to tell - I admire you greatly for soldiering on and just being.... It must be very worrying to be incapacitated and have to fight for your rights to exist in dignity after a war injury.

I know first hand what some veterans have gone through, as I am on a board that reports to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in Canada.
Even we have to fight the beaurocrats in Ottawa for a motorized wheelchair for an 80 year old gentleman, who was in the Korean War.

All I can say is: "Keep on keeping on!! And, don't give up the good fight!!".....

All the best,
Larry

[Hollis]

Hi again Larry,

Even though the injury I sustained (shrapnel from the huey I was aboard) caused soft tissue damage and didn't directly impact my spine (fortunately) there's no way that anyone could ever convince me that it wasn't at the very least, indirectly, if not directly, responsible for the deterioration of my spinal column. The DAV, VFW and American Legion all agree and have served as my advocates, but to no avail. Of course, that's not the position that the VA has taken. In addition, after returning to the US, and while still on active duty, I rolled my little '69 MGB-GT end over end several times which resulted in several breaks and fractures and put me in a cervical collar for about a month. What's strange about that incident is that "somehow" it never made it into my service jacket (the fact that it happened off duty and off base would have no bearing on its' being recorded) even though I reported to the base infirmary the very next day and was placed on light duty for the next month or so. Things that make you go hmmmm... Keep doing what you're doing, as every vet, whether a combatant or not, deserves every consideration he/she's entitled to. I'd like to see us do what the Israelis do, mandate two years of service in the military as a condition of simply being a citizen. If you don't want to be in a combatant role, there are any number of support positions that need to be filled. If your country's worth living in, and you've ever taken advantage of any of the freedoms or services it offers, then it's certainly worth supporting with two years of your life. Thanks for your support and all you do. Be proud to be Canadian, you have a long history of being on the right side of the fight and coming to the aid of your allies.

Thanks as always,

Hollis

[MissGoddess]

Hi Hollis,

I had wondered what happened to you......

This board is slowly coming around and there are more and more contributors.
TCM message board has a very few of the old gang hanging on but I have abandoned it. Slow and cutting out constantly and too many negative posters.
Once a board gets onto the 'gay and homosexual outing' of everybody and their dog, I'm outta there. No kidding - - the IMDb board has a question, "Was Rin Tin Tin gay?".... Honest...

I hope you have your computer working now and can post some good, sane, insightful contributions as I know you have in the past...

All the best,
Larry

Larry---you're kidding about what they've written about Rinty, right? Yikes! Every time I run into one of those who make those claims I always had this answer (until now): "If everything that's been written were true, then everyone in Hollywood was gay except Rin Tin Tin." Seriously, that was my line. My line has been obliterated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ack!!!!

[pktrekgirl]

I'm not one for silent films except for the occasional Charlie Chaplin or Harold Lloyd outing, but... "The Greatest Show On Earth?' 1952 must have been a slow year for film if this was the Best Picture winner! Where would one find out what the other nominees were?

Right here:
The Greatest Show on Earth -- Cecil B. DeMille, Producer
High Noon -- Stanley Kramer, Producer
Ivanhoe -- Pandro S. Berman, Producer
Moulin Rouge -- Romulus Films
The Quiet Man -- John Ford and Merian C. Cooper, Producers

*grumbles about how THE GREATEST SHOW (and The Most Boring Film) ON EARTH managed to beat out HIGH NOON.*

Not that I'm biased or anything.

[mrsl]

Although I'm a huge fan of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, I find it hard to believe it beat out THE QUIET MAN that year. HIGH NOON was a terrific movie, but I think that to be a 'best' picture, it has to have a universal appeal, by that I mean everyone should be able to enjoy it. HIGH NOON was really for noir and western fans. Even as a kid seeing it at about 15 the first time, I knew I had missed a lot, but didn't know what. It wasn't until years later a friend told me about the clock, and couldn't wait until the next time it was on so I could see for myself.

However, Grace Kelly really ruined the movie for me - I thought she was beautiful, and I wasn't that much of a critic regarding acting but even so, she was much too young for Gary and I wished they had changed one or both of them. ie. An older bride, or a younger sheriff.

Anne

[pktrekgirl]

^ Isn't that funny, how a film can be ruined for someone due to a particular thing...but that thing not bother others.

Grace Kelly didn't bother me in the slightest in that film. I thought she was fine.

But I have other films that were about ruined by one individual - SHANE immediately springs to mind in that regard. Many people think Brandon deWilde is CUTE in that picture, but all I want to do is shove a sock in his mouth!

I guess to each their own!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

I'll chime in here now - -

Miss Goddess -
Sorry your line about Rin Tin Tin is now ruined but 'Honest to God', they were writing about his being gay on IMDb... Unbelievable!!
Not only that but they have managed to 'out' William Holden, Burt Lancaster and Broderick Crawford over the last year. It's a crying shame but laughable at the same time.
Like you said, "Everybody must have been gay in old Hollywood" and it ain't much better now-a-days... There's at least a dozen men today and about half a dozen women in Hollywood that I've heard are 'gay'... But, are they???????


I loved "The Greatest Show on Earth".. It's a wonderful circus movie and a great Cecil B. De Mille film.
But, I think "High Noon" should have won Best Picture that year.
The only reason it didn't, and I was there in LA that year, was because CB himself campaigned for his picture to win and he was everywhere - all over the papers, radio, TV and in the restaurants and clubs.
He wanted to win and decreed that he win and he was still a very powerful man in Hollywood then.
He also campaigned for Gloria Grahame to win BS Actress and she did. Jean Hagen lost, not to Gloria but to CB De Mille!!!

Larry

[Hollis]

Good evening all.

I always thought that DeMille's best work was in his biblical epic, "The Ten Commandments." Other than casting Edward G Robinson as an Egyptian, I found it to be nearly flawless and fairly accurate from a historical perspective. (But then again, the history of those times may be a "bit" sketchy!) The best part of "TGSOE" was the train wreck! And it was patently obvious that it was a special effect done with miniatures, unlike "The Train" with Burt Lancaster. "High Noon" should have won in a landslide although "The Quiet Man" was a beautifully conceived and filmed movie. But again, that's just one man's humble opinion.

Hollis

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Glad to see you back, Hollis!

I, too, love TGSOE and the train wreck is pretty cool. I love how the circus folk make order out of all that chaos. Says a lot about a group of folks who can turn such a bad situation around. (Katrina and Rita come to mind.) But for some reason, I love that goofy "Lovely Luawana Lady" that Dotty Lamour sings. I just have to hear it every once in a while. Plus, I never fail to tear up when Jimmy Stewart sees his mom or give that little kid his doggie.

[mrsl]

pktrekgirl:

I would have knitted the sock for you!!! I was a little strong in my choice of language. It wasn't really ruined because of Grace, but she did help. Her part wasn't big enough to ruin the movie, but I didn't like her in it.

I loved the narrator parts by Edmund O'Brien I thought that was unique, the way they had him in that wagon wheel sort of thing. There again, I think TGSOE is the movie that made me aware of C. Heston.

Anne

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Anybody want to do a sing-a-long? "Lovely Luawana Lady..." I loved Betty Hutton in this role, and Gloria Grahame, too. But my love for this movie also originates with my love for the circus and the tent shows from the late fifties and early sixties.

And this is one of my favorite Cornel Wilde movies...
And , MRSL, this is when I really noticed Charlton, too...
( I liked him in that movie with Eleanor Parker and all those ants, BTW.)

[mrsl]

Ahh yessss, the lovely Naked Jungle! Actually, it's remembering him and other actors in parts like that, that make me not want to see those guys like Charlton and Kirk Douglas as they are in their final years. I believe Heston has Alzheimers, and the last time I saw Kirk was very sad. I prefer to remember them as the young gods and goddesses that they were.

Anne

[MissGoddess]

>>>But, I think "High Noon" should have won Best Picture that year.
The only reason it didn't, and I was there in LA that year, was because CB himself campaigned for his picture to win and he was everywhere - all over the papers, radio, TV and in the restaurants and clubs.
He wanted to win and decreed that he win and he was still a very powerful man in Hollywood then. <<<

Hi Larry! I always so enjoy your posts. From what you say, Hollywood hasn't changed regarding how they hand out Oscars. I don't begrudge C.B. Demille, he was a great showman. At least Coop got the Oscar for a performance NO OTHER ACTOR could have approached.

Just my humble opinion, of course.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Miss G,

I don't begrudge CB his Oscar either really. He was a great showman and a pioneer of the movie industry.

Actually a couple of years later, I was all set to mount a campaign for Merle Oberon to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Desiree". She played the Empress Josephine.
My initial plan was that I was going to go to Adolph Zukor and ask him to get CB De Mille to help get her nominated. Then Merle, herself stopped that plan and told me not to do it. It seems that Rosalind Russell told her not to degrade herself to Supporting level or her Star status would be forever ruined. Roz also did the same thing with "Picnic" in 1956.
Later, in 1967, Merle invited me to stay at her Acapulco villa and I had a chocolate shop in LA make me a fake quasy Oscar wrapped in gold paper and took it to her.
But being Acapulco, the damn thing stated melting on the plane going down. And, by the time Merle got her Oscar it was a pretty mutilated mess!! "Thanks, but you're nuts!!" was her greeting.....
We had a good laugh though......

Also:
And, I'm glad Gary Cooper won for "High Noon". I think it's the best western ever and it does have 'noir' aspects to it also.

Larry