The Silver Screen Oasis

There might be another reason: regional theater. I think that possibly all of the actors mentioned worked in small theaters in their hometowns or nearby at some point. In an age where cross-country travel was only a dream for most, local theater played a very important part in a community's artistic life. And since sound features began to be produced in great quantity starting in the early 30s, there was a big need for actors who could "talk," the theaters nationwide being the training grounds.

Of course in Brooklyn they're born talking, and no middle step to stardom is needed!

I think you're right, if you joined a small theatre troup you were more likely to have bigger roles. All of the actors mentioned had some kind of start in the theatre, with the exception perhaps of John Gilbert. Acting being a small world, Marlon Brando's mum gave Henry Fonda acting lessons.

mrsl wrote:.
I'm verrrrry curious about this. Does your TV picture look better now with the HD factor? I see no difference at all. My two TV's are all about 3 years old, both are Walmart non-descript but with very good pictures. When my sister died in February, I took her living room Sony 32 inch, but no big change that I see.
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I do see a better picture, especially since I hooked everything up with special cables called "HDMI", instead
of the colored cables that came with the equipment. Not only is my picture really incredible, the sound is
much better and richer. That said, my 19 inch Sony tube TV had the best picture until it died (which was
after 7 years, not very long compared to how TVs from the old days used to last 30 odd years. I fear this
new one won't last 5 years. I just have the feeling it's "fragile".)

However, I see no difference on the TCM-HD channel compared to regular TCM...they haven't upgraded
their "catalog" of titles to the new format yet. I really don't see a necessity for it, the picture is fine
as far as I'm concerned, brilliant in fact. When it doesn't goof up (like yesterday during The Devil to Pay)

I agree about the HD TV picture. In fact, I think I mentioned here when the switch occurred that I didn't see much difference. However, I have now changed cable providers, going from Cablevision, which uses standard wiring, to Verizon Fios, which uses fiber optic technology. The difference is amazing. I just love the quality of the reception, and I have a dinosaur of a TV! I'm looking forward to getting a TV upgrade sometime in the not too distant future, and then the picture will really be phenomenal. I tell myself I do see a slight difference between the new standard transmissions and the dedicated HD channels, but maybe they are just deluding us by changing the shape of the screen on a lot of HD channels to make it look fancier. In any event, I'm happy with what I have now. Next stop, holographic TV.

In regards to digital TV, the digital switchover dropped the analog signal and replaced it with "SDTV", which stands for (Digital) Standard T V. While the picture and sound quality of SDTV is superior to the old analog signal, SDTV is not necessarily HDTV (High Definition TV). Unless you have an HDTV and an HD antenna (or HD cable/satellite), you are likely watching SDTV and not HD. Many stations, while obviously now broadcasting digitally, are not broadcasting everything in HD. Most daytime TV, for example, is not yet broadcast in HD. Programs that are broadcast non-HD will maintain their "square" shape, and not be able to be stretched to fit the entire rectangle screen.

If the actual TV is not rectangle, it is likely not HD or HD ready.

There are plenty of differences in SDTV and HDTV, which are boring to go into, but, suffice to say that digital HDTV offers the ultimate picture and sound quality available (right now, at least). In short, HD is digital, but not all digital is HD.

Up next for television, by the way, is likely 3D TV, which sound silly, but is absolutely awesome to experience (but yes, you need the glasses).

You know, I've often wondered why people balk at wearing the glasses. My thought is that nobody has a problem with earpieces of varying degrees of discomfort for listening to music in private, so what's the big deal? Until the techies figure out how to conveniently beam sounds and images directly into our heads, we'll have to make do.

Michigan J:

Yes I do have HDTV satellite through AT&T, and my TV's are all HD ready. About 2 years ago I asked about that and got the answers I needed and returned to the store and asked and was told the TV was HD available. Most channels on my system are transmitted in high definition. The ones that do have the logo in the lower corner alternate with the channel logo.
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Hi Anne,

I'm surprised that if you have HD, that you are not seeing a significant improvement in your picture. I can say that on my cable system (Comcast) they broadcast the channels in both standard digital and many in HD. So, for instance, I can easily toggle back and forth from the digital ABC to the HD-ABC channel when, say, Dancing With the Stars is on (my wife loves the show--I swear!), and there is a world of difference in the picture. (You could see all the details in the fringe Tom Delay was sporting!)

As MissGoddess suggested, the HD signal needs to be transmitted from your cable box to your TV via a High Def cable (usually HDMI). Unlike analog hook-ups, the HDMI carries both the picture and sound, so you should only have one cable from the cable box to the TV (unless you are going through a separate audio receiver, which can complicate things).

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Here's a question for you folks in Califor-neye-aaayyy:

I saw a clip for a TV show and in it, some people were shocked to learn a girl had ridden a bicycle through Beverly Hills. MY question is Why were they shocked? Is there a law against riding a bike through the city or something? Actually it looked like she was parking in front of a school. What was the deal?
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