The song "Whispering" has always been one of my favorites, and I always remebered that the credit for the music went to Vincent Rose, a fairly prolific songwriter. However, a recent look at the original sheet music (see http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/levy-cgi/display.cgi?id=157.105.001;pages=3;ra...

I just saw this on TCM, and was pleasantly surprised. I thought Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young did a fine job here. In my opinion, Loretta certainly looked better and more convincing with her Oriental makeup than Myrna Loy ever did during her early time at Metro (I'm thinking of her Fu Manchu ...

The most offensive aspect was the disturbing mis-framing of the original 1.37 image, severely cropped to 1.85 on the theatre screen. Sounds like the projectionist may have put the wrong framing slide in the projector's film gate? :) Anyway, not having seen the film in 56 years, I can't really pass ...

I just happened to find this book, "Who's Afraid of the 'Song of the South'?" on Amazon. It's available in paperback and also in a Kindle e-book edition; go to http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_6?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=korkis+song+of+the+south&sprefix=korkis%2Cdigital-...

Just so that I'm clear on this, does this 48fps process also involve projecting the film at that speed? I know the original silent film speed of 18 +/- fps was simply based on how fast the frames needed to move in order to achieve a smooth "persistence of vision" effect. Similarly, the 24 fps speed ...

From what little I have learned about film preservation, the problem with both nitrate and safety film is twofold. First, the film base is inherently chemically unstable. Next, the "sandwich" that is created when the emulsion is attached to the base is also fairly fragile, so that if the base warps,...

Well, I gotta say that I haven't heard of PermaFilm. But it certainly sounds like a close cousin of VitaFilm, which was that oily, fragrant stuff that we all know and love. I have no idea if VitaFlim ever actually preserved anything or really helped to prevent vinegar syndrome. But I do know that it...

Thanks for posting the Popeye cartoon --- I remember watching that on TV in the 1960's!! Nice print, too.

And I also thought the orchestration of the DREAM WALKING tune was better in the cartoon than it was in the movie. SETH

I really liked the "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking" number, which certainly rivals anything that Earl Carroll did:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4yCqagZ ... ure=relmfu" target="_blank

If this isn't available on DVD, it ought to be. SETH

Of course, "spectacular" is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. I'm not sure what else could be added to a movie that already includes a suicide, bribery, perjury and a building collapse! Correction --- make that TWO suicides. I forgot about the building inspector, who committed suicide as wel...

That's an interesting theory that I never considered! As for the movie being weird, I thought it just followed the rather usual pre-Code scenario of racy or illegal behavior followed by a comeuppence of some sort, proving that right/justice triumphs in the end (and also incidentally justifies showin...

Harry Lachman, however, was a post-impressionist painter, and I think we can give him full credit for staging the '35 Hell sequence. It's spectacular! Too bad the rest of the film wasn't. Of course, "spectacular" is in the eye of the beholder, as they say. I'm not sure what else could be added to a...

Just watched the first 20 minutes or so of this, and was VERY pleased with the image quality. I'm glad to know that the film will finally make TV showings in a decent form. The sound is a little murky, but that's about par for the course with this vintage. I also finally saw the full credits, and wa...

Very sad to see, but I liked the cute inside joke (about Laurel & Hardy) at the very end of the clip! SETH

Try the Music Librarian at the Barbershop Harmony Society (formerly SPEBSQSA). They have an extensive collection of original sheet music from the 1890's through the 1930's, and may be able to supply what you need. Contact Janice Bain at jbane@barbershop.org" target="_blank, or call 615-673-4127. SETH

Just noticed that "Dante's Inferno" (1935) will be on TCM on October 2nd at 12:30 am. This is a pretty good little tale, starring Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor and Henry B. Walthall, with an excellent pre-Code rendition of Hell to boot. I have waited a looooong time to see this again; my grainy VHS t...

And so perhaps there is a valid use for colorization after all . . . . .

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I think it's worth mentioning that Blesh's 1950 book, THEY ALL PLAYED RAGTIME, is now available on the Amazon Kindle e-reader for the bargain price of $9.00.

The book has been out of print for quite a while, so this is a good thing! SETH

It's really late, and there have been so many great films that there is no time to recap them all. The UCLA restored print of Laurel & Hardy's Way Out West looked amazing. Is this restoration part of the new L&H project that's been discussed recently? If so, it's good news to know that it's moving ...

Sounds like your player is saying "bye, bye" !! Seriously, because the noise is intermittent, it's hard to tell what it is. A slightly warped disc will sometimes make a scraping noise as it spins, but one that's usually continuous and repetitive. Ditto for trouble with the motor or the scanning gizm...

Looks like some Charley Chase fans will have an interesting holiday!!

http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Chase-Charley ... sim_mov_89" target="_blank

SETH

BTW, in the process of locating this tune, I discovered that there are many more songs entitled "The Kiss Waltz," including one by Johann Strauss, as well as an entire 1911 play of the same name by Ziehrer (perhaps an attempt to cash in on the Pink Lady version?). I guess many people associated the ...

In the good old days, studios used to engage in "block booking" --- requiring movie theaters to take some less-than-desirable films in order to get one or two blockbusters. That practice was declared monopolistic and illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1950's. But it just occurred to me that bl...

Game Over: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/ha ... 74.2/16586" target="_blank

That's the website for the original sheet music. Thanks for all the help in locating this!! SETH

I agree that Spike Jones is sort of an acquired taste, but I would point out two things: 1. I believe it was H.L. Mencken who said that "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public"; and 2. There are probably a great many professional musicians who might have trouble play...

Thanks, Eric, for the tip of the composer's name and the operetta in which the song appeared! A few minutes with Google and Wikipedia turned up the following website, http://www.halhkmusic.com/pinklady.html" target="_blank, at which some enterprising soul has made MIDI re-creations of many turn-of-t...

And here I thought it was Spike's "cowbell" earrings that everyone was admiring!! SETH

Hmmmm, I was sure that somebody would come up with the title of this number relatively quickly.

It can't be ALL that obscure, can it? SETH

Can anyone identify the waltz tune being played by Spike Jones & His City Slickers in this clip from the Colgate Comedy Hour? The song begins at about 2:35 into the clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8QduGMCCZU&feature=related" target="_blank I thought it might be the "Zenda Waltz," but other tha...

Sounds like these materials are good candidates for scanning into .pdf files or something similar. From what I understand, this sort of paper will eventually self-destruct and become powder. SETH