Four Years -- January 1, 2018

www.listal.com

I launched this blog four years ago today, on 01-January-2014.  I split it from my other blog, The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion.  For this year's summary, I decided to add a photo for each month.

In 2017, I participated in four blogathons:
The Third Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon
Buster Keaton: From Stage to Screen
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2017/02/buster-keaton-from-stage-to-screen.html

The Early Women Filmmakers Blogathon
Dorothy Davenport: Her Life and Career
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2017/03/dorothy-davenport-her-life-and-career.html

The Judy Garland Blogathon
Judy Garland's First Movie: The Big Revue (1929)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2017/06/judy-garlands-first-movie-big-revue.html

Swashathon 2 -- A Blogathon of Swashbuckling Adventure
Zorro From Douglas Fairbanks to Antonio Banderas
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/2017/07/zorro-from-douglas-fairbanks-to-antonio.html

Moving Picture World, 26-December-1914

In January, I started a series of posts about Irene Castle.  I started a short series about Max Linder's movies for Essanay.  I wrote about Accidentally Preserved, Volume 4, a DVD from Undercrank Productions.

In honor of the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster, I posted an image of the Pathé rooster.

I wrote about Tom Mix signing with Fox.

We observed actor Ernest Borgnine's 100th birthday.

We observed what may have been actor William Powell's 125th birthday.  

Actress Mary Tyler Moore died.

Actor John Hurt died.

Actress Barbara Hale died.

Film preservationist David Shepard died at the end of January.

We remembered the 75th anniversary of Carole Lombard's death in an airplane crash.

An unqualified and unwholesome person became our President.

Moving Picture World, 17-February-1917

In February, I started a new series of Pathé ads for Harold Lloyd movies. Lloyd was still playing Lonesome Luke.  I revived a series of Pathé ads for Pearl White movies.  I revived a series of posts about movie theaters.  I revived a series of items about Charlie Chaplin.  He was making the great series of two reelers for Mutual release.  I began a sporadic series about Ham and Bud. 

Film preservationist David Shepard died.

www.listal.com

In March, I posted an article about movie stars who were interested in aviation.  Harold Lloyd's Lonesome Luke began appearing in two-reelers. 

We observed the 100th birthday of actor Desi Arnaz.

We observed the 150th birthday of impresario Flo Ziegfeld.

Robert Osborne, journalist, film historian and Turner Classic Movies host, died.

There was a bizarre incident at the end of the Academy Awards broadcast when they announced the wrong winner for Best Picture.

Moving Picture World, 21-April-1917

At the beginning of April, I posted about the famous movie that co-starred Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.  I posted an article about aviation interest in Hollywood.  I started a short series about the Mo-Toy Comedies, which used object animation.

We observed singer Ella Fitzgerald's 100th birthday. 

Mr Warmth, Don Rickles, died.

Director Jonathan Demme died.

Motion Picture World, 12-May-1917

In May, I posted an article about stunt flier Ormer Locklear.  I started a short series of interesting ads for Bluebird Photoplays production.  I finished the series about Max Linder at Essanay.  I revived the series about pre-cinema. I revived the series about fight films.

We observed the 100th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady to the children at Fatima.

We observed John F Kennedy's 100th birthday.  

Actress Lorna Grey died.

Actors Tim Pigott-Smith and Powers Boothe died about the same time.

Roger Moore, James Bond and Simon Templar, died.  

Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. the Greatest Show on Earth, held its final performance.

www.listal.com

In June, I started a new series of posts on Chaplin imitator Billy West.

We observed the 100th birthday of singer, actor and comic Dean Martin.

We marked the 100th birthday of sort-of cowboy star Lash LaRue.

We observed the 100th birthdays of Lena Horne and Susan Heyward, who were born on the same day.  .

We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

We celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival.

Adam West, Batman, died.

Peter Sallis, Wallace, died.

Stephen Furst, Flounder, died.

Moving Picture World, 30-June-1917

In July, I posted about WC Fields' second movie, which is assumed to be lost.  I posted about the first movie produced and directed by Chinese-Americans.  I started a series of monthly posts about war films.  I started a series about the Russian Revolution.

In honor of the 150th anniversary of Canadian federation, I posted about Mary Pickford.

Actor Martin Landau died.

Director George A Romero died.

Voice artist June Foray died.

Jeanne Moreau and Sam Shepard died about the same day.

www.listal.com

In August, we observed the solar eclipse.

I posted about the first feature film directed by John Ford.  I finished the Bluebird series.  I started a series about Roscoe Arbuckle's Comique series.

We marked the 100th birthday of actor Robert Mitchum.  He would not have cared.

We marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Actor and bowman Robert Hardy died.

Singer (mostly) and actor (some) Glenn Campbell died.

Jerry Lewis died.

Vintage Graphic Design and Poster Art, Facebook

In September I wrote about the beginning of Harold Lloyd's switchover from Lonesome Luke to the glass character.

Character actor and singer Harry Dean Stanton died.

Former middleweight champ Jake Lamotta died.

Publisher and film preservation financier Hugh Hefner died.

In October, a post about a 1917 film showing the workings of "The Aeroplane Machine Gun" was popular on a Facebook site about WWI aviators.  I started a series of posts about Larry Semon's movies, on the 100th anniversary of his first starring release.  I wrote about Chaplins $1 million contract with First National.  For my pre-cinema post, I used a chapter from a chronophotography book by Étienne-Jules Marey .

We marked the 125th birthday of actress Jackie Saunders.

We observed the 100th birthdays of June Allyson and Marsha Hunt.

We noted the 100th anniversary of the death of actress Florence La Badie.

Movie critic Judy Stone died.

Maud Linder, daughter of Max, died in October, but I didn't learn about it until December.

In November, I used some old photos of the Giant Camera at the Cliff House for my pre-cinema post.  Chaplin's last Mutual got released and he broke ground for a new studio. We went to the second performance of Girls of the Golden West, a new opera by John Adams.  The last Lonesome Luke film was released.

We remembered the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution.

Actor John Hillerman died.

Della Reese, who did everything, died.

Actor/singer David Cassidy died.

Actor Wood Moy died.  I didn't write about him.

Actor/singer Jim Nabors died, but I didn't write about him. I hated his television show.  My grandmother could never get over the contrast between  his speaking voice and his singing voice.

Actor Rance Howard, father of Ron and Clint, died, but I didn't write about him, either.

In December, I started what I hope will be a new yearly series on Christmas movies.

We observed the 50th anniversary of the death of Bert Lahr.  We marked what may have been the 100th birthday of actress Audrey Totter. We remembered the 100th anniversaries of the Halifax explosion and the death of Eric Campbell. We marked the 50th anniversary of the release of Magical Mystery Tour.

Singer and actor Johnny Hallyday, singer Keely Smith, actress Rose Marie and director Bruce Brown died.

In the later part of the year, sexual harassment became an important item in many areas, including politics, news and entertainment. It's about time.

Beautiful, sexy, funny movie star Dorothy Lamour, a native of New Orleans, first became famous for playing "sarong roles" in movies like The Hurricane.  Later she spoofed many of these roles in Paramount's Road pictures with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.