Geprge Arliss Day -- July 9, 2026

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Since I got out of the hospital, I have been watching a lot of movies on TCM. Wednesday was George Arliss day. I don't think I had seen any of these movies before. My wife was impressed with his comic touch. 

1:45pm PDT

A Successful Calamity (1932)

1 hr 15 mins|Comedy|TV-G

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A Successful Calamity was a fun movie, although I thought many people reacted too nicely to the news that Arliss had gone broke. Also, Mary Astor seemed rather young to be married to him. John G Adolfi directed.

3:00pm PDT

Central Park (1932)

1 hr|Comedy|TV-G

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I am always happy to see Joan Blondell, but I did not see a trace of George Arliss. Like most Warner Brothers/First National B movies, Central Park moved rapidly. The plot was screwy, but I enjoyed it. Guy Kibbee was a cop losing his vision. Wallace Ford was a homeless, jobless guy who was trying to get an even break. Henry B Walthall had a small but important part. The tiger cubs were cute. John G Adolfi directed this one too.

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4:00pm PDT

The King's Vacation (1933)

1 hr 30 mins|Drama|TV-G

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I did not get much out of The King's Vacation. It was a slow one. I did like the part where the exiled king refused to have anything to do with a coup to bring him back, because he agreed with the rebels. Another one directed by John G Adolfi. Maybe it was really John G Adolfi Day.

5:15pm PDT

The Working Man (1933)

1 hr 30 mins|Comedy|TV-G

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I enjoyed The Working Man. Bette Davis played a supporting role. I don't like the way Arliss is leering at her on the poster. The plot was preposterous, but it held my interest.  Guess who directed.

Perhaps Central Park was nestled among the George Arliss movies because it was directed by John G Adolfi.

Grauman's Chinese -- Joan Blondell and Dick Powell -- May 9, 2017

In July, 2012 we paid a return visit to Hollywood and Grauman's Chinese Theater.  Sid Grauman was a San Francisco showman who came to Los Angeles and built three major houses, the Million Dollar, the Egyptian, and the Chinese. The theater has hosted many film premieres, but is most famous for the hand and footprints (and hoofprints and nose prints and other types of prints) in the forecourt.

Musical stars Joan Blondell and Dick Powell, who were married at the time, left their hand and footprints in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese on 10-February-1937.   "Thanks a million Sid" wrote Dick Powell.  "Thanks two million!" wrote Joan Blondell.  

 

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 Joan Blondell and Dick Powell at Grauman's Chinese. 

 

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Joan Blondell and Guy Kibbee.  

 

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 Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell and Dick Powell.  

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Grauman's Chinese -- Joan Blondell -- January 10, 2016

Joan Blondell, widely loved Warner Brothers star, left her hand and high-heeled shoe prints in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese on 10-February-1937. Her upstairs neighbor is Hearst gossip columnist Louella O(ettinger) Parsons. DSCN4147.

I think I have enjoyed every movie I have seen her in, including Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, The Public Enemy, Topper Returns  and Nightmare Alley. 

I took this on 18-July-2009.

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Adolphe Menjou 125 -- February 18, 2015

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Suave actor Adolphe Menjou was born 125 years ago today, on 18-February-1890 in the little French village of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  After serving in World War One, he appeared in many silent movies.  He had no trouble moving on to talkies.  He was always known for his elegant dress.  His politics were reactionary.  He talked to the House Un-American Activities Committee about supposed Communist influence in Hollywood. 

I don't know how many of his movies I have seen.  I know I have seen him in Chaplin's A Woman of Paris, Ernst Lubitsch's The Marriage Circle, Lewis Milestone's The Front Page (one of my favorites), Frank Borzage's A Farewell to Arms, Little Miss Marker, Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1935, Leo McCarey and Harold Lloyd's The Milky Way, Wild Bill Wellman's A Star is Born and Roxie Hart, Greg La Cava's Stage Door, George Marshall's The Goldwyn Follies, Rouben Mamoulian's Golden Boy, William A Seiter's You Were Never Lovelier, Frank Capra's State of the Union, Edward Dmytryk's The Sniper, and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory.  I have probably left out as many movies as I have mentioned. 

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Remember My Forgotten Man -- November 11, 2014

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Happy Veterans Day, everyone.  "Remember My Forgotten Man" from Mervyn LeRoy and Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1933 reminds us that we need to remember the men and women who have given a part of their lives, and sometimes their lives, to their country.  Joan Blondell, one of my favorites, lead the ensemble in a powerful number.   Etta Moten was the African American contralto. She later played the lead role in Porgy and Bess.