Magical Mystery Tour 50 -- December 8, 2017

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50 years ago today, on 08-December-1967, the Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour as a double EP in the UK.  It had been released as an LP in the US the month before, on 27-November-1967.  The television film premiered on the BBC on 26-December-1967.  I think I first saw the movie around 2012, but my sister had the album and I often borrowed it and her record player.  I particularly liked "I Am the Walrus."

Tora! Tora! Tora! -- December 7, 2017

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76 years ago a sneak attack by forces of the Japanese Empire sank much of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in the territory of Hawaii. The Japanese Empire came to regret doing this.  Tora! Tora! Tora! was a unique Japanese-American co-production that tried to show the point of view of both sides.  There were three directors, Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda and Kinji Fukasaku.  Akira Kurosawa started to direct the Japanese scenes, but was replaced early on.

I watch it when it turns up on television.  I particularly like the flight scenes.

Johnny Hallyday, RIP -- December 6, 2017

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French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday died.  He was an early French rock'n'roller, and then he acted in movies.  I enjoyed Man on the Train with Jean Rochefort.  He worked for Godard in Détective. He was a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur

Graumans Chinese -- Sid Grauman -- December 5, 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.

 Sid Grauman himself left his hand and footprints on 24-January-1946.

National Vaudeville Artists Yearbook, 1927

Bert Lahr, 50 Years -- December 4, 2017

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Bert Lahr, beloved for playing the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 Wizard of Oz and not remembered for much else, died 50 years ago today, on 04-December-1967.  My family watched the Wizard of Oz when it was on CBS every year around Easter time.  My favorite part was when the Lion ran away and dove through a window.  I have seen Bert Lahr in other movies, and haven't liked most of them.

Your Husband's Past -- December 3, 2017

Film Daily, 02-February-1926

"Your Husband's Past" is a 1926 short produced by Hal Roach.  It starred James Finlayson and Vivien Oakland.

A note at the bottom of this ad says that it is a cornerblock provided to theaters to use in newspaper advertising.

Chaplin on a Fokker -- December 1, 2017

Flight, 08-July-1920

On 03-July-1920, the Royal Air Force held a pageant at Hendon, to raise funds for the RAF Memorial Fund.  The photos and the excerpt are from the 08-July-1920 Flight Magazine.  Note the outline of Charlie Chaplin on Longton's Fokker D.VII.

Next came a realistic aerial combat between Flight-Lieut. F. T. Williams, M>B>E (3 Huns) on a Martinsyde and Flight-Lieut. W. H. Longton, D.F.C, A.F.C. (16 Huns, 1 balloon), on a Fokker D.VII.  These two executed every possible kind of manoeuvre to obtain a position of advantage over the other, to the accompaniment of frequent papapaps from their machine guns and we must say that the "Hun" certainly put up a magnificent "defence." 

Flight, 08-July-1920