Not too long ago, the television was on in the background, tuned to Turner Classic Movies, a regular haunt. I looked over at that there "THEM!""Golly, Pops! Where's my camera?"
(There was no Pops. I can be dramatic. I've got the Mamet in me. I am the "me" in "Mamet.")
I couldn't believe my eyes. This 1954 black-and-white extravaganza about garganttuan mutant ants was being televised with a color title card! I've enjoyed the "THEM!" several times, as recently as a few years ago at a drive-in theatre, and I've never seen the film with a color title!I sprayed the TV with RAID and that fixed "'EM!"
Seeing David O. Selznick's "Since You Went Away" (1944) reminded me of my first trip to the Hollywood area, back in '95.Pal Burbank's Frank stopped his car at a traffic light. As an afterthought, he directed me to look out the window to our left. Sitting on the corner was the old Selznick office mansion. My view was at the same angle as observed in the famous Selznick International Studios movie logo.
That was surreal, even more so when you consider this one-time home to RKO and DesiLu, now known as The Culver Studios, is where "Gone With the Wind," "Citizen Kane," "King Kong," "E.T.," and "The Andy Griffith Show" were filmed. As Gomer Pyle said right there, every time, "Shazam!"
A 1938 publicity photo of Dorothy Lamour on the Paramount studio lot. Bob Hope looks really bad here.
Snapshot via Jerry Beck
