the 2014 Valentine's Day Cartoon Countdown Day 1

Yes, we are back, once again, with 14 days of brand new Valentine and LOVE cartoons! Here is cartoon # 1. Tune in every day for a new cartoon!

Something Unforgettable! "Something Wild"

 

 

(I have this poster!)

I owe my film fondness to my Mom who never said no if I wanted to watch something on TV as these were the good old days before ratings and growing up in New York in the 50's and 60's was a paradise of fantastic TV and revival theaters and every other kind of theater. I saw a lot of things as a kid. And 3 of them stayed with me all these years because they have become sort of "lost" films. Home Sweet Homicide which I've talked about. The Green Eyed Blonde, more on that in a future blog. And Something Wild starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker! I couldn't believe that this movie is NOW available on DVD so John (ok, well HE paid for it!) got it for me for Christmas! It is even more dark and stylish and disturbing and avant-garde and fabulous than I remembered.

Carroll Baker is a teenage girl who one day, says goodbye to her friends and takes the subway home where she has to walk through a park. She is lovely and happy and skips across the street and then...someone grabs her and rapes her in the bushes. Horrifying!

The rest of the film deals with how she survives this and her reactions which include possibly throwing herself off a bridge and into the river... something she is about to do, when someone grabs her and saves her. A garage mechanic happening by on a break. Ralph Meeker (I love him in this!!!) plays this role oddly sympathetically and you will have to see this amazing film for yourself to find out what happens between these two.

The score is by Aaron Copland and the titles are by the best title designer of that or any era, Saul Bass. The movie is filmed in New York and forever captures that lost world of seedy apartments, old Woolworths and the people that inhabited the city at that time. When I ordered this from Amazon I couldn't believe all the comments by people who'd remembered this movie the way I did! It shows you what an impact this powerful film had on us back then!

Here are some interesting clips from Youtube:
The old trailer, not the clearest thing ever, but worth seeing.

And this is an interview with director Jack Garfein:
Apparently Something Wild has been rediscovered and is now appreciated as the art film it is!

Have a Happy Merry!

To all my friends...this year's Christmas card in a strip format! Cheers!

 

Salty Crunchy Sugary Sweet

HAPPPPYYY THANKSGIVING!!!!

  
It is time for the bestest of holidays. A celebration of friends and family and togetherness and ... pies!!! The Pie Mistress, Nico, has been hard at work preparing for tomorrow.

She has made so many pies each person will probably have their very own!

We also get up early to watch the parade. It's a tradition! Mostly because we LOVE Broadway!

And, of course, the main event. The turkey. And with that in mind, don't forget to gather around the computer, tablet, or what have you and enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday classic: The Turkey Prince! Here is a link:

 And in further celebration...here are a few Thanksgiving cartoons from past Thanksgivings:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

"Skull Beneath My Skin" Video by Mike Marlin

I don't remember how I first came across Mike Marlin on Youtube...but he has a very haunting and compelling voice. This song also makes me think of Erik and Christine from Phantom. Anyway, I love his voice and the video is quite dark and creepy. See for yourself:

Check out his website for more videos and music.

"Whistle Down the Wind" The Book, the Movie and the Musical!

When I was a kid I was a fan of Hayley Mills. She was brilliant especially in her two early British movies Tiger Bay and Whistle Down the Wind. I especially loved and still love Whistle Down the Wind filmed in the early 1960s in which three farm children in the English countryside discover a man hiding in their barn whom they think is Jesus returned. Alan Bates played the man, an escaped convict, and he was also quite remarkable in this, his first lead role (and pretty gorgeous, too!) as he tries to comprehend the actions of the three children and their friends as they try to help him.

The book this exceptional film is based on is charming in its own right. It was written by Hayley's mother, Mary Hayley Bell, and the edition I have, which I came across years ago in a used book shop, has lovely pen and ink drawings by Oven Edwards (line over the O in Oven which I couldn't figure out how to do!).











When I read that Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is one of my most favorite composers (thank you, thank you Sir Andrew for Phantom! Also Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita (NOT Cats, though, except for "Memories", sorry!) I was excited but then I saw he was setting the musical in the USA in the 1950's south. So, I was disappointed he didn't adapt it to the original setting of Lancashire, England. I never heard the soundtrack until only recently, when I was thinking about the book and movie and was curious to finally hear it. It was actually wonderful with lyrics by Jim Steinman. Now, I'll have to break down and buy the CD!

So it made me want to post scenes from the original film, and from the musical all through the miracle of Youtube and thanks to those who posted everything there!

(Trailer for the original film)
(scene from the musical)
Lots of info on Wikipedia
And this, on the Mills family
And, if the musical still hasn't made it to Broadway (or NH!) why not release it to DVD? How about it Sir Andrew?