“Why Are Some Old Movies Never Shown On TV? PART 1 of 2 - Gather.com” plus 1 more

Why Are Some Old Movies Never Shown On TV? PART 1 of 2 - Gather.com

Posted: 14 Jun 2010 12:15 PM PDT

PART 1

I'm compiling a list of old movies, say from 1940 thru 1990, that are NEVER shown on TV.

Feel free to add movies to this list in your comments...and tell me a bit about them if they are not widely known... A movie or two that hasn't been shown in at least 20 years (to your knowledge) on TV.

Ready? Here's some of my 'Gone, But Not Forgotten' old movies:

First of all, I and my friends were HUGE sci-fI/horror movie fans as kids, so I'll start with a couple of those... We even acted out a movie that we had seen over & over again on the "Million Dollar Movie"-it's the first movie on my list...

"The Unearthly" (1957) was a John Carradine movie. He was a creepy scientist (what else?) trying to give immortal life to us dopey human beings in the form of a 'gland' implanted in our necks, I believe. The results were a bunch of monsters and one blond ingenue with a bad case of leprosy or something on her face. Tor Johnson played 'Lobo' in this movie (a reprise of his ongoing character in many horror flicks).

"The Day Of The Triffids" (1963) starred Howard Keel of all people, in a fabulous movie that our mom actually took us kids to see at the drive-in. We all loved this movie. The premise is that a meteor shower one night brings spores or seeds from outer space (unbeknownst to us earthlings) that plant themselves and grow into blood-loving, people eating plants. One big catch-anyone who watched the meteor shower is rendered totally blind, therefore helpless and easy prey. (Howard Keel was in a hospital during the meteor shower having had eye surgery and his eyes were bandaged). He meets a few other people along his travels (who still have their sight as well). Warning: There is a British series based on this movie-it is NOT the same as I am talking about here.

I swore as a child, if there's ever a meteor shower, I would definitely not watch it.

"They Won't Believe Me" (1947) stars Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer. I can't tell you too much about this movie because of all the plot twists & turns. Robert Young plays a real cad married to a wealthy woman. Robert Young was in many great movies before he did TV shows. This film is a five star mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. Robert Young was in some really wonderful movies in the 1940's, ie: The Canterville Ghost, The Enchanted Cottage and Three Comades. This film is right up there, but rarely ever on TV and to my knowledge, not in the last 30 years. This story would be a great candidate for a remake . Highly recommended by Amazon reviewers and myself.

"Play It Again, Sam" (1976) Is a Woody Allen & Diane Keaton movie in what is, I believe, their first on screen pairing. Woody Allen is a recently divorced film critic who is awkward around women. His film hero, Humphrey Bogart, appears, (amazingingly and cleverly played by Jerry Lacy) to give him some great, if not tough, advice. Always very funny, and the plot circles around the movie "Casablanca".

"Porgy and Bess" (1956) An all-star cast and the haunting musical score made this a must-see movie at the theaters. Sidney Poitier, Sammy Davis Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey and Diahann Carroll. This movie to my knowledge has not appeared on TV in over 50 years (if ever). Why, I don't know. Hopefully it is in a secure vault somewhere. It needs to be seen by everyone and to withhold it, is a crime. The song "Summertime" is from this movie and the wonderful cast brings to life the charactors written by George Gershwin. I know you can buy a DVD copy on Amazon but the stories about poor quality, scenes cut from it, dubbed voices and the expensive price keeps me from purchasing it. Sad because it deserves to be seen in it's entirety and exactly as director Otto Preminger intended it to be seen.

What about those fabulous programs from Masterpiece Theater? Why aren't those on the BBC Channel that my satellite company gives me? Are any of those ever broadcast in the USA? I'm referring to "I, Claudius", "The Pallisers", "Upstairs/Downstairs", "Poldark", "The Forsythe Saga", "The Duchess Of Duke Street"and "The Scarlet Pimpernel"(with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour).....really, too many to mention here. You can buy some of them, but why aren't they on TV?

Turner Classic Movies has a wonderful array of movies, old & new that they broadcast and tell great stories about. I frequently request the showing of many movies, but rarely do they air them. As I get older, I remember certain movies that I saw as a kid that I yearn to see again.

How about you? Got an old classic, or not-so-classic, cult or 'B' movie that you want to see again?

P.S. With the exception of "Porgy and Bess" I bought all of these movies in the last year on Amazon. Great quality, low prices and AVAILABLE.

I have started another list of 'gone, but not forgotten' movies and will post it soon...watch for PART 2

Sue G

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Solving Walt Whitman's meteor mystery - Chicago Tribune

Posted: 04 Jun 2010 04:59 PM PDT

The rare event described in the poem 'Year of Meteors (1859-1860)' is indeed called a 'meteor procession.' It takes place when a grazer meteor breaks up and the pieces travel together as if in formation.

Scholars have for decades tried to identify a puzzling celestial event in one of Walt Whitman's poems from his collection "Leaves of Grass." Now they've done so — using clues from a famed American landscape painter.

In the July issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, a team that includes astronomers and a literary scholar, all from Texas State University, details the existence and nature of the rare event, in which meteor fragments crossed the sky in stately, synchronized fashion.

The heavenly display is described in the poem "Year of Meteors (1859-1860)," in which Whitman writes of the tumultuous period leading up to the Civil War. He touches upon the hanging of abolitionist John Brown and the ascendancy of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, and he makes two references to astronomy: "The comet that came unannounced out of the north, flaring in heaven," and "the strange huge meteor procession, dazzling and clear, shooting over our heads."

Identifying the comet in the verses was easy, said astronomer Don Olson, lead author of the article. It had to be the Great Comet of 1860, seen in the Northern Hemisphere on June 18 of that year.

Identifying the second event, what Whitman called the "meteor procession," proved much more difficult.

"Various authors have tried to figure out what Whitman was describing. This thing has been bubbling in my mind [since] 1994," said Olson, who that year started teaching a class on astronomy in art, history and literature.

Prevailing theories didn't make sense to Olson. Some scholars had thought that the poem could have been referring to an 1859 daylight fireball — but Whitman has the meteor occurring at night, and describes several flares traveling through the sky at once.

Others thought the poet may have been recalling the 1833 Leonid meteor shower, which Whitman did indeed witness — but that is inconsistent with the poem's timeframe (1859-1860) and doesn't match the description. Whitman's procession lasted "a moment, a moment long," but meteor showers last for hours, even days.

The breakthrough came in 2000, when Olson picked up a catalog of works by 19th-century landscape artist Frederic Edwin Church.

"Scientists in general, but astronomers in particular, love Frederic Church because he was such a careful observer of the sky," Olson said. "You can see it in his paintings."

Olson turned the catalog over. On the back was a copy of the painting "The Meteor of 1860."

The scene clearly depicts two large balls of light passing almost horizontally across the night sky, followed by a series of smaller fragments.

The astronomer recognized this as an extremely rare event that is in fact called a "meteor procession," in which a meteor breaks up and the pieces travel together as if in formation before exiting the Earth's atmosphere once more.

A procession is rare, Olson said, because so many factors need to fall into place. The meteor, known as a grazer, must travel almost tangent to the Earth's surface, giving it a long, near-horizontal path across the skies. It usually has to travel between about 35 and 40 miles above the ground — any higher and it would not light up, any lower and it would likely fall to Earth. And it has to break up very soon after entering the Earth's atmosphere, or the procession-like effect will be lost.

Since the 18th century, only four have been documented, Olson said. Compare that with meteor showers, which happen several times a year, he added.

Griffith Observatory Director Edwin Krupp said the most important impact of this celestial rediscovery would be its literary significance.

"There is a fuss about this because the literary analysis that has accompanied this famous piece of Americana, [what could be considered] the backbone of American literary tradition, has sort of been misunderstood," Krupp said.

Krupp pointed to the fact that Whitman was writing about an omen-filled time that led up to America's bloodiest war.

"This article allows us to reenter the minds and imaginations of people roughly 150 years ago and see that they were keen observers of nature and profoundly affected by what went on overhead."

Whitman appears to use the theme of meteors as a metaphor for the fleeting nature of what appeared to be major events as well as for his own connection to life.

"Year of comets and meteors transient and strange," he writes, ending with: "As I flit though you hastily, soon to fall and be gone, what is this chant, / what am I myself but one of your meteors?"

amina.khan@latimes.com

Five Filters featured article: Headshot - Propaganda, State Religion and the Attack On the Gaza Peace Flotilla. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.