tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post6027260881135965600..comments2024-03-27T22:27:16.556-04:00Comments on It's About TV: Ed Nelson, R.I.P.Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-82419740428930861122014-09-08T15:19:53.474-04:002014-09-08T15:19:53.474-04:00he was the greatest man , and the best grandfather...he was the greatest man , and the best grandfather . i miss him ! JourdanBordeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03022461405283196703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-61016108417265792952014-08-25T02:10:27.635-04:002014-08-25T02:10:27.635-04:00Looking through the listings for that week:
- Yo...Looking through the listings for that week:<br /><br /> - You have to be a major movie buff to remember that before he started doing TV series, Leo G. Carroll most often played villains: tricky barristers, shifty uncles, master spies, and the like.<br />The <i>Topper</i> series pretty much changed all that, so this <i>Studio One</i> was probably a welcome change for him.<br />Side note: it was a couple of years later that Leo G. Carroll got the Barry Fitzgerald role in the <i>Going My Way</i> series, with Gene Kelly in the Crosby role. That stirred up a bit of a fuss at the time - there was no more British actor around than Carroll. <br />But then someone looked it up and found that Leo Grattan Carroll, though born in England, was as Irish and Catholic as you could want (born in 1892, he was named for the then-incumbent Pope and an MP who favored home rule for Ireland).<br /><br /> - Also on the anthology beat:<br />On Friday night, <i>Schlitz Playhouse</i> has Edmond O'Brien in "The Town That Slept with The Lights On", about a search for a serial killer.<br />Of particular note: Edmond O'Brien directed this show, which was written for him by his brother Liam.<br />The brothers O'Brien did quite a bit of work together over the years, on big screen and small, including their own syndie series, <i>Johnny Midnight</i>.<br /><br /> - Meanwhile, on Thursday, <i>Playhouse 90</i> is repeating "No Time At All", one of a handful of shows that P90 made on film.<br />As it happens, I've got this one on a (bootleg) DVD, complete with the original commercials - and are there ever a lot of them.<br />The show itself concerns an airliner that loses its lights and communication while coming in for a landing - but we never go inside the plane.<br />The story is about the people on the ground - airport personnel, families and friends of the passengers, and such like - and how they deal with the crisis.<br />It's based on a novel by Charles Einstein - of which, by incredible coincidence, I've got a copy (when I collect, I don't kid around).<br />But the really interesting part of all this is the cast, which you can read for yourself in the Guide listing -and they left a few out (you can find the opening of this one on YouTube if you look for it).<br /><br /> - Local note:<br />On Sunday afternoon, Channel 5 ran "Pier 23", an ultra-low budget detective flick from 1951.<br />Its interest stems from the fact that it's an hour-long movie with two separate stories (you know, like two episodes of a TV series stuck together) and yet it was made for theatrical release - followed by two more in the same format.<br />Once again (Coincidence Time!), I've got all three of these Kinema Klassix in my DVD wall here; They're worth at least a look-see, mainly for their rough, tough, manly leading man - Hugh Beaumont.<br /><br />There's loads of other stuff here, but it's 1 AM (CDT), so I'll stand down for the nonce.<br />Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-22436140727380209242014-08-18T18:50:24.896-04:002014-08-18T18:50:24.896-04:00NICE tribute to Ed Nelson, Mitchel and Mike-
It ...NICE tribute to Ed Nelson, Mitchel and Mike-<br /><br /> It was just a few weeks ago I caught him in an early Perry Mason episode. Of course, I had to look up him on IMDB.<br /> Man, the guy did everything!Marc Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04604853220531758026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-480184375728891532014-08-14T13:09:02.497-04:002014-08-14T13:09:02.497-04:00Right this minute, I'm looking at The Rockford...Right this minute, I'm looking at <i>The Rockford Files</i> on MeTV.<br />They've broken the regular broadcast order to run Lauren Bacall's guest star appearance from the last season. Publicized it in advance and everything. Started off with a commemorative slide, with Ms. Bacall and her dates (MeTV often does that when name stars pass on - Jim Garner got a whole week's worth). All perfectly appropriate.<br />Would you like to guess what other well-known TV character actor can also be seen <i>in this same episode?</i> <br /><br />Just to keep this in perspective:<br />Back around 1990, Ed Nelson gave an interview to Tom Weaver, who's spent the last thirty years or so getting interviews with film makers of all sorts, which he's collected into about ten books.<br />The Nelson interview appears in <i>Attack Of The Monster Movie Makers</i>, Weaver's third collection.<br />I'll just excerpt the pull-quote that appears at the beginning:<br /><br />"I was always looking to sustain myself (in the business) for a long period of time rather than ever being a 'star', so to speak, or going for 'The Big Time'. That was never important to me ...<br /> " I have six children and eleven grandchildren, a very happy marriage - it's been that way for forty years. And that kind of solidification was more important to me than being an unhappy star."<br /><br />In the years since, Ed Nelson's marriage reached sixty-three years, and his six children ultimately gave him fourteen grandchildren, who in their turn have provided ten great-grandchildren to date.<br /><br />Just to be clear, none of the above is intended as a slight against either Robin Williams or Lauren Bacall.<br />Each of us leads his/her own life, and there are no guarantees one way or the other. But the ones who plug along, a level or so below "superstardom", can achieve a kind of "good life" of their own - and that can be worth at least a look.<br /><br />In conclusion, I commend Tom Weaver's books - all of them - to your attention. They're mostly published by McFarland, and even the paperbacks are pricey, but they're all very much worth it.<br />Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com