Clara was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1905.  She was born to an unstable woman, and a drunken father. She didn’t have a chance. When she was born, her mother thought she was born dead, as the baby didn’t make a sound. Her grandmother spent several minutes shaking the baby until they realized she was alive. Clara’s childhood was miserable, her father was never gainfully employed, drank, and played the disappearing act, on and off. But of the two parents, Clara cherished her dad most. Her mother was a deeply disturbed woman who suffered from epilepsy and psychotic fits, reportedly due to a fall which injured her head. It was also reported that Clara’s mother was a prostitute and a small Clara was exposed to things, no child her age should be. Throughout her life, her parents made it perfectly clear that she was a mistake, and an unwanted child. In fact, they never even bothered to file a birth certificate as if to wish her away.

Growing up in Brooklyn’s poor area, and run down tenements was filled with trauma, abuse, and poverty. She was teased by the girls about her “plain,” “unattractive” looks, and her carrot top hair. She resorted to being a tomboy, playing all the “boy” games and being “one of the boys.” To escape her miserable existence, she’d go to the movies. She’d do whatever she needed to do to scrape the money to go to the movies. She loved stars like Wallace Reid and Mary Pickford, and she wanted to be like them. She wanted it so bad, she could taste it. Anything was better than what she was living. The screen would be her protection from the world.

During this time many young women submitted photos of themselves to the Motion Picture Magazine. Each year the magazine would have a contest, designed to discover new actors. It was much like “American Idol” is today. Almost every star-struck girl in America dreamed of winning this contest and of being transported to the magical land of Hollywood. Clara borrowed the money from her father and submitted her photo in 1921 and she won.

Her first break was in a movie titled, “Beyond the Rainbow.” (1922) which disappointed her because her sequences were cut. In fact , one review of the movie in “Variety,” didn’t even mention Bow as one of the “beauties.” But Clara kept at it and eventually got a small role in “Down to the Sea in Ships (1922) which paid her $50 bucks a week, “more money than I knew there was in the world,” Bow said in a Photoplay article. Although she had done, “Beyond the Rainbow,” this film was her first on screen appearance. Clara’s professional life was at an up swing, but her home life was falling apart. Her mother’s mental state got worse, and she didn’t like that her daughter was now an actress. Her mother would rather see her dead, and she attempted to kill Clara. Clara escaped, and her mother was institutionalized. Her mother died shortly after her admission.

Although the death of her mother haunted Clara, she managed to garner strength and determination to pursue her acting career. She landed a few more small roles in 1923, and bigger roles in 1924, eventually gaining more recognition and popularity due to her wild and vivacious personality. Her real breakthrough came in 1925, when she appeared in “The Plastic Age.” In this movie she played the “easy” girl at an ivy-league college. The studio promoted Clara as “the hottest jazz baby in films.” But when 1927 rolled around she got a role in a movie titled, “It.” Clara is forever immortalized as the “it” girl. Thus she is known as the quintessential “flapper.” The girl of the jazz age. The “it” girl  represented, unrestrained sexuality, vivacious personality, and an exuberant love of life. This movie makes Clara the biggest star in Hollywood.

Hollywood life was good, but again, her personal life was falling apart. Her emotional state became fragile much to the concern of her producers and directors. They coined her, “Crisis-a-day Clara.” The media  had a field day with Clara, complicating her professional life. Stories of her many love affairs, orgies, etc, were front page news. Hollywood began to see her as a “disgrace,” and “lowlife.” But despite this, Clara continued on the road to fame. She was granted a more serious role in Academy Award winning, “Wings,” in 1927, unfortunately, this would turn out to be her last great picture. Then came the talkies and Clara worried she wouldn’t be good. She made only a few talkies, and many think her Brooklyn accent was the problem. I’ve heard her, and I still don’t understand what the fuss was about.

The pressures of Hollywood got the best of Clara and she decided to leave it for good in 1933. It became clear to her that her career ended when the Jazz age ended. She settled down and married actor Rex Bell and had two children. They lived in a remote ranch in Nevada, but even this didn’t keep the scandals from coming. In 1949 her mental state continued to decline and she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She never appeared in the limelight again. She died at age 60, alone, in her home in Los Angeles on September 27, 1965. And although, we see her laughing and dancing on the screen today, remember what she once said, “ All the time the flapper is laughin’ and dancin’, there’s a feelin’of tragedy underneath..”

328 Chauncey Street, in Brooklyn NY is what I remember most about Jackie Gleason’s character, Ralph Kramden in “The Honeymooners.” You see, that building and street does exist in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, NY, where Jackie grew up and where I was born. I didn’t live in the same building, but born and lived for a few years in the Bushwick area. So I’ve always felt an affinity with Ralph because of this. I have the DVD collection of all 39 episodes of “The Honeymooners”, and another set of the lost episodes of “The Honeymooners,” and I’ve watched them over and over again. And each time I watch them I laugh till my belly aches! It’s a New York thing.  New Yorkers love the “The Honeymooners!”

328 Chancey Street Today

Jackie Gleason patterned the Kramden apartment after the one he lived in with his mom at 328 Chauncey street. The building, like in the series, Gleason said, “… was dull. The bulbs weren’t very bright. The surroundings were very bare.”  If you asked anyone who knew Jackie, about him, they’d all say the same, he was “hilarious and had a heart as big as a house.” He was known to be generous, giving, and helpful, but his greatest gift was laughter. And if you are a fan, you know exactly what I mean. His true self came out in the character of Ralph Kramden, and he even said that. Ralph, although big, loud, and imposing, had a soft spot. The soft spot totally overpowered anything negative about Ralph. And maybe that’s why Ralph’s character was Gleason’s most loved one. He said of the character, “The poor soul hasn’t got a hell of a lot of ability. But he keeps trying. He gets schemes to make he and Alice happy. He fails. When he fails he feels a great deal of affection toward her and she knows why he did it. And he apologizes all the time. He’s just an ordinary guy who is trying to make it and can’t do it.”

One of these days, Alice!

For a guy who made everyone laugh, he had a hard life, and offers valuable lessons we can learn from. Growing up in Brooklyn’s Bushwick area, I’m sure, was no paradise. He lost his older brother when he was 3, his father skipped town when he was nine, and he was raised by an overprotective mother. The loss of his father haunted him the rest of his days, and often he wondered if his dad was part of the audience which watched him. He once said: “I would always wonder whether the old man was somewhere out there in the audience, perhaps a few seats away. I guess I always kind of expected him to appear backstage suddenly, saying ‘Hi, I’m your old man.’ Then one day, I realized that wherever he was, it would be easy for him to contact me–if he really wanted to.” He adored his mom, but because she was afraid to lose him, she overly protected him. He wasn’t allowed to go out and play with the kids. He didn’t even start school until he turned 8. He once said, that he got the “poor soul” look from the days he’d pressed his face against the window watching the kids play outside.

"Do the Hucklebuck..."

Eventually his mom loosened up a bit and at the age of 12 Gleason landed a job racking up balls for a local pool hall. And we know how he used this experience in movies like, his Oscar nominated role in “The Hustler” (1961) & The Sting II (1982). I have you know that most actors will use stunt doubles for pool playing shots, but Gleason did not. So, how did he enter show business? In a 60 Minute interview he said, “I was in a grammar school graduation play and I got a laugh. That laugh was the greatest thing that happened to me. And if you can go out in front of an audience and do things that make them happy and make them laugh, there’s no greater thrill. The instant critique of laughter and when you achieve it—it’s wonderful.” What a guy, huh? At 19, his mom died, and Gleason had 32 cents to his name. He said, “I knew no fear. I was stupid, brash, arrogant and broke.” I think we can all say the same for ourselves when were 19! He took the subway to Times Square and the angels of fame kissed his brow.

Not all in Gleason’s life was “peachy cream.” We all know he had alcohol issues, but he denied ever drinking on the set. His appetite for food is said to have been due to childhood deprivation. He married three times, and by-the-way, his grandson is actor, and hottie, Jason Patic. His third time at marriage with Marilyn Taylor is said to have been his happiest. Marilyn and he married in 1972 and she was by his side when he died in 1987.

We can say that Gleason modeled a lot of his well known characters after himself. Reginald Van Gleason, big drinker and extravagant spender that Gleason was known to be and Ralph Kramden the hustler always trying to make the big time. But it’s all good because it seems to me, that Gleason fulfilled his mission on earth, he made us all laugh. Thank you Jackie, Ralph, and Reginald! “Baby you’re the greatest!”

“The Goddess” used this type of acting and it brought to life the story of a woman, Emily Ann Faulkner, caught up in being a celebrity, hooked on drugs, and alcohol, and lastly mental break-down. Kim Stanley plays the main character and perfectly so, since her portrayal paralleled her own life. The story by Paddy Chayefshy, is broken up in three parts, and each introduced by its own title, “Portrait of Young Girl,” “Portrait of a Young Woman,” & “Portrait of a Goddess” Emily Ann Faulkner is nine years old in the first act, played by Patty Duke. It’s the 1930’s and Emily’s mom (Betty Lou Holland) is a young single mom from the south. She is determined to enjoy her youth despite her daughter, and decides to abandon her. In one of the movie’s most disturbing scenes, Emily overhears her mom call her, “nothing but an unwelcome burden.” Words which cut straight through Emily’s heart and soul and scar her for life.

In the second act, Emily is now a teenager, but very much like her mother, a foolish woman. Emily had earned the reputation of being a loose woman. She sleeps around because it’s what makes her feel popular and wanted. She marries a young man (Steven Hill) she thinks is her ticket to Hollywood. It turns out he’s worst off than she, mentally speaking. They have a child, and the marriage falls apart. But Emily has dreams, dreams of becoming a star in Hollywood, and no baby was going to stop her from living her life. She, like her mother, abandons her daughter, and divorces her husband and heads out to Hollywood.

In the third act, Emily achieves her dreams of stardom, changing her name to Rita Shawn. She learns the dirty and sleazy ways of Hollywood and plays the game. She marries a celebrity (Lloyd Bridges), and after another very dysfunctional relationship with him, she files for divorce. As she climbs up the latter of fame and fortune, she realizes the emptiness of this type of lifestyle. She becomes an alcoholic, and gets hooked on prescription drugs. Although she is famous, she is lonely, and has no real friends. She eventually has a mental breakdown and it is her mother who helps her recuperate. But that recuperation only last for a while, and Rita relapses.

The end of the story is open to interpretation, but you get the feeling she will forge ahead, although on drugs and alcohol. A functioning alcoholic and drug-addict movie star. Very typical then as it is now. You can’t help feeling sad for the innocence Emily has lost and will never regain. The movie is solemn, but exposes Hollywood for what it is, a place where values mean nothing, and celebrity means everything; a place where those most victimized are the very ones least able to cope with it. A place of lights, camera, action, and dreadful loneliness.

By Jon Ortiz

Forgive me.  There will be no steamy Penthouse letter experience here, despite the horribly misleading title, this will bore you.  Remember the 1981 cult classic Clash of Titans ? The fantasy flick based on the myth of Perseus?  I mean, why wouldn’t you? You have a veritable who’s who of the greats of yesteryear, such magnificent thespians as Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Ursala Andress, and uh Harry Hamlin.  Not teeming with excitement?  Well perhaps the films tag line “You will feel the power. Live the adventure. Experience the fantastic.” is enough to compel you to cram another needless addition to your cluttered Netflix queue.  This, my dear friends, is essential viewing.

In the early 80’s it was all about the death of Disco, birth of Heavy Metal, and Korg keyboards.  The sex, drugs, rock and roll mantra reigned supreme, and the films of the era oozed just that. Scarface , Fast Times at Ridgemont High
, and Valley Girl spring to mind.  Suddenly I want to swear profusely, smoke copious amounts of pot, and be a part of an absurd coming of age story.  This is when films were starting to break out of their shell, and began to reflect the excessive culture the 80’s brought with it.  Sign me up.  Fantasy was an unfairly derided sub-genre at the time (Until Conan the Barbarian and Arnold flipped the script in 1982, the year my ass entered this wonderful world), seeing as most of them were not very marketable.  Not like now, when everyone is spitting out a fantasy flick a week, most of which are horrendously bad.  Can you blame them? We just gobble this shit up, you have emo vampires, teenage wizards, and the shameless raping of every animated series I held dear in my childhood .

What happens next?  Desmond Davis ripped the film world apart with Clash of The Titans is what happened.  Probably the biggest feature film of his career, Davis was a TV luminary , and totally old school. MGM took the gamble, and Davis changed my life.  He showed that fantasy could be just as gritty as Tony Montana and a mountain of cocaine.  Nudity? Check. Decapitations? Check. Flying horses? Check.  It wasn’t afraid to be bold and fantastical at the same time.  This movie terrified me as a child ,thanks to Ray Harryhausen’s exceptional stop motion visual effects, and mesmerized me as an adult.  It’s everything you want in a fantasy flick: Hero has to come to the rescue of a city, get the girl, lose the girl, rescue the girl, and slay the enormous leviathan.  Are you kidding me?  This is the stuff of legends.  Let’s not even get started on the cast here. Laurence Olivier plays Zeus, and that’s exactly how I imagined him, a man so dignified he needs a throne.  Ursula Andress, gorgeous as ever, plays Aphrodite as only she could.  I detest cliches, but they just don’t make them like this anymore.

Today it’s all over-stylized CG nonsense, terrible casting choices, and sloppy directing.  My God, what happened to the charm, passion, the pizazz, blood, sweat, and tears of good fantasy? There are few this side of Jim Cameron and Peter Jackson who can claim they have retained the best of old, and fused it with best of the new. If I sound jaded, it’s because I am.  It’s okay, I’ll go to sleep, wake up, and wonder ‘What was I talking about?’ Clash of Titans was the last of its kind, a relic of old never to be forgotten once we “Experienced the fantastic.”  There has to be a foundation, and I believe Desmond Davis built it.  Desmond if you’re reading this, I would like to share a drink with you, shake your hand, and simply say thank you for providing us with such a rare classic.  They just don’t make them like this any more.

Lately I’ve been thinking of stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood who are still with us. Believe it or not, there are quite a few. I don’t like thinking of them leaving us one day soon. To think of them still around, makes me feel grounded and rooted in the old values and principles of their generation. It gives me a sense of order. So as they pass, in my mind, so do the values, principles, and order. I want to devote a few posts to those still with us, their achievements, disappointments, and what they are doing today.

I want to start with Peter Falk who is now 82 years old. I saw him recently in the O’Reilly Factor, still as he always was, funny, confident, and endearing. I love Peter Falk because he reminds me of the many times I have stayed up late with my husband watching classic TV’s Columbo on DVD. I’m a wannabe sleuth, so watching a crime show where the sleuth cracks the case in under an hour is fascinating! Columbo, the eccentric detective who pretends to be a dunderhead, but is actually a genius at detective work, and always 3 steps ahead of the criminal, is the character most of us remember him for. I will never forget the role he played in Murder, Inc ( 1960) his first movie, and first Oscar nomination.

Falk was born September 16, 1927 in my hometown, New York City, but raised in upstate Ossining. Acting came early for him. His first stage role was at the age of 12 in a production of “The Pirates of Penzance.” He graduated Ossining High School, president of his class and star athlete. He joined the Merchant Marine where he served as a cook. He then attended college and got a B.A. in political science, he then went on to get his Masters degree in public administration in 1953. He applied for a job with the CIA which he didn’t get. He went on to get a position as a management analyst with the Connecticut State Budget Bureau in Hartford. In his spare time he acted with Mark Twain Maskers in Hartford and studied at the White Barn Theater in Westport. It is at this time he gave acting some real thought and took the plunge. He left his job and moved to the Village in NYC and basically declared himself an actor!

Peter was lucky enough to land roles in play after play off Broadway for 3 years. He enjoyed success on the stage, but an agent told him not to expect to make it in movies. You see, Peter has a glass eye and it just wasn’t attractive for the movies. His right eye was removed by surgeons when he was three years old due to a tumor. But this didn’t stop Peter from trying to land a movie role, and boy did he. He landed his first role in “Murder Incorporated.” After this first movie he did another 117, and was nominated one more time for an Oscar, and got another 19 wins (Emmys, etc), & 18 nominations. His latest movie is “American Cowslip” (2009) where he plays a priest.

I love Peter Falk because although he was told he wouldn’t make it in films he proved them wrong. I love him because he didn’t let age stop him from using his gifts and passion. Sadly, Peter Falk has advanced stages of Alzheimer’s today. I get a feeling that if he could, he’d overcome that too. In a sense we’ve already lost this Golden Age star and I only wish Lieutenant Columbo could solve this one. I can just see him getting out of his beat up Puegeot with his dingy rain coat (could never figure out why he wore that in sunny California!), mussed up hair, cigar in hand, and walking as if drunk. He looks the disease right in the face with his wonky eye, and stupefied stare, slaps his forehead as if to let out all the confusion, and says, “Excuse ma’am…there’s just one more question…who let you in, and how can I get you out?” Thank you Peter Falk (Columbo) for the memories and for  keeping me grounded and rooted in old school values and principles!

Have you ever come across someone in your life who is just so full of bitterness that all they say or touch is miserable? And you wonder, what made someone like this? The Pawnbroker, (1964) tells a story of just such a person. Sol Nazerman played by a much talented, but most underrated, Rod Steiger, used to be a successful professor in Europe during WW II. Nazerman is a Jew in a world that didn’t want them. He has a beautiful wife, and two angelic children, and other relatives who live a quite life in Europe, until the Nazis came and literally tore the family apart. One of his children dies in transit to the concentration camp, his wife is raped in front of him and eventually killed. His other child is never heard from again.

Twenty years have passed and Sol is now a bitter pawnbroker in NYC, right in the thick of things. Poverty, pain, drugs, alcohol, prostitution, anguish, also live in the neighbor Sol works in. But to a bitter Sol, he sees nothing, he feels nothing.  Sol’s eager assistant, Jesus Ortiz (Jaime Sanchez) is looking for a way to get rich quick. Jesus is a Puerto Rican immigrant living with his mother in a rat and roach infested apartment in Harlem. He wants out. He had a few break-ins with the law, but wants the straight, but narrow road. He finds Sol hardened, and bitter, but feels Jews, as Sol is, know how to get rich and quick. After all, it comes easy for as he put it, “you people.” Jesus sees Sol not only as a teacher, but as a father, to only be pushed away by Sol whenever he tries to get close. Eventually Jesus gets tired of being pushed away, and it leads him to making horrible decisions. Both Sol and Jesus are trapped in there desires. Sol lives in the past preventing him from moving forward in life. Jesus wants to move ahead too fast which ultimately causes him to act impulsively.

Sol feels nothing for the poor souls who enter his shop with their prized and last possessions. Each soul that entered Sol’s shop were like dead men walking. Lifeless and hopeless. But Sol acts like he doesn’t care, he pretends to love money more than people, after all, this is what was expected of a Jew. As mean as he is with the poor creatures, he manages to garner our sympathy because in fact, it is he who is slave to a real genuinely greedy man, a low life gangster, Rodriguez (Brock Peters) whose violence and brutal ways paralleled those of the Nazis which still haunted Sol’s days and nights.

The director, Sidney Lumet was quite daring in this film. He manages to crush the day’s stereotypes of  Jews, Blacks and Latinos. For the first time in Hollywood history a movie depicted the underclasses in a realistic manner. Struggling Latinos and Blacks in Harlem just fighting each day to put food on the table. And in these neighborhoods it meant that these souls would sell their memories to Sol just to survive. To some, a radio, candle sticks, etc, may seem worthless, but to these people it was worth a fortune. But to Sol, their memories meant nothing compared to his. We relive Sol’s concentration camp past through a series of heartbreaking flashbacks.

I found the film to be moving, and realistic. The New York City scenes are the perfect backdrop to a story of a powerful city filled with powerless people, it brought back a lot memories for me. Looking at poverty and hopelessness 3 D can be heartbreaking, but enlightening. Steiger’s performance makes the movie. Steiger played the role of Sol so intensely you’ll forget he’s acting. He deserved the Oscar that year for sure, he lost to Lee Marvin, unjustly so. Lument was brave enough to make the world face a subject they much rather had forgotten. And made us realize that the real tragedy is what we make of our suffering.

I’ve met many a fem fatales in film noir, but I think I met the absolute worst one on record. The film noir is titled,  “Too Late for Tears,” (1949). Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy play Jane and Alan Palmer a middle class couple who don’t make much money, just enough money to “get by.” As Jane put it, they are not exactly “poor,” but they are, “white collar poor.” The movie starts with the couple driving to a cocktail party, a party that Jane did not want to really attend. It appeared to me that she was envisioning the “haves” that would attend the party, and the vision was driving the little “have not,” out of her mind. The green monster was gnawing at her, like a hungry wolf who hadn’t eaten for days. But not all is bad, Jane was going to hit it, and hit it big. As they are driving, a bag is thrown into the back of their convertible car. They stop to check it out, and when they open the bag, it is full of money, dough, lots of it. Jane’s eyes look like a child who had just been given the best Christmas present ever. A chase ensues with the person who should have gotten the money. Eventually they escape and arrive at their apartment.

Alan wants to return the money, but Jane won’t have it. She convinces him that it’s not stealing if they don’t come for it. It is the only chance they’ve got to really have money. She expresses her disgust with budgeting, and buying things on time. He relents and puts the stash in a locker at Union Station. The plan is, if no one reports the money missing, it is theirs and they live high on the hog. Although the money is away, Jane goes on a shopping spree. She buys expensive clothes, shoes, and fur coat. However, Jane’s luck is quickly running out.

The guy involved in the erred transaction, Danny Fuller (Don DeFore) shows up at the couple’s apartment. He first plays it off like he’s a detective, but soon reveals who he really is. But Danny doesn’t know Jane’s manipulative ways. And manipulates she does. Alan finds out about her shopping sprees and discovers that his wife has become another person, a person he doesn’t recognize. He demands the money be returned. Jane goes into a panic and along with Danny plots to kill her husband. And here is why I think she is the worst fem fatale, she goes on a date with Alan, but it will be Alan’s last date because she will kill him. She doesn’t get a hit man, or anything like that, she herself will kill him. What mattered most to Jane was the money and no one or anything was going to get in her way.

For a while she gets away with murder and continues to manipulate Danny Fuller until he gets hip to her ways, and even becomes afraid of her. Not even Danny can escape this woman’s grip. Unbeknownst to Jane, someone from her past is on to her, and he’s come to collect on a debt. This stranger will ultimately end her murderous ways.

Jane was the best and worst fem-fatale I’ve come across. I say best because at a time when women were to be seen, but never heard, and they did anything and everything for their man, Jane used the typical stereotypes of being weak and half-witted to her advantage. Worst because she became so consumed with money that she’d do anything to keep it. After killing two people, she struts down to Mexico and makes a new life for herself as if nothing ever happened. Jane in my book is the coldest, and most manipulative, fem-fatale ever—a sociopath and she got what she deserved.

]]> http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/11/the-worst-fem-fatale-on-record/feed/ 0 http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/11/amos-n-andy-much-ado-about-nothing/ http://www.classicmoviegab.com/2009/11/amos-n-andy-much-ado-about-nothing/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:14:12 +0000 Bacall http://www.classicmoviegab.com/?p=1040

I’ve always been curious of the 1951 Classic TV show Amos N Andy. I know it was a great show and many loved it, many which were and are African American. So what happened to Amos n Andy and what was all the raucous about?

Let’s step back in time here. Amos n Andy were first on the radio from 1928-1950 and the ratings were high for the funny show of two black guys who lived in a farm in the south, who one day decide to head out to the big city of Chicago with just $24.00. Sounds good so far, only one problem, the two black guys were played by two white guys, Freeman Gosden, and Charles Correll. They not only voiced Amos n Andy, they also wrote the script for the show. And the show was an instant hit. Everything stopped in America when the show came on. But let’s face it, the fact that the characters were played by white guys which appeared in black-face in a series of movies, was insulting to America’s black communities, who at the time were engaged in an emerging civil rights movement.

CBS decides to get real, or shall we say take a chance at “being real.” They felt if the funny story of Amos n Andy was coming to TV, the characters should all be black, period. CBS pays a fortune for the television rights and assembles an awesome all black cast, Alvin Childress as Amos, Spencer Williams, Jr. as Andy, Tim Moore as “Kingfish” Stevens, and Johnnie Lee as the fast-talking lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun and others.

At the time there weren’t many black actors on TV sitcoms, although there were some, the roles they played were that of maids, or butlers. Amos n Andy like most 1950’s comedies had, an all-encompassing set of funny characters and goofy plot lines, but it did portray African Americans as lawyers, doctors, and business owners, something that was never seen until this show. And not one show had anything to do with race. And both white and black audiences loved the show.

At the time however, many civil rights leaders didn’t like, no matter how popular the show was, a show which portrayed blacks as half-wits. The leaders felt that blacks should be given other serious roles on television, not just comedic ones. And because of the history of Amos n Andy (white playing black) the civil rights leaders saw it as a part of TV that blacks should not participate in, if anything, it was a history they wanted to erase and blot out of their minds for good.

CBS succumbed to the pressures of the civil rights leaders in 1953, just two years after a successful start, the show was canceled. CBS distributed the reruns in syndication and the ratings shot through the roof on local stations. Again the black leaders demanded the series be completely removed and in 1966 CBS does despite the economic impact for them as well as there affiliates.

I am getting the Amos N Andy DVD collection because from what I hear it is a funny show, one that many say rivals “Seinfeld.” Here is my take on what happened in 1953. Let’s put aside the color and look at the characters for a minute. I am sure that for every negative attribute in Amos n Andy, there was one corresponding sitcom with white males being portrayed the same way. Think Costello, or Ralph Kramden for instance. If anything the fact the show was removed was an injustice for the black community. Think about it, we had to wait until the 80’s to see blacks living a middle class life when America was introduced to “Cosby.” But I always say in order for us to understand events which happened in history, we must look through that time’s prism. And so, I do understand the urgency and fear the civil rights leaders had. But I tell you , when you see today’s TV crap, one just longs to sit and watch true talent and comedy of a bygone era, no matter how the contemporaries of the 50’s felt about it. And I still say, it was much ado about nothing, and sadly we will never know the positive impact it could’ve had.

Update: I got to watch a few episodes and Amos n Andy is hilarious!  You will fall in love with the half-wit, but lovable Andy, con-man, but extremely funny, “Kingfish,”  fast-talking, preacher like, Calhoun, and Amos, the quiet and philosophical cabdriver. Awesome writing and cast. I LOVE the show!

Have you ever watched a classic movie and wonder how on earth some of the actors or actresses were able to keep up with lines. The witty lines and the speed by which they said them has always impressed me. Now, do you ever think of your favorite classic stars as making mistakes while on the set? Can you ever imagine any one of them cursing on the set when bloopers were committed? I suppose we are all tempted to believe that the starlets of old were flawless, curse, nah! Hey, they were human, just like we are and yes, they got pissed off when it took several takes to get one line right, or became hysterical when they or their co-star delivered corny lines. I thought this video below to be funny, revealing and enlightening. See the human side of stars like Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and more.

The second horror movie I recommend you see is the silent horror movie, “Nosferatu.” Although it was done back in 1922, it is still gripping. Out of all the vampire movies I’ve  seen, I find this one to be the scariest. The movie takes place in an eerie and sleepy town in Germany. The story is based on Bram Stoker’s novel, “Dracula.” There were some copyright issues and so a lot of the names of Stoker’s characters were changed for this movie.

A young married man, Hutter played by Gustav Von Wangeheim is summoned by a monstrous looking Knock (Alexander Granach) to pay a visit to Count Orlock  (Max Schreck) in Transylvania. Count Orlock wants to buy a house in Transylvania and it is Hutter’s job to help him do that. Knock dispels all rumors of phantoms, and ghouls in hopes of convincing Hutter to go and make this sale. Hutter however, didn’t need any real convincing, he wants to make money, and this is the deal of century. He goes and leaves his wife behind with relatives.

Here is when the movie gets dark and gloomy. Hutter’s trip to Transylvania builds up suspense as he gets closer and closer to Orlock’s lair. He stops at an inn and the locals warn him of what will happen to him should he continue on this journey to Orlock. They are full of dread and horror, but Hutter wants to make the dough, and laughs it all off. He proceeds on the journey but the coachman drops him off ways away from Orlock’s castle because he was afraid to get too close. Even this did not convince Hutter to turn around. Greed has taken him over.

When Hutter arrives, the castle is nightmarish, dark, and dank. The count does not look human, and his love of blood is spine tingling. Hutter realizes he’s walked into something so evil and there is no out. Hutter becomes Orlock’s meal. While all this is going on, Hutter’s wife is having horrible nightmares back home. Orlock beckons Hutter’s wife in these dreams. Orlock manages to get to her, will she escape his grip, or will she forever be with him in the world of the dammed?

Contemporary movies portray Dracula as an accomplished, enigmatic, and handsome seducer. This film, which I feel is a lot closer to the story than most, portrays him as a ghoul. F.W. Murnau’s film is a classic and masterpiece. Nosferatu is a scary, evil, and nightmarish ghoul who walks the earth looking for whom to devour. The movie devoid of today’s bells and whistles is gripping. The use of shadows, lighting, are visually impressive. One scene that sticks in my head is the one with all the rats running out of the coffin—truly unforgettable.