2017-10-01 01:30
It’s the last day of September in 2017, and tomorrow (October 1), Thrilling Days of Yesteryearwill officially move to its new home at WordPress. If you make it a point to stop by… Read More
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Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear Blog
thrillingdaysofyesteryear.blogspot.com
A blog devoted to nostalgia: classic movies, vintage television, old-time radio, etc.
2017-09-26 16:00
The last Hollywood project that the legendary D.W. Griffith worked on before being ignored by the industry until his passing in 1948 was a fantasy-adventure film produced at Hal Roach’… Read More
2017-09-25 12:56
My chum Rich from Wide Screen World left me a link on my Facebook page two days ago, pointing me to this article at Mediaite that asks the musical question: “Remember When Late Night T… Read More
2017-09-15 17:39
Since I’m at the halfway point before Thrilling Days of Yesteryear makes its official move to the brand-spanking-new WordPress blog in October, I thought I’d post this to let you… Read More
2017-09-07 11:00
Alpha Video’s Brian Krey—the individual who should take a bow for providing a lot of the product that I review on this here blog—mentioned to me in an e-mail a while back t… Read More
2017-09-05 11:00
Southerner Jean Stratton (Anise Boyer) is willing to go to any lengths to find work in Harlem—even making a wish under the legendary “Tree of Hope” (the story goes that an… Read More
2017-08-31 11:00
Lumber baron Thomas De Quincey (James Gordon) is excited to welcome home his son Jack (Kenneth Harlan)—newly graduated from Oxford, you know—because he needs a man to ride herd a… Read More
2017-08-30 11:00
Yesterday’s “Overlooked Films on Tuesdays” entry was a little late getting up on the blog…and for that, I apologize for the delay. As a rule, I try to make a c… Read More
2017-08-29 22:00
Pat Marvin (Jane Withers) is a shutterbug for Flick (“The magazine that’s there when it happens”) …but she may not be employed there much longer. Larry Burke (… Read More
2017-08-28 11:00
Back in April, I did a write-up for Big Town After Dark (1947) as one of the blog’s “Overlooked Films on Tuesdays”—After Dark being the third film in a B-picture fran… Read More
2017-08-25 13:15
Apologies for all the sawdust on the blog floor…but that’s kind of the reason why I don’t have an installment of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’sweekly dissection into… Read More
2017-08-24 11:00
Returning to stately Osterna Castle after two years of being abroad, Graf (Count) Greven exhibits a demeanor vastly different than his pre-travel behavior. He instructs his staff to pu… Read More
2017-08-22 11:00
Since he’s in arrears to the Secure Finance and Loan Company, young Toby Locke (Matty Kemp) agrees to join the outfit as a collection agent…but learns too late that despite its… Read More
2017-08-21 11:00
Sister Kat and Nephew Davis have come and gone, and their visit was both a tonic for Mom and a big surprise for Dad (Mom and I decided not to tell him of their pending arrival, and he was po… Read More
2017-08-15 11:00
After the retreat of the British armed forces from Dunkirk, Britain was invaded by Germany in July of 1940…and though the Brits initially put up a stiff struggle, the Hun eventually s… Read More
2017-08-14 13:34
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear goddess Thelma Todd had her motion picture career cut short by a mysterious death in 1935 that continues to mystify fans and provoke endless speculation even tod… Read More
2017-08-09 18:00
The fields went fallow on the blog for nearly a week for one simple reason: our internet provider is terrible, and isn’t planning on improving their behavior anytime soon. I&rsqu&hell…Read More
2017-08-01 15:49
You might remember Phil Hall as the author of an excellent book that I reviewed back on the blog in August of 2016 entitled In Search of Lost Films; Hall, a film critic/journalist who has co… Read More
2017-07-31 11:00
For ten seasons on TV’s The Carol Burnett Show, comic actor Harvey Korman was not only one of the hardest working second bananas in the variety show bidness but one of the funniest.&nb&hell…Read More
2017-07-28 11:00
This week’s entry in our Crime Does Not Pay series features two actors in the opening credits that would go on to bigger and better things in the motion picture bidness. The firs… Read More
2017-07-27 11:00
Yes, this tired Draculapun is about the only enjoyment I got out of watching Daughter of the Night (1920), an edited version of a German film entitled Der Tanz Auf Dem Vulcan/Der Fluch der M… Read More
2017-07-25 11:00
Harlem’s hottest night spot is The Cellar Cabaret, owned and operated by Gat Dalton (Laurence Criner). (His mother was frightened by a gun when he was born, apparently.) Da… Read More
2017-07-24 11:00
“Since the launch of Playboymagazine in 1953, two elements have been remarkably consistent: the first is the celebration of nubile, female flesh and the second is Playboy’s invol… Read More
2017-07-21 11:00
This week’s Crime Does Not Pay outing has been discussed previously at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear…but since our Friday excursions into MGM’s popular series of shorts all… Read More
2017-07-20 12:19
In a booklet that was originally supposed to accompany the DVD collection Becoming Charley Chase (it’s still online—which was a tremendous relief because the copy I downloaded su… Read More
2017-07-19 11:00
Thunderbean Animationhas firmly established itself in the Blu-ray/DVD field as the go-to label for classic cartoon releases, ranging from the oeuvre of Willie Whopper and Cubby Bear to their… Read More
2017-07-18 11:00
Before winning Academy Awards for the screenplays to such Thrilling Days of Yesteryear favorites as The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976—a movie that becomes more and more eerily pres… Read More
2017-07-14 11:00
Torture Money(1937), the ninth short in MGM’s Crime Does Not Pay franchise, would win the studio back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) …and while the CDN… Read More
2017-07-13 11:00
In 1925, a group of expatriate Broadway thespians who had moved to the West Coast for film work decided to establish a social club where members could fraternize and enjoy each other’s… Read More
2017-07-11 14:15
Radio producer John Guedel was a man who was in the right place at the right time. In 1942, he was plying his trade on Red Skelton’s Raleigh cigarettes program when he spotted an… Read More
2017-07-10 11:00
“Those opposed to DRM contend there is no evidence that DRM helps prevent copyright infringement, arguing instead that it serves only to inconvenience legitimate customers, and that DR… Read More
2017-07-07 11:00
As the blogosphere goes wild for the triumphant return of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s critically-acclaimed dissection weekly of the Crime Does Not Pay shorts (hoo boy), we learn thi… Read More
2017-07-06 12:11
The Kickstarter project from March of 2016 to raise funds to restore the 1922 Marion Davies feature film When Knighthood Was in Flower came to a most gratifying conclusion on the first of th… Read More
2017-07-04 11:00
Because I had some technical problems with the feature that was to be reviewed in this space today, I was forced to call an audible…and so, I made the decision to go with The Magic Ca… Read More
2017-07-03 11:00
If you were going to request that a “coffee table book” be written on old-time radio, I can’t think of a more suitable author than my fellow Radio Spirits contributor and n… Read More
2017-06-30 11:00
I hadn’t planned to use the “Harold Lloyd More to Come” screen grab so soon but…there will be no Crime Does Not Pay this week. A combination of outside interfe… Read More
2017-06-29 11:00
From 1931 to 1948, beloved character veteran Edgar Kennedy starred in over 100 two-reel comedies for RKO, as part of a franchise originally titled “Mr. Average Man.” Kenned… Read More
2017-06-28 11:00
“And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back, that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been…I bid you… Read More
2017-06-27 11:00
In the very early month of May (okay…more like May 19th), The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ had scheduled showings of several entries in Columbia’s The Whistler… Read More
2017-06-26 11:00
I had originally planned a review of an upcoming Time Life DVD release in their The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson series for this space today…but unfortunately, I ran out of wee… Read More
2017-06-23 16:41
Well, after all the hassles with my health and the health of my computer, Thrilling Days of Yesteryearreturns with our critically-acclaimed dissections of the two-reel shorts in MGM’s… Read More
2017-06-22 11:00
Janaia (Pola Negri) is a breathtakingly beautiful dancer who travels with other performers in a caravan…and who’s attracted the attention of a Bagdad slave trader, Achmed (Paul… Read More
2017-06-21 11:00
The night that I wrestled with the meshuggeneh desktop computer—the one that eventually had to be hauled into the repair shop so that the hard drive could be replaced—I was stuck… Read More
2017-06-20 11:00
The members of the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful comprise a very erudite crowd (okay, you can take your hands out of your pants pockets now—I’m not asking for money) and… Read More
2017-06-19 11:00
When Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In premiered as a one-shot NBC-TV special on September 9, 1967, several of the show’s best remembered cast members were already on board: Judy Car… Read More
2017-06-17 12:00
Many thanks to commenter Rick Robinsonand a few other Facebook denizens for their moral support during The Great Computer Crisis of 2017. I took it into Reboot Computer Friday morning… Read More
2017-06-15 11:00
This hasn’t been the best of weeks in recent memory, cartooners. I was doing a few chores on my desktop computer Monday afternoon when the fershlugginer thing decided it had had… Read More
2017-06-13 11:00
In July of 2013, I contributed an essay to a “Dynamic Duos in Classic Film” blogathon…and the subject(s) of my text was the immortal team of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis… Read More
2017-06-12 13:30
I apologize for the truncation on the blog last week; I had a dandy entry lined up for Thursday’s SilentMovie Spotlight, and because I wasn’t able to produce an entry in TDOY&rsq&hell…Read More
2017-06-06 11:00
H.T. Bookwright (Jeff Williams) was on trial for the shooting death of a young no-account named Buck Thorpe (Dick Dougherty), who was shot while attempting to run off with Bookwright’s… Read More
2017-06-02 11:00
The two gentlemen scribes responsible for last week’s stirring Crime Does Not Pay saga, Hit-and-Run Driver (1935)—Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo—are back again with a… Read More
2017-06-01 14:13
'Chic' Sale...and 'Chic' SaleYou never really get a handle on how gosh-darned huge the Internets are until you use The Google to research the career of Charles Partlow ‘Chic” Sal… Read More
2017-05-30 11:00
During his stint as a “Not Ready for Prime Time Player” on NBC’s Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985, comedian Billy Crystal regularly convulsed audiences with his impres… Read More
2017-05-29 13:57
One of the pitfalls in revisiting TV shows from the past—alluded to in the famous Peter DeVries quote at the top of the blog—is that some series simply aren’t as good as yo… Read More
2017-05-26 11:00
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s weekly dissection (well…I tryto make it weekly) of MGM’s Crime Does Not Pay series continues with Hit-and-Run Driver (1935)—an interes… Read More
2017-05-25 11:00
You know the famous quote from John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance(1962): “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The legend goes that up-and-comin… Read More
2017-05-23 11:00
Back in July of last year, when The House of Yesteryear was enmeshed in that (mercifully) brief thrall of madness I jokingly called The DISH Austerity Program, there was really one outlet on… Read More
2017-05-22 11:00
Rick Mitz, author of The Great TV Sitcom Book, once joked that Amos ‘n’ Andy constituted the “two dirty words” of American broadcasting (and he even thought the &ldqu&hell…Read More
2017-05-19 14:15
…I had to scotch this week’s presentation of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s(ir)regular Crime Does Not Payfeature. (I picture people hitting the top of their computer… Read More
2017-05-18 11:00
Pampered heiress Barbara Manning (Bebe Daniels) has spent her entire life cooped up indoors due to the dictates of her father’s will—Babs’ old man appears to have been a ge… Read More
2017-05-17 11:00
The following essay isThrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to Underseen and Underrated: The Classic Movie Blog Association’s Spring 2017 Blogathon, underway this week from… Read More
2017-05-17 00:00
My mad scheme was to have up on Monday and Tuesday reviews of two movies that I recently watched off my Hopper (Dish’s cute nick for their DVR…though the one in my room is techn… Read More
2017-05-12 11:00
After a two-week hiatus from the blog, Crime Does Not Pay returns to Thrilling Days of Yesteryear…and I should probably issue this heads-up: this bedroom office desk chair of mine, be… Read More
2017-05-11 11:00
Two weeks ago in this space, I reviewed the Alpha Video release Ultra-Rare Pre-Code Comedies, Volume 2—and at the end of the post, I mentioned in passing an additional Alpha release in… Read More
2017-05-09 13:52
Pastor Johann David Wyss’ novel The Swiss Family Robinson (Der Schweizerische Robinson), first published in 1812, has served as inspiration for several motion pictures and television a… Read More
2017-05-08 11:00
Peter Falk as ColumboActor Peter Falk played his signature role of Lt. Columbo in the 1968 TV-movie Prescription Murder—and a follow up telefilm, Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)—bef… Read More
2017-05-05 14:00
Once again, I am forced to confront the Thrilling Days of Yesteryear faithful—hat in hand—with the unfortunate news that I didn’t get the weekly installment of Crime Does N… Read More
2017-05-04 21:29
In the history of the motion picture industry, the term “state’s rights” was used to describe many of the independent movie companies; these outfits would sell their releas… Read More
2017-05-02 11:00
Comedian Frank Fay holds a special place in the history of show business mirth as one of the first “master of ceremonies,” or “emcees.” As such, he could also b… Read More
2017-05-01 11:00
The post you’re reading now was composed on Wednesday evening of the previous week—and before I begin, I apologize to everyone who may have already been clued into this news (I t… Read More
2017-04-28 11:00
I’m going to have to preempt this week’s installment of Crime Does Not Pay due to a looming deadline for an outside project (mea maxima culpa); I had hoped to be able to squeeze… Read More
2017-04-27 11:00
In 1919, when Earle W. Hammons founded Educational Pictures, the motion picture studio was dedicated to doing what was indicated in its title—making films for schools. This didn… Read More
2017-04-25 11:00
I’ve mentioned a time or two on the ol’ blog that much of my classic movie mania—really, the entire content of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear—sprang forth from the nost… Read More
2017-04-24 11:00
John Travolta, Gabe KaplanWith the premiere of the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter on ABC-TV in the fall of 1975, comedian Gabriel “Gabe” Kaplan became a television star, effectively… Read More
2017-04-21 13:19
I’m two weeks into the Crime Does Not Pay series here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, and already I have been able to gauge its monumental success because the CDNP shorts that had bee… Read More
2017-04-20 11:00
Back in November of 2016, I plugged a Kickstarter project instituted by author/silent film collector Edward Lorusso to restore the 1922 Marion Davies film Beauty’s Worth…and whi… Read More
2017-04-18 11:00
It’s back by popular demand! (Spoiler alert: it’s not really…it’s not even that popular, to be honest.) The last one of these I did was back in November… Read More
2017-04-17 11:00
One night in 1973, legendary comedian Bob Hope sneaked into the NBC studios to attend a taping of The Dean Martin Show, where fellow mirthmaker Don Rickles (who we sadly said good bye to thi… Read More
2017-04-14 11:00
There was close to an eight-month gap between the release of the first of MGM’s Crime Does Not Payshorts (Buried Loot) and the second entry in the long-running series…and while… Read More
2017-04-13 13:00
I received a nice e-note (a short e-mail) from Flicker Alley’s Sarah Bastin yesterday afternoon, letting me know that they did select a winner in their Blu-ray/DVD giveaway for their l… Read More
2017-04-13 11:00
A title card reads: “Hugh Porteous was the best man at Clive Cheney’s wedding – and he still was, as far as Lady Catherine was concerned.” As such, Lady Catheri… Read More
2017-04-12 11:00
After starring in sixteen Westerns (released from 1944 to 1946) as comic strip hero Red Ryder, “Wild” Bill Elliott gravitated to bigger and better things at Republic, just like a… Read More
2017-04-11 11:00
In March 2009, The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ decided to fete actor Ronald Reagan as their “Star of the Month.” Unless you were in a coma throughout the… Read More
2017-04-10 11:00
There’s a straight-to-video feature film—released in 1996—entitled Star Hunter…which I will charitably describe as a homage (French for “rip-off”) to Sta… Read More
2017-04-07 11:00
In Selected Short Subjects: From Spanky to The Three Stooges (also known as The Great Movie Shorts), author Leonard Maltin remarks on the Crime Does Not Pay series: “Film historian Don… Read More
2017-04-06 11:00
Throwing a little soiree on his houseboat, District Attorney White (Earle Williams) has some startling news for those in attendance: a valuable diamond necklace has been stolen, and White kn… Read More
2017-04-05 11:00
Back in June of 2010, I started what I had hoped would be a continuing feature at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear by mentioning a pair of the MGM Crime Does Not Pay two-reelers that I had caugh… Read More
2017-04-04 14:04
Being a motion picture actor in Hollywood during the 1930s/1940s was a demanding job…but can you imagine committing yourself to the rigors of a live weekly radio show as well? I… Read More
2017-04-03 11:00
You’ll no doubt recall that in my Hopalong Cassidy post from last week I mentioned that the quality of the movies I downloaded from Epix’s “Vault on Demand” were a cr… Read More
2017-03-31 11:00
State Department official George Eakins (John McGuire), scheduled to leave for a conference in L.A., receives a sealed envelope containing his orders by courier. Eakins will never get… Read More
2017-03-30 12:13
Last week,I climbed this blog’s highest rooftop to announce that Thrilling Days of Yesteryear had agreed to co-host a giveaway sponsored by Flicker Alley: they are going to hand out a… Read More
2017-03-29 11:00
Of the numerous movies to which I helped myself from Vault on Demand during our recent Epix freeview, a little over a dozen of these features were B-westerns starring William Boyd as Hopalon… Read More
2017-03-28 11:00
One day on Facebook, my chum Jason Togyer—editor of the online Tube City Almanac, The Voice of McKeesport, PA—asked me if I knew the origin of a gag he had heard the great comedy… Read More
2017-03-27 11:00
Of all the premium channel “freeviews” that we received during the latter part of February and early March, I think the one from Epix was my favorite. There wasn’t to… Read More
2017-03-24 11:00
“Murdered men flock to you like flies around a molasses jug, O’Brien,” observes San Francisco cop Inspector Bruger (Richard Travis), having discovered his nemesis, private… Read More
2017-03-23 11:00
Because I had developed little to no interest in athletics (football, baseball, etc.) in my formative years, my adolescence was occupied by my mania for movies—with a minor in silent f… Read More
2017-03-22 16:00
It’s been a little over a month since we’ve handed out some excellent swag here at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear…so I thought I’d rectify the “fabulous prizes&r&hell…Read More
2017-03-22 11:00
In 1922, motion picture audiences were treated to The Man from Hell’s River, the first of a myriad of feature films and serials starring a German Shepherd that had been rescued from a… Read More
2017-03-21 11:00
“They try to tell us we’re too young…” That lyric from the classic Nat King Cole song has special resonance for young Scotty White (Tom Laughlin) …because the… Read More
2017-03-17 11:00
Edmund Dantes (Glenn Langan) has no sooner stepped off a boat (on which he’s employed as a second mate) docked along San Francisco’s waterfront when he must come to the rescue of… Read More
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