Haines His Way

Two points about animation:

First (really about studios in general): ever notice how the Disney studio is the only one people get passionate about?  There are other studios that we recognize for their product, but Disney is the only name that is so closely identified with a product type that even films of the type that weren't produced by Disney (such as The Sound of Music) get identified as Disney films.  When, in contrast, has anyone been as passionate about films from Jack Warner's studio?

Second: For all of his conniving to steal the best animators and other talent from Disney when he left for Dreamworks, Jeffrey Katzenburg hasn't had that great a track record with his new company.  Shrek and Shrek 2 have been the only solid hits he's managed to produce so far, with Antz a distant third.  The traditional animation films he's produced so far, such as Sinbad and The Road to El Dorado, have deserved their flopdom.

(PS: I think Iron Giant is one of the best animated films produced in the last decade or so, right up there with the Pixar films.  Amazing what can happen when attention is paid to getting the story right.)

HMMMMMM....Disney animation.  I would like to see THE SWEATBOX, but probably never will as DB says...

I keep nagging Der Brucer to be more careful with his excerpting from from articles, to distinguish his own writing from the excerpts.  If everyone will read more carefully, he is quoting from someone else's writing, to which he's provided a link.  

The only version of AIA I'm familiar with is the printed script.  Never saw the play, and when we taped the television version, it somehow got rapidly taped over again due to poor labeling.  (Post-its can come off, it turns out.  Drat.)

Great script, with Kushner leaving much to the imagination as far as staging goes.  Even at his most specific (the appearance of the angel), it's clear that he's trying to evoke the idea of the staging, rather than demand the particular from the director.

Sombody had best mention both the "Unsung Musicals" and "Lost in Boston" series or there will hell to pay!!!

der Brucer

No, there will not be hell toupee.  But I'll let others answer the question.

For BK - "The Gene Krupa Story" came out during the same period as several other big bandleader films - "The Glenn Miller Story", "The Benny Goodman Story", "The Five Pennies", et. al.  How do you think it stands up to these films and which film of its type do you think is best?

I actually prefer The Gene Krupa Story to all of them except The Five Pennies, which I love.  

Sibilant sounds - they didn't have the technology that sound mixers have today, that's part of it.  Today they have what they call "d-essers".  But if someone's got a bad problem you can't really fix it - you can help it, but it will still be there.

I was looking for something else and ran across this interesting factoid about Sidney Sheldon, blockbuster novelist - who BTW has over 300 million books in print!
But - here's his other side: He won an Academy Award in 1947 for the screenplay of The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer. And he created The Patty Duke Show and I Dream of Jeannie, writing all but a few episodes for both shows simultaneously. Groucho Marx was the godfather of Sheldon's daughter, Mary.

Sidney Sheldon also wrote EASTER PARADE, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.

Question for bk:
"....but I’m saving my wax lips and liquid bottles for a special occasion."
What kind of special occasion calls for wax lips and liquid bottles? (A genuine question - I don't want to commit a social faux pas by not bringing them next time I'm invited to such an occasion.)

Question for bk:
"....but I’m saving my wax lips and liquid bottles for a special occasion."
What kind of special occasion calls for wax lips and liquid bottles? (A genuine question - I don't want to commit a social faux pas by not bringing them next time I'm invited to such an occasion.)

For example, a wax lips party.  Or, a liquid bottle party.  That's what I'm saving them for.  

A used site I do a lot of business with sent me by mistake the LETHAL WEAPON boxed set of four films when I had ordered only the first one at a used rate - $8.95, I think it was. When the package came, the set was brand new in the shrink wrap, and I immediately contacted them to tell them what had happened, and that I would send the box back in exchange for the one disc. They wrote back to say that it was their mistake, I was a good customer, and to enjoy all four films.

I have gotten some good bargains on Ebay but one of the biggest was an autographed night club program. It was for Joi Lansing's nightclub show and has her picture on the front. She autographed it for some gentleman in the audience..whose son now had it. He was selling some other autographed items of his fathers on Ebay and I happened to e-mail him and he told me he had some other items that he had not listed...Joi's autograph was one of them...he said he would just sell it to me if I wanted it...I got it for about 20.00 bucks I think...and I have NEVER seen a Joi Lansing autograph available before (she has quite a following these days, believe it or don't) and I imagine her autograph would bring a high dollar amount...or I could be wrong I suppose! LOL ! (I sold an 8x10 photo of her once that went for $65...and it was only a reprint!)

Also there have been times where sellers have sent along extra items just to be nice...as a seller I have done that too...and then of course there is the wonderful bargain of finding a cool friend (JRand53, for instance) through an ebay purchase or sale!

As as seller on Ebay I sold a couple of items that really surprised me.

A Jerry Lewis paperback book from the 60s which I got for 10 cents at a thrift shop went for over $60 dollars and an accessorie for some 1960s space man doll (can't recall the name, but he was similar to G.I Joe) that was in it's original packaging went for over $200 (I bought it for $1.99 at Goodwill).

DR MattH, I bet most people would have kept all the movies without saying anything.  

DR MattH shares a similar upbringing with mine -- Southern, protestant (i.e. Baptist), and we had it drummed into our heads that honesty was of such importance that guilt would eat us alive if we were not scrupulously honest about such things.

I don't know how many times I heard the story about Honest Abe walking miles and miles and miles to return a few pennies he had shorted someone in change.

And then there's the old rhubarb about George Washington not being able to lie to his father about chopping down the cherry tree.

When I was in the Navy, I went to a community fair in Naples, Italy.  I was watching a softball game when my best friend joined me and offered me a cold soda.  It sure tasted good until he told me he "had swiped it" from an ice-filled chest behind a vendor's tent where hot dogs and hamburgers were being sold.

That soda roiled and roiled in my stomach untl I had to absent myself.  I went to the stand and paid for the two sodas.  My friend got mad, and I ended the friendship.

Question for bk:
"....but I’m saving my wax lips and liquid bottles for a special occasion."
What kind of special occasion calls for wax lips and liquid bottles? (A genuine question - I don't want to commit a social faux pas by not bringing them next time I'm invited to such an occasion.)

I like the idea of being laid out (after I'm dead, perferably) with a pair of wax lips shoved in my mouth.  I've heard of people being buried with a pair of Groucho glasses on, so how bad could this be?  I'd like to leave 'em laughing that way.

A Question for BK and Anyone:  a couple of weeks ago, I got the Chinese release (through eBay) of the first three seasons of "Queer As Folk" for only $40.95 (not including shipping) and if I had paid full price for the three American releases, it would've been about $350.

And you think Terry and his Chinese Pirates had no hand in your good fortune?

der always-sceptical Brucer

(At Times Square last week a "gent" was hawking designer watches for $5 - the real McCoy, I'm sure!)