SHIRLEY BOOTH
I am re-watching the complete series of HAZEL. What a great show and what a talent Shirley Booth was! When television had heart for sure! I was surprised to learn that RANKIN/BASS' THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS was her last acting credit, made in 1974. Shirley lived to the age of 94 and passed away in 1992.
FINIAN'S RAINBOW
Just finished watching FINIAN'S RAINBOW :) Awesome film! Francis Ford Coppola's first big film (his second) at age 29. I believe this film was the reason Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass cast both Fred Astaire and Keenan Wynn, together again, in SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN a very short time after completion of this film. The entire cast is great and Coppola cleverly worked the civil rights movement/prejudice into the story line. Tommy Steele plays OG the Leprechaun wonderfully. Petula Clark sings like an angel and Astaire dances diligently at a very late age (when he leaves his daughter at the end of the film, it will bring a tear to your eye). The DVD has the PREMIERE hosted by LEE PHILLIP from WBBM-TV in Chicago (I remember her well) and Coppola's commentary is very insightful. He made the film to impress his father and I am sure he was impressed!.
A newly discovered R/B script for the documentary
Friday, March 13, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
The original and best Alvin & the Chipmunks by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.
Watched the NEW Blu Ray last night! The three episodes look the BEST they could look! I was so happy to finally have "Witch Doctor" and "The Chipmunk Song"! Well worth the price. The disappointments were 1. Why only three (One that has been out on DVD for years, so really only two new releases) 2. Whose bright Idea was it to remove the end credits? They give you three episodes and they aren't even complete??? 3. The NEW 2015 CGI series looks like Chipmunks in hell! The cheapest looking CGI I have seen to date and to me, all CGI is looking real bad these days. The last film I thought was good in CGI was UP.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Making Animagic on Rankin/Bass' The Leprechaun's Christmas gold
C. 2001 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives
from the book THE MAKING OF THE RANKIN/BASS HOLIDAY CLASSIC: RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
