Sunday, August 30, 2020

William K. Everson


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William K. Everson wrote a lot. But he didn't seem to write very much about Thelma Todd.


William K. Everson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   
William K. Everson
BornWilliam Keith Everson
April 8, 1929
Yeovil, Somerset, England
DiedApril 14, 1996
New York City
William Keith "Bill" Everson (8 April 1929 – 14 April 1996) was an English-American archivist, author, critic, educator, collector and film historian. He often discovered lost films.

Early life and career

Everson was born in Yeovil, Somerset, England, the son of Catherine (née Ward) and Percival Wilfred Everson, an aircraft engineer.[1] Bill Everson's earliest jobs were in the motion picture industry; as a teenager he was employed at Renown Pictures as publicity manager. He began to write film criticism and operated several film societies.[2]

Later career

Following service in the British Army from 1946 to 1948, Everson worked as a cinema theatre manager for London's Monseigneur News Theatres.[2] Emigrating to the United States in 1950 at age 21, he worked in the publicity department of Monogram Pictures (later Allied Artists)[3] and subsequently became a freelance publicist.[2] Concurrently with his employment as writer, editor and researcher on the TV series Movie Museum and Silents Please,[2] Everson became dedicated to preserving films from the silent era to the 1940s which otherwise would have been lost. Through his industry connections, he began to acquire feature films and short subjects that were slated to be destroyed or abandoned.[4] Many of his discoveries were projected at his Manhattan film group, the Theodore Huff Memorial Film Society, originally founded by Huff (the biographer of Charlie Chaplin), Everson, film critic Seymour Stern and Variety columnist Herman G. Weinberg as the Theodore Huff Film Society. After Huff's death, Everson added the word "Memorial."
At each screening, Huff members were presented with extensive program notes written by Everson about each film. During the 1960s, these screenings were held in a hall at Union Square.[2] Occasionally, he would make special arrangements with a select invited group to see a 35mm print in a theater. For example, on a Sunday morning in the mid-1960s, he took over Daniel Talbot's New Yorker Theater to show the silent She (1925) to an audience of no more than 15 silent-film buffs. Later, the Huff Society screenings relocated from Union Square to The New School, by invitation of Everson's friend and fellow Huff Society member Joseph Goldberg, who was a professor at The New School.
Everson was an influential figure to the generation of film historians who came of age from the 1960s to the 1980s, many of whom were regulars at his New School screenings. Other attendees at the Huff Society included such New York personalities as author Susan Sontag and publisher Calvin Beck. Kevin Brownlow described an infamous incident at the Huff Society:
It was a society that showed the rarest films — often in a double bill with a recognised classic. Everson's programme notes became world-famous (and let us hope that some enterprising publisher will bring them out). In 1959, MGM's Ben-Hur received rave reviews and Everson felt that they were not deserved — so he showed the 1925 version at the Huff. Rival collector Raymond Rohauer, experiencing a little trouble himself over a lawsuit from MGM, told the FBI what Everson was doing, and they confronted him after the performance. They seized the print, and Everson spent the next few days squirreling other hot titles around New York. Lillian Gish had to intervene on his behalf. In the 1970s, the FBI instituted a "witch hunt" among film collectors, but by then Everson was too highly respected to be touched. Archives came to depend on him — he would not only loan rare prints for copying or showing, but he would travel the world presenting the films he loved. I was astounded to meet him at an airport weighed down by three times as many cans of films as any human could be expected to carry. He had the uncanny knack of finding lost films. It would be no exaggeration to say that single-handedly, he transformed the attitude of American film enthusiasts towards early cinema.
Everson's film programs were uniquely eclectic, with many assembled from his own personal collection, which comprised over 4,000 titles by the 1970s.[2] These screenings usually showcased minor masterpieces and overlooked B pictures that he deemed worthy of reappraisal. He brought these rediscoveries to other venues, such as the Pacific Film Archive and the Telluride Film Festival.
He worked as a consultant to producers and studios preparing silent-film projects, and collaborated closely with Robert Youngson, screening and assembling the best in silent comedy for Youngson's feature-length revivals. (Everson even wrote some of Youngson's promotional feature articles for publication.) Everson also assisted in the production of the syndicated TV series The Charlie Chaplin Comedy Theatre (1965) and its offshoot feature film The Funniest Man in the World (1967). He was technical advisor on David L. Wolper's TV specials Hollywood, the Golden Years (1961) and The Legend of Rudolph Valentino (1982).[2]
Everson was a prolific writer, and he contributed articles and reviews to numerous film magazines, including Films in Review, Variety and Castle of Frankenstein. His nearly 20 books include Classics of the Silent Screen (1959, attributed to nostalgia maven Joe Franklin but actually written by Everson), The American Movie (1963), The Films of Laurel and Hardy (1967), The Art of W. C. Fields (1967), A Pictorial History of the Western Film (1971), and American Silent Film (1978).
From 1964 to 1984 he taught film history at The School of Visual Arts,[2] and from 1972 to 1996 was professor of cinema studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[3] He also taught film history courses at The New School.[3] Everson's courses often had an emphasis on comedy, Westerns and British films. Everson sometimes discussed film history as a guest on Barry Gray's late-night radio talk show in New York. He appeared as an actor in Louis McMahon's serial parody Captain Celluloid vs. the Film Pirates (1966); the four-part film, made by a cast and crew of like-minded movie buffs, concerned heinous traffic in rare silent-screen masterpieces.[5]

Death and legacy

Everson died of prostate cancer at the age of 67 in Manhattan, and he was survived by his wife, Karen Latham Everson,[2] his daughter, Bambi (named for ballerina Bambi Linn), his son, Griffith and his granddaughter, Sarah. His film collection was taken over by his widow and sold to the George Eastman House. His manuscripts, film screening notes and memorabilia were donated to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, comprising the William K. Everson Collection.[6]
A few years after his death, Everson was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall of Fame at The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.

References

External links



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William K. Everson's book THE FILMS OF LAUREL AND HARDY







William K. Everson's book THE FILMS OF LAUREL AND HARDY does not have one word about Thelma Todd in it apart from identifying her in a picture or two and listing her as having been in a film or two along with Laurel and Hardy. He does not have her listed among the casts of all the films she made with Laurel and Hardy. It is the worst book about Laurel and Hardy ever written if you are a fan of Thelma Todd.

Richard W. Bann's comments on Everson's book, having to do with Dorothy Christie:
Reblogged from http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/films/features/sons-cast.html

The late Bill Everson, author, professor, mentor, revered by everyone who knows and cares about great films of the past, was not always as precise as he might have been keeping facts, or the names of actresses straight. As great as he was, he did suffer from having seen too many films. Really, it was an occupational hazard; he saw too many films. Starting in the 1960s, he caused some confusion by mistakenly listing Dorothy Christy (misspelled "Christie) as Mrs. Hardy in THAT'S MY WIFE (1929), and as Mrs. Laurel in BLOTTO (1930). She did appear in a film based upon a Lucien Littlefield ("Dr. Horace Meddick") original story entitled EARLY TO BED (1936), which was not related in any other way to the same-named Laurel & Hardy film. Also, as mentioned, she appeared in SUNSET ON THE DESERT (1942), and in BIG BUSINESS GIRL (1931). This last was ably directed by her friend, Bill Seiter. He was the one who recommended her for the part in SONS OF THE DESERT.




William K. Everson's history of the Hal Roach studios doesn't have a lot about Thelma Todd, either. Concerning Carole Landis, author Eric Gans remarks in his book CAROLE LANDIS: A MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL that "she is barely mentioned in William Everson's THE FILMS OF HAL ROACH".


THE DETECTIVE IN FILM:







William K. Everson in The Detective in Film called Roland West “a dilettante director who worked because he liked making films, and one of the peculiarities he indulged was a fondness for shooting only at night. His films were literally dark, nightmarish, shot at night as well as taking place at night.”
I don't know about the part about Roland West making movies because he liked making movies. He could have at one time, but then he quit making movies because he didn't like making movies.  That was also the reason he only worked at night. He couldn't stand it when studio bosses interfered with his work.*

In THE DETECTIVE IN FILM, William K. Everson discusses CORSAIR and remarks that the end allows the lawless plotters to escape unpunished with their ill-gotten gains. But Mayo Methot's character does not escape - the story has it that she is killed as a result of having become involved in the plot.  Something that is completely ignored by Everson, who could have seen some sort of parallel between this and the death of Thelma Todd ( the two were similar in appearance in CORSAIR ), but missed it in his attempts to relate the happenings in this movie to West's personal views and his possible involvement in the death of Thelma Todd. Thelma Todd is not mentioned at all, apart from the reference to suspicion that West was responsible for her death. As Everson never said anything about Thelma Todd having been in CORSAIR, the implication is that he may not have even known that "Alison Loyd"actually was Thelma Todd. 



William K. Everson with Marilyn Monroe.



Something that looks better than a picture of just William K. Everson.




THE SERIAL





William K. Everson did make one serial, so he can be said to have made movies as well as writing about them, and even that he can be considered a star of short subjects. Which helps.







*Brad Schreiber thought that some of the problems between Roland West and Thelma Todd were related to Roland West not wanting to work and staying home all the time.



CORSAIR:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/corsair.html

William K. Everson:
http://www.nyu.edu/projects/wke/index.php










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Saturday, August 29, 2020

The Hal Roach Studios' 20th Anniversary

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The Hal Roach Studios' 20th anniversary party on December 8, 1933.
From Modern Screen Magazine March 1934












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Thursday, August 27, 2020

MARKED WOMAN






Lola Lane was in the cast of the first movie made about Luciano. Later she inherited the sidewalk café that some people had said he wanted.

Marked Woman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        
Marked Woman
Marked woman movie poster.jpg
theatrical poster
Directed byLloyd Bacon
Michael Curtiz (uncredited)
Written byRobert Rossen
Abem Finkel
Seton I. Miller (uncredited)
StarringBette Davis
Humphrey Bogart
Music byScore:
Bernhard Kaun
Heinz Roemheld
David Raksin
(all uncredited)
Songs:
Harry Warren
Al Dubin
CinematographyGeorge Barnes
Editing byJack Killifer
StudioWarner Bros.
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date(s)
  • April 10, 1937 (1937-04-10)
Running time84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Marked Woman is a dramatic crime film released by Warner Bros. in 1937. It was directed by Lloyd Bacon, and stars Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart, with featured performances by Lola Lane, Isabel Jewell, Rosalind Marquis, Mayo Methot, Jane Bryan, Eduardo Ciannelli and Allen Jenkins. Set in the underworld of Manhattan, Marked Woman tells the story of a woman who dares to stand up to one of the city's most powerful gangsters.
The film was a major success for Warner Brothers, and was one of Davis' most important early pictures. Davis had recently filed a lawsuit against Warners, with part of her protest being the inferior quality of scripts she was expected to play. Although she lost the lawsuit, she garnered considerable press coverage, and Marked Woman was the first script she filmed upon returning to Hollywood. She was reported to be very pleased with the script and the dramatic possibilities it afforded her. Jack Warner was said to be equally pleased by the huge public reaction in favour of Davis, which he rightly predicted would increase the appeal and profitability of her films.
Co-stars Humphrey Bogart and Mayo Methot met on the set of Marked Woman and were married in 1938.[1]

Background

Despite the disclaimer at the beginning of the film that asserts that the story is fictitious, Marked Woman is loosely based on the real-life crimefighting exploits of Thomas E. Dewey, a District Attorney for Manhattan who became a national celebrity in the 1930s, and two-time Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1940s, due to his fight against organized crime in New York City. Dewey indicted and convicted several prominent gangsters; his greatest achievement was the conviction of Lucky Luciano, the organized crime boss of the entire city. Dewey used the testimony of numerous call girls and madames to convict Luciano of being a pimp who ran one of the largest prostitution rings in American history. Dewey's dramatic achievements led Hollywood film studios to make several films about his exploits; Marked Woman was one of the most prominent. Humphrey Bogart's character, David Graham, is based on Dewey.
Warners purchased the rights to a Liberty series on Luciano, but was forced to make alterations in the story, such as changing the women's profession from prostitutes to "nightclub hostesses", because of censorship concerns.[1]

Plot

Mary Dwight Stauber (Bette Davis), a nightclub hostess who works for the notorious gangster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli) briefly meets and befriends a young man (Damian O'Flynn) who confides in her that he does not have the money to repay the gambling debt he has accrued during the night. He feels that it's a game, but Mary warns him that he is in real danger. She is shocked, but not surprised to learn soon after that he has been murdered, by Vanning's henchman Charlie Delaney (Ben Welden).
Questioned by prosecutor David Graham (Humphrey Bogart), Mary and the other women refuse to implicate Vanning. They fear his retribution, and while privately detesting him are powerless to free themselves from his influence. Mary's younger sister Betty (Jane Bryan) comes to visit, and unaware of the dangerous situation she has entered, behaves recklessly against the advice of her older sister. When she is killed, Mary agrees to testify against the gangster. Beaten by his thugs, scarred and disfigured, she becomes the "marked woman" of the film's title, but rather than silencing her, it strengthens her resolve to testify. Aware that they can only be free of the gangster if they find the strength to stand against him, the other women agree to testify also.

Cast


Bette Davis as Mary.
Cast notes
  • Eduardo Ciannelli bears a physical resemblance to Lucky Luciano.[2]
  • Hymie Marks, who played the bit part of a gangster named "Joe" in the film, attracted the attention of executive producer Hal B. Wallis, who felt that he didn't look menacing enough – this despite the fact that Marks was a former gangster and henchman of Lucky Luciano, who had been specifically cast by director Lloyd Bacon because of that connection.[3][3]
  • Warners had originally cast Jane Wyman as "Florrie".[1]

Production

Marked Woman went into production on December 9, 1936[4] at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank[5] under the working title "The Men Behind".[1] Director Michael Curtiz stood in for Lloyd Bacon while Bacon was on his honeymoon.[1]
When Davis was made-up for the scene in the hospital room, she was unhappy with the minimal bandaging that had been used, so on her lunch break she drove to her personal doctor, described the injuries that the script called her character to have, and had him bandage her accordingly. When she returned to the studio, a guard at the gate saw her bandages and called executive producer Hal B. Wallis to tell him that Davis had been in an accident.[3]
Warners re-released Marked Woman in 1947.[1]

Awards and honors

Bette Davis won the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actress in 1937. Director Lloyd Bacon was nominated for the 1937 Mussolini Cup.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f TCM Notes
  2. ^ Allmovie Overview
  3. ^ a b c Landazuri, Margarita "Marked Woman" (TCM article)
  4. ^ TCM Overview
  5. ^ IMDB Filming locations
  6. ^ IMDB Awards

External links





                                                             *                 *                  *



MARKED WOMAN was based on the Lucky Luciano story and Lola Lane was in that movie. Some people said that Thelma Todd was killed because she opposed his plan to take over the sidewalk café, but that story would be considered hearsay, because there is no proof of it.  The prostitution case, on the other hand, was considered to have been proven by the authorities and Luciano was sent to prison in 1936 as a result.

Lola Lane later married Roland West and inherited the sidewalk café after his death in 1952.  In MARKED WOMAN, she played one of the "hostesses" whose operations were taken over by the Luciano character, played by Eduardo Ciannelli.

Mayo Methot played another. She had been in CORSAIR with Thelma Todd, a Roland West production which had been her first major speaking role in a motion picture, and in MARKED WOMAN she met Humphrey Bogart, who she would later marry.

Occasionally we come across references to Mussolini in connection with the movies of this period. Here we see that the director was nominated for the 1937 Mussolini Cup, an Italian award named after their leader. Mussolini had an interest in motion pictures and wanted Hal Roach to make movies in Italy. Lucky Luciano has also been mentioned in connection with Mussolini because Mussolini had cracked down on the mafia in Italy, with the result that Luciano was supposed to have contributed to the war effort to get even.



  .


Bette Davis, Jane Bryan, Isabel Jewell, Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis, and Mayo Methot in Marked Woman (1937)




 Eduardo Ciannelli and Bette Davis




Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart




Bette Davis, Isabel Jewell, Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis, and Mayo Methot






Lucky Luciano










Bette Davis
http://www.bettedavis.com/

CORSAIR:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/corsair.html

Hollywood And the Underworld:
https://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2018/09/hollywood-and-underworld_9.html

Hollywood And the Axis Powers:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2013/07/hollywood-and-axis-powers.html

Lola Lane
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0485439/

http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2012/04/lola-lane-and-lois-lane.html


MARKED WOMAN
http://bogiefilmblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/marked-woman-1937/

Mayo Methot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_Methot

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0582551

Benito Mussolini:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini
/
Roland West:
http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2014/02/roland-west.html




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Friday, August 21, 2020

Leonard Maltin

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Leonard Maltin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin at the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.jpg
at the Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles, March 5, 2010
BornDecember 18, 1950 (age 63)
New York City, New York, U.S.
ResidenceLos Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
EducationTeaneck High School
Alma materNew York University
OccupationFilm critic, film historian, animation historian, Food critic
Years active1965–present
Home townTeaneck, New Jersey
Spouse(s)Alice Tlusty (1975-present)
Children1
Website
http://www.leonardmaltin.com
Leonard Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is known for writing the shortest review in the U.S. and creating the Walt Disney Treasures series.

Personal life

Maltin was born in New York City, son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould) [1923-2012], and Aaron Isaac Maltin [1915-2002], a lawyer and immigration judge.[1] He is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty. He has one daughter, Jessica Bennett ("Jessie") Maltin, born in 1986, who works with him (his production company, JessieFilm, is named after his daughter). Maltin is Jewish.[2] Maltin grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated from Teaneck High School.[3] He was a friend of film critic Roger Ebert.[citation needed]

Career

Maltin began his writing career at age fifteen, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzineFilm Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. After earning a journalism degree at New York University, Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide. In the 1970s Maltin also reviewed recordings in the jazz magazine, Downbeat.

Maltin at Cinecon 26, circa 1990.
As an author, Maltin is best known for Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (some editions titled as his ...Movie and Video Guide), a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and has been annually updated since October 1987. (It was published under the title TV Movies until the 1990s, and in 2005 spawned a spin-off, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, limited to films released in 1960 and earlier to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles.) He has also written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of cinematography, The Whole Film SourcebookLeonard Maltin's Movie EncyclopediaOur Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.
Since May 29, 1982, Maltin has been the movie reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight. He also appears on the Starz cable network, and hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik (originally E! personality and game show host Todd Newton). Maltin currently hosts a television show called Secret's Out on ReelzChannel movie network. He also spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001,[4] and continues to provide creative input and host the various sets.
Maltin appeared on Pyramid twice as a celebrity player, in 1987 on the CBS $25,000 version, and in 1991 on the John Davidson version. He also appeared on Super Password as a celebrity guest in 1988.
In the mid-1990s, Maltin became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the Advisory Board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City. He currently teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former child star Billy Gray, of Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified as a drug addict and dealer in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee for his movie guide. The statement appeared in print for nearly 25 years before Maltin publicly apologized for the error.[5]
Maltin currently hosts The Maltin Minute for DirecTV customers. He also wrote the introduction for The Complete Peanuts: 1983-1984.
In 1990, he took a look at the MGM years of The Three Stooges in a film called The Lost Stooges, available on a made-to-order DVD through the Warner Archive Collection.

Popular culture appearances

Maltin was portrayed in an episode of the animated comedy South Park called "Mecha-Streisand" where he, along with actor Sidney Poitier and singer Robert Smith, fight Barbra Streisand, who has assumed the form of Mecha-Streisand, a giant, Godzilla-like robot version of herself. His own gigantic form was reminiscent of Ultraman with his initials on his chest.
He also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch. In a short segment, he gives a bad review of the first film (Gremlins) as several of the creatures creep up on him and strangle him to death (in his guide, Maltin's three-star review of the movie noted that it contained "gratuitous cameo appearances"). This was further spoofed in the Mad magazine parody of Gremlins 2, in which Maltin protests that he is going to be eaten by the Gremlins for giving their first film a bad review when Roger Ebert gave an even more scathing review, whereupon the Gremlins reply that they are waiting until Thanksgiving to attack Ebert, as "he will feed a family of fifteen"! He also made an appearance on the cartoon show Freakazoid! where he voiced himself, only to be abducted by monsters. And while he's been a "talking head" in countless documentaries, he also appeared as himself in a faux documentary, Peter Jackson's "Forgotten Silver."
Maltin starred on an episode of Entertainment Tonight, where he was presenting a time machine akin to one in the film The Time Machine. He sits in the machine and then vanishes, as does the character in the film.
Maltin is one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000; during a Season Nine episode, he was forced by Pearl Forrester to retract his endorsement of the film Gorgo. In an earlier episode featuring The UndeadMike Nelson impersonates Maltin and apologizes to viewers for his good review, saying he must have been on drugs. Upon this admission, he was awarded the Goatee of the Millennium award. Additionally, his rating of two-and-a-half stars to the film Laserblast is ridiculed in the episode featuring that film.

Maltin at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2005.
In The Simpsons episode "A Star is Burns", Marge says "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?". Lisa replies "Ewwww!"[6] In the 1995 video release of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Maltin included before the start of the movies. Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review; his two-star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No".[7] In 1985 he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000. The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000", wherein the instrumental melody is interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing (part of the original recording), after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!" In 2004 he delivered a five-word review for Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. His two-star review consisted of the statement "It is what it is."
Maltin also selected and hosted a compilation of National Film Board of Canada animated shortsLeonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada.[8]
Comedian Doug Benson's podcast "Doug Loves Movies" features a segment called The Leonard Maltin Game, in which the guest must guess the name of a movie based on a subset of the cast list in reverse order and a few intentionally vague clues from the capsule review of the movie in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself. He appeared on the show again in August 2010. In November 2010 Benson and Maltin played the game on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Maltin has repeated his appearances on Doug Loves Movies in September 2011 with Jimmy Pardo and Samm Levine, in September 2012 with Chris Evans and Adam Scott, and in November 2013 with Peter Segal, "Werner Herzog," and Clare Kramer.

Bibliography

As author

  • Movie Comedy Teams (NAL, 1970; revised editions, 1974, 1985)
  • Behind the Camera (NAL, 1971), reissued as The Art of the Cinematographer (Dover, 1978)
  • The Great Movie Shorts (Crown, 1972), reissued as Selected Short Subjects (Da Capo, 1983)
  • The Disney Films (Crown, 1973; revised edition, 1985; 3rd edition, 1995 from Hyperion; 4th ed., 2000, Disney Editions)
  • Carole Lombard (Pyramid, 1976)
  • Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals (Crown, 1977; coauthor with Richard W. Bann; revised and reissued as The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, 1992)
  • The Great Movie Comedians (Crown, 1978)
  • Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (NAL and McGraw Hill, 1980; revised edition, November 1987)
  • The Complete Guide to Home Video (Crown, 1981; coauthor)
  • The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age (E.P. Dutton, 1997)
  • Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy (M Press, 2008)
  • Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen (HarperStudio, 2010)

As editor

  • Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (originally published as TV Movies, then Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide) (NAL, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, published annually since 1988). Also published in Dutch edition as Speelfilm Encyclopedie, and Swedish version as Bonniers Stora Film & Video Guide.
  • The Real Stars (Curtis, 1973)
  • The Real Stars #2 (Curtis, 1974)
  • The Laurel & Hardy Book (Curtis, 1973)
  • Hollywood: The Movie Factory (Popular Library, 1976)
  • Hollywood Kids (Popular Library, 1978)
  • The Real Stars #3 (Curtis, 1979)
  • The Whole Film Sourcebook (NAL and Universe Books, 1983)
  • Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia (Dutton/Penguin, 1994)
  • Leonard Maltin's Family Movie Guide (Dutton/Signet, 1999)

As a host

See also

References

  1. Jump up ^ Leonard Maltin Biography (1950-)
  2. Jump up ^ Stereotypes overturned
  3. Jump up ^ Lumenick, Lou. "LEONARD MALTIN'S REEL-LIFE STORY -- MOVIE MAVEN WENT FROM TEANECK TO HOLLYWOOD"The Record (Bergen County), October 17, 1994. Accessed May 21, 2007. "Leonard Maltin was a so-so student. 'I was the only student in the history of Teaneck High School to fail a take-home, open-book exam,' he says with a mixture of pride and embarrassment."
  4. Jump up ^ Ultimate Disney interview with Leonard Maltin
  5. Jump up ^ "MALTIN APOLOGIZES TO LIBELED ACTOR"The Buffalo News, July 20, 1998. Accessed October 10, 2007. "Film critic Leonard Maltin, who wrote that the actor who played Bud on "Father Knows Best" became a drug-addicted heroin pusher, issued an apology to Billy Gray as part of a libel settlement, saying it was a mistake."
  6. Jump up ^ http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F31
  7. Jump up ^ Maltin, Leonard (2005), p. 700. Leonard Maltin's Movie GuideISBN 0-451-21265-7Signet Books. Accessed April 15, 2007.
  8. Jump up ^ "Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada"NFB.ca. National Film Board of Canada. 1994. Retrieved 2009-07-10.

External links



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I had a little on Leonard Maltin on this blog before at http://benny-drinnon.blogspot.com/2019/06/leonard-maltin.html and I've had this for a while, I just hadn't put it through till now. 

I've drawn a character representing Leonard Maltin myself, though that was in unpublished comics, which could be seen as less popular than programs run on cable stations that not everyone has seen.  I had that character rating things, not necessarily anything important, he would just rate things. A character named "Maltie" also appeared in a story I wrote.which was supposed to be a Thelma Todd adventure, as one of a number of jolly elves who somehow failed to live up to expectations, none of them being particularly jolly.

But this blog is more concerned with the real life adventures of  Leonard Maltin, some of which also involve Thelma Todd.




Leonard Maltin's fanzine, FILM FAN MONTHLY, with Thelma Todd on the cover.




Thelma Todd and Charley Chase






Thelma Todd on top row, second from left: next one to right is Billy Gilbert. 






Thelma Todd may be seen making use of grapefruit slightly above center.




Leonard Maltin's books MOVIE COMEDY TEAMS




and THE GREAT MOVIE SHORTS



cover the films in the Thelma Todd series as well as those of other comedians in this period.



Maltin was later able to show some of the films on a program called "Leonard Maltin Presents" on the Odyssey channel, which began in 1999.




This is the intro for "The Boyfriends - Love Fever".


It seems that the Odyssey channel didn't get a lot of distribution on cable tv, and that as a result this program didn't get a lot of exposure during the years it was run. Which was unfortunate, as it was probably the best thing that Maltin did for television.


As we have seen, Leonard Maltin hasn't always had the same story about the death of Thelma Todd, and he hasn't always had the same story about the influence of Marilyn Monroe on a certain cartoon character.



We've talked about the cartoon character "Tinker Bell" and Marilyn Monroe here before, they put a segment at the end of the "Peter Pan" videotape where Leonard Maltin states that the story that Tinker Bell was modeled after Marilyn Monroe was false. However, his 1973 book THE DISNEY FILMS states:

"The actual design of Tinker Bell was another problem, since the sprite had always been shown as merely a beam of light ( even in the silent film* ). Existing character sketches trace Tinker Bell's development from the inception in 1938 to the design finally used: in the 1940's the Disney artists considered modeling her after the current conception of female attractiveness, an idea that would have proved disastrous, if employed. Disney claimed in a magazine article that the final decision on Tinker Bell's looks was cemented by the popularity of Marilyn Monroe, after whose figure Tinker Bell was modeled."

This is almost the same story as in the segment at the end of the videotape, except that there they replace the part about Marilyn Monroe with Maltin's claim that the Marilyn Monroe story was false. Since Leonard Maltin himself had previously had the same story in his own book and attributed it to Walt Disney, we have a situation where we are told by the same man to accept the a story at one point and to reject it at another, with no reason given for the change. Actually there is reason to believe that the cartoon character was modeled after Marilyn Monroe, who was in fact well known at the time in spite of Maltin's claim that she was an unknown at the time that PETER PAN was released.

There is a tendency for the modern media to seize upon certain stories and insist that everyone accepts them, often for no reason or no reason that can be seen. This appears to be one of these cases.



*The silent PETER PAN has since become available. Tinkerbell is portrayed by an actress in the film.



Leonard Maltin's FILM FAN MONTHLY:http://stargayzing.com/a-letter-from-film-scholar-leonard-maltin-regarding-his-fanzine-film-fan-monthly/

Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/leonardmaltin/

PETER PAN:
http://rymickey.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-disney-discussion-peter-pan.html










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