Not Just Rainy Days and Sundays

Last Friday at 0130 found me sitting in my local Denny’s, drinking coffee and reading Mickey Spillane on my phone. I was the only goon in the joint. I remember looking out the window at one point and thinking that the scene was reminiscent of the end of the late night promo on the Turner Classic Movies channel. Well, except for the cell phone. And there were far fewer people in my scene. And…well, you get the idea.

The upshot of this was that I now watch TCM more frequently.

I happened to catch Susan Slept Here recently with Dick Powell, Anne Francis and Debbie Reynolds, a 1954 romantic comedy shot in Technicolor and complete with Big Band soundtrack.

It struck me how well the print had been restored. I couldn’t find a single flaw watching it on my HD TV.

Being used to modern comedy television sitcoms it took me a few moments to adjust to not having a laugh track to tell me when to, well, laugh. I managed to figure it out.

The movie also brought back memories of fashion that I remember as a boy, back when women wore jeans with a high waist. A long derrière was considered more modest than today’s highly cultivated “bubble butt”.

The hack in me is driven to research actors who pique my interest. I learned that Alvy Moore had fought on Iwo Jima in WWII. Then again, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me that Moore had enlisted in the Marine Corps. Most of Hollywood was scrambling to get into induction lines for the Armed Forces back then. Different times.

Got the itch for some commercial free nostalgia? Allow me to recommend Turner Classic Movies. Be sure that you have little else on your schedule the day that you do, though. You may well find yourself needing some burly types with crowbars to get you off the couch.

Here’s looking at you, kid.

~ Dempsey 🌵