I Need New Sneakers, But I Can't Stand Shopping!

Shoes

Shoes

Shoes

Shoes

Shoes

Shoes

Christmas 1967

French Canadian Xmas Eve at Le Soleil in Westwood - No Poutine

Le Soleil

1386 Westwood Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Phone: (310) 441-5384

Fax: (310) 441-5395

House Pate

Canard à La Jeff

Duck in a Grand Marnier and orange sauce

Beef Bourguignon

Beef stewed in wine sauce with mushrooms, carrots and peas

Sancerre Les Monts Damnes '07 (France)

Hints of quince and green apples; great balance

Christmas Tree 1952

I believe this is my older cousin Maureen. I wasn't born yet.

Woodlawn Cemetery Macbeth, the Scottish Grave

Alvin & the Chipmunks Sing "Christmas Don't Be Late"

Alvin and the Chipmunks sing "Christmas Don't Be Late."

All right you Chipmunks! Ready to sing your song?
-I'll say we are!
-Yeah!
-Let's sing it now!
Okay, Simon?
-Okay!
Okay, Theodore?
-Okay!
Okay, Alvin? Alvin? ALVIN!
-OKAY!!!)


Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer
We've been good, but we can't last
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast
Want a plane that loops the loop
Me, I want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.


Okay fellas get ready
That was very good, Simon.
-Naturally.
Very good Theodore.
-Ahhh.
Ah, Alvin, you were a little flat, watch it.
Ah, Alvin. Alvin. ALVIN!
-OKAY.


Want a plane that loops the loop
I still want a hula hoop
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.
We can hardly stand the wait
Please Christmas, don't be late.


Very good, boys
-Lets sing it again! Yeah, lets sing it again!
No, That's enough, lets not overdo it
-What do you mean overdo it?
-We want to sing it again!
Now wait a minute, boys
-Why can't we sing it again?
-[chipmunk chatter]
Alvin, cut that out..Theodore, just a minute.
Simon will you cut that out? Boys...

Holy Cross Cemetery Scenery

Sarah J. Death 1831-1912 RIP Woodlawn Cemetery

Cement Crisis

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

A Charlie Brown Christmas is the first prime-time animated TV special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was produced and directed by former Warner Bros. and UPA animator Bill Meléndez, who also supplied the voice for the character of Snoopy.


Initially sponsored by Coca-Cola, the special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 2000, and has aired on ABC since 2001. For many years it aired only annually, but is now telecast at least twice during the Christmas season. The special has been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody award.


A Charlie Brown Christmas is also one of CBS's most successful specials, airing annually more times on that network than even MGM's classic motion picture The Wizard of Oz.


Created by: Charles M. Schulz


Directed by: Bill Meléndez


Voices:
Peter Robbins: Charlie Brown
Chris Shea: Linus van Pelt
Tracy Stratford: Lucille "Lucy" van Pelt
Kathy Steinberg: Sally Brown
Chris Doran: Schroeder and Shermy
Geoffrey Ornstein: Pig-Pen
Karen Mendelson: Patty (not the same as Peppermint Patty)
Sally Dryer: Violet Gray
Ann Altieri: Frieda
Bill Meléndez: Snoopy


Theme music composer: Vince Guaraldi


Composer: Vince Guaraldi


Country of origin: USA


Original airing December 9, 1965

My 1970 Trip to Plymouth Rock

The Untold Story of the Mayflower

Arts: At Home With Eli Wallach - nytimes.com/video

Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)

Mother and Daughter... Loving the Same Man - And Hating Each Other! Near the end of the Civil War, the proud residents of Mannon Manor await the return of shipping tycoon Ezra Mannon (The Old Dark House Raymond Massey) and son Orin (Dead of Night's Michael Redgrave). Poisoning, infidelity, gunshots and shocking family secrets explode in a haunting climax that will never be forgotten. Adapted from the classic play by Eugene O'Neill, this powerhouse classic is a tour de force of American cinema, now presented in the longest restored version in existence.

Ghost Game (2004)

At a weekend retreat in the mountains, three young couples discover much more than they bargained for when they stumble upon a mysterious game in the cellar... a Ghost Game. Once the ancient box is opened, the restless spirits of three murdered witches are released, and all hell breaks loose. After two brutal slayings, the survivors must discover the game's hidden secrets before the bloodthirsty fiends claim their lives. Filled with suspense and shocks, this atmospheric shocker will make you think twice next time you throw the dice!

The Inspector General (1949)

Based on a 19th Century satiric play by Nicolai Gogol. Danny Kaye plays Georgi, who works for the conniving Yakov (Walter Slezak), traveling around the countryside selling "Yakov's elixir" which purportedly cures all kinds of illnesses. However, they are forced to flee when Georgi tries to stop an elderly woman from wasting her money on the elixir. Yakov sends Georgi away until he can learn to be crooked. They've been using a fake document signed by Napoleon in their sales pitch. Georgi is carrying it when he is arrested by the town constable (Alan Hale Sr.). When the letter is discovered by the town officials they panic in preparation for a visit by Napoleon's Inspector General to check their records and mistake Georgi for the inspector. Yakov arrives in town and quickly pretends he is the "Inspector's" servant.

Beware the Blob (1972)

The Blob returns--more outrageous than ever in this 1972 sequel to the popular sci-fi classic! Plenty of familiar faces, including Larry Hagman (who also directed), Burgess Meredith, Dick Van Patten, Robert Walker and Shelly Berman, add to the fun. A geologist (Godfrey Cambridge) unwittingly brings home an unusual frozen piece of debris from the North Pole. But when it accidentally thaws, the hungrier-than-ever blood-red Blob comes to life again, consuming nearly everyone in its path and terrorizing the town.Can this bizarre creature ever be stopped?

Night Gallery: Witches' Feast & Room For One Less

The Haunted History Of Halloween

Jerry Rubin For Santa Monica City Council

I met Peace Activist Jerry Rubin (not the sixties guy who died jaywalking Wilshire Blvd) at a rally at the Federal Building earlier this year. Gave me a chance to thank him for all the work he's done to bring awareness to Los Angeles and Santa Monica these past decades.

Divine Impulses: Christopher Hitchens on preparing for life, and death

Via atheistplanet.blogspot.com

The author and atheist Christopher Hitchens talks to On Faith's Sally Quinn about coping with his diagnosis.

RENDEZVOUS OF GUNFIGHTERS PARADE - Tombstone 2010

RENDEZVOUS OF GUNFIGHTERS PARADE - Tombstone 2010

Today is the anniversary of the "O.K. Corral Gunfight" on October 26, 1881....Did you know that Wyatt Earp died in L.A.? When he died in 1929, he and his wife Josie were living in a guest house on what is now a lawn on the north side of Johnnie Cochran Junior High...oh, wait, L.A. stuff is on that other blog...well, the YT clip has nothing to do with L.A....I'm confused?...I have some pictures of my 1996 trip to Tombstone somewhere here..........slides, anyone?..........

Arthur Penn On Directing BONNIE AND CLYDE

The Language of Science

This is the first installment of the original series "Discovering Religion." In this episode Discovering Religion discusses the apparent conflicts that exist with our present observable reality and our past archaic religious traditions that not only seem to contradict one another, but all that we have discovered through the scientific method.

Bobby Darin in Night Gallery Episode

Bobby Darin stars with Jack Albertson in an episode of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" entitled "Dead Weight." Original air date February 9, 1972.

Stand Up For Fact-Based Education

Nightmare Castle (1965) Barbara Steele

Director Mario Caiano initially wanted to highlight the gory scenes with red color. The idea was dropped due to budget limitations.

My Parents and My Arrival in L.A. 1956

The Phantom Ship (1936) aka The Mystery of the Marie Celeste

The Iron Mask (1929) Douglas Fairbanks, Alexander Dumas

Directed by Alan Dwan

In this film, the Four Musketeers - Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan - all sleep together in one bed, with the French phrase 'Un Pour Tous, Tous Pour Un' (One For All, All For One) inscribed on the headboard.

In the prologue, the four musketeers stand in a framing device, as a medieval stage booth, and D'Artagnan steps forward and speaks to the audience, then steps back and resumes his position with the other three, who remained motionless; after the mid-point intermission, the same situation is repeated, with D'Artagnan speaking again to the audience, finishing with the words, "once more, once more...", after which the film resumes with the title card "20 years later". These were the two Douglas Fairbanks' first scenes with spoken dialogue, in his last silent film.

Outside The Law (1920) Lon Chaney, Tod Browning

Director: Tod Browning

Outside the Law is a 1920 crime film directed by Tod Browning. Browning remade the film in 1930.

Black Mike (Lon Chaney) is a despicable gangster who lures Molly (Priscilla Dean), the daughter of a San Francisco underworld leader, back to a life of crime. Mike frames Molly's father for murder and then plots to double-cross her as well. But Molly's hard heart is slowly melted by her gangster lover. The film ends with in a climactic shootout.

Broken Blossoms (1919) D.W. Griffith, Lillian Gish

Director: D.W. Griffith

Stars: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp

Cheng Huan is a missionary whose goal is to bring the teachings of peace by Buddha to the civilized Anglo-Saxons. Upon landing in England, he is quickly disillusioned by the intolerance and apathy of the country. He becomes a storekeeper of a small shop. Out his window, he sees the young Lucy Burrows. She is regularly beaten by her prizefighter father, underfed and wears ragged clothes. Even in this deplorable condition, Cheng can see that she is a priceless beauty and he falls in love with her from afar. On the day that she passes out in front of his store, he takes her in and cares for her. With nothing but love in his heart, he dresses her in silks and provides food for her. Still weak, she stays in his shop that night and all that Cheng does is watch over her. The peace and happiness that he sees last only until Battling Burrows finds out that his daughter is with a foreigner.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916) Jules Verne, Carl Laemmle

Directed by Stuart Paton
Produced by Carl Laemmle

This film became famous for its groundbreaking work in actual underwater photography by George M. Williamson and J. Ernest Williamson. The actual undersea footage was shot in the Bahamas due to the unusually clear water. When this film was remade by Walt Disney 38 years later, they came to this same spot for their undersea footage.

Faust: Eine deutsche Volkssage (1926) F.W. Murnau's Last German Production

F.W. Murnau's last German production before leaving for Hollywood is a visually dazzling take on the Faust myth. Pushing the resources of the grand old German studio UFA to the limits, Murnau creates an epic vision of good versus evil as devil Emil Jannings tempts an idealistic aging scholar with youth, power, and romance. The handsome but wan Swedish actor Gosta Ekman plays the made-over Faust as a perfectly shallow scoundrel drunk with youth, and the lovely Camilla Horn (in a part written for Lillian Gish) is the young virgin courted, then cast aside, by Faust. The sheer scale of Murnau's epic and the magnificent play of light, shadow, and mist on his exquisitely designed sets makes this one of the most cinematically ambitious, visually breathtaking, and beautiful classics of the silent era.

By the Sun's Rays (1914) Lon Chaney, Tod Browning

Directed by Tod Browning.

Mine boss Seymour Hastings (John Davis) suspects an inside accomplice when gold shipments keep getting stolen, so he sends east for help and is sent detective Murdock MacQuarrie (John Murdock). The detective sets out before the next shipment with a posse and finds that mine clerk Lon Chaney (Frank Lawler) is using a mirror to signal the bandits that shipments have left the mine.

Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913) Mack Sennett, Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, Keystone Kops

Director: Mack Sennett
Production Company: Keystone Film Company

An all-star Keystone cast, featuring Mabel Normand, Mack Sennet, Fatty Arbuckle, Ford Sterling and the Keystone Kops. After a brief love affair, Mack rejects his maid Mabel. She moves on after a nasty altercation. He later discovers she has become a star on the silver screen.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) Lon Chaney, Victor Hugo

Director: Wallace Worsley
Producer: Carl Laemmle

Early adaptation of the novel by Victor Hugo starring Lon Chaney.

Nosferatu (1922) F.W. Murnau, Bram Stoker

Director: F.W. Murnau

Originally released in 1922 as Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie Des Grauens, director F.W. Munarau's chilling and eerie adaption of Stoker's Dracula is a silent masterpiece of terror which to this day is the most striking and frightening portrayal of the legend.

The Haunted Castle (1896) Georges Melies

Director: Georges Méliès

The original French title is Le manoir du diable.

Scarlet Street (1945) Fritz Lang

Director: Fritz Lang
Producer: Fritz Lang, Walter Wanger
Production Company: Universal Pictures

Robin Hood (1922) Douglas Fairbanks, Alan Hale, Wallace Beery

Director: Allan Dwan

Silent version of the classic, with Douglas Fairbanks, Alan Hale and Wallace Beery.

Salt Of The Earth (1954)

Tells the tale of a real life strike by Mexican-American miners. The story is set in a remote New Mexico town where the workers live in a company town in company owned shacks without basic plumbing. Put at risk by cost cutting bosses, the miners strike for safe working conditions. As the strike progresses the issues at stake grow beyond that, driven by the workers' wives. At first the wives are patronized by the traditional patriarchical culture, however they assert themselves as equals and an integral part of the struggle, calling for improved sanitation and dignified treatment. Ultimately, when the bosses win a court order against the workers preventing them from demonstrating gender roles reverse with the wives taking over the picket line and preventing scab workers from being brought in while the husbands stay at home and take care of house and children.

This film was selected for the National Film Registry in 1992 by the Library of Congress. It became public domain after its copyright was not renewed in 1982.

"Salt of the Earth" was produced, written and directed by victims of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to make films in Hollywood they looked for worthy social issues to put on screen independently. This film never would have been made in Hollywood at the time, so it is ironic that it was the anti-communist backlash that brought about the conditions for it to be made. In many ways it was a film ahead of its time, mainstream culture did not pick up on its civil rights and feminist themes for at least a decade.

Director: Herbert Biberman
Producer: Independent Productions / International Union Of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers

Que Viva Mexico (1931) Sergei Eisenstein, Upton Sinclair

Director: Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein shot Que viva México! in Mexico in 1931 at the height of the Great Depression. The courageous financiers of this project were the author Upton Sinclair, his wife Mary Craig and a small group of their friends. They had great difficulties in keeping the production going; the economic crisis forced Sinclair to call a halt to it in early 1932. Shooting was stopped with most of the work completed; only one episode could not be filmed. At the same time Josef Stalin insisted on Eisenstein's return to the Soviet Union.

Eisenstein left Mexico with Sinclair's promise in mind; that all the negatives would be send to him to enable the final editing of the film in Moscow. Sinclair tried several times in vain to transfer the film footage to Russia, but the Soviet Film Industry was instructed not to import the film. Eisenstein had been denounced both as a political renegade and as a Trotskyite, which was, in the eyes of Stalin, a serious offence. Preventing Eisenstein from finishing his Mexican film was Stalin's punishment. Consequently Eisenstein was left without film work for several years and started teaching at the State Film School. The Stalinist propaganda, which heaped all the blame on Upton Sinclair for the tragic end of Que viva México!, prevailed.

Two films utilizing Eisenstein's film footage were made with Upton Sinclair's permission: Thunder over Mexico made in 1933 by Sol Lesser and Time in the Sun, made by Mary Seton in 1939/40. Thanks to the foresight of Sinclair, who in the 1950s deposited the unedited materials of Eisenstein's film with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the subsequent work of Jay Leyda to make them accessible, all is not lost. We are sure that seventy years of archival care and investment in preserving the essence of this film will eventually result in an authentic reconstruction of this lost film.

Many film-historians are convinced that Que viva México! is one of Eisenstein's greatest films. Que viva México! stood at the crossroads of Eisenstein’s artistic development and at a crucial point in the evolution of the art of the cinema. This work deserves more than any other to be taken out of the archives, to be appreciated by a new generation! It is a treasure waiting to be discovered.

The Storming of The Bastille July 14. 1789

Orphans of the Storm (1921) D.W. Griffith, Lillian & Dorothy Gish

Director: D.W. Griffith

Henriette and Louise, a foundling, are raised together as sisters. When Louise goes blind, Henriette swears to take care of her forever. They go to Paris to see if Louise's blindness can be cured, but are separated when an aristocrat lusts after Henriette and abducts her. Only Chevalier de Vaudrey is kind to her, and they fall in love. The French Revolution replaces the corrupt Aristocracy with the equally corrupt Robespierre. De Vaudrey, who has always been good to peasants, is condemned to death for being an aristocrat,

Bastille Day Fireworks on the Eiffel Tower

Liberation of Paris (1944) in Color

1944. The Liberation of Paris, with General DeGaulle and General Bradley. American 16mm Kodachrome film.

Soundtrack by Alec Harrison (Sailing) added (Demo Only) in 2009 by ROMANO-ARCHIVES.

Editing by ROMANO-ARCHIVES.

This is a clip from the ROMANO-ARCHIVES' new website "Unknown World War 2 in Color"-"WW2 Europe" section.

At: http://www.webalice.it/romanoarchives/

Visit also: http://romanoarchives.altervista.org/

Fall Of Paris (1943) Frank Capra

From "Prelude To War," directed by Frank Capra.

In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and surround the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and many French soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo. In the second operation, Fall Rot (Case Red), executed from 5 June, German forces outflanked the Maginot Line to attack the greater French territory. Italy declared war on France on 10 June. The French government fled to the city of Bordeaux, and France's main city of Paris was occupied by the German Wehrmacht on 14 June. On the 17 June, Philippe Pétain publicly announced France would ask for an armistice. On 22 June, an armistice was signed between France and Germany, going into effect on 25 June. For the Axis Powers, the campaign was a spectacular victory.

France was divided into a German occupation zone in the north and west, a small Italian occupation zone in the southeast, and an unoccupied zone, the zone libre, in the south. A rump state, Vichy France, administered all three zones according to the terms laid out in the armistice. In November 1942, the Axis forces also occupied the zone libre, and metropolitan France remained under Axis occupation until after the Allied landings in 1944; while the Low Countries remained under German occupation until 1944 and 1945.

An Audience with the Marquis de LaFayette at Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats (1933-1938)

These clips deal with the New Deal. They include six of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats on the economic policy for fighting the Great Depression. All clips are somewhat edited partial Universal Newsreels. In these recordings Roosevelt reads shortened versions of the speeches. The full texts can be found here:
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/firesi90.html

And, the achievements of the Roosevelt administration are discussed in this film:
http://www.archive.org/details/openmind_ep1152

And, a discussion of the Roosevelts compared to recent politicians is found here:
http://www.archive.org/details/openmind_ep195

Clips:

Fireside Chat 2. Outlining the New Deal Program. Sunday, May 7, 1933
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/1933-05-08_President_Speaks_To_The_Nation

Fireside Chat 4. On the Currency Situation. Sunday, October 22, 1933
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/1933-10-23_President_Outlines_Recovery_Progress

Fireside Chat 5. Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress. Thursday, June 28, 1934
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/1934-06-27_President_Reports_To_Nation

Fireside Chat 6. On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Security. Sunday, September 30, 1934
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/Roosevelt_Asked_To_Ban_On_Strikes

Fireside Chat 7. On the Works Relief Program. Sunday, April 28, 1935
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/1935-04-29_FDR_Sees_Fear_Vanishing

Fireside Chat 12. On Economic Conditions. Thursday, April 14, 1938
Source: http://www.archive.org/details/1938-04-20_World-Wide_News_Events

Best regards
Eva Vikström, Stockholm in August, 2007

Producer: Universal Studios