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Movie Profiles & Premiums Volume
3, Number 10. April 30, 2005
Brought to you by things-and-other-stuff
FIRST REEL:
Welcome back to the standard Movie Profiles & Premiums
Newsletter. I refer to it as the standard because as many of you are aware
I have begun sending out a weekly Auction Notes newsletter separate from this
publication. If you have not received this new offering just send me an
e-mail at
things@things-and-other-stuff.com and I'll add
you to that list. That one arrives in html format and only covers the
items up for sale on eBay for the coming week. There are no articles on
movie stars or collectibles, just a sales round-up. The next issue will be
sent out separately from this sometime later today/tonight.
I've added a few Slide Shows to the site
since debuting the feature last issue. Besides those of
Blanche Sweet,
Boris Karloff
and Baby Peggy
Montgomery, which were constructed to go along with last issues
profiles, I started at the beginning of the alphabet and added
Fatty Arbuckle
(5 images), Jean
Arthur (8 images),
Gene Autry (6 images) and
Clara Bow
(31 images). There are also two new slide shows accompanying this issue's
profiles. It will take some time but I will eventually have a slide show
up for everyone who has a profile on this site.
In the second half of April I held a sale on
all items in the Marketworks catalog, which in the end confirmed to me that no
one really likes shopping the Marketworks catalog. Over the month of May I
will be creating additional categories in my eBay store and changing over all
catalog items from Marketworks to eBay. It's going to cost more for me to
do this, but I subscribe to the belief that you get what you pay for and in this
case eBay Stores already tested strongly for sales of movie cards when placed
there during a trial month in February/March. Besides raising many of
their prices, eBay has added several enhancements to their store management page
which will give me the flexibility to keep the active catalog over there where
pages load quite a bit faster. I know there are a few customers who prefer
not to use eBay and I apologize in advance for this coming change, but offer you
the opportunity to continue shopping with me by just e-mailing me a list of the
items you'd like to order. It doesn't take much of an effort for me to
cancel any store listings that you desire to purchase, in fact you save me fees,
so you'll still be able to shop collectibles with things-and-other-stuff.
If you prefer to actually order through eBay once all of the items are over
there, but are confused as to registration or other aspects just drop an e-mail
and I'll do all that I can to help you out.
I will no longer go into a detailed
description of current auction items here, as that is the purpose of the new
Auction Notes newsletter, but I do want to provide you with the following links
each issue:
All eBay Auctions
Marketworks Catalog
ebay Store
That's the news, time for the entertainment. In summary, here are the opening credits...
1. May Babies, A Crossword Puzzle by Carly Svamvour
2. Solution to April Showers..., A Crossword Puzzle by Carly Svamvour
3. Photo ID Guide Update: 1916 MJ Moriarty Playing Cards w/107 Image Slide Show
4. Harry Carey by Kelly Ann Butterbaugh
5. Photo ID Guide: 1903 Eureka/Craddock's Medicated Blue Soap Playing Cards
6. The Silent Collection featuring Estelle Taylor by Tammy Stone
We welcome a new writer in Kelly Ann
Butterbaugh who covers Western legend Harry Carey in her debut offering. I
also want to draw special attention to the 1903 Eureka/Craddock's Photo ID
Guide, which covers an item from the collection of contributor and collector
Diana Savage. Diana has generously donated images from this 100+ year old
deck of playing card, as well as a lot of careful research. Also back are
Carly Svamvour with the latest Crossword Puzzle and mainstay Tammy Stone who
enters Estelle Taylor into her Silent Collection.
Hopefully you remember Spencer Shannon from
our Oscar edition a couple of issues back. Spencer is a huge film buff
(especially when it comes to Oscar-related material) and has volunteered to
include a list of some of his favorites from time to time. As many of you
know I like to include these all-time favorite lists in the opening section of
the newsletter as it invites contributions from you and other readers, who are
always welcome to reply to
things@things-and-other-stuff.com with your own
list. This issue, Spence provides a list of his top 10 all-time comedies.
Without further ado...
By Spencer Shannon-(AFI member/Variety's
"Oscar-0racle!")
My personal top 10 all-time comedies:
1. "Modern Times" (1936) (UA) - (P.S. I would
easily cite "City Lights" but Modern Times contains more out and out
comedic elements, whereas "City Lights" is far more of a drama)
2. "A Night at the 0pera" (1935) (M-G-M)
3. "Duck Soup" (1933) (Paramount) - (Groucho's pick)
4. "Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb"
(1964) (U.K.)
5. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) (RKO Radio)
*6. "Annie Hall" (1977) (Woody Allen's Oscar sweeper over "Star
Wars" - which still took home 7)
7. "His Girl Friday" (1940) (Columbia-"Gower Gulch")
8. "The General" (1927) (There are 2
camps, well actually 3. Fans of either: Chaplin/Keaton or Lloyd, I'm of the
first)
9. "It's a Gift" (1934) (Paramount) (W.C. Fields in what's thought of as his 1st
career - after this cleaned
house (agents,etc) after being rushed off to the hospital & went to Universal in Burbank)
10. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) (Paramount) (My own fav. of Preston
Sturges. Is also among the great movies about movies & Hollywood!)
Honorable mention:
--"Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" (1941) (Universal)
(W.C. Fields final starring role & as himself!)
Spence requested my own reply to his list,
and so brainstorming here are my top five classic comedies: 1. Sullivan's
Travel's (1941 - even though a lot of the laughs disappear towards the end of
this movie, I agree with Spencer, and obviously my favorite Sturges as well); 2. To Be Or Not to Be
(1942 - to be shown to all friends who say yesterday's movies aren't as funny as
today's); 3. The General (1927 - my favorite silent comedy though Keaton's
physical stunts are far more amazing than actually hysterical); 4. His Girl
Friday (1940 - some of the snappiest dialogue in movie history, and
perfectly delivered too!); 5. It Happened One Night (1934 - It was a toss-up
between this and My Man Godfrey, 1936, two movies which spawned many imitators).
And I wouldn't include it on this list, but glancing over my movie collection I
also wanted to mention 1936's Libeled Lady which includes what I think of as one
the funniest scenes in movie history, when William Powell is fishing with Jean
Harlow and her screen-father Walter Connolly, that's funny stuff!
Like I said, if you have your own list of comedies, or
anything else, and would like to share, please send them along. Here's
where I usually write that it's time to enter the time tunnel but in this case
we'll just journey further inside:
#
May Babies,
A Crossword Puzzle
By Carly Svamvour
Click the link above to print out the puzzle and complete at your
leisure. Following immediately below is the solution to the puzzle from
last issue. The solution to May Babies will be available
in our next issue.
#
SOLUTION to last issue's "April Showers ..." Crossword Puzzle
#
Carly Svamvour is a writer who makes her home in the west end of
Toronto, Canada. She has published her poems, short prose pieces and puzzles in
many places throughout Canada and the U. S. A. She is currently working on her
photo-journals with an eye to success at being a travel writer. See more of Carly at Wild City Times -
click here for the magazine and online writing workshop.
#
Photo ID Guide:
1916 MJ Moriarty Playing Cards w/107 Image Slide Show
Click the link above for images & details!
This page has developed into perhaps my
proudest achievement on the entire things-and-other-stuff web site.
Besides the grid noting every possible variation I've thus far encountered with
this set I have added a slide show depicting a matching image for every one of
those cards. In the process I've also discovered more variations, another
May Allison and 3 more Ruth Roland cards!
#
Harry Carey: "The Bright Star in the
Early Western Sky"
By Kelly Ann Butterbaugh
John Wayne may be the first name that
comes to most minds when talking about western movie stars, but even Wayne
himself realized Harry Carey, Sr. to be the true western icon. Mimicking
many of Carey’s trademark moves such as the slouching posture he had while
riding, Wayne has been quoted as saying that Carey “was the greatest Western
actor of all time.”
#
This is just a teaser--check out
Kelly's
entire column with pictures!
#
Residing in Pennsylvania, Kelly is a teacher,
a freelance writer, a wife, and a mother. She writes and publishes fiction,
editorial essays, and occasional non-fiction articles. Contact her at
Englishteach@rcn.com
#
Photo ID Guide Update:
1903 Eureka/Craddock's Medicated Blue Soap Playing Cards
Click the link above for images & details!
I didn't do much of the work with these, most of the text and
all of the images on this page were donated to the site by collector Diana
Savage. You may recognize Diana's name from the film reviews she has
provided this newsletter the previous two issues. These are cards from her
collection, which are more theatre related than film, but there is some
crossover. Enjoy, and thanks Diana!
#
The Silent Collection by Tammy Stone
Estelle Taylor
She was
ravishing, racy, ahead of her time, a true 20th century woman. She
graced the silver screen longer than many of her contemporaries, and happened to
be cast in some of the most epic and even controversial films of her time. Let
the tribute to Estelle Taylor begin.
This is just a teaser--check out
Tammy's entire
column with pictures!
#
Tammy Stone is a freelance writer and journalist based in Toronto. Watch for her
regular column on the greats of the Silent Screen here in each and every issue
of ASTOS.
Tammy invites you to write her at
tammystone444@yahoo.ca
with any questions or comments on her column.
#
End Credits:
In closing I want to mention that someone had written me asking if we were going
to a monthly format and I said no. I still like to say no, but honestly
with the Auction Notes newsletter being a weekly, I will now say it's possible.
That being said, the next issue will more than likely be May 15, which would be
the first of two May issues, but I do want to leave the door open to the
possibility of cutting this newsletter down to monthly. We'll see how it
goes though, I do like putting it together every issue and love adding the
profiles to the web site, so my heart tells me to keep it scheduled as is (about
17 times per year), though my head says we could lose five of those issues.
Either way, I'll see you next time or for those of you who receive it, later on
today with this week's Auction Notes.
As always feel free to e-mail any thoughts or ideas
to us at
things@things-and-other-stuff.com, we're always
willing to listen.
#
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