Movie Profiles & Premiums Volume 4, Number 2.  February 15, 2006
Brought to you by things-and-other-stuff

Hi all, welcome back.  If you haven't been over to the site since last time I did end up redesigning the home page, as I had mentioned as a possibility.  Hope you like it.  I'm hoping it loads a little quicker as I did away with a couple of images.  I also returned to a snazzier looking three column format with the text centered and important links around the site on both the left and right.  I did away with some advertising and repositioned the ads that remained, and most obviously completely overhauled the header appearing on each page.  I changed it over about a week or so ago, and have grown accustomed to it, so there likely won't be any further changes to the actual design for awhile now.

As for content, well this issue adds both a Myrna Loy profile (by Susan M. Kelly) and 41-image collectible slideshow.  I am aware that these slideshows are not displaying properly in the Firefox browser, in fact, and this is because I publish the site using Microsoft FrontPage, I think it only displays properly in Internet Explorer.  I've been looking for a way to work around this, but I've only run into dead ends on the FrontPage forums I've visited and have not come across any products to do what I'd like them to do (render the slideshows properly in all browsers).  I apologize for this -- and hope to fix it in the future, even if it costs me a few bucks.

There isn't a new Photo ID Page this month, mainly because I have not come across any new collectibles...which is frustrating.  Though I have run mainly magazine auctions recently, I did add some new movie collectible auctions on eBay Tuesday night.  These are items that I've had and sold before, but though they may appear familiar to you they are actually being listed for the first time: there are several fan photos ranging in size from 5x7 up to 7-1/2 x 9-1/2 and featuring stars such as Mary Pickford, Colleen Moore, Clara Bow, and a Richard Barthelmess pose that I haven't seen before.  Also the same night I listed a few more 1934 Lux 9x12 Premiums, including three that I had listed previously which had sold: Jean Harlow, Mae West and Kay Francis.  Clark Gable and Joan Crawford are also listed.  I'm expecting some Kromo Gravure cards sometime soon, and will make mention on the blog when they've been listed for sale.  In lieu of any new Photo ID Guides this issue, we can always revisit the past and try to stay relevant in doing so:

Page 1 of the Fan Photos Photo ID Page
1934 Lux 9x12 Premium Photos Photo ID Page

And if you're interested in bidding on any of these new items, the auctions will end next Tuesday night: Go here to view all eBay Auctions

I had mentioned my blog earlier -- every night that I post new auctions I give them a little write-up as an announcement over there, which honestly can get a little boring, so I try to spice things up with some mini-articles/commentaries every so often.  Here are a couple that I wrote recently:

All Hail the eBay Underbidder! Can We Reward Them?
and
In Between Shoveling I Shopped at GoAntiques.com on Sunday

These are the kinds of little paragraphs that I used to include a lot of over here, but I think it'd be kind of cheesy to cut&paste them over here when they're already over there.  Right?

While I'm dishing out links to relevant material here are the two brand new Myrna Loy features:

Myrna Loy by Susan M. Kelly
Myrna Loy Movie Collectible Slide Show

Lots of classics released on DVD recently.  Some of the ones on my shopping list include Shadow of a Doubt, Ride the High Country, The Good Earth, Captains Courageous, and Kitty Foyle.  I recently purchased Lust for Life which came out the same day as the last three mentioned in the previous sentence.  I'll add some comments about it sometime soon on my Classic DVD List (which has been reworked yet again).  An exciting 6-disc collection that's coming soon is The Busby Berkeley Collection to be released March 21.  The collection includes long-awaited DVD releases of Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933 and 1935, Dames, and 42nd Street.  I'm not even a fan of musicals, but I love pre-code stuff, so I'm excited to pick up this set when it comes out.  It's being issued at $59.98, though you can pre-order it at Amazon.com for just $41.99 right now -- usually their pre-order price stays the same until the item has been released for a week, don't hold me to that though.

I just finished reading Book of the Dead by Jamie Russell, which is a great new (copyright 2005) book about zombie cinema that I'm only mentioning here because it takes 70 pages before it reaches Night of the Living Dead.  Fans of classic horror will find the first five chapters interesting as the author traces the invention of the zombie from the page to Bela Lugosi in White Zombie, through the Poverty Row films of the 40's and Val Lewton's I Walked With a Zombie.  He glosses upon some 50's sci-fi that prominently features the undead and then touches upon Hammer releases of the 60's before getting to Romero and many of the US and European releases that followed him.  As I said, I only mention it here because I thought it did a great job featuring the "classics" in a genre pretty much devoid of generally accepted classics, but if you're into current horror movies as well then it's a must-buy!

And that's about it.  You can keep in touch with me through the blog or e-mail until our next issue, scheduled for March 15, which includes an entry to the Silent Collection by Tammy Stone in my blueprint.  Hopefully a new Photo ID Page as well, but I've got to dig up some new stuff!

Until then, take care!
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