The False Ducks Blahg This Blahg is about me and other things.

July 29, 2025

HEY, REMEMBER THAT ADDENDUM BLAHG ABOUT DOTTIE REID WHERE I SAID I MIGHT HAVE TO WRITE AN ADDENDUM BLAHG TO THE ADDENDUM BLAHG?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — sinatrafan @ 1:31 am

Dottie Reid   Almost two years ago on August 19, 2023 I penned a blahg entitled WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THAT BLAHG ON DOTTIE REID? In it I detailed what I could find about the singer Dottie Reid.  Part of what I wrote at the time stated:  “It’s hard to create a definitive list of Dottie Reid’s recordings because I have not found an official discography. From the BandChirp biography of Dottie and the obituary above, we can note that she made recordings with Benny Goodman, Muggsy Spanier, and Buddy Rich plus the recording with Johnny Blowers and Gang.”  I also noted that she had recorded with Johnny Richards’ band on “I’m Gonna See My Baby” from December 4th, 1944.  A good resource to find out about vocalists with big bands is the website, www.bandchirps.com.  Here’s the information they provided about Dottie Reid for the 1944/1945 period: 

Reid was back on the bandstand by February 1944 with Robin Mohr’s orchestra. In July she was with Herbie Fields, but by October she was singing for Johnny Richards, with whom she recorded. A review at the time said Reid looked bored in Richards’ band and had bad stage manners. In April 1945, she joined George Paxton’s outfit, though she was dropped after less than a month. She then joined Randy Brooks in early June but stayed only a few days, leaving to tour with Benny Goodman for seven weeks. She made two recordings with the King of Swing.

So why am I bringing this all up again and why is the title to this blahg so long?  Good questions.  Read on. 

  The current Dottie Reid update is not directly tied to that first blahg I wrote on her.  In fact, I wrote a follow-up blahg, HEY, REMEMBER THAT BLAHG ABOUT DOTTIE REID I FINALLY WROTE?, where I posted some live remotes she had performed with the Buddy Rich Orchestra in 1946.  I had not acquired them when I wrote the first blahg but later received them and highlighted them in the second blahg.  I also mentioned a couple of songs she recorded on the Tonex label in 1953 and said “I could find no updates for the Tonex recordings but I’ll keep looking. Maybe someday I’ll find those recordings and have to pen another addendum blahg with the title, “HEY, REMEMBER THAT ADDENDUM BLAHG ABOUT DOTTIE REID WHERE I SAID I MIGHT HAVE TO WRITE AN ADDENDUM BLAHG TO THE ADDENDUM BLAHG?”  Sorry, I haven’t found the Tonex recordings but I did find something else that warranted me dusting off the long Addendum title for this new blahg. 

   There is a reason why I posted about the 1944/1945 period earlier in this blahg and specifically how she had been associated with the Johnny Richards band.  I was doing some research, trying to locate the two Tonex recordings when I came across a listing for a Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands from March 10, 1945 featuring the Johnny Richards band with Dottie Reid doing a couple of vocals.  I found an advertisement for the appearance but it didn’t mention Dottie Reid: 

I was able to find the entire show and was able to confirm that Dottie Reid was on the program and sang “A Little On The Lonely Side” and “I’ve Got To See My Baby.”  The latter song was the one she recorded with Richards’ outfit on December 4th, 1944.  Here’s that recorded version:

And now here’s the full Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands from March 10, 1945: 

 

   I was going to end this blahg with that remote but another interesting recording caught my eye that certainly fits into this addendum.  A few times, I have seen “Dottie Reid” referred to as “Dotty Reid.”  I came across a recording from 1945 on the Guild label with George Paxton Orchestra that credits the vocal to “Dotty Reid.”  Have a look at the label:

Is Dotty Reid the same as Dottie Reid?  I believe it is because the BandChirps website said “In April 1945, she joined George Paxton’s outfit, though she was dropped after less than a month.”  That’s good enough for me.  Less than a month with the band but she at least got to record with Paxton’s orchestra.  Give “Bell Bottom Trousers” a listen:

I also came across a listing for another Guild label release of the George Paxton Orchestra with another vocal by Dotty Reid.  The song is “Stormy Crossing”:

Unfortunately, I could not find anywhere to stream “Stormy Crossing” and the discography for Dotty Reid with George Paxton on the Guild label that I found only lists her on “Bell Bottom Trousers” and “Stormy Crossing”:

George Paxton discography with Dotty Reid

 

    That’s it for this addendum to the addendum blahg on Dottie Reid.  Two live versions of one song we’ve heard and one we haven’t plus a “Dotty Reid” recording with the George Paxton Orchestra.  I’ll keep trying to find those Tonex recordings and the other Guild label release.  I’ll have to shorten the title of that blahg if I do find them.  How about “Dottie Reid Addendum Cubed?”  It has a nice ring to it!

 

July 22, 2025

ANOTHER ROUND OF HOLIDAYS!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — sinatrafan @ 10:58 pm

Scott Reading A Book   About a year ago, exactly July 24th, 2024, I posted a blahg called WHAT PRICE HOLIDAYS? It was all about my week of holidays I took in July and I thought I would visit that theme because I’m just coming off another week of holidays.  Let me just say this past week’s holidays were better than the week I took off last October.  My Mother’s house burned at that time and I’m still dealing with the ramifications of that.  You can read more about that ordeal in the blahg, TWICE IN A LIFETIME…IS TOO MUCH.  Some interesting things happened for me last week so I’ll jump into it with a bang. 

   Okay, so this didn’t happen during my holidays but it was the bang that started everything off.  Two weeks ago on July 14th I fell. Here’s what I posted about that on my Facebook:

Here’s a cautionary tale for you.

Yesterday, I fell out of the shower and went ass over tea-kettle onto the floor. Still don’t know how it happened. I slipped somehow and went out the back side onto my backside.

We have a clawfoot tub with an oval shower surround so there’s shower curtains on both sides. Our tub goes across diagonally so there’s very little space behind the tub and up to the wall. You can look at the two photos below. Sometimes one of our cats likes to crap back there and we have to climb over into the space and clean it up. Yesterday, the shower curtain slowed me down but I fell into that small space on the other side of the tub with the shower curtain between me and the inevitable cat crap left by our cat. I was in lots of pain and screaming and yelling for Jeanette. She was asleep in another part of the house and couldn’t hear me.

I managed to wriggle out behind the back of the tub; all the while screaming my head off. I got out to the front side where my metal clothes hamper was sitting and started banging on that and eventually Jeanette heard that and came to my rescue. She helped me up and then helped clean the cat litter off me so I could get dressed and go to the hospital. I thought my neck was going to snap off and felt every bump on the way to Picton. Two rounds of X-rays in Picton and then sent to Belleville for a cat scan. Nothing broken but if they’d done a cat crap scan they might have found some on my side or back.

I had to wear a neck brace all day but 8 hours later, I was back at home without the brace. Advil and Blue Ice gel and I’m back to work today but my neck is still really sore. I can’t watch any tennis matches for a while.

What’s the lesson here? I don’t know. Don’t shower alone? I’m not going to admit getting old and needing grab bars. It was a fluke. I showered this morning and was fine but very cautious. I could have imagined what would have happened if I couldn’t get out from behind the tub and the paramedics had to come. I know they’d have taken pictures and posted it on their secret online site where they talk about what stupid humans get up to.

Here are the photos I posted:

Behind the bathtub

The Bathtub

Scott in neck brace

The injury plagued me during the week before my holidays and during my week off.  Oh yes, apparently, according to my wife’s Aunt Sandra, a retired nurse, they put the neck brace on backwards at the hospital…at least that’s what she said when she saw the above photo.   

   Another thing that started before my holidays but continued during my holidays was the disassembly of our old upright piano.  My wife wanted it gone and it was too heavy to remove in one piece.  We watched some videos about taking it apart and thought we could handle it.  I rely again on Facebook but this time it’s what my wife posted to her Facebook on July 8th:

Next project is reorganizing the dining room. Getting rid of a big desk and moving my cedar chest on to someone else who would care for it is part of the plan. Before that happens though we need to say good bye to the piano. It’s actually our oldest daughter’s piano and she was the only one who ever learned. It’s lived with us for about 23 years or so and moved with us once. If memory serves me right, I believe it originally came out of CML Snyder Elementary School and was lovingly restored by a friend of ours who did that back in the day. (Rick Moynes, you did an awesome job!) It was a beautiful piece of furniture. Unfortunately, today you can’t give them away and we are unable to move it out of our house so we are taking it apart. We are working on getting the right tools to loosen the strings so we can continue taking it apart carefully. If anyone would like pieces to repurpose or create some kind of sculpture/ art work, let me know!

Here are the photos Jeanette posted:

Piano 1

Piano 2

Piano 3

Piano 4

Piano 5

 

We managed to order the correct tool from Amazon to remove the strings:

Of course, we needed to find an adapter that would allow this tool to fit into a socket wrench and our drill.  That came from Canadian Tire and we began to remove some of the strings before my holidays began.  I’ll get back to the topic of the disassembly later as it fits into my holidays timeline.

   I always take a week of holidays in July with the first weekend being our annual visit to the Transformers or TF Con in Mississauga.  In the blahg, WHAT PRICE HOLIDAYS? I talked about our 2024 visit.  This year was a lot of fun as well.  One of the big highlights of the convention is always visiting the Dealer Room.  Here’s a quick video of me in the Dealer Room on Saturday morning July 12th:

I know, I’m officially a geek. Last year I was looking for the Dracula Transformer and I found it.  The only thing I had in mind to find this year was a Funko Pop of Cyclonus:

Cyclonus is a character I really like.  Unfortunately no one had this Funko Pop.  So I settled instead for a Scorponok figure from the Beast Wars line:

There wasn’t much else I was looking for but I happened to stumble, or rather someone else did, on a Micronauts Battle Cruiser.  Last year, in 2024, I bought my first Battle Cruiser at the 2024 TF Con.  Here’s what it looks like on my shelf:

This year, I was browsing over a vendor’s booth in the corner at TF Con and I saw him trip over a box on the floor.  To my surprise, it was another Micronauts Battle Cruiser but in a box.  It looked nearly complete and had the french instruction sheet but that wasn’t a show stopper.  I asked if it was for sale and he was surprised because it was a Transformers convention after all and who goes to buy Micronauts?  I do!  He gladly stated it was for sale at $50.  I think I paid $30 or $35 last year for a near 75 percent complete version not in box.  Here’s a couple of photos of this year’s Battle Cruiser purchase:

Battle Cruiser 1

Battle Cruiser 2

Unfortunately, the motor or the remote in last year’s version didn’t work.  More about that later.  I was also surprised to learn from the vendor that he had some other Micronauts vehicles and would bring them in the next day.  Score!  Again, more about that later.

   The next day, before making it to the vendor with Micronauts, I managed to spy a Plastic Man in box at a guy in the far opposite corner of the other vendor I came back to see.  I’m a big fan of Plastic Man and at $20, and again, in the original box, I felt I couldn’t pass him up. Here’s what he looks like:

Plastic Man is from 2016.  He’s going to go on a shelf with my San Diego Comic Con Plastic Man figure and my Plastic Man Funko Pop.  Here are pictures of first, the San Diego Comic Con figure, and then the Funko Pop:

Of course there is a Funko Soda Plastic Man and the Chase of the Soda that I don’t own but plan to purchase at some point.  Here’s what they look like.  The Chase is pictured in the bottom right.

   I finally made it to the other corner vendor who had promised me more Micronauts vehicles.  He didn’t disappoint.  Here’s what he had:

Hydra

Hydra

As you can see by the instruction sheet in each photo, the top vehicle is the Galactic Cruiser and the bottom one is the Hydra.  Now, I didn’t own the Galactic Cruiser but I already had a Hydra at home.  Here is a picture of it on my Micronauts shelf:

Hydra 2

My other Hydra is more complete with the rear missile set but the chance to purchase another one with the instruction sheet was very tempting.  The vendor wanted $25 a piece but said I could have the pair for $40.  That was not a difficult decision.  $40 for the pair and both with instruction sheets?  It was a great deal I couldn’t pass up.  They didn’t have the original boxes but they’re still valuable to be in my collection.

   Back to the Battle Cruiser.  As I said, my one from 2024 did not have a functioning motor.  When I tested this year’s acquisition, I found the motor didn’t work in this one either.  I purchased new batteries but that didn’t solve the problem.  I decided to take the motor housing apart.  Nothing was broken inside that I could tell.  I tried to turn the gears by hand to see if they were stuck from age and non-use.  That did the trick.  It started working perfectly.  I tried the same trick on the 2024 Battle Cruiser and it worked it again.  Here’s a short video of me operating this year’s purchase:

   Now, I just need to find a few figures to sit in the Battle Cruiser as well as the Galactic Cruiser and Hydra.  Oh, and I’ll need a new shelf to display everything.  That’s part of some remodelling we want to do this year.  More on that later.

   My daughter Abbie and I had a great time at TF Con as usual.  We watched some panels, tried out for the script reading (but neither of us was chosen) and had a great time at the Transformers trivia game show;  even if we didn’t win.  Here’s a photo of Abbie and I during the game show (we’re on the left):

Abbie and Scott at TF Con 2025

Basically the name of a Transformer appeared on a screen and we had to take turns giving clues to each other or pass.  I think we did okay.  The final part was like wheel of fortune where they give you a clue and then they start to reveal letters and members of both teams can buzz in with the answer.  Unfortunately, we weren’t great at that.  Still, fun time had for our 7th or 8th year of attending. My wife Jeanette was also with us.

   Remember when I started off this blahg talking about the fall I had from my claw-foot tub?  Well, I left out a part of that story.  When I fell, I took the shower curtain down with me and broke the wrap around shower curtain rod.  Of course, the one we had is no longer manufactured so I had to order a new one from Amazon.  It was waiting on our deck outside our back door when we got back from TF Con.

This is what it is supposed to look like when it’s installed:

The piece at the left end that goes straight up into the ceiling was of course a different size and the rod at the front by the shower head goes straight ahead and our layout needs a rod that goes up into the ceiling.  We managed to salvage a piece from our old shower curtain rod to use on the front to run it to the ceiling.  We had to drill a new hole for the large rod at the back but we finally got it.  We also had to buy a new shower head and a third shower curtain as the new rod is much bigger than the previous one.  All this was done on the Tuesday of my holidays.  Monday had been spent running my mother to two different Doctor appointments so that doesn’t count. 

   On Wednesday we went shopping in Kingston.  I didn’t find anything.  We decided to race back to Belleville for the 3pm showing of “Superman.”  We had wanted to go to the movies on Monday but it just didn’t fit into our busy schedule for that day.  Here’s what I posted to Facebook: 

Jeanette and I see Superman

Saw Superman yesterday. I liked it. A friend of mine was right when he said it was an homage to 1970s Superman comics. I grew up on those so I understood what was going on. It’s not another origin story but you do get Martha and Jonathan Kent but they were a little too hillbilly for my liking. Oh well, after you’ve had Kevin Costner play Jonathan and the even greater Glenn Ford, it’s hard to top those. I’m a big fan of Metamorpho The Element Man so that was a bonus to see that character in the film. Check it out for yourself. That’s the only way you’re going to find out if you’ll like it

My friend Stephen Dafoe said “I really enjoyed the film. It was like running to the corner store with a quarter to grab a Giant-Sized Superman Comic.”  If you remember the Giant-Sized Comics for 25 cents then you truly were a child of the 1970s.

   Thursday, we went travelling again.  When we were driving through Toronto on the way to or from TF Con, I had seen a poster for an upcoming production of “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.” at the Shaw Festival at Niagara on the Lake.  We decided to get tickets for Thursday July 17th and we booked a motel in Niagara Falls that was only 15 minutes away.  Here’s some more geeky shots of me at the play:

Scott in front of Wardrobe dispay

Scott goes into the Wardrobe

The bottom photo is of me trying to enter the Wardrobe they had on display in the lobby.  Apparently it was not a real entrance to Narnia.  The play was great and fun and I’m glad we went.

  On the way home from Niagara on the Lake we decided to make a stop at Jerry’s Toys in Vaughan.

Jerry’s Toys is like a Tardis from Doctor Who.  It’s small on the outside but it’s huge on the inside.  It advertises itself as toys and collectibles but 99 percent of the store are Funkos.  Just check out this picture:

Inside Jerry's Toys

That’s just the front half of the store.  There’s a whole back section as well.  I last visited there in March when I was on the lookout for a Jean LaFoote Funko Pop.

I already had a Cap’N Crunch Funko as well as a Crunchberry Beast:

I was on the hunt for that Jean LaFoote.  I had seen LaFoote at a fleamarket in Pickering a few years back but it was very expensive.  I also saw him the figure at this year’s Toronto ComicCon but the vendor wanted $75 and the vendor wasn’t very nice when I tried to engage with him about some other pops which he didn’t have.  That’s a story for another time.  The good news was that Jerry’s Toys had LaFoote for $50.  I purchased it along with a few other Funko Pops that interested me.  What I didn’t realize until I got home that time was that my Cap’N Crunch was out of sequence.  Mine was a different issue with a sword.  Mine was number 36 but the Crunchberry Beast was #15 and LaFoote was #16.  On researching it further, I found out that first Cap’N Crunch was #14 and had been a Target exclusive:

If I want to be a completist, there is a Cozmic Cap’n Crunch Glow-in-the-Dark Funko Pop and a Cap’N Crunch 10″ Super-Sized Pop that I don’t own:

   So, back to the current story, we stopped in at Jerry’s Toys on the way back from Niagara on the Lake and I picked up #14.  I also purchased a dozen Funko Sodas.  These are smaller figures in aluminum soda cans.  There’s no real soda inside.  There are chase variants of the Funko Sodas but I didn’t purchase any chases.  I was looking for some interesting cartoon characters and I had seen in some of the Jerry’s Toys videos from TikTok that he had some in stock.  I had only started looking into the Sodas after I purchased a couple at the Cornwall and Area Pop Event I had attended back in April.  Back then, I had picked up Super Chicken and Klondike Kat: 

I eventually purchased the Savoie-Faire Soda to go along with Klondie Kat.  Savoir-Faire is the nemesis to Klondike Kat in the cartoons.  The image below shows the figure I bought and at the bottom right is an image of the chase version.

I have a few other Soda figures.  I have a Captain Carter chase figure and a Marty McFly with guitar.  My daughter Abbie also purchased me a Dick Dastardly Soda figure when she was at a recent convention in Niagara Falls.  The photo below shows the Dick Dastardly figure in front of his Funko Pop version.  Below that is the Super Chicken Soda beside his Funko Pop version.

Dick Dastardly Soda

So that left me a Muttley Soda to find to go with my Muttley Pop figure.  Luckily, Muttley was one of the dozen Sodas I purchased.  The three pictures below are the Sodas I purchased this time around from Jerry’s Toys:

Notice the Muttley in the first picture.  Of all of these Sodas, I also own the Funko Pop versions of Rosie, Underdog, Cap’N Crunch, Jean LaFoote, Ricochet Rabbit, Mr. Owl, and Peter Potamus.  Someday I’d like to own the Chase versions of all of these figures.

   The last part of my summer holiday story brings us back to the disassembly of our old upright piano.  This past weekend we got back to it on the Saturday we finally removed the rest of the 240 pegs that held the strings.  That left us just with the metal harps on the front and back.  The back version was held on by several screws and they were very difficult to remove.  I had to soak the bottom ones with penetrating oil overnight and then had to use brute strength, a hammer, a screwdriver, and locking pliers to eventually get them free. Here’s a photo of me on the floor, behind the piano trying to remove the screws:

Scott behind the piano

Here’s a photo of the front cast-iron harp after all the strings were removed: 

Stringless Piano

The gold/brass coloured item is solid cast iron.  There was a twin of it on the backside of the piano.  The rear version weighed about 250 pounds and the front version was around 300.  Jeanette and I managed to get them both out of the house but a neighbour’s friend helped us take the heavier version out to the road. Here are two photos of the rear harp and then the front harp:

Rear Harp

Front Harp

If anyone wants free scrap iron, drop by Demorestville and pick it up.  There’s some nice wood leftover from the piano that I might try to re-purpose.  I still have the shell of the piano left to take apart but it’s out of the house and on our deck: 

Piano Shell

Hey, if you’re stopping by for the cast iron, please take the shell along, too.  Otherwise it’s going to be a saw, chain saw, and sledge hammer and crowbar to break it down.  My elbows and arms are still hurting me. At least with the piano out, we can get onto a dining room refresh and possibly a new shelf to house Funkos and my Micronauts….if my wife lets me.

   After all that, it was time to go back to work.  I’ll take another set of holidays probably in October.  Who knows what adventures we’ll have then.  Hopefully no disassembly or some assembly required!

 

July 4, 2025

MY 1939 FILMS WATCH LIST – TO 100 AND BEYOND!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , — sinatrafan @ 10:01 pm

Scott Reading A Book  Back at the beginning of April I posted my first blahg about my goal of watching as many films from 1939 that I possibly can.  1939 has always been touted as a banner year for films with great films like “The Wizard Of Oz,” “Gone With The Wind,” “Stagecoach,” “Ninotchka,” and “Goodbye Mr. Chips” being some of the classics released.  In my blahg MY 1939 FILMS WATCH LIST – PART ONE, I provided a write-up of sorts on the first 30 films I’ve watched from my list and then on April 22nd I published MY 1939 FILMS WATCH LIST – PART TWO.  At that time, I had watched 75 films on my way to 100 so I reviewed the next set of 30 up film 60.  My plan was not to publish a part three until I had reached my goal.  Last night, I watched number 101.  I thought it was 100 but I’d lost count and overshot the magic number.  Regardless, here’s part three and a recap of films 61 through 101.

   Let’s start off by recapping the complete list of 101 films I’ve watched.  This last 41 I’d refer to as the good, the bad, and the snooze fest.  That last phrase refers to when I fell asleep.  Still, don’t let that deter you.  Here’s the complete list of 101 films from 1939 that I’ve viewed:

  1. A Child Is Born
  2. Disputed Passage
  3. We Are Not Alone
  4. Dust Be My Destiny
  5. The Girl From Mexico
  6. Frontier Marshall
  7. Good Girls Go To Paris
  8. Honolulu
  9. The Three Musketeers
  10. Cheer Boys Cheer
  11. The Amazing Mr. Williams
  12. Off The Record
  13. The Frozen Limits (fell asleep)
  14. Where’s That Fire
  15. The Kid from Kokomo
  16. The Ice Follies of 1939
  17. All Women Have Secrets (1939)
  18. A Girl Must Live (1939)
  19. $1000 a Touchdown (1939)
  20. …One Third of a Nation… (1939)
  21. Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)
  22. Arizona Legion (1939)
  23. Persons in Hiding
  24. Allegheny Uprising
  25. Ask A Policeman (Will Hayes)
  26. Gone With The Wind
  27. Society Lawyer
  28. Code of the Secret Service (1939)
  29. Secret Service of the Air (1939)
  30. Young Abe Lincoln
  31. The Little Princess
  32. East Side of Heaven
  33. Destry Rides Again
  34. Dodge City
  35. Smashing The Money Ring
  36. The Wizard Of Oz
  37. Midnight
  38. Stagecoach
  39. Made For Each Other
  40. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
  41. 20,000 Men a Year (1939)
  42. Flying Deuces
  43. Only Angels Have Wings
  44. Judge Hardy and Son
  45. Charlie McCarthy Detective
  46. Discoveries
  47. Across the Plains
  48. Back Door to Heaven
  49. Hitler – Beast of Berlin
  50. Barricade
  51. In Name Only
  52. King of the Underworld
  53. At The Circus
  54. The Real Glory
  55. Women On The Wind
  56. Gunga Din
  57. Rulers of the Sea
  58. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
  59. The Hound Of The Baskervilles
  60. Beau Geste
  61. After The Thin Man
  62. The Mysterious Miss X
  63. The Hardys Ride High
  64. Three Smart Girls Grow Up
  65. First Love
  66. Ambush
  67. Bad Boy
  68. Bad Lands
  69. Bad Little Angel
  70. I Met A Murderer
  71. Boy Friend
  72. Coast Guard
  73. Boy Trouble
  74. Disbarred
  75. She Married a Cop
  76. The Light That Failed
  77. Night Work
  78. Million Dollar Legs
  79. Island Of Lost Men
  80. Slightly Honorable
  81. The Man In The Iron Mask
  82. Shipyard Sally
  83. My Son Is A Criminal
  84. Smuggled Cargo
  85. Wife, Husband and Friend
  86. 6,000 Enemies
  87. Homicide Bureau
  88. S.O.S. Tidal Wave
  89. News Is Made at Night
  90. Sergeant Madden
  91. Panama Patrol
  92. Rio
  93. When Tomorrow Comes
  94. Invitation to Happiness
  95. Taming of the West
  96. They Made Me A Criminal
  97. The Spy in Black
  98. Espionage Agent
  99. The Housekeeper’s Daughter
  100. Undercover Agent
  101.  Love Affair

Again, the majority of films on this list have not had DVD releases so I’ve been downloading copies of the more obscure films with the result that some of the versions I have found have ranged from excellent all the way down to just fair.  

   61.)  After The Thin Man.  Ah, William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles.  This is the second film in The Thin Man series.  A whodunit murder mystery and a really early film for James Stewart.  DVD release and well worth watching.

   62.)  The Mysterious Miss X.  Fast talking murder mystery with no real stars.  Mabel Todd adds some comedy but gets annoying after a while.  I fell asleep part way through but then woke up to discover the identity of the killer.  Can’t even remember much else about it.

    63.)  The Hardys Ride High. In the first 30, part one, I reviewed “Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever.”  In the second batch I reviewed “Judge Hardy And Son.”  Now, in part three, we have the last Andy Hardy film released in 1939.  This time, Andy and his family are living the high-life in New York, thinking they’re going to inherit two million dollars.  It’s a real test of the small town Hardy morals.  Still, very entertaining and available on DVD.

   64.)  Three Smart Girls Grow Up. Ah, Deanna Durbin.  She was the young woman who basically turned around the fortunes of Universal Pictures.  I dedicated an entire blahg to her in 2013 after learning she had passed away.  You can check it out at THE PUBLIC & PRIVATE LIFE OF DEANNA DURBIN.  This is the sequel to the popular “Three Smart Girls” from 1936.  Deanna’s mixed up in her older sisters’ love affairs with humorous results.  You can never go wrong with a Deanna Durbin film.  Oh, and Robert Cummings is in this one.  He and Deanna Durbin made a handful of movies together with “It Started With Eve” being one of their best.

   65Deanna Durbin - First Love.)  First Love.  Deanna Durbin back again with the second of her films released in 1939.  This time her costar is Robert Stack.  It’s basically a Cinderella story where she’s an orphan who is sent to live with her rich New York relatives who aren’t so very nice to her.  Great singing, some nice acting, and Eugene Pallette as Deanna’s uncle who is the only nice relative she has.  Over course it’s sappy.  Of  course the ending is happy.  Just watch it.

   66.)  Ambush. Definitely a “B” picture with no great stars.  I should add that Lloyd Nolan is in this one and I think he’s a fine actor.  He went on to direct films as well.  Four bandits rob a California bank.  Gladys Swarthout is the sister of one of the gang members and she wants no part of it.  Lloyd Nolan is a truck driver who gets hijacked and tries to help out the female lead.  I enjoyed it.

   67.)  Bad Boy.  I couldn’t remember this one so I had to check out the IMDB summary to recall the plot:  “Johnny Fraser (Johnny Downs) leaves his mother (Helen MacKellar) in their small home town and sets out for the big city. He obtains a job with a large firm of architects. Steve Carson (Archie Robbins), a fellow employee, is constantly flaunting the money he has won at the race track. Johnny also bets the races, but loses heavily and takes some of the firm’s money to cover his losses. Steve also introduces Johnny to Madelon Kirby (Rosalind Keith), a gold-digging night club singer. When the firm’s boss McNeil (Holmes Herbert) learns that Johnny has embezzled some money, he fires him and has him jailed. Johnny’s mother comes to his aid, but he cannot find work when he is released. Through Steve Carson, Johnny becomes the head of a shady firm, Business Engineers, and is making a lot of money. Madelon returns and she and Johnny are married, but he is unaware that Steve is not only double-crossing him in the business but with Madelon also.”  I remember the ending now, sad.  Still, I’m glad I watched it even if I couldn’t remember it.

   68.)  Bad Lands.  From Wikipedia:  “In 1875, a posse headed by Sheriff Bill Cummings is held at bay by Apache warriors. The posse members are picked off, one by one, until only the Sheriff is left.”  I definitely remember this one.  It only runs about 70 minutes but has a good cast.  It’s a remake of John Ford’s 1934 film, “The Lost Patrol.”  Well worth watching.

   69.)  Bad Little Angel.   Okay, I was obviously working my way through an alphabetical list with “Bad Boy”, “Bad Lands,” and now “Bad Little Angel.”  Another orphan story, starring another former child star named Virginia Weidler.  Virginia is living with an old widow woman who imparts the advice that when in trouble, Virginia should randomly open the bible and plunk her finger down on a passage and do what it says.  After the old lady dies, Virginia selects a verse about Egypt and takes all the money she has and goes to Egypt, New Jersey.  There she finds friends and a new family and helps everyone out of trouble with her random bible scriptures.  Not much of a plot but Virginia is the best thing about this movie.

  70.)  I Met A Murderer.  Really made on a shoestring budget.  James Mason is the murderer who is hiding out on the Isle of Wight.  Pamela Mason, the real life wife of James Mason, is helping him hide out…or is she?  The story is slight but the scenery is gorgeous. 

  71.)  Boy Friend.  And yet another child star, Jane Withers, trying to help her brother the cop take down a criminal organization.  The thing is he’s undercover and she thinks he’s gone bad.  She does some singing and also pursues a military cadet as a love interest.  Typical Little Miss Fix-It role for Withers.

  72)  Coast Guard.  Randolph Scott and Ralph Bellamy as two different members of the Coast Guard.  Bellamy is friendly and by-the-books while Scott is reckless and devil-may-care.  Some good action and some unbelievable action.  This is the third movie starring Randolph Scott to be released in 1939.  I reviewed “Frontier Marshall” in part one and “20,000 Men A Year” in part two.  Scott is a solid actor.

  73.)  Boy Trouble. This is one of two films the great comic actor Charlie Ruggles made in 1939 as the character Homer C. Fitch.  Homer’s wife thinks he’s in a rut so she adopts two boys.  The problem is that Homer hates little boys.  Some humour and some melodrama.  Donald O’Connor plays one of the boys.

  74.)  Disbarred.  How do I explain this one?  A lawyer gets disbarred for working with the underworld.  He coaches an up-and-coming female lawyer and tricks her into defending his gangster cronies and getting them off.  Of course she figures it out and has to work with the District Attorney’s office to go after her mentor.  Not great but not bad.

  75.)  She Married a Cop.   Remember I said these films ranged from the good, the bad, and the snooze fest?  This is the snooze fest.  All I remember about this is a woman hires a police officer to be the singing voice of “Paddy,” the cartoon pig.  It’s clearly an early Porky Pig but the cop doesn’t like it.  He thinks he’s going to be a star and not provide vocals for a cartoon pig.  That’s what I recall before I fell asleep.

  77.)  The Light That Failed.  I like Ronald Colman.  “Random Harvest” with Greer Garson and Ronald Colman is one of my favourite films.  “The Light That Failed” is based on an 1891 novel by Rudyard Kipling.  In part two of my series, I reviewed “Gunga Din” from 1939 which was based on a poem by Rudyard Kipling.  Colman is a British Soldier from the Madhist War in the Sudan who retires after a head wound and then takes up painting.  He eventually goes blind and he has to cope with the people in his life, not being a soldier, and losing his eyesight.  A very nice drama.

   77.)  Night Work. A sequel to number 73, “Boy Trouble.”  Charlie Ruggles as the character Homer C. Fitch is now managing a hotel.  The grandfather of the boy played by Donald O’Connor wants to take his grandson back to live with him unless Ruggles can prove he’s tough enough.  Some sight gags and William Frawley along as a big-mouth character.  Watch it only if you’ve watched “Boy Trouble.”

  78.)  Million Dollar Legs. Another in the snooze-fest category.  The Million Dollar Legs belong to Betty Grable but she doesn’t have much to do in the film.  It’s a college film about creating a rowing team and bucking the system of the administration.  I think I dozed off for a little bit during the film.

  79.)  Island Of Lost Men. Great title but another “put me to sleep” film.  From IMDB:  “A Chinese general, who disappeared in the Malaysian jungles with stolen government funds, is sought by his cabaret-singing daughter who wants to clear his name.”  That’s more than I remember.  Broderick Crawford is a bad guy and plays it well.  Crawford was also in #54 “The Real Glory” and #60 “Beau Geste” which I reviewed in part two.

  80.)  Slightly Honorable.  Broderick Crawford is back again as the pal to Pat O’Brien who is a lawyer framed for murder.  Eve Arden is along as his snappy secretary.  I fell asleep before the reveal but had to go back and watch it again because it was worth it.  A young Ruth Terry steals every scene she’s in.  

 

 

The Man In The Iron Mask 193981.)  The Man In The Iron Mask.  Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, this is the story of royal French twins separated at birth.  One is raised as King and rules as a tyrant.  The other is raised by d’Artagnan of the Four Musketeers fame.  The cruel brother meets his twin and imprisons him and covers his face with an iron mask.  Will d’Artagnan and the others save the good twin?  You’ll just have to watch it.  A great cast in a great swashbuckler.

   82.)  Shipyard Sally.  A musical comedy with Gracie Fields.  Last year, I wrote a blahg entitled HAVE YOU WATCHED ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY?  In that blahg, I reviewed two later films by Gracie Fields, “Holy Matrimony” and “Molly and Me.”  They also starred Monty Woolley.  Gracie Fields was a national British treasure and “Shipyard Sally” was probably very popular in its day.  To be honest, I fell asleep.  I wanted to give it more attention so I went back to it after a week.  Gracie and her Father run a pub in a town where there are shipyards.  The government decides to close the shipyards and Sally heads off to meet with a member of parliament to have him change his mind.  Cute piece of fluff.  I liked Gracie’s singing but it was weaker than the two other ones with Monty Woolley.

  83My Son Is A Criminal.)  My Son Is A Criminal.  This one had an interesting premise.  A retired police chief hopes his son will follow in his footsteps to join the police force.  The retired chief, however, can’t keep himself from investigating the new crime gang terrorizing town.  Unbeknownst to the chief, his son is the criminal mastermind behind the new crime wave.  No real stars to speak of but enjoyable.

  84.Smuggled Cargo)  Smuggled Cargo.  A corrupt group of fruit growers take advantage of migrant workers and cheat them out of their rightful wages.  The son of one of the growers, goes after the gang and sets everything right.  Again, no recognizable cast but entertaining none the less.

  Wife, Husband and Friend85.)  Wife, Husband and Friend. I watched this film after watching “Smuggled Cargo” because there was a great character actor in both films.  George Barbier always played grumpy husbands, cops, or overweight politicians.  In this film, he co-stars with Loretta Young as his daughter and Warner Baxter as his son-in-law.  Father-in-law’s advice:  Don’t let your wife think she’s a singer.  It’ll drive you nuts and ruin your life.  Of course the son-in-law wants to be a happy husband so he encourages his wife.  The problem is she’s not very good.  He has a voice and gets tricked into performing on stage by the “and friend” but he gets stage-fright and can’t perform.  It all works out in the end but George Barbier as the father-in-law could have said “I told you so” and he’d have been right.  He steals all his scenes.

  86.)  6,000 Enemies. Walter Pidgeon is lawyer Steve Donegan who gets frame for accepting a bribe and is sent up to prison.  The prison is unfortunately full of convicts that Donegan sent up there and they all want a piece of him.  He has to survive long enough to prove his innocence.  Walter Pidgeon does not disappoint. 

87.)  Homicide Bureau.  A police officer is demoted because of his off-the-books ways.  He wants to solve a high profile murder but he’s not assigned the case.  He also runs afoul of then befriends the new head of the police lab run by Rita Hayworth.  Clocks in at 58 minutes but it gets the story told.

88.)  S.O.S. Tidal Wave. Where do I begin with this one?  Well, it was on my to watch list because George Barbier was in it.  It’s really about the early days of television and Barbier plays Uncle Dan Carter who hosts a kiddy show with his ventriloquist dummy pal.  But the movie isn’t even about that.  It’s about political corruption and a reporter who won’t don’t the right thing and expose the corruption because his wife and son are threatened.  Uncle Dan tries to help but that goes badly.  On election day, the crooks try to prevent people from voting by broadcasting footage of a tidal wave destroying the east coast of the United States.  People run around in panic.  The footage is actually from the 1933 film “Deluge.”  It’s too crazy to believe but oh so entertaining.

  89.)  News Is Made at Night. I like a good newspaper story film.  I was hoping better from this film.  IMDB description:  Newspaper editor will do almost anything to increase circulation. He campaigns to free a condemned man while accusing a wealthy ex-criminal of a string of murders.  Tries too hard to be a comedy.  George Barbier is in this one as well but the story isn’t strong enough.

90.)  Sergeant Madden.   Wallace Berry is Irish police office Madden.  In 1920s New York, he adopts the son of his partner who dies.  He raises him along with his own son and hopes that both will become police officers one day.  When they grow up, the biological son becomes a bad copy and the adopted son is true, righteous, and loyal.  Directed by the great Josef von Sternberg.  He wasn’t too happy about how it turned out but I enjoyed it.

91.)  Panama Patrol.  Major Phillip Waring, the head of the Cipher Bureau in Washington gets called into the office when he’s supposed to be getting married.  He has to decipher a code that leads to a spy ring and to him keeping his fiancée waiting for him to come back and marry her.  It’s called Panama Patrol because the gang’s secret plans are to destroy the Panama Canal.  They never go there and the film is less than exciting.  Still, I stayed awake through this one, so that’s something. 

  92.)  Rio.  This one had a lot going for it.  Basil Rathbone who is a British con-artist who gets arrested in Paris and sent to a prison on an island off the coast of Rio.  He tells his new wife to leave him but she follows him to Rio and works in a nightclub.  She plans to wait out his ten year term there.  Unfortunately he gets bitter in prison and she falls for a washed up drunken architect played by Robert Cummings.  Rathbone escapes from the inescapable prison but then when he meets up with his wife, the movie is over in five minutes.  Good story that could have been better.  At least in this film, they got to Rio unlike no Panama locales in “Panama Patrol.” 

  93.)  When Tomorrow Comes.  Despite what critics thought of this film, I liked it.  I’m a big fan of Charles Boyer and he and Irene Dunne are a delight in this film.  It starts off as a comedy but them becomes a melodrama.  Boyer and Dunne fall in love but he can’t leave his wife because she has mental health issues.  This was the second pairing of Boyer and Dunne in 1939.  They appeared in the very popular “Love Affair” and the studio was hoping for lightning to strike twice.  “When Tomorrow Comes” didn’t do as well but not every movie needs a happy ending. 

  94.)  Invitation to Happiness.  I wanted to see another Irene Dunne film.  This is one she made with Fred MacMurray and Charlie Ruggles.  Irene Dunne’s father invests in a prize-fighter played by MacMurray.  Dunne falls in love with the fighter and marries him.  They also have a son.  He’s always off training and trying to win the next fight but not spending enough time with her or the kid.  Again, comedy in the beginning and melodrama by the end.  This was another one that could have been much more than it was. 

  Taming of the west95.)  Taming of the West.  Short, 55 minute western.  The new Sheriff, Wild Bill Saunders, played by Wild Bill Elliott, has to clean up the town.  Nothing special here but it was apparently the first in a series of four films to feature the Wild Bill Saunders character. 

  96.)  They Made Me A Criminal.  This is the second John Garfield film on my list.  The first, #4, was “Dust Be My Destiny.”  In this one, Garfield is a boxer who is believed to have murdered someone and is advised to go on the run and change his name.  He ends up in Arizona on a farm and meets the East Side Kids.  You can check out more about them here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Kids.  Some fun scenes as Garfield tries to be the tougher guy but also tries to help save the farm.  Good story and good fun. 

  97.)  The Spy in Black.  This is a British film released as U-Boat 29 in the United States.  Taut spy film about Germans during the first world war trying to sink the British fleet.  Watch out for the double-cross.  Great movie! 

  98.)  Espionage Agent.  Another actor I really admire is Joel McCrea.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough for him to do in this film.  McCrea is an American diplomat working with his wife to try and smash an espionage ring.  Brenda Marshall as his wife has more to do in this film than McCrea. 

  99.)  The Housekeeper’s Daughter.  I’m not sure if this was meant as a comedy or not.  It was directed by Hal Roach who was the genius behind Our Gang, The Little Rascals, and some of the early Laurel and Hardy films.  Joan Bennett is The Housekeeper’s Daughter.  She used to be the girlfriend of an underworld gangster.  Now, she’s a good girl and working with a reporter to try and expose the people behind a murder.  Adolph Menjou is very funny as one of the reporters but sometimes the film tries to be way too serious. 

  Undercover Agent100.) Undercover Agent.  “A railway postal clerk goes after a sweepstakes counterfeiting ring.”  Not much here folks.  Some comedy.  Some crime.  Ultimately, very dull.   

  101.)  Love Affair.  This was the first film starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.  They meet on a ship sailing to the United States.  He’s a renowned French playboy who is engaged to a socialite in New York.  She’s also engaged to her boss.  They try to fight their attraction to each other and commit to try and improve themselves to see if they are worthy of their relationship.  They plan to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building if they think they’ve managed to work things out.  He’s there but something happens to prevent her from meeting up with him.  Will they ever get together?  There’s a wonderful scene with the great Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya as Boyer’s grandmother.  If you’ve never heard of her, definitely check out her other films.  Directed by Leo McCarey, he would also direct the 1957 remake, “An Affair To Remember,” starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.   Of course, Kerr and Boyer would star together in 1939’s “When Tomorrow Comes” which I reviewed earlier.  They would do a third film together in 1944, “Together Again.”  I haven’t watched that one but it’s definitely on my to-watch list. 

   Well, there you have it, 101 films from 1939.  As I said, I lost count and thought “Undercover Agent” was number 99 and “Love Affair” was number 100.  I’m still happy to have “Love Affair” in my list.  I won’t discuss the popular films like “Gone With The Wind” and “The Wizard Of Oz” but here are a few that stood out for me that are lesser known: 

2)  Disputed Passage (Dorothy Lamour in a great story)

3)  We Are Not Alone (Paul Muni in an adaptation of a James Hilton novel)

11) The Amazing Mr. Williams (Joan Blondell in a fun movie)

12) Off The Record (Joan Blondell again with Pat O’Brien)

32) East Side Of Heaven (Bing Crosby and Joan Blondell.  Nice comedy and good singing)

39) Made For Each Other (James Stewart and Carole Lombard in a melodrama)

51) In Name Only (Another melodrama with Carole Lombard as well as Cary Grant and Kay Francis)

53) At The Circus (The Marx Brothers.  Very funny film)

60) Beau Geste (Gary Cooper in a French Foreign Legion mystery adventure)

65) First Love (Deanna Durbin.  I really like her films)

73) Boy Trouble (Charlie Ruggles adopts two boys and he hates kids!)

77) The Light That Failed (Ronald Colman in another Rudyard Kipling story)

81) The Man In The Iron Mask  (A great Alexandre Dumas story.  Action adventure.)

85) Wife, Husband and Friend (Lovely Loretta Young in a funny story with George Barbier as the hilarious father-in-law)

88) S.O.S. Tidal Wave (just because it was so unbelievable and it has George Barbier as a ventriloquist)

93) When Tomorrow Comes (the second pairing in 1939 of Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne.  Not as good as Love Affair but still very good)

97) The Spy In Black (Great WW1 spy film)

101) Love Affair (Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in a great love story)

That’s it for now.  I still have a few 1939 films downloaded and will continue to watch them but I’m not going to post a part 4.  Who knows though, I might mention a few more of them in a future blahg.  Keep checking back.

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