Beach Blanket Bijou

The Bijou team is hitting the beach for a much needed break. Actually, we're taking a summer hiatus from producing the weekly blog feature and Bijou Mini-Matinee series in order to focus on a number of sponsorship presentations for the coming month.

As we talked about recently in a Matinee at the Bijou update, public television stations alone do not deliver a sufficient number of "eyeballs" to attract sponsorship. Our challenge therefore is to expand the number of people that would be exposed to Matinee at the Bijou on television by developing a dual broadcast platform with an existing or emerging network.

In addition to pursuing a hatful of promising leads, we are preparing for talks in August with Showtime Networks and Smithsonian Channel Networks about forming a broadcast coalition with PBS affiliate stations. Advertisers would then receive generous sponsorship credit on public television stations and Smithsonian HD Channel broadcasts. Income from sale of HD DVD versions would help support participating PBS affiliates as well as Smithsonian Networks, while contributing to each institution’s core missions.

Over the past 40 weeks our Bijou Blog and weekly mini-matinee series have established the critical Web 2.0 components demanded by today's sponsors. Web 2.0 is a form of social networking that attracts fans to the program while serving as a rallying point for their interaction on the Internet via an active blog or website. It works! In the process of developing the Bijou Blog we have bonded with many dedicated film enthusiasts who, by vocation or avocation, share our passion for preserving and perpetuating our classic film legacy. And through such evolving relationships we continue to uncover pristine HD-ready film prints of rare and rarely-seen cartoons, shorts, serials and feature films ripe for showcasing on Matinee at the Bijou.

Our enthusiasm for the return of Matinee at the Bijou is stronger than ever. On Monday, Debbie Reynolds was Craig Ferguson's guest on CBS's Late Late Show. She was a riot and brought down the house. Our passion is to channel Ms Reynolds' extraordinary wit, charm and energy into introducing modern audiences to America's wonderful cinematic heritage - one episode at a time.

We’ll return in the fall to report on our progress and continue our Friday feature posts and Wednesday Bijou Mini-Matinees. In the meantime, the Bijou Team can be reached by contacting Bijou Executive Producer Ron Hall at fesfilms@aol.com. We hope you have a superb summer!

In our absence, and for your entertainment and edification, we have gathered from our weekly Bijou Mini-Matinee series a dozen of our favorite and most popular cartoons, shorts, serials and trailers. To enter the Bijou Mini-Matinee Theater on YouTube, click the link on the top right under the marquee, or simply click here.

BETTY BOOP’S CRAZY INVENTIONS (1933)
First up, everybody’s favorite vamp, Betty Boop, returns to the Bijou to kick off our summer retrospective. In this lively entry in the classic cartoon series, Betty and her entourage, Bimbo & Ko-ko the Clown, are hosting an invention convention. Mae Questel, the famous voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, sings "Keep A Little Song Handy."

HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE (1932)
If Betty had competition with anyone in the 1930s, it would have been Mae West. In this Hollywood newsreel, Miss West appears at the Graumann’s Chinese Theater premiere of I’m No Angel - and then the big stars of the era turn out for a Hollywood costume party. Stars in attendance include Buster Crabbe, Gary Cooper, Fay Wray, Fredric March, Paulette Goddard, Jackie Cooper, Gloria Swanson, Jack Dempsey, Jack Oakie, Walter Huston, George Raft, Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, and many others too humorous to mention.

GIVE A MAN A JOB (1931)
Next, Jimmy “Shnozzola” Durante jokes and sings “Give a Man a Job” in this short film promoting FDR’s New Deal jobs program on behalf of the National Recovery Administration. Moe Howard (Three Stooges) is featured briefly

RED RYDER & ZORRO TRAILERS
Here are trailers for a pair of action-packed Republic serials; each featuring plots centering on high-level corruption in the building of the nation’s railroads, and each directed by the dynamic team of John English and William Whitney. First, The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940) is based on a famous comic strip and features actor Don “Red” Barry as the weekly hero. Then in Zorro Rides Again (1937), hero Zorro (John Carroll) is the great grandson of the original Zorro and up against enemies with airplanes, trains, bombs and machine guns.

SO YOU WANT TO BE IN PICTURES (1947)
Joe McDoakes steps out from behind the 8-ball to demonstrate a lesson in how NOT to break into the movies. George O’Hanlon (later the voice of George Jetson) appeared in 63 of these Behind the Eight Ball shorts for Warner Bros. from 1942 to 1956. Watch for a famous former president among several celebrity cameos. We’ll have more on this series of comedy shorts in a future post.

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON Ch. 7 Cliffhanger
Commander Cody faces certain demise when a Moon Men Death Ray blows his airplane out of the sky in this thrilling cliffhanger from Chapter 7 of the classic Republic serial. Lone Ranger actor Clayton Moore is one of the bad guys.

THE WABBIT WHO CAME TO SUPPER (1942)
The gags come fast and furious when Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd spoof the classic 1942 Betty Davis/Monty Woolley WB movie The Man Who Came to Dinner. In this Technicolor cartoon romp, Elmer is set to inherit 3 million dollars, but only if he doesn’t harm Bugs - who goes all out to provoke Elmer into hostilities.

UNITED NEWS of 1944 (1945)
This is a newsreel chronicle of the crucial events of 1944, concluding with a message about the world’s prospects and challenges ahead in 1945. Included is the liberation of Paris and Brussels, events at Normandy, D-Day and the bombing of Japan.

THE GIANT CLAW Trailer (1957)
This very campy trailer features many terrific action shots of one of the fakest-looking monsters ever manifested for the silver screen. A giant ugly and laughable prehistoric bird is eating people and planes, threatening New York and even the U.N. – while every weapon the U.S. military attempts has failed to foil the giant puppet.

MUSICAL CHARMERS (1936)
A classy Paramount Headliners short features Phil Spitalny and his “All-Girl Orchestra and Choir” who were popular in movies and on radio during the 1930s and 40s. One of the stars of the orchestra was “Evelyn & Her Magic Violin.” Evelyn is featured with Maxine in "Rendezvous with a Dream." Also included is “I’ll Bet You Tell That to All the Girls,” Rochelle & Lola in a piano specialty “Goody Goody” and a dramatic rendition of “Song of India” as the finale.

ROY ROGERS’ RIDERS CLUB (circa 1948)
Many theater managers around the country actively promoted their weekend matinees to encourage regular attendance. Drawings for prizes and contests were among the attractions, often associated with messages delivered directly from the silver screen. Roy Rogers was a big favorite and many theaters promoted membership in the Roy Rogers’ Riders Club. In this short, Roy addresses his members and delivers his famous Roy Rogers’ Cowboy prayer.

DR. PEPPER SNACK BAR AD
This vintage theater ad was designed to tempt audiences to visit the snack bar and buy Dr. Pepper.

Dead End Kid and Son

The Dead End Kids, (later The Bowery Boys, The East Side Kids and The Little Tough Guys) are great favorites of ours here at the Bijou Blog. The gang got their name from their first movie together, Dead End, in which they reprised their roles from the hit Broadway production. Leo Gorcey Jr. has written a remarkable book about growing up with Slip Mahoney aka Muggs McGinnis aka Leo Gorcey. In this excerpt, which he has generously allowed us to reprint, he recounts their relationship, during the filming of Dead End, with Humphrey Bogart. Fans of Leo Gorcey and the Dead End Kids will find the book fascinating, and quite a wild ride. You can order a copy from Amazon.com. For an autographed copy, write to Leo at leogorcey@leogorcey.com.

Humphrey Bogart was fresh off a hard-earned success as Duke Mantee in Petrified Forest. But a long way from Casablanca.

The suits at Warners didn’t see Bogey as a leading man. "He doesn’t have the face,” they complained. “And he sounds like a fairy with that lisp.”

In Dead End, Bogey’s characterization of Baby Face would be a thumbnail sketch of his yet-to-be-realized Picasso – the classic, hard-nosed gangster in the trademark fedora and Dick Tracy trench coat. The guy who sticks his neck out for no one.

One day, after the kids pants-ed Bogey (held him down and stripped him of his trousers) for ignoring them, the Prince did the unexpected. He invited the Kids to join him for lunch at the commissary. Bogey was taking them on.

Huntz threw out the bait.

“We’re bored, Princey.” Huntz whined to Bogart as he ripped into a mustard covered hot dog.

“Bored?"

“Yeah,” chirped Leo. “We duhn about everting we can tink of tuh dese lugs, an’ we still ain’t been kicked off duh picture! We’re all out uh doity tricks!”

“Doncha’ think yer pushin’ it, boys?” asked Bogey.

“Pushin’ wuht?” asked Huntz with mock innocence. “We ain’t been dat bad! Duh picture’ll be in duh can in a week, an’ we ain’t gonna be nuttin’ but a memory tuh dese kingpins!”

“Oh I doubt that. Let’s see, you boys completely destroyed an entire sound stage….”

“Dat was because de gas pedal on duh truck got stuck! Dat wasn’t our fault!” Huntz protested.

Bogey narrowed his eyes. “Oh? So what about you boys costin’ the studio a pile uh dough when you set off the sprinklers and flooded the whole wardrobe department? I suppose yer gonna claim it was the sprinkler’s fault!”

Leo’s turn. “But Bogey, we was jist testin’ duh new sprinklers system. An’ besides, duh five fire engine drivers thawt it was funny!”

Laughter all around. A chuckle from the Prince.

“So, wadd’ ya boys want from me, the Congressional Medal of Honor?”

Back to Huntz. “We don’ want no medal, Princey, we want ideas! You must have some tricks up yer sleeve! You been in dis racket longuh dan we have!”

“Yeah,” piped up the other Kids. “Show us yer bag uh tricks, Princey!”

The bait was too good.

“OK, boys. I set fire to a guy’s newspaper once…while he was readin’ it!”

The Kids exploded with laughter. Leo took the lead. “We ain’t nevuh done nuttin’ like dat!”

“Oh, that was jist for starters,” Bogey bragged. “When I was workin’ on my first picture, me and this other kid, we slipped into this actor’s trailer and nailed his slippers to the floor. When he tried walkin’ in ‘em, he fell flat on his kisser!”

Over to Huntz. “Oh, Daaat’s a good one, Princey!” “Listen, if you boys are serious about causing a ruckus, sneak up behind Willy Wyler and pour water into the seat of his canvas chair!”

“Now yer talkin’, Princey!” yelled one of the kids.

Confident that he was now in with the kids, Bogey got up from the table. “Well, boys, I’m goin’ to saw some logs before we go back to work.”

“Hey, Princey,” Huntz slapped Bogey’s shoulder. “Tanks fer duh hot tips!”

“There’s more where those came from. Now, stay outta trouble, yuh hear? I’d like to get off this picture in one piece. And if anybody asks, we never had this conversation. Is that clear?”

Huntz smiled. “Clear as a bell, Princey!”

The Kids chimed in. “Yeah, clear as a bell, Princey!”

Ten minutes later, the Kids heard snoring outside Bogey’s trailer window that was loud enough to wake the dead.

“Well, light ‘em up Leo!”

“I’ll light ‘em aright, Gabe, but I ain’t trowin’ ‘em in.”

“I’ll trow ‘em in,” offered Huntz.

“Arright, who’s got duh torch?” squealed Leo.

Gabe pulled a pack of matches out of his trouser pocket. Leo lit the bundle of firecrackers and handed it to Huntz. Huntz pitched it through Bogart’s partially opened trailer window. An ear-splitting crackling, machine gun sound filled the air. A cloud of gray, puffyy smoke wafted out of Bogey’s trailer window.

Then Bogart’s angry howl. “You kids’ll pay fer this! You’re all gonna pay fer this!”

Bogey’s threat from behind his trailer door caused the Kids to scatter for cover. When they were out of sight of the trailer, they stopped to catch their breath.

“I tink we jist lost anuddah friend.” Leo muttered with regret.

“We shouldda thawt uh dat ten minutes ago.” Huntz sounded a bit remorseful himself.

“Ahhhh, shuddup, Cyrano. I didn’t hear you firin’ no warnin’ shots. You trew duh sticks innnair yuh moron!

“Losin’ friends is gettin’ to be a bad habit wit us.” Leo lamented.

But it was too late for apologies.

A thoughtless gag cost the Kids their friendship with Bogey. Bogey wasn’t the only one. Sam’s (Sam Katzman) patience with the Dead End Kids was wearing paper-thin.


Here is the trailer from Angels with Dirty Faces, featuring The Dead End Kids. James Cagney and director Michael Curtiz were each nominated for an Oscar.

Mini-Matinee #39 - The Great Escape

The 1930s was a decade characterized by struggle and uncertainty in America. Just when it seemed we were coming out of the Great Depression, Germany, Italy and Japan were greedily carving up the map of the world. Our entry into a new global conflict looked more inevitable every day.

For many millions of Americans during this era, a day spent at the local movie matinee was an escape from problems as immediate as the rent and as ominous as the headlines. As we say in At the Bijou, our theme song for the original Matinee at the Bijou series on PBS: “Il Duce and The Fuhrer couldn’t have been obscurer on The Planet Mongo or The Melody Ranch.”

Today’s Bijou Mini-Matinee consists of some of our favorite escapes compiled from prior mini-matinees. Of course, in our 21st century world, governments are honest and exist to serve their citizens; modern inventions and labor saving devices make our lives as close to worry-free as they can be. Still, pretend along with us that FDR is in White House and life has not yet become Utopia in these United States. Escape along with us to The Bijou. Come on, the house lights are going down...

DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR (1939)
First up, Casper Caveman (a caricature of Jack Benny) fancies Daffy Duck as dinner in Chuck Jones' prehysterical Technicolor masterpiece. Several great WB cartoon directors worked with the sometimes difficult but always talented Mr. Duck. This was Chuck Jones' first romp with the daffy star.

A TRIO OF TARZAN TRAILERS (1939-42)
Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in a dozen movies. Six for MGM from 1932-42, six for RKO from 1943-48, and then he went on to play a different jungle character, this time with clothes on, in the Jungle Jim movie series which continued until 1955. Twenty three years in the jungle is a long time for anyone, athlete or not.

Here are trailers for the last three films in the Weissmuller MGM Tarzan series, each featuring Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane and Johnny Sheffield as boy. The trailers are: Tarzan Finds a Son (1939), Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941) and Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942).

STAR REPORTER (1936)
Ted Husing hosts this Hollywood newsreel featuring Dorothy Lamour's original paramount screen test. Listen to the now politically incorrect lyrics as the lovely Dorothy sings Love is Like a Cigarette. The Star Reporter series was one of several celebrity newsreels produced by the Hollywood studios during the 1930s and 40s. Others included The Voice of Hollywood, Hollywood on Parade, Screen Snapshots and Broadway Highlights.

MENDELSSOHN’S SPRING SONG (1931)
This is a colorful and surreal animated treasure. Director Cy Young orchestrates birds, butterflies, caterpillars and a frog to Mendelssohn’s "Spring Song" and to splendid effect. It was originally created as an experimental film to test a new two-strip color process called Brewster Color. This was to be the first in a new series, but the series did not continue. The classic film world is indebted to animator Steve Stanchfield for beautifully restoring and preserving this enchanting work of art on behalf of Thunderbean Animation.

DEVILED HAMS (1936)
A sizzling musical short set in Hades, with vaudeville crooner Gus Van holding court as ruler of the nether world. Those on trial must prove themselves thru their music. Dancers Toy and Wing do some otherworldly “toe” dancing to big band jazz. Erskine Hawkins and his band blend with Gus Van’s warbling to heat up the satirically sinful shenanigans.

DICK TRACY RETURNS (1938)
Now, with thanks to our friends at VCI Entertainment - here is the thrilling cliffhanger from Chapter 3 of Dick Tracy Returns (1938). The chapter is aptly titled “Handcuffed to Doom.” How is it possible that Dick Tracy and Steve get out of this impossible predicament? Here’s a hint - think “law enforcement standard issue.”

DICK TRACY RETURNS (1938)
Here is the exciting resolution to Chapter 4 “Four Seconds to Live.”

To enter the Bijou Mini-Matinee Theater on YouTube, click here.

And remember, the Bijou Mini-Matinee changes every Wednesday. You can enjoy any of the prior shows via the link at the right under the marquee.

Dick Tracy's Celluloid Adventures

When we set out last Week to research an introduction to Dick Tracy’s film heritage for today’s post, we didn’t expect to be showered with serendipity. First there was the Google Alert heralding a just-published Fort Worth Business Press column by author and film historian Michael H. Price (reprinted here). Michael discusses Dick Tracy and particularly Tracy’s celluloid incarnations. This was on the same day that VCI Entertainment released an exquisite new DVD version of the 15 chapter Dick Tracy Returns (1938) serial. We further learned that Orson Welles once made reference to Citizen Kane, Dick Tracy and “matinee at the Bijou” all in the same sentence, in a 1971 interview with Michael. And that the expression “matinee at the Bijou” was often used in the past when talking about the experience of going to the movie matinee.

Great thanks to the Fort Worth Business Press and the author for permission to reprint MHP’s 06-24-08 column “Dick Tracy Returns marks DVD début.”

From the 1930s into the 1970s, Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy was the standard to beat as a competitive force within the newspaper industry. Writer-artist Gould considered his cops-vs.-crooks cartoon to be in competition not only with other comic-strip attractions — but also with the front page. Gould’s selling strategy was to tempt readers by the millions to turn first to Tracy, to see what desperate situation might lie in store, before checking out the news of the day.

The comics pages are hardly like that any longer, even though Dick Tracy has continued long past the day of Chet Gould. Nothing so ferocious or suspenseful as the Gould Tracy graces the present-day scene — although the title character, a tough-as-nails police detective, remains a cultural icon, ready and able to remind anyone of the imaginative thrall of effective storytelling.

I have spent the past year working with San Diego-based IDW Publishing on an ambitious resurrection of the seminal Tracy yarns. The Complete Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, a series of hardcover books, is up to Vol. No. 4, now, with a long way to go toward completion. That fourth book brings Gould’s feature into 1937, coinciding with the opening of the first Dick Tracy movie.

I had written, in a Foreword to Tracy Vol. 4, about the hit-and-miss availability of these Dick Tracy movies and television spinoffs. Republic Pictures’ 1937 Dick Tracy, a cliffhanger serial starring Ralph Byrd as the lawman, has seen several video editions since the 1980s. A 1940s run of Tracy features can be found readily enough on DVD, as can episodes of an early-’50s TV series. And of course Warren Beatty’s 1990 production of Dick Tracy has remained steadily in print.

In a cause-and-effect response to the new books, a significant gap is filled by a new DVD edition of Republic’s Dick Tracy Returns (1938), from VCI Entertainment. Where the 1937 serial had pitted Byrd-as-Tracy against a master criminal known as the Spider, the immediate sequel multiplies the menace with a crooked family (headed by gaunt Charles Middleton, of the Flash Gordon serials) whose rampages reflect well Chet Gould’s contempt toward the criminal element.

Where the 1937 Tracy holds pride-of-place as a classic serial, Dick Tracy Returns may anchor a more influential position in the culture of sophisticated filmmaking. One innovative touch of Tracy Returns is a mock-newsreel account of a crime spree. This element proved influential, in turn, upon the establishing moments of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941).

Welles, a lifelong comics-and-serials enthusiast, told me during an interview in 1971: “I loved the Tracy chapter-plays, and the ‘true-crime’ newsreel sequence in that one serial was enough to make me feel as though the story was unfolding in life. The actual Hollywood-studio newsreels, after all, were what kept a matinée at the Bijou anchored in a real-world sensibility. And how better to acquaint the audience with ol’ Charlie Kane, than with a convincing newsreel segment.

Two other Tracy serials remain generally unavailable: Dick Tracy’s G-Men dates from 1939, and Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. from 1941. VHS-cassette editions are scarce. But VCI’s DVD release of Dick Tracy Returns suggests some promising follow-throughs.

Devoted Tracy buffs can find the 1940s feature-films via the Alpha Video label (www.oldies.com) and in rotation on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel. The titles are Dick Tracy and Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1945–1946; with Morgan Conway) and Dick Tracy’s Dilemma and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947; with Ralph Byrd). The Byrd-starring teleseries of 1950–1951 graces an Alpha Video sampler. There have been more high-profile DVD releases for a Tracy series of kid-stuff television cartoons from 1961 and, of course, for Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy.

Beyond his work on Dick Tracy, Michael Price is a contemporary superhero in the realm of forgotten films. Thanks to Michael's prolific writings and dogged determination, many otherwise forgotten films continue to resurface. He writes more about Dick Tracy, from Strip to Screen in an installment of his weekly Web column at www.comicmix.com, and in his Forgotten Horrors book series available at Midnight Marquee Press.

Now, with thanks to our friends at VCI Entertainment - here is the thrilling cliffhanger from Chapter 3 of Dick Tracy Returns (1938). Be sure to return Wednesday yourself to see how Dick Tracy and Steve get out of this impossible predicament. Here’s a hint - think “law enforcement standard issue.”

Mini-Matinee #38 - Superheroes on Celluloid

“Not All Superheroes Wear Tights” is VCI Entertainment’s tagline promoting their new super-DVD release of the Dick Tracy Returns serial. Currently there continues a wave of new theatrical releases featuring the noblest of heroes and the darkest of villains - with the newest Batman saga waiting in the wings.

Friday’s post will feature one of the most creative and exciting cliffhangers ever made. Meanwhile, today’s Bijou Mini-Matinee includes a rich array of matinee superheroes. Whether or not they wear tights is beside the point, as long as they get the job done. We also salute VCI Entertainment this week for continuing to produce and distribute top quality home video versions of these classic and timeless serial treasures.

DICK TRACY (1937) Chapter 7
First up is the exciting cliffhanger from Chapter 7 of the original 15 chapter Dick Tracy serial. As we pick up the action, the Spider’s gang has captured Dick Tracy and The Spider is about to arrive in person in his “Flying Wing.” The obligatory fight ensues leading to Tracy’s escape into the mystery mine and a certain deadly demise. This is followed by the opening credits to Chapter 8 - Battle in the Clouds, where we enjoy the cliffhanger resolution and learn if Dick Tracy survives.

VOLCANO (1942)
Superman tackles both fire and ice today in a double dose of super heroics. First up is Volcano, one of the most colorful episodes in the Fleischer/Paramount series. Naive Lois wants a close-up look at the awakening Mt. Monokoa volcano, and doesn’t want her reporter instincts restrained by the protective Clark Kent. So she hides Clark’s press pass, keeping him away from the action until the danger reaches the boiling point. This indeed looks like a job for Superman.


THE PHANTOM EMPIRE (1933)
Back in the 1980s, when The Phantom Empire first premiered on the original Matinee at the Bijou series on PBS, a good film print of the serial was not known to exist. At long last, VCI Entertainment has produced and is distributing a beautiful copy of this campy sci-fi western adventure. Here is the cliffhanger from Chapter 10 – The Rebellion, where Gene Autry must ally with Queen Tika if he and his entourage are to escape destruction of the underground city of Murania. When the queen demands Gene agree, he asks: “But how do I know I can trust you?” Queen Tika responds: “I am of royal blood; my ancestors have been Kings in Murania for 100,000 years. My word is good.” Yes, but what good is Queen Tika’s word when Gene is about to be torched by a robot in the exciting cliffhanger?

THE ARCTIC GIANT (1942)
Superman, having tamed the fire in Volcano, now faces the mammoth challenge of thwarting a gigantic prehistoric monster, quickly thawing from the frigid arctic ice. This and 16 other classic Superman cartoons are available in a lavish DVD release with loads of extras from VCI Entertainment.

THE GREEN ARCHER (1940)
Here is an exciting cliffhanger from chapter 5 - The Fatal Spark, of The Green Archer serial. Veteran actor Victor Jory got to play the hero in this serial set in a castle with hidden passageways and trap doors. There are actually two Green Archers at work here, one on the side of lawlessness and the other on the side of justice and happy endings. This is available from Restored Serials.

To enter the Bijou Mini-Matinee Theater on YouTube, click here.

And remember, the Bijou Mini-Matinee changes every Wednesday. You can enjoy any of the prior shows via the link at the right under the marquee.