Stolen Moments

I love Mary Pickford and it is my pleasure and honor to have a chance to speak with documentary filmmaker Hugh Munro Neely about Mary Pickford.  In addition to being a filmmaker, Hugh Neely is also the curator of the Mary Pickford Institute Library in Los Angeles.  You can visit the Mary Pickford Institute’s website to learn more about Mary Pickford and the MPI outreach program at www.marypickford.com.   

Recommended books on Mary Pickford:
Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood by Eileen Whitefield
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks: The Most Popular Couple the World Has Known By Booton Herndon
Mary Pickford Rediscovered by Kevin Brownlow and Robert Cushman (a gorgeous photo book)

To listen to the complete 1959 CBC interview with Mary Pickford:
http://archives.cbc.ca/programs/129-3653/page/4/    

Rob Brooks' beautiful collection on Mary Pickford can be found here: http://www.211university.ca/home.php 

Hugh and I discussed, briefly, The New York Hat, a 1912 Biograph film starring Mary Pickford and a much younger Lionel Barrymore than you normally see.    Do give it a look, Mary's performance is remarkably mature and touching for a 1912 film.

 

Stolen Moments is back! 

To celebrate, we've got a new avenue of discussion, a dip of the toes in the water of talkies.  Who better to do this with a wonderful interview with author Matthew Kennedy to discuss his book Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes. 

I reveal no secret when I say Warner Brothers was my favorite studio in the 1930's and 1940's, grittier than MGM and glossier than 20th Century Fox with the musicals.  A capable cast of Warner stock players, Joan Blondell was not only reliable, she was gorgeous and was one of the few who could, and did, match James Cagney, shot for shot and snappy quip.

While this interview is nearly two years old, it is neither too little nor to late to put in a plug for Matthew's excellent and readable bio of one of my favorite stars.

Stolen Moments has reawakened, like Rip Van Winkle from a long and restfull sleep.  Yes, starting very small and slow here, still a little bit stiff and creaky from lack of movement.  So I've started with a new little tribute slideshow that doubles as a sneak peek to my forthcoming photobook on Valentino, Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol.  For the record the book will be finished and publishing sometime in the fall of 2009 (shooting for October).

In the meantime, a little eye candy to enjoy.

Come back in September for an honest to goodness real podcast interview!

One of the oldest gathering of film fans in the U.S., the annual Labor Day party known as Cinecon is soon to take place.  I'm finally paying Cinecon their due and have a really fun interview with Stan Taffel and Bob Birchard to talk all about it.  To learn more on how to become a Cinephile, please visit their website, www.cinecon.org.

Every season I look forward to speaking with Stephen Salmons about the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival.  Needless to say, I also enjoy attending the festival, it's like going to the movies with 1200 of my closest friends.  Held at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, this year's festival is a terrific line up and I encourage anyone who is local to the Bay Area, or not, to try and make it. 

I always have terrific fun speaking with Stephen and appreciate the time he has given for the last 3 years of interviews.  It's a tradition I hope we can continue.  True art does transcend time!

See you at the Castro in July!

If you love to laugh, then Slapsticon is the festival for you.  They will provide you with chuckles, guffaws, chortles, wheezes and some polite snickering, to boot.  The 6th annual festival in Alexandria, Virginia will be held July 17th through 20th at the Spectrum. 

In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with two of the founders (shakers and movers) Rob Farr and Richard Roberts.  They're a barrel of laughs, too!

Please note, at the end of the show, I made an error of remembrance (no surprise there) - Richard's forthcoming book is on Hal Roach (Langdon comes along later, or so we're told) - sorry bout that!

Forever Lulu can only mean one thing, and that would be a discussion about Louise Brooks the iconic Lulu of Pandora's Box.  To talk about Louise with me, it's my pleasure to call upon Louise Brooks authority Thomas Gladysz, webmaster of The Louise Brooks Society.  He is also host of Radio Lulu an online radio show of 1920's era music related to Louise Brooks and jazz from the 1920s and dance band music.

Louise Brooks is probably one of the most popular and iconic stars of the silent era, in fact, she's transitioned so well as she is still so very modern.  Originally this interview was to be part of a trilogy of interviews about Brooks, the other two parts will, I hope, be forthcoming in 2008.

Secondly, I must tip my hat to and encourage those local to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's Winter Program.  They're be showing treasures from UCLA, Photoplay Productions and The Library of Congress.  There will also be author book signings by Anthony Slide, author of Now Playing and Matthew Kennedy, author of a new and long overdue biography of Joan Blondell.  This is a one-day program not to be missed!

Stolen Moments, remember that podcast?  I do!  Unfortunately, I was merrily recording interviews unaware that my software had gone buggy and ruined all the recordings before I strated editing them.  What's a poor podcaster to do?  Well, for one thing, get new software!

Thanks to everyone for bearing with me and my trials and tribulations.  Today's podcast is an apology and an update!

August is the month of the year when Valentino is remembered and memorialized officially at Hollywood Forever, August 23 2007 is the 81st anniversary of Valentino's passing.  This event is once a year, but it is true, Valentino is really the unforgotten star as people are drawn to his gravesite every day, not merely on August 23rd.  

This August and this podcast is all about the memorials to Valentino, first up, you will hear the 2002 Memorial Service as an example of what exactly happens at the event, secondly, I'm speaking with my return guest Tracy Terhune about his new book Valentino the Unforgotten and about the recent installation of a permanent display dedicated to Valentino at the Hollywood Heritage Barn.  Finally, we're talking about the newly released DVD from Flicker Alley, The Valentino Collection.

August of 2007 is a month that will be long remembered by Valentino fans, an embarrassment if riches, indeed.

Technical hiccups, that is.  Right at the time I was conducting interviews for the follow up Film Festival podcasts, Skype had an upgrade and it rendered my software to record phone calls useless.

The good news is, I've found a possible alternative recorder which I will be testing out this weekend, once Skype resolves their current issues.

It's been a frustrating couple of months for me and I hope that I've not lost my listeners.

Next up will be Stolen Moments #18 - Valentino the Unforgotten.  In this show you will hear a virtual memorial service for Valentino, in fact, it is the audio portions of the 2002 Memorial services t Hollywood Forever.  In addition, I will be speaking with Tracy Terhune about his new book, Roger Peterson's 1937 volume, Valentino the Unforgotten as well as the just about to be released 2 DVD set The Valentino Collection.

It's summer and it's the silent film festival season.  The month of June 2007 will have not one, not two, but three separate podcasts highlighting some of the festivals during the summer season.

This episode is all about the 12th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival held at the Castro Theater (in San Francisco, California, naturally).  Returning to discuss the terrific lineup is Stephen Salmons, founder and president of the festival.  He's an absolute delight to speak with.

In two weeks will be an interview with Rob Farr and Richard Roberts all about Slapsticon in Alexandria, Virginia. and right after that will be a talk with Dorothy Bradley of the Niles Essanay Film Museum which in 2007 is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Essanay Film Company in Niles, California.

June is a busy month for me, and over the summer months, so much more to come!

In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking jointly with Allan Ellenberger and Andre Soares, esteemed authors of a pair of biographies of Ramon Novarro.  Novarro was thought by some to be a film rival of Rudolph Valentino and is better remembered for his grisly death rather than his charming persona.  We've also got a DVD review and a plug for a terrific website and blog devoted to Edna Purviance, the most charming of Chaplin's leading ladies.

May 6, 2007, what better way to celebrate Rudolph Valentino's than a little video tribute?  I'd like to thank Kristen Adame for permission to post her lovely video as a special vidcast.

Raise a toast, have a bit of pasta with olive oil and hot peppers and enjoy the day!

Our regularly scheduled podcast has been preempted and postponed.  This episode of Stolen Moments deals with, in brief, Valentino in The Sheik.  This was his second landmark role, and it was for him a blessing and a curse.

Like Walt Disney, this podcast, Stolen Moments, also started with a mouse.  The Mousepod, that is.  I was flattered to be invited to participate in a recent episode on Jesse Obstbaum's terrific Mousepod in the episode entitled "...and the Oscar Goes to Disney."   While I feel my contribution was minimal, it's hearing everyone else that made this show so informative and special.  I'm a total fan of Jesse's podcast and if you have not heard the mousepod yet, do give it a listen, it's well worth your time.

Luther H. Mahoney met Rudolph Valentino by chance, by chance again, he came to be an employee of Valentino during the last two years of Valentino's short life.  Luther Mahoney was one of the few people to leave an audio record of his memories of Valentino.  This podcast will broadcast, for the first time, excerpts of the 1968 recordings of Luther Mahoney.

We're also speaking with Denise Morrison of the Kansas Silent Film Festival.  They've been around now for 11 years and this year's line up is a program not to be missed.

It's 2007 and time for a preview of some of the shows planned throughout the year.  2007 is going to be a little more of the "everything movies" part of the podcast.  Valentino fans need never fear, there will be plenty of Valentino to go around!

In this episode it's my great pleasure to interview Rudolph Valentino biographer Emily Leider, author of Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino.

Since this is the final podcast for 2006 and we're going in to the holiday season, we've got a little Christmas story and a look forward to Stolen Moments in 2007.

In this episode we'll be talking about Valentino's brief marriage to Jean Acker.  Featured is going to be some very special audio, one tidbit is a radio piece with Jean Acker from 1938, the other piece, well, we'll save that for the podcast.  All I can say is that it will shed some very interesting light on their marriage.

In this episode we'll be speaking with Philip York, the Grammy Award winning producer of a Valentino compact disc.  It is one of the most fascinating and fun CDs available Rudolph Valentino Sings and Others Sing About Him.  Produced in 2005, this CD allows you to hear many vintage songs from the 1920's either theme music from one of Valentino's films or songs dedicated to Valentino, himself.
We'll also be talking about the 1921 film, The Sheik on a sparkling DVD release.

Not only do I admire Rudolph Valentino (obviously) but I'm a big fan of Buster Keaton, too.  I'm a card carrying member of the International Buster Keaton Society (aka Damfinos). Why isn't there a card for Valentino? Hmmm...

On October 6-7, 2006 the 12th Annual Buster Keaton Convention will be held in Muskegon, Michigan.  To tell us all about it I'll be speaking with the President and founder Patricia Tobias and the Vice President of the Damfino's, Tracey Doyle.  The Damfinos is a great group and if you love Buster, you should head to Muskegon for a most enjoyable weekend filled with activities. Go to the Damfinos website for more information.

2006 is the 80th anniversary of Valentino's passing.  Over the years many many people have come to pay tribute to Rudolph Valentino at the annual pilgrimage to his crypt.  This little video is in tribute to those who have come before.

In this episode we'll be speaking with Patrick Stanbury and Kevin Brownlow of Photoplay Productions about some of their projects, present, past and future. 
If you ask anyone interested in silent film, chances are at some point in the conversation Kevin Brownlow's name will come up.  Widely respected and truly, as someone said to me, he is the Godfather of film preservation and restoration. To say that I am thrilled to have this opportunity to speak to someone I've idolized for years, well, it's quite the understatement.

Stolen Moments has proven, after only a few episodes, to be a success far beyond my imagining. To celebrate the milestone of 200 subscribers to this podcast, offered for your enjoyment is our very first vidcast.

This debut vidcast is a short photo tribute to Valentino that I prepared for the 2005 Valentino Memorial service at Hollywood Forever.

In this episode, we talk to Edoardo Ballerini about Rudolph Valentino and Edoardo's 2003 film Good Night Valentino.  In addition we'll be speaking with Cari Beauchamp about her latest book "Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary" based on the letters of Samuel Goldwyn's secretary Valeria Belletti.  A real bird's eye view of Hollywood in the 1920's.We will also be reviewing Delta Entertainment's newest DVD encompassing a new documentary on Rudolph Valentino paired with Valentino's 1921 film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

In this episode, it's not Rudolph Valentino who gets a present, it's us. On May 21, 2006 Turner Classic Movies will present, in television premieres: Beyond the Rocks, A Delicious Little Devil, Moran of the Lady Letty, Stolen Moments and The Young Rajah. In this regard, we're speaking with Jeff Masino of Flicker Alley and Dennis Doros of Milestone Film and Video about the restorations of these films and their upcoming DVD releases.

We also review Unknown Video's newest silent film DVD release of two films starring Wallace Reid.

Other links mentioned in this podcast:
www.turtleservices.com who kindly provided the 78 of the song The Young Rajah

Lyrics to The Young Rajah:

Beside a crystal pool that mirrors the sky above,
a sad Young Rajah stands, dreaming of his love.
And then as though by magic she comes before him there so wonderous sweet and fair.
It seems her love song fills the air;
"There's a lonely heart a calling far across the purple sea;
Oh my fascinating Rajah, come back to me. 
There is someone who is dreaming of your dark romantic eyes.
Someone has found in them her paradise. 
Oh how she yearns to hear your voice,
yearns to see your smile
yearns to rest within your arms a while,
for someone loves you, someone far across the sea.
Oh my fascinating Rajah, come back to me"