Old Hollywood & More
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, ran Shadowed (1946), a so-so crime drama with which I was completely unfamiliar. It’s the story of a businessman who discovers a dead body while playing golf. The production’s personnel is more interesting than film. It was John Sturges second directorial effort. He would go on to helm Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), for which he recived his only Oscar nomination; The Magnificent Seven (1961) and The Great Escape (1963), as well as several other notable works among the 44 credits under his name at IMDb. The star of Shadowed is Lloyd Corrigan, who has 174 titles under his name in the category of Actor, 28 of Writer and 13 of Director, all in the latter two categories from the 1930’s. He passed away at 69 in ’69. His co-star, playing his older daughter, is Anita Louise. Although there are only 92 titles under her name, her career spanned 1922-’70. She played Marie Antoinette in Madame Du Barry (1934), Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), the daughter in The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), and the mom in 39 episodes of My Friend Flicka. Tragically, she succumbed to a stroke at 55 in 1970. She had two children with writer/producer Buddy Adler, who preceded her in death by ten years. Terry Moore plays the younger sister. I’ve written about her before, so charming opposite the ape in Mighty Joe Young (1949). The cast member I was most interested in is Doris Houck, who plays a conscience stricken moll. I had no recollection of her, although I should have. In Brideless Groom, a Three Stooges short, she’s the one who puts Shemp’s head in a vise, turning until he agrees to marry her. Oddly, her 26 credits, apparently all B movies, were amassed 1945-’47. Married three times, she died “suddenly” at 44 in ’65. I was unable to find any info on her passing.
Here’s Louise:
And Corrigan:
Business as usual headline from nypost.com: “Holiday bonus: NY politicians gift themselves epic pay raise — but shrug off crime and migrants.” 29%. They have legalized theft. They should have gotten a 50% decrease.
Sad snippets from an NYP article by Paul Best: “…grim record of 106,699 drug overdose deaths in 2021, a 16% increase over 2020… helped drive US life expectancy to a 25-year low of 76.4 years last year.” Covid also contributed to that decline.
Headline from foxnews.com: “NYC Walgreens store keeping ice cream in chained freezer, locking up candy amid ongoing shoplifting frenzy.” Lex & E. 61st.
The weather put the kibosh on the floating book shop today. Fortunately, it wasn’t snow. To my delight, the proof copy of Coincidence arrived last night, so I had something constructive with which to fill time. Each of my self-published books has necessitated at least three proof copies. I already know there will be a second regarding this one, as I’ve found some minor errors and a glaring omission, and I will be making several additions.
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