AL HIRSCHFELD

One of my most admired cartoonists has always been Al Hirschfeld.

His way of capturing likenesses and translating them into simple, flowing and dynamic lines is absolutely amazing and even poetic.

His caricatures are widely known and renowned, and almost every self-respecting cartoonist has learned part of his craft by studying Hirschfeld's renderings.

                                       

Yesterday, I paid a visit to the famed Algonquin Hotel located at 59, West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan and was greeted by some framed examples of Al Hirschfeld's artwork.

  

The story of the Algonquin Hotel is part of New York City's folklore and so is Mr. Hirschfeld.
Al Hirschfeld was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 21, 1903 and died January 20, 2003 at the age of 99.           

In 1943, Hirschfeld married famous European actress Dolly Haas and they had one daughter, Nina, born in 1945. After her birth, Hirschfeld developed the habit of hiding her name, spelled in capital letters, on most every drawing he did thereafter. The number of NINAs concealed in every drawing was shown next to the artist's signature.  It quickly became a favorite pastime to try and find out the hidden NINAs in the cartoons.

The Genius of Peter Sellers!

Admittedly a very controversial and enigmatic person in private, Peter Sellers was nevertheless, a master of comedy and a fine, versatile actor. His multiple roles in a wide variety of films reveal him to be a prolific and highly talented performer.

THE PINK PANTHER (1964) and its sequels, type-cast Sellers as the bumbling inspector Clouseau; however, his skills reached even further as witnessed by his next to last performance in 1980's BEING THERE.

Gone much too soon and missed by legions of adoring fans, Sellers rightfully earned his place among the pantheon of great film comedians.

Among his many film credits, are THE MOUSE THAT ROARED, THE LADYKILLERS, LOLITA, DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB,

THE PARTY, AFTER THE FOX, THERE'S A GIRL IN MY SOUP, WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT?, CASINO ROYALE, MURDER BY DEATH and of course, the five PINK PANTHER movies.                                                                     
             
                                    

MAD MAGAZINE ceases publishing.

                          MAD Magazine #95, from June 1965, the first Mad Magazine I ever read!

I was 14 years old when I read my first MAD Magazine. I became hooked instantly to its insane parodies and sarcastic brand of humor. My biggest idol was Mort Drucker and his spot-on caricatures. I also became a fan of Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Jack Davis, Dick DeBartolo, Dave Berg, Joe Orlando, Wallace Wood, George Woodbridge, Paul Coker Jr., Jack Rickard, Angelo Torres, Al Jaffee and the rest of the Usual Gang of Idiots who contributed for the magazine up until the late nineties. My sense of humor was greatly influenced by all of them and I Iearned the craft of cartooning by studying their artwork.
It's sad to see the magazine disappear from the newsstands but I am not sorry to see it go as I had actually stopped reading it by 2005. The magazine ceased to be as sharp and funny as it originally was and none of the newer artists appealed to me as much as the older ones had.
For me, MAD Magazine had pretty much died as soon as the 21st century began.
Long Live MAD!

Thank You All!

The Mighty 68!

                                          Another great moment in my birthday history!

IN LIKE FLYNN!

 ERROL FLYNN, born June 20, 1909 in Tasmania, Australia, was one of my first heroes from the silver screen. He is mostly remembered for being the best Robin Hood in films but his career spanned many other worthwhile performances.

 CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, DAWN PATROL, THE SEA HAWK, THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, GENTLEMAN JIM, VIRGINIA CITY, OBJECTIVE, BURMA!, DESPERATE JOURNEY, THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN and THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE  are just a few of his better and most fondly remembered films.

Because most of his performances were portraying heroic figures, he was admired by moviegoers as the ultimate swashbuckler. His career began to wane in the late forties and, except from a few memorable  appearances during the fifties, Flynn could never regain the top star status he had achieved during the thirties and early forties.
But still, his reputation as a movie icon has not tarnished. He still remains the template for all screen swashbucklers.

Long Live Errol Flynn!

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck paid homage to Flynn in two cartoons directed by Chuck Jones:
RABBIT HOOD (1949) and ROBIN HOOD DAFFY (1958)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20z63h

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3be23d

FATHER'S DAY 2019

BENNY GOODMAN remembered!

                    We lost Benny Goodman on June 13, 1986! However, his music is still very much around us!

Benny Goodman and his Orchestra playing BUGLE CALL RAG:

                                            

DIRTY HARRY'S BIRTHDAY!

Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930.

I must confess I never saw the celebrated TV show RAWHIDE, where Clint Eastwood became well-known; however,  I did read the Dell and Gold Key comics published around 1963, and had heard the fantastic theme song, expertly rendered by Frankie Laine.  But I missed the show's first run and I never could find it in syndication.

But my first encounter with the immortal Clint came with his first spaghetti western: A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS and its subsequent sequels, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY. The latter's main theme has been imbedded in my brain forever.

And since then, I jumped on the CLINT bandwagon never to get off!
The list of classic Clint Eatwood films is quite long. It's not necessary to repeat them here.
Suffice it to say, Mr. Eastwood has a very special place in movie history and no actor has yet come to replace him.

Long Live Dirty Harry!

Mort Drucker captured him beautifully in his MAD magazine parody of Dirty Harry:

His last film to date was 2018's THE MULE which earned $171.3 million at the box office, proving that no matter how old and ancient Clint may be, he still has a strong hold over his audience!

Today, my plan is to sit down and watch some of my favorite Clint Eastwood films, in honor of this great and everlasting movie icon!

Clint Eastwood: "Make my day!"

DEAD CELEBRITIES SOCIETY

It never fails: every time some celebrity dies, people begin to post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other social network, photos of themselves with the deceased.
Okay, I can play that game too! 
Here's my all-purpose, generic photo with the deceased!
 Enjoy!

I can now fill in whatever the recently deceased celebrity's name was and let the world know I once met him/her!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

GAME OF THRONES, Season Eight's Slight Mistake!

SOUND ADVICE:

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

THE REVERSE DORIAN GRAY EFFECT

Everyone knows all about Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and the principle involved therein.  To wit, Basil Hallward paints his portrait and Dorian declares that he would give his soul if he could always remain young and the painting instead would grow old.
The wish is granted and Dorian pursues a life of wild abandon full of amoral experiences while staying young; meanwhile, his portrait ages and captures every sin.
Well, I've discovered it is more terrifying the other way around!

Yes! It's even worse to see your picture staying young and fresh while you slowly deteriorate and fall apart piece by piece!

STAN & OLLIE Blu-Ray is here!

I finally got my copy of Jon S. Baird's film STAN & OLLIE starring John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy and Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel.
The film has its faults, no doubt and relatives of Hal Roach may have some issues with it but all in all, it's a wonderful film, very entertaining and lovingly assembled by everyone associated with the production. Highly recommended, I will surely enjoy it repeatedly for years to come.

I posted my review a few months ago.
You can take a look here:
https://ferllera.blogspot.com/2019/02/stan-ollie-movie_16.html

And if you like this film, you'll love even more this other DVD set:
                                     
                                             Laurel-Hardy-Essential-Collection