December 18 - December 31:
I'm pleased to say we got a lot of our holiday viewing done, including White Christmas, It Happened on Fifth Avenue, The Thin Man, After the Thin Man and a number of classic TV specials. We're not done, but we're in good shape!
December 11 - December 17:
Viewed in the Velveteen Lounge Christmas Theater: A Christmas Story, Christmas in Connecticut and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
December 4 - December 10:
Viewed in the Velveteen Lounge Christmas Theater: 1947's Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas episodes of That Girl and the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
November 27 - December 3:
We were so busy leading up to our party that very little happened, viewing-wise, other than our Thursday night ritual, World's Dumbest, and the season premiere of Hot in Cleveland. However, my TCM-challenged mom stayed with us and she was up late a couple of nights watching movies, so she carried the torch.
November 20 - November 26:
We actually managed to watch Christmas Vacation and begin compiling our Christmas TV collection for our party next week. Not bad, considering we were so busy!
November 13 - November 19:
We got a slow-but-steady start on our Christmas TV viewing this week, in preparation for our classic TV-themed Christmas party, with a Christmas episode of one of our favorites, Our Miss Brooks.
November 6 - November 12:
Who am I kidding? We barely had time to watch Penn & Teller's show on the Discovery channel (which I love, by the way) and World's Dumbest.
October 30 - November 5:
Viewed this week (in addition to lots of classic TV), 1948's Sitting Pretty, the perennial Lounge favorite featuring Clifton Webb in his first appearance as Mr. Belvedere, pretentious (and hilarious) nanny to three little boys and their incorrigible dog. Not only is it a scathing indictment of gossiping busybodies and uptight suburbanites, it features some of the most quotable lines around.
October 23 - October 29:
A couple of unplanned, extended absences from home dashed my hopes for extended TV viewing. However, we were thrilled to attend a special screening of the 1922 silent film Nosferatu at the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie on Friday night! Our fab friend Donna, who works there, got us the tickets, and they had an organist accompanying the film on the Wurlitzer organ, which was incredible. If we could only see one film before Halloween, this was definitely to one to see!
October 16 - October 22:
Precious little time at home, but we did catch Masterpiece Theater at my mother-in-law Irene's place in Rhode Island, which was a series called "Case Histories." I was absorbed enough to watch again!
October 9 - October 15:
Viewed this week: 1966's Munster, Go Home!, which is a lot like an extra-long, color episode of The Munsters if you crossed it with an Elvis car racing movie. I love the way you just can't kill a Munster. Heaven knows enough people tried in this film!
October 2 - October 8:
It was a busy, exhausting week, so we really didn't watch much except Pan Am, Hawaii Five-O (the original series), That Girl, the ubiquitous World's Dumbest and a new favorite Ratbusters NYC, in which two exterminators attempt to rid residents of NYC of their rat, bedbug, raccoon, and other infestations. It makes me glad I don't live THERE anymore!
September 25 - October 1:
This week we screened 1959's Teenage Zombies, featuring Don Sullivan, of Giant Gila Monster fame. As in Giant Gila Monster, a teenager is the only competent person in town, and in this one the kids manage to bring down a ring of criminals that eluded even the U.S. Army. Only two of the teens actually become zombies, and even then it's only for a couple of minutes. Highly recommended if you happen to be drinking Zombies.
September 18 - September 24:
What a great viewing week! We broke into Fantasy Island, season one, and watched both the two hour pilot and two hour follow up, Return to Fantasy Island! With guest stars like Adrienne Barbeau, Victoria Principal, Bill Bixby, Peter Lawford, Eleanor Powell, Carol Lynley, Hugh O'Brian and Dick Sargeant, how could you possibly go wrong?! Also, Zach was up for the weekend and he brought the DVD of his recent presentation of his (largely) one-man production of Dracula's Guest at Monster Bash, which we followed up with She Gods of Shark Reef. The latter always goes down better with a pitcher of sangria. Hawaii Five-O, That Girl and Get Smart were also viewed.
September 11 - September 17:
It was a super busy week, so all we managed was Hawaii Five-O and That Girl.
September 4 - September 10:
Oh boy, this was an exciting week, because we finally saw Zero Hour!, the 1957 film upon which perennial Lounge favorite Airplane! is based. We had no idea just how much of Airplane! was lifted wholesale from Zero Hour!, right up to the character names, the little boy visiting the cockpit and getting an airplane, the fish that made everyone sick, the panicking woman, and entire sections of dialogue. The air traffic controller even says "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking!" If you like Airplane! and you haven't seen Zero Hour!, remedy that situation right away. It's on TCM pretty often, or get the DVD if you don't want to wait. You'll be glad you did.
August 28 - September 3:
We didn't get around to movies this week, but we did get to a fair amount of classic TV, including That Girl, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Police Woman and Hawaii Five-O, so it was a good week.
August 21 - August 27:
Watched during Irene: two episodes of That Girl, a documentary about the making of the cast album of the Broadway show Company, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and Another Thin Man.
August 14 - August 20:
Projected on Super 8 this week at the Velveteen Lounge: Frankenstein's Brain and an early 1930s interview with Bela Lugosi, jarring because he was dressed more for poolside cocktails than neck biting.
August 7 - August 13:
Paul projected Super 8 movies at our party, with titles including 20 Million Miles to Earth, Man Made Monster, War of the Worlds, King Kong (reel five) and The Wolfman, as well as some Cancun home movies and Three Stooges.
July 24 - August 6:
It's been two weeks since our last update, so you'd think we'd have more to show for ourselves, but we've been really busy. However, we DID manage to get back on track with our Man from U.N.C.L.E. Mondays, which is progress!
July 17 - July 23:
It was way too hot to be in our living room (where the large Velveteen Lounge Theater screen is located) last week, so all we watched were some episodes of World's Dumbest in the bedroom as we fell asleep and a Hawaii Five-O during happy hour, a weekly tradition.
July 10 - July 16:
Screened this week at the Velveteen Lounge Theater was 1955's Pearl of the South Pacific, an irresistibly terrible tale of intrigue on an ambiguous, tiki-worshipping South Seas isle starring Virginia Mayo, Dennis Morgan and some guy whose "Australian" accent came and went depending on the scene. Despite its innate wretchedness, I'm dying to pick up the DVD, because the fabulous tiki eye candy, eye-popping mid-century aloha wear and terrible script make it an instant classic by Lounge standards!
July 3 - July 9:
Finally we got to watch a movie this week and it turned out to be kind of terrible! We watched 1966's Modesty Blaise, which I'd been looking forward to, but GOD, was that movie SLOW! Monica Vitti is beautiful, but CANNOT ACT, and the first four-fifths of the movie were so boring that even the fab mod '60s set and costume design couldn't save it. Oh, well, I can skip picking up the DVD!
June 26 - July 2:
Besides getting a new episode of the Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en online, we managed to see our city's Fourth of July fireworks display (which was, in truth, a Second of July display), a.k.a. Our Tax Dollars at Work. We found the ideal spot for viewing them--far away from the crowds and traffic, but with an unobstructed view--so I was very pleased.
June 19 - June 25:
Who am I kidding? Nothing except a little TV, in front of which I fell asleep.
June 12 - June 18:
Viewed this week: Nothing of note. We did shoot a new episode of the Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en, though, so that's something!
June 5 - June 11:
I expected to get zero viewing whatsoever in this week, but I was sewing, which often means TCM. I managed to catch that perennial Lounge favorite, Ocean's 11 (the original 1960 version), 1945's Conflict (during what I came to refer to as "Humphrey Bogart Kills His Wife Day," since he also killed his wife in the movie right before it, The Two Mrs. Carrolls), So Big, a 1932 drama in which poor farm wife (later widow) Barbara Stanwyck raises her son to become a money-loving social climber, and Small Town Girl (1936), in which Janet Gaynor finds herself married to a virtual stranger after a night of drunken partying.
May 29 - June 4:
Yeah, right. Who am I kidding? Between now and Ohana we won't be watching anything but our own episodes (in order to edit them) and World's Dumbest. I'm hoping to work in an episode of the classic Hawaii Five-O, but even that's dicey.
May 22 - May 28:
It was a pathetic viewing week around the Lounge. We were so busy that all we got to was catching World's Dumbest on TruTV.
May 15 - May 21:
More from Velveteen Lounge Sewing Theater, including 1943's Tarzan's Desert Mystery, wherein Tarzan, Boy and Cheetah set out into the desert to collect fever medicine to send to Jane, who's off nursing the troops. Naturally they get caught up with bad guys (this time in fezzes) and have to save a damsel in distress--a magician who was in the Middle East for reasons I can't quite fathom, played by Nancy Kelly, who later went on to star in one of our favorites, The Bad Seed. I also finally saw Black Swan (2010), which I enjoyed more than I expected. I'd heard that it was a tortured showbiz tale, and it was, but it was also highly entertaining. I felt for Nina. Sometimes it feels like no one is on your side, even when that's not completely accurate.
May 8 - May 14:
I've been sewing copiously, which means Velveteen Lounge Sewing Theater (or daytime TCM). First up, 1937's Quality Street. On the plus side, it didn't require a lot of concentration to follow, which is good while sewing, and it DID feature Katharine Hepburn (although not in my favorite period, which in her case is a couple of decades later). In the minus column, and with apologies to J.M. Barrie, the people who live on Quality Street are dumb, especially Phoebe's suitor, played by Franchot Tone. They also did a tribute to the late Jackie Cooper during which I sewed through 1936's Tough Guy, a cryfest (that's what he did best) in which he co-starred with Rin Tin Tin, who gave a very believable performance as Duke, the dog who gets shot (he lives).
May 1 - May 7:
Lots of Hawaii Five-O, Man from U.N.C.L.E. and That Girl were viewed last week, along with a few episodes of 30 Rock, which I'd never seen before, but is frankly hilarious, so I need to figure out what night that's on.
April 24 - April 30:
Working on two video projects = almost no actual video viewing. I'm learning that super busy and video viewing don't mix.
April 17 - April 23:
Besides shooting a "Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en" episode, we're working on a video project for OHANA Luau at the Lake, so we're doing more filmmaking than film viewing, but that's okay--we love it.
April 10 - April 16:
For such a productive week I actually managed to view a lot. Paul and I watched 1950's D.O.A. on Sunday night, wherein Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) has a week, more or less, before he dies to track down the killer who fed him a slow acting poison. It was quite entertaining (lots of bar sequences). I also caught the last half of Raintree County and Dr. Zhivago in the Velveteen Lounge Sewing Theater and watched copious amounts of Hawaii Five-O (the original series) and That Girl.
April 3 - April 9:
Same shows, different week: Hawaii Five-O, That Girl and Police Woman. There are few things I find more comforting than classic TV. We also checked out Extreme Couponing, which is a freak show. I'll no doubt ramble about it soon!
March 27 - April 2:
We've been busy as little bees since returning from Cancun, but we did find time for our classic TV nights (Hawaii Five-O and Man from U.N.C.L.E.), the Hot in Cleveland season finale (I LOVE that show) and a few other favorites.
March 13 - March 26:
In addition to filming our own show in Cancun, we managed to catch a few snippets of some really bad movies with Spanish subtitles--always fun!
March 6 - March 12:
Nothing new to report here, since we've been running at a breakneck pace lately. We did find a little time for some of our classic TV favorites and a few shows on TLC, one of my new favorite channels, although I think they should change the name to PWP (the People with Problems Channel).
February 27 - March 5:
I have a dream, when we have more space, either in this house or another, of creating a TV viewing room whose decor is entirely classic TV, since we have a lot of TV memorabilia. I've been thinking about that a lot lately, as we've been watching a lot of classic TV, including our old favorites, Hawaii Five-O, That Girl, Man from U.N.C.L.E., Kolchak, the Night Stalker, etc.
February 20 - February 26:
Busy, busy week, but we did manage to make a short film (the next episode of "Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en") as well as catch the Los Straitjackets show at the Bell House in Brooklyn, thanks to our friend Kiki, who gave us tickets for my birthday. Thanks, Kiki!
February 13 - February 19:
I can't believe it, but we actually managed to squeeze in TWO movies this week, mainly because Paul was home sick, so we were able to get an early start. We caught My Favorite Year on TCM, which is a favorite of ours, and the current release The King's Speech, which was excellent and which I highly recommend for fans of mid-twentieth century history.
February 6 - February 12:
I'm pleased to report that Hawaii Five-O, Police Woman and That Girl were viewed at the Lounge this week, as well as some contemporary favorites, including Hot in Cleveland, World's Dumbest, What Not to Wear and that eternal train wreck, Toddlers and Tiaras.
January 30 - February 5:
It turned out to be a challenging week, thanks mainly to the weather, filing our taxes and other assorted irritations of modern life, so we watched less classic TV than I would have liked. We did, however, score with great movie choices on TV and managed to see both Father of the Bride (the original, from 1950) and Shaft (the original, from 1971) on Saturday.
January 23 - January 29:
It's all about classic TV this winter at the Velveteen Lounge Theater, particularly Hawaii Five-O and one of my new favorites, Police Woman, both with memorable themes by Morton Stevens. Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Mothers-in-Law have also been on tap.
January 16 - January 22:
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson
We'd seen it before, but I always enjoy this tale of an embattled teacher in 1960s London. "Bad" kids were so harmless then. I especially love seeing Patricia Routledge before she became Hyacinth Bucket.
The Velveteen Lounge Theater is also in a cop show mood lately and has been featuring episodes of Hawaii Five-O and Police Woman.
January 9 - January 15:
The Family Way (1966)
Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, John Mills
Newlyweds in Lancashire get scammed out of their honeymoon money, which sets off a series of mishaps, resulting in their not being able to consummate their marriage, which was a very big scandal in Lancashire in 1966. Their luck does turn--eventually.
January 2 - January 8:
Viewed this week: 1948's Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which is one of my all-time favorites and which I just got on DVD (good thing--our VHS copy was pretty much worn out), and classic TV, featuring Hawaii Five-O, Mary Tyler Moore and Honey West, in honor of Anne Francis, who left our world this week.
December 26 - January 1:
The New Year's Eve festivities here at the Lounge included viewings of After the Thin Man (set on New Year's Eve), My Man Godfrey and a New Year's episode of That Girl.
Click here to see what we watched in November and December 2010
Click here to see what we watched from August through October 2010
Click here to see what we watched in June and July 2010
Click here to see what we watched in May 2010
Click here to see what we watched in April 2010
Click here to see what we watched in February and March 2010
Click here to see what we watched in January and early February 2010
