Did you know that Canada once had a golf course where you tee’d off in Saskatchewan and holed out on the 9th green in the United States — and in a different time zone? These and other bizzare anecdotes about Canada (A pet cemetary in Aurora, Ont.?) can be seen this Sunday starting at 7
The 61st annual Cinecon is this weekend at the Writer’s Guild Theater in Los Angeles. This is the granddaddy of all the classic film festivals, programmed by the president of the organization, currator Stan Taffel. This is where archivists, authors, collectors, and film fans come together for four days of classic film & TV screenings,
“Atoll K.” “Dance with Me, Henry.” “A King in New York.” “Love Happy.” These were the last films of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Charlie Chaplin and The Marx Bros. The kings of comedy who brought joy to millions. Not in their final films, however. Robbed of their youth and vitality, they all seem
What if comedy teams were chosen by accountants? It might go something like this: “Okay Laurel, you go with Costello. Rowan? Team up with Hardy. Lewis? Stand next to Shuster…” News this week that Dan O’Toole was being axed at TSN caught many sports viewers and industry observers by surprise. If jettisoning one half of
Would there be an uproar in Canada if Marx Brother movies, or the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were blocked at the border? What about films featuring Abbott & Costello, The Three Stooges or W. C. Fields? The question comes up as, for the second Monday this month, Canadians are robbed
Unaccustomed as we are to promoting TCM — despite it being a favourite channel — kudos to them this month for saluting the greatest film comedy team of all time. The Atlanta-based classic movie channel is featuring Laurel & Hardy on Mondays throughout December. This is the best Christmas present fans of the duo could
Did you know Sammy Davis Jr. could not land a special on a U.S. network TV schedule in the late ’50s — so he made one in Canada instead? That’s just one of the things I learned Monday from my pal Stan Taffel, 16mm film collector extraordinaire. Taffel is the president of Cinecon, an annual Los