Josh's Blind Buys: Watching The Unseen Collection (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I had purchased this collection of Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy radio shows a while ago, W.C. Fields appears as a guest for a routine in a segment during each hour-long show. I started listening when I had been watching Fields movies earlier in the year, but hadn't finished the set. Still have a couple to go but they are great.

https://www.amazon.com/Bergen-McCar...34&sr=8-3&keywords=wc+fields+charlie+mccarthy

 

[DavidJ]

I had purchased this collection of Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy radio shows a while ago, W.C. Fields appears as a guest for a routine in a segment during each hour-long show. I started listening when I had been watching Fields movies earlier in the year, but hadn't finished the set. Still have a couple to go but they are great.

https://www.amazon.com/Bergen-McCar...34&sr=8-3&keywords=wc+fields+charlie+mccarthy

Fun. I've never gotten much into Bergen & McCarthy. I'm a big fan of Jack Benny and I listen to Burns & Allen, Fibber McGee & Molly, Fred Allen, Abbott & Costello, and others on occasion.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I came about it from the W.C. Fields angle, but I was surprised that a ventriloquism act could play so well in a radio format. But the highlights for me are definitely when Fields appears, and he has this way of being exasperated with McCarthy that it just totally sells that McCarthy is a real personality, if not quite a real person.

Plus there's the story about Bolivia. I can't spoil it, mostly for fear of my life, but trust me, I love Bolivia...

 

[BobO'Link]

I came about it from the W.C. Fields angle, but I was surprised that a ventriloquism act could play so well in a radio format. But the highlights for me are definitely when Fields appears, and he has this way of being exasperated with McCarthy that it just totally sells that McCarthy is a real personality, if not quite a real person.

Plus there's the story about Bolivia. I can't spoil it, mostly for fear of my life, but trust me, I love Bolivia...

For me, Bergen and McCarthy play better as a radio act than in a film (or "live"). I tend to watch people's mouth as they speak so I'm almost constantly focused on Bergen. I noticed at a young age that his mouth moves more than any other ventriloquist I've ever seen. I firmly believe it was the absolute realism that he projected onto McCarthy, and others, and the skill he had switching from one voice to another that "made" his act. It's absolutely marvelous when you just close your eyes and listen.

 

[Mike2001]

My wife doesn't mind me buying all the disks, but she does not like it when I overflow the shelves. A couple of years ago, I saw some custom media shelving while browsing Houzz.com that I lust over. Working it out, you could get ~5000 disks into 10 linear feet of wall space.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/579057/Tucson-Residence-Kitchen-contemporary-closet-phoenix

My wife has also had the mantel in our living room on her hit list since we moved in nine years ago. It is white brick and extends up to a cathedral ceiling. I wasn't too enthused with the idea of a massive blank wall once the bricks were gone, but I have to admit that the bricks are pretty unattractive. She recently had the idea of putting in a bookshelf wall once the bricks were gone. Hell yeah! We are ripping out the bricks this weekend and putting in the new mantel. I am researching custom cabinet makers for the bookshelf wall and might see about whether they can make the media cabinets as well. If all works out, I should have some interesting pictures to share in a few months.

 

[DavidJ]

My wife doesn't mind me buying all the disks, but she does not like it when I overflow the shelves. A couple of years ago, I saw some custom media shelving while browsing Houzz.com that I lust over. Working it out, you could get ~5000 disks into 10 linear feet of wall space.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/579057/Tucson-Residence-Kitchen-contemporary-closet-phoenix

My wife has also had the mantel in our living room on her hit since we moved in nine years ago. It is white brick and extends up to a cathedral ceiling. I wasn't too enthused with the idea of a massive blank wall once the bricks were gone, but I have to admit that the bricks are pretty unattractive. She recently had the idea of putting in a bookshelf wall once the bricks were gone. Hell yeah! We are ripping out the bricks this weekend and putting in the new mantel. I am researching custom cabinet makers for the bookshelf wall and might see about whether they can make the media cabinets as well. If all works out, I should have some interesting pictures to share in a few months.

That media storage...

I need something like that, but there's no place to build it in our current home.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Very cool, Mike!

My problem is that I'm a renter in a NYC apartment. There's just not a ton of space to begin with, and installing stuff like that is out of the question. Hopefully, a house might be in the cards for one day, and I think after consolidating to such a small space for all of this time, having an actual room for TV/movies/media stuff instead of a makeshift addition to the living room will feel like an incredible luxury.

 

[Nelson Au]

From my reading of earlier posts by Josh on other threads as well as this one, is that he was a film school student, and that he has a job in the film industry. That has been my impression, but I wasn't clear what kind of job. From the work shift schedules mentioned, sometimes I wondered if Josh was a paramedic.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Haha, no, but my mom is an operating room nurse! Unfortunately, I didn't get her tolerance for blood and guts. I think if I tried to be a paramedic, I'd end up being the patient before long!

I did go to film school, in Boston. When I graduated from there, I went to work for WGBH, which is the PBS affiliate that producers over a third of the content for the entire PBS network, specifically in their home video department. At a certain point, WGBH merged their home video department with the PBS home video department into a new entity. During that time I worked on a combination of physical media releases (VHS, DVD and even a tiny bit of BD as that was beginning) and also worked to establish an online presence for streaming and digital downloads of PBS/WGBH content. (In that case, basically I worked with providers like iTunes, Hulu and Vudu to create and submit digital files in the correct formats as well as creating metadata and descriptions to go with those titles, and then QC'ing everything to ensure that when a viewer purchased a digital download from iTunes, for example, that what they were getting looked just as good as what we submitted to iTunes in the first place.)

For the past few years, I've been working as a researcher and archivist for a news agency. The news is a 24/7 business, hence my crazy hours -- but I think the hours suit me a little better than 9-5. I don't mention the current job a ton on this forum, not out of any kind of secrecy or anything, but just because politics is inevitably one of many things covered in the news, and I was afraid that if I started talking about my job, politics would end up coming up. I especially appreciate this forum's "no politics" rule - not because I'm against politics or political discussion in general, but just because it's really great way to take a break from my day job. It turns out, a lifetime of collecting media, going back to a VHS collection my parents started when I was a toddler, is great preparation for working on an archive!

 

[BobO'Link]

That's cool that you worked for WGBH. When I was directing we did a weekly cooking segment on the early morning news/entertainment program. Much of what I encorporated into directing those segments I got from watching cooking shows produced by WGBH. I always wanted to work for them and land a job directing one of those programs but I'm also a family man and wanted my kids to grow up close to their grandparents, as I did. Plus my wife's family is in the same area. So we stayed in the Mid-South for the kids and I gave up the dream of working for WGBH or one of the major networks. I do not regret it at all as I've grown to dislike "the city" as I've gotten older.

 

[Nelson Au]

That's cool Josh, WGBH has a lot of shows I watch! Thanks for the details about your current day job. That explains the hours. I imagine the last 24 hours might have been a little busier.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My level of busy doesn't necessity correspond to how busy it actually is in the world, go figure. Sometimes when there's a lot happening, they'll be using all new footage from that day and I don't have to get as involved. Other times it'll be a slow day so they'll use more archival material to fill in. And then you'll have days where it's current news but they want to tell the story in context so it's a mix of new material and archival footage. I've given up trying to predict what it'll be like ahead of time. I started as a freelancer but eventually earned a staff position, so now I generally have a set schedule and only rarely have to be on call. I'm not a morning person, and my earliest shift begins at 11am, so that works to my advantage. I have a lot of fond memories of my WGBH years. I'm proud of the work, and it's exciting that stuff I did is still accessible. When I see PBS shows on Netflix, for instance, and I know that I played a small part in getting PBS to embrace that digital stuff, it's really cool. But that was a 9-5 job, and I don't miss waking up that early!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

But that was a 9-5 job, and I don't miss waking up that early!

We all eventually get our normal wake up time ingrained into our routine, and it's hard to break that. For almost 30 years I was in IT in the healthcare industry, and was at work by 7:30am (and had to endure being on-call all those years, too). The last couple of years, I was even to work by 6:30am some days to avoid the traffic when a merger created the need to commute across town 1-2 days per week. Add in that I'm a golfer, so was up early in the summers on Saturdays to play a round with friends.

Now that I'm retired, I am still getting up early -- but not quite as early. My wife is still working part time and is up by 6am, so I'm awake then. Also, I still get to the local golf course once a week during the week to get the first tee time, allowing me to get in 18 holes in about 2 hours. And there are still those early Saturday morning tee times. After all those years of getting up early, it's impossible for us to sleep in. We even get up early when on vacation.

Getting up early does have its advantages. Stores and golf course are less crowded, and early breakfast also means early dinner, so it's easy to get a table at popular restaurants. The downside is that by 10pm we are ready for bed. There is a drive-in theater that gets setup in the parking lot of USA Hockey Arena near our house in the summer time. As season ticket holders for the hockey team, we'll get sent free tickets sometimes. However, we've never been to a movie there, as there is no way we could stay awake -- it doesn't get dark here until almost 10pm on the longest summer days!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

We all eventually get our normal wake up time ingrained into our routine, and it's hard to break that. For almost 30 years I was in IT in the healthcare industry, and was at work by 7:30am (and had to endure being on-call all those years, too).

Now that I'm retired, I am still getting up early -- but not quite as early.

That's never really happened to me. Even when I had that 9-5 schedule, which did for about five years, as soon as I'd have a day off or a vacation, my natural inclination was to wake up much later. It was always difficult to get up at 7:30am or 8am for that job, just as hard the last day as it was the first. I'd be tired all day at work, and then start waking up near the end of the work day. And then be wide awake at night. I think it's just me. I'm more naturally a night person and I can't really break it. So it's nice to have found a position where I don't have to.

 

[Nelson Au]

That's interesting insight into how the news agency works Josh. Sometimes they will need archival info, either for background for the main story or for times when they need some information.

I never liked or could get up early to go to work early, but I'm a little older now and I find in order to beat the traffic, I've found a groove to leave my house by 7:00am to get to work with less stress from the commute. Doesn't always mean I leave early. I'm still working my old hours. Out of habit and feeling guilty leaving early! I'm working on that. So I think our bodies change over time. Definitely we each have our own internal clocks.

Speaking of blind buys, I just ordered John Wick 2 and House of Flying Daggers. I haven't seen either. I really liked the first John Wick movie. Always fun to end a hard week of work with a good action film.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I remember liking House Of Flying Daggers when I saw it in theaters, but not as much as some of his other films. I haven't seen it since.

John Wick 2 I have to see. My wife and I rented the first one not long ago and really enjoyed it, so the second one is definitely on our radar.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#129 - 36 Hours (1965)
Viewed on: July 25th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Warner Archive)

36 Hours is a recent Warner Archive release that I picked up during their 4/$44 sale. I had been curious about the movie since hearing about it earlier in the year, but still didn't know much about it. Since I found one of the principle joys of this film was not knowing what was going to happen next at any moment, I'll give you the same info that I had to decide whether or not to watch the movie:

It's near the end of World War II, and an American military intelligence officer (played by James Garner) is carrying secret information that, if fallen into the wrong hands, could help Germany defeat the allied forces. As feared, Garner is abducted by German officials, who have a novel strategy for getting him to reveal his secrets. Rather than using physical torture or more conventional methods of intelligence gathering, the Germans want to try to convince Garner that the year is 1950, and the war has been long over, and that he's simply suffered amnesia and forgotten his memories of the intervening years. If the war is over the allies won, and if Garner is made to believe this, then it will be easy to get him to talk about the secret information he's carrying, because there won't be a need for secrecy; it'll simply be reminiscing about historical facts and memories. It's ingenious; rather than trying to coerce Garner into revealing sensitive information, they'll just try to convince him that the war is over so the information isn't sensitive anymore.

And with that little nugget, I was sold on the premise. Happily, the movie takes this great idea and executes it well. The cast is fantastic. James Garner is the lead, but the film boasts fantastic supporting performances from Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor. Director George Seaton, working from his own screenplay which adapts a Roald Dahl short story, keeps the story moving along and the tension flowing. The film was shot in black & white Cinemascope, a format that I see all too rarely but one that always knocks my socks off, and this film was no exception. If there's one tiny thing I'd quibble about, it's that the pacing seemed a little better in the first half than the second, but the film was so enjoyable that this is a very minor complaint.

This is another fine presentation from Warner archive, with a nearly pristine picture, and equally pleasing mono audio. The only minor complaint I'd mention is that the English subtitles are in a distracting yellow color rather than white. The only bonus feature included on the disc is an original trailer.

36 Hours was an impulsive blind buy for me that paid off. The film delivers on its intriguing presence, and the three leads all hold the screen beautifully. This is a great presentation of a thrilling film, and at the very least is worth a rental.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

#130 - Ride The High Country (1962)
Viewed on: July 26th, 2017
Viewing Format: Blu-ray (Warner Archive)

Well, sometimes a blind buy doesn't work out. This one, on paper, seemed like a great match. A western with two fantastic actors at the end of their careers, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea. I had enjoyed performances from both in films from the 1930s and 1940s earlier this year, and was looking forward to seeing them as older men, in a story about the end of the Old West. It sounded up my alley. Though I know very little of Sam Peckinpah's filmography, probably embarrassingly little, I've never felt drawn to it, and this film perhaps serves as a reminder that I should rent any films with his name on it before buying.

As the film begins, Joel McCrea is an ex-lawman hired to guard a large shipment of gold, and recruits an old friend (Randolph Scott) to assist. Scott brings along an apprentice (Ron Starr) to assist. While out on the road, they encounter a woman (Mariette Hartley) who is engaged to be married, and who joins McCrea and Scott on their journey. Unfortunately for McCrea, Scott and Starr have been planning to double-cross McCrea from the start to steal the gold. As the journey progresses, Scott must decide whether to go through with double crossing McCrea, or whether perhaps McCrea can be convinced to participate in the theft.

This is another quality transfer from Warner Archive, with nearly pristine video and equally good lossless mono audio. The only criticism I have of the transfer is that the main title sequence is unnecessarily windowboxed. There is a nice variety of bonus features, including a featurette, trailer and commentary. English subtitles are also available.

I wish I had liked this film more. McCrea and Scott are excellent in the film. I didn't enjoy the sequences with Hartley as much, but her performance isn't the problem. But the script and story left me cold, and Peckinpah's direction seemed to keep me at arm's length. I can tell, objectively speaking, that this is a well-made film with fine performances and technically impressive direction, but it just didn't work for me. I found myself liking the actors, but not their characters; liking the scenery, but not the story. I imagine this is a film that will work for many, though, so if the description of the film seemed interesting to you, don't let me turn you off to it.

(I will probably be listing this title for sale soon - if anyone's interested, please send me a PM, I'm going to ask $12 including free shipping.)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, I have to say you not liking Ride the High Country is a surprise. Most people really enjoy this western. Oh well, that's film appreciation for you.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Yeah, color me surprised as well. In that sense, it was a little like my experience watching Bite The Bullet, where I liked pieces but they didn't totally add up for me. I was disappointed that I was disappointed.