Seattle Men's Chorus Santa Baby

Merry Christmas? - SteamRoomStories.com

STEVE HAYES: Tired Old Queen at the Movies - MOGAMBO

I am thrilled to have my new laptop, new internet provider, and a new Tired Old Queen at the Movies to share. This week Steve is sharing Mogambo. One of my favorite Ava Gardner movies.

Currently Watching - White Christmas (1954)

It has been around 30 years that I have watched this film on Christmas Eve. It has become my own tradition.

The story is about two World War II U.S. Army buddies, one a Broadway entertainer, Bob Wallace (Crosby), the other a would-be entertainer, Phil Davis (Kaye). It begins on Christmas Eve, 1944, somewhere in Europe. In a forward area, Capt. Wallace is giving a show to the troops of the 151st Division with the help of Pvt. Davis ("White Christmas"). But the mood is somber: word has come down that their beloved commanding officer, Major General Thomas F. Waverly (Dean Jagger), is being relieved of command. He arrives for the end of the show and delivers an emotional farewell. The men give him a rousing send-off ("The Old Man"). An enemy artillery barrage ensues, and Davis saves Wallace's life by carrying him out of the way of a toppling wall, wounding his own arm slightly in the process. Using his "wounded" arm and telling Bob he doesn't expect any "special obligation", Phil convinces Bob to join forces as an entertainment duo when the war is over. Phil using his wound to get Bob to do what he wants becomes a running gag throughout the movie.
After the war, the pair make it big in nightclubs, radio and then on Broadway. They eventually become successful producers, mounting a hit musical, Playing Around, but Phil is increasingly concerned that his pal Bob has not met a woman he can settle down with. Several clumsy attempts to set him up with showgirls fail. In mid-December, after two years on Broadway, the show is in Florida. While at the Florida Theatre, they receive a letter from "Freckle-Faced Haynes, the dog-faced boy", a mess sergeant they knew in the war, asking them to audition his two sisters. When they go to the club to audition the act ("Sisters"), Phil notices that Bob is smitten with Betty (Rosemary Clooney), while Phil has eyes for her sister, Judy (Vera-Ellen). Following their number, the girls join Bob and Phil at their table. Believing he may have found the right girl for Bob, Phil brings Judy on to the dance floor so that Bob and Betty can get to know each other. Phil and Judy hit it off ("The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing"), and Judy tells Phil that she and her sister are headed for the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont, where they are booked to perform over the holidays. Back at the table, Betty reveals to Bob that Judy, not her bother, sent them the letter. The two get into a brittle argument, and the prospects for a romance seem doubtful.

However, when Bob and Phil learn that Betty and Judy may be arrested (their shady landlord claims the sisters burned a $200 rug), Phil helps the girls escape and convinces Bob to don the girls' left-behind costumes and lip-sync "Sisters" from a record, to give the girls time to make it to the train. When Bob and Phil arrive on the train and reunite with Betty and Judy, Phil again uses "his arm" to convince Bob to travel with the girls to Vermont for the holidays ("Snow"). When they arrive in an unseasonably warm and snowless Pine Tree, they discover that the inn is run by their former commanding officer, Gen. Waverly, and it's in danger of failing because of the lack of snow and consequent lack of patrons. The general has invested all his savings and pension into the lodge.
Deciding to help out and bring business to the inn, Wallace and Davis bring Playing Around, with their entire Broadway cast, up to the Inn and add Betty and Judy where they can. At the same time, Bob and Betty's relationship starts to bloom ("Count My Blessings"). Meanwhile, Bob discovers the General's rejected attempt at rejoining the army, and decides to prove to the General that he isn't forgotten.

Bob calls Ed Harrison (Johnny Grant), an old army buddy, now the host of a successful variety show (intentionally similar to Ed Sullivan's). Bob tells Ed that he wants to make a pitch on Ed's show to all the men under the command of the General in the war, asking them to come to the inn on Christmas Eve. In response, Harrison suggests they go all out and put the show on television, playing up the "schmaltz" factor of the General's situation and generating lots of free advertising for Wallace and Davis. What Bob doesn't know is that nosy housekeeper Emma Allen (Mary Wickes) has been listening in to the phone conversation but has only heard Ed's suggestion, and hangs up before Bob rejects the idea. Mistakenly believing that her beloved boss will be presented as a pitiable figure on national television, Emma reveals what she heard to a shocked Betty.
The misunderstanding causes a disillusioned Betty to grow suddenly cold to a baffled Bob's advances. Unaware of the real reason for her sudden change of behavior, Judy becomes convinced that Betty, ever-protective of her little sister, will never take a relationship further until Judy is engaged or married. She pressures an extremely reluctant Phil to announce a phony engagement. The plan backfires when Betty abruptly departs for New York City, having received a job offer. Phil and Judy, distraught, reveal to Bob that the engagement announcement was phony, and Bob, still unaware of the real reason Betty is upset, heads to New York to explain about what Judy and Phil have done. Bob goes to see Betty's new act ("Love You Didn't Do Right By Me") and reveals the truth about the engagement, but is called away by Ed Harrison before he can find out what is really bothering her. Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Phil fakes an injury to distract Gen. Waverly, so he does not watch the Ed Harrison Show and see Bob's announcement.
On the Ed Harrison Show, Bob asks all the veterans of the 151st Division to come to Pine Tree, Vermont, on Christmas Eve ("What Can You Do With A General").

All is set right when Betty sees Bob's pitch and realizes she was mistaken. She returns to Pine Tree just in time for the show on Christmas Eve. Emma convinces Gen. Waverly that all of his suits were sent to the cleaners, and suggests he wear his old uniform to the opening of the show. Initially reluctant, he agrees. When the General enters the lodge where the show is to take place, he is greeted by his former division, who sing a rousing chorus of "The Old Man". Just as the song ends, he is notified that snow is falling.
In the finale, Bob and Betty declare their love, as do Phil and Judy. The background of the set is removed to show the snow falling in Pine Tree. Everyone raises a glass, toasting, "May your days be merry and bright; and may all your Christmases be white."

Currently Watching - A Christmas Story (1983)

The film is set in Hohman, Indiana, a fictionalized version of Shepherd's hometown of Hammond. Nine-year-old Ralph "Ralphie" Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock, and "this thing which tells time" (a sundial). While using various schemes to convince his parents to get him this gift he continually bumps into objections from others saying, "You'll shoot your eye out."
In each of the film's three acts Ralphie makes his case to another adult and each time receives the same reply. When Ralphie asks his mother for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, she refuses. Next, when Ralphie writes an essay about wanting the BB gun for Miss Shields, his teacher at Warren G. Harding Elementary School, Ralphie gets a C+, and Miss Shields warns him. Later, Ralphie asks a local department store's Santa Claus for a Red Ryder BB gun, and Santa tells him the same thing before pushing Ralphie down a long exit slide with his boot.
One day after he gets the C+ on his composition, Ralphie is hit in the face with a snowball thrown at him by the local bully, Scut Farkus and his sidekick Grover Dill. Ralphie begins to cry and Farkus teases and taunts him until he snaps. Ralphie charges Farkus and begins to pummel him. During the fight, Ralphie shouts profanity non-stop as he lands blow after blow to the squealing Farkus. When Grover attempts to intervene, Ralphie pushes him away and continues beating Farkus at will. Ralphie's brother, Randy, gets their mother, who pulls her son off the bully, and takes him home. This incident occurs shortly after Ralphie was punished for cursing while helping his father change a flat tire. Ralphie is worried about the cursing and is sure he will again be punished when his father gets home from work. Instead, Ralphie's mother tells his father about the fight casually at the dinner table. She then changes the subject of the conversation to an upcoming Chicago Bears game, distracting his father and getting Ralphie off the hook in the process.
On Christmas morning, Ralphie looks frantically for a box that would hold the BB gun to no avail. He and Randy have quite a few presents, but he is disappointed because he did not get the gun. His disappointment turns to joy as his father points out one last half-hidden present, ostensibly from Santa. As Ralphie unwraps the BB gun, Mr. Parker explains the purchase to his wife, stating that he had one himself when he was 8 years old.
Ralphie goes out to test his new gun, shooting at a paper target perched on top of a metal sign, and predictably gets a ricochet from the metal sign. This ricochet ends up hitting his cheek and glasses, sending them flying and knocking out a lens. While searching for the glasses, Ralphie inadvertently steps on and crushes the other side. When his mother hears him crying, he concocts a story about an icicle falling on him and breaking his glasses, which she believes. She takes him upstairs to dry his face and forgets to close the door. This allows a horde of the Bumpuses' (the Parkers' hillbilly neighbors) dogs, who frequently torment Ralphie's father, to enter the house and eat the Christmas turkey that is cooling on the kitchen table. Making a last-minute decision, Mr. Parker takes the family out to a Chinese restaurant where they have a hilarious time dining on duck which adult Ralphie calls "Chinese turkey".
The film ends with Ralphie lying in bed on Christmas night with his gun by his side. Randy is holding the toy Zeppelin he received. The voiceover states that this was the best present he had ever received or would ever receive.

Holiday Hunks

I only made it to December 4th before I began my computer issues so I guess I have to post 20 to catch up so here is the parade of hunks! I had to add an extra one for good measure. LOL

Currently Watching - Scrooge (1970)

Scrooge is a 1970 musical film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 story, A Christmas Carol. It was filmed in London, directed by Ronald Neame, and starred Albert Finney in the title role. The film's musical score was composed by Leslie Bricusse, and arranged and conducted by Ian Fraser. With eleven musical arrangements interspersed throughout (all retaining a traditional British air about them), the award-winning motion picture is a faithful musical retelling of the original, with one exception noted below. The film received limited praise, but Albert Finney won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy in 1971.
The film received four Academy Award nominations. It is the only live-action version of the story to be nominated for Oscars.

Holiday Hunks Day 4

Currently Watching - The Maltese Falcon (1941)

In 1941 San Francisco, private investigators Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) and Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) meet prospective client Miss Ruth Wonderly (Mary Astor). She claims to be looking for her missing sister, who is involved with a man named Floyd Thursby. Wonderly is to meet Thursby and hopes her sister will be with him. After receiving a substantial retainer, Archer volunteers to follow her that night and help get her sister back.
That night, Spade is informed that Archer has been killed. He meets his friend, Police Detective Tom Polhaus (Ward Bond) at the murder scene. He then calls Wonderly's hotel, but she has checked out. He is grilled by Polhaus and his supervisor, Lieutenant Dundy (Barton MacLane), who inform him that Thursby was also murdered that same evening. Dundy suggests that Spade had the opportunity and motive (an affair with Archer's wife, played by Gladys George) to commit both crimes.

The next morning, Spade meets Wonderly, now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. She explains that Thursby was her partner and probably killed Archer, but claims to have no idea who killed Thursby. Spade agrees to investigate the murders.
At his office, Spade meets Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), who first offers him a $5,000 fee to find a "black figure of a bird," then pulls a gun on him in order to search for it. Spade manages to knock Cairo out and go through his belongings. When Cairo revives, he hires Spade. Later that evening, Spade tells O'Shaughnessy about his encounter with Cairo. When Cairo shows up, it becomes clear that Spade's acquaintances know each other. Cairo becomes agitated when O'Shaughnessy reveals that the "Fat Man" is in San Francisco.

In the morning, Spade goes to Cairo's hotel, where he spots Wilmer (Elisha Cook, Jr.), a young man who had been following him earlier. He gives Wilmer a message for his boss, Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), the "Fat Man". Spade meets Gutman. Gutman begins to talk about the Falcon, but becomes evasive, causing Spade to storm out, giving Gutman a deadline to be more forthcoming. Later, Spade is taken by Wilmer at gunpoint to see Gutman. Spade overpowers Wilmer, but meets with Gutman anyway. Gutman relates the history of the Maltese Falcon. He offers Spade $25,000 for the bird and a quarter of the proceeds from its sale. Then Spade passes out; his drink was spiked. Wilmer, Gutman and Cairo (who had been in the other room) depart.
When Spade awakens, he searches the suite and finds a newspaper with the arrival time of the freighter La Paloma circled. He goes to the dock, only to find the ship on fire, so he returns to his office. A man (Walter Huston) clutching a bundle wrapped in newspaper bursts in and staggers toward Spade before dying. The contents of his wallet identify the dead man as Captain Jacobi of the La Paloma. The bundle contains the Maltese Falcon.
The phone rings. O'Shaughnessy gives an address and then screams before the line goes dead. Spade stashes the package in a bus terminal baggage room, then goes to the address. It turns out to be an empty lot. Spade returns home and finds Brigid hiding in a doorway. He takes her inside, and finds Gutman, Cairo, and Wilmer waiting for him, guns drawn. Gutman gives Spade $10,000 for the Falcon, but Spade tells them that part of his price is someone he can turn over to the police for the murders of Archer, Thursby, and Captain Jacobi. Spade suggests Wilmer as the best choice, since he certainly killed Thursby and Jacobi. After some intense negotiation, Gutman and Cairo agree; Wilmer is knocked out in a scuffle. Spade gets the details of what happened and who killed whom, so that he can present a convincing story to the police along with Wilmer.
Just after dawn, Spade calls his secretary, Effie Perrine (Lee Patrick), to bring him the bundle. However, when Gutman inspects the black statuette, he discovers that it is a fake. He suggests that he and Cairo return to Istanbul to continue their quest. After they leave, Spade calls the police and tells them where to pick up the pair. Spade then angrily confronts Brigid, telling her he knows she killed Archer to implicate Thursby, her unwanted accomplice. Brigid cannot believe that Spade would turn her over to the police, but he does, despite his feelings for her.

Holiday Hunks Day 3

Holiday Hunks Day 2

Holiday Hunks Day 1