Sunday Movie Time: "Please Murder Me (1956)

Today's movie is another film noir classic, "Please Murder Me" from 1956. It stars everyone's favorite courtroom defender, Raymond Burr. No, today he plays Craig Carlson, not Perry Mason. He is defending Angela Lansbury who plays Myra Leeds, the wife of Perry's best friend Joe Leeds Played by Dick Foran. Angela is accused of murdering her husband, Perry's best friend. That's a good plot device already...Laywer defends the murderer of his best friend and that murderer turns out to be the best friends wife. Hmmmmm.......

Lots more surprises are in store on this one and since I hate to spoil the surprises I will keep quiet on the rest of the movie.......except.......to add this warning: Remember that the dead can come back to spoil our plans!!!!!! Hmmmmmm........

Anyway, the movie lasts 75 minutes and is well worth the price of admission today! Also keep an eye out for John Dehner (A great radio, movie, and TV actor) and Denver Pyle (Mr. Darling on The Andy Griffith Show and Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard).

Now get the popcorn, peanuts, and Dr Pepper......It's Movie Time!!!!!!!!!!



Creative Commons license for this movie: Public Domain Mark 1.0

© 2011 Barry T Horst

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The Secretary Will Disavow Any Knowledge of This Article

Okay, so I've been having a great deal of fun this summer with Netflix. I've been catching up on my Mission: Impossible episodes. I know I'm not supposed to think this way but......It's hard to get sucked into the suspenseful situations that always seem to cast doubt upon whether one or another of the IM Force members will survive. I mean, the show was on for 7 years. It always seemed that the group finished their "impossible" mission, went home for the week and rested; and then got together again on Sunday night for Jim to clue them in on their newest adventure.

Speaking about Jim, he always got his mission from a tape recorder. After he got the mission the tape recorder would always "self-destruct." I really would have like to have the tape recorder concession. I could have made a few dollars.

When "Mission: Impossible" first came on in the late 1960's I was in my early teens. After Jim received his instructions, the voice on the tape would say, "As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions." I always envisioned a lady sitting at a desk and answering the phone saying, "No, Jim's not in the office right now. I don't know where he is or when he will be back."

I guess I better finish for now, I've got four and a half more years of episodes to go. That's a lot more tape recorders to "self-destruct" and a lot of stuff to "disavow."

© 2011 Barry T Horst

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Wednesday Night TV: UNIVAC Computer Commercials (1956 in 3D)

Today we have 2 commercials from 1956. Both are for Remington Rand UNIVAC Computers. The 1st commercial is 27 seconds long. This commercial aired on the CBS Television Network on 5 February 1956. Immediately after the 1st commercial is finished playing, the second will play. It is approximately 3 minutes long and was aired during the 5 February 1956 CBS-TV telecast of "What's My Line?" This last commercial promotes the CBS-TV weather services.

It is interesting to note that these commercials were not originally broadcast in 3D. The 3D effects were added later, as a sort of after market effect if you will. This 3D effect is the old type (Anaglyph image) requiring the red and blue glasses (Red on the left, Blue on the right). I pulled out an old pair of mine and the effects seem to work OK, but I am not sure why you would want to watch a 1956 computer commercial in 3D.



If you like this I can post some more in 3D. All using the Anaglyph image process. By the way, you might be interested in knowing that the Anaglyph image process has been around since 1853. That's right, 1853. Came out of Germany. Who knew his development would have figured so prominently in 1950's Hollywood and beyond?

© 2011 Barry T Horst

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Tuesday On Olde-Tyme Radio: The Great Gildersleeves Audition Program

The Great Gildersleeve originally appeared in the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show; making it one of the nation's earliest spin-off programs. The clip today is the audition program for The Great Gildersleeve, which aired on 16 May 1941. The audio file is courtesy of the Audio Archives at The Internet Archive.


The material in this post is protected by the following Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5)

© 2011 Barry T Horst

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Monday Money: Notgeld #24

Today's selection comes from Jerichow, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and is an expanded version of an earlier post. Otto von Bismarck was born in Schönhausen, Saxony-Anhalt. The first 2 specimens today picture an idyllic country scene (presumably in or around Jerichow) and Bismarck on the obverse and his birthplace on the reverse.


The reverse of both the 1 Mark (Above) and the 3 Mark (Below) contain the following quote from Bismarck: "Wenn wir zusammenhalten, werden wir den teufel aus der hölle schlagen" or "If we stick together, we will beat the devil out of hell." Interesting! Along the bottom of each reverse is the caption: Schloss Schönhausen Bismarcks geburtshaus or Schloss Schönhausen - Bismarck's Birthplace. On the left side of the castle we see printed: "Dieser gutschein wird von allen kassen des kreises Jerichow II in zahlung genommen und ist." Roughly translated as "This voucher will be taken in payment in Kreises Jerichow for all funds." The right side carries some important information regarding this issue: "Gültig bis zum 1.oktober 1922 Genthin den 1.juli 1921 der kreissausschuss" or "Valid until October 1, 1922 Genthin District Committee, 1 July 1921."




The reverse of both the 2 Mark (Above) and the 50 Mark (Below) contain the following quote from Bismarck: "Alle friedensschlüsse in dieser welt sind provisorien. Translated as : "All peace, key in this world are temporary." The reverse also has a picture of three trumpets blowing and a wall tumbling. Below the picture is the Bible verse Josua 6:20 which reads, "When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city." The obverse on each specimen contains another idyllic picture.




© 2011 Barry T Horst

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Sunday Movie Time: Impact (1949)

Today's movie is another film noir classic, Impact. Released in 1949 it is about a wealthy businessman that survives an attempt by his wife to have him killed. He makes it look like she succeeded and starts a new life in small town as auto mechanic. A variation on this idea elevated to noir importance by The Killers (1946), where the victim of femme fatale tries to abandon the city and his past identity.

The movie lasts 1 hour 50 minutes. Break out the popcorn and enjoy.

© 2011 Barry T Horst

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.