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 From Bryan Olson: Eva Marie Saint reminisces about working on Hitchcock’s North By Northwest as well as her work in theatre and radio.
Wikipedia reports that Saint, who turned 86 last month, has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – one for motion pictures and another for television.
The all-time Walk of Fame record for multiple stars is held by Gene Autry, who has five – for motion pictures, radio, recording, television and live theater.
 I’m happy for Gene, but somebody needs to tell me why Dudley Moore has only one star, awarded for motion pictures. Moore did live theater on Broadway (Beyond The Fringe and Good Evening with Peter Cook). Moore played piano in The Dudley Moore Trio, which recorded quite a few albums. His television series with Peter Cook, Not Only But Also, was hugely successful in England. Gene Autry gets five stars? Dudley Moore certainly deserves four.
That means Peter Cook deserves three stars; and he has exactly zero at present, which makes him tied with Tom Snyder, who is also yet to be recognized for his television and radio work.
When they rip up Hollywood Boulevard or Vine Street to correct these egregious omissions, they should use the opportunity to add a radio star and theater star for Eva Marie Saint. Then she’d be tied with Dudley Moore.
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 How delighted was I to find that this interview with Bruce Dern dates back to the release of The ‘Burbs, a favorite movie of mine. The soundtrack music by Jerry Goldsmith is memorable, as is Brother Theodore’s turn as old man Klopek.
Since Tom and Bruce grew up fairly close to each other, much of the interview has the boys reminiscing about the old neighborhood, but the talk also turns to Hitchcock – Bruce’s role in Family Plot, and Tom’s dinner with Alma and Hitch where the discussion was about cockney rhyming slang.
Bruce Dern has such an instantly recognizable voice.
Again, this one comes from the collection of Bryan Olson.
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 From the files of Bryan Olson: Tom’s guest is filmmaker Roger Corman, author of the boldly titled How I Made 100 Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime.
Corman, who has made more than 100 movies in Hollywood and lost his share of dimes on his duds, seems perfectly happy with the level of success he’s achieved, but Tom suspects that Roger really wants to make a big budget movie and pursues this line of questioning rather relentlessly.
Corman is still doing very nicely, thank you… or did you miss last night’s SyFy airing of Corman’s Dinocroc Vs. Supergator? Yes, I admit, I did, too. But Entertainment Weekly called it “impeccable Saturday-night junk entertainment.” And no special effects whatsoever – all shot on a Florida golf course with real dinocrocs. (YouTube trailer from Dinocroc Vs. Supergator).
Just Corman doing what Corman does best.
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Cary Grant IS James Bond.
No.
Hoagy Carmichael IS James Bond.
Lee Pfeiffer, author of The Incredible World of 007 says that Hoagy and Cary were both considered. Pfeiffer is the guest on this Sept. 1, 1992 edition of the Tom Snyder Radio Show, which again comes to us courtesy of Bryan Olson.
This is interesting stuff – even if you’re not a die-hard fan of the series. Most of the talk is about the early days, including a well-deserved nod to Maurice Binder, designer of the’”gun-barrel” opening sequence. Binder is also responsible for the credits for two of the hundred or so films in my official Top Ten List: Bedazzled and Two For The Road.
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It’s a slimefest! It’s a deathfest! It’s about as low as the Tom Snyder Radio Show would ever go! And somebody… let’s hope not Tom… thought the program was good enough for a rerun!
Gravelly-voiced John Austin (author of More Of Hollywood’s Unsolved Mysteries) rattles off the deaths and the dirt at breakneck speed. Seems he knew everyone and has the low-down on every Hollywood scandal and murder ever.
While I was listening, I was thinking, “Boy, I’ve already heard all of these, and I probably know this stuff as well as this guy does, but I wouldn’t talk about it in polite company, let alone on the radio.” At that moment, a caller asked which Hollywood star had a restaurant and was mixed up with the mob. Austin is at a complete loss. No idea. I’m here thinking “That guy is asking about Thelma Todd, her Sidewalk Cafe, and her unfortunate connection to Pat Di Cicco, connected in turn to Lucky Luciano’s mob. I guess I do know this stuff better than this guy does.”
Later in the show, Tom brings up Thelma Todd… and Austin has the whole story. He’s wrong, but he has the whole story.
P.S.: does Austin use a racial epithet just before one of the commercials?
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Isn’t Life Terrible? "Isn't Life Terrible" is a Charley Chase short from 1925. The title was derived from a 1924 D.W. Griffith film, "Isn't Life Wonderful?" Other Charley Chase film titles that ask questions are "What Price Goofy?" (1925), "Are Brunettes Safe?" (1927), and "Is Everybody Happy?" (1928). Chase abandoned his titles with question marks for titles with exclamation points during the sound era.
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I’m happy for Gene, but somebody needs to tell me why Dudley Moore has only one star, awarded for motion pictures. Moore did live theater on Broadway (Beyond The Fringe and Good Evening with Peter Cook). Moore played piano in The Dudley Moore Trio, which recorded quite a few albums. His television series with Peter Cook, Not Only But Also, was hugely successful in England. Gene Autry gets five stars? Dudley Moore certainly deserves four.
