Tuesday, January 03, 2017

MISS BROOKS, CHILDHOOD FAVORITE

HIGH SCHOOL DAZE
This past weekend I was reminded of Eve Arden’s sarcastic wit when Decades did a weekend of “Our Miss Brooks,” the story of the erstwhile bachelorette I knew as a youth listening every week on KXLY radio.  Her matrimonial efforts were lost on biology teacher Mr. Boynton, played on radio by Jeff Chandler and then on TV by Robert Roxwell.
Richard Crenna’s airhead Walter Denton trades barbs with Gale Gordon’s Osgood Conklin, the principal and father of Harriet, Denton’s girlfriend.  Crenna was fodder for Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat” and was paired with blonde bombshell Cleo Moore in “Over Exposed” on the big screen. 

BAD TECHNOLOGY
Get paranoid with the British TV series “Black Mirror” where cookies are implanted and people disappear with the touch of a remote control.  The “Christmas Story” episode features a bird wall clock identical to the one a friend in Edina owns.

That dancing on the stars number in “LaLa Land” was first done in  the 1952 comedy “Lovely to Look At,” a remake of RKO’s “Roberta” which is better.  Marge and Gower Champion danced on the stars as do Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. 

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