Hi, Sweet Baby,
Happy Saturday Evening. I am home, gonna watch a movie before my walk : "Black Widow", a film noir I got from the library. It stars Gene Tierney, one of my favorite actresses, and it's one that I haven't seen. I hope you had a good day. The Badgers won their game against Arizona, just like I predicted, so I imagine there is some celebrating going on around town. When I first made out my bracket, I picked them to be a Final Four team, based on last year's success, and they have lived up to it.
I don't know who they play next, but if they win one more, they're in the Final.
Well, I will start my movie now, so I will still have time for my walk, too. Enjoy your Saturday night, and I will see you in a bit, when I get back to Pearl's.
I Love You! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
11:55pm : Happy Late Night, my Darling. I'm just checking in to wish you sweet dreams, and hoping the gang here will sleep the whole night through so that I won't be toast in church tomorrow. We've got Easter week coming up, and a lot of singing. Our director should be back, so I am expecting a big practice session tomorrow. As long as Pearl and The Kobester remain asleep until morn, all will be well. Right now, all is quiet, not a creature is stirring, not even a dog or a Black Kitty, so that is good.
The movie was good, though the actress I like - Gene Tierney - had just a small part. Van Heflin and Ginger Rogers were the main stars, and once the story got going, it was pretty good. It's packaged as a "noir", but it isn't really. It can't be, because it's in color, but the color is Color By Deluxe, and it comes from that period in the 1950s and early 60s when Deluxe color was the best color in movie history, in my opinion. Not as lurid as Technicolor, but more natural, with a pastel touch.
I don't know if you saw my comment in my brother's post about a man named Roger Mayer, who passed away the other day, but Mr. Mayer was the CEO of the Metrocolor Laboratory at MGM Studios when I worked there. He had been there for many years before that, and he was my Dad's boss when Dad was the General Manager of the lab starting in 1970. In the L.A. Times obituary, when they talked about Mr. Mayer being responsible for generating the whole film preservation movement, I am proud to say that I was present for that - it began in earnest while I was working at Metrocolor, and I was privleged to have worked in those old film vaults where the movies of yore were being stored. Many reels of old nitrate film were indeed rotting away, and many old movies were lost due to the heat inside the storage area. But at that time, the idea to preserve the large remainder of these movies was underway, thanks to guys like Roger Mayer. MGM had the biggest film library in the world, with over 5000 movies in storage.
Once upon a time, the only way you could see a movie - besides in the theater - was later on, on television. But with the idea of preserving films came the idea of releasing them to the public; hence the era of VHS in the early 1980s, and then DVDs about 20 years later.
Now, by preserving films, and making new print negatives, old films could be turned into VHS cassettes and later, DVDs. Then came companies like Criterion and Kino that were dedicated to complete restoration of old, classic films.
And now, film preservation is established on the same level as the preservation of great paintings in art galleries. Cinema is the Great Art Form of the 20th century, and the preservation of it's great works ensures that these films will be seen in pristine, or at the very least, good condition in the centuries to come.
Just like the Mona Lisa and classical music.
I was only at Metrocolor for three years, but I am proud to have worked there, and to have been on the MGM studio lot. It seems like another lifetime, but it will always be with me.
I Love You, Elizabeth. I will see you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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