I just won an award!

Kiki over at A Rockabilly View has bestowed on me a Stylish Blogger Award!! I didn't think that this blog had a lot of style but hell, I'll take it. There are a few rules that go along with this award:

1)Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2)Share 7 things about yourself
3)Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers.
4)Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award ***SORRY, AIN'T DOING THIS ONE***

So, I guess I should get on with it, eh? Here's 7 things maybe most people don't know about me:

1. I played hockey from the age of 5 up until I was 37.

2. I only like 2 flavors of ice cream: strawberry & to a much lesser extant, vanilla.

3. My other passion is photography. Check out some of my pics here: www.louiedespres.com

4. The Beatles are my favorite band of all time.

5. I am currently try to get my own business off the ground : the Ware River Pet Company

6. I am a recovering record collector who realizes that I should not let record buying take over my life.

7. I like cheap beer best. High Life, PBR, 'Gansett, Utica Club, it's all good!

As for the recent blogs I have found, there isn't too manythat deserve much of a mention but my friend Kylie has one named Confessions of a Pollyana that's a good read.

My buddy Brian continues with the adventures of "Laurel" at Sunday on the Block With Laurel.

You can read and see what all the hype on photographer Vivian Maier is all about at Vivian Maier - Her Discovered Work.

The city I live in has one of the premier research facilities in the world, the American Antiquarian Society. Their blog is great if you love the history of printed items, Past Is Present.

and finally another good friend is artist Derek Ring. He's constantly working on new work and keeps the public up to date at his FIRE_BAD blog. You can also see and buy some of his designs here!

Again, THANK YOU Kiki, I feel special!!!

Miriam Seegar 1907-2011

One of the few remaining links to El Brendel's film work in the early 30's had died. Miriam Seegar, who appeared with El in the "Movietone Follies of 1930", passed away on January 2nd at her home in Pasadena. I tried to contact her last year to see if I could get any information on El but was informed by her daughter-in-law that she was very frail and could not respond.


Here is her obit from the L.A. Times:

Miriam Seegar Whelan
Actress became an interior designer

Miriam Seegar Whelan, 103, an actress from the early days of talking films who was married to director Tim Whelan, died Sunday of age-related causes at her home in Pasadena, said her daughter-in-law Harriet Whelan.

After her acting career ended, Whelan became an interior designer in Los Angeles.

She was born Sept. 1, 1907, in Greentown, Ind., where she and her sisters enjoyed play-acting as children. In her teens she joined a traveling group of stage performers in the Midwest and New York. She eventually made her way to London and starred opposite Ernest Truex in a West End production of "Crime."

She began appearing in British films in the late 1920s, earning top billing in "Valley of the Ghosts" (1928). She met her future husband on the set of "When Knights Were Bold," a 1929 film he directed.

After the couple returned to the United States, she starred in such Hollywood films as the 1930 romantic comedy "What a Man," the 1930 western "The Dawn Trail" and the 1932 crime drama "Out of Singapore."

She left acting to raise the two sons she had with Whelan. He died in 1957.

Mirian and William Collier, Jr. in "Movietone Follies of 1930"

glass slides kick off 2011!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Sliding into 2011, what better way to start off than posting stuff I really didn't have to use my brain for. Seeing as I haven't posted any glass slides since May of 2010 and inspired by a discussion over at the Nitrateville forum, I decided to post a mixture of silent and sound titles to kick the year off right:

Goodbye 2010!!!!

Signing off for a few days but just wanted to wish all my readers a happy and healthy New Year!! See you back in 2011 for some more new on the El Brendel front as well as Sexy Time Saturday and other stuff!!

here's "Father Time" El Brendel being told to BEAT IT by "Baby New Year" Marjorie White

Happy Holidays from G.M.T.G.O.D.!!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe Xmas holiday weekend! I will be back next week with a new update, so until then followers...........

El signing his name to other stars Christmas cards. Wonder where THOSE are now!

NO "Sunny Side Up" restoration on TCM

I just started watching "Sunny Side Up" on TCM and can say without reservation this is NOT the restoration by MoMA and Film Foundation. It does look better than the VHS copy that has been circulating for years, but this is probably an older master Fox pulled out of mothballs for this "premier". BOO!

El kicks TCM's ass Tueday night!!!!

Yes, kiddies, this Tuesday night, December 21st, at 8:00PM (EST), Turner Classic Movies will make the television premier of the new restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation of 1929's "Sunny Side Up"! This film was one of El Brendel's breakthrough talkie roles and made him one of the most popular comedy stars of the early 30's, it also happens to be one of my personal favorites. Everyone should catch it if not for the wonderful leading roles by Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, but for the AMAZING "Turn on the Heat" dance sequence. I could go on and on about this film (an I will in the future!), but check it out for yourself and enjoy! Here are some scenes from the movie to whet your appetite:


****UPDATE: OMG, if ANYONE can record this on DVD for me I would be much appreciative, my TV where I record died last night and it looks like we won't be getting a new one before Tuesday. HELP!!****