The Ugly Bug Ball

MANOS: The Hands of Felt

Ugly Bug — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:14:33 +0000

One of the worst movies ever made, some say THE worst, is MANOS: The Hands of Fate (1966). Aficionados of bad cinema have embraced this ~~piece of~~ little gem and kept it from disappearing into obscurity. Well, some ~~sick~~ talented folks up in Seattle have put together a puppet show that combines the behind-the-scenes story of making the film with the movie itself, and they even added song and dance numbers! Since I can’t get up to Seattle to witness it in person, I’ve joined the Kickstarter campaign to make it into a film. Hey, for five dollars you get the download AND your name in the credits. (I’m really excited about that credit part.) Join in and become a ~~footnote~~ key player in the continuing evolution of the MANOS phenomenon. The Master will be so delighted. MANOS campaign on Kickstarter

Filed under: Movies, The Internet, Theatre, Videos Tagged: Kickstarter, MANOS: The Hands of Fate, puppets, Seattle

Barbara Stanwyck II

Ugly Bug — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:34:06 +0000

As promised, and long delayed, here are some more glamorous portraits of Barbara Stanwyck. As I was working on these, I couldn’t help wondering why we no longer see beautiful portraits of movie stars. How can we be satisfied with paparazzi shots of stars in sweatpants at the corner market? I don’t want to see beautiful people caught looking their worst. Bring back dazzle, photography as art, and great lighting!

Baby Face (1933)

The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

Lady of Burlesque (1943)

Paramount general publicity 1943

Filed under: Actors, Photography Tagged: Barbara Stanwyck, vintage photographs

TV Star Parade

Ugly Bug — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:57:56 +0000

A friend sent me a vintage fan magazine from July, 1963. She knows me so well! Every page is a treat, even the back pages, with ads for everything from toasters to suppositories. I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite articles and ads.

The cover features Connie Stevens and Donna Douglas

This issue doesn’t have any articles about my current favorite, Robert Fuller, but western actor James Drury gets a page.

This photo of Max Baer drinking eggnog (left) freaks me out.

Lists of stars from the past always fascinate me. I also love how all the photos are FREE, but be sure to include 10 cents for each one, to cover mailing and handling costs! I looked it up, and postage per ounce in 1963 was 5 cents. That means someone who ordered 25 prints was paying enough to ship over three pounds. Either the photos were really big, really heavy, or not very free after all. And yet, I wish I could still order some now.

More to come!

Filed under: Actors, Television Tagged: James Drury, Max Baer, vintage advertising, Vintage fan magazine

Elephant Dung Paper

Ugly Bug — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 03:02:38 +0000

I received a picture frame today from a friend in Italy, and it’s made from elephant dung! Seriously. Check out the label:

Here’s the frame, with a favorite Robert Fuller portrait:

It’s too much fun to say “elephant dung paper.” You can bet I’ll be working it into a lot of conversations…

Filed under: Real Life Tagged: elephant dung paper, recycled paper, unique gifts

My Big Hollywood Career

Ugly Bug — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 07:40:46 +0000

When I first began this blog, I wrote about being an extra for a location shoot here in San Francisco. It was for the TV series Party of Five. I was in London when “my” episode was broadcast, and the later seasons of the series have not yet been released on DVD. It’s taken fifteen years, but today I finally got to see my big moment onscreen. It’s season four, episode 6: Immediate Family, which aired on October 29, 1997. I walked behind Julia (Neve Campbell) and Griffin (Jeremy London) as they strolled through Alamo Square. Here’s the scene, followed by a slow motion clip of my walk through. I only know it’s me because of the hat I was wearing. Such exciting stuff!

Here’s the photo I took of my friend and Jeremy London at the Legion of Honor the day before, where we watched another scene being filmed. That night in Alamo Square, once we were done filming, we got London to autograph her copy of the photo. We didn’t want to bother him too much, so mine isn’t signed.

So, my Hollywood career ended almost as soon as it began, with a couple of seconds of actual screen time in a dimly lit park on a chilly San Francisco night. It was fun while it lasted.

Filed under: Actors, Television, Videos Tagged: Alamo Square, film extra, Jeremy London, location shoot, Party Of Five, San Francisco

Johnny Tremain

Ugly Bug — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:56:00 +0000

When I was a kid, I adored the Disney movie Johnny Tremain (1957), as well as the book by Esther Forbes. I recently watched the film again to see how it held up. Hal Stalmaster (Johnny) and Richard Beymer (Rab) look achingly young to me now, and the pancake makeup of the period is very obvious on a modern screen. Still, watching the movie brought back lots of memories, and it was fun to make screencaptures. Since these days everything seems to relate the western Laramie, I have to mention that Luana Patten (Priscilla) was later married to John Smith.

Click on any image to scroll through.

Filed under: Actors, Movies Tagged: Hal Stalmaster, John Smith, Johnny Tremain, Luana Patten, Richard Beymer, Sebastian Cabot

A Laramie Christmas

Ugly Bug — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 19:52:24 +0000

I had to wait to share this, one of my best Christmas gifts this year. My friend was making them for others, so I didn’t want to spoil their surprise. It’s a Laramie Christmas ornament. I like it so much, I’m not going to be putting it away in storage for the year. Poor Jonesy had to be left out to squeeze me in, but I love that my stocking is hanging next to Jess’s stocking!

For those who haven’t been paying attention, Laramie (1959-63) is a television western that I love.

Filed under: Television Tagged: Christmas, Christmas gifts, Laramie

My Year End Wrap Up 2012

Ugly Bug — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:40:30 +0000

Another year has slipped away, and here I sit, reflecting back on what entertained me in 2012. I always start my wrap up by going back to the beginning of the year, to see how my interests have changed. I began the year dividing my time between British stuff and vintage television shows…and that’s exactly where I find myself now. Only the faces have changed!

Best Books: Might as well get the embarrassment out of the way first. Normally I read a couple of books a week, but I went 8 months out of the last 12 without finishing a single book! Oh, the shame. I could blame my eyes, since I need new glasses, but the real truth is that I spend too much time online. Making videos has also sucked up my reading time, but that’s for another category. Of the small selection of books read this year, I really enjoyed Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim. (More about Arngrim’s book in an upcoming post.) The biggest disappointment was Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.

Best Television: My television is usually always tuned to either Me-TV or CBS, except on Sunday night, when I watch Masterpiece on PBS. I still enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but I do think it’s losing something from having too many separate storylines, with the characters spending less time gathered in the same living room. More characters means less screen time for favorites Sheldon and Raj. I discovered Leverage in reruns just as the show got cancelled, but at least I have five seasons to explore further. Since September, I’ve been enjoying reruns of Emergency! on Me-TV. Another season of Sherlock brought more delight, as well as more Inspector Lewis. Thanks to a friend, I’m now back to enjoying EastEnders, the British serial drama, and already my life wouldn’t be complete without weekly visits to Albert Square. This year’s favorite program was Call the Midwife, featuring new favorite Miranda Hart as the wonderful Chummy. I can’t wait for more of this series!

Best Twitter: I’m very picky about twitter. Too much shameless self-promotion? Unfollow. Too many retweets? Unfollow. Too many conversations that should be private? Unfollow. No sense of humor? I shouldn’t have been following in the first place! I enjoy humor, whimsy, and folks who don’t take themselves too seriously. The most consistently entertaining tweets this year have come from Josh Groban. I’ve also enjoyed following Russell Tovey. I can count on a friend to share the best of Demetri Martin and The Onion, so I guess they count, too!

Best Theatre: Oops. Didn’t see any. Never mind.

Best Movies: I had good luck with the movies I saw in the cinema this year. Mind you, I still haven’t seen three of the four films I was most looking forward to in 2012, so they will have to wait until 2013! The Avengers was terrific, and I also enjoyed Life of Pi. The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t a favorite, but Tom Conti and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made it worthwhile for me. I saw my first 3D movie, John Carter, but I’m not a fan of the technology. It was a great year for silents: Napoleon was stunning, and I also saw three films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with The Canadian (1926) making the deepest impression. Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan had an entertaining beginning and middle, but I was disappointed by the third act. The best new film I saw in 2012 was Argo.

Best DVDs: I spent six months of this year with Wagon Train at the top of my Netflix queue. They never sent me any on the discs, and my queue always said “short wait.” I could have bought the DVDs for the money I spent on my Netflix plan, especially since I wasn’t watching the discs they sent me instead. I cancelled my account. This means I can’t go look at my history for this year to review, but this an easy category. The best DVDs of my year have been the classic television western Laramie, particularly seasons one and two. When I’m not watching the episodes again and again, I’m making tribute videos and posting them on YouTube. I now have more YouTube followers than blog followers! Which leads me to a new category…

Best Time-Sucker-Upper: Call it a hobby, a passion, an obsession, a skill or an art. But this year I started making videos, and now I can’t stop. I’d been making slideshows using still images at animoto.com, and this summer I tried using their template program for short video clips. It was okay, but I didn’t like their wide border which wasted space, so it forced me to try Windows Movie Maker. I had no idea it would be so much fun! My Laramie tribute videos aren’t very interesting to people who aren’t fans of the series, but I’m proud of my channel and grateful for all my followers.

Best Music: Mostly I’ve listened to older stuff this year. When Davy Jones died, I started listening to lots of the Monkees. I love Gaelic Storm’s album How Are We Getting Home? (2004), discovered in a stack of my own CDs that I never got around to hearing. I’m definitely going to listen to more of this group in 2013. I’ve also been enjoying lots of Kate Rusby. One of my favorite new old songs is “Can’t Turn My Heart Away” by Art Garfunkel. I’m still enjoying The Book of Mormon Broadway soundtrack, but I learned the hard way not to listen to it in public. Even with earphones, you look like a nutter snickering at the lyrics.

Best Music Video: My choices are never conventional, but that’s what you get for taking musical advice from me! Here’s my favorite:

Never mind that it was uploaded in 2008. It’s still the most adorable video I’ve seen on YouTube this year! If you don’t know it, this is India’s national anthem.

Best New-To-Me Software: Handbrake for ripping DVDs, and Google Talk for saving me a fortune on phone bills. I chat now with friends around the world, without the complications of installing Skype, and no webcam to show everyone how hideous I look through a fisheye lens.

Entertainer of the Year: Honorable Mention this year goes to Miranda Hart. I discovered her in Call the Midwife, and now I’m enjoying her comedy on YouTube and her BBC series Miranda. The winner is an easy choice. In April, I purchased season one of Laramie on DVD, and by the end of May, I was a member of Robert Fuller’s official fan group. While my favorite role is Jess Harper in Laramie, I’ve been enjoying Wagon Train, Emergency!, and all of Fuller’s other television shows and movies. I’ve spent hours chatting with other fans, making tribute videos and collages, and searching ebay for vintage photos. For so much entertainment in so many different ways, Robert Fuller is my Entertainer of the Year. Thank you, Mr. Fuller!

Robert Fuller in Laramie

Filed under: Actors, Literature, Movies, Music, Television, The Internet, Videos Tagged: Argo, Call the Midwife, Jess Harper, Laramie, Life of Pi, Miranda Hart, Robert Fuller, Sherlock, The Avengers, YouTube

Merry Christmas 2012

Ugly Bug — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:07:07 +0000

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! It’s been a strange December, with the flu bug keeping from many of my usual holiday activities. At least I’ve got the BBC to keep me entertained, with EastEnders, Doctor Who, and Call the Midwife. Even though I’m in San Francisco, my television schedule is taking me to London, especially the East End. It seems appropriate to post a photo of my uncle in his home in Spitalfields. He passed away two days after Christmas the same year this was taken, so my thoughts are always with him at this time. He kept Christmas well, and his spirit continues to brighten my holiday.

Dennis Severs in April, 1999

On the Stairs of No. 18 Folgate Street

(Click on photo for sharper version)

Filed under: Photography Tagged: 18 Folgate Street, Dennis Severs, London, Spitalfields

Portraits of Barbara Stanwyck

Ugly Bug — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 20:09:05 +0000

I recently watched the PBS documentary Pioneers of Television: Westerns, and I was struck by what Linda Evans said about Barbara Stanwyck, her co-star on The Big Valley. I didn’t know she was one of the nicest people in Hollywood, taking the time to get to know all the crew members and really enjoying herself on set. This led me to check out the book Starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck by Ella Smith from my local library. I haven’t read much of the text, because the portraits in the book are too wonderful. This book is now out of print, but here are some of those images, with more to come. Perhaps it’s a cheat, to fill my blog pages, but what a great way to cheat!

With Joel McCrea in Internes Can’t Take Money

Columbia general publicity 1930

Stella Dallas

Breakfast for Two

Filed under: Actors, Movies, Photography Tagged: Barbara Stanwyck, The Big Valley, vintage photos