by Pastor Rodriguez | Feb 28, 2020
“Cats and rabbits would reside in happy little houses,
and be dressed in shoes and hats and trousers,
in a world of my own.”
200 years ago today, on 2/28/1820, Sir John Tenniel was born. He’d eventually give birth to the adventures and characters of the classic “Alice In Wonderland”.
Before he wrote it there was no Alice, or March Hare, or Queen Of Hearts. A world without such treasures? Not without Sir John Tenniel.
A very merry unbirthday, I mean birthday, to you, you very imaginative man. Without you the illogic would be illogical.
“I could listen to a babbling brook,
and hear a song that I could understand.
I keep wishing it could be that way,
because my world would be a wonderland.
by Pastor Rodriguez | Feb 25, 2020
40 years ago today, on 2/3/79, Walt Disney Productions’ classic “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” concluded on “Disney’s Wonderful World”, having begun the previous Sunday, the third and last network showing of the 1970 comedy.
Student Dexter Riley (Kurt Russell) is jolted by the current of a computer at Medfield College, and the middling student becomes a boy genius, with his college Dean Higgins (Joe Flynn) desperately trying to keep him at the school, and gangster AJ Arno (Cesar Romero) trying to stop him because of the unwitting information he’s absorbed about Arno’s criminal operation from the computer memory banks.
A wonderful cast enlivens this quiet, more moderate comedy, originally made for television but released theatrically, garnering two wonderful sequels “Now You See Him Now You Don’t” and “The Strongest Man In The World”. All three films would end up being shown three times on network television, at least one time in a two-hour format for each film (all three for “Strongest”).
“The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes” is one of the most important comedies of the Disney studio in the 1970s, making a movie star of Kurt Russell, his first leading role, and leading to some wonderful films that are total delights.
“The computer wore tennis shoes had a twinkle in his eye.”
by Pastor Rodriguez | Feb 25, 2020
“Those two kids are witches!”
40 years ago today, on 2/17/80, Walt Disney Productions’ classic about two young space travelers who have to try to return to their own world, “Escape To Witch Mountain” came to television for the first time in a special 2-hour presentation on “Disney’s Wonderful World” on NBC.
Tony and Tia are kids with supernatural powers from another world, who’s powers are attempted to be harnessed by evil millionaire Aristotle Bolt and his assistant Deranian. They have to escape, and encounter a friend in Jason O’Dea, who lives out of his Winnebago, but they will be hunted down by Bolt and the bounty he has put on their return. The chase is on.
The 1975 film stars Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Ike Eisenmann as Tony, and Kim Richards as Tia, in a supernatural thriller unlike any Disney movie made before. This family friendly, but still rather tense action film was produced by Jerome Courtland and directed by John Hough.
It would return to NBC later that same year shown again in two hours on 10/12/80, and then in two parts on CBS on 12/19/81 and 12/26/81. It would have a sequel in 1978 “Return From Witch Mountain”, and a TV follow-up “Beyond Witch Mountain”.
“Escape To Witch Mountain” is an exciting, and eventually rather touching film, one of the most successful Disney films of the 1970s.
“Well they’re home now.”
by Pastor Rodriguez | Feb 25, 2020
“We’ve got a fire here!”
40 years ago Irwin Allen’s classic “The Towering Inferno” came to NBC for the first time on television.
The Titanic of a great big multi-storied building is given its inaugural opening, only for a fire to break out, and people be trapped in high rise floors without a means of escape.
It has an all-star cast:
Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, Richard Chamberlin, Robert Wagner, Susan Blakely, OJ Simpson, and Robert Vaughn. As in “The Poseidon Adventure”: Who will survive?
The 1974 disaster epic was expanded from its theatrical running time of 165 minutes by adding about 20 minutes worth of footage not seen in the original release. It was presented over two nights in two 2-hour blocks on Sunday 2/17/80 (following the premiere of Walt Disney Productions’ “Escape To Witch Mountain”), and the conclusion on Monday 2/18/80. In a move that was VERY rare at the time the film was repeated only 3 months later in May of 1980, again in two parts.
(more…)
by Pastor Rodriguez | Feb 21, 2020
“Well that’s one thing about luck: it always changes, and I’ve got a feeling that mine is just around the corner.”
40 years ago today, on 2/24/80, Walt Disney Productions’ comedy classic “The Apple Dumpling Gang” returned to television.
A gambler (Bill Bixby) with little luck thinks he’s struck gold when he believes he’s double crossed someone (Don Knight) who’s double crossed him before, supposedly temporarily picking up some “valuables” on the morning stage. That stage has three little orphans (Clay O’Brien, Brad Savage and Stacy Manning), the “valuables”, and the driver (Susan Clark) and her father (David Wayne) agree with the Sheriff (Harry Morgan) that he has to find a home for them, or he’ll go to jail. Along the way the kids find a huge piece of gold in a mine, and now everyone wants the kids, including some bumbling crooks (Don Knotts and Tim Conway), and some dangerous ones (Slim Pickens, Dennis Fimple, Bing Russell and Pepe Callahan).
The film was produced by Ron Miller and directed by Disney veteran Norman Tokar. The music score was written by Buddy Baker, adding immeasurably to the joys of the film.
The 1975 delight first came to television on 11/14/76, and this was its second network showing, also in a two-hour format. It would be repeated again later that same year on 11/2/80, again in two-hours, the last time on the original anthology show.
“The Apple Dumpling Gang” may be the most important movie in my life, it making me want to see more movies, having only wanted to see a few before. The impact this one made on me made me want to see more films, especially Disney, the title song alone being something that I heard endlessly, having taken a tape recorder to the theater, and hearing the opening and ending repeatedly for years before I finally recorded it on video on 2/24/80. That song, written by Shane Tatem and sung by Randy Sparks with The Back Porch Majority, is what made me love movies most of all, the music and song it could include to enliven the story. The impact is unforgettable.
The great cast, the wonderful script, and the great music with song make “The Apple Dumpling Gang” an all-time classic.
“Mr. Donovan: I gotta go”
“And they called them The Apple Dumpling Gang.”
