SAD FAREWELL - Danielle Spencer Fondly remembered as the wise-cracking Dee on TV's What's Happening, Ms. Spencer has died from cancer at the age of 60. Too young. RIP

I asked my daughter to give me a phone book. She laughed at me, called me a boomer and lent me her iPhone. So, now the spider is dead, her iPhone is broken & my daughter is furious…

BIRTHDAY SALUTE - Robert Woolsey I am current writing a book on the unfairly forgotten movie and vaudeville comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey. Bob's wisecracks were corny, hilarious, and often risque. This project has given me a deeper appreciation of Bert and Bob.

BIRTHDAY SALUTE - Huntz Hall I love The Bowery Boys and drew this pic of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall several years ago. Huntz was born on this date. Probably the funniest guy in the act, he was also a fine dramatic actor (check out A Walk in the Sun).

Watching an old DICK VAN DYKE SHOW with Godfrey Cambridge as the guest star. I forgot how funny he was. Makes me miss him. He passed away far too young. My friend Emil Sitka worked with him in the movie WATERMELON MAN and said he was a delight.

SAD FAREWELL - Terrence Stamp Amazing in Billy Budd, Far From the Maddening Crowd, the first two Superman movies with Christopher Reeve, and don't forget Priscilla Queen of the Desert (among many others). Mr Stamp was 87 years old. RIP

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance looking elegant for "The Adventurer" (1917).

On this date - Aug 19 1977 we lost Groucho Marx, one of the funniest people ever. Elvis died days earlier, and since Groucho was old & in poor health, his passing was given less press. But we continue to celebrate his great humor. RIP. Here's a cartoon I drew a few years ago.

Actress Hedy Lamarr and actor Frank Morgan attend a picnic on Catalina Island off the coast of California hosted by director John Ford in 1939.

Guillermo del Toro refused to make #Frankenstein with too much visual effects and green screens: "I want real sets." "I don’t want digital. I don’t want AI. I don’t want simulation. I want old-fashioned craftsmanship. I want people painting, building, hammering, plastering."

There is a "four movies you hate" thing going around. I thought about it and honestly I don't "hate" any movie. Many I thought were bad, many I don't want to watch again, but "hate"? Nope, can't go that far.

There's one going around about film titles using onomatopoeia in the title. Here's mine:

OK my best films of the 30s 30 The Big House 31 Five Star Final 32 Horse Feathers 33 42nd Street 34 It Happened One Night 35 Bride of Frankenstein 36 Modern Times 37 Way Out West 38 Angels With Dirty Faces 39 Stagecoach

AND....DONE I finished writing my book The Wheeler and Woolsey Films for BearManor Media. Should be out later this Fall. When writing a book you get very close to your subject. I always liked Wheeler and Woolsey and now I really appreciate them at the highest level. Stay tuned.

Seached for my reading glasses for ten minutes and they were on my head. So, I have officially reached Fred Mertz level.

Elvis Costello

FIRST TIME MOVIES IN AUGUST (alphabetical) New-to-me silent: The Way of the Strong They were right, it's bad: The Conqueror Amusing throwback: Where the Boys Are Average new movies: Naked Gun, Freakier Friday also a couple of 1940s Clark Gables and a fistful of random westerns.

Foghorn Leghorn debuted 79 years ago in the 1846 cartoon Walky Talky Hawky. When I was a little kid I read his name as Foreign Legion, and 65 years later I still purposely call him that. 😆

This new project suddenly happened. Still going to write The Films of Humphrey Bogart next, but first going to put this idea together.