[Speed Gibson,
Saturday December 29, 2007 at 12:43am]
Actors Guild
It's good having some time off. I watched some excellent acting, starting with Disk 2 of the AWA Wrestling DVD set I received for Christmas. This was about a dozen matches with many old denizens from the Sixth Street Menagerie as sportswriter Dick Cullum would refer to it. This was the old Dykeman Hotel, home of the offices of the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club (i.e., Vern Gagne and Wally Karbo).
Let me tell you something, Jack! There was plenty of footage of Jesse Ventura, getting mauled by Mad Dog Vachon and others, and always annoyed whenever he had to wrestle in Turkey Town.
***
I also took a chance on "Detective Story" from 1951 starring Kirk Douglas and a wonderful cast including Eleanor Parker before she played the Baroness on The Sound of Music (I can still here the audiences hissing). Cathy O'Donnell again plays the penultimate "girl next door" like she did in The Best Years of Our Lives as Wilma. I also spotted Dr. No, no not Phil Krinke, the real one - Joseph Wiseman. Plus for me, there are some familiar voices from old time radio, including William Bendix (The Life of Riley), Luis van Rooten (Nero Wolfe), and Gerald Mohr (Phillip Marlowe).
In fact, there's a brief Kennedy-Nixon debate-like moment where Gerald Mohr confronts Kirk Douglas. On radio, no question Mohr would be judged the tougher, but on screen his baby face looks gave the chiseled Douglas the clear edge.
Anyway, it's a solid, enjoyable adaptation of a good, adult Broadway play, portraying a day at a New York City police station.
Let me tell you something, Jack! There was plenty of footage of Jesse Ventura, getting mauled by Mad Dog Vachon and others, and always annoyed whenever he had to wrestle in Turkey Town.
***
I also took a chance on "Detective Story" from 1951 starring Kirk Douglas and a wonderful cast including Eleanor Parker before she played the Baroness on The Sound of Music (I can still here the audiences hissing). Cathy O'Donnell again plays the penultimate "girl next door" like she did in The Best Years of Our Lives as Wilma. I also spotted Dr. No, no not Phil Krinke, the real one - Joseph Wiseman. Plus for me, there are some familiar voices from old time radio, including William Bendix (The Life of Riley), Luis van Rooten (Nero Wolfe), and Gerald Mohr (Phillip Marlowe).
In fact, there's a brief Kennedy-Nixon debate-like moment where Gerald Mohr confronts Kirk Douglas. On radio, no question Mohr would be judged the tougher, but on screen his baby face looks gave the chiseled Douglas the clear edge.
Anyway, it's a solid, enjoyable adaptation of a good, adult Broadway play, portraying a day at a New York City police station.