#robert alda

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Robert Alda with his son Alan 💕

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The Man I Love (1946) Raoul Walsh

December 15th 2024

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Nora Prentiss is a 1947 American film noir starring Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett, and Robert Alda.

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The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) - Italian Poster

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Robert Florey - The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)

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Be sure to check out our TV listings page to see all the noirs playing this month on TCM!

Monday, July 10, 3:00 AM

THE MAN I LOVE (1947): In this rather soapy noir, singer Petey Brown (Ida Lupino) lands a job at small-time-hood Nicky Toresca's (Robert Alda) nightclub while visiting her two sisters and brother, all of whom are in a rather remarkable amount of trouble, romantic and otherwise. While evading Toresca's unwanted advances, she falls for an ex-jazz pianist San Thomas (Bruce Bennett), who still carries a torch for his ex-wife. Will Sand start a new life with the songbird or run off to sea. Dir. Raoul Walsh

[variousqueerthings]

there’s a bit in alan alda’s memoir about writing/shooting “lend a hand” and I feel somewhat less weird about the episode now I know he and his dad actually did have a good relationship that was just somewhat hampered by [insert details about the awkwardness of having a parent who’s trying their best and doesn’t always succeed opposite the kid who’s competitively trying to “be better” in a bunch of different personal and professional ways]

also apparently the operating with one hand each was his dad’s idea and he thought it was “corny,” but really enjoyed the actual shooting, and yeah it was definitely a form of therapy (”it was as though the scene were a wish on his part and a gentle nudge to us both...”) 

and it is corny, but it’s nice to know that it was a loving experience on their part and not what I first wondered, which was whether they’d been dragging each other to this point while fighting tooth and nail

I probably won’t watch any of the scenes again, because I still feel like I’m intruding on something very personal, but glad it was good

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Robert Alda-Alexis Smith "Rapsodia en azul" (Rhapsody in blue) 1945, de Irving Rapper.

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Robert Alda (February 26, 1914 – May 3, 1986)

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Cloak and Dagger (1946) Fritz Lang

February 11th 2023

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The Devil's Hand (1961)

My rating: 4/10

Those durn dirty ethnic types with their devil worship and their voodoo barbies... though of course they still have to have a white guy in a suit in charge, I mean, can you even imagine?

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCY & THE WRITERS!

The Wordsmiths of the Lucyverse

Whether Lucy was the writer, or one of the various characters in her universe, the creative output always made us laugh! Novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, journalists, composers, and columnists were all part of the Lucyverse.

"Liz Writes a Song” (1949)

Liz Cooper (Lucille Ball) is convinced that she is a musical talent, but when a music professor (Hans Conried) tells her she'll never be a singer, she decides to take up songwriting instead! 

LIZ: “Carrie Jacobs Cooper writes again!” 

Carrie Jacobs-Bond (1862-1946) was a songwriter who composed some 175 pieces of popular music from the 1890s through the early 1940s. She is perhaps best remembered for writing the parlor song "I Love You Truly", becoming the first woman to sell one million copies of a song.  

“Lucy Writes a Play” (1952)

Lucy writes a play set in Cuba for Ricky to star in, but he refuses the part. She changes her play from Cuba to England and has Fred take Ricky's spot. Once Ricky learns a famous producer will be in the audience, he decides to surprise Lucy and appear in the play, but he has the wrong script. 

Ricky sarcastically calls Lucy “Mrs. Shakespeare.”  Her first play is titled “A Tree Grows in Havana” and the revised version is titled “The Perils of Pamela”. 

“The Publicity Agent” (1952)

Peter Leeds plays the newspaper reporter who asks the Scheherazade, Maharincess of Franistan. 

LEEDS: “Would Her Highness answer a few questions for the press?” LUCY: “Yes.”  LEEDS: “Good. Your highness, is it true that Ricky Ricardo is your favorite vocalist?” LUCY: “Yes.” LEEDS: “Do you like any other American performers?” LUCY: “No.” LEEDS: “Now, let me see if I have this straight... You've never seen Ricky Ricardo in person, you first heard his records two years ago and you fell in love with his voice and decided to come to America to see him. Your father didn't approve, but you came anyway and you can hardly wait to hear him sing. Is that right?” LUCY: “Yes, no, yes, yes, yes, no and yes.” LEEDS: “I see. Now about the political situation in Franistan ---”

“The Operetta” (1952)

The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League is putting on an operetta and Lucy decides to write the show herself!  Needless to say, Ricky and the Mertzes are in the cast as well. The final script is “The Pleasant Peasant” by Ethel 'Romberg' and Lucy 'Friml' and starring 'John Charles' Ricardo. In reality, the songs were written by series composer Eliot Daniel, who wrote the show's theme song.

“Ricky Has Labor Pains” (1953)

To crash Ricky’s ‘daddy shower’ (aka stag party), Lucy and Ethel disguise themselves as Sam and Fred, reporters for the New York Herald Times Tribune, a mash-up of several real New York dailies.

“Lucy Writes a Novel” (1954)

Hearing that a housewife got $10,000 for writing a book, Lucy decides to become a novelist. Much to the chagrin of Ricky, Fred and Ethel, her subject will be a thinly disguised (and outrageously romanticized) version of her own life titled “Real Gone With The Wind”. 

LUCY: “You'll get no more books from me, so go watch television!”

“Fan Magazine Interview” (1954)

Magazine journalist Eleanor Harris doing a feature story on the Ricardo marriage, at the same time that Ricky's agent concocts a publicity scheme inviting women on the Tropicana mailing list to a phony date. 

Eleanor Harris (played by Joan Banks) was the name of a real magazine writer who wrote about Lucy and Desi as early as 1940. She also authored a book titled The Real Story of Lucille Ball published about the same time this episode was first aired.

“Ethel’s Hometown” (1955)

The last stop before Hollywood is Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ethel’s hometown, where she is given the star treatment instead of Ricky. Billy Hackett (Chick Chandler), editor of the Chronicle, is doing a story on Ethel Mae to herald her return on her way to Hollywood. 

“Bullfight Dance” (1955)

Lucy is asked to write an article for Photoplay Magazine about what it’s like to be married to Ricky. Lucy keeps the contents of the article secret until she’s given a plum role in his latest show. 

“The Hedda Hopper Story” (1955) / “Lucy Takes a Cruise to Havana” (1957) 

Both episodes featured Elda Furry, a film actress who turned gossip columnist and renamed herself Hedda Hopper (1985-1966). She was the go-to source for what was going on in the personal and business relationships of Tinseltown. 

She supported Lucy and Desi throughout their careers and they repaid them with these special appearance, as well as mentioning her name in several other episodes. Hopper was recognizable for her elaborate headgear.

“Homecoming” (1956)

Recently returned from Hollywood, Lucy is interviewed by gossip columnist Nancy Graham (played by Elvia Allman) about life as wife to a famous movie star (aka Ricky). The character is probably a tribute to Sheilah Graham, who was an English-born Hollywood journalist. Along with Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, Graham wielded sufficient power to make or break Hollywood careers – prompting her to to say that she was "the last of the unholy trio."

“Milton Berle Hides Out at the Ricardos” (1959)

Milton Berle appears here in the capacity of a published author, promoting his first (and only) novel, Earthquake written with John Roeburt. 

Berle had previously written the joke books Laughingly Yours in 1938 and Out of My Trunk in 1948. He wrote his autobiography in 1974 with help from Haskel Frankel. His last book was a 1987 collection of sketches and reminiscences titled B.S. I Love You. 

“Lucy Becomes a Reporter” (1963)

After just three days as the fill-in society reporter for the Danfield newspaper, Lucy’s job is hanging by a thread. The only thing that will save it is an interview with a press-shy financier visiting town.   

 Mr. Foley, the Tribune’s editor, refers to Lucy as Brenda Starr. Brenda Starr is the lead character in a comic strip about an adventurous female reporter. It debuted in 1940. Like Lucy, she had red hair.  Lucy says that she was called ‘Clare Boothe Lucy’ in high school, a pun on Clare Boothe Luce (1903-87), who was a writer and journalist in her own right, in addition to being married to Henry Luce, a powerful publishing magnate in the magazine industry.  Viv calls Lucy ‘Louella’ a reference to gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Lucy later invokes the name of Parsons’ chief rival, Hedda Hopper, another chronicler of Hollywood during the mid-twentieth century.

Critic’s Choice (1963)

Lucille Ball and Bob Hope play husband and wife theatre critics in the film based on the 1960 Broadway play of the same name written by Ira Levin.

“Lucy and the Soap Opera” (1966)

Curious to find out how “Camden Cove,” her favorite soap opera, will turn out, Lucy disguises herself in a number of outrageous get-ups to gain access to the show’s reclusive writer Peter Shannon (Jan Murray). When her efforts fail, she gets herself cast as an extra for a taping of the soap. 

“Lucy and Eva Gabor” (1968)

The author of a controversial novel (Eva Gabor) is in town and needs a quiet place to work so Harry volunteers Lucy's home. Naturally, it is anything but peaceful and far from quiet.  

Eva Von Graunitz (Gabor) is writing a follow-up novel to her successful “Valley of the Puppets”, a title that parodies Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (1966). 

“Lucy the Co-Ed” (1970)

Harry's old flame Gloria (Marilyn Maxwell) is in town to help produce a musical for their college alumni. They resurrect a show Harry wrote in 1928 and cast Lucy, Kim, and Craig in supporting roles. It was written by Harry during his senior year there in 1928. Previous episodes have stated that Harry both performed and wrote shows while in college. The title of his musical is “It's Always Do-Wacka-Do at Bullwinkle U”!

“Tipsy Through the Tulips” (1972)

Lucy is in charge of keeping a mystery novelist (Foster Brooks) sober long enough to finish his next book.  The book David Benton Miller dictates to Lucy is titled “The Killer Wore Wodden Shoes,” a murder mystery set in Holland. 

“Lucy and the Professor” (1973)

Lucy thinks Kim is interested in one of her college professors. She mistakenly believes it is Professor Dietrich (Murray Matheson), author of the best-selling book Sex and the College Girl. It is actually her much younger music professor John Kleindorf (John Davidson). 

“Lucy Goes on Her Last Blind Date” (1973)

Lucy dates eccentric Ben (Don Knotts) who is a prize-winning writer of verses for greeting cards!