The Shadow Cabaret

Some choice links to blogs and articles posted this month for lovers of classic Hollywood films:

Legendary talk show host Dick Cavett provides a straight-shooting reminiscence about a star-struck afternoon spent with John Wayne on the set of the Duke’s last movie, The Shootist.

TCM Movie Morlocks blogger “rhsmith” offers a fond look back at the inimitable and underrated Mantan Moreland, a comedian who outshone virtually every film in which he ever appeared.

The Frankensteinia blog features a profile of fey and menacing character actor Ernest Thesiger, who was just as creepy serving potatoes in The Old Dark House as he was recycling corpses in The Bride of Frankenstein.

Blogger “Rupert” ogles, fondles and reviews the lurid 1932 pre-Code sex-and-drugs melodrama Three on a Match.

In a series of posts, TV writer and popular blogger Mark Evanier tracks the search for a rumored unbilled appearance by Jack Benny in Casablanca. (The series begins here, continues here and wraps up – for the moment – here.) Crediting the findings and opinions of experts, amateur film buffs and even Benny’s daughter Joan, Evanier wisely leaves it up to readers to draw their own conclusions. At this point, the only time Bogey and the kid from Waukegan ever officially shared the screen would appear to be on a 1953 episode of Benny’s television series…but the jury’s still out.