Monday, December 12, 2011

The True Gift of Christmas

A christmas on ice special i videotaped 23 years ago....

A special that chronicles a young boy's magical journey through time and legend to discover the true meaning of Christmas. This fantasy on ice features major international skating stars portraying the legends, magic, music, folklore, and Christmas traditions of England, Germany, Holland, and Russia.

Martha Gibson -Befana
Eric Hebert - Chris

Toller Cranston
Robin Cousins
Norbert Schramm
Kitty Carruthers
Peter Carruthers
Simone Grigorescu
Shelley MacLeod
John Rait
Jojo Starbuck
Ken Shelley









Monday, November 7, 2011

Charters and Caldicott pts 6-10

Charters and Caldicott starred Robin Bailey as Charters and Michael Aldridge as Caldicott, with Caroline Blakiston as Margaret Mottram.

In the US, it aired on Mystery! introduced by Vincent Price.











14 for more parts to go!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Charters and Caldicott

Starring Robin Bailey and Michael Aldridge. At Youtube in 23 parts.

Here's the first 5 parts









Friday, July 22, 2011

John Sutton in The Adventures of Casanova

This 1948 movie starred Arturo de Cordova as Casanova, along with Turhan Bey and John Sutton.

They changed his character - instead of a lover, he's also an Italian "Zorro" - returning to his home to fight against the invaders, in this case the villainous Comte de Brissac played by John Sutton. Sutton of course steals the films, in his all-too-few scenes.

The actor who plays Bernardo is Fritz Leiber, the father of Fritz Leiber Jr., the science fiction writer. [Leiber Jr, wrote a funny (albeit confessional) story entitled "237 Talking Statues, etc.", inspired by his difficult relationship with his father, in which Francis LeGrand II is confronted by the statues and paintings of the title, all self-portraits of his father in various roles, with which he discusses his relationship with his father.]

(Sorry it's in so many parts but my laptop was behaving very badly while I was doing this).

















Saturday, July 2, 2011

Simon Lack in The Apple Cart

Way back in 1975, I was in England for the second time, along with my family. I was 14. They all had gone off somewhere, leaving me in the hotel room. I can't remember why...mebbe i wasn't feeling well, but while there I watched The Apple Cart, starring Nigel Davenport. And I liked it. 40 years later I remember that - I don't remember why I liked it, I just did. (Apart from the fact that Davenport was very slim and trim and commanding!)

Anyway...The Apple Cart was reminded to me last year when I did my research into Simon Lack's ouvre - he has a small part in it, at the very beginning (which I didn't and don't remember - he had no scenes with Davenport).

I never thought I'd be able to see it again, as I looked for it on DVD on Amazon and it was not there. But, just a week or so ago, I was reading ...something...about Maggie Smith in The Millionairess, and the author of the post said that The Apple Cart was an extra on the Millionairess dvd. (Ah, now I remember, I think I was searching for Maggie Smith on You Tube, and a commenter on a video mentioned it.

Anyway, I ordered the DVD, it arrived today, and below are screencaps of Simon Lack.

Screencaps of Nigel Davenport to follow. ; )

[Quality of the transfer isn't that great, so neither is quality of the photos).







Saturday, May 21, 2011

Charles Simpson Actor - Found!

Around October of last year I'd made a post about an actor named Charles Simpson whom I liked... I'd first heard him in a radio show called Breathing Underwater, liked him, and sought out more of his work. He'd been active in radio for quite a while, less so on TV... sort of like another fave, Simon Lack - although Lack's career did span 40 years [similar in that they each were only in supporting roles, never the star]!

Anyway, just discovered why Charles Simpson hasn't been acting in the last 8 years or so. He and another former actor formed a company called Garnett & Simpson, and they go to big corporations and train their people in communication skills. And considering how many client logos they've got, they seem to be doing pretty well.

So while I'm disappointed he's no longer acting, I'm glad to see he's still in a lucrative career and not working as a waiter somewhere, which is what out of work actors in the US do!

Simpson was also a lawyer before he became an actor, according to the bio on their website, and I thought that was pretty interesting.

(By the way, if anyone from the Garnett & Simpson website comes across this little ol' blog entry, jazz up your website! You need to add some video samples of your work - preferably with Charles Simpson doing the demonstrating. ; )

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Polly Burton

Simon Lack had a small role in the opening episode of the second season of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway, in 1973.

I had thought that the detective was going to be The Old Man in the Corner, because Polly Burton is a reporter who always goes to a certain teashop to discuss cases with him.

But in this filmed version, Polly is an aspiring reporter who also works as the assistant for her uncle, Sir Arthur - a criminal lawyer.She also dates a police sergeant.

Sir Arthur is played by John Savident. His schtick is that he's always eating candy.
Polly Burton was played by Judy Geeson.
Her police boyfriend, Richard Frobisher, was played by Richard Beckinsale.
Among the other players, Anthony Higgins - a very young Anthony Higgins, played William Hazeldene, and Simon was Andrew Campbell.


John Savident


Christopher Timothy - very small role


Lois Baxter and Anthony Higgins.

Supposedly, Lois Baxter played Madame Lamia in Doctor Who: "The Androids of Tara," according to the IMDB, but frankly she looks different in both roles...I pride myself on being able to recognize actors but she looks totally different as Madame Lamia.

The rest of the screen caps are of Simon Lack as Andrew Campbell. He's in the first scene, as a man in the train who sees the soon-to-be-murdered woman and a man (whom we never see) talking, then at the trial he identifies Sir Arthur's client as the man...only to be revealed as totally unreliable by Sir Arthur under cross examination.



























Sunday, May 1, 2011

Noel Coward's Original Production of Relative Values (1952)

Noel Coward's play Relative Values made its debut in 1952, with Gladys Cooper, Angela Baddeley, Richard Leech, Ralph Michael Hugh McDermott, Judy Campbell, and Simon Lack.






















Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Simon Lack in Cone of Silence





Simon Lack had a couple of scenes, for about 5 minutes worth of screen time, in Cone of Silence (aka Trouble in the Sky) (1960).

Bernard Lee plays a pilot who, at the beginning of the film, is reprimanded for bad judgement in a crash that allowed his co-pilot to die. In actual fact, the plane has design flaws, and when it's really hot (as happens in India where the film takes place) the take-off characteristics change for the plane. But Bernard Lee, who does everything by the book (and there's an actual book - a manual he checks) ends up being killed in another crash - presumably with the rest of his crew, including poor Simon Lack!) when the book gives him the wrong info for his next takeoff.

In Simon's first scene (in the creits he's just called "Navigator" but in the film he is called Taylor), he is figuring various kinds of calculations for the plane. While Bernard Lee doublechecks them, Simon gets in a wink at the co-pilot, and in the end of the scene when Lee tells him he's right, he has a nice little comic, "Thank you sir."

Then he's got a few seconds in the next scene, where everyone is in the cockpit, and he shares some new calculations with pilot Lee. Then they start their takeoff run, it's evident they're not going to be able to lift off, and they crash - but we don't see Simon's expression at this point.

Also in the film is a slim and trim, fiftyish George Sanders, and a slimmer and trimmer and fortyish Peter Cushing. An actor named Michael Craig is the star of the film, helping Bernard Lee's daughter clear his name.

I'll be uploading screencaps of those actors shortly.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Simon Lack in Cage Me A Peacock, 1948






In 1948, Simon Lack co-starred in a musical called Cage Me A Peacock, based on a popular book of the time by Noel Langley.

Music: Eve Lynd
Lyrics: Adam Leslie
Book: Noel Langley
London production opened at the Strand Theatre on June 18, 1948 and ran for 337 performances

Collatinus - Ballard Berkely
Lucrece - Yolande Donlan
Mercury - Bill O'Connor
Cassandra - Linda Gray
Sextus - Simon Lack
Dionysus - Richard Littledale
Volumnia - Mai Bacon
Octavius - GEorge Bradford
Britannicus - - Simon Traherne


Simon Lack far right as Sextus. Lucre (Yoland Donlan) far left. Man gesturing towards her, Collatinus (Ballard Berkely).


Bill O'Connor as Mercury and Linda Gray as Cassandra direct Sextus and Casso in search of Lucrece. Simon lack far right.


Simon Lack as Sextus plighting his troth to Althea (Lucrece)


Sextus and Althea in fond embrace


Sextus sees his bride with Octavian