What if...1943's Batman serial was an A-list studio film?

[thunderbolt]

No. Perhaps Raymond Massey. I didn't suggest any B-list foes.

Hardly B List, he's been in a movies, cartoons, on Gotham. Heck he's a card carrying Legion of Doom member.

[EmergencyIan]

Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy, and Bette Davis are my big 3 for favorite classic actresses. Sorry to continue veering.

Everything Arthur did was great. Loved Loy in The Best Years of Our Lives, but I love that film. Loy was also great in the Thin Man series of movies.

Sort of as a PS, Jean Arthur was born in 1900. So, when you see her in movies from the late 30s to the 50s, she’s that age of whichever year it happens to be. She often played roles meant fo much younger women because if you didn’t know any better, you thought she was. There is a film called The More The Merrier in which she was 43 years of age. It’s a great film regardless, but she looks like she’s about 27-30 and is half dressed through much of the movie...beautiful.

Sorry for veering, again.

- Ian

[Goblin19]

I’ve seen The More the Merrier. She’s great as always. I’ve been watching classics since I was 18 and started working at a video store. It was a great way to consume 2-3 movies a day. Then came TCM in my early twenties. Another fun fact, Myrna Loy was never even nominated for an Academy Award. That one, I don’t understand.

[PNGwynne]

I see I've some TCM compatriots here lol. Seems we all appreciate Jean Arthur. I like your list Goblin, I'd add Stanwyck and DeHavilland. For character actresses, I like Davis, Landsbury, and Rosiland Russell.

[Goblin19]

I work with a guy who is obsessed with Rosalind Russell. I love DeHavilland, too. For character actresses, I love Una O’Connor, Thelma Ritter, Gloria Grahame, amongst others.

[PNGwynne]

lol Get out of my head! Dare I mention S.Z. Sakall or George Sanders?

And I think Roz has a following rivaling Judy Garland.

[Goblin19]

George Sanders has one of the all time great voices.

[EmergencyIan]

On a semi related note, my wife works directly for Burt Lancaster’s niece, at HBO. She has some good stories to tell as he was her mother’s brother. It was a smaller close knit family, I gather.

- Ian

[PNGwynne]

That's neat, I can guess at the colorful anecdotes. The only celebrity I've met is Shirley Jones. (But I'm a huge fan of The Music Man, so I was elated.)

[Goblin19]

That’s cool. I can’t say I’ve known anyone like that. I did meet Robert Osborne at a TCM event. He was very nice. Other than that, I saw Gregory Peck when he did his National speaking tour and I met Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall’s son. I got to chat with him after I won a contest (Bogart trivia contest) when he was touring his book about his father.

[PNGwynne]

I'm jealous that you met Osborne (and attended a TCM event). I still miss him and I'm not ashamed to admit I was deeply saddened by his passing. That's a great Bogart/Bacall anecdote, too.

[PNGwynne]

George Sanders has one of the all time great voices.

There was no-one better at suave villainy.

[EmergencyIan]

That's neat, I can guess at the colorful anecdotes. The only celebrity I've met is Shirley Jones. (But I'm a huge fan of The Music Man, so I was elated.)

Yeah, like when the Beatles stayed with her uncle in Los Angeles, when she was a teen and went there to stay for a couple of days, as well. Now, she’s lives across the street from Paul.

Burt was in a movie called Vera Cruz, a western, with Gary Cooper and Anthony Quinn. It’s a fine movie. Anyhow, many days, Burt thought he’d outdone Gary that day, but when he to look at the dailys he realized it wasn’t so. Burt said that he was trying really hard, but couldn’t beat Gary just standing there being Gary Cooper.

There is a famous scene from Field of Dreams when Kevin Costner is with Burt Lancaster by or in the cornfield and the baseball diamond. At the time, she and her mother said: this will be a scene that will be shown when uncle Burt passes away...and it was one of them.

There are many other anecdotes that I can’t recall, at the moment, but each time I used to see a movie of his, it would get back to her and subquently I’d get a story about his time on the set or what he thought about the movie.

Decades shows Dick Cavett every weekday evening and Lancaster has been featured in a couple of episodes. Fortunately, we happened to catch them and they were quite good. His niece always seems to miss these airings and hates that she does.

- Ian

[Goblin19]

That’s neat. I love Lancaster. I think his resume of movies stands up there with the best of them. I spent several months in my twenties watching Lancaster marathons. His performance in Sweet Smell of Success is an all time great.

[Goblin19]

And I was also really sad when Osborne passed. I love Ben Mankiewicz, but TCM will never be quite the same.