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(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...

Paul Henreid: From Eleanor Parker to ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’ (photo: Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker in ‘Between Two Worlds’) Paul Henreid returns this evening, as Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. In Of Human Bondage (1946), he stars in the old Leslie Howard role: a clubfooted medical student who falls for a ruthless waitress (Eleanor Parker, in the old Bette Davis role). Next on TCM, Henreid and Eleanor Parker are reunited in Between Two Worlds (1944), in which passengers aboard an ocean liner wonder where they are and where the hell (or heaven or purgatory) they’re going. Hollywood Canteen (1944) is a near-plotless, all-star showcase for Warner Bros.’ talent, a World War II morale-boosting follow-up to that studio’s Thank Your Lucky Stars, released the previous year. Last of the Buccaneers (1950) and Pirates of Tripoli (1955) are B pirate movies. The former is an uninspired affair,...

“My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you”

Yankee Doodle Dandy is a movie anyone can see and enjoy. No sex, violence or profanity - just lively entertainment. It is good enough to watch on any day, not just the Fourth of July.

As Yankee Doodle Dandy was beginning production, the Japs attack on Pearl Harbor took place, so it would go without saying that the film came along at a much needed time and gave our country, as well as our fighting men a very much needed boost. Though it is a clear representative of times that no longer exist, it has a patriotism that is needed just as much today as it was then, if not more so. The music is great but the film’s highlight in the vibrant, Oscar-winning performance of James Cagney as the hoofer, singer, dancer,...

Eleanor Parker Now on TCM Palms Springs area resident Eleanor Parker, who turns 91 next June 26, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of June. One of the best actresses of Hollywood’s studio era, Parker isn’t nearly as well-remembered today as she should be despite three Best Actress Academy Award nominations (Caged, 1950; Detective Story, 1951; Interrupted Melody, 1955), a number of box-office and/or critical hits, and a key role in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time (The Sound of Music). Hopefully, the 34 Eleanor Parker movies TCM will be showing each Monday this month — beginning tonight — will help to introduce the actress to a broader 21st-century audience. Eleanor Parker movies "When I am spotted somewhere it means that my characterizations haven’t covered up Eleanor Parker the person. I prefer it the other way around," Parker once said. In fact, the title of Doug McClelland’s 1989 Eleanor Parker bio,...

Llanview resident Blair Cramer (played by daytime-tv vet Kassie DePaiva) returns to General Hospital today, and we’ve got an exclusive first look at her not-quite-happy reunion with Port Charles’ latest import — and her ex-hubby — Todd Manning (Roger Howarth).

Related | Gh‘s Time Slot Change

This clip from Thursday’s episode of the ABC sudser finds the onetime One Life to Live loves coming together to celebrate the musical debut of their daughter, Starr. And though Todd and Blair are definitely still on the outs (remember, he did “kill” his twin brother and frame her boyfriend for the crime!), the...

The mother of Tina and Todd (or is that both Todds?), Irene Manning, is alive and well--and back in Llanview!

Barbara Rhoades (Generations; Soap; Busting Loose) has now debuted in the mysterious, pivotal role of the not-at-all-dead mum, and We Love Soaps is proud to welcome the talented film veteran (Serial; The Goodbye Girl) and Broadway baby ("Funny Girl"; "Love, Loss, and What I Wore") back to daytime. 

We recently featured Barbara in episode 2.34 of We Love Soaps TV

alongside Kim Zimmer (Guiding Light; One Life To Live) and Orfeh ("Legally Blonde: The Musical"; Across the Universe). She talks about working with the great Barbara Streisand and even dishes on being fired from Generations. Let's just say she may have managed some parting gifts!

You can see the episode here http://welovesoa.ps/RhoadesVid.

We also reviewed her performance in Delia and Nora Ephron's "Love, Loss, and What I Wore.