Movie Dearest continues our daily previews of Turner Classic Movies' month long "Summer Under the Stars" celebration:Now Playing Star Profile for
Fred MacMurray -
Stardates: Born August 30, 1908, Kankakee, Illinois; died 1991.
Star Sign: Virgo.
Star Qualities: The fatherly twinkle, the chipmunk smile, the gift for playing likable chumps.
Star definition: "Everybody's nice fellow ... gives people the feeling that he's kind to dogs, children, mothers and widows." -- Billy Wilder.
Galaxy of Characters: Arthur Russell in
Alice Adams, Wilson Daniels in
The Shaggy Dog, Jeff D. Sheldrake in
The Apartment, Professor Ned Brainard in
The Absent-Minded Professor.
"Let's see, flying rubber... Flubber!" And thus, a magical substance found only in the Disney universe was born. Created by MacMurray's
Absent-Minded Professor (and it's a testament to MacMurray's versatility as an actor that his easily distracted title prof came just one year after his oily turn in
The Apartment), Flubber was a versatile goo that could do anything, from making cars fly to basketball players bounce. MacMurray literally sang its praises in "The Flubber Song", a swinging ditty graciously left out of the film itself.
The professor and his prized invention would return two years later for the equally charming
Son of Flubber, also airing on TCM tomorrow. A 1988 TV movie remake notwithstanding, Flubber would not be seen again on the big screen until it got a CGI makeover for the 1997 Robin Williams version
Flubber; alas, the less said about that mess, the better.
The Absent-Minded Professor airs tomorrow on
TCM at 9:00 AM EST.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ... All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ...
Movie Dearest continues our daily previews of Turner Classic Movies' month long "Summer Under the Stars" celebration:
It seems that the fictitious book -- Love Letters of Great Men -- that was a key plot device in this summer's Sex and the City movie will now become a reality. The new tome, which will collect the letters read in the film by Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw to Chris Noth's Mr. Big, will go on sale August 15.
it from Amazon.com.
Don't want to shell out two grand for Nike's Marty McFly shoes from Back to the Future Part II (they don't even have automatic laces!)? Then how about this for a more economic souvenir, and it's from the vastly superior original Back to the Future too: an authentic replica of the OUTATIME license plate.
Attention heavy bidders: now you can own a piece of cinematic/ancient/biblical history when the original tablets held by Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments will go up for auction this summer.
I know, I know ... in this memorable scene from Thelma & Louise, you may not have even realized that Brad Pitt was holding a hair dryer (hint: it's that thing in his right hand).
This post starts off an occasional feature spotlighting memorable movie props.