Occasionally, while watching a film on Turner Classic Movies, during the break between movies I’ve caught a wonderful montage of movies throughout history. I am always mesmerized by it. During the video, I cannot change the channel or turn off the TV. The short montage, called 100 Years At the Movies, takes the viewer through the history of movies up to 1994.
The segment begins with a movie shown in a former shoe store on April 14, 1894. Viewers watched the moving pictures through a slot, making it the first commercial movie in history. With that humble beginning, the motion picture industry has captivated viewers, making us laugh, cry, think, feel, and watch in awe.
The short film 100 Years At the Movies, takes us through that history. It features short clips from some of the greatest movies during the century. It will remind you of the joy you have received from watching movies. At the same time it will test your memory to try to name as many as you can as they quickly flash by.
Chuck Workman created 100 Years At the Movies for TCM. Check it out.
Turner Classics Movie host Robert Osborne was born May 3, 1932 in Colfax, Washington. While most people know Osborne for his wonderful hosting duties on TCM (and before that on The Movie Channel), Osborne had a diverse career and started out as an actor before later focusing on writing and journalism.
One of his television roles was an appearance on the pilot for a TV series in 1962. There was a possibility of a regular role, but Osborne did not think that the series, The Beverly Hillbillies, would be much of a success. “The show itself seemed so loony and unimportant,” he later explained, adding, “I was sure the pilot would never sell.” Of course, the series then ran for nine seasons.
In the clip below, you may see a young Robert Osborne in that pilot episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. Check it out.
If that segment makes you want to see the entire episode, you may watch the entire pilot below. Check out “The Clampetts Strike Oil.”
Osborne explained that Lucille Ball had put him under contract at her studio. And it was she who eventually encouraged him to pursue a career in writing instead of acting. She was impressed by his vast knowledge about the history of Hollywood.
In 2015 and 2016, due to health issues, Osborne announced he would not attend the TCM Classic Film Festival. He also had to cut back on his work at TCM, and he passed way on March 6, 2017.
I do like Ben Mankiewicz, who filled in for Osborne in a number of roles, although I miss Osborne. Whenever I watch a movie on TCM, I would hope for Osborne or Mankiewicz to appear. Without them, I feel like I am not getting the whole value of the movie.
Osborne became a part of the life of anyone who watches classic movies. He became a mainstay of TCM since he introduced the first film the network aired, Gone With the Wind, on April 14, 1994.
For one, I’m glad that his career with The Beverly Hillbillies did not quite work out. He brought us a lot of joy, and he was a wonderful and intelligent companion for many nights watching great films. This post was updated March 2017. Leave your two cents in the comments.
I caught Turner Classic Movies‘ moving “Remembers” video of some of the entertainers and artists we lost in 2013. While most of us remember the big name losses like Peter O’Toole, what stands out in the video are all of the familiar faces of less-famous stars. I forgot or did not know the names of some of these folks, but I do remember their wonderful work. Seeing so many recognizable folks who passed on reminds us how fragile life is.
The powerful song in the video is “In the Embers” by Sleeping At Last, which is a project of a musician named Ryan O’Neal. The song is from the album Atlas: Light (2013). The lyrics “We live and we die/ Like fireworks; / Our legacies hide/ In the embers” are haunting, as is the music. Have a safe and happy new year.
What is your favorite part of the year ending? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Happy Mother’s Day this weekend! One famous movie mom was Beulah Bondi’s portrayal of Ma Baily in It’s a Wonderful Life. It was a great performance, including a touching scene with her son George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, as she sends him off to court Mary Hatch, played by Donna Reed. At the other extreme, in an alternate reality in the same movie, Bondi plays a bitter and angry version of the character who does not recognize her son.
Did you know that Beulah Bondi played Jimmy Stewart’s mother in a total of four movies? She also was his mother in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Vivacious Lady (1938 ), and Of Human Hearts (1938).
I did recently catch her as Stewart’s mom in Of Human Hearts on the Turner Classic Movies Channel. In that movie, she plays a faithful mother to Jimmy Stewart’s ungrateful son, resulting in Bondi’s second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. I learned of the persistent Stewart-Bondi connection from Robert Osborne on TCM when the movie ended. This “Top Ten Facts About It’s a Wonderful Life” also notes the connection.
I have not seen Vivacious Lady, which finally became available on DVD after this original post was written. Bondi makes a brief appearance in this trailer for Vivacious Lady at around the 2:35 mark.
Beulah Bondi gave memorable performances in other movies, including Make Way for Tomorrow(1937), where she played an abandoned mother, and Our Town (1940), where again she played a mother but not to Stewart. Her other Oscar nomination resulted from The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), where she did not play Jimmy Stewart’s mom. Bondi regretted not playing the role of Ma Joad in Grapes of Wrath (1940), where she missed portraying the mother of Stewart’s good friend, Henry Fonda.
Bondi appeared on several television shows, winning an Emmy for a performance as Aunt Martha Corinne Walton on a 1976 episode of The Waltons. Her TV work also occasionally reunited her with Stewart. IMDb notes that Bondi played Stewart’s mother in one episode of The Jimmy Stewart Television Show (1971). Earlier, she appeared in one 1957 episode of G.E. True Theater, called “A Town with a Past,” with Stewart, although apparently not as his mother.
In movies today, producers’ obsession with an actress’s age sometimes lead them to cast a mother who is in reality too young to be the mother of the actor son. For example, in The Fighter (2010), Melissa Leo played Mark Wahlberg’s mother while being only 11 years older than him. But in Bondi’s case, she was a more realistic age to play Stewart’s mother. She was born May 3, 1888 and Stewart was born May 20, 1908, which would have made her 20 years old when she gave birth to the fictional James Stewart.
In real life, one of the movies’ greatest moms never married and never became a mother herself, passing away in 1981. But Bondi’s warm portrayal of movie mothers gives her a special place in the hearts of anyone who loves old movies or moms. So Happy Mother’s Day to Beulah Bondi, to my mom, to the other mothers out there, and to all those who were born by mothers.
Turner Classics Movie host 
(2013). The lyrics “We live and we die/ Like fireworks; / Our legacies hide/ In the embers” are haunting, as is the music. Have a safe and happy new year.
