May 26

Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Newest Members!

Christopher ChaseComment Closed

Extending a warm welcome to the newest members of the Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Chapter: Kathleen, Elizabeth, Karen, Pam, LeRoy, Leslie, Candice, Daniel, Xavier, Sandra, Shelby, and Al. 12 new members since February 2019.

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May 21

Locked-Room Murder: The Mandarin Mystery (1936)

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

A blonde beauty arrives from China to the port in New York City having arranged to sell a one-of-a-king Chinese postage stamp to a well-known collector. Before disembarking she encounters mystery writer Ellery Queen who, smitten with her, makes her business his business. As Queen woos Miss Josephine Temple, he digs into her plans to […]

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May 19

Backlot Chapter Outing: Steel Magnolias

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

The Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Chapter enjoyed its outing to see the 30th Anniversary TCM Big Screen Classics presentation of Steel Magnolias today. We met up for snacks and movie talk before the film, where we discovered all but one of us had seen the movie before. Nice to have a new classic discovery for a […]

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May 18

Tidbits: Steel Magnolias (1989)

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

Most fans of Steel Magnolias (1989) likely cannot imagine anyone else in the iconic principal roles in the film: in order of billing Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Darryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts. Among these six women, four are Oscar winners: Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts and one […]

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May 14

The Enduring Character of Nancy Drew: Nancy Drew… Reporter (1939)

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

Nancy Drew, the fictional heroine of The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, first appeared in 1930. For 73 years, until the series ended in 2003, Nancy solved mysteries as a teenage high school graduate living in the town of River Heights with her father, attorney Carson Drew and their housekeeper. Over 70 million copies of The […]

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May 13

Tribute to America’s Sweetheart: Doris Day

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In the history of entertainment there are some who are the one and only. Today we lost America’s Sweetheart Doris Day. Labeled the girl next door well into her forties, she appeared in nearly 40 films and recorded over 600 songs. At the height of her legendary career she topped both the billboard and the […]

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May 06

Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Chapter Sees True Grit

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

On Sunday, May 5 the Raleigh/Cary TCM Backlot Chapter gathered to see the 50th Anniversary TCM Big Screen Classics presentation of True Grit. We had a good time watching John Wayne in his Oscar-winning performance as Rooster Cogburn. After the film, chapter members caught up in reunion of sorts after the 2019 TCM Film Festival. […]

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May 01

Tidbits: True Grit

Christopher ChaseComment Closed

On April 7, 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne won his first and only Academy Award, for his performance in director Henry Hathway’s Western True Grit. Wayne appeared in nearly 250 movies in his career, with this being his only Oscar win. Wayne earned the Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn, despite an abundance of conflict […]

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Apr 28

A Masterwork on Empathy – To Kill a Mockingbird

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Posting this in honor of Harper Lee’s birthday today (April 28, 1926–February 19, 2016). “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Gregory Peck speaks these lines as Atticus Finch to Mary Badham as his daughter Scout […]

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Apr 21

A Story of Lust and Desire: Carnival Story (1954)

Kami SpangenbergComment Closed

Carnival Story (1954) starring Anne Baxter and Steve Cochran tells the story of Grayson’s, an American traveling circus performing in Munich, Germany. Baxter plays Willi, a local girl down on her luck who arrives on the midway hungry and with only the clothes on her back. Desperate, she picks the pocket of carnival barker Joe, […]

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