The 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival: Still More Adventures in Paradise

The participants in this year’s ‘So You Think You Know Movies’ contest. You can see me on the left, with a white shirt and a hat. 🙂 (Well, maybe you can’t see me, but I’m there. For real!)

Since attending this year’s Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in late April, my life has been a whirlwind. My oldest daughter graduated from Howard University, my empty nest filled up again (so long, clean kitchen!), and my business partner and I made our debut as vendors at a local antique flea market, on the two hottest days of the year! But blah blah blah, enough about me – on to the important stuff!

The 2018 TCM Film Festival – my sixth! – was no less wonderful and flew by no more slowly than each year that came before. Once again, it was an unending bacchanalia of films, friends, and celebrities – not to mention selfies, protein bars, speed walking between theaters, my annual visit to Larry Edmunds Bookstore and Musso and Frank’s restaurant and, of course, my favorite Hollywood cocktail (the Basil Gimlet at the Hollywood Roosevelt)! Now that my real life has started to settle down, I’m ready to dive into my coverage of this year’s event, which I’ll provide on a monthly basis as I countdown to the 2019 festival!!

Bruce Goldstein is the best.

My very first activity has become a staple for me – each year that I’ve gone to the festival, I’ve kicked things off with the “So You Think You Know Movies” trivia contest. Last year, you might recall, my team tied for first place (no, I am NEVER going to stop talking about it), but this time around, let’s just say we didn’t quite achieve the same heights. As always, though, the contest was lots of fun, helped in great part by the first-rate hosting skills of Bruce Goldstein of the New York Film Forum.

The questions this year seemed to be harder than any before – in fact, they were so difficult that I found it impossible to write them all down! Making the contest even more challenging was the fact that the multiple choice format could have one or more answers – or none of the above! And if there was more than one answer, you had to get them all right in order to get credit. Gah!! Anyhoo, just for fun, here are a few of the questions. (Sorry I don’t have all of the multiple choice options for most of them – I just couldn’t write that fast!) See if you can get any of them. The answers will be the end of the post.

1. What role did Pat Walshe play in The Wizard of Oz?
2. What was Jennifer Jones’s first screen appearance?
3. What was Judy Holliday’s first film?
4. Molly Picon once played the mother of which of these actors: (a) Mel Brooks, (b) Woody Allen, (c) Barbra Streisand, (d) Whoopi Goldberg, or (e) Sir Roger Moore.
5. Who played Geronimo in Broken Arrow (1950)?
6. Of the following movie child and parent duos, which were closest in age: (a) Cary Grant and Jessie Royce Landis, in North by Northwest (1959), (b) Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury, in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), (c) Norman Lloyd and Hume Cronyn in The Green Years (1946), (d) John Garfield and Anne Revere in Body and Soul (1947), (e) Dick Van Dyke and Maureen Stapleton in Bye, Bye Birdie (1963)

Right after the trivia contest, my trusty TCMFF pal, Kim, and I hightailed it to the bleachers in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater to watch the celebrities walk the red carpet before the opening night film, The Producers (1967). This was my third year in the bleachers, and I simply love it – it’s so exciting to see all the stars close up, and so much fun cheering for them as well as for the passholders who are dressed to the nines for the event. And they’re so nice! Nearly every star stopped by the bleachers to greet us; they seemed as happy to see us as we were to see them! Below are some of the pictures I snapped of the celebrities – in addition to these, I also saw Martin Scorsese, who was there to receive the first annual Robert Osborne Award (which was presented to him by Leonard DiCaprio, who did not walk the carpet, darn it), along with Sara Karloff (Boris’s daughter); Melvin and Mario Van Peebles; Diane Baker, star of such films as The Best of Everything (one of my favorite guilty pleasures) and The Diary of Anne Frank; William Wellman, Jr. (his dad was the acclaimed director); Kate Flannery, who was featured in TV’s The Office; and Carole Shelley and Monica Evans, who played the Pidgeon Sisters in The Odd Couple (1968).

This is Wyatt McCrea — son of Joel McCrea and Frances Dee. (Squee!) He’s a writer, producer and actor.

Juliet Mills and her husband Maxwell Caulfield, who have been married since 1980. Seeing them together was heartwarming — they were adorable. (sniff)

Paul Sorvino (here with his wife) told the crowd that he didn’t need a microphone. He was trained on the stage, he said, and sings opera. And then he proceeded to burst into song, gifting us with a beautiful Italian aria. Bravo!

Norman Lloyd, who is now 103 years old, is always simply delightful. He told us, “I wish I could think of something brilliant to say, but you take my breath away.” Swoon.

Eva Marie Saint celebrated her 94th birthday on the 4th of July this year. She is all that.

Keith Carradine presented quite the dapper figure. (And if you look closely, you can see Leonard Maltin in the background!)

I love Mel Brooks. He told the crowd, “Keep in touch. Don’t be strange.” Hee!

I can’t say enough about Ruta Lee. When I saw her, I joked that she must have a portrait in her attic. She is GOR. JUS.

The last star to come down the carpet was Cicely Tyson, who at 93 years of age is totally badass.

The answers to the trivia questions are below:

1. Nikko, the flying monkey – Walshe was a 3-foot, 10-inch vaudevillian. He also played a small role in the 1950 noir Panic in the Streets.
2. The Three Mesquiteers, a 1936 Republic Studios western. Jones was credited under her given name, Phyllis Isley.
3. Greenwich Village (1944) – Holliday was in a dance group called The Revuers, which also featured the writing team of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The Revuers performed a number in the film, which was later cut, but you can still catch a brief glimpse of Holliday in one scene.
   

   Judy Holliday (in the front, with the lime green costume) had more visibility on this lobby card than she did in the movie.

4. Sir Roger Moore – Picon played his mother in The Cannonball Run (1981)
5. Jay Silverheels, who was best-known for his portrayal of Tonto in the Lone Ranger television series.
6. Dick Van Dyke and Maureen Stapleton were closest in age – they were born just five months apart!

Hope you had fun with the trivia quiz and enjoyed my snaps from the red carpet. Stay tuned for next month’s installment of my look at the 2018 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival!

~ by shadowsandsatin on July 6, 2018.