December 27, 2011

Ring Out 2011 with Peter Lorre

2011 ends with a Peter Lorre triple feature on Turner Classic Movies and a showing of Peter’s episode of The Jack Benny Show.

And then continues on with TCM’s annual 31 Days of Oscar.

Peter Lorre's page on the TV Guide Channel website lists the Lorre films scheduled on various television channels over a 2-week period.



December, 2011

Dec. 27 (Tues.), 6 am, Turner Classic Movies channel – Passage to Marseille (1944)

Dec. 27 (Tues), 10:30 am, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Dec. 27 (Tues), 12:15 pm, TCM – Casablanca (1942)

Dec. 31 (Sat.), 7:30 pm, Antenna TV – The Jack Benny Show, originally airing Jan. 22, 1963



January, 2012

Jan. 9 (Mon.), 1:30 am, Antenna TV – Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Man from the South". Originally scheduled to air Jan. 3, 1960, this episode was considered too gruesome for the holiday season and postponed until Mar. 13.

Jan. 22 (Sun.), 3 pm, TCM – Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

Jan. 30 (Mon.), 10 pm, TCM – The Constant Nymph (1943)



February, 2012

TCM presents their annual “31 Days of Oscar”, Feb. 1 through March 2. This year's theme is "Around the World with Oscar", with movies grouped together by their setting.

Feb. 10 (Fri.), 2 pm, TCM – Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), with the afternoon's theme of "Nevada”.

Feb. 15 (Wed.), 11 pm, TCM – Casablanca (1942). The theme tonight is “Africa”.

Feb. 25 (Sat.), 12:30 pm, TCM – The Maltese Falcon (1941). The afternoon's theme is "California".



March, 2012

Mar. 2 (Fri.), 10:45 am, TCM – Around the World in 80 Days (1956). "All Over" is the theme for movies this morning.



These films and many other Lorre movies are now available on DVD and VHS – some remastered and packaged with extra features. For more information on the films of Peter Lorre released to home video, head to the DVD — VHS section of The Lost One website.

Happy viewing!

December 11, 2011

SiriusXM Radio Pays Tribute to Harry Morgan, "Voice of Mystery"

Radio Classics, channel 82 on the satellite radio providers XM and Sirius, will present a tribute this week to Harry Morgan, who passed on Dec. 7, 2011.

Included will be "The Queen of Spades" and "The Black Cat" from Peter Lorre’s 1947 summer series Mystery in the Air (1947) – for which Harry Morgan was the narrator – and a 1950 episode of This is Your FBI.

Peggy Webber, who played Peter’s love interest in many Mystery in the Air episodes, will join Radio Classics host Greg Bell by telephone with her recollections of working with the two actors on the series.

The “Wild About Harry” tribute will air these dates and times:

Sunday, Dec. 11:
5 am Pacific, 8 am Eastern
5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern

Tuesday, Dec. 13:
11 pm Pacific only

Wednesday, Dec. 14:
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Radio Classics will then kick off a schedule filled with Christmas episodes from various old-time radio series. Included is the Suspense episode “Back for Christmas” (Dec. 23, 1943), starring Peter Lorre as hen-pecked husband Hubert Schumacher, who discovers a way to dispose of his shrewish wife.

"Back for Christmas" will air on these dates and times:

Monday, Dec. 12:
11 pm Pacific

Tuesday, Dec. 13:
2 am Eastern
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern

Friday, Dec. 16:
1 am Pacific, 4 am Eastern
1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern

Saturday, Dec. 17:
3 pm Pacific, 6 pm Eastern

XM and Sirius radio subscribers may also listen to the programs over the internet. Log-in with your User ID and password. Not a subscriber? A free 30-day trial is also available through the XM radio website.

The Lorre radio programs airing this week are available through many merchants, including Radio Showcase. The Appendix of The Lost One lists Peter’s many radio credits – as well as his appearances on stage, in movies, and on television.

Published in 2005 through University Press of Kentucky, The Lost One is now available in paperback, and as an eBook on Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook.

December 8, 2011

"Voice of Mystery" Stilled

The film, radio, television, and stage actor Harry Morgan passed away on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011. He was 96.

As “The Voice of Mystery”, Morgan acted as narrator on Peter Lorre’s radio series Mystery in the Air, a replacement series for The Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Show in the summer of 1947.

Mystery in the Air presented tales of suspense “culled from the four corners of world literature”, adapted from such famous tales as Alexander Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”, as well as original radio dramas.

The final eight episodes are widely available through many dealers in old-time radio programs, as well as audio download on Amazon.com.

Morgan hosted all 13 episodes, beginning with “The Tell-Tale Heart” on July 3 and continuing to the final program, “Crime and Punishment”, adapted from Peter’s 1935 Columbia Studios film, on Sept. 25.

In the image above, Morgan (in black suit) stands, looking over Hans Conried’s shoulder at his script, with Peter Lorre at the microphone.

On March 14, 1979, author Stephen Youngkin took an interview with Harry Morgan for his Lorre biography, The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, published in Sept. 2005 through University Press of Kentucky. Morgan recalled working with Lorre on Mystery in the Air, describing the intensity of Peter’s performances as he played to the microphone, not the studio audience.

Rest in peace, Mr. Morgan. Like Peter Lorre, you live on through the recordings of your many radio, movie and television roles.

December 6, 2011

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at the Red Barn, Dec. 6, 2011

John Hardy will host a showing of the Walt Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) at the Red Barn Theater on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011.

The program begins at 7 p.m. The suggested donation is $5 at the door. Free popcorn is provided by the local Saugatuck company CNJ Popcorn Co. Other concessions are $1.

For more information, please call the theater at (269) 857-5300 or contact through eMail at lakeshorearts@comcast.net.

The Red Barn Theater is located in Saugatuck, Michigan, at 3657 63rd Street. Directions may be found on the theater’s website.

The filming of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is detailed in the pages of Stephen Youngkin’s Lorre biography The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre. The author interviewed director Richard Fleischer and art director Harper Goff, as well as stars James Mason and Kirk Douglas, on their remembrances of working on the movie.

At a time when most filmmakers wanted only to trade on his character type of villain, Peter appreciated his casting against type and the opportunity to play a hero – as well as provide the film’s comic moments.

Peter also hoped he would win new fans with the movie’s release . . .