April 25, 2019

The Maltese Falcon on SiriusXM Schedule

Peter Lorre’s old-time radio performances don’t receive much play on SiriusXM Radio’s Radio Classics channel, but when they do, it’s a special treat for Lorre fans to hear over a radio an appearance as it might have been broadcast when it originally aired.

During the week of Monday, April 29 to Sunday, May 5, 2019, the Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater episode, “The Maltese Falcon”, will air these dates and times over Radio Classics, Channel 148 on the Sirius XM radio dial ~

Monday, April 29, 2019 –
8 pm Pacific, 11 pm Eastern

Wednesday, May 1 –
2 am Pacific, 5 am Eastern

Friday, May 3 –
2 pm Pacific, 5 pm Eastern

Satellite radio provider SiriusXM airs Radio Classics over Channel 148. 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 SiriusXM radio website.

Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater originally aired “The Maltese Falcon” on Sept. 20, 1943. In this adaptation of the classic 1941 movie, Peter Lorre appeared with his fellow cast-mates Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet in the roles they created onscreen.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses Peter Lorre’s career on radio. The appendix of The Lost One lists Peter’s complete-to-date radio credits.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

April 22, 2019

Sirius XM Schedule Includes Two Lorre Programs

During the week of Apr. 22 to Apr. 28, 2019, the Radio Classics channel – Channel 148 on the SiriusXM radio dial – will air two Lorre-hosted episodes of Mystery Playhouse, both of which aired originally as episodes of the Mollé Mystery Theatre.

"Nightmare" (Nov. 28, 1944) will air these dates and times ~

Monday, April 22, 2019 –
9:30 pm Pacific

Tuesday, April 23 –
12:30 am Eastern

Thursday, April 25 –
7:30 am Pacific, 10:30 am Eastern

Sunday, April 28 –
1:30 pm Pacific, 4:30 pm EST

"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" (Feb. 27, 1945) will air these dates and times ~

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 –
8:30 pm Pacific, 11:30 pm Eastern

Friday, April 26 –
4:30 pm Pacific, 7:30 pm Eastern

Satellite radio provider SiriusXM airs Radio Classics over Channel 148. 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 SiriusXM radio website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen Youngkin discusses Peter Lorre’s career on radio. Mystery Playhouse was an Armed Forces Radio Services (AFRS) series that rebroadcast episodes originally airing on mystery and suspense series such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Mr. and Mrs. North, The Whistler, and Mollé Mystery Theatre. Commercials were edited out of these episodes, and a new opening and closing was recorded specially for Mystery Playhouse. These new Mystery Playhouse episodes were then shipped out on vinyl records to American military bases around the world for the entertainment of men and women serving during World War II.

Peter was one of several hosts of the Mystery Playhouse series. He would frequently greet the audience with “Hello, Kreeps!” and introduce the program with his characteristic dry sense of humor. A visit to the Green Room to preview the next installment would typically end the program, as Peter "closed the doors of the Mystery Playhouse" and bid the audience "Good night. Sleep tight!"

The appendix of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre lists Peter’s radio credits, including the Mystery Playhouse episodes he is known to have hosted.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

Moto Movie Scheduled for Syracuse Cinephile Society

The Syracuse Cinephile Society continues their 2019 Spring Season of classic movies with a mystery double-feature on Monday, April 22, 2019 – The Phantom of Crestwood (1932) and Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937), the first in a series of eight films in which Peter Lorre played intrepid Japanese detective Mr. Moto.

All films in the series are shown at the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant, located at 689 North Clinton Street in Syracuse, New York. Parking is available in the lot beside the restaurant.

Directions to the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant are available on the Cinephile Society's website.

The program begins at 7:30 pm, but attendees who plan to come for dinner are recommended to arrive no later than 6:15 pm, in order to finish dinner by 7:30 pm.

Admission to the Syracuse Cinephile Society event is $3 for Cinephile members, and $3.50 for non-members. Annual membership in the Syracuse Cinephile Society may be purchased for $5.

The 2019 Spring Schedule began on Monday, Mar. 18, and will run until Monday, June 24, 2019. The full schedule for the Monday Night Series is available on the Syracuse Cinephile Society website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of the Mr. Moto series, including interviews with Harvey Parry, who doubled for Peter on stunts throughout the Moto series, as well as several movies at Warner Bros. in the 1940s; and Norman Foster, who directed Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937) and five other Moto films.

Although initially interested in playing the intrepid – and globe-trotting – Japanese importer for whom detecting is a hobby, Peter soon grew of the character. Continually addressed as "Mr. Moto" by the public, playing Mr. Moto in sketches on the radio variety series of the late 1930s, and getting few opportunities to appear in non-Moto projects at 20th Century-Fox all added to Peter’s disappointment with the series.

In 2006 and 2007, 20th Century-Fox remastered and restored all eight of the Moto films, hired John Cork and his production company Cloverland to produce a unique documentary – including interviews with Stephen Youngkin – for each movie, and released the series in two DVD box-sets with additional extras.

Purchase Mr. Moto, Volume 1, from Amazon.

Purchase Mr. Moto, Volume 2, from Amazon.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

April 13, 2019

Mad Love at TCM Film Fest 2019

The theme of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival is “Follow Your Heart: Love at the Movies”, and Lorre fans attending the annual fest are in for a special treat – a showing of Mad Love (1935) in the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California, on Sunday, April 14, 2019.

Special guest Bill Hader will host the film, which begins at 9:15 am.

Although Festival Passes are no longer available, individual tickets for Mad Love may be purchased at the Egyptian Theatre for $20. Students with a valid Student ID may purchase a ticket for $10.

The Egyptian Theatre is located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Parking is available in several lots near Hollywood Boulevard. One of the largest in the area is the Hollywood and Highland lot, located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, with entrances on Highland Avenue and Orange Drive. More information about the Hollywood and Highland lot is available on the parking lot’s website.

Now in its 10th year, the TCM Classic Film Festival runs from Thursday, April 11, to Sunday, April 14, 2019. The full schedule is available on the festival website.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin discusses the making of Mad Love, Peter’s first American film.

“Magnificent Obsessions” is the TCM festival’s category for Mad Love – and appropriate, as the movie tells the story of Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre), a brilliant European surgeon who heals crippled children and soldiers disfigured in war, and his love from afar of the actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake), who appears nightly on the stage of the Theater of Horrors in Paris, France.

Disappointed to discover Yvonne is married, Dr. Gogol nevertheless has an opportunity to ingratiate himself with her when her husband Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive) is injured in a train wreck. Dr. Gogol replaces Stephen’s crushed hands with those of an executed knife-throwing murderer Rollo (Edward Brophy) – with unexpected results.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

April 11, 2019

Sirius XM Salutes Lorre Co-Star Harry Morgan

Every week, old-time radio host Greg Bell celebrates actors’ birthdays on his Sirius XM Radio channel Radio Classics. He salutes Peter Lorre's birthday the week of June 26 with a "Love for Laszlo" two-hour block of four of Peter's radio shows.

And the week of April 8 to 14, 2019, Peter's co-star Harry Morgan gets the birthday star treatment with four programs – two episodes of Mystery in the Air, “The Queen of Spades” (Sept. 11, 1947) and "The Black Cat" (Sept. 18, 1947) ; followed by two episodes of This Is Your FBI, "Floating Stickup" (Dec. 8, 1950) and "Backstage Shakedown" (Nov. 10, 1950).

The Morgan tribute will air these dates and times –

Sunday, April 7, 2019 ~
9 pm Pacific

Monday, April 8, 2019 ~
12 midnight Eastern

Wednesday, April 10 ~
5 pm Pacific, 8 pm Eastern

Saturday, April 13 ~
3 am Pacific, 6 am Eastern

Satellite radio providers Sirius and XM air Radio Classics over channel 148. 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 Sirius XM radio website.

As "The Voice of Mystery", Harry 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.

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, 1947.

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 September, 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.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

April 6, 2019

Kent Film Series Includes Double Confession

Lorre fans in the area of Deal – in Kent, England – will be treated to a rare showing of Double Confession (1950) this weekend at the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI).

Teaming up with the SKY channel Talking Pictures TV, Kent MOMI will show four classic British films, beginning Friday, March 29, and running until Sunday, April 21, 2019. The full schedule is available on the MOMI website.

Double Confession will be shown Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 5, 6, and 7, 2019, beginning at 6 pm each night.

Admission to the movies is free with the purchase of a ticket to MOMI. Tickets to the museum are £5.50 for adults and £4 for concessions and U16.

The Kent Museum of the Moving Image is located at 41 Stanhope Road, in Deal, Kent. Directions, as well as information about parking and public transportation, are available on the MOMI website.

Long thought lost, Double Confession was for many years on the British Film Institute’s list of “The 75 Most Wanted” movies. But in 2013, Renown Pictures Ltd released the movie to all-regions DVD from a pristine 35mm print.

In the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, Stephen D. Youngkin recounts the making of Double Confession, including an interview with the film’s director Ken Annakin.

The experience was not a happy one for Peter Lorre, who worked on the movie during a dark time in his personal life and his career.

The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre may be purchased from Amazon U.S., Amazon Canada, and Amazon U.K, as well as other booksellers.

April 4, 2019

Lorre Film Kicks off Austin Hitchcock Fest

The Austin Film Society begins its series “Hitchcock Before Hollywood” on Thursday, April 4, 2019, with a party – and a showing of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Peter Lorre’s first Hitchcock movie and first English-speaking role, as Abbott, leader of a gang of anarchists operating out of a church in the East End borough of Wapping in London, England.

The festival begins at 6 pm with a party, including complimentary tea from The Steeping Room, a local Austin tea-room. Dennis Campa, of KOOP Radio’s “Adventures in Sound”, will play records from the 1930s. A Hitchcock-themed photo booth will also be available.

The Man Who Knew Too Much will begin at 7 pm.

All movies in the Hitchcock series will be screened at the AFS Cinema in The Linc (formerly the Lincoln Village) shopping center, located at 6406 North Interstate-35, in Austin, Texas. Directions to The Linc are available on the Austin Film Society website.

Admission for The Man Who Knew Too Much is $11.25 for all seats. Tickets may be purchased at the cinema box-office, as well as online through the AFS website. A nominal processing fee will be charged for each ticket purchased online.

The “Hitchcock Before Hollywood” series begins Thursday, April 4, and runs until Sunday, April 28, 2019. The full schedule is available on the AFS website.