Monday, June 2, 2025

Born on this day – Albert Innaurato:


Albert Innaurato


Writer

Director

June 2, 1947 – September 24, 2017

Credits:

Gemini (1982); Great Performances (1978); Happy Birthday, Gemini (1980); SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (1997); The 72nd Annual Tony Awards (2018); he Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1989–1990); Trying Times (1989); Verna: USO Girl (1978).

Born on this day – Sally Kellerman:


Sally Kellerman

Actress

Singer

June 2, 1937 – February 24, 2022

Born on this day – Robert Tessier:


Robert Tessier

Actor

Stuntman

June 2, 1934 – October 11, 1990

Born on this day – Margot Trooger:


Margot Trooger

Actress

June 2, 1923 – April 24, 1994

Born on this day – Yolande Donlan:


Yolande Donlan


Actress

June 2, 1920 – December 30, 2014

Credits:

80,000 Suspects (1963); Brian Rix Presents ... (1966); Celebrity Squares (1976); Cross-Country Romance (1940); Dark Streets of Cairo (1940); Expresso Bongo (1959); Jigsaw (1962); Larry and Vivien: The Oliviers in Love (2001); Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941); Looks Familiar (1980); Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1949); Mr Drake's Duck (1951); Penny Princess (1952); Psychedelic Cinema (2002); Rheingold Theatre (1956); Road Show (1941); Seven Nights in Japan (1976); Sunday Night Thriller (1981); Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957); The Adventurers (1970); The Blitz Kiss (1941); The Body Said No! (1950); The Devil Bat (1940); Theatre Night (1957–1959); They Can't Hang Me (1955); This Is Your Life (1962); Traveller's Joy (1950); Turnabout (1940); Under Age (1941); Unfinished Business (1941); What's My Line (1955).

Born on this day – Thomas Hardy:


Thomas Hardy


Writer

June 2, 1840 – January 11, 1928

Credits:

Books:

A Laodicean (1881); A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873); Desperate Remedies (1871); Far From the Madding Crowd (1874); Fathers: A Literary Anthology (2011); Jude the Obscure (1895); Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891); The Hand of Ethelberta (1876); The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886); The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (1992); The Return of the Native (1878); The Trumpet-Major (1880); The Well-Beloved (1892); The Withered Arm (1888); The Woodlanders (1887); Two on a Tower (1882); Under the Greenwood Tree (1872); Victorian Short Stories: Stories of Successful Marriages (2022); War: An Anthology (1969); World War One British Poets: Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and Others (1997); Writers: Their Lives and Works (2018).

Movies and television:

2nd House (1975); Actor's Studio (1949); And There Was a Great Calm (2017); Boston Blackie (1952–1953); Cheongchun mujeong (1970); Daags na de kermis (1974); Day Out (1985); Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1967); Exploits at West Poley (1985); Far from the Madding Crowd (1915 / 1967 / 1998 / 2015); General Electric Theater (1956); Hora once (1970); ITV Play of the Week (1960); Jude (1996); Jude the Obscure (1971); Kraft Theatre / The United States Steel Hour (1959); Man Ki Jeet (1944); Romina (1980); Screen Two (1995); Tajemství dáblovy kapsy (1980); Tess (1979); Tess d'Urberville (1959); Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1913 / 1924 / 1952 / 1998 / 2008); The Claim (2000); The Day After the Fair (1986); The Distracted Preacher (1969); The Greenwood Tree (1929); The Mayor of Casterbridge (1921 / 1978 / 2003); The Return of the Native (1994 / 2010); The Scarlet Tunic (1998); The Secret Cave (1953); The Sunday Programme (2002); The Unforeseen (1958); The Woodlanders (1970 / 1997); Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion & Tragedy (2021); Thomas Hardy's the Three Strangers (2014); Trishna (2011); Una romantica avventura (1940); Under the Greenwood Tree (2005); Wessex Tales (1973); Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021); Your Favorite Story (1953).

Recommended reading - The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938):


The Gracie Allen Murder Case

aka The Smell of Murder

By S.S. Van Dine.

Filmed as The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), directed by Alfred E. Green.

Published by Felony & Mayhem Press.
First published 1938.
ISBN-10: 1631942069
ISBN-13: 9781631942068

Description:

“Mr. Van Dine’s amateur detective is the most gentlemanly, and probably the most scholarly snooper in literature.”
Chicago Daily Tribune.

Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify “Murder Case” with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there’s that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact the plot revolves around her. Gracie’s centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created the novel only after the film had come out. So, do all these departures pay off? We’d be lying if we said that Gracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen’s delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Philo’s evergreen erudition.