Classic Concupiscent: John Payne

I have a confession to make, I have a bit of bias against watching old movies. I like to think I have eclectic tastes with cinema; I love foreign films, independent films, small character driven dramas. I tend to hate big budget special effect driven movies and prefer story over concept. That being said, earlier this year when Elizabeth Taylor died I sort of surprised myself when realized I had never really seen any of her movies start to finish. Seeing so many clips of her big movies over the years on television, I just felt like I had.



Sadly I have never seen Casablanca, Gone With The Wind and many other classics. Although it is one of my goals to rectify that in 2012, what I have seen is a lot of classic Hitchcock and the Christmas classics. For some reason this Christmas I saw a couple of movies I have seen countless times before through new eyes. Maybe it is that I am getting older, but this holiday season watching Dennis Morgan in Christmas in Connecticut and especially John Payne in Miracle on 34th Street were for the first time surprisingly arousing.



Maybe it is that finally I am at an age close to what the actors were when they shot the films. In the past, they were simply older dead actors, but...this year, as I sat with my family watching late Christmas Eve, they seemed very much alive. Not sure if it was the holiday, all the tweed, his overcoat, or Gailey's walk as he entered the courtroom, but Payne's portrayal of Frederick Gailey was incredibly sexy this holiday season... I never really focused on Payne's character but Gailey is both strong and manly as well as sweet and sensitive. I am not sure how it was perceived at the time, but seems quite modern for 1947. (BTW, shame on anyone associated with the 1994 version...some things are not to be touched!).





Below: Payne with actors Ronald Reagan and Johnnie Davis.


Below: Payne with Ronald Reagan.

Blast From The Past for November 4th: Radames Pera

This post initially started out as a part of the Actors I Love series but quickly took an abrupt, but wonderful, turn. I was never a huge fan of Little House on the Prairie. I was yet to be hatched when it premiered in 1974 and for some reason was not drawn to the show when I was younger. I did however go through about a month long mild obsession when I was 17 when a friend of mine lent me her prize homemade VHS copies of some of the seasons when I was home with mono during the summer. Just my luck that I was sick through most of late July and August and never got to miss one day of school!


Above: Radames in Kung Fu (1975)

What I did love about LHOTP was Alison Arngrim and her unflinching portrayal of Nellie Oleson. It must not have been easy to be universally hated but I loved Alison. Whenever an episode would come on if her name did not show up in the opening cast list I generally fast forwarded through it. Earlier this year Alison was on a publicity blitz for her book Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, the paperback. I ordered earlier this week from Amazon. I love watching her interviews, her personality, so full of life, her honesty (her tidbits about Melissa Sue Anderson are additively juicy) and her activism for child abuse and AIDS.

Above: Radames in Night Gallery (1971) Photo source and interesting article about Radames episode Silent Snow, Secret Snow at a great blog I love checking out, The Haunted Closet.

In researching Alison I came upon the part of her site where she answers questions. The question on the page brought back a long forgotten but intense memory of my crush from those old VHS tapes and that summer.



Q: Did you have a crush on anyone on "Little House"?

Here is Alison's answer (paraphrased, read Alison's response in it's entirety HERE:)

'Except for Rademes Pera. He's the one who played "John Jr.", a character who first appeared in the episode where Patricia Neal died, leaving her three orphan children to be taken in by "Mr. Edwards" (Victor French). "John Jr." went on to be "Mary's" (Melissa Sue Anderson) fiance, (back when she could still see, which is good because he was gorgeous). Unfortunately for him, Melissa Sue Anderson never really liked him. Unfortunately for me, I did.

He had long hair, big eyes, incredibly high cheekbones and read lots of books. We went to the same high school while we weren't filming, (Hollywood High).

I was 15, he was 16. I bought him gifts. (OK, if you must know, the "Dune" trilogy and a bowl of lime jello). Nothing worked. He turned me down flat and refused to go out with me on the grounds that I was too young for him. (He must have been at least eight or nine months older). This wound up being hideously ironic, as I went on to spend most of youth consorting with men anywhere form nine to sixteen years older than myself.'



I remember that beautiful long hair, those big eyes and those incredibly high cheekbones, what I did not remember was his name. With that incredible face, if I was not in my thirties I would be tempted to call him Dreamy. Radames was born for a life in the arts, his father a renowned painter and his mother an actress. At the age of 8, Ramdames was discovered by director Daniel Mann for the role as Anthony Quinn's and Irene Papas' dying son in A Dream of Kings. Besides Little House, Radames also spent time on ABC's Kung Fu in the role of young student Caine, also known as Grasshopper.



In the summer of 1978 Radames began 3 years of acting and directing studies with the legendary Stella Adler. Despite his popularity and talent, roles in the eighties were few and far between. Radames went on to work as an advocate for child actors and formed his own company designing and installing home theaters and sound systems. During this time he also performed and toured with his his then wife Marsha Mann in his performance art band, 'Freshly Wrapped Candies'. Currently Radames continues with in the Home Theatre business, this time in Austin Texas under the company name 'Get It Wired'.



Thanks to Alison Arngrim for hauling this long forgotten memory back to the surface. Silly silly girl Melissa Sue!

Alison Arngrim Official Site:
Radames Pera Official Site:

Blast From The Past: Tony O'Dell

I was about 10 when Head Of The Class hit the air. Back during the shows run situations comedies filled the network schedules and this small but steady show did not have the flash, or garner the attention fellow sit-coms like Perfect Strangers, Full House and Married With Children were getting. This was the era of the sit-com, the big Prime Time soaps were starting to die and Family Ties, Cheers and of course The Cosby Show were dominating the ratings.



WKRP's Howard Hesseman got much of the attention when the show first began. Although he did not remain with the series for its entire run (Billy Connolly stepped in during the shows final season), Hesseman was arguably the most well known of the original cast. Hesseman, and the show itself, were soon overshadowed by co-star Robin Givens and her marriage to Mike Tyson.




I am not sure whether Given's drama helped or hurt the show, but it was rarely written about again without a mention of the drama. This was too bad as the show had a stellar cast of young actors (and did not need an overhaul and addition of Rain Pryor). I guess actor Brian Robbins would have been the requisite hunk but for me the most appealing male cast member was Tony O'Dell. O'Dell's Alan Pinkard was the tie and sweater vest wearing member of the special class, preppy and generally annoying the less traditional brain stereotypes in the group. For the mid eighties, O'Dell was ahead of his time with the metro sexual look, smartly dressed, well groomed and perfectly feathered blonde hair. Although Alan was supposed to be about 16, O'Dell was 26 when the show first premiered.



O'Dell was no stranger to television, he had previous roles on Dynasty and Otherworld as well as guest stints on most of the shows of the era, Chips, Family, Eight Is Enough and more. He was also known to movie audiences for playing Jimmy in the first two Karate Kid movies. Tony was most recently seen The Disney Channels 'Shake It Up.'. You can check out Tony's facebook page where he personally checks in to answer questions HERE:





Below: two more recent shots of Tony

Blast From The Past: Joe Penny & Perry King in the Riptide Pilot

A few months ago when I asked for suggestions for future Blast From The Past features, Joe Penny's name came up. I always liked Joe but can't say I was a huge fan when I was younger. Joe is super hot (something I see more now that I am older) but I was never really a Riptide fan. I didn't really like any Stephen J. Cannell show to be honest. I remember watching repeats of The Greatest American Hero and crushing over William Katt but other than that The A Team, Hardcastle & McCormick and 21 Jump St didn't really do much for me.

I did several posts on Penny's Riptide co-star Perry King as I became a fan of King's from several tv movies and my old vhs copy (long thrown out sadly) of Mandingo. Penny also worked the tv movie circuit and has worked steadily since Riptide was cancelled including a recent stint on Cold Case.



I do have to give it to Stephen J. Cannell for writing the pilot to Riptide featuring Penny and Perry in an extended action scene both only wearing their tighty whities (oh the 80's!). Thanks to xyzpdq and his clip site (HERE: where you too can download the clip). Thanks to xyzpdq also for several of the photos in this post.

Riptide Pilot (1984)

Ode to Mark-Paul Gosselaar

ZacK Attack!


When I was a teenager, like many of you I am sure, I crushed on Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Even back then I knew Saved By The Bell was crap but Mark-Paul was so adorable and talented that after the first season or two the show was basically written for, and around, his character. After the shows cancellation Gosselaar went on to prove himself a good dramatic actor as well in tv movies and on NYPD Blue.



At 37 Gosselaar is hotter than ever and in his new show Franklin & Bash, featuring the equally talented Breckin Meyer, Gosselaar again gives us a brief glimpse of his amazing backside. Here's a little look back a Gosselaar's most revealing roles.




Mark-Paul on NYPD Blue



Mark - Paul Gosselaar & Chandra West in NYPD... by mightyleech



Mark-Paul on Showtime





Mark-Paul in Franklin and Bash








Thanks to WinterType & Superherofan for the Franklin & Bash caps.