It’s what we in Kansas City, Missouri call “Red Friday” as it’s the Friday before our Kansas City Chiefs play on Sunday. We as fans put on our Chiefs clothing and accessories to get the football weekend started off right. We decorate our cars. Last week, downtown KC was all decked out in Chiefs Kingdom flags and Chiefs Arrowheads painted on grass areas. And though things in their 1-3 pre-season and 0-1 regular season aren’t looking so hot as they prepare to host the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium, I thought that the rest of this season we could take a look at some classic football movies here on Losh-Man’s Hollywood Classics each Friday (or a day previous to game-day if the Chiefs play on a Thursday for example). And, tomorrow, I will be in Columbia, Missouri attending my first Missouri Tigers Football game with my Son who is a Junior there at the University Of Missouri!
As you already know, I am a huge Jimmy Stewart Fan, so I have to start out with his movie Navy Blue & Gold.
Sam Wood directed this 1937 film based on the George Bruce book and stars Jimmy Stewart, Robert Young and Lionel Barrymore. Stewart is ‘Truck Cross Carter”, an ambitious young man who takes great career risk by joining the Naval Academy under only part of his name, hoping to clear the name of his falsely accused and dishonorably discharged father, and becomes part of the Navy football team. And of course, who could forget Jimmy, dressed in a Bedford Falls Football uniform that doesn’t fit his skinny frame in this clip with Donna Reed from “It’s A Wonderful Life”
Next up on today’s list is Knute Rockne-All American.
This 1940 film was directed by Lloyd Bacon and William K Howard, based on the Robert Buckner screenplay and the personal accounts of Mrs Rockne and Knute’s friends and associates. It features the story of legendary Notre Dame Fighting Irish player and Coach George Gipp “The Gipper” played by then actor and later U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his star player Knute Rockne-played by Pat O’ Brien, and Gale Page as Mrs Bonnie Rockne. Everyone knows the saying that George Gipp immortalized “Win one for ‘The Gipper’!”
So, Happy Football Friday from Losh-Man’s Hollywood Classics! Enjoy rooting on your favorite teams this weekend-though I hope they are the Missouri Tigers and Kansas City Chiefs!
Ok, so after a week of consideration I opted to stop my Losh-Man’s Hollywood Classics Radio Show this past Tuesday and turn to the blogosphere instead. And, I’m finally at a point where I can do so consistently a few times a week. So what day is it? Well, thanks for asking-it’s Jimmy Stewart Monday!! Jimmy is my all-time favorite actor and is where my love for classic movies has grown out of!
I wrote about Jimmy for a newsletter called ‘The Inform-All” that I was a monthly contributor to for a year at work starting in 2006 in a feature called “Losh-Man’s Classic Character Of The Month”. Around that same time, I was doing a radio show called “The Best Radio Variety Show….Period” and my sister Veronica (who is also a big Jimmy fan) and I did a show about Jimmy. I was also Judge Omar Gaffney in Fair Based Productions (known as Platte County, Missouri’s Dinner Theater) presentation of “Harvey“, which ranks among my top 10 favorite Jimmy movies. One of my very first Losh-Man’s Hollywood Classics Radio Shows earlier this year was interviewing the Executive Director of the Jimmy Stewart Museum that my family and I visited several years ago.
I love the fact that Jimmy, like me, got his start in community theater, and though I was never able to do that, he rode that train all the way to Hollywood with his best friend Henry Fonda that he was even in a movie with, dated many actresses in common, and worked on model airplanes in their spare time. I’ve done a few of those myself like these two that are dedicated to Jimmy.
Left to right is a B47, that represents the Jimmy movie Strategic Air Command.
Right is the Spirit Of St Louis that represents Jimmy playing Charles Lindbergh
I own nearly 50 of Jimmy’s movies-many on both VHS and DVD like some of the ones pictured below, as well as the Biography Channel documentary on him, and several episodes of his “Hawkins” television series.
My Classic Entertainment wall in my rec-room is adorned with many Jimmy related items , from the planes pictured earlier to these items.
I love the fact that everyone talks about how Jimmy had such integrity of character both on and off the screen. I love his versatility that allowed him to play the guy next door in a small town, husband, father, tough cowboy, FBI Agent, reporter, lawyer, sports figure, aviation legend, singer and dancer and so much more. I love the fact that he was on so many Old-Time Radio shows, like these:
I love the great casting match-ups he had on the big and small screen like Donna Reed, Billy Mitchell, Josephine Hull, June Allyson, John Wayne, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Carol Burnett, Bob Hope, Margaret Sullivan, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Ronald Reagan, Johnny Carson, Buddy Ebsen, Lucille Ball, Doris Day, Eleanor Powell, William Powell & Myrna Loy, Harry Morgan, and so many more.
I love that fact that he was a decorated war hero, flying B17’s in World War II
and making recruiting videos like these:
And the movie Strategic Air Command was a great addition as well. It also ranks among my top 10 favorite Jimmy movies. I’ll see you next time, on Losh-Man’s Hollywood Classics!
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