Tag Archives: Mario Bava

Tina’s 2001 Odyssey

"Hello Tina" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Hello Tina” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

Well, thanks to my True Friend, Mr. Paul (@phb256, on Twitter, I woke this morning to see a tweet about me took me to the #ds106 web page of La Kisha Mahone where I got made a monkey of.  It looks like this:

"Monkey Mash'n Time" by @LKMahone

“Monkey Mash’n Time” by @LKMahone

It was nice that @LKMahone said I was the very first invite she got on Twitter, and nice that she paid homage to me (that is always a nice thing for a True Friend to do, not saying any names, @JimGroom). And I made a comment saying that.

But it was also a sad thing for me that the picture brought back some Dark Time Memories for me of when back in the late sixties after The Twilight Zone I was still in The Biz but was having a really hard time with typecasting and people saying that I was too short all the time and stuff.

A Dear Friend of mine (different from a True Friend) got word from Mario Bava to Stanley Kubrick that I was feeling down and really needing some work and so Stanley managed to get me onto the set one day when he was shooting a film and got me into a small-bit non-speaking role. It wasn’t my finest moment, and I really found that fur to be scratchy and itchy and I had a rash for weeks after which meant I really couldn’t capitalize on the moment by networking with Kier and Ed (given my background, I really enjoyed it when he starred in UFO a couple years later!) and Gary and Terry and I was really ticked to miss the chance to hobnob with Arthur C. Clarke when he was on set. In the end, aside from getting free food from the craft table during the shoot and my meagre extra’s scale pay for the scene, I really didn’t benefit much from the experience.

The one bright light of the whole sad affair was the time I got to spend with Douglas Rain. He had such a nice way of talking to me and expressed to me his feelings of also feeling withdrawn from others at the time and felt bad that he only had a voice-only role and was playing somewhat of a tragic character in the film. I liked it every morning when he said “Hello, Tina!” in that nice soft voice of his. It was a moment when I truly started to realize how important it is to have Dear Friends and True Friends and Friends and Make Art Not Just Because You Are Hungry for Food But For Art’s Sake, Too.

But for the most part, that wasn’t a very fond time for me.

I dug through my shoebox just now, and found this pic. You can kind of just see me in a little bit of the shot.

"My Scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey"

“My Scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey”

So, @LKMahone, thanks for bringing back the memories. Now, everybody, get out there and Make Some Art, Bub! Be sure to write about what you learned from the experience. And remember to attribute where you get the stuff! 

A couple notes about The Bits.

Hello Tina is based on the following:

  • This image of smiley HAL900
  • the free-for-personal-use font TwoBit, available from www.ffonts.net

I took a screen capture of just the original HELLO DAVE text,

"Hello Dave" text, inverted to put dark text on light background

“Hello Dave”  inverted (dark text on light background)

and uploaded it to whatfontis.com and selected the TwoBit font as the one I liked best from the returned matches.

"TwoBit font, my favourite for HAL9000" results from WhatFontIs.com

“TwoBit font, my favourite for HAL9000” results from WhatFontIs.com

I downloaded the free-for-personal-use font and installed it (double click on the .ttf file and then click the Install Font button in the on a Mac)

"Install Font: TwoBit"

“Install Font: TwoBit”

  • I found the scene photo as an existing GIF in a digital shoebox on Screen.Genius.com.
  • I found the red arrow in my shoebox, too. I rotated it and made it 50% transparent in Photoshop, only making it visible for the frames where I am visible.

@timmmmyboy’s DS106 Goes to the Movies

"DS106 Goes to the Movies" generator by @timmmmyboy

“DS106 Goes to the Movies” plot category generator by @timmmmyboy

You can read about how @timmmmyboy made a thing like Netflix has on his blog called DS106 Goes to the Movies that gives you search categories for movies that you want to watch, except that @timmmmyboy‘s one makes fake movie categories that are a jumbled-up of real categories. They are funny. And you can make your own, just by loading the page.

Plus, then you can write the elevator for it to go along with it so people will want to watch it more. Just click SUBMIT after you do, and people can listen to your pitch (well, they have to read it!). Plus, it has a Tweet button so you can put it on the Twitter. And it automatically says #ds106 tag to save you time so you can make even more of them.

These are ones that I made for my digital identity attribution of it. Here, on my blog, for history.

• INDEPENDENT SCI-FI MOVIES FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES FEATURING BAVA SHOWTUNES

Eva and long-time guy pal D launch into a joyous adventure, set on an interstellar cruise ship, produced by everyone’s favourite maniacal musical director, MB. They sing & dance their way in and out of trouble, managing to save Uncle Jim & the kids.

• SPY MYSTERIES FOR KIDLETS FEATURING TALKY TINA

Put on your PJs, dress your favourite 18-inch action figure in the Ninja attire, and cuddle up with popcorn and the kids, as you enjoy an entertaining evening of surveillance, dead drops, and other tradecraft with everyone’s favourite little agent!

• SATANIC MOCKUMENTARIES FOR OCTAGENARIANS WITH AN ANIMATED GIF DREAM SEQUENCE

In what turned out to be his final film, aging Bava biographer James G. Room splices together all the toned-down scary bits from the Italian Giallo films suitable for elderly viewers and shares them in one 146-minute long, mindbending nightmare GIF.

• BUDDY WESTERNS ABOUT CATS & DOGS SET IN BIBLICAL TIMES FOR TWEENS

Davey and his favourite dog Goliath team up with YouTube’s Claycat in the Christian reboot of Butch Catsady and His Son, Dog and a Kid, with Claycat in the Paul Newman role and Goliath in playing His Son, Dog, and Davey as a Kid. High Mass at noon!!

• TALKING-ANIMAL THRILLERS FOR MUPPETS OF ALL AGES FEATURING TALKY TINA

Kermit & Tina star in a remake of Hitchcock’s classic thriller, “The 39 Steps.” Returning to novelist Buchanan’s original take on “steps,” the final climatic scene with Tina and Miss Piggy, high on the cliffs of the Scottish shoreline, thrills all!!

———————————–

I think that @timmmmyboy made a fun thing that is a fun thing to do, and you should do it too. So just link on over there to @timmmmyboy‘s DS106 Goes to the Movies generator and make us some art, bub.

Well, bye!

Still Nice and Wholesome, Just Not Seen That Way

After I wrote about my screen test for Mario Bava and his film Black Sunday back in 1960, and posted a still photo from that test, my dear friend ol’ Hatchet Jack made a beautiful piece of artwork  and shared it with the world for all to see. I was quite taken aback. That ol Hatchet Jack certainly has gotten over the severe trouncing I gave him in Roshambo.

But I am not one to gloat.

Here is the picture he made of me. And he said some nice words about me too.

A beautiful picture of me, made by my friend, ‘ol Hatchet Jack

This immediately reminded me of another film I tried out for, shortly after my famous role in that Twilight Zone  episode (the one that made me typecast for life as a cute-little-doll-that-kills) , where I would have run through a mountain meadow, laughing and singing with other children.

Now, again, I’m not one to harp on the same old issue over and over again, but they did finally give the role to someone who was taller than me (by a head or three), but I still think you can imagine my beautiful voice ringing throughout the mountain meadows just as prettily has hers, and I could have shot the kissing scenes with Captain von Trapp using some lifts or maybe standing on a little box or something. Or camera angles. I would have just had to be careful not to stand too close to Gretl (or especially Liesl) when I was giving her matronly advice. It would have worked.

Anyway, I tested for the role on a Tuesday, and that Julie girl showed up the next day, saw my screen test, and went ahead and down-right mimicked me, in style and pose and everything.

Jinxed by Julie, another screen test photo, this from  1965 (animated GIF by iamTalkyTina)

Jinxed by Julie, another screen test photo, this from 1965 (animated GIF by iamTalkyTina)

AND SHE GOT THE ROLE! Can you believe it???

I still think my beautiful red, flowing locks were much nicer than her Joan-of-Arc-I’m-a-nun-hack-job haircut.

I did enjoy hanging out in Austria that summer, though. Although when they offered me a bit part as the lonely goatherd’s love interest, I told them to shove it!  Sheesh!

Ready for my Close-Up, Mr. Bava

Mr. Bava said I looked too young for the role.

Unpublished still from my screen test for Mario Bava's "Black Sunday" (1960).

Unpublished still from my screen test for Mario Bava’s “Black Sunday” (1960).

I’ve heard that for my entire career in show biz.

Granted, this gal has certainly aged well. Some would say that I have a timeless look. And that’s always nice to hear. But always hearing “too young” gets on my nerves sometimes.

“You’re not what we’re looking for.”
“You’re too wholesome”
“Your cute dimples tell everyone you’re a good girl, and we’re looking for someone with a more sinister look.”

I don’t think it was my height, because that wouldn’t be nice not to cast people just based on that.

But I kept hearing that “too young”, over and over, in the early sixties.

And then I got my big break on that Twilight Zone episode, and I decided to really put my all in to that role — and look what it got me.

Typecast. Typecast as the evil-little-doll-girl that kills.

At least I made some nice friends during that screen test. Demon and Alistair let me ride them around the set, and helped me get to the craft table before everyone else for all the yummy goodies during the break.

Ah, memories.

Men Who Have a Thing for Hatchets …

"A Shortened Clip from Twitch of the Death Nerve, with the Blood Cut Out."

“A Shortened Clip from Twitch of the Death Nerve, with the Bloody Head- Getting-Cut-Off-Part Cut Out.”

Although Jim Groom never really sent me any kind of personal Valentine card back when I made mine, I think he must be a very interesting man, like my friend Hatchet Jack, and also that Bryan Alexander fellow who has a hatchet, too, and he mentioned me after all on #ds106radio when he was visiting with Alan, who also chops wood for his wood stove (and so he must have a hatchet, too), because he (Jim Groom) posted a picture of a hatchet when he wrote about a film festival that he is going to be having about his all-time fascination director called Mario Bava who seems to like all kinds of things scare you and jump out and that make screams and blood come out of you. I just cleaned it up a bit by removing the bloody part.

Anyway, when I saw that, I put the dates on my fancy Google calendar so I would not miss a single one. You can subscribe to the calendar about the Jim Groom’s 10-Week Mario Bava Film Festival — if you like that kind of thing, after all.

     (Calendar ID: 7ervo7h7p3186dthln5809f2ag@group.calendar.google.com)

The dates are in my sidebar, too —->>> (look!!)  I wound up using a plug-in called iCalendar Events Widget because when I transferred my blog from WordPress.com to my own self-domain-of-my-own-installation (Look at me, I’m independent and self-sufficient, after all!) I had to find a plug-in that worked and this one did. I had to fiddle a little with some thing called CSS to make it look okay, but I was able to figure it out.

Even though all of my Nice Friends always think of me as gentle and polite and nice and a really beautiful and lovely doll, sometimes people often see me as being younger than I really am (that’s so flattering!), and they forget that I had an acting career way back in 1964, and this is 2013. Now a lady never mentions her age (and so you WON”T do the math on that, will you, my good friends?) but I feel that I am mature enough to enjoy the Bava Film Festival without fear of you all saying I’m too sensitive for something so rich in energy or intensity. I know you will respect and support my decision around this.

So I’m down for bavatuesdays.