Bill Geerhart
@conelrad6401240.bsky.social
Cold War weirdness (mostly). More here... https://conelrad.blogspot.com/
Walter Matthau fan Kenneth Tynan on FAIL SAFE. The Observer (UK), April 25, 1965.
Not a great look (literally)... The National Review's Rich Lowry defends the Cornell 7.
Somehow appropriate that the 10th anniversary of the Access Hollywood Tape and the 30th anniversary of FOX News happened on the same day (yesterday).
October 29, 1964: Columnist Drew Pearson erroneously claiming that the Goldwater campaign delayed the release of FAIL SAFE in Kansas until after the presidential election in November. In fact, it opened in various theaters in the state in October. cc: @rickperlstein.bsky.social
It sounds like Larry Hagman is saying in his 2001 memoir that he smoked a ton of cigarettes while filming FAIL SAFE, but there isn't a single scene in the film where he's got a smoke going. Maybe he tried smoking the first day?
Director Sidney Lumet (kneeling, center, with fingers on tape deck) shooting a scene with Larry Hagman and Henry Fonda. FAIL SAFE (1964).
The First Lady in FAIL SAFE (1964) looking very Jackie-esque.
One-term president... FAIL SAFE opened today in 1964.
"Holy Mother of God." In FAIL SAFE (1964) Larry Hagman plays Buck, the president's Russian-speaking translator. Hagman was offered the part after director Sidney Lumet saw him in the Broadway play THE BEAUTY PART. Hagman writes about what was his first feature film in his 2001 memoir.
Bill Geerhart@conelrad6401240.bsky.social · 5d agoSidney Lumet's FAIL SAFE opened in theaters in New York City on this day in 1964. Here is the New York Times advertisement for the film.
Sidney Lumet's FAIL SAFE opened in theaters in New York City on this day in 1964. Here is the New York Times advertisement for the film.
Most people forget that there is a McCarthyism subplot in MARATHON MAN. The film was released a half-century ago today. "Is it safe?"
We *almost* got an A-list feature film adaptation of William Brinkley's nuke novel THE LAST SHIP, but Steven Soderbergh decided to do KAFKA instead. THE LAST SHIP was made into a five-season TNT series beginning in 2014.
September 4, 1946 at the White House: Admiral William HP Blandy delivers a gift from King Juda and the exiled natives of Bikini Atoll to President Harry Truman.
I've given SHRINKING a few 'one more tries.' I always regret it.
1/2. In 2017 I came across a Withdrawal Sheet for this Nixon era COG document in a box at the National Archives. I immediately filed a FOIA/MDR to get it released. It took nearly a decade (including an administrative appeal) to shake it loose from the government. EFD = Mount Weather.
1946. "Admiral Blandy Shoos Weird A-Bomb Boogies" is a spectacular headline.
Fascinating film of Hollywood stars including Tony Curtis, Marlon Brando, James Garner discussing the upcoming March on Washington. The meeting took place at Charlton Heston's home. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrW0...
Les stars d'Hollywood planifient leur présence à la Marche sur Washington du 28 août 1963
YouTube video by COLLECTIF JAMES BALDWIN
youtube.com
10/4/2026, McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) in Westminster, MD. Trivia: Western Maryland College was also the site of the emergency censorship office to be activated in the event of a nuclear war. AKA W.I.S.P. (Wartime Information Security Program).
Guest star John Rubenstein on BARNABY JONES. S3:E17. 2/11/75.
Visited the Atomic Ale pub in Richland, Washington back in the summer of '98. Glad to see they still offer their Plutonium Porter.
