I’ll confess I was nervous about this year’s Oscars, for all the obvious reasons, but now that they’re over, I’m glad “the show went on” after all.  At a Miramax gathering the day before,

Adrien Brody in his Oscar-winning performance in The Pianist

Harvey Weinstein spoke about a Gulf War veteran who remembered how much he and his comrades wanted to keep up with the NCAA playoffs and, yes, the Oscars, while they were far from home. 

Steve Martin should get some sort of award for having piloted the proceedings so well.  A good host makes what he does look easy, and I’m sure it was anything but. 

As to the awards themselves: it amuses me that all the people who make snide and condescending remarks about the Academy voters before the ceremonies are conspicuously quiet afterwards.  Every year we hear how old the voters are, how out of touch, etc, etc.  I suppose that’s why they gave awards to such conservative old-timers as Eminem, Roman Polanski, Pedro Almodovar, and Michael Moore. 

I think this year’s Oscar tally speaks well to diversity in the world of cinema, all the more so in a year that was far from distinguished. 

My greatest wish is that the Oscar will inspire people everywhere to see the wonderful German import Nowhere in Africa, which won the Best Foreign Language Film award...not to mention such other fine films as The Pianist and Talk to Her. 

My favorite moment from the show came during Adrien Brody’s speech, when the cameras captured the beaming faces of Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, and Daniel Day-Lewis, silently cheering on a relative newcomer to their fraternity, an up-and-coming artist who made his mark on the world.  

That’s not the kind of thing you hear about very often in Hollywood, or in a media world where money is all that seems to matter... but it’s what separates the genuine artists from the hacks, and it was glorious to behold.

Barbara Stanwyck got to play a cherished role on radio that the movies denied her

This is the third edition of my newsletter for old-movie buffs, and it’s packed with material:  the circuitous story of how Stanwyck brought the property Dark Victory to Hollywood, but never got to make the movie... an interview with writer-director Blake Edwards about his beginnings in radio, where Dick Powell became his mentor... a postscript to our earlier story about a movie-themed town in California, with photos and a map of a 1920s movie city in Florida... a selection

Find out more about Leonard's brand-new newsletter. It's Movie Crazy, too.

of wonderful  movie-star caricatures, published for the first time since the early 1930s, by Joe Grant, who went on to become one of the leading lights at the Walt Disney studio... a retrospective piece on Johnny Doughboy, a 1943 Jane Withers movie that reunited such child stars as Spanky McFarland, Alfalfa Switzer, Robert Coogan, Cora Sue Collins, and Bobby Breen... and a fascinating conversation with Jane Withers herself.

As you know, if you’ve seen the newsletter, this is truly a labor of love for me, and if you share my enthusiasm for films of the 1930s and 40s, and the people who made them, I hope you’ll give it a try.  You can order subscriptions and back issues through this website, using Uncle Sam’s post office or online via PayPal.  We even offer back issues of my original publication, Film Fan Monthly.  Enjoy!