My old friend Jerry Beck, who helped me on my book Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons many years ago, has gone on to become one of the world's leading animation historians and enthusiasts. If you love cartoons you can't afford NOT to check his website several times a week. He constantly adds news, information, and illustrations about the world of animation.

www.cartoonresearch.com

Mark Evanier is a longtime writer/producer of television comedies, comic books, animated TV shows, a pop culture gadfly, and an all-around good guy. His website is a lot of fun to read, or just browse.

www.POVonline.com

www.vitaphoneproject.com

An old friend, cinematographer Tom Houghton, recently attended his fortieth high school reunion in Redding, California and discovered that a group has restored the local bijou. He writes, “It is a lovely theatre with all the charm of ‘last picture show’ but a bit more ornate. It was the first air- conditioned building in Redding when it was built in 1935. It seems to be the ideal site for a one-screen film festival. The supporters of the project have been producer Kathleen Kennedy (five years behind me in the high school) and Clint Eastwood, who has been familiar with the area since his youth and owns the Bing Crosby Ranch outside of town.” If you love vintage movie theaters, this site is well worth a look.

Cascade Theatre Website

AMERICAN VAUDEVILLE MUSEUM

I’ve only recently discovered the existence of the American Vaudeville Museum in Boston , and its founder/curator, Frank Cullen. He writes, “As you know, many silent film comedians and talkie song-and-dance stars (as well as comedian and straight actors) got their start in vaudeville. This site has been posting info and rare photos since 1998, the same year it began publishing Vaudeville Times. The magazine is issued quarterly and the web site is updated about four times a year.” Nuff said.

LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY

Not many sites of any kind can claim to be celebrating a tenth anniversary online, but that’s true of the Louise Brooks Society, devoted to the life and times of the magnetic silent-film star and latter-day memoirist. Thomas Gladysz has assembled a formidable amount of material on the actress and her era; there’s not only a lot to read and enjoy, but there’s a gift shop and even a “Radio Lulu” function that allows you to listen to music of the 1920s. Wow!

MOVIE POSTERS ON LINE

Bruce Hershenson is one of the most hard-working and entrepreneurial movie-poster dealers in the world. While he masterminds an annual auction of high-end memorabilia, he also conducts weekly ebay auctions where one-sheets, lobby cards, and such (from the silent era to the present day) start out at 99 cents and have no reserve bids. Best of all, Bruce is a square-shooter with a staff that’s amazingly efficient.

GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE

Did you ever think you’d see Charlie Chaplin in color? Like many libraries and archives, the George Eastman House in Rochester , New York is displaying many of its historic photographs online, including a few shots of Charlie as The Little Tramp taken in a primitive color technique. Once there, you’ll find it easy to spend a lot of time surveying the many other magnificent photos from the extensive Eastman archives.

THE JIMMY STEWART MUSEUM

James Stewart has always been the pride and joy of his home town, Indiana, Pennsylvania , where his father displayed the actor’s Academy Award in his hardware store for many years. Before his death, Stewart enjoyed a special homecoming planned in part by the founders of the Jimmy Stewart Museum . If you’re a Stewart fan it’s worth a visit to this site; you’ll even find some unusual merchandise including my favorite, a Christmas card set featuring the marquee of the Indiana theater showing It’s a Wonderful Life.

BASIL RATHBONE: MASTER OF STAGE AND SCREEN

A friend recently led me to this fan site, specifically because of its eye-popping array of behind-the-scenes photos from many of Basil Rathbone’s films. If you love this kind of movie still (as I do) you’ll have a great time browsing an extensive collection. Then you may want to spend more time learning more about the actor’s life and career.

STEVEN HILL’S MOVIE TITLE SCREENS PAGE

How would someone be able to confirm that baseball legend Lou Gehrig actually got second billing to singer Smith Ballew in the 1938 B Western Rawhide? By going to this extraordinary site run by Steven Hill, where you can look at title frames from more than three thousand films from the silent era to the present day. As a researcher I find this invaluable, even though I don’t always find the titles I need... but as a film buff I dare not go to the site too often, or I’ll be lost for twenty minutes at a time, browsing among the title frames.

THE LANDMARK LOEW’S JERSEY THEATRE

My hat’s off to the hard-working people who have labored for years to bring this Jersey City movie palace back to life—and, even better, make it a permanent home for classic films. You can learn more about the history of the theater and the ongoing efforts to revitalize it at this colorful site. It also serves as a calendar of coming events, of particular interest to anyone living in (or visiting) the New York metropolitan area.

http://www.loewsjersey.org 

How can you not love a site that automatically plays “The William Tell Overture” as part of the opening of the long-running Lone Ranger radio series? Joe Southern, editor and publisher of The Silver Bullet newsletter, has taken the leap from the printed page to the Internet with this new but fairly extensive web site about the beloved masked rider and his faithful Indian companion.

www.lonerangerfanclub.com

As one of the first people to research the career of Charley Chase, I’m delighted to see a growing number of people becoming converts to this unsung hero of comedy. Yair Solan has developed an impressive site devoted to Charley’s career with up-to-date information about availability of his films on DVD and other useful material, as well as a wealth of photos.

http://www.geocities.com/ysolan82/chase.html

  
 
 
The always enjoyable Buster Keaton website is now more elaborate than ever, with synopses on all of the great man's movies, and much, much more.

www.busterkeaton.com
 
 

The Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto is a mecca for movie-lovers, not only because of the lovingly restoredauditorium, but because of its programming. David Packard, whose unprecedented support for film preservation is well-known, also believes in showing great movies to the public, and this theater is his main outlet. (Later this year, the elaborate, renovated 1927 Fox California Theater in San Jose will reopen under his auspices, as well.) One click will take you to the current Stanford schedule, but bear in mind that every presentation is special there, with a live organ concert to start the evening, and nothing but the finest 35mm prints. The best news of all is that the Stanford has a large and loyal following.

http://www.stanfordtheatre.org

When I was growing up in Teaneck, New Jersey, there was little recognition of the tremendous role nearby Fort Lee, N.J. played in film history. I’m happy to learn that this has changed since then, and an active Film Commission has been established to educate and publicize an appreciation of this valuable heritage. Such film scholars as Richard Koszarski and David Shepard (who produced the excellent DVD Before Hollywood There Was Fort Lee, available on the Commission website) have contributed their time and knowledge, and there are plans for a special Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle symposium in the spring of 2005. This site is brimming with history as well as calendar notes of programs and activities for anyone who lives in the New York metropolitan area.

www.fortleefilm.org

 
 
 
 
Superfan Dennis R. Johnson devotes himself to chronicling movies' great, often unsung character actors on this website: 

GREAT CHARACTER ACTORS - DM    CHARACTER ACTOR INDEX - DM

www.separatecinema.com 
 

www.posternewsbulletin.com  

 
 
 
 

 
Here is the official website of the W.C. Fields Fan Club, a good source of news, information, photos, and links to learn more about The Great Man.  The club also issues a newsletter, and gets regular dispatches from W.C.'s grandson and historian Ronald Fields.

www.webtrec.com/wcfields

 
 
 
My old friend Gary Meyer, who cofounded the Landmark Theaters chain many years ago, is now running an old-fashioned neighborhood theater in San Francisco, and is having a great time doing it right... putting an old-fashioned personal touch into what has become an impersonal business. I’d like to think he can set an example for others to follow. Take a peek at his website and see how creative a theater-owner can be.
 
www.BalboaMovies.com

www.frankthompson.tv

www.serialsquadron.com

 
 
 
 
 
 
Ava Gardner has many fans, but none as fervent as the ones from her home turf in North Carolina.  This site offers wonderful photos, background information about the actress, and news of the efforts to keep her name and spirit alive. 

www.avagardner.org
 

 
 
 
 
Shemp Howard has always been the also-ran in Stooge appreciation, but now there are two separate sites that celebrate "the other Stooge," who happened to be the real-life brother of Moe and Curly.  Shempcompany.com is operated by his granddaughters, while the wallofshemp.com is run by fans; both will give you lots to browse through, and a cavalcade of very funny sound files.

http://www.wallofshemp.com/
http://shempcompany.com

Poster Price.com
www.posterprice.com/home.asp

If you collect movie posters-or if you're just getting started and want to know more before you proceed-this is a very useful and informative site.  It combines the current listings for a number of leading poster dealers, offers news and notes on upcoming sales and auctions, and tells you what specific posters have sold for in recent times.  You can also get to see thousands of movie posters so you won't have to buy blind.
 
 
 

Steven Lewis' Bing Crosby Internet Museum  

If you're a Bing Crosby fan, there's an almost inexhaustible amount of information to be found at this site, developed by Steven Lewis, including Malcolm McFarlane's detailed diary of Bing's life and career, a show-by-show rundown of Crosby radio programs (including five minutes of downloadable excerpts), a filmography, a discography, and a listing of Crosby CDs.  Incidentally, I was led to this wonderful site by Twin Cities Crosbyphile Arne Fogel, who's a pretty fair crooner himself; you can check out his site at www.arnefogel.com.
 
 
 

Film Score Monthly
www.filmscoremonthly.com

If you love movie soundtrack music, you can't afford NOT to subscribe to Film Score Monthly, but even if you do, you'll find additional reviews, previews, interviews, and information at the magazine's lively website.  FSM is not for sissies:  argumentative opinions are commonplace here, on the part of contributors and readers alike, but that's one of the things I enjoy most about the publication, started as a fanzine some years ago by Lukas Kendall.  What's more, FSM now produces its own limited-edition CDs of previously-unreleased movie scores, and one of my favorites-Alfred Newman's All About Eve-is now on sale for just $14.95.