TCM Film Fest Funny Girl Red Carpet 2013

Here is the entrance to the red carpet for tonight's gala premiere restoration of Funny Girl at The TCM Classic Film Festival. Below find pictures of all the great classic stars that walked it.


 Jane Withers and can anyone place the woman with her in the black dress? When Jane told the fans in the bleacher that it was recently her 87 birthday, they sang her happy birthday. The only thing sweeter than that was her reaction of tears and sincere gratitude.

Ann Blythe with Tom Brown 

Max Von Sydow, who even at a fun event looks a bit ominous.

 Tippi Hedren

 Mitzi Gaynor, who is a live wire. She gave Ben almost more than he could handle at the South Pacific interview. But that a whole other blog post.

 Eva Marie Saint greeting Ann Jeffries

 Robert Hayes, whose Airplane! will be showing at this years fest.

 Eva Marie was the last on the red carpet and gave us one of her high school cheers before heading into the film.

TCM Film Fest 2013

These Photos Courtesy Of Will McKinley of Cinematically Insane

TCM Classic Film Fest starts today. Yesterday I attended the press day with hosts Robert Osborne, and Ben Mankiewicz and programmers Charles Tabesh and Genevieve McGillicuddy.

The programming of this festival has to be challenging. While they have a theme of travel in films, there are so many types of viewers and they have to please them all. Everything from silents to noir to musicals to more current films, not to mention the whole debate about 35mm vs digital and just plain old quality issues. I asked Tabesh about how they make these decisions. He responded that there are 3 or 4 people in a core team that create the long list, but it is him that pairs that down and makes the final decisions based on availability, diversity, and quality.

 Robert Osborne said that now that the festival is established they are able to be a bit more eclectic in their film choices. People don't even need to know what the program is, they are buying tickets and just trusting that Tabesh and McGillicuddy will have their best interests in mind. Within the community TCM is definitely a known quantity. McGillicuddy told us that 20% of the festival budget goes to projection and technical support asan example of their dedication to presenting the films in their best quality possible.

Much of my favorite part of the festival is the interviews with the stars of the films. This year has a lot of great guests. Robert told us once the program is set he gets first pick at interviews. Ben Mankiewicz talked about how much he's enjoyed getting to know and become friends with the stars. Further Ben let us know his disappointment in not getting to interview Max Von Sydow before the screening of Three Days of The Condor, one of his fave films. Sorry Ben.

Some limited access tickets are still available and you can also try to get into screens with individual tickets. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for picture from the red carpet gala tonight of the World Premiere Restoration of Funny Girl. Also you can watch my twitter stream for some live tweeting tonight (@EliseCD)

Ford Escape 2013

In my family's continuing search for a new car, the generous people at Ford were nice enough to loan us a brand new Ford Escape! We took it over a weekend and really ran it all over town and even an impromptu trip to the snow. So impromptu we weren't dressed correctly. Brrrrr......

But back to the Escape. We were looking for a car that can fit the family, which sometimes includes my mother in law who has an electric wheel chair that breaks down for transport and needs to fit in the trunk. Other times it means our 2 dogs, one of whom is 125 pounds. The Escape can definitely handle all of that.

In our many adventures over the weekend we drove a fair bit of unpaved road and even my 8 year old daughter comment how smooth the ride was. The 4 wheel drive probably takes the credit there, but even on the paved road she noticed how much smoother it was. It really is a sweet ride.

Looking through the car info I found that you can program a key fob for each driver. I love that you can set things like, maximum speed, sound system volume, and nav screen interaction. My daughter is only 8 now but she'll be 16 before I know it. She can still have fun and feel the freedom of driving, and I'll be able to sleep nights.

I'm sad they no longer make the hybrid Escape.This new Escape has Eco boost which doesn't get as good mileage. It did still get about the same mileage as my PT cruiser which is pretty good for a car this much larger. This is really my only gripe with the car. Apart from that I loved it.

TCM Classic Film Festival 2013

The TCM Film Festival 2013 dates have been announced it begins April 25 and runs through the 28th. The theme for this years festival is Cinematic Journeys: Travel in the Movies. Like the picture above there is always something for everyone at the TCM Film Festival. They'll screen silent films, horror, action, romance, musicals, and everything in between.

Also don't miss the Road to Hollywood kicking off October 13th. See the release below.

Prior to the 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival, TCM will once again conduct a nationwide Road to Hollywood tour of local film screenings. In keeping with the 2013 festival theme of Cinematic Journeys: Travel in the Movies, TCM is teaming up with NASA and Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for an extra-terrestrial screening of the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956) on Saturday, Oct. 13. The film will not only be shown to fans at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, but has also been transmitted to the International Space Station to be enjoyed by the astronauts on board.

In addition, astronaut Sunita Williams, who recently set a new spacewalking record, will introduce Forbidden Planet to those here on Earth at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex from the International Space Station. Free tickets for the TCM screening of Forbidden Planet can be obtained through the Road to Hollywood website at http://tcm.com/roadtohollywood/. Additional locations and films for TCM's Road to Hollywood tour will be announced in the coming weeks.