Sunday, March 22, 2026
Cowboy Church #261
Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of cowboy church.
Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Have You Read the Bible Today. It is important for each of us to read our Bible each and every day. The Bible is not just some book, it is the living breathing word of God. It is easy for our faith and Christian walk to become idle and stagnant and the easiest way for this to happen is to simply not read our Bible. Taking some time each day to read the Bible is the best way for our faith and our walk with God to continue growing and maturing. This recording is the B-side of a 1955 Little Golden Record by Roy and Dale. The A-side was The Bible Tells Me So.
This is followed by Tammy Wynette with May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You. This comes from her 1969 gospel album, Inspiration.
After this comes Chelsea Moon and Uncle Daddy with How Deep the Father's Love for Us. This comes from their 2010 album, Hymn Project, Vol. 1.
Afterwards is Johnny Cash with You'll Never Walk Alone. This recording was made in a church using a real church pipe organ. Playing that pipe organ was Benmont Trench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame. There was a plan for Johnny Cash to make a whole album in a church with an organ before John passed away. In the liner notes for the Unearthed box set, producer Rick Rubin remembered, "Yes it was one of our future plans. We have a whole lot of stuff that was still left to do. This was one of two songs we recorded in a church in L.A. with Johnny singing live -because we wanted it to sound like he was in a church - and Benmont Trench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers playing the church organ. He played the hands and the feet and the church organist pulled all the stops because it was a complicated instrument and unique. We decided to use just one of the songs on The Man Comes Around, and Johnny preferred the other one, 'Danny Boy.'" Tench remembered (in the same linear notes), "It was a really remarkable experience, because the way the organ is set up is so you can see the preacher through a mirror for your cues. I could see Johnny sitting in the chair the preacher sits in when the choir is singing, and he was in the center, facing the congregation, with headphones on. It's hard to paint into words, but the record will tell you what it was like. Indescribably moving."
Then comes Vern Gosdin with Jesus Hold My Hand. This comes from his 1985 album, Time Stands Still.
Next is The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1937 recording of Power in the Blood. Though it may be simple doctrine that we have heard since Sunday school, I hope we never forget how much power there truly is in the blood of Jesus. No matter what temptations and struggles we may face in life, Jesus' blood spilled on Calvary's cross has overcome all of it. With man something may be impossible but with God all things are possible.
Today's musical selection ends with Blind Wille Johnson with his 1930 recording of Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right.
Now for the 5th episode of The Lone Ranger TV series.
Now for a sermon from Martin Luther King Jr.
Psalm 97
1 The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!
8 Zion hears and rejoices
and the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments, Lord.
9 For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11 Light shines on the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart.
12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous,
and praise his holy name.
Saturday, March 21, 2026
Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #273
Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons.
Today's cartoon selection begins with Sylvester in A Kiddie's Kitty (1955). It is worth noting that after Tweety and Sylvester first teamed up in Tweetie Pie (1947), Tweety would not again appear apart from Sylvester (apart from small cameos), yet Sylvester would make many cartoons without Tweety. This is one of Sylvester's solo cartoons where he is not trying to catch the little yellow bird. Also, unlike most classic cartoon characters Sylvester was a fully formed character from his first appearance on movie screens and has not really changed since. Looney Tunes director and animator, Robert McKimson later said of Sylvester, "He had a juicy voice, you know. He's the closest, I would say, that Mel [voice artist Mel Blanc] would come to have an original voice and then fitting the character to it. Of course, Daffy Duck's voice is the same as Sylvester's only sped. So, I guess when Mel recorded Daffy it sounded like Sylvester." Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng [who directed this movie] talked about how he and layout artist Hawley Pratt designed this character, "I designed Sylvester to look subtly like a clown. I gave him a big red nose and a very low crotch, which was supposed to look like he was wearing baggy pants." Despite the little girl, Suzanne only appearing in this one cartoon, she would go on to appear as a back-up feature in many Looney Tunes themed comic books from Dell Comics. (Thanks to Top Cat James for bringing this to my attention in the comments for a previous post).
Next is Mighty Mouse in The Silver Streak (1945).
Now for the early color Merrie Melodies cartoon, The Cat Came Back (1936). While it may be far from what would later become the Warner Brothers cartoon style, this Friz Freleng directed short is very charming and fun. The film would be reissued to theaters twice. The first time was July 15, 1944, and the second time was June 5, 1954.
Up next comes the Terry Toons short, Why Mules Leave Home (1934). This cartoon is based off the Brothers Grimm story Town Musicians of Bremen. This was not the only cartoon based off that story. Walt Disney directed a silent version, The Four Musicians of Bremen (1922), Ub Iwerks directed the Comi-Color cartoon The Bremen Town Musicians (1935) and there would be a Soviet animated short film entitled The Bremen Town Musicians (1969).
Now it is time for a commercial break.
Next is the last black and white Silly Symphony, Bugs in Love (1932). This is a rather typical Silly Symphony of its time, following the well-established formula of animated characters having a grand time to music until the villain of the piece appears and tries to wreck their fun. As you can guess by the title this film's story involves various bugs. Bugs were a common site in the early Silly Symphonies and the newspaper comic strip. In fact, the newspaper comic strip featured a complete remake of this cartoon. Animation of this film was done from March 30 - May 3, 1932. The Silly Symphonies were a series that at this time was constantly improving and audiences and exhibitors quickly took note of this improvement. For evidence here is an exhibitor's review from 1934 (two years after the film's original release), "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphonies—An old Silly Symphony. Not as good as the new ones. Running time, one reel. —A. B. Jefferis, New Piedmont Theatre, Piedmont, Mo. Small Town Patronage." Of course, the Silly Symphonies were quite appropriately one of the most popular cartoon series of the time. The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Another great Silly Symphony. Give it extra billing. —Charles Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa." Not everybody was so impressed with the series though as shown through the following exhibitors review from The Motion Picture Herald, "BUGS IN LOVE: Silly Symphony—This is just an- other Walt Disney cartoon comedy. Nothing good about it; just ordinary and is only fair entertainment. We have only played one good comedy of this series and every time we hope the next one will be better. Disappointed in these. Running time, nine minutes. - J. J. Medford, Orpheum Theatre, Oxford, N.C., General Patronage." The film had its New York opening from December 11-16, 1932, at the Roxy playing alongside the feature length movie Me and My Gal (1932). This cartoon made its TV debut on an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club that aired on January 26, 1956.
Now for The New Three Stooges cartoon, Call of the Wile (1965). In this cartoon, a mountain lion pretends to be a stuffed head hanging on the Stooges' wall. The same thing happened in Elmer Fudd's house in the Warner Brothers cartoon, What's My Lion (1961).
After Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), the Disney studio planned to make a third South American themed feature film with Donald Duck. Known at the studio as the Carnival feature. That film really began production during the spring and summer of 1945. Like the previous movies, this would have been an anthology film that would have been separated into four different segments, that would essentially resemble Disney's cartoon shorts. When World War 2 came to an end, there would be no longer be a reason for such a film and the project was quietly abandoned. However, one portion of this film would reach the screen. This was Blame it on the Samba, which would become part of Melody Time (1948). As previously mentioned, this short would feature a live action, Ethel Smith. During the 1940's the U.S. government pushed its Good Neighbor policy by having many entertainers on both sides of the border serve as Goodwill Ambassadors and one of these was U.S. born Ethel Smith. Born in Pittsburgh (on November 22, 1902), at a young age Smith discovered Latin music and became a huge fan. In the mid-1930's she discovered the electric organ, a relatively new instrument and used it to play the Latin music she loved. By the late 1930's she was performing in Latin America. With this in mind, she became a perfect good will ambassador. In 1940 she gained an engagement at the Cassino Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro. She was so popular that she would be repeatedly held over, and she was there when the Disney studio visited Rio de Janeiro in August 1941 for the making of Saludos Amigos. While there is no definitive proof that anyone working at Disney came into contact with Ethel Smith, the Disney artists did often have meetings at the Copacabana and in December 1941 Smith sent a custom designed Christmas card to Walt and his wife Lillian. In the summer of 1944, she was in Hollywood working for MGM and performed Tico-Tico (which was a very popular song for her) for the Ester Williams movie, Bathing Beauty (1944). In late 1944, Disney artist Norm Ferguson was trying to bring together musicians for the Carnival feature, and he felt that with Ethel Smith now in Hollywood, she would be a perfect choice. The studio contacted her in early 1945. Mary Blair began working on various costume sketches for her with different costumes representing different countries. This was because it was considered to have appear in each segment and have her music connect the various segments. In February 1945 a Hammond organ was installed on the sound-effects recording stage. She recorded the Mexican song, La Parranda and the Cuban number Cachita paran pan pin. Norm Ferguson had hoped to use the Brazilian song Cavaquinho, yet the copyright status seemed a mystery. Ethel recorded various other songs as possible substitutes for Cavaquinho, but the studio was able to get the rights in May 1945. Disney lyricist Ray Gilbert would be assigned to write new English lyrics for this tune, and the result was Blame it on the Samba. Though this segment would eventually be put on a shelf when the Carnival feature was shelved as a whole, it would later see the light of day again. Ethel Smith was becoming an even bigger star due to supporting performances in live action movies and the option of Disney studio to use her services lasted up until spring 1947. In late 1946 production on the Blame it on the Samba sequence was revived. There was a proposed version of the sequence that at least made it to the storyboard stage, that would have featured both Ethel Smith and Carmen Miranda. In that version, Donald Duck and Joe Carioca went to a theater where both artists were performing. The two crash backstage where Smith is performing and end up in Miranda's dressing room. Later both artists go on stage to perform Blame it on the Samba. Donald and Joe Carioca are still backstage, where Donald is still lovestruck by a kiss from Carmen Miranda. Joe tells Donald romantic tales of Rio and Donald's mind transports the duck to a surreal fantasy world. This lovely dream would morph into a nightmare involving matchboxes and a performance of the Bonfire Ballet. This in turn would turn into a celebration of Brazil's Festa de sao Joao Brazil festival. It is not known if this plan was from before the project was originally shelved or after. There were also plans to have all three Caballeros appear in this segment but eventually Panchito was dropped due to the sequence having nothing to do with Mexico. This is when the Aracuan Bird would be added to the action.
Now let us close with a song.
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry.
Resources Used
South of the Border with Disney by J.B. Kaufman.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of the American Animated Cartoon by Leonard Maltin
Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman.
I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat: Fifty Years of Sylvester and Tweety by Jerry Beck
Friday, March 20, 2026
Movie Review: Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
Michael's Movie Grade: B-
This horror-comedy sequel is over-the-top, gory and a lot of fun.
Ready or Not was not exactly the type of movie that needed a sequel. However, if there was going to be a sequel, I am glad it was one as fun as this. This film up the ante on both the stakes and the gore. In fact, this movie delights in its over-the-top gore. Yet this is exactly the kind of gore that I like. The movie provides the type of gore that is too cartoon-y and over-the-top that it is hard to actually be grossed out, but it instead just becomes part of the silly fun. This is perfect for a movie like this that always has its tongue firmly in its cheek. Speaking about this the movie is often quite funny. I won't say that I was laughing out loud through the whole thing but the moments that made me laugh, really cracked me up.
Still the heart of this movie comes from the relationship between the first movie's protagonist Grace (Samara Weaving) and her sister Faith (Kathryn Newton). Though the sibling drama can get a little repetitive at times, it could also be quite touching at others. This relationship brought an emotional core to an over-the-top film about satanists trying to kill Grace to gain power over the whole world. What really makes it work though is the chemistry between Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton. These two always feel like real siblings and the play off each other extremely well, whether the scene calls for comedy, sibling drama or bloody action.
For the first two acts this movie is quite unpredictable with some very good surprises. However, in the final act, there is a twist that makes everything that comes after extremely predictable. Also, with this being a horror-comedy, there are no moments here that are actually scary. I have seen kids movies that are scarier than this.
Not a perfect movie but still a lot of fun.
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Super Mario Brothers Super Show Coming to ME-TV Toons
I hope you are ready to get hooked on the brothers. The Super Mario Brothers Super Show is coming to ME-TV Toons starting on March 30th, just a couple days before The Super Mario Galaxy Movie hits theaters.
This show featured a mixture of live action and animated segments. The live action segments featured wrestler "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. These segments took on a sitcom like format featuring the brothers in their day job as plumbers. Along the way they would meet such guest stars as Donna Douglas (pretty much reprising her role from The Beverly Hillbillies), Cassandra Peterson (AKA Elvira), Ernie Hudson, Magic Johnson, Cyndi Lauper, Maurice LaMarche (as Inspector Gadget), Danica McKellar, Sgt. Slaughter, Vanna White, Moon Zappa and more. The animated segments included cartoons based off the Mario Brothers video games and the Legend of Zelda video games. Both the live action and animated segments are full of a certain corny 1980's charm that will still appeal to Nintendo fans of all ages.
This show ran from September 4 to December 1, 1989 and would be followed by two sequel shows, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) and Super Mario World (1991). It also received a bizarre spin off show titled King Koopa's Kool Kartoons (1989).
The show will air on the channel weekdays at 8am (7am central).
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Conway Tearle - A Merry Hamlet
Conway Tearle is one of the many actors of Hollywood's golden age who had a massive career, yet whose name is well forgotten today even by many cinephiles. Yet during the silent era and the early talkie era, he had quite a career. It is believed that he appeared in 96 films and was once considered the highest paid movie actor. His movie career began with The Nightingale (1914) starring Ethel Barrymore (also in her film debut) and ended with Romeo and Juliet (1936) starring Leslie Howard, Norma Shearer and John Barrymore. In between this he appeared in such movies as Stella Maris (1918) (starring Mary Pickford), Atonement (1919), Lilies of the Field (1924), The Great Divide (1925), Dancing Mothers (1926) (featuring Clara Bow's screen debut), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), Vanity Fair (1932), Stingaree (1934), Klondike Annie (1936) (starring Mae West) and The Preview Murder Mystery (1936).
Like many film actors of the era, Tearle also starred in many plays. Here is a list of just some Broadway productions he was in.
Abigail (Feb 21, 1905 - Apr 1905)
A Marriage of Reason (Apr 01, 1907 - Apr 1907)
The Smoldering Flame (Sep 23, 1913 - Sep 1913)
The Fugitive (Mar 19, 1917 - May 1917)
The Mad Dog (Nov 08, 1921 - Nov 1921)
Dinner at Eight (Oct 22, 1932 - May 1933)
Living Dangerously (Jan 12, 1935 - Jan 19, 1935)
Antony and Cleopatra (Nov 10, 1937 - Nov 13, 1937)
Here is an article from a 1918 issue of Photoplay magazine about Conway Tearle. If you have any trouble reading these pages, click on them and you your touch screen to zoom in. If you don't have a touch screen, click here.
Now enjoy a feature length movie featuring Conway Tearle, Sing Sing Nights (1934).
Resources Used
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