Happy 15th Anniversary TCM!

I was a strange child. My favorite movie when I was three years old was the original “King Kong” from 1933 – I was fascinated by it. I would sit in front of the television on Saturday afternoons watching the old black and whites – a steady diet of Abbott & Costello, Ma & Pa Kettle, Francis The Talking Mule, Shirley Temple films, and many others. I think because we owned a B&W television, I didn’t really know that these films were already 30-40 years old. By the age of six, I was already well-versed in a who’s who of classic film actors, actresses, directors, etc. I was just plain-old fascinated by all of it – and by the time my grandparents gave us a new color set, I didn’t really care that the movies I loved were still mostly in black and white.

But catching those films back then was not so easy – and seeing the true classics was usually even more difficult, often relegated to special airings, or late-nights on the local PBS station. Even with the VCR, many classic films never really saw the light of day – and although cable TV brought some of the more popular films into my home, albeit with commercial interruptions, the true gems still never got airplay. So, when TCM came on the scene in 1994 (and luckily, I was living in Los Angeles by then, and our cable system offered the channel from day one) – it was like a dream come true. That huge catalog of movies – the extras (the shorts, cartoons, travelogues, etc.), the fun programming, and of course, Robert Osborne. (I had the pleasure to meet Robert and Jane Russell several years ago, and he was just as charming in person, as he is on television – secretly, I guess I’ve always wanted his job!) Today, we take access to content for granted so often – and it’s difficult to imagine a world without (or before) TCM – but when it first showed up, it was a god-send – and a true innovation. It’s still my “go-to” channel – a good friend, that reminds me that quality is not dead in the world. It’s held my hand through many long nights, and kept me company when I was feeling lonely – which is more than can be said for many people. So, here’s to you Turner Classic Movies – and may you have many more happy birthdays to come!

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