The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Happy Mother’s Day! I’ll be Watching the Television Show: Hazel

Hazel: Season 2 Happy Mother’s Day to all of you Moms. Also, for all of us daughters, what a wonderful time to sit back and reflect about our Moms.

Our daughter came home (from Austin) for the weekend, and since we are fortunate to have our son living right here in San Antonio, the four of us have been together for the weekend. We celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday. Our son has a group function today that he goes to every other Sunday, and my daughter has a group hike she is at right now, thus the topsy-turvy Mother’s Day on Saturday.

I was very surprised to receive the second season of Hazel. Yes, Hazel, as in the 1960-ish television show. My husband and I have been making our way through this delightful show, and a while back I mentioned to him that I was going to go ahead and buy the second season. He told me to wait a while, just in case the end of the first season wasn’t up to par with where we currently were on our discs. Apparently, he knew our son and daughter had already purchased the second season of Hazel for one of my Mother’s Day goodies.

I have long been a fan of Shirley Booth – the actress who portrays Hazel, the housemaid of the Baxter family.  I was first introduced to Shirley Booth’s acting when I saw the 1952 movie Come Back, Little Sheba. I was simply overwhelmed with how good she was. When I saw Booth in the 1958 movie called The Matchmaker, I knew she would be an actress whose work I would follow. (The Matchmaker is the original Hello, Dolly.)

Hazel is a situation comedy (sitcom) that aired in the early to mid 1960s. I had never watched the show, but while doing some internet surfing and digging a little while ago, I found it. I can’t remember how I happened upon it, but I’m glad I did. It has a “feel good” feeling about it, which is something my husband and I both enjoy. As I said before, Hazel is the maid in the Baxter household. The family is made up of Mr. Baxter/Mr. B. – Don DeFore, Mrs. Baxter/Missy – Whitney Blake [the mother of Meredith Baxter (Birney) and co-creator of another sitcom One Day at a Time], and  Harold – Bobby Buntrock.

Hazel was the housemaid to Missy’s family while Missy was growing up, and she is now as close to Harold as she was to Missy. The very refreshing thing (these days!) is that Harold loves and respects Hazel, and doesn’t always have a roll of the eyes and some “clever” (in my mind what is really “smart-allecky”) retort every time a grown up talks to him. (The writing on the show is so good that they don’t have to rely on cheap gimmicks like a pain-in-the-neck kid to show humor.) The fourth member of the Baxter family is Hazel, for she is surely part of that loving family.

I started this entry as a short “Happy Mother’s Day” entry, but somehow, I got carried away with Shirley Booth and Hazel! To get back to my initial purpose: I hope you all have wonderful days!

For more Cozy viewing ideas, click on my Cozy Mystery TV & Movies page.

Upcoming Television Mystery Movies for May 2013

This is the second month I am posting the upcoming television mystery movies on the Turner Classic Movie channel. As I have mentioned several times, I subscribe to TCM’s monthly television movie guide (Now Playing) and actually highlight the movies I think my husband and I might enjoy watching. The movies I’m going to list are all mysteries, except for two that feature one of my very favorite actresses: Judy Holliday.

I have not seen all of these listed movies, so please don’t hold me accountable if they aren’t any good. I am going to be listing these movies in Central time zone, so you might want to check out your local starting times.

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 2, 2013

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944)  1:30 AM (Central)
A young man about to be married discovers the two aunts who raised him have been poisoning lonely old men.
Dir: Frank Capra Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
BW-118 mins, TV-G, CC

THE CASE OF THE BLACK CAT (1936)  9:15 AM (Central)
Perry Mason looks into a trio of murders heralded by the shriek of a cat.
Dir: William McGann Cast: Ricardo Cortez, June Travis, Jane Bryan
BW-66 mins, TV-PG

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 4, 2013

THE FALCON TAKES OVER (1942)  9:45 AM (Central)
A society sleuth and a lady reporter try to track down a murderous thug’s lost girlfriend.
Dir: Irving Reis Cast: George Sanders, Lynn Bari, James Gleason
BW-63 mins, TV-G

***** ***** ***** *****

Tuesday – May 7, 2013

CROSSFIRE (1947)  9:00 PM (Central)
A crusading district attorney investigates the murder of a Jewish man.|
Dir: Edward Dmytryk Cast: Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC

OUT OF THE PAST (1947)  10:30 PM (Central)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – May 8, 2013

THE NAKED CITY (1948)  2:15 AM (Central)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Dir: Jules Dassin Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart
BW-96 mins, TV-14, CC

SO LONG AT THE FAIR (1950)  5:30 PM (Central)
A woman searches for her missing brother in Paris despite the fact that nobody believes he exists.
Dir: Antony Darnborough Cast: Honor Blackman, Jean Simmons, Dirk Bogarde
BW-86 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 9, 2013

SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (1969)  4:00 PM  (Central)
This film comprises three supernatural tales based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
Dir: Roger Vadim Cast: Vincent Price, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda
C-121 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 10, 2013

UNDER CAPRICORN (1949)  10:00 PM  (Central)
Newly arrived in Australia, a man discovers his childhood love is now an alcoholic.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Michael Wilding
C-117 mins, TV-PG, CC

♦♦♦(I wasn’t sure if this is a mystery until I noticed that on page 4 of TCM’s May Now Playing magazine, this is written: “…Under Capricorn (1949) a compelling murder mystery set in 19th-century Australia that was one of the few Alfred Hitchcock films of its period not to capture the public fancy;…”

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 11, 2013

THE FALCON’S BROTHER (1942)  9:45 AM  (Central)
A gentlemanly detective calls on his brother to help him stop the Nazis from assassinating a key diplomat.
Dir: Stanley Logan Cast: George Sanders, Tom Conway, Jane Randolph
BW-63 mins, TV-G

***** ***** ***** *****

Wednesday – May 15, 2013

THE THIRD MAN, THE (1949)  8:30 AM (Central)
A man’s investigation of a friend’s death uncovers corruption in post-World War II Vienna.
Dir: Carol Reed Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
BW-104 mins, TV-14, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Thursday – May 16, 2013

BORN YESTERDAY (1950)  4:30 AM (Central)
A newspaper reporter takes on the task of educating a crooked businessman’s girlfriend.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: Judy Holliday, Broderick Crawford, William Holden
BW-102 mins, TV-PG, CC

THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC (1956)  1:15 PM (Central)
A small time investor takes on the management of a major corporation.
Dir: Richard Quine Cast: Judy Holliday, Paul Douglas, Fred Clark
C-100 mins, TV-G

♦♦♦(Neither of these movies are mysteries. They are both movies that star one of my all time favorite actresses: Judy Holliday.)

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 17, 2013

MAD HOLIDAY (1936) 6:15 AM (Central)
A temperamental film star’s vacation turns deadly when he uncovers a murder.
Dir: George B. Seitz Cast: Edmund Lowe, Elissa Landi, ZaSu Pitts
BW-72 mins, TV-G

THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR (1937)  7:30 AM (Central)
A phony psychic tries to solve a murder that took place during her seance.
Dir: George B. Seitz Cast: Dame May Whitty, Madge Evans, Lewis Stone
BW-67 mins, TV-G

***** ***** ***** *****

Saturday – May 18, 2013

THE FALCON STRIKES BACK (1943) 9:45 AM (Central)
A society sleuth is framed for murder by criminals running a war-bond racket.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk Cast: Tom Conway, Harriet Hilliard, Jane Randolph
BW-66 mins, TV-G

MURDER BY DEATH (1976)  10:15 PM (Central)
A criminal madman invites the world’s greatest detectives for a night of dinner and murder.
Dir: Robert Moore Cast: Peter Falk, Truman Capote, Alec Guinness
BW-95 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 19, 2013

TEN LITTLE INDIANS (1966) 5:15 AM (Central)
Party guests at a remote mansion have been brought together to pay for past crimes.
Dir: George Pollock Cast: Hugh O’Brian, Shirley Eaton, Fabian
C-90 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
♦♦♦(Based on Agatha Christie‘s mystery.)

JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947)  11:00 AM (Central)
Gambling hall owners get mixed up with a cop on the take, leading to murder and mystery.
Dir: Robert Rossen Cast: Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, Lee J. Cobb
BW-96 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Sunday – May 26, 2013

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940)  3:30 AM (Central)
An American reporter covering the war in Europe gets mixed up in the assassination of a Dutch diplomat.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall
BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC

***** ***** ***** *****

Friday – May 31, 2013

A NEW LEAF (1971)  3:30 AM (Central)
A playboy squanders his wealth and must seek out a new source to maintain his idle rich lifestyle, namely marrying a rich woman and … murdering her.
Dir: Elaine May Cast: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston .
C-102 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

♦♦♦(While this isn’t technically a mystery, I enjoyed this movie and think some of you might, too. On page 4 of TCM’s May Now Playing it says: “Elaine May wrote, directed and stars in A New Leaf (1971), a black comedy in which she plays a wealthy wallflower pursued by an impoverished playboy (Walter Matthau) with murder on his mind.“)

***** ***** ***** *****

If you know of any other mystery movies that are going to be airing this month, feel free to post a comment.

(All of the above descriptions were copied from the TCM site. I hope they don’t change their line-up!)

Top Chef Television Show – Personal Guilty Pleasure

chefSo, I’ve got something of a confession to make…  For a few years now Top Chef has been a TV show I watch with my family.

I admit that I’m not all that proud of watching this show. It certainly isn’t something I expected to like at first – I’d go so far as to call it something of a guilty pleasure.

We first started watching Top Chef a little bit after my daughter went away to college for the first time.  Her roommate watched the series, and they watched a season together before my daughter recommended it to the rest of us.  We were a bit skeptical at first (so-called “reality television” has something of a negative connotation in our household) but the rest of the family agreed to watch through a full season before making a decision.

Somewhat to my surprise, I ended up enjoying it.  As I have mentioned many times before, I’m not really into cooking, but watching obviously passionate people talk about the subject that they know so much about is a really interesting experience, even if you don’t know that “julienning” is just a fancy terms for cutting something into strips.  We’ve started watching a number of other cooking shows as well since then, but Top Chef still remains our favorite to watch, and then pick apart. (Let’s face it, isn’t picking them apart one of the things people like about reality television shows?)

Honestly, I didn’t really think that I’d be into shows like Top Chef, but now they’re a big part of what we watch.  It’s especially nice that I can watch them with the entire family, or at least we can all discuss them afterwards.  We all have slightly different interests in terms of television, but cooking competition shows have turned out to be one thing that we can all enjoy to varying degrees.

If you haven’t tried this particular show yet, I would recommend that you watch a season in its correct chronological order. It may just surprise you. You might actually look forward to watching it, or at least to “discussing it” with your friends and/or family.

PS >>> We watch the shows as they air on the Bravo channel, so we hear a lot of bleeps. I don’t know if they bleep out all the objectionable words when you watch the shows on DVDs.

As Time Goes By – British Television Series

I had not planned to write an entry about this delightfully clever British sitcom because it has been running on local PBS stations since… well… almost forever! (Also, it is not a mystery series.) I have a feeling everyone knows about As Time Goes By already. But I have gotten several letters from Cozy Mystery readers who have urged me to get the word out to those of you who may have never watched the show.

First of all, let me say As Time Goes By is one of my husband’s and my favorite shows. It is a character-driven sitcom with very humorous  and touching dialog. I truly cannot adequately express what a good show this is. There is only one “negative thing” I can say about the show, which isn’t really negative, simply a word of caution: If you are not familiar with the show, you really need to watch it in its correct chronological order. I tried the show years ago by simply “dropping in” on it after watching another PBS show (Keeping Up Appearances) and I did not like As Time Goes By at all. This is why I am urging you to watch the shows in the correct chronological order.

As I said, it is a character-driven show. To enjoy the show, you really need to know the characters. When I tried to watch it out of sequence, I did not like the character who turned out to be my favorite character of the show. (I hope that makes sense!) I thought he was a caricature of a total idiot. Once I got to know him (Alistair) from the beginning, as the show introduced him and kept adding to him, I couldn’t wait until he appeared on the screen.

There are five characters in the show. The two main characters are Jean (Judi Dench) and Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer). They are two “more mature” people who were once each other’s first loves – many years ago. They meet quite by chance – and get reacquainted with each other.

Jean runs a secretarial agency which specializes in temporary placements. Jean’s adult daughter Judith (Moira Brooks) and Sandy (Jenny Funnell) work for the agency, and eventually move into Jean’s and Lionel’s home. (I know this sounds contrived, but it really does make sense if you follow the story line chronologically.)

The fifth character is Alistair (Philip Bretherton). As I mentioned, he turned out to be my favorite character in the series. Alistair is a very rich playboy who endears himself to the family. They (sort of) adopt him into the fold, even though he really doesn’t have much in common with any of them. (Did I mention he is VERY rich?)

As Time Goes By progresses through the years, and follows all five of the characters as their lives go through many different changes. I strongly recommend this very British sitcom. Great acting, terrific scripts, and delightful characters.

For more Cozy viewing ideas, click on my Cozy Mystery TV & Movies page.

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