"This crocodile has lost its Croc!"

I despair of this bloody "new improved" Blogger system. Having steadfastly and regularly reported it as a fault, the "Reading List" feed is still bollocksed-up - make one small retrospective tweak to a previously published post [in today's case my "250th birthday wishes to Beethoven" one from last Wednesday], and boom! It's at the top of the list, as if it were a new post. I have no idea where these error reports actually go when one sends them, but it would appear no-one treats them with any sort of urgency, otherwise this might have been fixed months ago...

Sigh. Rant (#754 in a series) over.

Let's escape for a moment with a long-overdue visit to the faboo "Tired Old Queen at the Movies" Mr Steve Hayes, as he gives us his inimitable overview of one of our favourite films here at Dolores Delargo Towers [which will more than likely turn up in the TV schedules over the Festering Season, as it usually does]...

Tired Old Queen at the Movies - Death On The Nile

Such a joy...

That's peachy for some people - some people ain't me!

In the pantheon of great performers in stage musicals, there are always a few names that stand out - Ethel Merman, Chita Rivera, Elaine Stritch, for example. But standing tall over these Broadway belters is the universally adored Angela Lansbury, whose 84th birthday it is today!

Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Terrence McNally, Kander & Ebb - she's worked with them all over the years. And of course, the lady's screen appearances are many and notable, from The Manchurian Candidate, through Bedknobs and Broomsticks to the magnificent Salome Otterborne in Death On The Nile, and en route becoming the most highly-paid actress on TV for her enduring series Murder She Wrote.

Even today the lady is unstoppable - having recently won an Emmy for her performance as Madame Arcati (yes, the real one) in Blithe Spirit, she will star as Madame Armfeldt in the first Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, which is scheduled to open in December 2009. A supreme talent indeed - we idolise this woman!

Sweeney Todd - The Worst Pies in London

Angela Lansbury in Gypsy (1974)

Angela Lansbury - Beauty and the Beast

Death on the Nile trailer

Angela Lansbury on Wikipedia