Happy birthday, Vera Lynn!

03/20/2015 cladriteLeave a comment

Sad as it is to consider, there are very few performers from the Cladrite Era who are still with us. That’s just one more reason—and there are many others—why we should celebrate the life and career of Dame Vera Lynn, who was born 98 years ago today in East Ham, East London.

Ms. Lynn played a vital role in keeping morale high during World War II, and if the song we’re sharing below didn’t inspire all those fighting men and women (and the loved ones awaiting their return) to keep a stiff upper lip and hold on for happier times, we don’t know what could have. If you can listen to this song with tearing up, you’re a better man than we are, Gunga Din!

Here’s wishing you many happy returns of the day, Ms. Lynn!

Save the Automat (Doc)!

03/13/201503/13/2015 cladrite3 Comments

There are three days left in this fundraising campaign. Surely nearly everyone who reads this has at least five smackers to kick in for Lisa Hurwitz’s documentary about the history of Automats. Heck, pledge 10 bucks, and you’ll get recognized in the film’s closing credits!‬ And if you donate more than that, there are some fabulous premiums awaiting you.

More Automat fun!

02/18/2015 cladriteLeave a comment

We can’t personally vouch for this project—we’re not acquainted with anyone involved with it—but we’d sure love to see a documentary about the Automat. If you would, too, perhaps you’ll consider kicking in a few bucks?

A Life Spent at the Drive-in

02/06/2015 cladriteLeave a comment

Longtime Cladrite Radio readers know that we’re awfully fond of drive-in theatres.

If you’ve ever wondered about what it is that makes so imprints the drive-in experience on the hearts and souls of some folks, Adam Carboni‘s lovely video profile of Roger Babcock and his Hi-Way Drive-in in Coxsackie, NY, is well worth watching (and there’s a “tip jar” on the film’s Vimeo page, if you’d like to chip in to help with the theatre’s conversion to digital).

A Nickel’s Worth of Grub at the Automat

01/08/2015 cladrite1 Comment

We are fascinated by Automats, those self-serve restaurants that asked diners to drop nickels in slots in order to raise one of dozens of small glass doors to access a serving a meatloaf or apple pie.

Horn and Hardart opened the United States’ first Automat in Philadelphia in 1902, but they are mostly closely associated with New York City, where they thrived for decades before dying off in the 1980s and early ’90s. There were only a handful remaining when we arrived in the Big Apple in 1982, and we just made it to the last one before it closed in 1991.

But the Automat lives on in old (and not-so-old) movies, and we’ve devoted a playlist on the Cladrite Radio Youtube channel to scenes depicting these grand old eateries.

The most recent addition, from a 1925 silent called The Early Bird, can be viewed below, but if you wish to see full playlist of a dozen clips (and you do, take it from us), just follow this link. You’ll enjoy scenes featuring Joan Crawford, Ray Milland, Jean Arthur, Doris Day, Cary Grant, Debbie Reynolds, Sylvia Sidney, and many more.