the shelf life of a made-for-tv movie is similar to that of a strawberry. but now that there are all-movie channels even telefilms are being dug up.
last nite I saw a clunker calld "Scandal Sheet" (originally broadcast in 1985). I was attractd by the cast -- from Burt Lancaster who had driftd away from stardom to Frances McDormand who was on her way there. & wasn't that Lukas Haas in a small role?
what I enjoyd most was the location shooting. the final scenes are at the cemetery now calld Hollywood Forever. but more importantly there is some wonderful footage of Janes House.
when I first startd going to Hollywood regularly some 30 years ago the dilapidatd Victorian which had been built in 1903 was the last house on Hollywood Blvd in which people still lived. it was a mess but one heard its whispers. I probably saw the place's final inhabitant Carrie Belle Janes on the porch. for 15 years in the teens & 20s she & her sisters ran a private school there. the children in attendance had last names like Chaplin & Chandler.
Carrie Belle died in 1982 & some 2 years later this telefilm used the property. in the film there is wire fencing around it. eventually it was restored & became the Hollywood Visitors Center in the middle of a mini-mall calld Janes Square. it was then that I walkd thru it.
just this year historic Janes House opend as a cajun restaurant calld Memphis. my sense of history propels me to its tables.
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