I'm Tom, the administrator of Motion Picture Gems, a not-for-profit movie blog that I began in 2008.I created this blog because I enjoy writing and sharing and all about my latest movies discoveries, which are often older films that are new to me.
Though the majority of films featured on my blog are feature-length American films spanning the 1930s - 1980s, I also cover modern-day classics, international films, short subjects, animated films, silents, and documentaries. Basically any movie I consider a gem and would recommend.
Sometimes I will do a post about trivia, or share movie-related photos.
Email address: motionpicturegems -"at"- mail.com
What inspired my love of classic films? The first classic black-and-white film I ever remember watching was A Night to Remember on television when I was about 8 or 9 years old. At about age 10 or 11, I discovered It's a Wonderful Life and Some Like it Hot on television and those became my two of my favorite movies of all time.
For my birthday when I was 14, I received a huge movie history book: LIFE Goes To The Movies, a pictorial history of Hollywood and film making, and I became fascinated with film history. Another great movie book that inspired my love of trivia and film history was Inside Oscar. Another was Susan Sackett's Box Office Hits, which is a great primer for learning about the most popular films in America from 1939-89.
In high school, some of my favorite films were those I caught on late-night TV were many of the films featured in those books, such as The Odd Couple, The Apartment, Earthquake!, Bonnie and Clyde, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
My Search for A Classic Movie Website - Late 1990s and early 2000s
Around 1998 or 1999, after searching "Yahoo" for "classic movies" (didn't use Google much back then), I stumbled upon Elizabeth's Reel Classics, a fan-created site strictly about classic cinema. It was one of the only sites out there at the time and became my favorite (There were no blogs back then like there are today). Elizabeth's site had so much great information about movies and the stars. I dreamed of creating my own classic website one day. Eventually I went on to learn HTML and web design in college. Some of my projects in my classes included an interactive CD-ROM with classic movie trivia, and a web site devoted to my classic movie autographs.
Screenings & Trips, 1999-2008
In college I discovered that there was more to experiencing movies than just watching them on TV or VHS (I didn't have any DVDs until 2004!). There were some awesome venues that showed classic films in Chicago, such as the Music Box Theater, where I worked during the Christmas season in 1997. In subsequent years I watched some great movies all over the city of Chicago.
Road Trips.— In 1998, my college friend Mike and I traveled from our campus to Chicago to the (now-defunct) Three Penny Cinema theater to see the 40th Anniversary screening of Touch of Evil. A few months later, we went on a memorable 3-day weekend road trip to see James Dean's grave site and museum in Fairmount, Indiana and the Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Another trip was to Milwaukee, WI to a travelling exhibit of film memorabilia (in an 18-wheel big-rig truck), an exhibit sponsored by Blockbuster video and the AFI. We met some of the original "Munchkins" from The Wizard of Oz.
Hollywood --- up close & personal!— My first trip to Los Angeles and Hollywood in 2008 really changed my entire life. I felt like I died and went to classic movie heaven, with all the historical sites, movie studios, and events. Check out more photos from Los Angeles here.
Autograph Collecting.— I started an autograph collection in high school that continued through college and to this very day! You can view some of my autographs here.
<--- This picture was taken during a trip to Hollywood, California. This was a huge movie camera monument in Culver City, California near the Sony Pictures Studios.
Getting Started with Blogging - 2008/2009
My dreams of one day meshing my love of writing, design, and movies began to come true when I discovered Blogger in October of 2008. I signed up for an account, but didn't start blogging right away, as I got busy with work and took some evening classes in college.
Inspirations.— It took me awhile to get into the hang of blogging and start posting regularly. Some of the blogs that I first discovered and admired were Silents & Talkies, Classic Movies Digest, and Where Danger Lives, These bloggers made me feel like I wasn't so alone in my classic movie passion, and they inspired me to continue blogging and keep at it.
Title Origin.— For several months in 2008 and 2009 this blog's name was "All About Classic Movies", inspired by the title "All About Eve". After awhile I got tired of that title and started thinking of something I was happier with. I like to think of my movie discoveries as "gems", so I thought about "Film Gems" "Screen Gems" and eventually settled on "Motion Picture Gems" since no one on the internet seemed to have claimed that anywhere!
Goals
My aim is to post on my blog at least once a week, but sometimes I'm just able to post just a few times a month. Blogging for me is mainly a hobby rather than a full-time commitment. There can be pressure associated with keeping up a blog, but I always try to remind myself that I'm doing this for fun, and that I enjoy it! If there is a season where I have writer's block - that's OK. I think all bloggers go through this!
Future plans
I hope to have more video clips in the coming years. And post more on YouTube. I have a number of VHS tapes with clips I'd like to digitize and post one day.