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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW OSP: Illegal passing caused triple fatal on Highway 199 ... Child taken to hospital after being struck by vehicle in west Medford ... Our view: Cheers to MPD and jeers to an Oregon judge ... OSP: Illegal passing caused triple fatal on Highway 199 ... Child taken to hospital after being struck by vehicle in west Medford ... Our view: Cheers to MPD and jeers to an Oregon judge ... SOUTHERN OREGON JOURNAL Creating memories with classic movies Comment By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 7, 2014 at 12:01 AM By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 7, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Social News Some who aren’t tradition-bent don’t understand how I can watch the same movies every year. The holidays mark the peak of movie glut at my house. I counted 25 holiday movies on my inventory list. I chose three that just may be new favorites to add to "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It’s a Wonderful Life." Most in my collection are from the Golden Age of Hollywood — the '30s and '40s, and, lest a rude question arise in your head, are way before my time. I’ve enjoyed a love affair with black-and-white movies since I was a kid, gathered with the family around our lone TV, laughing at Laurel and Hardy and listening to Mom lecture the bad guys during a tense film noir. Something in the atmosphere within a classic film makes me want to kick back with a plate of meat loaf and mashed potatoes. The first offering for your viewing pleasure this season is 1951’s "On Moonlight Bay" with Doris Day and Gordon McCrae — rhyming unintentional. This one actually is in color, so you can enjoy Doris Day’s perfect vintage outfits. Men, just allow that last sentence to flow on by. The movie is No. 1 in a two-jewel setting, with "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" following after, even though the holidays are reversed with Thanksgiving showing up in movie No. 2 and Christmas in No. 1. A few years (World War I) have elapsed in the interim. I’m not a huge fan of musicals, but when Doris opens her pipes, I listen. I’ll be disappointed if one particular song, "Merry Christmas, All," sung by Day, McCrae and some carolers, doesn’t have you reaching for a gingerbread cookie and pulling at the tissue box. The story revolves around the Winfields, a banker’s family who live in a turn-of-the-century home in the Midwest running over with Victorian charm. Notoriously spunky Doris Day as tom-boy daughter, Marjorie, could not be more adorable. The storyline relies on the foibles of young love and meddling family members, or, family members who cared enough to be involved. Movie No. 2 doesn’t appear as a Christmas type at first, since the story opens on a prison ballpark. It’s "Larceny, Inc.," a 1942 comedy gem starring Edward G. Robinson with a supporting cast of colorful characters to help him run a luggage store as a front for shady dealings. Hint: It has a wall in the basement snuggled up next to the bank vault next door. This one has fabulous '40s dialogue snap with Robinson calling all the shots, see? It’s well worth watching, if only to witness Eddie dressed as a cigar-chewing Santa, ringing a Salvation Army bell. Next is a full-on sentimental wallop from 1940 titled "Remember the Night." It stars Barbara Stanwyck as a shoplifter and Fred MacMurray as the prosecuting attorney who ends up bringing her to the bosom of his boyhood hearth and home for the holidays, complete with Mom, Aunt Emma and Cousin Willy. The story is perfect for this time of year as it exemplifies how the power of love and grace can heal a wounded soul. The scene that shows the wounding will tear at any mother’s heart. Leonard Maltin said, “It builds masterfully as it creates a very special mood.” I couldn’t agree more. The Turner Classic Movies website is offering many holiday classics at special prices, including these three. They’ve also teamed up with Fathom Events to screen a double helping of movie delight with the 1938 version of "A Christmas Carol" and "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945). They’re showing today, so hop on over to Tinseltown at 2 or 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and children. Then on Dec, 14, celebrate 60 years of "White Christmas" with Bing and Danny. Showtimes and prices are the same. These are rare opportunities to view these wonderful family movies as intended — on the big screen. Please pass the Kleenex and the popcorn. Peggy Dover is a freelance writer who works from a 1900 farmhouse in Eagle Point. Reach her at pcdover@hotmail By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Peggy Dover for the Mail Tribune Posted Dec. 7, 2014 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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