Ahhhh, Sidney Toler, my favorite Charlie Chan. I've never been a big Warner Oland fan, and I'm a huge Keye Luke fanboy. This isn't necessarily the best of the Sidney Toler CHARLIE CHAN's, I'm actually quite partial to THE FEATHERED SERPENT which has an entire Aztec theme in place, but what the hell man, this one has MANTAN MORELAND. Star of hundreds of Toddy Films. He was one of the great Black Comedians of the 30s, 40s and 50s. He was basically a black Eddie Cantor. They both had big ol eyes, both were scaredy cats and both had funky superstitions. The difference is, I think Mantan had more expressive and funny eyes.

MEETING AT MIDNIGHT has Charlie's Number One Daughter in it. Wow is she cute. Man. She is sniffing out clues like an oriental Velma and she is everybit as cute as Daphne. Chan is investigating a murder at a seance. (Thus the reason the other title of the film is BLACK MAGIC) He knows all the tricks of the trade and soon finds the culprit.

I love Charlie Chan films for the same reason I love Sherlock Holmes, Mr Moto, the Thin Man, Tarzan, etc. They were a series of films that were consistently entertaining. The Thin Man's and a couple of the Holmes' and Tarzans' are legitimate great films, but by and large, the work never generated into self parody, as happens with series' today.

Consistency. A word Warner Brothers could learn. Wide shifts in tone, erratic plot lines, inconsistent characterizations... simply do not exist in these films. Why? Because the people in charge of the series actually understood why the characters were popular. Why they worked. And they knew that a Sherlock Holmes film was about Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, and not about Moriarty. (sorry Moriarty) They understood.

The seance unveiling is pretty dang cool, and the mystery was typically complex, complete with plastic surgery and magic tricks. Ahhh... nothing like a good mystery to end the night with.

After the final films, it was up to the remaining members of the party. The only survivors of it all. Dad, Tom Joad, Annette Kellerman and myself to do the clean up. We were all wide awake and willing for more films, the only problem was the first rays of sun that would soon wash the shadows and light from our simple silver screen. So we rushed like the vampires we were. The sun was out, we must hide into the shadows and sleep the sleep of the undead.

Joad and Kellerman are cut from the same cloth, the same material as Dad and I. We are invincible unerring film going machines. hahaahah.... me tired am not.

The below picture is of the 3 new benches Dad carved out of the neighborhood trees. We are ready for the next party, seating will not be a problem. And the beer you see was a smidgen of the consumed. The local sanitation collectors acquired the brunt of the glass, and we have a few left over. You will hear of future parties, of future fun and future films. The next one.... well... let's just say I'm planning a doozy of a line up. Well, thanks for reading the night, and I hope your eyes will join me for the next evening.