John DiLeo

In December 2009, I did my first gig as a cruise ship lecturer, doing five programs on classic movies on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas luxury liner. Fantastic experience! Around that same time, my essay about the Mitchell Leisen book, HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR by David Chierichetti, appeared in the anthology CITY SECRETS BOOKS.

On October 16, 2009, I did a program titled "Bloopers, Secrets, and Surprises in Classic Hollywood Movies" at the gala of the Black Bear Film Festival in Milford, PA. Then I did a program called "The Golden Age of the Hollywood Musical" at the festival's Film Salon on the 18th. Both events were held at Milford's historic Tom Quick Inn.

I am currently appearing inside two new books. In Michael Sragow's excellent biography, VICTOR FLEMING: AN AMERICAN MOVIE MASTER (December, 2008), I am quoted in Sragow's chapter on Fleming's 1938 classic TEST PILOT, specifically in his analysis of the film's homosexual overtones.

In CITY SECRETS: MOVIES (February, 2009), I am one of many film professionals who offers a short essay on a little-known movie that deserves wider recognition. My selection is THE TALL TARGET (1951), one of the 40 movies featured in my book SCREEN SAVERS. Among the other participants, you'll find Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, and Sidney Lumet. I was at the Rizzoli Bookstore at 31 W. 57th St. in Manhattan on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009, for a signing and reception.

I am now a blog! Go to screensaversmovies.com and join the conversation. It's a site devoted entirely to my new book, put together by my publisher. If you want to ask me about a certain movie or respond to the book, write to me there. I look forward to joining the blogosphere.

On Monday, September 22nd, 2008, Turner Classic Movies devoted its prime-time schedule to SCREEN SAVERS. Host Robert Osborne selected five movies from the book and introduced them on the air. He spoke about me, SCREEN SAVERS, and the movies he chose to be screened. It was an all-around wonderful night. The five movies were PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948), STARS IN MY CROWN (1950), ONE WAY PASSAGE (1932), DEVIL'S DOORWAY (1950), and THE TALL TARGET (1951). A great quintet!

On Sunday, October 5th, 2008, I had a piece in the Washington Post. I wrote a round-up review of four new film books: biographies of Ronald Reagan, Claudette Colbert, and Fred Astaire, and Robert Wagner's autobiography. The review appeared in the Post's Book World.