On October 25th, at 7PM, the restored theater in Oak Cliff (231 W. Jefferson Blvd., Dallas) presents the first in a series of silent films. The premiere will feature comedy shorts by Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin, accompanied by live piano accompaniment by Robert Edwards. Additional music will be performed by the 1920’s styled foxtrot orchestra, the Singapore Slingers. Donations are requested. You can read more about the theater’s planned renovations here.

Shocking news today regarding Paul Newman’s death, after a battle with cancer. The Washington Post has written both an obituary as well as a lovely longer piece, as has the Associated Press. Newman was our most unusual movie star: a handsome leading man whose chops were better than many of the top character actors; a business leader who devoted time and energy giving back to charity, but without self-congratulations; a husband and father who, unlike the brief unions so common in Tinseltown, stayed married to Joanne Woodward for five decades. In short, you didn’t have to know him personally to know of his decency. May he rest in peace.

Out in the small California city of Lancaster, Honda made a road groovy - literally. If you drive over the tracks at 55 MPH, in a Honda, you’ll hear the William Tell Overture (best known to us as the “Lone Ranger Theme”).

It does tend to be off-key if you’re not running a Honda or going at a constant speed (this is the time for cruise control). Unfortunately, after complaints from residents, the road is being repaved, despite Honda’s attempt to keep it far away from bothering people.

In Southern California, in many spots, I learned from personal experience, if you want to live near the beach, it means also living near train tracks. It’s jarring to hear trains pass through - ours passed through at 1 AM - but then, you simply stop hearing it. Likewise, the townspeople involved are missing out on a potential silver lining - since the unique track, like the singing beach of Manchester-by-the-sea, Massachusetts, would no doubt invite new tourist dollars into the town. And after a few more weeks, perhaps they’d get used to it.

Among the casualties of Ike, as many retro fans know already, was the Balinese Room, a Galveston island institution that had survived Hurricanes Alicia and Carla, but could not withstand Ike, despite its “Category 2″ designation. It was one of the first things we learned about, after our mandatory evacuation to Dallas, and watching the chaos unfold on television. The Balinese, of course, had been home to Frank Sinatra and many “old school” performers over the years, and was rumored to be a fave of Sinatra’s tougher buddies. Later, it had inspired a song by ZZ Top and most recently sponsored live performances - funk, rock, though we held out hope for more traditional music. One thing for sure, it was a beautiful sight whenever we were in town.

Owner Scott Arnold says he is willing to entertain “serious” proposals from investors to rebuild at the site, but is more likely planning to create a themed-club and museum on Market Street, near the historic Strand, in a building he owns there. Even this is positive news - as the equally famed Hollywood Dinner Club never came back from Galveston’s past. Meanwhile, the Texas Historical Commission has people on site who are combing through the wreckage for anything they can salvage. If you have heard of someone who managed to take artifacts away from the debris, as a souvenir, please get in touch with Lori Schwarz at the City of Galveston, or contact Scott Arnold directly through the Balinese Room website.

Meanwhile, there’s more happy news regarding the historic hotel of Tremont House, which fortunately survived Ike with minimal flood damage, along with several other treasures of Galveston Island, like the Hotel Galvez, which was created after the 1900 storm (to learn more about the history of this event, we also highly recommend Isaac’s Storm.) Meanwhile, the Galveston Historic Foundation is accepting donations to help rebuild damage after the storm.

The Harbor House at Pier 21 received damage from high waters, which implies that the neighboring Pier 21 theater, which showed a dramatic reenactment of the 1900 Storm, as well as a movie about Galveston’s pirate past, also may have been damaged. Only Galveston residents have been allowed to return on a limited basis, and as of yet, we’ve heard nothing regarding other historic and retro-themed beauties in town - like the hot pink retro apartments across from the Bank of America on Market Street (between Frost Bank and the Galveston Historical Museum) and La King’s Confectionary, the ice cream shop with 1920s’ era fixtures and old-fashioned shelves for their candy. The confectionary is raised off the ground of the Strand, but it’s unclear from photos how high the flooding was in the area. A picture on Preservation Nation shows the Strand’s flooding, including at Colonel Bubbie’s army-navy surplus store.

Nice to see that Mad Men has been honored by the Emmys for its excellent work. It’s now made history as the first basic cable show to win best series.

Interestingly, too, two old-school performers who began to make their names around the time of Mad Men also won trophies - Don Rickles for his Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, and Tommy Smothers, who was honored for his lacerating wit on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

According to Tom O’Neil, Mad Men producer Matthew Weiner was displeased that none of his actors were tapped to hand out awards, due to their cable status. Considering the considerable chops shown each week by this cast, and their nomination for SAG awards, well… he’s got something there!

And hey, if you’re a Mad Men fan looking to celebrate, you could do no better than the hilarious poster here created by Nobody’s Sweetheart.