Yes, she is 90, and as delightful as ever!

+Trevor Barry Gloria told us that she enjoyed working with Bing---he was very casual, and confided in her that he couldn't read music, either.

Jerry Jaye I still marvel at "The Under-Pup," because, as you say, it's incredible that it's her first film---her acting is so natural, it outshines some of her more experienced co-stars. Fields had a genuine affection for her. She frequently mentioned having cold hands on the set of "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break"; after the film wrapped, he sent her a lovely little fur muff with a personal note saying "now you won't have cold hands anymore." Fields also enjoyed having conversations with Gloria's mother, who was another plain-spoken Pennsylvania native.

Tom Barrister "If I Had My Way" is also currently available as part of a Bing Crosby collection. Happily, it's the complete version, not the reissue version that cuts Gloria's lovely rendition of "Little Grey Home in the West." I agree that it's a shame that Universal and Columbia aren't making more of her films available on DVDs, TCM, or streaming video.

NEPenguin I'll get a copy of that and have a look. Unfortunately, most of the copies of "Air Strike" that are aired completely eliminate Gloria from the film. I talk to the various bigwigs at TCM every few months about airing three movies. About once per year, they pay Universal's regular fee to air Deanna Durbin's movies. There's no reason they can't pay Universal once two of Gloria's movies, those two "The Under-Pup", and " A Little Bit of Heaven." The run time of those two is a bit under 3 hours total, which would be about 3:15 with introductions by Bob Osborne and their in-house commercials. I keep telling them that the time to air tributes is while the person is still alive to appreciate the honor. I'm tying to track down a copy of "Wonder Valley," which is a daunting task. I've also tried to find the cutting-room floor footage of Gloria's duet with Helen Traubel in "The Ladies Man." That last is probably hopeless. I'm assuming that it was filmed and then cut from the picture. I hope that Gloria is well. I last spoke to her for about half an hour in 2005.

We know from our research (my husband and I wrote "Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven") that a digital master exists on "The Under-Pup." Probably not on "A Little Bit of Heaven." There is also a digital master for "Destiny," which many fans remember for her dramatic portrayal of a blind girl. "Wonder Valley" is still lost, unfortunately; we tracked down a print in 2005 that had belonged to the producer's estate, but when we opened the cans, it was so badly decomposed that the images on the emulsion were illegible. We suspect if another print exists, it may be lost in the Arkansas archives somewhere, perhaps miscategorized as a travelogue. We don't know if Paramount kept outtakes from Lewis's film. It's our wish that TCM would not only air Gloria's films, but get her comments to use as introductions while she is still with us. Her memories of the legends she worked with are priceless. But, as you know, TCM is deaf to requests to see Gloria's films. It's a sad Catch-22: Her films are not shown (i.e., marketable) because very few know of her; and fewer will know of her in the future because her films are not shown.