tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58695918755706985292024-03-19T00:32:05.534-04:00Frankly, My DearA Classic Movie BlogRiannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-71833600622308999662014-09-17T16:10:00.000-04:002014-09-17T16:12:27.071-04:00Here's to you, Anne Bancroft<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"She would stop you from breathing, because there was something stunning about her."</i> - Dustin Hoffman</td></tr>
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Up until last December, I had always liked Anne Bancroft casually - which is how, I feel, a lot of people think of her. People love her as Mrs. Robinson but don't usually know much about her beyond that. She was private about her personal life, her filmography is fairly sparse, and she was never really a "movie star", though <i>The Graduate </i>(1967) immortalized her in film history and made her iconic forever. I watched <i>'Night, Mother </i>(1986) last year, and that isn't a very good movie, but it got me thinking more about Anne, and I did a Youtube search of her. I found her on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4f68-U43Z4">this episode</a> of Password and I couldn't help be smitten with her personality ("He won a million dollars!" she yells out excitedly at one point), and after that, I've read everything about her I can get my hands on and have watched countless of her films. She was a very real, stunning, down to-earth person, the kind who wanted to pinch the cheeks of every baby she saw. Today would have been her eighty-third birthday - she died in 2005 from uterine cancer at seventy-three, far too early (in fact, she was outlived by her mother, two sisters, and Mel). It feels like she should still be with us, appearing in movies from time to time as the colorful grandmother or the astute older woman. However, today, I'd like to celebrate her, a soul so vibrant and admirable, and unfortunately one that people don't know too much about.<br />
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She was born in the Bronx, as Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, to a proudly Italian Catholic immigrant family. (Years later, she was told to pick out a stage name from a list given to her by the studio because her given name was "too ethnic", and so she chose Bancroft because it was the only one that "didn't sound like a stripper.") As a child, she scrawled "I want to be an actress," on the back wall of her family's flat, and at nineteen, after a stint at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she set out for Hollywood to make that dream true. Unfortunately, the studio was more interested in giving her a sex symbol buildup than investing in her acting potential, and she spent the majority of the 1950s muddling through B films that exploited her looks rather than her talent. She turned her career around by heading back to her hometown, New York City, and participating in the Actors Studio and HB Studio, and within a year, she was an overnight Broadway success. When she returned to movies to film <i>The Miracle Worker </i>(1962), there would be no more cheesecake pinups for this serious leading lady, but instead, a Best Actress Oscar. The career that followed is more of the career that we associate with Anne Bancroft - one where she was selective about the films she agreed to appear in, determined never to appear in duds like <i>Gorilla at Large </i>(1954) again.<br />
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Her shiny black hair, beautifully shaped mouth, winged cheekbones and intensely expressive dark eyes lent her a startling, fresh beauty. And it was a beauty that she never seemed to lose: well into her film appearances of the 1990s and 2000s, she was unfailingly lovely looking. People magazine named her as one of their "most beautiful" when she was sixty-six. Yes, she had wrinkles, and she looked her age, but in spite of that, she had aged with grace, in a way that perhaps only Mrs. Robinson could. As for her acting ability, you could get me started on my campaign for why she should have won the 1964 and 1967 Oscars as well, but I also think that Arthur Penn put it best when he said that, "More happens in her face in ten seconds than happens in most women's faces in ten years." Anne could convey so much just with the sheen of her eyes, and that's what I appreciate most about her acting. She had a vulnerability about her that she brought to every role, a part of her that never lost the little girl from the Bronx.<br />
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Anne was loving, confident, easy, warm, earthy, funny, and all the while never taking any bullshit. There are so many stories about Anne that I love. I could begin with the rapport she developed with Patty Duke while they were on Broadway doing <i>The Miracle Worker. </i>They learned sign language and signed to each other secret messages, which drove Arthur Penn crazy. They fell apart laughing together over a ridiculous stage prop wax ham that fell unnaturally when it was sliced. In an incident where a door onstage was locked during a performance and Anne couldn't get it open to exit the scene, she began to swear profusely, so Patty covered her her curses with Helen's guttural noises. (Eventually, Anne scooped Patty up in her arms and climbed out through a window). And each show before the curtain, Patty spent half an hour in Anne's dressing room. "Ninety percent of actors won't let you do that," Patty wrote later, "Especially not a kid, but never did she say, 'no, you can't come in now.'" Patty hung around, toyed with her makeup and perfumes, and watched Anne finish dressing for the show. "'Do we know every minute of everyday?' That half an hour I knew. The whole feeling of the room, the temperature, the smells, the perfume, the costumes, and her, just her," she recalled. Patty was struggling with abusive stage parents at the time, and "felt from Annie the sense that it was truly possible for someone to care about and accept me, to want me to be intelligent and mature." Years later, when Patty, under the strain of bipolar disorder became pregnant and was unsure of the baby's father, she called Anne, who came right away to help her. When Anne died, Patty wrote in an obituary for her, "She taught me, by example, not by lecture, the ethics and disciplines of the theater. She was also one of the sexiest creatures that ever lived. Without being too obvious, I stole as much as I could from her behavior."<br />
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Teaching by example and not by lecture was something her friend, Alan Alda, also attributed to Anne. When Anne and Mel vacationed with Alda's family, he recalled Anne collecting sea glass with his children and grandchildren, putting them in touch with nature with her own admiration of beauty. In his eulogy for her, he told of how after undergoing chemotherapy for her cancer, she knit hats of marvellous colors and textures to cover her head. Her favorite director was Arthur Penn, and she was his favorite actress. They worked together not only on the film version of <i>The Miracle Worker</i>, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar, but multiple times on the stage as well. Her breakout Broadway performance, <i>Two For the Seesaw</i>, was under Penn's direction, and he would remember with astonishment her determination and drive: "Annie changed my life not only because she brought both of us success, but because she taught me the importance of always being hungry, of always trying harder, of always defying expectations." When Anne gleefully presented her friend Sidney Poitier with his Best Actor Oscar in 1963, at the height of racial tensions, she threw her arms around him and kissed him on national television, for which she received tons of hate mail and even death threats.<br />
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Anne's marriage to Mel Brooks seemed like Hollywood's most unusual couple. When Mel told his mother he was in love with an Italian Catholic girl, she responded with, "Bring her over - I'll be in the kitchen, with my head in the oven!" But with a second glance, when one looks beyond their physicality, religions, and divergent career pursuits, there are similarities: they were both the children of New York boroughs, of ethnic families that instilled in them similar values, and she loved to laugh and he loved to make her laugh. When you look it at that way, it's not so hard to understand why their union survived up until her death. Mel, who was head over heels with whom he called "the most gorgeous woman that ever lived", was "trapped in a pit of depression" following her death and even now, finds it hard to talk about her. He usually only manages an anecdote about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SiBS2kqgYM">that time they sang "Sweet Georgia Brown" in Polish together</a> (for 1982's <i>To Be or Not To Be</i>) and she exaggerated the movements of her lips to help him learn the song. "It is very difficult to go on without her," he said last year. Their son, Max Brooks, is the author of <i>World War Z, </i>the book that inspired the blockbuster Brad Pitt vehicle, and is most likely today's leading authority on zombies. (Yes, Mrs. Robinson and The 20,000 Year Old Man gave birth to a zombie expert). Max is their only child, and as an only child myself, this is something I can't help but appreciate. Max, who is dyslexic, credits his mother for helping him to conquer his initial fear of reading and then inspiring him to love it, so much so he became a writer himself. Anne (who essentially gave up her career after having Max "in the nick of time" at forty-one) read to him every night before bed, and if she couldn't be there to read to him, she recorded her voice on tapes. She also took his schoolbooks to the institute for the blind and had them also translated to audio. The last page of <i>World War Z, </i>published the year after her death,<i> </i>reads simply, "I love you, Mom."<br />
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Max has also shared that Anne was a passionate gardener. Mel always told his son behind her back that her love of the land came from her "Italian peasant heritage." Max remembers his mom retreating to the garden after dinner, recruiting a reluctant Mel and Max to help her tend to her plants, crying out theatrically every time she saved one of them from being molested by a worm. Now that she is gone, Max and Mel took up the garden as a way of healing. Max finds himself as protective of the plants as mom had been, and takes pride in the organic selection of vegetables he now has to offer to his own wife and son.<br />
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Lastly, one of my favorite anecdotes about her is a fan's story from 2002, just three years before her death. Anne had returned to the stage for what would be the final time in a play called <i>Occupant. </i>She was a riot during her performances; when a woman started to exit through the back of the theater during her monologue, she cried out, "Darling, you're leaving? Please, dear, please, I'm almost finished! Gimme a shot, would ya?" The time of this fan's visit, a woman had been coughing continuously for minutes on end, and finally got up, perhaps, to get a drink, to which Anne said, "It's about time. Go get some water or something." After that show, this fan and her daughter waited at the stage door for Anne to come out. When a security guard told them that Anne wasn't going to be leaving any time soon, they pleaded with him just to get a glimpse of her. He told them he'd see what he could do, and he came back to say that Anne would seem them separately. They went back to see her in her dressing room, and the fan's first words were, "Quanto sei bella" at the sight of seeing Anne, who got a kick out of this and told her, "No, tu sei bella!" Anne talked with them for a long time, holding the woman's hand throughout their conversation and hugging them before they left.<br />
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I quoted Patty Duke earlier, where she said that she stole as much from Anne's behavior as she could without being too obvious - and I too, wish I could be like her in many ways, for there are just so many things that I admire about her. Finally, I'd like to suggest that if you ever have some free time, you should watch <a href="http://www.56.com/u32/v_NjAxNzk2MTM.html">this interview</a> she did with Charlie Rose in 2000. The interview ends with Charlie Rose proclaiming, "I am <i>mad </i>for you!" and you will be, too.<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-74611444686566181332014-08-13T18:36:00.000-04:002014-08-14T00:52:30.267-04:00Just whistle | Remembering Lauren Bacall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I watched <i>Written on the Wind </i>on Saturday. I hadn't seen a Lauren Bacall movie in a quite while. These past few days, I was thinking of her.</div>
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I felt like Lauren Bacall was going to be immortal. I think we tend to feel that way about the handful of Old Hollywood stars that are left: if they've made it this long, often well into their eighties or maybe nineties, then it seems like they'll live forever. Of course, we all know that it isn't possible, and we try to prepare ourselves for when they'll go, but when the time comes it's startling, sudden, and heartbreaking. Lauren lived a full life - nearly a month short of her ninetieth birthday - and for that reason, a lot of people might not comprehend this, well, feeling of shock. But it's a collective understanding for classic movie fans; the depth of each loss painfully apparent. It's, slowly, with each death, losing the last remnants of an era long gone. It's like the closing of the final curtain.</div>
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Lauren Bacall was the kind of a person that any reasonably intelligent woman would want to emulate. She simply <i>was</i> film noir: sexy, cool, collected. And underneath, she was incredibly real, passionate, and courageous, combining tenacity and sharp wit. When she wrote her bestselling autobiography, <i>By Myself and Then Some</i>, she did away with a ghostwriter and wrote intensely and honestly. When I read it, I was moved to tears, I laughed, I identified with her, and I came away empowered. She lusted for life: "Even at my lowest ebb, I have never contemplated suicide. I value what is here too much. I have a contribution to make. I am not just taking up space in this life. I can add something to the lives I touch." And perhaps even more importantly, she <i>understood </i>life. She came it away from it all wiser than most of us could ever hope to be. She never lost sight of Betty Joan Perske, who as a teenager chain smoked in the movie theater balcony watching Bette Davis, using Sen Sen to hide the stench from her mother. She loved Bogie and remembered him as a human being, not a saint. She clung to memories but lived in the present. She was always unashamedly herself. She knew she was not perfect, and she did not care. She had a sense of humor that was always unfailing. She celebrated the beauty of survival. She cherished honesty. When she grew old, she wore her wrinkles like a badge of honor, explaining, "Your whole life shows in your face, and you should be proud of that."<br />
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Here's a corny but comforting thought that has been floating around online. When Humphrey Bogart died, Lauren buried him with a small, gold whistle that had once been a charm on a bracelet that Bogie had given her early in their love affair, an homage to her most famous line ("You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."). The charm was inscribed with, "If you need anything, just whistle." And yesterday, he whistled for her.<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-16722287741407681662014-07-05T17:03:00.000-04:002014-07-05T17:03:06.947-04:00Review: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) </span></div>
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<i>Director: Elia Kazan</i></div>
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<i>Starring: Peggy Ann Garner, Dorothy McGuire, James Dodd, Joan Blondell</i></div>
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I read Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" three summers ago, and ever since, it has been one of my favorites. I had been wanting to see the movie, but it was unavailable on Netflix until recently. For those of you not familiar with it, <i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn </i>tells the story of Francie Nolan, a young girl living in Williamsburg near the turn of the century. Her coming of age is riddled with less than easy circumstances which force her to grow up fast. Her father, Johnny, is a luckless but lovable singing waiter with a weakness for alcohol whom she hero worships. Her mother, Katie, is hardworking and practical, hardened by her determination to create a better future for her own kids. Katie's sister, Sissy, is a wonderful, warm woman and a lovely aunt to Francie and her brother but is branded by a liberated sexual attitude and a carelessness that are the reasons for the multiple marriages she's got under her belt. These adults in her life, her struggles, and her own idealism sparked by a love of literature shape Francie as she transforms from a little girl to a young woman.<br />
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Despite the fact that Elia Kazan directed this, I found this film to be more corny than gritty. And to me, that was the real failure of the film. A kind of tenacity exists in the book that is not as prevalent in the movie, and when it does come across, it is very heavy handed. Granted, because it was the 1940s and the Hays Code was in effect, there were more gruesome aspects crucial to the original story that couldn't have been portrayed in this. For example, Sissy's story of marriages and miscarriages, touched on but not fully developed in the film, was, to me, one of the most heartbreaking parts in the book. Also, a horrific incident where a pervert molests Francie - her father lovingly tries to preserve her innocence to the best of his ability afterwards, a gesture that greatly demonstrated their strong bond. Of course, like I said, seeing that it was the 40s, it was not a viable possibility that Kazan could have addressed the latter, but the former could have, in my opinion, been further expanded upon.<br />
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Peggy Ann Garner won a Juvenile Oscar for her portrayal of the main character, Francie. The problem with child actors is that they usually fall into over exaggerated mannerisms - and I don't blame them for it, because after all, they are kids, and I rather fault the directors who encourage this acting as a means of buying the hearts of viewers. I didn't find Garner to be an exception above that typical standard. Francie's childhood has its good moments, but many times it was cruel and this lent her sensitivity and a maturity beyond her years, which is absent in Garner's performance. However, Garner effectively captures her idealism.<br />
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Dorothy McGuire can be very enjoyable in the right thing - for example, she is wonderful in <i>Friendly Persuasion </i>and she is even good in the light romantic role given to her in <i>A Summer Place. </i>She is fair as Katie; what I liked least was her tendency to be over theatrical, which I'm sure stems back to Kazan, and this hurt her chances at conveying the quiet resilience of the character so palpable in the book. But she is also successfully stoic and strong at other moments. James Dunn won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as ne'er do well Johnny. His is one of the stronger performances in the film, though physically, he is never what I pictured Johnny to be: in the book he is young and handsome but Dunn seems tired, old, wrinkled next to twenty-seven year old Dorothy McGuire. Then there is Joan Blondell as Sissy. As I mentioned above, Sissy was one of my favorite things about the book and while I hail Blondell as the iconic gum snapping blonde dame of the thirties, I kind of wish she hadn't been cast in the role. Her performance is one dimensional, displaying Sissy's fun loving side but void of any of the sadness that is so touching in the book. However, in her defense, Blondell definitely suffers from the stagnant development of her character, and she might have been able to preform better had Sissy's character been better served by the script. Lastly, Lloyd Nolan in a smaller role as Officer McShane, the kind police officer who befriends the Nolan family. He was good and I really have no complaints.<br />
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Ultimately, the problem with <i>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn </i>is that it takes a plucky story of a girl's maturing into adulthood and forces it to become sentimental and schmaltzy. In doing so, it makes characters that in the book are so beautifully complicated seem flat and stereotypical. Really, this film can't do justice to the book - so if you haven't read that yet, my advice to you is skip the movie and read that instead.<br />
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(P.S. It's been nearly two years since I'd done a movie review on here! Here's to getting back into it.)<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-46882624543375748162014-04-19T15:53:00.000-04:002014-04-19T22:56:09.931-04:00My experiences at the TCM classic film festival <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I just got back a few days ago from TCM's annual classic film festival. It's probably quite unnecessary for me to elaborate on what that is, but just in case, the festival is three days long (well, four, if you're lucky enough to procure passes that get you into Thursday's red carpet opener - I, unfortunately, was not) and located in Hollywood. That's three fun days of getting an up close and personal look at Hollywood legends, watching 35mm print in the gorgeous movie palaces sprinkled across Hollywood Boulevard, and waiting in very long lines alongside fellow film lovers (there's no camaraderie quite like that of waiting in line for the same thing.)</div>
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This was, indeed, my first TCM classic film festival, and I flew all the way across the country to be there. I guess I should begin by saying that this festival doesn't disappoint at all. It's exhilarating for all passionate classic film lovers. If you're wondering whether it's worth it to attend this event, even if you have to make the trip for it, I'll tell you right away: yes. Do it. You won't regret it at all. As a classic film lover, it was everything I'd dreamed of.<br />
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My only extra bit of advice is this: we purchased the matinee passes, which at $350 a piece are the second cheapest passes. They gained us entry into all screenings and Club TCM events starting <i>before</i> 6pm. Having not attended the festival before, and needing to purchase tickets long before the festival's schedule was released, I got the impression that anyone worth seeing would be interviewed within the exclusivity of Club TCM. So at the time, I really felt it was important to have <i>some</i> kind of access to Club TCM - in fact, I wanted to get the more expensive classic passes, which give you full entry to screenings and Club TCM, but they sold out before we could buy them - and that's why we settled for the matinee passes. Now, I realize that that was a waste. All celebrities are seen outside of Club TCM. While Club TCM is a nice little setup in the Roosevelt Hotel, I personally felt that one certainly wasn't missing much by opting out of the extra cost of Club TCM. If I have the opportunity to attend again, I feel the palace pass, or the cheapest pass, would be the best option. Now, since our passes didn't assure us entry into the screenings after 6pm, we had to wait in standby lines for those events, but for the most part (more on that to come later) we got into everything we wanted to see. I would even suggest that if you live in the LA area and want to attend this festival at a practical cost, don't even bother buying a pass - spend the twenty dollars for the standby tickets at what you selectively want to see. More likely than not, you'll get into everything. (But yes, the passes <i>are</i> pretty.)<br />
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The festival schedule is hectic - usually three or four events running at the same time at different venues (the hub of the festival is the Hollywood Roosevelt and the movies were screened at Grauman's, the Chinese multiplex next door, the Egyptian and El Capitan), leaving one forced to pick between them. Most try to run from event to event trying to catch all they can, but my dad (who accompanied me and took the majority of pictures in this article, so you can blame the bad quality on him) and I decided to prioritize the events where we would see the celebrities. We have a home theater so we weren't so compelled to attend the screenings lacking special guests, since viewing these movies on the big screen wasn't our motive. So, we spent a lot of time in between sitting down to eat and walking up and down Hollywood Boulevard, looking down at the stars like total tourists. I also stumbled upon Larry Edmund's bookshop and had a ball; I'm pretty certain I've ordered used books from them online so it was great to see the shop in person (it's a classic movie haven, by the way). However, if we do get to attend again, I do hope we'll have the chance to actually watch more movies, because we've both admitted that the grandeur of the movie palaces is something our home theater lacks. And, there's something great about watching old movies with an audience (like when we applaud for, well, you know, dead stars, but they totally deserve it.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Larry Edmund's bookshop. Ignore Kill Bill. </i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Stars on the stage at the Montalban Theater.</i></td></tr>
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On our first day, we headed over to the "Ask Robert Osborne" session which was held farther down Hollywood Boulevard than the other locations (which are all really in walking distance of one another), at the Montalban Theater. Interesting piece of trivia: the Montalban is where the Lux Radio specials were recorded, so, in other words, almost every star in Hollywood has been there. I was really looking forward to Ask Robert because Robert knew Lucy quite well (he brought her up on his own several times within the session), and I wanted to personally ask him a question about her. Plus, isn't there a thrill in getting to speak to Robert Osborne, the man we all see on TV pretty much daily? It was about four questions in, and I hadn't got called on yet but still had my hopes up, when Alex Trebek wandered onto the stage and kicked off what was a surprise tribute to Robert, who has been hosting TCM for all of its 20 years. That put an end to the questioning, but it did bring unexpected appearances. Several stars showed up to talk about their affection for Robert Osborne. The first was Eva Marie Saint, who had done an extensive interview with Robert Osborne at last year's festival. She is absolutely adorable, and as we had seated ourselves off to the right, next to several seats marked "reserved for guests", I was thrilled when an usher led her into the first seat in the row ahead of us! It was incredibly exciting to feel her presence so close, and I couldn't help myself from looking at the back of her head over and over. Diane Baker, who also worked with Hitchcock in the film <i>Marnie</i>, came out after that and sat in the seat in front of Eva. I got a kick out of it each time Eva leaned over to say something in Diane Baker's ear.<br />
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Alec Baldwin, who used to host the Essentials with Robert (now it's Drew Barrymore, and I guess I would have preferred to see her but, you know, it's okay) also made an appearance but didn't join us in the audience as he had to dash off to "lunch with his wife." After Alec Baldwin, who of all people would be introduced by Alex Trebek but Robert Wagner and his wife, Jill St. John.<br />
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I've mentioned it on this blog before, actually, but in case you're a new follower and don't really know, <i>I am not a fan of Robert Wagner's. </i>I am, however, a big fan of Natalie Wood's, and maybe I would like him better if that horrible night on the boat hadn't occurred. I have always held him somewhat responsible for her death - perhaps his negligence, but one thing's for sure, I feel quite passionately about it, so much so I wrote a persuasive essay on the topic in eighth grade. Of course, I still had to stand up and applaud with everyone else when they appeared on the stage. After they did their bit with Robert Osborne up there, the ushers led them down to the audience as they had done with Eva Marie Saint and Diane Baker. Now, in my row, there were four chairs marked "reserved", starting from the left, and I sat on the fifth chair. The usher led Robert Wagner and Jill St. John right into my row - first, Jill St. John sat on the second seat, but then the two stood up and switched seats. So there was Robert Wagner, who had first made a surprise appearance and was now sitting two empty seats away from me!<br />
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I had to turn my face away because I genuinely started laughing very hard at the ridiculousness and irony of it all - imagine, out of <i>all </i>the people who might end up two seats away from me!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12;"><i>My dad's stalkerish photos of Eva Marie Saint and Robert Wagner (note his unfortunate close proximity). </i><br />
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Despite the Robert Wagner incident, the tribute to Robert Osborne was enjoyable. I only wish I had been able to ask him a question about Lucy. Oh, well.<br />
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What I <i>really </i>wanted to see was later that day, the screening of <i>Blazing Saddles</i> with an interview with no other than Mel Brooks himself. Since Christmas, I've been having a total Anne Bancroft obsession and I was really excited at the prospect of getting to see her longtime husband in person. (I wanted to see <i>her </i>husband, but I got <i>stuck </i>with the husband of another one of my favorites!) However, this screening was at 9, long past the 6 o'clock deadline of our passes, so we would have to get into the standby line for this. One of the festival employees assured us that more likely than not, we would get in: he said there were five hundred passholders in line, and about nine hundred seats in the theater. We got standby tickets #101 and #102. It seemed, mathematically, it was all going to work out in our favor. The standby line for <i>Blazing Saddles </i>continued to stretch across the side of the building opposite from the Hollywood Roosevelt, as we waited for over an hour. The passholders line was out of our view so we could only take the employee's word that we would probably get in. It was several minutes past 9 o'clock when the employees shot down our hopes by informing us there was no room left in Grauman's. She attempted to console us with the information that the screening of the Warren William precode <i>Employees Entrance </i>would be starting soon. "Have a good night!" she said. "Not anymore!" someone shouted back. I was really disappointed, as I had very much wanted to see Mel Brooks. But I had known that <i>Blazing Saddles </i>was probably going to be the most popular event at the festival and that our chances were slim - it wasn't until the employee outlined it for us in the numbers that I had really begun to think we were going to get in.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The beautiful interiors of the El Capitan.</span></i></td></tr>
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The second day of the festival, we saw Maureen O'Hara at the El Capitan screening of the 1941 Best Picture winner, <i>How Green Was my Valley. </i>I was bowled over by the gorgeous interior of the El Capitan, the first real movie palace I'd ever been in. Then, Maureen O'Hara was wheeled out on to the stage and we all stood up and loudly applauded her. She waved her hands at us, gesturing for us to sit down, but we continued to clap for her. Seeing her made me a little teary eyed. I think she still looks lovely, and she is a sweetheart of a human being. Robert Osborne started off the interview by asking, "Now, tell us about John Ford" or something like that, and Maureen shot back, with a hint of her Irish brogue, "I thought we were going to talk about <i>me." </i>How could you not love her? Maureen's interview is online <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b30uO1dHjo">here</a>, and I really recommend you watch it if you haven't already. We're so lucky to still have her. At the end of the interview, Robert Osborne told us Maureen would be at Club TCM the next day for a second chance to see her, and I thought that finally our matinee passes would come to some use, but it turned out he misspoke - she appeared in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt (which was open to all festival attendees) while we were inside Club TCM anticipating her arrival. So, we missed her, but we did get to see a closeup look at her that day when her limo pulled up in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt. My dad and I just happened to be at the entrance as they assisted her into her wheelchair and led her inside. They wheeled her right past me as I heard someone tell her, "These are all your fans, wanting to see you." It was wonderful seeing her, but it still made me kind of sad.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Left: Maureen O'Hara with Robert O at El Capitan for Green Valley screening. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Right: How close we got to her when watching her arrival at the Hollywood Roosevelt the next day.</span></i><br />
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Later that day, Kim Novak was to make an appearance at the Egyptian for the showing of <i>Bell, Book, and Candle. </i>Because it was to be at 6:15, we, once again, had to get into the standby line. Not wanting a repeat of the <i>Blazing Saddles </i>incident, we snuck out of El Capitan half an hour early to make our way to the Kim Novak standby line. We got tickets #11 and #12. The standby line for this was much shorter than <i>Blazing Saddles</i>, probably only fifty or so people. Jerry Lewis was going to be at <i>The Nutty Professor </i>at the same time, so I guess that drew away some of her crowd. We did get into this one. I wouldn't know for sure, but I figure that pretty much everyone in the standby line did. Anyways, not only did we get in, we managed to get front row seats! It was off to the left of center, but that was okay. Watching a movie from the front row can kind of give you a headache, no doubt, but we wanted those seats to get the best possible look at Kim. And we did - as she was led through the aisle on to the stage, she passed incredibly close to us. What she talked about has gotten some extra attention in the press recently (I saw a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/18/after-the-oscars-kim-novak-responds-to-internet-snark/?tid=pm_national_pophttp://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/04/18/after-the-oscars-kim-novak-responds-to-internet-snark/?tid=pm_national_pop">write-up</a> about it on the Washington Post's website yesterday morning). She discussed the "elephant in the room", or her appearance at the Academy Awards. It appears that she got some "fat injections" done, and it did not exactly turn out that great. So, of course, when she appeared at the Oscars, people ripped her apart for the way she looked. At the festival, she talked quite bravely about how what happened to her was bullying, and how it must be stopped. She talked about how she had been nervous to appear at the Oscars, considering she had never won one or even been nominated for one. How she suffers from bipolar disorder and is always anxious about public appearances. In return, our audience sent her an outpouring of love, as someone shouted, "We love you Kim!" from the back of the theater. "I've got to confess, I feel at home with you," she told our audience. You can also watch her interview <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47HriLsuUho">here</a>, and I suggest you do. It's really important. Not only is it ridiculous for a society to expect an eighty-one year old to look the way she did in her twenties, it's even sadder to hear her talk about how much the criticism hurt her.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kim Novak and Robert O at the Egyptian's Bell, Book, and Candle screening.</i></td></tr>
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The last day of the festival was Sunday, with a far less crowded schedule than the days preceding it. We decided to make it for what we thought was going to be Maureen O'Hara's four o'clock appearance at Club TCM, and spent a little bit of the earlier part of the day in Beverly Hills. We drove down Roxbury Drive, so I could see where Lucy lived. Though her address has widely been reported as being 1000 North Roxbury Drive, the home at 1001 Roxbury looked more like the New England style, colonial home Lucy chose, so vastly different from the Spanish inspired architecture southern California is famous for. Tour buses that drove by pointed towards 1001 Roxbury. However, I read online that the new owners did massive reconstruction (hmph), so who knows for sure which side of the street she lived on. It was exciting to just kind of be in that vicinity, I guess.<br />
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When we went back to the Roosevelt Hotel, I went to the bathroom. I was washing my hands when I looked over to the left of me, where a passholder was talking to an elder lady wearing a loud outfit and a lot of jewelry. I mused silently to myself that the woman kind of looked like Margaret O'Brien. She was making appearances at the festival and I had wanted to see her at the screening of <i>Meet Me in St. Louis</i>, one of my favorite films, but we'd opted to see Ask Robert instead. So we had missed her. I figured that there was no way Margaret O'Brien was using the same bathroom as the rest of us, but as I dried my hands behind the two women, I heard the passholder compliment her on how she "spoke with such charisma." It hit me then: this <i>was </i>Margaret O'Brien! She had, after all, been at the festival for the Mickey Rooney tribute that day. I stood behind them for about a minute, a little smile on my face, completely starstruck by having "run into" Margaret O'Brien in the restroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt! My dad was waiting outside for me and I told him of the incident. We stood there, waiting, until she came out and passed by us, and I pointed her out to my dad. I saw pictures of her at the event and later confirmed that that had, indeed, been her. I really wish I had said something, but I couldn't even think of what to say. What an incredibly unique experience, though! And I love that she's sporting a nose piercing these days (I did a double take on that).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>At the Hollywood Museum.</i></td></tr>
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After missing Maureen O'Hara that day, we went to the Hollywood Museum, where there was about half an hour left before closing. The two best things about this museum were seeing Lucy's Emmys and the Max Factor "For Redheads Only" room, which is basically a shrine to Lucy with a little bit of Rita Hayworth here and there. As we were visiting family for dinner, we didn't have time to stick around for the festival's evening events. We stayed one more day in Hollywood, in which we took the Paramount Tour. It was great to see Lucy's dressing room and the park in Paramount named after her, but I was really upset that the tour guide told us exaggerations or misinformation (I totally picked out the ones about Lucy, and it made me question everything else she said). We also visited Universal, which my dad wanted to see. I don't really care for rides and the famous studio tram tour puts a lot of focus on more recent movies and tv shows, though, of course, it was great to see the Psycho House.<br />
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This was my second visit to California - I had been there once, about a decade ago, before I was a classic film fan. I love it out there, and am really missing it a lot now that I'm back home. There were also some things we didn't get to see that I wish we had time for, like the UCLA and Margaret Herrick archives. I guess it's always good to leave something for next time, though. The only thing that could keep me from visiting the film festival again next year is the timing. See, I was very lucky this year because the dates coincided with my spring break, so I only had to miss one day of school. Because the major audience for this film festival are adults who don't have spring break, TCM doesn't necessarily try to arrange the festival to align with spring break. I've got my fingers crossed that next year I'll be lucky again, because I had an absolutely wonderful time and I would love to go again.<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-91432818552366022932014-01-06T22:44:00.001-05:002014-01-06T22:44:38.664-05:00Fashion in film: The Graduate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As of the moment, I've been going through a major Anne Bancroft obsession (expect a long winded post on this soon). So, I downloaded <i>The Graduate </i>(1967), which has been a favorite of mine for a couple of years, for a rewatching. I thought I would write a little blog on something that stuck out to me this time I watched: the fashion.<br />
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Mike Nichols put effort into nearly every meticulous detail of <i>The Graduate </i>(1967), from his innovative editing (who can forget the incredible cut of Dustin Hoffman jumping onto his raft and landing, instead, on a naked Anne Bancroft) to the sympathetic Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack ("hello darkness, my old friend.") Just as much effort is put into the selection of wardrobe in <i>The Graduate. </i>Anne Bancroft and Katharine Ross don't <i>just</i> wear pretty clothes - their clothes are a reflection of their sentiments.<br />
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Consistently throughout the movie, Mrs. Robinson wears some kind of an animal print. Nowadays, the media refers to women who date men their junior as "cougars", and Mrs. Robinson is perhaps the genesis of this woman: she was one before the term was coined. Mrs. Robinson was outfitted in animal print to create the effect of a carnivorous animal seeking to pounce on her prey (Benjamin). In fact, the first shot of Mrs. Robinson is in the Braddocks' crowded living room. As scores of party guests clamor around Benjamin - to the point of his obvious discomfort - and congratulate him on his recent graduation from college, Mrs. Robinson remains lounging in a chair. Smoking her cigarette, she eyes Benjamin from a distance but does not yet approach him.<br />
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In this opening scene, Mrs. Robinson wears a shift style cocktail dress covered in black lace. The lace is reminiscent of lingerie and underneath is a zebra print. This outfit, the first she wears in the whole film, really tells us a lot about Mrs. Robinson that we will learn later: her predatory nature and her sensuality. </div>
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After Ben decides to take her up on her offer ("I am sexually available to you, Benjamin"), Mrs. Robinson shows up at the infamous Taft Hotel in a large cheetah print coat. And both times we see Mrs. Robinson in her slip, it is once again an animal print. When Ben comes to the house to pick up Elaine for their date, Mrs. Robinson sits by the bar, angry, smoking, covered in an animal print blanket. Even at Elaine's wedding, she sports a suit trimmed with her signature print and a matching hat.</div>
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Anne Bancroft is brilliant as Mrs. Robinson because of her multidimensional portrayal: Anne plays her not as a tawdry seductress but rather, beneath her cool veneer, we find a very tragic middle aged housewife who after becoming pregnant in college was denied the opportunity to follow her dreams. (In an interview she gave in 2000, Anne said that she imagined that Mrs. Robinson had perhaps been a great artist.) The animal print, like a coat of armor, is a physical representation of her cunning exterior. Only when she is stripped of it, we are exposed to the vulnerability she hides inside. This is depicted beautifully by Anne in the scene where Dustin Hoffman attempts to make pillow talk - they are in bed and so she is naked. "What was your major subject in college?" he asks her. "Art," she says with sad eyes, expressing more there than most actors can in a whole monologue.</div>
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Elaine Robinson's wardrobe is far more conservative than her mother's. While Mrs. Robinson opts for clothes that are sexy or show off her legs, we often see college coed Elaine in turtlenecks, sweaters, and jackets. The pastel pink dress that Elaine wears on her first date with Ben gives way to her virginal, demure personality. The contrast between the two wardrobes is a tangible tribute to the clash between mother and daughter.<br />
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The distinctive wardrobe elements of <i>The Graduate </i>are yet another detail that adds to this film being the masterpiece that it is. While many movies have beautiful wardrobes, few films use clothes to their advantage as well as <i>The Graduate </i>does.<br />
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(PS: <a href="http://twitter.com/greergarsons">Follow me on twitter</a> and you get a cookie.)<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-16616941797570345692014-01-02T21:51:00.000-05:002014-06-06T18:47:47.240-04:002014 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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New Year's Resolution? I'm going to try - real hard - to get back to blogging this year. It's not that I've lost any love for old Hollywood (in fact, I'd like to think that more so in the last year I ventured out of my comfort zone in terms of films), it really is my lack of time. My log is filled with drafts and drafts and drafts; uncompleted thoughts, posts I really wanted to finish, but I am going to take this start of 2014 as an opportunity to get back on the blogging train. And, I'd like to thank you loyal followers (all 131 of you!) for sticking around this blog even though I've very nearly abandoned it. My posting became sparse in the fall of 2012, but in 2013 I gained about thirty followers even though I wrote only five measly blogs - I really, really appreciate all your follows. I also want to say that even though I was terribly lazy about commenting last year, I take a quick glance at my blogger dashboard every day to read the fantastic things that you all are writing.<br />
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I'll see you all again soon - I mean it - with an actual post. </div>
Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-42743974514719044762013-08-06T10:43:00.000-04:002014-04-08T19:43:41.146-04:00Happy birthday to the Lucy I love <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The sun never sets on Lucille Ball. All over this worried world tonight, nations of untold million are watching reruns they also watched the first time around. Joy requires no translation. God wanted the world to laugh, and he invented you. Many are called, but you were chosen. All of the funny hats, the baggy pants, the mustaches and the wigs, and the pratfalls and the blacked out teeth - they didn't fool us one minute. We saw through all the disguises, and what we found inside is more than we deserve. <span style="font-size: x-small;">- Sammy Davis, Jr</span></blockquote>
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Though I have been doing a less than decent job of it lately, I have, actually, been keeping this blog for two full years now. And in this time we've spent together, I think I've made it clear on numerous occasions just how much I love Lucille Ball. Hell, I even wrote a <a href="http://franklymydear-blog.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-letter-to-stars-dear-lucy.html">letter</a> to her last fall. She's not <i>just </i>my favorite actress, she's my favorite person and one of my biggest inspirations.<br />
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So, on the occasion of her one hundred and second birthday, I don't really know what I could tell you about her that I haven't already said. Or how I could thank her in some new, special way for all she's given me - laughter and otherwise. Thus, this isn't going to be some incredibly long or wonderful post that I'm particularly proud of. But I hope it gets the message across.<br />
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People fall in love with Lucy Ricardo. Lucille Ball wasn't much like Lucy Ricardo at all, and this comes as a disappointment to some. I love Lucy Ricardo as much as the next person, but it's Lucille Ball I'm enamored with. I hear a lot about the tragic lives of the Marilyn Monroes, their sometimes eccentric behavior excused by the ordeals inflicted upon them. Lucille Ball suffered, in many ways, just as much and was never given that pass or exemption for her emotions. Perhaps it was because Lucy had a persistence in her to not fall into patches of vulnerability. And following her divorce from Desi, she built a shield of armor around herself.<br />
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I've said this before, but I'll say it again: the piece of film that I feel displays the true, human Lucy is not <i>I Love Lucy </i>or any of the television shows that followed it; it's not any of her movie work. It's her home movies. Though she loved her fans and gave them more due respect than, perhaps, almost any other star (except maybe Joan Crawford), stardom always seemed to make her a bit uncomfortable. Robert Osborne became friends with her in the 1960s and once shared an anecdote that I feel is very telling. Around the time of her divorce from Desi, she was an emotional wreck, and needed to get away from their home and the memories that haunted her there. So she would come to Osborne's house and lie on his couch for hours and sob. From his apartment, you could see the lights of Los Angeles twinkling below, and Osborne made a comment to her that he hoped would raise her spirits. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that every one of those lights out there, you just have to say the word 'Lucy' - you don't even have to say the last name, and they know it's you," he told her. But this frightened her. She said in response, "Oh God, don't say something like that! That's terrifying."<br />
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In the home movies, she is in her element. Most of them were shot by Desi, to whom she revealed herself to more than anyone else. Lucie Arnaz said in later years: "He knew her in a way that I don't think anyone else ever could." And that's apparent in the clips. Though she herself has attested to being happiest when she was working, the home movies show a side to her that even her best work (aka <i>I Love Lucy</i>) couldn't reveal. Her playfulness, her cuddling with her dogs and her cats, her quietness, her fears, naked and on display. She was an incredibly complex woman. But perhaps more than anything, the home movies shows all these facets in a raw light.<br />
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And that's the Lucy I love, the Lucy I look to each day for inspiration.<br />
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I'm not really sure what else to say. She means so very much to me, and I don't think, at this point, even words could express that. I'm not being sappy. It's the truth. I love you, Lucy. What's one hundred and two years? She's timeless.<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-88609199937283458112013-06-30T15:06:00.000-04:002013-06-30T15:06:04.701-04:00Funny Lady | The Evolution of Lucy Ricardo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The very lovely <a href="http://movessilently.com/">Movies, Silently</a> blog is holding a Funny Lady Blogathon - how awesome of an idea is that? - and I of course signed up to write about my favorite lady of them all, Lucille Ball.<br />
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Okay, but what can I really tell you about Lucy and her comic genius that <i>hasn't </i>already<i> </i>been said countless times before? She is considered, more often than not, to truly be the funniest woman in the history of the entertainment business. And I'm sure few would dispute her position as being the First Lady of Comedy, opening the doors for nearly <i>all </i>the comediennes who followed in the path she blazed: Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Carol Burnett, Tina Fey, Kristen Whig, Mindy Kaling - just to name a few. Just about everyone has seen the clip of her drunkly pimping Vitameatavegamin or the one of her furiously stuffing chocolates down her blouse, in her hat, and into her mouth at the candy factory.<br />
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For this post, I felt as if writing about <i>I Love Lucy </i>would be pointless, because I wouldn't be able to provide any new or groundbreaking information. I couldn't write something about her performance on the show that would be news to anybody. Instead, I thought I would write about how her talent as a comedienne grew over time - from the conviction in a little girl from upstate New York to make people laugh to October 15th, 1951, when <i>I Love Lucy </i>debuted on air. You could call it the evolution of Lucy Ricardo.<br />
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It's fairly well known that Lucille Ball was quite different than Lucy Ricardo. Lucy's real life humor was like that of, as her daughter Lucie once described it, "the fast talking broad of the 30s." In fact, real life Lucy was far more serious and adult than the childlike illusion she portrayed in Lucy Ricardo and extended to all of her long running television characters - Lucy Carmichael (<i>The Lucy Show</i>) and Lucy Carter (<i>Here's Lucy</i>).<br />
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But, despite this, Lucy always had an interest in comedy - long before television existed. As a young girl, her grandpa would take her brother and her to vaudeville shows, and Lucy was intrigued with the way the clowns could make the audience laugh. This sparked in her her first desire to act out, recalling later, <i>"All I knew is that I wanted to make people laugh - I certainly didn't want to make them cry." </i>She went out to Hollywood in 1933 as one of Samuel Goldwyn's Girls. When lined up for inspection by Eddie Cantor, Lucy applied little pieces of red felt to her face, so it would look as if she had chicken pox. Cantor laughed and enjoyed her little prank. She increasingly became known as the only girl willing to sacrifice glamour to take a pie in the face or preform any other physical pratfall to get a laugh. She christened herself and friend Eve Arden as "the drop gag girls." Pandro Berman told studio executives that she was "a really funny kid, great at parties" - but never thought that this talent would amount to anything. In a 1940 letter to then boyfriend Desi Arnaz, she wrote of a guest part on a radio show she was going to do because it seemed like "a funny role." Even in the home movies of she and Desi from the forties, she can be seen clowning for the camera and blacking out her teeth for costume parties.<br />
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Many of Lucy's earliest leading film roles - in the late thirties - are comedic, though studios widened her range in the forties and she appeared in comedies, dramas, musicals, even a Western. Her earliest significant role would probably be in <i>Stage Door </i>(1937); Gregory La Cava's highly acclaimed blockbuster about a handful of young girls trying to make in the business. The ensemble cast, headlined by Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn, is easily impressive, also containing supporting roles filled by Ann Miller, Eve Arden, Gail Patrick, and Andrea Leads. Lucy doesn't preform any physical comedy in <i>Stage Door </i>but manages to hold her own, rolling her eyes melodramatically and delivering wisecracks with nonchalance. In one scene, Lucy is asked, "If it's not food, it's men. Can't you talking about anything else?" To which she replies, "What else is there?"<br />
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<i>Stage Door </i>boosted her career, giving way to supporting roles in A pictures for stars like Ginger Rogers (<i>Having Wonderful Time</i>, '38, in which one can also spot a young Henry Fonda) and Irene Dunne (<i>Joy of Living</i>). It also bolstered her to the role of a leading lady in B films, fastening her as a fixture in comedies with low budget actors like Joe Penner and Jack Oakie. One comedy from this era in her career is <i>Go Chase Yourself </i>(1938); like <i>I Love Lucy </i>in reverse, Lucy plays a irritated wife having to clean up the messes her scatterbrained husband, Penner, is always getting into. The film is a madcap screwball comedy lacking the necessary charm, and Lucy is, as usual, confined to quips and sarcasm, but she makes the most of it.<br />
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Whereas she played a housewife in the latter film, she was elevated to a more glamorous role in her next movie, <i>The Affairs of Annabel </i>(1938), in which she plays a movie star, Annabel Allison, a victim of the harebrained schemes contrived by her publicity agent, Oakie, to advance her career. Once more, the screwball is not her but the male character, however,<i> Annabel </i>did fairly well at the box office, and even spurned a sequel, <i>Annabel Takes a Tour</i>, in the same year<i>. </i>It gave Lucy a bigger helping of physical comedy than her prior films, and was likely the largest role she had to date. <i>The New York Post </i>commented, "The gal should go places."<br />
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Her next movie was <i>Room Service </i>(1938), with the Marx Brothers. In later years, many would draw correlations between the antics of Lucy Ricardo and the wild comedic group of the thirties, but at the time, Lucy's experiences with them were nowhere near life changing. The farce failed at the box office and was distinctively less pleasant and more sober than their earlier box office hits. As expected, each schtcik was handed off to the brothers, giving Lucy and co-star and friend Ann Miller not much more to do than run in and out of scenes, looking beautiful but frazzled. Lucy didn't particularly like any of the Marx brothers other than Harpo, who treated her the best of all, and was later given a guest starring spot on <i>I Love Lucy </i>(the famous and brilliant pantomime routine in the Hollywood episodes). Whereas she might have, still, been appreciative of their comedic talent, Groucho Marx didn't think much of hers: "Lucille Ball," he said, "Is not funny without a script."<br />
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In <i>Next Time I Marry </i>(1938), she played one of the famous ditzy heiresses of the thirties. It paired her with James Ellison for the first of two times, and had some decently funny moments, but over all was a mediocre comedy. Reviewers, however, took notice of her, calling her a "lanky and glass eyed comedienne" (<i>The New York Times</i>) and "as screwy and spoiled as any of Hollywood's poor little rich gals" (<i>The New York Post</i>) in the role.<br />
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What was particular about her next film was that it was a comedy-drama; <i>Beauty for the Asking </i>(1939) has several moments that gave way to her capability as a dramatic actress, which audiences had not really seen yet.<i> New York Daily News </i>wrote, "Miss Ball rises high enough above her material" - which she would continue to do so over the next decade of less than quality scripts -"to remind us that she is the stuff that stars are made of."<br />
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In <i>You Can't Fool Your Wife </i>(1940), Lucy was given a dual role as a housewife and as a Spanish seductress. She fakes an accent and dons dark hair, which is especially ironic when it would be later that year in which she met and married Desi Arnaz. She tackled the roles with ease and though the film is not particularly spectacular, it allowed for a slight expansion of her range. Critics continually praised her and sought a future for her that apparently, her RKO bosses did not see; at the time, even Orson Welles was interested in casting her as the lead in one of his projects that never came to be.<br />
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The rest of her run at RKO, resulted in her being cast in an array of different roles, from burlesque queen to ingenue to heroine of the western front. None particularly showcased her ability as a comedienne, and, in fact, her best performance at RKO was likely her turn as the paralyzed, unforgivably bitchy but beautiful Gloria Lyons in <i>The Big Street </i>(1942). Interestingly, this dramatic role was the one she was most proud of over the years, and critics were enthralled as well, writing that RKO should've wrangled her an Oscar nomination for the role - which never, of course, materialized.<br />
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RKO couldn't make a star, but maybe MGM could - that was, in fact, her hope when she arrived at the studio in 1943. (Lucy wouldn't return to RKO until 1957, when she and Desi bought it). She was now thirty-two, and she had been in Hollywood for ten years, and though she had made her fair share of B pictures, she hadn't yet achieved star status. If anyone was going to do it, it was MGM, who had the biggest corral of actors or as they put it, "more stars than the heavens." Her debut role was <i>DuBarry Was a Lady </i>(1943), a musical in which she worked alongside friends Gene Kelly and Red Skelton, but it only notable for her change to her famous red hair. It gave her little chance for comedy, but did offer her an opportunity to show off her new tresses - she looks breathtakingly beautiful in the closeups of her leaned up against the piano while Gene Kelly professes his love to her in song.<br />
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Her next, most pronounced comedic role came three years later with <i>Easy to Wed</i>, MGM's remake of the popular <i>Libeled Lady. </i>She was given the Jean Harlow role, and it was easily her best chance to shine as a comedienne to date. Esther Williams took Myrna Loy's character, and Van Johnson William Powell's. Though the film falls completely flat next to the stunning original, Lucy stole every scene, doing justice to the character (one that had switched from a bottle blonde to a hennaed redhead) that the late Harlow had made so famous. She is given the opportunity to play totally drunk, a foreshadowing of Lucy Ricardo getting smashed on Vitameatavegamin, the bit easily the most entertaining and vivid in the whole film. She looked the part of the beautiful clown, her red hair and blue eyes making her a knockout in the Technicolor print. "Miss Ball all proves herself a superb farceuse. She snaps her lines over the heads of other characters and in pantomime manages to be as scatterbrained and indignant as a wet hen," wrote <i>The New York Herald-Tribune. </i>"Very special honors go to Lucille Ball for her topnotch comedy scenes which highlight the film," said <i>Film Daily</i>, and <i>The Los Angeles Times</i> agreed, citing her comedy as "the most compensating feature of this production - she is her super best."<br />
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But Louis B. Mayer's philosophy was that "funny women don't sell tickets, beautiful women do." She made one more picture for MGM, a film noir, before being released from her contract. Certain that her career was over, she soldiered on, free lancing for a period with the help of her agent Kurt Frings. She did a series of dramas and her next light fare was not until <i>Her Husband's Affairs </i>(1947). Reminiscent of <i>Go Chase Yourself </i>from nearly a decade earlier, as well as a backwards version of<i> I Love Lucy</i>, Lucy plays a wife constantly saving her husband, Franchot Tone, from his own self in this less than perfect film . "Lucille Ball, an able an comedienne," said <i>The New York Times </i>of her performance.<br />
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In the years just before <i>I Love Lucy</i>'s 1951 debut, she would play a mixture of roles, but some stand out as being as close to Lucy Ricardo as she would ever come pre-<i>Lucy. Miss Grant Takes Richmond </i>(1949) is a prime example. She plays an empty headed secretary hired by William Holden (six years before the infamous pie in the face) who unknowingly becomes a prop to front for Holden's "business"; he is in actuality is a bookie. Her absentmindedness sets off a string of calamities. The movie gave Lucy the liberty to do a great deal of physical comedy. Early on in the film, she struggles with her typewriter ribbon to a comedic hilt, nearly destroying the machine, wasting practically a stack of paper, and covering herself in ink. Like Lucy Ricardo, her character, Ellen is lovable - Holden can't help but fall for her - and has good intentions, but is naturally inclined to cause trouble wherever she goes.<br />
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In 1950, she made <i>Fancy Pants </i>alongside her best pal, Bob Hope, a movie that reached all heights of absurdity and prompted <i>Cue </i>to call her, "one of the finest comediennes in Hollywood." That same year, in a true precursor to the physical comedy she would execute on <i>I Love Lucy, </i>she made <i>The Fuller Brush Girl. </i>Her character plays a door to door saleswoman (think Avon Girl), and much like Lucy Ricardo unwittingly attracts trouble when she witnesses a murder. The results are disastrous, and she and her husband end up in a string of ruses to avoid being blamed for a crime they did not commit, including hanging precariously from a clothing line, a slapstick striptease number she is forced to preform and a wild goose chase on a ship. Lucy proved that she was fearless when it came to physical comedy, preforming all of her stunts with wild abandon, as she would do on her television shows for years to come. The repercussions were harmful. She reflected, "I sprained both wrists and displaced six vertebrae, then irritated my sciatic nerve...I also suffered a two day paralysis of the eyeball when talcum power was accidentally blown into my eye by a wind machine. A three day dunking in a wine vat gave me a severe cold, and I was also bruised by several tons of coffee beans." But the reviews for her comedy, written by critics who unknowingly were watching Lucy Ricardo form before their eyes, were excellent. "Miss Ball carries the ball for comedy touchdown," wrote <i>The Los Angeles Times. </i>"Lucille Ball, with her wide eyed beauty and buoyant charm, puts over her comedy with perfect timing, and just the right amount of pathos and bewilderment to arouse the film goer's sympathy while she keeps them laughing," praised <i>The Hollywood Reporter</i>, a description equally fit for Lucy Ricardo.<br />
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Lucy made one more movie, a strange Arabian nights sort of farce for Columbia, before going on air in October 1951 in <i>I Love Lucy. </i>Needless to say, the show took off like gangbusters and Lucille Ball, who had struggled in B roles and mediocre films for nearly the past twenty years in Hollywood, her comedic talent ignored by studio moguls but noted by reviewers - shot to stardom.<br />
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Starting in 1948, Lucy had been molding Lucy Ricardo on radio as well. She was the star of <i>My Favorite Husband, </i>a program about Mr. and Mrs. Cooper and all the jams Mrs. Cooper got Mr. Cooper into - if that sounds familiar, it's because the show became the basis for <i>I Love Lucy. </i>Originally, the Coopers were the Cugats and Liz Cugat was more of a socialite than a middle class housewife. But that was before Jess Oppenheimer, a veteran of Fanny Brice's program, was brought to work on the show - he and writers Bob Carroll and Madelyn Davis worked to make the character of Liz <i>Cooper </i>more wacky and screwball, much like the character Baby Snooks. All three went on to make <i>I Love Lucy </i>the success it was.<br />
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Her work on <i>My Favorite Husband </i>widened her comedic range more than any of her prior film roles - and this is clearly evident in the three comedies she made during the run of the program, discussed above. Not only was she funny with just her voice, but she learned how to play to the live audience the program was recorded in front of - it also gave birth to her famous "spider face." Lucy learned to love the audience, and they in return adored her. Over the years, this bond only grew stronger, intensely symbolic of America's affection for her, a relationship that lasted on her sound stages for three decades. By the point of<i> Here's Lucy</i>, Lucy got rousing applause from the audience only for walking onto the set - their laughter for even the most neutral of lines, one observer later noted, was their way of telling her, "We love you."<br />
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Though Lucille Ball was not much like Lucy Ricardo, a part of the famous character was being conceived in her from the very start - in the little girl who just wanted to make people laugh. In her screwball film roles of the late thirties and the forties, one can see as her ability as a comedienne grows, the progression of Lucy Ricardo seems to lie under the surface, climaxing in the late forties thanks to funnier film roles and her radio show, and finally resulting in what we all know as <i>I Love Lucy.</i><br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-23293697058201522242013-05-12T15:48:00.004-04:002013-05-12T15:48:57.480-04:00What Katharine Hepburn taught me <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun."</i></span></blockquote>
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The first Old Hollywood star that I actually adored was Katharine Hepburn. When she appeared on the screen in <i>Holiday </i>(1938), I thought she was absolutely gorgeous. That was really my initial impression of her. And it's ironic, because Katharine Hepburn has never been considered the conventional beauty, but that was my first thought. I was nine years old, and to me she was perfect looking: the high cheekbones, red hair, and the slim waist. </div>
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But I think the moment where I really fell in love with her was in <i>Bringing up Baby </i>(1938). It's the scene where she sits at the bar, wearing a gown made entirely of satin and a ridiculous veiled headpiece over her face. As innocent and naive as a child, she watches intently as the bartender teaches her a trick to be played with olives - to throw one in the air and catch it on the top of your hand. When she gives it a try for herself, the olive lands on the floor and who but Cary Grant would being rushing by, only to slip on it. There's something so endearing about this scene - I can't really explain it, but it made me love her.</div>
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Whether you love her or hate her, I don't think you can really deny that Kate was her own person. This is the quality I admire about her the most, the <i>I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks </i>air about her. She was never afraid to be herself, and she never apologized for being herself. (Remember when Barbara Walters asked her if she owned a skirt? "I have one. I'll wear it to your funeral.") She was so comfortable in her own skin. This is not denying that there was an innate sensitivity within her, which I feel we saw every time she talked about Spence, looked at Spence... but on the outside was this confidence that I only wish I could have. </div>
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I think that's why her confidence is my favorite quality of hers is it because it's something that I myself lack a lot of the time. My whole life I've been shy and because of it, I've always had trouble making friends or fitting into a group of people, and have been even the slightest bit socially anxious from time to time. I feel like that has all stemmed from my caring too much about what other people think. I've always tried to blend in. I know this sounds like a total cliche, but in the way that Kate lived her life, I've learned that that approach to life is a wayward one. Kate's courage and her confidence are contagious; they inspire you, infect you, and you can't help but want to be the same. So, in this way especially, Kate is a role model to me. To a somewhat insecure teenager, she has taught me a lot about life simply by the way she lived hers. "Life is to be lived," she said, and you cannot truly live if you are constantly afraid of what others may think of you. That fear is irrational, and I'm gradually beginning to accept that. Each step of the way, Kate has been - and will continue to be - a guiding hand. </div>
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So, happy birthday, Kate. And thank you for being you.</div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-85660282059192177102013-03-15T14:31:00.001-04:002013-03-15T14:31:25.720-04:00Forget it, Jake. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Drowned was the husband of Evelyn Mulwray</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>J.J. Gittes thoroughly suspected foul play</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Alas, his nose was the victim of his snooping around</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Forget it, Jake, it's only Chinatown</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And, in the end, he had no option but to walk away.</i></span></div>
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<b>CHINATOWN </b>(1974)</div>
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Just a little limerick to let ya know I'm still alive. :) </div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-28261901742456308292013-02-04T20:46:00.001-05:002013-02-04T20:52:49.838-05:00Film in 2013 | January<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Anyone remember me?<br />
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I tried, like, five times to write a wrap post for all the movies I watched in 2012 (the button for that list is still in the bar if anyone cares to look; I'll be changing it to the new list soon). But overall, anything I tried to write just became too lengthy & laborious and I ultimately gave up, which is a shame, as I participated in (and failed) the 250 films challenge last year. It seems kinda stupid and useless that I never wrote about it. This year, I won't be doing a numbered challenge but I will continue to record each and every movie that I watch. However, rather than making the mistake of waiting until the end of the year to discuss the movies, I've decided to do an update at the end of the month. These updates may even include new films (but I don't watch them that often) if I find them noteworthy.<br />
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Because I watched only eight films this month, I'm going to talk about all of them: the good, the bad, the ugly, etc. And don't forget to leave comments letting me know what <i>you</i> watched this month!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">JANUARY 2013 </span></div>
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<b>MODERN TIMES (1936)</b> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| <i>Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027977/?ref_=sr_1">Summary</a>] </span><br />
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I don't think I've mentioned it on here yet, but in the past month, I've become a total Charlie Chaplin junkie. I've <i>finally </i>opened myself up to silents (more on that to come later), and it's all because of Chaplin. I watched <i>City Lights </i>(1931) in December and fell in love. He truly was hilarious, and every performance of his I've seen has resulted in my laughing until my sides were splitting. So, the basic point: I love Charlie Chaplin to bits and pieces. That being said, <i>Modern Times </i>is probably my favorite Chaplin to date. The thing I love about Chaplin is his movies, whilst being ridiculously funny, also have this underlying tone of beauty. The Tramp is imperfection at its greatest perfection; sure, he's a goofball, but there's a childlike humanity to him that creates a lovely morality in each movie. <i>Modern Times </i>is a perfect example: yes, an incredibly hilarious film but also a very moving one. I don't think that the final scene of <i>Modern Times </i>(AND <i>City Lights</i>, while we're on the subject) could fail to make anyone sentimental. I can't say much about this movie that hasn't already been said, but I'll put it to you this way: it truly <i>is </i>all kinds of wonderful, and if you haven't seen it yet, don't be stupid and wait as long as I did. Go watch it now! (If you couldn't tell by the enthusiastic rating - it's definitely a new favorite.)<br />
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<b>THE GOLD RUSH (1925)</b> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| <i>Charlie Chaplin, Georgia Hale </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span></div>
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Though not as flawless or memorable as <i>Modern Times, The Gold Rush </i>is also a really cute, funny movie. It contains the usual format for Chaplin movies, except this time it's set in Alaska and The Tramp has the hearts for Georgia Hale. Hale didn't have much of a movie career (though I'd say getting to work with Chaplin is an accomplishment to brag about), but like all of Chaplin's leading ladies, is quite beautiful (I feel like silent actresses had the most adorable faces). Anyways, this was a really enjoyable film and if you like Chaplin you'll love this one. A great watch.<br />
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<b>ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939)</b> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| <i>Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★</span></div>
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A star studded cast led at the helm by Howard Hawks; not much can really go wrong with this film. The foggy South American setting lends a thrilling environment to the film, and much of the action takes place up in the sky, which gives the movie a tone laden with adventure. All of the major players give great performances; Cary and Jean have wonderful chemistry and Rita, who wasn't yet a star, is enjoyable in her costarring role. </div>
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<b>NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932)</b> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| <i>Clark Gable, Carole Lombard </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">★</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">[</span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023277/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Summary</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">] </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">My main reason for watching this movie was because it is the lone </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">collaboration</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> of Gable & Lombard - which is kind of ironic. They were the premiere couple of Golden Age Hollywood, and you would have thought that that studio moguls would've been eager to have them paired up again at <i>some</i> point, especially after getting married. Perhaps if Carole hadn't passed so prematurely. (And Clark was at MGM when Carole wasn't, so I guess it all makes sense.) Anyways, it was on the set of this movie that they met for the first time; but they didn't pull a Lucy-Desi and fall madly in love on the spot. It wasn't until a few years later that they met at a party and the sparks flew. Despite that, their chemistry in this is electric and even more fun because we know what's to come in years later. There is a cute library scene (pictured), where Carole climbs on a ladder to retrieve a book for Clark, and well... the look on his face says it all. (Who doesn't love pre code Hollywood??!!) This is a pretty average film otherwise, and the plot starts to drag towards the end. But it's enjoyable to watch just to see Clark and Carole in their only turn playing across each other, if only for that reason alone.</span></span><br />
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<b>THE MAGIC CARPET (1951) </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| <i>Lucille Ball, James Agar </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043770/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Summary</a>]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">For Christmas, I received several of Lucy's movies on DVD (because, no matter how bad they are, I want to see them all.) This was one of them. This movie can be noted as the final B movie Lucy made before catapulting to television fame, and there's a interesting story behind it. This was the last film she was obliged to make under contract to Columbia. She was unhappy with Harry Cohn because he had refused to loan her out to Paramount for a role she was being offered in Cecil B. DeMille's </span><i style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">The Greatest Show on Earth. </i><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">He decided to punish her by sticking her with this 'E class' film by the infamous Sam Katzman, expecting her to turn it down. She startled him by agreeing to do the picture. At the time, she was already pregnant with Lucie Arnaz. The picture was filmed in six days and she collected 85 grand for the film, concluding her contract at Columbia. She made certain that Cohn was not aware of her pregnancy (which would have abruptly ended the contract) until after the movie was completed, in which she called him up on the phone and basically said, "Mr. Cohn, I want you to be the first to know that Desi and I are expecting a baby." Then he called her a bitch. At this point, she had to drop the DeMille film as well, because of her pregnancy. DeMille made a comment to Desi that had all of Hollywood laughing, save the embarrassed Harry Cohn:<i> "Congratulations, Desi. You are the only person in the world to screw Harry Cohn, Columbia Pictures, Paramount, Cecil B. DeMille, and your wife, all at the same time."</i></span></span></div>
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<b>HOUR OF THE WOLF (1968) </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| <i>Max Von Sydow, Liv Ullmann </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;">[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063759/?ref_=sr_1">Summary</a>]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It's probably a sin in the film world to criticize the efforts of Ingmar Bergman (God knows that no critic would dare do it), but I'll admit all the while I have yet to become a fan. That being said, it's probably too early in the game for this judgement: I've only seen three of his movies. But all three (</span><i style="line-height: 18px;">Autumn Sonata</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">Persona</i><span style="line-height: 18px;"> are the other two) have been similar in their overly pretentious nature. If you want you can say maybe I'm too 'young' to 'get it', and that's okay with me. If it's any consolation, I don't plan to stop watching Bergman anytime soon (</span><i style="line-height: 18px;">The Seventh Seal, Cries and Whispers, The Wild Strawberries </i><span style="line-height: 18px;">here we come!). Because I have never failed to find one of movies </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">entertaining</i><span style="line-height: 18px;">. </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">Hour of the Wolf </i><span style="line-height: 18px;">is no different from his other escapist dramas, except this one is categorized as a "horror film." Basically, Liv Ullmann and Max Von Sydow talk a lot about the meaning of life in the </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">necessary</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> Bergman setting of a lonely cabin on a Swedish island. Liv reads his diary and is visited by a 176 year old women; Max </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">fantasizes</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> about </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">similar</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> old women (some of whom pull their faces off) men who walk on </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">ceilings</span><span style="line-height: 18px;">, and a naked Ingrid Thulin. Liv Ullmann is a pretty good actress and it's a shame so much of her career was spent making Bergman's pompous </span><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">propaganda. </span></span></span></div>
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<b>RAINTREE COUNTY (1957) </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| <i>Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">★</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050882/?ref_=sr_1">Summary</a>]</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Yet another </span><i style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">Gone With the Wind </i><span style="line-height: 17.98611068725586px;">wannabe film, but what drove me to watch it was the excellent cast; besides those pictured above, the cast is joined by the supporting talents of Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor, and Agnes Moorehead. Like any Civil War epic, this movie is also overly long at a three hour time length (Netflix sent it to us on two DVDs). A mostly forgettable film that drags far past its welcome. Something notable about the production is during this filming, Montgomery Clift had his famous car accident while driving home from a party at Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth, her husband at the time, and Rock Hudson traveled to the scene of the accident. She crawled inside the car's back door and relieved Monty of the two front teeth that threatened to choke him. Rock pulled his body from the car and they shielded him from photographers until the ambulance arrived. Most of the film is Monty as he looked after the accident, but there some scenes taken before the incident.</span></span></div>
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<b>GAME CHANGE (2012) </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| <i>Julianne Moore, Ed Harris </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">| </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">★★</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">★</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98611068725586px; text-align: left;">[<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1848902/?ref_=sr_1">Summary</a>]</span></div>
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This movie basically capitalizes on the Republican Party’s choice of choosing Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 election. During the critical sixty days between that pick and Election Night, it demonstrates their original motives that drove their decision (the desire to shake up the campaign; to close the gender gap; bring a fresh face to the ticket so to draw away some of Obama’s attention, etc.) and the preliminary pleasure with their choice which ultimately spirals downward into a string of regrets. (So much so, that the campaign manager, Steve Schmitt, who is among those primarily responsible for picking her, apologizes to McCain on election night: “I’m sorry we chose her.”) Would it be harder for Republicans to like this movie? Okay, yes. But this TV film excellently emphasizes the fact at hand here is that, regardless of party, the compromising of popularity over experience came around to be a decision they regretted, McCain himself admitting that it turned into a campaign he wasn't proud of. Julianne Moore, who has won several awards for this performance, is <u>so</u> effective as Palin - I can't even begin to describe it. It feels as if you are watching Palin herself. Sure, this movie sends Palin into an unflattering light several times (in one scene, she even chucks her Blackberry across the room and in another she has to be explained to that the Queen of England is not the head of state), but Moore plays her so excellently to the extent where there are times where you <i>do </i>sympathize with her. You get the feeling that she is an average person who has placed herself in an extraordinary situation. And even the most ardent Democrat would feel sympathetic for Steve Schmitt and his colleagues who have to prep her for her interviews and the VP debate ("Senator <i>O</i>'Biden?!"). Regardless of your political party, if you concentrate on the overall message of this film, I would encourage you to watch this well produced TV movie. Julianne Moore's performance is near flawless and every detail is intense and entertaining. Definitely one of my favorites of the month. <o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>Favorite movie of the month </b>| <i>Modern Times </i>(1936)</div>
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<b>Favorite performance </b>| Julianne Moore, <i>Game Change </i>(2012)<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-36826907525208571112012-12-30T15:39:00.002-05:002012-12-30T15:41:28.438-05:00"It was never uncomplicated... but it was lovely."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Last night I had a rewatching of <i>The Way We Were </i>(1973), and felt inclined to write about it. Even though the year of production is slightly newer than what I'm accustomed to writing about on here, it truly is one of my favorite films. [<b>Warning: there are spoilers.</b>]<br />
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The film's appearance on TCM was as one of their Saturday night Essential selections, as chosen by Robert Osborne and the current celebrity programmer, Drew Barrymore. And it really is just that: an essential film. At first glance, it's the kind of movie that may be dismissed as a chick flick or a tearjerker, but that's an unfair judgement, for this movie has more than that lurking under it's surface. It's a beautiful but blunt and sometimes brutal portrait of love; an education for the viewer on why love can't always be easy, or uncomplicated, or enough. The theory that "sometimes love isn't enough" is, in itself, shocking, because we live in a society that idealizes this emotion. Didn't the Beatles sing to us that "love is all you need"? Isn't Valentine's Day, to so many, the pinnacle holiday of the year? But sometimes real life experiences contradict this idea, and <i>The Way We Were </i>paints this contradiction, with the all the bitterness that comes from such a painful reality, perfectly.<br />
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It is the story of Hubbell Gardner, portrayed by Robert Redford, and Katie Morosky, played by Barbra Streisand. He is the carefree rich boy who never had to work hard for anything in his life; and she is the Marxist, self proclaimed loudmouth, Jew girl who is overly passionate. The movie begins when Katie runs into Hubbell at a New York affair, circa 1944. Seeing Hubbell having fallen asleep upright in a bar stool, the particular lock of blond hair having fallen across his face, brings back memories to Katie. In a series of flashbacks, we learn their history together, having attended the same college in the 1930s. Their romance never began but the mutual affection is born; despite their polarities and their entirely different crowds, he is attracted to her headstrong qualities and she to his boyish good looks and innate writing skills. When she awakens him in the bar, their relationship begins - they are now real adults, her hair is ironed, but the attractions are all the same - that quickly blossoms into a romance. The film then continues to depict their struggles to stay together that are driven by their opposite personalities and principles. When Hubbell gets a job as a screenwriter, they move to California, but Katie's political protests against the Hollywood blacklist & House of Unamerican Activities jeopardize his career and their marriage.<br />
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The movie may use the classic setup of "opposites attract," but it doesn't condone it. There is really no happy ending for Hubbell and Katie: they are too unalike. It is the very things that initially attracted them to each other that eventually drive them apart. The beginning of the movie shows a curly haired Katie, as president of the Young Communists League, making a desperate plea to the university crowd to hear her cause. They jeer her, but the closeups of Hubbell among his laughing friends reveal his admiration for her passion. Whether or not he agrees or cares about what she is saying, it is the <i>way </i>she is saying it, the fervent insistence in her tone, that draws him to her; but later in the movie, it is one of the things that tears them apart. <span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">You're unhappy unless you do something. Because of me, you're trying to lay out, but that's wrong... wrong for you. Commitment is part of you. Part of what makes you attractive, part of what attracted me to you," he tells her.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is the same for Katie. The distinctions of his personality, that are so very different from hers, excite her: his easygoing attitude and boyish outlook on life. While she revels in these qualities he has to offer, it is equally frustrating to her. When he insists that she pushes too much, she basically replies by saying she pushes him because she knows how gifted he truly is - as a writer, as a person. His carefree traits create his charm for her, but all the while, she can't understand him. She is a loud person, and cannot agree with Hubbell's tendency to make a joke out of everything, his lack of seriousness; whereas he can't tolerate her </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">expressiveness</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. In a scene in which they discuss </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">political</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> advocacy, he tells her, "I don't see how you can do it." To this, she, the natural troublemaker, says, "And I don't see how you <i>can't</i>."</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is unfair and complicated paradox: for the same reasons they love each other, they cannot live together. They are split </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">personalities</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, oil and water, fire and ice. Both are too stubborn in their own personalities to change for the other. There is this idea that a person can change, but can a person <i>really </i>change? No matter how much one may love a person, there are some things that are inborn: they can be wonderful principles or entirely self destructive, but they are there, and it takes hell to change them. And, oftentimes, as this movie tells us, we don't <i>want </i>to change them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> "Wouldn't it be lovely if we were old?" Katie muses at the end of the movie, when the not too happy ending is near. "We'd have survived all this. Everything would be easy and uncomplicated; the way it was when we were young." She is picturing them as an </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">elderly</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> couple, having weathered the worst of their </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">obstacles</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, together and content in their old age. Hubbell reminds her that it was </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">never </i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">uncomplicated, and to this she says, "It was never uncomplicated... but it was lovely." That's my favorite line of the movie, because to me it summarizes the movie's major theme. It's a bittersweet </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">remembrance</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> of how their relationship from the start was doomed due to their </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">differences</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">, but when they <i>were </i>happy, it was beautiful. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">This is what drives the whole movie: they strive so hard to be together because of how wonderful is when things </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">are </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">okay, when there aren't any obstacles in their way. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">In the second half of the film, the additional story line of their involvement in the Hollywood blacklist (and the </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">repercussions</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> this has on their marriage) adds another element of substance to this movie. Katie is now pregnant, but in the nine months leading up to the birth of their child, fueled by political angst, their marriage dissolves. "Could you do me a favor," she asks of him. "Could you stay with me until the baby is born?" They have a daughter, but in the hospital room, they are awkward and silent. Katie sits in the bed, tears welling up in her eyes, knowing that it really is the end. Because she is the determined one, the girl who never gives up unless she is forced to, you can see the pain that is being inflicted upon herself for having lost her fight. "Why can't we both win?" she begs at one point in the movie; but Hubbell states the truth when he says as long as they're with each other, they're both going to lose.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The last shot of the film is a few years later, in the 1950s. Katie is picketing in the New York streets for yet another one of her causes, and she spots Hubbell with his new girlfriend. They greet each other with a hug and she invites him over for a drink; Hubbell's girlfriend reminds him they'd better get going, so Katie rushes away. But he goes after her. She brushes the hair out of his face as she always did; he inquires about their daughter, asks her if her new husband is a good father. "Your girl is lovely," she says of his girlfriend. "Won't you bring her over for a drink when you come?" "I can't," he says, and she replies, "I know." They hug, once more, this time slowly, with deep sentiment and resentment of having to let go. They don't speak now, but the embrace is the perfect note to end the movie: it is clear they still love each other, the love is still there, but they have come to understand that they can't live with each other, and their relationship is best left as a memory; the way they were.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I'm a fan of both Redford & Streisand and loved both of their performances. It's not that Hubbell and Katie are always likable characters. In fact, much of the time, they aren't. Katie is over emotional, high strung and a drama queen - it is to her that the tearjerker lines are given. But Hubbell is sometimes so cardboard that you want to shake him by the shoulders. The negatives of these characters which are so, at the same time, </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">reflective</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> of their </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">positives</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> is another interesting aspect of their movies. They are opposites and opposites at extreme ends: they struggle to find stable ground and are eventually </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">incompetent</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> of finding it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">Besides the great performances of their own, respective characters, the chemistry between the two leads is palpable. If it wasn't there, the movie would have fallen apart: why root for this couple to make it when the love doesn't seem worth it? But it </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">does </i><span style="line-height: 18px;">seem genuine, the depth of feeling is there and it's tangible, therefore making it realistic and the major backbone of the movie. The moments of affection are sometimes simple but just as effectively demonstrative: him tying her shoe at an outdoor cafe during their college days (a few years before their romance really begins), or her constant habit of brushing his hair out of his face. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">This isn't to say that it's a perfect movie, because it isn't. The script, penned by Arthur Laurents, is strong throughout most of the film (though is not totally immune to falling into a couple patches of the typical, teary lines). The editing gets jerky and the last half of the movie leaves a bit to be desired at times, sometimes coming across as a hasty breakup of their marriage. But this can be overlooked, because it is just technical aspects that only leave a few snags in a movie that offers a greater overall picture, one that is in a sense, a little bit surreal because it refuses to offer us the ending we want. The performances, the chemistry, the beautiful backdrops of New York City & Los Angeles, all contribute to this effect. It is visually appealing, both in the cinematography and the star power it drips with. And last but certainly not least, there is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBPQT2Ia8fU">that song</a>, probably my all time favorite. It's a gorgeous song, one that completes the movie perfectly.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">Overall, I love this movie because of the feeling it leaves me with after seeing it. It's not just the tears (because they're definitely there; who <i>doesn't </i>feel their heart breaking in that final scene?) but something a little bit greater than that. Most people wouldn't try to analyze a 1970s romance to death (and I envy those people, I've been sitting here for the past hour, trying to find the right words, lol), but I wanted to point out that there <i>is </i>substance to this movie. I love it partly because it's an honest to goodness tearjearker, but also because of the way it depicts this heartbreak, and the reasons that drive it. (And, hey, I may also go for it because the theme's main couple and major message remind me of <a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdj14pY0LJ1qch6abo1_r1_500.jpg">these people</a>, who I kinda happen to adore.)</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">Also: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8NSKN5Dlk8">Happy New Year's! </a></span><br />
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PS: I know, I actually can't believe I haven't been here for about a month. Excuses to come in the next post. I'll be doing my end of the year wrap up/what's in store for 2013 post within the next week, promise. Also,<a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2w3h8PRMC1qzkk5mo2_500.jpg"> look at these two</a>!<br />
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-18048340679380434762012-11-27T16:57:00.000-05:002012-11-27T16:57:12.477-05:00Biopics and other disasters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Don't worry, I like you all too much to spend this <i>entire</i> post discussing <i>Liz & Dick </i>(especially as this a post I'm writing to derive my blog from a nearly month long oblivion), but I can't tell a lie. I tuned in to watch the "film", and it not only lived up to my expectations of how horrendous it would be, it surpassed them. </div>
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I think the main reason for the producers casting <i>Lindsay (Insert Explicative Here) Lohan </i>as <i>Elizabeth Taylor</i> - which, when you really think about it, is so ridiculous it makes you want to hit your head against the wall, but then so do many things about <i>Liz & Dick </i>- was for the attention it would garner. It's a pretty easy hook and sinker premise: Lohan, whose name has become sympathetic with the expression "hot mess", to make her "comeback" role as one of the greatest of Hollywood legends in a Lifetime TV movie none the less. It's not that there was ever a doubt in anyone's mind that Lindsay would <i>not </i>screw herself over, but the sheer possibility of a so-bad-it's-good conceivability drew everyone to their television sets while Lifetime plastered side by side photos of Lindsay (in full Taylor drag, violet contacts 'n' all) and Elizabeth on their website to prove their point.</div>
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Whatever acting potential Lindsay showed in <i>Mean Girls </i>(and okay, fine, <i>The Parent Trap</i>) totally flies out the window with this, but is that a surprise to anybody? I haven't seen anything she's made since <i>Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen</i>, but it appears that her acting rage hasn't widened at all since then (several times whilst watching her play Elizabeth I felt a case of deja vou coming on). One of my Tumblr friends put it best when she said "Lindsay's acting when she was ten < Lindsay's acting now." But like I said, this shouldn't be of news to even the folks at the Lifetime channel, because whatever dormant acting qualities Lindsay <i>may </i>have had at <i>one </i>point (and I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt here), was murdered by her recent years of self abuse. </div>
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Lindsay was a cute kid and a pretty teenager, but her downfall in the past years are presently painful in her appearance - her face, the random marks on her body - in addition to the Botox I'm certain we all know she's had. To be quite frank, Lindsay pretty much bears <i>no </i>resemblance at all to Elizabeth; even when done up in Elizabeth's makeup she looks like she's playing dress up. Lindsay is now at a point where she is just <i>so </i>out of the league to play E-l-i-z-a-b-e-t-h T-a-y-l-o-r, who so many people (me included) consider to be one of the most beautiful women of all time.</div>
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All of the above, and never mind that the ink is barely dry on Elizabeth's death certificate - she only passed away about a year and a half ago, and it was only two months following her March 2011 death that Lifetime announced their plans for this movie. (I could be wrong, but hasn't Lindsay been in jail at least two or three times since then?!) One may argue that Lindsay, who has had more than her fair share of paparazzi and invasion of privacy, would be in the perfect boat to play Elizabeth, who lived all her life in the public eye. After all, shouldn't Lindsay of all people be empathic with the camera's flash and glare? And Lohan's own personal battles, some would insist, are not much different than some that Taylor faced - Elizabeth was, after all, checked into the Betty Ford rehab for a period of time for her alcoholism. </div>
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While those may be true, Lindsay is missing a few major factors that make her pretty much the <i>worst </i>candidate to play Elizabeth. Elizabeth had her struggles, but she lived life with a passion that helped her overcome her obstacles to an extent which, unfortunately, it seems Lindsay will never be able to achieve. She was a diva no doubt, but no where near the bitch the Lifetime movie makes her out to be at times. Elizabeth Taylor was a "drama queen", but also an <a href="http://leoness.tumblr.com/post/3602420224/25-things-you-dont-know-about-me-elizabeth">incredibly warm and passionate woman</a>, a loving mother remembered fondly by her children and a spectacular activist for HIV/AIDS. Plus, Lindsay lacks ever bit of the finess and elegance that Elizabeth eluded all her life; which gave her that special glint in her violet eyes that made her seem likable even at the most terrible times, or down to earth even when she sported the Taylor-Burton diamond on her finger.</div>
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And finally -</div>
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But if Lindsay couldn't be relied on to make this "biopic" enough of a hot mess, you would have to give the second place Razzie to the teleplay's "script." It was non stop cringeworthy lines, dialogue that I know my ten year old cousin could have written better, laced together with jumpy editing and music that made you feel like you were watching an episode of <i>The Babysitters Club </i>from the 90's. I found it increasingly creepy that in all the lovemaking scenes, "Richard" recites Shakespeare to "Elizabeth" ("More, more!" Lindsay insists, trying to be seductive, "I want more."). At one point, she suggests they go out to the pool. "No," he says. <i>"I've got a whole ocean in you." </i>Among other fantastic quips, we see a sign intended for Elizabeth: "Slut on a Hot Tin Roof", a newspaper headline that reads "Cleo-fat-tra", and Richard referring to Elizabeth as "Miss Pudgy Digits." When she breaks into tears, he takes her in his arms and says, "It's okay, I'd love you even if you were as fat as a hippo." (Because <i>nothing </i>rings more Shakespearean than that.) Sobbing, she looks up at him. "I need a ring. <i>A big ring</i>!"(So to put it bluntly, this movie was basically sold - and pretty well - on the pretext of how scorching of a hot mess it could <i>truly </i>be; starting with that goddamn obnoxious title.) </div>
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Perhaps the strangest part is the sequences that seem to take place in a out of body, post-mortem world: Elizabeth & Richard with cigarettes, sitting on chairs which appear to have been placed on an empty, black stage, reflecting back on their marriages much as reality TV stars do in between clips on their shows. The fact that it's not clear whether this is supposed to be Elizabeth and Richard in 1964 or 2012 or in Heaven is legitimately strange enough to really make one question their decision of watching the movie.</div>
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Lohan is only twenty-six, but the movie starts when Elizabeth is twenty-nine, and progresses onwards. In reality, Elizabeth, like many women do as they age, began to gain weight. The film makes constant references to this, which I guess would be okay if Lohan actually <i>appeared </i>chubby - but she didn't put on any weight, or nonetheless <i>padding</i>, at all. There are actually a few unbearable clips of Lohan trying to reenact Elizabeth's Academy Award winning performance in <i>Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? </i>(the role in which Taylor actually gained thirty pounds for), where she is just so obviously skinny in contrast to what Elizabeth <i>genuinely </i>looked like at the time. I think they would have been much better off had they just avoided the subject of Elizabeth's weight entirely, but then again, the writers would have lost out on getting to use romantic terms like "Miss Pudgy Fingers."</div>
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Maybe the ultimate highlight of the movie is the end, where Elizabeth's mother tells Lindsay (who is now supposed to be portraying Elizabeth at the age of 53 - wrinkle free and skunk inspired 80s wig intact) that Richard is dead. Lindsay falls straight to the floor, in a "faint" that draws hilarity that should <i>not </i>have existed in such a scene. (Hell, it shouldn't have existed throughout the whole movie, but this scene especially.)</div>
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I had never heard of the actor who plays Richard Burton; his name is Grant Bowler and apparently he's done work on the television show <i>True Blood. </i>He actually wasn't <i>that </i>bad, and in comparison to Lindsay, could win an Emmy. (...But <i>my </i>favorite cast member was probably the appearance of Mr. Sheffield from <i>The Nanny</i>; I kept crossing my fingers for Fran Fine to come out and steal the show...) He makes a half decent attempt at Burton's Welsh dialect, whereas Lindsay Lohan doesn't even take a stab at Elizabeth's famous, famous voice. Basically, the best way to put it is when you watch <i>Liz & Dick</i>, you get Lindsay Lohan playing... Lindsay Lohan, in Dina Lohan's 60s castoffs.</div>
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The best part of the movie was probably the opening credits, which leads me to believe that the most convincing Lindsay Lohan could <i>ever </i>be as Elizabeth Taylor would be in a Vanity Fair photo shoot, with the advantages of Photoshopping and her mouth <i>shut!</i></div>
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I was over the moon to discover that this movie's executive producer is Larry Thompson, the same genius who created the masterpiece (intended sarcasm) that is <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Anp6b9jBA">Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter</a></i><i>. </i>Which means he is the same man that is responsible for this: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYGtjIyEhyphenhyphenLJU0zNBKXLNHPHyfPh80yshlFZt1PeB9FEK16XwbSvLCKMopCt8joAlpf8rEP1TnGSE7co1UGfBx-_D1ubjd3cEI_uTEsMM2P-osuOwmR_t8B5jZ-dox9sr9ipZ9Rc77azq/s1600/Screen+Shot+2012-11-26+at+11.32.45+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYGtjIyEhyphenhyphenLJU0zNBKXLNHPHyfPh80yshlFZt1PeB9FEK16XwbSvLCKMopCt8joAlpf8rEP1TnGSE7co1UGfBx-_D1ubjd3cEI_uTEsMM2P-osuOwmR_t8B5jZ-dox9sr9ipZ9Rc77azq/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-11-26+at+11.32.45+PM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Similar to Thompson's latest conquest, <i>Lucy & Desi </i>was made just two years after Lucy passed, and takes a tabloid fodder view of their relationship, filled to the brim with cheap lines ("What's so exclusive about sleeping with YOU?!") and excruciating scenes. Lucie Arnaz was so disturbed by it that she nearly threatened to sue. So it seems apparent that Thompson makes his living off waiting for Hollywood legends to die, and going straight into production of the the only "movies" he seems to know how to make.</div>
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... In general, I haven't had very good experiences with biopics, but there are definitely examples of how they can be done right. Just as recently, I saw <i>The Aviator </i>(2004). It's a nearly three hour long tribute to the life of Howard Hughes, the brilliant but disturbed aviator & director, directed by Martion Scorcese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn (Hughes's onetime girlfriend), and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner (another female companion of Hughes's.) Big budget, starring some of today's best actors, and directed by <i>Scorcese </i>(need I say more), I found <i>The Aviator </i>to be excellent.</div>
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I didn't have all that much interest in the life of Hughes, but what triggered my interest to watch was the Cate Blanchett portrayal of Kate (and also, Kate Beckinsale's Ava). Blanchett won an Oscar for the role, and it's easy to see why. She makes up for any lack of looking Kate with perfection of Kate's clipped New England tone and better yet, full understanding of Kate's legendary personality. <i>The Aviator </i>is actually my first Cate Blanchett movie, and she totally won me over with her performance as Kate. Playing Katharine Hepburn would probably be just about the most agonizing and painful roles to ever get correctly, and Cate came just as about as close to it as you ever could. Beckinsale was also good as Ava, but Cate stole the show - and also, needless to say, DiCaprio's performance as Hughes was also spectacular... it was just Cate that really stuck out for me.</div>
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<i>That's </i>how do you do a biopic. </div>
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It's not that I'm not a fan of biopics. I'd be the first one to go out and buy a ticket for the biopic of Lucy & Desi, Elizabeth & Richard, or any other Old Hollywood star for that matter, so long it was done with the proper respect that these stars <i>really </i>deserve. (And hey, it wouldn't be so bad if you could get Scorcese to direct it and throw in some big name stars - that <i>haven't </i>been in jail or rehab in the past five years - too.) Or, perhaps, Hollywood could just let them all rest in peace.</div>
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So, <i>that's</i> what I've been up to lately. This is an admittedly lousy post because none of you actually needed a review of <i>Liz & Dick</i>, but I hadn't updated here in forever! (And I was feel kinda sentimental/missing Elizabeth, even though this movie tarnished Lindsay's reputation - even more - than it barely grazed Elizabeth's.) ...Anyways, anyone else want to give their two cents on <i>Liz & Dick</i>, biopics, or anything in general?</div>
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P.S.: I've missed you all!!</div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-45598490259771043042012-10-31T17:37:00.000-04:002012-10-31T17:51:15.085-04:00"If you're a witch, where's your black hat and broom and why are you out when it isn't even Halloween?"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Happy Halloween!</i></span></div>
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I haven't been around much lately, so I thought I'd stop by and do a quick post wishing you all a happy Halloween! (That, and <i>Bewitched </i>and Elizabeth Montgomery happen to be a couple of my latest obsessions, so what's a better excuse than Halloween to bring them up?) When I was little and trick or treating, Halloween was my all time favorite holiday. It wasn't so much for the candy (though <i>today </i>I've already gone through my fair share of candy that's supposed to be for the trick or treaters), but I <i>loved </i>dressing up. Unfortunately, Halloween in my neighborhood has always been kind of a bummer. We barely get any trick or treaters because all the kids have grown up, and people don't so much bother to put a pumpkin out. And besides, though my area came out of the hurricane pretty much unscathed, I think all the rain put a damper on everyone's Halloween spirit.</div>
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Still, I remember fondly when October 31st was the pinnacle of the year, and there was nothing more fun than racing through the crisp autumn air wearing a costume and boasting a plastic pumpkin full of candy. ;)</div>
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Forgive my nostalgia, and I'm sorry that I haven't got anything particularly interesting or old movie related today, but I felt like I hadn't posted in a while and I just wanted to keep you all updated that yes, I am alive. (If you are in the mood to read something spectacular, there is a Halloween meme floating around - that I would have done if I knew more about vintage horror movies - and a blogathon about a horror film actor, I believe.) If you'd like, leave me comments and let me know how you all are, what you've been watching lately, and if you have plans to do NaNoWriMo!!?? (<a href="http://theswingmood.blogspot.com/">Nat </a>talked me into it, I will probably fail due to the errendous amount of schoolwork I'll be burdening, but anyways, my username is: MissLucyRicardo. Feel free to add me.) </div>
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That's it. And don't forget --</div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-44171878274386217812012-10-22T16:51:00.001-04:002012-10-22T16:51:32.623-04:00Letter to the Stars Blogathon: Submissions!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm back! So soon!<br />
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...Just to share with you guys today's links for the blogathon. You can check out yesterday's submissions <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-letter-to-stars-blogathon.html">here</a>. If you don't see yours on that post or mine, worry not: you'll be linked over at Natalie's blog tomorrow. <br />
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Thank you guys so much for participating: I can assure you that Marcela, Nat & I are having a blast reading all your letters! :) Anyway, without further ado, here are the entries being shared today... <b><i>click the photo to visit the article!</i></b><br />
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<b>THE HOSTS</b></div>
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<b>THE SUBMISSIONS</b><br />
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Remember... you can still write your posts and send your links in to: <b>alettertothestars@hotmail.com</b></div>
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Thanks again, dahhlings. :)</div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-78570857605283429812012-10-21T21:01:00.001-04:002012-10-21T21:01:09.010-04:00A Letter to the Stars | Dear Lucy...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear Lucy,<br />
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Here's a fun fact about myself: every day of my life I try to emulate you. No, really, it's the truth. If I am to be perfectly honest, sometimes I see a bit of yourself in me. Oh, I'm no where <i>near</i> as wonderful, but there are occasions where I feel that I can relate to you or understand you. Times where I can be empathetic with moments of your frustration, your passion, your pain. A lot of the time, however, I see the qualities in you that I have always desired and struggled with myself. Your courage, your <i>this is the way I am, take it or leave it </i>attitude, your drive, your perseverance, your patience. I know if you were to read this, you'd shake your head and wouldn't believe it, because you never knew how truly amazing you were. I'm not kidding, either. Each time you walked onto a talk show, an awards ceremony, a television special, game show, whatever it may be - the audience, whose hearts you'd won long ago, gave you a rousing applause and a standing ovation. Each time, you would get this look in your eyes, this special (and rare among celebrities) glisten that seemed to ask, "Is this really for me?" Genuine modesty was a hat you wore well, a trait that came out of your own naivety; you didn't know how great you really were.<br />
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Even your inarguable talent: when you won the Emmy for Best Situation Comedy in '53, you and Desi went up to the podium and profusely thanked your writers. "Would it be wrong to have them come up here and accept the award instead?" you said. Years and years later, when you were interviewed by Barbara Walters with Gary now by your side, you brushed aside your abilities. "I don't think funny," you admitted nonchalantly. "I can do funny things if people write them down for me, but I don't think funny." You would say, <i>forget me.</i>You'd argue that the true Queen of Comedy was Carole Lombard and that the funniest girl at parties could never be you but Judy Garland. ("I'm a mortician compared to Judy," you said.)<br />
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You were always quick to compliment other performers. You even once told someone, "If you want to see real comedy, don't look at me, watch Vivian Vance!" You never forgot to remind a reporter that Desi wasn't given enough credit for what he had done for <i>I Love Lucy</i>. You were sure to appreciate all fields of talent, from Julie Andrews to Audrey Hepburn to Lily Tomlin, whose comedy you admittedly did not "get", but enjoyed "studying". Even the stars that hurt you, the ones that you didn't get along with as well, the ones that didn't synchronize with your work ethic; never would you say a bad word. When the Richard Burton diaries were published in the early 80s, you ran out and bought a copy before someone could stop you. When you saw what'd he written about you*, I'm sure you felt awful, but you were above ever publicly badmouthing him. You just had such an immense respect and understanding for those with talent and those that honed this talent.<br />
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Self pity and luck were foreign ideas to you. Your morals lay in family, love, generosity, hard work, and loyalty. Perhaps it was loyalty that was one of your very strongest suits, and God, is it one of the things I love most about you, a quality I appreciate most often in people. When you liked someone, you loved them, and you never let them suffer in any sort of way as long as you were there to do something about it. Whenever someone helped you out in the slightest, you never forgot it. You kept the same employees for decades, at home or at the studio. I've read of so many occasions where you were assisted by someone during your movie career in the 40's, and later these people, or even their kin, got a job on <i>I Love Lucy. </i>Even their most minor of merits to you were rewarded; the director Mark Sandrich rearranged the few lines you had as a flower shop clerk in <i>Top Hat</i> so it worked better for you, and his kindness was never forgotten. When Mark's son was fresh out of the army in the 50's, he was given a job as an assistant director on <i>Lucy.*</i><br />
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And if there had been the loyalty to your employees and your friends, there was even greater the one you had your family. They were dependent upon you, and you always took care of them: your mother and your brother and your grandparents and your cousin. I'm always touched by how <i>truly </i>important they were to you - and all that you did for them, which you never even thought twice about, because the fact that they loved you was reason enough. You were the kind of a woman that never let any act of generosity, kindness, or love go unnoticed.<br />
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You were one for the centuries, a woman with a drive and a deep passion; passion for the ones you loved, for your work, for your fans. You really were an every woman, and I'm not even kidding. Maybe the role you played best was at work, in your environment. But I know for certain that your favorite was as a domestic - as a wife, and as a mother - "I'd like to be remembered best as a good wife and mother," you once told a newspaper. You were raised with the classic virtues of your generation, values I think you cherished <i>very </i>much, but none the less defied. You grew up in a culture where it was the norm for a woman to depend upon a man, and though I believe that deep down you wanted that sense of protection very much so, there was something about you that couldn't help rebel against it. How could you not? Your own mother, DeDe, was a single mother (and of course, your various relatives, especially your grandparents, played a huge part in your rearing but all the while, when your father died she was left a single mother, a term so rare in those days), strong and independent.<br />
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You came from a society that would have expected you to marry an older man and have many children quite young, but both of your husbands were younger than you - and you didn't have Lucie until you were thirty nine (obviously, this wasn't by your choice, but still). If you don't think that's something you necessarily have to be proud about, it is. In the decades since the liberation of women, each generation would like to think they gave birth to women like you who redefined the standard, but let's face it: you were doing it back in the 50's! And to top it off, you were a businesswoman; oh, I know, you didn't take on much of the financial aspects of running Desilu until later, but you did. Don't you see? You were "the every woman" long before the expression had ever been coined; the first woman to appear as pregnant on television and also the first to run her own studio. What was best of it all was you didn't do all of these things to make a particular point or to have a certain distinction; you were just being yourself.<br />
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And you mean a lot to me. Really, you do. You don't know how wonderful it is for me to take comfort in the fact that whenever I've had a bad day or am feeling upset for whatever reason, all I have to do is just <i>think </i>of you to feel better. Not <i>just</i> because you make me laugh and smile (which OBVIOUSLY you do), but also because I remember how strong and brave you were. You really had courage and you truly knew how to persevere. You never gave up. You <i>never </i>did. And you inspire me to to the same. There is a quote of yours, "You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world," and whenever I'm feeling sick of myself or disappointed, I try to remember that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmw8seRUlGoa8QlP5aLx6gHRN-7hXt4wCW3LeozuY7Y9Yvxbl5If77Fyyl9DYBtEp7UP8mj3Fx6HclRgZ2NYZo4pQqm-1H8lt3WJ9m_OLxpgO8-9ZfpuAr2eJqwE4w5d3vbJTS-LqB6QW1/s1600/tumblr_mb4p8fZDDT1qbgyx2o1_500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmw8seRUlGoa8QlP5aLx6gHRN-7hXt4wCW3LeozuY7Y9Yvxbl5If77Fyyl9DYBtEp7UP8mj3Fx6HclRgZ2NYZo4pQqm-1H8lt3WJ9m_OLxpgO8-9ZfpuAr2eJqwE4w5d3vbJTS-LqB6QW1/s320/tumblr_mb4p8fZDDT1qbgyx2o1_500.jpeg" width="242" /></a>I hope you knew how loved you were, how loved you still are. Entertainers are appreciated, respected, and well liked - but few have been adored to your extent. In 1986, with your final show not catching on in popularity, I'm sometimes afraid that in the end you didn't realize how much we love you. But you really were the most beloved performer. Hell, you even took the number one spot in a list of deceased stars (according to a poll anyways) that Americans wished were still alive. <i>I Love Lucy </i>is still considered the best show of all time. You gave in an interview to Johnny Carson, in about the late 70s, I guess, and he asked you, "Isn't it incredible to know that fifty years from now people will still be watching you?" You kidded him, you scoffed, you rolled your eyes as you laughed that that wouldn't be true. But it is. The "I" in <i>I Love Lucy </i>was<i> </i>originally intended to be Ricky/Desi, and it was, always, but soon the "I" became each one of us: we all fell in love with Lucy Ricardo, and then with you.<br />
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My favorite episode of <i>Lucy</i>, though very nearly impossible to pick, is the one where you told Ricky - Desi - that you were expecting a baby. When you and Desi cried at the end*, and your emotions were real, it is to me (and trust me, many others as well) the most sentimental moment in television history. Each time I watch it I'm moved; even the first time, when I didn't know the history behind that scene, I was touched entirely. And one can't help but become emotional even more so when they know of the miscarriages* you had.<br />
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Which brings me to say, your life was never easy; far from it. You prided yourself, I think, as being a tough girl who could handle whatever was thrown at her, and you did - but I know that there was a greater part of you that was deep, sentimental, vulnerable.. and that side of you, to me, is one of your most endearing qualities as an actress and as a human. I say as a actress (and especially as a comedienne) because you brought this vitality to your characters; a warmth, a particular lovable factor that made it impossible not to sympathize with the roles you played. Even when Lucy Ricardo was being absolutely ridiculous or made the biggest of goofs, we always wanted everything to turn out okay for her in the end - and there's that satisfaction in knowing it <i>always did. </i>Lucy, you forever gave us the happy ending, even when you didn't always get to have one yourself...<br />
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"I was no beauty, that's for sure," you once said, but don't deny it. You were gorgeous, inside and out. Oh, an incredible cliche for sure, and it sounds cheesy as hell, but it <i>is </i>true. You had eyes and a smile that seemed to make your emotions transparent even when you weren't speaking a word, and I think the best examples of that are times that had to do with Desi. The end of <i>Lucy is Enceinte </i>- Ricky and Lucy disappeared, you and Desi took the stage. Then there was the time you danced to "Cheek to Cheek" in the following episode; you two didn't cry, but the joy, bliss, and happiness shone through so obviously on your faces that even as a little girl I could see it. Fast forwarding years and years to the Kennedy Center Awards in '86; Desi had died just a few days before and you'd come straight to D.C. after his funeral. Robert Stack came onto the stage bearing a letter, written by Desi, expressing the words he had wanted to be there in person to say. As Robert Stack spoke, your eyes began to well up with tears and your lips trembled - so much so you covered your face with your hand. You weren't acting at the time, but your composure was what you struggled to retain, and you fought to do so, but in the end as you quietly cried, stricken with emotion, all your feelings became crystal clear. "I Love Lucy," he finished, "was never just a title."<br />
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Your home movies, the ones taken in the 40s and 50s, are some of my favorite footage of you. Because I feel that those clips show the <i>real </i>you, the you that no biography could ever possibly put into the words. The girl in those movies is a total and utter summary of why you're my favorite person. Running up to the camera to say hello, waving and grinning. Showing off your legs in a swimsuit, cuddling with your cats and your dogs, dressing up in crazy costumes. Making your silly 'Lucy' faces, sitting and smiling quietly, playing with and hugging your children. Then there's you and Desi: embracing and kissing, mouthing "I love you, I love you" to one another, licking the frosting off of Lucie's hands on her first birthday, him biting your cheek playfully, standing at the church in your second wedding, and then proudly with your completed family in 1953: Desi, Jr. in your hands and Lucie in his. I've read that even after you had divorced Desi, even after the kids had grown up, and you had settled into your senior years, you still loved to show those old movies in your living room, over and over. You never got sick of them and I know why you loved them best: because those movies showed who <i>you</i> really were, and what made you that way.<br />
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Way back at the start of this letter, in the first sentence, I said, "Everyday I try to emulate you." I think all of the above explains why, but there's more: much, much, more, more that I couldn't even possibly put into words, and even if I were to try, this would be, let's face it, a never-ending letter. Just a handful of the things I love about you so much, the things that made you so special and so beloved, the things that fused together to make one incredible woman that will surely, surely never be forgotten. At least as long as I'm around, but let's face it, you in no way need me, or anybody else, for that matter, to keep your memory alive. You were too amazing for that. Your legend lives on, your candle burns on eternally, and Lucy - you did that all by yourself.<br />
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Let me finish this letter by thanking you. Thank you for the millions of laughs and smiles you've given us; and to me, personally. Thank you for making this world a just a little brighter. Thank you for giving me a role model. Thank you for always being me there for me. Thank you for cheering me up when nothing else can. Thank you for being the best. Thank you for changing my life.<br />
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You are my favorite and always will be.<br />
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I didn't have to write so much... I didn't <i>really </i>have to write all of this, because it could have all been summarized in three words: "I love you." I do. I love you.<br />
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All the love in the world,</div>
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Rianna<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">FOOTNOTES -</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*1: Richard Burton & Lucy (as well as Elizabeth) worked together for an episode of <i>Here's Lucy. </i>Burton and Lucy clashed, and later Burton wrote a disgusting monlogue about her in his diaries, which were published posthomously after his death. An avid reader of celebrity biographies & autobiographies, Lucy was quick to buy a copy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*2: Jay Sandrich would go on to work on such notable shows as <i>The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Cosby Show, </i>& <i>The Golden Girls.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*3: Lucy had three miscarriages before giving birth to Lucie in 1951, just a month short of her fortieth birthday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*4: Their tears <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNZxb0wXZg4">here</a> were unscripted. As they had struggled so much to have children, when they had Lucie they were sure they would have no more, and when taping they became overwhelmed with the emotions of being blessed with not just one, but two children. Embarrassed, they called for a second take, but the audience stood up and protested. The original filming is what aired and continues to air. </span></div>
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<i>Okay, there's my overly emotional entry. Now, remember, it's not too late to write your letter and send your links into: alettertothestars@hotmail.com. It doesn't have to be as long as mine. Write even a paragraph if you'd like; the more entries the merrier! ...Also, I want to apologize, to all of you readers & especially <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/">Marcela</a> and <a href="http://theswingmood.blogspot.com/">Nat</a>, because I was supposed to have this letter up yesterday, but thanks to a change in my plans, faulty Internet connection, my own stupidity, this didn't go up until about a day... and a half later then I promised. Thus, I pretty much derailed everything. I'm so sorry, dahhlings.</i></div>
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<i>You can see all of today's submissions here. There will be more to come on Monday & Tuesday. Thanks so much for participating guys!!! xxx</i></div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-3239420371629988012012-10-15T16:13:00.000-04:002012-10-15T16:22:27.785-04:0061 years later, we still love Lucy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>61 years ago on this day, on a Monday night, at 9 PM, I Love Lucy went on air and has never gone off since. I wrote this post a few weeks ago with the intentions to post it earlier, but then decided to hold it off for the 15th, though I hadn't necessarily planned to do a post about the show's anniversary this year (as I did one last year for the big 6-0). Anyway, here's the post, I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to <a href="http://steamboatbilljr.tumblr.com/post/6997033971/missavagardner-i-love-lucy-starring">squeeze some Lucy into your day today.</a></i><br />
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A couple of weeks ago, I happened to come across an article that wondered if we had finally reached the first generation <i>not </i>growing up on reruns of <i>I Love Lucy. </i>It wasn't the main topic of the article (and it was a pretty rubbish piece, anyways), but, to be quite honest with you, it did scare the hell out of me. As a classic film fan I am well aware of this generation's lack of appreciation of yesteryear's Hollywood, but I have always also felt that there are exceptions to the rule - movies, and, in this case, TV shows, that have defied the odds and still manage to be remembered by the greater part of society today. Like <i>Gone With the Wind</i>. <i>Casablanca. The Wizard of Oz. </i>Actresses like Audrey Hepburn & Marilyn Monroe. It's well known around these parts that I'm not always a fan of the idea of an "icon", but I have learned to be grateful for the "iconization", if you'd call it, of these films and people because it does keep Old Hollywood alive. It's nice to know that there are certain things that give Classic Hollywood and yesterday's entertainment a face, even if there is so much more beyond the face. Know what I mean?</div>
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I have always seen <i>I Love Lucy </i>as one of these exceptions. Why not? By many, it is considered the greatest television show to grace the small screen. It seems that at some point or another, just about <i>everyone </i>has seen an episode, or has at least heard of it. Even before I came to watch the show, I knew it existed - it was exactly what I thought of when thinking of "classic television." So many of the episodes are famous in their own individual right, and everyone seems to know them - "the Vitavetavegamin one ," "the candy factory one," "the grape stomping one"... the list is seriously endless.</div>
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So, no, I couldn't really bring myself to believe that this was a generation <i>not </i>growing up on <i>I Love Lucy </i>reruns. I remember sitting in the hairdresser's chair a couple of years ago as he recounted having nostalgically caught an episode of the show a few days before while channel surfing. Or going to a family party and meeting a family friend of my age who could remember seeing - and enjoying - at least a few episodes. Or the other day in school, where one of my new friends asked who the face on my iPhone case was (yes, I have a Lucy case) and another said, "It's Lucy from <i>I Love Lucy, </i>see?"<br />
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Still, as I said earlier, frankly, the very thought that <i>Lucy </i>had reached a generation which demeaned it less timeless as all the generations before it scared me. A lot. But a couple of events have fully assured me that that article was just as rubbish as I thought; and that over sixty years later, we still love <i>Lucy </i>very much.<br />
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Out of my curiosity, I decided to do my own little test of <i>Lucy</i>'s popularity. I don't know how many of you readers are on Tumblr or aware of how it works (follow me; loving-lucy!) but a popular game on Tumblr is to do a sort of "Reblog if you love ___" post and see how many notes it gets. Now, I knew I wouldn't be able to get the most accurate of results because despite definitely having a nice, faithful group of followers, I'm most definitely not "Tumblr famous." Still, I decided to give it a try; Tumblr's target audience is teenagers/people in their twenties, thus people of 'this generation.'<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[my GIF]</span></td></tr>
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The post has so far gotten well over a thousand notes, but better than the notes were the comments that people added when reblogging the post. "This show was my childhood", "I know them all by heart", "Lucille Ball is my idol" and "I'm watching it right now" appeared frequently; but best of all were the specific memories or emotions the show provoked.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I Love Lucy</span><i> has been my favorite show since I was 8 years old. I’ve seen every episode more times that I can count and somehow it’s always just as funny as the first time I ever watched it. The show is timeless and I refuse to believe that future generations won’t find the joy, wonder, and laughter that Lucy has brought into my life and the lives of many others. - </i><a href="http://melodylingerson.tumblr.com/post/31218610576/loving-lucy-please-do-not-remove-the">melodylingerson</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;">I thought </span><span style="line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">I Love Lucy</span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 22px;"> reruns were like…eternal. This show is incredible and I have the fondest memories watching it with my grandparents.</span><i> - </i><a href="http://curlyqshoo.tumblr.com/post/31233613133/loving-lucy-please-do-not-remove-the">curlyqshoo</a></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><i>If you are not growing up on</i> </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">I Love Lucy</span><span style="line-height: 24px;"><i>, you are doing it wrong. And by “it” I mean life. - </i><a href="http://grahamburgers.tumblr.com/post/31258985844/loving-lucy-please-do-not-remove-the">grahamburgers</a></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: 1px; background-color: white;"><i>This show was and always will be genius - and I think it would shock people of my generation (and younger) how much of the comedy we see today is referenced or based off this amazing show. - </i><a href="http://obamayourmama.tumblr.com/post/31285398351">obamayourmama</a></span></span></blockquote>
Heck, some people even said they'd personally educate this generation with DVDs of <i>I Love Lucy </i>- others refused to ever raise children in a <i>Lucy</i>less society! One reblogger added that her mother had gone into labor with her while watching <i>Lucy</i>, while others remembered being little kids and watching the show with family members; knowing that when the theme song ended it was time for bed. Anecdotes like those proved to me what I'd fully suspected.<br />
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What was also beautiful to read were messages users left for me in my tumblr inbox. They might not necessarily apply to members of "this generation", but attest to the joy <i>Lucy </i>has given many, and what an incredible tool laughter is.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>My grandmother runs her own home for women with Alzheimer's and dementia and watching these women watch</i> I Love Lucy<i> was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Some of these women can't respond to their name being called but would just laugh until they were in tears when Lucy would come on. It was so beautiful. Just thought I'd share. </i>- <a href="http://ciarakenadie.tumblr.com/">ciarakenadie</a></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;">I work at a nursing home and they have the Alzheimer's unit. You can't even imagine how hard life is for them. BUT, Everyday the one thing that they remember is </span><span style="background-color: white;">I Love Lucy</span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;"> is on. They all rush to the meeting room to watch </span><span style="background-color: white;">I Love Lucy</span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic;"> on the tv. We only have about five episodes but they just watch them over and over again. It is a beautiful thing it always makes me a little teary. - </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://xprincessdiana.tumblr.com/">xprincessdiana</a></span></span></blockquote>
About a month ago, Barbara Walters hosted a 20/20 special entitled "Best in TV," to count down the best television shows of all time (or, the past sixty years anyways) as chosen by the public. This was split into various categories: Best Comedy, Best Drama, Best Cop Shows, Best TV Mom, etc. with a top five for each, and it was topped off with what voters chose to be the Top 5 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Obviously, I tuned in with fingers crossed to see <i>Lucy </i>might win.<br />
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The results were just as I could have hoped for; Americans chose <i>Lucy </i>as their favorite comedy as well as their all time favorite television show. There was a nostalgic ten minute monologue for the show to cap off the special. ABC News collaborated with <i>People </i>magazine for this, and the magazine's editor likened <i>Lucy </i>to the Book of Genesis in television - "In the beginning, there was <i>Lucy.</i>" In the monologue, we were reminded of some incredible facts: that <i>Lucy </i>has been translated into seventy-seven different languages, that it is the most watched television show to date, and CBS still makes millions of dollars off the show per year. (Originally, Lucy & Desi owned the episodes, and then sold them back to CBS in 1957 for four million dollars, giving birth to the rerun. Of course, Lucie & Desi, Jr. still hold interest in their parents's images and the many requests they get to use them with "Desilu, too")<br />
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On the special, Betty White summed up what Lucy did for women in comedy in one statement: "You had this gorgeous, gorgeous woman who did all these funny things." Isn't this true? Because of Lucy, women have all the opportunities in television and comedy as they do now, and they don't have to appear "unflattering" to be comedic. Whilst flipping through the channels the other day, I caught a bit of a Julia Louis Dreyfus sitcom, and I couldn't help but notice how much her character's wacky resourcefulness reminded me of Lucy Ricardo. Then, come to think of it, almost every comedic female character on television today has a <i>little </i>bit of Lucy Ricardo in her: that screwball spirit, that touch of sarcasm, that goofy steak. That's how deep the influence runs. And besides that, <i>Lucy </i>was a pioneer in the television industry in technical ways that are still apparent today, too. They invented the three camera technique that is still used by most sitcoms today, gave birth to the rerun, and came up with solutions for many of early television's obstacles in lighting & set design.<br />
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Lucie and Desi, Jr. were interviewed by Barbara for the special. At the end, Barbara asked Desi, Jr. what he thought it may be that makes his parents's show still incredibly successful sixty years after first going on air. I think he explained it very well when he said it is the show's principles that are timeless: laughter, friendship, and love.<br />
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So maybe there are some jokes that just never grow old.<br />
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At the end of the day, I've thankfully come to the conclusion that <i>Lucy </i>is still very much popular and very much needed. What was significant about that 20/20 special? Americans <i>voted </i>for their favorites, and <i>Lucy </i>came out on top - not but critic's choice, but by people's choice. In a 1984 televised event, Sammy Davis, Jr. told Lucy with great affection: "You are the one that they love the most." Call me biased, but he was very likely correct.<br />
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But <b>why</b> do we still need <i>Lucy</i>? The world has changed so much since when Lucy & Desi owned the airwaves. It's become more explicit, for sure - you couldn't say 'pregnant' then, but now you can air a woman actually giving birth. It's become a busier place and lacks the warmth that we once had. But this difference between their generation and ours is, I think, the very reason we still need <i>Lucy. </i>The world still needs <i>Lucy </i>because is something familiar that comforts us with the best memories of the past, and gives us something to smile about, even if for only twenty-four minutes. I'm sure there are only a few who, having watched even a single episode, haven't smiled or giggled or laughed at least once.<br />
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I guess the only way to end this post is to say two words to the cast, and, primarily, that beautiful redheaded girl who starred in the show: thank you!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9s4i8fxmT1r6sivjo1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9s4i8fxmT1r6sivjo1_500.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"><i>"The world not only loves Lucy. The world, as it is today, needs her very much."</i><br />[my GIF]</span></td></tr>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-32672922813779337212012-09-30T17:58:00.001-04:002012-09-30T17:59:34.159-04:00Happy Birthday, My Favorite British Dames | Deborah, Greer & Julie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'd first like to apologize for having disappeared into thin air for nearly three weeks! In that time, I missed a blogathon I'd promise to write an entry for, several SMRs, and also consequently reached 100 followers! (As of now, it's 101 - it could be apt to change if I lose one or two but anyways, this is my first time reaching this milestone!) I'm sorry I haven't been around as of much - it's just one of those terrible times when real life gets in the way of blogging, you know? I'll have a little note about the SMRs at the end of this blog, but most importantly I want to give a big <b>THANK YOU </b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">♥ </span>to all 101 of you that follow me. It really does mean a lot to me, and hopefully when I have a little more time on my hands I can come up with a more creative way to celebrate making it past 100!<br />
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As it so happens, three of my favorite actresses have birthdays three days in a row! How wonderful is that? (Albiet exhausting, most definitely.) I felt that bombarding you with three birthday posts in a row would be a bit too much (especially seeing how that would come after my being M.I.A. for so long), so I'm combining it all into one post. (I chose this date because's it's the middle one.) </div>
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The three actresses are: Greer Garson (September 29th), Deborah Kerr (September 30th) and Julie Andrews (October 1st). Interestingly enough, all three British dames are actresses that I finally come around to <i>truly </i>appreciating within the last year. Needless to say, I now adore them to bits and find them all pretty much perfect.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Greer Garson</i></span></div>
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(SEPTEMBER 29, 1904 - APRIL 6, 1996)</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-large;"><b>“</b></span></span><em style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think the mirror should be tilted slightly upward when it`s reflecting life -- toward the cheerful, the tender, the compassionate, the brave, the funny, the encouraging, all those things -- and not tilted down to the gutter part of the time, into the troubled vistas of conflict."</span></em></blockquote>
Greer Garson, my beautiful bonny daisy. I fell in love with her nearly a year ago, after watching <i>Adventure </i>(1945)<b style="font-style: italic;">. </b>To say that <i>Adventure </i>is a perfect movie would be an overstatement, but I will always love it because it introduced me to Greer. Instantly, I loved her: her voice, her smile, her refined acting. I wouldn't be lying if I say I have very nearly seen everything Greer was in, and I worked my way through most of her films within a couple of months. I couldn't get enough of her. Despite having won an Oscar and having been nominated countless more times, Greer is an actress that isn't as well remembered as she should be today. She brought real vitality to her performances, which she combined with sweetness and warmth and a particular sensitivity. It's impossible <i>not </i>to sympathize with a Greer Garson character. Gregory Peck once described her as "all woman", and she was: radiant, funny, and brave. Greer Garson should be every lady's aspiration and every girl's heroine.<br />
<br />
After reading her biography, I came to the conclusion that Greer Garson might also very well be one of the most likable people of all time. It seems that her real life disposition wasn't a far cry from the image she projected on screen. My favorite personality trait of hers was how she was famous (or maybe infamous) for talking nonstop! The speech she gave when accepting her Oscar for <i>Mrs. Miniver </i>(1942) is the longest in the history of the Academy Awards, a whole five minutes long where she has been said to have thanked everyone from the doctor who brought her into the world to the film's production crew. (Needless to say, the following year the Academy instilled a forty second limit on speeches which is even more greatly enforced nowadays because the event is televised).<br />
<br />
Greer was the biggest box office draw of the World War II years. From the start of the era, she won the hearts of moviegoers with her most famous role as the endearing, resilient Mrs. Minivier, who soon enough became a model for combating the war to American & British women alike. She was just what both countries needed at the time: a little hint of sunshine and spirit that was a reminder of what we were fighting for. Happy birthday, my bonny daisy.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Deborah Kerr</i></span></div>
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(SEPTEMBER 30, 1921 - OCTOBER 16, 2007)</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: #999999;"><b>“</b></span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><i>I'd like to be remembered as a good actress, but above all, as a good human being."</i></span></blockquote>
Deborah Kerr, is, to me, the most versatile actress in films, then or today. I don't think there was a role that Deborah <i>couldn't </i>tackle and make her own, or a character that she failed to lend her own touch of ladylike gentility to. (Glenn Close was correct when she said that Deborah played "nice ladies and not-so-nice ladies, but <i>always</i> ladies.") She rolled around in the sandy surf with Burt Lancaster in what is remembered as one of the sultriest kisses in movie history in <i>From Here to Eternity </i>(1953). She was center stage in one of Hollywood's most beloved musicals in <i>The King and I </i>(1956). She also played a nun that Robert Mitchum couldn't help be immorally attracted to in <i>Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison </i>(1957), a haunted governess in the creepy <i>The Innocents </i>(1961), and the newspaperwoman Sheilah Graham in <i>Beloved Infidel </i>(1959). She gave into her feelings for a younger man in <i>Tea and Sympathy</i> (1956), became illegitimately pregnant with William Holden's child in <i>The Proud and the Profane </i>(1956), and even<i> </i>briefly appeared topless in <i>The Gypsy Moths </i>(1969).<br />
<br />
Can you imagine playing roles like those in the 1950s while still maintaining a ladylike reputation and public respect? It's needless to say that Deborah could do it all, and I don't think there was any role she wasn't afraid of. The biggest atrocity in movie history is that she never won an Oscar, because of any actress truly deserved one, it was her. So many of her movies and so many of her performances are among my favorites. She's always a joy to watch, and absolutely gorgeous. That red hair and that perfect dimpled nose. There's a story that goes that a woman once approached Deborah inquiring about the doctor who had done her nose for her. In her polite manner, Deborah informed the woman that her nose was, thank you very much, quite real.<br />
<br />
"She is warmly human and sympathetic and possessed of a humor that ranged from the subtle to the downright wicked," said her good friend Robert Mitchum, who considered Deborah his alltime favorite actress and 'the only leading lady he had a strictly platonic relationship with.' One of my favorite stories about Deborah is in good attest to that quote. It was during the filming of <i>Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison </i>and Deborah was in a canoe rowing a boat. "Faster, row faster!" the film's director, John Huston was constantly shouting. Finally, the intensity of Deborah's rowing resulted in the oars splitting into half in her hands, and in her soaked nun's habit she yelled, "Is that <i>f--king </i>fast enough?" Mitchum laughed so hard he nearly drowned.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Julie Andrews</i></span></div>
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(OCTOBER 1 1935 - )</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #999999;">“</span></b></span><i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> Perseverance is failing nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth." </span></i></div>
</blockquote>
The only thing, in my opinion, that Julie Andrews <i>hasn't </i>been yet is Queen of England (and if you ask me, she should - after all, she's already a Dame!). Jools is Maria Van Trapp, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Eliza Doolittle, and the Queen of Genovia. It could probably be statistically proven that most people's childhoods are spent much of the time with Julie Andrews.<br />
<br />
Jools is quite honestly the sweetheart to end all sweethearts - "I'm so sweet sometimes even I can't stand it!" - but what I love about her is the less wholesome side of her. Let's it face it, no matter what she does Julie will never be able to shed her General Foods image, because to us she will always most prominently be Maria twirling on the hill or Mary Poppins powdering her face with chimney ashes. 'Wholesome' will forever be the word associated with her, used most often to describe her, and the word she hates most (she's been quoted as saying so).<br />
<br />
But there is definitely a side to her that's a little less sweet and a bit more, I guess you could put it, raunchy and that's one of the main reasons I love her. I didn't discover that not-so-lily-white side to her until I became a true fan of her within the last few months, and once I learned about this I couldn't get over how fabulous she is. It's that part of Jools that swears like a sailor, appeared topless in <i>S.O.B. </i>(1981), and as a cross dresser - "a woman, pretending to be man, pretending to be a woman?" - in <i>Victor/Victoria </i>(1982).<br />
<br />
(Please, if you will, pardon the swearing that appears here :D) Once, when she appeared on Jay Leno's show, he told her that her best friend, Carol Burnett, had once told him that she could "outcuss anybody." Julie's reactions to that were of shock. She dropped her jaw and turned to the audience, "Me? <i>Me?"</i> "I couldn't believe it!" Leno told her. Julie, shaking her head said, <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m761biG9XX1roku6no5_250.gif">"That <i>bitch!"</i></a> Best are some of the bloopers from <i>The Julie Andrews Hour</i>. Trying to close on episode, she encouraged viewers to tune in next week, but after flubbing up fell down the wrong path. Tilting her head to the side, she said, "Tune in, you silly bastards, we're not getting good enough ratings." In another clip, one of her co-stars swears loudly after messing up a scene, and Julie says with fake innocence, "I never heard <i>that </i>word before." Still, she hasn't shed her image completely - she once said on a talk show, "I thought it would be fun if I <i>really, really </i>wanted to change my image, I would take the centerfold of Playboy, but do it with the hat, the umbrella, and the carpet bag of Mary Poppins - and <i>period</i>!"<br />
<br />
And all the while, she's still the star of the two most family friendly films of all time, the author of several children's books (which, by the way, came as a result of her breaking a bet with her stepdaughter that she could go without swearing), and one of the most beautiful singers of all time. Her late husband, Blake Edwards once said, "As long as we've been married, I've never really found anything I <i>didn't </i>like about her." And I feel the same.<br />
<br />
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***</div>
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So many, many birthday wishes to these three fabulous, favorite ladies of mine. As for that little note about the SMR I mentioned:</div>
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You might have noticed that I have been unable to keep up with my biweekly Sunday Movie Review schedule. At the moment, I feel like I'm too busy with schoolwork to really maintain regular features on here, you know? So, as of right now, I'm putting the Sunday Movie Review on the backburner - I <i>will </i>still be doing movie reviews (hopefully still on Sundays to keep some kind of consistency around here, but not necessarily), only there will not be fixed dates for when I put them up. Which means the appearance of reviews on this blog will be a little more erratic, but I do promise to keep on writing them. Hopefully, in the near future I'll be less occupied with real life and will be able to return the SMR to it's usual format, but for the time being, I think that's best. It allows for a greater variety of posts (so not every other article in the stream is a review), as well as when I <i>do</i> do reviews they will be (hopefully) better written and longer. And, I won't feel so guilty about missing SMRs! So the SMR isn't gone - it's only on a kind of a semi hiatus.</div>
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That being said, I also promise to be post more frequently. I already have some posts drafted up, so never fret: I'll be spamming your dashboard soon enough again! Also, don't forget to to sign up for the Letter to the Stars blogathon I'm cohosting with Marcella & Nat; you can do so <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com.br/2012/09/a-letter-to-stars-blogathon.html">here</a>. </div>
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And lastly - </div>
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Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-44570511737850979242012-09-11T16:34:00.000-04:002012-09-11T16:34:32.796-04:00A Letter to the Stars. Or alternatively titled: Co-Hosting Yet ANOTHER Blogathon?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>A Letter to the Stars Blogathon </i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_lCl-Ps97jUU8E9zDbV6UdFbLfX40fHjvLSV4Yhr1Fwv1Xak8yHwrBqiFHEgLyEzJ0Q6BeTDm_WKeukd1OMp3fmf6IJsu5uS5DnVvh4a3lDCiTuqNxxYz5dgqFRED51t08G1xbEbqVfZ/s1600/A+LETTER+TO+THE+STARS.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_lCl-Ps97jUU8E9zDbV6UdFbLfX40fHjvLSV4Yhr1Fwv1Xak8yHwrBqiFHEgLyEzJ0Q6BeTDm_WKeukd1OMp3fmf6IJsu5uS5DnVvh4a3lDCiTuqNxxYz5dgqFRED51t08G1xbEbqVfZ/s400/A+LETTER+TO+THE+STARS.bmp" width="302" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-letter-to-stars-blogathon.html">Best of the Past</a> </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">|</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;"> </span><i><a href="http://theswingmood.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-letter-to-stars-or-yes-im-co-hosting.html">In the Mood</a> </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">|</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;"> </span><i><a href="http://franklymydear-blog.blogspot.com/">Frankly, My Dear</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>October 21 - 23 2012 </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div>Wait, I'm co-hosting another blogathon? Wasn't it only a few months ago did I did this? No, it's not deja'vu, it's for real. You'd think I'd wait before throwing myself back into the blogathon pool again, but when one of my favorite people on here, <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/">Marcela</a>, asked <a href="http://theswingmood.blogspot.com/">Nat</a> and I to help her co-host her blogathon, how could I resist? Especially when it's such a particularly incredible idea.<br />
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One misfortunate of us Old Hollywood fans is that most of us will never get the oppertunity to write a gushy fan letter to our favorite star. I know won't. (I did send a letter to Lauren Bacall for her birthday, however. But I'll never get to send fan mail to the other actress with the initials L.B. You know, the one that, to me, is the queen of everything. The one I worship to bits and pieces. Yeah, that girl.)<br />
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Okay, so here are the rules:<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"></div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Just leave a comment <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-letter-to-stars-blogathon.html">here</a> and let us know you're going to be writing to. No dibs on stars, it's okay if someone's already taken who you wanted to do, you can do them too.</li>
<li><b>The blogathon is taking place on October 21 - 23</b> (three days, three hosts. Get it?). All you have to do is, on the day you are assigned, write a letter to the star of your choice. It'd probably be a good idea to do your favorite, but hey, it's up to you. No hatemail, though okay? Just tell them why you love them, what are your favorite things about them, their favorite performances, even ask them questions I guess (though, if I were you, I would expect a response... okay, not funny). Anyways, any of the normal things you'd put into a fan letter, except you can't actually send it.</li>
<li>Post your letter and email the link to <b>alettertothestars@hotmail.com</b></li>
<li>That's it! As the blogathon draws near, you will be assigned a date and a host. For the most part, this worked pretty well for Nat and I last time... If you have conflicts with the date, scheduling can fix it, just so you all know. But let us know if you're having too much conflict anyways and we can fix it up!</li>
</ol>There are more banners over at Marcela's <a href="http://best-ofthepast.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-letter-to-stars-blogathon.html">post</a> so GO and look! Any questions? You can ask me or Nat, but Marcela's probably the best to ask as it's her idea. (And what a fabulous one at that.) That's pretty much all. I guess you're all scratching your heads wondering who I'm going to write to. I'll leave you all in suspense, but I'll give you a clue: she has red hair and a husband with an accent. ;)<br />
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</div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-58105059019196912362012-09-02T18:32:00.001-04:002012-09-02T19:04:45.263-04:00Sunday Movie Review: "Penny Serenade" (1941)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://i2.listal.com/image/171111/936full-penny-serenade-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://i2.listal.com/image/171111/936full-penny-serenade-poster.jpg" width="265" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: large;">PENNY SERENADE (1941) </span></i><span class="hP" id=":wb" style="padding-right: 10px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">|</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">★★</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">★ 1/2</span></span></b></span></div><i></i><br />
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</i></i></div><i>Penny Serenade</i> (1941) stars <b>Irene Dunne</b> and <b>Cary Grant</b> as Julie and Roger, a happy young couple who fall in love and get married. When a tragic circumstance results in Julie becoming sterile, the two look to fulfill their wishes to become parents in the event of an adoption, which gives way to unexpected joy and heartbreak. The story is told through a series of flashbacks provoked by a stack of Victrolas played by a nostalgic Julie as she reflects back on what she and Roger had and lost. Beulah Bondi costars as the the orphanage caretaker.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There were things I liked about this movie, and things that I didn't like as much. Over all, I thought it was an average but enjoyable film, and there's no drastic reason not to give this a viewing. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It had been quite a while since I had seen one of Irene Dunne's movies - I remember watching more of her when I just began to watch old films, a handful of her best - <i>Theodora Goes Wild </i>(1936), <i>The Awful Truth </i>(1937), <i>My Favorite Wife </i>(1940), <i>I Remember Mama </i>(1948). She is always a pleasure to watch on screen, a warm and sweet actress with a terribly infectious smile. (I would like to think she's grossly underrated as well, I believe she never won an Oscar). The best thing about Irene was that she had a quick wit for comedy but finely tuned emotions for drama, and she gets to use both of them in this film. More of the latter but there are a few chances for her to show off a hint of her comedic flair, as well. She's enjoyable and endearing as Julie, breaking our hearts bit by bit, and you can hardly help but <i>not </i>sympathize with her.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There's no need to wonder what I thought of Cary Grant in this movie, because, of course, I thought he was perfect - but I do think that about anything he was ever in. (Cary Grant could try to sell me Oxy-Clean in an informercial and I would buy it, just because of him.) As he always is, he's witty, charming, and marvelous. He gets more of the witty lines than Irene, like when their adopted child begins to cry and he says flatly to Irene, "Well, make her stop!" </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">As a pair, they are adorable, especially with the addition of a small baby, then it's almost too much. I like the idea of how the film is told through a sentimental journey of memories brought on by a "serenade" - the title song is "You Were Meant For Me," and if that sounds familiar, it probably is: it was also used in <i>Singin' in the Rain </i>(1951). There are cute scenes and sweet scenes. But the movie also drags a bit too long and it ends in yet another tragedy that seemed completely unnecessary. In the end, it comes off looking a little too sappy and heartbreaking. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The pairing of Dunne and Grant was done twice before: <i>The Awful Truth </i>(1937) and <i>My Favorite Wife </i>(1940), both of which, as I mentioned before, I have already seen. Out of the lineup <i>Serenade </i>comes off as the most average but it's still an enjoyable movie with warm performances. I would say that the film's main fault is trying to be too sad (which is often the case with movies like this), and it eventually feels as if it's harnessing itself to our heartstrings and tugging until it tears. Whatever can go wrong for this couple seems to, which works for a while but then ultimately is a bit too corny. Still; it's most certainly not a bad film and you could definitely give it a watch all the while!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-62099888831780352692012-08-29T19:28:00.001-04:002012-08-29T19:37:37.452-04:00On the Subject of Ingrid Bergman<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If you've been reading my blog for a while yet, it's probably no news to you when I say that I love plenty of actresses. I'm always discovering new favorites, altering my list, and forever trying to emulate these ladies because there's a part of me that aspires to be a little bit like each of them. My favorite, far and away (thus this should give you a idea of how <i>much </i>she means to me), is, obviously, Lucille Ball. But after that it's hard for me to rank them in a chronological order.<strike> It's like trying to pick between your children, okay?</strike><br />
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</strike> However, if I <i>really </i>had to pick a second favorite, it would probably be the lady I'm writing about today: Ingrid Bergman.<br />
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Today would be her 97th birthday - and it is also the 30th anniversary of her death. It's exactly what it means; she died on her birthday. I think it would be pretty terrible to die on your own birthday (and, alas, there's only one day to celebrate Ingrid rather than two), but all the while, it seems quite neat and particular and special - so it's no wonder it happened to Ingrid. Isabella Rossellini thinks it was "just like Mama to die on her birthday" because she was "very orderly, and it was a tidy thing to do."<br />
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There are so many things I love about Ingrid, I wouldn't even know where to <i>begin</i> to tell you. I believe I have seen more movies of hers than any other actress (as so many of Lucy's B movies are hard to find). I'm in awe of her as an actress, and respect her as a human being. So here's a post to celebrate my second favorite star on the occasion of her birthday - and the anniversary of her death. It's cliche, and you saw it coming, but how can I <i>not </i>say it? <i>Here's looking at you, kid.</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9hxhfOFy01qh6mhbo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9hxhfOFy01qh6mhbo1_1280.jpg" width="462" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Happy birthday, Ingrid</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[ and rest in peace! ]</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">I</b><i>nspirational - </i>because I have learned quite a few things from Ingrid and the way she lived her life. For one, there is the passion for her occupation and how much she genuinely enjoyed her work. "If you took acting away from me, I'd stop breathing!" she once declared, and I'm pretty sure she would have. And for another, she lived honestly, always, with no regrets, and I'd like to be that way too. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">N</b><i>atural </i>- Ingrid Bergman was the most natural actress in Hollywood. When she first arrived in this country, David O. Selznick wanted to pluck her eyebrows, cap her teeth, and change her name ("how about Barrymore?" he suggested). But Ingrid, forever true to herself, would have none of it. Selznick had to think of a different way to market/typecast her, so she became the "natural goddess," wearing little to no makeup on screen and appearing most often in wholesome, saintly roles, so much so that the public saw the private Ingrid as one and the same. Thus, they were all the more shocked and scandalized when their St. Ingrid of Stockholm had a love affair with her Italian director in 1950. But she was natural - natural at acting, and natural in her beauty. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">G</b><i>orgeous </i>- Well, I'm pretty sure this one needs little to no explanation. All you have to do is take one look at her and get the general idea. She was very nearly perfect looking, and I love how tall she was, making her less than conventional amongst the petite starlets of the day. Stories about how her famous male co stars, like Humphrey Bogart and Yul Brynner, having to stand on lifts when doing love scenes with her <i>never</i> fail to make me grin! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">R</b><i>esilient </i>- I have told this story on here before, but I think it is one that best demonstrates Ingrid's love and passion for her craft; and what resilience she had. By the time she was working on her final project, a biopic of the life of Golda Meir - this would win her a posthumous Emmy - she was deep into the stages of her cancer, and her arm had swollen up to the point where Ingrid had dubbed it her "big, overgrown, ugly, sick dog." Meir used to often make the gesture of crossing her face with her two arms, and this was televised and seen around the world, but Ingrid could not physically lift up her right arm. Though she had been assured she did not need to do it, Ingrid knew the part would not be complete without it, so the nights before she had to film she would have to suspend that arm in the air so the fluid would go down and she would be able to do the simple task of raising her arm. She would do this all night long, and she wouldn't sleep, but she would do it, and she did. That's how devoted and resilient she was.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">I</b><i>nteresting </i>- Or, rather, for lack of a better adjective starting with I, her life was interesting! I've read her life story multiple times and it's never a dull moment. She had a great personality, one that seemed warm and kind, and she seemed like she'd be fun to be around. Especially those stories about her in the 1940s, when she was a young star in Hollywood, and she enjoyed pulling pranks. Her husband often thought this was childish of her, but of course, that didn't stop her. I love the story about her and her <i>Gaslight </i>costar Joseph Cotten going to a Hollywood party, except they dressed up as the maid and the butler. She did have an affair with Victor Fleming, and on Halloween one year, she swept into his house dressed up in a ugly witch's costume, throwing bags of candy into the laps of his daughters. AND, she died on her birthday! Tell me that isn't interesting or particularly special?!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">D</b><i>arling </i>- Well, okay, before you laugh this was one of the better adjectives I could find starting with D! Besides, anyone who knows me a little will know that it's just one of my favorite words, okay? And Ingrid was just that. Darling. In absolutely all sorts and kinds of ways. So yes, I'm going to go with darling for this one, because she definitely was. <strike>I mean, have you seen those incredibly adorable closeups of her?</strike></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">B</b><i>rilliant</i> - As in a brilliant career. Everyone makes stinkers, everyone must, and trust me, she did. (Of course her performances were always that: brilliant!). But she also made so many fabulous films in Hollywood; so many of my favorite films are Ingrid movies. <i>Notorious. Gaslight. The Bells of St. Mary's. Spellbound. </i>But, most appropriately, there is <i>Casablanca </i>- and I think because of this movie she will live in on film eternally. Patricia Clarkson once narrated a tribute for her for TCM, and in it she says, "After all, you never heard anyone say, who was that girl in <i>Casablanca</i>?"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">E</b><i>legant - </i>Of course, just because she was one of the more natural beauties in Hollywood doesn't mean that she couldn't be just as elegant or glamorous as the rest of them. How about the party scene in <i>Notorious </i>(1946)? She has on that long, black gown and the way she carries herself in it so regal. In reality, she was a pretty classy lady herself. She speaks with such grace and the perfect drop of candor in all her interviews. I've seen many from the late 60s or early 70s where she is asked if the film industry is getting better and better, but she begs to differ: "they were better in the old days." Her explanation for this is exactly how I feel about old films. One would wonder what Ingrid - who, for her time, was considered 'notorious' - would think of some movies today.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">R</b><i>omantic </i>- Because, I think, Ingrid did romance better than anyone else in Old Hollywood. After all, when Humphrey Bogart was asked about <i>Casablanca </i>(1942), he easily credited his performance to Ingrid, saying "when the camera moves in on that Bergman face and she's saying she loves you, it would make anybody feel romantic." And, of course, the many romantic scenes in <i>Notorious</i> cannot be forgotten, most especially that famous kissing scene between her <strike>and her husband </strike>Cary Grant where they skirt the three second law on kisses. She played different characters but she was always best, perhaps, when playing a woman in love. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">G</b><i>lobal </i>- Ingrid did all kinds of foreign films. She started out her career in her native Sweden, also doing one German film, and when America sent her packing thanks to her affair with Roberto Rossellini, she did movies in <i>his </i>native Italy, as well as France. She played roles that travelled to all parts of the world and experienced a handful of different cultures, like the Chinese missionary in <i>The Inn of the Sixth Happiness </i>(1958) and the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in <i>The Woman Called Golda </i>(1982). You can't help but grasp the feeling that Ingrid had a openness to experiencing many different ways and walks of life. And she definitely returned to her Swedish roots - one of her final film roles was <i>Autumn Sonata </i>(1978), completely in Swedish with Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">M</b><i>ultilingual - </i>This ties in with the latter, and it's honestly one of the things I admire most about her because I muddle through learning the alphabet in French. (This is also coming from the girl who took five years of Spanish in elementary school and wouldn't be able to say more than "Hola.") Guess how many languages Ingrid spoke? FIVE. Her native Swedish, English, French, Italian, and German. She learned German as a child from her aunt (and excelled in this class at school!), and picked up English, French, and Italian over the years. I can hardly imagine being fluent in FIVE different languages. How incredible is that?!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">A</b><i>ctress </i>- This one is obvious, and she was truly one of the best. The very best. When you watch her on screen, you can believe anything she does or says. When I watch her in any film, whether it's amazing or really terrible, I'm in awe of her brilliance, of how she can bring small things to a performance to make it believable, how she was a master at drama but could also be incredibly witty and funny. I love her as a human being, obviously, and as an actress just as much. I really have yet to find a performance of hers that I found so-so. Her work in <i>Gaslight </i>(1944)? Really and honestly one of the most worthy Oscars given. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">N</b><i>otorious </i>- Before you think that using this adjective as a way to end off a post filled with so much affection for her is meant to be negative, believe me, it's not! Nor is it meant to be a pun! I mean this in a positive way. Being notorious to a particular group of people is not always a bad thing. At the time people may look down their noses at you, but later on you'd realize that being notorious was something you had to do. I'm referring to her scandal with Roberto Rossellini in 1950, of course. The way people treated her at the time was incredibly terrible. Was it really nessescary to take to the floor of the U.S Senate to condemn her?! I think it was because Americans thought of her as such a saint, scrubbed with soap, that when she went out and did something as outrageous get pregnant by her Italian director, it drove them wild. It was as if she had turned on them. Thankfully, she was forgiven - and publicly apologized to - but it still must have been a hell of a time for her. Perhaps what she did was notorious, but rightfully so. She was not the public's slave, and she lived honestly. I suppose she could very easily have covered up the scandal (as Loretta Young had done a few years before when becoming pregnant with Clark Gable's love child), but she didn't. I guess you could say there was a little feminism showing in her in this action, too. It was her private life, and her body, and she did what she pleased.<br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“Do you know what I especially love about you, Ingrid, my dear? I can sum it up as your naturalness. The camera loves your beauty, your acting, and your individuality. A star must have individuality. It makes you a great star. A great star.”</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">- George Cukor </span></span></div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-36917690357253009262012-08-25T19:36:00.000-04:002012-08-25T19:36:52.499-04:00Gene Kelly Centennial | Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtBIz8s3wWU4QgNkZ2vbm98Dz_7dxKG62ntk8K7N2tXmHUEpkOmdXpafrlvbq-9dvuWbS6o3Chwv42wWaTCd1nfOr144t6EJcyY8tgw0tKsQVFlaZ2nUw2p28T916NQEM4eR6Mmo_X9Y4/s1600/Gene+Kelly+Centennial+Bologathon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKtBIz8s3wWU4QgNkZ2vbm98Dz_7dxKG62ntk8K7N2tXmHUEpkOmdXpafrlvbq-9dvuWbS6o3Chwv42wWaTCd1nfOr144t6EJcyY8tgw0tKsQVFlaZ2nUw2p28T916NQEM4eR6Mmo_X9Y4/s200/Gene+Kelly+Centennial+Bologathon.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><i>This is an entry for the Gene Kelly Centennial Blogathon, hosted by the <a href="http://clamba.blogspot.com/">Classic Movie Blog Association</a>, to celebrate the 100th birthday of one of Hollywood's best hoofers (Gene's actually birthday was the 23rd). Go <a href="http://clamba.blogspot.com/2012/04/gene-kelly-centenarian-blogathon-august.html">here</a> to read the rest of the very fabulous entries. Thank you to the CMBA for hosting!</i><br />
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</i> <i>*** </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">I was a little late to the party when signing up for this blogathon, and needless to say, the best of Gene's films had already been grabbed. So unfortunately, this will not be the astute opportunity for me to ramble on endlessly about my love and affection for one of my favorite movies, <i>Singin' in the Rain</i> (1952). Instead I have chosen for a less well known vehicle from earlier on in Gene's career, <i>Du Barry Was a Lady </i>(1943) - it is, alas, no where near the perfection of <i>Singin' in the Rain, </i>but it does costar Lucille Ball, my favorite of all people, and thus I have chosen it to discuss today. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Du Barry Was a Lady</i> (1943) </span>is the story of a hat check man who is in love with the beautiful nightclub headliner at the club he works for. She, in turn, has the hearts for a poor dancer, who reciprocates her affection, but she knows she must marry for money. The hat check man strikes it rich by winning the Irish sweepstakes, and asks his crush to marry him, which she agrees to, even though she doesn't love him. The moral of all of this is brought to light when the new heir gets slipped a mickey and dreams his is in 18th century Versailles, in which he is King Louis XV, adamantly pursuing Madame Du Barry. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/monica_moon_77/LucilleBall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a218/monica_moon_77/LucilleBall.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucy practicing one of her dance routines<br />
for the movie backstage</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The film was more of a prominent milestone in Lucille Ball's career rather than Gene's. She was cast as the nightclub star May Daly/Madame Du Barry in what was her first film at MGM. She had failed to reach star status at RKO (though she had garnered the title as queen of B movies), and everyone knew - Lucy included - that MGM was her last chance to become an established movie star. As her introduction to the MGM corral of actors (after all, MGM had "more stars than the heavens"), she was cast in this film, which had been a successful Broadway play starring her good friend Ethel Mermen. It was called out to be a lush, Technicolor production, with a roster of songs by Cole Porter. To give Lucy a new image, MGM's chief hairstylist to the stars, Sidney Guilaroff, dyed her hair a stunning shade called "Tango Red", that popped on the Technicolor print, but Lucy herself was not quick to like in real life. (Lucy, born a brunette, had been dyed a Harlow blonde, then a strawberry blonde, which gradually darkened to mahogany brown). Critics were quick to call her "Technicolor Tessie," and declared no actress had looked better in color. Needless to say, Lucy kept this shade for the rest of her life.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This was the second film for budding star Gene Kelly, who obviously played the down on his luck hoofer, Alec Howe<span style="font-size: large;">. </span>Though only a year younger than his on screen love interest, Lucy had a list of films under her belt whereas this was only the second in what would prove to be a legendary show business career. (One could argue that both Gene and Lucy struck it big in the early 50s, Gene in his most well known film <i>Singin' in the Rain </i>- in '52 - and Lucy a year earlier with <i>I Love Lucy.</i>) Before this, Gene had made his screen debut with <i>For Me and My Gal </i>(1942), which he had made alongside bona fide star Judy Garland. Red Skelton is the third and final co-star, as the lucky hat check man Louis Blore.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
The above mentioned are also supported by Virginia O'Brien, a fairly underrated actress in her own right. Jo Stafford can be spotted as a member of the "Pied Piper" bind, as well as Ava Gardner for a second or two as a perfume girl, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqZSAyC48mw">Lana Turner makes a guest appearance</a> as a part of one of Red Skelton's singing sketchs.<br />
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Despite the pretty impressive cast, and the cosmetic milestone this was for Lucy, the film ultimately fails to hit the mark (despite doing well at the box office), and I don't think it was a movie that neither Lucy or Gene could look back at and fondly remember. In fact, it might as very well have been one they tried to forget. Though it would for Lucy (because of her hair color change), this movie would also hold no later prominence for the birthday boy, Gene. But as contract players must, both were cast in this film with no questions asked.<br />
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This is actually, believe it or not, a movie I own on DVD - it's a part of TCM's Lucille Ball collection. When I offered to my dad the chance to watch this again in preparation of this post, he absolutely refused. And I can't blame him, because this is a real turkey. There are some pros to this film but there are tons of cons, too. (Because, even <i>I </i>couldn't get myself to sit through this again).<br />
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You might put the first problem of this film in the plot, which is pretty kooky. There's nothing wrong with "fun nonsense" movies, but sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, and this time around it's a case of the latter. This film is actually decent until Red Skelton gets konked back in time where he appears as King Louis XV and Lucy as Madame Du Barry, the king's notorious mistress. There are some interesting scenes, like one in which Red's King Louis chases Lucy's Du Barry around a bedroom, which includes a shot of them jumping around the bed (which, was, in fact, a trampoline - a scene Lucy didn't very much enjoy shooting as it gave her nausea!). As you can imagine, this was a number that went under the close eye of the Hays Code Office; but this film is the squeaky clean all around besides (though, according to my <i>Lucy at the Movies </i>book, the play was a bit raunchier and was sanitized a little before being transferred to the screen).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4004/4688858319_bc4e712b16_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4004/4688858319_bc4e712b16_z.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A promo shot for <i>Du Barry</i>, 1943</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I think after the main cast gets shot back to Versailles in the 1700s, the film actually becomes pretty unwatchable, or at least, that's how I remember it. Still, the plot is ridiculous anyways and you couldn't put the fault in any of the cast. Obviously, everyone on here knows what I think of Lucy and I think pretty highly of Gene Kelly and Red Skelton, too - all very talented actors, and they do the best they can. Ultimately, they are misused. Gene doesn't even get to <i>dance </i>as much as he could've!<br />
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So while we can conclude this is certainly not a five star movie, there are a couple of good things about this movie, too. As I said above, the actors give it their best shot. Lucy looks so gorgeous in this. It's always hard for me to pick what was period was the height of her beauty, but this would be one of the top contenders. She sports a blonde wig upon her DuBarry transformation, however, shows off her new hair color in the rest of the film, and the critics weren't kidding when they raved about the new 'Technicolor tessie.' Really, <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7aarqFHe11qd76iqo1_500.jpg">the closeup shots of her</a> as Gene professes his love with a song are killer.<br />
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The songs in this movie are by Cole Porter and while it might not be the best work of the famed songwriter, the numbers in here are certainly decent. The most notable is probably "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVGIJ_n34fc">Friendship</a>," the happy song-and-dance number sung by the three title actors at the end of the film. Gene obviously did his own singing, but Lucy was dubbed for all the numbers in this film by Martha Mears - with the exception of this song, for which she did her own singing. The song would also later be used on the episode of <i>I Love Lucy </i>where Lucy and Ethel preform on television for their women's club benefit. They sing the song while they shred each other's identical dresses to pieces! (It should be added that, unfortunately, a great deal of music from the stage play was emasculated.)<br />
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I looked long and hard to find any particularly interesting backstage stories to liven up this post about a very mediocre movie, perhaps about Lucy and the birthday boy, but I could come up with nothing. Gene Kelly, though still in the early stages of stardom, is one of the few truly notable costars Lucy worked with before she had her success in television. He and Lucy would work together three more times. In the same year, they both made appearances in <i>Thousands Cheer, </i>a variety film that lacks plot but is made up of skits and sketches. Then, once again in <i>Ziegfield Follies </i>(1946), a similar film filled with an assortment of routines, but they are in separate skits and don't share any screen time together. (Lucy is in only in it for a few minutes, but I did watch the whole movie and it was interesting - some skits are better than others; there's some nice singing by Lena Horne, Judy Garland does a fun routine that mocks Greer Garson's ladylike image, and a very notable piece where Gene and Fred Astaire dance together!). Gene Kelly also directed Lucy in her short stint in his film <i>A Guide For the Married Man </i>(1967). (And as for Lucy and Red Skelton - when Red won the Emmy in '52 for Best Comedian or Comedienne, he said, "You gave it to the wrong redhead tonight.")<br />
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As for Gene Kelly himself, unfortunately, this wasn't one of his better films - and so it's probably silly I chose this movie to discuss on his 100th. All the while, Gene is definitely a performer I love. He was an incredible dancer and watching him preform, he in as an art all by himself. He was very initiative when choosing his routines, and his good looks and charm made him appropriate for more sultry dance moves that Hollywood's other premiere dancer, Fred Astaire, strayed from. He also influenced so much of modern dance; Michael Jackson credited Kelly's influence numerous times. That little scar on his cheek? I've always loved it, because it added a certain degree of ruggedness and a dash of allure. Some say that Astaire was more elegant or debonair, but I think they were two entirely different dancers and it isn't very fair to compare them; they were both beautiful in their craft. And besides, Gene Kelly's lines were <i>just</i> as neat and pretty as Astaire's.<br />
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Gene Kelly was fabulous and I adore him to bits. This film may not be incredible, but plenty of his other movies were: first and foremost, <i>Singin' in the Rain, </i>but also <i>Anchors Aweigh </i>(1945), <i>On the Town </i>(1949), and <i>An American in Paris</i> (1951) (amongst many others, I'm sure.) So here's a big happy centennial birthday to one of Hollywood's best. Thanks for the dances, Gene (and all my apologizes for the numerous times I diverted this post over to Lucy, but I think it's okay because you worked with her enough to know how incredible she was!).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls7wec3iyv1qbw9jao1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls7wec3iyv1qbw9jao1_500.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Happy 100th birthday, Gene Kelly. </span><br />
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</div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-85815368340448173742012-08-18T15:03:00.000-04:002012-08-18T15:03:23.768-04:00Favorite Filmmakers | Vincente Minnelli<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Continuing with a director whose films I often turn to when I'm in the mood for something I can rely on to cheer me up or make me smile. To read previous installments of this series, go <a href="http://franklymydear-blog.blogspot.com/search/label/Favorite%20Filmmakers">here</a>. </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3saxmPo872rl70PzKetPGc36oIbKP179uXcw6kjBDI8FWImEGdxU0kpsOof0OtG44iNaM_CCVGLQuobgY9Q1inYhkSR4H46o2OKEDC-aBoEgw1ymsg26syJqKqVox9NAvEflB386RvWX/s1600/vincente.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn3saxmPo872rl70PzKetPGc36oIbKP179uXcw6kjBDI8FWImEGdxU0kpsOof0OtG44iNaM_CCVGLQuobgY9Q1inYhkSR4H46o2OKEDC-aBoEgw1ymsg26syJqKqVox9NAvEflB386RvWX/s400/vincente.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">VINCENTE MINNELLI (1903 - 1986)</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I don't know why, but whenever I write up one of these posts I always feel like I have to explain certain exclusions from my list. It's probably annoying. However, I do want to add in here that I did <i>not </i>forget <i>Gigi </i>(1958) or leave it out because I haven't seen it. I actually have, and I'm going to be blunt by saying it's really one of the most ridiculous movies I've seen. I don't understand how Vincente Minnelli could have directed it. But then again, I'm really alone on this opinion because <i>Gigi </i>did, after all, win Best Picture. Oh, well. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1944 | <i>Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Tom Drake</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DvVg2dPaW6F2mbiqlsqchvRcC5xohiX02FvUAJdKBIvY9HOTri-LHnX589nsrbuj2k5NBzIP5hHdw8YSM50sWHi6sQGbdeSmalI4b2rTG3SCPXlRTteZ2SYbJYmmxhjLxkJh5QaOy1VP/s1600/meet-me-in-st-louis2-800-75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DvVg2dPaW6F2mbiqlsqchvRcC5xohiX02FvUAJdKBIvY9HOTri-LHnX589nsrbuj2k5NBzIP5hHdw8YSM50sWHi6sQGbdeSmalI4b2rTG3SCPXlRTteZ2SYbJYmmxhjLxkJh5QaOy1VP/s320/meet-me-in-st-louis2-800-75.jpg" width="320" /></a>I did a <a href="http://franklymydear-blog.blogspot.com/2012/06/sunday-movie-review-meet-me-in-st-louis.html">review</a> of this film not too long ago, so I won't talk about it very much, but it's one of those movies that I can watch over and over. It's a film that I can always turn to to cheer me up, and it's one of my favorite musicals. Judy glows during the whole, glamorous Technicolor production. On a TCM special, Margaret O'Brien said working with Judy on this movie was a pleasure because she was really in love with Vincente Minnelli at the time, and she was in one of her best periods. </div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>THE CLOCK </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1945 | <i>Judy Garland, Robert Walker </i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPDwhIhhrEAOB2I9vMLn591wCtUbGDcpJpXPpDQDEbmuSseuRPrEwT-Q7xsgoAiVjfWLleAUuBtnDli01qGm91IkK2etNX1uvfdwkkNFpGJNuDnVlzhHSJ9_PFB8IDTOpLif-mwSSfBHM/s1600/tumblr_m56j3iIROS1rxcbeeo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPDwhIhhrEAOB2I9vMLn591wCtUbGDcpJpXPpDQDEbmuSseuRPrEwT-Q7xsgoAiVjfWLleAUuBtnDli01qGm91IkK2etNX1uvfdwkkNFpGJNuDnVlzhHSJ9_PFB8IDTOpLif-mwSSfBHM/s320/tumblr_m56j3iIROS1rxcbeeo1_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">This is a really cute movie I watched for the first time last December, and I enjoyed it a lot, actually. Robert Walker plays the All American soldier on leave for two days and he runs into an adorable Judy Garland. They fall in love, and a wartime romance ensues with some of the usual and unusual complications, as well as impulsive decisions. I'm not always that keen about directors directing their wives, but from what I've seen, whenever Vincente Minnelli directed Judy it turned out pretty fantastic. This film has just the right dashes of comedy, drama, and sugar. On all of my 'favorite filmmakers' lists, I've been trying to add one less known work to the list and this would definitely be it for my Vincente Minnelli list. A sweet, enjoyable movie you ought to catch if you get the chance.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><b>FATHER OF THE BRIDE </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1950 | <i>Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Bennett</i></span></span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RRfHYhijzvwnPb5bIt5BMDagDmns3Ep4iGfiyD6wxRpC3koyllxYfyKExyTT60oL0HeWBRCm9X1TstOzge4VZAYFtdXxXRh1qsoZvguwML0X5D9cOlLmUGpwqJgY_y5y5kXoSItTHkGE/s1600/Father_of_the_bride_1950_promo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5RRfHYhijzvwnPb5bIt5BMDagDmns3Ep4iGfiyD6wxRpC3koyllxYfyKExyTT60oL0HeWBRCm9X1TstOzge4VZAYFtdXxXRh1qsoZvguwML0X5D9cOlLmUGpwqJgY_y5y5kXoSItTHkGE/s320/Father_of_the_bride_1950_promo.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">One of the best comedies MGM produced in the 1950s, a very truly funny movie. The plot is very simple, Elizabeth Taylor is "daddy's little girl," and when she announces her engagement to her boyfriend, it's too much for her father, Spencer Tracy, to handle. Spencer Tracy's Stanley Banks character must realize all the financial, organizational, and worst of all, emotional pains that come with being "the father of the bride." Joan Bennett plays his supportive wife, Ellie. This is another movie that would cheer you up just by watching it. Spencer Tracy is pretty much perfect as Stanley Banks, he was rather good at satire, and I couldn't imagine any other actor playing the role. All the other actors fall just as easily into place. This was one of Elizabeth's "transition" roles, and the character suits her very well. A hilarious, cute, and even relatable film that sure's to make you smile. (Its sequel, <i>Father's Little Dividend </i>- which was released just a year later based on this movie's success - is pretty good, too).</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><b>AN AMERICAN IN PARIS </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1951 | <i>Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron</i></span></span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3z8EBbLbtpMmnR66lmfE1gdhpqtNADThGNK_XmCuE-2v5rPrlZcXuiZQFS5stolxe2qGqUGEwoRlt0fqvWhqLbuyuBWGpP_vWOSkTh6i2vr8TkJhUULbsIhyphenhyphenI_FgmlfCjHJMbKhGhu8iD/s1600/ampar10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3z8EBbLbtpMmnR66lmfE1gdhpqtNADThGNK_XmCuE-2v5rPrlZcXuiZQFS5stolxe2qGqUGEwoRlt0fqvWhqLbuyuBWGpP_vWOSkTh6i2vr8TkJhUULbsIhyphenhyphenI_FgmlfCjHJMbKhGhu8iD/s320/ampar10.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The title says it all. Gene Kelly plays just that: an American in Paris, who falls for a pretty French girl played by Leslie Caron. As luck would have it, his friend complicates the situation by going for her as well. It's been a while since I saw this movie, at least two or three years, but I do remember enjoying it a lot and I had to include it on this list. I pretty much associate Vincente Minnelli with musicals, and this is one of the best examples why. (Of course, I do like <i>Meet Me in St. Louis </i>a bit better...) This is filled to the brim with wonderful songs and fabulous dance routines, executed beautifully by Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly is a true entertainer is this as he always was. I have a bit of a stigma on Leslie Caron because of <i>Gigi </i>(1958), but I probably should drop it because I enjoyed her in this (and <i>Father Goose, </i>as well). The bottom line is if you love lush musicals, there's no doubt you'll love this film.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>THE LONG, LONG TRAILER </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1953 | <i>Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz </i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8WG-CEquYtJ0H4zhA20olQL4aoLZ6uz394yH_pnj-MfJ6KK57nDATmXvBx5k8dbyJGX5moT-ntTb0X2ngxyaAnUC4kbmeM5Jt8XPSwIXBHirKfC1t4uEB2_BKgJb-vRtHK7laINlTNmm/s1600/The+Long,+Long+Trailer+1953+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm8WG-CEquYtJ0H4zhA20olQL4aoLZ6uz394yH_pnj-MfJ6KK57nDATmXvBx5k8dbyJGX5moT-ntTb0X2ngxyaAnUC4kbmeM5Jt8XPSwIXBHirKfC1t4uEB2_BKgJb-vRtHK7laINlTNmm/s320/The+Long,+Long+Trailer+1953+2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">So here's a bit of trivia for you: Desi made a bet with MGM writer Benjamin Thau (who had handled the Arnazes' departure from MGM in 1946) - if <i>The Long, Long Trailer </i>could not outgross <i>Father of the Bride, </i>which, up until that point was MGM's biggest comedic box office smash, then the Arnazes would take a $25,000 cut from their quarter of a million fee. But, if <i>The Long Long Trailer </i>DID outgross <i>Father of the Bride</i>, the Arnazes would get an additional $50,000. Thau was so confident he had a clause written up in the contract. Of course, the film did indeed garner more cash than <i>Father of the Bride. </i>Lucy and Desi at the time were, after all, two of the most popular people on the planet (1953 was the year of Little Ricky's birth and <i>I Love Lucy </i>was at the height of its fame - a really fabulous year for these two.). This movie landed up being the seventeenth most popular picture of the year. Lucy and Desi play newlyweds, Tacy and Nicky, who buy a trailer to live in and honeymoon in it on their way to Colorado. As excepted, all sorts of complications fall into place that threaten their marriage. Their characters in this are very similar to that of Lucy & Ricky Ricardo (though I must say, Tacy isn't <i>as </i>wacky), and some liken this to a <i>Lucy </i>episode stretched into a film. Perhaps, but it's still a very hilarious film, the dialogue crackles, both Lucy and Desi do tons of great physical comedy. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, Lucy's wardrobe is the epitome of 50s fashion, Lucy and Desi's rapport/chemistry is perfect. Another movie I've seen over and over, one I just enjoy a lot. How could you <i>not </i>love watching Lucy & Desi "breeze along with the breeze"? Everything about this film is just the poster child for the 1950s and its glamour. Vincente Minnelli himself described this as a "painless" movie to make. (Little Liza hung around her father's set and Lucy played with her; about twenty years later, she and Desi, Jr. were dating!)</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><b>TEA AND SYMPATHY </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">| 1956 | <i>Deborah Kerr, John Kerr</i></span></span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pl4DokXLHxQZ1qM-xefgJYL4r7mK5HYfLeOZuDOa9jB5V0WSqhVbMjLa-VQxQB7MVy1w48H36SKRkvRNCL0YR8pfCLtElg2gTdllkoLzsSAFcG6MJwmUGV7HUuBwV_xypQ0hjEdx_qQX/s1600/Tea&Sympathy1TN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7pl4DokXLHxQZ1qM-xefgJYL4r7mK5HYfLeOZuDOa9jB5V0WSqhVbMjLa-VQxQB7MVy1w48H36SKRkvRNCL0YR8pfCLtElg2gTdllkoLzsSAFcG6MJwmUGV7HUuBwV_xypQ0hjEdx_qQX/s320/Tea&Sympathy1TN.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">This is also a movie I discovered rather recently, but love a lot. (This was when I had a very crazy Deborah high earlier this year, and saw tons and tons of her movies all at once.) Deborah plays Laura Reynolds, the wife of a "manly" camp instructor (of sorts), Burt. He has explained to her many times that she is not supposed to give anything more than "tea and sympathy" to the boys there, but she can't help be troubled by Tom Lee (played by John Kerr), a sensitive seventeen year old boy who is different than his peers, so much so to the extent where they have labeled him "sister boy." Laura lands up endangering a lot of things when she helps Tom find who he really is in side. This was a play and what would seem a great flight risk to take to the big screens in 1956, especially considering one of the main themes of this movie is homosexuality. I haven't seen a version of the play, but Minnelli did a fantastic job in my opinion of transferring such a controversial story into a film. Of course, it was Deborah Kerr who took the challenging, daring role of Laura Reynolds on - and as usual, she was absolutely fabulous. John Kerr was also very believable as the confused seventeen year old boy. But over all, a lot of credit goes to Vincente Minnelli for being able to <i>make </i>this movie in 1956.</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">***</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">So, that's my list. (I give a very honorable mention to <i>The Bad and the Beautiful</i>). How about you - what are your opinions on the movies I chose/<i>your </i>favorite Vincente Minnelli movies? Leave me some comments, I love to hear! :) </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-17204717337212279442012-08-12T21:25:00.000-04:002012-08-12T21:25:43.462-04:00Sunday Movie Review: "Sex and the Single Girl" (1964)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
I can't ignore the obvious. This site has had some... pretty major changes with it's interface within the last few days. It's been quite nearly a three day process (as anyone who's been on here recently might be familiar with; and for that I apologize), but I'm finally finished and quite pleased with it. Gone are the polka dots and the drive in; my new design I (hope) is cleaner & fresher. I'd been wanting to replace the old one for quite sometime (as I've had it for a year and it was becoming way too cluttered from my taste) but never knew just what to replace it with, and finally I was able to settle on a header and a color scheme and everything bloomed from there. So it's staying - for a while, I think. I've also overhauled the 'about me' and 'Sunday Movie Review' pages. (I cleaned up my favorite actor & actresses pages a few weeks ago, as well). Any thoughts?<br />
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This is the first review I've done in a month! It's hard to get back into the swing of this so today is a short review from my 'Netflix archives'. I hope no one minds and I promise my next SMR will actually be quality - or as quality as I can get, anyways!<br />
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What have you all been watching lately? I've been watching so many more movies from the 60s and even 70s because of Julie Andrews! Would you believe that I only saw <i>one </i>movie from the 40s (my favorite decade in film) last month? My most watched decade in July was the 1960s, so I guess I'm going through a bit of a 60s phase right now. Anyways, here's my archive review, as these always are it's much shorter than my usual reviews so do forgive me.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikE8NnxOnwphgLYxcPwKhia7vw-knHip2Q4I_zrumY3iRQFROoHMIz459jbKV93I5IZtdGXQm0M8CtuvmsB8QNhJoAKEiOUVZfylsP27ksHYIQXmuzm9rhf0nFLA1o49RjtfY8taIL1Jk/s1600/Sex+and+the+Single+Girl+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikE8NnxOnwphgLYxcPwKhia7vw-knHip2Q4I_zrumY3iRQFROoHMIz459jbKV93I5IZtdGXQm0M8CtuvmsB8QNhJoAKEiOUVZfylsP27ksHYIQXmuzm9rhf0nFLA1o49RjtfY8taIL1Jk/s640/Sex+and+the+Single+Girl+poster.jpg" width="460" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964): </b><i>Cast, plot details</i></span><br />
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<div itemprop="description" style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A womanizing reporter (Tony Curtis) for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown (Natalie Wood). Lauren Bacall & Henry Fonda costar as Tony Curtis's friends who add to a string of misunderstandings. [from <a href="http://imdb.com/">IMdb</a> - with doctoring by me]</span></div><div itemprop="description" style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-top: 0.5em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="line-height: 18px;">Natalie Wood as <i>Helen Gurley Brown</i></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">Tony Curtis as <i>Bob Weston</i></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">Henry Fonda as <i>Frank</i></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">Lauren Bacall as <i>Sylvia </i></span></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE VERDICT: </b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">★★</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">★</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Not nearly as exciting as it sounds, it's a 60s rom com through and through, with a finish that's over the top while managing to be only a little funny.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="reviewText" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: left; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">You can tell there were depending one one thing - er rather, one word? - to be able to truly sell this film: Sex. You can tell from the moment the word was blown up onto the screen in the opening credits. Movie-goers in 1964 were scandalized by it, all the while excited to get their tickets. The "scandalous" title was really just a trick to get movie-goers into the theaters. It's truly an innocent, glossy romantic comedy lacking even the tiniest drop of real gritty stuff. Why, Natalie Wood's earlier "Splendor in the Grass," with such a innocent title, was much more high strung than this average 60's rom-com. Very much a Doris Day-Rock Hudson movie with different actors. Natalie Wood is great in this - there is a sadly ironic scene in which she tries to stop Tony Curtis from drowning himself - but from what i read in her biography, she was not pleased with this and wanted more work like "Splendor." Tony Curtis is decent, too (everyone thinks he looks like Jack Lemmon in that movie "where they dressed up like women"). Fun to see Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda in this star studded vehicle, as well. Mel Ferrer (I remember him only as Audrey Hepburn's husband) is in this, too. The last twenty minutes of the movie take place out on the street on a moter-bike, ice cream truck, taxis, cars, and who-knows-what-else. A true 60's romantic comedy - and though the title may suggest more, it sticks straight to the status quo. Since I love pretty much everyone in this, I give this a passing grade. </span></div><div class="reviewText" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: center; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>PHOTOS & TRIVIA</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.everseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sex-and-the-single-girl_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://www.everseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/sex-and-the-single-girl_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://screencrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Curtis-with-Natalie-Wood-for-Sex-and-the-Single-Girl-30-9-10-kc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="http://screencrave.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Curtis-with-Natalie-Wood-for-Sex-and-the-Single-Girl-30-9-10-kc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.movieactors.com/photos/sex-single-girl-06-32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://www.movieactors.com/photos/sex-single-girl-06-32.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>This movie inspired the 2003 Renee Zellweger movie <i>Down With Love.</i></li>
<li>One of the supporting cast members died on the day of the film's premiere.</li>
</ul></div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>A MOVIE TIDBIT</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='500' height='500' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wu7PfwiVcj8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></div></div></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5869591875570698529.post-11266221721298050082012-08-06T13:50:00.001-04:002012-08-06T15:37:53.298-04:00Happy Birthday, Lucy ♥<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo1_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo2_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo2_250.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo3_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo3_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo4_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo4_250.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo5_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo5_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo6_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo6_250.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo7_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo7_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo8_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m80egzDUyu1r6sivjo8_250.gif" /></a></div><br />
Today, Lucille Ball would have turned 101 years old.<br />
<br />
What can I say about her that hasn't been said? She was incredible. She touched the lives of so many people - and continues to. She passed away twenty-three years ago and yet she still seems very much alive. When Sammy Davis Jr. toasted her on a televised "all star party" in 1984, he stated, "<i>The sun never sets on Lucille Ball,"</i> and he was entirely correct. Maybe it's because that at any time of the day, some where in the world, a television set is playing <i>I Love Lucy. </i>Maybe it's because her face has been seen more often by more people than any other person who has lived.<br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Or maybe it's because the public never saw her as a "star." No doubt she was one, one of the brightest in the galaxy, but our (the audience's) relationship with Lucy was different than going to the movie theater to watch a feature film. Lucy visited us in our homes, in our living rooms, weekly, just like a friend or a family member. In the days long before VHS and now, DVD, Lucy began what was to become perhaps a infinite, intimate relationship with us. You watched Lucy on in your own home, on your sofa, with your family. You were safe in knowing that there would be happy ending. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">For many people, <i>Lucy </i>is like that best friend we can always count on. We didn't call her "Lucille Ball"; we called her "Lucy." She's one of us. </span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><small><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><i>"The red hair, the giant eyes, the rubber face: Those were the physical tools that Lucille Ball used to ply her comic craft so expertly. In the process of trying to make people laugh, she also stole their hearts… The depth of feeling for Ball spoke to the power of the medium she helped popularize…Viewers around the world formed an intimate bond with the comedienne, thinking of her not as a star, like Bogart and Bacall, but as part of their extended family who dropped by on Monday nights,"</i> said Vanity Fair, best explaining our love affair with Lucy. </span></span></small></div><div style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><small><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></small></div><div style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><small><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Was there any other person who so helped shaped television? There were many who also started out in the medium's infancy, but none who have risen to such fame as Lucy. I read an article last year, on the occasion of her birthday, that acknowledged her comedic talent but put the question, "Why Lucy?" Its author wondered why none of the other early pioneers of television are so applauded as she. While this may seem unfair, it was something that occurred naturally. From the 1950s, audiences have taken akin to Lucy with a great passion, and continue to do so while those other television shows have faded into our past. She had a special quality, a certain 'it' factor, that made her the darling of the public. And while there will continue to be television programs that are just as popular and actresses who will win more Emmys than Lucy, it was Lucy who was there at the start.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> "</span></span></span></small><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Let’s face it: any comic actor on TV today, male or female, who claims not to have been influenced by Lucy/Lucille is lying through his or her teeth,"</i> said TV Guide. And they were right. Without Lucy, there would be no Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White. There had to be someone to set the wheels turning. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before Lucy, comedy had always been a man's profession, but she challenged this stereotype. </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"></span><i>"Bob and I once told Lucy that she was a beautiful clown. She didn’t want to hear it because it embarrassed her, but it was true. She might be dressed in a baggy suit and a battered top hat and wearing big, funny shoes - but she was still beautiful," </i>Madelyn Pugh Davis, scribe to many Lucy projects but most famously <i>I Love Lucy, </i>wrote in her autobiography. Lucy's comedy was tasteful and she never compromised her femininity. <i>"She was such an amazing clown, we sometimes forget she was also such a beauty. Ball went from bombshell to grande dame, but she never relinquished her crown as the all-time queen of comedy,"</i> said TV Guide.<br />
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</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">There is a song, </span><i style="text-align: left;">Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning? </i><span style="text-align: left;">referring to the 9-11 attacks. In it there are lyrics representative of a person's reaction to first hearing of the attacks. </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin' - </i></span></span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"> This makes sense for, Lucille Ball and <i>Lucy </i>have always been a comfort to us. There will always be that sense of security in knowing you can laugh until your sides hurt, but there will always be a happy ending - Lucy & Ricky will kiss and make up. Maybe this lyric corresponds to this quote: </span><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">"The world not only loves Lucy. The world, as it is today, needs her very much,</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">" which was penned in 1976, about thirty-five years ago. And in the decades that have passed, I think we can come to the conclusion that we need Lucy even more now than we needed her then. Besides the fact that comedy has lost class and finesse and has quite often resorted to sex and racism for laughs, the world is constantly changing. It does sounds cliche to say it, but we're lost in our digital age, we're whistling in the dark, and we could all use a laugh now and then.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">We love Lucy because she was far more than a "star." We love her because she's our Lucy, our favorite redhead, the beautiful clown, the girl we can always turn to no matter what. She is timeless. To me, it is unfortunate that only a few stars from the Golden Age are still vividly remembered in the general society (rather than a smaller cluster of film buffs). These are the icons, and they will always live on no matter how long they've been gone. Lucy is an icon, but it's not because she died prematurely or took a famous photograph - it's because of the years and years of laughter she has left us. We love her and thank her with our laughter, and she loved us back, and though she is gone, she has left us many a valentine.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">Now that I have talked about what she meant, and continues to mean, to the world on the public stage - I want to reflect on what she means to <i>me </i>personally, which is a lot.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">Have you ever looked at someone for the first time, and yet there was something about them that made you just love them? You could call it "love at first sight," I guess, but that sounds really cheesy. Anyways, that's very nearly what happened with Lucy, from the first episode I saw of <i>I Love Lucy, </i>I was infatuated with her type of comedy, for it was something I've really never experienced before, and I was taken with her. How could you not, because she looked like a living doll - with those humungous blue eyes and cupid's mouth - and all the while this beautiful lady was preforming the most hilarious of pratfalls and delivering the wittiest of lines with the best of them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">I don't think I can even explain how much I love her, because I really do have a deep affection for her, even if it seems silly. I don't think it's frivolous because I don't think I'm alone in this sort of a love for her. And I feel like it makes perfect sense to love her for all she's given me. In my really sad moments, she's the only the person who can cheer me up. I love to laugh; and I love to laugh hard, it's one of my favorite feelings in the world, but I don't always laugh easily. Silly jokes and dumb gags never get me, but Lucy always does. And how can I <i>not </i>love someone who has given me so much laughter? <i>"One of the greatest gifts to mankind is laughter, and one of the greatest gifts to laughter is Lucille Ball," </i>Bob Hope said.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I'm a fan of a person, I must actually love them both in their profession and in their personal life. This is perhaps un</span>necessary<span style="font-family: inherit;"> - I've heard many a person say, "They're a wonderful (insert career) but a terrible a person" - but it's just something I can't help but do. I can't feel happy in enjoying someone who was good in their craft but then realizing I can't respect them in reality, which is why I think of many of my favorite actresses not just performers I like best, but people I truly admire. And Lucy is on the top of that list. There are, obviously, many actresses I have a great affection for but Lucy always is first, no matter what, no matter who I'm currently obsessing over, she's always my number one.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">She's my role model, even though I have no plans to become a actress or a comedienne. It is more that I desire so many of the qualities she exhibited that got her to the top. I don't think any ultimately successful actress had such a long and bumpy road to stardom. Lucy faced so much failure in her path, so many people who told her she wasn't better than average, that she couldn't do it, etc., but she never let any of this stop her. And she had patience, so much of it, which is a virtue I'd easily give an arm and a leg for because I don't have it. She had drive, determination, and passion. When she was fifteen they kicked her out of drama school because she wasn't on the same par as her classmate, Bette Davis. They told her mom she was "wasting her money" because Lucy had "no talent." If I were in her shoes, I could imagine feeling like my whole life was coming to an end, but Lucy simply got back up and decided she'd climb the ladder in her on way. She modelled and became the face of Chesterfield cigarettes until a talent scout picked her up to be one of Sam Goldwyn's girls. She went out to Hollywood and never came back.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even there, though, it was difficult. When she began to get starring roles, they were in B pictures. So many, in fact, she was nicknamed "Queen of the B's." When RKO was through with her, they sent over to MGM, who consequently dyed her hair its famous red color and tried to make her a star. But it was seemingly like trying to jab a square peg into a round hole, and it didn't work. Everyone knew that MGM was Lucy's last hope at becoming a star, and within a few years they, too, dropped her. She then free-lanced, but still never rose to the title of a "movie star." By the time she became world famous, she was forty. Yet she never regretted or looked back on these years with remorse; she instead took it as a learning </span>experience<span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">For, because she was a B movie queen, she wasn't typecast like the A list stars but put into any sort of vehicles that the studio wanted to put in. So, Lucille Ball in the 1940s made dramas, comedies, film noirs, musicals, and even a Western. She never refused to do any sort of gag or costume, even if it made her seem unglamorous. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">She took risks and she never let anyone tell her she couldn't do something. Going into television was a big risk; because in those early years of the medium, Hollywood saw it as their biggest rival and a war was waged. Lucy knew that if she went into television and she failed, she wouldn't be able to fall back on her lukewarm movie career. And there was her insisting that Desi should play her husband, even though CBS felt that no one would buy them as a couple. They had to go on tour with a vaudeville act to prove their point, but make it they did, and now "Lucy & Ricky" are probably the most famous television couple of all time.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">I love her home movies. For those of you that may be unaware of this, in 1993 Lucy & Desi's daughter, Lucie, made a documentary about her parents to refute a disgusting TV movie that exploited their worst faults. In it, she used private home footage of the couple, personal film taken with their own cameras, mostly at their ranch in California. In this, we see Lucy totally candid and raw; what she was like outside of the public's eye, because she likely never excepted these home movies to become public. (Not to sound as if I'm rebuking Lucie for doing it; I'm SO glad she did). She's unscripted, she's herself, and this is the Lucy I love best. Frolicking around the ranch in costumes, making funny and kissy faces at the camera, cuddling playfully with Desi, snuggling with her cats and dogs. I feel like these clips tell more about the private Lucy than any biographer could ever try to.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">I think I'll close this post with some of my favorite Lucy stories. I have many, but here are just a few that I think best reflect her personality.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">There was the time that Barbara Eden had a role on one of the final episodes of <i>I Love Lucy</i>. (If anyone needs a refresher, she would later play Jeannie on <i>I Dream of Jeannie</i>). She was supposed to play a suburban siren, and the dress the set had chosen for her was tight and showed off her curves, but dull looking. Lucy decided to make it more glamorous, and so within breaks, she spent the entire time with her assistant manually applying little rhinestones all over the dress so it would sparkle and look more beautiful. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">Lucy was loyal with her employees, whether they worked for her on set or at home. She hired her housekeeper, Harriet, in the early 1940s and kept her for decades. As time passed, Harriet grew protective of Lucy, and their relationship was more than employer and employee, but friends, gin rummy partners, and confidantes. Whenever the two were in the Bay Area they would drop by Harriet's best friend's house. Her name was Dot, and she had a little girl named Barbara. Knowing Lucy loved barbecue, Dot would make ribs. "I kept staring at this beautiful lady eating messy ribs," Barbara recalled. She also added, "</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Lucille loved children and she always treated me like a princess. She had her dressmaker make me pinafores and she sent socks to match. My mother was afraid I would be spoiled rotten, and I was. Lucille made people feel important in her company, because if she liked you, she loved you</i>." Barbara also remembered her mother and aunt Harriet reminiscing about their dancing days, and Lucy about her Goldwyn days, and then they would "push the furniture back and form a chorus line, laughing and giggling and dancing." When Lucy visited Barbara some years later, Barbara had by then given birth to a son. Lucy, who had suffered several miscarriages, was still childless at the time and yearning for one of her own, so she doted on the offspring of others. Barbara recalled of this visit, "When she met my son, she loved him so much she kept stuffing money in his pockets. He was five or six and she thought it a great game."</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I think that's the type of a lady she was, and that's why I love her so much. The most beloved performer? Easily. I know it sounds biased coming from me, but I think it's true. It will never be fair to judge the "best entertainer", because they were all unique and special in their own ways. But "beloved" means "<i>a much loved person</i>", and our admiration for Lucy was never basking in her intimidating glow, as if she was an idol or a diva, as it with some stars - but true love and affection. She didn't just entertain us, she gave us love. She gave us laughs and smiles. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I can't think of a really good way to wrap up this post, so I think I'll just end this post with something simple.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thank you, Lucy, for all the laughs you've given us. Have a very happy birthday and know that we'll always love you. Thanks to television, we'll always have you. And your memory will always be very much alive because you were just that amazing; you'll never be forgotten.</span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Happy birthday, my queen. </span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo1_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo3_r1_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo3_r1_250.gif" /></a><a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo5_250.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m85yklGHMf1r6sivjo5_250.gif" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>"I have had every big star come on my stage through the years. Looking back, I have to say that the most beloved star by the American public was Lucille Ball. No one else has captured the hearts of the people out there the way Miss Lucille did, and probably never will again."</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- ED SULLIVAN -</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #f02485; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy Birthday, Lucy</span></i></div></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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</span></span> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[NOTE: <i>all GIFs in this post are mine</i>]</span> </span></div>Riannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02944970449461089647noreply@blogger.com3