Auld Lang Syne

Hi everyone! I just wanted to write a more personal blog sharing some of my recent adventures in classic film that didn't take place on the silver screen. :D

What I got for Christmas. Since my lovely family knows me so well I got a bunch of Classic Hollywood things for Christmas, so I thought I'd share! By the way, this is in no way bragging. What I was most thankful for on Christmas was to my have my family with me. (It's a cliche but true). Anyways, here's what I got!

• [BOOK] Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado
• [BOOK] Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited
• [BOOK] Ingrid: A Personal Biography
• [BOOK] A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson
• [BOOK] Laughs, Luck, and Lucy
• [BOX SET] Tracy & Hepburn: The Definitive Collection
• [MOVIE] The Valley of Decision (1945)
• [MOVIE] Julia Misbehaves (1948)
• [MOVIE] Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993)

The Tracy & Hepburn boxset, which was in my holiday gift guide, is wonderful. It was at a really really good price on Amazon - $17!!! - and it contains all nine films, plus a tenth disc: The Spencer Tracy Legacy, narrated by Kate. I was so excited when I saw it. I just adore it. It's so beautifully put together and I really recommend it.

I'm currently reading the Greer Garson biography, I'm not all that far in but I think it's going to be good and I'm excited to learn more about Greer. I was thrilled when I saw Julia Misbehaves of course, because I've been wanting to see it since - well, since I became Greer obsessed (which was maybe a little over a month ago), BUT I'm quite an impatient person. Anyways, I saw it the other day and I just LOVED it. I plan to do a review for it soon. I haven't seen The Valley of Decision yet but I want to before my break finishes.

Then there's Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie - at three and a half hours long, it's just about as long as Gone with the Wind, which makes me really happy! The longer the better! I started it the other night and haven't finished it yet but so far I just love it. It's turning out to be all I expected and then some. I can't wait to watch the rest of it!

I also got one more vintage thing for Christmas, and honestly it's probably one of the best presents I've ever received. It's:

A vintage telephone! The candlestick type, like in His Girl Friday! I love it to pieces!! It even has a vintage ringing sound, and it clashes with the more modern shrill of the other phones in the house, but whatever. Listening to it is music to my ears - I actually came this close to recording its ring for you all but I was too lazy. ;) Anyhow, I'm one of those rare teenagers who doesn't talk on the phone all that much but now I'm using every possible excuse to make a call! Even if it's just to order Chinese takeout I'm getting a kick out of my vintage phone! :)

On Christmas Day, we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, and Classic Hollywood filtered into the conversation several times. My uncle is a HUGE Jimmy Stewart fan and he has his autograph. He got it when he met Jimmy in the 90's, it was at a local signing at a bookstore. My uncle had to wait in line for a really long time and when he got up there he told Jimmy how he was his favorite actor of all time. Jimmy was pretty old by then, and all he could manage really was a friendly grunt to my uncle, but it made my uncle happy anyway. He claims that he didn't grunt at anyone else and so it was a big deal. ;) Can you imagine, getting to meet a Classic Hollywood star in person? Well, a girl can dream.

The Artist (2011). It was a long time coming, but I finally was able to see The Artist (2011). I went with my dad and I was the only young person in the theater but that was okay.

I have been anticipating seeing this film since I first heard about it back in September. And it was worth the wait - this didn't disappoint! It was one of the best moderns I've seen in a long while. Elements of this film reminded me a lot of Singin in the Rain (1952) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), and the final dance sequence seemed to be a Fred and Ginger homage. But it was original enough to still be good and I had a lot of fun watching it. It was even filmed in the vintage 35 mm, and the print even contained the good old burst of double black dots, signaling the time to change the reel.

The actors were very good, too. Something I often find when watching moderns that take place in the 20's, 30's, 40's, etc. is that the actors simply don't appear to look vintage, more like modern actors playing dress up. This film, however, definitely did not have that problem. The main actor looked a lot like Gene Kelly and though the actress was not as spot on, she did make a convincing flapper type.

Speaking of the actors, both of them did a good job working without sound. My favorite character, actor, whatever of all though was definitely Uggie, the faithful dog. He's nominated for some canine awards I believe, and he should carry them all. He was wonderful.

So the bottom line is I really suggest you go out and watch this film.

I Love Lucy exhibit [and then some]. This was a local tribute to the "American dream" show, and it's been up since August but I didn't get to see it until Wednesday! I decided to take my camera so I could take photos, but I really pulled a Lucy: I put the battery in for charging and grabbed my camera, but it wasn't until I got there that I realize I'd forgotten to put the battery back. >.< Yeah, I know, quite smart. Anyway, I had to take photos with my cell phone camera then, so I'm sorry if they're blurry. Also, I didn't take too many photos because no one else was and I didn't want to look weird. :D

It was small, actually, and it wasn't exactly filled with novelties but I enjoyed it anyway. It was mostly a lot of pictures (that I'd seen before - "That's amateur stuff," I scoffed), newspaper articles from the time, and one or two script pages. It was nicely put together though and it's always fun to see a tribute to the classics.

There was a small module displaying clips from different episodes, and most people were crowded around there. It was fun to listen to bits and pieces of their conversations and correct them in my head: for example, one person wondered aloud if "enceinte" (in reference to the title of the episode in which Lucy tells Ricky she's pregnant), was the Spanish word for pregnant. It's actually the French word.  Another person knowingly rattled off that Lucy had children at the age of 40 and 42, which was "quite unpopular at the time," but technically, that's wrong, too. Lucy was 39 when she had Lucie and 41 upon having Desi, Jr. But, hey, not everyone can be a Lucy fanatic. :)

Here's the photos I took:

A display of articles about the show, circa 1957. 

One of the script pages that was framed and displayed. This one is from "The Great Train Robbery", 1956.

Since this exhibit was so small and we had time to kill afterwards, we checked out this thing called "The Bob Hope Gallery." This was bigger and a lot of fun. There was a sign asking for no photography so I took no pictures, but it was basically many photos, articles, newsreels, etc. about Bob poking fun at politics, being a Yankee during World War 2, and the like. Also included in these were other celebrities like Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Robert Taylor, and many more. It was great fun and I enjoyed seeing the looks on adults' faces as I pointed out Claudette Colbert in a photo of a bond tour to my dad. There was also some things about McCarthyism.

We also stepped by "The Gershwin Gallery," which contained George Gershwin's piano and typewriter among other things. There was a lot of Fred and Ginger in this exhibit, mostly "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from Swing Time (1936), which is one of my favorite Fred and Ginger sequences.

It was fun to see all of this, I just love seeing Classic Hollywood in public places!

***

Well, that's what I've been doing over my break. And since today is New Year's Eve, this is my last official post of 2011. I thought of doing a end of the year wrap up post like many other blogs are doing, but the thing is, I've technically been only blogging for half a year, this blog started in July, and therefore... maybe we can try an end of the year wrap up thing next year! As for now: A big thank you to all of you that have read this blog this year. I appreciate it so much and I'll see you all in 2012! Keep reading and have a Happy New Year's! ♥

I'll leave you with the traditional New Year's song, sure to be found in 95% of New Year's scenes in movies, old or new -

NOTE: Tomorrow being New Year's Day, I'm using that as a valid excuse to skip the Sunday Movie Review. It'll be be back the following Sunday, January the 8th, with the first review of 2012!

How I just totally survived an earthquake

Okay,  I know I already posted today. And this is not about classic movies. But ....

IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE.

So why not post anyway?

The big deal is that we usually don't get earthquakes where I live. (In fact, the epicenter of this one was in another state but we could totally feel it). We had one last summer, but I actually slept through it... anyway, we never really get them and I didn't even THINK it was an earthquake.

I actually happened to be sitting on the floor my bedroom on my laptop and was working on that summer work when the whole bedroom began to shake, and since I was sitting on the floor (of course I would be), I could feel the whole house rattling underneath me. My dad was at work and my mom was outside, but I didn't even suspect that it was an earthquake. I looked outside the window - I don't know what I was expecting, for the ground to be shaking???

Then my mom screamed for me and I got the picture and we ran outside. By the time we got outside everything had stopped shaking, but I hadn't.

Wow. It was a 5.9 on the Richter scale, which is a lot more than the last quake, which was a 3.6 (and besides, I SLEPT through it). The funny thing was I wasn't actually scared when it started shaking -- except I feared it was going to get worse and something was going to topple over me, because we live in a pretty big house -- and only when I got outside did I start to get nervous or whatever.

Now I feel a lot better, and, of course, I had to write a Blog about it. ;)

"One night she started to shimmy-shake That brought on the Frisco quakes So you can put the blame on Mame, boys Put the blame on Mame"

What did it feel like? It felt like someone picked up our house and started to shake it like really violently, actually. Or, if you have a really old annoying washing machine like ours, it felt like when the washing machine is about to finish and it starts shaking quite badly - times like ten, though. And imagine just your whole house like that.

There are actually cracks on our driveway now because of the quake, which is.... pretty....wow.

Hmm!

Being an icon: remembered fondly or simply becoming overrated?

Okay, so I'm going to keep today's post fairly short... mostly because otherwise this will turn into a rambling post, and also because I have stupid summer homework I have to do. School opens in about a week, so... but I did finish reading one of the books, so I'm going to treat myself to a little break by writing here. (Yes, I know, I'm an awful procrastinator!)

So you may have noticed that during the month (and a little more) that I've been writing on here, I have not once mentioned a name so frequently linked with Old Hollywood -- Marilyn Monroe.

You may find this strange, usually because Marilyn has become over the years (unfortunately) the poster child for Classic Hollywood. The platinum blond hair, red lips, and beauty mark (or you could. call. it. a. MOLE. I mean, that's what it is, isn't it??!!) have become an icon of sorts that is frequently the only common link between today's generation (with the exception of those of us who watch classic film) and Yesteryear.

Which is, I guess, why I have neglected to mention her.

Before I continue: don't get me wrong. I most certainly don't hate Marilyn Monroe or anything and I don't want to offend any of her fans. It's only, I often wonder about her popularity. Does this spark from the somewhat scandalous life she lived - Happy birthday, Mr. President - to her early death, which was, of course, above all a tragedy... but still, attention getting? Is it because people find her a good actress? 

I think that I can surprisingly find Marilyn a good actress, more than a sex symbol, etc. when you watch her at some of her very best in the films. But why do we remember her as the iconic dumb blond, then, or the skirt flying up above the subway grate?? 

Here's my opinion on Marilyn: she's not an awful actress and I have been known to enjoy her movies. I think she was pretty, but I have to admit there are other actresses of the Golden Era that were more beautiful. So I don't hate her or anything and I'm not trying to write a bashing Marilyn post here.... but I must admit, I do find her a little overrated...

But, in  fact, I think people are often unfair to Marilyn by remembering her as the girl who first posed nude for Playboy or had an affair with JFK because she did not come into Hollywood with the intent of being a media toy - she came to act, didn't she? 

I'm a little all over the place, so let me try to make my point a little clearer. I happen to know a girl.... She claims to really like Marilyn Monroe and has a picture of her on her bedroom wall. But the thing is, she doesn't know anything about her life or career. And she hasn't even seen one of her films. I think this a very good point of someone liking Marilyn simply because they find her iconic and not because they enjoy her movies - and personally, as someone who loves Old Hollywood so much, it does make you kind of annoyed, doesn't it?

I think all of this has got a lot to do with being an "icon."

I wouldn't call Marilyn the only victim of this whole "icon" business, either. What about Audrey Hepburn? Now, you all know that I really love Audrey (it's kind of impossible, not to). But through stills of Breakfast at Tiffany's in that gorgeous (but most certainly overused) black dress, with the cat and the diamonds and the long cigarette holder, she has, too, become an icon to hang on teenage girls' bedroom walls without a clue to who she really was.... or to the fact that she made other films....

I happen to have a big decal of Audrey on my bedroom wall myself. But before you call me a hypocrite: I actually know a lot about Audrey's life and career. I've read several books and I've seen plenty of her films. I don't love her as an icon, but as an actress.

Another icon: James Dean. He did about three films before his death in a car accident and he has henceforth gotten the "iconic" treatment, too. It's a little different with the guys. The girls (like Audrey and Marilyn), find themselves plastered on bedroom walls, t-shirts, and jewelry. I have yet to find James Dean's face on a coffee mug, but gets the celebrity treatment of not a legend but a modern day star. Take a look at his website, for his example - www.jamesdean.com. If you wouldn't have known better, you think it was a prospering, up and coming male model (at least, that's what I would have thought.)

I mean, the man only did make three movies...

Take Humphrey Bogart, for example. He, too, has become an icon of sorts: a "Bogie", with the trench coat and the fedora hat, speaking in that ever so memorable lisp. Maybe his icon has dimmed in recent years, but I can still remember that episode of "The Brady Bunch" - "Pork chops and apple sauce," Peter says.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against these particular actors. Audrey and Bogie are two of my own personal favorite actors. I'm not really the world's biggest Marilyn fan, but I don't hate her and James Dean was probably okay, too.

I'm not trying to bash the whole "iconic" deal, either. In a couple ways, it's a good thing. "Icons" help the newer generations remember the stars of the past, even if it is through posters on their bedroom walls of celebrities they could know less about. 

What makes a person iconic? Why is Marilyn Monroe the iconic of them all? Why... why not Ava Gardner? (Just pulling someone random out here). 

Some may argue that Lucille Ball is an icon, too. I agree that she most certainly is an icon... her flaming red hair and humongous blue eyes won't be forgotten for decades to come. But she is an icon in the way that Elizabeth Taylor is  -- both still popular with the public after their deaths and regarded as icons, you're not likely to find them stamped on merchandise the way you would with Marilyn or Audrey.

Is that it? Do these icons sell money? Once I remember watching a TV special on dead icons and how much money they bring in. (Among them were those I've mentioned, including Lucy... as well as Elvis Presley, which is another good example, but I won't get into that because that kind of detours into the music industry... and that would bring me to the Beatles, and then I'd go on forever.)

I'm also not trying to say that it's unoriginal to have one of these icons as your favorite actor. That would be totally hypocritical considering how much I love Audrey and Bogie. It's just... I don't know. I kind of hope I made myself clear otherwise this would totally become a rambling post.

What is your opinion on turning particular stars into icons (and not others... Case in point: why Marilyn, not Ava? Or to even go farther, why not pick someone randomer... like, Marilyn vs. Susan Hayward??!!)? Does it overpower what good actors these people actually were and instead turn them into nearly a brand name of sorts? Or does it keep the memory of Golden Hollywood alive? And also... is there any explanation for why some become icons and others don't? Which icons do you love - any of the ones I mentioned?

Okay, so screw that whole "fairly short" thing, because I did go on for way too long. But I would love to hear your opinions on this... and if I make any sense at all. * smiles sheepishly *.

Well, I've got to go and write a book report now. But thanks for reading this  random rant... 

(Oh, and by the way -- I finally threw my hat into the ring for the Carole-tennial [+3] blogathon, as the new banner on my sidebar should tell you. It's sponsored by Carole and Co, and it looks like it's going to be great fun!)