My experiences at the TCM classic film festival

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.)

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.

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 before 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 some 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 are pretty.)

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.)

Visiting Grauman's - Natalie's tiny hands & feet

Larry Edmund's bookshop. Ignore Kill Bill. 

Stars on the stage at the Montalban Theater.

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 Marnie, 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.

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.

I've mentioned it on this blog before, actually, but in case you're a new follower and don't really know, I am not a fan of Robert Wagner's. 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!

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 all the people who might end up two seats away from me!

My dad's stalkerish photos of Eva Marie Saint and Robert Wagner (note his unfortunate close proximity). 

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.

What I really wanted to see was later that day, the screening of Blazing Saddles 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 her husband, but I got stuck 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 Blazing Saddles 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 Employees Entrance 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 Blazing Saddles 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.

The beautiful interiors of the El Capitan.

The second day of the festival, we saw Maureen O'Hara at the El Capitan screening of the 1941 Best Picture winner, How Green Was my Valley. 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 me." How could you not love her? Maureen's interview is online here, 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.

Left: Maureen O'Hara with Robert O at El Capitan for Green Valley screening. 

Right: How close we got to her when watching her arrival at the Hollywood Roosevelt the next day.

Later that day, Kim Novak was to make an appearance at the Egyptian for the showing of Bell, Book, and Candle. Because it was to be at 6:15, we, once again, had to get into the standby line. Not wanting a repeat of the Blazing Saddles 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 Blazing Saddles, probably only fifty or so people. Jerry Lewis was going to be at The Nutty Professor 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 write-up 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 here, 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.

Kim Novak and Robert O at the Egyptian's Bell, Book, and Candle screening.

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.

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 Meet Me in St. Louis, 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 was 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).

At  the Hollywood Museum.

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.

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.

In Memory of Natalie Wood

 "At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still, you get the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space."

- Natalie Wood

WELL, I THINK you all may have guessed that today I would be writing about Natalie. :) Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of her drowning off Santa Catalina Island. About two weeks ago her case was reopened by the L.A Police Department, sparking a lot of new interest in Natalie and her drowning. 

Natalie's biggest fear in life with was water, especially dark water. A few weeks before her death she was quoted as saying, "I've been terrified of water, and yet it seems I'm forced to go in it in every movie I make." (She's right, too - Splendor in the Grass, Sex and the Single Girl, The Great Race...just to name a few, and some of which involved her trying to drown herself or saving someone else who was drowning). 

Her fear of water stemmed from her mother. Her mother, who went by various names like "Mud" or "Maria", was a very fabricated woman who believed that she was descended from royalty (the Romanovs - a picture of them hung over Natalie's crib in their 1930s San Francisco apartment), believed wholeheartedly in gypsy folklore and black magic, and was obsessed with making Natalie into a star (so much so, she totally abandoned Natalie's other two sisters, Olga and Lana). Thanks to her mother's insane habits, Natalie suffered a lot of tragedy in her life and her childhood was really wretched away from her. But likely the biggest mistake Mud ever made was telling Natalie, from the time she was a baby, that she was going to have a death by drowning. 

This was a fear Mud possessed, and she easily passed it onto a young Natalie, who didn't even want her hair to be washed in the sink for fear of having her head submerged in the water. This fear was intensified during the making of "The Green Promise," a 1949 movie in which there was a scene where an eleven year old Natalie is supposed to cross a creaky bridge in a awful thunderstorm. The bridge was eventually supposed to collapse and send Natalie into the water, but she was supposed to be quickly fished out afterwards. During the actual filming, the bridge collapsed prematurely and she was sent into the dark water with wind blowing from the machine in every direction. She held onto the edge of bridge while the cameras kept rolling, as the director requested them to be (he was getting "good footage" for the scene). Natalie nearly drowned, and she broke her left wrist due to the accident. Her mother was afraid of doctors and being blacklisted by the studio, so she never took it to get set in a cast and it grew back deformed. Natalie, pressured to be perfect by her mother, was disgusted by this deformation and always covered her wrist with a thick bracelet while in public. She called it "The Badge."

Her fear for water never faded, though. Apparently on the set of "The Star", in which she played Bette Davis's daughter - this was about a year so later - they called for an impromptu scene for Natalie to jump in water and swim a selection. She apparently started crying and howling so loud, "you could hear her all the way in Catalina," and Bette intervened by saying if they had "wanted a swimmer, they should've gotten Johnny Weissmuller!"

She would marry Robert Wagner twice. The second time around, he introduced her to boating and she discovered she could find inside of her a kind of affection for the water. However, she liked it best when she was inside a yacht and away from the actual water. She and RJ even married the second time on a boat. It wasn't long before they bought one of their own, calling it the "Splendour", after the 1961 movie she'd made with Warren Beatty, Splendor in the Grass.

Natalie, RJ, and her two daughters, Natasha and Courtney, spent a lot of time on the Splendor. I'm currently reading the book "Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour" a book focusing on her drowning written by Marti Rulli with the help of Dennis Davern, the skipper on the Splendour who is the cause for the recent reopening of her case. The book does a good job of depicting regular days on the Splendour: with Natalie sitting on her windowseat, nicknamed "Natalie's perch," sifting through scripts she had been offered, sketching pictures of her daughters, and dancing to Bobby Darrin while RJ and her daughters splashed around in the water she was sure to avoid. 

A number of celebrities would visit this boat and spend weekends there. The boat was Natalie and RJ's pride and joy, and they liked taking their friends on trips in it.

In the latter part of 1981, Natalie was working on what she hoped would be her "comeback film", a sci-fi flick costarring Christopher Walken entitled, "Brainstorm." The shooting was being done in North Carolina and she was nearly done when Thanksgiving rolled around. She went back to California to spend Thanksgiving with her family - Thanksgiving dinner was spent at sister Lana's house - and so did Chris Walken. RJ, Natalie, and Walken made plans to spend the weekend following Thanksgiving on the 

Splendour, taking a trip to Natalie's favorite vacation spot: Catalina Island.

The weekend was ill fated from the start. Natalie's eleven year old daughter, Natasha, begged her mother not to go on the boating trip for she was afraid something would happen to her - an eerie foretelling that would unfortunately come true. Natalie loved her daughters very much and almost submitted to staying, but the others told her that her daughters needed to learn they couldn't always get what they wanted, etc., and not to spoil them. So they went: Natalie, RJ, Christoper Walken, and the skipper, Dennis Davern, for a weekend on the Splendour.

The weekend was a stormy one from the start. Natalie and RJ began getting into arguments over moving the boat to a particular location, whereas beef began to accumulate between RJ and Christoper over Natalie's career. Walken was encouraging Natalie to devote more time to her career. Rumor has it RJ was also spited because he was suspicious of Natalie and Walken having an affair, but there is no evidence to prove that this is true. Natalie and RJ argued the night of Friday, the 27th. That night Natalie spent at a hotel. But by the next morning Natalie was in a better mood, back on the boat, and cooking Spanish eggs for the group.

Saturday, the 28th wasn't much better than the day before. That night the group went out for dinner at Doug's Harbor Reef, a beachy cafe in Avalon, city on the mainland. This was where Natalie had her last meal and where the trouble would begin. The three of them got a table with Dennis Davern back at the boat. During the course of the evening, Natalie would happily sign autographs and take pictures with fans. One witness even walked in the women's bathroom and found Natalie braiding and combing the hair of a young girl. 

During this night, the three also drank excessively and were pretty much drunk by the time they returned to the boat, stumbling across the dock. Once they settled back inside, Walken and RJ picked up a fight. The argument's exact source is not known but it was likely over Natalie's career or so. RJ - and he would admit to this - took a liquor bottle and smashed it. Natalie got up and retired to her stateroom. Walken and RJ settled a truce and RJ retreated to the stateroom he shared with Natalie. Davern now strongly insists that he and Natalie fought in that stateroom, nearly violent fighting, and that is what Davern attributes to Natalie's death.

The rest of the night is fuzzy, and here is where the different stories seem to come into play. RJ remembers going into Natalie's room later and not finding her. In his autobiography, he claims that he suspected she took the dinghy out "which she often did at night", but when she had still not "returned" an hour later he became nervous because he knew Natalie was "scared of water." He totally contradicts himself within a few sentences. It's obvious to many however that Natalie, someone so afraid of water, would not have taken a little boat out into dark water in the middle of the dark night.

The most common explanation was that the dinghy was noisily hitting the side of the boat as it often did, and Natalie shuffled out to try and tie it up. Apparently when she did, she fell out of the boat, hitting her head and becoming unconscious. But there are so many things to contradict this story, too. She couldn't have been completely unconscious because the Wayne family, on a nearby boat, swore that they heard the shouts of, "Help me, I'm drowning, I'm drowning!". They tried to respond to the shouts but were unsuccessful in getting a response.

RJ would wait a full four hours before alerting the Coast Guard, and the official search for his wife did not begin until about six or so the morning of November 29th, nearly a full seven hours after she'd first disappeared. Her body was found in the "White Cove" of Catalina. Her eyes were open, she was floating upright, held afloat by a red down jacket that she wore. Underneath she wore a nightgown and socks. She wore four rings, the tag necklace she always wore, and a bracelet: but not "The Badge", the one that she always wore when going into public, which meant she had not intended to be going into public. There were some twenty bruises on her body. The dinghy was found before her, switched off and silent with scratch marks on the sides of the tiny boat. 

The case of her death was closed ten days later after brief questing with the three other parties on the boat that night. Now it is reopened, due to Dennis Davern, who claims he has the real truth of what happened to Natalie that night, and insists he lied to investigators thirty years ago.

Honestly, I don't think anyone really knows what happened that night but Natalie. The whole event and the way it unfolded is eerie and so suspicious: especially considering this was Natalie's very worst fear, what her mother had predicted she would die from. Each story contradicts each other. In the book I am currently reading, the author claims Dennis Davern was very close to the Wagners and did minuscule tasks for them all the time: so he certainly wouldn't have minded tying up the dinghy if had been banging against the boat that night. Also, the dinghy would have been quite loud and everyone on the boat would have heard it motoring up, so how could RJ's first reaction be that his hydrophobic wife had taken out the little boat to the mainland?

The only thing I can say to it all, is that I hope with the reopening of her case justice will be served for her and her story.

I think if Natalie hadn't drowned that night, she would still be with us. I think, perhaps, that she would have made a comeback movie, whether it was "Brainstorm" or another film. I think that maybe she would eventually have won the Oscar, or at least an honorary one. It's a big injustice I think that she never did, for she was nominated three times! Maybe she would have even written an autobiography, for she was starting to when she died. She had only just finished the first chapter.

Her life was left uncompleted, taken by her greatest fear, and I think that's honestly one of the very worst things that can happen to a person. (Well, obviously, you'd think death would be one of the worst things!). 

Why do I love Natalie, and what I do I remember most about her? On this thirtieth anniversary of her death, I remember:

05. What a wonderful actress she was, and the awesome movies she made and the characters she portrayed.

04. The energy she put into the art she preformed. She once said, "If I didn't believe in what I'm doing, I'd rather go to work in a dime store."

03. Her gorgeousness.

02. Her wonderful sense of humor.

01. Her love for her family and her daughters.

00. Her kind personality and her passion for life.

Now, as if I haven't already written enough and congratulations if you're still here with me, some photos. Natalie must've been one of the most photogenic people EVER. I have not seen a single bad photo of her, and there are so many wonderfully awesome photos of her too. It's hard to just pick a few, ever!

"You know what I want? I want yesterday..."

Just a small selection of the favorite Natalie pictures I have saved on my computer. Seriously, she had the best photos EVER.

If you'd like to check it out, here is the video I made for her on this particular day.

***

That's all for today. I'll probably be back tomorrow, because it's Lucy and Desi's wedding anniversary. :P

Ciao!

Celebrity Lookalikes. And why I hate Robert Wagner. and just rambling

When deciding what to write about today, I was kind of stuck. I had a lot of thoughts all clouded up into one, but I couldn't chose just which one to talk about. So, finally, I settled on a rambling post. It's been a while since I did one of those, so why the heck not?

You'll notice on my sidebar a new banner advertising the Film Noir Contest at Film Classics. I really hope you bloggers out there click the banner and decide to participate, because in the last contest there were only two competitors, and that makes it no fun, really. So... JOIN! JOIN! I like rivalry. ;)

Also, today is August 16th, which (drum roll please) marks the ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF MY BLOG! I can't believe it's already one month. This also marks exactly two weeks until I go back to school. Ew. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I totally LOVE blogging and all of that, so I'll be doing it for many more anniversaries to come. I'm not quitting anytime soon. :)

So last night I watched "Splendor in the Grass" for the first time. (Yeah, it's a part of my box set). It was kind of weird, but I did enjoy it. Anyway, I won't get into it because I'm saving it for my Sunday Movie Review, so you'll just have to wait until then to hear my complete opinion.

Anyway, I guess this is kind of random, but I was just thinking about how I really like most actors from the Golden Era, and up into the 60's and a little bit farther... there isn't really one I "hate." And then I thought of Robert Wagner.

Yes, this is quite random. But i always talk about the actors I love, so why not talk about the ones I don't - not really?

It's not the fact that I hate Robert Wagner as an actor, because I haven't seen enough of his movies, or "Hart to Hart" or whatever, to judge that.  (And maybe hate is an eensy bit of a strong word.) It's because of what he did with Natalie Wood that makes me upset.

If you didn't know, Natalie and "RJ" were married twice. Once, in the early sixties, and then again from about 1972 to her death. He was with her that night on the boat - that night when she drowned. 


I'm not going to say he murdered her, but there's totally something fishy about the way he tells his side of the story. According to the book "Natasha" by Suzanne Finstad, he took about four hours to call the Coast Guard - four hours AFTER he noticed Natalie was missing. Apparently, he thought she "may have taken the dinghy out to the diner at the shore" or something. Natalie, who was terrified of water - especially water at night, dark water? Yeah, right!

Wagner will be back on the TV screens in the USA this fall with the new "Charlie's Angels" (I know, very disgusting). He voices Charlie.

It annoys me how he doesn't do much to keep Natalie's memory alive. She was such a Hollywood giant in her time, but today she doesn't have that legendary status that most movie stars (especially those died young) of Classic Hollywood hold. He could be doing a lot more. But he never talks about her death, and he never talks about her. Whenever he gives interviews, there is no mention of her whatsoever. It was like he wasn't even married to her.

Maybe he feels guilty - but that's evidence in itself, isn't it?

He's talking about his autobiography, "Pieces of My Heart" (HA! How clever) here. What annoys me is the way he glosses over Natalie's death: "She died, but life goes on." What the heck?

Well, yeah. I just wanted to say that. I happened to catch that video, and it annoyed me, so I thought I'd... talk about it here. I'm so random. Oh, well.

Also, last night when I was watching Warren Beatty, I got a great idea for an issue of celebrity lookalikes. I went all, "Doesn't Montgomery Clift look like Warren Beatty?" and my dad was, "WHAT? no way."

But I think so. So here's my lookalies, Montgomery and Warren included.

Montgomery Clift and Warren Beatty

Jean Simmons, Vivien Leigh, Hedy Lamarr, Elizabeth Taylor

seriously, these girls look SO alike. Jean, Vivien, and Hedy could be triplets and Elizabeth could be like, their little sister or something.

Anne Bancroft and This Chick Who Played Angelina in "Splendor in the Grass"

There was also this chick in "The Snake Pit" who looked a lot like her, but I couldn't find a picture of her.

Wow, this is a really random post. And really stupid...

Well, anyway, surprisingly I've got nothing left to ramble about... and this was probably a mindless post... and I don't blame you if you found this a waste of your time... and I promise something more substantial and worthwhile tomorrow. When I've got more brain energy.

Ciao.