Category Archives: On This Day

“I have already been accused of trying to drown a boatload of wild Irishmen on Aran!” — Robert Flaherty

Posted on February 16, 2026 by sheila

Today is the birthday of the so-called “father of documentary film” Robert Flaherty, a man whose accomplishments cannot be ignored, and yet these same accomplishments are still, rightfully, debated to this day. Known mostly for his two films about “primitive” … Continue reading →

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X Marks the Spot

Posted on February 14, 2026 by sheila

Teddy Roosevelt’s diary entry for Feb. 14, 1884. On February 12, his wife Alice gave birth to their daughter. Two days later, on February 14, Alice died. Catastrophically, his mother also died on that day.

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“I looked like a bad girl. But I wasn’t a bad girl, really. I was a very nice little girl, until I found out what life was.”– Harriet Andersson

Posted on February 14, 2026 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. Ingmar Bergman wrote in Images: My Life in Film, “Harriet Andersson is one of cinema’s geniuses. You meet only a few of these rare, shimmering individuals.” It’s difficult to talk about Harriet Andersson without hyperbole. She … Continue reading →

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Happy Birthday, Burt Reynolds: “My love is unironic.”

Posted on February 11, 2026 by sheila

I will always be glad that I was assigned to review The Last Movie Star (2018), Reynolds’ final film, because it meant I got to pay tribute to him – not just his performance in the movie, but to HIM … Continue reading →

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“Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent

Posted on February 11, 2026 by sheila

The problem with Elvis is like the problem of, say, the sun. The sun blots out stars. The sun creates heat waves. The sun is a good thing but there’s a hell of a lot else going on besides the … Continue reading →

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“Each of us have a gift, you see, given us freely by the universe. And each of us with every breath gives something back” — Kim Stanley

Posted on February 11, 2026 by sheila

It’s her birthday today. A couple things about Kim Stanley, who only appeared in 4 films, but was a hugely influential figure in theatre, live television, and Method acting. I mean, she’s the goddess. Jon Krampner’s 2006 biography of Kim … Continue reading →

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“The audience will always forgive you for being wrong and exciting, but never for being right and dull.” — Burt Reynolds

Posted on February 11, 2026 by sheila

A couple of years ago, during a lengthy conversation about many different stars, Mitchell and I discussed Burt Reynolds. I recorded the whole thing. It was a game we played: I would throw a name at Mitchell, ask him to … Continue reading →

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Josh White, singer of “the fighting blues”

Posted on February 11, 2026 by sheila

You could call [Josh White] the minstrel of the Blues, except that he is more than a minstrel of the Blues… Josh is a fine folksinger of anybody’s songs — southern Negro or southern white, plantation work songs or modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, On This Day | 1 Comment

“I love to lose myself in other men’s minds. Books think for me.” — Charles Lamb

Posted on February 10, 2026 by sheila

Charles Lamb was friends with everyone. He knew Coleridge from childhood, Wordsworth, William Hazlitt (great writer and portrait painter – Hazlitt did the painting above), Lamb met Keats, he was inner circle with these guys. He was different, though. He … Continue reading →

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“All my work is about uncovering, especially uncovering of voices that speak without governance, or that speak without being heard.” — Seamus Deane

Posted on February 9, 2026 by sheila

“So broken was my father’s family, that it felt to me like a catastrophe you could live with only if you kept it quiet, let it die down of its own accord like a dangerous fire … I felt we … Continue reading →

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