Trav S.D., my old friend from high-school who has since turned into a vaudeville-expert, silent-film-expert, and successful author (Chain of Fools – Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to YouTube
1. What was the first classic film you ever saw?
I’m honestly not sure. Probably The Wizard of Oz, although it may have been Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life (regular Christmas-time broadcasts), The Secret Garden (prophetic of my later Dean Stockwell obsession), and also all of the Shirley Temple movies, appointment-television for us kids whenever they would show up on Channel 56 (which was all the time). God bless channel 56. I mean, that’s where I saw everything, when I was still in grade school. For all the passion around film vs. digital and aspect ratio – and, you know, these are worthy conversations – but I became a movie fan through watching Old Hollywood classics on grainy, staticky fuzzy black-and-white television, with a screen maybe 12″ across. Interrupted by commercials for Cocoa Puffs. I’m not saying it was ideal, but I fell in love with movies anyway.
2. Who do you think is the queen of screwball comedies?
Carole Lombard. Irene Dunne.
3. And who’s the king?
Cary Grant. William Powell.
4. If you could go back in time to a specific year in Hollywood history, what year would that be and why?
1939. One of the greatest movie-years of all time.
5. Which two stars do you wish had worked together in a movie?
Elvis Presley and Barbra Streisand, in her re-make of Star is Born. Elvis was her first choice for her co-star (the role that went to Kris Kristofferson), and it is the great “What If” of Elvis’ career. A mature Elvis, opposite Barbra? It would have been dynamite.
6. All about Eve (1950) or Sunset Boulevard (1950)?
Nope. Will not – refuse to – choose.
7. Have you ever been on the TCM cruise? If so, how was it?
No. Sounds like fun!
8. Does anybody in your family share your love of the classics?
Sure. I come from an extremely artistic literate family, whose interests have always reached back before the contemporary scene (although the contemporary scene is a lot of fun too.)
9. What is your favorite decade in terms of movies and why?
It’s a toss-up between the 1930s and the 1970s. So many of the movies that shaped my personality/taste came from those decades of enormous upheaval. In the 30s, you had the wild-west period of Pre-Code movies, followed by a swift crackdown. But the movies in the late 1930s started to work within those ridiculous parameters (often racist, sexist parameters) in truly subversive ways. Also, the 1930s allowed for the rise of Cary Grant, one of my favorite actors of all time. The 1970s was my childhood and while I was too young then to watch any of the movies being made during that decade, the sensibility did filter down. When I watch those movies, I am reminded of the MOOD of my first decade of consciousness. But I have to give a shout-out to the 1950s, because the James Dean films, and the Marlon Brando films, were such an “A-ha” moment about the possibilities in acting, that I actually made life-choices, big ones, based on those movies.
10. What is your favorite book about Hollywood?
Oh, I don’t know. It’s not really my thing, although I devoured Hollywood Babylon in high school. I love trashy salacious autobiographies of movie stars. Lana Turner’s being the Grand Pooh-Bah. Ginger Rogers’ autobiography is great too. Mary Astor’s. Pauline Kael’s voluminous collections of reviews and articles also give a great context for “Hollywood” and its continuum, as do the reviews of James Agee. My parents had the Roger Ebert review books around the house and I read them cover-to-cover before I had seen barely any of the movies. He gave a great perspective on the continuum, that movie art was not invented in 1977 with you-know-what. Any well-written biography gives a portrait of the industry, John Wayne, Howard Hawks, Charlie Chaplin, John Cassavetes. I have a soft-spot for “making of” books, although that’s just a side glimpse of the industry seen through one particular project. My favorite of that genre: The Cleopatra Papers. Invaluable.
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose?
One of those big crazy out-of-control projects. Heaven’s Gate. Apocalypse Now. Waterworld. Intolerance. Cleopatra. I would want to see something GRAND and CHAOTIC and OPERATIC. Movies where the shoot itself became almost a bigger story than the movie itself. And if not that, then some of those Roger Corman biker movies of the 1960s.
11 Random Things About Me
I recently did one of these, only it was 35 facts. But here’s 11 more. FASCINATING, I know.
1. In my first year in New York, I lived in a small apartment on West 63rd Street where I didn’t have my own room, just a bed in the living room with a curtain around it. My two roommates were loud rambunctious dancers with the Joffrey Ballet, who woke me up when they would come stumbling home drunkenly at 3 a.m. For ballet dancers, those boys PARTIED. They were probably 19 years old. I had found a want-ad for a roommate on a bulletin board at Actors Equity, and I needed to move quick, so this was what I got. I only lived there for about 5 months, and the whole thing seems like a semi-humorous bad dream.
2. I love American history. The fact that I would live to see Hamilton take over Broadway is amazing to me, since I’ve loved him and that time in history since I was a kid, and to see it alert teens (and others) to the fascination of that period – something they’ve been deprived of in the atmosphere of “all of those guys were oppressive Dead White Males and so why should we listen to anything they have to say” narrative – is so gratifying. It’s about time.
3. I just read Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave
4. My nieces and nephews call me “Auntie She She.”
5. Manhattan Murder Mystery is my favorite Woody Allen.
6. I haven’t really grown up. I have not “put away childish things.”
7. I am so thankful that I read Ulysses under my dad’s tutelage. He was always a phone call away to discuss anything I found confusing.
8. I still own a hard-cover dictionary. I prefer using that to look up words, not the Web.
9. I took an acting workshop with Ellen Burstyn that was one of the most memorable experiences of my actress life, although not quite as world-shattering as the one I took with Lee Strasberg’s son, John Strasberg.
10. I think Jensen Ackles is one of the best actors working today, and nobody outside his small fan-base even knows who he is. He’s like a genius actor who only appears in community theatre productions in one small community. Well, at least I know about him.
11. I can hear my cat Hope purring from the other room. She is embarrassingly and noisily content.
//God bless channel 56.//
Oh lord yes yes yes. You KNOW I am going to second any praise of Channel 56.
// I mean, that’s where I saw everything, when I was still in grade school.//
All the way to High School, when we got a VCR. I can remember checking the movie listings in the paper each week, to see what would be available to view (such a weird concept now, that you would have to wait for a movie) but the Eight O’Clock Movie was always reliable. I loved it when whoever did the programming put together a ‘theme’ for the week – I can remember blocks of John Wayne, Elvis, and Eastwood spaghetti western movies, and I’m sure I’m forgetting more.
Dan – I know!! They played everything! They played stuff that never was transferred to VHS let alone DVD. And I watched them as pure entertainment, not as “cultural artifacts” or whatever.
We are so fortunate to have had that growing up. And yes, the themes!! Great programming.
The Fifth Wave was just a great page turner! I tried to read The Infinite Sea and just couldn’t get through it. It’s less of a straightforward story, but I just couldn’t get engaged by it. I saw the trailer for The Fifth Wave movie the other day, and it looked pretty generic. Hopefully the film is better than it looked from the preview.
Dan – ooh, bummed about The Infinite Sea – it’ll arrive here in a couple of days, so I’ll try to keep an open mind. But the Fifth Wave was just gripping – and I thought featured some very good writing too (for that level). Some good insights about chaos, and what happens to humans in the aftermath of a disaster. I really enjoyed it.
I’m reviewing The Fifth Wave for Ebert so I thought I should take a look, just to familiarize myself with the story. (I think the question of adaptation is really important in reviewing – so many films fail because of the adaptation). And then I got totally sucked in!!
1. What was the first classic film you ever saw?
I’m not sure, but we had Channel 11 in NY and on Saturdays, they would run old Shirley Temple movies and during the holidays, it was The March of the Wooden Soldiers and It’s a Wonderful Life. I also discovered A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim which is my favorite version and the old Sherlock Holmes series with Rathbone and Bruce.
2. Who do you think is the queen of screwball comedies?
Dunne and Lombard are great but I love Katherine Hepburn and Bette Davis. They didn’t do many but what they did was “choice” to paraphrase Spencer Tracy. Bringing Up Baby, Philadelphia, The Bride Came C.O.D. The way Davis says “mustard!” gets me every time. The pratfall when Hepburn gets smacked in the kisser by Grant.
3. And who’s the king?
I agree. Gable and Powell. No contest.
4. If you could go back in time to a specific year in Hollywood history, what year would that be and why? Yep, 1939 it is.
5. Which two stars do you wish had worked together in a movie?
Depends on the era. In the 30’s and 40’s, I think it would have been interesting to put John Wayne and Bette Davis together. I read Wayne as very cool and laid back and Davis as very hot and in your face. I think it would have been intriguing like Pacino and DeNiro in Heat. In the 50’s and 60’s I would pick Gregory Peck and Carol Lombard. They seem to be such opposites but both were smart actors.
6. All about Eve (1950) or Sunset Boulevard (1950)?
All About Eve. I love Swanson and Holden but I don’t care about them. I feel for everyone in All About Eva, except for George Sanders. I even worry about Marilyn.
[to be continued.]
Carolyn –
This is so great to read. We have a lot of overlap. I’ll meet you in 1939!!
John Wayne and Bette Davis!! Very intriguing. He was good with tough strong ladies who weren’t afraid of him. He was so macho and huge that he didn’t feel threatened.
Also: Philadelphia Story, as you mention, starts with Cary Grant shoving Katharine Hepburn – in the face – so she falls down. And it’s comedic, and you forgive him, and you think that she probably had it coming. hahahaha It’s amazing how that works – would be very difficult to pull off now.
7. Have you ever been on the TCM cruise? If so, how was it?
Nope, sorry but I am very prone to seasickness.
8. Does anybody in your family share your love of the classics?
Yes, my late father and grandmother. I saw Gigi with my grandmother when it first came out and my father loved murder mysteries. Charlie Chan, Philo Vance, Sherlock Holmes.
9. What is your favorite decade in terms of movies and why?
I don’t really have a favorite decade but I prefer 1930’s, 1960’s I think. Bette Davis (The Letter, Now Voyager), anything by John Ford or George Cukor, most of Alfred Hitchcock. The early Bond movies, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But early 70’s are when the originals started: Star Wars, The Godfather, Towering Inferno, Rocky. Who would have thought that we would ever have 3 Godfathers, 6 (and counting) Star Wars, 5(?) Rockys?
10. What is your favorite book about Hollywood?
I don’t read a lot of books about Hollywood but I enjoyed The Celluloid Closet, Hitchcock/Traffaut and the recent bio of John Wayne.
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose?
I was living on the LES when they were filming Godfather 2 and my favorite part was how they changes the block to look like old NY, but I think I would have wanted to watch The Women by Cukor.
Some Random Things About Me
I don’t like Woody Allen but not because of his personal life which is none of my business. I just don’t find him or his movies funny.
If I ever hit the lottery for major league money, I would fund a farm/camp/commune which would be populated with stray abused animals and stray abused kids because I’m convinced that miracles would occur.
I agree with your comment about Jensen Ackles but I think that he is one of those people that will get his reward and dream role late in life and then everyone will regret not knowing about him sooner.
My first job at 19 was working in the 9th precinct on the lower east side during a time when it was one of the busiest precincts in the city. It was the best job and the worse job of my life and I loved it.
I love books. I could easily live on a desert island without people for a very long time if I had all the books I wanted. Although if I were to host a party on my island, I would invite Agatha Christie, Robert Parker, Ellery Queen (both writers) and Elizabeth Peters and just listen to the conversation.
I journal most days because I believe in the power of paper and pen. I don’t always write about my feelings because that gets boring very quickly and I don’t like to replay my life unless it’s absolutely necessary but I think the practice of writing with a pen is soothing and restorative.
Though I own every electronic device on the planet ( I married an electronic engineer) and know how to use them, I am a closet luddite and I would be quite happy if they were all destroyed tomorrow as long as no one else suffered as a result of their destruction.
Carolyn, for some reason there have been a lot of stories that have popped up on my radar recently about horse therapy for people with all sorts of conditions and issues. These therapies use natural horsemanship principles that require nonagression and prioritise natural behaviours, freedom and choice. Because horses are flight animals they are very sensitive to their environment and the body language of the people around them. If you’re around them you have to BE in the moment, and you have to govern yourself, and interact with another being that is gentle and forgiving and nonjudgemental, and it ultimately requires a level of self-forgiveness. This is particularly therapeutic, apparently, for people experiencing PTSD and people with a history of sexual assault or abuse. Some of these horses have been abused or neglected themselves and they just have a sixth sense for who needs their help, comfort and companionship. It makes me BAWL.
Jessie,
I see your point and I love horses from afar. I live across the street from a horse farm and I see them every day. I even love the smell of them but I grew up in the city. While I am very familiar with dogs, I find horses very big and intimidating and they read my fear. So if I do get the opportunity to make this idea come true, i’m going to have to at least start with dogs and work my way up to horses
Carolyn I envy you so much living across from horses! But I totally get you, I am a dog person too, through and through. I think therapy dogs are the most amazing creatures in the world. I’ve got my fingers crossed for your lottery win!
// If you’re around them you have to BE in the moment, and you have to govern yourself, and interact with another being that is gentle and forgiving and nonjudgemental, and it ultimately requires a level of self-forgiveness. //
This is incredibly moving.
I don’t know that much about horses, although I love them. I knew they were “skittish” but hadn’t thought much more about it.
God bless the people who are figuring out innovative intuitive ways to help people who have been abused – as well as animals.
This is the thing about working with animals with force-free methods. You absolutely have to meet them on their terms. You have to surrender the ego. You have to think outside yourself but never forget yourself. And then once that’s accomplished, and something good chooses to be with your dirty human self, that’s an everyday miracle. Therapy animals and assistance animals are like God’s grace. They make my heart burst.
Carolyn – thank you so much for all of this – you’ve been commenting here for a while and I’ve gotten to know your tastes, and I’m always interested in what you have to say – but it’s great to learn a little bit more about you!
I love how much you love Bette Davis.
and oh my God, being a fly on the wall for the shoot of The Women??? Can I join you?
I so loved the recent bio of John Wayne too – in particular his early years making those forgettable movies on “Poverty Row” where he learned his craft. A real insight into how long it took for him to become what he was. And I love the Hitchcock/Truffaut book too (keep your eyes peeled for the documentary that just came out about that book – or maybe you’ve already seen it!)
In re: Jensen Ackles: from your lips to God’s ears. But how annoying will that be when everyone is like, “oh my God, where did HE come from??” and all of us will be like, “He’s always been there. He’s always been great.” However, I would be happy for him either way because he deserves it. (I also think he’ll be a great grizzled “old guy” when he’s in his 60s. I think his career could get even more interesting then. Imagine the roles he could play as an old gorgeous grizzled geezer. Kris Kristofferson territory. Knock wood.)
// If I ever hit the lottery for major league money, I would fund a farm/camp/commune which would be populated with stray abused animals and stray abused kids because I’m convinced that miracles would occur. //
That’s beautiful. My friend Allison’s adorable dog is a “therapy dog” and goes to hospitals to play with sick kids and goes to nursing homes to snuggle up to the elderly. It’s healing. The love of a dog (or any animal) is so uncomplicated – and everyone – especially the “forgotten” – needs unconditional love like that. It may not heal the sickness – but on some level, it might help. I think that’s the impetus behind therapy animal programs – and it’s beautiful.
// I am a closet luddite and I would be quite happy if they were all destroyed tomorrow as long as no one else suffered as a result of their destruction. //
hahahahaha You know, I’m with you, although I would miss IMDB most of all. I am currently re-reading the huge collection of Pauline Kael’s reviews – all of them breathtakingly scholarly (not her tone, but the amount of information) – and she had to keep it all in her head by herself. Of course there were film encyclopedias and I am sure hers were dog-eared from referring to them every other second. IMDB makes it so easy to figure out who did what before, who worked with who before.
Also, when she was writing – you couldn’t re-watch movies easily after they vanished from theaters. The rise of VCRs made that easier – but for the 50s, 60s, 70s … you saw it once, and then that was it. So when she would reference back to a movie – it was from her own memory banks, not repeat watchings. (I think she said she only saw movies one time, anyway, even movies she loved.)
Of all of my technology – IMDB is the thing that would seriously alter my life.
Sometimes Facebook and Twitter are such time-drains that I wish they never existed. I am considering opting out this year. at least to get one book-project done.
I’m an introvert, except in my writing. It’s not natural for me to “talk” with other human beings literally 24/7.
So I feel you on that.
Thank you for the compliment. I amend my comment about electronic devices to exclude IMDB. I loved Pauline Kael’s reviews even if I didn’t always agree. I read Roger Ebert’s reviews for the same reason but I admit that I sometimes read Ebert’s reviews for the movies he didn’t like or actively hated because they were so funny.
One more comment on JA. I see him having Robert Duvall’s or Sam Elliott’s career. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be in the A-list career wise and I’m not sure if he’d want to be because that can be so limiting in a weird way. Neither Cary Grant nor John Wayne could be allowed to play really nasty characters in their careers. They could be tough but never really evil. But Robert Duvall has played some very interesting roles and now has a lovely career as a grizzled cowboy. Tommy Lee Jones is another example. Couldn’t you see JA as the US Marshall Gerard? Determined to get his man but slightly snarky to everyone except his “family”?
d
The king of screwball: Could anyone ever beat that run of Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, and Holiday? They were released within an EIGHT MONTH PERIOD. I can’t even imagine it and I think about it all the time. Three different directors, three different moods within the genre, three different screwball characters to play, three of the greatest movies of all time. Incomparable.
// Could anyone ever beat that run of Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, and Holiday? They were released within an EIGHT MONTH PERIOD. //
No actor even comes close to that run of hits. I’d have to check John Wayne’s record – maybe he would come close. But to make three masterpieces in less than a year …
The industry has changed so much, making such a miracle impossible. But still, there had to be some magic in the water/air in 1938/39 in California.
1. What’s the first classic movie you saw?
I saw Ben-Hur at the drive-in, though it was a re-release or revival. I remember my dad telling me what was going on, I was a little kid. I didn’t understand intermissions.
2. Who is the queen of screwball comedies?
Probably better described as slapstick, but I go with Margaret Dumont.
3. Who’s the king?
Bet you can guess from above. Groucho.
4. Specific year
Same as everyone else.
5. What two stars do you wish had worked together.
Moira Shearer and Cyd Charisse. In either a pre-make of Black Swan or Bound (with Richard Barthelemess in the Joey Pants role). Yes, Cyd and Moira are credited in Black Tights, but it’s a film of 4 separate choreographies and they don’t dance together.
6. AAE or SB?
Pass
7. TCM cruise?
Nope
8. Does anyone in your family share your love of classics?
My dad and middle brother.
9. Favorite Decade?
’70’s.
10.What’s your favorite book about Hollywood?
The Hustons. If we stretch the definition to include the town, and not the movies, then I’m With The Band.
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose?
To Have And Have Not. I’d like to see Bogie and Bacall fall in love.
A few random things:
I love Dante. I’ve read 5 biographies of him. Boccaccio’s is the best, he was a near-contemporary and spoke to people who knew Dante. And was a world-class poet himself. If Venice sinks into the sea due to global warming it will be no less than they deserve for making Dante wait so long on a diplomatic mission there that he caught malaria and died at 56. A dish best served cold, Venetians.
I cried at the end of Peter Ackroyd’s biography of William Blake. I didn’t want him to die. Fuck, I’m tearing up now.
Edward Snowden and Garry Kasparov are heroes of mine. It’s affirming to admire people younger than yourself.
In college I played basketball for the notoriously horrible Caltech. There was a documentary about us back in 2007 called Quantum Hoops. Narrated by David Duchovny. At that point, the team had lost 259 league games in a row. We broke the losing streak in 2010 with a league win after 310 losses. The team has improved greatly (with an excellent coach) and was the subject of a recent Sport Illustrated article. When I played, back in 1980, we had a league win after 99 losses (per Quantum Hoops). At the time I was told we had lost 113 or 116 straight. I was a bit bummed to find that the streak had only been 99 games, but I consoled myself with the thought that we had prevented a triple digit loss streak. I learned a few years ago that the team we beat was coached by Gregg Popovich, the current coach of the San Antonio Spurs. He has the NBA record for the greatest number of winning seasons. Goes to show that anything (weird) can happen. I’m number 24 here, back when I was fit and had hair.
I haven’t seen the doc, or read the SI article. Lived it, don’t need to read about it.
That’s a legitimately cool story, bro!
thanks.
Wow, Quantum Hoops!!! So cool! I had no idea – I’ll have to check out the article and the doc. What a cool thing to have been a part of.
Moira and Cyd!! Nice!
1. Not sure what qualifies as a classic, but I saw Animal House when I was 8 years old in the movie theater. I’m also pretty sure my parents took me to Don’t Look Now when I was 4, which I would not recommend. I just watched it again and had nervous flashbacks, unless that’s just the movie’s normal impact. I certainly saw it on TV as well when I was young. I think I am a bit of an overprotective parent because of this movie.
2. Madeline Kahn
3. Bill Murray
4. 1972. I would hang around NY following the Mean Streets shoot, hoping to meet Scorcese and launch my Hollywood career.
5. James Gandolfini and Philip Seymour Hoffman. RIP to two of the best ever.
6. Sunset Blvd. by a nose. It’s more subversive. They are both amazing. Maybe the two best screenplays.
7. No. Cruises scare me, seems someone goes overboard or there is a fire and the ship is stranded or it hits a reef and sinks because the captain is an idiot or there is a salmonella outbreak or something almost every week. I don’t like not being able to leave someplace.
8. Parents, especially my Dad.
9. 1990s. When my like of movies turned to love.
Goodfellas. Dazed and Confused. Three Kings. Short Cuts. Boogie Nights. Pulp Fiction. Fargo. Swingers. Jacob’s Ladder. Casino. The Thin Red Line. Crimes and Misdemeanors. (released October 1989 but I saw in 1990).
I may be a product of my generation but these are among my favorite films.
10. Tie between:
Stories I Only Tell my Friends, Rob Lowe
Which Lie Did I Tell and The Big Picture, William Goldman
Hollywood Animal, Joe Eszterhas
Good Scripts/Bad Scripts, Thomas Pope
11. Boogie Nights. I want to hang out at the pool party forever. Just can’t do any coke until that guy gets some new shit.
// I’m also pretty sure my parents took me to Don’t Look Now when I was 4, which I would not recommend. //
Oh. My. God.
Favourite book about Hollywood? “Bring on the Empty Horses” by David Niven. He knew how to tell a tale! And he seemed to know everybody.
Oh God, yes, Niven!! I read that book in college and it made me laugh out loud. I need to buy another second-hand copy.
He was such a social guy – and as I recall, had this crazy house on the beach, and Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were next-door neighbors – and everyone would just lounge around, drinking and swimming and racing into each others’ bedrooms.
5. Which two stars do you wish had worked together in a movie?
I don’t know if I have enough imagination for this right now but I do know that I LOVE to see people work together multiple times — to choose to come back together when the chemistry is magic and the script is right. It KILLS me that we never got a third Redford-Newman movie, or that Hepburn and Grant never worked together after 1940. So I would want to see those pairings. Or, in thirty years time at the height of their very successful careers, JA and JP.
// Or, in thirty years time at the height of their very successful careers, JA and JP. //
Heart-crack. Yes.
Kind of like Dean Stockwell and Scott Bakula suddenly reuniting last year on CSI. I know that within Quantum Leap fans – there’s always been the hope that they’d come back together, that that show would have a second life. The ending of the series was so satisfying – that who knows if it could work – but they had such good chemistry together as actors. Similar to Supernatural: the series was not an ensemble. It lived or died on the chemistry of those two guys.
1. What was the first classic film you ever saw? Citizen Kane. I was home sick in highschool and it came on TV. This can’t be as good as everyone says it is, I thought. It was.
2. Who do you think is the queen of screwball comedies? I’m awful fond of Roz Russell, myself.
3. And who’s the king? William Powell.
4. If you could go back in time to a specific year in Hollywood history, what year would that be and why? 1926 so I could go see both The General and Flesh and the Devil in theaters. I’d like to see what the impact of Garbo and Gilbert was on that audience. In part because I’m not quite sure I GET Garbo.
5. Which two stars do you wish had worked together in a movie? Streisand and Redford, but hey – they still could. Also the possibility of Elvis being in Midnight Cowboy had haunted me since you brought it up, Sheila. What would THAT have been like? Almost too wild to ponder.
6. All about Eve (1950) or Sunset Boulevard (1950)? I have yet to see more than bits and pieces of either.
7. Have you ever been on the TCM cruise? If so, how was it? Nope.
8. Does anybody in your family share your love of the classics? No, though I do try to infect them with it regularly.
9. What is your favorite decade in terms of movies and why? The 1970’s. Not only are so many of the movies from that decade both raw and beautiful, which appeals to me, but they were being made by big-name studios. That couldn’t have happened before, wouldn’t happen now, and may never happen again. It was mainstream film at its least constrained.
10. What is your favorite book about Hollywood? I’ve read very little nonfiction re: Hollywood. I’ve wanted to read The Fixers for years, though. And I love Anne Helen Petersen but I’ve only read her internet stuff.
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose? Look: I want to be on set the day the press found out Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were having an affair. Or I want to watch Marilyn Monroe work.
I have loved reading the comments, so I will join in!
1. What was the first classic film you ever saw? It must have been the Wizard of Oz. It came on once a year, and it was a huge event in our household. My mom made fudge, my dad made popcorn, and we were all down in the rumpus room-primed and ready for it to start. Funny thing, we only had black and white TV, so I didn’t realize parts were in color!
2. Who do you think is the queen of screwball comedies? I have to say Doris Day. I love Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Katherine Hepburn-but I love me some Doris.
3. And who’s the king? Oh, this is hard-because so many actors were so excellent in comedies-Jimmy Stewart in the movie It’s A Wonderful World, with Claudette Colbert has a few moments so funny-he is wearing really thick glasses as a disguise, and I swear I almost fell off my chair laughing. Cary Grant in a class all his own, laughing at Jimmy Stewart in the Philadelphia Story, well-so many of his comedies are perfection. Rock Hudson of course, the perfect counterpoint to Doris.
4. If you could go back in time to a specific year in Hollywood history, what year would that be and why? Oh hell yes, 1939! It truly amazes me how many wonderful movies were made that year. What was in the water??
5. Which two stars do you wish had worked together in a movie? I am a HUGE fan of Roger Livesey, and as far as I know-he never made a movie with Katherine Hepburn. If he did someone please let me know! There is something about his kind of calm, but funny British energy that would have been wonderful with Hepburn.
6. All about Eve (1950) or Sunset Boulevard (1950)? I love them both, but All About Eve. I am in love with George Sanders-and he is perfection in the movie. When he confronts Eve with what he knows about her, I get chills. Not to mention, Marilyn Monroe absolutely luminous, and Bette Davis at her best.
7. Have you ever been on the TCM cruise? If so, how was it? No, but I have been at two TCM Film Festivals in LA, and I can say they have been some of the best experiences of my life. To be in a group of people who share such a powerful love of film, it is like a shorthand you have. The conversations you have with strangers are incredible. My sister and I were lucky enough to be in a shuttle, back from the Vanity Fair party with a TCM higher up-and he couldn’t have been more approachable, and a true movie lover. The people of TCM are real fans, and that is the highest accolade I can give!
8. Does anybody in your family share your love of the classics? Thankfully, my sister! No one I know in real life has the same love of the classics, so of course I am so happy to have found online friends that share the love. My sister lives in Chicago, I am in Alaska, and we meet every two years at the TCM Film Festival. We also spend hours on the phone, talking about the movies we watch.
9. What is your favorite decade in terms of movies and why? The 1930’s and the 1950’s. I love the precode movies-and the whole “well, let’s figure out this sound thing” from the early 30’s. There is a stylishness that can’t be denied-the work of Cedric Gibbons as an production designer at MGM is incredible. With the 1950’s-I am a huge fan of Technicolor-and of midcentury design. Douglas Sirk, I love you!
10. What is your favorite book about Hollywood? Definitely “Bring On the Empty Horses” by David Niven. I have read that book about 10 times. Oh, and Rosalind Russell’s “Life is a Banquet”-wonderful, wonderful book. Her description of meeting her husband, Freddie Brisson-while thinking it was Cary Grant asking her out, priceless. Well, the whole book is priceless-a book my sister and I quote to each other all the time.
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose? The Philadelphia Story-every moment is perfection. Ruth Hussey saying “where is my wandering parakeet?”, I eat it up every time I see it.
11 Random Things About Me
1. I moved to Alaska when I was 30-because my grandfather had a friend who subscribed to Alaska Magazine in the 1960’s and 70’s-and he would pass them along to me knowing I loved wilderness and animals. They used to have a centerfold spread of some gorgeous scene, that I would put on my wall like a pic of David Cassidy or Donny Osmond. I decided I had to see this place for myself when I was 30, and moved up here with no job and knowing no one. Best decision I ever made ;)
2. I love Jane Austen, and belong to a Jane Austen Book Club.
3. I was an animal science major in college, even though I grew up south of Chicago-and worked for years on a pig farm-becoming the first woman manager of a research facility for the company I worked for.
4. I have read as much as 3 books in a day-I’m not a “speed” reader, but I am really fast, and when I am into a book, I will not hear a word anyone says to me.
5. I am a huge fan of Walt Disney, the man. I still feel like it is a company that is interested in entertaining people, that is their main focus.
6. I love vintage bakeware, and have a nice collection of vintage Pyrex.
7. I am a total Anglophile, and order things from Amazon in the UK, and have done so for years. I have learned how to program certain DVD players so I can watch movies and TV series from that region.
8. I am an atheist, but I feel like I still suffer from Catholic guilt. I sometimes wonder if growing up Catholic is like being Jewish, it is a cultural thing. I am probably the only one in my family, ever-that is an atheist. Even when I was young, I felt like my religion was not right for me-I always wanted to stand up in church and say “BUT WHY…”. My family still is in denial, I think my sister thinks it is a phase ( for 30 years) that I am going through.
9. There are times when I really wish I was religious-I hate the thought I will never see my mother or my grandparents again. We lost our beloved cat on Thursday, and I would give anything to believe I would see him again.
10. I love substitute teaching. I started a year ago-and as a person who likes structure and knowing what to expect, it has been a real ride to show up every day in another classroom. I feel it has helped me grow and become more flexible.
11. I feel like I might have been a penguin in an earlier life. HA! I am never more comfortable than when I am in the water-and I have a very strange aversion to leopard seals. I am an animal lover, but I can’t even look at a picture of them. It is just strange to me, I love spiders, snakes-but leopard seals give me nightmares. How is that for random??
Thanks Sheila, this was fun!
1. What was the first classic film you ever saw?
Almost certainly Wizard of Oz. There’s an outside chance it was King Kong, which played on ‘Million Dollar Movie’ in NYC more or less daily.
2. Who is the queen of screwball comedies?
Carole Lombard. Tho perhaps my single favorite screwball performance is Diana Lynn in Miracle of Morgan’s Creek.
3. And who’s the king?
Elvis! I know a trick question when I see one.
4. If you could go back in time to a specific year in Hollywood history, what year would that be and why?
I’m going to say one of the pre-code years, whichever one contains the most movies I can’t see without a time machine.
5. What two stars do you wish had worked together on a movie?
Bette Davis and Peter Lorre. I love the way she registers disgust, and I love the way he registers being delighted that you’re registering disgust. Runner up: Laird Cregar and anybody at all.
6. All About Eve or Sunset Boulevard?
In my salad days I would have said Sunset Boulevard without hesitation. At some point in my forties I came to appreciate All About Eve a bit more, I think.
7. Have you ever been on the TCM cruise? If so, how was it?
You’re killing me.
8. Does anyone in your family share your love of classics?
My parents loved movies from the thirties and forties, which was when they grew up. They didn’t have much interest in movies, good or bad, from any other period. They imprinted on those movies, same way the folks at my high school reunion imprinted on Billy Joel and the Eagles. I tell people I spent those years listening to Miles Davis and the Velvet Underground but I am so full of shit.
9. Favorite Decade?
Thirties and seventies. I wanted to be a little more original here, but, I mean, come on.
10. What’s your favorite book about Hollywood?
Agee on Film, whichever volume contains the reviews and essays, was a bathroom perennial for a long time. Also lots of fun: Rudolph Grey’s Ed Wood bio Nightmare of Ecstasy and Joseph von Sternberg’s Fun in a Chinese Laundry. My all-time favorite opening line from a book about Hollywood is “Just an inch, Miss Rona, just let me put it in an inch!” (“Miss Rona” by Rona Barrett. The absence of a Library of America edition is a disgrace.)
11. If you could have witnessed the shooting of any movie, which movie would you choose?
Bruce Dern has spoken movingly about the final day of shooting on The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant, when the actors, correctly assuming that most of the pay checks were going to bounce, raced each other to get to the bank first. Pat Priest says Bruce let the air out of her tires during a bathroom break. I’d like to see that.