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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Tag Archives: Carole Lombard
For International Women’s Day: Ladies I Love
I post edited versions of this every year. I add names. I take names off sometimes, not because I now dislike the person but just because I feel like it. I enjoy compiling it but it’s not just about enjoyment. … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Art/Photography, Directors, Personal, writers
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Tagged A.S. Byatt, Abigail Adams, Agnes Varda, Aline MacMahon, Amy Heckerling, Ann Savage, Anna Karina, Anne Frank, Anne V. Coates, Annie Proulx, art, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Austria, Barbara Bel Geddes, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Bibi Andersson, Brazil, Britney Spears, Busby Berkeley, Camille Paglia, Canada, Carole Lombard, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Bronte, Charlotte Rampling, China, Croatia, Diane Keaton, Dolly Parton, Drew Barrymore, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edie Sedgwick, Ellen von Unwerth, England, Etta James, Eve Babitz, France, Frances Farmer, Gena Rowlands, George Eliot, Georgia, Germany, Gloria Grahame, Golshifteh Farahani, Greta Garbo, Greta Gerwig, Harriet Andersson, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hong Kong, Ida Lupino, Ingrid Thulin, Iran, Ireland, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Huppert, Italy, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Jean Arthur, Jeanette Winterson, Jill Clayburgh, Joan Crawford, Joan Didion, Joan Jett, Joanna Hogg, Josephine Decker, Judy Garland, Julie Christie, Kate Lyn Sheil, Kay Francis, Keri Hulme, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Dern, Laurette Taylor, Leila Hatami, Lily Tomlin, Liv Ullmann, Louise Glück, Madeleine L'Engle, Madeline Kahn, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marianne Moore, Marilyn Monroe, Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Maud Gonne, Mélanie Laurent, Mia Hansen-Løve, Nancy Savoca, Natalie Portman, Nina Hoss, Nina Simone, Olivia Laing, Olympia Dukakis, Patricia Highsmith, Pauline Kael, photography, Poland, Rebecca West, Romania, Rosalind Russell, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, Shabnam Toloui, Shirley Jackson, Sophia Takal, South Korea, Spain, Supernatural, Sweden, Tana French, Taraneh Alidoosti, The Netherlands, Tiffany Haddish, Tina Turner, Tuesday Weld, Wanda Jackson, women directors
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106 Comments
“I wasn’t born an actress, you know. Events made me one.” — Jean Harlow
Today is Jean Harlow’s birthday. Here is a discussion Mitchell and I had about her. The setup of the conversation (an ongoing series): I throw names of famous people at Mitchell, and ask him to describe each person in only … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
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Tagged Carole Lombard, Goldie Hawn, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Julia Roberts, Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Shelley Winters
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13 Comments
“I want to live, not pose!” — Carole Lombard
It’s her birthday today. I wrote about her – in depth – the queen of screwballs, the screwball muse, taken from us way too soon – for my column at Liberties. Thank you so much for stopping by. … Continue reading →
“People don’t know it, but I’m primarily Irish. We get these dark periods.” — William Powell
“I have never gone into a picture without first studying my characterization from all angles. I make a study of the fellow’s life and try to learn everything about him, including the conditions under which he came into this world, … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Movies
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Tagged Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow, Kay Francis, Myrna Loy, Pre-Code, screwball comedy, William Powell
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6 Comments
“I never made a message picture, and I hope I never do.” — Howard Hawks
It’s his birthday today. My favorite director. I’ve written so much about his movies, here and elsewhere, it’d be too much to link to all of it. I’ve seen it all. Only Angels Have Wings is my favorite movie ever … Continue reading →
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
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Tagged Bringing Up Baby, Carole Lombard, crime movies, film noir, His Girl Friday, Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Montgomery Clift, Only Angels Have Wings, Red River, Rio Bravo, screwball comedy, Twentieth Century, westerns
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4 Comments
2024 Books Read
1. Brotherhood of Tyrants: Manic Depression and Absolute Power, by D. Jablow Hershman I was talking with the doctor who helps me manage my bipolar. He saved my life back in 2013. Well, it was a group effort. He knows … Continue reading →
Posted in Books, James Joyce
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Tagged Austria, Barbra Streisand, Biography, books about Hollywood, books read, Carole Lombard, Christopher Hitchens, Elvis Presley, England, entertainment biography, essays, fiction, George Orwell, Germany, Hitler, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jonathan Swift, Lorrie Moore, Mary Shelley, Memoirs, nonfiction, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Highsmith, Philip Larkin, poetry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, scripts, Stalin, Thomas Jefferson, William Shakespeare, WWII
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5 Comments
2024 Year in Review
Here’s a roundup of most of the things I’ve written this year: here on my site, for Rogerebert.com, for my newsletter, and for my new column at Liberties Journal. Every year it’s the same thing. I spend so much time … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, Music
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Tagged Alain Delon, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brenda Lee, Carl Perkins, Carole Lombard, Charlie Rich, Chile, comedy, Croatia, Denmark, documentary, drama, Dubravka Ugrešić, Edna O'Brien, Elvis Presley, England, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Gene Vincent, Glen Powell, historical drama, horror, India, Indigo Girls, Ireland, James Burton, Jensen Ackles, John Cassavetes, Liberties, Mia Wasikowska, musicals, newsletter, Nicole Kidman, Opening Night, Radu Jude, reviews, Ricky Nelson, Robert De Niro, Romania, Sam Phillips, screwball comedy, silent films, Spain, Supernatural, Tennessee Williams, Tilda Swinton, Two-Character Play, women directors, year in writing, Yugoslavia
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5 Comments
For Liberties: on Carole Lombard
My second article for my Liberties column is now live: Lombard: Queen of Screwball. The column has a Lombard-inspired name and logo – Movies Before Breakfast – which we chose before I even knew I’d write about her. And the … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Movies
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Tagged Carole Lombard, Howard Hawks, Liberties, My Man Godfrey, screwball comedy, Twentieth Century, William Powell
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8 Comments
April 2024 Viewing Diary
To Be or Not to Be (1942; d. Ernst Lubitsch) It’s 82 years later. 82 years. And it’s still a little bit shocking this film even exists. The film lampoons Nazis, and Hitler, and tyranny, which – in 1942 – … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Claude Chabrol, comedy, crime movies, documentary, film noir, France, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Indigo Girls, Jimmy Stewart, Joel McCrea, John Garfield, Johnny Depp, Michael Curtiz, Patricia Highsmith, Patricia Neal, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Romania, romantic comedy, women directors
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March 2024 Viewing Diary
Conspiracy (2001; d. Frank Pierson) I went down a little Wannsee Conference rabbit hole so figured I’d re-watch this chilling nasty little movie. Lured (1947; d. Douglas Sirk) I had never seen this. I love discovering new Douglas Sirks! This … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
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Tagged Australia, Austria, Boris Karloff, Carole Lombard, documentary, Douglas Sirk, drama, England, film noir, Fred MacMurray, Fredric March, George Sanders, Germany, historical drama, horror, Howard Hawks, Indigo Girls, John Barrymore, Kay Francis, Lucille Ball, musicals, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Ralph Bellamy, Romania, romantic drama, screwball comedy, The Netherlands, William Powell, William Wellman, women directors, WWII
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12 Comments