Categories
Archives
-
Recent Posts
- How it’s going
- For James Dean’s Birthday
- The First Glimpse of The Guy Who Started It All
- “Since we do float on an unknown sea I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way very carefully.” — poet Elizabeth Bishop
- “The only people who ever called me a rebel were people who wanted me to do what they wanted.” — Nick Nolte
- Reviews: Suze (2025)
- “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” — Charles Dickens
- “For I, the chiefest lamp of all the earth…” — Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine
- “Guilt pins a fig-leaf; Innocence is its own adorning.” — poet Anne Spencer
- “and I / spoke with tongues that sent their devotees / out of this world!” — poet Melvin B. Tolson
Recent Comments
- Roger O Green on February 3, 1959: The Day the Music Died
- Maddy on “The only people who ever called me a rebel were people who wanted me to do what they wanted.” — Nick Nolte
- sheila on December 2024 Viewing Diary
- Todd Restler on December 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on February 3, 1959: The Day the Music Died
- sheila on December 2024 Viewing Diary
- sheila on January 2025 Viewing Diary
- Kelly C Sedinger on February 3, 1959: The Day the Music Died
- Bill on All That Jazz: Remembering and Loving Erzebet Foldi
- Johnny on December 2024 Viewing Diary
- Todd Restler on January 2025 Viewing Diary
- sheila on “Since the beginning, I’ve said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with my image.’” – Charlotte Rampling
- sheila on “Since the beginning, I’ve said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with my image.’” – Charlotte Rampling
- sheila on “Often I pretended to a cameraman to know less than I did. That way I got more cooperation.” — Ida Lupino
- Gemstone on “Since the beginning, I’ve said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with my image.’” – Charlotte Rampling
- Maddy on “Since the beginning, I’ve said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with my image.’” – Charlotte Rampling
- Maddy on “Often I pretended to a cameraman to know less than I did. That way I got more cooperation.” — Ida Lupino
- sheila on January 2025 Viewing Diary
- Ian on January 2025 Viewing Diary
- sheila on “Often I pretended to a cameraman to know less than I did. That way I got more cooperation.” — Ida Lupino
-
Tag Archives: Jean Arthur
“I guess I became an actress because I didn’t want to be myself.” — Jean Arthur
It’s her birthday today, one of my all-time favorite actresses! First up, two pieces I wrote for Film Comment: For my “Present Tense” column, I wrote about her career and her distinctive voice. For TCM Diary, I wrote about onscreen … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day
Tagged Cary Grant, Frank Capra, Jean Arthur, Only Angels Have Wings
12 Comments
“People say I’m a one-note actor, but the way I figure it, those other guys are just looking for that one right note.” — Joel McCrea
It’s his birthday today. Joel McCrea had a long career, with many different phases. He did it all, although he is primarily associated with Westerns. It was what you might call a “classy” career. Steady, successful, no scandals, and he … Continue reading
For Film Comment: Shane & Everybody Wants Some!!
There’s a new column on Film Comment called “Seeing Double”, where writers explore connections between different movies, potential double bills. So I wrote about Shane and Everybody Wants Some!!, a piece I’d been wanting to write for a couple of … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Alan Ladd, comedy, George Stevens, Glen Powell, Jean Arthur, reviews, Richard Linklater, westerns
1 Comment
August 2021 Viewing Diary
Pig (2021; d. Michael Sarnoski) I wish I could write at length about some of these. I just don’t have the time these days. I absolutely loved Pig, about an isolated woodsman-truffle-hunter (Nicolas Cage) whose beloved truffle pig is stolen. … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, backting, Belgium, Bette Davis, comedy, documentary, drama, film noir, France, Golshifteh Farahani, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Blondell, Marion Cotillard, Mervyn LeRoy, musicals, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Pre-Code, Richard Linklater, Robert Mitchum, Supernatural, surfing, William Carlos Williams
44 Comments
Things that got me through 2020. In no particular order.
Elvis mask, made for me by Jill Blake who was like “I just happened to have this Elvis 68 Comeback Special fabric lying around … do you want a mask?” Do you have to ask? There were so many great … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, Movies, Music, Personal, Television, Theatre
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Eminem, family, friends, George Orwell, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hope, Jackass, Jean Arthur, John Garfield, John Sturges, Johnny Flynn, Lucille Ball, Marcel Proust, Martha Coolidge, Nick Tosches, poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, Twin Peaks, women directors, X-Files
30 Comments
2020 Books Read
What a year, huh. What a dumpster-fire year. I read a lot, mostly in the mornings, and it helped create rituals for the days, which often seemed endlessly the same, interchangeable. I read a lot of long and challenging books … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Austria, ballet, Ballets Russes, Belfast, Biography, books read, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czeslaw Milosz, dance, Dubravka Ugrešić, Elinor Lipman, Elizabeth Bishop, Eminem, essays, Ezra Pound, fiction, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hitler, Ireland, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Marcel Proust, Nick Tosches, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, poetry, Poland, politics, Rebecca West, Robert Kaplan, Roman empire, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shirley Jackson, Stalin, true crime, Ukraine, war, WWII, Yugoslavia
38 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2020, Part 1
What a year. Hard to say “the worst” because I was at least somewhat mentally stable during 2020, but this year was an assault. An assault after a couple of years of exhausting assault. It was an assault on us … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, RIP
Tagged Arizona Dream, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Derek Mahon, Dorothy Arzner, Eavan Boland, England, Faye Dunaway, Germany, H.D., hockey, Iranian film, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Jerry Lewis, John Sturges, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Demme, Josephine Decker, Kurt Russell, Lili Taylor, Linda Manz, Little Richard, Lucille Ball, Martha Coolidge, Maureen O'Hara, miracle on ice, Nick Nolte, Patricia Bosworth, Shirley Jackson, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, women directors, year in writing
2 Comments