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- “My dear child, I’m sure we shall be allowed to laugh in Heaven!” — Edward Lear
- “And that’s the other thing about [Green], by acknowledging that these feelings exist I feel like then you see it, and you recognize that in yourself.” –Sophia Takal
- “I know that for myself, what is deeper than I understand is often the most pertinent to me and the most lasting.” — Lorine Niedecker
- Substack: on All I’ve Got & Then Some (2024)
- Review: Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024)
- Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles
- “To me, Martha Graham is one of America’s few authentic geniuses.” – Bette Davis
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Tag Archives: Joan Blondell
For Busby Berkeley’s birthday: Remember My Forgotten Man and Sucker Punch
I wrote a piece originally for the Musings blog at Oscilloscope (it was included in a book!), and now lives on my site (since it’s off the Musings blog). It’s about the similarities between Busby Berkeley’s Gold Diggers of 1933 … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, On This Day
Tagged Busby Berkeley, dance, Gold Diggers of 1933, Joan Blondell, Mervyn LeRoy, musical, Sucker Punch, war, WWI
14 Comments
“In the 20s, you were a face. And that was enough. In the 30s, you also had to be a voice. And your voice had to match your face, if you can imagine that.” — Joan Blondell
It’s Joan Blondell’s birthday today. I am sure I saw Joan Blondell in her 1930s movies when I was a kid, although maybe not the Pre-Codes. That would come later. My real introduction to her, though, came through her performance … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Busby Berkeley, Elvis Presley, Gold Diggers of 1933, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Mervyn LeRoy, WWI
15 Comments
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, France, Golshifteh Farahani, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Jean Arthur, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Blondell, Marion Cotillard, Mervyn LeRoy, musical, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, noir, Pre-Code, Richard Linklater, Robert Mitchum, Supernatural, surfing, William Carlos Williams
44 Comments
She’s got legs. And she knows how to use them.
The Crowd Roars (1932) Viva Las Vegas (1964) Joan Blondell – whose legs we see in the first grab – lived long enough to appear – very entertainingly – in an Elvis movie (Stay Away Joe, 1968). She and Elvis … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Ann Dvorak, Ann-Margret, Elvis Presley, Howard Hawks, James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Pre-Code, Viva Las Vegas
5 Comments
July 2021 Viewing Diary
Sally, Mary and Irene (1925; d. Edmund Goulding) For some reason, I forgot to include this gem in my June viewing diary. Considered lost forever, it is one of Joan Crawford’s earliest films – and one where she is actually … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Ann Dvorak, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder, Bong Joon-Ho, comedy, dance movies, documentary, drama, France, Fred MacMurray, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Jack Lemmon, Japan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, Juliette Binoche, Marilyn Monroe, Mervyn LeRoy, Miriam Hopkins, Pre-Code, Shirley MacLaine, silent films, thrillers
16 Comments
Remember My Forgotten Women: The Dire Worlds of Sucker Punch and Gold Diggers of 1933
This piece appeared first on Oscilloscope Laboratories “Musings” blog, and then was published in Volume Two of their series of books, compiling many of the pieces from that blog. I had been wanting to write this piece for literally years … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Aline MacMahon, Busby Berkeley, Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers of 1933, Joan Blondell, Mervyn LeRoy, Sucker Punch
4 Comments