Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- “Life was bitter and I was not. All around me was poverty and sordidness but I refused to see it that way. By turning it into jokes, I made it bearable.” — Max Shulman
- “I couldn’t keep a dog and a James Joyce and a bookshop.” — Sylvia Beach
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- “Make the most of what you have and enjoy being female; enjoy being you.” — Bunny Yeager
- “My mother gave me my drive but my father gave me my dreams.” — Liza Minnelli
- “I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.” — Jack Kerouac
- “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- “My aim is to imply rather than to overstate. Whenever the reader participates with his own interpretation, I feel that the book is much more successful.” — Ezra Jack Keats
- “A good director must be able to inspire whoever he was coaching so that the actor would live the scene. Make-believe must become reality.” — Raoul Walsh
- February 2026 Snapshots
Recent Comments
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- Duncan Gillies MacLaurin on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Jessie on Supernatural: Season 2, Episode 13: “Houses of the Holy”
- Ian on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- sheila on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- Frances on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- dres on Supernatural: Season 2, Episode 14: “Born Under a Bad Sign”
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- Ian on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Romeo & Juliet
- dres on Supernatural: Season 2, Episode 13: “Houses of the Holy”
- JAMES DAVID BAIN on The Books: “Collected Plays of Anton Chekhov” – ‘Swan Song’ (Anton Chekhov)
- dres on Supernatural: Season 2, Episode 12: “Nightshifter”
- sheila on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- Scott Abraham on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- sheila on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- dres on Supernatural: Season 2, Episode 12: “Nightshifter”
- Frances on “I am not descended from flesh. I am God.”: It’s Vaslav Nijinsky’s Birthday
- sheila on February 2026 Snapshots
-
Tag Archives: John Barrymore
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
|
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
|
12 Comments
February 2023 Viewing Diary
Reboot (2022) Allison and I watched it together when I was in New York for the first half of this month. I adore this series and am so bummed it wasn’t picked up for Season 2. We had a blast … Continue reading →
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
|
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Aline MacMahon, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Barbara Stanwyck, biopic, Boris Karloff, Brad Pitt, Busby Berkeley, Charlotte Bronte, comedy, Douglas Sirk, drama, Emily Bronte, England, film noir, France, Fred MacMurray, Ginger Rogers, Gold Diggers of 1933, Greta Garbo, Hugh Grant, Hungary, Ireland, Joan Blondell, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Kay Francis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Loretta Young, Madonna, Mervyn LeRoy, musicals, Pre-Code, Quentin Tarantino, reviews, William Powell, William Wellman, women directors
|
18 Comments
The Books: Garson Kanin’s Hollywood, by Garson Kanin
Next book on the Hollywood shelf: Garson Kanin’s Hollywood, by Garson Kanin Garson Kanin wrote. Boy, he wrote. He wrote screenplays, and plays, and books. He wrote gossipy books about his famous friends (some of whom never forgave him for … Continue reading →
Quotes On Acting: John Barrymore: “By the time I’m visible to the audience I am Ibbetson, quite.”
John Barrymore, interviewed on acting: An actor’s performance, at best, is the way he happens to feel about a certain character … I’m a bit of Peter Ibbetson and a bit of Jack Barrymore. At least, I never utterly forget … Continue reading →
Carole Lombard Double Feature
Last night at the Film Forum. 8 p.m.: 9:45 p.m.: It did my heart good to see that both shows were sold out. The line was down the block, and last night was a pretty bitter windy night, so to … Continue reading →
Posted in Actors, Movies
|
Tagged Carole Lombard, Howard Hawks, John Barrymore, My Man Godfrey, Twentieth Century, William Powell
|
4 Comments
Twentieth Century Clip:
As accompaniment to the post below this one – here is the opening sequences of Howard Hawks’s brilliant Twentieth Century: It just makes me LAUGH – every second: it’s broad, it’s specific, it’s completely ludicrous … yet in that world, … Continue reading →
Posted in Movies
|
Tagged Carole Lombard, Howard Hawks, John Barrymore, Twentieth Century
|
4 Comments
The Books: “Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood” (Todd McCarthy)
Next book on my “entertainment biography” shelf: Howard Hawks: The Grey Fox of Hollywood, by Todd McCarthy Howard Hawks is my favorite director (one of my big posts on him here), and this book is fantastic. It’s enormous, only true … Continue reading →
Posted in Books, Directors
|
Tagged Carole Lombard, entertainment biography, Howard Hawks, John Barrymore, Twentieth Century
|
6 Comments
Weekend snapshots
— I washed my walls. They are a lovely pale yellow color and I was horrified at how black my damn Melaleuca cloth was when I was done. City air. Filthy. Invisible and filthy. Horrors. I cleaned like a whirling … Continue reading →
Posted in Personal
|
Tagged Carole Lombard, George Clooney, Howard Hawks, John Barrymore, Persona, snapshots, Sylvester Stallone, Twentieth Century
|
12 Comments

