Tag Archives: Mae West

“I wasn’t born an actress, you know. Events made me one.” — Jean Harlow

Posted on March 3, 2026 by sheila

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 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Stuff I’ve Been Reading

Posted on January 27, 2022 by sheila

Been a while since I’ve done one of these. — The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick I had never read her before. I was familiar with her as “Robert Lowell’s wife” – she shows up repeatedly in his correspondence with … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Books: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town, edited by Lillian Ross; ‘Corsets de Luxe’, by Geoffrey Hellman

Posted on March 24, 2013 by sheila

Next up on the essays shelf: The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town (Modern Library Paperbacks) is a collection of “The Talk of the Town” pieces in The New Yorker, grouped by decade, which is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Cary Grant and Mae West

Posted on July 23, 2005 by sheila

An excerpt from Cary Grant: A Biography by Marc Eliot. I like it because it captures, for me, why Cary Grant (so young) stood out in this movie. (Actually – in terms of “young actors” – he wasn’t young. Success … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Archie Leach’s Beginnings

Posted on September 21, 2004 by sheila

Archie Leach (later Cary Grant) arrived in New York City as a boy of 15, having joined the Bob Pender acrobat troupe. They performed at the Hippodrome (God, to have been in New York in those days!!! WHAT I would … Continue reading →

Posted in Actors | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments