Let’s Watch a Movie Cat

[from Perkins and Teeny Tuxedo’s cat adventures blog]

Sunday, March 17, 2019, 4:59 pm — Perkins … I’m in the mood to watch some Joan Crawford … how about Mildred Pierce (1945)? …

… then, let’s try the 7th season of The Office, 2010-11 … Steve Carell’s last … Hey, Grandma Ahola’s sewing basket is just my size! …

The Office … replacement set, Nov. 2018, ebay, $35.50 … donated my original to college book sale, April 2017 … After trying to watch on tv, with commercials, couldn’t stand it … found great ebay deal … one of three tv series I’d take to a desert isle … Update, April 20, 2021: purchased s9 (final season) … but not s8, with new CEO, Robert California (James Spader) … so smugly despicable … SO important to have DVDs in the flighty streaming universe … What disappeared from Netflix, January 2021? … The Office, of course

Sing a Song of Baby Jane

Sunday, May 21, 2017 — Bit the bullet … after seeing episode 1, purchased Feud: Bette and Joan, 2017, 8 episodes, streaming … Amazon, $19.99 … Susan Sarandon does it … she IS the essence of Bette Davis … hooray! … I’d been semi-dreading watching.

A lighter moment … Susan sings “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” on The Andy Williams Show … episode 4.

The original … zippy Bette … The Andy Williams Show … December 20, 1962 …

Duet … the two Bettes …

Jessica Lange’s Joan Crawford was interesting … but for me … it’s all about Bette …

• See Jezebel Red Cat … for a tiny taste of my month, alone, at Bette’s Butternut Cottage, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire

What ever happened to Baby Jane?
She could dance, she could sing,
Make the biggest theater ring;
Jane could do most anything;
What ever happened to Baby Jane?

What ever happened to Baby Jane?
When she’d walk down the street,
All the world was lying at her feet –
There was no one half as sweet.
What ever happened to Baby Jane?

I see her old movies on TV,
And they are always a thrill to me;
My Daddy says I can be just like her;
How I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish I were.

What ever happened to Baby Jane?
To her smile, her golden hair?
Why must everything be so unfair?
Is there no one left to care?
What happened to Baby Jane?
What really happened to Baby Jane?
What really happened … to Baby Jane?

– Bobby Helfer and Frank De Vol

Montana Moon, 1930

Montana Moon, 1930 … Joan Crawford, Johnny Mack Brown, Cliff Edwards, Benny Ruben … Thanks, Turner Classic Movies, for showing it again! … during my month at Bette Davis’s Butternut Cottage, Sugar Hill, New Hampshire! … July 2016 …

Recording of “The Moon Is Low” …

• Written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed
• Pretty sure it was in The Little Ranger, 1938 – Our Gang short

Torch Song

Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 4:30 pm — What’s on TCM now? … The 3rd installment, That’s Entertainment! III, 1994, just finished … Gene Kelly hosted … (Fred Astaire died in 1987 … Gene in 1996)  … Better than I remember …

Included Joan Crawford‘s “Two-Faced Woman” number, Torch Song, 1953 … Her return to MGM after 10 years …  and first Technicolor film …

Important Trivia! … What’s the Torch Song / The Band Wagon connection? … Both 1953 … Joan’s “Two Faced Woman” number was originally done by Cyd Charisse for The Band Wagon, then cut …

Jean or Ruth?

Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 10:19 pm — Who’s the snoozing character actress with Joan Crawford? … She looks like, she looks like … Ruth Donnelly? … No … It’s Jean Dixon …

Jean Dixon … 1896-1981 …

Ruth Donnelly … 1896-1982 …

Jean Dixon … Ruth Donnelly …

Jean Dixon … Ruth Donnelly …

Ruth Donnelly … Joan Crawford … Autumn Leaves, 1956 …

Ruth Donnelly … in her ingenue youth …

Ruth Donnelly …

Robert Montgomery

June 22, 2014 — There was a time when I was strangely attracted to Robert Montgomery (1904-1981), especially during the 1930s … See much and much more about him in the blog, Classic Montgomery: film thoughts from a modern day Robert Montgomery fangirl.

 A charming note from Joan Crawford to Robert Montgomery, incorporating their 3 films through 1932 …

For Bob
From an “Untamed” “Blushing Bride” called “Letty”
who hopes you will always be the “Man in Possession”
With fond memories
Always
Joan (“Crawford”)
Just Joan to you

Untamed, 1929

Our Blushing Brides, 1930

Letty Lynton, 1932

Their 6 movies:

• Untamed, 1929
• Our Blushing Brides, 1930
• Letty Lynton, 1932
• Forsaking All Others, 1934
• No More Ladies, 1935
• The Last of Mrs. Cheney, 1937

Summer Solstice

June 21, 2014 — I’ve always liked this photo of Joan Crawford … casual and real …

A Little Animation

Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Constance Bennett …  1933 Disney cartoon, Mickey’s Gala Premier on YouTube … Chock-full of Hollywood stars, most from MGM!

“We like Mickey and his happy smile
He will have us rolling in the aisle”

Front – Marie Dressler,  Wallace Beery, Will Rogers  Middle – Graucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, Lionel Barrymore (Rasputin and the Empress, 1932)  Back – Harold Lloyd

Oh, Steve …

Steve Cochran, 1917-1965 …  A Steve Cochran film festival would include these contenders …

The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946 – Virginia Mayo

Steve, his chest, and Virginia Mayo were in 6 films together …

** The Damned Don’t Cry, 1950 – Joan Crawford …  Robert Osborne’s TCM intro, June 9, 2010:  “Best of all is Steve Cochran, playing a Bugsy Siegel type … he proves to be the best leading man Joan Crawford had in any film in the 1950s. Someone who could simultaneously look as tough and attractive as she did at this point in her fabled career.”

Storm Warning, 1951 – Ginger Rogers … Theirs is NOT a friendly encounter … “One source of satisfaction in playing the role of Hank in Storm Warning was the feeling that I might be making a small contribution toward racial tolerance.” – Saturday Evening Post.

Tomorrow Is Another Day, 1951 – Ruth Roman … Going on the lam as migrant farm workers, Steve Cochran style!

Il Grido, 1957 – Mama, mia! …Aldo! …  Such neo-realistic Italian despair! And they ALL speak Italiano … Row 2 – Alida Valli; Dorian Gray.  Row 3 – Betsy Blair! … yes, the Betsy of Marty, 1955, and Gene Kelly’s first wife, 1941-57 … Hit by the Hollywood blacklist …

Come Next Spring, 1956 – Ann Sheridan … Wanderer wins back the love of his family in 1920s Arkansas. No noir in sight … Cochran purchased the story, then sold it to Republic.

A good collection of Steve Cochran photos is in Tumblr.

** What I’m watching as I’m typing … The Damned Don’t Cry!

Photoplay – January 1934

80 years ago, Photoplay’s cover girl … Joan Crawford …

14-inch movie star lamps … Wonder if any exist? Bet ebay knows! ..  “Your choice of Garbo, Crawford, Harlow, Gable, Chevalier, Mae West, Laurel, Hardy, Will Rogers, Dressler, W. Beery, Jackie Cooper, Lupe Velez, Joe E. Brown, Charles Chaplin. Also fine model of President Roosevelt.” … $2.50 …


Ramon Novarro … mirrored in a piano …

Madge Evans (1909-1981) … January 1934 Picture-Play cover. Both she and Joan co-starred with Ramon … Madge: Son of India (1931) and Huddle (1932) … Joan: Across to Singapore (1928) …

Media History Digital Library

If I Had a Dog …

March 14, 2013 —
… it would be a Scottish Terrier … Since I can’t, here’s a chance to live virtually via movie stars and their wee little Scotty / Scottie dogs!

GREAT photos at A Certain Cinema … Do a search for “dog” and you’ll find a wealth of pristine classic Hollywood pics of stars and their pups!

Below: A collection of Scotties and movie stars, with a few non-Hollywood royalty at the end:

Row 1 – Bette Davis; Constance Cummings

Row 2 – Hedy Lamarr and her mother; Helen Mack; Bogart

Row 3 – Ida Lupino; Ilona Massey; Joan Crawford;

Row 4 – Laraine Day; Shirley Temple; Bogart in Stand-In (1937)

Row 5 – Virginia Grey; Fala and Eleanor Roosevelt; Princess Victoria Alexandra and Mac (?)

                   

The Mysterious Ramon Novarro

Dec. 28, 2009 — How can I have a blog, without raising a glass to Ramon Novarro  (1899-1968) … Ramon … Why do I like him?  One of the sweet mysteries of life …

Signs of prior addiction:

• Plotted and planned to record his every film shown on TCM
• A thankfully brief eBay stint when I thought I could buy EVERYTHING Ramon.  Not possible, there’s just too much …
• Traveled miles over wintery mountain roads for a big-screen showing of The Red Lily, 1924,  at the Bijou Theatre, Lincoln City, Oregon.  Now THAT was a coup,  finding it in  little coastal Oregon!  The Ramon stars were truly aligned! …  All thanks to supreme Ramon-arian, Matias Bombal … December 6, 2000.
• Finally located his grave at Calvary Cemetery, Los Angeles.  Took two attempts, over several years, first with Debra, then Russ and little Krista.  Brave souls!

I have a hazy memory of a movie on tv … an Arab, an oasis … black and white … on a Portland, Oregon station, sometime between the 3rd and 6th grades.  I bought a small gold picture frame at a store in Battle Ground, with a photo of a young-ish Rock Hudson in a red and black lumberman’s shirt.  I must have got it more for the frame … Rock Hudson wasn’t really on my radar.

Back home at East Beaver Creek, I wrote on the back of Rock’s photo, “Ramon Novarro”. I definitely wrote a name … with an Arab and an oasis in mind …   So, which movie was it?  The Barbarian, 1933?  The Sheik Steps Out, 1934?  Maybe even Son of India, 1931? …  All three are sound, unlike the silent The Arab, 1924.

The mysteries of memory … In any case, here are a few of my favorite Ramon Novarro photos:

The Arab, 1924 – with Alice Terry

Across to Singapore, 1928

Across to Singapore, 1928 – with Joan Crawford

The Pagan, 1929

The Pagan, 1929 – with Dorothy Janis

Son of India, 1931 – with Madge Evans

The Barbarian, 1933 – with Myrna Loy

Could this be the film that sparked it all?  The Sheik Steps Out, 1934