One week left, bloggers. Time for those last-minute tweaks, then the dress rehearsal, and then curtain. Are you ready? Or are you looking to join the company? If this is you, we have a mighty big stage and plenty of room, so feel free to comment below. Here are all the details, as well as … Continue reading A Little Housekeeping (And One Week To Go)
Directed By Arch Oboler
I'm a big Arch Oboler fan. If you've been hanging around my blog for any length of time, you probably know this pretty well. Besides his prolific radio career, Oboler occasionally dipped his assertive big toe into screenwriting and directing, such as in the 1945 thriller, Bewitched. Put it this way: You know how we've all been … Continue reading Directed By Arch Oboler
The Terrible Miss Dove
Today is my son's last day of seventh grade. One more year and he'll be in high school. He's over the moon about it (and about summer vacation, of course), but I'm not ready for this. My kid is growing up too fast. Wow. Wow. Wow. In that spirit, I thought it would be cool … Continue reading The Terrible Miss Dove
Lucky Lindy
Seven years from now will be the one-hundredth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. Isn't that amazing? It used to be that people could barely move while planes were in the air because of ballast, and now commercial flights have wifi and comfy seats with lots of legroom, not to mention weirdly catchy safety videos. … Continue reading Lucky Lindy
Reading Rarities: Morale-Building Activities In Foreign Armies
Dear friends, unless you've been in the military, I'm guessing your thoughts look something like this right now: "Yikes." "Wow." "This looks boring." Also highly likely: "What is it?" That was my question when I spied Morale-Building Activities In Foreign Armies while poking around Winston Smith Books several years ago. I asked the cashier about … Continue reading Reading Rarities: Morale-Building Activities In Foreign Armies
Ziegfeld-less Follies
Mr. Ziegfeld, I presume... For someone who was the pinnacle of Broadway success, Florenz Ziegfeld didn't actually appear onscreen all that much as an actual character. Maybe once or twice, but that was about it. Oftentimes he was just an offscreen presence and his show was aspriational for many hopefuls. Other than that, he was … Continue reading Ziegfeld-less Follies
My Six From the 60s
It's National Classic Movie Day! Groovy, man... The 60s were a roller coaster of a decade, weren't they? Fashion went mod. America landed men on the moon. There was the Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated. The Beatles played on Ed Sullivan and the British … Continue reading My Six From the 60s
Cagney the Rogue
Despite his love for it, James Cagney didn't get to sing and dance a whole lot in the movies. Warners wanted him to be a gangster and nothing but with very few exceptions. So of course when Cagney got the chance to be a song-and-dance man, he ran, uh, danced with it. One of those … Continue reading Cagney the Rogue
The Binge Goes On
Aaaaand we're still quarantined in California. I won't give my opinion of certain people in charge of my state except to say, "Question everything," and "Consider the source." We do have light at the end of the tunnel, of course, but staying inside is definitely having its effects. A couple of weeks ago my dad … Continue reading The Binge Goes On
Stage To Screen: Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is infamous in a good way. It's a film that plenty of women relate to deeply because it's about women forming community. That most of it takes place in a beauty parlor is just fun and apt because plenty of us ladies like that sort of thing. It's a movie a lot of … Continue reading Stage To Screen: Steel Magnolias
One Month Until The Third Broadway Bound Blogathon
Thirty-one days and counting, people. Thirty-one days until we head back to the Great White Way for a third year of Broadway goodness. I'm glad and appreciative that people are so enthusiastic for this blogathon returning in spite of all the trouble and weirdness we're dealing with in the world right now. If Broadway is … Continue reading One Month Until The Third Broadway Bound Blogathon
Mariage Macabre
Ah, sweet mystery of life... If there's one thing we all know about Tim Burton, it's that he rarely does anything normal, and even then the weirdness shines through. His films have a tangibility in an age of CG that is very unusual and personal, and one of the best in my opinion is 2005's … Continue reading Mariage Macabre
Dude, Where’s My Ark?
The 1929 version of Noah's Ark is rather infamous. Directed by cinematic chameleon Michael Curtiz, its flood sequences are legendary, and there's a longstanding rumor that three extras drowned during shooting. I've been wanting to see this film for years, and when I finally got to take it in it was everything and nothing I was … Continue reading Dude, Where’s My Ark?
Taking Up Room 