tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69521320162362015342024-03-05T02:43:42.316-05:00The Films in My Life - a personal journal of cinemakate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00524340938024619737noreply@blogger.comBlogger441125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-51633583642405260542020-08-21T18:10:00.000-04:002020-08-21T18:10:23.030-04:00Milk Money (1994) and Truffaut<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtANePNGm-S5l3gh5fcfIPUnfDgypNlSsC-9VAEvQ9OzEVz_UUJS1FyWTynPODCizUwf-QNE7MULGY7oA3VzGcIO-EU1F6GR3xj0Et0bWcHZgsX3feQkSpoBJealugUT8uGH-KIiwT9_E/s500/3343012545371486802.jpg" width="500" /><br /><br />Back in 1994, the trailer for Milk Money seemed to be playing on a constant loop on my television. I was seven and the movie is rated PG-13, so it was a while before I ever got around to actually seeing it. But something about the previews always stuck with me and I grew up with a feeling of nostalgia for a movie I had never watched.<div><br /></div><div>I've now seen it a couple times, and during my most recent viewing I was struck with a feeling of familiarity that wasn't nostalgia for the previews I saw as a kid, but something else entirely. It reminded me of Truffaut. Now I know this is going to sound sacrilegious to some, especially since the movie was widely panned and has a whopping 10% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But there is definitely a common thread. I don't know if it was intentional or accidental (I researched to see if Richard Benjamin ever spoke of Truffaut as an influence, but the only mention I could ever find was when Benjamin said he was filming The Last of Sheila at the same studio where Truffaut was filming Day for Night) but either way, if you watch this film as an homage to Truffaut, I think you'll see an entirely different picture and perhaps appreciate it a little more than you would have otherwise. I'm going to break this down into a few themes that are central to Truffaut's work --</div><div><br /></div><div>1. A coming of age story</div><div><br /></div><div>Milk Money centers mainly around a young adolescent boy, Frank, and his friends, as they navigate their confusing and exciting entry into adulthood. It's nearly impossible to watch scenes of them cycling together, about to get into mischief, and not see hints of Les Mistons. Their fascination with female anatomy in particular reminded me of the scene in Les Mistons when the kids smell Bernadette's bicycle seat. </div><div><br /></div><div>In order to learn more about women, the kids decide to pull their milk money at school and save up to hire a sex worker in the city. I think this might seem a little weird or jarring for a movie made in the '90s, but recall in The 400 Blows, Antoine Doinel recounts his attempt to learn the ways of the world by seeing a sex worker who specializes in young boys (unfortunately for Antoine, she wasn't home the day he called on her.) And in The Man Who Loved Women, a flashback shows Bertrand succeeding where Antoine had failed.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a specific combination of childhood sweetness and adult themes that should feel incongruous, but somehow always works in Truffaut's films. And I think it works here, too. So many reviewers marveled at how this seemed to be at once a children's film and an R rated picture, and why didn't the director just make up his mind. But I think that's one of the things that is endearing about Truffaut's movies and it's endearing here, as well. If you think back to how you felt when you were 12 or 13, not entirely sure which world you belonged in and trying desperately to find out everything you could about the secrets of adulthood, it's a lot easier to relate to a movie that has one foot in the cradle and one in a King size bed.</div><div><br /></div><div>2. Women are magic</div><div><br /></div><div>It's difficult to think of a movie where Truffaut did not express his belief that women are magic. He was mesmerized by women, idolized them, and thought of them as wonderful enigmas. While this might be an outdated concept now (and might be part of the reason that Milk Money gets a bad rap) it's definitely woven into the fabric of the 1994 movie, too. Frank's father, Tom - played by Ed Harris - is a widow, and all that Frank knows about his mother was that she looked like Grace Kelly. He has put her on a pedestal, idolizing her memory for him and his son. When Tom meets and falls for V, he also sees her as Grace Kelly. She is a princess. Magic.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the scene in the school where V helps Frank to teach female anatomy to his classmates also harkens back to the fascination with women's legs displayed in The Man Who Loved Woman (and, more broadly, throughout all of Truffaut's oeuvre.) It's a unique and strange combination of reverence and objectification.</div><div><br /></div><div>3. Random gangster subplot!</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, in addition to the coming of age tale and Tom's love story with V, we also have a gangster subplot complete with a classic car chase and a bumbling tough guy. Waltzer's comical proclamations that he doesn't like things ("I don't like closets!") reminded me of Ernest and Momo's small talk after they've kidnapped Charles Aznavour's Charlie in Shoot the Piano Player. </div><div><br /></div><div>Is it Richard Benjamin paying tribute to Truffaut paying tribute to the classic American gangster films of the 1930s? It certainly feels like it. Shoot the Piano Player was dragged at the time of its release for being similarly disjointed - is it a comedy? Is it a crime film? A romance? The combination of varying visual styles and genres was met with criticism, but I think the movie is so charming, and it's actually one of my favorite Truffaut films. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are some other similarities as well - like when V is enchanted by the calm and safety of suburbia it reminded me of how Antoine Doinel made himself a part of Colette's family in Antoine and Colette, desperate to feel a sense of stability that was lacking in his own life. And the fact that were it not for the '90s clothing and a few pop culture references you could easily believe that Milk Money takes place in 1958. It's imbued with that same sense of timelessness that is a hallmark of most Truffaut films. Even in Jules and Jim, when world events mark a specific place in time, or all of the Antoine Doinel films that have a decidedly '60s or '70s look to them, you can watch the movie and think "when exactly does this take place?"</div><div><br /></div><div>So am I saying this is as good as a Truffaut film? Not at all. Honestly, not even close. But seen as an homage to the master of the coming of age story, I think it at least deserves a reevaluation. If you can see and appreciate the elements that make a Truffaut movie charming and endearing, perhaps you'll find this movie charming and endearing as well. </div>kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-8811692391226055232020-05-22T17:46:00.002-04:002020-06-11T15:50:36.494-04:00Set photos from Sunday in New York (1963) and Made in Paris (1966)<a href="https://i.imgur.com/UXAjHUx.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5mikKOYuyfa2CVItotzNMYtXNWL32UNlfBJ_M_YnPaxD0uRFoofImnDPUezKiLcu97lVwB2G-S0LFjggaILEQUrjK2UMTJDT8Lz705PtJwKNOR5iQI1xxMFsK_LLSI1Iuz1kLDFS7sE/s1600/2020-05-19-0002500.jpg" /></a>
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A couple weeks ago I purchased two photos from the set of Sunday in New York on ebay. Thanks to the expertise of my friend & Rod Taylor historian Diane, who runs <a href="http://www.rodtaylorsite.com/" target="_blank">The Complete Rod Taylor Site</a>, I'm able to share that the cast was celebrating Rod Taylor's marriage in the photo above! He's holding a giant card signed by the cast and crew with a caricature of Rod and wedding bells. Diane also shared with me that the man next to Rod is his friend and stand-in Marco Lopez! In the photo below, you can see Robert Culp and Jane Fonda on the couch, with Rod Taylor's back to the camera.<br />
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<a href="https://i.imgur.com/L5fYKgV.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFHBmbT1l57AuqlkpylaR7EWz9Q_oN5513GnYGmK5LEfB91wpMKq82nmHoVPT-H3XJA4bNvbXvJr2mpSoi5kaWRrLno-oT8KMNkyzjS4yv0Xvdu9qYC2eLpEPxDgN-mlsqdW4UeCzURI/s1600/2020-05-19-0001500.jpg" /></a><br />
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But our story doesn't end here! After I purchased these Sunday in New York photos, the ebay seller reached out to me to ask if I could help identify actors in some photos that he had in his collection. He e-mailed me four small photos, one of which was a contact sheet. Squinting at my screen I exclaimed, "It can't be!" The contact sheet appeared to contain 12 photos from the set of Made in Paris (1966) starring Chad Everett. What serendipity!! I consulted my fellow Chad Everett enthusiast on twitter, <a href="http://twitter.com/jaxbra" target="_blank">Jackie</a>, to see if she agreed with my assessment and together we pieced together some clues. I have an 8x10 still of Chad Everett in the same outfit, leaning against a Pan Am airplane in a promotional photo for Made in Paris. Jackie realized that the photo number on my still was part of the same sequence used on the contact sheet. I was sold!<br />
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I finally opened up the package today and was able to see for the first time, up close, that we were indeed correct! Here are 12 photos from what appears to be a deleted scene from Made in Paris, with Richard Crenna!<br />
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As always, you can click on all of these photos to see them larger :)<br />
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<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-81223599900001999362020-05-07T23:43:00.001-04:002020-05-07T23:43:39.939-04:00Original transparencies from Sunday in New York (1963)<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GAaNLNPUxwqYeDLaJ0Lk1yJSaY4DOtteraXtILcg1pezSh9YTwBckHweeA4J6VgLnmWX57DFOUpl62lp00xwPc3QWnWPHoKrffw0mRKQSelFfF8ZKT4_BdLajT6_fde6pvLQPY5ZC7s/s1600/transparencies.png" width="500" />
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I recently acquired two original transparencies from Sunday in New York (1963) and I'm so excited to share them with you! I photographed them on my lightbox and then imported them into Photoshop to adjust the tones and clean up a few dust and scratch marks. I think my favorite thing about these photos is how you can see the tape on the floor for Robert Culp's mark in the first photo!<br />
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If you click on the pictures you can view and download larger versions of the images.<br />
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<a href="https://i.imgur.com/aPBTCbb.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimt4Dtq7NmPvBeC9yP8x0ESDOZ0FM640IB6bsCxmeZ9eRy8pgqiXJzcIjw3IsN6yJpl6b6YfCQj4p9lCULwvIkzX_UfrmqPkUDxR_svCtdWF2Mg9pKmM30CJQr1XLvdXP-p_jjNT66lAM/s1600/IMG_0046-small.png" width="500" /></a>
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<a href="https://i.imgur.com/iEMb7M1.png"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNbkozm1X35NTSWlnGyYFqhLmI2A8N9K3pCLegfBFmUrrS1fygIEm6z8qBAhoMadZbT72X1QEQTqpza72JeER5iG9BQ5we8mqwd1wQuqFj27YP8R5K5D0TuBHxxFuCNF0Ej-BT1wVW0A/s1600/IMG_0047-small.png" width="500" /></a>kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-13887585307486142512020-04-24T16:28:00.001-04:002020-04-24T16:31:52.661-04:00Chad Everett original snapshots<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ljKq-f-FTL8DWSJ0P6jqBwp8IJSsDiRbC-qJKSeCh6IARn3B5eLb3H5dkGverENJFjQaf2vFWG8n8b1CgUIONtxjYo70VYJi4J13UkVFBT1YWsgLhPtT8_dmHP3axRZQjoF8k49DkrQ/s1600/chadphotos.png" width="500" /><br />
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I had the good fortune to win an ebay auction recently for four original snapshots of Chad Everett! The seller didn't provide any information about where the photographs came from, but I'm wondering if they belonged to someone who knew him since the photo with Connie Stevens is inscribed on the back simply "Chad and Connie S."<br />
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There was some definite reddening of the tones, and some dust and spots that I retouched in photoshop. The first photo below is my absolute favorite. I'm crossing the line here that separates collector from fangirl, but... that hair curl!<br />
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You can click on the photos to see and download larger versions.<br />
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<a href="https://i.imgur.com/HCAaNyE.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAbB4lul-TFsko1TEWGjo95xkOo9bApoiriCtf6grFNRofv-aH5kD1F7qnbb9YDuSzNQCo0tsExoeMwE8PZYyJe7abo_QQBc3HZ3UsObIRfonn7xRkaCG_aPmJztIm9CCdWoSDy01azoM/s1600/2020-04-24-0001-retouched.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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<a href="https://i.imgur.com/86yXwOc.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhMTCHZRsQMv8q533ncJpoibRwxeTKK3XjmvZbsvoc59OwW7OGFfa8AQj56cv3aLEEAEzuF9rsPsyi5G4fl-19wil78dXTtbxBq0Ej57hzVjo-HtEp2QcSUBjIyKqMHDNKKphmy_mXttc/s1600/2020-04-24-0004-retouched.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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If anyone has any information about the photos please let me know! I'd love to know when the photo with Connie Stevens was taken. I know that they worked together on five episodes of Hawaiian Eye in the early 1960s, so I'm curious if the studio paired them up for an event to try to raise his star a bit.
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While researching I found <a href="https://www.hmpwebsite.org/luncheonMorePhotos.html?lastHonoreeId=56%26pac" target="_blank">this page</a> from the 2011 Hollywood Media Professionals luncheon that honored Chad Everett. If you scroll down you can see a few photos of him reunited with Connie Stevens just a little over a year before he passed away in July of 2012.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-27477890282650963132020-04-14T21:06:00.002-04:002020-04-14T23:47:12.895-04:00My picks for the Special Home Edition of the TCM Film Festival<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xEJgcXjx5RH2Dtb5nipvIjpqqR4rheCTlYOXmLVkLloRJaVvEa6u3Sg-wqCD6Li5OqzGRQ_XKQ6-q8Mxq0OO4Tc-ntFU2gQ3mSHsZBIqKPuF0ezyfPEPjhvwKLchW9OSZzq2gzkP5YU/s1600/tcmgiftsdec2019.png" width="500" /><br />
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Since the TCM Film Festival was cancelled, the network has launched a <a href="http://filmfestival.tcm.com/special-home-edition/" target="_blank">Special Home Edition</a> of the festival instead! They'll be showing events and films from festivals past, as well as a few new treats that had been intended for this year's fest. Normally I have a hard time choosing which movie to pick when 5 great films are all scheduled at the same time, but this year my only struggle is deciding which movies to record on my limited DVR space, lol!<br />
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I will definitely be utilizing my DVR for films that are playing while I'm sleeping or working, but I definitely recommend trying to watch the films live if you can. Not only has TCM promised exclusive content and special guests, but watching something live while you're logged into your favorite social media app can help make the festival feel even more real. The collective laughter and the feeling of a shared experience at the movies can still be accessed remotely through the wonder of the internet :)<br />
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Without further ado, here are my picks:<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/16 at 8PM EST - A Star is Born (1954)</span> I actually just watched this for the very first time last week, and I really enjoyed it! I had only seen the 1937 version and I'd always been so sure that nobody could ever rival the performances of Janet Gaynor and Fredric March so it wasn't even worth giving the other adaptations the time of day. But Judy Garland and James Mason were outstanding. There was one scene where Judy Garland was talking through a kind of dry-heave cry that was so heartwrenching I found myself suddenly situated in the "why didn't she get an Oscar for this?!" camp. I still prefer the original, but I enjoyed this so much that I'm already looking forward to revisiting it again this Friday.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/16 at 1:45AM EST - Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival (2011)</span> I adore Luise Rainer and I'm so sad that her appearance at the festival came 3 years before I was able to attend in person. My only concern in watching this is that I'm afraid she'll mention her distaste for my personal favorite of her films, Dramatic School. It's the loveliest film about a girl who gets lost in her daydreams and even though I've read that she wasn't fond of the movie it's been a favorite ever since I first saw it in high school. I have a habit of really loving movies that the stars didn't like (another one that comes to mind is The Notorious Landlady, a film that I love but Jack Lemmon did not.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/17 at 8:30AM - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)</span> I'm trying to be more open minded about westerns now, ever since I watched a few with Chad Everett last year and realized they're actually very enjoyable! And since those were sort of B-tier westerns (one was never even released into theaters) I'd imagine that I'll really like a Grade A film like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Besides, I just need to fix the fact that Donovan's Reef is my current favorite teaming of John Ford and John Wayne. That's not acceptable, right? lol<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/17 at 12:30PM - A Hard Day's Night (1964)</span> This was one of my all time favorite experiences at the TCM Film Festival. Me and Nicole had tried to get into a pre-code on standby and didn't make it, so we decided to get in line for this on a whim instead. Two hours later we were full fledged Beatles fangirls! I cannot wait to revisit this and relive all of those fun memories!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbyHkko6YlffL0IWq1gr0Xtr_R4mYmgxCwjtL_ag09AE6pS-r-19ewVkfgGYNwPLVC1l3Q5J83hF8GOfzPOEXC_x6qZqyv6wMcwXVxMnynIXGOyEZJVdwCvqniGLWJe5lKus_MTUZezg/s1600/IMG_8191.JPG" width="500" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/17 at 3:15PM - North by Northwest (1959)</span> This is one of those movies that I end up watching pretty much every time it airs on TCM, so whether it was part of the festival or just showing on a random Saturday, I'd probably have it on. It's my brother's favorite Hitchcock movie so my family has enjoyed this one countless times over the years and watching it always takes me to that warm cozy fuzzy family memory place. We could all use that right about now, right?<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/17 at 8PM - Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015)</span> I watched this on the recommendation of my friend Raquel from <a href="http://www.outofthepastblog.com/" target="_blank">Out of the Past</a> and it's one of those movies that not only lived up to, but exceeded my expectations. It is one of the sweetest documentaries I've ever seen in my life, and as an illustrator I couldn't help but feel in awe of, and inspired by, Harold's storyboard art. Raquel will be live-tweeting this while it airs so be sure to pop over to twitter and <a href="http://twitter.com/raquelstecher" target="_blank">follow along with her</a>!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/17 at 3:15AM - Night Flight (1933)</span> I have six words for you: <i>Robert. Montgomery. movie. I've. never. seen.</i> That's all I need to say, right?<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/18 at 6AM - The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)</span> I can't pass up Frank Sinatra's greatest performance! Ever since I was 13 it's been one of my life's missions to preach the gospel of Frank Sinatra's acting talent and there is no better display than this film (except maybe From Here to Eternity. And The Joker is Wild. And Kings Go Forth. And. and. and.) His portrayal of a man trying to battle addiction while tied down to an overbearing and deceitful wife is staggering! It's also a lot to take in at 6am so I'll probably be DVRing this one and watching it later in the day with some chocolate to help get me through.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/19 at 9AM - Peter O'Toole, Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival (2012)</span> This event occurred two years before I was able to attend in person, although meeting Peter O'Toole's wax figure at the wax museum on Hollywood Boulevard was definitely one of the highlights of my 2014 trip!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikNliHI0KjGziUbaF0r3725r0kvSKIGfFV4FUwF2YLwFys2NSCFKn2hHEkZ-6WiuMssZSF-tuzPK9RSbUbDTCtsf2Ki6V0131eAY1I5j93fQSlKg0ZKCwC74TEbvGsk41e067OSj8vuss/s1600/IMG_8227.JPG" width="500" /><br />
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Peter O'Toole was such a fascinating man - one of those actors whose offscreen life was just as interesting and lively as their onscreen life, someone who had a quick wit and a sharp tongue. I cannot wait to hear all the stories he had to tell Robert Osborne in 2012!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/19 at 8PM - Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (2016)</span> Floyd Norman was one of the announced guests for the 2020 Festival, and I was really looking forward to hearing him speak and seeing one of the films he worked on, The Sword in the Stone. I love that TCM still found a way to honor him during the Home Edition of the festival! Animation is often a tedious, thankless art form and I love that TCM has been honoring the artists behind the animated films we all love so much!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4/19 at 1:45AM - Baby Face (1933)</span> Is there any better way to round out the festival than with pre-code Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way up the corporate ladder? I think not! I have seen Baby Face more times than I can count, but I am super excited about watching it again and experiencing it as part of this stay at home festival.<br />
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Two films that I would normally LOVE but have decided to skip out on this year are The Seventh Seal and Jezebel. I love me some Ingmar Bergman and Bette Davis but I'm not in a plaguey mood at the moment. I know, that's normally right up my alley, but I just can't. If you're tolerating the outbreak situation better than I am, though, I highly recommend both films. The Seventh Seal is phenomenal and I really wish I was in the mood to watch it. I may tune in before it starts to see if they include the interview with Max Von Sydow, though. It'll be showing at 6:45AM on 4/17 if you'd like to watch!<br />
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And that about wraps up my picks and recommendations! One thing that's actually cool about the festival this year is that all the people who never got to go in person get to participate this time around. I always have very intense FOMO on the years that I stay home, so it's nice that we all get to experience it together this year :)<br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-7036193757117377522020-03-10T02:56:00.000-04:002020-03-10T02:56:10.497-04:00Luv (1967) - Did it live up to the poster?<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzRdfbP-ZJQBBA9ffADdJW7K2CTPp4NtQWnjVLCURlo2zqQGOoOZJsN4XCar0lDnDFqkDZchVhDLW1GdCj80WMEoAxUQ5KK-FIhcL1hV4FKjzLZXLSbJGyEP73vq9lnmAL8QNwTBiI5P8/s1600/51PKycQFDRL._AC_.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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I find myself seeking out movies based on poster art fairly frequently. A fun color scheme or some Bob Peak illustrations will catch my eye and the next thing I know I've got my hands on the DVD of a movie that I know absolutely nothing about, except that whoever designed the poster did a pretty great job.<br />
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I thought it might be fun to turn these discoveries into a series here! I'm calling it <i>"Did it live up to the poster?</i>" I'll lay out what I expect from the movie based on the poster, and then I'll follow up with whether or not the film actually lived up to my expectations. First up is Luv (1967) starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, and Elaine May.<br />
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I came across this while browsing for a new poster for my office and fell head over heels in love (in luv?) with the color scheme. I'll be honest here- the poster was $2.99 and I went ahead and bought it without seeing the movie. I'm a sucker for pink and an even bigger sucker for pink-and-red. Couple that with a heart, some groovy lettering, and flowers and I'm sold. I was all in way before I even noticed that all-star roster of actors. Now let's just hope that I like Luv enough to warrant hanging it up on my wall!<br />
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Here's what I'm expecting, based entirely on the poster and the brief synopsis I read on letterboxd: An offbeat comedy, maybe similar to What's Up, Doc? (1972). I cannot figure out why this movie is coming to mind, but I'm picturing a Sweet November (1968) vibe, but obviously a much lighter subject. I feel like it's going to be a movie whose poster is way brighter and more colorful than the actual movie. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it's more technicolor than I'm anticipating, but I'm so often let down by colorful posters promoting very muted movies that I'm not getting my hopes up in that regard. I think, based on the fact that it was a Broadway play, it'll be dialogue-heavy and the humor will be found in clever turns-of-phrase rather than slapstick. I think it'll be geared towards over-thirties but it'll have some element in it that randomly features hippies. I think it'll have a happy ending.<br />
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<i>Okay! I'll be back in 95 minutes to let you know how I liked it!</i><br />
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Alright. I'm back! First I'll address whether or not my assumptions were correct. I was right that the movie wasn't really as colorful as the poster (although few movies not directed by Jacques Demy ever are!) but it also wasn't really as desaturated as I thought it would be. Most of the color came from the women's outfits, bright rain gear, and a surprising pink-shirt-red-tie combo that Jack Lemmon donned. It has a very similar pace to What's Up, Doc? (although a bit slower in some parts, whereas WUD is pretty consistently paced from start to finish.) It was definitely dialogue heavy, but it also included a ton of unexpected slapstick. Jack Lemmon jumped up onto a ceiling rafter to avoid a dog, two characters dangled precariously from the side of a loading dock in a New York harbor, and one character accidentally gets caught on top of an elevator that keeps landing between floors. It was geared at an older audience, but it did not feature any random hippies. As for that happy ending... I think it depends on how you look at it.<br />
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Peter Falk plays a man who wants to hand off his wife to an old friend so that he can marry his mistress instead. He tells Jack Lemmon's character, "I'm more in love today than on the day I got married... but my wife she won't give me a divorce." This arrangement is a welcome one for Elaine May, who plays Falk's wife, since she's been keeping a weekly chart that shows her husband's declining interest in the bedroom. Sensing that she can finally find romance again with Jack Lemmon, she agrees to a divorce with Falk and hops right into another loveless marriage with Lemmon. The entire film was worth it just for the last 30 minutes or so, when Falk and May realize that they should get back together and try to pawn their current spouses off on each other!<br />
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I really enjoyed this movie, although I think I would have liked it a lot more if Jack Lemmon had toned down his character a bit. He affected a very strong accent (Brooklyn maybe? I'm not 100% sure what he was going for) that's kind of distracting, and every movement, every line uttered, is excessively over the top. I personally prefer Jack Lemmon dialed down a bit, especially when the other characters in the movie all seem to be playing at a lower volume than he is. Elaine May and Peter Falk were *chefs kiss* perfection here. There is one scene early on in the film when Falk is trying to pretty her up to meet Lemmon for the first time -- applying lipstick and teasing her hair -- and their chemistry is so natural that it made me wish they had been a regular screen team. They both have a distinct presence and unique mannerisms that seem authentic, not like they're doing a bit.<br />
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Elaine May is one of those performers who takes normal words and turns them into works of art -- her unique pronunciation of the word "tremors" filled me with glee. I also loved the way that Falk describes May to Lemmon, "She's an exceptional woman. She has a photographic memory. And she paints. And she makes charts. And she plays the guitar. And Harry, she reads. Books I've never heard of. With hard covers." And when Lemmon and May go on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls they take turns one-upping each other to see how much they love each other. Lemmon tears off part of May's dress and says "do you still love me?!" then May casually whips out a pair of scissors and slices his suspenders. "Do you still love me now??" Lemmon tosses her fur coat into the falls. "How about now??" It was an incredibly cute and well executed display of affection, and one of the most fun parts of the film.<br />
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So. Does this live up to the poster? Yes, I think it does. It was a very fun movie, light and silly and strange. Elaine May and Peter Falk were an absolute delight to watch and I think I would definitely revisit this one again. And thank god, because I really wanted to hang this poster up on my wall! :)kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-74803044752962845132020-02-29T23:26:00.000-05:002020-02-29T23:26:17.411-05:00Black Death on the Silver Screen<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqV0__JViYP0JdNEZ5Ut3I4xa5lRyG6zY9abMtWOVeWdBk9rhWJS8Svw-WQG3UNJ9LrnVY0EOHwg1huE5Wi6chSXV-1z3emKTxT6KlunlTWuv6CF_5XjgnMOpw06TC0509m0P4zyfBCY4/s1600/Untitled_Artwork+13800.png" width="500" /><br />
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For the last year I've been working on my first podcast concept, a series about films that feature pandemics and plagues called "<a href="https://www.blackdeathonthesilverscreen.com/" target="_blank">Black Death on the Silver Screen</a>." The idea is to interview one person from the world of science & one from the world of film to tackle "the hard science, the movie magic, and everything in between." I'm putting the project on hold for now because it doesn't seem appropriate to launch a light podcast about such a dark topic while the world is tackling a real live pandemic, and I'm not about to ask an epidemiologist to be a guest on a movie podcast at a time like this. But I know that a lot of people are currently interested in watching more movies about plagues and pandemics now, so I want to share some of my research and recommendations here today.<br />
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For some reason we're drawn to fictional accounts of real live horrors. Maybe it's the happy endings that assuage our fears and convince us that this is a solvable crisis, maybe we want an idea of what to expect when our worst fears become reality, or maybe it's just an unfortunate form of masochism. Whatever the cause, <b>Contagion (2011) </b>is the number one trending Amazon Prime rental in my area right now and it's not hard to guess why.<br />
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In my research for the podcast I was surprised to learn that there aren't actually an awful lot of movies about plagues, even going back to the silent era. If you remove zombie outbreaks from the picture, the list dwindles even more. And often the outbreak is just a small slice of the plot and not the main focus, like in <b>Arrowsmith (1931) </b>or <b>So Long at the Fair (1950)</b>. My own theory as to why outbreaks aren't a more popular cinematic subject is that it's a form of horror that is a bit too realistic, and lacking the sense of romance and/or mystery that art has found in murder, shipwrecks, and even certain diseases like consumption (tuberculosis.) You can't kill it with a knife through the brain, you can't hide from it under the basement steps. Your sense of cunning will not help you outsmart it. It's the worst kind of movie villain, because it is so possible and so real.<br />
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My own fascination with this tiny genre started when I saw the movie <b>Outbreak (1995)</b> as a kid. I'm not sure that anything up until that point scared me as much as that movie did. There was one scene in particular that has haunted me, where the camera follows virus particles moving through an air vent like a killer snaking his way through hallways looking for his next kill. I think it really planted in me the idea that this was something of which I had cause to be afraid. It wasn't a made-up movie monster, or a figment of my imagination hiding in my closet -- this was a real thing that could come and get me.<br />
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Of course, it's somewhat easier to find some enjoyment in movies that take place during plagues long past, like The Black Death of the 14th century. One of my favorites depicting this era is <b>The Pied Piper (1972)</b>, which I wrote about <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2017/07/the-pied-piper-1972.html" target="_blank">here</a>. And the most famous film about the plague is probably <b>The Seventh Seal (1957) </b>in which Max Von Sydow stakes his life on a game of chess with the grim reaper (pictured in my drawing above eating popcorn.) These films don't feel as intensely scary as a film like <b>Outbreak</b> because they take place in world that is so far-removed from our own, filled with knights and castles and traveling troupes of actors. They also feature a monster -- Yersinia Pestis, more commonly known as plague -- that can be stopped in its tracks nowadays with modern medicine.<br />
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That being said, an infectious movie can still pack a punch even if its star villain is no longer a threat to humanity. Two movies from 1950 - <b>Panic in the Streets</b> and <b>The Killer That Stalked New York</b> - feature contagions that have either been neutered or eradicated, but the claustrophobic feeling of being stuck in a city with pestilence on the loose still rings true today. These movies are unsettling and terrifying, but they are also great examples of government and law enforcement working fast and efficiently to stop the killer in its tracks. If you're looking for a film that will give you a little bit of hope during the current epidemic I'd suggest one of these.<br />
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If you're looking for something that might trick your brain into thinking this is all a bad dream with gorgeous and spooky cinematography, I'd suggest checking out Val Lewton's production of <b>Isle of The Dead (1945).</b> It has the same vibe as I Walked With a Zombie, but with plague. It's a good movie to watch if your current thinking is "I want to watch something about this but I still want to pretend it's not happening."<br />
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Ideally I want to avoid zombie films on the podcast, but for the sake of this post I'm going to include a few of my favorites, just because the atmosphere in zombie movies is very similar to actual outbreaks. The fear of other people who might be carrying the bug, the initial stage of the outbreak when people are hearing reports on the radio or television and aren't entirely sure what's going on, the fear of the unknown. Those are all relatable experiences even if we're not dealing with hungry reanimated corpses. My favorites in this genre are <b>Night of the Living Dead (1968)</b>, <b>The Last Man on Earth (1964)</b>, and <b>World War Z (2013)</b>. I normally stick to older films on this blog, but World War Z was truly fantastic and the ending was utterly perfect. This is another one I'd highly recommend if you need a little dose of hope and a reminder that modern science has got our collective backs.<br />
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If, like me, this kind of stuff really freaks you out and can send you spiraling with panic, anxiety, and gut-churning worry, I highly recommend listening to the new podcast <b>Epidemic with Dr. Celine Gounder and Ronald Klain</b>. They're releasing weekly episodes that break down what's happening with the coronavirus and their first episode this week was very informative and helped me to calm down a bit. Hopefully someday soon this will all be over and I can invite one of them to talk movies with me on my own podcast. In the mean time, do not touch your face and for the love of god, please wash your hands.<br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-23510536521697769402019-12-24T20:58:00.001-05:002019-12-24T21:08:28.237-05:00Looking back on twenty years of looking back<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzvsPBCuXW1lAJkhOPXb-dZ91bfb3oRUedBTJZAlxVz4AI9R2rSPaednS8BO_Dm4lZd9XFz2wu9E5g5T2R8Fmjsm99cmfsqh2An9Pr0uj0H_f5KfYcbCoIyNuJuEHuji157eWqO4bl9E/s1600/10060001.JPG" width="500" />
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In December 1999 the world was looking forward to a new millennium, and I made a screeching 180' turn in the opposite direction, feet planted firmly in the 20th century. As everyone scrambled to prepare for Y2K I confronted the more pressing concern that my local video store wasn't stocking nearly enough Jimmy Stewart movies on VHS. Who needs The Backstreet Boys' Millennium when December 1963 was <i>what a night</i>!<br />
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I was in eighth grade and home from school on Christmas vacation when my mom turned on AMC and I became completely and totally enraptured by How to Steal a Million. Peter O'Toole's crystal blue eyes and Audrey Hepburn's aura of chic captured me heart, body, and soul. Nothing in my life had ever hit me like this. It was love, unconditional love. It's not unreasonable to say that movies have been there for me for my entire adult life. They've wrapped me up in their warm embrace, provided comfort whenever I needed it, and whispered to me that I'm not alone. They're a constant, as ever-present as my heartbeat, the thought that always sits on the edge of a reverie-- "now would be a good time to watch a movie."<br />
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How to Steal a Million sparked a fanatical interest in Audrey Hepburn. I rented all of her movies that I could get my hands on, pored over her biographies at the library, and immediately signed up to volunteer with UNICEF. Audrey Hepburn turned me into a teenage tornado of compassion and altruism. I became the local volunteer representative for my area and attended the UNICEF annual gala in Washington, DC. I spoke in front of my school board, joined (and became president of) our town's Youth Advisory Committee, and interned at the Mayor's Office. I painted faces for charity, gave talks to elementary school students, and got my school to put Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF boxes in classrooms. I started an annual dance for senior citizens hosted by teenagers, and launched a poster contest for kindergarteners. I owe every single one of those acts to Audrey Hepburn and the ways in which her kindness and good-heartedness inspired me to harness those qualities in myself.<br />
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Every school project from December 1999 onwards was about classic movies. I printed out photos of my favorite movie stars and affixed them to my folders and notepads, a different star for each subject. Rudolph Valentino - History. Charles Boyer - French. Robert Montgomery - English. In high school I had to write a big paper for GT and I chose to write about film restoration. To this day, it is one of the highlights of my entire life that I got to interview Robert Osborne for my paper. The kind TCM employee (his first name was Shane, I don't remember his last, but he was to me as much an angel as Clarance is to George Bailey) sent me oodles of TCM paraphernalia including a pen, a watch, a set of magnets, and -- still one of my most cherished possessions -- a signed copy of Robert Osborne's book. I will never forget his kindness in helping to make a nerdy, fledgling classic film fan's dreams come true. It is insane to me now that I have a friend who works at TCM (*waves hello to Diana, who is LIVING THE DREAM!*) and that maybe she'll be able to work her Clarence magic for some other young film fans, too.<br />
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Ten years into my classic movie obsession, I started this blog. (If you're counting, that means this blog has been kicking for ten whole years. Three more years and it'll be the same age that I was when I first stared into Peter O'Toole's baby blues!) I don't blog as often as I did that first year, but I'm so glad that I've kept it up. Earlier this year I renamed my blog from "Silents and Talkies" to "The Films in My Life: a personal journal of cinema" and I feel like it's a much more accurate reflection of the content. This is my film diary. I love to write when a movie really moves me, and tack photos to these digital pages in the same way that Robert Montgomery was plastered all over my English notebooks. I wish that the internet had existed in its current form when I was 13, starstruck by old movies, and totally alone. Sometimes I'm seized by an unhealthy jealousy when I see young classic film fans interacting on twitter, recalling the days in the early aughts when my schoolmates bullied me for liking dead actors and my only respite was... more dead actors. Nobody my age "got it" and until I started this blog in 2009 I legitimately believed I was the only person in the world under the age of 80 who knew who Guy Kibbee was.<br />
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The classic film community is so much larger than I ever could have dreamed as a teenager, demographically much younger, and so inclusive. But I always feel like I'm on the outside looking in -- I just don't have whatever tools are necessary to build lasting friendships (with a few exceptions) or to ease my way into a conversation without feeling like I'm butting in. I feel like that might be why blogging initially came more easily to me than social media has. This blog was like my own little club house, and when people would leave comments it was like they climbed up the ladder and knocked to come in. Social media is more like a playground game where everyone is tossing the ball to each other and I don't have the nerve to join in. (Does my brain relate everything in my life back to school? Unfortunately, yes.) Anyway, this incoherent paragraph is all to say -- I was so wrong when I thought I was alone in this particular interest. There are so many people around my age (and, now that I'm the ripe old age of 33, much younger than me) consumed by their love of classic film, and even if I have a hard time interacting with those people, my little universe is all the better for their presence in it. One time at the TCM Classic Film Festival a friend and I were discussing our favorite James Gleason movies. I've thought of that moment often, pausing to reflect on it as a gift to my lonely teenage self. I never imagined a world in which another person my age knew who <i>Cary Grant</i> was, let alone James Gleason.<br />
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There are just so many (too many!) things that I want to cram into this post that I think I have no other recourse but to break up my thoughts into a few different posts. I want to write about all of my classic film obsessions - ALL OF THEM - from the first moment I laid eyes on Frank Sinatra in February of 2000 to the moment that Chad Everett walked onto my projector screen this past April and Zing! went the strings of my heart, and all of the Robert Montgomerys, Alain Delons, and Ronald Colmans along the way. I want to write about my all time favorite go-to ride-or-die movies, the ones that I know by heart. I want to write about which movies recall certain memories or times in my life. About the phase I went through when I started my art "career" in which I named every single painting after the movie I was watching while I painted it. I want to write about TCM schedule memories -- the year that Summer Under the Stars featured Dirk Bogarde and I just about lost my mind over him, or the year that Shelley Winters died and her tribute preempted a day of Robert Montgomery movies and I held it against her for a LONG time. I want to write about actors that I've come around to after disliking them for years (cough, Glenn Ford, cough) and movies that, after two decades of consuming classic movies like they were air or water, I still have not watched yet (cough, The Sound of Music, cough.) And I want to write about the movies that have been the most personal to me, ones that I see myself in, or ones that reflect my own life in a way that makes me feel okay about who I am or where I am (or, more accurately, where I'm not.)<br />
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I said once in a blog post that movies are my boyfriend, and I still feel that way. Someone recently asked me why I've never dated and my reply boiled down to "I have Chad Everett and Alain Delon, I'm good!" While some romance films can obviously make a single person feel somewhat lacking, movies have always made me feel whole. Everything you could say about a significant other can be said about my love for movies. They complete me. They're THE ONE. In a world full of thousands and thousands of things to love, we found each other. And we're celebrating our twentieth anniversary this month. I think that's pretty great.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-39270757471312657582019-12-17T20:13:00.000-05:002019-12-17T20:19:18.991-05:00Chad Everett original negatives<a href="https://imgur.com/T6jFHML" target="_blank"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/T6jFHML.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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This year I had the great fortune of a) discovering Chad Everett and b) finding a handful of original negatives with rights that I could scan and share with you here! These are my absolute favorite pictures of him and I'm so thrilled that I was able to snag these so that they could be enjoyed by everyone who googles his name or stumbles on this blog post.<br />
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The photos were taken by the photographer Harry Langdon, and although they aren't dated they seem to be from the late 1960s. My favorites are the ones with his dog. I'm guessing it's Gus, his half-Great Dane, half-Boxer who also made a few guest appearances on Medical Center!<br />
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You can click on the photos to see or download much larger versions and frame them, make them your phone background, what have you ;)<br />
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<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-73538365430443770702019-12-12T22:38:00.002-05:002019-12-12T22:45:00.435-05:00A 21st Century Bobbysoxer<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRbSx9CX4bZS0Kn8pr0yobr_f5r1BNuX-aSJkH_KVzZqnU7l0xil38qUDd6SZqrYOcq01-TGcUGJL6JJ7p52pXioUzKtod21pCjlxSuk_3tlCB8gDBItL_WGYtLqpTsI9IfsFshF5LBQ/s1600/w.-eugene-smith-frank-sinatra%252C-1947-%25284-works%2529.jpg" width="500" />
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Today marked 20 years that I've been <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2009/12/happy-birthday-frank-sinatra.html" target="_blank">celebrating Frank Sinatra's birthday</a> with my family, listening to his music all day long, dining on pasta with his signature sauce recipe, and partaking in a double feature of his films. The tradition started when I was 14 years old in 2000 and so obsessed with the man that every single thought revolved around him, including most of my school papers and homework. I was digging through some of my old mementos from middle school and high school tonight and I came across two essays that I wrote about Frank Sinatra. They're a little funny to read now ("<i>Though he eventually died, as we all do</i>") it was so fun stumbling on this little time capsule of my teenage obsession. I also found an analysis on the lyrics from "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" (as sung by Frank Sinatra) and my teacher had added a little notation next to Sinatra's name that said "I should have guessed."<br />
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While this probably isn't of particular interest to anyone but me, I wanted to commit these two essays to the blog archive for posterity. I'm sure if 14 year old me had a blog these love notes to Frank Sinatra surely would have made their way on there, so I'm doing past me a favor. Without further ado --<br />
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<u>He Knocked The Socks Off The Bobbysoxers</u><br />
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Some call him "The Voice." Some call him "Ol' Blue Eyes." Some call him "Chairman of the Board." But there is one name that is indisputable: The greatest singer ever to grace the world with his voice. His name, of course, is Frank Sinatra.<br />
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Born Francis Albert Sinatra to Dolly and Marty Sinatra of Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Sinatra knew he wanted to sing even at age seventeen. After attending a Bing Crosby concert with his girlfriend, Nancy Barbato (later, in 1939, she would become his first wife), Sinatra remarked, "Someday, that's gonna be me up there." And within a couple of years, he was the one up there. It wasn't long before, in 1935, Sinatra joined The Hoboken Four in the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, gaining the most amount of the votes to that date. Following Major Bowes came a contract with the Harry James Orchestra, which eventually lead to a more prestigious job: singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.<br />
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It was mostly during his time with Dorsey that Sinatra gained fame and renown. Not too long after singing with Dorsey, Sinatra and his agent, George Evans, decided that it was time Sinatra went out on his own. Despite the fact that Dorsey wasn't thrilled with the idea, Sinatra left and went on to become one of the world's most famous celebrities.<br />
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When he first opened at The Paramount in New York City, one of his first concerts as a solo artist, hundreds of policemen were called in to hold back the crazed fans who, in anger of not getting tickets, were breaking store windows and creating havoc on Times Square. The bobby-sox clad girls fainted while listening to his music, screamed when he looked towards them, and rushed out of school early to buy his new records, which usually came out each month. During World War II, Sinatra was at the top of his career. Sinatra was classified 4-F because of a punctured left eardrum, therefore could not head to the battlefield. He often attributed his rise to fame to the fact that he was the only one around, "I was the boy in every corner drugstore who had gone off to war."<br />
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Sinatra's celebrity status came to somewhat of a half in 1951 when his world seemed to crumble to pieces. Over the course of a year, Sinatra divorced his wife, lost his money, lost his voice, and lost his fans. Sinatra's reputation as a womanizer seemed to haunt his home life, and despite the birth of his third child, Christina, Sinatra and his wife separated. In 1951, while on stage, Frank Sinatra's throat hemorrhaged. Never again would he have the soft flowing voice that he did in the forties. For forty days, Sinatra was not allowed to speak. He often spoke of those days, saying that it was one of the hardest things he ever had to do.<br />
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In 1953, Frank Sinatra picked up a role that would gain him his first Academy Award. The film was From Here to Eternity and the role was Angelo Maggio. Once Sinatra starred in this role, he never again encountered anything to the likes of what he went through in 1951. From Here to Eternity was followed by a number of dramatic and comedic roles. Among his best was The Man With the Golden Arm, for which he was nominated for yet another Academy Award.<br />
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Sinatra's singing continued to grow as the years went by. A sense of loss crept into his sad songs, and life into his swinging ones. Sinatra had the ability to make any song worth listening to, and any movie worth watching. It is no secret that on May 14, 1998, when Frank Sinatra died at the age of 82, the world lost one of the most talented people of the twentieth century.<br />
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<u>Why Frank Sinatra is my hero.</u><br />
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Class. Style. Swagger. Life. All of these words seem to define the best entertainer of our century, Frank Sinatra. I love him for many, many reaons, most of which have to do with his extraordinary talent. But the reason he is my hero is his outlook on life. Never before have I run across anyone more caught up in the art of living than Frank Sinatra. I can cite hundreds of quotes that prove how much Ol' Blue Eyes loved living (and to prove how pathetic I am, I must say I know them all by heart.) ... "You gotta love livin, baby, cause dyin' is a pain in the ass" ... "do you know what a loner is? A loser." ... "Let's start the action!" ... "Live each day like it may be the final day." ... just to name a few.<br />
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Sinatra was the ultimate life-liver. If anyone lived life to the ultimate fullest, it was Sinatra. Though he eventually died, as we all do, he was the only one who made it seem like maybe there really was a secret to being immortal. As he grew older, he extended the age-old toast "may you live to be a hundred..." to "may you live to be five thousand, and may the last voice you hear be mine." After reading countless books on Frank Sinatra, I've become accustomed with his lifestyle. The man hardly ever slept, staying up to the wee small hours with his buddies from The Rat Pack, and getting up to make movies and records every day. But yet he stayed on top of the world. I think his song "I've Got the World on a String" is the best song to put Sinatra's life into words, and it is that life that I have come to admire so much. I wake up each day wishing I could live like him - play off sad feelings with a joke or a song, hang out until 2am with my best pals, take a drink (vanilla creme soda in my case, as opposed to Jack Daniels) and live it up each night. To make each minute count, that was Frank's philosophy.<br />
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Many people see a hero as someone who has saved a life, or done something for the betterment of all humanity. I see it as someone who has made an impact on the way you live your life; the way you get up, eat, sleep and live. I see a hero as someone who has changed your life for the better and made you realize how valuable your life is, not theirs. A hero shouldn't be someone to build a shrine to, it should be someone whose own actions have helped you improve yourself and your outlook on how you can live your own life. Frank Sinatra has made such an impact on my life; if only he could be around to find out how much of an impact. Listening to his words of wisdom, and his music as much as I do, there is no doubt in my mind that if I live to be 100 or 5,000, the last voice I hear <i>will</i> be Frank Sinatra's.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-87975744799593716902019-08-24T19:17:00.000-04:002019-08-24T19:17:37.534-04:00Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge - Fay Wray and Robert Riskin - A Hollywood Memoir<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPoj_gFoNOaWOercxtXHCeRNgKXIFvP7pttlNUXVc4JV0s30VFrd0N7R9B2QfoORsN2gdnF2BC3Lg_YsL7eKr6AbgokRh15UAGOZSjcsGhkWPFpulb5DJYE88NbyxG3K_ymJp7f7Z8kI/s1600/wrayriskin.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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There are only a few weeks left in <a href="https://www.outofthepastblog.com/2019/05/summer-reading-challenge.html" target="_blank">Raquel's Summer Reading Challenge</a> so I think this is sadly going to be one more year that I fail to tackle 6 books. I think I might cheat a little next year and do all of my reading in the winter, when I always have more free time, and then post my reviews the following summer. It'll just be our secret :)<br />
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I've only finished one book so far, but boy was it a good one. I read "Fay Wray and Robert Riskin - A Hollywood Memoir" by their daughter, Victoria Riskin. For a while when I was a teenager I used to say that Frank Capra was my favorite director, believing that he was the driving force behind movies like Meet John Doe, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, and You Can't Take it With You. But several years ago I started to realize that the movies he made apart from Robert Riskin didn't have the same appeal to me. Yet movies that Riskin made without Capra (particularly Magic Town and The Whole Town's Talking) still had what people refer to as "The Capra Touch." That was when it dawned on me that I wasn't actually a big Capra fan all these years -- I was a Riskin fan!<br />
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Going into this book I was an admirer of Riskin's screenwriting, and I loved Fay Wray in '30s horror movies like Doctor X and Mystery of the Wax Museum, but I didn't know anything at all about them personally. I didn't know that they were both beautiful, poetic souls, madly and deeply in love with one another. I didn't know that they were passionate progressives who were active in politics. Fay Wray's letter to Robert Riskin detailing her anxiety-riddled election night listening to returns coming in on the radio was a snapshot of my own election night experiences watching MSNBC. Her hope and relief when FDR won was so relatable that I immediately felt emotional flashbacks to November 2008. Victoria Riskin imbues this book with the spirit of her parents -- you can sense how much she loved them, how much they loved her, and how witty and smart and sweet they were. Little details like Fay Wray packing peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, or Robert Riskin keeping notes on words that amused him so he could work them into scripts (pixelated!) not only represent a daughter's loving remembrance but they help bring these Hollywood icons to life again and create a clear and wonderful picture of who they were.<br />
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In addition to the insights into their personal and private lives, the book also delves into behind-the-scenes cinema history involving casting decisions, writing credits, studio disagreements, and box office success. My favorite (or perhaps least favorite -- it breaks my heart now thinking of what could have been!) casting anecdote was that Robert Montgomery was originally the first choice to play Peter Warne in It Happened One Night. Gable is fine in the role and I love that movie, but my Robert Montgomery-loving heart aches for a version with him and Claudette Colbert instead. And be sure to have a box of tissues nearby when you read about the destruction of *hours* of footage that Harry Cohn cut from Lost Horizon. Even the stories that could be considered somewhat "juicy" are laid out with complete and utter loveliness -- like the time that Cary Grant told Riskin that he had been madly in love with Fay Wray but she was better off without him. In another book this might have felt very "TMZ" but Victoria Riskin tells the story with a sweetness that makes you forget you're reading about an affair between two of Hollywood's biggest legends that was never meant to be. It's just a warm and wistful remark from a man who once loved her mother.<br />
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I can only think of one other biography I've read (<a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2016/08/classic-film-book-challenge-truffaut.html" target="_blank">Truffaut: A Biography</a>) where I was sad to have to say goodbye. I've grown to really love Fay Wray and Robert Riskin and as the story progressed, when signs of Riskin's failing health became apparent or when Wray was getting older, I winced knowing that things were about to end. But thank goodness that they left us so many movies to remember them by. Like Victoria Riskin said in the book, she hears her father in the words of John Doe or Longfellow Deeds. And Fay Wray's delicate beauty is forever preserved in movies like The Wedding March and King Kong. I may be finished reading, but I can still revisit their films and live with them a little longer.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-7850401910463074012019-08-15T13:48:00.004-04:002019-08-15T13:49:44.704-04:00Sunday in New York programI recently added this official Sunday in New York program to my collection! I love the production notes especially -- "Jane Fonda playing the girl who wonders if all her answers are out of the question." You can click on the photos to view them larger.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhET1oqNrq_O7cfMimcR0t5w_qirHuMcZymvA9GxEXIV_lm0kcc5IMZsrr4uHVzW1cSUKq5qieiYegCPe4Psb2mFNskSeeBGb7k3xqOcnaOdEhtdHr_OEll6gS9hhu_jXeqiNVSFIiVNK4/s1600/2019-08-15-0001.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhET1oqNrq_O7cfMimcR0t5w_qirHuMcZymvA9GxEXIV_lm0kcc5IMZsrr4uHVzW1cSUKq5qieiYegCPe4Psb2mFNskSeeBGb7k3xqOcnaOdEhtdHr_OEll6gS9hhu_jXeqiNVSFIiVNK4/s1600/2019-08-15-0001.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqijXYAIjlMbR1rLla54ggj18zWVwJ1koMJ35YqoNVxohd3JShvCokrkdmyAqF9ZZhwPlNpEw_pdVY_YC0rpW_a_Wk7ZPEuKHOwMY1oyjAORC9R684uJ9fawJEuYv-cKhwg8-nrx62zkk/s1600/insideprogram.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqijXYAIjlMbR1rLla54ggj18zWVwJ1koMJ35YqoNVxohd3JShvCokrkdmyAqF9ZZhwPlNpEw_pdVY_YC0rpW_a_Wk7ZPEuKHOwMY1oyjAORC9R684uJ9fawJEuYv-cKhwg8-nrx62zkk/s1600/insideprogram.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzN8MFADk5GjV6p9SboNF_ANBkLfY6Xg43Hij0vNY62nNv8K4Fbmm6SyZMMgkmQ5MGchur44-JC5AJwBf9fdt5Hf-2u8CAhPL7ipdVgDfQSTgY_4hnjo5Wz7m4shlJsJ-INYvQBHnoFs/s1600/2019-08-15-0004.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwzN8MFADk5GjV6p9SboNF_ANBkLfY6Xg43Hij0vNY62nNv8K4Fbmm6SyZMMgkmQ5MGchur44-JC5AJwBf9fdt5Hf-2u8CAhPL7ipdVgDfQSTgY_4hnjo5Wz7m4shlJsJ-INYvQBHnoFs/s1600/2019-08-15-0004.jpg" width="500" /></a>kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-32919343075204491522019-08-10T21:46:00.000-04:002019-08-10T21:46:20.276-04:00A decade of discovering Dirk Bogarde<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjRcLdY1Kr-LzEkFejkphZby4Id-yJKrY7ZJDYS8eCm9hm8v2q92MFf-ELN95dN5aLyNRUnxm6ipsBU-UdBm8QzXt8ptV0ty184_ULzrO5jqdWsP7ab69m6CRmZvy2iITx_p6aQlDn1eA/s1600/35541_138416739508088_100000192877010_380847_7935786_n.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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Today is the tenth anniversary of TCM's Summer Under the Stars salute to Dirk Bogarde, the day that I watched So Long at the Fair for the first time and my life was never the same. Ten years since I exclaimed on this blog, "<a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2009/08/wait-you-are-dirk-bogarde.html" target="_blank">Whoa! Hold the phone!! THIS is Dirk Bogarde?!?!</a>"<br />
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I like to fantasize that this might have become a fairly popular and well-kept film blog if my manic fixation on Dirk Bogarde hadn't taken over the wheel and steered entirely in the direction of Bogarde movies, paraphernalia, photo scans, and desperate pleas for someone, anyone, to join me in my fanaticism. But if I'm being completely honest, I'd trade that fantasy of a successful movie blog for ten years filled with overconsumption of Dirk Bogarde. So many of his films became all-time favorites. And as a perpetually single gal who likes to fill the boyfriend-shaped hole in her heart with overblown obsessions with dead movie stars, the ten years that I've spent head over heels in love with Dirk Bogarde have been like a warm embrace, and fond company in what could otherwise have been a bit of a lonely life.<br />
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To celebrate a full decade of Dirk, here is a list of ten things (one for each year, obviously!) Favorite movies, blog posts, photos, random anecdotes, just ten things that have made this last decade all the more pleasant because he was a part of it:<br />
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1. Darling (1965) - As a Julie Christie fan it's very likely that I would have watched this eventually even if I wasn't on a quest to devour every Dirk Bogarde movie ever made - but I watched it in 2009 and it quickly became one of my top 5 favorite movies, and it has remained there all these years. Every time that I revisit it, I find something else to love about it. I'm so grateful to Dirk Bogarde's face for luring me into this film.<br />
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2. In 2010 I went to New York to view two of Dirk Bogarde's Hallmark movies at the Paley Center. It was the first time in all of my years as a classic film fan that I really felt like I was doing real research. I called ahead of time to make sure I could schedule enough time (the movies I wanted to see exceeded the normal allotted viewing time) and it was well worth the planning and the money to go into the city. I wrote about my experience and the films <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2010/04/blithe-spirit-1966-and-little-moon-of.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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3. Hot Enough for June (1964) - I don't know that I ever would have even heard of this movie were it not for Dirk Bogarde, and it ended up becoming one of my go-to movies for whenever I need a pick-me-up. It's a funny, smart, and so so fun spy spoof about a writer who gets assigned to take over for a deceased 007 when he shows up at the unemployment office. I wrote about it in 2009, <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2009/11/hot-enough-for-june-1964.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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4. My devotion to Dirk Bogarde resulted in a pretty hefty amount of tribute videos. Back in 2010 and 2011 I had a little more time on my hands and I knocked out 10 Dirk Bogarde videos. You can view them all on my youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/scathinglybrilliant/search?query=dirk+bogarde" target="_blank">here</a>, but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XANvxRk2rYA" target="_blank">this one</a> that features clips from all of his movies (that I could find) in chronological order, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP4DNl_aG4w" target="_blank">this one</a> that was my very first tribute video ever, are my favorites.<br />
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5. <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2011/01/dirk-bogardes-life-story-in-comic-book.html" target="_blank">Dirk Bogarde's life story in comic book form</a>! This was my absolute favorite find in all of my years of scouring ebay for Dirk memorabilia. It's a 22 page long comic book from the 1950's that retells his (slightly fictionalized and exaggerated) biography.<br />
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6. I'm going to cheat a little bit here and include ANOTHER top ten list in this top ten list. I wanted to choose my all time favorite Dirk Bogarde picture to include in here, but I couldn't narrow it down. I just couldn't!! So instead <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2010/08/top-10-favorite-photos.html" target="_blank">here is a link</a> to my top ten favorite photos.<br />
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7. Modesty Blaise (1966) - This wild movie makes absolutely no sense and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Honestly this might be the number one thing I am most grateful to Dirk Bogarde for. The music, the lobster indecision, the over the top-ness, the camp, Dirk's white wig (and his dramatic removal of said wig), the spinning umbrellas, the random outfit changes, Monica Vitti and Terence Stamp's short burst of song and ice cream and colored dust. It makes my heart swell just thinking about this movie.<br />
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8. The Mind Benders (1963) - Recently somebody asked me what movie has haunted me the most, and I think this would have to be it. It's a compelling, deeply disturbing movie about loss of sensation and what really happens to you when you're forced to be alone with your thoughts. <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2009/10/mind-benders-1963.html" target="_blank">The post I wrote</a> about this movie back in 2009 is still one of my favorite things I've written.<br />
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9. This gif. It might be my favorite piece of film footage of all time. So handsome. So debonair. So beautiful. Sigh.<br />
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<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/TLPSGUIVWQj7uK13wx/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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10. Discovering Dirk Bogarde never ends. When I first started this journey, I consumed way too many films in a very short period of time, and realized that I wasn't going to be leaving many new-to-me Dirk Bogarde films for my future self. So I slowed down and now, a decade later, I still have plenty left to watch. Some people like to approach fandom by binging everything as quickly as possible (I've been there!) but my preferred method is to stretch things out so that I still get to treat myself to "new" films even though the performer or director is long gone. And so I'm glad that ten years into consuming his filmography, I am still discovering Dirk Bogarde, and I hope I always am.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-56358507664515668872019-08-01T17:34:00.000-04:002019-08-01T17:34:02.596-04:00Is virtue an asset in the big town?A few weeks ago I waited with baited breath while the the last few seconds went by on an ebay auction ... tick, tick, tick ... I was the highest bidder on a December 1963 issue of Movies Illustrated magazine, and contained within its pages was an illustrated summary of Sunday in New York.<br />
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As you can guess from the photos below, I won that auction (champagne! confetti! hooray!) and I finally scanned the pages to share with you here today. I love all the different euphemisms the article employs to describe a movie that is, in essence, about sex and virginity, without ever using any words that even come close. My favorite is that Cliff Robertson's character Adam would "never compromise a girl." Judging by how desperately Mona wants alone time with Adam, I don't think she'd consider it a compromise, lol!<br />
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So here it is, the "picture story" of Sunday in New York:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDt4CA_6tcxZdIFcop1oidvzB4GEg_fVtyP-8hI78AjkBf11H0Pe4620s0eDOGGfP63N9Zu76nSnTsVWv1Ta7UM_GlzZEopYOpXnnWCkJvlu9brKwDvhhaY9ay3f6YgkkWtF7d7MBTik/s1600/1.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDt4CA_6tcxZdIFcop1oidvzB4GEg_fVtyP-8hI78AjkBf11H0Pe4620s0eDOGGfP63N9Zu76nSnTsVWv1Ta7UM_GlzZEopYOpXnnWCkJvlu9brKwDvhhaY9ay3f6YgkkWtF7d7MBTik/s1600/1.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-53753388734325930272019-07-30T20:15:00.002-04:002019-08-01T12:44:04.819-04:00Dear Heart and the destruction of Penn Station<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/j0Y2XIkrfJuclRX79e/giphy.gif" /><br />
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"<i>Through Pennsylvania Station one entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat</i>." - Vincent Scully<br />
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If you've entered New York City in the last 50 years you've likely <i>scuttled in like a rat </i>through Penn Station. There are little remnants of the structure that once stood there -- the granite eagles between 31st and 33rd street, and some brass and iron railings in stairwells -- but it's difficult to fully imagine the grandeur and majesty of the original Pennsylvania Station. Which is why it's such an absolute delight to see it in all its glory in the beginning and ending scenes of the 1964 film Dear Heart.<br />
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Production for Dear Heart began on October 2, 1963, just four weeks before demolition started on the building. You can see the light pouring into the terminal, and catch a glimpse of the almost-10 feet tall statue of Pennsylvania Railroad President Alexander Johnston Cassatt, looming over Glenn Ford's shoulder. There's the Coca Cola digital clock, the incoming baggage check, and the souvenir shop. Giant arched windows and beautiful stonework. You can see it all in these scenes.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XgvzuX8PinJeu8j1gVcjK7GfIhdw0Pwto0JVEgI4et8ZurNd8qDYs615ncdeA4-9vYMiUwM93P6EtPKjZwqvPTGtGH7ZeUxUaXIKpZyGs090XkMtGRVEVqb4Q8qG80yoihdeYHTsstc/s1600/ishot-2018-969.jpg" width="500" />
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According to Lorraine B. Diehl, the author of <i>The Late Great Pennsylvania Station</i>, you can spot some broken and covered windowpanes in the ending scenes. Although The Daily News reported in November 1963 that the Penn Station scenes were running behind schedule, Dear Heart ended their on-location filming on October 3rd. And one thing is for certain -- Dear Heart was the last movie to ever be filmed in the original Penn Station. By the time the movie was released in December 1964, the grand and glorious Penn Station was no more.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzPqx6PNFvDlwkxxPNMCJeBPdiJDKfI1fGedTOOw6DdJWrnvGIAf4ZV7jdw1dzukLhZH5K7jIQGlh6G_s6yhCplnZ0Xs20grH8bk3PFzMLfb_8G4BtE6f9ba-HFQf2DKmEhBiexOubXxs/s1600/ishot-2018-970.jpg" width="500" />
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In <i>Mary Wickes: I Know I've Seen That Face Before</i>, Steve Taravella writes that "Penn Station was razed immediately after filming and replaced with today's soulless station of the same name." After this, most movies would have to film in Grand Central Station if they wanted to capture a New York station with cinematic appeal. In fact, it was the destruction of Pennsylvania Station that saved Grand Central. Less than two years after the demolition, spurred by the loss of such a beautiful historical landmark, New York City enacted the Landmarks Preservation Law.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuppGgO_lb7rUuvpq38l0z5aRRXBeTBrgtfWhR-oha2m-jbaMoJqS4QNYmZXsvOX24W6yhN777b31V87l-mFG_UKooM4jjJysrU6cVx0FrVBlW2qoWMLdgrRMvvOnBFGiYjMj48_A1xm8/s1600/ishot-2018-971.jpg" width="500" />
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Movies are like time capsules. When the crew of Dear Heart rolled into Penn Station in October of 1963 they might not have realized that they were preserving a small piece of American architectural and rail history. They may not have realized that their movie would bookend an era of rail travel, a vivid and faithful relic of a way of life that is long gone. But by creating this piece of art, they also preserved a piece of history for us to look back on years later.<br />
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We should be thankful for movies like this, filmed on location in locations that no longer exist. We may now scurry in like rat, but by watching Dear Heart we can imagine what the world must have been like when you once entered the city like a God.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxfmQ0SfKEkjqo9KY8F4vuw-dNh0ZVNeC18tz7-53gXuLO3oWw67QvXLP0cpOYBK8IuMqNFMy-9fUqEBeyd60O75OQ-ySqwO6Ty_dn9iRU95WkFXFNOOkEuORXlNenET15lea0HHz0XyA/s1600/ishot-2018-975.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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This post was written in partnership with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/trainiacproductions" target="_blank">Trainiac Productions</a>, as part of a series on train history in film. Please check out their facebook page for more train posts!<br />
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You can rent Dear Heart on Amazon Prime <a href="https://amzn.to/30ZyXZw" target="_blank">right here</a>, or purchase the DVD through Warner Archive <a href="https://www.wbshop.com/products/dear-heart" target="_blank">here</a>.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-28276104108774636842019-07-11T23:37:00.000-04:002019-07-11T23:37:57.550-04:00Made in Paris {The Apartment}<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaMKgNU1Lo1ZntDNEg32CZpJWnCPpihRK6mpdxVLXZoKt1fT5q2n41QO6lOH8THK78C7gAY4RI5DM-rUdlYwMhLSW3J2-8fD3C5VlVYU-1LydR2GiZGagLXTZy9kglkl_KQemaLzhD24/s1600/a.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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In the 1966 film Made in Paris, Louis Jourdan plays a Parisian fashion designer, Marc Fontaine. When Ann-Margret takes Edie Adams' place as his American buyer, catastrophic misunderstandings and flirtatious escapades ensue. This film is notable to me because it's the first time that I took notice of --<i>and fell down a deep rabbit hole of full-blown obsession with</i>-- Chad Everett, who plays Ann-Margret's boyfriend.<br />
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The only thing in this film that might be more aesthetically pleasing than Chad Everett's megawatt smile is Marc Fontaine's flamingo pink studio, designed by set decorators Keogh Gleason and Henry Grace. Situated right above the runway of the fashion house, this colorful abode is a feast for the eyes!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLBT-VKQVVV1HIlG9179HYkxFDlecQtnl7QFq3lWwJ7GVKMc_mFbKyRnYLfqa6fj2ZznraIXjnV6bMrxXjKm_XY0z0-NlwIKV5XhnoG0fX3cc6b4_kHVAcHNgtXZo_4z9lWUMw2TvovY/s1600/ishot-2018-907.jpg" width="500" />
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To the left is Fontaine's office desk, facing away from a bay window that -- I can only assume -- is probably overlooking the Champs-Élysées. To the right is a sitting area, complete with two chairs and a matching settee. But the piece de resistance is that spiral staircase hiding in the back left corner. Be still my heart! And the addition of a plush pink carpet only heightens the style that hovers somewhere between decadent and kitschy. My favorite spot to be!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKoVARo9PEKHdRXkeT9w7_aBe6y25jSfyio_V4aCRPbC_EFttzk-jkkZFBp4Z8otP3YVuw-AKPYJIqjb9ZXDavLC_rOQF-7wrl2gBtFAmqiA0_dVGaR3pwYdPihtTneON9joo0umy6EA/s1600/ishot-2018-908.jpg" width="500" />
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On the right side of the room, Fontaine keeps his latest sketches on display, hanging over a table that appears to house a collection of fashion magazines. I love the balance here of opulence and strict attention to design, but with little messes here and there that reflect the reality of a working fashion designer. My own studio is much less lavish, but I think I strike a similar balance between lived-in creative workspace and pleasing to look at.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PszTc_yBevO-Pmd-poVmQOMeOIyvLvgc761bJ09EXewZpEOdcuoqFrNf27ZFKFfBVpEMgBvCq8rejcdWRG6eX4Ks8uRaXlkIo8ZOGhAg2MjckoAR12AXHIp-zPKVJPzzwLrzJuFyxd0/s1600/ishot-2018-909.jpg" width="500" />
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In the other corner of the room is Fontaine's easel, complete with a table for paints and palette, a roll of paper lying underneath, and a model form for reference that is bedecked in fabric, ribbons, and flowers. The spiral staircase is my favorite feature of the room but this model is my favorite detail that the set designers added -- it's kind of kooky!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht5BzpeoDv28_cY88_VTlXMtT6a4acL9DNn3lq3vsmqVu8Q9yKlhSHqqr-B_qgbYb7wvn0hE1qZ-1MpT_TcTZGZkfcfHymrkxpJFOokuwKqyui-fytPG0tLXWVhNiyJJ9ZlefcI58fRmg/s1600/ishot-2018-910.jpg" width="500" />
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Here is a close up of the staircase, which has a grey railing with golden spokes. And over Ann-Margret's shoulder you can see a peek of the Picasso painting hanging up on the wall. I also love how the walls have intricate wooden carvings in the beveled moulding and they almost seem to be washed in a rose hued stain.<br />
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<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/RLnPCzAFVRYFGAdaRb/giphy.gif" width="500" />
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Remember how I mentioned that this room is situated right above the runway? It's the perfect spot for Fontaine to retreat during a show and keep an eye on the reception his pieces receive during a show. All he has to do is press a button and - Presto! - the bookcase disappears into the wall to reveal a window overlooking the runway. How fantastic is that?!<br />
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This is part of an ongoing series of posts dedicated to bachelor apartments in movies. You can view the rest of the series <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/search/label/Bachelor%20Apartments" target="_blank">right here</a>.<br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-27260538615671310612019-07-05T15:59:00.000-04:002019-07-05T17:17:19.023-04:00Saw it in the Movies Tag<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltkUBdJBfFbR_v_vK-ARKzON61cB6m14WR9JFh_1nV2P3aaZTwu_HxzpoaNqqbf4Pi5wyJO2MNAMg5X_7o4WybcsS5bEB4JNfgj-APhxhTTY9zebYB_ligdOwWgSqlizaGAfxBbwOcY0/s1600/ponds.png" width="500" /><br />
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The rules:<br />
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- Pick at least 3 things that you have done from a movie. It can be any movie, anything you did.<br />
- Tell how the event worked out.<br />
- Link back to <a href="https://astorydetective.blogspot.com/2019/04/saw-it-in-movies-tag.html" target="_blank">the tag's creator</a> and <a href="https://hamlette.blogspot.com/2019/06/saw-it-in-movies-tag.html" target="_blank">the person who tagged you</a> (thank you, <a href="https://hamlette.blogspot.com/2019/06/saw-it-in-movies-tag.html" target="_blank">Hamlette</a>!)<br />
- Have fun!<br />
- Tag 4 people.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioya0bTlNDnMn0RzhP4vLAOSE119t0ElycnliqCUb2IdzPb7rCKFKUmgKdd4Q_mIJiBx0tvUR6geA7hpNBCMu2MzmC0FET6Gw4zfd2Z06X3K6jbcbW4vM6QMEQuW5xCcsK-Sde-aIMUlw/s1600/divider.png" /><br />
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1. I started using Pond's Cold Cream because it always seemed so glamorous when actresses in movies would apply the cream at night, sitting at their vanity, usually whilst arguing with their husband/boyfriend/lover. I have no idea why this particular ritual resonated so strongly with me but I can still think of specific scenes in movies off the top of my head - Bette Davis in All About Eve, Ingrid Bergman in Goodbye, Again, Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth, Jean Seberg in Bonjour Tristesse.<br />
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2. I went through a phase where I was so influenced by the ennui of foreign film characters that I let it seep into my own life. I naturally gravitate towards being a very optimistic, happy person but as I became immersed in a world of restless, unhappy, languishing characters, I absorbed their energy. I felt like it was cooler to be jaded and listless than my normal bubbly self. I still love these movies but once I realized the effect that they were having on me I definitely cut back on my Antonioni intake considerably!<br />
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3. When I was about 15 I shaved off my eyebrows so I could draw them on like Jean Harlow or Marlene Dietrich. It's probably the worst decision I've ever made, I looked so silly and I had the hardest time drawing them on evenly! Luckily they grew back, but they're very sparse. It's funny because I was a teenager in the early 2000's and most girls my age over-plucked at the time, but for a totally different reason! lol!<br />
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I'm going to tag:<br />
<a href="http://oldhollywoodislove.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Nicole from Vintage Film Nerd</a><br />
<a href="https://www.thewaywewatch.net/" target="_blank">Nikki from The Way We Watch</a><br />
<a href="https://flickinoutblog.com/" target="_blank">Diana from Flickin' Out</a><br />
<a href="https://palewriter2.home.blog/" target="_blank">Gabriela from Pale Writer</a><br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-89525896249768428002019-06-05T21:10:00.000-04:002019-06-05T21:11:28.715-04:00Talking Truffaut with Raquel from Out of the Past!<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Jky6_tUCDHmGYflo-aiM3yWnyLWuQmixjLT3RVSAua-OXW1oNhNbsmzKDVxfZEfV1y1dhkY2WmOnQf78KmcMpRTechTW4bign7fmZzhn41DcOTpyD_UCqlaRNtspszKBRE3uaIYnx08/s1600/raqueltruffaut.png" width="500" /><br />
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For the last few years, when my good friend <a href="https://www.outofthepastblog.com/" target="_blank">Raquel</a> has come into NYC in the spring for a work event we've been meeting up for dinner. It's become one of my favorite traditions to look forward to each year, and this time around we filmed a video for her youtube channel, too! I hope this also becomes a tradition because it was so much fun to record! We spent well over an hour <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoARzJnZ_Hk&t=0s" target="_blank">chatting about my favorite director, François Truffaut</a> (don't worry, Raquel managed to trim it down to just over half an hour!)<br />
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I feel compelled to acknowledge that I did make a few goofs with the facts, and there were so many times that my mind went completely blank on names or films that I know well when the cameras aren't rolling. I could list every Truffaut movie by heart and yet "A Gorgeous Girl Like Me" totally slipped my mind. And Charles Denning is Charles Denner. Alas! The point is, sometimes my enthusiasm and anxiousness overwhelms the part of my brain that's supposed to remember facts. As I say in the video, take it with a grain of salt. I absolutely adore the guy and his movies, but I'm just an absent-minded super fan, not an expert ;)<br />
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Anyway, this was just such an absolute treat and I think it's so fun that after 10 years of knowing each other through classic movie blogging (ten years?!?!) we got to film this! I can't wait to do the next one! :)<br />
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You can watch the video on Raquel's youtube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoARzJnZ_Hk&t=0s" target="_blank">here</a>. And be sure to check out her classic film blog, <a href="https://www.outofthepastblog.com/" target="_blank">Out of the Past</a>, her sister site <a href="http://www.quellemovies.com/" target="_blank">Quelle Movies</a>, and if you're a fan of her work (which you definitely should be!) you can support her Ko-Fi <a href="http://ko-fi.com/M4M3T0US" target="_blank">right here</a>.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-90907880121655036632019-05-24T21:39:00.001-04:002019-05-24T21:40:06.386-04:00The Classic Movie Tag!<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0JXV0UR9cTjasdKehfFT8HedOv65d38eJareFvIWJ6XGajfFgaS4ANC0p5zGQfpUqkRpLE1dMIAJzsxI7hc2esvaGkZqvGKEbhGq6Oz-0NwotdRwBBGVlAf0Trrf8pKiyrNx9IFxrsE/s1600/2019-05-18-0001.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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Raquel from <a href="https://www.outofthepastblog.com/" target="_blank">Out of the Past</a> just posted a fun classic movie tag on her youtube channel (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFWIzmt6A9k&t=0s" target="_blank">watch it here!</a>) and I couldn't resist participating myself. Here we go!<br />
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1 - What's one classic movie that you recommend to people over and over and over again?</span><br />
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I wish that I had an answer to this that would surprise everyone, but it's Sunday in New York. I recommend it to everybody that I meet and I've been doing that for over ten years now. I remember before it was released on DVD officially I used to make copies of the dvd that I taped off TCM and mail them to my friends to make sure they got to see it. So far almost everyone I've recommended it to has loved it (with one exception that always sticks out in my mind, argh!) so I'm not going to stop anytime soon.<br />
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2 - What was the last classic film you saw and what were your thoughts about it?</span>
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The last classic film I saw was Claudelle Inglish (1961). I watched it for Chad Everett (who only has maybe 7 minutes of screen time) and the title role is played by Diane McBain, but Arthur Kennedy totally stole the picture in my opinion. He completely and utterly broke my heart. I didn't expect myself to get so wrapped up in the movie but by the end I found I was way more emotionally invested in it than I thought I'd be. And that's entirely because of Arthur Kennedy. What a performance.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocTHy2RlR8FguR7iIGeBJJ_amibJ2fz6y-F7uRcuYmMtFvwut8TaFvCK1gFUjyy2YAFnm0Sqx_2eiqq2XPvWWjvLEhT8Hj5q_r5cqm7zVtqdP1dWaOrO7pE6YUFaeAoMlANLEELEtjk0/s1600/ishot-2018-858.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">3 - Name a classic movie genre you love and one you dislike.</span><br />
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One that I love would be '60s sex comedies. Even the worst of them are still completely enjoyable to me! And one that I dislike would be <i>... hmm...</i> normally I would say westerns but <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2019/05/turns-out-i-like-some-westerns.html" target="_blank">as I wrote earlier this week</a>, that has changed a bit. I'm going to go with Shakespeare adaptations. I actually enjoy Shakespeare and was obsessed with memorizing monologues when I was in school, but it's not my favorite thing to watch onscreen.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">4 - Name a classic movie star with whom you share a birthday or a hometown.</span><br />
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I share a hometown with Paul Robeson! We were both born in Princeton, New Jersey.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">5 - Give a shout out to a friend or family member who shares your love of classic movies.</span><br />
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I'll give a shout out to my mom and dad. My mom shares my love of frivolous '60s romps and old Disney movies, while my dad shares my love of foreign films. This week my mom and I traded favorite scenes from The Glass Bottom Boat and I had a conversation with my dad about the Truffaut vs. Godard approaches to whether or not art should be political. We also recently did a March Madness style bracket to narrow down our favorite character actors (if I remember correctly, Alastair Sim won across the board.)<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">6 - Name a classic movie star who makes your heart skip a beat or whom you admire greatly.</span><br />
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I'm going to take this as my cue to talk about Chad Everett again. I am <i>so, so</i> smitten. I just got a signed photo in the mail and placed it across from my bed so it's the first thing I see in the morning. I have a problem.<br />
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I only have one more movie of his from the 1960s left to watch (Johnny Tiger, which, depending on the legitimacy of the website from which I bought the DVD, is hopefully on its way to me now.) and then I'll be all done with that decade of his filmography. The '70s are tricky territory because of excessive sideburns, long hair, and so much polyester, so I might skip ahead a little bit and resume binging his career around 1981. I'm also working my way through Medical Center, and I have to say it might be one of my favorite discoveries that was spurred by a crush. Some episodes leave me grinning like an idiot, and then last night I actually had to grab tissues because tears were streaming down my face. It's a rollercoaster, that show! But it's just so well done. And Chad Everett is such a hunk. *Swoon*<br />
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<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/Zd0lvobY7lcRKFetWZ/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">7 - Describe one memorable experience watching a classic movie.</span><br />
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A couple years ago in February the heater broke in my house and it was freezing cold inside. La Piscine was showing at the Film Society in New York, and I took a train into the city to see it. The theater was nice and cozy, and the sizzling French summer was radiating off the screen. You could hear that low buzzzzz of insects and practically feel the sun on your skin and obviously Alain Delon, on the big screen, shirtless, and tanned, and ugh. It was just so nice. I think it was also my first time seeing a classic movie alone and I loved it so much. The solo movie-going experience is so underrated.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">8 - Describe the craziest thing you've done because of your passion for classic movies.</span><br />
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Most of my really crazy things were done when I was a teenager, like wearing black mourning clothes to middle school on the anniversary of Audrey Hepburn's passing, or making my friends take photos of me with my arms around a nonexistent boyfriend at our junior prom so that I could then "photoshop" Frank Sinatra into the photo with me using MS paint. This was before digital cameras so the whole process was way more time consuming (and thus crazy) than it would be today, lol.<br />
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Lately I guess the craziest thing would be going to the TCM Film Festival multiple times. I don't like Hollywood, I'm socially inept, and I honestly can't afford to go as often as I do, but almost every year since 2014 I find myself on a plane bound for California every spring! I'm already planning out outfits and saving up airline miles for 2020.<br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">9 - What's something classic movie related that you love to collect?</span><br />
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I collect movie tie-in books! I have a little rotating paperback shelf for them so that they're always on display, and it's my favorite collection (not just classic movie related collection) that I own! The only downside is that I haven't read many of them because I'm scared to crack the spines and possibly separate the covers since so many of them are in delicate condition.<br />
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<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/UWPTKj5Yc90BB9Jb3p/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #dbeff3;">10 - What's your favorite way to share your passion for classic movies?</span><br />
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I love talking to other classic movie fans on twitter and following accounts that are as obsessed with their favorite stars as I am with mine. My absolute favorite people on the site are the ones who are passionate about specific movies or stars and try to share that passion with the movie community. I think it can be a thankless job (especially if the star you're obsessed with isn't as popular as Audrey Hepburn or Cary Grant, say) but I appreciate and enjoy those accounts so much. I just love being able to talk movies there. It's the only place online that I really feel comfortable socializing, and I think it has to be because the classic movie community is so kind and welcoming and supportive. I'm sure most people there think of me as an acquaintance, if they think of me at all, but I think of so many of them as good friends and really cherish their presence in my life.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-39577786705056468392019-05-21T20:06:00.000-04:002019-05-21T21:24:00.900-04:00turns out, I like some westerns<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/U5VqZSjwlqLY5pI8hB/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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Last month I was sick in bed with a pretty bad case of bronchitis, and I was binging my way through fun frivolous '60s sex comedies (way more healing than chicken soup, if you ask me!) When I got to Made in Paris, a 1966 Ann-Margret vehicle co-starring Chad Everett, I made a sharp detour away from "any '60s comedy" and veered towards "<i>exclusively Chad Everett</i>." From that day on I've been consuming everything he made, and I do mean EVERYTHING.<br />
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Here I am, approximately a month later, the proud owner of Return of the Gunfighter (1967) and the complete series of The Dakotas. Did I watch Return of the Gunfighter with a grimace on my face, painfully plodding my way through a western for the sake of eye candy? No! I enjoyed it, and then I watched it TWICE. And was I dragged kicking and screaming into a screening of The Last Challenge (1967), Everett's western flick with Glenn Ford? Heck, no! I loved every minute of it and found myself on the edge of my seat by the nail-biting finale. I know somebody is going to supply a pretty well-deserved "I told you so!" but if I had realized how well-populated westerns are with beautiful, tanned, blue jean-bedecked actors I probably would have caved in to this genre a whole lot sooner.<br />
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Oh, and did I mention I also liked a war film? Yup, you heard it here first folks! I watched and was thoroughly entertained by First to Fight (1967) a movie about a WWII war hero (Everett) who experiences PTSD when he returns to the Pacific to fight again after spending time away from battle to sell war bonds on the home front. I definitely enjoyed the home front scenes more than the battle scenes, but darn it, I really liked this whole movie.<br />
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<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/lo4GN1KK9V4wr8QQfb/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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Anyway. I guess my whole point is that I think Chad Everett is the dreamboatiest dreamboat to ever dreamboat and I am having a super hard time thinking about anything else these days. If you need more evidence of his handsomeness, I made a ton of gifs on my giphy <a href="https://giphy.com/channel/kategabrielle" target="_blank">right here</a> that you can swoon over, too! :)<br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-80175106917892900522019-03-28T14:52:00.000-04:002019-03-28T14:52:01.561-04:00An Ode to Rachel Devery<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgARRGCLelmi_fNntzzDQsbrlMIxgIkHqwOYTJLTmNiKa-oGvUw_97EJXbS97hFhccgRu1GosOahy5ftLmXz0K0dAMZoDntTyBRCXQgq8TFyflKLP7kt_cP7Dia6EgXL-79m8Uu5JK3Cfg/s1600/vlcsnap-2019-03-28-13h16m29s433.png" width="500" /><br />
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I was heartbroken to learn today that June Harding has passed away. Harding played the iconic Rachel Devery in The Trouble with Angels, a movie that has now been seen and cherished by at least three generations of young girls. My own mom saw it in theaters when she was 10 and shared it with me when I was even younger than that. I'm a childless 32 now, but I'm sure that countless women my age who grew up loving this film are now sharing it with their daughters, as well.<br />
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June Harding played Rachel with a tenderness, sweetness, and authenticity that perfectly complimented Hayley Mills' scheming Mary Clancy. Even though their plans were always hatched by Mary and willingly accompanied by Rachel, Rachel wasn't merely a stooge or a blind accomplice. She was a best friend doing what best friends do! She enjoyed being a part of a team, excited about whatever new adventure Mary might come up with. She was Mary's equal, her other half. And when Mary decides to join the order, Rachel's devastation doesn't just stem from feelings of betrayal. It's the sudden loss of that team, the end of their escapades as a devious duo.<br />
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June Harding poured so much into Rachel. It isn't just the physical comedy and displays of ineptitude -- her misadventures in sewing, her bungled sign of the cross, her clumsiness in the art studio, her messy charcoal work, her frenzied jump into the swimming pool -- but the way that she imbued meaningful scenes with layers of emotion. When she says "I'll miss you" after Mary has already walked away from her, or when she looks stabbed with hurt over Mary's announcement at graduation.<br />
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And June Harding's ability to convey unbridled joy was unmatched. Her happiness when she sees Mary after summer break, or when she decides to forgive Mary is absolutely infectious. Not every performer can make you feel the emotions that they're displaying onscreen -- weep when they're sad and grin when they're smiling, but June Harding had that in spades.<br />
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I hope that she knew what she meant to us. I hope she knew that when I reminisced about my childhood friends, I usually counted Mary and Rachel among them.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-5268159920441717002019-02-27T21:08:00.001-05:002019-02-27T21:08:39.554-05:00My Sunday in New York collection<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCleWBCkblLXugZ7QsLu3OKBWHXgEF1Q8cW9pMYpd_I9fwkxPz9HzSM9Ma_G8G3sIlc514-bks4SlflWIWd3XtVsE5TWQDiUBS1QhjKf65Ws9Kgaq2cOZ4_zj2J9n_OLGzM70mApDCZwg/s1600/sinycollection.jpg" width="500" />
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I've been collecting Sunday in New York memorabilia for about ten years now and I thought it would be fun to round up everything and share it here!<br />
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Sunday in New York is my favorite movie. It's comfort food, the kind of movie I watch when I want to feel like I'm home. It makes me laugh more every time I watch it and even though I know other people love it too, my devotion makes me feel a certain level of ownership. It's <i>MY</i> movie. I just adore it. And I love surrounding myself with things that remind me of it.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BhQx4ON0X9-1P_EPPf9pR7lvmMQ_keuy11eusM9nHuCJCnIRX8BhAYUZbtfrkdEV04s7c6PK4WEbXlLWMsDSGBPGoklTHk_6faQAWNhSxbEfcMNgvgcmQECf0ECvj5S7k9Srv_V7psI/s1600/IMG_2505.jpg" width="500" />
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If you look at the drawer units behind me in one of <a href="https://scathingly-brilliant.blogspot.com/search/label/outfit%20post" target="_blank">my outfit posts on my style blog here</a>, and then look at those drawers in this photo it will give you some idea of the size of this poster. IT IS BIG. It's so big that I don't actually have room for it right now on my walls, but it was such a unique find that I couldn't pass it up for "someday" when I have a bigger living area.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP-xhyphenhyphenrt9tiUOwPRaNQG7MeEpSS_QjPm481F5O8tY4OU0v3sc8Ei2n4whVx2KWFhL1dNlnDkZLTpewudgzjU54VWJqjohv288VuWv0dLXNbADF88pEEQDP_T8cuCc1ciWUN58GyoyMFUQ/s1600/IMG_5783.jpg" width="500" />
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This poster is slightly obscured in the photo by my hanging planter but it's a standard one sheet. I've moved this one around a lot but it's one of the only posters I own that has been on constant display since I got it in 2013.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZ5FCkPNPYC9J1zURn79p_3-zvUwvAYwsvOcVpd1nJXnSbbt7zC2KZ-_PjabvcuBLhOcAi0CWUZS7hw_WizUNhQCEqNwSV1-EeySyah93We1bulpil2kesUmHavkqXZa94zrSsnfLofk/s1600/IMG_5785.jpg" width="500" />
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This is <a href="https://kategabrielle.com/collections/new/products/custom-drive-in-movie-marquee-art-print" target="_blank">a custom marquee art print</a> where I added the Sunday in New York marquee details. I think it's such a fun way to pay homage to one of my favorite movies!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh4VWSbkro0VZWey39j_Km-te2ZeX4bVbVzhzEDuQZpuFiwu6v2C0TKN1h0kie1P0ZphxVdvHTltxf6hulBVK-_VfeN943BYKbbd2sZLW09_yDcr5s7DnAOrgPqSzxBacC9g25jOu6E3Y/s1600/IMG_5786.jpg" width="500" />
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This still was a gift from my parents last Christmas. I had sent my mom a link to the ebay listing and then on Christmas morning it wasn't under the tree. Sometimes after Christmas I treat myself to a few things I might have wanted but didn't receive as a present (does anyone else do this?) and when I went on ebay, I found this was sold out! Boo! I tried to find another copy but nobody had one listed anymore.<br />
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Then about a week after Christmas a package came in the mail from Sweden and there it was! My mom had totally forgotten that she had ordered it, and it arrived late! I'm so happy I managed to get this one, I just think it's so beautiful!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtB5ej0cN3JvGY6gvJzkVFboLCb3vc4llA0qh7Z_QjSV_fvYHjIU775jENyTDfNGrdeD1s5P23hm-joZRJz7wv-r70Rl3sOR6TyiSQlVBsoyaQh-ZJuHG2iRtofEc5a4E4wROZNENWlqE/s1600/IMG_5787.jpg" width="500" />
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I got this still at Larry Edmunds' book store in Hollywood at my first TCM Film Festival (where I saw Sunday in New York <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2017/03/sunday-in-new-york-on-sunday-in.html" target="_blank">with Robert Osborne introducing it</a>!) so this one is really special to me. I took the photo at a terrible angle so my xoxo frame is blocking the corner, but Rod Taylor is wearing one sneaker and one shoe, which is one of the funniest gags in the movie. I love that it's featured in this still!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCEB3tXlpCdRsn7Lvsz3_59fhAiAQvEIdd4bvWB_wFA20C5vRdxJXHHinRYjNesxXqB7qW5LJYEtILo4jvfiXkDMcNZhq3TY8aO21PFg9NZGgHLWvin5r-5It4OOOJC3whz4t4V_sYEQ/s1600/IMG_5791.jpg" width="500" />
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This is my 45 record of the Sunday in New York score. I love this but I feel like without context Cliff Robertson looks like he's creeping in the doorway about to kill them, lol!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacRXwhYX3pczbMFPb4wXFPDBzyHUB6W7AZ4TTCz1V4j_ExdDxdBVdq8nsPv6qcdey_UUvweAZ_ratdvW-DtFAVxp7J42Gz8U5lTt-vru2mFKiSbFLUmWmWe30W7JiLKY_QfKCKkjyL7g/s1600/sundayinnewyorkposter.jpg" width="500" />
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I've been searching for German versions of the Sunday in New York posters for ages (<a href="https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/sunday-in-new-york-i57543/p/ofzljlma" target="_blank">this one in particular</a>) because they are so bold and I love the green title text with the heart over the "i" in "in"! It's one of my all-time favorite Sunday in New York finds. I hope someday the ebay gods will look kindly on me and let me find the matching one, as well.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVz7KwTTxpcObMrzB6WEULPwmKOGEVoVQIs7zy4vnX5Ud9Ra_tdX9dkV7moR2kUUn-Y1xWD0V2UqEd07nWhfuksREtaFEsuCU6HkiZ1UjDG7CoxKttqOCI8V5y-Ks-CiR3UOhgJfkRqI/s1600/IMG_5793.jpg" width="500" />
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For Christmas, <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiLM4" target="_blank">Nikki</a> got me this Yugoslavian version of the poster! I had never even seen this version before. I love how they added the cartoon drawings in the top corners, with the rowboat scene in the left corner and a very happy New York City on the right. For a while I've been thinking about getting a Sunday in New York themed tattoo at some point, and I think that happy city might be the perfect subtle nod to my favorite film.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNibmJbej1PZTjv3gMarhvz4mfkmwBTX1u92T9SZhV5I6KgEQyyB9AtdOSrFcXgdPjob6oSLLyh7yVefI_exH1IZjuRxfTq7vX7nCRpfv2YWB205QDuzy6K13rDl3VXRu858MigVHq-co/s1600/IMG_5795.jpg" width="500" />
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I have a bunch of 8x10 stills running along the top of my ceiling and of course I have several from Sunday in New York! This one definitely captures Jane Fonda's awkwardness when Robert Culp bursts in to propose to her!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8qalyxQekrgXlfYjq4kBansvWsqG76CymkQs-Q-BwXN4AfGOV6mZenfUDUF-Pk0yHdJOqSZZpoJNOPuiimaY1xhjRyk09o5M4tZhEpQJGuz6HT4K1ETrBYFcBnh_owwoMqdq_-dL6LM/s1600/IMG_5797.jpg" width="500" />
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Two more stills from my collection. On the left, Jane Fonda is realizing her brother broke his "sacred honor" and on the right Cliff Robertson is dashing through the airport (actually LAX) to find Jo Morrow.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcoBxjuGW04ayYP3Pe_d39weJXa3uF7vrpxUZzIwAPrSTY-T1WVjiUiU6Lb6wILIFarCKWnyISAkDSzGccMVHJUitPKXN1gOAxuhYSQ1fa6GveQFuYzuNEuuzJYBud47rsnbvjspG2Vk4/s1600/IMG_5798.jpg" width="500" />
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Another still featuring the shoe fiasco! Just looking at these stills brings a smile to my face since they are such perfect snapshots of the humor from the film.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2tCUQzov_PMwAnC24FW9FxjGVgummuFk-9iXdP_5WjS2-fYQ7UgFcXH-oGoTHIYC54ftgHbaKXUoZO4XxqBBVZ_eyowSxC5lsunfiEZwG9DU5iT0wtHfzMSjBwA2G5AtQ9ScEKjNuTjI/s1600/IMG_5799.jpg" width="500" />
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In addition to the 45, I also have a 33 album of the film score from Sunday in New York. Since the movie sometimes feels like a feature length ad for Peter Nero I think it's especially appropriate that I have every version of the soundtrack possible, haha!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL94tRhOO39zEwqMUgO7LVR-5NyqjvqIteZv13rAETeIvy7f6iIcOQEm94Ga3mz5Ddarbirx2K8m1Y2DaQ2ie-kR0-ifsToqJwz1RID57A9J0yJ75_z7eTudtXDgy1Dv1Moz24zQfNbWU/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" width="500" />
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This is a press book for the movie. I need to actually devote a full post to this one with scans from the book, since there are a lot of press snippets, interviews, advertising suggestions, and small images of the American poster releases for the movie!<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoS2eKEUpTNdZmTs-LCqsuvz7-ivMk_8zhrId_SJxnawjZ_Y09nD8pM2Dp4Oe1sxbQVLHDip-6OxlpoEQvAf5vnMZiQO1ccSGFpjWi-VzoTKXjszNqTaBM6y5WMw3YTwY1n4fwZwRLki8/s1600/IMG_5801.jpg" width="500" />
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I have a binder filled with my extra stills that don't fit on my walls and these are the ones from my Sunday in New York collection. One of these days I would love to hang all of my stills grouped together, when I have more room.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbNxwdtCxnIg58tLtTqhN2hhTmufwEf4Ipo5lzEUOauCRRyHHfS1ss2X1bPWA6N0AeV29w3r-AOqlOLc303L-R_4z6M9pVSM4ljuiPEfGUvqFBi0QGajifoxT6Uc_fWjGKSG1uVuRXSY/s1600/IMG_5802.jpg" width="500" />
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These are contact sheets from a Sunday in New York photo shoot with Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor. I scanned all of them so you can view larger versions of all of the pictures on my movie scan blog <a href="http://classicfilmscans.blogspot.com/2012/01/jane-fonda-and-rod-taylor-in-sunday-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJyN0CPVjA_j4jII3VHOOmDSIbJncq2xVpxQPI0JKWddXetjhiVpuGRnkS5a0rBfAXFksg0OS29hD4_FC55Za6_XMalnLAhQl1_zzXlQq-_XBSUhNMRrCkL6Mh8SgDPDdwa-PPI4G2eg/s1600/IMG_5804.jpg" width="500" />
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This was the first piece of Sunday in New York memorabilia that I ever purchased! It's a lobby card that I bought back in 2009 for like $5 and I can remember checking the mailbox anxiously every day waiting for it to arrive. It's one of my favorite scenes in the movie and I love Jane Fonda's expression! And I love the "suitable only for adults" sticker that a movie theater had placed on this at some point. It almost feels like real proof that this was really hanging in a theater where the movie originally played.<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGEr3-K9ZDf2KWuFOZrsy5M7v2mnwB8_8_RdrJ4Yk3Cpu6nVMI_mzRjJzqmirPlCGcroO9CNXVL4dI6oT3h8g8UNqTNzTuzgN9BfCJ02hsnyLx2mXXQj4JUy2qUhV0F87C5kU8mpS77Ac/s1600/2018-05-18-0001.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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I think this might be my most unique find, an ad for TWA airlines that subtly plugs Sunday in New York. I think it's so fun since Cliff Robertson plays an airline pilot in the movie! The caption reads "Enjoy fine films such as the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Seven Arts production, 'Sunday in New York,' starring Cliff Robertson, Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor."<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs73Jtes4dWmxmpohYEnl3GgRPaxOV0iHEUDWw4plWb0w-85ibquWw-5wse-1i0rPpTJq194uwxBr_uO83HlrGFFKepdVnPoIkfDH2P_2egtX9Dsj4IoFaZXli1REK9ldwwkV-nA4dgRc/s1600/sinybuttons.png" width="500" /><br />
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And finally, <a href="https://kategabrielle.com/collections/buttons/products/sunday-in-new-york-button-set" target="_blank">this button set that I made myself</a>! I love making things that reflect my own super particular interests and I just had to have a Sunday in New York button set. Obviously I included the sneaker/shoe scene and some of my favorite quotes (the "two heads" one gets me every time!)<br />
<br />kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-48392996147023348012019-02-02T18:20:00.000-05:002019-02-02T23:46:35.924-05:00The Truffaut Happiness Challenge<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcznCNyS1J3A01S6S-qZykmrwKPzThJmX9jEtv505gZ4GuPZradkYSXHnfNGC2_QGz4cd2XCxKzyI-jGx4QCbXcY9Jln1zi1FCx4WePLcCnV6PWD67TZI8vimbgbsB7vRYW8Ry0_T8Fyc/s1600/truffautreading.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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<i>"Three films a day, three books a week and records of great music would be enough to make me happy to the day I die." </i><br />
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I've been thinking a lot lately about happiness. For most of my twenties, and now the first couple years of my thirties, I haven't been all that happy. Last year my therapist suggested that I read The Happiness Project, a book where a woman sets out to devote a year of her life to improving her outlook on life. The author is an incredibly privileged rich woman with a devoted husband and adorable kids, sooo, not super relatable. She had a few good suggestions (the ones that resonated the most with me were building collections, and making time for activities that you enjoy) but most of the book was focused on forming and maintaining human connections. And that's honestly just not for me. Whether it's in-person relationships or social media, I just feel out of place with people. Human relations fill me with self-doubt and confusion. People that I think of as friends usually think of me as merely an acquaintance. I constantly feel as if I am burdening others with my existence if I try to stay in touch. And whenever my brain tricks me into thinking I'm part of a tribe, I suddenly feel like an outsider. This is not a breeding ground for my happiness, it's part of the reason I'm unhappy to begin with. Personally, I need to look elsewhere.<br />
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Perhaps one of the only humans that I feel a real honest to goodness connection with has been dead for some thirty years. Through watching his movies, reading his writing, studying his biographies, I feel like I found a kindred spirit in François Truffaut. And so it should come as no surprise to me that the answer to happiness should be found in a paper he wrote in 1949. "Three films a day, three books a week and records of great music would be enough to make me happy to the day I die." He was an angsty 17 year old when he wrote this, although I very much doubt that he'd have rebuked the ritual at any point in his too-short life.<br />
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Last month I decided that I'd embark upon a Truffaut Challenge. Three films a day and three books a week seemed a little too voluminous for my work schedule, but I decided that at least <u>one film a day</u> and <u>two books a week</u> was much more achievable. And, of course, plenty of records of great music.<br />
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I'm a little over a week into my challenge so far and I can already say that it has helped me immensely. I feel so much more contended losing myself in works of literature and film. It's also had the unintended consequence of limiting my time on social media, thereby increasing my happiness even more. And I'm finding personal fulfillment in meeting the challenge -- each day there is a goal to accomplish, and it doesn't involve work or other people. As an illustrator, I am very hard on myself when it comes to my work and I suffer from crippling feelings of inadequacy. But by spending a hefty hunk of my day reading and watching movies, I'm happily appreciating the contributions of talented filmmakers and writers, rather than wading in a puddle of creative uncertainty.<br />
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I've also realized that three films a day and three books a week is actually more realistic than I initially thought. I devote at least a couple hours each day to listening to podcasts while I work at the computer - that could easily be switched out for movies (most likely re-watches since I prefer to give my complete and total attention to movies I'm seeing for the first time.) And surprisingly I finished 3 1/2 books this week after all. I also branched out when it came to "great music." Normally I would just play the same old itunes playlist that I have been listening to for the last few years, comprised mostly of songs by The Killers. But I branched out a little in two different directions -- I went on spotify and listened to some music that I hadn't heard before (and discovered I really like Florence and The Machine.) I also went back on itunes and played my 2011 and 2012 playlists, rediscovering some music that I hadn't listened to in 7 or 8 years.<br />
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Next week would have been Truffaut's 87th birthday, and I'm thinking I need to up the ante a bit and make this a Truffaut themed Truffaut challenge. Next week my daily movies will be made by Truffaut, and my books written by or about him. This routine has already improved my mood more than any self help book or pitiful attempts at human connection ever could -- I can only imagine how happy I'll be at the end of next week, after spending it enveloped in works produced by one of my favorite people.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-12360779319228919432019-01-10T20:15:00.000-05:002019-01-10T20:16:22.288-05:00Ten classic film actors and actresses from New Jersey<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_0BRMf77DXPmRdZEh0kiwalPdM_sbfBFiX46Dx4A_yJEpQuuUrSqpMKMYUHIt3ftkB6OuKLSbr62XEdj-yuD23HyWW56_NOjrxvtKBVHQJD8Uv15Yg2VzQM3wL40GI4YcwTC3ihmG-GE/s1600/hobokennew.jpg" width="500" /><br />
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Jacqueline from <a href="https://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/ten-classic-film-actors-and-actresses.html" target="_blank">Another Old Movie Blog</a> came up with a fun game to name 10 actors or actresses from your home state (she hit the jackpot with Massachusetts, which is home to Bette Davis!) I thought it would be fun to play along, too! With the exception of the Chairman of the Board, the Pride of New Jersey, <i>Mr. Frank Sinatra</i>, I tried to do a little research and find New Jerseyans that I didn't know hailed from my own home state. So without further ado--<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
1. Frank Sinatra</div>
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2. Sterling Hayden</div>
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3. Eva Marie Saint</div>
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4. Sandra Dee</div>
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5. Connie Francis</div>
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6. John Forsythe</div>
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7. Joan Bennett </div>
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8. Richard Conte</div>
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9. Norman Lloyd</div>
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10. Lee Van Cleef</div>
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The one I was most surprised about was Eva Marie Saint - for some reason I imagined she was from New England. She's just so refined (I honestly love my home state, but I wouldn't necessarily say we're all that refined here, ha!) Joan Bennett was New Jersey born, but her sister Constance was born in New York! And how fun that we in the Garden State can count the living cinematic icon Norman Lloyd among us, who was born 104 years ago in Jersey City!<br />
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And one more thing about Frank Sinatra, the main (and occasionally only) reason that I am so proud to call New Jersey home. I had the immense pleasure of taking a trip to Hoboken on the occasion of his centennial and it was one of the highlights <i>of my life.</i> I wrote about it a bit <a href="https://www.thefilmsinmylife.com/2016/01/pilgrimage-to-hoboken.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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If you want to join in the game, be sure to comment on <a href="https://anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/ten-classic-film-actors-and-actresses.html" target="_blank">Jacqueline's post right here</a>!kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6952132016236201534.post-71419247644032977572019-01-07T20:53:00.000-05:002019-01-07T20:53:12.599-05:00The magic of A Little Princess (1995)<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/5WicJpE1kxPUGqx39H/giphy.gif" width="500" /><br />
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When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was A Little Princess. I saw it at the movies when it came out, I had a well-worn VHS copy, and my dad got me a giant subway-size poster to hang up in my bedroom. It's always been one of my dad's favorite movies as well, so when I saw that it was playing at The Film Society at Lincoln Center I got us tickets to see it on the big screen.<br />
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Going into this I KNEW I was going to cry-- I feel like anyone with half a heart would cry. But as someone who is very close with my dad, Sarah's relationship with her "Papa," and the agony that they go through when they're separated, stretches the walls of my heart, makes my throat tense up to stop an unavoidable weep. When she draws the chalk circle around her and Emily in the attic, when she sees her father but he doesn't recognize her, when he finally remembers, "Sarah!!!" Against my will, I get so emotional watching movies. I bite my cheek and dig my fingernails into my palm, trying so hard to fight it back. But movies are *meant* to move us. And while some films might tease us and trick us into feeling something with swells of music or a hearty serving of cheese, A Little Princess is so authentic, earnest, and pure that it actually felt wrong to try to throttle my tears.<br />
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I just felt so much, so intensely. This movie was such a big part of my childhood that I felt an overwhelming sadness that I'm not a kid anymore. I don't know if everyone experiences this or if it's a particular problem with me, but I loved being a child and sometimes I mourn for that part of my life being so finished, and so far removed from where I am now. I also felt the kind of nostaglia that makes you happy, remembering your own childhood with sweet fondness. When Sarah runs to spy on her toys to see if they've moved while she left the room, I instantly remembered doing that myself. I felt so much love for the connection that I have with my own dad, so much gratitude that I have a father who has always treated me like A Little Princess and ended up being one of my very best friends.<br />
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And I felt magic. I can't think of any other movie I have ever seen - Disney animations included - that conveyed the same sense of magic and enchantment and wonder. And it's such a tactile charm. When Sarah runs her fingers across the stitching on the pillow that Becky made for her, Sarah and Becky's quilted silk robes, the softness of the snow when Sarah spins around in the window, the plush slippers that Sarah leaves for Becky... these are beautiful, magical moments that feel real and tangible somehow. Even small directorial decisions like splitting moments up into three quick clips, or almost undetectable slowing of poignant scenes, adds to the feeling that the magic Sarah believes in is real and we're witnessing it for ourselves.<br />
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Seeing this at the movies again, 24 years after I saw it for the first time, was a moving and captivating experience, and one that made me realize I need to rekindle my childhood ability to see the magic in everyday life.kate gabriellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613714423917702757noreply@blogger.com1