"Dancing Lady"

I love this film! Starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, and pretty much everyone else in Hollywood.

Joan is a sexy dancer working in a sexy nightclub when the cops bust in. Joan is arrested and sent to jail for being sexy.

Franchot is rich and thinks she should be his gal so he bails her out, buys her din din, and gives her advice how to be classy. Joan isn't too interested, she just wants to get a new dancing gig. Clark is the theater director and Joan tries to get a meeting with him and stalks him until she does.

Strings are pulled and with some help from Franchot, she gets the job. She is at dance rehearsal in the day time and goes out with richy rich at night. But does Joan really like him? What about hottie Clark?

Franchot takes Joan swimming and makes her a deal. If the dancing thing doesn't work out, she will marry him. Joan agrees. Joan dances so much she gets too tired. Clark is there to help her out and the sparks fly.

Yes, that is fringe and a scarf on her bathing suit. The rich sure know how to spice up a boring one piece!

The big wigs end up cancelling the show and Joan realizes she must marry Franchot. Clark is mad. He goes on a boozer before he realizes he should hock everything he has and produce it himself. Mad at Joan, he hires a boring girl for the lead.

Yup, they are in this film too. Everyone is!

Joan finds out Franchot had the play shut down so he could get her to marry him and Joan is pissed. She searches for Clark to get her old job back. The show goes on...

Yup, Fred Astaire too! This was technically his first film.

In the end, the theater love birds get together. Ahhhh.... 

This film is so cute. I love watching Joan dance and Clark is so handsome. He and Joan had affairs off and on throughout their careers. I think this is a swell film that everyone needs to check out if they haven't already!

Quote Of The Day

"Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo."

-Mary Pickford

Oldies in Orange County

Today the fiancee and I were traveling around looking for a reception spot when we stumbled upon a small film exhibit in the old Santa Ana Courthouse. I love when this happens!

The main topic was films filmed in Orange County throughout the silent era. 

Some great old cameras and kinetoscopes were there which helped film "The Mask of Zorro" with ol' Doug.

They had some awesome props used in Cecil's "The Ten Commandments" in 1923.

Parts of "Cleopatra" with Theda were filmed in Corona Del Mar and Newport.

The Fullerton Daily Tribune had some dirt on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal.

An outfit Theda wore in "Cleopatra"

It was a nice surprise and I saw many pictures that I had not seen before. If you live in my neck of the woods, you should defiantly check it out:

http://www.ocparks.com/newsroom/default.asp?Show=1003145&subshow=A

Father Is Going To Hell

This should be the name of the most recent film I have watched and did not like, but instead it was named, "Life With Father." Based on the longest running non-musical Broadway play ever, this picture stars William Powell, Irene Dunne, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Irene is the wife, she has 4 boys, and William Powell is the dad with a stick up his ass. He yells at himself, at others, at the maid. He is tight with a capitol T with money, he hates visitors, and thinks religion is stupid, but he is going to heaven. 

He makes his kid eat oatmeal and bosses everyone around. Irene invites her cousin and lady friend for a visit and tries to hide it from her husband. Surprisingly, she still likes him. William finds out and is obliging, but only after yelling at Irene. The lady friend is Elizabeth Taylor and she has the hots for older son Clarence Jr.

Liz and young Clarence start to canoodle and play instruments together. Liz asks father at din din if he was baptized Methodist or Episcopalian since after 4 hours she is already making wedding plans in her head. News breaks that father has never been baptized at all and that he doesn't want to! Irene is pissed.

The rest of the film is about father refusing to get baptized while Irene insists he will go to hell and how she isn't even sure if they are legally married in the church. After manipulation and a lot of whining from his family, father must decide how he is going to put a stop to this nonsense or if he should just give in. 

One funny scene is when Clarence Jr and Liz are flirting and she sits on his lap. Clarence freaks out when he notices his "man parts" shifting, and scared Liz away. Ha!

This film was...dare I say it...boring. I know, I just called an oldie boring, but it was! Does anyone even like this film? I want opinions people!

Picture Of The Day

Carole Lombard looking faboosh.

Hello Summer!

Pick Up A Book

After a very exciting and busy Memorial Day weekend, I found myself wanting to just sit down and open a book. My read of choice? Tracy and Hepburn by Garson Kanin. I started it 3 months ago but have only mustered through 2 chapters (reason #34 I am an oldie film nerd). Let's take a look at some actors reading too.

Joan Bennett passing the time.

Clark Gable researching.

Clara Bow relaxing on her couch.

Ava Gardner catching up on the latest news.

Glen Ford 1/4 into a thick one.

Jimmy Stewart enthralled.

Jane Russell looking casual.

Marilyn Monroe actually reading.

Louise Brooks reading about the competition.

"Singin' In The Rain"

I love this film, and since the boyfriend fiancee's daughter just got the role of Lina in her company's play, I figured it was time to refresh my memory, and to redeem myself from the lousy Gene film I watched last week.

We meet uber star Don who is attending his latest with rumored gal pal Lina. The walk down the red carpet and say a few words (I wish they still did this today). We learn that Don got his start as a stunt man and worked his way up, while Lina is just a diva.

Don can't stand Lina, and Lina can't take a hint. The fans are too much for Don and he escapes into a car driven by Kathy aka Debbie Reynolds. She is appalled and gets mad when Don gets fresh with her. She drops him off and heads to work. Will they meet again?...

 To the after party Don goes when low and behold the dancing ladies turns out to me lead by Kathy herself! Now Don really can't get her off his mind. Lina gets jealous and has Kathy fired, but the show must go on.

Check out the puff bracelet!

Don finally finds Kathy and then become friends with benefits. Don wants to get Kathy in at the studio and along with pal Cosmo (Donald O'Connor), they brainstorm all night. Cue in cute song and  dance sequence.

The furniture from this scene was once used in the Gilbert/Garbo flick "Flesh and the Devil".

Talkies come in and the studio realizes Lina is a space cadet on film. What to do? They hire Kathy to do her voice overs, and "forget" to tell Lina. Don and Cosmo do some great dance numbers.

Every guy should dress like this. Every day. It doesn't hurt if he can do a little tap either.

The plan is going to work and they films some of the dance scenes with Don. Lina doesn't realize her dubber is Kathy and all is going well. This might actually be a good picture!

Kathy sucks some face with Don and he is smitten...so he dances in the rain. Gene had a 101 degree temperature at the time of this shot. The milk/water combo rain was shrinking his wool suit on set and Los Angeles was in a drought at the time, but Gene pulled through in one take.

Lina wants to ruin Kathy's career and gets some lawyers to help her. Kathy is sad and so is Don. After a screening, they devise a way to get the public to know the truth about Lina and her "voice".

Now that everyone knows the true star, the love birds get to be in their own film together. Ahhh. 

Gene was a tyrant on this film and worked Debbie to the ground. Literally. Fred Astaire found her crying under a piano after a 20 hour rehearsal. Gene was a perfectionist. Donald worked so hard he spent 3 days in the hospital after his "Make em Laugh" number. Debbie was rumored to have bloody feet during this shoot and was quoted as saying the two hardest things in her life were child birth and making this film. But hard work pays off. It cost 2 million to make and earned over 7 million in the end.