We Meet Again.

Ah, it's been a long time? Too long. And for that, kiddos, I apologize. But there's marvelous news I have for you! Well, marvelous for me...you could probably take it or leave it. Anyhoo, I've just come back from winter break and have had time to catch up with all the movie-watching I so desperately missed at school. Judy, Barbara, Bette (Garland, Stanwyck, and Davis-- respectively) were all high on the list of things viewed, as well as some (relatively) new friends, like Loretta Young, Joel McCrea, and Frances Farmer. Oh, it was swell. And I do believe it's provided me with new inspiration. I was like, "2010! How inspiring!"*

But I digress. The reason I'm really here is to post some pictures. And I haven't a transition for that, not really. So without further ado...

Which reminds me, how was everyone's holiday? :)

*May not have been my actual words.

College Life, or What To Do When Gone With the Wind's Over

So here I am, in the university. Which I'm fairly certain you all knew.

It's swell really. The people are grand, and I'm kept pretty busy.

I rise at seven, class at nine, lunch at noon, class at 2, dine at 6, and so on.

After about 7, though, anything goes. It's a sort of no man's time, if you will.

Lately we've been filling these wee hours by watching a movie or two in the commons. And this, my friends, is precisely where the problem arises.

I couldn't possibly list all the movies we've been watching, but I'll try to name a few, just to give you a sort of general idea of the sitch I'm in.

Let's see...

- Juno (don't get me started)

- Twilight (you're kidding me, right?)

- Pay It Forward (seemingly out of left field)

- Step Up 2 (not that I've seen the first one, mind you)

To be fair, we did watch BBC's Pride and Prejudice as well, which I adore. But let's just brush that fact under the carpet, shall we? Makes my argument sound a heck of a lot better.

I know, I know, I'm sounding like a movie snob. And I don't mean to. These movies (well, not these movies, but movies like them) are fine-- just not one after the next, with nothing in between. Ya dig?

And all this time, Judy sits abandoned in my dorm room, along with Fred, Ginger, Cary, and Bette...

I feel like a mother who's left her children in Disney World or something. Not cool.

But what am I supposed to do? I cannot force people to like things. Believe me, I've tried. And it's backfired all times but one. Which is the reason I'm not allowed to play any Streisand around any of my family members, with the exception of my supercool mother. Yeah, we'll go with supercool.

Plus, isn't it known that persuasion works far better than force anyway? Ah, maybe not. Maybe I just need to work on a menacing pose...

Anyway, the point I'm getting at is...how does one go about introducing others with little to no exposure to classic film to the greats? I don't want it to be, you know, a total shock to their systems, but gosh darn it-- I hafta do something, right?

We did try Gone With the Wind, and that seemed to work. But what next? I toyed with the idea of Laura, but didn't know how it'd be received.

Any thoughts, suggestions? I do so want to be reuinted with my wonderful (albeit dead) buddies in film, and cannot wait four years to do so.

In other news, I've just discovered the fabulous Lupe Velez.

Also, I'm planning another Monday Murder. Still trying to decide between this...

and this...

First Look at the Greats, part I

Last night I was watching Marked Woman for the gazillionth time and started to think about my Bette Davis obsession. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, or when....but it's been lovely so far.




I don't know when I first heard the name Bette Davis. Probably in the film book my sister bought for me when I was little. I remember reading from it and calling her "Bette" (Oh drat...that doesn't work here...only in speech, huh?) as in Midler. My mother corrected me and I thought to myself "What a cool spelling." Later I learned she thought so too. :)




The first time I saw Bette Davis was in All About Eve. I was twelve, I think, and was looking for old movies to buy. I'd heard a lot about the script (I still think it's the best), and also about Bette Davis. So I bought it, watched it, and searched for adjectives to describe it. Marvelous, uproarious, grand...it was everything I'd wanted in a movie (Yeah, I know...sounds lame, but that was really how I felt). I knew at once why it was considered a classic.




Anyway, sometime after that I was shopping for movies and saw What Ever Happened to Baby Jane on the shelf. I remember thinking what an awesome cover it had, with that creepy poem and broken doll's head. So I bought it.





Geez...no wonder Kim Carnes sang that song.


At the time, I found it remarkable that the lady from Baby Jane was the same woman who'd been in All About Eve. Which clinched the obsession, I guess. From that point on I've never looked back (well, I mean, except for ...now. ;)




My absolute favorite picture of Bette.





Seriously, this woman could not get any cooler.



Do you have a favorite Bette memory?

Movies! Movies! Movies! and Gal of the Week

I'm going away to college soon, and still I've no idea which movies to take. I wanted at first to take my entire collection, but shudder at the thought of packing them away under my bed or something. They need to breathe. ;)

There are certain films in my possession that I view just once, but others I go to again and again-- even if I watch only certain scenes.

I wonder what the difference is, of those movies. Instead of analyzing it (which would probably be somewhat interesting but rather difficult and time-consuming), I'm going to make a list of some movies I can watch over and over again. Less interesting for you maybe, but infinitely more fun for me.

1) Auntie Mame

I don't know what it is about this movie (actually, I suppose I do-- Ros Russell) ...it's not my favorite film in the world, but it has this unique quality to it that makes it incredibly re-watchable. Which means it's grand in my book.

2) Sybil

Oh the script! So much to choose from-- so many lines to quote!

My personal favorite? "They were Sybil's tonsils, but my throat hurt too."

3) Paper Moon

This is the most dependable movie I know...no one I've ever shown it to has disliked it. Thank goodness.

4) Love with the Proper Stranger

Steve McQueen is just adorable, especially near the end. Sometimes (and I don't blame her one bit) Natalie Wood is too much for me, but not in this one.

5) What's Up Doc?

The first Barbra Streisand movie I ever saw. Which means it still holds a special place in my... collection. ;)

6) Easter Parade

Judy. Fred. Not to mention (though I'll do so anyway) the songs by Irving Berlin...like a gazillion of 'em.

7) Stage Door

The movie that started my Ginger obsession. Oh, I owe it all to this one. Kind of odd that Kate and Mr. Menjou look so close on the poster.

8) Gone With the Wind

I don't even think I'm capable of explaining my love for this movie.

9) Wait Until Dark

When I was littler, Audrey Hepburn was tops as far as I was concerned. This one and Charade made me fall for old movies.

10) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane

For this list, it was a toss up between this and Freaky Friday. Guess I'm feeling dark today, huh?

11) Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Might just be a matter of opinion, but this one's oodles better than What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, yeah?

12) Romance on the High Seas

Doris Day's first movie, also with my hero, Oscar Levant, who once said he knew Doris "before she was a virgin."

13) Laura

Never tire of this one. Clifton Webb's performance near the end always freaks me out tremendously. I think I like it.

14) Clueless

C'mon, there had to be one pick on here like this, right?


15) The Heiress

Each time I watch it, I'm more impressed with Olivia de Havilland's performance. Good stuff.

As for the gal in the title of this post, this week it's...

Julie London

1) Because Amanda Cooper from A Noodle in a Haystack mentioned her in a post and

2) ...because who else has such groovy (yeah, groovy) album covers?

That was a rhetorical question, by the way. ;)

Obsession is not too strong a word...

I've been trying (oh, alright, I've just started trying) to think up the people I'm more or less (more! more!) obsessed with. Ouch, prepositions can hurt, huh? I'll try again.

I've recently attempted to create a list of people whom...with...oh dear. You get the picture, I think. People with whom I'm obsessed. Yeah?

Anyway, Judy Garland was first, natch. Then Ginger, William Powell, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, and Sally Field (just humor me for a second, 'kay? ;) )

And then, of course, there are the people who have very little (or nothing) to do with movies. Edith Beale the younger, Dorothy Parker, Patty Hearst, and Tiny Tim. That made ten... a nice, round number.

So darn it all, Linda Darnell...you just had to make it eleven, didn't you?

I'm afraid it took me 19 long years to see A Letter to Three Wives, though I shouldn't count the first ten or so...I wasn't really conscious until age nine or ten, I think.

Anyway, I saw it last week. And again he next day. And then I watched that nice, if extraordinarily depressing A&E bio of Linda Darnell. And I was hooked (Ask Amazon-- they know). Oh well, I guess I could always clear more shelf room.

(Psst..does anyone know the deal between Linda and Otto Preminger?)

EDIT: Evidently Preminger gave Darnell a hard time on Forever Amber...but that's still too vague for me. :)

EDIT 2 (A P.P.S., if you will)

Musings, vol. I

Just some jumbled thoughts coupled with pictures I found interesting. I apologize in advance for using personal pronouns entirely too much and for being a dreadful bore in general.

It's terribly windy out tonight. Wind always makes me feel as if I'm going out of my mind. Coupled with the word-amnesia (shucks-- there’s a word for that but I can never remember what...oh, the irony) and recent insomnia makes for one tired and cluttered Juliette.

Grace Kelly, on set of something...The Country Girl?

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the brilliant idea I had. Actually, I suppose I forgot to tell myself. Last night at, oh, I’d say six or so (that’s a.m., dear), I awoke with a marvelous idea. I was going to write it down, when suddenly my subconscious (curse it forever) told my conscious self that I had already done so. My conscious self doubted this for a bit, then finally relented and went to sleep. Which turned out poorly, as now I’m unable to recall even a bit of it. So I beg of you subconscious-- if you know the whereabouts of this idea...by all means, let me know.

Hitch and actress Anny Ondra

Emma Brockes can be quite the little philosopher when she puts her mind to it...

“The difference between an interest and a passion is that an interest works on you from the outside in, whereas a passion works the other way around-- from the inside out. This is why people see their passions reflected in every surface, every circumstance.”

Lovely little quote, huh? I thought so.


Golly I hope this game still exists...

I’ve never much liked DVD commentaries by the director. It seems redundant. Isn’t the film supposed to be their commentary-- their statement on or about a situation? Some commentaries are enjoyable, though. Liza’s on The Band Wagon, for instance. That one was swell, but then again perhaps I’m biased. A little. A lot.

All day long I’ve had “In My Merry Oldsmobile” stuck in my head. Not that I mind.

Greta Garbo posing with the USC track team in 1926.

I think I shall begin writing letters. Not here, I mean, but to people on "the outside," aka real life. I was reading some of Flannery O'Connor's letters and noticed that she too writes a lot. An awful lot. A heck of a lot. By "a lot," I mean frequently, you know? I've always thought it was cool in biographical films when they'll have someone read the letters that particular person wrote to another. Just the feeling that you mattered enough to someone else that they thought to save your writing. Pretty neat, huh?

Young Bette Davis Eyes.

I can be a very stupid person, really. But I've gotten to know myself well enough to laugh it off. Like, I know I go through phases (should be pretty clear right now as I gaze at my "Barbra shelf"...ack) and I can laugh at that. I'm a flake too, but I don't much mind that. I'm distant and many times prefer to be alone. I'm no recluse, but I could happily be a cloistered nun...ah, scratch that, I love my family too much. I'm not neurotic, and have gotten over the time of finding neuroses particularly glamourous. Mainly. I'd still kill for a case of DID (kidding...ish), but otherwise it's better. When I fear something I generally avoid it. Whenever I think my writing has gotten too serious or self-indulgent, I throw in a phrase or two to shift focus...man alive this is getting long. I'm spent.