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 Even if you've never seen "North By Northwest" (and if not, why haven't you?), you know what that image is. It's the Mount Rushmore National memorial in the Black Hills of western South Dakota -- a carving of four noted American presidents...from left, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The memorial has become an American icon and a major tourist atraction. The idea of choosing four and memorializing them has also become part of popular culture; I've seen the concept used in discussions on sports, music and so on. In that vein, let's do a classic Hollywood Rushmore, one that deals specifically with actresses. Assuming Carole Lombard gets one of the four spots (and keep in mind this is a Lombard fan site, after all!), who are your other three selections?  You can base your choices on artistic achievement, historical impoctance, personal favorite, whatever -- this is your mountain, and you can carve it as you deem fit. My lone requirement is that the actress must have had a starring role before 1960. (So as much as I may love Goldie Hawn and Michelle Pfeiffer, they're not eligible to be carved onto my mountain.) My three alongside Lombard are (in alphabetical order):  Jean Harlow: Say, aren't sex symbols supposed to seem threatening to other women? That's certainly not the case with Harlow, whose sheer likability draped her like one of those gowns she wore in "Dinner At Eight." And the offscreen Jean was every bit as genuine.and generous. It's no wonder the entire film community mourned her shockingly early passing.  Myrna Loy: She viewed the "men must marry Myrna" campaign with the same wry bemusement she frequently displayed on screen as "the perfect wife" (or companion). Yet she knew it was a big step up from her earlier stereotype of Asians and other one-dimensional ethnic roles. Loy's intelligence and integrity shone in just about every part she played.  Barbara Stanwyck: Funny how you often hear the term "actor's actor," but never "actress' actress" -- because if you did, Stanwyck's name would come up frequently. Versatility defined the lady, from screwball to film noir, from biopics to straight dramas, from pre-Codes to westerns. The lady could do it all -- and what's more, she did it for more than half a century. A consummate pro. Okay, folks, start planning your mountain, with three companions for Carole.
ARGH My stupid right tonsil is all stupid again. I've been doing nothing but sleeping the past two days. So much for a nice, long holiday weekend. ARGH I'M BORED. I just keep passing out every two hours or so. Fevers during the summer blow. wtf. Well, I hope everyone else in the states is having a fine holiday weekend. Eat some tasty bbq for me! I am really craving a fresh glass of lemonade, I tell you what. EditBogie is bored too. Here, have some bored cat.
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YAY I HAVE A NEW BOX.
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I'M SO BORED I GOTTA EAT TAPE!
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 If any of you collected baseball cards during the 1960s (or collect cards of that era now), you are likely aware of a Topps concept called "rookie stars." The company would take two prospects or young players from a particular organization and team them on one card. Perhaps it was done to save expenses and cut down on the number of cards in the set, but in retrospect it's fascinating to view the pairings. Take the card above, for instance (which I had in my collection in 1965), featuring a pair of "rookie stars" for the St. Kouis Cardinals. On the left is a righthanded pitcher named Fritz Ackley, and you can tell from the pinstripes -- a feature that hasn't been on Cards' uniforms since the 1930s -- that the photo was taken while he was with another club...specifically the Chicago White Sox. Ackley pitched briefly for the Sox late in the 1963 season and early in '64, winning one game and losing none. He even had two hits, one a double, in six at-bats. The Cardinals acquired him after the 1964 season, but he never again pitched in the majors and died in 2002 at age 65. His career was in sharp contrast to the other player on the card, a lefthander named Steve Carlton. He came up to St. Louis in '65 and soon became part of the rotation. He was a key cog in two Cardinal pennant winners in the late '60s, but few people remember his St. Louis career. That's because he was traded to Philadelphia for Rick Wise after the '71 season in what may be the greatest trade in Phillies history. He won 27 games for the Phils in '72, would capture several Cy Young awaards for pitching supremacy, was the ace of the Phillies' first World Series champions in 1980 and eventually won more than 300 games. He's now in the Hall of Fame, and a statue of "Lefty" stands outside Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. We have the movie equivalent of a "rookie stars" card as the subject of today's entry. While it's true Carole Lombard wasn't a rookie when this photo was taken in 1932, the other person in the photo definitely was:  Yep, that's Cary Grant, some seven years before he and Lombard would reunite in the drama "In Name Only." Here, he has a supporting role, with Carole in the lead, in "Sinners In The Sun," among the first films Grant had made. (And while Lombard and Grant were both in "The Eagle And The Hawk" in 1933, they had no scenes together. Carole only appeared on screen with Fredric March.) The photo is now being offered at eBay, and as of this writing, no bids have been placed. Interesting, given the popularity of both Carole and Cary and the relative rarity of this photo. Bidding opens at $9.99, and time's a-wastin' -- the deadline for bidding is just after 9:05 p.m. (Eaastern) Sunday. To bid, or simply to find out more, go to http://cgi.ebay.com/Carole-Lombard-Cary-Grant-photo-1932-Sinners-in-the-Sun_W0QQitemZ250454601246QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a5041ee1e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50.. Oh, and to those who might not have liked the analogy: Cary Grant probably would have appreciated it. Despite being from England, he became an avid baseball fan, and probably saw Steve Carlton pitch at Dodger Stadium several times. (Oh, and speaking of baseball and things American -- happy Independence Day! The U.S. is 233 years old today.)
 Персонажи из книги"Куклы эпохи Арт Деко"
Those of us still irked by the mediocre biopic "Gable And Lombard" (and many would say "mediocre" is a generous description) have long yearned for a Carole Lombard biopic. Well, there's good news -- we may be getting one. But first, some background on the source it's coming from:  In the 1980s and '90s, veteran screenwriter and film historian Michael Druxman (he wrote the Charlton Heston volume in the Pyramid series of film-related paperbacks) wrote a series of one-person plays about Hollywood legends such as Spencer Tracy, Orson Welles, Clara Bow and Clark Gable. Such a play about Carole Lombard seemed appropriate after the success of the Gable work. Druxman's setting has Carole, following the success of her bond rally in Indianapolis, is back at her hotel room, awaiting word on whether she will be allowed to fly back to Los Angeles, where she suspects her husband is cheating on her. Lombard looks back at her personal life and profesional career with humor and determination. "Lombard" has had three productions, according to Druxman, who directed all three. The Glendale News Press called it "an engrossing one-woman show." (This play should not be confused with another one-woman play called "Carole" that ran for a few days in Los Angeles in February 2001 and received a tepid review. I myself have never seen either play.)  On June 17, Druxman -- who moved to Austin, Texas, not long ago -- made this announcement on Twitter: "I'm going to adapt my 1-woman play on Carole Lombard into a screenplay. Maybe we'll shoot it here in Austin."Three days later, he issued this followup: "Adapting my 1-woman Carole Lombard play into a movie is presenting an interesting set of challenges. I like challenges."Those challenges include how much he'll expand the story, adding more characters and scenes. Assuming the story is still set at the time of the bond rally, does he add more about the Indianapolis trip? Do we see her mother, Bess Peters, and MGM publicist Otto Winkler, both of whom accompanied her on this trip? Do you do "flashback" scenes about Lombard's life, and if so, how many? Do you include Gable, Powell, Columbo? Obviously financial constraints come to mind as well, although "Gable And Lombard" could have had a budget the size of "Cleopatra" and the script still would have sunk it. One would expect the actress who would play Lombard would be a relative unknown -- although with Druxman's decades of experience in the film industry, he might have a surprise up his sleeve. Whatever, we wish Druxman well with his "challenge" in getting the job done, and await the finished product.
So late last night the decision was made to close my office due to the ONE, that's right, ONE case of Swine Flu. A case that occured in the building across the street from mine.This would be all fine and dandy except for two things: 1.) No one fucking told me, I'm here, in the office, by myself. 2.) I can't fucking work from home because I don't have a company issued laptop, therefore even IF I had internet at home (which I currently don't) I won't be able to see at least 50% of the programs I need, none of the file systems I need and I won't be able to push any files. How...awesome. This is so fucking stupid. STUPID FUCKING STUPID. We've had very nasty colds and chest infections circulate this office. I know, because I had one of those awful illnesses from November of last year until mid January of this year. Three rounds of anti-biotics later and it finally went away. My fellow QA'er came down with the same damn thing too and was sick for almost two months. So did several developers. But, we didn't close then. Oh, no, it was still business as usual. But one case in a completely different building and it's FLEE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. Fucking whatever, I'm irritated because of course when people work from home, most don't really 'work', so now I can't find the people I fucking need to find. Wow. What a crap fucking day. Happy almost weekend, at least. edit: apparently they called everyone last night, an automated recording. huh, work doesn't seem to have my correct number. weird. :/
If you somehow hadn't heard the news earlier in the day, you received it just before Turner Classic Movies entered its prime-time schedule last night with "Manhattan Melodrama": The by now familiar image of windshield wipers in the rain signaled the passing of someone with ties to classic film, and in this case the person TCM remembered was Karl Malden, who died at his home earlier in the day. Obviously, TCM had stockpiled clips of Malden for this occasion; he was, after all, 97. And as some have noted, he died five years to the day after his longtime friend, Marlon Brando, had passed on. Many of yesterday's recaps of Malden's career may have focused too much on his 21 years as American Express Travelers Cheques pitchman ("Don't leave home without them"), but on the other hand, for someone who hardly had leading man looks to have held that role that long says something about him. Whether on the stage or screen (big or small) Karl Malden exuded integrity. That's why he won both an Oscar and an Emmy; whether he was playing a hero or a heavy, he made you believe in a character, such as Father Barry in 1954's "On The Waterfront" (below is Malden with Brando and Eva Marie Saint):  We've written about Malden before ( http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/61900.html), and he certainly will be missed for his many contributions to the entertainment industry. But there's another angle to Malden's passing: Who is now left that appeared on film with Carole Lombard? (Malden made his film debut with a small role in 1940's "They Knew What They Wanted.") Sure, there are still people around who knew Lombard -- Marsha Hunt, Gloria Stuart, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine -- but none of them ever acted with her. As someone reminded us, Shirley Temple from "Now And Forever" is still around, and perhaps there are a few others left who appeared in a film with Carole when they were juveniles (though no names come to mind) but remember those street urchins in the restaurant scene of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"? If any of them are still with us, they'd be at least in their mid-70s now.  Our condolences to Malden's wife Mona -- now widowed after more than 70 years of marriage -- two daughters, and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Also note that TCM has revised its schedule for Friday, July 10 to commemorate Malden. It opens with "On The Waterfront" at 8 p.m. (Eastern), followed by Malden's Oscar-winning performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" at 10 and "Birdman Of Alcatraz" at 12:15 a.m.
01-12 Classic Hollywood (Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis, Robert Wagner, Sandra Dee, Bobby Darin, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton)13-18 Firefly 19-34 Lost 35-42 Mad Men 43-48 Prison Break 49-63 Xena 64-70 Other (Arrested Development, Gossip Girl & The Big Bang Theory) 71-75 Banners/headers (Robert Wagner/Natalie Wood, Mad Men & Lost)    More here @ ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) royaltwig
I went to it to see marilyn monroes personal effects and photos being auctioned off. it was held at planet hollywood in las vegas nevada. it was amazing ! they were auctioning off bobby pins and hair rollers she used. clothes, furniture from her brentwood home, checks she signedto doctors, face cream and powder and oil paintings. the paintings were the most striking to me only because they were so dismal and sad. 2 were plain and practically burnt orange and the last one was completely black along with a window which a dim light shone through and the name olga at the bottom left of the painting. i heard that what one reads and what art they decide to surround themselves with is very telling about the person. her books which were also being auction were very intelluctual but the paintings were very depressing which made me feel so broken hearted for her. what she must have been going through on the inside. it was very emtional to be near all her things.
So, outside of not getting raises for the forseeable future, my coworker is a gawker GAWKER PANTS GAWKER OMG, one person in my office (they sit in another building) came down with the OMGZ SWINE FLU. People are actually leaving the office and going home. Give.Me.A.Break. We have hundreds of cases in NYC by now. I'm actually surprised no one caught this sooner. AND IT'S JUST THE FLU. I realize that the flu sucks balls but it's not the damn bubonic plague. RELAX, PEOPLE. STOP SCURRYING ABOUT LIKE YOUR PANTS ARE ON FIRE WITH EBOLA CHICKEN FLU PLAGUE. SARS I'd be worried about. But this? Come on.
They were good friends in real life, sharing a studio for many years and, through marriage, one woman (at different times, mind you). But they made only one movie together, and if you have Turner Classic Movies in the U.S., you can see it tonight. Many of you have probably guessed we are referring to William Powell and Clark Gable, each of whom could claim Carole Lombard as his wife. And in 1934, they made their only film together, co-starring Myrna Loy (who set off plenty of on-screen sparks with both but was never actually romantically linked with either one). The movie is titled "Manhattan Melodrama," and it airs at 8 p.m. (Eastern).  Directed by W.S. Van Dyke (who that year would direct Powell and Loy in the pivotal smash "The Thin Man"), "Manhattan Melodrama" is MGM's take on gangster films. Compared to Warners, MGM gangster fare wasn't quite as hard-bitten, nor did it teem with Warners' urban sensibilities. But sheer star power and good storytelling made it work. "Manhattan Melodrama" was sort of a return to roots for Gable, whose stardom had been established playing tough guys some three years earlier in "A Free Soul" and "Night Nurse." By now, however, the Gable persona was less brutish, more stylish. In this film, Gable and Powell play boyhood friends who wind up on opposite sides of the law -- Powell as a district attorney with gubernatorial ambitions, Gable as a gangster. They vie for the affection of the same woman (Loy). Sounds like a cliche, but the stars make you believe it. Incidentally, Mickey Rooney plays the Gable character in his youth, and reference is made to the 1904 fire on the excursion steamship "General Slocum" in which more than 1,000 people died. Until the World Trade Center attack, it was the deadliest tragedy in New York City history.  As the lone teaming of Lombard's husbands, "Manhattan Melodrama" is the answer to a trivia question -- but chances are it's better known as the answer to another trivia question: "What was the film John Dillinger saw before he was gunned down by FBI agents?"  The end came for "Public Enemy No. 1" on the night of July 22, 1934, a sweltering day in Chicago in which nearly two dozen people died of the heat. So the air-cooled Biograph must have come as comfort to Dillinger and his two female companions -- a waitress girlfriend, and his Romanian-born landlady, who ran several houses of prostitution and was being threatened with deportation. When Dillinger suggested they see "Manhattan Melodrama" at the Biograph (he was reportedly an avid Myrna Loy fan), the landlady tipped off the law before they left. She wore an orange dress to make it easy for authorities to locate Dillinger; it appeared reddish in the light of the marquee, thus leading to the incorrect but famous reference of "the woman in red." (The landlady was ultimately departed anyway, and died in Romania in 1947.) Once the three left the theater and walked south on Lincoln Avenue, Dillinger noticed he was being lured into a trap and quickly ran into an alley. FBI sharpshooters killed him on the spot. (In her autobiography "Being And Becoming," Loy -- while not at all condoning Dillinger's devious deeds -- nonetheless felt a bit guilty for indirectly luring him to his doom.) TCM could have waited another three weeks to show this movie and commemorate the 75th anniversary of that bloody anniversary -- but today marks the premiere of "Public Enemies," a retelling of the Dillinger tale with Johnny Depp as the criminal and Christian Bale as G-man Melvin Purvis. Some other gangster-related material is on TCM tonight, too, including "Fog Over Frisco" with Bette Davis at 9:45, "G-Men" with James Cagney at 11, and a 2008 documentary on Warners gangster films, "The Public Enemies: The Golden Age Of The Gangster Film," at 12:30 a.m.
Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009, 04:31 pm
![[i]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lulu_girl: oh dear
Oh my. Short work weeks always blow. I currently have two design people telling my flash developer to make adjustments to this one feature. The problem, however, is that the two requests are completely opposite from one another. Completely, opposite. Oh dear. We're supposed to go live very, very soon. By soon I mean TOMORROW. And I can't QA anything until it's, well, coded first. I'd like to have a super hero power to QA in the future but sadly, that is not an option. This is one of those times where beating one's head into a wall could very well be more worth while, because eventually you'll knock yourself out. OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY, OH! In other news, a friend posted this on FB and it's been making the rounds at work. I tee hee'd a lot.
Lastly, omg it's only bloody fucking Tuesday. Well, I'd rather be annoyed at work than unemployed... Happy almost mid week, all. |
creative
groggy
okay
Happy the power is on!
excited
It's Rum & Coka Cola time!!!
melancholy
okay
productive