Happy little rays of information...

...sometimes - not often - come my way that make me feel as if my head will explode. I mean that in a good way.

Today's news: The composer of the Little House on Prairie (and Bonanza, among others) theme tune was called David Rose. He was born in London.

That's not the interesting bit. (First, click below while the suspense kills you.)

David Rose was married to both Martha Raye (1938-1941) and Judy Garland (1941-1944).

Happy?

One more time: The Little House on the Prairie music composer was married to kooky comedienne extraordinaire Martha Raye and she who needs no introduction, Judy Garland.

Not so happy? Dig those threads, though.

This is PIVOTAL INFORMATION to my nostalgically-overloaded brain.

So - what else could I do but write about it in order to help myself digest.

I think I am calm now.

Where have all the dynamic...

...duos gone?

Today, I have been reflecting on Hollywood's 'Golden Age', which, before its untimely demise, gave the world some of the best and most heart-warming partnerships to grace a screen:

Fred and Ginger
Tracy and Hepburn
Bogart and Bacall
Laurel and Hardy
Abbott and Costello
Bing and Bob (and sometimes Dorothy)
Martin and Lewis
Preminger and Bass*
Frankie and Annette

(Not forgetting the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges, which are hardly duos yet well worth a mention.)

I grew up watching their pictures, and find myself going back to them time and time again, all of these years later. Their magic will never be matched, and they will stay with me forever.

Who are your most memorable on-screen pairings**?

* a bit arty
** Yes, Redford and Newman are missing. They were a different time and place.

Not only Sheena is a Punk Rocker...

Thanks to Twitter friend Mark Perkins today bringing to my attention a band called The Vaccines and their song 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra), I have been reminded of 1982 film 'Class of 1984'.

Why? Because The Vaccines mentioned it here in their blog.

So this got me reminiscing about seeing the film on its initial realise to video - which must have been 1983.

Watching the trailer today is pretty comical (yes, that's Perry King, who has become a familiar face on television screens over the last four decades) - and it does not go unnoticed that at age 10/11, I was far too young to be watching it; I probably sneaked it home from the video hire shop!

Mind, perhaps it influenced my not-long-after (and still current today) punk rock tendencies...along with 'Suburbia' (1984), a flick which definitely deserves its own post.

Would you believe these lovelies are on display in
London's Museum of Childhood? Believe it.

This also makes me ponder what other 'students gone wild' films were made between 1967's 'To Sir With Love' and this - long before 'Dangerous Minds' (1995) and its numerous copycat ilk. I can't think of any at present - or, for that matter, any between'To Sir...' and 1955's 'Blackboard Jungle'.

I will have a think about that. Or, if you've landed on this page, please share your titles.

A final comment on 'Class of 1984' is that I remember it also being kind of a big deal that someone so bad (lead rogue, Timothy Van Patten) could be played by someone related to America's favourite Dad, Dick Van Patten. Simply scandalous!

I see now that Timothy Van Patten has become an accomplished Director in his own right. Did you know that? I didn't! Well done, you old punk ruffian.

March was clearly...

...a month lacking in real-world social activity.

Playing around with the new (to me) design options here, I have created a new page which lists the films I've watched so far this year.

Why not have a look?

This has turned out to be a formatting nightmare, and I am determined to make work one of the many tricks I've read to give the page its own layout look.

Sigh

In case you missed it, there's also a list over there (look top left) of films I've watched most recently.

Riveting, no?

Spending the afternoon watching...

... films where people end up finding love at unexpected times and places is probably not the best use of time for one already feeling low about the crumbling world.

natasha . . .

I felt overwhelmingly sad awakening to the news of Natasha Richardson's death.

I'm not entirely sure why I feel so affected by it, but wrote the following to a friend early this morning, and felt like also posting it here . . .

For the last several years, this is the photo that has adorned the website and printed promo material for the lone small theatre I still regularly attend. Whenever I'd hear anything about Natasha or the theatre, I'd always automatically put the two together.

The image is from The Lady from the Sea from 2003, which I didn’t go to see but remember when it was being publicised because it was around the time of my Redgrave fascination/serendipitousness*.

It’s funny, I’ve often thought ‘why do they still use that same old photo after all this time, they should really remove it…’ but of course I’m sure they won’t now. I hope not, anyway.

* Around 6 years ago, I happened upon an entire floor of exhibition space about the Redgrave family at the Theatre Museum in London. A rather quaint homage, really. I wasn't working at the time, and it was free, so I went back a few times, and throughout this time, things about one Redgrave/Richardson or another kept coming up.

I always thought it odd but fascinating that this was a permanent exhibition. The theatre was fabulous, and I used to always take visitors there (no one ever seemed as interested as I), but lost its funding 2-3 years ago and was shut down. Part of the building now forms something useless like a Starbucks. Very depressing.

I always meant to go back and visit the Redgraves before their lives were removed, but never made it. Natasha's tragic fate has now reminded me of that.

Perhaps my unwitting fascination with her is also fuelled by the fact I had to watch The Parent Trap at least, roughly, 25+ times due to a previous job and my mother running a home daycare (where the film was much-loved by the kiddies) during a time when I'd had to move back home.

I've only a vague memory of A Handmaid's Tale; I think it included something untoward, so of course immediately went onto the teenage 'must see' list. I can recall hiring it from the local video shop, my friends and I disappointed to find it wasn't as racy as we'd been expecting!

Thinking about the opening line of the BBC's obituary: 'Natasha Richardson spent much of her life being labelled; first as the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and then as the wife of Liam Neeson. '

In my younger days, I didn't know any of this, and it wouldn't have mattered anyhow. If I'd needed to label her, it probably would have been something such as 'beautiful English lady'.

What more could one want?

a work in progress . . .

. . . is how to describe this post.

i keep wanting to list some bits about my recent trip but haven't had time as yet - well, for that reason, and because i've been exceptionally jetlagged [resulting in a strong bout of laziness] all week for the first time ever.

to be updated - soon, hopefully . . .

[edit: yes, two nights ago i really did watch this film noted below - truly one of the worst things i've ever seen ever - and that's saying a lot. dare i say to car-crash calibre, which means i couldn't stop watching even if i wanted to (what if it had got even worse and i'd missed it? not worth chancing). poor mama walton...]

Currently watching:
A Christmas Without Snow

Current mood:
sleepy

my new obsession . . .

. . . library thing!

isn't it the most? to say the least? *

i admit that last night i spent about 4 hours adding books, fixing up covers, etc - i could have carried on all night!

my own collection is being listed in thematic order, grouped as they are on the shelves [i am very pedantic about such things - i mean, you have to make things flow, don't you - it's only sensible that scarlett letter should go next to the story of wallis simpson which goes next to the story of clementine churchill. there's a theme, you see...but i digress] - hence, if someone were to stumble upon my page at the wrong time, they might think i only like - for example - old hollywood or travelling to eastern europe...

ahh, but no. once you get them all in there you can sort at will, receive interesting stats on what famous dead people^ had the same books and find new internet friends** based upon your similar collections.

i may be in love. . .

* and if you can name that quote, you get a prize
^ who would have thought that tupac shakur and i would own the same book (hey, who would have thought he knew how to read)
** yes, i may need to get out more - but i'm recovering from a holiday, for pity's sake

Currently reading:
Memo from David O. Selznick




Current Mood:
giddy

alliteration and meeting matthew modine

coming soon!

full metal jacket is truly . . .

. . . one of the best films ever

some people seem to find it odd that i - little, tiny, innocent and defenceless female - could love it so. but i do

and of the things that's great about it is matthew modine. c'mon, you know matthew! you think you don't, but you do. if consumed with uncertainty, go here and here

well, i got to meet mr modine this evening! yes, it's true, and not at all the way i would have envisioned my day going, at the point i left the house in the morning

. . . to be continued . . .