New Years Resolution Week One: Metropolis

I completed week one of my resolution yesterday!!  My first essential film is Metropolis.  I’ve never seen Metropolis before, so I was very excited to see it.  It’s one of those legendary films that every film buff is supposed to have seen. The version that I watched is not the latest or the most complete version, but I choose the 1984 copy because Freddie Mercury.  Enough said.

For dinner I couldn’t find anything suitable in TCM Movie Night Menus, so I decided to come up with my own.  I choose to make a vegetarian version of ploughman’s lunch.  A ploughman’s lunch typically consists of cheese, bread, fruit, pickles, meat, hard boiled eggs and some veggies.  And served with beer.  It was English farm workers lunch of choice, so I thought it would be appropriate for this film. Workers unite!

   

Vegetarian Non-Alcoholic Ploughman's Lunch! Yum!

I had grape tomatoes, orange peppers, apple slices, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish cheddar cheeses, Tofurky turkey slices, pickles, hardboiled eggs, grapes, and a hunk of bread.  To drink, O’doul’s.  It was perfect!  Even the non alcoholic beer was good!  And yes, I served it on my beautiful mismatched depression glass plates and bowls.  They make everything more delicious.

The movie was beyond amazing.  I knew that it would be good, but I didn’t know it would be *this* good.  I was prepared for the story line because who doesn’t know the story line, but the way it was conveyed was so captivating.  I was just glued to the screen, which is unusual for me, I tend to wander way for a little bit.  It was shot beautifully and the sets were so intricate.  Everything was perfect and the direction really escalated your emotions.  It was all so clever and really delivered Lang’s message.  Hard, cold, mechanical, inhuman, unfeeling.  The special effects were beyond.  I can’t believe how advanced they were.  Part of the reason that I love and treasure old movies is that people really had to do what was filmed.  They really had to figure things out.  You couldn’t just program a computer to do the work for you.  I really admire the directors and actors for that reason.  I know I say this a lot, but it’s true!!

I really enjoyed the modern soundtrack for the film.  Not just because of Freddie Mercury, but that didn’t hurt.  I thought that the music made the film more powerful.  I usually ignore the soundtracks. They fade into the background for me, but this one really added to the film.  Giorgio Moroder did a wonderful job! I really recommend watching this version if you can get your hands on it.

However, the best part of the film was Brigitte Helm.  If you’ve seen this film you will completely agree.  She stole this movie.  Her expressions and her acting were just incredible.  I just couldn’t get over her!

I mean really!!!

Then I found out this was her first role and she was only 18?!?!  I must now watch everything I can with this woman in it!  Everything!

I love her.

I had the best time!  This is going to be a fantastic resolution.  It was so inspiring.  I got to involve all of my favorite things.  I learned stuff, got to see a fabulous movie that I hadn’t made time for, got to be a bit creative with food, got to eat food, and I wrote about it all!  I know it’s only week one, but I have high hopes for this resolution!

Love,

Olive

PS:  I know this blog kinda sucks.  I’m hoping that my writing gets better the more I do it!  I’m telling ya, I used to be good!  I am really proud that I figured out how to add pictures!  Small victories!!

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I’m doing the bestest resolution ever!  I wanted to pick something that would make me stick to it but would also be fun.  I don’t want to fail again this year, but I want something that will inspire me and help me grow.  I tend to be a bit scatty.  I start something, get really really excited about it and then it becomes overwhelming and I quit.  And then proceed to feel terrible about it forever.  This happens even when it is something that I enjoy.  Somehow it starts to feel like pressure.  And that’s no good!  I need better habits and that what this should help with as well.

I love classic movies.  Love love love.  I love learning the stories behind classic movies.  I love seeing patterns and meaning in classic movies.  And I love food.  And cocktails.  

I got a copy of TCM The Essentials 52 Must See Movies and Why They Matter and a copy of TCM Movie Night Menus.  I’m hoping that this will keep me focused.  Kinda like a syllabus.  

I have really high hopes for this and I’m super excited.  I get learn stuff and cook and I’m going to be exposed to movies that I never would have taken the time for before.  I have seen quite a few of these movies, but I think the book will shed new light on them.  And, well, they’re fantastic and I’ll just adore seeing them again regardless!  Especially with a good dinner!

I’m just using the Movie Night Menus as a guideline.  Not all of the movies are in there, not even close, and I have some pretty strict dietary requirements myself.  I’m a vegetarian and I can’t drink.  ​​ ​I​ ​can​ ​replace​ ​most​ ​meat​ ​with fake​ ​meat,​ ​so​ ​that​ ​should​ ​work.​ ​​ ​Maybe.​ ​​ ​As​ ​for​ ​the​ ​cocktails….well​, ​I’ll​ ​see​ ​what​ ​I​ ​can​ ​come​ ​up with. But it will be inspiration!  If that week’s movie isn’t in the book, I can find a movie that’s “like” the one I’m watching that week, or maybe I can match the stars, or I can come up with my own movie inspired dinners.  Doesn’t matter, this is supposed to be fun!

I’m also hoping(and I’m just whispering this, because I might fail at this part) to blog about each of these.  Writing is so important for me.  I gotta do it more, I don’t want my brain turning to jelly!  

So wish me luck!  Happy New Year to everyone!

Love,

Olive

The Elephant In The Room

A few months ago I did the absolute coolest thing!  I've been on a Diana Serra Cary(aka Baby Peggy) binge.  Ever since I saw "Baby Peggy: The Elephant In The Room", I've been fascinated by this lady.  She came with no education and ended up being a published historian.  All on her own.  Fueled by her own interest and drive. No support(even emotional) from her family.  Amazing!  She's so strong.  I just admire her so much.

I've been reading her books and they are some of the best written books I've ever read.  They're honest, thoughtful, and unbiased.  The flow of the writing is just so easy and so unpretentious.  It's hard to conquer such a subject, especially a such a personal subject to the author, without getting pretentious or doing the opposite and being too dry in an attempt to be objective.  Her writing has a wonderful voice.  I've just been enjoying her so much.

So far I've read "What Ever Happened to Baby Peggy: The Autobiography of Hollywood's Pioneer Child Star", "Jackie Coogan: The World's Boy King: A Biography of Hollywood's Legendary Child Star", and I'm halfway through "Hollywood's Children: An Inside Account of the Child Star Era".  Even though they're all covering the same subject, they are not repetitive at all!  Each one is fascinating and unique.

We all know that Diana is the last.  In the documentary, I saw that people were still writing to her and how much she appreciated the correspondence.  And really who doesn't appreciate being told that your work has meant something to them?  I decided to write to her and ask for an autograph.  I've never written a fan letter in my life!  So I wrote her a long letter just telling her how much I admired her.  I just can't imagine the strength it has taken her to come so far!  Then I enclosed a check and a SASE and popped it in the mail.  The next week I got three signed pictures!  I'm so thrilled!  I'm so thrilled!  The photos are just beautiful.  As soon as I figure out how to post photos on this thingy, I'll update this blog with them.

Diana is struggling to stay in her house and out of a retirement community that won't meet her needs.  She's being taken care of by her son right now.  She is surrounded by her books so she can still do her research and keep her mind sharp.  She has dietary rules that she believes keeps her in such good shape.  Any support that she can get from us would be wonderful.  She's selling beautiful autographed photos.  You get the autograph of a legend AND you're helping her.  I can't imagine working my whole life, and I mean whole life because I believe she started at 18 months, and not being able to spend my later years comfortable and where I wanted to be.  Doesn't seem right.

So if you can, order an autograph.  It's such a cool thing to have!  I have them all framed in my house and people ask about them all the time.  If you can't afford an autograph, I'm sure Diana would just love some fan mail.  She means something to us, and that's always wonderful to hear!

Here's the website with instructions and contact information:

http://astarforbabypeggy.com/contact/fanmail-for-baby-peggy/

Love,
Olive

“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.” – Charlie Chaplin

It has been too long.  Way too long.  Life gets in the way of fun.  However, as I've found out, life can also give fun a hand!  My whole life is about to change next week.  I hit a fork in the road and chose the fork that will change everything.  It's wonderful and I'm excited.  Nervous too!  I haven't had a big change that didn't come from something horrible in, well, I can't remember.... maybe 16 years(Love you so much My Dearest Darling). That's sad.  It's time.  So this big massive change will allow me to do this blog and get back into the silent/classic film community.  I've missed it.  Terribly.  Not that I haven't been reading about them or watching them whenever I can, I just haven't had time for talking about them or writing about them.  I will now!  And I'm so excited.  I want to get back in there.  I want to learn.  I want to share.  I want to be part of the dialog.  I enjoy it and everyone in it so much!

This is going to be good!  I will post again soon.  Very very soon!  Cause I can!
::::bounce::::  ::::bounce::::  ::::bounce::::

Love,
Olive

Robert Harron For Silent Cinema Sunday!

I've been reading a TON of amazing books lately.  Just devouring them!  They're all on my GoodReads page if you're interested.  I think I'm on too many social media accounts.  I can't seem to keep up with all of them! Been reading about Bessie Love, Mabel, Roscoe, Marilyn Miller....  Just fabulous stuff.  And the books are relatively cheap.  Well, the Bessie Love and Marilyn Miller I paid a pretty penny for, but those two books are pretty rare.  That's the nice thing about this silent/classic film obsession, it's reasonably priced!
The name Robert Harron kept coming up in the books that I've been reading.  There were several tragedies in the twenties that authors bring up whenever they write about that time period.  Rocoe, Mabel, William Desmond Taylor, Wallace Reid, Olive Thomas, Valentino....and sometimes(if they're very good) Bobby Harron.  See, these tragedies were all firsts.  They're actually quite fascinating because people were dealing with emotions for someone they felt close to that they didn't even really know, but felt they did.  Sometimes the reactions were so violent you almost think the public felt like they owned these people.  It still happens now.  Look at the outpouring for Diana. But with these you almost get to watch society develop coping mechanisms to deal with this.  With each one they learn.  Or when they happened all at once, it just added fuel to the fire.  Such passion.
I had heard of Bobby Harron before.  I think my undying love for Lillian Gish lead me to him.  So I knew his story when his name came up in my books.  And y'all know my love of the ghoulish!  So Bobby is kinda perfect for me.  Young, handsome, dead.  Except there's so little out there about him!  I have this theory that unless a woman is involved somehow, well, the men just kinda fade into the background, no matter how big they were or how interesting or tragic their story is, if no woman is involved....yawn.  See ladies, we're friggin riveting!  Stories are boring without us!!
Bobby was a good Irish Catholic Boy.  One of NINE children.  He was a darling of DW Griffith, until he got too old, then Griffith tossed him for Richard Barthelmess.  Griffith was fickle.  Bobby's roles included working with Mae Marsh, Blanche Sweet, the Gish Sisters.  It's even said that he was involved with Dorothy.  Hmmm, for some reason I always thought the Gish Sisters were nuns and never dated.  Gotta look into that one day.  And of course, like everyone else in the whole world, he was in Birth of A Nation.  Heck, even I was in Birth of A Nation!  ;-)
So our darling Bobby was in New York promoting his new film Coincidence and accidentally shot himself in his hotel room. There was a gun in his suitcase and it fell on the floor.  A bullet discharged hitting him in the chest and perforating his lung.  At first he refused to go to the hospital.  Seems like he didn't quite realize how bad his would was.  In fact, he was making jokes about it.  They finally convinced him to go the hospital.  He didn't even want a stretcher!  The wound was much worse than he thought and he died 4 days later.  He was only 27 years old.   
Many people were saying that it was a suicide attempt.  Depression over being thrown over by Griffith.  Friends rushed to dispute this(including Dorothy Gish) because he was a good Irish Catholic Boy.  Mortal sin and all.  Lots of Catholics kill themselves, so I look at the circumstances.  Men don't try and kill themselves my shooting themselves in the chest.  At least not without hitting the heart.  They're violent beings, they shoot themselves in the head.  Second, if he was trying to kill himself, he would have shot himself again when he realized he survived.  Third, he wasn't upset when help came.  He was like, "Boy, I got myself in to a pickle!"  You don't get help when you want to die.  Nor do you maintain your cool.  Especially after losing all that blood.  Not suicide.  Accident.
So in reading all of my wonderful wonderful books and seeing his name a couple of times along with the films that he was in, I realized that I had several of them!  Sooooo, this Silent Cinema Sunday is all for you Bobby!
First I watched A Romance of Happy Valley.  It was only just over an hour.  Short for Griffith!  Very sweet love story, nothing too exceptional.  Very cool twist at the end though.  I do recommend you see it.  You can get it for like 5 bucks.  Well worth it.  Lillian is always always always perfect and amazing.  Even in "A Wedding" where she pretty much just lays there dead for most of the film, she's flawless.  How I love this woman.  And Bobby?  How was Bobby, cause he's what I came here for.  Won-der-ful!  I'd only really paid attention to pictures of him.  And I was like meh.  But moving on the screen?  He's too many things.  Handsome and emotive.  Really kept up with Gish.  And that's hard.  His character is wonderfully sensitive when it came to hers and it really showed.  He was great in this role and I can see why Griffith loved him.

Next I watched Hoodoo Ann.  Mae Marsh plays his leading lady in this one.  She has such a wonderful face. So very very good.  She's so good at conveying the scene without being cheesy.  Not that I don't like cheesy, you kinda have to if you like silents.  It goes with the territory.  But too much cheese can burn me out and I just get bored.  Mae does this.  If you haven't see The White Rose, you GOTTA.  GOTTA!  And again, it's like 5 bucks.  Mae stole this movie.  She was just awesome.  The ending was hysterical.  Bobby was handsome and sweet in this role, but really, the film was about Mae.  His character was just there to hold her up.  Since that seemed to be his character's purpose, he did exactly what he was supposed to do.

I wish I could have fit in more Bobby movies today.  I have several more, I just ran out of time!  I'm glad I got to know him a bit better though.  He really was a marvelous actor.  I think that getting older would have done him good.  He would have grown into his looks and certainly grown as an actor.  That beautiful baby face would have aged so well.  Such potential was there.  Such a loss.

Love,
Olive

Snub Pollard for Silent Cinema Sunday

I'm crabby today.  Really crabby and nothing seems to be helping with my attitude.  :-(  I'm just not sleeping and have a whole bunch of crap going on in my head.  Again, first world problems.

For months I've been meaning to have a good old slapstick day.  Since I'm crabby and have NO ATTENTION span again today....slapstick it is.  Maybe it'll cheer me up. Prolly not though.
I have to be in the mood for slapstick, because let's face it, it's ridiculous.  It's supposed to be.  If I'm in a pissy mood or impatient, I can be too critical of it and just think it's stupid.  Oooooo there's that pissy mood. However, one of the things I really like about slapstick is that it requires no concentration.  Even if you lose track of the story line, which I'm guilty of all of the time even with talkies, you can still get a lot out of the film just based on the gags.  The story lines are secondary. Oh yeah, and the films are short.  Really short. Anyway today could go either way, so let's see!

I choose Snub Pollard today.  I didn't know much about him other than the fact that he was Australian.  I have a TON of his shorts.  I bought all these silent "marathon" and " comedy collection" DVDs and he's all over them. So I've got a lot to choose from.  Light, easy, cartoon comedy.  Charley Chase and James Parrott are all over these too.  Their presence kept distracting me.  I've got to have a Charley Chase day.

The shorts don't have a lot of stunts.  Not a lot of creative effects.  Simple.  Funny.  I have to say nothing really unique.  But I really liked Snub.  There was something about him.  I wanted to watch him and I wanted his character to succeed.  I think that's where his skill lies.  He was really likable.

I did so love his mustache too.  Every comedian seemed to have something that identified them and for Snub it was his 'stache. In fact, later in his career, he ditched it to set himself apart from...himself?  I guess that's the best way to say it.

A lot of the films were very Laurel and Hardy.  Once I started reading up on him, I found out that they were supposed to be.  He worked with Marvin Loback as a knock off Laurel and Hardy team.  They directly copied them.  I don't know how I feel about that...  And Marvin's nickname was "Fat".  I don't know how I feel about that either.  He died quite young, only 41 but I couldn't find a cause of death.  He and Snub actually had some pretty good chemistry.  I just wish the copycat stuff wasn't there.  It was irritating and distracting.  I kept going, "Where have I seen this?"  It was that close to Laurel and Hardy.  In some scenes it looks like they were even in the same location!

The one that was really awesome was called "It's A Gift".  You can find it on You Tube.  Snub plays an inventor, and his inventions are just so clever.  "An invention for every occasion." This short also features a magnet driven car.  I'm sure we've all seen them in cartoons growing up.  The character gets in a vehicle and hold up a huge magnet and gets pulled around that way.  I'm sure this is the first appearance.  Copied many times since!  If you're going to see one Snub Pollard short, choose this one!

Snub had some pretty cool roles later in his career.  He was in Miracle of 43th Street, AND the one I think is the coolest is Singing In The Rain.  He was the guy that Gene Kelly gives his umbrella to at the end of the song after the cop stops him from dancing(stupid cop).  Of course I had to go and watch it.  You can't tell that it's Snub.  Can't even see his face.  I still think it's a fabulous cred! ;-)

Great Sunday!  And yes, I'm not so crabby anymore!  Thanks Snub!

Love,
Olive

Eleanor Boardman for Silent Cinema Sunday

I so couldn't decide what to watch today.  My focus has been off again lately.  I have so many plans, then they just go all over the place and I get nothing done.  I'm scattered.  Ask me how many books I'm in the middle of reading right now....it's terrible!

King Vidor popped in my head this morning though, so I just jumped on it.  Couple of months ago I scored a copy of The Crowd.  I had to import it from Korea of all places!  But it was only like 5 bucks!   I was a bit worried about the intertitles.  I imported a copy of The Adventures of Prince Achmed from Korea earlier this year and the intertitles were all in Korean.  Ok I gotta take that intertitles thing back and be honest.  The DEFAULT intertitles were in Korean.  I didn't check the settings.  And yes I watched it anyway, and yes I feel pretty stupid.  When I find time, I'll watch it again properly.  It was really pretty though.  :-)  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  Especially considering the skill it took to make it.
That is what I love about old films.  People had to figure out how to do things.  A computer didn't do it for them.  You had to be skilled and smart and creative.  I think people are losing that.  No one has to figure out how to do anything anymore.  It's making us stupid.  We're all going to end up like those chubby lazy humans in WALL-E.  ::::sigh::::  Rant done.  Sorry, not sorry.

The Crowd was everything everyone has said about it.  Beautifully shot.  Particularly the scenes that show New York.  Brilliant!  Draws you into the story and really contextualizes it from the start.  The ending does the same, pulls you out of the story and really conveys Vidor's message: we are not important and we have no control over anything.

James Murray is the star.  He only had a few films.  2 of the ones that intrigue me the most are lost.  I HATE THAT.  Leaves my OCD completely unrequited.  And of course, two of the lost ones are Lon Chaney films.  I hate that even more.  All of Lon's work should have been encased and preserved and shown on a daily basis.  What I wouldn't give to see The Miracle Man.....  

Vidor apparently spotted James Murray on the MGM lot and offered him the lead in The Crowd.  He didn't show up to the audition and Vidor tracked him down.  He really saw something in him and wanted him bad.  He was right about Murray.  His performance is amazing.  Really conveys the complexity of his character.  It really is a roller coaster ride of a role.  So much is there.  James Murray died by the age of 35.  He was found drowned in the Hudson River.  It was never decided if it was suicide or an accident.  He had descended into alcoholism and was basically a vagrant.  Interesting side note: he was begging on the street one day and Vidor passed him.  Recognizing him, he offered him the role on Our Daily Bread, which is the sequel to The Crowd.  Not wanting pity, Murray turned it down.  He'd take money, but not a job?  Strange bird.

Vidor seemed to be a very Baconian director.  Yep, that's what I'm calling it.  My blog, my rules.  From what I've read, he just let things happen.  Let the situation guide him to the conclusion.  I suppose this is the same message that was coming out of The Crowd.  If it was supposed to happen, it would.  I'm sure that it stems from the fact that he was a Christian Scientist.

Eleanor Boardman was the leading lady.  She was also Vidor's wife.  This colored my opinion of her at first.  The wife gets the good role and all that.  BUT she was awesome!  Almost too pretty for the role, she had a lot to prove.  And she did.  Particularly the scene where she tells Murray she's expecting.  It's just wonderful.

So I got intrigued by Eleanor at this point and decided to watch The Circle.  I dunno, maybe it's my short attention span, but I just couldn't get into this one.  I loved that Joan Crawford was in the beginning.  I love Joan.  Really love Joan.  She's too much.  HA!  That's about all I liked about this movie.  I just didn't care what happened to the characters.  Nothing pulled me into the story line.  Maybe I'll give it another chance later when I'm a bit more focused.  As for now, meh.  Joan is awesome.

I had time for one more, so I picked Souls For Sale.  It has a LOT of cameos in it.  I like cameos.  As I'm learning more and more about movies, cameos thrill me.  Cause I know who people are now!  I can't tell you how excited I was the last time I watched Sunset Blvd.  I got every single reference to old actors.  Sounds stupid, but it made me happy.  I guess before I just glanced over the references and didn't pay any attention to them.  And in Show People, the William S Hart cameo was my favorite part.  So I had hope for this movie.  Even if I didn't like it, the cameos would get me through!  Turned out to be a wonderful movie though.  Really really good.  Eleanor is absolutely charming.  Pulled me right into the plot.  It did remind me a lot of Show People, only with like, a killer running around.  And yes, I LOVED the cameos.  Snitz Edwards!  Gaaaa!

I was also interested to see a film with Lew Cody in it.  I don't think I've ever seen one?  Wait, I have, he was in Don't Change Your Husband.  Guess he wasn't very memorable in it?  Who is memorable next to Swanson though?  Unless your Valetino, you gonna fade into the background baby and I won't even know you're there.  I know Lew Cody from his marriage to Mabel Normand.  I believe they got married on a drunken bet and stayed married until she died of TB(cough cough....drugs).  That's an awesome reason to get married.  I'm sorry, but it is.  And they were friends, so who cares?    Besides, it makes for a great story!
Aileen Pringle is in this one too.  I looked at her IMDB and apparently I've seen a lot of her films, but only the ones where she had teeny tiny roles.  I have to go back and watch for her again.  I'm surprised I didn't notice her in them.  She's quite striking.  She was on board the Onieda when Thomas Ince died of heart failure(cough cough...was shot by WRH).

I can't help it I love rumors and gossip.  Sue me.

Considering how much I liked The Crowd and Souls for Sale, I will be giving The Circle another shot.  Everyone seems to love this movie, so there has to be something there, right?  Maybe I was just throwing a moody.  Or maybe I just because all about Joan and couldn't focus on anything else once she was gone.  ::::shrug:::::

So that was my Silent Cinema Sunday!

Love,
Olive