Tag Archives: Entertainment

A Year in Books/Day 181: Legends of the Silent Screen

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  • Title: Legends of the Silent Screen A Collection of U.S. Postage Stamps
  • Authors: Charles Champlin and Linda Klinger (for the United States Postal Service)
  • Year Published: 1994 (U.S. Postal Service)
  • Year Purchased: 1994
  • Source: This was a gift from my mom, received after some pleading on my part.
  • About: In 1994, the U.S. Postal Service released a set of stamps commemorating ten of the silent screen’s greatest stars (which was, itself, part of a larger series dedicated to entertainers). This book was published as a companion piece, but is good enough to stand on its own merits. The detailed individual biographies are underpinned by amazing photographs and a time-line of the first 100 years of American film history. It’s a handsome volume, and the Al Hirschfeld caricatures commissioned for the stamps render the subjects instantly recognizable. The stars covered in this volume are: Rudolph Valentino; Clara Bow; Charlie Chaplin; Lon Chaney; John Gilbert; ZaSu Pitts; Theda Bara; the Keystone Cops; Harold Lloyd; and Buster Keaton.
  • Motivation: I was already totally captivated with silent films, even at a relatively young age.
  • Times Read: A few
  • Random Excerpt/Page 39: “Film historians note that (Theda) Bara’s producer actually cast her in quite a few sympathetic-not evil-roles, knowing that after her vamp image had been accepted, the public would continue to read treachery into all her characters, regardless of their motivations.”
  • Happiness Scale: 10

    Bara in the title role as Cleopatra (1917)

    Bara in the title role as Cleopatra (1917) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Daily Diversion #28: Doktor Kaboom!

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A few Sundays ago, I was served ice cream by a dragon and enthralled by the mad ravings of an alchemist. A girl from the Wild West sold me a steampunk dragonfly necklace and faeries tried to lure me into their grotto.

Okay, so the dragon was really a tubby middle-aged man in a crushed velvet costume and green Crocs, the Western heroine was just a sales lady with a bad accent and the faeries…oh, who knows their deal?

Which leaves us with…

Doktor Kaboom!

Doktor Kaboom!

It was a strange day. Thank goodness for icy cold (hard) cider.

A Year in Books/Day 171: Walking with Garbo

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  • Title: Walking with Garbo Conversations and Recollections
  • Author: Raymond Daum
  • Editor and Annotator: Vance Muse
  • Year Published: 1991 (HarperCollinsPublishers)
  • Year Purchased: 1993
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: Greta Garbo. The Swedish Sphinx. She of eternal mystery. One half of the most famous screen (and real-life, but that’s another story) couple of the 1920s. The great actress may have valued her privacy, both before and after retirement, but she was no shut-in. Continue reading →

Daily Diversion #25: Birthday Excuses

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I’ve been celebrating my birthday since Tuesday. Although I will continue to do so for the rest of July (hey, that’s normal! Right?), I plan on reining myself back in tomorrow and return to cleaning the studio and write a little. I estimate that this project still has a week to go. Feel for me, lovely readers. It is truly a daunting chore and, so far, I have hated every moment of the project. Every. Moment. I promise to post a few reviews tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this slideshow of some of my little birthday adventures.

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*All of these images were taken on my Blackberry, which had a swiftly dying battery. This means that I did not stop to compose scenes, I just snapped away while I could.

I’m Sensing a Trend

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I’m lucky enough to share a birthday with one of my favourite actors (John Gilbert), one of my favourite writers (Marcel Proust) and the possessor of one of the most brilliant (recorded) minds in history (Nikola Tesla). What else do they have in common? Hmmm, let’s see.

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I’ve found that frivolous observations are best made on serious days. I’m off to celebrate with the husband at the newest contemporary Indian restaurant/bar in town. Toodles.

Voices from the Grave #27: Cornelia Otis Skinner on What’s My Line?

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This one’s a bit different. It features Cornelia Otis Skinner, co-writer (along with Emily Kimbrough) of Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, as the mystery celebrity on What’s My Line? in 1959.

If you have never read the book Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (or watched the charming film adaptation), you should go rectify that now.

 

 

 

A Year in Books/Day 161: Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines

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  • Title: Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines
  • Editor: Martin Levin
  • Year Published: 1970/This Edition: 1991
  • Year Purchased: 1990s
  • Source: Unknown, but likely B. Dalton Bookseller
  • About: This book is a collection of articles from the heyday of film fan magazines-the 1930s. Equal parts pop culture and history (and 100% fun), it is a fascinating look at the Hollywood publicity machine in full swing at top strength. Don’t let the mostly light-hearted topics fool you: this was a serious business that helped fuel an incredibly powerful industry. The frivolity is underpinned by ruthlessness and a lot of money. It is this carefully placed juxtaposition that intrigues me. You’ll find the following articles and then some: What’s Wrong With Hollywood Love; What I Will Tell My Baby; Charlie Chaplin’s Kids; Four Rules of Married Love; Career Comes First With Loretta; I’m No Gigolo! Says George Raft; I Want to Talk About My Baby!; The Price They Pay For Fame; Mystery Tales of the Stars; The Story Jean Harlow Never Told; Tarzan Seeks a Divorce; Ronald Colman Gives the Lowdown on Himself; Watch Your Step, Ann Dvorak!; Ginger Rogers Asks, “Did I Get What I Wanted Out of Life?”; Can Hollywood Hold Errol Flynn?; and Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands and Wives. The photos are splendid and rare.
  • Motivation: I collect movie magazines from the 1910s-1950s. As a teenager in the early 1990s, that hobby was still in my future. This book was the next best thing.
  • Times Read: A few
  • Random Excerpt/Page 42: “PRIZE CONTEST! Can You Describe Errol Flynn In ONE SENTENCE Using Just 20 Words? How proficient are you in the use of adjectives? In order to describe Errol Flynn most effectively at least three descriptive adjectives should be used. For instance, here’s a sample sentence of 20 words containing three adjectives which we think fit his type and personality: One of the most debonair and adventurous Hollywood actors is attractive Errol Flynn whose hobby is traveling in strange places.” (Ed. Note: I want to travel back in time and take this person’s job.)

    Cropped screenshot of Ann Dvorak from the trai...

    Ann Dvorak watching her step (Photo credit: Screen shot from Three on a Match via Wikipedia)

  • Happiness Scale: 9

Fuel for My Jetpack, Mead for My Dragon

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Modern Mechanix & Inventions

I love looking back at our old future.

Maybe it’s just nostalgia talking, but I liked seeing the Things to Come back before they came. I mean, we’re basically living in the future as we speak.  We’ve got it all – space ships, space stations, robots on Mars, handheld communicators that can put us in contact with anyone in the world, instant food, everything.  We even have flying cars, especially if you drive them off of someplace really high.

The problem with our current future is that it’s so unimpressive looking.  Ever notice how the iPhone looks like a bar of soap that’s got two more showers left in it?  Sure, its practical, fits in your pocket, and doesn’t require nuclear energy to play music or make a call – but man does it look dull!

I long for the days of our fun future, the inaccurate and impractical version with big, silvery pipes and unnecessary buttons and single levers that control everything.

And so it was with great pleasure that I came across a little gem from history called Modern Mechanix & Inventions.

Modern Mechanix & Inventions began life in 1928, seeking to make its name amidst the science and technology publications biz at the time.  Chock full of DIY projects and the car reviews of Tom McCahill, the magazine held its own until 2001, changing its title a couple of times during its run.

There are a number of places on the ’net to find archives with pictures of the covers, most being mixed in with other classic publications.  I wouldn’t be writing about it now if a friend hadn’t made mention about it on facebook (props to MarcosBnPinto!).  The visions presented in some of the mag’s more fantastic covers are the stuff that fueled the rockets of the imagination in the days before we exorcised the Man in the Moon.

I genuinely enjoy seeing stuff like this. It’s great food for fantasy, storytelling, or getting ideas for running a role playing game.  I’m always on the lookout for more retro-future artwork, so if you can suggest any, I’d be glad to take a look at it.  Drop us a line!

For a look at a number of these beautiful covers, visit Marcos’s tumblr here.

A Year in Books/Day 93: Retro Happy Hour

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  • Title: Retro Happy Hour Drinks and Eats with a ’50s Beat
  • Author: Linda Everett
  • Year Published: 2003 (Collectors Press, Inc.)
  • Year Purchased: n/a
  • Source: This was a gift from a close friend.
  • About: This is one gaudy book. From the bright, hilarious vintage photographs and illustrations that decorate every page to the cheesy, mysteriously appetizing recipes, it’s a step back into the best of the colorfully bland, chipper Eisenhower Era. If the photos of my grandparents’ home, circa 1955, could be colorized and re-animated, I’m pretty sure this is what it would look like. The menus can, with very few exceptions, be made with on-hand ingredients. Go ahead and plant your tongue firmly in your cheek; now just try to resist deliciously middle-brow dishes with zany names like Elfin Mushrooms, Southern Belle Hot Pecans, Front Porch Nibblin’ Corn, Flip-Flop Fizzee, Red Dawn and Swindler’s Bay Punch. You can’t, it’s impossible! Every time I flip through this not-quite-a-cookbook, I have the throbbing urge to dress up like Amy Sedaris and throw a retro-tastic shindig.
  • Motivation: I borrowed this book from a friend on behalf of my mom, who was throwing some kind of small bites and booze party for her lady friends. When I tried to return it to its owner, she insisted that I keep it. Aww, I have fabulous friends!
  • Times Read: ?
  • Random Excerpt/Page 15: “That’s What I Call Entertainment!: If your budget can handle it, consider hiring professional entertainment other than a band: a magician, juggler, fortune-teller, comedian, clown, or Santa. Be creative!” (I think that I am going to throw a party in December just so that I can hire a Santa. Who does that? Me, I do!)
  • Happiness Scale: 10