J has always liked Rothko, but a few years ago he had a particularly intensive year when he read a lot about Rothko. That year even culminated in our trip to Houston to see the Rothko Chapel. I thought it would be fun to do a similar thing and follow the work of one person, but I'm interested in learning more about the actors and actresses from the "Golden Age" of Hollywood.
I haven't decided on who I want to study in depth, but it might be Debbie Reynolds. I just finished reading her new biography,
Unsinkable: A Memoir. I also have been watching a few of her movies lately, like
Two Weeks with Love (1950, with June Powell),
Hit the Deck (1955, with Jane Powell and Russ Tamblyn), and
The Pleasure of His Company (1961, with Fred Astaire).
Tonight I happened to come across a clip from when Reynolds was on the game show "What's My Line?" Her cute personality really comes through as she answers the questions posed by the blindfolded contestants. This episode aired in August 1954, the year before Reynolds got married to Eddie Fisher. They seem like such a happy and cute couple at the end of this clip. How sad that things didn't last. (Eddie Fisher left Reynolds and their two young children for Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds and Fisher divorced in 1959.)
And, speaking of "What's My Line?", you should check out the episode
with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and another episode
with Salvador Dali.
Posts
7 comments:
The video say the end was great.
The Salvador Dali clip is one of my favorites!
I think you should go all in with your intensive study and even start talking like the rich people did back then with their weird American aristocratic accent.
Dumb autocorrect. That should say that the video at the end was great.
My favorite Debbie Reynolds film by a long shot is "Tammy and the Bachelor'!
That was a super funny clip. I showed the clip to Collin and then he said, "I don't think I know who Debbie Reynolds is." I immediately said, yes you do and pulled up her wiki page. Turns out two of his favorite movies are "How the West was Won," and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." I laughed at him.
I'll work on that aristocratic accent, Josh! I actually was struck by one article I read recently. Debbie Reynolds related that she called Eddie Fisher on the phone (when they were still married) and heard Elizabeth Taylor ask in the background, "Who is it, darling?" I'll have to see if I can bring words like "darling" back into use.
Shelley, I love "Tammy and the Bachelor" too! That's one of the movies that I want to watch sometime soon. Apparently, Debbie Reynolds wasn't used in the subsequent films (she was replaced by Sandra Dee) because she became pregnant. In fact, Reynolds was pregnant with her daughter Carrie during the filming of "Tammy and the Bachelor."
Phin, you should also remind Collin that Debbie Reynolds is the mother of Carrie Fisher (a.k.a. "Princess Leia")! I remember watching "How the West Was Won" a long time ago, but I can't remember much about the story. Debbie wrote in his biography that the director would not let the actors use stunt doubles for a lot of the scenes, which I think is interesting.
This reminds me of a blog I like that has recurring posts on "Scandals of Classic Hollywood." Sooo good!
http://thehairpin.com/tag/scandals-of-classic-hollywood/
Cool! That looks like a fun blog, m.m.! I love that someone thought of classic Hollywood scandals as a recurring series.
Post a Comment