Wandering Through The Shelves:TV Edition- Female Investigators

 

Wandering Through The Shelves picked a great theme this week and, believe it or not, my first pick is what popped into my head first. Strange how the mind works since I followed it with the other 2 and Charlie’s Angels didn’t come into my head until now. Without further adieu, here are my 3…

1. GET CHRISTY LOVE-1974-1975

Teresa Graves plays an African American police detective who would work undercover to nab the bad guys. This started off as a TV movie of the week but became a series albeit a short-lived one. This was during the blaxploitation films that were big in the 70s. I just remember thinking she was pretty and unique since she was a female in a male dominated job plus she was black. I remember her saying " You're under arrest, Sugah." The star became a..gulp...johovah witness and made sure the scripts were cleaned up. I'd live to see this again through older eyes.

2. POLICE WOMAN-1974-1978

Angie Dickinson plays a sexy police detective with Earl Holliman as her superior who would help her out of difficult situations. She had a team who helped her when she needed it or vice versa. I always wanted the character of Pepper and the police captain, Holliman, to get together. I was only 10 etc..at the time.

3. CAGNEY & LACEY-1982-1988

2 lady detectives work in a grungy police station, which is more realistic than the shiny stuff we see today. Cagney is a sexy but tough cop who is single, independent, a bit upper class while her partner, Lacey, is married with kids struggling to pay the bills. Both are good friends and cover each other’s back. Al Waxman (a famous Canadian actor) plays their superior. They dealt with some big topics of the day (and even today) like abortion and rape. Either one or the other actress won an Emmy every year the show was on.  Loretta Switt was the original Cagney when they made a TV movie but she couldn't do the series since she was under contract with MASH. 

what female cop show or PI show can you think of? There are quite a few.

Back To School…Yikes!

 

To this day, I still get the shudders when I hear back to school and would rather think back to my vacation. By the way, this is my hubby’s Aunt’s view from her livingroom. I was  going to post songs about back to school but I thought I’d rather post 3 songs that were huge in 1983, the year I went to university. I am joining Monday Music Moves Me over at Curious As A Cathy, a wonderful blog created by a wonderful lady. So here they are…

1.  EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE BY THE POLICE

You know, I’m not a big Police fan although I do really like this song that was a humongous hit in 1983. As much as I like this song, I hate, I mean, hate, “Roxanne”…it’s very annoying to the extreme. I had no idea the band members hated each others guts and were in fisticuffs while creating this song and others at the height of their fame.

2. SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF THIS BY THE EURYTHEMICS 

I love the Eurythmics especially the wildly talented Annie Lennox and this was a great song with a great video that seemed a little weird. Actually, Dave Stewart reminded me of the great director Josef Von Sternberg who had Marlene Dietrich as his muse whereas Stewart had Annie Lennox. They created some great tunes and I have their greatest hits CD.

3. COME ON, EILEEN BY DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RAIDERS

This is such a great 80s song that I danced to so many times that I can’t count. It’s considered an iconic new wave song and is one of the best of the 80s. I just find it fun!

What songs came out when you went to school, be it grade, high school or college/university?

In My Craft Room...Yahoo!!

 

I finally cleaned up my craft room and haveen playing! I will show some of the scrapbook pages next week but I wanted to show a card.

Color Throwdown: Grey, Green, Aqua ctd757

Christmas Card Throwdown: Emboss

I had bought a gelli plate, it’s a thick piece of gel plastic. It’s very moveable that you can create backgrounds with. I tried this new style (my first time), after watching YouTube videos. I placed a little bit of acrylic paint in green and in aqua on the plate. I took my roller and rolled the paint onto the gelli plate and placed white paper onto it. I lifted it off and …not bad but I need to do more with it. I took my Tim Holtz distress pad in peacock blue and rubbed more in around the corners. Once that was done, I placed it through my cuddle bug with my snowflake embossing folder.  I took my silver embossing pad and lightly brushed it on  top of the raised area and embossed it in green pearl. 

I took a Christmas tree stamp and embossed it in green with embossing glitter in green. I cut it out and adhered it to the card with pop up dots. I stamped the sentiment in aqua and embossed it in blue Pearl and glued it in place. I added some crystals and used grey for the final part that I glued the coloured part onto.

My first Christmas card this year! I am sooooo behind. 

Wishing you all a good week ahead.

Thursday Film Picks- girl Teachers

 

I would never want to be a teacher....never. I would want to strangle many of those kids. I applaud teachers who must deal with so much. Here, they are talking about having the kids give up their cell phones when they enter class...YESSSSS! I am going to talk about teachers and am centering on the women who often make up this employment sector so, here are my 3...

1. THESE THREE-1936

I fell in lust with Joel McCrea when I saw this film even though I was a kid. Ok, I thought he was dreamy but I’m talking about the film not hubba hubba so this film is based on a Lilian Hellman play about a nasty kid ruining the reputation of 2 teachers saying they are in a lesbian relationship. We can’t have that for 1936, so it changes where the womens’ reputations are hurt when the doctor( McCrea) falls asleep in a chair in one of the teacher’s rooms and the brat decides to create an uproar saying he stayed overnight. The 2 teachers are played by the beautiful Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins, known to have been a very difficult person to work with. The 2 women teachers are friends who decide to open up a school for girls and the doc falls for Oberon and vice versa neither knowing that Hopkins has also fallen for the Doc. The one who notices all is Slytherin bitch Bonita Granville, an excellent child actress who almost steals the picture from the 3 leads with her vile character. This is an excellent film which was remade as “The Children’s Hour” with Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and James Garner as the leads but I’m sticking with the original version of the book since I still have to see the remake.

2. TEACHER’S PET-1958

This is a fun comedy that stars Doris Day as the teacher and Clark Gable as the student…yes, student. Gable plays an old-fashioned, hard-hitting newspaperman who thinks the new style of writing the news is dumb as sh&@). His editor gives him the wonderful news story to look into this new way and to look into a journalism class and report on it. Reluctantly, he goes only to find Ms. Day making fun of his own article he had written. He decides to fib, saying he wants to learn about journalism and takes her class. Of course, the 2 start to fall for one another with Gig Young coming between the 2 as her shrink boyfriend. It’s funny and enjoyable especially Gig Young as the amiable boyfriend which he perfected in the 50s ( belying his true personality which was an alcoholic who abused his wife, Elizabeth Montgomery and ended up murdering his new young wife and then killing himself in 1978..a real shame).

3. THE INNOCENTS-1961

This eerie and quite scary film stars Deborah Kerr as a young governess sent by the cold uncle to teach his niece and nephew who are staying at his country estate since he has no real care about them but was left in charge of them when the8r parents died. When she comes to the estate and meets the kids, they seem ok, at first, but they seem to live within themselves and have secrets. Soon you learn that the former governess and the valet had a torrid affair where both died soon after but they are far from gone. They seem to be connected to the children and rule the kids. Kerr sees the 2 spectres and tries to get the kids to admit to seeing them but they refuse. Let me tell you, when I watched this and saw the ghost of the woman, in her black outfit standing at the water’s edge, it totally freaked me out and even now, I’m uncomfortable thinking about that scene. The whole film is, to me, one of the scariest films and it has no special effects or typical scenes one expects but just simple scenes like the one I described, frankly, Deborah Kerr played a teacher more than once…”Black Narcissus”  and “The King and I” are 2 i could have chosen but I wanted to choose this one since she does try and teach the kids in more than one way.

Which teachers in films can you think of?

Oh, the songs, from yesterday’s post that won, nominated and got nuttin? Talk To The Animals won the Oscars, Bare Necessities was nominated and To Sir, With Love got nadda! There was a huge stink about this back in the day.

Which Song Won The Oscars- 1967

 

I'm joining the Monday Music Moves Me even though it's Wednesday because I like posting this on Wednesdays. Cathy, over at Curious as A Cathy, is a co-host and this week it's about animals. I knew this Oscar guess would fit right in so let's see if you can guess who won the Oscar, who was nominated and who came up with nuttin!

1. TALK TO THE ANIMALS SUNG BY REX HARRISON

Sexy Rexy starred in a couple of famous musicals, My Fair Lady and Dr. Doolittle even though he was not a singer. He actually talked through the songs but he does it effectively. In this mess of a film he plays Dr. Doolittle, a vet who understands and can talk to animals. He ends up on an adventure with an annoying British kid, Anthony Newley, who was always irritating and the lovely Samantha Eggar. Anywho, he sings this song which was written by Leslie Bricusse.

2. TO SIR, WITH LOVE SUNG BY LULU

This song was written by Mark Lindon and Don Black for the film of the same name that starred Sidney Poitier as a no nonsense teacher trying to get ruffians to study.

3. THE BARE NECESSITIES SUNG BY PHIL HARRIS & BRUCE REITHERMAN

This is such a fun song from the animated Disney classic, "The Jungle Book". I just love that bear! This was written by Terry Gilkyson.

So which song won the Oscar, which was nominated and which one came up empty handed? 

Thursday Movie Films- Saloon Owner Gals

 

My hubby created this for me. I love it. It has nothing to do wit( western gals, saloon owners or film but I don’t care. I came up with these 3 gals to showcase in last week’s movie picks from Wandering Through The Shelves but decided to keep these gals for this week. I hope you will enjoy my picks.

1. JOHNNY GUITAR-1954

Wacko! This is one batshit crazy film but I love it even with wacko Joan Crawford. It's actually a feminist film  in my opinion because the men are the eye candy especially the one where Crawford, a saloon owner and her jealous rival, Mercedes Mcambridge are vying for this man. There is some deep hatred between the 2 women resulting in a stand off between the 2 just like men.  Be hind the scenes, Joan was not happy that Mercedes got an ovation from the film crew after a scene Mercedes just did so Joan made sure Mercedes’s life would be more difficult. In fact, Mercedes was certain that her career took a nosedive right after making this film and she blamed Joan for trying to kill her career. Joan could have done this..I wouldn’t put it past her.

2.  THE FAR COUNTRY- 1954

Jimmy Stewart  plays a man who is basically a loner except for his best friend, Walter Brennan and Jimmy’s accordion. They decide to take their herd of cows to the Yukon but not before running afoul of the so-called law that is as crooked as they come. In with the mix is the beautiful Ruth Roman( a truly underrated actress) who is in cahoots with the baddie but has the hots for James. She ends up running a saloon in the town making sure to undercut the food establishment run by sweet people including French Canadian Corinne Calvert who also has fallen for Jimmy. Ruth, even though she is a baddie, she is not all that bad and knows how to run a saloon. This was filmed in Canada including the famous glacier, that I was on a few years back and, boy, has it receded big time. 

3. THE MAVERICK QUEEN-1956

Barbara Stanwyck has played in a few westerns and is one strong lady that I love. In this film she is the owner of a saloon but also helps the hole in the wall gang…yup Butch and Sundance. There is a man that comes into her  world who wants to be part of the bad boys but Sundance sees green when he witnesses sparks fly between this man and Stanwyck and wants this new man dead. It’s a fun romp and I can easily watch this again. 

What strong women can you think of?

Camping Songs??

 

My friend, out in Vancouver, was biking and came across this family. He just remained calm and took a couple of videos and pics. He sees bears quite a bit. My ex was camping up north a few years back and he took his bike to go to the loo, at night, when he stopped to check out his chain. He heard something in front of him when he noticed it was a black bear crossing the roadway. If he hadn't stopped he would have literally run right into the bear. Yesterday  travelling on the nutty QEW, I kept seeing tons of campers heading off to Algonquin, Muskoka or anywhere up north and it made me think of camping songs. I don't know why 2 came into my head but they did while the 3rd is goofy but fun. I am joining up with Monday Music Moves Me over at Curious as A Cathy. Here's my 3

1. HOME ON THE RANGE SUNG BY DER BINGLE-1933

I heard Bing Crosby's voice with this old song  that probably predates 1874, and has become a Cowboy standard. I seem to recall a scene in MASH where Col. Blake is drunker than a skunk and sings the first verse blowing his inebriated air into Hawkeye's face which totally cracked me up.  Apparently, this was written by Daniel Kelley(music) and Brewster Higley(lyrics). There was some controversy back in the 30s about who actually wrote it.

2. DON'T FENCE ME IN SUNG BY BING AND THE ANDREW SISTERS-1944

I must have Bing in my head because that's what I'm going with. This was written by Cole Porter! The lyrics were co-written with Robert Fletcher. It might be about relationships but I think of the great outdoors.

3. GOING CAMPING SUNG BY JOHN DENVER AND THE MUPPETS-1982

I watched this when it first came out and loved it, of course. I found out the album was nominated for a Grammy! Who knew?!

Sing any camping songs?

Thursday Movie Picks- Workplace-The Female Experience

 

I was writing about strong women and had a theme within a theme but decided to keep this for next week so I fell back with the top 3 films that popped into my head. I bet all 3 will be popular this week. He’d on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to find out if these films were picked by others. Here are my 3…

1. 9 TO 5-1980

This is a fun comedy starring  Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as 3 women who work in a big office where their boss is a real jerk, played perfectly by Dabney Coleman. To say he would have been keelhauled during the Me too movement would be an understatement  but these gals must have written the book on how to deal with a sexist jerk and exact their revenge with hilarious results. I have to see this movie again.

2. WORKING GIRL-1988

This stars drug-addled Melanie Griffith, oops! She was full of coke and heroine off screen not on, who  is the main secretary to Sigourney Weaver, a top woman exec who is going on a ski trip in Switzerland. Due to certain circumstances, Melanie decides to portray a top exec to sell her idea to top business guys and ends up meeting Harrison Ford. They get it on, in more ways than one, not knowing that he is Siggie’s boyfriend. This is a fun movie that is not to be taken seriously especially when you see some of the 80s hair. A good cast and love the top song.

3. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA-2006

Ok, I have seen this flick that stars Meryl strip..um, Streep as a pseudo Anna Wintour who heads a major fashion magazine. She hires Anne Hathaway who wishes she could be anywhere else but there because she imagines being the next Dorothy Parker. When Stanley Tucci, who works at the magazine, tells her to smarten up, Anne ends up wearing some great outfits and outdoes herself as the assistant. It’s better than I thought it would be but it’s not a great film. There are some holes in this flick…I don’t care for her boyfriend or her friends who seem to be judgemental jerks to be honest. My favourites are Emily Blunt as the co-assistant and Stanley Tucci as the loyal helper of Streep. As for Streep…she plays the part but I don’t think it’s a huge reach to play a cool, snooty bitch. Ooops, did I say that out loud…hahahaa

Which 3 would you choose?

Day, Night, Heels, Head…Whaaaat???

 

Hubby’s Aunt and Uncle’s yard looking towards the Richeleau river with my hubby’s pride and joy, his kayak. They really do live in a beautiful spot. So, over at Monday Music Moves Me over at Curious As A Cathy, it’s all about opposites in song whether it’s in the title or you just pick one song and the other is opposite of the first or something like that. These 3 songs I chose, popped into my head and here they are…

1. NIGHT AND DAY SUNG BY FRED ASTAIRE-1934

This song, by Cole Porter, has been done by so many artists that it would be interesting to know how many are actually out there. Fred Astaire was the first to introduce this song on Broadway in “The Gay Divorce”  and he was the first to introduce the song in the film, “The Gay Divorcee”. FYI, the good ole Hays Office- the jerk of censorship, wanted the name changed because no divorce should be happy. 

2. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT SUNG BY THE BEATLES-1964

Of course this is a song that seems to fit this challenge written, mainly by Lennon, with help from McCartney. I love the movie of the same name that is considered one of the best films made and is normally listed in the top 100 films ever made. 

3. HEAD OVER HEELS SUNG BY ABBA-1982

Oh now, of course this works as it’s opposite one another plus …it’s ABBA! I always liked this song and found the video quite funny. 

Which ones can you think of? Am I bad that I wanted to choose Heaven and Hell…lol

A Farming We Will Go!

 

I want to say a heartfelt and huge Thank you to everyone who wrote such beautiful congrats to me in last week’s post. I read all of them and I’m sorry I didn’t respond…but I did love it. Thank you!!!

Last week I ate corn on the cob and, yesterday, I picked green beans off of our small garden area. Soon the cherry tomatoes will be going like gang busters which made me think of farms. The first movie that popped into my head was “The Egg And I” but I already spoke about that very funny movie  last year so I  went with the following films…

1. TOBACCO ROAD-1941

This is a better film than I thought it would be and quite funny for a John Ford movie. Charles Grapewin is the lazy ass patriarch of hillbillies on a property that used to be a prosperous farm run by his ancestors. The bank wants the farm but Charly may have a way to get some money to keep the farm plus find a husband for his daughter played by the beautiful Gene Tierney. The film is well acted and directed and worth a look. I hope this is not in Spanish…hard to find a trailer

2. SHENANDOAH-1965

This film stars James Stewart as the patriarch of a large family of boys and one girl. He is a believer in peace and refuses to have his children enter the civil war despite his eldest thinking very differently. Due to unfortunate events the youngest ends up in the war and James and his family go out on the road to bring him home leaving behind one son with that son’s wife and baby home to watch over the farm. The family go through some funny moments, action and some very sad times that really hit me hard. The music is excellent along with the cinematography and the acting. Worth a look.

3. FIELD OF DREAMS-1989

This is, quite rightly, called a Capraesque film that stars Kevin Costner as a young farmer struggling to keep his farm while the mean banks are hot on his heels to grab his tranquil farm. While he is in the corn field, he hears a voice say, “If you build it, he will come”. He looks all around seeing nothing but the voice continues until he sees a young Ray Liotta, playing Shoeless Joe Jackson come out of his cornfield wanting to play ball. At first, only he and his daughter sees the ball players who keep coming out of the corn field but soon, his wife sees them too. He creates a baseball spot and embarks on a journey to find an irascible author, played perfectly by James Earl Jones and an old man, played by Burt Lancaster who always wished he could have played professional baseball. The film is magical, hopeful, sweet and just well acted. When filming wrapped, the outdoor location became a big tourist attraction with many people coming to that farm to play baseball. I don’t know what it’s like now but I hope it still attracts people. 

So what farm movies come into your mind? Ever live on a farm? I didn’t but was surrounded by farms and did pick fruit and veggies when I was young. It’s not easy.

Harvest in August

 

Isn't he a cutie? To say he got easily spooked is an understatement but he was so much fun to watch. Hi is my hubby's Aunt and Uncle's pussycat, Pinot. He got his name because he hid behind the Pinot Noir when they first brought him home. Anyhoo, I always think of harvest time when we enter August. I don't know why but I do and thought of songs. 2 came into my head right away but I got stumped with the third so I found this one I never heard of and I like it. I'm joining Monday Music Moves Me over at Curious As A Cathy. 

1. UNDER THE HARVEST MOON- SUNG BY TIRILLMOHN-2019

I think this is from 2019, please feel free to correct me. The song is a an English folk song that I never heard of before but I find it quite fetching. This lady, Tirill, is Norwegian and delivers a pretty rendition of this folk song.I do love folk songs.

2. SHINE ON HARVEST MOON SUNG BY LEON REDBONE-1976

This is a song from 1908 written by the married team of  Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth for the Ziegfeld Follies. This has been sung by many people from Ruth Etting to Doris Day but I always liked Leon Redbone. He’s got such a great voice and it is so unique.

3. HARVEST MOON SUNG BY NEIL YOUNG-1992

I picked Neil Young…his voice is something to get used to but I like it better than Bob Dylan. I actually though he wrote this song back in the late 60s or early 70s. 

What Harvest songs come into your mind? What makes you think of August? 

Star Of The Month-Frederic March

 

FREDERIC MARCH

BIRTH: August 31, 1897

DEATH: April 14, 1975

AGED: 77 yrs 

DIED FROM: Prostrate Cancer

REAL NAME: Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel- his mom’s last name was Marcher and he wanted a better name plus he believed that his lucky number was 12 so he dropped the K from Frederick and the “er” from Marcher to get his new name.

NICKNAME: Freddie

MARRIED: Twice- Ellis Baker(1921-1927) and actress Florence Eldridge 1927-1975(his death)

AFFAIRS: Many as he was a real lech often grabbing women by their butt or breast right in front of cast and crew. Shelley Winters said that he was a great actor for emoting so much sadness on his face while grabbing her ass. Evelyn Veneble punched him in the face after he grabbed her breast. Claudette Colbert, Olivia DeHavilland etc…would slap him for his groping. Greta Garbo, knowing his reputation, wore garlic inside her clothing and munched on it to put him off. My favourite is what Carole Lombard did…when he sat beside her he placed his hand under her skirt and as his hand crept up closer he got a rude shock when he touched a dildo! Hahahaaa. He never touched her again!! Sylvia Sidney acted with him more than once but never took his talk about her boobs or ass seriously and laughed it off thinking he was just joking. I think he struck out more than he got action but…still reprehensible.

CHILDREN: 2 kids-adopted

OSCAR WINS: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-1931and Best Years Of Their Lives-1946 for Best Actor

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Royal Family Of Broadway-1930; A Star Is Born-1937; Death Of A Salesman-1951

TALENT: his acting, to be honest.

KNOWN FOR: his prolific letter writing.

This is a man who was well loved by his children who found him loving, thoughtful and fun and, yet, today, his career would be done because of his lecherous ways with so many women. His excellent acting is now overshadowed by the most recent revelations about his asshole behaviour…oops, I swore but he deserved all he got from his many co-stars. He served in WW1 and, afterwards, was heading to become a banker but, listening to his landlady, a former actress, talk about her times on the stage made him change his mind and become an actor. He had great diction and, with his good looks, became an early matinee idol adept at drama and comedy winning his first Oscar for a horror movie. In fact, the make up, was so severe that he ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks and he was lucky that he suffered no permanent scars. 

His wife, an acclaimed actress in her own right, often worked with him on the stage but, when they appeared in a real stinker, he actually took out an apology in the papers for the lousy play. In a weird way, he was protective of her ( yeah…I know how stupid that sounds) and often wanted her to act opposite him in movies as well the theatre. For some reason, she never left him even though she knew all about him but it could be the times back then. 

He was able to go from romantic leads into character roles with ease and his acting prowess was noted by Marlon Brando and William Holden as an inspiration.  I do still really enjoy watching his films especially one of my favourites, “The Best Years of Our Lives.”

Films

1. Merrily We Go To Hell-1932

2. Design For Living-1933

3. Death Takes a Holiday-1934

4. The Barretts Of Wimpole Street-1934

5. Les Miserables-1935

6. Anna Karenina-1935

7. The Dark Angel-1935

8. Nothing Sacred-1937

9. I Married An Witch-1942

10. Inherit The Wind-1960