Leo McCarey

 

Who the hell is Leo McCarey? Well, he is a famous director who was most prolific in the 30s and 40s ending in the early 60s. His most famous movies are “Going My Way” that stars Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald and “An Affair To Remember” with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. I am choosing 3 films that are just as fun. There are a few movies I still need to see like “The Awful Truth” starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne but I am choosing films, that I love, directed by this man born on this date back in 1898.

1. RUGGLES OF RED GAP-1935

I had to choose this very famous scene when the English Butler, played by Charles Laughton, recites the Gettysburg Address and that brought Laughton to tears. In fact, this is Laughton’s favourite as well as Leo McCarey’s. The hick husband and wife from the States, are in England and the man is playing cards. A dumb English lord or whatever, has no more money so he bets his butler and, yup, the hicks win and off the 3 go back home. Well, Charles sticks out like a sore thumb but teaches something to the people in that small town and they teach Charles not to feel so haughty. It’s funny, sweet, and poignant.

2. LOVE AFFAIR1939

This is a second film version of this popular story about 2 people who meet on a cruise ship, fall in love and promise to meet up on top of the Empire State Building only for tragedy to strike. He remade this  film with Grant and Kerr that got a lot of free time when it was shown on the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”. This is a gem with Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in the roles of the star crossed lovers. It is also filmed with humour, tragedy, and sentimentality and that’s fine by me. Both Boyer and Dunne called this their favourite film.

3. THE BELLS OF ST. MARY’S-1945

This is a sequel to the wonderful, “Going My Way” following Father O’Malley, played by Bing Crosby,  who must try and save this school run by nuns, headed by the exceptional Ingrid Bergman. They may not see eye to eye but they learn to have a great respect for each other. It’s very fun to watch and see these 2  people spar in more ways than one. When can you see a nun teach a kid to box? I love the prank Crosby and Bergman played on the priest who was overseeing the film. When Crosby is leaving the school, he and Bergman passionately kiss. I bet that priest almost had a coronary…lol.

Have you seen any of his movies? If so, which one?

Dance Like It’s the 1980s

 

So, Harley wanted a hug from Pappa and Pappa wanted his jewels left unscathed( that did not happen). They do love each other even though Harley gulped down my hubby’s chicken leg and thigh in one second. Harley didn’t even chew it…it was just gone! Now, over at Monday Music Moves Me, it is freebie time and I have been thinking about my party days in the 80s when I was in University. It was a lot of fun to put it mildly. I could dance, nonstop, for hours. So here I am remembering the times of many a year ago….

1. RELAX BY FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD-1984

This is one fun song that I danced to at the University pub, University dances and several bars downtown and we all were in top form for dancing around this time of the year. I always thought this guy’s voice was quite good. Dancing was so much fun especially at Gord’s, a famous dance club often with skin heads. Funny anecdote, my first time there, I’m sitting with my friends, Peter, Ron and Darren when this horrible music comes on and these skinheads start running around in circles pushing one another. One of the morons ends up on me and I get angry, tell him to F off and push him off. My friends looked at me, mouths agape, telling me I shouldn’t have done that. I had no idea why and only found out later that one is not supposed to push these skinheads because they are jerks. I just thought they were idiots and didn’t like that they fell onto me…idiots.

2. COME ON EILEEN BY DEXYS MIDNIGHT RUNNERS-1982

This is such a famous song that it’s considered one of the all time best from this decade and beyond. I would place it way down the list when one thinks of the bands from the 60s and 70s, but it is a lot of fun and was always played throughout the 80s. 

3. I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL BY JOAN JETT  AND THE BLACKHEARTS-1981

This is more of a rock song than the songs we think of from the 1980s but it’s a good one with Joan Jett singing her heart out. In 1982, I travelled to Austria to represent my family for my grandparents’ wedding anniversary of 60 years. My cousin, Gita, decided to take me out with fellow cousin Bettina and her fiancé  who drove an Astin Martin. I was lucky to sit in the front seat while he drove, very, very fast, on the Autobahn. We ended up at a disco which was the first time I ever saw people waltz to rock songs! This man asked Bettina to dance and she said no but, feeling sorry for me( I wish she hadn’t), told him to take me up to dance…this song was playing and he, reluctantly, agreed. During the whole song, he would slowly go down on one knee and point in one direction and then in another. He was a freak!! I tried to dance on my own trying to show that I am not with this nut. Fun times but it is one for the books.

What songs did you dance to when in University, college or just out on a Saturday, Friday, Thursday….lol

October Star of the Month-Linda Darnell

 

BIRTH: October 16, 1923

DEATH: April 10, 1965

AGED: 41 years

DIED FROM: Fire in home, burned 90% of her body. Not sure of the cause of the fire although cigarettes may be the likely culprit but not sure if it was Linda or her friend.

REAL NAME: Monetta Eloyse Darnell

MARRIED: 3 Times

AFFAIRS: Howard Hughes, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Italian actor Giuseppe Amato, Vic Orstti. Dated Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper, George Montgomery, Kay Keyser, Eddie Albert..etc, etc, etc., 

CHILDREN: 1 adopted daughter

NICKNAME: Filmdom’s Most Eligible Bachelorette.

TALENT: she loved to paint and draw

KNOWN FOR: her exquisite beauty

I am taking a major risk…why? This is, I believe, Joel’s favourite actress and I hope I do this amazing gal justice since she is not well known which is sad. If Joel has anything more to add, please let me know in your comment. This is a gal that I always wanted to know more about even when I was a kid because she was not only strikingly beautiful, but she seemed intelligent and and full of spunk. She deserved a lot more than what she was given, partly, I believe, due to Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, who lusted after her but whom she rejected. You can see that he made sure she just didn’t get the parts she deserved due to the creep but most of them were creeps who had power and the almighty casting couch. She grew up one of 5 kids whom her mom saw stars in front of her beautiful girl and decided to capitalize on her daughter’s beauty lying about her age, mind you, I don’t think Linda minded at the time but she was only 13! When they headed to Hollywood and Hollywood found out about her young age, they actually told her to go home until she was of age! When she returned, still young, in my humble opinion, she starred in films from the get go with people believing she was much older than her 16/17 yrs. Her mom had a bad reputation for being a bully on set and nasty, with Linda, finally, kicking her out of her life. Linda actually loved painting, travelling and didn’t care much about the whole scene and had few Hollywood friends except for Ann Miller.

 She did have bad taste in men, with her first husband introducing her to alcohol which led her to a downward spiral of alcoholism and her so-called love of her life, Joseph L Mankiewicz using her for 6 years before dropping her to stay with his wife calling her a nice gal but with terrifying personal problems. She did deal with depression and even a couple of suicide attempts while trying to get sober. She was staying with her former secretary and friend, when, in the middle of the night, she awoke to fire in the home. She got her friend’s daughter and friend to the 2nd storey window and they jumped but fearing  the fall, she tried to find a different way out. She was burned over 90% of her body and died a day later. What a horrible way to go for someone who deserved an Oscar nod, if not the Oscar for A Letter to 3 Wives and who just wanted to be loved.

FILMS

1.  A Letter To Three Wives-1949

2. My Darling Clementine-1946

3. Blood and Sand-1941

4. Fallen Angel- 1945

5. Unfaithfully Yours-1948

6. Night Without Sleep-1952

7. Forever Amber-1947

8. Hangover Square-1945

9. Star Dust-1939

10. The Mark Of Zorro-1940

I haven’t seen many of her films so, after, Blood and Sand, I chose movies that I would want to see in order, mind you there are other films I want to see not even listed. Which are your favourite films of hers? Have you seen any?