It is common wisdom that admitting one has a problem is the first step towards recovery, which I understand is a basic tenet of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. Well, I have a problem, an addiction if you will, and it has nothing to do with alcohol. Nor does it have anything to do with sex or cocaine, naming just two […]
Sometimes a bit of random dialogue will jump out of a movie and stick with me for days. I was watching Chaplin a few days ago, and the following snippet did just that. Chaplin: It’s a good country underneath, Doug. Fairbanks: No, it’s a good country on top. Underneath—that’s what starts showing when we’re scared. Well, which is it? I’ve […]
It’s kind of fascinating to me that so many folks find it necessary to take a position on absolutely everything. That sounds totally exhausting. Who has the time or inclination to gather all the information and weigh opposing views in order to come to an informed opinion about everything that comes down the pike? Of course, if one skips those […]
For some of us slow learners, it takes the better part of a lifetime to understand why certain things are ever needed. Even so, I can thing of a few that I still haven’t puzzled out. Take eyeshadow, for instance. Whether one is buying at a drug store or a high-end department store, the precious powder in the desired shade […]
I grew up loving game shows. Being sick from school and having summer vacation meant getting to watch Concentration, You Don’t Say, and the often off-color wit of Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver, and Wally Cox on Hollywood Squares. There was I’ve Got a Secret, sponsored by Winston cigarettes, where the likes of Garry Moore, Jayne Meadows, and Betsy Palmer (and […]
Over the years, I’ve noted that interest in the annual Oscar ceremony generally comes from just two sources. First, when the marketing gets us into theaters to see a movie with a subject or stars that interests us and we end up liking it, we’re more inclined to root for the movie if it ends up with Oscar nominations. Or, […]
“The construction ‘on account of because’ outrages every grammatical law,” says Gary Cooper as Professor Potts in Ball of Fire. But I understand why Barbara Stanwyck, as the whimsically named Sugarpuss O’Shea, needed that mouthful of words to explain that he was a “yum yum“ and that’s why she was “wacky” for him. Sometimes stating the reason why we feel […]
The Way We Were, movie and song, came out when I was in high school, and the thought of me as a teenager nostalgically mooning about when I wasn’t yet old enough to be excessively sentimental about anything amuses me today. Now that I’m older, I can understand what the lyricist meant by “misty watercolor memories” as I try to […]
At this stage, I am bound and determined to rekindle my ability to talk endlessly about absolutely nothing. As a southerner, it is my birthright. With that in mind, I will proceed. Spring is in the air, and we are certainly among those anxiously watching to see which plants have survived the winter storm here in Texas. (I am deliberately […]
For months now, the person I have seen more frequently than any I share air with in this house is Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies. Not because he’s my BFF, but because he introduces so many of the movies I’ve watched on TCM during this time. Watching movies, particularly the old ones, has been part of what I do […]
