Anecdote of the Week: "You Remind Me of Carole Lombard."

The Siren's Dazzling Better Half (that gentleman having informed her, with finality, that he does not wish to be called Mr. Anything) is out of town, and this never does her movie viewing any favors nor, frankly, her mood. So where to turn when skies are gray, the projected high in New York City is 97 degrees Fahrenheit, and you say you are blue? To Carole Lombard, that's who.

Courtesy of Anita Loos, in Kiss Hollywood Good-by, a story the Siren really hopes is true.

Carole Lombard, Clark's third wife, was the wish fulfillment of every man in and out of Hollywood; a natural blonde who, both a lady and a hoyden, had a sense of humor and lack of pretense that seldom go with beauty as glittering as hers. I recall one day when she was strolling down a road and a passing truck driver offered her a lift. Carole accepted and, because the driver was good company, she drove with him all the way to Bakersfield. But before very long the young man began to sense he'd picked up an angel unawares. "Know something baby?" he ventured, "you remind me of Carole Lombard." "If you compare me with that cheap floozy, I"ll get right off your truck!" Carole flared up. So the driver apologized.

*****

Kim Morgan has re-posted an appreciation of Phantom Lady, in which Ella Raines proved she could act, but the Siren can't resist posting Kim's paean to Winnipeg (yes, Winnipeg) alongside a rendition from either the World's Sluttiest Auto-Translator, or someone with an exceptionally dirty mind. (Warning: If you are put off by repeated use of a certain versatile four-letter word, stick with Kim's original Winnipeg post.)

Years ago the Siren saw the original production of Oleanna and, despite a great performance from William H. Macy (does he give any other kind?) thought the play was a crabby, unfocused, scattershot mess. Marilyn Ferdinand saw the film and has a lucid and decidedly fair-minded write-up right here.

When it comes to The Red Shoes, Tony Dayoub is on Lermontov's side. Bravo. So's the Siren.

Ed Howard didn't like Seconds quite as much as the Siren did. But he did see a great deal of merit in the terrifying body-and-mind-swap movie directed by John Frankenheimer (or Handsome John, as I suppose he is now known in these parts), and Ed also has some great screen caps.

Kendra Bean, lucky woman, got to interview Universal Classic-Film Crush Robert Osborne. At her blog Viv and Larry.


You know how people claim to hate saying "I told you so"? What's up with that? The phrase "I told you so," wielded when someone winds up loving a movie you've been nagging them to see, is one of the most satisfying in the language. But the Siren will bow to convention and just point out, in the most casual manner possible, that hers was among the voices urging Ryan Kelly to buy Close-Up, even though he'd seen it already.

Finally, there is simply no way, no how that the Siren was going to post anything about the goddess Carole without linking to VP81955. Here's a post tied to the Day Lombard Told Off Laughton, with stills.