30 Day Old Hollywood Meme - Day One
Four films you’d pick as the TCM guest programer1. Casablanca
Cannot even explain why I love Casablanca so much. I find it so beautiful from the writing, lighting, direction, acting, and just about everything. To me Casablanca is one of the many films that makes classic Hollywood so amazing.
2. The Thin Man
From the moment Nick and Nora Charles came on screen the first time I watched the film I was hooked by their wittiness and how flawless Myrna Loy and William Powell were together. The Thin Man is such a great screwball comedy it has to be seen by all film lovers.
3. Sadie Thompson
Sadie Thompson starring Gloria Swanson is one of the greatest films of all time and probably one of the greatest to come out of the silent era. Many people may only know Swanson as the crazy old bat from Sunset Blvd but in Sadie Thompson she is fierce and strong and independent. The story is based off a W. Somerset Maugham novel entitled Rain and it is amazing.
4. The Great Dictator
One of the greatest films ever made (and I mean this in all honesty). This is a film I tell everyone to watch because it is so genius. Charlie Chaplin is incredible as the dictator and a Jewish Barber. I have seen so many films that I am barely moved by them but The Great Dictator moved me.
Day 02- Film that got you interested in Old Hollywood
Before I watched Rebecca I had a liking towards classic films but at this point they were just Cary Grant films. My great grandmother told me about Rebecca that I would really like it so the next day I went out and bought the DVD. After my first viewing I was completely hooked to Hitchcock and from there my love of clasic films and old Hollywood began. From Hitchcock’s films I became a great adimirer of Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck and many more of the actors and actresses he worked with and from liking them I got into their other films and and some of the other actors and actresses in those.
With Rebecca I saw the beauty of classic films and how amazing they were made and acted. I still get the chills and sit on the edge of my seat whever I watch this film.
Day 03- Favorite Actor
Cary Grant is hands down my favorite classic actor.
Day 04- Favorite Actress
My favorite classic actress is a tie between Myrna Loy and Ingrid Bergman. Both of them incredible actresses with immense talent.
Day 05- Actor or Actress you think is underrated
I tend to think actresses are more underrated than actors. for me to pick just one actress is hard but if I had to pick…
number one underrated actress goes to Irene Dunne. So many people agree that Dunne is highly underrated as an actress and I have to wholely agree. Dunne has got to be one of the most versitile actresses of the Golden Age she did both comedy and drama as well as musicals to perfection. I do not think she is well known because she did not belong to one studio back in the day she freelanced between RKO, MGM, and another studio. There was nothing ever scandalous about her and she was also older and a successful stage actress when she started making films. I know this is a typical answer but it is true Irene Dunne is very underrated if she had not been in a Cary Grant movie or a Fred and Ginger’s Roberta I would never have known who she was.
honorable mentions go to Gloria Swanson and Norma Shearer
Day 06- Favorite Movie From Your Favorite Actor
Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby
I love Cary Grant when he made his screwball comedies more than I like him in his dramas. He is just so screwy and so frazzled in this film. One of my all time favorite film scenes is when David picks up a shoe the dog just dug up and he goes to hit Susan, she says “Now David don’t hit George” and he replies “But I wasn’t going to hit George”. He’s such a wreck in the scene I was doubled over laughing. Cary Grant was screwball comedy perfection here.
Day 07: Favorite Movie from your Favorite Actress
I had to go for a tie between two Myrna Loy films as my favorites from her:
I adore Loy’s performance in both films, she did not over act she just showed the perfect amount of emotions and drama.
Day 08- Favorite Old Hollywood Couple
I am being very unconventional and going with Frances Dee and Joel McCrea as my favorite old Hollywood couple. I really like them as indivdiual actors and their films together are very good they were excellent together. Dee and McCrea were married for 57 years… that is totally unheard for any era of Hollywood celebs.
Day 09- Old Hollywood Stars You Wished Had Worked Together
Two old Hollywood stars I wished had worked together would have to be Ava Gardner and Cary Grant. I am putting this down more as of an unbelieveable occurance since Cary Grant worked with just about every actress during the Golden Age but he never worked with Ava Gardner. I would have liked to have seen how that would have worked out.Day 10- Favorite Movie
Casablanca is my favorite classic film. I find something so beautiful and moving about it.
Day 11- Team Bette or Team Joan
Bette Davis or Joan Crawford?…..i’m not really a huge fan of either of them I haven’t seen many of their films to properly answer this question.
Day 12- Favorite Barrymore
Uh, i’m not really into the Barrymores. The only Barrymore I have seen a lot besides Drew is Lionel and I think he was really good.Day 13- Classic Movie You Just Could Not Get Into
Could not for the life of me get into this movie. It bored the hell outta me. I think James Dean and this movie are outrageously overrated
Day 14- A Legend Everyone Appreciates But You Can’t Stand
Personally cannot see the appeal of Marylin Monroe and James Dean. I understand that Monroe was a sex symbol and all that but putting her on the AFI top 25 greatest actresses of all time is a bit much she was not a great actress. Same with James Dean I think he is so overrated but with him I really do not understand his appeal.……sorry Marylin and James fans
Day 15- Actor or Actress You Have Been Meaning to Give a Chance But Haven’t Gotten a Chance to Yet
Rita HayworthDay 16- Favorite Director
Alfred Hitchcock is my all time favorite director. The man just knew how to pick stories and knew how to direct them to perfection. Hitchcock is the reason I became a classic film fanatic after I watched Rebecca. He was truly a genius in every aspect of filmmaking and his talent will never be touched.
Day 17- Favorite Line from a Film
Day 18-Actor or Actress who Should Have Won an Oscar
Geez there are so many!!!Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne, Barbara Stanwyck, William Powell, Carole Lombard, Gene Tierney, Gloria Swanson, Lauren Bacall
Day 19- Who’s You Like to Party It Up With in the Afterlife?
Can I cheat and just say every classic Hollywood actor/actress I like? It would be one giant, elegant cocktail party :)Here’s my list:
Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman, Ginger Rogers, Gene Tierney, Susan Hayward, Paulette Goddard, Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, Frances Dee, Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne, Gloria Swanson, Judy Garland, Norma Shearer, Bette Davis
Cary Grant, William Powell, Gregory Peck, Gene Kelly, Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, Joel McCrea, Gary Cooper, Calrk Gable, Dana Andrews, Errol Flynn
Day 20- Favorite Silent Film Star?
Gloria Swanson
Day 21- Old Hollywood Couple You’d Watch a Sex Tape Of
Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. I can imagine a tape of theirs being really dirty.
Day 22- If You Could Go Back in Time and Trade Places With an Old Hollywood Star Who Would It Be?
I would want to trade places with Ingrid Bergman. I want to know what it was like to be so dedicated to acting like she was and to play the characters she played and work with the actors she worked with.
Day 23- A Film You Think is Underrated?
Apart from the messy ending and a kind of complicated plot I think Four’s a Crowd with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell, and Patric Knowles is underrated. De Havilland is adorable and some really funny scenes and Flynn is so much fun to watch being silly and falling all over the place and he looks so handsome. I think it is really interesting to see Russell play a newspaper reporter before she famously played Hildy Johnson.
Day 24- Favorite Film From Hollywood’s Greatest Year 1939?
The Wizard of Oz is my favorite film from 1939. Ever since I was a baby I have loved The Wizard of Oz. Now that I am older I realize what a great escape this film is and how awesome it must have been for people to see this when it was released. I still feel like a little kid every time I watch Dorothy, Scarescorw, Tin Man, and Lion.
Day 25 -Which Character From a Film Do You Fantasize About Being?
This one is tough because the only character I ever fantasize about being is Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark and that is not an Old Hollywood film.For Old Hollywood maybe Nora Charles or Scarlett O’Hara or Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon because I am jealous of how amazing she danced. Whenever I watch an old film I usually just love the actresses so much in their roles and I could never even invision myself playing the character remotely as well as they could.
Day 26- Which Unsolved Scandal Would You Most Like the Answer To?
I do not really pay attention to Hollywood scandals they bug the crap outta me. Even the ones involving death are all just such a load of gossip. If I had to pick if Marylin Monroe’s death is a scandal that is one that would be interesting to hear what really happened.Day 27- Who’s Death Hit You the Hardest and Why?
A lot of the classic actors and actresses I like have been dead longer than I have been alive so none of their deaths really hit me hard. Some of them are sad because they died young or were not that old but were sick.One actress that I do admire who died a few years ago and hit me was Anne Bancroft. Bancroft was a wonderful actress who could switch easily from drama to comedy and be incredibly awesome in both genres. She made doing both genres to perfection look easy. I think I felt really bad more for the fact that Mel Brooks lost his wife. Mel Brooks is a comedic genius and just to think he was grieving made me sad the most.
Day 28- A Movie You Never Expected Yourself to Enjoy?
Never ever had a desire to sit through Gone With the Wind but since I figured if I am going to be a classic film lover I have to sit through it some time in my life. I downloaded it and within the first 45 minutes I was totally captivated. The moment I saw how beautiful Vivien Leigh was I was hooked. Now I have the film on Blu-Ray and I am currently reading the book (and loving it).
UPDATE: I have finished reading the novel and it was amazing!!!! One of the best stories I have ever read.
Day 29- who’s Private Lifestyle Shocked You the Most?
I knew Ava Gardner was a bit wild but I never knew how wild until I read Lee Server’s amazing biography on her called “Love is Nothing.” I don’t even think the best writers in Hollywood could have made up a story like Ava’s it was happy, sad, moody, depressing, and entertaining all at the same time. I felt bad for her she was never comfortable being in her own skin. Ava Gardner had a voracious appetite for all the wrong things and just never seemed happy.
Day 30- Which Five Old Hollywood Stars Would You Invite to Dinner?
Can I cheat and go with ten old Hollywood stars? Ok then I am cheating.I would invite:
Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Paulette Goddard, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, William Powell, and Charlie Chaplin
all these people I would just want to question them about acting and their films they made especially Charlie Chaplin about The Great Dictator.
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