Visit: A Tale of Two Movies
Weather: Peter Tosh sang: I'm a-comin' in hot, hot, hot... and so are the temperatures.
Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click six times to help six ways.
In The Community: I am starting my sixth year at the Hockaday Museum of Art taking a Sunday shift -- the last one of this season. Linda Engh-Grady has been our Executive Director for almost four of them, and this institution has never been more prosperous, or presented better shows!
The Hockaday's Web Site
Anyone who lives near us, or will be visiting Kalispell owes themselves the favor of seeing our exhibit of portraits by Winold Reiss, Artist of the Great Northern Railway.
Media Watch: I happened to see several movies from the mid-30's featuring William Powell. What a fabulous actor! He seemed to have an offhand, effortless style, but I'm sure he just made his acting LOOK easy. I wonder if he was aware of Stanislavski's "Method?" It's certainly possible, since they were contemporaries. I wonder because his style seems so modern -- although he specialized in light comedy, rather that the Angst-driven roles of Brando and Dean which made "Method Acting" famous after WWII.
Fashions of 1934 (1934) Director; William Dieterle, Writing credits; Harry Collins, Warren Duff, Cast; William Powell, Bette Davis (!) as a New York debutante, Frank McHugh, and Warner Bros/Busby Berkeley stalwart Hugh Herbert. Speaking of Busby Berkeley, he choreographed a bizarre dream sequence in this movie featuring hosts of near-nude chourines waving Sally Rand fans, and harps made out of living starlets with beaded strings. (see photo below)
Star of Midnight (1935) Director; Stephen Roberts, Writing credits; Howard J. Green, Edward Kaufman. Cast; William Powell, Ginger Rogers, and Gene Lockhart as Powell's loyal butler Swayne. This is a light-hearted caper flick, very similar to 1934's The Thin Man, only with a young Ginger Rogers, on the threshold of stardom, playing an adoring fan of a hard-drinking playboy lawyer. She calls Powell "Sherlock," and he calls her "Watson." Everybody's pretty funny, including Swayne.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) Director; Stephen Roberts, Writing credits; James Edward Grant, Anthony Veiller, Cast; William Powell, Jean Arthur, and Eric Blore, the great comic actor, as Powell's butler this time around. One could almost see this as a sequel, or remake, of Star of Midnight, except that the characters' names are different. Jean Arthur is drop-dead gorgeous in her youth, but she's not as as sweet or as effortlessly sexy as the young Ginger Rogers. Her well-crafted British acting style clashes with Powell's outwardly easygoing manner. The obvious difference in their ages is a bit annoying too.
Later that year, he would team up again with Montana's own Myrna Loy in After The Thin Man, with young James Stewart as the villain. The makeup artists did a better job in minimizing the generation gap between the principals, and the two lead actors made Cinema history with their chemistry.
A William Powell Filmography There are others too.
A better-than average Myrna Loy Site Her name continues on in Montana's state capitol with
The Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts
An enthusiastic fan's shrine to Ginger Rogers Ms. Rogers DESERVES all the fans she can muster -- she corresponded with my wife and I in the early 90's. What a nice, gracious lady!
Bombshell's Bette Davis Gallery This actor was almost a force of nature, but I wouldn't want any part of her sad life.
Reel Classics -- Eric Blore He and Edward Everett Horton were two of the funniest men on the planet. I'd suggest Top Hat, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, for an example of the two English comedians together in one film.
Just so we don't forget anyone:
Reel Classics: Jean Arthur
Reel Classics: Gene Lockhart
Edward Everett Horton on TV
Reel Classics: Edward Everett Horton
from Fashions of 1934
