Two Bald Eagles on Middle Foy's Lake. It was hard seeing the aereation pond -- lots of meltwater and rain on the ice. It's been well above freezing since Tuesday -- during the day. At night all that water ices up the roads.

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Make a resolution as the days get longer to click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: Updates on the Hockaday Museum of Art's Website.

Media Watch: TCM's theme was songwriters last night -- 1946's Night and Day starred Cary Grant as Cole Porter. There was very little truth in the story, however his career DID obsess him sometimes, and his horse accident was a turning point in his life -- a very bad turn, since he was never free of pain again. Kevin Kline's turn as Cole Porter in the recent De-Lovely reveals a little more social reality, but the critical detail of Porter's wife being eight years older, and the nature of their partnership were abandoned in favor of someone's idea of drama, or perhaps marketing, since Ashley Judd played Linda Porter, or some dam' thing. Cole Porter in Wikipedia
Mary Martin and Monty Wooley both played themselves, and they stole the 42nd Street plotline of a chorus girl ("Gracie," played by Jane Wyman) giving her big break to a talented neighbor (Martin) in the line. Ginny Simms sang at least four of Porter's biggest songs. Carlos Ramírez sang a beautiful version of Begin the Beguine, someone named Blanka sang Easy to Love. Dancers included: Milada Mladova, George Zoritch, Adam DeGatano, Jayne DeGatano, Estelle Sloan, Dorothy Costello and Ruth Costello. This flick was loaded with 40's fashions and 40's hair. I liked the production numbers, even though they were all militantly mid-40's in style too. There was a string of extremely fictionalized musical biographies made by the major Hollywood studios, with the best talent of the time behind and in front of the cameras. It's incomprehensible to me why they all stink so badly, but they do.
Four of the best movies by my man Busby Berkeley were shown right afterwards -- 42nd Street, Golddiggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, and Dames, followed by Gold Diggers of 1935 and the bizzare Go into Your Dance, starring Ruby Keeler and her husband Al Jolson. Character actors from WB/First National's stock company abound!


Detail from a fairly quick photo of my Homage to Busby Berkley print. At the center is a stand-up lobby cut-out that we bought in three pieces at an antiques sale in Spokane, Washington.