Grayscale

Want Ginger Stuff??

2010-08-12T21:33:00.001-07:00

HEY so I've got some Ginger related items, as well as other hollywood related items, that I'm going to be selling. If interested, keep watching here: http://randomhollywood.wordpress.com/

Thanks!

Ginger's shoe size

2010-07-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

Wow didn't think I was going to post again. But I had been meaning to post this since last Christmas...

When I was invited by Sid Grauman to place my hand and footprints in the forecourt of his beautiful Chinese Theatre on September 5, 1939, I couldn't have been more thrilled. I had just returned from a much needed vacation in Hawaii about three weeks before, and was finishing up some retakes at the studio.
I thought about how my prints would look in cement, for all time!--and wanted them to be smaller if I could manage it. I could do nothing about the size of my hands, but my footprints--those I could make smaller. My shoe size was about 5-1/2 and my mother Lela has a smaller size shoe than I: 4-1/2. So, I borrowed a pair of my mother's shoes and slipped my toes into them and stepped into the cement and made my prints!
I sure was glad when I could take off the "cement shoes" and put on my regular walking shoes again.

--Ginger Rogers

So I'm too lazy to write out the whole source info, but here's the ISBN# for the book: 0-938817-28-0

TCM Classic Film Festival

2010-03-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

I just found out about TCM's film festival in Hollywood at the end of April: http://www.tcm.com/festival/
I definitely want to go. They are going to play Top Hat, among other films that would be fun to see. They are screening at Grauman's, the Egyptian, and other venues.
It's pretty expensive though, and I don't know if you can pay for individual tickets because I've only seen the passes so far.

Late Night Chatter

2010-03-05T01:22:00.000-08:00

Okay there's something I wanted to post since basically Christmas but I keep forgetting the book at home. Meanwhile, madness ensues at school. For some reason, someone thought it was a good idea to have room sign ups and class sign ups as finals are approaching. My good friend (and roommate for next year) and I had a mini freak out because there were no doubles left by the time it was are turn to sign up. She kept texting me in a panic while I was trying to watch Chinatown in my film class. (I love that movie, BTW.) But anyway, we have a triple in a good dorm. Nobody has signed up to be a third wheel, so either we'll be getting a poor, random freshman, or nobody.

Also had my first all-nighter ever Tuesday night! It was pretty thrilling actually. I sat in the lounge in my flannel pajamas with a bunch of guys who also had essays to write. Only three of us lasted through the whole night. We listened to the theme song of Rocky to motivate us, and I had some other songs to motivate me as well. Then there was a mini drama with my roommate who was annoyed that I entered the room at quarter to 7 to get ready for my 8AM class Wednesday. There are no common bathrooms, so I have to go into my room to use the bathroom and clean up. I'm not going to get into everything, but we can just leave it at the fact that she can be sort of ridiculous at times.

I believe I lasted the longest though, because the two other guys napped. It was a record 41 hours of no sleeping for me! It was 30 when I travelled to China.

Then of course we have me, my future roommate, and the guys we are pining after that are A- probably too old for us and B- something else. We decided that everything that seems to happen to us happens to the both of us, and now we are going through nearly identical guy issues.

Well, that's the general overview of my life up 'til now. I have a VERY unfinished painting I started of Ginger. Maybe I'll finish it one day? I also did a black and white painting of William Powell and another one with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in it. I enjoy painting in black and white more so I can focus on the values without having to worry about the hues.

For Now

2010-02-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Substitute for a post I've been meaning to do for a good month. I had promised Huey the next post was going to be about Ginger, but this wasn't what I had in mind. It's got Ginger though.

Click to enlarge.

From left: Lew Ayres, Ginger Rogers, Fay Wray, Claudette Colbert

I wonder who the opponents are.

This Week

2010-01-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

This week is 10x better than the last. Last Friday I found a penny on the ground which hopefully jump-started this good week. Today my friend from high school I haven't seen in forever is touring campus so I'm going to hang out with her. Last night was actually fun. I'm not taking art history. Only one hour of class today. I don't feel tired. Good things are everywhere this week. I'm so glad.

Okay the next post IS going to be about Ginger. It is much delayed, but I was planning to post it earlier so I want to actually follow through and do it.

:(

2010-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

The worst days of my life are currently taking place. I'm not saying that like how angsty teens say that; I really mean that all areas of my life - school, work, friends, relationships - are stinking worse than the trash room at the end of the hall. So I have one thing to post this weekend, but I may not be on here for a bit after that.

Dream come true!

2010-01-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

Last week I found this one-piece and I was utterly beside myself with the bells of delight ringing in my ears! It was basically what I've been looking for in a jumper: high waisted, blouse-like upper half with sleeves, and airy shorts. It even has a cute little peter pan collar.

And... I wore it today. At 9:30pm. Outside. In January.
In Los Angeles of course. ;)
Today though, it was unnaturally warm at night. Don't know what was up with that. I'm a cold-weather person. The only thing that makes me cheery about warm weather is finding cute things to wear. :)

Christmas Things

2010-01-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well this took me forever to post. These are just some things I got for Christmas:

This is a really pretty nightgown set with stitched flowers on the bodice and shoulders of the outer piece.

The items on the left are records that my mother decided to start collecting for me. She wants to get a player so we can listen to them! Books are to the right. Pretty self-explanatory.

More paper goods. I already started playing Cheek to Cheek on the piano and ukulele. The cards are very neat. They are from my grandmother, and they are old photos from around where I live. Of the five big postcards showing, the one on the bottom right was written and dated 12/23/09. As in 1909, and it is a woman writing to her mother about getting on the train and Christmas plans, etc. Of the small cards, the one pictured on the left (I know these are hard to see, but...) is of Exposition Park and the Natural History Museum (where I work in the summer)!

This book is full of odd quotations, but the drawings have a very clean art deco feel to them. The gingerbread-shaped cooking pan to the right is pretty exciting - I can't wait to use this next year.

The jewelry on the left are vintage items from my grandmother, and the ones on the right are all brooches from my mother's job.

Also, surprise surprise, I have two new perfumes:

Lollia's Breathe and YSL's Parisienne
And to a certain someone: NO, I do not bathe in it, and NO I am not stinky. They smell good and light.

Everything else was either less exciting (things I needed), more personal, or silly to photograph, like gift cards.

Sandrich Being Sour

2009-12-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

"Apparently Ginger used to bombard Newman with all sorts of crazy ideas for dresses, including a bizarre ‘granite’ costume and even a gown made of mirrors – to which RKO director Mark Sandrich apparently remarked, ‘Ginger, we can’t use it. You can see the camera reflected in your tits’. It is said she stormed off set after that, and quite right too."

This is from Clothes on Film, so take a look at the whole post if you are interested in A) Clothes, B) Film, C) Ginger's dress in Pick Yourself Up.

Things That Smell Good!

2009-12-24T01:18:00.000-08:00

I call it a "Things That Smell Good" post. The perfume bottle is Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf Eau de Parfum, the soap (which is what has been making my room smell so good, and it's sitting unopened on my table) is Mistral Lychee and Rose soap. The hand cream is Caswell-Massey Dr. Hunter Hand Creme with rosewater and glycerine. I love rosewater! At one of my friend's parties over the summer, we ate at I think and Indian restaurant and they had warm rosewater to wash our hands with and it smelled so good. I want to take a bath in it. Maybe you can tell, but I like flowery fragrances.

Oh and PS: this will definitely be my last post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone, or happy holidays, and Happy New Year if I don't post again before then!

More Photos (Old)

2009-12-20T02:02:00.001-08:00

I'm finally getting some more of this stuff uploaded. These are all from high school.

I printed this once, and there was a fix stain on the print, and then the print got lost...

The above is an inversion from the negative I scanned a while ago. I don't know where the negative is, but I hope I can find it because this picture looks so much better when you can see the detail. I think these are some kind of yam/potato type items... I'm not sure though.

I took these on my Holga camera. If you aren't familiar, it's a plastic toy camera that is used by artists to create some unexpected effects.

There is a glazed, dream-like quality about the prints, and the random light leaks on the edges are due to the plastic construction. The bottom two of this series are double exposures.

This is the back of my little sister. I tried to work it so her dress would fade into the sand. You can see the outline of her dress better upon looking at the actual print, so the fadeaway effect is really pronounced from the scan. My aunt used to collect postcards called 'fadeaways' where, usually, a woman's clothing blended in with the background, so this relates to that.

This photo, along with the previous one, were printed on matte paper. And I mean really matte. I was debating hand-colouring these two but never got around to it. I'm not good at hand-colouring at all. That's why I'm so amazed at Maria's pictures she colours of Fred and Ginger. I'm just awful at it. I get it outside the lines, in looks uneven and messy, and the list goes on.

This is from the summer of 2007 when I took a colour photo class.

I was playing around with flash, trying to wash out the colours and get starkness. Sort of like Marc Jacobs ads I suppose. The one on the right I gave to my grandmother for Easter. They were both taken in her house, and she hung the rabbit photo right above the bucket where the rabbits are. It looks cute altogether.

My uncle's dog. He looks sweet, but is far from that. He unfortunately was never trained correctly, and when my uncle got him (I think the dog was... 2 maybe?) he never played with him. So minimal human contact didn't help his demeanor. I refuse to be in the same room as this dog, especially because he bites. I took this while I was inside and he was outside. I think this merits an explanation because when my friends saw this picture, they melted over the 'cute dog.' I explained that it wasn't what it seemed.

Plants outside grandma's house. This one was a bear (as Huey would say) to colour correct. So the difference between printing in black and white and in colour is that while you are exposing the paper in colour, there is no safety light. It is 100% dark, so your eyes don't adjust, since there's nothing to adjust to. It's sort of fun though, trying to feel around for the paper and hope it's centered. Then there are little knobs on the enlarger for Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta. And you adjust those knobs to alter the colour. You have to train your eye to see when the colour is balanced. I got pretty decent at it during that month. Maybe it helped that I was a woman, because I feel as though this would be a harder for a man to colour correct since they don't notice different shades as well as females. I'm not out to offend anyone, but I believe it's a biological thing.

Other Photos

2009-12-18T02:34:00.001-08:00

So I finally got around to posting items of photo-like substance on here. I edited these digitally since I don't have access to a lab right now. I don't usually do much on the computer leave rudimentary tasks, so these could probably be better.
As always, click for a bigger image.

And here's a Halloween photo for good measure. (Yes, I just got them last week.)

Shoe Post

2009-12-18T02:16:00.000-08:00

I found these 1930s shoes while on vacation, and upon trying them on, I was more than thrilled to discover that they have arch support. This is monumental, namely because I haven't had arch support in a shoe since maybe 6th grade. And since my mother threw out my arch inserts (that my aunt gave me to try) because they were still in the shoes she hated so much she tossed without looking, there went that. But anyway, the shoes have some solid arch support! Is that normal?

Click for larger image.

And so I was messing around on Photoshop so I could stick all the pictures together. The upper right corner looked disgustingly barren, so I thought of putting my name there. But I really needed something square, so I stuck a picture in lieu of name. It really has nothing to do with the shoes, it was more of an aesthetic choice. Which segues perfectly into my next post, which I was inspired to work on. Why now, I don't know, since I have so much to do tomorrow, but there are just some things that cannot be explained.

Birthday Essence

2009-12-03T21:58:00.000-08:00

1. Almost set off fire alarm with inextinguishable candles that took pleasure in spitting sparks out at people.

2. Friend scuttling backwards out the door, cake in tow - wide-eyed at the aggressive candles.

3. Setting off door alarms, amongst other chaos.

4. Warning for misconduct in the dorms.

5. Calming friends down while putting out those candles from your cake by grinding them into the concrete outside while the RA stares at us menacingly.

6. The cake was delicious.

"Now we'll never forget Lauren's 19th birthday."

*Another note is that people seem to enjoy making my birthday this week-long celebration. It must just be the holiday spirit in the air, because I'm not the only one getting excited about my birthday post-Thanksgiving. My presents are generally spread out evenly over four days. I really have no idea why, but that's how things seem to operate. Anything to get people in the gift-giving mood, I suppose. ;)

Anyway THANK YOU to the people who thought about my birthday (which is actually on 4 December)!

My younger sister's birthday is today, so I'm constructing her present at the moment. I thought I wasn't going to see her until winter break, but I found out today that she is coming by to see me tomorrow, so now I really gotta hustle!

2009-12-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Upon request of jwalker, I'm posting the box I made:

Click for larger image.
First of all, the turquoise beads were just a quick sprinkle job because I was taking way too long to make this. Staying up 'til 6am three nights in a row when class is at 8? I had to hurry in the end. Actually, the 'first of all' should be the fact that I've never made a box before. I don't know if I've even cut wood before. Either way, it was pretty shoddy construction, so I tried to mask that by covering the entire thing in beads, which is a bit shoddy itself. The one thing I am proud of is the silver and gold design on the box. That's the part that really took forever anyway. My photos aren't the best because the lighting wasn't working with me (please note my Bruin blue nails :) ).

What Mr. jwalker was doing last Friday:

Also, thank you Gingerella for the award! I will tack it up somewhere soon.

The Cutest Thing

2009-11-29T11:27:00.001-08:00

So I stumbled upon this photo on google, and discovered it linked to a site where someone had uploaded a lot of their personal photos, from the late forties until now. That's such a cute idea.
But anyway, this one says it was taken at a lake near a Ginger Rogers cabin. I have no idea where this is. Anyone?

PS One of my word verifications was 'gyroweed' which I decided I really liked as a word. Now to decide what it means.

Ginger Must've Liked Chinese Food

2009-11-25T21:26:00.000-08:00

My mother just told me that her boss had lunch with Ginger about 30 years ago because one of his friends wanted them to meet. I got excited because I always wanted to know what sort of a personality she had. At first my mom starts going on about how she looked (typical). But then she told me her boss said Ginger was very friendly and down-to-earth, which is how I imagined she'd be. She still carried a child-like enthusiasm and was eager to meet someone new. I felt reassured to learn this because it solidified my high opinion of her.
Oh, and regarding the title of this post, they ate Chinese.

Ginger Rogers article in People

2009-11-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

I've never seen/read this before - I just discovered it! But it is a nice little article (dated 08 May 1995) with cute pictures, and it makes Ginger seem like one of the most wonderful people I've never met.

Click on image to view article.

Wishlist Part 1

2009-11-22T11:28:00.001-08:00

It's getting closer and closer to holiday time-- my absolute favourite time of year!!!! Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas! Right now I'm hoping I can get tickets to the UCLA-USC football game, but it's chancey.

Anyway, for my wishlist part 1, I am currently in love with the majority of the beauty products at Anthropologie.

I am always enamored by their vintagey design! I looked online, but their selection isn't as big there as in the store.
I like perfume a little too much, but it always looks so cute in the bottle! It's usually way very expensive so I can't afford that many. I mostly use Flowerbomb now.

And to tangent, I bought the Winter air freshener from Bath and Body Works (the one that smells like the best of all things Christmas in liquid form?) and I can't stop inhaling deeply. It smells so good. I love that store. Rarely do I come out of there empty handed. I think I will add a gift card to here for my wishlist. Actually, for gift cards, I would probably want them from the following places:

B&B Works
Anthropologie
Urban Outfitters
Forever 21 (I tell you this store is a gold mine if you can spot the classy from the trashy items)
Sephora
H&M

Now for a tangent upon tangent (it's what I do best) I need to figure out what exactly to buy other people. And also some have requested artwork, so I may take that route for more presents. Which in my case means I need to run down to Samy's and buy some black & white film. and some frames, or other items to embellish it. I LOVE working with colour slides because everything is just so vivid! I took a picture of my youngest sister with colour slide film and it came out bursting with colour because of the contrast of her red dress, the lime green balloon animal/hat she wore, and the blue pool in the background. I actually have no idea where the picture is right now. It must be somewhere around my house.

Alright, scooting along the tangent line (oh dear only I would say that) this quarter is almost over, I have a lot of reading and studying to do, but hopefully it won't eat up all of my time. My goal is to get through 61 pages of my art textbook reading... maybe 100 since I have a lot and only two days. On Monday I have to actually start working on my sculpture! I'm making molds of my hand with alginate (it's the same as that puffy, gooey stuff dentists use to make molds of your teeth. (I always gagged during the bottom mold.) Then I'm filling the mold with wax, which I'll have to heat... somehow. And I haven't decided if I want to do anything about the fingernails of the hand molds, because mine aren't in the best shape right now. I bet the sculpture professor would love to know that I'm even thinking about something like that, but it's just a part of my multi-faceted personality! :)

Art Deco Hollywood

2009-11-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a little bit of video I just discovered on YouTube about art deco's history. Art deco is one of my favourite things in life!

Award

2009-11-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Pink Flower for this award! I'm not exactly sure what kind of award it is since the text on the image is too small for me to read (I sound old) but I think I have a handle on what to do!

a) Nominate three more blogs for the award
b) Answer a few questions about myself

1. A Noodle in a Haystack
2. Some Parade
3. Finding Ginger
I don't think any of these blogs will be posting all too often at the moment, but hey. ;)

What's your current obsession?
Shopping at vintage fashion expos. They are so great because everything is right there, and unlike a flea market, you know it's going to be vintage!

What's your zodiac sign?
Sagittarius, the hardest one to spell. I really don't know anything about my sign, except for the fact that it's some half-man creature.

What am I wearing today?
Right now I'm wearing a little red and white striped sun dress that has small black flowers on it. I just realized the flowers are so spread out. Also, it is hot enough to be wearing this sun dress today.

What's your latest purchase?
A cigarette case.

What do you have for dinner?
Usually a lot of vegetables and sometimes pasta.

What's your favourite decade?
1930s 100%! Bias dresses I love. After putting one on you have the urge to spin around and dance. (I did that a little after trying one on in the dressing room of one of the expos.)

What are your must haves for summer?
Sunglasses and a hat, yet both of those items are broken. :(
Also, ice cream, and cute sandals! My sandals are also broken. :( Good think ice cream can't exactly break, otherwise I'm sure I would have broken it by now, too.

What is your favourite piece in your closest?
Hm. I really like this sheer, bias, early 40s dress I have. I also like my velvet 30s dress that I posted about. I also like Ginger's skirt and gloves, which I posted about as well. I also like my two silk scarves from China. I love a lot of my shoes. How do I decide?

What is your dream job?
Being the costume designer for period piece movies. :)

What's your favourite magazine?
I guess Vogue because I see the photo shoots as art versus advertisements for clothing. I also like some of the old LIFE magazines.

What do you consider a fashion no-no?
Bubble tops. I have one, but I always hide it by tucking it in. I personally think they look unflattering on people, but I think that's because I am drawn more to thinks that hug my waist and don't really enjoy looking pregnant when I'm not.

Describe your personal style?
Anything that has a vintage feel. I look for key aspects, such as ruffles, dots, peter pan collars, lots of buttons, cinching at the waist, bias, in modern clothing.

Who was your favourite Beatle?
Ringo!

What are you proud of?
Having the ability to think for myself and not always follow others, and having possessed this ability a lot longer than other people my age.

WWII Kiss

2009-10-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've never posted about this picture. The famous WWII Kiss photograph, taken during the Times Square celebration after Japan's surrender to the Allies, is so completely brimming with emotion, energy, and enthusiasm that it can only make me smile when I look at it.

Location: New York, NY, US
Date taken: August 14, 1945
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt

These were just two random, ordinary people who came out to celebrate a victory. I find it an even sweeter image knowing that the act was unplanned and just a thrill of the moment type of action. LIFE Magazine attempted to locate the kissing pair about 20 years after the photo was taken. Multiple people claimed to be the sailor or nurse, but nobody (not even the photographer) was truly sure who the people were. One woman, Edith Shain, wrote a letter to LIFE claiming to be the woman in the photo, and she has been the favoured candidate over the years.

Here is a short interview with Miss Shain from BBC News in 2008:

Bob

2009-10-24T23:36:00.001-07:00

I bobbed my hair today! It's the shortest it's been since kindergarten. I'm going to experiment and not style it at all after I take a shower to see what it looks like. Right now it's all nice from a one and a half hour job.

There are also now four frogs in the mountains named Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Fred, and Ginger. And one named Asta.
And one named Chocky. If I ever get an aquatic frog for the dorm I'm naming him Chocky.

Lauren

I can't believe I missed this!

2009-10-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

After watching more and more films from the 30s and 40s, character actors really began to hold a special place in my heart! The good ones liven up a movie, and they feel like old friends joining you in a new plot line.
Anyway I was looking at previous events at the Billy Wilder theatre and discovered that they had a special event dedicated to character actors! I would have loved to see these movies on the big screen!

5.5.06 - 6.7.06
Dini and Les Ostrov and the UCLA Film & Television Archive present
ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS!: CELEBRATING HOLLYWOOD'S CLASSIC CHARACTER ACTORS

As the Hollywood studio system grew in the 1920s, thousands of actors came to Los Angeles. Only a few would become household names, but some lucky others would find constant work and studio contracts as supporting players. Often these actors were too old, too "foreign" or simply not considered attractive enough to be romantic leads—not to mention the legions of black, Asian and Latino actors whose ethnicity limited them to bit parts. Among these actors were those who managed to project a particular, instantly recognizable personality from picture to picture, becoming familiar and beloved figures. These supporting players became known as "character actors."

Rather than playing leading ladies and gentlemen, these actors inhabited a colorful array of roles as relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, servants and the like for the leads. While the names attached to their roles would change from film to film, and while the style might vary from the comic to the dramatic, character actors developed finely honed personalities that would remain more or less constant. Actors like Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Alice Brady, William Demarest, S.Z. Sakall, Marjorie Main and Eugene Pallette were familiar and beloved faces (if not always names) for moviegoers in the 1930s and 1940s.

While there are still actors today who are considered character actors, the heyday of the character actor was the height of the studio system from the advent of sound through World War II. It is this period that we will feature in our series. We will focus on films containing notable performances by a handful of character actors, including films with large supporting casts, like CASABLANCA, in which the character actors form a kind of community around the romantic leads. And then there are the directors like Frank Capra, Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges who formed a kind of stock company out of the supporting players they used again and again. We hope to highlight the variety and the unique contributions of a group of American actors who played everything from the screwballs of 1930s screwball comedy to the colorful types who inhabited the urban intrigues of 1940s Warner Bros. films.

Special thanks to: Philip Ituarte.

Friday May 19 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

Beautiful Nitrate Print!
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
(1932) Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Sexual innuendo meets Continental sophistication in this romantic farce produced during the more permissive days before the enforcement of the Hays Production Code. Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall shine as a pair of con artists intent on separating widow Mariette Colet (Kay Francis) from her fortune in cash and jewels. Love-weary Mariette's suitors are a pair of bickering dandies (played by Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton) who only add to her weariness. Besides a stoical C. Aubrey Smith (with his trademark bushy eyebrows) as the businessman Giron and Hollywood butler par excellence Robert Greig, watch for Leonid Kinskey in an uncredited cameo as a communist radical. With its witty dialogue and inventive strokes of visual humor, TROUBLE IN PARADISE is often regarded as Ernst Lubitsch's finest film and the acme of classical Hollywood comedy.

Paramount. Based on a play by Lázsló Aladár. Producer:Ernst Lubitsch. Screenwriter: Samson Raphaelson. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey Smith. 35mm Nitrate, 81 min.

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
HIS GIRL FRIDAY
(1940) Directed by Howard Hawks

This hilarious screwball comedy stars Cary Grant as a crafty newspaper editor hell-bent on keeping his ace reporter and ex-wife Hildy (Rosalind Russell) from settling down in the country with a sincere but pitifully dull businessman (Ralph Bellamy) by convincing her to cover the imminent execution of a convicted murderer. Hawks' ingenious use of overlapping dialogue accelerates the film's already fast clip, and he is abetted by a seemingly endless parade of crack comic character actors. Foremost among these is John Qualen as the condemned man, as well as such familiar faces as Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, Billy Gilbert, Cliff Edwards, Ernest Truex and Roscoe Karns.

Columbia. Based on The Front Page by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur. Producer: Howard Hawks. Screenwriter: Charles Lederer. Cinematographer: Joseph Walker. Camera: Rosalind Russell. Editor: Gene Havlick. Cast: Cary Grant, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart. 35mm, 92 min.

Saturday May 20 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

THE MALTESE FALCON
(1941) Directed by John Huston

Investigating the death of his partner, Sam Spade (the original hard-boiled detective) is drawn into a maelstrom of murder, greed and betrayal. This adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's gritty novel boosted the careers of just about everyone attached to it, including star Humphrey Bogart and first-time director John Huston. The plot's trio of shady (and sexually ambiguous) characters is played by two of Warner Brothers' most recognizable character actors—Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet (in his screen debut)—and by Elisha Cook, Jr., in one of the first meaty screen roles of a career that would span seven decades. These heavies are supported by a second rank of character actors whose faces are more familiar today than their names, including Barton MacLane, Lee Patrick and Jerome Cowan, and by frequent Western character actor Ward Bond.

Warner Bros.. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett. Producer: Hal Wallis. Screenwriter: John Huston. Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson. Editor: Thomas Richards. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre. 35mm, 100 min.

ANOTHER THIN MAN
(1939) Directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Dashiell Hammett created Nick and Nora Charles as seriocomic counterparts to Sam Spade, and the Thin Man film series kept audiences laughing while on the edge of their seats as the urbane married couple solved vicious crimes with aplomb. ANOTHER THIN MAN was the third in the series; the title refers to Nick and Nora's newborn son. Parenthood doesn't slow these two much, as they investigate a murder during a weekend on Long Island. One hallmark of the series was the large cast of suspects for each case, including society swells, tough guys, fallen women and rogues. The suspects here include C. Aubrey Smith, Nat Pendleton, Otto Kruger, Abner Biberman and Sheldon Leonard. Special mention must be made of the wonderful Marjorie Main as a feisty landlady.

MGM. Based on a story by Dashiell Hammett. Producer: Hunt Stromberg. Screenwriter: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett. Cinematographer: Oliver Marsh, William Daniels. Editor:Frederick Smith. Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey, Ruth Hussey, Asta . 35mm, 105 min.

Sunday May 21 2006, 7:00PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

THE GAY DIVORCE
(1934) Directed by Mark Sandrich

After Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers stole the show by dancing "The Carioca" in FLYING DOWN TO RIO, RKO gave them top billing as a duo for the first time in this musical comedy farce. This would also be the debut for a cast of eccentric supporting characters who would grace future Astaire-Rogers films. To procure a divorce from her stuffy geologist husband, Mimi (Rogers) must get caught in the act with the aid of a professional gigolo (the hilarious Erik Rhodes) whom she has never met, leading her to wrongly identify hoofer Guy Holden (Astaire) as her man. Routinely stealing the show are a team of character actors at the top of their game; besides Rhodes, these include Alice Brady as a giddy dowager, Eric Blore as a genial but addled head waiter and the always charming Edward Everett Horton, who here gets a musical number with a young Betty Grable!

RKO. Based on he musical The Gay Divorce by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth Webb, Samuel Hoffenstein and Cole Porter. Producer: Pandro S. Berman. Screenwriter: George Marion, Jr., Dorothy Yost, Edward Kaufman. Cinematographer: David Abel. Editor: William Hamilton. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes,Eric Blore. 35mm, 107 min.

TOP HAT
(1935) Directed by Mark Sandrich

In their follow-up to THE GAY DIVORCEE, Astaire and Rogers perform matchless dance numbers embedded in another plot about mistaken identity. While staying with theatrical producer Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton), Jerry Travers (Astaire), an American musical revue star visiting London, falls head over heels for compatriot Dale Tremont (Rogers), whom he meets after his compulsive tap-dancing wakes her up. A huge box-office success, TOP HAT embodies the Astaire-Rogers film series' formula for success—choreography by Hermes Pan, music by top Broadway composers (in this case Irving Berlin), art direction by Van Nest Poglase, and of course, a cast of delightfully comedic character actors, with Horton, Rhodes and Blore repeating from THE GAY DIVORCEE, and with the notable addition of Helen Broderick.

RKO. Based on the play The Girl Who Dared (or A Scandal in Budapest) by Alexander Farago & Aladá Lázsló. Producer:Pandro S. Berman. Screenwriter: Dwight Taylor, Allan Scott. Cinematographer: David Abel. Editor: William Hamilton. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton,Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick. 35mm, 101 min.

Friday May 26 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES
(1941) Directed by Sam Wood

The farcical elements of screwball comedy are here turned to social commentary, with character actor Charles Coburn taking a rare leading role as the Scrooge-like millionaire owner of a department store. Rumblings of labor unrest prompt him to go undercover as an employee in the store, where he's given a lesson in class-consciousness by Jean Arthur. While Arthur has a romantic partner in the form of Robert Cummings, the two are evenly matched by Coburn and his love interest, famed character actress Spring Byington. The rest of the cast is replete with such familiar and beloved faces as Edmund Gwenn, S.Z. Sakall and William Demarest.

RKO. Producer: Frank Ross. Screenwriter: Norman Krasna. Editor: Sherman Todd. Choreographer: Harry Stradling. Cast:Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn, Robert Cummings, Edmund Gwenn, Spring Byington. 35mm, 92 min.

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN
(1934) Directed by George Marshall

In this classic Western (mixed with a heavy dose of comedy, romance and songs), Jimmy Stewart plays the mild-mannered, milk-drinking sheriff out to tame his nemesis, a violent saloon owner played by Brian Donlevy. Stewart aims to subdue the rowdy town of Bottleneck with words and jokes instead of a gun, while waxing philosophical with Dietrich's earthy but dazzling dance hall girl. Dietrich is priceless as she stands on the bar belting out "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have." The colorful townsfolk of Bottleneck are portrayed by an array of scene-stealers, including Mischa Auer, Una Merkel, Charles Winninger and Allen Jenkins.

Universal Pictures. Based on the novel by Max Brand.. Producer: Joe Pasternak. Screenwriter: Felix Jackson,Gertrude Purcell, Henry Myers. Cinematographer: Hal Mohr. Editor: Milton Carruth. Cast: James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Mischa Auer, Brian Donlevy, Charles Winninger,Allen Jenkins, Una Merkel. 35mm, 94 min.

Saturday May 27 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

Beautiful Nitrate Print!
CASABLANCA
(1943) Directed by Michael Curtiz

CASABLANCA is an allegory of America's entrance into World War II, with Humphrey Bogart's loner Rick eventually drawn to take sides (with Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid) against the Nazis. Here Warner Bros.' greatest character actors represent the oddball gallery of outcasts, refugees, scoundrels, smugglers and exiles surrounding Rick in the émigré community of the title city. Among them are Peter Lorre as slimy black market dealer Ugarte, Sydney Greenstreet as covetous café-owner Ferrari, S.Z. Sakall as fatherly cafe manager Carl, and Leonid Kinskey as bartender Sascha. Many of these were emigrants from Europe, as was Madeline LeBeau (as Yvonne, Rick's ex-girlfriend), who had recently fled Nazi-occupied France.

Warner Bros.. Based on the play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. Producer: Hal B. Wallis. Screenwriter: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch. Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson. Camera: Humphrey Bogart. Editor: Owen Marks. Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, S.Z. Sakall, Dooley Wilson. 35mm Nitrate, 102 min.

CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT
(1945) Directed by Peter Godfrey

Barbara Stanwyck shines as a World War II-era ersatz Martha Stewart, writing a magazine column about being a homemaker on a Connecticut farm from her Manhattan apartment. Unaware of the hoax, her publisher (Sydney Greenstreet) arranges to have her host a wounded sailor for the holidays as a publicity stunt. Thus the stage is set for a sentimental wartime variant on screwball comedy, as Stanwyck is forced into an elaborate and increasingly unwieldy masquerade, complete with phony husband and baby. Her accomplices include familiar faces Reginald Gardner, Una O'Connor and, most notably, S.Z. Sakall, as charming as ever.

Warner Bros.. Based on a story by Aileen Hamilton. Producer: William Jacobs. Screenwriter: Lionel Houser, Adele Commandini. Cinematographer: Carl Guthrie. Editor: Frank Magee. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardner, S.Z. Sakall. 35mm, 101 min.

Wednesday May 31 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU
(1938) Directed by Frank Capra

Wall Street robber baron's son Tony Kirby (James Stewart) is engaged to Alice Sycamore (Jean Arthur), who lives in a very unconventional household of free spirits, headed by her philosophical Grandpa Vanderhof (Lionel Barrymore). Alice's mother writes plays, her father makes fireworks in the basement and her sister and brother-in-law spend most of their time singing and dancing. The family's cook, boarders and friends add to the mixture of vivid personalities living together in benevolent chaos. But Tony's father (Edward Arnold) has secret plans to acquire Grandpa Vanderhof's home and land, threatening to displace this harmonious commune. Frank Capra often populated his films with scores of memorable character actors, and this Academy Award winner for Best Picture boasts one of his most exuberant casts.

In person: Producer/screenwriter Victoria Riskin, daughter of screenwriter Robert Riskin

Columbia. Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Producer: Frank Capra. Screenwriter: Robert Riskin. Cinematographer: Joseph Walker. Editor: Gene Havlick. Cast: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore,Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer, Spring Byington, Eddie Anderson, Donald Meek, Charles Lane. 35mm, 126 min.

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
MY MAN GODFREY
(1936) Directed by Gregory La Cava

A classic comedy of manners, MY MAN GODFREY entertains with a subtle social message beneath its humor, that of the contrast between the worlds of the rich—represented here by an eccentric family populated with brilliant character actors—and the poor. William Powell is outstanding as Godfrey Smith, a WWI veteran found living in a dump during a scavenger hunt by flighty but sympathetic socialite Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard). She hires Godfrey to serve as the family butler where he soon establishes himself as the wisest member of a nutty household. Three of the character players are especially memorable: Eugene Pallette as the harried paterfamilias, Alice Brady as his daffy wife with aspirations to higher things and Mischa Auer as her starving-artist protégé.

Universal. Based on the novel by E. Hatch. Producer: Charles R. Rogers. Screenwriter: Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch. Cinematographer: Ted Tetzlaff. Editor: Ted J. Kent, Russell F. Schoengarth. Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Eugene Pallette, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Mischa Auer. 35mm, 94 min.

SUN 6/4 2:00 pm
DAVID COPPERFIELD
1935 Directed by George Cukor
See Kids' Flicks.
35mm, 130 min.

Wednesday June 7 2006, 7:30PM ( Online Ticket Sales Ended )

Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
BALL OF FIRE
(1941) Directed by Howard Hawks

In this screwball version of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, burlesque queen Barbara Stanwyck hides out from the law by moving in with linguistics professor Gary Cooper, who is the youngster in a household of seven other academics. She fills him in on the slang he needs for his research, and in the process, opposites attract. They have only two problems: the police and Dana Andrews as Stanwyck's gangster boyfriend. The classic Hawksian setup (the disruption of an all-male group by a woman who's one of the boys) is knowingly fleshed out by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's script, complete with snappy dialogue and double entendres. The plot gives Hawks the license to deploy not just one but two teams of character actors: the professors and the gangsters. Among the former are Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, Richard Haydn and (once again) Leonid Kinskey and S.Z. Sakall; among the latter are Dan Duryea and Ralph Peters.

Based on the story "From A to Z" by Thomas Monroe, B. Wilder. Producer: Samuel Goldwyn. Screenwriter: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder. Cinematographer: Gregg Toland,Daniel Mandell. Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall, Tully Marshall, Allen Jenkins. 35mm, 111 min.

THE PALM BEACH STORY
(1942) Directed by Preston Sturges

Perhaps even more than Frank Capra or Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges is the filmmaker who got the most mileage from the ensemble of comic character actors he used time and again. Starring Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea, THE PALM BEACH STORY is a romantic comedy employing the typical screwball situation wherein a separated couple is reunited. The film's charm is exceeded only by its hilarity, which is largely supplied by such Sturges stalwarts as hardboiled wisecracker William Demarest and fussbudget Franklin Pangborne. However, as the Wienie King, the otherwise little-known Robert Dudley steals every scene in which he appears.

Paramount. Screenwriter: Preston Sturges. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. Camera: Joel McCrea, Sig Arno. Editor: Stuart Gilmore. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Mary Astor, Rudy Vallee. 35mm, 87 min.

Vintage Shopping

2009-10-17T23:46:00.001-07:00

Today I went to a vintage clothing show in Santa Monica. It was almost overwhelming how many gorgeous items were there! There were elegant 20s dresses with all their beading intact, old designer stuff, and even victorian dresses and shoes! I tried on so many biased dresses. I tried on a black one with a deep v-neck in the front and a very very low v in the back. The way it was cut was amazing! It wasn't just plain - there was a pattern to it. I also tried on a gold biased gown that was gathered below the bust and it had a little matching jacket!!

I ended up buying a long, black, velvet 1930s gown that is so pretty. It's looser at the top but form fitting at the waist and below. I'm going to get some jewelry for it and wear it on New Years. I also got 1930s shoes that are very wearable. They have silver art deco accents and mostly black velvet, silver for the T-strap part. I cannot believe they fit though because all the 30s shoes I find are 5 or 6, and I'm 7! But there were also really pretty red satin shoes too. Too small of course.

I want to check out the art deco show in San Francisco too. It's my dream to own an art deco style vanity.

Lauren

Okay here are pictures. Sorry about the quality - I took them with my mother's digital camera which is as old as brontosaurus, but she uses it to photograph her items she sells on eBay, so if it's good enough for selling purposes, hopefully it's good enough for this.

This dress would have originally come with some serious jewelry... as you can see, that gaping neck and upper chest area is just begging for something shiny, but it was (obviously) no longer with the dress.

I know one of the shoes has a lot of wear on the shiny silver, but you know, they're old so it's understandable, but they fit which is unusual.

Ginger in Hats

2009-10-16T15:45:00.001-07:00

She really couldn't look any better in them than she already does. And I KNOW people agree with me.

Lauren

Ginger Rogers at Volo

2009-09-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

So anyway thanks to Jen, I went to the Volo Antique malls in Volo, Illinois over the weekend. I was there with my aunt and we stumbled upon a case that had a booklet about Ginger Rogers written by her mother, a milk bottle supplied by her ranch, a pair of gloves, and a skirt. The clothes were supposed to be hers, and both items looked very pretty and weren't too expensive so I decided to get them. I also got the booklet too. My aunt and I left the milk bottle in there and finished looking around at the rest of the mall (which is the size of a village) while the other items were on hold. When we came back to purchase the items, my aunt felt too sad to leave the milk bottle all alone in the case so she decided to buy it.

When we got back to the hotel room we examined all the items. We looked at the gloves, but there was no label, only a size number. In the skirt there WAS a label, but neither of us could read that. 'That... sort of looks like a G...' 'And maybe that's an I? Or an E?' We could read that it was custom made, and since the skirt is vertically striped we could tell it was well-made because the stripes lined up at the seams.

When my mother heard I bought these items, the first thing she said was 'how do you know they were hers? The seller probably said, oh look a milk bottle, let's display this with a booklet and grab two totally unrelated items and put them together.'

So we brought everything home and I put the skirt on the modeling form to display it. Neither my aunt nor I thought of asking my mother (a fashion designer) so inspect the label. Well she finally got curious and was looking all over for it and finally found it. She stared at the label hard for a few moments then said, 'OH MY GOD... Is this ADRIAN?' I whipped my head around and said 'What???' So my mother and I raced to our computers to search for what an Adrian label looked like. (If you aren't familiar with Adrian you can check out this info on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Adrian. He designed the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz (1939) among other items for Hollywood.)
So we couldn't find any pictures on Google, so I went to eBay to see what I could find. I found a magazine advertisement for his clothes:

Sure enough that was the same signature as the one on my newly purchased skirt. My mom was sitting there saying, 'I cannot believe it! Oh my god.' My aunt and I were shocked yet laughing at the same time. WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT? I'm still shocked. So if this ISN'T Ginger's skirt, we know it had to have belonged to some old Hollywood star because those are the people Adrian worked with, and the average person would not be purchasing something custom-made by him.

I do have some pictures out of the Ginger booklet I wanted to share, but I will probably post those on my other blog, and later because I have to scan it. I'm not in the mood for scanning but hopefully I will get to it soon, preferably tomorrow!!

Cinecon and Eddie Brandt's

2009-09-15T19:14:00.001-07:00

TWO places one should go to if they are looking for classic movies, postcards, magazines, posters, lobby cards... basically movies and all paper items that have to do with classic film and actors. I haven't posted in a while so I'm filling this space with pictures of some things I purchased at Cinecon (and the laserdisk of The Gay Divorcee is from Eddie Brandt's).

Some notes first: if you are interested in learning a little about Cinecon, here's the website - http://www.cinecon.org/
Eddie Brandt's is a video store in North Hollywood, California that carries a ton of movies for sale or for rent. There's a $15 lifetime membership fee, but they get a lot of donations by people who have recorded movies otherwise unavailable, so the membership may be worth it if you like searching out the old, rare films. They also have paper items for sale such as lobby cards and posters. If you go there, check out the walls. And also thank you so much to the person who told me about this store!

This is my original lobby card! The first one I've ever purchased. I thought this photo was adorable, and I couldn't resist.

Sadness Today

2009-09-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

In attempts to dye a few garments black, I mixed some black dye and used the washing machine method. My aunt then took over to set the washing settings. Somehow she decided that we didn't need to put the clothes in a laundry bag (these are vintage clothes keep in mind). Oddly enough, the thin Edwardian blouse turned out just fine while my 1930s jacket ripped to shreds. :( It is a very sad day. BUT, I think this has garnered enough sympathy within my mother to help me make a new one that looks just like it. Until then, however, I will remain sad. :(

New Background and Other Photos

2009-09-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

(Click to enlarge.)
My favourite thing about Macs is how glossy the screen looks, making the backgrounds seem much more brilliant than on my PC.
But seriously, none of the programs I used on my PC (besides the basics) work on a mac so it's been difficult trying to find alternate programs. The reasons why I like the mac are all little seemingly unimportant things (like being able to play, pause, and skip songs without having to be in the iTunes window) but those are the changes that fascinate me the most, the small "how/why did they think of that?"

Here are a couple other photos (from Lady in the Dark and Follow the Fleet, respectively):

Super Swing Time

2009-08-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

I saw Swing Time on the big screen yesterday, and it was beyond amazing. I've never felt such a huge lump of excitement in my stomach before in my life. Playing the movie on the big screen illuminated the details that are lost in a smaller print. The bigger the better in this case! Fred Astaire's tapping in Bojangles seemed much more thrilling. The kiss scene was fantastic! Everyone was laughing the moment Ginger Rogers looked as if she'd seen a ghost in preparation to kiss Fred.
Another advantage of the big screen was being able to get a better look at the clothing. the texture of the garments was more prominent as well as the details in Ginger's dresses, like the shape of the sleeves and design in the back of the Pick Yourself Up dress. Seeing the silkiness of the Never Gonna Dance dress reaffirmed my desire to have that dress! I could more clearly see the way it was sewn together. So gorgeous! Talk about 'sheer heaven'! I could also study Ginger's often intricate hairstyles. And we mustn't forget her legs, either, which looked great on the big screen. I am very jealous.
It was so wonderful to sit with an audience that clapped and laughed... and had discussions about Ginger Rogers afterward! When Fred prepared for his Bojangles number, I heard a few murmurs, probably in response to the black face. In my opinion, I don't find it terribly offensive since I believe Fred was honouring Bill Robinson, not mocking him.
Never Gonna Dance... I was leaning forward in my seat for the duration of that number. When the two ascended the stairs and the camera panned to the side and zoomed in, I thought I would explode from amazement and jubilance. That dance is so mesmerizing on that huge screen! Not that it isn't anyway, but I felt enveloped by the dance. When Ginger began her 'super spins' (as I like to call them) near the end of the dance, and audience member exclaimed, "Oh my! Holy Jesus!" That was pretty funny and made me smile.
I also saw Bachelor Mother, which was unbelievably thrilling because I could experience Ginger's priceless facial expressions very up close. I could tell other audience members were appreciating her genius as well. David Niven's impression of Ginger dancing squeezed a ton of laughs out of the audience. The New Year's Eve dinner scene was fairly successful as well.

Overall, I think it was worth my time and money to travel and see this. I loved it. I loved the whole experience. I loved the organ player who emerged from below the stage in between acts. I wonder what he did in the meantime to occupy himself while the picture was running? Anyhow, here are some videos:
*For some reason one of the videos refused to upload, which is why "Organist 3" is missing. But I will get that one up somehow, as it is a snippet of 'The Way You Look Tonight' and I'm not giving up on that without a fight.

My camera ran out of memory space at this point :(

Okay hope this works! Organist 3!

*** ***

My picture taking was limited to outside, but here are a few photos:

Lauren

PS I also overheard some people debating when Ginger was at her skinniest. I think she was pretty thin in Swing Time, but there are some 50s movies where she looks quite slim! What do you think?

Horst P. Horst

2009-07-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say I love Horst P. Horst's photographs.
I have recently become interested in dramatic lighting techniques and high contrast which are what he showcases in many of his photographs:

The images almost begin to look like their own works of art as a whole rather than documentation of a scene (which is what I usually leaned towards in my work).

Lauren

Smoothies, Dance, and Picnic

2009-07-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

That's what I've been up to.

First, the disasterous smoothies.

It decided to spill out from under the blender, so my friend and I had a good laugh about that. And we had to rush and clean it up before my mother came home. :P

Second, silly dancing on the roof.

Third, picnic.

This peach was crunchy. Eating it made the loudest noise in the whole park.

PS, I definately love this dress:

Vacation Updates

2009-07-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a collection of photos and little tidbits from my vacation to San Francisco and around that area.

My alligator purse. It's not made of alligator, but it has a gold alligator on it. :) A lot of people seem to notice/like this bag. Perhaps this purse is surpassing my old dinosaur lunch box in iconic images associated with me.

July 4th. I was happy because I think these new shoes nearly matched the navy in my dress! I mean, it's close enough. And I'm now obsessed with navy and white!

My new jacket I bought at a flea market. I love it very much so don't say anything bad about it. :(

From the Academy of Sciences!

An albino alligator...

...and a silly turtle.

Then I went home this day!
PS The shirt is navy and white.

NOT about shoes!

2009-07-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

I felt like I needed something NOT about shoes to give myself a break. This is something I posted somewhere else a couple months ago:

About a year ago, when my obsession with I Love Lucy was in full swing, I decided to search YouTube for movies Lucille Ball was in. I came upon this trailer. At the time, I barely knew any of these people in it, but I remember thinking 'maybe I should branch out and start watching some old movies. These people look interesting.' By summer I was taking tap because of these two. I like to reflect what has happened for me over the past year. Discovering old films was one of the greatest things to happen in my life; it added a small piece to my personality that I am proud of. Finally I had found something that can make me forget about the overtly crude content in films today. With the old films I can experience movie-making in its glowing yet somehow humble past as opposed to its aloof and cliched manner now.

Another Pair?

2009-06-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I didn't just make this a shoe blog. I guess I didn't realize I was obsessed.

Well anyway I got these shoes over the weekend:

I think they would make good dancing shoes, since I don't have any heeled dancing shoes! But who knows?

Luden's and... Shoes

2009-06-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

I've been sick for a few days, but I also graduated yesterday! It was very relieving. I just wanted to recommend, if you ever have a sore throat, the Luden's Honey Lemon throat drops! They are BY FAR the best of all Luden's, and Honey and Lemon are known to be good for sore throats, so what could be better? The berry ones are too sweet for me now, and the white grape ones taste like children's chewable Tylenol. Well anyway, I realized this has nothing to do with classic/vintage anything, so let me find some pictures.

Here are some shoes from the 1930s:

I've seen a lot of shoes like this:

Fred and Ginger!! I like Ginger's shoes, too:

Ruby Keeler's shoes (I like her tap shoes in 42nd Street too):

Mi futuro

2009-05-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

Because it was here.

You will marry Ray Milland.
After a wild honeymoon, you will settle down in Cancun in your fabulous House.
You will have 3 kid(s) together.
The family will zoom around in a blue Mini Cooper.
You will spend your days as a actress, and live happily ever after.

HA. So silly.

"New" Shoes

2009-05-18T15:57:00.001-07:00

I have recently started buying a fair amount of used/vintage shoes. Especially Ferragamos. I really like how unique some of the shoes are, and if you know where to look and you look hard, you can find them for cheap. All of the following shoes that I have bought so far ranged from $5-$25 each. For some pictures, I couldn't decide which one had a better angle for the shoe, so I posted both!

**Click on an image to see it larger.

Music-Obsessed

2009-05-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Suddenly I became music obsessed and I don't know where it came from. I bought a lot of sheet music a couple months ago and now I am simultaneously trying to learn Easter Parade, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Entertainer, and Night and Day on the piano. (But don't worry, I bought loads more sheet music than that!) I was also trying to play Easter Parade on the ukulele. I've only played the ukulele for a week and have only learned piano before that, so the tips of my fingers were in for a surprise!

Well anyway I've also been trying Has Anybody Seen My Gal on ukulele. And now every new song I run into I look up the tabs for. I've been working on You and I by Ingrid Michaelson for the ukulele (because that's what is actually used in the song). I also like the band Psapp but it is EXTREMELY difficult to find tabs for their songs. I don't even know if it's possible. But right now I'm trying to work out chords for their Monster Song. What I've come up with sounds alright to me, but as someone who cannot sing for the life of them, I don't know how well to trust myself. But I play the chords how I like.

Poster of An American In Paris

2009-05-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

I love the super long and skinny posters, like this one!

I really want to start collecting posters so I can have some to put in my dorm room when I go to college, but I want them to be shaped like this!

My Odd Drawing

2009-05-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

The nose is all messed up... it sort of looks like her? I worked on this once and a while when I watched TV.

Fred's Firecrackers

2009-04-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite routines of his:

"Oh I couldn't take the last piece."

2009-04-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

DEFINATELY the funniest scene in the whole movie.
Vivacious Lady

Busby Berkeley Crew

2009-04-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

If you have ever seen more than one Busby Berkeley movie, you will notice that there is a group of people that generally appears in his movies, namely Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Actually I just saw "Golddiggers of 1935" and Powell was pretty much alone in that one! Joan Blondell can be noted here, I guess James Cagney can too for "Footlight Parade" (which Powell and Keeler appear in as well). I have deemed this group the "Busby Berkeley crew" since clearly there is one. Ginger Rogers was a member of the crew for a bit, appearing in "42nd Street" and "Golddiggers of 1935." A small player, Guy Kibbee, is someone I consider part of the crew as well. The quintessential members, of course, are Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. They have appeared in practically every one of Berkeley's movies. Why is that? I don't know. My guess is that Powell is so cheerful and youthful, which embodies the spirit needed for these musicals. Ruby Keeler is, I am sorry to say, not the greatest of actresses (she delivers her lines so oddly) but she really can dance-- obviously important for the musicals. And she can sing on-key, which is better than I can do, and was apparently enough to get the job done for Berkeley's productions. Keeler was also very sweet (in contrast with the girls around her) which is something that attributed to her success as a crew member.

Max Fac(/k)tor

2009-03-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

The make-up genius.

The beauty micrometer; it analyzes facial flaws to see what features must be enhanced or minimized.

Too poor to send their children to regular school, the Faktor family sent Max to aprentice as a pharmacist. After spending countless hours mixing various ingredients, Max Faktor discovered an interest in cosmetics. Max Faktor moved to the United States in 1904, becoming Max Factor. He took an opportunity to sell his hand-made make-up at the World's Fair that year in St. Louis. Having become interested in the movies, he relocated his family to Los Angeles in 1908. He wanted the movie stars to use his make-up. Max Factor had invented a new sort of make-up that would not crack, and soon enough movie stars were eager to "sample the 'flexible greasepaint.'"

(http://inventors.about.com/od/fstartinventors/a/MaxFactor.htm)

It Happened One Night

2009-03-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

Here they are hitch-hiking and Gable cannot seem to grab anyone's attention.

But Colbert can.

Ray Milland!

2009-02-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

In 'The Lost Weekend'

In 'A Woman of Distinction' - the purse-slapping part

In 'The Major and the Minor,' such an entertaining movie

Cary Grant

2009-02-26T18:50:00.000-08:00

In 'Bringing Up Baby'

In 'His Girl Friday'

China (January 2009)

2009-02-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Ginger Rogers

2009-02-06T21:10:00.000-08:00

This one above is me messing on photoshop.

Fred and Adele Astaire

2009-02-06T21:08:00.000-08:00