MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[Bronxgirl48]

Thanks, Dargo, for those nice sentiments. I am building up my strength with pickles, lemonade, and tuna sandwiches.

Life sometimes feels meaningless and empty, devoid of zest and gusto, like a John Ford movie without Ward Bond.

[Fedya]

Andree, I enjoyed your EXECUTIVE SUITE write-up. I think this is one of Fredric March's most underrated performances.

I have ROMEO AND JULIET on in the background with "adolescents" Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer.

Don't forget Andy Devine doing Shakespeare.

WB's A Midsummer Night's Dream works so much better in part because they took all the character actors who couldn't really do Shakespeare and put them in Bottom's comic acting troupe.

[Bronxgirl48]

Ah, yes, Fedya, Andy! Love him in anything though, lol.

Great point about the Warner A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM -- you're right.

[Andree]

Andree, your avatar reminds me a little of Paula Zahn!!!

I guess there's a bit of a resemblance, but until you mentioned it I hadn't thought of it. My avatar was the opposite
of good girl Paula, but she was more interesting than Paula, though that's a very low bar. I think I'll rotate in a more
wholesome avatar next month.

[Hibi]

Andree, your avatar reminds me a little of Paula Zahn!!!

I guess there's a bit of a resemblance, but until you mentioned it I hadn't thought of it. My avatar was the opposite
of good girl Paula, but she was more interesting than Paula, though that's a very low bar. I think I'll rotate in a more
wholesome avatar next month.

Paula, thankfully is on hiatus!

[Andree]

I will say a prayer over your cricket, like John Wayne in RED RIVER.

Even before he met Netta, George was constantly distracted by the creative demands of his musical genius but Barbara seemed to hero worship him since hers was merely a minor talent.

I sometimes get EXECUTIVE SUITE mixed up with PATTERNS; easy to do I think, lol. I adore Louis Calhern in everything and believe he would have been the only actor to play the title role in LIFE WITH FATHER other than the great William Powell. (who I love in the part)

Don't apologize about the Bowery Boys! We all have our personal preferences. I dig the Stooges too but appreciate the comedy stylings of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall (no really, lol) That they were followed by Varda, kicking off with CLEO FROM 5 TO 7, was just my jam! I am nothing if not eclectic.

Thanks for the (thoughts) and prayers. Just remember the cricket died a natural death whereas Duke had a closer hand in
those dead people. I too always got a kick out of the befuddled cowpoke about Wayne killing 'em, buryin' 'em and then readin'
the Good Book over 'em. Did seem kind of counter-intuitive.

Yes, she played second fiddle to Mr. Bone, sorry about that one. I still think she was starting to hear wedding bells, where who
knows what he was hearing. Barbara, he just isn't that into you. Luckily for her, George Sanders was ready to step into the
breach.

They are both good 1950s ruthless business focused movies, though to me Fredric is a prince compared to Everett Sloan, especially when
Sloane is berating poor Ed Begley. Fredric's character never caused someone's death. I'm sure Calhern played many different roles, but
I think of him as the well-spoken scoundrel dressed in evening clothes with a cig in his hand. No doubt he was a good enough actor to do
LWF.

I think as I get older I find that many of the comedians I enjoyed when I was a kid are not quite as funny anymore. I still like the
Marx Brothers, but not as much as when I first saw many of their films as a teenager. Cleo ends on an ambiguous note. Apparently
she has some form of cancer, but doctor tells her that a few months of chemo will take care of it. Not exactly the totally clean
bill of health someone would want to hear. Speaking of the Bowery Boys, what would have happened if Varda had chosen them as
her subject instead of the Black Panthers? Just sayin'.

[Andree]

Dargou, I really don't see much of a resemblance between my avatar and Peter Boyle, though I will admit it looks like she is
wearing a bad wig and maybe she is.

[Andree]

Paula, thankfully is on hiatus!

Well we all know by now that that won't last. I haven't been watching a lot of ID lately because some of the new
shows don't look that interesting. I will watch something if the description in the DirecTV guide looks interesting.

[Hibi]

Yeah, they weren't advertising the current season as her last so she'll probably pop up again before summer. She's never off the air more then 3 months. SIGH. Even if they end it, she'll probably come back in something else like Joe Kenda!

A lot of the new shows on now aren't that interesting. And there are a lot of reruns. I don't watch as much as I used to!

[Swithin]

WB's A Midsummer Night's Dream works so much better in part because they took all the character actors who couldn't really do Shakespeare and put them in Bottom's comic acting troupe.

I love the film. It's great to have Reinhardt's vision on film.

I've seen numerous versions on stage. In 1985, in Regents Park in London, I saw a very young Ralph Fiennes play Cobweb. When I worked with Ralph years later, I told him about that. He replied "A friend told me I was the definitive Cobweb." (The following year Ralph played Lysander).

The most recent production I've seen was in 2019, in the Bridge Theatre, London. It was magnificent! Before the play began, there was a very tall woman on stage in a sort of box, seemingly encased partly in plastic. I thought it must be the Helena character, since Helena is supposed to be tall (she is called a "painted maypole" by Hermia,) But it wasn't Helena it was Hippolyta/Titania, played by the very tall Gwendolen Christie.

[laffite]

Dargou, I really don't see much of a resemblance between my avatar and Peter Boyle, though I will admit it looks like she is
wearing a bad wig and maybe she is.

Is she RE?

[Andree]

Yeah, they weren't advertising the current season as her last so she'll probably pop up again before summer. She's never off the air more then 3 months. SIGH. Even if they end it, she'll probably come back in something else like Joe Kenda!

A lot of the new shows on now aren't that interesting. And there are a lot of reruns. I don't watch as much as I used to!

Yep. I've never watched Kenda's new show. I did enjoy the original one with all the chain smoking and the fact that Kenda
seemed to be on call at all times of the night and day, on weekends and holidays as if he were the only homicide detective
in Colorado Springs. He should have just ended it there.

Sundance TV is running the old NBC Columbo series a couple of nights a week late at night. I haven't seen that show in ages.
Fun to see it again with some of the studio era stars as guest stars.

[Andree]

Is she RE?

If you mean are those her initials, no they aren't.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

[/quote]

Actually here Hibi, and you're probably gonna think I'm nuts here (well okay, nuttier than usual) but since the first time I saw Andree's avatar, I've thought it looks like...wait for it...a younger Peter Boyle in drag!


[/quote]

I thought the avatar looks like 1960s Moors murderer Myra Hindley, and I believe it is.

[Hibi]

Yes, it is!