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October 26, 2014:

THEY DON’T MAKE ‘EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, was there ever an actress like Gloria Grahame?  The short and long answer is: No, there was never an actress like Gloria Grahame.  She was a one-off, completely unique, with a screen presence like no other.  Her first notable role was in It’s a Wonderful Life.  The minute she came on screen you knew you were seeing someone really special.  Soon thereafter, she was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for Crossfire, her first of several classic film noirs.  From there it was onto another classic noir, In a Lonely Place, The Greatest Show on Earth, Sudden Fear, The Bad and the Beautiful (this time she won the supporting actress Oscar), and then her all-time classic performance in Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat.  She did several other notable films in the 1950s, including her delightful performance in the film version of Oklahoma!  But by 1960 her career in films was basically done, and she moved into guest shots on a whole slew of TV shows throughout the 1960s.  I don’t really know all that much about her, but apparently she had some issues, not the least of which was having an affair with the thirteen-year-old son of the man she was married to, Nicholas Ray (his son from another marriage), while they were making In a Lonely Place.  Mr. Ray caught them in bed together, and that was the end of that marriage.  Later, the now grown son and Grahame reconnected and married.  It was kept quiet for a while, but the tabloids eventually got hold of it and that was that.  It was eerily similar to what would happen with Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, only Soon-Yi was an adult, much as people don’t want to admit that.  The creepy factor was much higher with Grahame.

I happened to watch In a Lonely Place last night.  I think I’d only seen it once before and remembered very little of it.  It’s a really good movie and one of Humphrey Bogart’s best performances.  Grahame is wonderful as is the rest of the cast, which includes several great character actors like Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith, Frank Lovejoy and Robert Warwick.  Ray’s direction is also terrific, and the film has an interesting if not wholly successful musical score by George Antheil.  One hopes it will make an appearance on Blu-ray one of these fine days.

The last I really saw of Miss Grahame was in the film Chilly Scenes of Winter – she still had that unique quality but it was a strange role and she didn’t look all that good.  But every time I see her in one of her classic films, I’m just reminded how special an actress she was.  They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

Yesterday was a day I’ve already forgotten about.  I do recall getting up after nine hours of sleep.  I remember doing some work on the computer, then I remember eating some eggs, sausage and toast.  I picked up no packages and no mail, and then came home.  I had a brief visit from someone picking up some CDs, I had some telephonic calls, I made some more text corrections to the Sandy booklet, which is now getting its final touch-ups and I’m really hoping it can go to the printers by the end of the week, at which point we’ll start taking pre-orders for the pre-release.  We’re actually not going to officially release until mid to late January, but we wanted it available for loyal customers of Kritzerland for Christmas.  It won’t go up on iTunes or Amazon until the official release.  Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

As noted above, I watched the DVD of In a Lonely Place.  I also watched a bit of A Guy Named Joe, about thirty minutes of it and I really came to an interesting realization – I just don’t love MGM films of that era.  I know it’s heresy to say, but other than the musicals, I just don’t love the look, the feel or much of anything about the films of the mid-1940s from that studio – even before that, to a certain extent and with some obvious exceptions.  In thinking about it, from that particular era, I really like the films from Paramount, followed by Fox and Warners.  Except for musicals – those were completely owned by MGM in those days.

After that, I just tried to relax, played on the computer and that was about it.  Are we supposed to Fall Back this evening?  Is this the evening we reset the clocks?  Or is that some other Saturday?  Let me go look.  Nope, next week.  You heard it here first.

Today, I really think I’m going to stay in and relax some more, because the upcoming week is a bit crazy and busy and also busy and crazy.  I’ll go get something to eat at some point, and I do have a little work to do but mostly I have to make sure I don’t get sick.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, relax, eat, do a little work, relax and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them.  So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland thinking about actors like Gloria Grahame and how they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

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