Davenport picture show

He would like the air quiet
when he partakes of his supper
so that he can hear the news, still
her voices lurk in the shadows
of their modest home
to the sound of a tinny piano
behind doors, and at times
emboldened
over their heads
at the kitchen table

He says, ‘I want to be alone with you,’
when they sit later, reading
and she smiles, and rises
bringing him a piece of pie
comforted in the murmuring crowds
surrounding their daily routine
filling the empty rooms
that grown children had long ago
abandoned

Cutting the last wedge of pie
on Thursday, for his lunchbox
she begins a shopping list
to prepare for the following week
listening to the whispers in her ears
of sprites and ghosts and back
alleyway detectives
about what the autumn will bring

cool breezes, and
the voices of all the leaves

plummeting

Not Your Mother’s Pillow Talk

Writing about Pillow Talk for a sea of movie writers and readers is like telling a chicken how to lay eggs. I doubt I would have facts, traviata or stories to tell about this classic film that haven’t been offered already. But I do want to talk about it, primarily because it was my mother’s favorite movie and I heard about it most of my life.

My mother was fascinated with film stars, and she had a drawer full of signed pictures of the stars, some of which are in tatters, because she got them as a child and did not save them as museum pieces, but as beloved friends. One of her favorite actors was Rock Hudson and another was Doris Day. She talked about Pillow Talk in particular A LOT. Often, usually in terms of how this country would be so much better if we could just go back to the 50’s.

Tantalizing Tuesday: quickie

Jane Greer (1924-2001)

A clip from Out of the Past with Robert Mitchum

Tantalizing Tuesday: Ann Savage

 

 

That’s life. Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.

–Al Roberts, Detour

 

As I return to our TT feature, I decided to put the Tuesday spotlight on Ann Savage. More specifically, I want to look for a few moments at Ann Savage as Vera in Detour. Detour is one of those films from the 1940’s that the studios were cranking out weekly. I read some disparaging remarks about this movie more than once, one reviewer stating that all you could see of L.A. in the film was a ‘parking lot.’ One account said that the movie was shot in six days, but it was reported elsewhere that it took 14 days at a budget of $30,000. I didn’t bother to give sources, as it was impossible to know what’s truth, except that the movie had no huge budget and yet it has aged so very well.

The posed photo of Ann above is adorable, but how I remember her is like this, the hitchhiker from hell.

There is some debate about whether Vera is a femme fatale. She is not overly flirtatious and there is no sex implied. But the fast-talking hustler Vera is beautiful, mean, vicious, heartless, and manipulating. Next to Tom Neal as Al Roberts, she is strong as iron, Al being a pessimist, and a bit limp, is just a guy stuck in a situation he could not have predicted.

Tantalizing Tuesday: Carole Lombard

No new Tuesday feature this week, but instead a replay of an enchanting lady–
p.s. there will be a few replays this week, but I will try and keep them interesting!

Are You Thrilled

Carole Lombard was stunning. Dazzling. Bombshell? Most assuredly.

According to some, she was the highest paid actress in the late 1930’s. But the film I keep coming back to, the one I want to see again is My Man Godfrey (1936) with William Powell. I was mesmerized. I fell in love for the hour and one half that she was on the screen. It wasn’t for her platinum blonde hair. It was for her eyes and her smile, and most notably, she made me laugh.

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