It’s a new year, and all I can hope for 2009 is that it doesn’t suck as much as 2008 did. That’s a pretty low bar for 2009 to reach, yet I’m not at all confident 2009 will reach this goal. We’ll see.
Let’s get the administrative junk out of the way. The About the Blog post has been revamped, as has the Edits post. I’ve made several edits to posts recently, the most notable being: Added information I received from Jeremy Morgan to the Mrs. Potter post, added links to Louie’s blog in my El Brendel post, and created a new “Wife vs Secretary” photo gallery.
Now, on with the fun. It was a film-filled holiday here at Casa del Stacia, which I thought I would share with you all, because it fulfills my need to constantly tell you all about my fabulously fabulous life.
Just before Christmas I rented “The Man Who Came to Dinner” again. My husband hadn’t seen it before, it’s a terrific holiday film, and watching it again reminded me just how wickedly funny it is. I think this film more than any other proves wrong those who say Bette Davis doesn’t really act but just plays herself.
Part of the reason I watched it, though, was because of Ann Sheridan’s blouse. And if you don’t recall what I’m talking about, let me show you:
Hubba. Hubba. Not only is she wearing some clingy flimsy fabric with nothing underneath — and looking even better than Jean Harlow while doing so — but those buttons? They’re hands. Hands in the grabby-grabby position, allegedly keeping her blouse closed, but who knows what they’re really thinking. At one point Monty Wooley, who is in a wheelchair and therefore eye level with the most prominent aspects of her blouse, can’t keep his eyes off them. Positively hysterical. How this film got so much past the censors is beyond me.
I recently purchased some movies from Sunrise Silents who were kind enough to include a snazzy holiday DVD with my order. The DVD included the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle short “Mabel’s New Hero”, which features Arbuckle in what my husband accurately labeled “comedy pants”.
“Comedy pants” is the hot new catchphrase of 2009! Use it today!
My husband got a pair of sweats for Christmas which were humorously oversized; they, of course, were quickly dubbed “comedy pants”. The sight of my husband in comedy pants made me laugh so hard it cured my hiccups. True story.
Arbuckle allegedly said, “I’ve never used my weight to get a laugh. That is, used my size as the subject for humor. You never saw me stuck in a door-way or stuck in a chair.” Yet in “Mabel’s New Hero” he does break a chair when sitting on it, and of course a lot of kids laugh at him because of the swimsuit he’s wearing, which wouldn’t be as funny if he wasn’t fat.
On the basis of this clip on YouTube, I bought my husband the Cynthia Rothrock masterpiece “Undefeatable” (a.k.a. “Cui hua kuang mo”, 1993), which may just be the best movie ever made in the history of the universe. Bad acting, paper-thin plot, the power mullet on the bad guy and Rothrock’s face being curiously hidden during all of the more athletic and esoteric stunts — it’s almost as though she wasn’t the person performing the stunts! — make this a terrific early-90s Z-grade martial arts flick. If you’re into this genre of film, you must watch this movie. The DVD is available for something like £3 on Amazon UK. That means you need a region free DVD player, but if you want to see the best martial arts films, you need a region free DVD player so you can play the films released only in Hong Kong and/or the UK.
Speaking of region free, I received a copy of “Quatermass and the Pit” (the Hammer film, 1967) for Christmas. It’s out of print in the U.S. now and used copies sell for 9 frajillion dollars, but you can get the UK version for £5 on Amazon UK. Maybe I’m pushing Amazon UK a bit here, but I gotta tell you, if I could hug an online store, I’d hug the hell out of Amazon UK.
Hope you all had a great holiday and have a wonderful, or at least accordion-free, 2009.
EDIT: It’s come to my attention that I was not nominated for Best Business Blog this year. AHEM. I don’t understand how this could be! After all that solid stock advice I gave you on September 15th, which lead to the terrific stock market rally of the 16th and beyond. Honestly, it’s like you people aren’t even paying attention.
Nice catch on those peculiar metal hands on Ann Sheridan‘s chic blouse! Perhaps those metal clasps were courtesy of the Production Code office?
I love Sheridan in The Man Who Came To Dinner, though reportedly she found it a bit trying to go from the heavy duty drama of the set of King’s Row to the role in the sparkling comedy every day–but she really wanted both parts, which were a big leap forward for the actress.
Happy New Year to all!
Happy New Year, which to me will always be Guy Lombardo! Yes, I’m old!
I also hope that I will get enough signatures to convince the Academy to give El Brendel a belated Oscar. So far I have four signatures from people who never heard of him, which is a good sign.
While extending you best wishes for the new year, let me say that I could swear I saw those guys in the Undefeatable fight scene in one of the independent wrestling promotions in the 1990s. At least they sound familiar.
Happy New Year!
Ah, erect nipple shots! From Ann Sheridan! I take ’em!
Now I gotta get me some “comedy pants!
I want to hang with your husband. I have a kookie desire to “be” with Cynthia Rothrock. And then we could get married and I would take her name so that my last name would be Rothrock and then I would legally get rid of my first name so then my name would just be Rothrock and I would go around kicking ass. But I digress.
The Man Who Came To Dinner is a Holiday Essential. I love that movie and it’s strange to see Bettie Davis in such a traditional female role.
El Brendel for governor of California!