How many Saturdays have found me curled up on the sofa, daintily sipping a glass of iced coffee, watching "K-9", awwwwing Jerry Lee (the dog) and secretly lusting after Jim Belushi? And how many times have I stopped mid-enjoyment to think, This movie is from 1989, so there's no way Jerry Lee is still alive. Even if he were only like two years old when this movie was made, there's really no way. The dog's dead.
So of course for the next 15 minutes or so I'm obsessed with the fact that the dog that I'm admiring and awwwing and cheering is now dead, and probably has been dead for some time. And then I tell myself to stop thinking about it, which means that I obsess further.
This happens every time I watch a movie that is old enough for most of the people appearing in it to be dead by now. Last weekend I watched "The Women", and found myself thinking, "Sixty-three years ago. All of these actresses: dead. That horse Paulette Goddard's straddling (lucky horse): dead. Norma Shearer's two dogs: dead. Yep, everyone's dead, with the possible exception of that obnoxious little snip who plays Little Mary. Just say she was 12 when the movie was made ... that'd make her 75 today. She may still be alive!" (A mandatory mad dash back to this room, mid-movie, to consult imdb.com proved otherwise; the actress died in 1968 of a heart attack at the age of 42.)
I don't know why I do this, and I don't really care. But it is eerie, indeed, to think, as I'm watching something really old, that everyone on the screen is dead. And that everyone else is dead too, all the way from the director down to the key grip (whatever that is).
What I don't realize, while I'm doing all of the age calculations in my head and lamenting the passing of some pretty good actors, is that the actors I'm suddenly mourning actually lived off-screen after the movie ended and, in many cases, had successful careers that continued beyond the filming of the movie I'm watching. I forget that the actress may have been in her 20s when she made the movie, and that she could have lived well into her 70s. I just picture her dying at whatever age she was in the movie ... falling dead away, in beautiful dramatic black and white, her final words uttered with perfect diction in that old-fashioned finishing school accent a la Elizabeth Taylor or Katharine Hepburn.
But lest you think I'm morose (and I am, but so what?) or obsessed with death, well, I can switch it off almost immediately by concentrating on something else that compels me to make yet another mad dash back to this room for more information. And that is this: the Consumer Price Index. Because just as quickly as I'm mired in thinking that, hey, that dog is dead, and Joan Crawford is dead, and the costume designer is dead, I can immediately pull myself out of the bog by wondering how much that peignoir set that went for $250 in 1939 would cost today.
By the way ... take a guess. (And no fair doing the calculations on a "tool" you find on the internet.)
fresh-baked at 09:42 PMHey Jodi seen 'My man Godfrey?' the original from the 30s with William Powell, and carole lombard.. its awesome. I thought Grant was the man, but Powell was ruling supreme with his sophisticated wit atleast a decade before C.G. I just love those sharp dialogues and witty comebacks in those movies. I dont know if I want to play dress up though. I loved getting out of bed and going to work in the same clothes back during the internet boom. Aaah now THERE was a golden age worth reminiscing about.
'You have a wonderful sense of humor. I wish I had a sense of humor, but I can never think of the right thing to say until everybody's gone home. '
Amen, Jodi. And......Cary Grant? In his scruffy roles, like "Father Goose"......my fave!
Offered by: Joan on October 13, 2002 7:46 PMIt's the kidz, that's the problem. As long as patrons keep going to see these "gross-out" movies, as I believe they are called, we aren't going to see much elegance and sophistication any time soon.
Sigh.
Offered by: Pete on October 13, 2002 3:24 PMLorraine, I detest most of the "stars" of today. Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and others of their ilk are truly emetic. Give me Gregory Peck any day.
I say we bring back the elegance and sophistication of the '30s and '40s. Enough already with the "let it all hang out" slobbery.
Offered by: Jodi on October 13, 2002 2:17 PMOK, how about a viewpoint from the other side, like being 70+ years old and thinking those women of the 30's and 40's movies were just the ultimate in sophistication and chic? Just like you young'uns think the stars of today are the coolest. That's the way it goes.
I know most of those actresses are dead, but that doesn't bother me. Hell, I'm just glad it's not me. And don't think we girls didn't get a little twitch in the twatch when those "dreamy" actors like Tyrone Power, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, et al did their charming thing on screen. Yummy.
Offered by: Lorraine on October 13, 2002 12:00 PMFor the record, "Jibba Jabba" is one of my all-time favorite expressions.
Offered by: aaron on October 13, 2002 9:55 AMThe really neat thing is when you get to be about forty or fifty and look back on your early school days and that evil middle aged shit that ran your kindergarten...is most likely dead now. Even more scary is the fact that some of those kids you knew could also be dead now. Nothing quite like death to make you sit up and think.
Offered by: Kevin on October 13, 2002 9:40 AMummm im gonna edit my name there (i can spell really)
ummmm
lets say.... uh.... Bob.
Yeah so that guy who just posted under noname is now Bob.
That is a lot less uh... disturbing. Hopefully.
jim belushi lust i have never heard that
that is a new one
okie dokie
It would be worth something. Probably money. I would bet on that.
I bet it go for uhh lets say a lot. more than I have ever earned. Like thats saying much.
yours falsely
noname
My guess: 24,320.47 DKK.
What, you don't know your Kroner conversions by heart? Tsk tsk...
Anyhow, don't bother doing the math. It's right. I humbly request one of your legwarmers signed by The Coreys™ and a burned copy of your 'Mr. T. Hums His Favourite Jibba Jabba' CD as my prize for being correct.
Offered by: leo on October 13, 2002 9:15 AMPumpkins aren't just for Hallowe'en, Pete. Don't be a bumpkin. They're an autumnal symbol. If I were going for a Hallowe'en effect, I would've used something a bit more holiday-specific, such as a jaunty, grinning skeleton locked in an embrace with a hollow-eyed ghost. And I would have temporarily changed the name of this site to "Boocause I Say So."
Nah, I think I'll leave the banal hilarity to others.
Have a nice day!
Offered by: Jodi on October 13, 2002 9:08 AMbloody hilarious entry :) i love how your mind works.
Offered by: shauny on October 13, 2002 8:09 AMFunny that we are discussing old films today, because coincidentally enough, this morning I changed my outgoing answering machine message to Bogart's "Of all the gin joints..." line in Casablanca.
And yeah, nice pumpkin Jodi. I'm gonna wait a little while longer before I Hallowe'enify my site. Hallowe'en is the annual event which is least spoilt by marketing and advertising, so I try not to wreck it by starting too soon.
Conversely, I did some Christmas shopping yesterday. Shocking. But satisfying.
Offered by: Pete on October 13, 2002 5:42 AMI wouldn't have taken you for a Jim Belushi kinda gal, Jodi. But, who am I to question the Great Pumpkin? Personally, I'm fond of the man and find him sexy. But, I'm WEIRD! You're supposed to be the normal one.
Anyhow, I like the new pic. At first I assumed my meds were too strong and I was hallucinating....but I asked around and others said they saw the same thing......A rhino dancing on the head of a pin.....alternating with the Great Pumpkin Sounds normal enough to me.
Offered by: Joan on October 13, 2002 2:25 AMLOL at jhames! And Jodi, "The Women" -- my absolute favorite movie of all time. Set right there in your beautiful Manhattan. How much would a "day of beauty" go for nowadays? A three night/four day sail to Bermuda? A bottle of Bloomie's trendiest perfume?
And now that infamous line would be redundant in today's world of four-letter epithets: "There's a name for you gals alright, but it's not uttered in polite society outside of a kennel."
Ah, those were the days!
Offered by: Joni on October 13, 2002 12:00 AMYou put the “fun” back in “funeral”.
Offered by: jhames on October 12, 2002 11:51 PM
