Tag Archives: Bette Davis

Now I Am Out of Oomph

Posted on January 14, 2019 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here I sit, on my couch, looking at a Snapped On Demand and hoping to make a Wrist to Forehead Sunday post before I completely run out of oomph. It might be touch and go.

Even a small graphic might help pep things up.

I began today fired with ambition. After some coffee, a look at Facebook, and a few games of solitaire (with a deck of cards, as God intended), I ran in place on the mini-tramp for 33 minutes.  I watched another Snapped On Demand while I ran.  Then what could I do?  Laundry?  Go to the grocery store?  Have a Mohawk Valley adventure suitable for an article in Mohawk Valley Living magazine?  The possibilities seemed endless.

Eventually Steven and I went to a late breakfast at The Knight Spot in Frankfort, NY, which I may write about.  I took a few pictures just in case.  Either way it was an excellent breakfast.  After that we stopped at Valley Wine and Liquor, because we both enjoy a glass of wine on a Sunday (and other days, don’t judge).  Back home, I put in a load of laundry and we settled down to watch a movie.

As Ben Manckiewicz observed in his pre-movie commentary, things starts with a bang.

We watched Bette Davis in The Letter, which I recently recorded on DVR.  That is a really good movie.  After that I wanted a shorter flick so suggested Bride of Frankenstein.

Any girl could be a little nervous on her wedding day.

And that brings us to the present moment.  I’m kind of wishing I had paused my episode of Snapped while I typed this, but one can’t always think of everything.  The important thing is that I am approaching 300 words, and I call that more than respectable for a Wrist to Forehead Sunday.   I hope you are all having a lovely end of your weekend.

 

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Many Monsters on Cinema Sunday

Posted on October 29, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

It has become something of a routine with me to have Sunday Cinema.  I just love to knit or crochet and watch movies on a Sunday.  Why not make a blog post with movie pictures as well?  Of course we are watching Halloween movies right now (but you know I love to watch Halloween movies all year ’round).  Additionally, we saw on Facebook that it is Elsa Lanchester’s birthday today.  Accordingly, we started with Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Isn’t she pretty?

My favorite part of the move is the introduction, with Lord Byron, Percy Shelley,and his wife, Mary, who, of course, wrote Frankenstein.  In the movie, the events that follow are not in her original tale, but in parts of The Bride of Frankenstein are in the book Frankenstein.  I must re-read that book.  So may books, so little time.  After that fun movie, Steven suggested one I have been in the mood to watch for a while now, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) with the divine Bette Davis.  It also features a wonderful Agnes Moorehead, the bitchy Olivia DeHavilland and another favorite, Cecil Kellaway.  Oh, now I fell badly for not mentioning Mary Astor and Joseph Cotten.  Now I’m thinking I did not even talk about the magnificent Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein.  Well, I can’t mention everybody all the time.

Bette Davis. Who else do you need in a movie?

After Charlotte, I suggested one of our cheesy movies, because those are often shorter.  We love Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, but it is a long movie, which is kind of a detriment on a day when I like to watch multiple flicks.  I read off titles on our DVD collection, 50 Horror Classics till Steven said, “Let’s watch that one.”  It was The Mad Monster, with the marvelously theatrical George Zucco (I quote the booklet that came with the collection).

I just didn’t want the wolf to come to a bad end.

Full disclosure:  I missed part of the movie while I went into the kitchen to make my salad for the upcoming week’s lunches.  Sometime the worst thing about Sunday is that tomorrow’s Monday.  However, I shall not repine.  I have finished my blog post and there is still time to watch another movie.  I hope your weekend was grand.

 

 

 

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Where’s that Damn Brain?

Posted on October 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

It is Bad Attituesday, and my attitude is so bad I do not want to go back and see how long it has been since I made a post about I Can’t Write a Blog Post Today.  Is it Writer’s Block?  Is it Writer’s Blank?  Is it Writer is Too Damn Lazy and Irritable?  SAY IT AIN’T SO!!!!  Whatever it is, my brain is not cooperating.

A little Bette Davis is always a good idea.

I was looking through my Media Library for the picture I have of The Brain from Planet Arous, but I found this one from Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte first and thought, “Rest in Peace, Cindy’s brain (was that a Freudian typo?  I first put “piece” instead of “peace” and I meant to, because as I typed it I thought, “pie as in a piece of pie”).  I am in the mood to see Hush.. hush again.  I suggested it for our cinematic Sunday, but we decided to watch shorter movies instead, in order to fit more in (in fact, we watched two more after I made my blog post).

Perhaps the problem is that I had made up my mind to Write More.  I have one of those perverse dispositions that as soon as I make up my mind to do something, I only want to do the exact opposite, or do nothing at all.  As I walked into work, having almost a half hour before my shift began in which to write, I thought about a blog post I wanted to write about one of the movies we watched this weekend.  My brain soon became bogged down, so I thought I would ease into it by working on a letter I had started to a friend.  I got about a paragraph written, felt quite dry and dumb, so worked on an anacrostic puzzle I happened to have handy (what, computer, that’s not how you spell anacrostic?  That’s a word, isn’t it? Damn!) (just googled it: anacrostic and acrostic are apparently the same thing, but Google seems to think anacrostic is also a word).

Where was I?  Ah yes, brain dead and not making much of a post.  And yet I am over 300 words. What does that tell you?  It does not tell me much, but I think I’ll put in another picture and call it a day.  I hope I have managed to amuse somebody.

“Don’t look at me! I’m not writing a blog post for you!”

There’s that damn brain!  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

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Severed Heads on Melting Monday

Posted on July 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I promised myself a Monstrous Monday post, and I felt it would be better to get new (to this blog) monster pictures.  After quite some time of puttering around Facebook looking for them, I found not a monster, exactly, but what one might see as monstrous.

Some people just don’t like to sleep alone.

This is a shot from one of my favorite movies to watch on a Severed Head Sunday, which alas, I did not have yesterday: Straitjacket with Joan Crawford.  I sure do like movies that feature severed heads.  I looked for more pictures.

She’s giving him the side eye.

Another big favorite of mine: The Brain that Wouldn’t Die.  The sad thing about the movie is that the head wanted to die, but the obsessed boyfriend would not allow it.  These mad scientists always think they know best.  It took me a while to find a third photograph.  I tried to think of movies that featured severed heads and thought of Sleepy Hollow, or, as I like to call it, The Headless Everybody.  But all I could find was pictures of Johnny Depp looking sultry.  So I tried Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, with another of my favorites, Bette Davis.  Charlotte is more contemporary with the pictures I’ve shared thus far.

Very atmospheric, isn’t it?

I could not find a picture of the severed head, but I’m not really surprised, because in the movie the head is more often talked about than seen.

So this is my Monstrous Monday post.  Foolish, you say?  In my defense, it has been meltingly hot all day, and I have been at work for the first time in two weeks.  And if you’re going to ding me for whining, just go away.  I will too.  Perhaps we can meet again tomorrow on Tired Tuesday.

 

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Classic to Cheesy to Columbo

Posted on July 9, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in the midst of my usual Sunday of watching movies and knitting (sometimes I crochet), to make my Wrist to Forehead Sunday post.  Never mind why my wrist is to my forehead (about to swoon, although I do not own a chaise lounge), because I would rather talk about movies than whine.

Two utterly beautiful people.

We began our movie watching with A Place in the Sun, one of our favorites.  It is sort of related to a local historical murder, being based on a novel that was inspired (I can put it no closer) by the murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gilette.  He stayed in the 1834 Jail while being tried in the Herkimer County Courthouse, both on Herkimer’s Historic Four Corners, one of my favorite places.  I mostly wanted to see the movie for Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift (pictured) and Shelley Winters.

Two of our all-time favorites.

Next we went to Death on the Nile, a star studded Agatha Christie romp.  I found a picture of our beloved Bette Davis and Maggie Smith, but the reason we put on the movie is that David Niven came up in a conversation.  He is also in the movie, his usual debonair self.

This scene is near the dramatic conclusion.

After Death on the Nile, we went cheesy with The Atomic Brain.  We have that on AMC Cult Classics, a two disc collection with four movies, some more classic than others.

Look how young Peter Falk is!

We are currently watching Columbo in Prescription: Murder.  In fact, I am missing some important stuff to make this post.  There’s a reason to swoon!  I can’t put my wrist to my forehead while typing, so I shall sign off now.  Happy Sunday, everyone.

 

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Tired Monsters on Bad Attituesday

Posted on May 30, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sorry, folks, it’s another Tired Tuesday post, and I can’t even find any new monster pictures to pep things up a little.  Maybe I could find something old but fun and not overdone in my Media Library.

“You play a mean guitar, Big Boy!”

I scrolled and scrolled, not liking any of the monster pictures I saw.  That is the kind of mood I am in today.  We’ll call this a Bad Attituesday as well.  Then the above caught my eye, because today the weather is quite summery.  I would like to get one of those grass skirt and dance around barefoot while a creature plays guitar, although I do not know the hula.

It’s not exactly a self-portrait…

I include the above for the words:  not an apology but perhaps an explanation for my foolish posts.  Further note:  I think some of the stitches are coming loose.

Remember the dolls of your childhood?

Under the heading Sometimes People Are Monsters, here is a seriously creepy depiction of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  I confess to not liking the movie, but I love the story of how it was made, and of course I adore both Davis and Crawford.

Full disclosure: I had beer yesterday, wine today.

I close with a picture of what I want to do now:  just chill with a beverage. Obviously, sometimes monsters have bad days too (cue jokes on what I happen to be).

 

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Not Cheesy on Wrist to Forehead Sunday

Posted on May 21, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

We were supposed to be watching cheesy movies.  I am wearing my t-shirt from Original Herkimer Cheese, which says, “Keepin’ It Cheesy Since 1949.”

The moment I saw this shirt, I knew I had to own it one day.

I gave Original Herkimer Cheese one of my favorite plugs in a murder mystery for the Herkimer County Historical Society.

One character tells another she looks remarkably like Frangelica Inferno, “Uh, not that I watch porn movies.”

Character that looks like Frangelica:  “She was not a porn star!  Those were art films!”

Another character:  “Oh, please, those movies are as cheesy as Chutter from Original Herkimer Cheese!”

I do love chutter, and Original Herkimer Cheese.  But I digress. My original subject was cheesy movies, which I adore to watch on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  We watched a good one last night, The Tingler, starring Vincent Price and directed by William Castle.  We thought of continuing the Price/Castle theme today with House on Haunted Hill.  However, I had also mentioned All About Eve as a possibility.  Steven was more interested in All About Eve.  How could I possibly object to a Bette Davis classic?

After All About Eve, Steve suggested another favorite of ours, Being Julia, starring the divine Annette Bening.  In addition to being one of my all time favorite movies, this one seemed related to All About Eve, because both are about highly talented, greatly admired stage actresses who have just a little bit of trouble in their offstage lives.

I am having a bit of trouble in my offstage life these days, as well as onstage, but how tiresome of me it would be to cry about it now, even on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Additionally, I have movies to watch.  For a blog post, this will have to do.  I hope to see you all again on Monstrous Monday.

 

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Bette and Joan on Tired Tuesday

Posted on January 17, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’ve got the I CAN’T POST THAT disease,  also known as the Type It In Backspace It Out disease.

They look how I feel.

When in doubt, post a picture.  I confess to not being a great fan of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? although I adore both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as well as old horror movies.  You may ask me, what’s that all about? But I will not have a good answer.  After all, one can’t like everything.

“I can just about spit in your eye!”

I may not have that quote right, but here is Davis in a movie I thoroughly enjoy, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which ironically enough (given my enjoyment of one and dislike of the other) was originally titled Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?  I read all about it in a wonderful book called The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine.  Ooh, now I should find a picture of Crawford in a movie I like, preferably horror.  How about Straitjacket?

The caption is not a line from the movie. Also, Miss Crawford did not appreciate being referred to as a “broad.”

I may flatter myself, but I think this is turning out to be a not bad silly post. I haven’t even mentioned my headache (that was one of the lines I typed in and backspaced out, as mentioned earlier) (oops.  Well, go ahead and judge me for whining).  I’ll keep it short and end with another favorite picture.

She really lost her head over that movie.

Happy Tuesday, everybody.

 

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Lame Post Friday with Joan

Posted on October 14, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

According to the Facebook page I stole this from, the left is the original and the right is photo-shopped.

I am neglecting to make my Friday Lame Post, because I am watching I Saw What You Did, produced and directed by William Castle and starring Joan Crawford.  This photo is the only one I could find from the movie.  Don’t you just love that necklace?  I do.  Speaking of Joan…

Personally, I like the picture better without the caption, but Facebook thieves cannot be choosers.

Under the heading Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, I used this photo in this blog as well as for a Facebook profile picture.  The shot is from the William Castle movie Straitjacket, another favorite of ours.  I personally am trying NOT to eat candy.  You can probably imagine how well that is going.

I found “NINA”!

Another picture of Joan: here she is with Bette Davis in a Hirschfeld drawing of them as their characters in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  For all I love horror movies and Bette and Joan, I don’t love that movie.  Maybe if I watched it again.  Sometimes you have to watch a movie more than once and let it grow on you.  But not like a fungus.

Anyways, this is my Friday Lame Post for the week.  I’m busy watching Halloween movies.

 

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MVG Goes Hollywood

Posted on October 29, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

Well,  let’s see if I can do this.  I’m on my tablet, trying to make my post about the costumes at the mall.  This first photo is front the Grace Kelly section.  The dress in the foreground is from Rear Window,  the background is from To Catch a Thief.

We love Rear Window.

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As I have mentioned  before, it is awkward to post on the tablet. Still, one must persevere.

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I was a little disappointed that the Better Davis dress was just one from an awards show.  When I had heard there would be one of her dresses there, I confess I got my hopes up for the iconic party dress from All About Eve.  Still, Bette Davis.  There could be no possible objection.

In many people’s minds Bette Davis and Joan  Crawford go together.  Both are represented here.  I liked Joan’s dress even better.

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I had to take the plaque separately.

Likewise,  I needed two shots for Drums Along the Mohawk , which of course has a delightful local connection.

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Many will recognize Audrey Hepburn’s dress from My Fair Lady.

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We didn’t recognize the movie these costumes were from,  but we liked them.

The display continues at Sangertown Mall through tomorrow,  Oct. 29.  Sorry for giving local readers such short notice in case you want to check it out, but these things happen.  I hope at least you enjoyed my photos.  Happy Friday, everyone.

 

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