Swithin

No ties? I'm shocked!

I think it may be your use of the term "inner city" that confuses. When I went to school, many of our "inner city" schools in NYC, which were quite diverse, tended to be in the top ten of schools nationwide that sent students on to college and later to earn Ph.D.'s. That used to be one of the measures of excellence. I suppose we urbanites had a correspondingly inaccurate view of non-urban schools: kids of all ages in one class, with chickens and goats and cows roaming around outside the schoolhouse. And much lower percentages of students going on to college. Not an accurate picture, I'm sure.

At the risk of repeating myself, but since you brought up the subject of Irene Dunne in the 1940s, I have to say once again that her performance in I Remember Mama simply blows me away. It's not a big, showy part; it's a big, extremely sensitively and beautifully played part (and with a Norwegian accent). I think it is one of cinema's greatest performances. As Mama would say, "Is good."

I have to confess, in reading the posts here, I've become intrigued by Ms. Durbin's work. I saw very little of it a very long time ago, on television, and for whatever reason, I wasn't impressed then. But in going through the list of her movies, many sound like films I would like (though not necessarily the musical ones), with great supporting casts. Let's hope we get to see them soon.

*The Bride Wore Black* (1968) Next: Combing a dead person's hair

This is all B.G. i.e. before ghettos.

New York City public schools, late 1950s to mid 1960s: We had to wear ties. On assembly days (once a week, I think), we had to wear white shirts with ties -- possibly red ties, as there was a red, white, and blue theme (but no jeans). The girls had to wear middy blouses (whatever the hell that was!) You could get in trouble if you were sloppy. I was once sent home from grade school because my hands were dirty! One year -- probably in junior high school -- I was pulled out of the hallway into the dean's office by a teacher (not my teacher) who demanded that I comb my hair -- it was over my forehead. The dean didn't seem so concerned, but that old battle axe of a teacher was! She was really nasty about it.

It would be nice if they got some big old stars -- Shirley Temple, Jane Powell, Dick Moore, Mickey Rooney, Olivia, Joan, et. al. to talk, NOT about their own careers, but ONLY about the character people. For example, Shirley Temple worked alot with Helen Westley, one of my favorites, on four films. Even younger actors worked with some of the character actors. Early in his career, Kirk Douglas worked with alot of the old timers. But it would be important that these "stars" kept to the subject and away from their own work. Many interesting screenings could result from this treatment, I think.

I made a mistake! My free access this weekend was NOT to Showtime, but to HBO/Cinemax. I did say that in my first post on the subject (a response to you, Kyle), on January 11, in the Littlest Rebel thread. I'm not looking for any additional pay channels, but Showtime does sound like a much better option than HBO, based on this weekend's offerings. Here's a cut-and-paste of my earlier post: "Funny you should mention that -- I have a free weekend of HBO and Cinemax!"

Don't know if Page or Harris played Blanche, that would be interesting. Here is a quick compilation of actresses who played Blanche on Broadway plus one off-Broadway, over the decades: Jessica Tandy Uta Hagen Tallulah Bankhead Rosemary Harris Lois Nettleton Blythe Danner Jessica Lange Natasha Richardson Nicole Ari Parker Off-Broadway: Elizabeth Marvel

Feel free to burst bubbles! Thanks for the Bening information. Grey may not have presented the award to Cumming, but he did comment on it, elsewhere on that show, I think. The point is, the roles were the same, yet in one case it was considered lead, another time featured. Regarding Showtime/Max, it has nothing to do with ignoring the greatness of "contemporary culture," just with the listings of this weekend. Even my cable company rated most of the films from 1/2 to 2 stars! (I tried Bridesmaids briefly, but there was too much else on tv to watch last night).

Secret of the Blue Room at the Top Hat

Very interesting point, Fred, about the GWTW/Streetcar connection. That's a good topic for a thread -- a kind of continuity, which makes sense to me in relation to those two films. Btw, I knew Kim Hunter, who played Stella. I asked her once who was the best Blanche, since she worked with Jessica Tandy on B'way and Vivian Leigh in film, and others as well. Kim didn't pause for a minute. She replied "Uta," referring to the great Uta Hagen, who took over for Tandy on stage for a while and also did the tour. Uta of course was later the original Martha on Broadway in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

I'm happy with the *Judy Holliday* win that year, but I think the best performance -- and one of the all-time great performances -- is *Eleanor Parker* in Caged, who should've won.

It's a tough category, so it's hard to say. Tommy Lee Jones is considered a slight favorite, as is P.S. Hoffman. I haven't seen the De Niro film -- it's actually one of the few nominated films I have no desire to see.

Mrs. Melandez -- Katina Paxinou in *Confidential Agent* (1945)

I'm pleased they began the supporting awards in 1936, because I LOVE Anthony Adverse and *Gale Sondergaard's* performance in it, for which she won the first Best Supporting Actress Award. It was clearly a supporting role, but an important and juicy one!

Yes, we disagree, but I would like to see more of Durbin's films, at this stage of my life, to see what I think of them (her) now. Regarding Dunne, she had a beautiful voice and could convey a song's meaning in a manner that relatively few singers can -- the great Barbara Cook comes to mind. If you watch/listen to Irene singing "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in Roberta, she's singing it beautifully, she's smiling, but you can see the pain beneath the smile. "After the Ball" in Show Boat is another example, how the character grows in that scene. That takes way more than technique. I've attended (and actually even worked on production for) a few master classes with Barbara Cook. I've seen her say to singers with beautiful voices, "ok, you can sing beautifully, but getting the meaning of a song across is much more than that." Irene Dunne could do that. The point I took from the OP, was about who was the best at acting and singing; not just about actresses who were primarily in musicals.

I haven't seen many of Durbin's films; those that I have tried to watch, I couldn't get through. Don't know why -- a question of taste obviously, or it was a long time ago, and I wasn't ready. 100 Men and a Girl was one of them. Nice voice as I recall, but not a particularly good actress. She never got the opportunity, I don't think, to hold her own in a major dramatic motion picture, as Dunne did in many films, notably I Remember Mama. I think of Durbin as a sweet young woman who played nice sorts of roles with music but can't be considered along with the greats.

I don't know for sure, I guess one could research that. I do know that the one night I met her, the other lady had had quite a few, but Luise was totally sober.

There's such alot of variety in their films, so it would not be monotonous, no matter how many they showed. Charles Lane was in so many films and types of films.

This may be naive of me, but I think the Oscar show performs an educational function as well. Maybe they could do a better and more entertaining job of showing the importance of those categories, as part of the award-giving. All that technology -- which is what it amounts to these days -- is of interest to young people. In the last year or so, for the first time I've stopped watching the Oscar show in its entirety. I can't bear the stupid banter, the bad production numbers, etc. I do see some new movies, but I find I don't even know who many of the Oscar presenters are! I have free Showtime and Cinemax this weekend and tried to find something to watch, but couldn't. What a load of garbage! On another topic, to someone else's point about the changing nature of categories. Joel Gray won the Tony Award for Best Featured (i.e. Supporting) actor for the original production of Cabaret on Broadway. Some years later, Alan Cumming won the Best Actor Award for the same role, in the revival. Joel Gray presented the award to Alan Cumming and commented on the irony.

*Carry On Doctor in the House of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in Half Moon Street Scene*

*Maggie Smith* was a particularly gratifying winner for Miss Brodie, because it was a very competitive year with five excellent performances, Maggie wasn't well known then, and she did give a stupendous performance! Another "Best" for me (but on your "Close" list) would be *Sophia Loren* for Two Women. *Glenda Jackson* 1 ( Women in Love ) would definitely be on my "Best" list. On my "Close" list would be *Geraldine* *Page* for A Trip to Bountiful.

When I was a small kid, I saw it in Cinerama, when it came out. Great stars, big annoying bore. Felt that way when I saw it as an adult as well. Never understood why that film was selected for the Cinerama treatment.