1950s Pink and Red

1950s Pink and Red by ladysydney featuring an accordion pleat skirt

J Crew j crew
jcrew.com

Jaeger accordion pleat skirt
$150 - johnlewis.com

Fitzwell shoes
zappos.com

Isabel Marant yellow gold jewelry
$9,240 - montaignemarket.com

River Island white pearl earrings
$6.04 - riverisland.com

Bad Boys - I

All girls love them. All mother's hate them. Falling for a bad boy is the universally bad choice thousands of women have made and have universally regreted. Hollywood has given us a nice bunch of these wonderfully flawed and sometimes devastatingly cruel men to swoon over from the safe distance of our seats. Let's take a look at a few of my favorites.

Johnny Farrell

Gilda 1946

Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) has been burned bad by a vixen named Gilda and he is a cold cold man who has sworn off all women. Suddenly, Gilda reappears and throws a monkey wrench into his nice new life as the number 2 man to underground casino proprietor/possibly Nazi sympathizer/cane carrying Ballin Mundson. It's a pretty big monkey wrench because Gilda returns as Ballin's new wife. What follows is a sexually charged and completely antagonistic relationship that fools no one. Following the death of her husband Johnny slaps Gilda around and keeps her locked away but through a strange series of events including the "dead" husband's return and his sharp little friend, some intrigue with tungsten mines and a fake boyfriend in Montevideo, Gilda and Johnny's dramatic love hate relationship ends on a high note.

Hud Bannon

Hud 1963

Hud Bannon (Paul Newman) is a reckless, irresponsible, selfish man who enjoys women and booze equally. His recklessness caused the death of his beloved older brother and there is no love lost between Hud and his father, Homer. Hud brawls in bars, races around town in his Cadillac convertible, carouses with married women and is a all around no good guy. But it's Paul Newman and even though the film is in black and white his baby blues could lead any girl down a shameful path. Even Bannon family housekeeper, Alma, almost gives in...until Hud plays too rough and won't take no for an answer. His nephew Lonnie also thinks the world of him until he realizes that all those things he's heard about Uncle Hud are really true. But being a no good son of a bitch almost always guarantees loneliness and in the end Hud finds himself unloved and all alone.

Frankie Madison

I Walk Alone 1948

Frankie wouldn't be such a bad guy if he wasn't so hell bent on revenge. But, going up the river and taking the fall for a friend will do that to you. Frankie returns to town after his 14 year stint in the big house looking for his share of the profits he missed when he went to prison during a botched bootlegging run. In the ensuing 14 years his partner, Dink, has became a high class nightclub owner and a very wealthy man. Unwilling to share anything with Frankie, Dink tries to take him out. In the end it is Dink who is taken out by Frankie. We know that Frankie isn't really a killer under normal circumstances and he most likely will never kill again now that Dink is gone so we can consider him redeemed. 

Rebecca Redux

A very clever spoof on one Hitchcock's best  Rebecca. This time it is Rebecca who is paranoid about the second Mrs. De Winter...

The Black Cat

In honor of Friday the thirteenth, I bring you scenes from the casting call of the 1962 Roger Corman Film Tales of Terror.  All the kitties are here hoping for a chance to be in the segment aptly called The Black Cat starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. While the critics may have panned the film, calling it dull and absurd, these pictures are anything but. Enjoy!!!

Another Look at Miss Veda Pierce

I came across this scholarly article that sympathetically examines Veda's actions in the context of her role in the Pierce family unit. It's a very interesting read...I still want to name my daughter Veda - is that asking for trouble?

http://www.engl.niu.edu/ojs/index.php/style/article/viewFile/107/57

I'm Burning for You

In my quest to find obscure 1930s musical numbers, I came across this little ditty called I'm Burning for You.

There is a lot packed into this 3minute clip from the movie Hot Saturday (1932). This pre-code confection stars Nancy Carroll as Ruth Brock, the most popular girl in Maryville, who has been rumored to be fast and loose.  But it's only a rumor. Ruth just likes to flirt and have good clean fun and she leaves the boys who expect her to put out cold. But one cad, not happy with Ruth's flirting and her truly good girl character, spreads a vicious rumor around town that destroys her reputation all on one hot Saturday night.

Here all the wonderful things to love about this:

1. The girl in the checkered hat and neckerchief that coordinates so lovely with the Willow Springs table clothes. She clearly wants to get up and dance look at the way she is wiggling around in that seat.


 2. White picket fence surrounding the dance floor. Who doesn't love a white picket fence...indoors or out.


3. The array of beautiful hats dressing the heads of most of the women on the dance floor. 

4. Mr. White suit. He sure is having a swell time isn't he?

5. The not so subtle innuendo in the lyrics of the song I'm Burning for You. By the way the singer is caressing herself it's not secret where she is burning the hottest.

6. The strategically placed lights on the dance floor...wink wink...

And let's not forget the fact that everyone on that dance floor is well dressed and a phenomenal dancer...ah, the 1930s....

The Campus Crawl

Just a quick post for today. In my ongoing search for obscure and wacky dances from the 1930s I came across this little ditty. Dig that dizzy dames crazy shoulder action. . .

The Society Page: Tailwaggers Party 1938

Dateline - Beverly Hills 1938: Bette Davis hosted a lavish soiree for her fellow pet loving celebs in order to raise money for a new animal shelter in the Los Angeles area. Ms. Davis, the president of the Southern California Tailwaggers, and invited guests enjoyed a fine evening of dining, dancing, and merriment. I bet those pooches are going to love their new home!

James Stewart and Norma Shearer

Richard Barthelmess and his lovely daughter Ann.

Freddie Bartholomew dances with his Aunt Cissy.

Lupe Velez shares a joke with some friends.

Bette with her sister Bobbie

Great Musical Scenes from Non Musicals II

The ongoing list of great musical scenes from non musicals continues. . .


Picnic (1955)


I do agree that one person's idea of sexy can be another person's milquetoast but this moment with Kim Novak and William Holden is both sexy and romantic. Sure, Holden looks a little stiff and a little old but that's ok because Novak is has enough smoldering sex appeal for the both of them. Plus, the entire setting is just so lush how could you not fall in love with in the soft glow of those paper lanterns. . .

Criss Cross



Yvonne DeCarlo and Tony Curtis in a hot number from the noir thriller Criss Cross. Everything about this scene vibes HOT. I love the way Burt Lancaster looks down at Decarlo as she shakes it. We know just as well as Lancaster that no good can come from any of this and even the music has a sexy and slightly sinister tone warning him to stay away. But this is a noir so Cherchez la femme. . .


Written on The Wind



Dig Dorothy Malone's far out dance in an Oscar award winning role from Written on the Wind. Douglas Sirk was a master of melodrama and this dance number gives us all of Marylee's alcoholic psycho sexual nymphomania summed up in shimmies and hips swivels. As she grooves to a latin tinged version of Temptation her dear old dad drops dead. He knows his daughter is a hussy and so does everyone else in the place.

Kate Winslet as Mildred Pierce

So. . . award winning director Todd Haynes, who directed that wonderful Douglas Sirkian masterpiece Far From Heaven is bringing us a faithful adapatation of James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce. This five part mini-series will air on HBO in March, and unlike the 1945 film starring Joan Crawford, this version is giving us everything the censors would not let Warner Brothers give us the first time.

I am a fan of Kate Winslet and since this film, like the Coen Brother's True Grit, is loyal to its source material I hope Winslet will not suffer from endless comparisons between her performance and Crawford's. Although, when thinking about casting I could also envision Mildred being played by Cate Blanchett, or Rachel Weisz, or even Tilda Swinton.

I am optomistic about this. Usually, I cringe when I hear that such and such classic is being remade. But, with Todd Haynes as director I have my fingers crossed. He has shown that he is very adept at period melodrama. With Far From Heaven, which could have crossed the line to either corny or camp, he produced a thoughful and beautiful women's picture in the classic model. I wonder what Ann Blyth thinks about all this. . . .

The Uninvited. . .

I watched the Uninvited last night and immediatley, upon seeing that beautiful tragic face of its star Gail Russell, recalled a wonderful post from the great LA Times Daily Mirror blog. I thought I would share it with you. http://http//latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2007/07/gail-russell.html

Great Musical Numbers from Non Musicals - I

Sometimes the best musical numbers do not necessarily appear in musical films. Sometimes there is a wonderful music filled moment in an otherwise dramatic or comedic film that becomes an iconic moment.

This is going to be an ongoing list but at this moment I only have time for three but as the pistons in my overstuffed brain begin firing I will add more.. . .

Movie: Gilda

Song: Put the Blame on Mame

Actress: Rita Hayworth as Gilda



This scene sums up Rita's character Gilda in one deliciously seductive and playful song. There are actually three musical numbers in this film, but this is the best. Rita Hayworth gets to showcase her svelte figure, sex appeal and shows us why she was one of the GIs top pin-ups during the war. The film is a strange noir revenge tale/love story that gets better and better with each viewing. Hayworth is a genius in this film. Her subtle facial expressions and mannerisms are as breathtaking as this number. What was the color of that dress? In my mind it's RED.

Movie: Cleo from 5 to 7

Song: Sans Toi

Actress: Corinne Marchand as Cleo




This song is a beautiful downer. Written by the great French composer Michel Legrand the song expresses all of Cleo's inner emptiness and existential torment. The piano player in the scene is the songs composer, the GREAT Michel Legrand.

Movie: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Song: I've Written a Letter to Daddy

Actress: Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson




Well there isn't a another musical number in the history of musical numbers that exposes a characters insanity quite like this one. Jane is a complete whack job and Davis nails the hail on the head with this number. From the costume to that one of a kind voice that caould be classified as the horrible and wonderful at the same time - is it any wonder that this scene has been ripe for parody since the film's release. This is a moment of absolute campy bliss. Savor it!!!

Seperated at Birth

Recently, I was watching that great Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins film, Old Acquaintance (1943) and I was shocked to see an Ann Sheridan doppelganger in the role of Deirdre Drake. Well, of course, it wasn't Sheridan. It was a Dolores Moran.

Moran had a short and mostly undistinguished career as a Warner's contract player. She had credited appearences in nine film between 1943 and 1954. In fact, she had the second female lead in the first classic film I ever saw (at age 11 on the old AMC channel in 1994) - Count the Hours (1953) starring Teresa Wright and Macdonald Carey.

Dolores Moran Ann Sheridan

Moran, in Old Acquaintance, is pretty good. It's a role that does not require too much depth of emotion or technique. She handles her scenes with Davis especially well. She holds her own which is a compliment because Davis gives a very realistic and undated performance. But, like so many other pretty and moderatley talented young women she dissapeared from the screen. After all, if Warner's wanted a blonde Ann Sheridan, they would just dye Sheridan's hair.

But, lest you were worried, she did not meet a tragic end a la Gail Russell (a cautionary tale of Hollywood if there ever was one). She made a good marriage and settled into wife and motherhood dying in 1982 from cancer.

PS - Old Acquaintance was directed by Vincent Sherman who appears on the commentary for the film. I own several films directed by Sherman and on each that include his commentary he admits to making love with his leading lady. His descriptions of how his relationships with Davis and Joan Crawford come about are hilarious. True stories? Who knows. . .

The Life of a Jazz Singer

So. . .about three years after her death, a documentary on the high times and hard times of jazz singer Anita O'Day is out on DVD. The film had very limited release and I have had it on my Netflix waiting list for about 12 months. Now that I have finally seen it I want everyone else to see it too.

I was first introduced to Anita O'Day when I was twelve years old. I checked out the CD Let Me Off Uptown: The Best of Anita O'Day with Gene Krupa from the St. Louis Public Library and her voice has been part of the soundtrack of my life ever since. She's just so COOL. When other female singers were wearing evening gowns on stage Anita wore skirt suits that matched those of the boys in the band. Her stage name O'Day was pig latin for dough. . . as in money. Where Ella was sweet, and Sarah was sassy - Anita was the "Jezebel of Jazz".

The film lets Anita tell her story in her own words and she pulls no punches. In our world of manufactured, talentless and disposable pop stars watching Anita tell her story is like watching the explosion of a thousand suns. The woman is raw, real and as honest as they come and on top of all that. . . man can this broad swing.






This clip of Body and Soul gives me chills everytime I see it.

Her solo career was highlighted by a series of brilliant albums produced on the classic jazz label VERVE (some standouts include Anita Sings the Most 1957 and Travelin' Light 1961) and her iconic performance in Bert Stern's absolutely marvelous documentary about the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, Jazz on a Summer's Day. Anita in that hat and those gloves. . . (you'll know what I mean after you watch the clip)





She outlived many of her good friends(like Bird and Billie) who could not shake their destructive drug habits and she talks frankly about that, her time in prison, poverty and ending her heroin addiction cold turkey because for her that was the only way to do it. She published her candid biography High Times, Hard Times in 1981 and continued to perform into the 2000s despite a botched throat operation that left her unable to recapture her glorious sound. Anita O'Day died in 2006

Anita on NPR's Fresh Air
http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=106968810&m=106971234&t=audio

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming. . . .

After a rather long hiatus due to school and work obligations the FIVE AND DIME will reopen with regularly posted updates starting tomorrow.

Thanks to my 5 wonderful followers I hope you return to check out my random musings on long dead people, old movies, and all the other strange things that I have found.

Cheers!!!

A little info on Winnie Lightner

Winnie Lighter was a top rate comedic and musical star. She got her start in vaudeville and then moved on to brodway in the early 1920s. She introduced the Gershwin songs Somebody Loves Me and I'll Build a Satircase to Paradise. From the stage to she moved on to the screen and in 1928 made a short film for Vitaphone that featured her rendtion of songs like God Help a Sailor on a Night Like This and We've Got Alot to Learn. The songs were so racy and her performace so saucy that she has the distinction of being the first movie actor censored for her vocals.

In 1929, she starred in the film that would make her a sensation, Warner Brother's Gold Diggers of Broadway. The film, about three gold digging broadway showgirls, was the second talkie produced in techincolor and became Hollywood's biggest grossing picture, a record it held until 1939.

As a result of the success of Gold Diggers, Lightner was often type cast as the wisecracking gold digger. Sadly, no complete print of Gold Diggers of Broadway exist. However, the soundtrack, recorded on Vitaphone sound discs, has survived. Lightner made more musicals and comedies at Warner's but by the mid-1930s the flapper image had become outdated as the Great Depression set in.

In 1928, she made a Vitaphone short which featured her singing a trio of racy songs was banned. She has the distinction of being the first movie actor censored for vocals. Several of her musicals were turned into comedies after filming when Warner executives cut out her musical numbers because they felt the mood of audiences had shifted.

Winnie Lightner retired from the movies in 1934. In 1940, she married her Gold Diggers director Roy Del Ruth. She died in 1971.

With Family Like This . . .

The movies are filled with conniving sisters that work to undermine and destroy the lives of loved ones and family members. These lovely terrors are often the family favorite and usually begin the film as the apple of their over indulgent and oblivious family's eyes. If they aren't too terrible and if they don't cause too much havoc in the end they will get some sort of comeuppance and learn from their mistakes. However, if they choose to continue with their evil ways up until the end they usually end up in the slammer or worse - six feet under.


Name: "Baby" Jane Hudson (Bette Davis)
Film: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Who She Wronged: Blanche Hudson, her sister
What she did: Abuses and torments her wheelchair bound sister. Kills Blanche's parakeet and serves it to her on a plate. Kills a rat and serves it to her on a plate. Kills loyal maid Elvira with a hammer (does not serve her on a plate)- well, Elvira was loyal only to Blanche so that's why she got it.
Her Fate: Most probably institutionalized. Jane was a nut case, no doubt about that.
Important Lesson: If you are paralyzed and your sister shows signs of severe mental illness do not wait around for her to kill your parakeet before you take action.



Name: Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney)
Film: Leave Her to Heaven
Who She Wronged: Who didn't she wrong
What She Did: Kills her new husband's polio stricken little brother. She coldly watches the young boy drown a few feet away from her as she sits in a row boat (See photo above). Throws herself down the stairs to induce a miscarriage. Kills herself but makes it look like a murder in order to frame her husband.
Her Fate: Death. She kills herself.
Important Lessons: Do not dedicate your novel to your wife's sister especially if your wife is insanely jealous because that might just push her over the edge. . . edge being murder/suicide.



Name: Veda Pierce (Ann Blyth)
Film: Mildred Pierce
Who She Wronged: Her overly indulgent mother, Mildred.
What She Did: Hated her mother's pies. Even though her mother becomes a business tycoon through owning a chain of restaurants Veda looks down on her as a glorified waitress. She secretly marries and falsely claims to be pregnant then negotiates a huge settlement after an annulment. Seduces, beds and murders her mother's playboy husband and lets her mother try to take the blame for it.
Her fate: Hmm... California judicial system in the 1930s and 1940s. . .I'm thinking she got the chair.
Lessons: Do not take a murder rap for a spoiled brat daughter if you do she will never learn.

Bette Davis Under the Stars

If you've got Turner Classic Movies and you're staying in because of the heat check out the afternoon of Bette Davis movies. They are showing some of her earlier films like Marked Woman and Three on a Match as a part of their Summer Under the Stars festival.

The schedule of Bette Davis films got me thinkning about some little seen moments of the great Ms. Davis. Hope you enjoy. Have a wonderful weekend.

Bette on Hollywood Palace 1965



BD on What's My Line 1960



BD on I've Got A Secret 1964



I love how she lights up around minute 6. Classic.


BD on the Dick Cavett Show 1975



PS - The actor with the ugly kind of mouth was Edward G. Robinson

Breakdowns of 1942

While suffering from insomnia last night, I found this great clip that includes outtakes and bloopers from Kings Row. Fast forward to around 4:47 to see future president Ronald Reagan flub his lines and crack jokes on the set - he's pretty darn cute.

Some other highlights include a Bette Davis stand-in screen testing young men for a small part in Now, Voyager. Can you guess which one got the part? Here's a hint - He's the one that doesn't recite his lines like he's made of cardboard. 

It's pretty interesting to see icons like Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis break character to reveal some of their offscreen personalities. It seems like goddamn was the expletive of choice back in 1942. Or, perhaps that just chose to edit out any f-bombs. Oh, and check out that Ann Sheridan. She  sure does look like she has a good time, huh? 

These breakdowns were an in house WB production produced annually for the studio Christmas Party.  

Kings Row

If Andy Hardy’s Carvel represents the idealized version of small town America in the movies with it’s happy families, tight knit communities and moral lessons then Kings Row, Missouri is the antithesis to that. In fact, in Kings Row, Andy Hardy types are few and far between. This is small town American gothic and a film that starts on an ironic note by proclaiming in it’s opening scene that it’s a good clean place to raise a family. This, it most certainly is not. All the children we come to meet in Kings Row grow up to be angst ridden, deeply disturbed or worse.

As a film Kings Row is a quiet masterpiece and an underappreciated melodrama that is today best known for the famous scene where Ronald Reagan screams out in horror “Where’s the rest of me!” But the events that led up to that moment and the film itself revolve around topics such as sadism, incest, insanity and murder - all very heady stuff, indeed.

Produced in 1942 by Warner Brothers and based upon a novel by Henry Bellamann, Kings Row tells the story of five childhood friends who grow up to lead complicated lives. Parris Mitchell (Robert Cummings) has become a medical student, studying privately with Dr. Alexander Tower (Claude Rains), whose daughter Cassandra (Betty Field) is a sheltered neurotic. Louise Gordon (Nancy Coleman) has been raised by harsh parents who warn here away from playboy Drake McHugh (Reagan), who is living off an inheritance.

Drake ends up falling for Randy Monoghan (Ann Sheridan), the former tomboy who has grown up in to a most practical working class girl. Things then get very dark. First, when Dr. Tower discovers Cassandra is pregnant he kills her and himself. Then, after losing his fortune and taking a job at the railroad yard, Drake is injured and Dr. Gordon (Charles Coburn) decides to amputate the young man's legs as a punishment for his former hedonism. This is all in the first half of the film

This is an intense film and the lighthearted moments are few and far between. Kings Row pulls away the veneer of respectability of a small American town to show that titles and class really have no direct correlation to morality and ethics. In fact, it is the leading figures of the town that perform the most heinous acts. Dr. Tower kills himself and his daughter, the president of the bank embezzles Drake’s money, Dr. Gordon abuses his daughter and performs sadistic surgeries on the "sinful". These are people in positions of authority and they are the morally corrupt.

Kings Row is a pre-war predecessor to Peyton Place but it makes Peyton Place look like Pleasantville. At times Peyton Place indulges to0 much in being a pot-boiler and the fact that it is filmed in glorious technicolor undermines alot of dark side of human nature it is trying to expose. Something sinister can always be lurking in the shadows and light of a black and white film. Judith Anderson's face framed in half darkness, or the flash of white lightening illuminating the shadows of a clandestine couple in a dark room sets a much different tone in black and white than it does in technicolor.

Cinematographer James Wong Howe is responsible for the cinematic beauty of Kings Row and along with director Sam Wood and production designer William Cameron Menzies they keep the film from ever coming anything close to campy which in lesser skilled hands it certainly could have been. Although filmed on a soundstage and the Warner's backlot you never have the feeling that you are anyplace but turn of the 20th century America.

Credit also has to go to the cast of young actors particularly Betty Field as Cassandra Tower. Adult Cassandra has very little screen time before she meets her untimely end, but in her twenty minutes or so in front of the camera Field imbues Cassie with all the passion, pathos and neuroticism needed to keep her haunting us and Parris Mitchell until the end of the film.

Also, Ronald Reagan gives the finest performance of his career. Reagan plays Drake initially as a happy go lucky playboy who's all jokes and laughs for the ladies. There is such an infectious twinkle in his eye that you can see why the mothers warn their daughters away from him. Once he loses his money he becomes bitter, moody and self-pitying and later on, after his accident and the loss of his legs, he slips into a deep dark depression. Reagan's Drake is believable and it shows that with a good director and supportive cast he can really act.

Contemporary critics opinions were split. Variety was relatively kind writing:

Kings Row, Henry Bellamann's widely-read novel of small-town life at the turn ofthe century, becomes an impressive and occasionally inspiring, though overlongpicture under Sam Wood's eloquent direction. It is an atmospheric story,steadily engrossing and plausible.

New York Times critic Bosley Crowther's assessment was relatively negative:

One could accept its morbid and spiritually depressing tale if it weretold with coherence and unity and some better-than-average imagery. But itisn't. The script by Casey Robinson is built like an unreliable dam; it laborsover things of passing consequence—surface details in a web of clashinglives—and skimps the motivating fundamentals which should be most carefullyclarified. Sam Wood's elaborate direction is slow and quite affected, attemptingto make the story seem more profound than the script. And the performances ofthe leading actors—especially that of Robert Cummings in the top role—arecompletely lacking in conviction. "Kings Row" was too much for them tohoe.

True, the original novel was a bit too thick for the screen, being acomprehensive story of several sordid and perverse folk living in a queerMidwestern city around the turn of the century. The leading character was—and,in the picture, still is—a likely lad who aspires to become a great doctor. Butin the novel his ambition and the subsequent course of his life was influencedby many psychological factors which are barely suggested—or omitted entirely—inthe film. And thus some essential explanations are left hanging or are slyly overlooked.

Today, there is a new respect for the film as it has found a new audience. Kings Row's legacy is also secured by Erich Wolfgang Korngold's beautiful theme music which is considered one of the finest film scores ever composed. It also served as the inspiration for John William's theme for Star Wars.

Interestingly, in the mid-1950s, Warner Brothers planned a remake of Kings Row. The film was slated to star Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Eva Marie Saint and Ronald Reagan cast once again in the role of Drake McHugh. Sadly, it never got out of the planning stages.