Mildred Fierce
Last week, Slate.com ran a fine appreciation of James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce which I managed to miss until today. Like the author, the Vintage paperback reissue served as my introduction to Cain. I was transfixed by how much more gritty and earthy the novel was compared to the movie. It was also interesting that Cain described Mildred as a petite woman with blonde curly hair and penetrating eyes — more a Bette Davis than Joan Crawford type. In the film, Ann Blyth plays the daughter (wonderfully) as a spoiled brat, but the novel’s Veda is a hundred times more insidious and manipulative. Plus, naturally, Cain supplies the story with a lot more evilness than anything the 1940s movie production code would allow. It’s a great read.
I also got a small kick out of this other Slate feature — classic lit book covers redone as pulp fiction. You just know that Lewis Carrol intended Alice to resemble a saucy little minx.
With a Pinch of Cinnamon
Best thing I’ve heard all day. The news is especially refreshing in this case, since Mission: Impossible has been so hard to find lately. The FX network used to air repeats back in the early to mid-’90s, but now it appears that the episodes are only being shown locally in the Los Angeles area. These DVD sets will be an opportunity for many to reacquaint themselves with one of the most acclaimed series of the ’60s. I’m just barely familiar with the Barbara Bain/Martin Landau/Peter Graves period, which turn out to be only two years of a seven season run.
P.S. I know this space is starting to turn into The TV Blog, but it’s hot out and I’m bored. Humor me a little.
Alternative Fuel, CTW-style
We interrupt this weblog for a funky flashback from Sesame Street (or was it The Electric Company?). Have a nice Memorial Day? We just ate a huge lunch of BBQ hot dogs and cherry pie. I’m porked.
Does She Puke Pink, Too?
A.V. Club blogger Kyle Ryan singled out MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 as the most offensive show on television. I’ve managed to avoid that one, but now I’d like to see episode with the Scottsdale girl who dyed her pet poodles pink for a pink-themed party and got two brand new cars for her birthday. Her dad is a local auto dealer ’round these parts, and apparently the show has touched off a controversy after it was found that Daddy and his fellow super-rich Scottsdale auto dealers finangled a deal to promote their businesses using city taxpayer money. Read about it here and here.
Over on another channel, more details on Turner Classic Movies’ efforts at acquiring a more youthful audience (via TV Squad). I’m looking forward to Rob Zombie introducing cult horror films, and the one with young actors interviewing their older peers looks promising — if it’s done the right way. The other show they’re producing, Take Two, deserves to die a quick death. From the article: “This unique concept will give a young star the opportunity to act out (or completely re-imagine) an iconic scene from a classic Hollywood movie. The pilot for the series will feature Wilmer Valderrama re-creating a scene from The Lost Weekend.” Blecch!
Housecleaning 2
Heads up — I’m selling off the remainder of my Russel Wright American Modern dinnerware in the ongoing Buy My Crap at eBay campaign. Recently I’ve pruned down my collection to just the white and grey pieces, along with a few token pieces in the rare glacier blue and common chartreuse colors. This setup looks really nice and chic, like something out of Dwell magazine; I’ll have to take a picture of it to share here soon.
Like I said before, it’s liberating to get rid of a lot of this stuff, but at the same time the lack of interest it’s generating can get frustrating. This week, I’m doing gravy boats and liners. Though I priced them fairly, it appears that these pieces aren’t doing too well — so if you want to get a nice set of nice cheap old dinnerware, here’s your opportunity. The All-Wright website contains lots of pictures of American Modern for the uninitiated (my prices are much better than theirs, however).
Happy Little Bears
Check out this beautiful set of Terrytoons cartoon lobby cards presented by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Appropos of nothing, whatever happened to those Happy Little Elves on The Simpsons? I loved whenever they’d pop up on the early episodes, with “cheap” animation and helium voices; I even used to entertain thoughts of a Happy Little Elves Spinoff Special. Nowadays you’d be lucky to catch a glimpse of the elves hanging on Lisa’s bedroom wall. Bring back the Elves!
Gruesome Twosome: Sunshine Girls Edition
Vicky Leandros: “Sunshine Boy”
LP: A Taste of … Vicky, 1967
Miss DD Phillips: “The World of Thursday Morning”
LP: Miss DD Phillips, c.1969
Warming temperatures have prompted me to share a couple of nice ‘n perky ’60s female vocals — songs that will have you gaily skipping through the park, multicolored balloons in hand. Greek singer Vicky Leandros might be better known to European audiences, but her gender-switched version of The Parade’s “Sunshine Girl” proved that she was just as comfortable with a more American, AM radio friendly sound. This odd choice of cover material unexpectedly became an excellent showcase for her versatile singing voice. “The World of Thursday Morning” by the mysterious Miss DD Phillips bursts through with sassy verve; I could almost picture Miss DD belting this from a Broadway stage. Thanks to my buddy Ion for both of these sunny cuts.
Drawing Inspiration
Penguin Graphic Classics is a new line of paperback literary classics with covers designed by today’s hottest graphic novelists. Bookslut effusively praises them here; Fantagraphics shares more covers here. It’s an interesting concept — I suppose the success of individual volumes depends a lot on the talent of the artist involved. For example, Chris Ware’s treatment of Voltaire’s Candide comes through as typically brilliant and sumptuous even when pixilated and tiny on a computer screen. I’d love to see what the “dead tree” version looks like. On the music side, the Deutsche Grammaphon label is taking on a similar tact with its Classical Bytes series.
Rosemary, Lilac and Heather
You’ll recall that last week I linked to an old Rock Flowers doll commercial. Now it appears that music blogger Mondo Daddykin has made available most of Rock Flowers’ recorded output for download — their two albums along with one of the three singles originally sold with the rockin’ dolls. Out of sight, man. This and much more alluring and hard to find vintage bubblegum can be found at Mondo Daddykin (thanks to Ion for the tip!!). Update: now it’s the complete Rock Flowers. Groovy.
Felix the (Silent) Cat
Watch Felix In Hollywood (1923) — one of 10 silent Felix the Cat cartoons nicely supplied by Bibi of Bibi’s Box. It’s cool to see this early, primitive animation — more like a moving comic strip, actually. I singled this one out since I saw it theatrically last year and its depictions of now-obscure movie stars are fun.
New in the Store: Cute Baby Stuff
This adorable little tyke is the newest addition to the scrubbles store. Born on a baby shower invitation I designed for Max and his friend Amanda, it has now been modified to go on a baby bib, a romper, and a keepsake ornament. C’mon, you know you want one.
Razzle Dazzle ‘Em
Tony Award nominations are in. I don’t follow the N.Y. theater world too closely, but around here we love the Tonys. We will likely watch the live broadcast on June 11th, and we will just as likely curse CBS for screwing it up again. I’m aware that they need to attract Joe and Mamie Midwestern who don’t normally get Broadway musicals, but that doesn’t mean the show has to be molded into a dozen other glitzy yet empty awards ceremonies. A few years ago, PBS produced its own broadcasts to showcase the technical awards which CBS deemed too insignificant. These programs never failed to fascinate, profiling the nominees and conveying the hard work and craftsmanship that goes into a major theater production. They were engaging and wonderful, but now they’re gone. Once again it’ll come down to this: another celebrity-studded but not terribly theatrical show will go on, and CBS will wonder why the ratings were so bad the next morning. And so it goes.
Soy Bomb
Continuing the theme from the previous post, Derrick Bostrom shares a new array of Japanese snacks and toys. I especially like the Pocky chocolate covered sticks clearly labeled “For Men” on the box. Do they have a musky scent or something?
Happy Amusement Park
Whew. I’ve finally finished preparing and uploading a flickr set of scans from an early ’60s issue of the long running Japanese childrens’ magazine Tanoshii Youchien (Happy Amusement Park Kindergarten). I came across this find last year in a Bisbee, AZ collectibles store and couldn’t put it down. The pages contain a bunch of wild and different illustration styles, but they all have that indefinably “Japanese” look. Stop by, and if by chance you know some Japanese, feel free to help translate! Arigato.
The Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Today I thought I’d utilize the wonders of YouTube to share a couple of groovy old doll commercials from the early ’70s. First we have a 1971 spot for Rock Flowers, a multiracial trio which were supposed to be an outta-sight musical group like Josie & The Pussycats. As Casey Kasem points out in his voice-over, each doll came with its own record. The little girl with a weird flip hairdo looks like a budding Rock Flowers groupie. Rock on, little girl.
Next we have a commercial for everybody’s favorite, Blythe, from 1972. Dig the music, in which a gritty sounding Joe Cocker-alike sings “Open your eyes to the world of Blythe.” Not something I’d usually associate with dolls, but I like! Not surprisingly, Kenner chose to emphasize the doll’s huge, penetrating eyes. As a YouTube commenter accurately noted, “I always feel like they’re staring deep into my soul.” Too true.
