She Blogged By Night

When doing research for a post, I often find myself with a multitude of pictures, all of which I want to use. The reality is that many of these images are discarded for lack of space. I thought it might be kind of fun on this lazy Friday afternoon to post those leftover photos. Some of these photos are shrunk down, and you can see the originals by clicking directly on the picture.

The sources of these photos is varied. Some are screencaps I made from a film, are scanned from books or clipped from ebooks, others were found on the web, others on eBay. Many are photos I found over the years and saved, but it's been so long ago that I couldn't tell you anything else about them. If I know the exact source I'll note it here.

Composing a post takes time, that's why I don't update daily. Often I have grand, sweeping ideas for a series of entries on a common theme, yet those ideas get abandoned quickly once I realize the time and effort required. For instance, my recent post on "Doll Face" was going to be part of a series on Gypsy Rose Lee. I had planned to watch "Doll Face", re-watch "Lady of Burlesque", read The G-String Murders, and find clips of Lee in cameo appearances. While I will probably revisit her in the future, I discovered that all things Gypsy -- her movies, stage plays, books, and biographies -- were essentially the same story told slightly differently. I knew I couldn't get enough material for a series, so I abandoned the idea. The end result is a host of unused notes and photos, like this one of Lee as she appeared in "The Trouble with Angels" (1966).

Before I started this "official" blog, I fiddled around a bit over on Stacia's Stuff. One of my first projects was to prove that the lady in the photo of Mrs. Potter on "M*A*S*H" was not Spring Byington, as many claimed. This post has gone through several edits and reformatting changes, mostly due to layout modifications, ultimately losing the picture you see on the right. That's Byington with Francis Rafferty from the TV show "December Bride".

Here's a screencap from "The Big Heat" (1953), which I blogged about here. I really liked this cap, I thought it was a terrific illustration of how cavalier and dismissive Glenn Ford's character was, at the expense of the women in his life and the women involved in the case. That's actress Dorothy Green in her first film role. (Note: I previously identified her as Jeannette Nolan, but this was corrected, thanks to reader burlivespipe! Nolan's first screen appearance was as Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles' 1948 film, and who guest starred in many dozens of major television shows from the 1950s to the 1980s. She's the mother of actor Tim McIntire, whom she outlived by 14 years, and someone who will likely be featured here in the future.) Dorothy Green went on to guest star in many TV shows and was an original cast member of "The Young and the Restless". I have a terrible time comparing and remembering faces, but once I realized this was Green and not Nolan, I recognized her from Y&R episodes I saw when I was a little girl.

One of my favorite posts was on the 1930 atrocity "Just Imagine". Yes, I make the movie sound absolutely terrible, but I'm not sure I've ever properly conveyed just how much I love terrible movies. "Just Imagine" has some amazing moments though, and I think one of my favorites has to be El Brendel's sheepish look when the guard Loko starts hitting on him. (See my post on "Just Imagine" for a screencap.) Much to the chagrin of, well, everybody, I have a soft spot in my brain heart for Brendel. One of my biggest problems with "Just Imagine" were the bland, lifeless leads Maureen O'Sullivan and John Garrick. O'Sullivan was at least cute and had some fabulous dresses. Garrick made almost no impression on me whatsoever, and even now I don't recognize him when I see him in other films. I had so many photos for "Just Imagine" that I couldn't use them all, so some neat things like this promotional still were cast aside. I suspect I got this from amy_jeanne at Livejournal. It features O'Sullivan and Garrick in 1930s street clothes instead of their futuristic outfits, which is a shame.

Ah, "Fitzwilly". That was a fun post for several reasons. First, I couldn't convince my husband to watch the film with me. He's got a strict "No Dick Van Dyke" policy when it comes to movies, which is a shame. He was scarred for life after a childhood viewing of "Mary Poppins", you see. Second, in researching the film I stumbled across Jack Pendarvis' blog, which I find unendingly amusing, but also frustrating because you cannot email or contact him via the blog. That's why I am shamelessly name-dropping in hopes he will see this, because I want to ask him if he knows Jim Neibaur and, if not, why not? He and Jim both share a love for Jerry Lewis, which I think is crazy talk -- why waste time with Lewis when you can watch the comedy stylings of El Brendel? (Please don't send me ASCII email bombs for saying that.) Anyway, back to the topic: I have a spare screencap from "Fitzwilly" of Barbara Feldon, who I was actually quite taken with in the film. The banter between her and her professor father was the best part of "Fitzwilly". Also, it's impossible to not be charmed by Feldon in those glasses.

This next picture is actually a still from the biography of Samuel Goldwyn, "The Man and His Movies" (2001). It's a photo of Goldwyn with United Artist founders Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks (D.W. Griffith is not pictured). I read the book this biography was based on a few years ago and quite enjoyed it. Actually, it was read under rather sad circumstances -- it was in the library of the Hospice House where my mother was at the time, and as I was alone with her for days at a time, I needed a book to keep me sane. The book is quite lengthy and rather engrossing for a film buff like me, so it was the perfect read... as much as there could be a "perfect read" in those circumstances. I admit I may have had unreasonable hopes for the film version of the bio, but I was slightly disappointed in it. The interviews with Goldwyn's son Sam, Jr. and daughter Ruth definitely made it worthwhile, though.



The last picture is a publicity still for "Wife Vs. Secretary" (1936). I recently saw this still on a friend's LiveJournal, and when I went to save it, discovered I had a copy already. It was saved under some odd name, which is why I apparently forgot it when doing my original post. That's a shame, too, because this is a great still, and I always wish I'd had better pictures for that post.

Thus ends my post of random photos for a random Friday evening. Stay tuned for future posts which may have actual content!