Victoria Balloon
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Victoria Balloon | Talkin' the Oldies
Join us at the corner drugstore for a soda as guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
Whenever I need soothing, I watch an Andy Hardy movie. MGM made this series of B movies from 1937-1946 featuring the lives of the Hardy family with the focus on the adventures of son Andy.
A high school youth growing up in the small town of Carvel, Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) falls in love with various girls and gets into financial scrapes, usually related to the complexities of his love life. Father Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) deals with the best and worst of human nature as seen from the bench while guiding his family though real-estate deals gone sour, multi-million-dollar inheritances, and the occasional family vacation.
A number of stars were in these films (the role of Judge Hardy was played first by Lionel Barrymore, then by Stone) and many young starlets passed through them (Ann Rutherford, Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Donna Reed, Kathryn Grayson, Esther Williams, and Bonita Granville were a few of Andy’s love interests).
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest blogger Victoria Balloon writes:
Already popular in comics and radio, Superman had previously starred in two serials: Superman (1948) and Atom-Man vs. Superman (1950) If our hero could leap tall buildings in a single bound, surely he could make the leap to a feature length film? Superman and the Mole-Men (1951), written by Robert Maxwell and Whitney Ellsworth ("Richard Fielding" was the team’s screen-credit) was the first Superman movie and would begin the journey of America’s greatest superhero into the unknown territory of a new medium: television.
In a plot that seems straight out of today’s headlines, Daily Planet reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane try to get the scoop on the deepest oil well ever drilled, only to find the mine boss shutting down the site without explanation. Kent looks for clues and Lane calls the sheriff; while on the phone Lois glimpses two creatures having the "bodies of moles... with great big human heads!" (Thus endeth any similarities to today’s headlines.)
Meanwhile, the Mole-Men wander into town with their furry sleeper pajamas (several scenes clearly show zippers) and cotton-stuffed, barely-disguised swim caps, The Mole-Men look more worried than horrifying.
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Saddle up! Guest contributor Cowgirl Victoria "Buckaroo" Balloon writes:
A Saturday afternoon at the movies was practically synonymous with seeing a cowboy picture. From exciting serials with cliff-hanging action to full-length features, there are so many greats to choose from—Ken Maynard, Tom Mix, and Gene Autry are just a few—but only one was known as the “King of the Cowboys”: Roy Rogers.
Under California Stars, released by Republic Pictures in 1948, is a wonderful example of a Saturday matinee cowboy film. There are no moments of moral ambiguity or brooding cowboys in this picture, no kissing clinches or anything else to make us potentially lose our popcorn. It is top-notch Republic fare featuring Roy Rogers in his prime.
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
Watching certain films can be a cherished holiday tradition. The problem is that after the tenth time, you already know that the angel gets his wings, the kid gets the BB gun, and it snows. For some modern classics that create a festive mood without whopping you over the head with a Yule log, consider these films that take place during the holiday season but aren’t specifically about the holidays.
The holidays put an emphasis on family, but not all families look like a Norman Rockwell painting. If yours is less like the Cleavers and more like the Sopranos, consider Moonstruck (1987). Loretta Castorini (Cher) decides to marry again, but in trying to amend the bad blood between fiancé Johnny Camarerri (Danny Aiello) and his brother, finds herself falling in love with Danny's brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage). A full moon has the whole family rekindling old flames and bringing to light some new ones. Norman Jewison directed this homage to opera and Brooklyn; Cher and Olympia Dukakis both won the Academy Awards for their roles.
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
People have always been enthralled by showbiz talent in the very young, and movies are the ultimate showcase for young entertainers. Unfortunately, they are also a way for parents with unfulfilled ambitions to live vicariously through their children, who are easy to manipulate.
There's no end to the tales of children who were exploited or who, after a few years in film, faded into an adulthood that was a pitiful effort to relive past glories. But there are those who had early success and faced the difficulties of a failing Hollywood career to come back for a second or even third act, either as actors, advocates, or by completely reinventing themselves.
Jackie Coogan was an actor who began his career in both vaudeville and silent films. He was “discovered” by Charlie Chaplin, who was delighted by Coogan’s uncanny ability to mimic people. Coogan’s most memorable early role is as Charlie Chaplin's plucky pal in The Kid (1921), but Coogan and Chaplin also appeared together in A Day’s Pleasure (1919) and Nice and Friendly (1922).
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
Before there was House and Gray’s Anatomy Americans got their Hollywood medical drama from watching Dr. James Kildare. Not the 1960s television series starring Richard Chamberlain, but a series of MGM short feature films from the 1940s.
It doesn’t take much to turn medicine into drama. The doctor who stands between life and death is a hero made for the movies, and Hollywood has known it for a long time. Classic films with plots based on period science and technology are fun to watch, and MGM’s Dr. Kildare films, based on the stories of Max Brand, present characters that are still well-known today.
The young Dr. James Kildare, son of a country doctor and fresh out of medical school, was played by Lew Ayres. Ayres won acclaim for his role as Paul Bäumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and worked steadily throughout the 1930s. Unfortunately, studios cast him as a tough guy or rich dilettante, and the roles never quite suited him. It wasn’t until he played the alcoholic younger brother of Katharine Hepburn in Holiday (1938) that he was able to demonstrate the complex mixture of gentle charm and brutal honesty that exhibited his talent.
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
Where did Ma and Pa Kettle come from and how on earth did such an unlikely, unsophisticated premise become so popular?
In 1945 Betty Mac Donald’s "The Egg and I" was a wildly successful book, and in 1947 Universal Studios turned it into a successful film starring Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray. While these two veteran actors brought a lighthearted comedic touch to their roles, it was a pair of secondary characters that became the favorites. Although Ma and Pa Kettle were only onscreen for 21 minutes, Marjorie Main’s gravel-voiced hollering and Percy Kilbride’s laconic replies made an indelible impression on urban and rural audiences alike. Main was nominated for Best Supporting Actress; Universal Studios and associate producer Leonard Goldstein sensed a goldmine.
Victoria Balloon | FanFare Guests
Guest contributor Victoria Balloon writes:
Combine outrageous scenarios with slapstick humor, then add witty, fast-paced dialogue and light romantic situations and you have that wonderful cinematic treasure called the screwball comedy -- or as film critic Andrew Sarris describes it, "a sex comedy without the sex." The basic elements of the screwball comedy were not particularly new; director Ernst Lubitsch had made sophisticated comedies such as Trouble in Paradise and slapstick was integral to the silent films of Charlie Chaplin, while Hollywood already had tough-talking blondes like Mae West and Broadway had light comedies by Noel Coward.
What made screwballs a completely new genre was the combination of these elements against the backdrop of three events in Hollywood history: the transition to sound in film, stricter enforcement of the Production Code and the Great Depression.
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