Tuesday, April 20, 2010

ALL AT SEA


We're mad about classic ocean liners, especially great pictures of classic ocean liners. We're also mad about out-at-sea pictures that put you there. Here, the combination of the grand Queen Mary and the melancholy waters she's crossing, whisks us away in reverie.

Friday, April 16, 2010

AS I WAS SAYING TO THE POPE THE OTHER DAY...


"I don't go to church. Kneeling bags my nylons."
-- Jan Sterling in ACE IN THE HOLE

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

GIG YOUNG

No excuses, but in one afternoon we found ourselves watching Gig Young back to back, courting Joan Crawford in "Torch Song" and Katharine Hepburn in "Desk Set." Both these pairings must have tested the powers of suspended disbelief even back in the 50s. But at least in "Torch Song he is clearly identified as Crawford's boy toy, getting through his duties in a haze of liquor and self-deprecating quips. In one scene she lets him know he's "useless...but beautiful" (which can also be subtexted a complaint for services not rendered.)

In "Desk Set" he's a fast-rising executive stringing Hepburn along, hinting at make-out sessions and marriage. The subtext here is that sex and romance lie elsewhere for him but, darn it, that Hepburn would sure make the kind of wife that would boost his career.

Born Byron Elsworth Barr, we loved Gig Young and the good looks and killer charm he used on his leading ladies and the audience. We sensed that he was not happy as an actor, always playing the guy the girl dumped for another.

At least he was given an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1969 for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" And that's the way we want to remember him.