#project1952 day 54

[project1939]

Jello mold number 8 of the project! The Creamy Pimiento Ring! It sounded so demented, I had to try it. Serving it with arugula and cucumbers vastly improves it- I don't think you could eat the Jello mold by itself. It has that familiar pungent mayo/vinegar/lemon tang of several of the old recipes I've tried, but overall, it wasn't too bad. I do not understand the need to put shredded cheese in it, though. This is definitely one that I would never, under any circumstances, actually serve to people!

[project1939]

Life magazine, August 4th, 1952. I love the little illustrations at the top demonstrating how far vacuums have come- check out the flapper vacuuming with her huge string of pearls! I also love that it tells you the new vacuum is designed to have no interference with your radio or TV signals! And it's so quiet, apparently, you can use it right next to the crib with your sleeping baby inside!

[project1939]

Life magazine, August 4th, 1952. It's still crazy to remember that it wasn't all that long ago that the Democrats had a powerful conservative segregationist/racist contingent in their party. This article is about how a group of young northern liberals tried to get concessions on Civil Rights, among other things, from the South, but ultimately overplayed their hand.

[project1939]

Life magazine, August 4th, 1952. If I were a Democrat in 1952, I would have been a little miffed about the difference in the coverage of the Republican vs Democratic conventions in Life magazine. The Republican coverage was triumphant, even though actual physical fights broke out on the floor. The coverage of the Democrats made it look more contentious and underwhelming than it was in a lot of ways.

[project1939]

Life magazine, August 4th, 1952. I've been surprised at the number of now defunct automakers that existed in 1952. I'd never heard of Nash or Hudson... and I have definitely never heard of Willys! "Say, do you drive a Willy?" "Why, I wouldn't drive anything but my big new Willy!"

[project1939]

Day 54- Film: What Price Glory? 

Release date: August 22nd, 1952. 

Studio: 20th Century Fox 

Genre: War 

Director: John Ford 

Producer: Sol C. Siegel 

Actors: James Cagney, Corinne Calvet, Dan Dailey 

Plot Summary: During the later part of WWI, American Troops in France are getting younger and less experienced. Captain Flagg requests help training the green young men, but when that help arrives, it is his old nemesis, Sergeant Quirt. The rivalry between them heats up even more when they both fall for the same French girl. 

My Rating (out of five stars): ** ½ 

This may not have been the worst film on my list so far, but it was without question the hardest to sit though. It wasn’t fortuitous for this film to line up as the one to watch directly after The Quiet Man- both are John Ford comedy dramas with an excessive running time and lots of macho men bonding while drinking and fighting. I find all of that a bore, honestly. I didn’t really care about the characters, and the film seemed torn over whether or not to question war or glorify it. 

The Good: 

I liked the fact that there was a lot of French spoken in the film, and it wasn’t subtitled or cut down too much. 

There was some sentiment that popped up occasionally about the futility of war or the cost of sending very young men to fight, but it often got undercut by other parts of the film. This was not a film that glamorized war, however, which I appreciated.

The Bad: 

It’s ridiculous for a stunningly beautiful young French girl to be torn between a funny looking short pudgy guy of about 50, and a 40-ish guy who isn’t much more attractive. Looks and age are not everything, I know, but this just felt unbelievable. 

All the macho bullshit that I’ve discussed already today and yesterday. 

Like The Quiet Man, this was too long.  

Like The Quiet Man, the characters were not developed well at all. 

The French girl Charmaine could literally have been a mannequin. I can’t think of one single personality trait or interest she had, except for her love of soldiers. I guess she sang a couple of songs, so I’d infer she likes music? 

The other French girl character- she is supposed to be a schoolgirl of 17 who starts seeing a 22-year-old American soldier. They gave the actress pigtails and put minimal make up on her, and I swear she looked about 14 years old. It was creepy. 

Normally I like James Cagney a lot, but I didn’t like him in this. He just kind of swung from being blandly gruff to gratingly gruff. At times it gave the impression that he was just phoning it in. 

I didn’t really understand or get invested in the rivalry between Cagney and Dailey, even after they fell for the same woman.

Dailey is also an actor that can be very appealing, but I found him hard to like here. 

This was supposed to be a comedy/drama, but I did not find much funny in it at all.

[project1939]

(Female pro baseball player Bonnie Baker on What's My Line?, top, father and daughter goof around on My Little Margie, bottom.)

Day 54- TV and Radio: 

TV:  

My Little Margie, season 1, episode 10, “Efficiency Expert,” August 18th, 1952 

What’s My Line?, season 3, “Perle Mesta,” August 17th, 1952. 

Radio: 

The Chase, “The Promotion,” August 21st, 1952. 

The Whistler, “The Final Papers,” August 24th, 1952. 

The Chase episode was really thrilling today. A cop has a girlfriend named Jean who types up the recordings an author of a novel sends her on a Dictaphone. The man is a mystery, however, and she has never met him in real life. Suddenly his novel starts describing murders before they happen. Is he actually a disturbed killer? And, to make things worse, has Jean fallen in love with him? This could have been made into a really good movie- I was riveted until the end. 

I enjoyed My Little Margie more today. I’ve mostly been watching the show because there’s not much to choose from on the summer schedule. Today’s show added an element that has been sorely missing, and I ended up being very moved. Near the climax of all the typical hijinks that happen on the show, Margie goes to her dad and says, “You always say you try to be both mother and father to me. Will you act like my mother now?” They work though their conflict by pretending he’s her mother, and it wasn’t played for laughs. It was just really sweet- they were both more vulnerable with each other, and I loved it. I wish they had more cute loving moments with each other instead of just screwball antics. 

What’s My Line? continued to play with gender expectations. The first guest was a female professional baseball player, and it took the panel forever to guess! Even when they ascertained she played a sport, it took a long time. Was it tennis? She was from Canada, so was it a special Canadian sport? It was funny to see, again, how far from people’s expectations being a baseball player was. They also had a lady veterinarian on, which was cool. 

...And now a word from today’s best sponsor: Philip Morris cigarettes! Something wonderful happens when you change to Philip Morris! Coughs due to smoking disappear! Food tastes better! Your “parched throat” clears up! You won’t have that stale “smoked out” feeling anymore! Wait... what? All of that sounds like what will happen if you actually quit! (Shhh... ask Lucille Ball about switching- she preferred Chesterfields so much, she would hide them inside Philip Morris packs due to her sponsorship agreement! ...This portion of the ad sponsored by Chesterfield.) 

[project1939]

Day 54: “You see before you one of the seven great calamities of the world!” 

50s slang of the day: “If he tanks up tonight, get rid of him.” (If he gets drunk tonight, get rid of him.)

Best/worst quote of the day: “I’m off war for life. No more for me. It was alright when you had 30 or 40 men in the hills who knew their jobs, but now there are so many little boys. Little boys who have no business being here at all!” 

Song of the day: “K.C. Lovin’ (Kansas City),” by Little Willie Littlefield. I'm sure most people are familiar with this song- it's been covered as a rock song with slightly different iterations over the years. Little Richard, the Beatles, James Brown... they’ve all done famous versions of it. This version is juuust pre-Rock and Roll, but it’s still got the same driving groove, although the backing band is closer to swing than rock. It’s more stripped down than some later versions, but just as much fun. 

Highlights: 

I took Jello mold number 8 out of the mold today. It was called “Creamy Pimiento Ring,” and, yes, I know that sounds pretty horrific. But... it was one of those molds that is surprisingly better than expected. I didn’t love it, but I shouldn’t have any trouble finishing it over the next couple of days. 

The radio show The Chase can sometimes be very good. Today’s episode was very very good. It should have been made into a movie! There was even more effective use of a Dictaphone than in Sudden Fear. 

Seeing a professional female baseball player on What’s My Line? 

Lowlights: 

It’s late October in reality, but it’s August for me in the project right now. I wish it were August in real life. 

Having to watch two overly long John Ford films about posturing macho men who bond through drink and violence... two days in a row. At least there are no more left to view! 

[project1939]

Day 55- Film: Penny Princess 

Release date: August 25th, 1952. 

Studio: Conquest Productions 

Genre: Come 

Director: Val Guest 

Producer: Earl St. John, Frank Godwin 

Actors: Dirk Bogarde, Yolande Donlan, Reginald Beckwith 

Plot Summary: The European microstate Lampidorra, situated between France, Switzerland, and Italy, is about to go broke. A wealthy American businessman offers to buy the whole country, but just when all the papers are signed, he drops dead. After a long search for any of his heirs, they settle upon Lindy Smith, a Macy's shop-girl who sells potato peelers. Now she must fly to Lampidorra to save the country.  

My Rating (out of five stars): ***½- **** 

For pure enjoyment, this film is worthy of four stars for me. I realize that might be a little generous, though. But I honestly loved this film- it’s just a simple absurdist comedy, and at that it is very successful. I giggled the whole way through. 

The Good: 

Yolande Donlan as Lindy Smith. I liked her- she was really the perfect lead for this kind of film. She’s definitely pretty, but her voice and delivery make her a great comic lead. She’d probably just be the funny side-kick in most films. 

Dick Bogarde as Tony Craig. He was also perfectly cast for me- he's adorable and charming. 

All the townsfolk. They were colorfully silly, and there was a lot of hilarious dry delivery in them. They had a lot of little asides and throwaway lines that cracked me up. 

The whole ridiculous concept of the film.  

Every time I thought things were already at peak silliness, something else would come along that made me laugh even more. There were a lot of running jokes that I got a kick out of. Even minor things like “two thousand true and solid citizens,” etc. 

The way we find out that Lampidorra’s entire economy is smuggling. These sweet-seeming people are so firm and matter-of-fact about it, even that made me laugh. 

The schneeze. When that element was introduced into the plot, it killed me. It’s an example of another one of those moments of “Can this movie get any more ridiculous? YES. Yes, it can.” (But in a good way!) 

The way the romance between Lindy and Tony was handled. If they tried to get too traditionally romantic, it wouldn’t have worked inside such a crazy little film. I thought they found a good happy medium, so we saw how much they cared about each other, but it wasn't overly expressed.

Some of the location shooting. I guess some of this was shot in Catalonia, and you definitely got a rural European vibe from it. It generally did not look like it was shot on a backlot. 

The Technicolor. This film would not have worked nearly as well if it was in black and white. It needed the vivid candy-box color of Technicolor to add to the fairytale aspect of it all. 

This was exactly the kind of movie I needed today. I’ve been basically sick in bed half the day, so this kind of gentle goofy humor was medicine. 

The Bad: 

I don’t know that I felt totally satisfied with the ending. (Spoilers!) I was kind of sad that Lindy and Tony just rushed off away from Lampidorra at the end. 

Who designed that movie poster? It doesn't capture the feeling of the film at all. It's so bland, and it tries to make Donlan into a cheesecake girl.