MM@M: Old Fashioned Sixties Sweethearts

Mad Men at the Movies. Now practically concurrent with episode airings!

Mad Men 4.2 "Christmas Comes But Once a Year"
In this episode SCDP scrambles to make their low budget Christmas party festive for their biggest client Lee Garner Jr.. Don Draper gets drunks and beds his secretary. Awkward! Meanwhile, Freddy Rumsen (Joel Murray) returns with a valuable client in hand. He and his former protege Peggy argue about the Ponds soap campaign. Freddy wants to enlist a celebrity as the spokesperson.

Freddy: Tallulah Bankhead? She's glamorous. She seems more uncompromising than a movie star. She's on Broadway.
Peggy: She never got off Broadway because she's not beautiful enough.
Freddy: Shame on you. C'mon.

[imagining commercial] A little backstage at the makeup mirror with Ponds. Opening night 'The choice of professionals.' It's good, right?
Peggy: All of their research says they're trying to get young women.
Freddy: Young women look up to older women.
Peggy: For beauty tips. Are you joking?

Joking indeed. Here's Tallulah Bankhead in 1930 and again in the 1960s (she died in 1968). She was one of the hardest living, wittiest and most quotable of stars. Glamorous? Yes. A good spokeswoman for clean beauty regimens? Um... No

Later in the episode...

Freddy: On the short list I got Tallulah, Jessica Tandy, Barbara Stanwyck, and Doris Day -- different types.
Peggy: I don't even understand your list. What's wrong with Elizabeth Taylor?
Freddy: Isn't about making old ladies look good?
Peggy: Nothing makes old ladies look good.
Freddy: The Ponds does.

Freddy's wish-list suggests that he goes to the theater a lot (Tandy & Tallulah both being stage rather than movie stars). An argument erupts between them about what young girls want and whether they'll get married or not and such. Peggy, who has just been called "old fashioned" by her boyfriend in a previous scene, deflects the insult Freddy's way.

Peggy: You know, Freddy, I've brought up your name a hundred times to come in and freelance for me. But everyone is right about you. You and your grand dames and your poor old typewriter and your desperate spinsters. You're so old fashioned, you know that?

Hey, if loving grande dames makes you old fashioned, I've been old fashioned since I was five years old! I've always loved theatrical women of a certain age.

In 1964 when this episode takes place, Liz Taylor was a mammoth star and at 32 still the screen's preeminent beauty (Peggy's suggestion makes sense) but it was actually Doris Day, ten years Liz's senior, who was the box office queen. Day was the top earner, male or female, from 1962 through 1964 according to the Motion Picture Almanac, so it's interesting that Day would be grouped in with Freddy's "old fashioned" taste. But I guess the romantic comedy queens, who always seem to be the top earning females no matter the decade, do appeal to the most conventional and traditional of moviegoers... and therefore all age ranges. (It's interesting that Mad Men is suddenly using Peggy and Freddy, two allies, to dramatize the widening generational gap of the tumultous 1960s.)


Liz and Doris are the constants but the sweetheart crown shifts from Debbie Reynolds to Sandra Dee and then, in the mid to late 60s, a real shakeup begins with the musical stars exerting their power be it Ann-Margret, Shirley Maclaine or the tsunami sized arrivals of both Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand (just a few short years away). Natalie Wood is a constant during the early 60s (the peak of her popularity) but one assumes she just missed these lists since the bulk of each top ten is made up of male stars.

Since we're now writing about the episodes shortly after they air, I thought I'd add three new elements to each write up.

Best Line
Peggy to her horny boyfriend: "You're never going to get me to do anything Swedish people do."

Best Intangible Something
I absolutely love that everyone is going to have to blow Lee Garner Jr. (metaphorically speaking) to keep his business. Consider it Sal's phantom revenge. (For those just joining the series, Sal --who used to be the defacto star of "Mad Men at the Movies" -- lost his job basically because he refused Lee Garner's sexual advances behind the scenes.)

Best Single Moment
Joanie leads a conga line.


This moment was a major hit with fans everywhere if Twitter is any indication. It prompted several amusing online responses including a conga from GIF PARTY and a campaign for an entire episode composed solely of Joanie leading a conga line. Hell, I'd watch!

Other references: (Music) The Beatles | (Myths/Characters) Potemkinville, Rasputin, Santa, Three Wise Men, Hitler, The Tin Man | (Literature) Article "The Swedish Way of Love"... this episode takes place in December 1964 so we're still a couple of years away from the famous I Am Curious (Yellow) film but the "Sexual Revolution" is approaching in America and Sweden was an early influential leader in this regard.

Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking Encore

I saw Carrie Fisher's one woman show Wishful Drinking on its closing weekend so I didn't write about it. I didn't want to recommend something that was unable to be seen. However, if you're in the New York/New Jersey area, you have one last chance to see it live. She's filming it for posterity in June.
Here's the info.

No word yet on exactly what it's for. I suspect some sort of pay cable airing. Maybe short theatrical?

The show is very funny whether you're into self-deprecated celebrity wit, Old Hollywood lore or Star Wars trivia. The highlight of the show for me was an absurd celebrity genealogy chart that springs from one of Hollywood's most legendary scandals: the breakup of Carrie's parents Eddie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds ("America's Sweetheart") once La Liz wanted Eddie for herself.

Fisher also picks at Princess Leia like a scab. I'm sure the Princess Leia / Star Wars bits were the hook for any Broadway tourists who picked up tickets during the show's initial run but for me it's the weakest setpiece of the show. Still funny though, don't get me wrong...

Leia and double get some sun in the Yuma desert on the set of Return of the Jedi

My biggest gripe with the one woman show is that it was too short. I could listen to Fisher yammer on for at least twice the length. I would totally love a sequel or better yet a miniseries wherein Carrie delves deeper into her onscreen Warren Beatty fling in Shampoo, or the making of Postcards From the Edge (but Debbie gets a lot of attention in the show so perhaps she felt she covered that).

There wasn't a peep about that Wizard of Oz riff she starred in called Under the Rainbow that everyone has long since forgotten about. Seriously, mention that one aloud anywhere and people will be like "what? never heard of it"! ...even if they lived through the 1980s. And isn't there anything to say about antics on the set of When Harry Met Sally?

I suppose I should buy Wishful Drinking in book form since I've read all of her other books. Her best, if you ask me, is Surrender the Pink which was the follow up to her bestselling debut Postcards... (which is quite different than the movie version though Carrie wrote both of them).

Have you read any of her books?
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Curio: Brangelina, Circa 1960

Alexa from Pop Elegantiarum here. I love Carrie Fisher, and I wish I could swoop into New York to catch her one-woman show Wishful Drinking. One of her bits involves her drawing a comparison between Eddie Fisher leaving her mom, Debbie Reynolds, for Elizabeth Taylor and the whole Brad Pitt - Angelina Jolie - Jennifer Aniston saga. All it took was a glance at this old Screenplay magazine of mine to confirm that she's on to something.




It's all there: the story purporting to break up the raven-haired temptress and Eddie, followed by a sympathy piece on Debbie the single gal. I wonder who will play these roles in another 40 years?

An aside: the cover story "Strange Things Marlon Brando Does to Women" really doesn't live up to its title. It's just a bunch of pics of Marlon and his co-stars. Snooze.
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MM@M: "9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on LUX"

Mad Men at the Movies. In this series we've been covering movie references made on the 1960s show. Even if you don't watch, you're here because you love talking 'bout the movies. Previously we covered a telling Gidget reference, a throwaway Wizard of Oz bit and the scandal of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Episode 4 mentions an ad campaign that featured Hollywood's A-List actresses.

1.4 "New Amsterdam"
Young account executive Pete Campbell is at dinner with the rich in-laws. The father in-law has some unsolicited advice.

Tom: You've got to get that LUX soap campaign over to Sterling Cooper. Janet Leigh, Natalie Wood -- now, there's a day at the office. I'm telling you, you boys have got it made: Martini lunches, gorgeous women parading through. In my next life I'm coming back as an ad man.

Pete Campbell: Well, there's slightly more to it than that.
Tom: Yeah? Well, I'd keep that to yourself.

When Tom says "Natalie Wood" he gestures briefly toward his wife rather than the son-in-law he's speaking to. Is the Mrs. a fan? It wouldn't be surprising.

Natalie Wood for LUX soap --->

Wood's fame was not yet at its peak in 1960 (West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass and Gypsy coming right up) but she'd been quite famous since the mid 40s. She belonged to that rare breed of actor, the child star who becomes an even bigger teen idol and then a full on A List movie queen. As the book Pictures at a Revolution reminds us, Natalie held an odd cultural position in the 60s. Though Natalie was younger then many of the members of what came to be known as 'New Hollywood'

"she was Old Hollywood to the core... even if the term New Hollywood had been in use, Wood certainly would have considered herself no part of it.

It figures that she held great cross generational appeal.

But back to LUX soap for a minute. Their ad campaign was an enduring familiar one. It had featured legendary Hollywood beauties for decades with slogans like "To him, you're just as lovely as a movie star" and "9 out of 10 Hollywood stars depend on LUX"

Here's a few actressy LUX ads for fun.


An Olivia deHavilland ad from 1941, a German version starring Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert's from 1935.


Rita Hayworth's from 1957. These ads were generally doubling as sneaky movie advertisements... this one for Pal Joey) and Debbie Reynolds' from 1956.

Other references in this episode
Television: a black and white western series... but which one? | Celebrities: Bob Newhart and Lenny Bruce | Books: Psalms and Nursery Rhymes From France | Theater: Bye Bye Birdie
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Linkables and NINE

In Contention no Kidman in Woody Allen's 2010 picture. Sorry folks. I don't wanna say I told ya so. But...
Low Resolution on the Whatever Works trailer. Woody may be back in NYC but he's never really approached southerners and gay characters before, has he?
Boy Culture a very gay 'blind item'
Cinema de Merde on X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Should you watch it? No, you should probably clean your room instead

And Your Little Blog, Too sees Debbie Reynolds in concert. Molly Brown, still Unsinkable
Hollywood Elsewhere on the talk about Sherlock Holmes "bromance" between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr
The Quiet Earth Sweden has another vampire movie.
Art of the Title Sequence looks at the Hulk movies
The Post Game Show American Idol's God vs. Devil showdown. It's no secret that I don't care a whit about AI. I think it's rotting people's brains ever faster than the Hulu aliens could have dreamed. But despite that, I made it all the way through this article and enjoyed it which means ~ must read (if you're into AI).
Thompson on Hollywood keeps us up to date on Sony Pictures Classics. They're buying what's selling at Cannes. In addition to new films from Almodovar, Allen and Michael Haneke, they've actually bought both Coco Chanel pictures: Coco Avant Chanel and Coco Chanel and Igory Stravinsky. I know the spin is that they want them both but I'm guessing it's so that someone else doesn't release one of them at the same time as the one they really wanted. Or am I too cynical?

And finally, ET's Nine preview (via). It's hard to pull anything really fron this preview really... all quick cuts and circling ladies... bad sound. But the marketing team is leaning heavily towards Dame Judi Dench, don't you think?



This just in 05/14: THE REAL TRAILER HAS ARRIVED

April Showers, Singin' in the Rain

april showers, evenings @ 11

If someone invokes the title Singin' in the Rain you're probably instantly transported to memories of the arguably the most famous dance in film history, as Gene Kelly joyously splashes through the streets, a fool in love grin plastered all over his face. But the greatest thing about Singin' in the Rain is that you don't even have to wait 67 minutes and 48 seconds for the title song and the joy it imparts. You don't even have to wait twenty seconds.


Singin' in the Rain is so generous of spirit that it just hands you the joy the moment the MGM lion stops roaring. And it hands you the title song as soon as the stars names have flashed on their umbrellas in its wicked fun gleefully literal intro.


Here's your stars. They're dancing and singin' in the rain. After all, why make the audience wait? If your movie is overflowing with classic sequences, perfect moments, and exuberant performances you can get away with a lot. There's no need to worry about peaking too early, outstaying your welcome.


It's bliss from frame one on. The bliss increases exponentially. Once Gene (♥) starts splashing around again sixty-seven minutes later, it's become the happiest movie of all time.
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The 9th Day of Christmas

Some 'Ladies Dancing' to kick off your weekend. Is there anything better than dancing ladies? That's a rhetorical question. There's not.

Mothers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Adventures in DC Part 2

This weekend with friends visiting for the holidays we hit a lot of museums (and margaritas. shhhh). My friends are almost to a one culture lovers so museums are often good options. One of the best things we saw was something called The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image (closing this coming weekend, here's a NYT review]. All of the video installations were about the way the motion picture portrays or pretend realism. My favorite piece in the roundup was by Candice Breitz and simply titled Mother (pictured below)


In the supremely well edited six screen extravaganza Faye Dunaway as Mommie Dearest, Susan Sarandon & Julia Roberts from Stepmom, Meryl Streep the ex Mrs. Kramer, Diane Keaton The Good Mother and Shirley Maclaine ...from the Edge have what amounts to a schizophrenic tearful and angry conversation filled with interrupted monologues and asides about being mothers and women. Fused together and separated from the context of their films, Keaton actually rivals Dunaway's camp icon for overacting and Maclaine comes across as the most sane. "I am...[slams piano]... STILL. HERE." This, as you may have guessed, is unsettling. Clearly none of them have been taking their meds. It's very very funny.

Thought provoking too, sure, in its voyeuristic way but I mention the funny because too few people in museums ever laugh. Another piece in the exhibit lampoons the E! True Hollywood Story pretending great typical rise-and-fall fame for Francesco Vezzoli following that nifty Trailer for the Remake of Caligula in which he convinced Gerard Butler, Helen Mirren, Milla Jovovich, Courtney Love and more to star. His E! prank follows all of the beats of those shallow infotainment documentaries so well that anyone who sat next to me in the room didn't get that it was a spoof. (I saw the ending three times -- trying to let friends catch up) and both times when it ended conversations were along the lines of "I have never heard of this guy. He's famous?" or "Did he really die?" Before you think this is a Nathaniel feeling superior moment I assure you it was more along the lines of confusion. The exhibit is called "Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image" and every piece is about how the presented real is never real. I really think misunderstandings arise because people don't expect humor when they go to see "Art". Certainly not humor that pairs Dame Helen Mirren, gay porn, Dietrich, biopic cliché and infotainment specials.

P.S. There was also a companion piece to Mother called Father which featured Dustin Hoffman, Steve Martin, Jon Voight, Tony Danza (!?) and Harvey Keitel but it wasn't as interesting. Men never are. But give me six Hollywood moms on the verge of nervous breakdowns? Bliss.
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Because you've been good museum attendees today, here's a retro treat. It's Shirley Maclaine's house rattling "I'm Still Here" from Postcards from the Edge.



How Maclaine wasn't Oscar nominated for this turn as the Debbie Reynolds-esque mom in this movie is one of the great mysteries of the 1990s.
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MMWAM: Singin' in the Rain

The following review, while appearing on The Film Experience blog, is decidedly not the opinion of Nathaniel Rogers or The Film Experience blog, but belongs solely to his crusty guest contributor, JA of My New Plaid Pants. Its appearance here does not indicate any approval, agreement, vetting, endorsement, or anything of the sort, or perhaps even coming close, by Mr. Rogers and his fine establishment.

Y'all voted to make me watch a musical. And I did.


So this is what is thought of as The Greatest Musical Ever Made, huh? Two hours of shameless mugging and buffoonery? Singin' in the Rain is a disgrace to the "talkies" - I kep hoping some intertitles would pop up and shut these morons up...

Wow, that'd be a downer, eh? If I actually came on here roaring like that? Scared ya, didn't I? He gone and done it; he's gone deranged, you thought. Well relax your furrowed brow, turn away that business-end of your hammer and take that alcohol-soaked rag out of the wine bottle; I couldn't keep up the hate-charade for even one paragraph. Hell, the truth is, I had to do some household chores at the exact half-point of watching the film and I couldn't dry the dishes fast enough to get back to the movie.

So yes, it is true. Singin' in the Rain was an absolute pleasure, a joy, to watch. It's harder to write about things when you sorta kinda wholeheartedly like them, though. Where's the fun in that sort of nonsense? One's critical faculties turn to "durrr" when faced with something so effortless, so enjoyable. But I owe y'all all a review, something beyond "durrr," so let's look at it.

I can pinpoint the exact moment when my hateful, rage-filled defenses were broken down by the film. When I first laughed out loud, and realized it was inevitable that I was probably gonna love this movie. It was with this woman:

"She's so refined. I think I'll kill myself."

Nothing melts this cynical heart quicker than some good suicide humor.

And I'll just come right on out and say it: I kinda wanted to make shameless, dirty love to Gene Kelly. What a pip!

Sexy scar alert!

I was afraid at the start that he'd slide into ham territory; see, one of my main problems with musicals is that I get a little... uncomfortable... when somebody's trying so very hard to, well, Make Me Laugh (yeah... I'll get to Donald O'Connor is just a minute...). It's why I feel nauseous whenever I go to stand-up - if you can see the desperation in their eyes, the wild-eyed terror to please, I want to crawl out of my skin. But I guess there's a reason Gene Kelly was such a big star - who'd have thunk it? - never do you see the seams; never does it feel like he's trying. Effortless.


And as many times as I've seen the "Singin' in the Rain" number, in all sorts of contexts other than within the actual film, seeing it now, in the right context... I get why it's so revered. It's one of the most magical things ever put on screen. My eyes actually kinda welled up, it made me so happy.

Now as for Donald O'Connor...


I have to say he worried me at first. He was the frantic yang to Kelly's yin, all slapsticky buffoonery... but then, about midway through the "Make 'Em Laugh" number as I became progressively worried for his safety - he had to have some bruises after filming that thing - I realized he was actually sending up the hamminess I so fear. He was taking the shtick so far over the top that I breathed a sigh of relief - this movie was definitely smarter than I was afraid it wouldn't be.


As for Debbie Reynolds, well, she was just a doll. No, I mean that literally. Her resemblance to a plastic doll was uncanny and, frankly, slightly terrifying. Tell me if you can spot anything different here from above:


I thought not! Mutant! Plastic baby woman!

I kid. I kid because I love. She too could be described as a "pip." But alas, my heart will always truly belong to another...


Yes, my long sordid history of falling for the villain continues... Jean Hagen as the ditzy (but then not so ditzy, but then mostly ditzy again) villainess star seeking to go all Ursula the Sea Witch on Debbie's voice is and will always be my ain true love.


Give 'em squeaky-voiced hell, Jean!

And because being pervy amuses me, I did find myself wondering at some of the weird subtext within the film. If a dance between two people falling in love symbolizes their, uh, let's just say "courtship" - and I'm pretty certain that's a pretty surefire way to read it:


Then what exactly was going on with the "Good Morning" scene?


Mmmhmm. Heathens!

There was a load of subtext bubbling under the surface of the film between Kelly and O'Connor's characters; I'm sure it's been written about by now, though, so I'll have to go do some digging, check that out. Anybody got anything?


What exactly what Moses supposing anyway?

If I had one problem with the film, it came right at the end: why couldn't they tell Debbie (I just realized I'm calling all of these actors by their own names instead of their characters) what they were going to do when they forced her to stand behind the curtain and sing for Jean Hagen?


It seemed a needlessly cruel route to go that added a dash of false melodrama to what had proceeded so naturally up until then. I guess it was just because Debbie looked cute with tears in her eyes:


Still, I smiled as he brought her back to the stage (after semi-creepily screaming for the crowd to stop her from escaping) and they duetted us out on a happy high.


Here are some other random things that entertained me, but I don't know enough about the context on which the film was riffing, my musical knowledge being so lacking, as to really comment upon (all y'all who know such thing, please feed me your knowledge in the comments!):


Spider Woman rocked! I wanted more of her.


The weird costume song. Apparently this was something that was actually really featured back in musicals back in the day? And Singin' was making fun of it, I guess? The only time I remember seeing this happen was that INSANE scene in The Women when the film slid to color and the most ridiculous outfits I'd ever seen were suddenly paraded out - that scene seemed even more over-the-top then this one. Also, I'm convinced this model was a man:


Those giant pearls are totally hiding an adam's apple.

I don't know what the hell was going on here:


But Gene Kelly sure did look fine dressed all in black.


I know I'm forgetting some things, but I'll let y'all remind me what you find great about Singin' in the Rain in the comments.

And a hearty thank you to everyone who participated in the voting, and has checked out what I've had to write whilst here at The Film Experience. But my biggest, heartiest thank you goes to Nathaniel, for allowing me to pollute his blog with my ramblings once again. I'd be lying if I said I was a little worried I might find myself locked out after not adoring West Side Story completely! But no, he's a generous and kind soul. Thanks, Nat! And thanks everybody! Look for me over on the wrong side of the tracks next time around...
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Free Association: Cake

Today is National Cake Day and since I have a sweet tooth and I love entertainment, here are five things I think of instantly when I hear the word "cake," aside from, you know, the deliciousness.

1. "All I Do Is Dream of You" -Debbie Reynolds intro in Singin' in the Rain and her sassy sarcasm about her place of origin (i.e. the cake) Love that character. Love that movie. Love that scene. Love that ditty. Pure bliss.

2. Mary-Louise Parker. Well, she plays a pastry chef in that movie you've never seen The Five Senses and she's great in it. But you probably knew that already given that I said the words "Mary-Louise Parker" which = great. Duh.

3. "Like a Virgin" at the MTV Video Awards 1984 [video]. Madonna coming out of the top of that cake in her wedding dress and Boy Toy belt buckle. 'Will you marry me?' Tis only a defining cultural moment of my life. It's forever seared into my (then) adolescent brain. We've been married ever since. Well, figuratively ... fan-atively.

4. Clueless and the following exchange:

Murray: Your man Christian is a cake boy!
Cher, Dionne: A what?
Murray: He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde reading, Streisand ticket holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying?
Cher: Uh-uh, no way, not even!

That whole movie is hilarious but I had never in my life heard the term "cake boy" before. Though I was certainly familiar with disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde reading, and Streisand ticket holding (Yentl). Plus, me and Dorothy go wayyyy back.

5. "Let Them Eat Cake" in Marie Antoinette I love the way Sofia Coppola sneaks this line into her new movie, with faux horror (!) at its inaccuracy ... as if her portrait of the dauphine of France is definitive, accurate and truthful. Just one of the sneaky bits of wit that permeate that fine misunderstood film.


tags: Mary Louise Parker, Madonna, film,movies, Debbie Reynolds, cake, MTV, Marie Antoinette

Free Association: Cake

Today is National Cake Day and since I have a sweet tooth and I love entertainment, here are five things I think of instantly when I hear the word "cake," aside from, you know, the deliciousness.

1. "All I Do Is Dream of You" -Debbie Reynolds intro in Singin' in the Rain and her sassy sarcasm about her place of origin (i.e. the cake) Love that character. Love that movie. Love that scene. Love that ditty. Pure bliss.

2. Mary-Louise Parker. Well, she plays a pastry chef in that movie you've never seen The Five Senses and she's great in it. But you probably knew that already given that I said the words "Mary-Louise Parker" which = great. Duh.

3. "Like a Virgin" at the MTV Video Awards 1984 [video]. Madonna coming out of the top of that cake in her wedding dress and Boy Toy belt buckle. 'Will you marry me?' Tis only a defining cultural moment of my life. It's forever seared into my (then) adolescent brain. We've been married ever since. Well, figuratively ... fan-atively.

4. Clueless and the following exchange:

Murray: Your man Christian is a cake boy!
Cher, Dionne: A what?
Murray: He's a disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde reading, Streisand ticket holding friend of Dorothy, know what I'm saying?
Cher: Uh-uh, no way, not even!

That whole movie is hilarious but I had never in my life heard the term "cake boy" before. Though I was certainly familiar with disco-dancing, Oscar Wilde reading, and Streisand ticket holding (Yentl). Plus, me and Dorothy go wayyyy back.

5. "Let Them Eat Cake" in Marie Antoinette I love the way Sofia Coppola sneaks this line into her new movie, with faux horror (!) at its inaccuracy ... as if her portrait of the dauphine of France is definitive, accurate and truthful. Just one of the sneaky bits of wit that permeate that fine misunderstood film.


tags: Mary Louise Parker, Madonna, film,movies, Debbie Reynolds, cake, MTV, Marie Antoinette

White Diamonds. Violet Eyes.

A 74th birthday wish to one of the great movie stars of all time, Elizabeth Taylor. Today's starlets can kiss her white diamonds. Before Angelina Jolie, JLo, and the rest of the silver screen/tabloid stars, La Liz was creating the template for all impossibly beautiful, slightly wild, man-loving, charitably minded, marriage happy, and wealth flaunting superstars to come.



Best performance: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf(1966).
Why I fell for her: A Place in the Sun(1951). "tell mama everything..."
Underappreciated great work: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958) and Giant(1956).
Liz Sites: Reel Classics Liz Page * Classic Movies Tribute * Immortality * Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation* Acting Divas * Husbands of...*
Another reason to love La Liz: Montgomery Clift, the best friend.
Best Liz husband: Richard Burton (twice over).
Best Liz Scandal: Eddie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds.
Recent moment to savor: The December 2000 Golden Globe Awards "y'all. y'all. y'all...Gladiator!"
Funny point-of-comparison: Joanne Woodward who has but 1 marriage [to Paul Newman, Liz's Cat co-star-- the marriage is still going strong] to Liz's 8 is also celebrating a birthday today. She's 76.

The best Liz quote: (that sums it all up)
"I've been through it all, baby. I'm Mother Courage."

White Diamonds. Violet Eyes.

A 74th birthday wish to one of the great movie stars of all time, Elizabeth Taylor. Today's starlets can kiss her white diamonds. Before Angelina Jolie, JLo, and the rest of the silver screen/tabloid stars, La Liz was creating the template for all impossibly beautiful, slightly wild, man-loving, charitably minded, marriage happy, and wealth flaunting superstars to come.



Best performance: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf(1966).
Why I fell for her: A Place in the Sun(1951). "tell mama everything..."
Underappreciated great work: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958) and Giant(1956).
Liz Sites: Reel Classics Liz Page * Classic Movies Tribute * Immortality * Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation* Acting Divas * Husbands of...*
Another reason to love La Liz: Montgomery Clift, the best friend.
Best Liz husband: Richard Burton (twice over).
Best Liz Scandal: Eddie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds.
Recent moment to savor: The December 2000 Golden Globe Awards "y'all. y'all. y'all...Gladiator!"
Funny point-of-comparison: Joanne Woodward who has but 1 marriage [to Paul Newman, Liz's Cat co-star-- the marriage is still going strong] to Liz's 8 is also celebrating a birthday today. She's 76.

The best Liz quote: (that sums it all up)
"I've been through it all, baby. I'm Mother Courage."