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was someone gonna tell me a 12 year old Shirley Temple avoided a creep by laughing hysterically at his wee willie winkie, or was I supposed to stumble onto it through the youtube algorithm myself?

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She Done Him Wrong (1933) + favorite lines dir. Lowell Sherman

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“In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

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I said to Gracie, "How's your brother?" and she talked for 40 years.

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Great movie. Once it kicks in it’s super tense. 

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Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974)

“He would have to go to the studio about one o’ clock in the afternoon and Sunday mornings was our time together. Daddy would get into the car and turn the ignition key. Inevitably, nothing would happen. He would push and pull every button on the dashboard, twist all the knobs and pump the accelerator, but the motor still wouldn’t start. At length, he would sigh and say to me, ‘Honey, the car just won’t start until you give me a kiss.’ Then we would get in the car, he had a convertible, and we would drive to Malibu for breakfast. Daddy treated me like a person; he would tell me what the show was going to be about, who the guest star would be, ask me if I thought it was a funny idea. I felt like I was a part of it, he always made me feel very special.”

-Joan Benny on her father, Jack

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Jack Benny and Bob Hope, 1957 by Leonard McCombe.

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Nick and Nora Charles: Best Detectives Ever by Greg Ferrara

Are Nick and Nora Charles of THE THIN MAN series the greatest movie detectives ever? My answer is simple: Yes, obviously. Now don’t get me wrong, classic Hollywood is practically overflowing with great detectives. There’s Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Philo Vance and Mike Hammer. But they’re all loners, either by choice or because their partner got killed (sorry Sam). Nick and Nora work together, and with a dog to boot! But here are the main reasons I rank them at the top:

The characters of Nick and Nora Charles are simply perfect!

The main characters in THE THIN MAN films are Nick and Nora Charles, a married couple made up of one-part retired detective, Nick, and one-part wealthy heiress, Nora. They drink away their days, reluctantly solve murders when called upon and love each other dearly. How often does a noir give you that warm, fuzzy feeling?

They’re played by William Powell and Myrna Loy!

Okay, okay, Philo Vance was also played by William Powell but absent Myrna Loy, there’s just no comparison. It’s a rare enough thing in the movies to find two actors with great chemistry but it’s even rarer for those two actors to land the perfect roles to exploit it. Powell and Loy did other movies together, like LOVE CRAZY, and while I love that movie it’s nothing compared to their work on THE THIN MAN movies. I would rank their chemistry near the top of the all-time list. Maybe the very top itself.

The banter!

When Dashiell Hammett wrote THE THIN MAN, he based much of the banter between Nick and Nora Charles on the kind of banter he enjoyed with his partner, Lillian Hellman. When the movie was written, the studio brought in the great husband and wife team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and they were instructed to focus on the banter specifically. The actual murder case needed to be understandable and move from point A to point B but the banter between Nick and Nora was what was considered important.

The drinking!

Now I’m not here endorsing irresponsible drinking and goodness knows, if you try to keep up with Nick and Nora, unless you’re Karen Allen in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, you’re going to lose. But the drinking is a large part of the charm of this couple. At a time when Prohibition had just ended, drinking in the movies had a celebratory nature that the Charles’ played off of wonderfully. When Humphrey Bogart downs a shot in a noir you can feel the despair. When Nick and Nora take a drink, they’re saying to the world, “Relax and enjoy the ride. We’re only going around once.”

Asta!

The Charles’ have a dog. Can you imagine Spade, Marlowe or Hammer dealing with a dog? And when you give Marlowe a cat, he promptly loses it. Asta becomes an actual part of the team and more of a child for the couple than a pet.

The Sequels!

It’s not often you’ll hear me going on about how great sequels are but THE THIN MAN sequels are the best! Every New Year’s Eve, my wife and I have a standing tradition of watching THE THIN MAN movies to ring in the New Year. Doesn’t matter which one or in what order, because here’s the great thing about the sequels: Since the series was always reliant upon the chemistry and banter of the Charles’, rather than the complexity of the murder case, each movie works splendidly on its own or as a part of a whole.

Their Singularity!

What do I mean by this last one? Simple. Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and on and on and on— all have actors that have played them brilliantly and are mostly identified with the roles. But Spade and Marlowe, Holmes and Marple and many others, have been played by multitudes of actors with varying degrees of success. Nick and Nora Charles, despite a tv offering in the ‘50s, are William Powell and Myrna Loy. Nick and Nora Charles do not exist as extant characters awaiting new mysteries to tell and new actors to play them. They are William Powell and Myrna Loy and they always will be. They are unique. They stand alone. Powell, Loy, Nick and Nora are not four people but two. So, when I look at THE THIN MAN movies, I feel like I’m looking at the real Nick and Nora Charles, as if they’re real people. No other detective or detective team has ever done that to me.

So long live Nick and Nora Charles, aka William and Myrna. The greatest detectives in the history of the movies!

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Happy Birthday Cary Grant!!!  |  January 18, 1904 - November 29, 1986

Everyone likes the idea of Cary Grant.  Everyone thinks of him affectionately, because he embodies what seems a happier time – a time when we had a simpler relationship to a performer. We could admire him for his timing and his nonchalance – we didn’t expect emotional revelations from Cary Grant, we were used to his keeping his distance, which, if we cared to, we could close in idle fantasy.  He appeared before us in radiantly shallow perfection, and that was all we wanted of  him.  We didn’t want depth from him; we asked only that he be handsome and silky and make us laugh. –Critic Pauline Kael

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Jean Arthur in: Easy Living (Dir. Mitchell Leisen, 1937). Via gifer. Source

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My life? Well, I get up at a quarter to six in the morning if I’m going to wear an evening dress on camera. That sentence sounds a little ga-ga, doesn’t it? But never mind, that’s my life…As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I’ll sweep the stage. I don’t give a damn. I want the money…When I die, I want to be cremated so that no sign of my existence is left on this earth. I can’t wait to be forgotten.

-Kay Francis

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The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn’t scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. Stewart thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene himself, without telling Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart saying, “Excuse me.” The scene required only one take. [x]