#CurateMyLife: Classic Film

After reading Aurora's post for the #CurateMyLife #ClassicMovies project I decided to attempt to tackle it as well.  I was also motivated because I had to do a major apartment clean-up for a small Oscar Party this weekend.  Anyway, be sure to check out Aurora's post and check out the #CurateMyLife blogathon which was created by Margaret Perry.

The deadline for the blogathon has extended through February 29th (Happy Leap Day!), which means I can partake.

While working on this post I kind of realized that my life and most definitely my classic movie life is split between my apartment in LA and my parent's house in NY, so my collection is a bit bi-coastal.  But, I'm going to try to just focus on the things I have in my apartment currently since those are the items I have chosen to have here in LA with me.  Here we go!


1. DVD/Blu ray Collection
My current collection covers a number of different shelves in my apartment and are organized in a few different ways.  The majority of the DVDs and Blu rays are simply alphabetized, yet separated one area for DVDs another for Blu ray in the tower shelves, however I recently attempted some categorizing.  This came about mostly because I had purchased more bookshelves.  The current categories include: Musicals, Hitchcock, My Top 30, Criterion, Disney, TCM releases, Holiday Films, Box Sets, and Film Franchises.

I honestly get a lot of flack about my collection from some of my friends and peers.  They are flabbergasted that anyone would, in this day and age, be actively building a physical media collection while so many movies are available digitally.  I get their point of view, but I'm a physical/tangible media kind of gal.  I like knowing that I have that access to a particular film without having to rely on the internet, a thumb drive or a cloud.  There are also so many titles that come and go from streaming services that I really appreciate the perceived permanency of DVDs and Blu rays.

2.  VHS Collection
I don't currently have any VHS titles in my apartment, I do still have a bit of a VHS collection in NY though.  I do have a VCR here though for VHS rentals.

3.  Favorite DVD/Blu ray
I am terrible when it comes to favorites, which is evidenced by my shelf of top 30 films, but those don't even include movies from my other categories, so with that preface, I guess if I had to pick my favorite DVD or Blu ray, I guess I would go with the Criterion edition of Charade because I love that movie so much and it was nice that it got a proper home video release, even though it's in public domain.  My other favorite is the Beatles movie Help! partially because I love it so much, but also because it was such a treat when it came out on DVD/Blu ray.

4. Favorite VHS
My most sentimental VHS tapes are the old clam shell Disney movies, they're not here with me, but I would say they're my faves.

5.  Classic Film Related Wall Art
This was one of the categories that got me super excited to do this project.  I love being able to display my Classic Film wall art and it makes me feel better when I see it.  I feel like Charlie Chaplin is greeting me when I come home from work.  I'll start with the amazing pieces from Dorothy, their stuff is so creative and really beautiful:

It's hard to tell from my not so great pictures, but they are a Film Map, a Hollywood Star Chart and a Love Star Chart.  The map is a street map of an area that could be LA which is made up of over 900 film titles including Sunset Blvd, Valley of the Dolls, Chinatown, and Gosford Park.  The Hollywood Star Chart is based on the sky over LA on October 6, 1927 and includes constellations of 62 films (chosen from the films selected for preservation by the National Film Preservation Registry) and their 'stars.'  The Love Star Chart is made up of 74 romantic films (from the BFI Love season) and is based on the sky over NY on November 26, 1942.  That ended up being long winded, but I love these prints!

Here are some other items all around my apartment, movie posters, cooking shots from classic films in the kitchen, and TCM-ness.

6.  Classic Film related household product (i.e. mug, dishtowel, picture frame, etc.

I don't have that many household classic film related products, so this may be a stretch, but I have some magnetics and mugs!

7. Classic Film Movie Ticket

I decided to go with my TCM Classic Film Festival Pass because those are essentially tickets to many wonderful Classic Films.

TCMFF passes from 2010-2014

2015 TCMFF Pass

8.  Picture of you and friends/family enjoying a classic movie experience
While looking for pictures for this section I noticed that I don't really take too many selfies or pictures of myself or the people with me at or before events.  I typically take pictures of the event, which in hindsight is a bit of a bummer.  I should be better about including pictures of the people with me at that time.

I also noticed that all of these pictures are from TCM events, I'm not surprised, just an interesting observation.  The top row is a picture of me and my dad is from last year's TCM Film Festival and a snapshot of my mom on the red carpet for the opening night screening of Cabaret.  The next row is a picture of me with my friend Tracy who stopped by Hollywood to talk to me while I waited in line for Singin' in the Rain at the first TCM Film Festival and me and my cousin at I can't remember what screening that was but it was at a TCM Film Fest and the final picture is me and my brother during the NYC TCM Classic Film Bus Tour.

9.  Picture of Fan Art
This is by far my favorite set of fan art, the drawings were done by the amazing artist Kate Gabrielle, you can check out here work here: Kate Gabrielle

What I like most is the difference in the style, yet each one is amazing (just a note: the 2 center-ish pictures are actual photos, not drawings by Kate).

10.  Classic Movie Related Souvenir
I don't think I have anything that fits this category.
11.  Object that once belonged to a Classic Film Star
Another category that I don't have anything for, but that would be awesome.

12.  Picture of yourself with a Classic Film Star
All of these are thanks in large part to TCM:

13.  Selfie from TCM Film Festival
Not big on selfies in general

14.  Selfie with Robert Osborne
Haven't been lucky to snag a selfie with Mr. Osborne, but I have spoken to him on a couple of occasions at the film festival.

15.  Classic Film Book Collection

16.  Favorite movie star biography/autobiography
I don't currently have a favorite biography or autobiography here in LA.  In fact, a large majority of my book collection is currently in NY.  I was always partial to biographies written by Charlotte Chandler and I think Ginger Roger's autobiography is my favorite.

17.  Misc. anything missing from this list that you feel is part of your classic film life.  Be Creative!
This might not be super creative, but in the last year or so I've started making these little montages, sometimes they're themed and sometimes they're not.  The first one I made was with actual 4X6 photos, which I arranged and fit together and then got laminated.  I then started creating them using different collage/montage programs like Picasa and Fotor.

This project was extremely enjoyable, it was a great opportunity to evaluate the items that I have decided to surround myself with and to think about the reasons why they're a part of my life.  And I think the conclusion, at least for me, is that these classic film items add something special to my life and just genuinely make me happy.

I think Margaret came up with a wonderful blogathon/hashtag and it's been a pleasure to participate.  Be sure to follow her and Curate My Life on Twitter and here is her blog with more information about the project: Margaret Perry

TCM Classic Film Festival- (Part 4 of probably many)

My sincerest apologies for the delay in posting about Day 4, but I was finishing up some online seminars for school that I needed to finish before midnight tonight.  I successfully completed 3 of the 4 that I needed to complete and the 4th one will have to be completed at a later date and time.  I'm a little peeved but I've altered Meatloaf's song 2 out of 3 ain't bad to fit my situation and that somehow makes me feel better about it so... 3 outta 4 ain't bad. :)

Anyway, that's probably not why you stopped by my blog you want the scoop on Day 4 of the TCM film festival, right?  Well here we go....Day 4, April 25th, 2010 began with a 9:30 screening of Damn Yankees at the Grauman's Chinese 6.  I was very excited to see this fun musical, directed by Stanley Donen, starring Tab Hunter and Gwen Vernon and! featuring a dance with none other than Bob Fosse!  I was definitely looking forward to this.

It was introduced by Leonard Maltin who gave some history regarding the transition of Broadway musicals into films and how more often than not much of the cast from the Broadway show didn't make it into the film and that many songs were cut because Broadway shows are innately longer than the usual running time of a movie.  He told us that Damn Yankees was a bit different, in this situation almost the entire case of the Broadway show, which included Maureen Stapleton and Gwen Verdon, was in the movie and the only Hollywood addition was Tab Hunter.  In fact, Jack Warner purchased this play FOR Tab Hunter.  So that was an interesting bit of trivia. 

The movie was amazing to see in a theater (much like all the other movies I saw during the film festival) and afterwards Tab Hunter was interviewed by Ben Mankiewicz.  He talked about what it was like to be part of the studio system and when Ben asked him about being a heartthrob he said that he tried to separate himself from that and focus more on his family, friends and his horses (he seemed to have a great affinity for horses).  He, like all the other speakers, was very gracious and candid about his experiences.  He said that he had an interesting time assimilating into the Broadway cast while filming and that eventually they all got along very well and that the most important thing to remember is that you can't go into things with preconceived notions; that doesn't help anything.

After the interview Ben was approached by some people for autographs so I decided to join the group and he was nice enough to take the time to meet me and give an autograph.  I then left the theater and was surprised to see that Tab Hunter was in the lobby surrounded by a bunch of movie-goers and they were posing with him for pictures and he was giving autographs.  I, again, decided to jump on that band wagon and got his autograph and lent my green pen to another film fan so he could get an autograph too.

    

         
Here's the autograph ---------------------------->

And here's my green pen in action :)








After all that excitement I decided to take a little break and I was planning on grabbing lunch with a friend, but it ended up not working out so I did some more tourist-y site seeing and decided to grab lunch by myself and then head over to the Roosevelt Hotel.  I originally had planned on just sitting in the lobby and relaxing until I went to see Saboteur around 3:30ish.

But I then remembered that Tony Curtis was going to be signing his books at Club TCM, so I decided to wait in line for that.  It seemed like a good opportunity to meet Tony Curtis and seemed like a better use of my time.  I ended up in line behind a woman who was also named Diane, she had come all the way from Detroit with her husband to the festival.  The line took quite awhile, but everyone was very nice, one of the people on the staff went and got water for everyone in line!  I thought that was very nice.  After about an hour and a half I made it up to the front of the line.  While waiting I kept going back and forth about whether or not to buy a book or just have him sign my little spiral notebook.  The book was quite costly, I was already running out of space in my suitcase.  But, by the time I made it to the front I just decided to go for it, when was I going to get another opportunity to have Tony Curtis sign a book for me.  I guess I got swept up in the excitement.  I decided to get his book called: The Making Some Like it Hot.  The whole thing was set-up very nicely; they had a lot of Tony's artwork and pictures of him from his various films. 

Anyway...I finally made it to the front of the line, I told my first name to Tony's wife, who was very nice.  I felt kind of silly saying another Diane, but she wrote it down on a post-it, gave it to Tony and explained it was another Diane.  He then signed the book and we posed for a picture and he shook my hand and kissed it.  It was pretty exciting to get to meet someone like Tony Curtis and I think it was really nice that he took the time and energy to be part of the film festival.  It also kind of solidified my decision to see Some Like It Hot later that evening.  Here's a picture of him with a fan (not me) and his autograph:

I'm really glad I decided to wait in that line to get to meet Tony Curtis.  I hadn't planned on making that a part of my festival experience, but it worked out nicely.  It was nice to see that so many people turned out to meet him and that he took the time to take a picture with pretty much every person there and sign anything that they brought.  It also made me realize I hadn't really seen that many movies with Tony Curtis, I'd seen The Sweet Smell of Success, Some Like it Hot, Spartacus, and The Defiant Ones.  And I think that's it, since being back from the film festival I've tried to catch some more of his movies.  So far I've seen Who's that Lady?  Sex and the Single Girl and The Great Race (the last 2 were on Netflix Watch Instantly) and I've gotta say they were pretty fun movies.  I enjoyed them and I enjoyed him.  Anyway, back to the festival.

Next up was Saboteur at Grauman's Chinese 6.  I was looking forward to seeing another Hitchcock film on the big screen and this one did not disappoint.  I had seen this movie and for some reason I thought Dana Andrews was in it, I don't know why, but I was very surprised when he was not in it.  I still don't know why I thought he was in it.  But anyway the movie was great, very suspenseful.  It was a lot of fun to hear everyone gasp at all the right moments.

After the movie Norman Lloyd came out and was interviewed by Leonard Maltin.  He mostly talked about how movie making has changed over the course of his career.  It was very interesting to hear him speak.  I didn't think I knew him from anything other than Saboteur, but then he mentioned that he had been in In Her Shoes and that jogged my memory of him.  It's always interesting to hear people talking about working with people who are no longer around, in this case he talked about Hitch (Alfred Hitchcock) and how he had storyboarded almost every frame of the film before they began shooting.  I find that stuff interesting and he also talked about his stunt work and how they had made a true to size replica of the top of the Statue of Liberty (I'm trying not to give away any spoilers, hence the vague-ness).  But yeah he's a great speaker and seemed happy to be there.

I then made my way over to the Egyptian Theater for Some Like it Hot.  I had been conflicted all weekend over whether to see Metropolis with the new footage since it was the official final evening event or to enjoy Some Like it Hot where I knew I would laugh my butt off and have an amazing experience seeing it on the big screen with a crowd.  I've seen Metropolis and really liked it, but I just decided to go with Some Like it Hot.  I felt like I was lucky enough to be able to go to the opening night event (A Star is Born) and didn't want to push my luck.  It was a tough decision.

Before the movie Tony Curtis was introduced and interviewed by someone who worked at TCM (I don't remember his name) and who had known Tony Curtis for a number of years.  Tony gave a very, shall we say, colorful interview.  He shared some very funny stories and some of his experiences shooting Some Like it Hot.  He told a story about working with Marilyn Monroe.  Her line for the scene was "what is it?"  She had to point to a fish and ask, "what is it?"  She'd point, and stare, but wouldn't say the line, she then whispered to Tony, "what is it?" (meaning the line, what's the line?)  And he'd respond, "what is it?" (thinking he was giving her the line, but instead just confusing things further)  And this would repeat for a number of takes.

He also talked about how he and Jack Lemmon walked around the studio lot and went into women's bathrooms trying out their womanly ways and trying to blend in.  But it sounded like they were easy to identify.  He also told a story about a dress fitting with designer Orry Kelly for himself, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn.  At one point Orry pointed out that Tony had the nicest tush of the bunch and Marilyn retorted by opening her blouse and saying, "but I'll bet he doesn't have the nicest...well you can guess what :).

After the interview he sat in the audience; that was a pretty surreal experience to watch the movie with him in the audience.  The film was more amazing than I had remembered it, the audience applauded and laughed with such enthusiasm that it was intoxicating, it made me feel like I had never even seen the movie before.  Every joke seemed fresh and new.  At the end of the movie Tony received a standing ovation.  It was sincerely one of the most thrilling experiences of my life and ultimately a great way to end the festival.  Although if it were up to me the festival would've never ended.  I was quite sad to have to go back to the real world after all the excitement.

So there's the re-cap of Day 4!  I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience at the TCM Film Festival, I'm seriously counting down the days til next year's!  And really hoping that I can skip work again to go!!  I had the best time, and this was maybe one of the most phenomenal experiences of my entire life.  I met so many nice people, saw some amazing movies and got to be back in LA.  All in all a wonderful way to spend 4 days.