Wednesday, August 16, 2017

IF I HAD A GIRL LIKE YOU



My latest video was far more trouble than it's worth.

I made it late Monday night, during a merciless bout of insomnia, when I had nothing better to do. 

I finished the video around 5:00 a.m. - breathed a big sigh of relief, pressed the "Save" icon, and.....

....watched the entire thing disappear before my astonished eyes. 

I had accidentally pressed "delete".

After I wore out my entire repertoire of curse words and phrases (which is vast), I collapsed into bed - ready for Dreamland.

Being a persistent masochist, I remade the video this evening - despite the fact that I had a zillion more important things to do (I counted them).

Thank you, Microsoft Movie Maker.
Thank you Rudy Vallee.
And thank you, beautiful ladies of the silent screen.

Why the video?
Because it nourishes my craving for the delicious past.

I was born fifty years too late. I belong in another era. I savor the distant ambience of the teens and twenties - - when songs were beautiful, and life seemed sweet..

(life is never exactly sweet of course, but nostalgia renders it that way).

...when men were men, women were women, and there was no bullshit about gender (see some of my previous posts, if you dare).

Since I have a fierce passion for silent films, I chose photos of some of my favorite actresses of that era. It was very difficult to do, because I had to leave a lot of them out.



Cover photo for the video is Dorothy Janis, whom I absolutely love. 
Ironically, she only made five films - before retiring in 1930. She married a musician and lived to be 98.

I fell for Dorothy Janis when I saw her in The Pagan (1929) with Ramon Novarro.

Of course, I had a big crush on Novarro, too, but that's beside the point.....



  Video is best viewed Full Screen

new post on my other blog:
http://cabinetofcurioustreasures.blogspot.com 

24 comments:

  1. Oh, she is very beautiful! I've been watching lots of silent films (Mary Pickford and Harold Lloyd) mostly because my hearing is getting worse with the passing years. Thank God for silent films! SUDS and SAFETY LAST are two of my favorites :-)

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    1. Silent films are always a joy to watch. I like "Safety Last" a lot, but I don't recall ever seeing "Suds". Harold Lloyd is one of my favorites. I'm so sorry about your hearing problem. The older I get, the more of a bitch life becomes.

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  2. Hauntingly beautiful each and every one.

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    1. I always love looking at old photos - especially portraits. They seem to reveal so much character (that is lacking nowadays).

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  3. I have never heard of her, but is she ever beautiful. I always find your clip and hard work very peaceful Jon. I do hate it so when your posting are recoding and then delete it by accident. The most angry feeling. I will be heading out for a few weeks on a last jaunt, but I will check in when I can...I miss blogs when I'm away. But if there is a bar room brawl call me, I'll come a runnin.

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    1. I have no doubt that you'll have a fantastic time on you "last jaunt" - and I'm admittedly envious. I'm stuck here with cats and 'possums....
      If there's a bar room brawl (which I'm sure there will be), you'll be the first to know.
      I need all the help I can get!

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  4. Jon,

    Lovely. I looked for a couple others that weren't there. My qife was named after her father's favorite actress, Lois Wilson. Oddly enough, when my wife married me she gained the name of another actress from those days, Lois Meredith. One actress I found attractive back when she was young was Elsa Lancaster. I realize she became the Bride of frankenstein, but I feel she was both unusual and attractive as a starlet.

    Larry

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    1. I've heard of Lois Wilson but not Lois Meredith. I'll Google them. Elsa Lanchester was quite attractive when she was young - and she had a very quirky, interesting, and charming personality.

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  5. At least you do something interesting when you're in a time of insomnia. I usually do laundry.

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    1. Heck, I was too lazy to do the laundry....

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  6. Sometimes the flaws are harder to see from a distance. No time period was perfect or peaceful. The first world war was going on and then the crash and the depression. Movies were the escape from the real world, as they are today. Probably why we still love them. ;) These are truly gorgeous woman.

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    1. I definitely agree that things always seem better through the safe (and often distorted) filter of distance. Things were always bad, and especially bad for the poor. Yet, there seemed to be a naivete and simplicity that is sorely lacking nowadays.

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    2. I'm not sure if I spelled "naivete" correctly. It's a weird word.

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  7. I enjoy rewinding time with glimpses of the past. Very nice video, Jon - or should I say Ludwig of Bavaria ;) I have no clue how you put something like this together. It seems to be an art in itself.

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    1. I never knew how to put a video together, either, but I noticed that some idiots were doing it - so I figured there was hope for me. I use Microsoft Movie Maker (which came installed on my computer).

      It was initially ALL trial and error (mostly error), but I eventually got the hang of it - and now it's fun. Unless, of course, I accidentally delete it....

      Hopefully those Canadian wild fires are dying down.

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    2. I tried making a video, but it didn't work out. Keep trying I guess ... no, we're still burning with nearly the size of Connecticut scorched by fires so far. The monster blaze is 20 miles from the edge of town now. Its reached people up at Red Lake ( a nice rural area )who are on evacuation order. They're not leaving so they can protect their farms. My brother and his gang of firefighters are there right now. This is the worst season ever. I did see stars tonight for the first time in nearly seven weeks - so I'm staying up late to enjoy them before the wind shifts and that damn smoke returns.

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    3. I've been through many bad fires in California, but I don't recall anything as bad as what you're going through in Canada. It seems to be going on forever. Your brother and the other firefighters should certainly be commended for their persistence and courage.

      I'm glad you're able to get a glimpse of the stars tonight. The weather here is hot and was supposed to be clear for a few days - but tonight we had rain again.

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  8. Oh my gosh, Jon, thanks for redoing this clip after the 5 a.m. deletion calamity. When I was a kid, I used to watch "Silents Please", an Ernie Kovacs project that pioneered solving the difficulties of mechanically projecting films from hand-cranked cameras. I also recall Rudy Vallee as a frequent performer on tv variety shows --he'd lost his incredible high notes by then but was still a fine singer. The photomontage in your clip is wonderfully representative of portrait photography's emergence as a true popular art form. Terrific post!

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    1. I don't remember "Silence Please" but I do recall a comedy show called "Fractured Flickers" - where they used clips from silent films and dubbed them with funny comments. I THINK Hans Conried did that show.

      I mostly remember Rudy Vallee from "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer", the movie with Shirley Temple and Cary Grant. Vallee was funny in it.

      Glad your enjoyed my humble video!

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    2. I meant to say "you" not "your"

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  9. I'd not heard of most of these sirens, but thoroughly enjoyed the video.
    Wow. All the same (to me), their poise and beauty is eclipsed by a veneer of vulnerability.

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    1. Those were the good ol' days, Myra. Nowadays, vulnerability seems to be extinct.
      I plan to make a similar video featuring the men of silent films - although there seems to be far less of them to choose from than the ladies.
      I'm delighted that you enjoyed my "cinematic" efforts.

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  10. You put a lot of effort into that video, (Twice, even!) and I appreciate it. Great job. I loved the old movies, too, and I think one of the most appealing things about the actresses in those days was the aura of innocence and vulnerability about them... like they were the girls next door. Their public images were usually classy, too, and they personified glamour. Today's actresses may have a lot of talent, but few of them have the qualities exemplified by the actresses in your video.

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  11. The actresses of long-ago certainly had glamour and class (well, most of them, anyway). I think their appeal also has to do with the fact that less is better. People only saw these stars on the silver screen, or read about them in movie magazines.

    Nowadays, the celebrities are EVERYWHERE - you can't get rid of them (even if you want to). This rampant overexposure makes them more humanized and, consequently,more unappealing. Also, manners, class, and glamour seem to be dead.

    Glad you enjoyed the video.

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