MOVIE ROLE MODEL: JOAN CRAWFORD, GENE TIERNEY AND BARBARA STANWYCK IN A SUIT

All of my role models were movie or TV stars. I’m sorry – no public servants, no servants of God, no philanthropists. What can I say? I’m shallow (but in a deep sort of way). 

Somebody get this woman her coffee

Growing up in the ‘60s, the perceived, went through radical changes. Opportunities that, for my mother and father were impossible to grasp, presented themselves. Getting married and having babies was no longer the only goals to which women should aspire. We were told to want more. But what should we want? 

Typing for herself - I liked that!

I never didn't think I was going to college and I never didn’t think I would have a career. As I sat on my bed in my teenage room (yellow and white with a daisy-patterned bedspread and yellow shag rug) I knew I could pull myself up by my go-go boot straps and be an independent woman. Being independent meant a) having a job, b) making money, c) living on my own, and, most important to me at that time, d) looking the part (I told you I was shallow).

 

Hat, gloves and an awesome clutch add to the appeal

There were lots of fabulous 60s chicks to look up to, but, for some reason, my ideal of the independent woman was a combo of Gene Tierney, Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford in a suit. Julie Christie (the woman whose looks I most coveted) was soft and rebellious. But not professional. Gene, Barbara and Joan were always in possession of themselves, they spoke with authority and they rocked in those suits. They were crisp, clean and perfectly made up. And they were tough. Nobody was going to tell these gals to get coffee!

Sometimes a sweater was okay if you were working hard

Life was a little bit like Laurence Olivier’s approach to acting – if you look the part, you will become the part. I think I eventually came close. Close enough so that now the inside feels authentic and the outside can relax a little.

A great look for take your puppy to work day!

So, thank you, Joan, Gene & Barbara, my secret confidence builders.

That's right - it's my corner office now!

Barbara Stanwyck in “Christmas in Connecticut”: Just One of Us

This is my contribution to the Barbara Stanwyck blogathon hosted by Aubyn at The Girl With the White Parasol. Click here to see the many tributes laid at the feet of the great Missy.

I don't "do" diapers!

Barbara Stanwyck was the greatest movie actress. Period. Maybe not the greatest film actress, or cinema star (though you could make an argument for her in each case), but when it comes to plain old movies, the medium of the masses, she can’t be beat. Stanwyck is right up there with Davis, Crawford, and Garbo. Like those great screen actresses, her resume of fine performances is held in the highest esteem. Davis, Crawford & Garbo were actresses of great emotion, close-ups and drama. Stanwyck was the perfect middle-range actress. Most people don’t live their lives at the highest pitch offered by the great ladies. We live it in that middle range and that is why Stanwyck seems so real, so “one of us.”

There is another thing about Stanwyck that sets her apart from, and for me, above, those great ladies: she is funny! Davis, on film, didn't have a funny bone in her body, Crawford could do it, but never with a light touch, and Garbo, save for one performance, was simply not interested. But Stanwyck - ah, she was light as a feather, sharp as a tack and packed the subtle punch of a Singapore Sling. 

"Christmas in Connecticut" (1945) is a minor comedy, but it is so charming, and Stanwyck is so endearing that I find it irresistible. Playing Elizabeth Lane, a “bachelor girl” with no domestic talents, she writes a domestic column that presents her as the Martha Stewart of 1945, happily living on her farm in Connecticut with her husband and baby. In reality, she lives the single life in a New York City apartment. This masquerade is only known to her good pal, Felix (the adorable S.Z. Sakall), a gourmet cook who supplies Elizabeth with all of her recipes,  and to co-worker, John Sloan. Things are going so swell for her that she goes out and buys herself a mink coat. I just love that about her. When I got my first really important paycheck I went out and bought a designer handbag. I can relate!

I love this woman!

But trouble is in the wind. Wholesome and wounded sailor boy Jefferson Jones (an earnest Dennis Morgan) just home from the front, longs for a good home cooked meal. A nurse (Joyce Compton) who is sweet on him, thinks Elizabeth Lane’s life would be the just the thing to perk up her sailor, so she gets Alexander Yardley (an engaging and likable(!) Sydney Greenstreet), the publisher of Lane’s magazine, to agree to invite the boy to spend Christmas with Elizabeth in her idyllic home. Yardley thinks this would be great publicity for his magazine. Remember, it was during World War II.

Elizabeth cons her boss. After all, she has to pay for that mink!

Elizabeth is thrown into panic mode, but manages to hatch a plan by accepting a marriage proposal from Dudley, a stuffed shirt friend who just happens to have a farm in Connecticut  Felix is brought along to cook and Elizabeth and John seem to have everyone fooled. They even manage to procure the baby of a maid and pass it off as Elizabeth’s.

Felix teaches Elizabeth to make pancakes
and awakens her inner domestic goddess

Naturally, it all goes to hell once Jefferson Jones shows up. He and Elizabeth fall in love and eventually the truth comes out: she’s not married, she has no baby, she can’t cook and she’s mighty available. Joy to the world.

Aww... they're in love ♥

Cute story and a great cast, but it's no "The Lady Eve." Yet, this is the kind of role that Stanwyck turns into gold. She just is – no fuss, no muss, wearing that New York Ruby Stevens accent like a badge of honor. She is lovely and tender, but she is nobody’s fool. We like this girl. She is real. She is one of us.

What's Cooking? Great Cinema Cooking Scenes

I hate to cook. I love the idea of cooking, but I confess, my oven is used for storage and I'd be lost without a microwave.

Brooks cooks: Do you honestly
think Louise knew her way around the kitchen?

But since I love to eat, I really do appreciate the skill and creativity that tales place in the kitchen. And since my Mom's best dish was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (my Mom was many wonderful things, but she passed the I-can't-cook gene to me), I am always fascinated by the culinary artistry displayed by those who are blessed with the talent. Just like Mickey Mantle was at home on the ball field and Secretariat was in his element in the home stretch, there are those whose true medium is food. Since I didn't get to see this close up and personal at home (see the macaroni & cheese comment above), I always get a kick out of a good cooking scene in the movies. Here are a few of my favorites.

Christmas in Connecticut

Barbara Stanwyck finds her inner domestic goddess and flips those flapjacks!

The Gold Rush

Charlie Chaplin makes do with the ingredients at hand and proves that it is all in the presentation.

Babette's Feast

A repressed woman whose life has known little pleasure wins a prize and spends it all on a luscious, sensuous banquet that is a celebration of food.

Chocolat

Food as delicious and delightful or immoral and sinful? I vote for yummy!

Julie and Julia

2 women find their creative voice in the kitchen and make us laugh and drool along the way.

Ratatouille

A rat with the soul of James Beard.

Big Night

This is my favorite "foodie" movie. I love the relationship between Primo & Segundo, the fact that the great Louis Prima was the cause for such excitement and I will never, ever order the risotto with pasta! A loving testament to food, love and family.

Did I miss any of your favorite foodie film moments?

p.s. My Mom did teach me that everything I need to know can be found at the movies♥

BARBARA STANWYCK: STRONG THE STANWYCK WAY

Thirteenth and last in a series about strong women in film. Strong women are independent, beautiful, sexy, feminine and just want everything in life that a man wants and believe that they have every right to have it!

I had to save the best for last! What is there to say about this lady that hasn't already been said? Beloved by her public and by her co-workers, she is the third jewel in the triple royal crown of American strong women in film alongside Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

Stanwyck was often unfairly compared to Davis, but there really is no comparison. Of the three, she is the most even, the least neurotic and the one I'd most like to have my back. She may have never hit the acting heights of Davis or Crawford, but she never sunk to their depths. Her reputation in her field is spotless and it only grows as the years go by. There is no trace of artifice, no fuss, no muss. With Stanwyck, what you see is what you get. And what you see is a great screen actress. Period.

Known as "Missy" to her friends, Brooklyn's Ruby Stevens went from the telephone company to the chorus to Hollywood. Along the way, she won the love and respect of her co-workers (both in front of and behind the camera) and her audience. This was no Hollywood Diva!

If you want to be a strong, independent woman, or if you are an admirer of the type, you can learn a lot from Missy.

Barbara Stanwyck's Guide 

to Being a Strong, Independent Woman

#1: If you're strong, you can be soft and sweet

Barbara could be a vision of femininity  

#2:  If you're strong, you can take control of the situation

I would not take a chance those gloves were just for show

#3: If you're strong, you can admit you can't cook

Hey - that's why people hire chefs

#4: If you're strong, you can strip

Barbara played a stripper at least 3 times, so she felt
confident in the g-string

#5: If you're strong, you can ride a motorcycle as good as any man and look damn good doing it

Looking good with Elvis. I'm sure she could have driven, but I think she 
just wanted to get her arms around the King.

#6: If you're strong, you are a straight shooter

You'd have to be nuts to mess with her

#7: If you're strong, you see things through to the end (no matter how dirty the deal)

Taking murder seriously

#8: If you're strong, you can have a soft heart for the weaker ones

She could have, but she didn't

#9: If you're strong you can be a loving mother

Mother Love requires real strength

#10: If you're strong, you can beat the boys at their own game

If this woman is in the Executive Suite, she will run the show

#11: If you're strong, you can be sexy at any age

A legend in every way.

#12: If you're strong, you help those on the way up and they never forget it.

William Holden never forgot Stanwyck's kindness
during the filming of "Golden Boy"

At the 1978 Academy Awards, while the two were presenting the
award for Best Sound, Holden went off script, paid tribute to her
integrity and generosity and thanked Missy for saving his career.
In 1982, after Holden had passed away and while accepting her
honorary Oscar, she dedicated the award to her "Golden Boy."
What a classy lady!

And, if you're strong you are always fiercely yourself - beautiful like no other. Leave the conventional beauties to the conventional minded.

I think it's fair to say that in her career that spanned roughly 60 years, she never gave a bad performance. Here are just a few of those I think are her very best:
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
Baby Face (1933)
Stella Dallas (1937)
The Lady Eve (1940)
Remember the Night (1940)
Ball of Fire (1941)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers (1946)
Sorry Wrong Number (1948)

If I omitted your favorite, I apologize, but there are just so many wonderful films and so many more wonderful Stanwyck performances!

Bottom line: they don't come any better than Barbara Stanwyck. A total pro, she was the Ziegfeld Follies, pre-code, romance, comedy, Noir, westerns, and TV. What else is there to say? The best. Period.

The 2011 Complete "Strong Women in Film Series:


Bette Davis: No Apologies
Ann Dvorak: A Penthouse, Pre-Code and You
Joan Crawford: I Will Previal
The Flapper: Free, Female and 21
Ann Sheridan: One Swell Gal
Jane Russell: Nobody's Cupcake
Susan Hayward: Diminish at Your Own Risk
Mabel Normand: Paying the Price
Katharine Hepburn: Born This Way
Myrna Loy: The People's Queen
Irene Dunne: Delightful, Delicious and No Distress
Mary, Mae, Marlene and Doris: Industrial Strength Blondes