TCM Movie Night: Parachute Jumper

In Parachute Jumper, Bette Davis is second billed as Alabama teaming with Douglas Fairbanks, Junior as Bill and Frank McHugh as Toodles. The "story" shows three peoples struggling during the Depression. Bill and Toodles are retired Marine flyers and Alabama a stenographer.

The title refers to one of Bill's gigs. Later he works as a chauffeur, and then as a bodyguard.As a bodyguard, Bill spends his days hiding behind a curtain with a gun. Then he and Toodles branch out into drug smuggling for a gangster (though they think they're smuggling liquor.) Ironically, the same gangster hires Alabama.

It's not a particularly good film, but I enjoy watching all of Bette's performances. Too bad she doesn't have much to do. It's also fun to see Frank McHugh. I recognized Harold Huber; I checked his credits on IMDB--he was in The Thin Man and several Charlie Chan films. Walter Brennan makes an appearance in a diner scene. Thank you IMDB, because I didn't even notice him.

I wouldn't recommend this except to see Bette. Otherwise the film is pretty much a mess.

It's Bette Davis Day on TCM

I didn't realize that TCM's August theme is the star of the day. Luckily, I checked out the schedule yesterday. Otherwise, I would have missed Parachute Jumper at 6 AM, starring Bette and Douglas Fairbanks Junior. I've seen it before, probably only once. When I got up, I caught most of The Girl from 10th Avenue. It's no classic, but more fun than I remembered.

In addition to those two movies, I recorded Dangerous, Ex-Lady and a Johnny Carson-Bette Davis interview. I scheduled recordings of a Dick Cavett-Bette Davis interview and Payment on Demand. I watched the other selections off and on during the day--I didn't record these because I have them on DVD or have seen them several times recently.

Bette Davis day is a nice surprise-especially on days spent close to home. Plus, I'll have lots of Bette to watch in the next week.

Our Baltimore Getaway

 My last post described how our weekend began...badly.

Spike's illness overshadowed the whole weekend. When we left him Friday to go out to dinner downtown, we didn't understand how sick he was. Jeff and I didn't leave him alone the rest of the weekend.

We still had fun. I went out to lunch and antiquing on Saturday afternoon. Jeff went on boat rides late Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We all went to a farmers' market and Druid Hill park on Sunday morning. Jeff's great, great grandfather was its Superintendent (or Supernintendo as Ralph Wiggum would say) after the Civil War. The Superintendent's House is undergoing a renovation; it will be beautiful when it's finished.

I enjoyed some crab cakes and fried green tomatoes in restaurants, and fresh donuts and a smoothie at the farmers' market. Jeff also brought me back a Polock Johnny's Polish sausage from a stop on one of his boat rides. We cooked for Sunday night's dinner: grilled steak, potatoes, salad, grilled vegetables and wine (the last two from the farmers' market.)

I was pleasantly surprised to find a familiar "face": Fat Tire Amber Ale in restaurants and liquor stores. We had a Fat Tire logo pint glass for years before we first tasted the beer: in the Denver airport during a stopover on a trip to Portland. We also drank Fat Tire on a trip to Phoenix. We hadn't had it in years.

Annette's house is on the water. When I was keeping Spike company, I sat out on her deck, wrote in my journal and watched boats, egrets, herons and other seabirds. I enjoyed the peace and the solitude.

I hope we get another opportunity to visit and don't wait for another 10 years.

Off to a Rough Start

Yesterday, Jeff, Spike and I left Norwalk, picked up our friend Elaine in Stamford, and headed down to Baltimore to visit our friend Annette. Jeff and I haven't seen Annette in about ten years. Thanks to Linked-In, we reconnected and got invited for a visit. It's also the first time in about two years that we've gotten away for a long weekend.

Jeff had to get gas and we were about ten minutes late picking up Elaine. She was also ten minutes late. We hit traffic jams in Stamford (the dreaded Exit 7 to Exit 5 slowdown) the New Jersey Turnpike (we take the Tappan Zee to the Garden State Parkway, take Exit 129 to get on the Turnpike, then switch to 295 at Exit 7 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge--or Del-Mem-Ber-- as Jeff and I call it), Delaware and Maryland.

We also were behind a flatbed trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike that lost two-by-four rectangular pieces of Styrofoam; three hit us. Lovely.

We arrived about an hour later than expected. All went well until Spike suddenly got sick. He threw up several times last night. (Damn, we shouldn't have left him to go out to dinner, but had no idea how sick he really was.) Jeff called our vet, and we took him to a local vet this morning. He's still weak and lethargic but is rallying.

It's a horrible feeling to have a sick dog, especially away from home. It's also not fun to have your dog repeatedly throw up on your first visit someplace.

But Spike is sick and our priority is to get him better. And whatever the vet gave him today is working.

Love to Spike. Get well soon.

Today in History

On this day in 1974, Richard Nixon announced his resignation as President of the United States effective the following day.

I don't have a distinct memory of that day, but I remember the Saturday Night Massacre pretty well. I had just gotten back to my dorm room at University of Delaware and saw the news. I wasn't sure what it all meant but I knew it was critical to the presidency.

As to the actual resignation, I saw clips of Nixon's farewell speech and of the Fords escorting the Nixons to the helicopter.  But, after seeing the movie, Dick, I'll never think of Watergate in the same way again.

On a lighter note, today is the 25th anniversary of the first night game under the lights at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Cubs and the Philadelphia Phillies. That game was rained out after three innings. The first official night game took place the next night; the Cubs beat the New York Mets.

Netflix Movie Night: The Spiderwick Chronicles

We don't remember how this film got into our Netflix queue, but we're glad it did. We enjoyed it.

Three kids and their mother move into a spooky, old house in the middle of the woods. They allude to some problem with the father, but it isn't spelled out until much later in the movie. One of the kids finds a mysterious book and discovers a world of goblins and fairies all around them.

The kids were realistic--first in their sibling conflicts and arguments, and later in banding together to save their family. The cast includes David Strathairn--always a plus for me.

It's funny how I can suspend my disbelief about all the creatures, the magic and the fairy dimension (True Blood also has a fairy dimension) but wonder how the family can explain the disappearance of their aunt (who went to the fairy dimension) to the authorities. But hey I also had a quibble with a minor point in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, while accepting the overall premise.

I was also happy to see a relatively short film for a change (about 90 minutes.) That's efficient story-telling.

Sono Arts

I was disappointed when I woke up this morning and it was raining. Because this is the weekend of  the Sono Arts Celebration. We can't go tomorrow because we have plans with the parents.

Luckily, the sun came out around 3; it turned into a beautiful, summer day. We strolled down North Main and Washington Streets and saw booths with paintings, sculpture, jewelry and crafts. We stopped at one of Spike's favorite places, The Burger Bar for fried pickles and beer. We also ordered fried string beans and truffle mac and cheese. Delicious.

Then Mr. Bungles came over to our table and asked if we would like a balloon animal. I requested a balloon beagle:

I made several attempts to get a picture of the real and balloon Spikes together. This was the best:

Burger Bar is located near one of the stages. We also got to hear performers from School of Rock. They were awesome.

It was a wonderful afternoon.