I believe today would mark the 139h birthday of Una O'Connor, a character actress who appears in a number of movies in the first half of the 20th Century. Born in Belfast in 1880, O'Connor made her way to Hollywood where she was in dozens of pictures. Just last weekend I re-watched her in The Invisible Man.
I *always* find O'Connor hilarious, and frankly find her a great reason to watch anything.
As was noted today by Post-Punk (srsly, follow these people), and our own JimD (follow Jim, too, he could use the emotional support), today is the 31st anniversary of the release of Peepshow, the 9th album by Siouxsie and The Banshees.
Peepshow was one of those albums that, as the kids would say, got me through high school.* While I liked the single of Peek-a-Boo when it debuted on MTV, I didn't actually buy the full album til the following year. In practical terms, I listened to this album over and over, nurtured a fanboy crush on front woman Siouxsie Sioux, and felt things deeply while listening to said album on tape, which I was in danger of wearing out when I got my first CD player.
I tend to think of Peepshow as a very complete album. It's more than a smattering of songs from a band, and it's not just that every song is single-worthy, or so I believe, but that the band found a flow to the songs that takes you from point to point. It isn't a "concept album" nor does it tell a story, really, but it just clicks, track after track. And, mostly, makes me miss the thing where you just lie on your bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to a record.
Here's to Peepshow, the first sexy depressing album with a dollop of S&M and pop fun that got me to hang posters of a woman on my wall that I know my mother did not approve of at all.
I did see Siouxsie and The Banshees in 1991 at the first Lollapalooza in Dallas, TX when they toured in support of Superstition, which also had some great singles. And, yeah, they were pretty great despite the fact it was 98 degrees when they hit the stage.
*one day I suppose we should tackle this notion of "got me through high school" on the podcast with Maxwell and MRSHL.
I sway in place to a slow disco
And a glass for the saints and a bow for the road
Am I thinking what everybody's thinkin'?
I'm so glad I came, but I can't wait to leave?
Slip my hand from your hand
Leave you dancin' with a ghost
Slip my hand from your hand
Leave you dancin' with a ghost
There's blood in my ears and a fool in the mirror
And the bay of mistakes couldn't get any clearer
Am I thinking what everybody's thinkin'?
I'm so glad I came, but I can't wait to leave?
Slip my hand from your hand
Leave you dancin' with a ghost
Slip my hand from your hand
Leave you dancin' with a ghost
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
Don't it beat a slow dance to death?
They tell me Batman is now 80 years old. Happy Anniversary/ Birthday, Bruce.
This week, DC Comics released Detective Comics #1000, a big event book as it well should be. I'll pick up my copy at my local comics shoppe (I asked for the Steve Rude cover - we'll see what I wind up with, because I genuinely don't care All the covers were terrific, imho). What happens in #1000 matters less than the stunning achievement of 80 years of Batman, a character dreamed up in the wake of Superman's overnight success, and whose most outstanding achievement is the ability to fit into any tone or version of the character you want and still remain, fundamentally, Batman.
Today marks what would have been the 101st birthday of screen actor, director and producer Ida Lupino. Ida Lupino passed in 1995.
I first came to note Lupino in High Sierra, I believe (I can't recall anymore), and have gone on to try and watch whatever I see going by on TCM. Yes, she's a terrific actor and has a presence that stills like the one above don't always capture. There's an intelligence to her work that - when I learned she had gone on to do work behind the camera and established her own production company, just sort of made sense. She had the misfortune of being a woman born two or three decades too early, who still managed to carve out a place for herself in a field controlled by men.
In 2018, a few retrospectives took place honoring her work and legacy. Did I watch any of her films from these retrospectives on my own time? No. Something I need to rectify.
But I am glad that Lupino's reputation is getting elevated and the strides she made during her career are being seen by today's film fans and makers.
Anyway, I hereby pledge that before Ms. Lupino's 102nd, and pending availability, I will watch the following projects which she directed:
Today marks the 105th birthday of George Reeves, the second man to play Superman on the screen, and star of the six-season series The Adventures of Superman. Frankly, I think George is pretty great in the show - a kid's show in need of a an amiable Superman, pal to children and child-like folks like everyone's pal, Jimmy Olsen.
Go back and watch him sometime. He makes being Superman look like some Grade-A fun.
Superman: The Movie premiered at the Uptown Theatre in Washington DC on December 10th, 1978.
I don't think I need to tell you guys I'm a bit of a fan of Superman, as both character and media staple. And, I imagine, it started with this film. After all, one of my earliest memories, writ-large, is my dad taking me to see Superman: The Movie in the theater and telling my mom how much I liked it when I got home. It was all in that era before you know our hero will be fine when Lex dumps them into a pool with kryptonite chained around their neck.
In the 40 years since, the movie has aged incredibly well - a few bits now dated, others pointing the way for superhero movies and beyond, and all part of an era of filmmaking of sweeping cinematography, cutting edge practical effects, classical scoring and sincerity and humor in spades. The performances have become classics upon which everything else is (rightly) judged, embedded in the (pop) cultural lexicon.
November 18, 1928 Mickey made his first appearance on the screen at New York's Colony Theatre in the short Steamboat Willie. The short holds up incredibly well, retains every bit of energy it had nine decades ago and remains just as clever, creative and funny as anything in animation today.
If you've never seen Steamboat Willie, here you go:
Happy Birthday to Cassandra Peterson - our own Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!
These days, whether it's in full Elvira get-up or in her red-headed civvies, Ms. Peterson is doing great and seems like she's managed to make a career out of just being herself. That ain't half-bad!
Here's to our Queen of Halloween - whose birthday should really be considered the start of the Halloween season.
Today is the birthday of Amy Adams, one of the finest talents of our era.
And, hey, we were lucky enough to get her cast as Lois Lane, plus she turned up that time on Smallville before she broke big. So, entirely relevant to this blog.
Happy birthday to Ms. Adams. We promise to watch her HBO show eventually, but we do not have an HBO.
editor's note: I thought I lost this post, but found an open tab with a draft still available I was able to copy and add to. This isn't the original post that went out, but I - for the first time in years - accidentally erased that post when I clicked the wrong button.
Apparently yesterday was the 60th Birthday of Madonna.
Here at The Signal Watch, we salute Madonna as the person who told us it is 100% okay to like pop music. You will not lose your edge by enjoying Madonna.
"There ought to be a law against any man who doesn’t want to marry Myrna Loy." -Jimmy Stewart
Happy Birthday to the late actress, Myrna Loy, who would have been 103 today.
Loy is highly popular in classic film circles, and when you start making your way through her filmography, it's not hard to see why. She's strong as both a comedic and dramatic actor, is the force-to-be-reckoned-with up against powerhouse leading men from Cary Grant to Jimmy Stewart, and, most famously, William Powell. She's unaffected and a natural in front of the lens, whether playing a society damsel in a romantic tangle or the daughter of Fun Manchu (where it is deeply, deeply complicated to talk about how sexy she is in the role*). And her version of side-eye should be given a copyright all its own.
Loy's career extended beyond the usual ingenue lifespan. Like her friend Joan Crawford, she worked her entire life, remaining relevant (and never lost her looks, which, I mean, come on. I'm human.) and as strong an actress as you're like to see when she was shuffled into playing mothers The Best Years of Our Lives, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House instead of sloe-eyed, knowing girls. Or especially the judge/ spinster sister in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.
Loy was deeply involved in American Red Cross and other ctivities in support of the fight against the Axis
For people who find "old movies" too stagey or unnatural, Loy is an excellent cure for what ails you. She's style fits in neatly, and - I'll argue - informs a lot of what came after. In her comedies, she's hysterical, and in any movie her tone and manner captures what other actors are still trying to pull off today when it comes to presence. Pair her with a leading man worthy of her talents, and you've got a hell of a movie.
Happy birthday, Ms. Loy!
*yellow-face. She's in yellow face as an evil Manchurian. The past (and a lot of the present) is super-racist. Just FYI.
Today is the birthday of Patron Saint to The Signal Watch, Ms. Lynda Carter. She's busy performing again this year, and set to reprise her role as POTUS on CW's Supergirl. If we're lucky, she'll also be in WW84.
