07 Tuesday May 2024
Posted in Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Rain in May: Joan in Bristol, and Jeanne in Oz
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Bristol, Derek Winnert, Film Noir UK, James Harrison, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels (1957), Jeffrey Kaufman, Joan Crawford, Kim Novak, Rain, Walter Huston
A midday screening of Lewis Milestone’s Rain (1932) heads up a double bill at the Bristol Aquarium cinema this Saturday, May 11. The event boasts an introduction by programmer James Harrison of Film Noir UK, and is followed by another classic Joan Crawford vehicle, Sudden Fear (1952.) Continue reading
09 Monday Dec 2019
Posted in Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Two-Faced Woman: Joan Crawford and ‘Rain’
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1932, Imogen Sara Smith, Joan Crawford, Lewis Milestone, Pre-Code, Rain, Scarface, The Chiseler, Walter Huston
While it is generally agreed that no actress surpassed Jeanne Eagels’ performance as Sadie Thompson in Rain, many have tried. Among them was none other than Joan Crawford, in a 1932 talkie which was widely panned on release (and later, by Crawford herself.) While at first her Sadie may seem close to parody, a more striking portrayal soon emerges, as Imogen Sara Smith writes in ‘Two-Faced Woman’, an article for The Chiseler. Continue reading
07 Thursday Nov 2019
Posted in Anniversaries, Jeanne Eagels, Theatre
≈ Comments Off on The ‘Rain Girl’ in November
As noted in the Playbill Vault, Jeanne Eagels began her legendary Broadway run as Sadie Thompson, “a prostitute at odds with a jungle missionary in Rain, primarily based on a W. Somerset Maugham quick story,” on this day, November 7, in 1922. We’re now just three years away from its centenary. Continue reading
27 Monday Nov 2017
Posted in Anniversaries, Madonna, Music
≈ Comments Off on Madonna’s ‘Erotica’ At 25
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1992, Andre Betts, Bad Girl, Bye Bye Baby, Christopher Walken, David Fincher, Deeper and Deeper, Erotica, Fever, Madonna, Maverick, Rain, Shep Pettibone, Steven Meisel, The Girlie Show
In 1991, Madonna’s fame was at its height. Truth or Dare, her behind-the-scenes documentary filmed during the Blond Ambition tour a year earlier, caused a sensation with its revealing take on the star. After reaching her pop apotheosis with Like a Prayer, she had struck out in new directions with ‘Vogue’ and ‘Justify My Love’ (a sultry, experimental track produced by Andre Betts, with a video banned by MTV.) Continue reading
27 Sunday Mar 2016
Posted in Anniversaries, Film, Jeanne Eagels
≈ Comments Off on Born On This Day: Gloria Swanson 1899-1983
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Gloria Swanson, Her Cardboard Lover, Herbert Marshall, Jeanne Eagels, Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed, Joseph M. Schenck, Joseph P. Kennedy, Louella Parsons, Man Woman and Sin, Rain, Raoul Walsh, Sadie Thompson, Silent Movies, United Artists, Will Hays
Gloria May Josephine Swanson was born in Chicago on March 27, 1899. Her father was in the US army, and the family moved frequently during her childhood. After an aunt took her to visit Essanay Studios in Chicago, she left school to work as an extra. She made an uncredited debut in The Song of Soul, and acted alongside Charlie Chaplin in His New Job (1915.) Continue reading
Tara Hanks 
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