dirac

A death that got lost in the shuffle here in the States: the exquisite Michèle Morgan has died at age 96. The announcement was made, fittingly, by the President of the Republic. Related.

Many thanks to Helene for her generous comments. In turn I'd like to thank her for doing the heavy lifting that keeps this board going as a place for serious discussion of this great art form (and for fun as well)! Thanks to all who post as well and the wonderful commentary that's given so much pleasure over the past year and previous years. Keep it coming!

No time to click on the link right now but thank you for this, Jane. Not sure if I will be able to watch but it sounds like a treat..............

To each his own, I guess,pherank. As I remember, the robots were more human than the human beings. Harrison Ford was definitely a pro by that time and easily the best of the three leads IMO. But then I've never been a big fan of the Star Wars series. However, the original SW did perform a gratifying service for one of my favorite actors, Alec Guinness, whose small percentage of the gross was sufficient to ensure that for the remainder of his life he never had to take any job he didn't want to take.

I had read that it took the paramedics 15 minutes to get a pulse, so I did fear the worst. Truth to tell, Fisher was amateurish in the original Star Wars, but her acting did improve over time. She was more talented with her pen, with a wonderfully wry wit. She was much in demand as a script doctor in addition to the work that appeared under her name.

Huston based his screenplay on a novel. I don't think he was much interested in making a conventional biopic.

Thanks for the correction, Josette. "Moulin Rouge" is indeed very good.

A Merry Christmas to you and your family as well, Cristian. It can be difficult-to-worse for anyone who can't express his or her (un)beliefs freely, so you're entitled. That meal sounds scrumptious. Hanukkah began yesterday. Somewhere out there someone may be celebrating Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. My standup comic acquaintance never forgets Festivus. Happy Holidays to all!

Thanks, Josette. Vera-Ellen is great in "White Christmas." Watching another unconventional Christmas flick, "Die Hard," and missing Alan Rickman. What an awful year. It can't end too soon.

Mine do, but very rarely, and sometimes ballet programs never show up at all(on the major PBS channel in my area, KQED - unless it's Nutcracker and sometimes not even then. Ballet programming does appear infrequently on the cable PBS channels. Very few Nutcrackers broadcast this year to my knowledge, whether on PBS or elsewhere. I advise those who are PBS subscribers to call/write to complain. Perhaps persistence will pay off.

We may not be giving her era enough credit. I seem to recall that in her day she and her sisters were already something of a joke (?) George Sanders had the stamina to marry two of them, although the marriage to Magda was brief and sad.

I always wondered how Crosby could make money on a place that was hardly ever open.

Thanks for posting, Cygnet. Peter Cook once famously insulted Zsa Zsa on a talk show with an observation on the pointlessness of her existence, as I remember. Not, perhaps, the most useful of lives but she seems to have been a good sort.

Time for the annual bump-up for this thread. Here's an article about a different kind of Christmas flick, Christmas Holiday with Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin. Any new additions for the list?

I'd say one of a list of writers of unarguable quality and canonic status. (Kipling's "stock" has gone up and down and up a bit over time.)

The Times obit did say cancer, but not of what kind. RIP. Always liked his singing.

A lot of readers of a certain age raised eyebrows at that prize, I understand. I may have been giving him too much credit, but I don't think so. If it was a bit of a needle, it was rather funny.

An interview with Marriner late in life:

I'm not entirely convinced that the source of his conduct is all that mysterious, but let's hope that it serves as a reminder to the Committee that it made a category error to be avoided in future. "Pearl Buck." Now that's just mean, Bob.

Yes, I'm afraid things haven't changed much with the years. I doubt they expected this, but they should have done. Too bad, because as the article points out it's not going to be the turn of the U.S. again for several years at least. At least this may reduce the chance of the lit award going to any other rock stars in future......

Thank you so much for this, Drew. So wonderful to have a little bit more Kirkland to watch. I still hate that move where the woman "squares" her legs in the air, although she makes it look as good as anyone can. Robbins can be vulgar sometimes.

Kirk Douglas is 100 this week. This milestone getting rather more media attention than Miss de Havilland's. He's never been one of my favorites, but I wish him and his family well. Happy birthday!

Many private individuals are required to submit to drug tests, rightly or not, so welcome to fascism (not that I'm inclined to make jokes about that just now). Many dancers are faced with tenuous employment and a career that can end prematurely overnight. Precisely the sort of circumstances that might engender a turn to various substances in hopes of improving performance and speeding up recovery from injury and daily wear-and-tear. I'm not advocating drug testing, mind, but nicolc is correct to point out that people have to be open to education for it to succeed, and education alone is not always effective.

Thank you for posting, Cygnet. A lady of many talents. She had bad luck on the big screen. There wasn't another open slot for a Wholesome Musical Lady Star. She appeared in "Song of Norway" about which Pauline Kael remarked, if I remember correctly, "You can't get made at something this stupefying; it seems to have been made by trolls." She appeared on a segment of "Wait..Wait...Don't Tell Me!" a couple of years ago.

Many of you here at BA may have noticed that Mme. Hermine has not been posting the Sunday links or elsewhere on the board recently. This is just to let you all know that she has been feeling under the weather and occupied with matters offline. Mme. H will be away from the board for a little while but is reachable by PM. She will be joining us again before long to post links and the other treasures she finds for us on the internet!