2024 has ended on a sad note for many classic film fans. Fellow classic movie fan, blogger, and film historian Donna Hill died in her sleep this past Friday. She was familiar to many in the classic film buff community as "rudyfan" on Twitter, Bluesky, and other social media services. She had run the blog Strictly Vintage Hollywood since 2008.
While Donna loved the whole of the Golden Age of Hollywood, she was particularly fond of silent films, on which she was an expert. I swear she knew more about Rudolph Valentino than anyone I know, and had even written a book on him (Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol: His Life in Photographs). She was also a fan of Dorothy Gish, whom she had been researching at the time of her death. She maintained a website dedicated to Dorothy Gish called The Dorothy Gish Project, with the goal of publishing a book on Miss Gish.
In addition to silent cinema and later classic movies, Donna was also a fan of British television. She loved animals and she frequently posted pictures of her beloved cat William H. Powell. While I did not know Donna well, I know that she had many close friends in the classic film buff community. She was always upbeat and supportive, and one could always count on her on saying something positive about one's work. I don't think I ever heard her say anything negative about anyone. It is certainly sad to know she's gone and her death is a sad loss for the classic movie fan community. My condolences go out to her friends and family.
Anyway, 2024 was certainly a mixed bag for myself and I am guessing for many other as well. For me it seemed to be the Year Technology Rebelled. My ancient desktop started acting up in June, forcing me to use our even more ancient laptop. For a period from late September to October, my phone consistently displayed a moisture warning, making it impossible to charge. Right now the laptop cannot seem to recognize my phone, making transferring files using a USB cable impossible. That would not be a problem if the laptop was Bluetooth capable. Regardless, I had more problems with technology this year than many others. June proved to be a rather bad month for me in other ways beyond the old desktop acting up. It was early in the month that I had a fever that waylaid me for several days even as A Shroud of Thoughts turned 20. I have to think it was Covid.
Here I must stress that 2024 wasn't all bad. As I just mentioned, A Shroud of Thoughts turned 20 years old on June 4 2024. It is still hard for me to believe that I have been writing this blog for over 20 years now. Indeed, I have been writing this blog longer than most jobs I have held. I also finally published my book on Christmas in film and television, A Merry Little Christmas: Essays on Christmas in Film and Television.
Another major change would come about for me and many others on the social media front. Many of us have not been happy with Twitter since its current owner took over in 2022. This past November the current owner's support of a certain very controversial candidate, as well as changes to Twitter's "block" function and changes to its Terms of Service that would allow its AI to be trained on people's tweets proved to be the straws that broke the camel's back for many. To sum it up, many classic film buffs abandoned Twitter for Bluesky. I abandoned Twitter as well, although I'd had a Bluesky account to which I posted regularly since October 2023. Bluesky seems to have revitalized the classic film buff community, including TCMParty, where social media is concerned, and many have noted it feels like Twitter in the old days.
This year saw the passing of many beloved celebrities, and it seemed to me that it was more than usual. Among the actors who died this year were Glynis Johns, Chita Rivera, M. Emmett Walsh, Barbara Rush, Dabney Coleman, Janis Paige, Anouk Aimée, Martin Mull, Shelley Duvall, Bob Newhart, James Darren, John Amos, Mitzi Gaynor, Tony Todd, Earl Holliman, many others. The music world lost such artists as Eric Carmen, Steve Lawrence, Duane Eddy, Richard M. Sherman, Françoise Hardy, Duke Fakir,and Quincy Jones. Among the great directors we lost this year were Norman Jewison, Roger Corman. We lost two great comic book artists, Ramona Fradon and Trina Robbins, both who made inroads in the industry for women. We also lost the artists Greg Hildebrandt and Don Perlin.
With regards to movies, it would seem that many pundits may have been wrong about the "superhero fatigue" that was much discussed last year. This year the second highest grossing movie was Deadpool & Wolverine. I have to wonder if people simply aren't tired of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (while both Deadpool and Wolverine are Marvel characters, they are not part of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe). Animated movies seemed to dominate the top ten highest grossing movies this year, including Inside Out 2 (the highest grossing movie of the year), Despicable Me 4, Moana 2, and Kiung Fu Panda 4 all made the top ten highest grossing movies this year.
With regards to television, it seems to me that the broadcast networks and cable channels are becoming redundant. Once again it seems the shows most talked about by people were on streaming services. Shōgun was on Hulu. X-Men '97 was on Disney+. True Detective: Night Country was on Max. Landman is on Paramount+. I can't really think of any shows on the broadcast networks that received much in the way of buzz. With regards to the cable channels there were only a few, such as Dark Winds on AMC.
It is difficult to say what 2025 will bring, although I have to admit I haven't much hope for the coming year. On a personal level I hope to get more books out. I am also going to launch a Substack newsletter.. I do hope all of my readers have a happy New Year.
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