Happy New Year 2025

Here at A Shroud of Thoughts it is customary to open the New Year with vintage pinups. Without further ado, here they are:

First up is Shirley Anne Field who is greeting the New Year with a drink.

The beautiful Ann Blyth is greeting the year 1957.

Billie Seward and Lucille Ball toast 1935.

Betty Grable welcomes the New Year with streamers, balloons, and music.

Clara Bow welcomes the New Year with bubbles.

And it wouldn't be a Happy New Year without Ann Miller!

Happy New Year!

The Passing of Donna Hill and the End of 2024

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.

The Late Great Linda Lavin

Linda Lavin, who was best known to TV viewers as the title character on Alice and who had a successful career on Broadway, died yesterday, December 29 2024, at the age of 87. The cause was complications from lung cancer.

Linda Lavin was born on October 15 1937 in Portland, Maine. Her mother was a radio personality and singer who had sung with Paul Whiteman's band. Her father operated a furniture business. She had wanted to be an actor from when she was very young. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1959 with a degree in theatre arts. It was a few months after her graduation that she moved to New York City. It was only a little later that she was appearing off-Broadway in a revival of George and Ira Gershwin’s Oh, Kay!.

Linda Lavin went onto a successful career on stage. She made her debut on Broadway in A Family Affair in 1962. In the Sixties she appeared on Broadway in The Riot Act, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, Something Different. Cop-Out, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and Paul Sills' Story Theatre. In the Seventies she appeared on Broadway in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Paul Sills' Story Theatre, and The Enemy is Dead.

After several years during which she appeared in movies and on television (including the show Alice), she returned to Broadway with Broadway Bound in 1986. Later in the decade she she appeared in Gypsy. In the Nineties Miss Lavin appeared in The Sisters Rosensweig, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. In the Naughts she appeared in The Tales of the Allergist's Wife, Hollywood Arms, and Collected Stories. In the Teens she appeared in The Lyons and Our Mother's Brief Affair.

Linda Lavin made her television debut in an episode of The Nurses in 1962. The following year she guest starred on the daytime anthology series The Doctors and later on the series CBS Playhouse. In 1967 she played Gloria in a television production of Damn Yankees.

It was in 1974 that she began played the recurring role of Detective Janice Wentworth on the hit sitcom Barney Miller. She left Barney Miller in 1976 when she was cast as Alice Hyatt on the sitcom Alice. The show proved to be a hit and ran for nine seasons. During the Seventies she guest starred on the shows Rhoda, Harry O, Phyllis, Family, Kaz, and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour.

In the Eighties she continued to star on Alice. She appeared in several TV movies, including A Matter of Life and Death, Maricela, and A Place to Call Home. In the Nineties she starred on the sitcoms Room for Two and Conrad Bloom. She guest starred on the show Touched by an Angel. She appeared in such TV movies as A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story and For the Future: The Irvine Fertility Scandal.

In the Naughts Linda Lavin was the voice of Mama Bird on the animated series Courage the Cowardly Dog. She guest starred on the shows The Sopranos, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and The O.C. In the Teens she was a regular on Sean Saves the World, 9JKL, and Yvette Slosch, Agent. She guest starred on the shows The Good Wife, Bones, Mom, Madame Secretary, Santa Clarita Diet, Brockmire, and Room 104.

In the 2020s Miss Lavin was a regular on the show B Positive. She was a guest voice on Bob's Burgers. She guest starred on the shows Elsbeth and No Good Deed.

Linda Lavin not only worked on stage and television, but movies as well. She made her feature film debut in The Muppets Take Manhattan in 1984. In the Eighties she appeared in the films See You in the Morning (1989) and I Want to Go Home (1989).  In the Teens she appeared in the film The Back-Up Plan (2010). In the Teens she appeared in movies Wanderlust (2012), The Intern (2015), My Bakery in Brooklyn (2016), Manhattan Nocturne (2016), How to be a Latin Lover (2017), and Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019). In the Twenties she appeared in the film Being the Ricardos (2021) and provided a voice for the film Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick (2022).

Linda Lavin was a remarkable actress. Her role as Alice on the sitcom of the same name was a pioneering one. Quite simply, Alice was the first sitcom to focus on a single, working class mother. Alice was intelligent, persevering, and compassionate, and Linda Lavin played the role well. Of course, she also appeared on another iconic sitcom, Barney Miller, although only during the first two seasons. Detective Wentworth was dedicated and strong-willed. Miss Lavin played the role so well that she could have gone from playing a recurring character to a regular had she not taken the lead role in Alice.

Of course, Linda Lavin played many other roles on television, as well as in movies as well. She had a highly successful career on stage. Over the years she won multiple Drama Desk Awards, Obie Awards, a Tony Award, and a Theatre World Award. She was inducted into American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2010. Linda Lavin was a truly great actress who gave many, many great performances.

TCM Spotlight in January 2025: Was It All a Dream?

Next month's TCM Spotlight is "Was It All a Dream?." Every Friday in January 2025, Turner Classic Movies will be showing movies that feature dreams or dream-like sequences. As part of TCM Spotlight: Was It All a Dream?, TCM will be showing some truly great films, from The Manchurian Candidate (1962) to Sherlock, Jr. (1924). Below is a schedule of the movies being shown every Friday night. All times are Central.

Friday, January 3:
7:00 PM Spellbound (1945)
9:00 PM The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
11:15 AM Nightmare (1956)

Saturday, January 4:
1:00 AM Murder, My Sweet (1944)
2:45 AM Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Friday, January 10:
7:00 PM The Wizard of Oz (1939)
9:00 PM The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)
10:45 Jack and the Beanstalk (1945)

Saturday, January 11:
12:15 AM:: My Dream is Yours (1949)
2:15 AM Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
4:00 AM Carefree (1938)

Friday, January 17:
7:00 PM Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
8:00 PM The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
10:00 PM Artists and Models (1955)

Saturday, January 18:
12:00 AM Billy Liar (1963)
1:45 AM Tom, Dick and Harry (1940)
3:15 AM The Feminine Touch (1941)

Friday, January 24:
7:00 PM Oklahoma! (1955)
9:30 PM Cabin in the Sky (1943)
11:30 PM The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)

Saturday, January 25:
1:00 AM The Kid (1921)
2:30 AM I Married an Angel (1942)
4:00 AM Turn Back the Clock (1933)

Friday, January 31:
7:00 PM 8 1/2 (1963)
9:30 PM Wild Strawberries (1957)
11:15 PM  Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Saturday, February 1:
1:15 AM The Last Wave (1977)
3:15 AM Eraserhead (1977)