On "Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era": A Book Review

Title: Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era
Genre: Non-Fiction

About the book...
A TMC Film Guide, this book presents the reader with an array of information about 50 of Hollywood's biggest stars, accompanied by photographs of them and their biggest movies. 

What I think...
I love this book! It's perfect to flip through at random. it's concise, it has lots of pretty pictures of the actresses and the stills from the movies they were in, and with 50 actresses included you have a nice variety of stars to read about. 

The format of the book is great. There are four pages devoted to each actress. The first page being a full page photo; the second, biographical information; the third, a list of what TCM considers their "essential" films and summaries of them; and the forth, notes on their personal style and pieces of trivia. I though this presented the information in a way that makes it enjoyable to read and did so in a way that didn't make it seem overwhelming. 

 My favorite aspects of this layout are the "Style Notes" and "Behind the Scenes" portions, both which I like because I always adore learning more about who my favorite actresses were as a person, as well as some of the more interesting stories you don't always hear about. 

After flipping through and reading this, I am definitely planning  on getting the Leading Men book as well. 
 
To sum it all up... 
This is a fantastic book with beautiful glossy pages and loads of facts and fun about some of Hollywood's greatest. I highly reccomend this for anyone who adores classic film! ♥️

On Three School Books from Three Different Decades

As September comes to a close and students are reaching the point where they are fully settling into the routine of school, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at three school books from three different decades. Because I’ve been rather busy (hence the silence all month), this is going to be a picture heavy post.

First is Best Stories From the Best Book from 1900. I love the beautiful illustrations in this one. 

Next we have The Common Word Speller: Book Two from 1921.

Here we learn that "Oysters are good to eat in the winter."

And finally, we have English in Action from 1955. This is one of my favorite textbooks because, despite the title it really has a lot more in it than just English and largely because it came with a rough draft of a letter tucked into it.

 

The letter reads as follows (with no corrections made other than connecting the fragment on the left margin to its sentence):

Dear Mrs. Sullivan,

        From toe shoe’s to riding boots is often the quick change I make. I have been taking ballet lessons for about seven year and I have just been promoted to the professional class. I’m really proud of that, though I don’t know how that happened, I never practice. We are rehearsing for a ballet right now, three times a week.

         I am also quite a fiend about horses. I simply adore to go galloping across an open field on my favorite horse, Troubadore, with the wind blowing in my face. Every week I go riding more often when I can. I’m always getting thrown; one of these days I’m going to break my neck. “You smell like a barn,” is my mother’s comment when I come home covered with mud,

        Swimming is fun in the summer and I’ve always wanted to water ski one of these days.

        I love clothes and I’m always on a diet? My diets are really a scream. I’m always eating-about 2 ice cream sandwiches a day and eating between meals constantly.

        That’s what my life

        These are some of the things that help to fill my idle hours.

One of these days I’m going to research the teen who wrote it (I just noticed her name was in front cover hidden under a label with a later owner’s name) and the woman who she was writing to (whose address is in the front cover). Even if I don’t find anything, though, it’s such a lovely treasure to have.♥

On “Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War”: A Book Review

Presenting last month's book review that never made it up...

Title: Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War 

Author: Mark Harris

Genre: Non-fiction 

About the book….

A fascinating look at five of the big directors of the Golden Age of Hollywood: John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, and Frank Capra and the part they played during WWII. 

What I think… 

I was only intending to skim through parts of this, but ended up reading the whole thing because it was so interesting and while I was expecting this to be more about Hollywood and the movies made during the 40’s, I’m really glad that it wasn’t.

This was an incredibly informative book when it comes to WWII and part that these marvelous directors played in it when it came to capturing what was going on around the world and making an effort to boost morale. Each of these men put their careers on hold, so they could serve their country and I think Harris did an excellent job showing how it affected them both for better and worse.

There were three sections to this book with chapters broken down by location and a specific time span. Because I wasn’t overly familiar with any of the directors, minus having knowledge of a small handful of their movies, I found this made it easy to follow and keep track of what was going on as Harris went back and forth between the five men.

As an aside, some of the shorts mentioned in the book you can find online, which I really liked because I could see exactly what was being referred to. 

To sum it all up…

This is great book for those who are interested in WWII and learning about the impact that some of the big directors in Hollywood had on it.  Not something I would refer to as a quick read, but definitely an enjoyable one! ♥

On a Decision to Sew a Giraffe

Lately I've felt pretty burned out when it comes to sewing clothes. It's not that I don't love sewing my own vintage style clothing, it's just that I get frustrated with following patterns, things don't fit right, there are issues matching fabrics/buttons/zippers...you get the picture and basically it come down to the fact that I've always had difficulty when it comes to being told exactly what to do when it comes to creative projects. This isn't to say you don't have some freedom when it comes to sewing clothes, but it's more centered in the what are you going to use to make this uniquely yours vein than it being yours entirely. 

When I first started sewing, I didn't use patterns. For the stuffed animals I made, I just sketched out what I wanted them to look like (sometimes directly on the fabric, such as with my White Rabbit), took scissors to fabric, and hoped that whatever I was making would turn out as I imagined. This is part of what made me like sewing so much and what I still enjoy about making my own stuffed animals, with few exceptions.

With this in mind, at the end of last month I decided to take a break from clothes and sew some sort of stuffed animal. While initially I had a set of hippos in mind, I went to the craft store and in the remnants section found 3/4 of giraffe print, which was so appealing to me I decided I was, instead, going to make a giraffe.

Macrame cord is great for stuffed animal and doll hair!

I named my giraffe Gabby after Audrey Hepburn's character in the movie within the movie Paris When it Sizzles. One of my favorite quotes from this movie (right after William Holden's description of plot) is the giraffe quote, which is of course said in a delightfully affected way:

Gabby: When I was a little girl, on Sunday mornings, if I'd been good, I was allowed to feed the giraffes.
Rick: Giraffes! Don't tell me that you had giraffes too?
Gabby: You mean you...
Rick: But of course we did.
Gabby: Oh what fun! Both of us having had giraffes as children!

Silly, I know, but I've loved that quote since the first time I saw the movie and it popped into my head as I started making this, so my giraffe is named Gabby.

"Did you eat my treat? What sort of dog are you?"

While I’m not planning to stop sewing clothes anytime soon (in fact, I have stuff prepped for a sundress, which I hope to start this weekend and with the remaining fabric from this I'm hoping to make an applique skirt with a giraffe), I do think that every once in a while I need to go back to doing things like this because I love doing them and, overall, they remind me why I enjoy sewing!

 ♥ ♥ ♥