Films of Kay's Era: Agnes Moorhead having a very bad day in "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942)

Agnes Moorehead is so good as Fanny Minaver that the only way I can watch this scene is to remember that in real life, the actress was much beloved and had many friends. 

 

 

Commentary on Hollywood Golden Age movie hype, via cartoon

 This exaggerated movie marquee (remember those?) is from Irish-born cartoonist Graham Laidler, who signed his work with his school nickname "Pont."

Dr. Seuss cartoon lampoons pre-WWII isolationism and willful ignorance

 

 

 

You can read an article about the cartoonist's sand on "America First" on The Atlantic website, HERE

Movies from Key's Era: "Dillinger" (1940)

 Here's the trailer:

Australian opera star Margerie Lawrence makes 1947 comeback after polio

 

The 1930s and 1940s were so complex in terms of culture. Star soprano Marjorie Lawrence was most famous for singing the works of Richard Wagner, strongly associated with Nazi culture. Yet Lawrence herself was heroic, traveling with legs weakened by polio and performing from a seated position for Allied soldiers during the Second World War. The French awarded Lawrence the Legion of Honor for her service to France.

 

 

The 1972 radio broadcast below includes this short summary of Lawrence's experience with illness and her return to the stage. 

Thr radio broadcast above makes mention of Laswrence's memoir, Interrupted Melody. 

 

 

The book became an MGM film in 1955. 

 

 

Can you guiess the movie from the film still? #2

The answer to Film Still #1 was "Love Affair" (1939). 

This time:   Can you name the movie from which this still was taken?

 

 

 

 

"Undertow" (1949) -- Movies from Kay's Era

 

Do you recognize the movie from the film still? #1

 

 

Not sure? I'll post the answer tomorrow at the Facebook Page for the Kay Kemble Project.

One of my favorite Helen Hokinson cartoons ever

 Helen Hokinson drew her girls for magazines for many years, and like almost everything from the earlier part of the 20th century, the messaging is complicated. Sometimes Hokinson's women appear foolish, snobbish, or self-deceiving. But sometimes they show an artist's loving heart and kind eye. Here's a lady who's climbed a railing to wave her hankie at a ship either sailing from a harbor or into one. The illustration is from the Hokinson cartoon collection So You Want To Buy a Book.

 It's not just the publication date which made me find this fitting for the Kay Kemble blog, but the mode of travel. Now that air travel is the way people travel, and boats are simply for cruising around in a leisurely manner, it's hard to remember that sailing used to be how people went, say, from the United States to Europe. 

Restored World War II flying boat does its thing!

 

Celebrities of Kay's Era: Rita Hayworth married Prince Aly Khan