I was so young when I was born

[sovay]

Tonight I had dinner at Machu Picchu with two friends who are not on Dreamwidth. There was ceviche and beef heart and papa a la Huancaína and wide-ranging conversation. It was really nice.

1. Courtesy of moon_custafer: Saint Valentine and his army of husbands. Occasionally I wonder if these stories of misapprehension are built up for the internet and then I remember that I always hear the hook of the Rick Springfield song as "I wish that I was Jessie's girl."

2. Courtesy of spatch: James Mason's cats. See also this article. I had no idea James Mason either loved cats or could draw. I am charmed by both.

3. Courtesy of handful_ofdust: Ida Lupino in white tie and tails and Janelle Monáe in several sharp suits. You want to put them in the same movie, I'm fine with that.

4. It's no use longing for a teleporter since I am contracted to spend this weekend in another city, house-sitting for friends' cats, but this year's theme at the Kansas Silent Film Festival is "Women in Silent Film" and the program looks great. Louise Fazenda, Colleen Moore, Alice Guy-Blaché, Lois Weber, Dorothy Gish, Mary Pickford, Mabel Normand, Alla Nazimova, female writers, actors, and directors I've never heard of, and genderqueer sky pirates to boot.

5. I cannot remember when or how I found the video for George Harrison's "Crackerbox Palace" (1976), but I'm really fond of it. Also of Harrison's eyebrows, which minus the moustache and with the mop-top grown out really come into their own.

Comments

[gwynnega]

I like your version of "Jessie's Girl" better. (ETA: I always used to think the Herman's Hermits song "A Must To Avoid" went "She's a muscular boy.")

Also, I like James Mason covered in cats.

In terms of George Harrison videos, I'm also very fond of "This Song" (from the same album as "Crackerbox Palace"), which makes light of the copyright infringement lawsuit George went through over "My Sweet Lord."

[sovay]

(ETA: I always used to think the Herman's Hermits song "A Must To Avoid" went "She's a muscular boy.")

That may be one of the better mondegreens I've heard in some time, although definitely not a reason to avoid.

Also, I like James Mason covered in cats.

I especially liked his shoulder-sitting Siamese. That's a Good Cat.

In terms of George Harrison videos, I'm also very fond of "This Song" (from the same album as "Crackerbox Palace"), which makes light of the copyright infringement lawsuit George went through over "My Sweet Lord."

Oh, wow.

". . . and as far as I know don't infringe on anyone's copyright, so . . ."

That's great. I had the impression that Harrison's solo work was mostly characterized by spirituality, but he had a real talent for straight-faced snark.

[alexxkay]

That Valentine's story is my new headcanon.

Nazimova shows up as a fascinating supporting character in the in-progress podcast biohraphy of Val Lewton; she was his aunt.

[sovay]

That Valentine's story is my new headcanon.

I love the tag.

Nazimova shows up as a fascinating supporting character in the in-progress podcast biohraphy of Val Lewton; she was his aunt.

For some reason I knew that! They were both Leventons originally, right?

[poliphilo]

I thought I knew everything there was to be known about the Beatles but I'd never seen that video

[thisbluespirit]

1. That is great! (And, yeah, that sort of thing does happen all the time with song lyrics. My Dad, when he was young, was mystified by my Granddad's disapproval of Flowers in the Rain until it turned out that he'd thought the line "throw marigolds on the eiderdown" was "so many girls upon my eiderdown".)


2. Awww! That is also great.


4. Well, i hope it goes well and the cats are worth it, but I suppose it's another list to play with, at least?

[shewhomust]

I did not know Crackerbox Palace: very catchy, and my, wasn't he young! More than a touch of the Rutles, there, not just in the video but in the songt itself...

[moon_custafer]

Have you seen the Rutland Weekend Television Christmas special where Harrison just wants to be a pirate?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ACyZIXkHq0

[rydra_wong]

She seems to have been a supporting character in many Hollywood lives; she convinced Richard Barthelmess to try acting professionally (having learned English from his mother).

[rydra_wong]

2. Courtesy of spatch: James Mason's cats. See also this article. I had no idea James Mason either loved cats or could draw. I am charmed by both.

Thank for for disseminating this important information! What a proper appreciation of cats.

"The cat recognizes these arbitrary regulations but he does not feel bound by them."

[moon_custafer]

You heard they found a bunch of her costumes in someone’s attic a few years ago, right? When the family who came across the trunks contacted the Alla Nazimova Society (having first looked up who this mysterious “Nazimova” was), they sent a photo of the one they’d opened, and the pearl headdress from Salome was sitting there right on top.
https://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2015/04/03/42226/long-thought-lost-costumes-of-silent-film-star-all/

[sovay]

I thought I knew everything there was to be known about the Beatles but I'd never seen that video

I imprinted early on Ringo thanks to his Mr. Conductor, but "Crackerbox Palace" (and "This Song," which gwynnega linked above) has suddenly interested me in George.

[sovay]

My Dad, when he was young, was mystified by my Granddad's disapproval of Flowers in the Rain until it turned out that he'd thought the line "throw marigolds on the eiderdown" was "so many girls upon my eiderdown".

Hee. That is a little different.

Awww! That is also great.

I type this hearty agreement with Autolycus draped over my hands. I think he also agrees.

Well, i hope it goes well and the cats are worth it, but I suppose it's another list to play with, at least?

It is! I suspect I know less about women in silent film than women in film noir, except that they were actually all over the place.

[sovay]

I did not know Crackerbox Palace: very catchy, and my, wasn't he young!

It's been stuck in my head since we got home from the marathon!

More than a touch of the Rutles, there, not just in the video but in the songt itself...

It made me realize Harrison had a sense of humor. I mean, most people do to some degree, but not everyone quotes Mel Brooks.

Neil Innes and Eric Idle were involved!

[sovay]

Thank for for disseminating this important information! What a proper appreciation of cats.

You are very welcome. He sounded like he had excellent cats in his life.

[pameladean]

Oh, the James Mason photos are awesome. The possibly-random order they were presented in suggests that after some trials, he found a cat that didn't mind hanging around to be photographed. The other cats all have a kind of, "It's a good think we like you, dude, what is this nonsense?" air about them.

I also feel strongly that Ida Lupino and Janelle Monae in their amazing suits could only be improved by a cat or two around the edges.

P.

[sovay]

The other cats all have a kind of, "It's a good think we like you, dude, what is this nonsense?" air about them.

Heh. Yes. One of the Persians definitely has the stare of "Shut up and take the picture already!"

I also feel strongly that Ida Lupino and Janelle Monae in their amazing suits could only be improved by a cat or two around the edges.

I approve of this plan.

[nenya_kanadka]

This is just to say that I, too, also hear it as "I wish that I was Jesse's girl" and then find myself wondering if both singer and aforementioned Jesse are meant to be women. (I think it's actually supposed to be a straight guy lamenting that his straight guy friend is already dating the woman he has a crush on, right? It ALWAYS sounds a lot gayer than that to me, ok.)

[sovay]

This is just to say that I, too, also hear it as "I wish that I was Jesse's girl" and then find myself wondering if both singer and aforementioned Jesse are meant to be women.

I would love to hear an all-female version of that song. You might need to change a couple of pronouns, but I don't think it would hurt it.

(I think it's actually supposed to be a straight guy lamenting that his straight guy friend is already dating the woman he has a crush on, right? It ALWAYS sounds a lot gayer than that to me, ok.)

I think your reading of the original lyrics is correct, but also: yeah.

I like your icon.

[alexxkay]

Harrison, IIRC, was a major financier behind many Python and Python-adjacent film projects.

(He did the song over the closing credits of Time Bandits, which took me years to find a recording of. There was never a TB soundtrack album, apparently due to Harrison's being too depressed by Lennon's assassination.)

[nenya_kanadka]

I *think* the icon is from US politics RPF fandom circa 2008; it's definitely a riff on either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert's "Reality has a liberal bias."

I find myself using it a lot. :D

[sovay]

Harrison, IIRC, was a major financier behind many Python and Python-adjacent film projects.

That makes me really happy to hear.

[shewhomust]

It made me realize Harrison had a sense of humor.

Oh, yes. What alexkay said, for a start: he set up Handmade Films to finance The Life of Brian, and went on from there.

There's a lovely quotation from him whe he was busted for hash: "I'm a tidy man. I keep my socks in the sock drawer and stash in the stash box..."

[sovay]

There's a lovely quotation from him whe he was busted for hash: "I'm a tidy man. I keep my socks in the sock drawer and stash in the stash box..."

I'm delighted.

[sovay]

When the family who came across the trunks contacted the Alla Nazimova Society (having first looked up who this mysterious “Nazimova” was), they sent a photo of the one they’d opened, and the pearl headdress from Salome was sitting there right on top.

Man, my attic is never like this.

[sovay]

She seems to have been a supporting character in many Hollywood lives; she convinced Richard Barthelmess to try acting professionally (having learned English from his mother).

Right; that's ridiculous and I owe her.

[sovay]

Have you seen the Rutland Weekend Television Christmas special where Harrison just wants to be a pirate?

"All my friends are pirates and they sail the BBC."

I have now become actively depressed he's dead.