100 year Dame

The 2008 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Cirticism was Boston Globes' Mark Fennery who is being reconized for his reviews and praises of the arts and film.  

The articles that were listed of his on the Pulitzer Prize were all interesting from his talk of the DVD box set of the legendary films by Stanley Kubrick and the photographer Leibovitz, but the one article that stood out was the article on film legend Barbara Stanwyck.  On July 16th 2007 would of been Miss. Stanwyck's 100th birthday.  

What appeals to me about this article at first is that I myself have a love for the movies that were created before even my mother was born.  There is something so appealing about these old moives from the 1930s and 40s that keeps my televsion on Tuner Classic Movies.  It is a love for these old moives and legendary actors I developed from my father.  

I have to be honest, I have not seen many films with Barbara Stanwyck, but from the tribute to her by Jennifer Jason Leigh and the article by Mark Feeney, she was a talented dame.  She played women that were somewhat the same, but the type of women that did not need to sex appeal to get men to fall to their knees.  She was a smart woman as well as beautiful.  She was Ruthie Stevens from Brooklyn before she became Barbara Stanwyck.  She was the type of woman that died in the world of Hollywood moives. 

That is another reason this article attracted me.  These screen legends are forgotten in my generation that praise more on the ones that are famous but not talented.  That when I tell people that one of my favorite screen legends is Katharine Hepburn they respond, "Oh, yeah she is in Breakfast at Tiffanys!" (no offense so Audrey Hepburn I adore her also!)  That women who did not need to be half naked to get a man to fell in love with them.  They did it with thier eyes and walk.  These actresses and actors just brought something to the screen and there personal lives never interferred.  

Its something i cannot explain about these old moives that have kept me from the theaters for such a long time.  Its the mystery i think that i am so attracted to.  That when you watch these moives, you see a character and you are can easily be dragged into the moive from start to finish.  To read Mr. Feeney's article on Miss. Stanwyck makes me happy to know that these legends are not totally forgotten.