An (admittedly long-winded) anniversary retrospective.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of our first post here at True Classics!

When Carrie and I first toyed with the idea of starting a classic movie blog, it seemed like a crazy thought. Both of us were in graduate school at the time, and I wondered if anyone would even be interested in reading what we have to say, considering the number of truly excellent classic film blogs already populating the blogosphere. But it has turned out to be more rewarding than I could have ever anticipated, and I’m so glad we took the plunge–and that we eventually coerced Nikki into joining our crazy crew. 🙂

The past year in particular has been a great one for True Classics. Taking a cue from other bloggers who’ve recently celebrated their own anniversaries, here’s a month-by-month breakdown of our “greatest hits” (so to speak):

December 2010: We celebrated Christmas by focusing on several of our favorite  holiday films. Among them: Nikki told us about some of her favorite 80s Christmas flicks, Carrie delved into the reasons why White Christmas is one of her go-to holiday classics, and Brandie listed some of her favorite “new” classics from recent years.

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January 2011: We participated in CMBA’s first blogathon on the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock with a post on the endangered female trope exemplified by Dial M for Murder. We also kicked off our recurring series “Who’s That Girl?” with an entry on supporting actress Ruth Hussey.

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February 2011: Along with most other classic film aficionados, we thoroughly enjoyed TCM’s annual 31 Days of Oscar celebration by recommending some of our favorites from each day’s programming schedule. We participated in the blogathon For the Love of Film (Noir) with a post on Lured. Brandie also wrote an in-depth examination of censorship, specifically in reference to Elia Kazan’s adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire.

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March 2011: We participated in the Jean Harlow centennial blogathon with a post on Libeled Lady. In honor of Women’s History Month, Brandie wrote a series of posts about women in early Hollywood. Nikki continued our Saturday Morning Cartoons tribute to the Disney canon with a great post on Winnie the Pooh. Carrie paid tribute to the recently-departed Elizabeth Taylor. Brandie crafted her “Cinematic Alphabet.”

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April 2011: Taking a cue from R.D. Finch, we listed our favorite classic movie performances by actors and actresses. We moved into the Disney Renaissance era in Saturday Morning Cartoons with a look at The Little Mermaid. We resumed our Feminist Fridays series with an examination of Bette Davis’ role in Mrs. Skeffington.

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May 2011: We participated in CMBA’s second blogathon, the movies of 1939, with an entry on Golden Boy. Brandie’s Psycho-inspired haiku was chosen as one of the runners-up in the Best for Film Hollywood Haiku competition. We were also thrilled to be nominated for the LAMMY for Best Classic Movie Blog from the Large Association of Movie Blogs!

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June 2011: Brandie cooked up a batch of classic movie “personality soup.” We took some time to critique TIME‘s recent “best” animation list. Brandie wrapped up the month by contributing a piece on her beloved Cary Grant for the Queer Blogathon.

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July 2011: We celebrated the centenary of one of Brandie’s favorite gals, Ginger Rogers. We contributed a post to the Vivien Leigh-Laurence Olivier Appreciation Blogathon, focusing on Olivier’s performance in Rebecca. And we concluded the month with a contribution to the 50s Monster Movie blogathon on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

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August 2011: The highlight of the year was undoubtedly our hosting of the Loving Lucy Blogathon, a celebration of Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday, which drew participation from 41 wonderful bloggers. We also wrote a post for the Ida Lupino blogathon on Devotion. Brandie contributed the first of two posts to the musicals countdown at Wonders in the Dark. And after almost a year, we finally wrapped up our Saturday Morning Cartoons examination of the Disney canon with a look at Tarzan.

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September 2011:  September was the month of the blogathon: we participated in no fewer than four, including the Margaret Lockwood blogathon, the CMBA Guilty Pleasures blogathon, the Fashion in Film blogathon, and the Darling Deborah blogathon. Brandie’s second contribution to the Wonders in the Dark musicals countdown was posted. And we kicked off another feature in our Saturday Morning Cartoons series, Pioneers of Animation.

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October 2011: We started off the month participating in two more blogathons: the Dick Van Dyke anniversary blogathon, and the Carole Lombard blogathon. We kicked in a post for Project Buster in honor of Keaton’s influential career. And to top it off, we won two CiMBA awards from the Classic Movie Blog Association!

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November 2011: We threw our hats into even more blogathon rings, contributing posts to the For the Boys event and the Moustaches for Movember blogathon. And to put a nice little bow on the year, we just wrapped up the Great Citizen Kane Debate, which on a personal level raised some very interesting questions (and some slight changes in perspective) for this longtime Kane non-fan.

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All in all, it has been quite a wonderful year for us. Stats-wise, over the past year, we received 181,300 hits, for a grand total of 235,600 hits in the two years since we began the blog. That’s positively mind-boggling, y’all!

Additionally, we’ve received 958 comments (and only 240 of those, surprisingly enough, have been Brandie!). Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on our posts, particularly our most frequent commenters: Caftan Woman, Caroline (Garbo Laughs), ClassicBecky, R.D. Finch (The Movie Projector), and The Lady Eve.  We can’t tell you how much we value your thoughts and feedback on our posts!

Here’s hoping the next year is filled with as much joy and fun as the past year has been!