Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton) has a slight problem. Our unlikely-named heroine is a young, pretty, slightly empty-headed girl, and all the handsome young men are headed off to war. They invite her to a dance; she accepts. But her stern father, the town constable (William Demarest), forbids her to go. Undeterred, Trudy calls up her…
Each September, the life and career of renowned playwright Tennessee Williams is celebrated in his birthplace, Columbus, Mississippi. As I’ve mentioned multiple times on this blog, Carrie, Nikki, and I are proud alumnae of Mississippi University for Women, which is located in Columbus and has an active hand in this event every year. In the wake…
“I wasn’t naked. I was completely covered by a blue spotlight.” –Gypsy Rose Lee The roots of modern theatrical burlesque can be found as early as the mid-nineteenth century, emerging first in the deceptively-straitlaced Victorian period in England, and then traveling across the Atlantic to American shores not long after. The concept of burlesque did…
Note: you can find the first part of this entry here. Joseph Breen’s second caveat in adapting Streetcar revolved around the character of Blanche, whose more sexually predatory side could not be fully explicated on the screen per Production Code regulations. The faded Southern belle’s lack of sexual satisfaction in her marriage and her guilt over Allan’s suicide…
We’ve previously touched on issues of censorship here at True Classics, but our next two entries this week will take a more in-depth look at the Hays Code, particularly in regards to the struggle to adapt the controversial source material of A Streetcar Named Desire for the big screen. By 1950, Hollywood had reached an impasse. For nearly twenty…
Susan Slept Here (1954) is a delightful, if somewhat creepy (by today’s standards, anyway) bit of holiday fluff. Starring Debbie Reynolds and Dick Powell, the film played with the censors at a time when it seemed everyone in Hollywood was determined to give the Hays Office its share of hell. Reynolds stars as the titular…
This evening, TCM is featuring three films labeled “code breakers,” movies whose provocative, mature themes and scripts contributed to the breakdown of the Production Code Administration’s influence in Hollywood. I’ve made my feelings about the Production Code clear in the past; censorship may seem to be a necessary evil to some, but in my eyes,…
Welcome to the introductory post for our Feminist Fridays series! Keep in mind that many of the comments contained herein are tongue-in-cheek in nature and are not intended to offend or inflame those who may take them otherwise. Also, these posts are not intended to be scholarly or academic or otherwise “learned” reviews, but are…
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