Hail Mary

The Library of Congress is celebrating the centennial anniversary of Mary Pickford's career (her first film was in 1909) by co-hosting screenings of her work in theaters around the country through December.

Today at 2 pm, The Alex Theatre will show a restored 35mm print of Sparrows, the 1926 silent classic, accompanied by a live organ performance.

Sparrows is a delirium of drama and heroics. Pickford plays Mollie, the eldest in a bunch of half-starved orphans who are being abused by an evil, white-trash backwoodsman who’s running a “baby farm.” Mollie leads the children’s escape, only to face more dangers as they’re chased through alligator-infested swamps.

If you miss today’s screening, you can always rent the DVD, which isn't nearly as exciting as having a live organist, but then you can’t pause the live organist while you run to the kitchen for another herbal tea laced with hoodia and a pint of Chunky Monkey...

The Alex Theatre, 216 North Brand Boulevard, Glendale, CA 91203-2610

818 243 ALEX x2539 | www.alextheatre.org | events@alextheatre.org

Dalton Trumbo at The Egyptian

The Egyptian is screening four films by blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, including a premiere of the digitally remastered Johnny Got His Gun, today through Sunday.

A few facts about Trumbo:

* Wrote for Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Saturday Evening Post...

* Published his first novel, Eclipse, in 1934

* Started on the road to quick Hollywood screenwriting success in 1937

* Won an American Booksellers Award (now the National Book Award) for his 1939 novel, Johnny Got His Gun

* Saw everything go south in 1950

* Named one of the Hollywood Ten for refusing to give testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities

* Served one year in a federal penitentiary for contempt of Congress

* Followed it up with a reportedly boozy exile in Mexico

* Wrote under various pseudonyms while still under blacklist

* Won Oscars anyway (“Robert Rich,” The Brave One, and “Ian McLellan Hunter,” Roman Holiday)

* Everything started looking up again

* Credited as “Dalton Trumbo” for Exodus and Spartacus, helping to break the blacklist stranglehold

* Died in September, 1976

* Awarded a posthumous Oscar as “Dalton Trumbo” for Roman Holiday in 1993

Thursday, May 21, 7:30 pm

Johnny Got His Gun (1971) and Lonely Are The Brave (1962)

Between films, join a discussion with Trumbo’s son Christopher, his daughter and unit photographer, Mitzi, DP Jules Brenner, and actor Timothy Bottoms.

Friday, May 22, 7:30 pm 


Spartacus (1960)

Join a discussion with Christopher Trumbo before the film.

Saturday, May 23, 7:30 pm 


Exodus (1960)

Join a discussion with Christopher Trumbo before the film.

The Egyptian Theatre

6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA 90028

(Between Las Palmas and McCadden, just east of Highland Avenue)

Click here to read an article by Christopher Trumbo on HuffPo.

Gluttony

May 20, 1799 is the birth date of Honoré de Balzac,

the creator of the original Ugly Betty. His novel,

La Cousine Bette, is the delicious tale of an old maid* who has an appetite for destroying her wealthy relations, and enlists the services of a prostitute in fulfilling her vengeful schemes.

Balzac understood enormous appetites because he had one himself. According to A Literary Book of Days,** a typical meal for Balzac included “a hundred oysters, twelve lamb cutlets, a ducking with turnips, two roast partridges, sole á la Normande, fruit, wines, coffee and liquers.”

Who saved room for cake?

* Played with relish by Jessica Lange in the film version.

** A Literary Book of Days, Crown Publishers, researched and edited by Timothy Murphy, 1994

Streep As Julia Child: Delicious!

Meryl Streep stars as the doyenne of celebrity chefs, Julia Child, in an upcoming film based on a book — Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.

Amy Adams, who co-starred with Streep in Doubt, plays Julie Powell, a blogger who set out to make every recipe in Child’s enduring classic, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which led to the aforementioned book and movie deal.

It just goes to show that, like Julie and Julia, you can make a living doing something you love. Or at least you can make a chicken dance on your kitchen counter before you broil the hell out it.*

Voilá: dinner and a show.

*By “you” I mean “me.”

Dumpster Diving in the Nuclear Age

This etching was discovered in a trash can near Park La Brea more than 50 years ago, and now it hangs the dining room of advertising production managers Vivian Green and Truda Kinniburgh.

Little Boatyard, Venice is one of numerous etchings by Lionel Barrymore, who’s remembered more often as the cheerless, bank-run-inducing Henry F. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life than as an artist with an affection for boats, docks and ports.

Here’s how Viv’s mom found it. Toward the end of World War II, she came to California to take care of her younger brother, an army major and development engineer. Viv’s mom had a lot of wartime experience herself, having worked on The Manhattan Project and at a facility in Downey, which was later revealed to have had a nuclear reactor. In the evenings after work, brother and sister would unwind by going for long walks around Miracle Mile, looking at the trees and houses. Viv’s mom especially loved Wednesdays because that was the night when neighbors put out their trash for Thursday collection. During one of those Wednesday night strolls, Viv’s mom found Little Boatyard, Venice.

Speaking of Barrymores... Drew Barrymore had a great interview with NPR’s Terry Gross regarding her portrayal as Little Edie Beale in HBO’s Grey Gardens. To hear it, download the podcast from iTunes: NPR 04-14-2009 Fresh Air or listen to it here.

Flirting with Disaster

I’ve seen the apocalypse and it happens three blocks from where I live, in the 1988 low-budget, devastation drama, Miracle Mile.

Here’s a quick plot reminder: Musician Anthony Edwards meets waitress Mare Winningham at Johnnie’s, at Fairfax and Wilshire.

(Or is it Kevin Bacon and Ally Sheedy?)

Mare agrees to go out with Anthony after she gets off work.

He’s late. She’s gone. A pay phone rings.

Anthony answers it and learns that Los Angeles will soon be destroyed by a nuclear missile attack. He finds Mare. They run pell-mell up and down Wilshire trying to escape. They find hope in a helicopter, but it plummets into the La Brea Tar Pits as the city explodes into flames.

Some say the movie’s message is to enjoy the moment. It could also serve as a reminder to revisit the dinosaur bones, dire wolf skulls, and frolicking prehistoric mammals at the Page Museum before the Big One hits. First Tuesdays are free.