I Thought I Couldn’t Love Classic Hollywood Anymore Than I Already Do But…
The wonderful thing about being a classic movie fan is that the love you have for these films never goes away from you. You see people claiming to be the #1 fan of some modern-day actor who can’t act or some modern-day boy band who can’t sing. Fast forward six months into the future and suddenly these people aren’t fans of bad actor X or bad boy band X anymore; they’ve moved on to someone else. But you never see that with classic film fans. This is a love that sticks with ya for life!
Just when I think I couldn’t love these films anymore than I already do I stumble across little things that make my heart swell up and overflow with more classic movie love! Take, for example, this quote by Lauren Bacall on the film “Twilight.” You know, that “vampire” “film” that was so hilariously bad that after having the misfortune of seeing the first “film” of his…this…thing in theaters I laughed so hard I almost busted a lung and threw my leftover popcorn at the closing credits and I absolutely refuse to italicize the title of this “film” because I do not believe that something this bad can actually be called a film. Anyway, here’s what Lauren had to say…
Yes I saw it, my granddaughter made me watch it, she said it was the greatest vampire film ever. After the ‘film’ was over, I wanted to smack her across her head with my shoe but I do not want a book called Grannie Dearest written about me when I die. So instead I gave her a DVD of Murnau’s 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu and told her, ‘Now that’s a vampire film!’
LAUREN BACALL, I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. She understands that vampires are supposed to be scary, not sparkly! They’re supposed to make you scream with fright, not roll your eyes to the high heavens hoping that God can have mercy and take your soul right then and there. I hope Lauren Bacall’s granddaughter actually took the time to watch Nosferatu (one of my all-time favorite horror films) and she better have kissed her grandmother’s feet after that. I would also like to say that my father has a raging crush on Lauren Bacall. Every time I watch a film of hers he would stop dead in his tracks and stare at her with his mouth hanging open slightly. Good choice, Dad! Oh, and I don’t think I’ve posted this hilarious photo before…
Lauren Bacall trying to put on a pair of headphones. When I first saw this picture, I laughed myself to tears. Actually, I think I peed myself a little because I was laughing so hard. Folks, if you ever wondered what would happen if you took a classic movie actor and placed them in the 21st century, here it is.
I also found another AMAZING photo today that honestly, I have no words to describe:
YES. YES. YEEEESSSSS. LOOK AT THAT. LOOK AT THAT GREATNESS RIGHT THERE. Stany AND Gabe, with middle fingers raised??? Can someone say BEST PICTURE EVER??? Ugh, I just LOVE these people! We would’ve gotten along so well together, raising our middle fingers to the entire world. Why didn’t I live back then, WHYYYYY? Stany with her middle finger raised just exudes Brooklyn’s trademark charm and kindness! You go, girl! And Gabe with his middle finger raised…perfection! He and I=two peas in a pod. So whenever the going gets tough, simply look at this picture and raise your middle finger to the world!
***CORRECTION: My good friend Mark told me that the guy on the far right is Sheldon Cooper. Thank you darling!
That concludes Carole Irene’s wise advice for the day, and this awesome post. Enjoy my loves! 
Carole Irene
Baby Jean
bhahahh I have to say that pictures of barbara and clark and their badassery is awesome!! I just saw that Lauren Bacall quote on Tumblr the other day too, and it is perfect, however, apparently it is not really a quote and it comes from a fake social media account someone made! It totally sounds like something she would say though.. at least I like to believe it!
July 24, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Loll.. I hate twilight also. The books were… ehh. Horrific compared to Margaret Mitchell’s brilliant writing. But the movie was just TERRIBLE. Kristen Stewart cannot act at all.. and I’ve seen her in other movies too… she can’t act for her life. My cousin said she was an amazing actor and i like died a little bit inside. What’s the appeal of sparkly men? And ‘Edward’ is super pale and not attractive at all. (at least in the twilight movies). I loved your reaction to Twilight. Me and one of my friends watched the movie on her computer and were cracking up the whole time, mocking every single line of dialouge.
Lauren Bacall is the best.
July 24, 2012 at 2:44 pm
@Emily: Awww SHIT, seriously!? Noooooooo…
@Meral: I read the books too…most terrible decision I ever made! They’re so badly written, and they took me longer to finish than GWTW, even though they’re shorter! I then donated my copies of the books to my school library. The librarian couldn’t believe that a teenage girl actually wanted to GET RID OF these books bahahaha! But that’s how I roll…I hate what everyone else likes.
July 24, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Love the “finger” photo — and I’m sure you’ve seen the photo in this article: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/indelible-jan06.html
What happened to MEN? I mean, just LOOK at those guys!
July 25, 2012 at 12:57 pm
I love that photo! I feel your pain about men…they just don’t come that way anymore
July 25, 2012 at 5:53 pm
And while normally I’d say something like “One must remember that one of the foundations of old-fashioned gentlemanly chivalry was that women were weaker and inferior”, that does NOT apply to men like Gable. Gable’s character on-screen was always looking for a woman who was just like him, only female. The great tragedy of GWTW is that Rhett thought Scarlett WAS that woman, if he could only set that woman free.
Notice how in all Gable’s movies there’s the moment when he looks at someone (usually the heroine) with a sort of up-and-down appraising glance. What he is looking for is his equal. One of the best bits in GWTW is the scene in the Twelve Oaks library when young Charles Hamilton tries his damnest to call Rhett out. Gable/Rhett looks at Charles, gives that up-and-down glance and you can SEE that he is assessing Charles as a boy. And Rhett does NOT insult back, or let himself be pushed into a duel, because Charles IS NOT HIS EQUAL in this, and so it would be wrong.
“I apologize again for all my shortcomings,” says Rhett, and yields the field.
God, I adore Gable! “Woman want him, men want to be him.” My favorite quote about Gable is from someone who famously said, “Well, sure, Clark has enemies — but even they LIKE the guy!”
July 26, 2012 at 11:02 am
I agree with India… love Gable.
I realized how much I love him yesterday… I got in a really bad argument with someone, then I went upstairs to my room, and wanted to get my mind off of the argument in any way. So before I realize what I’m doing, I’m on YouTube, looking up clips from Clark Gable movies, and I started laughing at myself. I love that man. 
July 26, 2012 at 12:47 pm
@India: I’ve noticed the stare before, but I never knew it was for that reason! It makes so much sense, and fits so well with Gable’s characters.
@Meral: Gable is always great for a pick-me-up
July 28, 2012 at 8:04 am
Watch it in slow motion. It’s not a stare so much as an up-and-down appraisal, and not of the other person’s fair form divine, either. He’s gauging character.
It’s always fun finding out (if you have old movie fans) which is their favorite Hero. My youngest sister’s is Flynn, mine is Gable, and the middle one goes for Cooper.
Did you ever watch a movie from 1984 called MY FAVORITE YEAR? It’s hysterically funny and sad at the same time, and is loosely based on the week that Errol Flynn was the guest on THE RED SKELTON SHOW. The show in the movie itself is loosely based on YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, which was early TV, 90 minutes, LIVE, each week, and still is so funny that you can’t watch the skits if you’re eating or drinking because you’ll choke to death laughing. The takeoff of HERE TO ETERNITY — sorry, I’m already laughing!
July 29, 2012 at 2:00 pm
I’ve never seen that film before, but it sounds really funny!
August 7, 2012 at 7:59 pm