At long last Jennifer is exploring a science fiction film.  Some of the best science fiction films, in her opinion, are from the 1950s—the atomic age, when the future looked bright and scary at the same time.  Well, tonight she's diving into a seminal atomic age science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still.  She got so invested—and so distracted—by this story, that she was actually late to an appointment and caused a lot of inconvenience for everyone involved.  Was The Day the Earth Stood Still worth it?  She says yes—but not in the way you might think.

Then, on a completely unrelated note…Jennifer's dog Olive’s birthday is this month, so in her honor, she thought we’d spend some time with famous canine actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age.  Those dogs made their owners wealthy.  Maybe that will give Olive some ideas.

Klaatu Barada Nikto—tonight, on the Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Tonight on the Idle Hour we have another case of Hollywood telling its own story.  A few episodes back we explored another such tale when we featured the 1950 film All About Eve. That movie is about show business—mostly the stage—and the biting and clawing and scheming that goes into the making of a star.  Well, now we’re giving some love and attention to the “not so happily ever after” story of stardom in Sunset Boulevard.  Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve were both contenders for the 1950 Academy Award for Best Picture;  All About Eve came out on top.  Did the Academy get that right?  We’ll come to our own conclusions.  Then, after tonight’s trivia question Jennifer wants to talk about planning and planners.  Her personal planning cycle follows the academic calendar, so she's gathering her planning stuff to start fresh again in July.  But when did personal planning systems become a thing?  Jennifer's not sure if she's ready for the year ahead…but you know what she IS ready for, Mr. DeMille?  Her closeup--tonight, on the Vintage Century Idle Hour.

When did the word “gaslight” change from a noun to a verb?  There for a while, it seemed everyone was trying to “gaslight” someone else–at least according to all the chatter on social media.  Jennifer's not entirely sure people really knew what that meant–and she's extremely sure a lot of people didn’t know where the term came from.  Well, guess what?  It’s a reference to tonight’s featured film from 1944, Gaslight.  She'll set the record straight on gaslighting tonight—and more importantly, she’ll walk through the story told through this famous film.  

Then, on a completely unrelated note, Jennifer will give an informative report on her garage sale.  It’s over now.  How did she do? What sold? What didn’t even get a second look?  And now that she's cleared her house of a lot of stuff, should Jennifer start filling it up again with a new collection?  Help Jennifer talk herself out of that, will you?  Tonight on the Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Jennifer has spent the majority of her career working in corporations, and while the industries, services, policies, systems, technologies, and even the names and faces of the colleagues, change over time, there’s one truth that remains eternal:  work brings out the worst in people!  Organizational life has a way of changing us, making us—sad.  Rod Serling, the writer of tonight’s featured film, Patterns, must have felt the same way, because he dealt with this theme multiple times–not just in Patterns, as we’ll see tonight, but in some of his Twilight Zone episodes as well.  Jennifer offers no solutions to this problem, but Patterns provides a case study, and perhaps we can learn a few lessons, in tonight’s episode of the Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Well, we have a melodrama this week–a bit of a downer, to be honest.  Our featured film, Dark Victory, is about a young woman in the prime of life who is dying.  Not a lot of laughs, this one.  But more than that, this is a profile in fear, and that’s why Jennifer finds this film interesting.  Our main character is—understandably—afraid.  She’s on a personal journey to find her courage–and she doesn’t have long.  As a person who’s been very anxious about all sorts of things her whole life, this one speaks to Jennifer directly.  If you’ve already “died a thousand deaths,” Dark Victory might be for you, too.  It’s dead ahead, on the Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Link:

Thomas Flight:  Why Does Acting Feel so Different Now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVvHTbqip5M&t=2285s 

This is the 14th episode of the Vintage Century Idle Hour, and that means we’ve explored 13 stories from Hollywood’s Golden Age so far.  None of these films have been comedies, for one critical reason:  Jennifer's not wild about them–and because she's not wild about them, she doesn't gravitate toward them when choosing films.  It Happened One Night is a big name comedy in classic Hollywood films, so naturally, we have to watch it.  But will Jennifer like it?  That is the question.  Also, we learn a new genre this week:  “screwball comedy”  what’s that?  Jennifer doesn't like the sound of it.  Oh, while we’re in the 1930s, Jennifer's going to talk to us about…Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Yeah, it’s an abrupt change of topic, but it all weaves together.  Sort of.  Or so she would have us believe.  The hunt is on for a new favorite flavor. It’s all coming up on this episode of the Vintage Century Idle Hour. 

 And now for a change of pace…

In the last few episodes of this series we have gone to some dark places.  Our main characters have been corrupt, manipulative, all around rotten scoundrels. There’s been murder, mayhem, death and destruction.  For those of you listening to this show at work or at bedtime–yikes, what a downer for background.  Well, how about a sweet, uplifting romance?  That’s what we’ve got in this week’s featured film, Marty, starring Ernest Borgnine.  This is one of Jennifer's all-time favorites, and she can’t wait to share it with those of you who have never heard of it before.  Also, we are dedicating portions of this episode to an exploration of our first pretend sponsor, prunes.  Jennifer's going to attempt to make a classic dessert featuring this fruit that gets you on the run:  prune whip.  Will it be gross?  Almost certainly.  But we’re living dangerously on this episode of the Vintage Century Idle Hour. 

What were YOU doing at 25?  Here's what Jennifer was doing:  trying to pay rent and figure out how to be an adult.  You know what Orson Welles was doing at 25?  Making his first Hollywood film–what went on to be regarded by many as the finest film ever made.  We’re exploring Citizen Kane tonight, because–how could Jennifer possibly skip it in this series?  Oh, and  Jennifer wants to look at how it aligns with last week’s feature film, Touch of Evil.  We’ll also settle an important question once and for all:  what is the best theater snack when watching movies?  Jennifer settles the question for us.  How can we possibly get to all of this in one show?  Tune in to find out, on this week’s episode of The Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Reviews of classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Age: Touch of Evil.
Tonight we do a close read of the second film noir in our series.  You might remember that last week we explored the mean streets of Kansas City in Kansas City Confidential.  Well, now we’re in fictional Los Roblos, a rowdy town on the U.S.-Mexico border in Touch of Evil.  Jennifer heard about Touch of Evil for the first time last week.  She doesn't know how she missed it all this time, because it’s considered a noir masterpiece.  As fellow explorers on these silver screen adventures, this one is in the canon, and we can’t skip it.  Oh, and Touch of Evil was added to the Library of Congress registry of historic films.  What does that mean?
Well, Jennifer get into all of it, on this episode of The Vintage Century Idle Hour.

Check out the Daily Woo's Touch of Evil filming locations tour in Venice, California:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouuxzpJzi_c&t=696s

Reviews of classic movies from Hollywood's Golden Age: Kansas City Confidential

Today’s show sets a record for the sheer number of slaps and punches heard in a single episode.  Yes, we’re in the gritty, hard-boiled world of film noir today with a classic of the genre, Kansas City Confidential.  While we’re at it, we’ll take a look at what “noir” really is.  And, because we are in Jennifer's hometown for this one, she wants to explore Kansas City’s connections to golden age Hollywood.  This episode is a love letter to what Jennifer thinks is the finest city in the whole world.  All of this—and more—on the Vintage Century Idle Hour.