Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Don't Slap Me for Avoiding My To Do List

I stayed home tonight and had every intention of working on my taxes.

But I started watching the 1945 Warner Bros. movie "Mildred Pierce" starring Joan Crawford and couldn't turn it off. (My TiVo taped it November 3rd and I'm finally getting around to watching it!)

Crawford plays the title character, a restaurant owner who does everything she can to please her spoiled daughter, Veda. The best line is when Veda is leaving home for good and says to her Mother, "I want to get away from you and your chicken and your pies and everything that smells of grease." Hilarious!

Eve Arden gives a great performance as the salty sidekick in the restaurant business.

Did you know that whenever a director asked Crawford to get tears in her eyes for a movie shot Crawford would reply, "Which eye?" And she could control whether she got a tear in her right eye or her left eye.

Of course since TiVo makes it so easy to back-up six seconds at a time I had to watch the slapping scenes over and over. In her trademark move, Crawford double-slaps her daughter. Whack whack.

Well, don't cry for me -- I'll work on my taxes tomorrow.

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