Impressive Women

To no one’s surprise, President Trump has nominated Amy Coney Barrett to fill RBG’s seat on the Supreme Court. Best of luck, ACB. The opposition will be vicious.

Although I enjoyed Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, I went into the 1958 film version with low expectations, despite the presence of one of Hollywood’s all-time greats, Rosalind Russell. I watched it last night courtesy of Netflix. Gorgeously shot in Technirama, not technicolor (don’t ask me to explain), it is her show from start to finish and she tackles it with the gusto she often displayed on screen. She’d played the role for two years on Broadway. The adaptation is largely faithful to the novel, one difference being the manner of death of the rich husband. At least one part is left out — the care of surly, destructive, unappreciative British war orphans. Still, the character is so endearing that whatever the film lacks doesn’t much matter. It was Russell’s last of four Oscar-nominated performances. She never won one. She wasn’t even nominated for His Girl Friday (1940), a work that will last as long as the species does. It was shunned completely by the Academy, perhaps because it was a remake of The Front Page (1931) or because its rapid fire, overlapping dialogue at first startled audiences. Russell did win a Tony during her life’s journey, not for Auntie Mame but for Wonderful Town in 1953, and she was given the Academy’s humanitarian award in 1973. She succumbed to cancer at 69 in 1976. Here are some quotes that seem to capture her persona perfectly: “Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.” “Success is a public affair. Failure is a private funeral.” “Flops are part of a life’s menu and I’ve never been a girl to miss out on any of the courses.” “Taking joy in life is a woman’s best cosmetic.” Here is this American original in the part she seemed born to play:

And here as the immortal ace reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday:

My thanks to the woman who donated a bunch of heavy books on nursing. I hope they won’t prove to be dead weight. And thanks also to the gentleman who delivered five novels by Stephen King, and to the man who did a swap and buy of books in Russian, and to the polite young man who purchased three paperbacks by Belva Plain; and to Bill Brown, author of Words and Guitar: A History of Lou Reed’s Music, who bought Raymond Chandler’s classic The Big Sleep; and to the woman who went home with King’s Salem’s Lot. She had a nasty cough. I had my mask in hand. I hope I was far enough away when she let fly. I’ve marked the date in my head.

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