Deb Morrow for congress!

Deb Morrow has not 'officially' announced her run for congress, but I already blurted it out on my radio show, Saturday morning. She was a great sport and didn't mind.



I attended Deb's first organizational meeting in Spartanburg, yesterday. I love that an Occupier is running for office, but at the same time, I am skeptical that the Democratic Party brass will allow this, or will back her candidacy. Will they find some party-hack to run against Trey Gowdy, since Deb is a genuine working-class, progressive Democrat?

As you may recall, this is what happened in 2008 to Ted Christian, who was bringing all kinds of Ron Paulish-Libertarian-leaning local folks into the Democratic party. In response, the Establishment Dems trotted out some flunkie, whose name slips my mind, to pretend to run against Republican Rep. Bob Inglis.

And most recently in 2010, when Inglis was down for the count, the Democratic party could have tapped some local heavy-hitters, or at least found another rabble-rouser like Ted, to give the Republicans a run for their money. Instead, they sat on their hands and let the GOP take the 4th District, once again.

Sometimes, I wonder if these things are choreographed, as so many non-jury trials are. Is it all decided by the powers-that-be before the elections even start? (Do they divide up the state, as Roosevelt and Stalin divided up Europe?)

I am reminded of Christine O'Donnell's doomed Delaware senatorial campaign, which the Republican Party honchos ignored. She was elected in the primary due to a groundswell from the Tea Party Movement, which embarrassed the Yacht Club Party to no end. There they were, clutching their hanging-chads, and asking WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? The Tea Party out-organized you, is what. They took it straight to the people. And as a result, the resentful Republican Party in Delaware basically disowned O'Donnell and did not share their considerable political and financial power with her. Who is THIS person, seemed to be the consensus. (And as Glenn Greenwald and others pointedly noted, this is precisely why "regular folks" were ready to listen to her.)

History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. I hope this won't be the farce. It would be fabulous if Deb actually won the 4th District congressional primary, simply due to a groundswell of anti-bailout sentiment; people are totally fed up with the rich getting it ALL. But will the Democratic party support Deb, if she wins? Or will some boring, party-approved, regulation white guy get brought in at the last minute?

If this happens, it will likely be the last time I help out a Democrat candidate. Like one of my heroes wrote, we won't get fooled again.

~*~


Today's confession: I am unsure of what my sign means. Well okay, I know what it means, but not all of the particulars. I grabbed it from a pile, because it was RED, my favorite color. ;)

I also think the idea of MORE bailouts, makes most ordinary folks start frothing at the mouth, and that's the reaction we want! (Yes, we stood out there in the rain, which really does wonders for my hair. Is there any way we could bottle this, do you suppose?)

Commercial: Don't forget to drop by Coffee Underground tonight for our Occupy-Greenville-sponsored showing of "Capitalism, A Love Story"--a film by Michael Moore. The show starts at 7pm, so be there or be square!

~*~

Aside: Sitting here watching INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (no relation) and wishing Natalie Wood had not drowned. They have re-opened the case, but having read all of the major biographies and accounts of the drowning-story, I have no idea what they think they are going to find. It's 30 years later, people. (Is there newly-discovered DNA evidence or something else we don't know about?)

In this movie, they dubbed Natalie's singing voice with Jackie Ward's, just as they dubbed her voice in WEST SIDE STORY with Marni Nixon's. (She always found that embarrassing, that her singing was not deemed good enough.) They left it alone in GYPSY, but partially dubbed Rosalind Russell's voice with Lisa Kirk's.

I read that Barbra Streisand wants to play Mama Rose, which is the world's most perfect casting. THAT WOULD BE SO TOTALLY AWESOME! Although some people prefer the actress who actually won the Tony award for the playing the part, Patti LuPone.

I do love Patti, but Streisand IS Mama Rose, and I am really pulling for her in the role. I just swoon thinking about Barbra singing this:

Everything's Coming Up Roses - Ethel Merman



Extra points if you knew she was gay, according to Jacqueline Susann, who knew everything about everybody. (And who suddenly just thought of the movie "Airplane"?)

PS: This song is officially dedicated to Deb Morrow!!! Good luck to you, Deb.

Dead Air Feminist Movie Series: Splendor in the Grass

Yes folks, I am bringing my considerable old-cinema-geekery here to share with all of you.

I have written here before about how I often feel guilty for watching politically-incorrect old movies... and I decided it was time to talk about the vintage films that blazed trails for women, however flawed these movies might be.

The problem with labeling an old movie "feminist": Invariably, something about it won't be feminist at all, and may even be anti-feminist. Revolution takes a long time. A movie that might be revolutionary in one sense, can be incredibly backward and oppressive in another.

Thus, I offer the following series with strong caveats. These are OLD movies. However, feminists will discover that in most cases, once you start watching these, you will be unable to stop.

First movie in our series:

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)

I have seen this movie dozens of times. Dozens. And I have some issues with it, but it is nonetheless the finest (only?) example of a movie that dared to discuss the constraints on white middle-class female sexuality and present them as overall negatives. Being a lady SUCKS, and William Inge and Elia Kazan actually illustrated it for us in no uncertain terms. The movie takes a stand.

The setting is the late 1920s in Kansas. High school kids Natalie Wood (Deanie) and Warren Beatty (Bud) (*also together in real life during the making of the film; one reason the chemistry just crackles) are all hot and bothered, but of course, not allowed to have sex. And that's it. That's the whole story--but what a story it is. What happens when kids are not allowed to have sex? This is the answer to "true love waits" and needs to be shown right alongside the fundamentalist propaganda.

Football star Bud gets restless; he is, after all, Warren Beatty (one of those instances wherein an actor's real-life reputation is useful for the narrative). Bud wants a girl, he even feels bloody ENTITLED to a girl, but alas, Deanie is far too nice to put out. He therefore takes up with the school's "bad" girl... and as a direct result, our sweet Deanie starts to crack up.

It is to Natalie Wood's credit that she is able to gaze in a starry-eyed fashion at the numerous, hot football-photos of Beatty that wallpaper her bedroom, and somehow communicate to us her sexual desire without saying a word... this isn't some teenybopper merely sighing at pin-ups. This is serious stuff; she WANTS him. And when he disses her, there is an amazing scene of Natalie taking a bath--one of the veritable triumphs of Wood's career. Director Elia Kazan made her put her hands over her face, exposing her wrist, which had been deformed as a child; it was broken and never set properly. She was extremely self-conscious about her wrist, and always wore very expensive, clunky bracelets to hide it. (Good lord, did anyone bother to look at gorgeous Natalie's WRIST? HELLO?!?! Amazing what beautiful people worry about! But note even in the movie poster above, the clunky bracelet. Go back through Natalie's life, and just look at all the bracelets. She was never without one.)

Natalie, a child star, had been hanging with method actors like James Dean, and felt inferior to them. She wanted to break through, but was frightened too. She knew what that meant. Kazan challenged her with the scene. In his biography, Kazan wrote that Wood was supposed to be naked and vulnerable and showing her wrist was the equivalent of that for her. He pressed her until she agreed to do it.

Of course, who notices her wrist? I have run it back, and only then do I notice, but only because I am looking for it and I know about her self-consciousness. But it is when she covers her face that her acting takes off; Kazan knew his job very well. While Deanie is in the bathtub, carrying on about losing Bud, her mother suddenly catches on, more or less. (Deanie's mother was played by fabulous character actress Audrey Christie).

And her mother asks, with lowered voice and obvious trepidation: "Did Bud... spoil you?"

Natalie flips out, covers her face, jumps out of the bathtub and becomes hysterical: Did he SPOIL me, Mama?! No, mom! I'm not spoiled! I'm not spoiled, mom! I'm just as fresh and virginal like the day I was born, mom!

It's a great moment and a great scene. Likewise, when Natalie tarts herself up like the "bad" girl, Bud is jarred and confused instead of becoming attracted: "But Deanie, you're a nice girl!" he protests, shocked when she puts the moves on him. Natalie replies, "I'm not! I'm not a nice girl," and Bud responds by asking her where her pride is.

Natalie loses it again: "My pride?! My pride?! I don't have any pride!"

Yes, we know what she means. Suddenly, the untenable position of the "nice" girl who felt sexual feelings and dared to act on them, is laid completely bare.

And Natalie/Deanie completely cracks up, swimming out to a waterfall and nearly drowning (which is pretty creepy in retrospect, since Wood hated water, couldn't swim, and her actual cause-of-death was drowning). There is an extended psychiatric interlude for Deanie, while Bud's dad jumps out a window after the stock market crash. There is some excellent class-awareness in this movie, as we might expect from a famous almost-blacklisted director. And then, a very nice ending, which I won't spoil for you, but one you MUST SEE.

Many people feel the movie did not make as much money as it could have, if the ending had been different. Suffice to say, the ending is not a typical Hollywood happy ending... but is poetic, real, and beautiful.

You all must see it!

More movies to come... stay tuned, movie fans. :)