{"id":14264,"date":"2013-07-20T07:53:47","date_gmt":"2013-07-20T11:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=14264"},"modified":"2013-07-20T15:06:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T19:06:26","slug":"a-barbara-stanwyck-blogathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/a-barbara-stanwyck-blogathon\/","title":{"rendered":"A Barbara Stanwyck Blogathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'BarbaraI don’t know Aubyn Eli and am not sure how I got to her blog, The Girl with the White Parasol<\/em>, as I did for the first time back in May or June. But I know what attracted me there: her planned week-long celebration<\/a> of Barbara Stanwyck’s 106th birthday. Later today I’ll add my own contribution to the blogathon: a review of\u00a0Crime of Passion<\/em>, from 1956.<\/p>\n

Interested in “golden era” Hollywood films or, of course, in Stanwyck herself? You could do far worse this weekend than to set aside some time to browse Aubyn’s schedule<\/a> of what’s already been posted by the forty-plus bloggers contributing — and to mark your calendars for what’s coming. Not all of Stanwyck’s eighty-plus films are covered (hmm: a foreshadowing of a 107th-birthday celebration in 2014?), but it’s a pretty impressive list nonetheless. And it covers not just her films, either. You’ll find essays on her TV work, her career, the blonde wig she donned for\u00a0Double Indemnity<\/em>, \"Publicity<\/a>the gown (pictured at right) which inflamed Gary Cooper (and not a few male moviegoers) in\u00a0Ball of Fire<\/em>…<\/p>\n

(Wikipedia says<\/a> of that film’s wardrobe: “In World War II, a total of 12 servicemen were pen-pals with Stanwyck; two of them asked for a poster of her in the Ball of Fire<\/em> outfit for their mess hall.”)
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As for Aubyn herself, as I said, I know her only (and only very recently) through her blog, which focuses on “Classic Cinema, 1930-1965.” (Her Twitter profile identifies her as a “Full-time fantasist.” I want that job!<\/em>)<\/p>\n

But I do know what the blog’s title alludes to: an anecdote related by Everett Sloane’s character, named Bernstein, in\u00a0Citizen Kane<\/em>. He’s being interviewed by a reporter, Thompson, about his memories of Charles Foster Kane (Bernstein having been Kane’s long-time assistant). Thompson asks for Bernstein’s guess about the famous last word, “Rosebud,” and Bernstein suggests maybe it was a girl. Thompson scoffs — anyone so powerful could hardly have had just a girl<\/em> on his mind at the very end — but Bernstein cuts him off with this story:<\/p>\n