Bitchy Women Movie Marathon-Week #1

Yesterday afternoon, I held the first annual "Bitchy Women Movie Marathon" at my house. A good time was had by all, except for Nancy, who is STOOPID and didn't pick up her cell phone. I'm sure she had something very important to do instead. A-hem.
;) That being said, Rabbit and Uncle Freddy were in attendance, and the menu went a little something like this...

Beverages...





Cheese...



Accessories...



And the main course...






All of the above were enjoyed by the attendees...




First movie on tap was The Women.
"
[gasp] Good grief! I hate to tell you, dear, but your skin makes the Rocky Mountains look like chiffon velvet!"

The plot goes basically like this...Wealthy Mary Haines is unaware her husband is having an affair with shopgirl Crystal Allen. Sylvia Fowler and Edith Potter discover this from a manicurist and arrange for Mary to hear the gossip.
Of course, much more than that goes on. The dialogue is tight, sharp, and very witty. Almost every other line had us all in a chuckle. This has been one of my favorite movies for about 10 years now, and every single time I watch it, I still enjoy it. The top notch performances by Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind Russel are worth the price of this film alone...not to mention the fashion. The decadence of 1938 high society New York must be seen to be believed. The bathtub that Joan is bathing in is a work of art, complete with a tassle cord that she pulls to bring a drape down when she is done talking to Rosalind Russel. I kept saying during this film..."Can't I live this life??" I'll give you some of my favorite zingers from the film...


Countess DeLave: Get me a bromide - and put some gin in it.


Sylvia Fowler: Oh, you remember the awful things they said about what's-her-name before she jumped out the window? There. You see? I can't even remember her name so who cares?


Mary Haines: I've had two years to grow claws mother. Jungle red!


Miriam Aarons: You're passing up a swell chance, honey. Where I spit no grass grows ever.


Edith Potter: Oh, she can't help it. It's just her tough luck that she wasn't born deaf and dumb.


Exercise instructress: Let's begin with posture. A lady always enters a room erect.
Sylvia Fowler: Most of my friends exit horizontally.


Lulu: Will I find anything in that ice box of yours?
Pat: Yeah, cobwebs and a bottle of gin.


Crystal Allen: There is a name for you, ladies, but it isn't used in high society... outside of a kennel.

Our second movie selection was the unforgettable All About Eve. The basic plot of that film is a little something like this...

Aspiring actress Eve Harrington maneuvers her way into the lives of Broadway star Margo Channing, playwright Lloyd Richards and director Bill Sampson. This classic story of ambition and betrayal has become part of American folklore.
Classic performances, again, by Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, and a very young Marilyn Monroe.

This film was discovered also 10 years ago by me, and never fails to impress me. Yes, it has its funny moments, but it is a very smart script as well. Not so much a comedy, as with The Women, but more barbed-wit drama.
Here are some of my favorite barbs from the film...
Birdie: What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.
Addison DeWitt: That I should want you at all suddenly strikes me as the height of improbability...

Lloyd Richards: There comes a time that a piano realizes that it has not written a concerto.

Lloyd Richards: I shall never understand the weird process by which a body with a voice suddenly fancies itself as a mind. Just when exactly does an actress decide they're HER words she's speaking and HER thoughts she's expressing?
Margo Channing: Usually at the point where she has to rewrite and rethink them, to keep the audience from leaving the theatre!

Bill Sampson: What book of rules says that theatre exists only within some ugly buildings crowded into one square-mile of New York City? Or London, Paris, or Vienna?

Margo Channing: Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!

After the films had passed, we gathered and took a picture of our "Pretty Girl Bracelets" . Aren't you envious Nancy?

I will definitely have to continue the "Bitcy Woman Movie Marathon" for future weekends...So many movies that we could watch....Mommie Dearest, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, The Little Foxes, Straight Jacket, Torch Song, Jezebel....any suggestions from the readers?

Bitchy Sunday, folks.
SGS