Forever A Golden Girl: A Mutual Love For the Movies

My grandmother passed away this week.  Not only was she an amazing woman, but she's also the person I credit with giving me a love of movies.  My earliest memory is watching old movies at my grandparent's house.  We'd eat frozen green grapes out of a big silver bowl and there was always an open box of Russell Stover Candies on the coffee table.

My grandmother had a fascination with all things Hollywood and she shared it with me.  She showed me old movie books full of black-and-white, glossy photos of the classic movie stars of the golden age-- the age when she was growing up.  I learned about all the films and actors that existed well before my time.  I immersed myself in Hollywood history.

When I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood, I thought about my grandmother most.   Was I doing the right thing?  I was going to miss her.  Hollywood was 1200 miles away and we wouldn't get to see each other whenever we wanted.  We wouldn't get to watch movies together all that often.  And I felt guilty about all of that.  What I didn't think about then, was that Grandma had been training me for a career in Hollywood all my life.

I've gotten to have the love affair with Hollywood that she'd always dreamed of.  Although, it hasn't always been glamorous,  I got to tell her my stories from the trenches.  Tell her the Hollywood stars I'd met.  Our mutual love of Hollywood brought us together, but it was also Hollywood that took us away from each other.  But she was proud of me for going to Los Angeles even though I missed her so.

She wanted to be the golden Girl, the Rockette, the entertainer, the ingenue.  To us, she was and always will be.  She never lost her childish wonder or her love of the movies.  She took notice of the smallest things and her facial expressions always made be laugh-- especially when she was happy or pouting or trying to get away with something.

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Grandma, I have so many things to thank you for, but above all, thank you for sharing your passion for movies and entertainment.  It's now my passion, too, and we can share it together no matter where you are.  I hope you're watching It Happened One Night somewhere there in heaven... or eating frozen green grapes and laughing at Laurel And Hardy with Grandpa.

Copyright ©2013 by KLiedle

Are You Going To Eat That?

To the buxom blonde at Ralph's, no need to sneer at me just because I saw you put that bag of Cheetos in your cart.  I'm not judging you.  People in L.A. are always so concerned with what other people think of them.

Yes, I'm slim.  I've got a dancer's body which some people may find enviable, but I work for it.  I exercise everyday, lift weights and eat well.  I also drink a ton of water-- enough water that in an emergency, I could be your flotation device.  Enough water, that my tummy made splashing, gurgling noises.  While I was on a date. 

I do, however, like to eat.  Since I often work on film sets, I have to make a conscious effort to steer clear of the craft service table.   
I have a particular weakness for trail mix, dark chocolate, and Stacy's pita chips.  I probably drink way too much coffee.  I probably eat way too much dried fruit.  Everyone has their weaknesses.  In Bon Appetit magazine last month (yes, I'm a subscriber), Julia Louis Dreyfuss said that for her it's M&Ms and tootsie rolls.  It's the long hours and sheer boredom that drive us to cave into our comfort foods. 

Recently, I working a fashion shoot and I was dying for them to break for lunch.  Usually, this happens 6 hours after call time, but that particular day, there was no indication that lunch was imminent.  Sure, the food was ready, but no one, I mean NO ONE was eating.  The craft service table was stocked with French macaroons, toffee, a cheese platter full of Brie and other yummy soft cheeses, organic granola, and a fruit and veggie tray.  But no one was snacking either except for ME and a couple of grips.  

Between handfuls of chocolate-covered pretzels, I watched the photographer snap photos of a model as she flipped her hair over and over again.  Suddenly, they stopped.  Lunch? I thought, hopefully.  No.  Two guys rigged up a wind machine and the hair flipping continued.  For me, all that hair flipping would've caused whiplash-- especially on an empty stomach.  Lunch eventually happened.  I ate like one of the guys (which usually isn't the case), but this was a fashion shoot. 
Apparently, no one eats at these. 

Not surprisingly, the model looked unhappy.  Throughout the day, all I'd seen her consume were 5 cigarettes, a Diet Coke, and a small handful of raw vegetables.  And she didn't get to even eat the cigarettes, just smoke them.  I'd like to think she had more than that-- even a water, but somehow I doubt it.

I've overheard women in Trader Joes talk about how they're not eating.  Excuse me, but aren't you inside what is essentially a grocery store?  What are you doing here?  I want to say this because I'm here to buy food.  To eat.

P.S.  I took the rest of the chocolate-covered pretzels home with me.  They were going to throw them out anyway.

Copyright © 2013 by KLiedle

Baseball Nostalgia and Jackie Robinson's Legacy

When I was younger, my dad would tell me stories of the legendary baseball players of his day.  Willie Mays, Joe Dimaggio, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Honus Wagner,  and Jackie Robinson became familiar names in my head, even though none of them ever played baseball in my lifetime.  Baseball knowledge is not something that most little girls seek out for themselves.  I can credit my dad for that and for giving me a love of baseball: the game, the sport, the strategy, and the history of it all.

We'd go to minor league baseball games at Rosenblatt Stadium-- the noted stadium that was the home of the College World Series until just recently.  We traveled to Iowa once, not to see the Field Of Dreams, but to meet old-time ballplayer, Bob Feller.  Upon meeting Feller, my dad acted like a giddy schoolgirl.  My brother and I found it embarrassing at the time.  We didn't realize that's what happens when you meet one of your boyhood idols when you're well into your 60s.

When we were kids, my brother found a box of my dad's old baseball cards.  He went ballistic when he skimmed through the stacks and found a Jackie Robinson baseball card.  He held it up to the sky and looked astonished:  "It's autographed!"

My brother and I looked at each other, shell-shocked.  Several other cards were signed, too.  Many of them were those legendary names we'd only heard about from our dad's baseball talk.  We excitedly brought the stack of cards to dear old Dad and handed him Jackie's card.

"Oh," Dad said, looking fondly at the Robinson card, "I signed that."

Unfortunately, Dad had just been a kid collecting baseball cards way back when.  He didn't know the value those names would have someday.  As a kid, he'd signed them all.  Pretending he'd actually gotten the autographs of these big-time baseball greats.  That day, my brother had held an authentic Jackie Robinson baseball card autographed by Dad.  Awesome.  That was a memory that stuck.  

With that memory in mind, I'm looking forward to seeing 42, the big screen story of Jackie Robinson.  Robinson's widow, Rachel, now in her nineties, had been famously resistant to the idea of a movie being made about her husband.  As the years went on, however, she warmed up to the idea-- mostly because kids today don't understand the gravity of what it meant to break the color barrier in baseball-- What a triumph that was and consequently, what a hardship it was for a young married couple like the Robinsons.

In an L.A. Times article, Producer Thomas Tull mentioned that Ken Griffey, Jr had told him that teens he tutored didn't even know who Jackie Robinson was.  In the same article, Rachel Robinson noted:  "I was getting older, and I really wanted kids to know who Jack was and to think about what they can do with their own lives..."

For these reasons and more, Legendary Pictures producer, Tull, wanted to make the film. Thought racism still exists today,  it's almost unimaginable to comprehend that less than fifty years ago,  racism and segregation was a given in our society.

Apart from the baseball history and nostalgia, 42, will certainly provide for ardent baseball fans, it's also a film to be seen for the personal story behind Robinson's legacy.  May it serve as a reminder of the strides we've made in making segregation and racism a thing of the past.

Copyright ©2013 by KLiedle

Hats Off To The Movies: Costume Design

A few weeks ago I bought a cloche that I found at a thrift store for $7.  Just what I needed-- another hat.  I love hats of all kinds.  I own baseball caps, newsboy caps, a couple of fedoras and cloches, knit caps, skull caps, stocking caps, and a few decorative headbands that "almost" qualify as hats.  I even taught myself how to crochet, just so I could make my own hats.

I wish all of us could go around wearing hats like British royalty.  But people just don't wear hats much like they used to.  I think that's a shame.  Hats mix things up.  They add a spark to your personality, an element of style to an ordinary outfit, an air of mystery to your personal image. 

In the twenties and thirties, people wore hats.  It wasn't just "playing dress-up."  It was called "getting dressed."  See, hats were for everyday wear.  People were far more formal (and stylish) back then.

I always notice costuming-- especially usage of hats in movies.  Here are some of my favorite hats from motion pictures.  Some are as iconic as the characters that wore them.  Some you may have forgotten about.  And there are a few hats so intertwined with the movie star that we may forget where and when it was worn.

Pretty Baby (1978)

Costume Designer: Mina Mittelman

~ I love this straw hat with added floral elements ~

 Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)

Principle Wardrobe/ Miss Hepburn:  Hubert de Givenchy

Sabrina (1954)

~ It's almost unfair to include Audrey Hepburn in this category.  Her work with costume designers like Givenchy and the unique fashions she was able to pull off in her movies are in a category all her own.

 Mad Men (2007-)

~ The distinguished Don Draper sports a fedora in an early episode of AMC's Mad Men. There are a boatload of people working in costuming on this series and I can see why.  All the details matter.  And there are so many details to keep track of.

 Carmen Miranda

~ Not everyone can get away with carrying a fruit basket on her head, but would Carmen Miranda be remembered without it?  I think not.  (Sorry, Carmen. The fruit is most of your appeal. No pun intended.)

Changeling (2008)

Costume Design: Deborah Hopper

~ This is totally my style and very similar to the aforementioned cloche I recently purchased.  (Although mine is grey with a dark blue flower.)  Cloches were all the rage in the '20s.  They are still one of my favorite styles.

 Dick Tracy (1990)

Costume Design:  Milena Canonero

 ~ I wanted to be Tess Trueheart, but I'd take Warren Beatty's banana yellow fedora anytime.  It fit perfectly into the comic-book, gangster world of Dick Tracy.

 Top Hat (1935)

~ What would this movie be without Fred Astaire's top hat?

 It Happened One Night (1934)

Costume Design: Robert Kalloch

~ There is something so simple about Claudette Colbert's black beret.  Nearly anyone can pull off this look, but Colbert does it with her eyes closed as Clark Gable looks on. 

 Legally Blonde (2001)

Costume Design: Sophie de Rakoff Carbonell

 ~ OMG!  Has it really been this long since Elle Woods first graced the silver screen?  Yes, I'm afraid, it has.  However, that cute crochet hat with the lilac flower?  You don't need a law degree, a chihuahua or a Beverly Hills address to know that hat's a style to snatch.

 Batman Returns (1992)

Costumes: Bob Ringwood and Mary Vogt

 ~ I know there have been other Catwomen, but Michelle Pfeiffer's version was always my favorite.  To let the cat outta the bag, I'd love, love to own this costume!  It's black, sexy, and skintight, but still has cut-outs large enough to reveal Pfeiffer's best facial features.  Hello, Cat-Eyes!

 Gone With The Wind (1939)

Hat Designer: John Frederics

~ I'd be willing to don a hoop skirt and pantaloons to bustle around in some of Scarlett O'Hara's frocks.  Beginning with the straw hat she wears to the Wilkes' barbecue, hats are very much a part of Scarlett's wardrobe.  Two of my other favorites seen below:  The emerald green, French bonnet Rhett gives her (and she "accidently on purpose" puts on backwards) and the green velvet, feathered cap made from curtain remnants at the family's plantation home, Tara.

 The Artist (2011)

Costume Design: Mark Bridges

~ As The Artist proves, everything old is new again.  The sophisticated Peppy Miller, now a bona fide star, dons a spectacular hat-- complete with netting-- as she goes to save George Valentin from his own demise.

Copyright ©2013 by KLiedle

Taxes: Can't A Guy Get A Little Peace And Quiet?

I remember the days when I did my own taxes.  I had this brilliant idea to do my taxes during the Academy Awards telecast every year.  I'd challenge myself to be completely finished by the time they announced Best Picture. Most of the time I succeeded, but only in the years when the telecast was close to 4 hours long.

I'm not a numbers person and I hate math and I always felt like if the government would get it right the first time, none of us would have to do taxes. Ever.  Luckily, these days I have an accountant to do the numbers work for me now.  It's totally worth it.  Taxes make me irritable.  

This classic sketch from The Carol Burnett Show totally reminds me of the frustrating, confusing years when I did my own taxes.  It also reminds me of my grandfather.  At our cabin, he had a poster on the wall that simply said:  "All I want is a little peace and quiet."  

To everyone in the good ol' U.S., good luck filing your taxes.  There's still over a month left before the deadline!    

Copyright © 2013 by KLiedle

  

Compliance: Manipulating Innocent People

I recently discovered this indie film and was riveted by the psychological implications of it.  Under stressful situations, people willingly comply with those who identify themselves as "authority figures" regardless of whether or not this might be true.  

I've never worked in fast-food, but I have worked jobs like the character Becky in Compliance.  Occasionally in these jobs, we received prank calls from men who asked to speak with female employees so they could "get off" by making sexual innuendos on the phone.  Usually, these pranksters were pretty easy to detect.  After the first few calls, our manager would simply stop answering the phone.  In Compliance, however, the "prankster" identifies himself as a cop, and at first, it all appears legitimate to Sandy, the Chickwich manager played by Ann Dowd.

This film is particularly disturbing because incidents like this actually happened.  The story of Compliance stemmed from a series of true incidents of prank calls to fast-food joints in mostly rural areas in the South.  The film closely depicts an incident that occurred at a McDonald's in Mount Washington, Kentucky in April 2004.  Compliance is not easy to watch, but the scary psychological tactics the caller uses to manipulate innocent people into acting in deviant ways is a fascinating study of human behavior.

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© Copyright 2013 by KLiedle

BAD AUDITION-- "Was That Perfect"

BAD AUDITION Episode #102 "Was That Perfect" 

Starring Kate Orlando, John Broccolo, Mikayla Ryan, 

Kate Davis Campbell, Miranda Coker, Gregory Kay, 

and Jackson Bond, Jr.  

Directed by Kendra Liedle

 

This past fall, I had the opportunity to work with a tremendous group of people on the new web series,  Bad Audition, created by Kate Orlando.  The series follows struggling actress, Elizabeth Park, as she "battles fame seekers, over-acting actors, clichéd scripts, and self obsessed directors in her search for stardom one bad audition at a time."

Creator Kate Orlando has talent, spunk,  and loads of ambition.  As series creator, writer, producer, and star of the series, she certainly had her work cut out for her!  With the collaborative efforts of a small, Los Angeles-based crew, Orlando was able to beautifully pull it all together. 

I was delighted to be a part of it, having directed Episode #102 (Seen above)

BAD AUDITION recently premiered in Los Angeles.  

Watch Season One on Youtube and support independent filmmakers!   

Click here to find the series on Facebook.

 Copyright © 2013 by K. Liedle