Rarely has there been such an un-Doper like mixture of modesty and self-deprecation.
Just watched Eve/Flora on “th’ television” and she kicked patoot with style. The subject was steamy sex and movies. Eve was clad in a slinky/taseteful red dress and spake authorial wisdom in a throaty alto that made conjured giddy images of wanton excess in booklined rooms.
And on PBS, no less.
::stands and applauds loudly::
Veb
Echoeing applause!
Beautiful dress, Eve, and the most lively commentary of the show.
Hubby watching; a writer also having done the TV extrapolation gig asks: Give him some poise pointers…
Platinum Bonus Karma Points!
Eve spoke with authority, and with grace and style.
Plus she’s hot.
I don’t have to do drugs to mess up my head. I went to Catholic school.
Although it must be said that if we all get our 15 minutes of fame, Eve still has 13 minutes and thirty seconds left to go.
I must say, Eve did better on camera than most writers I’ve seen interviewed. And the stuff on jazz that followed the Hays Code segment was pretty cool, too.
Live a Lush Life
Da Chef
Boy. I really do look more and more like Margaret Dumont as I age—I really must get me some lorgnettes and practice saying, “Oh, Professor FIREfly!”
But you all are so lovely and kind! Sorry to have wasted two hours of your life to see me for all of 20 seconds (I might add, they’d interviewed me for two hours!).
I really didn’t think much of the shows: both were kinda pedantic, dry and not too accurate. For one thing, “Wife vs. Secretary” was NOT Jean Harlow’s first post-Code film; as I’d told them, it was “The Girl from Missouri.” Guess they thought I was kidding or something.
As for the jazz segment, I’m no expert—but how could they not even MENTION the influence of ragtime, or of Eastern European Jews, on jazz? I also thought they were too dismissive (and more than a little racist) toward Paul Whiteman. He may not have played “jazz” per se, but he was one helluva good bandleader.
But thank y’all, I’m so glad to hear your plaudits—the frock is a 1940s model I picked up at Veteran’s Warehouse in Baltimore. Fifty cents, I think.
—The Queen of PBS
Rats! I missed it - I kept trying to remember and then heard a hot bath calling my name!
Boo! Sorry I missed your TV debut, Eve!
Just wanted to echo the above sentiments. Congratulations on a job very well done. (This from a person who passed up Racquel Welch to watch your show!)
As I watched I kept wondering when you would put in an appearance. I know you are a biographer (among your many talents) but I wasn’t sure exactly where your expertise would fit into the program. However, when the narrator said the movies went from crime to sex, I knew this had to be it. Sure enough, the next face on the screen was our own lovely Eve!
“pluto … a seriously demented but oddly addictive presence here.” – TVeblen
Very nice job! You are every bit well spoken as you are well written.
And from the way you describe yourself, I was expecting someone older. You look about 33 or so.
You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.
Eve, you looked fantastic, sounded intelligent and most importantly, you share my opinion on censorship. What an interesting program! Man, I love PBS. I didn’t know the history of Hollywood censorship and I know nothing about Jean Harlow. Where can I find Platinum Girl? Amazon.com says it’s out of stock.
Congratulations!
Oh, pooh. I was hoping to START this thread, and here I come, after all those who post from home, those who actually get out of bed early, plus the Grande Dame herself. And TVeb, Da Chef, pluto, Sealemon, et al, are tough acts to follow.
Okay. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Beautifully spoken, great dress, elegant hair, strangely knowledgable on “alternative” sex styles. Though I was hoping you’d weigh in on all those gangsters.
re: the jazz segment. The closest you’re going to come these days to recognition of the effect of Eastern European Jews on jazz is the line “It was a mix of African rhythms and European melodies.” It’s been fashionable for quite a while to downplay the contributions of the ofays and to portray them as devious scalawags who purloined the music from the poor but honest, hardworking black musicians. But given the social conditions the black musicians were working under well up into the 1960s, I don’t get too worked up about it.
(Paul Whiteman DID have several “hot” musicians working in his band, who DID take improvised solos, notable Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti, and Eddie Lang.)
Uke
[catching roses, blowing kisses to crowd]
Thank you, all you wonderful people out there in the dark—Fallucci called, he wants me to play Raina in “No More Laughter!”
. . . Oh, pardon me, I was having a Strange Interlude . . .
“33,” Sealemon? Aren’t you sweet. You can still get Platinum Girl—the paperback edition, at least—through Barnes & Noble; I’ve seen it in some of their New York stores. Someone in the previous thread asked for my bibliography, so here goes (raising own horn to lips):
Platinum Girl: The Life & Legends of Jean Harlow (1991)
Vamp: The Rise & Fall of Theda Bara (1996)
Anna Held & the Birth of Ziegfeld’s Broadway (coming in April)
Golden Images: Silent Film Essays from “Classic Images” (late 2000 or '01)
Anyway, glad y’all watched, and Ike, glad you sorta agree with me—neophyte that I am!—about the jazz segment.
Eve - Have you read “Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930- 1934”, by Thomas Doherty?
StG
I’m a writer; I can’t afford to BUY books! In fact Ike and I were discussing it, maybe he’ll loan it to me when he’s through reading it. I haven’t written about that era since the Harlow book, and none of my upcoming books involve it . . . Hmnmm, am I in the bibliography?
I work for Ingram Book Company, and bought the book for a friend on another board. (They love the 40% discount) I also saw another that looked interesting “Sin in Soft Focus,” by Mark Vieira.
StG
Well, I’m annoyed.
Being televisionally challenged, I was unable to tape this show. But no problem, I was at work when it was on, so I planned on watching it there. And then five minutes before it starts, two knuckleheads decide to beat each other up, so I’m too busy for the next hour and a half to watch it. Dammit, I haven’t been this annoyed since I had to miss Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer two years ago because of some idiot getting jumped in the shower.
So will there be an encore showing?
Eve-
I was impressed (but, then I was impressed before I saw it!)
But you also impressed my fiancee…nice work!
PS you are a sultry little vixen! YOW!
-Frankie
“Mother Mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever?/Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?”
-Bad Religion
Frankie—
“YOW” and thank you to you and your fiancée-that wasn’t a sly invitation to a three-way, was it?
I mean, I WAS interviewed on the “sex” segment, y’know!
Well now that you mention it…
I suppose I could ask her…
-Frankie
“Mother Mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever?/Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?”
-Bad Religion
I would like to say once again, that Eve is my heroine. I would say that I want to grow up just like her, but I think I am older… Brava, indeed!
I am a redhead, you see, and I do not tempt. I insist. -Cristi